Chapter 2 - Snuffles
Not but a few hours later, they were crowded into the Weasley's dining room and the Weasleys themselves were kicked out of it and the door itself heavily warded so Albus could have a private meeting with them. Albus Dumbledore, James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Augusta Longbottom, her husband Alfred, and husband's brother Algie Longbottom, and the two babies Henrietta and Neville. Etta fussed quietly at being woken up, and Lily soothed her, rocking her in her arms.
"I'm glad to see you all here. James, Frank, I thank you for only bringing up to three of your closest confidants, each." Dumbledore said, and everyone hushed at once to listen.
"I must ask that you all tell no one about this second Order meeting. I am sending the Potters and the Longbottoms into hiding, with the Fidelius Charm. Your confidants will be the only people who know of your whereabouts. The others will all be told one of several lies. Hopefully, this will weed out the traitor in our midst." Albus paused and took a drink from a goblet.
"You will chose from among your confidants who will be your Secret Keeper. The location where you will be hiding is your secret, and the Keeper of that secret cannot be tortured into giving out the information. It is impossible. He can only give up the location willingly – magic will ensure this. It cannot be tortured or veritasum'd out of you. To anyone else, it will be like a muggle walking passed the Leaky Cauldron – they will have no idea you're there, right under their noses. You will be safe this way."
A moment's pause to digest the information. "I don't wish to sound arrogant, but I suggest that you both choose me as your secret keeper. I am the only wizard that Tom has ever feared."
James shook his head, not giving Lily a chance to speak up. "I'm sorry, Dumbledore, but I can't do it. It would be an insult not to trust my friends, after everything we've been through together."
Lily looked disappointed beside him, but didn't speak up. She was too focused on soothing Henrietta back to sleep. Besides, she couldn't help but admit that James' friends had been nothing but loyal, and the only person she trusted the most was also going into hiding. Her friend, Alice, her choice for Henrietta's godmother.
Albus nodded. "Yes, of course, my boy. Now, I will give you a few minutes to choose your secret keeper – choose wisely. Then, I will perform the spell. Afterwards, your secret keeper must tell your other confidants where you are staying. Then, they may visit you and provide updates and provisions as is necessary. Does everyone understand?"
Frank and Alice spoke with Augusta, Alfred, and Algie for several long moments before Frank walked forward and spoke up with their decision. "Alright, Dumbledore. We'll take you as our secret keeper."
The Potters and the marauders all talked amongst themselves after that. They needed to decide their secret keeper.
"I'll do it!" Sirius exclaimed confidently from Remus' side. "I'll be the secret keeper."
Remus looked at him, afraid. "But Sirius, everyone will suspect you! You're going to be everyone's first guess. You and James have been friends since you got sorted."
Peter, the shortest in the group, doesn't say anything, but his silence is normal. He just looks around at everyone, looking more anxious than normal.
"I knew you'd have my back, Sirius." James said, smiling proudly at his best friend.
Lily didn't look satisfied, though. "James, he's Etta's godfather. Isn't it a bit obvious?"
But James wasn't swayed. "It'll be fine! He's great at dueling. And besides, I trust him with my life."
Finally, as if an afterthought, Lily turned to Peter, the shortest and quietest one in the group. "What do you think, Peter?"
He kept his gaze to the floor, refusing to look any of them in the eye. "Well, well I think it is a bit obvious. You're right, Lily. Always are. Honestly, I feel guilty. I can never do anything to help."
Sirius just laughed at him. "That's cause you never try."
Remus elbowed him in the ribs sharply, silencing him. "You will be a lot of help, Peter. I'll be away a lot of the time spying on the werewolves and trying to win some of them to our side, so we'll need someone to bring them news and groceries. Right, James?"
James nodded. "Yeah, he's right. You're one of us, Peter – a marauder. Always will be."
Peter smiled a grim, sad smile up at them.
Several months later, they were back at square one, in the living room of their still new two-story house in Godric's Hollow, talking about the fidelus charm. Well, technically it was Remus' house. His name was on all the paperwork. James and Sirius had been cornered by a trio of death eaters while out on Order business. They were pursued on Sirius' motorbike through the city streets by the death eaters on broomsticks until finally the muggle cops came after them for speeding. They levitated the car and flipped it over onto the death eaters so they could make their escape back home.
"I don't think I can do this, guys." Sirius said, leaning his head back and turning his gaze to the ceiling. "What if I had gotten James killed tonight? You were right, Lily."
"This was a stupid idea. I'm too obvious. What if they had captured me tonight? What happens if the secret keeper dies?" He looked around the room at James, Lily, and Peter, but no one had an answer for him. It only made him even more frustrated. "Its obvious they're coming after me for information. I mean who wouldn't?"
James nodded, his expression grim. "And we know they have a spy in the Order, cause we got attacked on the day Henrietta was born. We were lucky we had Holly to get us out of that one."
"But we had to let her go in order to get the house." Lily said. "If something happens, we won't have her to save us."
It had been a very intense, back and forth argument. Either pay for the house all at once with a huge chunk of the Potter fortune, cutting into Etta's trust fund, or pay for it with Holly. In the end, they paid for the house with Holly after giving ownership of her to Remus to then sell in exchange for the house.
"We'll be fine, Lily. We're safe." James reassured. "Sirius is my brother in all but blood."
Sirius hit the couch in frustration. "But we're not safe, James! They knew right where we were, they didn't even have to look around for us! Some traitor is still feeding them information! And nobody knows what happens if I get killed. For all we know, the moment I die your house is visible to everyone and you'll all get killed!"
Everyone was silent for a moment, until Sirius spoke up again. "Our best bet right now is to switch secret keepers. Don't tell anyone, though. No one can be trusted. Just don't change our habits at all, and they'll keep thinking its me and come after me."
"But Sirius, how do we even change secret keepers?" Lily asked. "Wouldn't we have to get Albus to redo the charm?"
They had been told very little about how the charm worked and rushed into hiding.
James gave a frustrated sigh. "She's right. I don't know how to change the secret keeper anyways."
Everyone sat in silence for a moment, thinking, until Lily spoke up. "Wait, Sirius." She exclaimed, excited about something. "You're an unregistered animagus. Why not use that to our advantage? You can hide here with us as our pet dog. That way we don't have to change secret keepers."
Sirius grinned at her. "That's a great idea! And we can spread around misinformation and make all the death eaters think I fled the country or something like that. As long as I'm here, no one can capture me and I won't get you all murdered in your beds at night."
Sirius spoke in a deceptively lighthearted tone, trying to make light of his greatest fear. Not everyday your best friend's family's lives rest entirely on you're shoulders. They were all barely out of their teens fighting a war.
From there on, Sirius was simply the Potter's pet dog, Snuffles. Or, according to the neighbors, it was Remus Lupin's pet dog Snuffles.
Author's Note: I got the idea for the plot twist because I figure it's a huge oversight to allow the person they bought the house from to have memories of seeing them and selling the house to them. I'm going with the idea that they've got to consider the outlandish possibility of everyone in Godric's Hollow being individually targeted and interrogated for their location. Because honestly Godric's Hollow seems like it would be pretty obvious to me. Why didn't they just flee the country? Oh well.
Important note but I am working under the assumption that it is the HOUSE that is protected. Not the Potters themselves. The boundaries of the house and it's wards are all safe from view and impenetrable like Grimmauld's Place, but people could literally sit outside waiting in ambush and kill them if they wanted.