-Chapter 1-
Sirius arrived at Godric's Hollow, mere seconds after Voldemort casts his last killing curse for many years. As he landed he felt an unnaturally cold breeze rush past him as he broke into a run up the street. He skidded to a stop outside a house that mere moments ago had a happy family in hiding. Now there was a poor orphan who had seen his mother be murdered before the wand that did it turned to him. There was also a man, hunched over a pile of robes fishing out a wand and a dagger before he heard the stairs creak.
"I know you're in there Wormtail," came the voice of an auror who had a very personal interest in this case. He had, Afterall just stepped over the dead body of his best friend and honorary brother. "I could smell vermin like you from miles away."
Wormtail Froze. The footsteps approached the doorway. He looked around, Panicked, searching for an escape route. Just as the door sprang open, he launched himself out of the hole in the wall and transformed.
"WORMTAIL" Sirius screeched, running to the opening and sending several spells and curses towards the disapperating rat. He was about to follow when he heard the small voice in the cot beside him.
"Uncee Paddy," said baby Harry, looking as if his whole world had just been turned upside down, tears brimming in his eyes.
Sirius took one last look at the darkening garden and turned his back on it. After all, he couldn't leave a baby who had no one left. He didn't even stop for a second to think about what he was doing he bent down and scooped up little Harry. He could tell that while Harry was still alive, he was now sporting a new scar on his forehead.
Sirius walked slowly down to the sitting room, cradling an injured Pronglet, trying to work out what to do. He started by trying to distinguish the facts from the suspicions that he had been holding onto for the last few months. He instantly realized that the friend that he thought was a traitor was not. He needed to find moony and apologize, and quickly. Dumbledore would have some way of knowing what had happened and would be sending someone to see how bad the damage was. Dumbledore. He had suggested that Moony was the Traitor. The bastard. Trying to sow discourse between the friends. He had to keep the house to himself for now. Before someone with other plans took over.
He conjured his Patronus and sent it to Moony explaining everything; "Moony, I'm sorry, it's happened, the little one is alive. Meet me in St Mungo's. Something Fishy going on, tell No-one."
Before Sirius stalked out of the house he took one last look at his two best friends, who were now under a stasis charm, and casting a new Fidelius Charm on the house, this time though he wouldn't make the same mistake of allowing anyone else to be the Secret Keeper.
Outside the house, he saw a rather disgruntled looking Hagrid walking away down the street, confused and angry Sirius quickly cast disillusionment and silencing charms on Harry before stepping out into the street.
"Hagrid" he called, causing the big man to look around, startled.
"Sirius, Thank Merlin you're here, I can't seem to remember where Lily and James were living."
"And why do you want to know that?" inquired Sirius.
"Well, Perfesser Dumblydore sent me to fetch Harry after he learnt of the attack."
"And when did he tell you to do this?"
"'bout two hours ago"
Sirius swore. He knew that Dumbledore liked to keep secrets but this, this was a step too far. James and Lily could still be alive if he had decided to warn them before he sent Hagrid halfway around the country. Also, how did he know Harry was still alive. Sirius was suddenly very glad that he had asked Moony not to tell anyone.
"Well, you can tell him that we had found out about the vermin in the Order and they moved to be rid of him," Sirius retorted, accidentally allowing his temper to blow up.
Hagrid wasn't quite sure what to make of this but he understood that Sirius meant business, so he didn't argue. As Hagrid turned away to return to Hogwarts, Sirius stopped him.
"Hagrid, I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm sorry."
"Tis grand, don' thin' of I'"
"Listen, do you want to take my bike, I won't need it anymore"
"If yer sure"
"course I am"
And with that Sirius apparated to the entrance hall of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. As soon as he arrived, a very stressed looking Remus Lupin hurried up to him and accosted him.
"Well? Are they gone Padfoot? And Where's Harry, you said that he was alive? And what's wrong with your arm, why are you holding it like that?"
Sirius reached into his robes and drew his wand "Finite Incantatum" he whispered as the illusion shattered and Harry was revealed to be in his arms.
Remus looked relieved more than anything, but instantly another fifty questions exploded in his mind "How about James? Lily? Wormtail? Did you fight them off? Are they gone? What took you so long to get here?"
Sirius put a finger to his lips and said "Not here Remus, not here"
Remus nodded dumbly but mostly he was shocked by the fact that Padfoot had called him Remus. He hadn't called him by his given name in over 6 years. It demonstrated to Remus the total Gravity of the situation more than any other words could have.
"Uncee Mooey!" Harry cooed in delight as he caught sight of his other uncle.
"Hey Pronglet, how you doing?" Remus asked gently tousling the young boy's hair. That was when he caught sight of the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. His eyes rose to meet Sirius' and he raised his eyebrows. All it took was one small nod from Sirius to confirm his suspicions while also setting off multiple alarm bells and pushed him over the edge into panic mode.
