He Laughed

Sirius and Remus untangled themselves from the bed sheets the "morning after." Only a few moments prior to this they had both confessed their undying love, but since they were only fifteen, and didn't yet know if it was true, yet wanting it to be.

"Good morning, Love," Remus greeted Sirius as they sat up. "Sleep well?"

Sirius responded with a smile. "Yes, except for this odd dream I had."

"Oh," Remus asked, interested, "What about?"

Sirius thought for a minute, as if struggling with the details. "Well," he started, "James was married to," he hesitated as though disgusted, "Evans!"

Remus laughed and said, "At least we know that won't happen."

"Yeah, well that wasn't all. I was standing in front of their house, which was in ruins..."

Remus looked concerned, "What? How did you know it was their house?"

"I don't know," Sirius told him, matching Remus' expression. "It was a weird dream thing. Anyway, I was there to pick up their son, Harry-and don't ask me how I knew that either-because-you know the stories about the dark wizard getting followers?-well, for some reason he was after James and Evans and their son. And," Sirius hesitated again, "he had killed them. That's why I was there. I was picking up Harry because he'd survived Avada Kedavra!" Sirius thought it through enough to not say that Peter had betrayed James' family in the dream. He didn't want to panic Remus any more than he already had, judging by the look Moony was giving him.

They were both quiet for a while, thinking about this. "Well," Remus finally broke the silence, "at least we know the chance of Lily liking James."

"Yeah, and that would be zip," Sirius said, relieved. He sat back to enjoy the company of his new found love.

**8 Years Later**

Sirius jumped on his flying motorcycle in the late July heat as soon as he'd heard the news. Lily was in labor at St. Mungo's, and the other Marauders were already there. He'd have to hurry if he didn't want to miss meeting his godson for the first time. A few weeks ago, James had appointed him Godfather to James' son or daughter.

This had happened right after James had told him he was to be his secret-keeper as well, but Sirius wasn't so sure about that. He wanted Wormtail to do it, as Voldemort was after James and knew everything about him. Someone would guess Sirius was the charmed one, as Sirius had been best friends with him since first year, and moved in with him in sixth. When Sirius had moved in with James had also been when he'd come clean with Prongs about his secret relationship with Moony.

He was glad he had, because James wasn't upset about it at all. He'd actually been happy, as this had also been around the same time that Lily had agreed to go out with James. Well, look where that had gotten them. Lily was having a baby, during one of the most dangerous times to have a child. Right after the baby was born, the Fidelius Charm needed to be performed. On Peter, Sirius would sternly tell James. Peter wouldn't betray them.

Though Peter had been acting strangely lately; always wearing long sleeves, nervous all the time. But Sirius ignored the strange feeling in his stomach and flew on.

A rushed greeting and information from the Welcome Witch told Sirius that Lily and the other Marauders would be on the fifth floor. He rushed to greet them and arrived out of breath.

He reached the waiting room where his three friends were sitting nervously. "Sirius," James said when he saw him, standing up. Sirius embraced him.

"You're going to be a dad," Sirius reminded him, as if he didn't know. He laughed nervously, "What are you going to name your kid?"

"Harry James if it's a boy, and Olivia Lillian for a girl," James proudly told him. "I hope it's a boy, though, and then I can teach him to fly."

Sirius laughed again, nervously, "Girls can fly too, James."

"Yes, well," he said, "Lily wants a girl. So I want a boy."

After greeting Peter with another squirm of his stomach, Sirius greeted Remus with a quick hug and kiss. Sirius noticed that Peter cringed, but he didn't know why.

"So how far along is she, James?" Sirius asked.

"Not too long now, I think. I'll go in and see her."

James disappeared for more than an hour, and when he came back out he was beaming. "Come see," he whispered excitedly.

Sirius followed Remus through to the room where Lily was propped up happily in her hospital bed. She was holding a small bundle of blankets and beaming at it. Suddenly, Sirius thought back to a dream he'd had in fifth year after telling Remus how he felt. Don't let it be a boy, Sirius thought. Don't let it be Harry...

"Meet Harry," Lily said, tears brimming her eyes. Sirius looked down to see a very small boy with very dark hair and blue eyes already turning green.

They all stood there for several moments, looking at the little child who was Sirius' godson. When Sirius found it appropriate to leave for a moment, he dragged Remus into the hall.

"Do you remember it?" he asked nervously.

"Remember what?" Remus asked, looking upset at Sirius' shaking hands.

"The dream, that night when we first admitted how we felt," he told Remus.

"I..." he trailed off, "Oh, my." He had remembered.

Sirius nodded vigorously. Remus told him they shouldn't worry, and continued to reassure Sirius it couldn't be true. They went back inside to see the baby again, Sirius with his shaking hands hidden.

**1 Year, 3 Months later**

Sirius stood in front of a pile of rubble that used to be James and Lily's house. Sobs shook his whole body, knowing what had happened. He stepped over some burnt wood to get to the middle of the rubble. There was a baby crying...

Find Harry, Sirius was thinking through rough sobs. Find Harry. Sirius picked through wood, stone and other bits left of Godric's Hollow near where the crying was loudest. Finally, Sirius found the still-small child. He was bawling and had a large cut on his forehead, but otherwise seemed unharmed. He held Harry to his chest, sobbing some more.

After several moments of increasing grief, Sirius heard someone say something in a gruff voice behind him.

"What," he asked the air, turning around to see a gigantic figure before him. "Hagrid," he said, relieved.

"Give 'im 'ere, Sirius. Dumbledore says 'e needs to go to 'is Aunt and Uncle's."

"But they're muggles! I've met Lily's sister... He can't live with them!"

"Dumbledore's orders," he replied in a sad voice.

"Please, Hagrid, let me have him, I'm his godfather..."

"Can't, Sirius. Dumbledore's orders. I'm sure you can see him soon."

Sirius stood silently, wishing it didn't turn out like this. He nodded finally, knowing what he had to do, "Take my motorcycle, it'll be faster. I won't need it anymore."

Hagrid looked puzzled, but took the keys and the baby from Sirius. Padfoot watched him fly away with his godson held in his arms. Sirius transformed into a dog, and ran off down the street not far from what was left of Lily and James' home.

Not far away from there, Sirius changed back and apparated to Diagon Alley where he went inside trying to find Peter. He went through the Leaky Cauldron onto the muggle side beyond. He wandered down streets to a residential area where muggle children were dressed up and moving door to door. He was grabbed roughly from behind, and he spun around to see one of his best friends, the betrayer.

Peter advanced on Sirius and they backed up into a corner. A dozen muggles surrounded them, watching. Sirius noticed Peter's hand behind his back. What's that about? Sirius had time to think before Peter was speaking.

"Lily and James, Sirius," he yelled for the whole street to hear, "He's your best friend! How could you betray him?"

"You..." Sirius had time to say before he was lying on his back with his ears ringing. Peter had disappeared and the muggles that had surrounded the two were all on the ground as Sirius had been. He saw Wormtail running away down the street, dodging through the legs of the muggles. My God, he thought, Peter you bastard! Before he knew it, dozens of ministry officials had surrounded him. Sirius laughed.