(A/N) Thank you to all those who have followed, favorited, or given a review to this story. Your support means so much! Special thanks to Milkshake and Cookies, who created both my profile pic and the cover art for this fic. They are an amazing writer, and you should definitely check them out!

This chapter was not beta-read. All mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Chapter 7: Sirius Black

Rose was sitting down to an early breakfast Monday morning when the doors to the Great Hall banged open. In walked three adults clad in scarlet robes. On these robes were pinned a golden badge, each with the letters DMLE stamped onto them.

Leading them was an older, gray haired lady sporting a monocle. One man behind her was tall, black, with a bald head and an earring in his left lobe. The other was shorter than the former, with wild tawny hair and bright, golden eyes. He walked with a slight limp, and his long, gray-streaked hair bounced with each step.

The woman stopped in front of the teacher's table.

"Dumbledore, I'm sorry to interrupt your meal but I have urgent business concerning one of your students." There weren't many students in the hall at this time, thank goodness, though the ones that were glanced at each other nervously. Rose was intrigued, but kept her focus on the plate of eggs in front of her.

"Which student, may I ask, Amelia?"

The witch lowered her voice to barely a murmur, yet somehow, the entire hall heard it. "Rose Potter."

Dumbledore looked at the witch sharply. "I think this discussion best be continued in my office."

"Very well." Dumbledore looked at Rose, staring her straight in the eye. She hadn't moved a muscle since they had walked in. Subtly, he motioned for her to stand up and follow him.

The Gryffindor shakily stood up, and walked out to the entrance hall with the adults. The two strange wizards kept giving her odd looks over their shoulders.

They walked up several flights of steps before coming upon a large statue of a golden griffin.

"Cauldron Cake." As soon as Dumbledore spoke, the griffin nodded and let its base retract, forming a spiral staircase. Dumbledore climbed to the top, with Rose stationed in between the strange wizards.

When they got to the office, the Headmaster motioned for her to sit down in the spindly chair in front of his desk. He also conjured squishy, purple armchairs for the rest.

"Headmaster, may I ask what is going on?" Rose was really confused as to what was happening.

"Rose, these people are aurors from the Ministry. They say that they have urgent business with you." The Gryffindor knew what aurors were. They were the magical equivalent of the police, just way more dangerous.

"Good morning, Miss Potter, my name is Amelia Bones, and I am head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. A matter has come up recently and it must be addressed. Miss Potter, on September 7th your wrote a letter to known criminal Sirius Black." Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly at hearing this. "Now, do you know who exactly Sirius Black is?"

Rose stared at the auror. "He was my godfather, and my father's best friend. They were closer than brothers." Auror Bones shared a look with the other aurors there.

"Miss Potter, this will be very hard to explain. On October 31, 1981, your cottage in Godric's Hollow was attacked and your parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort. Their location was kept a secret by the Fidelius Charm. The charm basically works to keep a secret unreachable within one's very soul, unless the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. Your family chose their Secret Keeper as Sirius Black. I'm sorry, Miss Potter, but Black betrayed your parents, which led to Voldemort's attack on your home.

Early the next morning, Black attacked Peter Pettigrew in the middle of a street. Several witnesses say they heard Pettigrew shouting at him for betraying your parents. There was a large explosion, and twelve muggles were killed. So was Pettigrew. In fact, the largest part we found of him was his finger. Black was found at the crime scene hysterically laughing, shouting nonsense at the Hit Wizards on the scene.

No one knew that he was a Death Eater, though thankfully he is now incarcerated in Azkaban." The older woman sent a pitying look at Rose, who could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You've got your facts wrong. Sirius Black wasn't the Secret Keeper, Peter Pettigrew was. My dad and Uncle Siri didn't tell anyone about the last minute change. Their hope was that the Death Eaters would go after Sirius, and Peter would be relatively safe." To say the adults in the room were shocked would be an understanding.

Dumbledore spoke up first. "Rose, are you sure about this? Your parents were in the Order, and they didn't even tell me."

Auror Bones tittered softly. "That wouldn't be my first question. What I want to know is how you came up with this."

