I could hear the voices bouncing off the stone walls and the vaulted ceiling. Sane voices, speaking in such reasonable tones that they stood out in immense contrast with the crazed murmurs around me. As I realized the voices were coming closer and closer to my cell, I quickly changed back into Sirius Black.

Instantaneously, the terror and fear that had been subdued as a dog fell in waves over me.

It hadn't been a good day. There was something in the air, something that you could just feel. Something big was coming, something bad, and it was coming fast. I watched the sky turn purplish as the sun set. Sighing I turned away from the window to the bright warm sitting room I was in. The house in Godric's Hollow seemed immune to the bad vibes in the air. The entire house smelled of freshly baked cookies due to the plate of the desserts on the coffee table set in the middle of the sitting room.

A warm fire lit in the hearth kept the cold October night out. I could hear happy voices coming from the other room. I tiredly sat down in a squashy arm chair and listened to the cheery voices of my best friends. The Dark Lord was getting stronger. For some inexplicable reason he was after James and his family. Although I had questioned Dumbledore repeatedly about it, he just said that it wasn't my time to know. The old wizard was becoming more and more secretive daily, it became increasingly hard to get a straight answer form him. All I knew was that James and his family was in trouble. All I knew that if anything happened to them, I would go insane. I couldn't picture my life without James' laugh, or Lily's soft knowing smile, or Harry's beaming face. Outside the window, I could see little children dressed up in their costumes, going from house to house asking for candy. It was Harry's second Halloween.

As my thoughts strayed to the war that was being waged outside of Godric's Hollow, I small child wobbled into the room, giggling maniacally. With bright eyes and a sharp laugh, he ran unsteadily to me yelling "SI SI!" I smiled and got down to crouch before pulling the boy into my arms and lifting my godson over my head, spinning him. He laughed like a maniac again, sending a goblet of drool onto my face.

"ERRGH! Harry, you did that on purpose didn't you?" I said feigning anger as switched Harry's weight on to my right arm and wiped the drool off my check, the toddler just laughed in my arms. I smiled and set him down on the ground. I watched as Harry explored the room, shuffling his little feet. At one point, he scuffed a fold in the thick carpet, toppled over and began to cry. In an instant I had picked him up and shushed him, swaying softly, burying my face into his soft dark hair.

"You'll make a fantastic father you know that?" can a soft knowing voice. I looked up to see a beautiful woman leaning on the door frame and gazing down on me happily, a soft smile playing at her lips. The woman had dark red hair that hung down from a hastily done bun, there were deep shadows under her bright green eyes, her clothes were rumpled but she looked extremely content in that moment.

"Jeez Lily, you look like a train wreck!" I smirked. Glaring, she pulled Harry into her arms and gave me a sharp punch.

"Owww! Man Lil, you really pack a punch…" I said, rubbing my arm ruefully. She just gave me a smile that had a touch of sarcasm.

"What's going on in here?" asked a bemused James as he took in Harry laughing, me rubbing my arm, and Lily smirking at it all.

"Your wife is abusing me!" I whimpered, pulling out my famous puppy dog eyes. James just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Whatever you did, you probably deserved in." said my best friend grinning at me before turning to his wife, pulling her and his son into an embrace and planting a kiss on both of their heads. I smiled happily at the sight. Everyone wanted what James and Lily had. They had the love that was worth fighting for. It had been a rocky start for the two of them; it had definitely not been love at first sight (well maybe for James). It took years, but James had somehow managed to squeeze his way into Lily's heart. They were so different, yet despite that, they loved each other. Even in these dark times, they could still share a laugh and a smile. Maybe they weren't soul mates, but they had each other, and that's what mattered. And now they had Harry, and I honestly couldn't be happier for them.

We sat and talked for a couple of hours while taking turns entertaining Harry. It was a happy time and for a couple minutes I almost thought everything would be okay if it could just stay like this. I began to say by goodbyes when Harry began to yawn and rub his eyes sleepily.

"God you wouldn't believe how dull this hiding thing is Padfoot…" said James, stretching his arms and giving a huge yawn as he lead me to the door.

I gave him a stern glance. "You know that it's for your own good?" I said worriedly "it's not exactly a skip in the meadow out there…"

"I know, I know" retorted James bitterly "It's just extremely upsetting that my best mates are risking their necks for me every day, while I just sit here like a coward." He hung his head dejectedly. I frowned, and put a hand on his shoulder, so he'd look up at me.

"Hey, don't do that to yourself. It's not your fault, and I hope you know that no one thinks you're a coward. Just stay safe James…" I said sternly before stepping out into the brisk fall night and walking quickly away from my best friend.

I wish I had known that was the last time I would ever see him again.

I flew my bike to Peter's house before turning in for the night. The last thing I needed was a nagging feeling of guilt that I hadn't visited him in a while. I had decided to make him James and Lily's secret keeper because Peter would never be suspected of something so important. It only took about a half an hour to reach his flat on my motorcycle. Walking up the path I knocked on the rapped on the door confidently. The door creaked open. That was strange… sure Peter was daft, but he wouldn't be so carless as to leave the door unlocked.

