31st October 1981
10pm
Peter Pettigrew's hideout
Sirius alighted on his motorbike, determined to check on Peter. He'd not heard anything from the youngest Marauder recently and it had been worrying him more and more. Panic choked his throat and stole his breath when he found the small flat completely empty and devoid of any human (or rat) presence. Initially his mind spun with possibilities to explain Peter's disappearance, Death Eaters finding him and killing him being at the top of the list. It all turned out to be wishful thinking when he searched the whole building and found no evidence of a struggle. It looked like Peter hadn't ever actually even used the base.
His heart sank with the realisation that there could be only one reason for Peter to not be there, to not be hiding. He'd only been made Lily and James' secret keeper a few weeks ago, and he was supposed to be here, supposed to be locked away. That's what he'd said. That's what he'd agreed to. There wasn't a good reason for Peter to not be here. For months Sirius had been convinced Remus was the traitor in The Order's midst, with his secretive missions, and general evasiveness.
Now it hit him like a ton of Muggle bricks that there was only one person it could be; Peter's Animagus form suddenly made too much sense.
Sirius snarled; Peter had been whispering in his ear for over a year. Accusing Remus and his lycanthropy, saying they made him that much more likely to betray them - what else would he be doing off with those werewolf packs after all? It hadn't made sense initially; the idea that any of The Marauders would betray each other was ludicrous. But the more Remus failed to be around, the more Sirius believed it. He hadn't realised until now, all the insidious whispers coming from the rat.
His terror rocketed through the roof; heart racing, palms sweaty where they gripped his wand tight. If Peter was the betrayer, then there was every chance he had already informed Voldemort where Lily and James were hiding. Sirius closed his eyes, denial rushing through him. With his eyes still closed he focused his mind and apparated to Godric's Hollow, his motorbike could wait where it was.
As he left he realised that the fact he could recall where they lived wasn't good - it meant the protections had broken.
10:45pm
Potter Cottage – Godric's Hollow
He cursed James' decision to hide his family in the small Potter cottage instead of the heavily fortified Potter Manor, all because the former would be 'less predictable'. He appeared in the middle of the Wizarding village, anxiously turning on his heel, willing his mind to supply the location of the Potter's home. It turned out to be a fruitless exercise as halfway through his turn his eyes caught on the foul shape of the dark mark spread like spilled ink across the sky above a half-destroyed cottage. Sirius sucked in a harsh breath and shook his head in denial as he rushed forward.
His heart pounded fiercely in his chest and his breath came in pants as he slid to a stop in front of the blown-out door of the previously intact cottage. He wilfully ignored the half collapsed roof over where Harry's small bedroom had been. "No. No no no. Oh Merlin, please no. James! Lily! Please!" Sirius chanted to himself as he pushed through the gap where the door used to be and into the destroyed hallway.
He collapsed like a doll with its strings cut next to James, reaching with shaky hands to check for a pulse. The noise that left him when he found none was animal-like, the scream of a wounded animal. He turned his eyes away from the motionless body of his best friend, his brother, not wanting to admit to himself just yet that James was no longer alive. In the settling silence of the house he cautiously drew his wand and rose back up to his feet. It didn't take long for him to search downstairs and acknowledge that except for James' lifeless body, there was nothing and no one else down there.
A quiet sound from upstairs – audible only thanks to his Animagus hearing – captured his attention. He climbed the stairs quickly and quietly, hoping against hope that he wouldn't find both his godson and the woman he had come to think of as a sister dead. He rounded the corner into Harry's bedroom, and very nearly lost the tenuous control he had marshalled over his emotions when he saw her lying on the floor. Her red hair spread around her head like a halo.
Lily Potter, neé Evans, was dead.
She lay prone on the floor, her hand flung out to the side where her wand lay snapped in two. Sirius blew out a harsh breath that hitched on a sob.
There beside her body lay a crumpled heap of black robes and a bone white wand. Sirius sucked in a shocked breath, were these You-Know-Who's and if so - was he dead? How? Surely that could only mean the worst; his precious godson was dead too. He fruitlessly tried to ready himself to see the tiny body of his godson, building up the walls he kept around his emotions, despite knowing that they'd come tumbling down as soon as he saw Harry. His pitiful train of thought was broken with just one sound.
"Pa'foo!" It was a joyful shriek and Sirius spun on his heel, nearly tripping over himself in his haste to confirm that his mind wasn't tricking him. There, standing in his cot, black hair messy and sticking up, sticky little hands grasping onto the edge and dried tear tracks on his face, was Harry Potter.
"Hey pup." Sirius' voice cracked, but he managed to summon up a relieved smile for his godson, "Come here." He reached into the cot and lifted Harry gently into his arms, making sure to angle him away from being able to see his mother or father as Sirius brought him out of the destroyed Potter cottage. He stopped only to collect some essential items he knew Harry would need. A thought occurred to him as they left and he turned and waved his wand in a complicated pattern, whispering a spell beneath his breath.
"Paft?"
