Thanks, Folks Following this story! Hope you like the update!
So here's Chapter 2 and it's on time! Only by the skin of its teeth but still. It's gotten longer than the first plot arc...which I suppose is to be expected as I got more invested. Three more chapters to go!
Also as I'm sure you've already noticed I have no beta. You have been warned. (Anyone who wants to volunteer will be rewarded with a million brownie points. :) )
Trigger Warning: Self Harm, Attempted Suicide. Major Character Death.
As always...all writes(bad pun alert) to JK our mutual writing goddess.
Chapter 2: The Second Time James Fleamont Potter Attended Hogwarts
The second time James Fleamont Potter attended Hogwarts he barely noticed his cousin had gotten sorted into Slytherin again. He was too busy twitching from the memory of the Cruciatus Curse. Instead, he concentrated on remembering how to breathe without broken ribs while Peter Pettigrew's phantom screams, begging the Dark Lord to kill him, rang in his ears.
Cheers rang out as each student was sorted but James kept his head down. He didn't dare let his gaze rest on anyone in the Great Hall. Too many of them were younger versions of people he'd watched tear each other apart in a miasma of hate and fear a few short years from now. The shock of being young again lasted through Lupin, Remus being sorted into Ravenclaw and Pettigrew, Peter going to Gryffindor. The dull throbbing in his brain remained until Professor McGonagall called out, Potter, James. Blinking back tears, the little boy with horribly old eyes and messy hair trudged over to the sorting hat and sat down thinking of the safe, yellow walls of the Hufflepuff common room. Just before the hat slipped over his eyes, he looked up and accidentally met the guilt-filled eyes of his cousin, Sirius Black.
The second time James Fleamont Potter attended Hogwarts, he was still very much a Hufflepuff at heart. He still thought everyone could be saved. So he sat down under the hat and bent every ounce of Hufflepuff loyalty in his soul towards one goal. He knew he'd done it when the hat grudgingly shouted out "Slytherin" and a shell-shocked Sirius Black fainted dead away. Lifetimes later, tipsy from butterbeer, the Marauders would declare it James's first, and greatest, prank.
The first time James Fleamont Potter was sorted into Slytherin his father sent a howler the morning after the sorting. James didn't hear it; he was crouched in his dorm room trying to staunch the blood from the cuts on Sirius's wrists. In total, Sirius Black tried to kill himself nine times in their (second) first year. James Potter found him every time and dragged him to Madame Pomfrey before too much blood leaked out of his wrists or the poison he'd taken ate away his insides. It became a common sight to see the shyest, most unassuming Slytherin anyone had ever meet chasing after a slightly unhinged and guilt-riddled (though no one could ever figure out what he thought himself guilty of) Sirius Black. James broke down weeping, he cowed away from his cousin's wand, but he never left.
The one time Sirius managed to get away from James he leaped off the Astronomy tower. Remus Lupin caught the back of his robes slammed him up against the battlements and chewed him out, (metaphorically speaking). The main points, which Sirius grudgingly informed James of later that night, were since Remus had died because of Sirius's stupid plan Sirius owed him a life debt and Remus would appreciate it if Sirius stop trying to get out it. Sirius stopped trying to kill himself and James was too relieved to point out that life debts didn't work like that. Remus didn't speak to either James or Sirius again, but sometimes James would look up and notice the solitary werewolf watching the cousins with something very close to longing in his eyes. James noticed and he felt bad about it but not enough to do something. After all, he was a Hufflepuff masquerading as Slytherin. Making friends with a werewolf, a creature out of his bedtime nightmares required more than loyalty or cunning. It required courage. James Potter wasn't quite that brave yet.
The second time James attended Hogwarts he learned that Peter Pettigrew remembered everything when his Boggart turned into three dead boys in their 5th year. James tried to get Peter to talk about it, one night when they ran into each other in the kitchens, but Sirius showed up and old habits die hard. All three boys ended up in the hospital wing, covered in polka dots, extra eyes, and itches in unmentionable places.
