James and Sirius were joyriding, as they usually did when the stars were high above in the dark, night sky. They, riding their brooms through the darkened parts of the nearby hills and valleys, were smiling and laughing.
“Bet I can beat you to that tree!” Sirius shouted to his best friend.
"What are we betting?!” James replied with a grin.
Sirius contemplated it for a mere moment before coming to an abrupt halt.
James quickly followed, looking back at his friend in confusion. “What's wrong, Padfoot?”
“James,” Sirius said with little joviality, “If I win, you stop being a jackass and let Peter be your Secret Keeper.”
James immediately scowled. “We've been over this already. It's safer for you, a fellow Auror, to be Lily and my Secret Keeper. I love Peter, I do, but he doesn't have the training that we do. For Merlin’s sake, he can't even run fifty yards without getting winded.”
“But everyone knows I'm your best friend,” Sirius stressed. “They'll be after me before anyone else. That’ll let Peter slip away. Besides, I can't just leave Remus behind right now. You know how bad he is now that his mum passed.”
James groaned. “I know that Peter is the least likely to be named our Secret Keeper and will be targeted the last. I also know that Remus isn't doing well in any sense of the word, so he can't handle being a Secret Keeper.”
“Then just–”
“Damn it, Sirius, I just don't trust Peter to that extent!” James blurted out.
Sirius froze, staring at James in shock. “You – what?”
James sighed heavily as he landed on the ground and dismounted his broom. The look of defeat that crossed his face made Sirius land his own broom.
“Bloody fucking hell, James,” Sirius cursed as he stared at his brother in arms with wide eyes. “What the fuck did Peter do?”
James bit his lower lip for a moment before sighing. “Look, you can't tell this to anyone, but – but Peter…” James groaned as he lifted his glasses up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “He's not exactly right in the head.”
“He's a bit slow–”
“He’s not slow,” James snapped irritably, “He's caught up over the fact that I'm still with Lily.”
Sirius stared dumbly before his eyes widened. “You mean – you mean he's still–”
“Yes,” James confirmed as he moved his hand away from his head, allowing his glasses to drop back into place. “He never dropped it. Every time we're alone, he tries to bring it up.”
“Fuck, James, why didn't you tell someone earlier?” Sirius questioned.
“Because Peter doesn't have anyone else,” James stressed, “His parents are estranged from him because they're muggles. He never ventured out to make friends with anyone else in Gryffindor, or the other Houses for that matter. He doesn’t even have work buddies because he doesn't fucking work. He only has us, and he's not going to just let us go without a fight.”
Sirius nibbled his lower lip for a long moment, trying to think of something – anything – that would prove otherwise. He came up empty, though, and he looked at James worriedly.
“Just – fuck, Sirius – just trust me,” James said, “I know that you don't want Remus to be alone, but I don't want Lily and my son to be in danger.”
“James, you're my brother in everything but blood,” Sirius said, “I will never put your family in danger.”
“I know,” James said softly, “That’s why I'm asking you to be our Secret Keeper. No one else. Just you.”
Sirius nodded once. “Okay… I'll do it.”
“Thank you,” James said sincerely before mounting his broom once more.
Sirius did the same, and the two began to fly at the other’s side.
James glanced over at his best friend in the entire world. “By the way, how are you doing?”
Sirius glanced over at the other man with a furrowed brow. “Erm – fine?”
James frowned. “You’ve been drinking a lot lately. I know that Regulus–”
Sirius scowled deeply as the two men came closer to the roads leading into Godric’s Hollow. “That bitch said I couldn't even go to his funeral.”
James looked over at Sirius in horror. “But that's–” James cut himself off and abruptly grabbed Sirius’s arm and pulled his broom handle up.
A brilliant blue light flashed through the dark, nearly hitting the two men.
“Bloody hell,” Sirius cursed as he looked toward the direction the light came from. “Don't tell me those Death Eaters managed to track us down.”
“We can't let them get this information out,” James said, panic clear in his voice.
“We’ve never fought actual Death Eaters before,” Sirius pointed out, “This will be the first time, and we don't have any backup.”
“We’ll do whatever we have to,” James said as he pulled his wand from his robe.
Sirius pulled his own wand from his robes, steadying himself for a fight unlike any other.
Another flash of light hurled through the darkness and toward the two Light wizards.
Said wizards flew in opposite directions before circling around and heading toward the Death Eaters from either side.
Spells shot through the dark, lighting up the night even more than the stars had. The battle between the Light and the Dark wizards was beginning to favor the Dark until the faint sounds of sirens entered the ears of the magical folks.
Sirius looked at James, and James looked back at Sirius. The two both gave grins that could only be described as shit-eating. Without a word shared between them, the two wizards shot off into the dark toward the sound of the sirens. They threw spells over their shoulders as they flew through the valley toward the peak of a rather sizable hill. The two quickly crested the hill, only to drop down and come to a halt.
The Dark wizards flew up and over the hill, only to slam into the front end of a levitated muggle police car. The Death Eaters fell from their brooms, groaning loudly from the pain of being flattened against the hard metal vehicle.
The two Light wizards quickly got the wands of their opponents and tied the Death Eaters up. They then Obliviated the memories of the muggle police officers. Finally, they grabbed the Death Eaters and Apparated them to the Ministry of Magic. James and Sirius left the Ministry soon after, feeling like nothing would drag them down. They arrived back at Godric's Hollow, and their view of the world changed immediately.
The stars in the sky were blocked out by smoke as the safehouse burned brilliantly.