"So, what you are trying to tell us is that there's a prophecy that you think involves either Harry or Neville, which I might add was made over a year ago, that you are only now telling us about?" Pinching the bridge of his nose, James glared at Dumbledore.
"Yes, so it would be advisable to cast the Fidelius Charm. I shall act as your Secret-Keeper to keep you hidden and..."
"And you did not think we might have wanted to know about it before now?" Lily cut him off, startling Dumbledore into blinking at her confused.
"There has been no indication before that the Dark Lord was taking it seriously, now I have received proof that he is reconsidering his previous stance."
"No indication..." Lily bit out, eyes flashing fire as she looked at the headmaster with disdain. "You had no indication...you wilfully and knowingly withheld information that endangered our sons?"
"There was no use in needlessly worr...ah!"
Purple flames slammed into Dumbledore and he tipped his chair over backwards, going down in a whirlwind of flames and brightly coloured robes and automatically James stepped aside as his wife stepped forward, bristling in anger.
"How dare you say what is needlessly worrying?! You played with the safety of our sons!"
Apparently Alice had send an additional curse at the unexpecting man as large boils began to spread over what was visible of his body. "How dare you even consider withholding any information that concerns our families?!"
A strangled sound escaped their old Headmaster as both women towered over him and James wisely stepped even further out of their way, having no interest in being in their way.
"You will never make any decisions regarding our children, ever without our consent or I will break every bone in your body," Lily hissed before turning on her heel with Alice right behind her and both James and Frank hurriedly followed them out of the office and down the spiral staircase.
Without a word the two women stalked through the hallways, students scrambling to get out of their way as they made their way out of the castle and the moment they were outside, Alice cursed.
"I don't like this, there's something he wasn't telling us."
"I agree, but we can't return or I might just kill him. Sirius was right, he is a manipulative old coot."
"Maybe we should just kill him and have Sirius take his place. Then we'd be absolutely certain we would always be fully informed and we won't just be putting out fires everywhere."
"He's got enough contacts out there bringing him information that he could just as easily take his place," Alice agreed. "We don't need that bloody old goat holding us back."
"I'm not sure the others would accept him as our leader," Frank clearly deemed it safe enough to speak up. "I mean, I completely agree, because Sirius truly has a scary amount of sources sharing information with him, but can you truly believe the old farts to follow his lead?"
"Then we leave the Order and start our own resistance group," Lily shot him a glare before deflating. "But our anger at that arse aside, can we take the risk to not take this threat seriously?"
"Not when it comes to our sons," James said.
"So the Fidelius?" Green eyes met his own as Lily turned to him at the end of the road.
"It is our safest bet."
"Together or separate?"
"Eh...do we really want to spend Merlin knows how long on each other's lips?" Scratching at his nose, Frank winced as he turned to them. "I mean, I love you guys, but I'm not sure living in each others pockets is a good idea."
"I feel the same," Lily smiled. "I love you guys, but I really don't want to live together and it would be safer to hide separately."
"So that's what we'll do. Do you know how to cast the Fidelius?"
"No," James admitted. "But I'm sure Sirius does and he can teach it to us without a problem."
"Then let's hurry back to him as he has no idea of the kind of danger the children are in," his wife's eyes widened. "Do you think that's why they attacked him last time? He said they wanted to know where Harry was and we always figured they wanted our son in retaliation for our defiance, but...do you think…."
"If that's true, then we've been extremely lucky to have cast protective charms onto our Floos and houses to not have been attacked more often," swallowing thickly as his stomach turned, James gathered his magic. "Let's go home."
Without another word wasted, he Apparated to the alleyway near his house and walked the short distance home.
"Siri?!" He called out as he entered, struggling out of his coat and tossing it aside while automatically toeing his shoes off to not drag dirt into any area where Harry played and the others followed his lead.
"In here, what happened?" His brother met him halfway, wand in hand as he had no doubt picked up on his urgent tone of voice.
"Nothing good, where are the children?"
"Down for a nap, they're safe. Want to tell me what's got you so riled up?"
"Albus bloody Dumbledore," Alice answered as she brushed past James to place a hand on Sirius' shoulder, steering him back into the living room. "Keeping secrets as usual."
"What did he keep hidden now?"
"A prophecy that was apparently made last year and is about our boys."
"A prophecy?" there was no mistaking the incredulous look Sirius shot them. "He's listening to prophecies now?"
