James, Sirius, Harry and Ron were sitting in the stands on the quidditch pitch. Harry and Ron had just been demonstrating some new manouevres they had learnt, which Sirius had watched in admiration. If Harry was good at quidditch in his reality, he was superb in this one.

'That's my boy', James said fondly, ruffling Harry's already untidy hair. Harry grinned. Sirius stared at Harry's forehead; it was devoid of any scars of any sort-Harry looked very different without it, Sirius thought. He wasn't wearing glasses either-in this reality, apparently, James and Lily had paid to have his sight magically corrected.

Ron, however, looked the same as Sirius remembered him.

'Where's Hermione?' He asked suddenly, 'studying, I suppose?'

Ron frowned slightly. 'Hermione?' He said questioningly, 'why would we know where she is? She's an uptight, nosy-'

'Ron', Harry said quietly, 'is that really fair?'

Sirius looked from Harry to Ron, puzzled. 'Why do you say that, Harry?' He asked.

'Hermione's parents were killed by You-Know-Who, just before she came to Hogwarts', Ron informed him, raising an eyebrow, 'don't you remember? It was all over the papers. Everyone had thought there was a pattern to Voldemort's killings, and the Ministry had been guarding the next suspected target, about two hundred miles north of where Hermione lived. A load of his followers turned up, killed a tonne of Muggles on her street...she was at her aunt's house for the day, and found the Dark Mark over her house when she got home, but didn't know what it meant? You have to remember that, Sirius! It was a big deal-a tragic human story they called it.'

'Oh...' Sirius shot a glance at James, who looked anxious, in case the truth about Sirius was about to be discovered, 'oh yeah, I remember now. Dunno what put her name into my head.' He laughed it off, and James came to his rescue.

'You boys want to go back inside? It's getting chilly', he said chirpily, rubbing his hands together and standing up, 'come on!'

They strolled back up to the school, laughing and talking. Sirius didn't dare ask any more questions about Harry's classmates, for fear their lives and friendships were different than he remembered. James, however, kept the boys entertained with a story about the quidditch final he won in his seventh year:

'So there I was, right, diving for the snitch, and this great big gorilla of a Slytherin comes flying straight at me! So I roll over, and he misses me, but his foot clips my hand, and I lose my grip. I'm still flying at top speed, hanging by one hand, and I can see the Snitch really clearly. I reach out, and-'

'Sirius! James! I've been looking for you everywhere!'

Remus Lupin had just come racing down the castle steps, looking very pale and quite upset. He took in Harry and Ron, and hurriedly plastered a smile on his face. 'Harry! Ron! Great to see you! Er...Sirius, James, d'you think I could talk to you in private?'

'Yeah, sure', James said, looking concerned, 'off you go, boys, I'll come and find you before I leave.'

'Oh fine then!' Ron said huffily, raising his eyes to heaven, 'c'mon Harry, let's go.'

Remus waited until the two teenagers had disappeared into the castle, then exhaled loudly. 'I have some news for you both', he said gravely, 'I've already told Dumbledore and he asked me to come and find you. I went to the Department of Mysteries and checked for a prophecy about Harry.'

'And?' Sirius and James asked together.

Remus bowed his head. 'I found one', he said softly, 'one that is about Harry and how he will defeat Voldemort...and how it will be Sirius that helps him do it.'

'What?' Sirius and James spoke in unison again, completely astounded by Remus' announcement.

'I listened to the whole prophecy', Remus replied quietly, 'it said that someone familiar would change...that's you, Sirius...and that the son of those who are dead in one world would destroy the Dark Lord in another world...that's your son, James, he's meant to kill Voldemort...and that then all worlds would be freed from the Dark Lord's power...I'm...I'm sorry.'

'Who heard the prophecy?' James asked harshly, 'who heard that, and never told anyone about it? Who was it?'

Remus looked up at them, and his face was grey and drawn. 'It was Peter Pettigrew', he whispered, 'Peter Pettigrew heard the prophecy of Sybil Trelawney.'