Words of warning from the Author.

Things will change in this fic from the cannon series. People will die who once lived and vice versa. People who are guilty will be redeemed and people who are innocent may do stupid things to protect their families. As situations change, the people in the situations will change as well. If I make any errors or you see any large plot holes, please let me know.

Four days After The Death Of James And Lily Potter

The Wizengamot looked down at Wormtail as though they were looking at a bug; or, more aptly, at a rat. "Peter Waldo Pettigrew, you are accused of fifteen counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, four counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one count attempted manslaughter, twenty counts of treason and one count of failing to register as an animagus. How do you plead?"

"Um...er," Peter raised his hands to his face nervously. The chains, which prevented his transformation, kept them from getting close enough. He was crying, "I was... I was under... the...erm... Imperius curse. I...er... Remus, Sirius, te-tell them that I wou-wouldn't do something like this!" He looked at his friends that sat behind him. Both of them ignored him.

"Say, what is the manslaughter charge about, Moony?" Sirius Black, a man with dark hair and a leather jacket who fit his name very well, asked. He had his feet up on the half-wall that acted as a divider between the courtroom and the people watching the case. A cigarette hung unlit from his lips and he had his arm around his companion, Remus Lupin, which made the other man seem more comfortable.

"They, uh, couldn't charge him with attempted murder with me. Because of the whole, not-really-being-not-really beast thing; so they um charged him with manslaughter instead. " Remus whispered into Sirius' ear.

"Arseholes," Sirius muttered. He crossed his arms, annoyed.

"Please, Sirius, Remus, you have to tell them I'd...I'd ne-never hurt James or Lily... Never!"

"Did you hear something, Sirius?" asked Remus in calm, even tones. An angry smile seemed to grace his lips for a few brief seconds, then nothing. He reached for his companion's face and pushed a out of place lock away.

"Please, Sirius, Remus, Please, Moony; you have to tell them I wouldn't... I didn't!" Peter was crying.

"I would tell them that, Peter," said Remus thoughtfully, "If I believed you didn't. But I don't; I'm sorry. The most you can ask for, at this point is forgiveness. And I can't grant that. Only James and Lily; and Harry, when he's older, can grant you that. You made your bed, now lie in it. Come on, Sirius, let's go, Petunia said she expects us to pick up Harry by 7:00."

"Give him what he deserves, blokes," said Sirius, walking out, following his friend. Then he added "And birds, sorry, Amelia, I forgot they added you."

As the door closed behind them, the façade they had worn in the courtroom started to fade.

"I can't believe we did that," said Sirius, starting to tear up. "I wanted to-the whole time- wanted to jump over the divider and tell him it would be okay, that this was some big misunderstanding. I still can't believehe... killed James...killed Lily. Do you think they'll give him the dementor's kiss?"

Remus looked sad too, though he'd never cry in public. "I don't know Sirius. Part of me wants them to, part of me... doesn't. He's still our friend. I keep thinking, 'James'ed know what to do, but James is...'"

"Dead, yeah; me too. I don't know how I'm going to raise Harry without James' help." Sirius let out a sad laugh now, "I'll probably fuck him up; turn him into a male Bellatrix or something."

"If you don't think you can, Dumbledore said that the Dursley's-"

Sirius took a deep breath. "No, I'm not letting that horse faced bint raise my Godson. Full stop; she'll brainwash him into thinking magic doesn't exist or is wicked or something."

"If she does that to him about magic, I wonder if she'll tell him about people like us," thought Remus in a puzzled voice.

"Probably teach him we're sinful and hedonists. Which I am both of, but you are neither."

"You're just trying to get on my good side, Sirius Black." Then he asked, "Can I bum a fag off you?" They walked into the lift now. It was empty except for an elderly gentleman wearing a cravat, a pair of trousers and nothing else.

"Sure, I only got Dragon's Breath though; the store here doesn't sell Royals, which is a pity."

Remus made a face. "I'll wait until we can pick up the others, then." Dragon's Breath cigarettes were far too harsh for him, plus they had no filter. He only smoked them as a last resort.

The two said nothing for few seconds; Remus because the only things he could think to discuss involved Harry and would likely cause the man in the lift with them to get involved in their conversation and Sirius because he was trying very hard not to say something cruel, uncouth or perverse to the man.

The man got off at the department of mysteries. "So, how are we going to do this?" asked Sirius, sounding rather like a confused child.

"Do what?" asked Remus.

"You know, raise Harry. You know I can't do it alone."

"Well, I can't help you."

"What do you mean you can't help me? Moony, you're great with kids. You made that little seven year old stop crying when we found her family... you know. Prongs always said you'd be the best father out of any of us. You have to help me."

"When I said I can't help you, Sirius, I didn't mean I don't want to help you, I meant I literally cannot help you raise Harry. It's a ministry law, people like me can only raise their own children, and even then, there is a huge risk they'll be taken away, usually on trumped up charges of child abuse. And if they won't let me help raise a normal child, they most definitely won't let me raise the Boy Who Lived. Even if I was friends with his father and you and I are lovers. At best I can be an 'uncle' who visits occasionally."