"Apparently."
"Okay, do you know what it says?"
"Yeah, he showed it to us," not wanting to bother retrieving his Pensieve, he turned to his brother to meet his eyes and Sirius dropped his Occlumency shields to accept the memories he shared with him.
Allowing him a few moments to process them, he ran a hand through his hair, looking up as Sirius huffed. "What a load of crap, why go after it now?"
"We don't know, but apparently there is now indication he sees merit in it," Lily spat out the words.
"Nice curse that you used, both of you," humming, Sirius closed his eyes momentarily as he refocused on the memory. "Born as the seventh month dies….could indicate to either Harry or Neville, yeah."
"It could also refer to a billion other children," Frank argued.
"Not when you add in the born to those who have thrice defied him part. Can't be too many magical parents who have done that and given birth to a child at the end of July," tapping his fingers against his arm, Sirius thought out loud.
"Who says the parents have to be magical?" Almost immediately Lily shook her head. "Thrice defied, no Muggle would ever survive facing him once, let alone three times."
"Exactly," Sirius clicked his tongue. "And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. There's something off about that."
"More so than the 'either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives' part?" James asked incredulous.
"Yes, because it indicates that he's done or will do something that will mark either of the boys as his equal and that would indicate that he's come close enough to one of them to do so and we know he hasn't."
"So you think it's a future prophecy?"
"I don't know Ali, I hate Divination and never believed in it," Sirius huffed. "But we can't take the risk to not take it seriously, especially when we know he's clearly doing so."
"All of Divination is poppycock, but we indeed can't take the risk not to take it seriously," Lily said.
"So we cast the Fidelius for both of you so you can go into hiding with your sons. You'll need Secret-Keepers."
"We could use Mother," Frank looked at his wife. "She's a banshee, but she would never let any harm come to us and the Death Eaters would think twice before even going after her."
"She is a very formidable witch," scratching at her eyebrow, Alice nodded. "If we're going to do this then let's do so quickly. We have no idea if or when he'll make his move."
"I'll get Neville," as Frank left the room, Sirius turned to Alice.
"All right, I will arrange for provisions and supplies and deliver them to Augusta's house today and if you need anything else, you give her a heads up so I can deliver them to a safe location for her to pick them up from."
"It would be safer to just have her share the secret with you and have you deliver everything straight to us. That way you can also be our contact with the outside world as we can't afford to go completely dark."
"I agree that it would be too dangerous to cut yourself off completely. I can check up on you every few days to ensure you're all right and bring new supplies while I'm at it."
"Sounds like a plan," taking a deep breath, Alice took his hands. "But you have to watch your own back now that none of us will be out there with you. We don't know who we can trust so be extremely careful."
"I will be," pulling her into a hug, Sirius held her close for a long moment. "You be careful as well and stay safe."
As they separated, Alice gave them both a hug as well before accepting her drowsy son from her husband so that Frank could give them all a hug, too, leaving his hands on Sirius' shoulders as they separated again.
"You stay safe, you hear me?"
"I'll do my best," reaching up to squeeze the hands resting on his shoulders, Sirius nodded. "And you stay hidden, no matter what."
"We will."
Separating, Sirius brushed his thumb over the toddler's cheek before once more pulling Alice into a hug, mindful of Neville. "Use the Floo to travel to Augusta's and don't enter the streets. Block all access off from her Floo so they won't be able to get to her through a connected Floo."
A sharp pain cut through James at the remembrance of how the Death Eaters had previously used their Floo to get to their parents and he was glad Sirius had thought of it now as it had completely slipped his mind.
From the grim acknowledgement the blond gave him, Alice was clearly aware of the reference, too and she tightened her hold momentarily before pulling back.
It felt eerily like saying goodbye as they all shared a long look as Sirius stepped back to James' side and he automatically wrapped an arm around his brother's waist as their friends activated the Floo.
"Be safe and careful and let's hope we'll see each other soon again," Alice turned to Sirius. "I'll warn Augusta to expect you today and I expect to see you at our place on the first of November. That way you won't have to travel all around today and can get everything settled, we will discuss further schedules then."
"The first of November it is," Sirius agreed and watching them disappear through the Floo James pulled Sirius into his arms as the other let out a shaky breath and Lily wrapped her arms around both of them.
"Why did that feel so much like goodbye?"
