Saving Their Lives

“Where can she be?” James demanded when they arrived at Sirius’s apartment only to find that she was not there.

“Think man, where would she go? Could she have gone to her sister?” Sirius thought that Petunia was a dried up old prune, but Lilly held great affection for her older sister.

“No. Harry said that she and that git that she married were not kind to him. Lilly would not seek refuge with anyone who would betray her trust. Likewise, she would not go to Hogwarts after what Harry said about Dumbledore.” James was disgusted. After everything that they had done to help Dumbledore and the light side, he felt betrayed. In the future the man had used his son and stood by while his best friend was innocently incarcerated. He then handed his innocent little baby over to his wretched relatives only to be abused.

Sirius thought for a moment. He walked to the window and looked down to the dark streets below where all of the streetlights were missing bulbs. He himself has removed them so that the neighbors in this predominately Muggle area would not see any of the Wizarding activities that might be going on. “Would she have gone to the Weasley’s? You said that Harry told you to trust Remus, the Weasley’s, and me. Perhaps Lilly went there knowing that she would be safe.”

James looked at Sirius, startled. “You might be right. He spoke about how Arthur and Molly were the most honorable people he knew and how they took him in and became his family. I bet you’re right! She would go somewhere that she knew Harry was loved.”

“Do you know where they live? I’ve never been to their home,” Sirius said.

“Neither have I. I barely know the family. We could take the knight bus.”

“We’re not exactly stranded though, are we?” Sirius asked.

“It is a bit of an emergency though, perhaps it will come under those terms,” James answered, swiftly walking towards the door. Come on Sirius, let go find my family.”

A few minutes later they stood outside of the looming brick building that Sirius called home. It was a cold night and the wind was gently blowing trees from the trees. Fall was in the air and James shivered as he waited. “Remember, concentrate on what your need is and the bus will come,” he reminded Sirius.

The two of them waited for several minutes hovering under their winter cloaks when the bus came to a screeching halt before them. “Excellent!” Sirius said with a grin.

The doors swung open and the two men quickly jumped in. “Please take us to the home of Arthur Weasley,” James said frantically.

“Second stop to the Burrow tonight,” the bus driver said slamming the bus into gear and roaring off into the night.

“What? Did you take a witch with a baby there?”

“Can’t talk about my passengers, sir, sorry!” he said pulling his cap down firmly across his eyes.

Sirius grabbed James and pulled him further into the bus to a bench and together they sat. “That is good luck. Who else would go to the Weasley’s at this time of night on this bus?”

“Hopefully,” James said worrying. He was desperate to find his wife and son. Knowing what his future was he was bound and determined to do anything that he could to change the events that were to occur in three days time. “Sirius, if something happens to Lilly and I, you can not go after Peter. You have to be there for Harry,” he said.

“Don’t James, don’t ask me not to avenge the death of the man who has been my brother for the past ten years,” Sirius said hoarsely.

“For Harry, Sirius. Think of my son. He can’t grow up with those awful Muggles. You must raise my son with all the love and attention that his mum and I would have,” James pleaded.

Sirius was torn. He wanted to avenge the death of his best friends, but he did not want Harry to grow up alone and unloved. He thought for a long moment and finally nodded. “I’ll raise your son.”

“I know you, Sirius Black. You’ll give me your oath as a Wizard that you will not go after Peter until Harry is grown,” James demanded.

“James,” he groaned. He should have known that the keen man would see around his play of words.

“Now, Sirius,” he said.

“I, Sirius Black, swear on my honor as a Wizard, that I will not go after Peter Pettigrew for the Death of James and Lilly Potter until Harry Potter is of legal age,” he said flicking his wand. A green flame erupted from the tip and the oath was done.

“Thank you, my dearest friend.”

“Don’t get sappy on me old man!” Sirius laughed. He affectionately draped his arm around James and pulled him close for a quick hug and then let him go. “I promise, that Harry will know love and acceptance, James.”

“There is nobody that I would trust more,” he whispered with tears in his eyes. He didn’t want to talk about his or Lilly’s death, but he needed to make sure that Harry was well provided for. “In case something happens to you, I will list the Weasley’s as his back up guardians. Tomorrow we will go to Gringotts and I will change my will.”

The bus came to a crashing halt and the driver shouted, “Weasley home!” The two men stood and eagerly made their way off the bus. The quickly thanked the driver, dropped a few galleons into his outstretched hand, and raced to the front door. Pounding on the door frantically, it was hesitantly opened a few moments later by a smiling Arthur Weasley.

“I was expecting you, James. Hello, Sirius, come in. Lilly and Harry are asleep on the sofa,” he said softly pointing into the room where they lie curled up asleep together.

James felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thank god,” he whispered.

“Come into the kitchen and we will talk. Molly is asleep already, so we can have a firewhiskey and discuss tonight’s revelations.”

“Did she tell you of our visitor?” James demanded.

“She did, and we believe her. We will help you in any way that we can, James. She asked that we take care of Harry if something happens to you, and we would be honored. I swear to you, that we will treat him as one of our own,” Arthur said.

“He trusts you in the future, and that is good enough for me. In the morning, Lilly and I will go and change our wills to reflect our new wishes. Sirius will be Harry’s guardian, but if something happens to him, we want you to raise our son,” James said holding his hand out to Arthur.

Arthur took his hand and the two stood for a moment staring into each other’s eyes. Seeing the trust both offered was enough for them. The smiled and sat down at the kitchen table. “Did you say something about firewhiskey?” James asked shakily.

“Yeah, I could use a stiff drink,” Sirius said.

Arthur laughed. “I could as well,” he said reaching up to the top shelf of the pantry shelf and scooting the box of cereal aside. “I keep it here so that Molly doesn’t know I have it. She wouldn’t approve,” he said conspiratorially.

“Neither would Lilly,” James said.

“That’s why I’m not married,” Sirius quipped with a huge smile.

“You’re not married because no witch would be dumb enough to have you, you oaf!” James said with a laugh.

“I’ll have you know, that all the witch’s wanted me!” he said indignantly.

“Only because they couldn’t have me!” James said.

Arthur smiled at the easy affection between the two men. It was easy to see that they enjoyed a deep and lasting friendship. “You are Harry’s godfather?” Arthur asked.

Sirius grinned. “Yeah! The little bugger is the light of my life,” he said.

Arthur poured three glasses of whiskey and passed them the men across from him. “To new friends and old ones, and the start of a great relationship!”

“Here, here!” Sirius said.

James smiled and clicked his glass to the other two. “To my son,” he added, “and making sure we all survive this mess.”

The three men toasted and took a long swig from their glasses. “So, what is the plan to keep you and Lilly alive?” Arthur asked.

“Tomorrow we will go into hiding again, and I want you to be our secret keeper. I want only you and Molly and Sirius here, to know of our location. Absolutely nobody else is ever to know. We will disappear with the Muggles. Voldemort would never think to listen to us there. Harry has suggested a place and we will go there.”

Arthur nodded. “Nobody would guess that I am your secret keeper. They would assume it would be Sirius or Peter. You should be safe. Will you still stay in the Order?”

James shook his head. “Yes, but we won’t be as active as we now are. I have a special task that I must do if I am to keep my family alive, and it will take all of my time and resources to do so.”

“Can I help in any way?” Arthur asked.

“Maybe later, but right now I think that I had better do as much of this on my own as possible. I won’t endanger anyone that I don’t have to.”

“Did Harry tell you about this task?”

“Yes. It will be the key to Voldemort’s downfall. Once these tasks are completed our world will be safe.”

Arthur nodded. “Let me know if I can help in any way.”

Sirius said, “I will help you as well, James,” he said.

“Its nice to know that I have good friends that I can count on,” he answered.

Sirius looked at him with raised brows. James was as good as he was with twisting words to suit his needs. He would speak to him again later when they were alone. There was no way that he was going to let James go off alone.

“You are welcome to stay here for the night,” Arthur said. “There isn’t a lot of room, however, you are more than welcome to transfigure a chair to suit your needs,” he said with a smile.

“I thank you for your hospitality. I wonder if you would be able to watch Harry tomorrow while we go to Gringotts and take care of our wills?”

“I am sure Molly would love to. Our son, Ron, is the same age as Harry. I am sure that they will have great fun together. I told Lilly to make sure that you file your wills with the Ministry as well as with Gringotts. The more copies that are distributed the better. Things have a way of getting lost.”

“Can you file sealed copies? I would hate for someone to see that we wish for you to be Harry’s guardian and then put two and two together and guess that you are our secret keeper.”

Arthur nodded. “Most of the wills, in fact, do come in sealed. Most people don’t want disinherited families members to know so until after they are gone.”

Sirius snorted. “I would love to see what my parents have done with their will.”

James patted his shoulder. “They won’t disinherit you. Your mother wouldn’t want to look bad in front of all of the other pureblood families.”

Sirius laughed. “She’s already taken me off the family tree!”

“Yes, but your father still keeps depositing money in your Gringotts account, doesn’t he?”

“Only because she doesn’t know!”

“Well, I’m off to bed. Please feel free to make my home yours,” Arthur told the men. He smiled, waved and then headed up the stairs to join his sleeping wife. He hoped that James’ plan would keep his little family safe.

