if they knew, we would get in trouble ~IASA

[PETER MICHAEL PETTIGREW]

It had been awhile since Peter sent the last of his letters to Iasa, warning her not to come. He didn't want her to get in trouble. The Ministry wouldn't like it if they found that Iasa was visiting him, even if he did miss her a lot. Well, it wasn't just her, right? There was Sirius and James and Remus and Lily and everyone else he wanted to see, but he was more worried about Iasa right now. She was coming here, and she would get in trouble if they found her there.

And yet, he didn't know if she was coming. Maybe she had gotten his last owl and it had offended her! Maybe she thought that he didn't want to see her. He did; he really did, but that didn't mean his letter wasn't received that way. Oh, what if she thought he was being mean. Should he send her a letter saying that he didn't mean to be rude and that he wanted to hear from her again? He didn't know what to do! If she was coming, then that letter would make him look like an idiot who was getting worried about nothing, misunderstanding her silence. But if she wasn't, then maybe he'd look like a jerk who didn't apologize for offending her in some way.

Peter quickly scribbled down an apology on a sheet of parchment, and set it on a table in his room. He decided that he would check out of his room to see if she was there, and if she wasn't here soon, then he would send the apology. That was a pretty good plan, right? He didn't like how either would've turned out. Iasa was either mad, or in danger of getting in trouble from the Ministry. He didn't want any of that. Maybe there was something he didn't understand that was a good explanation for her post silence. Peter cracked open his door, and stuck his head out, studying the area, just in case Iasa was coming.

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Iasa honestly couldn't think of any reason why it would be a bad thing. All she wanted to do was visit her friend. And that was all that Peter ever could be. Especially now that everything had changed. She could never even think of telling him that she liked him now. It had been wishful before but now it was simply impossible. No, they had to stay friends. they needed each other and she didn't want to push him away.

But it didn't make her want to see him any less either.

She moved through the halls of the ministry without seeing anyone. Even those who did see her ignored her. They thought she had somewhere to go. And she did. It just wasn't where they would think that she would want to go. She could still remember where they had kept the rooms before and made her way there. She was looking around trying to find wherever Peter could possibly be. It was sheer luck that allowed her to find him as a bright smile lit her face and she rushed forward. "Peter!" she cried happily running and throwing herself at him to hug him. It was stupid really, but she didn't even stop to think about it."

She couldn't stop smiling as she bounced back, still looking at him. "I just had to come and see you," she admitted. "Have they still been feeding you that terrible rot?" she asked. "Have they let you see Sirius yet? Have you gotten to see Rhiannon? She told me she was still here. I've been writing her and Lily since they let me go home to stay with Octavius. He should hopefully have the note that I left him by now. I don't know though. I don't think he'll be worried though. I don't think he much likes having me around. I think I remind him too much of... well.. before," she ammended. She didn't want to tell that she had died too. Not that it really mattered.

[PETER MICHAEL PETTIGREW]

Peter saw Iasa and it was like he sighed with relief and became a bit more stressed out. True, it was the best of the two options he would have picked, because the last thing he wanted was to seem like a jerk. Peter had respected Iasa, and thought that she was pretty good about staying out of trouble. As long as the Ministry people didn't visit and see her, they had nothing to worry about. And if they were to come, she could always hide under his bed or something. It wasn't like James or Sirius saying they had girls hiding under their beds, because he was just friends with Iasa, nothing else.

Peter managed to catch her when she hugged him, having spotted her before she had began her hug, bracing himself for it this time. "Iasa!" Peter responded in greeting, hugging her back with a huge smile on his face. He really liked seeing her again, because he was very lonely. He didn't even know how to find his way back to Rhian's room. He barely made it back to his room when he left Rhian's room. Why were things so weirdly set up here? It was hard to remember the set up of the place, so he had to be careful if he decided to go walking to not think too hard like he did when he ended up in Rhian's room.

"Yeah, it's really terrible stuff, spinach and broccoli," Peter replied with distaste, "And there's this stuff I can't even tell what it is." He still ate it, even if it didn't taste good, and he hid the vegetables away, so they thought he hate them. "They still think he did those bad things to me and James," Peter answered, having a little bit of trouble remembering all of her questions, but trying really hard to remember all of them. "I saw Rhian not long ago, she seemed happy." He thought of Lily knowing Iasa had mentioned her. "How is Lily doing?" Peter asked. He wasn't great friends with her, but he still cared about her, especially since James was going to marry her! Wait, that was just what had happened before. He didn't even know if James was here. He hoped James was, and Remus. He hadn't heard much about them being here, but they had to be right? Both he and Sirius were here, why wouldn't they?

