Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the sole property of J K Rowling

Chapter 1: Halloween

After parking his motorbike, Sirius Black dashed through the ruins of his best friend's cottage in Godric's Hollow, flames shooting up into the air from an area he suspected had once been the fireplace. "James?"

A gigantic furry bundle rose up from behind a pile of rubble, tears running down the man's cheeks into his beard. "He's gone."

"Lily?"

The man shook his head. "Found her with this one."

Sirius held out his arms. "Hagrid, give Harry to me."

"Professor Dumbledore said if Harry 'ad survived, then I 'ad to collect him before delivering him to his aunt and uncle's house in Little Whinging."

"Dumbledore did?" Sirius asked sharply.

"Yes."

"Dumbledore was the Potters' secret-keeper," Sirius retorted, holding out his arms. "Now give me Harry, because you're not taking him to that traitorous bastard."

A staunch supporter of Albus Dumbledore, a man who had done much for Hagrid, the giant gamekeeper refused to listen to Sirius. "I don't believe 'e betrayed them for a second, an' I intend to do as I've been told."

"Over my dead body." Sirius unholstered his wand. "He's my godson, and he's coming with me."

"Now listen…" Hagrid got no further in his speech as Sirius froze him in position, taking the now unmoving baby out of Hagrid's arms, and fashioning a sort of papoose out of his voluminous scarf he always wore when riding his motorbike, before releasing Harry from the spell and slipping him into the mock papoose.

Remus Lupin, another of Sirius' friends suddenly appeared, a loud crack signaling his arrival. "Oh Merlin!"

Sirius turned with his wand on Remus, aware of how close his friend was to Dumbledore. "You're not taking him to Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore? What are you talking about?"

"Harry."

"I don't understand. What's Harry doing here?" Remus asked, his confusion easy to see.

Given what he had just discovered about Dumbledore, Sirius was unsure if his friend was playacting or if he was truly confounded. Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, he said, "This is, or rather was, James and Lily's place."

Remus looked around him, feeling sick as he took in the sheer devastation. "Are they…?"

"Yes, but Harry isn't, as you can see, and I don't care what you say, you're not taking him to Dumbledore."

"Why on earth would I take Harry to Albus? And how did you even know he'd be here?"

"A letter appeared in front of me saying that if I was receiving it, then James was dead and I should come here to see if anyone had survived, which I did. When I arrived, I found Hagrid about to take Harry to Dumbledore, which I couldn't allow."

"So you've said, but why?" Remus asked, not understanding Sirius' reluctance to take Harry to the safety of Hogwarts or Dumbledore's home.

"Because he was James and Lily's secret-keeper, and he has to have betrayed them to You-Know-Who since they're both dead."

"Come on, Sirius. You can't honestly believe Albus would do that?" Remus was another staunch supporter of Albus, thanks to the man's acceptance of him at a school in a situation most other adults would have baulked at.

"He was their secret-keeper," Sirius said, reiterating his statement. "And if Dumbledore didn't send you, then how did you know to come here?"

"I live in the village," Remus reminded Sirius, having moved into a flat over the village shop three weeks' earlier. "And I was looking out of my window when I saw flames coming from over this way and thought someone might need help, so no, he didn't send me, although I still can't believe he'd betray James and Lily."

"I have proof he did, but I need to present it to my section leader so that we can arrest Dumbledore."

"I'll take Harry," Remus said, ignoring the outstretched wand and stepping towards Sirius, frowning angrily when Sirius took a step backwards. "Sirius, don't be a bloody idiot. You can't take Harry to face off against Albus if what you say is right, and I give you my word I'll take him somewhere safe: to my grandparents' place in Walsingham. You can join me there."

Sirius hesitated, before handing over his precious cargo. "You'd better not do anything stupid."

Remus tucked Harry up so that he was inside of his Muggle style coat, protecting him from the cold night air, safe and warm against Remus' body. "Sirius, just go and report what's happened so that this misunderstanding can be cleared up. Harry will be safe with me."

"Actually take the motorbike," Sirius said, holding up the keys. "I can disapparate."

"I'm not riding that death trap." Remus had been on it once, and Sirius had almost killed them both when he had decided to try and race a Muggle motorbike of similar design; only by disapparating had the two of them remained uninjured when Sirius had lost control and ran the bike into the side of a Muggle tunnel. The bike had been badly damaged and, even after being repaired, still occasionally played up, even though Sirius said it was now fine. "Shrink it and disapparate."

Hagrid started to unfreeze, the Petrificus spell wearing off and Sirius aimed his wand at him. "Obliviate."

"Sirius!"

