Sirius was sitting on the couch when the phone rang, it was midnight so it was either one of his friends or a weirdo with his number.
“Hello?” Sirius said into the receiver.
“Sirius? Is that you?” said a shaken voice on the other end.
“Pete, is that you?” Sirius asked. “You alright, mate?”
“I’ve done something…horrible, Sirius,” Peter said slowly.
“Peter? What happened?” Sirius said as he reached for his motorbike keys and jacket.
“It’s James and Lily,” Peter said before he hung up the phone. Sirius had no idea what Peter could mean by him doing something horrible to James and Lily. His hands shook so badly he almost couldn’t grab his wand off the table.
“Remus!” Sirius shouted.
“What’s up, Siri?” Remus walked into the room. His whole demeanor changed when he saw Sirius' panicked look. “What’s happened?”
“I-I don’t know. Peter…he just called,” Sirius said quickly. “We need to get James and Lily.” Remus nodded and grabbed his coat. The two rushed outside to the enchanted motorbike. They took off into the night sky like bats out of hell.
“What did Peter say?” Remus yelled over the loud wind in their ears.
“He said he did something horrible,” Sirius replied, tears already rushing down his face. They hadn’t been to James and Lily’s house in so long because of the orders from Dumbledore. Peter was the only one, besides Dumbledore, who knew where they were. At the time, it was for the safety of James, Lily, and Harry, but now…something horrible awaited the two motorbike riders at Godric’s Hollow. The rest of the ride was silent, both of their minds running a million different situations of what might have happened or what horrible thing Peter might be talking about.
Finally, they were flying over Godric’s Hollow; Sirius truthfully didn’t care if some muggles saw a flying motorbike. That was the least of his problems. He slowed down and looked below, zoning in on where their house was. But there was no house, or barely a house, it was a wreck of smashed windows and walls, part of the roof had fallen in.
Sirius landed the bike abruptly; once the first wheel had touched down, they both ran off and into the house.
“James? Lily?” Sirius yelled into the rubble. “Are you alright?” Remus heard a faint cry from the inside and ran straight in, wand drawn at his side.
“Lily? Are you-” his words stopped in his mouth when he got to the house's front entry. Laying at his feet was his best friend, James Potter, stiff as a board with his eyes wide open in shock.
“James? Jamie, you’re alright, mate.” Remus knelt next to the body with tears quickly running down his face. He shook James, trying to prove that he was still alive, his best friend was still here and he would wake up any moment with that stupid grin on his face.
But nothing like that happened. He stayed the way he was found, still and cold. Sirius came running through the door and saw the heartbreaking scene before him.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. He’s fine, Remus. He’s fine, don’t worry,” Sirius said frantically as he shook James lightly. “C’mon, Prongs. Don’t do this, it’s not funny!” Sirius cried, squeezing at James’ cold hand.
“Sirius…” Remus gripped Sirius’ shoulder firmly. “Sirius, we need to find Harry.” Sirius nodded, still gripping James’ hand with sobs ripping themselves from his throat.
“He’s…he’s gonna be fine,” Sirius trembled as he got up but couldn’t tear his eyes off a lifeless James on the floor. “He’ll be alright,” Sirius has rivers of tears flowing down his face as the horrible reality sets in. Remus couldn’t say anything. He felt like he couldn’t move.
Eventually, they made their way up the stairs to Harry’s nursery. All the pictures on the wall were either crooked or their frames were smashed. The door to the nursery was creaking as cold wind blew in; slowly, the two men entered to find yet another gut-wrenching sight. Harry cried louder when he saw Remus and Sirius walk through the door; quickly, Remus picked up little Harry and cradled him closely. He tried his best to hide Harry’s little eyes from who was lying on the floor.
“Lily? Lily, we have to go, come on,” Remus said as he bounced Harry on his hip. Sirius looked terrified. Lily was lying on her stomach on the floor; her eyes looked as scared as James’. Her red hair was splayed all over the floor, slightly covering her face.
“Oh, Evans,” Sirius gasped. “Lily…” Before Sirius could say anything more, there was a loud pop outside, pulling both of them back to earth.
“Who was that?’ Remus said in a gruff voice. They looked carefully outside the window, blocking Harry’s head with his hand. Severus Snape was walking swiftly into the house with a strange look in his eyes.
