Author’s Note: Hello, and sorry it’s been so long! Good news… I have some polls up in my bio about this story, hoping you can help me decide whether Sirius should be alive or… never mind. You’ll have to look at it yourself. Also, to clear up a few things on the last chapter due to some confused reviewers, I will clarify this- Harry was at the end of the Gryffindor table, while James and Lily were at the front. According to the movie, the tables were pretty darn long, so I figured that Harry wouldn’t notice them. About the ‘GO MOONY!’ I like to think that James said it loud enough for the teachers to hear… not the back of the room. More news… I figured out the ending to the story!!! Yay!!! I think it’s pretty good and not very *ahem* predictable. Anyways, onto the story then.

Harry had thought the video was over, much to his disappointment. Seeing his father and Sirius again had been refreshing, almost exciting to see his late Godfather so young and happy. But that was before Peter had betrayed them. Ron was staring at Harry apprehensively, as if trying to make out whether Harry was all right. “Are you…” began Ron, but a sound broke through his comment. James’s voice sounded from the camera.

“Can you believe it’s still here, Padfoot?” muttered an older James, looking curiously into the camera. The present day James’s mouth dropped open. This version of him was older, slightly taller and joy lit up his face.

“Idiot, of course it is! I didn’t see Moony stealing it, though he could use it. He needs the money,” laughed Sirius, appearing to be about twenty. “Besides, shouldn’t you be at the alter? Your lovely bride awaits the noble deer.” James pushed Sirius, but it was obvious that he was too happy to let anything affect him. My… bride? thought James, dumbfounded. Lily smirked at him, green eyes sparkling.

“Glad you stopped chasing after me and got yourself a wife,” she said, flipping her hair.

“It could be you,” he retorted angrily. Her cheeks puffed out as she tried to contain a laugh.

“In your dreams,” she muttered, turning back to the screen. Remus was entering the dorm, smiling disbelievingly at the camera, but in an instant the image went dim. The figures of Sirius, James and Remus could be seen no more. Students moaned in annoyance, while the teachers looked slightly confused. The only one that seemed to betray no emotion was Remus Lupin, who was slipping his wand back into his robes.

Dumbledore coughed loudly, making everyone look up. “Well, then, it appears that all of you… do know the Marauders, and we can all safely assume that they received this award without doubt.” Ripples of laughter went through the hall, and Harry joined in. Looking back on his father made him surprisingly light-hearted, much to Ron’s and his own astonishment.

“Professor,” interrupted George. “What happened to the video?” Dumbledore gave a smile, eyes twinkling.

“It’s time for classes to begin, and I’m afraid no matter how entertaining this is, we’re going to have to have them.” Fred sighed impatiently, subconsciously fingering the faded parchment he had in his robes. Good old Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs… why was Lupin staring at the map like that? Growing more uneasy by the second, Fred shifted, showing his discomfort. The teacher’s gaze lifted, much to his relief.

The Great Hall filed out quickly with McGonagall stepping out briskly to lead them, leaving Fred and George alone in the room. Or, at least almost alone. Lupin strode toward them, facing them with a rather odd look.

“Where did you get this?” he asked, voice low.

George shrugged, glancing at Fred. “We asked Harry for it… Harry Potter. He leant it to us… it’s just a spare bit of parchment, really…” He couldn’t figure out why Lupin smiled like that, with his eyes rather thoughtful and soft. Suddenly, the teacher’s brow furrowed and he asked, almost urgently,

“May I see it, please?”

Fred turned up his mouth doubtfully, trying to think up an excuse. “It’s just a piece of…”

“I know it’s not just a piece of paper. I really need the map, now, Fred,” said Lupin. Ignoring the protesting looks from George, Fred weakly lifted it out of his pocket. He’d borrowed the map for about a minute, and now he’d got it confiscated. Great. He was not looking forward to seeing the map taunt Professor Lupin.

