Author's Note:

According to the site Gringotts Converter, the Wizard to Muggle Currency Converter of Gringotts Bank claims that 1,630 Galleon is £8,117 and 8 Pence.

Reviews and Comments: To Cornelia Spring: Thank you for saying the beginning is interesting, that I didn't rush it. I wanted to take my time and to show why even his closest friends might have felt doubt as to his innocence. To Ugly-Duckling123: I just think Crouch was kind of a pompous ass lol, but yes, also because Sirius is a Black. To E-Dett: Sirius will reconnect with his cousin, don't you worry. As to Narcissa and Draco secretly defecting from the Death Eaters? Well, as I said, I'm not sure how long this story will be or how far it will go. I love Remus and Tonks though, so they will definitely end up together. To ObsessedWithHPFanFic: Definitely not a fair trial, they don't want to admit they made a mistake. I love McGonagall being very forceful of her defence of Sirius. Thank you! To Claire Fraser: Thank you! And I know, having Remus look disgusted is hurtful, but he's confused.

Thank you so much for reading.

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER THREE:

The One Where James and Lily Die

"I'll do it," McGonagall said, standing up and moving to the centre of the room where Sirius was hanging in the cage. "He trusts me, which as we all know, makes extracting memories safer for all of the parties involved." She stopped in front of Sirius and gave him a small smile of reassurance. "That is of course, if that is all right with you, Mr Black?"

Sirius nodded, his grey eyes staring at her gratefully. He was too afraid to think about them actually setting him free and he could see that it was clearly the last thing that Crouch wanted: To be forced to admit that he had been wrong. He was intrigued however at the idea that Crouch was no longer an Auror, he wondered why that was, but he pushed it from his mind. He had more important things to be worrying about at the moment.

"It is. You have my full permission."

His lawyer (whose name he honestly couldn't recall) handed her three phials, nodding his acceptance of her taking on this task.

"Black, I need three memories: The one where the Secret Keeper was changed, the night of Halloween 1981, and the day that you tracked down Pettigrew and were arrested."

Sirius nodded and concentrated as McGonagall's wand brushed his temple. Five minutes later, all three phials were full and the Auror called Dawlish had returned with the Pensieve.

Crouch carefully opened the first phial and poured the memory inside. He muttered an amplifying charm and the Pensieve flashed above the room onto the ceiling so that the entire Wizengamot and jury could view the memory.

Sirius watched it unfold, tears blurring his vision as the memory of his friends, his true family, played before him and making him feel like they were in the room with him once again.

"I'm just saying, Evans, I remember how much Prongs drove you crazy, it only makes sense that you'd be annoyed by him still." Sirius said as he wiped Harry's face with a washcloth, trying to get all of the carrot mush off of his nephew's chin.

"It's Potter now, Black, and oh, I am annoyed with him, but only because he keeps inviting you over."

"Aw, come on, Lily, you know you love me," Sirius said kissing her cheek. "I'm your favourite Marauder, we all know that you just married James as a front."

Lily rolled her eyes, tucking her long red hair behind her ear. "Oh, you caught me, Black. I'm madly in love with you." She turned to pick up Harry from his high chair. "Ignore your crazy uncle Padfoot, Harry. He's a moron."

"Hey! I take offence to that!"

Lily laughed and handed her son to him. "Go play with your godson while I clean up in here."

Sirius bounced Harry in his arms who cooed happily at him. "Come on, Prongslet, we have manly things to do."

He left Lily in the kitchen laughing at him as he carried Harry in his arms. He greeted James and Peter who were sitting in the living room.

"Here's your son, Prongs; all fed and cleaned up by yours truly."

James took Harry, smiling happily as he kissed the top of his son's head. "Hi, Harry, did Uncle Padfoot make a big mess feeding you dinner?"

Harry only waved his arms and muttered, "Padfoof!"

James grinned and kissed his son again, sliding down to the floor to let Harry wander as he toddled around, almost running, even though he had only been walking for three months. "Flirting with my wife again, too?"

Sirius only smirked. "I told her that we should run off together. She only rolled her eyes at me. I'm wearing her down."

"You know Lily loves me. And that you are the last person that I can imagine tying himself down, ever, let alone Lily actually running off with."

