Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the relating characters, except Mo.
HELLO! Wow I haven't updated this in MONTHS, literally. I can't believe I let this story go…omg I'm so bad and I'M SO SORRY! Well here goes and seeing as summer is only a few days away my stories should start back up again. Thanks and here ya go!
Chapter Eight
"He's affecting you directly," Dumbledore said and his eyes flashed. "I don't like it at all."
"Well what can we do about it?" Lily asked. "It's not like we can control it."
Dumbledore sighed, "I think I may have a solution but I don't think any of you are going to like it."
"Why not?" Sirius asked.
"Because it involves separating you," he replied and stood up to pace. He'd been restless for weeks now. The fatigue was beginning to show on his face and he couldn't seem to fight off the shadow that kept creeping into his heart.
Caroline shook her head in protest, "You can't separate us. It's what makes us strong. Apart we have power but together we're stronger. He can't hurt us when we're together."
Dumbledore paused to gaze out the window in his small office, "I think he's counting on all of you being together. He's planning his attack around the fact that you will be together. And these feelings of foreboding you all seem to be having only happen when you are all together. All eight of you including Harry."
Sirius frowned, "What do you mean by separating us?"
"Well you won't spend time together anymore," Dumbledore explained. "You will continue to be their Secret Keeper but you will only visit them twice a month and will only stay an hour. No longer. No one else will be allowed to see them, no one but the eight of us in this room will know where the Potter's new house will be and Caroline, Remus, Maureen, and Peter, you will not be allowed to see them at all after they have moved into the new house."
Silent tears had begun streaming down Lily's cheeks, "You can't take this away from us. Being together is what gives us strength. How can we fight him if we give him what he wants."
Dumbledore's eyes were sad now, "I know how you must be feeling Lily. But let me try this for a time. If things settle down again then maybe things can go back to the way they were but for now I am only trying to keep you safe. And as far as what he wants…we don't know what he wants."
"Sir," Sirius murmured and looked up. "Let someone else take the responsibility. I'm not the right person to be their Secret Keeper."
"What are you talking about?" James frowned at him. "Of course you are."
"No!" Sirius slammed a fist angrily on the arm of his chair. "Voldemort somehow found out where you were while I was your Secret Keeper. It's my fault and I don't want him to find you because of me."
"That is the fear talking for you right now Mr. Black," Dumbledore replied calmly. "Think about what you're saying. You know it was not your fault."
"How else could someone have found out?" Sirius asked and there was grief in his eyes. "I must have let something slip. It had to have been my fault."
"Sirius," Mo said softly. "No one blames you. We know you would never-"
"Do you?" Sirius ground his teeth as though he was in pain and perhaps he was. "No if I did it once it could happen again. They could die the second time around and I wouldn't be able to live with that."
"We know it wasn't you Sirius," Lily pleaded with him her green eyes spilling over with tears. "No one ever thought it was."
"There is no one we trust as much as you Padfoot," James added. "None of it was your fault, none of it."
Sirius shook his head. "I don't trust myself anymore. I can't do it."
"Do you want someone else to take the job?" Dumbledore asked quietly his eyes resting on the distraught figure in front of him. "If so, it must be someone in this room, except for Mo. With the baby coming it wouldn't be a good idea."
"And I can't do it," Remus answered and shrugged when they looked at him. "The werewolf thing."
"I-I can do it," Peter stepped from behind the chair he'd been leaning on. "That is if Lily and James agree."
James nodded and managed a grin, "You don't talk to enough people to let out our secret, I think you're our best option."
Lily sighed, "If Sirius really won't do it anymore, I suppose it would have to work."
With a final confirming glance at Sirius, Dumbledore nodded, "Sirius you will be witness this time and it will be up to you and Peter to find Lily and James a house. Sirius you will be sworn to secrecy, the charm can only be broken in the event of life threatening circumstances. You two will be the only ones who know. Peter you will tell no one, not even myself, do you understand?"
Peter nodded.
The wail of a baby echoed behind them as the three women stood braced together, no one could hurt them when they were together…they were invincible.
The cries grew louder and with a muffled sob the woman on the right tore away from her friends and ran to the raven-haired child whimpering on the floor.
"Shh, there now love," she cooed through tears. "No one will hurt you. I will die before that bastard lays a finger on you."
The two women left standing formed a protective shield in front of the child and his mother. Out of the shadows loomed a figure and with it a horrible laughter that chilled a person down to their very soul…
Mo sat up fully awake, her breathing hard and her body covered in a cold sweat. Oh god, she thought, the time was coming. Voldemort was readying himself, it wouldn't be long now till they found out just exactly what he had in store for them.
"I spoke with Sirius," James whispered climbing into bed next to his wife.
Lily turned with sad eyes to look at her husband, "Dumbledore told you not to and you know that it's dangerous."
"I made Sirius," he answered. "He wouldn't have done it otherwise, wouldn't have put our lives in danger."
She sighed and sat up her eyes lingering on her baby asleep in his crib across the room, "Well what did you find out?"
"They're having dreams, nightmares really," he told her taking her hand. "Just like yours."
"Oh god," Lily let out a small gasp. "All of them?"
"Just Mo and Caroline," he looked steadily at her. "The women with children and someone they love at risk of being killed."
"What are you talking about? Caro doesn't have…" Lily's eyes grew big. "She's pregnant. Oh my god, that day Mo was talking about the prophecy Caroline asked us if we thought Remus would want kids. We told her not to worry about it but she knew. I feel awful. How far along is she?"
"About five or six months," he answered quietly. "And Remus doesn't know."
Lily closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath, "She's known for so long and didn't tell anyone. Is she going to tell him?"
"No," James sighed. "Dumbledore sent him off. He's doing work for the Ministry in Ireland investigating sightings of Deatheaters they think may be involved with Voldemort."
"When will he be back?"
"Not for another month at least," he sighed.
"What about Mo, is she alright? Is everyone alright?"
"Everyone is fine. Mo is due in October and she's having a girl," James paused as if in thought and a small smile lit his face. "Sirius bought a motorcycle…that flies."
Lily's jaw dropped and she broke into the first real laughter that had filled the house for weeks, "I don't know what we're going to do with him…"
Somewhere not to far away a rat disappeared from a dark chamber lit by glowing red lights. The hiss of a snake reverberated in the dark after it and a killer planned his next move. He needed to smell the scent of blood and fear in the wind and soon…
Well is it still as good as you all remembered? I'm really sorry that I've let these get away from me but I'm always so busy and I've been somewhat uninspired but oh well! Hope you liked it! And watch out for upcoming chapters and NEW STORIES!
all my love
Katie
