Disclaimer: if I owned it do you really think I would have killed of Sirius and Remus? Or even Cedric, Fred Moody and Tonks? (For the record I wouldn't have killed James and Lily either.) Just so you know ;)

"HOW MUCH FURTHER?"

"IF I PUT MORE PRESSURE ON THE PETAL WE'LL BE THERE IN 15 MINUTES!"

The three friends were high up over the streets of Scotland all crowded on a single motorcycle that seemed to have gotten bigger to fit them all on the seat.

They had been traveling in the air for nearly an hour after their little fiasco at their old friends' house, and the more time they stayed up in the air-the more anxious they all were to get back to safety. So far nothing had happened and they were grateful for it but they still kept their eyes open and wands out; hoping no one knew where they were going.

"THERE!" Sirius shouted.

James and Remus turned face forwards and they saw it. At first they only saw over the horizon the towers of the great castle but as they got closer they saw the grand castle known to all witches and wizards as Hogwarts. Sirius put his whole foot down on the pedal of the bike and with a jolt the bike sped up towards the castle.

Remus kept a hand on James' shoulder and James kept a hold of Sirius and felt themselves starting to descend.

"PADFOOT, WATCH OUT FOR THE WHOMPING WILLOW!"

"DON'T WORRY I'VE GOT IT!" He shouted just as they were heading toward the ill-tempered tree. Sirius slammed his foot on the break and went right under the swinging branches.

"DUCK!"

None of them needed telling twice as they all put their heads down as low as they could go except for Sirius as he had to look where he was going. The bike went through four swinging branches and had to lift up to avoid a fifth branch before successfully making it to the ground and out of reach of the tree.

Two out of the three on the motorbike nearly fell off the bike in a rush. While the third one swung his leg off of the bike and grinned at the other two.

"What's the matter? Don't like being off land for too long? Prongsie, Moony I'm surprised at you!" Sirius shouted.

James and Remus turned to him in a look of upmost disbelief and anger that Sirius quickly shut his mouth.

The two 'sensible' men glared at the third before one of them turned to the other. "Prongs, May I have the right to kill the godfather of your first born?" Remus asked conversationally.

James looked to be in deep thought. "Well Moony I'm not exactly sure, I mean the kid may want to have some memories of the mutt…"

Remus looked over to him and smiled. "Please?" he asked kindly.

James looked at Remus half in amusement and half in consideration "Ah well how can I say no to that face? Well I guess penisieve memories will have to do."

Sirius over at James in shock. "How can you say no to that face? That's easy watch 'Moony no you can't kill the godfather of his first born that's not nice!' see Prongs that wasn't so hard to do." He said as he took a step towards James.

However Sirius immediately took a step back as he saw the look on both of their faces.

Sirius looked at the two horrified. "Moony, Prongs…. Now come on guys you know you don't want to kill me I'm your best friend, your brother!" he said backing away from his brothers who were slightly stalking him like prey.

James and Remus looked at him pleasantly with a hint of mischief in their eyes as they walked slowly toward their brother who was desperately walking backwards away from them. "Guys…. what about Harry huh? Think of how this would be for him losing his most favorite person in the world."

James and Remus glanced at each other and had a silent conversation. Sirius however; knowing them both for over a decade; heard this conversation and blanched in horror. "Guys please! No! Come on now you know you don't want to do that!" who took another step back. Hey death eaters and dark criminals he could deal with, but he knew that look from the two of them and it wasn't pretty!

Too bad Sirius didn't realize how close he was to the edge of the black lake as he took that step back and barely concealed a yelp as he fell backward with an ungraceful splash into the muddy waters. James and Remus didn't even miss a beat as they drew out their wands to eye level and both did a silent spell on the drowning man as he splashed around to gain his footing. Stowing their wands behind their backs, they let the amusement of the situation hit them fully and roughly started to do what any two sophisticated twenty year old men would do in their situation.

They laughed; hard.

It took Sirius a few moments to regain balance on his feet and when he did he glared at the two men who we're clutching their sides from laughter. He glared at them fiercely. "It's not funny!"

"Oh but it is dear Padfoot, it is indeed." Remus said in-between laughs as James was holding onto his knees

Sirius got out of the lake and stomped his soaking wet foot onto dry land. "No it's not! Look at my hair! It's ruined! Do you have any idea how long it took me to do my hair this morning?"

"Oh I don't know about as long as it always does ever since third year?" James grinned at his brothers like a cat that ate a canary.

