A/N: This is my first attempt at writing any sort of fanfic, so I hope you guys enjoy it! I love the idea of having Harry NOT raised by the Dursleys, and thought I'd make my own version of the story. Although I'm a little torn as to what I want to do after the first few chapters. On one hand, I want to do a time jump and continue on after Harry's 11th birthday and continue on with his Hogwarts years, on the other hand, I'd like to do a story where we see more of his childhood... lemme know what you guys would like to read more! Either way, I do plan on eventually getting to his Hogwarts years, and be forewarned that this WILL eventually turn into a Haphne story, and will probably involve some Dumbledore bashing later on. That being said, enough of what I have to say... Enjoy the first chapter of what I hope will be a long and successful story!

Chapter 1:

Midnight Follies:

Albus Dumbledore was by no means a slow man, even for his old age, however, time seemed to be working against him as he raced towards the small village of Godric's Hollow.

"How could this have happened?!" He swore to himself. He had thought that James' and Sirius' plan to fool the Dark Lord had been a brilliant one. Sirius was too obvious a person to be the Potters' Secret Keeper… no one would suspect that they would entrust that immense responsibility on poor, little Peter! It was almost comical, in a way, which made it that much more fitting for the former Gryffindors. How could it have gone wrong? Had Voldemort seen through the deception? Had he gone after Pettigrew, forcing it out of him? The Imperius Curse was out of the question, as the Secret Keeper had to willingly disclose the location, also ruling out the Confundus Charm.

"Perhaps he tortured it out of him? The Cruciatus was always a specialty of Bella's… No…" Poor Peter was far too weak to withstand a spell like that, especially coming from someone as 'talented' as Bellatrix Lestrange. No, the horrible, undeniable truth that Albus had always known, or at least suspected, had come to bear its ugly head at last. Peter Pettigrew was the spy they had been looking for.

"Damn it, Pettigrew, you rat!"

Albus prayed it wouldn't be too late to save young James and Lily as well as their young son Harry. He had contacted as many Order Members as he could, even going so far as to wake Minerva out of her sleep.

"Poor Minnie," he thought sadly as he looked over at the tired, yet determined witch flying alongside him.

Minerva McGonagall had barely slept a wink due to her fierce determination to fight and take down as many Death Eaters as possible. Other than Alastor Moody, she had been the one to take down or otherwise incapacitate the most Death Eaters, and while Albus didn't exactly agree with her methods, he had to commend her on her accomplishments.

A loud roaring sound broke Dumbledore from his train of thought as the large half-giant, Rubeus Hagrid pulled up alongside him, straddling the bike that had once belonged to Sirius which had been engorged to allow for Hagrid's massive size.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir," he roared over the sound of the bike's engine and the rushing wind, "I can see Godric's Hollow just up ahead! We should be touching down in about two minutes!"

Dumbledore nodded his appreciation, the larger man's eyesight being far better than his own, as he pulled back into their flying formation. Fear gripped his heart as Dumbledore saw the village's lights come into view, and against the night sky, making the blackest night look bright, a thick plume of smoke floating up from where he knew the Potters' cottage to be.

"Sirius… Remus… I hope you were able to get there in time… we may already be too late." And with that thought in his mind, Dumbledore gave the order to begin their descent into madness.

"PRONGS!" The voice of Sirius Black could be heard for miles as he shouted for his brother, for that was what James had been to him, if not by blood or by law, certainly in his heart. "PRONGS! PRANCER! PUP!" tears were running down his normally cool and proud face, not caring how he looked as he rushed towards the ruined sight of the house where his best mate had been living. "Lives!" he thought desperately, "He's got to be alright… he can't be—" His mind refused to say 'dead'. It couldn't be true. James was always so fierce a fighter. Hell, he'd gone up against ole No-Nose himself on three separate occasions already! There was simply no way he could have been taken out, not when there was still fighting to do. He made a run for the small wrought-iron gate that marked the path to the now ruined home.

"Padfoot WAIT!" cried Remus. "We don't know if it's safe!"

"I DON'T CARE!" he roared back, stopping for only a moment. "Prongs is in that mess and he needs my help! I won't—" his words were caught short by a silent leg locking jinx shot at him by his current partner, Emmaline Vance.

"Don't be stupid, Sirius." She said to him as he looked up at her, eyes full of betrayal. "We don't need you getting yourself killed!" He knew she was right, they both were. James didn't need a dead man to come dig him out of the rubble.

"We should wait for Dumbledore to get here." Lupin said, catching up to the pair. Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but Emmie beat him to the punch.

"Like hell," she said as she undid the jinx that held Sirius' legs together. "We don't have time to wait. I agree we need to go in now, but we go together!" She said the last part as she looked down at Sirius slowly getting to his feet. He couldn't speak, nor could he look her in those striking violet eyes; the most beautifully brutal eyes he'd ever seen. All he could manage was a swift nod as he brushed the fresh snow off of his pants. The three friends walked cautiously to the gate, wands at the ready. Sirius took point with Emmie not two steps behind him, leaving Remus to cover their flanks. Slowly, they opened the gate, and immediately, Sirius knew something was wrong, as the gate gave a loud squeak as it swung open.

