Author's Notes: I am looking for alpha/beta readers to help me catch mistakes and to correct me if I create some gaping plot holes so if anyone is interested, please PM me! I'd love to get some feedback on the next chapters before they go public!

Some quick story notes: while this is not a new concept, I hope to tackle it in a slightly new way. This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction. I've written fanfiction for years but never for HP. I think the size and passion of the fandom has kind of kept me from dipping my toes in. I've been on a long break from writing but recently I was listening to the HP books on Audible and thought I'd like to start again, completely fresh and based on a series that I have loved for so many, many years.

Pairings will include: Eventual Wolfstar, eventual Dramoine, mentions of Linny, Hinny, Jily, also mentions of Sirius' unrequited love for James in their Hogwarts years.

One last note: I appreciate constructive criticism, it's much appreciated when plot holes are pointed out, and I ADORE hearing reader's thoughts about the chapters as they get posted (because feedback is writer fuel for sure), but if you send me hate because I'm writing your NOTP, it's going to get ignored. I simply will not respond to hateful PMs or reviews, so I hope you will find a story you enjoy better instead.

Thanks for bearing with me! Please enjoy!

Black House
Chapter One

It was too quiet. Far too quiet. And it smelled wrong. The normal scents were there: laundry detergent and baked goods, but they were nearly overpowered by something else. Ozone, brick dust, a dirty diaper. Sirius Black landed his flying motorcycle (how Lily had teased him about it just a couple of weeks ago, before telling James 'not to even think about it,' now that he was a father) and stared at the ruined second floor of the house that had been his best friends' last refuge. His heart was a stone scraping its way down to the pit of his stomach, his chest felt icy and empty. Everything in him urged him to turn away now, before he saw things he couldn't ever unsee. But he had to know for sure. This was his failure, his fatal mistake, and now it was time to pay the price for it.

He forced himself to step though the front door, left ajar in someone's wake as they rushed to get inside. His fists were already clenched as his eyes swept over the family room and then off to the kitchen. Something frantic whistled through the cavity in his chest; apart from the damage upstairs, it all looked so normal. Maybe the Potters had escaped after all, maybe they were hiding somewhere—

A baby's wail cut through this thought, and that last thread of hope was snatched out of his grasp. They'd never have left Harry. Not James and especially not Lily. But Harry! Harry was still alive somewhere!

His joy at this thought was brutally severed a second later when he saw the body. James' body, one arm flung out. A wand was just a few inches from the outstretched hand, but James' glasses had been broken in the fall. His hair was still tousled, but he was lying so still. James had never been so still in his whole life.

There was a low rumbling: a growling, gravelly moan—it was him, it was coming from his own throat and it was painful but he couldn't stop it. He closed his eyes but the image of James was still visible, still lying on the ground as though frozen there.

He had to walk around the body (forgive me, James, forgive me for leaving you like this but Harry…) to get up the stairs. It was cold up here, and now under the baby's crying he could hear another voice crooning softly. Singing a lullaby in a gruff, tuneless undertone.

Sirius stopped, staring at the open doorway that led to Harry's ruined nursery. Hagrid was there with Harry, and that was good, very good. But Lily was in there as well. He didn't know if he could move forward. His feet felt as though they'd been encased in cement, and after glimpsing James…

Another wail from his godson broke through his panicked grief. Harry had no one else now, no one but him. He had to go in there, he had to face that little boy and make sure that he would be brought up safe. He wasn't sure if Voldemort was truly gone, but even if he was there were Death Eaters still out there, and some of them were just as mad as their master. Worse, perhaps—he thought of his own cousin with a shudder. He shifted one foot in front of the other, moving as though underwater but moving nevertheless. It seemed to take a long time to reach the nursery door, but at last he did, grasping at the doorjamb for support as he finally laid eyes on his howling godson.

