Disclaimer: See Prologue

A/N: I will update faster next time but this took ages to write.

Harry stared at the photograph for quite some time, watching the candlelight flicker, watching the weeping woman. He ran his hands across the picture, tracing the smoother patterns of the light and racing across the shadows on the wooden floor. For once, Lupin did not object, but smiled softly.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Harry nodded wordlessly. "I love this bit here," said Lupin. "Look, see where the shadows keep creeping into the corner. The light's pushing them out."

Harry smiled. "I like that bit too."

Lupin frowned slightly, almost analysing him. "C'è sempra la luce, Harry." He grinned as Harry appeared baffled. "There is always light. Always. As Sirius here will testify, justice and goodness can take a long time to come about, but they always win out, Harry. Always."

Bad blood will out.

"What's the 'Sempra' thing?"

"That's Italian - like my mother. She used to tell me that when…when I was…low. I needed constant reminding. And I know it's hard, Harry, for you to see the light because you are the light. You are the light to so many people, but before you were to them, you were to me."

Lupin reached into the box and pulled out a photograph of himself and the young Harry, wrapped in a little blue blanket, cradling him in his arms and Harry felt the rush of love as his stomach gave a pleasurable little squirm. He peered closer into the photograph.

"I would go and check up on you from time to time. It gave my weekends some purpose."

And then he felt physically sick.

"I only wish the laws had been different. I would have taken you there and then. That's why I didn't accept the role of your er…other godfather. I thought it might have hindered rather than helped you in later life. "

"Show him," said Sirius, rather suddenly. His face betrayed no clues as to what Lupin was about to reveal and has he sighed and removed his pullover, Harry's eyes widened.

Upon the back of Lupin's left shoulder, just under the upper jaw's bite marks, the Italian words were inked.

Harry barely registered that this mild, bookish man had a small, unassuming tattoo - the last person he expected. He was far too busy staring at himself as a child, staring at the scar on his forehead.

1981

"I just know. That's why I came back from Remus' mother's. I just know something's not right."

Electra sighed dramatically, more than half growl. "You had better not be out all night down there. I mean it, Sirius. You were the one who picked tomorrow morning and you'd better bloody stick to it."

Sirius threw on another jumper. "Yeah. I'll be there."

"Because I'm not house-hunting on my bloody own, looking like some sad act."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I will be an hour tops." He kissed her cheek. "Don't wait up."

Electra was not convinced. She folded her arms and raised her eyebrows. "Meaning you'll sneak back into bed at five o'clock and not wake up on time to see the house."

Sirius' hands shook. "Something's gone wrong. I can feel it, Lex, and if anything's happened to him, I need to be there. I need to help him. I need-"

"Let me come with you."

"Don't be absolutely ridiculous," he snapped, his eyes blazing. "If you think I'm risking your life out there too…" He sighed. "Do you think I can concentrate with you out there? I need to know you're safe."

Electra took a step back. "What aren't you telling me? What do you know?"

"I was James' Secret Keeper."

Electra frowned. "Was?"

"If anything should happen to me…if I don't come back-"

"Don't talk like that." And though she felt his lips on hers, desperately trying to convey how he felt, his fear, his anger, his confusion, she could not respond. He had used past tense. He knew what had happened to his best friend, but she could not understand how.

Peter's house was empty. Not even his mother was at home. Sirius crept inside, not knowing what he was going to find and hardly daring to guess. He lit his wand and peered into the gloom.

"Peter?"

There was no response and by the light of his wand, he could see there had been no struggle and Peter may have been incapable of out-dueling a Death Eater but he would have screamed blue murder and thrown anything and everything he could get his hands on. Certainly the Dark Mark had not hovered above his door.

Sirius' hand shook and he revved the engine, trying not to remember the feel of James' arms around him as he kicked off or hear his voice in his ear, screaming as he deliberately accelerated to terrify his passenger. He landed in the little side street he and Remus had used. With his mind drifting back to happier times, of parties and punch bowls and laughter and…and Remus, it was harder to be afraid, harder to deal with the fact that Peter had betrayed them.

But perhaps not yet. Maybe there was time. Maybe James could be dragged out and slapped until he saw sense. He wheeled the bike out and ran along the street, dragging it behind him.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The lights were still on and the Mark did not shine above the little house. It was only when his eyes traveled back down to the open front door that he realised the far left of the house had been blown completely away. It was barely visible from this side and his heart stopped beating for what felt like whole days.

But still, there might be hope. Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe he had been knocked out. Maybe he was going to wake up in Remus' mother's, drenched and still bobbing for apples. Perhaps his head had been under water too long.

Remus.

Remus had heard too. He would be here. And he would see this. And he would think this was his fault. Sirius gasped for air, gulping oxygen. He had had the chance to tell him, too many times to count. He had suspected that Lupin would betray them because Voldemort had promised equal rights for Werewolves. But of course he wouldn't, he was a Gryffindor, a true Gryffindor.

'I'm not a coward and I don't sell out my friends.'

And who had planted that idea in his head? Peter. Peter the rat. Peter the imbecile. Peter the spy.

Sirius heard his teeth chatter and tried to blink away the tears pooling at the corners of his eyes. There still had to be something he could do. Maybe this situation was not a complete write off. Maybe this could all be sorted by the time Remus arrived. Maybe he was Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle.

He propped the bike against the fence and ran along the path, through the open door and there, right before his eyes was the crumpled body of his best friend, fallen on the stairs. He might as well have been sleeping if it weren't for the smashed lens in his glasses.

