Disclaimer: All characters herein except those otherwise noted belong to J.K. Rowling, who I think, on occasion, to be some sort of goddess. Inspired by another fic of mine, and throught out while sitting through much boredom at work. Spoilers for all five books, I suppose.

Through Time

Two: Dilemma

"They cannot be allowed to attend classes." Snape said. He glared at McGonagall across the table. The witch glared back, her eyebrows contracting and making her countenance severe, indeed.

"Correction," she said. "James cannot be allowed to attend classes. His appearance is too similar to Harry's and would raise unwanted questions. Remus could be a problem as well. As for Sirius and Lily, it should be simple for them to attend. No one will recognize them."

"Of course not," Snape snarled. "But the second someone calls Sirius Black on the roll, and they'll know."

"Then you can bloody well teach them yourself!" McGonagall shouted at Snape.

"Minerva," Dumbledore said calmly. "Severus is not qualified to teach all lessons."

McGonagall sighed. "How will they learn anything?" she asked plaintively.

"I shall think of something," Dumbledore said. McGonagall relented and sank back in her seat.

In the adjacent room, Lily sat on the edge of a table, swinging her legs back and forth, watching her shoelaces brush the floor. James sat in a chair as far from her as he could get, in a sort of catatonic state, his gray-blue eyes unfocused and unblinking. Sirius sat on the table in front of him, waving his hand in front of James's staring eyes occasionally. Remus had covered his head with his cloak and was vainly pretending that none of them existed. Harry had been sent back to Gryffindor Tower.

Suddenly, a sob broke over the room. Remus slowly uncovered his head, and Sirius turned to look at the source of the sound. James leaned so that he could see Lily.

She had covered her face with her hands, and her slender shoulders were shaking with sobs. Sirius looked away, unsure of what to do. What did one do with a crying female? This was out of his league. Remus walked over to her, and sat down on the table next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and doing nothing more but giving her something to cling to. James felt a surge of jealousy rush through him.

"Lil, it's okay," Remus said softly. "Really. We'll get back, I know we will."

"And then what?" Lily asked. "We get back to our own time, just to die in a few years?" Her voice rose, and cracked as the word die passed her lips. James flinched.

"Look at it this way, Lily," Remus said, still trying to comfort her. "At least you know that you fell in love, and you had a child that you loved so much that you're still protecting him, even in death."

Lily looked up, seeing tears sliding down Remus's cheeks as well.

"I'm just scared, Remus," she said. "I mean, I'm sixteen, okay? I don't want to die."

"You won't be sixteen when you die," Sirius put in helpfully. Lily started to cry again.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James snapped. Sirius held his hands up in defense.

"Sorry," he muttered. He watched as Remus carefully composed himself, then tipped Lily's face up to look at him.

"Lily," Remus said, his voice as soothing as he could make it, "yes, you're going to die. James is going to die. Sirius is going to die. I'm going to die. Dumbledore, McGonagall—everyone—they're all going to die. From the moment you're born, Lily, you're dying. Some of us just get to die sooner than others."

"You're not making me feel any better, Remus," Lily snapped. Remus sighed, his breath fluttering her hair.

"Think about it. You died to save someone. You died so that someone else could live." James said, walking across the room. "Both of us did."

Lily looked up at him, the same green eyes James had seen shining out of the other boy's face, though these were still innocent, and filled with tears. James reached out and hugged Remus and Lily, who were still hugging, to his own body.

"Aww! Guys!" Sirius cried in a high pitched tone, and Lily, whose head was shielded from view by James and Remus's bodies, suddenly felt as though she were being crushed as Sirius squeezed them all further together. Then she felt a hand on her bare side, where their desperate hug had pulled her shirt up over her ribs. She took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of Remus, soap and spicy potions ingredients and forest and the underlying scent of wolf.

"Sirius, that better not be your hand," she said, her voice muffled by Remus's shirt. The hand withdrew, and Sirius let them go. Then James, sitting back, smiling brightly. Reluctantly, Lily let go of Remus as he pulled away. She suddenly felt cold, and alone. And scared.

The door opened and McGonagall came in, trailed by a small army—not really an army, maybe, perhaps a platoon, instead—of house elves. They carried clothes, linens, pillows, and, at the very last, came four with a massive tray of food. Sirius licked his lips as the smell of the food reached them.

