A/N: I still have to fine a HP beta so forgive me if there are any grammar errors in this.

"I don't think you should die until you're ready. Until you've wrung out every last bit of living you can." ― Libba Bray, Going Bovine

"Everything Dies. That is the law of life-the bitter unchangeable law" ― David Clement-Davies, Fell

Sirius and Remus had decided to do as much research on the Cast of Resurrection as possible before they actually pulled it off. Sirius had given Remus the key to his vault while Remus went out to buy some books that would help. They had temporarily turned the parlor into their place of operation. Sirius had taken claim to the best chair in the room. The chair had been his father's and no one save for Orion Black ever sat in it. Orion even sat in the chair in his portrait. Currently, Sirius was sitting in said chair, his back against the arm while his legs hung over the other as he read one of the books Remus had bought.

"Do you get the feeling that we're back at Hogwarts in Gryffindor common room doing homework?" Sirius asked lazily.

"It's more like when we were studying for you and James to become animagi," Remus corrected. "I don't recall you ever doing any homework," he jabbed in.

Sirius ignored the last comment and grinned. "That was fun. If we had done it legally we would have been on the record for being the youngest wizards to accomplish it," he said.

"Breaking rules and laws always amuses you, Padfoot," Remus said longsuffering.

Sirius closed his book and tossed it over his shoulder. "Nothing worthwhile in that one," he said and pointed his wand at the pile on the coffee table and used a summoning charm to call another book to him, lazily flipping it open.

"Do you think we should tell Dumbledore what we're doing?" Remus asked suddenly.

Sirius looked up at him. "No," he said flatly.

"We can't keep it a secret from him, he will find out," Remus pointed out.

"He'll find out after we've done it," Sirius told him, lazily flicking through his book.

"A part of me still feels as though we should tell him," Remus said as he changed books.

Sirius looked over at him. "Why? Do you need to have his blessing?" he asked.

"It's nothing," Remus said dismissively.

Sirius closed his book with a snap and gave his friend his full attention. "You're not having second thoughts are you? Because I will be doing this with or without you," he said firmly.

"I'm not having second thoughts," Remus told him. "I do however question the need for secrecy."

Sirius frowned as he remembered his conversation with Dumbledore on the subject and debated sharing this with Remus. He was, however, saved from answering when someone bounded into the parlor, knocking over a table covered in family photos and waking up the portrait of Orion Black.

"Watch what you're doing you clumsy child!" Orion snapped.

"Oh do shut up!" Sirius snapped at the portrait.

"You watch who you are speaking to, Sirius Orion Black!" Orion snapped.

"Sorry," Tonks said righting the table and moving to the photos.

"Just toss the photos, they don't mean anything," Sirius said as he and Remus tucked away their research.

"Toss the photos!" Orion spluttered outraged. Sirius pointed his wand at the portrait and muttered a silencing charm to keep it from yelling further.

"Whatchya doing?" Tonks asked, noting their movements.

"None of your business," Sirius said. "What are you doing here?" he asked righting himself in the chair.

"Mum wanted me to check up on you," Tonks said as she took a seat on the arm of Sirius's chair. "She sent a care package, it's in the hall," she said.

"And that reminds me," Sirius said as he got up. "I've got something to show you." and he left the room to retrieve it.

Tonks slid down from the arm of the chair to relax in the vacated arm chair, making herself at home.

"I wouldn't sit there if I were you," Remus said.

Tonks glanced at him. "Why not?" she asked.

"Because that is Sirius' seat," Remus told her as if that explained everything.

"So?" Tonks asked, raising a pink eyebrow.

"Suit yourself," Remus said as he relaxed into the couch. "But I did warn you."

Sirius came back into the room carrying a small book and pulling out a slip of what looked like paper. He stopped and stared at Tonks with narrowed eyes. "You're in my seat," he said evenly.

"It's just a chair," Tonks pointed out.

"It's my chair," Sirius told her.

"Everything in this house is yours," Tonks countered.

"Exactly. Now sit somewhere else," Sirius told her.

Tonks rolled her eyes as she took a seat beside Remus who just gave her an I-told-you-so look.

"I found this in one of the books Remus retrieved from my old flat and I thought you might like to see it," Sirius said as he handed Tonks an old photograph. It was taken in 1978 and was of an eighteen year old Sirius running around and playing with a four year old Tonks with color changing pigtails. "It was taken during the dinner your mum hosted for me when I finished Hogwarts," he explained.

