A/N: Okay, I would just like to apologize. It's been way too long since I've updated and I'm sorry. I have been busy and sick and tired and I just want to sleep. But hey, there's a new chapter! Not every two weeks, but it's something and I'm trying. I hope you all like it :) Please review so I know!

Harry was sitting in the shade of the beech tree when he heard someone approaching. By the heaviness of the steps, he could tell that it was a boy.

"Ron, I know that Hermione is putting you up to talking to me. I'm fine, alright?"

"Not Ron, mate." Harry cricked his neck as he whipped his head around in shock of hearing Sirius' voice instead of his best friend's.

It had been two weeks since the time travelers had arrived in 1977. They were fitting in well enough with their roommates, but it was still weird for them to be around them outside of classes or nighttime. The Marauders still had not brought up Harry's nightmare, and it made him feel awkwardly tense around the other boys.

"Uh, hi, Sirius," Harry tried to make himself sound nonchalant, but he was too pink in the face to pull it off properly.

"'Lo Harry."

Harry rubbed the scar on his forearm-covered by his school robes-and tried to relax. "What's up?"

Sirius smiled in that contagious way that Harry so desperately missed from his own time, "Just seeing what you're up to is all. Surprisingly, people generally don't sit alone under beech trees unless they've some brooding to do."

"I'm not brooding!" Harry didn't think before he replied, and Sirius' amused smirk from before now changed to a full blown smile and he let out a barking laugh. Harry was painfully reminded of spending time with his godfather in Grimmauld Place. He missed the easy teasing and it caused stings of pain in his chest.

"Whatever you say, but I know a brooder when I see one," Sirius winked before dropping down next to Harry.

Harry huffed and went back to staring at the lake. He had a perfect view of the water from where he was and he suddenly realized that he was sitting under the tree that his father was on the day of his defense against the dark arts OWL. He turned away from the lake and refocused on the changing leaves.

"You don't seem to smile much," Sirius made the comment quietly, watching Harry as his face turned more grim. He had been right, though. Harry hadn't had much to smile over since coming to the past, and being surrounded by people who had died for him was much more taxing than one would suspect.

Harry looked to his left side where Sirius still sat and fixed him with a dry expression, "Well, I mean, there isn't a war going on or anything."

Sirius laughed again as he studied Harry, but his amusement quickly died out and a distant expression covered his face as he replied, "Yeah, I suppose there is."

O~o~0~o~O

Sirius couldn't help but continue to think back to sitting by the lake with Harry. The war always seemed so far away when he was in Hogwarts, it made it easy to forget sometimes. Yeah, there was tension in the school and petty attacks, but the brunt of the war was outside the castle walls and he didn't think on it much. It was so easy to be distracted by the tasty food and the pranks and laughing with friends.

Harry had unknowingly forced Sirius Black to take a look at the world around them, and he was growing distasteful of his behavior regarding the matter of the war. He knew that things were bad, but he was just now starting to pay attention to the details. Some would say things were rough, but in his opinion, things were going bloody awful out there. You-Know-Who was dominating in the wizarding society, and it wouldn't be long before things got so bad that they couldn't be reversed.

His thoughts were making him restless so he went off in search of something to distract himself with. He decided easily on Lily Evans when he found her studying in the common room and settled himself to work.

"Lilykins! My dear, it's been too long," Sirius approached her table with his arms spread wide. She glanced up from her roll of parchment and sighed before looking back to her work.

"Shove off, Black. I'm working on something," Sirius pulled out the second chair from the table and leaned it back on two legs.

"Aw, you can't possibly mean that you want me to go away, Red."

Lily rolled her eyes and tucked away her parchment. Sirius was watching her with a crease between his eyebrows, "Done, are you?"

"What's wrong, Sirius?" Lily had her hands folded neatly on the table and she was leaning towards Sirius, watching him closely.

"Nothing," Sirius replied too quick and he knew it.

"Mmm, I don't think so. I know you don't like me much, but you still came here to talk to me. What's wrong?"

Sirius looked at Lily's bright green eyes and quickly learned that that had been a mistake. You could see everything that she was thinking and feeling almost as if they had been made to tell any looker her exact emotion.

Sirius sighed before he indulged Lily. "There's a war on, Lily."

