Summary – Sixteen year old James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world.
Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; going by Lexicon time line; book publishing dates moved up; yaddayadda... Feel free to chime in with ideas and what-not along the way!
Remus – Teenager; Lupin – Adult
Alright, I'm back with an update! Camp was fun, I'm exhausted and revitalized. Just wanna warn that there may be a lull in updates for a bit. I'm currently without a home and looking for a job, so there might not be much time to write out chapters but I promise I won't drop this story!
Also, this chapter is a bit serious, but I've included a nice mix of Rules number 25, 31, and 38. If you don't know what those are now, you will by the end of this chapter. By the way, logic or not, Sirius is going to have his bike. Because I love him enough to give him the dangerous vehicle of his dreams. Happy Reading!
Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others.
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Chapter IV
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"Geeze, what a boring looking place." Sirius muttered under his breath as they walked around the street, "Leave it to Muggles to be so... Mundane."
"Yeah. Seriously, I think we need to make a statement here, guys." James declared suddenly, clapping his hands together as he looked at all the similar houses about them, "Our place will stand out. Not in a tasteless, tacky way. But in a loud, cool, and totally unsuspicious way!"
"I think you may have just contradicted yourself, Prongs." Remus informed him lightly, not taking his eyes away from scanning the numbers of the houses they were passing for a second time.
The Marauders had already circled the neighborhood once and were making a second round to make sure that they knew any and every route in the area. Or, at least, most of them. It would take much longer than a few hours to become totally familiar with their new neighborhood. But hey, at least this way they were promised something that could keep hold of their attention for more than a few brief seconds...Right? Either way, now that they were passing through for their second round Remus was keeping an eye out for the house that Dumbledore and Lupin had divulged the other wizarding boy was living at.
His search was distracted, however, by Sirius suddenly calling, "Oy! Someone's heading for our place!" and darting down the rest of the street to reach their new house just after what looked to be a group of housewives. Remus and James hurried after him, all three alighting onto the step in front of the house. How had they got into the gate and around the group of women? Easy enough, they hopped the fence.
"Hullo." The Black heir spoke as his friends joined him, turning his back on the door, "Is there anything I can do for you ladies?"
"Are your parents home?" One of the women, a thin blond with an abnormally long neck asked, a rather strange looking smile on her face, "We thought that we would welcome your family to the neighborhood."
"...Oh. Er, no, my parents aren't home right the minute." Sirius stammered, a bit caught off guard by the sudden miscalculation popping up, "They're currently, er..."
"Mother and Father stayed behind at the old house for a few days so as to finish handling some things." James cut in smoothly, quickly adapting to his 'good and proper son' mode that was normally only seen when the elder Potters were around, "I've no doubt that they would love to meet you all when they arrive next week."
Both Remus and Sirius looked at him in light alarm. What in the world was he doing? They didn't have parents! And even if any of them were alive, it definitely wouldn't matter to them here. This thought didn't seem to bother the messy haired teen though; in fact the only thing that seemed to put him off was a strange look that the woman who had spoken was giving him. As if he reminded her of something unpleasant. James decided that he definitely didn't like that woman.
"Your parents are allowing three teenagers to stay alone in their new home?" One of the other woman asked in shock; the trio tried not to be insulted by the way she had implied that to be a bad thing.
"Not quite so, ma'am." Remus replied quietly, taking his turn in spinning their background story, "You see, there's some friends of the family that are going to be checking in every so often for our parents. On the other hand, it's simply a formality. After all, we've never given our parents any reason to believe we couldn't be trusted for a few days."
"Of course not, dear." Another lady spoke up, giving a tentative smile, "You understand our concern, though. After all, a week is a long time to go without an adult around to see you're properly fed and provided for."
Sirius offered them a beaming smile and nodded, "Of course, miss. But please, don't worry on our account. My brothers and I are expert survivalists, I'm sure there can't be much of a difference between cooking over a campfire and a stove...Right?"