"It's not," breathing in deeply, James tightened his hold on him. "I refuse to let it be. We will see them again."
"Right," he felt Sirius' fingers clench before they pulled back and Sirius looked between them determined. "They're safe and so will you be. Have you decided on a Secret-Keeper yet?"
"No," James admitted. "I mean, you're the only one I'd trust with Harry's safety, but..."
"But I'm much too obvious a choice."
"Actually, I was going to say I refuse to endanger you like that."
"I don't care about that, either way I will be the most obvious choice in the eyes of others and they will be coming after me," he said. "Which is exactly why I shouldn't be your Secret-Keeper, because it is what they will be expecting."
"You'd never betray us," Lily looked at him. "No matter what."
"You can't know that. Everyone has a breaking point and I don't dare take the risk I might break under torture."
"You'd sooner die than break," she scoffed. "You almost died when they tried to get their hands on Harry the last time, but I am with James that I refuse to put that added danger on you."
Sirius didn't seem to have heard her as an idea clearly occurred to him. "I could be the perfect decoy to draw attention away from your actual Secret-Keeper, though."
"What?"
"Think about it, everyone will assume you're using me and he will send everyone after me to get to you but if I'm just a decoy, you could use someone else to keep you safe and no one would ever even expect it, keeping them safe."
"Absolutely not, didn't I just say I wasn't going to endanger you in any way?" Growling, James pulled on his own hair. "Acting as a decoy would put even more risk on you!"
"And didn't I just say they'll be coming after me anyway?" His brother was much too calm for what he was saying and James clenched his fingers in anger at the mere idea of what he was suggesting.
"He's right about that," Lily admitted. "Regardless if we'd use him or not, he is the one who will be the most expected and everyone will go after him."
"Which is precisely why you can't use me, we can't play into their expectations."
"Who cares about expectations?! I'd not use you anyway because I want you to remain safe!"
"And he would be," Lily calmly said.
"Yeah? How?"
"Because he'll be going into hiding with us," she simply said, shooting Sirius a warning look as he protested. "It would be absurd for you to be assumed to be our Secret-Keeper yet still happily skip around everywhere. The most logical thing a Secret-Keeper would do is go into hiding themselves."
"I agree, but I can't," holding up a hand to stop her immediate protest this time, Sirius elaborated. "My contacts are too valuable to the Order to let them loose them. Plus I just agreed to be Alice and Frank's contact to keep them informed."
Swallowing down his immediate protest of telling the Order to go to hell, James forced himself to mull over his brother's words for a few moments.
"But you can stay hidden as much as possible. I understand that you are too valuable to the Order to disappear out of the playing field completely and I know you can't hand over your contacts to anyone else as you're the only one they trust, but that doesn't mean you have to walk around."
"He can move from safe house to safe house as he makes his rounds," pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, Lily looked between them and picking up on their trail of thoughts, Sirius nodded.
"Yes, I can spend a day at Alice's, a day or two at Garth's to move through the community for information, spend a few days hopping between our various safe houses and spend a night here," a calculating look crossed over his features as he thought out loud."I could travel as Padfoot and no one would ever know I was moving around and if I randomly decide where to go to next, they won't be able to predict my travels either."
"There are enough stray dogs out there and you know how to behave as one to ensure they won't realise you're not an actual dog," as much as he hated it, James found himself thinking along. "You'll be staying here in between your travels, though. And not just a night."
"I can live with that," Sirius agreed. "Now that that's settled, we need to decide on a Secret-Keeper."
"Remus?" Lily suggested.
"Too dangerous," Sirius immediately cut her off and James agreed.
"He's much too exposed in the open as he is and he considers himself too valuable to Dumbledore to even think of going into hiding full time."
"Not to mention he will be the first one they'll go after when they can't find me, we do live together after all," he hesitated. "Which is also why I don't think we should tell him I'm not the Secret-Keeper."
"You don't trust him?"
"After you two and Alice there's no one I trust more, but knowing the truth would cause him needless suffering."
"How so?"
"If they capture him and he knows the truth, he will do everything he can to hide it from them and they will keep on torturing him to try and get the information he's hiding," Sirius looked as psychically sick as he himself felt at the mere idea of their friend being tortured. "But, if he doesn't know the truth then he will not actively be trying to hide anything and they won't risk keeping him alive for long."
