17 October, 1981
It was a cold, rainy night when a dark figure made his way to a rather small house. "Alohomora," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper, and the door creaked open.
As soon as the man took one step inside, a wand was pointed harshly at his throat. "Reveal who you are," said a voice.
"Sirius Orion Black. Godfather of Harry James Potter. Here to see Remus John Lupin."
The wand on his throat was lifted, and the lights were switched on. The man who had pointed a wand at Sirius's throat was, in fact, Remus Lupin. He had a rather thin figure, and was currently applying ointment to his scars. "Sirius," nodded Remus, giving the other a small but sincere smile.
"Remus," nodded Sirius, then hurriedly walked in and sat on a chair. Locking the door behind him, he said, "There's something I need to tell you."
Remus pulled himself onto a chair as well. "Go ahead."
Sirius took a deep breath, and began, "I'm not going to be Secret Keeper for James and Lily."
"WHAT?!" Remus whisper-shouted. "Sirius, you ca-"
"Hear me out, Moony, hear me out. I'm switching with Peter."
Remus relaxed. "Why?"
"Think. Voldemort will definitely go after me, knowing that I'm James's best friend. But Wormtail... nobody would suspect Wormtail."
"I see," said Remus. "But doesn't it all seem a bit dangerous? Aren't you risking your life?"
Sirius swallowed. "I would die rather than betray my friends, Remus. You know that."
There was a silence.
"The reason I wanted to tell you... if anything goes wrong, there'll be someone who believes me," said Sirius, as serious as his name. "Don't tell anyone else this information, alright? I trust you."
"Very well, Padfoot. I'll keep your word."
Sirius looked at his watch. "I'll better get going... goodbye, Moony."
"Goodbye, Padfoot."
31 October, 1981
Sirius's breaths were short and shallow as he leapt down the motorbike. Surely James and Lily... surely they were still alive? He ran as fast as he could over to the Potters' residence.
The entire house was in ruins.
"NO!" he yelled, finally breaking. "NO! PRONGS!"
The next time he spoke, Sirius's voice was a low growl.
"Wormtail... you traitor."
xxx
Sirius couldn't bear going inside the house and looking at James and Lily's dead bodies, and so, he walked back to his motorbike, still unable to believe it.
They had been friends. Friends, for seven years. The moment Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin entered the compartment with him and James, their friendship had been sealed. For seven years, they always stood by each other and protected each other. The Marauders never truly broke apart. But now...
Now they were truly broken.
Tearing his eyes away from the ruins, he saw Hagrid. Sirius didn't have the strength to even say hello - that is, until he saw the bundle of blankets in Hagrid's arms.
"Hagrid? Is that Harry?"
"Sirius! Yeh all right?" Pause. "I know this must be hard for yeh. Yeh an' James... always together." Hagrid sniffled. "It's hard ter everybody, though. Yeh gotta stay strong, an' fight for the whole Wizarding World."
Sirius could not manage saying anything, so he gave a tight nod. After a few moments, once he had regained his strength, the Animagus said, "Give Harry to me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him. Please, trust me."
"Sorry, Sirius. Got strict orders from Dumbledore ter give him to his aunt and uncle."
Sirius protested at this for a few minutes, then he gave up. It was no use arguing. "Very well," he sighed. "Take my motorbike to drop Harry off, it'll get you there faster. Besides, I won't need it anymore."
Hagrid gave Sirius one sympathetic look before sitting on the motorbike, little Harry in his arms, and soaring into the sky.
The godfather gazed at the sky for a few seconds, thinking. Nothing really mattered to him anymore. James was gone. His best friend. Sirius wouldn't be able to function properly without him. And now, Harry was gone, too. The only ray of hope in this was that Voldemort seemed to have disappeared.
Suddenly, Sirius was filled with a hot, white anger. Wormtail was the traitor. Wormtail was the traitor. In his Hogwarts years, Peter was always the rather quiet one. Sometimes James thought he didn't quite belong in the Marauders, but out of sympathy, they let him tag along.
You were right, Prongs, thought Sirius angrily, He didn't belong.
1 November, 1981
It was lucky that they had created this, thought Sirius, fumbling around with a watch which didn't show the time but the location of the other Marauders.
"Show me Remus," said Sirius, just checking if it worked. And indeed, the watch showed that Remus was in Number 26, Hogsmeade.
