Lord Voldemort reappeared inside Malfoy Manor, angry as ever. The girl somehow knew of his secret, and now that she had blabbed it, Dumbledore knew, and if he knew, he might destroy them. The diary, he decided he would give to Lucius.
"Lucius, come here." He said. The pale, blond-haired man stepped forward.
"My Lord what is the matter?"
"I have in my possession, a diary; it contains details on how to open the Chamber of Secrets. I will give this to you, for it needs to be hidden, and who else than a man who has served me loyally these past few years."
"It would be an honor to keep a possession of my Lord's safe from others." Lucius drawled. He hadn't heard the whole speech about the Horcruxes so Voldemort knew he could trust him, and there was no need to tell him what it really was. He turned to Bellatrix next.
"Bella, do you remember the little golden cup that has been sitting in Riddle Manor these past few years?" He said. When she nodded, he continued. "Take that cup and put it into your vault in Gringotts. It should be safe there." Bowing before her Lord, Bellatrix left the room and moments later disapparated. He had told her alone of his secret, and she gladly had been wanting to do her part in protecting it.
"Black, come here." The mentioned man stepped forward.
"Yes, M . . . my Lord." He stammered.
"I require a very dedicated house-elf. I know that you have many connections. Could you find one for me?"
"Yes, My lord, how about my family's house elf?"
"That will do fine."
At their home in Godric's Hollow, Heather and Maria were being looked over by a Healer who they had St Mungos send over. After a few minutes of being poked and prodded, they were both pronounced healthy, and were told to expect a Healer every day for a few hours over the next few days. Once the Healer left, Sirius took Maria from Heather, and held his daughter for a moment. The newborn baby responded to his touch, and woke up. But rather than outright crying like he thought she would, she stared at him for a few moments. Heather thought it was odd to watch.
"Are you done yet?" she asked after the silent talk her husband and child were having.
"Yeah," Sirius said handing Maria over to Heather, "I'll go get the cradle." He left the room for a few minutes in which Heather sat thinking about the mysterious voice that had used her mouth.
'What do I do? Is something possessing me, or is this something Dumbledore tried to cover up?" she thought to herself. When the door opened admitting Sirius, she stopped pondering and waited for him to set the cradle up. Within a few minutes, it was done and Maria was rocking back and forth, and soon was fast asleep. Heather climbed into bed and Sirius, sensing she needed to be comforted, climbed in beside her.
"Sirius, what do I do? That voice, it seemed familiar, like I had heard it before, it was similar to James' but not his voice. Was something possessing me?"
"No, I think this has to do with Dumbledore, speaking of which, we forgot to go speak with him when we got back from our honeymoon almost a year ago."
"Maybe he'll have the answers we need."
Meanwhile, Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk thinking of the voice as well. Not only that, but Voldemort's reaction to what it had said. Horcruxes, that would explain a lot. Especially on how Tom Riddle had gone from a handsome young man to this evil monster. The list of them was short, but yet confusing at the same time. The diary, he presumed to be one of Voldemort's old school things. The locket had to have some connection to Salazar Slytherin. As that was Voldemort's ancestor, but the cup, the ring, and the diadem, those remained a mystery. He would have to do more research on this and see what he could come up with.
Over the next few months, Heather and Sirius were told to stay away from the war, and so they had to stay away from the Order. They now had other responsibilities, and it was their job to make sure that Maria would survive. Sirius tried to go back to work several times, but found that they wouldn't let him until he was sure that Heather could take care of herself and Maria.
It was the night of August 6, when the wards surrounding their house, broke. The door was blasted in and there stood about 10 Death Eaters. One, noticeably short and pudgy, quickly made his way upstairs where Maria was sleeping. Heather noticed him slipping up the stairs as she and Sirius fought off several of the Death Eaters. She quickly stunned a Death Eater, and sprinted up the stairs to see the nursery door open, and a very familiar voice coming from inside. Peter's voice.
