Chapter 21: The Erudite Explanation

Many people have dreamless sleeps. Some have nights where the dreams are banging around the inside of their head, full of color, depth, and, most importantly, imagination. Others have sleeps where the dreams took an absence. The sleeper is actually only half-asleep; they are aware of their surroundings, but at the same time, are in a peaceful sleep.

The next morning, Sirius, half-asleep, felt something dent the foot of his bed slightly. He yawned almost at full volume and stretched his arms. He figured that it was James at the end of his bed, so he disregarded it completely. Only after he rubbed his eyes clear of sleep did he realize that James never had bushy brown hair.

"Good morning, Sirius. Get up," Hermione whispered, but not with that much inflection. When Sirius stared at her blankly, his mouth agape, she added, "Now would be a good time."

Sirius smirked, his wittiness (though nothing compared to Remus's wittiness) came flooding back to him. "Good morning to you too, Hermione," he said cheerfully. "I hope you had a good night's rest?" he asked, his voice chock full of sarcasm.

Hermione smiled but rolled her eyes all the same. She jumped off of Sirius's bed and made her way to James's bed. Conversationally, she said to Sirius over her shoulder, "You know, it's a very difficult task to wake you up."

"Very few succeed," Sirius laughed his trademark bark. "And then they usually regret it." He barked again before tearing off the sheets off of him. Slowly getting out of bed, he scratched his bare chest and stretched once more. He noticed that Hermione was already fully dressed and ready for the day. He glanced at the window. It was snowing again. "Egh, what time is it?"

"Eleven in the morning," she said without looking at him. "Erm, can you wake up James please?" She shoved the inactive James, but he still had no sign of waking up anytime soon. Hermione looked over her shoulder to see Sirius coming her way, still in his pajama pants… only his pajama pants. She stepped aside and stared at the ground bashfully.

"Sure thing, milady," Sirius answered with a great grin on his face. He ripped back the curtains. James had his bottom up in the air, hugging his stuffed snitch like a little kid. Sirius was about to kick James off of the bed, but remembered at the last minute that James was still angry at Sirius for the previous night's episode. Sirius sat on the bed beside James and started to sing. "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are." He held the last note extendedly with his rich voice obnoxiously. He smirked as he saw a fand appear over James's shoulder, waving meekly, as if shooing a cat.

"Goaway," James moaned from his sleep. "Yeave me alone." James twisted to his side facing away from Sirius.

"James," Hermione interrupted briskly, "it is eleven o' clock. Remus is waiting for everyone in the Hospital Wing, completely clueless of last night's… incident. And what are you doing? You're sleeping." She sounded quite like a teacher scolding her misbehaving student.

"I hate it when other people are right," James groaned before sitting up in his bed too. He, too, stretched, rubbed his eyes, and scratched his bare chest. He hopped out of bed and went over to Peter's bed. "Oy, Pete! Wake up!" James banged on the bed posts of Peter's frame until Peter replied with a loud, "Shut it, I'm awake already!"

Before anyone knew it, Harry was standing beside Hermione, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Hermione was tapping her toe as she waited.

"Er—Hermione?" James started.

"I know you want to see me get dressed, but can't you give the other boys some privacy?" Sirius finished, his usual smirk back on his face again.

"Black, I've told you that you're quite self-centered, haven't I?" Hermione said with a smile as she walked towards the door.

"Maybe once or twice," said Sirius. He winked at her a moment before she closed the door.

Peter, James, Sirius, Hermione, and Harry were quickly walking in a straight line down the hall guiding them to the Hospital Wing where Remus lay. They all kept shooting odd looks at each other nonstop. Sirius looked as if he was going to say something, but they had reached the Hospital Wing doors. They were guarded by a glaring Madam Pomfrey.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Lupin will not have any visitors until he is ready to leave," she snapped.

"Did he say that or do you?" Sirius said edgily.

The nurse glared some more. "Me, but I'm sure if Lupin was ready to talk, he'd say it himself, too." And she spun on her heals and went inside her office.

"Well, I suppose we could wait," Hermione said uncertainly.

James scoffed. "No, we are going to talk, all six of us."

"But how can we get Lupin out of there without Madam Pomfrey blowing up?" Harry asked.

"Harry, you forget who you're with," James grinned.

"We just need someone to take his place…" Sirius said thoughtfully.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor!" barked a younger voice from down the hall.