There was blood trickling from Harry's forehead, but other than that he looked perfectly healthy. His eyes were screwed up tight and his face was red from crying, his chubby little arms and legs waved about in the air or pummeled the massive man that cradled him. Even the bleeding had nearly exhausted itself, and Sirius gave a low moan of relief at the sight of the baby, whole and safe in Hagrid's massive arms.

"He's alright," he murmured, sagging against the doorway. "He's really alright."

"Sirius!" Hagrid's head jerked toward him, and great tear tracks were easily visible on his wide face. More tears shimmered in his eyes as he rocked Harry, his whole body shaking with grief. "I can't believe it, I just can't believe it. James an, an…an Lily…gone! Murdered in their own home!"

Sirius closed his eyes, his own shocked grief threatening to overwhelm him. His arms were shaking as he lifted them to take the baby.

"Hagrid…Harry is my…I should take him. He's my godson." Was that his voice? There was a tremor in it he hardly recognized. "James and Lily trusted me to take care of him in case…"

He looked down and saw Lily's pale arm extending out from a pile of the rubble, her glorious red hair dulled by all the dust and debris. Suddenly there were tears on his face. "Please, Hagrid. I've got to get him to safety."

"I dunno, Sirius." Hagrid was frowning. "Dumbledore gave me strict instructions. I'm to take him out of here and bring him to his aunt's."

"His aunt…You can't mean the Dursleys?" Lily had told him plenty of stories about her sister, about Harry's overindulged cousin and hard-hearted uncle. She had always been especially clear about how they hated anything remotely connected to magic. The idea of Harry going to live with people such as them was outrageous.

Hagrid was nodding his shaggy head. "Right from here to there, no stops on the way. He said he'd meet me there, make sure that the family understood their duties."

"No," Sirius growled. The tremor in his voice was gone now, in its place was grit. Anger—rage—was starting to make itself felt through the shock of the evening.

"Dumbledore won't let no harm come to him, Sirius—"

"Damn Dumbledore!" The outburst startled both men, and Harry began to cry again. "I'm not giving him over to those muggles. Lily never would have allowed that to happen, not after the way they treated James. They meant him to come to me."

Hagrid hesitated, glancing down at the squalling bundle in his arms. Sirius could see the cogs turning in the gamekeeper's mind. No one knew better how James and Sirius had been attached at the hip, and from the very beginning Sirius had been the proudest godfather that had ever been. But this muggle family, they were blood, and Dumbledore had been clear.

He looked back at Sirius, then over to Lily. She was lying almost peacefully among the blasted remains of the nursery. She and James had trusted their son's life and happiness to their best friend. He knew that Sirius would do his best for the babe, would raise him with love when the muggles were strangers, ignorant of wizarding ways… How could he ignore the Potter's final wishes, especially when it came to their son? No matter how much he trusted Dumbledore, it seemed wrong.

"Tell him I attacked you…you can take my motorbike, tell him I stunned you and ran away with Harry. He can't blame you then."

Hagrid gave an indignant snort. "It'd take a lot more than a stunnin' spell to get me, Sirius Black," he said, but to Sirius' great relief, he passed over the baby. He curled his arms around his godson, his heart turning over painfully as Harry quieted the instant he was pressed against his chest. This seemed to decide Hagrid once and for all.

"I reckon you're more his family than his muggle kin. I'll explain to Dumbledore. I can't give you much of a head start, mind, and he'll probably come and find you—"

"Thank you, Hagrid. Thank you!" Sirius reached out and gripped Hagrid's hand. "You made the right choice, I swear it to you."

"If I haven't, it'll be me you'll have to answer to." Hagrid shook a great, thick finger in the younger man's face. "We're fast friends, me an' that boy, and if you're not treating him right…"

He didn't finish the threat, but Sirius didn't need him to. "Fair enough," he agreed. He handed over the keys to his motorbike and then, pausing only to wrap Harry warmly against the cool evening air, he disappeared into the night. Hagrid stood in the ruins of the Potter house and watched him go, wondering if he'd made a mistake. He'd made plenty of those in his life, but this didn't feel like one. At last he turned and headed downstairs, his heart heavy at the thought of leaving Lily and James like this, but it was best not to put off his reckoning with Dumbledore a moment longer.

