First & Only Author's Note: Here's a totally different story. Totally.

Hope you enjoy it!

The whole thing is done, posting is based on enthusiasm (mine & yours).

First & Only Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor am I receiving any monetary compensation for writing or posting this fanwork. Dang I wish I was.

Dang.

I really wish I was.

She had to tell them, but how could she?

Watching them there, so tense and worried, and the truth was she didn't know if her informer was being fully honest, they certainly wouldn't believe him.

James would be persuaded though; despite his intense dislike of Severus, he also understood how real the one-sided feelings were. It pained her to this day. Every once in a while she wondered, unbidden thoughts rose to the surface, about how different life might have been. She always came to the same conclusion: She wouldn't change anything even if she could.

And that hurt Severus because of course he knew. His ranking in her life was still high, too high really, but not where he wanted it to be.

Listening in on them she heard the discussion, the brilliant idea of Sirius', and she knew she couldn't let that stand. It was too risky. If it was found out she was wrong, well, she'd feel awful but that could be lived with. Making a mistake now? That was certain death.

"We can't use Peter."

Two pairs of eyes, brown and grey, snapped to her person.

It was going to be a hard sell, she could see that already. Sirius was forever overconfident and James so often felt the same! How much she loved them, respected them, but they were wrong. She knew it in her heart.

How many hours did she spend thinking of it since the message? She couldn't put a number to it. In the end it made so much sense it hurt.

She hoped she could persuade them without letting the secret out. She thought there was enough logic on her side, but the Marauders were not known for being logical.

"On what grounds?"

There. The first hurdle presented and Sirius was the one to speak, not James. Probably because he was aware Potter was most likely to fall. Black's eyes were already hard; he'd made his choices, his plan was set, and he was convinced of it's perfection.

It was with a deep breath that she spoke what she knew to be true. "The leak isn't Remus. It's Peter."

Neither of them ever said it aloud, not to her at least, but she knew where their thoughts lay. It was stupid when she considered it. Of course it wasn't Remus! Of course it wasn't. But he'd disengaged lately and they took it as a sign, unwelcome but a sign nonetheless. Sirius was always the more prone to suspicion of such things, a consequence of upbringing, and as much as James was considered the leader by former classmates he actually followed Sirius more often than not.

The quiet stretched on and she started talking. If she let it go too long one of them, probably Sirius, would catch up with what she'd said and she would never have a chance to explain herself.

"I know what you've been thinking, you daft buggers. You think you're so stealth? I even understand where your fear comes from, but the fact is you aren't looking at the whole picture. You never have. I almost doubt your ability to.

"Remus is far more closely tied to you all than you realise. How much you all did for him, it saved his life. I wouldn't be surprised if he considers it a Life Debt. There is no possible way, absolutely no possible way, he would ever, ever even think of playing for the other side. He would never."

The righteous indignation rose up, she saw it happen. Sirius stood to his full height, his eyes turned slate, and she knew he was trying not to be mad at her. He didn't think her right. He didn't think she knew his friends as well as he did.

But he was wrong.

She knew them better.

She knew why it made sense for Peter Pettigrew to be the weak one; he always was. Yet somehow the implications of it all escaped the Marauders. Sirius suspected Remus, Remus suspected Sirius, James didn't suspect either of them, but neither did he consider Peter, so in the end it didn't matter which they chose to be their Secret Keeper. He trusted them all implicitly, but he also tended to side with Sirius. He'd feel bad for leaving Remus out of it, yet assumed it would all be sorted in the end.

"It's Peter, Sirius," she spoke softly, hoping against hope he wouldn't lose it. She hated saying these things, but there was no beating around the bush with Black. "The rat. The follower who didn't fit. The weakest one who made friends with people stronger than himself."

James was angry as well, she could see it, but the wheels were turning too. Over them all he'd side with her, even if he thought she was wrong.

"I'm not asking anyone to throw him to the inferi. I'm just saying I won't consent to his being the Secret Keeper because as much as you think he's too foolish or too cowardly to turn sides, I believe otherwise. Peter isn't stupid, Sirius, but he's never been so loyal either. His animagus should be proof enough."

His glower was centred on her. She'd called him out on a truth he hated to acknowledge. Even though Peter was his friend, gifted the title 'Wormtail', he'd never truly thought much of him. Pettigrew was the tag along.

"You think Peter doesn't know? Sirius," she addressed him directly even as his lip curled and his scowl deepened. "Even your own reasoning isn't because you think him loyal. It's because you think he's timid. All those jokes about how he should have been in Hufflepuff were glimpses of truth and you all knew it, but he was your friend anyway. Or so you thought." Another deep breath. "How many times did he look at you all in envy? And he was always afraid, trailing back. He went along with you for all the wrong reasons from the start."

"Now wait a bloody minute," James spoke up. "If you don't want to use Peter, fine Lily. We won't-" he shot a look at Sirius who was about ready to explode. "But there's no call for that!"

"Yes there is because Sirius is being stupid and you're following like always! Remus is not a traitor. But I really believe Peter is and if you would stop being prejudice you would see it, too!"

"This isn't the time for throwing accusations!"

"But Sirius has been! And you don't correct him. Everyone thought Remus the pacifist, but that's not true, is it? It's you. You're the one who shuts up and rolls your eyes, you don't argue back against him."

"I'm right. Fucking. Here," the words were ground out from behind clenched teeth.

She pretended not to hear him. "And that lends credence to his simplistic thinking. Because he's a werewolf? Something that happened against his will? The whole reason you're all as close as you can possibly be? Ha! Like I said it's a Life Debt to him. He would rather die than see any of you hurt.

"I won't say he isn't being stupid too because he is. All of you are. Not one of you ever took Peter seriously enough. You think too little of him, don't give him enough credit. He sides with the powerful, James, Sirius," green eyes found the shaking one again, "because he's weak. I don't doubt he feels horrible and conflicted and depressed, but in the end he isn't quite like the rest of you."

"Evans!" Sirius was at the end of his rope now. The fury came roaring like the waves of an ocean storm. "I'm trying to save your life, you dumb cunt-"

That sent James from his chair.

"-and I'm telling you I know Wormtail can't be the-"

"Only because you underestimate him!" She stood too, breathing laboured. She'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, that Sirius could be reasoned with, but she saw it was impossible. She'd known it would be. He rarely saw fault within himself. "I'm telling you I know he is!"

"How?!" It was an enraged howl.

Her eyes closed tightly, hands balled into fists at her sides, and she shouted the truth. "Because Severus told me so!"

The silence was deafening.

"What?" A whisper of white hot fury. Not from her husband, who should have cared more about her continued contact with an almost-known Death Eater, but from Sirius Black. The one who hated Snape the most.

"He owes James his life, Sirius," she knew there was no chance of reasoning with him now, but she would say her piece anyway. Even when he stormed far away her words would remain with him. "And we all know how he feels about me."