Chapter I

Sirius's Pov

"I am not returning to school!" Sirius heard before he even reached the front door. He had never seen Harry and Lily scream at each other before.

"You have to finish your education… we can transfer you to a new school, Beauxbatons is safe," Lily insisted.

"You want me to just run away to France and abandon everyone?"

"A lot of pureblood families left for Europe or America already!"

"Well, I am not a pureblood!"

"But you are in danger here… Harry, I will just take you somewhere safe and wait this out, I swear to God!" When Lily was using the muggle name it meant it was bad. Sirius was contemplating returning home and sending Remus, but his partner was home with Teddy.

"I can't let everyone get hurt in my name, he wants me!"

"Good evening!" Sirius announced his presence. Two pair of angry green eyes stared at him.

"I am so glad to see you!" Lily sighed in relief. "Talk to him, he doesn't want to leave England!"

"I am not sure you can anymore…" Sirius said.

Lily turned to him. "Have they already taken over the Ministry?"

"Last night."

"Can we fly to France?" Lily chewed on her lip.

"I am not going!" Harry interrupted them. "I will not be a coward and watch other people die in my name, if we could do something and we did not, aren't we responsible?"

"We already did something, three Horcuxes are destroyed, and we did our part .Your dad… I can't lose you too to him, Harry!"

"We have a chance to win, we have to take it!" Harry urged.

Lily turned to Sirius.

"Me and Remus were going to stay anyway," Sirius said.

"And Teddy?" Lily asked.

"We will make it through this!" Sirius reassured her.

They all decided to move to 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius had come over to secure them using a Portkey, since it was the safest way at the moment. Remus was sure they would try to strike at the Potter's as soon as they could and Grimmauld had better wards and the ancient family magic would protect them, even if it was working for Sirius.

Sirius handed Lily the portkey, it was a heirloom someone sold to the shop, it could be bound to a house magic and will always return you to it, must have been very old magic, but the person who sold it was a pureblood really down on his luck.

They all touched the horn, it must have been gold at some point, but now it looked black. They were transported to the living room at home. Remus and Teddy were playing in the play pen by the fire. Sirius adjusted the wards for their new guests and straightened the security. The lot was unplottable and they even used a Fidelius charm to hide it better with Severus as their Secret Keeper.

Everyone took a collective sigh of relief when they transported in. The Floo Network was controlled by the Death Eaters and flying would be too risky. They couldn't even apparate near the house now with all the new security measures.

"Welcome!" Remus offered kindly.

"'arry!" Teddy said and smiled a toothless grin at the newcomers.

Harry walked over and hugged Teddy and then Remus.

"I know I asked before, but…" Lily started.

"Yes, I am sure! This is the safest place for you."

"I do not want to put your family in danger!"

"We would be anyway!" Remus said. "Sirius is a Black and I am a werewolf, they would target us anyway. Come on, the dinner is ready!"

"Are we celebrating already?" Lily perked up.

"Celebrating?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

Sirius considered casting a Muffliato on Lily, he even took his wand out.

"Your engagement," Lily said before he got to cast.

Remus sat absolutely still. "Excuse me?"

"Oh no!" Lily turned terrified eyes on Sirius.

"Sirius, care to explain?" Remus asked with that tight smile that meant trouble on his lips.

"I am going to go and feed the kids." Lily hurried past and took the kids to the kitchen.

"I told her I would propose to you last night," Sirius gulped and looked down. "I had reservations to that restaurant in France and all, but then Teddy got that toothache and we canceled… I think I forgot to tell her that in all the commotion."

"You were going to propose to me?" Remus's asks incredulous.

"Of course!" Sirius raised his eyes to his partner. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you!"

"Ask me then!" Remus said in a shaky voice.

Sirius kneeled. "Remus Lupin, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Remus was beaming and his eyes were strangely wet.

Sirius scooped him up in his arms and started walking towards their bedroom.

"Teddy!" Remus protested.

"Lily can handle him, she deserves that after she ruined my perfect plan!"

