James looked at Sirius, who was just as confused as the others. There seemed to be a crowd now, with James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Neville, Seamus and Dean in the common room and were joined by Hermione, Ginny, Lily, Fred and George.
"Where's Ron?" Fred asked. "What happened to Harry?"
James coughed, "It sounded like...It was..."
He took a deep breath and tried to keep his cool, "Harry said he saw, what was it, Arthur Weasley getting attacked."
At this, Fred, George and Ginny turned as pale as Ron did and stared at him with their eyes wide open. Just then, McGonagall returned and motioned for the twins and Ginny to follow her. Once they left, Hermione turned back to James.
"You were saying?"
James continued, "Yeah he was saying something about Ron's dad getting attacked by a snake. I don't know..."
Apparently Hermione knew what he was talking about because she gasped and had to clamp her hands to her mouth, her eyes as wide as Fred's had been earlier. Lily turned to ask what was wrong to Hermione and she said nothing. James looked at his friends who were as clueless as he was. Neville was shaking.
"A snake did you say?" Hermione asked for confirmation.
"Yes. Why? What about a snake? What's so special...Hermione?"
Hermione had bolted upstairs for her dorm and more people were looking down at what the noise was. A few third years were asking what had happened when Sirius shut them down by saying McGonagall was fired.
"Really?" Lily asked as the third years ran away almost in tears. "Do you always have to be an asshat?"
Sirius shrugged, "Beats me why they always believe the silliest things. McGonagall sacked. I could never imagine that happening in a thousand years."
He then turned to James who was pale in shock. Neville had gone to the bathroom while Seamus and Dean had returned to their dorms, leaving the Marauders and Lily alone in the common room.
"What happened James?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know," James replied. "All I heard was Harry saying Ron's dad was attacked by a snake. He wouldn't tell me anything else. He looked like he was trying to tell Ron where Arthur was or who he was working for but he kept stopping himself."
"You reckon he is hiding something?"
"I know he is hiding something."
Remus flared up, "What does it matter?"
James looked at him, startled, "What?"
"Why does it matter? Its not our timeline!"
"He's my son!"
"QUIET!"
The others looked around the room to make sure no one else was within earshot or even present in the common room.
"Look," Remus said. "I know what he is to you and I know you want to know more. But you have to respect what Dumbledore said. We have to stay low and keep to ourselves. Don't go shouting things like that! You promised!"
"I know!" James argued. "But don't you feel frustrated that there is something they know and we don't?"
"Of course I am! But it doesn't matter to us because its not in our timeline!"
"What if it is?" James countered. "We moved forward in time 20 years. We are obviously still of a decent age. What if this does affect our timeline? And we are somehow involved with what they are doing? What if we are related to the snake attack? What if whoever Arthur was working for, we are as well? He did go to school the same time as us. Don't you want to know what is going on?"
"Of course I want to know!" Remus hissed. "But you can't just go asking around like its an open topic! If Harry and Ron are afraid of letting us know, clearly there is some form of secrecy involved. And don't you think that, if we were involved, we would obviously already know what is going on? Our older selves would be taking care of the matter. And we would be 20 years older and much more mature and responsible."
James wanted to come back with something but couldn't. Remus made a very good point. Even though he wanted to find out what was happening, he couldn't go shouting it around and his older self would definitely have figured it out by now; he would've understood what is happening in the world and possibly what happened to Arthur.
Lily stepped towards James, "Remus is right. We have to keep on the down low. Don't go asking around just for the sake of knowing. Just keep to ourselves and no harm will be done. If we are lucky, maybe they might tell us later. But for now, lets just...Hermione!"
She stopped as she noticed Hermione standing at the bottom of the stairs, having returned after sprinting to her dorm. James took a seat and took in deep breaths. Hermione gave questioning looks to James, then to Remus and then to Lily.
"Hermione what happened?" Lily asked her calmly.
"I just...figured out something," Hermione said, giving James another curious look.
James noticed this and asked, "Is there something wrong?"
Hermione looked taken aback, "Oh! No its nothing! I just...I was just wondering if...Never mind."
James stood up and faced her, "If there is something, you should tell me."
Remus and Sirius moved to try and stop James from doing anything rash. Lily kept giving him warning looks. James ignored all of them and kept his eyes trained on Hermione.
"There isn't anything," Hermione said blankly.
"You sure? I feel like there is something you aren't telling us."
"I think-"
"Move," James pushed Remus out of the way when Remus tried to interject. Sirius and Peter watched on with a look of both horror and interest.
Hermione didn't blink. She just stared into James's eyes. When she didn't answer, James asked again, causing Peter to make a weird noise. Hermione looked at Lily, who was petrified, and back at James.
"I..." she looked like she was about to crack. "I...I don't know what you're talking about."
As soon as she said it, Sirius looked like he was about to throw a fit of laughter. James looked on the verge of breaking and Remus was eyeing the doorways of the dormitories, where some people were exiting and talking to each other, some even looking at James and Hermione have a stand off.
James started to speak again, "Are you-"
"Hermione can I talk to you for a second?"
Lily motioned for Hermione to leave the common room. Hermione hesitated before following, giving James another very cautious glance. As soon as the girls exited, Remus punched James hard on the arm.