Remus looked over Tonk's shoulder at the picture. "I remember that day. You completely ignored us because you were having too much fun playing with Nymphadora. Lily remarked that you would be an amazing father and James got a little nervous when she mentioned that she wanted to have four kids, he turned all blotchy and choked on his butterbeer," he said with a fond smile.

Tonks blinks and turned to glare at Remus. "Don't call me Nymphadora!" she growled.

Sirius grinned. "What's wrong with the name Nymphadora?" he asked.

"What's right about it?" Tonks countered. "I'd like to know what Mum was thinking when she foolishly named me that."

"I told her to name you Nymphadora. Because you looked like a little nymph when you were born," Sirius told her.

"So it was your doing?" Tonks glared.

Sirius grinned. "Afraid so," he said.

"Be grateful he didn't suggest any of the other names he started coming up with," Remus told her ominously.

"What could possibly be worse than Nymphadora?" Tonks demanded.

"You obviously don't know your cousin very well," Remus stated. "His sense of humor can be downright evil at times."

"Why thank you, Moony," Sirius said pleasantly.

Tonks shook her head and looked down at the picture in her hand. "I barely remember this," she said.

"I didn't expect you to remember it at all," Sirius confessed. "I barely saw you while I served in the order and I was sent to Azkaban three years later. That was the last carefree day I had."

Tonks pointed her wand at the picture and muttered, "Geminio," making a copy of it and handing the original back to Sirius. "I have to go. Kingsley is expecting me back at the ministry for an assignment," she said as she pocketed her copy.

"Can't keep the ministry waiting," Sirius said. When she left he turned to Remus. "I'm glad she stopped by," he said.

"Yeah," Remus agreed with a contemplative expression.

Sirius had tapped a large piece of parchment on the wall of the parlor to act as a checklist when he and Remus had finished their research. A quill was poised to jot down the points of their plan.

"So we agree that the ideal setting is under the new moon," Remus checked off, the quill marking it down on the parchment.

"It might be best if we did it at the scene of the crime," Sirius said.

Remus looked at him. "Their home is in ruins. It's a wonder that parts of it still stands,"

"But the best chances are to return to the scene of the crime for the spell to work properly. That's why it backfired on Walburga, she didn't do it properly," Sirius insisted.

Remus nodded. "Did you finish the spell?" he asked, referring to the fact that they had to write a customized spell.

"Yeah, I believe so," Sirius answered and unfolded a piece of parchment and began to recite it, "I call on the ancient power to release the souls of Lily and James Potter whom died the most unnatural death. Bring them back from the abyss of death and breath life into them once more. Return them to us. Let them cross over and return to us."

"Sounds lengthy," Remus commented.

"This is ancient magic. Spell casting for ancient wizards was in incantations," Sirius reminded him.

"You are the expert in the history of magic, especially in ancient magic," Remus stated, remembering well how easily magic came to Sirius while they were in school because of his lifelong study of magic. "I always had to work extra hard to keep up with you," he remembered.

"You used to get mad at me at the beginning because of my lazy approach," Sirius said.

"I didn't understand how you did it until our third year when we both took ancient studies and you came into class knowing the basics and more already," Remus said as he shook his head.

"You're the best at latin translations so you need to translate this incantation," Sirius told him, cutting off the reminiscing.

Remus took the slip of parchment. "Good to know that there are some things that I'm better at than you or James," he stated good humoredly.

"Now onto the alter. We'll need a representative of Lily and James and a few select personal things," Sirius began.

"I think I have a picture of Lily and James together. I gave most of them to Hagrid when he asked for them to make a photo album for Harry," Remus said.

"We need something personal of James and something personal of Lily's and then form a triangle," Sirius checked off.

"That shouldn't be too hard to find once we're inside the house," Remus nodded.

Sirius nodded as he glanced up at the checklist. "So that's everything. Snivellus said the potion will be ready by then. You should tell him where to bring it. When is the new moon again?" he said.

"June 27th," Remus automatically replied. "And I'll send Severus an owl."

"Good, you do that," Sirius said as he pointed his wand at the checklist. "In just three weeks we'll have our friends back," he said quietly.

Remus nodded. "Yeah. Harry will be happy too," he said.

Sirius frowned. "With everything he has faced and what he will have to face, Harry needs them more than we do. We're doing this for him," he said firmly.

"Fo Harry," Remus agreed, although a part of him knew that Sirius wasn't doing so just for Harry's sake.

It was decided that the best place to cast the spell would be the scene of the crime. It was the first time that either Sirius or Remus had been to Godric's Hollow since the night James and Lily died. Sirius had decided to wear his father's cloak to conceal his identity as he flew into the living room of Potter Cottage on an old broomstick while Remus just apparated in. The potion Snape had brewed was waiting for them in the middle of the living room in a bubbling cauldron.

