Hey guys!

This is the continuation of my fic "Hush now, I'm Here"

When they came up above the dark clouds, the sky was lighted up with stars. Harry's green eyes widened at the sight, and he reached his small hands up towards the sky, trying to grab them.

Sirius smiled at this. When he had gotten the motorcycle, it had mainly been because of the adrenaline rush he would get from the speed, but truth to be told, he liked this almost as much; Flying slowly across the night sky, above the clouds, and under the stars. He would do it whenever he felt like his problems became too much for him and he needed a break. He would leave them down there with the rest of the people, and let the motorcycle carry him high enough to feel like they could no longer reach him. Up here he was surrounded by nothing but the sound of the wind, as it blew through his hair. Up here he was free.

However, Sirius' smile soon faded away. No matter how high he flew tonight, it couldn't make him forget his problems. It couldn't make him forget about the large hole in his chest where his heart was supposed to be. James and Lily were dead because of him. And now he had taken it upon himself to take care of their son and raise him as his own.

The bike landed softly on the street, in front of number 12 Grimmauld Place.

A part of Sirius still hated this place. It was filled with horrible memories from his childhood up until he turned sixteen and left. The house had been supposed to belong to his brother, the favorite son, the one who always made mom and dad proud. But Regulus was dead now, and Sirius was the only Black left. Sirius had promised himself that he would never go back there, but as he looked down at the little boy, who had fallen asleep in his arms, he knew that had to make his own needs and wishes second priority and only focus on what Harry needed.

He took a deep breath before he walked up the stairs and opened the door. He had barely stepped into the hallway, before the voice that still haunted him at night, started yelling: "Filth! Blood traitor! Children of filth!"

The sudden torture-like screams awoke Harry from his peaceful sleep. Tears filled his eyes and he started crying in unison with Walburga Black.

Sirius instantly tried to calm the child, but it was an impossible task as long as Walburga kept yelling. Suddenly a small creature, with a bulbous, snout-like nose, dressed in ragged clothing ran into the hallway. "Who dare upset my poor mistress?!"

"Scum, mudblood, traitor!"

"Kreacher!" Sirius yelled trying to make himself heard over the racket.

The House-elf turned and looked at him with bloodshot eyes. "Cover that thing up! Now!"

"Yes, master." The spite was painted all over Kreacher's face, but Sirius didn't care about that. The screams had brought back horrible memories from his childhood, but even worse: they had made Harry cry. He kept rocking back and forth, but it was no use as long as the memories of the witch kept howling her blames at him.

Kreacher finally returned with an old moth-eaten blanket. It was thrown over the frame, hiding the painting of the old woman in black, and the screams finally died out.

Sirius instantly turned his attention back to Harry, who was still crying in his arms. "It's okay, Harry, it's okay. She can't hurt you. No one can, I promise." He kept repeating things like that until the boy finally calmed down. Sirius looked back up and noticed that Kreacher was just staring at him and Harry, eyes filled with anger and disgust.

Sirius knew that this house elf would never show him any respect. It had severed the house of Black for years, showing them loyalty and respect. It had been loyal to Regulus, who had served Voldemort, the monster who had killed Lily and James! "What are you standing there for? Make yourself useful!"

"What does master wish?" the elf asked.

"Go out and buy food, baby-food, diapers, and baby-cloth. Now!"

"Yes, master." The House-elf apparated, leaving Sirius and Harry alone in the large house.

Sirius took a deep breath and left the hallway. He found the kitchen and started looking for a somewhat clean cloth. He then searched all the cupboards and drawers until he finally found a bottle of wound-cleaning potion.

He sat down at the table, with Harry sited on his leg. He pulled out his wand and used a cleaning-spell on the cloth, before wetting it with the potion.

Harry instantly protested and turned his head away, when the cloth touched his already sore forehead.

"I know it stings, Harry, but I have to clean it," Sirius said, as he managed to lightly press the wet cloth onto the lightning-formed wound. Harry started crying again, and Sirius had to restrain himself from removing the cloth. He had always hated to hear the little boy cry, and even more to be the reason behind the tears.

"There, there, it's over now, see? I'm done," Sirius said, putting the cloth on the table. Harry soon stopped crying, when he realized that the pain had stopped.

Sirius left the kitchen and walked upstairs onto the topping in the house until he found the door he was looking for. He shifted Harry onto the left arm and used the right one to open the door.

