Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

A/n: This chapter is the flashback from the first chapter but don't worry it wont be like reading the first chapter all over.

Chapter 17: Betrayal

Elizabeth and James walked into a muggle Bridal boutique; it was the last of the wedding plans. The wedding was in a month. Sirius had work and Order business, so Elizabeth had asked James to come with her.

"Oh god." Elizabeth said, surrounded by all the wedding dresses, "You've got to be kidding me." James chuckled.

"You've done this before." James said

"That was his mother's."

"What can I help you with?" One of the attendants asked.

"Uhh…a wedding dress." Elizabeth said.

"What kind are you looking for?"

"A white one?" Elizabeth said hesitantly; James snorted behind her.

"Okay, why don't you go in here-" She pulled back the curtain to a dressing room, "And I'll bring you some dresses. You can have a seat." She motioned to a chair facing the dressing room. The attendant came back a few minutes later with some dresses.

Elizabeth stepped out in the first one, it had puffy white sleeves and a skirt just as puffy; James made a face and so did Elizabeth. The next one she stepped out in had just as much puff in the skirt with long sleeves and a high neck, James grimaced at the dress. Elizabeth stepped out in a third one looking like a cupcake with lots of frills; James chocked back a laugh.

"Do you have any with a little less material?" Elizabeth asked exasperated as she stood on the pedestal, looking at herself in the mirror.

The attendant hurried out of the room, returning with a couple more dresses that had a considerable less amount of material.

"Perfect." Elizabeth said taking the dresses from her.

Elizabeth stepped out of the dressing room in a one-piece chiffon spaghetti strap gown with a sweetheart neckline and front ruching. The bodice has crystals cascading down the center and the back had a corset closure and illusion chiffon train. The dress hugged her curves. A smile took over James's face as he stared at her on the pedestal.

"This is it, huh?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Definitely."

"Okay, I'll take it." Elizabeth told the attendant.

Elizabeth was surprised when James appeared in hers and Sirius's fireplace, a week later, asking them over. Harry had already been put to bed when they arrived but that didn't stop Sirius from tiptoeing up stairs to get a peak at him.

"James, what's up?" Elizabeth asked as Sirius came back down the stairs.

James waited until Sirius took a seat next to Elizabeth, "Well, ummm…Dumbledore told us that Voldemort is focused directly on us and that he thinks that we are in grave danger." James took a deep breath, "He thinks we need to go into hiding and I think so too."

"What are you going to do?" Sirius asked.

"We're going to cast the Fidelius Charm." James nodded, "We're going to need a Secret Keeper." James looked to Sirius.

Sirius nodded, "Yeah. I'll do anything."

"Thanks mate."

Elizabeth sat at the flat waiting for Sirius to get back from James's. James thought it was best that Elizabeth not be there when the charm is cast and it was killing her slowly. It wasn't just the fact that James was like her brother and she cared for him dearly but he wasn't completely sure when the charm would be lifted and Elizabeth feared that he would miss the wedding; she knew she wouldn't be able to go through with it if he wasn't there to walk her down the aisle. Sirius came back, moody as ever; he refused to talk to her or even look at her. He was fuming; Elizabeth assumed that he was angry over the fact that he wouldn't be able to see James.

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He was late. Elizabeth should have known that he would be late; in the twenty years that she has known him, he has rarely been on time. Elizabeth had hoped, though, that tonight he would be on time; her nerves couldn't take him being late tonight, tomorrow is November first…the wedding day. Sirius promised to take her out tonight to help ease her nerves. The fireplace whirled in green flames.

"Finally." Elizabeth said, grabbing her purse and turning towards the fireplace but the man stepping out of it wasn't the one she was expecting, "Remus?" His eyes were red and puffy, "What's wrong?" She asked taking his arm, leading him towards the couch.

"Elizabeth." His voice cracked as he said her name.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked urgently.

"They're dead."

His words stopped her heart, "No, he wouldn't. He isn't…"

"They're dead and Sirius has just been arrested." Silent tears fell down his face.
The tears finally started falling down Elizabeth's cheeks as reality started to sink in. James is dead and Sirius has been arrested. Elizabeth had never felt so lost in her whole life. James and Sirius had always been there for her, always making sure she was safe and now they both were gone; she had let them down and he had let her down. Anger started to boil deep down in Elizabeth; it was his entire fault, he's betrayed them all. The clock on the mantel stuck midnight; in five hours she would have been getting married.

"He betrayed them." Remus said when he tried to wrap his arms around her and she shrunk away from him.

"You can't think…he couldn't…"

"They're dead." Remus said loudly, "He was the only with the power to save them and he killed them." Remus felt bad for yelling at her, "Voldemort is gone and Harry's still alive."

"What? How?"

"I don't know but Dumbledore wont say where Harry is." Remus said, "I'm going to go to the hearing." Elizabeth nodded slowly, letting him apparate out with her.

They sat in the back, in the shadows like ghosts. Elizabeth watched him being led in, the sight of him struggling against the chains on his wrist. He was roughly shoved into the chair in the middle of the room and chained into the chair. He tossed his hair out of his eyes, as he looked up at the room. Elizabeth wanted to run down to him; to save him from the chains and the eminent horror that she knew was coming.

"Sirius Black." Crouch's voice bellowed through the room, "You are sentenced to life in
Azkaban."

Elizabeth gripped Remus's hand; they didn't even give him a chance.

"It wasn't me. It was the rat. The rat." Sirius yelled and struggled as they removed him from the chair, "He was my best friend." The door slammed shut, silencing his cries.

Elizabeth couldn't sleep that night, she could smell him on the sheets and see him all around her; it was like torture. Elizabeth stared up at the ceiling; the only thing she could hear was her own breathing. Subconsciously she began playing with the ring on her finger then raised it above her face to stare at it. Elizabeth threw the covers off herself, she shoved the ring into it's box, a place it hasn't been since Sirius proposed, pulled a suitcase out of her closet, filling it with clothes then left.

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Elizabeth came back a few weeks later with no intent to stay. She packed up her stuff leaving it in storage while she was gone until she finally bought her own place but still never stayed long in England; she could never get over the hurt.

A/n: One more chapter…