"True. But maybe if it was for someone as amazing as Lily, I'd consider the scary commitment thing."

James grinned at his friend, slapping his shoulder. "I'm the luckiest bloke alive, I know." He used his wand to make the tiny toy cars and trucks zoom around the room for Harry's amusement before he turned to his friends. "I asked you guys here tonight for an important reason. Moony's keeping busy underground otherwise I'd ask him to be here as well, but Dumbledore thinks that we have a spy amongst us."

"What?" Peter squeaked, his eyes widening. "D-d-does he know who it is?"

James shook his head, sending the fire truck racing towards his laughing son. "I don't think so. He warned Lily and I to be on our guard. After our last near escape from Voldemort… well, he's after Harry now. We know that for sure."

"Do you know why?" Sirius asked, watching his giggling godson in amusement. "I mean, I'm sure that he's a bright kid, Prongs, but Harry's not exactly going to be duelling Voldemort to the death any time soon. Why would he care about a baby?"

"Voldemort wants him dead… we don't know why; maybe out of spite for Lily and I seemingly always escaping his grasp. I don't know." He smiled when Harry plopped himself onto his lap and snuggled close, yawning. "But for now, the spy is the problem. Dumbledore is worried that Lily and I will be compromised and he wants us to go deeper underground."

"You've already stopped doing almost everything, Jamie, and now he wants you to be even more underground? You and Lily have been hiding for months as it is!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes wide.

James dragged his fingers through his hair. "It's the last thing that I want to do, Sirius. All I do lately is sit around and do nothing to help with this war while my friends are out there risking their lives every day, but if it will save the life of my wife and my child — I won't hesitate. And I know that we talked about it before with Remus here last week, officially going underground and having a Secret Keeper to hide our location. But it's something that needs to be done. Today. We need to figure out who the spy is or none of us will be safe."

Peter shifted uncomfortably and his friends turned to look at him.

"What's up, Pete?" James asked as Harry crawled over to Peter and handed him his fire truck.

Peter let out a long breath before he spoke, accepting the truck from Harry and zooming it off with his wand so that Harry could chase it. "I-I didn't want to say anything."

"Say what?" Sirius asked, his eyes on Peter.

"I think… I mean… I've had some suspicions about a spy myself. Things that I've learned on my missions who… who I've only told one person about, that have found their way to You Know Who and his Death Eaters." Peter said quietly, his eyes darting between his two friends. "I thought maybe that I was just getting paranoid, you know, but after hearing this from you guys, maybe I'm not so paranoid."

James' arms reached out to steady Harry as he tripped over his feet in his attempt to catch the fire truck zooming across the floor. "Go on, Pete."

Peter sighed. "I think it's Remus."

"WHAT?" Sirius exploded causing Harry to start to cry.

"Shh, Harry, it's okay," James soothed, glaring at his friend as he picked his son up. "Don't scare the baby, Sirius!"

Sirius ignored James and glared at Peter. "How dare you fucking accuse Remus of being a spy, Wormtail? Remus would never!"

Peter shook his head, his eyes wide and fearful. "I don't want to believe it, Sirius! But I've told him things about my missions! About how Greyback seems to be working closely with certain Death Eaters and about how your brother got killed and… and well, things that the Death Eaters than used against us! How did they find out, Sirius? How did they know that we would be in Glasgow a few months back or in Piccadilly?"

Sirius shook his head, his grey eyes stormy in denial. "Remus would never fucking betray us, Peter!"

"Siri!" James hissed, tilting his head at Harry. "Children are about!"

"Peter's trying to say that Remus is the spy, Jamie! Language isn't my concern at the moment," Sirius said, glaring at Peter. "Remus would never fucking betray any of us and you should be fucking ashamed for even bloody thinking it!"

"Fuck!" Harry exclaimed, grinning widely as James glared at his friend.

"Way to go, Uncle Padfoot," James muttered. "That's a very bad word, Harry, and Uncle Sirius shouldn't have said it."

"Fuck!" Harry said again and James covered his face with his hands.

"I'm telling Lily that this is all your fault."

"What did Sirius do now?" Lily asked as she came into the living room.

"Padfoof fuck!" Harry said and Lily's eyes widened before she cuffed Sirius across the back of the head.

"Sirius!"

