Prompt from velvetmouse: How about some plausible Hermione/Sirius. Can be a time-travel or cross-gen, whichever you prefer. Give Sirius a reason to be a little more focused and mature, give Hermione a reason to loosen up a bit... and let the sparks fly!

Sirius was whistling as he walked down the hallway toward Transfiguration class. He and James and Peter had decided to do away with that slimy snake Snape; well, scare him anyway. Peter could get a little bloodthirsty, but it wasn't like Moony would do him any real harm. He could just see the look on the git's face when he realized the secret. It wasn't like Dumbledore would punish them, in any case. Peter said he had taken care of that... It wasn't Sirius's place to ask how. He was grinning as he thought of the possibilities. iMaybe he has a potion on his lemon drops...i Three doorways down from the Transfiguration classroom, he heard a familiar voice.

"It isn't enough, Pettigrew. The Dark Lord says either we turn Snape or we kill him. He wants access to that brain and ability. The only reason you haven't been punished is because you kept the Mudblood from forgiving him. I wonder what your mates would think if they knew how much work they were doing for the Dark Lord?"

"Don't worry, McNair. What we have planned for tonight should make Snape think the Dark Lord is his only salvation."

"What of Dumbledore?"

"He likes the way I suck him off far too much for me or my friends to get punished."

Sirius shuddered at the realization that he was pushing people to the Dark Lord; he then cringed, he hadn't known the price for the Headmaster's acceptance of the Marauders' pranks. He went to class determined to talk to his friends.

McGonagall was talking about the Animagus transformation, so he decided to ignore her, and attempt to get his friends' attention.

"Mr. Black! If you don't believe my instruction is worth listening to, you may leave my classroom. I expect a three-foot essay on good manners by class tomorrow," growled Professor McGonagall, furious at the misbehavior of one of her best students.

"Yes, Professor." Sirius slunk out of the classroom, even more determined to talk to his friends.

"What the bloody hell was that about, Padfoot?" asked James.

"You aren't going to believe me if I tell you. Oh, and get Lily, would you? This involves her as well." Sirius was uncharacteristically sombre.

Remus nodded and ran quickly down the hall after the pretty red-head. "Hey, Lils, could you come with me for a sec... I wanted to ask you about the wand movement for that spell we are doing in Charms."

Lily looked at her friend questioningly. She knew he understood the spell perfectly well; he had been showing it to Peter in the common room. "Sure, Remy, no problem." She turned and followed him.

Unbeknown to the pair, they had been seen by Severus Snape, who decided to follow along as well.

When Remus returned to the empty classroom with Lily, Severus Disillusioned himself and slipped in before James warded the door.

"She's here, Sirius. Now what is it?" Remus demanded. The wolf was very close to the surface, making him irritable.

"You're not going to believe this. Peter is in league with McNair! And probably with the Dark Lord, himself. I always wondered how he managed to learn to shift. I bet he got some Dark Magic help," Sirius trailed off, lost in thought.

"What does any of that have to do with me?" asked Lily.

"You were mentioned in the conversation I overheard," replied Sirius. Just as the others looked like they were going to explode, he stopped them. "Look, did any of you know Peter had been talking to Lils here about Snape? He basically kept at her until she refused to forgive him. I was thinking about it, and he's been pushing at all of us to pick at Snape. Turns out it was on orders. The Dark Lord wants him, something about his ability with potions. I'm guessing people in his house have been telling tales out of school."

Sirius was astounded when he got pummeled by Lily. "He was my best friend. He never asked me for anything but attention. And when he slept outside the common room last year, I listened to Peter, who was saying everything I wanted to hear, and told him I would never forgive him. I've been feeling bad about it, but Peter has kept at me, telling me it was unbecoming of a Gryffindor, especially a Muggle-born one, to have a friend in Slytherin, and the whole time he's an agent for the Dark Lord? And you have all been going along blindly, helping hurt all these people because you think it is funny. You are worse than those people who follow the Dark Lord, at least they intend to cause pain. I need to go find him."

"When you find him, Lily, bring him here. I need to apologize. I want to tell him what started the whole thing for me, and no, it wasn't the train ride. That was mostly James," said Sirius.

At that moment, they heard movement from the corner of the room, and all four of them turned quickly, their wands at the ready.

The appearance of Snape out of nowhere, hands up, showing he was not holding his wand made them jump.

"Bloody hell, Snivellus, spying again?" James growled.

Oddly enough, it was Sirius who placed a placating hand on his shoulder. "Why did you follow Remus and Lily, Snape?"