"Peter?" I called out into the dark flat. No answer…. "Hello? Anyone home? PETER?" That was especially strange. My mind raced. Had he been attacked? Had the Death Eaters figured out our little switch and taken him captive. But no, that didn't make sense…. It didn't look as though a fight had taken place in the little room, everything was in order.

Unless…

My blood ran cold. Without a second thought, I ran out of the flat at a sprint. Hopping on my motorcycle, I revved the engine and took off into the inky night sky.

My motorcycle touched down in James' yard as the moon began to rise. I froze. The cottage that had been completely intact just an hour prior lay in shambles. The backside had been completely blown off, leaving three walls teetering. The roof had collapsed in on the second floor. All the windows were smashed and the front door was knocked off its hinges. The entire structure was smoldering as if it had been set on fire.

This wasn't right, it couldn't be true…. How could it have been true when James' house was protected by Peter's vow? It couldn't have happened unless… unless Peter was a spy, unless he was a Death Eater and was working with Voldemort…. But this was PETER for Christ sakes! Peter, who followed James around like a sick puppy, who idolized James and caused his ego to expand at the speed of light. There was no way Peter had betrayed James, yet here was the proof that he had. I stumbled forward uncertainly to the front door, or where it had once been. The inside of the house looked like a tornado had hit it. Furniture lay toppled all over the place, a bookcase was leaning against the overturned couch, books spilt all over the floor. With a cautious step forward I made my way into the dilapidated house.

I took another timid step forward and jumped when my foot crunched down on something on the ground. Looking down I realized I had stepped on a picture frame and cracked the glass. I picked up the frame and brushed off the dirt to get a better look at it. It was the picture of the four of us in our fifth year, arms slung around each other, laughing at the camera. It was the very same one I had stuck to the wall in my room. It was the day Lily had slapped James so hard he landed on his arse and just stood there staring at her shocked. It was the day Remus laughed so hard at James' expression, he was literally rolling on the ground. It was the day that was spent lazily by the lake wasting away carefree hours that we could never get back. But we were young and we didn't know how to cherish those moments.

The house was dark, and picking my way through the debris was a difficult task. I stepped over various chairs, tables, all broken and heaped. I could feel my heartbeat drumming under my skin. A cold sweat had started at the base of my neck. I was worried, where was Lily and James? Where was anybody for that matter?

"JAMES! LILLLLYYY?" I called out into the oppressive silence, but I got no return. I swallowed the lump in my throat and continued forward.

My heart stopped when I got to the stair well.

There was James, laying on his back, head plunging down the stairs. His foot had gotten hooked between two of the thin columns holding up the banister. His warm brown eyes were set in a determined glare, yet the life behind them was gone. His glasses lay askew across his face, only emphasizing the cold and emptiness of his expression.

He was dead.

I fell to the ground, my knees dug into a pile of broken glass, but my mind barely registered the pain. My whole body was trembling; no matter what I did I couldn't stop it. James was dead.

How could he be…dead?

This wasn't right. It couldn't be true… maybe; maybe if I found Lily, she could fix it. Lily was the cleverest witch in my year; surely she would know what to do. With careful actions, I climbed the stairs around James' lifeless form. "LILY! LILY COME QUICK!" I shouted frantically.

The master bedroom was perfectly untouched which I found very strange considering the condition of the rest of the house. The bed was neatly made (most likely Lily's doing, seeing as James was such a slob in school) and night clothes were neatly laid out on the king sized bed. I glanced at the clock on one of the bedside tables. It was stopped at 6:35pm. Considering my watch said it was 8:00 at night, and Lily's bed clothes looked untouched, my mind knew something dreadful had happened to her as well. I pushed back the worst of the thoughts that immediately came and continued to search the rest of the top floor. The floor boards creaked ominously under my feet, but I kept moving. Lily had to be here somewhere. The guest room was empty, as was the bathroom.

Finally, the only room lay unchecked was Harry's. I slowly made my way to the toddler's room, passing under cracked ceiling beams that had come crashing through the roof. My feet crunched broken shingles that littered the ground. I pushed the door opened with a loud creak. Harry's room was the worst I had seen. His bedroom lay in the back corner of the house. The entire back wall had been blown away. The left wall was crumpled and falling apart. Every window was smashed. The ground was covered in broken chunks of wood, glass, and odd bits of toys.

The first thing I noticed was the mobile Remus had given him when he was born. The mobile was amazing. It twirled and whirled around like it had a life of its own. It issued soft relaxing music and sparkled when it hit light. It was made of sturdy wood from which hung metal animals depicting dogs, wolves, rats, does, and stags. Harry loved it. The mobile lay on the ground, the wood was broken in bits and the animals were all dented. With trembling fingers, I picked up the decrepitated toy. The stag and the doe were coming loose and without thinking about it I just stuffed the two figurines into my pocket

Moving slowly forward I noticed Harry's dresser lay toppled, under which was a sheet of red. My voice stuck it my throat but somehow I found the strength to faintly issue a small "Lily?" I ran to the dresser, pulling it off of the lifeless body of Lilly Evans Potter. "Lily? LILLY!" I cried, frantically rolling her on to her back and brushing her long red hair from her startled face. The green eyes that we had all fallen in love with were glassy and unseeing.

