August 1st, 1974
Snape, James, Sirius, and Lupin are fourteen
It was Remus Lupin's fourteenth birthday; today it would be eight years since he had been changed. Normally, Remus was as well-adjusted as you could get for a werewolf, but his birthdays were always depressing. This one in particular, because every eight years Greyback--the wolf who had bitten him when he was six--checked in on his victims to make sure they were flourishing and developing a healthy hatred for non-beasts, or humans. Wizards and witches included.
Remus suspected Greyback had long given up on him; the werewolf surely would have realized by now where Remus' loyalties lay. He was soon to be a fourth year at a wizarding educational institution, he still lived with a family who loved him, and he had three good friends who constantly dropped by during the summer although not during full moon. They had yet to master the delicate art of becoming Animagi.
At the moment, it was a bright, sunny day, a very good day for sitting in a tree, reading books. Occasionally, Remus took a bite of an apple, but he snuck a few pieces of raw meat from the deer carcass that he strung up in the tree so when he transformed he wouldn't; it was full moon tonight. When it was a full moon day, Remus became uncontrollably wolf-ish even in daylight; something he was sure would please Greyback if he did come.
Remus had taken great and painstaking care to distance himself from his family and friends on this day, and he was happy to see that he had succeeded. Surely the Pyrenees mountains would be far enough so that his friends wouldn't be able to reach him.
Maybe Greyback wouldn't even come. Greyback came sometime in the eighth year, but not necessarily on the very day the bite was recieved, eight years later. Maybe when Greyback chose to check in on Remus, he would be at Hogwarts, protected by Headmaster Dumbledore. Remus was content with this thought, but then it struck him: if he didn't come today, he would spend the rest of August frantic with worry for his family, not knowing if Greyback would come that day or not...he would have to stay in the mountains even longer.
Ah well, he was far away now--on the likeliest day Greyback would visit. Everybody was protected from him, and comforted by this thought, Remus stripped away some more meat, swatting the insistently buzzing flies away from the carcass, and chewed on it, flipping a page in his book. Every one was safe.
Or so he thought.
"I don't know Jamie," Sirius shook his head, "Tonight is full moon, and we don't know how long it's going to take to get there."
"Shh," James hissed, peering around the door where their friend, Peter Pettigrew, was struggling with a theoretical Charms essay, "I don't want Peter to get wind of this."
"Why not? He was always Remus' favorite; he should be there for his birthday."
"We shouldn't even be there," James admitted, "But we can hold our own. Peter can't. We'd have to look after him, and if we need to haul arse, we can't haul his and ours too."
"Poetic," Sirius saluted, "But this is shit James. Peter invited us over to his parents' resort for the summer, and this is how we repay him?"
James groaned, and pulled back the curtain in the shared bedroom they were now standing in. "Don't remind me," he muttered, admiring the beautiful South of France coastline, "but this is for his own good. I can honestly say I can't look after him. I can't even look after you--
"I don't need looking after, but I can take care of you Jamie, don't worry...ickle little Jamie..." Sirius teased.
"Shut up," James muttered, "So you ready?"
"It's already noon. We better be quick about this."
"Yeah, yeah, just grab your broom and we'll go."
"How are we going to find him in the middle of the Pyrenees? We can't use magic..."
"I've been working on a bit of cartography; I'll show it to you, it holds a lot of potential for a fourth year project, but for now, I've made one for the Pyrenees region. Besides, we're already in France, and they're just a few miles from here."
"More like twenty."
"Brooms, Sirius, brooms."
"And Floo powder."
"Right you are," James nodded. "Peter? Oi! Peter!"
"Uh, what?" Peter looked up from his papers, his forehead still screwed up from the intense concentration he had for his third year level homework.
"We're going to that broom-racing competition now--
Peter's face lit up; he always loved to see James race and being his friend...especially when he won and was all famous-like.
"But you have to finish that. Remember, Flitwick won't let you in his fourth year class until you do that and we'd hate to have to leave you behind with the younger kids while we ham it up in our fourth year classes."
"You're horrible, James," Sirius whispered, so that Peter couldn't hear.
"Eh, Dad would be proud," James muttered.
