Prophecies and Shattered Trust.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. However, since Rowling discarded my favourite characters I picked them up and took them into my care to give them the love and attention they deserve...and occasionally give them reason to need that love and attention no matter how much they deserve it without needing a reason.
Summary: Being a Secret-Keeper is a very dangerous position to be in; so why would James ever risk Sirius' safety like that if it was possible to be his own Secret-Keeper? And what might have been changed with that decision.
Warnings: Strong bromance and some horribly written fighting. Don't like either, then push the return button. Character deaths; though none good guys. Dark Dumbledore.
Special thanks to the utterly amazing Kitty; for her endless patience with my horrible grammar and continuously made mistakes. You are a gift of Merlin and I cannot thank you enough for all your patience and help!
NOT A PART OF THE A BOND Of FAMILY SERIES!
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"I don't like any of this," James grumbled as he and Lily stood before Dumbledore in his office.
"I assume you, James, if there was any other way, I would let you know. The Dark Lord is putting all of his effort into tracking your families down now that we are gaining grounds in this war and my sources were able to tell me he is researching all there is to know about prophecies."
"Meaning he is once more focusing on the one made about Harry or Neville," Lily concluded, worry for her son eating at her even though she knew he was safe with his godfather.
"The best course of action would be to go into hiding under the Fidelius for the time being. Frank and Alice are using Augusta so I could be your Secret-Keeper if you wish, it would be..."
"No," James cut him off. "If I have to use a Secret-Keeper, Sirius will be the one."
"Are you sure that is wise?" Dumbledore asked. "I know you trust him, but it are dark times."
"Are you implying Sirius isn't trustworthy?" James looked scandalised and Lily could not blame him as she knew no one was more trustworthy than their best friend.
"I would not dare to imply anything as I know how much you trust him," Dumbledore tried to reassure James. "But it are dark times and we do not know who the spy in our midst is, it could be anyone."
"Not Sirius," Lily declared as James bristled. "We both trust him with our lives; with our son's life."
"Very well," Dumbledore nodded resigned. "So you will use Sirius as your Secret-Keeper?"
"Possibly," James shortly said.
"Do you want me to perform the spell?" Dumbledore asked softly; clearly aware of James' anger at his doubt to Sirius' integrity.
"No, we'll be fine. We should go get ready," he rose to his feet; Lily followed his example and with a short greeting they left.
"I don't like this at all," James repeated as they quickly travelled out of Hogwarts and made their way to where they could Apparate.
"Me neither," Lily admitted. "The Prophecy was made over a year ago already. What would make him focus on it now?"
"I don't know, but we can't take any chances," taking her hand, James Apparated them quickly back home, where Sirius was already waiting for them.
"Harry's asleep?" Lily asked when she could not see her son anywhere.
"I put him down for his afternoon nap barely ten minutes ago, anticipating you'd return soon and would want to talk freely," Sirius poured them all a cup of tea. "What did he summon you for?"
"Apparently Voldemort is going after the Prophecy."
"Right, even if we don't believe in it, apparently he does," Sirius sighed. "What do you need me to do?"
"Nothing. We'll have to cast the Fidelius Charm for our safety," James sighed as he sat down across of Sirius. "The sooner the better."
"Do you want to do so here, or pick a safe house elsewhere and try to keep this place safe for after the war?" Sirius simply asked and Lily blessed his ability to accommodate to changes.
"We won't have time to find a proper safe house so this will have to do," James rubbed a hand over his head. "Dumbledore offered to be our Secret-Keeper."
Sirius only looked up to him and a silent moment passed between the two friends, a small smile crossed James' lips and he nodded as if the other had actually spoken. "Yeah, I don't like how he keeps telling people what to do either. It's too dangerous to use someone like him and I won't risk my family's safety to someone I don't fully trust."
"The safest option would be to be your own Secret-Keeper," Sirius pondered. "No one can betray or endanger your safety accidentally that way."
"Is that possible?" Lily frowned when James blinked surprised.
"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"
"Dumbledore said that Frank and Alice used Augusta as theirs, so I just automatically assumed it wasn't possible," Lily admitted. "Why would they risk her like that if it's not necessary?"
"I don't know," Sirius shrugged.
"I have to admit I hadn't thought about it, but it's indeed possible to become my own Secret-Keeper," James looked so relieved Sirius turned to him confused.
"Who did you originally have in mind then?"
"You. I hated the mere idea of putting you in so much danger, painting a huge target on your back, but you are the only one I trust completely. But now that I know this, I won't have to put you in any danger at all."
"While I don't mind in the slightest to become even more of a target than I already am, I would have objected to the pure obviousness of your choice. I refuse to be the reason you'd be at risk even more in the event I'd break under torture," Sirius' disregard for his own safety and well-being always alarmed Lily and suddenly she was relieved the other had mentioned the other way.
"Yeah, there is just so much wrong with that sentence that I'm not even going to try to address it," James shook his head sadly. "You'll be out there alone...if anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do."
"I'll be careful," Sirius reached out to squeeze James' hand. "I'll team up with Fabian and Gideon while you are in hiding and yes, you are going into hiding with your family."
"Because keeping our family safe is the most important thing," even though he didn't look happy about it, James didn't argue. "But if I am going to go into hiding, I want you to take my cloak and keep it with you at all times."
"All right, how are we going to tell the others about the Secret?"
"I'll prepare a piece of enchanted paper that you can hand out to Remus and Peter. They can destroy it after reading so the secret doesn't end up in the wrong hands and not everyone knows."
"And because you'll enchant it, only they will be able to open it, good idea," Sirius glanced at his pocket watch. "When do you want to cast the Fidelius?"