"Yes around an hour correct?" Remus said mildly but his face was showing great amusement as he was trying to regain his composure.

Sirius scowled at them both; which almost had them in another fit of laughter. Instead James tried to cheer Sirius up a bit. "Oh relax Padfoot, this isn't nearly as bad as what Lily will do to you the next time she sees you."

Surprisingly; this did not cheer Sirius up in the least. In fact; it made Sirius' face turn a rather pale shade of white.

"Um is it okay if I stay out here? I mean like spend the night in the shrieking shack or something?" Sirius asked not even trying to cover up his nervousness.

James sobered up a little bit and glared at the man before him. "No it is not alright for you to stay outside of the castle! Not while all of the wards are up only around Hogwarts grounds!"

"But-"

But Remus intervened. "Think of it as a price for making us move here when we didn't have to." He said evenly and turned on his heel and strode towards the castle; James gave one last meaningful look at Sirius before he too followed Remus' lead.

"But guys!"

"NOW!" They both shouted.

Sirius grumbled but took his motorbike and complied. He grumbled as they crossed the grounds but kept a firm distance from them as he wasn't sure what else they could come up with if he was in their line of sight. Because of this he didn't really realize where they were going until they got there.

"Why are we at Hagrid's House?" Sirius asked genuinely curious.

It was Remus who answered. "Do you really think you'll be able to take that bike up into the castle? Where Lily is? The mother of the was-sleeping baby before she had to take him into the floo?"

Sirius gulped and shook his head; walking past the two other marauders and knocked on the door.

"Who The? What yer lot doin' comin' out at this time O night?" they heard yelling from the other side of the door. James and Remus got up onto the porch next to Sirius as they heard footsteps coming closer to the door before yanking it open to see the rugged haired giant of a man who was currently holding a cross-bow in their faces.

Hagrid took one look at them and narrowed his beetle eyes as he brought the cross-bow up higher in defense. The three marauders took no hesitation to back up off of the porch step and put their hands up over their heads simultaneously.

"Now the three of yeh better speak up an tell me somethin' only the three of yeh would know." Hagrid snarled out.

Sirius turned to James, who did the only wise thing to do and turned to Remus. Remus felt the eyes of his brothers on him and inwardly sighed. Some things really never do change. "In our fifth year we served detention with you when we got caught pranking Filch's office to spit him out and paint him green and yellow every time he tried to suggest whipping as a punishment. Instead of actually having detention you brought us in your house for a cup of tea and asked us to give you the details."

James and Sirius turned to Hagrid who; with great relief; was obviously trying to fight a grin at the memory. Hagrid aimed his cross-bow down and moved to the side, inviting them in. "Heh, Serves tha' old git right fer scarin' students like tha'." Hagrid said with no remorse in his voice what-so-ever.

As if on 'cue' the three marauders all snorted at the half-giant's words; glad that after all those years he still backed them up. Hagrid shut the door behind them and took a look at them all; stopping on Sirius. He raised an eyebrow much to Sirius' confusion, "What happened to yer-"

But James cut him off. "He fell into the lake Hagrid." He told him while giving him the eye and mouthing 'later' when Sirius started grumbling at the mention of the lake again. Hagrid took one last glance at Sirius and went to go put on the kettle; successfully covering his twitching lips. "Let me put on some tea fer you three. Now not that I Don't mind the three of yeh being here an all, but what are the three of yeh doing back here and at this time O night no less?"

It was James that answered this time. "Well we had a bit of trouble and long story short we all had to be relocated here."

Hagrid; who had obviously thought they were here for a more pleasant reason; dropped the kettle on the floor, spilling water everywhere. Hagrid paid no mind. "Wha kind O trouble? Did anyone get hurt? What about yer other friend Peter, An Lily an Harry?"

At the very mention of Peter, all three Marauders stiffened, Hagrid; not knowing the story; feared the worst. "No! No no-no. they didn't they couldn't have. No!"

Sirius was the one who elaborated. "No one got killed Hagrid. Lily and Harry are just fine. They're in the castle right now. Peter however, he-"Sirius took a breath to calm himself of the unforgivable betrayal. "He was the spy."

Hagrid went into shock for a moment and looked at the three young wizards faces. All three of them looked to be a cross between shock, anger, and terrible sadness. Hagrid couldn't blame them; he'd known the marauders since they first came to Hogwarts and known that the four of them were inseparable and the fact that one of them had betrayed them all made the treachery hurt twice as much.

"Anyway." Remus interrupted; trying to change the topic. "We can't stay for long, we actually just came to ask for a quick favor."