"For what, Reggie?" drawled Sirius. He rolled his head to find Regulus Black stalking down the hall with an annoying bounce in his step, his chest puffed out.

"For blocking the entrance to the Hospital Wing," Regulus said with an annoying smirk.

"You're not even going in there," James countered, his hand sneaking unnoticeably into his pocket.

But Sirius just looked at Regulus as though seeing the young fifth year for the fist time. "Hey Regulus, you're going to help out with a problem of mine, just like the little brother you wanted to be before Hogwarts, all right?"

"What are you talking about, Siri—" Regulus started to ask.

"Stupefy!" Sirius cried out as he whipped his wand out of his pocket. But it was James, also, who used that spell on the younger Black. Regulus slumped onto the floor, unconscious.

"What did you do that for?" Hermione squealed.

James and Peter strode forward and seized Regulus under the arm. They dragged him over to the closed doors of the Hospital Wing. "We're going to use one of the Polyjuice potions Pomfrey has to transfigure Regulus into Remus so the real Remus can leave with us," Sirius said simply.

"That was quick thinking," said Harry, impressed.

"But where are you going to get a Polyjuice potion?" Hermione asked.

"Madam Pomfrey always has a spare potion for everything," Peter answered. "We'll steal one of them."

"You two wait outside while we get Remus," James instructed. "It won't take us more than a few minutes." The three Marauders turned to leave.

"Wait," Hermione said quickly. They looked at her. "Harry and I'll cause a distraction if you need it."

Sirius and James looked at each other.

"If you can, that'd be great," Sirius said gratefully.

"Just make sure Madam Pomfrey isn't by the front doors when we come back," James added.

Peter, James, and Sirius, dragging Regulus sneaked into the Hospital Wing as quietly as possible.

"Sliticus, Harry," Hermione whispered, sitting down the ground and rolling up her pant leg just a little. "On my ankle. Deep."

Harry looked hesitant, but saw Hermione's stubborn face and knew he had no choice. "Sliticus!" he whispered. Hermione winced but didn't make another sound. Harry shot a worried look at her before jogging into Madam Pomfrey's office. Harry caught sight of Sirius's shoe at the bottom of a curtain right outside the nurse's door.

James saw (through a tiny slit in the curtain) Harry jog into Madam Pomfrey's office, looking out of breath and sounding very worried. Moments later, Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office, looking quite perturbed, with Harry walking behind her. He winked at the curtains. This was James's cue.

James popped out from behind the curtain, tiptoed into the office, and grabbed a full flask of a Polyjuice potion from a cabinet. He headed straight for Remus's bed right after. The werewolf was laying on his usual bed with his eyes staring blankly out the window. His head turned when James entered.

"James, what're you doing—" Remus started to ask, but James put his finger up to his lips and went "Shh, we're breaking you outta here." James snickered silently.

"Why do you need to 'break me outta here'—OW!" Remus yelped. James had strode over to him and plucked out a few of Remus's hairs from his head. "What'd you do that—wait. You aren't going to…" Remus trailed off as Sirius and Peter entered the area, lugging Regulus by the arms. "You aren't doing what I think you're doing, are you? Why is it so important that I get out of here? What's happening that is making you three attack Sirius's little brother just so I can get out of here?" Remus asked frantically.

"Remus—Harry and Hermione know you are a werewolf," James said at once.

Remus blinked. "Get me outta here."

Five minutes later, Peter, James, Sirius, Remus, Hermione, and Harry were walking (limping in Hermione and Remus's case) down the halls to the boys' dormitory. Again, all were giving each other odd looks of puzzlement, especially Remus.

"So what happened last night?" Remus asked as he carefully eased himself onto his bed. The previous night he had really beat himself up, sine he did not have his usual friends to help him. Just the walk back to the dormitories had tired him out. He didn't have much energy to do anything physical after that rough full moon.

Peter had flopped on his bed, lying on his stomach, looking anxiously between James and Harry, occasionally glancing at Remus and Sirius. Harry was sitting at the foot of his bed, head in his hands. Leaning against the wooden post of his bed, his legs crossed out in front of him, Sirius lounged looking concerned. "Where's Hermione?" he asked in a quite voice.

"She's telling Lily not to wait up for her at lunch," Harry answered, not lifting his head up, making his voice sound muffled.

They all sat in silence, waiting for Hermione.

