A/N: Back again with chapter two! Happy reading!
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling. The premise for this story was inspired by Eternal Bonds by LivingOnASquare.
Remus, formerly known as Professor Lupin, was curled up in a ball in the corner of his future office. The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was in a different place during his seventh year - now? - so the office he had called his own was fortunately abandoned. He had needed some time to himself and he couldn't go to any of the secret passageways. The other three Marauders knew all about those and could show up at any moment. Gryffindor Tower was out, for obvious reasons.
There was no mystery about where he was: the past, his Seventh year to be exact; or why: the creepy ritual they had all done. He was in his seventeen year old body again. The problem was that he now had to deal with the traitor who had destroyed all of their lives, and try not to break down crying in front of his friends who had died. And, of course, he might never get back to his own time. If he remembered the ritual correctly, the only way to undo the enchantment was to repair the friendship, forgive each other, and restore the trust back to what it once was.
Remus spat. There was no chance of him forgiving Sirius anytime soon. He struggled to resign himself to being stuck here. It wasn't like he had much to live for in the future, but the Defense job had been his best in a long time. Plus being stuck sharing a dorm with the murderer was probably worse than the way he was living before.
He heard the door creak open, and leapt to his feet, swiping the tears from his eyes and drawing his wand. "Who's there?" he shouted hoarsely, for no one had entered the room.
There was a fluttering of silvery fabric, and seventeen year old James Potter appeared in the middle of the room. Remus almost smiled, thinking of how much he looked like Harry, the couple of times Remus had caught him out with his invisibility cloak at night. But then his eyes were caught on the face of his best friend, the one who had died twelve years ago by his perspective, the one he thought he'd never see again…
"What are you doing in here?" James asked. "What's going on?"
Remus cracked a smile. "Did the map give me away?"
James shook his head. "I think Sirius had it. A first year said she'd seen you go in here."
"Now the traitor'll know where we all are…" Remus cursed at the mention of Sirius' name, causing James to stare.
"Moony, what's wrong?" he tried again.
Remus looked at James, really studied him, for the first time. He looked so...young. Innocent. He was always one of the purest of them all, not tortured by family or full moons. His eyes weren't haunted in the same way that Sirius' were. Sure, he had died at age 21, but surely he would show some signs of having aged…
"You haven't come back, have you?" asked Remus gently.
James tilted his head. "What do you mean, come back?"
"You have no idea what's going on?" Remus pressed.
"No! That's why I keep asking you!" James looked incredibly flustered at this point, and worried. Remus didn't like to see him like this, but what could he tell him? All of his friends are back from the future except he was already dead so he didn't come with them? And what about his best friend being out to murder him?
"You have homework, right?" Remus asked, abruptly changing the subject. He didn't want to deal with any of this right now, but James wouldn't leave him alone even if he begged. Sometimes coping mechanisms would have to do.
James crossed his arms. "That doesn't answer my question, Moony."
"What question?" Remus asked, gathering his things and walking toward the door. It felt like talking to certain annoying students, and with a jolt Remus realized that he had taught an entire class of students who were James' age.
"Moony, I'm not joking!" James followed him out of the door.
Remus said nothing.
James sighed. "Can you at least tell me why you were in a professor's office, of all places?"
Remus shrugged. "I needed some time to myself. It felt homely." All the moons where he had transformed in that office under Wolfsbane…
Remus froze, rooted to the spot in horror.
"What?" asked James in exasperation, but Remus could hear worry creeping in. "Why can't you tell me what's wrong?"
What's wrong, Remus wanted to tell him, is that if he was stuck here then he had no access to Wolfsbane. He would have to transform in the Shrieking Shack as he had once upon a time. But this time he definitely wouldn't have Padfoot to help him along. Maybe Prongs, at least, could help.
"When's the next full moon, do you know?" he asked in a would-be-casual tone.
"Moony doesn't know when the full moon is," James said in shock. "Have you actually lost your mind?"
"You said you wanted to help. Help me by telling me."
James sighed. "You've got six days. Is this about the full moon? Is that what's bothering you? Then why are Padfoot and Wormtail involved?"
"That's not what's bothering me," Remus answered curtly.
James for once took the hint and they walked to Gryffindor Tower in silence.