Honestly, the boys both respected and highly esteemed James' father ever since the middle of their third year when they found out that Aaron Quirinius Potter had tried to take down a sixteen year-old Lord Voldemort, when they had been contemporaries at Hogwarts.
Peter's face fell with disappointment.
"You're right. I better finish this so I can be with you guys."
"Always man," James nodded, "See you tonight. We'll hang tomorrow, promise."
Peter nodded eagerly and then returned to his work.
"Okay, get the floo man," Sirius pushed James back into the bedroom.
"Patience, Black, patience."
"Brooms, Sirius, brooms, patience, Black, patience, what are you? Merlin?"
"Shut up."
"No. Oh good, they have Spiffy's Floo; I've always found that brand to have a higher quality of consistency. Doesn't scratch your throat as much." Sirius ran his fingers through the green powder. "Ready when you are."
"I'm ready. Let's go."
They both stepped in the fireplace, and Sirius dispersed the Floo powder.
"Network outlet two-sixty, Pyrenees."
They spun slowly at first, and then faster and faster until the whole fireplace was a blur--they could barely catch glimpses of other fireplaces hooked up to the Floo network until they were finally disposed in a grimy, old-fashioned fireplace. Coughing and stumbling, they smacked their robes until all traces of dust disappeared and took in their surroundings.
"Not too bad."
"Yeah, it's sweet."
They were standing in a dilapidated but clean shack. The paint was peeling, the floorboards were loose, the windows were missing, allowing a nice breeze to float in, and it smelled musty with a mild hint of skunk. But having grown up in pureblood society, they were quite accustomed to less-than-adequate wizarding establishment conditions, ancient buildings, and worn finery, which almost always was accompanied by an odd smell.
"So where's this cartography thing you have?" Sirius peered down James' robes.
"Hey back off, man. They're in here." James rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a slightly torn and ratty scroll with vague scribblings on it, resembling a map a ten year-old would probably come up with.
"That's the genius you're willing to base our fourth year project off of? Besides, we already have us becoming Animagi to work on. I figure we need one more year and we'll be set."
"Sirius, never judge an artifact by its artwork."
"You got the phrasing all messed up; it's never judge a book by its--
"I altered it okay! One freaking year of Muggle Studies and you're an expert. Now listen up; the drawing's pretty shoddy, but you're a good artist so you can take care of that next time, but the Transfiguration and Charm combo is excellent. It tells you where everyone you need to know is, where you are, and...and well it'sbasically infallible. Very useful for spying and marauding."
"Spying? I don't know where you get these ideas, but I agree, it has potential usefullness. Now can we please find Remus and wish him a happy birthday before he gets all psycho-monster?"
"Yeah, just hold on. Let me check where he is..." James shook the rumpled parchment open. Sirius watched James as he scanned the map, his eyes widening.
"Oh..." James then cursed so loudly, Sirius jumped maybe two inches.
"What? Did it just occur to you that your scribblings resembled a dragon or something?"
"Sirius, look at this," James thrust the map in Sirius' hands, his expression grave.
Frowning, Sirius shook the map and studied it carefully. "Oh there's Remus--and...an...oh...fuck."
Around Remus Lupin, there seemed to be a swarm of heavy, crudely drawn black dots. They were buzzing angrily among themselves, but worst of all, they completely surrounded Remus and they were all labeled with the names of people they recognized.
People like Lucius Malfoy.
"Lily," James gasped, his eyes growing wide with horror, "She's there."
"What? Evans? No...no way. What would they want with her?"
"Moony has a bit of a crush on her."
"Huh? But he knows that you're into her."
"He does, but that doesn't stop him from liking her in the privacy of his own mind. And minds can be easily broken into."
"This is bad," Sirius shook his head, "Good thing we anticipated some rule-breaking and brought our wands with us."
"You're right. Let's go; we don't have much time."
"Wha--what? James, I wasn't being serious--
But it was too late. James was out the door and was already kicking up his broomstick, rising quickly into the air. Sirius had no choice but to get into the air immediately or his friend, who was a supremely talented Quidditch player would fast lose him.
