Those who emerged from the Pensieve stared at the dimension travelers. Some calculating, some shocked. Remus couldn't identify much sympathy in their gazes, but the open hostility seemed to fade, and the room's air seemed more breathable without the glares.
"If you – er – have any questions, I could probably answer them," Harry said. No one responded to him.
"I think," Wilkes said. "We need to discuss this on our own for a while. Dorea, would you take them to one of the warded rooms."
"Of course," the elderly woman said. She walked with surprisingly nimble limbs for someone appearing to be old even for a magical being. The travelers stood to follow her. Outside of Dumbledore's office, she paused and turned to face them.
"Do any of you recognize me?" she asked. Remus noticed that her voice shook and wondered who exactly she was. He stayed silent, and for a moment no one spoke.
"Mum," James whispered suddenly. "You're my mother." Dorea breathed out audibly.
"I don't know if I believe you yet," she said. "I don't know if I trust those memories, but James, if it really is you, I wish my son had lived the life you did."
"That's funny," James said, his voice hoarse. "I never thought I'd feel grateful for making it to twenty-one."
"You shouldn't feel grateful for that, dear," Dorea said. "You should feel grateful that your son got to live." She looked at Harry. "He looks like you. But with Lily's eyes, of cours. You're a beautiful boy. I suppose you've never known me, considering you didn't recognize me?"
"No," Harry said. "All of my dad's relatives died in the war."
"You and dad were killed in the first war," James said. "When I was seventeen." Dorea made a small sound in her throat.
"Did I ever meet Lily?" Dorea asked, she turned to the much younger woman.
"Only once," James said. "Christmas of our seventh year."
"You and Lily had just gotten together here when it happened," Dorea added, still facing Lily even as she addressed James. "Lily was heartbroken at your death so soon after she gave you a chance. You're beautiful, dear. James is a lucky man."
"I'm much happier with that version of history than the one where you died when you were seventeen." Then the woman turned and walked away, not waiting for the others to follow her. In only a minute or two, they reached the room, and Dorea whispered a password to the door. Obediently, the travelers filed in the room. "I still don't know whether I believe you or not, but I hope for your sakes that you are not lying," she said before closing the door in James's face.
"Well your mother never changed," Sirius said, grinning at James. He didn't smile back. Lily took a couple steps closer to him, trying to comfort him.
"She looked so tired, didn't she?" he said. "My father wasn't there. She must be alone here. Merlin, she looked so old."
"You know your mum, James," Sirius said. "She's strong and proud and can take care of herself." He rested a hand on James's shoulder. James nodded back towards his closest friend, and then looked at Harry.
"If nothing else comes from this, Harry," James said. "I will be glad that you got to meet her at least. That was one of my only regrets the day you were born."
"Now, back to business," James said. "We need to figure out what they think about us. Particularly, I would say, Wilkes and Regulus."
"I agree," Remus said. "Regulus is, of course, the leader, but Wilkes is certainly more respected by the others."
"And the most trusted by Regulus," Lily said. "He must be Regulus's James, in a sense."
"They seemed almost too close," Remus added. "Too close for during a war, at least."
"True," James said. "I hadn't thought of that. Regulus certainly seems fragile though, doesn't he?"
"Anyone would be," Harry said, voice somewhere between a rasp and a whisper. "He's the Chosen One."
"Reg seemed like he warmed up to me though," Sirius said. "At least enough where he wouldn't try to kill me again."
"He's a wildcard though," Lily said. "I wouldn't want to be alone with him." She looked at Sirius as she spoke, and Remus once again saw the cuts and bruises on him. The man didn't look awful, and the injuries certainly weren't life-threatening, but Remus was sure they hurt.
"He wasn't that bad, honestly," Sirius said. "I expect that if our roles were reversed, I would have been much worse to him."
"Is he similar to your brother, Padfoot?" James asked. "I hardly remember Regulus, honestly. The only clear memory I have of him is Quidditch."
"I don't know," Sirius admitted. "I didn't know Regulus too well either. He seems more insane, here, but he also talks a lot more here than he ever did to me. I just don't know."
