((Guys, I am so so so so so so so so so sososososo sorry that this took so friggin' long! I promise it won't take this long every time. Lotsa crap going on... stupid school... making me do work instead of write for fanfictions... XD))

James immediately went to his parents and told them to leave the country. He said he didn't know when this would be over, but they would have to hide until then.

Of course, seeing their only son so distraught, they agreed. Once that was taken care of, James went for Remus, Sirius, and Peter. He seemed to have much less luck here.

"Okay… how about another option?" Remus said when James suggested this. "Yeah…. How about no."

"Come on, you guys… consider it." James said as he pulled another beer from the refrigerator. The four of them were having a semi- traditional poker night. Though they usually didn't play poker, it still seemed like a better name than "game night".

"Alright, I will." Sirius said, and then put a finger to his chin as if in deep thought, his expression studious. "Hmmm…. I'm going to go with a no."

"Peter?" James turned to him, hopefully.

"Sorry, mate, but it's a no for me too. We're not going to cower and hide from this." It sounded so strange coming from Peter…. They all looked at him and he shrugged. "I'm just saying what you guys usually say in these situations."

"Well, the rat's right." Sirius smirked. "Seriously, Prongs! Since when do we do the smart thing?"

"Well…."

"The answer is never, dude. And quite honestly, I don't feel like breaking a habit right now. I'm getting too old for that."

"Padfoot… you're twenty-one."

"I know! I'm getting so freaking old!" He laughed and leaned back in his chair so it was now only on two legs.

"Trust me, Sirius, your maturity compensates for it." Remus muttered, dealing out the cards again.

Sirius didn't seem to have heard him, or if he did, he didn't care. He was busy proving Remus's point by being stupid and picking on Peter.

"Dude, I swear, it's right there. No, the other side. Yeah right by your nose."

"Sirius, cut it out." Remus laughed as Peter rubbed at his face hoping to get whatever Sirius was talking about off.

"Yeah…. Yeah it's right there, Pete. You almost got it." James chimed in, looking completely serious about it. Finally Remus looked over at Peter and said, rolling his eyes, "Peter, for the love of god, there is nothing on your face. They're messing with you."

"Are you sure?" Peter looked nervous that there could still be something lingering near his nose.

"Gosh, Remus, you ruin everything…." Sirius said over dramatically.

It may have seemed like stupid, childish behavior, and it was, but it still did what Sirius had wanted it to do. It got the subject off of what James was talking about.

Sirius stood to fetch another beer from the refrigerator and handed one to each Remus, Peter, and James as he sat back down.

They proceeded to play various card games and of course there was cheating involved on Sirius and James's part. For the most part, the subject had been dropped, but it was still on everyone's mind, at least in the back.

Lily was out with a friend or two to do something fun- which had been hard for her considering the funeral had only just passed. She had left Harry here with the boys so James was up every half an hour to check on his son- even if the child wasn't crying. James would never admit it, but he was just a little bit over protective after everything that was happening…. Again, it was still on his mind.

"Dada!"

James jumped up, almost knocking his chair over and he was out of the room in a flash. Sirius almost laughed, but he bit down hard on his lip. Remus placed down his cards and Peter and Sirius followed in suit. None of them really bothered to see who had won that round.

"So… we know he's right." Remus muttered, rubbing his temples.

"Yeah… but what do we do about it? We can't just go into hiding- don't tell me that's what you guys want." Sirius responded with a bit of an edge to his voice. The other two just reassured him that, no, they were not by any means agreeing with James's radical decision to make everyone go into hiding.

"We're going to have to be careful. Sirius, I know that's never really a concept you were able to grasp, but you're really going to have to watch your step. There could be deatheaters at every turn. Just watch your step. You too, Peter. I know you probably don't know much of what they can be like- but Sirius and I have first have experience… they can be vile for no reason at all. They'll come for all of us. James knows it. We know it. We have to act on it. Of course, James's idea isn't going to work….any other options you guys can think of?" Remus

Sirius and Peter just shook their heads. There really was no other option but to sit back and wait for whatever was going to come… to just come and get it over with. All they could really do was be careful. That was the only option. Well, the only reasonable option….

James came back into the room and the discussion was quickly hushed up with Sirius saying loudly, looks like I won again." and taking a swig of beer.

James had Harry with him. He was supposed to be sleeping, but the little boy looked wide awake. It was obvious that he was defiant to sleep. Harry was definitely James's son.

"Give him here." Sirius said, holding his arms out. James transferred the child into Sirius's open arms.

"Heya buddy!" Harry giggled and hid his face in his godfather's shirt. Sirius removed his sunglasses from his head and placed them on Harry. Of course they were too big, but Harry didn't seem to mind.

"Oh man you are so cool." Sirius told Harry was idly messing with his hair.

"Why were you even wearing sunglasses in the middle of winter?" James laughed at his son while resuming his seat.

"Dude… when you ride a motorcycle… sunglasses are required."

"I thought that was a helmet…." Remus hinted.

"Well… those are quite helpful for not dying aren't they?" Sirius said as though he were thinking over which was more important; the sunglasses or the helmet."

"You have firsthand experience, Padfoot. Were you wearing sunglasses when you crashed? No. Did they help you? No. The helmet did." James said in a manner that suggested he was trying to teach a kindergartner this information.

"Good point… next time something like that comes up… I'll make sure I'm wearing sunglasses… screw the helmet!" Sirius said, laughing.

They finished up the night with talking about this and that, carefully avoiding the subject from earlier. Harry fell asleep in Sirius's arms soon before his mother got home. She offered to take him up to bed, but Sirius shook his head, stood and walked off to the room to do it himself.

Lily had to admit it to herself; she was impressed with how well Sirius took to being around a child. It really changed him- it made him at least a little more responsible.

"Well you know why that is, don't you?" Remus was saying as he walked to the door and Lily explained her thoughts.

"Why?"

"It's because he doesn't really care about what happens to him… once someone else is in the mix- he's careful. If it were just him, he'd probably be dead by now. But when he's got something to protect… then he gets serious."

Lily relayed this to James that night as they were getting into bed.

"Well, I'm not exactly surprised. I know Sirius well enough to know this… but that's part of what worries me, Lil's."

"What? That he's protective of who he cares about?"

"No…. That's actually comforting."

"Well what is it?" Lily propped her head up on her pillow, turning toward her husband as he sat there, his arms folded against his chest. His face showed that he was clearly deep in thought.

"It's the fact that he doesn't care about what happens to him. I know he doesn't. I've known ever since I saw him come back from summer vacation… covered in bruises. He was being treated horribly, but all he could talk about was how he was worried for his brother. He didn't mind them doing anything to him. He was used to it. He didn't care whenever he was hurt- it never mattered. Normally," James sighed, "I'd be fine with this; I'm mostly the same way- but…. But this time he could really get killed. He won't be careful. He won't think caution is important enough."

"James." Lily reached out and gently placed her hand on his, "Don't worry. I mean… we've still got Remus looking after him. We know Remus. He won't let anything happen to Sirius. He knows him as well as you do. I'm sure you're not the only one who's thought of this. We can count on Remus okay?"

"Yeah…. I know we can."