Chapter 1
“Did you hear about the attack?”
“I heard there was a baby there. Do you think it’s alive?”
“The attack was in muggle London. The baby was probably also a muggle, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Deatheaters were ordered to kill it.”
The buzzing sounds of voices float around Sirius’ head. He can feel the warmth of Remus’ body leaning against his on the couch, but all he can think about is how close those Deatheaters were to headquarters. It’s unnerving to know that one small slip up could have killed everyone in this room. This room in his home, where he promised everyone was safe.
Sirius is spiraling, he knows it. But how could he not, he’s barely 22 years old and fighting in a war he wasn’t even alive for the start of. He was dragged into this half assed team of old professors and children to save the wizarding world on their own. And now there has been an attack on muggles, only two miles away from them and nothing was done to help.
Sirius is dragged out of his thoughts with a little nudge to his side. He takes his head out of his hands to look at Remus. He has a sad smile on his face, staring at Sirius with his golden eyes.
I’m so lucky is always the first words Sirius thinks every time he looks at Remus. Which takes up a good portion of his day.
He’s so pretty…
Heavy footsteps booming into the room quickly gets everyone's attention in the drawing room. Moody walks in and looks around at everyone waiting for their orders. He huffs and nods his head to the dining room before disappearing, only the fading stomps of his leg indicates that he was in there at all.
Everyone is up and in the dining room without any further questions, finding their seats quickly and eager to take any orders given.
Sirius drags his feet slightly before taking his seat next to Remus. He can hear Dumbledore and Minnie talking to the group, but he’s not really listening. Everyone’s voices are buzzing in his ears, no sound really getting through to him.
He looks up slightly to take a look at James, who’s sitting there in a daydream with a frown on his face. He’s been like this lately. His best friend, his sunshine, his brother, is slowly losing the light in his eyes as the war drags on.
At this point it isn’t even a war, just a game of goose. Everyone slowly waits until they are chosen to be targeted next. It’s been like this for a year now.
Nothing.
No leads, no successful missions, no clues to bring them closer to defeating Voldemort. More innocent lives are taken, and nothing has been done about it. Just gatherings of the Order talking about death, and how no one could’ve done anything about it.
How I couldn’t do anything to save him.
The noise grows louder and louder with each passing second, but Sirius still cannot get out of his own mind. Is he even looking at anything right now? He can’t even tell, everything feels blurry at the moment.
“Don’t attack him!”
Now that is something interesting enough to grab his attention. He refocuses his eyes and sees he’s the only one left at the table. His mind is all boggled and he can’t think straight as he’s walking back into the drawing room.
The moment he spots the big hooked nose and greasy hair, Sirius’ wand is pointing straight at the tip of the trespasser’s nose. Hasn’t seen him since his time at Hogwarts, but all he remembers is the hate his face brings to him.
He doesn’t even remember crossing the room and passing everyone before he’s face to face with Severus Snape in his floo.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here in my house Snivellus,” Sirius presses the tip of his wand into Snape’s nose now, deep enough to know he’s leaving an indent.
“Mr. Black!” Sirius snaps his head around. Professor McGonagall pushes past the small crowd to approach the scared man to grab something out of his hand.
Only then did Sirius realize Snape was carrying something with him, and now handing it over to McGonagall, “Thank you Severus, you may go now.”
He nods his head lightly to her, turning around and quickly leaving with green flames in his wake. Now the room is silent again, everyone stares and the professor with wide eyes, trying to catch a peak at the basket in her hands. Instead of acknowledging the room, she hurriedly leaves the room and starts her trek up the stairs.
Sirius immediately follows her. It’s his house after all and he deserves to know, right?
He knows James and Remus are right behind him, but he pays them no mind. What is in that basket? Why is it important? Is it dangerous? He walks behind her until she starts approaching the bedroom across from his own.
No! I need the room open for when he comes back!
“Okay stop for Merlin’s sake! Tell me what’s going on!” He’s huffing at this point from the stairs, “Why did you just allow Snivellus into my home, and what in Godric’s sake is in that bloody basket?” This makes Minerva snap her head at the younger man.
“Watch your language Mr. Black, I may not be your teacher anymore but I am your senior. Speak to me with respect and maybe I will answer your questions.” She swiftly turns back around and enters the dark bedroom. Following behind her, Sirius flips the light on and enters the room as well.
For a second, he looks around after not being in here for almost a decade. He remembers being nine, coming in here after a punishment in the middle of the night, not to find comfort himself, but to give comfort. He can see himself at seven years old again, sitting on the soft carpeting and playing with those stupid rainbow blocks. He can see out of his peripheral James and Remus standing in the doorway, ready for a signal to take action on whatever threat there may be.
“Professor, please tell me what’s going on,” Sirius is desperate at this point, “I mean this with no offense, but you just allowed a known Deatheater into my– why is there a crib in here?” Neatly tucked between the lavish bed and armoire, is a soft blue crib. Sirius can make out the little ducklings hand painted on the side, and a small mobile slowly spinning.
Are those unicorns?