He was relieved to see that his room hadn't been touched since he left it. It had been the only room in this house he had actually liked. It had been the only place he could be free of his family and only surrounded by the pictures he had chosen himself.

He sat down on the bed. "Well, Harry. This is my old room. What do you think?"

The boy looked around at all the pictures with large eyes. Sirius knew how much the kid loved magic and he had often been amused by the child's reaction when he had made things hover or disappear. He would either laugh or stare confused about what had just happened. In time he had learned to understand that it was the wands that were the cause of the mysterious things happening. Sirius clearly remembered a couple of weeks ago, where Harry had grabbed his wand, waved it in the air, as he had tried to pronounce some spell:

"Lily, look at this! He is trying to do magic!" James had said thrilled.

"Oh god, James get that thing away from him, before he gets hurt!" Lily had fussed.

"Don't worry, Lil's nothing is gonna happen," Sirius had promised. He had been right; no sparkles came out from the tip of the wand. This had made Harry very upset and caused him to throw the wand away, while he started to cry.

James had picked him up, with a large smile. "Don't worry, Harry. Someday you'll learn how to do as much magic, as you want to. You'll become a great wizard. Just like me."

"Please, he'll be much better," Sirius had said. "Like me."

"You're not a better wizard than me," James had protested.

"Am too."

"Are not!"

"Am too."

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

Sirius' smiled at the memory. The smile however faded away, as he was brought back to the present. He looked down at the boy in his arms, who yawned and cuddled himself up to Sirius' chest.

Sirius carefully laid down on the bed, with Harry on his chest. The green eyes were closing, and Sirius watched as the boy fell asleep. He knew that he wouldn't get any sleep himself tonight. Or the next. Or the night after that. All he could do, was hold the innocent boy and try to keep him safe, just like he had promised Lily and James to do.

The following morning, Sirius' first action was to cast the Fidelius Charm. He had seen Voldemort's corpse that night – a sight he would never forget – but he still had a feeling that the evil, the dark wizard had spread, wasn't gone. He wanted to make sure that nothing could harm Harry. Besides that, he challenged all of his attention towards the boy.

Sirius did everything in his power to fulfill the needs the child would have: feed him, bathe him, change his diaper, play with him – Harry especially liked it when Sirius turned into his Animagus form. He could spend hours as the dog to please the boy. It also resulted in Sirius shedding black fur, all over the floor, but he kept telling himself that he would clean that up later.

However, it turned out it that it was much harder to take care of a child full time than it was to babysit a couple of times in a month. Sirius soon started to understand what Lily had meant when she had said that Harry at times could be… difficult.

It would be times, where Harry refused to eat what he was served:

"Come on, Harry," Sirius said, holding the spoon. "Open up for the broom." That usually worked, but today, Harry kept turning his head away, when the spoon came near his mouth. "Come on, Harry, you love mashed potatoes." What were you supposed to do, when your child wouldn't eat? "Just try it." Suddenly Sirius got an idea. "Alright, Harry, if you don't want it, it's fine." He put the spoon down, but instead of getting up from the chair, he reached his other hand towards the toddler and started tickling his stomach. Harry instantly opened his mouth laughing, while Sirius grabbed the spoon, shoving the mashed potatoes into the boy's mouth.

Harry stared at Sirius in surprised, not sure about what had just happened.

"See?" Sirius said, pulling out the spoon. "Yummy."

Harry, however, did not agree, as he opened his mouth, letting the mashed potato fall drip down. Sirius reached the spoon towards the boy, but it seemed like Harry had had enough: He slammed his small hands onto the table, and suddenly the bowl with mashed potatoes flew up through the air and hiding Sirius in the face.

The sound of child's laughter filled the kitchen, while Sirius wiped the baby food away from his face.

If the circumstances had been different, and this had just been one of the times, where Sirius had been babysitting, he would probably have pretended to get angry, lifted Harry up above his head and laughingly said that he would pay for that.

But the sorrow and lack of energy, just made Sirius look at the boy with a despairing sigh. He hadn't got a full night of sleep since he brought Harry home with him. Almost every night, Harry would wake up and cry, and it seemed like it took longer and longer for Sirius to make the boy calm down and go back to sleep. He would walk back and forth for hours, trying to lull the boy back to sleep, while his own body was screaming for him to go to bed.