"We'll cast it right away," James rose to his feet. "In between missions, I want you here, though."
"James..."
"It is not up for argument," Lily backed James up. "Even though James will be the Secret-Keeper, most will still assume you are. And although we cannot force you to remain hidden with us in here, we can ensure you will at least be safe in between missions."
"I can live with that," Sirius agreed, clearly aware arguing would be futile. "I'm already added to the wards so I can Apparate directly onto your doorstep without risking anyone following me, so that won't be a problem. But I will need to leave soon if I am to make it to the meeting in time and still drop by my own house if I'm to stay here."
"Let me retrieve his cloak so that we can do this, then," Lily rose to her feet as well and fifteen minutes later she and James waved Sirius off as the other left with the enchanted pieces of papers.
The knowledge that the other would be basically moving in with them drew a lot of comfort to both of them and Lily made sure the guest room was readied for his return.
The Fidelius made Lily feel safe and although she remained on guard as the first days slipped past, she was still surprised when James' mirror began to shrill in urgency and her husband fumbled to pull it out of his pocket.
"Sirius, what's wrong?"
"There was an attack, I cast the Muffliato but I need you to tell Fabian and Gideon the secret."
"Potter Cottage is on number 7 Godric's Hollow," James didn't waste any time asking questions at the sound of Sirius' urgent tone and moments later the sound of Apparition had them both running to the door.
"Help me with him," Sirius looked worse for wear, his clothes ripped and covered in blood. Fabian Prewett didn't look much better, though neither looked as horrible as the blood-covered man hanging limply between the two.
James hurried to help drag Gideon inside and to the second guest room so there was no chance of Harry walking in on the scene.
"What happened?" Lily asked as she looked Fabian over while James and Sirius focused on healing Gideon's wounds.
"We were ambushed," Fabian' breathing stocked as she reset the bone in his arm. "There were five Death Eaters; they burst into our home out of nowhere. If Sirius hadn't come to discuss our next assignment, I don't think we'd have made it out alive."
"I don't know about that, you were holding your own pretty well," Sirius winced as James accidentally brushed against his side to reach Gideon's bleeding side.
"We weren't the ones able to kill the Lestranges," Fabian took a deep breath as Lily finished healing him.
"What?"
"Oh, yes. Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan are dead," Sirius confirmed offhandedly. "As is Dolohov and a guy I didn't recognise."
"Barty Crouch," Fabian said. "I recognised the little bastard from seeing him with his father at the Ministry."
"I didn't know he was a Death Eater," James frowned. "But it sure explains how all of the Aurors kept arriving at abandoned scenes as he could alert the Death Eaters the moment they were dispatched."
"Makes one wonder just how many ones we don't know about are out there," Lily stripped Gideon out of his ruined clothes and covered him with the blanket while James turned to Sirius.
"Will he be all right?" Fabian asked as he sat down in the chair Lily pulled up to the bed.
"Yeah, he will be," James reassured him without looking up from his healing. "He got extremely lucky."
"We both did," Fabian confirmed, turning to Sirius. "I never even said thank you for saving our asses."
"You'd do the same for us," Sirius shrugged, wincing as the movement pulled on his shoulder. "But I'm pretty sure we pissed Voldemort off horribly by killing three of his best lieutenants."
"I still can't believe you managed to take out Bellatrix Lestrange," Fabian breathed out a disbelieving laugh. "One moment she is torturing Gid while bragging on how she'd do to him what she did to Fenwick, the next she's exploding into tiny pieces herself."
"Seemed fitting for what she's done to Benjy. But it was pure luck that I came by earlier than we'd planned. I was supposed to meet up with Peter now that he's returned from his own mission but as it was, I could barely hand over your note before he suddenly had to leave again," Sirius rotated his arm once James had healed it and nodded at him gratefully. "That reminds me, Rookwood and Mulciber are dead, too."
"How'd you manage that?" Lily blinked surprised.
"They were on the look-out when I arrived, though I had no trouble taking them out during their surprise at my unexpected arrival," Sirius answered.
"You killed them?" Fabian asked.
"I don't follow Dumbledore's policy when everyone I know keeps being killed around me," Sirius sighed. "If I can prevent it, I don't, but if it's a choice between saving my comrades and keeping terrorists alive, I am not restraining my spells to prevent it."
"Oh no, I'm with you. Definitely never agreed to Dumbledore's policy either," Fabian quickly assured him. "Your actions saved our lives."
"You're welcome," Sirius smiled.
"So that's seven Death Eaters down," James leaned back against the wall, laughing. "You are right, he will be pissed off."
"Somehow I can't really care about too much right now," Sirius' expression tightened. "What I do wonder about is the attacks on Order member homes that are suddenly happening."
"It's kind of the smart move, isn't it?" Lily asked. "Attack them when they deem themselves to be safe?"
"It is, but how do they know who are Order members and when they will be home? I mean, they have never struck wrong so far or at a time no one was home. And all the houses are in public enough areas that they couldn't have staked them out without being noticed."
"I'm not getting your point," Fabian admitted.
"It means the spy in our own ranks is leaking all that information to the Death Eaters," James rubbed a hand over his face.
"We already knew someone was leaking information, didn't we?" Lily frowned.
"But who knows that much information about everyone? I mean, none of us is informed of when another is on a mission. It's all being kept a secret, even from each other, isn't it?" Sirius looked at them all.
"Dumbledore knows," Fabian said after a moment of hesitation. "He is the only one who knows where every Order member is at any given time. But what could he possible gain by passing information to the other side and getting his own people killed?"
"I notice you are not immediately dismissing my claim," Sirius raised an eyebrow, making Fabian sigh.
