The Big Day
Goddamit insomnia.
Sirius, looking like a zombie, walked around his room in the dark, sometimes stopping to gaze at the muggle street out his apartment window.
"I can't even go to a Halloween party that my sleep goes away?" he muttered, sitting on his bed again, making it creak.
With his open eyes staring at the roof, Sirius heard the clock ring mid night, and got up again.
"I give up" he said, changing his pajamas for a jeans and some random t –shirt.
Gazing a last time to the clock, he got the bike's keys and left. London was, as every time and every day, hyperactive, making Sirius regret having stop the party so early. But Harry needed to sleep. He sighed. Nothing would be the same since Harry was born. Now James was a loving husband and father blah blah blah. They couldn't stay awake the whole night getting drunk and hitting on the girls. Everything was about that baby.
With all those thoughts he decided to go to Godric's Hollow, maybe to get a laugh at James' dark windows.
I headed east, and soon recognized the village's gates. The moment I got there I knew something wasn't right. Since the spell was casted I wasn't able to see the house until I step on its door, but now I could see it from the distance.
He approached and landed.
I felt my spine shiver when the gate fell down with a crack.
He crossed the gate, and a weak light inside called his attention. Walking forward, he withdrew his wand as a sword. But the moment he entered, it felt down.
"James?" he asked pale, staring at his friend's body on the floor.
"James!" he knelt by his side to hold his head. James's eyes were glassy and open.
He must be joking with me. Yeah, it was that. Stupid nonsense joke.
"Wake up, James! Come on, that's not funny!" Sirius screamed shaking the body hardly. "Bloody hell, James! WAKE UP!"
Still telling his to wake up, Sirius felt hot tears roll down his cheeks, some of them falling over his friend. Yet thinking it was some kind of weird joke, he looked desperately above, focalizing a picture of a ginger head holding a baby.
Lily
Leaving James on the floor, Sirius ran to the second floor, hoping to find her somewhere, probably crying.
"Lily?" he yelled, hearing his own dying tone.
He searched in all of the rooms, from the couple's bedroom to the kitchen, until he got at Harry's bedroom. The door was half opened.
I had terrible experiences with half opened doors.
"Lily?" he called again, opening the bedroom's door. "Oh, no. Not you."
Sirius stormed inside the bedroom, falling by the woman's side.
"Please, Lily. Wake up."
But this time he knew that was in vain. This time, he looked up with attention. An insignificant sound caught his ears, almost like a mutter, a cry.
And it came from the crib
"Harry?" he asked, rising up.
That noise again. Sirius ran towards the white crib near the wall. It was all messy. The blankets were revolved, and a piece of the wall was leaning in it.
"Harry?" he repeated, now taking everything off of the crib.
I felt my heart stop beating when my godson appeared into all that mess, his little arms moving towards me.
"God, Harry, you're alive. Come here." He held the boy to his arms. Staring at Lily's body, he remembered James lying downstairs, and felt a grasp in his chest. He was turning to take the baby away when a loud sound called his attention.
"W – Who's there?"
"Sirius?"
Hagrid. I knew it by his voice.
"Hagrid, I'm in Harry's room! Come here!"
When the half giant saw Lily on the floor, his eyes (which were already red and swollen) overflowed.
"I… Can't belie' this, Sirius. That's terrible… Un… Un'uman. Where's ya know who?"
"Have no idea. But Harry survived, Hagrid, look." He showed the boy in his arms.
"I know." Said Hagrid. "That's why I'm here, Sirius. Gimme Harry, please. Dumbledore sent me to pick'im up."
"What? I'm his godfather, it's my responsibility."
Hagrid passed his fingers throw his shaggy hair.
"I know, Sirius, I know. But these are Dumbledore's orders, can't do anything."
"No." Sirius answered, holding Harry firmly. "He stays with me, Hagrid. James gave me this responsibility when he asked me to be his godfather."
"Sirius, that's serious. Dumbledore…"
"Tell Dumbledore I'm keeping him because I am the godfather."
"Oh, please, don't make things hard…"
I realized that he'd take Harry whatever it took, even if he had to take my arms too. Reluctant, I handed the baby to him."
