Right Here

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters :(

A/N: Thank you so much for the positive feedback! I hope ya'll enjoy this next chapter - took me forever!

Full Summary: In one world, Sirius Black sat in Grimmauld Place, mourning the fourteen year anniversary of his best friend's death. In another, parallel world, James Potter was doing the exact same thing. But there's something different about this Halloween…something that could change both men's lives forever.

Other Notes: This story does not contain slash and contains only cannon pairings – it takes place in Harry's fifth year (Order of the Phoenix) on Halloween night. Anything that you recognize from the books in this story strictly belongs to JK Rowling, of course!

"S-Sirius?" James sputtered out, his eyes already glossing over.

"J-James?"

Just as both men let their vulnerability get the better of them, they realized what they'd done. They both pulled their wands out of their robes quickly, and pointed them at each other within the next second.

"Death Eater!" James growled. "How dare you insult his memory!"

"Voldemort has truly sunk low." Sirius barked. "Posing as James - practically throwing rotten food at his grave!"

"I don't know what nonsense you're talking about now, but it ends. Just like you will!" James threatened, trying to look as intimidating as possible. Inside, he was screaming. It was aganist everything he believed in to ever point a wand at Sirius. But that's not Sirius! a voice in the back of his head reminded James. It's a Death Eater, of course! Sirius is dead! Avenge him!

"I'm not going down without a fight! I'm avenging James now." Sirius insisted violently.

"Hang on a minute," James hissed, still eyeing Siri- no. Still eye the Death Eater. "We're not getting anywhere, here."

"Couldn't agree more." Sirius muttered.

"But answer me this before I destroy you," James growled. "Why are you pretending to be Sirius? Why not Remus?"

"Excuse me?" Sirius asked in disbeilief. "I think that I should be asking you that! You're the one posing as my dead best friend!"

"No, you are!" James shouted.

"So...you're not a Death Eater?" Sirius asked in confusion, lowering his wand ever so slightly.

"Of course not! I'd never join Voldemort!" James yelled. Then, he noticed that the other man was lowering his wand, so he did the same. "Wait - you're not a Death Eater either?"

"No..." Sirius said, shaking his head. "So this must mean...James, am I...dead?"

James looked sad. "Yeah. You have been for a while, Padfoot, but...hang on, am I dead? My God, I'm dead! Harry, no! And Lily...how did I die? do you know, Sirius?"

"You've been dead for years." Sirius said emptily.

"Wh-What? No, I haven't. I don't even remember dying." James said, knitting his eyebrows in confusion. Reluctantly, he put his wand away with his robes, and Sirius did the same.

"You died in 1981, James...it's 1995." Sirius whispered.

"No, you died in 1981, Sirius." James said. "Merlin, this isn't real. No, I must be dreaming."

"No, I'm the one that's dreaming." Sirius muttered. Refusing to believe that James was really here, breathing and perfectly alive, Sirius shouted, "Moony! Come here! I think I've gone mad!"

Not even hearing Sirius screech for Remus, James yelled, "Lilyflower! Come here! I think I had a bit too much Firewhiskey!"

James and Sirius heard two sets of disgruntled voices and feet trudging towards them from upstairs. While Remus and Lily headed downstairs, James and Sirius just stared at each other. Even if the other wasn't real, they were drinking in the sight of each other while they could.

"James? Darling, what is it?" Lily asked, when she was a room away.

"And James, I know that you're upset about Sirius, but you've not...gone...mad?" Remus said, trailing off as he and Lily entered the sitting room.

Lily choked back a sob at the sight of Sirius, and Remus gasped loudly. He looked to James and demanded, "What in Merlin's name is going on, Prongs?"

"Moony, good! You see him, too! And...Lily? No, this isn't possible...you're both dead!" Sirius shouted. "Remus, tell me I'm not crazy, tell me you see them, too!"

"S-Sirius?" Remus sputtered out, leaning on Lily for support. "Sirius Black?"