"No, I'm not. Because you are right and it's not the first time I've questioned the man's methods. The Bones, the McKinnons? It's all a bit too much of a coincidence to me and Gideon both."
"Not to mention Benjy and Meadowes or Dearborn's mysterious disappearance," Sirius swallowed. "Have you noticed that the most influential witches and wizards are the only ones attacked in full force?"
"I have," Fabian admitted. "All people who have either the political power or backing to force the Ministry's hand for changes should the war ever end. Gideon and I, you guys and the Longbottoms...we're all ones who have been attacked, though we're the only ones who've made it out alive so far."
"Not for long if things continue the way they've been," James scoffed.
"Fair enough, but the point is what Dumbledore would have to gain...unless..." Fabian trailed off.
"Unless what?" James asked.
"Right now, Dumbledore is the most known person on our side of the war. With all the influential people gone, he will be the one people will keep looking at."
"So you are saying he's arranging people's deaths to ensure he remains the top dog?" Lily asked.
"Perhaps not necessarily the top dog, but the one everyone looks to for answers," James ran a hand through his hair. "Isn't that how he works now, too? He is the only one with all the information, only sharing what he deems is important. It's led us into trouble more than once, simply because we didn't have all the information necessary."
"Fair enough. But how do we prove it?" Fabian glanced at his brother. "Before more innocent people get killed."
"That's something I don't know," Sirius sighed. "Nor do I know who is the traitor amongst us."
"Didn't we just establish Dumbledore's the one?" Fabian frowned.
"You actually believe he leaks information himself?" Sirius snorted. "He wouldn't be that stupid."
"No, someone else is his lackey and leaking the information to the Death Eaters," James agreed. "The question is who."
"Well, there's not that many of us left," Lily pointed out. "We can rule all of us and the Longbottoms out, so who is left?"
"Let's gather in the living room, I'd rather not disturb his rest," Sirius nodded to the still unconscious Gideon. "I'll set an alarm so we'll be warned if he wakes."
Nodding, they all moved to the living room, sitting down while Lily magically provided them with drinks.
"So we've got Hagrid, Fletcher, Vance, Doge, Lupin, Pettigrew, Diggle, Aberforth and Moody," Fabian summed up.
"We can rule Moody, Dung and Vance out immediately," Sirius said.
"Not Pettigrew and Lupin?" Fabian asked surprised.
"I don't believe either of them would ever be a traitor; but I cannot immediately rule them out like I can those three," Sirius admitted honestly as he folded his fingers around his hot cup to warm them up.
"As much as it pains me to admit it, Sirius is right," James sighed. "Neither of our friends has ever been directly attacked the way Moody and Vance have repeatedly been. And although Dung is a petty thief and definitely loyal to Dumbledore, he is also a coward and can't lie convincingly even if his life depended on it."
"Doge, Diggle and Hagrid are also loyal to Dumbledore," Fabian pointed out.
"Not Hagrid," Sirius shook his head. "The man isn't sly enough to play double agent the way the spy has done even if I have no doubt he's accidentally revealed information before. And Diggle hasn't been to enough Order meetings to be able to provide good information."
"Doge then?"
"I can't rule him out," James said. "Same with Aberforth; though I doubt he's the one."
"He might dislike his brother and run a shady bar, but he wouldn't pass on information to a man he hates even more and certainly wouldn't work for his brother as a double spy," Sirius confirmed.
"So putting Doge on the suspect list; that only leaves Pettigrew and Lupin," Fabian cleared his throat. "Since I'm pretty sure none of you are the traitors either."
Sirius and James shared a look that made Lily's chest tighten, not wanting it to be true that they were suspecting their closest friends. But all their points so far were more than logical and true and they were left with only three possibilities.
"What about Lupin?"
"No," Sirius immediately said.
"He's a werewolf," Fabian pointed out, even though he looked guilty even mentioning it.
"That doesn't immediately make him evil," Sirius shot back.
"I am aware, but he is also uncannily loyal to Dumbledore."
"So were we," James pointed out.
"Remus is a lot of things and it is true that he is very loyal to Dumbledore, but he would not betray us for anything," Sirius' voice held such a strong confidence that Fabian automatically raised his hands in defence.
"I'm just trying to rule people out properly."
"I know, sorry," Sirius ran a hand over his face tiredly. "I trust Remus and I know that isn't a free pass as the traitor is clearly someone we trust, I can't believe even for a moment that it is Remus. I know him better than I know myself."
"I get what you are saying; but we cannot permit to let our personal feelings get into this. All that you personally know about him aside, could Lupin be a traitor in theory?"
"He hates dark wizards," James said.
"But can you rule him out?" Fabian repeated.
"No," James admitted after another long shared look with Sirius, the other looking down pained.
"So we put him on the suspect list as a maybe," Fabian decided. "What about Pettigrew?"
"I can't imagine Peter would betray us," James bit his lip. "He is our friend..."
"But I can't rule him out confidently," Sirius quietly admitted, distress clearly visible on both of their faces at having to admit that. "Can you?"
"No," James admitted after a few moments. "Same story as with Remus."
Cursing colourfully, James ran a hand through his hair again. "Peter would be a good bet, if we are truly going down that road."
"Loyal to Dumbledore, unassuming and unnoticed," Lily nodded against her own wishes to do so. "He would be dismissed by most as even a suspected traitor."
"I can't believe we are even discussing this in the first place," Sirius choked out, rising to his feet and beginning to pace. "He's our friend, they both are. What could either of them possibly have to gain by betraying us?"
"I don't know. But we've ruled almost everyone else out," Fabian said.