"You could've been caught, Iasa," Peter said seriously, offering her a seat in his room, "They would've have been happy if they found you.... Do you want to sit?"

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Iasa couldn't help but giggle at his assessment of the terrible food. "You know, those things are good for you," she teased. She, personally, didn't mind broccoli. Spinach was another matter. That suff just seemed strange to her. Unless it was being used in a potion or for a poultice. Then she was able to understand it a little better. Eating it just seemed silly though. But apparently it was possible. She wasn't entirely sure how, but it was. That alone, to her, seemed pretty impressive. And since it hadn't killed Peter yet, she had to give the stuff some credit. At least it knew how to keep a person alive.

She frowned as she heard the bit of news about Sirius, shaking her head. "That doesn't seem possible," she declared. "They have to be wrong. I simply refuse to believe that Sirius would have EVER hurt Lily and Jame.s Anyone who knew him could have told you that," she said with a sigh. It only made clear to her that these people of the future were somehow crazed. That was the only way to explain it. Otherwise they would know that Sirius simply wasn't that kind of person. He could neever turn traitor for any reason. Well, not to his friends.

His family had thought differently.

She was glad to hear about Rhiannon. Maybe she would try to find the girl before she left...well, if she left. She hated the thought of leaving poor Peter alone. "Lily is doing well. She's staying with Severus. He's been telling her about the things that have happened since... well, since she would have gone back to school this... or is it that, year. I don't know it's all really very confusing. For us it is the present, but for everyone else it's the past. So what does that really make it? Are we right? Or are they because there are simply so many of them who have all lived it even if we haven't?" she asked shaking her head.

She couldn't help but look confused at his statement. "Why not?" she asked. "You're lonely and I wanted to see you. We shouldn't have to be alone. None of us. It's bad enough we don't understand what's happening to us. We should at least have each other," she insisted before nodding in reply to his question. She had been walking for quite a while. Sitting would do her some good.

[PETER MICHAEL PETTIGREW]

Peter was smiling like mad with Iasa here. "Just because its supposed to be good for you, doesn't mean it tastes good at all," Peter replied with a small hope that she had brought him cake, or chocolate, or something that wasn't vegetables. He was hungry and their food wasn't good here. He wished that they had given him some sort of desert, because the lack of sugar made him feel sadder and more confused than ever in this situation. Plus with the stories of how Remus was discovered because he almost killed a student at Hogwarts, and how Sirius had escaped Azkaban (and Peter knew how, as he knew of the illegal animagus powers Sirius had, and had remembered Dementors only affected humans, thanks to Iasa here who had tutored him).

"That's what I said to them, but they said, 'No, there were many witnesses, Sirius Black killed you; your mother was sent what was left of you, if you ask anyone they will all know how you died, Peter.' It is crazy to even think that I died! They didn't tell me about other people... Do you know what happened to you?" Peter asked innocently, convinced that she had gotten married and loved someone very much, and lived for a long time after he had apparently died. He didn't feel that he died, and he looked alive, which made it feel weird to think that he had died. He didn't know if he could believe what had happened. Maybe he could talk to Remus, who they said was a grown up now, maybe Remus could explain it. Remus was always smart and helped him out with things like this, if there ever was anything like this.

"Hmmm..." Peter said trying to make sense of all of it, and try to offer her an answer that she would like, and not make her mad or even more worried, "Maybe everyone is right! Maybe we did those things, but... we're different now, and we were brought back to have a second chance at correcting things that happened to us. Would that mean all of us here died?" He had tried fairly hard to come up with the explanation, and it scared him to think that Lily, James, Sirius, Rhian, himself, and Iasa had all died. It must be a terrible future, even if they said that Voldemort was gone. A world without them was really not a good thing. It was very upsetting to think that they all could've died, including Iasa, who was one of the few that he didn't know if she had died in the future anyways. It was upsetting to think that maybe he could've died after she did. It would've been so sad!

"But you didn't have permission. And you had been sent with your brother already," Peter said with a frown, "I don't want you to get in trouble just to make me not feel as lonely."

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Iasa shrugged. She couldn't blame him for that. It was a great truth even with potions and teas. Just because something was good for you, did not mean tit had to taste good. In some cases it was usually the worst it tasted, the better it was for you. So she could understand why he didn't want it, but it didn't change that he was stuck with it. "It's probably a good thing that you didn't mention it was just broccoli and spinach before I cam," she admitted with a chuckle. Iasa reached into the bag she had been carrying and pulled out a chocolate bar. "I remember how much you and Remus always liked these," she admitted with a smile.

