Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

Setting: This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes AU.

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Chapter 6: James and Fred:

Four days had passed since Fred's arrival and James had developed a genuine liking for him. He was quick witted, quick to laugh and better than even James himself at finding the joke in any situation.

He had also taken an instant disliking to Snape - which James couldn't help but approve of - taking every opportunity to make the hook nosed git the butt of every joke. Admittedly it would have been far more amusing a year ago - after the events of the previous year James found it less so, as did Remus if his strangled smiles were anything to judge by - but it was still a definite tick in the Fred column.

Sirius certainly found it highly amusing. A good thing, James reflected, as Fred and Sirius were at odds at all other times. Sirius seemed to view every conversation with Fred as a battle, using his scathing tongue as handily as he might ordinarily have used his wand. Fred, for his part, was steering clear of Sirius as much as possible, though James hadn't failed to notice the loaded looks - looks that seemed to question Sirius's right to be alive.

James guessed something about Sirius's future was at the root of the tension. He knew Sirius thought the same. He hadn't said so, but James knew him well enough to understand. His verbal attacks on Fred were not, as Fred might have assumed, the result of injured pride at the refusal of a well intended handshake. Rather, they were a symptom of deeper fears stirred up by Fred's antagonism. Sirius was - and had been for a long time - afraid of himself.

Even after running away from home, Sirius was haunted by the legacy of his family. He saw in himself the very darkness he detested in others and worked hard at fighting it. Now he was afraid he'd one day lose the battle. James wanted to shake him and tell him how ridiculous he was being – that Sirius could never and would never turn to the Dark Arts - but since he could think of no other explanation for Fred's behaviour, he held back. Now he was wondering if questioning Fred on the matter might not be such a bad idea after all.

Sirius wouldn't do it, not because he cared about the timelines - he had never been one for respecting the natural order of things – but because he knew how irritated Remus would be if he broke the rules. Since the incident with Snape and the whomping willow, Sirius had been walking on eggshells around Remus. Knowing that Remus had taken Dumbledore's instructions regarding timelines very seriously he was now making the extra effort to keep his questions to himself, despite what it was costing him. James knew Remus was more important to Sirius than Remus had ever realised.

No. If anyone was going to get information out of Fred it was going to be James.

He vowed not to ask anything too hard hitting: perhaps just a few questions about Fred himself, to find out where he was coming from. If that happened to lead to James figuring out why Fred disliked Sirius so much then that would be okay wouldn't it? He knew he couldn't just ask for the answers he wanted- he didn't want to be responsible for causing a disturbance in the space-time continuum – but a few small details couldn't hurt. Besides, if Fred continued to stir Sirius up this way, Sirius might end up doing something drastically out of character. Wouldn't that be just as damaging to the timelines as revealing too much information?

James believed so, and that's how he found himself watching Fred from across the commonroom, preparing to start what promised to be a very awkward conversation.

He'd picked his time carefully. He'd noticed that Fred had taken to going to bed quite late. He was always the last to reach the dormitory and - now James came to think on it - the first to awake in the mornings. He was now sitting alone by the fireplace, staring into the flames, completely unaware of James's quiet presence. As all the lamps were out, the only light coming from Fred's fire, this was not surprising. Peter, Sirius and Remus, along with the rest of Gryffindor, were already in bed.

James approached unobtrusively and sat himself in an armchair. Fred glanced over and gave him a half smile.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment and it occurred to James that Fred might be missing people from his own time. He tried to imagine himself at a Hogwarts out of his own era, without the marauders or Lily.

"You missing people from home?"

Fred looked up in surprise. Clearly James was right on the money.

"Yeah, actually," he said, nodding gravely.

"Anyone in particular?"

Fred considered that with a smirk before replying: "My identical twin brother, George,"

James stared. "Are you kidding?"

Fred grinned. "No."

"That's fantastic," said James, the possibilities parading before his mind. "You could pull all sorts of stunts with that. Do you ever switch places?"

"Er, not so much. It's more of a running gag than something we use an awful lot to trick people. It's a bit dishonest you know?"

"Yeah, I guess," said James, feeling slightly ashamed. He wondered if there was a part of him that would always love to make trouble, and whether or not that was a bad thing. Lily had always claimed it was. But then again, Lily had always smiled at his crazier stunts when she thought his back was turned. She couldn't help it. It was one of the things he loved most about her.

Fred was looking thoughtful. "I need to ask you something important."

"Go ahead," said James, thinking an exchange of important questions might be just the thing here.

"You know that note we passed around in transfiguration?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I noticed you signed it 'Prongs'. What did that mean?"

"Just a nickname," James answered casually.

"The others. They've got nicknames too?"

"Er, yeah, they do," said James, now starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Sure he wanted information from Fred, but this line of questioning was headed in a bad direction.

"Not 'Wormtail', 'Moony' and 'Padfoot' by any coincidence?"

James nodded slowly. "What do you know about it?"

"In our first year at Hogwarts, George and I stole a very detailed map from Filch's office. Your nicknames are all quite prominent on it."

James laughed loudly in open relief. "So," he said, "The marauder's map finds its way to the next generation of Hogwarts troublemakers. Fantastic! Do you still have it?"

"Nah," said Fred cheerfully, "Know it by heart now don't we. We gave it to a young man in need of a way out of the castle - and a little corrupting." He lapsed into sudden melancholy.

"Sirius is 'Padfoot'," said James slyly, trying to bring the conversation around to the desired topic.

"Yeah," said Fred sourly.

"That's a bad thing?" James could now feel Fred's anger bubbling just below the surface, the way it always did where Sirius was concerned.

Quite suddenly he stood and started pacing. "It's ridiculous that I can't change anything!" he growled in frustration. The firelight flickered through his flaming hair, the shadows hiding his face in an oddly disquieting way. James felt an unexpected prickle of fear. "I mean I'm right here! Right when things are being put in motion but I'm completely helpless. I can't change a thing! I'm just sitting here, with you of all people! Just watching it all happen. I heard Peter talking about You Know Who with Lupin and I …"

He stopped, quite as suddenly as he had started, one finger still raised in the air to illustrate his point. James just stared, trying to take it all in. Slowly Fred's gaze came back to him.

"Moony!" he said, as though he'd just had a revelation.

"No," said James nervously. "It's 'Prongs'. I'm 'Prongs'. Remus is 'Moony'. I'm 'Prongs'."

Fred shook his head and grinned. "No, I know, I just … That's why he's called Moony! Oh that's funny!" he started to laugh.

James felt every muscle in his body tense. "How do you know about Remus?" he asked in measured tones.

Fred stopped laughing. "It's not such a secret in the future. Quite a few people know," he said dismissively.

James gave him a hard look. "Just don't go spreading it around here. It'll go badly."

Fred frowned, but nodded. "What do you take me for?" he asked.

James hesitated. "I'm not sure," he said at last. His enthusiasm for asking questions was gone. "I'm going to bed."

He climbed the staircase and entered the dormitory. He took a long moment to look at Remus's four poster. The werewolf was hidden behind the curtains, but James could picture him. Fast asleep and completely harmless.

Sometimes life was very unfair.