Hi all, so I am back to this wonderful fandom with a new story! I am taking a delve into a fandom, an era and a couple that has always fascinated me and it's the James/Lily era.

This is the second part of the story that started in the Beginning of the End and these are the moments in the first Wizarding War and the build up to Harry.

This story will be twenty chapters long and some events/events that do take place might be missed.

Also spelling/grammar...not my best thing. Again keep that in mind when you read...please.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Please Read and Review.

And on a side note, I like so many other Fanfiction Authors no longer receive notifications via email about reviews/PMs etc. So if you do send any it might be a while, if ever before I get back to you. Please keep that in mind for it is not intentional-If anyone has a fix please let me know

I do not receive PMs anymore, if you have a question stick it in a review and I will answer it in the chapter notes.

We are now over halfway!


The End Of The Beginning

Chapter 10-To Have And To Have Not

Lily and James go on their honeymoon and while they are gone the death toll ramps up. Sirius gets some bad news and comes to a shocking realisation. Sirius based chapter and very, very short. TRIGGER WARNINGS TO BOOT.


James and Lily jetted off on their honeymoon—well—apparated off on their honeymoon—and Sirius allowed his face to fall into lines of misery. It was getting better he knew, the ache in his heart was getting better and he could get out of bed now without having to have Remus bang on the door. The drinking had stopped mainly because Remus and Peter had a working system to stop himself from drinking to death and several times a day he found that members of the Order would drop by and even then several other people would. He particularly liked Arthur Weasley who often or not was at the Leaky Cauldron and would duck into the muggle street with glee and come back with some as innocuous as a rubber duck that squeezed and would marvel at what the Muggles could do without magic.

He found he liked Arthur Weasley. When Sirius was into his third firewhiskey and the man was there he would lighten the mood somewhat. Sirius knew a lot about muggles simply because he had learnt a lot to piss off his family and Arthur Weasley soaked up the knowledge like a sponge. More than once he was accompanied by his eldest two sons Bill and Charlie and Bill was often found reading travel books weather magical or muggle and Charlie was more than not found soaking up anything that had to do with dragons.

It was clear that he liked dragons. Sirius couldn't see why but he had made the mistake of asking that question once and had been given a lecture by a five year old (he was sure was half possessed by Lily at her most bookish) but it had been a joy to listen to nonetheless.

Carefully they did not talk about the Order. Only once had Arthur said that with five children and six on the way he needed to be a coward. Sirius just as carefully had pointed out that it was not cowardice and he had meant it. It wasn't cowardice to want to see his children grow up and he would fight anyone who said that it was. He liked Arthur Weasley, he had a simple outlook on life and he often or not imparted a kind of wisdom that the world needed.

His wife also seemed to think that none of the Marauders could take care of themselves which was technically true and so she cooked for them and that was a big help because Remus sometimes could barely get out bed and Sirius was still grieving and Peter's version of cooking was…well…primitive at best.

Believe me he had never been so happy to eat something that wasn't scrambled egg.

The second flat, the one that Marlene and Lily had shared had been taken over by Peter who had claimed with a small smile that he needed privacy. James had already stressed his intention to make Godric's Hollow his home, to take over the little cottage that had once been his home and to raise a family there with Lily.

Sirius had not said anything but he had thought that it was a pipe dream. They were all on a list somewhere he was sure of it, a list to be hunted down and killed and Lily and James somewhere in the South of France were sequestered away from the news and therefore they missed the truly tragic, truly horrible mess that came three weeks after their wedding.

Sirius was almost glad of it. he had not been on duty that night but he had thought that if he had he would have been sick. It took a lot know he realised to get to him. He was older than he was, mentally he was an old man and it took a lot to shock his admittedly jaded view of the world but he had received a floo call from Liam Callaghan who was one of the newbies Dumbledore had just recruited out of school (like he had been almost two years ago—though it felt a lot longer when he sat down and thought about it) and he had arrived at Edgar Bones mansion to see the worst thing he had seen since Marlene had been killed.

All of them. Dead.

It was like the McKinnon's all those months ago. For him it felt like years and then like days flirting between the two but he turned up to see the bodies being pulled out and he had walked over to Liam who was in the arms of his boyfriend Bradley who was watching with horror in his eyes and he had dragged them back from the scene and sent them to Headquarters just before Amelia Bones who was one of the most respected and the most revered woman in government at the minute turned up and went to her knees screaming at the sight of her pregnant sister in law, her brothers, her three nieces and her one nephew all under the age of fifteen who had been slaughtered in their beds.

The only saving grace was that one of the Bones boys had been at Hogwarts but Sirius didn't know how on Earth someone…McGonagall or Flitwick or Sprout was going to wake up the seventeen year old boy and tell him that his entire family was dead and by the looks of things whoever had done it had…played with their food before they ate it.

