A/N: People had been making stories about Harry going back in time, seeing his parents as schoolchildren. There are stories about Harry trying to change what has happened and so on and so fourth. I'm going to try and make a different version of all these stories.

I hope you like it. Please read and review, tell me what you think about the idea and if this story is interesting enough for you so that I know if it is worth continuing. Thank you very much.

CHAPTER ONE: Curiosity Kills the Cat

"Oh sure, mate," Sirius said sarcastically as he lazily leaned back on the grass. He looked at the sky, chewing on one of the Muggle candies he had snatched from Lily's bag while she and James were on a date. "I think you fancy her more than you think, Prongs. You've been talking about her since the day you couldn't take your eyes off her." The handsome young man chucked. "I never thought one day Lily Evans was going to fall for you too."

"He just got lucky," Remus said, amused. "Lily would never look his way before. Remember when we were younger? How Lily would always call James so many names that we've lost track of all of them?"

Peter looked sideways at James. "I bet Prongs hadn't forgotten any of the names," he said.

Sirius huffed. "Of course he hadn't." Wind blew past the four boys who were spending their free time lazing about instead of studying, except of course for Remus who was reading through his notes while the other stared at the sky. "Although I should say tat Lily also changed, one way or another. She hasn't been so rigid lately."

"A keen observation, mate," piped up James, who had been quite silent for some time now. "Me being Head Boy, she being Head Girl…I've never seen her so lax before." Jams rolled his tongue. His thoughts were on his girlfriend. How much he loved her, no one could fathom at the moment. "I don't know, mates, but she changed while I haven't!"

Laughter came from the three other boys. James shot them deadly looks. Sirius laughed the hardest of all. Of all the things James could have said, this took the cake.

"Are you mad, Prongs?" asked Sirius as his laughter brought him tears. "You've changed more than anyone of us." James raised an eyebrow, not knowing what Sirius was talking about. Sirius rolled to his stomach and looked at James. "You've stopped hexing people along the hallway, which I daresay is a big change for one." James didn't speak. "You've stopped sneaking to the kitchen and pushing aside the House elves. You've put away the Invisibility Cloak, mind you. You stopped-"

"I get the picture now, Padfoot," interrupted James. "But that's just because I don't want Lily to think that I'm a complete prat like she already thinks I am." James frowned. "Do you know how much of a prat she thinks I am?" There was no doubt in Sirius' mind that James was changing for Lily, mostly for Lily. "Besides, there's no harm in turning over a new leaf. We're out of Hogwarts soon. It's not like we're going to hex anybody when we work for the Ministry of Magic."

James, who had always been aiming to be an Auror, had a bright future for himself in the ministry. All of the Marauders knew that, and all of them supported James with his dream.

Peter looked up. "We never know what to expect from you though," he added thoughtfully. He had always been with James and Sirius. He was the weakest, though he proved to be loyal. Peter, after all, wasn't a bad friend. He was just bad at everything other than that. "When's Transfigurations again? I haven't even read up on anything yet! McGonagall is surely going to murder me as soon as she finds out."

Remus then tossed his own Transfigurations book to Peter. "Read up then," he said. There was no point in telling either James or Sirius that. Neither of them would have listened anyway. Remus went back to reading his book.

It wasn't long after Peter started reading when Lily Evans walked up to them. "James," she said as she approached the Marauders. James turned and quickly stood up the minute he saw Lily. Lily giggled at her boyfriend's sudden reaction. "Dumbledore called for a meeting," she said softly. She then gazed upon the three other boys. "All of you."

Sirius looked up. "We didn't do anything," he said. He tried to recall if they had done anything lately, but since James wasn't much in a mood to do such things, it wasn't as fun so they hadn't really gotten to any trouble the past few days. "Why not try looking at others for once?" he asked.

Lily laughed. "I don't think it's for detention."

Remus turned to Lily. "Then what would Dumbledore want us for?" Remus scanned his mind as well. Maybe Sirius had missed something. But no, they indeed didn't do anything. "Did he say anything about the meeting, and what it was for?" he asked Lily.

Lily shook her head. "Nothing," she replied, "I thought you'd know what it was all about. Dumbledore, he looked mighty upset though. I don't think I had seen him that upset before. Probably it has something to do with your exams or something?" she suggested.

James thought for a moment. "I hadn't failed any," he said thoughtfully.

Sirius shook his head. "Neither have I."

