AN: For some reason I have this vision of Sirius singing "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin that I can't get out of my brain. My sister asked me what song to make Sirius sing and I immediately answered Black Dog! Now will it be redundant if I use it again?

Harry and Lupin were now in a much happier setting. People were laughing and cheering from circular tables in a beautiful well-lit hall. Everyone's attention was focused at the table in the center of the hall, where a young Sirius was holding his glass aloft. Seated around him were two older couples Harry didn't recognize and--his Aunt Petunia?! There was a shiny pink dress, which looked almost like a robe on her bony frame, and she had an extremely disgruntled look on her face. Harry smirked. Aunt Petunia wearing a wizarding dress robe was priceless. She gave a halfhearted twitching motion with her glass as Sirius finished and chugged down her drink in one gulp.

"What is this stuff?" she demanded, shoving the empty glass across the table as if it had formerly contained poison.

"It's called 'FireWhiskey'," said the woman next to her kindly. "James's father bought it." The man across the table nodded his head politely and she smiled warmly back at him. Harry barely noticed for shock when he recognized the woman sitting next to her. It was his mother. He had seen her before, but today she looked different somehow. She was wearing a beautiful silky white gown which hugged her slender frame. Her red hair cascaded through a shimmering white veil atop her head.

"You look beautiful," he whispered in her ear.

"You say that every day," she responded, smiling.

"Yes, but do you ever get tired of hearing it?" he said mischievously.

"Not today." James leaned over and kissed her cheek affectionately. Harry's attention now shifted towards the two older couples at the table. He vaguely recognized them from the Mirror of Erised. Both sets of parents were beaming, but Petunia looked extremely sour. Harry was surprised. He didn't really expect to see his grandparents in Sirius's memories.

"This is poison, isn't it?" said Petunia shrilly, eyeing her empty glass.

"It's not poison, it's alcohol," explained Sirius, rolling his eyes. "You look like you could use some right about now." He shot Lily an exasperated look, as if to say, "Why is she sitting here?"

"It's freak alcohol, isn't it?" wailed Petunia.

"I like it!" said a man with bright green eyes. He smiled at James's father appreciatedly.

"Where is er—Van—Vernon?" asked James awkwardly, attempting to break the tension.

"You expect me to bring him here?" cried Petunia, horrified. "With—with all—"

"Karaoke!" yelled Sirius, standing up suddenly.

"What's Kar--ee--okayeey?" asked James, confused.

"You told me to organize some entertainment!" said Sirius. He waved his wand and a microphone appeared in his hand. Petunia shrieked and nearly toppled out of her chair. She was clutching her chest and breathing heavily.

"I was just trying to get you to go away," admitted Lily.

"Who wants to go first?" asked Sirius cheerfully. Everyone stared at him blankly. "Right then, I will!" He downed a few more shots of Fire Whiskey and ran up to the front of the hall. He put on a pair of sunglasses and cleared his throat.

"Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move! Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove! Ah, ah, child, way you shake that thing! Gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting! Hey, hey, baby, when you walk that way! Watch your honey drip, can't keep away! OH YEAH!!" Everyone on one side of the room stared at him as though he was quite insane. One the other side of the room, a few people laughed. Harry's jaw was hanging open.

"What is wrong with him, exactly?" asked Harry slowly.

"You have no idea how many times I've asked myself that same question," said Lupin fondly, shaking his head. They both stared quietly at their departed friend, who had now jumped on top of a table. He continued to dance around like a nut. Younger Lupin approached Harry's parents, smiling warmly.

"James and Lily, congratulations," he said majestically. "Thank you for inviting me!" James looked rather affronted.

"You're always welcome Moony!" said James insistently. Harry jumped slightly when a small balding man slithered up behind younger Lupin.

"Congratulations!" squeaked Pettigrew.

"Thank you, Peter," said Lily politely. Harry noticed both Lupins wincing as Sirius hit an unpleasantly high note.

"I gotta roll, can't stand still! Got a flamin' heart, can't get my fill! Eyes that shine burning red, dreams of you all through my head! AH AH AH!" Sirius finally stopped singing and jumped off the table. "Who wants to go next?"

No one volunteered.

"Tough crowd, eh?" said Sirius maliciously. "Wellll, I guess I could song a few more numbers" Immediately a few people jumped out of their seats and snatched the microphone off of Sirius. Sirius returned to his friends table, looking pleased with himself despite the awful noise of "singing" that now filled the hall.

&&&

They were at another Order meeting. The atmosphere seemed darker. The members of the Order looked more tired, uneasy, and worn down than the people he had seen in the last meeting. Sirius was conversing with Lily and James in low tones.

"So it's true, then," said Sirius, in a voice barely above a murmur. "Dumbledore thinks they're may be a spy within the Order."

