'Sirius,' James whispered. 'I think I know why my favourite colour is green.' He smiled over at the stunning red-head who had just walked in with Pete, the boy from before. Her emerald eyes flicked between the boy called James next to Dumbledore and him. James ran a hand through his hair, nervous under her scrutiny.

Sirius laughed a truly happy sound. The boy called Pete muttered something about the moon and ran out.

'James?' the girl said slowly, staring at Sirius, who nodded. The girl's whole face lit up. 'James!' she said again and ran over to throw her arms around him. If James died now, he'd die happy.

He hugged her back, grinning, despite the intense pain in his rib, and could have sworn he felt her kiss his cheek. She pulled away slightly, grinning as she stared him straight in the eye. Whatever she saw there made her smile widen. She leaned forward again and pressed her lips to his. A tingle went through James' entire body, and something about the gesture felt so right that he never wanted to let her go. 'I love you,' she said firmly.

James grinned at her, dazed. 'I think I love you too,' he said, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. And he wasn't lying. He decided there and then that if he ever married anyone, it would be the beautiful girl in his arms.

'Think?' she asked, frowning slightly.

'He doesn't remember,' Sirius muttered.

The girl jumped, as did James. He had forgotten Sirius was there. She pulled away from James, blushing furiously. 'Sorry, Professor.'

Dumbledore was watching the exchange curiously, as was the man with the funny eye. 'Hello, Mr Moody,' the girl said with a sheepish smile. She glared at the other James and he glared right back. It reminded him of the way Voldemort had stared at him, and James was suddenly very glad the other James didn't have his wand.

'Doesn't remember?' she hissed, too low for anyone but James and Sirius to hear. Sirius shook his head.

'Miss Evans,' Dumbledore said with a faint smile. 'Could you perhaps tell me why you aren't surprised to see two James Potters sitting at this table?' Now that struck James as odd. What were the chances of two people having the exact same name?

The girl, Evans, looked away from her whispered conversation with Sirius. 'One of them's Remus, of course,' she said with a knowing smile at Sirius.

The other James scowled at her. 'I'm not Remus!'

Evans looked surprised. James had a feeling she was acting.'He's not,' Sirius said in a grim voice. James thought he was acting too.

'But this is James, here,' Evans said, pointing at James. 'Professor,' she said, looking worried now, 'what's going on?' She moved to stand behind James' chair and put a hand on his shoulder. James saw Sirius smile at her and nod slightly. He saw a small smile touch her lips in response. Their interaction went unnoticed by everyone else.

'That,' the man James now knew was called Moody said, 'is what we're trying to figure out.'

'But it seems both you and Mr Black think this is James,' Dumbledore said staring at James.

'Despite him not knowing anything about himself,' Moody growled. Evans' brow creased slightly and she looked at James pityingly.

'This imposter doesn't even know my birthday,' the other James grumbled. Evans and Sirius sent him dirty looks.

'That imposter doesn't even know Jamie's favourite animal,' Sirius said, as if this was incredibly offensive.

'So we're both imposters,' the other James said, throwing his hands up in the air. 'This is ridiculous, Professor!'

'I'm not an imposter,' James said, frowning at him.

The other boy just sighed, rolling his hazel eyes. 'Whoever he is, he isn't very intelligent,' he mused.

Evans opened her mouth to say something. 'That's enough,' Dumbledore said calmly. Evans' mouth snapped shut again.

'About time, Moony!' Sirius said with a grin, breaking the tense silence. James turned. A tall, thin boy with fair hair, pale skin and warm chocolate eyes entered the bar and strode straight over to their table. He stared at James for a moment, and then at the other James. His eyes narrowed slightly, and then flicked to Sirius and Evans. Next thing James knew, he was being hugged by the boy. He whimpered. 'Is Wormy with you?' Sirius asked.

'No, should he be?' Moony said. Sirius didn't answer, so he turned back to James. 'It's good to have you back, Prongs.'

'My name isn't Prongs,' he said, frowning. 'It's James.'

Moony laughed. 'Don't be a prat.' James' eyes widened as the air went whooshing out of him. Those words, there was something about those words. The something hovered just out of reach.

'Rem, he doesn't remember anything,' Sirius muttered. Moony's eyes widened.

'Nothing?' This time it was Evans shaking her head as she brushed a piece of James' hair out of his face.

'Liar,' the other James said with a scowl. 'Look at yourselves, fawning over him. He's feigning memory loss to win you over!' James doubted they heard him; for some reason, Sirius, Evans and Moony had started to chuckle quietly at the mention of "fawning".

Dumbledore however, raised an eyebrow. 'And what could he hope to gain by claiming amnesia? All he's demonstrated so far is an inability to tell me when James Potter's birthday is.'

'I told you that,' the other James said mulishly.

'You did. But you got James Potter's father's name wrong.' The other James frowned but Dumbledore raised a hand to keep him quiet. 'Have patience,' he said pleasantly. 'When Professor Slughorn arrives with Veritaserum, we will know for certain. Speaking of Horace...' Dumbledore pulled a pocket watch out of his robes and peered at it, '... he's late.' He glanced expectantly at the door as if expecting Horace Slughorn to walk through it.

As if on cue, four tall, robed men walked through. Two of them made their way over to the bar and engaged the old man in conversation, while two of them took a seat at the table behind Dumbledore.

Dumbledore got to his feet after a few minutes, with a longing glance at the bar. 'Neither of you are to move from your seats,' he said sharply.

'Neither of them are going anywhere,' Sirius said, twirling his wand.

'Keep an eye on them, please, Alastor.' Moody's dark eye settled on the other James who was shifting in his seat, but James had a feeling the blue one was on him, though that shouldn't have been possible. Otherwise the man looked thoroughly disinterested.

