(Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own anything you recognize from the works of J.K. Rowling, whom I would worship if it wasn't for that pesky thing called the First Commandment... as it is, I'll just be haunting the bookstore in nine days...

Super-angst warning. This is going to be dark, mysterious, and sad. But it will have some happy and some funny in it, like all my stuff. So... here we go!)

Chapter 1: Things Like This Can't Happen

Halloween. A night of magic. A night of mystery.

Or, if your name happened to be Sirius Black, a night to go out on the town with three of your best friends.

"A toast," he proposed, holding up his glass. "To good friends and good times."

"Here, here," answered the rest of the company, and toasted this sentiment in sparkling pumpkin juice, the drink of choice for tonight. James had ordered the drinks, and winked at Sirius as he did, so Sirius didn't ask why they weren't having anything alcoholic or complain about it as he normally might. He trusted James. A man had to trust his partner, whether it was in the Auror program (one year to go, he reminded himself), in Quidditch, or in life.

He looked over at his wife, the diamonds in her ears and at her throat sparkling as she laughed at some quip of James'. It still staggered him that such a beautiful, talented, intelligent, and witty woman should have thrown away her life on him.

"Well, someone has to take care of you," she'd said, smiling at his shock when she said yes to his half-articulated proposal, which he'd made the night he left Hogwarts. She'd still had another year to go, and they and James and Lily made a date of it – they'd all be married the following summer. And they were, on two successive days, so that they could serve in one another's wedding parties.

And that was more than a year ago. I've been married for more than a year.

He rubbed the wide gold band on his left hand. It still shakes me up sometimes.

He wished their other four closest friends could be present, but Remus, smiling politely, had declared Halloween "Werewolves' Night Out, so we can go howling at the moon and remember it the next morning."

So he and his wife Danger, and Peter Pettigrew and his wife Evanie (the other half of the plural werewolves, she'd been bitten the summer before her fifth year at Hogwarts, Peter's seventh), were off somewhere else having a fine old time, and would probably come home in the morning only not hung over because they were still drunk...

But no. That's not Remus' idea of a good time. Peter might get drunk tonight, but Evanie'll take care of him. It's what she does best.

Sirius would know, intimately, how Remus and Danger felt in the morning. When the Lupins had returned from their honeymoon in July, Remus had returned to his apprenticeship at the Department of Mysteries, and the couple had moved into what had been, until then, Remus' bachelor digs – the other half of the duplex that Sirius and Aletha owned. Danger had soon taken over housekeeping and cooking duties for both couples, leaving Aletha free to pursue her Healer's apprenticeship.

Because we're going to need Healers. Very much.

Lord Voldemort, generally considered the Darkest wizard to arise in the past hundred years, was gaining strength with each passing day. His followers, the Death Eaters, committed atrocities wherever they pleased, and only rarely could Aurors arrive in time to arrest the perpetrators or save their victims.

But why am I thinking about nasty things like that tonight? Tonight is a time for fun. A time for enjoying ourselves.

Time enough to think about the war tomorrow.

He turned his attention back to the conversation at the table, which had turned into a regular game of "Do you remember".

"Do you remember how Remus and Danger finally got together?" Aletha was asking as Sirius tuned back in.

"Will I ever forget it?" James laughed. "I think I deserve some credit for that. My stupidity being what made it possible."

The stupidity James was referring to was his decision that he and Sirius, in their Animagus forms, could control not one but two werewolves, and his subsequent instruction to Peter to let them out of the Shrieking Shack.

"Everything was going so well," said Sirius. "We all made it into the Forest, and I remember thinking, 'There, we'll be fine now. No one's going to be out here in the middle of the night.'"

"And then Moony started sniffing around," James picked it back up. "And he took off running, obviously trailing something, and Selene followed him before we could stop her – and I was petrified that they'd found a human..."

"Which they had," said Sirius. "But we didn't know it yet."

