Lily was scared. He had come for her child. She knew they shouldn't have trusted the rat.

What could she do? There was no way to protect her child...unless...

She closed her eyes and felt for the power that had been passed down through the ages. A power that was both dark and light at the same time. A mad power which would give strength to any who knew how to handle it without losing themselves.

It had been passed down through the years from her many times great grandmother, Sharon.

But to awaken it now would be suicide. She heard the door crash open, and Voldemort came in.

She stood before the crib. Her son had awoken to the noise. But he didn't cry, which she knew was a good thing.

"Stand aside foolish girl!" he hissed at her.

Her cold green eyes lit up with an inner power which had dimmed in recent generations.

"I summon you...Equus!"

The black unicorn appeared before her, and she tried not to cry out from pain. It was taking everything she had to keep Equus here.

Voldemort cast the spell at her. Equus took the brunt of the deadly curse. Harry began to cry.

The horse took out the man, but not before he cast the spell on her son.

"No! Harry!"

The green eyed child looked at his mother with wide eyes. The spell had hit him, but all he had to show for it was a lightning shaped scar.

Equus turned to her. She couldn't handle his power for much longer.

"Please...Oz, Alice, Raven, Break...protect my son!"

Lily died as the horse vanished. Harry began to cry louder as he became an orphan.

Alice looked up from the tea party she was having with her darker sister Alyss. Someone had called on them. Someone who could command Equus.

Oz came in. He looked troubled, which was unusual in itself.

"Two of the families have just died out. Murder," said Oz.

Alyss and Alice hissed. Ever since the little incident with Pandora, Oz and Jack had kept an eye on the descendants of the four houses. For two of them to die out meant that a disaster would happen, and there would be nothing to stop it this time.

"Which ones?" asked Alice.

Oz's face grew dark.

"Bezarius and Rainsworth."

Alyss looked confused.

"Didn't that old man marry the two of them together? With the Nightray as witness?" asked Alyss. Cheshire yowled from her lap.

"Yes, but from what we can tell, the child that was produced was also killed. At least, that is what it looked like."

"So the descendant of the Baskerville has killed off two of the Noble lines," said Alice.

"Dumbledore has gone too far this time," said Jack, coming in.

"Jack!" said Alyss, beaming.

"Oz, get Raven and Break. The granddaughter of the Rainsworth family has called on you four," said Jack.

"The four of us specifically?" asked Oz.

"Oz, Alice, Raven and Break. Lily Rainsworth has called upon the Abyss to protect her son."

"He's alive? But that curse..." said Oz.

Jack smiled grimly.

"The Abyss doesn't want the last of the lines to die out any more than we do apparently. It shielded him and only left a scar to prove that it had been there."

Oz jumped down from his perch. He had taken to sitting on the dressers that Alyss had in her room.

"So how are we going to go about this?" asked Oz.

Jack smiled.

"Alyss, how would you like to play the part of the mother?" asked Jack.

Alyss lit up in delight.

"Can I be the bossy mother?"

"Of course you can," said Jack smiling. He turned to Oz and Alice.

"You two will start your protection detail when he comes in contact with the Baskerville fool."

Sirius was in shock. His best friend was dead, his wife, killed trying to protect his son. Hagrid was trying not to bawl, but Sirius went in before him.

He found little Harry, staring at him with wide eyes. Hagrid went to take him from Sirius, but he wasn't having that.

"Hagrid, James wanted me to take Harry if anything happened to them."

"Dumbledore wants him to go to his aunt's," said Hagrid firmly.

Sirius snarled.

"Like hell he will! Last time Lily took Harry with her to her sister's, the woman nearly drowned him! I will not let that senile old man send him to her house!" said Sirius.

Hagrid wasn't having that. He had orders from Dumbledore himself.

Sirius held his godson close to him. Harry seemed to sense something was wrong. He curled up closer to Sirius. Hagrid went to take the boy from Sirius, and Harry started to cry when Hagrid came too close.

He had had enough. It was obvious that Hagrid would follow any order from the old man, even when it was clear that such an action would do more harm than good.

Sirius apparated away from the mansion, and took his godson with him to the Ministry. Amelia would help him file the adoption papers. She owed him a few favors.

"Hello Sirius... How can...why do you have a child?" she said when she saw the bundle.

"Dumbledore has finally lost it. He wants to put Harry with his magic hating aunt. Hagrid tried to take him from me by force."

Amelia raised an eye at that.

"How do you know she hates magic?"

