"James! James- c'mon, you sleep like a rock!" I groaned, and pulled the covers tighter over my head. That voice was all too familiar, it sounded like… but that was impossible. "James! Prongs, honestly!"

"Padfoot, give it a rest," Suddenly, my eyes shot open. Padfoot. Time travel. I was in the past. I shot up to stare into grey eyes. Sirius grinned at me, and leaned back, displaying a bucket of water.

"I wasn't actually going to pour it on you," Sirius declared, handing the bucket to Remus, who was standing back with Peter and snickering. "I knew you'd get up. Hey, you alright, mate? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Y-yeah," I said shakily, staring at Sirius with wide eyes. "Good morning, S-sirius."

"Give him a rest, Sirius," Remus chuckled. "He probably had a nightmare. You know James, he sometimes has a hard time discerning dreams from reality."

"Y-yes, exactly," I nodded, shaking my head. I hadn't seen Sirius since his own funeral, and, even then, I hadn't seen him alive in over four months. "Sorry, Padfoot."

"It's fine," Sirius replied happily, waving his hand. "Do you wanna talk about your nightmare?"

"No," I said bluntly. I couldn't not think about that day. The last time I'd seen Sirius alive he was so un-Sirius-like, so weak and broken… "No, I'd rather not."

"It's okay, James," Peter smiled. "We all have nightmares. I once had one where a crazy demon dog toy chased me around London."

I blinked, and gave Peter an odd look. He blushed.

"Right," he muttered, still red. "Not to self, weird dreams are not to be shared."

"Let's go down to breakfast," Remus suggested. I nodded again, and quickly went to get changed into my clothes. We walked to the Great Hall in silence, and I kept glancing at Sirius as if to make sure he was still there. He caught my glance once, and looked at me questioningly. I flushed, and looked down, because I couldn't look at those grey eyes without remembering them so dull and lifeless.

Once we reached the Great Hall, I sat down next to Lily, who jolted a little when Sirius sat beside me. She grabbed my hand under the table, and gave me a welcoming and questioning smile.

"Good morning, Lils," I murmured, squeezing her hand. "Slept well?"

"I definitely feel younger," she joked, grinning at me, before her expression turned serious. "What about you? How are you coping with seeing him again?"

"I'm not," I said honestly. "I can't not remember what happened."

"I know, sweetheart," she said soothingly. Then she noticed Remus, Peter, and… Sirius looking at us strangely. "Hello, boys."

"Evans! Since when do you talk to Prongs?" Sirius exclaimed, looking quite surprised. Lily froze, blushed, and mouthed 'help me' at me.

"I snuck out last night without telling you," I lied easily. "I met Lily in the corridors, and we talked, and she finally said yes."

"Hmm…" Remus didn't look convinced. It was hard to fool him, as I'd learned after nearly two years of living with him. "Alright, then. Hello, Lily."

"Hello, Remus," Lily smiled. "Sirius, do shut your mouth, you'll catch flies."

Sirius immediately shut his mouth.

"James, who exactly are you seeing again?" Remus asked suddenly. James cursed under his breath. Stupid werewolf hearing. "And why aren't you coping?"

"Oh, what?" I asked, playing dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about, Moony."

Remus narrowed his eyes, but let the matter slide.

"So, Prongs, you ready to face McGonagall's wrath? Your detention is this morning," Sirius grinned cheekily, laughing. James shrugged, having no idea what the date even was. "Wonder what she'll make you do?"

"Write lines," James replied automatically, trying to fall back into the easy banter and conversation he and Sirius would exchange. It was difficult to do so, what with every glance at him leading to painful memories of a broken body and lifeless eyes.

"James, what did you do this time?" Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. But there was a smile on her face, which meant she was thinking of the same thing he was, of the times when detentions were their only worries and all their friends and family were alive and with them.

"I have no idea," I replied, chuckling. "Sirius, what'd I do?"

"Turned every desk in the classroom into a pig," Sirius answered happily. "How could you forget that? It was brilliant!"

