Author's Notes: Sorry about the wait. I've been really, really sick. This is a super short chapter, but I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer. Bit more cursing in this one than I usually do. Couldn't avoid it really, it wouldn't have felt right without it.

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Chapter 10: The other Harry

Sirius' mind was whirling with questions. Too many questions really. So many that he had no idea where to start.

Harry beat him to it. "So, tell me what happened to him, to the other Harry."

Sirius sucked in a breath, and moved his gaze away from his godson. "Is that what you were doing here?" he asked unsteadily, once again taking in the mound of books that Harry had splayed around him. "Trying to find answers to the past?"

The younger man gave him an ironic grin. "Something like that."

Sirius hesitated. He didn't want to talk about this. He never wanted to talk about this. But...

"We'd been hearing rumours about an attack. We thought – Dumbledore thought that Voldemort was going to attack Diagon Ally. He also thought we had time to prepare."

He picked up one of books, idly running his fingers along the spine. "These books make it sound like a grand battle, you know? With both sides neatly lined up with well thought out battle plans . . . It wasn't. It was a blood bath. Voldemort attacked Diagon Ally like we thought, but it was a good three weeks early. We weren't expecting it yet and we sure as hell weren't ready for it."

Sirius looked up, expecting to see pity and finding nothing but understanding. "Lily shouldn't have been there. But she was always stubborn as hell and the attack wasn't supposed to happen yet. She was shopping," Sirius smiled, "looking to add more stuff to your nursery."

He paused, his eyes raking over Harry's face and remembering the awe he'd felt. "James and Lily were so happy about you. We all were. You were going to be the first of the second generation of Marauders! There was a war happening, but there was this little life growing inside of Lily and we were all swept away by it."

Sirius cleared his throat and blinked rapidly. "James and me were on duty when the call came. James – James went deathly pale and apparated away before I got the chance to register what was happening. It was stupid, it went against Auror procedure and it was such a James thing to do."

Harry chuckled. "My friends used to complain about me doing things like that."

"Yeah, well, being me I went right after him," Sirius admitted. "So I guess you've got it coming from all sides."

Harry gave him a bright grin that abruptly had Sirius thinking he'd gained more from Lily than just his eyes. This is my godson. He's here, he's real. And he has Lily's smile.

"Sirius?" Harry questioned uncertainly.

"Sorry," Sirius murmured. "Got lost for a moment."

"We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to," Harry said quickly, something dark and empathetic flitting through his expression.

"Huh?" Sirius said. "Oh! No, no, it's okay. I was . . . thinking about something else for a second there. No worries, Plack."

Harry scrunched up his eyebrows uncertainly but nodded.

"Where was I? Ah, right. James being his usual idiot self."

Harry snickered. "Like you're any better."

Sirius gave him his best 'who, me?' look, before settling into a more serious mood. "I apparated right into an anti-apparition ward. Got knocked back a good ten feet from where I was supposed to land. Splinched the tip of my nose, actually. I was lucky the damn thing didn't kill me."

Harry's eyes flicked to Sirius' nose. "Yeah," Sirius said. "I did manage to get it fixed after."

"There were a lot of wards up. Anti-apparition, anti-portkey, anti-floo, a general ward to keep people from entering the area. Every last one of them was temporary, but we couldn't get through. James . . ." Sirius paused, remembering the look on James' face. Remembering the way he blasted spell after spell after spell at the wards, how he'd screamed Lily's name. "James went crazy trying to get through. Nothing worked. We couldn't do anything but wait for the ward cracking team to do their job."

Sirius shook his head to clear the memory images. "I'm told it only took three minutes. Longest three minutes of my life, standing there, just watching and waiting . . ."

"It was bad," Harry murmured.

"We stood there and watched while the bloody Death Eaters killed and tortured people," Sirius snarled. "We were so close and couldn't do a thing about it! People were screaming for help, desperately flinging everything they knew at those fucking shits." He ran an agitated hand through his hair, taking deep breaths to try and calm down.

Harry remained silent while Sirius got himself back together. When the older wizard looked up he found Harry gazing at him steadily with no horror, just a sad sort of acceptance. No! Sirius' mind screamed. I don't want him to understand this! He shouldn't have to. He should never have had to.

"Harry-" Sirius choked.

Harry shook his head. "Later," he murmured.

I'm holding you to that, Sirius promised silently.

"After the wards dropped?" Harry prompted.

"We fought our way through the crowd. I don't even know how many Death Eaters I killed, or how many civilians I shoved away from the fighting. I was just trying to watch Prongs' back. He wasn't thinking straight, he just kept blasting through the Death Eaters trying to find Lily."

Sirius sighed and readjusted his body. Sitting on the floor was starting to hurt. "We found her in front of Ollivander's. We also found Voldemort."

Harry stiffened slightly, his eyes piercing.

"Lily was protecting a muggleborn kid and her family. Eight months pregnant and wand to wand with the Dark Bastard himself. I'm telling you, Harry, never get your mum angry," he said, trying break the gloom.

"We were up to our necks in Death Eaters. We could see her, but we couldn't get anywhere near enough to help." Sirius closed his eyes, his voice tight, "Lily noticed us, it distracted her. And Voldemort hit her with an Avada Kedavra."

He opened his eyes again when he heard Harry take a sharp breath.

"There was this massive green light. Lit up the whole bloody street. When we could see again Voldemort was nothing but a pile of dust and robes. But Lily wasn't moving."

"Most of the Death Eaters panicked and left. When James and I got to Lily we realized that she was still breathing. Just barely, but it was there. I can still remember the relief." Sirius gave Harry a crooked smile, "We've all been a bit protective of her since then."

"I assume you took her to St. Mungo's?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded. "It was touch and go for a long time. Lily spent a month in a coma. James was a complete wreck, he blamed himself for everything."

"And me – the other me?"

"Stillborn. The killing curse . . . it took yo – Harry's life instead of Lily's."

Harry stared off into space for a long time. "Thank you for telling me what happened."

Sirius waited until he could catch Harry's gaze. "You're welcome," he said, before leaning back on his hands and smirking. "But I want some really embarrassing stories in exchange."

Harry laughed.

He sounded just like James.