A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter; I'm thrilled with the response I've been receiving! This chapter is dedicated to all of those who have reviewed the previous chapter; brandini861, life1428, Jelly Babes 101, nellekeduf and hufflepuffloveforever.x

I'd also like to thank EVERYONE who followed this story, please leave a review and tell me what you think!

Cheers!

xoxo

3. Betrayal

With his Invisibility Cloak wrapped tightly around him, Remus straightened up and analysed the scene before him.

What he saw was not what he expected to see. Remus wasn't exactly sure what he expected to see; maybe a memory of Dumbledore inside the Department of Mysteries, stealing a Time Turner to present to Sirius. Or maybe even Sirius finding the Time Turner and using it.

Instead though, they appeared on a road ten minutes from the main high street of Diagon Alley. Sitting with his back to a brick wall, and looking utterly terrible, was one Sirius Black, and sitting a metre away was a second Sirius Black; looking better, healthier but so much sadder.

It was all so confusing, Remus could hardly think. They looked the same age, maybe twenty one.

'... so much to take in. What do I do?' the second version of Remus's friend said.

'I came back because I don't want you to be the reason they die...' this Sirius looked terrible; his clothes were a little muddy and rumpled; he had a five o'clock shadow and dark daunting eyes.

Remus couldn't see a trace of his best friend in those dead grey eyes. It scared him.

'It ... it was horrible.' The sad man continued. 'Harry survived, Harry survives ... but Pron—' he stopped talking.

The rest for Remus passed in a blur. He could hardly think properly. So, Sirius changed time to make sure James and Lily survived, defying the very laws of magic and morality that the Order vowed themselves to follow.

All in the name of love. Sirius did this all for love.

'I'll be their secret keeper of course. I only trust myself for it. Now more than ever.'

Okay, Remus thought calmly, I need to think logically. Dumbledore knew James and Lily were going to die; so he planted a Time Turner in Sirius's pocket. He went back in time to the thread of moments I belong to, and changed things. Then my Sirius followed the task set to him and became secret keeper, even though he was supposed to be secret keeper in the first place.

And this whole time, Sirius continued to play along as though everything was fine. But in reality, he was a liar.

'... be the Sirius they know ...' the version, ten days older, said. So this was the Sirius that just came from Godric's Hollow? The one who supposedly found James and Lily dead.

The memory clouded over, filling their eyes with grey swirls and dots of black. Then Remus felt like he was flying. Flying upwards and shooting straight into the sky.

He fell to the floor of Dumbledore's quarters, gasping and shaking. The Invisibility Cloak slipped off him but he found he didn't care.

'Remus!'he heard his best friend shout in shock.

He got up off the floor and looked at them. He seemed to tower over both the Headmaster and his best friend. 'You've got,' Remus began in that level, scary voice of his, 'a lot of explaining to do.'

xo

Lily sat in the lounge, fanning herself with a newspaper. It didn't say anything new. Just the same stuff; columns on how Sirius was a sneak and a traitor, articles about Dumbledore's disappearance and more utter bullshit.

'I want another kid.' A voice said from beside her. Lily looked up. It was her annoying husband.

'What?' she asked.

'I said,' James explained in a rather bored voice, 'I want another kid. Maybe not right now but soon. Like ... as soon as possible really.'

Lily stretched on the large sofa and put her feet in his lap. Then she cocked an eyebrow. 'That didn't make any sense James. Besides, we can't try and have a baby during a war.' She said, watching as he picked up her feet and massaged them, even dropping a quick kiss to her ankle.

'We had Harry during this war that's still going on ... and he's turned out pretty good. Or, at least, I think he has. Besides Lils, we don't need to try for a baby. I can just ... you know ... forget to put a condom on.'

Lily laughed as she tied her hair up in a messy bun. She watched her husband massage her feet. 'I'd love a child, you know I would ... but could we handle it ... could we really handle it?'