The common room was packed and Remus was in no more mood to deal with people now than he was twenty minutes before, so he raced up the stairs. On his way he saw multiple classmates who had died in the war, others who had gone dark, even in Gryffindor…he tried to turn his eyes away. He didn't want to think too hard about any of those future tragedies now…
Unfortunately he couldn't escape the saddest death of all, as James followed him up.
"Prongs!" yelled a voice in delight. Sirius came skipping out of the dorm and flung his arms around James, squeezing him in a delighted hug. "I saw you coming on the map! Sorry that I didn't say hello back in Transfiguration, but I was a bit distracted trying to catch the rat…"
Remus couldn't help himself. "Get your hands off of him, Black!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
James and Sirius froze. James looked between the two of them, utterly confused. He cautiously removed Sirius' arms from around his neck and stepped away to look at both of them.
"What is going on with you two?"
Sirius looked at him, his face near tears, which only angered Remus more. How could such a traitor even dare to get near the man he practically killed…!
Instead of defending himself to James, as Remus expected of the disgusting little grim, Sirius turned to him. "Remus, I was hoping you had figured it out, but I need to explain something you...Halloween didn't go like you thought it did - "
Remus silenced him with an angry gesture. "I don't want to hear it. Especially not in front of him. You're lucky I don't report you to Dumbledore right now. Or kill you myself. But I am not going to listen to your excuses right now."
Remus stormed into the dorm and dove onto his bed, yanking the curtains shut.
"So James, how've you been - ?"
"You don't deserve to talk to him!" Remus demanded from behind curtains. He wouldn't sleep tonight with the traitor in the room, that was for sure. He decided to keep his wand in his hand at all times in case he had to save James earlier than planned…
There was silence. Then James asked, quietly, "What is going on? Did you prank him or something? Steal his crush?"
Remus listened carefully, but all Sirius did was mutter, "I don't want to talk about it."
Sirius lay in his four poster bed, staring at the curtains above him. Night had fallen; the room was cloaked in darkness. He could hear James' quiet snores in the bed beside his, and he thought it was the most amazing sound he had heard in 12 years. Better than the screams in Azkaban, at least. He had Prongs back, even if his best friend didn't remember why he had missed him so much. Remus didn't understand, of course, and still hated his guts, but that could all be fixed once he proved to them who the rat really was. Of course, Remus thought Wormtail was dead, so he couldn't deny the truth when he saw that Peter, too, had come back from 1993…Sirius knew that he would never get back to the future, but why would he want to? James was alive here, and Lily, and he had never been to Azkaban. Why would he ever want to go back?
Sirius propped himself up on his elbow, and tapped the Marauder's Map with his wand. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he whispered. His heart leapt gleefully as the ink lines streaked across the page. It had been far too many years since he had seen the map.
A tiny dot labeled Wormtail was moving through the common room, heading up the stairs...the door didn't open, and no footsteps could be heard, but the dot entered the dorm. A grin split Sirius' face. The little traitor was trying to sneak in as a rat...well that trick wouldn't work on him again….
The sound of creaking springs told Sirius that the rat was in his bed, and human again. How perfect. That was exactly the way Sirius wanted him…
In a moment he had lunged from his bed, wand forgotten, and leapt into Peter's. The curtains tore down and fell to the floor as Sirius pinned Wormtail to the bed, his hands wrapped tightly around the quivering throat…
"Black, get off of him!" It was Remus, who apparently hadn't been asleep either. He launched himself at Sirius, his wand pointed at Sirius' neck as he attempted to wrestle him away from Peter. Peter meanwhile was helpless but struggling nonetheless under their weight as he struggled to catch a breath.
"You don't understand," Sirius gasped. "It was him, not me - !"
"What, was one time not enough? You have to kill him again?"
"Moony, just listen to me - "
"Don't you Moony me!"
Suddenly a blinding beam of light lit the dorm. They all froze and turned to see James standing in the middle of the room, eyes glinting in the light of his lumos maxima.
"I'm going to ask one more time, and this time I want an answer." Sirius wasn't sure he had ever seen his friend so angry. "What. Is. Going. On?"
Remus was the first to answer. He straightened himself on the bed but kept his wand at Sirius's throat. "James, a lot has happened. If you really want an explanation we've got a really long story to tell you."
James looked long and hard at him. Then his eyes widened. He took a step back, startled.
"It's the loyalty ritual, isn't it?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer he darted to his bedside table and grabbed the piece of parchment that had only been sitting there for a day. He unrolled it, and gasped.