I backed away from her body, horrified. Gripping the wall for support I tried to stop my knees from quaking underneath me. My lip trembled, I was falling apart. A soft cry issued from the corner of the room. My heart raced. Could it be possible that someone was still alive? I nearly tripped in my haste to make it to the corner of the room. The sound was coming from Harry's crib! It was buried under a large chunk of plaster from the ceiling. With new found strength, I heaved the plaster off the crib. With a frantic 'Lumos' my wand illuminated, shedding light on the frightened toddler who immediately burst into tears when he saw me. Something broke within me at the sound of his cries that were so innocent and pure. I picked him up and attempted to sooth him, but no one was there to sooth me. My whole life was falling apart, my best friends were dead… my best friends were dead…. And here I was holding their orphaned son in their destroyed house.

Together Harry and I sat on his bedroom floor surrounded by his broken life. I regained some of my composure after a few minutes, to pull the one year old away from where he had been clinging to my shirt. I sat him in my lap and scrutinized his little face, the face that so resembled his father. His little glasses emphasized his bright green eyes that were wet with tears. I carefully wiped them away with my thumb. Harry had resorted to anguished burbling, rubbing his forehead with his little hands. Fearing the little boy had been hurt by whatever had exploded in his house, I pushed back his ebony hair and gasped. A peculiar gash tore through the skin on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. I knew enough from studying with Remus that this was a scar caused by a curse. But who would curse a toddler?

Voldemort.

Voldemort had come and killed… he had killed James and Lily, and tried to do the same to little Harry, but something had stopped him. I knew that James' family had been in trouble. Maybe that had something to do with Harry. Could Harry been the reason why James and Lily had to go into hiding? That has to have been it. There was something about the little boy that must have scared Voldemort out of his wits to make a personal appearance. Whatever it was I'm glad it was there. I hugged the last remaining Potter to my chest and rocked back and forth as the little boy cried into the night.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, maybe it was an hour, maybe it was only a couple a minutes, but soon I felt a splash of water on the top of my head. I looked up to see one Rubeus Hagrid, glancing around the room with puffy red eyes and a tear stained face.

"'Ey there Sirius.." he blubbered. I got up shakily, still holding Harry who had long ago fallen asleep in my arms.

"Hi Hagrid." I said my voice cracking.

"'ve come to pick Harry up and bring him to his 'unts house…" said the giant sadly. Pick up Harry? Something wasn't clicking in my mind. Why would he bring Harry to his Aunt's house? James and Lily made me Harry's godfather so that if they died, Harry would be raised by me. "Come on Sirius, give 'im 'ere."he said, holding out his arms. But I couldn't give him Harry. He was my Godson. I held on tighter to the little boy and turned slightly so my body was shielding his.

"I can't let you take him Hagrid. He's my Godson…." I said defensively.

"Sirius, its Dumbledore's orders, 'm sorry mate, I truly am." He said sadly, pulling the boy away. I wanted to tell him he was wrong, that Harry was safe with me… but was he? Dumbledore wanted him to go to his Aunt's house, well maybe he should. I didn't have much fight in me left when Hagrid took the toddler away.

Without Harry, I felt like the life had drained from my body. He was the one bright spot that I still had and he wasn't mine. "At least take my motorcycle, would you Hagrid, I don't need it anymore" I said sadly

"Alrigh' if you insist Sirius…" he said confused. With that, the huge man wrapped Harry up in a little bundle, put him in his basket with a lot of pillows and blankets and set off, leaving me surrounded by the bodies of my two best friends.

I shivered involuntarily as the door to my cell creaked open and in walked Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. He gave me a scathing look before taking a seat on my bed. I leaned back against the opposite wall and glared at him.

"Hello Sirius." said Fudge trying to act casual as wails rang out around us.

"Fudge." I said bowing my head in greeting

"How has your stay been here?" he asked. I wanted to laugh. He must have been investigating the conditions of the prisons. It was something he was required to do at least once a year but I'd only seen him once maybe twice in all the time I was here. Also he asked it as if I were staying in a five star resort complete with a waffle bar. Haw was my stay? Oh yes, it's excellent, the food is simply exquisite!

"Well, I can't complain…" I answered sarcastically as a dementor hovered past ominously. I took pleasure in the fact that I cause Fudge to shiver involuntarily.

He nodded before adding "Well if that's all then I must be going, if you have any questions or complaints feel free to express them to me know." he said already making his way to the door. Wow, that was thorough. One question seemed to be all he needed to pass the prison for inspection.

"Wait!" I said noticing something "would you mind if I had your paper if you're done with it?" I was desperate for some information from the outside world; I hadn't had any for the past 12 years. Fudge gave me a look but he passed his paper to me all the same. I thanked him and he left. My eyes hungrily scanned the front page and that's when I saw him. A rat, on the front page was missing a toe. My heart skipped a beat. Was it really that simple? There he was, just sitting there as a family pet? It was so… fitting… I scanned the subscript, he's at Hogwarts….

He's at Hogwarts…