Author's Note: All right, I'm gonna type this up as fast as I can because you guys are kinda rushing me… This chapter has spoilers for the 4th book. All right, Lily and James aren't in this one, because I am having a really bad week, and I don't want to think about what they should say right now… Also, if I had to spend time writing that stuff, it would take even longer for the chapter to get posted.

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

[…] = time

italics = emphasis

italics = thoughts

-Padfoot-

[Harry's 4th year]

Sirius read Harry's letter. His scar hurt again? What if—? These rumors I've been hearing… I have to make sure he's okay.

!!!

Does he think I'm stupid? Sirius thought, holding his godson's latest letter. Well, okay, I used to be idiotic at times… That's not the point! I have to make sure he's safe. He probably thinks he's doing me a favor by telling me not to come.

!!!

The Triwizard Tournament? Who would want to enter Harry in that? Someone dangerous. Someone who wants to hurt him. Maybe someone trying to return Voldemort to power… Harry should be safe enough with Dumbledore and Moody there. At least for a while.

!!!

[November 22]

"Sirius—how're you doing?"

"Never mind me, how are you?" said Sirius seriously. He's in mortal danger, and he's asking me how I am? The boy's a little too polite for his own good.

"I'm—" For a second, Harry tried to say "fine" —but he couldn't do it. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he'd talked in days—about how no one believed he hadn't entered the tournament of his own free will, how Rita Skeeter had lied about him in the Daily Prophet, how he couldn't walk down a corridor without being sneered at—and about Ron, Ron not believing him, Ron's jealousy…

"…and now Hagrid's just shown me what's coming in the first task, and it's dragons, Sirius, and I'm a goner," he finished desperately.

Sirius looked at him, eyes full of concern, eyes that had not yet lost the look that Azkaban had given them—that deadened, haunted look. All that is too much for a boy his age to deal with. He had let Harry talk himself into silence without interruption, but now he said, "Dragons we can deal with, Harry, but we'll get to that in a minute—I haven't got long here… I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about." Azkaban taught me many things. There are so many things I have to warn him about.

"What?"

"Karkaroff," said Sirius. "Harry, he was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, don't you?" So many people could be after him.

"Yes—he—what?"

"He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year—to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff. Put him into Azkaban in the first place."

"Karkaroff got released?" Harry said slowly—his brain seemed to be struggling to absorb yet another piece of shocking information. "Why did they release him?"

"He did a deal with the Ministry of Magic," said Sirius bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names… he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place…. He's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well." They let him out, but not me. I didn't even get a stinking trial. They gave Karkaroff a trial, and he was found to be a Death Eater. I was innocent, and I didn't even get that far.

!!!

"Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius grimly. "She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. It's not a good combination, Harry. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap." What does this all mean? There are so many things that don't fit.

!!!

Harry pulled open his bag and handed over the bundle of chicken legs and bread.

"Thanks," said Sirius, opening it, grabbing a drumstick, sitting down on the cave floor, and tearing off a large chunk with his teeth. "I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself." Rats don't really taste that good. Yuck.

He grinned up at Harry, but Harry returned the grin only reluctantly.

"What're you doing here, Sirius?" he said.

What's he think I'm doing here? Shopping? "Fulfilling my duty as a godfather," said Sirius, gnawing on the chicken bone in a very doglike way. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray."

He was still grinning, but seeing the anxiety in Harry's face, said more seriously, "I want to be on the spot. Your last letter… well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried." Harry needs to understand just how serious this all is.

!!!

"All these absences of Barty Crouch's… he goes to the trouble of making sure his house-elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to turn up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, and then stops coming to that too…. It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak."

"D'you know Crouch, then?" said Harry.

Sirius's face darkened. He suddenly looked as menacing as he had the night when Harry first met him, the night when Harry still believed Sirius to be a murderer. Crouch was doing his job, but he could have at least given me a chance. No one let me explain what had happened.

"Oh I know Crouch all right," he said quietly. "He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban—without a trial."

!!!

Harry has to be careful. But he's so much like James. He has a strong spirit. I'm really worried about what's been happening.

!!!

Mrs. Weasley screamed and leapt back from the bed.

"Sirius Black!" she shrieked, pointing at him.

I guess people are still afraid of me.

"Mum, shut up!" Ron yelled. "It's okay!"

Snape had not yelled or jumped backward, but the look on his face was one of mingled fury and horror.

"Him!" he snarled, staring at Sirius, whose face showed equal dislike. "What is he doing here?"

"He is here at my invitation," said Dumbledore, looking between them, "as are you, Severus. I trust you both. It is time for you to lay aside your old differences and trust each other."

Trust him? That snake?

Harry thought Dumbledore was asking for a near miracle. Sirius and Snape were eyeing each other with the utmost loathing.

"I will settle, in the short term," said Dumbledore, with a bite of impatience in his voice, "for a lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth do not stand united, there is no hope for any of us."

I guess I can't mess with Dumbledore. He's really serious about this.

Very slowly—but still glaring at each other as though each wished the other nothing but ill—Sirius and Snape moved toward each other and shook hands They let go extremely quickly.

"That will do to be going on with," said Dumbledore, stepping between them once more. "Now I have work for each of you. Fudge's attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher—the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin's for a while; I will contact you there."

The old crowd? That means Sarah and Veronica as well.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: Sorry it's so freaking short, but I did not feel like repeating that insanely long chapter fiasco, so… Anyway, my reasons for not getting this up sooner: 1) These past few days, I've been coming home late for reasons beyond my control, 2) I couldn't find the 4th book until I went back to school, and I posted the last chapter during spring break, 3) Apparently, my dad does not know how to tell time and thinks 9:15 is 10:00… In other words, having to go to bed early because my father is insane, and 4) I was working on my other fanfic. Read it please! It's called Love and Flashbacks. Horrible title, pretty good story, I think. Anyway, I PROMISE the next chapter will make you a lot happier with me, okay?

P.S. You know what? I originally wasn't going to write a Sirius/Sarah reunion, but since everyone wants me to and I had a great idea for it, I am.

P.P.S. My friend said I was being mean to Remus… I am not being mean to him… Don't you remember the last chapter? He's okay with it now…