Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(

Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!

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"Oh no you don't."

Recognizing the voice as that of his Godfather, Harry cursed himself silently in the darkness, realizing his mistake too late.

How stupid had he been to go running to the Weasley's?! Of course the marauders would look for him here! Fred was the only one of his friends they were aware of. It made perfect sense for them to try the Burrow before even attempting to look elsewhere.

"C'mon we'll get him outside."

Harry tried unsuccessfully to move his limbs and use his voice before being unceremoniously picked up and dragged from the room by Sirius and Remus, who for their part were attempting to keep quiet so as not to reawaken the family sleeping upstairs as they navigated the darkened house.

They were successful for the most part, and managed to find the front door with a minimum of fuss, only one teapot being broken before the awkward trio made it out into the overgrown yard.

Once they were there Remus flicked his wand at Harry "Finite Incantatem".

"Right," said Sirius, all business as Harry regained the use of his limbs, "you want to tell us exactly what you think you're doing running off like this?"

"You wouldn't understand," Harry hissed, suddenly feeling quite angry with Sirius. He understood that Sirius was upset, but really, what right did he have to question Harry in this way. Harry knew what he was doing. He knew leaving the castle had been the right thing to do.

Sirius's expression went cold, then developed into anger, "Oh no? I understand that you're running away. You have a chance to save . . . ."

"Padfoot," Remus interrupted with a hint of warning, "we've found him, let's just get back to Hogwarts."

"No Moony I have something to say," he turned to Harry and began to advance slowly upon the slighter boy, "you have a chance to save James's life." Harry felt the blood drain from his face as he stepped away from his young Godfather. "All you have to do is take it and James gets to live past the age of twenty but instead you're here. Hiding!"

"No," said Harry stupidly, trying to get his thoughts together. How he wanted James to live! "No it's not that simple."

"It is!" Sirius cried in frustration. His eyes were suddenly wild and Harry was reminded irresistibly of the first night they had met. The feral gaze Sirius had turned upon Wormtail. "It is that simple! How can you . . . .! He's your father! How can you just . . ."

"Padfoot shut up!" Remus hissed, glancing toward the Burrow with concern.

There was a light in the kitchen. Someone had woken.

…………………………………………………….

James emerged from the fireplace first, quietly stepping to the side as he did so.

He couldn't see, but listened carefully. Over the years he had learned the value of using senses other than sight, particularly as a stag roaming the forbidden forest. You had to be aware at all times that dark creatures could come at you from any direction and that required learning to trust your nose and ears as well as your eyes.

So did living in a dormitory with three teenaged boys and an invisibility cloak.

There was nothing but the creaking of floorboards.

Lily emerged moments later coughing quietly. James could tell she was trying desperately to keep a fit down. She must have breathed in a few ashes as she'd traveled. He quickly turned to her and cast a silencing charm.

As he couldn't see her and could no longer hear her, he had the odd fleeting impression that he had somehow managed to vanish her with his impulsive charmwork.

He reached out and touched her shoulder to reassure himself that she was still there. Her body was being wracked with coughs, her shoulder shaking under his touch.

Suddenly worried, he threw caution to the wind and lit his wand.

Lily's face was red and she had one hand over her mouth, coughing violently.

James's heart went into his throat, "Are you alright?" he whispered, leading her over to the unmade bed by the fireplace and feeling a sudden urge to pound her on the back in case she was choking.

She sank into the bed and signaled with her free hand that she was alright. Eventually the fit subsided and James removed the charm.

"Thanks," she said. "Do you mind if I sit for a moment? Then we can have a look around."

"Right," he said, moving to sit by her. But before he had completed the move he heard shouting coming from outside.

"Is that….." Lily started.

"Sirius," James confirmed.

"Go," she said, giving him a little push.

"You'll be alright?"

"Yes! Just go. Find out what's wrong."

He quickly fled the room.

…………………………………………………………

"Run!" Remus cried.

The trio ran for the encroaching woods, thankfully hidden from sight before whoever had woken decided to look for them outside.

Remus scanned the yard to be sure no one had come out to search for them.

It was because of this that it took him a few moments to realize Sirius had pushed Harry up against a tree and the two appeared to be having some sort of silent battle of wills.

"Sirius!" Remus cried, rushing over to break it up. "Sirius stop!"

But Sirius didn't budge.

"You'll be responsible," he whispered harshly, "if you don't tell me how to stop it you'll be responsible for James's…"

"Shut up!" Harry screamed suddenly, seeming to lose control completely. He started thrashing within Sirius's grip "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Sirius backed off, but his gaze stayed on Harry, no less intense than a moment before.

