"Lily," James said softly. He gently shook Lily who was asleep in his arms, with her head against his chest.

"Mmm?" Lily questioned groggily, stirring.

"It's morning. Most of the kids have gone down to breakfast."

"Mmm." Lily responded, unconcernedly. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to focus.

"I've been thinking…"

"Mmm." Lily mumbled again, yawning slightly.

"I think something weird is going on here. Like weirder than the whole time traveling shock."

That brought Lily to attention. "Like what?" She asked, sitting bolt upright, peering inquisitively at him.

"Do you get the feeling the kids weren't telling us something?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, rousing from beside Lily, his hair a mess.

"I mean Harry was looking at Lily and me oddly…almost like he'd never seen us before."

"Yeah…" Lily responded slowly; she had wondered the same thing.

"But he said we were his parents, so how could that possibly be?"

"It could be because of the fact that we're both sixteen, instead of thirty six, as we are in the year 1996." She reasoned.

"Could be…but what about the fact that we're the only ones who have a kid going here?"

"Maybe the rest of us didn't feel like settling down." Sirius suggested, though he looked sad as he said it. He wanted kids someday.

"I guess…but he said it was 'kind of a long story'."

"Sometimes a long story is just a long story, James, nothing sinister about it." Lily rationalized, but looked more uncertain than she sounded. "Not everything has to be a conspiracy with you and Sirius."

Sirius scowled at her. "I swear, McGonagall does have a personal interest in our getting detentions. It can't be a coincidence that her name essentially states, if you replace a few letters, "m gon a gall"."

Lily looked at him blankly. "And that is supposed to mean…what exactly?"

"Am gonna gall…I'm going to gall…y'know, provoke. She purposely provokes us into getting detentions." He explained slowly, as if speaking to a small child.

Lily glared at him. "And it couldn't possibly be that you two get detentions from her because you're the ones who provoke her? Because you're both troublesome and vexatious, perhaps?"

Sirius chuckled. "Ah, Lily, naivety is not a pretty shade on you."

"OK, drawing the conversation back to something that is actually important!" James interrupted. "Wow, I can't believe I am the one injecting reason into this."

"Neither can I." Lily muttered.

"But I think something happened in the future, our future, something bad, and he's avoiding telling us, for some reason." James went on, unperturbed.

"Maybe you're over thinking this, mate." Sirius suggested.

"This from the guy who is playing 'Anagrams' with Professor McGonagall's surname." Lily challenged.

"Yes." Sirius replied frankly. "And you're just jealous because I'm right about McGonagall and you didn't think of it first." He added, stubbornly.

"Sometimes surnames are just that: surnames. And what possible thing could she gain from giving you detention?"

"Money! I bet she and Dumbledore have a pool going—"

"I'm quite sure the teachers don't gamble over student affairs." Lily disagreed.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?"

"Well I don't, not for certain—"

"Ha!"

"But it would be incredibly irresponsible and unprofessional for teachers to engage in such practices." Lily continued, as if Sirius had not interrupted.

"Guys!" James cried out, exasperatedly.

"C'mon, you know I'm right." Sirius urged James. "Tell her."

"Fine! You're both right, OK?" James replied at last. "Can we talk about the bigger issues at hand now?"

"Cheater! We both can't be right."

"Yes, you can. While I agree with Lily that it would be unprofessional…and out of the ordinary to say the least…Dumbledore was always unique…"

"Sirius, just drop it, OK?" Lily snapped. "James, I do see what you mean about the kids holding something back from us…however it could just be something harmless, and the kids are just smart enough to know not to tell us too much about the future as that could effect the past…or what will be the past."

"I'm with Prongs: if it was harmless they would have told us."

"Big surprise; you're siding with your best friend." Lily responded sarcastically. "No, they're just being smart and cautious. That Hermione seems pretty sharp; she kept cutting the two off when they were on the cusp of spilling something they shouldn't. It's never good to learn too much about one's future…James and I already know more than we should about ours…"

"I still think they're hiding something." Sirius protested stubbornly.