Lily blinked three times before she showed any substantial reaction. She rose from her chair and sat on the one next to Sirius. "Everyday in the halls I can hear people whispering about me as I walk past them. They bring up my bloodline. They question about my authority as Head Girl. It's not easy, Sirius. I have to worry about stepping out too far and getting hurt while also worrying about my family back at home. I'm not there to protect them, and I don't want them targeted. It's hard on me, so I can hardly imagine how awful it must be for you.

"It must be impossible to know that you are fighting on a different side of the war than the rest of your family. Impossible to know that you are going to have to face them in battle. To not have them to lean back on. I know that you have the Marauders, and as brotherly as your love is for them, it's still hard to turn back on your family. I'm so sorry, Sirius. I really, truly am."

Sirius nodded and watched the younger years running around on the grounds through the window. He needed time to think and sort himself out. He wouldn't have the time though, he had the full moon tonight and he would not miss it. He had to be there for them-for Remus and James and Peter-just how they were always there for him.

This was the first full moon of the school year -September twenty-seventh, and the boys were all on edge. This would be their first full moon without the map. The first week of school it had been confiscated by Filch and now they had to make it to the Willow without the added protection.

It was worrying of course, but with Sirius on edge already, it made him regard the whole situation in an even more intense uneasiness. He concentrated on taking even breaths and continued to stare out of the window with Lily by his side, finishing her essay with her left hand and holding his with her right.

O~o~0~o~O

To say that James Potter was incredibly shocked that Sirius and Lily were sitting next to each other in one of the many alcoves of Gryffindor Tower was an understatement. They weren't even poking fun at each other. In fact, in almost seemed as if they were in relative peace sitting by each other. And they were holding hands.

James walked up to the small table they were at and when his shadow his Lily's long scroll of parchment, she looked up.

"Potter."

"'Lo Evans," James sent a grin in her direction before looking at Sirius. He hadn't even reacted to James' presence, and he continued to stare out of the window. "What did you do to him, Evans? Use your saucy charms to send him into a stupor?"

"Surprisingly no. That was option two," she winked. "I don't really know what's wrong with him to be honest, but I would say that you should probably fix him up quick. This calm version of your lover frightens me greatly."

James laughed at her teasing, she was always a cheeky girl, and he helped her collect her stuff. "Don't you worry love, I'll have him back to normal by tomorrow."

"Normal? I would dare say that that is inconceivable where Black is concerned."

"Very true, Lily dear, very true," James watched her walk away before turning back to his best mate. "Sirius?"

Sirius jolted in his seat and only James' fast reflexes stopped him from knocking over the table. "Oh. James."

"Are you okay?" James scanned Sirius over for any injuries, letting his concern show.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am. Sorry, I'm just a bit tired is all."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Let's go. Remus needs us."

"Yeah," James continued to watch Sirius as they made their way over to Peter. He was leaned next to the portrait hole, invisibility cloak hidden in his magically extended pocket. The three of them left together and only slipped under the cloak when they reached the castle grounds. The three of them had gotten bigger over the years and it was a bit of a challenge to try and fit the three of them under the cloak so they only went under when they were shielded by the darkened sky.

They tread the familiar path to the Whomping Willow and made their way into the passageway that lay beneath the tree. Peter was the first one down as always-who else was small enough to inconspicuously press the knot? Sirius followed and James took the rear.

Normally the walk/crawl to the shack seemed to last forever, but tonight it seemed a bit faster as they pressed on through the uneven tunnel. Peter pushed open the trap door and climbed through. Remus was waiting for the three of them in the shack's "kitchen." He was holding a cup of water and taking shaky sips as he started to feel the transformation coming on.

"Hey Remy," James crouched down in front of his friend and helped him steady the cup as he took another sip.

Remus coughed a little and glared at James, "I'm not an invalid, you know."

James laughed and ruffled Remus' hair. He glared even harder. "It's about to happen. You all should probably go change."

The boys nodded and headed up to the second floor of the house. Remus had always asked for privacy during his actual transformation and the other boys honored that wish. Only James had seen the transformation before, and that had been when he saved Snape in sixth year. It was something that he would prefer to never see again. It had hurt him to see Remus in such pain and he felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought about that.

Only about a minute after they had hit the second floor did they hear Remus' screams as the wolf in him took over. They transformed into their animagus' and waited for the howling to slow. It took about four minutes before they figured it was safe enough to go down a floor.

They found Moony in what would've been a bedroom if the house was in good care, scratching the wall and moaning quietly. Sirius bounded over to his canine brother and nudged the wolf's head with his own.

