Believe me...It's the truth!

They Got Off

Older Remus/ older Sirius - bold.
Teenage Remus/ teenage Sirius - normal font

Over the next few days, the atmosphere within Grimmauld Place had grown to contrast strongly against the dark and broody interior of the building. It would have been hard to tell that the people living there were potentially preparing for a civil war.
The Order itself had gone through a few changes due to some new additions as well as the previous exclusions since the night Harry had arrived at Grimmauld. For one, teenage Remus that night, had informed Peter on the current political situation of 1995 and how Lord Voldemort had regained power after being defeated. Remus was careful enough to leave certain details out knowing that it was unlikely that Peter would go off on his own to find out more, but provided enough information to satiate his curiosity. The four marauders were trying their best to behave as normally as possible despite the fact that the other teenagers in the house were not even attempting to mask their hostility.

Harry also managed to spend a significant amount of time bonding with the time travellers; talking quidditch with James and Sirius and working on his school assignments with Remus and Lily. Despite knowing they were teenagers, Harry was quickly able to understand exactly the kind of people his mum and dad were.
Right now, they were all sat in Harry and Ron's room playing exploding snap, discussing what may happen at Harry's hearing at the ministry.
"We don't learn Patronus charms till our sixth year" Remus said, looking at Harry curiously, "how did you manage to conjure a full one in your third?".
Harry smiled slightly, remembering the way he had conjured his stag, not only during the quidditch match, but also when he saved his own and Sirius' lives from the dementors.
"We had dementors stationed on the grounds at Hogwarts in our third year and they affected Harry more than the rest of us so Professor Lupin taught Harry the patronus charm" Hermione explained.
Remus eyebrows shot up in surprise realising that his future wasn't all bad; that he would end up having a good career and be around good people who cared about him.

They continued in this manner, sharing memories from each other's years at Hogwarts until the door opened and Molly walked in telling the children it was time to go to bed.
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It was no secret that the Ministry of Magic did not hold Harry nor Albus Dumbledore in high regard. That much was clear from the amount of rebuttal Harry faced during his hearing. He knew that Dumbledore would be there to get him out of trouble, but he didn't expect him to flat out ignore him once the hearing was over. There was something off about Dumbledore.
Yet despite these thoughts, Butterflies formed in his stomach as he stepped over the threshold of 12 Grimmauld Place. He still hadn't quite gotten used to having his parents around, especially since they were the same age as him. Harry and Arthur made their way through the dark hallway to find the kitchen decorated with balloons and banners celebrating Ron and Hermione's recent appointment as the new fifth year prefects. He was happy for them; knowing Ron felt shadowed by his elder siblings, it gave him some importance and Harry was happy for him.
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Gathered around the kitchen table, everyone listened to Harry retell the events of the hearing and how he was let off.
"They didn't wonder where the dementor came from?" Remus asked.
Harry shrugged in response,
"They only cared about how i performed the Patronus and how i lied about how Cedric died".
Ron smacked the table,
"Who cares what they think, we're all going to go to Hogwarts together. This years going to be a memorable one".
James grinned in agreement as he slid his hand under the table to take a hold of Lily's hand, except she used her other hand to pinch the skin on the top of his hand with as much force as she could muster,
"OW Evans! Bloody hell that hurts!" He yelped in pain.
Lily smirked in satisfaction as she turned away and began giggling with Hermione and Ginny. The three girls had been spending a lot of time together, exchanging boy talk and working on their assignments. Lily was ecstatic to find another muggleborn who was interested in the same things she was.