Disclaimer: I don't own the dystopic world of Harry Potter. But since JKR is apparently even worse at math than I am, I do own the following revisions to canon: Bellatrix Black was born in 1957 (to justify Sirius later remembering her at Hogwarts with him), Andromeda Black is Narcissa's twin and the elder by a few minutes (because her birthdate has never been established); according to HP wiki, Lily was born on January 30, 1960 but no birthday is given for Petunia; so for this fic Petunia was born on July 10 1958, the same birthday as the actress who played her, which makes her about 17 months older than Lily. Also, unlike almost every other HP fanfic author out there, I have chosen not to use the movie uniforms because they don't fit the book descriptions. For readers of my other stories, this has nothing to do with "Inevitable" though due to all the criticism I got over that, I hope I've better managed to capture the personalities. Also, be warned now: I'm terrible at writing accents, especially Hagrid's, so please forgive me in advance if I got it wrong.

Chapter 1: The Werewolf Incident

The day of the Incident found Lily Evans standing in Professor McGonagall's office and staring at the Deputy Headmistress, almost unwilling to believe what she'd just heard.

"What do you mean Mulciber isn't getting expelled?" Lily demanded, "That—that bastard put Mary under the Imperius Curse and nearly forced her to jump off a balcony in the Astronomy Tower. If I hadn't found her when I did—,"

"We don't have any actual proof that it was him that did that," McGonagall said resignedly.

"She identified him," Lily was almost yelling now, "What more evidence do you need?"

"Yes, she identified him," said McGonagall, "But only by voice; she didn't actually see him, there were no witnesses and all of Mulciber's friends have given him an alibi—,"

"They're lying!"

"I happen to think so too, Miss Evans," McGonagall admitted, "But as long as they all stick to their story, there's no way to prove it."

Lily started to say something more and then hesitated as the full weight of McGonagall's words hit her, "When you say all of Mulciber's friends, do you mean—,"

"Yes, I mean all of his friends—even Mr. Snape."

"I can't believe this!" Lily threw up her hands in disgust and started pacing. "We have truth potions, don't we? Why can't we make them talk?"

"I sympathize with your position, Miss Evans," said McGonagall, "I really do and I wish there was more I could do, but school rules don't allow students to be dosed with truth potions and they're not acceptable in a court of law either."

"And why the hell not?"

"Numerous reasons, Miss Evans," McGonagall said firmly, "Most important is the issue of self-incrimination: is it really right to force someone to incriminate themselves in a crime, even if they're guilty? Tempting as that may be, it's still a very dangerous path to go down. Moreover, truth potions only force you to give answers that you believe to be true, they are not perfect. People under truth potions are quite capable of giving answers that are misleading but still technically true, or only giving an absolute bare minimum answer with no details—especially if they know it's coming. Furthermore, people can use memory charms to either make it so that they really don't remember doing something or, even worse, to make someone else think that they had done it."

Lily stopped pacing and hung her head, finally getting control of her temper again. It was times like this that she almost understood why James Potter and his friends did what they did; it was times like this that she was almost tempted to help them out.

(*)

The evening of the Incident found James Potter standing at the edge of the forest in his animagus form. He didn't like being out here but the passage from the Willow to the Shrieking Shack was so small that he could have only fit as a human, and even then only by crawling. So James had been consigned to standing lookout and waiting for his friends to emerge and he had no choice but to stand in the forest as it was the only way to avoid drawing attention to himself. All of a sudden James saw Snape approaching the Willow with his wand lit; concerned about being spotted, James took a few steps back into the woods but he wasn't overly concerned about what Snape might be up to...until he saw Snape toss a rock at the knot on the Willow, immobilizing it and then walking inside.

Not bothering to worry about how Snape figured it out—there would be time for that later— and no longer concerned if he was spotted, James galloped over to the Willow, transformed back, and barely remembered to hit the Knot again before he went in after Snape.

