(A/N: quick update, eh? This chapter is longer and has more serious moments than usual, so bear with me. Something big is gonna happen…something big and random! Blame it on hermione's hormones!)
September 17
We went to the Room of Requirement this morning. The boys were still asleep, but Lily was sitting up on her bright purple bed. When she saw Harry she threw something at him. He caught it and looked at it.
"Oy!" he said. "It's kinda rude to chuck stuffed animals at people." (It was a pink dinosaur with bugged out eyes and blue horns and yellow spikes down its back. Where did it come from? Only the aliens know) He threw it right back at her. His aerial missile hit its mark and Lily fell back on the bed with a muffled 'Mmmph!' That was when James woke up.
"Do you hear that?" he asked. The boy must have remarkable hearing; I never would have noticed the heavy stomping noise if he hadn't pointed it out. I saw Harry whip out the map and glance over it. He looked up at me.
"Hermione." I swore.
"C'mon, Ron!" He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room. I saw Hermione coming toward us. I could actually FEEL the evil aura surrounding her. Angry girls are scary. Especially when they know about a 1000 and 1 ways to curse you. On impulse, I paced in front of the door 3 times. Don't let Hermione in, don't let Hermione in, don't let Hermione in. I didn't know if it would work, but by the time I was finished Hermione was in front of us.
"Where is it?" she demanded. Harry raised 1 eyebrow. It had a very nice effect, really. I need to try that sometime.
"Where is it?" Hermione said, even more forcefully. I stood next to Harry.
"What are we talking about, again?" I asked.
"My book," she hissed. 'It's missing." I worked my face into an expression of concern.
"Really? That's too bad. Why are you yelling at us about it?"
"I think you took it." Harry snorted.
"Why would we take it?" he asked. Hermione just glared. It was answer enough.
"Okay," I admitted, "so we had a motive."
"But how would we get into your dorm?" Harry asked.
"There are ways…"she said. I faked a loud sniffle.
"Hermione," I said, brushing aside imaginary tears, "I am touched you think we're smart enough to get that book from your dorm." Her face softened, and she looked relieved.
"You're right, of course. There's no way you two could get into my dorm!" My mouth opened involuntarily.
"Well," I said finally, "I'm sorry we're not smart enough for you." Hermione got a weird look in her eye and she stood in front of me, looking me over. Then:
SHE KISSED ME!
(btw, James happened to see Harry and Ginny snogging each other and freaked out)
"What was that?" I asked her.
"Isn't it custom to kiss people after they apologize?" she asked. All innocent-like. Then she ran off down the hall. We stood there in silence for a moment, then Harry spoke.
"So. She's cheating on Malfoy…Whoohoo! Go Hermione! You're a playa!" (A/N: hahahaha! I just love that 'playa' part even though it's so stupid! Srry, plz continue)
"You're not a 'player,' are you Harry?" I asked threateningly.
"NO." Good. As soon as we reentered, James asked the question he had before Lupin had interrupted.
" So you're good at Quidditch?"
"Youngest Seeker in a century," he said.
"And one of the best," I interjected.
"And Ron here is Keeper. Won Gryffindor two Quidditch Cups, he has." James grinned.
"Yeah, enough Quidditch talk," Lily said. "It's boring."
"That's because you can't play it," Remus said. Lily chucked the pink dinosaur at him. (WHERE DOES THAT THING KEEP COMING FROM?)
"I want to know what the plan is," she said.
"Well, first me and Ron are going to go see Professor Lupin and then-"
"Whoa! Back up. PROFESSOR Lupin?" she asked.
"Oh, umm, yeah…"
"I always thought I would be the teacher."
"Actually, you were an Auror," Harry said. Thankfully no one noticed the word 'were.'
"What about the rest of us?" asked James.
"Well, you were an Auror, too. Remus is a teacher, sometimes. The best teacher we've ever had."
"What about Padfoot?"
"Umm…" Harry was at loss for words. Escapee from prison and mass murderer weren't exactly job titles.
"Please," said Sirius, "just tell me I'm not a Death Eater."
"Of course not!" I exclaimed. "You're Harry's godfather!"
"YES! Take that, Mum!" Sirius cheered. The marauders gathered around him to congratulate him. Lily fiddled around with the stuffed dinosaur(there it is again!). Me and Harry (Harry and I, whatever) exited to go see Lupin. The older one.
"So," I said, once we were seated in his office. "You knew?"
"Of course. I have a memory of being pulled into the future by you two." Harry's mouth opened into a silent 'oh.'
"Although, because of timelag, I can't remember what happened. Only that we were looking for something."
"Yeah."
"You do realize that you could have just asked me or any other teacher for help instead of endangering the flow of the time stream?" (I could swear Lupin's read Hermione's book! It kept going on and on about the stupid time stream…)
"But we're looking for something Regulus hid," Harry protested. A look of comprehension dawned across Lupin's face.
"So you needed Sirius."
