Chapter Six

Thanks to Shacklebolt, we were able to get home without being mobbed, though I did see a few cameras aimed our way as we entered the fireplace. A tiny part of me seethed at the indignity, though most of me simply wanted to be done with the whole affair.

Tina and Lottie volunteered to pick up the boys, who tackled Sirius the moment they saw him. And then Harry broke my heart. "Mu-mah, Pa-foo? Da?" He looked so expectant, like Lily and James would walk through the door, just like Sirius had come back.

Sirius looked as heartbroken as I felt. "Mummy and Daddy aren't coming back, Mischief," he whispered as I pulled Dudley off him. "I'm so sorry."

"Mu-mah, Da," Harry repeated, insistent. When Sirius just shook his head with tears in his eyes, he turned to Remus. "Moo! Mu, Da!"

Wide-eyed, Remus shook his head and turned to me, though I didn't know what to do, either. Harry repeated, again and again, "Mu! Da!" And with every repetition, he became more hysterical, until he was screaming. "Mu! Da! Wan Da!"

Harry's cries set off Dudley, as well, and both boys refused to be comforted. In the end, thanks to Tina's quick thinking, we had to give them bottles with the tiniest bit of calming draught in with their milk. Still, it was more than an hour of crying from both boys before they cried themselves to sleep. Once they were down, I did some crying of my own, curled up on the floor of my childhood bedroom.

I went back downstairs just in time to see Remus storming out of the house, Disapparating just before the property line. "What was that about?" I asked, but no one seemed willing to meet my eyes. "Why did Remus leave?"

Sirius sighed, closing his eyes. "We might have- I said some things I shouldn't have."

"What about?" I asked, taking his arm and leading him toward the front door.

"About how he might have known that we had changed Secret Keepers if he'd been around more," he said softly. Regretfully.

"Oh Sirius, you didn't," I gasped. When he didn't say anything, just kept his eyes on the floor, I shook my head and opened the door. I led him outside, then released his arm. "Go find him. He's hurting, and so are you, and he doesn't deserve to be alone right now. Go find him."

"What if I can't? Or he doesn't want to come with?" He sounded a bit like a little boy, and I nearly laughed. But I didn't. It was too serious a time for that.

"You know him better than anyone, you'll find him," I said, heading back inside. "And you'd better apologize while you're at it, because neither of you are coming back inside this house without the other." And then I locked the door behind me.

I peeked through the curtains over the window in the lounge to see Sirius staring, somewhat dumbfounded, at the door. After a moment, though, he shook himself, spun on his heel, and was gone.

"How did you know that would work?" Lottie asked. I turned to see her and the other girls looking very awed.

But Nic just smirked. "Both Sirius and Remus adore Harry and Dudley. If talking to each other is what they have to do to come see the babies again, they'll do it."

"I hope so," I whispered, not at all as sure as Nic sounded.

He hugged me. "I promise. They'll be back by dinner."

And Nic was right. Sirius and Remus showed up on the doorstep an hour or so later, both looking lighter than they had in days. Each greeted me with a hug and a whispered thanks. I simply hugged them back and plopped a baby in their arms. All parties seemed rather content after that.

…

Lily and James's funeral was as quiet an affair as I could arrange. I told Dumbledore and asked that he pass it on to the professors, and I invited Molly and Alice and their families, but no one else. I didn't want to deal with the hordes of well-wishers, who would really only want a glimpse of Harry, or "The Boy Who Lived", as the Daily Prophet had taken to calling him. And I definitely didn't want any reporters or photographers there. Dumbledore agreed to hold a memorial at Hogwarts for any who wished to attend, and that would simply have to be enough for the masses who thought they had some claim to my family's grief.

The service passed in a blur, with me crying into Dudley's hair as he desperately tried to console me. Sirius and Remus wrestled with their own grief as well as with Harry, who screamed for his Mu-mah the second he saw her brilliant hair, then his Da when he saw his glasses.

And then, it was time for our final goodbyes before closing the caskets. I leaned over Lily, seeing my beautiful baby sister, and I cried again. Dudley patted her cheeks, trying to get her to wake, then he cried when she didn't. Harry was clutching onto James, screaming for his Da, and Sirius and Remus weren't terribly far behind him.

A click from near the door of the chapel sounded odd, and I couldn't help but look up. A camera aimed our way was all I saw before Nic exploded. He Apparated to the door and had the camera in tiny pieces all over the floor, almost before I could even blink. He whispered furiously to the paunchy cameraman and the reporter with her fat blonde curls, and soon enough, they slunk out of the building. Nic joined us again, shaking his head at the audacity.