"Yeah Mini-Prongs?" Sirius wrapped Harry – who was currently only dressed in snitch-covered pyjamas – in his thick cloak and cuddled him closer, trying to ward off the late autumn chill.
"Mum-mum. Da?" Harry patted a freed hand against Sirius' wet cheek, a look of confusion and childish worry in his bright green eyes. He quickly yanked his hand back from the wet of Sirius' tears and stared at Sirius in betrayal for having gotten his small hand wet. Sirius couldn't even conjure up a chuckle at his actions.
"They're not here right now, Harry. They've had to go away for a long time, so you're going to come with Padfoot for a while okay?" Sirius prayed to Merlin and Morgana that Harry would accept that explanation for now, and not cause a fuss. Harry wasn't so obliging. Though Sirius shouldn't be surprised, the boy was just a toddler after all.
"NO! I wan'! Wan' Da! No. MA! MA! DADADA!" Sirius let out a pained breath and held the squirming Harry closer as he stood in the front garden of the blown-out cottage. He threw up a muffliato and notice-me-not charm around himself and his young godson, not wanting to disturb the village any more than they'd already been disturbed.
"Harry, please. Mummy and daddy can't come back. I'm sorry." He choked back more of his own tears, not wanting to upset Harry any further, "I'm so sorry, Prongslet."
"Pa'foo! I no bad! Ma-ma and da' not want?" Harry's face had a surprising amount of anguish written across it as he worried himself into a fresh set of tears.
"Harry, son, look at me." Sirius waited until his godson did so, before putting a large gentle hand on Harry's cheek and taking a deep breath. "Your mummy and daddy love you more than anything, but a bad man has taken them away from us. I'm sad too, but I'm afraid that they can't come back. They had to leave this world." Sirius pressed a kiss to Harry's forehead, frowning to himself over the lightning bolt shaped cut he noticed marring his boy's skin. He made a mental note to check it over later.
"Oh." Harry's voice was small and quiet, and tears were still spilling out of his eyes and rolling down his plump cheeks, but he had at least calmed down from the screaming, "They come ba'?"
"I'm afraid not pup."
"No leave."
"No pup. Me and Moony are going to look after you. Okay?" Sirius certainly didn't admit to Harry that he wasn't sure whether Remus would even give him a chance to explain.
"Ok" Harry nodded his head, and though Sirius got the impression that he still didn't really understand that Lily and James were dead and gone, he knew that Harry at least understood some of it.
A sudden crack of apparition down the street made Sirius' eyes widen in horror. He was glad he'd already covered them both with the notice-me-not and muffliato, but he still performed a quick disillusionment charm over them.
The quiet spell he'd thought to turn around and perform earlier to charm a blanket in Harry's bedroom to look like Harry's body, just in case, felt like relief. He wasn't going to let his boy get chewed up and spat out by the heartless Wizarding World. If they believed that Harry had died, Sirius could raise him in peace without them, or Merlin forbid, Dumbledore interfering. He used to trust the older man, but everything that had happened in the last year had opened his eyes to the manipulations the man did as easy as breathing.
He performed the spells just in time, as Hagrid came lumbering around the corner, pink umbrella in hand. Sirius frowned in confusion, knowing Hagrid wasn't allowed to use magic, until Professor Dumbledore followed Hagrid around the corner, a serious expression on his face, though his eyes were still twinkling. Sirius watched in silence as Hagrid disappeared into the house, Dumbledore following behind him, the twinkle in his eyes fading as he saw the state of the cottage. Sirius waited for them to come back out so he could leave with Harry. He flinched when he heard Hagrid's howls of anguish in reaction to seeing James and Lily, and had to reign in his own sorrow for Harry's sake.
Sirius stood there impatiently, anxious to get himself and Harry away from the place where their lives had changed forever.
Hagrid came out of the blown-out door first, Dumbledore following after him. Both had grave looks on their faces and tears were streaming down Hagrid's face into his beard, he had the transfigured blanket cradled in his arms. Dumbledore put a consoling hand on Hagrid's forearm and, with a tense look around the street, apparated them both away.
Sirius quickly followed Dumbledore's example, apparating himself and Harry away from the hell that You-Know-Who had left, to his hideout cottage. He knew they couldn't stay there long; everyone thought he had been the Potter's secret-keeper, so in the absence of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to blame he knew he'd be the one everyone turned on.
11:45pm
Sirius Black's hideout - Gloucester
He placed Harry down on his bed, casting a spell to stop the young boy from being able to crawl off the edge.
With haste he practically flew around the small flat, waving his wand to gather everything he needed to take. He shoved it all hastily into his old Hogwarts trunk, it all only fitting thanks to a quick undetectable extension charm. His mind rushed as he tried to sort everything out, and he knew as soon as he got a chance to stop and think, everything that had happened in the last two hours would catch up with him.
He managed to gather everything in a matter of a few minutes, and was soon apparating himself and Harry to the house his uncle Alphard had left him in Brighton, knowing it was somewhere the Ministry, and Dumbledore, wouldn't think to check for a while.
