Author's Note: Well, thanks for all the reviews… There'll be at least one more chapter after this, if I can get a hold of the 4th book… Why do I keep forgetting what I'm going to say?

Title: Role Reversal

Rating: PG

Spoilers: There aren't too many spoilers in chapters 1-12. The whole story has some spoilers, but how else do you write a fanfic? The chapter with major spoilers is "Old Friends".

Summary: James and Lily make a bet. Lily has to pull a bunch of pranks and James can't do any.

Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own Harry Potter or its characters. If you're reading this, you should already know whom it belongs to anyway.

Setting: This story is set in MWPP years. If you don't know what that means, you probably shouldn't be reading this fanfic.

!!! = setting change

= begin flashback

= end flashback

[…] = time

italics = emphasis

italics = thoughts

-Reunited-

[Summer before Harry's 4th year]

It was midnight. Sarah was asleep in her bed.

Sirius was outside the house, wondering whether or not to make his presence known. He walked around and noticed something shiny. My motorcycle. She kept it, he thought, smiling fondly.

He smiled. Then he took a deep breath and looked in the window. She's alone. He Apparated into the room. I haven't done that in a long time.

Sirius looked at the sleeping blonde. God, she's still so beautiful.

!!!

Sarah heard a noise and woke up. What? She was half-asleep, though, so she wasn't entirely sure what was going on. "Sirius?" she said quietly, disbelieving. It's him, but it's not him. He looks so different… But it has to be him. It has to.

The man in the room went over to her and didn't say anything, for fear of ruining the moment. He saw how sleepy and unfocused she was and knew that she wouldn't remember anything in the morning. She would think it was just a dream.

Sarah closed her eyes and mumbled, "I love you," before falling back into the most peaceful slumber she'd had in years.

"I love you too," Sirius whispered. He watched her sleep. He noticed that she wasn't wearing a ring. Then he saw the chain around her neck. Apparently, Sarah had made the ring Sirius had given her into a necklace, because she wasn't really married and didn't want to deceive anyone but still wanted it close to her.

Sirius knew he would have to leave in a few hours. She looks so peaceful when she's sleeping.

[6th year]

It was a Saturday night. Sirius and Sarah had fallen asleep in the Gryffindor common room, studying for their end of the year exams.

Sirius woke up at about 3:00 in the morning. Where am I? Oh. He looked at his girlfriend, who was slumbering in an armchair by the fireplace. She looks pretty even when she's sleeping. Dang, it's cold.

He knew he wasn't allowed to go to the girls' dorm, and he didn't want to wake Sarah up, so he went to his own room and removed the blankets from his bed.

He went back downstairs. Sarah had fallen off her chair and was half on the floor. Sirius shook his head and picked her up. Instead of putting her back in the chair, he took her over to the couch. Then he covered her up with some blankets.

He watched Sarah sleep until he also fell asleep an hour later.

I wish I had time to explain things to her, but I don't. I have to get back to Buckbeak. Hopefully Remus will tell her everything she needs to know.

As the sun began to rise, Sirius decided to leave before anyone saw him (although the house was somewhat secluded, he couldn't take that chance). It wouldn't do for someone to link Sarah to him. He kissed Sarah on the forehead and Disapparated.

!!!

[1 hour later]

Sarah woke up and got out of bed. She went into the bathroom to do her daily routine, then came out fully dressed to eat breakfast before going to work.

She saw something on her bedside table. What's this? It was a piece of parchment. It had three words on it: "I love you."

She sat down on her bed to support herself, for her knees had turned to jelly. Oh, my God. Is this what I think it means? She tried to remember anything that had happened the previous night, anything that would help her figure out where the note came from. I had a dream… Sirius was here… What if it wasn't a dream? The proof is right here. Unless I wrote it in my sleep… But it's not in my handwriting. Sarah recognized the writing on the piece of parchment. He was here.

She just stayed there for a few minutes, unmoving. Then she got up and looked out the window. Is he still here? Where did he go? He finally came, and I didn't know it. She sighed, then looked at her watch and realized that she'd better hurry or she'd be late for work.

!!!

That evening, Sarah wrote a letter to a certain werewolf friend of hers. I have to know what's going on. Is there any chance of Sirius coming to see me again?

!!!

[The next day]

Remus read the letter that the white owl had delivered to him. He focused on these words:

What happened that night? I need to know.

The brown-haired man sighed, then started writing a long letter to his friend about the whole messy ordeal.

!!!