“I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good,” whispered Lupin, and the twins stared in disbelief as the sacred ‘Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present to you the Marauder’s Map’ slowly made its way across the paper.

“How did you…?” breathed George in absolute amazement, watching as Lupin skillfully scanned the map. Fred was watching just as intently, never breaking his gaze from Lupin’s face.

The teacher groaned as he saw two small dots labeled, ‘James Potter’ and ‘Lily Evans’ moving across the hallway. Why did they always have to make the map tell the truth? He started to leave, still holding the map, when Fred grasped his arm tightly.

“How did you know?” he asked. “We never told anyone how to work that, except Harry. And I doubt he would have told you.” Lupin glanced up at the Weasley boy’s face, his brown eyes studying him.

He seemed to be thinking, almost debating. Finally, Lupin said, "Do you really want to know?"

The twins nodded, suspicion clouded over their brows. Lupin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Don't consider me a kindred spirit... but I wrote this along with my friends in our fifth year."

George’s mouth dropped open. Professor Lupin was one of the Marauders? He must have been Moony, the pale one on the video… it made sense… Turning to Fred, he marveled, “Fred! Can you believe it?” But Fred wasn’t there. Or at least not standing up. George almost laughed when he realized his brother had fainted.

“What do we have first?” asked James, running through the schedule Dumbledore had given him. Lily and he hung rather inconspicuously (or so they hoped) behind every student, praying not to be noticed. So far, they hadn’t.

“Divination, Potter. If you could read, you would have been able to see that yourself,” she muttered, rolling up the parchment. About to retort, James opened his mouth, but just then Hermione swung by.

She breathed heavily, clutching her side and brushing a stray piece of hair from her forehead. “I’m glad… I caught up to you… before… you left… I just realized… people will recognize you… you need to get some aliases…”

James’s face lit up. “Can we choose them?” he asked excitedly. Hermione shrugged, not sure why he would want to.

“All right,” she allowed dubiously as James let out a whoop of delight.

“Get this,” said James eagerly, brushing back his hair. “Sirius Lee James.” There was complete silence and the boy hurried to explain the name. “Don’t you see? Sirius Lee James! Like, seriously James. Get it?” Lily started to laugh at the complete idiocy of it, but Hermione silenced her.

“Fine,” Hermione muttered. “Do you have a preference, Lily? You can keep Evans as your last name; I highly doubt anyone will notice it.”

Lily nodded slowly and said, “Fern Evans. I always liked that name.”

“Fern?” snorted James in astonishment. “FERN??? What kind of name is Fern?”

“What kind of name is Sirius Lee James?”

“Stop!” Hermione shouted, unable to take any more of their fighting. “Right now, I can’t handle this. So, Sirius James and Fern Evans…”

“Lee,” interrupted James. “It’s Sirius Lee James.”

“Fine. This is basically your day… You all just go up to Divination, try not to get in trouble, go to Potions, try not to get into trouble, go to Defense Against the Dark Arts, try not to get in trouble, then we’ll meet with Professor Lupin and see if he’s found anything out yet.” Hermione said this all in one breath, waiting for their answer. To her annoyance, James only shrugged.

“I don’t think I can do the ‘Don’t get into trouble’ part, but otherwise, it’s fine. What about you, Lils?”

Lily sighed, rolling her eyes at James. “It sounds perfect.” Hermione smiled at the cooperative girl and nearly glared at James, but decided against it. This was Harry’s dad, no matter how irritating he was.

The room’s air pressed heavily against James, who was fighting to stay awake. The perfume made him dizzy, and Professor Trelawny’s voice was making him sway slightly…

“James!” hissed Lily, poking him. “What are you doing?” At this, the Divination teacher lifted her gaze to the twosome, noticing them for the first time.

“Do we have some new students?” she asked, much to the relief of the Hufflepuff 6th years that Harry’s future parents were attending class with.

“We’ve been trying to ask you about that for the past five minutes!” protested Ernie impatiently.