All of the woman gasped and there was a chorus of 'Poor dears!', 'Never even used a stove before!' and 'Only ever cooked campfire food!'. Remus had to give his friend some respect points; he had just assured them good terms with the neighborhood through the sympathy factor. He'd probably even assured them some (hopefully) great home cooked meals. At least, for awhile. Then they would have to come up with a new excuse for the absence of their parents. Hopefully Dumbledore or Lupin would be of some help in that area...
It took several minutes after that to dissuade the group of ladies from entering their home. Excuses such as 'still a mess from the move' and 'boxes are everywhere, no sitting room' were the most effective, even though they triggered offers to help clean up the place. All of which the boy hurriedly and respectfully turned down. Soon enough, however, they were left alone on the doorstep of the house and exchanging rather bemused looks. Perhaps it was a bad idea to accept the adults help. After all, they had just been forced to figure out their own back story on the fly and it had definitely not ended very well. Who in the world would double as all of their parents? Convincingly?
"We'll have to ask my older self and hope that Dumbledore's Order has someone who could pass as the mother of you two." Remus muttered as they slipped inside the house, "Then we can say something like you're fraternal twins."
"Yeah, and that Lupin was married before our 'mom' and so had you with his previous wife." Sirius added helpfully, setting down a plate of pasties that one of the woman had handed him on the coffee table. He then proceeded to flop into one of the armchairs James had made and devour one, "Mmm...Sugar."
"It would be the best way to explain why we're all practically the same age." James agreed, grabbing one of the pasties himself, "But on to other topics; that blond lady invited us for tea later. Do you think we should play good little neighbors and go?"
"I didn't really like her, actually. Pity that son of hers, whoever he is." Sirius muttered, crossing his arms behind his head once the pasty was gone, "But I suppose we have to. After all, it's the proper conduct isn't it? And Dumbledore told us to keep a low key profile for whatever reason...It wouldn't do to have an entire neighborhood turned against us within the first twenty-four hours."
"Indeed...Besides, maybe this will let us meet that other wizard kid. She did say that it was for her son and his friends." Remus added in thoughtfully, "We might get lucky."
Sighing, the messy haired boy nodded, "Then I suppose we have to. But hey, if it's too boring we can always create a bit of innocent mischief."
"Prongs...You know we can't do anything around Muggles."
"Anything visible, you mean. No one ever said anything about doing something behind the scenes, Moony."
Grinning suddenly, Sirius leaned forward, "What did you have in mind, Prongs? We have a couple hours to plan."
It was, after all, only one o'clock. Tea was at three thirty on the dot, and the woman had pointed out her house to them—Actually, it was right next door to their own home. Not a prospect that any of the teens were fond of knowing. Still, James noted that it would be much easier to prepare any sort of entertainment as well as scout out what kind of family and people they would be going around. On the other hand, they were careful to clarify the risks such would mean for their lives here. It wasn't hard to see that the woman was an extremely nosy person. They had faith in their wards and spell work, but it would still probably be a good idea to have one of the adults double check everything. Preferably the elder Remus.
In the end, James and Sirius had decided on something subtle that could be done in the midst of many people and wouldn't result in Ministry involvement. It was around that time that they heard the roar of a motorcycle engine coming down the street. And not just any motorcycle, Sirius realized with a jolt. It sounded exactly like the one he had gotten from his friends for Christmas. Leaping to his feet, the dark haired boy ran from the house to the driveway. He was met with the sight of a tall, thin male with a long red ponytail, dressed in what Sirius thought to be some sort of rocker clothing, a fanged earring attached to one ear. All in all, the Black heir instantly liked the man getting off of what he recognized as his motorcycle.
"Hey there, Dumbledore filled me in on your guys' situation." The redhead told them as the trio got into earshot (Sirius well ahead of the other two), "That's some serious bad luck there, mates. Hagrid and I figured that you might appreciate having this little beauty with you in the unfamiliar territory."
Once he finished speaking, the man tossed a set of keys to Sirius. With a whoop, he leapt onto the bike and kicked it to life, "Whoa, it feels a bit...Different."
"I'm not surprised, it's had a lot of upkeep and upgrades over the years." The man told him with a bit of a sad smile, "The name is Bill, by the way. Bill Weasley."