Snape, who was about to snap out a sarcastic answer, saw that for some unknown reason the Black heir was willing to listen to him and responded truthfully. "Lupin lied when he asked her to come with him. I had seen him do the spell Flitwick assigned perfectly well. She may not be speaking to me, but I don't wish for any harm to come to someone I've considered my best friend for seven years."

James stood there with his mouth gaping open when Sirius bowed to Severus. "You do the house of Prince proud, Snape. Protecting the women is the provenance of the noble."

"What're you talking about, Sirius?" asked Lily, confused.

"Dumbledore has been preaching the end of the old traditions, but he is ruining society. Unfortunately, the Dark Lord is providing an alternate point of view," Sirius answered.

"So, you really believe that Muggle-borns should be subjugated or enslaved?" Lily's voice was high-pitched in her anger.

"Not at all. They should be treated much the way Snape treats you, before we took Peter's advice and tried to interfere. He is still doing it. You are a smart, intelligent, beautiful witch. You will provide a good boost to the genetics of any family lucky enough to have you marry into it." Sirius smiled.

Severus shook his head. "You know, this is what I was expecting from the Black heir, at least from the stories my mother told. She knew your father, they were in Slytherin together. She said he was honorable and traditional..." he trailed off.

"I'm guessing she didn't say the same about my mother," interrupted Sirius.

"No, I'm sorry. She said Walburga Black was the worst kind of fanatic, unwilling to learn and unwilling to accept anyone that would disagree with her."

"Too true." Sirius turned to the rest of his friends, who looked gob-smacked at the exchange. "What? I'm not allowed to grow up? I refuse to be anyone's tool, either the Dark Lord's or Dumbledore's. Did you know Peter has been 'servicing' him so we don't get punished? That means we are serving his agenda as well. I'm not going to do that."

"That's illegal!" cried Lily.

"Someone would have to call him on it, and I don't know too many people who would take on Dumbledore," said Remus. "In some ways he's a good man."

James took everything in, realizing he would be completely left out of the loop if he could not mature along with his friends and Snape. "I will contact my father. He is not afraid of Dumbledore. He's been trying to get me to see that doing the right thing is not the same as doing the easy thing." He turned to Snape and held out his right hand. "Truce? I didn't realize how much you actually treasured Lily. I thought you were using her."

Severus nodded. He didn't want to be the Dark Lord's tool either. "I bet it was Malfoy who told the Dark Lord about me. I can't think of anyone else who would have his ear. It isn't as though Bellatrix ever paid any attention to me."

Remus grinned. "Brilliant. Now I don't have to study alone!"

"Hey!" interjected Lily, smacking Remus on the shoulder. "I hate that all this happened with Peter, but I'm so glad all my friends are willing to get along."

"So, since whatever horror you were planning for Severus tonight isn't going to happen, what are you going to do?"

"We'll play it by ear, I think. Maybe we should stage a loud fight near the main doors..." Sirius trailed off, as he was wont to do while thinking aloud.

"Send me a note, Black," said Severus.

"No, here, take this," said Remus, holding out a mirror. "I was going to give it to Peter, but I think you should have it instead."

Severus looked at him questioningly, one eyebrow raised.

"Say my name," said Remus.

Severus looked at Lily, who smiled at him encouragingly. He shrugged his shoulders and spoke into the mirror. "Lupin."

His eyes widened and an uncharacteristic smile slowly unfurled on his face when he saw Remus's face appear in the mirror in his hand. "You're trusting me quite a bit, don't you think?"

Oddly enough, James spoke, making Lily beam at him in a way that made Severus's heart break just a little. "If Sirius says you behave like a nobleman, and Lily has trusted you all these years, but was kept from accepting your apology by a Death Eater in disguise, well, obviously we need to rethink who our friends are. It seems to me you could complement us quite a bit better than Peter does."

The young men all nodded at each other, then left the room, yelling and causing a bit of a ruckus on their way to the Great Hall for lunch.

After lunch, they all had a study period, which they spent writing letters.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I am an idiot, misled by someone I thought was a friend. Turns out he's salable. Peter Pettigrew is working for the Dark Lord, yes, this young. He's been turning us against the school and in our arrogance, we thought we were showing those "dark magic users" what for. Instead we were systematically sending people to the Dark Lord's side, aided and abetted by Dumbledore, who is using Peter as his personal sex slave. I will strive to be a better person.

with love,

James

Dear Dad and Mother,

I believe I now understand what it means to be noble. Please tell me you haven't let or made Regulus join up with that murderous madman. There are better ways to bring back tradition and proper behavior than following an extremist. Mother, do you know if Patrice Pettigrew would approve of her son being Dumbledore's personal cock-sucker? Or if it was some sort of bargain to keep him in school after his disastrous OWL scores? I have decided to separate myself from him, because a Black paves his own way. Seeing as I do not agree with either side, I will endeavor to forge my own. I hope you understand.