"Here, fine? Tell Dumbledore I wanna talk to him later."
"Ok."
They got down together, passing sadly through James' body, frozen in its position.
"How he got to'em, hun?"
That moment Sirius remembered of Peter. He had to find him quickly. He'd always know his friend was a coward, but trusted him to death. He's probably already dead, he thought.
"You can keep the motorbike, Hagrid. I won't need it anymore." He sighed.
Hagrid got closer, taping him uncertainly on the back.
"I know it's hard, Sirius, but we hav' to move on."
"I know." He cleaned a tear. "Well, take it. You'll go faster. Goodbye."
"Bye, Sirius. Let's go, Harry." Said the giant.
"Hey, Hagrid!"
"What?"
"Can I?" he pointed to the baby.
"Of course!"
Sirius moved towards the sleeping baby, and feeling really guilty and sad he kissed his forehead.
"Bye, big boy. See ya soon."
They vanished into the night. Afflict, Sirius apparated to Peter's place, which was in an avenue near the ministry, London. When he arrived he found the door gaped and the living room with clear signs of fight.
He withdrew the wand and entered carefully, but gave up when he noticed the scene was fake. The furniture seemed that it had been pushed, and the dished on the floor were strangely broken, too straight to something that had been blew up.
"Peter? Peter?" he called.
Silence.
"Wormtail?"
No response. Sirius started to get angry.
"If you don't show up, I'll blow the wall!"
Out of nowhere, Peter appeared.
"Chill."
Sirius turned static. Peter looked different. He wasn't shaking, on the opposite.
"How are you, Padfoot?"
"What's up with this cloak?"
"Sit." Wormtail replied with a bossy tone.
"I don't want to. Peter, James and Lily are dead."
"I know."
"So, I wanted to know if He came here looking for you…"
"He didn't need to." He answered calmly.
"What do you… Peter, don't play the fool."
With a move that was supposed to be solemn, Peter rolled up his left sleeve up, revealing the Dark Mark tattooed in his arm. Sirius goggled his eyes.
"I can't believe this. You."
"Do you remember when Dumbledore said one of us was a traitor? Well, lucky me you'd always underestimated me, influenced me. You thought I was weak. Useless. Harmless. LOOK AT ME, SIRIUS! Now I'm part of something big! Bigger that out closed little group at Hogwarts. More than that comedy show Dumbledore called 'the order'. Bigger. You know why? BECAUSE I'M SMARTER!" he screamed, desperate "And now." He completed "I'm going to kill you, Sirius. Like I gave the Dark Lord the opportunity of killing that arrogant Potter and the mud blood Evans, besides from hat brat! AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Sirius ran outside, hoping to get to the ministry in time for everyone to see Peter.
"Come back here, Sirius!"
When they reached the street, Peter stopped. It was dawn, and some of the ministry staff was already walking to the phone cabin, as some of the muggle workers of that street.
"Go, Peter! Tell them what you just said!" Sirius yelled, desperate. "Confess it!"
For his surprise, Peter begun to cry.
"I… Can't believe this, Sirius. How could you? Betray our friends! OUR FRIENDS, SIRIUS! JAMES AND LILY, SIRIUS!"
"What are you talking about?"
"What I'm talking about? THEM, Sirius. Dead. Your fault!"
Sirius pulled his wand and pointed to Peter, almost screaming with fury.
"How dare you…"
"Come on! Kill me like you made You – Know – Who kill James and Lily! And poor Harry, Sirius! YOU GODSON! God, a baby! Dead and buried, oh!" Peter cried.
"You…"
And the last thing he saw before the explosion was Peter face, glowing in triumph.
"Black! Freeze!"
Dead, finally dead. After all that madness, dead. He didn't care for all those dead people lying on the ground, or the screaming, or the cries. He started to laugh. So crazy that the aurors were intimidated of approaching. Insane, hysterical and completely crazy were some of the things he'd be called from that laugh on. But who cared? The world had ended already. Marlene, James, Lily and Dorcas were dead already. Many more had destinies worse than that.
And the next thing that came was darkness. Silence and cruel.