"Show me James," he whispered, his voice cracking.
The watch didn't work.
"Show me Peter." His voice was an angry growl as he searched for Wormtail.
The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley.
xxx
"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?" sobbed Peter, looking around anxiously at the Muggles walking by. Sirius had managed to corner him just outside the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Don't lie to me, Pettigrew," Padfoot's voice was cracked, but angry. "Don't lie to m-"
He was interrupted by a loud explosion. Instinctively doing a non-verbal Protego, Sirius noticed in time that there were twelve dead bodies around him and Pettigrew had leapt into the gutter with the other rats. He took a deep breath, analysing the scene around him. And then he laughed.
Hysterically, madly, Sirius laughed his head off while Muggles around looked at him in serious concern. Once more than a couple of them had called the police, the Ministry of Magic arrived and put the Animagus in magical handcuffs and began to drag him away, while some employees performed Memory Charms to the passing Muggles. But Sirius didn't care. He kept laughing and cackling madly until one person cast Silencio on him.
"Stop!" said a voice suddenly.
Padfoot's laughter died down and he turned to look at the owner of the voice. It was Remus, wearing torn robes and raising a rather dirty wand but looking determined all the same.
"Where are you taking Sirius?" asked Remus calmly but angrily.
"Ah, it's Lupin?" sneered an employee. "We're takin' this murderer to Azkaban, o' course. He deserves it."
"With or without a trial?"
"Well, what'll ya think, we give someone who killed thirteen people in plain sight a trial? Nah. He don't deser-"
But Remus had already put a wand to the employee's throat. "I demand a trial."
xxx
"Name?"
"Sirius Black."
"Remus Lupin."
They were in the Ministry of Magic and the Minister, Cornelius Fudge, was handling their trial in the courtroom. Fudge took out a small bottle of clear liquid out from his pocket and poured it into two cups. "Veritaserum," he said proudly, beckoning the two Marauders to come forward and drink the liquid.
They did as told and a blank look came on their faces.
"Sirius Black. Did you or did you not kill twelve muggles?"
"I did not. Neither did I kill Pettigrew."
Fudge raised his eyebrows. "Explain."
"It was Pettigrew, Minister. He cast the explosion behind his back and jumped into the gutter-"
"I'm sorry, the gutter?"
"He's an unregistered rat Animagus."
"You think." Fudge did not seem to believe them. "So is he alive or not?"
"He's alive, Minister. Like I said, he jumped into the gutter with other rats to try to blend in and make people believe that he was killed."
"But why would Pettigrew even cast an explosion?"
"Because he believed that I was the Secret Keeper for the Potters, and I betrayed their location to Voldemort."
"May I say something?" Dumbledore had raised a curious hand. Fudge nodded at him. "Sirius was, in fact, the Secret Keeper for the Potters. He did indeed betray their locatio-"
"Objection!" shot out Remus angrily. About half the audience raised their eyebrows. "Sirius wasn't the Secret Keeper. It was Pettigrew. On 17th October, Sirius came and told me that he had switched with Peter."
"Did you or did you not switch with Peter Pettigrew, Sirius?" This time it was Dumbledore who asked the question.
"I did not." Padfoot's voice was firm.
"Well, I suppose that proves it then," said Dumbledore, leaning back in his chair. "Sirius Black is innocent."
xxx
"Thanks, Remus," said Sirius softly once the Veritaserum had worn off and they were heading out of the Ministry. "If you hadn't threatened the employee like that, I might have stayed in Azkaban for a lifetime."
"It really didn't mean anythi-" began Remus, but he was interrupted as Sirius gave him a hug.
2 November, 1981
Pettigrew on the Loose
One of our trusted writers, Rita Skeeter, has managed to catch some information from the Ministry of Magic; Peter Pettigrew, an Unregistered rat Animagus, is on the loose after murdering twelve muggles.
"Everybody should be on the lookout for him," says Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge. "Even though he may look innocent, Pettigrew's a killer. A follower of You-Know-Who."
August 8, 1982
Sirius stared at the rat in Harry's hand, all the memories flashing in his mind. He knew exactly what to do.
A/N: Hello my lovely readers! I've finally updated, and I hope this clears everything out for you. Please review, and tell me how long I should keep going with baby Harry. Any questions I haven't resolved, or things you want me to include? Please give the ideas immediately. Your support means a lot to me!