James didn't remember much from third year; most of his memories of that year included Sirius, and memories of Sirius made his heart hurt.

"James has more important things to think about than pranks," Lily said primly. She fished a letter out of her cloak, and handed it to me. "Make sure this gets to Dumbledore."

"I will," I replied.


The rest of breakfast passed with nothing more than amiable chatter. It was strange, suddenly. I expected things to just go back to normal, but now I felt all awkward near Sirius. You try talking to your dead best friend. It's awkward.

Lily was easing into things better, but she was anxious to talk to her parents again. I knew how she felt. Just to spend a whole day with my Mum and Dad would be nice. Remus's parents were great and all, but there's just this gap no one can fill when your own parents don't talk to you.

I'd subconsciously put up my mask when I walked into McGonagall's office. I didn't let any emotion show, which was probably strange for thirteen year old me, but not for fifteen year old me. I was always closed off.

"Mr. Potter, I presume you know why you're here?" McGonangall had asked. I'd nodded tightly, and she looked at me weird. "Mr. Potter, are you alright?"

"Fine," I said, as usual. "Just fine."

After the detention, I told her I needed to speak with Dumbledore. She'd brought me to his office, still glancing oddly at me every now and then. So, now, here I was, walking into Dumbledore's office, a note in my hand, and completely prepared to tell my story.

"Hello, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore smiled warmly, eyes twinkling bright. "What have you done this time?"

"Time travelled, sir," I said honestly. This wasn't what he was expecting, and he sat up a little straighter. "Here. This is a note from your future self. It should, hopefully, explain everything, because I think if I tried I'd end up sobbing."

Dumbledore read the note silently, before looking at me with wide eyes. "Is it true? Mr. Black… is he really…?"

"Yes," I said bluntly. "Yes, he is. I'm sure. I saw it happened. He died," my voice cracked, "he died in my arms, Professor. Just like that, gone."

"I see," Dumbledore said sadly, the twinkle in his eyes gone. He looked every year his age. "I'm very sorry, James. I trust you're here to fix the future, then?"

"Absolutely," I replied. "Don't try and stop me. I failed Sirius once, I won't do it again. You saw the part about Lily's parents? The attack is," I glanced at the calendar, "two weeks from now. I expect wards up, false trails laid, and Aurors ready. Lily and I are ready to help, if need be. After Siri- he died, we started learning a lot of Defensive magic. We'd be able to hold our own in battle now."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Dumbledore smiled tiredly. "We will be sure to start preventing attacks. Do you have any others?"

"A week after the Evans murder, the McKinnon estate is burnt to the ground. Two weeks after that, there's an attack on a Muggle village somewhere in Devon. Two days later, Diagon Alley is attacked," I listed dully. "The list goes on and on. It gets worse after the Attack on Hogsmeade. I have it written down."

I fished a crumpled piece of parchment out of my robes. I was actually surprised it was there. I handed it to Dumbledore, who read it and paled.

"Not pretty, is it?" I frowned. "Voldemort's crazy, that's for sure, and so are his followers. Sirius's own cousin, Bellatrix, took part in his… in his murder. She's already a Death Eater at this point. You can go on and arrest her."

"It was very noble of you to do this, James," Dumbledore said. I gave him a skeptical look. "For one who has lost so much, you are strong. You could have chosen many paths. To move on, get on with your life. To give up, stop trying. Instead, you chose to risk your own future and come back to save your best friend's. That, in itself, is more noble than I could ever hope to be."

"You would have done the same," I replied. "For one of your closest friends, or siblings. I know you would have."

"No," Dumbledore sighed, looking down. A single tear trickled down his cheek and into his beard. "I would not have."

A/N: Hello all! An update! Poor Dumbledore. Can anyone guess what he's thinking about? ;) So, now, if you didn't already know, you know that Sirius is the one that died. Of course, James and Lily are trying to prevent that- but can they? Thank you to my reviewers: krikanalo, Loves to read books, N.E. Person, and a guest! Hope you all enjoyed! Reviews appreciated!

I don't own Harry Potter.