Twenty Years Later
February 9th, 1994
Harry is thirteen
Lupin is thirty-three
Snape and Sirius are thirty-four
"Your mother was there for me at a time when no one else was, Harry," Remus Lupin sighed, leaning against the railing of the Hogwarts bridge. "She was so generous; she had a kind and giving spirit...you have her eyes you know. And as for your father...well," Remus chuckled, "He had a penchant for, shall we say, rule-breaking..."
August 1st, 1974
Snape, James, Sirius, and Lupin are fourteen
"James, you can't treat this like one of your stupid adventures!" Sirius yelled, trying to make himself heard, but it was to of no avail with the wind whipping in their face and carrying all sound behind them.
"Almost there!" James called from his shoulder. Sirius could hear him only too well.
"Death Eaters. We are meeting fucking Death Eaters. Lily Evans, Moony, Merlin how do we get ourselves in this situation?" Sirius muttered to himself.
"Sirius, set down your broom! We're going down, behind the weakest point in the circle."
Sirius obliged, vowing to be more direct with James once they were on the ground and not with their heads literally up in the air. Once they landed, Sirius, being taller and broader than James, grabbed James by the shoulders and shook him
"Snap out of it, we can't do anything about this. There are what?" Sirius grabbed the map from James' pocket and shook it free, "There are about thirteen Death Eaters not to mention some...some guy named--oh Christ, Greyback's here too. You know what he does, James--
"Of course I know what he does," James snapped, "You're forgetting who my father is--
He broke off instantly, but Sirius latched onto it, having found James' vulnerability.
"No, no I don't know who your father is. You've never told me James, and if you can't trust me, why should I trust you with this...this stupid idea. The truth is, we're just two fourteen year-old wizards; we can't take on thirteen Death Eaters, a vicious werewolf, two if we're here past evening, anda possible cameo by Lord Voldemort. It's insane, and the bottom line is we'll get killed if we try doing this and it won't help our friends. The best thing to do is to get Dumbledore."
"No," James said simply. And he walked away.
Sirius watched his friend's retreating back with unabashed horror. James was his best friend and he would follow him to the ends of the earth, which was what James was now walking into. Resigned to what he believed would be his last moments on earth, Sirius glanced down at the map. James Potter was in bold and was now stalking its way towards two black dots labeled Rodolphous Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov. Then, stunned, Sirius observed another dot slowly moving around in what appeared to be above the two Death Eaters--a tree perhaps?
It was labeled, Severus Snape.
"That filthy little piece of shit," Sirius growled, "Fourteen and already licking Voldemort's feet."
But then the dot labeled Severus Snape moved away from James Potter and it seemed to be flying...flying...right--over--Sirius.
Sirius swore and pressed himself against a conifer, trying to become invisbile. Why hadn't they brought the Invisibility Cloak? And summer was no time to be performing a powerful Disillusionment Charm unless Sirius wanted to be expelled--he'd already had one too many notifications from the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Luckily, James Potter seemed to be waiting for Sirius before doing anything stupid like confronting the Death Eaters and trying to save Lily Evans and Remus. Sirius watched in amazement as Severus Snape shakily landed about half a mile from where Sirius was hiding. He was right in front of a new dot...only it was unlike any other dot Sirius had seen on the map. It was a light grey, and the name was a jumbled mass that occasionally blinked in and out of existence so that Sirius could barely make it out. Finally, it wavered a bit and the name Arthur John Torrence appeared briefly before shakily disappearing into a jumble--it was as if two names were trying to mesh together.
The Severus Snape dot seemed to shake a bit; he was performing magic. The new, grey and shaky dot instantaneously flew off the map into non-existence. For one horrifying moment, Sirius thought he had just witnessed a murder, but then the dot appeared behind Severus Snape before disappearing again to who knew where.
Severus Snape paced for a bit before finally attempting to fly--badly--towards the Floo network outlet two-sixty they had came from. Sirius sincerely hoped he got a notification of underage magic from that annoying Miranda person at the Ministry.
Once he was in the clear, Sirius sprinted towards James' dot, and he met up with the real James Potter in a matter of a few minutes.
"Where were you mate?" James demanded, looking annoyed, "I thought you had..."
"No, Jamie, no I wouldn't do that. I got held up by a good friend of ours...Snape."