She sighed and grew thoughtful. "I know," she admitted quietly. She forced a smile as she shook her head. "It doesn't matter Peter. It happened and... we can't go back and change it. Well, it hasn't even happened I suppose. I don't know how to explain it. It was though. And thinking about it won't do anything." How could she tell Peter that she had died when she hadn't even gotten to turn nineteen when she had been killed. No, he didn't need to know that when they were finally getting to see each other again. Besides, it didn't matter. She had been bound to die eventually.

The girl turned thoughtful. "I don't know," she mused. "Maybe we are. Though that is a scary thought. I don't like it though," she admitted. "I don't like the thought that you really died and that Rhiannon did too. I hate the thought that Lily died." She grew quiet for a moment. Without thinking about it, she leaned against Peter, closing her eyes. "I'd like to think that it is all just a dream. That we'll wake up and it was just some kind of horrible nightmare for whatever reason.

She looked up at him with a blank look on her face at his words. "Why would I get in trouble?" she asked. "I wanted to come and see my friend. Can we not do that in this world?" She paused for a moment. "Maybe not. They won't let you see Sirius after all. They keep giving that absurd story about Sirius. I wonder if they're telling such horrid things about other people."

[PETER MICHAEL PETTIGREW]

Peter's jaw dropped before he hugged her happily. "Thank you!" Peter said happily, releasing the hug, and taking the candy bar, unwrapping it and taking a bite. "I am really happy you brought it!" Peter was really excited that he was going to have some chocolate again, because the Ministry People were not being nice to him at all. It was almost like she knew that he would want a chocolate bar (or any other sweets for that matter), like she had predicted what he wanted before he even told her or anyone really. It was like she had read his mind!

"It happened but it didn't happen?" Peter asked scratching his head and he sighed, not understanding it very well, "So it's like it happened, but we don't remember it and we were brought back to life?" Everything was so confusing around here in this time. Apparently on the outside Remus was an older adult, but he hadn't seen Remus. They found Remus out, and they viewed him as dangerous, which meant he couldn't go live with him. He wanted to see Remus again too, and decided to make it a point to go and see Remus as soon as he got out of the Ministry, if he could find him.

"Did you find out if you died?" Peter asked with a huge frown on his face, feeling her lean against him, and he felt a little better with her with him, "If you did, it meant that all of us would've died except for Remus and maybe Sirius, and Sirius had been imprisoned and Remus was hated..." He had forgotten for a little bit that Sirius hadn't died, but for all the Ministry knew he could've died a little before all of them began showing up. The Ministry did say that Sirius had disappeared and escaped from Azkaban and they hadn't seen him since they took him in. "All of our friends had bad things happen to them... Why did it have to be us and not others?"

"Because you didn't have permission! They're big on security around here, you know how it was," Peter said still worried a Ministry Person would come in and Iasa would get in trouble, "I haven't got any visitors, and I thought no visitors were allowed unless they were picking you up to bring them home."

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

She couldn't help but smile at Peter's happiness over something so simple as a chocolate bar. Then again, when you didn't have it, she could see how it would be so easy to miss it. She rather liked the smile on his face. In her opinion, it justified coming here easily. Besides, she liked his smile. It was one of the many things that she knew she could never tell him Who knew how long they would be in this place.

"I don't know," she admitted. "It's like it happened, but not to us. Does that make sense?" she asked. "As if this is another world." She was trying to make it all make sense, but honestly Iasa couldn't understand it herself. She didn't think any of them understood what was happening. They probably would have fixed it by now if they did. But knowing what faced her, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go back. She didn't want to see the ones she loved die. But wouldn't it be better to have those few moments of life with them left rather than lose that time like she had.

Her smile faded. She didn't want to talk about what had happened to her. "I do know," she admitted quietly. She looked down at her hands. "Octavius said that I died two weeks before my nineteenth birthday." It wasn't something she liked to talk about. She still couldn't believe it had happened. And she saw how it had affected her brother. She hated thinking about it t all. This shouldn't have happened. They should have all had wonderfully happy lives. Peter was right about that.

Iasa hugged herself as she nodded. "It shouldn't have happened to anyone," she said quietly. "It wasn't fair for any of us. We all should have had the chance to be happy and to live. But that was taken from us." And she couldn't understand why that was.

When Peter spoke next she was actually startled. She looked at him, biting the inside of her lip to keep it from trembling. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just wanted to see you Peter. I didn't want you to be alone. We need each other. There are only so many of us and without each other what are we supposed to do? B-but I can go if you want me to."