"Another Weasley, huh..." James frowned warily at Bill now, "You're not going to attack us without warning too, are you?"
The red head laughed, "No, not at all. Please forgive my younger brothers for that... Incident, by the way." He shrugged, "Everyone is on edge these days. What with... Well, I'm sure you've already been filled in."
"No, not at all." Sirius dismounted his bike, vowing to take it into the back yard later and give it a once over, "So far, whenever we ask for some sort of information, the adults have brushed us off or been vague... I only know that I—er, my older self, died protecting someone he loved."
"And I don't know anything about my older self, but I get the feeling that I probably won't like it." James added, running a hand through his hair, "Point is, we're totally clueless here... It sort of makes you nervous."
"I see... Well, why don't we go inside and I'll provide you guys with whatever answers I can... Though, I can't really promise much."
"Anything is better than nothing." Remus told him quietly, before waving a hand back towards the house, "Come on, let's get inside before we attract too much attention."
Nodding, the others followed him back into the house. Once inside, Bill let loose a low whistle, "You three sure know how to redecorate. Where did you learn all of this?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised the amount of spells we've had to learn in order to ensure that our pranks went well." Sirius answered in complete, well, seriousness, "Moony wouldn't let us do anything otherwise, and that certainly takes a lot of fun out of the thing."
"Not to mention, Transfiguration is my best subject." James added, grinning as they settled back into the living room, "Moony must have read every spell book in the library back home, too. So that always helps."
"Sirius and James have their families to thank for a lot of things, as well." Remus stated quietly, smiling weakly, "After all, without some of those books...Well, half the things we've done would have been far more dangerous than needed."
The three of them lapsed into silence, staring off aimlessly around the room for a moment. Bill wondered if they were thinking about the missing member of their group, looking around at the pictures donning the walls and mantle. Peter Pettigrew was in near every picture present. Posing by a brand new motorbike with a beaming Sirius; holding up the plans for what looked like an extremely amusing prank with Remus; wrestling playfully with James... The eldest Weasley son found it hard to think of the teenage boy in the pictures as the traitor who had cost Lily and James Potter their lives. The Marauders before him hardly seemed content without their fourth and final member around to cheer on their antics.
"...Anyways. Answers." The ring leader of the group snapped out of his thoughts a bit suddenly, and worked to push the conversation to what he hoped would be happier territory, "What's gone on with the war in the last twenty years?"
"Geeze, you really jump straight into the heart of something, don't you?" Bill blinked a few times, before shaking his head, "I had really hoped that you would ask something else but, well... I suppose it's foolish to hope against the obvious."
"Yeah. It was the biggest talk around school, the war." Sirius told him, nodding to himself distractedly, "I remember all of the seventh years over the years who had to chose whether or not they were going to support You-Know-Who."
"Yes, well... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was—Defeated, I suppose you could say, around fifteen years ago." Bill started, seeming uneasy with the topic. Only Remus seemed to not be surprised by this (a curious thing, that), and both James and Sirius exclaimed in disbelief, "A family did it... A very brave, kind couple died to protect their child. Then, when he... Tried to kill the child as well, the spell backfired on him instead."
"Whoa A kid did that?" James muttered in awe, "No way. How old were they?"
"A year. Only a year." Was the reply, and the messy haired boy noticed that the man was avoiding his gaze, "It was...The child's mother that made it possible. Dumbledore... He says that the love put forth from her sacrifice was enough to protect the child from You-Know-Who's spell."
"Wow... Imagine that. Lose your family when you're too young to really remember them, and gain the status of the Savior of the Wizarding World." Sirius shook his head, "I don't think I'd wish that for anyone."
"No one would." Bill shook his head, frowning, "The couple were some of the...Well, they were liked by everyone. You couldn't look for better friends, my mom once told me, than those two. No one more kind, or brave."
"You had to have been pretty young back when all that happened." Remus observed, before biting his lip and asking the question that he was sure Bill wouldn't want to answer, "Who was it? The couple, I mean. Did we know them?"
