A/N: Yet another unbetaed chapter. You'll have to forgive me on this. But I had this written days ago and I've become a bit impatient to get it out so I didn't get it checked over for grammar mistakes. I also have the next chapter already written but I'm going to wait a bit to post it.

"On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world." ― Henry David Thoreau

There are many realities in the universe, some of them quite harsh. One reality that is inescapable is that there is nothing more valuable than a friend. More than food, more than shelter, and more than weaponry, an ally can save your life. - Qui-Gon Jinn from Star Wars.

Sirius did not go to bed that night. He chose to, instead, debate with himself over which choice he should make. In her dying moment, Walburga Black had given the son she despised and never wanted his greatest gift and temptation. Sirius had in his possession a way to get back what had been ripped away from him so treacherously and so violently. To have James back would mean more than words alone could ever explain. When James died, the greatest part that had made Sirius whole had been ripped from him. Every day since that horrible night, Sirius lived in endless torment, unable to find that glimmer of hope nor that spark of happiness that had been invaluable to his very existence. They were two sides of the same coin, James and Sirius. James was everything that was good in the darkness that had threatened to swallow Sirius whole and without him, Sirius was lost.

But to alter the fabric of nature, to raise the dead; surely there would be an unprecedented price to pay. Walburga had died trying to raise Regulus from the dead and had nothing to show for it. The spell had not worked and Regulus was still dead. Sirius was all that was left of a dark lineage.

Sirius folded his hands together, rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward, resting his chin atop his hands. The decision was not a light one to make. Sirius closed his eyes and remembered a vow.

He had arrived at the cottage too late to warn Lily and James. Hagrid had emerged from the crumbling cottage with Harry in his arms. "No!" he screamed, jumping from his motorbike and then saw Harry move in Hagrid's arms. "Harry!" he cried, rushing over and reaching for his godson. He cradled Harry against his chest and sank to his knees, shaking in silent sobs as he rocked back and forth on his knees.

"I have to take 'Arry to his aunt an' uncle," Hagrid told him.

Sirius shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "I'm his godfather. I have to take him."

"I have me orders from Dumbledore," Hagrid told him. "Says 'Arry will be safer in Surry."

"He'll be safe with me," Sirius told him savagely. "I will stop at nothing to keep him safe," he vowed.

"Dumbledore says that he'll be protected by the blood protection as long as he is with his aunt. But I'm sure that she will let you visit," Hagrid told him.

As Sirius knelt there with Harry in his arms, he stared at the ruins that was made so lovingly into a home by Lily. He remembered how blissfully happy she and James were just the other day, how they laughed and teased each other and of how much they loved their son. He knew that he had no other option. "Be safe," he whispered to Harry. "You mum and dad loved you, don't ever forget that." He kissed Harry's temple and stood. He brushed his hand over Harry's soft black hair as he handed his godson over to Hagrid. "Take my motorbike, I won't be needing it anymore," he told Hagrid and soundlessly approached the house, entering the crumbling structure. He barely noticed when Hagrid had left because he had found James at the foot of the stairs, his hazel eyes which had sparkled in mischief were glazed over and sightless.

The sight of his best friend and brother laying on the floor of his house dead was more than Sirius could bear. A part of his soul, his heart and his sanity had been ripped away from him and he screamed in anguish, howling savagely as he fell to his knees beside his fallen friend. With a shaky hand, he closed James' eyes and put his face in his hands. With James gone, he had no one left and nothing left to lose; he could trust no one. Sirius laid James' arms over his chest and held his cold hand in his. "I will make this right," he vowed, "Even if it is the last things I do. I will fix this."

Footsteps alerted Sirius that he was no longer alone and he drew his wand, still covering James' body as Remus came in through the door.

"I hoped it was a mistake," Remus gasped, sinking against the wall.

"Oh it was a mistake alright," Sirius said darkly. "A mistake that cost James his life."

"Why James?" Remus cried, moving forward, towards James' body.

Sirius lept into action. "Get away from him!" Sirius roared, shoving Remus against the wall, his wand pointed at Remus' throat.

