Author's Note: The wheels have been set in motion and it seems that the first chapter was well-received which has pleased us both immensely. Thanks to all the people who reviewed. Also, thanks to all the people who at least read the chapter. This time around we expect a lot more reviews…c'mon people, how would you feel if this was your fanfic? Exactly. Also, we have a confession to make. When Scarlett and I first started this fanfic we had visions of updating every week and checking our mail for loving reviews. Although the loving reviews have been partially fulfilled we could still use some more. C'mon people, let's keep the love flowing shall we? Sadly, our updates will take a bit longer than the aforementioned week since the relentless pile of homework never does seem to end for either of us. Nevertheless, we will do our absolute best to churn out a new chapter at least once every two weeks. Thanks to everybody who reviewed once again and sorry for the long author's note. Please read and tell us what you think of the second chapter of Moments Lost in Time.

A Traitor and a Mudblood

James Potter looked up from his perch upon his desk to the persistent tapping coming from the window. Eagerly, he crossed his bedroom, hoping that Lily Evans had replied to his previous letter. He was to be sorely disappointed, however, for the owl carried nothing about its person but for an aura of extreme fatigue.

Flying back and forth between the two houses constantly had not been good for the owl, causing James, who was unable to ignore Google's feeble hooting any longer, to finally give Google a break. Setting Google in the large cage facing the impeding sunset, James fed the owl his favorite treats, before retreating to the kitchen for a snack.

Stuffing his face into a large peanut butter and banana sandwich, he considered the enigma that was Evans. Really, why hadn't she replied to his Howler? Sirius had informed him that all girls dreamed from an early age of a small, cozy house with a white picket fence.

Realizing what he had just thought, James felt like smacking his head against the wall over, and over, and over again. James's poor head was something of a scapegoat for James's own misfortune. At all times, if one looked close enough, one could see a large bump upon his head beneath his mop of hair. Sirius was generally the cause for this bump.

Sirius. Sirius was known by many different people, as many different things. To his own parents, Sirius was the traitorous shit, the disappointment. To James, Remus, and Peter, he was a best friend. To one of his many ex-girlfriends he was simply a 'goddamn bastard'. But to all on earth, he was known as a marauder, first and foremost.

Sirius Black was James's best friend, his brother, and his fellow prankster. He also, apparently, had thought that sending a howler to Evans would force her to accept her undying love for James while she exclaimed at what a romantic gesture a screaming, exploding letter was. Or she could vow to hate James for all eternity. Sirius rarely had the foresight to think these things through.

Due to serious misjudgment upon his part, he had now sent a Howler to Lily Evans that probably made her think he was a stalker, which he had followed up by another letter, which also promoted his stalker-like tendencies.

Damn.

Downing a large glass of milk, James prepared to go kill his former best friend, before resurrecting him and feeding him to the goldfish that lived in the pond out back. James blamed his parents' practicality for not buying James piranhas or alligators for situations like this. A goldfish was hardly a feared creature but it was all he had for the time being.

James had already walked quite far before he realized that the house was too big. Being a wizarding house, it was unplotable, and had a great deal of secret passages. In addition to this, the house was practically a mansion. If Sirius so wished, he wouldn't have to be found for several hours, lost within the labyrinth of passages residing just within the walls.

Turning around abruptly, he made his way back to the kitchen, and opened a huge carton of ice cream into which he resolutely stuck his spoon. Sirius could not hide forever. And when he came out, he, James Potter, would be waiting for him. James decided that an evil laugh was appropriate.

"Mwahahahahaha!"

A pause.

"MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Sirius chose this opportune moment to come into the kitchen. Holding a fist to his mouth, he said loudly "Mayday, mayday, we have lost Prongs01. Repeat: we have lost Prongs01!"

James jumped. "Padfoot! What happened to saying"hi" before you come bursting in?"

"That's what normal people do," replied Sirius with an easy shrug. "I, on the other hand, am the great Sirius Black!"