From the silence that followed, the three teens confirmed the answer to part of that question for themselves; they did indeed know the couple who had died. Before Bill could answer, though, the door to the house opened and in walked Lupin, a grim frown in place. All of the room's occupants turned to look at him in surprise. The Weasley boy gained a faint red tint to his cheeks upon noticing the glare being sent his way. However, the older male didn't address him right away. Instead, his face softened and looked between the three teens.
"We were very close to them... Inseparable." His voice was low and tired as his eyes finally landed on James, "We were like family."
"...Oh." James muttered, lowering his gaze as Lupin sat down on the couch.
"I will answer all of your questions. Bill is needed back at Gringotts, however, to ensure that Sirius can gain access to his family vault." He sent a pointed look towards the eldest Weasley boy, who blinked and nodded quickly. Standing, Bill bade goodbye to the three teenagers and promised to visit again before turning to sweep from the room.
"Looks like we'll be missing tea tonight. Should we send word?" Remus spoke quietly, even though everyone was well aware that everything said was a mere formality.
"Well, we never said whether or not we were coming in the first place and it's not like we can send Dobby or an owl to decline the offer." James replied before grinning and looking at Sirius, "But we can send a dog with a missive."
"Yea—Wait, what? You want me to play mail carrier?" Scowling, the Black heir crossed his arms, "No way."
"Oh, come on Padfoot. It would be fun. You could impress people with your intelligence as a dog." The teen werewolf grinned, all three of the young Marauders quite happy to put off the full explanation of what had happened in the last twenty years for a little bit longer.
It took a few moments and several very good arguments as to why he should do what they wanted, but eventually Sirius relented into playing messenger dog. Thus, Remus and James hurried to comply together a note explaining their absence from the tea session while Padfoot lay sprawled pouting on the ground. Lupin idly pet the mass of sleek black fur with a sense of amusement, and even conjured a red collar ornamented with the Gryffindor lion so they could attach the note to it. Not a moment later, James was transfiguring a doggy door into existence on the front door and the massive dog was trotting down the garden path, jumping over the fence, and heading next door.
He was met by a boy that looked to be about the same age as Sirius and his mates. In fact, he looked scarily like James did only... Skinnier, less healthy, and a bit bruised up. This, Padfoot decided, would be what James would look like if he was starved and had been on the losing side of too many fights... Or if he had just learned of Lily Evan's death. Or both. Yeah, both. Oh, and if he had a strange scar on his forehead. The mutt's heart went out to the boy, who was wearing clothing that was far too large for him... What in Merlin's name had that lady, Mrs. Dursley she had called herself, and her husband done to their son?
The boy looked up suddenly, as if sensing that he wasn't alone anymore. Startling green eyes stared at Padfoot for a moment before widening in surprise and... Was that hope? Why did the boy look hopeful at seeing a dog, of all things? Maybe they had lost theirs, and he had mistaken Sirius for his trusty companion. Yeah, the mutt thought as he watched the light die from the boy's eyes just as quickly as it had appeared, that was definitely it. Poor kid, he should cheer him up.
"Woof!" Bounding over to the teen, Padfoot wagged his hair and gave his best 'doggy grin', just begging to be pet. The boy hesitated for just a second before slowly reaching out to pat the top of his head, "Woof!"
"Hey, boy... Where'd you come from? For a moment I thought..." The boy stopped himself, and closed his eyes painfully. Sensing his distress, the dog whined sympathetically and nuzzled him gently, "Sorry. I'm just a little sad... You remind me of someone I miss very much. Heh... For a second there, I even thought that you were him."
Yeap. Definitely a long lost pet. Ah, poor guy. He must have been really close to his dog, "Woof."
"Ha...Yeah. Woof." Sighing softly, the boy suddenly blinked as he caught sight of the note attached to Padfoot's collar, "Hm? What's this? A note?"
Suddenly remembering what he was doing here to begin with, the mutt jumped to all fours and turned around in an excited circle, barking. Startled, the teen hurried to calm him down and take the paper out of his collar, unfolding it to read. His brow furrowed after a moment, and the boy tilted his head to examine the house Sirius, James, and Remus were staying in. Of course, nothing was out of the ordinary with the place, except the fact that there was some motorbike parked in the driveway. No one on Private Drive owned motorbikes, it was like. Taboo or something.