Remus Lupin was lying on the other side of the room recovering from the full moon the night before. When James, high on too much un-polka dotting potion, saw the boy he started crying and staggered over. To Remus horror, and Sirius everlasting amusement, James crawling right into bed with the other boy. Sobbing, the Hufflepuff turned Slytherin started apologizing about not being nicer. Peter grinned at the surly Ravenclaw he'd befriending years ago. The teenage werewolf shot all three boys exasperated looks and tried to extricate himself from the clingy Slytherin. James just snuggled closer giggling and declared he wanted to be as scary as Remus one day. Taking pity on Remus, Sirius tried to help pull James off the bed but only succeeded in getting tangled in the bedsheets. The sight of Sirius bright red with embarrassment, tangled at the end his bed, was too much even for Remus and the boy started chuckling. Finally, Peter stepped in. Unfortunately, that was when the de-polka dotting potion decided to kick in for Peter and Sirius, as well. Somehow, James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin ended up in a four-way pillow fight, drenched in moonlight, howling with laughter for no apparent reason. Later Peter would declare that night in the hospital wing the first official meeting of the Marauders.
The first time James Fleamont Potter was sorted in Slytherin he struggled to hide his cousin's new ambitious life goal, the destruction of Lord Voldemort. With hard work, patience, and a great deal of misdirection James managed to carve out a little spot of ambiguity in the Slytherin house hierarchy for them. In the eyes of Slytherin house, the cousins weren't quite blood traitors nor were they ardent supporters of the rising Dark Lord. They were outwardly grey at a time where it was nearly impossible not to pick a side. But it was all a carefully executed facade. James kept up the pretense of indifference in the Slytherin common room while Remus showed up at the Fat Lady's portrait every night and complained loudly about having to drag Peter to the library. No one guessed, except perhaps a man with a long white beard and twinkling eyes, what both boys were conspiring to hide. For who would have guessed that every night Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black found common ground huddled together in an unused classroom with a silencing charm on the door. They still cursed each other in the hallways but at night every battle, attack, or name that a former Death Eater and a former member of Order of the Phoenix could remember was spread out across the desks and walls. Every night they argued about the best way to stop Voldemort. Every night, they crept back through the halls after curfew their eyes red and haunted. Eventually, they decided they needed a spy and Remus volunteered. James didn't argue. He would regret that decision the rest of all his lives.
The first time James was sorted into Slytherin he got a little twinge of worry in his stomach when Dumbledore stood up and said at the beginning of 7th year that a certain Ravenclaw student wouldn't be returning to complete his Hogwarts education. James gnawed his fingernails wishing he knew a charm to track people. He worried and wrapped his hand around the only physical proof of the four boys secret friendship, a huge overflowing book of sketches of Hogwart's secret corridors and passageways that they'd all contributed to. That night he let Sirius throw dark curses he'd learned a lifetime ago at him until they were both too exhausted to worry. Three days later Peter Pettigrew got the note Sirius passed him in DADA. The bold Griffendor walked into the staged ambush on the 3rd-floor corridor and all three were careful to curse each other just enough to warrant an overnight trip to the Hospital Wing. Unobserved, they plotted to sneak out on Hogsmeade weekend to check on Remus. James never mentioned that he'd finally worked up the courage to ask Lily to go with him. He just told her he'd changed his mind while she cried and called him a coward for letting house loyalties get in the way.
The Marauders never graduated Hogwarts in that lifetime but they made it past a pack of thirty werewolves to where a battered Remus Lupin was being held in a silver cage. They broke him out and then when it became obvious there was no way out they stood their ground, together, when the moon rose. Moony even managed to attack the other wolves instead of the boys standing in front of him. In the end, it didn't matter, they were all still torn apart.
Next Week: The Third Time Remus Lupin was sorted in Hogwarts.
If you saw any grammar mistakes give me a holler and I'll fix 'em, please and thank you. (I know there are some comma problems and a couple run-ons for sure. I'll try and fix 'em at a later date but mad Chinese homework is killing my English language skills at the moment. So anything that's driving you nuts just shout out. )