The Last Marauder

Decision

Peter Pettigrew ran towards the Forbidden Forest as fast as his four little feet would allow him. His master would be very pleased with the news he was about to deliver.

Harry Potter suffering from the Cruciatus Curse every time Voldemort used it to kill, if that was not news worth a reward he knew not what was.

When he had reached the little landing where the two owls waited for him he transformed into human form again, quickly wrote everything he had heard down on a parchment, used the disguise charm Voldemort himself had taught him for that purpose and sent one of the owls off.

Now, he decided, it was time for some sleep. He'd return into the broom cabin he spent his time in, if his master has new instructions he would get to know no matter where he was.

Harry stirred.

"Sirius?"

"Don't talk. You need rest now."

"What..."

"Shhh. Sleep now. You really need rest."

"Sirius, what has happened?"

Sirius sighed. That boy could be very persisting if he wanted to know something.

"You've had another fit, just like the day before you returned to Hogwarts. It's been worse this time, you'll need some time to recover."

"Another attack?"

"Yes. But I don't know anything further and you should really sleep now. Please."

Sirius sounded pleading now. Harry nodded and closed his eyes again, immediately falling asleep. Sirius watched him for a long time, lost in his thoughts. He had not been there this morning but he remembered quite clearly the pain Harry had been in the last time he had suffered from the curse. And this time it had lasted twice as long. From all that he could tell this experience had really weakened Harry and though he obviously didn't suffer from the full extend of the curse, Sirius knew that he could not stand this pain for much longer than he had done today.

He could not allow Voldemort to do this to his godson again, 'No', he reminded himself, 'not my godson but in front of law he is my son now.' And he surely loved Harry as if he was his own son.

A decision formed in his mind. If it was necessary to stop the torture, he would take the required means even if he didn't like them. He would help Dumbledore with his plan. He could not let Harry's suffering go on like that.

An hour later the headmaster came into the Hospital wing and after he had looked after Harry Sirius gestured him towards a spot out of earshot from Harry.

"Dumbledore, I have thought about what you suggested last night. Though I still don't like the idea, I can't let Harry suffer like this and if participating in your plan promises even a little help I'm more than willing to do it. I will let Voldemort know that I want to have my revenge for Remus, you were right, this is the only way we have right now to get the information we need."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Don't think that the decision was easy for me Sirius, it wasn't. But Harry will be in Hogwarts and he will be under my protection here, there's no way that we will really deliver him. And considering his current state every action against Voldemort might be an improvement for him. But we're not going to do anything today or tomorrow. Let Harry rest, explain it to him when he wakes up again. I will talk to Severus. Let's meet tomorrow afternoon in my office, then we can make a plan."

"Okay."

Dumbledore nodded and left the Hospital wing and Sirius took his place at Harry's side once more. Little did they know that they were already running out of time...

Voldemort was indeed very pleased when he received that owl from Wormtail. He had not thought that the creepy little rat would be clever enough to gather such valuable information, but sometimes people could even surprise him. He immediately summoned Lucius Malfoy who arrived only minutes later.

"Master" He fell to his knees.

"Get up Lucius, I don't have time to watch you creeping around worshipping me. I've received rather interesting news from Wormtail. But first I need your report.

Tell me, how many did we kill this morning?"

Lucius, slightly caught off guard by this sudden change of topic thought for a moment before he answered.

"Thirty-three. All wizards, though none of the high-ranking at all. I mean none of those few who are not already working for us."

Voldemort nodded and smiled. Attacking the Ministry of Magic had been a brilliant idea, it was the place nobody would have expected them to strike next. Protection had been very poor indeed.

"You do remember that I used the Cruciatus Curse on one of those Aurors, what was his name...Fletcher? Used it until he was dead."

Lucius nodded.

"Well, what Wormtail reported me this morning is that, out of reasons that are not important now, the Potter boy suffers from the curse every time I use it to kill. And judging from how long it has taken to blow out Fletcher's candle, it most certainly has not been a very pleasant morning for Potter."