"I don't want anyone knowing where Harry is, and Hagrid could hear everything we've been saying, so go, I intend to."

Sirius prayed he had done the right thing by trusting Remus, something James had been loath to do, and, after shrinking his bike and pocketing it, he vanished to report in.

Little Whinging, Surrey

Albus Dumbledore pivoted on the spot as did Minerva McGonagall, his colleague, as pop after pop sounded, and Aurors appeared, including Amelia Bones, the newly appointed head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, more commonly known as British Auror Division or BritAD for short.

"Albus Dumbledore, you're under arrest for suspicion of colluding with You-Know-Who in the deaths of James and Lily Potter. Anything you say can be used against you during a trial. Do you understand the charges?"

"Of course, but…"

"Please hand over your wands and surrender yourself to my men."

With twenty Aurors training their wands on him, Albus had little choice but to acquiesce.

"This is outrageous," Minerva said, leaping to Albus' defense. "Professor Dumbledore…"

"Will get a fair trial," Amelia said, cutting off Minerva before she began one of her rants. "Black, if you would."

Sirius walked over and took the wands from Dumbledore, having begged Amelia to allow him to go, even though he was a very junior Auror, and this was a high profile arrest. "How could you? They trusted you."

"Black!" Amelia barked out, the single word carrying a warning that Sirius reacted to by simmering down. "Take him away and then send the Muggle obliviation team in here. There are far too many twitching curtains."

"Yes, Ma'am," Sirius responded, grabbing Albus' arm and, so that his voice would not carry back to his commanding officer, he quietly hissed at Albus, "I hope they feed you to the Dementors for what you've done."

With Sirius shielding him from most of Amelia's men with his body, Albus now had a chance to flee, and so he dropped his head as if in defeat, catching Sirius by surprise when he tugged free of his grip and elbowed Sirius in the stomach, dropping with Sirius as he fell in order to maintain Sirius as a shield.

Sirius, however, was a lot more agile than Dumbledore had given him credit for, and even as he was collapsing in pain, he was aiming his wand at Albus, who was in the motion of raising his arms, intending to call for Fawkes, his phoenix and bonded companion.

"Stupefy."

As Sirius hit the pavement, his spell caught Albus in the shoulder, and with Albus unable to dodge the spell at pointblank range, he was blasted backwards into a brick wall that surrounded the house behind him, striking his head sharply on it.

Amelia immediately yelled for a healer, every team carrying one, as she hurried over to where Albus was lying, blood pooling around his head.

The healer immediately went to work, gently rolling Albus over, making Amelia wince at the pulpy mess he revealed, the skull shattered. Moments later, he slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but there's nothing I can do for him."

Amelia turned to face Sirius, who had been helped to his feet by one of his colleagues. "Black, report to interview room one. Now!"

"Yes, Ma'am." Sirius vanished.

The Ministry of Magic

Sirius signed his name in blood to his account of what had happened that night. If he was lying in any way, the magic in the parchment would cause it to turn yellow. Amelia was relieved when it remained a pale cream.

"Even though I'm of the opinion that you acted within the bounds of your position, I'm still going to have to suspend you until a full investigation has been carried out. And Harry Potter will have to become a ward of the Ministry until a home can be found for him."

"He's my godson, and I know James intended to appoint me as Harry's guardian in the case of his death."

"Then I'll need to see that in writing," Amelia said, not willing to take Sirius at his word, even though she did trust the young man in her employ. "In fact, I'll accompany you myself to Gringotts to view Potter's will if one exists."

"But it's four a.m."

"You'll be staying here until they open at eight," Amelia informed Sirius. "I've sent a messenger to the Lupin residence in Walsingham to collect both Remus Lupin and Harry Potter."

"I don't think Remus had anything to do with this."

"But you're not certain," Amelia noted, having spotted Sirius' hesitance.

"Not entirely but he gave me his word that Harry would be safe."

"You're a good deal more trusting than I am, Black," Amelia said, thinking Sirius rather foolish to rely on just a man's word. "I would have asked for an oath."

"I wasn't exactly thinking clearly."

"Then perhaps a refresher course in procedure might be a good idea while you're on suspension from active duty," Amelia decided. "I'll ask someone to bring you something to eat and drink, but you'll remain here until I've interviewed Lupin and it's time to go to Gringotts."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Sirius, who had been dozing in his seat, sat up as the door opened. "Good morning, Ma'am."

"Good morning, Black. It's time to go."

Sirius said little as he was led into Gringotts by Amelia, who marched purposefully towards the closest goblin.