"Merlin, not you too!" Sirius said. "Why is everyone acting so bloody surprised to see me when the supposedly dead James and Lily Potter are in the same room!"

"Supposedly dead?" Lily gasped. "What do you mean? What is he talking about, James?"

"So you both see him, too?" James asked Lily and Remus carefully. Both absentmindedly nodded their heads.

"Would someone please just explain to me what in Merlin's name is going on here?" Sirius demanded. "One moment I'm in the kitchen, drinking my sorrows away over a bottle of pathetic Firewhiskey, and Remus is reading in the sitting room, the next, I'm Apparating into the sitting room and suddenly, the very people I had been missing just happen to appear out of thin air? No spell can bring back the dead!"

"I haven't read at all today..." Remus muttered, confused.

"And I've been in the kitchen all morning. I was drinking Firewhiskey as well...if you had been there, I would have seen you." James said, refusing to let his guard down. This couldn't be Sirius. Sirius was dead.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Sirius growled, aiming a kick at the couch.

"James? Have you heard? Dumbledore is bringing the children over tonight! Won't it be nice to see...Sirius?"

Molly Weasley had just walked into the living room. She stopped cold upon seeing Sirius.

"Molly, please tell me that you remember the conversation we had in the kitchen?" Sirius practically begged.

"Sirius Black?" Molly asked. "But-but that's impossible! James Potter, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything Molly!" James defended. "And I don't even think that is Sirius."

"No, it is." Remus decided. "Look at him...it's obvious. But...I don't think it's our Sirius."

"What do you mean, Remus?" Lily asked curiously.

"Yeah, Remmy. What are you blathering on about now?" Sirius asked.

Remus visibly flinched. He'd missed Sirius so very much, and to have him there...it felt completely and utterly unreal.

"I mean," Remus began coolly. "That I believe that this Sirius is from a different timeline."

"Then he didn't have any Marauder Adventures with us?" James asked sadly, looking very near tears.

"No, I remember those." Sirius responded automatically. "They're not exactly the type of thing you forget when they're all you have to remember your best friend by."

"No, I think that the timelines are...parallel, perhaps, Remus?" Lily suggested.

"Yes." Remus agreed. "Sirius, the timeline from which you are a part and our timeline are very much alike - up until a certain point. In fact, I believe that we started out in the same timeline...but there was a point, a point in that timeline, that caused it to split. To you, this could be considered an alternate universe - one in which you died."

"Okay Moony," Sirius began. "Just because I got bloody old doesn't mean I understand a thing you just said - slowly. And with small words, please."

James couldn't help but laugh a bit. "That was exactly what Sirius would have said," he thought sadly.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Definitely Sirius." he decided. "Okay," he began slowly. "We started out in same time. Something bad happen in that time. The time split in half. In your half, you lived. In our half, you died. Okay?"

"Didn't have to be so bloody sarcastic about it," Sirius grumbled, rolling his eyes. "But I think I understand a bit more clearly."

"So now we just have to figure out at what point in that timeline it split." Lily decided.

"Why don't we have a seat at the dining r-room table?" Molly said shakily, trying to avoid looking at Sirius. "We can Floo Dumbledore and discuss it over tea."

"I think I'll need something stronger." Remus, Sirius, and James mumbled at the same time. Despite their fears and uncertainties, the three Marauders were able to give each other strained chuckles.

"So...James," Sirius began, struggling over actually saying James's name. "When did I die?"

"Halloween of 1981." James muttered in a depressed tone. "When did I die?"

"You and Lily both died on Halloween of 1981." Sirius mumbled in a similar tone.

"Looks like we found our point," Remus declared.

"What happened in your universe, S-Sirius?" Lily asked, tripping over her old friend's name a bit.

