Snape and Karkaroff brushed past the column. Although their paces were light and slow, and their voices low, their demeanor was everything but calm. Karkaroff's face was ashen grey, his yellow teeth showing under where his goatee curled up.

'Severus –'

'I've told you enough times, Igor,' hissed Snape. 'Flee, if that's your final decision. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts.'

'But didn't you see –?' Igor Karkaroff sounded almost like he was pleading. 'It's never been clearer –'

Despite himself, Remus stuck his head out just a little to see Karkaroff pull up the sleeve of his left arm. To his horror, a giant serpent was crawling its way out of a skull, spiraling on the inner side of Karkaroff's forearm. He blinked a few times, and it became clear to him that it was a livid tattoo – but that was not any better than the notion of a real snake slithering out from a skull on the arm of the Durmstrang Headmaster – the pattern was as dark as Karkaroff's bloodless face was white.

'Well?' Karkaroff pressed on. 'Don't pretend you don't know what that means! You know very well –'

'You heard what I said,' Snape replied curtly. 'Flee, and I'll make your excuses.' Without waiting for an answer, he spun on his heels with a wave of his cloak.

Karkaroff made a move to clutch onto Snape's arm. 'Do you think I don't know what's with the new transfer students?'

Remus gave a start, his legs threatening to give out. At the same time, Snape whipped around so quickly that he was only a blur of darkness merging into the shadow.

'I do not interfere with the school administrative affairs.'

'Bollocks. You've been keeping them alive!'

'And what are you trying to suggest?' said Snape, his tone murderous and icy.

'I'm saying,' Karkaroff said slowly, 'that you've been keeping the Potters, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew alive. I've fought them enough times that I can recognise them even in my sleep. Why do you do that?'

There was a moment's silence. Snape stared at Karkaroff with his beady eyes, and Remus was afraid that the men would hear his loud heartbeats. If Karkaroff had recognised them – had he reported them? Was he the one who tipped off the Ministry –?

'They're my students,' said Snape, breaking the silence, his face hardening. 'If you are to question my loyalty, Igor, I'm afraid you have no right to do so seeing that you are here yourself as Headmaster of Durmstrang. Do you think the Dark Lord never thought through everything before he sent me here? If it wasn't for me, how would you have known – say, where Caradoc Dearborn was the night you were promoted?'

Caradoc Dearborn. The name had not rung a bell with Remus. He might've seen it somewhere – school magazines, girls' gossips, James's weekly Quidditch preaching – nevertheless, Snape's ominous question sent a chill up his spine.

'So,' Karkaroff's voice harshened at once, his bony hands shot up at Snape's sleeves again. 'It's true, isn't it? He has returned. I've been right about this all along.'

'I never suggested anything,' Snape replied in an equally harsh tone. 'I'm merely stating my reasons for my actions involved. Why, are you trying to blackmail me?' He sneered, and Karkaroff gritted his teeth with a hiss. 'I suspected as much, that coming from a coward like you. You'd kept your mouth shut for so long up till now – let me guess, because you feared you'd be dragged into this all again after a decade of rebuilding your reputation? And now, you're using this against me for the very same thing you are fleeing from? How ironic.'

Karkaroff's chest rose and fell with each of his heavy breaths. For a moment, Remus thought he saw a flick of green light across his eyes, but Snape did not back down or move the slightest.

'I, I merely –' words were forced to slip out of Karkaroff's thin lips, which were trembling against his goatee. 'I merely think that it would be easier killing them off than preserving the original past. Then we wouldn't have to go through all this …'

Karkaroff's voice trailed off as Snape took a step closer to him.

'The only past you wish to erase,' said Snape, 'was your stepping into this mucky water and never getting to leave. There is still time to flee, Igor, and my offer still stands. I won't hold your rudeness against me, but I'm not sure our counterparts will forgive your swing of loyalty.'

Snape turned, and this time Karkaroff didn't stop him. He stood on the spot, his face changing colours every few seconds, looking like he was doing a lot of calculating. It wasn't until the Durmstrang Headmaster had disappeared from sight that Remus dared to move.

He bolted for the Gryffindor Common Room. He needed to tell his friends, to alert them – that there was at least one current Death Eater in the castle, and whether he was the one who had been behind this all along, it did not matter – he had known who they were and was eager to kill them. And there was also Snape, who was mysterious (and nasty) as ever and who Remus couldn't tell where his loyalty lay –

He knew something went wrong before the brick walls swung fully aside. The table where the time turner had been was empty. Peter was nowhere to be seen.

'Peter!' Remus called. He looked around, his wand out and shaking. He was still angry with Peter, but he did not mean him any harm. When he rounded the corner, he gasped, for he spotted the stout body behind the sofa, one arm outstretched and bent at a weird angle.

'Peter! Peter!' Remus lunged at the still body. He checked the pulse, which was roaring with life, to his relief; there were also no visible wounds and damage except the broken arm. It seemed that Peter only fainted. But what had happened in the short period of time when Remus was absent?