"I'm sorry, it just slipped out!" Sirius said, trying not to laugh. "But Pete is trying to convince Jamie and I that Remus is the spy and it made me angry!"

"I don't want it to be Remus," Peter said softly. "But what about Marlene?"

James looked at his friend darkly. "Don't say her name, Pete. Lily… she doesn't want to hear her name."

"It's all right, Jamie," Lily said, moving to sit on the floor next to her husband and to cuddle her son who immediately crawled towards her. "It hurts, but I can hear her name. I don't think that I'm ever going to get over losing one of my best friends. What about Marly, Pete?"

Peter hesitated before he spoke. "I told Remus that Marlene and Mary were hiding out in Glasgow after You Know Who's attack on their families. Two days later, McKinnon was murdered by Death Eaters."

"That's just a coincidence, Pete," James said softly. "It's pure conjecture. Remus would never hurt Marlene."

"I told him where I hid Mary to keep her safe and three days later, Mary was murdered by Death Eaters," Peter told them softly. "I don't want to believe it. Please tell me that I'm wrong, but… Remus is the only person that I told."

Sirius crossed his arms in front of him. "It's a coincidence, nothing more. I'll talk to Remus when he comes back tomorrow."

Peter nodded, holding his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I trust you guys. If you think that I'm wrong, than I'm wrong. I just thought that with Moony's missions among Greyback… the way he's become rather attached to that Roberts bloke and his disciples… that maybe something in him snapped. But I hope to Merlin I'm wrong."

Lily reached out to squeeze Peter's hand in her own. "It's not Remus, Peter — it just can't be."

Peter stared down at where Lily's hand held his. "I hope you're right, Lily."

Lily let go before she turned to Sirius. "Did Jamie tell you that Dumbledore wants us to go deeper into hiding?"

Sirius nodded, still glaring at Peter. The thought of Remus being the spy was preposterous, but Peter's words were echoing in his head in a way that made him very uncomfortable. Marlene McKinnon dead; Mary McDonald dead — Remus was NOT responsible. He couldn't be. He shook the thoughts away and smiled at Lily.

"Yes, he did."

"He wants us to use the Fidelius Charm to keep ourselves completely hidden in plain sight with the protection of our chosen Secret Keeper. We talked about this last week and about how we considered you, Sirius," Lily explained, smiling when James wrapped his arm around her. "Remember how Remus agreed and said that it was a great idea?"

"Dumbledore offered to be our Secret Keeper when we told him that we discussed it with the three of you," James told them as Sirius and Peter stared at them in surprise. "But I told him no. I wanted Sirius."

"What? Why? Dumbledore is like the strongest wizard alive, James! He defeated Grindelwald for Merlin's sake!" Sirius exclaimed, still surprised that his friends had chosen him. Even after a week of thinking about it, it still shocked him.

"I know," James said. "And I trust him, but I trust my friends more. Rem agreed with me that you are the best choice, Sirius."

Peter nodded as Harry came towards him again, crawling into his lap and reaching for the toy car that Peter had been fiddling with.

"Mine, Wormy, mine!" Harry said, smiling when Peter handed him the car.

Peter smiled and showed Harry how to make the car move. "Like this, Harry, see —vroom!"

"Voom!" Harry said, grinning widely and making himself comfortable on Peter's lap, car in hand.

James nodded, smiling at his son. "We'd like Sirius to do it. He's Harry's godfather after all… and I would trust him with my son's life."

"As would I." Lily said, smiling at Sirius. "Will you do it, Sirius?"

Sirius stared at them in surprise. "I'd be honoured." He smiled when Harry crawled off of Peter's lap and into his, wrapping his arms around the baby. "You really want me?"

"Sirius, I trust my Marauders more than anything in the world, but you have been like a brother to me; are my brother in every way that counts especially after my parents took you in. You are the best of my best friends and I want you to be the Secret Keeper."

Sirius nodded and then he frowned. "No."

"What?" Lily asked in surprise, her fingers twining with James'.

Sirius shook his head as Harry crawled up his chest and tugged on his hair. Sirius carefully pried the tiny fingers off of his shiny locks and used his wand to make the cars zoom across the floor again.

"I'm honoured, beyond honoured actually - but what James just said is why it shouldn't be me."