Sirius took a moment to compose himself as he took a look around. The windows were completely blown out and in their place were gaping holes in the walls in the place where blue curtains used to hang over the windows. The sunny yellow painted walls were now faded to a mellow nicotine shade stained with mold. The white carpet was tattered to an eaten up rag and the blue couch was molding with holes and springs poking out. The tables now were piles of splintered wood while family photos were half destroyed. James's Puddlemere United quidditch poster, which was signed by all members of the team, was ripped to shreds. Harry's playpen lay in a broken heap, his toys strewn about the floor blackened from age and dirt.

"Just knowing how it used to look makes seeing what it has become that much terrible," Remus said.

Sirius said nothing as he bent down to pick up the toy broom by the fireplace. "Harry's first broom. I bought this for him for his birthday," he said. "I doubt he remembers it."

"I think Harry remembers more than he lets on," Remus said.

Sirius looked at him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's just something he said to me once. I didn't ask any further questions," Remus told him.

Sirius didn't press the subject further as he set the toy broom down. "We need a bit of both Lily and James. I think we might find that in the bedroom," he said.

"We don't have much time before we have to get started so this needs to be quick," Remus reminded him. "Lumos," he muttered as he held out his wand. Beside him Sirius did the same and the two men carefully climbed the stairs to the only remaining part of the upstairs, Lily and James' bedroom.

The bedroom was in just the same condition as the living room. The once pristine pastel walls were now faded white and had foliage growing alongside it. The nursery beside the bedroom was gone, taking with it a chunk of the wall that connected it. The windows weren't blasted out like the living room, but the glass had been blown out as if a cannon was fired out of them. The once beautiful white queen anne's lace curtains now hung like dusty cobwebs. The bed was left the same, the patchwork quilt that had belonged to Lily's grandmother was matted with decay and mold while the mattress had holes and chunks missing from it. Other than that things were still left intact.

Remus walked over to the dressing table which was still littered with Lily's things in just the same order as she had left it. He picked up a brush which still had Lily's hair in it and plucked the hair from it. Sirius however was tearing things apart and rummaging through them, pulling drawers out and dumping them.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked.

"Looking for James' comb. He had taken a habit of hiding it in different locations because I would bewitch it on him," Sirius explained and then grinned. "He never did know what to expect any time I found it," he remembered.

"I remember when he combed his hair one morning and it turned his hair into all the colors of the rainbow. He was so mad at you," Remus recalled.

"Chased me all over Hogwarts. Since I took the map, he had a difficult time finding me," Sirius said with a sparkle in his eyes. "Ah ha! Found it," Sirius said triumphantly as he plucked a black comb from where it stuck to the underside of the wardrobe.

Remus looked out to the night sky watchfully, keenly aware of the moon. "The new moon approaches," he said.

Sirius grabbed bits of black hair from the comb before pocketing it. "Then what are we waiting for?" he said.

Once back in the living room, Sirius summoned two cups from the kitchen and muttered a quick cleaning spell and handed Remus one cup. They ladled the potion into the cups and added the hairs. Inside the cups the black potion bubbled and turned red. "Let this potion be the new blood that is the essence of life itself," he said ominously.

Remus carefully marked the two cups as Sirius handed him his. "You stay here and do your part. I'll call you in the mirror to let you know when I'm ready," he said as he took the two cups of potion and left for the cemetery.

Sirius took a deep breath as he began taking little things here and there to arrange the altar, kneeling on the floor before it. He took out his wand and pointed it at the altar.

"Padfoot..."

Sirius dug in his pocket for the two way mirror and glanced down. "You ready, Moony?" he asked.

"The new moon will rise in one minute, we must do this in a synchronized motion," Remus told him.

"Say the word," Sirius said.

"Now."

Sirius looked to the altar and recited the latin incantation, "Invoco in antiquos potestatem dimittere animas Lily, et Iacobum, Potter moreretur maxime unatural mortem. Abyssi et spiritus a morte revocare eum amplius vivere. Convertam eos ad nos. Et submisit ea ad nos transeunt." At the same time that Remus poured the potion over James and Lily's graves.

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius wasn't sure that it had worked at first when everything remained still. His breathing evened out as he tried to detect if it had worked. Checking his notes and the book laying in front of him, he tried to see if he had missed a step. So far the only sounds he could hear were the creaking and groaning of the ruins of James and Lily's house. The bubbling cauldron in front of him turned from blood red to black. Sirius, taking note of this, stood up and waited for Remus to return. However, patience was never his strong point. Grabbing his father's heavy black cloak, he gathered it around himself and pulled the hood up, obstructing half of his face. He made his way out to the cemetery, thankful for the late hour.

