A/N: I'll try to update more often but also college keeps getting in the way so we will see what happens!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, our queen and savior J.K. Rowling owns everything
James wearily trudged up the trail leading toward Hogwarts. When he and Hagrid had landed near the edge of Hogsmeade he had barely been surprised. He glanced as the gates came into view, swallowing hard as the feeling of safety enveloped him as well as memories of a simpler, happier time where Evans was still alive. Behind him, Hagrid felt the tears still leaking from his eyes and falling into his beard, he kept his stride to a fraction of what it normally was refusing to let James and Harry out of sight. James was dimly aware of their winding path through the castle that ended abruptly at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Hagrid quietly murmured the password and they began to ascend, James glanced down amazed at how Harry continued to slumber, his little fists still twisted in his father's shirt.
As they entered Dumbledore looked up sharply, eyes narrowing as he counted the number of Potters entering his office. "Thank you Hagrid, will you please go and fetch Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey." Hagrid nodded and plodded back out of the office, closing the door behind him. Dumbledore then turned his full attention to James, and conjured a stuffed chair motioning for his former student to take a seat.
"James, I need to know what happened tonight," Dumbledore said quietly. James looked up sharply and began to breathe more quickly, shallowly and opened his mouth to protest. Dumbledore held up a hand silencing the oncoming protest, "My boy, if I thought it would help you to put this off and even a day I would, you have my word that I will never again ask you to relive what you have witnessed earlier this night."
James looked into the headmaster's eyes and saw more understanding and empathy there than what he'd thought possible. Closing his eyes briefly James took a deep breath and slowly began. As he talked Harry began to wake up and James stood, pacing to get his son back to sleep continuing to pace long after Harry had fallen back to sleep. James finished the tale as the sun began to crack the horizon and seemed to deflate into himself and sitting back into the chair. It was then he heard quiet sniffling and realized McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey must have slipped in part way through his telling.
Dumbledore was leaning against the front of his desk, his hands clasped under his nose as though praying, looking sadder than James had ever seen him. Dumbledore looked over toward McGonagall, "Minerva, please go find Hagrid and ask him to return to Godric's Hollow and assist Remus Lupin with Lily's body. Tell him to take her to Bathilda Bagshot she will see that Lily is taken care of until the funeral can be arranged." McGonagall wiped her eyes once more, straightened up, and went to find Hagrid. Dumbledore turned his attention back to James and Harry. "James I would like you and Harry to stay here at Hogwarts for the next day or two until we can be certain you will be safe outside these walls. Then you are free to stay with Remus or Sirius should you so choose. We have an extra staff quarters that are being made up for you as we speak." James looked up at his former headmaster and merely nodded, standing and preparing to leave when Dumbledore continued, "Please James let Poppy examine both you and Harry to ensure you are in fact uninjured." James nodded again and reluctantly handed his son to Poppy watching intently as she muttered under her breath casting diagnostic spell after diagnostic spell pausing more than briefly over the cut on Harry's forehead. When finished she looked at Dumbledore, "I doubt this cut will ever fully heal, but otherwise I can nothing wrong with him." James sighed in relief and Dumbledore merely nodded, James gently took his sleeping son back and turned toward the door when Dumbledore cleared his throat reminding James that he still needed to be examined, sighing and returning James to the chair waiting impatiently while Poppy repeated the process on James, healing the small cuts and bruises that happened during his duel with Riddle. Once she was done James looked blearily at Dumbledore "Now can we go?" Dumbledore nodded and a house elf appeared, one who James vaguely recognized from his frequent trips to the kitchens his seventh year.
She quietly led them through the quiet castle until they reached a small quarters with a bed and nightstand there was a cot near the bed and dresser on the opposite wall. Pajamas for both Harry and James sat on the bed as well as a couple clean nappies and a bottle for Harry. James quickly changed his son and laid him in the cot, satisfied Harry's needs were met for the time being James quickly stripped off his ruined clothes and slithered into the clean ones. Sitting on the bed James noticed a small vial sitting on the nightstand with a note sitting under it. Dumbledore's loopy handwriting adorned the parchment, "To avoid dreams" James realized with the vial contained sleeping draught. Looking over to ensure Harry was asleep James unstopped the cork and swallowed the potion in one swift motion. He was asleep before his head hit the bed, with the vial still clutched in hand.