Hagrid sat down at the table and looked up at that, silently asking them to go on. James nudged Sirius and reluctantly Sirius answered. "I was wondering if I could leave my motorbike here seeing as Lily might…well she might tear it up. And since I can't let her do that I thought here might be the best place for it….." Sirius trailed off awkwardly and looked towards the fireplace in all of its interesting glory. So he; unlike James and Remus; completely missed Hagrid's beard twitching in amusement.

Hagrid took a moment before responding. "Tha's alright with me but only on a two conditions first."

Sirius whipped his head towards Hagrid with a hopeful look on his face and Hagrid couldn't help but chuckle. "One: yeh three better come down here soon with Lily an baby Harry for a bit O tea an tell me the whole story."

Sirius nodded before he even knew what he was agreeing to. "And what else?"

This time Hagrid flushed, which didn't go unnoticed by the marauders. "Well ah can I take it up fer a ride some time, so- yeh know cause it's bad ter let it sit around…." He trailed off and busied himself with cleaning up the water on the floor. Sirius was unable to speak but one look from James and Remus made him answer the giant; much to the other two's amusement. "Okay fine you can take Tanya for a ride if you want. But you better make sure she's alright!"

Hagrid looked confused. "Tanya?"

James elaborated. "Sirius named his bike Tanya. He doesn't normally call the bike that-"

"But whenever he starts feeling overprotected of his bike he'll start calling it by its name."

Hagrid nodded in understanding and held out his hand. "all right then I promise I'll take good care of Tanya fer yeh. She can stay in the house fer the night." He said grabbing Sirius' hand in a handshake to seal the deal; shaking Sirius' arm almost out of its socket in the process.

Remus took a look at his watch and saw it was time to get up to Dumbledore's office. "Thank you Hagrid! I promise we'll be back down here within the week for tea and we won't forget Lily or Harry either." Remus responded pulling the other two out the door to head up to the castle.

Hagrid followed them to the door and waved them goodbye while taking a hold of Sirius' bike and bringing it into his house; much to Sirius' dismay when he couldn't see it anymore.

James rolled his eyes and grabbed a hold of Sirius' shoulder. "Come on Padfoot. We got to get up to Dumbledore's office and let them know we made it. Also it'll be better if we get to Lily and Harry now sooner rather than later."

At the mention of Lily and knowing the truth in that statement; Sirius turned white and sped up towards the castle leaving James and Remus in his mist. They sped up across the grounds and by a chance of luck (Or Dumbledore's doing.) the front doors were unlocked. They quickly made their way through the doors and down the halls barely paying attention to the students they were bumping into and getting weird stares from. It didn't take long before they started running down the halls think of just two things- Lily and Harry.

It wasn't long before they reached the all too familiar golden gargoyle leading up to the headmaster's office.

"Cauldron cakes." James said swiftly as the Gargoyle moved aside. Seeing the spiral staircase; Sirius steps faltered and he looked slightly hesitant to go on. James was the first to notice the lack of another's footsteps as he turned around to face the significantly frozen man; prompting Remus to do the same.

"Are you alright Pads?" James asked mildly.

"Hmm." Was all Sirius could say…. Or- well squeak.

James pursed his lips to keep from smiling. "I asked; are you alright?"

Sirius looked at the staircase and back at his brothers; posing a question of his own. "Is your wife going to kill me slowly or quickly?"

James let out a breath. He honestly wasn't sure; on one hand he knew Lily would want to make as slow and as painful as possible to teach Sirius a lesson; but on the other hand Lily has mellowed after she had Harry that she might just make it quick and easy; but Sirius put Harry in danger and while he knew Sirius didn't think of that he knew Lily just might torture him before she killed him. "Honestly Pads I don't know; but I can tell you I've had very good times with you and I will think fondly of you for the rest of my life."

Shockingly; this did not cheer Sirius up; in fact it made him glare at his grinning brother. "Prongs!"

James gave him a polite smile. "Yes my dear Padfoot?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes at him angrily. "That is NOT funny!"

"On the contrary…"

"No it's not! Why would you say that?" Sirius whined.

Now it was James' turn to narrow his eyes at Sirius. "Because Siri; what you seem to forget that Harry is not just Lily's son; he's mine too. And he already had to be moved to safety once tonight but you just had to go get your bike."