He gave Malfoy a grin.

"You know what that means?"

"No master, I'm afraid not."

"I should have guessed that. It means that they will surely act very soon. Dumbledore surely can't stand his precious little Potter suffering like that. I would bet that this traitor Snape will offer me Black, pretending to long for revenge for that werewolf. They really consider me that stupid Lucius, imagine that! And that will be their downfall. As I said, Dumbledore puts his trust into the wrong people. Snape is like an open book to me and Black cannot play stupid with me either.

What I need now is Potter and your son will be of help there. I need him to do something for me, something very important. Can you assure me that he won't fail?"

"He will be more than glad to be of help, rest assure. He won't dare to object, not that I would see the danger that he would. Just tell me, I have means to inform him without anybody finding out."

"I thought so much Lucius, that sounds like you. Now, listen carefully..."

"Mr. Weasley, may I have a word with you?"

Professor McGonagall had opened the door to the Charms classroom and gestured Ron to follow her. He shrugged a gesture of ignorance at Hermione and then followed the deputy headmistress who led him into Gryffindor Common room. Much to his surprise, Ginny, Fred and George were already sitting there.

"Please sit down Mr. Weasley. I have to inform you about something and I think it is better you get to know it now and not later by rumour."

"What's wrong?"

You already know that there has been a Death Eater attack which caused Harry to collapse this morning. What you don't know yet is...that is has been the Ministry of Magic that has been attacked."

Ron swallowed hard against the lump of fear that built up in his throat.

"There have been deaths but I can reassure you that none of your family members is amongst them."

Ron breathed out heavily.

"However, your father has received some minor injuries which were treated at St. Mungo's, but he should be fine by now again. Your brother Percy was stunned and received a minor head injury when he hit his desk with his head.

But...your eldest brother Bill has been there as well. For all that I know he wanted to meet there with your father and got involved into the fight. He's been put under Cruciatus and he received some nasty hexes and curses, none of it life threatening alone, but combined it makes his state a matter of concern. He still is unconscious and it will surely take some time for him to recover."

Seeing four pairs of eyes widened in fear in front of her, she gave them a short smile.

"Don't worry, as I was told his life is not in danger. However, your parents want you to come to St. Mungo's immediately. I've prepared a portkey which will take you there, you don't need to pack your stuff, I'll have it sent to the Burrow this evening. I'll inform your friends about it."

The three boys nodded, all too stunned by the news to say anything. Ginny started crying, Bill was very dear to her. He was the eldest brother and she was the youngest sibling, he had always been the role model for her. George reacted fastest and pulled her towards his chest.

"Don't cry Gin. You've seen Bill with that mummy three years ago, if he could deal with that nasty thing then some bloody curses are nothing to worry about. He'll wake up soon out of the fear that Mom cuts his hair while he's passed out."

This statement forced a little smile from Ginny and while she tried to wipe away her tears she didn't catch the glance the twins exchanged before grabbing the portkey. But Ron did. The twins were concerned and if there was one thing that could scare the living daylight out of Ron then it was the fact that his always so cheerful and optimistic brothers were concerned about something.

The rise of Voldemort and the attacks of the Death Eaters had gained a new quality to the Weasleys. Voldemort's followers had crossed a line, they had dared to attack members of the Weasley family. His father, Percy or Bill could have been killed that morning!

Ron quickly put that thought aside, he didn't dare to think about it. This was one of the things he had always feared most, though he had never admitted that to himself. Sure, Percy was an annoying git most of the time and Bill was not even home for most of the year but they were his brothers. He loved them, not matter what. All of them.

Ron shook his head. He needed to get his mind clear now, there was no use in asking 'what if' questions. He wanted to see his family now.

He grabbed the portkey as well and soon felt the well-know tickling behind his stomach which indicated that they were on their way.

Harry was recovering a lot faster than anybody had imagined him to do. At noon the next day he could already walk around in the infirmary though Madam Pomfrey threw a fit when she caught him doing so.

