Remus finally wrapped his fingers around a memory. “Here’s one! It was donated by Snape.” Seeing the raised eyebrows of the three teenagers, he added, “Well, before he... you know.”
Ron looked at the memory cautiously. “If this memory is by Snape, then it probably doesn’t show James in the best light, does it?”
Remus grinned. “Actually, it was supposed to of shown James as a bully, at least I suspect that’s what Snape wanted... But it’s quite a nice memory.”
He smiled fondly as he poured the liquid into the Pensieve.
“Who wants to go first?”
Ginny stepped forward before anyone else did and dunked her head in. The others soon followed. They landed in a familiar hallway, right next to James and company.
Ron looked up at him, still surprised at how much he looked like Harry. Unnaturally a lot like Harry.
“... she almost slapped you, Prongs,” Sirius said with a broad grin.
“I thought she was going to hex him!” piped in Peter.
“Nah, she wouldn’t have slapped me,” James replied. “She’d hex me, sure, but she wouldn’t slap me.”
Remus grinned. “I’m her partner in Charms... Trust me, Prongs, you do not want her hexing you!” Everyone but James laughed.
“Yea, but ol’ Jamesy here is a master in Transfiguration,” Sirius said after a minute of laughter. “He could just turn her into a toad and walk away.” James, Sirius, and Peter high-fived each other, but Remus looked a bit uncertain.
“He would get in trouble for turning her into a toad.”
“And she wouldn’t get in trouble for hexing me?” James said in a high voice.
Peter smiled. “Not if it was Slughorn that caught her. She can smooth talk him into everything. Including getting herself out of a detention!”
“Every pretty face in Hogwarts can, Wormtail.” Sirius grinned. “But Evans isn’t any ordinary pretty face, is she, James?”
James sighed and shook his head. “Nah, she’s better than all the other dames.”
Hermione was quite enjoying this, but something hit her attention. She turned to the full-grown man next to her. “Remus,” she started, “if this is Snape’s memory, where is he?”
Remus gabbed his thumb over his shoulder.
And there the younger Snape was.
Hermione gasped and tugged on Ron and Ginny’s sleeves. They both turned to her, and she pointed where Snape was hiding behind the corner. It was no doubt Snape. He had the same hooked nose and greasy hair. His eyes were still black, but they seemed brighter, somehow.
But Remus didn’t notice Hermione, Ron and Ginny’s exchange of gasps and cries of recognition; he was watching Sirius and James with a sad smile on his face. “Just watch,” he told the three, and they obeyed.
Younger Snape came out of the corner and slyly tip-toed up to a clueless Sirius. He muttered a spell, but James was too quick for him.
James saw Snape out of the corner of his eye and heard his whisper. He whipped around and yelled, “Protego!” and Snape flew through the air and slammed against the wall.
Sirius heard the commotion and turned around to see Snape slumped against the wall and James’s wand erected and pointed at Snape.
Sirius realised what happened. “So,” he chided while Peter snickered and Remus smiled. “You were going to hex me, ‘eh Snivellus?” He sneered. He stepped forward, pointing his wand at the deflated Snape. “I’m going to hex you so bad you-”
But James placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. “No, Padfoot. Let’s leave the greasy git alone.” He turned around and stormed out of the hallway, leaving his friends and Snape, who was staring at his back furiously.
Remus pulled the three teenagers out of the basin again. “You see? Snape didn’t do a good job at showing the worst light of James. Especially since he started it, and James ended it before Sirius cursed him into oblivion.”
“Do you have anymore memories with Snape?” Ron asked desperately. He liked seeing Snape get bullied around, and the fact that Harry’s father was doing it made it all the better.
Remus shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not.” Seeing the three’s sad look, he added, “No one wanted Harry to see memories like that. No need to give him more of a reason to hate the bloody bastard.”
Hermione gasped a bit, Ron and Ginny smiled, but Remus didn’t seem to notice his slip-up of vile language. “Now,” he said, “let’s jump forward another year...” He grabbed a memory again and poured it in.
This time they all stuck their heads into the Pensieve at the same time and fell into the Great Hall. Remus and- much to everyone’s surprise- James had their heads stuck in a book. Sirius and Peter were whispering something and kept shooting glances at James.
“-ever since...”
“... he’s changed-”
“-for the worse.”
But Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Remus weren’t paying attention to the heated argument between Sirius and Remus, they were watching the pretty red-head figure walking towards them. Surprisingly, Lily sat down next to James.
“Morning, love,” she said and planted a kiss on his cheek. “What are you reading?”
James turned towards her and smiled. “Just studying.” (Sirius made a sound like an angry cat.) “Hard to believe we leave this place forever in just three months.” James wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulders.
Sirius got up as the two lovers started kissing. “I’ll be outside,” he hissed and stormed out of the Great Hall, Peter right behind him, shooting glances over his shoulder at Lily and James.
All too soon, Ron, Ginny and Hermione felt the familiar pull and were once again in Remus’ bedroom. “That was too short!” Ginny demanded.
“I thought Lily hated James,” Ron added.
“How come Sirius was so mad?” Hermione asked.
Remus held up his hands, palms forward, as if to silence them. “No, Ron,” he said. “Lily did not hate James as much as she stated she did. After James grew up a bit, they started going out. Plus, James became Head Boy, and couldn’t pull as many pranks as he wanted to. There was a stupid rumor that went around. They all said that since Lily and James were Head Boy and Girl, they had their own dorms. But Sirius and I knew it wasn’t true. Peter didn’t believe it either, I’m sure.
