A/N) Thank you so much for the feedback on the question I asked about whether Sirius should get romantically involved. You have all been quite a help to decide on what to go for, so thank you!

Also, a bit of swearing in this chapter…

Twisting Time

Chapter Nineteen

Friday 27th March 1987

The last person James Potter expected to see on his birthday was Severus Snape however the Hogwarts Potions Master was adamant about coming into his house to see Lily. James had, reluctantly, allowed him to, having seen the corked vial his former nemesis was holding. He was sure he knew what Snape was bringing to them.

Lily was nursing Jack at the time and Snape and James sat in an uncomfortable silence while Harry played around them, attempting to get the visitor to play with him, but Snape wouldn't budge, choosing to ignore the child's attempts to include him in his imaginary play. James tried to offer Snape a drink but he refused the courtesy.

When Lily did come into the room, holding a sleepy Jack in her arms, she merely shook her head at the silence and passed her baby son to his father. She sat down opposite her old friend and watched him carefully, inviting Snape to speak first.

"I have the Restorative Draught. Two Mandrakes reached maturity a week ago. The portion I've given you should be significant enough to wake your … friend from his state," explained Snape. "If you hadn't purchased these Mandrakes when you did, I would not have been able to finish the potion this week."

Lily smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Severus. What you have done is appreciated."

"Just tell Black he owes me and I will be calling in the debt," replied Snape.

"Severus…" Lily frowned. "That wasn't the reason you chose to brew the potion for me. You said you valued our friendship..."

Snape scowled. He still held the potion in his hands. "Fine. He doesn't owe me but keep Black away from me."

James rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe how vindictive Snape was about this. And Sirius had kept himself away from the Potions Professor. "That may be hard in the not too distant future," he explained. "Sirius is determined to be at Hogwarts when Harry attends."

"Then I will ensure we have minimal contact as possible," grated Snape. He held out the potion to Lily who took it carefully in her hands. "If this isn't enough, the rest of the potion is still in the lab. I'll bring more over if I have to." He stood and turned to leave.

"Thank you, Severus…" whispered Lily as he swept out the door and exited their house. They heard the distant sound of Apparition and knew Snape had gone.

James sat back in his chair, groaning, as his baby son slept in his arms. "He really needs to get over his vindictiveness. I know I was a bully but still… We were all as bad as one another… None of us were ever completely innocent. I don't know how you can work with him, Lily."

She smiled sadly. "He was my first friend. He showed me how special I was… Snape was never loved as a child, James. He doesn't know how to care… Hogwarts was supposed to be a place where he was accepted… Despite his heritage he was still considered not worthy because of his father. But they could see how he had inherited more of his mother's Slytherin side and ideals and accepted him because he wanted to join them. I think if Snape had, had a more loving family, then he wouldn't be who he is today. And I don't believe you two would have had such a bad history either. He tolerates you because of me and I asked him to. Severus knows where the line is… well, where the new line is anyway. There will always be bad blood between Severus and Sirius… Nothing will change it."

"You know Sirius has never mentioned Snape in his…" James cast a glance at Harry who was still playing in his own little world with the miniature Quidditch set he had now moved on to. He mouthed the last words. "Old life."

"No, he hasn't," admitted Lily. "It makes me wonder…" She held up the vial of greenish-brown liquid. "I suppose we had better wake him up."

"Let me. It's my birthday and he deserves a smack for getting himself into this situation," said James, standing from his chair and passing Jack to Lily while he took the potion from her.

"Just make sure when you hit him, he doesn't swear," said Lily pointedly.

James grinned.

Stepping into the room they had kept Sirius' petrified body in, James closed the door behind him and put up a strong silencing charm as well as warding the door against intruders. He knew Lily would stop Harry from coming upstairs but he had to be safe. Harry could move really fast when he wanted to.

Sirius' body lay on the bed in the corner of the room. Walking over to it, James unstopped the vial and placed the top to Sirius' partially open mouth. He tipped the vial up and the liquid poured into his mouth.

The effect was instantaneous.

Sirius' body relaxed. The light came back into his eyes and his arms and legs flopped down from the position they had been in for months. Sirius blinked a few times, turning his head around the room before he focused on James. "Prongs?"

