Disclaimer: Harry's not mine, you know...

Author note: Thanks a lot to Aln-Mai for helping with grammar and spelling. And I'm really sorry for the delay - I have a lot of work and barely find time to write. To all those who where scared that I'm going to abandon the story - I want to write it to the end, which means it will get around twice as long as it is now, I suppose.

Ah yes, thanks, thanks, thanks for all the reviews. You guys are just great:)

Chapter 16

James and Sirius looked at Remus, surprised by his statement. For a while, they just gaped at him wordlessly, then spoke simultaneously. It was amazing how similar their reactions were sometimes.

"What do you mean, he's lying?" asked Sirius, raising his eyebrows questioningly, while James folded his arms and said indignantly, "I'm not thick!"

"Yes, you are, Prongs," replied Remus, shaking his head. "You both are. Didn't you guys notice how nervous Bradley was? I mean Ron, not Harry—Harry was just angry. And anyway, he just confirmed our suspicions..."

"How?" James inquired.

"None of us mentioned anything about flying. And Bradley said that it was not him flying out there! How did he know?"

"His brother told him?" suggested Sirius.

"Maybe—but I don't think so. They were just too emotional about whole thing..."

Peter was observing the exchange between other boys silently, still in a bit of shock after being soaked with hot tea. He was irritated by the fact that his friends paid no attention to his mishap and only talked about Bradley. Bradley this, Bradley that—who cared? As far as Peter was concerned, Bradley could have been Merlin incarnate. Full moon was approaching and they still hadn't made any plans!

Finally, gathering his courage, he decided to share his opinions, which he rarely did.

"Guys—" he started.

"But honestly, Moony—" Sirius kept talking, not noticing his quietest friend.

"Guys..." Peter tried again, without much success.

"Guys!" he shouted, finally managing to get attention of everyone—not only the Marauders, but other students present as well. Peter felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"I mean—I—it's just..." Peter started to stutter, which always happened when he was nervous. James, Sirius and Remus were standing around him, watching him with what Peter perceived to be impatience, but in fact was anticipation.

Apart from Sirius, they really valued Peter's opinions. They were usually sort of odd, but in a good way, and different than what rest of Marauders thought—not really insightful, but always giving them a new view on things.

Peter didn't know that. At the moment he felt as if McGonagall had asked him to do a very complicated transfiguration in front of the whole school. Some part of him, hidden very deep inside, told him that this wasn't the way things should be between friends.

With enormous effort, and even more embarrassment, Peter finally managed to say what was on his mind. Immediately after he finished, Sirius scowled and sighed deeply in exasperation. He started to explain as if he was talking to a five-year-old.

"Don't you get it, Wormtail? If everything was all right with him, he wouldn't lie! He would rather go and show off his talent, don't you think? Moony, you are right! He's bound to be connected to those murders!"

"I didn't say that..." Remus started.

"You did!" James interrupted. "When you were talking to him..."

"I only wanted to provoke him. You know, people tend to say things they don't mean to when they are nervous. And it worked. I don't think that he's connected with the murders."

Suddenly Sirius remembered something. He turned to James.

"Prongs, do you remember what Hermione was saying in her dream this morning? It was something about You-Know-Who..."

"I don't remember. I didn't really pay attention..." James blushed slightly. Sirius smirked for a brief moment, but soon his face was pensive again.

"I'm sure there was something about You-Know-Who, but I cant' recall what—anyway, Moony, it only proves that they really are connected to this, somehow!"

"Does it? I mean—maybe Bradley was telling the truth about their parents killed by You-Know-Who—we can't know for sure!"

James only shook his head. "Moony, why are you defending him? There is something odd going on with them. I don't know what, I don't know why, but I think we should check it out. Just to be sure..."

"I agree with you, Prongs," said Sirius. "But I think that there's one thing we should check out first—the Slytherins."

"What about the Slytherins?" Remus demanded.

James and Sirius looked around, eyeing passing students suspiciously.

"Not here, Moony, let's go somewhere where no one will overhear us," Sirius said quietly.

Three boys went down the corridor, Peter following them closely, but still remaining a bit behind.


Harry and Ron, both still angry after the encounter with the Marauders headed up to Gryffindor Tower. They found Hermione and Lily just leaving their dorm, finally dressed and ready to go down for breakfast, but still sleepy and yawning.

