The door split cleanly in half and fell open with a muffled thud. Lord Voldemort moved inside with purpose, surveying the state of the room dispassionately, a killing curse on the tip of his tongue and wand.
Nobody was there. The upholstery was spotless, except for a garish blue robe thrown carelessly over the arm of the sofa. The electric lighting was turned on. Somebody was in the house.
"James?"
Lord Voldemort's eyes snapped upward and met the horrified stare of Lily Potter, whose initial smile was still partially frozen onto her face. Lord Voldemort was the first to regain his wits. Adjusting the grip on his wand, he twisted it in his hand and floated upward unnaturally, soaring clear over the upstairs railing and toward Lily Potter, who stumbled backwards through the doorway from which she had previously emerged.
There was a cry from inside, and Lily Potter echoed it with a slight, uncertain moan. Then she seemed to regain her wits and held her arms out the side, as if in protection.
Lord Voldemort paused for a moment, noting something odd about the woman, but he brushed it aside.
"Step aside, silly girl." he told her, holding his urge to attack in check. She was unarmed, and Severus had requested he spare her. He would have simply banished her to the side, but he was somewhat curious to see what would happen.
Lily Potter lowered her hands to her sides and twitched slightly, before a small "Oh!" escaped her lips and she suddenly seemed to regain her wits. Her eyes widened and she returned to her previous position, though now she seemed even more determined and desperate.
"Not my baby!" she cried.
"Step aside." Lord Voldemort repeated. He rather disliked repeating himself, but there was no rush, for now.
"No! Take me, kill me instead." There was a wild lucidity in her eyes and it unsettled Lord Voldemort. He felt somebody trigger the perimeter wards he had left at the front gate and decided at once that he was finished playing games.
"Very well. Avada Kedavra." He focused his hatred, and Lily Potter crumpled to the ground with a flash of green light. Ignoring the brief sensation of hollowness in his chest, a mildly uncomfortable consequence of casting the spell, Lord Voldemort stepped up to the crib, where a small boy with dark hair stared up at him with large green eyes.
Lord Voldemort had heard tell that there were two children, but he could find the other one later.
"Avada Kedavra." he said again. A green flash left his wand and struck the baby on his forehead. The child cried out, perhaps in surprise, and immediately Lord Voldemort knew that something was wrong. There was a terrible pause in which he stood, staring at the infant who stared back with unbelievable liveliness, before the world flashed green again and Lord Voldemort knew only agony.
A loud pop sounded as Sirius apparated into Godric's Hollow. With dull horror his eyes fixed on the scene that appeared before him. The Potters' house remained standing, but the entire right side of the upper floor—where Sirius knew the nursery was located—had disappeared entirely. The ground about the house was littered with smoking rubble.
Brandishing his wand, Sirius stumbled forward. There was no room left for clear thoughts in his head. Only the desperate hope that it might not yet be too late compelled him onward. Fearfully he registered that the front door stood ajar. He did not stay for long on the ground floor. The cries of a child pierced his ear from above. Perhaps not everything was lost…
Sirius sprinted up the stairs, rushing in expectation of the worst in the nursery. The first thing he saw was James, kneeling on the floor, inert, and a shudder of relief lanced through him—until he saw the lifeless form in James's arms.
"Lily," whispered Sirius, choked. Slowly, he stepped into the room, growing more aware of the destruction that had befallen it. A layer of dust and detritus covered what remained of the place. It was cold, for the roof and the wall had vanished. Charlus lay beside James on the floor while Harry sat in his crib. Both children were shrieking, but appeared at a glance to be unscathed.
Sirius knelt in front of James and stared into Lily's empty expression. It was too late, he realized. She was dead.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice brittle.
James did not answer. He remained utterly lifeless, his gaze riveted on his wife, as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
Tears ran down Sirius's face. Lily… oh God, Lily! It couldn't be true! It wasn't allowed to be true! What would James do without her? What would become of the children?
"I'm so sorry, James!" he whispered and began at last to weep. He had already lost several friends and relatives in this war, but never someone who had been this close to him. As James was a brother to him, so Lily was the sister he'd never had. For a while Sirius forgot everything around him and let his pain run freely.
Eventually he calmed down somewhat. The cold night wand began to clear his head. His thoughts whirled about. Who was responsible for Lily's death? Death Eaters? Voldemort himself? But why had they disappeared? And really, they never should have been able to find Lily. Peter was the secret keeper… had something happened to Peter?
The children, meanwhile, had grown quieter. The cries had subsided to a soft whimpering. For the first time, Sirius noticed the strangely shaped cut on Harry's forehead. He stood and stepped up to the crib.
Harry looked up at him with wet, tear-stained eyes. "Siri," he said, and reached out with his arms.
At that sight, Sirius nearly broke out into tears again. Gently, he picked up the boy and pressed him to his chest. "Everything's going to be all right, Harry." he murmured. "You'll see. Your Uncle Padfoot will take care of you." The cut on Harry's head looked like a lightning-bolt. To Sirius's relief, the wound did not seem to be bleeding.
They couldn't stay here, he realized, not in this cold and in this half-destroyed house. Moreover there was no certainty that whoever had killed Lily really had disappeared, or wouldn't be coming back. James and his sons were not safe here.
