Thanks to my international betas of doom. The Sushi Monster, Kehlencrow and johnnydicaprio. Good times.

So here's chapter 6, and yet another song title. I can understand that no one got all five, since there are multiple songs with the same name...didn't really think that one through, did I? If you're wondering why I use song names...and I know you are desperate to know...it's because I am terrible at thinking of titles. And I'm lazy. That's it.

Disclaimer: Nothing clever this time. I don't own Harry Potter. I do own an almost empty bottle of Tabasco Sauce. Garlic Flavor. It's tasty.


A Certain Shade of Green

"Doesn't look like much. This is where the descendants of Slytherin lived?"

Bill stood at the foot of a path leading to the old Gaunt house. To his left, Remus had his wand out and was casting various detection spells. Harry and Albus were a few feet ahead, searching for traps. The house itself was dilapidated. Gray, worn planks of wood aged by years of neglect gave it a sinister air. It reminded Harry of some Muggle haunted houses he had taken his children to.

Choking down the feelings of loss, he answered Bill. "Yeah, it's amazing what centuries of inbreeding can do."

Albus turned to them, satisfied that there was no dark magic in their immediate vicinity. "The Gaunt family's only successes involved frightening their Muggle neighbors. They were no longer powerful, magically, after so many generations of ensuring the family name was passed down through pure-bloods, exclusively. When they could not convince or coerce other families into marriage, they simply turned to their own."

Bill scowled. Remus joined the other three as they cautiously approached the shack. Inside, they knew, were the two magical artifacts they had come for; the Ring and the Stone.

As they neared the door, Harry spoke. "Okay, this place definitely has some defensive traps. In my universe, I wasn't present when Albus recovered the ring. His portrait didn't have all that much information either, as the enchantments are limited, but there are bound to be some nasty surprises."

"What kind of surprises?" asked Remus. "The cave with the fake locket seemed simple enough, after you got inside. Except for the potion, of course."

"Simple like hordes of inferi, you mean," quipped Bill. The other man glanced at him with a nervous grin as they reached a set of rickety steps that led to the entrance of the house. The corpse of a snake with shriveled, dried skin still hung on the door, unchanged since Morfin Gaunt had been led away to Azkaban for the remainder of his life.

Finding the house had been difficult enough. Every time they felt they were closing in on it, they had ended up wandering down the main road of Little Hangleton. At one point, the foursome had passed the town's small graveyard, a place Harry hadn't returned to in all the years following the Triwizard Tournament. Albus shared his suspicion that there was an extremely powerful repelling charm surrounding the property that was preventing them from locating it. Eventually, they found themselves gazing at the shack from a distance, fighting the urge to wander off. Remus had been the most affected. While the other three had experience fighting through repelling charms and other various defensive magic, Remus had spent almost a decade experiencing minimal magic. Whenever the werewolf got within a certain distance of the shack, even after they were aware of the problem and concentrating on correcting it, he'd wandered in the opposite direction, deaf to the voices of his companions. Harry had sent Bill after Remus while he and Albus disabled the repelling charm. When the other two returned to the property, all of them began the search for other protections.

"That's nice," said Harry, staring at the corpse on the door. "I didn't think the snake would still be here. Do you think...?"

Albus answered him. "Indeed, Harry. I am curious as to how I was able to bypass the protections in your universe."

"There must be another way in," said Harry.

Bill began to walk around to the side of the shack. "I'll go search the perimeter and see if I can find anything."

Harry looked at Remus, who seemed puzzled about what he would be doing. "Go with him. We should stay together, at least two of us at a time. Just in case."

Remus nodded. The oddness of taking orders from what appeared to be a child had worn off after several planning sessions, when it became abundantly clear that Harry was more than capable of strategic thinking. He followed Bill around the corner of the shack, mindful of various pieces of debris that had found their way to the tall grass that covered a majority of the property. The two of them proceeded cautiously, constantly aware there could be a deadly trap waiting for them. Bill would stop every few seconds and wave his wand, muttering in Gobbledegook. Remus knew a few words, but none that the redhead was using. When they approached the rear of the house, Bill stopped again and cast yet another detection spell. Suddenly, an eerie green glow emanated from a small, dusty window several feet above their heads.

