A/N: I honestly have no excuse for why this is so late. Just more of my laziness. This was going to be one REALLY long chapter, with much more in it, but I decided to end it where it did, so I can get a new chapter out. The next chapter will pick up right where this one left off, unlike this one and the last two chapters, which have way too many flashbacks. xp;;

Warnings: None.

Spoilers: for book 5, but I'm sure all people reading this have read Book 5, lol.

Disclaimer: I no more own the series than I did the last time.

Also, thank you to PrinceTroll for betaing. (Crysania Fay is going to kill me... Sorry B! ;.;)

o.O.o.O.o

Chapter Two: Number 12 Grimmauld Place

James stared at the rather shabby door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He took in the filthy walls and the grim covered windows. It was hard to believe that this was the childhood home of his once best friend, Sirius Black. Long since had it been that he had discovered, much by accident, that Sirius was a traitor in his own home; a shunned outcast.

The resurrected man pulled a wand - a temporary one, until his own could be exhumed from his grave; good for just a few spells - and paused before it could tap the door. "Be wary of Sirius, James. Many things have changed over the last fourteen years," Dumbledore's warning came floating back to the front of his mind. It had prompted the immediate worried question, "Changed, sir?" But the headmaster wouldn't illiterate any further. It only worried the man even more. What could have happened to his friend that it would prompt such a warning from Albus Dumbledore?

"I won't find out anything standing around," he muttered to himself. Taking a deep breath, James followed the instructions to the letter and before he knew it, he was standing in a rather neglected entrance room. With its peeling wallpaper, dusty threadbare carpet, and cobweb-covered chandeliers he felt like he had just walked into one of those muggle-haunted houses. It was almost... creepy.

"Hello?" he called out into the musty air. The silence was unnerving, and for a moment he feared that he might have arrived before Dumbledore's message could have (He still wasn't sure how the man had sent it. All he had done was assure the marauder that it would get to the safe house before he did.).

His fear was misplaced, because at that very moment a thin, longhaired man came skidding around the corner. The man's face looked expectant, and hopeful, but as his eyes feel on James, his expression instantly dropped into something unreadable. James almost felt like he had just watched the shutters to a house snap shut and there was no way to see what lay within. The man - if he would just step out of the darkness at the end of the hall, the resurrected man was sure he would be able to identify him - stared at him with an unreadable expression.

And then, he launched himself at James.

James cried out, but had nowhere to go except backwards into the door. He didn't even have time to reach for the knob as he was suddenly slammed into the door. The temporary wand toppled out of his hand, only to be snatched up before it was even completely out of his hand, and the tip dug into his throat painfully.

"Get out of that illusion." a voice, presumably his attackers', hissed, digging the wand deeper into James throat almost choking him. "Get out of it, or I'll kill you!"

James pressed himself to the door, and was dismayed when the wand followed him like a vicious dog ready to tear his throat out with one wrong move. "Temp... orary... wands... can't... kill..." He locked eyes with his attacker, and all urge to fight fled. His eyes widened, and for a moment, he couldn't believe who he was looking at. "...Siri...us?"

"Shut up!"

James' peripheral view caught a small glow from the wand, and felt a warm feeling spread through his body. It passed, seemingly not doing a thing. Perhaps it was just this that caused Sirius to discard the wand and press his forearm into his throat. James' desire to struggle came back ten fold with the cut off of his air supply. He jerked and pushed against the man with all the strength he could muster. Sirius was thin, thinner than James had ever known him to be, and had all the appearance of a bum, but he had size and something beyond fury to fuel his strength. James didn't stand a chance.

I'm going to die - again! This time at the hands of my best friend...

Life was a cruel irony, indeed.

Just as he began to loose consciousness, both men heard, "SIRIUS! What are you doing!"

Sirius twisted around to look over his shoulder. James still couldn't escape his once friend's iron grip, but the new position allowed the man to draw a much-needed breath. He tried to look over Sirius shoulder as well, but the taller man was perfectly positioned to perfectly hide the person from view. Still, he could recognize that voice anywhere. It was tired, wary, and older, but he recognized it. Moony?

