It's been too long since I've posted Harry Potter fanfic

[author_by_night]

I wrote this for the lovely lyras a while back, but never posted. She nudged me, so here goes. It's more of a rough draft, so feel free to beta in your review. And britpick. I am not British, no matter how much I wish I were, and I'm always concerned it shows. (Is American English spelling an Americanism?)

Title: The Guardians

Words: 1,976

Characters: The Order, Andromeda, Dora,Ted, Sirius

Summary: When Harry is left orphaned, two cousins attempt to step up to the plate - even though they're the last ones anyone thinks should.

The Guardians

1981
"We'll take him."
The woman's voice was firm, and everyone in the room knew she was daring anyone to comment on the sheer irony of her request. That the boy should go to her, she whose cousin had caused the mess.
They were sitting in the Shrieking Shack, because what with all the fuss and to-dos these days, there was nowhere else to find privacy. The Order Headquarters had been destroyed. Alice had wanted to meet at the Ministry, but that would mean getting the Ministry of Magic involved, and nobody wanted that. They would probably give him to some pureblood, Death Eater sympathizing family...
Of course, that was probably what everyone in the room was thinking about her.
Andromeda wasn't entirely sure why they were in the Shrieking Shack. She hadn't even known one could get in. Remus Lupin hadn't really wanted to meet here, it clearly pained him, and yet he was also the one who insisted it was the best place if they were going to discuss Lily and James's son. Andromeda didn't know what it had meant to them.
"Don't you get it?" Dora had whispered. "It was their treehouse." Andromeda couldn't be fussed to explain that teenage boys weren't too keen on treehouses.
Harry’s case was a conundrum. According to wizarding law, a Ministry representative had the final say - in this case, Alice Longbottom, who along with her Auror duties had taken up the task of dealing with children whose families were gone. She had already made arrangements for her own son to live with her mother-in-law, just in case. James and Lily had insisted that guardianship go to Sirius, as they had no living family they were close to. Barring that... well, they were young and stupid. They had not wanted to think about the chance that Sirius wouldn't be available, so they didn't. Not that anyone had thought for a moment... Andromeda still didn't want to think...
Of course, Dumbledore had already made arrangements, it seemed. Nobody had heard from him, and McGonagall and Hagrid had remained strangely silent on the issue. Andromeda suspected they knew something, and had been sworn to secrecy. She personally hated that he disappeared so much, but she hadn't grown up with the Dumbledore worship complex everyone else seemed to have. Andromeda respected him, but a little boy was in some unknown location and her cousin was in prison with no chance of a trial. She wanted answers, and she hoped when Dumbledore showed up today, he'd have them.
"The decision has been made, I'm sure," Remus Lupin said.
"But I have to approve of it, and if anyone has better suggestions..."
"He does belong with his family," Frank said carefully.
"They haven't spoken to Lily in years, and... Lily's brother-in-law is one of the worst people there is," Remus finished. "Petunia is snobby and frivolous. The husband, Vincent or something, called Lily a freak to her face and threatened to punch James. She hates - hated him."
Everybody shifted uncomfortably at the tense change.
"That's why we're doing all we can to protect him," Andromeda said in what was supposed to be a reassuring voice, but it came out as almost irritable. "And that's why I want to take him in. He'd be safe with us, and... I'm his Godfather's cousin."
"That's why nobody commented on your request to take him," Mundungus Fletcher said.
"Because you're so perfect," Dora shot.

