Writer: Azure K Mello

Title: A Bond Never Dies

Part: 129 of 132 or part 44 of Part Three

Words: 707

The shower had been warm, and long, and filled with love. And now they were in bed exhausted, and sated, and not thinking about the day and night that would be coming all too soon. And the room reeked of sex but it was familial enough to be comforting instead of off putting.

"I have a good feeling about this," said Sirius, "I know that sounds odd or naïve but I think this will work. We might not survive it," he laughed but it was hollow, "but I know we'll win."

James was tired and resting with his nose in the crook of his lover's neck and he said, "I know we will. And I think we'll survive too. Natural mages never die before the age of a hundred and fifty. I don't think we'll die."

The door swung open and Remus said, "Royma agrees."

"Moony, don't you ever knock?" asked James.

"You had sex in my bed," replied the werewolf. One of his wrists of bleeding and he said, "He tasted the future. We're going to win."

"You mean he bit you," said James standing to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. He was naked and unashamed as he moved to bandage his friend's wound.

"Blood's the only way to know for certain. Three will die, Voldemort, a death eater, and someone with us. He wouldn't tell me who because he said we wouldn't bring the person and if we didn't bring everyone it won't work. It's not Lucius, Severus, and Kingsley. That's all he would tell me."

"Everyone knows the risks."

"And I told them all what he said but it didn't prevent anyone from agreeing to come. So it's all set. Severus and Lucius are meeting us here." Remus smiled and then left with his newly bandaged wrist.

Sirius fell to kissing James and whispering, "See? It's all gonna be fine. Now let's get some sleep."

The morning dawned sunny and warm and Harry was up when the other's left the safety of bed. He was making breakfast and saying, "Troops can't march on empty stomachs."

James looked at the heaped plate of bacon and said, "Baby, you know I don't like it when you do the stove without supervision." No one else was in the kitchen yet and he knew he had a few minutes to speak to his son alone.

"I just wanted to do something nice," said Harry still smiling too brightly and not meeting his father's eye.

"It's not the end, Harry, we're going to be fine tonight."

"You don't know that!" Harry almost screamed but then, back in the too-bright tone said, "I know you'll do your best tonight." He moved to but the rashers of bacon and the toast rack on the table but James removed them from his son's gasp and pulled him in to a tight hug.

"It's alright."

"You promised me," said Harry in a soft tone, "you said you'd never leave me alone again."

"It's just a few hours. And you'll be with Remus. It'll be fine."

"Yeah, and what happens when Sevra comes back levitating Sirius' and your corpses? Will it be fine then?"

"Remus didn't wake you? He spoke to Royma, everything's going to be fine. This ends tonight." he didn't mention the deaths that would occur. He didn't think Harry needed to know about that.

"No, he didn't. No one ever keeps me in the loop. I'm just the one the prophecy was about. I'm just the one that caused all these problems. I'm just the one who was supposed to fix this." He moved to get the eggs out of the skillet. James came to relieve him of the task but Harry's voice was deadly when he said, "I can do this."

Watching his son, who'd grown tall and strong from hearty meals and affectionate care, he saw a capable young man who was sick of being treated like a sheltered child. "I'm going to pour myself some of the coffee you've made and sit down. Once you've finished making this lovely smelling breakfast we'll talk about tonight. But know right now, you did not "cause" these problems. This was Voldemort's doing. You have never been at fault."