"Sirius, we need to get that examined."
"Why d'you think I am here Moony?" quipped Sirius, unable to help himself, "For the tearooms?"
Remus decided that that deserved a slap on the arm and an eye roll before he guided Sirius over to the long queue of people waiting to check themselves into the Emergency Room. Sirius walked straight to the front of the queue leaned over the desk to the manager, while withdrawing his Auror identification and asked for a private room for spell damage, details could be sorted there.
While the manager was not inclined to agree to demands easily, he also recognised that this man was not only an Auror but also the heir to an Ancient and Noble house. That was why he led the two men up the flights of stairs to a small room at the end of the spell damage floor.
"Now, what seems to be the issue and I can send in the Appropriate Healers," asked the Manager somewhat impatiently.
"We are going to need a full diagnostic as well as deep scan and an MMOC (Mind Magics Observance Charm) for little Harry here. We should also do a deep scan and MMOC for myself and Remus," replied Sirius unsure whether his demands would be met or resisted.
"Very well, let me see what I can do," said the manager, slightly perturbed by so many requests.
After a few minutes, he returned bringing three Healers with him. "Are you all ready to begin?"
"Yep, it might be wise to call an unspeakable as well. Something isn't quite right with Harry"
"Padfoot, what's going on?" asked Remus, suddenly scared that something worse than he had expected had happened.
"Scans first, talk later Remus"
"Very well, Sirius"
They both submitted themselves to a Healer who began to cast detection spells and run scans of their health.
It took about an hour for the healers to complete their scans and return with the results. During this time an unspeakable had arrived, cast a single spell before leaving to fetch his colleague. While they waited for him to return the Healers finished up and passed over their results to Sirius who read them aloud:
Remus John Lupin
21 years old
Suffers from Lycanthropy
Minor cuts and bruising about 18 days old
Several ribs not properly healed
Mild Compulsion Charm with a magical signature matching Albus Dumbledore
Several patchy bits of Memory, suspected Obliviations, more investigation required to confirm.
Tracking Charm, magical signature matching Albus Dumbledore
Sirius Orion Black
21 years old
Lingering effects of Cruciatus exposure
Severe emotional and mental trauma recently received.
Mild Compulsion charm with a magical signature matching Albus Dumbledore
Multiple parts of patchy memory, suspected Obliviations, more investigation required to confirm
One definite obliviation, magical signature matching Albus Dumbledore
Mild aversion charms towards Severus Snape
Tracking Charm, magical signature matching Albus Dumbledore
Harry James Potter
1 year old
Scar on forehead
Severe emotional trauma
Magical Exhaustion
Hungry
Significant unknown Dark magic emanating from the new scar on his forehead requires significantly more investigation through the Dept of Mysteries; Contact: Unspeakable Ree
"Merlin," gasped Remus.
"Yup," said Sirius.
"What now?"
"Well, we need to find somewhere to kip for a while before we try to work out how far these charms have gotten"
Once they had gotten the Charms removed, they left the Hospital and apparated to Potter Hall, where Sirius had been living with James before they went into hiding. Remus was about to ask if it was later yet when Sirius answered his question.
"Let's get Harry asleep first and then we can talk"
A while later, Remus and Sirius were sitting in the sitting room with tears running down their faces as they fully began to process the fact that they had not only lost three of their friends today but also the trust of their former headmaster.
"Where do we go from here then?"
Sirius summoned a blackboard and started writing under the headings; Trusted people, People to check and People to confront. Currently there was only himself and Remus in the Trusted People section, but they hoped that would change soon.
Under the People to check column was Frank and Alice, Mad-Eye, Minnie and Poppy. They needed to confront Dumbledore as well as Pettigrew.
They decided that Minnie and Poppy were the first people they needed to talk to so that they could organize the rest of the diagnostics for the order. Patronuses were sent and within ten minutes they Minnie and Poppy stepped in the front door.
"Sirius are you alright?" asked Minerva, she had been his /Head of House for seven years before fighting alongside him for the last three years.
"No not really," said Sirius, "come on in"
Poppy caught sight of Remus in the sitting room, cradling Harry who was just beginning to stir after several hours asleep. Both of their guests could feel the tension in the air as Sirius explained what had happened.
They were shocked and sad, but they grew angry at Professor Dumbledore when they heard of his chance to save the Potters but instead, he assumed they were already dead. Minerva's lips grew white with Fury as Remus explained their trip to the Hospital and the compulsion and Memory charms that were discovered.
When Remus offered to check them for these charms, they discovered both had various charms currently battling for dominance.
"Perhaps I should get Filius to come and see if he can remove them from us?"
"Can we be sure we can trust him?"
"He's not a Death Eater if that's what you mean," Poppy retorted.
"Of Course not, do you want to Floo him?" suggested Remus.
A/N: Thanks for reading!
I am planning on updating this about once a week. Please let me know what you think and how I can fix it.