Thanks to all my reviewers.

Here's the next chapter. Hope you like.


Chapter 10

"Come and meet our three guests." The speaker stepped into the light. Harry clenched his fists. He felt the anger rising up inside him. Ron and Hermione glanced fearfully at Harry, afraid of what he might do.

"Ron, Hermione, Harry. I'd like you to meet Peter Pettigrew."

Harry grabbed his wand and pointed it at Pettigrew.

"STUPEFY," he yelled. The incident happened to quick for anybody to react.

"What the hell...?" cried James, taking a step towards his fallen friend. Harry spun round to look at him.

"What!" snapped Harry, the hostility evident in his voice. Harry's eyes blazed. James jerked backwards. Harry turned back to Pettigrew. James couldn't see what Harry was going to do next but Sirius could. He leapt at Harry before the boy could utter a single word. They went rolling around the floor each trying to get the better of the other. Sirius was stronger and he eventually won. He sat on Harry, pinning him to the ground, a triumphant expression on his face, Harry's wand clutched in his wrist.

"Harry!" screamed Hermione. She was terrified for her friend but unable to do anything.

"Get off!" growled Harry, struggling in vain to get Sirius off of him.

"What was that for?" squeaked Pettigrew. James had apparently awakened him. Pettigrew stood up.

"Gerrof!" growled Harry again.

Hermione and Ron slowly stood up and edged up to Sirius and Harry. They glanced at each other and silently agreed on a plan of action. Ron slowly mouthed the words 'one, two, three.' On three they both bulled into Sirius, sending him clear of Harry. Hermione had the sense to grab Harry's wand out of Sirius' hand before they hit him. Ron pulled Harry to his feet and Hermione passed Harry his wand. He smiled gratefully at her.

"What the BLOODY HELL was that for?" bellowed Sirius from the other side of the room. He was holding his arm where it had smacked the wall. Hermione and Ron both had their wands out.

"Don't move," said Harry, his voice dripping with venom.

"Harry," said Lily warningly. "What are you doing? Why did you attack Peter?"

"You don't know do you?" laughed Harry. He turned to his friends. "They don't know," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Thin snake like cords shot out of Hermione's wand and immediately twisted themselves around Pettigrew.

"Hermione!" shrieked Lily. "What are you doing?"

"If we're wrong we'll apologise," Hermione said quickly. She didn't like anybody thinking badly of her.

"No we won't," snarled Harry. "He's only getting what's coming to him." James' hand moved towards his pocket as if to grab his own wand. Harry turned on him.

"Don't move," he snapped coldly. These people were not going to stop him from finishing what Remus and Sirius had started two years before. James raised his hands in defeat and took a step backwards, away from the enraged boy.

Hermione put her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Wait," she whispered. Harry calmed down slightly, surprised at the calmness of his friends' voice. She turned to Lily.

"Who was your Secret Keeper?"

"W-what?" Lily took a seat on the chair that Hermione had vacated.

"For the Fidelius Charm. Who was Secret Keeper," Hermione repeated.

"It was supposed to be Sirius but we changed at the last moment to Peter. What's that...?" Lily was very confused. She didn't understand what the trio were talking about.

"See Hermione," interrupted Harry. "It's the same and they don't know what happened." He laughed coldly.

"What's this got to do with me?" asked Pettigrew fearfully. Harry raised his wand and pointed it at Pettigrew.

"You. It's your fault; it's all your fault." James and Sirius jumped in front of Pettigrew. They weren't going to let Harry do anything to their friend.

"Get out of the way!" snapped Harry. Ron and Hermione stood either side of Harry, backing up their friend.

Sirius shook his head.

"Not until you tell us what the hell is going on."

Harry said nothing.

"Harry," muttered Ron, "tell them or they won't understand."

"Fine." He took a step backwards and lowered his wand a little, and James and Sirius relaxed slightly.

"This piece of filth is the reason I have no parents and you have no son. This cringing bit of filth would have seen us die without turning a hair." Without realising it, Harry was echoing exactly what his godfather had said in the Shrieking Shack just over two years before. "His own stinking skin meant more to him than his whole family."

"What are you talking about?" asked James, moving towards Harry.

"He betrayed you. He betrayed us. He sold you to Voldemort and didn't even care."

"How dare you," said James furiously. "We trust you and protect you and you thank us by attacking and accusing one of our friends."

Harry shook with rage.

"OH I DARE," he bellowed. "HE'S THE REASON MY LIFE AND YOURS ARE RUINED. IT'S HIS FAULT AND HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO LIVE."

Pettigrew was terrified. He tried to back away but only succeeded in falling over, the bonds restricting his movement.

Ron spoke up, defending his friend.

