A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long! In my defence, I thought I'd uploaded it, and it was only when I was preparing to upload 44 that I noticed this one was missing ... Heh heh. Um ... on with the chapter! And 44 will be soon after this one, I promise.

Chapter Forty Three

Sadly, they had to make do with chilled pumpkin juice, but the toast didn't diminish for that. Thirsty after recent exertions, they finished an entire carton of it before heading for a bath. It was another moment of pure happiness for Helena. Sharing a bath was so intimate, in another way entirely that just sex had been. She no longer had anything to hide from him, nothing to feel tense about. They were both in the tub, Helena sitting with her back to his chest.

Sirius brushed her wet hair over one shoulder and kissed her neck once. "You scared me you know."

"When?"

"During that battle you had with yourself. You kept backing off. I thought you were going to go over the cliff."

"Sorry."

She felt him shrug. "I wouldn't have had to live without you for long."

"You don't mean-? Padfoot, you wouldn't-"

"What, kill myself? No, I meant I'd levicorpus you back up. And if that failed then, yeah, I'd throw myself after you and hope you remembered you could grow wings before we hit the bottom."

"And if I didn't?"

"It'd be depressingly Shakespearean, wouldn't it?"

She laughed. "You're no Romeo."

"Hell no. He pissed about far too much. And you don't exactly fit Juliet."

"Not passive enough?"

"Nope. You're a Rosalind."

She considered it, and decided she had no objection. "Well, then, Orlando, are you clean? I believe I was promised a bowl of French cornflakes."

It was midway through that bowl of cornflakes that the owl arrived, tapping at the window. "Oh, that must be from Lily."

Sirius opened the window and let the bird in, taking the envelope it proffered. "No – this is Wormtail's writing." He opened it, reading. "'Dear Padfoot and Helena, exciting news – Lily gave birth at about four this morning! She and Prongs are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy. They don't have a name yet but he's absolutely adorable and is the spitting image of James. You two should come home as soon as you can and meet him. All the best, Pete.'"

Helena beamed. "That's wonderful! And the baby's healthy, that's fantastic news! We need to send a letter of congratulations. And flowers. And a gift for the baby. And-"

"And it sounds like we'll need a trip to Diagon Alley, which could be a problem."

"Oh. Alright, well I haven't written to Dumbledore about today yet, so we'll see what he says. But I don't think she's coming back, Padfoot. I feel … different. Whole."

"You look different," he said. "Better. Back to yourself again."

"I suppose there were two births today," she smiled.

As the day wore on, and after a letter of congratulations had been sent to Lily and James, and the news about Helena's victory had been dispatched to Dumbledore, exhaustion started to creep up on her. It seemed battling against both oneself and one's evil overlord father could be fatiguing, but as she lay down for an afternoon nap, she had no fear that either one would intrude on her dreams. No, this nap was going to be-

She sat up again. What was that? It wasn't a noise she'd heard, or a shadow suddenly passing – it was still late afternoon outside, and the curtains were still open. But there was a shiver of unease at the base for her neck, and it wasn't going away. Danger. It felt as though they were under threat. Getting up as quietly as possible, she padded to the kitchen, where Sirius was reading an edition of the Prophet that Lily had sent with her last letter.

"Padfoot," she whispered. "Someone's here."

He pulled out his wand. "Where?"

"I don't know. Not in the house, I … I just have this feeling. And I don't think we should ignore it."

"Alright. Do you want your wand?"

She glanced out of the window, this time almost sure she had seen something. A shadow in the corner of her eye. "I'd better have it."

He retrieved it and handed it over. When the smooth wood met her fingers, Helena felt a warm rush of recognition as the two of them, wand and witch, reacquainted. "Outside," she said.

"Come on then. We'll go quietly, stick together. Your best-" he thought better of it, "your best defensive spell at the ready."

"Got it."

Outside seemed to be completely empty though. Nothing but sunshine the colour of melted butter with tumbling clouds high in the sky, the lightest of breezes with it. She didn't trust it. Not one bit of it. The sense of something wrong had become stronger. It helped a lot when the first spell came flinging out of nowhere. She had time to fling herself to one side, and the magic – a stunner – impacted harmlessly against the wall of the house.

"Son of a- Stupify!"