Soon, they pack of animals was making their way into the Forbidden Forest to let Moony stretch his legs. The wolf was howling in delight, rolling around in the dirt and wrestling with Padfoot and Prongs while Peter watched from safety.

O~o~0~o~O

Ginny had the window to the seventh year girl's dorm in the tower cracked and if she concentrated, she could hear Remus' howls coming from the grounds. She was seated on the window sill with Hermione, her head leaned against the glass of the window as Hermione used the moonlight to read her book.

"I hate that sound," Hermione made the comment without removing her eyes from the page she was reading, but even in the slim lighting, Ginny could see that her friend's eyes had stopped moving between lines.

"Me too. I've never heard anything like it. It hurts to think about it. It reminds me a lot of Bill. And our Remus."

Hermione nodded her head up and down, glancing over her shoulder to double check that their roommates were still asleep. "I heard it back in third year. I think that Harry told you the story back in sixth year. It was horrifying to watch him change. I don't think I'll ever forget it. He looked like he was in too much pain. It's all I can see hearing the sound. Knowing it's the same person doesn't make it any better."

Ginny nodded in answer to knowing the story and looked back out into the moonlight, "Want me to close the window?"

Hermione shrugged in response and Ginny reached her arm out of the space to pull the handle back. It sealed with an odd sounding squelch and she leaned back against it.

"What are you reading?" Ginny pushed the spine of the book up with her index finger to read the title off of the binding and almost laughed as she saw it. "What are you doing wasting your time on that rubbish?"

Hermione had most recently gone to the library that morning to pick up said "rubbish" and pulled the book closer to her chest. "It's not rubbish! I just…. I uh, well…. If you must know, I only picked it up because I was curious, okay?"

Ginny was giggling at her friend's flustered appearance and managed to get out, "But Hermione, it's Divination!"

Hermione's head raised in defiance and she spoke calmly, "Yes, Ginny. I do realize that it's divination, but I had a question and this was the only subject that I thought would apply. I got to thinking today about Harry's prophecy and I was curious to see if it would still apply even though we were sent to the past. I mean, what if we start to change things? Not on purpose, of course, but you know, something might happen."

Ginny's expression had gone back to serious as she listened to Hermione's reasoning. "Well, you know that I don't set much in store by divination, but that prophecy had proved itself true. I think it could go either way, you know? Maybe Trelawney won't even make the prophecy in this timeline. There's no way to tell."

"I suppose we'll just have to wait. Hopefully we will have found a way back by then."

"Hopefully," with that final word, Ginny slipped off of the window sill and padded her way over to her bed. She crawled beneath the blankets and closed her eyes, thinking about home with her family. She missed her parents and siblings. She missed Fred and she worried over George. Thinking on it now, her mom should be pregnant with the twins right now-only about a month in, but still carrying around the two of them.

It felt weird being in a place that was so different and familiar at the same time. At least she had Harry, Ron, and Hermione with her. It would be so much worse being alone. They understood what it felt like and she just wanted to see her family. It felt like the war had finally ended and now she was thrown right back into it. It wasn't fair. They had already lived through this. They didn't need this again. They deserved to finally have some peace.

That night, she fell asleep with tears in her eyes.

O~o~0~o~O

Ron had gone to bed later than the rest of the time-travelers that night. He had been sitting by the fire when the girls went up and still hadn't moved when Harry had patted his shoulder in goodnight an hour later. He hadn't meant to stay up late, but he had been thinking about Fred. They had gone back in time. Didn't that meant that they could fix things? Could they save his brother? Could they save Harry's parents?

Maybe they could start finding the horcruxes and they could destroy them all. Then, there wouldn't be a second war. If they could get rid of all of the horcruxes then Voldemort wouldn't be able to come back and people could be saved.

He had started to hope that they could change things and he wanted to, but he was worried that Hermione would shoot them down. He could talk to Harry first, and then Ginny. Maybe if the three of them tried together, they could convince Hermione. It was their best shot and he wanted to take it. So much could be fixed. Sirius would never have gone to Azkaban. Remus and Tonks wouldn't leave Teddy behind. Maybe they could even save his Uncles. His mum had told him that they died in 1981 and it was 1977 now.

His heart had started to race as he thought of all of the lives they could save. Dumbledore. Mad-Eye. Maybe Neville's parents wouldn't be tortured. Hell, they could even save Snape. He never liked the bugger, but he had been on their side in the end and that was the important part.

Did you like it? I hope so :) -Jules