It was a mystery to all five of them why Dumbledore would call a meeting out of the blue. They knew the man had his reasons, but it wasn't something they'd know about like they usually did. Lily looked just as confused as the four boys did.

"Well," started James, scratching his head, "in any case, we better get going then."

Lily suddenly stopped him. "The meeting isn't until tonight," she said. "Dumbledore specifically mentioned eight o'clock tonight. He said you four ought to be on time for the meeting. He was quite serious about the time. He repeated eight o'clock several times before he sent me to find you."

This aroused great curiosity from the Marauders. "Surely we could as him beforehand what it's about," said Remus, setting aside his book this time. Even Remus was sucked into the mystery when he usually isn't.

Lily shook her head. "He left right after we spoke," he informed them. "I bumped into Professor Slughorn. He was saying something about a great risk for everyone, though he did not specify what risk and what it's all about." Lily's eyes narrowed, something the boys other than James had never seen. "The Professors are all acting queer if you ask me. They have been walking around the school like ghosts."

"Ghosts don't walk, they float," Peter pointed out the obvious.

"That's besides the point," said James. "Why don't we ask Professor McGonagall. She's usually honest with us. Besides, there's no point in thinking aimlessly about it. All of us haven't got a clue about it." He placed his arm around Lily. "Why don't we walk back to the castle."

Sirius made a face. "It's a free time!" he protested. "The sun's out, the weather's great. Can't we stay a bit longer?"

James looked back at him. His eyes were sparkling. "Aren't you the least bit curious?" he asked. Sirius smirked. He could see the old James in there somewhere. Remus and Peter too, for they both quickly stood up, followed by Sirius who was now a little bit motivated. "What could be more important than stay in the school?" asked James.

"Maybe he's offered a job elsewhere!" squeaked Peter.

Remus blinked. "He's turned it down once," he reminded Peter. "Besides, even if he is, it has got nothing to do with us." He fixed his robe as the four of them headed towards the castle. "What if he's about to give us a teaching position once we graduate?" he asked hopefully.

Sirius huffed. "Dumbledore knows that Prongs and I are aiming to be Aurors!" He glanced sideways at Peter. "You don't want to be a professor here, do you?" he asked.

Peter shook his head vigorously. "Of course not," he reacted quickly. "Why would I want to be a professor?" He chuckled nervously. "I was barely able to pass O.W.L.s if you could clearly remember. My scores are not to be proud of." Which, sadly, was a bit true.

The five of them walked silently of a while, creating their own theories in their heads. It was odd enough that Dumbledore wanted to meet them for some reason they could not think of, but to have an exact time for the meeting and him disappearing in the middle of the day? What were the odds of these being all intertwined? There was no doubt that Dumbledore knew something that they didn't just yet.

"Potter, Evans," McGonagall said slowly. She looked over their heads and saw the three other Marauders behind James and Lily. "Black, Lupin...Pettigrew." She looked quite suspicious. "What are all of you doing inside the castle at this hour?" She glanced outside the castle window. "And with this wonderful weather." It was rather odd, them being inside. She looked through her spectacles. "Are you up to something?" she asked.

Sirius made a face. "Honestly, Professor. With Lily around?" Remus and Peter nodded at the same time. "I could understand if we were just with the Head Boy here," he said, jerking his head towards James. "But we haven't any chance with Lily, no we don't."

McGonagall blinked. "Probably," she simply said.

"We came to ask you something, Professor," Lily finally piped up. She looked rather cheery and curious at the same time. "You see, I managed to bump into Professor Dumbledore this morning and he told me to tell these boys," she indicated to the Marauders, "to meet him at eight o'clock this evening. They told me they haven't done anything. Everything seems quite odd." Lily paused for a moment before asking, "What's going on, Professor?"

McGonagall was taken aback inquisitive eyes. There was something in her reaction that told James she knew something about the meeting, although McGonagall managed to dodge the question and wave away their prying. She said it was none of her business and that she had nothing to do with the meeting and she had no idea that there even was one.

"She's lying," said Remus flatly as they got to the Gryffindor Tower Common Room. "You could tell by the look on her face that she know a lot about this. She just doesn't want us to know anything about it." He looked a bit disappointed. "And to think she was always honest with us when she knew something and we'd ask," he said.

James thought for a moment. "Maybe she knew something," he said slowly, "and yet not enough to really tell us what's going on."

Sirius scoffed. "Fancy you taking her side. You've been acting out of character the last few weeks and I'm getting quite tired of it."