Both girls were delighted when they saw the toast and tea that Harry and Ron had brought up for them. With happy smiles they sunk into comfortable sofas and started eating while listening to the story of Harry and Ron's encounter with the Marauders.

Lily was furious. She kept fuming about false accusations and about James, even though he didn't say anything in particular during the incident. Hermione was rather surprised by the fact that it was Remus who actually had said the whole thing about Harry being connected with the murders. He always seemed to be a peacemaker.

Of course, telling the story demanded revealing that Harry actually was a superb flier. This did not surprise Lily, though—after the boy's duel against Lindberg, there wasn't much that could surprise Lily about him. Or at least she thought so.

After they were done with breakfast, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to Room of Requirement. A week ago they would have had to look for excuses to get away from Lily without hurting her feelings. Now they simply said that they had something to discuss concerning the facts about them which they couldn't share.

Lily didn't like being left out, but she accepted the fact that her new friends needed some privacy.

In the Room of Requirement, Harry told Ron and Hermione about what he had overheard in the Forbidden Forest.

"So, what should we do about this?" he asked his friends, once he had finished the story.

"Nothing," said Hermione simply.

"Nothing?" Harry looked at her in surprise. "Nothing?"

"Yep, nothing."

"But, Hermione! They're practically Death Eaters! Here! Students in this school! We can't just let them be!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry, you know very well that we can't get involved! We can't risk changing the future!"

"Hermione..." Harry replied slowly, thoughtfully. "Do you know everything that has happened? Our stay here is part of the past, it is a part of the history! You don't know if we got involved or not! I bet it wasn't written in any of the history books you've read!"

"But..." Hermione started, surprised by Harry's words. "No—you're wrong. We know some facts. We know that Snape was a Death Eater. We know that he was not sent to Azkaban—if we tell, he probably will be! So it would change the future!"

"No, Hermione, listen!" Harry was getting more and more agitated. He was gesturing wildly. For once, he was sure that he was right, not Hermione. After all, they couldn't predict which course of action would alter the future and which would not. If only she could understand him!

He continued with a frown, "It's like this: we don't know what happened precisely. For example, we don't know how Snape became a spy! Maybe Dumbledore confronted him after WE told him and then Snape decided he would rather join Order than serve Voldemort. We just don't know it! And, anyway, I'm not going to tell Dumbledore something I know from the future—only something I learned here!"

Hermione shook her head. Harry's arguments made some sense, she had to admit it. But she just felt that they should stay out of the stream of events. They knew too much, and no matter what Harry said, it affected their choices and decisions. If only he understood!

"Harry—I don't know how to explain it. It's just like this—if events from the future affect something in the past, then it creates a paradox. Let's say—I know that Lily will eventually marry James, so, as her friend, I talk her into going out with him. But I talked to her because I knew she would eventually marry him. And I knew because she married him. And she married him because I talked her into going out with him. And it goes on like that—do I make sense?"

"Not really," Ron said with small smile. Harry chuckled.

"Don't laugh, it's important!"

"Look, Hermione—I get your point, but we are here. We are already affecting everything around us. We can't help it. This paradox you're talking about—it's already happening. We can't avoid it. I agree that we have to be careful with not changing anything, like—I don't know—telling the Marauders that Peter would betray them eventually. But in this case, we don't really know which decision will change the future, because we don't know what really happened! So, I suppose that we should do what is right—either tell Dumbledore, or find some way to prevent further murders..."

"Harry..." Hermione still was unconvinced. "I see your point, but I think we shouldn't get involved."

The two of them looked at each other. They were not quarreling, but it was clear that neither was going to change his or her mind. Harry turned to his other friend.

"What do you think, Ron?"

Ron looked at them both with confusion in his eyes. He hadn't taken part in the discussion so far—he had no idea what to do, this whole paradox-thing was just to abstract for him. And now it looked as if it were up to him as to what to decide. His gaze traveled from one friend to another.

"I think Hermione is right."

Harry sighed deeply.

"Very well. It's decided then. We will not interfere. But I still think we should tell someone."

Hermione just gaped at Ron in confusion, and Ron mistook her expression for discontentment. What did I do wrong this time? he wondered.