However, when Harry finally fell asleep, Sirius would still lay awake, because every time he closed his eyes, he would be back in Godric's Hollow.

The nightmares were different from each night. Sometimes it would be an exact replay of what really had happened: Sirius arriving too late, finding his friends dead. Other times it would be about running towards the house, yelling for Lily and James to get out, right before the house exploded in green light. He would run into the ruins of the house and find their corpses.

And tonight, he was already inside the house: Sirius could see the dark Lord open the door and point his wand towards James, while Lily ran upstairs with Harry. "Run!" Sirius yelled, at his best friend, but James didn't seem to hear him. Voldemort swung and a green light sparkled from the tip, aiming for James' chest. Sirius didn't even think. He just threw himself in front of his best friend through so many years. The spell went right through him, but nothing happened. He fell to the ground, everything didn't get dark, he didn't feel like anything had hit him. Sirius then heard a yell behind him. He turned around and saw James laying on the floor: Eyes wide open and glasses crooked. "No! James!" he yelled, falling to his knees, just like he had done the first time. From the corner of his eye, he saw Voldemort walking past him. He was heading towards the staircase, but Sirius was not gonna let him get upstairs to Lily and Harry. He got to his feet running towards the dark figure. He reached his hand to grab the shoulder of the cloaked wizard. But his hand passed right through it. He couldn't touch him!

Voldemort continued up the stairs and Sirius was about to follow him, when a hand grabbed onto his ankle, holding him back.

Sirius turned and was met by James' dead eyes. "You did this to us," he said. "We're dead because of you." "I'm sorry," Sirius said. "I never intended for this to happen… I would give anything…"

Suddenly screams and crying sounded from upstairs, and Sirius was blinded by the green light.

Sirius sat up in his bed with a yell. He gasped for air as he realized where he was. It had just been another nightmare, he tried to convince himself of that, but he couldn't shake the feeling of James dead eyes staring at him.

He had barely laid back down, before crying, sounded through the house. Sirius took a deep breath before he pushed the covers aside. He felt like Harry's weeping became worse every night. He hated hearing it, especially because he wanted to cry just as much on his own, but he couldn't do that in front of Harry. Not even when Harry was put down for a nap, would he allow himself to break down. Instead, he would sit there beside the crypt, and just watch the boy sleep, while thinking about a time where none of this had happened. He couldn't leave the baby's side. He had to be strong, even though it was getting harder and harder every day.

A part of Sirius knew, that he couldn't keep doing this. He needed a break, where he could get at chance to handle his grief, but that wasn't an option.

He walked into the room next to his own, where he found Harry standing up in his crypt, crying at top of his lungs. Every night it would be the same: Harry would cry, and Sirius would do everything to make him calm down and fall back to sleep: give him his dummy, check his diaper, rock him, take him to the kitchen and see if he was hungry. Sometimes he would even make magic or turn into his dog-form in hope that it would make the boy stop crying, but none of it helped, so in the end, he would just walk around and rock him.

It had almost always helped when Lily did it. Especially when she sang her lullabies. Her voice had been the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. It had been so calming and soft, that it didn't matter what she would sing, to the boy.

"Now, now, Harry, it's okay," Sirius said and picked him up. "What's wrong, kiddo?" He had barely finished the sentence before he realized that Harry was burning up! Harry was sick! With a fever! This was bad, this was really bad!

He had no idea what to do what to with a child with a fever. He had to think, but it was impossible with Harry's crying.

"Harry, please. Be quiet. Shh! Please," he begged but it didn't help. Of course not. What to do? What to do? What to do? He brought Harry downstairs and started opening and closing different cupboard door, without knowing what he was looking for. "Don't worry, Harry everything will be fine," he mumbled.

"Mommy."

Sirius found himself freezing in his movement. It wasn't the first time Harry had called out for his mother, but every time, it had hurt horribly. It hurt because that was the one thing that Sirius couldn't give him. He would do anything for the boy. Be a father, be a friend, even give his life for him. But he could not give him that and it was destroying him, especially tonight, because Harry was sick and needed his mother.

"Mommy!" Harry kept crying. "Mommy!"

Sirius wasn't sure what did it – The tiredness, the nightmare or Harry calling for his mother. Probably all of it – but he couldn't take this anymore.

He went back upstairs, where he got Harry dressed and wrapped in a blanket. He then walked back downstairs and put his coat on. Harry was still crying when they walked outside. He probably woke up half the neighborhood, but Sirius didn't care about that.

