May 3, 1980

It has been two days since Sirius Black's daughter was born and he was now holding her lovingly in his arms. Kyla Alexia Black is her name. He had fretted so much about being a father. He had almost no experience with children, except for the few times he babysat seven-year-old Nymphadora Tonks, who preferred to be known by her surname. And even those few times were disastrous, well to Andie. Little Dora loved all her mischievous fun with "Uncle Sirius". Andie however, berated Sirius loudly that he was being irresponsible and immature with her daughter. If he was that bad in just a few days with his second cousin, how could he be able to be a father forever?

But the minute he saw his daughter's innocent, beautiful, and excited face, all his worries dissolved and he knew he would be a good father to this girl. He would raise her right, he would be supportive, he would be as mature as he could be (well maybe more mature than he could be), and he would never ever hurt her the way his own parents had done to him.

He and Martina moved into a small cottage in Hogsmeade. Times have been unbelievably stressful and dangerous with the war against Lord Voldemort (or Lord Who-Won't-Leave-Us-Alone as Sirius would call him). But Kyla was the one hope Sirius, Martina and the rest of their friends had during these strenuous times.

"She's beautiful Sirius," said his wife, Martina with happy tears sparkling in her blue eyes.

"I know. She looks so much like you Marty," said Sirius, tears in his own grey eyes.

"She has your eyes though, and she has the same mischievous smile you do. We are going to be busy with this one," said Martina, with a small chuckle.

"I know, she is the daughter of a Marauder after all," said Sirius, flauntingly.

"We will have such wonderful times with our little girl," cooed Martina.

"If it weren't for Voldemort, we would probably be able to take her anywhere," said Sirius, grimly. Martina nodded, and then out of nowhere, she collapsed on the couch sobbing.

"Please tell me those are tears of happiness," pleaded Sirius, worriedly.

"Sirius what were we thinking? Having a daughter in the middle of a war?" cried Martina.

"Martina, we're all going to be fine. Lily and James will be fine, Alan will be fine, Kyla will be fine, and we too will be fine," said Sirius, trying to be as comforting as he could be.

"And what if we're not?" Martina choked out. "What happens if we die? Who's going to take care of her?"

"Alan will take care of her, so will Lily and James. Ted and Andie will pitch in too with help from Remus and Peter," said Sirius, confidently.

Martina sniffed and managed to pull herself together. She had been dreading this ever since she found out she was pregnant. She and her best friend Lily Potter nee Evans, who was pregnant and due in July, have been worrying about what would happen if they were to die and leave their babies alone in the world.

"I know, but I can't stop worrying," confessed Martina.

"Don't worry we will do everything we can," said Sirius. Martina managed to smile. She knew that Sirius had the right idea. She shouldn't worry herself so much because no matter what, Kyla will be loved. But she couldn't stop dreading all the possible things that could go wrong.

~000~

October 20, 1981

Sirius was pacing the floorboards in his living room while Martina was feeding Kyla lunch. He had ordered a meeting with Lily and James Potter, and their friend Peter Pettigrew. He didn't know how well this plan would be but he hoped it would help Lil and James, along with their son, Harry. As much as he hated not including Remus Lupin in this meeting, he didn't trust him as much as he used to. Remus hadn't been acting himself, he never told anyone where he went, and he snapped at anyone who tried to interrogate him. All these actions gave signs that he was Lord Voldemort's spy, and therefore a traitor.

Sirius couldn't believe the war had gotten so bad he had been driven to the point of no longer trusting one of his friends. It pained him to believe Remus was a traitor, but he read the signs, and signs of treachery pointed towards Remus.

He also felt a great deal of hatred toward Voldemort for daring to try to come after Lily and James, for Harry had become one of Voldemort's main targets. He was an innocent child for Merlin's sake! He had done nothing to that snake who dared to call himself a Lord. His thoughts were interrupted when Lily, James, and Peter came in through the door.

"We got your owl Sirius. What's so important?" asked Lily, trying to catch her breath as though she had run here.

"First, close the front door and lock it. Martina and I have already locked all the windows, the back door, and pulled all the shades in the house. I don't want any possible spies to hear this," said Sirius, urgently. Lily did as she was told.

"Okay the door is locked. What is so important?" Lily asked again. Martina came in to join the three men and one lady in the living room.

"I've just put Kyla down for her nap. Is everybody here?" asked Martina. Sirius nodded and Lily asked once more what was so important.

"I know that you two wanted me to be the Secret Keeper," said Sirius. Lily and James nodded their heads as if it were obvious. "Well I don't think I should be."

"Why not? You're my best friend, Padfoot! You've never betrayed anyone, you're not easily manipulated, and you even said you would rather die than betray us!" exclaimed James.

"Yes but that's the problem. The fact that I am your loyal best friend would mean that Voldemort would come after me first. I'm an obvious choice for being a Secret Keeper. No one would suspect Peter, so I think you should make him your Secret Keeper," said Sirius.

