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Chapter Text

24 January 1982

The sun started its daily descent under the horizon, and Sirius Black scratched another line into the wall. Eighty-four lines, eighty-four days, since he’d been in this hellhole. Twelve weeks. Three months. A quarter of a year’s sentence done, only a lifetime left. Until he finally got lucky and died.

Counting the days was almost as bad as the dementors themselves when it came to making Sirius feel completely hopeless and alone, but he kept on anyway. He had nothing else to do, after all. Besides, he knew he deserved it.

He should’ve known Wormtail was the traitor, should’ve gone ahead and been the secret keeper. Who cared if Voldemort killed him trying to get the information; at least James and Lily would’ve been safe. And Harry, poor Harry; he’d never know Sirius as anything more than a murdering traitor, as would Sirius’ own son, Teddy.

He’s not my son anymore, Sirius told himself firmly, his heart sinking as he did so. Sirius was only considered Teddy’s father because he was involved with Moony and Tonks, and that was undoubtedly over. He had no claim to the boy, legally or biologically, no matter what he felt.

Sirius heard heavy footsteps approaching his cell, and quickly morphed back to human. For some reason, Tonks and Moony hadn’t told the ministry about his animagus ability, and Sirius didn’t want them to find out. Being able to become Padfoot was the only thing keeping him sane. He couldn’t let that get taken away.

Must have caught another death eater, Sirius thought. Aurors only came to the island if there was a new prisoner, and nobody else in their right mind would come here, even if they were allowed to. Even animals knew instinctively to stay away from this place of death and decay. Good. If I have to be in this hellhole, I hope every single death eater is stuck in here with me.

The footsteps came closer, and stopped outside the cell. Sirius raised his head to glare at whoever came to bother him and a very pale, pinkish white fox stared back at him. He’d never seen this animal before, or indeed any animal quite like it, but it looked very familiar, especially those twinkling brown eyes.

“Tonks?” Sirius asked. “Is that you?” It was impossible, he knew. Tonks hadn't even come on Auror missions since Sirius was locked up - though Sirius suspected old Mad-Eye Moody simply didn't trust Tonks to see Sirius, rather than any attempt to spare Tonks' feelings. I must be going mad. But still, Sirius decided to play along. Seeing one of his beloveds, even as a hallucination, even as a fox, was welcome at this point. And at least in fox form, at least Tonks couldn’t start shouting at him.

The fox dipped its head. The long nights pouring over books in old classrooms trying in vain to teach Tonks the animagus transformation didn’t quite come back to him; the dementors would’ve never allowed that. But for the first time in three months, Sirius felt something almost akin to happiness. He morphed into animagus form, hoping to keep the feeling away from the dementors for just a little bit longer.

Then, right before Sirius’ eyes, Tonks changed back into their human form, as easily as Sirius had just changed to Padfoot, and drew their wand. With a flash of red light, everything went black.

Some time later, Sirius woke up on an empty beach. He was alone and would’ve thought he’d gone blind if not for the stars, but he was, strangely, happier than he’d ever remembered being. What had happened to the dementors? Where was he? Anywhere was better than Azkaban, but still, he’d have liked some answers.

“Wotcher,” a familiar voice said. “No offense, but you look like hell.”

I’ve gone mad, Sirius confirmed to himself as Tonks and Moony materialized before him, both of them shining their lit wands in his face.

“You don’t look so great yourself,” Sirius said, falling back easily into their old banter. It had a bit of truth to it. Tonks looked like they were drained of color, their hair a dull, messy brown and their face pale and thin. Only their eyes looked the same; the same twinkling brown as the fox and full of curiosity and, if Sirius wasn’t mistaken, a bit of guarded hope. Moony, for his part, didn’t look like he’d changed a bit since he was still running secret Order missions with the werewolves. He was just as thin and ragged, his eyes much harder than Tonks’.

“No fucking shit,” Tonks said. “It’s not like two of my best friends were betrayed and killed, my other best friend was murdered in cold blood, my godson was sent off with his shitty muggle relatives, and my boyfriend got himself thrown in Azkaban, or anything.”

Sirius couldn’t help it; he laughed. Much like the night he’d been caught, he couldn’t stop laughing, not even for the angry look on his beloveds’ faces, even though nothing was the least bit funny.

“This isn’t happening,” he said when he could finally speak again. “I’m still in my cell, probably muttering to myself like all the rest. I guess I should be glad the hallucination is you two, at least. Better than looking at Bellatrix’s ugly mug all day.”

“We’re not-”

“Wait,” Sirius said. “Let me guess. You’re going to start screaming at me about how you’ll never forgive me, how everything is my fault, how it should’ve been me instead. You’ll tell me Teddy will never know I was his father, and will grow up only ever hating me and seeing Wormtail as a martyr. Maybe you’ll even change his name to Teddy Peter Lupin, if you haven’t already. Am I close?” Before either Moony or Tonks could reply, he pressed on, unable to stop it once he’d started. “Well, guess what? I’ve heard it all before. Hearing it from your voices isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. I’ve done this, twelve weeks of it, in Azkaban, which you damn well know as a figment of my imagination. So say what you want to say, I don’t care.”

“You finished?” Tonks asked dryly.

Sirius nodded. “Just get on with it,” he said.

“Thank you so much ,” Tonks said. “As I was saying, I’m not a hallucination, and neither is Remus. We sprung you so you could explain yourself.”

“Explain myself?” Sirius repeated numbly. This was a first. He’d of course often dreamed of his loved ones demanding an explanation, but they’d never let him give it, only continued to shout at him. There was no explanation or excuse that would satisfy them.

But Tonks seemed genuinely willing to hear him out. “Yes, you idiot, explain yourself,” they said. “Start from the beginning.”

Sirius took a second to collect his thoughts, and told his beloveds everything.

“And I couldn’t help it,” Sirius finished. “I laughed. I couldn’t say a word in my defense, not that they would’ve listened; the stress of it all just became overwhelming and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

Sirius looked up at his former lovers. He was still convinced it was another cruel trick of his mind, a manifestation of his worst fear; that he’d finally have a chance to tell them everything, and they’d still think he was a traitor and a murderer.

But Moony and Tonks looked at each other and exchanged a small nod.

“I don’t think he’s lying,” Moony said. It was the first time Sirius had heard him speak. “I know all of his tells.”

That seemed to satisfy Tonks, who broke out into a grin. “I knew it,” they said. “We both did. I just never imagined Peter would do this, either. We assumed you changed secret keepers without telling us, for some reason. Probably to ‘protect us’ or something equally stupid and Gryffindor.” Tonks paused and took a breath. “We just didn’t know who it might be. And we thought either that person or another death eater must have killed Peter and those muggles, and framed you.”

“You weren’t far off,” Sirius said. “You really believe me?”

“Yes,” Tonks said. “I know you never would’ve betrayed James and Lily.”

“I’m sorry,” Moony said, looking downright ashamed. “I really thought you did, at first. Tonks convinced me I was wrong.”

“It’s not your fault,” Sirius said. “It was a stupid plan. I should’ve told you so you’d talk me out of it. Besides, you did break me out.” Sirius allowed himself a small smile. If this truly was an illusion, ending it would break him, but he found he didn’t much care at the moment. This moment was all that mattered. “You’ve got to tell me how you did that. How did the Dementors not see you?”

“I became an Animagus, obviously,” Tonks said. “I knew the Dementors wouldn’t sense an animal nearly as easily, and I might be able to break in.”

“You finally mastered it?” Sirius asked. “How? I tried to teach you for years!”

“It’s a long story,” Tonks said, looking grim once again. “I’d rather not get into it now.”

“Fair enough,” Sirius said. “How are Teddy and Harry? Who’s with Teddy, if you’re both here?”

“My parents are watching Teddy,” Tonks said. “We told them we were going out on a date night. It wasn’t exactly a lie.” They allowed themselves a small grin.

“And Harry?” Sirius prompted. “You said he’s with Lily’s sister – and how did that happen?! - is doing he alright, or do I have to actually go commit a murder?”

Tonks’ grin faded. “We don’t know,” they said bitterly. “Dumbledore won’t let us see him.”

“Won’t let – but you’re his legal guardian!” Sirius protested. “It makes sense he’d deny me, considering everything that happened, but you-”

“Tell me about it,” Tonks said, scowling. “I may have lost my temper with the old codger.”

“Tonks sent him a dozen firecrackers with Owlvendork,” Remus translated. “Totally destroyed his office.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Sirius guffawed. “That’s brilliant,” he said.

“It was stupid,” Tonks said. “It just gave him another reason to keep us away – not that he seemed to need one. We don’t even know where he is. We know he’s with Lily’s sister, but not where they are. Dumbledore probably thinks we’d steal him.”

“Wouldn’t we?” Sirius asked, tentatively hoping he’d once more be included in we. “We’re his legal guardians. We’d have every right.”

“I don't think you're a legal guardian anymore," Remus said. "And no, we wouldn’t if he’s safer where he is, which is certainly possible. The muggles won’t know who he is, and death eaters won’t stray into the muggle world for anything.”

“You’re saying that because you never met Petunia,” Tonks said dryly. “She’s always been a colossal bitch to Lily, and she hates magic. And I don’t think her husband is much better.”

“That doesn’t mean she’d hurt a child,” Remus said. Sirius would’ve felt better if he didn’t know Remus was trying to convince himself as much as Tonks.

Tonks laid their head against Remus’ shoulder. “I hope you’re right,” they said.

Remus put his spare arm around Sirius’ shoulder and pulled him close. “Me, too,” he said.

“So,” Sirius said. “Is this a thing again? Are we-”

“We always were,” Tonks said, laying a soft kiss on Sirius’ lips.

Sirius returned the kiss briefly before pulling back. “If this is a dream, waking up will destroy me,” he said hoarsely.

“Then let’s never wake up,” Remus said. He leaned in toward Sirius.

“Best idea I’ve heard all day,” Sirius said. He leaned in to meet Remus and kissed him. Coherent words were ineffective after that, as the triad got lost in each other’s embrace and finally had a proper reunion.

Chapter Text

31 October 1982

“For the last time, Sirius, we’re not naming the baby Elvendork!” Tonks said as they took another sip of firewhiskey. The two remaining Marauders and their partner were sitting on the kitchen floor, none of them willing to be the one to bring up James and Lily.

“But it’s unisex,” Sirius said with a small grin. In his current condition, he had to make do with butterbeer, but took a swig just the same.

“It’s also as ridiculous as ‘Nymphadora,’” Tonks retorted. “I’m not putting that burden on my child, thank you very much. Besides, we already have Elvendork the Cat and Owlvendork, do we really need another?” Back at Hogwarts, James and Sirius both named their pets Elvendork. Now that Remus and Tonks had inherited both pets, James’ Elvendork was referred to exclusively as either Elvendork the Cat or simply The Cat and Sirius’ Elvendork’s name was changed to Owlvendork.

“Elvendork didn’t come from the cat or the owl,” Sirius said. As if summoned, Elvendork the Cat walked over and plopped himself on Sirius’ lap. Sirius absently scratched the cat’s ears with his free hand and took another swig of butterbeer. Maybe if he’d pretended it was firewhiskey hard enough, he’d actually get drunk. “You’re no fun, both of you.”

Tonks rolled their eyes. “Our baby does not want to be called Elvendork,” they said. “Right, little one?” Tonks put their free hand on Sirius’ belly and was rewarded with a sharp kick. “See? It’s kicking you for even suggesting such a thing.”

Sirius sighed. “Alright, fine, no Elvendork,” he said. He finished the butterbeer and tossed the empty bottle to the side. “Are you two ready for the full moon tomorrow night?” he asked a bit wistfully. It was a sore subject for them all, but not nearly as sore as the one they were all hoping someone else would bring up.

Remus groaned and took another swig of firewhiskey. “Don’t remind me,” he said. It was the first time he’d spoken since they’d all put Teddy to bed and started drinking half an hour ago. “The hangover is going to be bad enough.”

“Sorry,” Sirius said. He felt guilty about how much he longed to be able to join his partners tomorrow night, when it made Remus so miserable. But he couldn’t help it; he longed to transform into Padfoot. Sirius had used his canine body as a refuge for far too long, even before Azkaban, and had become dependent on it.

As Padfoot, Sirius was fully male, as the animagus transformation took the form of a wizard’s soul rather than his physical body. Sirius never truly felt like himself, but the worst of the dysphoria was gone, and it was bearable. Perhaps his mother was right and he was a freak; after all, who felt more at ease as an animal than as a human?

A pregnant man, apparently, he thought dryly. Even for wizards, his condition was reserved for freak show carnivals and trashy erotic fiction. A gimmick. A fetish. A joke. As if being Wizarding Britain’s most wanted felon wasn’t enough, now he could honestly make the front page of The Quibbler. Not for the first time, he cursed his bastard father for denying him his much needed Y chromosome.

“Hangovers are Future Remus’ problem,” Tonks declared, cutting into Sirius’ internal pity party. “Right now we need baby names. Sirius could pop at any moment.”

“Thanks for that,” Sirius said dryly. “Any real suggestions, then? Since you both shut down my perfect name.”

Tonks rolled their eyes but shrugged, unwilling to bring back the Elvendork debate until they’d had at least a couple more drinks. “What about the obvious?” they suggested. “James for a boy, Lily for a girl.”

Sirius shook his head. “Too soon,” he said. Even hearing his old friends’ names was still too painful; he didn’t want that particular burden on his child. “Besides, we already have a Harry James. Even if it’s looking like we’ll never see him again.”

“I agree,” Remus said. “Maybe if we have another in a few years-” the looks on both Sirius’ and Tonks’ faces made it quite clear that was never happening- “but I’m not ready for that now.”

“I guess you’re right,” Tonks conceded. “But we are not having another baby unless you’re the one carrying it, Remus.” Remus allowed himself a small grin, his first of the night. “How do we feel about James and Lily as middle names?”

“I think middle names would be perfect, if you both agree,” Sirius said. “It would honor James or Lily without making it too weird.”

Tonks and Remus both nodded. The three sat quietly with their drinks for awhile, pondering.

“So, are we dead-set against naming the baby after any deceased family or friends, or just the most recent?” Remus finally asked a few minutes later.

“I’m not, as long as the name isn’t something my mother would pick out,” Tonks said.

Sirius nodded in agreement. “I’d suggest naming the baby after Mum and Dad, but they both hated their names,” Sirius said. Remus and Tonks both knew Sirius well enough to know he wasn’t referring to Walburga and Orion.

“Yeah, Fleamont and Euphemia are almost as bad as Nymphadora,” Tonks agreed. “What did you have in mind, Remus?”

“Well – what about Hope for a girl?” Remus suggested. He tried to sound casual, but both Sirius and Tonks could tell what it would mean to him to name his daughter after his mother, who had died of a rare and aggressive cancer just before he graduated.

“Hope Lily Black-Lupin,” Sirius said, trying the name out. “I like it.”

“Nice and short, not too weird but not so common she’ll have a dozen other Hopes in her class,” Tonks said. “Good choice, Remus.”

Remus smiled. “That’s the girl name settled, then,” he said. “Now, what if it’s a boy?”

Tonks began to reply, but was interrupted by Sirius’ sudden declaration of “Merlin’s bollocks!” Insulted, Elvendork the Cat leaped off Sirius’ lap and hissed before leaving the room.

Tonks huffed. “You could’ve at least heard my suggestion first,” they snapped.

Sirius shook his head. “It’s not that,” he gasped. “You were right before.” He gasped again and groaned in pain. “The baby’s coming. Now.”

“Alright, Sirius, one last push,” Tonks urged.

“BE GRATEFUL IF I DON’T I RIP YOUR BLOODY BOLLOCKS OFF ONCE THIS IS OVER, MOONY!” Sirius shouted as he pushed.

Remus winced slightly, but wisely said nothing.

“He doesn’t mean it anymore than I did, Remus,” Tonks said. Considering the hell Tonks went through having Teddy, that wasn't very reassuring. “Alright, here it comes.” Sure enough, Sirius and Remus head a loud cry as Tonks pulled the baby out. “Remus, want to cut the cord?”

Remus nodded, left Sirius’ side, and gently cut the umbilical cord with a small severing charm.

“Is the baby okay?” Sirius asked weakly.

“She’s fine,” Tonks said. “Congratulations, Dad, we have a daughter.”

“That’s what both our mothers thought about twenty years ago,” Sirius pointed out, but he was smiling.

“Point taken,” Tonks said. They cleaned the baby off with a quick scorgify, wrapped her in a blanket, and put her in Sirius’ arms. “But regardless of how she identifies later in life, for now I’m content to assume she’s a girl. We never actually got around to picking a boy name.”

“Point taken,” Sirius grinned.

“Should we wake the new big brother?” Remus asked. Teddy had, miraculously, slept through the entire affair. Much like his Papa Moony, Teddy could sleep through the house falling down, especially this close to the full moon.

“Absolutely not,” Sirius said. “He can meet her in the morning. I’m exhausted.” He smiled at his daughter. Welcome to the world, Hope Lily.

“Teddy, this is your new baby sister, Hope,” Tonks said. Teddy was on their hip looking down at Hope sleeping in her cot.

“Bee-bee!” Teddy giggled. His hair turned a bright turquoise.

“I think he approves,” Remus said. “Should we get going?”

Sirius shifted to dog form and barked agreeably.

“Remember, Teddy, Dada Padfoot being here is a secret,” Tonks said. “Once we get to Gran and Gramps’ house, he’s Snuffles.”

Teddy nodded solemnly, as if he actually understood this speech, and Tonks handed him to Remus. “I’ll see you over there, gentlemen,” Tonks said, and they picked up Hope and disappeared with a soft crack.

Remus, Teddy, and “Snuffles” went down stairs to use the fireplace, as neither Remus or Sirius could side-along apparate, and by the time they stepped out of the fireplace at the Tonks house, Ted was already cooing over Hope and Andromeda was lecturing her child.

“You could’ve called me over last night, you know,” she said. “I don’t care what time of night, I’m your mother, and to give birth without a healer-”

“I’m fine, Mum,” Tonks sighed. “I had that potion you brewed for me and everything. Look, here’s the boys.”

Remus waved at Andromeda, put Teddy down, and collapsed into an armchair.

“And you got a dog last night, too?” Andromeda narrowed her eyes at Sirius. She liked animals well enough, but not in the house - they were far too messy.

“Yes, he was outside digging in the garbage, poor thing,” Tonks said. “Don’t worry, he’s house trained. His name’s Snuffles.”

“Snuffles” rolled his eyes at the ridiculous name Remus had picked out for him, but luckily, Andromeda didn't notice.

“Ridiculous name,” Andromeda echoed Sirius' thoughts. She still didn't look happy about having a dog uninvited in her home, but then Teddy pulled the dog into a big hug and her eyes warmed. Like most grandmothers, she was far softer on her grandson than she’d ever been on Tonks.

“The baby’s waking up,” Ted said. He brought Hope over so Andromeda could see. “Oh, look, dear, she has your eyes.” Sure enough, unlike her mother and brother, who had both inherited Ted’s warm brown eyes, Hope had the classic Black family steel gray eyes like Andromeda and Sirius.

“She looks like a Black already,” Andromeda said, not sure how she felt about that. “No metamorphmagus powers, I see.”

“No,” Tonks said as casually as they could. “It’s probably for the best. One shape-shifting toddler is hard enough.”

Andromeda laughed at the thought of her child and their partner chasing after two Teddies. “Good point,” she said. “What about the full moon tonight?”

Remus and Tonks exchanged a look. “We wanted to talk to you about that, actually,” Remus said.

Andromeda held back a sigh and braced herself. From the second Tonks and Remus had announced their second pregnancy, Remus had been obsessed with the fear that the baby would be a werewolf. While Andromeda understood his concern, it got to be a bit tiring after awhile – after all, even if Hope was a werewolf, there wasn’t anything Andromeda or any other healer could do about it.

“There’s no way to know until it happens,” she said as gently as she could. “It doesn’t seem likely Hope will be a werewolf, but there hasn’t been enough research into lycanthropy to know for sure.”

“I know,” Remus said. “Merlin knows I’ve pestered you with that question enough times in the past few months. I was just thinking – maybe you should take precautions, just in case. I don’t want to see you, Ted, or Teddy get bit.”

“What kind of precautions?” Andromeda asked, raising an eyebrow. “I hope you don’t mean put her with you – don’t take this the wrong way, Remus, but -”

“No, of course not,” Remus said hastily. “Even if she is a werewolf, she’ll be so small that I’d still hurt her. No, I mean, when we had Teddy, we kept him locked in a charmed room, just in case he transformed.” That wasn’t exactly the full story; James and Peter had stayed with Teddy in their animagus forms while Sirius took care of Remus alone, but of course Andromeda and Ted weren’t to know that.

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Andromeda said. “We can use your old room, Dora.”

“How are we going to know if she transforms or not?” Ted asked. “I don’t want to leave her alone all night if we don’t have to. She’s only a day old.”

“I’ll put up a transparent wall,” Tonks said. “You can watch her, and if she doesn’t transform, you can go get her, no harm done.”

“What do you mean ‘you?’ You’re not going to be with her?” Ted looked incredulous.

“I need to be with Remus,” Tonks said. “I can’t leave him alone, if the enchantments protecting the saferoom fail -”

“No, you need to be with your daughter,” Ted insisted. “I’ll stay with Remus, and if anything goes wrong, I'll come get you.”

Tonks opened their mouth to protest, but Remus cut them off.

“It’s a good idea,” Remus said. “Thanks, Ted.”

Tonks glared at Remus, but he shook his head. The stubborn git had clearly made up his mind.

“In that case, I’ll invite Minerva over,” Andromeda said. “She’ll be dying to meet Hope, anyway, and we could use another pair of hands.”

“Good idea,” Tonks said. “Remus, are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“He’ll be fine,” Ted said. “We’ll make it a boy’s night in.”

Tonks rolled their eyes. Trust their father to make a joke about this.

“Thanks, Dad,” they said. “I’ll go set up the room. Remus, why don’t you come help me?” The look they shot at Remus made it clear this wasn’t a request.

“Remus should rest,” Andromeda cut in, but Remus shook his head.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll go help,” he said hastily.

When they were upstairs and alone, Tonks whirled on Remus. “What the hell?” They demanded. “You know my dad can’t be with you, right? And Sirius can’t be with him around, either, my parents think he’s just a dog and they’d have us arrested for animal cruelty.”

“I know,” Remus said. “But your dad’s right. If Hope is a werewolf, she’ll need you more than me. I’ve been doing this for years. It’ll suck, but I’m used to it. She’s just a baby.”

“She’s not a werewolf!” Tonks snapped. “Mum just said she doesn’t know because she’s a healer, and being cryptic like that is part of the job description! There’s no way-”

“You’re probably right,” Remus said. “But you know we can’t risk it.”

Tonks grumbled. “I’ve got this, you go back down and get some rest,” they said. “You’ll need it, especially without me.”

“Love you,” Remus said with an apologetic smile.

Tonks rolled their eyes. “Love you too, you noble prat,” they said.

This is cruel, Tonks lamented later that evening. And most likely unnecessary. Damn you, Remus, for talking me into this.

Hope had been alone in the safe room for nearly an hour at this point and hadn’t stopped crying since Tonks first set her down in the cot. Though she was much more content than either Teddy or Harry, who had both spent every waking moment sleeping or crying, had been at that age, apparently that only applied when she was being held.

“The moon’s almost up,” Minerva said. Tonks’ godmother had arrived as soon as she could get her afternoon classes covered, and she had joined Tonks keeping vigil over Hope while Andromeda read Teddy a story downstairs. “We can get her soon.”

“This is stupid,” Tonks groaned. “She’s not a werewolf, and she needs her mother. I’m going to -”

What exactly Tonks was going to do, Minerva never found out, because at precisely that moment, Hope let out a shrill, bloodcurdling scream no infant should’ve been capable of.

Tonks and Minerva watched in horror as Hope’s body began to twist. Bones could be heard cracking and reforming into a canine shape, and the screams morphed into a loud, tortured howl.

Remus had been right. Hope was a werewolf.

Instinctively, forgetting Minerva was still there, Tonks ran into the room, slammed the door behind them, and shifted into their fox form.

Andromeda, still out of breath from racing up the stairs, whirled on Minerva. “Did you teach Dora the animagus transformation without telling me?” she demanded.

“Of course not,” Minerva said. She sounded a bit hurt, as if she would’ve loved nothing more than to teach Tonks the animagus transformation, but never got the chance.

Before Andromeda could respond, Snuffles the dog ran up the stairs, stood up on two paws, fiddled the door open with his forepaws, and ran to Tonks’ side. The door slammed behind him and Teddy, who’d been trying to follow Snuffles, began to cry loudly. Dog and fox leaned over the tiny wolf cub, nuzzling it and licking it gently.

Hope, however, barely seemed to notice them there, a far cry from the unrestrained rage that defined a normal werewolf. She kneaded her paws against the other canines and whined, but did not attempt to attack them – she didn’t look capable of moving very far at all. Like an actual newborn wolf cub, she was completely helpless.

“Doggy!” Teddy whined, pounding on the door with his small chubby fists.

“Not now, Teddy!” Andromeda snapped. She picked him up and pulled him away from the door, ignoring his crying and kicking. Helpless though she may be, Andromeda had no doubt a nip from Hope would still prove as contagious as any other werewolf bite, and she was not going to be the one to tell Remus that both of his children were now werewolves. “What do you reckon is going on?” She asked Minerva.

Minerva shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. Suddenly, an old rumor came back to her; nothing anyone had ever been able to prove, and most likely nonsense, but if such a thing were possible, there was only one person Minerva could think of who might’ve actually cared for a werewolf cub. “But I know who might. I’ll be right back.”

With a soft crack, Minerva disappeared, and Andromeda was left alone with her angry grandson, who was still demanding to pet the doggy now.

Andromeda tried to summon the last of her patience. Teddy was only eighteen months old, it wasn’t his fault he didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. “You can play with the dog later, Teddy,” she said. She carried him back down to the living room and turned on the television.

For a muggle invention, the television was remarkably like magic; although it was only a news station, Teddy stopped pitching a fit immediately and sat down in front of the box, utterly transfixed by the pictures and people on the screen. Even Minerva’s reappearance a few minutes later didn’t faze him.

“Hagrid’s on his way,” Minerva informed Andromeda after she caught her breath.

“Hagrid? The big guy at Hogwarts?” Andromeda asked, puzzled. Hagrid had seemed nice enough in Andromeda’s school days, but a bit wild, and to be honest, not terribly intelligent. She didn’t see how he was going to be any help.

Minerva nodded. “He has some experience in these matters,” she said. “If he can’t help, no one can.”

“He has experience with a newborn werewolf cub?” Andromeda raised her eyebrow. “As far as I know, Hope is the only one that’s ever existed.” Sadly, most very young children who were attacked by werewolves didn't survive the attack to become infected. Remus had been one of the youngest children to have been attacked by a werewolf and live to tell the tale, and had survived only because his father knew how to fight his attacker.

“Not specifically, no, but he handles, er, similar cases all the time,” Minerva said.

Andromeda realized Minerva was trying very hard not to call Hope a “magical creature,” and appreciated the effort.

“Can he be trusted to keep his mouth shut?” she asked. “If the wrong people find out about Hope, nobody will believe it was genetic. They’ll assume Remus bit her and haul him and off to Azkaban, and quite possibly have Dora charged with child neglect.”

“Hagrid is a good man, and a loyal friend,” Minerva said, tactfully avoiding the question.

Andromeda sighed. Fantastic.

Chapter Text

1 November 1982

Just when Andromeda didn’t think she’d be able to take another second of waiting, she heard an engine cut outside the house and a hard knock on the door.

“That’ll be Hagrid,” Minerva said, sounding relieved.

Andromeda took a breath and went to let Hagrid in. He was as massive and wild looking as she remembered him from Hogwarts, but his eyes were kind, and Minerva trusted him – that would have to be enough.

“Thank you for coming,” Andromeda said. She held the door open and he stepped inside.

“It’s no trouble,” Hagrid said. “Where’s the little pup?”

“This way,” Andromeda said. Minerva stayed downstairs with Teddy while Andromeda led Hagrid up the stairs and to the safe room. Tonks and Sirius were still wrapped protectively around Hope, but moved just enough so that Hagrid could see.

“Careful,” Andromeda said. “She’s tiny and weak, but most likely still contagious.”

“I’ll be alright,” Hagrid said. “I’ve been bitten by one before, it did nothin’ to me.”

“Bitten by a werewolf?” Andromeda narrowed her eyes. It wasn’t possible – Hagrid must’ve mistaken a wolf animagus or a regular wolf for a werewolf. Why had Minerva recommended him if he couldn’t tell the difference? “I’ve never heard of such a thing. No human has ever been bitten without being infected, so unless – oh.” She’d been about to say “unless you’re not human,” but it occurred to her that maybe he wasn’t fully human. Hagrid looked like a human, except no human was eleven feet tall.

Hagrid looked apprehensive. “Er-”

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Andromeda said. She didn’t care if he was half flobberworm, so long as he could help Hope. “Thank you coming over to help. What do you want me to do?”

“Er- hang on,” Hagrid said. He bent over and gently examined Hope’s entire body. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he said after a moment. “She’s starving. She needs milk.”

“Seriously?” Andromeda asked. It was too simple. There had to be more to it than that. Hope was the youngest werewolf ever to exist, whatever was wrong couldn’t be solved by something as simple as milk.

Hagrid nodded. “She’s not big enough for meat yet,” he said, as if it were obvious. “I brought some milk replacer over just in case – here.” He pulled a large metal tin out of one of his coat pockets.

Well, Andromeda thought, it wasn’t like they had a whole lot of options, and it couldn’t hurt to try. Andromeda summoned the eyedropper from the bathroom and Hagrid gently filled it with milk and fed Hope.

To Andromeda’s amazement, Hope eagerly drank a few ounces, curled back up next to Sirius, and promptly fell asleep.

“She’ll need more every other hour or so,” Hagrid said. “But I think she’ll be alright. Good thing yeh have dogs, that’ll help.”

Sirius almost looked smug, and Tonks rolled their eyes. If Hagrid noticed, though, he didn’t mention it.

“Incredible,” Andromeda said. “She was just hungry – if the same is true for all werewolves, this could have major implications for the search for a cure for lycanthropy – but it doesn’t matter right now. Right now, my child is going to explain to me exactly how, when, and why they learned the animagus transformation.”

“Without telling me!” Minerva added.

Tonks dipped their head, gently pulled away from Sirius and Hope, and morphed back to human.

“First of all, Hagrid, thank you for helping us with Hope,” Tonks said. They allowed themselves a small grin. “But for the record, I’m a fox, not a dog. I thought you were an expert,” they teased.

Hagrid chuckled. “My mistake,” he said. “I was a bit preoccupied with the baby.”

“Fair enough,” Tonks said. They turned to their mother. “Can the explanation wait until tomorrow?” they asked. Andromeda looked like she wanted to protest, but Tonks hastily added, “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but Dad will want a first hand account, too, and I don’t want to tell it twice. It’s kind of a long story.”

Andromeda sighed. “Alright, but not a second later!” she said.

“I promise,” said Tonks. They turned to Minerva. “Auntie, can you keep Hope warm for a few minutes? Snuffles really needs a walk, or he’ll make a mess all over the place.”

“You’re really thinking of the dog right now?” Andromeda was incredulous.

“Well, the dog is helping us keep Hope comfortable, it’s the least I can do,” Tonks said. “It’ll just be a few minutes. Unless you’d prefer I didn’t-”

“Just make it quick!” Andromeda snapped. Even with magic available to clean everything up, the idea of a dog making a mess in her tidy house was unbearable.

“Go on, Tonks, I’ll handle things here,” Minerva said. She shifted to cat form and swapped places with Sirius.

“Thanks, Auntie,” Tonks said. “Come on, Snuffles.”

Sirius was clearly reluctant to leave Hope behind, but obediently followed Tonks outside. Once they were a reasonable distance from the house, Tonks disillusioned both of them and Sirius shifted back to human.

“Okay, we’ve got a few minutes to come up with a cover story,” Tonks said. “Any ideas?”

The worst part of the full moon, in Remus’ opinion, was the amnesia. Even more than the pain, sickness, and losing his mind, having an entire night once every month where he was completely unaware of his actions was his own personal hell. If the safeguards he and his partners had put in place failed, he would very likely kill someone, or worse, turn them into the monster he was, and he may never even know it.

Still, Remus didn’t need to know exactly what had gone on the previous night to know it was the worst full moon he’d had in a long time – nearly a year, in fact, since Tonks learned the animagus transformation and was able to keep him company. The pain and fresh scars all over his body told him that.

The mattress he’d laid down on just before moonset was torn to shreds, the pieces scattered across the room and covered in blood. The wolf did not like being cooped up, but even with the enchantments covering the wood around the cottage, Remus did not trust himself to go out there alone. If the protections on the basement failed, the ones in the wood would hopefully keep him contained for the rest of the night. If the protections on the wood failed, there was nothing left to protect the rest of the world from him.

Groaning, Remus found the biggest piece of mattress he could reach and laid his head on it. He had almost drifted off to sleep when he heard the basement door open.

“Remus?” he heard a gentle voice call out. “Remus, are you awake?”

“Barely,” Remus said. He forced himself to sit up and watched Tonks and Sirius come down the stairs. Sirius conjured a stuffed armchair and helped Remus into it, while Tonks began looking over Remus’ wounds.

“Thanks,” Remus said. He winced as Tonks prodded a particularly painful scar.

“Sorry,” Tonks said. “Mum should look at some of these, but I’ve stopped the bleeding.” They summoned a set of comfortable clothes from the bedroom and Sirius helped Remus into them.

“How did it go last night?” Remus asked.

Tonks and Sirius both avoided his eyes, and Remus noticed their facial expressions for the first time. Sirius looked as grim as he’d been fresh out of Azkaban, and Tonks was blinking away tears.

“I’m so sorry, Remus,” Tonks said. Sirius didn’t look like he trusted himself to speak. “I should’ve listened to you. You were right.”

Remus’ heart sank. “You mean Hope is-” He couldn’t say it.

Tonks nodded. “She’s a werewolf, Remus,” Tonks said.

If Remus hadn’t already been sitting, he would’ve collapsed. “No!” he cried. “No, please – tell me this is just your sick idea of a joke, I won’t even be angry, but please, tell me it’s not true...”

“I’m sorry,” Tonks said again.

Remus let out a choked sob, and Tonks and Sirius arranged themselves on either side of him, holding him close and gently rubbing his back.

“Stay with us, Moony,” Sirius said softly. “It’s going to be okay-”

Remus glared at him. “Don’t you dare tell me it’s going to be okay!” he snapped. “Our daughter is a monster, and it’s all our fault! We should never have let this happen!” He whirled on Tonks. “And you! You told me it would be okay, you said I was overreacting!”

“You are not playing the ‘I was right all along’ card right now!” Tonks snapped back. Sirius glared at Tonks and shook his head, but they ignored him.

“Of course not!” Remus shouted. “But you made me start to believe you! I – I really thought-” he lost himself to the tears.

“I know. I did, too,” Tonks said.

Remus shook his head. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve known better. I let myself think there was a happy ending here for me.”

“Yeah? And who says there isn’t?” Sirius challenged. “Yeah, our daughter is a werewolf. That really sucks. But there’s nothing we can do about that. So we can either sit around here and mope, or we can keep doing what we’ve been doing – make safety plans for the full moons and love each other and our children unconditionally in between.”

