A/N: Okay, so here is the next chapter. I know I havn't been updating as much as I should- but I've got a summer job and it's been keeping me quite busy. I'll try my best to update sooner for the next chapter.

Life had become quite banal since James had come back- everything seemed to be going on auto-pilot; everyday seemed to be going the same. Lily, Sora, and Sirius went to work in the Department of Mysteries every day; James was busy heading up the Potter industries; Peter was climbing his way up the auror ladder, and Peter had gone back to Egypt to teach. It seemed as though everybody had fallen in a rut.

But for Peter, the rut was starting to become more interesting, and not in any good ways. He a father as well as a professional- and neither one of his jobs was very easy. He loved his wife and son very much- but sometimes they just wore him out. But still no matter how much Jenny nagged him nor how many temper tantrums little Jamison threw- Peter would like nothing better in the world than to spend all of his time with the both of them.

Unfortunately, that was not to happen because someone had to put food on the table and Jenny had quit her job once their son was born. It wasn't that Peter hated being an auror, or correction, it didn't mean that peter had always hated being an auror. When he first began his job, he loved it. The excitement, the mystique, it had all called out to him. Peter was actually surprised that he had made it. He had never been a terrific student nor possessed any great talents, so the join the elite rank of the aurors was a power that seemed almost surreal to him.

But of course, when he had first started out on the job, there really had been nothing to worry about. His day mostly consisted of chasing after a few petty dark wizards who had small little crimes- nothing dangerous, nothing life threatening. But in the past year and a half, things changed quickly. A new wizard, Voldemort started to rise from the shadows. Even in the beginning, Peter knew that Voldemort was not a wizard to take lightly, but he could never have guessed how powerful or how evil the man would grow to be.

In what seemed like a couple of months Voldemort had a large, very dangerous legion of followers that frightened the whole community, especially the aurors whose job it was to hunt them down. Peter had never been an exceptionally brave man and now, in the face of evil he was scared- not for himself, but for his family.

Of course, he never mentioned his troubles or fears with anybody- especially not Jenny. She already worried herself sick over him and he didn't want to scare her anymore. But always in the back of his mind he wondered what would happen to his family if he died- how could they support themselves? Jamison was only two years old and Jenny had become a very frail person ever since the boy was born; she became sick often and was quite weak most of the time. Both of them needed him and he knew that he would have to be there for them.

And it was because of that reason that Peter had been even more frightened when James came to visit him.

The first sign that Peter had that something was wrong was the uneasy expression on James's face. James had always been, for as long as Peter had known him, the most confident person on the planet. Nothing ever fazed James Potter- but now it was evident that something had.

"Prongs, what's wrong?" Peter asked as he led his friend into the main room. James fell down on one of the sofas and slouched down, looking crestfallen.

"I need help, Peter" James finally said- which raised another flag in Peter's mind. James had always called him Wormtail.

"I'll help you, whatever you need" Peter answered right away, feeling the familiar taste of fear rising up his throat. "What happened?"

"Lily…" James started, then stopped again.

"Lilly what? Is she okay?" Peter asked, worried.

"Lilly's pregnant" James finally spat out. Peter looked at him in amazement and then almost laughed.

"Prongs, is that was this is all about? You're afraid to become a father? It's nothing to worry about!" Peter said happily, but was silenced by the look on James's face.

"It's not becoming a father that I'm worried about, Peter. I am overjoyed at the thought of becoming a father. It's just…our child is going to be born in a dangerous world right now. You know what's out there" James said.

Peter looked at his old friend and understood where he was coming from completely.

"This is what I've been going through ever since Jamison was born" Peter answered. "I always am afraid for them, afraid that they'll get hurt because of me"

James nodded his head and then sunk back into the chair.

"I know, but you have it better than we will. Both Lily and I are on Voldemort's hit list" James said, sighing. Peter nodded his head. The Potter industries had been, for the past two years, the largest distributor of Dark Arts Defense materials; plus on top of that, Lily had been one of the three founding members of the Department of Mysteries- which Voldemort thought of as a huge threat to himself and his followers.

"I want to protect my child" James said flatly.

"Well of course you do, mate" Peter said "and I'll try my best to do whatever is possible to help you"

But on the inside Peter was torn. Now he not only had to protect his own family, but James's as well. James was one of the best friends that Peter had, and he would die for the man, but his first priority would always be for his family.

Suddenly Sora and Sirius burst through Peter's door.

"Hey there Prongs, we've been looking for you" Sirius said, coming over to James and Peter.

"What do you need?" James asked.

"Dumbledore wrote back to me; he said that you shouldn't go through with this" he said. James scowled deeply.

"I don't care what Dumbledore has to say, I'm going to go through with it" James said resolutely.

"James…you know that he knows much more than we do." Sora said, going up to her friend.

"I know- but he doesn't know us, Sora- he doesn't know the H6" James answered. Sirius snorted.

"Of course he knows us, James- he's one of the only people who does!" Sirius said.

"Well, then I guess I have to ignore him on this regards then" James said.

"What in the world are you guys talking about?" Peter asked, looking around. "What did you go to Dumbledore for?"

"Listen, Peter- I'm going to ask you to do something for me" James said, looking directly at his friend. Peter felt the fear start to rise again in him.

"What is it, James?" he asked.

"I need you to be my secret keeper" James said.

"James, don't do this- Dumbledore said he would do it" Sirius pleaded "it's the only safe way to go about this!"

"Do you not trust Peter?" James demanded, turning towards Sirius, who was taken aback.

