A/N: A repost of chapter 1 with a massive thanks to Ambush99 for her fantastic betaing skills.

The Secret Keeper

Chapter 1

31st October 1994

The 31st October. Halloween. A day of celebration both in the muggle and wizarding worlds. But in the large cottage, with roses tracing up the old stone walls in Godric's Hollow, it was not the case. Sure, they celebrated it for the sake of their fourteen year old son, Harry. But it always felt forced; as the day marked the disappearance of two of his greatest friends, one of whom he considered his brother. He had never believed any of the vicious rumours and theories. He knew his brother; he knew Sirius would never do that.

Black. A name people associated with darks wizards, death eaters in more recent times. A fact people were basing their bullshit theories on. That Sirius Black was a death eater and that was his way to betray Lily, Harry and himself, but Peter Pettigrew had prevented it at the cost of his own life. He pondered if anyone had been there when his friend had finally broken down about how wretched his life at home had been. How he was sure his family were going to serve him up to Lord Voldemort and he couldn't do it as it stood for every Sirius had stood against. How his friend was prepared to run away and live his life as muggle.

Flashback

"Padfoot, mate you haven't packed anything. You do realise the train leaves tomorrow first thing," James said playfully as he observed the state of his friend's bed and surrounding area.

Sirius stood, distracted, his head resting against the window. "It doesn't matter mate," he said softly. "I'm not coming back."

"Nice one mate. I know you hate packing, but it's not that bad."

Sirius shook his head sadly. He wished that, like his friend, packing was the most of his concerns. "I know, but I'm still not coming back. I wish I could but I can't."

"I thought Hogwarts was your escape."

"It was. God I'm going to miss this place. I'm going to miss the Marauders. I'm going to miss Quidditch. I'm going to miss." He stopped and rubbed his face for a moment. "I'm going to miss magic."

"Sirius what the hell is going on!? I know you hate your family but you'll be seventeen in November. You've hung on this long; you can survive a bit longer. You will obviously be staying at mine for some of it. It'll be September before you know it."

"I won't make it to September. I'm going to run away before the Hogwarts express. I'm, I've got to live as a muggle, they won't look for me there. I've saved some money, not a lot, but enough. Fuck, what I don't have, I can buy it." He sunk down, his back against the wall, and rested his head on his knees.

"Padfoot, what the hell is going on? Surely it can't be that bad? What is so bad you have to exclude yourself? To go into hiding?"

"Lord Voldemort!"

"What?!"

"My family are going to offer me to his service," Sirius said dryly.

"And if you refuse?"

"They'll kill me," Sirius replied in a hollow voice.

James looked at his friend. "They've used unforgivables in the past haven't they?" He watched his friend look away. "Shit Sirius, I didn't know."

"No one did. You're the first person I've told. See why I have to do it now. I don't want be a death eater, it stands for everything I'm against. I would rather die than become one." He stopped and looked out of the window again. At the grounds that had brought him so much joy and freedom over the last five years. Grounds, friends he would never see again. "But I don't want to die," he finished in a broken almost childlike voice.

James sat down next to the sunken form. A person who he considered his brother. "You're not going to. Well not now anyway. You'll either die when you're ancient surrounded by your numerous grandchildren or we'll die side by side in combat against him. I know you'll never join him."

Sirius choked out a hollow laugh. "I love the sentiment but this is far more complicated than-"

"Working out how to turn animagi so we can help our friend with a 'furry problem' every full moon. I don't mean to trivialise your issue, but we've dealt with 'complicated' before. Plus, I need you mate. Don't get me wrong, Remus and Peter are great, but between the library and the fandom..." James broke off for a moment. "Who else am I going to blame everything on?"

"So, what's your wonderful plan?"

"You come and live with us."

End flashback

From there he had devised an elaborate plan. They would both travel in the muggle way and meet at Paddington a few days after the end of term. James would take all of Sirius' stuff in his trunk, and they'd take stuff from lost property to make up Sirius' trunk. They had met as agreed at Paddington. After he'd seen Sirius' battered but alive form he knew he'd made the right decision. And that is how, after all of these years, after all of the rumours spread, he knew his friend had been innocent. Shaking his head sadly, deep down he knew his brother was dead. He knew Sirius had paid the ultimate price as secret keeper and had died protecting them. What had happened to Peter he did not know, but he knew one thing for certain, Sirius Black did not betray them and he wasn't a death eater.

A knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts. He glanced at his watch. It was slightly late for trick or treaters but nothing too bad.

"I'll get it," James called out as he walked to the door. He swung the door open - he was not expecting the figure on the other side. Dark hair down past the elbows, matted with blood, dirt and God knows what else. The body was like a skeleton, broken and bruised skin pulled tightly over each bone. The face was covered in dried blood and dirt, the skin waxy with a greyish tinge. The eyes seemed to sink into their sockets, but they were unmistakable nonetheless.

"Sirius!" James exclaimed as he caught the falling figure. "Sirius! Padfoot, oh Merlin. Sirius mate."