A/N: I'm back! Yay for long weekends! Okay, well I've officially gone over the remaining chapters and it's not long now! I want to thank all of you for waiting and especially those who have reviewed! Trust me, I will be thanking you all personally once the last chapter is updated. This was a very tough chapter to write and to check for grammatical errors. Every time I read this chapter, I feel like crumbling inside, so I'm warning you now: YOU…WILL…NEED…TISSUES…!!!!!
Tiny sidenote: Things have been…difficult lately and I just want to take a moment to reflect. Someone once told me to write with my heart, listen with my heart, and respond with my heart. She made me want to be different and she and I together became one person. This chapter is dedicated to the one person who was always there for me. That one person who knew me inside and out and could read my mind. Someone who I will never forget. I hate that I didn't realize just how much I care for you in time. Sometimes, things happen too late but that doesn't mean that I don't love you. You know who you are and I'll miss you like crazy. I just know that everything will be okay because I know you're watching over me and I know who my best friend will always be. I love you always and forever…
Disclaimer: You know how this goes.
MEMORIESCHAPTER 37: Third Time's a CHARM
Written by ByeByeBirdie
Peter creaked open the door and let out a long, drawled-out sigh.
"Remus," Peter said breathlessly.
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"So basically someone is out to get you and you need to go into hiding with this Fidelius Charm that Dumbledore told you about?" Remus summed up.
"It sucks, but yes; that's life," Lily agreed, sighing nervously.
"That's not life. That's prison!" Remus said angrily. "This isn't fair to you…or to us!"
They all nodded in agreement. "I know," James said. "But there's nothing we can do about it. This is for our own good and for our own protection. We need to do this."
Remus sighed. "Who have you chosen to be your Secret-Keeper?"
They all hesitated as an awkward silence filled the air. Peter looked at Lily, who looked at James, who looked at Sirius, who was looking down at the ground, waiting for someone to break the silence.
Sirius looked up after realizing no one was willing to lie. He sighed and started straight at Remus. "Me. They're using me," Sirius said shakily.
Lily and James turned away quickly and Peter looked at Sirius, who was in direct eye contact with Remus.
Remus nodded. "I figured as much."
He just didn't figured that Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter were all sitting on the couches with a heavy feeling of guilt on their minds weighing them down with anything but contentment.
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Remus left about twenty minutes later with Landon.
Lily sighed as she watched him close the door behind him and apparate home. "We should've told him that we know he didn't go into work for the past two months."
James shook his head. "I thought about it…but I didn't want to worry him even more."
"But he would've told us why he's been leaving for long periods of time," Sirius pointed out.
"Would we have listened? Would we have believed him?"
Lily and Sirius paused and Peter sighed. "Probably not," Peter replied hesitantly.
"Exactly," James agreed.
"I still feel guilty," Lily mumbled.
James squeezed her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead. "I know, sweetheart. We all do.
Sirius couldn't help but get a huge surge of resentment, watching the love that James and Lily had for each other and not being able to share that with Savannah. He swallowed hard and knew that Voldemort was going to be forced to pay.
James sighed and said somberly, "So, all there's left to do is go to Dumbledore."
"Call me as soon as everything's over and you're settled in," Sirius said firmly.
"It shouldn't take long…an hour at the most," Peter said wisely.
Sirius nodded. "Okay, but I better hear the phone ring sooner or later."
"We'll call you, Si," Lily said firmly.
"No doubt about that," James muttered.
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After they left, Sirius apparated to his house.
If you ask him what he did for the next hour, he could not tell you. All he could think of was James and Lily and Harry and Peter. Everything he ever lived for was in trouble and he couldn't' do anything about it. It was one of the worst feelings he's ever had filled inside of him. There are no other words for it. The only thing Sirius could do was stand off to the side and pray for their safety…
Sirius glanced up at the clock and saw that it was three o'clock and he sighed. Three and a half hours had past since the Potters and Peter had gone to see Dumbledore and still no one had tried to contact him about anything. Is it that hard to pick up a phone!? Sirius thought furiously.