"James had put an oiling charm on this gate the last time I was here. Why is it so squeaky?" Sirius knew the logical answer, but he never was one for logical thinking. There had to be another explanation. There HAD to! However, Sirius knew, no matter how much his heart wanted it to not be true, what it meant.

Reaching the front door of the cottage, which now hung loosely on a single hinge, Sirius paused. Tears flowed freely, blinding him as he touched the door, causing it to fall off its hinges completely, and there, lying at the foot of the stairs, laid the broken body of his best mate, his only true brother, James Potter.

The world had stopped spinning, time seemed to stop, as Sirius' knees gave out from under him, his chest feeling as though it were about to burst with his breaking heart. Emmie seemed startled at his sudden collapse onto all fours, but as the sight hit her in full force, all she could manage was a startled gasp as the tears started to flow freely. Remus barged his way past the pair of them and into the once beautiful cottage.

"James! NO!!!" Remus let out a very animalistic roar of agony as he clutched his longtime friend.

Sirius, with fierce determination, got to his feet. He couldn't look at James, not like this. In his heart, he felt that his search would only bring more pain, but he had to look; he had to know for sure where Lily and Harry were. Determined not to look at Remus clutching and sobbing over their fallen friend, Sirius walked past them up the stairs where the majority of the damage seemed to be. At the top of the stairs he was shocked to see the corridor for the most part was still intact, however, as he peered down the end of it towards Harry's nursery, he could see lightning flashing from outside.

"Oh, Pup, no…" Sirius couldn't get the words out. Slowly, he walked towards the door of the room, fearing what he might find inside. Hoping against hope, he opened the door and heard… nothing. It was rather dark at this time of night and all the street lights were out, most likely caused by the burst of magic that happened as the Fidelius Charm had been broken. Suddenly, another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and Sirius let out a blood-curdling scream.

It couldn't be, it just COULDN'T! He looked down at the once smiling eyes of Lily Potter, the light gone forever from her emerald eyes. He couldn't bear it. Sirius fell over to the ground, wailing and sobbing like a child. He wanted to die. The pain of death would be sweet relief to the burning, aching and crushing he felt in his heart. He wasn't sure how long he laid like that, face first on the wooden floor, willing himself to die, to be with his surrogate brother again, however, after what seemed like a lifetime, he heard a sniffling sound that was not his own. It was coming from the crib. Before Sirius could piece together what could be making the sound, he heard something that made his heart break even further.

"Pafoo" the voice sniffled. "Pafoo, mama." Sirius looked in amazement as his Godson, Harry pulled himself up to a kneeling position and stared out at him. "Pafoo, mama." He said again, before collapsing back down in a fit of tears. Sirius could hardly believe it!

Quicker than lightning, Sirius jumped up and with tears in his eyes, scooped Harry up into his arms and held the young boy as closely as he could, their combined tears drenching the front of Sirius' shirt.

"Shh, it's okay, Pup. It's gonna be alright. Uncle Padfoot is here. Uncle Mooney is too. We'll take care of you, Pup." Sirius tried to keep his voice calm. His heart was torn into pieces over the tragedy, however, as Emmie and Remus entered into the room behind him, he couldn't be more grateful that he had made it here in time. The fact that Harry was alive and seemingly okay, made the pain a little more bearable.

"Oh, thank Merlin." Emmie said as she placed a comforting hand on Sirius' shoulder, holding back tears as she looked upon the once smiling face of Lily Potter, now frozen in fear.

Remus had walked out of the room, not wanting Harry to see him break down at the sight of the first person to ever show him kindness. His first friend. He knew he had to be strong for Harry. He and Sirius both had promised James and Lily that if anything should happen to them, that they would look after Harry.

Remus walked down the stairs and into the sitting area, where he had lain James' lifeless body on the table. Looking once more at his friend's face, he whispered, "Goodbye, Prongs. Don't worry, we'll look after the Cub."

At these last words, he waved his wand and conjured a red and gold Gryffindor flag and placed it over James. He didn't want Harry to see him like that, and if he was being perfectly honest with himself, he didn't think he could bear to look upon him any further.

He could hear his friends slowly making their way back to the stairs, as he walked back out the front door. Not knowing what else to do, Remus simply sat on the doorstep and buried his face in his hands, allowing all the night's events to fully hit him as the pain came on in waves.

After all their training, all their hard work to keep them safe, how could it have come to this? He was glad that Harry was safe, however the crushing reality that he would never hear James' laugh or see Lily's smile again was almost unbearable.