"I would be willing to extract memories of it. I also have written proof. My mum left a letter in my trust vault at Gringotts. She also left me her diary, and I'm sure if we looked, we could find where she would've written about it."

"You know how to extract memories, Rose?"

"How do you even have a memory of that?" Dumbledore and Amelia Bones questioned at the same time.

"To answer both your questions: Yes, I've read about extracting memories. As for how I have a memory of it...I have a near-perfect memory. I can remove things from when I was one year old."

Dumbledore looked delighted. "Ah Rose, you have been blessed with a wondrous gift. Hyperthymesia is a very rare ability in magicals."

The monocled woman looked skeptical. "No offense, Miss Potter, but I find all of this highly unlikely."

Rose was debating whether to use her backup card. It would be a bit of a low blow, but she was willing to pull it to convince the Auror.

"Your brother was a very good man, Auror Bones," Amelia's throat visibly tightened. "My parents thought very highly of their fellow Order member. And before my parents went hiding, I would attend meetings with them. Edgar always could make me laugh. I was sad to hear he passed, even if I didn't truly understand what was going on at the time." The Gryffindor girl was smiling wistfully. The Auror, on the other hand, looked a bit perturbed.

The other wizards, who had not yet been introduced, looked quite surprised at first, but quickly masked it.

"Well…I see you are correct. My apologies, Miss Potter." Amelia awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Auror Bones, I do own a Pensieve if you would like for Rose to give you some memories."

"Thank you, Headmaster. Though you may need to assist Miss Potter with the memory withdrawal. I am not very proficient at doing it on another person."

"Of course." With that, Dumbledore stood up from his desk, and walked over to a cabinet. With a tap of his wand and a muttered password, the door sprung open. The aged wizard withdrew a shallow stone basin, and set it on his desk. Along the edge of the bowl were many strange runes, none of which Rose recognized.

"Rose, would you like to attempt to withdraw the memory first? If you can't do it, I can offer my assistance." The green eyed girl nodded an affirmative. She withdrew her wand from her robe pocket, and held it to her temple.

Rose focused on the first memory, which was one of her parents discussing the Fidelius Charm with Pettigrew and Uncle Siri.

Slowly, she pulled her wand away from her head. She felt a slight tugging, which was released as soon as she completely pulled away the silvery strand. Quickly, Rose deposited it in the stone basin. There, it swirled like mercury. Not completely liquid, not completely gaseous. It swirled in the bowl, images moving by too fast to fully see.

The Headmaster was beaming at her. Even the aurors looked slightly impressed.

"Well done, Rose, very good. Remarkable at your age, especially since it is your first time." The young Gryffindor felt herself blush slightly at his praise.

"Miss Potter, would you mind putting all your pertaining memories into the Pensive? That way we may view them in one sitting."

One by one, Rose withdrew her memories. She started with all the ones of her parents talking about Peter as the Secret Keeper. Then she added in one of the creepy ones where Pettigrew babysat her, by himself. Ones where he showed his true colors. Next was the one right before Hagrid took her to the Dursleys. Where Sirius has picked her up from the rubble and given her one last message. In the end, there were about a half-dozen memories.

"Shacklebolt, Scrimgeor, you know the protocol. Headmaster, while it is not usually allowed to have outside parties view memories, I think an exception can be made with you. You are Chief Warlock so you will have to view them at some point, if things turn out as I expect. Miss Potter here may also view them if she wishes."

Dumbledore sent a questioning look towards the young Gryffindor, who nodded.

"Now, Rose, all you have to do to view the memory is place a finger in the substance."

Rose nodded again and waited for the others to begin. The tall auror, Shacklebolt she thought, walked over to the door and set up a complex locking spell. He stayed facing the door, as to guard it. The other aurors stood up and put a finger in the Pensieve. They stayed completely motionless, as if in a trance.

"Come, Rose." Rose was led by Dumbledore, and they both placed a finger in the memories. It felt as if Rose's feet had left the ground, and they were slowly falling forward, in a swirl of color.

Lily and James Potter, along with Sirius Black and Pettigrew, were all sitting at a table. Baby Rose sat in Sirius's lap, who was bouncing her slightly.

