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Chapter Thirty Five

" Thank you for this," Maia said as she pressed a kiss to Sirius' cheek, a few evenings later.

Sirius was sitting on the sofa in his and Remus' home, cradling Harry in his arms. He smiled at his sister slightly and shook off her thanks, " I'm always happy to watch him, you know that. "

" I don't know how long we'll be," Maia added, chewing on her lip.

Sirius noticed the nervous habit immediately and shook his head, " Don't worry. He's in good hands. "

" We need to go," James said, stepping up behind Maia and resting a hand on her shoulder.

Maia didn't really want to go - she didn't want to leave Harry. She knew he would be fine with his uncle and with Remus, who was as good as an uncle, but she hated to leave him. It would be the first time she and James had both left him.

She also didn't want to go because she and James had been summoned to meet Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore had gone into the Auror Office that morning and taken James and Frank out for a private word. He'd said he needed to speak to James, Maia, Frank and Alice and arranged a meeting at the Longbottom's home that evening.

Maia was filled with dread - being summoned by the headmaster and head of their Death Eater-fighting organisation couldn't be a good thing in times like these could not be a good thing, she was sure of it.

She was wearing her best "mask" face. It was the face she'd worn for years when she and Sirius were lying to their friends about the extent of their parents' abuse and neglect. It was the face she wore when she was trying to be strong and keep herself composed. She was nothing if not strong - it was impossible to get by in the current war without being strong.

James seemed to be brooding over it too. It was the way he dealt with things sometimes - pent up anger, brooding over it, before his emotions exploded out. He was trying to keep strong and calm for Maia but couldn't hide the fact that he couldn't summon his usually ever-present smile.

" Don't work yourself up, Maia," Remus called from his position in his favourite armchair.

Maia turned to glare at him but could only shake her head sadly, " You can't tell me that this meeting is anything good. "

Remus didn't have an answer for it and James' hand tightened slightly on Maia's shoulder. " Come on. We need to go. "

Maia nodded and crossed the room to give her son a final kiss to his chubby little cheek. She sighed wistfully as Harry tried to grab a handful of her hair and was almost enough to make her stay, if not for James at her side, taking her arm. He said his own goodbye to their son before they left the house, apparating away once outside the house - like most people who thought they were under threat from the Death Eaters, Sirius and Remus had enchanted their home so no-one could apparate inside it.

Two hours later, there was a knock at the door.

Remus was the one to answer it and he was so stunned at the sight that met him that he bypassed the security questions and stepped aside to let James and Maia in.

James had an arm around Maia's waist and his free hand was grasping her arm firmly. He looked extremely grim and seemed to be completely supporting Maia's movements.

Remus quickly shut and locked the door before following his friends into the living room. He watched as a very serious looking James steered a very pale Maia to the sofa, where she sank onto it slowly.

He raised his eyebrows at James, who looked more serious than Remus had ever seen him, and James swallowed hard. From the look in his eyes, something terrible had happened but he couldn't think what it could possibly be. Maia was staring straight ahead, sat stiffly, her mouth a thin line and all possible colour drained from her skin except red marks around her eyes from obvious crying.

James glanced around the room as if looking for Sirius so Remus took the hint and went into the hallway.

" Sirius! " he shouted up the staircase, " get down here! "

Sirius called back, " Moony, do you mind?! You're going to disturb my nephew! "

" Now, Sirius! " Remus said sternly, though at any other time he would have smiled at his friend's devotion to the baby.

Sirius was downstairs in a matter of moments and he came into the living room wearing a faint smile which quickly faded when he looked at the inhabitants of the room and sensed the atmosphere.

" What the hell happened at this meeting? " he asked.

" It was ... " James broke off, unsure how to put into words everything he was feeling, " it was the worst. "

Sirius noted his sister's lack of response and in fact, total lack of movement. She gave no sign that she'd even heard him, staring straight ahead.

Sirius thought he knew the look on her face quite well - he'd seen similar looks when their father had been abusive, especially on the night that their father implied he wasn't above sexual abuse (though he'd never had chance to carry it out, thank Merlin) and on the night Maia was told she'd be married off to a "good pure-blood" (a Goyle, of all people). It was a look he associated with her trying to stay strong and calm, even when she was breaking inside. He'd never seen her look so stricken as she was now, however.

He frowned and crossed the room, stopping in front of her and kneeling down to put himself on eye level with her. Slowly, he reached out and laid one of his hands over hers, where they rested clasped in her lap.

" Maia? "

Suddenly her gaze snapped to his eyes and she shook her head slightly, as if shaking herself out of a trance. " H-Harry? "

" I've put him down to sleep, he's fine," Sirius told her, " he was no trouble at all. "

Maia shook her head and started to get to her feet, mumbling Harry's name, but Sirius gently pushed her back to a sitting position. Maia took a deep breath and frantically grasped hold of his hands as she searched his eyes, " Harry? " she repeated. " He was ok? It's the first time I wasn't there to put him to bed ... "

Her brother squeezed her hands firmly, " I promise you, he's fine. Why don't you let him sleep and tell us what's going on? "

Maia glanced at James, as if waiting for his approval, and James nodded. Sirius, fairly satisfied with this, dropped her hands and moved backwards to sit on the coffee table opposite her.