"Harry!" Remus shouted reflexively. Bill spun toward him, mouth agape. Without warning, the green glow expanded and floated away from the window. It headed straight for Remus, who was so startled he could only stare in horror. Bill jerked his wand toward the field of magical energy, most likely a curse, he thought, and raised a shield, trying to contain it. The curse struggled against the shield, which started glowing a bright gold, crackling like melting ice.

"Move!" Bill shouted. Remus started to back away, still dazed by his own stupidity. He looked to his partner and saw Bill's face flushed with the exertion of holding the shield against what appeared to be very powerful dark magic.

"I can't hold this forever, Remus! Get out of here!" Bill was using a shielding spell he'd been taught in Egypt. Rock had impressed upon him that most of the ancient temples and tombs were full of deadly curses, and there was no way to run from them inside such an enclosed area. Shields were the best defense, and with a partner to back you up, it was usually simple to contain such spells. Remus, unfortunately, didn't know any of the counter-curses or shields needed to fight this type of curse off.

With a slight whooshing sound, the curse shot forward toward Remus, barely missing him, and struck the ground. All the grass within a five foot diameter of where it struck quickly wilted, turning from a vibrant green to yellow to brown, then finally black. The dead plants, cursed by dark magic unknown to both of them, then crumbled to pieces and floated away on the light breeze. Some blew toward Remus, causing him to sneeze and violently shake his head and swipe at his face.

Harry and Albus burst around the corner of the house. Harry's small child's legs were pumping furiously while his older companion seemed to only glide, hurriedly. When they saw Remus on the ground and Bill erecting shields on each visible window, Harry darted toward the fallen Marauder.

"Remus, are you okay?"

The only response was the sound of spitting, as Remus tried to get the bits of cursed grass out of his mouth and nose. When he looked to Bill, he saw that the curse-breaker had stopped putting up shields. He was now weaving temporary wards, assisted by Albus. Harry knelt beside Remus and tried to determine his condition. After a moment, the man finally stopped trying to expel the dead grass from his mouth and looked up into the green eyes of his deceptively young friend.

"Merlin, that was awful. There was some kind of protection on that window there," he said, pointing. "Bill put up some sort of shield and when it broke through, I dove out of the way." He finished with some retching noises, coughing up bile with bits of blackened, cursed grass in it.

Harry stood and helped Remus to his feet. "Are you okay? If not, you can-"

"No, I need to come with you. The more of us there are, the safer it is."

Harry sighed. It looked like Albus and Bill had things under control as far as the house went. The two men were sealing the house with spells he didn't know. Bill would place a containment ward in one area, and that would be quickly reinforced and added to by Albus. Both of them were working frantically, though Bill appeared much more flustered than his former headmaster. After several minutes, the two stopped their efforts and joined Harry and Remus.

"Perhaps we should attempt to enter through the front," Albus said.

A slight twitch of his lips caused Harry to grin back at him. "I guess. He probably wasn't expecting another Parselmouth to go looking for his Horcrux."

The four of them carefully made their way back to the front of the house, stopping in front of the snake nailed to the door. Albus peered through his spectacles, scrutinizing the door and surrounding walls, searching for any other magic that might make their entrance an unpleasant experience. Finding nothing, he looked down and nodded to Harry.

"Open," Harry hissed in Parseltongue. Nothing happened. He looked back up at Albus. Both of them were troubled by the lack of reaction.

Albus glanced at the other two. "Hm. It seems that will not suffice.

"What did you say?" asked Bill.

"I told it to open," said Harry. "That's all I had to say to get into the Chamber. Do you think there's a password?"

"Well," said Remus. "You said he wasn't expecting other Parselmouths to come searching, but what about snakes? Do they ever use the word 'open?'"

"Good point," said Harry. "What could the password be, though? Dammit! I wish I knew how you got in there in my universe, Albus."

"I do not believe it would be a true password, Harry," said Albus, soothingly. "I would hazard to guess it is a phrase that a simple garden snake would not utter."

Bill grinned. "Hidden Horcrux Hideaway?"