The motorbike roared to life and Hagrid soared away, letting the wind wash his face clean of tears.

-BH-

Hours passed before Dumbledore tracked the pair of them down, perhaps because like so many others, he was searching for whatever remained of Lord Voldemort. After a long, cold flight north on his broom and a hurried stop to gather supplies for the child, Sirius had chosen to take refuge in Hogsmeade. He chose the wizarding village in order to protect Harry from his less than savory relations. After all, Bellatrix Lestrange was still out there, already frantic in the search for her vanquished master. Sirius hoped the proximity to Hogwarts, as well as Albus and his brother, would be protection enough. And perhaps, since no one had seen or heard from Voldemort since his last encounter with the Potters, he was right.

Dumbledore, however, wasn't prepared to take it on chance.

The old wizard stepped into the hallway of the Hog's Head Inn, but before he was halfway to Sirius Black's room he could hear it: a vicious growl of warning, issuing from the throat of what must have been a very large dog indeed. It confirmed something that previously Dumbledore had only guessed, and of course that set into motion musing on a host of other theories…but time for that later.

He knocked on the door. The growling ceased and a moment later the door was opened. Through a narrow crack, the two men observed each other. It was apparent that Sirius was wearing little more than a hastily grabbed pair of pants, while Dumbledore looked sanguine in his everyday blue robes and hat.

"I suppose you'd like to come in," Sirius said. He was not especially welcoming, but he was already opening the door wide enough to permit his guest entry as Dumbledore nodded. The older wizard glanced around the room. Harry was awake and waving his arms at a mobile. Sirius had not bothered to install it properly, instead allowing it to rotate in the air above the bassinet on its own. There was a pile of baby things in the corner: diapers and formula, new bottles and clothes, anything an infant might need for a couple of days. Though gathered in a whirlwind and badly organized, it was obvious that Harry was being well cared for in the wake of his family's tragedy.

He turned his eyes to the half-dressed young man in the room. He still looked like the dog Dumbledore now knew he sometimes was, with his wild hair and those dark, flashing eyes. Wary and restless, he was pacing off to the side while he waited for Dumbledore to speak.

"You've acted in a very rash manner, Sirius," Dumbledore said. He had waved the mobile away and stood over the baby, gazing down at the gash on Harry's head. It had scabbed over, but the boy would no doubt carry the scar for the rest of his life. Yet another burden…he sighed.

"Hagrid said you beat him to the house and then fled on foot."

Sirius remained silent. Better to find out how much Dumbledore knew than to try and play him like a fool.

"I suspect you arrived at nearly the same time. I'm not sure how you convinced Hagrid to hand the child over. He has never directly disobeyed me before."

"Sir, I'm Harry's godfather. James and Lily always intended for me to raise him if the worst happened, blood or no blood. Those Durselys, do you have any idea what they're like?" Sirius' voice was gaining volume as the anger rose again. "They hated Lily and they loathed James. Harry would never be welcome there and he'd never know anything about his real family. I can't stand by and let you hand him over, knowing what sort of life he'd have there."

Dumbledore's expression was pained. "It's a bit more complicated than that, Sirius. You see, there's only one way that the Potters could have been attacked in their own home, and I'm afraid that means their secret keeper must have betrayed them."

As he said this, he seemed to swell, to grow taller and taller as the room shrank around him. It was almost as if he was pulling the space toward him with the gravity of his new mass. Sirius' perception bent, his eyes telling him things that ought not to be true, and he shook his head to try and maintain his balance. Dumbledore believed—as no doubt everyone believed—that he had been the Potters' secret keeper. He had come peacefully to ensure that Harry was safe and whole, but now—

Both wizards had their wands out, but it was clear who the victor would be should a fight break out. There was only one way to avoid what was coming: Dumbledore must know the truth.

