Disclaimer: Of course I own Harry Potter. Psh

Chapter Seven: New Residence

Before James could begin explaining to Sirius and Remus, Peter came into the room. Failing to notice the look that James sent him for interrupting, the pudgy man greeted Sirius and looked over his friend's injuries with worry.

While Sirius eased Peter's nerves James took the moment of distraction to rethink his strategy. 'If what Dumbledore said is true, then the Secret Keeper's life is in danger as well. The fewer people who know about this, the better.'

James watched as Sirius playfully punched Peter in the arm and the blonde man launched into a tale about his grandmother, who had apparently fallen down the stairs and then turned the grandfather clock into a mushroom in her rage. Remus was grinning at both of them and turned to James, his mouth open to tell him something, and then promptly closed his mouth again at the look on James' face. "What's wrong James?"

Sirius and Peter both turned to James at Remus' words. James flushed from the sudden attention. "I need to talk with Sirius in private about the attack, if you guys don't mind."

Peter opened his mouth to protest but Remus stood up and took Peter by the arm. "No problem James. We'll go visit Harry." Remus said, not at all offended that just a moment ago James had promised to fill Sirius and himself in on what had happened. They both left the room without any questions, although Peter looked like he wanted to ask some.

Sirius was looking at James with a questioning look. "So…Prongs, what's up?"

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He decided to simply launch into the tale, so he started at the beginning. James told Sirius of Dumbledore approaching him and Lily after the last meeting and of the prophecy concerning either Harry or Neville.

"And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives," James recited what Dumbledore had told him. Sirius remained quiet throughout the story, staring at James with an awed look on his face.

James ended the long tale with the night he and Lily had been looking through photographs searching for a Secret Keeper, and who they had finally settled on. James looked up to meet Sirius' wide surprised eyes.

"You want me to be Secret Keeper then? You know tonight when they were talking to me, Bella and the other guy I mean, they were asking me where Harry was. Now I know why. Harry's got to kill Voldemort or die trying is what I got from all of that. Am I right?" James nodded with solemn eyes. Sirius looked at James with sympathy.

"Mate…that sucks."

James nodded. "Tell me about it. Harry was just born and already his life is in the balance. It doesn't seem fair." James lowered his head. "But that's where you come in Padfoot. You can keep Harry safe, prevent anything form happening to him, by agreeing to be our Secret Keeper." James looked up and seeing the look on Sirius' face he hastily added, "You don't have to accept of course. We could…"

"What are you daft? Of course I'll do it."

James grinned from ear to ear and embraced Sirius, careful of his injuries. "You really are the best mate ever. I've got to go tell Lily!"

James pointed at a house. "How about that one?"

Lily shook her head and wrapped Harry tighter in his blanket. "Not enough yard. When Harry gets a little older he's going to want to run around a lot. I can tell." James smiled and flipped the page.

"Oooh! Wicked! This house is in a muggle neighborhood but is secluded by a bit of forest that cuts it off from the rest of the houses. It's a two-story cottage with a large yard, plus those woods would effectively hide somebody if they needed to be running away from something." He added the last part with noticeable vagueness.

Lily hit him in the arm. "Stop that. Don't think so negatively." She leant over his shoulder to look at the picture and description of the house. "Godric's Hollow? You have got to be kidding me. I though you said it was a muggle neighborhood?"

James shrugged. "It is, must be a coincidence is all. What do you say?" Lily furrowed her brow and glared at the picture. Her forehead finally evened out and she smiled. "All right then, it looks cozy."

"This one?"

"No."

"This one."

"No."

Remus flipped the next page. "This one for sure."

"No."

The werewolf threw up his hands in frustration. "What the bloody hell is wrong with this one?"

Sirius frowned, propping up his bandaged leg as he did so. "It only has a washer. I want a dryer too."

Remus rolled his eyes and growled softly in the back of his throat, trying to suppress the instinctual urge to strangle the man sitting next to him. "Sirius, you can dry your clothes by magic. Wash them by magic too if you want. The muggle appliances don't matter."

"They matter to me."

Remus threw the newspaper at Sirius and stood up, stretching his back. "Look. I already found an apartment." Remus spread his arms out wide to emphasize the apartment he and Sirius were sitting in. "You need to find one still and I'm tired of you sleeping on my couch. Stop being so picky!"