"We haven't ruled out Doge either," James pointed out, hesitating as he bit his lip. "But I can't see him being the traitor either. He is known as Dumbledore's man and I can't see Voldemort ever trusting him enough to keep him on as a double agent."
"So that leaves Lupin and Pettigrew; both unlikely and very much loved...but our only suspects left," Fabian quietly said and Sirius' pacing suddenly came to a stop and he turned back to them, horrified.
"I just gave..." whatever Sirius was going to say was cut off as the front door exploded and he was blasted off his feet.
Jumping to their feet; all three of them drew their wands even as Sirius was slammed headfirst into the opposite wall and remained down, blood beginning to pool around his head.
"Sirius!" James managed to magically shove his best friend aside as a green flash of light was shot his way, before pulling a lamp into the path of the killing curse directed at himself and he cursed as he couldn't afford to check on Sirius as he was immediately assaulted again.
His heart hammered in his throat as he fought against Voldemort's assault; aware this was the proof at least one of their two friends had betrayed them as they were the only ones who knew the secret of where they were.
He was only half aware of the others fighting beside him; needing all of his attention on the fight as Voldemort fought more furiously than he'd ever seen him do so before.
It was clear that he hadn't been counting on the presence of Fabian and the other fought like a lion; but he was still sluggish and James knew they didn't have much of a chance, especially with Sirius down as well.
"Siri."
James' heart stopped at the voice of his infant son and he turned mid-shielding to see the child step out of his bedroom on shaky legs; only recently having begun to walk and now trying to make his way to Sirius' unconscious form just a few steps from his bedroom.
Harry didn't seem aware of the curses flashing around him; his little green eyes fixated on the still form of his beloved godfather and even as both James and Lily moved to intercept the curse Voldemort sent at their son; he already knew neither of them would make it in time and he cried out.
"Harry!" A flash of blinding green light raced through the air in what seemed like slow motion; reaching the little boy at the same time he fell down beside Sirius and the walls behind them exploded upon impact, the force of it knocking James, Fabian and Lily off their feet.
"No!" Lily screamed even as Voldemort's cruel laughter rang out above the ringing in James' ears before it suddenly cut off, but James couldn't focus on anything but trying to get to where his son had been before the blast. A overwhelming certainty that if he could just get there, he could undo what had happened grabbed hold of him, erasing any other thought from his mind as he fought to get to his feet.
Shaking his head several times to try and clear his ears and mind; James felt his heart release the tight band that had formed around it as the sound of crying registered suddenly.
Falling back to his knees as through the dust and debris still falling something shaped as a human became visible, he scrambled to the sound of his son's crying, more on feeling than actually seeing anything properly.
"Harry..." he coughed as he felt around for his glasses, having lost them in the blast, but abandoned his search as he heard his son's quiet sobs more clearly now.
"James."
"Siri..." James blindly reached out, choking on tears when his hand was grabbed by a very familiar one and he used that grip to pull himself forward, relief at knowing his best friend was also still alive overwhelming him momentarily as it suddenly made sense how Harry could be crying.
"He's all right," the same hand still holding his pushed it against a small stomach and two small hands grabbed onto him.
"Daddy," Harry cried as he half turned in Sirius' hold, letting himself be pulled into his father's arms and James didn't care that he was crying and snot was running down his nose as he clung to his son with all his might.
"It's all right, Harry...it's going to be all right," he quietly promised the distressed child, looking up to meet Sirius' blurry face but he couldn't make much more out than a shape with all the dust still flying around. "How..."
"Damn," Fabian's voice startled James as he hadn't even thought of the others, but he sensed Lily just before she slammed into him from the side and managed to release Harry so that she could pull him into her arms, crying as hard as he was.
"Is everyone all right?" James asked after a few moments once he managed to compose himself, having clung to Sirius in relief and looked down as something was pressed into his hands, needing a moment to realise it were his glasses before putting them on. "Thanks."
"I'm bruised all over, but I'll live and Lily's fine, too," Fabian informed him, quickly repairing James' glasses so that he could actually see something through them and he immediately sought out Harry, relieved to see his son was completely unharmed despite being covered in dust and debris. "I'll get you out of there in no time."
Turning back to Sirius, James realised the other was mostly pinned by pieces of the ceiling that had come down and immediately began to help Fabian free him. "Merlin...Siri?"
"I'm not sure what happened," his best friend blinked unsteadily once he was free, blood caking the left side of his face completely and still running down freely.
Quickly casting a diagnostic scan to determine his skull was cracked, James healed it but Sirius didn't even seem to notice the change as Fabian manoeuvred him to a steady piece of wall still standing, to lean against. "Harry cried my name, I grabbed him and there was a flash and the wall exploded. What happened?"
"I don't know. Harry came out of the bedroom and Voldemort shot the killing curse at him. Voldemort!" Alarmed, James turned with his wand up but even as the sudden movement made the world spin, Lily's hand shot out to steady him.
"Voldemort?" Sirius sounded more confused than anything else. "What?"
"He's dead."
"What?"
"Sirius killed him," Lily informed him as she kept a hand on his arm until he'd found his balance again. "Fabian already confirmed it."
Following her line of sight, James was speechless to see Voldemort's corpse lying on the ground several meters from them.
"I did?"
The sheer absurdness of Sirius' confused statement had all three of them burst out into laughter, regardless of the tears running down their cheeks and in a blur they all hugged each other.
"How the hell did you both survive?" Fabian asked amazed as James healed all of their injuries before pulling Sirius into another hug.
"I don't know," Sirius admitted, automatically wrapping his arms around Harry as the boy used the opportunity to crawl back into his godfather's lap; where he must have been when the wall exploded as the wounds on Sirius' arms and back matched to having protected a small child with his body. "Harry cried my name and I knew I needed to protect him no matter what. But I can't remember using magic."