"Look at him!" Sirius had been shouting as James struggled to catch up with the conversation. "How can you let this imposter keep wearing James' face?" James couldn't see Remus' expression, but he could see Sirius'. There was anger, and not just directed at the 'imposter' either. It seemed to be directed at everything, even the very room they stood in. Also, lying under the anger was pain, covered so neatly by the anger that perhaps it was only by knowing Sirius for as long as he had, that he could even catch a glimpse of it.

Remus was responding, and the sound of his footsteps drew nearer. "Sirius, let him go. Dumbledore explained that he was coming, the note's in the kitchen." As the man drew closer, he stepped into James' view. The once dead man was amazed how much older his childhood friend was. He knew that fourteen years had passed, but surely it couldn't account for that much aging, ...could it?

"Dumbledore is a fool. James is dead! I saw his body myself!" Sirius turned back to James, his eyes almost black with fury. James' eyes saddened. He hadn't thought what had happened to his other body - he knew, instinctively, the one he presided in wasn't his first (his real?) one - but he had never considered that his friends had seen it. They must have, he thought to himself. Surely they would have seen it at the funeral.

Remus shook his head, his face as emotionless as Sirius' had been earlier. James watched him warily. If he didn't know the man better, he would have half expected him to throw himself at him as well. "Let him fuck up first. Then we'll decide to what to do with him."

Any hope that Remus might have believed Dumbledore took wing and flew out the dirty window. Though, James did suppose he might have felt the same, had their roles been reversed. Sirius held still for a moment, an internal battle raging visibly in his eyes, before he slowly released him and stepped back. James didn't even realize he had been standing on tippy-toe until he was able to step away from the door.

He rubbed his throat, and leaned against the door to regain his breath. For the moment, he could only watch the two and the wand Remus had produced that was pointing at him. It was their move.

"What did you say to Dumbledore to convince him?" Remus asked. There was an almost curiosity in the man's voice, but it was small enough to make James question if it was really there.

James spoke around a wince, "He asked who the secret keeper was. I said it was Peter." He pondered, for the first time, the fact that Dumbledore had already known this fact. There was only one explanation that he could think of. "You told him." He said this statement-rather-than-a-question comment to Sirius. The man didn't move, but something flickered on his face. Surprise, perhaps?

But neither of the men was ready to completely believe him just yet. "Now prove it to us," Remus said, his voice curiously steady in face of what was slowly becoming a reality to the two men. James nodded, his mind trying to come up with something, yet coming back to the same foolproof thing. "Remus, you're Moony, nicknamed that because you change into a werewolf." Remus' emotionless mask visibly cracked, giving way to dawning.

"Sirius, Padfoot, still the ever loyal dog?" James grinned at the other man, who, like Remus, was unable to keep a straight face. He looked ready to leap at James again, something the latter fervently hoped he wouldn't. "Peter, Wormtail, the rat," amazing how he turned the last word into a metaphor as much the name of the animal. "And myself, Prongs, the stag."

He was winning them over, he could see it. He had one last card up his sleeve, he could just hope it would be enough.

Reaching into himself, James searched for the magic that allowed him to make the change he needed. His mind, his very soul, remembered what it took, but the body had never done it. It was painful, this time - he didn't have the time to train the body to deal with such a change - but he managed it. With a small pop, in James' place stood a rather magnificent Stag. It's healthy fur seemed dulled by the lack of light, but the one candle lighting the room caused the light to dance in the creature's eyes to match him amusement.

No one could replicate an animagus form. It was too complicated a piece of magic to truly understand enough to even try to do so. The doubt completely vanished from Remus, although some still lingered within Sirius.

James didn't notice either as he slowly sank to his feet, his mind filled with thoughts that a human being would never think. He shook his head, his semi-large antlers causing a small wind in the hallway as they moved, but they persisted. He may have remembered the first time he'd triumphed over the animal's instincts, however the body didn't. I... have to... change back...

It was hard, harder than it should have been. There was even some pain involved, but he managed to calm the beast's mind enough to remember his humanity. With a second pop, James Potter stood in place of the stag.

James had but a moment to ponder why the transformation he must have done hundreds of times would be painful and had left him so exhausted, before he was nearly knocked over a second time. It took another moment to realize that Remus was hugging him.

