It was the thirty-first of October, and Sirius shook his raven black hair out of his eyes as he spoke to his friend. Remus was reading the daily prophet and drinking muggle orange juice.

"I think I'll go visit James," Sirius said sheepishly, "as its Halloween and all."

"You do that," Remus replied not really listening because he was absorbed in his newspaper.

"By the way," Sirius said, "have you seen Wormtail anywhere?"

"No," Remus said taking his eyes off his newspaper, "I haven't seen him for a while, and he hasn't answered my owls."

"Me neither. Well, see you. Have fun with your grandmother!" Sirius laughed and went out the door brushing his elegant black hair out of his eyes.

He pulled his flying motorbike out from under its invisible cover, and got on it. On his way he wondered what Lily and James were doing and also what was going on with Peter. He listened to the rumble of his motorbike underneath him and laughed at himself internally. Who cared why Peter wasn't in touch. Maybe he was visiting his aunt by broom or something. Sirius had never liked Peter very much. He had put up with him because James liked him so much… and trusted him so much…

An owl whooshed by. Sirius didn't know why but he suddenly remembered something. It was at Hogwarts and he and James had resolved to try and drop out of Divination permanently. But neither of them did anything but stare at the teacher stupidly. After the lesson they asked each other why they hadn't done anything. To clear their conscience, they both resolved to drop out of that Muggle Studies (which James had only signed up for because Lily had and Sirius and James had to share the same classes) that very day. Neither of them did. Sirius smiled at the memory. He and James had had such a good time at Hogwarts.

James and Lily were a good couple, Sirius thought, they always stuck together. Unless you count James stalking her endlessly until seventh year at Hogwarts. James had asked Lily out about four thousand times before she finally agreed. Sirius laughed because James had told him many times that he was lucky that so many girls liked him, and yet James was the one who ended up married.

And then a sudden spasm of horror made Sirius's insides seem to disappear. As he approached where Lily and James's house should have been, he saw a pile of rubble instead.

"N-no." he whispered hoarsely, "H-he, would – would never – never –"

He came closer and landed near the pile of rubble. He saw two lumps in the pile of rubble and uncovered them both. Then he opened his eyes and looked down upon the dead bodies of Lily and James Potter. It was not raining, but something wet rolled down his check and he brushed it away. He held each of their still and cold hands in his. He did not want to believe they were dead, but there they were, in front of him, and he had to believe it.

"Mmm – mm" He said, it was all he could manage, a low moan. He felt as if his throat had closed up. He couldn't breath. He let go of Lily and James's hands and then saw a piece of rubble shift slightly. He ran towards the piece of rubble that had shifted and moved it aside. Underneath it was a small baby boy with jet black hair and emerald green eyes. Sirius picked up the baby and cradled it in his arms and noticed a thin, lighting bolt shaped cut on his forehead. He wiped the small trickle of blood from it and kissed Harry on the cheek.

How did a little guy like you survive? Sirius thought astounded, but too blinded by grief to wonder for too long, How could peter betray you…Lily and James… us? He was not capable of normal speech.

A huge figure of a man approached slowly and said "Oh, S-Sirius, I'm on Dumbledore's orders. I 'ave to get Harry. Sources say 'e was s-still a-alive. I 'ave to bring 'im to Dumbledore." The low and broke several times, as if the speaker was about to cry.

"Hagrid," Sirius managed to say. As sad and angry as he was about Lily and James's deaths, he loved Harry almost as much as he had loved them, and was able to speak, only for Harry. "Give H-Harry to me, I'm his g-godfather. I'll t-take care of him."

"N-no," Hagrid said, "Dumbledore says I 'ave to bring Harry straight to 'im."

"No! P-please. I need to – I have to –"

"No! It's Dumbledore's orders –"

"Who cares Hagrid, who cares? Doesn't it seem right that he goes with his g-godfather?"

"I'm sorry Sirius." Hagrid said and pried the baby from Sirius's arms.

"I at least want to make sure he is safe on the journey," Sirius said, "so here." And he muttered an engorgement charm making his motorbike swell to an enormous size. "Use my motorbike," Sirius added, "I won't be needing it."

"Thanks," Hagrid said shakily, patting Sirius on the shoulder comfortingly, taking care not to hit too hard, "I'm r-really, really sorry 'bout Lily and James, Sirius."

"I know," Sirius said, "me too." But he was way beyond sorry. And now the grief that had filled him was being combined with anger. Uncontrollable anger, at Peter Pettigrew. The traitor! The betraying rat! As Hagrid got onto the giant motorbike and rode away Sirius began to sob uncontrollably. Huge, shoulder shaking sobs vibrated through his body and he felt tears stream thickly down his face.

The anger was building up inside Sirius, driving him mad. He drew breath and then bellowed out into the still, empty night, "RAT! TRAITOR! HOW YOU DARED?" and then, panting, he turned into a large black dog and lay awake by the dead bodies of his friends all night, unable to make another sound. And for one moment, the haunting mystery of Harry's survival prodded at Sirius's mind, but frankly, he didn't care how Harry survived; only that he was alive, and that Lily and James were dead. He would shortly find out why Harry survived but for now, he let it go completely and another, horrible thought haunted him. It's my fault, was all he could think, it's all my fault…

The next day…

"I'm tracking him down," Sirius said to the body of James when the sun rose, "I'm tracking him down and I'm going to kill him!" He sounded almost cheerful. Sirius heard himself and wondered whether he was going mad. But he worked tirelessly for the next three hours and a half to track Peter down. And he succeeded.

Sirius was backing up into the corner of the street, and had his wand out, and he was scowling and pointing his wand at where Peter's heart supposedly was. But to the people in the street in looked like Peter had tracked Sirius down, which was certainly not what had happened.

"Sirius! Sirius, how could you? You betrayed Lily and James!" Peter yelled out, and then Sirius saw him step over the opening in the street for the sewer, silently slip his wand out of his cloak pocket and hide it behind his back. Then he muttered something under his breath and with a flash of blinding purple-blue light he was gone, with only a bloody finger left behind, and a pile of clothes. But Sirius knew better than to believe he was dead. He had cut off his finger and transformed into a rat.

Sirius was driven temporarily mad when Peter had got away. He laughed, and laughed… manically for no reason, even when Aurors took him straight to jail joyously shouting "He's gone! You-Know-Who's gone!" And there he sat, for twelve long, tedious years, keeping himself alive with only one though; he was innocent. Until one fateful day twelve years later…