"I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country "

E. M. Forster

"We must make the choices that enable us to fulfil the deepest capacities of our real selves. "

Thomas Merton ~

Harry Potter: Age 1
Godric's Hollow, England, the World

The sky was pitch black with no clouds to speak of, though smoke raised its billowy form in an elegant dance; stretching to the heavens and making a thick ghostly mist that hovered. The air around was completely still, filling what seemed like the whole world with a deafening silence that hurt the ears. No bird chirped, no animal moved, no wind sang.

Padfoot lifted his nose higher into the air and sniffed, attempting to use the strongest of his senses to figure out what was wrong. Besides the smoke rising a little ways in front of him, he could also smell the fire. Something about it was magical, making him wonder if it really was an accident, like the police far behind him were claiming. Nothing made any sense.

Frustrated with his inability to figure things out, he slowly made his way to the Potters, hoping the Lily and Prongs knew what was going on. As he neared their house, he froze. He could see it. Before anything else registered, that did. He could see the house past the Fidelius Charm. Breaking into a run, he abruptly came to a halt, everything around him started to sink in. The house of his best friend, his wife and their son – his godson – was burning.

With barely a thought, Padfoot became Sirius once more, and the look upon his face was an expression of pure terror. Forgoing any appearance of sanity, he sprinted into the dying flames. The minute he was past the doorway, the tears that had started to appear in his eyes when he had first seen the wreckage now fell in earnest as he sobbed. James lay on the floor before him; eyes still open and staring at the ceiling, unseeing.

Sirius fell to his knees at his best friend's feet and started shaking his shoulder. He saw, but didn't really understand completely, that James would never wake up. He mourned for a few minutes, remembering all the laughs and pranks that they had shared, all the mayhem they had caused, all the mischief they had managed; they never would again.

Suddenly, Sirius remembered that James wasn't the only person in the house that he cared greatly about. Quickly clambering to his feet, he frantically searched the ground floor for Lily and his godson, but to no avail. He jumped for the stairs, taking the steps two at a time and arrived in Harry's room. He staggered back a few steps at the sight that greeted him.

A foul stench filled the air, and Lily, lovely Lily, was sprawled on the ground in a manner very similar to her husband's. Sirius knew that they had both died in the same way. Looking up from her body, he saw a small shape huddled under a blanket in Harry's little-boy bed. Bracing himself, he slowly reached out to take the blanket, terrified of what he would find. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he grasped the blanket and tore it away from the bed, tossing it forcefully in the opposite direction. Carefully he opened his eyes and gasped.

Two emerald green eyes, so like their mother's, stared back at him, blinking slowly, long black lashes gently kissing his baby-fat cheeks. Sirius stared at Harry, and Harry stared right back with an expression of confusion. Staring at his godson, his so-very-alive godson, and saw to his horror a bright red mark upon his forehead, partly hidden beneath his unruly black hair. Moving slowly towards him, scared he might startle and start to cry, Sirius cautiously held out his hand towards Harry. To his surprise, the toddler stretched out his arms and reached for him. Calming slightly at the knowledge that his godson still knew and loved him, Sirius swooped his arms under Harry's and lifted him up, holding him tightly to his chest and letting his sorrow out. The one year old held him tight, and to Sirius it felt like he would never let him go.

After a few moments of simply holding each other, Sirius pulled away and reached up to completely move his hair that was hanging unceremoniously over his forehead out of the way. Once he did, he stared at the mark that Harry was now sporting…it was in the shape of a lightning bolt, and the harder Sirius stared, the stronger the feeling in his gut that told him it would mean horrible things became.

The creaking of the floorboards brought Sirius back to the reality of the house burning slowly but surely around them. Without a second thought, he gathered Harry snugly against his own body once more before sprinting out of the building.

It was when they were far enough away from the nosy neighbors of Godric`s Hollow that Sirius realized it should have been impossible for the Potters to be found, and yet they had been. Thinking of all the possibilities of what could have happened, Sirius only found one that explained everything.

Forgetting for a minute that Harry was sitting next to him in the forest, Sirius leapt to his feet yelling furiously, "PETTIGREW!" At the same time, in the same place, another shout went up.