James raised his fist and punched him on the nose.

"OW! What the fuck, Potter?" Sirius cradled his nose in his hands.

"That's for getting yourself petrified you stupid mutt!" yelled James. Sirius did deserve it after all.

"It wasn't exactly intentional!" groaned Sirius as he wiped the blood away from his nose.

"You still made us worry and upset Harry!" retorted James.

Sirius made to sit up but James pushed him back down. "Prongs!"

"I'm not going to hit you again but you've been petrified for months so you need to give yourself time to acclimatise before you even get up off of that bed!" stated James. He reached out and took Sirius' wand from his right hand which the other wizard hadn't noticed he still had.

"Hey!"

"No magic either!"

"How am I supposed to fix my bloody nose without a wand, Potter?" Sirius shouted back.

"Here." James raised his own wand. "Episkey." There was a crack and Sirius howled again. "Better?"

Sirius glared at James. "Wouldn't have to fix it if you hadn't broken it."

James grinned. "You had it coming."

Sirius groaned. "I've missed a lot since I was petrified. What happened after I was taken out of the equation?"

"Lily managed to get the roosters to crow. The Basilisk is dead and we've harvested the fangs from it which are kept in a secure location," said James. "We kept you here because it was safer for you than Hogwarts. As you must know Lily didn't have the complete Restorative Draught ready before we went down into the Chamber of Secrets so we've had to wait for the Mandrakes to mature before we could wake you up."

"Ah…" Sirius swallowed. "How long has it been?"

"It's my birthday."

"WHAT? It's been that long? Seven months? Wait… are you?" Sirius' face clouded over. "Lily was pregnant… Two months in… Have you?"

James smiled. "Yeah. A son. Born last week. Six days old."

"Fucking hell." Sirius' eyes widened but then he smirked. "Still at least I didn't have to put up with Lily's pregnancy mood swings."

James hit him on the arm causing Sirius to wince again. "That's my wife!"

"Err… Who else knows about my Petrification?" Sirius bit his lip.

"We've kept it out of the general media. Since you barely step foot into the Wizarding World we've managed to keep it between a small group of people. We told Harry, Albus and your grandfather. We had to tell him because he wondered why you were not responding to his letters and calls. Outside of that, the only other person was Snape who helped to brew the potion to revive you."

"Snape?"

"He did it for Lily apparently." James rolled his eyes.

"Why couldn't Lily create the potion?" Sirius slowly began to sit up, surprised at Snape's involvement at his awakening. It did get him thinking though. Perhaps it was time to seek the Potion Master out.

"Pregnant. Lily can go back to Potion-making six months post birth but we weren't going to wait that long to revive you," said James.

Sirius flexed his knees. "What else has been going on?"

"Not much really. We've just led our lives waiting for the Restorative Draught," shrugged James. "We could have destroyed one of the Horcruxes since it is in Remus' vault but we didn't think it would be appropriate to do so without you."

"We can do it in the next few days," replied Sirius, now sitting up.

"Sorry for hitting you," said James. "But you did deserve it."

Sirius laughed. "I honestly think getting petrified was my punishment for not asking Dumbledore to use FiendFyre in the first place."

"We can all understand why but…" James could sense his friend wanted to add to his words.

"Maybe I should start trusting him instead of trying to do things on my own…" finished Sirius.

James placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You've been through things and your trust is hard to come by. You were sent back for a reason… I believe you feel duty bound to do this on your own. But you are not alone. Not while I'm here. And I am not leaving your side. Ever."

"You said that to me before but it didn't stop you from being murdered," replied Sirius sadly.

James didn't know what to say so he changed the subject entirely. "Do you want to meet my son?"

Sirius smirked. "Classic Potter tactic. Changing the subject!"

James scowled. "I'm beginning to wish I hadn't revived you so soon."

"I also want food. I'm starving. And thirsty." Sirius was, as ever, demanding.

James wrinkled his nose. "Before you do that, mate, you need to shower and change into a new set of robes."