Remus had turned up seconds later and had gone white. He and Sirius had clutched at each other as the three year old Bones girl Anna had been dragged from the wreckage her head bashed in and her underwear gone and Remus had vomited over the stone floor at the sight of Jack Bones who he had claimed had almost certainly been ravaged by Fenrir Greyback who was making a name for himself even when it wasn't a full moon.

Dumbledore had turned up then just as the Muggles had come looking and Sirius though that the look on the old man's face was one that was going to stick with him for a very long time for reasons beyond his comprehension. The old man looked gaunt. He had never really thought of Dumbledore as old. His Headmaster had excelled some kind of energy when he had been Sirius's headmaster and even after that but now he got the impression that Dumbledore was aware as much as the rest of them that this was a war with no end in sight. Voldemort was not Grindelwald, there was no magical duel in sight and his followers were quite frankly a hell of a lot more dangerous than he was. One only had to think of Bellatrix to see that.

He caught sight of Frank Longbottom who had arrived with his new wife Alice (Lily and James had gone for the traditional wedding, Frank and Alice had all but eloped because they could and because time wasn't theirs to waste—which was a code for Alice was pregnant if Sirius had ever heard one) and he had caught Sirius's eye over the bodies and then jerked his head to the side.

Sirius had left Remus to deal with his emotions and Frank had dragged him aside. The man was older than he was by a year and he looked as old as Sirius felt right now. He looked at Alice who was staring at the children her hand on her stomach and thought about what he would do if Marlene had been here and been pregnant with all this death around them and the lines not clear between woman and children and fighters and whole families being slaughtered for fun.

He shuddered for a whole different reason.

"He knew this was coming" Frank said softly. "He's been receiving threats…I mean he was receiving threats for a while and he just…I don't know, you know Edgar he just…" he shook his head and sighed running a hand through his hair.

"We've all be on the end of threats" Sirius began but Frank shook his head.

"In the meeting last week he told me he was going to get Joe out of Hogwarts and put his family into hiding, he was going to speak to Dumbledore about it ask him to be Secret Keeper. He didn't think it was worth the risk and so the night before a spell that would have effectively blocked them all from You-Know-Who he suddenly what? Gets murdered? How can that be?"

Sirius didn't understand him for a second and then he did and it hit him in his very core.

"You think that we have a spy?" he said and Frank shrugged. "I don't know" was all he said quietly. "I don't even know if I should be sharing this with you but…but then I think about Marlene and her family and I…that was planned, co-ordinated, Vol—He—Who—Must—Not—Be—Named knew that they were all going to be in the same place that night and I think who else could have known about that but us? We share locations with each other in case we need to be reached and then we share them with Dumbledore and it's an open secret where we all live. Open to everyone in the Order and I just think…"

"Well thank you for not thinking it's me" Sirius deadpanned. His brain was being kicked into overdrive by this and he didn't know what else to do but run with it. Frank threw him a look that was decidedly not kind.

"No man who loved Marlene McKinnon the way you did would dare betray her" he deadpanned back and Sirius closed his eyes against the onslaught of grief. Frank gripped his shoulder a little bit and allowed him the moment without comment to which he was eternally grateful for.

Frank Longbottom was a very good man.

Too good Sirius Black thought. Too good for this world.

"You shared your suspicions with Dumbledore?"

"I am going to. Just…now is not the time"

Sirius nodded. Dumbledore was right now hugging Amelia Bones who was still wailing against his shoulder her cries piercing the sky and keeping the Order members silent in grief.

"Also…Sirius we got intel reports today and…He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named also did a purge of supporters. The ones that took the mark and then—"

"Cowards you mean?"

"Yeah" Frank said with a twisted smile. "Turns out it's a lifetime of service or death no matter which way you go out"

He looked down at his shoes and Sirius suddenly had a sense that he knew what was coming.

"Who?" he asked feeling very, very tired.

Frank to his credit, did not bullshit him.

"Your brother" he said finally. "It looks like it was a straight kill, he got cold feet and—"

"Stop" Sirius said holding his hand out. He could not, could not, process Reg's death tonight on top of everything else. He would process Reg when he was alone. Tonight was not the night to be alone.

Frank clapped him once on the shoulder and then left and he closed his eyes against the onslaught of grief and exhaustion that hit him both at the same time.

It just wasn't fair.

He swallowed down the bitterness and closed his eyes opening them again and went back to stand next to Remus who eyed him for a second but then Peter had arrived with the news that Caradoc who had never gotten over Benjy had gone missing and he had to close his eyes again and he wished that he could close his ears to Amelia's screams and Peter's words and the knowledge that Frank had given him.

He needed James for this, James would know what to do. James would know what to say.

Because of several things Sirius was sure were true.

Marlene was dead.

Reg was dead.

And there was someone selling them out to the Dark Side.

And when Sirius got a hold of them…well…there was no telling just what he would do.


And there you go, I hope you enjoy.

Next Chapter-James comes back from his honeymoon and Sirius shares his suspicions, they both don't like the obvious conclusion they come to which makes them wonder about their unconscious bias.