"James? James for fuck's sake, this isn't funny. It's Peter, Jamie. I cocked it up. It's Peter and you need to get out and we'll find somewhere. You can come and live with me and Lexi and we'll bring Remus and we'll all live together and it'll be fun again. Remember how it used to be? Remember when it was just us two? Do you remember that whole first day and we got lost? Yeah, the stairs changed, didn't they? And we missed breakfast because I was so late. And then we re-met Remus, didn't we? And it was just us and it was fantastic. I know it didn't last long but we were all right together. We had fun. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't…I'm sorry."

He collapsed beside him and lay there, silent and smelling the salt of his tears. It occurred to him that he had never told Electra what to do. She hadn't wanted to hear it. He hadn't even told her, his live-in girlfriend, beside whom he slept every night, in whose arms he was comforted.

Fiancée. He corrected himself. He had not even told his fiancée with whom he was supposed to be looking for somewhere in which to make a home in less than twelve hours. An hour ago, he had been ducking for apples and laughing loudly, telling a crowd of middle-aged women all about Remus' brush with homosexuality in Holland.

An hour ago, he had believed James and his family were completely safe.

An hour ago, he was worrying in Remus' old bedroom, recalling the discussion he had had with Electra the night before on the subject of bedrooms. He had been worrying needlessly about her instance upon a small room to turn into a nursery while his best friend had died fighting for his son.

Sirius sat up rather suddenly. There was no wand. He felt the ruined frame of the house shake and scrambled to his feet, darting outside and waiting beside his bike, his wand at the ready.

"Hagrid?"

Hagrid looked almost as shaken as he did.

"Are they-?"

He nodded and held the bundle closer to him.

"Harry," Sirius croaked. "Where's Harry?" He laughed in sheer relief as the little bundle in the half-giant's arms was handed to him and he looked into Harry's bright green eyes, tracing the lightning bolt on his head. "But how?"

Hagrid shrugged. "No-one knows."

Sirius nodded. "Thank you."

As though reading his mind, Hagrid smiled grimly. "You can't keep him, Sirius."

"Why not? James and Lily entrusted him to me."

Hagrid cleared his throat and his chest puffed out. "Professor Dumbledore sent me to get him. He's to go to his Aunt."

Sirius gawped. "That twisted, horse-faced bitch? No way!" He held Harry closer to him. "I won't let you. I'm his legal guardian now and I'm telling you that you're not taking him away from me." Harry was his last hope. He could explain to Remus and he would listen if he knew Sirius had been allowed to keep the child. He would believe.

"Dumbledore knows what he's doing."

Dumbledore thought the child was in danger, surely.

"It's not how this looks."

Hagrid frowned. "And how does it look?"

Sirius allowed the tear to fall. "Like I killed him. I didn't. I should have been here. I should have protected him." He felt Hagrid's arm around his shoulders and couldn't help but feel awkward about it. He kissed Harry's scarred forehead and handed him back.

"Bye then, Harry. I'll come and get you. I'll find you, okay? I promise."

Pop!

Remus.

Sirius bit his lip, debating whether to stay or speed off. He handed the bike over. "You need it more than I do. Watch out for fifth gear. I didn't get round to fixing that. Stay in fourth for as long as you can." And with that, he sprinted.

Had the circumstances been different, the scene could have been comical. Just as Sirius turned the corner, so did Lupin who faced with the rubble and the evidence of Sirius' presence, collapsed to his knees in the middle of the cobbled street, and shook silently weeping, rocking back and forth.

"Remus?"

Lupin looked up at Hagrid, his breathing still uneven. "I have…I always take my…can I take a picture of him?"

Hagrid handed the child over, swapping him for the camera and as Lupin adjusted the blankets and soothed the child, stroking his cheek with a calloused thumb and attempting to smile down at him, the flash went off.

CLICK!

Lupin felt his knees buckle and hurriedly handed the baby back, gripping the fence and taking back his camera, stuffing it into what Hagrid recognised as an old school bag.

"I brought everything I thought might be useful. I thought maybe I'd misheard and we could all laugh about it and they'd go back to calling me Mad-Eye-Moony and we'd…I don't know."

Hagrid nodded, now almost tearful himself.

"I don't know what to do," Lupin confessed, his voice cracking. "When did Black leave?"

Hagrid frowned, wondering what had happened between them since that morning. "Not two seconds before you did."

Lupin sucked in a breath. "Which way?"

Hagrid nodded toward the twisting black lanes. "Why?"

"He betrayed Lily and James. I've no doubt he gave an impressive performance." He threw the tears away, shaking his hands as he did so as though the water burned. "He sold them to Voldemort."

Hagrid shuddered. "I wish you'd stop-"

"Saying the name? Well, I won't. Not ever. What the fuck do I care? Why should I be afraid? What the hell have I got to lose?"

Lupin spared a kiss for Harry's forehead before he too sprinted off into the shadows, where it did not take him long to find the hunched figure, curled up on the floor, his knees pressed to his chest.

Sirius sat up, staring in the direction of the growls and the feral snarl that ripped past Lupin's lips; the wolf within was willing to fight to the death and if he was completely honest, Sirius really wasn't in the mood for this.

"It's not-"

"Avada-"

"Jesus fucking Christ, Remus."

Pop!

Lupin laughed bitterly as he stood alone in the alleyway. "Coward," he hissed.

"You were longer than an hour." Electra smiled sleepily, completely unaware of the circumstances outside her little world. She turned back the cover. "Get in."

Sirius shook his head. "I can't go with you tomorrow."

She sat up in bed. "What?"

"Everything's changed now." He blinked back his tears. "Will you still love me?"

She flicked him her ring finger as an answer.

"Please take it off."

And before she could ask why, he was gone.