Lily nodded. "Sirius is right," she confirmed, which made the boys looked so surprised as if someone was hit by a lightning bolt there and then. Lily managed a smile. "Really now. I've known you boys for seven years and don't tell me I don't know all of you." Her eyes shifted to where James was sitting. "No jokes, no pranks, not even a hint of hating Severus," she said quietly. "It's as if you're a different man."

James looked astonished. He hadn't sensed that Lily noticed the change. "But you hated it all," he protested. "You didn't like me breaking the rules. You didn't like me calling Snivellus names." Sirius snickered at that comment. "You didn't like me hexing people. You practically wanted me to be," James paused as his mind searched for the right word, "normal."

Lily smiled. "Normal is something you will never be, James," she pointed out. Sirius nodded vigorously. Lily got up from her seat and walked over to James. James smiled back as she sat on James' lap. Peter's eyes looked to be as they were in pain, according to Remus' observation. "You were always the prankster, always the jokester. That was always who you are. I never hated that," she assured him. "In fact, how did you think I fell for you?"

Sirius clapped his hands. "That was what we've been waiting to hear for the longest time, Lily!" he exclaimed.

Lily laughed, and so did James.

"Have you heard about Dumbledore coming back suddenly?" Five heads quickly jerked up. Sir Nicholas had just flown into the Common Room with another ghost. "They were-" Sir Nicholas spotted James and the others. "Oh, I didn't any of you would be in her at this day and hour!"

"Is it true that the Headmaster is here?" asked Remus, still not forgetting why they weren't out lazing amongst the other students.

Sir Nicholas replied, "Why yes! He just got back."

Hurriedly, the five young Gryffindors scrambled to their feet to go meet the Headmaster. No, their curiosity wasn't satisfied just yet. They were in such a harry that they almost offended the Fat Lady who hadn't enough time to make them listen to her new song.

"Professor Dumbledore!" James panted when they finally spotted Dumbledore walking towards his office. Dumbledore turned to them with a pleasant smile. "Professor Dumbledore, you told Lily that you were calling us a while ago," he stated.

Dumbledore looked pleased when he saw Lily standing with them. "Oh yes I did," he said softly. "But I repeated several times that the meeting was to be at exactly eight this evening, haven't I?" Lily nodded. "Then I don't see any problem since it's still three in the afternoon."

Sirius looked at the Headmaster. "But we haven't gotten into any trouble yet," he pointed out.

Dumbledore chuckled. "It's not always trouble when you are called for, Mr. Black," he said calmly. "It's another pressing matter that we must discuss tonight." Dumbledore looked very worn and tired when he said, "I think we have a long night tonight, so you all better get some rest before we meet. And Miss Evans," he said as he laid his eyes on Lily. James could swear there came a tear to Dumbledore's eye as he did, "I want you to come along with them as well."

"Me?" Lily said unbelievingly.

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, Miss Evans. As I've said, none of you is in trouble. This is another matter." He waved his hand. "Go, study or lie about outside. Don't waste your time trying to know what we would meet about tonight. You will know in the right time anyway."

The students looked dejected. Dumbledore simply turned and made his way into his office. James and the others looked at each other, stunned and clueless like they have never been before.

Sirius gritted his teeth. "This is driving me nuts!" he cried.

"I know," James said in a low voice. He too was very curious now, and curiosity wasn't something the Marauders dealt well with. "There must be something someone knows about this!"

Lily frowned. "But Dumbledore said not to think about it anymore," she reminded them. "There is no point. I doubt that there is a soul who knows about it and is willing to clue us in." She looked back to the office entrance. "Besides, why does he want me with you too? We all don't have a clue to why he's acting all mysterious at all…" her voice trailed off as her on thoughts flew off somewhere.

Remus sighed. "Lily's right. There's no point."

"There has got to be!" Sirius said impatiently. "Eight isn't until hours away, you see, and this is driving me mad! I can't believe Dumbledore would leave us with such a cliffhanger!" James could tell that Sirius wasn't too happy with what was happening. He was never denied answers before.

James could feel a burning sensation inside him. He too wanted to find out what was happening. But this time, Lily was involved. There was no way she was going to break rules with them. If she wasn't about to do so, there was no way James could do so either. He sighed. There was always this dilemma inside him. The prankster hadn't died, but the new man that emerged was winning more and more as days pass.

"You don't look upset," said Remus, looking sideways at Peter who seemed the most collected among the five.