[PETER MICHAEL PETTIGREW]

Peter wasn't just happy that it was chocolate that he was able to get to eat, but it was because it was Iasa who had brought it. It was as if she was always there for him, always knowing what he needed, helping him out and was able to explain things so that he could understand them in every way that no one else seemed to could. Sure, there were times when he couldn't seem to understand any of what was going on, but even then, having her try did make him feel better, because it meant that she cared enough to try to help him and tried really hard to do it, because she didn't give up easily with him.

"So, it's like we're from another universe where time ran slower, and came to this one where it ran faster and our future already happened?" Peter asked, trying to think of something that it would make sense with. However, even that made little sense to him, but thinking of it like two different timelines helped him understand it. If that was true, it meant those they turned into here was the sort of people they could turn into, and that meant that Sirius could turn into a murderer. There had to be a lot of things happen to Sirius that would make him like that, and he doubted it. His friends were pretty great, and wouldn't do anything to make one of them betray them, right? Well, he hoped they wouldn't, and wanted to believe they wouldn't.

"What? You did?" Peter said quite down by this, "D-do you know how?" While it hadn't happened to her yet, he was curious as to what happened in this time to her, because he was sad when she was gone for even just the summer. He always found himself wanting to see his friends, including her, over the summer, if he didn't see them.

"Maybe this time around we could get that happiness!" Peter exclaimed happily, trying to raise her spirits. He didn't like to see her sad, thinking of the bad things that happened because he didn't want to make them happen this time around. He wasn't that great with a wand, but he would try his best to make sure it wouldn't happen. Maybe he should start training his dueling skills and reflexes during the night instead of sleeping, and during the day too. Because then, he would have something to do other than think.

"No!" Peter said almost instantly, "Please, I do want you here... I just don't want you to get in trouble. I-I am very lonely here, and I really like your company."

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

"Maybe," she said with a shrug. Honestly, she didn't know. She had been thinking about it a lot, but she had not been able to make any of it make sense. For a Ravenclaw who was supposed to be very smart and clever, she was very lost in the area of this particular puzzle. She wished she had some kind of explanation. But there was nothing. No matter how much she thought about it. Two timelines was something that made the most sense to her though. Otherwise it was more like they had been simply copied, taken from one time and brought forward, like a Time Turner in reverse. As if anyone would ever want to do such a thing. But that couldn't be possible. A time turner took you back from what she had researched. But they also did not change what had already happened. It was a thought. A thought that she kept to herself. There was no need to worry Peter about something she wasn't even sure of.

She couldn't bring herself to look at him as he asked the morbidly curious question. She knew she should answer him. She knew how he had died, or how they had said that he had died. He should have the right to know how she had died as well. "I do," she said quietly. "Ocatavius... he told me when he..." she paused for a moment swallowing heavily. "From what they can tell, I was tortured. They think that they were trying to get information from me. I don't know what, or Octavius, didn't know what they wanted. Though, he did say that he thought they might have been trying to see if I, perhaps, knew where Lily and James were since I was so close to her." She paused again working at her lip. "You found me," she whispered so quietly one could barely hear her voice. "Octavius wouldn't say why you were there that night, but that it was you who found me."

Without another rational thought, she threw herself at him again. "I hope we do," she whispered into his clothes. "I want a happy ending Peter. I know it's terribly selfish, but I don't. I don't want to die this time." And she was afraid that she would. She was afraid that maybe she was never fated to make it to her nineteenth birthday. And if that was true it meant that she had less than three years left to live and the thought absolutely horrified her. She couldn't help but relax a little when he assured her that he did want to her to stay. She sat up and offered him a wain smile. "I think I'm just overreacting," she whispered. "It's just been... it's been a lot this last little while, you know?"

[PETER MICHAEL PETTIGREW]

Peter was worried that even Iasa didn't know. She always seemed to know things, and when she wasn't sure, it meant that it was a very confusing thing. Not that he didn't think that moving forward into the future was ever not confusing. He really wanted to understand what was going on, but everything was too confusing to him and even to Iasa, who didn't seem too very confident or at least not as confident as she usually was.

But what had gotten to him most was when she had told him about her death. She had died, before he did, and he found her. He had a hard time picturing her dead, but hearing that he had found her, made his eyes widen and stare at her, dumbstruck. "You- bu-... I... Who... killed you?" Peter asked, thinking that his friends should have protected her.