Sirius pouted. "You already had an apartment. This is where you went for full moons. It's not so easy finding a place like this." Remus looked around again to see if he and Sirius were talking about the same apartment. Ratty couch, torn up wallpaper, no food. Yup, same apartment.

Sirius pulled the paper from where it had landed behind a cushion and flipped it open to a page featuring apartments in the downtown muggle London area. "This ones not so bad," he muttered, pointing to a one bedroom flat.

"Good." Remus grabbed his friend by the jacket and shoved him at the door gently, careful of his leg, and handed Sirius his crutches. "Now get out of my flat and go buy that one!"

Sirius shoved the door of his one-month old flat open and collapsed onto his sofa, not even bothering to take off his shoes or jacket.

Since the nearest floo or apparation point was a good five blocks away from his flat, Sirius spent the better half of his morning maneuvering around speeding muggles in cars and motorbikes. By the time he got to work he was in no mood for Death Eaters, today had made irritated him especially.

Not only was Scrimegour so far up his ass he could taste Brillcream in the back of his throat, all because he had filled out one report wrong, but Edgar Bones and his family had been attacked for the second time this month.

Sirius had long since figured out that Edgar was the Longbottom's Secret Keeper, if the fact that he was continuously being attacked was not enough, then it should be noted that Edgar and Frank had been best mates at Hogwarts.

Sirius groaned and picked up the clicker from the coffee table. He flipped over onto his side, propping up his head with his open hand, to watch muggle reruns.

When he was sixteen and running from his parents, he had lived with James and his elderly parents. So Sirius was there on James' 16th birthday when he received a television. Sirius was completely amazed when James plugged in the TV. Not only was there a moving picture like in photographs, but there was sound too!

Now Sirius had become an expert on televisions, he could even work the new plastic thing that had come with the TV. Remus called it a clicker. When one pressed a colorful button on the plastic device the channel changed or the volume went up. Frankly, Sirius found it amazing.

Sirius wasn't, however, as taken with the other muggle appliances lining his new home. He had turned on the blender the first day he had spent in his new apartment and had almost gotten his hand sliced off. He stayed away from that. Sirius also thought that the refrigerator might be alive. It kept humming at him and sometimes it even woke him up at night. If he didn't have to, he avoided the kitchen all together, preferring to get his meals in the Ministry cafeteria.

Sirius checked his watch. Peter was supposed to come by later for drinks and then they were going down the road to the floo point to visit Remus. The full moon had passed only two days ago and they wanted to check in on him.

Sirius frowned and concentrated his attention back on a show called Coronation Street. He had been moody for quite a while now, and people at the office had even started commenting on it. He knew why his mood was so bad all the time now. Remus and Peter were feeling lousy too. They were missing James, Harry, and Lily.

James still came into the office, but only on late, late night shifts and he had a complicated series of floos at different locations to get there, so the marauders never got see their unofficial leader. What was even worse was that they never saw Harry or Lily anymore. Lily was taking an At Home Healer program so she could stay at their new house with Harry. They were safe, but Sirius couldn't help but feel that they could venture out every now and again.

So far Sirius had not had any trouble with Death Eaters but he figured he would soon and he would be forced to move around as often as the Edgar if he wasn't careful.

A knock at the door distracted Sirius and he felt for his wand in his pocket. He had been jumpy whenever someone knocked on the door ever since Bellatrix and another Death Eater had attacked him and Harry a month and half ago.

Sirius made sure to look through the peephole before undoing the two bolt locks and letting Peter into the apartment.

Later that night as the two walked down a deserted alley about a block from the floo point, Peter cleared his throat and started fidgeting nervously with his wand in his pocket.

Sirius cast an amused glance at his friend. "What's up Wormy? Something on your mind?" Peter turned to look behind them and he looked up at his much taller friend. "N-nothing really. I just have a bad feeling is all."

Sirius frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"Because it feels like we're being watched. Call me paranoid, but I don't like it at all." Peter muttered in a hurried whisper.

Sirius looked about him. True, they were in a deserted area perfect for a blind attack. The many twisting alleys could provide a hiding place for any Death Eater, but they could also work as a getaway system if things got messy. Like Moody said, always vigilant! Sirius put his hand near hi pocket just in case and smiled at Peter to calm him down.

"I wouldn't worry about it Worms. I'd like to see someone take on the splendor that is Padfoot." Sirius flexed his muscles and laughed.

Peter gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, you'll scare 'em off no problem with that limp noodle for an arm."