"It was Peter!" Sirius' teeth were grit with the effort not to succumb to the vertigo he was feeling. "I…I convinced James to…"

His throat worked against a huge knot, and suddenly the vertigo was giving way to another wave of grief. It crashed over him as he remembered that conversation with James, how he had pointed out that everyone would think that it was he, Sirius, that held the key to the Potters' safety so of course they should choose Wormtail. No one would suspect Wormtail.

He'd killed his best friend, killed Lily, had nearly killed his own godson. The weight of it all threatened to kill him in return, but he resisted for two reasons: Peter Pettigrew still lived, and so did Harry. He had to kill one and nurture the other. Only when those tasks were over could he find any peace.

"Peter Pettigrew? Peter was the secret keeper?" Dumbledore's eyes were glaciers as he stared at Sirius. "But James trusted you above all others."

"I was too obvious of a choice. I told James that the Death Eaters would come after me, they'd torture me until they had what they needed. I didn't want to fail him, not when the lives of his whole family were on the line. I convinced him to choose Peter instead. The Death Eaters would still come for me, but they could use as much torture as they wanted: I couldn't reveal a secret I'd never had." Sirius covered his face with his hand. "Instead I handed them right to Voldemort."

The physics of the room were sorting themselves out and the awful sensation of vertigo was fading. The guilt, however, remained.

"I went to see Peter tonight, to see how he was holding up. When I got there, he was gone. That's when I started to worry. And then I got to Godrick's Hollow and…I knew. I knew what he'd done. I wanted to go after him right then, but I had to see if…if anyone had…and of course Harry had survived. So I took him from Hagrid and we came here. Only Voldemort would be bold enough to come right to your doorstep. The other Death Eaters are too afraid of you. I thought we might be safe here until I could figure out something more permanent."

Dumbledore's wand, which had appeared in an eye blink, now disappeared just as quickly. He stared hard at Sirius, his gaze penetrating deep into the other wizard as he strove to determine the truth of his words. Sirius' shoulders fell as he allowed himself to be examined. He was completely at fault. The events that had occurred this night had occurred because of him, and there could be no running away from a facts as horrible as those. All he could do now was protect Harry to the best of his ability.

It was clear the older wizard had more questions, but just as he opened his mouth to ask them, a silvery bird appeared outside of the lone window. Dumbledore hastened to open it and the patronus (a swallow with a beautiful tail) landed on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. Whatever news it carried could not have been good. The frown on Dumbledore's face deepened and a sense of urgency filled the room even before the patronus had finished delivering its message and disappeared.

"It seems this night's tragic work is not over. Stay here." Dumbledore's words lashed out like a whip. This was a command, not that Sirius had anywhere else to go even if it hadn't been. "Is there anything else about Peter I should know?"

Dark eyes met his. There was an internal struggle, and then a quiet admission. "Peter's an animagus. A fat grey rat."

Dumbledore nodded and disappeared. Sirius threw himself down on the bed and looked over at Harry's bassinet. A flick of his wand had the mobile floating back over to spin above the infant.

"It's you and me now," he said to the baby. "Just you and me."

Somehow, after everything he'd been through this horrible night, he managed to sleep. It would be many years, however, before the nightmares stopped.

-BH-

How they made it through that first week, Sirius would never be able to recall. There had been a lot of crying (from Harry) and a lot of cursing (from Sirius), on top of dirty nappies and midnight feedings. The little room that they were living in was a minor disaster area, despite attempts to clean it magically. On top of that, between the baby's colic and as near constant vigilance as he could manage, Sirius had barely slept.

This was the chaos into which Remus Lupin stepped at the end of the week, bearing mixed tidings of the final days of the war.

"Merlin's beard, Sirius." The second he'd crossed the threshold into the room, Remus' hand shot up to pinch his nose shut. His friend was doing his best to change Harry's nappy, and both man and babe had been soiled further in the attempt. "What are you feeding the poor boy?"

