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Sirius was quivering with rage as he stared down at the small form in his arms. How could he have been so foolish to trust Peter? His mistake had led James and Lily to their deaths, leaving behind their son, who would soon be abandoned.

Sirius knew that he wouldn't be able to take care of young Harry. Dumbledore wouldn't allow it. The headmaster would prefer Harry to be sent to his blood relatives, as he believed that blood was the most important thing in determining family relations. He didn't believe that independently formed bonds could be more important.

Well, Sirius wouldn't allow Harry to be sent to Lily's sister and her family. He knew the boy would have more of a chance at a decent life in nearly any other place than with Petunia and her husband. Sirius would send Harry away before subjecting him to a life with his Muggle aunt.

The wizard wasn't sure how long it would take for others to show up to rescue Harry and find the bodies, but he suspected he didn't have long. Maybe seconds, maybe moments. If he wanted to give Harry a chance, he would have to act quickly.

He set the child on the ground and waved his wand over the wrapped form. Harry whimpered at the loss of the warmth and the comfort of being held.

"I'm sorry," Sirius whispered before uttering a quick phrase in Latin. It was an experimental spell that had been sitting around the Ministry's Department of Mysteries for ages, so he wasn't sure of the exact results, but he knew that there was no chance of Harry dying. If the spell worked correctly, it would take the child somewhere safe where he could not be easily found.

"Good luck," Sirius whispered as a light emitted from his wand and wrapped around the swaddled child. "I hope I'll get to see you again but if I don't, know that I loved you and your parents. I'll get my vengeance on their murderer."

As the light faded, Harry James Potter disappeared with it. Sirius turned and left the house, encountering Hagrid as he did so.

"Sirius, wha's goin' on?"

The dark-haired wizard glanced at the large man. "James and Lily are dead," he said. "And Harry's gone. Dumbledore should know. Take my bike if you must. I need to go find someone."

Sirius would never forgive himself for requesting that his friends trade him for Pettigrew. They had paid the ultimate price for his mistake and now Peter would pay the same price for his betrayal.

In a different part of the world, Harry let out a small cry as the spell set him on the damp ground. When he wasn't moved, he let out another, louder cry.

At the sound of a child's cry, two sets of feet settled on a tree branch.

"Do my ears mistake me, Gai-sensei, or was that—"

"Lee, your ears are as youthful as ever. That certainly was the cry of someone who needs our help! We must go and find them!"

It only took a few moments for the two shinobi to locate the swaddled child. The blue of the blanket stood out against the dark browns and greens of the forest floor.

"Who would abandon a baby in this forest?" the younger of the pair wondered aloud. "If we had not been as quick as we were, an animal might have found and eaten it."

"It could only have been abandoned by someone that does not have your gentle heart, Lee," Gai announced loudly before picking up the baby. Instantly it quieted, feeling that it wasn't in any immediate danger. Gai's face turned serious. "We should take it to the Lady Hokage. I haven't heard of any babies going missing or being stolen. If it's from another village, she'll know what to do."

"Wise as always, Gai-sensei," Lee remarked before the pair took off again. Harry began crying again as the leaps of the traveling shinobi bounced him around.

Tsunade was wondering if it was too early to start drinking by the time Gai and Lee returned to Konoha. At the sight of the two green jumpsuit-clad shinobi entering her office, she caved and opened a drawer to pull out a bottle of alcohol, mentally preparing herself.

"What's that?" she asked, gesturing to the bundle in Gai's arms.

"A child we found in the forest on the pathway back to Konoha," Lee said. Tsunade smirked as she saw stains on the front of Gai's jumpsuit. So the child hadn't enjoyed traveling to Konoha. Hopefully that was his only jumpsuit and it would be destroyed as it was cleaned, but Tsunade wouldn't hold her breath.

"Let me see it," she ordered with a sigh. "Place it on the desk."

Gai obliged and Tsunade carefully unwrapped the blue blanket. Her forehead creased as she felt something unusual in the energy path under the skin of the baby. That wasn't chakra.

"Well, it's a boy," she remarked as she used her chakra to probe the child further. She had never encountered this type of energy before.

"What is it, Lady Tsunade?" Lee asked as she was silent for a few minutes. He received no response until the glow of chakra faded from the Hokage and Tsunade looked up.

"We'll have to keep an eye on him," she stated. "There's not enough chakra for him to become a shinobi but there's something else. Pass that information on to the caretakers at the orphanage. I want to know of anything unusual that he does or that happens around him."

"Orphanage?" Lee asked warily. Tsunade nodded.

"There's no one else in the village with anything similar," she said. "So I can only assume that his parents are dead or not from this village."

The younger of the two shinobi before her frowned and looked at his team leader. No words were spoken but Gai seemed to catch what he was thinking.

"An excellent idea, Lee!" he cried. "Lady Tsunade, if you would allow us to, Team Gai will take care of this child. We will become his new family!"

Tsunade sighed. She should have expected something like this.

"I need every shinobi possible on active duty," she informed the jounin. "If you're raising a child, I can't give you the properly ranked missions—"

Her protests were cut off by cheers from Lee. The Hokage sighed. It was clear that she wasn't going to be able to convince them otherwise. It looked the child had a new family. Tsunade sighed again. Time of the day be damned. She really needed to start drinking.

"First things first!" Gai announced. "We need a name to call this lucky boy."

"Harry," Tsunade stated as she uncorked the bottle of sake. When the two shinobi looked at her in surprise, she shrugged her shoulders. "The name was written on the blanket."

For anyone that's interested, I've created a Facebook page, where I'll be posting not only my updates, but also questions, polls, statuses about my writing, update schedules, milestones, new story ideas, and basically anything writing related I feel like posting. I would love to interact with my readers so feel free to post on the page. The link is: cheylaenne or just search Cheyla in the Facebook search bar. The page's profile picture is a black and white baby dragon so you know you've found the right page.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!