Harry smiled back, then seemed lost in thought for a moment. "No, nothing to do with Horcruxes. There's no equivalent for it in Parseltongue. Plus, the only alliteration snakes seem to like start with an 's.'"

The four of them pondered the problem quietly for a minute before Bill spoke again, hesitantly. "You said Riddle came up with the name V-Voldemort right before he started making Horcruxes?"

Harry and Albus nodded. Bill continued. "So, maybe it's something like, 'Open in the name of Lord...Voldemort.' Or something like that..." he trailed off, his face flushing a bit.

Harry shrugged. "Worth a try, anyway."

He began to hiss before being interrupted by Remus. "Harry, wait a minute." He turned to the curse-breaker. "Maybe you should put that shield up again, Bill. There's some very dark magic protecting this place."

Albus shook his head. "It is doubtful that any protections would be activated by a Parselmouth. Riddle believed himself to be the only one in existence, as he was when he hid the Ring here."

Harry nodded, and while the other two weren't completely confident in that assessment, they kept their doubts to themselves. A series of hisses from Harry followed, and the others watched as he focused, starting again and again, trying to find the right phrase to allow them access to the house. After several attempts, the snake carcass hanging from the door animated and hissed back at them. A slight creak followed, and they all watched as the snake seemed to wilt before their eyes and dissolve into dust.

"Well, that was bloody disturbing. What'd you say?" asked Bill.

"I told it to, 'Open in the name of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four.'" He turned to them and grinned, then swept his arm behind them, bidding them entrance.

"That's all, huh?" said Bill, stepping forward. "Well, at least he's humble."


Sirius Black woke up from the same nightmare he had been reliving for the past nine years. The only difference was, this time, when he awoke, the nightmare ended. It took him a moment before he reoriented himself. He was in a bed. A comfortable bed. He wasn't cold. The dampness he had become accustomed to as a prisoner in Azkaban was nonexistent. Shaking his head, he remembered some of the events from the past week. Moments he would have thought delusions floated to the foggy surface of his mind. Sirius knew then that he was truly free, since the dementors would not have left such happy thoughts roaming through his head, even as fantasies.

The first morning had been the hardest. He'd woken up screaming, as had been habit for him at Azkaban. Memories of Wormtail, the night they made him Secret Keeper. The look on The Rat's face as he accused Sirius of killing James and Lily. It had been a smug little expression, mostly in the eyes. Every time Sirius saw those eyes, he would dream of one day committing the crime he had been imprisoned for, even if it meant killing a dozen or so innocent Muggles. He had stopped caring about unimportant concepts such as 'innocence' long ago. All he knew, all he could focus on, was that Peter Pettigrew had betrayed them all, and Sirius had only himself to blame.

Then Remus and James... No. Remus and Harry had come to free him. Harry! The boy looked exactly like James when they'd met on the Howarts Express. When the Marauders had first begun to conspire against boredom and uniformity. But he wasn't James. The small flicker of hope he'd built in that split second between seeing the boy's face and then hearing his response to the desperate query of, "James?" quickly subsided. The memories of his release were quite muddled afterward.

The next week was similarly jumbled. Waking up in St. Mungo's Security Ward, and being fawned over like a celebrity. The healers had been exceedingly friendly. Often, they apologized for his incarceration, which he waved off impatiently when he was aware enough to bother. They had forced potion after potion down his throat. Mind healers had come to speak with him every few hours, though the only one he responded to was a pretty little witch just out of training. It was the first time he'd smiled in years, watching her blush under his tide of compliments. It hurt the muscles in his face, and caused him to wince. That was followed by another round of potions.

Eventually - he didn't know how much time had gone by - he was dressed in nondescript robes and taken to the Ministry. He would have been nervous, but the healers and several Aurors had reassured him that he was only being taken to testify against Wormtail. The Rat. The Traitor. His teeth had clenched so tightly he thought he heard something pop as they led him into the chamber. Sitting in the chair of the accused, bound by magical chains and whimpering piteously, was the man Sirius had spent nine years in Azkaban for murdering.