"So can I congratulate you now?" Lily asked first thing in the morning. There was only them in the kitchen; she was sipping her tea when Sirius walked in.

"Yes!" He gave her the soppiest grin imaginable.

"So when is the ceremony?"

"We will do the old Black rite, since the Ministry is a no go," Sirius said.

"I have no idea what that entails… Does it have a blood sacrifice?"

Sirius laughed. "No, it's just a binding of magic, we can do it anytime."

"This feels very muggle world wary - get married before your partner gets deployed."

"It's not very far off." Sirius sighed and took a seat at the table. "I have talked with Remus and… if anything happens to us, we would want you to take care of Teddy!"

Lily froze with the cup to her lips. She put it down primly and then took a big breath.

"I won't let anything happen!"

"You can't control a battlefield, Evans."

"Then maybe you shouldn't both jump into it!" She retorted trying to rein in her temper.

"We have to fight… for Harry! He feels as much as our kid as Teddy does!"

"Hermione is coming over" Harry said rushing into the kitchen.

"How?" Lily asked.

"She called me on the mobile" Harry said.

"Did Severus found her and let her in?" Sirius asked Lily.

"He should be into hiding…" Lily mumbles.

"Where is she?" Sirius asked.

"Master, someone is at the door," Kreacher's scratchy voice can be heard from the kitchen.

Harry rushed over and hugged his friend. Hermione Granger was carrying a suitcase and muggle clothing, her hair was ruffled, wand holstered at her hip.

"You would have left me behind!" she accused as soon as she saw Harry.

"You love school!" Harry protested.

"I love you more!" Hermione argued.

She noticed then Lily and Sirius behind Harry and blushed. "In a very platonic way" She added hastily.

They let her in and she let go of the suitcase, Sirius was sure it cracked the floor when it touched it.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I am helping you!" she said. "Hello Miss Potter, heir Black," Hermione greeted.

"Hello, Hermione!" Lily said touched. "What about school? Your family?"

"I already sent the letter announcing I am not coming back to Headmistress McGonagall." Hermione's face got darker. "My parents… decided to move to Australia."

"Just spontaneously decided to move?" Harry asked suspicious.

"Harry… I do whatever I can to make sure the people I care about are safe!"

Sirius studied her face as she said it, Hermione's intensity was frightening.

"And are you sure they won't come back?" Lily asked.

"I… made sure," Hermione said looking down.

A few days later Severus announced he be sending them another visitor. Sirius was the one at the door this time and he opened to a shaky heiress Parkinson. Sirius widened his eyes not expecting her since she was supposed to be at the Manor now with her family.

"I… got disowned by my family," she said as a greeting.

Sirius can recognize the lost look in her eyes, the sense of freedom and loss that gets mingled inside; he knew those better than anyone.

"Come in. You want tea?"

She nodded absentmindedly.

"I am afraid everyone else is sleeping," He said as he prepared the tea. The muggle way to give her enough time to take everything in.

"I didn't want to disturb anyone… I just didn't know where to go… Professor Snape said it's safe here…"

"You are welcomed here, we disowned purebloods should stick together," He said as he handed her the tea.

Miss Parkinson took the cup and held it like a lifeline.

"Voldemort was coming to the Manor," she added in the silence that follows. "I wanted me and Draco to go, but he refused… Then they asked me to take the Mark…I refused…My parents decided is better to distance themselves from me.

"Are you sad about that?"

"I… do not know how I feel" she said honestly.

"That is fine too." Sirius smiled. "How about you finish the tea and I will show you to your dorm?"

"I… can I stay?"

"Of course!" Sirius said "Hermione and Harry will be happy to see you!"

Miss Parkinson nodded and finished her tea. Sirius returned to the library. The fire was burning merrily in the pit, the whole house but he was asleep. But he couldn't get his brain to stop. Sirius had never dreamed about his wedding. When he was a kid he didn't have it, it was something that was planned and he had no hand in, when he broke the relationship with his family and he started dating around just to taste the freedom, he never thought he would settle down. When he fell in love with Remus, all those years ago, he didn't allow himself to hope they will ever get here and when they finally got together he was too busy being happy, being present to dream about their wedding.