"Well of course they are, but not necessarily something bad. Probably just details about our lives that they're afraid we'll change, like them not wanting us to know that Remus was a Hogwarts professor."

"A—what?" Sirius exclaimed. "There's no way Moony is a professor, especially not one at Hogwarts. That's ridiculous."

James frowned. "Yeah, I second that. Lily, where did you get that from?"

Sirius chuckled. "Could you imagine Professor Moony? Teaching...giving homework...administering tests!" He laughed harder. "And giving out detentions! Merlin, that would be hysterical to see..."

"Well yeah, that would be pretty hypocritical." James agreed, shaking his head at the thought. "Lily, usually you're not so far off the mark with your theories...I'm disappointed in you."

Lily rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Honestly! Do you two not pay any attention? They kept addressing Remus as "Pro—Remus. Remus."

"That could mean anything." Sirius disagreed.

Lily put her face in her hands, taking a deep breath to calm herself before tackling this new burst of idiocy. "Not the way they said it…there was too much of an inflection of respect…not to mention the way they seemed to defer to him, grow quiet for him and listen, in a way they didn't for the rest of us. Besides it's such an obvious career choice for Remus. Fits him well. And Dumbledore wouldn't have any prejudices against hiring a werewolf."

James looked unnerved at this new bit of information. "OK, well, maybe that isn't so groundbreaking…but what about Harry not even knowing I was Chaser? I know I would have told him that every day, being his father! And he said I didn't teach him any moves! I know I must've taught him some Quidditch moves! I must have raised him on Quidditch."

Lily frowned, pensive; she didn't have a response to that.

"Well yeah, any Marauder kid would be a Qudditch fan by the time he was three, at least." Sirius agreed. "His first word would probably be 'Quaffle'."

"And he said something odd when Padfoot asked him if we really are his parents. He said 'you could say that'. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Probably that we technically are his parents, but not yet, obviously. Years from now."

"Then there are other, subtler things, too," James ploughed on. "Like where'd he get that lightning scar on his forehead from? That's not a normal scar."

Lily gave a sharp intake of breath, her eyes widening in realization.

"What?" Both boys demanded.

"It's just…so very odd a scar. Not one that would come from any normal injury." Lily said quickly, piecing bits of thepuzzletogether in her mind. "What kind of cut could produce a lightening bolt scar? I can't think of any."

"Are you suggesting…that it's magical in nature?" Remus remarked, causing all three to jump in surprise.

"Moony! You're awake!" Sirius exclaimed. "And I didn't even get to shake—er, I mean, wake you up gently." He added, looking slightly crestfallen.

"Yes, well…I'm glad for that." Remus responded. "I've had enough of your "gentle" attempts to wake me up to last me a lifetime."

"How long have you been listening…all creepy-like without saying anything?" Sirius challenged.

Remus smirked. "Long enough. 'Am Gonna Gall'? Really Padfoot…"

Sirius sniffed. "It's a very convincing argument."

"Sure, if you're mental." Lily retorted.

"I am inclined to agree. So, I'm a Hogwarts professor, eh?"

"I didn't think you were awake! If I knew you were I wouldn't have said it."

"No, it's cool. Now I have a definitive answer for McGonagall at our career planning meetings this year." He smiled slightly. "I'm sure it'll win me a few points in her class, too."

"Lucky!" Sirius sulked.

"Although, I daresay it would be 'Professor Lupin', not 'Professor Moony', Padfoot. There's no way I'd let a student call me that. And it would not be hypocritcal for me to assign detentions!"

"Sure." James snickered.

"Hey, you two are the ones who always get me my detentions! I rarely, if ever, in recent memory, get them by myself. Come to think of it, remind me again while I'm still friends with you two?"

"'Cause we're fun." James responded simply.