"The little rat passed information to V-Voldemort for a year before you went into hiding. He didn't refuse to obey. He should have died rather than betray his friends. As they would have done for him. You said that Sirius. Two years ago. The first time that we met you." Sirius looked shocked as he heard these words.

"How do you think Voldemort got to Godric's Hollow that night?" asked Harry viscously.

Nobody spoke.

"Lily?" snapped Harry, turning on the woman. She shrank back from his gaze but she answered.

"H-he saw us when we walked outside and discovered where the door was..." Harry laughed nastily.

"How do you think he broke the charm? A secret concealed inside a single living soul."

"I told you he..." began Lily, looking fearfully at the enraged boy.

Harry looked at Hermione, silently inviting her to answer.

"There's only two ways to break that charm," she said knowledgeably. "Either the casters break it themselves or the Secret Keeper tells." Remus was about to interrupt when Ron and Harry silenced him with a frosty glare.

"I know. People in our world spent years researching the charm. Trust me there's only two ways to break it."

"He betrayed them. He was supposed to be their friend and he betrayed them. 'What was there to be gained by resisting him?' You said that you little rat," Harry spat at the shaking figure on the floor.

"Harry, you're talking rubbish," said Sirius.

Harry felt the anger bubbling inside him. He was livid by now. These people were not listening to him. Did they have no idea what had happened. Where they really that dense?

"I AM NOT," roared Harry. "HE'S THE REASON I HAVE NO PARENTS. HE'S THE REASON VOLDEMORT IS ALIVE AGAIN AND HE'S THE REASON THAT EVERYBODY CLOSE TO RON, HERMIONE AND ME DIES. SO DON'T YOU TELL ME I'M TALKING RUBBISH."

"Harry," whispered Hermione, "Calm down or you'll do yourself an injury." Harry pulled a face but stopped shouting. His face was bright red. He was so angry. How could he get through to them? They were putting their whole future at risk by letting that rat live.

"He's a rat and a sneak," said Ron.

"No he's not!" yelled Remus.

"Four brothers," muttered Harry slowly, looking at his hands. "Inseparable. They created a bond like no other. One wizard changed it. He corrupted one. The bond was broken. Two dead. One should be and the last left alone. The last of an inseparable brotherhood. Grieving for his two brothers and grieving for his lost friend. He's all alone."

"Harry," breathed Hermione.

"Woah mate. Where'd that come from?" asked Ron, his eyes widening in admiration. Harry had never said anything like that before. He realised though, that what Harry had said was right. It was true; it was just that Ron would never have said it that way.

"It was in a dream I had last night," answered Harry quietly.

When Harry looked up, James and Sirius were surprised to see his eyes glistening with tears.

"Oh Harry!" cried Hermione, and threw her arms around her friend, pulling him into a hug. Ron patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. He always felt uncomfortable when people cried. It made things worse when it was his friends.

"What was that about?" asked Lily quietly from her chair.

Harry broke away from his friends and looked down at Lily, wiping his eyes.

"Can't you see? He betrayed you. He told us himself just over two years ago."

"...grieving for his two brothers and grieving for his lost friend. He's all alone," repeated James. "What's that about?"

"Not telling until you lock him up. Or stun him. I don't like talking around him," said Harry simply. Harry turned away and faced his friends.

"Harry..." began Remus.

"I'm not talking," he replied. He refused to face them.

"Fine," huffed James angrily. "Sorry Pete. Maybe we'll get this sorted out. Stupefy." Pettigrew slumped over on the floor.

"James!"

"Prongs!"

"Thank you," said Harry turning back to face them. Ron and Hermione walked forwards so that they stood next to Harry instead of behind him.

"Well, what was that little speech all about?"

"You four," sighed Harry. "The Marauders." Sirius frowned at him. Harry said nothing so Ron spoke for him.

"That rat should be dead. He spent twelve years as a rat, my rat, afraid of what Voldemort's followers would do to him, knowing it was his fault their Lord was gone. He had to anyway. He framed his friend, who spent twelve years in Azkaban because of him. If people knew he was alive they would know it was him who was guilty for pretending to be dead. Another died fifteen years ago because of the rat and the other now is all alone. His friends are gone."

Sirius scrunched up his face as if he was thinking and then he said,

"Harry, you said at first two were dead, one should be and one's alone. What you just said, Ron, is one's dead, one was in Azkaban, one was a rat and one's alone." Both Ron and Harry nodded. "Well, your stories are different. You should make up your mind."

The two boys stayed silent so Hermione answered for her friends.