"James." he said, "We have to get out of here." His friend did not seem to hear him. He continued to sit there, motionless, Lily in his arms. Slowly, Sirius began to think that his behavior was uncanny. "James!" he said more emphatically. "You're in danger here!" Still no reaction.
Sirius knelt down beside James, Harry still pressed against him, and shook him on the shoulder. "James! Prongs!"
At last, James looked up at him, though his gaze was strangely empty. "She's dead." he said tonelessly.
Pained, Sirius shut his eyes for a moment. "Yes." he said. "I know. But you're still alive. Harry and Charlus are still alive. You have to think of them now!"
James did not seem to have any inclination to stand up. Sirius opened his mouth, about to go on, but paused at the last moment. He thought he he'd heard a sound. Listening closely, he turned his head about. A moment later he heard it again. Somebody was in the house!
"We have to get out of here!" he hissed, "James, please!" He might as well have been speaking to a wand, for all the good it did him. He tugged at his friend in an attempt to bring him to his feet, but realized quickly that all of his efforts were in vain.
Sirius cursed under his breath. He obviously couldn't expect any help from James. Carefully he set Harry down beside his father and pulled out his wand. The boy began to whine when he could no longer feel his godfather's warmth.
"Shh… everything's okay." Sirius tried to calm him, "I'll be right there!"
But before he reached the door, he saw three drawn wands across from him. Their wizard owners wore robes that revealed them to be Aurors, but Sirius wasn't inclined to trust them on that account. His suspicions proved valid a moment later, as three stunners flew at him. Reacting quickly, he raised a shield, absorbing them, though the force of the impact pushed him back several paces. Behind his three assailants emerged more faces. In case Sirius had needed proof that the fidelius charm was broken, he had plenty of it now.
"Sirius Black." A grim-looking Auror with stringy, dark blond hair stepped forward. He seemed familiar to Sirius, but it took a moment to place him: Rufus Scrimgeour, head of the Auror Office. "You're surrounded." said Scrimgeour, "Resistance is futile!"
Sirius stared at him. "You want to arrest me?" he asked, disbelieving.
"Give yourself up!" commanded Scrimgeour, "I'm warning you, Black, we'll use force if you don't come on your own. Drop your wand!"
"You can't be serious!" growled Sirius, who felt anger bubbling up quickly within him. "Listen… my friend needs help! His wife… can't you see what's happened here? You should be trying to figure out who's responsible for this, not going around threatening people!"
Scrimgeour stretched his mouth into a mirthless smile. "Oh yes, we know what's happened here. You can save the drama; we're not going to fall for it!"
"What are you talking about?" snapped Sirius. The tension that hung in the air between him and the Aurors was nearly tangible.
Yellow eyes pierced his. "Don't act so innocent, Black! You were the secret keeper for the Potters. You betrayed their location to You-know-who. And now you're here to finish what he started, but we won't let you! Drop your wand and get away from the Potters!"
Sirius began to laugh. He couldn't do anything else—the situation was plainly too absurd. The Aurors stared at him mistrustfully. They were probably asking themselves whether he'd gone insane, and Sirius had to ask himself that too. "I think there's been a misunderstanding here." he finally managed to bite out.
"Oh? Is there something you'd like to tell us? Maybe you weren't the secret keeper at all, rather it was actually Peter Pettigrew?" said Scrimgeour sarcastically.
"How did you know that?" Sirius asked, taken aback.
Scrimgeour smiled grimly. "Because it was Mr. Pettigrew who called us for help as soon as he realized what your plan was. He warned us that you would say exactly that."
Sirius could only stare at him. Very slowly, comprehension began to trickle through. Peter was unharmed. Peter had set the Aurors on him. Peter had betrayed James and Lily. He had betrayed them all. Wormtail was the traitor, the leak. Who knew how long he'd spied for Voldemort! Part of Sirius didn't want to believe, but a bigger part of him was furious and wanted revenge.
"That lousy little rat!" he hissed. "But there was one thing he didn't plan for!"
"And that would be?" asked Scrimgeour alertly.
"James is alive." said Sirius, "and he can attest to the fact that Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper." he declared confidently.
Finally it seemed that Scrimgeour began to entertain doubts. "Mr. Potter," he addressed James, "is that true? Was Peter Pettigrew your secret keeper?"
Sirius turned his head to James, though it probably wasn't a good idea to let the Aurors out of his line of sight. James had stood up and was staring expressionlessly at the scene before him. And then he did something that made Sirius's heart skip a beat: he shook his head.
"Who was your secret keeper, Mr. Potter?" pressed Scrimgeour.
For a moment, it seemed as though James hadn't heard the question. But then he said with a toneless voice, "Sirius Black."
A horrible buzz surrounded Sirius's ears. He didn't notice as his wand sank; barely perceived the disarming charm that flung it out of his hand; hardly felt the cords that snaked about his form. He didn't hear Scrimgeour informing him that he was arrested and could not afford any resistance as the Aurors led him away. He did not understand what had happened. Peter's betrayal was one thing, but James? Why?
The last he saw, before the Aurors pulled him from the room, were Harry's forlorn green eyes.
A/N: Read, review, enjoy! All the exciting parts were written by Fluffy-Bond. :P Remember to visit her profile for the German version, if you're interested. And remember, if you're confused, don't worry: it's supposed to be that way.