'I don't know.' James sighed. 'It would mean you'd have to stay at home all day—'

'Shove off,' Lily laughed, 'you're gonna be the one staying at home all day. I'll be out there wrestling Death Eaters and protecting Muggles and ... James?'

He was watching her with a small smile on his face.

'What?' she asked.

'I love you.' He told her. 'I mean I really really love you. I don't think I've ever loved someone so much. And when we beat Voldemort and everything goes back to normal, we'll have lots of kids and lots of money and we'll get to do whatever we want. Have sex on top of a pyramid or sell cocaine to minors or—'

'James!' Lily cried, reaching over and grabbing her husband by his lapels. She pretended to glare at him before laughing and leaning forward to kiss him very hard. It was almost easy to forget they were in a lounge with a few of their friends sitting a bit away. It felt like it was just them. They kissed lazily for a while; he played with her feet and she played with his lips, bathing in the romantic atmosphere surrounding them.

If someone had told Lily six years ago she'd be married to James with a son and blissfully in love, she would have laughed in their face. But here it was; she was married and in love. It felt good. James made her feel good; after years of taunting and arguing and begging and rebuffing, they were finally together. And maybe it was just Lily, but she thought they suited rather fantastically.

'How many d'you want?' she asked him when they broke apart, stroking his jaw and staring into his ferocious hazel eyes.

He was quite for a moment, satisfying himself with peppering small kisses on her chin and her cheek. 'Hmm ... four. I say four because I grew up an only child and it wasn't something I liked much.' James explained to her, kissing the tip of her small elegant nose.

Lily's eyes widened when she saw no trace of joking or teasing on her husband's face. 'Really?'

James hummed and nodded. 'Yep, I'm serious as McGonagall during one of her lectures. I want four at the very least.'

His wife's face turned red, redder than a tomato. 'I can't push three more babies out of me!' she shrieked. James sent her an alarmed sigh.

'Sure you can, it can't be that hard.' And thus, James absolutely ruined the atmosphere. From teasing, to romantic to murderous; the murderous emotion being from Lily.

'It can't be that hard? It can't be that hard?' she cried, getting off of her husband's lap and straightening up. She fixed him with an angry glare. 'ALICE!' Lily cried.

From across the room, Alice looked up from where she was seated in her husband's lap, both of them patting her flat stomach. 'Yeah, Lils?' she asked.

'How can James just say to me giving birth can't be that hard!' Lily shouted furiously. Beside Alice, Frank was wincing.

'Ooh, you should not have said that mate.' Frank mock-whispered to James, shaking his head and biting his lip to stop from laughing.

'What? Isn't it just like taking a really big dump?'

Everyone looked up. Everyone. Even the pair of seventh years in the corner snogging. And James realised just how much trouble he really was in. He jumped up before Lily could hit him, pressed a quick kiss to her lips before he bolted out of the room.

He probably wasn't going to get any action tonight. Ah well, James was bored. May as well go find the others, he thought.

xo

'Let me explain—'

Remus was hysterical, and Sirius was no closer to calming his friend down than he had been five minutes ago.

'... could you? How could you Sirius? I ... I ...'

'Just let me explain! Please! Remus, please! Just let me explain to you what I did, why I did what I did, let me just tell you the whole story and if you still want to tell everyone ...'

Albus was pacing the room, furiously trying to think a solution up and failing miserably. There was one thing he could try. But Sirius wouldn't allow him.

'They ... they're meant to be dead? They're not supposed to be alive? You cheated them? You cheated death?'

'JUST LET ME TALK!' Sirius bellowed, turning an angry glare to his best friend. 'Just let me talk! All I want to do is talk!'

Remus opened and closed his mouth before sitting back down on the sofa and burying his face in his hands. He was shaking with such fury and lividness. It worried Sirius a little bit.

'I didn't do it because they died. I did it because I made a mistake. And when I undid the mistake Remus, I undid their deaths...'

'How ... how is that not like saving them on purpose? You knew that they'd survive if you travelled back in time? You deliberately changed everything! They're supposed to be dead!'