"No of course not- I trust Peter" Sirius said, shocked. "But, you know, Peter has a family too- I don't want to endanger them" he added. Peter could almost hug the man out of happiness. Finally, someone was thinking of his family as well.

"Listen, I know that Dumbledore meant well offering himself to be our secret keeper, but…he's not one of us" James said. Both Sirius and Peter nodded their heads slightly. They understood where James was coming from. Dumbledore would never betray the Potters, but he wasn't a member of the H6- it wasn't the same.

"I'll do it then, James" Peter said shakily.

"No, no- it's fine Peter, we'll do it" Sora said looking right at James.

"Sora you have a family to worry about as well" Peter said. A year before, Sora had given birth to twins- Howl and Revile; they were beautiful babies and had become quick friends with Peter's son.

"I know- but…it feels right if we do it" Sirius said "plus- you're an auror, you are in more danger than Sora and I are in" Sirius said. Peter snorted.

"Yeah right, you guys founded the department of mysteries- you are about on the same level on Voldemort's hit list" Peter said.

"Peter- we don't want you to go through this" Sora said, leaning down in front of the man.

"And I don't want you to go through it either" Peter answered, though on the inside he was screaming to tell Sora that he did indeed want her and Sirius to become James's secret keeper; that he wanted to keep his family away from any of this mess; that he wanted to go in an isolated little bubble and pretend that he had never had any of this conversation with James.

"You are a true friend, Wormtail" James said, looking at Peter with appreciation shining in his eyes.

"You would do the same for me, Prongs" Peter answered faintly. James nodded his head solidly.

"Of course I would" he said "why don't you and Jenny go into hiding as well?" James said "I could be your secret keeper and your family would be safe".

Peter smiled ruefully.

"I can't, James- it comes with the auror job- we have to list where we live" he answered. Peter looked up at Sirius and Sora.

"What about you two? Are you going to go into hiding as well?" Peter asked.

"Already did, mate. Dumbledore's our secret keeper. We can't let Howl and Revile be unprotected" Sirius said.

Peter sighed internally. It seemed as though everybody had their family protected, everybody except for him.

"Well, okay then James- if you've made your decision, I guess we have to accept it" Sora said to him.

"Good luck, both of you. If you guys need anything- just let us know" Sirius said, and with that him and Sora left.

As they walked outside, Sirius sighed.

"For some reason, I don't feel good about this" he said. Sora nodded her head.

"I know what you mean. It's not that I don't trust Peter, it's just that…something feels wrong about this" she said. "I don't see why he just wouldn't go to Dumbledore."

"I know, but he was set on asking Peter- and he's one of the H6, he would never, ever do anything to harm James" Sirius said.

"Yeah- but he has his own family now, we shouldn't have burdened him with this" Sora said.

"But we have a family now too, Sor- we can't forget them" Sirius said.

"Of course I didn't forget the twins, it's just that you know we would do anything, anything, to protect the kids…and you know Peter feels the same about Jamison" Sora said, and it dawned on Sirius what his wife's point was.

Peter would do anything to protect his family…did that include betraying James?

Peter sat in his main room, feeling small and terribly afraid. His family was in danger- he knew it; and now he had to keep James's family safe as well. He didn't understand how he could do it all. Didn't James know he wasn't a strong man, he wasn't a brave man? It wasn't that he didn't want to help James- he just wasn't sure he could.

"Could anything else go wrong today?" Peter groaned to himself.

Just then Jenny walked into the room carrying Jamison. She had just been to the doctor's office to get checkups for her and the boy.

"Hey Jen" Peter said, smiling at his wife and taking Jamison from her. The boy giggled in Peter's arms and tried to grab his nose. Peter couldn't help but give out a small chuckle. His wife and son had only been in the room for a few seconds and already his mood was lifted.

"Peter, honey, guess what?" Jenny said, her eyes lit with excitement.

"What?" Peter asked, smiling at her.

"I'm pregnant!" she beamed. Peter just stared at her.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked.

"No- of course I'm not, silly." Jenny said. "Isn't this wonderful!"

"No…no, Jen this isn't wonderful" Peter said, falling back down on the sofa, letting Jamison down on the floor.

Jenny looked at her husband, surprised and slightly hurt.

"What do you mean it isn't wonderful, Peter? I thought you liked being a father? I thought you would be overjoyed to find out we were having another child. The doctor said it would be a girl- you always wanted a daughter" Jenny said, going and sitting right next to Peter.

Peter groaned, a daughter, he was going to bring a daughter into this messed up, dangerous world. Was there anything worse than this?

Peter sat down and told Jenny all about James's visit and about the fact that he was worried that having another child right now would be too dangerous.

"Then what do you want me to do Peter? I'm already pregnant- I can't make this baby magically disappear, and I would never want to" Jenny said once he had explained everything.

"I know, I just want you and the baby to be safe." Peter said "Why don't you go stay with your parents in Italy until the baby is born- you and Jamison could go, it'll be like a vacation. Plus the warm air will be better for your health- this cold English air can't be doing you any good" Peter said. Jenny just shook her head.

"I am not going to go off and hide somewhere while you're here" she said "you're my husband- I promised to be with you in the good times and the bad. If you are going to be here, then so am I" she said.

"Jenny- you don't know how worried I am for you and Jamison" Peter said "I can't take any risks- please go stay with your parents; it'll give me some peace of mind" he said.

"No Peter- I am going to stay here, I am not going to run away like some coward. We'll get through this together. We have love and that's all we need" Jenny said, smiling at her husband.

"Yeah, of course" Peter said, but on the inside he knew it wasn't that simple. He knew that somewhere down the line he would have to choose between protecting James and protecting his family…and the choice was not a hard one to make.