1A/N: I skipped around in time in this chapter. Everyone already knows the story of Halloween night 1981, and the week or so leading up to it anyway. Not really any point in me completely butchering J.K. Rowling's wonderful storyline there. I've just added a few things because there were always some elements I wished would have been more fully explained, like why Sirius thought Remus was the traitor, for example, and what led him to even think up his elaborate plan in the first place.

Chapter Twelve

Whoever said that life isn't fair should be given the Order of Merlin, First Class, for his or her impressive ability to come to obvious conclusions. Sirius had come up with a plan to corner the elusive captain of the obvious and deliver the Order of Merlin himself if he survived this war. At the moment, however, he resigned himself to knocking back shots of Fire Whiskey as if he really didn't plan on having another chance to do so. He couldn't remember a time when he'd felt so wretched.

He'd actually gone through with this plan that was likely to get him killed before the month was out. Perhaps the worst part of all, he'd left Alex. He hadn't even had the courage to stick around until she woke up because he knew that he wouldn't have been able to leave if she had asked him to stay. He'd actually told the girl that he loved her, and then left her. Well, she wasn't a girl anymore, despite her seventeen years. That thought brought on the first grin he'd had on his face since leaving the Potter's house the afternoon before. It was soon wiped off when another feeling of brokenheartedness hit him out of nowhere, and he threw back an umpteenth shot of the potent liquid in an attempt to get her out of his head. There was no way in Hell he was going to be able to concentrate like this.

He was content to drink and brood for a good while, until someone suddenly took the seat beside him. He didn't bother to look at the person since it was normally safe to assume that anyone taking a seat beside him in an almost empty bar wanted something. He spat out, "Not interested. Go the fuck away."

"Oh, how you hurt me, Pads!" came a familiar timbre.

Sirius snapped his head around to meet the amused face of one Remus Lupin. "I'm not in the mood for conversation, Remus."

His friend - or was he? Sirius was still on the fence about it - looked suddenly serious, "I gathered that from your rather friendly greeting. Want to talk about it?"

"Didn't I just say I didn't want to talk?" Sirius bit out moodily.

"Well that's too bad. I came to this hell hole just to find you," Remus was in no way backing off, Sirius recognized his interrogating voice. He sighed and waited for it to come, which didn't take long, "Why did you agree to hide James and Lily?"

Sirius didn't turn back to face the man beside him, "I'm not doing it to hide James or Lily. I'm hiding Harry."

"Why?" Remus inquired.

"If they didn't tell you then I'm not going to," he took another shot.

Remus actually sounded offended when he next spoke, "I wasn't asking why he needed hiding! I was asking why you agreed to do it!"

Sirius reached for the bottle of Fire Whiskey to refill his glass, "I'm his godfather, it's my job to protect him. Not to mention the fact that James is my best friend." He honestly didn't care that his statements would probably hurt the man beside him. It had caused a rift when he was chosen as godfather, plus they had always said that they were all best friends together.

Remus sighed, "I think it would be better if someone else did it. I mean the death eaters are going to attack you anyway, everyone knows it'll be you. If someone else did it then at least they wouldn't find Godric's Hollow if they get to you."

Sirius tensed, "Why do you assume that the death eaters will automatically come after me? Isn't Dumbledore the most obvious choice of all?"

"Well, sure, but they also know that James trusts you the most out of anyone," Remus replied.

"How would they know anything about the relationships in our group?" Sirius was truly livid now. It was taking all of his self-restraint not to attack the man beside him. He was becoming more and more suspicious of Remus. This whole conversation was leaning in the direction of Sirius changing his mind, and he could just take three guesses about who would be the first person to jump in and volunteer to take his place.

Remus was suddenly on his feet, "You can risk your own life all you want, but don't go around risking everyone else's lives!"

Sirius was on his feet just as soon as the words left Remus's mouth, the calming effect of Fire Whiskey losing its hold on him as anger rushed through his veins. "And I guess you would just love to jump in and take my place, wouldn't you! What's so important to you that you would try to get me to switch! You know damn well that I'm the person who has the most experience at getting around unnoticed!"

The werewolf's attitude suddenly deflated, "Sirius, I didn't mean it like that! I'm just trying to think of what's best! Dumbledore should do it if anyone does!"

Sirius didn't buy the sudden backtrack at all. He teleported himself away from the bar, forgetting all about the liquor from earlier. His mind was working furiously...Remus was the spy. He wanted to be the secret keeper so he could carry the secret straight to Voldemort. There was no way Sirius could let that happen. He started forming his plan even as he walked up the drive to knock on the Potters' door.