“It’s not that simple, and you know it,” Remus sighed. “Even if we do all that, she’s still a danger to herself, and to others – just like me. She’ll never be accepted in this world. People are going to hate her for something she didn’t choose and can’t control-”

“Remus, don’t take this the wrong way, but that’s not unique to werewolves,” Tonks cut in. “Sirius and I aren’t exactly welcomed in this world with open arms, either, and we’re so openly hated in the muggle world they have laws against people like us. None of us are going to be accepted by the rest of the world. That’s their problem, not ours. The best we can do is be ourselves, and try to be happy in spite of them.”

“I know, but that’s different,” Remus said. “You’re not hurting anyone being who you are.”

“And neither are you,” Sirius said. “You are taking all the precautions you need to, and we will do the same with Hope. You are not Fenrir Greyback, and we’re all in this together. Unless you’re planning on running off again?” Sirius’ tone lightened with the last question, but Remus knew he meant it just as much.

“No,” Remus promised. “Never again.” He’d never forgive himself for trying to run off when Tonks got pregnant with Teddy, and he’d never stop being grateful to James for giving him the kick in the arse he needed to come back. “I’d like to see Hope now,” he said.

“Just a minute,” Tonks said. “We all have a lot of explaining to do, and we need to get our story straight.”

“What? Why?” Remus asked.

“Tonks screwed up,” Sirius said. “When they saw Hope transform, they shifted straight to fox form and ran after her.”

Tonks reached around Remus' back and whacked Sirius on the back of his head. “You weren’t that much more subtle, standing up on two paws and opening the door all by yourself!” they snapped. “But yes, now my mum, Minerva, and Hagrid all know I’m an animagus, and they’re demanding an explanation. Instinct took over, I didn’t even realize what I was doing.”

“Hagrid?” Remus asked.

“We’ll give you the full story later, but he was very helpful with Hope last night,” Sirius said. “Plus, apparently he’s immune to lycanthropy.”

“Right,” Remus said. He would ask for more of this story later, but his head was already spinning. “So what’s our story?”

“Well,” Sirius said. “We came up with two options. Hear us out before you say yes or no to either of them.”

Remus nodded. “Go on,” he said.

“Option one: we tell them a modified version of the truth. We say that Tonks learned the animagus transformation to keep you company on full moons,” Sirius said.

“But there are a few holes in that story,” Tonks said. “Minerva will still want to know why I didn’t come to her for help, and we don’t have an easy answer for that. We could say that I learned it before I was of age and didn’t want to get her in trouble, but I’m not sure they would buy that.”

“They would never believe that you did it on your own,” Sirius agreed. Tonks raised an eyebrow, and Sirius quickly amended. “Obviously you could, but we did everything together; no way would anyone believe you left me, or even James and Peter, out.”

“Nice save,” Tonks said, rolling their eyes. “Anyway, if they thought for even a second Sirius was an animagus, they’d snitch to the ministry, or force us to, in a misguided attempt to bring a murderer to justice.”

“Which brings us to option two,” Sirius said. “We tell them everything, so they don’t do something stupid trying to do the right thing.”

“Everything?” Remus asked. “We tell them that Tonks became an animagus to break you out of Azkaban and we are still harboring you because you were actually innocent all long, and we know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s true and there’s no bias on our part at all?”

“Pretty much,” Sirius said.

Remus sighed. “Those are both terrible options,” he said.

“It’s the best we could come up with,” Tonks said. “We’ve both agreed on telling the truth, but only if we all agree. If you don’t trust them, we’ll lie.”

Remus thought for a minute. “Are you sure they’ll believe us if we tell them the truth?” he asked. “If I wasn’t living it, I’m not sure I would believe it.”

“My parents and Minerva will,” Tonks said. “I’m not sure about Hagrid, but we’re already trusting him to keep Hope’s lycanthropy a secret.”

“We’ll lose Hope, and Teddy, and each other if the wrong people find out,” Remus reminded them.

“I know,” Sirius said. “But if we give him half a story, he might fill in the blanks and act impulsively. He’s never exactly been subtle.”

Remus nodded, remembering Hagrid from the Order days. He was a good man and a brave fighter, but he didn’t always think things through. To be fair, with his size and strength, he rarely had to.

“Well, Dumbledore trusted him with the Order,” Remus said. “I suppose that means we can give him a chance.”

“So let me get this straight,” Andromeda said once Remus, Tonks, and Sirius finished their tale. “You became an illegal animagus to break your boyfriend out of prison because he says he’s innocent, harbored him in your home in his own illegal animagus form disguised as your pet dog, and had another child with him?”

“Well, technically I got pregnant first and hid normally until the baby was born, because I couldn’t transform pregnant, but yeah, that’s the gist,” Sirius said.

Andromeda glared at him and turned back to Tonks.

“How do you know he’s really innocent?” she asked. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Dora, but-”

“But you think I’m blinded by my love for him,” Tonks finished. “Believe me, the thought occurred to me. But too much doesn’t add up; Sirius wasn’t even given a trial, and they only found Peter’s finger. They didn’t even examine Sirius’ wand. If we weren’t fighting a war, that never would’ve been sufficient evidence to lock someone up for murder.”

“I believe you,” Minerva said. “I trust your judgment, Tonks.”

“Thank you, Auntie,” Tonks said.

“I believe you, too,” Ted said. “But Sirius, if you ever lie to Dora like that again, even if it’s to ‘protect’ them, you’ll wish you were still in Azkaban. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Sirius said sheepishly.

“Good,” Ted said. He turned back to his wife. “Andromeda, dear, what are you thinking?”

Andromeda sighed. “I believe you’re innocent, Sirius, but Dora and Remus, it was a stupid thing to do. You could've gotten caught. What do you think it would’ve done to me, and your father and Minerva? What do you think would’ve happened to Teddy?”

“We had to,” Tonks said. “If the worst happened and we’d gotten caught, Teddy would’ve still had you, Dad, and Auntie. Sirius had no one. No one was going to let us open the case back up – I tried that. No one questioned the story. No one was even looking for Peter, or even trying. We couldn’t leave Sirius there.”

“Teddy is your son!” Andromeda snapped. “And now you have a daughter to think of as well! You can’t go off saving the world and leaving them behind! Your children have to come first!”

Tonks groaned, suddenly realizing what this was really all about. “We are not talking about me being quitting the auror force again,” they said. “It’s not going to happen. I know what we did with Sirius was reckless, but we had to do it. How exactly would I have been putting Teddy first if I let one of his parents rot in Azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit? That’s not the example I’m going to set for him, or for Hope. It’s not the example you set for me.”

Andromeda sighed. “Fine, but next time don’t be such a Gryffindor about it!” she snapped.

Tonks knew that was the best they were going to get from their mother right then, and didn’t push it. Andromeda would come around later, they were sure. Instead they turned to Hagrid. “What do you think?” they asked him. “Do you believe us?”

“Well, it’s a wild story, but I reckon it’s too crazy not to be true,” Hagrid said. He gave the triad a warm smile. “Sirius, now that I know you’re decent, do yeh want your bike back?”

Sirius’ eyes lit up. “You still have it?” he asked.

Hagrid chuckled and nodded. “How do you think I got here?” he asked. “But I don’t have much other use for it, it’s mostly been collectin’ dust since I dropped Harry off at his relatives’.”

“Wait – you dropped Harry off there directly? You know where he is?” Sirius asked.

Minerva facepalmed, and Hagrid groaned. “I should not have told yeh that,” he mumbled.

“Hagrid,” Tonks said as calmly as they could muster. “Where is Harry?”

“Dumbledore wants him with his relatives,” Minerva cut in before Hagrid could do any more damage. “He thinks it’s safest there.”

“He’s obviously never met Petunia Dursley,” Tonks snapped. “Auntie, where is Harry? Is he safe? Is he happy?”

“Albus told me he’s having the house watched,” Minerva said. “I’m sure if something was wrong, he’d-”

“I’m not so sure,” Andromeda cut in. “I know you all love Dumbledore, and I respect him plenty myself,” she added before any of the others could protest. “He is a great man, and I am certain he’s doing his best to make sure Harry is safe, but he’s not a god. Wouldn’t it be prudent to check ourselves? Just to make sure, and to set our minds at ease.”

Tonks flashed their mother a grateful smile. “Please, Auntie,” they said. “Just a quick check. If he’s safe and happy, I won’t pester you about it again, no matter how badly we’d all like to see him.”

Minerva sighed. “Alright,” she said. Her own impression of the Dursleys was, after all, not exactly stellar. “I’ll go check. But I’m sure he’s perfectly fine.”

Chapter Text

6 November 1982

The following Saturday morning, Vernon Dursley was not at all pleased to see a very familiar tabby cat on his garden wall when he went to get the post. Vernon had never liked animals anyway, and although he knew it was irrational, he’d come to associate this particular cat in his mind with everything strange and unnatural that had happened since he and Petunia had taken the ungrateful brat in.

Should’ve listened to Marge, he thought wistfully. The freak wouldn’t have be able to infect Dudley from an orphanage…

Loath as Vernon was to admit it, not every bit of freakishness was directly the boy’s fault. Harry had been in his cupboard when that dessert tray floated across the kitchen right to Dudley’s plate, and when the plate of vegetables Petunia was trying to force Dudley to eat spontaneously combusted. Of course, Petunia had blamed the brat anyway, and Vernon didn’t dare contradict her; if his son was one of them, he was not going to be the one to break the news to his wife. Besides, the little freak still deserved it for passing in his affliction to decent, normal people. 

Vernon collected his post and glared at the cat as he went back inside. The cat glared right back. Was this normal cat behavior? Perhaps he should call animal control and get the creature taken care of once and for all.

Back inside the house, Petunia was coddling Dudley while he threw his usual morning tantrum and kicked her repeatedly.

“It’s alright, popkin, breakfast is coming soon,” Petunia cooed. “Get the boy Vernon, will you?” she asked. “He needs to start breakfast. Calm down, Diddykins, it’s alright...”

Vernon went to the cupboard under the stairs and pounded on the door. His tiny nephew opened the door and looked at him, blinking sleepiness from his eyes. “Go help your aunt in the kitchen!” Vernon snapped.

Harry quickly obeyed. Despite being a month younger than Dudley, he never disobeyed or threw a tantrum – he’d quickly learned the consequences of such behavior.

Vernon took Dudley from Petunia so that she could once again try to teach the idiot boy how to use the oven, and as he settled his son on the couch to watch television, he put the cat out of his mind. Surely the cat’s reappearance was just a coincidence; most likely that old bat down the street had taken in another stray. There was no use getting worked up over superstition.

Much like Privet Drive, which, with its cookie cutter houses and equally boring inhabitants, looked much the same as it had a year ago, Harry had hardly grown at all since being left with Petunia. In fact, if anything, he’d lost weight – the poor boy was thin as a twig and looked even smaller than Teddy, who was nine months his junior. The effect was only exacerbated by his clothes, which were so large they barely stayed on his tiny frame.

That, combined with Harry cooking on a muggle stove and sleeping in a bloody cupboard, would’ve been more than enough evidence to justify Minerva running in, taking Harry, and leaving, preferably leaving a few nasty curses for the Dursleys to deal with, but Minerva forced herself to keep watching. Though there was no question in her mind that Harry could not stay with those people, no matter what Albus Percival Wulfric Double Damn Him Brian Dumbledore had to say about it, it would be easier to help Harry recover from the ordeal if she knew the full extent of it, or at least as much as possible.

Unfortunately, it only got worse from there. The Dursley boy quickly got bored of the television and went out into the kitchen to pester his mother again. After a few minutes of whining and punching his mother got him nowhere, he decided to take out his rage on Harry and pushed him hard toward the stove.

For a heart stopping second, Harry lost his balance, but before Minerva could so much as take out her wand, Harry was floating in midair. Petunia screamed and pulled her son behind her, and Vernon came rushing out into the kitchen.

Vernon’s face went purple and he yanked Harry down by his ankle, making the boy land on the floor with a hard thud but luckily missing the oven, and began shouting at him.

Instinctively, Minerva hissed. This was getting painful to watch, but she had to keep on. Tonks, Sirius, and Remus deserved to know the full story, and Minerva had no right to complain – she knew now that she should’ve looked into this much earlier, or even defied Dumbledore from the beginning and brought Harry directly to Tonks.

When the oaf finally finished shouting at Harry about fifteen minutes later, he grabbed the boy’s arm and dragged him hard to the cupboard before throwing him in and locking the door.

Minerva glared at the Dursleys one more time and turned to leave. She’d seen more than enough.

“I will kill them,” Sirius growled when Minerva finished telling the others about Harry’s living situation. “No, first I will torture them in a way that makes Bellatrix look sane, then I will kill them, as slowly and painfully as I can manage.”

“I’ll help,” Hagrid offered. His huge fists were clenched with rage, and it looked like it took every bit of self restraint he had not to go to the Dursleys’ house right then and there and beat them both within an inch of their lives.

“No, you two can torture, I’ll do the killing,” Tonks argued. “I’m an auror, I know how to make it look like an accident.”

Remus knew he should be the one to cut in here and calm everyone down, but it wasn’t easy when he had the very unethical desire for the Dursleys, a locked room, and a full moon.

“As much as I’d like to agree with you all,” Ted cut in. “Killing the Dursleys won’t do a bit of difference. We need to get Harry out, without any of us going to Azkaban. How are we going to do that?”

“I already said I can make it look like an accident,” Tonks grumbled.

“We’ll keep that as a plan B,” Andromeda said, only half joking. “Have you talked to Dumbledore about this, Minerva?”

Minerva shook her head. “I don’t plan to,” she said. “At least not until it’s over and done with. Albus was very insistent that we leave Harry with those people, and did not give me a clear explanation as to why. I’m not sure if we’d convince him, or if he’d put the house under Fidelius so that none of us can ever go back.”

The others stared at Minerva.

“You think he knows?” Tonks asked their godmother, horrified.

“No!” Hagrid insisted. “Dumbledore’s a great man, he would never...”

“I don’t think he knows the full extent of it. I don’t think he’d ever let Harry get hurt on purpose,” Minerva clarified. “But we’ve already tried reasoning with him about this, and he just keeps getting more stubborn. For some reason, he really believes Harry is safer with those people, and he won’t tell us why. So, in this case, I believe it is better to ask forgiveness than seek permission.”

“You’re such a Gryffindor,” Andromeda said, but she nodded in agreement. “Harry’s lucky his accidental magic saved him this time, but it’s not reliable enough to depend on it to protect him for however long it takes Dumbledore to get his head out of his arse and listen to reason. We need to get Harry out – tonight, if possible.”

“You and I are both working tonight,” Ted reminded his wife. “But I can call out if I need to.”

Andromeda shook her head. “Neither of us should call out, if we can help it. It would put suspicion on us if word got out that Harry Potter went missing the same night we both called out of work.”

“We’ll keep you both on the back burner, but either way we’ll make tonight work somehow,” Sirius said. “That leaves us a few hours to come up with a plan. Has anyone got any ideas?”

“We should use as little magic as possible,” Tonks said. “Anything we do magically can leave traces, and we don’t want to risk getting caught.”

“Right,” Remus said. “That means one of us should go on the motorcycle, if you don’t mind us using it, Hagrid.”

“Of course not,” Hagrid said. “I’d offer to go myself, but I don’t think I’d blend in very well.”

“I’ll go,” Sirius and Tonks said at the same time.

“You can’t drive the motorcycle,” Sirius reminded Tonks. He had tried to teach Tonks to drive the motorcycle many times since he first bought it, but Tonks simply lacked the coordination necessary to keep it upright, even with magic.

“You can’t side-along apparate if anything goes wrong,” Tonks reminded him. Side-along apparition was a very difficult and dangerous skill to master, and usually only wizards whose jobs required the skill – such as aurors and healers – ever bothered to learn it.

“Well, my animagus form is more inconspicuous than yours,” Sirius said. “No offense, but most muggles aren’t accustomed to seeing a pink fox skulking about the neighborhood.”

“I don’t need to be inconspicuous as a fox, I can look like any vaguely humanoid thing I want!” Tonks retorted. “I only bothered with the animagus transformation to help you two idiots!”

“Children, stop bickering,” Remus interrupted. “I think you both should go.”

“That makes sense,” Ted said. “You both have perfect disguises, so you’re not likely to get caught. Sirius, you can drive the motorcycle, and if you get into trouble and need a quick escape, Dora, you can side-along with Harry while Sirius apparates himself.”

“And I can stay home with Teddy and Hope, so that Andromeda and Ted aren’t missed at work and Professor McGonagall and Hagrid aren’t missed at Hogwarts,” Remus finished.

“Okay,” Sirius said. “What do we do about the Dursleys?”

“That’s going to be the hard part,” Remus said. “You’re going to have to leave them be. You can’t take out revenge on them, no matter how much you want to.”

“I’ll keep Sirius in line,” Tonks said.

“That applies to you, too,” Remus said.

Tonks sighed. “I’m an auror, I’ve done this before,” they said.

Minerva shook her head before Remus could reply. “You’re going to want to kill them even more than you do now when you see Harry. Trust me. For Harry’s sake, you have to resist that urge. Both of you.”

Remus nodded. “It’s never been this personal, not even when we were breaking Sirius out of Azkaban. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Wow, these muggles don’t get out much,” Tonks commented as the motorcycle landed in front of Number 4’s drive. It wasn’t even midnight, but the street was empty, and all the houses’ lights were off.

“Good,” Sirius said. “Makes it easier for us.” He removed the disillusion charm from the motorcycle and stashed it behind the Dursleys’ hedges. “Are we ready?”

“Yes,” Tonks said. “Coast is clear, shift.”

Sirius removed his own disillusion charm and shifted to Padfoot, while Tonks took the form of a stereotypical muggle housewife and undid theirs. To onlookers, if any were even awake at this point, they’d look like a normal muggle woman taking the dog for a walk, not at all out of place in this neighborhood.

Tonks double checked the street one more time before unlocking the door with a hairpin and forcing their way in. When the door was safely closed behind them, Tonks and Sirius both reverted to their normal human appearances and lit their wands.

“Way too clean, these muggles,” Tonks whispered. “It’s practically sterile. Are they running a secret hospital or something?”

Sirius shrugged. “Come on,” he said. He saw the tiny cupboard Minerva said Harry would be in, and made for it. Tonks followed him, only to trip and knock over the coat rack.

There was an audible crash, and the lights went on upstairs.

“Dammit,” Tonks hissed as two sets of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs.

“Who’s there?” Vernon demanded. “I’m warning you – I’m armed!”

Sirius and Tonks exchanged a look and nodded. Drawing their wands, they went out to meet Vernon, who turned out to be “armed” with an ordinary wooden baseball bat, and Petunia, who was cowering behind him.

“We’re Harry’s godparents, and rightful guardians,” Sirius informed them. “We’re taking him home with us, and you can’t stop us.”

Vernon’s face went purple, but he nodded. “Fine,” he said. “Take the boy and get out. None of you ever come back here.”

“No, Vernon,” Petunia said. “The boy must stay here. The – the neighbors will talk if he leaves.”

“We can come up with a believable story for the neighbors,” Vernon told his wife. “Or better yet, we can move. Leave this place behind forever and start over. Just us and Dudley, no freakishness involved.”

“Vernon, we can’t,” Petunia said. She whirled on Tonks and Sirius. “Get out of our house before I call the police.”

Tonks let out a hollow laugh. “I’m an auror – I am the police in our world,” they said. “Trust me, your muggle police officers won’t be able to touch me.”

“And I’m a convicted mass murderer,” Sirius informed the Dursleys cheerfully. “If they couldn’t catch me for that…”

Vernon clutched the baseball bat even tighter, and Petunia shrank even further behind her husband. It was a sight Sirius and Tonks both enjoyed a little too much.

“In fact, if I didn’t want to keep this out of the papers, I could have you both arrested and given a life sentence in Azkaban for child abuse right now,” Tonks said. “Be grateful that we’re trying to keep this whole thing discrete. Go back to bed and let us take Harry, before we decide not to be so lenient.”

“We don’t answer to your laws!” Vernon roared. He brandished his bat and stalked toward Tonks, but Tonks was faster.

“Stupefy,” they said, pointing their wand directly at Vernon’s chest. Not wanting to be left out, Sirius did the same to Petunia.

“What should we do with them?” he asked.

“I’ll wipe their memories before we go,” Tonks said. “The devil with not using magic, we’ve already bungled that up. Let’s get Harry and get the hell out of here.”

Sirius nodded and finally opened the cupboard under the stairs. The commotion outside must’ve woken Harry, because he was sitting upright and staring, wide-eyed, at Sirius and Tonks.

It was even worse than Minerva described. Harry was not only rail thin, he had a huge, swollen bruise on his ankle and his arm was twisted at a weird angle. The cupboard smelled like a septic tank, and Harry didn’t smell much better.

“He looks like he hasn’t had a bath in a month,” Tonks said softly. “Or eaten, for that matter.”

“Let’s just get him out of here,” Sirius said. “Hi, Harry, you probably don’t remember us, but-”

“Padfoot? Tonks?” Harry asked timidly.

Sirius’ heart melted. “Yes, Harry, it’s us,” he said. “Do you want to come with us?”

Harry nodded solemnly, as if he could hardly believe this was really happening.

“Okay,” Sirius said. “We’ve got to change your nappy first, alright?”

Harry nodded again, and Sirius almost vomited when he removed Harry’s dirty nappy. Harry’s entire lower half was bright red and caked in days of waste – Sirius wouldn’t have been surprised if his last nappy change was more than a week ago.

“I don’t know how these neat freaks can live with that, even if they don’t care enough about him to change him,” Tonks commented.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sirius said. He threw the dirty nappy on the ground. “They’re never going to live with him again.”

Sirius finished wiping Harry the best he could and dressed him in a clean nappy and a pair of Teddy’s pajamas. They were far too large, but still a better fit than the rags the Dursleys had him wearing. Harry cried out when Sirius tried to manipulate his arm into the pajamas, but it was done quickly.

“Can you fix his arm?” Sirius asked Tonks when he finished. Every auror had magical first aid as part of their basic training, which included mending small bones.

“Probably, but I’d rather have Mum look at it when she gets home from work, in case there’s underlying injures. I’ll just brace it for now, I don’t want to risk him jolting in on the way home.” They did just that, and Sirius picked Harry up and carried him out of the cupboard. As they passed the unconscious forms of the Dursleys, Harry whimpered and hid his face in Sirius’ shirt.

“It’s okay, Harry, they won’t wake up,” Sirius said gently.

“They’re never going to touch you again, Harry,” Tonks promised. “In fact, just to be sure – obliviate!” Tonks pointed their wand at each of the Dursleys in turn, removing all their memories of not only tonight, but of Harry entirely. Then, Tonks levitated them both into the cupboard and locked it with the strongest locking spell they knew – which, as an auror, they knew plenty. 

“See how they like it,” they said savagely.

Sirius nodded approvingly. “Alright, let’s get the hell out of here,” he said.

Tonks nodded in agreement, and was about to take Harry so Sirius could shift back to Padfoot, when they heard a loud cry upstairs and toddler footsteps approaching the stairs.

“Merlin’s right tit, don’t tell me we’re going to have to obliviate the kid, too?” Sirius sighed. Memory charms on developing minds were very dangerous and could lead to lifelong psychological damage, even if done properly.

“We can’t do that,” Tonks said. “He may be spoiled rotten, but he’s only Harry’s age. We’d be no better than them if we did that.” They inclined their head to the cupboard.

“Then let’s get out of here before he sees us,” Sirius said, but it was too late; disturbed by the commotion, Dudley Dursley went downstairs to see what was going on, and saw a strange pair of adults with his cousin, his parents nowhere in sight.

He did the only rational thing a two year old would do in such a situation, and screamed so loudly all the windows in the house shattered.

“Please tell me that was Harry,” Sirius said, but despite the commotion, Harry, feeling secure and safe for the first time in over a year, was already asleep against Sirius’ chest.

“You know it wasn’t,” Tonks said. They got down on their knees to Dudley’s eye level. “Calm down, son. We’re Harry’s godparents, we’re just going to take him home with us. We’re not going to hurt you.”

Dudley looked mistrustful, but he stopped screaming. “Mama and Dada?” he asked.

“They’re, erm, asleep. Go back to bed,” Sirius said.

“Wait,” Tonks said. “If he’s magical-”

“Do not say what I think you’re about to say,” Sirius interrupted.

“Don’t interrupt me,” Tonks snapped. “Hear me out. Those people hated Harry, and Lily and James, because they’re magical. We can’t guarantee his parents will take that any better from their own son, can we?”

Sirius groaned. “You have to be joking,” he said. “He pushed Harry onto the stove earlier! He’s their son. He’s not our problem.”

“He’s two years old, and he can’t help that his parents are pieces of shit,” Tonks countered. “That doesn’t guarantee he’s going to be the same. You should know that better than anyone.”

“Dammit, Tonks, this is supposed to be quiet,” Sirius reminded Tonks. “Get in, get Harry, get out. You can’t-”

“And we’ve already mussed that part up,” Tonks said. “Come on, Sirius. You know it’s the right thing to do. A kid growing up in this kind of family will have a terrible life. You know that.” Tonks knew it was unfair to keep harping on Sirius’ biological family, and they’d apologize later, but Sirius had to see that they couldn’t leave a child in an abusive home. Not when they could do something about it.

“And being raised by an escaped convict, a werewolf, and an auror with a double life, with an uncontrolled metamorphmagus, another werewolf, and the bloody boy who lived as siblings is just easy street,” Sirius muttered. He sighed. “Fine. But you get to tell Remus.”

“Deal,” Tonks said. They ran upstairs and grabbed a few things they’d need for Dudley – namely, clothes and nappies in his size, a few toys and photographs, and all the official muggle paperwork they could find – while Sirius talked to Dudley and tried to explain what was going on in terms he could understand.

For such a spoiled child, Dudley took disturbingly little convincing to leave his family and go live with a couple strangers, Tonks reflected as Dudley let them pick him up without fuss and carry him out to the motorcycle. Fitting four people and a large knapsack of baby supplies on a single motorcycle was a tight fit, but with liberal use of sticking charms so the children wouldn’t fall off, they managed.

Remus laid on the couch with his sleeping children, alternating his gaze between the bit of night sky he could see and the clock on the mantelpiece.

They’re fine, he told himself firmly. Harry’s fine, or he will be, nobody’s going to get caught, and we’re all going to be fine.

Finally, just as the clock struck midnight, he heard the familiar engine approaching the house. He sat up, careful not to disturb Teddy or Hope, and watched as Sirius and Tonks walked in – both carrying a two year old in their arms.

“Who is that?” Remus asked, looking at the chubby blond boy who was clearly not Harry.

“His name’s Dudley,” Tonks said. “He’s Harry’s cousin.”

“Excuse me? You mean you took Petunia’s kid?” He asked, tactfully not commenting on the name “Dudley.” He groaned. “Dammit, what did you do?”

“The right thing,” Tonks said stubbornly.

“Something stupid,” Sirius said.

Remus groaned. Of course.

Chapter Text

Sirius gently nudged Harry awake. “We’re home, Prongslet,” he said softly.

Harry woke with a start and looked around the room, clearly confused.

“It’s okay, Harry, it’s me,” Sirius said.

Harry looked up at Sirius and squinted. “Padfoot?” he asked.

“That’s right, pup,” Sirius said. “Tonks is here, too, and do you remember who this is?” He turned slightly so that Harry could see Remus.

“Moony!” Harry cried out. He reached out to Remus with his good arm, and Remus gently pulled Harry into a hug, careful not to touch Harry’s braced arm.

“Have you got him? I’ll make him something to eat,” Sirius said.

Remus nodded and settled on the couch next to Harry.

“I’ll put Dudley to bed in Teddy’s room,” Tonks whispered, so as not to wake the boy in their arms, who was still snoring. “Harry and Teddy can sleep with us tonight – honestly, Harry probably won’t let us go anywhere without him anyway – but Dudley doesn’t know us yet. Then I’ll explain everything.”

Remus nodded and held Harry as close as he could without hurting him.

“Nobody is ever going to hurt you like that again, Prongslet,” he said. “I promise.”

Harry yawned and pressed his head against Remus’ shoulder.

Sirius came back into the living room with a quarter of a ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of pumpkin juice, as Harry’s stomach wouldn’t be able to handle anything more just yet. He’d need small, frequent meals until his stomach got used to regular food again.

“Here, Harry, this is for you,” Sirius said.

Harry picked up the sandwich and gobbled it up in only a few bites, before chugging the entire cup of juice in a single gulp – like he thought it would get taken away from him if he didn’t eat fast enough. Which, considering all he’d been through, was a perfectly reasonable thing to think.

Tonks was right to insist on taking Dudley, Sirius realized. We couldn’t leave any child with those people. Perhaps we should’ve hit them with a sterilizing curse before we left...

Tonks came back into the living room. Sirius levitated the plate and empty cup to the sink and took Harry from Remus while Tonks began to explain how and why they’d taken Dudley.

“You need a bath, kiddo,” Sirius said.

“No!” Harry shivered and hid his face in Sirius’ shoulder.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Sirius said, gently rocking Harry in his arms. “You used to love baths, remember? What’s wrong?”

“Cold,” Harry whined.

It took Sirius a few seconds to understand this, and he felt a fresh surge of hatred for the Dursleys when he did. Of course. No doubt they thought warm water was a waste on him, he thought bitterly. He wanted to go back to the Dursleys’ house right then and there and put a freezing charm on the cupboard where Tonks had stashed them, but he restrained himself. Harry needed reassuring more than Sirius needed more revenge.

“I’ll keep the bath nice and warm for you,” Sirius said, forcing himself to smile. “If it’s too hot or too cold, I’ll change it. I promise.”

Harry nodded, but he looked like he’d believe it when he saw it.

We already stole their son, Sirius thought, trying to keep himself calm. He transfigured the shower into a small bathtub and filled it with warm water. Dudley is a wizard, is going to be raised by and with other wizards, and is going to love magic. Nothing else I can do will be better revenge.

“You’re insane, you know that?” Tonks had just finished telling Remus their story. “You do realize the muggle authorities will be looking for Dudley soon, right? Even if you’d thought to erase the Dursleys’ memories of Dudley before you left, there’s still bound to be records of him existing.”

Tonks scoffed at the idea of muggle policemen being any sort of threat. “We’re already hiding two family members,” they pointed out. “What’s one more?”

“Well, hopefully we’re not going to be hiding Harry and Sirius forever,” Remus said. “Once we find and catch Peter, we can clear Sirius’ name and get official guardianship of Harry – at least, you and Sirius can.” While werewolves retained rights to their biological children, they were prohibited by law from adoption or legal guardianship. Remus’ friends railed at the injustice of this, but Remus was just relived someone like Fenrir Greyback couldn’t adopt a child. “We don’t have any legal rights to Dudley.”

“We’ll figure that out when it comes to it,” Tonks said. “If it comes to it, muggle documents are easy to forge, and they hold up in magical custody law. They’re not getting him back. Those people aren’t fit to raise a flobberworm.”

“Well, you’re right about that,” Remus sighed.

“I’m right about most things,” Tonks said smugly.

Remus rolled his eyes and hit them over the head with a couch pillow.

Before Tonks could retaliate and start what was sure to be an hour long a pillow fight, Sirius came back into the room holding a freshly bathed Harry wrapped up in a towel.

“Alright, everyone, bedtime,” Sirius said.

Tonks and Remus picked up Teddy and Hope, and the group went to the small bedroom Remus, Sirius, and Tonks shared. Elvendork the Cat was fast asleep on the bed, splayed out and taking up the whole thing. Remus put Hope down in her cot and picked the cat up, who made a little meow in protest.

“Remember Harry, Elvendork?” Remus asked the cat.

Elvendork the Cat glanced at the little boy who’d taken his spot on the bed, then wiggled out of Remus’ arms, plopped down next to Harry, and started licking his hair.

“Kitty!” Harry said happily. He gently stroked the cat and Elvendork purred. Nobody could be sure if Harry actually recognized Elvendork or just liked cats in general, but Elvendork clearly recognized Harry, and had missed him.

Smiling, Remus summoned a clean nappy and pair of pajamas from Teddy’s room and dressed Harry while Tonks and Sirius changed into their pajamas, and then everyone, including Elvendork, squeezed into the king sized bed. Harry was sandwiched between Teddy and Sirius, with Elvendork on Harry’s chest, while Tonks and Remus settled on the outside. Slowly, together again at last, the marauders drifted off to sleep.

Andromeda arrived at Wolf Cottage only seconds after her shift ended, still dressed in her green healers’ robes.

They should think about putting an alarm on the floo or something, she thought as she easily stepped through the fireplace. The cottage was eerily silent, and Andromeda hoped that meant the mission was a success and everyone was enjoying a good nights’ sleep.

Sure enough, when she went into Tonks’ room, she saw the three adults fast asleep in bed, with Teddy and Harry in between them and Elvendork the Cat on top of Harry. Teddy’s arm was wrapped around Harry, and Andromeda smiled. She watched them for a few moments before gently nudging Tonks awake.

“Looks like the plan went off without a hitch,” Andromeda said.

Tonks yawned. “Well, mostly,” they said.

“Mostly?” Andromeda asked, but her question was answered when a chubby blond boy about Harry’s age walked into the room.

“I hungry,” the little boy said.

Andromeda stared at her child, wordlessly demanding an explanation.

“Mum, this is Dudley,” Tonks said. “I’ll explain everything later, but he’s your newest grandchild.” They picked the boy up and went out to the kitchen.

Andromeda followed, sighing internally. No parent, in her opinion, should ever hear the phrase “I’ll explain later” from their child as many times as she’d had to hear it in just the past week.

Tonks settled Dudley in a chair and gave him some crackers. “Watch him for a minute?” they asked Andromeda. “I need to get the boys out of bed.” Without waiting for an answer, Tonks went back to the bedroom.

They get their manners from their father, Andromeda thought, rolling her eyes.

Tonks came back from the bedroom a minute later carrying Harry, with Sirius and Remus right behind them carrying Teddy and Hope.

“Gran!” Teddy shouted, wiggling from Sirius’ grasp and running to embrace Andromeda.

Andromeda smiled and pulled her grandson into a hug. “Hello, Teddy,” she said.

“Can you give Harry a checkup?” Tonks asked. “His arm is definitely broken, but I thought I’d wait for you.”

“Good idea,” Andromeda said. “Come here, Harry.”

Harry shook his head and hid in Tonks’ shirt.

“Harry, it’s okay,” Tonks said gently. “This is my mum, Andromeda. She’s your new grandmother. She’ll never hurt you, I promise.”

Harry hesitantly looked up.

“It’s okay, Harry,” Andromeda said. “I’m going to fix your arm so it doesn’t hurt anymore, okay?”

Harry slowly nodded, and Andromeda was relieved he’d agreed so quickly. She was used to dealing with anxious patients, but she wasn’t a pediatric healer, and an abused child was typically above her pay grade.

Andromeda did a quick scan of Harry’s body to confirm the bone was broken and check for other injuries. A bad sprain on Harry’s ankle, an infection, likely from spending days at a time in a dirty nappy, several improperly healed old sprains, and incredible nearsightedness stood out, but there were no other breaks. Nothing too difficult to fix, thank Merlin.