"I don't follow," Peter said, staring at Sirius in surprise. "He said that he trusts you."

"As he should," Sirius said, calmly. "But Voldemort will know. Think about it, Jamie — we are brothers. We have always been side by side in everything. You made me best man at your wedding; hell I even walked Lily down the aisle because her own father couldn't be there. You made me godfather to your son. Of course he's going to know it's me! I'm the bloody most obvious choice!"

"I don't see why that's a bad thing, Sirius," Lily told him and then her eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. "He'll go after you."

Sirius nodded. "Let him! I'm not scared of Voldemort, what I'm scared of is something happening to you three… Pete!"

Peter jumped at the rather sudden exclamation of his name and he rubbed a hand over his right forearm. "Yeah?"

"You should choose, Peter." Sirius suggested, his eyes alight now. "Voldemort would never think of Peter."

Peter shrugged at that, smiling nervously at his friends. "I am the least formidable opponent, it's true."

"No," Sirius said with a laugh. "Not that, Pete, but that Voldemort would obviously think it's me, not you. It would be sending him on a wild goose chase."

James nodded in understanding. "You do have a point." He looked at his wife, gently brushing her hair back from her face. "But it's not just me that has to make this choice."

Lily looked over at her husband. "Pete's a Marauder, of course we trust him."

Peter stared at them in surprise, his eyes alight with a gleaming happiness. "I would be honoured."

Sirius slapped his hands on his thighs. "You can even stay here in Godric's Hollow, Voldemort will never know. Halloween is next week. We'll all come over and dress Harry up."

Lily laughed. "I bought him a pumpkin costume, it's so adorable."

James grinned and kissed his wife's cheek. "Okay, Pete, let's do this. Lily will perform the charm now. Sirius, you'll protect him?"

Sirius grinned at Peter, clapping a hand to his shoulder. "With my life. Let's do it."

The memory faded from view and the entire courtroom was quiet. Sirius watched as McGonagall took the memory from the Pensieve and carefully slipped it back into his mind, the warm pressure of the memory against his temple only reminding him of the tears that rolled unabashedly down his cheeks.

"Well, Mr Black was indeed not the Secret Keeper. Onto the night of Halloween then, 1981." Crouch said, pouring in the next memory and amplifying it above as he had the first, for the entire courtroom to see.

"James, does Lily really have him dressed up as a pumpkin?" Sirius asked the mirror in his hand as he pulled his helmet off to hang it over the side of his motorbike and made his way down the street.

James' face was in the mirror in his hand and he grinned widely. "Yeah, look at him!"

He held Harry up to the mirror in his pumpkin costume and Harry grinned.

"Siri! Padfoof!"

Sirius grinned, running his fingers through his hair to make sure that it wasn't too messy from the helmet. "He looks fucking adorable."

"Fuck!" Harry repeated and Sirius winced.

James laughed. "I know, right? Deanna Kane sent it from her trip across the pond. And stop swearing around him — he copies you!"

"Moony's got a worse off mouth than me! He's the one that got him saying shite and tosser!" Sirius exclaimed as Harry then proceeded to shout out those two words and he winced. "Sorry, Prongs."

"Lily is going to beat both of you to death if you don't control your language around him! Anyway, listen we'll dress him up again when you get here. I'm going to take it off of him now so that we can feed him dinner. The kid makes way too much of a mess," James told him with a grin.

Sirius chuckled at that. "Should be there soon. I'm heading to Pete's flat now."

"Gotcha, see you blokes when you get here — and stop swearing, you git!"

Sirius laughed as the mirror went blank in his hand and he was left staring down at his own face. He shrunk it down before he tucked it away in his pocket and hurried his pace down to the end of the block and up the steps to the third floor. Peter's flat was quiet and Sirius was pleased to see all of the wards were still strongly in place.

He let himself inside, tugging his scarf loose in the heat of the room. "Pete!"

There was no answer so he made his way into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of a water, drinking it eagerly. After a few moments of still not hearing movement, he began to wander the flat in search of his friend. Finding it empty, he frowned checking his watch.

It was ten after five, Peter should have been home from work over an hour before and he had known Sirius was coming by for five. He waited a little longer, looking out the window for any signs of his friend, but he only saw a normal street below.

