Chapter 11- Professor Lupin

~Remus' POV~

Professor Lupin sat in his office, rearranging things in his large and very battered trunk. He was ready to leave; he just wanted something to distract him from the thing he would have to do in-Remus checked his watch- approximately two minutes.

He sat back in his chair, unable to continue with the packing. When had it come to this? Life had been great; he had the best friends in the world, and although he was a werewolf, he felt for the first time in his short life truly happy. Things didn't stay that way of course. Things happened that Remus wished more than anything he could change. He could still.

Remus mentally slapped himself. He had promised James. They all had.

And now, he had to leave Hogwarts again. At least Sirius was safe. It was the day after the incident in the Shrieking Shack. Harry had assured him that he saw Sirius fly away on that hippogriff, Buckbeak. Remus was glad. Glad that Sirius was finally free. Glad that after all, he wasn't the only alive Marauder who hadn't been convicted for killing his best friend. Glad that Harry had stopped him and Sirius from killing Pettigrew. He was angry with himself for letting Peter go though.

Remus jumped, as there was a knock on his office door. "Come in" he said, in a croaky voice, as if he had been crying. He had been, sort of. He had been all these years.

The door opened, and two identical red heads stepped into the office.

"Fred, George!" said Remus in a forced friendly voice. "Come in and sit down!"

"What do you want us to do today?" asked George in a bored voice. Remus frowned in confusion. Oh, of course! They were meant to be having detention with him for that box of pixies. He had specifically asked McGonagall to have them because he 'needed help with tidying up his office'. Of course, this was just an excuse so that he could talk to Fred and George privately without drawing attention, plus, he still felt slightly guilty that they had ended up in so many detentions because of him. The twins had been put into detentions for two months, and it had been a month since the incident.

"All I want you to do is hear me out, and not leave this room until I am finished. There is something very important I have to tell you." Remus answered in a very serious voice.

"What? So we're not doing detention?" the twins asked together.

"Why should you have a detention for something you didn't do? Apologies for those other detentions you have had to do; I do believe that a box full of pixies is a high payback for a simple box of fireworks." Remus said, an amused smile on his face as he waited for what he had said to sink in.

There was a pause, as Fred and George looked at each other in first confusion, then panic, then disbelief. Then they stared at Remus' face.

"Moony?" they asked together, their voices echoing their identical expressions of complete shock.

"I was once called that," answered Remus sadly. "There are not many people around nowadays who call me that anymore."

"But... Why? Why didn't you tell us who you were this whole time?" asked Fred.

"Because Fred, I knew that the moment you found out about the whole Sirius and James situation, you would want to change it. After the pixie incident, you stopped writing in the notebook for almost a month. At the time, we thought you had gotten into serious trouble for it (which you did of course), and you were angry with us. Only now do I realise the reason that you stopped writing. You figured out who Padfoot and Prongs truly are."

"We couldn't just say 'Hey James, we just realised, your bloody best friend Sirius is going to betray you and Lily to your deaths!'" George's voice grew louder, as he grew angrier.

"We were going to tell you eventually" added Fred quickly.

"We were just waiting for the right moment."

"I know. You will tell us. You did" Remus answered. "And you are mistaken about Sirius." He filled Fred and George in about what had happened with Harry Ron and Hermione the night before.

"So will you help us change the future for the Potters?" asked George hopefully, after Remus had finished. Remus sighed deeply. This was it. You promised James. He said to himself. You promised James. You promised James.

"Boys," he started. "I know you won't like what I am about to say. But please, like I said before, hear me out. When Voldemort," the twins flinched, "killed James and Lily, Harry didn't die, as we all know. Voldemort- oh, stop flinching! Disappeared. Professor Dumbledore tells me that there is a reason for this. The reason is that when Voldemort was about to kill Harry, Lily Potter begged him not to kill her son. She refused to let him hurt him. So Voldemort killed her. But somehow, the protection of Lily's love and sacrifice made the killing curse rebound and forced Voldemort away. You see, Fred and George, we cannot change what will happen, however much we want to. What must be done must be done; there is no other way to defeat the darkness."

"So you are just going to let your friends die?" asked Fred, outraged.

"Just listen. I will now tell you what James said when he learnt of all this.

~Remus' POV~

It had been a month since the Marauders had last heard from Fred and George. The full moon had come and gone, and there had been not one message. They were obviously very angry with the whole pixie thing, and had refused to answer the Marauders' many apologies. Remus assumed that they must have had a lot of trouble for it, and he felt quite guilty.

So, it was with great excitement when one Friday afternoon, Sirius burst into the Common room from the dormitory, waving his copy of the notebook in the air like a lunatic.

"IT'S FRED AND GEORGE!" Sirius shouted.