"Me?" questioned Peter.

"Yes, you Peter. You're our friend too. I trust you enough to keep this secret. You would never rat James and Lily out," said Martina, encouragingly.

"Oh of course not! They're my friends, practically family! I could never—"

"We know, you wouldn't, Peter. We trust you," said Lily with just as much confidence.

"How come Remus isn't here?" asked James.

"You know how we've been suspecting a spy in the Order?" asked Sirius. Lily, James, and Peter nodded. "I think Remus is the spy. And the reason is," said Sirius before James could object, "is that he hasn't been himself. He is always sneaking off somewhere, he never tells us where he's going, and he snaps at anyone who asks him."

"Sirius, you can't possibly believe—"

"I don't want to, but we can't take any chances. Will you make Peter the Secret Keeper?" pleaded Sirius.

James didn't know about this idea. Sure, Sirius was an obvious choice, but he knew Sirius would never tell Voldemort anything concerning them. But then again, if Sirius cracked under interrogation—no he would never! His friend was stronger than that. However Sirius did have a point. No one would ever suspect Peter being the spy. He hated to admit it, but Peter is too weak and sensitive for anyone to suspect him of something this important. Peter was also very loyal to him and he had just as much faith in Peter as he did Sirius. Finally he nodded. Peter Pettigrew would become their Secret Keeper.

~000~

October 31, 1981

After getting over the heartbreak at finding out his best friend and his best friend's wife was murdered, Sirius Black was livid. He could not believe he missed the signs of treachery that pointed to Peter. He hated himself for suggesting making Peter the Secret Keeper. How could he have been so stupid!?

He soon found Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form, trying to run away. The moment he thought it was safe, Peter transformed. Big mistake.

"WORMTAIL YOU TRAITOR GET OVER HERE!" shouted Sirius. Peter whipped around and started shaking.

"Wh-wh-what do you want Sirius?" squeaked Peter.

"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I WANT! WHY DID YOU DO IT? THEY WERE YOUR FRIENDS AND YOU BETRAYED THEM YOU—"

"Sirius stop!" shouted a female voice. Sirius turned around and found Martina running toward him. He didn't realize she followed him. Did she want as much revenge as he did, or did she come to keep him from doing something stupid? Knowing Martina he had to go with the latter.

"Martina what—"

"Sirius I know what you're planning to do and the answer is no. You can't kill him," Martina pleaded, but Sirius was beyond reason.

"He deserves it," Sirius snarled. "He deserves to die! The filthy rat got Lily and James killed! They were his friends and—"

"I know what he's done! But let the Ministry deal with him! If you kill him you'll—"

"I"LL BE AVENGING LILY AND JAMES'S DEATHS!" shouted Sirius.

"YOU'LL BE IN AZKABAN! AZKABAN WILL RUIN YOU!" shouted Martina. Sirius was going to retort, but Peter started screaming too, louder than both Sirius and Martina.

"HOW COULD YOU SIRIUS? LILY AND JAMES SIRIUS! HOW COULD YOU?" shouted Peter. Several Muggles had already woken up and had just witnessed Peter accusing Sirius of betraying his friends.

"HOW DARE YOU!" shouted Sirius.

"Sirius stop! Please!" pleaded Martina, tears shimmering in her eyes. Stepped right in front of Sirius and attempted to hold him back.

"Get out of my way Martina! He deserves this!" shouted Sirius.

"WHAT ABOUT KYLA? WHAT WILL SHE DO WITHOUT HER FATH—"

BANG!

Sirius and Martina were blown backwards. Sirius choked on dust and rubble and looked to see Peter escape into the sewers in his Animagus form. All that was left were blood-stained robes and a finger. He looked around to find several Muggles screaming and about a dozen bodies lifeless on the ground.

Peter Pettigrew had framed Sirius for killing himself and twelve Muggles with a Baslting Curse. Sirius felt around for Martina. The moment he found her, he saw she was not moving either. She was limp on the hard jagged concrete with blood trickling from underneath her blonde hair.

He tried to wake her up, screaming and sobbing at the same time. She didn't wake up or speak. Martina Black was dead too. Sirius let out a loud scream, similar to one of a dying animal. He screamed himself hoarse and a second later, he began to laugh.

It was a mad, insane, mirthless laugh with no happiness whatsoever. It was the laugh of a man who had just lost everything. The sound of Apparition reached his ears and about twenty Aurors were surrounding him.

Ministry official Bartemius Crouch Sr. was pointing his wand at Sirius's heart.

"Sirius Black! Lower your wand or we will aim to kill!" he shouted threateningly. Two Aurors seized his arms and bound them behind his back, yet his deranged laughter went on.

Kyla, Harry, I'm so sorry. I failed as your guardians. But I will see you two again and you both will know the truth.