"Instinct is a very strong thing so you might have used it wandless without knowing," Fabian clasped Sirius' shoulder and ruffled Harry's hair, making the child look up from clinging to his godfather.
"Siri?" Big green eyes looked up to him and Sirius smiled down.
"Hey pup. Are you all right?"
A simple tightening of small hands was enough of an answer that Harry was truly shaken and Sirius pulled him in closer, tensing suddenly. "Someone's outside."
"Stupefy!" Lily moved faster than lightening and was on the move before James had even been able to get his bearing, let alone rise to his feet. But Fabian was already off after her so he turned back to his best friend, aware they had it under control.
"Are you all right?" He asked as he sat down beside him, because if Sirius was even remotely as dizzy and disorientated as he looked, it was probably the best thing to just remain seated for now.
"Is he truly dead?"
"It seems so," James shared Sirius' disbelief so he rose to his feet and poked the dead body with a piece of debris before checking magically. "He is."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
Sending another killing curse at him just to be on the safe side, James nodded. "Absolutely."
"Good," Sirius leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, taking a shaky breath as tears formed in his eyes. "So Peter is the traitor?"
"We don't..." James paused as he remembered how Sirius had turned to them just moments before everything had gone to hell. "That's what you were going to say, wasn't it? Just before..."
"Peter left so quickly after I'd given him the paper, I should have realised something was up."
"We can't know for sure," James hesitated.
"We can. I gave Remus the secret the same day we cast the Fidelius and he burned the paper after reading it. I didn't get a chance to do so with Peter, heck, I didn't even get the chance to tell him you were your own Secret-Keeper. It's the only way Voldemort could've found us."
James cursed softly. "You couldn't have known...none of us could."
"You better believe it is true, though," Fabian sounded grimly and they both looked up to see him drag a motionless, but very familiar form, into the house. "I found him outside."
Lily looked furious, but didn't spare Peter a glance as she knelt down beside Sirius. "Are you all right?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Sirius straightened a little without dislodging Harry.
"We weren't the ones slammed into a wall and in the midst of an explosion," Fabian shrugged.
"Wall...Gideon?"
"He's fine, still sleeping like a rose," Fabian snorted. "He won't believe me when he comes to and I tell him what's happened."
"I've been present for it all and I don't even know if I believe it," Lily breathed out a laugh. "But I noticed you still haven't answered the question."
"I'm all right. Bit woozy and these is this ringing in my ears that is getting really annoying, but I'm all right."
He didn't look all right, but James couldn't really blame him for that as he reached out to brush some dirt from his brother's cheek, getting an amused glance in return and suddenly James couldn't help but pull him into another embrace just to ensure himself he was truly still alive.
"I've alerted Moody to come over," Fabian said after a moment and they'd separated again. "But you will have to allow him entrance."
"Will the Fidelius still do any good when half the house is gone?" Sirius wondered, tensing slightly as Harry sleepily curled against him more firmly to not be dislodged with his movements but he didn't comment on the child's clinginess, only tightened his own hold momentarily to assure him he wasn't going anywhere.
"Any bit of protection is useful when half of us are down," Lily levelled a look at both James and Sirius. "I'm pretty amazed you are even sitting up with how dreadful you look and James looks like a walking dust factory."
"There's such a thing as a dust factory?" The confused question was a statement of just how far out of it Sirius still was, so James shifted to sit beside him, so he could lean against him.
"We should get him out of the rubble," he noted and Fabian immediately stepped forward, though he was unable to stop from smiling as neither adult nor child made any move to separate from each other to be even remotely helpful in moving.
"I'm just going to..." abruptly turning with his wand drawn, Fabian's expression tightened as he peered out of the ruined house before whispering. "It's Dumbledore."
"How does he know where to find us?" Lily kept her voice soft as well, rising to her feet and drawing her wand.
"I don't know, but he clearly knows the secret or he wouldn't be here," James got to his feet as Sirius stumbled up to kneel and steadied him as he turned to the guest room where Gideon was.
"Harry, I need you to go to Uncle Gideon and stay with him. Don't come out for anything unless one of us gives you the password, all right?"
James swallowed as his son nodded to Sirius and entered the guest-room without argument, letting Sirius close the door behind him and he blessed his brother's suspicious mind to make sure the child was prepared for possible danger properly.
"Let's get this over with," Sirius whispered once Harry was safe and drew his wand as well.
"Will you be all right?" Fabian fell back to flank Sirius' other side, kneeling beside him as James clearly wasn't the only one worried by how pale the other still was.
"I'll have to be," Sirius' expression closed off and his eyes narrowed. "Lift the Fidelius."
Doing as he asked without comment, James watched from the cover of debris as Dumbledore stepped into the house; looking around and blinking surprised as his gaze fell upon Voldemort's corpse.
"James? Lily?"
"Stay down," Sirius' hand shot out to keep Fabian down. "He doesn't know the two of us are here."
Nodding their understanding to Sirius' plan, James and Lily stepped out from behind the debris that was still effectively hiding their two friends.
"Dumbledore?" Lily managed to sound confused and breathless and if James hadn't known his wife was utterly fine, he would have worried she was hurt. But as it was he immediately realised she was acting hurt so Dumbledore would underestimate her.
"Lily, thank goodness you are all right, my dear," relief spread over Dumbledore's elderly features as he turned to them. "And my dear boy, I came as soon as I could."
"How did you find us?"
"Sirius told me the Secret a few days ago," Dumbledore took a deep shaky breath that would've been convincing if James hadn't known the truth. "Are you both all right? What happened here?"
