I saw basically what I expected. The four of us had been dueling Snape, Bellatrix, and Rodolphus Lestrange— both a year older than the greasy haired little git we'd gone after. What interested me was that Bellatrix and Rodolphus weren't with their cronies— unless you counted Snivellus. All seven stopped when I poked my head out and yelled.
Remus had Sirius backed up against the wall, trying to tell him to relax without much effect— it was obvious then that he'd gotten hit with something, which meant I was deeper into my past than I'd thought. This left James and Peter to deal with the three of them— or more accurately James; when Peter was that age his aim was awful. Three to one odds would do any of us in— and it was obvious the Slytherins had the upper hand.
"Well?" I asked. "What's going on?"
No one seemed to want to answer me, even though it was perfectly obvious exactly what was going on. Finally, however, Peter grumbled, "They threw the first curse."
"But I heard Sirius throw the first insult before the door was closed," I announced, wandering over to Remus and him. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine," Sirius grumbled in reply. "At least I will be in a minute. I wouldn't've had any problems at all if Remus hadn't nicked our wands."
"I was trying to keep you and James from cursing each other," Remus replied irritably. "If I'd known we were going to get in a fight with Snape, I would have let you keep them."
"If it was just Snape we'd be done even without our wands."
"Not necessarily— he can get the upper hand if he has the speed advantage," the werewolf said dryly. "He knows at least as many curses as we do, after all." He glanced back at where James was helping Peter off the ground. "I guess we'd have two down for the count if it was still going on— they may have actually won this one, Sirius— and none of us can deny it."
"Definitely not if we don't try," the younger me pointed out.
"Will someone please explain to me exactly what was going on?" I asked irritably. I turned to glare at the other five who were watching me.
"You interrupted a duel," Bellatrix snapped at me. "Would you go away so we can finish?"
"No." I glowered at her, suffering from the urge to make this entire situation impossible by killing her now. "I need more information than that— if you've caused too much damage I'll have to turn you into the nearest teacher." Was that really me talking, even to my cousin? It sounded more like something Lily or Remus might have said— last time I may have considered it, I would have said I'd just let them go.
"Sirius got the worst of it, and to hear him insist he's just fine," Remus said after a slight pause as they all considered how much trouble they'd be in— we weren't supposed to use magic outside of Hogwarts anyway, after all, let alone attack other students. "But he has a point— if we'd missed we could have hit anyone, innocent bystanders included."
I couldn't help but glance around— despite the bustle Hogsmede usually was when the Hogwarts student body was here, the streets seemed pretty deserted— and smiled wryly. "I'll probably settle for knowing exactly what happened."
"Those three got to insulting us, and we're not about to lay down and take it," Bellatrix snapped. This conversation had to end soon or I would change the future. "Or our house in general." She gave Snape something of a distasteful look— Snivellus might have been tolerated among the groups of future Death Eaters, but he wasn't particularly well liked around anybody.
Snape glowered back. "So much for chivalrously defending you," he growled.
"That's my job," Rodolphus snapped. "I did ask her to marry me after all, didn't I?" he added.
So soon? I couldn't help but wonder— but I had run off by then, so I hadn't heard Bellatrix had gotten married until I heard she was wanted as a Lestrange instead of a Black. "If I were any of you three," I announced quietly, "I wouldn't be speaking of chivalry."
All three of them glowered.
"You have the disadvantage because you're speaking to someone who's biased against you before you started," I warned them. "You might have the best chance by keeping your mouths shut." I turned back to us. "Your version of events?"
Sirius shrugged. "Basically the same thing. We started a conversation— Rodolphus started to get irritated with us for calling him a Dark Wizard . . . then I called his girlfriend . . . um. . . ."
"Something you have no intention of ever repeating," Remus suggested.
"Well, not to anyone else," James muttered. "Well, anyway, he cursed Sirius and we got back and it's not as if Snivellus Snape or Bellatrix Black were ever able to resist a fight. Since Remus nicked our wands it wasn't particularly easy. . . ." He shrugged again. "Snape hit Sirius hard with something and that's basically when you came out."
"We behaved like idiots," Remus observed. "All of us."
"Well, yes," I muttered. "Actually, you have. Look," I turned to the Slytherins. "If I come here and see this happening again, I won't hesitate to go get someone with more power to stop this involved here. On the other hand, just scram right now; I'll let you off." I'd done it too many times myself— and the younger me was standing there trying to recover from a curse as proof of that— to put my foot down right now, but hopefully I wouldn't have to even think about it again. Though I highly doubted I'd scared them enough.
The three Slytherins still wandered off— none of them wanted detention for the next month, apparently. I turned back to the four of us. "That happen a lot?"
"You have no idea."
Actually, I did, I just wanted a shock absorber if I slipped up on something like the Marauder-Snape war and this was an ideal time to get.
"More in the halls where you won't have to catch us again, though," Peter observed. "And we usually win— because there's four of us, after all."
I nodded. "Well, you're in the halls more often— and it's been awhile, but there was a time I was in trouble for it nearly as much."
"Well we're just glad you did show up," Remus announced, though I highly doubted he was right from James and Sirius's point of view. "We probably would have ended up with at least one of us at Madame Pomfrey's if you hadn't put a stop to it."
"Snape would have joined us at least," James announced darkly, glowering in the direction they'd disappeared.
"I don't doubt it," I answered dryly. "You weren't doing that bad for being outnumbered since Remus was looking after Sirius."
"And I didn't need to be looked after!"
"Yes, you did— you weren't exactly in a position to pick the wand back up. Maybe now, if we'd still been at it, but not before," Remus grumbled.
"Fortunately it's not now," I muttered. "You'll have scared everyone off the streets for half an hour."
"Seriously?" James asked. I grinned and nodded, only half joking. "Wow, we're better than I thought."
"Or more haphazard," Remus grumbled.
"Oh, shut up, you're taking all the fun out of my fantasizing," James told him. "Any of you have any idea where Lily is?" he added.
"If I did I wouldn't make her suffer through you," I announced with an evil grin.
James glowered. "I am not that bad."
The other three Marauders laughed. "Well, we live through you," Remus admitted, grinning wickedly to rival mine. "But from Lily's point of view, you're right— you're worse."
Author's Note: Hm. . . Not really all that much to say right now— thanks everyone for reviewing. A Sirius Fan, there are about a million reasons to do with time why I'm not going to change the future, not to mention my plot, though I probably will look into the dental/therapy thing (Lily is likely to realize that there's something a little wrong with "Scott" . . . and you're right; the man needs some help). I don't think there's anything else I need to answer— if you do, bring it to my attention! Cheers! — Loki