Andromeda made a careful record of each injury before fixing it – one day, when Pettigrew was caught and Sirius’ name cleared, they might be able to use this evidence in court to send the Dursleys to jail for the rest of their lives. No muggle had ever been put in Azkaban, but abusing the boy who lived may very well make the Dursleys the first.

“You did a good job bracing his arm, Dora,” Andromeda complimented her child.

“Thanks,” Tonks said. “When’s Dad get out of work?”

Before Andromeda could answer, Ted walked through the fireplace.

“Speak of the devil,” Tonks said. “Hi, Dad. Come meet your newest grandchildren.”

“Grandchildren?” Ted asked. His eyes rested on Dudley, who had polished off his crackers and was watching Sirius frying eggs at the stove impatiently.

“I’ll explain everything when Auntie and Hagrid get here,” Tonks said. “Harry, this is my dad, Grandpa Ted.”

Harry waved shyly with his newly healed arm.

“I’ll have an anti-infection potion and eyeglasses for him by the end of the day,” Andromeda said. “Speaking of which, I’ve got your testosterone potion here, Sirius.” She pulled it out of her pocket and placed it on the table.

“Cheers,” Sirius said. He picked it up and downed it in one gulp before turning back to his cooking. “Will you two be staying for breakfast?” he asked.

“No, thanks,” Ted said. “I just want to know how last night went, then I’m going straight home to bed.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Tonks yawned.

“With three toddlers and newborn? Good luck with that,” Andromeda grinned.

Before Tonks could think of a retort, Hagrid and Minerva stepped out of the fireplace.

“Got away as soon as we could,” Minerva said. “How is he?”

“And who’s that?” Hagrid asked, noticing Dudley.

“That’s Petunia’s son,” Minerva said. “Why is he here, Tonks?”

“You know, you two will want to be careful sneaking off together so much, people will think you’re having an affair or something,” Tonks said.

Hagrid blushed and Minerva glared at her godchild. “Don’t avoid the question,” she snapped in a tone even Tonks couldn’t ignore. “What happened last night, and why is Petunia’s son here?”

“That’s technically two questions,” Tonks said, but one more glare from their godmother and Tonks gave up. “He’s magical, Auntie. Who knows what those muggles would’ve done once they worked that out? We couldn’t just leave him.”

“You couldn’t just leave him,” Sirius corrected.

“You agreed,” Tonks retorted.

“I didn’t say you were wrong, just that it was your idea.”

Tonks rolled their eyes. “Whatever. The point is, Dudley is ours now, just like Harry, Teddy, and Hope, and if those muggles want him back they’ll have to pry him from my cold, dead fingers.”

“Mine, too,” Sirius said, and Remus nodded in agreement. All three surprised themselves with how much they already really meant it. Somehow, in only a few hours, Dudley had truly become one of them.

“Well, you were right,” Minerva admitted. “I honestly didn’t even think of him when I saw Harry, but Dudley was never going to become a functioning member of any society under his parents’ care, magical or not. Those people aren’t fit to raise a flobberworm.”

Tonks shot Sirius and Remus a “told you so” smirk. 

“Would you like to stay for breakfast, Hagrid, Professor?” Sirius asked, ignoring Tonks. 

“Sirius, if Severus Snape can call me Minerva, you and Remus have certainly earned the right,” Minerva said. “And no, thank you, Hagrid and I better get back before we’re missed.”

“About that,” Tonks said. “You two seriously do need a good cover story for coming over here so often. The boys and I were talking, and we were wondering if you two would like to be Hope’s godparents.”

Hagrid teared up and blew his nose noisily into his handkerchief, and Minerva gave Tonks one of her rare smiles.

“I’d be honored,” Minerva said.

Hagrid was sobbing tears of joy and couldn’t speak, but he nodded and pulled Remus, Sirius, and Tonks into a bone crushing hug.

Chapter Text

“We need to go shopping,” Remus said after Ted, Andromeda, Minerva, and Hagrid left. “We didn’t even have time to prepare for one more child, let alone two.”

He summoned a piece of parchment and a quill from the living room to make a list. Neither Teddy nor Harry looked up from their eggs, but Dudley thought it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

“Again! Again!” he demanded.

With a grin, Remus made the parchment fly around Dudley’s head. Vernon and Petunia Dursley would have a stroke if they could see this, he thought happily.

After about five minutes, Dudley got bored with the flying parchment, and Sirius let all three boys down from the table to go play in Teddy’s room while Tonks cleared the table and Remus started the shopping list.

“Harry and Dudley both need clothes in their sizes,” Sirius said. “We should probably get a few sizes up for Harry, too.”

Remus nodded and wrote it down. “They’ll also need beds,” he said. “I really don’t want them in ours forever.”

“Why?” Sirius asked innocently. “Were you planning something they shouldn’t be there for?”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Shut up and get your head out of the gutter,” he said. “What else?”

“We should get a car,” Tonks said. “We need to be able to make a quick escape in an emergency – if they catch onto us, the first thing they’ll do is shut down our fireplace. Even if I taught you and Sirius to side-along apparate, we could each only take one kid at a time. We’d have to leave a kid and Elvendork the Cat behind – and that’s assuming none of us are incapacitated.”

“We have my motorbike,” Sirius said. “And brooms.”

“I can’t drive your motorbike, and if one or two of us were incapacitated, getting everyone on just one or two brooms would be very hard, if not impossible,” said Tonks.

“I see why you’re Moody’s favorite student,” Sirius said dryly. “What if we got a sidecar for the motorbike?”

“It’d have to be one big sidecar. Sirius, we’re a family of seven. Be glad if we don’t end up with a station wagon or minivan,” Tonks said, and Sirius shuddered at the very thought. “Besides, an ordinary looking car would make it easy to blend in with muggles, if we have to.”

“The color changing toddler and the two werewolves would beg to differ,” said Sirius, but he sighed and gave in. “Alright, we’ll get a car but we’re getting something cool.”

“This is all great, in theory,” Remus said. “But can either of you actually drive a car?”

“Dad gave me a few lessons before seventh year,” Tonks said. “I never got a license, but muggle documents are easy enough to fake.”

“It can’t be that much different from the motorbike, can it?” Sirius asked.

Groaning to himself, Remus added EXTRA SAFETY CHARMS and right next to Padfoot approved car that can hold at least 7 people on the list and underlined it three times. “Anything else we need?” he asked.

“Toys,” Sirius said. “Harry didn’t get any with those people, and I don’t know how long Teddy is going to be willing to share, especially because he’s sharing everything else.”

“Dudley should have a few of his own, too,” Tonks said. “I took a few small ones from the Dursleys’, but he should get some from us, too.”

“You’re right, but Christmas is coming, so let’s not get too overboard,” Remus said.

“It’s the start of November, Remus, Christmas is ages away,” Tonks said. “Besides, Harry deserves to be spoiled a bit.”

Remus couldn’t bring himself to disagree with that. “I know, I just don’t want to run out of things to buy them.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Sirius said. “I already know what I want to get the boys.”

“B-r-o-o-m-s?” Tonks guessed, spelling the word out in case the kids could hear them from Teddy’s room. Sirius had gotten Harry a toy broom for his first birthday, but it had been destroyed like everything else when Voldemort attacked the Potter’s cottage.

Sirius nodded. “Harry needs a new one, and Dudley and Teddy are overdue for their first.”

“You get to teach Teddy to fly,” Remus said firmly. Teddy had inherited Tonks’ clumsiness.

“It’s only a few inches off the ground, it can’t do much damage,” Sirius said.

“I’ll ask Andromeda about that next time she’s over,” Remus said.

“Don’t you dare,” said Tonks. “Is that everything? I should get going if I’m going to get all this in one day.”

Neither Remus nor Sirius had anything else to add, so Remus handed Tonks the list. After carefully disguising themselves as an old man, Tonks vanished with a soft crack.

A moment after Tonks left, two loud cries chorused from Teddy’s room. Sirius and Remus exchanged an exasperated look and ran to see what the trouble was.

Teddy was on the ground on his back while Dudley leered over him holding a toy car and Harry hid in the corner.

“Mine!” Teddy cried, getting up to lunge for the toy again.

Sirius caught Teddy mid-leap and pulled him away. After a moment of hesitation, Harry ran across the room and wrapped his arms around Sirius’ leg.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Remus said firmly. “Dudley, did you take that from Teddy?”

Dudley nodded. “I want it,” he said simply.

Remus sighed. “Dudley, you can’t take things that don’t belong to you,” he said as patiently as he could. “We have to share and take turns.”

“Don’t wanna,” Dudley said. “My toy now.”

“No, Dudley, it’s Teddy’s toy. He’s being nice enough to share his toys with you because you don’t have any. But if you’re not nice to him, he’s not going to want to share with you, and you won’t get to play with them at all,” Remus explained.

“Where my toys?” Dudley asked, not at all impressed with this argument.

“We couldn’t take them with us when we brought you here,” Remus said. “But Tonks is out buying you and Harry some new toys.”

“New toys?” asked Dudley, his eyes wide with excitement.

“That’s right. But I need you to tell Teddy you’re sorry for pushing him, and to be nice and share with him and Harry, or else you won’t be able to play with the new toys, because you’ll be in time out,” said Remus.

“Sorry, Teddy,” Dudley mumbled.

“Good. Now hug and make up,” said Remus.

Sirius released Teddy and the two boys hugged. They looked more like they were trying to crush each other than genuinely make up, but a moment later, they each found a different toy to play with, the car they’d been fighting over lying forgotten on the floor.

“Alright, Harry?” Sirius asked his godson.

“Don’t like yelling,” he said softly.

“It looks like they’re done yelling now,” Sirius said. “Do you want to play now?”

Harry hesitated for a moment and then nodded. He picked up the toy car Dudley and Teddy had been fighting over and started to play with it. If the other boys noticed, they didn’t care.

“Kids,” Sirius muttered.

“Yeah, thanks for the backup there,” Remus said dryly.

“I would’ve jumped in if you needed me, but you were handling that perfectly well,” Sirius said. “Probably better than I would’ve done, anyway. I think you missed your calling, Moony. You could’ve been a teacher, you’re so good with kids.”

“If only I wasn’t a dangerous beast who no sane parent would let their kids be around,” Remus said.

“Are you saying Tonks and I aren’t sane?” Sirius teased.

Remus rolled his eyes. “Don’t make me answer that,” he said. “You know I could never be a teacher.”

“Only because our society is prejudiced and stupid,” Sirius said. “And one day when we catch that rat and my name is cleared, we’re going to work to fix it. And no more of that kind of talk! What if Hope hears it and starts thinking about herself that way?”

“Hope is a week old,” Remus said.

Sirius elbowed him. “You know what I mean,” he said. “She’s going to be able to understand us before we know it, and we don’t want her internalizing that. And it’s not good for the other kids, either.”

“If you say so,” Remus said.

Mercifully, there were no more outbursts for the rest of the morning, and Tonks returned right in the middle of lunch staggering under the weight of several packages.

“I got us a car,” they said. “I think you’ll like it, Sirius, and there’s plenty of room for everyone.”

Needing no further invitation, Sirius shifted to dog form and dashed outside, Tonks and Remus bemusedly following with the kids in tow.

An offensively bright tie-dye colored van was parked haphazardly in front of the cottage, giving the distinct impression that a rainbow had gotten drunk and vomited all over it. It had clearly been used before and had quite possibly survived several accidents, judging by the large dents in the front, back, and each side – unless that was just due to Tonks’ driving. Sirius loved it immediately.

“An old muggle sold it to me dirt cheap,” Tonks said. “He didn’t even ask for ID. I’m not sure that’s even legal, but I’m off duty.”

“Is it safe?” Remus asked. “Does it even run?”

“It got me back here well enough,” Tonks said. “I thought Sirius would like to fix it up a little. We’d need to keep him under a glamour or polyjuice potion, just in case, but that shouldn’t be too hard.”

Sirius couldn’t speak in dog form, but his excited barks told the others he would like that very much.

Tonks grinned and opened up the car, revealing several more packages of various sizes. “Nobody go back in empty handed,” they said. “Not even you, Snuffles.”

Dudley made a beeline for one of the bigger boxes. “New toys?” he asked.

“Lots of new things for you and Harry,” Tonks said. “The sooner we carry it all in, the sooner we can look at it.”

Dudley needed no more prompting and picked up the largest box he could carry. Harry, Teddy, and Sirius each took another small package, leaving Remus and Tonks to levitate the larger packages inside.

With magic and everyone pitching in, the remodel of Teddy’s room into the boys’ room only took the Marauders until dinnertime. The adults probably could’ve finished even faster by themselves, but Harry, Dudley, and Teddy had all wanted to help, and none of them had the heart to turn them down, even though it made things more difficult.

Teddy’s bed was moved to the side of the room, with Harry and Dudley’s beds right next to it. Tonks expanded Teddy’s dresser and added four more drawers – two for each Harry and Dudley. They added another toy box and some extra shelves and when finished, the room was a bit cramped, but comfortable.

“We’ll have to get them bunk beds when they’re old enough,” Sirius commented as he magically fitted sheets on the new beds. “It’s going to be a tight fit when they’re not babies anymore.”

“It’s going to be a tight fit come Christmas when we spoil them even more,” Tonks said cheerfully. “But isn’t that part of the fun of parenting?”

“Maybe we should’ve used the extra room for Harry and Dudley after all,” Remus said.

“You should’ve said that before we got this one set up,” said Tonks. “But no, we’d just have to move them in with Teddy anyway when Hope’s ready to move out of our room. It’s easier to move them all in together now.”

“I suppose you’re right,” said Remus. “Though it does seem a little unfair for Hope to be the only one who gets her own room.”

“With two dads, three brothers, and a nonbinary mother, she’ll be the only girl in the house,” Tonks said. “It only seems fair she has her own space to be a girl in.”

“Okay – but what does that even entail?” Remus asked.

“Hell if I know,” said Tonks, shrugging.

“Maybe when my dear mother finally dies, we can afford a bigger place, and it’ll all be moot anyway,” Sirius said. “Hopefully it’ll happen by Christmas, so we have lots of money to spend on gifts.”

“If I didn’t know you, I’d think you were heartless,” Remus teased.

“But you do know him, so you know he’s heartless,” Tonks grinned. “But not as heartless as Walburga, so I guess it can be excused.”

“I’m glad you approve,” Sirius deadpanned. “I didn’t know you’d even met Walburga.”

“I haven’t, and hopefully never will. The way she treated you was more than enough to make me hate her,” said Tonks.

“What, are you saying you like me?” Sirius asked, batting his eyelashes at Tonks.

“Against my better judgment,” said Tonks. “Now shut up and go make dinner.”

Andromeda returned just as the marauders finished dinner and Remus started to clear the table.

“I have Harry’s potion and glasses,” she announced as she apparated in.

“Oh, perfect timing, I was just about to give the boys a bath,” said Tonks.

“He should take that potion an hour before each meal,” Andromeda instructed, handing said potion to Tonks. “I was hoping to catch you before dinner, but I overslept.”

“Must’ve been nice,” Sirius yawned from the couch, where he was feeding Hope her bedtime bottle.

Andromeda ignored this. “I’ve put some reinforcement charms on his glasses so they don’t break too easily,” she said. “Let’s see how they fit, Harry.”

Harry had none of his earlier hesitation as Andromeda fit the glasses on his face and waved her wand to do a few diagnostic charms, making sure the prescription was perfect.

“Thanks, Mum,” Tonks said. “Come on, boys, bath time.”

“Yay! Bath!” said Teddy happily. Dudley and Harry were more reserved, but thankfully, Harry showed none of his previous fear about the bathtub.

“Harry’s adjusting very quickly,” Andromeda said.

“I know,” said Remus. “We must’ve got him just in time. Would you like some dinner? The leftovers should still be warm.”

“Was Sirius cooking?” Andromeda asked. Tonks’ terrible cooking skills were legend, and Remus wasn’t much better, but Sirius, luckily, had some talent in the kitchen, or else they all would’ve had to live on takeaway.

“Of course. Do you think I’d let those two near a stove?” Sirius retorted. “It’s a wonder they didn’t starve to death without me.”

Andromeda laughed. “Just checking,” she said. “Yes, I’d love some. I was going to order takeaway since Ted’s working again, but I can’t turn down a home cooked meal I don’t have to cook myself.”

Sirius beamed as Andromeda made herself a plate.

“Anyway, I was thinking, you should probably have some anti-apparation wards on the cottage,” Andromeda said between mouthfuls. “And perhaps disconnect from the floo network. As convenient as it is for me to be able to pop over whenever I want, unfortunately there’s nothing stopping the ministry or death eaters from doing the same.

Sirius let out an impressive string of curse words that Remus dearly hoped the children couldn’t hear from the bathroom.

“Indeed,” said Andromeda, nonplussed.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Sirius scowled. “How could I not think of that?”

“It’s not all on you,” Remus reminded him gently. “Tonks and I didn’t think of it, either.”

“I’m so stupid,” Sirius ranted. “This whole time, I could’ve put you all in danger, and now that we got Harry-”

“Hey,” Remus cut off Sirius’ tirade. “Remember what you told me earlier today? No more of that kind of talk. We all made a mistake, but we’ve had a lot on our minds lately and more importantly, we can fix it before anyone gets hurt.”

“It’s not the same thing,” Sirius protested. “You could all be hurt and it would be my fault-”

“The same thing could happen if Hope or I escaped during the full moon,” Remus said. “And if I’m not allowed to beat myself up over that, you can’t beat yourself up over this. We’ll set up the wards and put an alarm on the floo tonight. It’s going to be okay.”

Sirius sighed. “I hate when you’re right.”

“Really? I thought you would be used to it by now,” Remus teased.

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Prat.”

Chapter Text

10 November, 1982

The next few days passed peacefully in the Black-Lupin house, or rather as peacefully as things could get with a newborn and three toddlers. The same, however, could not be said for Privet Drive.

“I heard her husband just stopped showing up for work,” Mrs. Polkiss whispered to her neighbor that morning over her garden wall.

“I always knew there was something off about that family,” agreed Mrs. Nelson of Number Six. “She’s always craning her neck over our garden wall, looking for gossip. Spying, like.”

Mrs. Polkiss nodded. “She’s always trying to get a look in our house when she brings her son ‘round to play with Piers,” she said. “As if we’d have anything to hide. Horrible child, he is, but at least she’s the good sense to leave the other one at home.”

“Her ‘nephew,’” Mrs. Nelson scoffed. “As if that’s not the oldest trick in the book. The boy looks nothing like her, and we’re supposed to believe she just forgot to mention she had a sister this whole time? I’ll bet money her husband had an affair with some underling at work, and that boy is the proof. His mother probably threatened to go public if they didn’t take the brat.”

“ That’s probably why he stopped going to work,” Mrs. Polkiss said, giggling. “ Unless she had the affair...”

Arabella Figg watched her neighbors gossip from her living room window, scowling. She hated living here, with all the insufferable men, gossipy women, and entitled children, but she’d promised Dumbledore she’d stay here and complete her mission to watch over the Potter boy.

With each passing day, however, it became more and more clear that this mission could not be salvaged. Though she couldn’t hear exactly what the women were saying, she knew what today’s gossip topic of choice was – the same as it had been for the past three days, when Vernon Dursley hadn’t shown up to work, and the fact that none of the residents of Number Four had been seen since. It was only thanks to the neighbors’ love of gossip that they police hadn’t yet been called, but even that wouldn’t hold them off indefinitely. Eventually, there would be an investigation from the muggle authorities, and Arabella did not want to be here when it did.

Arabella was relieved to hear a sharp knock on her back door. With a last dark glare at the neighbors, she crossed the room to open the door and let Dumbledore in.

“Good day, Arabella,” Dumbledore said. “I take it nothing has changed since I wrote you last night?”

“No,” Arabella said. “No sign of Harry, or of the muggles.”

“Let’s hope they just went on holiday,” Dumbledore said.

Arabella scoffed. She knew Dumbledore didn’t believe that any more than she did. “Let’s go, then,” she said.

Mrs. Polkiss and Mrs. Nelson stared and whispered at Arabella and Dumbledore as they walked down the street and knocked on the door of Number 4. The flamboyant velvet suit Dumbledore was wearing did little to help matters, Arabella was sure, and a small, selfish part of her hoped the Dursleys had run off somewhere so she wouldn’t have to live in this neighborhood anymore.

After a few uncomfortable minutes with no answer, Dumbledore sighed, subtly took out his wand, and unlocked the door.

“Stay close to me,” Dumbledore said grimly. He held his wand out in front of him and Arabella followed close behind, shutting the door as she went into the house.

Dumbledore did a few complicated motions with his wand and sighed. “It’s as I feared,” he said. “Someone’s worked magic here – an adult, not just an accidental burst from Harry.”

Arabella’s eyes went wide. “What did they do?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He muttered under his breath and ran his wand over the walls and floor, as if it were a metal detector. Finally, he stood up.

“I’m detecting stunning spells and memory charms,” he said gravely. “There was a struggle here. But here’s what I don’t understand – when I strengthened the blood wards on the house, I made sure they would notify me if Harry left the house without a blood relative or if any member of the household was taken against their will. Indeed, I’ve had several false alarms over toddler tantrums.”

“So they must have left willingly,” Arabella said. “But why?”

“And why the need for stunning spells and memory charms?” Dumbledore wondered aloud. He shook his head. “Nothing adds up. Perhaps I made a mistake with the wards.”

Arabella scoffed. “I may not know much about magic, but I know you wouldn’t have made a mistake about something as important as this,” she said.

“Your faith in me is flattering, but it’s the most reasonable explanation,” Dumbledore said. However, he kept walking down the hall, tapping the walls with his wand every few steps, trying to pick something up.

He stopped outside a cupboard door with a jolt. “A locking charm,” he whispered.

Arabella’s heart sank. Would Dumbledore’s wards have gone off if the family had been killed or kept prisoner in their own home?

It took Dumbledore a few tries to unlock the door, but he managed to pry it open, revealing Vernon and Petunia Dursley frozen among a terrible stench of dirty diapers.

“Dear lord,” Arabella said, holding her nose. “Who would've done this? And where’s Harry?”

Dumbledore shook his head and levitated the two Dursleys out of the cupboard and onto the couch in the living room. With a flick of his wand, they snapped awake.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, what happened here?” Dumbledore asked them. “Where’s Harry?”

“Who the bloody hell is Harry?” Vernon demanded. “Who the bloody hell are you?”

“I’m Albus Dumbledore,” Dumbledore said. “We’ve never met in person, but I sent you a letter about your nephew Harry, when I left him here.”

“I haven’t got a nephew,” Vernon snapped. “Where’s my son? What have you done to us?”

“We’re trying to figure that out,” Dumbledore said calmly. “Mrs. Dursley, what do you remember?”

Petunia pursed her lips and glared at Dumbledore. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? Lily’s lot. I’ve told her once, I’ve told her a dozen times, she and her unnatural husband aren’t welcome here. You would do well to leave now and remind her of that.”

Dumbledore exchanged a concerned glance with Arabella. Clearly, the Dursleys had no recollection of their nephew, or even that Lily and James were dead.

“One more thing, and then my friend and I will take our leave and never darken your doorstep again,” Dumbledore promised. “Stay still, this won’t hurt.”

Before either she or Vernon could protest, Dumbledore looked directly into Petunia’s eyes and concentrated as hard as he could on her mental defenses. As one could predict, they were not particularly strong, and it only took a few minutes to access her subconscious and missing memories.

“Freak boy!” Petunia shrieked, shoving a tiny, black haired toddler into the very same cupboard Dumbledore had rescued her from. “You’ll get no meals until this freakishness stops!”

Disturbed and disgusted, Dumbledore pushed a little farther.

Two people, very familiar to Dumbledore but near complete strangers to Petunia, stood in front of Vernon while Petunia cowered behind her husband. Both brandishing wands, and Dumbledore was not at all surprised to see that one of them was Tonks; he knew Tonks felt they were Harry’s proper guardian, if the state of his office after their last communication was anything to go by. The second was quite a shock – Sirius Black, looking far healthier and better fed than Dumbledore would've expected after several months in Azkaban and then on the run.

Well, this had just become a lot more interesting.

“No, Vernon,” Petunia said. “The boy must stay here.”

So she tried to hold up her end of the bargain, but what happened?

“Get out of our house before I call the police,” Petunia said.

Tonks laughed, and in a most uncharacteristic move, bragged that the muggle police wouldn’t be able to stop them, while Sirius proudly declared himself a mass murderer.

“We don’t answer to your laws!” Vernon roared. He lunged at the intruders, but Tonks stunned him easily, and seconds later, Sirius did the same to Petunia, and all went dark.

Dumbledore withdrew from Petunia’s mind, seeing all he needed to see. “Thank you for your time,” he said, and he and Arabella took their leave, walking in silence until they were safely back at Arabella’s place.

“I should’ve known,” Dumbledore said.

“What happened?” Arabella asked.

“It appears that Harry was kidnapped,” said Dumbledore.

“By whom?”

“By the two people I would’ve most suspected, but certainly not working together. Tonks, his godmother, and Sirius Black.”

“You mean the death eater Sirius Black? The very reason Harry’s parents were killed?” Arabella collapsed on the couch.

“The very same,” Dumbledore said, trying to piece it all together in his mind. Why was Tonks working with a killer like Black, and why had they put Harry in danger? Perhaps their love for Sirius blinded them to the truth of what he really was – as if you don’t know anything about that, a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Aberforth sneered at him – or, even more unlikely, had Dumbledore and the rest of the world been wrong about Sirius? And was Remus also involved in all this, or was he just as much in the dark?

As to how Tonks had learned about Harry’s location, Dumbledore had no doubt. Minerva must’ve told her godchild even after promising not to, but why now? There was no use speculating.

“I’m going to speak to Tonks,” Dumbledore said. “Try to keep a lid on things while I’m gone. I’ll be back as soon as I figure out what to do about this.”

“Best of luck,” Arabella said. Dumbledore disappeared with a barely audible crack, and Arabella got up to fetch herself a large brandy. As soon as this is all over, I’m moving to a retirement community and never opening my post again, she vowed to herself. I don’t care if the next mission comes from Merlin himself, I am done.

“Hand me the wrench, please,” Sirius said. It was an unseasonably warm day for November, and Sirius was taking full advantage of the nice weather to fix up the new car.

“Wrench!” Dudley said, handing it to Sirius.

“Thanks, kiddo,” Sirius said. Harry and Teddy had gotten bored ages ago and gone inside to pester Remus and Tonks, but Dudley was fascinated with the car and everything Sirius was doing to fix it up. Sirius was more than happy to have a protege and extra pair of hands, even if they were still too small to do anything but hand him tools.

Sirius looked up for a second and swore. “Shit,” he muttered. “Shit, shit, shit. Dudley, we need to go back inside now.” Without waiting for an answer, he dropped the wrench, scooped up Dudley, and ran inside.

“Dumbledore’s here,” he told Remus, who was feeding Hope on the couch. “Where are Tonks and the boys?”

“In the boys’ room,” Remus said. “Did he see you?”

“I don’t think so,” Sirius said. “But he’ll be on us in under an hour. Our Anti-Apparition wards only stretch a few miles.”

“I knew we should’ve done the Fidelius Charm,” Remus said grimly. The triad had seriously considered putting the cottage under Fidelius with either Minerva or one of Tonks’ parents as secret keeper, but the trauma of what had happened to Lily and James won out, and they decided against it. “Take Dudley to the boys’ room, warn Tonks, and hide. I’ll send word to Minerva and Hagrid and stall Dumbledore if he gets here first.”

Sirius looked like he wanted to protest, but nodded and ran to the bedroom, Dudley still in his arms.

“Expecto Patronum nuntius,” Remus said. Dumbledore is at the cottage. We need backup, he thought, concentrating hard on the message. Two silver wolves materialized out of Remus’ wands and took off as fast as they appeared.

The Anti-Apparition wards, luckily, seemed to hold – even if he ran, Dumbledore would still take awhile to reach the cottage.

A few minutes after Remus’ message, the alarm sounded on the floo, and Remus quickly silenced it as Hagrid and then Minerva stepped out.

“What’s going on?” Minerva asked.

“No idea,” Tonks said, coming out of the boys’ room with Teddy on their hip. They had, wisely, left Sirius, Harry, and Dudley inside. “You didn’t tell him?”

“Of course not!” Minerva said, sounding a bit insulted.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where we are,” Remus pointed out. “He knows where we live, and we’re the most likely people to have kidnapped Harry.”

“Oh, now he pays attention to what happens to Harry!” Tonks snapped. “Where was he when Harry was being locked in a cupboard and having his arm broken?”

Minerva and Hagrid avoided eye contact with Tonks, both still feeling guilty about their part in Harry’s life with the Dursleys.

“You can ask him those questions when he gets here,” Remus said. “But what do we tell him?”

“Nothing,” Tonks said. “He doesn’t deserve our trust.”

Hagrid bristled at this, having always been one to defend Dumbledore, but said nothing.

“We hate Sirius and have no idea where he is, we had no idea Harry was missing, and when he tells us, it’s our first time hearing of it and we’re worried sick,” Tonks continued.

“He’s never going to fall for that,” said Minerva.

“He will if he knows what’s good for him,” Tonks said bitterly.

Minerva gave Tonks an exasperated look, but was cut off by a knock on the door. Dumbledore was here.

“Remember our story,” Tonks hissed before opening the door. “Professor Dumbledore, what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I have a few questions about Harry Potter and Sirius Black,” Dumbledore said. “May I come in?”

“It’s a bit crowded at the moment, but come on in,” Tonks said.

“Minerva, Hagrid, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Dumbledore said, nodding to each in turn. “I thought you had classes today, Minerva.”

“I gave the first year Gryffindors the day off,” Minerva said. “They’re already far ahead of the other classes, especially young Mister Weasley.”

“High praise coming from you,” Dumbledore said warmly. “I’ll watch his progress with interest, then.”

“What’s this about Harry, Professor?” Tonks asked, trying their best to look alarmed and concerned. “Is he alright?”

Dumbledore sighed. “I was hoping you could tell me, Tonks,” he said.

“I haven’t seen Harry since before James and Lily went into hiding,” Tonks said. “Neither Remus or I have.”

“So your howler last year said,” Dumbledore said. “But I was just with the Dursleys, and the most curious thing happened – not only is Harry not there, they don’t have any recollection of him at all.”

Tonks and Remus both gripped their wands tight.

Shit, Tonks thought. I hope I can hold him off long enough for Sirius and Remus to take the kids and run. I knew we should’ve used the Fidelius.

Still, Tonks was committed to the act. “Are you saying you don’t know where Harry is?” they demanded, trying to sound angry. It wasn’t difficult when they remembered that Dumbledore was the one to put Harry with the Dursleys in the first place.

“I’m afraid not,” Dumbledore said. “Luckily, however, I was able to access Petunia Dursley’s Obliviated memories.”

“Did you see the attacker?” Tonks asked. “Who is the bastard that took Harry?! I’ll hunt them down myself!”

Dumbledore sighed. “Let us drop the charade, Tonks,” Dumbledore said. “I know you know as well as I do who attacked the Dursleys and took Harry. I explicitly told you that Harry would be safest with his aunt, and you not only took him from that protection, but also involved Sirius Black. I need an explanation, and Harry needs to go back to his aunt and uncle’s home.”

“Professor, with all due respect, you’ll get Harry back over my dead body,” Tonks said harshly. “I don’t know what your definition of ‘safe’ is, but Harry was half dead when we took him. He’d been starved, locked in a cupboard, left in his own feces, and that neanderthal Petunia married broke his arm. We have documentation from the healer that fixed him to prove it.”

The last part was apparently news to Dumbledore. “I never knew it was that bad,” Dumbledore said softly. “I knew they weren’t kind to him, I knew they made some questionable choices, but breaking his arm-”

“What ‘questionable choices’ did you know about? Did you know about the starvation? The cupboard?!” Tonks demanded.

Dumbledore’s silence was answer enough, and the door of the boys’ room burst open and Sirius came running out, brandishing his wand and pointing it in Dumbledore’s face. The lack of surprise on Hagrid, Remus, and Minerva’s face confirmed Dumbledore’s suspicions – they were all in on this, too.

“You bloody bastard!” Sirius shouted. “You meddling old fool, how dare you-”

But before he could curse Dumbledore into oblivion, Hagrid pulled Sirius back.

“This is going nowhere,” he said gruffly.

“Hagrid’s right,” said Minerva. “It’s time we were all honest with each other.”

Sirius, Remus, and Tonks exchanged a look and nodded. They took turns explaining about the secret keeper switch, breaking Sirius out of Azkaban, and rescuing Harry and Dudley, swapping when it became too much for one of them to talk about it anymore.

“So, do you believe us?” Remus asked uncertainly after they’d finished.

Dumbledore nodded. “I do,” he said, and the triad sighed with relief. Though none of them were exactly happy with Dumbledore at the moment, it was best not to have such a powerful man as an enemy.

“Good,” said Sirius. “Then you can explain everything to us, including and especially why our godson had to be with people who hate and mistreat him.”

“Of course,” Dumbledore said, and then proceeded to do just that. “When Lily died to save Harry, she unwittingly activated an ancient, powerful spell. This spell will protect Harry from Voldemort if he were ever to return – and he will – but only if Harry lives with a blood relative of Lily’s and calls that place home. I didn’t like it, but I had no choi-”

“You are not about to tell me you had no choice, Albus Dumbledore,” Minerva said sharply. “You are not about to tell me we had to leave Harry in an abusive home over something as imprecise as blood magic. What happens if You-Know-Who returns when Harry is an adult, and no longer living with his family anyway? Or are you expecting Harry to live with those people until the day he dies?”

Wisely, Dumbledore said nothing.

“A blood relative? Well, we’re in luck. We’ve got that part already, thanks to Tonks, so there’s no need to bring Harry back to those people,” Sirius said.

“What – oh!” said Tonks. “Dudley, of course.”

“Petunia’s son,” Dumbledore mused. “He’s only a second degree relative of Lily’s, and a third degree relative of Harry’s, so the protections won’t be as powerful, but they should hold up at least partially as long as the boys live together.”

“We have three fully qualified magic users in the house,” Tonks said. “All of whom were trained by you, and one of whom is a fully trained Auror. I’m sure we can make up the difference.”

“I’m confident that you can,” Dumbledore said. “And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I should’ve paid more attention – if I’d known how bad it was, especially with their son also being magical-” he sighed. “It may be too much to ask for your forgiveness, and I can never make up for my mistake, but I’d like to help, if you’ll have me. I will, of course, not interfere if you won’t.”

The other adults exchanged a look.

“You know it’s going to take a long time for us to be able to trust you again,” Tonks said. Dumbledore looked disappointed, but Tonks wasn’t done. “So you’d better get started. Any help you can give us would be much appreciated.”

Chapter Text

30 November, 1982

“Come on, it’s only one day early,” Sirius whined over breakfast.

Tonks rolled their eyes. “No, and that’s final,” they said. “It’ll annoy Remus, and you know it. You know how he feels about decorating early.”

“Come on, he’s just going to sleep all day anyway, he’ll never notice,” Sirius wheedled.

“No. Besides, we won’t have time anyway. It’s Hope’s first blue moon, and Mum will be here by lunchtime,” Tonks insisted.

