Beyond the Lake

Chapter Thirteen

***

An owl flew in to their bedroom, and began to peck James until he placed a Knut into its pouch. At that, he felt a newspaper land on his head and he got up, groaning.

"What is it now?" asked Lily grumpily.

"That stupid owl. Go back to sleep, I'll go downstairs and make breakfast."

"Please don't. I don't feel like eating your cooking. I'll do it."

"Whatever you say," he said, relieved that he didn't have to cook.

So instead, he walked down to the living room and plopped down on the sofa, while unrolling The Daily Prophet. There wasn't really anything interesting, except for the continuing acts of Bartemus Crouch.

"Damn."

"What?" asked Lily, coming in from the kitchen.

"Crouch again. He's thrown another soul into Azkaban without a trial."

"That idiot. But can you really blame him?"

"Of course I can. He's being ridiculous."

"But Dumbledore suspects plenty of spies for Voldemort. We can't really be too careful."

"How can you say that when it could be Remus, or Peter, or Alice, or Sirius, or-"

"Alright, I get the point!"

"Hello all!" shouted Sirius from the fireplace. "Only three words today: Dumbledore, Hogwarts, now."

"See you there!"

***

All three had arrived in Dumbledore's office, but with no sign of the Headmaster.

"Why are we here?" Lily asked Sirius.

" Dumbledore needs us. He said it was urgent, Order matter."

"It's probably just the Fidelus Charm. He's been nagging us about that lately."

Wait. Did this mean that Voldemort was after them- now? "Sirius, is Voldemort, does he-"

"I don't know! Let's just wait for Dumbledore and deal with things from there!"

"Welcome Lily, Sirius, James" said Dumbledore, who looked slightly relieved as he walked into his office. "That was a close call, and the Charm needs to be performed now."

"Why? What happened?" asked Lily, alarmed.

"Death Eaters were on the move, most likely to capture you," replied Dumbledore.

"How can you say that so calmly?" she asked, now more than just alarmed.

"Because it's over and we'll perform the Charm now," said James. Then he turned to Dumbledore and asked, "Has he marked Harry as his equal now?"

"No, as he did not come, his Death Eaters did," answered Dumbledore. "But I think we should perform the Charm soon, preferably now."

***

It had been less than two days since the Charm was performed, and Sirius was over yet again. The conversations had nothing to do with Voldemort until Sirius decided to bring it up.

"Voldemort has been so quiet since we performed the Charm. You'd think he'd be desperately searching for us," he said, out-of-the-blue. "Do you think we should do something maybe, you know, to throw him off?"

"What do you mean, Padfoot?"

"Like a bluff or something."

"You mean like switching Secret-Keepers?" asked Lily.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Sirius. "But make it someone who he'd never expect, someone like..."

"Peter?" asked James, so far liking this idea.

"That's perfect! Voldemort would never go after Peter. I mean, I'm the obvious choice, but Peter... he'd never guess!"

"What do you think, Lily?'

"I don't know. Weren't you paying attention to what Dumbledore said and is still saying? There's a spy around."

"And do you honestly think it's Peter?" asked Sirius skeptically.

"It could be anyone."

"Look, Lily, maybe Sirius is right. It is a little weird that we haven't heard anything, and he only tried one thing since Harry was born." He had already convinced himself of the idea. But he couldn't imagine why Lily seemed so unsure of it.

***

She was about to answer James when Harry's cries announced that he had woken from his nap. "Let me run up and get Harry, then we can continue this conversation," she said to the two Marauders.

She headed upstairs thinking of Sirius' proposition. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, but she just couldn't help doubting it. There was the issue about a spy and she couldn't think of bluffing; she had to think about Harry.

"Mummy," stated Harry.

"Hello, sweetheart. Want to go downstairs and see Uncle Sirius?"

"No," his first and favorite word.

"Yes. Don't you want to see Sirius?"

"Si-Sir," he still couldn't get Sirius' name.

"Sir-I-us, darling, or Padfoot, if that's any easier," she added rather sarcastically as she picked him up and walked downstairs.

"Daddy!" he shouted upon seeing James.

"Harry!" James said as he took him from her. "Say 'Hi' to Sirius."

"Sir..." he struggled with the name again.

"Don't hurt yourself," said Sirius, ruffling the small clump of already raven-black hair on Harry's head.

With a loud bang, Remus Lupin entered the room.

"Moony! I didn't know you were coming!" exclaimed James.

"Dumbledore said all of you might be here, so I decided to join you."

"All of the Marauders, except Peter," said Sirius reminiscently.

"Have you heard from him lately, Moony?"

"Not really, but that goes the same for you guys, except Sirius," Remus answered, looking around the room. "Harry! You've grown since I last saw you. And the hair makes you look more like James already. Poor thing."

"Hey, watch it."

"Yes, it is a good thing he has Lily's eyes, otherwise it would all be hopeless," added Sirius.

"Can we please stop insulting both my husband and my son, no matter how true the comments may be?"

"Fine," chimed Sirius and Remus.

From then on, neither Secret-Keepers nor Voldemort were mentioned for the day, much to Lily's relief.

***