"Would the great Sirius Black," here a snort was artfully injected, "like some fudge chocolate-chip ice cream?"

Sirius took one look at the carton and James's expression before asking an often repeated question. "When will you forget about Evans?"

"What makes you think I'm thinking about Lily?" James hoisted his best innocent expression onto his face.

Sirius just gave his friend a knowing Look. "What do you think?"

James looked hopelessly at his friend through heartbroken eyes. "I think I need more ice cream," he declared, before opening the large, economy sized freezer once more and extracting yet another carton of ice cream.

Sirius snorted, before taking the carton out of James's hands. It had been the same since he had come here last week. James had ingested five cartons of ice cream in one night hoping to drown his sorrows in his preferred form of therapy: ice cream. That was two days ago, and James hadn't been able to sleep for a stomachache. Sirius had almost become an insomniac due to constant moans of acute pain.

Really, he had wondered why he hadn't run to Remus's house, or even Peter's, but no, he had just had to come to James's house. Where one only got a good nights sleep after one had clocked one's best friend soundly over the head. Rather like Sirius had often done to his brother for no reason at all, but hitting James had good intentions; sleep being one of them.

Sirius's eyes narrowed as he thought of his brother. Whenever he had ever thought of his brother, the thought never seemed to come without the image of his parents standing behind him, sniffing in disdain. This was always followed up by the images of close family, all of whom he despised. He remembered the fateful night last week that had resulted in his arrival at the Potter manor.

Flashback

The Black family was a good-looking lot. All the members possessed a laid back elegance, and almost heavy features. Bellatrix Black had a dark, almost intoxicating beauty, with dark hair and heavy lidded eyes that were always accentuated with a dark, blood red lipstick. Currently, however, her good looks were rather marred by the sneer she was giving her cousin.

Sirius sat upon the dark fabric of the red, china print futon, gazing wearily at his cousin's face. What was the point of a family gathering, he wondered, when the invitees failed to act as a family? What was the point of a family gathering when one of the main reasons to come was to taunt a certain member of the family, i.e. him? It was ridiculous, hopeless, and worst of all, it was Black.

"Really, we were so disappointed when Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor. But really, what could we have expected from him? Oh well, as long as we have Regulus…" Aurora Black paused in her tirade to smile adoringly at her youngest, and favorite, son. "You know, Grayson almost-"

Aurora Black needed a hobby, Sirius decided. One that was slightly less…predictable. Peter's mom had this odd obsession with crochet, and the few times Sirius had seen her, she had been fiddling with the needles, trying desperately not to drop them. She had even crocheted Peter a Speedo – one that he still wore.

James's mum had an odd thing for cooking, and their house was never lacking in confectionary sweets. Remus's mother actually didn't have a hobby, but spent much of her free time at fund-raisers and volunteering at soup kitchens. He had even gone with her once. Aurora Black however, was slightly different. If she was bored, she came to Sirius's room and yelled at him. If she wasn't bored, she staged large, gut wrenching sobs, loudly dictating all that was wrong with Sirius, and oh where, oh where, had she gone wrong?

Needless to say, Sirius wasn't particularly fond of this habit. Today, Aurora was in rare form, and he had had a good deal of insults thrown in his direction. He had been called everything from a "traitorous muggle-loving fool" to a "no good bastard" to, when Regulus brought up his dating habits, a "cavalier rebel". He didn't truly mind any of the insults, but when the insults were coupled with heavy sneers and sniggers, they were quite infuriating.

Therefore Sirius, fighting valiantly to control his temper, sat picking at the loose threads of the sofa, trying not to look at his cousins. His Great Uncle Alphard, one of the few in his family he actually cared about, was currently in the kitchen, downing as many shots as possible before dinner. Not that Sirius blamed him. If it weren't that Sirius was awaiting Andromeda, he would be downing as much alcohol as possible too.