"We were attacked tonight," Lily said. "He tried to kill Harry."
"Is Harry all right?" Dumbledore's head snapped up.
"He is," James nodded, not loosening his grip on his wand and he noticed Dumbledore was holding it tightly as well. "Why are you here?"
"I placed a monitor on your house to keep an extra eye out and they went off tonight; saying three killing curses were used here...I had to come see what had happened," Dumbledore swallowed in seemingly distress. "I am so happy you are all right. Where is Harry?"
"Safe," Lily calmly said. "Forgive me that I have a bit of trouble trusting anyone right now."
"I understand," Dumbledore' expression shifted to sadness. "I cannot believe he is the traitor we have been looking for. I never thought he would follow down the path of his ancestors."
Cold sweat ran down James' back as he realised Dumbledore was blaming Sirius for this and he momentarily wondered if the man wasn't faking it after all since James had been the one to say he'd use Sirius.
But then he realised that the man had said Sirius had told him the secret. "You said Sirius told you the secret?"
"Yes, he came by four days ago," Dumbledore confirmed. "Why?"
"Just wondering how he did so, since he wasn't the Secret-Keeper," James said.
"What? But you said..." Dumbledore's eyes widened as he seemed to realise he'd misspoken.
"There is a difference between saying and doing something. Did you really think for even one moment I would put my own brother in such danger if I didn't have to?" James snapped. "I've become my own Secret-Keeper and only three people knew the secret."
Technically five, since Gideon and Fabian knew as well, but there was no reason for Dumbledore to know that.
"One of whom is my own brother and the other two are Remus and Peter. Sirius witnessed Remus burning the paper I'd written the secret on in person so that leaves Peter; who left in a hurry after being given the secret in writing," James could no longer keep his voice even remotely pleasant. "So tell me, Dumbledore, did Peter run to you immediately before he went to warn his master?"
"I ...you must have misunderstood me. Sirius gave me the secret on paper four days ago, I just assumed he didn't want to say it out loud due to safety reasons," Dumbledore tried to regroup himself.
"Funny, because Sirius hasn't left our side outside of meetings and certainly doesn't trust you. So why would he entrust you with our location?" Lily wondered out loud. "And his distrust got us thinking to just how many political strong players have been moved out of the way since the war started."
"What are you implying?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, his friendly demeanour disappearing all of a sudden.
"You tell us," Lily snapped. "Because I find it very alarming that you have come here; without any back up for what? If we were dead, then what business would you have here?"
"I came because I had to see if it was true and since only two killing curses were used, one of you three still had to be alive," Dumbledore spluttered. "I came to try and help."
"Or to finish the job?" James asked. "Because it has not skipped my attention that you are holding your wand rather aggressively right now. Or that you are indeed here alone when at any other time, we would check a hit location with a group just to be safe."
"I don't like these accusations you are throwing at me but I understand that you must both be very shaken by what has happened here tonight so I will simply ignore it," a pleasant, clearly attempt at calming them, smile appeared on Dumbledore's face. "Have you contacted anyone for help yet or to tell them what happened?"
"No, we haven't had the chance yet," Lily shook her head; a truth since Fabian and Sirius had already been present when the attack happened and the former had been the one to contact Moody.
"All right."
James didn't react in time as a jet of green light suddenly shot in his direction, but before it could reach him, a shadow appeared before James and Dumbledore was blasted off his feet as the killing curse rebounded to him and Sirius appeared from behind the rubble.
"I really don't like how people keep on trying to kill my friends today," he growled even as all of them stared down at Dumbledore in shock.
"How..."
"I can't believe..." James broke his question off at the sound of Moody's voice and turned to see him and Vance stand in the broken door opening, staring at Dumbledore's corpse with wide eyes.
"When did you two arrive?" Lily blinked.
"Just after Albus did," Moody managed to bring out without tearing his gaze off his oldest friend. "I didn't like what I was hearing so I kept hidden. I can't believe he's the one...but it makes so much sense now."
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Sirius sighed, nodding to Vance. "Nice to see you, Fabian warned you as well?"
"Yes. You look like crap, Black," Vance told him shakily, taking in his bloodied face and dirty clothes as she seemed unable to look down at Dumbledore. "What happened?"
"A wall blew up right behind me," Sirius brushed some debris from his clothes as he stepped forward with Fabian's help.
"I'm glad to see you are all right," Moody composed himself with some difficulties. "We discovered the ruins of your house about an hour ago, but although there were seven corpses there you were not among them. Is Gideon all right, as well?"
"Yes, Sirius saved our asses and brought us to safety," Fabian explained. "You've been on a roll today, haven't you?"
"I'm not particularly proud of that, you know," Sirius grumbled as he looked at Dumbledore. "I can't believe he would try to kill you guys like that."
"But he did. How did you rebound the curse like that? I didn't think it could be rebound?" Moody stepped away from Dumbledore's body as if it was contagious and James knew the man took the revelation of Dumbledore's true colours very hard.
"I didn't either. I just threw a mirror in its path as that was the nearest intact item I could spot," Sirius explained, gesturing to the undamaged mirror laying among the rubble that James was pretty sure had been hanging in the hallway. "I didn't know it would bounce back the way it did, I just wanted to protect them."
"Must be the reflective coating of the glass that made that possible," Lily mused, kneeling down to examine the mirror without actually touching it.
"I'm not complaining," James shrugged, trying not to let his shakiness show as it crashed down that their supposed leader had attempted to kill him and his wife and although they would now never get an explanation as to why he'd betrayed the people who had trusted him, he found that he didn't really care as the man had endangered his family. "I'm just glad he can't get anyone else killed any more."