A minute had passed when the door creaked open and Hermione stepped in. She looked around the room, wondering where to sit. Sirius let his legs fall of the long side of his bed and scooted to a side to make some room for her, since the side of his bed was pushed up against the wall. Hermione hesitated, but sat next to him anyways.

"As I was saying, what happened last night?" Remus asked. He was too confused and worried to care about Sirius and Hermione at the moment. He looked apprehensively between the other five people.

Everyone looked at Sirius.

"Well, it all started when I—when I told Snape to go down to the Whomping Willow," Sirius started, but was interrupted by a maddened snort.

"You did what?!" Remus yelped. James whispered something and pointed his wand at the door.

"Well, he was going on and on about my family… and I wasn't thinking—"

"That," Remus said, pronouncing his words with deep disgust, "is obvious."

"And then Hermione must've overheard me telling Peter about it," Sirius carried on, glancing at Hermione on his left, who shifted slightly in her seat. "I don't know what happened next…"

Hermione shifted again in her seat. "I ran back to the common room and told James about Snape. He ordered that Sirius and Peter be at the Whomping Willow and then he flew out the window down to Snape."

"We ran back down stairs to pass on the instruction to Sirius," Harry continued. "Those two left for the Shrieking Shack, and Hermione and I—went to bed."

"Meanwhile, I flew down to the Willow, chasing after Snape," James said, not so sure of himself. "He had already gotten into the passageway when I got to him. I pulled him out of there, but not before Snape caught a—a glimpse of you," James added apologetically.

"He saw me?!" yelled Remus, outraged. He rounded on Sirius. "Oh, I'm gonna kill you!" He actually leapt off his bed and ran towards Sirius across the room. Sirius winced and waited for the impact. James and Peter jumped to their feet and held Remus back just before he got to Sirius. "Let me go," Remus growled. "He told on me! He… told… on… me…" Remus panted and stopped struggling out of James and Peter's arms.

Harry and Hermione sat stunned. They had never seen Remus so angry. But it was a night after the full moon, and Remus thought his secret was out of the bag for sure now… Remus might even think that it was Sirius's fault that they knew about him being a werewolf…

"Remus, it's all right," James said soothingly, guiding his friend back to his bed. "Snape went straight to Dumbledore. We trailed after him, expecting expulsion. But all Dumbledore did was question what had happened, and we were just given one detention each."

"What did Dumbledore have to say about them?" Remus asked, nodding his head at Harry and Hermione.

"I didn't mention them," Sirius said quietly. He had been staring out a window, but now his saddened eyes focused on Remus. "I just told the story as if it was James who had overheard me, not Hermione."

"Why?" Remus asked.

Sirius adjusted his focus onto Hermione. "I wanted to find out what is really going on before I talk to Dumbledore."

"And you will, once Remus hears what happened," Harry answered.

"So what happened to Snape?" asked Remus, looking at James.

"Dumbledore made Snape promise not to tell anyone about your lycanthropy."

"Which brings me back to you two," Remus said, looking at the two time-travelers. "How did you know about—about—"

"You being a werewolf?" Hermione helped. Remus nodded. Hermione and Harry exchanged a glance. "You see, we know a lot more than you'd think we know."

"We also know that you three, James, Sirius, and Peter," Harry started (the three boys tried to look innocent, but James could tell what was going to happen next), "are three unregistered Animagus."

No one in the room stirred. James sat pondering, as if piecing things together in his mind. Something clicked in his eyes, even if his mind hadn't registered it yet.

"How?" Sirius asked at last.

"We also know," Harry continued, "that come every full moon, you four roam around the school grounds, even in Hogsmeade, at night in your animal forms."

"How do you know this?" Sirius repeated.

"We have been going to this school for the past six years," Hermione said.

"But we've never seen you two," Sirius said. "Where have you been, then, all that time?"

"The question isn't where," Hermione said wisely. "It's when."

"You're time-travelers!" Remus yelped suddenly.

"You come from the past?" Peter said in awe.

"No… not the past," Harry said slowly.

"The future," Peter whispered in awe. "So that's how you know stuff that first-timers wouldn't know," he started.

"That's how you know about us," Sirius added.

"That's… mind-boggling," said Remus.

"How far in the future are you from?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Twenty years, I think," Harry replied.

"Whoa…" Sirius, Remus, and Peter groaned as one.

