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 7: Talk in the Dungeon

Sirius woke to find he couldn't breath and quickly deduced that James had clamped a hand over his face. James put a finger to his lips, and when Sirius nodded, removed the hand. Sirius looked at his watch.

"James, it's four in the morning," he whispered - then smiled. "What are we planning?"

"Just a talk," said James. "Commonroom. Come on."

He slipped out through the curtains leaving Sirius alone to dress. Sirius had started sleeping naked around fourth year and James, conservative by nature, was always careful about granting him his privacy.

A minute later Sirius stumbled sleepily into the commonroom. "What's this about?" he asked as he spied James standing alone by the dying fireplace, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his gaze on his feet as he rocked on his heels.

"Fred," he said.

Sirius's mouth snapped shut mid-yawn. Suddenly he was very awake. James had managed to put a lot of meaning into that one word and Sirius knew him well enough to see immediately where this was going. Part of him, the part that usually listened to Remus, wanted to put a stop to it right now; to warn James about timelines and consequences. The rest of him was just relieved that James seemed to have made this decision for them. "You talked to him," he said: a statement, not a question.

James glanced around the room, jittery with pent up nerves. "He knows about Remus," he said.

Sirius shook his head. "What?" he asked stupidly. He'd been expecting a revelation about himself, not Moony.

"He knows about the lycanthropy deal," said James.

Sirius tried to make his brain work. The presence of a person who may or may not have intimate knowledge of his future, who regarded him with unmistakable revulsion, was beginning to wear him down, and now this?

"And the animagus deal?" he asked. "He know about that?" If Fred spread it around that Remus was a werewolf the worst that could happen was Remus's expulsion. If Fred divulged information about the risks the Marauders had taken under full moons, Remus might be pulled up in front of the committee for the disposal of dangerous creatures again. Sirius doubted the committee would be so lenient twice.

James sighed. "If he does, he didn't say anything."

Sirius took a steadying breath. "Well, he can't say anything, can he? I mean you already know so he was safe telling you, but anyone else and he's messing around with the timelines."

James nodded, still tense. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Might have a chat to him though," said Sirius thoughtfully. "You know. Just to make sure he's clear on this."

The image of Remus lying in the hospital wing, looking for all the world like a blood stained mummy, was something that Sirius would never forget. After sensing two potential victims, James and Snape, in the tunnel below, Remus's werewolf side had torn itself apart. Sirius had been responsible for that near tragedy, but in no way would he allow history to repeat itself. He remembered the look; the look he had vowed never to see again on Remus's face. The look that said: "I will never truly trust another human being again".

"I wasn't sure if I should tell Remus," said James, with a nod back toward the dormitory.

"Don't. He's got enough to worry about."

James studied Sirius intently for a moment, and frowned at whatever he saw there. He seemed on the verge of saying something then shook his head. "Fred acts pretty weird around you Sirius. Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"And why does he act like a git with me?" Sirius demanded. "What could I possibly have done to him?"

"I don't know!" said James, with unexpected force and frustration, giving Sirius a great feeling of satisfaction. Sirius had been feeling quite alone in this battle of wills he'd been having with Fred but now it appeared that James at least was on his side. "I was trying to get him to talk last night but somehow we ended up discussing Moony rather than you."

"But you tried to get him to talk?" said Sirius, smiling now despite it all. "Timelines be damned?"

James was very serious: "I think finding out what happened is more important. Something isn't right here."

Sirius would never have admitted it, but at that moment his heart welled up to the size of a watermelon. Things had been so strained since the incident with Snape. He, Remus and James had done their best to act like nothing had changed, but the truth was: everything had. Gone was the comfortable laughter, the easy trust. They'd been replaced by forced gaiety and polite distance. At a time in his life when Sirius had most needed his friends; when he'd rejected his family and all they stood for, Sirius had found himself floating out there alone. Oh, James and his family had been there of course, but it hadn't been the same. But now, James seemed to be declaring Sirius's problems more important than the stability of fate itself, and if that wasn't a huge step toward things going back to the way they'd been, Sirius didn't know what was.

He smiled gratefully at James. "Don't worry mate. I'll be careful."

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Fred wandered through a passageway on the third floor having gotten away from the Marauders for a while in order to explore the castle. He'd always thought of Hogwarts as a living entity, growing and evolving, and he was interested in discovering how it'd changed over the last twenty years. He'd already checked out three steps that had been enchanted to let you fall right through them in his own time, only to find them perfectly ordinary now. He wondered who might enchant them and why. It occurred to him that one of the Marauders might yet be behind it.

A few days ago that thought might have made him laugh. Now it just made him feel bitter. Knowing that one of his former heroes had turned out to be a Death Eater just sucked all the joy from it.

