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I'll try to alternate updating this and What If each week. Fingers crossed that I can do it. Hope you enjoy the chapter and leave me reviews, even if it's just to tell me you were here!
Andy forced herself to breathe as she moved down the hallway, resisting the urge to put her back to the wall. She carefully drew her wand as she approached the door. Through the misted glass, she could see only one silhouette. But she knew from bitter experience that just because she could only see one didn't mean that there couldn't be more. She pulled the door open and froze, her mouth dropping open as her eyes met those of the last person she expected to find standing on her doorstep tonight. Well, not the last, Lily and James probably topped the list. But he was very high. She had thought it might be Peter, or perhaps Albus Dumbledore. Death Eaters would have surprised her least of all. As he stepped forward, over the threshold and out of the wind, and she instinctively moved back, her wand trained on his chest.
"Stay back." She warned, little conviction in her voice as doubts assailed her. Her spread his hands, showing her that he was unarmed and the tiny doubts rose up in her mind, growing fast. James had been his best friend…He had adored Harry…He was her cousin…He had spent the last year showing up whenever she most neededhim.
"Andy," His voice broke through her thoughts "please, just hear me out."
"Andy?" Remus' voice followed her down the hall.
"Remus!" She cried back, half turning to face the way she'd come, and immediately she head his footsteps on the floorboards.
"Who on earth…" There was a gasp. He lunged around her and his fist connected squarely with the jaw of one Sirius Orion Black. People often forgot the Remus was a werewolf. His thin frame and quiet disposition disguised a strength that was greatly enhanced by his monthly struggle with a wolf's form. Sirius staggered, fear warring with anger and pain in his expression as he stared at Remus, who was almost growling. Andy looked between the two and was about to intervene when Frank and Alice pushed past Remus, professional Auror's doing their jobs.
Frank hauled Sirius to his feet and Alice snapped a pair of magical cuffs onto his wrists and stepped quickly back, drawing her wand.
"Sirius Orion Black, you are under arrest for providing information to the Dark Lord and conspiring to the murder of Lily and James Potter." Sirius only panted in response, still breathless from the fall and working his jaw. Alice went on and finally he managed to gasp out a sentence on the end of the spiel.
"Please, I know that you must all hate me right now. Believe me, I hate myself. But I didn't sell Lily and James out…I would have died first…" Frank and Alice looked at the two on the doorstep, deferring to Remus' judgement. Beside her, Andy felt Remus hesitate so she asked the question that was holding back the wave of desperate belief she could feel building in the group.
"If you didn't tell You-Know-Who where they were, who did? You were their Secret Keeper! No one else could have…" She trailed off, the hope evaporating in the glare of the irrefutable truth. She could feel Remus trembling beside her and she grabbed his hands before he threw another punch at Sirius, who was now frantically shaking his head.
"I wasn't. We changed it at the last minute. I convinced them. I was too obvious. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, Moony," He appealed solely to Remus now, expression desperate "But if they got Andy or the girls…The was why I couldn't do it either…" Andy nodded, knowing that the girls were her boys greatest weakness. She could feel her heart pulling towards him. This was Sirius. Sirius, who had stood up for her when she decided to marry a muggleborn. Sirius, who had crashed on her couch once he left school and had nowhere else to go. Sirius, who loved her and her children just as much as he loved the Potter's. Who loved Remus more than words could express. She wanted to believe him. She desperately wanted for him to make it all better, make it that he hadn't sold out his best friends. To stop the trembling that no one else seemed to notice shaking Remus' body.
"Who was it then, Sirius?" She choked a little on his name "If it wasn't you, who sold out Lily and James?" His smile of hope almost her heart as he met her eyes, then she saw them turn stony.
"Peter," He breathed the name with vast amounts of hate. "It was Peter. Peter told Voldemort where to find Lily and James."
Andy handed Sirius the bag of ice. He smiled sadly up at her and she resisted the urge to lay her hand on his shoulder or hug him or ruffle his hair. You can't tell him that everything's going to be ok; you don't know that it will be. You don't even know that it should be, she reminded herself.
She retreated to the opposite side of the room where Remus was sitting, back ramrod straight, watching Sirius with a desperate look in his eye. At least he hadn't punched him again. Yet. She settled herself on the arm of his chair and took hold of his hand. Alice sat on the couch beside Sirius with one had cuffed to the apparently-not-Secret-Keeper, eyes wary and her wand gripped tightly by her leg. With his free hand, Sirius dabbed delicately at his jaw with the ice, his eyes still fixed on Remus. Frank leaned against the fireplace, face unreadable as he also watched Sirius.
The object of their attention finally looked up and gave a sheepish smile.
"Why?" Remus' voice startled her slightly. It was a broken version of his usual gentle tones. She squeezed his hand. Sirius sighed.
"Why what? Why was it Peter? Why am I here? Why haven't you killed me yet?"
"Yes," Remus answered and again Sirius flashed his weary half smile.