"I was with Lily last time she went to see her sister. Petunia tried to drown Harry," said Sirius. His eyes, which normally held laughter, were cold.

Amelia looked shocked at that. Never had she seen him this...well, serious.

"What do you need?"

"I need your help. Knowing that old goat, he'll try to pin James and Lily's deaths on me."

"How would he do that?"

"They were under the Fidelius charm. We used Peter as the secret keeper, since we thought he would be safer. Who would suspect Peter of knowing where to find the Potters?" said Sirius with a cold laugh.

"I'll need a sworn statement under veritaserum, and your memories of the ritual," she said promptly.

Once he could be proven innocent of the betrayal, they could file the adoption papers with ease. Sirius submitted to every request, and they filed it in triplicate.

He was declared innocent, and an hour later Amelia filed the arrest warrant for Peter. Meanwhile Sirius was trying to remember the crash course in feeding a baby that Lily made him go to. It took him a while to remember how to hold Harry.

Half an hour after Harry finally fell asleep, Remus arrived with a goblin in tow. It was Griphook, the caretaker of the Potter vaults.

"I hear you wish to file for adoption, as per their will?" said Griphook, cutting to the chase.

"Yes."

Griphook had him sign several papers, and then brought another problem to his attention.

"The headmaster seeks to gain access to the Gryffindor vault. He has already filed a claim as the boy's magical guardian."

"Did he get in?"

Griphook looked very smug.

"We informed him of you filing for adoption. He looked like his precious lemon drops had suddenly become extra sour."

Sirius laughed coldly.

Amelia came up to him. She looked irritated.

"Dumbledore is trying to stop the process. He's claiming that the Black family isn't appropriate for the last of the Potters."

Sirius looked annoyed, then an idea hit him.

"His problem is with the Black family? Nothing else?" asked Sirius.

She nodded, wary. Sirius smirked.

"Then he should have no problem with the last of the Nightray family adopting a Rainsworth," said Sirius, smugly.

The sharp intake of breath from Griphook said it all.

"This boy is a Rainsworth?"

"Rainsworth and Bezarius," said Sirius.

Griphook laughed coldly.

"Dumbledore has no control over the Rainsworth family. Let alone the Nightray. I'll inform the head goblin about the name change."

Sirius walked out of the Ministry with a cocky smirk. The papers had gone through once he informed the goblins of his heritage. There was no way Dumbledore could stop him from keeping Harry.

That is, until the old man appeared in front of him, furious.

"Did you really think I would allow you to just take the boy and run, Black?"

Sirius stilled. He couldn't fight Dumbledore with Harry in his arms. Remus had left an hour ago to prepare the house.

Harry squirmed in his arms. He sensed there was danger nearby.

Before Dumbledore could stun him and take Harry, a black shadow appeared. It was bird like in shape, and covered the moon's waning glow.

Sirius glanced up. And tried not to gasp. It was a large raven.

Something dropped down. A large rabbit shape with a wicked looking red scythe.

"Did you really think we would allow someone like you to destroy the last of the lines?" it said coldly.

Sirius felt someone come up from behind him. A man with shoulder length raven-black hair and gold eyes looked at him with amusement.

"The rabbit will keep him (he nods to Dumbledore) busy. So hurry up and get on," he said.

Sirius had to make a quick decision. He could either trust this strange people or he could deal with Dumbledore himself. Harry woke up and reached his tiny hand out to the golden eyed man. He seemed happy to see him.

Sirius got on the rather large bird. A boy about fifteen looked at him with complete amusement.

"If it makes you feel any better, Lily asked us to protect him," said the boy.

Dumbledore seemed to sense that they were getting away, because he sent a stunner at the bird. The Raven absorbed the spell and didn't even flinch.

"Get on you stupid rabbit! We're leaving!" the man shouted.

The rabbit became a young girl, and they flew. Dumbledore cursed, and went to get a broom. They weren't leaving that easily!

"So who the bloody hell are you?" asked Sirius once they were in the air.

"That's a fine way to treat your ancestor," said the man annoyed.

"What?"

"Now, now Gilbert. He doesn't know who we are," said the boy calmly.

The girl/rabbit huffed annoyed.

"My name is Oz. Her name is Alice. And Mr. Grumpy over there is Gilbert," said Oz.

"Sirius. Sirius Black."

"Don't you mean Sirius Nightray and Harry Bezarius-Rainsworth?" said Oz smirking.

Sirius held back a growl. How did this kid know about that?

"Perhaps I should have given my full name. My name is Oz Bezarius."

"Gilbert Nightray," said Gil annoyed.