He found Remus kneeling before James and Lily's grave, cups in his hands, empty from pouring it over the graves. "Anything?" he asked.

"I've been waiting here for some sort of sign and thinking about what we're doing," Remus said.

"And?" Sirius queried.

"I've come to the conclusion that you are insane and I'm insane for letting you convince me that this would work," Remus said, standing up.

"I was so sure that it would," Sirius said.

"Yes, and I'm sure that your mother believed it just as deeply when she tried to raise your brother," Remus stated dryly.

Sirius glowered at his friend. "I told you never to mention that old hag to me," he growled.

"I'm just stating a fact, Padfoot," Remus defended himself. "We can't hang around here for too long. Someone might see you," he rationalized.

"Lets get back to James's house and wait this out. No one will look for us in there. Besides, it's the first place they would go if it did work," Sirius proposed, not ready to give up just yet.

"Fine; but transform, will you?" Remus conceded.

Sirius didn't reply but did as he was asked and once in dog form, he trotted away in the direction of James and Lily's old house. Remus gathered up the old doxy-eaten cloak and followed suit.

But as the two friends returned to the condemned house and had something to eat before falling asleep, they did not know that under the graves marked Lily and James Potter, the potions had seeped down and into the pine coffins, dripping onto the two bodies within. Both bodies began to glow as a golden red mist formed and covered the decaying bodies. Slowly the mist worked through the bodies and flowed deep inside them until the decaying process was reversed and life returned to them.

James gasped for life first, opening his eyes to darkness, and felt around in his coffin. As the reality of his situation hit, he began to panic as he pounded on the lid above him. He clawed at the surface, ripping apart the fabric and pounding harder against the hard wood, only managing to crack it. As he felt his hands begin to bleed, he groped around him, hoping he would find a wand. He quickly found one laying beside him. He began to think of spells to break out of this confining space. "con... con...confrin...confringo," he rasped, pointing the wand upwards. A few sparks spouted and dulled. Breathing deeply, he tried nonverbal magic as he concentrated on the spell. That seemed to do the trick as the wood above him and the dirt covering it blasted upwards, creating a small hole. Clutching the wand between his teeth, James began to haul himself up and crawl through it. He caught himself on splintered wood, cutting a gash in his leg and the side of his torso. He dug himself out through six feet of dirt. Once he broke surface, he crawled up onto the grass and collapsed onto his back, taking huge gulping breaths.

He senses seemed to be working as though from far away; as the sound of the night reached his ears, sounding more like he were underwater, and his vision was cloudy, much in the same way, but he could feel the cool grass beneath him. Beside him he heard another blast as dirt and broken wood flew up and over him. Shoving the debris off of himself, he crawled onto his side in time to see a pair of small hands group out of a similar hole. Without thinking, he moved and grasped the hands helping their owner up through their hole, meeting the familiar face of his wife who, like him, gasped for breath, shaking from the terror they both just faced.

Holding onto each other, they both turned to notice the headstone bearing their names and panic overtook them. Backing away from the headstone as though it would swallow them whole, they both scrambled to their feet and hurriedly put as much distance between themselves and the graves as they could, only stopping once they reached the gate to the cemetery. Lily collapsed against the wall as James slammed the gate closed behind them.

Breathing raggedly, Lily gasped, "Harry."

James fell down before her and gathered her in his arms. Though both were living the trauma of digging themselves out of their own graves, James still felt the urge to comfort his wife. Neither knew how long they huddled together against the cemetery wall when a used newspaper blew up against them. With a shaky hand, James examined it, trying to make sense of the words on the page, his eyesight still cloudy. He squinted at the paper but only found it to be a muggle newspaper.

Lily took the page from him and gasped, her hands trembling as she struggled for breath as she saw the date: June 27, 1995. Hyperventilating, she struggled to say the date out loud. James grasped her shoulders and forced her to look at him, silently asking her what was wrong. Brandishing the paper in front of him, she pointed to the date. "19...19...1995," she rasped out.

"What?" James rasped disbelievingly as he too struggled for breath. Slowly his mental faculties caught up with him as he began to rationalize that it was unlikely that a muggle newspaper would print the wrong date.

"Harry!" Lily rasped as she stumbled and pushed herself up, using the wall for support. She broke out in a run down the street towards their house with James following her.

