A/N: Okay, So this got kinda long, so I split it into two halves. Hope you guys like it, the other half would be up within a day or two.


Chapter 9 - Part 1: Dark Lord Calling - His Plan

Sirius Black was taking the merits of living, under serious consideration. How much was it worth, really as compared to the dire and inevitable task that he faced if he so chose to live. Was a couple of years more of blissful happiness in Hogwarts with the Marauders, a bunch of pranks, parties and fun worth having to go through this arduous task which he had to go through if he was going to live? And once he did what he had to do, would he even come back to his normal life?

Exactly one summer ago, Sirius had been blissfully ignorant. He would have gone anywhere his cousin Bellatrix wanted him to go, meet whoever she wanted him to meet, in full realization that she wouldn't let anything happen to him; that for her, family will always be first. He would always come first. But that little bubble of naivety had busted. She had come close to killing Andromeda with no sorrow, whatsoever. She had opted to hurt him, to control him and worse than all of that, she was part of the terror organization that has had the entire nation trembling in fear.

Since that night, Sirius had spent many long moments wondering why his cousin would join such an organization. Sure, she believed in all that pureblood dogma with all of her heart, but Bella had always put family above and beyond everything else. Were her beliefs really strong enough for her to harm her sister or him? Sirius had severe doubts about that. His parents believed the same things she did. And yet, they weren't going prancing around in a bad boy's frat group.

Speaking of whom, the particular bad boy in question, Sirius had deduced was the reason underlying Bella's commitment to the cause. Sirius had heard her talk of him vaguely from even before he realized what was going on. He had always assumed that Bella had a job that she was being vague about and a boss that she really admired. In hindsight, it was easy to see that her feelings for this boss were of admiration, yes but it rose above it too. Her voice was full of reverence for him and what was even more disturbing, a dreamy school girl sort of tone which Sirius had never heard Bella use for anyone, not even for her husband.

Yes, it was obvious to him now. His cousin was in love with the darkest wizard of their time. Her unwavering loyalty was for him, he was the person that she had chosen over Sirius. From when Sirius was just a kid, he had always had a quality that his mother found abhorrent. She did not like him. There were no two ways to go about it. His dad had preferred the girls; especially Narcissa, the epitome of a well-bred pureblood. He had always been too busy to care much for anything, anyway. His uncle was most attached to his daughter Andromeda and Druella had never forgiven him for usurping Bella's right to Black family heritage even though the offence in question was him being born. He had never been anyone's first priority, never been the number one in anyone's list.

Except her's.

She defended him. She chose him head and shoulders over everybody else. She spent time with him and taught him everything he knew. He loved her and he had always thought she loved him. Even her going away to Lestrange Manor or him becoming a Gryffindor, was not enough to come between them. But he did. That wizard. The one that took his cousin from him. The darkest wizard that is rumoured to have lived since Grindelwald. The man who called himself Lord.

Voldemort.

Sirius had just heard of him before. But after that fateful summer, he had done his homework. He had personally looked for every newspaper that had ever reported anything related to him or his faithful group of wizards that called themselves the Death Eaters. They killed and tortured muggles and muggle borns and anyone who stood up for them. They used the unforgivable curses without remorse. They were brutal with their use of dark magic. They had the dementors on their side and some are saying that the giants were getting involved too. Panic was spreading throughout the nation. People even feared to say his name now.

But not me.

For him, Voldemort was just an egocentric little man who needs to be stopped. Why? Because what he was doing was not right. Sirius had friends who were muggle borns, knew muggles that he respected greatly. They did not deserve to die. They were not any inferior to Purebloods. Heck, some of them were much better than the sort of pureblood trolls Sirius knew. Sirius for one would not allow innocent people to suffer this way. As soon as he can get involved, Sirius knew he wanted to fight against Voldemort; help bring him down. Maybe, he will become an Auror. He and James had talked about it. There were rumours of course, that Dumbledore was up to something. That he was rallying resistance that even the Ministry did not know of. Sirius had a feeling that if anyone can bring Voldemort down, it was the old Headmaster. People already believe that Voldemort feared Dumbledore.

He would join whatever resistance Dumbledore was raising. He will help bring Voldemort down no matter who got in his way. Sirius was very much like his cousin Bella after all. He loved his cousin and she was very important to him. But he had a sense of what was right and wrong, which was much more ingrained in his very being. And he will always fight for that just like he would always fight for his friends and family. He believed that in a way by resisting against Voldemort, he was fighting for his cousin as much as he was fighting her. He believed that she could still be saved.

