"Peter?" Sirius said hesitently.
The front door was wide open. All the lights were off. It seemed as if he wasn't there, but there was no sign of a struggle.
Sirius flicked on the kitchen light. There, on the counter, was a piece on paper covered in Peter's untidy handwriting. Sirius picked it up.
Sirius,
You'll probably never see me again. If all goes to plan, you'll never see James, Lily, or Harry again, either. Voldemort is coming tonight. He knows exactly where to find the Potters. And he's out for blood.
Yes, I realize this is the ultimate betrayal, but You-Know-Who is taking over everywhere. What is to be gained by resisting him? Besides, he was going to find them, or me, eventually. All this hiding was just drawing it out, and filling everyone with undue anxiety and stress.
Besides, James hated being holed up in that tiny cottage with just Lily and Harry for company. It's not like any of us can visit very often. He'll probably be thankful to be gone, out of all the pain, misery, stress, boredom. You know he never sat well with boredom.
Hoping to never see any of you again.
Peter
All the blood left Sirius's face. His hands trembled so violently that the letter was ripped in half. He threw down the two pieces of now-crumpled parchment and sprinted from the house.
oOXOo
Sirius knew the minute he arrived in the street that he was too late. Muggles were surrounding the Potter's house. And the roof above what Sirius knew was the nursery was caved in.
As he rushed forward, Hagrid emerged from the house, holding Harry in one hand.
"Hagrid!" Sirius bellowed.
Hagrid turned, a wary and slightly annoyed look on his face, but his expression softened when he saw who it was.
"Come over 'ere." he grunted, and Sirius followed him out of the crowd of Muggles.
"What happened?" Sirius asked, feeling faint.
"You-Know-Who showed up." Hagrid said quietly. "Killed Lily and James, both. Apparently he tried to kill Harry, too, but obviously he couldn't. And now he's disappeared. You-Know-Who. He's gone."
Sirius looked down at Harry. The one-year-old stirred in his blankets and looked up at Sirius. His plump face, streaked with tears, brightened when he saw Sirius.
"Paddy!" he said happily. It was the first, and only, word that James and Lily had and would ever hear him say.
"Give him to me, Hagrid." Sirius said in a low voice.
"Eh?" Hagrid bent down to hear better.
"Give him to me!" Sirius said, louder. "I'm his godfather, I'll take care of him."
"No, Sirius." Hagrid said. "Dumbledore said he's to go to his aunt and uncle's."
"Who cares what Dumbledore said?" Sirius asked angrily. "I'm his godfather, James and Lily said that if ever anything happened to them, Remus and I were to take Harry! Now give him to me so I can raise him right!"
Sirius reached for Harry, but Hagrid lifted the toddler just out of Sirius's reach.
"Sirius, I'm to take him to Dumbledore." Hagrid said firmly. "You can go take it up with him if you'd like, but I've got to follow my orders."
Sirius looked livid. But then, he thought, how was he to take care of a toddler while chasing Peter?
"Fine." he said gruffly. "But take my bike. I won't need it anymore."
"You-you sure?" Hagrid asked, startled.
"Yes, I'm sure." Sirius said. "Take it. I won't need it."
Hagrid nodded slowly, and headed over to the bike.
"You'll be able to see him, I expect." Hagrid said, inclining his head toward Harry. "I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be."
Sirius could only nod. As Hagrid left, Sirius turned back and faced the cottage. He wasn't sure he would be able to stand seeing James and Lily, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand not, either. So he entered the house.
He saw James first. He was only just inside the door. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, his glasses crooked, his arms spread wide. Sirius staggered into the wall. His vision blurred, and he knelt beside his best friend. He couldn't stop the tears that came, hot and fast, in great, racking sobs.
After a while, Sirius stood, and continued through the house. Other than James, and the fact that the door was blown off its hinges, nothing looked out of the ordinary. It was as if he'd just come over for dinner. The table was even set, and some chicken in the oven was smoking. Sirius turned the oven off, and proceeded upstairs.
He knew Lily would be in the nursery, so he avoided that room for as long as he could. He searched through every single other room. He spent the longest time in James and Lily's room. He couldn't help it. He sat on the bed and cried.
Finally, Sirius couldn't put it off any longer. He gently pushed open the door to the nursery.
The ceiling was collapsing. The room was a mess. Toys were strewn everywhere, as were clothes. The Potter's cat was nowhere to be seen. But Lily was there, as Sirius had known she would be. She lay on the ground, her green eyes blank and empty. The way she lay suggested that she had fallen while trying to guard the crip.
Sirius couldn't stand it. He smashed a window, leapt out, and disapparated in midair, arriving just in front of Remus's house.
Sirius banged open the front door.
"MOONY!" he hollered, striding into the living room.
"Sirius, what-?" Remus was cut off as Sirius let out a noise that most closely resembled a howl, and collapsed onto the couch next to Remus.
"Sirius!" Remus was alarmed now. "Sirius, what's happened?"
"JAMES AND LILY!" Sirius bellowed. "JAMES AND LILY ARE DEAD!"
"What?" Remus gasped. "What do you mean, they're dead?"
"I MEAN THEY'RE GONE!" Sirius bellowed. "I MEAN VOLDEMORT FOUND THEM!"
Remus put his face in his hands, looking up only when Sirius stood.
"I've got to go." he said shortly, and he left the house.
That was the last time for twelve years Remus would see any of his friends, except in newspapers. And he spent those twelve years thinking that he could have saved one of them, if he'd only stopped Sirius from leaving. If he'd turned him in to the authorities as soon as he heard that James and Lily were dead.
Remus spent those twelve years blaming himself. He spent them in misery, alone. He didn't know what had happened to Harry until he met him in Harry's third year, because he didn't trust himself near a child. And, perhaps the most heartbreaking of all, more heartbreaking than anything I've named so far, happened three days later.
Remus went to the funeral alone. He was alone while he buried his best friend.
Sirius spent that same day sitting alone in a cell of Azkaban, trying to hold on to his sanity, singing to himself in the darkness: "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Sirius..." as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Peter was being carried home from a pet store in which he'd taken refuge by an excited four-year-old Percy Weasley, accustoming himself to life as a rat, and preparing himself for spending the rest of his life as the pet of someone in the Weasley family.
Harry was being poked and prodded by his cousin. Petunia had recieved notice about the funeral, and though she hadn't seen her sister in years, made fun of her all the time, Petunia was crushed. But she didn't go to the funeral. She couldn't stand it. Instead she sat in the cupboard under the stairs, where a crip had been set up for Harry, fighting tears, and holding the toddler, all night long.
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Blimey, I'm depressed right now. The story of the Marauders is the saddest story Joanne could have come up with, and trying to write it out is making me very sad.
Oh well. Maybe I'll do something happier next.