Remus stared at him in shock. "Sirius?" he begged.

"You have no place here, werewolf. Go back to where you belong," Sirius told him savagely.

Remus gave him a stricken look of betrayal. "What have you done?" he gasped.

Sirius let him go. "You're not even worth it," he said and walked out the door.

Remus followed him. "Where are you going?" he demanded.

"To kill a rat," Sirius stated menacingly before disappearing.

Sirius realized, as he remembered the vow he made over James' body that night, there really wasn't a choice to be made. He vowed to make things right and laying before him, open, Sirius knew he had found the key.

Remus was enjoying the best sleep he had in years in the most comfortable bed he had ever slept in. He was not prepared, however, for a bunch of books to be thrown on top of him. Growling at the intruder in a very wolfish manner, he said, "Do you mind? I was trying to sleep."

"No time to sleep, not until we've finished," Sirius said as he ransacked Regulus' bookshelf.

Remus half sat up and stared at his friend in exasperation. "Finished what?" he asked tiredly.

Sirius turned to look him in the eye, no trace of mirth in him. "Resurrecting Lily and James," he informed him.

Remus' jaw dropped as he stared at Sirius in disbelief, however he quickly realized that his friend was not having fun at his expense. "What?" he shouted, jumping out of bed. "Are you insane?" he demanded.

"Completely," Sirius told him. "I haven't been sane in the past thirteen years. No, that was torn apart when I found James at the foot of his stairs dead. But now..." he held up a book, brandishing it. "Now I'm making good on a promise I made that night and, thanks to old Walburga, I finally have the tool to do so."

Remus stared at his friend. "You're mental if you think you can actually pull this off correctly," he told him.

"I'm just metal enough to do it, Moony," Sirius stated with a certain spark in his eye and left the room continuing through the house to find the objects that he will need.

Remus followed him. " I've always thought you were mad, but I never pictured you to be this insane. How exactly do you plan on raising the dead without a hitch?" he demanded.

"Truthfully, I don't think I could do it if Voldemort hadn't shown me the way," Sirius informed him as he plucked things off of shelves.

Remus tilted his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know I'm going to regret asking this. How in Merlin's name did Voldemort show you the way?" he demanded.

Sirius turned to him and held the book in his face. "I stayed up all night reading this and I realized that the process is eerily similar to the method that Voldemort used to regenerate himself into a new body. When Harry's wand connected with Voldemort's he invoked priori incantatem and thus released James and Lily's souls. According to this, we have a small window to which we can reunite their souls with their bodies before they cross over. We just have to make a potion which is kind of tricky, pour it over their bodies and chant a few small words at an altar dedicated to them," he explained.

"There is just one problem with your simple method," Remus pointed out.

"And that would be?" Sirius asked.

"Neither one of us did that well in potions!" Remus reminded him.

"Minor setback!" Sirius insisted as he moved on.

Remus threw his arms up in the air in exasperation and continued to follow him. "You know, I really should know by now not to try to reason with an irrational person. But I really must be insane as well because I continue to do so over and over again expecting you to think things through rationally when that is never going to happen," he ranted.

"So, you'll help me?" Sirius asked.

Remus scoffed at himself. "Of course I'll help," he said and then shook his fists in aggravation. "What is this strange power you have over me? I am a sane, rational, and logical person. How is it that you drag me into one of your crazy schemes every single time you dream them up?" he demanded.

"As much as you resist it, Remus, you belong on the wild side, just as I do. Don't fight it, embrace it," Sirius said and snapped a book shut.

"And how, do you plan on making a complicated potion to perfection?" Remus asked.

"Why, Snivellus will brew it," Sirius stated confidently.

Remus just stared at him dumbfounded. "You really did go mad in Azkaban," he stated duly. "If you think for one minute that Severus is going to help us with this, then you've really gone mental."

"Snivellus will do it because he's always been hopelessly in love with Lily and he still owes James a life debt," Sirius told him simply.

