Disclaimer: Not MINE!

A/N: Wow, people are actually reviewing! This almost makes me want to spew out chapters faster.. Almost.. ^_^

Chapter Five
Wormtail's Mistake


You're.. you're... James looked from Sirius to Lily. Sirius shook his head.

Even if I thought you to be a murderer, I wouldn't have gone after Lily. Arabella would have fwapped me so hard what's left of my brain structure would've fallen out, Sirius joked. However, James could tell his friend was putting up a rather feigned and pitiful humor attempt.

Then.. if not you.. It wasn't Peter, was it? Lily shook her head, biting her lip.

James, it's not anyone you'd think of... We didn't know him very well, and, um, before I found out about Remus, the night of the dance... Well, I never thought the great James Potter to know of my feelings—

.. Fee—Feelings? Lily smiled sadly.

Yes.. Well, I didn't think you'd care at all, James, so I.. sort of.. I went with him. He was a great dancer, and although he was never a substitute for you.. Needless to say, when I found out about R.. Rem.. you know, I beat myself up for even looking at you. And... well, he was there for me— James couldn't take it any longer, and interrupted.



It's whom, James.. Lily answered, avoiding the question.

You know what I mean. Whom? Lily sighed, and looked into his eyes sheepishly.



James gaped.

James, he's not really that bad, you know. He's already become a professor at Hog...

However, Lily's voice drowned out as James felt all the color go out of his face in one fell swoop. He faintly felt himself fall backwards, and his head hit a shard of the table before collapsing into darkness.

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Peter snuck out of the Great Hall, and up the stairs, the Wolvesbane potion clutched in his hand. Severus had made it, assuring him that Remus would be struck down quickly and efficiently (Peter was still having trouble with the Avada Kedavra curse, so he couldn't use that), but Peter, not trusting a silly potion, had an athame stuck in the belt loop of his trousers under the tan dress robes he wore.

Better you go quickly, my old friend. I still have some decency left in me, after all. Then I'll plant the spray in Sirius's trunk, and that'll be that. When they discover the time warping spray, they'll think he was going to use it to escape going to Azkaban. Peter bit his lower lip, chewing on it. He opened the door to the boys 7th year dormitory and snuck over to Remus's bed, the boy's slight snores being heard by the rat. As Pettigrew got his nerve up to part the curtains and do the job, he got the idea that most likely Dumbledore had some sort of system rigged up to tell if a student died on Hogwarts grounds, and that Peter wouldn't have much time to run. So he decided to go and retrieve the spray. He walked over to the trunk area—and blinked widely as he discovered that his trunk had been opened, and its contents spewed about. He dug though the piles, beady eyes opened to their maximum. But the spray had vanished. Peter flipped around, only to hear a large growl coming from the chamber. Right about then, Peter's fear factor rose. Because everything was about to go wrong. And Remus was changing. ... Two weeks early.

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Sirius frowned as he saw James' horrified expression.

I hope he doesn't plan to fall off the beam, like I di—

He grimaced as James went back like a lead keg. Lily stopped her spiel and sighed, a tear dripping down her face.

James, why did you have to be innocent? She cried, letting herself sink to the floor. Sirius sighed, knowing that however much Lily wanted him to be innocent, she wanted to live out her life as well. Throwing James Potter, Lily's crush and admiree, into her stable, engaged life complicated things a bit.

If only Lil had stayed the way she used to be, then maybe this wouldn't be such a bad thing. But Sirius knew even as that thought came to his head, it wasn't Lily that made herself change. It was Sirius.

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It was three months after Lily and Sirius graduated, both getting high level Auror jobs within the ministry to battle You-Know-Who strategically. Peter had disappeared shortly after reporting Remus's death, Sirius thought that the Death Eaters had gotten to him, but Lily had frowned at that, not telling him her theory.

Lily was again working late at the office, not on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's file, but James's. Sirius had never seen her that motivated, and she was always a nut about school.