Just as he thought he could take no more, a gentle hand rested on his shoulder, breaking him out of his trance. He looked up with the tears nearly blinding him at the equally distraught face of Padfoot, with one hand on his shoulder, and the other one coddling a now sleeping bundle of messy black hair. A pained smile came across Sirius' face as he looked down at his friend.

"Come on, Moony, we can't give up now. We promised we'd—" he cut his words short, unable to hold in the pain any longer, but not wanting to wake Harry up, as he let the silent tears flow once more. Lupin simply nodded, understanding where his friend was going, and slowly got to his feet, embracing Sirius and Harry as he did so.

They stood there silently for a moment, letting their tears flow, as Emmie brought the limp form of Lily down the stairs to lie next to her husband. Seeing what Remus had done in covering up James, she let a sad smile grace her lips, thinking it was fitting, and after enlarging the flag to double its size, rested Lily next to James.

As she stood there, looking down at her fallen comrades and contemplating how such a horrible thing could happen to the two best people she ever knew, she heard it. Low at first, but slowly gaining in volume. She knew that sound anywhere. Sirius had loved that muggle death trap. "Boys," she said, directing her attention to the two wizards at the front door, "seems as though backup is here."

"About bloody time." Sirius snarled as he removed himself from Moony's embrace and walked out into to midnight snow.

Dumbledore's heart sank shortly after coming within sight of the Potter home. A good third of the house was now blown apart from what looked like their nursery, and rubble was strewn all over the normally neat lawn. As the three of them touched down in front of the now ruined cottage, Dumbledore saw as Sirius began walking out to meet them, a black bundle in his arms, closely followed by Remus and Emmaline.

"So, they managed to get here first." But before he could think much else, he flinched as something hard hit him across the face, breaking his nose for the third time in his life. He looked up, astonished, at Sirius' quaking form, blood dripping from his knuckles where he'd just hit him.

"You swore," Sirius began, his voice low but full of venom, "you SWORE you would be able to keep them safe! What do you call this, Albus?! James and Lily…" he fell to his knees, trembling, unable to say the words, tears flowing down the prideful man's face as he did all he could not to fall to his knees. From behind him, Dumbledore could hear quiet sniffling coming from Minerva.

"Lily and James… dead?" the elderly witch asked solemnly. A howling cry from Hagrid shook the nearby trees, as he fell over in despair, causing a small flock of birds to take flight into the cold night. A startled cry coming from the bundle Sirius carried in his arms shocked Dumbledore. He had assumed that it was just a bundle of robes, something of James'. However, now he could see movement in them, and before he could say anything, Sirius grumbled, "Great, now you've gone and woke the little Pup up." As a mess of black hair poked its head out from the bundle.

"Pafoo… cold"

"I know, Pup, I know. Come on, let's head back inside where it's warmer, eh?" The shivering bundle nodded as he rested his head against Sirius' chest and drifted back off into sleep.

"Merlin," Dumbledore exclaimed, "is that little Harry?!" He couldn't believe it. Voldemort had definitely been here himself, of that there was no doubt. His dark magic could be felt all throughout the surrounding area. How could it be then, Lily and James dead, their cottage destroyed, and little Harry, who was barely a year old, was alive and, from what he could tell by his brief glance, perfectly fine? It made no sense to him, and if there was anything that lit a fire in old Albus Dumbledore's chest, it was not understanding something! He knew he had to get to the bottom of this mystery. It was not like Tom to spare the life of a child. That being said, where even was Tom? It was obvious that he wasn't in the vicinity anymore, which made the mystery of Harry's survival all the more curious.

As he was deep into his ponderings, Minerva had walked up behind him, and while he was otherwise distracted in his musings, she flicked her wand at his nose, fixing the damage with an audible 'SNAP'.

"Morgana's saggy left—" He started, but seeing the look in Minerva's eyes cut him short. "A little warning next time, if you please, Minerva!" he said in an exasperated tone, shaking his head to try and rid it of the throbbing the spell had caused.

"You seemed preoccupied, Albus," she retorted in her usual, stern voice. "Now then," she continued, her voice starting to quiver, "I quite agree with young Harry, it is far too cold for us to be standing around in this dreary weather. Might I suggest we follow young Mister Black back into the cottage?" Albus simply nodded his agreement, motioning for Hagrid to follow them. The half-giant needed a moment to collect his composure and get to his feet, then began to follow the two professors into the ruined cottage.

Sirius walked back into the cottage, unable to keep his eyes off of his sleeping Godson. He thought back to the day Prongs had told him that Prancer was going to be having a baby. He remembered the look of absolute terror James had on his face as he started talking nonsense about how he wasn't ready and he didn't know if he could do this. Sirius had reassured him, after a good bit of ribbing about the once proud Prongs being brought low by an unborn child. However, the biggest shock had been when Prongs had asked him to be the Godfather.

"Prongs you can't be serious!" he had protested.

"No, that'd be you, mate." James had said back, finally seeming to get a grip on himself and chuckling at the old joke.

