"Remus." Lily managed, her face crumpling, her eyes showing a sadness beyond description.

"I di—" Remus began, wheezing, but his voice trailed off. Lily had turned her back on him, head shaking slightly, shoulders trembling as if she was about to cry. Remus could not go on, for that one gesture, Lily turning away from him, made him feel worse than any punch Sirius could ever land on him. He felt sick to his very cry, and gulped, suppressing a sudden almost overpowering urge to throw up. Suddenly he felt as if it were all his fault.

"Shut up!" Sirius snarled. "You shut your damn mouth, Lupin!"

"Both of you shut up!" James snapped. "Just—just shut up and let me—let me think!"

"But James, he sold you and Lily to Voldemort!" Sirius repeated huskily.

"No he didn't." Ron said suddenly. He gazed confusedly from Sirius and Remus to Harry and back again.

"Ron!" Hermione hissed.

"What?" Ron demanded. "It's not as if they don't know everything else."

"What are you talking about?" James demanded. "What aren't you telling us?" The flash of anger in his eyes made Ron hesitant to go on; James looked about to strike someone. "Well?" He prompted icily.

Hermione ducked her head and sighed.

"Remus didn't rat—" Ron paused for a second, looking startled, before abruptly and much too quickly adding, "he didn't give you up to You Know Who."

"I don't—but he—Harry, you said!" Sirius sputtered, eyes narrowed in suspicion, fresh tears glistening on his cheeks.

Harry, having caught his breath again, straightened and glared at Sirius. "NO I DIDN'T!" He stormed. "I didn't get to say anything! You just cut me off and jumped to your own conclusions without letting me get a word in outraged! Don't pin this all on me!" Harry raged.

"Would someone please be a voice of reason and sanity here?" Miranda said curtly. Having reached the bottom of the stairs, she commanded, "And get off of him, Sirius. Now."

"But—" Sirius protested.

"You just heard them. He didn't do it. Get off."

Sirius goggled at her for a moment, before slowly disentangling himself from Remus.

"Wow." Ron mouthed to Harry, who nodded. "Fierce."

Miranda evidently heard him. "Someone has to take over when Lily can't." She responded crisply.

Free from the extraordinarily heavy weight on his chest, Remus took a deep, rasping, breath of air. The sudden whoosh of air into his lungs caused a coughing fit. Miranda helped him roll over onto his side, body shuddering as it was wracked by coughs. Sirius gaped at him, suddenly horrified with himself, feeling unclean all over. His knuckles and robe were spattered with blood. Remus gave one last terrific hack, and a matter of blood was expelled from his mouth, hitting the stone floor with a splat.

"Are you—Jesus—Moony I'm—it's all—sorry." Sirius finished lamely, staring at his friend, horrorstruck.

Remus nodded weakly in acceptance, rolling back to flatten himself against the floor, breathing heavily.

"Now, Harry, Ron—whoever! Just explain." Miranda ordered.

Lily flashed her a weak smile of approval over her shoulder. "Remus—really—he didn't?" Lily asked softly.

"No." Harry, Ron, and Hermione responded emphatically, in unison.

"Remus had nothing to do with it." Hermione added. "Nothing at all. He wasn't the spy and—"

"It was Wormtail." Harry stated bitterly, his voice cold and hard, as his hands balled into fists.

"Peter?" Lily questioned.

"Are you sure?" Miranda asked skeptically. "Or is this another half-truth?"

"No, it was—" Hermione began.

James looked at her straight in the face and laughed. "You're joking."

"No." Hermione said again, trembling slightly under that James Potter glare, but standing resolute.

More forcefully this time. "You're joking."

"No. It was Pettigrew." Harry responded firmly.

James shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible. Peter wouldn't— he's my—he'd never—"

"He did."

"You're wrong. I don't believe you."

"He—"

"You're wrong, Harry. You're—"

"No, I'm not! I'm telling you the—"

"Stop lying, Harry." James said, his voice with a dangerous edge to it.