Either way, the wedding here. Sirius wondered if Remus would have wished a muggle wedding instead, but there was the question of paper work since Sirius didn't exist in the muggle world and also… the muggle world wouldn't accept them. Sirius was shocked to find out, he thought the muggles were kinder and more accepting than wizards, but gay marriage was never outlawed in the magical world. Frowned upon for purebloods that are heirs, but common enough.

Sirius should not be thinking about the history of marriage laws now, he should go to the last guest bedroom and sleep for tomorrow, but he was too agitated to. He would sleep better in their bedroom, but Lily insisted they shouldn't see each other before the wedding. Preposterous… they were not muggles, the wedding was magical and he… couldn't sleep without Remus by his side anymore.

"I won't tell Lily if you won't"

Sirius looked up. Remus was standing in the library door, his hair is ruffled and he was rubbing his eyes. He probably couldn't sleep either. Sirius grinned sloppily and follow his soon to be husband to the bedroom.

When Sirius woke up, Remus was already gone. He woke up confused and for a few seconds he completely forgot in the haze of sleep, then like an electric current his mind stood to attention. Today was the wedding. He jumped out of bed. He was supposed to be in the guest room. He rushed over to sneak back inside his supposed dorm. Lily was waiting for him outside the door.

"I am not even mad, I am disappointed."

"Come on, Rose, that is even worse," Sirius whined. "You can't do that to me on my wedding day!"

Lily rolled her eyes.

The ceremony itself was a small affair. They held it in the forest that Remus spends his transformations in, the one Sirius had bought for him. They had only a few guests except their house guests, Severus, Bodin and Andromeda, Ted and Dora.

Being the oldest, sane Black family member, Andromeda will perform the ritual. His parents got married like this, as his mother had always gone on about, something she wished her sons to go through. Andromeda had a muggle wedding, more to spite her family than anything, Sirius wasn't invited to Bella's wedding, but Narcissa didn't like the ritual, too confining, too much trust to exchange with a partner she never had any to begin with.

Sirius and Remus are wearing black marriage robes, Sirius was wearing the family ones, but Remus had new ones. The Lupins never had their own marriage robes, few magical families did these days except for purebloods. Their guests were standing in the grass; Remus and Sirius were facing each other in front of an old oak tree. The Blacks used to do this ritual in castles and mansions, but that was never Sirius's destiny.

Andromeda started chanting, Sirius found it hard to focus on her when Remus's eyes were shinning like that in the afternoon light. He noticed when the ritual knife appeared, white and shiny with magic pricking Andromeda's finger. The knife got passed down to the grooms and each pricked their ring finger above a ritual bowl.

Andromeda received the bowl and finished the ritual. They were married now, in the eyes of the law, they were bound together by their magic. Sirius and Remus decided to exchange rings as well, even if it was unnecessary to the magical custom. They custom-made their rings in a muggle shop - gold with a single moonstone in the center and a dog drawn on the inside. The lady at the till looked at them strangely.

Sirius didn't remember the rest of the night. He wakes woke up in his bedroom, he is wearing a wedding dress that he didn't previously and has no idea who it belonged to. Remus is snoring softly by his side, his husband is still wearing the wedding robe. He tried to stand, but there was a whole live rock band in his head. He looked around groggily and considered turning into Padfoot hoping dogs don't get hangovers, but he noticed a potion on his nightstand. Right, it was Severus's wedding present, a crate full of hangover potions, bless him.

He drank the potion and tried not to gag at the taste. Remus was probably awake judging by his breathing pattern, but he didn't want to open his eyes.

"I have hangover potion," Sirius tempted him.

Remus opened one eye to glare at his husband.

"We do not have the metabolism of 15 year-olds anymore."

"But we have someone to actually know how to make the potion now," Sirius retorted.

"Prongs was so bad at it," Remus's laugh rang in the room.

Sirius handed Remus the potion with a big sigh. He couldn't have conceived the notion of Prongs not being the best men at his wedding, like Sirius was to his.