"They are both right. Both are two parts of the same thing. One died. One was in Azkaban and he is now dead." She looked quickly at Harry. He was staring at his shoes, his eyes filling with tears again. "Oops. Sorry Harry." Hermione wrapped her arms around her friend again. She was saying this all wrong. Hermione knew that she had a habit of saying things all wrong when she was nervous. Poor Harry. She looked back at Sirius and James. "The one who was a rat should be dead and the other is alone now. The only link he has to his friends is Harry."

"What do you mean?" asked James.

"James is dead. Pettigrew betrayed them and is now with Voldemort. Remus is now alone and..." She looked directly at Sirius. "...Sirius was framed, was in Azkaban, broke out when we were thirteen and last year he was killed, no thanks to that rat."

James and Sirius stepped away from the prone form of Pettigrew. They looked down at him in disgust. Peter as a traitor? The idea was laughable but it made sense now. He was the leak, the traitor inside that they had been trying to find. He was the reason that Voldemort always knew about their plans before they had even completed them. Trust the traitor to be the person that everybody would least expect.

"Okay, this has been bugging me since you got here. Why do none of you look directly at me and why are you so uncomfortable?" asked Sirius.

"Because..." began Hermione, looking ready to hug Harry again if she said something wrong.

"It was you," interrupted Remus. "You were the one these three lost."

Harry nodded. "Sirius, you were my godfather and the closest thing I ever had to a proper family. Thanks to Dumbledore and that bloody prophecy, my life is horrible," spoke Harry quietly.

"Hey," said Ron indignantly, hitting Harry on the arm.

"Well except for you two." Harry looked up. His eyes were red and his face tearstained. Sirius sunk to the ground. He knew they weren't talking about him exactly but it still affected him.

"H-how." Harry shook his head and stepped away from the figure against the wall.

"Don't want to talk about it," he mumbled.

"You said I was killed." Harry nodded. "Who was it?"

"You lovely cousin. Bellatrix Lestrange," spat Harry. Sirius stared at Harry. "You know, she only hated you because you and Andromeda were the only Blacks not in Slytherin and the only ones not fighting for Voldemort. You told me last year."

Harry fell silent and looked at his shoes again.

"You know," said Hermione. "We avoided that subject since July and now we just blurted it all out to you. Can we have some privacy please?"

"Yeah, sure," muttered Lily. She stood up and walked out. James pulled Sirius to his feet. Between the two of them and Remus, they dragged Pettigrew out of the room.

"Don't untie or wake him up," said Harry bitterly. "You'll regret it." Sirius stopped by the door and turned. He met Harry's eyes and was surprised by what he saw: bitterness, anger, and too much pain for a sixteen-year-old to deal with. Sirius looked away, unnerved by what he saw. He shut the door, leaving the three friends in peace.

"I hate him, I hate him, I HATE HIM," screamed Harry. He fell into a chair, sobbing into his hands. Ron and Hermione caught each other's eye. It was too soon. Harry shouldn't have had to talk about this. None of them should have. They were all close to Sirius, ever since they had helped him escape in their third year at Hogwarts. Hermione could hold it in no longer. She burst into tears. Ron quickly embraced her and sat her down next to Harry. Ron pulled his other friend into the hug and the three sat like that for several hours. They had nothing to say. They just let out all of the tears and pain they had been holding in.


There was a quiet knock on the door.

"What?" said Ron, letting go of his friends and looking up.

The door opened and Sirius poked his head around the door.

"Can I come in?" Ron shrugged.

"You might as well." Sirius walked into the room and took a seat opposite Ron.

"What do you want?" asked Hermione, a little snappier than she had intended. Sirius sighed.

"Look I can see you don't want to talk about this but I really need to know. How did I die?"

"You can't expect us to answer that," shrieked Hermione. Sirius moved his chair slightly away from her. She scared him. When Sirius had first seen Hermione on the train, he had thought that she was the type of person who loved books, never broke rules and was generally a nice person. He had been proved wrong and that scared him.

"Look, I know I shouldn't ask you but I really need to know. It will bother me for the rest of my life."

"No, you..."

Harry looked up and interrupted.

"No. We should tell him. We'll get no peace if we don't. He seems too much like..." Harry trailed off. Ron and Hermione knew what he was talking about so they said nothing. Sirius grinned.

"Thanks."

"Harry are you sure?" asked Ron.

Harry nodded.

"We were in the Department of Mysteries..."

"What were you doing there?"

"Trying to rescue my godfather. We thought he was captured but it was just a trick because Voldemort wanted something and I..." Harry stopped. "I'm getting way off track." He glared at Sirius. "Don't interrupt me. Anyway, we were in the Department of Mysteries fighting Death Eaters. Lestrange hit you with a stunner and you fell backwards into the Veil of Mysteries and you never came out."

Sirius leaned forwards.

"And...?"