The enchanted parchment, that idiotic idea that had gotten them into all this trouble, was glowing once again. Three outlined handprints, shining bright as James' lumos, and one that remained dull and dead.
"So, all-all of you are from the future," James said shakily.
Sirius gave Wormtail a hard look before shoving him back onto the bed and standing up. He approached James.
"All of us, Prongs," he said. He started to sit down by James but Remus lunged forward, wand once again pointed directly at his throat.
James didn't miss that detail. "And you all hate each other," he said in shock.
Remus and Sirius looked at each other, then nodded.
James sunk his head into his hands, his voice shaking. "We said it would never happen," he said angrily. His face jerked back up. "How did it happen? Are you all on about something silly? Because if this is about some girl or something - "
"I promise you that it's much worse than that," said Remus tiredly.
"Okay, another question: Why am I not here? I mean, why did I not come back from the future with you guys? Did something go wrong with my handprint? Was it because I did my own incantation? What if - ?"
"You died, James," Sirius said abruptly. His voice was as hollow and haunted as his eyes. Remus backed away from him but kept a close eye on James.
James looked at Sirius closely, then turned to Remus instead. His breathing quickened. "I died?" he said nervously. "I didn't come back because I was already dead?"
"I don't know why we didn't come back before you died in the first place," Remus said softly. "The first betrayal should've been enough to send us all back in time…"
James' eyes went even wider, and he spun toward Remus. "What do you mean, betrayal?" His eyes flashed angrily. "I want the whole story. Now."
The job of storyteller went to Remus; thankfully the traitor didn't try to say anything. Remus looked back at Peter, who was quivering on the bed. The poor boy must be more scared than James, Remus decided. And they hadn't even gotten around to his fate yet. He told, as calmly as he could, about James and Lily falling in love and getting married, and about their son, Harry. James brightened slightly for a moment. So did Sirius, causing Remus to scowl at him. But everyone's faces fell as he got around to the prophecy, and Voldemort, and the Fidelius Charm. He didn't see the need to hold anything back from James or Peter. Or maybe he just didn't want to.
James was paying rapt attention, looking pale but leaning in to the explanation nonetheless. "I know the charm," he said slowly, looking between the three of them carefully. "Who was the secret keeper?"
"Sirius," said Remus somberly. He felt remorse at hurting James with this information, but not with outing Sirius. "He betrayed you, James. He must have gone completely crazy...or maybe he's just been dark the whole time…"
"I have to stop you there," said Sirius abruptly, stepping forward. He turned to James, and the seventeen-year-old was startled by the intensity of the gaze of his usually goofy best friend. "Prongs, Moony doesn't understand. It wasn't me. I'm innocent, Prongs, I'm telling you. I never hurt you!"
"Don't listen to him, James," Remus insisted, stepping forward. "He's been in Azkaban for twelve years! He went insane - "
Sirius spun on him, now. "You fell for the same lies that everyone else did!"
"Oh really? Innocent men don't end up in Azkaban!"
"Without a trial they do!"
They stared at each other for a hard moment, the air hanging tense in the room. "Surely they had a trial - "
"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Sirius snapped back, his voice hollow.
Remus opened his mouth to say something, then shook his head. "It doesn't matter anyway. You're not innocent!" His voice rose as he turned back to James. "After he betrayed you he went and murdered Peter in cold blood - "
From the bed behind them Peter whimpered.
"Oh, that's where you've really gone wrong, Moony," whispered Sirius. The three others recoiled a bit at the venom in his tone. "I didn't kill him. He really was the rat all along, that Peter. He tricked you all."
"Over a hundred muggles saw you, Black," growled Remus. "And after you killed Peter and the thirteen others you laughed. Laughed, you traitor! James, he was dark. Voldemort's right-hand man - !"
"I never was! I never was! Pettigrew organized it all! He made everyone hate me! He did all of it!" Sirius sounded just as insane as he surely had that day, laughing in the destroyed street.
James could see this, and he had some fear in his chest as he listened to his best friend, who may or may not be his best friend anymore…"Sirius, I want to believe you, but you sound mad…"
"That's what Azkaban does to you!" Sirius shouted back. "The guilty and the innocent! They all scream in the end!"
"Don't trust him, James." Remus approached his young friend and set a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about all of this, but you have to trust me. Peter, you too. I don't want him to endanger either of you - "
Sirius laughed. "You think that Wormtail is still seventeen, don't you?"
"Well he is, isn't he? How could he be from the future when he was dead?"
