Chapter Summary: Remus and Sirius execute their plan on the night of Yule ball, and begin having doubts about their risky plan.
Sirius and Remus did exactly that. In a remote spot, they whipped out the Time Turner and felt themselves go forward just a little bit in time. When they stopped, they were, indeed, in the Great Hall on the night of Yule Ball. The whole room was decorated with snow, ice, and glitter. Trees had been brought in by Hagrid, and Professor Flitwick did a great job with his famous decorating charms. A string band was warming up, and a few of the students had arrived early and were hanging out by the wall. Remus and Sirius realized they weren't formally dressed for the occasion, but no one had noticed them up until then anyways, so what real difference did it make. Just the same, Remus grabbed a big white bow on the wall and clipped it onto the front of his collar to look like a bowtie. Sirius snorted.
"You rebel, you," he teased.
"Well, last time I went to a formal event was…well…this, I believe," said Remus. He didn't get out very much due to his condition. He looked out the window. The moon was just beginning to wane. Good, he'd have hell to go through if tonight was a transformation night. He'd been lucky with the Time-Turner so far.
"Do you see us?" asked Sirius. Remus craned his head.
"Not yet…" he said. "So, what's our plan?"
"We take Pettigrew aside and convince him that he needn't be with the Marauders anymore," said Sirius. "Simple as that!"
"But, HOW do we convince him?" asked Remus.
Sirius glared at him. "You ask too many questions," he answered. Remus suddenly stood up straight. "There I am with Lily!" he pointed. Young Remus, with Lily on his arm, came strolling down the staircase into the ballroom. Remus' dress robes were not much of an improvement on Old Remus' robes, but Lily, in her emerald-green dress, high on the neck with halter-like shoulders, looked like a gem. The green of the dress really made her red hair (swept up into a bun) stand our marvelously, and it made her green eyes stand out even more against her creamy skin. Remus grinned.
"Now I see why James was so jealous of me for asking…"
But Sirius wasn't listening now. For as Young Remus and Lily stepped onto the landing, Young Sirius was coming down the stairwell with Bastet on his arm. Sirius' long hair wasn't pulled back in a ponytail like Remus', but rather was worn down in a casual yet handsome look. Bastet, her hair the color of a holly wreath (she'd even put red berries in her hair to make it look so) wore a very old-fashioned gold dress with bare shoulders and a puffy, sweeping skirt that even had a small train to it. Unlike Lily, Bastet wore her hair down. But she looked like a Christmas angel had fallen to Earth. Sirius couldn't believe he didn't see such beauty in her when he was younger. Remus and Sirius greeted each other as Lily and Bastet told the other how gorgeous they looked.
"Sirius, you really did find a jewel," Remus muttered. "I really hope that this works out for her sake at the very least."
Sirius sighed. If they were successful, she'd be his wife when they returned to the present. He just knew it.
Then came James and Peter. Both Remuses and Siriuses laughed. Bastet laughed too, but Lily just stared with an odd look on her face. James looked rather dashing in his dress robed. But Peter…well…the Polyjuice Potion may have gone a little stale, because while Peter did make a rather attractive woman, the big nose that was clearly Peter's was unavoidable. Plus, he looked awkward in his marshmallow-shaped pink evening dress Lily had lent him.
Suddenly, James looked over at Remus and Sirius (the disguised ones), who were laughing a little too loudly. The pair clamped their hands over their mouths and looked awkwardly at James. Remus and Bastet also seemed to be confused by the two random students trying to eavesdrop on them. Remus recalled this happening when he'd lived it the first time…odd.
But luckily, James and Peter didn't seem to mind. They group just turned away from them and continued their conversation. Sirius leaned in to Remus.
"So, how exactly do we do this?" he asked.
"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" Remus said, waving Sirius out of his face. They simply sat and stared at their former selves as more young witches and wizards piled into the Hall. It wasn't until the three Triwizard Champions, two girls and a boy, were doing the first dance when Sirius got an idea.
"We need to wait until after James and Peter are crowned and such. Remember how embarrassed Peter was, and he ran off by himself? Then, we need to get to Peter while he's alone and convince him that James has been unfair to him and he needed to find some new friends, like Lucius," said Sirius. Remus shook his head disapprovingly.
"But…isn't that just as bad, getting Pettigrew involved with Malfoy?" Remus asked.
"No!" said Sirius. "Because then he'll feel spiteful towards James and I, and we WON'T be friends after school, and then he'll never know about Harry, and we'll never see each other again! It's not like we can make everything all hunky-dory for everyone! Besides, don't you think Peter had sort of an 'in' with Malfoy anyway? He was a double-spy!"
"True," said Remus. "Still, there's just something I don't like about this plan…there's got to be another…"
"Screw that! Food's out!" Sirius yelped happily. At the table in front of them, Dumbledore waved his hand, and plates and bowls of hot cider, turkey, and other holiday treats appeared. Remus and Sirius decided to help themselves and sat down at the table behind their younger alter egos. Sirius still couldn't get over how wonderful Bastet looked. He got chills down his spine as Young Sirius asked Bastet to dance, and Young Remus asked Lily. James hopped up with female-Peter and did a more goofy-version of the slow dance.