He reached a tapestry of a giant smashing the heads of two wizards together and tapped on it with his wand. Nothing happened. Alright then, he thought. Clearly this secret passageway has yet to be made.

"You have to tap it six times,"

Fred whipped around so fast he thought he might have damaged his neck. "Sirius!"

Sirius, who was standing just a little too close for Fred's comfort, smiled blandly. Fred tried to relax. "In my time you only have to give it three. Guess the spell starts to wear thin over time." Sirius nodded and said nothing. It was completely unnerving. "So!" Fred continued with forced cheerfulness. "Were you looking for me, or … trying to find your way to the Slytherin commonroom?"

Sirius held up a piece of parchment. It took Fred a few moments to realize that it was in fact the Marauder's Map. It was almost unrecognisable. It lacked the ancient, worn and stained look that had always been such a part of its appeal.

"Heard you knew about this," said Sirius. "Among other things."

Fred tried to stay calm. He was alone in a deserted corridor with a serial killer. He had to stay calm.

Sirius reached for his wand and Fred tensed, going for his own wand as Sirius simply leaned forward and opened the secret passage. An irritated look passed over Sirius's face as the tapestry rolled itself up to reveal the dank, cobwebbed tunnel, and Fred felt very stupid for over-reacting.

Sirius bent down to enter the tunnel. "You coming?" he called, once the darkness had swallowed him.

Fred regarded the passage dubiously. It was a shortcut to the dungeons and it came out in the cell next to the potions classroom. Every instinct was telling him not to follow Sirius in there.

"Lumos," said Sirius, shining the light from his wand directly into his chin, lighting his face in the most grotesque fashion. Fred suspected he'd done this on purpose to scare him and found his fears evaporating at the childish gesture.

"All right then," he said, rising to the implied challenge, entering the tunnel and pulling the tapestry down behind him. They walked in uncomfortable silence.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, Sirius cast a quick spell, forcing a trapdoor to reveal itself over his head. He shoved it open and swung himself up into the empty classroom above. Fred followed and sealed the trapdoor behind them, watching it fade into the floor before turning to face an expectant Sirius. They were now alone in a disused dungeon, and Fred could feel the oncoming confrontation.

"Do they use this room for anything in your time Weasley?" asked Sirius, deceptively casual.

"I think Filch has plans to convert it into a torture chamber," said Fred.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Fitting," he said.

"Are you going to tell me why we're here?" asked Fred, in no mood for small talk.

Sirius nodded. "I want to know what you're about Weasley," he said.

"What I'm about?" said Fred, on the verge of incredulity. "You might want to be a bit more specific, Black."

"You know what I'm talking about," said Sirius. "What was it? What is it that's got your knickers in a twist? Do I become a professional Beater and thrash your favourite team at the Quidditch World Cup? Was I an Auror who survived the battle where your father was killed? Will I become a professor and have an illicit affair with your underage sister? What, in Merlin's name, is it, that has you hating me this way?"

Fred glared, anger filling every corner of him. The crimes Sirius listed were so minor in comparison to the truth that it made his blood boil. This Sirius, this young Sirius, would grow to be a monster, and although he didn't realise it - had no concept of it - he had just trivialized the deaths of his victims. Peter's death. James and Lily's deaths. The image of James and Sirius fooling around in History of Magic, grinning and nudging each other over Peter's ridiculous attempts to get some girl's attention, Lily smiling as she pretended not to notice, made Fred want to scream. Instead he forced his voice to a dangerous calm.

"You'll never be an Auror Black, or a professional Quidditch player, and if you ever, EVER, come near my sister, I will kill you."

The blood drained from Sirius's face. Whatever he'd expected Fred to do or say it wasn't this. He raised his wand in a shaking hand and aimed it at Fred's chest. A sick, satisfied look came over him as he saw the panic in Fred's eyes. "Tell me what happened," he said, through clenched teeth.

Now faced with an angry future serial killer on the verge of doing him some serious violence, Fred didn't waste any time. Not even bothering to raise his own wand he lunged out, gripped Sirius's wand in his left hand, pointed it toward the wall and punched with his right. The far wall shattered as Sirius reflexively shouted a curse.

Shocked, but not shocked enough to lose control of the situation completely, Sirius managed to loosen Fred's grip on his wand by twisting his arm around, and a few seconds later Fred found himself up against the wall. Both wands were now rolling across the stones.

Sirius looked into Fred's eyes, searching. Fred gave nothing away. Eventually, Sirius broke the stalemate. Annunciating each word very clearly, he said: "Tell anyone about Remus, and I will kill you."

Fred gaped at him.

The fight seemed to be over and each released their hold on the other's robes.

Sirius grabbed his wand on his way out.