"Ha ha, very funny. I'm not kidding around here James!" he knew that would get his friends attention. They never called each other by their real names unless all joking was out of the window. "You want me to take care of your kid if you and Lily kick the bucket before he grows up? I can barely take care of myself, mate!" he knew that wasn't entirely true, however he also knew that trying to make him responsible for something this important was a bad idea. "Speaking of Lily, how does she feel about all this? Does she even know you were planning on asking me this?" his eyes got wide at the thought of Prongs keeping a secret this big from his Prancer.

"Actually," James started, looking kind of boyish with his grin, "it was Lily's idea to ask you in the first place."

The world was ending. Lily must have lost her mind! She barely trusted him to be alone in a room for more than five minutes, and now she wanted him to be responsible for her child's life if the worst should happen? Sirius could barely wrap his mind around it.

"Look, Padfoot," James said, looking him dead in the eye. "I've thought long and hard about this, we both have." He put a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Normally I wouldn't care about giving the title to anyone, but--"

"There's a war on." Sirius finished for him, grasping what James was trying to tell him. He nodded and continued to look into his brother's eyes.

"We sat down and made a list of everyone we trust enough with our lives: You, Remus, Peter, Hagrid. I trust all of you with my life but Peter is already our Secret Keeper, Mooney has his 'furry little problems that wouldn't suit to raise a young child around, and Hagrid… well you know how he is with magical creatures. He'd probably try to give him a griffin for his birthday! You're the only one I would trust with Harry's."

The sound of the name left Sirius stunned. "Harry…?"

"I'm having a son, mate. Harry James Potter!" Sirius let all the information sink in.

"A little Prongslet." Sirius said with a smile on his face, and seeing the look on James' face, he knew what he had to say. "Alright Prongs; Merlin help me or Morgana damn me," he said with his usual dramatic flair. "I'd be honored to be Harry's Godfather." The look on James' face said it all as the two men embraced each other.

"Thanks, Uncle Padfoot." James whispered into his ear.

"For you, mate, anything."

Sirius came out of his thoughts, tears streaming down his face once more. At the time, they'd just been words that didn't mean anything. Sure, he had to go in with James and Lily to the Ministry to register as the boy's Godfather, but he never thought he'd have to uphold that responsibility, especially not so soon.

"Damn it, James," he thought to himself, "why'd you have to go and leave me in this mess?" Sirius had to shake his head to get that thought out. James hadn't wanted for him and Lily to die. He knew that James had looked forward to being a father, whatever else he might have said about not being ready. Sirius had been there on the day that Harry had been born, and while James looked terrified the first time he held his newborn son, Sirius could see the love and pride in James' eyes and he knew that Prongs would make an excellent father.

Sirius on the other hand, he had no idea what to do with a child! He'd never changed a diaper or rocked a baby to sleep except for the few occasions when he'd been watching Harry, and he didn't much care for the former.

"Aw, Pup, what am I going to do with you?" Sirius whispered, more to himself than for anyone else to hear, as he sat down on the sofa, still cradling the sleeping toddler in his arms.

Now in the light of the cottage, Dumbledore could get a better look at the sleeping boy nestled in Sirius' arms. The black cloth that Harry was wrapped in was indeed a cloak, but it was far too small to belong to anyone in the room or James Potter for that matter.

"Where did you find that cloak?" Dumbledore asked, eyeing it suspiciously.

"Harry was holding onto it when we found him. We figured it would work well to wrap him up when we go to take him out of here. Keep him protected from the cold, you know?" Emmaline Vance said in a low voice, her violet eyes resting on her feet as she spoke.

"May I?" Dumbledore asked, holding his hand out to inspect the cloak further. Sirius nodded as he carefully unwrapped Harry from the cloak, careful not to wake him. After receiving the cloak from Sirius, Dumbledore began looking over the entire thing until he found what he was looking for.

His fears coming to reality, as he saw on the chest of the cloak, an insignia. A large, green skull with a snake for a tongue, knotting itself up near the bottom. His symbol. Dumbledore turned the cloak around to show everyone what he had discovered, when suddenly the cloak burst into flames.

"Albus!" cried Minerva, but one look at the man's shocked expression told her he was not responsible.

Rage filled Sirius' dark eyes, but he was too exhausted, both physically and emotionally to do more than light the cloak aflame.

"Did you find anything else up in Harry's room? Anything that might have given any indication as to what happened?" Dumbledore asked. He tried not to sound impatient, but he knew that time was of the essence, as Tom could be returning at any moment.

"We didn't exactly conduct a thorough investigation, Albus." Remus said quietly. "We were a bit preoccupied, in case you couldn't tell." Dumbledore nodded his understanding, and turned on his heel heading for the stairs, Minerva following close behind him. Once they reached the nursery, Dumbledore pulled out his Deluminator and clicking it open, allowed three balls of light to escape, only to be left floating in the middle of the room like three miniature suns.