Remus stared at him, taken aback. "Severus was in love with Lily?" he asked dumbfounded.

Sirius scoffed. "Of course he was. What do you think the entire rivalry between he and James was about?" he answered.

"I always thought it had to do with the fact that each tried to outdo the other," Remus told him.

"It was a war, Moony, to see who would win Lily in the end," Sirius told him flatly. "I think it worked out smashingly in the end because we got Harry out of it," he said with a smile.

"Well, Harry is a pretty special kid," Remus agreed.

"Yeah, he is," Sirius agreed. "I just hope that I live long enough to have a son just like him," he said sportingly.

"For all we know you might already have one and not know it," Remus quipped.

Sirius considered this and then adopted a wolfish grin. "I really did have a smashing sex life. I miss that," he said as he settled himself into an armchair in the parlor. The portrait of Orion Black hung over the mantel snoozing away.

"By smashing, do you mean sleeping with a different woman every single night?" Remus quipped as he too took a seat.

"Sometimes three a night," Sirius corrected.

"You do know that's how muggles spread certain diseases, right?" Remus deadpanned.

"Good thing we're not muggles then," Sirius joked.

"I hear that they have to insert a needle into the penis to rid themselves of one disease," Remus remarked.

"Where did you hear that?" Sirius asked.

"Some muggle told me. He also described some kind of anal probe," Remus answered.

"Muggle medicine can be so disturbing," Sirius stated lazily.

The first order meeting had been scheduled for Friday and in the time between, Remus and Sirius had developed a strategy and concocted a very detailed plan for operation return. The first meeting was comprised of the remainder of the original order a few new recruits. Remus was tasked with greeting everyone at the door and leading them to the dining room. Sirius had holed himself in the kitchen preparing for the order. He had dug out an old cloak that belonged to his father which could obscure his face so that he didn't cause an inordinate stir.

Feeling as though he needed to appear as a generous host and not as the wanted mass murderer people generally believed him to be, Sirius had found some old clothes in the attic in decent condition and tried them on even if they were outdated. He had managed to comb his hair and tie it back, unwilling to do much more. He had also decided to cook dinner.

By the time the order began to arrive, Sirius had the table set and took his place at the head of the table, keeping his face hidden beneath the cloak. As the order filed in and took their places, Sirius recognized many of the faces and frowned at some of the new faces. Dora had quickly signed up for the order and came in, spotting him at once, gave him a saucy wink and sat down at his right, Remus at his left. When a dark skinned auror came in, Sirius shot Remus a withering look, recognizing Kingsley Shacklebolt immediately. "You let him into my house? Do you have a death wish?" he hissed.

"He signed up to the order. Mad-Eye trusts him and so should we," Remus hissed back.

"Just who do you think you are fooling with that cloak, Sirius? We all know this is your house." Mad-Eye growled.

Sirius shot Mad-Eye a heated glare and glanced in Kingsley's direction.

Mad-Eye gruffed. "Just say that you're convinced he's innocent already, Kingsley, so Black over there can stop his growling," he said.

Kingsley glanced over at Sirius. He gave Sirius an evaluating look. "I'm more interested in learning how he escaped from Azkaban than I am in arresting him," he said.

"Never going to happen," Sirius said as he lowered his hood. "And don't think that you've found my current hiding place that I'm now going to be an easy target," he warned.

Kingsley smiled. "A fact that I find admirable," he admitted.

"You should all know that Sirius spent several hours to try to appear to be a decent host for this meeting. He even cooked this meal himself. However if anyone should find the need to check in at St. Mungos from food poisoning, we have an emergency portkey available," Remus said lightheartedly.

Sirius gave his friend an affronted look. "Food poisoning? If anything of the sort occurs then you tampered with it while my back was turned," he growled.

"Oh yes, Sirius, your skills in the kitchen are unmatched," Remus quipped.

"I'll have you know that it take great skill to turn a rat from a last resort edible substance into something quite pleasing," Sirius argued indignantly.

"we're not actually eating rat are we?"