'No they're not!' Sirius snapped, turning so he wasn't looking at his best friend anymore. He was so angry, so hurt by Remus's reaction. But what did he expect? A hug and a pat on the head? Maybe not. But Sirius hadn't expected his best friend to treat him with hostility; James and Lily were alive.

'If they were supposed to be dead, than correctly fixing my mistake wouldn't have done anything. Death would have gone out in search for other ways to claim them; murder, a bomb, accidental magic...'

'I— how does this relate to anything? How does this relate to you lying to your friends and doing things that aren't right?' Remus spat, an ugly expression flickering across his face.

Sighing and looking up at Albus, he felt a surge of courage rush into him. He hadn't done anything wrong; he'd only just cheated Time and the Angel of Death and all the other powers higher than human civilisation. 'If you'd just let me finish.' Sirius replied quietly.

The werewolf grunted, signalling Sirius to continue speaking. 'I did want to tell you, maybe not James but I wanted to tell you. But Albus said I couldn't. He said it would mess everything up. I mean I could barely cope with having that sort of information on my shoulders, I didn't want to place it on your shoulders too!'

'The mistake,' Remus hissed through clenched teeth, 'what was it?'

Sirius swallowed. 'Letting Peter be the secret keeper for James and Lily.'

'That Order meeting...' Remus gasped, lifting his head to look Sirius in the eye. 'Okay.' He said in a hoarse, distant voice. 'Explain Sirius. And please don't try to lie to me.' He said the last sentence very slowly and very carefully.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, sighing shakily. He nodded to himself and took a seat beside his best friend. Remus flinched.

Sirius's jaw dropped open. Did he just flinch? His lower lip trembled and his expression became one of horror and shock. Trying to swallow past the lump in his throat, Sirius opened his mouth. 'I won't.'

Conjuring a bottle from the cupboard across the room, Sirius pulled the stopper off and gulped hungrily before passing the bottle to his friend and watching the magicked window with curiosity. It was stormy outside; fitting his mood perfectly.

How could things turn so horrible? From an amazing hour with Rose to an argument with Dumbledore, and now this? Remus wouldn't even look at him.

'It was the morning I came into Diagon Alley to get Harry a Halloween present. I could tell he needed cheering up; things had been so serious at the Potter Manor. I saw him sitting at the spot where I usually pick up drugs or park my car. He was so sad. I knew he was me because I tested him; I made him transform and he did. And the wand he had ... it was my wand.

'He explained to me that he was the reason Lily and James die, he told me that he was supposed to be the secret keeper but instead, he comes up with the plan to make Peter the secret keeper. I'd been about to propose that suggestion to James and Lily myself. He told me how Peter was the traitor, and barely a week after the spell, the Fidelius Charm, is cast, Peter betrays them to Voldemort.

'I couldn't quite believe it. I refused to believe future-me. But what could make me so sad? Nothing! I've never had such an expression on my face before. It was like he was dying, Remus! And I knew only something so terrible could make me so sad! He begged me. He begged me to become the secret keeper, to scrap the plan I had thought up; the plan of pretending to be the secret keeper when Peter was really going to be it. I knew I had to.'

Sirius paused to drink some more of the whiskey, wiping his lips and setting the bottle down. It was so hot, like he was in an oven. Why was it so hot? He took off his top, ignoring the rather large love bite on his chest, and resting his elbows on his thighs.

'Future-me explained how Lily and James died, how Prongs died first, how Harry survived. And I don't want to be the reason my god-son grows up an orphan, I can't—'

'What?' Remus breathed, ears perking up and his whole demeanour changing. 'Pronglet survived?' he asked. 'He survived? H-how?'

'I ... I don't know! Something to do with Lily—'

'A protection.' Albus interrupted, turning around to face both men. 'Lily died to protect Harry and that's why he survives.'

'Survived! Not "survives".' Sirius snapped impatiently. 'I changed everything. I ruined everything.'