Quick as they could, Dumbledore and Minerva began to search the room for any indication as to what had happened. It took a while, as they didn't want to disturb the rubble too much, for fear of causing the barely standing room to collapse in on itself. After ten minutes of searching and finding nothing, they decided to head back down to the living room where their companions waited.

Just as Dumbledore had taken out his Deluminator to take in the light orbs, something caught his eye. He got on his hands and knees and looked under the crib where Harry had slept, and there, the white wood looking almost as if it had been charred, lay the wand of Lord Voldemort.

"Merlin's beard!" gasped Minerva, hardly believing her eyes.

"This can only mean one thing, Minerva," Dumbledore said with a sad smile on his face. "Lord Voldemort is gone." He walked past a shocked Minerva, Voldemort's wand in hand, as he walked back down to inform everyone of what he had discovered.

Upon nearing the foot of the stairs, he could hear Remus and Sirius talking amongst themselves. As he reached the bottom, he saw that Harry was now wide awake, and seemingly overjoyed that he had so many visitors to play with now.

What disturbed Albus, however, was a curious looking cut that was on the boy's forehead, jagged and in the shape of a bolt of lightning. Curiouser still was the fact that it wasn't bleeding and it wasn't red or swollen, like he would have expected it to be, it just was.

Harry gave the old man a hearty smile and a wave, then turned around and began playing with Emmie. Dumbledore smiled as he thought, "Ah, ignorance truly is bliss." He walked over to where Sirius and Remus were talking quietly amongst themselves, and upon his arrival, Sirius looked up at him and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about swinging on you like that, Old Man."

"Quite alright Sirius, I think you'll find that I'm quite capable of taking a hit from time to time. You're hurting, I know you are. You're doing quite well not to show it in front of Harry, but I can see it in your eyes."

Sirius nodded, fighting back a fresh batch of tears, when his eyes dropped to Dumbledore's hand, his eyes widening at what he saw. Following Sirius' eyes, Remus too saw the white piece of wood dangling from Albus' fingers.

"Albus," Remus said, hardly able to contain himself, "where did you…"

"Upstairs, under young Harry's crib. It would appear that our good friend Voldemort is no more." He replied with a warm smile on his lips. Getting more serious, he added, "For now, at least."

Confusion swept across the two younger men's faces as he continued.

"Would you mind if I took a closer look at Harry? There is something I would like to check for myself."

"We were going to ask you to have a look at him anyway." Remus replied, "While he looks perfectly fine, we can't be too careful."

"Plus, I don't much like the look of that cut on his head." Sirius added, "It seems… unnatural." He shuddered. Dumbledore nodded.

"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore called softly to the laughing toddler, getting his attention. "I have a fun game for you, come over here!" he gave his best grandfatherly smile as the black-haired toddler stumbled his way over to the smiling old man. As he reached down to pick Harry up, he gently laid a finger on the cut on his forehead, feeling for any traces of magic that could have been left.

A flash of green, a painful high-pitched scream and the sound of a mighty explosion flashed across Dumbledore's mind, almost too quickly for him to catch. Just as Dumbledore was about to pull away from Young Harry's mind, he felt what he feared he'd find. A dark, menacing magic that could only belong to one man. Dumbledore pulled out and sighed, placing Harry back on the ground looking confused.

"Game silly." Harry said, looking rather miffed that the game hadn't been as fun as the old man said, and he stumbled back towards Emmie.

"Well?" Sirius asked, looking worried.

"Physically, Harry is perfectly healthy." Sirius and Remus breathed a sigh of relief. "However," he continued, "that cut will remain with him forever as a scar."

"You mean you can't—" Sirius started.

"That cut is the result of a failed Killing Curse. There is no way to reverse it." Dumbledore began explaining what he had seen in the boy's mind, and giving his explanation as to what he thinks happened, starting with the betrayal of Pettigrew, and ending with how Voldemort had met his demise.

"The power of love truly is remarkable." He finished, looking around at the group gathered before him. Sirius had gone out the back door to vomit, the thought of almost losing his Godson, knowing that he was on the receiving end of a killing curse, too much to bear.

Coming back inside, Sirius could only manage to get himself seated back onto the sofa, visions of his days at Hogwarts with his three best friends swimming through his head. "Peter… why?"

"Earlier, when you first mentioned that Voldemort was gone, you said 'for now'." Remus said, looking confused. "What'd you mean by that?" Dumbledore gave a sad smile as he began to explain.

"Voldemort's body and his power are gone; however, it is my belief that during his years abroad, he created powerful, dark items. Items that contain pieces of his soul, allowing him to anchor himself in the physical world and remain alive, however slightly, until such a time that he can regain a new body and new power." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You were able to deduce all this by simply touching the cut on Harry's head?" Emmaline asked.