Harry did, however, stop crying when they were up in the air. Apparently, it calmed the boy. That would have been nice to know three weeks ago.

It wasn't before the motorcycle landed on the street, that Sirius started to think that this might not be a good idea. They hadn't seen each other in what felt like a lifetime. Sirius hated to admit it, but for a while, he had actually suspected his friend for being a spy for Voldemort, while he blindly trusted Pettigrew, that little rat. The thought of his actions alone made him want to scream out his pain, and self-hatred until there was no more air in his lungs.

No, he told himself. He had to pull himself together. He had to do this. Harry needed help, and Sirius couldn't give it to him.

He parked the bike in the driveway and walked up to the door. Sirius' heart was racing, as he lifted his hand to knock. His knuckles hit the wooden door, but there was no reaction from inside. Maybe he wasn't home? What if he didn't live here anymore? It wasn't a full moon tonight, was it? And how would he react on seeing Sirius after all this time?

He knocked again this time harder. After a few moments, a light was turned on inside the house. Soon after he heard someone stop at the door, and Sirius heard a lock click on the other side. The door was opened, and a very tired looking Remus Lupin now stood before him. His eyes narrowed and then widened in shock. "Sirius?"

"Hello, old friend," Sirius greeted.

"Do you have any idea what time it… is… is that Harry?!"

"Yes…"

"Wh… what are you doing with Harry?!"

"He is sick… can we please come in?"

Disbelieve was still painted all over Remus' face as he stood aside, allowing Sirius to enter his humble home. "What is wrong with him?" Remus asked as he closed the door behind him, worry growing in his eyes.

"I don't know… he has a fever."

"Come on. I'll make a potion that can help him."

Sirius sat down with the boy in the kitchen, as he watched he old friend find several objects in the kitchen cupboard: Here among bottles with potions, that he mixed onto a kettle. He let it boil and purred it up in a small bottle. He then walked over and handed it to Sirius. "Here, see if you can make him drink this."

Luckily this was one of the few times where Harry didn't feel like fighting back, and just drank the content.

Sirius had barely placed the bottle on the table before Harry fell asleep in his arms.

"You can lay him on the couch," Remus whispered.

Sirius nodded and followed his friend into the living room. He laid Harry down and tucked him in the blanket.

He wanted to sit down as well, where he could keep an eye on the boy, and be near him if he woke up, but Remus signed for him to go with him back to the kitchen. For some reason, Sirius felt like he'd better do what he was told (for once) and follow his old friend.

"You have some explaining to do," Remus hissed when he had closed the door behind them. He turned around and looked Sirius into the eyes. "How could you do it?" He didn't yell the question. No, his voice was low, and it sounded so… broken. Even so, the words still hit Sirius in the heart as knives, cutting through his flesh. Remus didn't have to elaborate on the question, Sirius already knew what he meant. He actually believed that Sirius had sold James, Lily, and Harry to Voldemort.

"How could you betray them like that?" Remus continued. His eyes were angry, and getting wet. "James was your best friend. How could you just stab him in the back?"

"I didn't…" Sirius didn't know what else to say.

Remus' eyes narrowed. "What?"

"It wasn't me, who betrayed them…" His voice was so weak, and he felt like Remus had just stabbed him, so he was dying from the blood loss. "It was Peter Pettigrew."

"You really want me to believe that?" Remus crossed his arms. "Peter wasn't the Secret Keeper, you were!"

"We switched," Sirius stressed, looking down at the floor. "In the very last moment, I suggested that they should choose Peter instead of me. I thought that it would be safer. That Voldemort wouldn't suspect him."

Remus just stood there staring at him, as if he wasn't sure whether to believe him or not.

"Well if you don't believe me," Sirius began with a loud voice, but he quickly lowered it, remembering that Harry was sleeping in the other room. "Then make me some Veritaserum. Go ahead, I'll gladly drink it."

Remus still didn't move. He just kept standing there staring at Sirius, as if he had trouble believing that he was actually there. "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I…" Sirius found himself pausing. He wanted to be honest with his friend, but he also hated to admit his suspicion, which he now realized had been really stupid. "I was afraid that… that you might have been a… a spy."

He had expected Remus to get angry, or at least look hurt, but instead, he just nodded. "Understandable," he mumbled. "We live in a time where we practically can't trust anyone."