"Tell me the plan again, Sirius." Lily said.

"Everyone is expecting me to be your Secret Keeper. We told Dumbledore and the rest of our friends that it would be me. The Death Eaters know how close we are. I. Am. The. Obvious. Choice.

I think that we should change it up. We know that there is a traitor in the Order. I would rather die than give you guys up, but we need to take precautions. No one would expect Peter. We trust him, and again, everyone would think it's me. I'll still be in a safe house, just in case, but if I am captured, I won't be able to tell."

Peter interrupted Sirius at this point. "It's practically foolproof Lily. No one would suspect me of being your Secret Keeper. Everyone would think it's Sirius. He'll be in hiding so even then whoever the traitor is in the Order can't get to him."

Lily looked unconvinced, though James felt confident.

"Exactly Lily, everyone will be safe. Dumbledore said that we were the only ones even doing this spell. Even then, very few people know about it. The Longbottom's just made their house Unplottable and set up a bunch of wards.

We will be safe, Lily. I trust my friends. They won't let us down."

The red-haired woman still looked unsure. "It's not that I don't trust you, Peter, but I'm thinking of Rose. What if someone does think it's you and you're captured? We don't want Voldemort getting his hands on our baby. Maybe we should take Dumbledore up on his previous offer. He said that he would be willing to perform the spell and be our Secret Keeper. The chances of him being captured or worse are next to nothing. I just want to keep everyone safe."

Lily unclasped her hands and held them out to Sirius, who transferred Rose to her waiting arms. The baby snuggled into her mother's chest, cooing softly.

"Lily, we have to decide now. Tomorrow is the day for doing the spell. The sooner we're protected, the better. So, are you okay with using Peter as our Secret Keeper, and Sirius as the diversion?"

The mother paused for a moment, thinking deeply. "Alright James, I'll trust your decision. Peter, tomorrow you will become our Secret Keeper."

Later that same night

Lily and James are sitting on the couch, with Rose in between them.

"James, I don't trust Peter. You and I both know that he's a coward. And he's not very powerful with a wand either. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow came and he could perform the Fidelius Charm. I trust Sirius way more. He's your loyalest best friend, your brother. Heck, I even trust Remus more than I do Peter."

Her husband scowled at the last part, which caught Lily's attention.

"Now don't give me that look, James. I know you're saying you don't trust Remus because he's a werewolf. That is absolute hogwash. He has always been there for you guys, as you've been for him. Remus is the last person I would think to turn dark. You shouldn't be judgmental. You don't think of Sirius like that just because he's a Black.

Besides, Dumbledore trusts him. In fact, Remus is probably on a mission for Dumbledore with the werewolves."

"It doesn't matter. I trust Peter. I mean, really, could you see him as a Death Eater. No offense, but I don't think he has the qualities Voldemort's looking for."

Lily only murmured under her breath, "I hope you're right, James."

"Eleka nahmen nahmen

Ah tum ah tum eleka nahmen

Eleka nahmen nahmen

Ah tum ah tum eleka nahmen"

Peter chanted in his nasally voice, stumbling a bit. Lily clutched baby Rose, a worried expression plastered on her face. James has one arm slung protectively around his girls.

"I, Peter Pettigrew, enter this oath with James Fleamont Potter, Lily Marie Evan Potter, and Rose Lily Potter. I promise to keep the location of their home in Godric's Hollow a secret. I keep this promise within my very soul. It shall stay there unless I choose to divulge it, under my free will.

Fidelius Absconditum!" Peter ended the chant with a series of complicated wand movements. Golden sparks flew out of his wand and formed a chain, which then wrapped around the four magicals.

The room was bathed in light, illuminating everything to the point where the adults could hardly see.

In an instant, the spell ended. Peter fell to the ground, clearly exhausted by the sheer amount of magic he used in the spell. Lily was trying to soothe poor Rose.

"I'll send a patronus to Dumbledore and Sirius later. You are okay with them knowing the location, right?"

"Of course. While you are at it, ask Dumbledore if he wants anyone else in the order to know the location."

"Of course, Lily." With that, the watery-eyed man left the house he was now sworn to protect.

Lily grabbed her purse and gave Rose one last kiss.