"And that brought up the Marauders," I put in.
"I see. Well, as long as you're careful…"
"Okay!" me and Harry spoke simultaneously. Smiling, Lupin handed us a small iron ball and gave us instructions for using it before dismissing us.
We hurried back to the Room of Requirement and stepped inside, only to realize that something was wrong. The four of them were gathered together, looking at something Lily was holding. With a sense of dread, I recognized the copy of the Quibbler. I knew exactly what edition it was.
"What-" Lily started, but Harry cut her off.
"That, MUM, is an article about something that happened to me in my fourth year."
"You're a filthy lair, just like your father," she said heatedly.
"Denial," I muttered.
"What?"
"In your seventh year you started dating James Potter." Lily laughed.
"That's impossible!"
"Once he, ah, 'shrunk down his big ego.'" Harry looked at me questioningly. Time lag, I mouthed. He caught on fast.
"You were married once you got out of school. Sirius was best man.
"You had a son and named him Harry James Potter. Then, a prophecy was made. One that made me the only one who could defeat Voldemort. On Halloween, 16 years ago, even though the house had a Secret Keeper, Voldemort found the house and killed you. But he couldn't kill me. He disappeared. Then, 3 years ago, he rose again with the help of the same person who betrayed you as Secret Keeper."
"And who was that?" Lily still didn't believe him.
"Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail told Voldemort where you were hiding, helped him to rise again, and let Sirius take the blame for killing twelve Muggles and, supposedly, Pettigrew himself. Sirius went to Azkaban for thirteen years before he broke out-" Lily snorted "-to kill Pettigrew for real." Everyone just stared.
"AND," I said, "Sirius is dead. Trixie killed him. I mean Bellatrix killed him. Dumbleodre's dead, too. Snape killed him." Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out an old photo. Silently, he handed it to Lily. It was the wedding picture. James and Lily standing together and Sirius smiling in the background. Lily stared and then started crying. Into James's shoulder. o0. He seemed surprised for a moment, then started patting her back awkwardly. I actually felt relieved. No more keeping secrets. We were all on the same page. Because of time lag, they'd forget everything we told them. (HERMIONE KISSED ME!) Time lag. Hehe. Funny word.
When Lily was done, Harry brought out the Thingamabob from Professor Lupin.
"You can't stay in this little room the whole time, so this ball will disguise you." They nodded. I arranged them in a little circle, Lily across from Remus, Sirius across from James. Then Harry set the ball down in the middle of them and backed away. There was a blinding flash of light, which faded away to reveal four complete strangers. The ball had switched hair and eye color across the circle.
Remus now had Lily's fiery hair (short, of course) and green eyes. He seemed to have experienced a growth spurt. He could've passed for a Weasley. Lily, however, had long, curly dirty blonde hair and deep brown eyes. She had gotten shorter by about two inches.
James still had his black hair, but it lay a little neater on his head. He had silvery eyes that made him look pale. Sirius's hair was black and messy. His eyes were brown now and…pointier? I dunno, he looked Oriental. Much tanner. It was a good thing they still fit in their Hogwarts robes.
Sirius looked around and broke the silence.
"Yep, I am STILL the hottest person in here." James chuckled and slipped his glasses into his pocket. Didn't need 'em. (BTW, HERMIONE KISSED ME!)
"Very funny, Sirius," Remus said.
"Hang on, you can't call him that, or what's the point of disguises?" Lily pointed out.
"True…" murmured Harry.
"All right! Aliases! I am now officially known as…" James paused. "Brian!"
"I'll be Aidan," Remus said.
"Arya," came Lily's reply.
" I shalt be known as Hunter!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Right…let's go," Harry said. He pulled out the map to check the halls, but lily snatched it away.
"How does this work, anyway?" She tapped it experimentally with her wand. The parchment immediately exploded with ink writing.
Mr. Prongs would like Lily 'Arya' Evans to know that he thinks she is very hot and has beautiful eyes.
Mr. Padfoot would like to apologize to Miss Evans for his friend, but wonders when she will finally go out with him?
Mr. Moony agrees with Mr. Padfoot and also states that he will miss seeing Mr. Prongs get hit in the head when they finally start going steady.
Mr. Wormtail was unavailable for comment.
Lily looked over at the Marauders. James looked like he had a serious case of indigestion, Sirius had erupted into a silent fit of giggles, and Remus was on the floor, sides heaving from laughing so much.
Lily glared at James and then handed the map back to Harry. He checked it over.
"Let's go," he said again. We all walked casually into the corridor, trying to look inconspicuous.
"Can we go to a class?" Remus asked. I mean, Aidan asked.
'Wanna see Professor lupin teach?" I asked.
"You bet!" said Sirius. "Which way?" We're outside the classroom now as I'm writing this. Whoa boy.
(A/N: yay! I finished the manuscript, so now I just gotta type and post! Hope you liked it! And beware randomly placed pink stuffed dinosaurs!)