". . .the Dark Lord will be so pleased that your mother and father will be busy fighting to get you back that they won't find out your dead until it's too late." She barged into the room, and quickly stunned the Death Eater. She conjured ropes, and tied him up. The sound of disapparation filled the air, as the rest of the Death Eaters left having been defeated by Sirius. Footsteps sounded as Sirius Black rushed into the room. Not noticing the stunned Death Eater, he quickly grabbed his wife in a hug. Heather broke into tears.
"S . . . Sirius." she said sobbing, "I . . . I think . . . that Death Eater . . . is . . . Peter." Sirius got a very worried look on his face at that. He walked over to the Death Eater and unmasked him. Sure enough, Peter's face stared back at him. She could see rage filling his face. He summoned his Patronus, as Heather held Maria, and minutes later it left bringing back with it several Order Members, including James and Remus.
"I thought we told you to stay out of the war?" James questioned his brother-in-law. Sirius shrugged and pointed at the Death Eater. James took one look and gasped.
"I . . . it c . . . c . . . can't . . . be. Peter . . . would . . . he would never turn against us." James stuttered. Remus walked over and picked up the Death Eater.
"Smells like him, but that doesn't mean it is him, it could be Polyjuice Potion." He said, and then to James. "Make sure he can't escape, I'll summon Dumbledore." He set the Death Eater down and left the room. Moments later, he came back in followed by Dumbledore.
Sirius watched as the person he hoped wasn't truly Peter, was levitated and taken by Dumbledore to be questioned. As soon as they were gone, he turned to his wife and child and led them into their room. Settling down for the night, they had just gotten some rest, when Maria decided she needed to be fed. Heather moved to get up to get a bottle for her, when Sirius just shook his head, and got up instead.
"What is your name?" Dumbledore asked. He had administered Veriataserum moments before.
"Peter Pettigrew." Came the dulled response.
"Why were you at the Black residence earlier?"
"My Lord had commanded us to kidnap the Black child and bring her to him to be killed."
"Are you a Death Eater?" when Pettigrew replied yes, he continued, "Of your own free will?"
"Yes." Came a struggled response, Pettigrew seemed to be fighting the potion, as he had started struggling with the responses. Pettigrew's eyes darted about, looking for an escape route, presumably. Dumbledore turned his back on him for one second. The moment he turned back around, Pettigrew was gone.
A/N: I had to change things up a bit, Peter was known for his cowardice, but I felt that he would show his true colors a bit earlier this time around. I don't know if I'm still going to use him as the Secret-Keeper, or someone else. I like the ideas in other stories of people impersonating someone and becoming the Secret-Keeper. Things are getting closer to Halloween of 1981. As it is at the point where it is the summer before Harry was conceived.
Peter fled the office in his rat form; Dumbledore seemed to have forgotten that he was an Animagus, as he had not prevented him from transforming. The old fool had given him the perfect chance to transform and get out of there. Still his old friends had figured him out, if only he hadn't waited to kidnap the kid. Sirius wouldn't be as stupid and would probably try to stop him from entering. He only hoped that they thought that it wasn't him.
Sirius brought back the bottle for Maria to find that both her and Heather were fast asleep. He set the bottle down next to the crib, and climbed into bed next to his wife. He had just closed his eyes when a memory sprung forth.
""V . . . V . . . Volde . . . Voldemort." She stuttered.
"Ah, yes, Heather Black, maybe we can continue our discussion from a few years back, shall we." He said. "I see, my spell did its work even better than what I had hoped." He said looking in Maria's direction.
"Your spell, what does that have to do with Maria." Heather said.
"Everything, including why you are here. In this time anyway." A sinking feeling hit her gut at that moment.
"What do you mean?"
"You don't remember do you?""
"Oh God." He said. His wife was from another time. But when was the question. The past, or the future. If Dumbledore hadn't known her at first, then that probably meant the future.
""I know about your little trinkets, your Horcruxes, the diary, the locket, the cup, the diadem, the ring. I know where each of them will be too.""
Horcruxes, where had he heard of that term before? Probably something that had to do with very dark magic if Voldemort had them. He would have to think on that. Dumbledore had probably put a memory block on his wife. Enough to forget the life she had, and replace it with something else, so no one would believe it.
Maybe, the voice was just some form of a memory slipping past the block.