"Snape! No way. I knew that slimeball was a Death--
"He wouldn't take a fourteen year-old. No, Snape had his own vendettas to deal with; apparently he was after this Torrence guy, but the guy got away and Snape was stuck flying back to the Floo network. Serves him right anyway; I don't care what that guy did."
"Torrence," James frowned, "I think I know that name from somewhere--Sirius!" James pulled Sirius' arm down and they both ducked. A split second later, an unattractive-looking man with sandy brown hair staggered into the bush James and Sirius were hiding behind.
"Jugson, don't hide from me."
James froze. Sirius peered at the map lying on the ground--a bold, black dot labeled Fenrir Greyback was hovering over another dot labeled Andrew Jugson, which was now quivering in front of their own two dots.
"Greyback--" the young man gasped, "Please--please don't. The Dark Lord doesn't want anymore werewolves in his private circle of Death Eaters...it would be too much of a hindrance, don't you see?"
"Hindrance!" Greyback's raspy voice chortled, "Hindrance, he says. You will be a great hindrance to the Dark Lord won't you, when he finds you let the Evans girl escape...with the boy wolf?"
James' jaw tightened. Sirius knew that James was now aching to go back and find Lily and Remus before the Death Eaters tracked them. And their brooms; they had left their brooms near the grove of conifers that they had landed by. What if the Death Eaters found the brooms? Even worse, what if Lily and Remus found them and flew away...abandoning them?
"You didn't see it, Greyback! You were too busy terrorizing that nearby town, but the girl--the little bitch--she cast the disarming spell when the Dark Lord was about to kill..."
"When he was about to kill you Jugson? For your incompetence? 'That little bitch' saved your life, and you are indebted to her. The Dark Lord does not like servants who are indebted to his enemies."
Shocked would have been too puny of a word to describe James and Sirius' reactions. They were bursting with confusion, wonderment, smugness, triumph, fear, and worry all at the same. Lily attacking Voldemort when his back was turned and then escaping with Remus? She had defeated the Dark Lord once, and she was only fourteen.
Greyback hissed and he pulled Jugson up roughly by the arm, his yellowed claws digging deep into Jugson's arm. Jugson howled with pain.
"Nothing compared to the punishment the Dark Lord has in store for you Jugson...you shall be lucky to survive."
Twenty-two Years Later
June 31st, 1996
Harry is fifteen
Lupin is thirty-five
Snape and Sirius are thirty-six
Indeed, Jugson did survive. He survived to make the mistake of casting the Killing Curse on Harry Potter; the boy had ducked and rolled under a table, the curse rebounding off the wall and intoa shelf of prophecies. Jugson hoped it wasn't the shelf with the prophecy his Dark Lord was looking for.
No longer the young Death Eater in-training, Jugson was now twenty-two years older than he had been when he first joined the ranks at age twenty-one. Those years did not do him good.
A stunning spell shot at his chest and he lost consciousness.
Eight hours later, he awoke to a high cold voice, the angriest he had ever heard it.
"Good, another one awake."
And he screamed and screamed until he went insane--like the Longbottoms--he briefly thought, images of a much younger and sexier Bellatrix Lestrange, then Bellatrix Black, casting the Cruciatus Curse over and over again on the Longbottoms.
And he saw a green light coming towards him, hurtling. Then he died.
August 1st, 1974
Snape, James, Sirius, and Lupin are fourteen
When Greyback had left with the defeated-looking Death Eater, Jugson, Sirius and James scrambled out of the bushes hastily. Unfortunately, they ran right into a young man who they instantly recognized as--
"Malfoy!" Sirius spat.
"Nice to see you again Potter, Black..." Malfoy's wand tip was now extended, pushing into James Potter's neck, "I hope you'll come with me quietly...or I may be forced to kill Potter here...and I know his father won't be too happy about that." Lucius Malfoy grinned broadly, revealing two rows of small, pointed white teeth.
"Right you are," James growled, "He'll send all of his best men after your family."
Sirius could've sworn he saw a brief flicker of fear cross Malfoy' face. Again, he wondered just what it was that James' father did for a living.
"You'd make a good death eater Potter. You're not even a blood traitor, but your family still refuses to ally with us. Why?" Lucius added this last part as a rhetorical musing, his voice laced with wonderment, "Very strange indeed. You even have a long history of Slytherin patriarchs and Ravenclaw matriarchs--
"My mother was Hufflepuff," James sneered, eager to dispute anything Malfoy said.