"Because they'd not risk keeping a werewolf imprisoned and would kill him before the next full moon," Lily realised. "So we don't tell him, to keep him as safe as possible."
"It's his only chance," rubbing a hand over his face, James sighed. "It's the only mercy we can offer him as he'll indeed never agree to go into hiding. All right, so we don't tell Remus to keep him as safe as can be, that leaves the question of who we use then that we fully trust."
"What about Peter?"
"What?" Blinking at his brother's words, James frowned at him. "Peter?"
"Yeah, we trust him and there is no one who would expect you to use him."
"With reason," huffing out a disbelieving breath, Lily leaned against the table. "It's Peter."
"Exactly, it's Peter. No one in their right mind would ever think you'd use him as everyone always underestimates him. He's small, unassuming and comes across as a frightened mouse most of the time," Sirius grinned. "But that's exactly what makes him perfect."
"Because with us out of the picture, it's not unbelievable to assume he'd go into hiding without us to have his back," realising where Sirius was going with this, James found himself nodding. "While in reality he's in hiding because he's our Secret-Keeper."
"You're portraying him as a coward," Lily frowned.
"He's always been seen as a coward and has used the way he's underestimated to his advantage as he's easily dismissed. It's what makes him so perfect for scouting missions, too as even Death Eaters look right over him and talk freely around him as they just don't notice him."
"You could check up on him during your rounds, make sure he's got everything he needs and keep him company so he won't be too alone," coming to see their point, Lily nodded. "Yes, he would be the perfect candidate, but would he even want to take the risk?"
"Only one way to find out," pulling out his wand, he send off a Patronus to their old friend, requesting him to meet them as soon as possible; smiling as his Patronus returned almost instantly with the promise to be there in a few minutes.
As they waited, Sirius walked to the Floo to disconnect it from their remaining contacts and Lily retrieved Harry from his nap, returning just as there was a knock on the door.
Checking it was indeed Peter, James let their old friend in.
"Good to see you, Pete."
"And you," blue eyes curiously looked between him, Lily and Sirius as he entered. "What was so important that you needed to speak to me right away?"
"The bug queen," as always, the mere mentioning of him made Peter squeak but James ignored it to usher his old friend into the living room as Sirius took Harry from Lily to gently bounce the toddler on his hip as he whined.
"W-what about him?"
"We were called to Dumbledore's office a little while ago where we learned that apparently there's a prophecy made that Voldemort believes refers to either Harry or the Longbottom son."
"A p-prophecy?" the disbelieving look on Peter's face was near identical to how Sirius' had been and he shrugged helplessly.
"Yeah, we couldn't believe his Creepiness would believe in it either but he apparently does, so we have to go into hiding to keep Harry safe."
"How?"
"The Fidelius Charm. It will keep our location hidden and Harry safe from harm as long as our Secret-Keeper doesn't reveal the secret to anyone," he explained at the blank look Peter gave him.
"So you're using Sirius and you want me here as a witness?"
"Not exactly," Sirius spoke up, still bouncing Harry. "The world will think I'm the Secret-Keeper while in reality I will be the decoy to keep the actual Secret-Keeper safe."
"What?" Peter's eyes widened as he caught onto their plan. "You want me to be your Secret-Keeper?"
"If you're up for it," Lily nodded. "Like Sirius said, no one outside of us would know the truth so you would be completely safe but just as a precaution, it would mean you would have to go into hiding."
It still didn't sit entirely well with James to know no one else would know the truth of their arrangement, just in case, but he pushed his unease down as blue eyes flashed between them all as Peter processed their words before nodding determinedly. "All right, I can do that. I'd need a safe house, though."
"You can have your pick of the ones we have, though I was thinking the one in London would be perfect for you," moving to lean against the couch Sirius was next, James ran a hand through his son's hair. "It's one of the very few houses with a television so you'd not be bored and Sirius would come to check up on you often to see if you need anything."
"Or just to keep you company," as Sirius smiled at him, Peter returned it; his confidence growing as they laid out their plans. "It's the twenty-ninth now so I plan to use the rest of today and the upcoming two days to check up on my network and set up my own safe house as I'm expected at Alice's on the first of November. But I can come by the day after and keep up a schedule of checking in with you every few days after that."
"That would be appreciated," nodding, Peter's expression turned considerate as he thought their words over. "But once every other week would be enough if you leave enough provisions, I wouldn't want you to needlessly endanger yourself. Like you said, no one would suspect me and if there's a television and you can arrange for my Magnavox and video player to be brought to me, I'm good."