She reached the iron garden gate to their house and feel into it. Looking up she panicked even further. "No!" she howled, unlocking the gate and rushing forward, collapsing in the middle of the front path, shaking in compete sorrow. She barely registered James collapsing beside her and throwing his arms around her. "No!" she cried even louder into the night.

Inside the ruins that was once a house, only one room remained the safest. The living room that had once been cozy and the center of a small family's life, now lay in rotten decay. Only one piece of furniture remained intact enough to sit on and it was there that Remus Lupin had curled up on in an awkward position. Beside him on the floor was a huge black dog, curled up.

However a loud echoing cry of agony came through the hole in the wall where a window used to be. The dog raised his head in alertness and strained it's ears for more sound. What he heard was someone sobbing outside. Springing up, the dog nudged Remus in the arm with his nose only for Remus to snort and turn over. Giving up, the dog trotted to the door, nudging it open and went outside. There were two people huddled on the walk together. Unable to see who they were, the dog growled, his hackles raised and he poised himself for attack.

Upon alerting his presence, the couple looked up and saw him. They froze as they noticed him and began to back away when he started barking. Neither of them got a good look at the dog, but the dog managed to get a good look at them and recognized them immediately. Barking some more, the dog pounced and tackled the man to the ground and began to lick his face between barks, wagging his tail feveresy.

James and Lily didn't recognize the dog at first when he appeared at the door and became weary of his aggression. However, when the dog pounced on James and started licking his face happily, they knew instantly who the dog was. And as fast as the dog had pounced, the dog jumped off of James and trotted inside the house, only looking back at them when he paused in the doorway.

James and Lily slowly stood up, gazing at the ruins that used to be their house before following the dog inside. Once there they found a gaunt looking man with waist length matted black hair and wearing grey rags. He was laughing triumphantly, pulling both James and Lily into a bone crushing hug.

"I knew it would work! I just knew it! Moony wake up you lazy wolf, it worked!" Sirius shouted jubilantly. Letting go of James and Lily, he pulled out a wand and sent a stinging hex to Remus' arse as he was snoring into the matted and molding couch.

Remus jerked awake. "That's it!" he threatened groggily and sent a stunner of his own at Sirius whole ducked out of the way.

"Ha! Gotta be quicker than that!" Sirius cackled. "My mother had better aim than you!"

Remus turned around. "How is it that I'm forbidden from mentioning your evil mother but you can mention her while taunting me?" he ranted and then spotted Lily and James. "You crazy mutt," he said.

"Oi! I'm not a mutt, I'm a pedigree!" Sirius snapped indignantly.

Remus ignored him as he walked over to Lily and James, taking in their attire, the same robes they were buried in; he should know, he had picked them out. He also noticed their dirty and bleeding state. "Your spell worked, alright, Sirius. But apparently you didn't consider that they would be brought back right where they were left," he said hollowly.

Sirius sobered up as realization dawned on him. "Oh, no," he breathed.

Remus held his wand and reached for Lily's hands to heal them but she jerked away and James put his arms around her protectively. "It's alright, I'm just going to heal you," he said. "You do trust me, Prongs, Lily?" he asked cautiously.

James and Lily looked at each other as they stepped away, backing against the wall where bits of debris fell on them.

"What's wrong with them, Remus?" Sirius asked worriedly.

"They're in shock. Wouldn't you be if you had to dig yourself out of your own grave," Remus snapped.

"I didn't..." Sirius trailed off, not knowing what to say. "I just wanted to get them back, for Harry's sake," he defended himself lamely.

Lily and James looked up at the mention of their son. "Harry," Lily whispered brokenly.

"Harry is safe," Remus assured them.

"Remus, we probably should get them out of here," Sirius whispered from behind him as he heard voices down the lane.

"We'll take you to Harry, but you have to trust us," Remus told Lily and James.

"How are we going to do that? They're bloody well not fit to apparate and I very much doubt the floo connection here still works," Sirius whispered.

"I'm thinking," Remus hissed at him.

Sirius paced behind him like a caged animal. "You need to bloody well think fast," he hissed. "Aurors are coming to check things out," he snapped.

Remus, acknowledging Sirius' heightened awareness with aurors and dementors, didn't think twice as he grabbed an old toy of Harry's and tapped his wand upon it, "portus," he hissed.

Sirius grinned. "Why, Moony, is that an illegal portkey?" he taunted.

"No time to chat about this, Padfoot. We need to get going, remember?" Remus retorted, grabbing ahold of Lily as Sirius grabbed James and touched the portkey with Remus. As aurors reached the garden gate, the portkey transported them out of the wrecked house.