You offered me redemption, Bella. I don't need it. Not the sort that you are offering. But I will find you, redemption.

That was another reason why Sirius could not break his vow. He knew he had to face Voldemort, because he had been given an opportunity. He could get valuable information that could help Dumbledore. He had talked it over with James. As soon as Bella takes him to see him, Sirius would let James know through the two-sided mirror. James would let Dumbledore know immediately. Then, Dumbledore can Apparate there immediately and maybe, even kill Voldemort then and there.

He crossed his fingers and prayed to Merlin for the first time. He prayed that they all got out of this unscathed.

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James Potter had done a lot of reckless things in his fifteen plus years of life. But this was maybe by far the most reckless thing even he has ever done. He didn't feel the usual surge of excitement though. James felt more nervous than running around in full moon with a werewolf ever made him feel. He was about to meet the dark wizard that the entire nation and even the Ministry of Magic is terrified of.

His best friend Sirius had made an unbreakable vow to his cousin Bellatrix that he would meet someone she wanted to and Sirius was sure she spoke of this dark wizard. Sirius had a plan, to let Dumbledore know of the location as soon as he knew through James, so that Dumbledore can maybe put an end to this megalomaniac once and for all. He had told James the plan and it was actually kind of smart but something that Sirius had seriously overlooked was, there was no way in hell that James would let his best friend walk right into the dragon's den, alone. James was going.

He knew Sirius wouldn't agree. So, he had pondered of a way to follow Sirius and Bellatrix from King's Cross. But luckily for him, Bella had changed plans. She was picking him up from Hogwarts itself within a couple of hours. This made things all that more convenient. Dumbledore had set up charms which would tell him if a student disapparated from Hogwarts so Bella was taking Sirius along with her using an illegal Portkey. Neither James nor Sirius knew how she planned to come within the magical boundaries of Hogwarts. This made things easier for James, however. He would just have to slip along under the invisibility cloak and catch the Portkey with Sirius and Bellatrix. But before that he had to make sure Sirius's plan succeeded. He had to make sure someone informed Dumbledore.

He had to convince Moony.

He rushed up the portrait hole and walked into the common room and was delighted to see Moony sitting in his usual arm chair near the fire.

"Moony," panted James as he slipped into another armchair next to his friend.

Remus looked at James curiously. "Hey Prongs. What's up?"

"Bellatrix changed the date of her little outing with Sirius to tonight," said James looking around cautiously for eavesdroppers. "She is picking him up in a while."

"Merlin," said Remus, looking as scared as he felt. "Has he gone already?"

"Not yet. Moony, I can't let him go alone. I am planning to go along under the invisibility cloak," said James urgently.

He expected Remus to tell him it's too dangerous or to stick to the plan and let Dumbledore deal with it, but then he should have known that this was a stupid thought. Despite his more disciplined nature, at heart Remus was a true Marauder.

"Good point. I'm coming too," said Remus keeping the book he was reading on the arm rest and moving to get up.

"No no Moony," said James. "You've gotta stay. You've got to inform Dumbledore. Someone needs to be doing that,"

"We'd tell wormy to do it. Or Frank. Or Anyone, actually. Heck, we can write him a goddamn letter, Prongs. I'm coming!" retorted Remus angrily.

"You know we can't do that Remus," said James. "Wormy might not get the job done, right. You know how nervous he gets. And for all we know, the moment we tell him he might insist on coming too. And Frank would probably do that too. That's the flipside of having Gryffindor friends. We can't tell just anyone. It's too dangerous. But this needs to be done, Remus."

"Okay, Prongs. Then you stay here and tell Dumbledore and I will go with Padfoot," said Remus fiercely.

"Moony, you know I will go crazy if I'm left behind. I can't maintain a calm composure like you do, "James argued

Remus considered his fellow Marauder for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "You are a jerk," He said crossly.

"Thank you, so much Moony." James said, taking out the mirror from his pocket and handing it to Remus. "He would probably call James or Prongs, so be on the watch out for that,"

"Okay, be careful, James," said Remus, grasping his friend's hand. "Don't do anything too risky,"

Somehow the whole irony behind that statement cracked both of them up, as they laughed uncontrollably. Then it was time to go. James got up and said, "See you soon, Remus," and walked away.