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(around a week later. October 31, 1981)

Convincing James and Lily to switch hadn't been such a difficult task. James was easily won over, and the infamous persuasive powers of Sirius Black backing up her husband's puppy dog eyes had gotten to Lily soon enough. Sirius hadn't gone so far as to tell anyone that he thought Remus was a spy, but he had taken Peter aside and convinced him that it would be best not to have any contact with him. Well, actually he'd told him that it was best if the secret was kept among just the four people directly involved and that it was less dangerous if he didn't talk to anyone else at all, but that had served Sirius's purpose of keeping Remus away just fine. Remus had tried to contact Sirius a few times in the past week, but he had done an admirable job of avoiding him each time.

Other than being ecstatic that the Potters were safely tucked away, Sirius really had nothing good going for him anymore. He was hiding, he was bored, and he missed Alex. The last thing was the worst. He was able to feel her loneliness and despair, but he couldn't be there to comfort her. Not to mention the fact that he couldn't stop the dreams he had about her. He really wasn't someone who was used to not getting to live out the dreams he had right when he woke up. There was usually someone there, and now that there wasn't he was so frustrated that he couldn't keep his mind off of sex. It was ridiculous even for him.

Halloween seemed to bring out the worst, however, because he didn't have any particularly erotic dreams about Alex. Even given how frustrating they were, he would have rather had one of those than the nightmares he had instead. In fact, Alex only had a sort of cameo in his dream, which was disturbing enough given the fact that he'd dreamed she was in pain and alone. The majority of the dream had been about the Potters. He'd dreamed that something was wrong at Godric's Hollow.

He'd shot up with a gasp, sweating and panting like he'd run a marathon. The most horrible feeling was in Sirius's chest. It was like something was pressing on his lungs and squeezing around his heart. He rolled out of bed as soon as he had caught enough breath to forgo dizziness and wheezing. He yanked on a pair of trousers and threw on the first wrinkled shirt he came across on the floor, and began the search for his shoes. After a few seconds of fruitless searching, he suddenly realized that he was a rather powerful wizard and simply summoned them.

He couldn't coax his motorbike into going any faster, and it still wasn't fast enough for him. He cursed himself for putting up so many protective charms around Peter's location. He wasn't even able to teleport within a huge radius of the hiding spot. The minutes ticked by way too fast, and the bad feeling in his chest escalated to an almost unbearable level. When he finally landed, he didn't even allow for a complete stop before he jumped off, not caring that his precious motorbike skidded to a stop on its side as he was running for the door.

He'd been expecting to have to knock the door down if he wanted to get in at such a late hour, but was more than a little surprised when it was unlocked. He didn't hesitate to run through it, only taking time out to bring on some of Padfoot's heightened senses to aid him. He was even more surprised when he skidded to a halt in the living room of the quaint little house. He was completely shocked into near stupidity, actually, and couldn't seem to make a thought come. Not a single piece of furniture was out of place. In fact, given Peter's tendency to clutter and never pick up after himself, the place looked like he had never even inhabited it.

Sirius blinked several times, hoping that when he opened his eyes there would be a different picture. He even gave into the cliche and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't still having a nightmare. He wasn't.

"Fuck!" that exclamation was followed by a steady stream of profanity as he ran as fast as he could back out of the house.

He wasn't sure which he felt more: anger, guilt, or helplessness. As he was streaking back into the sky, Sirius decided that guilt wouldn't do him any good and that he wasn't helpless yet. That only left him with anger...the pure, hot, blinding kind. He turned his head for one last look at Wormtail's house, and made a decision. The house shot up in flames the next second, which was followed by an explosion. When the noise died down, Sirius heard enraged screaming and realized that it was his own.

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Death. Blood and death. Torture, blood, and death. The more Alex thought about it, the more things she added to her list of what the Ministry deserved. The only emotions she had been able to feel for the past weeks were rage and despair. They wouldn't let her in to see him, they wouldn't tell whether or not he had confessed, and they had told her that there was no need for a trial.

She knew that Sirius hadn't done it. She had been around long enough to know that he absolutely adored his godson, and that he loved his best friends. She had watched him fight death eaters and even Voldemort himself. She had seen his bare arms enough to know that he bore no dark mark, and since she could now lay claim to seeing him naked she could also say that he had no such mark anywhere on his body. The Ministry would hear none of it. She had had to restrain herself from cursing a certain part of Bartemius Crouch's anatomy off, since she figured that wouldn't help Sirius at all. They'd finally enacted magic to keep her out. She wasn't able to get anywhere near the Ministry of Magic building.

She cried herself to sleep every night she was able to sleep, and sometimes she had to just stop what she was doing just to sob when she couldn't hold it in any longer. She had gotten in the habit of curling up in the bed they had shared. She could still smell his scent on the pillow: a mixture of Fire Whiskey and cologne. It calmed her to be able to sense him. It still didn't stop the despair from engulfing her, though. To make matters worse, she had been sick for weeks. She thought that it was a side effect of her mental suffering, but even knowing what it was didn't make it better.