Andromeda smiled. Dora probably wasn't 'supposed' to be here, but Andromeda had had the idea that if people met her whole family, they'd get it. And Dora was smart for her age; she'd understand the vital secrecy of everything she saw and heard today. Besides, Alice had seen promise in her.
"And anyway," Dora continued, "I know he just lost his mind. So does Mum, right, Mum?"
It was true that Andromeda thought that Sirius had lost his mind. She was trying to convince Alice to question him, and hoped that once he got to St. Mungo's where he belonged and overcame this insanity, he'd be able to be part of Harry's life again. Andromeda's relationship with her cousin had never been steady, but when they did speak, everything was about James, Lily, and eventually Harry.
Grief was keeping the others from realizing that, Andromeda was sure of it. Maybe part of them did wonder, but they were so confused, so sad, and some of them had also known Sirius's darker side. Andromeda had received a letter from Dumbledore several years ago, when Sirius was still at Hogwarts, saying that he'd almost killed another student. Remus Lupin, at least, was probably aware of the incident. Maybe he'd even been involved, she didn't know and didn't want to know. And who knew what he'd done in the war? What harsh, morbid, unpopular decisions he'd made in the fight? Since Dora was born, the Tonks family had only known the young man who let her ride his motorcycle and told her funny stories.
Maybe he really had turned evil. Maybe it was all an act. But Andromeda couldn't bear to believe that. She'd come close to insanity herself anyway; you couldn't be brought up in that family and not. She knew the way you could just find yourself doing anything to preserve what you had, you ended up ruining everything.

But this wasn't the place to mention it.
"Dora, not here, okay?" Andromeda whispered.
"No, we'd love to hear this theory," Emmeline said icily. "So what do you think happened, sweetheart? He thought You-Know-Who was Father Christmas?"
"Emmeline," Remus said, "don't. They were close."
"So were you, and you're not defending him to protect your unresolved guilt."
"ENOUGH!"
Alastor Moody had spoken this time, or rather yelled, standing on both feet.
"We're all upset," he said, more calmly. "We've all lost four dear friends. Insane or murderous, the Sirius we knew and loved is gone. James, Lily and Peter are gone. However well we knew them, whatever they were to us, we aren't going to get them back. Let's get to the bottom of what we can change."
Remus was leaning back into his chair, as though he'd been about to stand up himself, and looked rather sullen. Emmeline looked absolutely horrified, as though she'd uttered the worst possible words and deeply regretted it. Remus shifted his chair an inch further, and Emmeline covered her eyes. Hagrid was giving Remus an oddly knowing look, and nobody was looking at Emmeline. Andromeda didn't know what Emmeline had meant, but it was clearly something horrible.
"Let's get to the bottom of this," she said. "I don't have unresolved guilt. What's the point? They're not my real family anyway, Alice and Frank are. I can't deny blood relation to them, but if we're going to continue our dispute about blood, what the hell did everybody die for? And that's why I want to raise Harry. I want him to thrive in an environment where blood doesn't matter."

"Very good," Alice said with a smile. "Anyone else?"

Emmeline cleared her throat. "I knew Lily quite well. I think it would be good for him to be raised by someone who knew his mother."
"I want to take him," Remus said. "But... some days would be a problem. And I have no money."
"We would help," Frank told him. "No matter which of us he lives with, we've all agreed to help. We're the Advanced Guardians. Advanced Guard even, that sounds less..."
"Political?" Ted offered. Everyone laughed.
"And it's true," Remus added. "We mustn't forget that he's still in danger. He will be his whole life."
"He needs our protection," a young man with one earring agreed.
"So we're agreed, then," Alice said. "No matter what happens - who he's with - we protect him. To the very best of our ability."
Everyone nodded, and Andromeda joined in.
Somehow, Andromeda knew deep down that she wasn't going to get him. That they weren't. Dumbledore's word always won over this crowd, and even if he gave in, would they really want Harry raised by her? She was only there on Alice and Frank's insistence. But he would be loved, and that was what the old Sirius would have wanted. Maybe that was even what part of him, or all of him, still wanted.

--


1993

Sirius had done a lot of spying. Which took talent when he was disguised as a dog.

Spying did more than let him wait to get his chance. It also helped him regain his memory. Even in his dog form, maybe partly because of it, some of his memories were gone completely.