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Lily Evans hated patrol duty when it coincided to the days in which she was paired to anyone except Remus. The quality of Hogwarts prefects seems to be disintegrating to near troll levels. This time around she was paired with the Ravenclaw fifth year boy prefect and he was even worse than Potter when it came to flirting but he seemed to want to do it nonstop anyway. Lily congratulated herself for giving him the slip as she moved to patrol another corridor. This was when she saw James Potter sneaking off hurriedly. Lily knew the boy would be up to no good. She was surprised Sirius wasn't with him.

She decided to follow him. She didn't want him getting caught by a teacher and Gryffindor losing house points because of that. No, she would catch him and put him into detention. Plus, a little bit of her was always curious when it came to James Potter and what he is up to. She lurked behind him, unwilling to confront him yet and give him the chance to flirt with her, while she didn't have anything to punish him with yet.

Potter was heading towards the forest. Now, Lily was a bit spooked. She was a talented witch for her age, but she didn't want to go into the forbidden forest at this time. She decided now was time to confront him.

"Hey Potter," She called. James turned around but not with the usual charming grin but with an anxious look.

"Lily you shouldn't be here," He said. "Go back to the castle,"

Lily was a bit offended. Usually, James was always very happy to see her. Not that she liked it, but this sudden displeasure at seeing her, was strangely offensive to her.

"I happen to be a prefect," She huffed. "It is well within my rights to be here. You on the other hand, have no right. So come back to the castle before I call a teacher,"

"Lily, you don't understand. Please, just go back. This is important," said James urgently.

Lily considered the messy haired fifth year. He seemed genuinely asking her to go. She wondered what he was up to. He actually looked nervous. James Potter; nervous. She didn't think he would live to see that day.

"Wow, Potter you actually look nervous. What is going on?" She said. Before he could reply, she heard footsteps. She turned around to see Sirius walking from the castle in their direction. He didn't seem to see them yet.

"Here comes Sirius, now." she said rolling her eyes. "What are you two idiots up to?"

She saw James's eyes follow her direction to look at Sirius and panic etched on his face, on seeing his best friend. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her close, putting a cloak over them.

"What the hell is going on?" said Lily angrily. "What do you think you are doing, Potter?"

"Just shut up, please Lily!" said James. "You will ruin everything,"

Lily was getting more and more confused by the minute. "But it's only, Sirius," she said.

"Shh," James said as Sirius came closer to them. The seriousness on his face, which was alien for James, made Lily actually shut up. She looked curiously as Sirius walked past them and sat under a birch tree. He seemed to be waiting for someone. She looked up at James, who was weirdly not looking at her, despite their proximity. She found this strange, because usually James Potter was looking for every possible opportunity to shoot glances at her, even from a distance. No, James was looking intensely at his best friend. It was becoming increasingly, obvious to her, that this was not a prank of any sort. No. Something, more serous was going on here.

Suddenly, a shadow moved behind a tree and there was a short flash of light. Sirius jumped to his feet and James looked on seriously. She did not have to wait for long, to see the source of the light. A dark witch who looked a lot like Sirius was moving towards him. She knew without really knowing, that the witch had to be related to Sirius somehow. She began to talk to Sirius in hushed tones. Both of their attention was in their conversation.

James grasped the opportunity to turn to Lily.

"Lily, I really wish I could explain to you, what's going on. But there is no time. You have to go. This is very dangerous," He said.

"I'm not going anywhere, Potter. If it's dangerous, there is no reason for you and Black to be here either," reasoned Lily.

"Lily, we have a plan. But it's not all that safe. That's Sirius's cousin. She is taking him somewhere. I'm going to follow them. Please, go. Go find Remus. He will explain everything,"

His tone was getting increasingly desperate with time.

"No. I'm staying," she said stubbornly.

"Evans, this is a matter of life and death," James said angrily, shooting a sideways look at Sirius and his cousin who were still talking. She was holding an old comb, now. "I have to go, in order to save Sirius. But I can't put you in danger too,"

"That really isn't your decision to make, James Potter. I'm coming along if I can't stop you from going. And you better explain all this to me soon!" She retorted angrily.

The comb was glowing blue now. She realized then and there, that it was a portkey.

"I have to go either way, Lily," said James, exasperated. "Last chance for you to walk away,"

Lily shook her head and James sighed, before walking hurriedly, under the cloak, Lily by his side towards the cousins and the comb. They both managed to touch an invisible finger to it, just as it disappeared, taking all four of them with it.

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A/N: So, Sirius has a plan but what he doesn't know is that both Lily and James are going with him. I also split it here, for the dramatic effect. The next part which involves their confrontation with Voldemort (Which would be the first in "Those who have thrice defied him") and Sirius's plan coming to fruition. Please read and review! :D