Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything else that J.K. Rowling created.
Warning: This story is AU due to the fact that I've ignored book five, The Order of The Phoenix because the end of book four was a much better place to start this fan fiction.
Take Backs
Chapter 1: When the Past Comes Knocking
By Rhiane Raine
Rain beat down into the roof above the heads of the room's occupants. The sky outside was bleak and a sinister gray smudged with bits of hopeful blue splattered about it spontaneously. The water that poured out the heavens seemed was oddly lukewarm. The irony of it was intriguing to those who noticed it.
A sigh was emitted from the person sitting next to the window. The other person that was occupying the room glanced up from his book and looked over to where Sirius Black was sitting with his forehead pressed to the cool glass. Before Remus Lupin could ask his friend what he had been thinking about, his friend spoke up knowing very well that he was about to be questioned.
"Have you looked at the sky, Moony?"
Moony, or rather Remus Lupin, abandoned his seat by the fire, and walked over to the ledge that his friend was sitting on. He gave Sirius's leg a gentle push to make way for him to sit as well. The sky looked oddly familiar; though it was true he had not looked at it yet that day.
"It's just like the day that Harry was born. Just like it," Sirius said softly before Remus could voice any of his thoughts.
Sirius could feel that Remus was sitting next to him, though he was miles away. Remus reached a hand out to place on his friend's shoulder.
"I miss him too," Remus said.
For the first time in at least an hour, Sirius pulled his face away from the cold glass and looked straight into the face of Remus.
"Which one?"
Remus didn't have to ask whom Sirius was referring to. The choices to answering the question were Harry, James, or Lily.
"All of them."
A few moment of silence followed that statement. Sirius let his head fall back against the window with a dull thud that rattled the entire unit. Remus knew something was on his mind; therefore he didn't chastise him for being so ruff with the house.
"I shouldn't have to miss any of them. I shouldn't have to miss Harry, especially. There's no good reason why he should be kept at in that...that place. I'm his Godfather; I should have been given guardianship of him."
This time Remus sighed. "Padfoot, you know good and well that your legal paperwork was and still will be denied due to...unfortunate events. It's no good beating yourself up over it. Things happened in a bad way. Nobody can fix them –"
"You're not helping me any, Moony," Sirius whispered, his reply muffled his the large quantity of windowpane inches away from his mouth.
"No, I suppose not. But I still think that rather than brood about what could have been and pessimistically wishing your life away, you could do something productive."
"Like what? The Order's first meeting is in a week and a half so there are no missions I can do. I'm a convicted mass murderer. I can't really go anywhere. No offense, but there's nothing here for me to do." Sirius replied in an indifferent tone that told Remus that nothing was sinking in.
"Well, you could write to Harry. From what Hermione and Ron said in the letters they sent you last week, Harry's whole day is brightened by news from you,"
"I have nothing to say to him. You can only say, "I miss you and wish I could take care of you" so many times."
"Tell him how you feel, tell him you're proud of him and to hang in there. Or," Remus grinned, "you could tell him the story of the first time you babysat him."
That had an effect. Sirius broke his gaze from the rainy sky, and smiled as he remembered.
"Yeah, that was fun. I still don't know how he got hold of my wand, though. Lily wasn't too happy bought that. He filled the entire room was with butterflies. Mind you, it was something the way Harry chased them around. I should have known right then that he'd turn out a seeker."
"Well, at least we learned what Harry would and could do with a wand. Lily wasn't too mad that her house was full of multicolored butterflies...until she noticed that Harry had also changed the color of her sitting room walls," Remus added.
"Yeah," Sirius chuckled lightly, "I really loved it when Lils got angry. She was so cute."
"Good thing James didn't hear that. He always was a tad bit overprotective of her," Moony remembered.
"Course 'e was!" Sirius said indignantly, "You would have been too, with a good looker like me around!"
"Sure. You keep telling yourself that."
"Who got the most date offers to the Graduation Ball?"
"You probably paid them to ask you in order to win that bet with Lucious Malfoy."
"What! Are you saying I would need to pay people to ask me to the dance just to beat Malfoy?!"
"No, I'm saying by the end of seventh year you'd already gone through most of the girls at Hogwarts. They were wary of getting their hearts broken, Padfoot." Remus scolded.