“It took Sirius awhile to get used to Lily.” He turned to Hermione. “She took up quite a bit of James’ time. Of course, James and Sirius were still close, and they still were the number one mischief making kids at Hogwarts, but James grew up a bit and Sirius didn’t quite like that. After awhile, though, he became used to Lily’s presence. He grew fond of her, and we became quite good friends. Even Lily and Peter had a strong relationship.
“Now, Ginny”- he took a big breath- “I know it was short, but it was the beginning to their relationship. It was the beginning of Harry.” He saw the three teenager’s gross look on their faces, and said, “Not that way! No! What I meant was that it was because of those crucial times that we even have Harry! It was then that their relationship grew! Not when they, you know...” Ron and Hermione smiled, and Ginny giggled.
“Nevermind, Remus,” Hermione said and Remus looked relieved. “Can we see more memories? Please?”
“I know a good one,” Remus said, still slightly embarrassed. “It was when we were out of Hogwarts.”
He motioned towards the Pensieve, memory in hand. Ron dove in first this time, and Hermione and Ginny followed soon after Remus.
They landed on a familiar street. Ron looked around at the small thatched houses and the crowded streets. “This is Hogmeade!” he exclaimed. Looking around, Ginny saw that Ron wasn’t lying.
A small group of men came trotting up a road. As they got closer, Hermione realised who they were.
“I need to find the perfect one,” James said to his friends. He stopped and stared at the window of a small jewelry store. “The perfect ring for the perfect girl.” Sirius rolled his eyes.
“Are you sure you’re ready for marriage? I mean, you just got out of Hogwarts.” Peter was biting his bottom lip, staring at James in fascination. “You have only been going out for a little while. Lily might say no.”
James scowled. “She won’t say no,” he murmured, for his sake as much as everyone else’s. Remus flicked Peter on the head.
“Don’t say that to him, Wormtail! He’s nervous enough as it is.” Although Remus tried to whisper, it came out painfully loud.
“Be quiet! James might hear you,” Sirius said in a mockingly loud whisper, grinning hugely. James turned around, frowning at his friends.
“I’m about to propose to Lily, and all you are doing is laughing?” James stared at Remus and Peter- who were bickering- and at Sirius- who was leering at a young woman across the street. “Do you realise that if Lily- no, when- says yes, things will change forever?” Sirius whipped his head around, and Remus and Peter stopped abruptly. James smirked. “You didn’t think about that, did you?”
Sirius looked ashamed. “I didn’t think about that, Prongs. You’re right.”
James hunched up his shoulders. “Come on. I didn’t find anything here.” They continued walking down the road, followed by Sirius, Remus, Peter, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and older Remus.
As a particularly pretty woman walked by, Sirius eyed her appraisingly with a bold eye, and promptly burst into tears. The woman stopped, and her head of thick blonde hair turned around.
If you were a normal person, you would see a young man sitting on the ground, sobbing loudly as he rubbed his toe.
If you were his friend, you would see Sirius Black sitting on the ground, making a fool of himself as he tried to hit on a pleasant-looking female.
The woman knelt beside Sirius, and asked, “Why, what’s wrong?”
Sirius’s eyes were filled with fake tears. “I-I stubbed my toe.” This brought a fresh wave of new tears. “It really, really hurts.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” The woman knelt beside him and lent him her hand, helping him up from the ground. “I don’t know many men that would be willing to share their feelings in such a public place.” She smiled at him shyly.
“I think that it’s important,” Sirius said as he wiped away his tears with his hand, “to share your feelings. Or else they all build up inside and you can’t control them. Besides, a real man should be able to cry in public and not feel ashamed.” He emphasised this by clapping a fist over his heart.
The woman smiled and looked at him in awe. “I feel the same way! Oh, it’s such a nice relief to meet a man as sensitive as you!”
James actually had to shove his fist into his mouth to keep from laughing.
“Could I get your name, maybe?” Sirius asked, a bit more serious than before. “I would love to write you sometime. Most women mock me.”
The blonde pulled out a piece of parchment and her wand. “Of course. My name is Heather Hart.” She tapped her wand to the parchment, and her name appeared on there in an elegant scrawl. “Please write. It’s great to meet you, uh--”
“Sirius Black.”
Heather smiled and continued on her way. Sirius turned back to his friends, a smirk on his face. James was grinning; Remus was looking at his friend reproachfully; Peter was looking at him in awe.
“You’re an evil genius, you know that?” James said in not necessarily a bad way.
Sirius just smiled right back at him. “You make that sound like a bad thing,” Sirius’ voice was full of mock hurtfulness. Remus was still brooding.
“She won’t like you anymore if she found out you lied to her.”
Peter shook himself out of his awed state. “How did he lie to her? All he said was that he stubbed his toe. She won’t ever know that he didn’t.”
James nodded towards Peter. “Wormtail has a point.”
“Yes, he does. But when Sirius laughs at a man crying in the street, Heather might figure out that Padfoot was fooling her!” Remus turned around, then faced his friends again, almost as if to make sure Heather wasn’t standing behind them.
Sirius hunched his shoulders and looked at his feet. “Aw, Moony. I was just going to ask her out to dinner... What’s the harm in that?” Still looking at his feet, he quickly walked ahead of his group of friends.
And ran into a lamppost.
Remus, James, Peter, and the group that was watching this scene by a Pensieve, doubled over, laughing. “Brilliant,” James said after a full minute or two of laughter.
Sirius rubbed his head, and said, “You are a thick-headed git, you know that?”
James scoffed. “You make that sound like a bad thing.” He wiped a tear of laughter from his eyes, still shaking a bit.
“At least Prongs isn’t the one running into lampposts,” Peter murmured, causing another round of snickering.
The last thing Ron, Hermione, and Ginny saw before Remus pulled them out was Sirius aiming a large snowball at Peter.
AN~ Thanks to my beta, Danielle for all the help!