" I ... I wouldn't even know where to begin," James said, running a shaky hand through his hair.

Maia cleared her throat and took a deep breath, willing herself to be strong. She reached out and rested a hand on her husband's knee for support and was grateful to feel his hand covering hers.

" A prophecy has been made ... possibly concerning Harry," she said.

Sirius and Remus both leaned forward frowning, concerned for their nephew/as good as nephew, waiting to hear more.

" A prophecy? " Remus questioned calmly.

" Yes," Maia replied, " I don't think Dumbledore knows all the details because what he told us was quite vague but ... right, this is just between us, ok? Dumbledore said we should play it close to our chests but it must be alright to tell our closest friends. "

" Maybe we should wait until all five of us are together," James suggested with a sigh.

Maia shook her head, hand tightening on James' knee, " Never mind Peter. Sirius and Remus deserve an explanation. " Turning back to Sirius and Remus, she said, " Harry could be in danger. "

Sirius rose to his feet, an expression of anger written on his face, " Danger? I swear to you Maia, no-one is ever going to harm our Harry. "

" Sirius, sit down," Maia said with a sigh, still trying to keep herself pulled together, " please ... please will you sit down and let me finish, before you kick off? It's ... " she stopped to take a deep breath and continued, " it's killing me, so I need you to just sit and listen. "

Sirius sat down immediately and Maia glanced at James, whose jaw was set in a straight, firm line, eyes on her face and hand clasped over hers.

Maia continued, " A prophecy has been made concerning a boy born at the end of July, to parents who have thrice defied Voldemort. " A bitter laugh escaped her lips, " so - we qualify. James, Harry, and I. But so do Frank, Alice and baby Neville. Dumbledore doesn't know which of our boys will be chosen. "

" Chosen? " echoed Remus, looking like his mind was working a mile a minute.

" The prophecy says that the boy will defeat Voldemort. "

" What?! "

" Sirius, sit down! "

Sirius did as he was told immediately but shook is head, mouth opening and closing a few times, " How can our little Harry, or the Longbottom's little boy, be able to defeat Voldemort, when the most powerful wizards in the country can't do it? "

" I don't know," Maia replied, her voice shaking as tears filled her eyes. She took a deep breath, determined that she wouldn't cry," and I don't think Dumbledore does either. Or if he does, he's not sharing it. But you know what this means, don't you? "

" If Voldemort finds out, he'll hunt you down," Sirius said shortly, running a hand over his face.

" Does Dumbledore think Voldemort knows? " Remus interjected.

" He ... he thinks part of it might have been overheard but he doesn't know if it's got back to Voldemort, or what Voldemort knows really. Dumbledore says this is his primary concern - he's going to find out who knows what. But if ... if ... " she stopped and brushed away a stray tear that had fallen down her cheek, " if Voldemort marks Harry as the one from the prophecy ... "

The statement didn't bear finishing, and there was a long pause as they all considered it.

" What are you going to do now? " asked Remus quietly.

Maia's hand tightened even more on James' knee until her nails were digging in painfully but he didn't wince, " We'll do whatever it takes. "

James cleared his throat and added, " Dumbledore's going to try and find out what Voldemort knows. In the meantime, we have to be more vigilant than ever. "

" Constant vigilance? " Sirius asked, lips quirking into a smirk, despite the situation.

" Constant vigilance," James confirmed, " if it turns out Voldemort knows, we would probably have to go into hiding. Frank, Alice and Neville too. If he doesn't, we do everything in our power to get our hands on that prophecy so he never will. And whether he knows or not, the fight to get rid of Voldemort is more important to us all than ever. "

" Merlin," Sirius breathed, shaking his head, before reaching out to take hold of Maia's free hand and squeezing firmly, " I'm with you. Whatever needs to be done, I'm there. I won't let anyone harm you, or James, or Harry. " His eyes travelled to James and James nodded gratefully.

The four of them fell into silence as they all thought about the grim situation, and the silence was broken by a cry from upstairs. Maia stood up immediately and left the room, desperate to hold her son and know what he was safe for the moment.

When she'd left the room, James sank back against the sofa and rubbed his hands over his face.

" What a fucking mess," he sighed.

" We'll do anything and everything we can," Remus tried to assure his friend.

James leaned forwards again, glanced around and checked that Maia could be heard going up the stairs, and lowered his voice. " You have to both promise me - for them. Maia and our son. They're more important - whatever happens, they have to be alright. If ... if I have to go down to save them ... "

" Stop it," Sirius said firmly.