Professor McGonagall had informed him about Ron's father and his brothers shortly after the Weasley children had left and Harry had been very concerned indeed. But at breakfast that morning Pig had flown into the hospital wing (at which Madam Pomfrey had thrown her first fit of the day) and had delivered a note from Ron which said that the doctors expected Bill to recover fully within a fortnight. He had woken up for a short time during the night and one of his first fears indeed, after asking about his brother and father of course, had been whether Molly had dared to touch his hair. This incident seemed to have relieved Ron a lot. Harry knew that he would have never admitted how dear his siblings, even Percy, were to him but Harry had seen them together so often and he knew exactly that one of them dying would cause Ron pain he could not imagine.

But there was something else that bothered him deeply.

Sirius had told him about his plans to pretend that he wanted to deliver Harry in order to get revenge for Remus that morning. Though he had told Sirius that he was fine with the decision if Sirius thought that he had to take the risk, deep inside he didn't want him to go. He actually had a very bad feeling about Sirius delivering himself to Voldemort, the whole plan felt...wrong.

He had told Sirius this and his godfather had only nodded.

"I know", he had said, "and I feel the same. But fact is that we need information about Voldemort's plans, otherwise we cannot prevent further attacks. And this at the moment seems to be our only possibility to gather that information. I promise I'll be careful. Let's just wait what Dumbledore and Snape have developed, then we'll see."

Then he had left to meet the headmaster and Snape and he had not returned yet.

Harry shook his head and forced down a spoonful broth before Madam Pomfrey would throw her third fit of the day because he refused eating. Actually he was quite hungry, he had not eaten anything since dinner two nights ago for he had been sleeping most of the past day, but somehow he could not manage to focus on eating. Too many thoughts were running through his head.

"Posing for a portrait, are we?"

Harry looked up and saw the smiling face of his godfather beside him. He had neither realized that Sirius had stepped beside the bed nor had he realized that his hand, still holding the spoon, had come to rest halfway between the bowl and his mouth. He smiled.

"Yeah, it's called 'Potter in bed with spoon'."

"Would look good on the mantelpiece above the fireplace."

Sirius sat down on the edge of the bed and his expression changed from smiling to serious.

"How has your meeting with Snape and Dumbledore been?"

Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

"As far as I can guess both like the idea as little as we do. Voldemort might ask himself why I want revenge now that Moony is dead for nearly two months. As far as the plan is concerned...well, the problem is we don't have a plan and we can hardly develop any. Snape will inform some of his contacts tonight that he thinks I am furious enough now to betray you in order to get my revenge. Then we can only wait, if they react he'll contact me.

I can't change it, I still have a bad feeling about it. This 'plan' is too obvious, I don't think that Voldemort will fall in for it. I just can't imagine. But maybe we can gather information even if things turn out other than we imagine them to do."

Slowly, Harry nodded.

"Just be careful, please promise."

Sirius took his hand.

"Listen Harry, I would not do it if there was any other possibility, you know that. Chances are not very good that we receive the information we need but we simply have to try. We cannot watch people get killed at random anymore, we need to know what Voldemort is up to.

But I have a very bad feeling of leaving you alone because if I don't come back you again won't have a family. That's what worries me most. I have talked to Dumbledore about it and made him promise that no matter what happens you won't return to the Dursleys. If things go wrong and I don't come back you'll stay with the Weasleys if they agree."

Harry swallowed hard. Of course he had thought about the possibility that Sirius could be killed, but hearing it spoken out had a totally different quality. He pressed Sirius' hand tightly.

"Just come back. If you realize that it goes wrong don't play hero please. Just try to come back."

Sirius nodded.

"I promise. But let's quit that, nothing will happen tonight, I won't leave before tomorrow. How was your day, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, really. Hermione was here this afternoon and now that we know that Bill is doing better it's a relief. She'll come back tomorrow if I'm still here then. Nothing else has happened except from Madam Pomfrey throwing fits at anything I do. But she has told me that I can leave tomorrow morning if I eat enough and take a Dreamless Sleep Potion after I've finished eating."

