"And you're sure it was about Harry?" Lily said, her voice shaking as she gripped James's hand. "Our Harry?"

Sirius forced out a breath. "What did this prophecy say, exactly?"

"It was given to me by a Seer woman a few days before Harry's birth," Dumbledore explained. Lily and the Marauders had gathered in his Larkspur Manor office at his urgent request—Harry was at home being tended to by Marlene. Now, Sirius found himself very much wishing that they hadn't let the baby out of their sight. "It foretold that the person with the power to defeat the Dark Lord would be born at the end of July, to parents who had thrice defied him." He glanced between James and Lily. "You fought Voldemort once in Knockturn Alley soon after you'd been inducted into the Order, foiling his plans, and you defied him again by refusing to join his ranks. And then you fought him with Fenrir Greyback and his pack after he captured Remus." Remus shrunk back against the wall as the Marauders briefly turned their attention to him. "You escaped with both your lives and your friend, which I believe would count as a third defiance. And your son was born on the thirty-first of July, making him the ideal candidate for the prophecy."

Sirius shook his head, feeling a sudden surge of anger towards Dumbledore. "Harry was born two weeks ago," he said. "Why are you just telling us this now?"

"I have spent the past weeks trying to track down all the children whom the prophecy might pertain to," Dumbledore said evenly. "The Longbottoms' new son, for instance, also fits its criteria—I will be having them hidden away as well, just in case, but I have recently learned that Lord Voldemort intends to go after Harry first."

"How did you learn that?" James demanded. "And how did Voldemort even hear the prophecy if it was told to you?"

Dumbledore's face was unreadable. "The Dark Lord has his spies, and I have mine," he replied vaguely. "It doesn't matter. What's important is that you and your son are safe, somewhere that Voldemort will not be able to find you." He rose to his feet. "We will need to use a Fidelius Charm, the same charm that conceals this manor. The location of your current home may already be known to Voldemort's followers, so you will need a new one. I have a cottage in Godric's Hollow under my name that you can use—it's only one town over from Pixie Grove. You could stay there until we figure out a long-term solution."

"A long-term solution," James muttered. "A long-term solution to protect our son, who supposedly is the only one with the power to defeat Voldemort." He pulled Lily closer to him. "As wonderful as the idea of that is, I don't know if he can ever be safe if Voldemort's convinced he's going to kill him one day."

"We will find a way," Dumbledore said firmly. He cleared his throat, looking to each of the Marauders in turn. Remus was still hunched against the back wall, and Peter was shivering in a corner, his face completely drained of blood. Concerned, Sirius went over to him and wrapped a tight arm around his shoulders. "In the meantime, you will need a Secret-Keeper to conceal your location. I am Larkspur Manor's Secret-Keeper, and I could be yours as well."

"No," James said quickly. He glanced back at Sirius. "I—I want Sirius to do it."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. He released Peter and stepped up to James and Lily. "You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, Pads."

"He's right," Lily murmured. "You're Harry's godfather, Sirius—you should be his Secret-Keeper as well. James and I…we trust you more than anyone. No offense," she added quickly to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore gave a little smile. "None taken," he assured her. "If you want Sirius to be your Secret-Keeper, then he should be your Secret-Keeper. So long as he wishes to be, of course."

Sirius nodded, chewing on his lip. Of course he'd be the Potters' Secret-Keeper. "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing too difficult," Dumbledore said. "The Fidelius Charm is a difficult spell, but I know how to perform it. Come." He beckoned Sirius over to his desk as he took a quill and jotted something down on a scrap of parchment. "This is the address of the cottage," he explained, handing the parchment to Sirius. "You must memorize it before I cast the charm."

1703 Augurey Lane, Godric's Hollow, it read. Sirius scanned it over and over again until the address was firmly implanted in his brain. "Okay," he said eventually; "I've got it memorized."

"Excellent. Now, hold it in your mind as the spell is performed." Sirius closed his eyes, picturing the words on the parchment in his hands; he felt the tip of Dumbledore's wand pressing against his chest. "Occultare secretum interius animam," Dumbeldore murmured, so softly that Sirius could barely hear him. "Nulla potest revelari."

Dumbledore continued muttering in Latin while Sirius did his best to tune him out and concentrate his thoughts on the address instead: 1703 Augurey Lane, 1703 Augurey Lane. Finally Dumbledore went quiet, and the pressure of his wand lifted from Sirius's chest. Sirius opened his eyes and saw to his surprise that the parchment he held was now blank, as if nothing had ever been written on it in the first place. But the address was still circling through his mind: 1703 Augurey Lane, Godric's Hollow. It had worked—he was now a Secret-Keeper.

"That address will now only be known to those you willingly disclose it to," Dumbledore told him. "I'd recommend you find your own place to lie low and cover it heavily with wards. The Death Eaters cannot torture or force the location from you, but if they suspect you are the Secret-Keeper and kill you, anyone that you have given the address to will become Secret-Keepers themselves, and the Potters will find themselves in a much more precarious position."

"I get it," Sirius said. He crumpled up the blank parchment and tossed it into the trash bin beside Dumbledore's desk. "I'll be careful."

"And with this spell…there's no way that Voldemort could find us, unless Sirius tells him how himself?" Lily asked.

"Precisely," Dumbledore said. He nodded to Sirius. "So long as you put your faith in the right person, you and your child will be perfectly fine."

Sirius gave James and Lily a nod. "You'll be fine, then," he promised them. "I'm not going to screw this up."

"We know, mate," James said. He ran a comforting hand down Lily's back. "We've all got nothing to worry about."