"I'm holding on to that tightly," Moody muttered softly, not half as successful in hiding his emotions, but the man didn't even seem to notice as his gaze snapped up again. "Right, I guess I'll have to inform the others of what happened and...is that..."
"Oh, yes. Voldemort is dead," Fabian cheerfully said. "Sirius killed him."
"You...how?" Vance's eyes widened once more as she stared at Sirius.
"According to Dumbledore, I used a killing curse. But I must admit that I don't remember actually casting it as I was rather busy trying to protect Harry from an exploding wall," Sirius honestly told them.
"The kid all right?"
"Yes," stepping back over the debris to retrieve his son, James paused as the bedroom door opened and Gideon poked his head out, blinking confused at the chaos.
"What by Merlin's soggy underpants happened here?" Fabian's older twin brother was wearing James' spare bathrobe and was carrying Harry as the child waved happily upon seeing his family.
"A bit of a tussle, brother," Fabian beamed, hurrying back to pull his brother into a hug. "I'm glad you are all right."
"Yeah, same to you," Gideon's eyes scanned them all. "Seriously, though. What on earth happened here?"
"We were attacked by Voldyshorts himself and during the fight, he went after Harry so Sirius killed him."
"Okay," Gideon nodded, not looking the slightest bit surprised by that information. "So we finally managed to take him out, huh?"
"And Dumbledore while we were at it. Looks like you were right not to trust him, brother," Fabian sighed and this time Gideon did blink.
"What?"
As Fabian wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders and began to inform him and the newcomers of all that had happened tonight, James pulled his son out of Gideon's arms and carried him to Sirius as the toddler reached out for his godfather.
Once his son was safely in Sirius' arms, James wrapped his arms around them both and Harry looked up to them confused as Lily joined in on the hug, all three of them taking a long moment to just be happy their family was safe.
"Siri?"
"Yes, pup?"
"Harry bath?"
Laughing, Sirius nodded. "I think we could all use a bath right now, but it will have to wait for a bit longer."
"Okay," trusting his godfather to be right, Harry simply wrapped his small hands around his godfather's neck and cuddled into him.
"So what exactly is the plan from here?" Lily asked.
"We call the Ministry and start hunting down what's left of his followers," Moody swallowed. "And bring out the involvement of Dumbledore in all of this. People deserve to know the truth."
"Can we prove any of it without his own testimony?" Fabian asked.
"We will certainly try our hardest," Vance grimly said. "I'd like to say that with both You-Know-Who and Dumbledore out of the picture, the war is won. But I am afraid that would be too easy."
"We can pick Peter's mind to see what he knows about any followers," Sirius suggested. "And from there Moody can have the Aurors start making arrests. The knowledge that Dumbledore himself was corrupted will be evidence that Crouch needs to question everyone with Veritaserum to ensure the truth is told and hopefully make even more arrests."
"I will see to that personally," Moody growled. "But we should first get you all to safety because Sirius isn't the only one who looks like crap."
"Thanks," they chorused, a tiny smile forming on the serious face before it tightened again as his gaze fell on Dumbledore.
"Do you have a place you can go to?"
"I know a place that would work," Sirius hesitated. "What about Remus?"
"I don't know...he is still on a mission, isn't he?" James looked at Lily for confirmation.
"I think so. Can we trust him, though?"
James hated the uncertainty he suddenly felt at even his closest friends, all too aware that they hadn't been able to clear Remus as a suspect either.
"We will call him back immediately and I will confront him myself," Sirius said.
"Don't you think you are a little too involved to remain objective when questioning him?" Vance raised an eyebrow, flinching when grey eyes stared her down.
"We should be the ones to question Remus," James agreed with Sirius. "He is our friend; let him stare us into the face if he is truly wrong. We will use Legilimens if we have to, but I promise you, we will not risk our family. Not even for our dearest friends."
"I will send him a Patronus and have him meet us back at your place in an hour," Fabian said. "That will leave you time to get the rest settled in a new safe house."
"Us?" James raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not leaving you now. I am sincerely hoping you won't need the backup, but I am not willing to take the chance that you do."
"Very well, that settles that. I will make sure it is known what happened here and who is responsible for taking out those Death Eaters we found earlier," Moody nodded.
"I don't think Crouch will be too happy his son was among them," Sirius hesitated. "What makes you so sure he will not claim the kid to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and simply accuse me of killing an innocent party?"
"We found this weird tattoo on all of the Death Eaters' forearms and we think it is something shared among all of them so they can recognise each other," Moody said. "Crouch Junior had the same tattoo so even if Crouch will try to blame it on you, I will point that out. You provided a service to the Wizarding community and I will make sure you are recognised for all of it."
"I don't care about recognition, I just don't want to be imprisoned innocently because Crouch has it out for me."
"I will make sure of that," Moody promised and taking his word for it they split up; Moody and Vance alerted the Ministry while the rest of them relocated to the safe house Sirius knew about; it turning out to be a decently sized cottage.
"This is yours?" Fabian whistled impressed.
"I bought it earlier this week, thinking it would make for a good hiding place if necessary and perhaps even a nice home in time. It comes in handy now," Sirius explained.
All too soon James, Fabian and Sirius left the other three behind again with promises to be careful and as they Apparated to Sirius' apartment and settled in to wait.
Remus arrived, looking a little rumpled but all right, a little after the expected time and as his eyes immediately widened upon seeing them, James realised none of them had thought to clean up yet.
"What happened!" Their friend exclaimed as he hurried forward. "Are you all right?"
"We're fine," Fabian said shortly. "The same cannot be said for others."
"What?" Remus certainly looked confused, but as much as James hated doubting his friends, he couldn't take the risk to trust the wrong person again.