"We shouldn't be more than an hour, Peter. I'm going to get groceries, and James is headed to the pharmacy. We'll send patronuses every fifteen minutes. If you don't hear from either of us for more than 20 minutes, contact Dumbledore."

"You should be fine, Lily."

"Take care of Rose for us, Peter." With that the couple left, leaving their baby with their long-time friend and Secret Keeper.

"Rosie," Peter crooned in his nasally voice. "Soon my plans will come to fruition. And you will be at the center.

Of course, I'm only doing this to protect your mother. The Dark Lord usually has no use for mudbloods, but he has promised that he will keep Lily safe as a reward for my service.

Very soon, Rose. The Dark Lord will have his way. I'm being opportunistic here. Dumbledore can never win against someone like Voldemort. He is too powerful. And I and the other Death Eaters will be rewarded greatly, for we have stood with him for so long."

James and Lily heard an explosion near the front of the house. Both jumped up in horror, the redhead clinging onto their baby.

"P-Peter betrayed us. Lily, take Rose and run. I'll hold off Voldemort."

Lily carried Rose up to her nursery, tears silently streaming down her face.

"Oh, Rosie. Remember, Mummy and Daddy love you very much. I wish we had more time together. Stay safe, Rosie."

Just then the door to the nursery burst open, and in stepped Voldemort.

Lily quickly turned and threw herself over the crib, shielding her baby.

The Dark Lord spoke in a cold, snake-like voice. "Step away, you silly girl. I only want to kill your baby. You can live, but only if you move."

"No! Not Rose. Please, spare her. Take me instead. Spare my little girl."

The redhead's begging did nothing to persuade Voldemort.

"AVADA KEDAVRA." With those awful words, a beam of green light shot from the villain's wand, and struck the mother straight in the chest.

Lily's lifeless body crumpled to the floor after sliding against the crib, her eyes wide open in shock.

Although knew not what was going on, Rose still screamed and cried in distress.

"And now, to fulfill the prophecy."

Voldemort stalked closer to his victim, and the baby cried even more, even though she couldn't truly understand what had transpired.

"AVADA KEDAVRA." The killing curse was once again performed, only this time it was aimed at the poor, defenseless baby.

But miraculously, the child did not die. The beam connected right with her forehead and bounced back, only to hit the maniac who casted the spell.

There was an explosion of light, then suddenly, Voldemort was no more. All that remained was a smoking robe and a slightly charred wand which lay trapped in the rubble.

Rose was still crying. She shrieked with pain from the killing curse, which left its mark in the shape of a lightning bolt on her forehead.

Sirius Black frantically searched through the now-destroyed home, his wand illuminating his tear-streaked face.

"J-James!" He croaked out upon seeing his best friend's lifeless body. He kneeled down and warily grabbed the man's wrist, feeling for a pulse that wasn't there.

The black-haired man was sobbing now, but he still stood up and continued to search through the home. And that's when he heard it. The faint sound of a baby crying.

"Rose!" And ran off to where the nursery used to be. He stopped when he saw the corpse of Lily.

He would've stayed there, frozen in shock, but then he heard his goddaughter cry out again.

The baby was still in her crib, her small hands gripping the sides of it tightly.

"R-Rosie," He once again croaked out. "Oh, sweetie. Paddy's here."

Sirius carefully made his way across the rubble-strewn room. He grabbed his goddaughter and clutched her tightly to his chest.

"R-Rosie. I-I'm s-so s-sorry I-I couldn't p-protect y-you."

The two stood there until Hagrid Portkeyed directly into the room.

"Sirius. Rosie. It's true then?"

At the godfather's shaky nod, the half-giant erupted into sobs as well, blowing his nose loudly in a handkerchief.

"Sirius? I need yeh teh hand Rosie to meh. Dumbledore's orders. There's somewhere he wants meh teh take 'er."

"B-But-"

"I'm sure yeh'll see 'er later."

"O-Okay, Hagrid."

Sirius handed over Rose, still crying.

Just as Hagrid was about to exit, Sirius called out to him.

"Wait, Hagrid. Take my motorbike. I won't be needing it anymore."