Her spell missed too, though she was perfectly sure there was some burned hair floating in the breeze. She sent another quick bolt of fire flying after it, then felt a shield charm cast over her: Sirius' spell. As per bloody usual, she was the target. But while he was worried about her, he left himself vulnerable, and the next time she was able to glance over at him, he was bleeding from a cut on the shoulder. His wand arm wasn't hurt though, and he sent a telekinetic blow which blew the Death Eater fifteen feet towards the cliff edge. It was retaliated via an electrified net which flew towards both of them. Quidditch reflexes saved Sirius, and he rolled to one side. Helena wasn't so mesh descended over her and sent instant, debilitating shocks through her body. It wasn't as bas the Crutiatus curse, but it still made her limbs shake beyond her control for a moment or two. She refused, however, to let weakness or pain impinge on her – and finally managed to cast a spell she'd barely known she was aware of; it nullified the electrical field, and a cutting spell split the new into two pieces.

When she was on her feet again, the Death Eater tossed his – her mask aside. Octavia. The other Death Eater stopped too, warily facing Sirius. Octavia spoke. "You had to know this was coming. No one leaves the Dark Lord. You even told him that."

"No," Helena said, finding a smirk from somewhere. No, not from somewhere, from the remnants of Lady V. Rather than push it away, she let it flower onto her face. Let it turn her gaze cold. Let it inspire fear in the eyes of Death Eaters facing her. "No, what I told him was that I'd leave—or he'd kill me. And I don't see him anywhere. Do you?"

The fear wasn't confined to their eyes anymore, and when she took a step forwards, they actually took one back. Looking at them, Helena knew exactly the curse she was going to cast. She knew she had to, knew that there was only one course of action and that Padfoot would never take it. The Death Eaters would never expect her to do it. But there was no hesitation when she pointed her wand at Octavia and yelled, "Avada Kedavra!"

In the subsequent flash of green light, she saw quite clearly the expression of surprise on Octavia's face.

"Expelliarmus!"

Her wand was gone from her hand. The Death Eater stood at the cliff edge, but he was armed. Sirius froze, not willing to risk a spell while she was without her weapon and possibly get her killed. Her wand lay in the grass between them; Sirius made a tiny gesture with his hand towards the Death Eater. She read it as distract him.

"You could leave," she offered calmly.

"Shut up!"

"You can't possibly win. What you've come for is gone."

"Then I'll kill you!" The wand tip switched direction to her – out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius dive for the wand. But as he did, the Death Eater once more targeted Sirius. His mouth opened, the curse was readied. Without thinking, Helena sprinted forwards, bodily throwing herself into him. They both went over the cliff.

To say his heart was in his mouth would have been an understatement, to say the least. However, no sooner had Sirius ran to the edge of the cliff than a giant eagle rocketed past him and another thirty feet higher still, so close he felt the rush of displaced air. The bird let out a triumphant scream and then circled back, landing just outside the cottage.

"Don't you bloody dare to that to me again! I got your wand by the way, bloody woman …"

Helena transformed again, sprawling on the ground. "Thanks," she croaked.

He let out an explosive sigh. "You weren't kidding when you said you'd be more violent, were you?"

"That wasn't that violent," she said.

"No? You killed them both, Hellfire. Two Death Eaters, both dead. That one-!" he cut off, pointing to where Octavia Fantaine lay, her eyes glassy.

"The Ministry's authorised the use of-"

"For aurors, yes! Since when were you an auror? Bloody hell …" he raked his hands through his hair, then moved back over to the cliff. The second Death Eater was like a broken toy on the rocks below. He imagined the high tide would take the body out to sea. "And what on earth are we supposed to do with this one?"

"The same thing," she said calmly. "Push it over the cliff. Report to Dumbledore that there are two fewer Death Eaters in the world. I can't regret that, can you?"

"I can't believe you just did that. You just performed the killing curse, right in front of me. In your right mind, you just did-"

"Padfoot, you're missing the point."

"That's a life sentence in Azkaban if you were anyone else! I'm breaking the law just-"

"Padfoot!"

"What?" he snarled.

"You are missing the point," she said again. "Think about it. Where are we? What are we protected by? You're intelligent enough to realise what this means!"

He stopped, staring. "But- Merlin's beard."

"Exactly."

He shivered, and chilled to the bone by fear and dread, he reached out and pulled her to him, forgetting any disbelief in what she'd just done. They weren't safe. None of them were safe, no one in the Order.

"This means we-"

She nodded. "We have a traitor. No one outside of the Order knew where we were going. And they knew exactly."

He suppressed another shiver and kissed her hair while his mind worked furiously. The number of people who knew where they were, he could count on one hand. McGonagall and Dumblefore, they could rule out instantly. Dumbledore had been their secret keeper, but he would only ever give the information to people he trusted implicitly. Which very uncomfortably, left Lily, James, Peter and Remus.