"Oh, so Aunt Petunia invited your family over to have tea with Dudley and his friends. I see." The teen muttered, glancing back at his house and biting his lip, "But they can't come, is that it?" Barking, Padfoot spun in a circle and wagged his tail excitedly, "Okay, okay, calm down. I'll bring the note to my Aunt, but she probably won't like it... It's okay, though, because honestly I don't think your family would want to meet Dudley and his gang. Just a bunch of spoilt bullies."
Barking again, Padfoot tilted his head curiously, very interested in hearing what the other had to say about these people he was apparently living with, "Ruf?"
"Yeah... Though, I don't suppose I could decide whether or not your family would like them. After all, I've never met any of them." A pause, before the boy sighed softly, "I mean, I've met plenty of people who would get along swell with Dudley. Malfoy and him would be best mates. Anyways, you should probably get back home, huh? Go on, then."
Barking, Padfoot stayed just long enough to get his ears scratched lightly before turning and making his way back to his own house, where he had some interesting news to divulge to James and Remus. He hadn't realized until the Malfoy name was mentioned that he had been interacting with someone from their world. It must have been the other student that Dumbledore and full Moony had mentioned earlier that day. Only a wizard would know his cousin, after all, and live to tell about it.
"So, mission successful I presume?" Remus asked once he had slipped back inside and returned to human form. Sirius stretched out, scratching the back of his neck thoughtfully.
"Yeah. I met that other student, I think. He mentioned the Malfoys." Glancing at Lupin, he noted the slight loss of—more—color, "I actually... He seemed sad. Lonely, even. I think he just lost his dog, because he told me I reminded me of someone he missed."
"Harry..." Lupin muttered softly, frowning. Suddenly, he looked a lot more pained, "He's had a very hard time of it these last few weeks. Someone very close to his heart... Died.."
"Oh..." Sirius bit his lip and looked down. No wonder the boy had looked so horrible. He was in mourning; Sirius remembered when his grandfather had passed. His mother had looked horrible for weeks. She'd barely eaten anything and spent most of her time crying.
"Speaking of death." James cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing at his best mates before pressing forward, "Why... Why don't we start at the beginning? Like. Before the... Incident."
Sirius perked up at that thought and straightened, "Yeah. Tell us about our lives. What did we do for our last two years at Hogwarts and after?"
Grinning suddenly and obviously grateful that the young Marauders wanted to talk about something happy instead of heading straight to the bad things, Lupin chuckled, "Our pranks for the last two years were...Well, the teachers had their hands full. Seventh was the best, though. James and Lily were Head Boy and Girl. They influenced each other a bit, every so often Lily would take part in our...Antics. In fact, towards graduation, she actually dared James and Sirius to do something very... Well, let's just say that the backlash was rather bad from the teachers; but the students lightened up."
"Really? Sounds like our normal run of the mill thing.. What did Evans do?" James was sitting on the edge of his seat, hardly seeming to believe his ears. He and Evans... During seventh year? Him, Head Boy?
"Well..."
—Flashback; June 1977, Dinner—
The Hall was filled with chattering students. It wasn't exactly the happy kind of chattering. At the end of this school year, a lot of the Seventh Years were heading off to either join He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or to try and help the fight against them. End of Term was never a very pleasant time anymore, not since You-Know-Who's rise to power. This year it seemed the worst; the war was in full swing and each week had come with more losses and mysterious vanishings than the Ministry would care to admit. Auror Moody had come through a day or so before to take stock of who would be applying for the Aurors. The Marauders had overheard him telling the Headmaster that the applicants had cut down by half since the year before.
Sirius and James, of course, were heading straight for Auror Training after graduation. All of them had already been in talks with Dumbledore about joining the cause. This would be their last week together for a bit, and everyone knew it. So, they did the natural thing one should do in such a situation. They allowed Lily to convince them into one final stunt—And deemed fit to put on one final show for their classmates.
