CHAPTER EIGHT: MEMORIES PART ONE: WHAT HAPPENED?

Sirius sat in his chambers in Hogwarts. Remus had left, Harry was off somewhere (presumeably with Hermione, if Sirius didn't miss his guess). He had a goblet of Odgen's Firewhiskey in hand, resting in his chair by the fire.

The questions of this evening had brought forth memories; some painful, some pleasent. He remembered some things very clearly; the first time he had seen James's invisibility cloak, the time they hexed Snape in front of Lily, and the first time the Marauders had gotten collectively drunk at the Three Brooksticks.

Sirius considered his life; a cycle of terror, happiness, betrayl and death. His early years were certainly a terror; Mother Black had made damn sure of that. Then, happiness when he attended Hogwarts and met his fellow Marauders, and for a short while after his graduation. Then, betrayl and death when Peter had betrayed them all to Voldemort, causing James's and Lily's deaths.

It didn't stop there; the terror came again in the dark shade of the Dementors of Azkaban. The happiness following was short-lived, as Harry's love for Sirius had betrayed him and led to Sirius's death.

The cycle appeares to be- for the moment, at least- broken.Sirius thought, looking at his Pensieve resting on the table by his chair. But when will it resume again?

"It'll resume again in Transfiguration." a 15-year-old Sirius told his friends, grinning deviously. The 'it' he referred to was a prank he was testing out; a Serpent Charm he called it.

"Now, what again is this supposed to do? I missed it earlier." James asked. "Well, whenever someone whistles, the targeted victim, namely Snivellus, coils down on the floor, and then rises up much like a snake to a snake charmer. Hence, the name."

"Sirius, mate, if you devoted even a 100th of your mind to study, you'd top even Evans in grades." Remus said; no matter what he said, his three friends absolutely refused to study.

"Remus, remember what I said last time?" Remus smirked at this. "Yeah, and as I recall, it was just as McGonagall was walking by..." Sirius blushed, though no one cared whether it was in embarrassment or anger; they were too busy laughing. After trying (and failing) to look angry, Sirius started laughing too.

Indeed, the charm resumed at the time Sirius said. He whistled in class, as was his habit of late, and sure enough, 15-year-old Severus Snape of Slytherin House curled up on the floor, and began to rise. Each time the music swelled, his tongue would flick in and out of his mouth.

To give each other a chance to laugh, the Marauders took turns whistling. The class caught on, causing Snape to do many unnatural maneuvres in his jinxed state. McGonagall, however, hadn't missed who had been doing the whistling first.

"Misters Black, Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew, detention tonight with Hagrid."

Sirius laughed at this particular memory; it had been one of his earlier works. And one of the most successful, at that.

He sobered at the next memory, remembering this night almost as if even a Pensieve couldn't completely remove it from his mind.

"James, what's wrong, mate?" Sirius asked his friend, who was currently moping on a couch in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was far past bedtime; but the Prefects wouldn't dare disturb James when Sirius had asked them not to; they would rather the Slytherins contiune to be the Marauders' targets. Even Evans had agreed not to disturb him, though her leniency seemed more out of pity than fear of the Marauders.

"Nothing." James responded. Sirius knew him all too well, though. "Who is she?" Sirius asked. James responded "Damn it Sirius, it's noth- it's... it's Lily Evans." he finished quietly.

"LI-" Sirius started to shout, before bringing his voice down. "Lily Evans? Lily The Bitch Evans? Evans, bane of our existance and menace of mischief makers everywhere? Lily-" Sirius was about to continue his tirade when James cut him off.

"Yes, that Lily, Sirius." Sirius considered his friend for a moment. "You've got it real bad, don't you?" James's only response was to nod.

"Well... what are you going to do about it? You know that she's with-" Sirius started.

"THANK YOU, but I know who she's with right now!" James snarled.

Sirius immidiately went on the defensive. "Hey, hey, don't get mad at me. I'm not exactly in charge of who she fancies, you know. If I were..."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry mate, I'm just in a pissed off mood right now." James said apologetically.

Lily chose that moment to reveal herself. Sirius made a quick exit by means of a "Um, eh, er, see you later, mate!" and a mad dash up the stairs.

Lily and James regarded one another. Their eyes met; James's filled with anger and sorrow, Lily's filled with pity and... compassion? "James..."

Sirius sighed as that memory ended. He hadn't seen what had happened, but he had found out the results the next morning... along with the rest of House Gryffindor.

"Sirius, mate, look at this!" Peter whispered to Sirius, gesturing to the sleeping forms of James and Lily. Both were fully clothed, of course; neither would dare risk anything in the common room. "Go get Remus." Sirius said, barely able to contain his mirth.

"Over there," Peter said, pointing to the prematurely-grey lad with his face in one hand, the other hand balled up into a fist to help contain any laughter that might slip out.

Eventually, James and Lily woke up, eyes widening to what had been previously thought to be well-nigh impossible width. James's words summed up both of their thoughts. Common room staring at them, all he could say was "Oh shit...". The common erupted into complete pandemonium.

The three Marauders could no longer keep themselves from rolling with laughter. James, laughing himself, attacked Sirius for laughing at him. Then Peter jumped in to help Sirius. Even Remus joined them- officially, to break it up. Unofficially... he wanted to even up the odds.

The Marauders ended up rolling around the floor of the Gryffindor Common Room, a mass of tangled limbs and laughing faces, all with the goal of killing each other for whatever trivial offense had started this mockery of a brawl in the first place. Lily stood off to the side, laughing along with the rest of Gryffindor. And for once in her life... she was happy.

Thus did Lily Evans and James Potter commence their romance, the romance that would culminate in the savior of the wizarding world. At that point, neither of would have cared. All they could think about was each other.

Sirius looked away from the Pensieve; watching those fond memories was too much for him. He found he even missed Peter. But then, the Peter we knew at Hogwarts has been dead for years. I know that Peter would never betray us. What happened?

Near the Dark Portal, watching the Orcs come through, Wormtail felt something at the back of his mind. It was a strange feeling- anger, resentment, and... was that sadness?- all somehow mixed into one feeling. The Death Eater Wormtail, once a man named Peter Pettigrew, unknowinly asked himself the same question his former comrade was asking himself: What happened?

R&R. Sorry for the long wait- I had to get the Marauder Era right. The next chapter, Memories Part Two: Love Lost, should be out sometime tommorrow.