Sirius nodded.

"That's a relief. If you want, I'll stay here tonight."

Harry said nothing but pressed Sirius' hand again. Sirius got up.

"Good. Finish eating, I'll get that potion for you."

He got up and went towards Madam Pomfrey's office while Harry spooned down the last bit of the broth. After some moments Sirius returned and handed Harry a goblet with the potion. Harry drank it, made a face at the taste and lay back on his pillow. He closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.

Sirius sighed and brushed some strands of Harry's hair from his forehead. The bandage had been removed this morning and his scar had returned nearly to its normal state. It was still a little swollen and had a deeper red than usual but it didn't cause Harry any pain anymore.

Sirius took Harry's hand once again and did something he had not done for a very long time. He prayed.

Sirius had never been a very religious person but that night he begged any god he knew to turn things towards the better. Not for him, but for Harry. It took him a long time to fall asleep that night.

The next morning Harry woke up and realized that Sirius was not sitting by his side anymore. His heart started beating frantically. He could not have left without saying good bye, could he? But he had been sleeping and maybe Sirius had had to leave immediately...but what if he would never see him again?

His mind was still fogged from the potion as he tried to get out of bed, so he stumbled over his shoes and fell. Just before his head hit the floor a pair of arms grabbed him by the shoulders and moved him into an upright position again.

"Harry, what exactly are you doing here?"

"Sirius? You were not there when I woke up and I thought that you had already left. I wanted to see if I could catch up with you, I thought maybe you had not gone that far and you can't just leave like that I thought at least not without saying good bye..."

Sirius lay a finger across Harry's lips and helped him climbing back into the bed.

"Harry, you're babbling. Calm down, you're breathing as if you had just run a marathon."

He adjusted the blankets around Harry.

"Hey, I would never leave without saying good bye, you know that. Relax. I was just talking to Madam Pomfrey for a short moment and when I came I saw you falling to the floor. I think we won't tell the nurse about this little incident, otherwise she won't give you a clean bill of health."

"I can go?"

Sirius nodded.

"After you have eaten breakfast you may leave. It's already late, nearly noon in fact. We can spend the rest of the day together, you don't have to return to classes today."

Harry looked into Sirius' eyes and suddenly he knew. "You're leaving today."

Again Sirius nodded.

"Yes. Snape has told me that his contacts want to meet me tonight I don't know whether they will take me to Voldemort or not, we'll see. I have to go late afternoon. Now eat you breakfast, we'll talk about it later. I'll be back in half an hour, I have to talk to Dumbledore now."

He ruffled Harry's hair in a helpless gesture and left the room.

'Showtime', Harry thought. 'He'll leave tonight.' A heavy lump started to form in his stomach.

He sighed deeply and started his breakfast.

When Sirius returned Harry was ready to leave. They did not return to Gryffindor Tower however but Sirius took Harry into one of Hogwarts guest rooms.

"Dumbledore thought that maybe we would want to have some time on our own before I have to leave."

"He didn't think that, he knew that. Sometimes he scares me, he always seems to know what is going on in my mind."

Sirius laughed.

"That's true. He could always tell whether I was really guilty when I once more stood in his office with a fuming McGonagall next to me. Well, I think it was not too difficult, most of the times I actually was guilty as accused."

"Sirius, could you do me a favour?"

"Sure."

"Tell me something more about my parents. I know that I have Dad's journal, but you are the last remaining friend of theirs, the only one who can tell me from his own point of view. I want you to tell me something."

Sirius smiled and thought for a moment.

"What do you want to hear? About a prank? No, Lily was hardly ever involved in those and you can read all of them in our journal. Let's see. How about their wedding?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, it was May 28^th 1979 in Mayfield, a town in East Sussex. The Marauders had thrown a party for James two nights before and we were still quite...tired from it. Okay, I admit it, tired is not the right way to put it. I swear I've never had such a hangover before. I would have overslept had Remus not woken me up in time.