After an hour of sitting in front of the television watching some nonsense show, Sirius glanced up at the clock again and grumbled under his breath. Why haven't they called me…?
After another hour of ineffectual aimlessness, Sirius couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed his jacket and practically flew out the door. He raced to his motorcycle, but stopped abruptly moments before he took off. He looked up at the far-left window and sighed, suddenly remembering Elizabeth was still sound asleep inside, still taking a nap. He ran back inside and picked up the phone about to call Remus. He dialed the first five numbers, before slamming it down, realizing Remus didn't know that James and Lily used Peter.
Sirius was getting frustrated. He needed to get to Peter to see how things settled in and to make sure everything and everyone was okay. Standing around waiting for nothing was doing him no good at all.
"Rosmerta? Hi, I need you to do me a favor…"
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Knock, knock.
Sirius waited a few seconds before pounding on the door again. A shiver ran down his spine at the sound of the hollow, loud banging on the door. He banged on the door with his fist a third time and looked over in the window hastily. Where are you, Peter??
A gust of wind circled around Sirius and blew in the curtains from the half-open window. It was a chilly afternoon for an August day, and Sirius flipped up the collar of his jacket, waiting for Peter to answer the door…if he ever was.
Light drops of rain started to fall around him and he looked up into the sky. Dark clouds were hovering in the sky and Sirius knew it was going to be a stormy day.
Sirius peeked inside and saw that it was completely dark. There wasn't a single light on in the house, making Sirius a bit suspicious. Sirius sighed, and pounded on the door for the fourth time, praying that Peter would answer the door…
No such luck.
Sirius let out a long, drawled-out sigh that hung in the misty air with awkwardness. He knew that Peter should have been home by now. Even Peter said it wouldn't take more than an hour. And nothing could have gone wrong unless they didn't know the proper procedures and they had Dumbledore as their teacher…so Sirius knew it would have happened correctly and efficiently.
So, where's Peter??
He wouldn't have gone anywhere except where he was needed—home. Unless…
No…oh, no, no, no……!!
It couldn't be!!!
…could it??
Sirius knew what the answer to that question was immediately after he thought about it.
And now he knew exactly what to do and where to go…it was a matter of how much time he had.
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A thick cloud of a mixture of green and gray hung stingily in the musty air and Sirius stared at it wide-eyed, still with one leg wrapped around his motorcycle.
Sirius grazed his eyes even higher up into the air and noticed the Dark Mark………
Sirius didn't know what to think…or what to believe at this point. It was too late…that was the only thing running through Sirius' mind. That…and the fact that it was all his fault.
Sirius stood there in shock. He didn't think it could ever happen, but here he was standing in front of his two best friends' house…without them inside. The past month had been dreadful, and this completely topped it.
They were supposed to be safe!! Sirius thought angrily. Once I get my hands on Peter…
Sirius gritted his teeth and clenched his fists together so tightly that he cut off all blood circulation to them. Flames were literally pouring out of his ears…out of his eyes…out of every possible hole in his body.
Yes, the last few of his friends were dead, and that was a reason to be upset…
But another one of his friends had killed them…and it was his fault. If only Sirius had agreed to James' and Lily's wishes, but he backed off too scared and too afraid of death and Voldemort.
Sirius threw the motorcycle to the ground recklessly, and slowly walked up to the house and saw that the front door was already wide open. It was raining harder now and Sirius was dripping wet while Sirius trampled through the thick cloud of smoke. A big puddle of water fell to the ground once he entered the house as a wave of cold and dampness filled the air.
He stood in the middle of it all as the tears slowly poured out. In the corner of the room, there stood James. His eyes were open and his wand was in his right hand tightly. One hand was thrown over his head and another was slung out to the side. His legs were crisscrossed, and he was on his side, facing Sirius. His eyes were like glass and his face was already as white as a ghost. A flash of neon-green light was floating over his head waving back and forth as if it were gloating about the fact that it caused the death. As he glanced at James to get another look, he suddenly realized the look on his face…the same look on his mother's face when she was killed. Sirius turned his head away, not wanting to think about it.