"Oh," was all Sirius said, who waited precisely thirty seconds before resuming his position against the cold glass, watching the rivulets of water trickle down the other side.
"I still miss him,"
Frustrated at Padfoot's stubbornness and depression, Remus stood up and left the sitting room. He entered the small kitchen of his temporary shabby cottage. It was small and only had one bedroom but houses were hard to lease being a werewolf and all. To Remus, it was a vast improvement over the last house he had rented.
As he began cooking, his thoughts drifted back to his best friend. When Sirius had knocked, pawed actually, at his door early in the morning a week after the TriWizard Tournament, he'd been a mess. Ranting and raving about how he'd just known that something like that would happen. Nothing Remus did would calm him. Sirius was so worried about Harry and how he was coping that he starting forgetting to take care of himself. Though he was worried then, Sirius was better company then. Now, having received word from Dumbledore that he would not allow Harry to stay with Sirius until later in the summer, all he did was reminisce about what he could have done in the past to have Harry here, now.
Both of the men in the house were feeling particularity down spirited as they worked their way through the large dinner that Remus had cooked in an effort to keep his mind off of things.
"Look, Moony, I'm sorry. I shouldn't bring you down. It's only going to getter harder, being happy I mean. If I start of at this level... I just would feel better if Harry wasn't put under lock and key in the house right after he'd witnessed Voldemort's rebirth. If I only knew when he'd be allowed to leave, then I'd feel better," Sirius apologized.
"Well, I think maybe Dumbledore will let him come once we set up Headquarters next week. There really isn't anywhere safe for us to place Harry right now. This cottage is about as secure as the cave in Hogsmede. The Burrow is a no go because it's too obvious. I think once the right spells and charms are placed on Headquarters, Dumbledore will let him stay with you." Remus said to sooth his friend's nerves. "In the meantime, I think it best if-"
Whatever Remus had been about to say was lost. There was a familiar knock on the door of Remus's house that made the hair on his neck and arms stand on end. The color had drained from Sirius's face. They stared at each other while trying to silently trying to convince themselves that they had imagined it, but no. There was the knock again. Knock. Ka-knock. Ka-knock, knock, knock. Remus stood up swiftly and nodded in Sirius's direction, who picked up on the hint and transformed into his grim like animal form.
Remus gripped the handle of his wand tightly, pointing it in the direction of the cottage door. Padfoot walked along his feet, both treading carefully to avoid making sound. When they reached the door, they exchanged looks to each other. The rhythmic knocking came again. Both Remus and Sirius knew that knock. They had invented it as a secret way of letting a fellow Marauder know who was asking permission to enter without the need to open the door. The knock distinguished the knocker as a Marauder. Seeing as Remus and Sirius were both inside the house, it left the unknown person's identity to one choice. Peter Pettigrew.
If Wormtail was here at Remus's house, something bad was afoot. Not only did he aid the rebirth of most foulest man ever know to man, but he had hurt Harry, framed Sirius for murder, and betrayed Lily and James to their deaths. Nothing good could come from a meeting between the two Marauders and that rat Peter. A thought of Voldemort standing on the other side of the door with Peter, who would be grinning evilly, caused Remus to shiver.
Padfoot nudged his leg with his nose. There was no turning back now. If Peter had come to betray himself and Sirius then they would fight to the death.
With a sense of foreboding, Remus wrenched the handle of the door, and threw the door open. He stuck his wand up in-between himself and what he expected to be Wormtail. But it was not. In front of him was not a short balding man with a face like rat. Instead stood a thin man who was wearing dress robes that were saturated with mud and grim. One spot of the hem was torn and his boots were caked in earth. The man was bent over slightly and leaning heavily on the doorframe, breathing in deeply.
Remus did not lower his wand. Whoever this man was, it was very suspicious that he knew the Marauder's knock that only himself, James, Sirius, and Peter had known. When James and Lily were married, James hadn't even told her saying that some things were sacred.
The man looked up and stared at Remus who was staring right back.
"Moony," the man spoke hoarsely. It sounded as if he either hadn't used his voice in a long time or he had used it too much.
Remus only stared with his wand pointing directing between the man's round glasses. This man who was standing on his doorstep covered in rainwater and dirt looked exactly like his best friend, James Potter. His dead best friend, James Potter.