Sirius sighed and went back to his toast. He knew Tonks was right, but it seemed almost blasphemous not to at least try . Arguing with Remus over when to put up Christmas decorations had been tradition since they’d shared a dorm in their first year at Hogwarts. Remus was too tired to do it today because of the blue moon, but using Tonks as a proxy was almost as good.

For reasons no Healer had yet been able to understand, the blue moon was particularly painful for a werewolf. There was no logical reason for it; lycanthropy had existed long before the invention of the Gregorian calendar, and, as far as either magical or Muggle astronomers had ever been able to figure, a blue moon was just a regular full moon, and the only difference was the way humanity categorized the month.

The leading theory suggested it was psychological, but even feral werewolves who tracked moon cycles instead of utilizing calendars claimed they felt the change when asked, although those accounts were less than reliable.

Regardless of the reason, the result was the same; the werewolf transformation on the blue moon was especially brutal. Andromeda had taken time off work to help out with Hope’s first, both as a grandmother and a Healer. As she was too young to understand the concept of a blue moon, Hope’s reaction today could help prove or disprove the leading theory. Although Andromeda wouldn’t be able to publish the results, she was, as any Healer would be, curious to at least find out for herself.

Teddy’s reaction was certainly promising for debunking that theory. Though he wasn’t a werewolf, he got a bit grumpy around the full moon and was especially so today.

“Bacon!” Teddy whined. He’d just devoured three pieces of barely cooked bacon, something even Dudley couldn’t manage at this age, but it wasn’t enough for him. Remembering what Hagrid had said about Hope being extremely hungry when she transformed, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks had decided something similar might be going on with Teddy and decided to indulge him, if just for one day a month.

“Here you go, son,” Sirius said, levitating another piece of almost raw bacon to Teddy’s plate.

“More toast!” Dudley demanded. He had finished his breakfast and was greedily eyeing Teddy’s toast, which hadn’t been touched, but he made no move to reach for it this time. In the short time he’d been part of the family, Dudley had started to learn he’d get nothing by taking it from others and many things by asking.

“What’s the magic word?” Sirius asked. Dudley was older than Teddy, after all, and didn’t have the excuse of the full moon, so there was no reason to let him forget his manners.

“Please!” Dudley said.

“Very good,” said Sirius. He waved his wand lazily and a piece of toast buttered itself and floated to Dudley’s plate.

“Thank you!” Dudley said before devouring it.

“Would you like some more food, Harry?” Sirius asked.

“Juice please,” said Harry shyly. Harry still wasn’t quite able to demand things like a normal toddler would, but he was getting better about accepting things if offered.

Just as Sirius finished refilling Harry’s juice cup, a silver phoenix Patronus materialized in the kitchen. Sirius and Tonks exchanged a look and sighed.

“I have something I want to give you at your earliest convenience,” it said in Dumbledore’s voice. “Send me a message when you are available. I will be alone in my office until noon.”

“What could he possibly want?” Sirius groaned.

For the past month, Dumbledore had been as good as his word in his offer to help the Black-Lupins, but had kept his distance as he did so. After relieving poor old Mrs. Figg and allowing her to finally retire in peace, he further modified Vernon and Petunia’s memories so that they had no recollection of magic, the Potters, or Dudley, and then quietly arranged for their prompt and inconspicuous move to a small, conservative town in America. Sirius, Remus, and Tonks knew that he hadn’t been pleased about using such invasive magic on Muggles, but he hadn’t voiced his opposition to it out loud; involving the Dursleys had been his mistake and therefore his duty to correct. They hadn’t seen Dumbledore in person since he set the Fidelius Charm on the cottage with Minerva as the Secret Keeper two days after his offer to help, and any messages he had for them, such as news of the Dursleys’ relocation, had been passed through Minerva until now.

“It had better be pretty bloody important if he’s bothering us on a blue moon,” Tonks grumbled.

“It had better not be,” Sirius countered. “Considering you’re harboring a wanted criminal and two kidnapped toddlers, ‘important,’ probably means ‘bad.’”

Tonks rolled their eyes. “Whatever,” they said. “Let’s just get this over with. Expecto Patronum Nuntius!” The silver fox appeared and Tonks ordered it to tell Dumbledore that they were ready for a visit now while Sirius disabled the alarm and put a silencing spell on the bedroom door so that Remus and Hope wouldn’t be disturbed.

A few moments later, they heard a knock on the door and Sirius opened it to let Dumbledore in.

“Professor Dumbledore, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Sirius forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

“Apologies for calling this early in the morning, especially on the day of a full moon, but I have a gift for you,” Professor Dumbledore said without preamble. “Several gifts, in fact.”

Sirius visibly relaxed. At least it’s not more trouble . “Alright,” he said. “Come on in.”

Dumbledore sat contentedly on the couch while Sirius and Tonks cleaned up the breakfast table and let the boys out of their highchairs. When they finished, he pulled a very familiar looking cloak out of his robe pocket.

“The first gift is one you’ll recognize, I’m sure,” he said. “James left this in my possession when he died. I was planning to return it to Harry when he started Hogwarts, but I thought that, considering the circumstances, you’d find it useful now.”

Sirius gingerly took the cloak. Memories of sneaking to the kitchens and causing mayhem around the castle flashed in his mind, and he had to blink a few times to keep from crying. Dumbledore tactfully looked away while Tonks gingerly rubbed Sirius’ shoulder.

“The second gift is a bit more complex,” Dumbledore a few minutes later when Sirus had pulled himself together. He pulled a small stack of papers out of his other robe pocket and handed them to Sirius.

The top one, Sirius noticed, was a Muggle driver’s license with the name Romulus Ryan Howell next to a picture of a bearded, blond haired man with glasses.

“Who is that, and what does it have to do with us?” Sirius asked.

Tonks looked over Sirius' shoulder and rolled their eyes. “It’s you, genius,” they said.

“What?!”

“You heard me. Look at it – just change the hair and eye colors, give him a beard and glasses, and alter a few facial features… Can’t you see it?” Tonks asked.

Sirius looked back at it and shrugged. “I guess, now that you mention it. I honestly don’t spend that much time looking at myself.”

“Well, I like looking at you,” Tonks said with a sly grin. “And I’m a Metamorphmagus and a trained Auror, I’m used to looking for this kind of thing. I don’t think the average person would be able to tell, though, unless maybe they had a picture of you right in front of them. Not that you even look much like your wanted posters these days...”

That much was certainly true. The wanted posters still depicted a feral, skeletal shell of a man who hadn’t bathed in months. While they looked far too much like Bellatrix for Sirius’ comfort, it was good to have such a misleading photograph driving the search for him.

“That is correct,” Dumbledore said. “Sirius, or shall I say, Romulus, you are Remus’ Muggle cousin. Your wife, Nora, passed away in a car accident, leaving you the widowed father of Muggleborn twin sons, Henry and Evan Howell. You recently reconnected with your wizard cousin to help your sons adjust to the magical world.”

“This is brilliant, Professor,” Tonks continued. They took the rest of the paperwork from Sirius and looked it over. There were magical and muggle birth certificates for Henry and Evan Howell at the bottom of the stack, twin boys born 12 July 1980 to Romulus and Nora Howell. Tonks was no expert in Muggle law, or even magical law, but from what they could tell, the papers would hold up in court if need be.

Dumbledore inclined his head. “I truly wish I could simply get you exonerated, Sirius, but without Mr. Pettigrew as solid evidence, I’m afraid my influence in the Ministry doesn’t reach quite that far. This is the best I can do at this time.”

“It's still better than being in hiding,” Sirius shrugged. “Or even being a dog. Thanks.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Dumbledore said. He then pulled a large bottle of potion out of his pocket. “Polyjuice potion,” he explained. “I brewed it myself. Each dose will work for up to six hours. Give Harry a dose with Dudley’s hair, and they will pass as identical twins.”

Sirius beamed, and his anger at Dumbledore for putting Harry with the Dursleys started to fade, if just a bit. He had really thought of everything.

“This is perfect,” Sirius said.

“I should warn you that these may not hold up under close scrutiny,” Dumbledore said. “You still shouldn’t draw too much attention to yourself, and don’t take unnecessary risks. You won’t be able to get a Ministry job, and I advise against soliciting places with high security such as Gringotts, but you will be able to leave the house as a human as long as you’re disguised – I trust you are skilled enough in Charms and Transfiguration to manage these alterations.”

Sirius nodded. Compared to the Animagus transformation, changing his human face a little bit should be easy.

“This is a perfect cover story for the kids, too,” Tonks said. “Even if people realize Harry’s missing, know enough to think Sirius has him, and trace him to us, they won’t be looking for a random Muggle father and his two sons.”

Dumbledore nodded. “Precisely my thoughts,” he said with a small smile. “Of course, I still strongly advise you to take the Cloak with you when you go out, just in case you need to hide quickly. Death Eaters will still target you even if they don’t realize who you are.”

Sirius nodded gravely.

“I will give you one more thing before I take my leave,” Dumbledore said. “This is the true reason that I wanted to get here early; I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.” He handed Sirius a copy of the Daily Prophet.

SIRIUS BLACK SIGHTED IN SALEM!

The search for notorious mass murderer Sirius Black has gone overseas, reveals an anonymous source close to the Auror department.

After his unprecedented escape from Azkaban prison this past January, Sirius Black appears to have vanished off the face of the Earth, despite the alleged “best efforts” of our Auror department.

“Black is dangerous and crafty,” Head Auror Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody said in a statement to the Daily Prophet at the time of Black’s escape. “Until he is captured, we urge the general public to practice constant vigilance. Trust no one and assume Black is around every corner.”

Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Amelia Bones had a more optimistic view. “Black is certainly dangerous, but he’s unhinged,” Bones assured the public. “He’ll be captured in due course. Do not panic and do not try to take the law into your own hands.”

However, nearly eleven months after the escape, the Auror department has done nothing to capture Black, and he remains as elusive as ever. Until recently, that is, when an anonymous wizard on holiday in Salem sighted him just a few miles outside of the Salem Witches’ Institute.

“I reckon he gave Britain up as a bad job and now he’s trying to recruit Americans to his lost cause to bring back You-Know-Who,” the wizard speculated.

When asked for a statement, Amelia Bones had little new to say. “There is no need to panic,” she once again stated. “We are in full cooperation with the American Auror Department and are confident that Black will be brought to justice soon.”

“I’m so glad I’m on maternity leave, the office must be a circus and the paperwork will be a nightmare,” Tonks sighed, but they smiled.

“I’m still amazed there’s yet another article about me that doesn’t deadname me,” Sirius said.

“Would they even know it? You changed your name to Sirius before starting Hogwarts. It wouldn’t be public record,” said Tonks.

Sirius shrugged. “I’m sure my dear mother would rat me out if given half the chance,” he said. “Or that blasted House Elf. Doesn’t matter, though; the point is they have no idea where to look for me. I assume that was your doing as well, Professor?”

“I’m certain I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dumbledore said neutrally, but his eyes were twinkling.

“Well, thank you for your help, anyway, Professor Dumbledore," Tonks said.

"We should celebrate by putting up Christmas decorations!” declared Sirius.

Dumbledore chuckled and Tonks groaned.

Chapter Text

30 November 1982

Not long after had Dumbledore taken his leave, a pair of loud cries from the boys’ room distracted Tonks and Sirius from their companionable bickering over Christmas decorations.

“No! My toys! My room! Go away!” Teddy shrieked at both Harry and Dudley, his face and hair turning a deep Gryffindor scarlet. Harry had backed off and hid in the corner behind the toy chest, while Teddy and Dudley screamed and pushed at each other.

Sirius and Tonks exchanged a look and sighed. Teddy had so far been extraordinarily patient about sharing his room and his new status as the middle child, but it was only a matter of time until something like this had happened.

“Alright, break it up,” Sirius said loudly, wishing Remus was capable of intervening right now; he had always been best with the children. Sirius picked up Dudley and Tonks picked up Teddy and they pulled them apart. Harry peeked over the toy chest but said nothing.

“Teddy hit me and Harry,” Dudley said, nuzzling himself in Sirius’ pajama shirt. “And he’s not being a good share-er.”

“Dudley and Harry stealing my toys!” Teddy whined, his face still red with anger.

“They’re not stealing, they’re sharing, and these are their toys, too,” Tonks said. “We bought these new toys for all of you, remember?”

“No! All mine!” Teddy screamed stubbornly.

“Regardless, you do not hit your siblings,” Sirius cut in. “You and Dudley both need a timeout.”

Dudley looked abashed and went to sit on his bed without any further prompting, but Teddy screamed again and started crying. Tonks picked him up unceremoniously and carried him into the living room, leaving Sirius alone to deal with Harry and Dudley.
“Harry, come on out,” Sirius said.

Harry obeyed, looking nervous.

“Are you hurt, Harry?”

Harry shook his head.

“Teddy shouldn’t have hit you,” Sirius said. “He’s going to have to say he’s sorry when he’s done in time out, okay?”

Harry nodded shyly, and Sirius turned to address both him and Dudley.

“Listen, boys, next time there’s a problem, you need to come get an adult,” he said. “You can’t just hit each other like that. Next time, someone could get hurt. Do you understand?”

Harry and Dudley both nodded.

“Good,” Sirius said. “Dudley, I’m going to set the timer for two minutes. When it goes off, your timeout is over.”

***

Two minutes later, Sirius, Harry, and Dudley went out to the living room.

“Shh,” Tonks said. “Teddy’s fallen asleep.”

“Wake him up,” Dudley said. “We gotta hug and say sorry.”

“You can do that later,” Sirius said. “Teddy doesn’t feel good and needs his rest.”

“Not fair!” Dudley stomped off back into his bedroom, and after a second, Harry loyally followed him.

Teddy continued snoring throughout the entire outburst. Despite the situation, Sirius couldn’t help but snort. Teddy really was just like Moony.

***

Andromeda arrived at just half past noon, just as Sirius was making lunch. “How are my favorite patients?” she asked as she stepped through the Floo and disabled the alarm with a flick of her wand before it could wake up Teddy, who was snoring on the couch with Elvendork the Cat curled up on his lap.

“It’s been a rough morning,” Sirius said. “Teddy and Dudley had a scuffle, and then Teddy fell asleep when I put them both in timeout. Now Dudley’s upset because we won’t let him wake Teddy up to apologize, and Harry’s upset because Dudley’s upset. They’re sulking in their bedroom, but at least they’re sulking quietly.”

“And this is why Ted and I only had one,” Andromeda joked. “Speaking of which, where is Dora?”

“They went to go and try to feed Hope,” Sirius said. “Poor baby has been exhausted – even more than a newborn baby usually is, I mean – and damn near impossible to wake up long enough to feed.”

Normally Andromeda would’ve advised against waking up a sleeping baby, ever, but no one knew how the full moon was effecting Hope’s metabolism before the transformation; it was especially important for Hope not to skip any meals today.

“Hagrid and Minerva should be here right around sundown,” Andromeda said. “I’ll just go check on Remus and Hope and take my blood samples.”

“Figures we’d have a vampire in the family, too,” Sirius said.

Andromeda ignored him and went into the bedroom, where Tonks was sitting on the end of the bed feeding a half asleep Hope a bottle.

“Here for your blood samples?” Tonks asked.

“Among other things,” Andromeda said. “Any weird symptoms?”

“They’re both tired and cranky – even more than usual – but other than that, not really,” Tonks said. “Teddy has been in a state today, but I can’t tell if it’s related or just toddler tantrums.”

“Well, Teddy’s been through a lot of change recently, and we know he isn’t a werewolf,” Andromeda pointed out.

“True, but full moons have always been rough for him, and up until now he’s been doing well with the whole thing,” Tonks said. “He adores Harry and Dudley and doesn’t seem to mind being the middle child – I suppose it could be just really bad timing, but I have this feeling-”

“That’s your mothers’ intuition, never ignore it,” Andromeda advised. “I’ll take a blood sample from Teddy today, too. See if we can’t figure out what’s going on.”

“Thanks, Mum,” Tonks said. They laid Hope back down in her cot and the tiny baby fell asleep almost instantly.

Andromeda smiled indulgently at her child as she used her wand to painlessly take a small sample of blood from both Remus and Hope. Neither stirred from their slumber in the slightest.

“Gran ‘Dromeda!” a pair of voices exclaimed as she and Tonks left the bedroom.

Andromeda smiled at her two oldest and newest grandchildren as they ran over to hug her.

“Alright, everyone at the table,” Sirius said. “Lunch time.”

Harry and Dudley obediently ran over to the table, their earlier angst all but forgotten in the excitement of seeing their grandmother.

While Sirius got the kids settled, Tonks took a plate back into the bedroom to try and coax Remus to eat and Andromeda went to join Teddy on the couch. After taking a quick blood sample from his arm, she gently prod him awake.

“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” she asked.

Teddy yawned and stretched, arching his back not unlike Elvendork, who had already gone to the kitchen to look for table scraps.

“Teddy’s awake!” Dudley said, wiggling in his high chair. “Dad Padfoot, let me out!”

“Hang on, Dudley, I think Teddy’s going to come to the table -”

But before Sirius could reply, Dudley was lifted up out of his high chair all on his own and placed gently on the floor. He ran over to Teddy and enveloped him in a big bear hug.

“’M sorry I hit you, Teddy,” he said.

Teddy, still half asleep, looked dazed, but took it in stride. “S’okay,” he said after a second. “Sorry I hit you too.”

Not wanting to be left out, Harry raised his arms in a “let me out” gesture. Realizing he’d been defeated, Sirius obliged and Harry ran over to hug his brothers.

“Sorry I hit you, Harry,” Teddy said as the three hugged.

“S’okay,” Harry said.

For a criminal raising kidnapped toddlers, I suppose I can’t be doing too bad at this whole parenting thing, Sirius thought to himself with a smile.

***

The sun started to set not long after lunch, a sure sign of the impending winter, and it was time to finally prepare for the blue moon.

“They need pajamas, nappies, and their lovies of course,” Tonks muttered to themselves while packing the very same knapsack they’d used to “liberate” Harry and Dudley from the Dursleys’. “Am I forgetting anything?”

The floo alarm went off and cut into their mental checklist.

“Grandpa Ted is here!” announced a cheerful voice. Without a beat, a trio of small footsteps could be heard running toward the fireplace to greet him. Tonks smiled indulgently and shouldered the knapsack to greet their father.

“Is everyone ready to go?” Ted asked.

“I think so,” Tonks said. “Harry and Dudley have never been through the floo network before, so I’ll go first with Teddy. Watch closely, kids, and hold on tight to Grandpa Ted when it’s time to follow us, okay?”

The toddlers nodded, wide eyed, as Tonks picked up Teddy and stepped into the fireplace.

“Tonks House!” they said clearly as they dropped the powder on the flames and reappeared in the Tonks fireplace a few seconds later.

Tonks stepped out of the fireplace and put down Teddy, Elvendork, and the knapsack. Ted, Harry, and Dudley joined them only a few moments later.

“Again! Again!” Dudley begged. Harry, on the other hand, looked rather green.

“We’ll go again in the morning when it’s time to go home,” Tonks promised. “Now, give me a hug goodbye.”

Dudley and Teddy obeyed, but Harry’s eyes got watery.

“Don’t want you to go,” he said softly.

Tonks suppressed a sigh and pulled Harry close.

“I’ll be back first thing in the morning, Harry,” they said. “Papa Moony, Dadfoot, and I will always come back for you. I promise.”

Harry, however, was having none of it, and started to cry loudly. Tonks’ heart broke, but Ted, ever calm, gently put his hand on Tonks’s shoulder.

“Just go,” he said softly, so Harry couldn’t hear. “You were just as bad when we dropped you off at primary school for the first time. He just needs a distraction. I’ve got this, but the longer you stay the more it’ll drag out.”

Tonks bit back a protest. They had never been abused and abandoned in a cupboard. It wasn’t the same at all. Harry was just starting to trust his new family, and tonight could wipe all that progress away, or worse.

But regardless, it was necessary, and Tonks knew it. Remus and Hope needed them more than Harry did tonight, and Harry knew and adored his Grandpa Ted. Tonks would just have to trust their father. So with a final farewell, Tonks let go of Harry, stepped back into the fireplace, and didn’t look back.

“Who wants ice cream for dinner?!” Tonks could hear Ted shout excitedly as the floo started to take them away, and Tonks wiped their eyes.

Harry would be fine. If anyone could handle him, it was Ted. Tonks had two werewolves to take care of tonight, and that needed their full attention.

***

“All comfortable, Moony?” Sirius asked as he helped Remus lower himself onto the mattress in the basement.

“As much as I can be,” Remus said. “Tonks, are you sure-”

“Minerva and Hagrid can take care of Hope without me,” Tonks said, cutting Remus off. “You need us tonight more. Both of us.”

“It just doesn’t feel right. Letting our baby be taken care of by someone else while you take care of me. If I was any kind of father, I would-”

“She’s being taken care of by her godparents,” Tonks reminded him firmly, very relived that they had decided not to share the details of Harry’s meltdown just yet. Remus was feeling guilty enough. “Hagrid can feed her and Minerva can keep her warm. She’s perfectly safe and loved.”

“More than anything, she needs her Papa Moony to be happy and healthy,” Sirius added. “It’s no different than when we used to watch Harry for James and Lily’s date nights…”

Remus laughed a little despite himself. “I’d say it’s a little different,” he said. “But okay, you win.”

“I always do,” Tonks crowed, and all three of them laughed together one last time before the moon started to rise.

Sirius and Tonks both shifted to their Animagus forms as the werewolf transformation started to take over Remus’ body.

***

For the first time, the Dog and Fox stood in front of the Wolf together. The Wolf was happy to see his Packmates, but there were still Packmates missing. The Stag and the Rat, prey that had somehow become Pack, were still missing, and something else.

Cub, the Wolf remembered frantically. Where is the Cub?

The Wolf sniffed the air, and could smell the Cub just past the door. Howling, the Wolf started lunging at the door. The Dog and the Fox pulled him back, and he howled in distress.

***

“Remus sounds agitated tonight,” Hagrid observed as finished bottle feeding the tiny wolf cub and set her back against Minerva’s belly. Hope’s wolf form had grown a bit since the last full moon, keeping rough pace with her human development, but she was still very tiny and helpless, and much smaller than the tabby cat that was her godmother. “More than usual, I mean.”

“Did you take care of Remus at Hogwarts?” Andromeda asked, wondering how he knew that.

Hagrid shook his head. “An adolescent werewolf is too strong even for me,” he explained. “They can’t infect me, but they could do some damage if they got angry enough – and, well, you know how teenagers are.”

Andromeda let out a small chuckle and Hagrid continued. “Remus was kept not far from my hut, though, so I heard him every full moon night.”

“So, how did you find out you’re immune to werewolf bites, then?” Andromeda asked, figuring now was as good a time for the story as ever.

“Ah, well – I’m not allowed to tell you much about that – but let’s just say, Remus was the first werewolf ever to attend Hogwarts, not the last,” Hagrid said.

“Ah,” Andromeda said. “Well, I’m glad to know Hope will be in well practiced hands when it’s her turn, then.”

Looking relieved Andromeda didn’t press for details, Hagrid nodded. “I do my best,” he said humbly. “I hope Tonks and Sirius are alright down there.”

“Well, apparently they’ve been doing this for awhile,” Andromeda said, still sounding a bit put out that her child had not confided in her. “I’m sure they’ve got him well in hand. I’m more worried about Ted on his own with the three toddlers… Honestly, I’d take the werewolf, and I’m decidedly not immune…”

Hagrid and Andromeda shared a chuckle at that, and even Minerva purred in amusement.

***

The moon finally started to set, and Sirius released Remus with a sigh of relief. He and Tonks had had to restrain Remus the entire night, or he’d start slamming at the door – while the door was reinforced and there was no way Remus would get out, he could hurt or even kill himself on it – and since Tonks’s form was so much smaller than Sirius’s, the job had mostly fallen to Sirius. Even the large cut of fresh meat they’d left in the basement didn’t deter him.

Sirius had done Blue Moons with Remus before, and while the Wolf was stronger and more intense, it had never done anything like this. What was going on? If only Remus could remember his transformations, they might have a clue.

The Wolf whimpered painfully as the moon disappeared and he started to be forced back into his human form, and Tonks and Sirius both shifted themselves, both panting and covered in sweat.

“Alright, Sirius?” Tonks asked.

“Peachy,” Sirius said.

Remus, now fully human again, groaned in pain and his two partners turned their attention to him.

“Feeling okay, Remus?” Sirius asked.

“Fantastic,” Remus said dryly as he struggled to sit up. “I hope I wasn’t too difficult last night.”

“We have you handled,” Sirius said evasively. He wasn’t sure how to break it to Remus that he had spent the entire night trying to break down the door; he knew Remus wouldn’t take it well.

Tonks clearly thought the same. “I want Mum to look at you – I think you might’ve given yourself a concussion – and then we can go pick up our children. They’re probably driving Dad mad.”

Remus groaned and collapsed back into the mattress.

***

Tonks whistled as followed Sirius through the fireplace into their parents’ living room. “Dad is so lucky we got here first,” they said.

The living room was a complete mess; toys Tonks didn’t even know the kids owned were scattered all over the place, and there were several dirty ice cream bowls on the coffee table. Ted and his three grandchildren were curled up together on the couch, snoring, in front of the television.

Tonks clicked it off and gently nudged their father, who woke with a start.

“Have a good sleepover?” they teased.

Ted yawned and sat up. “Not bad at all,” he said. He gently nudged Harry awake. “Guess who’s here?”

Harry’s eyes widened as he saw Tonks and Sirius and he ran to hug them. “Dudley! Teddy! Wake up! Dadfoot and Mama Tonks are here!” he shouted.

“I promised we’d be back, didn’t I?” Tonks asked Harry. “Are we all ready to go home?”

“Awww, do we have to? Grandpa Tonks’s house is fun!” Harry asked.

Tonks facepalmed and Ted and Sirius both roared with laughter.

“I told you he’d be fine, didn’t I?” Ted teased.

“That you did,” Tonks conceded. “By the way, you’re in luck. Remus gave himself a mild concussion last night and Mum is treating him, so she won’t be home for another hour. That gives you plenty of time to clean all this up before she gets back…”

Ted looked at the usually spotless living room and gulped.

“Say goodbye to Grandpa Ted, kids!” Tonks said cheerfully as they picked up a still half asleep Teddy and stepped through the fireplace.

“Thanks for babysitting!” Sirius said, grinning, as he did the same with Harry and Dudley.

Ted sighed as they left and summoned a mop from the kitchen. He’d rather take another round of babysitting three toddlers over trying to clean the house to Andromeda’s specifications.

Chapter Text

2 December 1982

“No, Tonks, mistletoe goes here,” Sirius chided. “I have a system. Half an inch to the left, or else it won’t look even…”

Tonks rolled their eyes, but moved the mistletoe they were levitating with their wand exactly half an inch to the left.

“No, no, that’s too far. A little more to the right,” Sirius said.

If looks could kill, Sirius would’ve died on the spot from the glare Tonks had shot at him, but he was too busy sticking his own sprig of mistletoe to notice.

Over on the couch, Remus was feeding Hope her bottle and smiled as his partners continued to bicker companionably. They had all been exhausted after the blue moon, so much so that Sirius was, for the first time ever, willing to put off his obsessive Christmas decorating for an entire day, but the delay seemed to have made him even more anal-retentive about it than ever before.

“ If you keep harping on every little detail, we won’t have time to get a tree today,” Tonks pointed out.

“Don’t even joke like that!”

“I wasn’t joking!”

“You must have been, because not getting a tree today would be sacrilegious!”

“ Your Dadfoot and Tonks are so silly,” Remus told Hope as he burped her.

For some reason, Hope had been especially clingy with him for the past few days. It worked out, then, that Remus was on baby duty while Sirius and Tonks decorated the cottage.

And speaking of baby duty…

The boys’ bedroom door opened and Dudley poked his head out.

“Are we gonna get a tree now ?” he asked for the seventh time that hour.

“Not yet,” Remus said. “Tonks and Dadfoot are still finishing the other decorations.”

“But we’re bored ,” another small voice whined as Harry’s head joined Dudley’s in the crack of the door.

“Why don’t I read you a story while we wait?” Remus suggested.

Harry sighed dramatically in a way Remus wasn’t expecting out of him for another ten years, but Dudley grinned and disappeared back into the room.

A few seconds later, he came out carrying a copy of Beedle and the Bard he’d grabbed from the bookshelf, with Teddy and a still grumbling Harry on his heels.

Dudley hadn’t been happy at first when he found out his new family didn’t have a television, but it didn’t take long before he started to fall in love with being read to instead. It seemed to be as novel a concept as magic to him, all but confirming Remus’s suspicions that Vernon and Petunia had never bothered to read to their son, instead relying on the television to entertain him.

Not their son anymore, Remus thought gleefully as he shifted his weight on the couch so that he would have room on his lap for them while still holding Hope. Not only is he going to love and embrace his magic, he’s going to be a nerd. Maybe even a Ravenclaw, when the time comes…

As the three children settled in on Remus’s lap, careful not to squish their baby sister, Remus opened the book to a random story and started reading.

“Three brothers, traveling along a lonely, windy road at midnight…”

“Three brothers like us?” Dudley interrupted, pointing to himself, Harry, and Teddy.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Remus said, although he privately hoped for a happier ending for his sons than the brothers in the story.

“Did they have a little sister?” Harry asked, getting into the story .

“If they did, she’s not in the story,” Remus replied.

“They should have a little sister,” Dudley declared .

“Maybe we can make up our own story about their little sister later,” Remus suggested.

“ We can make up stories?!” Dudley asked, eyes wide.

“Of course we can !” Remus said. “The stories in your books got there because one time, someone made them up and wrote them down.”

“ Wow!” Dudley said. “Can I make up a story now?”

“Go for it,” Remus said.

“Once upon a time there was a-”

“A stinky poop!” Harry interrupted , giggling.

“A stinky poop named Harry,” Dudley said without missing a beat.

“Hey!”

“ And a smelly fart named Teddy, and a pee pee named Papa Moony-”

Remus had to bite his knuckle to keep from laughing and encouraging the behavior . “Okay, that’s enough making up stories for now, let’s get back to T he Three Brothers ,” he said as sternly as he could.

***

“ Greeting Death as an old friend, they departed this life as equals,” Remus finished.

“Are we going to die like the brothers in the story?” Harry asked.

“Not for a very long time,” Remus promised, kissing the boy’s head. Keen to change the subject, he turned to Sirius and an increasingly frustrated Tonks, who were still bickering and finishing up with the mistletoe. “Are we almost ready to go get a tree, Padfoot?” He asked. “We’re burning daylight.”

Sirius finished sticking the piece of mistletoe he was holding and stepped back to examine his work. “It’ll do for now,” he conceded. “I’ll put the finishing touches on it later. Let’s go get a tree!”

“Finishing touches my arse, I’m going to bloody kill him,” Tonks muttered, just loudly enough that Remus’s sensitive wolf ears could hear and the children could not.

Or so they thought.

“ No kill Dadfoot!” Teddy protested loudly.

“ How did you – never mind. It’s just a figure of speech, darling, now all three of you come and get your winter cloaks on,” Tonks sighed.

They obeyed, and Remus stretched and stood up, still holding Hope, to bundle her up for the trip into the forest, his mind racing. It seemed that Teddy had inherited more of his wolfish traits than just headaches, temper tantrums, and an odd craving for meat on the day of the full moon.

What would this mean for Teddy’s future? If he was becoming more wolfish, would he one day become a full fledged werewolf like his Papa and sister? Was he contagious – no, how could he be, if he never became the wolf?

No more of that kind of talk, Remus echoed Sirius’s words to himself, firmly, in his head. Teddy needs us to love him unconditionally, whether he’s a werewolf or not. Hope too. They need me to get my shit together.

How could you be so damn selfish?! Remus could hear James’s voice now, the exact same tough love speech he’d given him when Remus found out Tonks was pregnant and tried to run off. Your baby needs its father – both of its fathers! You think running away will solve a damn thing if your kid is a werewolf? No, they’ll just feel like they’re broken and unworthy of love, so much so that not even another werewolf could love them! Do you want them to grow up to be the kind of person who is so full of self hate that they walk out on their own kid? Just repeat the cycle for generations and generations? No? Then man the bloody hell up and be there for your kid! Do you have any idea what Tonks is going through right now? Or Sirius? Even his terrible parents didn’t just leave! Are you really trying to compete with Orion Black for the shittiest dad award? Then stop being such a coward!

It was harsh, and James had later apologized, but it had been exactly what Remus had needed to hear then and exactly what he repeated to himself now.

“You kids will always have me,” he said out loud, more to himself than to Hope as he carried the baby to her bedroom to bundle her up for the trip into the woods. “No matter what. Papa Moony isn’t going anywhere.”

Hope just gurgled happily in response.

“Alright, kids, here’s your first lesson in picking out the perfect Christmas tree,” Sirius announced.

The entire family had assembled in the wood outside the cottage dressed up in their warmed cloaks. Hope was strapped to a sling on Remus’s chest, and Harry, Dudley, and Teddy were standing in a row in front of Remus and Tonks watching Sirius attentively.

“We want a nice tall one, but not too tall that it won’t fit in the house,” Sirius said. “Heavy on the bottom with strong branches for ornaments, but again not so wide that it takes up the whole living room.”

Only Sirius could make such an ordeal about picking a Christmas tree, Remus thought as the family walked into the wood. If it were up to Remus, they would’ve gone with the very first tree they saw and been done with it, but that had never been Sirius’s style. As annoying as it could be, it was one of the things Remus loved about him.

“What about this one?” Tonks asked.

Sirius briefly inspected the tree Tonks had chosen and shook his head. “Too short,” he said.

Remus looked around the clearing and pointed to a tree at random, figuring that would be as good a guess as any, as Sirius could be unpredictable and inconsistent about his criteria for a “perfect tree.”

“No, that’s too tall, it wouldn’t even fit in the cottage without altering it, and you know how I feel about that,” Sirius said. Indeed, Sirius was firmly against magically growing or shrinking a Christmas tree, insisting it must be “naturally perfect” or it didn’t count. “Come on, it’s almost like you’re just picking trees at random.”

Not even bothering to deny this, Remus started walking around the clearing. The trees honestly all looked the same to him. He just hoped Sirius would find his perfect tree soon. Remus and Tonks had both learned long ago that Sirius didn’t actually want input or help choosing in a tree; he just liked the company and someone to bicker with.

“Dadfoot! Over here!” Harry pulled Sirius’s hand and dragged him to the smallest tree in the clearing. It was very short and thin, and its top branch was bare and stuck out for almost a foot.

“Yes, this is perfect!” Sirius beamed. “Well done, Harry.”

Remus and Tonks exchanged amused glances while Sirius cut the tree down with a wave of his wand.

“Only Harry could get him to agree to that,” Tonks muttered. “He’s got Sirius wrapped around his little finger.”

“As if he hasn’t done the same to us,” Remus said softly. “But still, next year we should try getting Harry to point to the first tree we see and be done with it.”

Sirius levitated the tree to carry it back to the cottage, and Harry, Dudley, and Teddy made a game out of chasing it and jumping up trying to catch it as it floated past.

Remus followed his family back into the cottage, smiling. Sirius immediately started setting up the tree, not trusting the job to anyone else, while Remus and Tonks helped the children remove their cloaks.

Once the tree was up and to Sirius’s satisfaction, Tonks went to grab the Christmas ornaments from the bedroom closet and Sirius set to work making hot chocolate and Christmas cookies.