Remus was still reeling in shock when the door opened. Sirius, James and Lily had returned from talking to Harry.

'He will come over tonight, they landed in a detention earlier. I don't know, can he sneak out? McGonagall's got a sharp eye…'

They stopped talking when they saw Remus and Peter. They were frantic, much like Remus was when he came in, and only after Remus informed them of Peter's condition did they quiet down. There was no need to see Madam Pomfrey, they swiftly decided; they would just wait for Peter to come around. In the meantime, however, there was a more critical problem to deal with, and none of them wanted to start it first.

Eventually, it was Remus who broke the silence. He told them how he and Peter had argued, how he had walked out in rage, but he held back the details of the row. There was something, something about Peter's words that echoed with a small part of him, which he most certainly did not want to encourage. So he buried it in the back of his mind for the time being.

No one demanded an apology, but he didn't initiate to apologise either. He did not want to think about whose fault it was, and he was sick of being the one who kept on apologising even though he, truth be told, was at least partly responsible for Peter's injury and the disappearance of the time turner.

What was even more depressing was that there was no use in trying to Accio the time turner. It had simply vanished into thin air, gone; as if it had never been in the room at all.

'We'll ask Pete later,' said James tiredly at last. Remus lurked in the shadow of the bed, staring hard at the floor. 'Harry doesn't need to come tonight. We're not leaving, after all. Let's rest a bit tonight and face Dumbledore tomorrow.'

'Well,' said Lily after a while. 'At least nobody gets seriously injured. Consider it a blessing, really.'

Peter didn't remember anything, to almost no one's surprise. When they told Dumbledore about it, the old man simply nodded and asked them to follow the usual protocol (stay safe, don't go wandering etc) without making any further comments.

'I think he's expected it somehow,' Hermione whispered during lunch. 'He must have imagined the worst scenario. Like Lily said, it's already very lucky that it's only the time turner that disappeared.' She hadn't said it out loud, but the meaning was clear: it was very lucky that it was not you who disappeared.

'He shouldn't have given us the time turner like that,' Lily sighed. 'It wasn't safe at all…'

Hermione shook her head. 'It was supposed to be very safe, actually,' she said. 'The fact that you can't Accio a time turner means that it is anti-summoning, and is possibly coupled with other protective charms as well. And the room itself is even more secretive…' She trailed off and shrugged. Sirius glanced at her through his fringe and turned to Remus, who slouched instantly. He was afraid to find accusation in his eyes.

'What if you're stuck here forever?' Ron worried at his bottom lip. 'James and Lily would not have married, and then Harry wouldn't have…' his words faded away in a sob.

This made Remus want to clear things up, to cheer up the crowd, to redeem. 'I think,' he said, raising his voice a little. 'I think that – might not be the case.' He stilled, willing himself to remain calm. He felt Peter drew in a breath, and the burning sensation of Sirius's gaze on him. Skillfully he reworded what Peter had filled him in, which he had checked was indeed stated in a dozen of books he found in the restricted section during the day.

'I think this is already a different future that we're heading the moment we rolled up to this world. What exists, exists, what happened, happened. This is a parallel universe that exists side by side with the original future where we did not come here at all. Think of it as a y-shaped timeline – the tail of the Y is the past, and here, where the two branches come off is where the future deviates from the original timeline...' Looks of wonder and understanding appeared on the teen's faces, and Remus felt encouraged. 'But of course, it's best we don't mess up the time. I'm only saying this is another option we have now that we've lost the time turner,' he quickly added.

Hermione frowned as she listened. It wasn't until Remus finished that she spoke. 'That's what I've read as well, I don't doubt that. But if you remember what we did in third year with our Sirius –' the time travellers nodded, recalling the adventurous tale – 'then it seems to me that time travelling works in a casual loop – anything a time traveller does in the past must have been part of history all along, and it is the combined results of the original timeline and the act of travelling that create the future we have now. When we were in Hagrid's hut just before Buckbeak's execution, a stone shot through the window. It turned out that it was actually Harry and I going back and throwing the stone. You see, us travelling to the past did not in fact change the future. It was simply there all along.'

'Yes, but we're not in the past now. We're in the future,' Peter's weak voice came through the noises in the Hall. James cast a Muffliato around them swiftly, and only then did they dare to speak up. 'So maybe Remus's explanation works better in our case,' squeaked Peter.

Hermione shrugged, but the spilt gravy on her robes suggested that she was pondering over the other explanation. The Marauders were silent as well. Remus shifted in his seat, victory bubbling in his stomach despite himself. He had left out the bits about the suspicion of Dumbledore lying to them; that would make him sound whiny and unconvincing.

Maybe Peter is right, he sighed inwardly. I do feel good about us probably have to stay because I want to start a new life, and not be the poor, shabby werewolf professor that exists in Harry's memory. I want the same for my friends as well.

Harry had not spoken a word the whole time. He had looked surprised and dazed when Remus did the explanation, and plaintive when it was Hermione's turn. Suddenly, he dropped his fork on his plate, making a loud clink that got everyone's attention. 'Sounds to me you both make sense –'

'Harry! These explanations are mutually exclusive!'