"Expelliarmus!" The wand that Sirius had unconsciously drawn suddenly flew into the waiting hand of Remus Lupin. Lupin stood there with his wand pointed at Sirius's chest, his eyes darting toward that small figure that he knew was Harry. Sirius slowly raised his hands, showing his friend that he was not planning on doing anything rash, though the movement did not seem to calm Remus. His eyes were wide with shock and hatred as he stared down one of the few people who had ever known and understood his condition and hadn't turned away.

"You," he choked out, barely able to spit the words out past his fury; "you betrayed them! I trusted you and you betrayed them!" Sirius took a step towards him, frantically trying to explain, but Lupin was having none of that. Over Sirius's soothing words, he yelled.

"You betrayed Lily and James! You sold them out to Voldemort!" Once he'd heard his friend's accusation, Sirius's voice roared over Lupin's. Though he was practically shaking with the desire to finish the worthless man in front of him, Lupin heard the sincerity and remorse in his voice.

"NEVER! You know me, Moony! I would rather die than betray my friends!" Remus paused, his heart begging to take the easy way out and to forgive and believe him, but his mind rebelled and kept his wand steady.

"You were their secret keeper, Sirius! You would have been the only one able to tell someone where they were! You—" He didn't finish the sentence, as Sirius was shaking his head forcefully.

"I wasn't! It was Peter," he sank to his knees slowly and Remus saw the tear tracks on his cheeks become clearer as he repeated softly, "it was Peter."

"No," Remus, intoned, more to himself than to Sirius, "No, you were their Secret Keeper! They chose you, and you betrayed them to Voldemort! You killed your best friend! Stupe—"

"Moony, you have to believe me! It was Peter!" Remus felt the seed of doubt start to grown in his gut as he stared at one of the only people in the whole entire world that he knew well enough to tell when they were lying. As far as he could tell, Sirius wasn't. He slowly lowered his wand, before quickly bringing it up again.

"Prove it," he demanded. Sirius nodded and looked his friend dead in the eye. Remus trained his line of vision on Sirius' eyes: they were honest, defiant and true, with rivers of pain flowing through them, and Remus found himself unable to not trust him. With a sigh, he gave a jerky nod, never releasing his wand that was levelled between his old friend's eyes, ready for treachery. Making every move deliberate movement, Sirius drew his own wand. Being very slow in his motions, letting Remus see his every move very clearly, Sirius tapped the air in front of him three times in the same spot.

"I, Sirius Black, vow that I was not the Secret Keeper to the Potters and did not betray them to Lord Voldemort and am not the cause of their death." When he finished speaking, a couple of gold sparks shot out from his wand and fell to the ground, fading before they hit the earth.

Completely relieved, but not entirely surprised, Remus lowered his wand. He walked over to his friend and the two men stood together silently, both overcome by the somberness and sorrow of their situation.

"I begged them to switch to Peter, thinking that they would be safer, but they weren't," Sirius started in a whisper. He kept his eyes on the cold, damp ground, "I was going over to the house to visit since James had sent an Owl saying he was bored and needed something to occupy him before he went completely mad. We were going to start teaching Harry the starting rules of Quidditch, since he already seemed to love it so much. But when I got there," he paused, shaking his head as if to get rid of the memories that were filling it, "the house was burning.

"James was lying on the floor, right past the front doorway, as if he had heard Voldemort come in and had run to hold him off. Lily was upstairs, right in front of the cradle. Both of them dead—two of the most powerful witches and wizards of our age dead, but their one year old baby survived." Tears were falling once again, though he refused to make a sound. Remus, too, felt the burning in his eyes, but all he did was sit beside his distraught friend and offer the only comfort that he could: companionship.

Quite suddenly, Sirius lifted his head and looked at his old school friend. Remus was instantly on his guard. He knew the expression on Sirius's face always meant that he was about to do something rash, badly thought-out and foolish. Leaning back, he said warily,

"Sirius…" but Sirius paid him no attention whatsoever. Instead, he rose from his position and picked up little Harry. Lupin's eyes widened as he saw the scar that was imprinted on the toddler's forehead, but had no time to pay it any further inspection however, as Sirius thrust the young boy into his surprised arms. Then, he walked a few feet away from the curious and questioning faces of both man and boy. When he stopped, Remus found his voice again.