"Goodness, no." he chuckled slightly, "I have been doing research on Voldemort for quite some time now. However," he said, his voice getting more serious now, "I believe a part of his soul may now be intermingled with young Harry's here." A pin-drop could be heard as everyone allowed what he said to sink in, the only noise was the clattering of toys as Harry himself played at Hagrid's feet, marveling at the man's size. "I will do everything in my power to try and find a way to remove it from him, however, I do not know how long it will take." Dumbledore said. "This kind of magic is unprecedented, as far as I am aware. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so it may take years to discover how to get rid of the soul shard." Everyone looked like they had just been hit in the chest by a bucking hippogriff.

"I'll kill him." Sirius said, almost inaudibly under his breath.

"Voldemort is not currently a threat, Sirius, and I don't see how you'll be able to kill him in his current--"

"Not the snake," Sirius said, his body shaking from both rage and exhaustion, "the rat!"

Sirius made to get up, but Emmie got in front of him and pushed him back to the sofa, where she sat on his lap and threw her arms around his neck. She whispered something in his ear, and he only nodded, looking over at Harry playing with some junk that Hagrid had pulled out of his many pockets. His demeanor softened somewhat and he once again addressed the headmaster.

"Will he know?" Sirius asked, trying to stay calm, "Will he know there's something in him that's not… well him?" Dumbledore pondered for a moment before answering.

"He may develop certain talents that under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be able to do. However, if you're asking me if he will notice Voldemort's presence, while it's hard to say I would have to say no. At least," he corrected himself, "not while Voldemort is without physical form. Right now, I'd say he's little less than a ghost. It's possible that he will never return to any sort of power, however, it would be foolish to wait on such a hope. For now, however, I think we've all had enough excitement for one night." He finished as he looked around the room at the tired faces around him. "Will you be taking him back to Grimmauld Place, Sirius?"

Sirius looked shocked at the thought, having almost totally forgotten that Dumbledore knew of his new responsibility. After a brief consideration, Sirius shook his head.

"No, I don't ever want to see that place again."

"Where will you take him then?" Sirius pondered the question for a while. He hadn't really lived in a permanent setting in so long, having been moving around, fighting a war he lived mostly in a tent. As he looked up from his thoughts, he saw a picture of James' family sitting on the mantle-piece. He had almost completely forgotten.

"Right before Fleamont and Euphemia passed away," Sirius began, a light smile coming to his eyes, remembering how lucky he was to have such amazing people like the Potters in his life. "They made an addendum to their will, giving James this place and leaving Potter Manor to me." Dumbledore smiled. He knew all too well that Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were exactly the kind of people who would leave a house for their surrogate son.

"James never wanted the Manor," Sirius explained, "hated all the space. He preferred to live in something a bit more… cozy."

"I see," Dumbledore said, "so you'll be taking Harry to live at Potter Manor then?" Sirius nodded, although how he was going to get there with Harry, he wasn't sure. He couldn't exactly apparate with a toddler, and a portkey was equally out of the question. His skills on a broom weren't exactly bad, but he was never on James' level of flying, and he certainly wasn't about to risk Harry's life with it. He supposed he could take the Knight Bus, but he never did like that particular mode of transportation, plus, he wasn't sure he wanted to attract any unwanted attention to the attack on the cottage.

While Sirius sat there, pondering what he should do, Dumbledore spoke up, "Hagrid, you've been unusually quiet during all of this. Surely, you have something to add?" Hagrid sat pondering for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore sir," Hagrid said, not quite sure how to put it. "I've been… thinkin'… How exactly is Sirius supposed ter get ter the Manor from here, sir? With baby Harry I mean. I've been thinkin' and nothin' I can think of would seem to work. Except for maybe the Knight Bus, but…" he shrugged his shoulders, needing to explain no further. "It seems to me, sir, that there is really only one solution to this… particular problem."

"And, what might that be, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked solemnly, already getting the hint Hagrid was trying to give.

"Yes, I'd quite like to know that myself, Hagrid. I've been puzzling it over myself, but I can't seem to come up with anything that doesn't end in disaster!" Sirius exclaimed, hoping the half-giant's idea was a genuinely good one.

Instead of explaining himself, Hagrid got up and walked towards where Sirius stood, his hands in his pocket. "What are you—" Sirius said as Hagrid dropped a single key into his hand. It was a key that Sirius knew all too well, as it used to never leave his person. "Hagrid, I can't possibly—"

"Yeh can and yeh will!" Hagrid exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly. Calming himself down, he continued. "Look, Sirius, she still belongs ter you. I always figured I was just… borrowin' it. It may need a bit of a shrink but…" he once again shrugged as he indicated the three other wizards in the room, "I reckon it shouldn't be too difficult for the lot of yeh."

"But… How will you get back to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.

"I think I have an answer for that." Dumbledore said, walking closer to the pair. "Seeing as the wards are now completely gone from here, I can apparate to Hogsmeade and take Hagrid here alongside. If, that is, he doesn't mind holding the brooms Minerva and I brought along with us. They do belong to the school after all." He finished with a small smile. Hagrid puffed out his chest proudly, honored that Dumbledore would be willing to do something that would obviously put a lot of strain on him, just for his sake.