"He would have loved the dress," Remus said in a soft voice looking at his husband.

"He would have proposed to me right there!" Sirius laughed. "Whose dress is this anyway?"

"No idea, it was in the attic, must have been someone from your family."

"Andromeda and Narcissa didn't get married in this house… that means…" Sirius shivered.

Remus laughed fully now, his shoulders were shacking.

The weeks that followed moved slowly. Severus was getting steady Intel from his informants and they managed to thwart some of the bigger schemes the Death Eaters had tried, but they couldn't afford to let the enemy know they had a mole.

The shop door was still working, but the people coming in didn't need medical help (well, at least not all the time), but refuge. They set up a system to get muggle-born or people seeking refuge outside of England and Voldemort's reach. Xenophilus Lovegood, some of the pureblood and mixed families - they managed to portkey a lot of people to France and other European countries.

Remus and Lily tried to ask other European countries for help , since Voldemort could be a threat to them as well in time, if he grew more powerful, but they weren't taken seriously because the corrupted Ministry was telling a different story.

They started searching for the rest of the Horcruxes pretty soon after that. Remus suggested visiting the house Riddle stayed at after Hogwarts; it was still a house he technically owned, but there were no wards protecting it.

Severus provided them with the address. Sirius, Harry, Pansy and Hermione were sent to it. Remus and Bodin were in talks with a werewolf clan for aid, Severus was meeting with an informant and Lily and Dora were mending the shop. A lot of people started coming for help, from magic creatures to muggle-born, lately.

Sirius went in first using the few curse-breaking spells Bill Weasley had taught him. The place seemed clean, no wards, or family magic at work at all.

"Safe," He called to the kids hiding under the cloak.

They came with their wands out and methodically searched the house. There were no traces of anyone living or even passing through it. Sirius was pretty sure it was a bust, which was why he brought the kids along as well; they were buzzing with energy and it would do them good to stretch their legs.

"Nothing with the magic tracing spell," Hermione announced.

They searched manually for a while, but nothing turned up. Riddle had no possessions left here, magic or otherwise.

"Okay, we are ready to go, people," Sirius called. Something caught his eyes outside, from the window he was close to at the bottom floor he saw a glimmer outside. He turned into Padfoot and yes, now he could smell intruders, the heavy scent of magic as well. He barked once. That was the signal.

Before he could do anything else, the windows shattered and the front door flung open. Padfoot jumped with his fangs barred; the attacker was not expecting that. Padfoot bit his hand and the wand fell down. He tried to bite harder, but the Death Eater threw him off.

"There is a wolf in here!" He called panicked to the others, presumably waiting outside.

"Petrificus totalus!" Hermione casts barging down the stairs. The Death Eater froze still clutching the bleeding hand to his chest.

Sirius turned back. "Go! Apparate away!"

"They put down wards, I think."

"Where is Harry?"

"Basement," Hermione called.

"Get him, I will keep them away!" Sirius put a ring of fire on the main door.

Hermione dashed into the basement.

No one from outside tried anything. Padfoot could smell them outside, but none moved. there were at least two of them left.

"How many?" Pansy's voice asked.

"Two," Sirius said switching back. He hadn't switched that much in a day in years, he was getting dizzy.

"We should split up, you girls take the back door, apparate as soon you are out of the ward's range, me and Harry will follow you through a window."

Hermione and Pansy nodded.

"Just in case," Sirius said and cast a transfiguration on Harry's features. McGonagall would be proud.

"Do not engage with them, we are not here to fight, just get out," he instructed.

Harry nodded clutching his wand.

Sirius cast a shield around himself and jumped down the window first; the shield stopped two stun spells before it dissipated into a silver mist. Padfoot tackled the closest enemy before they get to regain their senses. Harry cast an Expeliamus on the other one.

"Did the girls get away?" Harry asked.

Padfoot was about to shift back when he caught a new smell in the air, a familiar one. He rushed off in the opposite direction with Harry on his heels. The anti-apparition ward usually covers a maximum of 500 meters and the bad smell came from farther than that, but Harry was so slow behind him.