"Dad!" Harry shouted in frustration. "Pettigrew did it! It's his fault you're dead!" Harry realized instantly that he had gone too far.

"I'm not listening to this!" James roared, turning quickly on his heel and marching down the stairs, stepping over Remus and heading to the Potions dungeon without looking back.

"James!" Lily cried out, but he had gone out of earshot. Either that or was purposely ignoring her.

It was Harry turn to feel as if he had been sucker punched in the stomach. His dad had just called him a liar. His dad had just walked out on him.

"Let him go. Give him time." Sirius said softly, to no one in particular, and yet everyone at once.

Remus coughed again. Blood dribbled out of his mouth, running down his chin.

"Severus!"

Snape knew that voice, but didn't want to believe it was really her. He ducked his head down lower, greasy hair falling into his eyes, clutched his books tightly to his chest, and walked faster. He heard a light patter of footsteps behind him.

"Severus!" She called again.

Snape wanted desperately to just go on ignoring her, avoid that inevitable twinge of pain which would come after the encounter, but a strong part of him halted his steps, forced him to stop dead.

"Severus?" This time her voice was strained. She sounded annoyed, yet there was a trace of hurt in her voice.

Snape felt a soft hand land lightly on his shoulder. He couldn't avoid the encounter any longer. He knew he should have just made a break for it when he had the chance! Instead he whirled around to face her, curing himself as he did so.

"Yes?" He responded, rather coldly.

Lily Evans frowned at him, brilliant green eyes fixing him with that impenetrable stare. "I was trying to get your attention!"

"Were you? I hadn't heard." He glanced at Lily's milky white hand, still resting on his shoulder.

Looking a bit sheepish, she hastily removed the hand. "Oh. Well, I was calling and—"

"Is there something you need?"

"Yes, actually!" Lily gushed brightly, eyes lighting up.

A flash of pleasure spread through him at the idea that Lily Evans might want his assistance. "Such as?"

"Can I borrow your Transfiguration notes for tonight?"

Snape looked at her curiously. "Ask Potter. Or Black." He responded shortly, his tone acerbic at the mention of their names. "They are tops in that subject."

She laughed. "Yeah, ask Potter or Black. Sure. In what universe?"

A tiny smirk tugged at the corners of Snape's mouth in spite of himself. "Yes, well, I suppose I could understand that sentiment."

"I knew you would."

"But what could I possibly gain from the deal?"

"I'll lend you my Charms notes." She replied simply.

While Snape wanted to jump at the offer, for everyone knew Evans had the best Charms notes in the year, or possibly the school, save for Flitwick himself, a part of him couldn't bring himself to accept. "I am fine in the class on my own."

A lie, and both knew it.

A smile played across Lily's features, making her even more strikingly beautiful. "Fine then, sorry I offered, I'll have to think of something else then."

"No!" Snape said suddenly. "That's OK. Really. I wouldn't want you to go to the trouble to find something else. Transfiguration notes for Charms notes is fine."

"Excellent!" She responded excitedly, smiling wider. "I'll have to—"

"What's this here?" A loud, boisterous voice rang out.

Snape mentally cringed. Of course they would show up at this time. Why wouldn't they?

"Sod off, Black." Snape snarled.

"I say Prongs, it appears that ol' Snivellus is harassing our good friend and fellow Gryffindor, the lovely Lily Evans."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Lily snapped.

"Ah, but Evans, you're in the company of—"

"Drop dead, Sirius."

"What is going on?" James demanded.

"Go away, Potter!" Lily spat.

"Is he harassing you, Evans?"

"It's none of your business, Potter."

"If you're bothering her, Snivellus—" James threatened, holding out his wand.

"GO AWAY!" Lily shrieked.