Remus; who was watching the whole scene; decided to intervene now before it got ugly. "Come on Padfoot, you know Lily won't kill you. She might tragically maim you but she won't kill you. And Prongs you know Sirius didn't think about that when he-very stupidly- went to go get his bike. And besides we already punished him at the lake remember?"

Sirius grumbled about his hair at the mention of the lake and James took the opportunity to take a quick look at Sirius' head and smirked. Remus rolled his eyes at the two and turned back to the gargoyle; that was getting very impatient; and walked up the stairs. James turned to Sirius and saw he was still looking nervous and decided to take pity on him.

"Scared?" James asked mildly.

Sirius shook his head and raised his chin. "No." He said in what he thought was a confident voice.

James cracked a smile despite himself. "Fine then but just so you know you can hide behind me when you think Lily will start to maim you." He told him as he started to walk up the stairs.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the James' back. "Comforting James; really comforting." He said sarcastically.

"That's what I was going for." Came the cheeky reply from up the stairs. Sirius; despite the thought of meeting she-who-must-not-be-named; he chocked back a laugh and nervously went up the stairs James and Remus went up only moments before.

When Sirius reached the top he found both Remus and James waiting for him. Sirius didn't even touch the top step before he heard the faint crying of his godson through the door and more than one person trying to give him comforting words. Remus took one look at Sirius and gave him a comforting smile before he opened the door leading to his doom.

Behind door only led to louder voices and much louder baby screams. The three of them watched as not only Lily was trying to calm Harry down but it also looked like she recruited Dumbledore and McGonagall as well. The past headmasters were all looking onto the sight with their fingers placed in their ears while all of the past headmistresses looked as if they wanted nothing more than to jump out of their portraits and comfort the hysterical baby.

Remus coughed once and immediately got the attention of everyone in the room- well everyone except for Harry and all of the portraits. Lily took one look at the group and narrowed her eyes dangerously. While Both Dumbledore and McGonagall looked at the three of them as if they had grown another three heads; however they didn't say anything as they knew now was not the time and they knew exactly what Lily was going to do. They weren't even in the room for a whole minute before a rush of red came into their view; successfully making Sirius hide behind James; who panicked and did the only reasonable thing to do and hid behind Remus.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN WERE YOU THINKING?"

"WWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"LILY!"

"DON'T YOU 'LILY' ME JAMES! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

"Lily I would prefer it if you didn't murder anyone or speak about murdering anyone in my office if you would please."

"SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE WE HAD TO MOVE MY BABY BECAUSE HE HAD TO GO GET HIS BIKE. YOUR BIKE SIRIUS REALLY? WAS IT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT THAT WE ALL WERE IN JEOPARDY BECAUSE OF IT? BELIEVE ME BLACK; WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU THEY ARE NOT EVEN GOING TO FIND A BODY TO BURY YOU MARK MY WORDS!"

"Mrs. Potter I must insist you do your best to relax. None of this screaming is going to get Harry any more calm."

At the mention of her son; Lily turned back around to where McGonagall was rocking Harry back and forth in a soothing matter trying to calm him. It was futile though; Harry's face was a bright red as he just kept on wailing up a storm. Lily rushed back over to Harry and took him out of McGonagall's arms and cradled him close to her trying to calm him. "Hush now Harry its okay I know you're upset. Its okay sweetie your godfather was just being a moron it's okay now."

Despite everything Sirius let out a huff of indignity; which earned him a swat on the back of the head by both James and Remus. Sirius narrowed his eyes at them but one glowering look from Lily was all it took to put him back behind her husband's back with nothing more than a 'meep' of fright.

Lily nodded; satisfied before turning her upmost attention onto her son. Seeing this; Sirius took the opportunity to run from behind James and Remus and run behind McGonagall.

"Mr. Black is this absolutely necessary?" McGonagall asked warily as her former student took cover behind her. To any student coming in this would look quite ridiculous, but for her it was quite a regular occurrence; since she had known these four students for the seven years they had been under her wing and the four years they've been out of school working for the order. Despite her firm belief in never having any favorites, these four had certainly been hers….. Even though they did cause most of her hair to go gray far too early in life in her opinion.

"Did you see Lily's face?" Sirius asked fearfully, making sure he was safely behind the woman who; despite her stern demeanor and all of the detentions; was the first mother figure he had ever known.

McGonagall took a quick look at the younger woman and turned back to Sirius. "Sit down Mr. Black I will take care of this."

Sirius looked at the fuming protective mother and back at his former head of house. Somehow he wasn't under the belief he would get out of this alive. McGonagall saw this look and spoke to him again. "Now Mr. Black."