"Shut up, Potter, you're coming with me. Black?" To Sirius' horror, Lucius seemed to be acting friendly towards him. Then it slowly dawned on him...he knew how to get out of this.
"Yeah," Sirius smirked at James, "Let's go see the Dark Lord."
It pained Sirius to the heart to see the look of horror and disbelief on James' face. He thought he had betrayed him! Sirius couldn't believe how idiotic James could be sometimes; but they had only been friends for three years...well surely, they had a closer bond than that? From the look on James' face, Sirius realized he would have to work harder at this friendship--and so would James if they ever got out of this.
"How's that cousin of yours, Narcissa?" Lucius grinned lewdly at Sirius. Sirius didn't feel protective of his cousin whom he felt to be an evil bitch.
"She's really hot--but she's all for you Lucius. All I hear is Lucius this, Lucius that...we're going to get married, blah, blah," Sirius feigned disinterest. "Are we almost there? C'mon hurry up, Jamie," he lightly shoved James forward.
"Get--your--filthy--hands--off--of--me--you--TRAITOR!" James roared.
Lucius' fist came down on top of James' head, hard.
Seven Years Later
October 31st, 1981
Harry is one
Snape and Lupin are twenty-one
James and Sirius are twenty-two
Sirius Black dismounted his motorcycle and immediately fell to his knees, a wracking sob shaking him to his very core. He was twenty-two, and he was already doomed, he knew. Everyone thought he was the Potters' secret-keeper. No...only Dumbledore thought that, and Dumbledore's word was law.
He would have no trial. Not with that bastard, Bartemius Crouch as Head of Law Enforcement...he would put away his own son if he had the opportunity, Sirius thought bitterly.
In front of him, the Potters' house lay, in smoking ruins. How? How could this have happened...?
A baby's cry pierced the air, and Sirius froze. No...no it couldn't be. How could the baby, Harry, survive when both his parents were dead? Lily had defeated Voldemort when she wasn't even a fourth year, and her son survived while she lay dead? James, who had duped Voldemort twice during his years with the Order of the Phoenix and once when he was seventeen with a Fizzing Whizbee...Lily again and again when she was fifteen and then finally, sixteen...dead?
He picked up his godson, the baby had already taken after his parents, Sirius thought grimly as the baby's cries quieted. A black, lightning-bolt shaped scar now adorned his forehead. Sirius squeezed his eyes shut, trying to blink back the tears. He was remembering...James had doubted their friendship only once...just once when they were both fourteen. He still remembered:
"Get--your--filthy--hands--off--of--me--you--TRAITOR!"
...the words echoed from the distances of time. James had not doubted their friendship this time; instead they had transferred the Secret Keeper responsibility to Peter Pettigrew, a stroke of brilliance James no doubt had felt that he had had. But it wasn't Sirius who was the traitor.
It was Peter Pettigrew. The very man Remus Lupin had the foresight to warn them about when they were all just boys, the gawky, chubby adolescent that Remus had encouraged them to be kind to, the colorless man their distinguished friend had finally severed all ties with. Remus had been too repelled by Peter's growing scent of the future treason he would committ to remain friends with him. As a result, James and Sirius thought it was Remus who was the traitor because he had been detaching himself from their Marauder group...how stupid they all had been...except for, as always, Remus.
"Sirius?"
"Hagrid..."
August 1st, 1974
Snape, James, Sirius, and Lupin are fourteen
James Potter saw nothing but a haze at first, coupled with a pounding head ache as he slowly came to.
"James, we have to go."
Sirius. Sirius, thank Merlin.
But wait, a warning voice echoed in his head, he betrayed you. He brought you to Voldemort...Lucius' friend.
James punched Sirius in the face, but to Sirius' credit, he didn't cry out loud, which would have alerted the Death Eaters. Instead he stumbled backwards, gasping softly.
"James, you great prat," Sirius shook, his voice breaking, "I was assigned to guard duty with Rookwood, because I pretended to be on their side. Look at this--" he kicked an unmoving body. James, shamefacedly, recognized it as Rookwood.