A knock resounded into the parlor, and Andromeda came into the room, her eyes twinkling. Looking up, Sirius met the eyes of his favorite cousin, as she smiled at him. Although Andromeda wasn't in Slytherin, she was in Ravenclaw, which had always been considered the next best thing. In the Black family, all things went in a certain order. The china came after the silver, ebony came before mahogany, the purebloods came before the muggle-borns, and the list went on. There was, however, one thing lower than all on this list: Sirius.

Sirius was like dirt. Or the polished hardwood floors of the Black estate. Or the filthy mound of rags that Kreacher slept on. Or mildew. In any case, all things came before Sirius in the eternal order of things. If it were a choice between Kreacher and Sirius, Kreacher would almost certainly have come first. At least, as Aurora constantly reiterated, Kreacher wasn't a blood-traitor.

There were many reasons for the hostility Sirius's family bore towards him, none of them very sound. In the aforementioned supreme order of things, the Hogwarts houses had been placed also. After almost no debate and less discussion, it was known throughout the household that Slytherin was the best house. Afterwards came Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff, and then last, and most certainly least, came Gryffindor.

Due to unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you looked at it) circumstances, Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor upon his entry to the castle. It had never really been a shock to anyone in the family, but to have their humiliation and betrayal finalized and publicized in such a manner was simply too much to bear.

Today, however, the one member of the family who was civil towards Sirius, Andromeda, had been late. She had informed them earlier that week that she had an announcement to make and Sirius found it odd that she would be late today of all days. The content of this announcement was anyone's guess. Bellatrix felt sure that Andromeda was coming to show them all the Dark Mark. All but Sirius had embraced this idea. However, this was highly unlikely, since Andromeda wasn't as prejudiced against muggles as most.

Narcissa, who had recently begun going out with Lucius Malfoy, was quite sure that Andromeda, too, had chosen this moment to announce her 'betrothal'. This idea too was embraced at first; however it had been discarded soon after, since Andromeda's mother had no idea about a potential suitor. Heaven forbid that Andromeda do something drastic without informing them first. It was a matter of pride.

Sirius himself had chosen to reserve judgment but had made it a point to act unsurprised, as if he had prior knowledge. This would not only make his family very, very angry, it would also help reserve some of the pride he was sure to have lost during the conversation before her arrival.

And so, when Andromeda came in, he said "hi" in a knowing, worldly voice, and smirked inwardly at the look upon Aurora's face.

Andromeda stood in the doorway; her eyes alight with something only she knew. "Hey Auntie Aurora, Uncle Grayson, Regulus," she said, nodding at each person before saying in a slightly friendlier tone, "Oh hey Sirius, how've you been?"

Ignoring the daggers shooting from his family's eyes, Sirius leaped up to hug his cousin and gave her a knowing look. "So…have some news for us do you?" he asked, grinning at the slightly shocked expression on Andromeda's face. Andromeda made to reply but instead a deep voice issued forth from the doorway, as a tall, almost handsome man stepped out of the shadows. "You must be Sirius," he remarked in slight tones of amusement. The man spoke in a strong tenor, giving his voice an almost musical quality. The man himself was wearing a dark green overcoat, and had opted to wear muggle clothing for the occasion. Although the Black family was prejudiced against muggles, they still opted for muggle clothing, due to it being more convenient.

If one looked closely enough, they could see that the man was quite well muscled, but not enough so as to be bulky. Jeans adorned long legs, and when the man looked up, you could see a dark brown fringe above sparkling green eyes. The dark drown fringe itself was fairly unruly, yet seemed to hold a semblance of order, giving an almost distinguished appearance to the man beneath it.

Andromeda looked nervously at her family for a moment, before clearing her throat. "This is Ted Tonks. He's a friend of mine." The way Andromeda said the sentence all knew there was something more to it than mere friendship, though nobody dared question her at the moment. Andromeda would explain it all at her own pace. None of the Blacks could be pressured into doing anything as all were blessed with will of iron and nerves of steel.