She had known that something was wrong when she'd felt unsurpassed rage come through their connection. It had woken her up, and she had stayed up trying to feel something until she saw the news in the Daily Prophet. It'd been a little over a month since she had learned that Sirius had been arrested. It had been twenty-nine days since he'd been sent to Azkaban, barely two days after his arrest. She could feel how miserable he was. She could even feel as his happiness was sucked out of him. Everyday she could sense less and less of the liveliness that usually radiated off of him. It was almost unbearable for her to know what he was going through, and she had yet to find a way to stop it.

She was past the point of desperateness when she burst into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She only made it to the third floor when she was attacked by two of the professors. She recognized one as Professor McGonagall, the one Sirius loved to tease and torment, but she didn't recognize the tiny man who was with her. She didn't feel any remorse as she cut them down mercilessly and continued on her way. The headmaster was not going to have a chance to turn her away from his door this time. She was going to have a meeting with him.

Many people didn't realize that the gargoyle opened for anyone who was truly desperate to see the headmaster of the school. Too bad for Dumbledore that it didn't discriminate between students and guests. She blasted the door down and stormed in to meet the raised eyebrows of the ancient wizard inside.

She didn't hesitate to speak, "You know he didn't do it." Her voice was calm despite the fact that power fueled by anger was crackling around her.

"He deserved to be in Azkaban even before the happenings of the past month. You cannot dispute that if you know what he has done," Dumbledore's declaration served to make Alex even more furious.

"I can't help that your views are narrow," she grew less calm as she thought about what he had said, but tried to maintain her tone of voice, "but that isn't what this is about. This is about sending an innocent man into Hell. He would never betray the Potters, and he didn't blow up the street."

The headmaster stood from behind his desk, "To the best of my knowledge, he was the secret keeper. James Potter was adamant that Sirius Black be his protector; he wouldn't be swayed. I will not proclaim that he is innocent when there is no proof."

Alex lost any cool that she might have had, "He hasn't been questioned under Veritaserum! He hasn't been questioned at all! You're all willing to put a man in Azkaban based on assumptions just to cover up this whole mess and not ruin the wonderful celebration!"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but Alex had already read his mind enough while he was surprised to know that he wasn't going to help her. She shrieked and began throwing curses, hoping to make the man in front of her feel as much pain as Sirius felt. The headmaster reacted immediately to the threat, and they faced each other angrily.

Alex made the first move. She went for the most excruciatingly painful curses she could think of. She ignored all of the hexes that he threw at her, most of them didn't effect her in her empowered state anyway. She felt no effects from his spells until one hit her in the stomach. She felt pain in the area, but ignored it as she concentrated all of her power on a curse. She felt the necessary power leave her, and suddenly she was very weak. She looked down in surprise to examine her body for injury, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

She felt her power continue to drain away. The pain in her stomach was suddenly more than she could bear, and she sank onto the ground. She clutched her stomach as the remaining power faded, and all of a sudden the pain flared up. She screamed and her sight went blurry. She could hear the headmaster yelling at her, apparently worried even though he was the one who cast the spell. She felt arms grab her, and that was the last thing she was aware of.

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(I had to jump into third person here since Alex is unconscious. Just so you don't get confused or anything.)

Madam Pomfrey was bustling around a bed right inside the door of the infirmary. The tiny body lying on top of the sheets was writhing in pain uncontrollably. The mediwitch was waving her wand quickly in a frantic attempt to diagnose the problem.

She spun to the headmaster, "What did you hit her with?"

Dumbledore shook his head to deny attempting to harm her, "It was a stunning spell."

"Well, obviously it's something else! Tell me exactly what happened!" Madam Pomfrey paid no heed to the headmaster's position of authority over her.

"She was casting, and suddenly she collapsed," he stared at the body on the bed, and suddenly looked up, "She grabbed her stomach."

Madam Pomfrey stood back as she contemplated her patient, mumbling to herself about the symptoms and what they might mean. She suddenly gasped and cast a spell at the girl's stomach, her eyes widening dramatically as she stared at the glow coming from the end of her wand. She ran to her medicine cabinet and rushed back without casting another glance at Dumbledore.

The mediwitch muttered to herself as she coaxed a potion into the girl's body, "Couldn't handle it, the poor thing. Too much stress. Be lucky to survive..."

The headmaster looked on in growing worry. He finally interrupted the nurse's rambling, "Couldn't handle what?"

Madam Pomfrey continued to talk to herself, "Much too young. She must not have known. That's all I can think of to explain it. She protected herself and didn't know to do anything further. Went straight to the poor little thing. Stunning spells are just too much for them to handle..."

"Madam Pomfrey, I demand to know what you are talking about!" Dumbledore rose his voice to get her attention.

She spun around to face him, "She's pregnant!"

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A/N: Sorry it's so short, and with that at the end, too. The rest is going to be too much to tack onto this chapter, but I'm in a serious writing mood so the next update should be soon. Keep your fingers crossed that I haven't just jinxed myself.