I never expected Veritaserum to taste so awful. I almost spit it out. How on earth did anyone else ever do this? Disgusting. I don't know what I was expecting to feel, but the feeling was non-existent. I wasn't bubbling over with the urge to tell all of my darkest secrets. I was just… me. Dumbledore looked me over and settled himself in his chair.

"Alright, now we can begin. First, what is your name?"

I wanted to test it, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't lie. The truth just flowed out of me, whether I wanted to or not. This was a weird feeling, for sure.

"Lauren Hastings."

"And Lauren, how did you come to our world?"

"I really don't know. I was sleeping in my room in St. Louis and when I woke up, I was in a room at the Leaky Cauldron."

"And how do you know of our world."

"In my world, there are these books that tell all about your life. They're set a few years after, when Harry is eleven. I have read every one. I know a lot about the magical world thanks to those books."

Albus simply smiled at me. I knew he believed me. This was more for James, Remus and Lily. They wouldn't believe me in a million years. I glanced over at them, trying to gauge their responses. Remus looked mildly shocked. I suspect he kind of believed me before this, so it didn't affect him much when he found out I was telling the truth. Lily just looked plain skeptical. I would expect nothing less from one of the cleverest witches of her time. James just looked plain gobsmacked. I knew he'd be the one to test me first.

"Okay, Lauren. If you really are telling the truth, then tell me something you read about me. Something no one else should know." James smirked. He was trying to test me. I just chuckled.

"Where to begin? You're an unregistered animagi, a stag. Your best friends are Sirius, Remus and…" I coughed. I had to be delicate with that specific bit of information. "…and Peter. You saved Severus Snape's life after a prank to send him to the Shrieking Shack went south. Is that enough?" I smiled innocently at him. His jaw fell almost to the floor.

"There's no…that's just…how did you…" He then stopped trying to form a sentence and simply shook his head. I assume he was getting his thoughts together. "Okay, how do we know you're not just pulling a lot of things out of the air? What if you're just guessing?"

I wanted to answer, but Lily beat me to it. She turned to her husband and stated simply, "That's impossible. While under the Veritaserum, if you are asked a question that you don't know the answer to, that is the answer you would give. You don't know. She is telling the truth." I smiled at her. She was everything I had imagined. If we were in any other situation, I knew we would be great friends.

Dumbledore then stood up. I looked up at the man, who had a serious look on his face now.

"Alright, enough. Can you all concede that she is telling the truth?" Everyone shook their heads. Finally, they believed me.

"Good. Now we must come to the underlying cause of this meeting. Lauren has made a claim that your lives are in danger from Voldemort. We already know this to be true, which is why you are currently in hiding. But she has made a more specific prediction. Lauren, please tell us what is supposed to happen tomorrow."

I looked down. As much as I wanted to save these wonderful people, I didn't want to give them the news. They would be so distraught. A good friend was about to be exposed for the fraud he was.

"Well, in the books that I told you about, Harry is an orphan. That is because you, James and Lily Potter are killed. Tomorrow to be exact. Voldemort will come and kill you both, but he fails to kill Harry because of Lily's sacrifice to safe him. He ends up destroying Voldemort for a time."

Everyone just stared at me for a long time. I knew why. I wouldn't want to believe that I died tomorrow either. Thankfully, that wasn't going to happen. I would make sure it doesn't.

"She can't be serious. There's no way for him to find us. We're under the Fidelus charm and only our secret keeper and you, sir, know the location."

"James, I assure you, it would be impossible for her to lie right now. She is just reciting what she has read about our world from these books. Our world could be the same, or it could be different. We have no way of knowing unless we wait for tomorrow. I decided it would be better to err on the side of caution. That is why we will be setting a trap tomorrow. We will be sending in Aurors disguised as you and your wife. If Voldemort does attack, they will be ready for him." Dumbledore turned to me with a sad look on his face.

"I suspect I already know the answer to this question, but for the sake of everyone else in the room, I will ask anyway. Lauren, who betrayed James and Lily?"

Ugh, the one question I was dreading to answer. He would ask me while I'm under Veritaserum. I sighed. They'd have to find out sooner or later.

"Peter. Peter Pettigrew sells them out to Voldemort. He probably has already done so."

At this, James and Remus shot up out of their seats and started yelling at the same time.

"She's lying!"

"There's no way! He's our friend."

"I trusted him with our lives!"

"There has to be something wrong! This isn't right!"

"Gentlemen!" Dumbledore startled us all with his stern voice. I was grateful that he made them stop. I could feel the tears running down my face. This whole situation was one I didn't want to be in. I was horrible at giving bad news. Too compassionate, my friends from the orphanage said. Dumbledore walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. I guess he had spotted my current emotional state as well.

"I know this is hard to accept, but this girl is not lying. Please, refrain from taking out your anger on her. I believe a more suitable candidate would be the actual enemy, and his current henchman. Now, I would like to continue with my plan. If Voldemort does attack tomorrow night, we will know for sure that she is 100% accurate. For now, Lauren, you need to stay close by. In fact, I would prefer if all of you stay at the castle tonight." He snapped his finger and a small odd-looking creature appeared. I couldn't help but scream a bit. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen! Then I realized what it was. A house elf!

"Yes, sir?"

"Ah yes. Could you be so kind as to collect some basic clothing for our guest here? Oh, and please prepare the Gryffindor tower. Our guests will be staying there for the evening."

"Yes, sir. Holly will be getting on that right away for you, sir." And with another snap from the elf's fingers, she vanished.

"Uh, sir? Because we are staying here for the night, could we bring over Sirius? I haven't seen him in ages, and being here means he wouldn't have to be in on the Fidelus charm." It looked like James was almost begging.

Dumbledore just chuckled. "Of course. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place. From my last visit, I gathered that he was missing his best friend and godson. This could brighten up the mood for a spell. I will fetch him and send him to the tower. If you three would escort Miss Hastings. I would hate for her to get lost here, even with her current knowledge of the building." With that, he stood up and walked over to the fire. He picked up some dust from a pot on the mantle, muttered "Leaky Cauldron" and then disappeared in the green flames. It was then I decided that I really did love magic. Then I remembered that I wasn't the only one in the room. I looked back at the others shyly.

"Well, Lauren. I don't know what to think. If you are right, and I hope to Merlin you're not, I will still be eternally grateful. We'll just have to wait and see." James seemed a bit uneasy. Lily was the first to stand and approach me. She extended her hand and I slowly returned the handshake.

"Lauren, I am grateful no matter what happens tomorrow. Any leg up we can get against Voldemort is welcomed. Thank you for trying to save my family." She then pulled me in for a hug. It felt oddly comforting, being hugged by a woman I had mourned for the latter part of my life. I nervously returned it as well. When we parted, Remus approached me.

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't be sure. But that doesn't excuse the fact that I was very rude to you earlier." He also extended his hand. I hesitantly took it, immediately feeling a tingly sensation in my arm as I did. Stupid hormones. I'm in the wizarding world saving the lives of three people, maybe more, and all I could think about was how I would never wash this hand again. I wasn't normally a "girly girl" that wore my emotions on my sleeve, but there was no denying that I found Remus J. Lupin to be very, very attractive. It was then I noticed that I had been shaking his hand for the better part of two minutes now. He had an odd look on his face. Probably thought I was a weirdo. Great.

James came to save the day. "Okay, we'd better head up to the common room. I want to be there when Padfoot arrives."

With that, we left Dumbledore's office and headed toward the one place I'd wanted to visit since I stepped inside the castle: Gryffindor Tower.