It was a beautiful day and the service took place in a small church at the edge of town. When Remus and I arrived there, James was already pacing up and down the aisle. He checked everything over and over again and he was nervous as hell. Really, I've never seen him like this before. He was actually really scared that Lily had changed her mind and would not show up. I know this sounds stupid, but he was frantic that something could go wrong.

When I saw him like this I decided not to pretend that I had lost the rings as I had intended to do. For the first time since I knew him he was in no mood for a prank.

Remus and I did our best to comfort him but without any effect, on the contrary, it only made him more nervous. In the end we were close to giving him a tranquilizer, believe me. Then the Minister told us to get started, all the guests were there, so James took his place at the altar with Remus and Peter and I walked out to bring the maid of honour to the altar.

I don't know what drugs your Mom had taken when she had made that decision, but she had talked your aunt into being her maid of honour and that nasty git nearly spoiled everything. First of all, she was late. And during the last preparations outside of the church she complained about everything. She obviously thought that marrying a wizard was bad enough, marrying with a party consisting nearly only of wizards made her throw a real fit. She even refused to take my arm at first and it took all my charm and one of my famous thousand-candles smiles to finally make her. I think she was just pissed off because your uncle had refused to come at all.

We walked down the aisle and I stepped and stood beside your father. Just before the organist started the music he hissed at me that if I'd try to play any prank on him during the service he would hex me into next year without hesitation."

He laughed.

"Your father always knew me too well and I could never convince him that I had given up that idea on my own.

Then your mother came down the aisle with her father. She was...beautiful, there is no word to describe it better. You have pictures from the wedding, just look at them. That dress she wore, her hair, her face, but especially her eyes. She was sparkling all over, it was unbelievable.

I realized that James was close to tears, I think he could not believe his luck himself.

The service was just wonderful. I can't remember that I've ever heard two people saying their vows with such a passion, such a feeling of being destined to be together. I mean, there was a war going on out there and here they were, declaring their love for each other in a way that you believed nobody and nothing could ever tear those two apart. There are no words to describe that. If anybody had earned something like that it was them, even if it didn't last as long as we all would have wished. I don't remember that much from the party, though. But the fact that your father didn't kill me on the spot must mean that I have not embarrassed anybody in my 'state'.

At the end of November that year your father visited me in my flat one day. I was quite surprised because he had not told me that he would come over. At first I thought that he had had a fight with your mother because he didn't seem to be himself somehow. But I soon realized that he would not be hopping around in my kitchen with a mad smile on his face if he had just had a fight with Lily. I really didn't know what he was up to and it took some awfully long minutes before he was able to say something at all. I really thought that he had gone mad. Or that Lily had practiced a weird new charm. I made him sit down, gave him a cup of tea and struggled hard against the urge to test what an additional Cheering Charm might do to him in that situation. Then he told me.

'Sirius, you won't believe it.'

'What?' was all that I repeated and he beamed even more.

'We're having a baby! Lily is pregnant! I'm going to become a father!'

There are no words to describe it, he was just so happy, and so was I. If I could depict any of us as a father then it was James. He hugged me so tight, he nearly broke my ribs and then he continued dancing around in the kitchen. He was - overexcited by the idea, he had always talked about having a Quidditch Team of children at home.

It took a while for him to calm down again. But now that he had finished with hopping around, he started babbling.

'I can hardly wait until he's born. I'll teach him all he needs to know. Flying, Quidditch, becoming an animagus if he wants to, some useful hexes for the Slytherins, marauding...he will be a great Marauder, Sirius, you know?'

'Just one question James.'

'Yes?'

'You talked about him.'

'It's a boy! The doctor told Lils just this morning! I'm going to have a son!'

But if I thought that James was nervous on the day of his wedding or on the day he told me that Lily was pregnant, believe me it was nothing compared to the day when you were born.