Now it was Remus’s turn to be fussy about Christmas, as he insisted on putting the ornaments on the tree the Muggle way. He’d done it that way since he was a child, because his mother, a Muggle, wanted to participate in decorating the tree, and continuing the tradition with his own children somehow made him feel close to her.

“Make sure you find a good, strong branch for that one, Dudley,” Remus instructed as Dudley approached the tree with a particularly heavy ornament.

Dutifully, Dudley nodded and hung the ornament up to the best of his ability.

Tonks laughed softly as Remus waved his wand to correct the placement when Dudley’s back was turned.

“So much for doing it the Muggle way, eh, love?” they teased.

“Hey, I’m not as crazy as Sirius,” Remus defended himself. “I just want them put on the Muggle way. What happens when they’re on the tree is irrelevant.”

“You’re both bonkers,” Tonks said, but they were smiling. “Such a big fuss over one holiday.”

“You say that like your father didn’t come through our Floo dressed as Father Christmas last year on Christmas morning,” Remus retorted.

“You just try to stop him,” said Tonks, shrugging.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Remus said. “But anyway, it’s Harry and Dudley’s first Christmas with us since – well, you know. Not to mention Hope’s first Christmas, period. I think we all want to make it special.”

“True,” Tonks conceded. “For Harry especially. I can’t imagine he’ll have gotten much with – those people.”

“Hot chocolate and cookies are ready!” Sirius announced.

The three children abandoned the tree immediately and ran over to the table where Sirius had set down a tray of hot cookies and was levitating over six mugs.

“I reckon we’re off to a good start,” Remus said.

“Yeah,” Tonks said, watching as Dudley dunked a cookie in his hot chocolate. “I reckon we are.”

25 December 1982

Christmas Eve brought with it a record breaking snowstorm, and early on Christmas morning, Sirius woke up to several feet of snow, with the entire cottage covered in it from the foundation to the roof . The sun had not yet risen, but the windows were so covered in a heavy sheet of pure white snow that it wouldn’t have mattered if it had; the cottage look ed like it had been dragged up to the heavens and swallowed by a cloud.

As Sirius roused himself from sleep, he was suddenly glad that Harry, Dudley, and Teddy had insisted on staying in bed with the adults the previous night; the more bodies, the better for keeping warm. Now he just had to be careful not to wake them to put the presents out…

Gently prying himself out of the pile, careful not to disturb even Elvendork, who was curled up contentedly on Harry’s chest, Sirius reluctantly left the warm bed behind, put on a jumper, and went out into the living room to get the fire started in the hearth. The room seemed to warm up a few degrees instantly, and Sirius quietly summoned many wrapped boxes of Christmas gifts from the bedroom closet and started arranging them around the tree. Much like everything else involving Christmas, Sirius had a system for this, and was more than happy to let Remus and Tonks have a lie-in as he got everything ready.

Besides, Remus had done all the wrapping, insistent on doing it the Muggle way just like the tree, and Tonks had ingenuously come up with the idea to hide the gifts underneath the Invisibility Cloak to avoid any snooping. They had pulled their weight, and deserved the break.

After about an hour, Sirius stood back and examined his handiwork. Every gift was organized perfectly by recipient, with a different color wrapping paper per person, and in a neat pile. Content with his work, Sirius summoned his camera from the bedroom and took a picture, knowing full well the pile would be destroyed in seconds as soon as the kids saw their presents.

That didn’t matter, though. That wasn’t the point.

Sirius smiled to himself as he prepared Hope’s morning bottle and put the kettle on for hot chocolate and tea. He knew he probably had a few hours to nap left before the rest of the family woke up, but he didn’t bother, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep.

It was Christmas! Who could sleep in on Christmas? Certainly not Sirius, even before he became a father of four.

Something about Christmas had always been special to Sirius, even as a young child, for reasons he couldn’t explain. He wasn’t particularly religious, and his family Christmases before Hogwarts weren’t usually very happy ones. But the anticipation of the holiday had always excited him anyway. There was almost a feeling of magic in the air, but a different kind than was taught at Hogwarts. It was wild magic, the kind that made you believe anything was possible, the kind that even Muggles had access to in their own special way. The kind that made even the most miserable human beings be a little less caught up in their own bullshit.

Sirius loved it all. Everything, the decorations, the presents, the stories, the family, just further intensified that feeling, and he couldn’t get enough. For the first time in almost a year, the small chill in Sirius’s bones was only due to the weather, and not the residual effects of the Dementors.

Sirius sat down on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate and watched the fire, waiting in quiet contemplation for an appropriate time to wake the rest of the family up. Nothing was better than this.

Very small hints of sunlight had started to make itself known through the thick sheet of ice on the window when Sirius finally heard stirring from the bedroom. He turned away from the fire and watched the door expectantly.

“Merry Christmas!” he half-shouted as the family came into the living room, yawning and still in their pajamas.

Harry looked slightly startled at the noise, but Teddy and Dudley’s eyes went wide in excitement when they saw the tree.

“Presents?!” Dudley asked. “For me?!”

“For all of us,” Sirius corrected gently. “Everyone gets presents on Christmas.”

“M-me too?” Harry asked in a small voice.

“Of course!” Sirius said, pushing down the sudden sharp feeling of rage toward Vernon and Petunia Dursley and whatever they did to make Harry think he would ever not be getting Christmas presents. “Come sit down next to Dadfoot until we’re ready to open.”

The three children needed no further invitation, and Sirius explained his system while Remus prepared Hope’s morning bottle and Tonks went to feed Elvendork (who, in typical cat fashion, immediately abandoned Sirius’s affections for the promise of food), and Owlvendork.

“Harry, your presents have the Father Christmas wrapping paper, Dudley’s have the snowflakes, and Teddy’s have the pine trees,” he said, pointing to each carefully structured pile in turn.

Harry’s eyes went wide. “There’s a lot!” He said. “They’re really for me?”

“Yes, Harry, they’re all for you,” Sirius confirmed.

Tonks nearly tripped over Elvendork the Cat as they joined Sirius and the kids on the couch. Sirius noticed they were about half a foot taller than yesterday, their chest was completely flat, and they had a barely noticeable amount of stubble on their face.

“Masc day today, love?” he guessed, and Tonks nodded in the affirmative.

A minute later, Remus joined them holding Hope in one arm and a baby bottle in the other, and the family turned their attention to the presents under the tree.

“So, how are we doing this?” Remus asked as he settled down on the couch. “Free for all?”

“As much as I love that idea, Mum will kill me if we don’t get pictures of them opening every single gift,” Tonks said regretfully. “It’s Hope’s first Christmas, and Harry and Dudley’s with us – if she doesn’t have a full album of just this morning she’ll go spare.”

“Fair enough,” Sirius said, not willing to admit he wanted the pictures just as badly. “Who’s first, then?”

“Harry, why don’t you open first?” Remus suggested. “One of the red ones with Father Christmas on it.”

Harry’s eyes went wide at being put on the spot, but he obediently picked up the largest gift on the pile, looking like he half expected it to be snatched away from him as he did.

I hope Vernon and Petunia are having a horrible Christmas, wherever they are, Sirius thought to himself, but he quickly pushed the thought away. Christmas wasn’t a time for such bitter thoughts – especially when Harry had decided to start with the gift Sirius was most excited to give.

“Come on, hurry up!” Dudley whined impatiently as Harry slowly and gently tore the wrapping paper off the gift. He reached out his hand to try and “help” Harry unwrap the gift, but Tonks caught it.

“Dudley,” they warned sternly. “You’ll get your turn next, but only if you don’t rush Harry. There’s plenty of gifts for everyone.”

Tonks released Dudley’s hand and Dudley put it back in his lap, watching impatiently.

Finally, Harry finished tearing the wrapping paper off to reveal a small toy broomstick, not unlike the one that had been destroyed with the rest of the Potter house in Godric’s Hollow.

Sirius was vibrating in his seat, he was so excited as Harry examined the broom and his jaw dropped in excitement.

“Can we fly now? Please?” Harry asked.

“After we finish opening presents and eat breakfast,” Remus said.

Sirius tried not to sulk right along with the kids as Remus said this.

“Can I fly too?” Dudley asked Harry.

“Well, it’s Harry’s broom, but maybe you’ll have one in your presents,” Sirius said. “You’ll just have to open them all and see…”

The adults chuckled as Dudley made a beeline for his presents and started expertly shaking and looking at boxes, trying to find one that looked broom-shaped.

An hour later, the living room was covered in wrapping paper and empty boxes. The presents themselves, three matching toy broomsticks included, lay temporarily forgotten in a semi-organized pile, while Harry, Dudley, and Teddy darted around the living room ducking behind boxes and throwing balls of wrapping paper at each other.

“I don’t even know why we bothered buying them gifts at all,” Remus commented as he watched them contentedly. “They’re more interested in the boxes.”

“Cats,” Tonks said. “Our children are cats.”

As if to prove their point, Elvendork jumped in one of the boxes the kids weren’t using and made himself comfortable.

“Well, you know what they say about cats,” Sirius said with a mischievous grin. “Dogs love to chase them.” He handed Hope to Remus, shifted to Padfoot, and started barking and chasing the three giggling toddlers around the living room.

Remus sighed fondly. “Some days, it’s like we have five children,” he said.

“We should probably take them outside before they knock the tree over or something,” Tonks said.

“Nah, Sirius would never go that far,” Remus said with a smile.

“I guess not,” Tonks conceded. A beat. “It’s good to see him so happy. It’s been awhile.”

“It has,” Remus agreed. “It’s been a rough few years for all of us, but Sirius most of all.”

Tonks nodded. “I don’t know how he does it,” they said. “How he stays sane – relatively speaking, anyway – when life seems to throw him one killing curse after another.”

“No other choice, I guess,” Remus said. “Same as any of us.”

“I guess,” Tonks said. “I just hope it lasts.”

“Me, too,” said Remus.

The weather started to warm up a little bit by mid-afternoon, but the snow had yet to even begin to melt as the Black-Lupin family bundled up and took the children and their new toy brooms outside.

“The snow will be good padding if someone falls,” Sirius had reasoned, earning himself a halfhearted kick in the shin from Remus.

“No one is going to fall,” he said. “The brooms have training charms on them to prevent that, that’s the whole point. Okay, kids, some general safety rules. First, you do not ever fly without an adult to watch you. Second, no roughhousing in the air or you’ll be on the ground for a month. Understood?”

The three toddlers nodded, all looking excited to start flying.

“We’ll have you go one at a time since this will be your first time,” Tonks said. Harry, you first. Mount the broom just like I show you – it doesn’t matter for these little ones, but you don’t want to get into a bad habit when you get to a real broom.”

Tonks demonstrated the correct way to get on a broom, and Harry copied them perfectly.

“Very good, you’re a natural,” Tonks said, and Harry beamed. “Try flying now, not too fast or you’ll give your Papa Moony a heart attack…”

Harry was, indeed, a natural, as he started flying laps around the yard with none of the usual hesitation or unsteadiness that often came with a new flier.

“Do you think he remembers his first broom on some level, or is he just naturally that good?” Remus pondered.

“Both,” said Sirius. “You never really forget how to fly once you learn, even at that age – but the kid’s always been a natural. James was so proud…”

“It really is like watching a tiny James in the air,” Tonks said as Harry started pushing the limits of the toy broom and increasing his speed.

“James wished he was that good at this age,” Remus said with a sad smile. “He fell off his first time on a toy broom.”

“No way!” said Tonks. “James?”

“He told me,” Remus confirmed. “Swore me to secrecy and everything.”

“He never told me,” Sirius said, trying not to sound hurt.

“He didn’t want you to think he was uncool,” Remus said.

“I know he was uncool,” said Sirius. “We all were. We called ourselves ‘the Marauders.’ I cringe just thinking about how uncool we were. That’s what made us so cool.”

“Watch Harry while I get Dudley situated?” Tonks asked when the three adults stopped chuckling.

Remus and Sirius both nodded, and Tonks set about teaching Dudley the correct way to mount the broom.

“Careful, now,” Tonks said. “Do it at your own pace. Don’t try and chase after Harry.”

Dudley, not nearly the natural flier Harry was, needed Tonks to hold him on the broom at first, but it wasn’t long at all before he, too, was zooming around the yard, albeit much more slowly and unsteadily than Harry.

“He’s not a natural, but he’s getting the hang of it,” Tonks observed as they stepped back and let Dudley take full control over his broom. He wobbled a bit as he moved, but was able to steady himself fairly easily and started following Harry around the yard.

“Still, not bad for a beginner,” Sirius said.

“Not bad at all,” Tonks said. “Come here, Teddy, your turn!”

Tonks helped Teddy mount his broom and held onto the toddler’s back as he started taking his first unsteady movements. He stumbled a few times, but Tonks helped to steady him and he was enjoying himself.

It was only to be expected for Teddy to have a harder time than Harry and Dudley, what with him both being the youngest and having inherited Tonks’s clumsiness, Sirius supposed. Teddy may never be a future star Quidditch player like Harry was shaping up to be, but he was having fun and learning to fly; that was all that really mattered.

Chapter Text

The Black-Lupins were, as is to be expected for young parents of a newborn and three toddlers, the last to arrive to Christmas dinner. Hagrid, seated across from Minerva and taking up nearly the entire side of the table, nearly knocked over the immaculately made table waving as Tonks, Harry, and Dudley stepped through the fireplace. Only Minerva’s quick wand work preserved Andromeda’s fancy place settings and festive decor.

“The Floo is fun,” Dudley declared. Harry, on the other hand, looked rather green and did not seem to enjoy the trip nearly as much.

Still, they were both quick to step away from the fireplace and greet Hagrid, leaving room for Sirius to come through with Hope and then Remus with Teddy.

When the whole family had arrived and dusted off their clothes, they joined Minerva, Hagrid, and Ted at the table – even Hope, far from eating solids, had a high chair and seemed happy to join the family for dinner. Then, not even a full minute later, Andromeda came out of the kitchen levitating a large platter with their Christmas turkey. She placed it right in the middle of the table and settled herself at the foot opposite Ted, who was at the head.

“Thanks for cooking, Drom,” Sirius said as he made plates for Harry. “It’s always nice to get a break – these two are hopeless in the kitchen.”

“Oi! No making fun of our cooking skills on Christmas – as abysmal as they are,” Tonks protested.

Sirius chortled. He served the children their plates and started to help himself.

“Any problems getting away from Hogwarts?” Remus asked Minerva and Hagrid.

“None,” Minerva said. “Most of the students went home for the holidays this year, and Professor Sinistra was kind enough to agree to look after my remaining Gryffindors for the night.”

“And how’s old Sevvy-poo doing?” Sirius asked casually.

Minerva cracked a smile. “Sevvy-poo?”

“Sevvy-poo,” Sirius confirmed. “Like shampoo, but he’s so greasy they needed to invent a new brand just for him…”

Remus, Tonks, Minerva, and Hagrid all burst into hysterical laughter, and even Ted and Andromeda, neither of whom had ever met Severus Snape in person, chuckled.

Harry, Dudley, and Teddy looked at each other, confused.

“I don’t get it,” Dudley said, but for some reason, this just made the adults laugh even harder.

Dudley looked at his brothers, both still looking as confused and lost as he, and shrugged. It hadn’t been that funny. Grown-ups were weird.

Finally, after nearly a full five minutes, everyone was able to calm down and Minerva answered the question.

“He’s not a popular teacher,” she said. “I don’t like to speak ill of my colleagues, but…” She trailed off.

Sirius, however, was not to be dissuaded from his chance to get some good gossip on Snape.

“Come on, you’re among family here,” he said, flashing Minerva a winning smile. “You can trust us…”

“You’re incorrigible,” Minerva sighed, but she obliged. “His methods leave a lot to be desired.” She paused, trying to figure out the most diplomatic way to word it, and then promptly gave up and went ahead with total honesty. “He’s very harsh on his students, and has very high expectations, bordering on if not outright developmentally inappropriate. He favors Slytherin over the other houses, but he’s still pretty tough on his snakes. I don’t think he knows the first thing about adolescent development, nor does he care to learn.”

“Lovely,” Tonks said. “Old Slughorn played favorites, too, but at least he wasn’t a bad teacher to the rest of us. What was Dumbledore thinking, hiring Snape?”

“Same thing he was thinking when he hired Filch, I’d bet,” Sirius guessed.

“Dumbledore likes to give second chances to people who can’t get them anywhere else,” Hagrid said, a little defensively. “I don’t much like Snape, and definitely don’t like Filch, but neither one of them had anywhere else to go. And if Dumbledore hadn’t given me a second chance…”

“That’s a good point, Hagrid,” Minerva said. “That’s one of the things I’ve always respected about Dumbledore. He doesn’t believe anyone is beyond redemption. He doesn’t give up on people, even when that person has given up on themselves.”

“I’m still angry at him for how he handled Harry,” Remus began. “But – I agree with Hagrid. No other headmaster would’ve admitted me to Hogwarts, and no other headmaster would admit Hope when the time comes. Hell, if it wasn’t for Dumbledore, Teddy and Hope wouldn’t exist because we never would’ve met.”

“And he has tried to make amends,” Tonks conceded with a small sigh. “I’m not sure when – if ever – I’ll be ready to forgive him for putting Harry with those people – but I’ve always admired that about him, too. I guess that’s why it hurt so much when he screwed up with Harry so badly. On top of the obvious reasons, I mean. I wanted to see him as infallible.”

“I think we all did,” Remus sighed.

“Funny thing is, he’s always the first to tell us he’s not,” Minerva sighed. “Maybe we should’ve listened.”

The rest of dinner and pudding passed with lighter topics, and then everyone gathered in Ted and Andromeda’s living room to exchange more gifts. The pile was a little smaller than the one under the Black-Lupin’s tree this morning, and much less organized, with the gifts having been shoved under in haphazard piles as people arrived.

“Youngest first, shall we?” Andromeda said. “Who wants to help Hope open her first gift?”

“Me!” Dudley volunteered, and he gently nudged Harry out of the way to sit next to Remus, who was holding Hope.

Andromeda handed him Hope’s first gift, a small box wrapped in green plaid wrapping paper from Minerva, and he tore it open.

“Clothes? Boring,” Dudley said.

“Dudley, that’s very rude,” Remus chided.

“Sorry,” said Dudley.

“Remember, that’s Hope’s present, not yours,” Sirius said. “She’s too little for lots of toys. Alright, Teddy next.”

Luckily, there were no further outbursts as the rest of the children's presents were opened. Hope had indeed also gotten clothes from Ted and Andromeda, but Hagrid had bought her a stuffed toy wolf. Harry, Dudley, and Teddy on the other hand got only “fun” presents, nobody quite wanting to be the person to give a toddler boring clothes for Christmas, especially with it being Harry and Dudley’s first.

Ted and Andromeda had gotten each of them a set of building blocks, each set slightly different but compatible so that they could combine their blocks and make one large collection if they wished. Minerva had gotten each child a new picture book, which Dudley had especially loved. But the real hit was the hand whittled toy animals Hagrid had made for each of them, and the boys used some of their blocks to build a zoo for them all, keeping them entertained while the adults had their own present time.

“Shall we go youngest to oldest again?” Remus suggested.

“Only if you’re okay with going last, old man,” Sirius teased.

“Oi! Who are you calling old?!”

“Alright, children, behave,” Tonks cut in. “I’ll go first.”

With a flick of their wand, Tonks summoned their gift from Ted and Andromeda and started gently shaking it trying to figure out what it was. It was a large box, but knowing Ted, that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“Forget it, Dora, you know you’ll never get around your father’s wrapping,” said Andromeda, smiling.

Ted had an odd habit of wrapping gifts in the most unpredictable way to prevent people trying to guess what the gift was before it was opened. One year, he’d hidden a beautiful necklace for Andromeda in a hollowed out old Hogwarts textbook. Another, he’d hidden a new broom for Tonks shrunken in an old clothes box. It was, apparently, a habit he’d gotten from his own parents, although they hadn’t had magic to help and had to rely on pure wit.

“Can’t blame me for trying, that’s half the fun!” Tonks said before finally giving up and tearing it open. “Oh my goodness, an empty box! I’ve always wanted one of those!”

Everyone chuckled as Tonks opened the box to find – another box. And another. And another.

“You’re sooo funny, Dad,” Tonks said, rolling their eyes as they opened the last box and finally got to their actual present, a new wand holster. “You’re next, Remus.”

Sirius smiled contentedly, laughing with the other adults at Remus’s increasingly wild attempts to guess his gift from Ted and Andromeda while the children played in the background. This was why he loved Christmas.

30 December 1982

Remus yawned as he awoke from his afternoon nap, joints aching.

“In the mood for dinner before we go?” Sirius asked him.

Remus shook his head. “Did the kids already leave?”

Sirius nodded. “Tonks just took them over. Sorry, I tried to wake you to say goodbye, but you were out,” he said. “If it weren’t for your snoring, I’d have thought you’d died.”

Remus rolled his eyes and forced himself upright into a sitting position. “And Hope?”

“In the bedroom napping,” Sirius said. “Minerva and Hagrid will be here any minute. Do you need help getting down the stairs?”

“I’m not that decrepit.” Remus pulled himself up, ignoring the creaking of his bones, and stumbled toward the secret entrance to the cellar. He opened it with his wand and limped down the stairs, Sirius on his heels.

“Settle on the mattress, Tonks will be back any minute,” Sirius said. “We’ve got about an hour until moonrise if you want to go back to sleep…”

Remus needed no further invitation.

The Wolf woke up, in the same cellar as he was last moon, with The Dog and The Fox watching him. The dog wagged its tail, inviting him to play, but The Wolf ignored him.

Cub-scent, the Wolf thought. Where is Cub?

The Wolf started scratching at the door. This time he would get to his Cub.

The Dog grabbed his scruff and pulled him away.

No! The Wolf thought. He bared his teeth at his Packmate and growled. My cub is here! Our cub! We must go get her!

The Dog however did not relent, and kept pulling The Wolf away from the door. The Fox, although small, joined in, and together they pulled The Wolf away and to the other door that led to the outside.

The Wolf howled in despair, starving for the companionship of his own kind.

“Am I crazy or did that feel like we just had two blue moons in a row?” Sirius groaned.

The moon had just set, and Sirius, after hours of trying to keep Moony under control, was finally able to turn human again and catch a break.

“It wasn’t as bad as last month,” Tonks said. “But still worse than usual. What the hell has gotten into him? He didn’t use to be this bad, for Merlin’s sake I handled him on my own for nine months before Hope was born!”

“Yeah, ever since Hope’s first full moon he’s been-” Sirius paused and smacked himself on the forehead. “ Hope. Of course. That’s it. We’re so bloody stupid, ” Sirius groaned.

“I’m not following,” Tonks frowned.

“Think about it,” Sirius said. “What is the one thing Werewolves respond to, aside from the smell of human flesh?”

“The call of their own – fuck ,” Tonks realized. “He started acting this way when we started having Hope transform in the same house-”

“And he can smell her through the door!” Sirius said. “That’s why he’s been so obsessed with the damn thing! Poor Moony, we’ve practically been torturing him, probably Hope, too, and we had no idea…”

“Mother of fuck!” exclaimed Tonks. “How could we not have seen – or Mum, or Hagrid, what the hell is wrong with us?! Is this really the best our expertise has to offer?!”

Sirius punched the nearest wall as hard as he could and felt his knuckles break on it. Still, it made him feel better, and the pain helped to ground him.

“We can beat ourselves up later,” he said. “Now we have to figure out what the hell we can do about it. Obviously we have to move either Remus or Hope, at least until Hope is big enough to join us. But where?”

“Hagrid’s hut might be the safest,” Tonks said. “But it’d be tricky to get her there and back every month without someone noticing.”

“Tricky? Try impossible,” Sirius said, shaking his head. “No, we need somewhere else. Somewhere far away, but just as remote.”

“The Shrieking Shack?” Tonks suggested. “If we can get Minerva and Hagrid to agree to meet us there…”

“No, that’s too close to Hogwarts, and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one student using it,” Sirius said.

“How do you figure?” Tonks asked.

“Hagrid said Remus wasn’t the last Werewolf student Hogwarts has ever admitted, and we didn’t graduate all that long ago,” Sirius said.

Tonks nodded. That made sense. “We’ll have to talk more about it when Remus wakes up,” they said. “It’s not a decision we should make without him anyway.”

“Good point,” Sirius said.

“I’m full of those. Now, let me heal your hand before Remus finds out you punched a wall for him. He’s got enough to worry about.”

Over breakfast, Hagrid all but confirmed the Shrieking Shack was not available.

“Strictly speaking, I’m not allowed to tell you that,” he’d said when asked if a student was currently using it. “But no, the Shrieking Shack won’t work for us right now. Besides, it’s a little too close to Hogwarts. Hope could be seen.”

“If only my blasted mother would just die already, then we could use Grimmauld Place,” Sirius lamented.

“You know, out of context, that makes you sound like the most heartless person on the planet,” Tonks remarked as they sipped their tea.

Sirius snorted. “No, that title belongs to the old bat herself,” he said.

“I – I might know a place.” Everyone stopped laughing at Walburga Black’s expense and turned to look at Minerva.

“It’s an old cottage, not all that different from this one,” Minerva said. “I used to live in it when – well, a long time ago. I still own it, but I haven’t been in in years – I could fix it up, and then Hope could have her transformations there. It’s not far from Hogsmeade, so Hagrid and I wouldn’t be missed at the school...”

“Minerva,” Andromeda said softly. She took Minerva’s hand gently, seeming to have picked up on something the others hadn’t. “Are you sure?”

Minerva nodded. “You are my family now,” she said, her voice thick. “I want you to have it – s he’d want you to have it.”

Sirius, Tonks, Remus, Hagrid, and Ted all looked at each other, but nobody else seemed to know what the two women were talking about.

“So, Mum, what was all that?” Tonks asked when Minerva and Hagrid had left. Andromeda and Tonks were in the kitchen washing up after breakfast; Ted had gone home, Remus had gone to nap, and Sirius was taking care of the children.

Andromeda sighed. “Don’t you ever ask your godmother about this,” she warned. “She wouldn’t have a problem with you knowing, or Remus and Sirius and your father, but she doesn’t like to talk about it. It’s very hard for her, even after all this time.”

“I won’t,” Tonks promised.

Andromeda looked around the room to make sure nobody was eavesdropping before telling the story. “A long time ago, before you were born and when I was still a student at Hogwarts, Minerva was married,” she said. “They lived in a cottage in Hogsmeade, and Minerva traveled from the cottage to Hogwarts to teach every day. I didn’t know her wife personally – your godmother was still my teacher at the time, and that would’ve been inappropriate. But you didn’t have to know her to know how in love they were,” She sighed. “Minerva was head over heels, and her wife was just as much if not more. They were the happiest couple, and nothing could’ve ever split them apart.”

“So what happened?” Tonks asked.

“It was the year before I got pregnant with you that she died,” she went on. “A Venomous Tentacula got her. Minerva found the body… She was a young teacher at the time. Barely older than you are now. After her funeral, she left that cottage and, to the best of my knowledge, she never went back. Didn’t even go to collect her things. She said she couldn’t face it.”

“I can’t believe I never knew,” Tonks said. They were reeling. Minerva had been a part of their life since they were born! How could they have never even guessed? How could they have never even asked?

“She doesn’t like to talk about it,” Andromeda said. “I’m not even sure if your father knows the whole story… You remember how she became your godmother, right?”

“Of course I do, you’ve only told me that story a dozen times,” Tonks said, nodding.

Sixteen year old Andromeda, pregnant, disowned, and homeless, had been forced to drop out of school to be with Ted and raise Tonks. Her lifelong dream of becoming a Healer would’ve ended there, had it not been for a young teacher, none other than Minerva McGonagall, that saw potential in her and gave her the private tutoring she needed to sit her NEWTs and get into the Healer program, completely out of the goodness of her own heart. So, when the baby was born, it was only natural that that young teacher would get the honor of being godmother. And thus, a lifelong friendship was born.

“It was one of our last tutoring sessions before the NEWT when she told me,” Andromeda said. “I think – I think mentoring me, and letting me and your father have our own happily ever after with you – made up, in a way, for the love and the family she lost.”

“Well, fuck,” Tonks said. “And she’s willingly putting herself through all that again, just for us?”

“Never, ever doubt how much your godmother loves you,” Andromeda said. “Minerva is too proud to say it out loud – Gryffindors, honestly – but being part of our little family, and being your godmother, has helped Minerva through her grief. When she held you for the first time, it was the first time I saw light in her eyes since the day her wife died. She would do anything for you, and for our family, and don’t you ever forget it.”

Chapter Text

12 July, 1983

“Ha-ha! Too slow!” Harry crowed at his “twin” as he took the sharpest left the toy broomstick would allow to avoid Dudley tagging him.

It was a picturesque summer afternoon, the sun shining without so much as a cloud in the sky, the temperature stiflingly hot but with just enough of a gentle breeze to keep the children cool as they darted around the backyard on their brooms.

Remus looked up from the book he was reading and smiled as Dudley, not to be deterred by his twin’s teasing, continued to give chase. Tonks’s maternity leave had ended in January, sending them back to work, and Sirius was inside making the birthday cake while Teddy and Hope napped, so it fell to Remus to supervise the oldest two and keep them outside and out of the way.

Taking a sip of pumpkin juice from the glass on the table, Remus checked his watch. It was a quarter after noon, and birthday party guests would be arriving in about an hour.

Although Harry’s real birthday wasn’t until 31 July, Remus, Sirius, and Tonks had unanimously decided to celebrate today instead; not only was it the date of birth listed on “Henry and Evan Howell’s” false birth certificates, but it was the exact midpoint of Harry and Dudley’s real birthdays, according to Dudley’s real birth certificate that they’d snatched that night they’d rescued the boys. Harry and Dudley pretty much considered themselves “twins” anyway at this point, so it made sense to have a single party – plus, it would cut down on the suspicion.

Although they hadn’t formally introduced “Romulus, Henry, and Evan Howell” to anyone who wasn’t already in the know, gossip spread quickly in the Wizarding World, and pretty much the entire Auror department knew that Tonks and Remus were spending a lot of time with Remus’s “cousin” who was a recent widow and single father of twin toddlers. Nobody had even come close to making the connection to Sirius and Harry, but Tonks taking Harry’s birthday off from work may very well jeopardize their ignorance. The Boy-Who-Lived’s birthday wasn’t exactly a well kept secret, after all.

Sirius stepped out onto the back porch and whistled, cutting off Remus’s musings about the day ahead.

“Come on inside and get washed up for your party,” he shouted to the boys.

“Awww, five more minutes?” Dudley asked.

“I guess, if you really want to wait an extra five minutes for presents and cake…” Sirius said with a smirk.

There was no further argument as Harry and Dudley immediately grounded themselves and ran to the house, leaving a chuckling Remus to put their brooms back in the shed with a flick of his wand before following them inside.

Remus inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet smell of chocolate cake, as he walked through the kitchen to prepare the bathroom for the kids’ bath. His sensitive werewolf nose relished the smell – fortunately, although some of his increased senses carried over from The Wolf even when it wasn’t a full moon, the inability to digest chocolate did not, as it had always been his favorite.

“Mmm, cake!” Teddy, having apparently woken up from his nap, reached a finger out to try and to steal a bit of icing, but Sirius was faster and expertly levitated the cake out of the way.

“No cake until the party,” he scolded gently, and Teddy grumbled.

Remus chuckled and checked the water temperature in the newly transfigured bathtub. “Come on, in you get,” he called. “All three of you. You want to look nice and clean for the party.”

“Can we have bubbles?” Harry asked.

“Of course you can,” said Remus, adding the bubble mix with a lazy flick of his wand.

There was no further argument as all three children scrambled into the bathtub.

***

“Honey, I’m home!” Tonks announced as they Apparated into the living room. They had had to work in the morning, but were able to get the afternoon off for their “nephews’” birthday party.

Harry, Dudley, and Teddy, fresh from their bath and fully dressed, ran to greet them, and Tonks pulled the children into a hug.

They all, Harry especially, had taken awhile to adjust to Tonks going back to work. There had been many tantrums and tears for the first month or so, but Harry had finally started to trust that Tonks would be coming back, and only greeted them with a happy hug when they arrived home every day.

“You’re home all day now?” Harry asked. “Not going back to work?”

“Not until tomorrow,” Tonks promised. “It’s your birthday party day! I had to take it off, didn’t I?”

Harry nodded solemnly, and Tonks chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“Oi, I just brushed his hair,” Remus complained halfheartedly.

“Might as well give it up, he’s just like James on that front,” Tonks retorted.

“No, he doesn’t mess it up on purpose like a complete prat to impress girls,” Sirius said. “Yet.”

“Okay, that’s enough, they’re a little young for that kind of talk,” Remus said. “Are we ready?”

Sirius took one last look around the kitchen and living room. Harry, Dudley, and Teddy, having said hello to Tonks and then gotten bored with the adults’ conversation, were tossing around one of the many balloons scattered around the living room while Hope watched from her bouncy seat and clapped. Elvendork the Cat had somehow dislodged a party streamer and was playing with it, but everything else seemed to be perfectly intact.

“I think this is as nice as the decorations are going to get with this crowd,” Sirius said. He disabled the alarm on the Floo just in time as it flared up and Ted and Andromeda stepped out, each carrying a large wrapped gift.

“Where are my favorite grandchildren?” Ted asked as they set the presents down on the small table.

“You have others?” Tonks teased mildly, smiling.

“Yeah, but they’re from my secret second family you and your mother aren’t supposed to know about,” Ted retorted before he was buried in toddlers hugging him.

“So funny I forgot to laugh,” Tonks said.

Only a couple minutes later, the fireplace flared to life again and Minerva stepped out holding a large bag of gifts. She set it down on the table next to Ted and Andromeda’s gifts and addressed the Black-Lupin adults.

“Albus wanted to send a gift along for each of the boys,” she said softly, so that the children wouldn’t hear. “I hope that’s alright that I brought them…”

Sirius, Remus, and Tonks looked at each other. Not seeing objection on either of their husbands’ faces, Tonks nodded. “That’s fine, Auntie, thank you for asking us first,” they said.

It’s the least he owes these kids, Harry especially, Sirius thought, but didn’t say it out loud. Dumbledore had already ruined enough of Harry’s life, and Sirius was damned if he was going to let him ruin Harry’s birthday, too, by bringing that argument up again. If the old man wanted to send gifts along, that was fine, as long as it didn’t give him any illusions about his place in the Black-Lupin’s lives.

As much as he appreciated the fake documents Dumbledore had procured for him, Dudley, and Harry, the return of the Invisibility Cloak, and the quiet handling of the Dursleys, that wasn’t going to be enough for Sirius. Dumbledore was trying, and Sirius could respect that. But ultimately, he didn’t owe Dumbledore his education like Remus did, and he wasn’t an overly forgiving Hufflepuff like Tonks. He’d always been the one out of the three of them most willing to hold a grudge to the bitter end, for better or for worse. But there was no sense in spoiling a happy occasion by bringing that up right now.

Sirius’s musings were cut off by the arrival of their final guest, Hagrid, who nearly hit his head coming out of the fireplace with a haphazardly wrapped gift in each hand.

With Hagrid’s arrival, the small cottage seemed to half in size, but it wouldn’t have been a party without him, and the weather was mild enough to open up to the screened in back porch, leaving plenty of room for everyone.