Warning: This story is AU due to the fact that I've ignored book five, The Order of The Phoenix because the end of book four was a much better place to start this fan fiction.
Take Backs
Chapter 1: When the Past Comes Knocking
By Rhiane Raine
Rain beat down into the roof above the heads of the room's occupants. The sky outside was bleak and a sinister gray smudged with bits of hopeful blue splattered about it spontaneously. The water that poured out the heavens seemed was oddly lukewarm. The irony of it was intriguing to those who noticed it.
A sigh was emitted from the person sitting next to the window. The other person that was occupying the room glanced up from his book and looked over to where Sirius Black was sitting with his forehead pressed to the cool glass. Before Remus Lupin could ask his friend what he had been thinking about, his friend spoke up knowing very well that he was about to be questioned.
"Have you looked at the sky, Moony?"
Moony, or rather Remus Lupin, abandoned his seat by the fire, and walked over to the ledge that his friend was sitting on. He gave Sirius's leg a gentle push to make way for him to sit as well. The sky looked oddly familiar; though it was true he had not looked at it yet that day.
"It's just like the day that Harry was born. Just like it," Sirius said softly before Remus could voice any of his thoughts.
Sirius could feel that Remus was sitting next to him, though he was miles away. Remus reached a hand out to place on his friend's shoulder.
"I miss him too," Remus said.
For the first time in at least an hour, Sirius pulled his face away from the cold glass and looked straight into the face of Remus.
"Which one?"
Remus didn't have to ask whom Sirius was referring to. The choices to answering the question were Harry, James, or Lily.
"All of them."
A few moment of silence followed that statement. Sirius let his head fall back against the window with a dull thud that rattled the entire unit. Remus knew something was on his mind; therefore he didn't chastise him for being so ruff with the house.
"I shouldn't have to miss any of them. I shouldn't have to miss Harry, especially. There's no good reason why he should be kept at in that...that place. I'm his Godfather; I should have been given guardianship of him."
This time Remus sighed. "Padfoot, you know good and well that your legal paperwork was and still will be denied due to...unfortunate events. It's no good beating yourself up over it. Things happened in a bad way. Nobody can fix them –"
"You're not helping me any, Moony," Sirius whispered, his reply muffled his the large quantity of windowpane inches away from his mouth.
"No, I suppose not. But I still think that rather than brood about what could have been and pessimistically wishing your life away, you could do something productive."
"Like what? The Order's first meeting is in a week and a half so there are no missions I can do. I'm a convicted mass murderer. I can't really go anywhere. No offense, but there's nothing here for me to do." Sirius replied in an indifferent tone that told Remus that nothing was sinking in.
"Well, you could write to Harry. From what Hermione and Ron said in the letters they sent you last week, Harry's whole day is brightened by news from you,"
"I have nothing to say to him. You can only say, "I miss you and wish I could take care of you" so many times."
"Tell him how you feel, tell him you're proud of him and to hang in there. Or," Remus grinned, "you could tell him the story of the first time you babysat him."
That had an effect. Sirius broke his gaze from the rainy sky, and smiled as he remembered.
"Yeah, that was fun. I still don't know how he got hold of my wand, though. Lily wasn't too happy bought that. He filled the entire room was with butterflies. Mind you, it was something the way Harry chased them around. I should have known right then that he'd turn out a seeker."
"Well, at least we learned what Harry would and could do with a wand. Lily wasn't too mad that her house was full of multicolored butterflies...until she noticed that Harry had also changed the color of her sitting room walls," Remus added.
"Yeah," Sirius chuckled lightly, "I really loved it when Lils got angry. She was so cute."
"Good thing James didn't hear that. He always was a tad bit overprotective of her," Moony remembered.
"Course 'e was!" Sirius said indignantly, "You would have been too, with a good looker like me around!"
"Sure. You keep telling yourself that."
"Who got the most date offers to the Graduation Ball?"
"You probably paid them to ask you in order to win that bet with Lucious Malfoy."
"What! Are you saying I would need to pay people to ask me to the dance just to beat Malfoy?!"
"No, I'm saying by the end of seventh year you'd already gone through most of the girls at Hogwarts. They were wary of getting their hearts broken, Padfoot." Remus scolded.
