James couldn't believe what he just heard, and yet it made sense. That explained his son's look, his nightmares, why his best friends looked so different. He held Lily's hand tightly, he never loved her more than now, she saved his boy, she was the reason he lived. Lily couldn't think straight, all she wanted was to keep her boy safe, both of them, past and future, screw that prophecy, she wanted to take them as far away as possible.

Sirius and Remus were shocked. How could Peter be a traitor? He was their friend, they had helped him at school, they would have died for him and he just handed them all to Voldemort! He could have prevented Voldemort's return, those people's death, and instead he helped him! He cut his best friend's son's arm and was prepared to see him die. They had loved Harry since Lily announced she was pregnant, he wasn't just James and Lily's son, he was the marauder's son, and Peter just sold him out to Voldemort. How could they not have seen? They were a little reassured by the fact that Sirius and Remus said that they had never really believed the other a traitor, that they were just left with no choice. They knew that was true, Peter had already started with the nasty remarks, but they both had brushed them off, and even told Peter off for thinking like that.

Harry didn't know what to think. Deep down he always knew he would be the one to have to stop Voldemort. He felt it deep down. In the end he was always alone with Voldemort; fighting for the philosopher's stone, down in the Chamber of Secrets. But that prophecy said he had to kill Voldemort, he couldn't kill anyone. And what was that power the dark Lord knows not, he didn't have any powers the dark Lord knows not of, only if he didn't know either.

Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were open mouthed. Like Harry they somehow knew that he was the one, but one thing is to feel something, the other, completely different, was to have that feeling confirmed and with no way out.

"So Tess raised you? She did a good job, you're a wonderful young man," Lily said, tears in her eyes. At this, Sirius heart dropped, not this too.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean who? If I was in Azkaban, she was the only one left. I mean no offense Moony, but the stupid ministry wouldn't give you a one year old," Sirius said but Harry was turning to Sirius and Remus.

"Who is this Tess woman?" James and Lily were looking from Harry to the two men, not understanding how he could not know. Sirius asked terrified.

"Is she dead?" Sirius shook his head. "Then how does he not know her?" his younger self asked.

"Who is this woman?" and this time the shout came from Ginny, why did everything had to come as a surprise here?

"She's Harry's godmother," Remus answered.

"I have a Godmother. But where is she? Why didn't she keep me? Why did she let Dumbledore give me to the Durleys?" Harry asked exasperated.

"Dumbledore what?" James and Lily shouted together standing up. "That can't be right," she said, "no one in their right mind would give you to Petunia, she hates me, she hates magic!" Lily finished.

"You're telling me," Harry said in an undertone.

"There was a good reason," Remus tried to calm them.

"What good reason could there be, for my son to end up with those people? They are the worst kind of people there are," James shouted.

"Calm down James and we'll explain," Remus said and at this James took back his seat at Lily's side, he knew Remus wouldn't continue until he did so. "Dumbledore had to think ahead, Voldemort was gone, yes, they were sure of that because many of his spells were broken. But Dumbledore knew he wasn't dead and that he could come back. There were also his Death Eaters to think about. Some are as cruel and vicious as Voldemort, and thought that if they got rid of Harry, Voldemort could come back. Take Bellatrix Lestrange for example. She ended up in Azkaban for torturing the Longbottoms to insanity, and believe me, I was at her trial, she enjoyed that." At this the kids let out shocked cries.

"Neville's parents," Hermione whispered.

"Yes," Sirius answered "that's why he's raised by his grandmother."

Remus continued as if there had been no interruption "Dumbledore had to do something fast, something to ensure Harry's safety, so he enhanced the protection you gave him Lily, as long as he could call the place were your blood dwelled home the Death Eaters or Voldemort himself couldn't touch him there. That's why he had to go back every summer, even if just for a while, to ensure the protection."

"I understand that, but who protected him from them?" Lily asked.

"Remus," Harry said, and everyone turned to look at him.

"Not enough," Remus shook his head "in the end I always had to let you back there."

"What are you talking about," Fred asked.

So Harry told them about what he remembered.

"You taught at his school?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, I had to put spells on me so no one would think strange when the same person passed from being a kindergarten teacher to a first grade teacher."