Alice huffed, annoyed at being ignored. So she did something that only Oz would expect.

She took Harry and let him play with her hair. She had in long braids that the child simply loved to pull.

Sirius debated whether it was safe to trust them or not. Then realized that he was probably dealing with the lesser of two evils. Oz sensed that, and said "Well now that you trust us a little, where are we heading? Alyss and Jack are eager to meet the last of the Bezarius family."

Sirius described the cottage well enough that Gilbert flew the Raven to it. Remus was in complete shock when he saw the large bird land in the yard.

"What did you do now?" he demanded.

Oz laughed, and helped Alice come down. The Raven vanished into the night as Gilbert got down.

Sirius took Harry from Alice, and they all went inside.

Oz looked perfectly at ease in the cottage, while Alice looked mutinous. Raven looked bored, but he sat very close to Oz. Remus looked bewildered about the whole thing.

Sirius took Harry into his new room and made sure the wards around the house were fully powered before he left the boy alone to sleep. It had been a very, very long day for them all.

"Why don't we start with who you three are?" said Remus.

One round of introductions and explanations later...

"So essentially you three are people fourteen hundred years from the past," said Remus.

Sirius took it in stride. He had found out through the family library that his lineage went back at least fifteen hundred years. His mother refused to acknowledge anything but the Black family name.

Which was why Sirius had changed his name in secret to Nightray when he left. Only the goblins were aware of that though.

"Where we came through is a place where time is no longer linear. One can enter into it during the crusades and pop out in the present without aging more than a year, if that," said Oz.

"And why have you appeared now?"

Raven looked annoyed. Alice looked hungry.

"Because one of our descendants asked us to protect her son. Since he is the last of two lines, we were more than happy to oblige. Though Jack and I are more than a little irritated with that old man at the moment."

"Why would you be annoyed with Dumbledore?" asked Remus.

"Because Albus Dumbledore-Baskerville caused several of the children in both lines to die of unnatural causes."

"Baskerville? Dumbledore is a Baskerville?" said Sirius, finally paying attention.

Raven was surprised now.

"How do you know that name?"

Sirius got up and retrieved something from the bookshelf. It was a tattered old book that looked ancient. When Oz opened it, it turned out to be a journal...written by Vincent.

"Where did you get this?" asked Raven.

"Found it when I was twelve in the family library. My mother wanted me to study some dark spells and 'live up to the family name' or some such rubbish. Instead I found that and read it," said Sirius with a shrug.

Remus stared at the book. It clicked with him, and he remembered a similar find at Hogwarts. He went and retrieved three other books that were written by a man named Liam, Oscar and a woman named Ada.

Oz seemed surprised to find Ada and Oscar's diaries.

Remus looked at them shrewdly.

"Are you three the same Raven, Oz and Alice they spoke of?" he asked.

"Probably. If these are the same people," said Oz, getting up.

Raven and Alice looked at him.

"We only showed up to protect Harry. In fact we'll probably join him on the train," said Oz.

Raven and Alice sputtered.

"What?" said Alice.

"We're too old!" said Raven, equally upset.

Oz smirked at them.

"We'll be wearing age charms and Raven will be teaching defense. Or Break will," said Oz.

"Why do you always drag us into this?" whined Raven.

"Because you let me?" said Oz.

"What about Break. He never showed up," said Alice.

Sirius and Remus showed some unease at the knowledge that there was another.

"Jack told him to pop in every now and then to make sure the old man hasn't taken Harry by force," said Oz.

"How exactly will he pop in?" asked Remus.

Oz, Alice and Raven suddenly grinned. Behind Sirius was a rather large cabinet...which suddenly opened.

Sirius and Remus jumped when someone spoke from behind.

"Have you three been talking about me?" asked a white haired man with one red eye visible.

"It's about time you showed up you stupid clown!" said Alice.

"Break, have you been listening this whole time?" asked Oz.

"Ever since the wolf showed up to add the wards."

"How...?" sputtered Remus.

The three shrugged.

"Break always appears like that. We're not exactly sure how he does it. He won't tell us, even when we bribe him with sugary candy," said Oz.

Raven looked amused at the looks Sirius and Remus were shooting Break.

"You may as well relax. Break is loyal to the Rainsworth family. He was also very close with Harry's many times great grandmother Sharon."

That relaxed them a little. Until Break pulled his favorite vanishing act into the potions cupboard. Sirius and Remus ran to the cupboard and were very surprised to find that he wasn't there anymore. Oz and the others laughed.