[A few hours later]

He's innocent? I knew it! Sarah started dancing around ecstatically. This is great. Now all we need to do is get the proof. If only Remus hadn't transformed that night… They could have cleared Sirius's name right then and there. Too bad no one will believe us without proof. Damn that Peter.

She decided not to blame her friend for what had happened and imagined life with her love when everything had been cleared up.

!!!

[1 month later]

Remus stood in front of the Anderson residence, unsure of what to do. Veronica had invited him to visit, but he didn't know if he was ready to face the woman he hadn't seen in six and a half years.

In the next minute, none of that mattered, because the door opened anyway.

"Remus. You're here."

"Hi, Gabriel."

"I was just heading to work. It's been a busy week," Gabriel said. He spun around to shout to his wife, "Veronica! He's here!"

"Okay!"

He turned back to Remus. "See ya."

"Bye."

Veronica came to the door. "Bye. Love you."

"Love you too." Gabriel left.

Veronica looked at Remus. "Hi, Remus. Long time, no see."

"Yeah."

They stood there in silence for a few moments.

"Well, are you coming in or—?" She was interrupted by a small figure coming up behind her.

"Mummy, Lily's snoring—" The little boy stopped when he saw the visitor. "Who's that?"

"He's an old friend of mine. His name is Mr. Lupin." She looked at the adult Remus and picked up her son. "This is my son," she said, "Remus."

Remus stared at her. "You named him after me?"

Veronica nodded. "Well, come in then."

!!!

"Sarah told me you had kids. She just happened never to mention their names…"

Veronica laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah."

The dark-haired woman's face became serious. "Speaking of Sarah… She told me about what happened with Sirius."

"Did she?"

"Mm-hmm. When she got your letter, she popped over here as fast as she could to tell me the news."

"How did she know that something had happened involving Padfoot?"

"Well, you do recall that of all of us, Sarah and I were the best at Divination… We both just had a feeling that something was happening that night involving you two. And someone else familiar—I suppose that was Peter?"

"Yeah."

"So he really was a rat. I never liked him much… Anyway, I really don't know how we knew, but we did. Maybe it was because we were the closest to you all next to Lily and James."

Remus nodded. "Hmm. So you named your daughter Lily?"

"Yeah."

"Where is she, anyway? I've only seen your son."

"Come on, I'll show you." Veronica led Remus to Lily's room. "There she is." The little girl was asleep.

"She looks like you," Remus said, looking down at the dark-haired little girl.

"She has Gabriel's eyes, though."

"Kind of like the situation with Lily, James, and Harry, don't you think?"

"Yeah."

They left the room. "Sarah tells me you taught at Hogwarts this past year," Veronica said.

"Uh-huh."

"So, what's Harry like now?"

"He's a mixture of both his parents. Looks a lot like James. It's uncanny. He's a good kid. Not snotty or anything."

"That's good."

"The dementors really affected him, though. He kept hearing Lily and James die."

"Their deaths were that horrible?"

"I guess so. Harry kept fainting at first."

"Hmm." Veronica sighed. "Why haven't we seen each other for so long, Remus? I mean, even though I was with Gabriel, we were still friends, weren't we?"

"Yeah, we were. I just… I don't know. I couldn't face you."

Veronica tilted her head. "Why not? Am I that scary?" she said, making a feeble attempt at a joke.

Remus smiled. "No. I guess I just couldn't handle seeing you married to someone else."

"Remus…"

"I know. I was just stupid. I don't know what happened. I just kept putting off visiting you… It was kind of subconscious."

"Oh."

"But I'm okay now."

Veronica smiled. "It's really good to see you again, Remus."

"You too."

"Do you want something to eat? Drink?"

"Sure, why not?"

Veronica and Remus went to the kitchen. She put some food and a drink in front of her guest, then went to get her children to eat breakfast.

"Remus! Come on, it's time for breakfast. Is your sister still asleep?"

"I dunno."

"Well, all right, go to the kitchen and keep Mr. Lupin company until I get there, okay?"

"Okay." The little boy ran into the other room while his mother went to wake up her daughter.

!!!

"Remus!" Veronica exclaimed, entering the kitchen. "What are you doing?"

Both the adult and the five-year-old turned to look at Veronica. She pointed at the younger Remus. "What are you doing?"

He had been climbing on the counter to reach the cabinet where the dishes were. "Nothing."

"Get down from there. How many times have I told you? You're not supposed to climb on the counters."

The little boy just sat down on the counter instead of getting back down on the floor. The grown-up Remus picked him up and took him over to the table. The five-year-old settled on the man's lap as he ate his breakfast.