A spell shot from ahead and hit Harry. Sirius froze; it was a stun spell, cast by someone that masked their scent. He got ready to jump on the attacker, Peter Pettigrew smirking, but the bad smell caught up and Bellatrix stunned him.

"You got the kid?" Bellatrix asked.

"Yes, only the mutt left," Peter spat.

"Are you sure it's Potter? Doesn't look like him."

"I am positive the mutt is Black, he wouldn't leave his precious nephew alone…"

"We can't go to the Dark lord on that, if we are wrong…" Bellatrix shivered.

"The Malfoy heir could recognize him, he stared at his face enough," Peter spat.

Sirius wished he could growl.

Bellatrix and Pettigrew made quick work on carrying them back to the Mansion.

"Nephew! We have some work for you!" Bellatrix called.

"Something even a wandless guy like you can do," Pettigrew spat.

Wandless? What happened here? Sirius wondered. Draco came out from the low levels; they heard the basement had been converted into a dungeon from the few people that escaped. Draco looked pale and unhappy, even if his mask got much better.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We caught the mutt and the kid during a raid, they took down four of us. We want you to confirm Potter's identity."

Draco shivered imperceptibly.

Bellatrix and Pettigrew held Harry's head up. Sirius could see his features morphed, but still recognizable, his eyes did not even change.

"It's not him," Draco said in a cold voice.

"You sure?" Bellatrix asked. "The Dark Lord would have been pleased," She dumped Harry unceremoniously on the floor. "Take them to the dungeon, Black would still amuse him for a night."

Draco nodded and leads them to the dungeon.

"You stupid idiot," he hissed. "Doby!" he ordered. An elf popped out, a familiar one, Sirius was pretty sure he was supposed to work at Hogwarts.

"Master called," Dobby said pleased.

"I am sorry I am taking you from you duties, I want you to teleport these two away"

"Harry Potter and heir Black!" Dobby said pleased.

"Take them to a safe place and then you can consider yourself free," Draco instructed.

"Master? But master… they will kill you…"

"Nephew? Where did you take them? I want to have a chat with my cousin" Bellatrix cackled.

"Go!" Draco instructed and posted himself in front of their cell.

Sirius wanted to scream at him to stop, but the spell still kept his smaller body completely frozen.

Dobby nodded solemnly and touched Harry's body and Sirius ready to complete his order. Sirius saw Harry's hand moving slowly catching the label of Draco's cloak.

"No!" they heard Bellatrix scream, something moved towards them and then Dobby teleported them.

Sirius started feeling the effect of the spell wearing off. He raised his head groggily. They are in a field Sirius didn't recognize. He looked back; Harry and Draco kneeled above a figure.

"Dobby!" Draco was holding the crumpled figure of the elf with a dagger implanted in his chest. The Black crest was gleaning on the dull handle. Bellatrix was the only wizard he knew that used muggle weapons.

Sirius tried casting some healing charms, but Dobby was already gone.

"I am sorry," he said.

"Why did you cling to me!?" Draco turned his furious eyes on Harry.

"I couldn't… let you die."

Draco looked like he wanted to say something else, but his eyes return to the elf.

"We should… burry him," Sirius said delicately.

Draco nodded.

Sirius and Harry dag the grave in silence. Draco placed Dobby in, engulfed in his coat. They filled the grave and Draco mumbled some words.

"What now?" Harry asked looking at Draco.

"We are going home!" Sirius fixed his gaze on Draco. He nods.. His finger fidgetted without a wand. It must have been recent then; old purebloods used that method to punish disobedience, a wizard without their wand was helpless.

Sirius apparated them back to Diagon Alley, he wanted to have Lily check on Draco before going home. They just reached the old London cobblestone when screaming erupted. Shops were going up in flames, people were running around, apparating away all around them. Bellatrix's screeches pierced the air, she was very fast to start that much mayhem in the time they left her. Sirius took the kids and apparated them away.

"Mum was in the store!" Harry argued.

"I am sure she is okay," Sirius said.