'Oh no, Sirius. Survives is exactly what I meant. You see, Time is a fragile thing. You're forgetting that every minute that passes; a Sirius somewhere in the universe is making a different decision. There are Siriuses out there who were Slytherins, Siriuses out there without sons, Siriuses out there who are rotting away in Azkaban right now for betraying the Potters when we all know you would never do.'

The handsome man paled and looked up, sipping his whiskey and growling. 'I don't understand.'

Albus sighed and turned to face him fully, opening his arms in a comforting gesture.

'I mean, Sirius, that you are one of the billion choices out there. Your fate is different in every parallel world. In some you've done the exact same and in others, you've done so differently. Harry survived in this world, but in others, he didn't. And in others, he was never even born.'

Running a hand over his face, Remus shook his head. 'This is so much ... to wrap my head around.'

'I know.' Albus said softly, coming to stand in front of the werewolf and pat his head sympathetically. 'But you need to remember Remus; none of this is Sirius's fault. I gave him the Time Turner, I'm the reason this has all happened.'

'Why?' Sirius asked in an anguished voice. 'Why would you burden me with this? Look how much is riding on me!'

Albus nodded. 'I know, Sirius. And I'm so sorry. But I have another confession to make. What do you remember of the Time Turner the future-you had?'

There was a pause; the room was so quiet a pin dropping could be heard. Sirius exhaled heavily. 'He put it on and went back to his time.'

'But there's another one. You sensed it. You sensed there was another Time Turner in your power; maybe not physically but you sensed there was a Time Turner present that would only work for you.' Albus sounded very grave. He also looked a little shame-faced.

'Yes.' The younger man's voice was barely above a whisper.

'I put one in your safe. The safe in your bedroom. It only works for you. It's yours. I'm sorry.'

Sirius stood up and clenched his fists. He looked tempted to punch Professor Dumbledore right in the face. 'Why would you do this to me? Why would you put so much power in my hands?'

'Don't you remember that conversation we had? About power. About how well suited you are for it?'

x

'I'm not like you Sirius. I never grew up surrounded by power. Your family are one of the seven originals from London, the greatest magical capital of Europe. Your family are also one of the wealthiest, and hold such prestige. You don't find power interesting. Which is why you would be suited well for it.'

Sirius almost laughed. 'Me? Yeah right Professor. Remus says on the best of days, my maturity matches that of a nine year old. On the best days.'

'Oh but you would! Money doesn't interest you, nor does a good family name or an impeccable reputation.'

'How does this have anything to do with the Time Turner?' Sirius huffed in answer.

'I have never used a Time Turner, though I have been in the presence one too many times. I have never used one because I don't want to tempt myself, tempt myself to turn back time and wrong all my rights. But you Sirius, you are unique and very special. You wouldn't stop your past self from telling Mr Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow. You wouldn't even use it to save Regulus. The only thing you would use it for is to save the future!'

o

'Yes,' Sirius breathed. 'You said I'm well suited for power. For the Time Turner. But I'm not. You've given me too much of a responsibility! I can't Professor, I can't...'

'Seems to me you've done a good job already.' Remus interjected, talking without thinking; something he did not often do.

He turned to face his friend, already sensing the millions of apologies racing through Sirius's head, ready to burst out. 'I can't believe you lied to them,' the werewolf breathed. 'You even lied to me, and you never lie to me! I'm your best friend; you tell me more secrets than you do Prongs!'

'This was the one thing Moony, the one thing I couldn't tell you.' He replied softly. 'It could have ruined everything! And I care about them so much, I love them so much.'

'So do I!' the other man snapped impatiently. 'This isn't something I'd let go of. This is a secret I'd die for, something that could ruin their lives. I thought you trusted me.'

'You can't tell anyone. I do trust you Moony, I do, of course I do. After everything you've done for me. You saved my life, back in the Forbidden Forest ... with Voldemort ... when I almost died. You saved me and I owe you so much. But please ... no one can know.'

Remus covered his face with his hands, exhaling heavily and standing up. He took the whiskey from Sirius's hands and took a swig. Then he turned to Professor Dumbledore. 'Can I go?'

