Angels In Waiting

Angels in Waiting

by: xdarkxeyesxsadxsoulx

***

We camped out on the living room floor. In our old sleeping bags, by a make-believe magical fire...

Sirius Black paused on the steps of his childhood home. Grimmauld place. He felt so bitter upon returning. He almost wished he had stayed in Azkaban... But Harry would visit soon. That might help things a little. Harry. He was so different from James, but he looked so much like him... every time he thought of Harry, he got a big image of James grinning up at him... The memories that flooded back were so painful, yet he couldn't resist falling into them, into their will. He could hear the three young children's laughter as they raced up these same stairs, ready for another adventure, twenty years earlier...

''Remus! Sirius! Help me with this food will ya? I can't carry all these Every Flavor Beans alone!"

''Come on, James, you know you're the strongest one of us all!" Remus' young, laughing face swam dizzyingly in Sirius' mind.

"Speak for yourself, Rem!" The young Sirius ran over to James and hoisted the whole sack into his own arms. "Look at this strength, will ya? Observe my amazing muscles at work, lifting this pitifully light bag."

James and Remus exchanged looks, then dumped their sleeping bags on top of Sirius' heavy pile. Laughing maniacally, the two boys ran into the house, leaving Sirius behind, struggling with all their stuff.

''Hey guys, come back! That's not fair, I was just kidding around! Come on, this isn't funny. Oof! James, what do you have in here, bricks?"

The picture of his mother yelled at him to be quiet, that he was stupid, and his friends were pathetic.

He promptly told it to shut up about his friends, and went to join them, so happy they were there, the picture's insults meant nothing to him. If only he could say the same about his real mother. But James and Remus liked him...so that meant they saw something in him worth it, even if his own mother didn't. He didn't need her. He was gonna be okay.

He had his best friends.

In a tent made of covers, we'd talk for hours. My two brothers and me.

''Okay, fine, but next time YOU have to be Grindelwald and I get to be Dumbledore!" Sirius grabbed his toy wand and pointed it threateningly at Remus' stuffed mongoose Larry.

'' Don't move, Dumbledore, or the mongoose gets it!" He grabbed Larry around the middle and started backing slowly out of the tent. Remus formed a mock-horrified expression on his face. Sirius looked around suspiciously and said, "Hey, where's Jam -- AAAAAAAAAARGH!!''

Sirius was knocked flat by the force of James tackling him from behind.

"Long live Dumbledore!" Remus screamed before he, too, joined the tangle on the ground.

The three ended up giggling uncontrollably on the floor. James sat up and looked at his best friends, his brothers, and said, "We'll always be best friends, won't we? Nothing could ever split us up!"

Remus, Sirius, and James knelt solemnly next to their makeshift tent and made a vow, a promise that could never be broken.

When they finished their secret handshake, Sirius and Remus sat silently with their eyes closed, obviously tired from all this playing. James took this most convenient moment to smash pumpkin pasties in both their faces. "HA!" Sirius sputtered in surprise and then. with a mischievous glint in his eyes and an evil grin on his lips he screamed these words at the top of his lungs, "Food fight!!"

They wouldn't be yelled at by Sirius' mother for a long while; she was happy to have him out of the house, and it was quite sound-proof in the backyard.

Keeping the faith, racing with destiny. With us were the angels...

The grown up Sirius sat down on his porch, resigned to the fact that he was going to be forced to re-live his past whether he wanted to or not... He saw an older version of himself, and a more frightened version of James...

''Sirius, he's coming closer. I can feel it. I can't keep Lily and Harry safe by myself much longer." James a man who could fill an entire house with his presence, with his magic, with his spirit and cheer, and yet he paced nervously, not with his usual mischievous grin in place, in Sirius' living room.

''Why didn't Remus come?" Sirius asked angrily. "I told him we would need him tonight."

James placed his hands on Sirius' shoulders and shook him gently. "Sirius, look at the moon."

This was all the explanation Sirius needed.

''You need to go into hiding," Sirius said.

''Thank you, Captain Obvious," James snapped. He stopped pacing and turned to his son's godfather. "Sirius, I'm sorry. I'm just so scared for my family... Snivellus keeps saying that Voldemort is getting more and more into trying to kill my little Harr--" He couldn't finish. The thought that someone would try to kill his son, all for some damn prophecy--

Tears filled his eyes, as he choked off, and tears welled up in Sirius's eyes, just at the sight of his usually proud friend this close to tears. He wrapped his arms around James tightly, and the two hugged, as no lesser men could have done, and James resumed his pacing, wiping his eyes self-consciously as he went.

''What about Albus' plan? Why don't you use him as your Secret Keeper? Voldemort would never be able to find you or your family...''

James shook his head. "Too risky. He knows that Lily and I would trust our secrets to Albus . . . it's too obvious."

Sirius took a deep breath and said, "I'll do it." James opened his mouth to object, but Sirius spoke over him. "James, I'm going to do it whether you like it or not. You're my best friend, you and Remus are like my brothers, and Harry is my godson. I am not going to sit around and let Voldemort kill you. We made a vow, remember? And I intend to keep it."

James a tear off his cheek and nodded. "Sirius, if this doesn't work you could end up de--"

''It will work!!" Sirius interrupted fiercely.

If it doesn't, and both Lily and I..." James could barely breathe past the lump in his throat. Sirius openly had tears streaming down his face, but no noise was able to come out. "If Lily and I don't make it through this, swear to me that you'll take care of Harry." He grabbed Sirius by the arms. "Promise me that, please Sirius, promise me that."

Sirius looked up into James' intense and desperate eyes. His chest felt like it was going to explode; he felt the dead weight of dread settling into his heart, and he knew this one thing he must promise, for James and himself. "I swear," he whispered.

Later the switch of secret keepers was made. Peter would be the keeper, as Sirius would be the one everyone suspected.

They were angels in waiting. Waiting for wings to fly from this world. Away from their pain. Treasuring time, 'til time came to leave leaving behind only sweet memories. They were Angels in waiting, angels in waiting for wings.

The whispers came early in the morning.

''The Potters? God no, please not Lily and James--"

''What about the baby? Harry? They say he's survived. They say that little boy survived You-Know-Who's attack--"

But Sirius heard none of it, for he was already hunting the traitor down. His anguish was too great to describe, even too great to feel. Instead of a broken heart, it felt more like someone had ripped his still beating heart out of his body, leaving a numb and gaping hole.

''No...'' he whispered, he screamed into the wind. "Peter Pettigrew WILL pay for this," he thought fiercely. "If it's the last thing I ever do, I will kill that man."

Sirius' promise to James was left unfulfilled for more thirteen or fourteen years...

They always knew they'd never grow old. Sometimes the body is weaker than the soul. In their darkest hour, I made a promise I will always keep. I'll give them light, I'll let them live through me. They were angels in waiting, angels in waiting, angels in the wind...

They were angels in waiting, waiting for wings to fly from the world. Away from their pain. Treasuring time, 'til time came to leave leaving behind only sweet memories. Angels in waiting, angels in waiting for wings.

They were angels in waiting, angels in waiting for me...

El Fin