The older woman softly places the basket on bed, when a soft whimper comes from the bundle of blankets tucked neatly in the carrier. Sirius sees his professor softly pick up the moving object, which makes it create more noise.
“What is that?” Sirius can hear James mutter softly from the doorway. Just then the blanket falls slightly, revealing a small head of dark curly hair to the room, “Please don’t tell me that’s a baby, Professor. You can’t possibly think that we are going to take care of an orphan in the middle of a war.”
“You watch how you speak of the child Mr. Black. Orphan or not he is staying here. Kreacher is more than happy to take care of him when need be,” She places the small boy on her hip, rocking him slowly to calm him down. “Harry just turned three years old three months ago,” The professor looked down at the toddler with a soft look in her eyes and a small smile, seemingly as if they’re familiar with each other. Harry finally turns his head towards the three men behind him, looking around to the new faces. After a few seconds, his eyes lock on Sirius.
Sirius had to hold back a gasp when he saw the baby’s face. A silvery- or white- scar runs down from the baby’s forehead, over his eye, and stops at his cheek. He can’t help but notice how much it looks like a lightning strike hit this poor child’s face. The child’s eyes are glassy and red-rimmed, like he’s been screaming and crying all night.
Maybe he watched his parents be killed in the raid.
“Papa,” he makes grabby hands to Sirius, seemingly wanting to go to him. McGonagall continues bouncing him, trying to keep him quiet enough to hopefully fall asleep. However the baby starts to wriggle in McGonagall’s hands, and with a sigh she sets him down on his feet. He wobbles a bit before gaining his balance and waddling over to Sirius. “Papa”, he stops right at Sirius’ boots and continues to make grabby hands at the man.
Sirius throws a look over his shoulder to the two other men behind him, Do I pick it up, and is only met with shrugs. With a huff he bends over and picks up the boy. Harry starts squealing in his arms, dragging the smallest hint of a smile on Sirius’ face.
“Umm… Professor this is cute and all but whose baby is that?” Remus stepped up for the question everyone was thinking. Thank Merlin for Moony.
McGonagall pursed her lips a bit, as if wondering whether she should reveal any information to the men. Her eyes flitted down to Harry in Sirius’ arms and her face hardened.
“That is none of your concern as of right now Mr. Lupin. His guardian will come to pick him up in due time,” she makes her way around the room to retrieve Harry from Sirius, “Now you three should get some rest, I heard tomorrow is a busy day.” She bustles them out of the room before shutting the door behind them.
Sirius glared holes into the door, obviously avoiding the sign on the door (or more specifically, the name). He turns around to James and Remus, who share a look of confusion present on their faces.
“What in Godric’s name just happened?” James is the first one to break the tense silence.
“I have no idea, but you better bloody believe that I’m going to find out.”
Sirius pushes past his friends and enters his bedroom door, slamming it shut behind him.
James and Remus share a look between them, not knowing what to say. What could they say? The silence, though not as tense, is still uncomfortable in the hallway.
“Right well, have a goodnight Moony. I’ll see you in the morning,” James then takes his turn to go to his own bedroom for the night, leaving Remus unsure of what to do with himself.
What in the bloody hell is going on?
—- — —- — —- — — — —- —
When Sirius wakes up in the morning the first thing he notices is Remus behind him. His arms are wrapped around Sirius as his chest heavily pressed against the older boy’s back.
However, the second thing he notices is the front door slamming shut downstairs and scruffed footsteps.
Sirius sits up immediately, startling Remus out of sleep beside him. He quickly grabs his wand and finds the first pair of joggers he could find— probably Remus’.
“Sirius?” Remus asks groggily, rubbing his eyes, “What’s going on?”
“Someone’s broken in the house, they’re downstairs. Go get Prongs and meet me down there while I hold off the intruder,” He turns to the door in a hurry before stopping and turns to Remus, “And alert the others.” Sirius doesn’t wait for a response before swinging the door open and running down the hall to the steps. As he’s descending, he hears more commotion coming from the foyer.
When Sirius reaches the bottom of the steps he comes face to face with a small, lanky figure draped in a large wet cloak, with the hood covering the face of the intruder. Why are they wet?
He starts firing spells in an instant. With each hex and curse Sirius throws, the darker they become. At this point he’s realized he doesn’t care about the world being black or white, good or evil. All he cares about is getting this sick bastard out of his home.
Surprisingly though, the attacker doesn’t, well… attack. He’s been pushed up against the wall from Sirius’ first spell, which he wasn’t expecting. Now, he’s just standing there letting the spells bounce off of him as if there’s a magical barrier blocking Sirius’ offensive moves. What throws Sirius off though is the lack of a wand.
How is this guy doing this?
Sirius doesn’t have much time to answer before Remus and James come tumbling down the stairs in their pajamas and wands out. They join Sirius in throwing hexes at the intruder.
This seems to anger the cloaked figure enough to drop the boundary for a second to send Sirius off his feet and into the wall behind him. However, this gives James enough time to sneak a hex that causes the person to stumble a bit and his hood to fall off.
Time stops for everyone in the room.
“Reg?”