Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and Followed and Favorited this story. you guys are awesome.
Chapter 21
"James we can't!" Remus said exasperated.
"It's not that I don't see your point Mooney! I just feel so helpless" James Scowled.
"Just because we can't turn him in, doesn't mean we're not going to make him pay!" Sirius grinned sinisterly.
"What did you have in mind?" James asked.
"I'm glad you asked Prongsy…" Sirius smiled.
"Now is not the time for your pranks!" Lily interrupted.
"I beg to differ my dear, this is not a prank. It's a threat!" Sirius said seriously.
"Remus, talk some sense into them please. I'm going to start dinner." Lily said walking toward the kitchen but changing course and heading for the stairs when Harry's whimpering cry came from the nursery.
Regulus sat quietly in the armchair he still occupied. It had been two hours since they had broken the news of Pettigrew's betrayal. Much of the time had been spent convincing James not to go after the man now. Not that the urge for retribution was not understandable, but the fact of the matter was, Pettigrew had not actually done anything in the eyes of the law. All of the information they had was hearsay at best. If they went after him and were caught, the consequences would be far reaching. They would end up in Azkaban, and that could not happen. They were the only ones who had the information that could stop Voldemort.
"Mooney come on, at least let us play with him for a while!" James whinged.
"Actually I wasn't going to say anything. While we cant go after Pet.. No I'm not calling him that anymore. We can't go after Pettigrew in the real sense, but I see no harm in playing with him." Remus grinned, ever the marauder.
James and Sirius high-fived gleefully and put their heads together to come up with a plan. Remus joined in easily with the pair, tossing ideas back and forth.
"I have an idea!" Regulus said hesitantly, unsure if he was allowed to join in.
The three friends looked over to Regulus with surprise. Sirius's expression was one of stunned pleasure. Unexpectedly happy that his brother had decided to join in on the pranking. He had never been one for pranks at school, but he was Sirius's brother, it really should not have surprised any of them really.
"Ok Reg, let's hear it then." Sirius said motioning him to come and join them at the dining room table where Remus had already started a list of horrible but untraceable things they could do to the man who was going to betray them, until they could go after him for real.
"He's a rat right?" Regulus asked rhetorically. "So why don't we send him loads of mouse traps! Loads of them, just keep sending them every few days." Regulus said grinning.
"Yes!" Sirius shouted excitedly.
"That's brilliant" Remus joined in.
"What's a mouse trap?" James asked
"You know a mouse trap, you must have seen one before! You put a bit of cheese on one end, them pull the spring level thing over to the other side, and then when the mouse, or in this case, the rat, nicks the cheese, SPLAT!" Sirius explained hardly containing his laugh, while James looked horrified that such a thing existed.
"But you said we can't kill him?" James said
"We're not going to kill him, we're just sending a message!" Remus said.
"He'll know what it means, one time in 6th year I think it was, I was over at P…HIS house and his Mum told us to go to the muggle shops to get some, she was convinced she had a mouse in the house. P..HE went white as a sheet when she asked, it was hilarious!" Sirius asked
"I can hear you lot clear as a bell from upstairs! You were meant to be discouraging them Remus not joining in! And you've dragged Reg into it too!" Lily said mildly disapproving as she came down the stairs with a freshly fed Harry James Potter.
"I never said I would stop them!" Remus laughed.
"He was a marauder along with us you know!" Sirius said indignantly.
"It was Reg's idea!" James said at the same time as the other two.
Regulus sat quietly taking it all in, but revelled in the feeling of being included so freely. Warmth filled him, he had his brother back. He hadn't lost everything after all.
"Whatever! One of you take Harry while I go an make dinner, you are all staying." Lily said plonking the newborn in the arms of his Godfather. Sirius immediately started making gurgling noises to the baby in his arms.
"Look, He's smiling" Sirius said happily.
"That's not a smile" James said. Just to prove his point, right at that moment the infant let out a loud fart and promptly filled his nappy.
"That's disgustingly my boy" Sirius said looking down at his Godson. "Prongs take him, He's your son."
"Nope, you were touching him when he did it, you have to change him! Them's the rules mate, sorry!" James laughed.
"What! Since when? That's a shit rule!" Sirius Protested, as the three other men at the table laughed raucously at his choice of phrase.
"Exactly!" James Laughed.
Sirius being the dutiful Godfather that he is got up to change the soiled child in his arms's nappy.
"You really are going to have to learn to cooperate Pronglet. I'll buy you whatever you want if you shit while your Uncle Remus is holding you next time!" Sirius said quietly to the baby as he left the room.
"I heard that." Remus said
"Of course you did!" Sirius shouted back
"James are you making Sirius change your son?" Lily said sternly coming back into the lounge.
"He touched him last!" James said.
"You're going to have to change him at some point!" Lily said rolling her eyes.
"I've changed him!" James protested.
"Only the wee's!" Lily exclaimed
"The number two's are gross though!" James said.
"The next one is yours. No excuses." Lily said going back to the kitchen.
"Number two's, how old are you?" Remus mocked.
"Shut it Mooney!" James sulked.
Before long Sirius and a clean baby Harry re joined the group at the table. Harry dozing again now that he was in a clean nappy.
"Do you want me to take him?" James asked still sulking a bit.
"Oh now you want to take him! I get it, now he's all clean you'll hold him!" Sirius joked.