“So you have.” Her large eyes settled on James’s face, and she inhaled deeply, appearing to be shocked. “In all my years… look at this young man! We have a gifted seer here. I can feel the power coursing through his veins, the predictions that he sees through horror-filled eyes… such strength! Tell me what you see, Mr.…?”

James held back a loud laugh. In his time, the Divination teacher had always called him ‘a soul that has never seen.’ It seemed that he was held in higher opinion in the future. “Mr. Sirius Lee James. And… wait… I am seeing the haziest of visions…” He leaned toward the crystal ball in the middle of Lily and his shared table, peering closely. Why not have a little fun in Divination for a change? “I’m seeing… no! It can’t be… but… could it? Could it possibly be… my stars… grass?”

Lily buried her head in her hands. How stupid could James get? “Grass?” asked Professor Trelawny interestedly. “Is there anything more?”

“Oh!” cried James, as if having a revelation, “No, it’s a meadow! It’s a meadow of green… erm… green grass! And there’s a beautiful, magnificent stag prancing through it…”

Some of the students looked extremely thrilled; hanging onto the boy’s every word. James cleared his throat, thinking of something to say. Well, why not describe the Marauders?

“There’s a big, black dog joining it… it looks extremely arrogant and I want to kick it, but I will refrain from doing so. Also, there’s a wolf… it’s pretty large and hungry, but inside, it's a very calm and... erm... not blood-thirsty. A rat’s running around the three of them, looking for food…” he trailed off, hoping that this left a good impression on the teacher. She remained impassive, almost waiting for more.

“Oh… and then they all change into people and start hexing the pants off Snape.” Roars of laughter were heard from the class, and Trelawny turned a lovely color of red.

“Since you do not take this class seriously, I would suggest you leave with your friend.”

“Thanks!!! I’ve always wanted to do that!” said James, practically skipping. “Come on, Evans!” Her face was one of pure horror as she was led out of the Divination room. She had been asked to leave the room during class. Lily Evans! Things like that just didn’t happen to her… they just didn’t!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“We’ve eaten an entire box of Oreos, fell asleep at random intervals and then cooked up new ways to torture Snape. I don’t think we’re helping James and Lily at all,” commented Remus, lying in front of the fire.

Sirius opened his mouth in mock outrage. “Of course we have! What about that plan when… oh, never mind.” Remus rolled his eyes and went back to gazing in the fire. He supposed he could tell Madam Pomfrey he’d like to know more about lycanthropy and needed to get into the restricted section, but she probably wouldn’t believe him. If you’re a werewolf, you’ve already read a whole library full of books about it.

Suddenly, the Animagus’s eyes gleamed. “Hold on. I think I do have a plan…” and he revealed it to his fellow Marauders right then and there. Remus looked at him blankly.

“That is the stupidest thing you’ve ever come up with. I mean, ever. There’s no way anyone’s going to believe it…”

“But McGonagall might be so charmed by our act that she gives the pass to us anyway! Think on it, Moony!”

“Padfoot, I really don’t know…”

“Well, at least that’s a start. Right now, I’m tired… Oh, hey, Frank!”

The Prefect walked by, but when he saw the Marauder’s, his eyes jolted wide. He started to back up, fell over the couch and tried to clamber back up.

Sighing, Remus stood up and gave his hand to the Longbottom. “I promise we don’t have any of Moony’s Not Yet Perfected Prank. We won’t hurt you,” assured Remus calmly.

“Yes, yes… sorry, I just got a bit carried away there. You know, after you turned me int-” began Frank, composing himself, but stopped abruptly when he heard a quack. Hurriedly, he went up to the dorm amidst Sirius’s bark like laughter.

“Sirius, why did you have to quack like that? You know he hates it!” moaned Remus in distress.

“Sorry, Moony, but it was just so funny…” Peter and Sirius erupted into laughs once again as the sane Marauder shook his head sadly.

How in the world did I get stuck with that lunatic? he thought, going up the stairs to his bed.