"And...er, Voldemort possessed me, Dumbledore stopped him and then we went back to Hogwarts?"

"No. I mean what happened to me? Er...the other me?"

"What do you mean?" Harry was confused. What else could have happened to Sirius? He fell and he was dead and gone and there was nothing anybody could do about that. Dumbledore had said it, Remus had, everybody said that Sirius was dead and he wouldn't be coming back.

"You don't know much about the Veil of Mysteries, do you?" asked Sirius, leaning back on his chair.

The three teens shook their heads. Sirius stood up.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

Ron stood up, then Harry and then Hermione. Sirius opened the door and walked out. The three friends followed him. Sirius led them through a series of twisting and turning tunnels until the four of them re-entered the large cavern they had been in earlier, or was it yesterday? Harry wasn't sure. This time the cavern was empty. Hermione questioned Sirius about this and he replied that most people, except those on guard duty, were asleep. It looked very strange and somehow too large to be allowed.

Sirius led them across the cavern and through a set of doors that Harry hadn't noticed before. Here the passageways were darker and gloomier. Sirius picked up a large burning torch. Shadows flitted around the corridor creating strange images that Harry couldn't understand. Sirius led them right, then left, and then another right, middle fork, left, left. Harry soon forgot. He had no idea how Sirius could remember his way. It reminded him too much of the carts at Gringotts.

Sirius stopped in front of a large oak door. He placed the torch into a wall bracket and pushed open the door. Sirius beckoned Harry, Ron and Hermione in. They followed cautiously. Hermione took one look around her and squealed in delight. They two boys groaned. They were in a library of some sorts. Books lined the wall ten to fifteen shelves high. They seemed to stretch on forever. Books of all shapes and sizes littered tables and chairs scattered throughout the room.

"These are all of the magical and, upon several muggleborns insistence, muggle books that we could save. There are several thousand of them. I think somebody used to keep a record of how many books were here and what they were called but that was ages ago. Find some space and sit down. I'll be back in a sec." Sirius scurried off to the other end of the room.

Hermione walked over to the closest table. She picked the books up very carefully and placed them on the table. Hermione then sat down, looked quickly at the titles of the books, pulled one out and began to read. She looked up at Ron and Harry and smiled.

"Aren't you going to sit down?" she asked. "You're making me nervous."

Ron and Harry made some space on two chairs. They were extra specially careful with the books, knowing Hermione would start shouting if they treated the books badly. She was like a mini version of Madame Pince, their librarian at Hogwarts. Harry shuddered at the thought. There was no way he was going to let that happen to Hermione.

Both boys sat down and started twiddling their thumbs. Harry hated libraries. He was always reminded of school and the fact that they had to take their N.E.W.Ts soon. Harry's eyes widened. How were they going to catch up on all of their school work if they got back? When, he corrected himself, when they got back home. He daren't mention that to Hermione. With a library as big as the one they were sitting in, Hermione was sure to find some helpful books and make them study.

Sirius appeared very soon after, a book clutched in his hand.

"I knew we had this here somewhere." He handed the book to Hermione, who placed her book gently on the table. The cover was very dusty and she couldn't see the title. She blew gently over the cover to remove the dust. Dust motes flew around her head and she started coughing. Sirius pointed his wand at the dust and muttered something. Harry couldn't hear because he said it so quietly. The dust quickly cleared and Hermione started coughing.

"The Veil and all of its Mysteries," she read. "What's this about?"

"You'll have to read it to find out." Sirius appeared to be excited about something. He was hopping from one foot to another. Harry looked curiously up at him.

"Are you alright?"

"Yup. Now read," he said encouragingly. Hermione stared at him.

"Not until you tell what this is about."

"Fine, if you won't read it, I'll tell you." Sirius obviously was too impatient to wait for the book to be read. "Unspeakables, before they all were killed, made the Veil their life's work. I think they found out almost everything that there was to know about the Veil."

"Yes. Where are you going with this?" asked Hermione impatiently.

"I see you're impatient. I'll tell you then but you'll have to find out all of the finer details by reading."

"We will but only if you tell," said Ron. This man was starting to irritate him.

Sirius grinned.

"If this book is right, which I'm sure it is because those Unspeakables were bloody bright, then your godfather isn't dead."


Nice cliffie eh? As you probably realised now I am a firm believer that Sirius shouldn't have died. Tell me in your reviews whether or not you agree with me. I'd like to see what you guys think. Don't worry though, this fic doesn't center around that issue, it plays a minor part.

If you read this please review. It'll make my day.

I need your help for a bit in a later chapter. Do you think that if Voldemort had never disappeared in '81 he would look the same as J K Rowling described him in GoF and OOTP. I'm not sure and would like your opinions.