When Sirius entered the living room after showering and had changed into a fresh set of robes, the first thing he noticed was Lily sitting in a chair, her arms wrapped around a small bundle of blankets. Harry was on the floor playing with a set of Quidditch toys though the boy looked up and immediately abandoned his toys and ran to Sirius, wrapping his arms around his legs.

"Not letting go!" sniffed Harry.

Sirius chuckled. "Miss me?"

"Yes! You're really silly to get hurt. I forbid you to get hurt again!" said Harry pouting.

A slight tug pulled inside Sirius' chest and he recognised the bond between he and Harry was pulsing. The boy was very happy he had his godfather back.

Harry looked up at his godfather, his bright green eyes shining. He turned his lips up, trembling them. "Promise?"

Sirius chuckled and got down on his knees to Harry's height. "I promise I will try my best to not get hurt."

"No. You can't get hurt ever again." Harry stood his ground.

"I think that's impossible," replied Sirius. "Your daddy hits me all the time."

"Oh, ok. Don't get frozen again then." Harry amended his demands.

"I won't. I promise you," said Sirius. It was after all impossible. No other Basilisk existed in the country. That we know of anyway.

"Padfoot." James drew his attention to Lily. "I'd like you to meet Jack."

Sirius shuffled forward on his knees until he was next to Lily and peered over her arms into the blankets below. The baby boy was asleep and there were tufts of black-ginger hair on the top of his head. His small hands moved as he dreamed. He couldn't help but fall in love with the child. "Jack…" He glanced at Lily. "After your dad?"

Lily shook her head. "My grandfather. Just like Harry is named after James' grandfather. But…" She grinned at James.

"What?" Sirius followed her gaze.

"Jack Sirius Potter," smiled James.

"But you said you weren't going to name any child of yours after me!" laughed Sirius.

"We meant first name," answered James. "You're my best friend – no, my brother – and we both wanted to honour you. We were never going to give any child of ours 'Sirius' as a first name but a middle name, yeah, sure!"

"Wow…" Sirius felt proud. "And godfather?"

"Remus," replied Lily. "We asked him the day Jack was born. We will have the ceremony in a few months and make it official."

"Sirius can hold the baby now, can't he?" asked Harry, who was now standing on tip-toe to peer over the armchair into his mother's arms at his baby brother.

James burst out into laughter. "If Sirius wants to hold him."

"I do." Sirius moved to the sofa.

Lily passed Jack to James who then walked across the room and kneeled down to pass Jack into Sirius' arms.

The little baby kicked and snuggled into Sirius' chest when he pulled the boy close. "Hello." Sirius whispered. He sat there marvelling the new-born baby as he slept in his arms. "I always wanted this… I mean, for you two, before…" He trailed off knowing that they would catch what he was referring to. James and Lily may have died originally but they had been given a second chance and Jack was living proof of it. At least I'm ensuring they never have to leave their children behind again. Harry and Jack will always have parents to look after them.

Sunday 5th April 1987

After Sirius had settled back into life after being petrified for seven months, he decided it was time to destroy the two Horcruxes he had possession of. The locket was stored in Sirius' vault but the ring in Remus' due to the reaction Sirius had, had when they'd retrieved it from the Gaunt house.

They had agreed to meet in a forest clearing where they intended to destroy the Horcruxes with the Basilisk fangs. They narrowed the forests down from a selection of places and decided to go with one in Scotland, situated far away from Hogwarts. It was secluded enough that Sirius didn't feel he had to worry about intruders. The last thing he wished was for Muggles to stumble across them.

They Apparated into the forest just after breakfast with James and Lily arriving first, who were swiftly followed by Sirius and Remus' timely arrival. Though Lily had only given birth a few weeks ago she had been adamant to not sit this out. She had asked Alice Longbottom to babysit for her whilst she ventured out for a few hours with her husband. This trip was her first one out of the house since having Jack.

"How are we going to do this?" asked Remus. "We have two to destroy."