“No,” Sirius said, his voice low. “He can’t be here.” Sirius was about to run out of the room before Remus grabbed his arm firmly.
“Let me go, Lupin!” Sirius tried to wriggle out of Remus’ grasp.
“We need to go, Padfoot,” Remus said in a broken tone. “We need to get out of here, now.” Sirius nodded reluctantly. They made their way to the back exit of the house that led to the garden in hopes of avoiding Severus.
“Who goes there?” he shouted to the shadows on the wall.
“Get out of here, Snape,” Remus called back, unmoving and holding Harry as close to his body as he could.
“What are you two doing here?” Snape spat.
“We should ask you the same thing,” Sirius stepped out of the hall to meet his eyes. He was standing in the doorway next to James, wand extended and pointing directly at Sirius’ chest.
“Give me Harry,” Snape ordered. “Now.” Remus and Sirius exchanged concerned looks.
“What the actual fuck is wrong with you?” Remus laughed breathlessly, completely dumbfounded by the request of this terrible traitor to take Harry.
“Give me Harry, I won’t ask again,” Snape said coolly.
“No, you won’t,” Sirius said as he raised his wand and quickly yelled, “Petrificus totalus!” Snape fell to the floor with a thud. Remus quickly ran over and collected James’ wand and glasses, shoving them hastily in his coat pocket. Sirius grabbed a photo off the wall of the last time everyone was together when Harry was so much smaller and added it to his own pocket.
“What are we going to do with him?” Sirius snarled as he leaned over Snape's unmoving figure.
“Don’t even think about it, Sirius,” Remus warned. He took out his own wand and aimed it at Snape's temple.
“Obliviate,” Remus said softly with a turn of his wrist. A small wisp of green light flew over Snape's face; Remus hoped that would be enough for him to forget. He was a slippery fellow who always knew too much.
They quickly got on the bike again, and Remus situated Harry to lie in his arms. He zipped his coat up enough to make sure that he wouldn’t get too chilled by the night air that they flew through.
“We need to go see Dumbledore,” Sirius yelled over the loud engine and wind.
They landed roughly on the balcony of Albus Dumbledore’s office before running in to find him already awake and speaking quickly with the portraits on the wall.
“Phinneas, go to Grimmauld place and wake Alastor. Tell him the news and send him my way,” Albus said quickly and sternly.
“Dumbledore, we need to speak with you,” Remus said in an angry voice.
“Yes, I was expecting you. I know you’ve already heard about Mr. and Mrs. Potter,” Albus bowed his head, there were traces of tears in the old man's eyes that had left almost the moment that the two men entered the room.
“It was Peter!” Sirius was rageful.
“How can you be certain, Mr. Black?” Albus asked in a calm voice.
“Don’t call me that!” Sirius spat. “I am not part of that family, I never was.” His face was red with anger. His hands balled into fists by his sides.
“My apologies, Sirius,” Albus brushed it aside. “But, how do you know? Pure intuition?”
“He called us and said he had done something horrible,” Sirius was exasperated. “You need to go find him, now!”
“You know we can’t do that. They’ll take us with him if we go on a man-hunt,” Albus reminded him. Remus ran to a portrait on the wall at that.
“Professor Dippet,” Remus said loudly.
“No need to shout, my boy. What is it you need?” the old painting asked.
“You need to go to Grimmauld Place, alert the Order of Peter Pettigrew. Call Kingsley or Alistor if you can,” Remus said quickly.
“I will be back soon,” the previous headmaster said before walking out of frame. Though he returned in almost a second “And…my condolences, Mr. Lupin. I truly am sorry.” Remus couldn’t say anything, the knot in his throat grew larger, he walked away as the painting left.
“Now, there is the matter of Harry,” Dumbledore sat at his desk and rummaged through some papers in the top drawer.
“What do you mean ‘the matter of Harry’?” Sirius seethed. “He stays with us. We are his rightful godparents.” Remus put a hand on Sirius' shoulder, worried that he might jump across the table to fight the old man.
“Sirius, take Harry for a moment, please?” Remus asked, Sirius nodded and cuddled his godson close as he walked around the room.
“He has other living relatives, the Dursleys. He should go with them,” Dumbledore argued. Sirius quickly turned on him with an incredible amount of rage in his mercury eyes.