"Well, you're already living with me and Harry is going to live with me and I'm not going to change that because of some retarded law."

"Muggle vulgarity, lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas I suppose," muttered Remus under his breath.

"Level Eight, Atrium. Please, have a lovely day!" announced the lift cheerfully.

"You know, that witch in the fountain, she always reminded me of-"

"Lily?" asked Remus, "yeah, me too."

"No, well sort of now that you mention it, but no, I was going to say your mum."

Remus didn't seem to take notice to this, "I never did like that statue."

"Is it for the reason I think it is? Oedipus complex and all that?"

Remus made his face go completely blank. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr. Black."

"Bullshit, you know exactly what I am talking about."

"You really need to work on that swearing. D'you want Ha-" Remus nearly said 'Harry' but that would have drawn attention to them, so instead he said, "-the kid walking around swearing like a sailor?"

Sirius thought about this for a second, as they exited the ministry, then he decided, "Hell yeah; that shit would be hysterical!"

"That would also be extremely bad parenting," said Remus, sounding vaguely like a schoolmarm who had been in the profession for a bit too long.

"You sound like McGonagall when you say stuff like that. You'll get old before your time, you will, Moony Lupin."

"I'm already old before my time," moaned Remus, taking a leaf out of Sirius' book, (well, Sirius didn't so much have a book as a series of books on a metaphoric shelf. The specific book was the book of acting overdramatic.) "I found a grey hair couple of days ago and I'm only twenty-one. I'm getting dreadfully old! Old I tell you!" he added, pushing Sirius slightly for dramatic effect.

Again there was silence as they walked to the train station. They were going to take it to Surrey, where Harry had been staying with Lily's sister.

"So, will you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Help me raise Harry. Doesn't even have to be legal, just you, me, your parents, Dumbledore and maybe Hagrid and McGonagall need to know." Sirius seemed almost perky at this thought.

"I don't know, Sirius. It's a good idea and all; a good way 'round it, but at the same time, what happens if, goodness forbid, you pass on? I'd have no legal ties to Harry, he could know me his whole life as his parent and then one day, you die and instead of me getting custody, Petunia would. It wouldn't be fair to Harry. I'm not sure I have the heart to do that to him, Sirius." Remus stated all this very calmly, while looking out the train window instead of looking at Sirius.

Sirius sighed and put his arm around Remus again, "I hate to say this, Moony, you know how I hate to bring up your possible- but, if we're completely honest with each other, you know it's a lot more likely you'll...die... before I do. So, that's barely a worry. Aside from that, Dumbledore would make sure you got guardianship."

Remus snorted, still not looking at his companion. "Dumbledore is neither infallible, nor omnipotent, Sirius. Hate to break it to you, it does feel rather like that time the four of us told that Hufflepuff sixth year that Santa Claus wasn't real. But, back on subject, a couple thousand years of bias isn't going to end just because Dumbledore says for it to. To put it another way, just because Dumbledore says jump, it doesn't mean people like your Mum will say 'how high?'"

"But he is the executer of James' will and I'll make him the executer of mine. Maybe the reason these laws are the way they are is because no one wanted to give custody to someone like you. No offense, just speaking from experience here."

"None taken; I just want you to be prepared for this, Sirius. I just want you to know if you do have me help you with Harry, they're a higher chance you'll lose custody or get vilified if my condition is revealed, or... an infinite number of horrible things could happen. I just don't want you going in blind is all."

"Seen; I'm not going in blind to the whole-" he looked around the train for people who might have been listening in, but the only other person on the train, a teenager, had a walkman on and probably couldn't hear them, "Werewolf discrimination thing, it's the parenting thing I'm walking blind into. I need help and it's not like I have a mum like yours who I can owl every time the kid has colic or gets a rash after drinking milk or something. I need your help. Harry needs your help. Even if it isn't to help parent, you can help protect him and keep him safe. Dumbledore isn't so sure how the burying-Lily-and-James-on-the-property plan will work, so we need backup in case Voldemort tries to find him or some angry death eaters try and kill him. I can only take on so many of them on my own. You on the other hand-"

Remus scoffed, "You're going to trot out my war record? Really, Sirius?"

"Yes, because it proves you're capable. Fifteen death eaters with one spell. A total of two-hundred and eighty-seven kills over a four year period. That's more than seventy-one kills a year. What's my record? With James backing me up every time, I killed seventy-one. Seventy-seven if you don't count Byron Yaxley, Felix Yarr and his gang and that one Ravenclaw who joined the death eaters as accidents. That's it. Alone, I have no chance of keeping Harry safe."

"Fine, we'll try it. But things go sour-"

"We'll ask for help."

"Actually, I was thinking we'd let Petunia raise him but visit and check up on him every week, but if the great Sirius Black is willing to ask for help... I guess we can do it."