All credit for Harry Potter, the world the story takes place in, and the characters belong to JK Rowling.

He cursed himself for his own stupidity yet again as he drowned another shot of Madame Rosmerta's finest and most potent Firewhiskey. It had been a week since the episode with Lily and Snape and him interrupting them bringing news of the newly caught Pettigrew. Snivellus had been down on one knee…probably proposing to the titian haired goddess that after all this time still refused to get out of his head. His emotions were in turmoil from so much…

The news capture of the one responsible for the death of his best friend and his feeling for Lily were really not a good mix when busy drinking.

His feelings towards the rat were somewhat confusing. On one hand he wanted to kill him himself. But on the other…this one caused him so much guilt. He was somewhat grateful- Grateful!- to the man who'd been the death of his brother! For if he hadn't done what he did, he wouldn't know he loved Lily so much. Wouldn't be the only father Harry had ever known…These thoughts always brought more anger, at both himself and the stupid traitor. Especially at the rat…and himself.

But his thoughts on Lily, on the other hand, were simple. He should have known she wouldn't feel the same way! Had she ever spared him a second glance at school, or any hint that she wanted something more than their current relationship after James's death? True she'd kissed back so many years ago, but…she could have been lonely. Merlin, how he missed her…

Missed the smell of her hair in the morning as they woke up entangled in each other and the sheets after a hard night, missed the feel of her in the bed next to him as they slept, a constant bane for his nightmares… missed her presence at his cousin's boring dinner parties that she forced him to attend and kept yawns away, missed the smile she always flashed him over his godson's head after the two of them trooped into the kitchen from a day of flying…

His godson…

Little Harry…

Here he cursed himself even more. He'd left his godson alone. He'd been in the same house with him for five years. Always there in case of nightmares, or he wanted advice on a new prank, or wanted to hear funny stories about his father, or help flying, or trying a new trick on a broom.

The two were his family and he'd been without them for a year. He'd let Harry down. He knew that much. It was always lurking in his eyes when he was able to spend the weekend with him, that silent accusation of abandonment. Of betrayal.

And it wasn't just Harry he'd betrayed. It was also Prongs. He'd specifically told him to look after the two remaining Potters. And he'd screwed it up with his own selfish desires…

He never thought he'd say it, but he envied Snivellus. At least he could be there for the woman he loved…

~X-x-X~

She stared down at the cowering chained man…The reason her son was now without a father. Why she was without her husband. The source of so many of her problems in life. He who had betray them to Voldemort. She'd absolved Black for his part in it ages ago…but there was something about this Animagus that she couldn't forgive. He'd fooled them all with his act of friendship and love… that he was on their side.

To find out one you had thought of as family was truly a spy for an enemy that wanted you dead…

Again with his cowering act, the same one he'd used in school. Whimpering that it had not been his choice and he would have been killed otherwise…she'd heard Sirius earlier claming that he should have died for them. Then James wouldn't be dead, and Harry wouldn't have a scar that set him apart from the rest of the Wizarding world. She couldn't bear to hear his cries for her and Sirius to help him. That he had been a good friend, and that he was innocent…what a joke.

He had pleaded not guilty when they asked him, before they had given him Veritaserum. Lucky for everyone, the Ministry had his wand. They had regurgitated the spells already, and it was obvious the horrible things the rat had done. Padfoot had been required to state his side of the events, what he had seen and done that night. His part in it all… She had been required to identify their Secret Keeper, and the plan behind the switch.

But all anyone had really needed to do was check Pettigrew's arm. The proof was there for all to see. The mark of snake and skeleton…the dark mark. His mark. The mark of a Death Eater.

When it was revealed, coupled with the results of the wand test, the Wizengamot had wasted no time with their sentencing. Life in Azkaban with no hope of parole. Maximum security, which meant a personal guard of Dementors outside and around his cell at all times. If he was lucky, in twenty years they would reopen his case and vote for him to receive the Kiss.

She couldn't help but smile grimly in satisfaction as she listened to Pettigrew's screams as the Dementors dragged him away for transport to the prison. And so her late husband's murder was avenged…or at least the one responsible had been brought to justice. Not much of a bane for all the years of loneliness that he had caused, but a small comfort in it's own way.

It was at this time that she realized the courtroom was nearly empty. People had began to file out while she had been lost in her thoughts. With a sigh, she got up and began collecting her things. It was over now. She could go to the Burrow, collect her son, go home and pretend all was well again.

She could pretend she was happy with Severus and his unpressuring ways, and then secretly dream about a certain shaggy haired man at night along with her nightmares. She could say yes the next time he tried proposing, and try living out her life with him…all the while wondering what could have been with the one she truly wanted…

With all this going through her mind as she began walking toward the Atrium so she could Disapparate out of the Ministry, she did not notice the man who was following slightly behind her, his silver eyes never straying from her form. Neither of them noticed the greasy haired man who was watching both of them.

The illegal Animagus walked slowly up behind her and dubiously reached his hand toward her, placing it on her shoulder. She snapped around at the contact, freezing when she saw who it was.