"Stop!" James called out of ahead of him, "Stop! Get out of here!" Snape ignored him and doubled his pace, heading deeper into the tunnel. James finally caught up with him just outside the Shack where he called out again, "Stop!" This time it was as much for Snape's benefit as it was to warn Sirius.

A wolf howl came from the shack and despite the poor light, James caught a glimpse of a set of feral eyes and gleaming teeth; then heard a series of loud yelps and snarls. Snape had had enough; he turned around and bolted. James followed, he had no choice as there wasn't room to transform in the tunnel and going into the shack as a human would have been too dangerous, but thankfully Sirius seemed to have heard and tackled Moony in time.

They emerged from the tunnel to find Hagrid standing over them. The half-giant picked them both up by the scruff of their collars and yanked them away from the Willow.

"What were ye two doin' sneakin' 'round in t'ere?" Hagrid said gruffly, "'I'll have't take ye ter see Professor Dumbledore."

James said nothing on the way to Dumbledore's office; neither did Snape, though James noted something odd about his behavior. Nothing he could put his finger on, just...odd somehow. But before he could think any more about it, they finally arrived. Despite the late hour, Dumbledore was still up.

"What's happened, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked.

"Caught these two comin' out o' the' tunnel under the Willow," said Hagrid.

"I see," said Dumbledore, "Very well, I will deal with this, you may leave." Hagrid nodded and departed. As he did so, Snape straightened up a bit, "Now," Dumbledore continued, "You are both well aware that the tunnel under the Whomping Willow is off-limits. Is there anything either of you wants to tell me?"

"I want Potter and Black expelled," Snape spoke almost at once, "They tried to set me up to get killed!" James blinked and did a double take, then frowned.

"I don't know what Sirius did," though that may perhaps explain how Snape got past the Willow, "but I had nothing to do with it."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It's the truth," said James, crossing his arms.

"I refuse to believe it."

"Well if you stopped for a moment to use your brain," James declared, "You might ask yourself, if I wanted you dead, why did I go in after you and save your life?"

"Save my life?" Snape snarled, "You didn't save me, you—,"

"Enough," said Dumbledore, "Now, Mr. Potter, please tell me your part in this."

"I was outside near the forest," James said, well aware that he'd just admitted to breaking curfew to the Headmaster and resigned now to the consequences, "I noticed Snape going in to the tunnel; I went after him and called out for him to stop but he didn't, not until he was almost at the shack."

"I see," Dumbledore repeated, "Now, Mr. Snape, tell me how did you know how to get past the Willow?"

"Black—Sirius Black that is—told me how."

James eyes narrowed and he wondered just what Sirius had been thinking. They were definitely going to have a long talk tomorrow.

"Very well," said Dumbledore, "Since the two of you were both out after curfew in a restricted area, you will each serve one night of detention tomorrow—,"

"What?" Snape exclaimed, who somehow managed to sound surprised that he was also being punished.

"—and I will deal with Mr. Black in the morning."

"But Headmaster—,"

"Do you want it to be a full week of detention, Mr. Snape?" Snape opened his mouth, then shut it soundless and shook his head. "Very well then, Mr. Potter you are dismissed, there are still a few more things I must ask Mr. Snape." James wanted to stay, wanted to find out just why Snape had done this—and possibly learn more about whatever it was that Sirius had done—but he sighed, nodded and left.

(*)

The day after the Incident found the Marauder's in an empty classroom with every privacy spell that they knew on the door. Lupin looked almost as upset as James. The only person who looked more or less normal was Pettigrew.

"Look, I'm sorry okay," Sirius said, "let me try to explain."

"I don't see how telling Snape how to get past the Willow could possibly be explained."

"It was a week ago," Sirius began, "he came up to me and started dropping all these little hints like he knew what we were up to and what Remus' secret was; I basically dared him to go press the knot on the Willow, but how was I to know that the little shit would be stupid enough—or insane enough— to actually do it?"

"Because Snape's life's ambition is to become one of Voldemort's Death Eaters," James said, "being that stupid—or that crazy—is required, or have you forgotten our dear cousin Bella?" Sirius winced and looked aside.