Sirius fell back a pace; a hand flew to his forehead as he pretended to be offended. "Oh, now you've wounded me. You're calling me a noodle? At least I don't have the complexion of a noodle, unlike someone else in this alley I know."

Peter opened his mouth to retaliate when a crash startled them both. They pulled their wands out and scanned the alley with their eyes.

"See anything Sirius?" Peter asked, inching slowly to the right.

"Nah, might have been a rat or a stray dog or…something. Let's keep moving." Sirius turned to keep walking down the alley when a hand caught him from behind and muffled his shout of surprise.

His attacker's other arm came around and trapped Sirius in a bear hug. Sirius elbowed the man in the stomach and leapt away from him.

The man, who was wearing a mask, drew his wand and leveled it at the two marauders. "Run!" Sirius bellowed and grabbed Peter by the elbow. The two sprinted down an adjoining alley.

"We need to get to the floo connection!" Peter gasped as the two turned a corner to throw off their follower. A garbage can to their right blew up in a shower of green sparks.

"Bloody hell! They're aiming to kill! Hit a left up here Peter, only a couple more streets until the floo." Sirius ducked and spun around to shoot a curse at the Death Eater only to see that two more masked men had joined him.

"It was a set up." Sirius breathed quietly and turned to catch up with Peter. Three on one? He wouldn't stand a chance.

A figure dropped down from the fire escape above and landed on the ground just behind Peter and in front of Sirius. Peter stopped and spun around, but kept backing up down the street away from the fight.

Sirius growled in the back of his throat, things were getting bad. The figure raised their wand and Sirius ducked the curse. Another jet of light came at him from behind and would have hit him, had he not leapt out of the way on instinct. Sirius hit the ground hard and looked up to see that the curse had ricocheted off a broken piece of mirror on the ground and hit the figure blocking Sirius' way.

Sirius scrambled to his feet and took the opportunity to sprint away from the oncoming group of Death Eaters. He caught up with Peter quickly as he turned the corner. To Sirius' relief an old building with a green wooden door stood in front of them.

"There it is! Come on." Peter opened the door wide and the two launched themselves into the small building. No one was on duty, which was surprising, so the place was empty.

Peter ran to the shelf and grabbed a handful of floo powder from the goblet.

"Hurry, get to Remus'!" Sirius shouted and waved his wand, causing several chairs to fly up against the door in an attempt to barricade it. It would buy them a couple seconds in any case.

Peter threw the powder down and stepped into the green flames calling out, "26 Sterling Den!" and was swept away in a flurry of sparks.

Sirius left his place by the door and hurried to grab his own fistful of the green powder.

The door shook and with a start Sirius realized the entire building was shaking. What sort of spell did that? The animagus smirked and threw his powder down into the fireplace and shouted, "26 Sterling Den!"

'They're too late.' He thought with a satisfied laugh. The door burst open but for the second time Sirius had evaded capture by the Death Eaters and they were left with his swirling frame disappearing in a flash of green flames.

Sirius landed awkwardly on the other side and nearly fell over. "I hate flooing." He muttered and ran a hand through his hair, sweeping it out of his face. Ash fell into his eyes and he shook his head like a dog. Remus was at his side instantly to steady his friend.

Grudgingly Sirius allowed himself to be lead through the apartment to the living room where Peter was already seated on the couch looking ill. Remus sat Sirius beside the Peter and the werewolf busied himself by going to the kitchen to get them all some hot tea.

"It was a setup.' Sirius said aloud as Remus handed him a steaming cup of tea. He plucked a couple of sugar cubes from the tray on the coffee table and plopped them into his drink and then reached for the cream. Remus wrinkled his nose as he watched his friend's choices in flavor and he took a sip of his own tea, without adding anything.

Peter took a nervous sip and looked at Sirius. "How do you know it was a setup?" He asked placing the teacup on the table; his hand was shaking too badly to hold it without spilling the scalding liquid onto his lap.

"They were all so organized, they had the first attacker who was later joined by two others who knew exactly where to join the chase. Than that last person, whoever it was, knew where we were and jumped down right in our way. They knew we were going to be going that way tonight." Sirius rubbed his face with one hand and came away with a fistful of ashy smudges; Sirius grimaced, knowing he must look frightful.

Sirius continued, wiping his hand on his pants. "What I want to know is how? I only told Peter what would be happening and they were as much after him as they were me. I don't understand." Sirius set his drink down and put his head in his hands, frustrated.