"Because when we caught up with them, they were playing with something. Another animal. And when they stopped, we saw it was a wolf." James' eyes were far away, as if he were seeing the tableau of the three wolves again. "But this one was a true wolf, not a were. Straight tail, pointed snout, the whole bit. And female."

"I was so relieved that I didn't even think it was unusual when she walked right up to us and smacked each of us with her paw," Sirius recalled. "She sent Wormtail flying. And then she herded us all back to the Shack, growling and snapping if we tried to move out of line. I don't think it ever occurred to us that if we ganged up, we could take her."

"It wouldn't have been smart," said James. "We would have had to disable her, and that takes time, and Moony and Selene could have gotten away by then. So we just went where she told us to."

"We probably should have suspected when she shoved Peter under the Willow with her nose," said Sirius, chuckling. "But we were just too dense to figure it out. We went back in and stayed there the rest of the night."

"Moony whined a lot when she left," said James. "And he spent the rest of the night sitting at the end of the tunnel, looking out with the saddest eyes I've ever seen on him. He'd howl every now and then, but not a hunting howl – more like he was calling someone. We figured he just wanted her to come back so he had another friend."

Sirius nodded. "And then, when we got back to the common room that morning..."

"You thought you were home free," said Aletha with a grin. "And there was Danger, waiting for you."

"And she just tore you apart," said Lily. "Ranting on about how could you be so irresponsible, didn't you know how badly Remus and Evanie would take it if anything happened, it would have been all your fault if someone had gotten hurt or killed, on and on, and none of the three of you thought to ask the pertinent question until she was done."

"The pertinent question being, of course, how did she know it was us?" said James.

"Or, more accurately, how did she know about Moony?" supplemented Sirius.

"And when you finally did ask..." Aletha loved this story, Sirius knew.

"She looked at us as if we were insane and said, 'Well, isn't it obvious?'" Sirius imitated Danger's cutting tones. "'After all, you figured it out.'"

"And while you were all recovering from the mortal wounds to your egos..." prompted Lily once the laughter had died down.

"She took off," said James. "Out the portrait hole and gone. And she came back a couple of hours later – and she wasn't alone."

Sirius smiled at the memory. "I'd never seen Moony look like that. He'd barely smiled at all since his mum died over the summer, and here he was, beaming, and holding her hand, and acting like he'd protect her from anything."

"And then she saw fit to tell us that she'd been the wolf in the Forest, that she'd been studying to be an Animagus for two years, and that she thought we were all idiots." James looked thoughtful. "You know, if we'd really tried, we probably could have figured most of that out on our own."

"That was an exciting week," said Lily. "Because the next day was the day you saved Snape's life. Remember that?"

"Not willingly," said James with a grimace. "There are times I wish I'd let him fall, the slimy git."

Sirius winced. He had been livening up a dull Astronomy lesson by throwing wadded-up bits of parchment at Snape. He certainly wouldn't have done it if he'd known how close Snape was to the edge of the tower. Nor if he'd known Snape would jump up to try to get away and lose his balance on the snow-wet stone. James had seen what was happening and pulled Snape to safety just in time.

But that's ancient history now. Nothing happened, everyone's all right, everyone's alive.

"So, what's the big secret you two are keeping from us?" Aletha asked James and Lily. "You've been giggling every time you look at each other."

"I haven't been giggling," protested James.

"Oh, yes, you have."

"No, I haven't."

"Yes, you have. But that doesn't matter. What is it?"

"Yeah, spill, Prongs," said Sirius. "What's up with the drinks?"

"Well..." James looked mysterious. "Let's just say there's a reason why one of us shouldn't have any alcohol for a while now."

Aletha gasped. "No."

Lily nodded, breaking into a huge smile. "Yes."

"Oh my Lord! When?"

"July."

"July?" said Sirius, totally confused. "July what?"

Everyone laughed.

"What am I missing here?"

"Do you want to tell him, or should I?" asked Aletha.

"We'll tell him," said James. "Darling?"

Lily looked appraisingly at Sirius. "Yes, I'd say you'll do for a godfather," she said.