He tapped his fingers on his leg, checking his watch again. Maybe something had happened with Peter's mother as lately she hadn't been doing well. He glanced towards the Floo and contemplated calling her to check in and then changed his mind as the clock struck half past. He didn't want to needlessly worry her.

But something didn't feel right.

He locked the flat up behind him and hopped onto his motorbike, using the new flying mechanism that he had installed as he flew straight to Godric's Hollow. He quickened his speed as he landed and moved down the street and the sight of the Dark Mark blazing green and high in the sky tore through him. He jumped off of the bike as it crashed onto its side and he started to run.

The sight of the cottage made him fist his hands over his heart. The front gate was blown open and the entire left side of the house, the second floor where Harry's nursery sat, was blown apart. Sirius gasped for breath as he hurried into the house.

"JAMES! LILY!"

His eyes widened when he saw James sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, his glasses askew on his face, his hazel eyes always so full of light staring blankly ahead. The sob tore threw him and he crumpled to the ground at his friend's feet.

"James! You've never lost a duel, what the fuck happened?"

He grabbed his friend's hand, holding it to his heart and that's when he noticed that there was no wand. He jumped to his feet, tears welling up in his eyes as he found the wands of both James and Lily sitting on the couch in the living room next to a pumpkin Halloween costume and a camera.

"Fuck," he muttered, clutching the wands in his hands. "Jamie, you idiot! Why didn't you have your wand?" He swiped furiously at the tears and then he thought of Lily's wand… had she still managed to Apparate away?

He bolted up the stairs and he choked back another sob as he saw Lily lying in front of Harry's crib, her red hair full of blood and her green eyes staring blankly ahead. But it was the body of the pale dark haired wizard lying next to her that caught his eye.

Voldemort was dead.

"Siri! Padfoof!"

Sirius' heart literally stopped as he saw Harry standing in his crib, arms outstretched for him. His little chubby cheeks covered in tears and blood.

He stepped over Lily, picking up her son and cradling him into his arms. "Harry, little man, it's okay. Uncle Sirius is here."

He used his wand to clean the blood away from Harry's face and frowned at the lightening bolt cut that sprang from his forehead. He attempted to heal it, but it didn't work, so he kissed it softly and snuggled the baby to him.

His eyes fell on the form of Voldemort and they darkened. He pointed his wand at the body and flung it out of the hole in the side of the nursery, watching it splatter on the ground below. He would not let that monster rest beside Lily Potter.

He kissed Harry's cheeks as he made his way downstairs, trying to shield Harry's eyes from the sight of his dead parents as tears rolled down his own cheeks.

"I've got you, Harry, don't worry. Uncle Padfoot's got you."

"Mumma! Dada!"

Sirius only shook his head and kissed Harry's cheeks. "I know, Prongslet, I know."

He stepped onto the front porch and then he finally collapsed to his knees, cradling Harry close and he cried.

It was where Hagrid found him ten minutes later.

"Sirius."

Sirius' tear-stained face looked up at him. "Hagrid. James and Lily… they're dead!"

Hagrid nodded, helping the young man to his feet. "Yeh need ter give me 'Arry, Sirius."

"What? No!" Sirius exclaimed, holding Harry tighter against him, "I'm his godfather, he stays with me!" Hagrid reached for Harry and Sirius jumped back, holding the child closer and away from Hagrid's reach. "He belongs with me, Hagrid!"

"Sirius, Dumbledore asked me ter come take 'im. 'E needs ter be wit' his family now."

"I AM HIS FUCKING FAMILY!"

Hagrid looked sad, his large hand squeezing Sirius' shoulder in reassurance. "Sirius, 'e needs blood protection. Yeh aren't 'is blood."

Sirius shook his head, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I am his family, Hagrid."

"Sirius, give him ter me. 'E'll be safe, I promise. Lily's sister will take care of 'im."

Sirius stared at him for a long moment. "Petunia? She hated Lily!"

Hagrid smiled sympathetically. "She'll take care of 'Arry."

Sirius' hands trembled as he finally passed the baby to Hagrid and Harry cried out for him. He leaned in to kiss Harry's cheek. "I love you, Harry. I'll come see you soon, okay?"

"Padfoof! No!"