Remus kept his head down in the early morning light, the sun silhouetting the castle. He was unaware of how eerily similar his approach to the castle was to James with Hagrid trudging along behind him. Except this time Hagrid veered off toward his hut to grieve in solitude and Remus continued on his own toward the headmaster's office. Approaching the gargoyle Remus murmured the password and ascended the staircase.
When he entered the office Dumbledore was leaning against the front of his desk eyes focused on an empty stuffed chair in front of him appearing deep in thought. His eyes, Remus noticed, were a sharp, hard blue without any of their usual glimmer. Dumbledore looked up as Remus entered the room seeming to snap back to the moment, motioning for Remus to take a seat before speaking, "James and Harry are both safe in a spare staff's quarters." Remus let out a pent up breath he'd been unconsciously holding since his family had vanished with the portkey, before saying "And Sirius is with them right?" Dumbledore's eyes narrowed slightly at this, "No, should he be?" Remus's breathing hitched slightly as he launched into his account of the night before starting with the patronus he'd received from Sirius that something was terribly in wrong in Godric's Hollow all the way until Hagrid helped him get Lily's body safely to Bathilda's cottage. He finished by reiterating that Sirius had left Godric's Hollow just as Remus arrived, he'd assumed Sirius was on his way to Hogwarts to inform the headmaster what had occurred.
Remus became aware of the sun, now peaking in over the top of Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore had scarcely moved during his recount his eyes never leaving Remus's face. Now his head bowed slightly for a moment before clearing his throat, "Thank you Remus, neither you nor James will be bothered while here, and as soon as Sirius is located you both will be the first to know." Remus nodded and stood, feeling a breath begin to build inside him again as another member of his family was unaccounted for. A house elf he believed was named Leasy, one who'd made certain there was hot chocolate waiting on his nightstand after every full moon during school, was waiting near the door to take him to James and Harry. They walked in silence, until reaching the quarters where the Potters were. Through the thick wood door Remus could hear James's snores and felt the edges of his mouth briefly pulled up. As he opened the door he saw James spread eagle over the covers, an empty vial of what Remus assumed was a sleeping draught in one hand and his wand clutched tightly in the other hand. Remus also saw Harry standing in the cot staring at his father, indignant at being woken up in such a way. When Harry saw Remus standing there he immediately reached for him. Sirius might be Harry's godfather, but uncle Moony was always Harry's favorite when it came to cuddles. Remus picked up the toddler and Harry immediately burrowed into Remus's shoulder. Remus heard both his and Harry's stomach grumble in unison. "Come on Harry let's go get a little food." He found a spare bit of parchment and wrote a note telling James where they were, leaving it on the nightstand where Remus was confident James would see it, and then he and Harry left in search of a pear to tickle.
As James returned to consciousness he became aware of a cramping sensation emanating from his right hand, as he slowly uncurled his right fingers the events of the previous night crashed down around him pushing him into the fetal position as though he could make himself so small the pain would simply go around him. He remembered it all so vividly from the candy dish to the duel from cradling his wife to cradling his son. His son, James realized he hadn't heard any noise from the cot since he'd woken up. He looked over and his pulse doubled, Harry wasn't in the cot causing James's grip on his wand to redouble, he sprang from the bed and was nearly to the door when it opened and Moony walked in carrying a giggling Harry and levitating a tray of sandwiches and pitchers of pumpkin juice and hot chocolate behind him. Moony took in the sight of James, the tearstains and the white knuckles gripping the wand and quickly put the food and drink on the dresser, handing Harry to his father.
"Where the hell were you?" James practically yelled. Moony blinked rapidly and realized the note he'd written was still sitting unopened on the nightstand. He walked over picked it up and handed the note to James. James quickly scanned the contents as Harry began to squirm to be let down and explore the new space. Exhaling deeply James set Harry down and slumped onto the end of the bed. He put his head in his hands continued to control his breathing before looking up at his friend with a broken expression. "Moony, what am I going to do without her?" Moony sat down hard next to James, putting his arm around his friend as Padfoot and James had often done for him after a full moon. "Well, for starters we're going to make sure you are Harry will be safe outside this castle, from there you and Harry can have your pick of places to stay between Sirius and I. Hell, we'll even keep spaces made up at both places for you." His last words had the intended effect, as the corners of James's mouth lifted up for half a second.