"If you say so." Remus responded, wryly. "I don't think my grades would thank you any."

"And we're unpredictable, so you're never bored."

Remus smiled in earnest. "Now that is very true."

"How come I don't know what I'm doing in the future?" Sirius griped.

"It's a good thing you don't know." Lily stated. "I couldn't imagine you actually staying with whatever career path it is if you knew what you would be in the future…you'd feel too trapped. For you, unpredictability is a must in life."

Sirius gaped at her, taken aback by how well she knew him.

Lily, reading his look, said matter-of-factly, "We've been friends since first year, Siri. I would've picked up a few things about you since then, I hope."

Sirius just stared at her wordlessly.

"What was it you were suggesting about the scar?" Remus pressed, interestedly.

"I was just surmising that maybe it is the result of magical means...it's just so unique..."

"And in real life that means, what?" Sirius prompted.

"That it might be a curse scar." Lily replied, softly.

"WHAT?" James and Sirius exclaimed. "There's no way I'd let anyone curse my son." James snarled, dangerously, eyes flashing at this potential piece of knowledge.

"Maybe you didn't have a choice..." Lily said hesitantly. She was sensing a pattern here, a pattern which did not seem to be leading to a very good place. "Well, what else have you got for us, James?" Lily said abruptly, changing the subject.

"Plenty!" James responded. "Did you all see the odd look Harry, Hermione, and Ron exchanged when you mentioned the sentence of being put in Azkaban for messing with time?"

"Yeah, I noticed all of that." Lily said slowly. "However, I'm sure it was just a reaction to hearing Azkaban mentioned in passing…it has that effect on people."

Sirius shrugged. "I've never really feared it, personally."

"Sure, Pads, sure." James replied, disbelievingly. "So it wasn't you who huddled in bed for three days after running away because of the thought that your mother might report you and get you locked up? Even if they don't even send runaways to Azkaban anyway."

Sirius shot him a dirty look. "No! I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about. Check your sources better next time, mate."

"Yeah, OK, will do, Pads." James scoffed.

"Hey, everyone has some ingrained, irrational fear of Azkaban." Remus cut in, ever the peacemaker. "We all have those moments where something bad happens and we violently panic that we might get sent there…even though most run-ins with the law never end in Azkaban. Now, what do you propose has really happened?"

Sirius gave him a grateful look and James seemed to be brought back to the issue at hand.

"I think that something really serious, possibly very bad, happened recently that the kids won't tell us." James responded gravely.

"Or maybe not very recently…" Lily mused.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Maybe something happened in the past—which for us will be the future—that impacted the wizarding world. In a big way, if we go by James' theory."

Sirius was catching onto her train of thought. "You mean like with Voldemort?"

"Yeah." Lily replied.

James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus exchanged a very nervous look.

"So do we want to find out what it is?" James asked.

"No!" Lily responded. "We can't change time! We could make things worse!"

"But we could also make things better." James protested obstinately.

"James, this is serious! You never know the effects of an action. It's too complicated. It's one of the oldest wizarding laws! We could get in so much trouble!"

"But Lily, think about it! Really think. This is bigger than all of that. Something is seriously wrong here. I know it is! They know it too."

"Then why won't the tell us?"

"That's obvious." Sirius put in. "For the same reason that you don't want to know, Lil. For the same reason they avoided exposing Moony as a professor. They don't want us to change something and make things worse."

James ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. "But we can't just do nothing!"

"I know! I know!" Lily took a few calming breaths. "Believe me I do, James!"

James wrapped Lily in a hug. She looked like she was about to go on one of her infamous rants or burst into tears or have a nervous breakdown, or all three at once. He tenderly kissed her on top of her head.

"I'm sorry." James apologized. "I'm just frustrated and—"

"Wait, shh!" Lily commanded, pulling away from him. "I hear something…"

A/N: Ah, I love a nice cliffhanger... evil laugh ;)

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