“No, he will not,” Remus said before Sirius could open his mouth. We are Harry's rightful godparents; you have the paper that states this. The only way that he would go with those awful people is if Sirius or I wound up dead. And if you have not yet noticed, we are still here.” Dumbledore nodded as he shuffled the pile of papers in front of him.
“But there is still the trace,” Dumbledore reminded him.
“You of all people know that the trace is bullshit,” Remus leaned forward on the desk
“Mr. Lupin-” Dumbledore started.
“No, I will not let you do this. Sirius and I are the rightful guardians of Harry, appointed by James and Lily themselves,” Remus said flatly. “He is not your product of war. He is a baby, and he will be taken care of in such a manner.”
“Mr. Lupin-” Dumbledore started again.
“This meeting was more of a formality than anything, you have practically no power over Harry, Sirius or me,” Remus finished with a satisfied smirk on his face.
“Mr. Lupin,” Dumbledore said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I-I accept that you are now his guardians. But there are still people out there looking for the boy!”
“Then we will protect him,” Sirius said in a calmer voice than before. “We can cast protection spells around our flat and not tell anyone where he is. We aren’t eleven anymore, Albus.”
“I see there is no changing your minds here,” Dumbledore replied.
“Not a fucking chance,” Remus replied.
“Is that all?” Dumbledore sighed deeply, rising from his chair.
“Snape was snooping around James and Lily’s house tonight when we left,” Sirius said.
“I trust Severus-” Dumbledore started on his old argument of how good of a person Snape really was and that he can be trusted.
“No, don’t give us that same old shit of how great or a hero he is!” Siriuis shouted. “He is not allowed to know where Harry is ever. I wouldn’t trust that man to watch a worm, let alone be trusted with the hundreds of lives that You-Know-Who is seeking to destroy,” Sirius rolled his eyes at Dumbledore for the umpteenth time in his life, annoyed with his inability to accept that some people are bad. Dumbledore didn’t respond, he knew this was a battle that would go on all night. It was an argument that they had had so often it felt like routine at this point.
“That will be all, sir,” Remus said, grabbing Sirius by the shoulder and steering him towards the motor bike.
Remus took Harry from Sirius and without another word, flew off quickly into the night back to the flat in London. They would figure out how to care for a baby when they got home. The ride was cold and quiet, Remus tried to hold Harry as close as he could to make sure he stayed warm and safe. He had fallen asleep in Dumbledore’s office before they left while Sirius was holding him. He was in a house with James Potter so he was gifted with the talent to sleep through a lot of commotion. Lily once wrote a letter to the two of them that Harry woke up wailing one night while James was in the nursery. He was so startled he turned into a stag and knocked over almost everything in the room. Sirius’ heart ached knowing that he wouldn’t be getting any more letters like that, and he wouldn’t be able to go to their house and talk to his best friends about nothing and everything. They hadn’t been able to do that for so long.
Soon enough they landed the motorbike and rode slowly into their street, parking in front of their flat. Remus carefully carried Harry into the house and sat with him on the couch, it was incredible how relaxed he looked.
“What are we going to do?” Sirius asked as he plopped himself next to Remus.
“About what?” Remus asked. “Everything is so fucked up, Siri. I have no idea what we are going to do about that. But I do know that we are going to be the best damn godparents there are.” Sirius gave a small smile. They decided that going back to their flat that night was a less-than-safe option, flying the motorbike to Grimmauld Place instead to have the protection of what was left of The Order.
Once in the door, Remus planted himself on the couch while Sirius went to his old room to change Harry into the back-up clothes Lily had given them when she was still pregnant with him. Remus looked down at the aging photo in his hands, the corners torn and the color faded with war. The photograph was taken over the summer in the garden at Godric’s Hollow; Lily had Harry resting on her hip, James was holding her close, Marlene and Mary were holding a toy above his head as his tiny hands reached, Sirius was looking over James’ shoulder with such awe in his eyes, Remus standing by the girls with the biggest smile on his face, and Peter was standing beside Sirius looking happily at all his friends. It was the last time all of them were together. A week later Marlene was killed by Death Eaters in her house and everything went dark after that. Mary never responded to letters or phone calls from anyone, Dumbledore even went to check on her but she wasn’t home. Eventually, Remus went over and when she answered the door she had no clue who he was. None of them knew what was going to happen when this photo was taken.