"Sirius…" she whispered, the emerald eyes meeting the silver. "What are you want?" she demanded, her voice stronger now but still weak.

Instead of answering, he just watched her with a look of longing on his face. Sadness in his eyes. Growing weary of his unblinking gaze, she shrugged his hand away and returned to walking, all the while struggling with the urge to look back. She hadn't gone but a few steps when she heard it.

"Not a day goes by that I stop thinking of you, Lily," she heard him call after her retreating form, "I still love you." This caused her to momentarily halt in her tracks… but then she was strolling away from him even faster, still not turning back. So he wouldn't see the look of joy that replaced her lifeless expression at his words. So he wouldn't know the feelings she tried so hard to hide from him.

"I had been a pretender all that time, all those years. Forgive me that I couldn't hold on anymore to a fantasy. I just wanted us to be so much more…"

He kept speaking, even though she was walking away. Trying to make her understand his actions for something she'd wanted just as much as he. It didn't matter that they were in the middle of the Ministry of Magic where anyone could hear them. He just wanted her to know.

It was his last, desperate call to her. To make her believe, to make her accept his offer. Her heart had soared at his confession, but joyful as she was, she didn't show it. All she could do was silently agree, and hide her feelings. All this time she had dreamed of what life would be like with him. They would have a family together, and be happy. But the world was working against that future, so she'd denied it before it could even start. She'd thought they would both move on…but a year later and they were just as much in love as they ever were.

As she walked away, neither of them noticed the greasy haired man still watching the spectacle. Didn't notice the velvet box he was fingering in his pocket, nor the look of pure hatred he shot toward Sirius.

~X-x-X~

Remus watched in curiosity as the young child tinkered around the library, bustling from one side so he could flip through a book to the other where he quickly made a note on a sheaf of parchment. His handwriting was scrawling and all over the page, put still legible. From here where he sat on the large comfy leather couch, the werewolf could see it seemed to be plans for a prank. Merlin knows he'd written and revised enough of them in his time to know one when he saw one, even one as hard to understand as the six year olds.

There were many of them and it seemed the little boy had been working on them for some time. From the heading on one of the pages he could only assume it was a plan to rid his mother of Snape. He then made a mental note to talk to Prongslet. His plan names were completely obvious.

With a sigh he smiled, then got up and grabbed the bundle of paper causing the Marauder in training to freeze in fear.

"Harry?" he asked in amusement as he looked down at the horrible script, "May I ask what Operation Ditch the Greasy Hairball?"

No answer came forth.

"Harry?" he asked again.

"Um…" he seemed to be struggling to come up with a good lie.

"Prongslet, would these happen to be plans to prank Snape and therefore somehow cause your mother to dump him?"

"Um…no?" He phrased it like a question, as if unsure it was the desired answer.

"Then what are they might I ask?"

He was saved from answering by a loud splat in the next room.

Safely tucking the parchment into a hidden inner pocket of his shabby robes, he peaked out into the foyer from the half open library doors. Upon the sight that met him, he fought back a smile as he turned to glare at the little boy, who was trying to act look as innocent as possible. A useful skill to have, if one has actually perfected it. But sadly for him, there was no one else who could have pulled the prank now that a certain adult no longer lived in the Manor.

The sight was of one Severus Snape covered in an unidentifiable sticky substance and a lot of bright violet and pink colored feathers.

Just for the sake of curiosity, the older glanced up at a the balcony directly over the potion master's head which gave one a look onto the second floor. Two large, now empty, buckets were positioned there on pulleys, ropes attached to the handles. It seems they were pulled downward when the Professor accidentally set off the nearly invisible thread trigger.

A bit childish, although overall rather funny! But then came the yelling…

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" the two in the library heard Lily yell, her voice louder and more angry than it would normally have been. She had already been mad, and that prank had not helped in the least…

Turning to the now pale child, the adult and ex-Marauder gave the best advice he could think of for that moment.

"Run!"

~X-x-X~

He was told to run, and run he did. It just so happened that the library was on the ground floor and had a rather convenient window placed in the room for just such an occasion. It looked out into the gardens and orchards. Very handy as it was an excellent place to hide from one's mother's extremely frightening rage.

He knew this as he had used it as an escape route many times already.

As he ran toward the shelter of the trees, he had to replay the image of a purple feather covered Snape over in his mind…

The sticky substance sticking the feathers to his mum's boyfriend was a mixture of various Muggle glues and the Wizarding variation of the stuff, something he'd brewed himself with slight help from a recipe found by him in a book in the very library he had just escaped from and the Weasley twins. The feathers had come from the Weasley family's many chickens, dyed the color of an eggplant by himself and Ron with some paint of Ginny's.

When he reached the now blossoming Apple Orchards, he had to collapse under one of the trees to catch his breath. Trying to keep running and not burst out laughing at the same time is a rather hard task to accomplish when one isn't used to it.

He really didn't know why she was so upset. It wasn't like he hadn't pranked the git before after all! That wasn't even one of his best! That title would go to the time he successfully turned him into a girl. It hadn't been easy, and he'd gotten grounded for four months…but totally worth it! It hadn't worn off for a week!

