Alright, so most of you will notice that the beginning of. chapter one is very nearly a replica of the Sirius End of an Era story. That is because this is the story that, that story began as. Obviously there are some big differences but the first few hundred words are nearly identical. These first two chapters may seem a bit deasia vuish, I did a big of rewrite but they do follow the same trend for a few chapters. Though honestly there are some big differnces here as well.
I lost everything I had previously written of the first story excepting the End Of An Era story so it is all different just similar. I found myself missing the story and started it over, now that ATSR is nearly done, and I am not posting the Next Gen story for a couple of weeks I thought I would dive into this.
Honestly, I have no idea how long it is going to be, I have no deadline, I am not even going to pretend.
A Godfather's Gift
Chapter One
Smoldering
The smell of smoke was thick and heavy in the air. The sulfur of it was nearly putrid it was so overwhelming. He coughed and wiped the tears streaming down his face. He wasn't sure if they were from smoke or despair.
He could barely see the house that stood before him. The home that had held so much love only moments before.
It still stood. In fact most of it appeared undamaged at all, all but where he knew the stairway to be and though his stomach sickened at the thought, Harry's room. The precious, perfect, peaceful nursery of Lily's creation.
There was no way they were alive, he knew that. But he couldn't leave them in there. And it was missing. There was no dark mark above the house. Why hadn't it been marked? This of all the devastation was surely the most important.
Stepping through the door that was hanging idly on its hinges it took him only seconds to see him. James was laid on his back sprawled half way across the stairs. Obviously trying to block the way up.
Dropping to his knees Sirius let out a howl of grief. So loud he made his own ears ring. This was his brother. This was his friend. This was his life. This was his end. How could he go on without his other half. He had lost so, so much. He couldn't go on.
As he continued to scream his sorrow changed to fierce anger. He would kill him with his own two hands. Peter Petigrew would not get away with this. He would hurt him, he would hurt him for everything he had caused. James was gone. Lily was gone. Harry was gone.
At the thought of Harry he noticed that the now familiar ringing had taken on the sound of his godson's whimpers and cries. He could still hear him, as if the house was being haunted by the boys last fearful moments. As if it were tormenting him with his own mistakes, the mistake in judgment that led to this. How could he have been so stupid, how could he have been so wrong?
Why was his mind torturing him like this? Was it not bad enough to be standing in the wake of the death and destruction that was all that was important to him? Did he have to imagine the fear and pain induced cries of the child that might as well have been his own? Where was the justice in that? And without speaking he knew that the justice lay in the fact that this was all his fault. It was his idea. He thought of the plan. He might as well have brandished the wand that killed James himself.
He stood knowing that he had to move on. He had to get them all out of the house. Relinquishing his magic, he chose to carry James out by hand. It was after all the last thing he could do for him, the last time he would feel him in his embrace. He lifted him, chest to chest and half carried half drug him out the door. He was still warm. No. His body was still warm, this was no longer James. This was the shell that once held him. Even though the shell was still warm to the touch the warmth of life was missing, the glimmer of joy and spirit was missing from the open eyes.
After laying him down on the pavement he continued back into the house and followed the stairs up to Harry's room. His feet went without being told, the path was so familiar. He had spent so much time there, rocking the boy, playing with toys, grabbing nappies for James. He knew that there was no place else that he would find Lily. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would have died trying to save her son.
As he followed his feet the ghost cries of his dead godson got louder and louder.
"Mummmmuuuummmmuuummm Daaaaaaaaaaaaaadddddddddaaaa aaaa" followed by shrieks of pain and fear.
It was then that Sirius stopped to stare at the floor in shock. The body, of Voldemort limp and lifeless lay there at his feet. He was just feet from the cracked and broken crib that he knew held his Godson. He couldn't bear to look in there, he couldn't bear to step a foot closer to the body of their nemesis. Relief of his death had not even occurred to him when he saw the unearthly form. His eyes had fallen on the body of Lily. His hands shook as he knelt down to Lily's still form that lay sprawled at the side of the cot. Touching her hair and pushing it off of her cheeks, his grief finally gave way to sobs. He was drowning in his sorrow and pain when a new cry broke through his haze.
A series of screams followed by an undeniable
"SiiiiwwwiiiiiSiiiiwwwiiii" it was nearly swallowed in the wailing.
He shook his head furiously before lifting her into his arms, just as James had done when he carried her from their wedding, and carried her down the cracked staircase, past the place where she last saw her husband, and lay her beside him on the browning grass of the crisp autumn night. He stared at the motionless faces, seeing nothing there, only recognition for their features, but nothing of the friends, the family that he yearned to see. They were incomplete, the family was incomplete. He glanced back at the house. How was he even supposed to do this. He could barely make his feet move back towards the house.