Peter shrugged. "We're to see what's going to happen anyway," he said, a bit nonchalant. "Now can we go outside? I'd really want to finish reading Transfigurations before the next period. I swear she'll murder me when I fail the next exam. I don't want to get left behind," he told them.

Lily looked at the boys. "Well, I guess I'll meet you later tonight then," she said anxiously. The boys nodded. With that, Lily left them to their own devices.

"That's a sign," muttered James. Sirius looked at him irritably. He wasn't understanding anything at all. James smirked. "Boys, that," he said, "was just a heads up from Lily Evans that we're allowed to bend and break some rules to find out after all."

Sirius looked on with glee. "Finally!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm.

Peter frowned. "I don't think we're going back outside, are we now?" he asked, rejected. He really did want to pass the exam after all. Talented Black and Potter would easily pass. Intelligent Lupin would as well, and with flying colors. Only he was in trouble with Transfigurations and he knew it. The other boys seemed too curious to care.

"Nope," replied Remus rather cheerfully.

Sirius placed his arms around James and Remus. "We better get going to the room then," he said.

The three boys excitedly skipped towards the tower. Peter walked behind them, half amused half downhearted. They reached their dormitory not long after. All four of them plopped down onto James' bed like they usually did when they were about to plan their next great adventure.

Sirius let out a semi bark, which made Remus look at him sternly. "Sorry," Sirius muttered. "Just getting a bit excited. After all, we haven't done this in weeks!" He looked at James. "No thanks to Prongs!"

James clasped his hands together. "Let's get to it then! This is what we'll do, boys." He pulled out the Marauders' Map and chucked it to Peter. "Peter, you be watch. You can be the one to keep an eye on Dumbledore to tell as where he is. The usual signs and sparks. You do remember, right?" he said. Peter nodded lamely. James smiled at him. "You can catch up on the reading while doing so, I promise," he added. This made Peter more into it than he was a while ago. "Remus, you be the one to distract Dumbledore. Ask him things, whatever! You know the drill." Remus nodded, lying on his back after instructions were given to him. James looked excitedly at Sirius. "And we, mate, are-"

"-going to find out whatever it is," finished Sirius. "Do you really think the answer is in his office?" he asked.

James nodded. "He usually invites us in, doesn't he?"

Remus thought for a moment. "Come to think of it," he started, "James is right. Dumbledore usually lets us in there…"

Sirius smiled widely. "Brilliant, Prongs!" he exclaimed. "I thought Lily did too much work on you that your mind has gone dull." James made a face. "Really, Prongs. You got me all worried. I thought the last prowling we'd ever do was sneaking up behind Snivellus and giving him the scare of his life three weeks ago. You got me scared there."

Remus grinned as well. "Never thought Lily would let you do this."

Sirius nodded. "Odd, really," he agreed.

It didn't take long before they had to go off to their next class, which was Potions. The Marauders didn't really like Potions, especially Peter who mixed up the wrong concoctions most of the time, but they managed to get good grades after their fifth year regardless.

"So," said Lily once she spotted the boys entering the dungeon, "what's the plan?"

James looked at her, blinking thrice. "Plan?" he asked.

Lily cocked her head. "Don't you dare use that tone on me, James," she said sharply. Sirius had this mocking face sat James. Lily turned to him. "I'm going to hex one of you if you don't let me in on it. After all, I want to know about it as badly as you do."

It wasn't usual for Lily to say such thing, let along have her hex another student for no important reason. Sirius figured he was wrong. Maybe Lily didn't rub off on James but James on Lily. This became more and more interesting to him, this Lily Evans. It occurred to him once or twice that Lily wasn't for James, but this completely changed his mind. Lily was indeed for James Potter after all, for better of for worse.

"The usual posts," replied James, voice lowered. "We'll tell you afterwards what we hear or what we figure out." He smiled at her girlfriend. "I promise you won't be the last to know."

Lily scoffed. "Won't be?" she repeated. "I'm the only one not in on it. Of course I'd be the last to know, James." James thought about it, and apparently, she was right. Lily sighed. "Well, I want to be in on it so that I won't be the last to know!" she said, which became another surprise to the boys who never thought would hear her say such things.

"Are you sure, Lily?" asked Remus, who was no amazed. Lily nodded. Remus looked at James. "I supposed if Lily was with me it wouldn't be as suspicious. Dumbledore would know that Lily wouldn't want to get into any trouble and it might be more tactful that way." It was all too perfect, now that Lily was into the plan too.

