Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or anything to do with the books. I am only borrowing the characters, places, spells, and some plot devices for my own entertainment purposes. They will be returned, cleaned and polished, to their original owner, JK Rowling, as soon as I am finished with them.

The Brotherhood

A/N - This chapter was last modified on 20 December, 2011.

Chapter Four - Trespassing

Harry stumbled out of the fireplace and nearly landed on his face, but Sirius reached out and caught him just in time. Grumbling under his breath about how Sirius was more graceful at exiting the floo than him, despite how many years he had just spent in Azkaban, Harry looked around. It was then that he realized just where Sirius had sent them.

"Wait, did you say 'Moony's Den'? As in, the house house of Remus Lupin?" Harry asked as he turned to gape at Sirius. He kept his voice low, well aware that there could be someone else in the house that didn't yet know they were there.

"Unless he moved, yes, this is Remus' house. However, since the floo address worked, he probably still lives here," Sirius answered cheerfully, glancing around at the house himself.

Harry stared at Sirius. "Remus thinks we're both murderers," he stated.

Sirius paused, his expression turning from cheerful to gloomy in a matter of a few moments. "I know that," he insisted.

"Then why did we floo to his house? He'll just report us and we'll be right back where we started," Harry hissed at him.

"It was the first place I could think of. Besides, he isn't even here," Sirius replied.

Harry looked around. Indeed, the house looked vacant, as though it hadn't been lived in for quite a while. There was a layer of dust on everything and there was the silence that only seemed to loom around abandoned houses and very deep in caves.

"How did you know he wasn't here?" Harry asked, feeling comfortable raising his voice above a whisper now that he knew nobody was around.

Sirius shrugged, "Well, I didn't know that the house would be completely abandoned like this. However, I knew Moony would be absent,"

Harry raised an eyebrow, silently reminding Sirius of his question. Sirius, in reply, nodded to the window.

Turning, Harry looked at what Sirius had nodded at. The sky was bright. Stars littered it and a bright full moon bathed the backyard in white light.

Harry turned back to Sirius, confusion on his face.

"He's a werewolf, Harry. He's not going to be here on the full moon," Sirius reminded.

"Oh," Harry muttered, flushing in embarrassment at having forgotten that.

Sirius didn't seem to notice, though, as he was too busy snooping through the cupboards. They were mostly bare and the only thing he found was a pack of old crackers and a some packets of tea.

"Better than nothing," Sirius murmured, opening the crackers. Harry and Sirius shared them, both devouring them down despite their staleness. It was better than their so called food that they received in Azkaban.

"You should get some sleep," Sirius said, as he crumpled up the empty cracker pack and tossed it in the waste basket.

"We're spending the night here?" Harry asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Remus won't mind, I'm sure. For the looks of this place, he hasn't been here in a while, and I think we can assume he won't be back any time soon. We might as well spend a few days here, figuring things out,"

Harry nodded and the pair left the kitchen. The rest of the house was in a similar condition to the kitchen, though they did see some personal belongings scattered about the house. Books lined the shelves of a bookshelf, a photo or two of people that Harry didn't know sat on the mantle.

Sirius found Harry a blanket and watched as the boy fell asleep on the couch, before getting up and exploring the house a bit more. He found nothing out of the ordinary, nor anything that actually linked this house to the Remus he knew, besides it's extreme neatness.

Finally, in the attic, Sirius found what he was looking for. There were at least five boxes labelled School Stuff and Sirius knew that this is where he would find the remnants of the Remus he had once known. Opening the first box, Sirius wrinkled his nose. It was full of old textbooks and homework assignments. The second box interested Sirius more. In it, Sirius found a book that the he recognized well. The Marauders had created it in their last year of Hogwarts. The title, written in Remus' handwriting, proclaimed the book as The Marauder's Guide to Mischief Making.

Sirius had no idea that Remus had kept this book, as the last he had known, James had been keeping it. Flipping through it, Sirius smiled as he remembered just what it was filled with. The four boys had written their favourite pranks they had performed, amusing jokes they had heard, tips on sneaking through the castle of Hogwarts, and other stuff that could help with mischief. The book was not printed and Sirius could easily make out the difference between the four boys' handwritings. Though they only called themselves by their nicknames, not wanting to reveal their true selves lest the book fall into a professor's possession, Sirius could now see that anyone who had known the four boys would clearly know who the four writers of the book were.

Wanting to keep this book, Sirius dug through another box until he found an old pack that Remus had carried his books in at Hogwarts. It was still in good condition and Sirius packed the book into it. His only regret was that he didn't have the book's companion piece, The Marauder's Map. Knowing that Harry had been the owner of the map last, and that his possessions were likely under lock and key somewhere, Sirius didn't have much hope of retrieving the map. He discovered he was wrong when he opened the next box. Right on top of the contents of the box was a cloak that Sirius would recognize anywhere. He ran his fingers through the watery fabric and smiled as he pulled it out of the box. It was James' Invisibility Cloak. Tucking the cloak into the pack, knowing that it would be useful later on, Sirius dug through the box further. The schoolbooks were much newer than the ones in the other boxes and they were clearly Harry's. At the very bottom of the box, Sirius grinned as he pulled out what he had been searching for. The Marauder's Map was still in good condition, and Sirius tucked it away in his pack as well.

Beside the map, Sirius discovered a book that wasn't a textbook. It was lined in blue leather and looked to be well used but fondly cared for. Opening it to the front page, Sirius gasped lightly. He flipped through a few more pages, just to make sure. The book was a photo album, filled with photos of James, Lily, and Harry as an infant. Sprinkled throughout were photos of Sirius, Remus, Peter, and several other people that James and Lily had befriended during their years of life. James or Lily were in every single one of the photos.

Feeling reminiscent, Sirius continued to flip through the album, his fingers lingering on photos that had a good memory connected to them. Though he wasn't really a sentimental man, Sirius found tears filling his eyes as he flipped through the pages. His eyes closed with grief as he remembered his friends. James and Lily were now dead. Remus was all alone, somewhere. And Peter...

Sirius' eyes flew open, landing on a photo in the back of the album that he hadn't noticed before. It was a picture of Harry and two friends, presumably Ron and Hermione. Perched on Ron's shoulder was none other than Peter Pettigrew, in rat form. Sirius glared at the photo. The rat was even missing a toe, just like Peter Pettigrew.

Sure, now, that Wormtail and this boy's pet rat were one and the same, Sirius slipped the photo album into his pack and stood up, ready to head back downstairs. He now knew exactly where they were heading The Weasley's house.

Before Sirius could do anything else, however, a loud bang from downstairs made his freeze.

"Sirius!" Harry's panicked voice floated up the stairs toward him. Now alarmed at what was happening with Harry, and desperately hoping that Remus hadn't walked in the front door or something, because that would definitely make him break down, Sirius dashed out of the attic and down the stairs to help his godson.

A/N - Catch something wrong with this fanfic, including typos, misspelled words, or a plot line that just doesn't make sense? Let me know, please.

I write fanfictions to better myself in my original story/novel writing. I strive for the best, but I admit to occasionally missing things. If you see anything that needs to be fixed, or you just have any advice or comments, let me know, in a review or PM. Also, I won't respond to every review, though I'll try with PMs. I just don't have the time. However, if you ask a question, I will try to respond with an answer. Thanks.