He'd wanted to spit at him. Instead, a low growl that would have been more appropriate in his animagus form escaped from his throat. Wormtail must have recognized it, because the glum little man had jerked in his chair and turned his head as much as the restraints allowed. The look of terror on his face was almost satisfying to Sirius, but thoughts of James, dead, slouching on the floor, pushed any positive emotions away. Then the sight of Lily, collapsed next to Harry's crib, forced itself into his mind and the growl turned into a full snarl. Wormtail was not the only one who flinched away. Even the Aurors escorting him hesitated for a moment. He wasn't restrained, but he knew if he made one move toward the bastard, his chance at freedom might be jeopardized, so he resigned himself to only having to kill Wormtail if the Wizengamot let him walk free.

The trial had been short and uneventful. Minister Bones, newly appointed according to his Auror escort, quickly brought the collected members to order and spoke. "Peter Pettigrew, you have testified under the influence of veritaserum that you willingly served Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, as a Death Eater. You have also admitted that you were James and Lily Potter's Secret Keeper, and then betrayed them to Riddle. Additionally, you have testified that when Sirius Black confronted you about your betrayal, you created the appearance of your own murder and proceeded to frame Mr. Black for the murder of twelve Muggle bystanders. Do you deny these charges?"

Sirius watched with wide eyes as his former friend shook in his restraints. He knew he should have felt anger toward the man. Anger, hate, betrayal. The only emotion he was conscious of was sorrow. Nothing they did to Wormtail would bring back James and Lily. Nothing would give him back the years he spent in Azkaban, or the part of his soul that had died on that miserable rock.

The rest of the trial was a blur. Sirius vaguely remembered some moments. Wormtail's blubbering about Voldemort being 'too powerful to resist' and various other nonsense that would have enraged him had he not been so numb. His ears perked up as they sentenced Wormtail to a life sentence in Azkaban, but he'd felt no joy at the thought.

Afterward, he had been taken back to St. Mungo's where Remus and Albus Dumbledore had met him. Albus had been sitting in his regular seat as Chief Warlock during the trial, but Sirius hadn't noticed. The two of them sat by his bed, while Remus apologized and begged for forgiveness. After the last of several desperate attempts by the werewolf to regain his friendship, which had never truly been lost, Sirius had finally spoken. His voice was weak, an uneven croak at best.

"Moony, it was my fault. Don't blame yourself."

Remus leaned back in shock for a moment before responding. "How can you say that? I believed them! I thought you had betrayed us. Killed Peter... I let you rot in that hellhole for years. None of it is your fault. None of it!"

There had been silence after that. Albus had sat quietly next to the bed, his face an expressionless mask. He'd watched as Sirius stared blankly forward, not acknowledging his friend's pleas. Eventually they'd left him to sleep, but Remus had come back the next day, with Harry. That had brought life to Sirius' eyes, but then the same blank look appeared as he apologized to the boy for getting his parents killed.

Harry had not accepted that well at all. "Sirius, my parents would be hexing you back and forth across this room right now if they were here. They wanted you to take care of me. And yourself. You can't do that very well if you're sitting around feeling sorry for yourself."

The harshness had shocked Sirius back into reality. He'd glanced at the boy and seen his green eyes - Lily's eyes - glaring at him. Challenging him.

He sat up then. It was the first time since the trial two days earlier that he'd changed positions. After a stilted conversation with Moony, they decided he would come live at Potter Manor until he was well. There was no sense in taking up useful hospital space, after all.

And so he woke up in an unusual bed, completely disoriented, almost a week later. Remus and Harry had been away from the manor for most of the previous day, leaving early that morning. There hadn't been much interaction between the three of them since Sirius had arrived and he'd spent most of his time sleeping, both due to the potions he was taking and the exhaustion from being imprisoned for so long. Sleep was not easy to come by in Azkaban.

Looking out the window, he realized it was still night. A small sliver of moon hung in the sky, and he could almost make out the Quidditch pitch down the hill from the manor. He sat up, and for the first time since being exonerated, didn't feel any dizziness. Taking this as a good sign, he slowly stood and remained still for a moment before taking several short steps to the bathroom. After completing his business there, Sirius heard his stomach make a noise and suddenly barked a short laugh. He hadn't felt hunger in years. Certainly, he'd been hungry. Starved, usually. But the idea of true hungerhad left him mere months into his sentence. The idea hadn't even crossed his mind since his release. At the moment, though, it was back in full-force. Taking cautious steps toward the door of his room, Sirius slowly opened it and stepped into the hall.