"But even leaving that aside," Lupin coolly said, stepping into the moment of silence, "Did you ever stop to wonder what would have happened if James hadn't managed stop Snape when he did? At what would have happened if I'd actually, Merlin forbid, attacked Snape and killed him? You almost made a murderer out of me! And if that had happened, the Ministry would have almost certainly killed me."

Sirius hung his head in shame as the full magnitude of his crime sunk in, "I—I'm sorry. I realize how that sounds, and that I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'm sorry. I was angry and I wasn't thinking." Albus Dumbledore had given him detention for the rest of the year as well as the next two and banned him from ever again playing Quidditch at Hogwarts. It was still milder than he deserved, but anything more would have required making Remus' condition public knowledge. But thankfully Dumbledore must have found some way to keep Snape's mouth shut for, aside from glaring at them even more than normal, he hadn't said anything.

"I'm sorry," Sirius repeated, "I made a mistake. I truly didn't mean for any of that to happen."

"I'm sure you didn't," Lupin said, "But I can't forgive you, not yet anyway."

Sirius, head still low, just nodded, "I understand."

Lupin unlocked the door opened it and left, followed by the still quiet Pettigrew. James gave Sirius one last disappointed look and then also left him.

(*)

Two days after the Incident found James Potter once again in an empty classroom under numerous privacy spells, this time with Lily Evans. This was a scenario he'd often fantasized about...except for the part where she was scowling at him with narrowed eyes and arms crossed.

"Potter," she said, "I want you to tell me exactly what happened the other night. I've been hearing disturbing rumors, something about Sirius Black doing something very dangerous that nearly got Severus killed." James, even after five years, could never completely control the wince he felt every time Lily used Snape's first name.

"It's...complicated," James said, not sure how much he could—or should—tell her. If there was one thing that he'd learned about girls, it was that they talked. A lot. And this was something that he really didn't want spread around the school.

"So make it uncomplicated," said Lily.

James sighed, "Sirius told Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow. So Snape went down into the tunnel, which heads to the Shrieking Shack. I found out, went after him and just barely managed to get him out safely." Simple, straightforward, and basically true.

Lily's only reaction was to tilt her head slightly, "Do you take me for an idiot, Potter?" she said, "I want details."

"And I'm under no obligation to tell you anything," James retorted. He turned to leave but paused mid-step when Lily said:

"Does it have anything to do with Remus being a werewolf," James blinked and whirled back to face her. She...she knew? How did she know? "I only ask because I noticed the moon was full that night."

James gritted his teeth for a moment and then finally said, "Yes, the Shrieking Shack is where he goes on the full moon."

"I see," Lily said. She was silent for a moment and then added, "Well, since you've been so honest with me, I'll return the favor by telling you something: Severus already knew about Remus' condition."

"He...what?" James said, "What do you mean he already knew?" Oh sure, Sirius had said that Snape had been acting like he knew, but James had thought that that was just a bluff.

"Oh come on, Potter," Lily said, "You figured it out, why is it so hard to believe that he could too?"

James bit his tongue to check his first impulse, which was to repeat his earlier comment about Snape's obvious lack of intelligence. At least that explained how Lily knew, assuming it wasn't her that figured it out and told Snape—a scenario that he considered far more likely than the reverse.

"He tried to play the innocent victim to Dumbledore," James said instead. "But if he already knew...why the hell did he go down there in the first place?" A very disturbing thought occurred to him.

"I—I don't know," said Lily, furrowing her brow. She looked so pretty at that moment; of course James thought that she always looked pretty, but especially so when she was engaged in deep thought; he brushed it aside, this wasn't the time for that.

"I can only think of two possibilities: he was trying to commit suicide...or he was trying to commit murder."

"Murder!?" Lily said, jerking up at the word "What—How—Why—?" She was all of a sudden at loss for words.

"Because he's in the Jr. Death Eater Club, because it's only a short step from covering up attempted murder to trying it yourself, because he knew that it would hurt me, because it isn't a crime to kill a transformed werewolf—."