"We have to go and find Lily; it's been full moon for six minutes," Sirius gestured to the sky, still cradling his bleeding nose with his right hand, "They might not have found a broom for Lily."
"Let's...let's go, mate." James, too, was close to tears. "I'm so sorry, Sirius...how can I ever tell you--what I thought, what I did...oh God, Sirius, I'm so sorry."
"Save it," Sirius said shortly, "Lily is in danger, and so is Remus...and so are we," he added as an afterthought, "Now let's go."
That night they ran the hardest, the fastest they ever would run.
When James would flee the scene of the famous Fizzing Whizbee/Voldemort incident at age seventeen, he only managed to get just below the speed they have achieved that night.
When Sirius would hunt down Peter Pettigrewseven years later, he came close to breaking the speed at which they ran that night, but still fell short.
When Harry fled from the scene of Voldemort's rebirth at age fourteen, thirteen years after his parents' death...even then he did not quite break the speed at which James and Sirius ran then, in a desperate effort to save their friend and a girl, who James believed was destined to be his soulmate.
A werewolf's howl echoed throughout the night, and Sirius squeezed James' shoulder, panting.
"James you have to take your broom. Here...dammit James, take the broom!" He thrust the broom into James' chest. The night was black now--no one could see anything...no one's face was discernable by this light. Not even Sirius recognized James anymore; for all he knew, he could have been handing a broom to Rookwood even.
He was reassured when James' took the broom and flew in the moonlight. It was definitely James' silhouette he was seeing.
"I see her!" he yelled, "You take her, and I'll fly tonight until Remus changes back."
"You're a dolt James, this is your opportunity to--
"You think I care about playing the hero to the damsel in distress now?"
Sirius knew better than to argue. He spotted Lily where James was pointing; she was safely perched in the top ofa very high, very thick tree, but Remus the wolf was clawing at the trunk below her, howling. Sirius had a feeling that Remus had helped Lily get that high up into the tree earlier that evening before he had transformed; there was no way Lily could have climbed that fast and proficiently when there was a teenage werewolf chasing her from behind.
"Lily!" he yelled, "I'm going to bring you back to Hogwarts, so get on the broom when I swing by, all right?"
Obviously 'Hogwarts' was the magic word because as soon as Lily heard that, she stopped hiding from Sirius and started waving her arms frantically. Sirius edged the broom closer and paused it.
"Get on," he ordered, "It won't stay still for long."
Lily climbed onto the broom and wrapped her arms around Sirius' back without question...but she did protest:
"What about him? He's just a kid when he transforms back, and he's one of my best friends," Lily shouted into Sirius' ear, "You can't just leave him; there are Death Eaters swarming all over the place--what--what are you doing? You go back right this instant--
"There's somebody waiting so he can bring him back," Sirius assured her, shifting the broom towards the Floo network outlet.
"How do I know you're not just saying that. You're probably one of those stupid wizards from the Ministry who lie to you about everything just so you do what they say. Dammit, bring me back to Remus, I have to be there for him..."
Lily never saw the face of the man who had rescued her. He had simply told her, 'Go to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore' and then he flew back, presumably to watch over the wolf. But as she looked out the window-less windows, she knew she saw two figures silhouetted against the moonlight, not one. She was beginning to think that perhaps it wasn't a Ministry wizard who had rescued her after all...poor Remus, she had held him while he made the transformation, but he screamed at her, screamed at her to get away, that he would kill her if she didn't get up in the tree.
When he finally became strong enough to overpower her he had thrown her to the nearest branch. Out of pure instinct, she grabbed on, and heaved herself upwards.
"Get--up!" Remus shouted, his voice coming out guttural, as it made the transition from human to wolf chords.
Now that she knew he was a werewolf...she would always be there for him.
As a result of the Great Rescue, as James liked to call it, his head became even more inflated for the next few years. He actively pursued Lily instead of admiring her from afar, and not knowing that he was responsible for her rescue, Lily grew to dislike him. He bullied others she cared about...which was pretty much every one...he showed off too much, and he made her feel like nothing more but an object.
Sirius saw the whole thing but shrugged it off. He was too busy solidifying his friendship with James even further.
Peter was excluded even more as a result.