Harry wasn't looking at the three awestruck boys, but at James. He sat with a vacant expression, staring at Harry with glazed eyes. "James, what's wrong?" Harry asked concernedly.

James hadn't spoken a word. "You're—you're my son, aren't you?" he asked Harry in a hallow voice. He stared deeper into Harry's eyes, searching for truth.

Harry's eyes traveled to Hermione's. It was too late now. "Yes, James, you're my father."

None of the other silences compared to this one. Harry and James just sat staring at each other. Both pairs of eyes had a shine, a glint to them, that was unseen by everyone in that room.

"But why did you come back, then, to this time?" asked Remus at last.

"We didn't mean to," Hermione said. "It was an accident."

Sirius scoffed. "How is time-traveling an accident?"

"I—I can't tell you that," Hermione answered uncomfortably.

Remus suddenly sat up straight. "But being back here is messing up the entire timeline!"

"We talked to Dumbledore the moment we arrived, but he said that we can't travel back to our time until another time-traveler instrument is ready."

"Why not just used a Time-Turner to return?" Remus asked. "There are plenty of them around."

Hermione smiled. She should've known that Remus would know what a Time-Traveler is. "Time-Turners can't travel that far into the future."

"That's why you look so much like me," James asked Harry. Harry smiled weakly and nodded. "So you did inherit your good looks from me!" James grinned widely. Harry's smile broadened. He was glad James was taking this so well.

"Hey James!" Sirius said abruptly. James turned away from Harry. "Remember in the beginning of the year, we were just joking around, saying that Harry and Hermione were from the future?"

James guffawed loudly. "Ha! You're right! Hey, we're seers!"

Everyone laughed. The mood suddenly became less tense, more at ease.

"Well, are there any other secrets you'd care to tell us?" Sirius joked, nudging Hermione's side playfully.

"None that we can reveal," Hermione answered. She stood up and stretched. Everyone else followed suit.

"So, you know all four of our future selves, then?" Sirius asked, as if talking about the weather.

"Better than you'd think," Harry muttered.

"Do we still have our incredibly handsome looks?" Sirius asked suavely.

"You are twenty years older than us, you realize that, don't you?" Hermione said in her laugh.

"We aren't going to tell you anything more of the future," Harry said. "Now can we please go eat? We never really had a true breakfast."

"Ah, but those Sugar Quills and Chocolate Frogs were very nutritional," James said with a smirk.

"You ate my Chocolate Frogs?!" Remus growled.

"Remus!" Sirius yelled. "Not every piece of chocolate in this room belongs to you. Someday, you'll learn to share your chocolate… Right?" Sirius added, looking to Harry.

"Shan't say nothing," Harry hummed. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and strolled out the dormitory door. Hermione chuckled and walked out after him. All four Marauders looked at each other. Sirius went to follow after Hermione, but Remus called him back.

"Now that we know what's going on, we must be careful," Remus said urgently to James, Sirius, and Peter. "We cannot, I repeat, cannot go about asking about the future. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they chorused. They all filed out of the dormitory.

"It'll be hard, though," Sirius commented over his shoulder as he skipped down the stairs. "I'm just so curious about what they know…"

"I know exactly what you mean, Padfoot," James sighed.

"Yeah, like who little Prongsie is married to," Remus joked.

"Ew, who would want to marry that egotistical twit?" Lily said, coming down the stairs behind them.

James, now at the bottom of the stairs, spun around quickly to face Lily. "Lily, could you answer me this one question?" Lily huffed and shoved her hands on her hips as if extremely irritated. "When was the last time I truly acted egotistical?"

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.

"No, seriously!" James said. "I've stopped ruffling my hair, I've stopped showing off that Snitch, I've stopped hexing people for the fun of it (mostly), I've stopped…"

Sirius groaned quietly and strolled ahead to catch up with Harry and Hermione. He didn't want to be at the scene when Lily exploded. It never turned out pretty. He scurried out the portrait hole and saw Hermione just a few meters in front of him.

"You two aren't staying here for that long, are you?" Sirius asked, stepping between Harry and Hermione.

"No…" Harry answered slowly. "Dumbledore said that we'll probably leave towards the end of the year."

Sirius's shoulders sagged. "And you won't ever visit again, will you?"

"No…" Hermione said, again, slowly. "But you will see us again, I promise you that." Harry quickly turned his head towards her, a deep and saddened look was shining in his eyes.