“Should we do cake or presents first?” Sirius asked no one in particular.

“Cake!” replied Harry at the same time Dudley replied “presents!”

“You just had to make it a choice,” Remus groaned as the birthday boys started to bicker.

“Alright, enough fighting, we’ll flip a coin,” Tonks said, cutting Harry and Dudley off before it could escalate to a real argument. “Heads cake, tails presents.” They took a Knut out of their pocket and tossed it in the air. When they caught it, it landed on heads.

“Cake first it is,” Tonks said.

Dudley grumbled, but cheered right up when Sirius lit the three candles on the cake and levitated it over to the picnic table on the back porch where everyone was sitting.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Harry and Dudley, happy birthday to you!” the adults all sang.

“Close your eyes and make a wish,” Remus said. “Then on three, you blow the candles out together. One, two… Three!”

Harry and Dudley both leaned toward the cake and blew as hard as they could. The three candles didn’t stand a chance against the two of them, and everyone cheered.

Sirius used a cutting charm to cut the cake into even slices and started having them plate themselves automatically with a wave of his wand, while Remus served the ice cream. Harry and Dudley, of course, got the first two plates and dug right in, getting chocolate all over their faces and hands the way only a toddler could.

“Why did I even bother giving them a bath?” Remus joked as Teddy got his own plate and immediately made as much of a mess out of himself as his older brothers. Hope, luckily, was still a little too young for cake, and chewed happily on a baby biscuit, which was far less messy than the chocolate cake.

“Why do we ever bother giving them baths?” Sirius retorted. “They always get dirty again right away.”

“They must get it from you,” teased Tonks.

“Oi! I’ll have you know I’m very clean,” Sirius said.

“Except that one time in fifth year when you got fleas,” Remus said.

“Don’t even start going down that road, Moony,” Sirius shot back. “I could tell so many embarrassing stories…”

“I have no control over what I do when I’m not human, what’s your excuse?”

With no retort for that, Sirius childishly stuck out his tongue at Remus, and everyone laughed.

After everyone had finished their cake and the kids had washed their hands and faces, it was time to open presents.

Dudley went first, and Sirius handed him Ted and Andromeda’s present.

“Did you do your weird wrapping thing?” Tonks asked Ted as Dudley eagerly tore open the box.

“Of course I did my weird wrapping thing,” said Ted. “I didn’t for the kids’ gifts on Christmas, but now they know us well enough that it’s all fair game…”

Dudley, however, wasn’t fooled at all by the “Madam Malkins’ Robes” box clothing the gift came in and tore it open without so much as a pause. He beamed, delighted, as he took out several picture books and started flipping through them.

“You know, the box trick works better when they can read,” Tonks told their father casually.

“With the way that kid devours books, it won’t be long,” said Remus. “He might even be a Ravenclaw someday.”

“No way. All the kids will be in Gryffindor,” Sirius said.

“Are you trying to put me in an early grave?” Minerva asked.

“Don’t worry, Auntie, they’ll all be in Hufflepuff anyway,” Tonks said.

“Not if they’re in Slytherin,” Andromeda countered, getting in on the game.

“Oh Merlin. That’s actually a great idea. Please. I would love to see the look on old Snivelly’s face if that happens…” Sirius trailed off, laughing at the very thought.

“Forget just putting me in an early grave. You’re trying to blow up the entire castle,” Minerva sighed wistfully.

“We came close a few times,” Remus said, in that tone of his where it wasn’t quite apparent whether or not he was kidding. “Harry, your turn to open a present.”

Harry grinned and took the present from Hagrid off the table. He was more gentle than Dudley, but no less eager as he opened it and beamed at what was inside.

“Show us, Harry,” Tonks said, and Harry held the gift up in his tiny hands.

Hagrid had stuck with the tried and true theme of hand carved animals, this time giving Harry a small toy dragon that was actually charmed to fly. It took off from Harry’s hand and started flying laps around the table.

“Incredible! Did you make that yourself, Hagrid?” Remus asked.

“I carved it myself,” Hagrid said proudly, carefully not commenting on who did the enchanting, and the others were happy not to ask further questions; Tonks was technically still an Auror, after all, for all the entire family was already breaking the law just by existing.

Everyone watched the little dragon fly around for a moment and then Dudley opened his own gift from Hagrid. It was, as to be expected, a similar looking dragon, and Dudley let it loose and both dragons flew around the table. Elvendork The Cat, who normally hid in the bedroom when there were too many people around, couldn’t resist two flying dragons and started chasing them, to everyone’s amusement.

It was then Harry’s turn to open a present again, and it turned out to be a small Quidditch jersey with the name Harry Potter and the number 21 on the back – James’s old number. Despite the natural aversion toddlers had to clothes as a gift, and the fact that he would have on idea the significance of James’s old number, Harry beamed and immediately changed his shirt right there and then in front of everyone.

Dudley, not to be outdone, opened his gift from Minerva and got an almost identical looking jersey in his size, only this one simply said “Dudley.” It also had the number 21 on the back. Dudley beamed as he put it on, happy to match Harry.

There were only a couple of gifts left now, and Harry and Dudley opened them quickly. Dumbledore, to no one’s surprise, had gotten them each a large book, and Harry also got some more picture books from his grandparents.

“There’s still one more gift left,” Sirius said before the twins could get up from the table. “It’s for both of you because it’s big, from Dadfoot, Papa Moony, and Mum Tonks. Remus, if you would?”

Remus grinned and went to the bedroom closet, taking James’ old Invisibility Cloak off of the large wrapped box and bringing it out to the porch.

Harry and Dudley both immediately dug into the wrapping paper and ripped the box open with a furiousity one could normally expect from Remus on a full moon.

“Wow!” Harry said.

It was a Junior Quidditch set, complete with balls and hoops. Unlike real Quidditch sets, the Bludgers were much smaller and softer than traditional Bludgers, preventing serious injury, the Snitch was the size of an apple and enchanted to stay below 10 feet off the ground, and the hoops were only about 6 feet high.

It was a good thing they had cake first, after all, because Harry, Dudley, and even Teddy would not be deterred another second as they practically dragged the adults out of the house and begged them to set everything up.

Sirius obliged, setting the hoops up quickly with his wand, and the three oldest Black-Lupin children took to their brooms, released the Bludgers and the Snitch, and started throwing the small Quaffle around.

“Harry really is a natural in the air,” Minerva said as the adults and Hope, who was crawling around her baby blanket, watched them. “I can’t wait to see what he does when he’s old enough for a real broom.”

“James would be so proud,” Sirius said. In more ways than one, I hope.

As the adults chatted, the boys quickly started inventing their own game that had almost nothing to do with the actual rules of Quidditch.

Harry did an impressive dive to catch one of the Bludgers and threw it as hard as he could toward the middle hoop. Predictably, the Bludger veered off course, and all three children started giggling and chasing it again.

“He’ll be a damn good Seeker, if he ever learns to catch the Snitch instead of the Bludgers,” Tonks chuckled.

“I don’t know, chasing after a Bludger like that has Beater potential, too,” Sirius said. “Should we have gotten them bats, too?”

“Absolutely not!” Remus and Tonks said in unison.

Sirius put his hands up in surrender.

“Anyway, good choice with the Quidditch jerseys, Minerva,” Andromeda said. “Only you could make those kids so happy about ‘boring clothes.’”

The other adults chuckled, remembering the past Christmas.

“I noticed the number you chose for them,” Sirius said, his eyes feeling a little misty. “Well done, even if they don’t know it.”

“Well, I thought James would approve,” Minerva said. “I know he never actually met Dudley, but if the situations were reversed, I’m sure he would’ve loved him like his own son.”

“He absolutely would have,” Sirius said, touched. If only, he added to himself. It just wasn’t fair that James and Lily had died and people like Petunia and Vernon Dursley got to live, even if they were relocated halfway around the world and had no recollection of their son. Sirius didn’t voice this opinion out loud, though. Wishing the death of his son’s birth parents on his birthday wasn’t appropriate, no matter how much they deserve it.

“I didn’t put a last name on Dudley’s,” Minerva went on. “I wasn’t sure if he was going to keep that last name or not, all things considered.”

“That’s a good point I don’t think any of us had thought about,” Tonks admitted. “It doesn’t seem right that he has the same last name as those people, but I also don’t feel right about just changing it to Black-Lupin; he’s too young to make that choice, and we’ve already taken so much of his birth family from him. Not that I regret it, mind you, but…”

“I know what you mean,” Sirius said. “He deserves to have some connection to his birth family, but I don’t want him being ‘Dudley Vernon Dursley’ either. Neither feels right.”

All seven of the adults contemplated this quietly for awhile before Remus spoke up.

“I might have an idea,” he said tentatively. “A sort of compromise, if you will. What about Evans? Lily’s maiden name?”

“Dudley Evans,” Tonks tried it out.

“Dudley Remus Evans,” Sirius added. “We’ve already got a Harry James and a Teddy Sirius, it’s only fair…”

“I like it,” Tonks said. “We’re going to have to ask Dudley, though – he’s still little, but it should be his choice.”

“Agreed,” Sirius said. “I named myself, after all – it’s only fair.”

“Lucky you,” Remus said. “My parents named me Wolfy John McWolferson, and look how that turned out…”

“I mean, my name is essentially ‘Dog Star Black’ and lo and behold, I’m a black dog,” Sirius said. “Unlike your parents, however, I was eight when I picked it out. I don’t know what their excuse was.”

“Some parents are just terrible at picking out names,” Tonks said pointedly, looking at their mother.

“I told you before, I was sixteen and I was going through a phase,” Andromeda defended herself.

***

Minerva, Hagrid, Ted, and Andromeda ended up staying through dinner, and when the dishes were cleared and the guests finally left, Remus, Sirius, and Tonks were all ready to collapse.

They couldn’t just yet though; first, there was an important conversation they had to have with their oldest son.

“Harry, Teddy, you go lie down in bed for a bit, we need to talk to Dudley alone,” Sirius ordered after Hope had been put down for the night.

Teddy, yawning, needed no further invitation, but Harry crossed his arms and refused.

“No!” He snapped. “Don’t wanna!”

“Harry,” Remus said. “We’ll be right here in the living room, and we’ll be in soon. This is an important conversation we need to have privately.”

“No!”

“That wasn’t a request,” said Remus firmly. “Bed, now.”

Harry refused to budge.

“If you’re not in bed by the count of three, there will be no flying tomorrow,” Remus continued. “One, two…”

Defeated and with tears in his eyes, Harry stomped off and went to his own room, slamming the door as he did.

“Merlin’s pants, tell me we’re not dealing with the teenage years already,” Sirius groaned. “We’re supposed to have another ten years!”

“I mean, teenagers and three year olds are pretty much the same thing,” Tonks joked.

“Threenagers, if you will,” said Remus.

“And now we have two of them,” Sirius said. “And two more on the way. Lovely.”

“Is Harry in trouble?” Dudley asked.

“Don’t you worry about Harry, little man,” Sirius said. “Come sit down on the couch with us and talk.”

Dudley obliged, and the adults looked at each other, wondering where to begin. How did you tell a three year old that you kidnapped him because his parents were monsters? How did you tell anyone that?

Tonks decided to open up the conversation. “Dudley, do you remember much about your life before you came to live with us?” they asked. “It’s okay if you don’t. You were very little.”

Dudley thought for a second. “A tiny bit,” he said finally. “Not a lot. I ‘member Harry got in trouble a lot.”

“Do you remember the grown-ups you lived with?” Tonks pressed.

“My first Mummy and Daddy?” Dudley asked.

“Yes,” said Tonks. “Them.”

Dudley nodded. “A little,” he said. “They got mad a lot. They didn’t like the M word.”

“The M word?” Sirius pressed. He was sure there was no way Dudley could’ve ever heard the first “M word” that he was thinking…

Dudley’s voice dropped to a whisper, presumably at of habit. “Magic,” he whispered.

Sirius made a mental note to write Dumbledore and ask him to never, under any circumstances, give him any details about where he’d stashed Petunia and Vernon, lest he succumb to the temptation to track them down and honestly earn his conviction as a murderer.

“You know magic isn’t a bad word, right, Dudley?” Remus asked gently.

Dudley nodded. “Yeah. I like magic,” he said. “But how come they said it was?”

“That’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” Tonks said. “Dudley, some people, not all or even most, but some, who don’t have magic don’t like people who do. They’re afraid, angry, and jealous, and it makes them do bad things.”

“That’s not nice,” Dudley said. “It doesn’t matter if we have magic or not. We can all be friends.”

“You’re right, but unfortunately some people aren’t as smart and kind as you,” Remus said. Ripping the bandage off the wound, he said, “your first parents were like that. They didn’t understand magic, and wanted to make your magic and Harry’s go away.”

“But I like having magic,” Dudley whined, looking distressed.

“I know you do, and we would never let them take your magic away,” Remus reassured him. “It’s impossible to do anyway… But that’s why we had to take you and Harry away. They did some bad things, and they couldn’t take care of you and Harry the way you deserved.”

“Oh,” Dudley said, thinking about this. After a pause, he added, “I’m glad you took us away, then.”

“Us, too,” Tonks said. “We love you, very very much.”

“Love you too,” Dudley said, hugging all three of the adults.

“Now, how much do you know about Harry’s first parents?” Sirius asked.

Dudley shrugged.

“Well, Harry’s first parents were your aunt and uncle,” Sirius said. “James and Lily Potter. Lily was your first Mum’s sister, and Harry is your son, making you cousins.”

“I thought we were brothers,” Dudley said, confused.

“You’re adopted brothers and biological cousins,” Remus explained. “Harry’s your brother in your heart, but your cousin by blood.”

“Oh,” Dudley said. “Okay.” He didn’t seem to care about this revelation.

“Anyway, your first Mum and Aunt Lily’s surname before they got married was Evans,” Sirius said. “And we wanted to know if you wanted to carry that name instead of the name of your first father.”

“The one who wanted to take my magic away,” Dudley said, his eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” said Tonks.

“Did Aunt Lily want to take my magic away?” Dudley asked.

“No,” said Sirius. “Your Aunt Lily had magic herself. She loved magic, just like you do, and if she were still alive she’d love you, too.”

“I don’t want to have the same name as the mean man who tried to take my magic away,” Dudley said. “I want Aunt Lily’s name. But I still want to be Dudley. Can I still be Dudley?”

“You can always be Dudley,” Sirius said. “We were thinking of changing your name to Dudley Remus Evans, but only if you want to. And you can always change it back if you change your mind. It’s your name and your choice.”

“So I get to have Papa Moony and Aunt Lily’s name?!” Dudley exclaimed.

“If you want to,” repeated Sirius.

“Yes! I wanna be Dudley Remus Evans,” Dudley said. He leaped off the couch and ran to the kids’ bedroom. “Harry! Harry, guess what?”

“I guess that’s a yes,” Remus said, bemused.

“I never doubted it,” said Sirius. “Don’t sell yourself short, Moony, that kid adores you. You might as well have hung the moon.”

“In that case, I wish I could un-hang it,” Remus said. “Would make our lives a lot easier, all things considered…”

Tonks and Sirius groaned at the bad joke.

Chapter Text

16 May 1984

Remus groaned in pain as he felt The Wolf fade and his true self return to consciousness.

“Rough moon again this time, huh, Moony?” Sirius asked, his tone sympathetic.

“What was your first clue?” Remus asked sardonically.

“Remus,” Tonks said gently. “Talk to us. You’ve been getting worse every full moon since-”

“I’m fine,” Remus insisted. “Yeah, it would’ve been nice, at least for Hope if not for me, but I’ve been through this before. So many cures from snake oil salesman, all throughout my childhood, only for none of them to work. A treatment that does work but we can’t afford? Well, that’s not really that different, is it? It’s fine. I’m just glad Hope is too young to have gotten her hopes up-”

“Like you did?” Sirius pressed.

Remus turned away from both Tonks and Sirius and didn’t answer.

The truth was, he did, for a brief moment, have some hope that Damocles Belby’s new potion would finally, finally give himself and his family a ticket to a better life. With the Wolfsbane potion, Remus and Hope would’ve both kept their minds on the full moon. They’d be able to be together without fear of Remus ripping Hope to shreds. Minerva and Hagrid would no longer have to be taken away from their real jobs every month to babysit a teething werewolf cub – Hope was becoming a handful as she got older, and while Hagrid and Minerva were still able to keep her under control for now, it wasn’t clear how much longer that would remain the case. Maybe, one day, when they were old enough to understand, the boys could even stay home during full moons, instead of having to burden Ted and Andromeda with babysitting every month.

All of those dreams, completely whisked away by the hefty price tag.

Remus was no stranger to money troubles. His parents had never been rich, and what little they did have went to different experimental “cures” for Lycanthropy, none of which worked and all of which cost a pretty galleon. He’d had more than his fair share of secondhand clothes and dinners of instant noodles.

But now, when there was finally a treatment that had promise and wasn’t pure snake oil, there was no spare money to be had. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so maddening. Tonks made enough to support the family in a comfortable lifestyle, but there was little left over. Remus couldn’t hold down a job for long because of his Lycanthropy, and though Sirius had started working part time at a Muggle shop as “Romulus Howell,” that didn’t add much income either.

It almost made Remus angry at his parents for spending so much on false cures and treatments instead of saving up for the real one. But that wasn’t fair, and he pushed the thoughts away. They had been desperate and duped. They had only ever tried to help him. He mustn't be ungrateful for all they’d done for him, when so many other parents resorted to child abandonment or euthanasia. They’d sacrificed their own dreams, too.

So what if his father practically disappeared after his mother’s funeral and they hadn’t talked in years? So what if Lyall Lupin never learned about the existence, let alone actually met, his grandchildren? Remus was an adult. He could take care of himself. He’d been a burden on his parents’ long enough. It was fine. Really. And at least Lyall been kind enough to leave Remus the cottage before he left the country. That was more than enough. Right?

“Moony-” Sirius started, but Remus cut him off.

“Let’s just go pick up the kids,” he said. “Minerva and Hagrid must be exhausted looking after a teething puppy all night.”

He forced himself up off the floor mattress and made for the basement stairs before either of his partners could argue.

***

About an hour later, the Black-Lupins were sitting around the kitchen table together enjoying their breakfast. An unfamiliar owl came toward the window, and when let inside, dropped a letter right on top of Sirius’s scrambled eggs.

He brushed the envelope off and skimmed it, a smile erupting on his face.

“Good news, everyone!” he said when he’d finished. “My mother died!”

“Er, congratulations?” Remus said. He buttered another piece of toast for Teddy and handed it to him.

“Why’s that good news?” Harry asked, his eyes wide.

“Let’s just say there’s a reason you kids never met your Grandmother Walburga,” Sirius said. “She was a mean, nasty woman. I'd call her a Hag, but that's an insult to actual Hags. I just hope Satan is able to contain her down there.”

"Oh. Okay," Harry shrugged and went back to his toast, clearly figuring this to be more of his Dadfoot’s dramatics.

“Not that I’m particularly sad to see her go, but is there a reason in particular why you’re so excited, or are we just celebrating on principle?” Tonks asked.

Sirius brandished the letter. “This is from the account manager at Gringotts,” he said. “She never actually got around to really disowning me before she kicked the bucket. And there’s no other heirs, so the entire Black family fortune is mine now!”

“Well, don’t forget about us now that you’re rich and famous,” Tonks teased.

“You’re not getting it,” Sirius said. “We literally have money to burn now. Or money to spend on a very, very expensive potion we otherwise could never afford…”

“Oh,” Tonks said, smacking their forehead. “Isn’t that great, Remus?”

Remus, however, had gone quiet. “Are you sure, Padfoot?” he asked softly.

Sirius almost looked offended as he replied. “Am I sure that I want to spend my inheritance massively improving life for my partner and daughter? Hmm, let me think – of course I’m sure, you idiot! What the bloody hell else would I spend it on? A peacock farm? Who do you think I am, Lucius Malfoy?”

“Merlin forbid,” Remus said with a small smile. “Sorry, Padfoot, I didn’t mean to doubt you – it’s just – it’s a lot to take in.”

Sirius took Remus’s hand. “I would do anything for you,” he said, his gray eyes meeting Remus’s light green. “You are my family, and you always have been. We can’t make it official because I’m still in hiding from the stupid bloody Ministry – but believe me when I say I’d marry you right now if I could. Spending the money on you is nothing. I’d do it a million times over. You are worth every Knut, and I’m going to make you believe it even if it kills me.”

Remus pulled Sirius into a tight embrace and they kissed, thoroughly ignoring the trio of disgusted children making gagging noises and Tonks whistling suggestively in the background.

“And if you don’t believe that,” Sirius said when they finally broke apart. “Just think of how much my dear old mother would be rolling in her grave if she knew what her money was going to.”

“Ah, well, when you put it that way, far be it from me to go against that dear old woman’s last wishes,” Remus smiled.

“Here, here!” Tonks said, raising their glass.

24 May 1984

“Well, this is a very, er, big house,” Tonks said as they followed Sirius and Remus through the front door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

That was about the kindest thing Tonks could come up with. The house was gloomy and drafty, the warm spring day outside but a distant memory from the moment they stepped inside.

“It hasn’t changed a bit since I left,” Sirius said. Although it was midday, the house almost seemed to repel natural light, and Sirius, Remus, and Tonks had all lit their wands.

“You!” the loud, mad sounding voice of Walburga Black shouted.

Sirius jumped nearly a foot in the air before realizing it was just an old portrait and forced himself to calm down.

“Hello, Mother, you old hag,” he said cheerfully, trying not to betray the fear in his tone.

“You dare come back here! Worthless freak of a daughter! First you abandoned your duty to bear Black heirs, then you started cavorting about with that half-breed werewolf scum and Andromeda’s half-blood brat, and now you dare return to my house and bring that filth with you!”

“Now, mother, you’ll be happy to know that I have not one, but four children,” Sirius said lightly. “Testosterone potion isn’t effective birth control, as it turns out – especially when you’ve been off it for awhile while in Azkaban – but I digress. You won’t be meeting your grandchildren, I’m afraid – they weren’t even at your funeral. Come to think if it, I’m not sure if they even had one – maybe Narcissa and her worthless husband were feeling generous enough to give you a burial, because I sure wasn’t, well, it’s not like Regulus or Bellatrix were in any condition-”

“Regulus should be here instead of you!” Walburga’s portrait shouted. “My real son, the good one-”

“Well, Regulus is dead, and he’s not coming back,” Sirius said coldly. “But you didn’t let me finish telling you about your grandchildren, mother! Did I mention that one of them is a werewolf, two are half bloods, and one is a Muggleborn?”

Walburga howled with rage, but Sirius silenced her with a flick of his wand before she could start shouting slurs.

“That,” he said to his partners. “Was really bloody cathartic. Now, either of you have any idea how to remove a permanent sticking charm?”

Before they could reply, there was a loud crack! sound and Remus and Tonks jumped. Sirius, however, just scowled.

“Still alive, are you, Kreacher? Unfortunate…” he muttered.

“Master Sirius,” an ancient house-elf greeted them. “What half blood scum have you brought into Mistress Black’s home…”

“It’s my home now, Kreacher, and I forbid you to speak of any of my guests in that way,” Sirius said coldly.

“Kreacher will obey Master, insolent blood traitor brat that he is, breaking his mother’s heart…”

Sirius scoffed. “My mother never had a heart, Kreacher. She only survived so long on sheer hate and spite.”

Tonks put a hand on Sirius’s shoulder and shook their head.

“We’re not here to bully an old house elf,” they reminded him. “He’s yours now, I’m assuming.”

“Unfortunately,” Sirius grumbled.

“So set him free before he overhears anything we don’t want him to,” Tonks suggested.

Before Sirius could so much as contemplate the idea, Kreacher started breaking out into loud, horrible sobs.

“Kreacher lives to serve the House of Black!” he screamed. “Please don’t present Kreacher with clothes… The shame! Kreacher would rather die! Please! Let Kreacher die a noble death and have his head hung with his ancestors...”

Despite his intense hatred, Sirius almost found himself almost feeling sorry for the old elf.

Dammit, I’m going soft, he lamented. Next thing you know I’ll be feeling bad for Snape …

“Okay, Kreacher!” Sirius shouted above the house elf’s sobs. “I won’t free you if you really don’t want me to.”

Kreacher stopped sobbing at once.

“If you’re absolutely sure you don’t want to be free-” Kreacher shook his head fervently, tears brewing in his eyes again. “Then you can help us clean this old dump up. And you will obey me, not that mad old portrait of my mother. She is not your mistress anymore – she is dead.”

Kreacher nodded, pulling himself together, and stood up to get to work. He nearly opened his mouth to say something, but then clearly thought better of it. “Kreacher will start with the basement,” he said, and disappeared with a crack.

“Sirius, this is fucked up,” Tonks said as soon as the house elf was out of earshot. “I know you hate him, and I can’t blame you considering all you went through in this house, but just look at him.”

“He doesn’t want your pity, Tonks,” Sirius said. “He hates you almost as much as he hates me.”

“And believe me, that feeling is mutual, but even he doesn’t deserve this!” Tonks shot back, gesturing at the dark and depressing house. “No living thing does…”

“Tonks is right,” Remus said. “He can’t have had it any easier here than you have.”

Sirius sighed. “I know,” he said. “But what can I do ? You heard him, he doesn’t want to be free, and we can’t exactly take him home with us – he hates me, he’d be even more miserable there, and I don’t want him spewing that blood purity nonsense in front of the kids anyway.”

“We have to do something, ” Tonks said. “We can’t just leave him here.”

“ Why don’t we start cleaning, and maybe something will come to us as we work,” Remus suggested. “We won’t forget about him, Tonks – but we came here for a reason.”

“Alright,” Tonks sighed. “But we don’t leave here until we come up with a solution.”

***

Unfortunately, the situation with Kreacher only became more urgent as they progressed through cleaning the house.

“Sirius, please tell me this isn’t what I think it is!” Tonks shouted when they discovered the very small “room,” if one could call it that, behind a small, dingy door opposite the pantry.

Sirius grimaced. He’d forgotten, but now the old memories were flooding back.

“It’s a bloody cupboard!” Tonks half shouted. “After all we’ve been through with Harry –“

“I know!” Sirius snapped back. “In case you’ve forgotten, I haven’t set foot in this house since I was sixteen! And even then, it’s not like I could’ve done anything about it! I was a kid, Tonks! I’m sorry that I was too busy trying to avoid being beaten to death to worry about where the House Elf sleeps, okay? But I don’t know what you expect me to have done about it!”

“We both know it wasn’t your fault, Padfoot,” Remus said softly before Tonks could retort. “But you’re not a sixteen year old boy anymore. You couldn’t fix this then, but you can now. ”

“How?” Sirius asked, looking disgustedly at the cupboard. I’m not like those people, he told himself. I’m not! I can’t be…

“Well, we can start by giving him a proper bedroom,” Tonks said.

Sirius nodded. “Right,” he said. He took a deep breath. “Kreacher!”

Kreacher appeared in front of them. “Master summons Kreacher?”

“Kreacher, listen to me,” Sirius said. “You have served this house faithfully, and you deserve a proper part of it. I want you to choose any of the bedrooms in this house and move your stuff there.”

“Master-”

“You will no longer sleep in this cupboard, ” Sirius went on as if Kreacher hadn’t spoken. Getting an idea, he added, “and any – heirlooms – you want to keep, move those into your bedroom, too. We’re planning on selling most of this stuff, but you may keep anything you want. If it’s in your bedroom, it’s off limits.”

Teary-eyed, Kreacher stared at Sirius in awe. “If Master is sure…” He looked as if he expected this to be a test of his loyalties, like he expected Sirius to take the offer back and punish him for having the audacity to accept it.

Which is exactly what my mother would have done, Sirius realized. It was a sickening thought.

“Yes, I am sure. I have other plans for this cupboard, and it will be more convenient for me if you’re in a proper bedroom,” he bluffed, changing tactics. “I do not have time to sort through all of this garbage myself, so I expect you to do it for me. I trust you to know what's worth saving.” Kreacher would respond better if he thought this was about Sirius’s convenience alone. He wasn’t used to being treated like, well, a person.

The parallels to Harry’s situation did not escape Sirius’s notice, and he didn’t like it.

“Kreacher will do as he is asked,” Kreacher said with a bow. He stared at Sirius awkwardly for a minute, and then pulled him into a very awkward, almost reluctant hug.

Sirius allowed it and then cleared his throat when Kreacher backed away. “Right,” he nodded awkwardly. “Go ahead and get your stuff ready, then.”

Kreacher nodded and disappeared with another crack!, presumably to choose his new bedroom.

When Kreacher was once again out of earshot, Tonks put their hand on Sirius’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you,” they said. “I know it can’t be easy to deal with him, and all the bad memories of this house, but-”

“You were right,” Sirius said. He’d considered trying to break the old enchantment that made it impossible for a non-Black to take ownership and sell it, but that was clearly not an option now. “He’s been treated horribly. I never want to live here again and I don’t like having him around, but I can’t – I can’t treat him like my parents did. Or like those people treated Harry. I didn’t even think, didn’t even see it until you pointed it out – what the hell is wrong with me?”

“You’re human and flawed just like the rest of us,” Tonks said. “But you’re trying to make it right now. That’s what matters.”

“Only thanks to you,” Sirius said. “If you hadn’t called me out on it…”

“Well, that’s my job, isn’t it?” Tonks teased with a small grin. “I’m the bleeding heart Hufflepuff. Every family needs one. Here at your service to guilt trip you whenever you need it.”

“Much appreciated,” Sirius smiled back. Then he sighed again. “But how do I make it right? Giving him a bedroom, even the whole damn house, isn’t enough – he’ll just be here alone all the time, with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Hell, he’s only had my mother for years now – it’s a damn miracle he’s still lucid at all.”

Tonks shrugged helplessly, but Remus looked thoughtful.

“Perhaps there’s an opening in the Hogwarts kitchens?” Remus suggested. “I’m sure Dumbledore wouldn’t mind – he still owes us a few favors, after all. Kreacher could still live here, but work at Hogwarts – house elf apparition doesn’t have the same limits ours does – and he’d have the other house elves for company. And Minerva and Hagrid could keep an eye on him for us.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Sirius said. “But – Merlin, I really am going soft – but only if that’s what he wants. I can’t technically free him because he doesn’t want me to, but I’m not going to give him orders anymore. I think he’s had enough people making decisions for him to last a lifetime.” He paused, another idea coming to him, and smirked. “And as for this cupboard – well, once Kreacher has moved out, I think it would be a good place of honor for Mother’s lovely portrait, would it not?”

Chapter Text

10 March 1985

“You know, you really don’t have to go to all this fuss,” Remus said yet again that day.

Sirius finished putting the finishing touches on frosting the cake before bothering to answer. “Yes, we do,” he said. “Twenty-five is a big year, after all.”

“We didn’t do this much for your twenty-fifth,” Remus said.

“Yes, we did. We went over to Ted and Andromeda’s for dinner and cake and you all gave me presents. The exact same thing, except we’re doing yours here,” Sirius corrected him.

“Cake that you made yourself...”

“Because I wanted it to be edible.” Sirius allowed himself a small grin.

“I’m telling Andromeda you said that.”

“Don’t you dare. Or I’ll take your present back. Besides, she made the dinner and hosted…”

“And now you’re doing all the cooking, baking, and hosting for mine…”

“Again, because I want the food to be edible!”

“We could’ve at least gotten takeaway…”

They continued to bicker companionably until Tonks stumbled out of the Floo, quickly disabling the alarm, with their hair and work robes covered in ash.

“Long day today,” they said as they vanished the ash with their wand. “I hope I’m not late…”

“Just in time,” Sirius said. “Your parents, Minerva, and Hagrid aren’t due to arrive for another half hour.”

“Perfect. I’m going to shower and change. Were the kids good today?”

Before either Remus or Sirius could answer, four tiny sets of footsteps could be heard from the boys’ room and the door opened. Hope led the charge, throwing herself into Tonks’s arms, and Teddy, Harry, and Dudley followed close behind.

“Mum’s home! Told ya!” Hope gloated to her brothers.

“Hi, kids!” Tonks said, pulling them all into a hug. “Were you good for your Dadfoot and Papa today?”

Four little heads nodded almost in unison.

“We made cards for Papa Moony,” Teddy said.

“Good,” said Tonks. They gently pried Hope’s arms off and ruffled Harry’s hair. “Alright, let me go, little ones. I need to go shower before everyone gets here.”

“We’ll get you all dressed up in your party clothes, too,” Remus said. “Come on, you know how your Dadfoot gets cranky when we crowd him in the kitchen…”

“I do not!” Sirius protested in mock outrage, making the kids laugh. “Now get out of my kitchen!” He shooed his giggling family away with a dish towel.

***

“Delicious cake, Sirius, as always,” Ted said as the family finished the last of their dessert.

“Where did you learn to cook like that, anyway?” Minerva asked.

“Well, I started learning when I was thirteen to piss off my parents,” Sirius said.

“Naturally,” said Andromeda with a small grin. “I can hear Grandfather now-”

She schooled her expression into her best Pollux Black impression – “’Cooking is for House Elves and Muggles. Blacks do not concern themselves with such plebeian and mundane tasks. That’s a job for the help.’”

Sirius guffawed. “You are way too good at that,” he said, grinning. “You sure you didn’t get your Metamorphmagus powers from your mother after all, Tonks? Because she’s a natural mimic…”

“You know, I always love hearing reminders of how we’re technically related,” Tonks said in a very sarcastic tone.

It was, indeed, very easy to forget, between the age difference (Andromeda having been disowned from the family shortly before Sirius had even been born) and their shared reluctance to talk much about their family of origin (except, of course, jokes at the “Ancient and Most Noble House of Black’s” expense). Tonks preferred it that way – being in love with one’s first cousin once removed was taboo, even for Wizards of recent Pureblood descent, and even though they hadn’t met until Sirius defied his mother’s orders to “stay away from that unnatural Halfblood” right before boarding the Hogwarts Express for the first time and barged into the Tonks’s compartment, demanding to be friends, and it was easier just not to think about it – but Sirius and Andromeda both seemed to find it amusing. There was, apparently, no better bonding experience than dark humor about shared trauma and one’s own depravity.

Sirius shrugged. “Well, at least we’re upholding the Black family tradition in one way, right, my love?” He blinked his eyelashes at Tonks flirtatiously.

Tonks groaned. “Ew. I’d dump you right now if I didn’t want to make Remus choose between us on his birthday.”

“Much appreciated,” Remus said dryly, before taking his last bite of cake.

But Sirius hadn’t finished. “You didn’t seem to have any problem with it last-”

“Do not finish that sentence in front of the kids!” Tonks cut in, their hair involuntarily turning as red as their face. “Or my parents, thank you very much!”

Sirius laughed and Tonks threw a wadded up napkin at him.

“Glad to know Professor McGonagall and I are on the approved list to hear all about it, then,” Hagrid teased.

“Hagrid!” Tonks’s face went, if possible, even redder, but Minerva, Andromeda, Ted, Sirius, and Remus all laughed.

The four children looked at each other, confused.

“I don’t get it,” Harry said, which just made the adults laugh even harder.

Tonks buried their face in their arms. “Perverts,” Tonks moaned. “I’m from a family of perverts. You are all depraved.”