James looked at Lily proudly. "I dreamt of this day," he said. Lily laughed. She gave him a quick hug. James hugged her back. They let go as quickly too. "After Potions, we'll proceed to the plan then," he said.

The other four nodded as Slughorn walked into the room and started babbling about the lesson that the five Gryffindor students couldn't care less about. Surprisingly, even Lily felt the sudden rush to want the class to be over when she usually enjoyed it.

"He's heading out of the office," said Peter. The plan was started into action. James and Sirius had gone off to find a place where Dumbledore would least suspect them to be hiding. Peter looked at Remus and Lily. "He must be heading to McGonagall's office." He pointed to the map with his wand and traced Dumbledore's steps. "You can cut him off right here and meet him in the middle," said Peter, pointing to one of the hallways.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Remus, eyes twinkling. He looked at Lily. "What subject do you think we should chatter about?"

Lily thought for a moment. "N.E.W.T.s," she replied. "Dumbledore wouldn't suspect us, since we like studying in advance anyway. We can try changing topics to the meeting so that he would suspect we're the ones going to find out what it's about. We could buy a lot of time for James and Sirius doing so," she pointed out.

Remus nodded. "Well thought, Lily," he replied. "I wish you were along with us for the last six years."

Lily smiled. "You really wouldn't wish that," she countered.

"I guess," Remus said. "Now let's get going." He looked back at Peter. "Don't forget the sparks," he reminded him. Peter nodded, so off went the two to find Dumbledore. Peter sent a signal to Sirius and James that Lily and Remus were already off.

Meanwhile, upon seeing the signal that it was safe enough for them to sneak into the office, James nodded to Sirius. "Here we go," he said, grinning mischievously. Sirius nodded, equally impish.

"Acid Drops!" Sirius said. The staircase to Dumbledore's office. "Phineas, he's be a real tattletale," Sirius said thoughtfully, reminding James about the rather talkative portrait and relative of his.

James shrugged it off. "It would be worth it," he simply said.

Sure enough, Phineas started to blabber the moment he spotted the two boys entering the office.

"Bad form, you two. Coming into the office without permission. If Albus Dumbledore would catch you in here…"

But, as usual, the boys had high disregard for lectures, especially ones coming from portraits. They looked around. There seemed to be nothing very special about the room. There was nothing the least bit different. Their eyes darted from one side of the room to the other. It was the same as they had seen it before nothing was different at all…nothing…

"Looking for something?" The boys spun around to see Dumbledore standing behind them, along with Remus and Lily who were both looking very rueful. "I see you can't stay away from here, can you?"

Phineas had a very triumphant smile. "I told you. I told you that you bys oughtn't to be here at this time." But he didn't seem very surprised that they were, now that James could picture what was happening.

"You were expecting us, weren't you, Professor?" James said, now calmer. He could feel Sirius' mouth dropping without looking at his best friend. "Should I go call on Peter now, Professor?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Not this time, dear boy," he replied. He motioned for them all to take a seat on the couch nearby. "This is something very important, mind you, that all of you should hear." The students took a seat, still at a lost, except for James who was catching on quite quickly. "Now I want the four of you to listen very carefully."

"Would you want me to leave, Albus?" asked Phineas.

Dumbledore looked at the portrait. "If it is no disrespect," he replied. Without another word, the portrait was left empty. Dumbledore looked back at the students with another pleasant ever a bit of an eerie smile. "Now, let us make something clear. This does not reach Peter. Nothing."

All four heads nodded.

James looked up. "Professor," he started. Something has been bothering him all this time. It was as if Dumbledore knew where they would be, all of them. Maybe…maybe even Peter. Maybe Dumbloedre knew that Peter wouldn't be with them and he'd be at watch. Could he really know? Dumbledore looked at James. "Did you know that Peter wasn't going to be with us?" he asked.

Dumbledore hesitated, but then said, "Yes." James didn't press on with his thoughts. He felt that they were going to talk about something grave. Besides, he could ask Dumbledore more questions after they talked about whatever they were going to, that much James was sure of. "Now then, can we get on to our main business?" asked Dumbledore.

"What are we going to talk about, Professor?" asked Lily, who could no longer suppress the urge to know what was going on.

Dumbledore shifted before saying, "Harry."

"Harry?" All four said simultaneously.

Remus blinked. "Harry who, sir?" he asked.

Dumbledore took a deep breath , but he did with a calm voice say, "Harry…Harry Potter."

A/N: Please read and review, and tell me what you think. Thank you once again!