"Why no, Emmaline, this is mutton. Compared to the rats that I've been living on for the past two years, this is a delicacy," Sirius said sarcastically with a glare towards Kingsley.

"Padfoot, be civil," Remus said sternly.

"I have a known enemy in my house. Forgive me, Moony, if being civil is a bit difficult," Sirius growled.

Tonks leaned closer to her cousin and grinned. "So, Sirius, Mum has some wild stories. Tell me, are any of them true?" she asked with a raised pink eyebrow.

Sirius looked at her. "What do you want to know?" he asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I think we can save the stories for later, Sirius. I thank you for this lovely meal, but we really must get down to business," Dumbledore said.

"Certainly, Dumbledore," Sirius said pleasantly. "I think the first order of business is when I can have my godson," he stated pointedly.

" We've already discussed this topic, Sirius," Dumbledore told him.

"You discussed it, I disagree. I could care less about blood protections. My concern is for both Harry's safety and his happiness. As it stands the ideal place to accomplish that is for him to be somewhere safe with people who actually love him such as myself and Remus," Sirius told him.

"While Harry is with his aunt and uncle he is safest," Dumbledore told him firmly.

"Your idea of safety is different than mine. I know very well that a place with people who despise a child and treat him like vermin is not a safe environment," Sirius argued.

Dumbledore stared at Sirius very hard. "I believe that your personal feelings are clouding your rationality, Sirius," he said.

Sirius stood up and slammed his hands on the table, clattering the dishes. "He is my godson! He is James' son and I vowed to keep him safe!" He yelled.

Dumbledore rose as well. "I am not questioning your devotion to Harry, Sirius. However, I do ask that the next time you bring this matter up, that you have thought it through rationally," he said calmly, yet in a manner in which closed the subject.

"Yes, Black, try to keep yourself from acting irrationality. Or have you not learned anything from your time in Azkaban?" Snape said snidely.

Sirius pointed at Snape. "You know where the rat is holed up. Hand him over, I've got a special rat stew planned especially for him," Sirius growled.

"Sirius sit down!" Remus hissed, grabbing his sleeve and yanking him down.

Sirius took a deep breath to calm himself. Bending over, he produced a bottle of firewhiskey. "Continue this meeting without me," he said and proceeded to leave the room. On his way out he passed Mundungus Fletcher. "And keep your pilfering hands off of my property, Dung. Or I'll sick my crabby elf on you," he snapped.

Remus sighed heavily and looked to the rest of the order. "Forgive him. It's the house, it harbors a lot of bitter memories. Normally he is pleasant to be around. Ever since he came back here, he's taken to bouts of biting irritation and anger to silent depression," he excused.

Tonks was the first to speak following this. "So which room was it?" she asked.

Remus stared at her. "Pardon?"

"Which room was the one where Aunt Walburga tried to kill him?" Tonks asked. There was an audible gasp around the table at this question. Kingsley shared a look with Dumbledore who merely closed his eyes, having known what horrors had transpired in this house all along.

"I didn't ask and I prefer not to know. If you are that curious, you can ask him. But if you do, be prepared for whichever mood the subject calls upon," Remus stated.

It was midway through the meeting when Snape had excused himself to use the bathroom. This was a planned scenario since Sirius had laced his goblet with something that would induce the need quicker. As Snape finished washing his hands he looked up into the mirror and frowned. "Make any sudden move and you will not like the outcome," he sneered upon seeing Sirius standing behind him.

"I just want to talk," Sirius stated and took a swig of firewhiskey.

"I cannot fathom a scenario in which anything that you say would ever hold interest to me," Snape said coolly.

"I merely require your expertise. You were always unmatched in potions," Sirius told him.

"You want me to brew you a little potion?" Snape sneered.

"Name your price," Sirius offered.

"You have nothing that would hold any value to me," Snape told him.

"I want you to brew a Cast of Resurrection potion," Sirius told him bluntly.

"Out of the question," Snape said, turning to leave but Sirius blocked his path. "Get out of my way," Snape sneered, drawing his wand.