"I assume you'll want your games and videos to come along with those? No books?" Sirius teased and Peter stuck out his tongue at him.
"We can't all be complete bookworms like you, but I'd not say no to some comics."
"We can swing by your house to pick that all up before going to the safe house and get you settled. But if you agree, then let's not waste another minute and cast the Fidelius so we can know they're safe."
"All right," straightening up, Peter followed them to the garden and Sirius handed Harry over to Lily so he could cast the spell.
Taking a deep breath, James watched his house disappear from view; once more pushing down the unease in his stomach as Peter shared the secret with them.
But nothing happened and he blinked confused as the house remained invisible to him. "Eh...Siri?"
"House?" Harry's little voice made him turn to see his son blink owlishly at the no longer there building before looking to Sirius. "Siri house?"
"Can you think of your home for me, pup?" Pulling the toddler back into his arms as he reached for him, Sirius hitched him up a little. "Think of the brown bricks and big windows?"
His words automatically made James think of his house as well and he blinked surprised to see it appear even as his son cheered happily.
"How..." Lily seemed to share his confusion as they returned inside and Sirius explained.
"People who already know where you lived remember the address, but they can no longer see the house or speak the address. Inadvertently this means that those in on the secret have to think of the house to be able to see it themselves or it will remain hidden for them, too."
"Right, that makes sense."
Peter brushed his long hair behind his ear as Lily closed the back door and looked between them. "So what now? We swing by my house to pick up supplies and I go into hiding but who else will know the truth?"
"No one, the best way to keep you safe is if no one suspects the truth. It's why Sirius will go into hiding as well."
"Because that would be what the Secret-Keeper would do and everyone will think you've used him."
"Exactly."
"All right, so we don't even tell Remus?"
"No, it will be safer for all of us if he doesn't know," giving Harry a cuddle, Sirius placed him down on the ground so he could play with his toys. "I'll go get Peter settled in and then come back here with supplies….."
"And then you will spend the night and tomorrow here," James cut him off. "It's been a long emotional day and I don't want you to be alone right now. You can just as easily set up your safe house on Halloween as today and the network can wait a few days as you've just checked in with them earlier this week."
"All right," agreeing readily enough, Sirius returned the hug Lily pulled him into before she turned to Peter.
"I know you don't like hugs, but you'll just have to suffer through one this time," squeaking as she indeed wrapped her arms around him, Peter flailed for a moment before she let go and he hurriedly stepped away from her; shooting them a glare as they laughed.
"Thank you for doing this," clasping his hand on his shoulder, James gave him a grateful smile.
Smiling back to him, Peter nodded. "Of course, I'm glad to be able to help and you can count on me."
"Think of what else you might need so we won't forget anything," Sirius indicated they should leave so James wrapped an arm around him to reel him in for a hug as well.
"Be careful out there and I want you back here by eight."
"I've got my mirror just in case I run late," he compromised as he returned his embrace before stepping away to rest a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Ready?"
"Yeah," grinning at them, Peter let Sirius guide him outside and Lily joined him by the front door as they waved after their friends before they Disapparated and taking a deep breath, James closed the door again.
"He'll be all right, he knows how to look after himself," squeezing his hand, Lily rested her head against his shoulder and he automatically dropped a kiss into her hair.
"I know, but you know me. I'm always worried," the same unease as before reared his ugly head again and this time he hesitated to push it down again.
"What is it?"
"I...it doesn't sit well with me that no one knows the truth, I feel like we should at least inform one other person of it so that Sirius has a back-up protection just in case."
"I agree," meeting his eyes, she swallowed. "Someone should know the truth so that if something should go wrong, Sirius won't be blamed. But who do you want to tell the truth to?"
"Well…."
"Really?" Lily gave him a very unhappy look, but sighed before he could defend his choice. "As angry as I am with him right now, he is in a potion of power to be able to protect Sirius and keep him from being harmed if the worst case scenario happens."
"So we tell Dumbledore the truth?"
"Might be wiser not to tell Siri, though. You know how he feels about Dumbledore on a good day and it's just a precaution anyway."
"All right," sharing a kiss with his wife, James brushed his thumb over his son's cheek before leaving to contact Dumbledore through the Floo before settling down to play with Harry until Sirius would return.