"Oh," was all Sirius said, who waited precisely thirty seconds before resuming his position against the cold glass, watching the rivulets of water trickle down the other side.
"I still miss him,"
Frustrated at Padfoot's stubbornness and depression, Remus stood up and left the sitting room. He entered the small kitchen of his temporary shabby cottage. It was small and only had one bedroom but houses were hard to lease being a werewolf and all. To Remus, it was a vast improvement over the last house he had rented.
As he began cooking, his thoughts drifted back to his best friend. When Sirius had knocked, pawed actually, at his door early in the morning a week after the TriWizard Tournament, he'd been a mess. Ranting and raving about how he'd just known that something like that would happen. Nothing Remus did would calm him. Sirius was so worried about Harry and how he was coping that he starting forgetting to take care of himself. Though he was worried then, Sirius was better company then. Now, having received word from Dumbledore that he would not allow Harry to stay with Sirius until later in the summer, all he did was reminisce about what he could have done in the past to have Harry here, now.
Both of the men in the house were feeling particularity down spirited as they worked their way through the large dinner that Remus had cooked in an effort to keep his mind off of things.
"Look, Moony, I'm sorry. I shouldn't bring you down. It's only going to getter harder, being happy I mean. If I start of at this level... I just would feel better if Harry wasn't put under lock and key in the house right after he'd witnessed Voldemort's rebirth. If I only knew when he'd be allowed to leave, then I'd feel better," Sirius apologized.
"Well, I think maybe Dumbledore will let him come once we set up Headquarters next week. There really isn't anywhere safe for us to place Harry right now. This cottage is about as secure as the cave in Hogsmede. The Burrow is a no go because it's too obvious. I think once the right spells and charms are placed on Headquarters, Dumbledore will let him stay with you." Remus said to sooth his friend's nerves. "In the meantime, I think it best if-"
Whatever Remus had been about to say was lost. There was a familiar knock on the door of Remus's house that made the hair on his neck and arms stand on end. The color had drained from Sirius's face. They stared at each other while trying to silently trying to convince themselves that they had imagined it, but no. There was the knock again. Knock. Ka-knock. Ka-knock, knock, knock. Remus stood up swiftly and nodded in Sirius's direction, who picked up on the hint and transformed into his grim like animal form.
Remus gripped the handle of his wand tightly, pointing it in the direction of the cottage door. Padfoot walked along his feet, both treading carefully to avoid making sound. When they reached the door, they exchanged looks to each other. The rhythmic knocking came again. Both Remus and Sirius knew that knock. They had invented it as a secret way of letting a fellow Marauder know who was asking permission to enter without the need to open the door. The knock distinguished the knocker as a Marauder. Seeing as Remus and Sirius were both inside the house, it left the unknown person's identity to one choice. Peter Pettigrew.
If Wormtail was here at Remus's house, something bad was afoot. Not only did he aid the rebirth of most foulest man ever know to man, but he had hurt Harry, framed Sirius for murder, and betrayed Lily and James to their deaths. Nothing good could come from a meeting between the two Marauders and that rat Peter. A thought of Voldemort standing on the other side of the door with Peter, who would be grinning evilly, caused Remus to shiver.
Padfoot nudged his leg with his nose. There was no turning back now. If Peter had come to betray himself and Sirius then they would fight to the death.
With a sense of foreboding, Remus wrenched the handle of the door, and threw the door open. He stuck his wand up in-between himself and what he expected to be Wormtail. But it was not. In front of him was not a short balding man with a face like rat. Instead stood a thin man who was wearing dress robes that were saturated with mud and grim. One spot of the hem was torn and his boots were caked in earth. The man was bent over slightly and leaning heavily on the doorframe, breathing in deeply.
Remus did not lower his wand. Whoever this man was, it was very suspicious that he knew the Marauder's knock that only himself, James, Sirius, and Peter had known. When James and Lily were married, James hadn't even told her saying that some things were sacred.
The man looked up and stared at Remus who was staring right back.
"Moony," the man spoke hoarsely. It sounded as if he either hadn't used his voice in a long time or he had used it too much.
Remus only stared with his wand pointing directing between the man's round glasses. This man who was standing on his doorstep covered in rainwater and dirt looked exactly like his best friend, James Potter. His dead best friend, James Potter.