Sirius had been so proud of him!

~X-x-X~

Sirius Black looked out over the streets of London through the windows of the flat where he'd been living for the last few months. But that did nothing to serve as a distraction, so he headed toward the bathroom as he silently berated himself for loosing it at the Ministry. How could he have been so stupid to tell her all that? Now she would most likely stay away from him even more.

With a sigh, he turned to glare at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"Cheeks all smooth," he muttered to his image, hands sliding over his pale hairless skin. "Hair pulled back into a respectable and tight ponytail…"

What had happen to him? Since he had become the head of the family, he was required to take the Black seat in the Wizengamot. So he did…clean shaven, robes expensive and stainless, his family crest in place to alert people of who he was. He sat in the Wizarding world's government, making laws and passing judgment on criminals. Something his family had always wanted of him, to be respectable and not a disgrace.

He reached around to the back of his head and pulled off the clip with the Black family emblem on it, and lazily tossed it somewhere behind him. Next he pulled the hair elastic from around the ponytail, letting his hair fall loose. Then he ran his fingers through his hair, making a mess of it in the same gesture his best friend used to do. Then he leaned back to admire his work.

He was hard pressed now to remember a time when his appearance wasn't held against him, and that hadn't been that long ago. Only a year and a couple of months… amazing how a little time and a few brash actions could ruin everything you hold dear…

With another sigh, he headed towards the liquor cabinet and his new best friend.

~X-x-X~

"Lily…"

Her head twitched.

"Lily…"

Nothing.

The voice sighed. "I really didn't want to do this but… Lily Marie Evans-Potter, WAKE UP!"

That did it!

The redhead jerked up, her head looking franticly in every direction for the source of the yell. Only one person had ever dared to wake her up like that.

"James?" she called, hardly daring to believe it.

"Yes dear!" his voice came again, now heavily amused.

She looked around desperately, but was unable to see him.

"James, where are you?" she called again, getting out of bed. When she was standing, her vision went black.

"Behind you…" he whispered, his voice in her left ear. His hands slid down from her eyes and encircled her waist, thus enabling her unable to turn around. She felt his head come down on her shoulder, his nose burrow into her hair.

"Oh Lily, my Lily…" he said, still whispering into her ear, his voice sounding suddenly sad. "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Doing what to myself?" she asked, snuggling into the warmth of his body as her eyes drifted over their surroundings. It was what clued her into the fact that this was a dream. Instead of the bedroom she'd shared with Sirius for the last five years in Potter Manor, they stood in their old cottage in Godric's Hollow. It was exactly as she remembered it before it had been destroyed that horrible night all those years ago.

He spun her around so that they looked face-to-face. James Potter looked the same…the same as he had the night he'd sacrificed himself so that his wife and child might live. Her emerald eyes met his hazel ones as he whispered, "Why are you breaking your own heart? You love him…"

She gasped. "How-" she began, but he cut her off.

"-Did I know? Lils I'm dead, but that doesn't mean I'm not watching you. Because believe me, I am. You, Harry, Padfoot, and Moony…I know how you're all hurting. How Moony is struggling with his Lycanthropy and not wanting to hurt anyone. How Harry wonders if it's his fault Pads left, and feels guilty that he thinks of him as his father…How both you and Sirius are struggling with your love for one another, how you constantly tell yourself that you're not good enough for him. How it tares him apart because he thinks you only used him and don't return his feelings."

They stared wordlessly at each other, both nursing various thoughts on what the dead man had just said.

"Lils, do me a favor alright? Instead of breaking your heart, listen to it. Do what you want and don't let other's make your decisions for you. Be the Lily Padfoot and I fell in love with," he whispered to her frantically, kissing her cheek. "Make it right…"

And then her dream faded away, leaving her with naught but a whisper. One last command from her departed love.

Sunlight streamed in through the open window. She wondered about the dream, and what he had said…if it had truly happened. She wasn't completely sure…but she could still feel his lips on her cheek., and his last command to her still echoing in her ears.

"Make it right…" he said…If only he knew how hard that was. She was pretty sure she'd already messed things up beyond repair. With a sigh, she glanced around her bedroom, and the large number of photographs that decorated her walls

Harry and Sirius, Lily's boys (as she used to be so fond of calling them), along with the redhead herself were smiling back at her from different locations across the world. The Eiffel Tower (from a daytrip they'd taken to Paris in their first trip to the beach house), the Great Wall of China, the Sphinx, and other Muggle-made wonders of their world were always in the background.

In every picture they were all smiling, all joyful at being together. A family. For all the sorrow the three of them had in their hearts, they also had love and happiness, and it showed in their brightly shining faces.

In several of the pictures, Sirius had his hands around her. In several he looked at her with such tenderness in his gaze. Feelings she had no idea if he even still felt…

He said he still loved her... But would he once he knew how she had lied to him?

A/N: To be perfectly honest, I don't really like how this chapter turned out. It was kinda forced…and it took longer to write then I would have liked. If you have any complaints or suggestions for this story, I'd love to hear them…

Please review!