'I know, I know,' said Harry, both his hands in the air. 'But like you said, if history is there all along – then it wouldn't matter if they've lost the time turner, right? 'Cause they'll get back eventually. History is history. And if it's what Remus suggested, than that's even better, isn't it? I'm now living with my mum and dad, and my godfather and their best friends. It's mega wicked great!'

His face split into a wide smile. James's and Remus's did too; James looked proud and amazed like he was going to burst into tears; Remus bit back a hearty laugh, acting like it was not at all what he was trying to get at all along. He felt Peter's look on him again, and he turned away.

'But why did you risk us?'

Sirius asked quietly in his seat, but no one heard him except Remus. It was a rather odd, completely-out-of-context question, so Remus decided to put that in the back of his mind for the moment.

Something changed. Remus could feel it in his skin, but he couldn't tell what exactly had changed. He knew it wasn't a positive change even with James and Harry on board (without them knowing) with the idea of staying back; It was a snare hidden in long grass, a whirlpool in the deep sea, sucking out whatever that had been right between them.

He was with Sirius in Potions this time, and miraculously, Snape hadn't said a word. The Potions master was as sullen as ever, only he was even more snappish than he normally was. Perhaps he was fretting about Karkaroff, Remus thought (he hadn't a chance to tell his friends about Snape and Karkaroff yet), and he even caught him staring at blank space when they busied themselves with the potion.

'Si –' he called and stopped midway only to find the seat empty. Neville was cleaning his cauldron happily on the next bench. He didn't blow it up this time.

'I saw him leave,' Neville said, humming a tune, looking very pleased with his work. 'I figure I'll pass this final assignment. Reckon this will be on the exam?'

'P'raps,' Remus replied with half a heart. Sirius would always wait for him to finish when they partnered; he knew Remus sucked at Potions. Sometimes they would clean the spillage or scrub the cauldron together, whatever hell Slughorn put them in.

'He finished his potion half an hour ago,' Neville supplied. 'Oh, and your ladle's on the floor.'

'Alright, thanks for telling me – and this,' said Remus in a loss as he bent to pick up the ladle, knocking the cauldron off on the way and spilling the remaining potion all around.

'Twenty points from Gryffindor!' Snape roared behind him.

When McGonagall repeated her monthly speech on the importance of laying down foundation for OWLs as early as now, the time travellers no longer found it funny. Before James and Sirius would send Harry sympathetic glances, for they would well be back before the exams; but of course, anything was possible now. The only thing they could do was work hard like any other fourth-years while waiting for Dumbledore's instructions.

'… cross-culture Divination from India teaches us that, karma is the interlinking of cause and effect, and often presents as the intent and action and the influence on the future of an individual…'

Trelawney was preaching in her dreamy voice again, trying her best to stuff her boundless knowledge in her student before the finals. Remus was half-dozing, his arm brushing past Sirius's, who was sleeping soundly on the round table. They hadn't talked in a while since the disappearance of the time turner. There were rings under his eyes now, which Remus was sure were not there before. Sirius had brushed off his concern, saying it was the heavy workload that caused them, but Remus knew better: Sirius was never bothered by his studies. He could skive off every class and still get top marks.

'…good intent and good deeds contribute to future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to future suffering. The Karmic cycle continues eternally – in the past, in future, in death, in rebirth …'

He thought of the older Sirius, his older self and the dead Potters. And Peter. And Harry, and the whole of the Wizarding World. Karkaroff wanted to break his cycle. He wanted to flee, from Voldemort and his past, but Snape had made it clear that it was impossible. Once a Death Eater, forever a Death Eater.

What did his own Karmic cycle have in store for him, then? Shunned and hated and prejudiced against for as long as he existed? Fine, but what about his friends –? They were not like him; but one by one, they collapsed. Why, had they not suffered enough in their past life? Was there really no escape? Was it really that much of a transgression to go against fate and seek a new life for them all?

Why is Sirius making such a fuss? I'm helping us all! A small voice shouted in him. As if I wanted to lose the time turner on purpose –!

To be fair, he could tell that most his friends were actually quite happy with the suggestion of staying back. James, Harry and Ron were obviously thrilled; Lily wouldn't admit it, but her shining eyes gave her away. Opposing them was Hermione, and possibly Sirius, since he hadn't said anything and was acting very strange recently. And Peter –

Oh. Remus almost forgot about him. Now he thought about it, Peter was actually his ally from the start – no, he was the invisible leader of team stay, to be precise. He was the one who was most opposed to Dumbledore's original plan, the one who first had doubts, first looked up theories, and first suggested that they all stay here. If anyone had made a transgression first – it was Peter, not him. But Peter had been quiet, and it was Remus who had been doing all the talking. From his friends' perspective, it indeed seemed like Remus was desperate to stay from day one.

Only he wasn't.

A benign thought that had been lurking in his mind came to life; and honestly, it scared him.