"Do you swear on your life that you are not the traitor, that you have never betrayed us or passed information to Voldemort and his followers?"
"I...what? Of course not, I would never betray you!," Remus looked scandalised at the blunt accusation.
"Look into my eyes and swear it," Sirius repeated James' words and although Remus looked more than a little hurt at the blatant mistrust aimed at him, he met Sirius' eyes without hesitation.
"I swear on my life that I have never betrayed any of you or passed information to Voldemort or his followers," his eyes tightened as Sirius used Legilimency to forcefully enter his mind, but made no move to stop him as Sirius searched his mind.
"He's telling the truth."
Releasing a breath he hadn't known he'd held, James nodded.
"Care to tell me why you're all suddenly suspecting me?" Remus' voice was pained and so full of hurt that James immediately felt guilty, but couldn't bring himself to regret it when he knew what Peter had done.
"Two hours ago we were attacked by Voldemort himself."
"What? But you are hidden under the Fidelius!" Remus looked shocked. "What about Lily and Harry? Are they all right?"
"Thanks to Sirius, yes," James nodded. "He killed Voldemort when he went after Harry."
"He's dead?" The horror made place for amazed disbelief, like it was too good to be true so James simply nodded. "How..."
"That's not important. What is important is that only two people outside us knew where we were staying; you and Peter."
"So it had to be one of us who has betrayed you," Remus swallowed thickly. "And I was the first on your list."
"Actually, Sirius was rather vocal in that it wasn't you," Fabian assured him. "If it had to be one of you two, it was more likely to be Pettigrew in his opinion. Both of theirs, actually. Something confirmed when Sirius told us you had burned the secret upon reading it, so you would have been unable to share it with anyone else. While Peter was in a supposed hurry and took the secret with him."
"Peter betrayed us?" Remus took a deep, shaky breath as they all nodded. "Couldn't he have been captured instead?"
"We found him in perfect health right outside the house mere minutes after Voldemort was killed. Lily stunned him and he's been taken into custody by Moody to be questioned. But I have no doubts about his guilt as the slip of paper was still in his pocket and he also shared the secret with Dumbledore," James informed him.
"You specifically stated only Peter and I were to know the secret to prevent the information from spreading," Remus frowned. "Why would he have told Dumbledore?"
Sirius sighed. "Fabian and Gideon were attacked earlier today, only barely making it out alive. I took them to James' for their safety..."
"And we got talking about how strange it is that only highly influential witches and wizards are targeted specifically and how Voldemort could possibly know exactly where and when to find them somewhere."
"No one knows everyone's missions and whereabouts at any given time," Remus frowned. "No one outside of...you can't seriously think..."
"Dumbledore came to our house a little bit after the attack and he tried to kill Lily and me," James said.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know precisely why and we can't ask him any more either. When he cast the killing curse at me, Sirius summoned a mirror into its path and the curse rebounced to him."
"Dumbledore is dead?" Remus stared at them in horror, though James wasn't entirely sure if he was horrified at learning Sirius had accidentally killed the man or at what he'd tried to do.
"Yes," Sirius swallowed. "I hadn't intended to kill him, but I can't regret it when he tried to kill my family."
"No, of course not. And you shouldn't," Remus blinked rapidly as he tried to let the information sink in. "I can't believe...he is supposed to be our leader and help us win this war...why would he betray us all like this?"
"We can only speculate," Sirius reached out to place a hand on his shoulder in comfort. "I'm sorry I forced my way into your mind and questioned you like that."
"Knowing what I do now, you did the right thing," Remus took a deep breath to compose himself before meeting Sirius' eyes. "You can't take any chances right now, not when they are in danger."
He folded his hand around Sirius' and squeezed. "I understand. You had to know for sure. Peter...I just can't..."
He visibly shook himself and scanned all three of them for injuries. "Are you sure you are all right? Because you all look rather horrible."
"You're not the first to say that tonight," Fabian grimaced. "Sirius took a rather harsh blow to the head and got extremely lucky when the wall he was laying against exploded when he pulled Harry out of the way of a Killing Curse, but we took care of him and the rest of us got off with only cuts and bruises...and very filthy clothing."
"And Gideon? You said you were attacked earlier? Where is he?"
"He was injured pretty badly, but they took care of him and he's with Lily right now," Fabian smiled faintly. "But I couldn't let them go out here alone in case they were wrong about you, which by the way, I am very happy they were not."
"Thanks. So, can you tell me the full story or am I going to be left with only pieces?"
As Sirius informed Remus exactly of what had happened and the plan from there, James took a deep breath and leaned back as he knew Vance had been right.
Even with Voldemort and Dumbledore out of the way, the war was not over yet. But he was positive that with Moody taking charge and ensuring Veritaserum was used; most of the Death Eaters would be rounded up in no time.
From there, they could work to try and restore the Wizarding World to how it should be, hopefully take care of the prejudice and everything else that was wrong as well. It would be a tough and difficult road, but James had faith they could...
"But what about the Prophecy? It didn't really come true, did it?" Remus' voice interrupted his thoughts. "Sirius was the one who killed him after all, not Harry."
"I don't know anything about a Prophecy, but technically Harry was the one who got him killed because Sirius was acting to protect the kid," Fabian pointed out.
"Who cares, I never have believed in Prophecy and I am not about to start now," Sirius grumbled. "Prophecy is what got us in this mess to begin with so I'd rather kick everyone who even dares mentioning them."
"Duly noted," Remus smiled faintly. "Though you can't deny that it is what took out the biggest players in the end."
A kick to the shin was Remus' only answer and as he yelped in pain, James couldn't help but laugh as he knew that as long as his family was with him, they could do anything.