In his palm Sirius held out the locket. "I wonder if we need Parseltongue to unlock it? We need to stab the piece of soul inside…"

"We could try stabbing it with a Basilisk fang," suggested James. "It could penetrate the shell…"

Sirius shook his head. "I don't believe that will work but we can try." He tried to pull at the locket's clasping's but it didn't open. It remained shut. He pulled a face as he raised his wand and tried to unlock it using a variety of charms designed to open things but none of them worked. "Voldemort is intelligent enough to have thought of a way to prevent anyone from destroying this. If standard ways do not open it and we cannot destroy the casing with a fang then we have to somehow figure out a way to get into it."

"If you do need to speak Parseltongue to open it…" mused James, "it will be difficult to find anyone with that ability."

"It only ran in Slytherin's line," said Sirius. Not being able to destroy the locket today was a barrier they would have to find some way to overcome.

"I think we should try with a Basilisk fang before we give up. It might be powerful enough to pierce the casing," suggested Remus.

Sirius passed the locket to him. "Be my guest. I don't think it is going to work."

Remus knelt on the forest floor and laid the locket out in front of him. From the blood-stained bag that held the Basilisk fangs, he carefully withdrew one, ensuring he didn't touch the sharp end with his fingers. He pulled it out and looked down at the locket.

James and Sirius stood to the side, their eyes focused upon the locket.

"Erm… shall I just stab it down?" asked Remus.

Sirius shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. My Harry did so with the diary but he stabbed it first when it was open, hitting the piece of soul inside it first, before closing the book and stabbing and ruining the casing. Basilisk venom works too fast for the piece of soul to adequately defend itself from destruction and the casing would not have been able to repair itself either if it had enchanted to do so."

Grimacing, Remus placed the tip of the Basilisk fang to the locket's gold exterior. "Here goes." He pushed down but the fang slid off of the cover and onto the forest floor. He tried again, only achieving the same result. "Ah. Ok. We need to get inside it before we can destroy the thing."

"Told you," smirked Sirius. It did pose the problem that they couldn't destroy it when they really needed to.

James folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against a tree. "How are we going to destroy the locket then?"

Sirius bit his lip. He had an idea but making it work could potentially be problematic. "The diary holds a piece of Voldemort. Whoever he possessed could open the Chamber of Secrets and do so by using Parseltongue…"

"Where are you going with this, Padfoot?" James looked worried, concern reflecting in his eyes.

"No one else can speak Parseltongue. We have to get this thing open or Voldemort will be immortal. He won't die," Sirius explained. "It may be that we would have to allow the diary Horcrux to be used and possess someone and overhear them opening the Chamber of Secrets to get the words we need to open the locket. I don't know really how we can go about this…" He raised a hand and wiped hair out of his eyes, dismissing the idea he'd had entirely. "I'm going to talk to Dumbledore… He may have an idea. And he can use FiendFyre but if a Basilisk fang cannot destroy the locket without opening it first, I doubt FiendFyre will."

James smiled gently. "I'm glad you are going to go to him for help."

Sirius picked up the locket and placed it back into his pocket for safekeeping. "We can destroy the ring though. Moony?"

Remus produced the ring's container from a small bag they had brought with them. Sirius had entrusted him to keep hold of the ring and he had retrieved the Horcrux from his vault the night before. However they had all agreed they needed to keep Sirius away from it.

James stood beside him as Remus and Lily opened the box they had found the Horcrux in at the Gaunt hovel.

Remus glanced back at Sirius. "We're not going to have to restrain you, are we Padfoot?"

Sirius shook his head. "No."

Nevertheless James reached out and held onto Sirius' wrist. "Just to be on the safe side, mate."

Lily lifted the box open. Inside was the ring. The stone embedded within it gleamed brightly.

You know you want to, Sirius…

"What?" Sirius' eyes widened.

"Padfoot?" James cautioned.

"Did you hear that?" Sirius almost took a step forward but James' grip on his wrist stopped him.

"Hear what?" Lily glanced up at him.

"The ring…" Sirius swallowed. "The Horcrux… It's whispering to me…"

"I can't hear anything," said Remus. He reached into the box and picked up the ring, careful to not slip it on. His action, however, caused both Lily and James to leap forward. "What?"

"We know it's cursed. Why did you pick it up?" asked James.