Albus raised an eyebrow. 'Only if you promise not to tell anyone Remus. Don't think I won't hesitate to erase your memory.' The ex Headmaster had never sounded so menacing before.

The tawny haired man, after a long moment, nodded. 'It'll hurt them, break them even. And I couldn't do that to them. I care about them too much. What's done is done, right?'

Albus stroked his beard, smiling after hesitating. 'Yes, what's done is done. But it could be undone, you know. Especially with the Time Turner hidden in Sirius's home. We need to get it as soon as possible. Every day that passes is a day a Death Eater or the Dark lord could find it. And the Time Turner isn't like most, it's special. You know that Sirius.'

The handsome man was running his hands through his glossy hair. He nodded. 'I know. We'll get it soon. But I don't know how I'll be able to get it. I'm "dead" aren't I?' Whilst he was talking, Sirius's eyes were flickering around the room. His eyes landed on a book sitting a few metres away under an empty brandy glass.

Sirius crept towards it and picked up the book. It was a magical autobiography. The woman on the front was in her thirties, with only a few wrinkles marring her pale forehead. She had beach blonde hair disappearing down the portrait picture, and her eyes were twinkling. My Life, it read, by Madison Jeffrey.

'So this is her?'

'Yes.'

Sirius turned the book over, reading the blurb. 'Why've you got this?'

'That's another story for another time. Would you like to stay behind, Sirius?' Albus asked, his voice suddenly very kind and sympathetic.

Sirius turned to look curiously at Remus, whose eyes were facing anywhere but the spot he stood. He shook his head. 'No, no it's fine. I think I'll go back. They'll start wondering where I am.'

'Where we both are.' Remus corrected, and without another word, he fled from the room, closing the door behind him.

Sirius turned his frightened eyes to Dumbledore. 'Professor,' he murmured, 'what do we do?'

xo

'I think it's a poor imitation of the sky,' Remus mumbled, on his back admiring the stars and the moon. It was almost a full. He was so scared.

'Why?' a voice breathed quietly.

The room was the only room in the whole underground base of its kind; it was charmed to mirror outside. And right now they could smell the wind and feel the grass under their feet. But it was all an illusion. That's what, for Remus, made it so beautiful.

'The moon doesn't look at all frightening.' Remus replied, smoothing his tawny gold hair backwards.

Sirius smiled beside him, rolling over so he was on his stomach. He looked around. 'I'm so sorry.' He said in a voice so sincere, it sounded like he might start crying at any moment.

'You should be. This isn't a petty prank, Padfoot; this isn't a joke or something that could be reversed. This is their lives! You're not God; you can't go 'round playing God. And that's just what you've done.'

Sirius felt tempted to argue that Dumbledore was the one who gave him the Time Turners, the one who set him up for this, rehearsed lines to try and pressure Sirius into becoming secret keeper covertly, and most importantly, Sirius wanted to remind Remus that he never travelled back in time. He was innocent. Or as innocent as someone could be in the situation.

But instead, he just shrugged. 'I'd fight God for their lives.'

'Hmm, I don't know if you'd win Padfoot. You might get distracted by all the shiny surfaces in heaven,' a voice added from behind them. They turned to see James walking over, Harry asleep in his arms and a bruise on his lip. He was grinning though.

'And why would the fight be in heaven? Wouldn't it be more fitting for us to battle in purgatory?'

'Big words,' James gagged, 'hurt my head.'

Sirius smiled, budging up to let his friend fill the space on his left. Remus lay on his right, silent as night and just as daunting.

'I'm sorry.' He whispered, only for his friend's ears. When he felt the werewolf move beside him, Sirius sighed. 'I'm so sorry.'

'Sorry for what?' James asked curiously, readjusting Harry carefully. Maybe he hadn't been as quiet as he wanted to be.

Remus shook his head. 'We just got in a bit of a row. But it doesn't matter James, you don't always need to know everything.' He couldn't bring himself to look at his friend. If not for Sirius and his Time Turner, James would be dead.