Taking one last deep breath James looked over to see Harry attempting to climb onto the bed by clinging to the comforter. He reached over and lifted his son onto the center of the bed, then stood up and walked over to the sandwiches grabbing two in one hand. James quirked an eyebrow at the hot chocolate, Moony was adamant that no matter the situation chocolate of some form was helpful. Filling a mug with it he went back to bed, where Harry and Moony were now playing peek-a-boo.
As he played the game Moony began talking. "After I got back to the castle Dumbledore had Leasy take me here, and I could hear you snoring from outside. Harry was already awake and was getting fussy about being hungry so I took him down to the kitchens and left you a note. The house elves were already slicing up fruit and such for him so we ate down there and grabbed a plate of sandwiches for you. We came back here and well you know the rest." James nodded and swallowed, opened his mouth for another bite when a knock came through the door.
Dumbledore swept in with a hard glint in his eyes, Minerva right on his heels. "We found Sirius, you both need to come with me quickly, before Barty Crouch does something truly rash. James, Minerva will look after Harry until we return." James loathed to part with Harry but the urgency in Dumbledore's tone was unmistakable and he knew Mcgonagall would protect Harry, so he simply nodded and gulped down the last of his hot chocolate. James then picked Harry up and kissed the top of his son's head breathing in the smell of his feathery black hair, before handing him to Mcgonagall. Then he and Moony followed Dumbledore out of the castle and back down the path toward the apparation point near Hogsmeade.
Sirius realized two things upon awakening, one he was in a small cell that felt unnaturally cold. Two, his wand was gone. Initially it was the second revelation that caused more distress until Sirius realized the reason for the cold was the pair of dementors standing outside the door of his cell. Sirius backed into the corner farthest from the door knowing exactly the kind of memories bound to begin surfacing around those beasts. He went to lean his head against the wall and gasped in pain, Sirius put his hand to his head and felt a bump the size of a snowball as well as dried blood matting his hair. Sirius racked his brain to remember how he'd been knocked out cold. Then it all came back to him almost in reverse order. Peter waving, his best friends' lives being torn apart, his small alarm going off alerting him that the wards around the Potters' house had been broken. Sirius was still confused as to why he was being held in this cell. Where were James and Harry? And where the hell was that rat? Sirius still refused to let the tears flow. Grief was something he would deal with later. He didn't know how long he sat there in his misery, thinking about Lily and James and Harry, thinking about how it was without a doubt his fault when the door slammed open and patronus in the shape of a weasel entered followed by one and only Barty Crouch.
Crouch looked at Sirius as though regarding something stuck to the bottom of his shoe. "Sirius Black, you are charged with the murders of 12 muggles and the murder of the wizard Peter Pettigrew. For these charges you have been found guilty and will be transferred to fulfill a life sentence in Azkaban. You will be transferred in a matter of hours once I am assured there's a cell open." With that Crouch spun on his heel, leaving an open mouthed Sirius to stare at the backside of Crouch's robes only finding his voice as the door slammed closed. "What the hell are you talking about Crouch? I didn't do any of those things!"
Crouch paused, his weasel still guarding him, "We have the memories of muggles who remember you doing it, and all we could find of Pettigrew was finger." With that he walked purposefully away, leaving Sirius to contemplate his fate. Sirius was so deep in thought he forgot to move away from the door was soon trapped in his own worst memories, chief among them Lily. Sirius fell to the floor near the door, the tears finally fell.
Some time later Sirius heard a great disturbance at the end of the hall and a phoenix patronus suddenly burst through the hall driving away the dementors. Sirius managed to move away from the door as it banged open. He realized through the fog of his misery that Prongs and Moony were helping him up while Dumbledore looked on, a fire within his eyes. Even before Sirius could get to his feet there was Barty Crouch, all red in the face seemingly ready to argue with Albus Dumbledore. However it was Prongs who began the verbal castration first. Dismantling every one of Crouch's arguments by revealing Peter had been the secret keeper and with some hesitation he revealed Peter was an animagus which is why they weren't able to find him. Crouch visibly deflated upon the new information, which he hadn't bothered to ask of Sirius, and simply stepped out of the way. As his friends helped him out of his cell Sirius stopped next to Crouch and simply held out his hand, from within the robe sleeves Crouch withdrew Sirius's wand and handed it to him. Once all of them were outside the cell, Dumbledore grabbed Sirius's shoulder and side-alonged all three of the Marauders back to Hogsmeade.
A/N:Please review!