"We're here to witness James Potter's will, if one exists, to try to determine if Sirius Black is now the legitimate guardian of Harry James Potter."

Crunkle, the goblin, held out his hand. "Identification."

Amelia resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. She was usually in Gringotts for one thing or another more than twice a week and had always dealt with Crunkle, her family's goblin banker, since she had been old enough to do so. After pulling out her identification and handing it to him, glaring at the goblin through the monocle she favored, she said, "Is it in order?"

"It is. I'll ask Metasil to take you to see Rabin, who deals with this sort of thing."

Once they were all seated in his office, the Potter wills having been extracted from their vaults, Rabin turned to Amelia. "Do you know who died first?"

"No. There are no known witnesses to the killings."

"Then guardianship of Harry James Potter will pass under both wills," Rabin declared.

"Can you confirm that Sirius Black is to be Harry Potter's guardian?"

"He is," Rabin said to Amelia after spending a few minutes perusing James' will, and then turning to Lily's. "And Remus Lupin has been nominated by Lily Potter."

This was not exactly a surprise, since, even though James had grown suspicious of Remus' allegiances before they had gone into hiding, Lily had not, something Sirius had agreed with despite his reaction to Remus the previous night. "So we get joint custody?"

"Or one or both of you can choose not take it up."

"I'm taking Harry," Sirius said, although he had no idea what Remus would want. "But I can't speak for Remus."

"He'll be contacted," Rabin said, before moving on. "You should know that neither of you will become the warden of the Potter vaults, since James Potter had signed a later document than his will allocating this custodianship to Albus Dumbledore."

"He's dead," Amelia informed Rabin. "I can provide you with the necessary death certificate to prove this, as I've done with both James and Lily Potter."

"A declaration will be sufficient."

Amelia gritted her teeth as she signed a piece of parchment in blood, using a quill which Sirius recognized as a blood quill similar to the one he had used to sign his declaration of his actions during Dumbledore's arrest. After signing her name, Amelia slid the parchment back to Rabin, who nodded. "In that case, the original allocation will now come back into play. Sirius Black, you now have custodianship of all three Potter vaults."

"I'm quite capable of taking care of Harry without touching the Potter vaults," Sirius informed the goblin.

"Even so, custody of the keys will now fall to you," Rabin said, opening up a drawer and withdrawing three keys. "The Potter Family ring will be kept in the main vault until Harry Potter reaches the age of eleven. And then, when he reaches the age of seventeen, he'll also have access to Grimmauld Square and the Potter Estate, although, as his guardian, you may take up with residence with him in either of these properties before then."

Sirius mulled things over. "I may wish to reside at Grimmauld Square. I've been living in a small flat but I doubt it's suitable for a baby."

Rabin opened up the drawer again, this time withdrawing a large ruby encrusted key, which he slid across to Sirius. "Now you need to sign for everything."

Sirius picked up the quill. "Where do I sign?"

Amelia noticed that, unlike most people and indeed her, just as he had that morning, Sirius showed no sign of pain when signing the six documents that Rabin had produced in triplicate, Sirius as calm as if he was signing in ink. When he had finished, she could see the words, 'Sirius Orion Black, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black', etched into the back of his now heavily bleeding hand. She did not, however, offer to heal it, aware it would have been an affront to the goblin seated in front of them if she did.

Rabin collected the documents together, stamping each one, before giving Sirius one set back, handing one to Amelia for Ministry records, and keeping one set for Gringotts. "I do believe our business is concluded. Good day."

"Good day," Sirius echoed, as did Amelia, the two of them leaving after the abrupt dismissal, Sirius shoving his hand into his pocket so he would not drip blood on to the floor as he left the Bank. Only once they were outside did he pull it out and examine the damage.

"Report to sickbay and ask them to heal it," Amelia ordered, her own hand throbbing, so she knew Sirius' had to be a good deal more painful. "And then come to see me."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Sirius took little time in getting his hand looked at and, after applying some of the cream the healer gave him, he headed for Amelia's office, to discover Remus and Harry sitting in there. "Ma'am, Black reporting as ordered."

"At ease, Black. I've decided to suspend you on full pay for a month, which will not only give me time to conduct an investigation into Professor Dumbledore's death, but also allow you time to sort out your private life now that you have a child for whom you're going to be responsible."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

Amelia turned to Remus, who was cradling a sleeping Harry. "I'm satisfied, as you already know, that you're an innocent party in the deaths of James and Lily Potter. You're therefore free to leave with Black."

"Thank you, Madam Bones," Remus said, rising up and inclining his head. "I've left my details where I can be contacted with Auror Valeris, should you have any more questions for me."