Remus frowned. "I don't know. I'm not feeling the compulsion to try it on though. If there is a curse on it…"

"It must only set in if you actually put it on," Lily confirmed, her green eyes sparkling. "But Sirius had the feeling to try it on when we found it which suggests it is something that calls to him but not to us."

"But we've all lost loved ones," said James. "Why isn't it calling to us?"

Sirius muttered quietly in reply. "I think it is because my loss is greater than any of yours. It's focusing on me: the person who would be most affected by it. If I wasn't here I suspect it would be more luring to you three." He was shaking. He could feel the ring calling to him and he so badly wanted to lunge forward. He nearly did but found his feet stuck to the earth. "What?"

James smirked. "Non-verbal sticking charm, Padfoot. Keeping you in place."

"I can easily release myself you realise," Sirius pointed out. He did have his wand after all.

"I know, but you won't," replied James confidently. "Do you want to be punched in the nose again?"

Sirius scowled. "I'd rather not be." He could feel something in his chest tugging at him to reach forward and take the ring and put it on. He couldn't move and he was resisting the chance to free himself. "You need to destroy that ring before I do something I regret."

"What about the Peverell heirloom?" asked Lily. Her eyes focused upon the black stone engraved with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. "It's been embedded within the ring but it isn't part of the Horcrux… I don't believe it is anyway."

"So the curse isn't on the stone?" Sirius clarified.

She shook her head, her red hair falling past her shoulders. "No. It's the ring itself."

"The whole thing feels dark to me…" Sirius grimaced. He hated being able to feel dark magic but he had grown up in a house full of it. His uncanny ability to detect it had led him to be very useful in discovering traps for Order members during the war. But because of the ring's strong lure for him, he was unable to determine if the entire ring was filled with dark magic or if it was just a part of it.

"Prongs, do you want to do the honours?" Remus held up the fang he had retrieved from the bloodied bag.

James glanced at Sirius watching his reaction carefully. "Okay." He reached out and carefully took the Basilisk fang from Remus' hand. He knelt down beside him in front of the innocent looking ring which Remus had placed on the earth.

As he raised the Basilisk fang he saw Sirius begin to struggle against the spell. The ring must be calling out to him, stronger than ever before. It must know there was a threat to it and then suddenly Sirius was there, lunging for James' hands. Remus leapt in front of James and tackled Sirius to the ground whilst Lily screamed at her husband.

"DO IT, JAMES!"

Hazel eyes saw Sirius violently struggling against Remus' enhanced werewolf strength, trying to pin the struggling man down. Remus was winning, only barely…

He bought the fang down on the gold banding of the ring.

The fang pierced the metal, shattering it into two pieces.

A gust of wind threw James back and he covered his eyes with his hands. He could hear shouts and screams from the others and as he turned to look at what had happened, he saw a dust cloud like a tornado over the shattered pieces of the ring and a snake-like face appeared within it.

He gasped as Voldemort's features briefly appeared before dispersing in a piercing yell. The dust exploded, coating them all. Coughing, James scrambled to his feet. "What the-!"

Sirius was on his knees, breathing heavily, his shoulders shaking. "I'm sorry. I couldn't-"

James knelt down, picking up one small piece of the ring and gently unscrewed the stone from its place. Sirius was watching him with avid eyes as he slipped the stone into his pocket. "Is it still calling to you?"

"A bit…" Sirius admitted, "but not as strong as it was."

Lily brushed the dirt off of her clothes and moved to help Sirius up. "The stone is an attraction for you but the ring was cursed… I'm not sure if there really was a compulsion curse upon it. I think it was all the stone itself rather than the Horcrux but the evil magic embedded in the ring made it feel more prominent to you."

Sirius wiped a hand down his face. "I heard a voice, calling to me… Telling me I wanted to…"

James winced. "Who did the voice sound like?"

Sirius sagged. "I don't know. I can't be sure but it sounded like… like my Harry." But he didn't look very convinced by it.

Lily wrapped him in a warm hug. "I think you need to come home with us." She smiled up at him. "After all, we have destroyed one Horcrux. Isn't it something worth celebrating?"

One Horcrux down.