"Evans, I'm merely trying to watch out for your safe—"

Lily made a loud strangled cry of frustration, shoved James backwards and pushed past Sirius. She trod on Peter's foot and nearly knocked over Remus in her haste to get away, for both stood back from the group, more or less in James and Sirius' shadow. Remus glanced up from his book and she cast him a disgruntled look which clearly said "I don't know why you hang around with them; you're a Prefect!" She stormed off, shoes stamping loudly against the stone steps.

Snape, too, glowered at Remus, tool that he was. Though he was a Prefect, he was always there, hiding behind Potter and Black, usually with a book in his hands to keep up the pretense of being a good boy. Snape knew better. Remus' passive acquiescence was as bad as Potter and Black's overt actions, if not worse.

"Look what you made me do in front of Evans!" James growled.

"I think we oughtta make him pay for that slight." Sirius hissed.

Snape steeled himself, knowing what would come next.

Snape shuddered, waking up abruptly, the word "Potter" on his lips. He gazed around the room dazedly, sure he had been standing with Potter and his crew not less than a second ago. He took in his surroundings, realizing he was in the hospital wing. His head was pounding, most likely from smacking it against the floor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts room floor. So it was a dream then. A dream, that's all.

Surprisingly, and even more disorienting, Dumbledore stood above him, peering down at him curiously. Snape heard Madam Pomfrey remarking to Dumbledore that he had passed out during a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with the sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins. But that didn't feel right to Snape. It didn't seem like what really had happened.

"Severus," Dumbledore spoke, looking concerned. "How are you feeling?"

All of the sudden, it hit him. "Headmaster, I saw Potter and Lily and Black and Lupin and Leone!" Snape said in a rush.

An amused smile formed on Dumbledore's face. "Indeed? I was under the impression that four of them are no longer living."

"No! They were there! Lily, she—she slapped Potter and then Potter and Black hexed me!"

"Oh? And this was before or after you fainted?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling.

"Before. But I didn't faint! Black and Potter hexed me!"

"I must say that is quite impossible."

"I'm not making this up!" Snape cried out, frustrated.

"Severus, this is the effect of your hitting your head…" Madam Pomfrey cut in.

"No it isn't! Headmaster, they were there, in the dungeon! They were talking to Potter! This is probably all his doing!"

Dumbledore frowned at him. "Which Potter are we talking about now?"

"The younger brat."

"Ah, Harry."

"Yes, the Potter that's most unfortunately still alive."

Dumbledore gave him a stern, disapproving look for a moment, before speaking again. "So we are both agreed that James Potter is no longer with us?"

"Well yes, of course he's dead."

"So then what seems to be the problem?"

"He was here! I'm telling you, Potter was here, in the room—"

"This room?"

"No, the Dark Arts classroom!" Snape responded impatiently.

Dumbledore's eyes persisted in their unceasing twinkling. "Well I would hope Harry would be attending class."

"No! OK, yes, Harry was there. But so was his father."

"His father is no longer among the living. We have just agreed upon that. And to my knowledge has not come back as a ghost, unless that is what you are proposing."

"No, he wasn't a ghost! He was corporeal! He was here. I thought it was a dream at first, or something I ate, or hopefully some hallucination, but it wasn't! He was here at Hogwarts, I am telling you! I saw it with my own eyes! He was here, with all his gang, with Black and Lupin—"

"Now, now, let's not jump to conclusions." Dumbledore responded.

Snape was frantic. He had to make Dumbledore understand. "With Black and Lupin and Lily and—"

"Well, you were most likely just thinking about them and—"

"But that's just it! I was thinking about them!"

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "They appeared when you thought about them?"

"Well, not on purpose, obviously. I had the odd sense that something was not right and it made me think of them. Then they just appeared out of thin air!"

"They appeared precisely when you thought of them?"

"Exactly! But the most bizarre thing was—"

"It gets more bizarre?"

"Yes! All five of them couldn't have been more than sixteen!"

Dumbledore looked intrigued now. "Oh?" He rose slowly to his feet. "Now that is interesting."

A/N: Here you go, another installment, sorry for the delay. Hopefully it answers some questions and rasies new ones. Please read and review!