“I’m beat as well,” Sirius said. “I’m going to go back to my apartment. Nobody is after me, so I’ll be safe. I’ll meet you tomorrow around nine at Gringotts?” he asked.

“Yes, that should be good. I’ll need to stop by the ministry and give my notice at work. I need to go into deep hiding if I’m going to pull this off,” James said.

Sirius nodded. “Right then, mate, I’ll see you in the morning.” He apparated away with a pop.

James smiled at the empty chair that he had just disappeared from. He would hate to be without Sirius in his life. He had been there for him through thick and thin for most of his life and he was the brother that he never had. He turned and looked at his sleeping wife and son and felt his heart ache. He prayed that he could find a way to keep them all alive and safe.

He flicked his wand at the couch and transfigured it into a bed and slowly walked over and crawled in behind his wife, pulling her tightly against his chest. “I love you,” he whispered to her.

“James?” she sleepily asked

“Yes, love, its me,” he said kissing her softly on the head. “Go back to sleep, love.”

“Oh, James! I was so worried! Where were you?” she gasped turning and throwing herself into his arms.

“Careful, you’ll wake Harry,” he admonished, but hugged her tighter anyway.

“When Sirius and I came back to the cottage, you were gone. We went back to his house to search for you and then came here.”

“I heard a noise and got scared. I apparated to Siri’s house and you two were no longer there so I took the knight bus here. I didn’t know where else to go. Harry said we would be safe here, so this is where we came.”

“Arthur has agreed to be our secret keeper. In the morning we shall go and change our wills and then look into purchasing a new home in that subdivision that Harry told us about. Arthur said that they can keep Harry for us in the morning.”

Lilly’s heart clenched at the though of letting him out of her sight, but she nodded. She knew that it would be better if they went alone. “I’m scared, James,” she whispered.

“I am too, love,” he whispered back. “I promise you, I will give my very life to protect you and Harry,” he promised.

“You already did, and that’s what scares me so much!” she cried.

James didn’t know what to say so he pulled her tighter and said nothing.


Sirius decided not to return to his apartment. He went to the Leaky Cauldron and ordered a beer. He needed to think. He gave his word that he would not retaliate and go after Peter until Harry was of age, but he only promised that he wouldn’t go after Peter for the death of James and Lilly. He could very well go after him now, before James and Lilly died. The thought of the evil little rat made his blood boil and he saw red.

He very much wanted to wipe his existence off the face of the earth for his betrayal. How could the disgusting little worm turn on James and Lilly after all that they had done for him? When he was teased and taunted all through school, who stood up for him? When nobody would have him as a friend, who befriended him? And look how he repaid them for their kindness, he turned on them and caused their death.

He started to stand to hunt him down but then abruptly sat down again. He thought of the happy smiling little boy who would need him if his parents did not make it. Harry needed him to help raise him to be a man and teach him about his parents and all that they sacrificed to keep him safe. Harry would need him and that was the only thing that stopped Sirius from leaving the bar and hunting the rodent down.

“Another beer,” he called to the bartender.

“Drinking away your sorrows, brother?” his little brother, Regulus asked.

Sirius frowned. “What are you doing here?” he asked. He knew that his brother had taken the mark and turned to the dark side.

“Same as you, by the way it looks,” he drawled, taking a sip from his glass.

“Well bugger off, I want to be alone.”

“You know, Sirius, it doesn’t have to be like this between us,” his brother said.

“Reg, you made your choice long ago. I am now the black sheep of the Black family,” he laughed at his little joke, “and you are the honored son. I can not in good conscious join the family tradition of joining the dark side.”

“You could have remained neutral!” he shouted. “You didn’t have to join the light! That is what she can never forgive you for,” he cried.

“I long ago decided that what mother wanted was not what I could provide.”

“It was that damn Potter!” Regulus hissed. “Until him, at least you tried to make peace in the family!”

“No, until him, I pretended to be what I was not. When I met James, I finally realized that I could be myself and still be accepted. Your ways are not mine. I will always have love in my heart for you, my baby brother, but I can never embrace your ways,” he said looking his sibling in the eyes.

“So be it,” he said standing. “A word of warning, my brother, careful who you place your trust in. Friends are not always what they seem,” he said walking away.

Sirius watched him walk away in contemplation. Was he trying to warn him about Peter? Did he know that Peter betrayed James and Lilly? The more he thought of it the angrier he became. He decided to go home before he did something stupid. Gulping down the rest of his beer he apparated home.

A/N:
Ok, bare with me a bit longer, I have decided to tidy up a few things and then we will join Harry in the future. Probably one more chapter in the past...maybe two, but definately no more than that. I love reviews, so please please review and let me know what you think.