Chapter 10: A Powerful Pull on the Imagination

Several people who were slow to leave class paused even longer to watch the scene panning out in the hallway. Lis didn't notice - she was far too angry -, nor did Lily, Ginny or Harry - they were laughing far too hard -, nor did the rest of the Marauders and Rebels - they were far too dumbstruck. Alex and Ronan did notice, however.

"Your American accent needs some work, Lis," said Ronan, shaking his head. This only made Lily, Ginny, and Harry laugh harder. "Apparently, they agree with me, too."

Most people, realizing that this scene wasn't nearly as interesting as it seemed, left. Alex grabbed Lis and steered them all into - you guessed it - an empty classroom.

"Bloody hell, Lis!" exclaimed Alex. "You need to be more careful before we're found out. We could be arrested, or worse, expelled!"

Harry was now crying with laughter. "You...managed...to sound like...Ron and Hermione...in the same breath!" he spluttered between laughs.

Poor Peter, who actually was present for once, was hopelessly confused. "Wait a minute! What's going on here?"

James blinked. "Did you tell him?" Sirius and Remus shook their heads. "Well, I didn't..." He turned to Peter. "Oops. I guess we forgot to tell you-"

"I don't think you should," Harry butted in.

James looked at him incredulously. "Why not?"

"Well, in my experience, Peter didn't keep secrets very well. No offense to you, Peter," he added quickly.

Torn between his best friend and son, James debated what to do. He really wanted to find out about the Soldiers. But, Peter had started drifting away from them and denying him wouldn't help the situation, especially since he wouldn't understand. To be a friend or to be a father, possibly a grandfather.

"Sorry, mate," he said to Peter, "We'll meet you in the Common Room later, alright?"

"Yeah...no problem..." Peter muttered as he walked out the door.

Immediately, James exploded at Harry for putting him in that mess in the first place, "What's Peter ever done to you? What reason did you have to do that?"

"A good one," replied Lis, her eyes flaring.

Ronan put a hand on Lis' shoulder, which calmed her down. He looked James straight in the eye and said, "They're both right."

Something about the look in Ronan's eye and the tone of his voice convinced James to listen. Something about him allowed James to trust his judgement. Only Remus had ever affected him that way before.

James' eyes lit up. "Congratulations, Moony! You're not going to remain an anti-social bachelor for the rest of your life."

Remus' face twisted in horror. "It's my fault, isn't it? Either I bit you...or you were born that way."

"Damn," Ronan said, running his hand through his hair, "I knew you would take it that way, and I can't explain because it might mess things up. If it's any consolation, I'm not a werewolf, exactly."

"What?"

"Yeah, I have an interesting combination of genes. Anyway, I transform at the full moon like any werewolf, but I'm also something like an Animagus."

He transformed for them right in the classroom. He looked almost docile, sitting like a dog in the aisle between the desks. The vision was complete when he scratched behind his ear. Remus watched all this in silence, a relieved smile on his face which Ronan matched when he transformed back.

"Okay, one down, two to go," James said. "Who's next?"

"Alex is definitely Ron and Hermione's daughter," Harry commented. They both choked, blushed, and looked pointedly away from each other. Alex giggled at them and Harry continued, "Come off it, you two. We all know you secretly go off and snog each other whenever you can."

Lis snorted, "And we all know that's what you want to do with Ginny."

"Stupid, noble git," muttered Ginny, giving him a playful shove. Luckily, the only people who heard her were the people who understood the comment.

Sirius placed an arm on Lis' shoulder, "And this lovely flower can only be Harry and Ginny's."

Leaning over to Harry, Lily whispered, "I'm touched that you named her after me." More loudly, she said, "I bet it was a surprise when you ended up here instead of the Rebel's time."

Lis shrugged, "It doesn't make any difference to us. It's not actually that different here, except that the Wizarding World doesn't worship 'the Chosen One' here."

Harry stiffened next to Lily. Wanting to know what was going on with him, she went against all her instincts and asked, "Who's 'the Chosen One?'"

"The man prophesied to kill Voldemort. He's in every book in our time, even Astronomy textbooks. They all say he's the most powerful wizard that ever lived, even more powerful than Merlin."

Now Harry was staring in disbelief, as were Ginny and Hermione. Ron was looking more like he was trying hard not to laugh.

"So, you're saying," began James, "that there is-"

"-will be-"

"-will be a prophecy about the person who is destined to kill Voldemort."

"Yes. He does it before the age of eighteen, too." Now everyone was paying rapt attention, especially Harry. "Apparently Voldemort had a few 'treasures' hidden in places from his memories that gave him power." She chuckled at something she remembered. "What's ironic is that he actually inherited one of them from his godfather, who was the last of his family."

"How do you figure that?" Harry asked urgently.

"His godfather's brother found it. Voldemort got into a real tizzy about that one, killed the poor guy himself."

"You're right..." he mused. "You're right!"

Lis smirked smugly, "Of course I'm right. I had the privilege of hearing the story first hand."

"This is all fine and dandy, but can you talk about something that involves us now?" asked Sirius, a tinge of impatience in his voice. "The family reunion is getting a bit boring."

"No, that's not for a few weeks," put in James off-handedly.

"Why didn't you mention it earlier?" Harry and Lis cried.

"I only remembered it just now. It happens on the last weekend of this month which also happens to be a full moon. McGonagall gave me permission to leave but I wasn't going to go." He glanced at Remus, who nodded. "Did you want to go?" They both nodded emphatically. "Alright, I'll see what I can do."

Peter left the room, hanging his head dejectedly. Once again, his friends had forgotten him completely. Then, they had sided with Harry over him. He knew that Harry hated him. He could accept that; there were just some people that he rubbed the wrong way. But James listened to Harry, this kid he barely knew, over him, his best friend!

"It must be hard..." said a voice. Peter spun around. A few Slytherin Seventh Years were congregated near a statue. "Your friends dumped you for the James-clone and all the spawn that came with him even though you've been loyal to them all these years." The speaker smirked, realizing that he had all but read Peter's thoughts. Who knows? Maybe he used Legilimency, Peter realized. "Come with us. We believe in the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Be loyal to us, we'll be loyal to you."

He held out his hand. Peter hesitated, then took it. His friends had betrayed him, so it was only fit that he return the act.