Choosing a Keeper was harder than James and Lily thought it would be. They had so many people they trusted with their lives that they couldn't choose. James and Lily had asked Dumbledore to be Secret Keeper but he had refused, saying that he didn't believe he was a good candidate. James and Lily had accepted his reason but it left them with the problem of who to use. To them there were only three options: Sirius, Remus or Peter. James trusted the three of them absolutely. Lily, on the other hand, didn't. Oh, she trusted Sirius and Remus without question, but she wasn't so sure about Peter. He was a good friend to her and James but something told her that Peter wouldn't be able to keep their location a secret if pressured. However, Lily didn't express this fear to James as she didn't want to upset him. Instead they focused all of their energy into learning how to look after their precious little bundle of joy.

One morning, a few days after Harry had been born, Remus was standing outside the hospital's nursery, watching the baby Harry. For the past few days, someone had always been with Harry just in case Voldemort tried anything while he was still in the hospital. Remus had been watching Harry so intently that he hardly noticed when someone stood next to him. When he finally realised, Remus turned to face the man, with his wand in his hand, only to find Severus Snape standing there.

'Snape? What are you doing here?' Remus asked surprised.

'Visiting.' Snape sneered. Snape's eyes were focused entirely on baby Harry. Remus didn't put his wand away.

'Why?'

Snape rolled his eyes. 'Lily was my friend.'

'Yeah, was. So, why are you here now?'

Snape turned to face Remus. 'Is it a crime to visit the hospital?'

'Depends on the reason.' Remus glanced at Harry sleeping peacefully in his cot.

'Lily was my friend. I'm allowed to visit my friend's child.'

'I suppose so.' Remus looked back at Snape. 'So long as you don't go see Lily.'

Snape slowly faced Remus again. 'And why not? Because Potter' up there?'

'Partly,' answered Remus. 'But he's not the only one up there. Sirius is there as well.

'Black doesn't scare me.' Snape interrupted.

'And I don't think Lily will want to see you.' Remus added pretending that Snape hadn't spoken. At Remus' comment Snape's features tightened and he looked at Remus through narrowed eyes.

'And I suppose you're going to stop me going to see her, are you?' Snape sneered.

'If I have too.' Remus tightened his grip on his wand. Snape noticed the move and smirked.

'You can't stop me, Lupin. I'm better at duelling than you. And, aren't you feeling a little… weak? The full moon is tonight, isn't it?'

Remus swallowed but didn't back down. 'Yes, it is. But I'm still strong enough to fit you if need be, Severus. But please, just leave. There doesn't need to be any trouble. Especially not here,' Remus gestured to the babies in the nursery, in particular Harry, who was now awake and watching them curiously. 'Something tells me that Lily won't appreciate that very much.'

'Hmm, perhaps,' Snape glanced at the babies and stopped suddenly. He had seen Harry's open eyes. The bright green eyes that were so like Lily's. Remus glanced at Harry but kept his eyes on Snape.

'Leave, Severus,' whispered Remus. 'And I won't tell anyone you were here.'

'No,' Snape muttered still staring at Harry's eyes. 'So like Lily's. But so much more like Potter,' Snape spat at James' name as though it were poison in his mouth. 'It could've been so different.'

'Severus, just leave.' Remus said more forcefully.

'You know what?' Snape dragged his eyes away from Harry and faced Remus. 'I don't think I want too, Lupin. Maybe I want to stay here and see Lily. Maybe I want to start a fight.'

'No, you don't. You do start a fight with me here and Lily will have even more reason to hate you.'

Instantly Remus knew that that last dig had been the final straw. Snape raised his wand and calmly levelled it at Remus' face. Remus wasn't fast enough. He was flung into the air and landed heavily against a wall. Remus lost consciousness for a few seconds and when he came too Snape was walking towards him. Remus lifted his wand and prepared to defend himself. No matter what happened, Remus wouldn't attack Snape. It wasn't worth it. Remus had no doubt that he had suffered a concussion and so didn't even attempt to stand up. Snape seemed to find his hilarious and laughed as he shot curse after curse at Remus. Finally Remus came to a point where holding his wand up was too much for him and as such some of the curses found their mark. Remus could feel blood running down his face and neck and because of the concussion and full moon mixture he desperately needed to sleep. Remus' eyes began to close but just before he slipped into unconsciousness Snape was thrown off his feet by a powerful curse. Suddenly Snape's attention was focused entirely on someone else, and Remus succumbed to the gentle embrace of sleep.