"Tell me," he said softly.

"Tell you what?!" Harry shrieked, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Harry you don't have to tell," Remus interjected with what he hoped was a professorly tone. Sirius had gone to far.

Harry ignored him, "Tell you what?!" he shrieked again staring directly at Sirius. "Tell you how they died?! That they were murdered by Voldemort! That they were betrayed by one of their best friends?! That I hear them screaming every time a dementor comes near me!"

"They?" whispered Remus. "So it's not just James it's . . ."

"If you want them back Harry tell us how to save them, you have the power," said Sirius, his voice shaking with fury, "Don't stand there screaming at me when you know you can change it!"

Harry didn't appear to have heard, "What else do you want to know? That you were blamed for their deaths and spent twelve years in Azkaban?! Or maybe you'd like to hear that Peter is a murderer. That he's a servant of Voldemort and did this to me?!" - he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a nasty looking scar running down his forearm.

Remus winced.

Sirius just stared in shock.

"Or best of all, maybe you'd like to hear that we can't do a thing to change it because they died protecting me. They died trying to save me! Voldemort wanted to kill me and there's no way they would have just let him in! They died . . " - he faltered - "they died because they loved me and because of that Voldemort couldn't hurt me. He just did this!" Harry pulled his fringe up to allow them a good view of the distinctive scar. "Then he disappeared. For thirteen years he had to go into hiding because the killing curse backfired on him! Imagine how many people he could've killed in thirteen years! I can't live with that! Not even if it means . . . . . .Dad!"

Remus whirled around to see James standing not three feet from him, pale and swaying, his lit wand limp at his side. He looked as if he would be sick.

"James, how much of that did you . . .?" Remus trailed off realizing that James was not hearing him. He was just staring at Harry

Harry stared back, struck dumb with horror.

Sirius flicked his gaze from one to the other, frozen on the spot and shaking. With anger or horror, Remus couldn't tell.

Then James closed the gap between himself and his son and flung himself upon Harry's thin frame.

Harry gasped as James knocked him back a step with the force of the embrace and began to whisper "I'm sorry," over and over again.

As Remus watched the two boys gripped each other so tightly Remus was sure they were bruising one another. Then slowly they sank to the ground, both shaking with tears as they awkwardly fell onto their knees, neither able to support the other. The night was quiet but for the sobs of the two young men, the fate of a world resting upon their shoulders.

…………………………………………..

A/N

Wow! That chapter's been sitting in my head ever since I began to write this fic. It's half the reason I started writing it in the first place (the other half being the Fred/Sirius angst at the beginning.) So what did you guys think?

As always thanks to ALL the reviewers. I'm very grateful for all the feedback and glad you were all happy that I FINALLY came back! J

Okay, I'm just going to reply to a few people who asked questions this time around. I have read all the reviews, so if I don't reply to you, don't worry, I took in all the feedback, yours included.

Silvercrystal77 - Fred's still in Gryffindor tower, fast asleep. I'll get back to him in the next chapter.

Chainsofblame - Oh! We have a new contender for middle earth! Thankyou very much for that whopper of a review! You also picked out a lot of my own favorite moments to comment on, so thankyou for that too. Johnny Depp is brilliant!

This Parrot has Ceased to be - Sorry to fail in the role most lazy updater J. Thanks as always for the kind review!

Templa Otmena - I just realized that I frequently misspell your name. For this I am very sorry. Hoped you liked the people congregating. I always love a good Lily/James fic. I think they're adorable.

Tariq - There's a slight possibility that Hermione and Ron will make a bit of an appearance later on, but it will probably be in a kind of cameo role, as the rest of this fic will be devoted pretty much to Fred, James and Sirius.

Jeanne 2 - Yay, someone liked Bill and Charlie! I thought I'd get more of a response on them after the earlier debate on how old they should be in this era.

Magic Crystal Rose - The beauty of amnesia is that you don't have to explain where you got it from because you don't remember.

Mordred - I had mixed feeling about the amnesia myself so I'll take that critisism. I love L/J stories. So I'm glad people seem to be responding well to this one.

Alana - Yep Sirius went to the Burrow.

Musicgirl141 - Yep Harry was at the Burrow. Sirius and Remus followed him there, arriving just at the moment Harry chose to run away. That's when Sirius froze Harry.

Before I sign out for the chapter can I just say that the new Spiderman movie rocks. Tobey Macguire plays Peter Parker in such an adorable way!

Okay, done now.

Cheers guys,

Whiskey.