He didn't bother doing anything more before he headed to bed except dropping the trunk in the hallway, and healing Harry's lightning bolt cut as best as he could. Anger and frustration welled in him when he realised it wouldn't heal properly. A product of it being caused by a dark curse, no doubt. He carried an exhausted Harry to bed with him, where they both soon fell into a fitful sleep.
1st November 1981
4:30am
Sirius Black's house – Brighton.
Sirius woke at the crack of dawn as the sun rose and started to shine a pale yellow through the east facing window of his bedroom. He cursed the exhaustion that meant he hadn't closed the curtains last night, and the sun shining painfully into his eyes as a result. It did nothing to help the stress induced headache currently throbbing just behind his eyes.
He sat up slowly, forcing his limbs - stiff with fatigue - to move as he pulled himself from the bed. The brief blissful moments where he'd forgotten the events that led to Harry sleeping in his bed last night were gone, and like a bucket of cold water thrown over his head, the night before came rushing back to him. He sucked in a sharp breath, which made his head throb worse, trying to control his emotions and remain calm for his godson. Said godson was still fast asleep on the bed, safe due to the charms Sirius had cast last night.
Sirius headed downstairs after casting (probably excessively too many) spells to alert him if anything happened to Harry. He threw together a quick breakfast with the food he'd taken from his hideout that he knew Harry would eat and, even though he couldn't stomach the thought of food right now, he forced himself to eat a dry piece of toast, and washed it down with a pain potion laced cup of hot, bitter coffee.
When Harry woke half an hour later, silent at first, but with a loud cry of anguish when no-one appeared straight away, Sirius had tidied the whole of the downstairs, trying to take his mind off Lily and James. He brought Harry downstairs, fed him breakfast and waited for the Daily Prophet that he'd ordered - under a different name just in case - to arrive.
Sirius spent the next few hours doing everything he could to amuse and distract Harry. He found, to his utter anguish, he had to explain four more times where mummy and daddy were. A sudden screech broke the silence of the drawing room where they were currently sitting whilst Sirius read Harry Babbity Rabbity. An owl alighted on the windowsill, a newspaper in its talons.
He rose from the seat, opened the window and, after paying the owl, he settled back in his seat with the Daily Prophet in hand. He swallowed hard, gathering his strength to look at the paper;
You-know-who defeated by Potter family!
Last night the cloud that has been hanging over the Wizarding world was dispelled. This morning this reporter discovered that the Potter family bravely gave their lives to defeat You-Know-Who. The family, comprising James Potter, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Lily Potter, neé Evans, his muggle-born wife and their young son Harry, all died in the horrific attack that destroyed their cottage in Godric's Hollow.
They had been hiding under a fidelius charm for the better part of a year, hidden by secret-keeper Sirius Black, says Professor Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, first class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Though the implication here is that Mr. Black betrayed his best friends to the Dark Lord, this reporter thinks differently.
There has been no sign of Black since the deaths of the Potters and when Aurors investigated his flat in London they found the place ransacked and blood belonging to Mr. Black spattered on the walls which suggests that Black was killed – an occurrence which would break the fidelius charm on the Potter's house.
Whilst this is all still unclear, without being able to find Mr. Black and evidence pointing to his innocence in the Potter deaths, the Ministry is holding off on any investigation.
There are reports that celebrations are planned across the Wizarding community as the Ministry makes mass arrests of Death Eaters. Whilst one thing is clear, the Potters have saved our community from more terror, many questions remain; what really happened to You-Know-Who? Where is Sirius Black? Did he betray the Potters to You-Know-Who?
Sirius sat back in his seat, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in, grateful that, though there were questions about what had happened, there was an acknowledgement that it was Voldemort's fault they were dead. He knew he'd have to find Peter as soon as possible to clear his name of any remaining doubts.
For now, though, Sirius left the Daily Prophet on the chair in the drawing room, gathered everything they'd brought with them, which had somehow ended up scattered around the house in mere hours, and grabbed Harry. He strapped Harry to his chest in the muggle holder he'd taken from the Potter house, and zipped his leather jacket up over the little boy.
He stepped out of the front door, already disillusioned, into the cold, grey drizzle of the first of November. With a quick glance around, he apparated himself and Harry to the front stoop of the Lupin's cottage in the middle of rural Norfolk.
1st November 1981
10:15am
Remus Lupin's cottage – Hempnall, Norfolk
He knocked anxiously on Remus' front door, his stomach twisting. His distrust of Remus had been mutual. The two had found themselves arguing and disagreeing more and more over the last few months, so he knew Remus would assume he had betrayed Lily and James as soon as he saw Sirius standing there alive. Sirius' Animagus hearing picked up the werewolf's light footsteps headed for the front door, and he swallowed the lump in his throat uneasily.
The battered front door swung open to reveal Remus Lupin, his wand in his hand. Sirius held up his hands placatingly, "I think I've made a mistake."