"You and James and Harry were home," Sirius began sadly. "You were all under the Fidelius Charm. Peter was your Secret-Keeper. I was the one who'd suggested it...it was all my fault, but I swear, I never wanted to hurt either of you! ...We never told anyone about the switch, and on Halloween, Voldemort showed up at your front door. He-he killed James first. Then he went after Lily. But when he tried to attack Harry...the blood protection that Lily gave Harry when she died for him somehow made Voldemort's curse rebound, and he vanished instead. I found you two. I knew what Peter had done...so I went after him. I had just cornered him when he'd turned the tables and loudly blamed me for the whole thing - he then blew up the entire street, and pretended that he was dead. I was accused of killing you two, Peter, and twelve Muggles. I was taken to Azkaban without even a bloody trial. I escaped two years ago to find Pettigrew and end him. Instead, I found Harry. I'm still on the run from the law. And only last Summer, Harry participated in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, which was held at Hogwarts. During the Third Task, Voldemort tricked Harry into taking a portkey to a remote location; a remote location in which Voldemort and Peter used Harry to bring the evil git back to a 'proper' state. Because of this, Dumbledore has just re-instated the Order of the Phoenix."

Sirius sighed. "Any questions?"

"Azkaban?" James whispered painfully, a single tear leaking from his eye. "My God, Sirius..."

"But I found Harry." Sirius said. "And that was worth it all."

"Did you ever find me, Padfoot?" Remus asked, pained.

Sirius allowed a small smile. "As a matter of fact, I did, Remmy. Actually, I sort of lived with you for a bit. An escaped convict can't exaclty buy his own flat, you know what I mean?"

Remus returned the smile sadly.

"Where did Harry stay, if you were in Azkaban?" Lily asked.

Sirius sighed. "You've escaped the wrath of Lily for fourteen years...prepare to get an earfull." "If I'm not mistaken, he lives at your Muggle sister's during the Summer months, Lily."

"He-he WHAT?" Lily and James exploded at the same time. "But she must hate him!"

"He's strong." Sirius assured his old friends. "But once I'm free, I plan to take him in."

"Thank you...Sirius." James said. "You've no idea how much that means to us."

"What happened in this world? Why am I dead?" Sirius asked carefully, not taking his eyes off of James.

James sighed, and let a single tear roll from his eyes. Sirius felt unnerved - James had never cried.

"It was stupid," he murmured brokenly. "Y-You insisted, Padfoot, that Lily and I 'get out' for a night. You stayed with Harry. You died for him, Sirius, when Voldemort came. Lily and I came home to find the house in ruins a-and you dead. I was outraged, of course, and hurt beyond any measure. I sought out Peter. I knew he had betrayed us, how else would Voldemort have found our house? B-But Remus over here stopped me before I did anything stupid. The Ministry caught up with Peter when we told them what had happened. He died in Azkaban four years ago. We raised Harry, naturally, and he's in Gryffindor at Hogwarts. Harry - just like in your timeline - stopped Voldemort. He's the Boy-Who-Lived, but he's not arrogant about it. He's a wonderful boy. Dumbledore wants to speak to him about something tonight, and Molly over there insisted that the other children come as well. We're all having dinner tonight."

"This place sounds like paradise," Sirius said.

"It's usually pretty wonderful," James agreed. "Except on Halloween. I-I try to be strong, but I'm still so angry! And I'm hurt and upset and I just want to scream sometimes! I hate that you died Sirius, you have no idea!"

"Actually, I do." Sirius disagreed lightly, trying his hardest not to cry. He quietly put a hand on James's shoulder, and James flinched. "I'm going through the same exact thing."

Kind of a cliffhanger, but perhaps this will make up for it - I've decided to make this a five-shot now:) I want it to be a full-moon 'tonight', so there will be some MPP reuniting - Animagi style;) This was mostly just an explaining chapter, so that the next three will make sense:) Plus, I wanted James and Sirius to not try to kill each other throughout the day. So I hope that this wasn't too dreadfully boring, and pretty please review!

~PeachyKeen13