Sirius; having forgot he was no longer a student; rushed to the nearest seat (which was only a foot away) and sat down like a very obedient puppy. It took all of James and Remus' strength not to start cracking up at the scene before them. It didn't help that Dumbledore was also looking like he was deeply amused at the situation as well.

After giving one last look to Sirius to make him stay in his seat; McGonagall turned and strode over to Lily; who was still holding the crying toddler to her chest protectively and glaring daggers at the seated pup-…man.

"Lily I understand you are more than upset with Sirius and you have every right in the world to be. What he did was not only wrong but also incredibly foolish-"

"How is this helping?" Sirius demanded in a harsh whisper that did nothing to mask the anxiety in his voice.

McGonagall gave her signature glare to Sirius to make him shut up before continuing. "However; as much as you want to, I don't believe killing him is quite the right way to go about this."

Lily gave a snort in disbelief.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. Now any lower year Gryffindor would have cowered at the sight of Minerva McGonagall raising her eyebrow and pursing her lips like that; but Lily Potter knew her former head of house well, well enough to know that she was just trying to keep a smile off of her face.

"Now I believe killing Sirius will hardly teach him any good since he won't actually be alive to learn his lesson."

Lily grinned in spite of herself at these words. She also knew her former head of house well enough to know where this was going. Unfortunately for Sirius; so did he.

"I believe as proper punishment for his stunts Mr. Black would be more than delighted to help madam Pince organize the library for the first week while you all are here." McGonagall finished off with a gleam in her eyes.

"WHAT?" Sirius shouted and then winced as soon as baby Harry started screaming even louder at the sudden noise level; making Lily Rock him some more and glare at the man while the headmistress of the past were scolding him for scaring the baby. "Why can't Lily just kill me instead?" Sirius furiously whispered Lily turned to McGonagall with the same question written on her face.

McGonagall turned to him and gave him a stern glare. "Because Mr. Black, one: you will not be dying on my watch, and two: because when I heard about the stunt you pulled you almost gave me a heart attack. Is there anything else you would like to know?" McGonagall asked with forced politeness.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "Where ever did you get that lovely haircut Ma'am it looks wonderful?"

Being as hard as it was, neither James nor Remus could hold in a snort as they both covered their mouths in attempt to keep quiet; especially with Lily glaring at them like that.

McGonagall narrowed her eyes at the man and pursed her lips together. "Anything else Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head and looked down guiltily and had to stop himself from squirming under the gaze of both Lily and McGonagall. He realized he didn't exactly think things through but it was his bike! He needed her!

After a long silence (for the adults at least) Dumbledore thought it best to wrap things up. "Well I do believe we've all had enough excitement for one night, I asked the house elves to set up a set of rooms for the five of you. They should be putting up the finishing touches by now as I've been keeping them prepared in case any order member needed a place to stay at a moment's notice. They are located close by the kitchens right behind the portrait of 'The Dining Ladies and Night's' the password is 'Lemon Drops'. Now I apologize as I will not be escorting you to your rooms as an old man I tend to tire earlier on in the evening and I do believe the four of you would like the time to get there to yourselves; am I correct?" Dumbledore asked; his eyes twinkling. Seeing the slight but sheepish grins he got answered his question. "On that note I bid you all a goodnight. We will discuss more in the morning." And with that he strode up the stairs in his office and disappeared through one of the doors.

Seeing as James went to Lily to try and sooth their son; Remus headed for the door, but not before turning to Sirius. "Well Padfoot my friend, this has to be a record. You became the first Hogwarts graduate to ever receive detention after you finished school." Remus grinned cheekily at him.

"Keep it up Mr. Lupin and you will become the second Hogwarts graduate to ever receive detention after you finished your schooling." McGonagall warned the young man sternly. Just because they were her favorites and were the children she never had, didn't mean she wouldn't let anything slide by her now. In fact that's what made her harder on them.

Remus did not need any more persuading than that as he left the office in a mad rush; leaving the rest of the group to chuckle slightly in his absence.

Sirius watched as McGonagall, James, and Lily all tried to soothe his crying godson. He took a glance at the door and saw Remus left it open in his rush to escape without detention. He took another glance at the little group; none of them were watching, he got up out of his chair and tip-toed towards the door to get out as quickly as he could. He was almost home free before-

"Oh and Sirius?"

Sirius froze in his spot and turned to the red-haired witch. "Yes my dear Lily?" he asked in what he clearly thought was a jauntily voice.