He knew Alice and Frank Longbottom were insane. When dear cousin Bella came, whispers were exchanged that more or less proved it. He remembered Alice questioning him after he'd been in Azkaban for a week, but not what his answers were. He surmised they hadn't been very coherent, because she'd left crying and he was left there. There was probably a lot of yelling and "get me out" and "I'm going to kill him."

He also remembered James - Harry. He kept wanting to call him James, because he was a dead ringer for him. Dead ringer... funny choice of words. But true. It had initially been upsetting, then comforting. Besides, the mission was to kill Peter, not mourn the old days.

The question was, what if he couldn't until it was too late? He'd already tried to once... but he also didn't have self control yet. You couldn't have self control in Azkaban if you wanted to stay alive, but it was why Alice hadn't let him go, and why if one were able to kill a portrait, he probably would have.

Of course, Sirius had never had much self control to begin with.

But you have to now, he thought, or Peter...Peter... I'll kill him, even if someone else has to get hurt..

"D'you think he could've entered through here?"

Sirius looked up. Remus, who he saw so little of, was standing on the grass surveying the castle with a pink haired woman, whose voice sounded familiar. With them was a black man with one earring.

"No," Remus said. "It was a secret passage, but it's sealed. I sealed it myself, because it was his favorite."

"Unless he re-opened it, knowing you knew," the woman said slowly.

"Still, how could he have gotten into the school with the Dementors around?" The man asked.

Sirius held his breath.

"He was good at wandless magic," Remus said quickly.

Nice selective memory you've got, Moony, Sirius thought.

"It's true," the pink haired woman said. "He was good at wandless magic."

She sounded sad, and Sirius peered closely at her. Her name was at the tip of his tongue. Andromeda... no, it wasn't Andromeda, she was far too young, even younger than Andromeda had been when he last saw her. Dora? Narcissa's - no, Andromeda's daughter?

"Is Harry okay?" Dora asked suddenly.
"He's okay, but...”

“But what? Is he scared?”

“It’s more complicated than that. The Dementors… they make him remember.”

The world turned still as everyone comprehended what Remus had just said.

For Sirius, the horror turned into rage. He bolted, more murderous than he had been in a long time.  Harry remembered. A thirteen year old remembered his parents being murdered. All because they'd been idealistic prats, and their friends had been idiots who let them down when they needed them the most, in so many terrible ways.

It was only later, when he was exhausted from running and finally resting, that he was able to take solace in the fact that despite his absence, his Godson was being protected.

Not enough, the boy needed his Godfather, but it would do for the time being. And that, more than anything else, kept Sirius in control.
Moderate control, at least.

Comments

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

I love it! It does feel a bit rushed to me, but that might be mostly because of the two parts being so far apart in time. I think once you've written more (please write more!) in between that would go away. And I would really, really like to see more in between.

(Also, the formatting is a bit wonky - no indents and no spaces between paragraphs makes it a bit difficult to read. Except for a section in the middle where the text is larger and a different font.)

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Oh, stupid LJ. I'm sorry about that - rich text doesn't like the font I use, no matter what font it is.

I think once you've written more (please write more!) in between that would go away.

I'm actually considering doing much much more with this. :) So that might make the flow a little better, if it's more of a montage than just two completely separate moments decades apart.

ETA: Well, one decade apart. *Facepalm* Oh dear, maths...

[daintress.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I always love a glimpse into the Black family dynamic, which must have been hell to grow up with.

[kelleypen.livejournal.com]

excellent, Amy. I like both halves, but they could almost work as two chapters, then you could add subsequent chapters as well. I don't know who Emmeline is. Without establishing that, it's a little confusing. But I was sucked right into your story. I'm sure the confab happened just like that.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it explains a lot about all of them, even Draco and Tonks.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Emmeline is an Order member who I think might have only been mentioned two or three times in the entire series.

I've definitely decided to do somethig else with this, but I'll email you.

[sea_thoughts]

I really, really want more of the Advanced Guard meeting. I love the dynamics and the insight into Andromeda's mindset. Love forthright little Dora and how she puts her foot in it even at that tender age.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks!