Time Traveling the Wrong Way
With a sigh, Remus Lupin convinced himself that the worst thing that could possibly happen in potions was failing. He was walking more slowly than Sirius, James, and even Peter, today. He was more tired than usual.
It was their six year, and there wasn't enough time in the day for Remus to complete his classes. McGonagall hadn't liked it, but she let him do it by appealing to the Ministry. Since then, Remus was entrusted with a very odd sort of pocket watch. It had ten different dials and ten different hands. Luckily for Moony, the hand was the same color as its coordinating dial. Each dial was for a different increment of time. He was instructed very carefully on how to use it. He'd strung it around his neck for safe keeping.
The downside to this pocket watch was that for every hour Remus traveled back, he aged an hour. It wasn't very fun. He was sick as it was, and the exhaustion was almost getting to be too much. Plus he'd had a fight with Sirius just outside. He began to think on it once more as they approached the dungeons.
"You know," Remus started, outside by their tree, "Maybe humiliating Snape isn't all that noble."
"So what if it isn't noble?" Sirius replied. "It's fun."
"What kind of fun, Sirius? The kind of fun little kids have at the park, or the kind of fun Voldemort has when he tortures Muggles?" That had set him off.
Sirius hadn't been able to come back with a witty retort. He just fumed. He was still fuming, if Remus cared to pay attention.
Peter had already claimed James as his potions partner, so Remus was stuck with Sirius. Not stuck, but more like cast with him. Fate's way of telling Remus he should make things right between them, he guessed.
The two didn't say anything as they got to work on their potion. Remus didn't even catch what it was, but he did notice Sirius making a mistake. He was stirring too fast.
"Sirius, you need to calm down a bit, mate. This potion might..."
"You know what, Moony? Just shut up, I know what I'm doing," was the snappy reply.
"Do you? Really? So you don't even have to look at the board before you make the assumption about the beetle juice?" Remus hoped Sirius would take that in the way it was intended.
Sirius glared at the front board and swore. He growled silently and pulled on Remus's robes. "I'm sick of your know-it-all attitude."
Blub.
Something had just dropped into the potion. Remus didn't even want to look at it. He knew. The pocket watch had come off from around his neck. He tried to grab it, and James, mistaking that for an attack on Sirius joined into the fray to pull Remus back. The three, linked together in that moment shattered magic, felt a sickening lurch as though they plummeted through time.