He had to go, he had to get him out, he couldn't leave him in there with the body of Voldemort. He steeled himself against what he was about to do as he made his way back up the stairs. The insistent wailing was growing louder, beaconing him to the pale blue room.
"It's the wind, it is only the wind." He chanted as he glanced out of the destroyed roof to the windless night. His heartbeat was roaring in his ears, warring with the tormenting cries that his mind was plaguing him with. He stalled briefly, staring at the shattered remains of splintered wood and debris, you have to do this, this is your Godson, you agreed to do anything for him, this qualifies as anything. This is your Godson, you have to do this, for Lily, for Harry, for Jamie. Just do it, take him back to his mum and day, you have to do it, just hold him one last time, he thought desperately.
Fighting back the fear of what he was about to see, Sirius stood and stepped around the form of Voldemort, as he stepped closer to the cot his heart fell into his stomach, he thought he had seen the baby's arm move. He stepped closer and began to move the rubble out of the ruined cot and as he did the cries got louder, not wanting to hope, fearing to believe what was obviously true. As he pulled the last of the debris away he looked down into the tear filled, fear stricken, blood smeared face of the most perfect child in his world.
When Harry saw him his little lip trembled and he began to scream loudly flailing his body to be lifted up. Placing his hands under the squirming child he lifted him into his arms and held him close. He sat in the middle of the floor cradling the scared little boy and wiping the tear mixed blood from his cheeks, not caring that Vodlemort's desecrated body lay inches from him, or that the floor was strewn with wood, and ash.
He used his wand to clean the baby's face so he could see the lightning bolt scar that now marred his forehead. He pulled him close and rocked him, his own tears spilled over the blood-matted black hair. The hair that so resembled James'. Harry continued to cry inconsolably, Sirius looked around frantically, he saw the object of his searching nearly instantly. Under the upturned rocking chair lay a singed gold and brown lion. The one that he and James had found at the London zoo that May, shortly before they had fully gone into hiding. He gripped the small boy and crawled across the floor, fishing it from under the rubble.
"Shhhh, shhhh. Look, Harry. Look it is Godric. Do you see? It is Godric." He soothed as he pushed the plush toy into Harry's hands and stood before taking one last look around the room.
Thinking quickly as he walked out he stopped in the sitting room, grabbing the fuzzy blanket from the back of the sofa that Lily liked to curl up with, he knew from many naps under it that it smelled permanently of her hair. He wrapped Harry in it before walking out into the chilly night air.
He stopped at the bodies of his friends, keeping Harry held to his chest so he couldn't see them. What was he going to do? He had to find Peter, he was going to kill him. He had to, he couldn't let him get away with this. Harry squirmed in his arms, he couldn't leave Harry, not now. What would James say if he left him now? He was his Godfather, it was his job to stay with him. What was he going to do?
"I have him Jamie. I have him. I won't, I won't let him go. I swear it. I will never, never let him go." He said fervently when a loud crack resounded in the night.
He turned to see Hagrid walking towards him.
"Sirius, that you?" he said in his gruff voice as he made his way over.
Sirius adjusted Harry, who was worrying the tail of the lion between his fingers, and hiccupping slightly, his sobs subsided. He stepped away from the bodies and closer to the man he had known since he was eleven years old.
"It's me Hagrid. I have, I have Harry. He is alive, I don't know how but he is alive." He said in a choked voice.
"James an Lily?" Hagrid asked, though he was obviously able to see over his shoulder.
Sirius shook his head, he couldn't find it within himself to speak the words.
"Dumbledore said, if Harry was alive. To take him to him. He said for me to bring him with me." Hagrid said gruffly.
Sirius shook his head. "No, he is staying with me."
"I'm takin him with me Sirius. I swore to Dumbledore. You can come with me if you like, but I have to take 'im."
"No, I am his Godfather. He belongs with me. I am taking him with me. Legally, he is mine. I am in their will as guardian, he is mine. I am not handing him over." He refused.
"Be reas'ble." Hagrid said, holding out his arms. "He's t' go t' his family."
"I am his family. I am who he will go to. Tell Dumbledore that he can meet me at the ministry." With James gone the spells around the house had been broken and he spun on the spot, finding himself in the apparition corridor of the auror department, clinging tightly to Harry.
He had to get to Moody, he had to be here, after everything that had happened tonight, surely Moody had to be here. He was his only hope. Fear as he had never known washed over him, it was even more than his fear for James and Lily, more than he had been afraid to find the baby in the house. If he couldn't get to Moody he could lose Harry, he could lose everything. He was the only one that knew, the only one that really knew. He had to find Moody.