"I don't know how you did it," Remus murmured. "But, god it's good to see you." There were no words to describe the emotions James heard in the werewolf's voice. Joy; relief; happiness; it was all those and much, much, more.

"Remus... breathing becoming an issue..." The resurrected man chocked.

Remus blinked, and seemed to notice he was all but breaking the poor man's back. He sprung back, albeit reluctantly. "Oh! Sorry! I... just..." He blushed.

James laughed and patted the visibly older man's shoulder. "Haha, I might have done the same." He glanced at Sirius over Remus' shoulder, not sure if he wanted the same treatment from the almost frail looking man, or if he didn't. When Sirius merely turned away and headed back into the recesses of the house, James decided that perhaps it was for the best.

James was ushered into what appeared to be the living room. The dog animagus was already in there, silently sitting in a moth eaten armchair. He hardly had a chance to really look around before he was sitting on an equally mistreated sofa, and Remus was sitting across from him.

He sighed, despite himself. He knew they wanted to know the story. How had James Potter managed to defy every law of nature and return from the dead?

He really wished he knew.

Nonetheless, he told them what he did know, from the first few moments, to the strange woman, to the trip to Hogwarts and the conversation with Dumbledore, to, finally, the arrival at Grimmauld Place. As his recount came to an end, Remus had a thoughtful look on his face. Sirius still looked as ticked as he had from the moment James had touched the topic of Harry's arrest. ("No, Sirius," Remus had soothed, "Barging into the ministry - as pleasing as it would be - will not help Harry.")

"Hmm, I'll have to see what I can find on the subject," Remus said finally. "I've never honestly looked into it, what with thinking it was impossible..." He looked at James as if he was expecting him to disappear and this all be a dream. "But it will have to wait. Dumbledore has requested that I and a few other Aurors investigate a possible Dementor attack."

"A Dementor attack?" James shuddered. Did they run free in this time? He didn't like the idea, especially if they were attacking people.

Remus rose from his seat and approached a table. "It was why Harry was arrested." He frowned. "Although 'arrested' is kind of a strong term for it..."

2 and 2 made 5 in James' mind, and he nearly leapt out of his seat. "Wait! Harry was attacked by Dementors and they arrested him!"

"Possibly," Remus corrected without thinking. A bitter smile tugged at his lips at James' exclamation. "Yes."

He left the room without another word on the matter. If James could still read the werewolf's moods, he would say the man was pissed. James rounded on Sirius. "OK, what the hell is going on? Why is Harry being attacked by Dementors? Why is the Order's headquarters in an enemy's house? And why the hell is Dumbledore warning me about you!" He said the last part in an almost frustrated yell as all the questions playing ping pong in his mind finally got the best of him. And James had all the subtlety of bull in a china shop.

The dark haired man blinked up at him darkly. He muttered something James couldn't hear, before he sighed in a similar way that James had before explaining the seemingly unexplainable. "Sit down." He muttered, resignedly. "Fourteen years is a lot of time to cover."

o.O.o.O.o

Shout outs to the reviewers:

Marauder3Moody: Be nice to Severus? Awww, I have to tease a bit! He was supposed to be in the last chapter even, but it kind of didn't happen. Maybe in the next one. He'll show up soon, and I promise not to be too mean.

secretlycharmed13: As Remus put it: "although 'arrested' is kind of a strong term for it..."

Mandalen: I hope you continue to think that. I almost degraded to the first stories level, but I couldn't seem to get it to go any other way. -sigh- And I was so in the mood to write...

Prince Troll: ...I give you special stories and everything and you still want more? Will you ever be pleased? insert overdramatic wailing Note: this last sentence was all just teasing. I didn't mean it anymore than you meant it, lol. (You didn't mean it, didn't you? o.O;;)

panda rule the world: (Wouldn't it be cool if pandas DID rule the world. Although we might be the endangered species then...) ...

cuteidanix: Just did.

ARandomPerson: lol, I didn't look at it like that. Glad it amused you. Hope you liked this chapter.

DawnRising: Sorry for the lateness. I'm as lazy as the rest. -bops head-