"We changed the plans at the last minute. There were a thousand reasons. Too many people knew that I was going to be the Potters' Secret Keeper. And even if they didn't, it wasn't hard to guess. Peter was never particularly strong willed, and we were both so involved with Andy and the girls. I was an Auror, Harry's Godfather and James' best friend." His face turned serious. " I'm sorry we didn't tell you. Any and all of you." He glanced around the room "But we would have put your families in danger. And then we'd have to justify why we hadn't told all the people who'd known it was going to be me. Albus, Hagrid, Minerva," He grimaced, "even Snape. It was just…simpler." His eyes fixed on Remus. "I couldn't bear the thought of them getting to you…"
Andy nodded. So far, this was all making sense, in a crazy please-let-it-make-sense-it-just-can't-have-been-Sirius kind of way. She risked a glance at Remus to see how he was taking it. His expression was almost inscrutable, but she thought maybe there was something in his eyes. It wasn't quite a glimmer, but the dead look they'd held ever since she'd found him in Harry's bedroom, and she presumed ever since he'd received the note at his offices in Diagon Alley, had lifted slightly. She turned back to Sirius and found his dark eyes on her. She smiled slightly and nodded, encouraging him to go on. He seemed to understand and smiled back at her timidly before continuing.
"As to why I came here…Well, I'm still not exactly sure it was a good idea, but it was certainly the best one. Cutting and running away still seems like a pretty good plan in the short run. Or even going after Peter, that would have worked too and it certainly would have been satisfying. But I thought that with Andy here, you might actually listen to what I had to say rather than killing me. I hadn't counted on Frank and Alice being here." Andy could have sworn she saw Alice's lips twitch, but the Auror quickly looked down into her lap, hiding her face and her expression.
"But," Sirius continued, "I knew that if I was going to be able to find anyone who might even possibly consider for the tinniest second that I didn't betray my best friend and his wife and…" His voice cracked and he hesitated, clearing his throat and just for a second Andy caught a glimpse of what it was costing her cousin to hold everything together right then, long enough to explain his story and for them to pass their verdict. Remus beside her seemed to almost be straining to keep himself in his chair. "…and my godson," he continued once he had regrouped "then I'd probably find them here." He paused again, longer this time, giving them a chance to mull over and consider his words.
Andy glanced at Remus, who still had his eyes glued on his best friend's face. Something had changed in his expression though, a slight thawing, and his voice reflected that change, less broken now as he spoke to Sirius.
"Why should we trust a word you've said to us?" He asked, not because he doubted or didn't want to believe but because belief could bring so much more pain. Sirius' face fell and suddenly he looked very tired. His shoulders seemed to droop and his voice dropped until he was speaking just above a whisper, cracked and wracked by emotions that they were all feeling but he had been forced to hold in check and conceal, hide away from them to tell them his story. Grief and guilt were warring in his eyes as he looked up at them to speak his final piece.
"Because I didn't do this. Because I didn't want this." He waved his hands helplessly. "Because I wouldn't do this to Lily and James, to us." His voice rose almost to a shout as he waved his hand through the air between himself and Remus, indicating that he was referring to the Marauders. He dropped his hands into his lap and focussed his eyes on them now. His voice dropped to a broken whisper. "Because it's the truth."
Remus' expression was tragic. Andy glanced away and saw that both Alice and Frank were watching him, again deferring to his judgement. Sirius still hadn't looked up from his hands. He had spoken now, it was theirs to decide.
"I think…" He looked up at her and she momentarily saw the fear in his eyes before he whipped his head around to where Frank was moving to stand behind Alice, his hands resting on her shoulders.
"I believe you." His voice was soft but every word was audible. Andy nodded.
"I do too." Alice looked back up at Frank. Who smiled at her, rubbing his hand gently along her shoulder. He slowly turned his head back to where she and Remus were seated. He was smiling a little again. Exhausted and hurt, but stripped of the bitterness that had suffused it before. She nodded again, this time more emphatically, catching his eyes.
"Peter was always the trickier one." Sirius' smile grew just a little more and he turned his gaze on Remus, who was nodding slowly.
"I believe you, too." Sirius smile almost reached the standard of his usual causal grin as he looked at his erstwhile boyfriend.
"But the question now is what we're going to do." Sirius shrugged before speaking.
"Could we start by removing the handcuffs?" Alice nodded and Frank came over with the key. Once he had been released, he stood, offering Frank his seat and moving over to where his wand was sitting on the mantelpiece. Andy stood up and Sirius
"I suppose I need a place to hide," Andy nodded at Sirius' words and spoke up, voicing a suggestion that had been brewing for quite some time. Remus slid his hand up into Sirius'.
"We." The werewolf said softly.
"Why don't you hide with us?" Several voices sought to interrupt her, but she held up a hand. "Hear me out. I know the Aurors will come here." She glanced at the Longbottom's for agreement, and both Frank and Alice nodded. "But it won't perturb anyone if Remus' moves in and no one would suspect a lovable pet, maybe the loyal family dog. We could just transfigure you." She caught Sirius; eyes and shifted her glance towards the Longbottom's then back to him. He inclined his head slightly. "And then, if we're going to get custody of Harry, we'll have to go into hiding, at the very least until the Death Eaters are rounded up and even after that possibly from the press. No one will bother us and you can remain human most of the time. " She looked around and found everyone nodding in agreement.
"But," Remus held up a hand. "We need to talk to Dumbledore before we can get Harry." Again, everyone nodded.
"So why don't we all head to our beds and I'll send an owl to the Headmaster requesting a visit first thing tomorrow?"
And what will our lovely, silver haired headmaster say? What will happen next and will they get Harry? Anyone have answers to these questions? Or suggestions or just something that you liked? Let me know! By leaving a review. The button doesn't bite. Promise!
Pix