“I mean, kinda seems like the kettle calling the cauldron black here,” Remus pointed out. “’Black’ being the operative word…”

At that, even Tonks let out a chuckle, joining the other adults in another round of laughter.

“I still don’t get it!” Harry half-shouted over them.

“Never mind that,” Minerva said, being the first of the adults to collect herself. “The grownups are just being silly. Why don’t we watch your Papa Moony open his presents?”

“Yeah! Open my card first!” Dudley said, practically shoving the homemade card in Remus’s face.

Remus smiled and looked at the homemade cards each of the kids made him. Dudley had drawn a lion, Harry had drawn a stick figure on top of what looked like a dog with wings (that he informed Remus was supposed to be Remus riding a dragon), and Teddy had gone with the old standby of a tree under a bright yellow sun.

Hope’s drawing was last, and being the youngest, her drawing was the hardest to make out, but Remus immediately noticed five quadrupedal animals of varying sizes.

“It’s us, Papa!” Hope said proudly. “Next moon, with the potion!”

Remus forced a smile. “Now, Hope, you must remember it’s going to take a long time to get the potion,” he said gently. Indeed, getting the funds together had only been half the battle – they still needed to source all of the ingredients and find someone both willing and able to brew it. Even Andromeda, with all her healing knowledge, found it to be beyond her capabilities, and dare not take any risks with her granddaughter and sort of son-in-law. The potion had to be exact – even a slight deviance from the very specific instructions could kill a Werewolf, as the main ingredient, Wolfsbane, was quite literally poison.

“Nuh-uh!” Hope said. “We got it already! Dadfoot and Mummy said -” Suddenly, she clamped her hands over her mouth. “Oops. Supposed to be a surprise.”

Remus looked at Sirius and Tonks, not daring to hope.

“Well, I guess the Elvendork is out of the bag,” Sirius said, shrugging. “We found a dealer – don’t ask how – and it just came in yesterday, we were going to make it a surprise-”

Rather than say anything, Tonks pulled a large package out of their pocket and placed it in front of Remus. “Might as well open it now,” they said. “Unless you’d rather wait for the rest of your presents…”

Remus shook his head and gingerly undid the wrappings, revealing a large bottle of potion in a shade of dark blue.

“Enough for both of you, to be taken once a day the week before the full moon,” Sirius said.

Speechless, Remus set the bottle down gently and ran to pull Sirius and Tonks into a hug, the rest of his gifts temporarily forgotten.

5 April 1985

“How are you feeling, Moony?” Sirius asked. “Any different yet?”

“Just tired,” Remus said, yawning. He checked his watch. The moon was due to rise any minute. “Remember the drill?”

“You’ll give us the signal if the potion works, and then I’ll go check on Hope together,” Tonks rattled off.

Remus nodded, satisfied. “You’d better both transform too, just in case…”

Sirius obliged immediately and Tonks stepped out of the room for a moment to do the same, and then Remus felt the moonlight bathe his body and the transformation take over.

Remus wasn’t quite expecting how agonizing the transformation would be with his full human mind intact. He half screamed, half howled as he felt every bones and muscle in his body twist, break, and reform themselves, his internal organs rearrange themselves, and his skin ripple and itch as he grew hair all over. Every inch of his body screamed in pain.

After what felt like an eternity, then the pain subsided, and Remus saw the world from The Wolf’s eyes for the first time.

The basement was mostly dark except for a torch light and the small rays of moonlight that permeated through the window, but Remus could see every detail of it perfectly. His color vision was distorted – the Wolf didn’t, contrary to popular belief, strictly see the world in entirely black, white, and gray, but his pajama pants that he’d been wearing just before the transformation now looked an odd greenish yellow, as opposed to the red they were as he saw them as with his human eyes, and Tonks’ normally pale pink fur looked an odd shade of green.

Sirius, still in dog form, nudged him gently, as if to inquire about how he was doing.

Remus tried to stand up to reply, but misjudged his balance with four legs and toppled over on his side. Sirius and Tonks glanced at each other, and while it was hard to tell, looked amused. Remus rolled over and stared at them, giving a very human eye roll.

Sirius wagged his tail and barked, and Tonks ducked into a dark corner to shift out of their fox form in privacy. Leaving Sirius to teach Remus how to walk, Tonks went to the Floo to go to Minerva’s and, assuming the potion had worked on Hope just as well, complete the Pack at last.

***

The first thing Tonks noticed when they stepped out of the fireplace was how small Minerva’s cottage was – much smaller than the Black-Lupins’, which was never exactly what one would call spacious. The kitchen where Tonks stepped out was absolutely minuscule, containing only an icebox, stove, and a small table big enough for two. There was a small bathroom right off the kitchen, about the size of a broom cupboard, and doors that lead to two small bedrooms.

A perfect romantic cottage for a couple with no children, but hardly a proper environment for a growing Werewolf cub. It was just as well that they had the potion now – surely it couldn’t contain Hope for much longer.

Speaking of said Werewolf cub, Tonks didn’t have to guess which one Minerva and Hagrid would be in – the sounds of excited yelps and howls gave that right away. It was a good thing it was so close to the Shrieking Shack, which was drowning out the noise so that the residents of Hogsmeade wouldn’t be suspicious.

Tonks stepped into the room, but Hagrid pulled them behind his back before they could say a word.

“Be very careful!” he said. “I don’t think the potion worked!”

Alarmed, Tonks peered around Hagrid’s side, and saw a small werewolf cub growling and swatting at Minerva, who was still in cat form and had jumped up on a dresser, hissing. Hope was now nearly twice the size as Minerva, and Tonks immediately felt yet another rush of gratitude for Minerva and Hagrid agreeing to take care of Hope all this time. Immunity from Lycanthropy or not, Hope was getting big enough to seriously hurt either one of them.

"What happened?" Tonks demanded.

"It seemed to work at first, but then I fed her some raw meat and she lost control," Hagrid said. "She won't leave Minerva alone - change into fox form, quick!”

But Tonks simply ignored him and stepped out from behind him.

“Hope Lily Black-Lupin, if you don’t stop tormenting your godmother and listen to me right now, you’ll be in time out until it’s time to go to Hogwarts!” they threatened.

The wolf immediately pulled back and bowed her head to Tonks, whimpering.

“That’s better,” Tonks said. They turned to a baffled looking Hagrid. “The potion worked just fine. Toddlers are just toddlers regardless of species. They don’t always listen and sometimes you have to be stern,” they explained with a shrug.

Tonks proceeded to set out a few ground rules, like no biting or licking humans and no running off from the group, and then the odd looking group prepared to head back to the Black-Lupin’s place.

“Not a word to either of your paramours about that,” Minerva said sternly as Hagrid carried Hope through the Floo.

“I won’t say a thing,” Tonks said. “I can’t promise Hope won’t, though – you know how she is with secrets…”

Minerva sighed. “Fine. But she’d better not blab to any of the other students once she gets to Hogwarts. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“She won’t. If she does, we’ll all have much bigger problems,” Tonks pointed out.

“Says the person who doesn’t have to wrangle a bunch of teenage Gryffindors for a living.”

“I’m an Auror. I literally fight crime.”

“Is that an offer to swap jobs? Because I’d consider it.”

“Oh, no. Absolutely not. Maybe if they were Ravenclaws.”

They both chuckled and walked through the fireplace, one after the other.

***

Remus had finally mastered the art of walking on four paws and was chewing a raw steak next to Sirius by the fireplace when Hagrid and Hope arrived.

The little cub immediately wriggled out of Hagrid’s arms and ran over to her Papa, more steady and confident on four legs than he’d ever seen her on two, nuzzling him and wagging her tail. Remus returned her gesture and had a sudden realization.

This was what The Wolf had always wanted. The Wolf was, above all else, lonely. Wolves were pack animals, family oriented above all else. And this wolf had just reunited with its own cub.

Maybe that's why Werewolves hunt humans, Remus thought. They crave food and company, and humans are a source of both...

He pushed that distubring thought out of his head as Tonks and Minerva stepped through the fireplace. Minerva immediately shifted back to her Animagus form, and Tonks ducked into the bathroom to do the same.

“Looks like the potion is working without a hitch,” Hagrid said.

Remus nodded, turning his attention back to his cub, who had started jumping all over Sirius, trying to get him to play. Remus’s gratitude toward Hagrid and Minerva for handling Hope so well thus far tripled; if this was her on Wolfsbane, he couldn’t imagine what they’d been through trying to keep her under control with her full instincts, especially now that she was about the same size as Minerva.

“Let’s take this outside, then shall we?” Hagrid suggested when Tonks, now once again the Fox, came out of the bathroom.

No one objected, and the odd pack consisting of two wolves, a dog, a fox, a cat, and a large man made their way out the door. Hope yipped excitedly at the fresh air and started running around in circles, delighted to feel the fresh air and dirt under her paws. She rolled around in the grass much like a puppy, her tongue lolling and tail wagging.

She’s absolutely adorable, Remus thought before catching himself and correcting the thought. There’s nothing adorable about being a Werewolf. She has an illness, and it’s your fault.

But Remus could stew in self pity any longer, Sirius barked and wiggled his tail, inviting the cub to play, and she jumped on him, growling playfully and softly biting his ear.

Tonks flicked their tail at Remus, and he nodded and the two of them joined the “dog” pile on Sirius, who whined and rolled over, as if to say “no fair!”

***

Sirius winced as the moon set and Remus and Hope began the painful transformation back to human.

“Some night, huh?” Tonks asked him, both of them having changed back a few minutes prior.

“Some night,” Sirius said agreed. “Remus would kill me for saying it, but Hope is the cutest little wolf cub.”

“She is,” Tonks said. “She’s a natural, too – did you notice?”

Sirius had. Even after he’d mastered the art of walking on four paws and indulged in playing with the pack, Remus had, clearly, been a man in a wolf’s body. Hope, on the other hand, was a proper wolf.

“I hope he doesn’t realize,” Sirius said. “He’ll be doing that self loathing thing again…”

“I’m not about to point it out to him,” said Tonks.

Just then, the agonized yowls of pain subsided and Remus and Hope were back in their human forms, both curled up under their own blankets and looking very tired, but no worse for wear.

“Welcome back to the human species!” Sirius said. “You feeling okay?”

Remus yawned. “Tired, mostly,” he said.

Hope, on the other hand, wriggled right out of the blankets, paying no mind to the fact that she was completely naked. “That was fun!” she said.

“I’m sure it was, but let’s go get you dressed,” Tonks said, hopefully before Remus could register what Hope had said and start his self pity party again. Hope grumbled but agreed, and the two of them went into Hope’s room and closed the door.

Sirius chuckled. “I swear, nothing ever keeps that kid down,” he said.

“She’s a ball of energy, that’s for sure,” Remus said. “Where’s my wand?”

Sirius summoned it, and Remus in turn summoned a set of clothing from his bedroom, expertly dressing himself under the blanket without exposing himself.

Sirius wanted desperately to make an off-color joke about this, but decided that he probably shouldn’t push Moony so far the morning after a full moon, potion or no potion. “Staying for breakfast, Minerva, Hagrid?” he asked instead.

“If you don’t mind,” said Minerva. “No classes on Saturday, so I’m in no rush.”

“Absolutely,” Sirius said. “Scrambled eggs good with everyone?”

Everyone agreed, and Sirius went over to the kitchen and started cooking.

“So, how is everything at Hogwarts going?” Remus asked, now fully dressed and seated at the table. “Is Kreacher settling in okay?”

Kreacher had, fortunately, agreed to the suggestion to work at Hogwarts part time and return to Grimmauld Place at night, and Dumbledore had been more than happy to oblige the unusual arrangement.

“Seems to be,” Minerva said. “The House Elves tend to keep to themselves, but they’re good about turning up when the staff needs a word, and I haven’t had any complaints about him.”

“Good,” Sirius said from his place by the stove. “I went back over to Grimmauld Place last week to clean out some more junk, and his bedroom’s really coming along – he chose the smallest one, of course, and has practically filled it to the brim with a bunch of random crap, but if he’s that attached to my mum’s old knickers…”

“Padfoot, it was a full moon last night, and we are about to eat,” Remus groaned. “No more talking about your mum’s old knickers until I’ve had my morning tea, at least…”

Everyone chuckled.

Chapter Text

20 April 1986

“Now, remember, kids this is a Muggle zoo,” Tonks said as Sirius pulled the car haphazardly into the zoo’s car park and tried to find a parking space. It was a beautiful day, and though it was early in the season, the zoo was crowded with families and school groups. “That means no talking about magic. Teddy, you are not to change your appearance at all – pick one look for the day now – and a natural hair color – and stick with it. Harry, take your potion.”

They handed the small flask of Polyjuice Potion to Harry, who downed it in one gulp and immediately started the uncomfortable process of changing into an exact replica of Dudley.

“Now, before we get out of the car, let’s go over this one more time,” Sirius said as he finally parked in the back of the car park. He was taking up half of the adjacent space, but he figured they were far enough back that no one else would want to park here, anyway. He turned around to face the kids, and he looked odd in his “Romulus Howell” disguise. “Now, who am I?”

“You’re Dad, and I’m Evan, and Harry’s Henry,” Dudley said. “We’re identical twins. Teddy and Hope are our cousins, and Papa Moony is Uncle Remy, and – er, Mum, do you wanna be Auntie or Uncle today?”

“Auntie,” Tonks said as they used the rear-view mirror to assume the appearance of a regular cisgender wife and mother. Muggles were regrettably not as accustomed to queerness and gender variance as Wizards, and as much as they disliked it, Tonks had to look the part if the family was to blend in.

At least they got to choose which binary gender they’d be stuck in for the day. They had devised two backstories for Muggles; one that entailed Remus and Tonks as a married straight couple with Hope and Teddy as their children, and another that had Remus, Sirius, and Tonks as a trio of brothers taking their kids for a cousins’ outing, with Tonks as Teddy’s father. Tonks didn’t love either, but with the Wizarding World mostly off limits to Harry and Sirius, it was the only way the kids could get out of the house.

“Okay, so Mum is Auntie,” Dudley finished.

“Very good,” said Tonks. “And you two?” They looked at Teddy and Hope.

“You’re Mum, Papa Moony is Dad, Dadfoot is Uncle Rom, Harry and Dudely are my cousins, and Hope is my sister,” Teddy said, reciting the backstory perfectly. “Can we go now? It’s my birthday!”

“Yes, we can go now, Birthday Boy,” said Remus with a small smile.

Each child held onto an adult’s hand as they got out of the car, and they started the long trek to the zoo entrance.

“The Muggles aren’t looking, can’t we just Apparate? Tonks, you could Side-Along the kids one by one,” Sirius muttered quietly, half-joking, so that only Remus and Tonks could hear. Or so he thought.

“Da- Uncle Rom!” Hope chided, having somehow overheard. “No magic!”

Tonks chuckled and ruffled Hope’s hair. “You’re right, no magic,” they said. They picked Hope up and carried her on their shoulders. “Uncle Rom should know to set a better example for you kids.”

After a long walk, they arrived in front of the zoo entrance. Remus took his wallet out of his pocket with the hand that wasn’t holding Teddy’s and paid the Muggle man at the ticket booth for admission.

“Teddy, it’s your birthday,” Sirius said. “What shall we see first?”

“Wolves!” Teddy said.

“Yeah, wolves!” Hope agreed, still sitting on Tonks’s shoulders.

Remus looked slightly uncomfortable with how eager they were to see wolves, but he said nothing as Tonks, the only one of them with two free hands, consulted the map they’d gotten from the front entrance.

“It looks like the wolves are in the way back, but we’ll head over that way and see a bunch of other stuff on the way,” they said.

The children cheered and the whole family started down the path to see the wolves, stopping at each exhibit on the way. The first exhibit they saw was contained peacocks, and they stopped to take a look. Hope wriggled down from Tonks’s shoulders and stood squeezed in between Dudley and Teddy to watch the magnificent birds.

“Looks like Lucius Malfoy was here,” Sirius joked, and Tonks and Remus both laughed.

“They’re blue!” Teddy said in delight.

“They look like they’re-” Dudley cut off to make sure there were no Muggles listening in before continuing in a whisper – “magic.”

“Nope, just good old fashioned nature,” Remus said. “I believe the males have the bright color to attract mates – yes, it says right here.” He read the sign next to the enclosure. “Male peacocks display bright colors to impress females,” he read aloud. “They are native to India and can live from ten to twenty-five years in the wild. Males weigh about four to six kilograms and females weigh about two and a third to four kilograms – hmm, I’m not sure what that is in normal measurements, but it sounds big,” Remus said.

“Cool!” said Teddy.

They watched the peacocks for awhile before moving on to the next exhibit, the brown throated sloth.

“Remus, dear, they kind of look like you when you’re napping,” Tonks teased.

“Brown throated sloths sleep from fifteen to eighteen hours a day,” Sirius read aloud from the placard. “Yeah, that sounds like Remus alright.”

“Very funny,” Remus said, rolling his eyes.

Sirius kept reading. “Brown throated sloths mostly live in trees and only descend every eight days to defecate on the ground – well, that’s more than I needed to know…”

“What’s desecrate mean?” Teddy asked.

“Defecate,” Remus corrected. “It’s a fancy word for poop.”

All four children started giggling.

“Can we find a loo?” Dudley asked. “I gotta defecate.”

That set off another round of four little kid giggles, and the three adults exchanged fond, exasperated looks at each other.

One quick bathroom trip later, the Black-Lupins were back on the path to see the wolves.

They saw kangaroos, which had the children doing their best to hop the rest of the path with varying degrees of success, a platypus, which like the peacocks the children were shocked to learn were not magical animals, and lions, which caused the adults to have to firmly remind the children not to mention Gryffindor house or anything related to it. Then, finally, they stopped in front of the gray wolf exhibit.

“They’re so cool!” Teddy said. He stood up on his toes to try and see better, and Sirius scooped him up and let him sit on his shoulders.

One of the wolves walked right up to the edge of the enclosure and watched the family curiously. Hope, transfixed, put her hand on the glass and the wolf pressed its nose up against it, as if trying to get her scent through the glass.

Though Hope was in human form, the wolf seemed to recognize her as kin and howled softly in greeting. And Hope, forgetting the rules that had been set at the beginning of the visit, howled back, far too accurately for a normal human child.

Cursing internally, Remus gently took Hope’s shoulder and tried to pull her away. The wolf, however, did not seem to like Remus nearly as much as it had liked Hope and bared its teeth in a growl. Remus stepped back, bewildered.

“Come on, let’s go and get some lunch before we see some more animals,” Tonks said, sensing trouble. Fortunately, there did not seem to be any Muggles watching, but the zoo was still fairly crowded and that could change at any moment. “Hope, say goodbye to your friend and come here.”

Hope seemed to snap out of her trance and took her hand down from the glass. She blinked at the wolf, as if to say goodbye, and let Tonks pick her up.

“Henry, Evan, you too,” Remus said. He didn’t dare try to get close to the wolf enclosure again, but Harry and Dudley didn’t need any further instruction and each took his hand as the family walked to the nearest zoo restaurant.

“Are we going to talk about whatever that was?” Sirius asked as the family sat themselves at a booth and started perusing the menu.

Remus shook his head. “Not now,” he said. “When we get home. I don’t want anyone to overhear…”

“We can go to the reptile house after lunch,” Tonks suggested. “That should be nice and safe.”

“We’ll just have to remind the children not to start talking about Dragons when we’re there, and we’ll be good,” Sirius said with a chuckle.

The conversation was cut off by the waitress arriving and taking their order. When she left, Remus was quick to change the subject.

“So, what time do we have to be home by for cake and presents again? I forgot,” he said.

Tonks knew full well that Remus didn’t forget, having made the plans himself, but they decided to humor him. “Mum, Dad, Minerva, and Hagrid are coming at four o’clock sharp, and it’s a forty-five minute drive, so we should leave here by three,” they said. “We should have just enough time to see the reptiles and the gift shop on the way out.”

“We definitely need to hit up the gift shop, I don’t think our kids have enough overpriced toys,” Sirius joked.

“It’s the only exit; apparently they don’t let you leave through the regular entrance,” Tonks said, rolling their eyes. “It’s a brilliant marketing strategy, really – evil, but brilliant.”

“True,” Sirius laughed. “And it’s not like we can’t afford it, these days.”

They finished their lunch in relative peace and quiet – or as close as it’s possible to get with four children under six – paid the check, and left the restaurant, heading toward the reptile house.

Teddy loved the alligators, which reminded him of small dragons without wings, while Dudley favored the turtles and Hope was absolutely transfixed (though fortunately not as much as she had been with the wolves) by the tree frogs. It was all fun and uneventful until they got to the biggest exhibit in the reptile house, a large boa constrictor from Brazil.

The snake was so big it looked like it could’ve crushed the Black-Lupin’s car if it wanted to, and all four children were wide eyed as they pressed their noses up to the enclosure.

“It’s as big as a dragon!” Teddy whispered to his siblings.

“So cool!” said Dudley.

Harry put a hand on the glass. “Hi!” he said to the snake.

The snake opened its eyes and winked at Harry.

“Whoa!” Dudley, Teddy, and Hope took a step back, but Harry ignored them.

“Hello, young Speaker,” the snake said. “I never thought I’d have the honor of meeting one of your kind before.”

“Hi!” Harry said. “I’m Ha-Henry, and that’s my sib- my brother Evan and cousins Teddy and Hope. We think you’re really cool! How’d you get so big?”

The snake seemed to preen itself in the praise. “I am the largest snake in this entire zoo,” it said proudly.

“Do you like it here?” Harry asked.

“I’ve never known anywhere else,” the snake said simply. “I was hatched here in this zoo. But the accommodations are decent. The scaleless ones here are not Speakers, but they provide me plenty of food, and the living arrangements are moderately comfortable. Still, I wonder what my homeland must be like...”

Harry nodded. “Sometimes I wonder where I came from, too,” he said. He almost told the snake about his birth parents and how he didn’t remember them, but he remembered his cover story just in time.

“Henry!” Remus’s voice cut into the conversation, and Harry turned around to see all three of his parents looking very worried.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“We’re going to be late for cake and birthday presents if we don’t get a move on!” Sirius said nervously. “Er- say goodbye to your friend there and we’ll head out to the gift shop, okay?”

Harry felt like the grown-ups were hiding something, but he nodded and bid the snake goodbye and followed his family to the gift shop.

Remus, Sirius, and Tonks were whispering about something frantically, but Harry ignored them to look at all the zoo themed toys.

“How’d you do that with the snake?” Dudley asked.

“Do what?” Harry was confused.

“You know. Talk to it!” Dudley whispered.

“What do you mean? It was a talking snake,” Harry said. “You heard it.”

“Nuh-uh! It was hissing and you were hissing back – it was cool, but weird!” Dudley said.

“Oh, very funny,” Harry said. Dudley had to be pulling his leg – the snake was clearly talking. “The snake was talking, stop trying to play tricks on me.” He grabbed a stuffed toy snake from one of the shelves. “Dadf – Dad, can I have this one?” he asked Sirius.

Sirius looked mildly uncomfortable, but nodded.

Fifteen minutes later, the family was back in the car. Each child had a new stuffed toy as a souvenir – in addition to Harry’s snake, Dudley had gotten a lion, Teddy an alligator, and Hope a wolf. They played with them happily on the way home, oblivious to the anxious glances the adults gave each other.

There would be a lot to talk about after cake and presents, that was for sure.

***

“How did it go at the zoo today?” Ted asked. “Did something happen? You all seem quiet.”

Everyone had finished their cake, and the children went into the boys’ room to play with Teddy’s new birthday presents, leaving Ted, Andromeda, Minerva, Hagrid, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks to sit around the kitchen table.

Sirius sighed and put up a charm to soundproof the kitchen so that not even the nosiest children overhear the adults’ conversation. “A couple things, actually,” he said.

“Then go in chronological order,” suggested Minerva.

“Well, to start with, Hope was really excited to see the wolves,” Sirius began.

“That doesn’t surprise me, considering, well, you know,” Hagrid said.

“You don’t understand,” Remus cut in sharply. “She was obsessed with them. Like she was one of them! And it was mutual! That female wolf was looking at her like she was its cub…”

“Remus,” Tonks said, putting a hand on Remus’s shoulder.

“No!” Remus shook them off. “None of you get it!”

“Then stop the dramatics and explain,” Sirius snapped impatiently.

“It wasn’t a – a werewolf thing,” Remus said darkly. “If you recall, the wolf hated me. Ordinary wolves only react that way to my kind outside of the full moon if, on some level at least, Hope has embraced the wolf.”

“And that’s a bad thing, why?” Tonks challenged. “She isn’t like you, Remus – becoming a werewolf wasn’t traumatic for her, she was born this way. Her wolf form has to be almost as natural to her as her human one.”

“And that’s the problem!” Remus said. “She’s not a wolf, she’s a human! Just a human with a-”

“A furry little problem?” Sirius suggested with a small smile.

“I was going to say ‘illness,’ but that works, too,” Remus said, returning the smile very weakly. “She’s not a wolf.”

“Well, Sirius isn’t a dog and I’m not a fox, but our Animagus forms are part of who we are,” Tonks said. “Maybe it’s the same for Hope. She’s not like you, Remus – she was born this way. She never knew life without the wolf being part of her, and becoming a Werewolf wasn’t traumatic for her.”

Remus sighed. “It’s just so hard to imagine seeing it that way,” he said. “I know you told me to get past my own shit – and I’m trying – but I feel like I don’t understand her. You’d think I would, but if anything, I’m the worst at understanding her.”

“Well, that’s why there’s three of us,” said Tonks. “Not to mention her wonderful parents and godparents.” They nodded at Ted, Andromeda, Hagrid, and Minerva. “It doesn’t just fall on you, or any one person.”

“I guess,” Remus said. “I just – I want to understand her. I don’t want her to think she can’t trust me…”

“She will never think that,” Sirius said. “You’re not your father, Moony.”

Remus’s face went pale. He looked like Sirius had slapped him. “My father never-”

“I know,” Sirius said. “I know, your father wasn’t like mine. I get it. But even without meaning to, he taught you to hate yourself, and you can’t deny that.” He paused. “I was there for it all, Moony, remember? I know your dad loved you and didn’t his best – but there’s a reason you haven’t spoken to him in years. There’s a reason he hasn’t even met Teddy, let alone Hope. And I think you know that.”

Remus clenched a fist, but he knew, deep down, that Sirius was right. The experimental cures that never worked, the way Lyall would sometimes seem afraid of Remus if he got angry, the constant moving and forbidding to speak to neighbors – it was all done with the best of intentions, but it was damaging. But –

“Who says he was wrong?” Remus said softly. “I know it’s easy for you to forget, but I’m dangerous. Hope is dangerous. Even if we don’t mean to be – one missed Wolfsbane potion and we have no control of ourselves. Maybe this isn’t something we should be embracing?”

“You could make the same argument about Magic,” Tonks pointed out. “But that doesn’t make the Dursleys’ approach right, either.”

“That’s different. Magic can be controlled,” said Remus.

“And so can your furry little problem, now that we have the Wolfsbane Potion,” Sirius retorted. “And don’t think we’d ever let you or our daughter forget to take it. We’re in this together.”

“It’s okay to embrace the wolf, for both of you. It doesn’t mean giving up your humanity. You can have both,” Tonks added emphatically.

“We can keep you and Hope safe, and everyone else safe from you, without you beating yourself up and teaching her to do the same,” Sirius added. “I mean, I like to think we’re doing a pretty good job of it so far, all things considered. I know why you’re afraid of your inner wolf. But it’s a good thing that Hope isn’t. And we can’t take that away from her.”

“I – I guess,” Remus said. “I’ll keep trying. Thank you.”

Tonks took his hand. “That’s all we can ask,” they said.

“And we’ll always be here to keep you humble if you screw it up again,” Sirius said, half-joking, as he rubbed Remus’s other shoulder.

Hagrid blew his nose loudly, startling everyone for a second.

“That was beautiful,” he said. “Very well said, and I agree. If I’m being honest, I can relate a bit. I – I never told anyone before, but you’re family and I trust you – you know how I’m immune to Lycanthropy because I’m not fully human, right? But I never told you the other half – I’m half-Giant.”

Nobody was at all surprised, but they appreciated Hagrid’s openness all the same. It was a lot different to let people figure out something so deeply personal than it was to outright tell them yourself, and each of the adults at the table knew that on some level.

“Thanks for telling us, Hagrid,” Remus said with a self deprecating smile. “I’m glad Hope will have a godfather like you to go to about this kind of stuff when I can’t be of help. I think you can understand her better than I can, sometimes.”

Hagrid wiped his eyes and blew his nose again, and everyone sat in a peaceful silence for almost a full minute before addressing the other Hippogriff in the room.

“So, how was the rest of your trip?” Ted asked. “You said that was only the first thing?”

“Unfortunately, it was,” sighed Tonks.

Ted frowned. “Why? Did one of the kids do accidental magic, or something?”

“No, nothing quite like that,” said Tonks. “We went to the reptile house, and then Harry started talking to a boa constrictor. I mean actually talking to it. In Parseltongue.”

Whatever the others had been expecting, it wasn’t that. Andromeda dropped the cup of tea she’d been drinking, letting it shatter on the kitchen floor, and Ted, Minerva, and Hagrid’s jaws all dropped.

“Are you sure he wasn’t just playing pretend?” Andromeda asked. “You know how kids that age are…”

Sirius shook his head. “Not a chance, I asked him,” he said. “He was very insistent that it was a real life talking snake. I don’t think he’s even aware that he wasn’t speaking English – he seemed very confused that I didn’t hear the conversation. I know when Harry’s goofing around, and this wasn’t it.”

“Did James or Lily-”

“No,” Sirius said, cutting off Ted’s next question. “Not that they told me, anyway, and I know James at least would’ve told me.”

“Maybe it skips a generation sometimes,” Ted suggested.

“I dunno, maybe,” said Sirius. “I don’t recall Mum and Dad ever saying anything about it, but maybe I just wasn’t real family-”

“Hey, enough of that,” Remus said firmly. “Fleamont and Euphemia loved you like a second son. They would’ve told you.”

Sirius shrugged. “I guess,” he said.

“What about Lily’s side?” Ted asked. “I know they’re all Muggles, but so is my family, and Dora and Teddy’s Metamorphmagus abilities had to come from somewhere, and it sure wasn’t the Blacks. Maybe they were descended from Squibs and it skipped a generation or fifty?”

“Could’ve,” Sirius said. “It doesn’t explain why Dudley can’t do it, though – but better that explanation than the other possibility.”

“And what is that?” Minerva asked.

“Who was the last well known Parselmouth in Britain?” Sirius asked.

Andromeda and Ted looked confused, but Minerva’s lips pursed and Hagrid cursed loudly.

“You don’t mean-”

Sirius nodded. “We don’t really know what happened that night,” Sirius said. “Maybe Harry absorbed Voldemort’s power somehow when he defeated him? I dunno, it’s a crazy theory – maybe Ted’s right and it was just lying dormant in the Evans family for decades and Harry just got dealt a really shitty hand. That’s probably more likely, right?”

“Dumbledore might know,” Minerva ventured. “But I understand if you don’t want to involve him in this.”

Sirius shook his head. “It should be Harry’s choice, when he’s old enough to make it, who he tells,” he said. “I’m not saying Dumbledore would do anything bad with the information – but it’s really not his business.”

“I agree,” said Tonks. “Let’s keep it in the family for now. People are superstitious morons, and I don’t think it’s fair to expose Harry to that scrutiny just yet. He’s too young, and he already has the whole Boy Who Lived thing and our whole family situation keeping him from having a normal childhood. He doesn’t need this hanging over his head, too.”

“Especially if my theory is correct, which I very much hope it’s not,” Sirius added.

“Yes,” said Remus. “But even if it is correct, it doesn’t matter – not to this family, anyway. Harry is not Voldemort and not at risk of becoming him no matter where his Parseltongue came from or what other powers he may have absorbed on that night.”

Sirius nodded in agreement. “Kind of like his Papa and sister and their furry little problem,” he said, and Remus gave a reluctant smile.

“Here, here,” said Tonks, raising a glass.

Chapter Text

Monday 2 September 1987

“I’m going to go check on Kreacher and get some stuff done at Grimmauld Place,” Sirius said. “You sure you’ll be fine with the kids all alone, Remus?”

Remus looked up from the copy of Magical History for Young Witches and Wizards by Bathilda Bagshot he’d been reading with the kids and waved him off. “The full moon isn’t for another two weeks, we’ll be fine,” he said. “Alright, Harry, your turn to read the next page...”

Sirius smiled at them all cuddled on the couch and disappeared from the living room with a soft crack !, reappearing in the entrance of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

“Hey, Kreacher, are you home?” Sirius asked.

There was no reply, and Sirius wasn’t surprised. Term at Hogwarts had just started the day before, so Kreacher and the other Hogwarts house-elves must have been busy.

Still, Sirius almost found himself missing the old house-elf and their time together. As much as he still hated this house, over the past three years, Sirius and Kreacher had reached a sort of mutual understanding as they worked together to fix the old house up.

Sirius would let Kreacher do as he pleased with the house, and Kreacher would refrain from using slurs or making any negative comments about Sirius and his chosen family. Though Sirius still didn’t feel comfortable introducing the kids to him, and wasn’t sure if he ever would, Kreacher knew they existed and even had seen pictures. He had been over the moon that Sirius finally decided to “do his duty” to the House of Black and produce Hope, and didn’t even seem to mind that Hope was a Half-blood – though he was still unaware that Hope was a Werewolf.

Sirius still didn’t know what he wanted to do with the old house – it seemed far too large for just Kreacher, but Sirius had absolutely no desire to ever live there again, especially not with his children. The cottage they lived in now was small, but it was home, and Sirius was more than content with it. Besides, the cottage and its remote location were far safer places to hide Sirius, Harry, and two werewolves than an old townhouse in the middle of London, even with all the protections Magic had to offer.

For now, Kreacher can have the damn house, Sirius thought as he got to work.

There was so much stuff to sort through, even after Kreacher had taken an admittedly large portion of it to his new bedroom. A lot of it was dangerous or cursed or both, and as tempting of an idea as it was to have Tonks just take it all to work with them to be disposed of properly, it would cast far too much attention.

In the first few months after Sirius’s escape, Tonks and Remus had had to try very hard to fly under the radar and avoid suspicion, considering the nature of their relationship with him. And although it was widely accepted that the “notorious Death Eater Sirius Black” was still across the pond, with Dumbledore using a Polyjuice Potion and a hair donated from Sirius to appear in random places across North America every few months to throw everyone off the scent, Tonks coming to work with a bunch of cursed Black family artifacts would surely raise some questions, if not blow the case right back open.

So Sirius and Kreacher had been doing it all on their own, sometimes with Remus or Tonks accompanying Sirius to help, in their spare time, breaking curses and selling the now completely mundane objects to different pawn shops and gray market dealers across the country – mostly Magical, but a few were able to be sold to Muggles without running afoul of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Sirius secretly liked those the best, imagining the look on his mother’s face if she knew so many of her precious heirlooms were being sold to common Muggles. It was a lot of work, but it was honest work – sort of, anyway.

Speaking of Walburga, Sirius could hear a faint yelling noise coming from Kreacher’s old cupboard in the kitchen, and he smiled to himself. His mother's old painting was impossible to get down with Wizarding magic, but Kreacher had been more than happy to relocate it to his old abode when Sirius asked him to. Kreacher thought it was an honor and Sirius thought it was the old bat finally getting what she deserved, so it was the perfect compromise. Apparently, elf magic was different than Wizard magic and somehow a determined house elf could easily undo most Wizard spells. That could be something to look into later, maybe, but for now, Sirius turned on the record player he’d moved into the living room of Grimmauld Place to drown out the noise and set to work.

