The Day the Lights Went Out
Author's Note: This is kind of like my other fic, "The Day the World Shattered." Pretty much the same thing, but at Sirius's POV.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series. And I don't wish to infringe on any of the rights of JKR, the publishers, or anyone else involved with the book.
Chapter One: Promise Me...
"So we've decided, then?" I asked James. I really hoped that he would agree to this. James bit his lip and sighed.
"Yes, Peter will do it instead," James muttered. I looked at him. He had a tired looking on his face. James, tred? In the seven years we had been at Hogwarts, I had never seen James with that expression on his face.
"You okay, buddy?" I asked him. He looked up at me.
"Do you think this is a good idea?"
"James, we've gone through it a thousand times already. No one will ever suspect Peter."
James looked at the ground, defeated. The atmosphere around us had changed. The Leaky Cauldron was once a place where people would be coming and going. Sounds of laughter would fill the air. But not anymore. Times like these were dark.
"Don't worry, James. Peter will be over tomorrow night. Then you, Lily, and Harry will be perfectly safe." I assured him. The line on his forehead was apparent.
"Harry..." he said softly. "If anything happens to us, Sirius...."
"Don't worry, James. Nothing's going to happen to you."
"But if anything does happen to us... Promise me..." he said. What did he mean? I was confused, but he continued on.
"Promise me though, Sirius. Lily and I love Harry more than anything else in the world. If anything happens to us, please take care of him."
"It'll be alright though. You two will be fine."
"Promise me..." he pleaded. I looked at his eyes. There were tears in them. It was really important to James. This wasn't like the promise about letting James borrow my dress robes for his date with Lily. Or the promise about being there when he took his apparition test. James really needed to know that Harry would be looked after. I just smiled at him.
"I promise, James..."