"But none of that explains why Tess let that happen. Dumbledore may have had the best intentions but he is not above the law, and Tess had legal rights. And you were sent to Azkaban but managed to escape and find Harry. Remus found a way to be near him, where was she?" Sirius asked and everyone looked at Sirius.

"I don't know. I didn't let her explain much when her and her perfect hubby came to the first Order meeting after Voldemort's return. I was kind of busy shouting at her for not keeping Harry."

"So she is around? She wasn't in someway not able to keep me?" Harry asked.

"You have to understand that she was very distraught when everything happened. Lily was like a sister to her, she thought the man she loved had betrayed us all, Sirius didn't even tell her about the switch," Remus said.

"James didn't want to hear about one of us being the spy. He couldn't believe that. So I convinced him not to tell anyone, for a better bluff, not Remus, not Tess," Sirius explained "But her pain didn't justify her forgetting there was a baby that needed her."

"And yours did?" Ginny said angry "I mean, I love you to death Sirius, and I have half my mind to go and punch that Tess senseless, but you didn't have to go after Pettigrew."

"Of course he did," Harry said.

"No, she is right. I thought that myself a million times," Sirius said "I didn't see past my rage at that time. I let my emotions get the better of me and did not think things through. I could have gone to Dumbledore and pleaded my case, let the Aurors take care of Peter. My actions weren't justified either, but unlike Tess, after I messed up, I did not have plenty of opportunities to try and fix things, and when I had, I did. She had 14 years, and I can't help but think that if Voldemort hadn't returned she would have stayed away. But I also can't explain why she did, you'd have to ask her, Harry."

Harry nodded. He hoped one day he could. He didn't even know why he cared, he didn't know her, but somehow this felt as something else Voldemort took from him. Lily stood up and walked to her son, she hugged him and said "I love you."

"I know, mom."

---

He watched his godson seated by the window ledge gazing at the school grounds but not really seeing them. He approached and put a hand on his shoulder. The boy gave a start but when he saw his godfather he smiled.

"Are you ok?" Sirius asked.

"Fine."

"Really? Because this is a lot to assimilate," Sirius said raising an eyebrow and sitting next to Harry on the window ledge.

"How come you don't hate me?" Harry blurted looking as though the words came out of his mouth without permission. Sirius looked at him astounded, why should he hate him? How could that thought cross the boy's mind, there was no one in this world he loved more.

"What?" was all Sirius could say.

Harry sighed. He'd been thinking this since he heard the prophecy, but he hadn't intended to ask, the words just escaped him, "I'm the reason Voldemort killed my parents. I'm the reason you lost your friends, you spent twelve years in Azkaban, you lost your wife and the life you should have. I'm the reason Remus lost everything too and was left alone in a world that doesn't accept him. Just by being with me you're in danger. Voldemort was after me that day at the Burrow and you all got caught in the crossfire, and instead of hating me you try to protect me."

"No, Harry. Again you're seeing this the wrong way; Voldemort is the reason all of that happened," Sirius said, how could this boy think everything was his fault?

"But he wouldn't have come after you all if not for me," Harry said, how did his godfather not understand this?

"Yes, he would. We are all active in the fight against him Harry. Me, Remus, your parents, the Weasleys. Eventually he would come after us all, and anyone else that stands in his way," Sirius said. "Look, Harry. I don't know how to make you understand this, but you have too. This is what Remus and me were saying the other day, you are not responsible for other people's actions."

"But the prophecy," Harry said, sounding a bit desperate.

"Voldemort did not have to act on that prophecy, Harry. Not all prophecies are fulfilled. But when he did he marked you as his equal, he made you the only one that can stop him. He didn't need to do that, as he didn't need to do all the other terrible things he did that make it necessary for him to be stopped. He could just have been a normal wizard that went through life not killing others. And you would be born and both of you could have lived your lives without even acknowledging each other, but he didn't. This is all his fault, and no one else's. Well, his Death Eater's fault too, but not ours, and most certainly not yours."

Harry looked at him for a while considering what his godfather had said. He knew that made sense, but somehow he could not shake the feeling that this was his fault. Everything had always been his fault. Everything that went wrong had always been attributed to him. That's what Uncle Vernon always said.

Seeing his godson struggling to understand this, Sirius could not understand why Harry had such a hard time letting go of the guilt when he had such an easy one grabbing the guilt. A sudden thought crossed his mind, and trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice Sirius asked.