"Sirius, what are you doing? Where are you going?" His friend turned elegantly around to face him with a small grin on his face and Remus inwardly groaned.

"I," the heir to the Black fortune stated grandly, stretching out his arms in a fashion of arrogance and indifference, "am going to go kill that traitorous, lying, two faced, rat-bastard." And with that, he apparated before Remus had the chance to stop him. Lupin shouted after him in vain, only stopping when Harry looked up at him with sleepy eyes. Sighing, and silently praying that his friend wouldn't get himself killed, Remus resigned himself to the task at hand—taking care of the only living Potter in the world, the son of two of his best friends, the boy who had somehow defeated Voldemort… the boy who lived.

Sirius Black easily ducked the feeble stunning spell that had been thrown at him and sent two identical spells right back. After they had passed, he heard a high squeak and cursed at the thought of missing his target. The fog around him was lifting ever so slowly, but now he could see a small, pudgy shape in the distance that was Peter Pettigrew.

Seeing the person who was responsible for his best friend's death sent rage boiling in his blood, and with a furious roar, Sirius ran at him. Taking him by surprise, he muggle-tackled him to the ground, sending both of their wands flying off somewhere past where their eyes could see. Pinning him to the cobblestone street, Sirius contented himself with punching Peter's face again and again.

"You sold them to Voldemort!" he screamed, "You're the reason they're dead! You're the reason that Harry will never know his parents! You're the reason that I'll never see my best friend again!" With each reason that he stated, the scrawny man that he held to the ground received another blow to his face. Blood was flowing, covering Sirius' hand and Peter's face.

Peter's hands were fighting furiously beside him, grappling for the wand that he was sure couldn't be far. Finally, he reached it and with a cry of "Defodio!", he sent Sirius flying backwards, nursing a deeply cut arm. Peter rose from the street, staring at Sirius who crouched on his knees holding his arm and glaring at him.

"You don't understand," Peter started fearfully, stuttering slightly and resisting the urge to bite his nails, "the Dark Lord gave me no choice! He would have killed me, Sirius! I had no choice. You would have done the same!"

Sirius leapt to his feet and raced towards the traitor. "I would have died! I would died rather than betray my friends, and I though you would have too! You traitorous little— Impedimentia!" Peter squealed and ran in the opposite direction, not having seen the other man retrieve his wand.

Feeling the effects of losing a lot of blood, Sirius staggered for a moment before falling slowly to his knees. Peter cautiously walked up to him, his eyes darting from place to place, worried that his boyhood friend was faking, but as he went closer and closer, all Sirius did was look up at him with pain-filled eyes.

Suddenly, noises around them alerted the two men to the fact that the street that they were in was not completely deserted anymore. Peter looked around in a panic before he seemed to come to a decision. All Sirius could do was watch through a haze of pain as Peter raised his wand and directed it to his hand. With a quick mumble of a spell he cut off his own finger. Gasping at the feeling, Peter watched with interest as the disjointed finger lay unmoving on the ground while blood spurted from his hand. Then, with one last glance at Sirius, who was watching in confusion, he started yelling.

"No! You betrayed them! You're the reason they're dead!" He raised his wand and with one flick, the world around them exploded.

Sirius was thrown back from the force that erupted a couple of feet in front of him. Landing on the rough ground, he groaned as his already-wounded arm was jostled again and again. Stretching, he clambered with great struggle to his knees, looking around and freezing instantly.

Everywhere, small flames were fading into nothing. The stones of the street had been lifted out of the ground and were still landing in different parts of the surrounding area. Trees had been uprooted, the grass the burning, but what caught Sirius' eye were the bodies strewn everywhere. Sirius rose to his feet to better see the apocalypse that was surrounding him.

Women, children, men; all were present. Sirius gritted his teeth and cradling his wounded arm protectively against his chest, walked through the horror. As well as he could see, there were 13 bodies in total, but each body that he forced himself to look at was not the one he hoped to find. Peter was gone.