Sirius smiled at his godson and then he turned his attention to Hagrid. "There's something that I have to do. Take my bike, Hagrid." He tossed him the keys. "I won't be needing it."

The memory ended there and Crouch nodded at Sirius as McGonagall again retrieved the memory and planted it back into his mind. Crouch poured the final memory into the Pensieve and one last time amplified it across the wall.

Sirius marched down the block, following Peter's trail from where he had chased him from his mother's house. He hadn't Apparated away, but instead had made a run for it, surprising Sirius more than anything as he followed him to the end of the crowded block.

"Think being in a crowd of Muggles is going to save you, Wormtail?" Sirius exclaimed, grabbing Peter by the shoulder and punching him in the face.

Peter fell to the ground, his nose bleeding. "S-S-Sirius!"

"Don't you even start with me, Pete! You tried to fucking turn us against the other! You tried to convince Jamie and I that Rem was the spy! Did you do the same to Remus? Is that why he said that he couldn't trust me? Did you tell him that I was the fucking spy?" He kicked Peter in the ribs and Peter whimpered. "And it was you all along! You spineless little worm! WE TRUSTED YOU!"

He raised his wand, but for the first time in his life, Peter was faster. Sirius was blasted back by the explosion, his ears ringing.

"HOW DARE YOU BETRAY JAMES AND LILY, SIRIUS? HOW DARE YOU?" Peter bellowed into the crowd, blood dripping from his right hand.

Sirius jumped to his feet, his ears ringing and his wand out. Then his eyes widened as he watched Peter transform into a rat and make a beeline for the sewer. Sirius slipped in the blood of the bodies near him as he tried to go after him just as six Aurors and Hit Wizards Apparated around him.

"Sirius Black, you are under arrest! Drop your wand!"

The laugh snuck out of him in desperation as he dropped his wand to the ground.

Peter fucking Pettigrew had tricked all of them and he had never even seen it coming.

The last memory finished and Sirius said nothing as McGonagall again returned it to his head. The lawyer whispered to him that this would be the decision. Sirius kept his eyes on Crouch as he conferred with the people around him for almost ten minutes and then, finally, he nodded and stood up.

"Sirius Orion Black, after hearing your statements before and after obtaining truth serum; after using the revealing charm on your wand, and after viewing your memories, I regretfully admit that we were wrong and that you are innocent of all of the charges brought against you at this time." He held his hand up to silence the room. "The court will compensate you one thousand six hundred and thirty Galleons, one for each day that you were held wrongfully as a prisoner in Azkaban Prison."

Sirius snorted at that, but breathed a sigh of relief when the cage was opened and Moody waved his wand, dropping the chains and he rubbed his raw and bruised wrists gently. Dawlish approached him and handed him the wand that had been taken from him the moment that he had dropped it on command; held in the Azkaban offices until his death (where it would then be broken) or in the rare case that he was to be set free.

His eyes moved to where Remus had been sitting and was surprised to find his old friend had left the courtroom altogether and he felt a wave of sadness at that.

Had he stayed the whole time?

Why had he left?

Did he still think that he was guilty?

He found himself embraced by McGonagall before he could wonder more about it and he hugged her back fiercely. She had always been there for him and now he owed her his life.

"Minnie, thank you! Thank you for believing in me!" he told her, kissing her cheek as she pulled away.

McGonagall beamed at him. "Always." She hugged him again as Dumbledore stepped towards them.

"Sirius, I am glad to learn that you have been cleared of all charges. Minerva was most insistent on your innocence and I am only sorry that it took so long for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Wizengamot to see reason in allowing you to sit a fair trial for your crimes." Dumbledore told him, shaking his hand. "You are a free man now."

Sirius nodded. The words still seemed to be a surprise to him. He said goodbye to them both and found himself face to face with his Aunt Druella. "Hi, Auntie."

Druella Black sneered at him. "I thought that when you were sent to prison that you had actually manned up and did something for once in your pathetic life, but I can see now that even that was too cowardly for you. You couldn't even kill an old school friend. Your parents were right to be disappointed in you. You're worse than my blood traitor of a daughter."

"Always nice to talk to you too, Auntie," Sirius called out after her as she stormed out and Sirius found himself standing almost alone in the middle of the courtroom, unsure of where to go or what to do next.

He was free.

But what did that mean for him?