"Hmph," Sirius grunted, oblivious to Harry's look. He wouldn't even bother trying to get any information out of them. Harry changed the topic and started to ask about McGonagall's homework they had just gotten back. Hermione was just saying how she had gotten an 'O' on the assignment when something popped up in Sirius's head. "So this is the reason you won't date Remus or me," he interrupted Hermione's gloating. "Because it'll disrupt the timeline."

Harry snorted. "That and because we know you twenty years from now. Do you know how disturbing that would be? You're almost like a father-figure to us."

Sirius continued to ignore Harry's mumbles and looked straight at Hermione, studying her features. She had adverted her eyes and started to look at random objects: the ceiling, the floor, the suit of armor, Peeves shooting dead spiders through a pea shooter. There was a flicker in her eyes. Sirius knew that look. Hermione was masking something. Feelings, perhaps?…

"Uh huh…" Sirius said to stop Harry. "I'm sure. What's for lunch today?"

Hermione was grateful for the change of subject. She let Harry describe the entire course of the meal. She could have sworn there was drool in his mouth by the end of it.

Several minutes later, James came walking up behind them and was immediately in stride with Harry. Sirius looked James over, as if searching for something.

"No hex marks, no trace of hurt or deflated ego…" Sirius ticked off with his finger. "Are you sure that was the true Lily Evans you were arguing with back there?" Sirius smirked.

James grinned too. "I think she's actually warming up to me," James squealed with a bounce.

"You're a real pansy, you know that?" Sirius guffawed.

"No, but she honestly couldn't think of a recent time where I was 'egotistical and arrogant', as she always puts it…" he trailed off grumbling.

"Now, I wonder why she would call you those two specific things," mused Peter, coming up behind them.

"Where's Remus?" Hermione asked concernedly, searching wildly around the group.

"He's having a nice visit with our headmaster at the moment," James supplied. "Remus wanted to get things straightened out before he ever sets eyes on Snivellus—I mean Snape."

"You know, I've always wondered where you four came up with that name," Hermione pondered out loud.

"You mean you've heard it before?" Sirius inquired. He continued in an undertone, thinking out loud: "That means that she's seen Snape in the future, which means he's still alive (dammit), which means I will most likely see him after school is over with… bugger!" He straightened up and looked at Hermione again. "You were saying? …Oh yes! The history behind Snivellus…"

"That is a history worth hearing," James said giving a hearty chuckle.

"Or is it worth not hearing?" inquired Sirius with his bark-like laugh.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other before staring at James and Sirius. "What?" they asked in unison.

"Well, you see, little Siri over here needs his ears cleaned out," James said, giving Sirius a clap on the back. He continued, seeing that the two time-travelers were still confused. "It was back in our second year…" James started, reminiscing. They had come to the Great Hall's doors and were all strolling inside, heading for Gryffindor Table.

"Back in our days of innocence," added Sirius solemnly. Harry and Hermione snorted, along with Peter. The thought of James and Sirius ever being innocent was a laughable notion indeed. All five sat down, two of them looking anxiously at James and Sirius. Peter sat back and let James and Sirius tell their story, although this did not stop Peter from listening with great glee.

"And it was after fourmysterious and anonymous'" (James used quotation hand movements at those words)"boyshad hexed Snape into throwing snowballs at the new Head Girl and Boy," carried on James with an air of smugness. "At first, Bolger, the Head Girl at the time, who had already been in a bad mood because a certain four someones had jinxed the suits of armor to insult any Slytherin that passed them, thought it was Snape who threw the icy snowballs at the back of her neck, on his own free will."

"So she exploded," Sirius cut in excitedly, like a little boy boasting about his winnings. "She kept on ranting about how horrible children were becoming, and yours truly, along with my three counterparts, were there to witness the entire thing. Snape was just standing slack-jawed, wide-eyed at Bolger. But she wouldn't stop! At one point, we assumed, since we couldn't see Snape's face from our view, that his eyes were becoming watery, because Bolger said to him, in exact words, 'stop sniveling, Severus, you insignificant little prat'."

"But Sirius, who sometimes has trouble hearing things, especially at that time—"

"Snape had gotten lucky in our little duel hours before," grumbled Sirius edgily. "He had hit me with a Hard-of-Hearing Hex… I couldn't hear a thing McGonagall was telling us during class, not like I paid attention anyway…"

"But it all worked out great, didn't it?" James asked, grinning from ear to ear. "You see, Sirius had just thought Bolger had called Snape Snivellus."