"Yes," replied James darkly. "But whoâ₿"

"Who?" asked Lily. "I just—can't imagine anyone in this room betraying us. Our—our friends" she finished, her voice wavering slightly. She placed a hand on her stomach, her eyes wide with fear. Harry noticed her stomach was quite swollen—probably with, well—him. Weird. James squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Welcome back, everyone," said Dumbledore in a somber voice. "We have much to discuss tonight, but first we must take a moment to mourn the passing of a dear friend and fellow Order member, Benjy Fenwick."

Everyone in the room bowed their heads and murmured his name. One of the witches in the corner of the room was sobbing loudly, her tiny shoulders shaking violently. Someone next to her attempted vainly to comfort her. The meeting continued on around her.

"Dorcas has some information to present," said Dumbledore. He indicated a tall witch standing next to him.

"Thank you, Albus," she replied calmly, taking a spot in the front of the room. "As you all know, our modes of gathering useful intel for out cause are rare. However, on my last mission I discovered that Voldemort—" Most of the people in the room flinched. "—has been reaching out to the werewolf population. We all know he has already been successful in rallying beings such as giants and dementors—I don't think anyone will forget the massacre outside of Hogsmeade last week—"

She paused for a minute, her mouth tightening into a thin line that would have made Professor McGonagall proud. A shudder passed through the room. Dorcas continued with her report, but Harry was more interested in observing Sirius and his parents. They were sitting together as usual, with younger Lupin and Pettigrew. James, Lily, and Sirius's eyes had flown to Lupin when Dorcas had mentioned werewolves. He pretended not to notice, but continued to stare ahead, his posture slightly rigid. He knew they were staring at him, and he looked uncomfortable, but Harry noticed he also looked slightly—hurt.

The eyes of his parents and Sirius were so focused on Lupin, they didn't seem to notice that Pettigrew was fidgeting, sweating, and twitching more than everyone in the room combined. Harry walked closer to Pettigrew and examined his pale face through narrowed eyes.

"He was already working for Voldemort, wasn't he?" said Harry bitterly.

"I suppose," said Lupin in a tired voice. He looked sadly from himself to the cold eyes of his friends. If they had trusted him at that moment, would things have turned out differently? It was prejudice that tore everything apart, the very same prejudice this war had been fought over

"That is all for tonight," said Dumbledore shortly. "Time is of the essence." The meeting began to disperse.

&&&

Harry and Lupin were floating in the air next to Sirius, who was tearing through the night air on his motorcycle. It was a very odd position.

"Please, please, no, it had to be mistake," he moaned in a voice barely above a whisper. He slammed his foot on a pedal and the motorcycle began to descend. They were approaching the ruins of a house, or at least Harry thought it was a house. It had been flattened as though a bomb had gone off inside of it. There was a large man standing in the middle of the wreckage, easily lifting up large broken timbers and tossing them aside as if they were twigs. Sirius let the motorcycle drop to the ground. It fell sideways and he stepped over it as if in a daze.

"It—can't —what—no—no—," he muttered. His breathing was short and ragged and his pale hands were trembling uncontrollably. Hagrid ignored him for a moment. Shifting a last piece of debris aside, he gingerly pulled what looked like a small bundle of blankets into his arms.

"Sirius?" asked Hagrid carefully. "Are yeh alright?"

"No, no, no, no," he answered, his eyes overbright. "This is my fault, this is, me, I killed—no no"

Harry felt sick. He knew exactly where he was. He didn't want to be here. This was the last place he wanted to be. He didn't want to see this.

"It wasn't your fault," insisted Hagrid. "We did what we could. I know it 'urts now, but"

"You don't understand," moaned Sirius. "Lily and James, I so sorry..." He inched forward to a small hollow in the debris.

"Sirius," muttered Hagrid. Sirius ignored him. Harry also felt drawn to the hole. He knew what he would find there but a part of him didn't care

"Harry," said Lupin in a warning voice, but Harry continued forward. Lupin looked very pale. He raised his arm as if to pull Harry back but instead stood motionless, watching in horror as Sirius pulled the body of a man into his arms.

"James," he whispered. The man looked surprised. A few streaks of dirt and a small stream of dried blood clung to his pale face. "It's not real, you can't be dead, you can't—you—please, say something—oh, God, this is all my fault. All mine, all…" Sirius cradled his friend's head in his lap. Harry stood above him. There he was. His father. The same face he had seen in all those photographs, smiling at him. Now he was nothing, an empty shell—glassy eyes staring up at nothing. Finally, Hagrid pulled Sirius back, away from the bodies.

"This can't be the end!" he moaned. He looked Hagrid in the eyes. "Where is she?"