…

Sirius was walking through the corridors of St. Mungo's silently wishing his life were a little different. He had just left Lily and James in their room because he had suddenly felt uncomfortable standing in the room with the two love birds. It wasn't because he wasn't happy for them , he was, but it just felt as though he was missing something in his own life and watching the two of them had brought that feeling home. Sirius glanced into one of the wards and abruptly stopped. Not because it was someone he knew but because of the scene that was playing out. An old man was lying in a bed and it was very clear that he would not last more than another hour, let alone a minute. Sitting by his side, faithful to the end, was a woman who could only be the man's wife. She was holding his hand and was gently stroking the man's grey hair. The man was speaking quietly to her and, as Sirius watched, the woman began crying and held onto her husband's hand tighter. The man continued speaking though now it was slower. These were the man's last words. Sirius was transfixed. He couldn't have moved even if he had wanted to. The love and caring between the two was so overwhelming that Sirius felt tears spring to his eyes, and he made absolutely no effort to wipe them away. Instead he let the tears fall, somehow knowing and understanding that he would never personally experience this scene. Sirius understood that he was destined to go without a loving wife in his world and it hurt more than he could have anticipated. Sirius drew a deep breath and forced himself to walk away from the heart breaking scene.

Sirius had a sudden urge to see his baby godson and started to head down to the nursery. On the way, Sirius couldn't help reflecting on all of the girls he had "dated" at Hogwarts and wondered what would have happened if he had bothered to actually like someone. Sirius had never had a proper crush before and he doubted if he ever would. His heart wasn't as hard as people thought it was. There were probably only three people in the entire world who understood that. James, Remus and Lily. They were the only ones who understood, not even Peter could possibly understand. All Sirius had really had were those people who knew him better than he probably would've liked. All the same Sirius swore that he would never lose them for any reason. And that oath now extended to baby Harry.

As Sirius came closer to the nursery he could hear loud bangs and could see bright flashes of light. Someone was duelling outside the nursery. What kind of moron would be so stupid? Then he remembered: Remus was watching over Harry just in case Voldemort tried to get to him while still at St. Mungo's. Sirius had never believed that Voldemort would be so idiotic but Remus was there. And so was Harry. Sirius rounded the corner and was stunned into silence. The first thing he noticed was Remus on the ground up against desperately trying to defend himself, and Snape firing curses at him. Sirius didn't even think. He pulled his wand out from the folds of his robes and shot a spell at Snape, which he only just managed to dodge. Sirius fought Snape for only a few minutes before he managed to use the Levicorpus spell. As Snape dangled helplessly in the air by his ankle Sirius fell to his knees beside Remus, who had long ago lost consciousness. Sirius began to search Remus for any sign of a pulse.

'You're too late, Black. He's dead.' Snape, realised Sirius, was enjoying this.

'Shut up, Snivellus. And you better hope he's not dead, or you'll be next.' Sirius still had not found a pulse.

'Having trouble finding life, Black? Though I suppose you wouldn't know much about life. I mean, after all you have nothing and nobody. You're just…'

'Snape! I really don't have time. Now, shut up!' Sirius had somehow completely forgotten that he was a wizard and could stop Snape with a simple word. Snape, noticing this, was taking advantage of the situation.

'You don't scare me.'

'No, but Remus does scare you,' Sirius bit back. 'Especially when he's transformed.' Sirius had hit the spot and he knew it. Snape fell silent and was staring at Remus. Sirius glanced at Snape and couldn't help the smirk. 'That's what I thought.' Sirius continued to look for a sign of life.

'You're pathetic,' Snape spoke quietly but in the empty hall Sirius heard it all the same and he turned to face the upside down Snape.

'And why is that?'

'You think you can save them.' Snape answered, awkwardly jerking his head at Remus and then Harry, who was still watching curiously. 'You can't save them, Sirius.'

'You just…'

'Used your first name, yes, I know. Big deal,' Snape rolled his eyes and then fixed him with a serious look. 'You can't save them.'

'Yeah, you mentioned that.' Sirius was beginning to lose his patience.