Your son and heir,

Sirius

Remus excused himself to go to the Hospital Wing.

"Why do you need to go, Lupin? You do look a bit flushed, but you don't look sick," Severus asked, genuinely curious.

Remus took a deep breath. "Do you know any silencing spells?"

Severus nodded, picked up his wand and said, "Muffliato!"

Lily and Remus looked at each other, astounded.

"It will make our conversation sound like a buzz to anyone not in the circle of the spell," explained Severus.

"You've always been so creative!" exclaimed Lily.

Severus blushed.

Remus cleared his throat. "I'mawerewolf."

"Excuse me? Did you say you are a werewolf?" asked Severus incredulously.

Remus just nodded, certain he had managed to completely torpedo this fragile friendship.

"Is Dumbledore a complete idiot? Does he at least provide you with the potion created by Belby?"

"What potion, Severus?" asked Lily.

"Damascus Belby has created a potion that supposedly allows a were to keep their mind while changed," explained Severus.

"You'll still be my friend?" Remus was surprised.

"Just don't bite me, all right?" replied Severus.

That evening, Peter was walking with Sirius and James, telling them he couldn't wait to see what happened to Snivellus when he saw Remus that evening. He didn't notice either boy wince at the thought that they were so stupid as to think that attempted murder was a prank.

"Oh, we aren't going to do that, after all," said Sirius casually.

"WHAT?" WHY? Don't you want to scare that slimy snake into leaving Lily alone for James?"

"Lily can choose her own companions, Peter. Anyway, turns out a slimy snake is a far better person than a rat," said James, directing his most vicious grin at his former friend.

"Wha, wha, what do you mean?" stammered Peter.

"At least he isn't a Death Eater, you traitor; were you trying to get Remus killed?" asked Sirius.

Cornered, seeing Professor McGonagall coming down the hall, Peter began to scream. "Of course I was trying to get the werewolf killed! He's a half-blood anyway, just like Snivellus. They are of no use to anyone. And don't get me started on that uppity Mudblood!" He was looking around wildly when he realized no one had startled at the word werewolf.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't think Lupin wanted his secret shared that way," said Severus, when the Professor started looking around to see who had silenced the group.

She turned around just in time to see Charlus Potter and Orion Black striding determinedly down the hall with Dumbledore in pursuit.

"Stop! You two do not know what is going on in truth. They are just boys, nothing they say is worth listening to, especially if they are under the influence of the Snape boy," yelled Dumbledore.

Orion Black saw the Headmaster lift his wand and point it at Charlus Potter. He surreptitiously raised his wand and made a small movement with it. Dumbledore was quite amazed when his wand went flying out of his hand and into Orion's hand. Orion examined it and turned to Charlus. "This has the mark of Perevell on it. I believe this would be a family heirloom of yours," he said as he handed it to Charlus.

The entire group watched in awe as Charlus looked at the wand, blanched, then activated a number of runes. Dumbledore fell to his knees when the man in front of him said, "I am a direct descendent of Ignotus Perevell. I return this wand to its maker, it has served its purpose." The wand lit up along the runes, then burst into flame. In seconds, all that was left were ashes. He looked at the sobbing man on the floor. "Yes, I know exactly what I did, old man."

Orion Black smiled a very dangerous smile. "As do I. Charlus, I believe that completes the debt my wife owes you."

"I agree. House Potter acknowledges that the life debt owed by Walburga Black has been repaid in full." Charlus then turned to the Headmaster. "You are quite lucky that I verified that Peter's servitude was approved by his parents, or I would have you up on charges. Is this why you champion the dismantling of tradition? So that you would have your choice of catamite?"

"Albus! Tell me you aren't..." Minerva McGonagall was aghast. "That is why he didn't repeat his fifth year, isn't it? And why you never punished these boys, you were hoping, oh, tell me it isn't true!"

No one had noticed that Peter had turned into his rat form and scurried away. He returned with an object he had filched from the Headmaster's office one day when he had finished one of their 'sessions'. "I hope you rot in hell!" the disturbed boy yelled as he threw the object at the group in the hallway.

Sirius and Severus both saw this and jumped, Sirius in front of his father, and Severus in front of Lily, who were closest in proximity to Peter. The object hit both of them, then fell to the floor, causing a shimmering force field to spring up around them.

All four adults as well as James and Lily watched in horror as the two frightened boys disappeared before their eyes.