Lily gave him an all-too sweet smile that fooled nobody and had everyone slightly backing away from her. "Since you happen to be the reason my son had to wake up and is now screaming at the top of his lungs I believe you should be the one to put him back to bed don't you?"

Sirius gulped and took a step over to the mother and son duo and stretched out his arms, taking the screaming baby out of Lily's grasp. He took in his little godson's features and noticed the red blotches on the baby's face from all of the crying. He rubbed the child's back trying to soothe him but nothing was working. He turned to give a helpless gaze towards the rest of the group but the all gave him looks of 'you do it'. Moaning in defeat; Sirius cradled baby Harry to his chest and walked out of the office taking Harry with him.

Finally McGonagall turned to the couple. "Well it seems I am no longer needed for the night am I correct?" she didn't resume until she got two nods in return. "Good. Now I must go as curfew is just about to come and I have first patrol of the castle. So goodnight, and do try to stray too far now won't you Potter?" McGonagall asked with what Lily thought was amused wariness; which would have made absolutely no sense if it was anyone other than James Potter and his partners in crime.

"Why my Dear professor; whatever do you mean?" James asked her charmingly while putting his arm on his wife's back and rubbed it. Yes it wouldn't have made any sense if it were anyone else.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow and turned to Lily.

"I'll make sure he stays in line professor." She reassured her gracefully; taking a step closer to James and allowed him to pull her into a hug.

"Make sure they all stay in line Mrs. Potter." McGonagall told her with a hint of a smile before she strode off down the stairs.

With the headmasters office now to themselves; James pulled Lily in for a kiss on the lips and didn't let her go until they both had to breathe.

"What was that for?" Lily asked after opening her eyes to look at her husband and catching her breath.

James just shrugged and pecked her again on the lips. "No reason really; just happy you're safe." Despite all of her anger at Sirius and distress over the family's protection; Lily couldn't help but smile at him and pull him in for another kiss.

"Come on Lils," Jams said after they broke apart. "Let's go meet up with Sirius and Remus hopefully they've gotten our son calmed down by now." And with that he turned to the open doorway that he almost made it to until…

"Oh and James,"

James; lip twitched as he knew what was coming and turned around with an innocent look on his face. "Yes my dear Lily?"

Lily glared half-heartedly at him as a blush rose on her cheeks. "Do you mind telling me how Sirius' hair is both pale pink and yellow?"

James gave her one of his charming smiles as his eyes danced in amusement. "Why Lils, whatever do you mean?"

"James Charlus Potter what did you do?" his wife asked him in a mock stern tone.

James took a deep breath and leaned against the door frame, taking a side glance at her. "Think of it as punishment for making us all have to move from Remus' apartment to here."

Lily tried to keep her stern face, she really did but the twitch of her lips and the shine in her eyes was all James needed to see to tell him she approved.

"And he doesn't know?" she asked him.

Her husband scoffed and cocked her a half-grin. "Trust me; if he did he would be hiding under a cloak and under the covers of his bed until it wore off."

Lily giggled and walked over to James and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you." She pecked him on the lips and together they walked out of the headmaster's office and shut the door; drowning out the mutterings of what just happened from the portraits of headmasters and headmistresses past.

Meanwhile Sirius was getting some odd looks from the few students in the hallway. He glared at a few snickering sixth years as he walked past; he didn't understand what the bloody hell was so funny. But it seemed that whatever it was was following him around like a shadow and for the life of him he could not figure it out. Maybe Peeves is following me….

Sirius patted Harry's back; who-miraculously- started to calm down. He was still crying but he was starting to get tired out. Sirius rubbed his back some more and whispered in a calming voice. "It's alright now Harry. No more flooing tonight I promise; I don't want to make your mother go psycho on me again."

It wasn't long before they got to the portrait Dumbledore had described. There were four elegant ladies laughing all together while the two of the knights' were sitting with them drinking Ale watching the other two knights' having a sword fight with each other as a game.

Sirius tried talking to them and saying the password to get their attention but they were all off in their little world- well painting- and he tried raising his voice and saying the password even louder to get them to hear him; which also proved to be fruitless. He ended up getting aggravated and banged on the frame with his fist. That got their attention.

All eight nobles in the painting turned and looked at him with annoyance. "You there, what is the meaning of this!" demanded one of the knights that were drinking Ale as got up from his seat and splashed his cup around. The four ladies took a look at him and immediately started giggling and they weren't giggling over how good he looked either; which annoyed Sirius as now the portrait figured out what was so funny when he couldn't.