"Don't just stand there, Moony. Pass me those wipes," Sirius growled. As Remus did so, he began muttering under his breath. "A baby, Remus. Me, looking after a baby. What was I thinking?"

Remus gave his friend's shoulder a comforting pat before looking down at Harry. The baby seemed to find the whole situation amusing and was giggling at Sirius' obvious distress. His green eyes crinkled in precisely the same way Lily's had, and Remus couldn't help but smile back even as a bolt of pain shot through him. He had not been ready for so many of his friends to become memories. No one ever was, even during times of war.

"The Lestranges kidnapped the Longbottoms the same night that Voldemort disappeared. They're still at large but we think we're closing in on them. There's no way to know if the Longbottoms are still…" He swallowed. "We hope for the best, of course. They're some of the best we have, so if anyone might have survived…"

Sirius' only response was a low rumble. Remus knew his family ties caused him more than his fair share of pain and guilt. He hurried on with the rest of the news.

"Peter has also disappeared, despite Dumbledore's efforts to track him. With Voldemort gone, he'll have to hide from both sides now: the Death Eaters think he tricked their master into destroying himself, and of course we know he betrayed the Potters. If he ever shows his face again…well, I'm sure he won't."

"And is he gone? The Dark Lord?" Sirius asked as he finished wrapping Harry into a fresh nappy. He was finding it hard to celebrate the end of Voldemort's reign with Peter still alive and on the run. "Truly gone?"

"The simple answer is, yes. By all appearances, Harry has defeated the Dark Lord and ushered in peace." Remus smiled down at the baby, though his eyes were still sad.

"And the long answer?"

"Dumbledore doubts he's been completely destroyed. He does seem confident that the Dark Lord's power has been irretrievably shattered, however, and while he intends to keep searching for whatever remains, it seems like he is ready to press forward with administrating peace."

"What of the Death Eaters?"

"Many have turned themselves in, claiming to have been controlled by the Dark Lord against their will. The Malfoys are one such family. Most of the others are being rounded up by the Order of the Phoenix or the Aurors. The Ministry has already begun their criminal trials. There are a couple, like the Lestranges, that remain at large, but it's only a matter of time." Remus shrugged. "This is all just the mopping up. By the time Harry is old enough to talk, things will have gone back to normal."

Sirius grunted. "What's normal? I don't even remember."

His friend's answering chuckle was melancholy. "Nor I, Padfoot. Nor I."

They sat for a while, discussing the end of the war. Discussing Lily and James, when they could manage it. They took turns playing with Harry until he got fussy, and recognizing the signs of a tired infant, Sirius lowered him back into his bassinet.

"I'll need your help with him, Remus. I'm way out of my depth here."

"And you shall have it." Remus clapped his old friend on the shoulder. "I promise, whatever I can do to help and protect Harry, I will. In fact, I already know how to start."

"Do you?" Sirius asked, surprised.

Remus' answering smile was mischievous. "Oh yes. I imagine Molly Weasley will be here within the hour," he replied, relishing in Sirius' little groan of despair. "If anyone can get this room straightened up, it's her."

"I'll never hear the end of it!"

"Probably not," Remus agreed cheerfully. "But it will give you a chance to get to your Gringotts vault and buy more things for Harry. He's going to grow quickly."

"I suppose you're right." Sirius's tone was grudging. "Send word when Bellatrix and her good-for-nothing husband are captured, will you?"

"You'll be the first to know." Remus headed to the door and turned to salute his friend. "Good luck with Harry. I'll see you soon."

He disappeared in a whirl of robes, and Sirius glanced at his godson. "Right, I better try to tidy up before Molly gets here, or she'll have me neutered."

Harry's only response was a massive yawn, and as he drifted to sleep, his godfather pushed up his sleeves and set about cleaning their modest living quarters.