"Harry, did the Dursley ever blame you for anything?" Harry's eyes went wide and then he looked away. That was all the answer Sirius needed but he still pressed.

"Harry, I asked you a question?" and he put his hand on Harry's chin and make him look at him.

Harry sighed and said softly "When anything went wrong, I was to blame. Even if I had nothing to do with what happened."

Sirius looked out the window then looked back at his godson and said, "You know, you and Ron remind me a lot of James and me."

"Ron reminds you of yourself?" Harry asked not understanding what this had to do with the previous conversation.

"No, you remind me of me," Sirius said smiling at his godson's disbelieving face "see, your dad was my first friend. I came from a family that thought only of their pureblood supremacy, thought that being a Black made you practically royalty. Whenever a decent Black came out they were disowned, like Tonks' mum. I got to know her better after I entered Hogwarts and started to see her at school, she was in her last year. But the fact that my family was all about blood lineage and family's heritage does not mean they cared about the members of the family. I had as much neglect from my mother and father than you had from the Dursleys. Until my first ride on the Hogwarts express, I never had anyone that cared about me. I met your dad on that ride. He came from loving parents that soon adopted me as a second son, very much like the Weasleys did with you. Your dad was more my brother than my blood brother Regulus. Very much like the dynamics between you and Ron. Remus was our Hermione, at first we thought he was a bookworm, well he is, but we soon saw that he was a nice one, that could still be saved and he became as important as James to me, and I know the same happened to James. We were brothers, we were family, and when you where born, you weren't just James' and Lily's, you were ours, and we always loved you as our son. I may be the one with the title but that's just because James had to choose one. I remember when he asked me, he said I'd be his first born's godfather because he met me first, but Remus would be the second one's. Remus is as much your godfather as I am, and he proved so by keeping close to you, even if you couldn't know who he was."

He was very satisfied when he saw Harry smile and understand what he was saying; that he understood why sometimes Harry had such a hard time understanding why someone would love him, but that eventually, he would. Harry hugged his godfather and they stayed there for a while without noticing the person at the door that had seen the whole exchange.

A while later, Sirius closed Harry's door and walked to the common room. A voice came from the couch;

"So, I can be saved? Hadn't noticed I needed to be."

Sirius sat facing his friend and raised his eyebrows.

"Eavesdropping now, are we?"

"Always," Remus answered, "You gave quite a speech, I think you're getting good at this."

"Oh, since I am becoming good at giving advice, why don't I give you some?" Sirius said smirking.

Remus looked suspiciously at his friend and asked "What?"

"Women like to be paraded." Sirius said flatly.

"What?" Remus asked shocked. He could not know?

"See, the whole forbidden, hidden relationship, is very fun for a while, but after, they like the man to state to the world their love, and my cousin is no different than any other woman."

"What? Since when? How?" Remus said totally embarrassed.

Sirius laughed at his friend's state, "Oh, come on. Any one can see the looks you share. I'm not stupid, what I don't understand is why you're holding up. Why not tell everyone?"

"I don't know if you noticed but she is younger than me."

"So what?" Sirius said, "Are you afraid that when you're 180 she'll dump you for a young stud of 170."

"I have nothing to offer her," Remus said exasperated.

"Well, if you hadn't she wouldn't be interested, and from where I'm standing she looks pretty much head over heels for you," Sirius stated.

"What about the full moons?" Remus said.

"What about them?" Sirius asked.

"What do you mean what about them, I'm dangerous!" Remus almost shouted.

"No, you're not," Sirius said angrily standing up "You only have to take your potion, and if you want to be on the safe side go away on the full moon. Stop doing this. You always do this, you think you don't have the right to be happy just because you got bitten. Well news flash for you, you have, and if you blow this up out of self pity, I'll hunt you down and hex you into oblivion." And than he left, leaving a stunned Remus behind.

---

In the Gryffindor tower the Weasleys and Hermione had their heads pressed together, whispering so that the other students couldn't hear them.

"So what do we do?" Fred asked.

"We find a way for Harry to beat him. There has to be something," Ron said.

"We need to find out what that power that Harry has is," Hermione said frowning "That's the key to defeating him."