He remembered Potter Manor from his life before Azkaban. First, visiting during the holidays at Hogwarts, and eventually living there after being expelled from the 'Ancient and Noble House of Black.' Sirius snorted at the thought of anyone in his family being noble and continued to make his way toward the kitchen. The manor itself was magnificent. Shining mahogany hardwood floors, with elaborate runners originating from every corner of the globe, guided him downstairs where he found a small room packed with various heirlooms and awards of the Potter Family. Some dated back centuries.

When he entered the kitchen, the gas lamps suddenly burst to life and a quiet pop made him jump and search for the source of the noise. A small house elf stood in front of him, nervously tugging the bottom of a small apron that hung from its neck.

"Does Master's Paddy need something?"

Sirius hadn't dealt with house elves often, other than Kreacher, even before being sent to Azkaban. "I was just looking for something too eat. I...er," he stopped talking as the elf snapped its fingers and a plate of sandwiches appeared on the top of the kitchen table. The Potters had several different dining rooms throughout the manor, each for different occasions, but as a family, they had always eaten in the kitchen, especially after Lily had married James.

"Master's Paddy want anythings else? Sarey be happy to serve Master's Paddy again!" The elf was as excitable as any of its kind, and with the revelation of her name, Sirius remembered her as James' personal elf while visiting the manor in the past.

"No, thanks Sarey. Do you know when Remus and Harry are going to be back? I think... I need to talk to them."

The elf beamed. "Oh, Master's Paddy! They's arrived almost an hour ago. They's in the sunroom!"

Thanking the elf, Sirius grabbed half of a sandwich and exited the kitchen. Walking down the darkened hall and taking small bites of the, as usual, delicious food, he began to hear voices as he neared the sunroom. Turning a corner, Sirius saw a soft light radiating from an open doorway. He spotted Remus as his friend darted across the small section of the room he was able to see. A muffled voice that sounded faintly disapproving and then a childish giggle floated toward him. Hurrying his pace as much as he could, Sirius arrived at the sunroom and glanced inside.

"Moony?"

Remus spun around. "Sirius! You're up! Could you help me with him?"

Harry's response was a bit more enthusiastic. "PADFOOT! You're alive!" He stumbled a bit and fell to the ground, crouching there without moving. Sirius, worried that his godson had injured himself, rushed over to assist Remus.

"Harry! Are you okay? Here, let me help you up..." Sirius kneeled down and grabbed Harry by the shoulders. A familiar scent accompanied the boy, but Sirius thought nothing of it. As he propped Harry onto his feet, the boy opened his eyes and squinted at his godfather. Then he closed them.

"Moony? What's going on? Is he sick?" Remus smirked at the expression on Sirius' face. "What? He's acting like he's drunk or something."

"Or something," muttered Remus, with a snort. Sirius stared at him for a moment before the scent that he now recognized as firewhiskey drifted into his nostrils. Staring at the young boy he was holding up, Sirius was speechless for a moment before turning back to his friend with a glare.

"You gave him firewhiskey? Are you crazy, Moony?"

"I didn't give it to him. He got it himself, from the house elves."

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"It's his house, Sirius. What was I supposed to do?"

"He's a child, for Merlin's sake!"

The childlike voice, slurred by alcohol, interrupted them. "M' not drunk. Stop fighting. It's not good f' Padfeet!"

Remus sighed and walked over to the two of them. He helped Sirius guide Harry to the couch that sat beneath one of the many large skylights in the room and set the inebriated boy onto the cushions, but he refused to lie down.

"Harry, lie down," demanded Remus, but Harry wanted nothing to do with putting an end to his night.

"We got it Padfoot! We got it, and Albus destroyed it, and now there's only four left. Or Five. I can't remember. But we need to go to your house and get one, and then the bank, but the goblins aren't going to like it, but they took the sword anyway, so they can suck Merlin's sack! That's right! Who cares about bloody goblins, anyway? They're bloody rude. And what are you doing out of bed? You'd shoulda been resting tonight. It's late." The rant ended with a pointed look from Harry to Sirius, who had a gob-smacked expression on his face.