"So," Harry interrupted, on the verge of hysteria, "you're meaning to tell us that if Snape hadn't used that hex on Sirius beforehand, everyone wouldn't be calling him Snivellus?"

"And I've noticed that he has never used that hex on us again," James laughed.

Everyone peeled into gales of laughter. The mirth died down as the five hungry teenagers dug into all the food surrounding them. Only when Snape entered the Great Hall did they laugh again. He had stormed in, his fists curled up in tight balls, and a murderous glint was sparkling in his eye, especially when he glared at the three Marauders. Hermione felt someone sit down beside her while she was looking at Snape. She turned and found Remus looking incredibly grumpy.

"What's so funny?" he asked the other to introduce his presence. His voice was steely and ornery; he was not in a playful mood.

"Oh great, here comes the attack of Moony's PMS," Sirius muttered, but loudly enough for everyone to hear. They all looked at him (Remus glowered). "Post-Moon Syndrome."

Even Remus chuckled at that one.

"What did Dumbledore have to say?" Hermione asked concernedly.

"Nothing that you don't probably know already," Remus answered quietly. He glanced over his shoulder to see Lily joining up with them. For once, she was alone. She sat down next to James grudgingly but all the same with her usual smile.

"Hi," she said to everyone, but almost immediately looked at Hermione. "Hermione, don't forget, today we are going to meet with Alyward."

"For what?" James and Sirius asked at once.

"To see if we can get any more extra points from our last quiz," Lily stated, as if it was the most obvious thing. She flipped her hair over her shoulders and turned back to Hermione. She opened her mouth, but James interrupted immediately.

"What do you need extra points on?" he asked incredulous. "You only got one wrong out of fifty-two!"

"You forgot, Prongs," Sirius entered with a drawl, "that they are the over achievers. They will stop at nothing to attain the highest scores possible." He rolled his eyes over to the two innocent-looking girls. They just shifted in their seats and continued to talk about their scores on the previous Transfiguration test.

"Well, ladies, if you will excuse us," James announced after ten minutes of eating, "the five Marauders—" Harry coughed. "Sorry, four Marauders plus Harry are due for a certain event. Adieu." He leapt like a deer off the bench and swept into a deep bow. He turned abruptly and made for the doors, with Peter stumbling behind him. Sirius and Remus took their times leaving, making sure they didn't look as ridiculously dramatic as James did. Harry just laughed, saluted the two girls, and sauntered out.

"Harry really seems to be fitting in with the 'Marauders'," Lily commented lightly. She delicately placed some clam chowder in her mouth, paused, and swallowed, grimacing. "Ah, that's hot… And I'm not so sure that Harry being with the Marauders twenty-four/seven is such a good thing." She gave a weak chuckle.

"Naw, they seem like a good bunch to hang around with," Hermione said evenly.

"Hm, I guess so," Lily agreed. "But I've never seen James take in anyone like he is with Harry. Gosh, he didn't even like Sirius at first sight. It took them a long while to get along."

"Really?" Hermione asked, completely taken away at that fact. "But they seem like brothers."

"Sirius and James? Yes, they do… But James and Harry, they seem to have some odd connection, don't they?" Hermione did not comment but continued sipping her porridge.

A/N: Eek! I am in the most grievous state right now. I'm on my knees, begging you all to forgive me for not updating for such a long time. Will you forgive me?

Also, before I continue with the reviewer thank-you's, I must apologize to those whom I corrected in my last chapter. I was in a furious mood that day, nothing was going right, and I just was a little too harsh. After I calmed down (and once everything wasn't so hectic here), I realized that I loved all your notes and corrections. It means that you really are into my story, and that's GREAT!!! So please, continue to "nitpick" (even though that is too strong of a word). I do that to Rowling's work, and I love her work (obviously). SO sorry if I seemed aggravated (cuz I was)…..

And now to all my wonderful reviewers!

NightEyes18: Harry and Hermione? Nah, I ALWAYS, ever since Hermione spotted the dirt on Ron's nose, thought it was going to be Hermione and Ron, especially after book four. I just pictured Harry being friends with both of them, and Ron and Hermione having one of those relationships with the whole bickering thing (like the Weasley parents).

Shelby H: THANKS!!!