Timidly, James looked up. "Isn't there an easy way to resolve this?" he asked.
"Like what?" asked Remus with exhaustion.
"Ask Peter?"
There was a pause, then all three turned to stare at the fourth Marauder. He continued to tremble on his four poster bed, curled into a fetal position.
"Peter?" James asked, gently. The young friend looked up at him, his eyes wide. "Are you...from the future? Like them?"
Peter slowly sat up, and his gaze hardened. As Remus and Sirius held their breath he shook his head.
"No, James," he whispered. "I must've been dead just like you."
Sirius let out an angry shout and launched himself onto Peter again. This time both Remus and James yanked him off.
"This entire ritual was a mistake!" Remus all but shouted as Sirius struggled in his grip.
"You need to go, Sirius," James whispered to him urgently.
"My own best friend is against me," Sirius said hysterically. Then he roared at Peter, "MY OWN BEST FRIEND IS AGAINST ME! I hope you're happy!"
"He should be against you, after you've killed him!" Remus retorted.
"I didn't! PETER LIES!"
"Sirius - !" shouted James, distressed.
"He was the first to run from McGonagall's classroom," hissed Sirius, still struggling to get free. "How do you explain that?"
"I-I saw the way you looked at me," said Peter in a shaking voice. "It was like - like you wanted to kill me!"
"I think we've heard enough," said Remus, yanking Sirius backwards.
Sirius instead desperately turned to James. "Prongs, please. You have to believe me. You have to - "
James tightened his grip on Sirius' arm and yanked him away from Remus. "I don't know if I believe you yet or not. I want to trust you. But it's two against one - the odds aren't looking good, Padfoot."
"But Prongs - " It came out in a whimper worthy of Peter.
James let go of him and pushed him toward the door. He walked to his bed and dug something out of the trunk. "We can talk tomorrow," he said. "But I don't want Moony smothering you in your sleep. Find a passageway to sleep in tonight, or something. A corridor if you have to." He threw the bundle hard at Sirius, and the silvery fabric of his invisibility cloak spilled into Sirius' arms.
Sirius met James' eyes, nodded, and left the room without another word.
Remus sighed, snatched the abandoned Marauder's Map from Sirius' bed, and watched Sirius' dot storm out of the tower. He sank onto his own bed, sighing deeply.
"I'm sorry about that, Peter," he said quietly. "He really has gone insane in the past sixteen years."
Peter only managed a whimper. James, meanwhile, shook on his own bed.
"Sixteen years?" he croaked. "So you're both…"
"33 years old," Remus replied, and he sounded every one of those long, weary years. "I really hate this ritual."
"It sounds like you needed it," James ventured.
Remus shook his head. "How can you say that when you now have to deal with the person who murdered you?"
James didn't answer for a minute. When he finally did, his voice was barely more than a whisper. "You two hate each other. We promised we never would."
"You've always been this naïve, haven't you?" Remus snapped. Then he shook his head in apology. "I'm sorry. I just got you back, I shouldn't be annoyed at you yet."
Peter sat up in his bed and drew his curtains closed around him. James shot Remus a concerned look and called out, "Wormtail? Are you okay?"
"Not with that m-murderer around, I'm not!" came the muffled reply.
"I'm sorry about this," said Remus, his head buried in his hands. "I'm really sorry about all of this. We really just messed up your seventh year."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, you were the one who warned us about doing the ritual," said James miserably.
"Was I?" asked Remus. "You know that it's been so long I barely remember even performing the ritual."
James leaned forward, seeing something in Remus' expression that bothered him. "How have those years been?" he asked.
"What could you expect? All my friends are dead or might as well be!"
James shook his head. "That doesn't answer my question. We...died...twelve years ago, by what you said. You've had a lot of life since then."
"What are you asking?" Remus said, raising an eyebrow at the teenager.
James gave a sly grin. "Is there anyone special in your life? Any lucky girl?"
Remus' face fell. "Not at all, Prongs, not at all. I have a job, though."
"Job? I guess jobs are alright. What is it?"
"Defense professor," said Remus. Now it was his turn to give a sly grin.
James took a minute to process, then laughed and gave him a high five. "Just think, a Marauder professor! Awesome job, mate." His face turned speculative. "The empty office you were hiding in…?"
"Mine in the future," replied Remus. "I was actually in there when suddenly I found myself in McGonagall's class again, as a seventeen year old."