"Godfather?" Suddenly, Sirius caught on. "You're – you're not..."

"Yes, I am." Lily's face was quietly beatific. "We're going to have a baby."

Sirius grinned. "Well, congratulations to both of you," he said, "and I have just one thing to say to you."

"What's that?" asked James.

"Better you than me."

"Well!" Aletha bridled in mock indignation. "I know one man who'll be sleeping on the couch tonight!"

"Oh, Letha, don't be that way. James didn't do anything that bad."

Everyone was laughing at this when a waiter came over to their table. "Mr. James Potter?" he said, offering a folded piece of parchment to James.

"Yes, that's me." James took it.

"And Mr. Sirius Black?" the waiter persisted, extending another one to him.

Sirius nodded and accepted it, looking it over. It was addressed to him in a blotchy, familiar handwriting, and he groaned mentally. Oh, bloody hell, not a summons tonight...

The contents were as terse as he'd come to expect from Alastor Moody.

Attack on restaurant in Bath. Several dead, several more missing. Come to Ministry right away.

"You been called in too?" asked James.

"Yeah. Sorry, ladies, but duty calls." Sirius got up and kissed Aletha goodbye. "See you at home, love."

"You take care of yourself," James told Lily, hugging her and caressing her stomach tenderly. "And our baby."

"Don't worry, James, I'll be fine. You just go save the world."

"Blast some Death Eaters for me," said Aletha, waving as the two men left. "Goodbye."

"So," said Sirius to James as they walked to the restaurant's public fireplace. "You're going to be a dad, huh?"

"Yep."

"You ready?"

"Nope."

They were at the Floo now, and James went first, taking the Floo powder he carried everywhere from his pocket and giving Sirius a pinch, then throwing in his own and calling out "The Ministry of Magic!"

Sirius followed him closely, and was soon brushing soot off his cloak in the Atrium, then trotting towards the lifts with James beside him. They took the lift to Level Two and were met by Alastor Moody and two or three other Aurors Sirius knew only by sight. "Good," grunted Moody. "Come on, you two, need to talk to you alone. Feather business."

Sirius stiffened, suddenly alert. "Feather business" was code for something involving the Order of the Phoenix. A glance at James showed his partner tensing up a bit as well.

Moody ushered them into his own office, shut the door, and tersely cast a series of spells to safeguard the room against spying. "Sit down, you two," he said, taking a seat behind his desk.

Sirius and James obediently sat, Sirius starting to get worried.

"We responded to the call too late, as usual. Death Eaters already gone, the owner of the restaurant – Muggleborn – dead, some of the waiters and customers too, Dark Mark over the place. But all the eyewitnesses insisted that the killing wasn't what they were really there for." Moody shuffled some parchments on his desk. "They wanted prisoners. And they got them. Four of them."

The bottom of Sirius' chest seemed to have vanished, his heart and stomach were falling through the floor. James' knuckles were white on the arms of his chair.

Aletha heard the Floo go off in her music room from where she was relaxing in the front room with a glass of wine. She got up to go greet Sirius.

"Well, since you seemed to be so opposed to the idea, I checked just to be certain, and I'm not pregnant," she said flippantly, coming into the room. "But it is likely going to happen sometime, so you'd better get used to the..."

She stopped. Sirius was sitting on the couch, his face in his hands, his shoulders slumped in a way she had never seen before, not even when Gryffindor lost a Quidditch match or the Marauders got caught and disciplined for a prank.

"What's wrong?" she asked, kneeling in front of him. "Sirius, come on, what is it?"

He lifted his head and looked at her. Aletha stared. His eyes were bleak as a cloudy day, and brimming with tears. Sirius never cried.

"Tell me what's wrong," she said gently, putting her hand on his arm.

"Come – sit–" Awkwardly, Sirius pulled her up to the couch beside him, holding her against him a little more tightly than was really comfortable, but she didn't protest or pull away.

"Tell me," she said again.