Remus let his friend sit there like that for a moment before launching into auror mode. "For inspection purposes, I need you to tell me exactly what happened from the moment the attack happened right up until you got here."

Sirius sighed and launched into the tale with Peter adding details here and there.

Sirius had always been good at telling stories; he had amused Harry for hours that way and this story was no exception; Remus thought that it deserved to be made into a fantasy book. In reality the story seemed to far-fetched but jut to look at Sirius and Peter was to know they were telling the truth. Besides, Sirius never was a good liar. A truth stretcher yes, but not a liar.

When Sirius had ended, Remus stood up from where he had been crouched by the sofa and began pacing the room. "All right. I think you both should stay here for the night. Tomorrow we'll go see if either of your houses has been damaged. If not, it's safe to assume they don't know where you live and you can continue living there. Maybe it was just a fluke attack tonight. Though hardly likely considering Sirius' description."

The werewolf reached for his cloak and threw it over his shoulders. "I'm going to the office to report this. Stay here both of you." He cast them both a look telling them exactly what he would do to them if they didn't listen to him and he marched over to the floo and left for the ministry.

Both Sirius and Peter looked at each other and collapsed against the couch in relief. They were both alive and in one piece. However, one of the two's left arm had begun to ache in a very painful way.

Peter turned to look at Sirius. "You know Padfoot. I've been thinking."

Remus sat on his bed late that same night pondering what had happened. 'Peter was acting stranger than usual. Why would he comment on Sirius thinking it was setup? If it were all that obvious he would have noticed it for sure. He is an auror, and not an incompetent one at that.'

Remus stopped to rub his aching temple with his thumbs. 'Too much activity for so soon after the full moon. My head still aches and the fever has just worn off. I'm sure my concerns for Peter are just that, concerns. He was probably still trying to wrap his mind around what happened. He might have been in shock.'

Remus flopped backwards and covered his face with his hands and gave a very long sigh. 'Peter is our friend and there should be no reason to ever question anything that he does.' Remus stopped his musings to slip out of his shoes and slide beneath the covers. He flicked off the light with his wand and images of a dog, a rat, a werewolf, and a stag occupied his dreams for one blissful nights sleep.

Remus couldn't remember ever being so happy. The marauders were all together again for the first time in several months and he was holding Harry on his lap and bouncing the giggling boy up and down on his knee like Remus' father used to do for him.

The werewolf looked around the circle the group had formed and smiled. Lily was scolding Sirius for some obscene reason but by the looks of it, her heart wasn't really in it. She too was happy to be with friends again.

James was holding a spirited discussion with Peter about the finer points of the Wimbourne Wasps defense and their newest beater, Ludo Bagman, who was becoming a prominent young rookie in the league.

Yes, for Remus John Lupin, life was good. If only for a moment. He soon had to hand little Harry back over to his mother, who in turn gave up the squealing child to Bill Weasley.

Remus tried not to laugh at the pathetic look that Bill shot at the marauders before leading the twins towards the stairs. He tried to hold onto Harry with one hand and Ron with the other while shepherding Percy and Neville forward with his foot. By a unanimous vote, the eldest Weasley child had been nominated to watch over all of the kids at the Order meeting today. The twins were already scheming ways to wreak havoc and Charlie didn't look like he was going to help his brother at all. He watched amused as Bill tried to manage six children at once.

The meeting commenced with Dumbledore standing at the front of the room and raising his hands for silence. It took a few moments but everyone was eventually quiet and attentive.

Dumbledore looked out across the room and smiled faintly. "I thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know these past few months have been very trying for some and I thank you for your patience." The old headmaster's gaze settled on the Potters and the Longbottoms before he continued.

"Voldemort is becoming more restless as of late. The murdering of our dear Marlene McKinnon and her family this past week shows us that Tom is not willing to wait for his captured followers and to simply surge on ahead with his dwindling troops. His new recruits are clever and eager to prove themselves, one of them, I don't know who or how, has gotten hold of a list of those in the Order and it seems that Tom now plans to go down the list one by one."

Every person in the room's eyes widened in disbelief but Dumbledore continued. "Marlene was at the beginning of the names and Tom chose to start with her."

The very idea of a hit list terrified Sirius, and he wasn't easily scared. A quick look around the room told him he wasn't the only one. A note hit Sirius between the eyes and with he unfolded the piece of paper, reaching up with the other hand to rub the bridge of his nose.