Sirius half-expected James to get up a few seconds later and point and laugh at Sirius, yelling 'Just Kidding! I got you, hahaha!'
Actually, Sirius was just wishing for that.
But nothing happened.
A few seconds later, Sirius walked over to James and put his hand on his shoulder to steady himself and to take a better look at the best friend he's always known. But one closer look at the strained expression on James' face, made Sirius back off in fear. "I-I'm so sorry," Sirius whispered. Sirius dropped to his knees and buried his face into James' jacket, wrapped around James' body tightly.
Sirius remembered Lily urging James to buy a new jacket, for the one he had was too small for him, and besides that, but it was torn and rugged. Like he was wearing it during a dust storm or something.
Sirius choked as he remembered Lily and James together, as well. He knew it was dumb to break out and cry at the thought of a jacket but the memory was the thing that was important. Memories…that's all he had left now.
A few seconds later, after James' jacket was covered in soaking tears, a loud booming sound was heard from upstairs.
Sirius jerked his head in that direction. Is he still here???
Sirius slowly and cautiously drifted up the stairs with his wand in his hand. But whom he saw was one person he never thought he'd see in the Potter household.
"Hagrid?" Sirius expressed his surprise.
"Oh, Sirius!" Hagrid sobbed. "It's horrible! Absolutely horrendous! I never thought it could happen to them…look how sweet and innocent she looks!!" he cried glancing over at the slumped body of Lily in the corner of the room. Her front side was against the wall so they only saw the back of Lily, but it was still enough to make Sirius' eyes well up with blurry tears.
Sirius let Hagrid lean on him for support, but the only thing Sirius could think of was the fact that his best friends were dead, and he was to blame. He could only stare at the motionless body of Lily hunched in the corner, practically hugging the side of the wall. Everything that he's ever loved, was now dead. First his chance of family, then his opportunity to live a life with his best friends.
Sirius heard a strangled cry behind him and whipped around towards the door, but he didn't see anything at all. Hagrid wiped his moist face to make it arid and turned to where Sirius was staring.
"There he is…" Hagrid said, with a bit of pride shown.
"Who?" Sirius cried, wondering what Hagrid was talking about.
"Harry…"
Sirius opened his mouth in painand looked up at Hagrid with a confused look on his face, feeling the hot tears stinging his eyes.
"Dumbledore found out immediately and sent me here as soon as he could with a mission in his mind. I just apparated here a few moments ago……"
"What are you talking about, Hagrid? What did Dumbledore find out? What mission? Why are you here?"
Hagrid turned to Sirius in surprise. "You mean…you don't know?"
Sirius looked up at the shocked face of Hagrid, obvious bewilderment gleaming in Hagrid's misty eyes. "What's going on?"
Hagrid walked over to the crib and picked up a bundle of blankets.
Inside was a wide-eyed and confused Harry Potter.
Still alive.
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"You finally did it and Master is not even here to acknowledge it. Where has he gone? He should be here!! We've finally done something right to prove to him we're now useless and he's run off somewhere!"
"Massssster hasssss run off," he whispered hoarsely. "Hissss power hassss been drained."
"Damn those Potters," a gruff, raspy voice seethed.
"We'll get them…" another one of Voldemort's death-eaters hissed slowly.
"He'll call us once again."
"We'll be there."
"He's our Master. When he needs us, the time will come for us to join up once again."
"And we'll be there, waiting for hisssss next tassssssk," Wormtail finished. "Until next time…"
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A/N: Oh…my…God……..…….oh…my…God…I can't believe I actually just went through with that. I just killed off the last of the characters. I just ended the lives of my two favorite characters. Wow, I didn't realize how upsetting this would be……………….Review please.