"Sirius, keep it down, we don't want to be overheard..." Remus said quietly, looking over at the few people who were sitting in the room. He couldn't believe that Fred and George had finally written something. He hastily pulled out the book from his bag, and looked at what the twins had written.

"Shouldn't we wait for Wormtail?" he asked. He knew Peter wouldn't want to miss this, and who knew where Peter was. Probably in the kitchens.

"Nah, I want to read this now!" said James excitedly.

Hello Marauders. I'm really sorry you haven't heard from us in such a while, but there's a reason. We have figured out who you are (James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin). I don't know how to break this to you~George

James, we know your son, Harry Potter. His mother is Lily Evans. I assume you know her. ~Fred

James let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a squeak and a laugh. "I MARRY LILY!" He shouted. "I KNEW IT!" He started to do a weird kind of dance around the room, drawing a lot of odd looks from the other Gryffindors (including Lily herself). Remus watched amusedly for a minute, before continuing reading.

Is Wormtail with you? ~George

No. Should he be? ~Moony

Good. That will make things a whole lot easier. ~Fred

Remus gasped, as he read the words George began to write.

"James," he said, "I think you should read this."

James stopped dancing immediately at the urgency in Remus' voice. Remus re-read the words on the page, desperately wishing that they were a mistake.

"Nooo" Sirius murmured in disbelief next to him.

James, your son Harry is one of the most famous people alive in the wizarding world. This is because there was this evil man who tried to kill him as a baby. You-Know-Who (we do not speak his name) killed many people, and when he had decided to kill someone, they didn't stand a chance. You-Know-Who decided to kill Harry. But somehow, Harry didn't die. Instead, the curse rebounded, and You-Know-Who disappeared. I am telling you this now because he killed two people before he failed to kill Harry.

George stopped, obviously unable to continue, but Remus knew what was coming. So did James. He had gone very pale

You mean he will kill me and Lily? ~Prongs It was not a question.

I am so sorry James. Words cannot describe. But there's more. The reason that You-Know-Who was able to find you was that you used the Fidelus Charm on your house. You knew that he was after you, and Dumbledore decided to protect you using this. However, you decided to use Wormtail as secret keeper, and he was working for You-Know-Who. Wormtail betrayed you and You-Know-Who was able to find your house. ~Fred

James sat down, completely speechless.

"We should tell Lily," said Sirius, looking like he was about to cry.

A minute later, Remus had dragged Lily away from her Charms essay to read the conversation. Inevitably, Lily burst into tears after reading it.

"My poor Harry left all alone" she murmured, hugging James. In normal circumstances, James would have given his right hand for this, Remus knew, but now, James seemed too shocked to even say anything.

"Let's go up to the dormitory," said Remus gently. He was normally the one who kept calm in situations like this. He was too numb to feel anything right now except grief. He pulled Sirius to his feet, and led the other Marauders and Lily upstairs. Once they were upstairs, they sat on James' bed, in silence, huddled together, James and Lily in the middle of a protective circle.

After what seemed like hours, they broke away from each other, and James slowly got to his feet, looking angry and determined.

"Well that's that then," he said.

"We can change it, James! These things haven't happened yet!" protested Sirius desperately.

Lily shook her head sadly. "What must be done must be done" she answered. "We have to defeat You Know Who. The only way to do that is for me to sacrifice myself. Like your George said, that is the only way. I still don't quite understand this whole thing, are Fred and George from the future?"

"Yes, but it's a long story" answered Remus.

James suddenly began to write on the paper. Is my son alright? Is Harry alive? What happened to Sirius and Remus? Did they catch Peter? ~Prongs

James, this is the adult Remus. I used to teach DADA in Hogwarts. Sirius is on the run from the authorities. He was framed for your betrayal, but he just escaped from Azkaban. We caught Peter yesterday evening, in the Shrieking Shack; me, Sirius, Harry, and Harry's best friends Ron and Hermione (Ron is Fred and George's brother). Sirius and I tried to kill Peter, but Harry stopped us. He said that you wouldn't want your best friends to become murderers. He was right I guess. Harry is clever, loyal to his friends, brave and very much like you. He looks identical to you, James, but he has his mother's eyes. I'm sorry James about what will happen, what has happened. You know that there is nothing we can do to change it, or I would. ~Moony

Remus (the teenage version) gaped at the message. He had become a teacher at Hogwarts? However much he hated it, he agreed with himself, James and Lily. There was nothing they could do to change this.

"Promise me," said James, "that no matter what, you won't change the past. Promise me that you will let what will happen happen, and you will let me sacrifice myself."

Lily nodded in agreement. "Me too" she said quietly.

"I promise" whispered Remus and Sirius together.

"Fine," said James optimistically, after a long pause. "All of these things are a long way off; we don't have to worry about them now. I believe that we have some serious pranking to catch up with..."

Despite everything, the Marauders looked at one another and grinned. They still had each other now, and that was all that mattered.