Helena had come to the same conclusion. "None of them would. It's inconceivable."

"Is it? James and Lily, yeah, but…"

She frowned. "But?"

"Moony. He had opportunity, he had knowledge…"

She eased out of his arms, facing him now. "And motive? Why would he switch sides, why would he betray us?"

"The same reason the giants have joined Voldemort, the same reason any other werewolf might."

She didn't say anything for a long time, though she was obviously giving serious consideration to his suggestion. "I- I think you're wrong," she said finally. "I think he's never been anything but a friend to you. I think he…is no more likely to be a traitor than you are."

"He has the most to gain out of all of us."

"I'm not disputing that."

"And he's being secretive from what James says, you have to admit that, Helena."

"And what if the reason for that is he knows there's a traitor too, and he doesn't know who it is? Who's to say Remus doesn't think it's you? Or me? Or Peter?"

Sirius snorted. "Pete doesn't have the intelligence to be a traitor."

"It was hypothetical, Sirius. My point is-"

"I know, Hellfire. This solves at least one issue though. We go back, today. There's no point in staying now. There's no refuge anywhere."

Helena shivered. "That poor baby … how are Lily and James supposed to keep him safe now?"

"We'll go there first. If we've been attacked then they could be the next target."

"Agreed. How far does the anti-apparition field go?"

"Five miles. It'll be faster-"

"Way ahead of you," she said, taking a step away and beginning to transform her shape again.

"Follow me."

He did the same, his vision reducing the world to shades of grey, black and white. Helena flapped her wings powerfully, heading for the cliff edge. She disappeared briefly before the thermals lifted her up again. Once she'd turned back towards land, Sirius started running. His breath came in sharp pants by the time they were out of the anti-apparition field, and he stopped, transforming again. Helena came in to land too, though she obviously misjudged the speed she was going at and ended up ploughing into the ground. He laughed. Even more so at the disgruntled expression on her face when she did change. And the mud all down the front of her robes.

"Shut up!"

"What? It's funny! In my defence, it's only funny because-"

"Because you're an arse, yes, ha, ha, ha," she said, rolling her eyes. Unsuccessfully trying to brush her clothing down, she asked, "Now, where are we going first?"

The logical choice would be Westmoreland Castle. Would be HQ and straight to Dumbledore. It would also risk leaving Lily and James unawares for a little while longer. A lot could happen in only a few minutes – such as a hoarde of Death Eates materialising in a newborn baby's bedroom. When he looked at Helena, it was obvious she'd already decided that duty was going to take a back seat. "Godric's Hollow," he said.

"Agreed."

Within seconds, they had both disapparated, reappearing in the Somerset village hundreds of miles away. There was a woman on a bicycle peddling through the village sqaure when the two of them popped into existance in her path. She skidded, braking hard, and fell off. "Merlin's beard, watch where you're apparating!"

Helena helped her up. "Sorry."

Still muttering, the witch got back on her bike and carried on her way. Sirius took Helena's hand. "Come on."

She indicated the Potters' cottage, joking weakly, "Well at least there's no Dark Mark …" The look he sent her way was enough to stop her attempting any more humour. "I'm nervous, Padfoot, let me get it out," she tried to explain.

"Nervous? What do you have to be nervous about?"

"I don't know, how about the fact that part of me was trying to kill them last time we saw one another?"

"They don't hold you responsible for that."

"They don't on paper. Besides, Lily forgave me before the baby was born – what if she changed her mind-"

"She wouldn't."

"She might though! Life's dangerous for everyone, what if I'm just one more risk in their lives that they can do without?"

"You're not a risk anymore, you're cured!"

"You say that like it's just finished, over with!"

"It is, you just need to-"

The the Potters' front gate, they were quieted when the front door opened, and Prongs stood there, leaning against the door jamb. "Only you two could wake the baby up from halfway down the other end of the village."

"Sorry," they chorused.

"You better come in. 'Long as you're going to stop bickering."

"We will."

The windows were all open, and the first thing Helena and Sirius did was close them all. Sirius put a sensor nexus on the front door while Helena did the same on the back. When Sirius went to slam shut the sash window in the living room, James drew the line.

"What are you doing?"

"Explain in a bit. Right now you need to be as secure as you possibly can. Where're Lily and the baby?"

"Upstairs in the nursery. They're fine, Padfoot, what-"

"Hellfire, they're upstairs."

"On it."

"Sirius, what is going on?"

"We were attacked – two Death Eaters."