"Please. Forgive me," Sirius begged, as his mind didn't understand that Remus didn't blame him.

"No. Forgive me, that I accused you of… of killing our friends." Remus' voice cracked, and he looked away for a moment. It wasn't until now, that Sirius realized just how broken his old friend looked: his hair was messy, cloth wrinkled and there were large bags under his eyes. Sirius didn't even remember Remus to look this messed up, around a full moon, but the sight was killing him.

"But I did," Sirius said shaking his head. "They are dead because of me. I was the one who suggested Pettigrew. I put my trust in him and now..." This was where something in Sirius finally snapped. He had bottled it up inside for weeks now. He could not hold it back any longer, and suddenly the tears were running down his cheeks.

He felt a pair of arms getting wrapped around him and realized that Remus was pulling him into a hug. Sirius whole body started shaking and one sob after another escaped his throat. He didn't have the energy to fight it, so instead, he buried his face in Remus' shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he cried.

Remus held him tight and caressed his back. "It's not your fault," he whispered into the other man's ear.

"Yes, it is!"

"No. No, it's not," Remus said, no longer able to keep back his own tears. "They're dead. Because of me…" It wasn't just his own best friend and wife who were dead. They were Remus' friends too. Remus was suffering because of him and Sirius would give anything to take away that pain.

"Shhhh. Ssssssshhhhhhhh." None of them knew how long they stood like that, holding each other, almost scared to let go. They only had each other now. They needed each other.

o*o*o*

"So, I assume, that you're the one who put the spell on number 12 Grimmauld place?" Remus asked. They were sitting at the kitchen table, with their emotions now somewhat under control.

"Yes," Sirius answered. He should have known that it would draw attention from the rest of the Order of Phoenix. "I thought it would be the best way to protect Harry."

Remus nodded. "That does raise another question;" he mumbled. "How on earth do you have Harry?"

"The night where…" Sirius paused. "I arrived in Godric's hollow that night. I hoped that I could make it before… but I didn't. I found Harry upstairs, shortly before the house collapsed… I've been taking care of him since then."

Remus leaned back in his seat with a sigh, as if he was relieved.

"What?" Sirius asked.

Remus looked at him with a very Sirius look. "Sirius, Dumbledore sent someone to Godric's Hollows that night. He was supposed to pick up Harry, so Dumbledore could place him in care, but since he didn't find him, Dumbledore has made countless people, including me, look for him." Sirius was taken aback by this statement. For some reason, he hadn't given a single thought about the other relatives to the Potters and how they would handle the tragedy.

"Really?" he heard himself asking dumbfound.

"Yes! Haven't you read the news? The boy is searched for in the whole country! Everyone fears that he was taken by death eaters."

"Well… he wasn't." Sirius didn't know what else to say. It hadn't been his intention to worry anyone.

"No luckily," Remus said. "And now that I know that, I'll have to tell Dumbledore, so he can call off the search."

"Yeah," Sirius mumbled, while Remus pulled out his wand. "Wait."

Remus paused in the motion. "What is it?"

"You said that Dumbledore would find proper care for Harry… who exactly would that be?"

Remus lowered his wand and looked at his old friend. "Most likely Lily's sister Petunia and her husband."

"No," Sirius said firmly.

"Sirius…"

"Remus, you know how James always described them. They hated him, they hated magic… They probably don't even care that Lily and James are dead… Harry would never be happy there!"

"Sirius listen…"

"No, Remus!" Sirius stood up, leaning over the table. "I won't let you do it. You're not leaving Harry with those people!"

Remus, however, remained calm. "And who would you suggest to take care of him then?"

"Me!"

"You?" Remus asked with an incredulous look. He stood up and walked around the table, looking into Sirius' grey eyes. "Sirius, please be reasonable. You are not capable of taking care of a child. You can barely take care of yourself."

"Yes, I can," Sirius answered offended crossing his arms.

"No, you can't."

"And why is that?"

"Sirius. You are not even wearing shoes!"

"Yes, I a…" Sirius began, but then he looked down and realized that Remus was right: he was wearing his slippers… he must have forgotten to change them when he left 12 Grimmauld Place to get here. "Well, uhm…" he began but realized that he didn't have anything.

"I'll go contact Dumbledore," Remus stated.

"Then we'll let him decide what is going to happen."

