Give Me Your Hand

.~*~. Give Me Your Hand .~*~.

Chapter One

The Night of Death

****

"I have a bad feeling about this night."

Remus glanced up from his book. "Why so, love?" he asked, looking at his husband over his small reading glasses that James always thought to be cute.

James shook his head, looking distracted. "I can't explain it," he murmured, continuing to nervously pace the room. "Something just doesn't feel right." He stopped and looked at Remus through his glasses. "You know that feeling, don't you? When something is nagging in the back of your mind, and you can't quite get a grip on it, and yet you know something is wrong."

"I know." Remus took away his glasses, placing them on the little table next to the armchair along with his book. He stood and walked to the dark-haired man, then closed him into a warm embrace. "You're worried," he said quietly, one of his hands tracing the line of James's jaw while his other arm stayed on his husband's waist. "About Peter and Lily, right?"

"Right," James said quietly. Then he sighed, and shook his head slowly. "I just can't help feeling that something might not be right with them," he confessed. "That something is going terribly, horribly wrong."

"How could that be?" Remus said with a slight chuckle. "They're protected by the Fidelius Charm, love. You of all the people should know that. You're their Secret Keeper yourself!"

James shrugged, turning his face away from Remus. "I still don't feel well about it," he said quietly.

Remus frowned. This was very unlike James. His husband was never this serious, never this worried. Even when the Fidelius had been performed and Lily, Peter, and little Harry had gone to hiding, he'd been joking and fooling around like he'd still been a teenager. It wasn't stupidity, no; Remus knew his lover better than that. It was James's way to keep all troubles away: to shut them out of himself and cover them with all that schoolboy act. He simply didn't want to face his fears, hardly even confessed that he had them at all.

Remus didn't like it, of course. He thought that James should face his worries and get over with them, so they wouldn't trouble him anymore. But he knew that he would never say that to his husband, since he loved James too much to ever try to break the barricades in his mind, behind which he felt safe.

Now James was himself breaking those barricades, and this worried Remus more than anything.

At last, the bespectacled man couldn't stand it anymore. "I'll go to check on them," he replied to Remus's worried question as of why exactly he was putting on his cloak. "No, don't come with me," he then replied the werewolf's next question. "I have a bad feeling that something is indeed wrong over there, and I don't want to endanger you."

"If there truly is a danger," Remus said, not believing it himself but going along with his husband's train of thought, "wouldn't it be better if I was there, with you, than sitting here all on my lonesome self? After all, if there truly were Death Eaters there, and they managed to beat you, this would be the next place they'd come to. And I'd be all alone." He followed James to the out door, as the other wizard seemingly wasn't listening to him at all.

Giving him a bit sad smile, James shook his head. "Still," he said. "Stay here, love. I'll come back in a minute." With that, he leant forward to give his husband a quick peck on the lips.

Remus watched as the man he loved more than anything walked quietly out of the wards surrounding their house before Disapparating. Neither of them knew that it was the last time they'd see each other for almost nine years.

*

It wasn't long after James had left, an hour at most even though it had felt like forever, when Remus heard somebody knocking on the door. Drawing his wand, he walked to the out door, fear and hope mixing in his heart. Seeing a familiar, white-bearded form in the mirror next to the door that showed whoever was at the door. Lowering his wand a bit but not letting go of it, he opened the door.

"Remus," Dumbledore said with a gloomy voice, "I'm afraid I have very bad news for you."

Remus's heart missed a beat. "What it is, Headmaster?" he asked, forcing his voice to stay even. Since when had Dumbledore been sad or worried about anything?

"I'm afraid," the old wizard said, drawing a deep breath, "I'm truly afraid that Lily and Peter... are dead."

Now, the werewolf just stared at him, his jaw hanging open.

"As much as this shocks you, you have the right to know," continued the Headmaster. "James told the secret to Voldemort... The Dark Lord went to their cottage just a couple of hours ago. The Pettigrews stood no change against him."

"And... What about Harry?" Remus asked quietly.

"He's alive." With a swift movement, the old wizard moved his cloak behind his back, revealing his other arm. There was a small bundle on his arm. Harry Pettigrew.

Remus blinked rapidly a couple of times, as much to keep tears away as in surprise over the news. Then he asked, "But... How is that possible?"

Even greater his surprise grew, however, as Dumbledore handed the baby to him. "It seems that Peter gave his own life for his son, thus shielding little Harry from Voldemort," Dumbledore said, and suddenly Remus noticed just how old the wizard looked. "Somehow, this defeated the Dark Lord. You're Peter's cousin, not to mention one of Harry's Godfathers. It'd be best if you took care of him."

"But... What about the full moons?" Remus asked darkly. "I can't have a baby around. Harry's not my biological child, so the wolf won't recognize him as its cub. He won't be safe."

"Don't worry about that," Dumbledore advised gently. "I'm sure that Sirius and Severus will be willing to take care of him the couple of days around full moons so you'll have enough time to prepare for the transformation and recover from it."

"Good." Remus nodded slowly. He then glanced down at the sleeping baby in his arms. Harry slept peacefully, his tiny, dark brows frowning in his sleep. A little, jagged scar marked his forehead, shaped like a lightning bolt. "So... I suppose I'll just have to deal with you from now on, little one," he said gently to his friend's son.

"So it seems," Dumbledore said with a smile. Then he turned serious again. "Remus, I know this might upset you, but... We'll have to put this house under the Fidelius until James has been caught. He might come to search for little Harry, and I'm afraid that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt even you in order to get to the boy."

"I understand," the young wizard said quietly, tears finally appearing into his amber eyes. "I wish to Merlin it wasn't so, but I do understand."

Nodding slowly, Dumbledore bade his goodbyes. Then he turned around, walked a couple of steps, and Disapparated.

With a heavy sigh, Remus turned around, going inside the house. The baby on his arms let out a quiet, sleepy sound, then calmed down again.

*