"Really? Up to any mischief?"
Remus chuckled. He had forgotten how nice it was to have a conversation with James. "No, I sadly have little time for that now...then. I was actually brainstorming how to teach the Patronus Charm to your son."
James's eyes went wide. "My son," he repeated. "Harry...right?"
"Exactly. He's a third year, in 1993. Quite a promising student, too."
"Is he up to any pranks?" asked James. He seemed to adjust to the idea of having a future son quite quickly. "Surely he's told his Uncle Moony all about them?"
A pang went through Remus' chest. He hadn't heard the name 'Uncle Moony' since 1981, and Harry surely wouldn't remember it…
"He doesn't, actually. I don't exactly know him outside of a professor-student capacity."
James studied him. His eyes, his worried face, his rigid posture. "You don't know him outside of Hogwarts?" he asked. Then, before giving Remus time to answer, dumped another question on him: "Has the curse on the Defense job been broken yet?"
"It hasn't," he answered tightly. "I was fortunate to get the job this year, and even more fortunate for the opportunity to meet Harry."
"Then...what've you been up to before then? The other eleven years?"
"There isn't much to tell. I've never held a job for more than a few months, and none were particularly interesting."
James frowned. "What about having fun? Doing things with friends? Parties, holidays, all that stuff?"
Remus sighed. "I told you, all my friends were dead! You of all people should understand that!"
"I meant new friends!" shouted James. "We died. You didn't! Didn't you ever move on? Live life a little?"
"Life isn't easy for people like me, James," Remus said. His young body felt weighted down by exhaustion, but he resisted the urge to crawl into bed.
"You can still have friends," argued James. "You can still have a life!"
"Not in the real world, James. Not in the real world."
James gave him an infuriated look, then sighed in defeat. He looked back toward Peter's bed. "Do you think he's okay?"
"He probably just needs some time to process this," replied Remus. "Having two of your friends come back from the future to tell you that your future is horrible can't be easy on anyone."
"You're telling me," said James. "So what's the plan now? You're obviously out of place, even if it doesn't look like it."
Remus had been avoiding addressing this question that was swirling in circles in his own head. "Remind me the rules of the loyalty ritual, again?"
"If you wish harm on one another, you will be sent back in time until the friendship has been amended and the loyalty restored," James recited.
"I doubt that will ever happen," Remus said bitterly. "How do you feel about your friend being a 33 year old who only acts like he's seventeen?"
James sunk into bed. "I suppose it's better than not having him at all." He reached for the Map and searched it until he found Sirius' dot, hiding in the passageway behind the mirror on the seventh floor. He poked it with his finger and sighed.
"I can't say I'll enjoy being so young again, or pretending," continued Remus, "but it's not like I have anything to go back to, besides the job, maybe. And I have you and Peter again, at least. Maybe I can keep you both this time."
"And Padfoot?" asked James pointedly.
Remus' face turned stormy. "I told you what he's done."
"Yes, but he's here, too. What will people think if suddenly some of the Marauders hate each other?"
Remus shook his head. "I started imagining our Hogwarts days without him a long time ago. We'll be better off without him. The only problem is making sure he doesn't try to murder any of us ahead of time."
James looked aghast. "What about me, Remus? Does what I think not matter at all?"
"He betrayed you, Prongs," Remus said sternly. "And your wife. And he murdered fourteen people in cold blood, including Peter! I know it seems hard to believe, but if you don't trust me…"
James darted a look at Peter's closed curtains and leaned closer to Remus. "What if I don't believe you, though?" He flung up a hand in self-defense. "Not that I don't trust you, but I've always had reason to trust Sirius. Maybe he was right, and you just misunderstood…"
Remus scoffed. "Try asking Wormtail, then."
Remus pulled his curtains shut after another minute or so, and James laid back on his wide open bed, staring at the ceiling. Oh, how his easy friendship had spun on its head in one short day, a result of one dumb, dumb idea.
Remus' curtains slid back open, just a little bit, and his friend peeked his face through. "Prongs?" he said softly.
"Yeah Moony?" James asked without taking his eyes from the ceiling.
"I'm sorry...about all of this. And it's really, really good to see you again."
None of the Marauders slept soundly that night. But the tension had lifted ever so slightly from James' chest.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review to let me know what you think! The next chapter is currently being written so it should be out before too much longer. I have the entire plot planned out, so this fic will ultimately be completed.
See you next time!