It started with Peter and Sirius bursting into the Great Hall, decked out in great billowing black robes from head to toe. The only sign that they weren't real Death Eaters was the fact that they were wearing Muggle hockey masks over their faces. Striding down the hall, the two Marauders leapt (and scrambled) up onto the Slytherin table and stood side by side. Then, in the dead silence that had fallen over the room, Sirius thrust his fist into the air (making the sleeve fall down to reveal and horribly drawn Dark Mark), and yelled.
"Long live Lord Moldsmart!" Peter went to mimic him but paused and turned to hurriedly whisper into the others ear, "Eh? Not Moldsmart? No? Ah, I see. Sorry. Ahem!" The two adjusted themselves and appeared to make ready and say the proper phrase when suddenly James burst into the hall wearing long, billowing magenta robes.
Without hesitation, he leapt onto the Gryffindor table and pointed dramatically towards the two mock-Death Eaters, "Hold! You, there! Don't you know that I'm the New Dark Lord?"
"New Dark Lord?" The two exclaimed, looking bewildered, "Impossible!"
"Indeed not! Your puny Dark Lord is old news! Snakes are the trends of yesterday! I have risen to power at a phenomenal rate and have come to claim the members of this school as my personal army!" He coughed, looking away and muttering, "Under the guise of a school."
"You speak lies! There are too many loyal to our Lord! None would think of joining you!" Sirius yelled, flailing an arm and 'accidentally' knocking over his younger brother's pumpkin juice with his boot. Regulus appropriately exclaimed in rage and leapt to his feet with intention of drying off his robes. His brother had different ideas and reached down to yank him up onto the table as well, "See? This one stands to show his agreement! You'll never succeed!"
"But I already have!" At that moment, Remus walked in with his nose buried into a book, looking perfectly innocent in this whole strange ordeal. James turned and pointed at him, "You there! Studious boy who doesn't look like he'd be easily convinced into any abnormal or evil group!" The werewolf looked up at his friend and pointed at himself, looking perfectly puzzled, "Yes, you! Come hither!"
Looking around the room, Remus seemed to take in the situation before giving a small shrug and snapping his book closed. Without a seconds pause, he walked up and climbed up onto his House Table beside James. Then, in a clear voice asked, "Yes, your Evil Lordship?"
A gasp rippled through the room and it took all of the Marauders control to not break character. Clearing his throat, James pointed down, "Kneel, and I shall show these fools what a real Dark Mark looks like!"
Doing so, Remus looked up at the other teen rather than bowing his head. Everyone watched as the 'New Dark Lord' pulled out a black marker and worked to draw something quickly on his friend's forehead. Sirius and Regulus got into a quiet squabble over on the Slytherin table, resulting in Regulus being banished from the top of the table. Once finished, he put the pen away and gestured for Remus to stand and show everyone his handiwork.
"Behold! The NEW Dark Mark!" Waving an arm as Remus turned around slowly a few times, James gestured to the smiley face he'd just drawn, "Far better than your Lord's puny snake and skull!"
Sirius and Peter gasped, the smaller male exclaiming, "It... It is beautiful! Truly, he is the New Dark Lord!"
"No! My friend, do not be tricked by—Actually, you know what? Go ahead and defect, I don't care. One less person to share the pudding with." Waving a disinterested hand, Sirius watched Peter turn to climb down from the table before suddenly kicking him in the rear and sending him toppling, "Traitor! Die!"
A mock-wave of his wand, squeak, and poof of smoke later, Peter had vanished. Everyone gasped, but there wasn't much time to react as James clapped his hands suddenly and yelled in gibberish, wiggling his fingers. Another poof of smoke went off next to him and Remus, and there was the sound of scrambling before the smoke cleared, Peter now standing triumphantly on the Gryffindor table, happy face drawn proudly on his forehead.
"Curses! Foiled again! Is there nothing to be done about this New Dark Lord?" Sirius exclaimed.
