James was lying in bed when he heard a commotion downstairs. He could hear his mom and some other people talking downstairs, but couldn't make out what they were saying. He got out of bed and snuck part of the way downstairs to try and listen to what they were talking about.

"Charles please bring me my bag."

James could now see part of the living room. His mother was standing over a girl who didn't look like she was awake. There were two adults that James didn't recognize standing around and a boy who looked to be a couple of years older than him next to the girl.

"James I know your watching. Come down here."

James obeyed and walked into the room. No one seemed to really acknowledge him as he walked closer to his mother. He could see now that the girl was bleeding heavily and he breaths were coming in ragged and short.

"Is there anything you can do Nora?" The boy asked taking the girls hand.

"I think she's going to be alright Derek. I just need you to try and remember everything you father did to her."

James father came back in with his mother's bag of healing supplies and she set to work immediately. She started to clean out the girl's wounds and rub various salves on them as she listen to Derek describe the different curses that had been inflicted on the girl. His mother then began to do a series of magical tests before she finally gave the girl a potion.

"Derek, where are we?" She asked as her eyes fluttered open.

"Shh Remy, it's alright. We are at the Potter's in England. Everything is going to be okay now."

The two embraced and cried. Nora left a few potions for Derek to take because he too looked injured and ushered everyone else down the hall into the study.

"Thank you Nora for taking care of this. We felt it was only fair that we brought the girl here because you are her godparents. We weren't able to save Abigail and Neil had already taken his own life before we arrived. If you need anything just let us know." With that the two men apporated away and left James stunned staring at his parents.

"Mum who is that girl? What's going on?"

"Go wake up Sirius and we'll explain everything to both of you."

James went upstairs to retrieve his best mate who was not at all pleased with being woken up in the middle of the night. They exchanged a look that made Sirius realize something terrible must have happened, so he got out of bed without further complaint. The two walked downstairs in silence until they reached the study.

"Okay Mum, can you please explain to me what just happened?"

"Both you should sit down, this is going to be a minute." Charles instructed.

"Sirius the reason I had James wake you was so we only had to do this once. There are two young people in our living room right now that have suffered great trauma. Their father murdered their mother, and attempted to torture both of them to death as well, before he took his own life. Their names are Derek and Remy Banks. They are Americans, but their mother was British. I knew Abigail her whole life and thought of her as a little sister. Her family lived next door to mine growing up and our parents were good friends. She was much younger than me, but we were both only children, which made us close. She moved to America shortly after she finished Hogwarts and met her husband Neil there. He was always a very damaged man and was abusive to both her and their children. Abigail always thought she could fix him, but some people just can't be helped. Derek is 20 and has already finished school, so he will likely only stay here for a little while, but Remy is your age and will be given the option to stay here and attend Hogwarts with you boys in a few weeks."

"I know this is a lot to take in lads, but your mother and I thought it was best if we did this now. Please give the Banks children any support you can. I know this may seem very familiar to you Sirius and we don't want to pressure you if you are not ready."

The boys both nodded, but didn't say anything. James kept looking over at Sirius, but he wouldn't meet his eyes. They all sat in silence for a while before Sirius got up and left without saying anything. James followed him up onto the Potter's roof where Sirius was lighting a cigarette.

"You alright?" James asked after a long silence.

"It's just so fucked. I know my parents are shit, but I just hate to think about how many other kids had to grow up like me or worse. It makes it hard to believe that anything we do is changing anything."

"At least they got away too."

"Yeah, I guess that's good."

The boys stayed up on the roof staring off into the night for a while. James kept looking at his best friend wondering what he could say to make this better. Sirius always just shut down when things got to be too much for him and James didn't want to see this happen now.

"Let's just go back to bed. We can try and talk to them in the morning."

James nodded in agreement and the two went quietly back inside.

Sirius didn't remember falling asleep, but it was the screaming that woke him. For once, Sirius realized, it wasn't his own voice, but a girl's. He got out of bed, wand in hand, and ran down the corridor to the room the source of the noise. He threw open one of the guest bedroom doors to find a girl flailing about in her sleep. Sirius hesitated for a second, unsure if he should really be in here. He sighed deciding the damage was already done and tried to wake the girl. She lunged at him clawing at his face before she became all the way awake.

"Oh God, I'm sorry," she said seeing the scratches she had inflicted on the boy.

"It's alright, I thought someone might be hurting you when I heard you scream. I'll leave you to sleep."

"I was just a dream. Have you seen my brother?"

"No, but I can get him for you if you want."

"It's alright, he probably left already anyway. Would you mind checking to see if there is a letter on the desk?"

Sirius looked around and found a envelope that just said Rems on the front. He brought it over to her and stood awkwardly while she read. He turned to try and leave when he heard he mumble something.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing, he just has never been good with the kindness of strangers. He left in the middle of the night so he wouldn't have to explain himself. He went to go looking for work so he could support us."

"So you won't be staying?"

"No, he wants me to stay here for now. There are only a few weeks before school starts anyway. Hopefully he'll have found a good place for us by the time Christmas comes around."

"The Potter's won't mind if you stay for a while. They're good people."

"You're not there son?"

"No, that's James. I'm Sirius I've been living here since my parents kicked me out at the beginning of the summer."

"Oh, I didn't know."

"It's alright, why don't I leave so you can get back to sleep."

"Yeah, thank you."

"No problem."

"And Sirius, thanks for waking me up. Do the nightmares get better?"

"I'll let you know when mine stop."

With that Sirius closed the door and walked back to his own bed. It looked like they would make quite a large group journeying to King's Cross this year.