Thank you for reviewing, sorry for the late update – internet went down!

And in answer to power214063's question, I'm afraid they were killed by Voldemort.

Chapter 4 - What We Will Do For Friends

The face that had always been carelessly handsome, was now firmly in the process of becoming gaunt, and it had taken only an instant. The man's long black hair had stuck itself to the back of his neck, with tears and sweat as the glue. The arrogant, ever so slightly spoiled look that had once been in his dark eyes was permanently replaced with one of a man embittered. As Sirius looked around the house that had belonged to his friends, his spirit wept.

They were the closest thing he had to a family, and he had lost them. He had lost his beloved brother. No, he hadn't lost them, they had been taken. Voldemort had taken them. He took their lives, and he, Sirius, had helped him do it. He was the one who suggested Peter become the secret keeper. He had practically thrown the Potters to their deaths. It was a huge thing for him to accuse himself of, but fortunately guilt was only a secondary emotion, if not Sirius would have been consumed by it. Sirius was not stupid, although he had kept up a good act for most of his school life, and therefore he knew and accepted that he, before this day, would have always trusted Peter. As James would have. Sirius knew he was not the marauder that let the Potters die, he was not the marauder who had betrayed them when they needed him most. He was not the rat.

At this thought, crimson red sparks burst out of Sirius's wand like seeds from a pod, splattering the area around. Sirius sighed and checked around for any damages. He was saddened to see that one of the blazes had hit a target, Lily and James's cupboard. Sirius took this as a warning. His temper was too explosive and at a time like this, could take him to where trouble lurked. He bent down to clear the mess, and saw three rectangular glints of gold, glimmering amongst the wreckage. Looking closer it became clear to Sirius they were golden envelopes, each addressed to a different person. Sirius held back another wave of anger as he recognised James's hauntingly familiar handwriting, and his hand dived through the broken shards of glass and splintered oak wood. He grasped onto the letter marked Sirius desperately, and opened it clumsily.

As he read, he laughed, he cried, he smiled and he wept. He felt emotion like he had never felt before. And when he finished, he felt stronger. For now it didn't matter what he wanted to do, he would do what they wanted him to do first. They certainly deserved that much. Lily and James had managed to open his heart once again, so with his rage was put on pause, and he was ready to perform the two tasks the letter had left for him.

Footsteps behind him interrupted his thought. However, as soon as he noticed them, they stopped. Whoever was standing behind him had stopped at the sight of him. They were equally as surprised, nay horrified that he was there as he was they were. Sirius would not turn around, knowing the newcomer purely from the sound of his breathing and the timing of his steps. He also knew he owed him something dearly, an apology. He was not the traitor, and Sirius could not believe he, he, had thought this because of Moony's unfortunate affliction. Maybe it was guilt that had frozen Sirius's every limb, or maybe it was stubbornness. Sirius didn't like to be wrong. A hoarse voice confirmed Sirius's suspicions.

"Sirius."

Sirius looked at the ground and said deeply, "Remus."

"Look at me, Sirius."

Sirius swallowed, and stood up, not prepared to crouch before anyone. They faced each other, and examined the signs of grief that were blindly present in each of them. Sirius noticed that Remus was more dishevelled, even than normal, and the grey had crept up on him over night engulfing a few more brown hairs. He looked ill, even though Sirius knew it wasn't the full moon yet. His eyes, generally deep and welcoming, were brimmed with sorrow.

"What are you doing here Sirius? You have no right after you betrayed them."

His words were laced with as much anger as Remus could lace words with, which Sirius knew was not a great amount. Moony's balanced nature was at opposites to his own mercurial one.

"I didn't betray them, Moony."

Remus stared at him. Remus was the ever trusting one, yet even he would not believe this.

"Sirius, you were their secret keeper. It must have been you."

Sirius noted the waver in Remus's voice, and knew Remus was not in complete conviction. He also noted that Remus hadn't taken his wand out yet, something you would certainly do if faced with a death eater, surely. Then again, if anyone would try to reason with a dark wizard, it would be Remus.

"Remus, I am all too eager to explain. If you will listen, that is."

Remus's hands shook.

"How do I know you will be telling the truth?"

Sirius was prepared for the question, and answered with a smile, "James always kept Veritaserum in that set of drawers behind you. Third drawer down."

He decided to do the easier, more pointless of the two tasks first. Sirius checked the time, it was only early, so he figured he could get in and out quickly without causing too much fuss. Unfortunately, he didn't remember Sunday was a day of rest for muggles, which would make it a little more difficult for him, in his coal black wizarding robes and deathlike state, go unnoticed, especially in a street with such a multitude of busybodies as this one.

Sirius scanned up and down the road, so quickly that it was almost sloppy. It took him three or four goes before he even saw any numbers.

"Number four, number four," he muttered to himself as he walked past rows of identical houses. Eventually he found it, and was not surprised to see that it was not dissimilar to all the other houses, with an equally fancy car and an equally well kept lawn. Sirius stomped towards the front door, trampling one unfortunate bed of red pansies, and knocked on the door loudly. There was no answer, so Sirius knocked again. Again there was no answer, and Sirius had to resist the overwhelming urge to apparate in. He was on the edge of letting this urge win when a loud, indecipherable grunt was audible behind the door. It was a man's voice. Gruff, and uncivilised. And when Sirius heard it again, the door was opened to reveal the face it belonged to.