'Listen to me, will you? You can't do it, Black,' Snape said. Sirius noticed the returned use of his last name. 'You can try and you will die. I know about the prophecy.' Snape sighed and a great sadness overcame him.

'How do you know about that?' Sirius was suddenly very suspicious.

'The Dark Lord spoke of it to me. He wanted to know what I thought.' Snape spoke softly, hardly believing his own lie.

'And what did you say?'

'I told him that the meaning was clear. A child will be born with the power to kill him. A child born in the end of July and to parents who have defied him three times,' Snape and Sirius glanced at Harry, who was still watching them. 'Voldemort deduced it meant Lily's child. The son of a Blood Traitor and a Muggle born. He will kill them both to get to him. His mind is set and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it. She will die.' Snape added so quietly that Sirius only just caught what he said.

'She will die?' Sirius picked up his wand and went over to Snape. 'And what about James and Harry? I suppose you couldn't care less if he killed them, could you? You'd be happy to see them gone. Oh, I get it. You hope that when they're dead Lily will go running to you for comfort. Well, I can tell you right now that it won't happen. Even if Lily survived while James and Harry were killed there is no way that she would go to you for anything. You're a Death Eater. Lily would rather come to me or Remus. Hell, she'd probably rather go to her sister than go to you. And you know what that means. She hates her sister but she'd prefer her over you. Anyone with a half a brain would. You're the pathetic one, not me. At least my friendships aren't delusional.'

'Say what you want to me, Black. It makes no difference,' Snape was now quieter than he had been. Something in him had broken. Snape was a broken man. 'The Dark Lord will kill the three of them, and then he will kill the werewolf. He'll probably leave you for Bellatrix. But either way, he will kill everyone you love. You will be all alone.'

Sirius pointed his wand between Snape's eyes. 'I think I'll kill you now.'

'Sirius…'

Sirius spun around to see Remus attempting to sit up. Sirius, with all thoughts of killing Snape temporarily pushed out of his mind, raced over to Remus and helped him to sit up properly.

'Take it easy, Moony. You'll be alright.'

'I know,' Remus looked past Sirius at Snape. 'Let him go.'

'What?' Sirius and Snape spoke at the same time.

'You heard me. Padfoot, let him go.'

'But he tried to kill you.'

'Only because I wouldn't let me go see Lily.'

'I don't care what his reason is.' Sirius was actually whining.

'Sirius.' Remus spoke softly and squeezed Sirius arm which he had been holding onto for support.

'But…'

'Now, Sirius.' Remus spoke forcefully.

'Fine.' Sirius sighed. With a wave of his wand, Sirius allowed Snape slam into the fall and only felt guilty when he heard Remus sigh in frustration and disappointment beside him. Sirius stood up and pulled Snape to his feet, handing him his wand. 'Don't come back. We won't tell anyone what happened so long as you don't. Understand?'

'Yes.' Snape took his wand, glanced at Remus, turned on his heel and ran. Sirius didn't move until he was out of sight. As soon as he was Sirius went back to Remus and sat down beside him.

'Why'd we let him go?'

'Why'd you tell him we wouldn't say anything?'

'Touché. I think.'

Remus laughed softly. 'I heard everything he said.'

'You were unconscious, Moony. How could you have heard?'

'I'm not sure,' frown lines appeared on Remus' face. 'I just did. Anyway, do you think he's right?'

'No,' Sirius answered firmly. 'No way. I mean, sure Voldemort's good but he's got to be better if he wants to get James and Lily.'

'If you say so.' Remus wasn't, in any way, convinced of this.

'Look, Moony, James and Lily are good and they're going into hiding. The only Voldemort will be able to get to them is if they're betrayed and whoever they use as Secret Keeper won't do that. So everything's good.'

'Yeah, okay,' Remus sighed. 'I suppose we better head back up to them.'

'First we get you cleaned up.'

…

James and Lily were waiting patiently for Sirius, Remus and Peter to turn up. They had made their decision. Strangely it was Peter who arrived first. Lily had expected Sirius or Remus there first because they were actually in the hospital. But when they did arrive Lily could guess why they had been late. Sirius was supporting Remus who was walking very slowly because, Lily presumed, the full moon was that night. When they came in, Peter quickly took some of Remus' weight, and together they lowered Remus into the armchair that stood in one corner. When Remus had assured them he was fine, James made the announcement.

'Sirius, we want you to be our Secret Keeper.'