In a small isolated room within the Auror department of the Ministry of Magic a petite woman clutched onto the small person in her arms humming a soft tune to the restless child, his dark tuft of hair just visible underneath a cocoon of blankets. One tear splashed onto the child's scared forehead after leaving its trail down the pale cheek of Alice Prewett, it shone for a moment and then seemed to be absorbed into the skin. None of this was noticed however as a sharp rap on the door caused Alice's head to spin so fast towards the frosted glass that held the silhouette of three familiar men.
Alice laid down the now sleeping Harry behind a dividing wall casting the mufflaitio charm to ensure that her conversation was not disrupted and nor was his sleep. She straightened up, wiped her eyes and ensured that her face gave nothing away. This was not going to be easy.
The brass door knob twisted and from behind it emerged Remus, Sirius and a rather nervous looking Peter. Alice allowed herself a small smile at the thought that as the door clicked shut behind them nobody would be able to get into or out of the room until the guilty member of the party had been fully apprehended.
Sirius was the first to speak his tone jolly and unaware "so what's all of this about? Molly was about to serve up desert" he ended the sentence with a large grin at the idea of Molly Weasley's plentiful portions. At the steely look on Alice's face his grin faltered and he strode to her side grasping both of her shoulders and directing her face towards his. Grey eyes searched brown and he backed away looking solemnly into her now faltering expression.
"James and Lily?" his voice cracked and he backed further away tripping slightly into the grasp of Remus' steadying hand. Alice gave a shaky nod and collapsed into her own chair battling with herself to keep her emotions in check, her breaking down would make this all the harder. She took a few shuddering breaths and focused on her recollection of the nights events.
"There was nothing I could do, I was in the library when it started and the wards around it are such that it becomes locked upon intrusion, the wards started to falter when he got in" Her voice was becoming stronger as she spoke, this was all down to one man in front of her, they needed to know every detail "It was him Remus, Voldemort." As she said it two faces flinched and a whimper came from the doorway, from which Pettigrew had not moved.
"Once he had fought James the wards fell completely, it is only through James' efforts that I was not detected, he gave me enough time to hide myself, I managed to follow him upstairs but he had already found Lily, she was shielding Harry but I couldn't do anything , I promise you I would have" Sirius' head was resting in his hands and he was slowly shaking it from side to side as if the routine of it would make it not real, Remus stood with a straight back tears leaving trails down his face. "One thing, the one thing that didn't make sense was that he couldn't have known where they were, not unless the secret keeper had disclosed the information" Alice leaned back in her chair letting the cry from the doorway to do the rest of the telling her eyes followed the pathway of realisation between the three men.
Sirius froze in his seat the swaying motion of his head ceased in realisation, Remus merely clenched his fists while his eyes became almost wolf-like and Peter scratched at the door, knowing what was going to happen. There was no escape for him. Sirius rose from his seat his face the picture of sorrow, betrayal and anger, a smouldering and unwavering anger that even made Alice shiver. Both men descended upon Wormtail unable to reach him however as Alice had moved quickly to block there path. A petite hand rested on each man's chest halting their progress.
"Would they have wanted you to also be implicated in his brutish and unforgiving act? No, I have a plan" this whispered message allowed both men to re-think their actions and they took a step back as Alice herself turned upon Wormtail. She raised her wand and silently stunned him and pulled a small cage from underneath the round table that she had been sitting at. As soon as she had transformed Peter into his rat form and shoved him into the cage being careful to be as rough as possible, Sirius and Remus descended upon her engulfing her in a tight but comforting embrace. They sobbed into each other's shoulders not caring that to anyone but those that new them their over emotional states would look highly out of professional character.
After a while Alice moved to retrieve Harry from his makeshift bed around the room divide, holding him out to the outreaching arms of Sirius.
"He's your responsibility now Sirius, as godfather" Alice began to back away but before she could leave through the frosted glass door she felt a hand clasp around her shoulder and spin her around, the hand moved to her chin and the rough skin lifted her face to meet his.
"You mean our responsibility?" Sirius' grey eyes bore into her brown ones as a small smile crept onto Alice's face and a small breath that she hadn't realised she was holding escaped from her mouth.