“Mr. Lupin!” came a voice from down the hall. Remus shot up from the couch where he had ended up falling asleep last night.
“Mr. Lupin, are you here?” they said louder.
“Who’s there?” Remus said before turning the corner.
“Minerva McGonagall,” she replied. Remus let out a relieved sigh and walked over to his old professor.
“Wait wait,” Remus stopped before he came any closer. “What was the reason James, Sirius, Peter, and I got detention for three months in our fourth year?” She let out a soft chuckle despite the tears in her eyes.
“You had managed to cause very real weather to happen inside the whole castle for a week, Dumbledore and I were rather impressed with your skills,” she gave him a fond smile. Remus lowered his wand, letting out a relieved sigh.
“Hi, professor,” Remus sighed. “I suppose you’ve heard what happened?”
“Yes, and I am so sorry, Remus. I know that there are aurors out as we speak who have been searching for Pettigrew all night. Alistor is part of this team so he should be apprehended quickly,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Where is Sirius?”
“He's upstairs with Harry. I stayed down here in case anyone showed up,” Remus replied.
“Good, good. I heard you both gave Albus quite the telling off last night?” McGonagall raised a thin eyebrow.
“He needed it,” Remus grumbled.
“I’m sure he did,” she said. “Sit down, Remus. We have a few things we need to discuss, alright?”
Remus settled himself at the table in the kitchen, McGonagall flicked her wand and started to make a pot of tea.
“Now, we don’t need to worry about the trace because Sirius is the godfather. There is no problem there. But…there is the matter of you,” she said slowly.
“Me?” Remus scrunched his eyebrows. “What did I do?”
“Nothing that was your fault, dear,” McGonagall assured him. “The Ministry has it in their mind that you are not fit to be a parent given your, what was it you boys always called it? Your furry little problem.”
“They won’t let me take care of Harry because I’m a werewolf?” Remus said angrily.
“Now, before you start, I’ve spoken with the Ministry. So has Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey. They are allowing you to take care of Harry as long as Sirius or another adult is there to help,” McGonagall said. “If there is anything that they deem to be a problem with you being a caregiver to Harry, they will have you come to a hearing.”
Remus nodded slowly, the knot in his throat was choking his words into silence.
“Harry can’t go to those people, Minerva,” Remus said in a rough voice.
“The Dursley’s? Oh, absolutely not,” McGonagall said sharply. “They are horrible people.”
“Dumbledore thought he should go with them,” Remus remarked.
“And that is why he deserved the telling-off you and Sirius gave him,” she replied. She placed two steaming mugs of tea on the table and sat across the table from Remus. Her eyes were red, he just noticed, and she looked the slightest bit disheveled from the new last night.
“Is there anything else?” Remus asked.
“Yes,” McGonagall said, sipping her tea. “Do you have things for Harry here? A bassinet, baby clothes, toys?” Remus almost laughed at her. Of all the messed up things that had happened within the past 24-hours she was concerned that Harry had enough footy-pajamas at Grimmauld Place.
“We have some, but not enough,” Remus said.
“I will be back here in a few hours, alright?” With that, McGonagall rose from the table and was taken out of the house in a whirl of green flames. Remus just stared at the dying flames in the hearth for what seemed like hours, he was obviously still reeling from last night but also this new information about the Ministry and how they didn’t think Remus should take care of Harry. Hot tears rolled down his face, he didn’t care enough to wipe them away. He was pulled back to the real world at the sound of the squeaky steps being walked on by Sirius carrying Harry.
“Hi, pup,” Remus stood up to get a proper look at his godson. Harry just smiled brightly.
“Who was here?” Sirius looked over at the second tea cup.
“McGonagall,” Remus replied. “She told me some stuff about the Ministry and the trace. Since you’re his godfather the trace is still intact.”
“Is that all?” Sirius prodded, he knew that there was more that Remus wasn’t saying.
“The Ministry thinks I shouldn’t be taking care of Harry,” he said.
“What the hell? How could they-” Remus shushed Sirius before he started swearing up a storm in front of a very impressionable Harry.
“They will allow me to take care of him as long as your or another member of The Order is here to help me given my furry little problem,” Remus said flatly.
