Now or Never

Chapter One: Hideaway

Flying in from the northeast was a motorcycle, unnoticed by a single resident of the small town and extremely quiet.

Sirius Black had had a tiring ride. He´d never tried riding a motorcycle across an ocean before, and he didn´t think he´d ever try again. Though his beloved vehicle had gone at its top speeds (far above the speed of most vehicles), though the spells on the motorcycle protected him from freezing in the cold winds and his backside from hurting, though Harry had miraculously slept the entire ride, Sirius was still dead tired by the time he landed on the soft green grass of his friend´s back yard.

His fatigue didn´t stop his exuberant nature, however. Even as he nearly fell off his seat, he had a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, even as he nearly tripped over his own feet in his rush to get to the door, he had a bounce in his step.

When he finally reached the front door, he was almost too tired to ring the doorbell. However, once he did ring it, the door was flung open almost immediately.

Standing before him were three people, each staring at him in shock. Sirius gave a shaky grin to the tired family, and put his precious godson in the woman´s arms.

"Hey, guys!" he said cheerfully.

Then he passed out at their feet.

A pair of black eyes slowly opened, and their owner sat up quickly, reeling slightly from the feeling of nausea that hit him when he did so.

"Where´s Harry?" Sirius demanded as soon as he´d gotten control of himself, concern straining his voice.

"I´ve got him," replied a soft voice. Sirius caught the pale blue eyes of a young man for a minute before he sighed softly in relief and slumped back against the couch.

"Sirius," came another voice, this one female and laced with worry. Sirius glanced over at the woman staring at him uncertainly. "What are you doing here? Why do you have James´ son? What happened to his head? Where are James and Lily? Why aren--"

Sirius cut her off with a slight wave of his hand, suddenly looking as tired as he felt. He wasn´t sure if they´d actually believe him, but he knew they were his safest bet.

"Jaclyn, did James tell you anything about a Secret Keeper for himself and Lily?" Sirius asked the woman who had been questioning him earlier, knowing that she and James had still kept close in touch, even years after their breakup.

"Well, of course he did. Said it was you, adding that the idiots who didn´t trust ya `cause y´ were a Slytherin should be shot. Knew ya wouldn´t betray him," Jaclyn replied immediately, giving Sirius a bit more information than he´d asked for. Luckily, Sirius had been expecting that and wasn´t annoyed in the slightest.

"I wasn´t their Secret Keeper," Sirius continued sadly. "I...made James and Lily use Peter. I figured the Death Eaters wouldn´t go after him because he was so weak of a wizard and all. I knew that they´d go after me first. But Peter,"--here he paused to take a shaky breath--"he--he was actually a Death Eater himself. We had no idea. An--and last night, Voldemort, he went to James´ house and k--ki--" Sirius stopped again, gulped around the lump in his throat, and, feeling tears sting his eyes, looked down at his hands, unable to finish his sentence.

He didn´t need to, however. With a strangled gasp, Jaclyn had sunk down on the couch next to him, silent tears pouring down her face. The two men, who hadn´t known James well, had no tears to shed. However, the man holding Harry had known Sirius almost as well as James did. As such, he forced the baby into the other man´s arms and moved to sit next to Sirius. He reached over and put a gentle hand on his friend´s shoulder.

Sirius, expecting the worst, jumped at the soft touch. Tear-filled eyes stared into warm ones, threatening to spill over.

"We believe you," came the simple statement.

"Jonathan..." Sirius muttered before throwing himself into his ex-boyfriend´s arms, tears finally pouring out and being accompanied by loud sobs. Harry, as if in response to his godfather´s sadness, added his own wails to the noise.

Hours later, when the tears had finally subsided, the four people sat at a small kitchen table. Harry was half asleep in a cereal box that had been transfigured into a high chair. Steaming cups of tea sat untouched before them as they discussed what they were going to do.

"Personally," Sirius was saying with an animalistic growl, "I want to go back to England and rip Peter to shreds."

"We can´t--" began the other man before Sirius interrupted him.

"I know, Joshua. Anyway, I seriously doubt I´d get caught."

"How do you propose that? I´m sure they´d see you. Unless the entire populace of Britain is blind?"

"Oh, it´s simple really. I´m an illegal Animagus. A dog. Never bothered to get registered. Such a bore."

Joshua opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted again, this time by Jaclyn.

"That´s it!" she suddenly exclaimed. "You can live with us!"

Jonathan, Joshua, and Sirius all stared at her, absolutely bewildered.

"Oh, for the love of--Look, it´s simple. Sirius, as an illegal Animagus, won´t be recognized in his dog form. When it´s only the few of us, Sirius can always be human, right? We keep the blinds closed anyway. And when he´s out in public or we´ve got some company, he can always go back to being a dog. As for Harry, we can give him a different name that no one´ll recognize, and every night, I could cast some charms that´ll change his appearance `cause they´ve gotta be renewed every twenty-four hours. Then, if anyone asks where they cam from, we´ll just say we found them on our front porch with a letter asking us to name them and take them in," Jaclyn said, beaming at the three men, all older than her by at least three years.

"Jaclyn, you´re a genius," Sirius said happily, and Jaclyn´s grin widened.

"Well, Sirius, he´s your godson, and you´re the mutt that will be our pet," Jonathan said after a short pause. "Names."

"Call me Padfoot," Sirius answered immediately, a sad smile on his face. "And, since James and Lily were going to name their next kid David, let´s call Harry David James...er...Tektik!"

Three raised eyebrows faced Sirius.

"What? It´s got a nice ring to it!"

The looks on their faces clearly said `Well, it´s your godson.´

"Oh, do shut up," Sirius grumbled.

And, despite the sadness of the day, four friends in a tiny kitchen found a reason to laugh.

The next day dawned bright and cheerful. However, the four people gathered around the Morning Messenger did not share the sun´s enthusiasm.

The article they were staring at had set all the blame for the death of the Potters on one Sirius Black. It also set the blame on him for murdering one Peter Pettigrew and kidnapping the precious Boy-Who-Lived.

"If I ever come face-to-face with that rat again, he´ll regret what he´s done," Sirius growled out ominously, hand clutching a pendant around his neck tightly. "I´ll make sure of that."