"Yes, yes there is!" Remus suddenly declared, quite the change from the quiet boy he'd been just a moment ago, "Join us and accept the fate of your dying religion. Accept the awesome and unyielding might of the New Dark Lord and together, we'll overthrow your old Lord and rid him from the world!"
This earned an eruptious cheer from the majority of the Great Hall. The Slytherins area was suspiciously quiet but Sirius pretended to be considering the offer. Then, with a shrug he crouched down and jumped over some Slytherin's heads to land on the ground behind them.
"Alright, then. Let's free the world of the other evil git." The final member of the Marauders conceded, making his way over to his House Table and climbing up onto it himself before pausing, "By the way, what should we call ourselves?"
"Why, that's easy my new minion!" James quickly scribbled a smiley face on Sirius' forehead, "We'll be called the Marauders! And this will be our Age!"
Grinning, the other three nodded and then blinked when Lily suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "Long live the Age of Marauders!"
"Long live the Age of Marauders!" The four plus several other voices echoed as the hall erupted into cheers at what they saw as a happy ending. Not only that, but a clear declaration from the Marauders themselves that they were going into this war expecting to change things for the better. The teachers even clapped a bit, before Dumbledore cleared his throat and stood, eyes twinkling.
"Thank you for that...Interesting show, boys. I have no doubt that each of you, and the rest of our seventh year students, will go on to do great things." The Headmaster spoke clearly and the hall erupted into cheers again before settling down when it was obvious he was planning to continue, "Would you please join myself and Professor McGonagall?"
Wincing, the boys helped each other down (it really was more difficult than it looked, with these robes), before making their way up to the adults. Dumbledore and McGonagall led them through the door behind the Head Table.
—End Flashback—
"Whoa, we—you actually did that?" Sirius muttered in amazement, grinning to himself. The war where they had come from was only half a decade old, but everyone knew how serious it was. It was amazing that their older selves had even been willing to do that.
"Yeah. We all thought that it would be the best bet to lighten everyone's mood." Lupin smiled with a bit of sadness, "It was James' idea, for the most part. Sirius... Helped figure out how we could make it more amusing and lighthearted."
"Of course, I've always had the best sense of humor out of all of us!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning at the other two with a sense of triumph.
"Yeah, and the most cheesy." Remus muttered, shaking his head.
"Hey!"
"He's got a point, Padfoot." James smirked, before seeming to sober up. Looking at Lupin, he frowned and asked, "You mentioned that Sirius and I were going for Auror training. Did we make it?"
"Mhm...Sirius got his own place shortly after graduation, his uncle had left him an inheritance. James and Lily moved in together around the same time and got married shortly after."
"Married... I married Evans..." Grinning again, James straightened and looked at his friends, "Oy! I married Evans! I told you she would come around eventually."
"Indeed. Once your ego sized down a bit at the start of seventh year, Lily started being more receptive to your advances."
The statement made the other boys snicker and mutter, "Told ya." Lupin, of course, was unphased by the glare the messy hair teen had leveled at him.
"Okay so, I got an inheritance and Prongs married Evans. What about you, Moony?" Sirius asked, lounging back now.
"After the wedding, I had to leave for awhile. Dumbledore needed someone who could talk to the werewolf clans. We needed help, and that was deemed my job for awhile." He laughed, but it sounded bitter, "It didn't do much good, though. I came back for a few months when Lily had her child. Had Harry."
"Harry? Isn't the boy next store named-" Sirius started, but Lupin held up a hand to silence him, nodding.
"Harry, yes. He's the same person. Let me continue, and you can put the dots together as we go."
Looking between one another, the trio nodded. Lupin took a moment to call Dobby, asking him to bring some tea and biscuits before settling back into the couch. He suddenly looked a lot older, and tired. Remus felt his stomach jump slightly at seeing his older self like such, and wondered at the events that must have happened to make him such. He was sure they were about to find out, and settled back himself to listen.
By the time Lupin would finish his tale, the refreshments Dobby had brought would be completely untouched. Three teens would sit still as stone in their seats, torn between horror, rage, and uncertainty of what to do next. Several moments passed in this fashion, until Sirius drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"Well, I guess we all know what we have to do."