James turned to Sirius, Evans and Moony. 'So... er... well... don't, er, take this the wrong way but... erm... how exactly do I... know you?'

'I'm your best mate,' Sirius said gruffly. 'We're as good as brothers. Remus here, and Pete - who you've seen - are your brothers too.'

'I thought your name was Moony?'

Evans laughed and hugged James from behind. 'Ow,' he said, shifting as he pressed a hand to his ribs.

'Sorry,' she said, sounding puzzled as she let go. 'His real name is Remus Lupin. You, Sirius and Peter all have nicknames for each other. Remus' is Moony.'

'Oh!' James grinned. 'So that's why I keep getting called Prongs.'

Sirius laughed. 'It is. I'm Padfoot, Peter is Wormtail.'

'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,' James murmured. He turned to Evans. 'Do you have a nickname too?'

She shook her head, smiling. 'No. I'm just Lily.'

Smash!

Everyone spun around to see a mug of yellowish drink crash to the ground and shatter. 'Oy!' one of the cloaked men growled, pulling his wand and pointing it at Dumbledore. 'Watch it, old man!'

'You have my apologies,' Dumbledore said politely.

'Yeah, well sorry isn't going to get me another drink!' he roared. The cloaked man next to him also drew his wand and waved it threateningly in Dumbledore's face.

'I can pay for another one,' said Dumbledore calmly.

'But I wanted that one!' the man bellowed.

'Then by all means have it,' Moody snapped, getting to his feet and stomping over. 'I'm an Auror, lad, and unless you think a spilt Butterbeer is worth a night in Azkaban, you'll lower your wand now. You too.' The bartender was also trying to calm the men down, alternating between shooting Dumbledore an exasperated look and trying to cajole his enraged patrons into lowering their wands.

'Hey!' the other James shouted suddenly. One of the other cloaked men had grabbed his arm.

'Let him go!' Lily said, pulling her wand.

'Shut your mouth, Mudblood,' one of the men at the bar said.

'Don't talk to her like that!' both Sirius and Remus said angrily, raising their wands. James didn't know what the word meant, but he certainly didn't like the man's tone, or the way Lily's face had tightened.

'I'll not have you speak that way to my students,' Dumbledore said coldly.

'Wands down!' Moody shouted. 'Before I take them from you!'

'Stupefy!' the one holding the other James cried.

Lily gave a little 'Oh!' of surprise and slumped forward. James managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

'Stupefy!' Sirius shouted, and the man who had cast the spell collapsed too. The two men by the bar had drawn their wands to attack Sirius, but Remus hit one, and Dumbledore got the other. Moody took care of the fourth, who was trying to help his fallen companion.

'Lily?' James said, shaking her gently. 'Sirius, is she all right?'

'Just Stunned,' Sirius said coming over. 'Here. Enervate.' Lily's green eyes fluttered open. With a grateful smile at Sirius and James she extracted herself from James' arms and stood, surveying the damage. Dumbledore was trying to placate the furious bartender while Moody was binding the cloaked men with rope from his wand.

The other James stood up, his chair legs scraping loudly on the wooden floor. Dumbledore and Moody turned at the noise. He bent and picked up one of the men's wands and strode over to the bound men, smirking.

It took James a moment to realise the other James' hair was lightening, and so were his eyes. His nose was widening and curving in the centre, and his teeth were becoming crooked and yellow. Before anyone could react, he had seized the rope binding the men, and twisted on the spot. All five of them vanished with a crack like a whip. Less than a second later, five Stunning spells whizzed through the spot where he had been and collided with a shelf of glasses on the other side of the bar. Moody swore.

'Is everyone all right?' Dumbledore said heavily, sinking into a barstool. He suddenly looked very old. There was a chorus of affirmations and then Dumbledore turned to James. 'You're James Potter?'

'Yes,' James said frowning. 'Who else would I be?'

Dumbledore chuckled. 'That's a very good question, dear boy.'

'I want to know how no one noticed two James Potters running around the school,' Moody growled.

'Quiet, Alastor,' Dumbledore said gently. 'James, firstly, I would like to apologise for not believing you immediately, just as I could not believe the other "James" immediately. You can understand the complications of getting such a decision wrong...'

'Yes, sir,' James said quickly. The man looked dangerously close to tears.

'Thank you,' Dumbledore said. 'Mr Potter, can we assume your amnesia is not fake?'

'Amnesia? Is-is that why I don't remember any of you?' James paled, clutching his head. 'But I don't feel like I'm forgetting anything!'

'Come here,' Moody said roughly, hauling James to his feet.

'Ow!' James yelped, pressing a hand to his side. It felt like it was on fire.

'Sorry, Potter.'

'It's fine,' James said though his teeth, waiting for the pain to stop. 'Just don't grab me like that again.'

Moody muttered a spell James didn't hear and shook his head. 'He hasn't been Obliviated, Albus.' He tapped James' shoulder with his wand and James felt the pain in his chest vanish. He wasn't healed, but he didn't hurt either.

'Thank you,' James said gratefully.

'He told me they used the Cruciatus Curse on him, Professor,' Sirius said with an apologetic look at James.

Lily and Remus gasped. 'James,' Dumbledore said, looking livid. 'Is there truth to Mr Black's statement?'

'Yes, sir,' James mumbled, staring at his shoes. 'Sorry.'

'No need to apologise,' Dumbledore said, looking horrified. 'Will you allow me to assess the damage here?' James nodded. Dumbledore tapped James' head with his wand. 'Legillimens.'

He felt a strange probe digging into his mind. It was asking him silent questions, looking for memories, just as Voldemort's had. He tried to push it out, but it was insistent, like trying to catch water in a net.

'No,' James muttered as things faded. The last thing James was aware of was three sets of warm hands holding him upright.