"Exactly, glad you're seeing it from my perspective" James answered with a smile.
"He's fine were he is, aren't you Pronglet" Sirius cooed.
"Never took you for a baby person Padfoot. But look at you now!" Remus joked.
"Never was one before, I think this one must just be a special case." Sirius said smiling down at the baby.
"Is he big for a newborn?" Regulus asked ""it's just that when I saw Hermione at Christmas, only from a distance mind you, she would have been three months old and she looked smaller than he does at ten days?" Regulus asked slightly concerned.
"Dinner's in the oven, it'll be ready in an hour." Lily said taking a seat next to Sirius at the table and stroking the back of her sleeping baby's hand that was curled up near his head.
"He is a relatively big baby, but just because a baby might be small, there is nothing to worry about." Lily said noticing Regulus's concerned face. Regulus nodded, relaxing slightly.
Lily looked round the table at her family, her husband and son. Sirius and Remus were the brothers she never had, Regulus she didn't know well yet, but she felt a kinship with him immediately. Perhaps it was because he was Sirius's brother that had made him family. Perhaps it was because he was the reason they knew about the rat. He and Hermione of course. She owed Hermione everything, but she could hardly do anything about it now could she, Hermione was a baby.
"Hey Reg?" Lily said He look at her. "You said you visited Hermione's house, to make sure it was safe?" Lily asked. Regulus nodded, looking hesitant about where this conversation was headed. Did Lily think there was something wrong with that? "Where is the house?" Lily asked
"What are you thinking Lil?" Sirius asked.
"It's in Kensington. Why?" Regulus answered.
"Well, I was thinking.." Lily started
"Uh oh!" James Joked, Remus punched him in the arm. "OW! Mooney!"
Lily just glared at James.
"I was thinking, we can't stay here! So why not move to one of the other properties? There must be one in London?" Lily speculated.
James had not really paid much attention to the other Potter properties aside from his childhood home. Godric's Hollow had been a gift from his parents upon his marriage to Lily.
"Er, I'd have to go to Gringotts and have a look, but I think I remember Dad talking about a house in London. Not sure where it is though?"
"It's actually in Kensington." Sirius piped up.
"How do you know that?" James asked Sirius shocked.
"Because I listen Prongs, After Mum died Dad went through everything with you…You made me come with you to 'help'…we nearly got arrested in muggle London by muggle police for being pissed in public. " Sirius said. James's blank look came alive as he remembered that day.
"Oh yeah I remember now…sort of!" James said smiling fondly at the memory. Remus rolled his eyes.
"So ANYWAY, I was thinking that seeing as we can't stay here, if we moved to London, I could try to get to know Hermione's mother…" Lily trailed off as she realised the four Wizards at the table were staring at her. "What?"
"I don't know Lils?" James said.
"What do you mean, I want to get to know the woman who saved my son, and quite possibly our lives? What's wrong with that? She's a baby right now, if I want to get to know her, I have to go through her mother!" Lily said indignantly.
"Nothing darling, I mean I'm not sure I want to live at the house in London.." James said quietly.
"What? Why not?" Lily asked.
"it's just…I think it's a great idea for you to get to know Hermione's mother... " James said.
"Rose" Regulus interjected.
"Right Rose, I Just…"
"What James?" Lily asked getting impatient.
"I don't want to put you in any more danger, it was my friend" Remus growled at the mention of Pettigrew. "Sorry, my ex-friend who betrayed us, I don't want to make it easier for him, for anyone in the wizarding world to find us. As of now the only people I trust are in this room." James said passionately.
"Oh James, it's not your fault. He betrayed all of us." Lily said getting up from her seat and moving round the table to sit sideways on James's lap. He immediately put his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder receiving the comfort she offered.
"Well what about if we bought another house. A muggle house. You've got more gold in your vault than Harry's great grandkids could spend in ten lifetimes. I've got the money my uncle left me, we could get a house in the Grangers street if we wanted to." Sirius offered.
James immediately perked up.
"That's a great idea Pads. If we connect it to the floo here, no one will have to know that we have even moved." James said getting excited.
"Wonderful, that's settled then. I will go into Muggle London tomorrow and get things started." Lily smiled at her boys getting up off James's lap.
"I'll go with you, I have some free time tomorrow." Sirius said. Remus snorted. "Shut it Mooney!"
"What?" James asked
Sirius mumbled something unintelligible
"Speak up Padfoot, what do you have so much free time?" Remus said mockingly cupping his ear to hear better.
"I said Moody forced me to take time off for fighting" Sirius said scowling at Remus.
"Fighting? Who?" James asked amusedly.
"Some death eater we arrested last week. Git deserved it. Moody thought I was too hot headed" Sirius said still scowling.
James laughed "Right so thats settled then. Tomorrow Sirius goes house hunting with Lily, she's better with the muggle stuff than me, I'll stay with the baby." James said far too easily for Sirius's liking.
Sirius looked at James with suspicion. He looked almost relieved to have gotten out of it.
"What?" James asked far too innocently.
"Nothing." Sirius said after a minute.
Internally James was ecstatic to get out of shopping in muggle London with Lily. He loved her with everything he had, but he would rather face the prospect of dealing with shitty nappies alone for a week than go shopping with his wife.
"Don't forget to pick up the mouse traps, about 50 should do it wouldn't you say?" James said gleefully.
A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this instalment. This one was fun to write. :)