The heat from the fire that the explosion had started caused Sirius to shudder and hold on to Harry tighter. He desperately swallowed down the sobs that wanted to escape as he left the nursery, making sure to keep Harry's gaze turned away from Lily's body as he did so. He felt himself shake as he made it to the entryway and saw James's body once more, hand outstretched as if he could call his wand to him. Letting out a slow breath, Sirius forced himself not to stop as he left the house where he'd already had so many good memories of this family that he'd built for himself.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there before he heard Hagrid shout his name and Sirius shook himself, making a half-hearted effort to listen to what Hagrid was saying. Vaguely, he realized that Hagrid was offering comfort and he closed his eyes, willing himself not to break down. Not yet, not just yet. He could do that later after he'd ripped Peter to shreds for turning on them.
Hagrid was saying something about Dumbledore and Harry now and Sirius nodded, the crackling of the fire snapping in his ears as he began to walk, tilting his head to indicate that Hagrid should follow him. He leaned down and pressed his lips to Harry's head, before pulling back and freeing one hand to gently wipe the blood off of Harry's forehead, revealing the cut shaped like a lightning bolt.
Another thing for Peter to pay for.
"I love you, Harry," he whispered. "He'll pay for this. I promise." Sirius straightened as Hagrid reached them and carefully handed Harry over. "Take my bike, Hagrid, and get Harry to safety."
"Yeh sure, Sirius?" Hagrid asked. Sirius nodded.
"Take it," he repeated. "I won't be needing it anymore."
The roar of the motorcycle was the only sound that Sirius could focus on for a moment as he stood there in front of the remains of James and Lily's home. He watched as Hagrid flew away with his godson, sure in the knowledge that he'd get Harry safely away from here, where James and Lily still lay and where Peter could still be wandering around. It was in James and Lily's wills that Harry go to Frank and Alice first if something were to happen to them so he had no doubt that that's where Harry would end up. He clenched his jaw and vowed that he'd check on Harry once he'd gotten the rat for his betrayal.
Peter had always been good at covering his tracks except for when he panicked and it was obvious that he was panicking now, Sirius realized with satisfaction. Peter had left a magic trail that wasn't any trouble to track despite the fact that he'd clearly tried to disrupt the trail apparating to various locations before he'd ended up in London.
Except it didn't go the way that Sirius had expected, the way he had planned in his head even as he'd given chase. Instead Peter, bumbling little Peter Pettigrew who was clearly more clever than they'd ever realized, got the best of him.
"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?" he shouted as loud as he possibly could.
Realization dawned on Sirius even as Peter shot a blasting hex behind him, somehow managing to hit a gas line as he did so before shrinking down in to a rat and running for the sewers.
It had taken only seconds though it felt like hours and Sirius could only stare in shock at the spot where Peter had been before he doubled over and began to laugh hysterically. He'd come to get vengeance for James and Lily and had been set up to take the fall instead. No one else knew that they had switched and no one would believe that Peter had bested him in a duel; there was a reason that Sirius and James had been the top of their class, after all. And with Barty Crouch, Sr. cracking down on anyone he even thought was a Death Eater, there was no way that Sirius would get a fair trial. He'd be railroaded simply because his last name was Black. James had once joked he was the white sheep of the Black family and now he was the one out of all of his family that would most likely end up in Azkaban. It was so bloody tragic, it was funny.
And even as he laughed, Sirius yearned for revenge.
As that feeling began to burn through him, it was as if all sound had stopped and it took him a few moments to realize that that was because sound had literally stopped. His head snapped up and he focused on the creature standing in front of him. Black eyes, white beard, four horns, pointed ears, blue skin and wearing what looked like a long brown robe. Merlin, I've completely cracked.
D'Hoffryn stared at the wizard, a thoughtful look on his face. It was true that Sirius Black had fought on the light side since he was old enough to join in battle but Sirius also had a vicious streak that he used in defense of his friends. He could be quite creative in his punishments, something D'Hoffryn had noticed as he had looked in on him over the years, drawn by the feeling of betrayal from his family and the need to get revenge on them in the best way he knew how—going against everything his parents stood for and choosing the light. He may not have had a chance to get his revenge tonight but D'Hoffryn could see what he was capable of, could see where his thoughts were going and he was delighted by what he saw.
Here was a mortal that had definite potential.
Decision made, he inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Sirius Black, I'm truly glad to meet you. I am D'Hoffryn." He deliberately left off the Lord of Arashmahar part of his title—he'd learned that this particular mortal couldn't care less about those types of titles.
"What..." Sirius let out a breath and shook his head as if to clear it. "What are you?"
D'Hoffryn smiled a bit. Normally, he'd have called that rude but he had to admit that he'd grown fond of Sirius and his moments of bluntness over the years. "I'm a patron of...of a family. A family that I've built over time." Grief flickered over Sirius's face and D'Hoffryn nodded. "We heard your pain as you and yours were betrayed. It called to us."
"So, come to mock what our side has lost?" Sirius snapped, anger breaking through the grief.
"No, actually, I came to offer you a place with us," D'Hoffryn told him. "We bring about justice for those that need it and your desire to bring Peter Pettigrew to justice is what brought me here."
At that, Sirius stilled. "What does that mean exactly?" D'Hoffryn could almost see Sirius looking for the loopholes in his offer.