I had just come home from work and flung myself onto the sofa when an owl flew in. The note it carried consisted only of three words.

St. Mungo's. Now!

I didn't know what was going on and I thought that maybe something was going wrong with the birth so I immediately apparated to the hospital. Peter and Remus arrived shortly afterwards. We found James in the waiting room where he was pacing up and down.

We asked him whether anything was wrong and he told us that Lily had thrown him out of the delivery room because he was driving her insane with his nervousness. It was really hard not to break into a laughing fit that moment. So we did everything we could to distract your poor father. We brought him some tea and something to eat, discussed the latest Quidditch results, even played Exploding Snap until the nurse threatened to throw us out of the hospital if we didn't stop making so much noise.

But all the while James was looking at the door of the delivery room. We waited for four hours and just as we were discussing possible names, though we knew that Lily and James had already chosen a name for you, and Remus was trying to hit me because I had suggested to name you 'Jonathan', the door opened and the nurse gestured us in.

Lily only said 'I should have known they are here' but smiled. She looked a little tired but that's all. And in her arms she held you, wrapped in a blanket.

James gave her a kiss and then she handed you to him. I've never seen him so proud before. He held you in his arms, counted your fingers and toes and babbled senseless stuff, crying all the time.

After some minutes he walked towards me, handed you over to me and said 'Sirius, may I introduce Harry James Potter to you.' And there you were. Some strands of black hair standing off in every direction, blue eyes staring curiously at me and all the while you made a face as if you were bursting into tears any moment."

Sirius looked up at Harry.

"I really thought you didn't like me very much. Well, I didn't know what Lily had told you about your father's friends, she never appreciated our pranks very much."

He smiled.

"After some time, Remus and Peter left while your father asked me to stay a little longer. He left you with your mother and went out in the corridor with me. Somehow it seemed to me that something was bothering him, so I waited for him to talk it off his chest.

'Sirius, I have talked to Lily and we want to ask you something. We want to ask you whether you would want to become our Harry's godfather.'

I was startled. I had expected anything but this.

'James, you can't be serious about this. I'm not good with children at all.' That was true, I never knew exactly what to do when somebody handed me a baby or a small child. All of a sudden your father turned serious.

'Sirius, we want to make sure that Harry has somebody who cares for him in case anything happens to us. And with Voldemort out there, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. We want to know that if we are no longer able to take care of our child he will be with somebody who cares for him. With somebody we trust, somebody who will be able to protect him and who will tell him about his parents. The only people we could think of are you and Remus. And the Ministry would never allow him to become our child's guardian. But if you agree, he will grow up with two of our closest friends around, that's all we could wish for him.'

I only nodded and could hardly say yes. James had always had a talent to find my soft spots. Your father beamed.

'Thank you Sirius, this means a lot to Lils and me.'

That's how I became your godfather.

It was a happy day. One of the very little happy days at that time."

Harry sighed and hesitated one moment before he asked what was on his mind.

"Sirius, do you know where my parents are buried?"

If Sirius was surprised by this question, he didn't show. He nodded.

"Yes. In a small graveyard near Godric's Hollow."

"Have you been there?"

"Once. Shortly after my name was cleared."

"Sirius, I want you to take me there when you come back. I want to see their graves. I think I need to do this. I...I need to say good bye."

Sirius nodded.

"I understand. I promise to take you to Godric's Hollow and to their graves as soon as all this is over."

He looked at the clock on the wall.

"It's about time Harry. I have to leave."

He got up and stood in front of Harry then gave him a long hug. They didn't say anything, words were not necessary at that moment.

Sirius once more ruffled Harry's hair, then turned around and opened the door.

"Be careful."

Hearing Harry's words he turned around and forced himself to smile.

"I will."

And he left.

For some long moments, Harry stood in the room and looked at the door. Then he shook his head and walked off towards Gryffindor Tower in order to get his Firebolt. He needed to fly now.

He didn't notice that Draco Malfoy followed him closely.