"Wha'?" Harry slurred. "You should be resting," he repeated. "How can we go get the Horercruses if you're sick?"

"Oh my," said Remus, looking sheepish. "I should have known how quickly the alcohol would affect him in this state."

Sirius transferred his look from Harry to Remus. "What did you think? That a ten year old boy would simply have a night cap and scurry off to bed? And why the hell are you letting him drink firewhiskey, anyway? He's ten! What are you thinking? Are you drunk? What is going on here?"

"M' not ten!" shouted Harry, as he sat back against the couch and slowly began drifting to the side. "I'm a grown man, dammit! I have a famy! And one of them's named after you, Padfoot. Not Padfoot. Sirius. Middle name, though. Sorry 'bout that. I'm sure you wanted the first name, but dad got that. At least you're together, huh?" Harry had begun to get a bit teary eyed at the point he started talking about his family, which only confused Sirius more.

Remus was grinning again. "He is going to be in quite a state, tomorrow."

"Moony. What the hell is he rambling about? I can't believe you let him drink. I shouldn't have gotten out of bed..."

"Moony!" Harry yelled and sat up in the blink of an eye, almost falling forward before Sirius caught him and gently pressed him back onto the couch.

"Yes, Harry?" Remus was having trouble controlling his laughter at this point.

"Moony. This's serious. Sirius, you should know, too. Sirius, this is serious!" He began to cackle, drunkenly. The pun, combined with the ability to say it to his living, breathing godfather, was too much for his well-oiled mind.

"What's serious, Harry?" Sirius, however, was not amused. His mind was slowly catching up with the ranting of his godson, and he was fairly sure he had heard a butchered version of the word, 'Horcrux.' That made him nervous.

Remus stood back, recognizing the color of Harry's face for what it was, and decided to let Sirius take the brunt of the effects of the firewhiskey.

"What's going on, Harry? What's so serious?" He turned to Remus. "Did he say something about Horcruxes?"

Remus nodded. "I'll talk to you about that after Harry goes to sleep."

"M' not going to sleep. Something important to tell you. Very secret, Padfoot..." The last part was a whisper and Sirius leaned forward, disregarding the green that now permeated Harry's features. He was rewarded for his inattention by a blast of vomit in his ear and along the side of his head. Swiftly moving away, the rest managed to only reach his socked feet and lower legs.

"G'night Moony, g'night Padfoot. I don' feel so good." And Harry collapsed onto his side and began to breathe deeply, streaks of pink and yellow running from his mouth down his robes and the bottom of the couch. Sirius sighed. It had been many years since he'd had a Potter projectile vomit on him, and it was one thing he certainly didn't miss. Remus, at this point, was laughing heartily. Casting a quick scourgify, he cleaned the floor, the couch and then Harry.

Glancing at his friend, Remus asked him if he would like the same treatment, or if he'd prefer to do it himself.

"I don't have a wand! How the bloody hell am I supposed to cast a cleaning charm?"

"Point taken," responded Remus, and then he quickly finished ridding the room of any evidence of Harry's unwise foray into firewhiskey as a ten year old.


A few minutes later, the two of them had carried Harry to his bed. Carefully moving back downstairs, they avoided the sunroom as it still carried the unpleasant scent of firewhiskey and vomit that a simply scourgify could not remedy. Entering one of the various sitting rooms located on the ground floor of the manor, Remus sparked a fire in the large fireplace and it began to radiate a soft orange light. Sirius had been frantically whispering inquiries to his friend as they'd carried Harry up stairs and then on the way back down, but Remus refused to answer any questions until they were sitting down.

Sirius took a breath and began his interrogation. "Moony, please explain to me why you are okay with Harry getting drunk?"

Remus stared at the floor between his feet for a moment before leaning back and closing his eyes. "Sirius, Harry is not a normal child."

"Of course he's not. That doesn't explain anything, though."

"Can you listen for a minute, without talking?"

Sirius glared at him before reclining into his seat. "Sure. If you think you can give me a good reason that we just put a ten year old to bed after he vomited firewhiskey all over me."