"Stop it, Sirius," said Hagrid, trying to maintain a gentle tone. "She's 'ere, she's not really 'ere, it's not your fault—" Sirius gave a howl like a wounded animal. He ran over to the spot Hagrid had pulled baby Harry from and sank to his knees.

"Lily, I'm so sorry..." Lily Potter was dead. Her eyes were frozen open, vacant except for a look of fear gracing her perfect porcelain features. Her arms were flung open as if vainly trying to protect something. It took Harry a few seconds to register that he had fallen onto the ground. Perhaps his legs had stopped working. He kneeled next to Sirius, gasping as though he had just had the wind knocked out of him.

It was so different then anything he had felt towards his parents before. His parents had always been dead, like a distant relative you heard was dead but had never actually met. He knew them by reputation only. How could losing them possibly hurt so much? The emptiness inside him where there should have been a family had always been just a dull ache, but now he felt a searing pain. Why did they have to be dead? Why? Why—

"Why can't they be alive?" he cried, to no one in particular. He felt sick. Lupin knelt down beside him. Harry realized he had been shouting. His throat constricted and he turned away from Lupin. He shouldn't cry. He was 16 years old. Why was he acting like such a wimp?

"Harry—," began Lupin, but no words came out. He finally reached forward and grabbed Harry's shoulder reassuringly. "I—I miss them, too," he said finally. "More than anything."

"I want them to be alive," said Harry in a small voice. "I don't want photographs and maps and lies and stories! I want to see them, I want to talk to them! All I've ever know is a pair of—of—dead bodies..."

"I don't know what to say, Harry," sighed Lupin. "We fought for so long, and we all just—died. Our generation has borne the scars of this war, and now—yours must do the same."

"It's all so wrong," said Harry miserably. "This world looks so shiny and perfect and on the surface, but once you're inside it still just as messed up as everything else—maybe even worse than the rest of the non-magical world. You'd think magic would make everything so easy, but it doesn't." He paused and looked at Lupin, who was listening very carefully to everything he was saying. Sirius was holding Harry's mother's lifeless hand.

"When Hermoine got her letter, she said Professor McGonagall came to her house and told her that she was gifted—special. And now she's here. So is Ron. And they're going to stand by me, and maybe even die by my side, just because some power hungry manic says so. Why didn't she just go to regular school? She's not gifted. She's cursed. We're all cursed."

"Do you regret it?" asked Lupin solemnly.

"I don't think things would have been any better if I had stayed in that wretched cupboard under the stairs. When Hagrid came for me, Uncle Vernon said they were going to rid me of that magic bullock forever. Hagrid said that was impossible. He was right. This is my world. I can't run away. One way or another, I am going to have to fight. And probably die. He'll come for me. He doesn't even know it yet but he will. And that will be the end."

"Then why fight?" asked Lupin quietly.

"Because—," he looked at Sirius and the bodies of his parents. He remembered Sirius's face, that night in Grimmauld Place. "There are things worth fighting for."

"You can't do anything for them now!" Hagrid said in a slightly angry tone. "We'll all miss 'em, more then anythin', but—"

"How can you say that?!" Sirius screamed, cutting Hagrid off again. "Miss him? He was my best friend! He was my brother! MY BROTHER! How could anyone possibly know—" Suddenly, the tiny bundle in Hagrid's arms began wailing and writhing.

"It's alrigh', Harry," cooed Hagrid.

"He wants his mother," said Sirius darkly.

"That's enough, Black," growled Hagrid, as the baby began crying again. An odd look crossed Sirius face.

"Give Harry to me, Hagrid," said Sirius insistently. He held out his arms towards the baby. "I'm his godfather."

"Dumbledore wants me teh bring 'im straight to 'im. No exceptions," replied Hagrid in a business like tone. Sirius looked crushed. "I'm already runnin' late as eht is."

"Fine," he said in a defeated voice. He moved a little closer to Harry and Hagrid tightened his grip. "I can at least say goodbye to him, can't I?" snapped Sirius. Hagrid sighed and bent over so that Sirius was at eye level with his godson. Baby Harry smiled when he saw him.

"You can take my motorbike, Hagrid," said Sirius, not taking his eyes off the baby. Hagrid looked flummoxed.

"Are yeh sure 'bout that?" he asked.

"Yes," he said firmly. His hands had stopped trembling. "I won't be needing it anymore." His face hardened and his eyes had a familiar look, as if they was a fire burning behind them.

"Where are you going, Black?" demanded Hagrid, as Sirius walked away.

"I have to go see an old friend," he hissed in a venomous voice.

AN: AARG! No time for writing, 4 AP classes! Ah! Sorry about the wait, I'll try to update soon.