He would be dead. He wouldn't be here right now.

Gone.

James flinched. 'What's tuggin' on your hair this morning, Moons?'

The question hung in the air, the tension building until it was so thick, Sirius was sure even an axe couldn't cut through it.

'I have something to tell you guys,' Sirius said after a while of stargazing and brooding. When he was sure he had their attention, he smiled tightly. 'We're gonna be out soon.'

'What?' both men asked, one in an excited voice and the other in a disbelieving one.

Sirius was bouncing on the soft ground, a smile coating his gorgeous face. 'I was thinking about it. What are we doing here? What am I doing here? Sitting here, sleeping here, eating here, hiding here! I can't stand it guys. We need to go. I have a plan, I mean, it needs to be executed at the right time, but we need to get out of here. It's like a prison! Where we do everything Dumbledore wants and everything Dumbledore thinks we should do!'

He stood up, bare feet seductively slipping through the grass; like a silky caress. 'What I mean is, I've had enough of hiding. I hid when I was secret keeper, Voldemort hid me from you guys at Malfoy's, I hid in Godric Hollow, and now I'm hiding here. But that's not how you save lives; you save lives by going out there and fighting.'

'They think you're dead.' Remus said in a hard voice.

'They won't for long. Sooner or later,' James interjected, shifting his son once again in his arms after dropping a brief kiss to his forehead, 'they're going to find out Sirius is alive. And I'd rather it sooner whilst we're doing something than later whilst we've achieved nothing.'

'Amen.'

xo

'I'm scared, Daddy,' whispered a small blonde girl. Her Father held her as tight as he could. 'I'm so sorry,' he sobbed, kissing her hair and clutching her tighter to himself. 'But your Mother, she'll take care of you! She'll take care of all of you until I come back. I promise I'll come back darling, I would never—'

'Time's up.' A cold, detached voice said.

'NOOOOO!' Henry's wife cried. 'NO HENRY, NO! Please! Please! Have mercy, PLEASE!' she screamed, her eighteen month old son dozing in her arms. But the Death Eaters came anyway. They grabbed her husband, holding him tight to prevent the struggles he was sure to explode into.

Henry's wife's screams took to a new level; piercing the ears of everyone around. She was a young, dainty thing. With beautiful eyes and beach blonde hair, she was startlingly gorgeous. But the snot dribbling down her nose and the smudged makeup cascading to her cheeks cancelled out the beauty and instead sparked a sort of fire within anyone watching her.

'WHAT IF I COULD HELP YOU?' she cried. 'Please! Please! I'm pregnant; I can't handle three kids alone. Please!'

'I TOLD YOU NO, KATIE!' Henry roared, his struggles ceasing. They were in the Blood Purification Test Department, and Henry was a "Mudblood". He wasn't going to leave tonight. Unless...

'What is it, lady?' spat the closest Death Eater, not bothering to wear a mask. It turned out the Death Eater in question was Bellatrix Lestrange, a mixture of madness and insanity and beauty. She was a frightening thing. 'We haven't got time. We have fifteen other people to "examine" ...' her laughter when she said the word "examine" revealed the madness within her.

Katie shivered, ignoring her husband's protests. 'Hush, Henry. This is the only way to—'

'And they're the only way! They're the only way we can survive; the only way we can stand a chance to win in this war!'

The children had started crying, and Katie's five year old daughter was clutching onto her clothing, sobbing and begging her Mother to get the "mad woman" away.

'What if I could tell you about the rumours I heard? About where the Order of the Phoenix is? What if I could tell you that they're in Wales right now? What if I told you? Would you let my husband go?' Katie panted, eyes wide and beautiful and frightened?

Bellatrix's wand clattered to the floor. Her eyes were wide; her face was ecstatic. She smiled a slow smile. Then she broke out into a radiant grin. She bent down and retrieved her wand, holding it up.

'You have thirty seconds to tell me everything you heard. And I might just let your husband go.'

A/N: Please leave a review!