"I appreciate that, Professor Dumbledore sir, but I can' have you puttin' tha' much strain on yehself, now can I? No," he said with a note of finality, "no I figured I'd run a few miles north a here and call the Knight Bus m'self. Still got a couple a Sickles here somewhere." He rummaged around in the many pockets of his moleskin coat before pulling out seven small silver coins. "Righ'," he said, looking around at the lot of them, "I bes' be off… Sirius," the two men looked each other dead in the eyes, "you take good care of young Harry there." Hagrid fought back the tears that were threatening to spill over.

"Wouldn't think to do anything else." Sirius said, tears also in his eyes, but these tears, for the first time since he'd gotten the call from Dumbledore, were tears of happiness and gratitude.

With a final look around the room and a nod, Hagrid was out the door and into the early November morning, the sun just beginning to shine some light over the eastern horizon. Dumbledore smiled at the act of genuine kindness shown between the two men. "That's what we need more of" Dumbledore thought to himself.

Once Hagrid was out of sight, Dumbledore cleared his throat and announced that he would get the magical bike back down to its original size for Sirius. As he and Minerva walked outside, Emmie walked up to Sirius with a rather comfy looking white blanket that she had conjured.

"What are you—" Sirius said in bewilderment.

"Well you need BOTH hands to ride that death trap, don't you? How do you plan on holding Harry the whole way? Gonna grow an extra set of arms?" She chuckled as she tied the blanket around his neck, creating something of a hammock near his chest, and placed Harry, who was once again, fast asleep, into the makeshift hammock. "Here," she said as she waved her wand over the bundle and causing a warm sensation to fall over the whole thing, "that should keep him warm."

"Come with me, Em." Sirius said suddenly, looking more afraid than she ever remembered seeing him. "Remus and I… we don't know what we're doing. Please," his eyes looked lost, and she never could say no to him.

"I'll meet you there, okay?"

"But can't you just—"

"There is no way you will EVER get me to ride that thing with you." She smiled and before Sirius knew it, she had planted a quick peck on his cheek. "For good luck on your flight." Before Sirius could say anything else, she turned on the spot, and with a crack disapparated for Potter Manor.

"I'll meet you there too, Padfoot, I don't care much for heights," Remus said getting up from the sofa, "but don't expect a parting gift like that from me!" he smirked, the smile never reaching his eyes. With another crack, Remus too was gone.

Harry stirred in his bundle, and Sirius cast a quick Muffliato over him, sure that the sound of the bike would wake him. With one final look around at the old, broken cottage, and a final look at his best friends lying under the Gryffindor flag, he sighed. He hated leaving them like that, but he knew Dumbledore had likely already sent an owl to the Ministry to inform them of the attack, and he figured that if he moved them, there would be mass confusion. He walked out the door to see that he was now alone, and his now shrunken motorcycle was sitting there waiting for him.

"Well, ole girl, I had hoped to ride you again one day," he said, smirking as he remembered when he had first bought it. "I just wish it were under better circumstances." He sighed as he carefully threw one leg over the seat, and after turning the key in the ignition, kicked the old beauty to life.

"Time to bring you home, Pup."

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall sat in his office in silence. Well, mostly silence, as Professor McGonagall sat across from him, sobbing into her arms, her string demeanor finally having broken.

"W-when will it end, A-Albus?" she said, barely able to contain the hiccoughs that were coming on from her fatigue and crying.

"For now," he said, in his tenderest voice possible, looking at the other professor softly, "I feel that the worst is behind us. While he is too young to understand and doesn't realize it yet, Harry is now a hero to the wizarding world." McGonagall raised her head as she took in what he said. "For now, let the world have their peace. There may yet be a day when Voldemort returns and we will once again be forced to fight him. Until then, let us honor James' and Lily's sacrifice by living in the peace they fought so valiantly for." McGonagall nodded her agreement, knowing that that's what her cubs would have wanted.

"Yes, I do believe you're right, Albus." She said finally getting her voice under control and wiping the tears from her eyes. Dumbledore stood up and offered her his hand, and after she had taken it, he began to lead her to his office door.

"Now, Minerva," he said in a kind voice, "you have some much-needed rest to catch up on. You've not slept in days." She tried to protest, however she didn't have the energy, so she simply nodded her consent and left without another word. After she had left, Dumbledore walked over to a secret cabinet he kept near the window that overlooked the Black Lake and pulled out a bottle of Firewhiskey. After pouring out a generous glass and taking a sip of the amber liquid, he looked out over the lake, seeing the sunrise reflected on its dark surface and he remembered how Lily's favorite time of day was at sunrise.

Wiping a single tear from his old, wrinkled face, he raised his glass in a toast, "Wherever you may go, and whatever you may do, I wish you good luck, Harry Potter." And knocking back the rest of his drink with a practiced swig, he walked back to his desk. There were letters to write.