The only response was a weathered sigh. Remus stood and began pacing back and forth. He seemed about to speak, then reigned himself in to contemplate an explanation. Beginning to get exasperated, Sirius folded his arms and eyed his friend with a piercing look.

Remus halted in front of him. "Sirius, what do you know about time travel?"

This was obviously not what the other Marauder had been expecting. An apology, perhaps. A convoluted tale of the boy sneaking into the liquor cabinet or conspiring with the house elves would also have been acceptable.

"Very little, why?"

Remus rubbed his face and then ran his hand through his limp, graying hair. "Because, Harry is not really ten years old. He's our age. He's thirty-one."

Silence hung over the two before Sirius responded. "He said something about Horcruxes, right? While he was flopping around on that couch."

"He did," Remus agreed. "Harry, somehow, was sent back in time. Well, his mind was. His body is the same one you saw nine years ago."

More silence. Remus watched as Sirius worked his way through the idea that his godson was not the child he had last held the night of the boy's parents' deaths. At first, his face registered disbelief, and then he seemed to be about to speak before closing his mouth and delving back into his thoughts. Sirius gazed into the fireplace and watched the crackling flames, attempting to form his next question.

"How many people know?" he finally asked, without looking up.

"Now that you do? Five. You, me, Albus, Minister Bones and Bill Weasley. And Harry, of course. I suppose that makes it six."

"You're serious. This isn't some kind of prank?"

"No, I'm-"

"Moony, not now."

They both grinned, Remus a bit abashed, while Sirius showed the first signs of cheerfulness his fellow Marauder had seen since they had taken him from Azkaban.

The werewolf sat back down. "It's not a prank, Sirius. This is real."

"Did he have something to do with Minister Bones' sudden promotion? It's been a long time since a sitting Minister was voted out of office."

"He had everything to do with it. Fudge was ineffective at his best, and apparently he only got worse. When Voldemort came back in Harry's universe, the Ministry was almost complicit in his rise to power."

"Harry's universe?"

"Yes. I asked you how much you knew about time travel."

Sirius shook his head. "So, if he had come back and changed things, the future wouldn't have happened for him the way it did. Right?"

"Right. So, Albus deduced that we must be in an alternate universe. So many things have changed already, according to Harry, that there's no way events will occur in the same way."

"I guess he'd remember being a man trapped in a kid's body the first time around, huh?" Sirius grinned again, but it quickly changed to a grimace. "That still doesn't explain why you let him get drunk. Even if he is thirty-one, his body is still too young to be drinking. He could have hurt himself."

The look on Remus' face became exasperated. "Well, we just recovered one of Voldemort's Horcruxes tonight, that's where we were all day, and he decided he deserved a celebratory drink. I figured onewouldn't hurt."

"So what happened?"

"Refilling charm," said Remus. Sirius' mouth dropped open before he began to laugh. His guffaws and snorts lasted for several minutes, and by the time he was able to control himself, tears were streaming down his cheeks. "Oh Merlin! That's just like something James or I would have done when we were in school."

"I think it is exactly like something you and James did do while we were in school." They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a time, neither wanting to lose the warm feeling of nostalgia that had come along with the memories. Both still missed James, and Lily greatly, and Sirius' chance to come to terms with the loss had been stilted by his imprisonment. It was hard to accept someone's death while reliving the reasons behind it multiple times a day.

Remus finally broke the silence. "You seem to be taking this rather well, Padfoot. I didn't believe any of it, at first. Why are you so calm?"

"Calm?" he almost yelled. "I'm not calm. I just got out of Azkaban, found out that James and Lily's son, my godson, is from the future, and Voldemort is still alive because he created a dark artifact so evil that even my family didn't like mentioning them. The only reason I know what a Horcrux is, is thanks to the library at Grimmauld place. So I don't know how you expect me to act. Should I be ranting and pulling my hair out? What would you say?"

Sirius was standing now, pacing back and forth frantically, waving his arms as he spoke. Remus continued to sit, calmly waiting for the expected outburst to end. When there was no response to what had, in truth, been a rhetorical question, Sirius relented and lowered himself back into his seat. He looked up at the ceiling, as if begging for an answer to fall into his lap.