Vernon Dursley was extremely sleepy, and angry to have been woken up at a time as early as nine o clock on a Sunday morning, but the shock of Sirius woke him up superbly.

His speech was not slurred now as he gasped and yanked Sirius inside violently.

"What are you doing here? Looking like this! The neighbours - Petunia!"

Petunia ran to her husband's side almost immediately, having of course already woken to care for the children. She was as angry as her husband at the sight of Sirius, although of course she was a lot less scary, being a beanpole rather than a man the size of a killer whale. Her usually high voice was wavering dangerously close to ultra sound as she bounded into a frenzied ramble about the wizarding world. Sirius interrupted her, in such a way that she thought him extremely rude.

"Vernon and Petunia Dursley I presume."

Vernon nodded while cupping his fist in his hand, evidently to stop himself from punching Sirius clean in the face. He retorted gruffly, "A friend of her sister I presume."

Sirius ignored him. If all muggles were like these two, he could see why purebloods hated them and everything to do with them. He looked them up and down again and considered his options. He could tell them the bad news, and spend precious time talking to them what happened, or he could just go and do what needed to be done. Doubting the Dursleys would care about the Potters deaths, in fact they might even be happy that the black splodge on their family tree was taken care of, he decided to go for option two.

Sirius asked coolly, "Mr and Mrs Dursley, I know how much you were looking forwards to my company, but I'm afraid to say I'm actually here to see your daughter."

Petunia's mouth dropped open, and Vernon had to exert even more control to stay in command of his fists.

Vernon growled, "Look, we don't want any of your funny business. You are not seeing our daughter, nor is she ever going to have contact with any of you folk, thank you very much."

Petunia's face had now drained of any colour, but she was bobbing her head up and down in agreement with her husband.

Sirius sighed. Maybe, if they hadn't of caught him on such a bad day, or maybe if he was a bit more level headed like his friend Moony – he wouldn't have done what he was about to do.

Sirius looked Vernon straight in the eye and Vernon began to squint uncomfortably, not wanting to let Sirius know he was weak but also crushingly afraid of the power Sirius held. Sirius leaned over him threateningly, using his extra height to its greatest extent.

"I do have a wand you know," Sirius whispered, with a slight hint of enjoyment in his voice.

Vernon's knees simultaneously seemed to fail, and he collapsed to the floor, struck by fear. Petunia squealed and glided to her useless husband's side. Sirius ran up the stairs, without so much as a careless glance at the scene he was leaving behind.

He scanned the rooms much like he had scanned the street before, carelessly, constantly missing details. Silly, when what he was searching for was the easiest thing to miss. He went through every room again, stopping only once to laugh at the baby boy he had mistaken for a giant blotchy beach ball first time around. Eventually, after a solid two minutes of searching, Sirius plonked himself down on Mr and Mrs Dursley's bed. He gritted his teeth, and punched the mattress in exasperation.

There was silence for a couple of seconds as Sirius reveled in the bang his action had caused, until soft clapping broke through into the room. Someone else was reveling in the bang as well. This thought made Sirius smile for a second, and then he continued his quest, this time following the noise.

She was sitting quietly, angelically, in the very corner of the very room that Dudley also was sat in. Sirius looked at her, turned away, then looked at her again, in total disbelief that he had managed to miss a child. He had stood in this room laughing at their son for a fair few seconds, how could he be blind to the child staring at him from her own little corner?

But he could not dwell on this thought for as long as his mind would have liked, he did not even dwell on the girl in front of him for long. Such was that he missed the red curls, he missed the almond shaped eyes. Unlike Lily had been, Sirius was emotionally detached, he did not think the child was special because she looked slightly like his friend. No, he believed you grew into yourself, and expected the child to grow into a snobby nosey cow like her muggle mother. He was in this because his friends had asked him to be, as they themselves couldn't be. He just had to perform the task at hand. He hesitated for a second. He wasn't good around children, they tended to make him feel uncomfortable. There was only one exception to that rule, and that was Harry. Lingering on Harry ended his pause, and he remembered why he was hurrying. He squatted down onto his knees and pulled his face up to meet hers. He then precisely positioned himself directly in front of her eyes, intending to examine them in much more detail than he had examined the rooms before.

However, he never managed to reach that stage, as he was taken aback by what was immediately apparent in her thoughtful gaze. He almost literally fell backwards, surprised to his very core. Shook to his very core. Those eyes were more emotive than James's handwriting, those eyes carried more memories, more dreams. And, one thing was truly for sure. They were indeed completely and utterly green. Sirius was disappointed himself for not holding the importance of that as highly as he should of done. He was disappointed in himself for underestimating the effect those eyes would have on him now Lily was dead and gone.

Unfortunately this meant there was more he had to do here before moving onto his next task.

What is Sirius not doing on this day if he is with the baby? Just a passing thought…