"It isn't?" Lily blinked, apparently too shocked to try disputing his other statements.

"No, it isn't," said James, "go to the library and look it up if you don't believe me."

"I think I will," said Lily coldly, eyes narrowed. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Maybe, just maybe, James reflected, something good might have come out of this mess after all.

(*)

Three days after the Incident found Lily Evans engaged in something that had been happening more and more frequently this school year. She was having an argument with her best friend, Severus Snape. This time they were walking across the thankfully deserted castle courtyard.

"You've been shunning me the last few days," Snape was saying.

Well of course I have, Lily thought angrily, how did you expect me to react when you vouched for that bastard Mulciber? Not to mention what you've done more recently...She had indeed gone to the library after her conversation with Potter where she'd discovered, much to her horror, that he'd been right about the law regarding transformed werewolves. And, try as she might, she just couldn't come up with another plausible explanation for Sev's behavior besides suicide or murder...and she knew Sev wasn't suicidal.

"Why? I thought we were supposed to be friends? Best friends?"

"We are, Sev," Lily said "but I don't like some of the people you're hanging round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?" She reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into his thin, sallow face. Would he come right out and admit to what he'd done?

"That was nothing," said Snape. "It was a laugh, that's all—"

Lily stared at Severus in shock. A laugh? A laugh? Since when was attempted murder considered 'a laugh'? "It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny—"

"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?" Severus demanded. His color rose again as he said it, unable, it seemed, to hold in his resentment.

Lily blinked. "What's Potter got to do with anything?" James Potter's faults were numerous and sundry, but Lily would gladly take Potter on his worst day over Mulciber on any day. At least Potter didn't think that muggleborns were trash and didn't go around trying to kill people.

"They sneak out at night. There's something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?" Lily frowned. What was he up to? Why was he asking her those things when he already knew the answers?

"He's ill," Lily said. It was even true, lycanthropy certainly qualified as an illness, "they say he's ill…"

"Every month at the full moon?" said Snape.

"I know your theory," said Lily coldly. Although he still hadn't said so, the 'attempted murder' option was looking more and more likely from the way he kept going on about Potter. "Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they're doing at night?" This was his opening, a chance to explain himself, but he either didn't notice it or didn't take it.

"I'm just trying to show you they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are."

The intensity of his gaze made her blush.

"They don't use Dark Magic, though." Well fine, time to get a little more blunt. She dropped her voice. "And you're being really ungrateful. I heard what happened the other night. You went sneaking down that tunnel by the Whomping Willow, and James Potter saved you from whatever's down there—" If he was going to play dumb, then so could she. Maybe it would get him to admit to what he'd been up to that night, or at least give her a hint that it was something besides attempted murder that she simply hadn't thought of.

Snape's whole face contorted and he spluttered, "Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends' too!"

Well, of course he was, Lily thought, you didn't really expect him to just let you kill one of his friends, did you? But she couldn't bring herself to actually say it; it would be bad enough if she somehow turned out to be wrong, what would she do if she actually turned out to be right?

"You're not going to— I won't let you—"

"Let me? Let me?" Lily's bright green eyes were slits.

Severus backtracked at once. "I didn't mean — I just don't want to see you made a fool of — He fancies you, James Potter fancies you!" The words seemed wrenched from him against his will. "And he's not . . . everyone thinks . . . big Quidditch hero —" His bitterness and dislike was rendering him incoherent, and Lily's eyebrows traveled farther and farther up her forehead.

Where had this come from?

"I know James Potter's an arrogant toerag," she said, cutting across him. "I don't need you to tell me that. But Mulciber's and Avery's idea of humor is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don't understand how you can be friends with them." When Severus failed to give a reply, she looked at him and frowned, his whole body had relaxed and as they walked away he now had a new spring in his step. His face had that slightly glazed over expression of polite disinterest that told her that he was no longer listening to her. When she stopped walking again, he went on as if he hadn't noticed at all.

Lily stomped her foot in irritation at being ignored, at having all her concerns just glossed over, and walked off in a different direction.