Aurora took one look at the man and sniffed in contempt. Muggle-born. It couldn't have been clearer if he had painted it on his forehead in neon green paint. Leaning towards Andromeda's mother she whispered murderously, "He's clearly muggle-born. What was she thinking?"

Druella Black, Andromeda's mother, hastily agreed with the Aurora, muttering that she would have a 'word' with her daughter.

"He'll have to stay until we hear Andromeda's announcement. After that…" She smirked rather threateningly. The mudblood wouldn't know what had hit him.

Accordingly, Ted was invited with due courtesy into the Black home, and since Andromeda was finally here, they all began dinner. After seating themselves around the vast, ornately carved table, everybody had begun to eat, when the man, no, Ted, spoke up softly. "Excuse me, but haven't we forgotten to say grace?"

Grayson looked up in aggravation, before setting his knife down with a grating clink, causing Sirius to wince. "Why yes, it would seem we have. Why don't you lead us?"

Aurora simply looked on, as if saying grace was the vilest of rituals. Ted, either not noticing, or not caring, bowed his head, before telling all the others to do the same.

"For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful." As everyone lifted their heads, Ted began talking once more. "May our bounty remain on this table as a symbol of good fortune through all our days, we thank you Lord." This time, all expected him to go on once more, so all heads stayed reverently bowed; causing Ted looked on in amusement. "Really, if you wanted it any longer, you should have asked," he said, smirking almost imperceptibly. Sirius smirked as well. He could grow to like Andromeda's friend.

Dinner continued on until Ted decided to speak up once more. "There's been so many senseless killing recently and for no good reason! Andy, did you read this morning's Prophet?" he inquired, turning to a silent Andromeda.

Andromeda blanched and nodded quickly before gazing at him intently, trying to convey with her eyes for him to shut up.

Ted, seemingly oblivious, didn't pick up on the hint and continued. "And who did they say was behind them? Ah yes, Lord Voldemort. Complete nutter if you ask me and high on power as well." His words were laced with contempt. Andromeda refrained from sinking her head into her arms and crying in despair, trying not to point out that nobody had asked him.

It was as if a bomb had exploded. Aurora looked aghast that anybody would use the Dark Lord's name in vain. Grayson stared at Ted in shock, anger simmering in his eyes. Bellatrix, two years older and freshly branded with the Mark, looked ready to kill but instead grabbed a knife and began hacking away at the steak, hoping it would somehow morph into the mudblood's face. Sirius however, looked at Ted with admiration in his eyes and gave him a warm smile, which Ted returned. If Ted realized the implications of his words, he gave no sign, but instead, fell thankfully silent.

"You should not speak of matters far beyond your understanding boy," Grayson said tightly, glaring at the boy seated next to his niece.

Ted made to reply but immediately clamped his mouth shut as Andromeda gave his shin a vicious kick. When Ted looked at Andromeda for explanation he met stony eyes that were clearly asking if he had a death wish.

From that point forward, dinner was a silent affair but for the clink of the silver utensils upon china. And the occasional sniff from Regulus, who was just getting over a cold. Or the gusty, angry sighs released by Aurora whenever she happened to glance at Sirius or Ted. Or Bellatrix's malevolent mutterings under her breath directed at a certain newcomer. Or Narcissa's lovesick sighs as she daydreamed of Lucius Malfoy. Or the sound of Uncle Alphard drunkenly slurping his soup. So maybe it wasn't so quiet. The point was, no one talked for the duration of the meal.

Once everyone had retired to the parlor once more, the men with their brandy and the woman with their gossip, Andromeda stood carefully at the doorway with Ted. The way she stood, it seemed as if she expected to have to make a run for it at any moment.

"Ahem," she began, as her family attempted to look indifferent. "This is, as you know, Ted Tonks. He's my husband." Andromeda stopped, and a pregnant pause ensued, while all sat dumbstruck.