She was flipping through some papers absent-mindedly, narrowing her eyes at a couple of the sentences and tapping her wand to the paper to highlight the sentences for later viewing. Lily was interrupted by Sirius, who had just walked in. She had tried to cover up her work, but he was quicker, grabbing a sheet from her desk and reading the highlighted sentences.

James Potter was never actually found with a murder weapon... How is it that Mister Potter has never been seen again.. Was he framed?' Honestly, Lily, that's the biggest load of— Sirius was interrupted by Lily.

Load of what? If I remember correctly, Mister Black, Potter was your best friend—

Emphasis on was, Lil. He killed—no, he murdered Remus with his bare hands! Lily glared at him.

And how do you know that, Sirius? Seen the supposed murder weapon'?

W-we-Well, n-no.. He stuttered, trying to think of a good response. Lily smirked.

That's because there never WAS any! His wand was clean, Sirius—

It was clean only because Death Eaters taking the trial aren't allowed to use Unforgivables, you know that. We got that info out of Nott—

Who ALSO said that he knew nothing of Potter being Remus's murderer. Actually, if I remember correctly, he seemed to think it was Peter. Sirius bristled.

Look, Peter may have been a bit stupid, but he was damn sure loyal to us.
He would've NEVER laid a paw on Rem— Lily raised her eyes.

Even for the Trial? Sirius growled.

Excuse me, Lily, but PETER is not on trial here! We're talking about your good little crush, Lily looked down at the floor, She sighed.

He wasn't my crush. Sirius snorted.

Yeah, and the sun revolves around the Earth. Lily glared at Sirius once more, raising her gaze.

It's none of your business, anyways, Sirius. Besides, I'm perfectly happy dating Frank— Sirius rolled his eyes.

Longbottom? I'm sorry, bookie, but that kid isn't meant for you. I'd much rather you go out with Snape than him. Lily looked him square in the eye, then, as if she hadn't heard a word he had said.

Find it. Sirius looked confounded.



The murder weapon. Then I'll close this.



Why not.

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Sirius had dutifully found the murder weapon (though by what means he couldn't remember) three weeks later, an athame with dried blood on the sides. Sirius had it analyzed, and sure enough, James's prints were on there. Now, knowing the truth, Sirius had wished he'd never made that bet with Lily.

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A/N: Awright, I know I tend to be short with these chapters, but I'm a very busy lady, school and all. By the way, I know that Snape wasn't the most original idea, I actually was planning to use Frank Longbottom—until I realized the plot would go absolutely nowhere with him as Lily's fiancée.. Also, before you all go crazy because of what I put up above with Wolvesbane, I point out something: Snape is on the side of GOOD currently. Even if he hated Remus with all his heart, do you really think he'dve given Peter the right potion to kill him with? :p

Q & A time..

Thistlemeg - Who says I just won't leave things on this timeline? Harry isn't that important, is he? (*Grins evilly.* Of course Harry'll be born. But don't expect the timeline to reverse completely, or for everything to magically be well again. :p)

Queenoftheworld - I can't promise anything except that James didn't kill Remus, and I will finish, come hell or highwater!

Avada Kedavra - Great name! ^_^ I do believe that the plot will thicken quite notoriously over the next month... And I have no fathoms in my mind whatsoever of quitting this story, it's so fun to write!

Tidmag - Well, of course time didn't go on in a normal fashion! I never really did understand how it could have.. Think about POA, technically they had already gone back before they had even thought about Pettigrew. My point is, that time would have to change somehow, after all, let's say you go fifty years into the future, where you supposedly have a child. How on earth would you have had the child if you were gone during those fifty years? Alright, my brain is warping with all this space/time stuff. I'll leave the rest of the pondering up to you.

Jelli Bean - Yup, she's engaged. To whom, you'll find out in this chapter. Please don't hate me, he's not ALL that bad..