Hermione was not very happy. Ron had willingly taken her side in the argument. It had probably never happened before. She liked Ron and Harry a lot, of course, but she was rather used to struggling with them about every little thing. She was the girl, while they were boys—she was the studious one, and they didn't particularly care that much about having good grades. She was the responsible one, while they both were very reckless when it came to rules and regulations. And now Ron was taking her side, just like that?

Well—it might have been that he was trying to appease her after his unpleasant comments.

But Hermione couldn't help wondering whether there was more to it than that. Damn you, Lily! She thought angrily. Did you have to complicate everything so much?

And it looked like their plan was going to fail—Sirius had ignored her that morning, obviously angry with her. It was amusing in some way—she didn't suspect that Sirius would give up so easily. But then, she was the first girl ever not to worship him. Hermione chuckled slightly.

She looked around and smiled to herself. Unconsciously, she went to the library. She didn't have too much homework, but she didn't mind some additional reading—just to take her mind off of things.


"...and that's why we think that Snape and others have to be connected with the murders," James finished.

The Marauders were sitting in a deserted corridor, close to the Astronomy Tower. They had placed some shielding charms on themselves in order to ensure that no one could overhear their conversation.

Remus and Peter were stunned with the news. Remus was also surprised that neither of the boys found it necessary to act sooner—it was already four days since the attack, and any traces were probably gone.

"It's not like we would really find anything there that Ministry hasn't already found," Sirius spat with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. He was usually took his feelings out on everyone around when he felt guilty.

The other boys ignored him, and Remus asked calmly, "What are we going to do?"

"We need to question that greasy git, Snivelly. He probably is in the middle of it—I wouldn't be surprised if he already was You-Know-Who's faithful servant. Remember what happened on the train? Or by the lake last year? He keeps calling people 'Mudblood' left and right!"

"Yes, Prongs," Sirius snorted. "We know he tends to be disrespectful towards people fairly often. Especially one particular person, doesn't he, Prongsie? I bet you would be able to list us every single time he offended that particular person, wouldn't you?"

James blushed slightly and replied, "We are trying to discuss something important, Sirius! Honestly—I thought YOU were interested in checking this out in the first place."

"He's been too busy," Remus said with a chuckle. "Too busy flirting with certain girl..."

"Oh, shut it, Moony." It was Sirius' turn to be irritated. "We need to work out a plan."

All the boys nodded and were quiet for a while. Finally, James spoke.

"It's obvious that there's no point in going to the place of murder—we're not going to find anything there. So I guess our only source of information is the Slytherins."

"Maybe we could spy on them..." suggested Peter.

"Yeah, sure. James, grab your invisibility cloak and follow Snape everywhere. Maybe he'll slip up and say something..." Sirius waved his hand at Peter in a dismissing gesture.

"It's not such a bad idea, Padfoot," Remus defended his friend. "We could use some tracking spell—something like the stuff we had for the Map—and maybe combine it with something to overhear the conversation."

"Yes, that could work, Moony," said James with a little bit more enthusiasm.

"And how would you know when to listen, James? You can't possibly spend all your time waiting for Snape to say something—especially if he's not guilty." Sirius was still skeptical.

"We could have certain phrases trigger the spell—things like 'The Dark Lord' or 'Mudblood'."

"'Mudblood' would trigger the spell all the time, believe me," Sirius replied dryly.

"You know what the biggest drawback of this plan is?" Remus interjected suddenly.

"Yes—it's stupid," answered Sirius immediately.

"No. The problem is that this plan will work only if we assume that they're going to strike again. Otherwise, they might be involved in the whole thing, but not talk about it because it's already happened and they've got nothing to discuss. Do you get my point?"

"Yes," James nodded. "So we need to do something else..."

"Maybe we could question Snape or my darling brother. I think that there should be some truth potion in the school—not Veritaserum but something strong enough to work..." Sirius proposed.

"Sirius! You can't go and do things like that!" Remus protested.

"Yes, I can. I have good reason to do it. I'm trying to prevent further tragedies!" Sirius exclaimed indignantly.

"But it's..."

"Harmless. Especially when compared to killing someone."

"Very well, that's settled than. We will try to find a way to feed Snape some truth serum," James said, closing the discussion. "Do all the Marauders agree?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Y-yes."

"Good."