I managed to pull myself together, and pull Dudley off his auntie. I gave Lily one last kiss on the cheek, allowing Dudley to do the same. "I love you, Lils, and I'll miss you every day," I whispered. "But I promise you that I'll take care of Harry. We'll keep him safe."

Harry sobbed into Remus's neck as he carried him to say goodbye to Lily, and I took Dudley to James. "I'll miss you, little brother," I told him, brushing a kiss to his cheek, as well. "And I'll make sure that Harry gets into just the right amount of trouble. I know you'd like that."

I backed up, still holding Dudley, so that Nic and Danae could say goodbye to James, and I heard something from the doorway again. If it was another bloody reporter, I thought, turning to look. But who I saw made my blood boil.

I didn't remember giving Dudley to Nic, or crossing the small chapel. The next thing I knew was driving my fist into Severus Snape's face. "How dare you come here?" I screeched, punching him again. "How dare you come, knowing that you caused all this?"

I went to punch him again, but arms around my waist pulled me away from him. "He's not worth it, Petal," Sirius told me, though I could tell he didn't believe it, either.

"I'm going to kill him," I seethed, struggling to get to Snape again. "Let me go, Sirius!"

Remus had his wand out, inches away from Snape's large broken nose. "Leave, now, before I finish the job. And if you ever come near Harry, so help me, I will kill you and not feel an ounce of regret."

"I deserve the right to say goodbye," Snape spat, blood trickling down from his nose into his mouth. "She was my-"

"You deserve the right to rot in Azkaban until the day you die," I hissed, still struggling to get at him, "and then you can rot in hell."

"Severus, perhaps now isn't the time," Dumbledore cut in, a hand on his arm.

Snape glared at me, then looked up at the caskets, or rather, just Lily's, with that undisguised hunger he'd always looked at her with. But, after a long, tense moment, he pulled his arm out of Dumbledore's grasp and stalked out of the chapel.

"I'm terribly sorry about this, Petunia," Dumbledore told me. "I had no idea-"

"Why isn't that man in Azkaban, Professor?" I asked, cutting him off. For once, I didn't care to be respectful. "He's a Death Eater."

"He gave valuable information about Voldemort's-" he began, but Sirius cut him off, this time.

"He withheld valuable information about Voldemort," he hissed. "Information that could have saved James and Lily."

Sorrow crossed his face. "And he's going to have to live with that the rest of his life," he replied softly. "He loves Lily, you know-"

"He's obsessed with Lily," I spat. "If he truly loved her, he would have wanted what made her happy, not joining people who were trying to kill her. Not joining with the person who murdered her and her husband to get to her little boy. That's not love."

Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed. "It's been a very trying time for us all, Petunia. You're grieving and need someone to blame."

"Like the person who's responsible," Remus retorted. "The person who caused all this. The reason James and Lily won't get to see Harry grow up. I think it's entirely logical to blame the one who caused that."

Dumbledore sighed again. "There were many factors in play, Remus, many you don't know yet. Keep that in mind, please."

He said his farewells and slipped out, and I slumped against Sirius. I'd sort of forgotten that he'd been holding me, keeping me from lashing out again, but now I was grateful for the support. "If I ever see that man again, I cannot be held responsible for my actions," I muttered.

"Which one? Snape or Dumbledore?" Remus asked, pulling a chuckle from Sirius and me.

"That was a fantastic right hook, Petal, but I should probably look at your hand now," Sirius told me, easing me upright.

"Oh." Now that he mentioned it, my knuckles did throb a bit. I brought my hand up for inspection, and I was a bit surprised to see a split along several of them.

"Miss Evans, let me see them," Madame Pomphrey said, tsking when she saw them. "You're lucky that you didn't break anything," she added, after a moment of examining. She ran her wandtip over my hand, and it instantly felt better. "Mr. Potter would have liked that display, had he been able to see it," she finished, a little twinkle in her eye as she headed back to the other teachers.

"James would have loved it," Sirius chuckled wetly, hugging me to his side.

"I've wanted to do that for more than ten years," I replied. "It felt brilliant."

AN: And we have the funeral. It's been really hard to write, which is why it's taken me so long to do it. But, going forward, it's going to get lighter, at least over all. Thanks for sticking with us, and a big thanks to all of you who take the time to review. Reviews make me happy!