Do you think DE's tried to get you and Pete because of the list or because of the prophecy? Sirius recognized Remus' ridiculously neat cursive. Looking around to see if anyone noticed the two passing notes, Sirius pulled a quill from his pocket and wrote a return message on the back of the paper.

Remus flinched as a ball of paper hit him in the ear.

Moony. Mate. Amigo. Do you really think I could know the answer to that? I have no idea. Death Eaters are crazy, you know how Moody is always saying he's caught so many Death Eaters is because he's learned to think like them? I reckon that's why he's off his rocker.

Remus smiled and put the note in his pocket. He tried to focus back in on Dumbledore's speech as he seemed to be talking about something important.

"So, this is why our work is becoming even more important now more than ever. Anything you can possibly do to help the cause, do it. Any leads are vital, any rumor I want reported immediately. We cannot take chances!" Dumbledore said with passion.

"Constant vigilance!" Roared Moody from the back of the room and he thumped his cane loudly against the floor.

Dumbledore laughed, the twinkle in his eye returning. "Yes, thank you Alastor. Is there anyone who has something to report?"

Arthur Weasley looked at his wife and stood, raising his hand to gather attention. "Yes Arthur?" Dumbledore asked with a faint tone of surprise.

Arthur cleared his throat and looked around the room nervously. "Yes, well at the office yesterday I encountered Evan Rosier. He was acting very oddly so I followed him after casting a disillusionment charm on myself."

Molly looked up at her husband with horror. Clearly she had known nothing about this little tale of her husband's.

Arthur continued. "He was muttering under his breath and clenching his left forearm occasionally. He was acting so strange I decided to follow him. He was taking the back routes of the ministry, you know the ones only taken by the Unspeakables." There was some general nodding and agreements.

"He went down to the Department of Mysteries where he was met by Augustus Rookwood. Now this surprised me. I've known Augustus for a long time. Anyway he turned his back to me and showed something to Rosier. Rosier kept nodded and speaking about something. He kept repeating 'Is it ready?' nervously and Rookwood said, and I quote, 'Yes, everything is ready and in place. He will not be disappointed.' I went back to my office quickly because Rosier turned around like he had heard something." Arthur took a deep breath and sat down.

Dumbledore stroked his long gray beard for a moment looking thoughtful. "This is most distressing. I did not know that there could be possible spies in the Department of Mysteries. That would be disastrous. However we can make no assumptions no matter how pressing the evidence is. This is the only piece of information we have on Rookwood. I would like him to be watched. Would the aurors in please take care of that?" All four marauders and Moody nodded.

Dumbledore returned to his train of thought. "Now then, Rosier has been a suspected Death Eater for a quite some time. Judging by this conversation Arthur overheard, Tom is obviously planning something. I would like everyone to be on high alert. Do not let your guards down for a moment!"

Dumbledore stopped and smiled at Arthur. "Arthur I would like to thank you, but must express my concern that what you did was a dangerous, foolhardy, and a reckless venture."

Molly hit Arthur on the arm. "I told you Arthur."

Dumbledore's smile widened. "Thank you all the same however, that was vital information. Now if that is all I would like to ask if everyone could please move to the front hallway where it has been requested our picture be taken to document our group. Thank you."

Everyone got up at and moved to the hallway where a camera had been set up on timer. The Order huddled together and smiled as the flash went off. A moment later everyone turned to face the person next to him or her and started laughing or breaking out into hysterics. All of their faces were covered with black powder.

Sirius and James started to laugh outrageously. They had been on the outside of the picture and only the hems of their robes had been dirtied. Remus, Lily and Peter were not as amused. They had been kneeling in front of the camera and were fully covered form head to toe in the black stuff.

Bill raced down the stairs panting and his face flushed. Everyone turned to him and Bill's eyes widened at the state of their appearances. "Has anyone seen Fred and George?"

Author's Note:

Awww, Fred and George's first prank. I have gotten an overwhelming amount of feedback from many different people. No, that's a lie. I have gotten reviews from two people (Thank you wolffanforever and Kendra-the hyper one) over the course of seven chapters. Please, I'm on my knees, make me feel special, give me feedback! This is now officially the longest chapter yet. Here's incentive to review, try and guess what Peter was talking to Sirius about in Remus' apartement.

Next Chapter: An attack and some foul curses are used (And not at Sirius. I know I know, misfortune befalling another marauder? Shock)

PLEASE REVIEW!