"You weren't answering me! I said the password twice already, any louder the whole castle would have heard it!"

"Well." One of the ladies said haughtily. "You could have gotten our attention a little nicer couldn't you?" the three other ladies nodded along with her.

Being as he had little Harry with him; Sirius tried to reason with the portrait. "Look I'm sorry alright? I just want to get my godson into bed. He's a bit upset."

At the mention of his godson all of the ladies looked at the baby in his arms and cooed over how adorable he was.

"Ohhh look at him he's got such chubby cheeks!"

"And his hair-"

"And that cute little nose!"

"And those eyes are absolutely gorgeous!"

The cooeing and the 'awwing' would have gone on much longer if one of the knights that was dueling not a moment ago hadn't stepped in.

"I say good fellow what has happened to your-"he was beginning to make a gesture upwards when one of the ladies; who had walked around the table to coo at Harry; elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hush Sir Hugh; we promised we wouldn't say anything." She spoke with elegance eyeing the godfather and godson sight.

"Say anything to whom?" Sirius asked growing slightly alarmed. He had a pretty good idea who actually but he hoped he was wrong.

The knight; Sir Hugh; looked at her then at Sirius and Harry and his lips twitched as he waved his right arm opening the hole in the wall. "Go on in my good sir. I bid you goodnight and I hope to see you tomorrow looking not quite as colorful."

Sirius didn't know what Sir Hugh had meant by that but knew that the other in the portrait did as they all laughed quite loudly. Without even stopping to think Sirius all but jumping into the portrait hole and slammed the painting behind him. Walking in he found Remus sitting on one of the couches already reading a book as he walked to him and deposited Harry in his lap; startling the ever-living-daylights out of him.

"Padfoot whats-"

But the rest of his sentence was drowned out by Sirius opening and slamming doors trying to find something. Finally he found it. The loo; he rushed right in and stared at himself in the mirror in horror. His hair- his beautiful black silky hair was no more. Instead what took its place was stringy half-pink and half-yellow hair! it felt like a lifetime Sirius was simply staring at the horrible sight of his once-beautiful locks before he lost it.

Throughout the entire castle the screams of one Sirius Black could be heard like the sound of a banshee in one's ear.

"MYHAIR!"

Voldemort Looked down at the three cowering humps of filth on the floor with distain. "So let me get this cleared up now." He said in his sickly vicious voice that had all three of his followers trembling in fear. "You had James Potter and his cronies in your mist- and yet you let them escape?" he spit of the last word like venom and the three death eaters shivered.

"Th-they were up in the air m-my L-lord. W-we had no way t-to f-f-follow." A brave death eater spoke to the floor when his master was no longer looking at him.

"Crucio!" Voldemort shouted in a cold voice. The two other death eaters flinched at the screams of the third; knowing that could have just as easily been them.

"The Dark Lord did not ask for your pathetic excuses Rosier. If I wanted to hear about your foolishness I would have asked!" he snarled; taking off the curse with great reluctance.

"Y-yes-s-s m-my l-l-lord, M-my big-g-gest ap-p-ologies." Rosier muttered as loud as he could right before kissing the hem of his masters robes.

Voldemort's lip curled at the man as he kicked Rosier right in the face; smirking as he fell back to the floor. Then he caught sight of the other two death eaters who were cowering from his wand. He tightened the grip on his wand as he sent the Cruciatuscurse at the two of them in turn.

"What about you Karkaroff? And you Rookwood? Do either of you have anything to say after your pathetic failure?" he asked as he heard the soothing sound of their screams at his hand. He took off the curse to let them speak. "Well?" he demanded harshly.

"N-n-n-no m-m-mm-y L-lo-or-rd." they spoke in unison.

Voldemort looked at them as if they were filth and turned away. "The three of you will stay here and out of action until I deem you worthy enough to serve me again. In the meantime you will serve as house elves and as such none of you will require a wand." He told them firmly holding out his empty palm. The three death eaters turned white and flinched as if their lord had asked them to cut off their own arm. However; their fright over handing over something so precious to them; looked as disobedience in the eyes of the dark Lord and he cast another crucio at them. "NOW!" he barked.

The three death eaters all scrambled on their knees to reach their lord and all of them handed in their most precious item of all; leaving them utterly defenseless.

Voldemort examined the wands in his hands before placing them all on the table. "Good, now get out of my sight I no longer wish to see you unless I call for you am I understood?"