Just as Sirius was about to pass out from the jolts of agony that his arm was shooting into his entire body and from the sickening sight before him, he heard it. Voices were approaching his location and with a start, Sirius realized that he knew them; aurors. Just as quickly, Sirius also knew that most people would automatically assume the same thing that Remus had, that he was the traitor. Aurors finding him among 13 dead muggles would only fuel their conviction of his crime.

By the time that the wizard police arrived at the scene, no living soul was in sight. All that awaited them were the dead.

Remus gently rocked Harry back and forth, listening to his quiet breathing even out until it was obvious that he was sound asleep. Then, silently, Remus drew his wand and pointed it at the sleeping toddler's forehead.

"Vulnura Sanentur," he murmured gently, trying his best not to wake him. To his shock, the mark did not disappear; rather it looked more aged, as if it had become a scar.

Just as he opened his mouth to attempt the spell again, sure that he simply must have said something wrong, a loud popping noise interrupted him. Remus whirled around and came face to face with Sirius' ragged face. Quickly glancing down to make sure that Harry was still asleep, he then rushed to his friend.

Sirius was leaning his entire weight against a tree behind him. Remus could see his arm was bleeding profusely. He moved forward to help but Sirius simply waved him away, taking his own wand out and healing the gash himself. Sirius's eyes closed briefly in relief before he started to speak.

"He admitted to it," he gasped for breath, still tired from his recent run in with Peter, "he said that he did it. Muggles started coming and he killed them all. Oh Merlin, Moony! He made it look like it was me!" Remus was quiet for a minute.

"Did you kill him?" Sirius looked up in surprise at the violent question that his gentle friend asked. He shook his head.

"No, he got away before I could. They're going to come after me, Moony! With their rule of 'kill or arrest now and ask questions later!' " he looked at Remus imploringly, begging him without words to come up with a plan like he always did. Moony set the wheels of mind whirling, but no matter how hard he thought, he could only come up with one word, and he looked Sirius in the eye.

"Run." Sirius' head fell into his hands as Remus continued to talk. "We'll run to a place where they won't think to look, and we'll keep moving at all times."

"And Harry?" Sirius demanded, "We're the only ones who can take care of him now, but always moving around and living in fear? We'll have to think more about that." The werewolf's eyes bulged, and he gaped at his friend.

"Are you bloody mad? You want us to raise him? Oh, that would be great; growing up around a werewolf and a convict! I'm sure that he'll grow up to have great morals!"

"Where else would he go, Moony? Lily's sister, Petunia, and her great lump of a husband? The ones who absolutely detest magic and everything that goes with it? Or maybe an orphanage, where he'd likely have some of the worst experiences in life!" Remus shook his head determinedly.

"It wouldn't be much better with us, Sirius! Never able to make friends... always on the move, always looking over his shoulders, always living in fear! Unable to have a normal life because two grown adults weren't able to make a hard decision and let him go?"

"For Merlin's sake, Remus! He would be able to grow up around magic! With his godfather and his uncle! With people who knew his parents and would be able to talk about them whenever he wanted to! He would grow up knowing who he was!"

Remus was losing the battle and he knew it. As a final attempt, Sirius took Harry from his friend's arms and held him up. The little boy slowly opened his eyes tiredly, wondering why he had been woken up.

"Look at his eyes, Moony," the animagus ordered gently. The other man sighed and looked. The moment that he did, he was lost. Lily's eyes in James' face looked back at him unblinkingly. "Can you really say no?" Sirius continued quietly, knowing that he had just won. Shoulders slumping in defeat, Remus shook his head, but he was smiling.

"I never wanted to, anyway." He admitted.

The werewolf and the animagus gazed at the once-again sleeping baby who had just become their responsibility. He was their James, and he was their Lily... but most of all, he was their Harry.

I've been wanting to write this story for awhile now, and finally snapped to it. These chapters will go up a lot faster than my other stories since with this one, I got smart. I've already got the first chapters written with more on the way. Of course, the speed of the updates will depend on the number of reviews…just kidding. I'll try to update soon, but no promises.

A huge thanks to my beta, xxTunstall Chickxx, without whom there would be no legible chapters.

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling

Scelestus