"What about Wilkes?" Remus said. "Regulus is unpredictable, but Wilkes seemed much too calculating."
"I feel as if he's the one that will never trust us, and the one whose trust we most need," Lily said.
"He acts like a pureblood," Sirius added. "Much more than Regulus does. Wilkes even dresses in the robes of a family head."
"Do we know anything about him?" Harry asked. Remus looked around to see matching blank faces.
"He most likely was a Death Eater that died in the first war in out dimension," Remus said. "Wilkes seemed to think that, at least."
"And that's all we know," James said, voice bitter. "We're at their mercy, it seems. All we can do is cooperate and hope that eventually they believe us."
"I think there's a chance," Lily said, softly but letting the optimistic words slash through the pessimistic atmosphere of the room. "Perhaps some of them, my other self included, have too much history with our counterparts to believe us, but Bill Weasley and a few of the others may really help us."
"I hope so," Sirius said. "We're in the middle of a war at home. We need to get back or –"
"Or everyone will die," Harry finished.
"What happened in those memories?" Wilkes asked softly. "Should we believe them?" The room stayed silent, no one daring to breath as they waited for someone to speak.
"Honestly," Bill said. "I think they may be telling the truth. This is too logical and too illogical at the same time. If they had gotten to pick and choose memories to make us trust them, then they picked very badly. Those memories painted the Marauder's in a very bad light."
"Which ones?" Lily asked.
"Many of you – er, the other Lily – with Snape as children, and then Snape being humiliated and insulting you."
"Mudblood," Lily whispered. "Snape called me a Mudblood in the memories, didn't he?"
"He did," Bill said.
"Those happened here as well. How do we know that Sirius didn't somehow have Snape's memories of those times?"
"There were others, Lily," Molly said. "Memories of Snape telling Dumbledore that you need protection, memories of Snape protecting and helping Harry Potter."
"They were tampered with – the memories," Regulus looked around wildly. "They can't – this couldn't happen. How could this happen?" Wilkes stepped closer to Regulus, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Reg, if nothing else, we need to believe that magic can do anything. The evidence, in this case, seems to suggest that they're really who they say they are. I say we use that to our advantage."
"How do you propose that, Leon?" Dorea asked, her voice a little cold as she spoke with the younger man.
"Black is known for his tactics of using polyjuice to throw us off of our game. Now, if there was one person who could do the same to him, who would it be?" No one answered; no one had to. There was one person who broke Sirius, unintentionally and as he saved him, years ago. In fact, that one person could be said to have caused the two worlds to divulge from each other. In one, James Potter died. In the other, he lived. Now, they had James Potter in Hogwarts. He knew Sirius, and he had every memory that the James Potter who had been Sirius's friend had. Of course that would be a major advantage in battle.
"Are you suggesting we use that man as bait?" Molly said, sounding somewhat scandalized by the idea.
"He's one of our best chances at defeating Sirius. Besides, crazy magic or not, that man is dead. What does it matter if he dies again here?" Wilkes said, raising one of his black eyebrows. Regulus turned and looked at him, staring into his eyes. Wilkes' harsh face softened as he looked at the smaller man. "We may finally finish this."
"So what's the plan then?" Lily said. "How do we let Sirius know that James Potter is here?"
"We take them to the Ministry, to the Unspeakables," Wilkes said. "We've known for a long time that there's a mole there. Hopefully, they'll see nothing wrong with us taking them there to figure out how to get them back to their dimension. Bill, would you arrange that? You have the most contacts in the Department of Mysteries."
"Does this mean we believe them?" Charlie asked. "We can't go from one extreme to the other here. They'll realize something is wrong." The room was silent, and most everyone looked to Wilkes to answer. Regulus led the Order, but for a situation as complicated as this one, Wilkes ran the show. Regulus would charge where Wilkes pointed, and he most likely would make it out alive, and for that reason and for Regulus' history, he was the so-called leader, the figurehead of the Order.
"We'll tell them that we don't disbelieve them and take their wands," Wilkes said. "And in reality, this will be a good test. If Sirius doesn't bite, then he knows they're here, and they're his men."