"You'd become one of us. A vengeance demon. You, in particular, would bring about justice to those that have betrayed by the families that they created rather than the families they were born to."
Sirius clenched his hands in to fists and looked down at the ground, thinking about what he'd been told. On the one hand, what would Remus say if he could see him now?
Well, truthfully, Remus would probably ask how he could betray James and Lily the way he had. As much as he wanted to believe that Remus would simply know he was innocent, he also knew that Remus had stopped fully trusting him since he sent Snape to the Whomping Willow.
What would James say?
Sirius's nails dug in to his skin because he would never know, would he? James was gone and it was Peter's fault. Demon or not, this D'Hoffryn was offering him the chance to help people like James and Lily and Harry. He could get justice for the people that had loved their friends so much they became family, people that would be betrayed as the Potters had been.
"What would I need to do?"
D'Hoffryn smiled. "What you've always done. Gone after those that have betrayed their friends, their families. You do what you've wanted to do all night and bring the traitors to justice." He held out a necklace with a gold braided chain and a flat gold disc hanging from it. In the middle of the disc was a gem that made Sirius think of his godson's eyes. (James had been ecstatic that Harry had Lily's eyes. Never mind that Harry looked like a carbon copy of James's own baby photos; the thing that had made James grin like he'd been given the best gift in the world had been Harry's eyes.)
He reached out and took the necklace from D'Hoffryn, slipping it over his head. "Good. They deserve to pay. All of them do." He gasped as power flowed through him and burned away any trace of his mortality.
D'Hoffryn's smile widened. "Exactly what I was thinking." He reached out and pulled Sirius to his feet. "And as a way to say welcome to the family, I give you a gift." He snapped and stepped back, watching as an almost feral look appeared on Sirius's face at the sight of Peter Pettigrew in rat form. A jet of light shot from his wand and hit Peter, reversing the transformation.
"Wormtail," Sirius greeted, sounding almost pleasant despite the fury in his eyes. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were avoiding me."
"S-s-sirius!" Despite the fact that he'd been smirking in triumph literally only minutes before, Peter stammered now at the mere idea of being on the other side of the wand of the very person he'd been hoping would take the fall for what he'd done.
Any thing else that he would have said was cut off as Sirius took a step closer to him, practically daring him to interrupt. "I only want to know one thing, Peter. Why?"
If anything, his calm question made Peter even more nervous. It had been common knowledge that Sirius was a hothead. His temper burned hot and quick and then it evened out. It was when Sirius was calm and quiet though that he was at his worst. He'd sent Snape to the Whomping Willow with a quiet If you're really that curious, Snape, just go poke the knot on the Whomping Willow tonight. You'll see exactly what we do. Snape, of course, had been stupid enough to do it and would have died if it hadn't been for James. (Sirius had still been quiet when he'd told James, Simple, Prongs. I told him how to get in the Willow.)
No, a quietly angry Sirius Black was worse than one that ranted and shouted, always. Peter's eyes darted around and he knew if he so much as twitched, Sirius would probably kill him.
"I had to, Sirius! The Dark Lord was winning and if I hadn't given him what he wanted, he would have killed me!"
"So rather than stay loyal to the very people that became your friends a decade ago, rather than do what was right, rather than die to protect them, you chose to save your own worthless hide?" he snapped. "Voldemort wasn't winning because he was better; he was winning because he had scum like you giving him information!" Sirius stopped and took a deep breath. "That was all I needed to know." There was a flash of red light and Peter fell to the ground. Staring at him, Sirius conjured up a silver box just big enough to hold Peter when he was in rat form and began to use his wand to carve a number of runes in to the surface. Runes had been his second best subject, right after DADA, and the professor had been delighted by his natural talent for them and the way he could quickly carve them without having to stop to double check his work. He took advantage of that, well aware that D'Hoffryn was watching him, trying to figure out what he was doing.
Once the runes were done, he waved his wand over Peter and turned him back to a rat—it was a risky spell, one that they had learned when they were trying to each master their Animagus form because it turned the person in to their animal so that the wizard or witch could get the feel of the form until someone turned them back—and put him in the box. Once it was shut, he pushed as much power in to the runes as he could, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face when they shone briefly to show that they'd been activated.
"May I ask what it is that has you looking so happy?" D'Hoffryn asked after a few moments, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Peter betrayed the Potters because he was afraid to die. Now, he never will." Sirius gave D'Hoffryin a grim smile and continued, "Instead, he's stuck in this box, living through every possible death that could happen to him. Every time he dies, the next scenario will start again. Once he's gone through every single death he could experience, it'll start all over. He'll never die but he's going to wish he could."
D'Hoffryn's eyes lit up and he clasped his hands together to fight the urge to clap his newest demon on the shoulder. Oh, he'd picked well with this one. "Why, that's quite ingenious, Damon."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "My name is Sirius."
"Sirius is who you were as a mortal. Damon is who you have become. It means loyal, constant, the very things that you stand for."
There was a moment of silence and then Sirius nodded. He would never be able to let go of who he had been entirely, not as long as Harry lived, but he could embrace becoming Damon.
D'Hoffryn nodded in satisfaction. He couldn't wait to see what else his Damon would do.