"Sirius," Remus began. "There's one thing you misunderstand. Voldemort created more than one Horcrux." This was met by a fish-like gaping from Sirius. "He created six of them, and there's a seventh piece of his soul still out there. We think it's in Albania, or thereabouts. We have to destroy all of them before we go after him, though." He held up a hand to forestall another outburst. "We know where they are, thanks to Harry. He destroyed them in his universe, and everything indicates the only difference between his universe and ours is Harry himself. The plan we've come up with is simple. We're going to destroy all of them and then wait for Voldemort to come to us."

"How many have you destroyed?"

Remus smiled. "Two, so far. Harry only became...aware...of the situation about a month ago. He woke up on his birthday and went straight to Dumbledore. The two of them know more about Voldemort, or Tom Riddle, as we're calling him now, than anyone else alive. Other than Riddle himself, obviously."

"Riddle? Voldemort?"

"His real name. He's a half-blood, actually. Father was a Muggle. His mother was one of the last descendants of Slytherin. Ironic."

"Yeah. Ironic." Sirius took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "So, the five of you have been going around destroying Horcruxes for the past few weeks? Not to mention overturning the Ministry, freeing prisoners from Azkaban and generally causing mayhem?" He grinned. "It appears we have a new Marauder on our hands."

Remus laughed at this. "Well, now there's six of us. Although, Amelia doesn't really have much time to be involved with the Horcrux part of the plan. She's more of an enabler for some other ideas we've had."

"What about the Weasley kid? I remember Gideon and Fabian's sister married a Weasley?"

"Right, that's Molly and Arthur. Bill is their son. The family took care of Harry during holidays in his universe. He married their daughter. That's what he meant when he said he had a family, earlier. His oldest son was named after you and James. James Sirius Potter, I believe."

That caused a grin to spread across Sirius' face. "Excellent name. Very nice. Did he have any other kids?"

Remus hesitated. He knew this was going to be difficult for Sirius to accept. "Um...yes. He had two younger children. A son and a daughter. Her name was Lily Luna...I'll explain the middle name later. She looked just like her mother."

Sirius beamed. "That's great, what about the boy?"

Remus coughed. "Well, his name was Albus. Looked just like Harry."

"Just Albus?"

"Well... Try to stay calm, okay?"

"Moony..."

"His name was Albus Severus, Sirius. After Snape." He waited for the explosion, but was surprised by the lack of a violent reaction. Sirius' eyes widened momentarily, then closed. He took another deep breath and shook his head.

"I guess there's a story behind that, huh?"

"Oh yes, there is quite a story. There's two more things I need to ask you about, but then I need to go to sleep. I've had an extremely long day."

"Okay..."

"I need you... We need to make sure that you never tell anyone anything you've learned tonight. About Harry, I mean. He'll probably be put out that I was the one to tell you, he really wanted to see your face," Remus smiled. "Unfortunately, thanks to the firewhiskey, you knew enough and I didn't want to leave you to wonder. I also did not want to have to obliviate you."

"What?"

"The four of us that know the truth about Harry all made an Unbreakable Vow to never discuss it with anyone else. He released us from having to keep it from you, but he still wants you to make the same vow. Not," Remus held his hands up in a placating gesture, "that he doesn't trust you. I think he probably trusts you more than anyone. It's just a precaution. Really."

Sirius nodded. "That makes a twisted kind of sense, I suppose. I'll do it. What's the second thing?"

"Well, the third Horcrux we can easily obtain. It's somewhere we need your help to get into."

"Where?" asked Sirius.

"Grimmauld Place. Regulus had it."

"Regulus? I had no idea he was so in-deep with the Death Eaters. Merlin, he must have been part of the inner circle to have been entrusted with that."

"No, Sirius," Remus shook his head apologetically. "Regulus renounced Voldemort and risked his life to destroy the Horcrux. They killed him before he could do so. But he managed to hide it before they found him."

Wide eyed at this admission, Sirius could only gaze blankly into space as he tried to comprehend the knowledge that his brother had abandoned the dark.

Finally snapping back to the present, he stood up and began to head for the door. "Where's that firewhiskey?" Sirius asked.


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