“That is so stupid,” Sirius huffed. He couldn’t stay mad for long because Harry had started to pull at Sirius’ long hair to get his attention.
“He needs to eat,” Remus walked over to the cupboard and fridge where they kept the back-up baby food that was there when Harry used to spend weekends with his uncles. He grabbed a jar of pureed peaches and took Harry out of Sirius’ arms, setting him on his own lap at the table. Remus carefully spooned the orange goo into Harry’s mouth, making a proper mess on his face.
“Remus, what are we going to do?” Sirius rubbed a hand over his face.
“Right now, we are going to give Harry breakfast, then he is going to have a bath,” Remus supplied.
“You know what I mean,” Sirius said sternly.
“McGonagall has taken the duty of going to purchase necessary baby things for the house. For now, I think we just need to go moment-by-moment,” Remus said softly. He felt so heavy, as if someone was trying to pull him through the floorboards.
“I am going to try to remove some of the portraits. I don’t want my relatives yelling at my godson,” Sirius gruffed before sitting next to Remus on the bench.
“Good idea,” Remus said. “We need to figure out where he’s going to sleep, though.” Sirius stewed in his seat, pulling at the ends of his hair as he thought.
“I want him to stay in our room with us,” Sirius said finally. Remus nodded, he would rather have Harry at an arm's reach rather than down the hall considering what is happening out in the world.
“What about when he grows up?” Remus looked at him with soft amber eyes.
“Harry won’t grow up, he’s going to stay squishy forever,” Sirius rubbed his thumb on Harry’s pudgy cheek fondly.
“Alright then,” Remus chuckled. They stayed quiet for the rest of the time that Harry was being fed, Sirius grabbed a damp washcloth and wiped the mess off his happy face.
“He can have Reggie’s old room,” Sirius said finally.
“Are you sure?” Remus asked. He had never been in Regulus’ room in all the time he had been at Grimmauld Place, there were many rooms in the house that they didn’t go in simply because Sirius wanted to keep those doors locked.
“Yeah, it’s not like he was using anyways,” Sirius tried to laugh the growing tears in his eyes away but to no avail.
“Oh, love,” Remus wiped at the tears rolling down Sirius’ porcelain face.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, Moony,” Sirius mumbled. Harry babbled to the two men happily, waving his tiny hands in the air.
“I think it’s time for this little one to have a bath, don’t you?” Remus changed the subject and picked Harry up from his lap, his little giggle filling the room. “I can clean him up if you can wait for McGonagall down here? She said she would be back soon.” Sirius nodded and took a seat at the table, stealing Remus’ mug of tea. Remus carried Harry up the crooked stairs to the bathroom in between Sirius and Regulus’ rooms. It was smaller than he had expected it to be for the Black family house, but it worked perfectly fine for their new little family.
“Right, so I have a bassinet, baby food, blankets, toys and clothes,” McGonagall pulled these items out of a seemingly never-ending bag. She piled everything onto the long kitchen table in front of the two men, Remus had Harry securely in his arms with a red blanket from Sirius’ room wrapped around him. This old house always seemed perpetually cold.
“Thanks again, Minnie,” Sirius said. “We really appreciate all of this.” She nodded with a smile, her eyes finding Harry with a spark.
“May I hold him? I only got letters from Lily and James,” she said, sounding very unlike the stern professor they once knew. Remus nodded and passed Harry to Minerva, she bounced him on her hip which brought even more giggles into the room.
“He likes you,” Remus remarked with a smile.
“He has her eyes,” she said to herself. “Would you two mind if I stayed a little while? I can help set up things for him in the house.”
“What about Hogwarts? From my understanding you are still a professor and Head of House there,” Sirius looked at her skeptically.
“They can survive without me for a day, let’s hope no one pulls anything like you boys while I’m gone,” McGonagall glanced at Sirius with a matching look. “Besides, you two look…awful.”
“Thanks,” Sirius replied in a flat tone.
“I mean you need sleep,” she corrected.
“We’re really okay, Minnie. Thank you,” Remus said.
“Alright alright, how about I take him into the sitting room while you two put these things away? And from what I know about the both of you, yes you are tired because you look like you used to after a full moon at school,” Minerva said sternly, her professorial voice had come back. Sirius nodded and raised his hands in surrender, Remus began to put the jars of food away in the cupboard while Sirius folded the new baby clothes.
END