Make No Mistake

Prologue:

I'm sure by now, everyone knows the story. They know how James and Lily Potter lived, had their son, and they died, so tragically. They know, also, how I betrayed them. The story was recently made well known by the Prophet, thinking it would somehow convince the Ministry that their actions were in err by their proclamations of my innocence, and my restatement in the Auror Task Force.

Only two problems. They forget I never betrayed them to start with, and the true traitor has had his soul kissed away. Good riddence to bad rubbish, as they say. The other thing, is that I never would have betrayed James or Lily.

If Hope Foster still worked for the Prophet, none of this would have been printed. It would have met the shreds long before it caught the editor's attention. It was her way. Good thing I'm here to set the story right.

Make no mistake about this. I loved James Potter. I loved him so much I would have set my life on the line for him, and did, more times than I can even begin to count. I loved him so that I would find a way to live for him, when he could not. I loved him enough to break out of Azkaban to fulfill my promises to him. He and I, we loved like brothers, tumbling like littermates in the same pack from our first words, almost. He and I, we loved like lovers, as well, flipping between the two so swiftly it was nearly dizzying.

I never forgot that love, even when he moved on and fell madly in love with Lily Evans. I blessed them both, stood up for them at their wedding, was blissfully happy for them. I never forgot that love, and neither did Remus. Oh, yes, you are aware by now, as well, of the fact that I am lifebonded by choice to a werewolf, but what isn't known is that we both bonded ourselves with James.

It was something sacred, something special, and something that never wholly went away.

Remus had it the most difficult of all of us. He lost James, and then he lost me to Azkaban. He disagrees, saying that at least he could walk free. We bickered about it for close to two years, after our reunion about a year after my escape from Azkaban, when we could spare the time. We clung together, and the love that never really went away, it was still there, with the need for adjustments. I don't think either of us expected for it to be even as easy as it was, but lifebonds can be convenient like that.

Then, as it's been made public, the Auror Task Force recently made a suggested raid on the private residence of Severus Snape. I was lead of that team, with Remus as my back-up, as things had always been when we worked together.

The last thing I expected was what actually awaited us at that raid.