Sirius knew he would have to discuss with Albus Dumbledore to discover a way to destroy the locket Horcrux. He had it in his pocket as he had yet to return it to his vault. The pieces of the ring had been turned to dust but James had kept the stone.

The stone that Sirius badly wanted to see. To hold. His heart ached.

"Padfoot?"

Sirius looked up. He was sitting on the edge of the bed in the spare room at the Potter's, choosing to stay with them for the rest of the day and night. James stood in the doorway, his shoulders slumped as he looked at his best friend.

"You're thinking," mentioned James. "With you that isn't a good thing."

Sirius smirked. "I know."

"Is it about the Horcruxes?"

"Partially but… also other things," confirmed Sirius quietly. He leaned back against the wall and sighed. "Ever since you told me Snape brewed the potion to wake me up it's got me thinking about him."

The eyebrows on James' face rose.

"I'm different because of what I've lived through," his voice was low, quiet and contemplative. "I will never like him. But he was on our side… Before I died in the old timeline, Snape was the one to contact me at Headquarters to determine if I was still safe. He didn't have to do so but he did. I was the one who went against his advice and decided to follow Harry into danger… Snape may have hated me and he did get really upset when I didn't get the Dementor's Kiss," Sirius held up a hand to stop James from interrupting him, "but he still warned us so we could save Harry. Snape loathed Harry."

James snorted. "He hates Harry now."

"It's because he looks like you and whenever he sees Harry he thinks about what you did to him at Hogwarts and he sees Harry's eyes and realises the friendship he lost." Sirius fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable with the topic. "Severus Snape has very good justification for hating us all. Yet he still risked everything to make sure I was safe. And now I find out he brewed the potion for Lily. I think I may need to talk to him."

"That won't happen, Padfoot. Snape doesn't want to see you." James looked at his friend pointedly.

Sirius shrugged. "I think he should hear what I have to say."

"Are you going to tell him who you are?" gaped James.

"I'm considering it…" Sirius hesitated, noting James' surprise. "But I will discuss it with Dumbledore first. It will be important to have Snape on our side when Voldemort returns. I don't want Snape to feel he has to be forced into aiding the Order because of Lily. I want him to work with us and me willingly."

"I'm not going to be able to change your mind about this, am I?" said James.

Sirius shook his head, a slight smile pulling on his face. "No."

His friend sighed.

"What did you come up here for, Prongs?" Sirius knew he had a reason.

James reached into his pocket and opened up his hand. Sitting in his palm was the resurrection stone. "It's been calling to you… I think you need to use it." He sat the stone down on the bedside table and stepped back. "Use it, Padfoot." Then, James turned away and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The resurrection stone sat on the bedside table, still calling to Sirius. He could hear a soft voice in his head, urging him to pick it up. He knew if he used it he wouldn't be interrupted. He'd already locked the door to the room and put silencing charms up as well as warding the door heavily.

If you don't, you will never get answers…

We are waiting for you. Just three turns away.

Sirius groaned, running his fingers through his black strands of hair. "I shouldn't be afraid of picking it up. I'm obviously meant to…"

A part of him was worried and afraid of what he would see: of who would come to him now. He just had to take the first crucial step.

"God, Padfoot, you are a Gryffindor! Be brave!" he yelled at himself, frustrated at his incapability to turn the stone three times.

Minutes past and slowly but surely, Sirius reached out for the stone and turned it three times in his hand, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. When he opened them again, they widened in surprise when he saw who the person was he had summoned forth.

He hadn't expected him!

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think!

So… who is Sirius seeing with the Resurrection Stone? Can anyone guess?

Jack being named after Lily's grandfather… We do not know her parent's names or anyone in her family save for Petunia so I would wager it would be a safe bet that since its likely Harry was named after James' grandfather then they would do the same with Lily.

Destroying the Locket… Well I fully intended for them to destroy it in this chapter however a bit of research led me to remember it can only be opened with Parseltongue. So since none of my characters can speak it I couldn't go through with it being destroyed in this chapter.

The next chapter deals exclusively with Sirius using the resurrection stone… it will be a short chapter and I am currently nearly finished writing it.

The next chapter will be posted next Tuesday.

Until then,

the-writer1988