Sirius already knew what Dumbledore would say. He would take Harry away from him. He had already lost James and Lily, and now they were going to take Harry as well. "It is not his decision to make," Sirius growled. "The decision has already been made, by Lily and James. They made me his godfather. They made me his legal guardian! They wanted me to take care of him, Remus!"

"I know, but…"

"It was practically their last wish!" Sirius cut him off. His sight was getting foggy, but he maintained the eye contact with Remus. "And I'm gonna do everything in my power to grant that wish! I don't care who I must fight. No one is gonna take that boy away from me! Not you, not Dumbledore, not Voldemort, no one!"

Remus just stood there looking at him. It almost seemed like he wanted to cry himself. "Then what do you expect me to do?"

"I… I…" Sirius had no idea how to answer this question. When they had been younger, Remus had always been the smartest of the Marauders. Sirius had never wanted to admit this, but as he stood there, he knew that it was true. It had always been true. That was why he had turned to his old friend in the first place. Because he had believed in his heart, that Moony had had the answer to his problems. And now, his old friend just stood there, looking just as helpless as Sirius felt like. "I want you to help me."

"How?"

Before Sirius even got to think of an answer, he heard glass breaking. He barely managed to turn around, before they were surrounded by dark smoke. A familiar laughter, that had always made chills run down his spine, flew past his ear, but he couldn't see her.

"Look out!" Remus yelled, he jumped forward with his wand, preventing a green spark, from hitting Sirius in the chest.

Sirius instantly pulled out his wand, ready for battle. "Back to back!" he yelled to Remus. The two wizards instantly turned their backs to each other ready for what they knew was about to come. The kitchen was still filled with smoke, and all they could see was the countless sparks that were flying towards them. The Death Eaters were flying around the place breaking everything on their way. Sirius sent out an Expelliarmus. It didn't hit anyone, but a red spark instantly came towards him from his right. Dammit. They had no idea where their opponents were or how many there were. They couldn't even hit them. All they could do was shield each other until one of them came up with something better.

Suddenly Sirius heard something. A sound that made itself heard from the other room, above all the commotion around them. Weeping.

"Harry!" Sirius turned around, running in the direction of the door. The sparks were flying past him, but he didn't even notice. He blew up the door to the living room and stopped. A Death Eater was standing at the edge of the couch, with his wand pointed towards Harry. He turned his head and met Sirius' eye through the holes in the mask. For a moment Sirius just stood there, watching the scene. But he didn't see the Death Eater. No, his tired mind made him see the man who had haunted his nightmares ever since he left Godric's Hollows. The scene before him was a replica of the nightmare where he would make it to the nursery, just in time to see Voldemort raise his wand towards Harry. Sirius would try to stop him with countless spells, but every spark of light would go right through the dark wizard.

Then something inside of Sirius took over. He forgot all about the wand in his hand and he ran towards the Death Eater. By the time he had closed half the distance between them, he had fully morphed into the black dog. The Death Eater moved his wand away from Harry and towards the animal, but before he could pronounce a spell, the beast jumped up to his chest.

The man beneath the masked gasped for air, as Sirius stood on top of him, growling with his sharp teeth exposed.

He lifted his hand that was still holding onto the wand, up in front of his face, but once again Sirius was faster: the white teeth closed around the Death Eaters wrist, making him scream at the top of his lungs, while he tried to wrestle his hand free. This only made Sirius bite him even harder, letting his teeth go past the fabric, and into the flesh. He did notice how the man beneath him, tried to use his other hand to push him away, but it did nothing to him.

Blood was running from the screaming wizard's wrist, and a part of Sirius actually enjoyed listening to it. This was justice. The Death Eater deserved the pain. He deserved it for trying to hurt Harry. He deserved it for following the monster that had killed Lily and James!

Dark smoke surrounded them as a last attempt from the Death Eater to escape, but Sirius still didn't let go. He could no longer see the living room, all he saw was the man beneath him, as the magic lifted them from the ground, making them fly around, in an attempt to shake off the ferocious hound.

Sirius felt them flying into something hard, that gave into the pressure and the sound of glass shattering reached his ears.

It wasn't before they hit the hard asphalt, that Sirius lost the grip on the wrist, and rolled several feet away from the Death Eater. His gasped for air, as he found himself returning to his human form. In spite of the aching in his body, he instantly got to his feet. His eyes soon found the Death Eater, who was struggling to get to his feet, while it seemed like he was looking for something. His wand! Sirius spotted it, only a moment before the Death Eater. It was landed in the middle of the street, about ten feet from each of them.