"Maybe we have to find a wandless spell, I mean, I didn't even know Harry could do wandless magic," George said.

"Can't be that, You Know Who can do wandless magic, that is the marking as his equal part, like parselmouth. No this is something You Know Who doesn't have," Ginny said pensively.

They all stood there in silent thinking what they could do. What was this power that Harry had. They didn't have a clue but one thing they knew, they would fight by Harry's side, the prophecy said Harry had to give the final blow, not that he had to get there alone.

---

At Godric's Hollow, Lily was putting baby Harry to sleep and James was following her every move from the bed. She walked to the bed and lied beside him. She rested her head on his chest and said.

"Now you know what happened. How are we going to fix this?"

"I don't know, but we are," he answered pulling her chin up and looking straight into her eyes.

"He's very brave," she said in a whisper.

"Yes, but he is just a boy, and should be aloud to be one," James answered desperately "How did we not notice Peter? Why didn't I think of him? Just the other day I was thinking that he never was an active part of our group. And he is already plotting against us. Maybe he was already on Voldemort's side when we left school. When we joined the Order, Auror school. We helped him, remember? We got in only with our N.E., me, you, Sirius and Remus were already in, but he had to do all those extra tests, and we helped him study, gave up our free time for him. We would have died for him Lily!"

"I always thought he was weird. He didn't fit. You, Remus and Sirius fit, you complemented each other, anyone could see why you were friends. But he didn't. I couldn't understand why he was a marauder. But he was, and you trusted him and you cared about him, so I went along," Lily said "But now we have to use our heads James. Don't let him suspect we are on to him. Use him, just like he used us. We can't let him suspect we know, so this time we can prevent all the suffering, change things for good. For Harry. For Sirius, Remus, Frank, Alice and their son. For us, James."

He smiled at her. She was right, they had to do as Dumbledore said. Voldemort had to be stopped, and now, for once, they had the upper hand. He kissed her. They would do this for Harry.

---

Sirius and Remus were seated at the kitchen table of Sirius' flat facing each other. A half empty bottle of firewhisky between them, both holding empty glasses.

"He ruined our lives," Sirius muttered. "We did our best to make his better and he ruined ours without thinking twice."

Remus looked into his friend face and asked "Did you see his eyes?"

"Of course I've seen bloody Peter's eyes, fat lot of help that did," Sirius answered irritably.

"Not Peter's, Harry's," Remus answered, "He has adult eyes." Sirius nodded grimly, he had seen them too. Remus continued, "He's a boy, and he has already seen too much. Can you imagine how he grew up? Do you remember Lily's sister from their parents' funeral? She hates Lily, she hates us. She hates wizard as much as Death eaters hate muggles."

"They locked him up," Sirius said in a low tone.

"What?" Remus asked.

"I heard the Weasley kids talking. That Ginny was really angry with Tess for not keeping Harry. I think she fancies him. Anyway, she was going on about how Ron, Fred and George had to rescue him from the Dursleys on the summer before second year. They had locked him up in his room and put bars on his window. They were starving him. And before he received his Hogwarts Letters they made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, they only moved him up to a bedroom because they were afraid someone was spying on them," Sirius said, disgust in his voice. Remus stared at him disbelieving and said;

"How can they do that to a child?"

"I don't know. Not even my parents did something like that, and my parents were nasty," Sirius said with a shudder. Remus nodded. Sirius didn't like to talk about his parents. They had been cruel, tried to force Sirius to follow the Dark Arts. When he was sixteen he had enough and ran away. Went to live with the Potters. Remus always marveled at how someone that was raised like Sirius could become such a good man. He attributed that to character. He thought that that must be Harry's case too because you could see that the boy despised the Dark Arts. With the hatred he must have grown up that was a remarkable achievement, suddenly he voiced.

"We have to find a way to change this. Use Peter, like he used us. We have to help Harry. That prophecy doesn't say he has to get there alone, only that he has to give the final blow."

Sirius looked up at his friend resolute face and nodded. Yes, that's what they would do. For once he was going to stop and think before he acted. His future self had screwed up by acting rashly. He wouldn't. Peter would not even notice they were on to him.

And all those friends went to sleep that night with one certainty; Harry wasn't going to be alone in this fight, and in his office Dumbledore was contemplating that this was exactly the power Voldemort knew nothing about; Love.