An hour after he had left the ruined cottage with Harry, Sirius touched down in front of Potter Manor, where a most welcome sight was there to greet him. Emmie and Remus stood at the end of the expansive driveway that led into the even more expansive manor. They both had a look of relief as he pulled up to them, glad that he was safe and that Harry seemed to be alright. Emmie had never seen Sirius looking so tired, as though at any moment he might collapse. The only thing that seemed to be keeping him up, was the knowledge of the fact that Harry needed him. Emmie smiled as Sirius got off the bike and walked over to where they stood, cradling Harry tenderly in his arms. He didn't need to be holding him at all as he was still nestled in the makeshift hammock she had made for him, but she understood. He needed to feel him in his arms, a source of comfort when all the world seemed to be crashing down on him. As Sirius approached, Emmie walked over and looked at Harry sleeping in his little nest, a thumb placed firmly in his mouth.

"No trouble then?" She asked tenderly.

"None at all. Little tyke was out before we left and he never so much as stirred the whole trip." Sirius replied with a tender smile.

"We had started to worry that you'd been ambushed or something." Remus said with a concerned look on his face. "What took so long?"

Sirius merely sighed and looked into her deep, amethyst eyes. "Sorry, mate," he smiled at him, feeling a little better now that they were all back together. "I went slower than I normally would have. I wish I could say it was solely for the Pup's sake, but--" he sighed deeply, not used to being so open about his feelings, "if I'm being completely honest, it was just as much for myself as it was for Harry."

"I understand completely." Emmie rubbed a hand down his coarse cheek, gently wiping away a tear that had fallen down his face. "Remus and I have spent the time waiting for you on getting the Manor clean and baby-friendly. It's been surprisingly light work. The manor seemed to be pretty clean when we got here." She said thoughtfully.

"Fleamont and Euphemia only died 3 years ago, and I think James had been having a house elf come around every couple of months since then to keep it tidy." Sirius said, remembering how Lily had hated the idea of using a house elf.

"Ah, that makes sense then." She said, looking back at the manor. "We found an old crib, looks like it came straight out of the 60's, but we managed to get it fixed up pretty well, so Harry has somewhere to sleep." Sirius nodded, he had figured Euphemia had kept James' old crib, and it warmed his heart, even if just a little, to know that Harry would sleep in his father's crib.

They had started walking up the old marble steps. Mooney had muttered something about Dumbledore and how he'd see them later and with a 'SNAP' he was gone. Sirius rather thought that he'd gone somewhere to be alone with his thoughts, but he didn't have the energy to argue.

Emmie followed Sirius up the marble staircase and into the foyer. Looking around at all the red and gold that adorned everything, Sirius couldn't help but smile sadly, thinking of all his years spent here in the Potter home, when he couldn't take living in the dark hell-hole that was the Black Residence. Seeing tears beginning to well in his eyes, Emmie grabbed Sirius by the hand and led him to where they had set up the nursery for Harry.

It was simple enough, or as simple as one could get in such an extravagant house. A small crib that looked freshly repaired, a changing table, a chest of drawers and in the corner, an enchanted rocking chair next to a small bookshelf full of wizarding fairy tales, as well as a few muggle ones as well. Sirius sighed as he gently placed young Harry in the crib, resting his head on the thin pillow there.

For a while, Sirius stood there, looking at his Godson; so peaceful was he, not knowing or caring that the two kindest most amazing people in the world were now gone forever. Sirius envied the boy, but at the same time, he wouldn't wish for him to experience this pain, not for all the Galleons in Gringotts.

After another minute or two, Sirius walked away from the crib and stood in the doorway of the nursery, with Emmie standing behind him, rubbing small comforting circles on his back.

Suddenly, his knees finally giving out, Sirius fell forward, and would have landed hard on his face if not for Emmie's quick wand work. She cast a quick hovering charm, and carried the now passed out man to the bedroom opposite the nursery. After gently placing Sirius down on the bed, she walked back toward the nursery, where she cast a series of charms over the crib that would alert her if Harry should wake up. Feeling confident that she would know when the boy was awake, she walked out and shut the door. Upon returning to the bedroom where Sirius slept, she cast a silencing charm over the door, just in case. She had a feeling that there were many nightmares to come.

Lying down next to Sirius, she smiled to see that at least, for now, he had a look of peace on his face, as the sleep took his emotionally drained mind and slowly began nurturing it. She knew when he awoke that he would be a total mess, but for now he was resting, and they could face whatever came later.

"Together" she thought, a smile gracing her lips as she snuggled up to the handsome man and fell asleep.

A/N: Well there you have it! I hope this chapter was enough to get you guys into the story I have planned, but let me know how you felt, and if you liked what you read so far, please feel free to Favorite and Follow it! Hopefully I can get the next chapter up quickly for you guys, until then... Peace!