Pieceocake: THANKS! Kinda hard with football practice and everything to write so often and quickly. But it's almost over….

DarkRaven-04: Thanks! AH HA! I knew someone was going to comment on the whole James turning into a hawk thing. You see, if you caught on in the chapters before (and I think that chapter, too), it talks about James being able to transfigure himself into any animal during a Transfiguration class. He was using simple magic to change into a hawk! lol, I know his animagus form is a stag!

Rane2920072: THANKS!!!

Larna Mandrea: Thanks a lot! I know, that James chess set scene just made my heart twist. I was hoping someone would comment on that.

Flaignhan: Thanks. And thanks for the random prawn facts. That made my family dinner very interesting a few nights ago. Hilarious.

The Dark One Reborn: Thanks!

Kat: Eh heh, to sum it up, read my note to DarkRaven-04. Come on people! I know that James's animagus form is a stag! I wrote about that in earlier chapters! I should think that you all would remember regular magic! Lol

Secretly Smiling: Thanks!

Kou Shun'u: I'M SO SORRY!!! I didn't mean to get on you for making notes of my little mistakes! I was really having a crappy day. I really appreciate it! … And good catch on the spelling thing with the "Great Niles". I never caught that! (And what's lame was I probably read that four times and never caught that). And as for the Snape thing, Snape, in book 3, kept on saying that Sirius was capable of murder at the age of sixteen…. And if you took note earlier in this story, I clearly said that Sirius had turned sixteen on August fifteenth, so be exact. Rowling never actually stated when the whole incident occurred, just the age of Sirius. I checked ::wink:: Thanks for pointing that out. I was having a bet with myself (I always do that) to see if anyone would actually ask that. I guess I won and lost! Thanks!!!

Creeppieness: Who said this was a Sirius/Hermione story? I said, a few chapters ago, that it was undecided (from your views). It might be Remus. It might be Sirius. But maybe pleading of some sort might settle my mind. ::wink::

Sapphire66: Thanks!

HarryNDracosDarlin: Thanks! I spent only too long thinking about the timeline of the Marauders during History

Niphredel Black: Thanks!

Dawn1: You know, you come up with good ideas. That's all I'm going to say. (Well, I'm gonna say "Thanks" too!)

Doodler Girl: THANKS!!!! I just loved spending my time during history class ::wink wink:: thinking up the entire timeline of the Marauders to fit everything into place. It was actually funny. I was thinking so hard, I didn't notice where I was staring, which was at this guy's head (the side of it). And I guess he noticed me staring at him, because he turned and asked why I was staring at him, and asked if there was something on his face. It was so funny! Glad you liked it! (Did I tell you that "marauder" is one of our vocabulary words?! Isn't that spiffy?!)

Roxxie-Hart: I noticed the drop in Sirius's affection towards Hermione in that chapter 20, too. But it really wasn't about them during that one. But I was disappointed at how little they interacted in that one, so I added the sentence (can't remember exactly) where he looks back at her questionably as he runs to the Whomping Willow. But I wasn't that happy with that either. But now that the cat is out of the bag (where did that saying come from, honestly?), there will be even more feelings let loose (I hope…)

Bharathnatyam: Thanks! But I always frowned upon Harry/Hermione works, so that won't happen here. Good idea, though! Keep coming up with more of 'em. I kinda need them.

Iluvsiriusblacksnufflespa: Thanks!

stargazer starluver: Again, it's all right, I was edgy that day (to put it lightly). You weren't impatient. Thanks for being extremely patient!!!

RainynDawn: Thanks! Yeah, it's a lot harder than it looks to update every week….

Rachel123: Thanks!

Mrs. Raven Wood: Thanks!

MidniteMarauder: Remus is winning my heart in this contest, but it all depends on where I want to go with this story. I have two endings (actually, three), one with Remus winning, one with Sirius, and the other one shall stay in my mind. It's just so hard to choose between the Marauders! And about the middle/last part of your review, I think that Remus and Sirius are just trying to push away the fact that the other one actually does like the girl. Remus is trying to convince his mind that Sirius will just manipulate Hermione. Sirius is thinking that he can give Hermione so much more. So, they're both being ignorant little teenage boys, in other words. And sorry about making you wait so long. My apologies will never end…

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS STORY! YOU ARE LOVED!

My next poll…

Should Lily find out about the two time-travelers? What do you all think?