Sirius took a deep, shaky breath. "They're gone."

"Gone? Who? What do you mean?"

"Taken. Death Eaters took them."

Aletha's spine chilled. Injury was one thing, death another, but to be captured by people who enjoyed inflicting humiliation and pain, and who considered her and her friends subhuman, was the worst thing she could imagine happening. And Sirius had said "they", as in more than one.

"Who?" she asked again, dreading the answer. "How many?"

"Four." Sirius' voice was dead, toneless and so quiet she had to strain to hear it. "Peter and Evanie. And Remus and Danger."

The air in the room was suddenly heavier, pressing in on her, making her gasp for breath. She became aware that she was shaking her head. "No. No, it isn't possible. It isn't. It – things like this can't happen. They can't. Things like this can't happen to us."

She had known Danger most of her life. There had been jokes, when they were young, about them being joined at the hip. She had given Gertrude Granger the nickname that had stuck so well almost no one recalled her real one.

She'd always liked Remus better than the other boys. He wasn't as brash as James or Sirius, or as timid as Peter. Rather, he was quietly polite and deferent, while not hesitating to put forth his opinion if it was needed, and always willing to help a friend.

She'd watched Evanie, who had been a frumpy and shy girl in Danger's year, and Peter, who'd never put himself forward or stood up to James' or Sirius' bullying, transform each other from children into adults, and adults in love.

They couldn't, they just couldn't be gone.

"This – this is a joke, isn't it? This is one of your jokes. Well, it's not very funny. You shouldn't scare me like that." Her voice was gaining confidence, gaining momentum. She could make it be true, she could make it all one of Sirius' stupid jokes, and Remus and Danger would be home in the morning, Peter and Evanie coming over in the afternoon for tea, and everything would be all right...

"Aletha, you have no idea how much I wish this were a joke."

The sound of Sirius' voice, choked and thick with tears, shattered the illusion she'd been trying to build. The room was colder than it ought to be, she thought distantly, colder and darker, and it was shaking oddly, and becoming blurred...

Little Evanie, all grown up on her wedding day. Helping to dress her hair and arrange her bouquet. The look on Peter's face as he watched her come up the aisle, obviously the most beautiful, the only thing in his world. The toast he made to her at the reception – pure poetry, from the boy who could never put two words together without stammering...

Coming home, tired and worn, from a hard day at the hospital and finding dinner already prepared and Danger waiting with a cup of tea and a listening ear. Remus saying something in that polite way of his, so level that it took everyone a few seconds to recognize how improper and funny it was. Watching them dance together at their wedding, eyes locked and feet moving in unison, as if one mind moved them instead of two...

She didn't remember when she'd started crying. Perhaps she had never started, but had always been crying. This kind of pain certainly seemed to make that possible.

They'll hurt them. They'll hurt them and make the others watch. Or they'll use Imperius and make them hurt the others themselves...

It was worse, being a Healer-trainee. She saw pain and suffering every day. She knew pain intimately, in all its forms, and she knew that the body's tolerance for pain – how much it could take before it shut down in self-defense – was infinitely, infinitely more than that of the mind and soul inhabiting the body.

And then the worst thing of all came to her.

Full moon is in four days.

She hadn't thought she could cry any harder.

She and Sirius held each other, both of them sobbing brokenly, wishing what she had never thought she'd wish.

I hope they're dead. I hope they were killed trying to escape, or found some way to end it themselves.

Because at this point, death was probably the best thing that could happen to them.

(A/N: No, I don't listen to you at all. I'm doing what the least number of people voted for! Well, not really. The least number, zero, voted for me to go on hiatus. And I don't want to do that. So I'm going to torture you all a little. Yes, I'll eventually write that fluff. I suppose. But this is what's sitting in my brain right now, begging to be written. So this is what gets written. And yes, it's a horrible thing to start right before I go on break for HBP... but that's me, your resident horrible... please remember to review! I need review love! Oh yes, and hugs to anyone who can tell me the origin of the title!)