Why hadn't they protected her? She couldn't duel very well, and they knew that she was close with Lily, so why hadn't they kept watch on her like they told him about Lily and James's house being under the Fidilus Charm. The thought of losing any of his friends was terrible, but he was even more mortified thinking of finding her dead. The trauma he must have experienced. He was told that he hadn't found Lily and James there, and he had gone after Sirius angry about it. He couldn't even imagine how he would've felt if he found any of his friends dead, even Iasa, who was just an amazing person, whom he cared about just as much as any of his friends.

Peter was surprised to say the least, when she had thrown herself at him, but he simply held her close, hoping that he could make her happy again. "I don't want you to die either," Peter replied, really hoping that this time she wouldn't die, "It's not a bad thing to want to live... I don't want you to die, or any of my friends either." Peter wondered, what about James? Had he come back too? They didn't say he did, even though they told him about Remus and Sirius, how Remus didn't come back as a young person, and Sirius had. How was it fated that James wasn't coming back? Unless he was, and they just hadn't told him.

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Iasa hugged herself before her eyes flicked up to survey Peter. He looked so upset. And it was killing her inside. She moved closer to him and hugged the boy tight. She hated to see him hurting, especially because of her. He shouldn't have to suffer for any reason. But how could she apologize? She needed to figure that out. "I'm sorry Peter," she whispered. "I don't think that I meant to die," she admitted. "But that's all I know. Octavius hasn't been able to tell me anything else." Even if her brother knew anything else she doubted that he would tell her. Octavius seemed pretty tight-lipped on everything concerning her life before the moment that she had come forward.

"Besides, maybe it was my fault for never learning to fight," she confessed trying to lighten the mood for them both a little. Except, it didn't seem to be helping and she didn't know what to do. "I'm sorry Peter. I shouldn't have told you. It's not your problem to worry about. And I hate seeing how much it's hurting you. Just... we can forget that I ever said anything alright?" she whispered pulling back from him a little.

Iasa bit her lip as she stood up and slowly started to pace around the room before kneeling down and clasping Peter's hands. "None of us want to die. I don't imagine that we wanted to then either. And maybe you'e right. Maybe this time we won't have to. Maybe this time things are going to be different and we've been given a second chance. I like that thought a lot more than any of the others," she admitted with the ghost of a smile on her lips.

[PETER MICHAEL PETTIGREW]

Peter did not think that it was her fault, and that she should be apologizing. It should be his fault, not her's because he had brought it up. He was the one who asked, and he was the one who had gotten upset about something that hadn't happened to her yet. At least it hadn't happened in his mind yet, and she was right in front of him just like she had been not long ago to him. He didn't want it to happen again, and he was going to work days and nights to make sure he could prevent it, despite the fact it wasn't healthy for him to stay up so long. He was used to it anyways, with all the advanced magic he had to learn to keep up with his friends. And even then under pressure and in class it was still hard to preform, probably due to the lack of sleep making it hard to concentrate sometimes. His nerves got in the way as well.

"I don't think any of us meant to die and you don't need to apologize," Peter said quickly, enjoying the security and warmth her tight hug brought him, "I-I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have asked. It's my fault, Iasa. I wasn't able to protect you. I-I should've been there to protect you. W-why weren't we there to protect you?" Peter sighed wishing he had more information. All he knew was that Iasa was killed, James and Lily died, and he had approached Sirius saying he betrayed them, got killed himself and Sirius was carted off to Azkaban. How could any of them die in the first place when they made a promise to protect everyone they cared about? Even if Sirius betrayed them, which he never would believe, there were enough of them to be there for each other and protect each other, especially those they knew could not duel very well, meaning Iasa primarily. After all these years one would think they could tell them more of the people they had become. Maybe if he saw Remus he would be able to explain everything better. They never kept secrets from each other after they found out about his werewolf condition. He wouldn't hide anything, nor would he tell him a lie.

"I don't think I can forget it... It means that everyone drifted apart, and I won't let that happen. I want to be close friends with everyone, James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Rhian, you, and everyone else, where we are always there for each other," Peter replied, having always believed before that it was like that, but apparently it wasn't true, because they all were picked off one by one. They had divided, or not so many would've died, because together they were invincible.

Peter leaned forward and placed his other hand on her hands that was grasping his. "Anyone can change," Peter replied with a huge smile on his face, "No matter what happens. It is what makes us human, right? The fact we make our own decisions, that nothing is carved into stone, that we can change our own selves." Peter was a confused young man, yes, but he was always a big person for believing in choice of a person. He always felt the future was not set in stone, that it could be changed by just one single choice of a person.