" But Maia and Harry - "

" You're as important as they are and you'd better not let Maia catch you saying things like this," Remus said, a light, reprimanding tone to his voice, " if she thinks you're even thinking about dying on her, you'll be in trouble. "

James' lips quirked into a smile, " Well, I wouldn't want to get on her bad side. But - "

" No," Remus said, holding up a hand, voice now deadly serious, " pessimism isn't going to help this. "

" It's realism! " James replied, his voice rising, " Voldemort might be coming to destroy me, the woman I love more than life itself, and our perfect little boy! "

" So we fight," Remus cut in.

Sirius nodded firmly, " Prongs, we've known you since we were 11 year old kids and I know we're men, and we don't talk about stuff like this ... but we love you, for Merlin's sake. You're a brother to me, and to Remus too, and we love you as much as we love Maia and Harry. We'll do anything, anything it takes. "

Meanwhile upstairs, Maia crossed Sirius' bedroom and reached down to pick her crying son up from the cot assembled in the corner of the room, for Harry's visits to his uncles' house.

As soon as she saw him, she felt like bursting into tears but she forced herself to swallow them down, otherwise she'd be no use to Harry. In fact, as soon as she had him in her arms, she felt instantly calmer.

She arranged Harry in her arms lovingly and perched on the end of Sirius' bed, rocking Harry back and forth in a practised motion. It was too early for him to be hungry, and he didn't need changing, so she decided he had sensed he was alone, and knew his parents had been gone for a while, and didn't like it.

Harry wasn't a particularly morngy baby but he wasn't used to being away from his parents and Maia wasn't used to being apart from him either. Harry had taken a few days to get used to James not being around all the time when he'd gone back to work after his paternity leave, and he was fussy if James was out late on Order work, but it was the first time that Maia hadn't been there to put him to bed.

At her touch, his cries stopped quickly and he stared up at her, identical eyes meeting. Maia stroked his cheek with one pale finger and wished she knew a way to keep Harry safe forever. He was the most precious thing in the world to her and it just wasn't fair.

Harry yawned and Maia cooed at him and shifted him in her arms so she could press a little kiss to his forehead. " Mummy's here, Harry. Daddy and I will never let anything happen to you, and we love you so much. " She sniffed, feeling tears well up in her eyes, " and you're just a baby so you don't know what I'm saying, and you don't have a clue what's going on around you, but ... "

She broke off with a soft smile as Harry's eyes drifted shut and pulled his blanket more tightly around his little body. She couldn't bring herself to put him down and stayed sitting on the bed, Harry asleep in her arms.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there before the tears started to fall as she thought about anything happening to her son or to her husband.

She stood up and settled Harry back into the cot so she could wipe away her tears - she hated crying. Crying never solved anything, but she couldn't make herself stop, despite furiously wiping away her tears.

Merlin only knew how long it had been when there was a soft knock on the door.

Maia didn't bother to answer, and the door was pushed open.

" Maia? "

" I'm fine, Sirius," Maia replied as she turned to see her twin brother walking into the room, " I'm coming down now. "

" You're not fine," he replied, walking towards her, " and no-one expects you to be. "

He didn't stop walking until he was stood right in front of her and she gratefully leaned in and wrapped her arms around his middle. He engulfed her in a hug and remained silent as he tucked her head under her chin. He didn't need to say much because not much he could say would make this better, but he understood that Maia needed him to be there.

When they broke apart, Maia looked up at her brother through wet eyelashes, " Why did it have to be us? I know it's incredibly selfish but - "

" We can't help but think it," Sirius agreed, resting both of his hands on her shoulders, " but I promise you right now, that I will do anything. "

" Anything? " Maia echoed, wincing at the thought of how far this could go - if Voldemort was after them, he'd kill anyone in his way to get to them.

Sirius gave her a sad smile and pressed a kiss to her forehead, " For you, Prongs and our smallest Marauder? Of course. Come on - why don't we go back downstairs? "

" I don't want to leave Harry. "

" We'll be in the room right below," Sirius pointed out, " I think the four of us have still got a lot to talk about. "

" Probably," Maia agreed, " but I don't think I can handle it. "

" You're the strongest woman I know," Sirius countered, offering her a smile as he pressed a hand to the small of her back and guided her towards the door.

The four of them stayed up talking for a long time and Sirius insisted James and Maia might as well stay the night and gave them his bed, putting himself on the sofa.

When James and Maia eventually curled up in the bed, with Harry a few feet away in the cot, James' arms fixed so tightly around Maia's waist that she thought he might crack a rib, but she didn't mind because she was clutching at him just as tightly, out of a need to never let go of each other.

" I wish I could hide us all away forever," James mumbled into her hair.

" If I thought it would do any good, me too," Maia agreed, Sirius' comment about being strong lingering in her mind, " but even if Voldemort doesn't choose our boy, it means he's chosen our friends' son - my godson. And even if he knows nothing of the prophecy, he's still going to come after us eventually - you're Auror, we're both in the Order and I'm a traitor to my death-eater family. What we've got to do now, is fight. "

" We will," James assured her, kissing her cheek hard and then finding her lips to repeat the action, " even if it means we never stop. "