The Wheels on the Bus

by Morgaine's Shadow

Slightly AU. Sirius is curious about the future, so he and Remus visit 1998. The war is over, and everyone is happy, except Harry Potter. He's running from his relationship, and on the Knight Bus he runs into Draco Malfoy. Rated for later chapters.

1. In Which Sirius is Curious

"Mooney?"

"Yeah?" Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were sitting quietly in their recently acquired flat in London. Remus was—as usual—reading a book, and Sirius was—as usual—doing nothing, and was very bored of it.

"What do you think our future's going to be like? I mean, do you think we'll be the most famous wizards in modern history, or are we going to just be a couple of anonymous old poufs?"

Remus smiled at his best friend. "I don't know, Padfoot. What do you think?"

The dark-haired Animagus rolled his eyes. "If I knew, I wouldn't have asked. I reckon I'd like to know, though."

This immediately set off Remus's internal Marauder-Plan-Detector. He knew it wasn't a good idea, but he asked anyway. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean I'd like to see how we turn out. I figure it would clear up a few things I've been wondering about."

The lycanthrope wanted to ask what these things were, but at the same time dared not ask. "I don't see how you're proposing we find this out…unless you think we're actually going to visit the future."

"Now you're catching on!" Sirius beamed. "We can just pop into our lives in—oh, I don't know—1998, find out what we turn out to be, and then return to the glorious present!"

Remus blanched. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Sirius. I mean, what if someone recognizes us? What if we get killed? What if—"

Sirius cut him off. "Oh, you worry too much," he said, ruffling Remus's hair. "I think we can get a Time-Turner from someone Prongs knows at the ministry…We'll take the Cloak so we won't be seen…It'll be the most amazing thing to see the world in eleven years!"

Remus, in the middle of his worrying, was distracted. "Eleven years?"

"1998. I've always had a good feeling about 1998…"

As his companion paced the room excitedly, Remus continued to worry. He knew that Sirius had his mind set now; he would never be able to talk him out of it. The lycan supposed that he would just have to go along with it and try to prevent anything too terrible from happening. He sighed. It was going to be a very nerve-wracking few days.