(About thirty years previous…)

James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were basking in the shade of a large oak tree near the lake. The evening sun was glistening across the lake's gentle waves, and they all felt very sleepy and relaxed.

"Nice evening," Remus said, skimming a page in his book.

"Mm," murmured James, who was half asleep, sitting back against the trunk of the tree.

"Where's Wormtail?" asked Sirius, sitting up slightly and glancing around.

"Mmdunno," James replied.

"Ah, well." Sirius shrugged and lay back down on the ground, staring up at the dappled light through the leaves of the tree. For a few minutes, the only noises were the twittering of evening birds and the soft wave crashes against the bank of the lake. But then, out of nowhere, there came a yell.

"GUYS!"

The three boys all jerked out of their collective stupor, and looked in the direction of the shout. Running towards them was a girl, her hair bouncing. They all, of course, recognised her – it was Lorelei, one of their closest friends. She reached them quickly due to her speed.

"Good God, where's the fire, Lorelei?" asked James, rubbing his sleepy eyes. She bent over double, catching her breath and holding a stitch in her stomach, then stood up straight, shaking out her long, wavy chocolate-brown hair with natural toffee highlights. Lorelei Genevieve McAllister was an undeniably beautiful girl. Pushing her hair back, she revealed a pale, pixie-like face with a smattering of freckles across her nose. Her eyes were a shade of green in between emerald and lime that sparkled with flashes of mischievousness, and her full lips were often twitched to one side with a suppressed cheeky grin. You see, Lorelei was a natural joker. The reason she had become friends with James and Sirius in the first place was because they loved pulling pranks almost as much as she did, and through them she had also become friends with the other two boys. Although – she'd always had a vague dislike for Peter…

She was approximately five foot six in height, and although her body was toned, she had rounded curves to give her a gorgeous hourglass figure. Her skin was creamy and flawless, and she was currently wearing her favourite outfit – a cropped dark blue t-shirt that showed her flat stomach (on which she was wearing a dainty silver belly chain) and a blue, orange and brown plaid mini-kilt. On her feet were chunky brown heels, which she had had no problem running in. Also, she had a brown leather satchel slung over her right shoulder, her eleven inch cedar wand sticking out one of its pockets. She gave the boys an ecstatic smile.

"You won't believe what I've got," she said in her bright, happy voice.

"Please, put us out of our misery," Sirius teased.

Lorelei stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, you remember the other day when I planted some Dungbombs in McGonagall's office?"

"Yes," the three boys said in unison, a questioning tone to each of their voices.

"Well, while I was in there, I spotted something, and it looked so cool, I just had to take it." She smiled a little sheepishly. Remus looked mildly disapproving, but the other two laughed at her.

"God, Lorrie, you just have no morals at all, do you?" James said, although it didn't sound as though he meant it as an insult.

"Look, you'll be glad I did when I tell you what it is!" Lorelei reached into her shirt and pulled out a thin gold chain, on which was hanging –

"A little hourglass?" said Sirius, looking puzzled. Remus, on the other hand, was now looking intrigued.

"I think I've seen one of those in a book," he said, sounding as though he was trying to figure out what it was. Lorelei nodded at him.

"I just took it because I thought it looked pretty, but after a while I started wondering if it actually did anything – I mean, McGonagall's not the type to keep jewellery in her desk, is she? So, I went to the library and found out what it actually is. It's called a time turner."

"Ah, of course," Remus said, nodding in satisfaction. Lorelei shot him a grin.

"What does it do?" James asked, staring at the sparkling object with fascination.

"That's the fun part," Lorelei said, getting that mischievous glint in her eyes. "It can take whoever's wearing it through time!"

"Really?" said Sirius, his eyes wide.

"Really." Lorelei beamed round at all of them, and then held out the chain of the time turner. "Well, let's go!"

"Go?"

"Go where?"

"Time travelling, duh!" She blinked at the incredulous looks on their faces. "Come on! You get your hands on a magical time travelling device, and you don't want to use it? Look -" She tugged her satchel open and revealed the magically increased space inside, containing what looked like clothes – not just hers, but the boys too "- I've packed some stuff for us in case we stay for a while, and if we get in any trouble, we can just come straight back, no problem!"

"Uh, Lorelei…" Sirius gave her an uneasy look, and glanced at the identical expressions on Remus and James's faces.

"Come on," she repeated. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Both Sirius and James looked offended at this remark. They looked at each other, nodded, and stepped over to Lorelei. She gave them each a satisfied smile, then looked over at Remus. "Well?"

He appeared torn. Lorelei knew that he was trying to decide between doing the sensible thing, and doing the fun thing with his friends. Eventually, he rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air.

"Oh, all right!" He, too, approached Lorelei. "I suppose you need someone to come with you and keep you out of trouble as much as possible."

"Excellent," she said, reaching with the chain and putting it around all their necks, meaning they had to stand quite close together. "Ready?"

"Where are we going?" asked James.

"Wherever it takes us. Or – whenever, I suppose." Lorelei grinned at them all, her eyes dancing. "Three… two… one!"

Just as she flipped it over, Remus let out a startled cry. "Wait! What about Peter?"

"Who?"

- - - - -

After a few moments of an altogether unpleasant whirling sensation, Lorelei, James, Sirius and Remus found themselves standing… in the same spot they just had been standing. Although, it was now much darker, and there was a lot more activity going on inside the Great Hall. They looked at each other and silently agreed to get closer. After walking a little way, they could see through the windows.

"The house banners are up," Remus observed. "Judging by the weather, I'd say it's the Welcoming Feast."

"Cool," Lorelei said. "I say we go in."

"I agree," said Sirius, grinning like a maniac. "Let's go!" And with that, they all ran toward the entrance hall.