"Until we come up with a better idea, you will remain in this room," McGonagall said. She drew her wand and created a partition that divided the room into halves a third of the way across. "I would love nothing more than to allow you to attend classes, but as Professor Snape so kindly" her pronunciation of that word left no doubt in the minds of the four travelers that anything Snape had said had been kindly "pointed out to me, Miss Evans is the only one of you who would not be recognized by our students in some capacity." Another flick of her wand produced four cots, and the house elves quickly spread them with the linens, and adorned them with the pillows, placing a neat stack of Hogwarts regulation robes on the end of each cot. The tray of food was slid onto a table, steam rising from large goblets and plates. Sirius was practically drooling.

McGonagall looked at all of them, and sighed. "I have placed the partition so that Miss Evans, should she tire of you, might have privacy." She said. Sirius began to move toward the food, but McGonagall stopped him. "A moment, Mr. Black. We are currently thinking that it might be best if a glamour is used upon the four of you. Professor Snape is currently researching potions that will allow your appearance to be altered, similar to Polyjuice. After this is achieved, you will be incorporated into each of the houses, covered by a story that Professor Dumbledore will concoct at his leisure." She gave a great sigh as Sirius stared at her with his eyes wide and brown and very, very much like the dog she did not know he was. "Fine, Sirius, you may eat."

"YES!" Sirius said, and scrambled toward the massive platter of food and drink. McGonagall, had she been less of a lady, would have rolled her eyes. She settled for leaving the room entirely.

Lily wandered over to look at the school uniforms that rested on the boy's cots. She reached out one finger and tentatively traced it over the yellow and black striped tie that lay there. She looked down at the trunk that sat at the foot of the cot, and saw the name. She picked up the tie and waved it in the air.

"Hey Si," she said. He turned and looked at her, gnawing at a drumstick. She flapped the tie at him.

"So?" he asked, his mouth stuffed with food.

"You get to see what it's like to be in Hufflepuff," Lily said, grinning. Sirius looked aghast.

"Look on the bright side, mate," James said. "It could be Slytherin."

"Uh, James?" Lily said, holding up the tie from the next cot. James's face went totally white and he dropped his fork. Sirius burst into laughter.

"Can't get any worse than that, Prongs!" He cried through his laughter. James fumed, staring at the green and silver striped article in Lily's hand.

"Remus is going to be residing in Ravenclaw… fitting, since he's so smart. I guess that leaves me in Gryffindor." She said. James pouted over his food, and did not pick up his fork. Lily walked over and picked a couple of chips up from his plate, popping them into her mouth. She grinned at him.

"Bugger," He muttered. He didn't eat any more, but slumped off to the cot, tossing the uniform onto the floor at the foot and sprawling out.

The sun was beginning to peek through dusty curtains when Dumbledore strode into their tiny room. He performed the same spell that James had that first morning when he had had the dream that woke him with the pain in his forehead—the pain he knew now corresponded to the same pain that the boy who would be his son had. The four travelers woke sharply.

"Good morning," Dumbledore said serenely, a smile on his face. Lily glared at him, her red hair rumpled and falling in her face, clutching the blankets up to her chest. Remus lifted his head from the foot of his bed. James sat up, startled, eyes wide, then he looked from Remus to Sirius, a frown creasing his forehead. Sirius tumbled off his cot, hitting the floor with a sound thunk.

"I would be your culprit, James, and not your friends," Dumbledore said, merriment in his eyes.

"I wasn't thinking they did it, more wondering how Sirius always manages to fall off the bed when someone does that spell." James said, eyeing the larger boy to one side of him. He turned and looked at Remus, who was still lying with his head off the end of the cot, his hair sticking straight up—or down, as was the case. "I was also wondering if Moony actually goes to sleep at that end of the bed or sort of flips around."

Remus shrugged. Dumbledore laughed lightly.

"If you would quickly dress and return to my office, I will fill you in on the story that you will be using while you are trapped in this time," Dumbledore said. James started to speak, but Dumbledore held up a hand. "No, you cannot switch houses, James," he said. "In time, you will see that there is a reason for my placing you where I have."

He turned, and with a swirl of long robes-- a dark velvety color, like the night sky—spangled with stars, he left the room.