Sirius was the first to speak. "Congrats, Andy, Ted!" he exclaimed, having gotten over his shock. He quite liked Ted Tonks and since Andromeda clearly looked happy with him, Sirius was happy for her. He gave them a hug and Andromeda looked slightly relieved. Her relief and thoughts that this wouldn't be as bad as she had imagined were short-lived.

Andromeda's mother looked up, rage in her hooded eyes, and turned on her daughter. "He is your what?" She seemed disbelieving, almost urging her daughter to say it wasn't true. To say that she had not only consorted with a mudblood, but was now marriedto one.

It is always odd how much power the smallest of sentences can convey. The word 'no' has great power; it can cut of a mob in the parking lot, stop a three-year-olds wails. The word 'yes', however, can open a torrent of happiness; can bring a previously far off wedding into sharp focus. The words 'I love you' convey much power, if one can truly mean the words. In this case, the words 'he is your what' contained much meaning.

The words said that this had better be some sick joke. 'He is your what' said that, if Andromeda didn't declare she was joking now, only God would save her. The words also held a weary disappointment, as if Druella had always feared that her wayward daughter would do something like this. Whatever emotions the words may have held, they had the power to make Andromeda quail under her mother's gaze, before standing straighter.

"He's my husband," she said, in measured, tense tones, glaring defiantly back.

Aurora spoke up. "You dare to bring such filth into my house? You dare to marry such filth?" The way she said the words, it was clear that by describing Ted as 'filth' he was getting off easy. "A mudblood, Andromeda, a mudblood! Now we've seen it all. The noblest house of Black defiled by Gryffindors, mudbloods, and traitors!" Aurora's words held a suppressed rage as her eyes looked over her niece, the mudblood, and finally came to rest on a silent Sirius, before moving back to Andromeda's slightly pale, but set face.

Andromeda made to reply, but was cut of as Aurora continued.

"You dare to walk into my house, with such company, and say you have married him? Married him! I'm not sure you realized what these means Andromeda! How am I ever going to show my face in public again? Countless generations of purity and this clear folly has ruined it forever! And I called you my family. You will never, ever be part of this family. I can barely look at you! Take your damn mudblood and get out. You have no business here, nor are you welcome."

Andromeda shot her mother a beseeching look, pleading with her to speak up on her and Ted's behalf. Druella just shook her head; stony eyes bored into a daughter that she had only yesterday been proud of. Bellatrix and Narcissa gazed at their sister in shock, mirroring their mother's expression.

Aurora shot her niece a malevolent glare before she turned swiftly and made her way up the stairs, the rest of the family scurrying behind her to see what she was about to do.

Drawing her finely polished wand, Aurora Black shot one disdainful glance in her former niece's direction before muttering a spell. A loud blast issued from the tip of her wand and a tendril of smoke began to rise from a charred hole. Andromeda's mother gasped and Aurora turned to look at her sister questioningly, as if daring her to speak; Andromeda's mother fell silent once more.

A slightly burnt hole was now in place where previously the words 'Andromeda Black' had been embroidered in gold. Aurora surveyed her handiwork and gave a satisfied smile. The smile quickly slid of her face as she turned to regard Andromeda. "You're not part of the family anymore. I never want to see you or that mudblood here again," she concluded shortly, without giving Ted so much as a glance.

Andromeda blanched at the venom in her voice. Squaring her shoulders Andromeda glared at her family. "Fine! If that's the way you want it, then we'll leave. C'mon Ted!" Grabbing her husband's hand, she marched out of the room, her angry footsteps echoing in the hallway.

A door slammed and sudden silence descended over the awestruck family.

Aurora took a moment to grieve that her most promising niece had gone down the wrong path before images of the mudblood banished any guilty thoughts. Aurora had always felt that Andromeda had had the best head on her shoulders; it seemed she had been sorely mistaken.