Instead of doing the logical thing and pull out his own wand, Sirius found himself sprinting towards the wand on the ground. Sirius was fast, and he managed to catch up to the Death Eater, right before he reached his wand.

The Death Eater picked up his wand from the ground, but before he could pronounce a curse, or even point it towards his opponent, Sirius wrapped his hand around the wand as well. The two wizards found themselves struggling to pull the wand from each other at the same time as they wanted to prevent the tip to be pointed towards themselves.

Sirius could feel the muscles in his arms begging him to give in. His body was in no condition to win a fight, but his heart spoke against everything else: he had to do this. For Harry. For Lily and James, he had to keep fighting!

Suddenly green light sparkles from the tip of the wand. It flew past the struggling wizards, without being aimed at any target. Soon after it was followed by a heartbreaking scream. Sirius looked up in the direction the curse has gone and found his blood freezing by the sight that met him:

A woman was sitting on her knees, half screaming, half crying, while she kept shaking a man, lying in her arms. "Arnold!" she cried. "Arnold! No!" Her screams to wake up the man, became louder and louder, as the realization that Arnold was dead, began to sink in. "Help! Somebody help us!"

One by one lights were turned on, inside the houses nearby, as the woman's distressed call woke up more and more muggles.

Sirius knew that this was bad. This was really bad! The moment of shock, was enough for the Death Eater to pull the wand out of his hands. Sirius finally did the smart thing and reached for his own wand, but instead of casting any spells, the Death Eater surrounded himself with dark smoke, disappearing up into the night sky.

Muggles were now running from their houses and out on the street, to see what was going on. Some were trying to get the crying woman away, from the dead man.

"Hey, you!" one of them called, looking directly at Sirius. For a moment Sirius felt a hint of guilt, just like he had felt the few times he and James had been caught in a prank or skipping class at Hogwarts. James… Harry!

Sirius finally found himself turning around and sprinting back to Remus' house.

"Come back here!" someone called behind him, but Sirius didn't care. He had to find Harry. For every step he got closer to the house, the fear got worse: what had happened while he had fought the Death Eater? What if the others had overpowered Remus? No, no, no, Remus couldn't be dead! He just couldn't be! And if he was, there wouldn't have been anyone left to protect Harry, which would mean… Sirius stumbled through the broken door, heart racing, as he looked around. Practically everything had been destroyed: furniture, plants, glass, everything!

"Harry!" he yelled. "Remus!" Why was none of them answering him? Why couldn't he hear Harry crying?! His eyes ran over the chaos spread across the floor, almost expecting to see his last friend's corpse. To see his dead eyes, staring back at him, just like James had. "Harry! Remus!" he cried out.

"Sirius…" an out of breath voice said. Sirius felt a stone fall from his heart, as he turned around to see Remus standing there, with Harry on the arm. Sirius instantly closed the distance between them, embracing Remus and Harry. For a moment, he once again felt like he was back in time, but this time, it felt good and safe.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked before they let go of each other.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine," Sirius answered, as he took Harry from Remus to examine him. The little boy was let off without any scrapes or bruises. He wasn't even crying – Sirius was kind of debating whether that was a good or bad thing, though.

He looked back up at Remus. The wizard was bleeding from the side of his head, and his cloth was ripped several places, but other than that, Sirius couldn't see any damage. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine," Remus promised. "What happened to the Death Eaters?"

"They fled," Remus answered. "But I don't see why…"

"I think I do…" Sirius mumbled.

Remus gave him an examining look, but Sirius wouldn't meet his eyes. "What do you mean? Sirius, what happened out there?"

Suddenly both men's attentions were caught by the sound of upset voices coming towards the house. The panic that spread across Sirius' face, told Remus all he needed to know. "Go," he whispered.

"What?" Sirius whispered back. "Go. You and Harry have to get out of here. Now."

"B..but what about you?"

"I'll take care of them. Just go. Quickly." Sirius looked at his friend, desperate to find another solution. He didn't want to leave Remus behind, but he also knew that he was right: they had to get out of here, now! Sirius looked into Remus' eyes one last time, before he turned around, and sprinted out of the backdoor.