"Y-y-yes m-my Lord" the three spoke as they kissed his feet and left in a mad rush to comply with their master's orders. They were almost out of harm's way until the dark lord spoke again.

"Bring Wormtail in; I wish to speak with him."

"Y-yes my L-lord." They spoke in harmony before rushing out the door.

Lord Voldemort chuckled at their cowardly actions in their wake and examined the wands left to him. All too soon Voldemort sensed the presence of his most cowardly follower yet.

"Come in Wormtail." Voldemort beckoned. He heard a slight squeak and then footsteps coming into the room slowly and stop midway.

"It has come to my attention Wormtail," he began as he turned his blood red eyes toward the puny man. "That you have failed me in the simple task I had asked you to complete. Is that not true?"

Wormtail found himself unable to speak. He knew what was coming but he couldn't get the words out to answer his master.

"And now you have lost your role as a spy; did you not?" Voldemort continued on in a slightly edgy voice as his patience was- once again- on thin ice.

"M-m-my L-lo-rd I-I'm s-s-sor-"Wormtail tried to get out but couldn't.

"Crucio!" Voldemort watched in satisfaction as Wormtail's screams filled the air. "Don't try to give me your apologies Wormtail; you have failed me." He said as he kept the curse on Wormtail for quite some time before taking it off.

"You won't fail me again Wormtail." Voldemort stated as the rat furiously shook his head in agreement. His sobs were loud and pitiful. It made Voldemort smile in satisfaction.

"Get up Peter. And wipe that filth off of your face." Voldemort ordered after allowing a minute of pathetic weeping. Peter flinched; but he did as he was told. He stood up; favoring his left leg and looked to the floor in attempt to hide his tears. This was the end and he knew it. He couldn't even begin to imagine how if he had never even taken the mark in the first place if he would have lived longer, he was sure his master wouldn't let him live after failing him so much in one night.

That was until…..

"I believe it is very fortunate for you that I still have use of you." Voldemort said as if it caused him great pain to actually say it.

"M-my L-Lord?" Peter asked; hardly daring to hope.

Voldemort's lip curled in slight disgust "Yess; as pitiful as you may be, you are still my only follower who has managed to become an animagious; a talent in which I was most shocked you could actually possess. Not only that, but seeing as you are unregistered many people would not know to take a second glance at you if you were to listen in on them in your-"Voldemort studied Peter for a moment and sneered when he flinched. "Natural form; which is what I require you to do for the time being."

Wormtail looked to his master in confusion.

Voldemort's hand tightened on his wand but he fought the urge. It would do no good for Peter to be wriggling on the floor in agony for his stupidity right before he told him what to do. He might forget it.

It was gracious of him how much leniency he showed his followers.

"What you will be doing is find out where the Potters are now; and when you do find a way to slip through the cracks and bring that blasted child and his parents to me so I may kill their son while they watch."

Peter recoiled at the cruel smile playing on Voldemort face and bent down to crawl over to the Dark Lord and kissed the hem of his robes in gratitude.

"Y-yes m-my L-lor-d" Peter whispered.

A/N- soooooooo not a week like I said in my last update and I am so sorry! Now before you all find out where I live and kill me with dull pitch forks let me say this- I am so so so so so so so so so a million times over sorry I didn't update for over a year! The reason why I haven't is because this story (as much as I love it) has been giving me crazy writers block. I had he first two pages done when I uploaded the last chapter but I haven't been able to write anything other than that. I went onto this page so many times to get ideas and try to get something to flow from my head down to the keyboard but for months it was futile. I got in a hundred words maybe every once in a while but nothing solid. It wasn't until a week ago that I was able to continue and I just kept writing every chance I got. This chapter is a solid 24 pages which is my longest chapter yet for this story and I promise you that I will do my best to keep it up even though posts may be slow. I will never abandon this story no matter what!

Answers to my reviews

There weren't really many questions in the reviews. I know I may have answered a few of them in this chapter so there is nothing to do here. I will however bring in the Longbottoms but I'm not sure on when. And yes I did read the prequel with James and Sirius and I loved it!

Like I said before I am really sorry for not updating in so long and I hope you all forgive me for it. I promise I won't ever abandon this story as well as any of my others even though updates maybe slow.

Now 54 reviews, 2 communities, 58 favorites, 82 alerts and 8,449 hit total. I have to say I love you guys so much and to whoever is reading this now I am thrilled that despite the fact that this hasn't been updated in so long you are still reading. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I hope this chapter hold up to your standards because I'm really nervous on how it turned out. Let me know what you think! love ya!