Sirius stared at the woman that he was ashamed to call a mother in shock and hatred. She had kicked out the one member of the family he actually got on with and now was calmly suggesting dessert. Sirius glared at her before making his way up the stairs, stomping his feet loudly.

"Sirius, where do you think you're going?" inquired his mother. Sirius turned back, with a solid movement that in an instant could have turned deadly.

Sirius leveled her with a hard, iron, gaze. "Out. I don't want to be part of this god damn family anymore."

Aurora merely shrugged. It made no difference to her that her eldest son was leaving. She had expected it one day and was secretly thankful it had come sooner rather than later.

Sirius shot his mother one last look before slamming his bedroom door and gathering his things. He could hear his mother, calmly masking all emotion by inviting all once more for the aforementioned dessert. He calmly disregarded it. Although Aurora wasn't invincible enough to brush off the hatred is her first-born's eyes she let the swift, sharp pain she had felt at Sirius's words go unanalyzed and held her head up, as if it was of no consequence to her whether Sirius stayed or left.

He couldn't stay here. He couldn't take it anymore and he knew one place where he would be more than welcome. One place that had felt more home to him than this place ever could. All in all, Sirius really wasn't sad to be leaving his childhood home. Only saddening memories remained here, and Sirius wanted no part of it. It was on that night that Sirius left his family behind without so much as a backward glance.

End Flashback

"Paaaddfoooooot. Ssirrriuuuuuuus." Sirius snapped back to life, and was confronted by his best friend's ice cream sticky hand. James, who had been trying to get his best friend's attention, smiled in satisfaction, before continuing on.

"Moony is…" Sirius examined his best friend through critical eyes, completely tuning out his voice. James had his shirt untucked, and wore a jacket over it. However, both shirt and jacket showed ice cream stains along the collar, and James's face was a spectacle. He was interrupted in his thoughts, however, by the overly loud sound of James's voice.

Turning, he realized that his best friend was yelling to get his attention, and was a couple seconds short of jumping up and down. "Yea, Prongs?"

James looked at him. "Do. You. Want. To. Go. With. Moony. To. Diagon. Alley. Tomorrow?" he asked, enunciating each syllable painstakingly slowly.

"Prongs?"

James looked at him inquisitively.

"I'm not deaf."

James smirked. "Could've fooled me…"

Sirius decided to take the high road, and ignored his friend. "Are we meeting Remus at Diagon Alley?"

James looked at his friend. "I thought you said you weren't deaf?"

Sirius glowered. "I'm not."

James looked at his friend in mock pity. "Padfoot, don't worry, denial is the first step to acceptance." He shook his head sadly, giving his allegedly deaf best friend sympathetic looks.

Sirius tried to contain his smile, but failed miserably, before continuing, "So, what about Moony? And Diagon Alley?

James contemplated his friend before answering. "Tomorrow morning Moony is coming over here, and then we're all going to Diagon Alley."

Sirius nodded once. "Alright then."

James kept talking. "Also, while you were experiencing a momentary auditory lapse, mum called us to dinner. C'mon, let's go."

As James and Sirius made their way to the dining room, James's thoughts began to wander to the one topic that was never far from his mind. Lily Evans. He even contemplated sending her another letter but decided against it, opting not to scar the poor girl (too bad he didn't realize he already had).

Sirius, having fully emerged into the real world, couldn't ignore the pangs of hunger issuing from his stomach and began to speed up.

As James hurried after him, he began to feel excited to be seeing Remus again and, more importantly, to be seeing Lily again. Too bad James didn't realize that he wasn't the only one who was looking forward to the September 1st. Practically the entire Hogwarts castle got a kick out of watching the warring 'couple' and this year seemed to be more promising than the last.

A/N: Please tell us what you think! Any review is greatly appreciated so we know that all the hits on our story aren't our combined obsession to actually see the story on the site. C'mon, we know you do it too! 

Au revoir!

Sapphy and Scarlett aka Caeruleus Libellus