"Thank you. Black, dismissed."

"Yes, Ma'am." Sirius followed Remus out of the room. "Come on, we're going to Grimmauld Square."

"The house James' grandmother owned?"

"Yep," Sirius said, tugging the large, ornate key out of his pocket. "I'm now its temporary custodian."

"I'll meet you at the door, since I can't disapparate from in here."

Sirius grabbed Remus' arm and headed towards the disapparition area specifically for Aurors. "I know, but I can."

"Sirius, I don't think it's a good idea with..."

"Tough, we're here," Sirius said, moving on to an unmarked spot and disapparating, taking Remus and Harry along with him.

Harry began to cry as soon as they reappeared, the squishing sensation from disapparition waking him up and upsetting him. Remus scowled at Sirius as he began to rock Harry. "You could have let me finish speaking. I was going to suggest I floo to the floo point around the corner and walk here. Disapparating upsets Harry."

"Maybe so, but after what's happened, I feel safer knowing he's inside wards and not out there," Sirius said, nodding his head behind him as he inserted the key into the lock of the bright blue door that guarded the entrance to the property, feeling a tingling sensation run up his arm as he turned the key. The door then swung open.

"It's spotless," Remus murmured in astonishment as he stepped into the house behind Sirius.

"House-elves," Sirius said, his voice full of distaste. "They'll be the first thing going if there are any here."

"They're not all like Kreacher."

"I know but I never feel as if I've got any privacy when they're around, snooping into everything." Sirius turned as one of the creatures appeared in front of him. "Yes, I'm moving in, no, I don't need anything."

"Very good, Sir." The house-elf vanished.

"Looks like a real snooper to me," Remus said, his voice filled with mockery.

"Oh shut up, and let's look around."

Remus carefully changed the position of the once again sleeping Harry so that he was cradled against Remus' chest, before following Sirius around the house. When they reached what was obviously a nursery, decorated in blue and white, Remus lowered the little boy into the crib, pulling the blanket up over him.

Sirius walked out after setting up a listening ward so he would know if Harry woke up. "Let's go use the study; we need to talk."

The study was large, and paneled entirely in dark stained oak, a massive desk dominating the far side of it, although there were several comfortable winged armchairs set in front of a fireplace, in which roared a large fire.

Sirius settled himself down into a chair, Remus sitting opposite him, before he got down to business. "Did Bones tell you I killed Dumbledore?"

It was patently clear from Remus' expression that she had not. "Is that why you're on suspension?"

"Yes, although I didn't kill him in cold blood in case that's what you're thinking; he tried to escape when he was being arrested and assaulted me, so I sent a stunning spell at him. Unfortunately I was angry and might have overpowered it; he hit a brick wall and his head cracked open like an egg."

"Fuck, Sirius!" Remus was more than a tiny bit aghast at the news. "You're going to be unpopular."

"Unless you're a Death Eater, then I'm certain I'm going to be quite the hero," Sirius quipped, a large grin on his face.

"Sirius, this isn't a laughing matter; James and Lily are dead and you've killed someone."

"Ask me if I give a shit, at least about killing that bastard," Sirius said, his expression becoming cold as the smile vanished. "Dumbledore betrayed my friends, and if Bones had thought differently, she wouldn't have ordered three crack teams out to intercept him.'

"What proof did you have?" Remus asked, accepting that Sirius had made a good point. Amelia Bones might have been a pain in the neck to many, but she was a fair and honest woman who played by the book.

"A letter from James; it appeared at the same time as the letter informing me he was dead. It stated that Dumbledore was his secret-keeper since Petey declined."

"That's hardly out and out proof, Sirius."

"True, but if Dumbledore had had nothing to hide, then why did he try to run?" Sirius then added another factor, which he saw as condemning. "And when I signed the papers to take over control of the Potter vaults, I was told that Dumbledore was listed to have been the latest curator of them in the event of James' death, so he had something to gain from their deaths."

"I still find it hard to believe."

"Then we'll simply have to wait for Bones to conclude her investigation." Sirius then moved on. "How do you fancy living somewhere rent free?"

Remus laughed, shaking his head at Sirius, as he jumped to the wrong conclusion. "You want me to be a bloody babysitter, don't you?"

"No, Lily appointed you as Harry's guardian and James me, so since nobody knows who died first, we get joint custody, unless of course one of us doesn't want it."

Remus thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head. "I'm certain Harry's a nice baby, but I don't want or need the responsibility, so I'm sorry, the answer's no."

Author's Note: Some of the concepts and characters in the story are taken from NettieT's stories, which I love, and for which she has given me permission to do.