TRYING TO PICK UP THE PIECES.
Chapter one: Suspicions, late nights and cheap perfume.
Lily Evans-Potter sat in the living room of her Godrics Hollow mansion; Her 8-month-old son was playing with one of the many toys that cluttered the floor giggling every time we grasped the flying toy-snitch with his chubby, baby fist.
"Going to make seeker for sure" came a familiar voice from the doorway,
"Sirius!" Lily exclaimed upon looking-up and seeing her husband's best friend "your early"
"PAFOOH!" Harry squealed excitedly and proceeded to crawl as fast as he could towards his Godfather.
"Couldn't wait to see my favorite Godson, could I?" he asked as he picked the giggling Harry up who immediately started to pull at his hair.
"Favwite?" Harry asked curiously
"Yes Harry favorite as in, who's your favorite godfather?" Sirius replied then proceeded to mouth "PADFOOT" over and over.
"PAFOOH!" Harry said clapping eagerly "PAFOOH, FAVWITE!"
"Excellent, Kiddo!" Sirius said enthusiastically "See, Lily, I am his favorite!"
Lily rolled her eyes "that's just because you spoil him rotten"
"I'm aloud to, its part of the ultra-secret Godson/Godfather code that I must always spoil him," he answered "Isn't that right, little Harry?"
Harry nodded vigorously, "CODE" he said "ULTWA SECWET"
Sirius laughed "yep, and as the code also states I must teach him marauderly-type-things" he shook his head in mock-despair and sighed dramatically "Sometimes being a Godfather is so hard, ah well, we must do as we must"
Lily snorted "Poor you, because, well, being a parent is just a walk in the park"
"That's what I tell Remus!"
"And then I, having normally been up all night with Logan, hex you to next Wednesday" a new, if slightly irritated voice said as Remus 'Moony' Lupin walked into the room holding his 6-month-old son: Logan Evan Lupin.
"HAWY!" Logan shrieked struggling to get to get from his father's arms so he could play with his best friend, Remus set him down on the floor and he crawled over to were Harry was playing with Sirius on the Floor.
"GET PAFOOH" Harry shouted and he and Logan crawled on top of Sirius, one on each arm successfully pinning him,
'Ah! Attack of the baby's, their rebelling!" Sirius cried, "I'm going down! Abandon ship! Woman and children first! Man the lifeb-"
"What's all this yelling about?" The curious, amused voice that belonged to Peter Pettigrew asked as he to joined the little gathering.
'My own godson has turned against me!' Sirius said dramatically, he turned to Harry "and I thought you cared",
"Me sowy Pafooh, me wove wo" Harry said in fake-remorse, his emerald green eyes gazing innocently up at his Godfather.
Sirius' heart melted "Aw! I love you too, kiddo".
"You realize that he's just twisting you around his little finger" Peter said
"Shut-it Peter, you're ruining the Godson/Godfather moment," Sirius snapped
"Sorry" Peter said holding up hands in defeat "I'll let you get on with your moment"
"It's over now," Sirius said sulkily as he watched Harry crawl over to play with Logan.
"Why did you call us over here, Lily?" Remus asked, "you didn't say much in the letter, but it seemed important"
"It is, but we have to wait until James gets back" she answered as she busied herself picking up Harry's toys.
"Where is he?" Sirius asked, as he looked at his watch "It's pretty late", "too late for you to be up" he added to his Godson
"Me?" Harry asked innocently
"Yes you, but as the Godfather/Godson code states I must spoil you rotten, so as much as I don't want to I'm forced to allow you to stay up" Sirius answered the 8-month-old.
'Twank wo"
"Your very welcome"
"James is at work," Lily answered 'again, or is he? NO! He wouldn't, would he?'
"Oh?" Sirius asked, eyebrows raised suspiciously 'He wasn't there when I left, he gets home late and leaves work early, maybe...NO! I mustn't think that! He wouldn't, would he?'
"What do you mean by that?" Lily asked, slightly on edge
"Just that he's overworked' Sirius said hurriedly "he was still their when I left to come here",
'If I don't think he would do it then why am I lying for him?' Sirius thought to himself 'Maybe I'll talk to him about it late, but that would mean I doubt him and he wouldn't do that to Lily...to Harry...would he? '
Sirius shook these thoughts from his head "So Remus, how's the job hunting going?" In an attempt to change the subject, as Lily's eyes were drilling into him as if he held the answer to her unsaid question,
'Good, Good" Remus answered catching on to what Sirius was trying to do, "I'm glad I've got something to take my mind off...Abby," he added sadly.
Lily ripped her eyes away from Sirius so fast that he suspected she'd given herself whiplash and put a comforting hand on Remus' shoulder,
"She would be happy about what a good job you're doing in raising Logan" Lily said immediately feeling guilty for worrying about her own problems when Remus had lost his wife, her best friend, when she died six months earlier giving birth to Logan and living just long enough after the birth to hold and name him.
"I hope so, I just wish that she could have seen him grow up" Remus said as he watched his son play,
There was a sad silence, which was interrupted by the slam of the door and a call of "Lily!" from James as he came in.
He came in to the lounge and greeted his friends before announcing," Well it's late, I'm off to bed"
"James!" Lily called after him as he started to leave
"What?" he asked sharply
"We have to talk to them about what Albus told us!"
"You can tell them, can't you?" he asked wearily "It's been a long day"
"This is about your son's life!"
"WHAT?" three alarmed voices said urgently
"What about my godsons life?" Sirius asked anxiously, picking Harry up and holding him close as if a crazy murderer would come running into the room at any second,
"Lily can tell you" James said in an annoyed voice and went up stairs ignoring his wife's protests.
Lily went back into the lounge and slumped back down on her chair,
"Maybe...maybe he's just had a long day?" there was a desperate and hopeful edge to Remus voice,
Lily looked straight into his amber-eyes with her tear-filled emeralds and whispered, "Then why does he smell like cheap perfume?"