Soon, Minerva McGonagall quieted the dancers. Old Remus and Sirius got up and went to the door they knew Peter would run out of, humiliated. They then took a sip of Polyjuice Potion to be safe in their disguises.
"And our Prince and Princess of Yule are…" she announced, opening the results sheet. "James Potter and….his date?"
McGonagall looked slightly perplexed as James and Peter hopped onstage and were crowned. Their faces were blushed. James was going along with it, but Peter seemed stiff. Suddenly, his female face began bubbly. The crowd gasped as Peter morphed back into himself. After a moment of silence, the crowd roared with laughter. James laughter at Peter alongside them.
"Who would've thought?" he marveled. "What can I say? I guess there are TWO Princes of Yule! Though I must say, Wormtail, that pink really sets off your eyes!"
Peter fled. Old Remus held out a hand. "Wait a moment…"
Peter brushed past them and headed for the dormitory. Sirius called out, "Shoulda warned you, mate," he said. Peter turned and looked at then.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" he asked with a tremble in his voice.
"Jonas," introduced Sirius. He then pointed at Remus. "And Stanley."
"What did you mean by 'warn me'?" asked Peter.
"James Potter is a right mean git, isn't he?" said Remus. It felt damn weird saying that about James Potter.
"Damn right," Peter said. "He made a fool of me, and here I thought we were just having some fun."
"Here's some news for you, Peter. James Potter only cares about having fun for HIMSELF. He'd sell anybody out if it meant he got off," Sirius said.
"No, not Prongs…I mean, James!" Peter said. "If it weren't for him, I still wouldn't have and friends!"
"But DO you, really?" said Sirius, pointing in the ballroom. "Those gits aren't your friends. Friends wouldn't have embarrassed you onstage, or shoved you aside, or give you the cold shoulder. Or even make you take the rap for pranks…"
"He DOES do that to me a bit," said Peter. "But he's nice to me too…"
Remus shook his head. "That's just to make you keep on coming back for more," he assured. Peter knitted his eyebrows together. "You know who DOES sound like a real friend…"
"Who, Stanley? Jonas?"
"Lucius Malfoy," said Sirius. Peter gave Sirius an odd look.
"Padfoot and Prongs hate that boy, he's a Slytherin," said Peter.
"But he's a loyal man," Sirius continued. Remus had dropped out of the conversation now, because this was the spot he found a little off. "He'll take you in and treat you as an equal!" he promised. "Has he talked to you?"
Peter thought a moment. "Well…yes, he has…" Peter suddenly smiled. "You think he'll still take me in and make me his friend?"
"I bet he will, if you make sure you disassociate yourself from James Potter and his band of miscreants," Sirius assured. He was trying to make himself sound like his mother. "But, that's just our advice…"
"Pst! JONAS!" Remus warned, pointing in the ballroom. Young Sirius, Remus, Bastet, Lily, and James were coming out the door, looking for Peter.
"Uh, pardon us, we need to use the bathroom…" Sirius said quickly, stumbling over Remus to get into the shadows and watch. Sirius crossed his fingers.
"Wormtail!" called James. "I hope you didn't take any of that to heart in there…" he mumbled.
Peter was silent. Old Remus bit his lip.
"Oh come on," James continued, "You're the belle of the ball!"
"Don't tease him, Prongs," Bastet hissed. Young Sirius put his arm around her waist.
Peter suddenly spoke. "Leave me alone," he said. Old Remus sighed in relief. "You al treat me like rubbish, and I will not stand for it anymore."
"What the bloody hell are you talking about? It's all in fun!" Young Sirius said with ease.
"Yeah, for you, along with the time you blew up the fifth floor girls' bathroom and left me to take the fall…"
"I remember that," Old Sirius whispered to Remus.
"And the time I nearly had a girlfriend, and you guys teased us so much about it the girl got too embarrassed to ever ask me out again! And what about the eat Slugs spell you so kindly cast on me third year just to 'see if it worked'? I'm through with the lot of you!" Peter raged. "Find yourselves a new monkey!" And with that, Peter stormed up the stairs to Gryffindor tower, leaving the others completely silent. Bastet ripped herself from Sirius' side, surprising both Siriuses.
"You boys are so immature!" she hissed. "WORMTAIL! WAIT!" she called, running up the stairs. Lily and Young Remus looked at each other.
"Come, Moony, maybe we can talk some sense into him," Lily said, giving James a stink eye.
Young Remus nodded. "I just hope we're not too late," he said. And with that, Lily and Remus dashed up the stairs after Peter and Bastet.
Young Sirius and James looked at each other, shrugged, and followed them up the stairs. Remus and Sirius came out of the shows and looked at each other with looks of worry.
"You think Peter won't reconcile with us?" Remus asked.
"There's no way of telling," said Sirius. "What I'm worried about is if Bastet didn't just break up with me."
"I don't know about you, but I'm afraid that we'll spring forward, and I'll find myself married to Lily Evans Lupin," Remus said with a significant tone of fear to his voice.
"We did all we could, now we have nothing left to do but go back to the present and see what damage we've done…" Sirius said. Remus nodded and took the Time-Turner out of his pocket. After looping the chain around both of their necks, Remus began flipping the hourglass in reverse, counting the revolutions as he turned and turned…
And suddenly the world faded away from around them as they left the past behind in hopes of returning to a better future.