"Thanks," Veronica said.

"No problem."

A knock was heard at the door. Veronica went to answer it and came back with Sarah.

"Aunt Sarah!" The five-year-old at the table exclaimed. He jumped off Remus's lap and ran to his godmother. "Did you bring me a present?" he asked expectantly.

Sarah smiled. "Not this time. Sorry, kiddo," she said, ruffling his hair.

Remus put on a sad puppy dog face.

"Nuh-uh. Don't even try it, mister." She looked up and saw the man at the table. "Remus! You're here!" she exclaimed, running over to hug her friend.

Remus chuckled. "Hi, Sarah."

"I thought I was Remus," said the little boy behind her.

"I named you after him," Veronica explained to her son.

Sarah had let go of Remus and was now holding Lily. "How's my favorite goddaughter doing?" she asked the giggling three-year-old.

"She has to finish her breakfast."

"Okay, Veronica. Don't have a cow." The blonde woman started spooning the little girl's cereal into her mouth.

"You'd make a great mother," observed Remus. "You're good with kids."

"Thanks, but Sirius is the only father I want for my children, and until we can prove his innocence, I don't see that happening, so…"

"I see."

"Remus—" Sarah began.

"What?" said little Remus.

"Not you, sweetie."

"Oh. Okay."

Sarah grinned. "Veronica, this could get confusing."

"I know. The dreaded two-people-with-the-same-name thing."

"Anyway, you," she said, turning to the adult Remus, "were the last one of us to see Sirius. How was he? What did he look like? Did he ask about me? What—"

Remus interrupted her. "Sarah, slow down. One question at a time, okay?"

Veronica noted that the kids were finished eating. "Come on, you two," she said. "It's time for the grown-ups to talk, okay?" She noticed the disappointed look on her son's face and said, "Remus, you can play with Aunt Sarah later. Go on now. Go play with your sister."

Remus took Lily's hand and led her out of the room.

"They're great kids, Veronica," the adult Remus said, his eyes on the children as they left.

"Thank you, Remus."

The three adults were all seated around the round kitchen table.

"So? What about Sirius?" Sarah asked Remus.

"Azkaban's affected him," he said. "Physically. He didn't look so good when I saw him."

"How did he even manage to get out in the first place?" asked Veronica.

"He said that he just thought about the fact that he was innocent. He didn't think any happy thoughts."

Sarah's breath caught in her throat. "He didn't think about me for twelve years?"

"I guess not, Sarah."

"He didn't ask about me?"

"No," Remus said apologetically. "It was just already so complicated, and we didn't want to confuse Harry any more than we had to…"

"I understand."

"He didn't really have a chance to ask about you, what with me transforming and all… I'm sorry, Sarah. If it wasn't for me, Peter never would have escaped, and Sirius would be with us right now."

"It's not your fault, Remus. You can't help being what you are."

"But I forgot to take my potion."

"Because you were rushing over there to help him. Remus, I don't blame you at all," Sarah reassured him.

"Thank you." Remus continued from where he had left off. "And Snape was trying to send the lot of us to Azkaban."

"I never liked him," Veronica said.

"Neither did I. None of us liked him."

"Snape's not really evil. He just… he was still holding that grudge he had against us when we were at school," Remus replied.

Sarah sighed. "Sirius came to see me. I know he did. He left me a note. And that was the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. The kind of sleep I had before he was sent to prison."

"I don't doubt that he did," Remus said. "He still loves you. If he doesn't, then I'm a purple cow."

Sarah started fingering the chain around her neck. "Have you had any contact with him since then?"

"No. Maybe Harry has, I don't know."

Veronica let out a breath. "This is all just so… insane."

Sarah looked at her. "Yeah. We have the saddest lives ever, you know that? It's not fair. But I guess that's the way life is."

"Don't you just hate that?" Remus spoke up.

The two women managed small smiles.

"Well, does anyone know where Sirius is right now?" Sarah asked.

"No. It's safer that no one knows. If anyone finds out where he is… Or if he wrote someone telling them where he is, and that letter was intercepted, well, that would just be the end of it."

"So it's better that nobody knows," Veronica said.

"I hate this. He's so close, yet so far," Sarah said, looking down at the table. "Just out of reach."

Her friends looked at her sympathetically.

"So what do we do now?" she asked.

"I guess we just wait and see."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: It's getting close to the end… I may or may not decide to go into Harry's 5th year. We'll just have to wait and see. Review! Please? Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this fic.