"I want to resurrect Lily and James," Sirius continued.

"And what makes you think that I would even consent to help you?" Snape demanded.

"Because you're still in love with Lily. Don't even think it was a secret, we all knew. Except for maybe Lily. But it was plainly obvious," Sirius disclosed and seeing the briefest flicker of surprise cross Snape's face. "And you still owe James a life debt. A debt which remains unfulfilled because he died. You know as well as I that a life debt can only be fulfilled if you save his life which you failed to do before he died," he finished.

"I owe Potter no life debt. He merely saved my life to save his own skin," Snape sneered.

"Oh, you are so wrong on that one," Sirius corrected him. "James was never in on my sending you into the shrieking shack. He was furious when I told him about. He and I didn't speak for a month because of it and he never did forgive me for it. Whatever you may think about James, know this Severus, it did not matter what his personal feelings were, he never wished death upon you. James was above that. I really could care less whether you lived or died, but James was too honorable to resort to such carelessness."

"I am unconvinced, Black, and if you do not get out of my way..."

"Think of Lily!" Sirius said suddenly, changing tactics. "Think about what it would be like if she was alive now. Think about what it would mean if she were alive again." Sirius eyed Snape closely and he could see that this was the trigger. "Think about her. Think about her last moment, the sheer terror she had to feel, Snape. Her husband murdered before her and Voldemort advancing, as she held her son close to her, trying to protect him in any way she could and knowing she was about to die. Wouldn't you want to make it right, to fix what had been done that night," he continued. " Wouldn't you want a second chance to fix things?"

"Enough," Snape suddenly said. "I'll do it," he finally agreed.

Sirius smiled triumphantly. "I'll need the potion as soon as possible," he said and left Snape alone.

Sirius sat in the kitchen drinking from the bottle of firewhiskey, casually leaning back in his seat on the back legs, his feet propped up on the table when Kingsley found him.

"Quite a place you have here," Kingsley said announcing his presence.

"It's my mother's house. I'd burn it down if it wasn't useful as headquarters," Sirius stated.

"Would that make a difference? Destroying the place that represents the person who hurt you the most." Kingsley asked.

"Burning it down would be amusing and symbolic," Sirius stated.

"You see me as a threat," Kingsley stated.

" You've spent two years hunting me," Sirius stated, looking at him.

"And you've shown skill in evading my team, I'm impressed," Kingsley said.

"I didn't kill those muggles or Peter Pettigrew. Peter killed them and faked his own death. I was just convenient to pin what he had done on. I did track him to kill him though," Sirius told him.

"Why?" Kingsley asked.

Sirius set his chair down and leaned forward. "Because he soled Lily and James to Voldemort. Because of him my true family is dead. I wanted vengeance and still do. Knowing what he also did to Harry not too long ago only fuels my hatred for him," he told him honestly.

"Dumbledore insists that you are innocence. I trust Dumbledore's judgement." Kingsley told him.

Sirius stared at him, evaluating him. "You believe him?" he wanted to know.

"I do," Kingsley answered.

"Dumbledore's word didn't count for anything a year ago," Sirius said.

"He wasn't the only one to convince me," Kingsley told him.

"Who else came to you?" Sirius asked.

"You have a faithful supporter in your cousin Andromeda. She has been coming to the ministry declaring your innocence. She has been to my office every day since you escaped, arguing your case," Kingsley informed him.

"Andromeda was always my favorite. She was the only one like me. Everyone else was obsessed with their pureblood mania. We never cared about any of that," Sirius stated fondly.

"You should know that I will be misdirecting the ministry's hunt for you. You're safe here so long as you're careful not to be spotted," Kingsley informed him.

"Thank you," Sirius said.

A/N:
I am currently in need of a Harry Potter beta so if anyone is interested in the job then just PM me. What I'm looking for is someone skilled with grammar who will give me their honest opinion on what I write. Someone that I can bounce ideas off of and help me decide what to include and what to leave out. Someone who will also help me stay in character while writing.

Chapter three will be uploaded sometime later this week.