He watched the realisation strike his best friend, and then James strode to the foot of the stairs. "Lily, downstairs, now! Bring Harry!"

"But I just got him down again!" Lily called back.

"I don't care, this is important!"

They heard murmured female voices as Helena reasoned with Lily, and a moment later the two of them came down the stairs. Lily looked irritated but was moving carefully so as not to disturb the sleeping baby in her arms. They took seats in the living room.

"Now will you tell me what this is about?" Lily asked Helena.

"Our location was leaked," Helena said. "Death Eaters showed up, trying to kill us."

"What happened?"

Helena looked at Sirius, but all he said was, "They're dead," in as neutral a tone as possible.

"Octavia Fantaine was one of them," Helena said.

"Have you told Dumbledore yet?"

"No. We came straight here. Have you noticed anything? Anyone watching you or anything unusual at all?"

"No, nothing like that. But we only got home from the hospital a few hours ago. I'm pretty knackered though, we both are. Not sure if I'd notice You-Know-Who watching the house himself," James said.

Lily frowned. "I thought the Fidelus Charm prevented the Death Eaters from ever finding out where you were. I couldn't even write it when I tried."

"Yes. And the only people who knew were you guys, Moony, Wormtail, McGonagall and Dumbledore."

"Merlin's beard."

A deep silence followed, broken by the soft murmurings of the baby. "I can't even … I'm too exhausted to even think about what that means," Lily said faintly.

Another silence, and Sirius felt weariness sink into his own bones. It never ended. Life kept happening in the gaps in between crises, but the crises kept coming too, squashing out the moments trapped in the middle. All they could do was keep trying to be human in the meantime – people and practitioners of magic.

"So," he said, "Harry then? Good name."

Helena leaned over. "He's beautiful."

"Thank you. I happen to agree," Lily smiled, brushing her finger over her son's cheek.

"He's got Lily's eyes," James said. "When they're open, I mean. It's good you're here, guys, traitors aside. We were going to write to you and ask anyway."

"Ask what?"

"If you'd be his godparents," Lily smiled. "Of course he won't be Christened for a while, but …"

"You sure?"

Prongs grinned at him. "We're sure, Padfoot. There's no one else to ask."

"Well, yeah, I mean- Mate! Yeah, of course! Hellfire?"

Helena's eyes were very bright, and she nodded, swallowing. "It would be an honour."

"Would you like to hold him?" Lily asked him.

How he could feel nervous about sitting in an armchair and not moving he had no idea. But his arms were shaking when Lily put Harry into them. She smiled. "Don't worry, you won't drop him."

Harry was reassuringly heavy – far less fragile-feeling than he was fragile-looking. He was warm and soft and had little wisps of black hair. "Alright, he's kind've cute."

"He's not the only one, Padfoot," Helena siad, coming over to kiss him. "But unfortunately … I think we should go. Dumbledore has to know."

He nodded, handing Harry back to his father. "Keep safe. Don't trust anybody. I mean, apart from- We're not the-"

"Don't worry, Padfoot, we know it's not you."

"Can we use your fireplace?" Helena asked. "Not sure I've got the strength to Apparate all the way to HQ."

"Of course. I'll put more spells on once you've gone. We should probably owl Alie and Frank too, see how they're getting on …"

"What?"

"Their son was born today as well. Don't think they've got a name for him yet."

"Weren't you listening? You can't send any kind of message. It isn't safe."

"I was listening, weren't you? Their baby is only as old as Harry! We cant let them leave him-"

"Prongs, we don't know who it is. The only people in the whole country I trust absolutely right now are in this room. We can't have any idea of anyone else."

"Alright, alright. Just … let us know what Dumbledore says."

"We will. Goodnight."

Helena took a handful of Floopowder. "Westmoreland Castle."

He got the impression they'd given McGonagall a hell of a start when they appeared in her fireplace – it could have been the shocked expression on her face, the fact that her hat was askew, or that she had her wand out. And pointed in Helena's face. Quite wisely, Helena had not drawn her weapon.

"Evening, Professor."

"Lumos." The end of McGonagall's wand flared brightly, and she peered into Helena's eyes. "Blue."

"Yes. There's some news on that front. Is Dumbledore here?"

"Not yet. Take a seat."

McGonagall reached beneath the neckline of her robes to rub at a pendant, presumably where she kept her phoenix tear. While they waited, Sirius sat down in the only spare chair. With McGonagall in the other one, Helena came and sat in his lap, curled up with her head pillowed on his shoulder. Before Dumbledore even arrived, they were both fast asleep.

A/N: Review please!