The Black family tapestry had been one of the very first things Kreacher relocated to his room, and Sirius slightly regretted not being able to just burn the damn thing as he looked at the wall where it had once hung. But a promise was a promise, and if keeping that ugly old monstrosity was the cost of keeping Kreacher’s civility, it was a sacrifice Sirius would have to make.

There was a thumping sound in the cabinet next to the tapestry’s former place of honor, and Sirius put it out of his mind as he drew his wand and prepared to open it. Sirius briefly considered waiting until Moony or Tonks was available to back him up, but it was most likely just a Boggart or more Doxies, and the thumping was getting very annoying and distracting him from getting any other work done. Sirius didn’t know how Kreacher could deal with the racket.

Sirius opened the cabinet and immediately felt his blood run cold. A necrotic old hand reached out of the cabinet toward Sirius, who took several large steps back. The room, which must like the rest of the house had never been warm and cheery to begin with, seemed to have dropped several degrees and Sirius swore to himself. How the hell had a Dementor gotten into Grimmauld Place? Had the Ministry tracked him down after all? Or had his mother gotten some kind of sick new pet before her demise?

“Worthless freak of a girl!” Sirius heard Walburga scream in his head. “You have dishonored this family for the last time-”

She’s dead, Sirius told himself firmly. Think of happy memories… Moony, Tonks, the kids, James and Lily…

But the happy memories left him before he could even fully conceptualize them in his mind.

“How could you betray Lily and James?” The memory of Peter’s crocodile tears consumed him next, before the street exploded and the Aurors showed up…

Sirius could hear a crack! In the background but barely registered it, so consumed by his worst memories and emotions.

He was going to die, right here in this stupid house. There truly was no escaping his past… He only hoped Tonks and Moony and the kids would be okay without him...

Think of them, he thought again . Use it… “Expecto Patronum!”

The silver dog shot out of his wand and ran at the Dementor. The Dementor stumbled and Sirius felt a small hand pull him back.

“Master Sirius, Kreacher is here,” Kreacher said urgently.

Sirius looked down and nearly jumped as he saw the house elf’s hand firmly wrapped around his wrist, pulling him back.

The “Dementor,” seeing Kreacher, immediately changed form. So it had been a Boggart after all…

Regulus now stood in front of Sirius and Kreacher, looking at Kreacher with the kind of loathing the real Regulus had only ever reserved for Sirius and his friends.

“You have failed me, Kreacher,” Boggart Regulus said. “I ordered you to destroy the locket, and you disobeyed me… You are a disgrace to the House of Black. I’d kill you now but a quick death is more than you deserve… This means clothes!”

“Master Regulus, please, Kreacher tried his best!” Kreacher sobbed. “Kreacher is sorry, Master Regulus, please don’t –“

“Oh, fuck this,” Sirius said. “It’s just a Boggart, Kreacher, it isn’t really him – Riddikulus!”

Boggart Regulus froze and its attire immediately changed from robes to a ripped pair of jeans and a bright yellow t-shirt that said “I Heart Muggles.” It stopped berating Kreacher and placed a hand over his heart, singing a perfect rendition of “God Save The Queen.” Sirius laughed bitterly and the Boggart vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Kreacher was still sobbing and Sirius, feeling extremely uncomfortable, got down on a knee to meet Kreacher at his level, much like he did when he was talking to his children.

“Er – are you okay, Kreacher?” Sirius asked awkwardly.

He was well aware that he was not the right person to be comforting Kreacher right now. Kreacher had always hated him – Regulus was always his favorite. But Regulus wasn’t here, and never would be again. Sirius would have to do.

“Master Regulus...” Kreacher trailed off.

“It was just a Boggart, Kreacher, it wasn’t him,” Sirius said. “Regulus – he loved you. You were his favorite person in this Godforsaken hellhole of a house. He may have been our parents’ golden boy, but you were the only one he cared about.”

“Kreacher failed Master Regulus,” Kreacher went on as if he hadn’t heard. “Master Regulus’s last request… Kreacher was ordered to -” He immediately cut himself off and started hitting himself.

“Kreacher, I do not want you to punish yourself!” Sirius said firmly.

Kreacher stopped hitting himself immediately.

“What did Regulus want you to do that was so important?” Sirius asked.

“Kreacher must not say,” Kreacher said. “Kreacher was ordered to never tell any member of the family…”

Sirius briefly considered trying to override that order by ordering Kreacher to tell him, but the thought was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and he was disgusted with himself for even thinking it.

“Okay,” Sirius said, thinking. “You can’t tell me because I’m Regulus’s family, right?”

Kreacher nodded, looking pathetic.

“But you could, hypothetically, tell someone who isn’t family?” An idea began to take form in his head.

“Kreacher supposes…”

“What about Remus?” Sirius asked. “Remus isn’t technically part of the family – we never got around to being legally married…”

“The Werewolf?” Kreacher asked, but if there was any judgment in his tone, Sirius couldn’t hear it.

Sirius nodded.

Kreacher looked at him, thoughtfully, before nodding.

“Okay,” Sirius said. “I’ll go get him.”

***

“How come your grass is orange?” Dudley asked his sister, leaning over her shoulder to look at her drawing.

“It’s green, stupid,” Hope shot back.

“Hope Lily, do not call your brother stupid,” said Remus. “And Dudley, let Hope draw what she wants. If she wants to draw orange grass, that’s okay.”

“It’s not orange!” Hope yelled. She dropped the orange crayon and crossed her arms against her chest.

Remus was spared from having to reply further by the alarm on the fireplace going off. Sirius stepped through, looking grim.

“Sorry to interrupt school, Moony, but I need you over at Grimmauld Place as fast as possible,” Sirius said.

“Can we go?” Harry asked.

“Please?” Dudley added.

Once they found out Sirius had inherited a house, all four children had been vying for a chance to go check it out.

“Not a chance,” Sirius said firmly.

Sirius whispered something in Remus’s ear, so quietly that not even Hope with her superhuman hearing could overhear. Remus looked grim and nodded.

“I’ll go talk to him right away,” Remus said. “If you wouldn’t mind taking over school for the day… we were just finishing up art time, and then we were going to do maths.”

All four children groaned as Remus left through the fireplace.

***

Remus stepped out of the fireplace to find Kreacher waiting for him, eyes still wet and pacing back and forth.

“What is it, Kreacher?” Remus said. “Sirius said you wanted to tell me something that you can’t tell him? Something about Regulus?”

Kreacher nodded. Remus and Kreacher both sat down in the living room, and Kreacher quickly began his tale, as if he would change his mind if he didn’t start immediately.

“One day, a year after Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord, he came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher in his cupboard. Master Regulus said that the Dark Lord required an elf, and he had volunteered Kreacher…”

Remus didn’t like where this was going, but he tried to school his face into a neutral expression and nodded. “Go on,” he said gently.

“It was an honor, said Master Regulus, for him and Kreacher. Kreacher was ordered to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do and then come home.”

Kreacher burst into tears. Remus was tempted to comfort him, but he didn’t think Kreacher would appreciate that, so he held back and waited for Kreacher to be able to speak again.

“Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake. There was a boat and Kreacher joined the Dark Lord in it to go out to an island.”

Kreacher started sobbing even harder and seemed to be unable to speak.

“Take your time,” Remus said gently.

Kreacher took a moment to collect himself and went on. “There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it. So Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible things. Kreachers insides burned. Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, he cried for Master Orion, and he even cried for Master Sirius in desperation, but the Dark Lord only laughed. He made Kreacher drink all the potion and dropped an empty locket into the basin before filling it with more potion. Then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island …”

Remus’s expression was dark. It was no surprise that Voldemort would have just left the poor old house elf to die. But how had Kreacher escaped?

“Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island’s edge and he drank from the black lake, and dead hands came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface.”

Inferi, Remus guessed from the description. Of all the poor souls who drowned in that lake, no doubt...

“How did you get away?” Remus asked in a whisper.

Kreacher raised his head and looked Remus with his great, bloodshot eyes. “Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back, so Kreacher did,” he said simply.

“So you were able to Disapparate, even though Vol- The Dark Lord was not?” Remus guessed. It made sense. Even if Voldemort had saw fit to make it impossible for humans to Apparate and Disapparate in the cave, which Remus was sure he had, House Elves had a different kind of magic. It didn’t follow the same rules as Wizards, as evidenced by Kreacher being able to effortlessly relocate Walburga’s portrait when neither Remus nor either of his partners could move it an inch, and it didn’t surprise Remus that Voldemort had never considered the possibility that anyone had magic he didn’t. It had been his downfall when he’d tried to kill Harry and it would, Remus hoped, be his downfall again one day. “So then what happened? Did Regulus say anything when you told him what happened?”

“Master Regulus was very worried, very worried,” croaked Kreacher. “Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then, a little while later, Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night. Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell. Master Regulus asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord, and Kreacher did as he was told. Kreacher took Master Regulus to the underground cavern and raised the boat, and they sailed to the island with its basin of poison.

“Did he made you drink the poison again?” said Remus, disgusted. Remus had never bond especially fond of Regulus, and the feeling was mutual, but he knew Regulus had adored Kreacher. If Regulus had made his best friend drink that awful poison twice…

Kreacher shook his head and wept. “Kreacher would have been happy to, had Master Regulus ordered him to. But Master Regulus just took from his pocket a locked like the one the Dark Lord had. He told Kreacher to take it, and when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets.” Kreacher’s sobs came in great rasps now; Remus had to concentrate hard to understand him. Kreacher did not pause to collect himself this time, perhaps fearing that he’d never be able to finish his tale if he did. “Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to leave without him. And he told Kreacher to go home and never to tell Mistress or any other Black what he had done, and to destroy the first locket. And Master Regulus drank all the potion, and Kreacher swapped the lockets and watched as Master Regulus was dragged beneath the water...”

Remus couldn’t help but tear up. “I’m so sorry you had to see that,” he said, genuinely. He’d never liked Regulus, and the feeling had been mutual, but he knew how precious Regulus had been to Kreacher. “So you brought the locket home and tried to destroy it?”

“Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it,” moaned the elf. “Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work. So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open. Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And Mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave…”

“Where is the locket now?” Remus asked. “Is it still in the house?”

“Yes,” Kreacher said. “It is in Kreacher’s bedroom – Kreacher does not like being too close to the locket, but Master Sirius said anything not to be thrown away should go in Kreacher’s room…”

“Can you get it for me?” Remus asked. “Maybe we can destroy it if we work together.”

Kreacher considered this for a moment and nodded. He disappeared and reappeared with the locket in hand.

Remus poked and prodded the locket for a long time, but like Kreacher, nothing Remus tried worked.

“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to bring Tonks in on this after they get off work,” Remus said. “They’re an Auror, and they do this kind of thing for a living… Don’t worry, I’ll fill them in, so you won’t be disobeying orders from Regulus…”

Kreacher looked determined as he nodded. “Kreacher must obey Master Regulus’s last order,” he said. “The locket must be destroyed.”

***

After Tonks got home from work that day, Remus and Sirius filled them in on the day’s events.

“Let’s go over now,” Tonks said. “All three of us, I’m sure Mum and Dad won’t mind a last minute babysitting job…”

Ted and Andromeda were indeed delighted to watch the children, so half an hour after Tonks got off work, all three Black-Lupin adults went over to Grimmauld Place to destroy the locket.

“Kreacher,” Sirius said as they stepped through the fireplace.

Kreacher tensed, as if expecting to be hit. It was an expression that was all too familiar from the early days of Harry’s adoption, and Sirius was disgusted with himself for how long he’d been a part of that problem.

“You did very well today,” Sirius said. “We will fulfill Regulus’s last wish. I promise.”

Kreacher gave Sirius a deep bow for the first time in over a decade. It was meant to convey respect and affection, but Sirius felt uncomfortable accepting it.

Small steps, he thought. One day we’ll convince him he doesn't have to do that anymore, but for now just meet him where he’s at. Today has been hard enough for him without trying to upend his entire worldview. It didn’t make him feel any less guilty, but his own feelings of guilt weren’t important right now.

Sirius, Remus, and Tonks went at the locket for awhile. They tried everything they could think of, short of Fiendfyre, and the damn thing wouldn’t budge.

“I’m stumped,” Tonks said finally. “I’ve got one more idea, but I don’t think you’ll like it.”

“I’m willing to try just about anything to destroy this damn thing, lay it on us,” Sirius said.

“Well, if anyone could destroy this locket, it’s Dumbledore,” Tonks said.

“You’re right, I don’t like it,” said Sirius. “But it’s our only shot. Let’s give him a call.”

Tonks nodded. “Expecto Patronum Nuntius!” they said, and the silver fox appeared in front of them to take the message.

Fortunately, Dumbledore got their message right away and Apparated right into the house at their invitation.

“It’s right here,” Tonks said, holding the locket out to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore examined it, his expression very dark as he did so.

“I know what this is,” he said after almost half an hour of prodding it with his wand. “And it’s a very, very good thing that you brought it right to me. Well done, all of you. Especially you, Kreacher.”

The house elf looked shocked to be addressed directly by the headmaster, but said nothing.

“There are only two things I know of that can destroy an object like this,” Dumbledore went on. “It is no fault of yours that you were unable to procure a Basilisk or Fiendfyre.”

It took Tonks a moment to catch on, but then their face went pale when they did.

“You don’t mean…”

“Yes,” Dumbledore said. “Voldemort has, clearly, created at least one Horcrux. And it is now our duty to destroy it.”

“I’m sorry, Voldemort created a what?” Remus asked.

“A Horcrux,” Tonks said. “It’s very, very dark magic. About as dark as it gets. I don’t know a ton about them – nor do I want to – and I’ve never seen one – again, nor do I want to – but we had to learn the very basics in Auror Training. Basically, the idea behind a Horcrux is that the caster would split their soul by committing murder in a very specific ritual – do not ask for details, you do not want to know – and hide a part of it in the Horcrux. Then, as long as the Horcrux remains intact, the creator is effectively immortal. Even if their body is destroyed, their soul will not cross over – and I don’t mean an imprint like a ghost, their actual soul – and can be resurrected.”

“And Voldemort has one,” Sirius said, putting the pieces together. “So even though his failed attempt to kill Harry destroyed his body, he really is still out there… I had a feeling, but now I guess it’s confirmed…”

“But if we destroy the Horcrux, that means he’s mortal again and can die properly,” Remus said. “Right?”

“That would be true,” Dumbledore said gravely. “If this is Voldemort’s only Horcrux. I have reason to believe he would have tried to create several.”

“Son of a fuck – how long have you been holding on to this piece of information?!” Sirius spat. “You didn’t think we’d like to know?!”

“I didn’t know for certain until I saw this locket,” Dumbledore said. “I suspected, but I could never confirm…”

“How do we know how many he has?” Tonks asked.

“There is no way to know for certain,” Dumbledore said. “I will have to look into it more.”

Sirius rattled off a long list of impressive swear words, each more vulgar than the last.

“I think,” Remus cut in to Sirius’s tirade, “that our first priority should be figuring out how to destroy this Horcrux. We can figure out what to do about finding the others, if they exist, later.”

“Agreed,” Dumbledore said. “Unfortunately, Horcruxes are very durable. They have to be destroyed beyond magical repair, with magic as dark or darker than the magic that created them. As I said, there are only two methods I know of that works on them – Basilisk venom and Fiendfyre.”

“Well, that’s just fucking perfect,” Sirius said. “I don’t have any Basilisks hanging around, do you?”

“Regrettably not,” Dumbledore said. “Which means our only option is Fiendfyre, and that is very dangerous.”

“And the little detail that none of us know how to cast it,” Sirius said.

Dumbledore shuffled a little bit. “Just because one doesn’t use dark magic doesn’t mean he can’t,” he said, avoiding eye contact. “I know the spell – but it is very dangerous and difficult to control. The probability of collateral damage is almost inevitable.”

“So we need to find somewhere safe to do it,” Tonks said. “Somewhere remote, out in the middle of nowhere, where there’s no innocent bystanders. Anyone got any ideas?”

The five of them sat down together and thought about it for awhile.

“Kreacher might know a place,” Kreacher said finally.

“Brilliant, Kreacher,” Sirius said. “Let’s hear it, then.”

Kreacher gave Sirius an odd look, as if he thought Sirius was being sarcastic, but there was nothing but earnestness in Sirius’s tone and expression – the day’s events had certainly given Sirius a renewed respect for the old house elf.

“The cave Kreacher went to with the Dark Lord and Master Regulus,” he said. “It was in the middle of a lake, and no Wizards in sight.”

“What about Muggles?” Sirius asked sternly.

Kreacher shook his head and scoffed. “Muggles could not get to the cave if they wanted to,” he said. “There are too many cliffs, and one must use magic to get there.”

“Can you take us there, Kreacher?” Dumbledore asked.

Kreacher nodded and everyone held hands as he Apparated them away.

***

The cave was just as Kreacher had described, on top of a very large collection of cliffs on the edge of a great black lake. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Dumbledore lit their wands, and the light was only barely visible in the darkness, far darker even than Azkaban. The only other light in the cave was a misty green darkness in the middle of the lake that Sirius presumed the glow of the poison Kreacher had described.

“You all remember the anti-Fiendfyre spell?” Dumbledore asked.

“Of course,” said Tonks.

“Good,” said Dumbledore. “I want you all to get back one hundred feet in different directions and be ready to stop the fire if I’m unable to control it. In the event the fire gets too out of control for the spell to work, you are to leave me behind and save yourselves. Is that clear?”

Remus started to protest, but Tonks elbowed him.

“Clear,” Tonks said. Sirius echoed them, and Remus did too after realizing he’d been outvoted.

We just won’t let it come to that, Remus told himself.

Dumbledore checked to make sure they were all out of the way before setting the locket down and setting it ablaze.

All three of the Black-Lupins had seen Fiendfyre before, but it was an entirely different experience coming from Dumbledore of all people. The blinding flame quickly materialized into the most malevolent looking Phoenix any of them had ever seen, and Dumbledore’s face was just visible in the burning light. Gone was the benevolent looking old headmaster; this Dumbledore as he had been on the battle field, his face scrunched in fierce determination as he willed the flame to consume the Horcrux.

A shadow emerged from the locket and began to speak.

“I see your heart, Albus Dumbledore,” it said in a rather high pitched raspy voice. “You haven’t changed at all… Once you let Ariana die in pursuit of your precious ‘greater good…’ Your greatest failure, and then you almost repeated it… You could have saved them all, Albus, if you’d only been better… Ariana, Gellert, even Tom…”

Dumbledore did not reply as he pushed the fire harder, willing it to destroy the locket and silence the voice once and for all.

“Look at you now, and your lonely life as a simple headmaster… You fought so hard to resist the call of power, but it’s always been inside of you, always at the surface… You love it, Albus, you know you do… You were never meant for this simple life… We aren’t so different, you and I, and I think that’s what really keeps you up at night...”

Dumbledore laughed darkly. “You don’t know me at all, Tom,” he said. “It’s true, I love power too much – but that’s why I made the choices I have. I do not desire conquest. I am nothing like you.” With a last shout, the Fiendfyre consumed the rest of the locket and the figure vanished. Dumbledore looked exhausted, ready to collapse. The fire spread into the lake, and Dumbledore struggled to control it.

Sirius, Remus, and Tonks moved in and started frantically trying to extinguish the flame. When they finally succeeded, the entire lake had evaporated and the Inferi inside had been turned to ash. Dumbledore allowed himself to collapse, panting as he did so.

Kreacher looked over at the remains of the lake and the bodies within. “Master Regulus,” he croaked, and began to sob.

Sirius left Tonks and Remus to tend to Dumbledore and addressed Kreacher. “You did Regulus proud, Kreacher,” he said awkwardly. “You finally fulfilled his last request. If he were here now, he’d be happy.”

“No body left to bury,” Kreacher muttered through his tears. “Oh, Master Regulus…”

“We’ll take his ashes,” Sirius said. He didn’t bother pointing out that there was no way of actually distinguishing which ashes were Regulus’s. It was the thought that counted, and they both knew it. “He went down as a hero. He deserves a place of honor.”

Solemnly, Kreacher nodded and Sirius transfigured up an urn. Together, he and Kreacher filled it with as many of the ashes as they could. Kreacher tried to hand the urn to Sirius, but he shook his head.

“He would have wanted you to have it,” Sirius said. “You were his favorite – you were a better brother to him than I ever was. Find a place of honor for him in the house. It was never my home, but it was his. And it’s yours.”

Kreacher sniffled and nodded, and then the two of them went over to check on Tonks, Remus, and Dumbledore.

“Are you alright?” Sirius asked Dumbledore. He was unable to stand on his own, and Tonks and Remus were propping him up.

Dumbledore’s expression was stony. “Just exhausted,” he said. “I’ll recover.”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” Sirius said, but Dumbledore shook his head.

“Fill the lake back up first,” he said. “We don’t want Voldemort to know we were ever here.”

“Wouldn’t he have felt the Horcrux being destroyed?” Remus asked.

“I’m honestly not sure, but we shouldn’t take the risk if he didn’t,” Dumbledore said.

Sirius aimed his wand at the empty lake, but before he could so much as utter a spell, Kreacher snapped his fingers and the lake instantly filled up with the same dark black water.

“Nice one,” Sirius said approvingly. “Okay, now let’s get the hell out of here.”

Everyone joined hands once again, and Kreacher brought the group back to Grimmauld Place.

“Whew,” Sirius said as they all collapsed on the couches in the sitting room. “That was intense. How about I go make us some tea?”

“Kreacher will make the tea, Master Sirius, it is Kreacher’s duty,” Kreacher said.

“That’s okay, Kreacher, I like to cook…”

“Master Sirius should rest and let a House Elf do a House Elf’s job,” Kreacher shot back.

They continued the argument as they went into the kitchen, but there was no ire in either of their voices. Remus and Tonks grinned at each other as Sirius and Kreacher bickered companionably, as if they’d been friends for the past two decades instead of bitter enemies. There are just some things you can’t do together without starting to like each other after, and, apparently, destroying a Horcrux was one of them.

Chapter Text

16 November 1988

Tonks scowled at the paperwork on their desk, willing it to disappear as magically as it had appeared.

It wasn’t fair, they thought, that they kept getting these boring missions and desk work. Dawlish, of all people, was out in the field right now, and what was Tonks doing? Filling out paperwork!

I miss Moody, Tonks thought to themselves. Their former mentor had finally retired from active duty and was focusing solely on running the training academy. It was a well deserved semi-retirement, but it left Rufus Scrimgeour in charge of the Auror department now, and the man had never been fond of Tonks.

“Auror Tonks!” speak of the devil.

“Yes, Auror Scrimgeour?” Tonks asked, not at all sorry for the interruption.

“I have a mission for you,” Scrimgeour said simply.

Finally!

“We just had a very serious case of serial Muggle baiting come in,” Scrimgeour went on, and Tonks’s hopes of an interesting case were immediately dashed. “Something about an opal necklace... You’re going to be working closely with Arthur Weasley from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Head down there, now. Dawlish just got back in, he can finish your paperwork when he gets back from St. Mungo’s…”

Well, there’s one silver lining, Tonks thought. Even a boring mission was better than endless paperwork.

***

“So, er, can I ask you a kind of personal question?” Arthur asked. They’d spent the entire morning looking over the case files together. Tonks quite liked the man, unassuming and warm but very serious about his job – and now they ate lunch together in the Ministry’s cafeteria.

“You can, but I can’t promise I’ll answer,” Tonks said, their tone guarded. If this was yet another question about Sirius…

“Fair enough,” Arthur said. “Um… Well, it’s about one of my kids. She’s – I mean – well, my wife and I always thought we had two daughters and five sons. But one of our ‘daughters’ has been saying sh- he’s a boy for awhile now. We thought it was just a phase at first, but it’s been months. And I was just wondering, you know – it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, I know it’s very personal, I just don’t really know who else to talk to…”

“I’m not offended,” Tonks said. Indeed, they were mostly just relieved it wasn’t another question about Sirius. “I’m happy to help. So your child has come out as transgender?”

“Is that what it’s called?” Arthur asked. “Then yes, I think so. I just – how can Molly and I support our d- our son as parents?”

“Well, you’re getting used to calling him ‘him’ and your son, so you’re off to a good start,” Tonks said encouragingly.

“Molly’s Auntie Muriel doesn’t seem to think so,” Arthur said. “She thinks we should make our child ‘accept how she was born.’ And we tried that, for awhile. But he was so unhappy… And ever since we let him cut his hair and dress like a boy, he’s been so much happier…”

“Auntie Muriel can suck it,” Tonks said before they could stop themselves. Arthur chuckled and Tonks went red. “Sorry, that just kinda slipped out…”

“No, don’t apologize, I quite agree, and not just about this,” Arthur said with a wan smile. “Muriel has some – old fashioned views.”

Tonks nodded. “I don’t have grandparents because of ‘old fashioned views.’ I understand,” they said. “Mum’s family – well, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Blacks, you don’t need me to tell you – and Dad’s family are Muggles, and this is one area where Muggles are behind the times compared to us. They were fine with magic, but didn’t accept the whole ‘they/them’ thing. So we just – don’t talk anymore. They've never even met my kids.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Arthur said. “I worry that it’s going to come to that with Muriel, and our kids will be hurt by it – not that they seem to like her very much, but she is family…”

“Believe me, family is what you make it,” Tonks said. “Losing those relationships always hurts, but it’s nowhere near as bad as having to put on a false mask and be someone you’re not with people who are supposed to love you. Trust me.”

“That makes sense,” Arthur said. He sighed. “Now I feel bad that we took so long to get on board.”

“Don’t beat yourself up,” said Tonks. “As long as you accept him now, that’s all that matters.”

“We do,” said Arthur. “Molly needed a little time to adjust – she’s got an image in her head of what she wants the kids to be, and it needed to adjust to having six sons and a daughter – but now it’s like it’s always been that way. We still slip up on language sometimes, but we're getting better... Molly actually even insisted we add a bedroom to the house so that our son and daughter are no longer sharing a room – ‘no matter what he was born as, it’s not appropriate for a boy and a girl to share a room at this age, they’re too old,’ she said.”

Tonks smiled. “How are the rest of your family doing with it, if you don't mind me asking?”

“Very well,” Arthur said. “Our other kids have been the most accepting of all – the boys – well, other boys I guess – have embraced him as one of the brothers, and our daughter Ginny doesn’t seem to mind being the only girl at all. In fact, she’s over the moon to have her own bedroom now.” Arthur chuckled. “As for my extended family, well, frankly, it’s so large that I honestly don’t think anyone has even noticed we didn’t always have six sons – nobody can keep track of how many kids everyone has, there’s just too many of them. The only one that really knew my kids by name was my brother Bilius, but he passed away recently…”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tonks said.

“Thank you,” Arthur said. “The kids all loved Bilius – he was their favorite uncle, since my other brothers all have gaggles of kids of their own and Molly’s died in the first war. At first, we thought our kiddo’s new name was a grief response – he chose Bilius as his middle name, Ronald Bilius – but he insists it’s not and he was always going to call himself after his uncle Bilius anyway. Either way, we just want him to be happy.”

“He sounds like a good kid,” Tonks said.

“He is,” said Arthur, smiling fondly. “He can get lost in the shuffle a bit – that’s just what happens when you have seven kids – but he’s a good boy. He’s absolutely obsessed with the Chudley Canons – he says it’s because someone has to root for them. Always the kind of kid to stick up for the underdog.”

“How old is he?” Tonks asked.

“He turned eight this past March,” said Arthur. “You have little ones of your own, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Tonks said. “Teddy turned seven in April and Hope turned six last month. Remus’s cousin lives with us and has two boys the same age as your Ron, though – Henry and Evan, they’re twins – so it’s almost like having four.”

“Twins? Oh boy. I hope they’re not as much of a handful as my Fred and George,” Arthur said. “They’re ten, and as much as I’ll miss them, I can’t wait for them to go off to Hogwarts. If they don’t tear the house down by the time their letters come, it’ll be a miracle…”

Tonks laughed. “Yeah, that sounds very familiar,” they said.

***

“I dunno,” Sirius said. “It’s a huge risk…”

“I know,” said Tonks. “And we won’t do it if we’re not all on board. But I really think it could be good for the kids – they need some friends, and it’s not like we can just enroll them in Muggle primary school.”

Muggle primary school had been briefly considered when the kids had reached schooling age, but it didn’t seem fair to make Harry and Dudley wear false identities so often, and Teddy still couldn't always fully control his morphing, and Hope would be missing a suspicious amount of school with the full moon – all in all, it was just easier to keep them home.

“Friends they have to keep secrets from,” Remus reminded them.

“Exactly!” Sirius said. “And kids that age aren’t exactly very good at it. We figured Remus out by second year – no offense, Moony-”

“None taken,” Remus said.

Tonks sighed. “I know,” they said. “But we can’t keep them hidden forever, can we? Do we really want their first social experience to be Hogwarts? No interaction outside the family at all and then bam, boarding school? How is that better?”

“What we need to do is find that damn rat,” Sirius said. “Then we can clear my name and there would be no more hiding…”

“Yes, but we’re no closer to that than we ever were,” Tonks said. “And we can’t let life pass us by until we find him. That’s exactly what he would want.”

“Or maybe what he would want is for us to make ourselves known!” Sirius said.

“I don’t think so, Padfoot,” Remus said. “Peter is a coward, first and foremost – he’s not going to come out of hiding for us. He’s in a good place right now – we can’t find him and the Ministry doesn’t even know to look. He’s not going to jeopardize it just for us.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sirius asked. “He never seemed the type to betray Lily and James, either, until he did. We don’t know what he’s capable of or willing to do.”

“Well, no,” Remus admitted. “But I don’t think the risk is very high. If Peter is smart, he’s probably left the country by now. Probably changed his name and everything. Remember, it’s not just us he’s hiding from; a lot of Death Eaters are likely blaming him for Voldemort’s downfall since he fed him the information. What are the odds he’s just hiding with some random family in Ottery St. Catchpole?”

Sirius sighed. “I guess you’re right,” he said. “But we’ve still never used our Howell disguises in person in front of Magical people before. Dumbledore warned us not to, remember?”

“Dumbledore warned us not to try it at Gringotts or the Ministry or anywhere with high security,” Tonks corrected gently. “He didn’t say anything about not making friends. But if you want me to call him-”

“No, thanks,” Sirius said shortly. “I swear I’m not trying to be a buzzkill, but if we get caught-”

“I know,” said Tonks. “Believe me, I do. But our kids are too isolated. They don’t know anyone their own age except for each other. And it really sounds like little Ron could use a trans adult in his life, too. I know you can’t be out in front of them, it would be too suspicious, but I’m better than nothing...”

“This isn’t just about our kids, is it?” Sirius realized.

“Of course it’s about our kids!” Tonks snapped, but Sirius had gotten too close to the truth and he knew it.

“I’m not denying you think this is also in the best interest of our kids, but you really want to go play hero to this Ron kid just as badly.”

“And you don’t?” Tonks retorted.

“Well, as you pointed out, I can’t, because we still haven’t found Peter and cleared my name,” Sirius said.

“That wasn’t the question,” Tonks shot back.

“There’s no point in what I want,” Sirius said. “I can fantasize about being a trans superhero to every trans kid on the planet, but that’s not reality. The only thing that matters is our own kids.”

“Our own kids come first, but if we really believed they were the only thing that matters, we wouldn’t have Dudley,” Tonks said.

“That’s different!” Sirius insisted. “Dudley’s birth parents were horrible people – you said yourself that Arthur Weasley is a very nice man and supportive of his kids.”

“So were my parents, but I would’ve done anything to have a trans adult to guide me,” Tonks said. “Arthur’s trying, but I can tell he’s still getting used to the whole thing, and I don’t like the sound of that Muriel woman…”

Remus decided to interrupt before the conversation could go any further. “We’re losing track of the point,” Remus said. “Do the risks to our family outweigh the benefits – to our family and the Weasleys – or not? Are we comfortable doing this or not?”

“’Comfortable’ is a very strong word,” Sirius said. “But… If you’re both in, I’m not going to be the party pooper. We’ll do it – but it will be at their place. I don’t want them seeing the cottage until we know them a lot better. And we’ll do it on a day Kreacher is home, and I’ll have him on standby to come in and pull us out if needed.”

“They have seven kids, I don’t think they were ever going to fit in our place anyway,” Tonks said, smiling. “But yes, that does seem fair. I’ll let Arthur know tomorrow.”

21 November 1988

“Hello! You must be the famous Tonks. Welcome to our home!” The plump red haired woman looked up from her cooking to greet Tonks as they stepped through the fireplace.

“Thank you,” Tonks said. “The kids are coming through now, then Remus and Romulus…”

As if on cue, Harry, having just taken his Polyjuice Potion, stepped through the fireplace holding a broomstick. Dudley’s broomstick, and Tonks immediately knew what he was trying to do.

“Henry, come meet Mrs. Weasley,” Tonks said.

“I’m not Henry, I’m Evan! Can’t you tell us apart, Auncie?” Harry protested.

“Yeah, nice try, but next time you try to swap clothes in order to trick me, you should remember to change your shoes, too,” Tonks said.

“Well, how do you know we didn’t? Maybe we just swapped shoes to make you think we swapped robes!” Harry said cheekily.

“Because I know you can’t tie your shoes that well,” said Tonks. “Kiddo, I’m a trained Auror, you’re going to have to get up a lot earlier than that to trick me, sorry.”

Harry pouted and Molly chuckled.

“My Fred and George do the same thing to me all the time,” she said. “It’s one of the joys of raising twins, isn’t it?”

Before Tonks could answer, Dudley stepped through the fireplace next, holding Harry’s broom.

“Hey, Evan!” he said.

Harry shook his head. “It’s no good, they caught onto us,” he said sadly.

“See? I told you we should’ve tried to trick Uncle Rem instead,” Dudley said.

A third identical looking boy stepped out of the fireplace, stumbling a bit as he did so. “Hey, Evry and Heaven, how’s it going?”

Molly looked confused and Tonks groaned.

“And this is my son, Teddy,” Tonks said. “He’s a Metamorphmagus like me, and apparently thinks he’s really funny…”

Teddy reverted to his usual appearance, grinning.

“Oh, Fred and George are going to love you three,” Molly said with a laugh.

Hope came out of the fireplace next, thankfully without any more tricks, followed by Remus and Sirius together to keep up the guise that Sirius was a Muggle and therefore unable to use the Floo by himself.

“My children are out playing Quidditch in the backyard, why don’t you go ahead and join them?” Molly suggested to the children after introductions were done.

Harry, Dudley, Teddy, and Hope needed no further encouragement and ran out to the Weasleys’ backyard.

“They are darling,” Molly said. “A real handful, I’m sure.”

“I’d say you have no idea, but you have one less adult and almost twice as many kids,” Remus chuckled.

Molly laughed. “It’s not always easy, but there are advantages to a large family, as I’m sure you know,” she said. “Our kids don’t really know that many other kids – there are a few other Wizarding families around, but they mostly keep to themselves, and the village nearby is all Muggle. Arthur would love if ours befriended some Muggle kids, but we couldn't possibly have Muggle guests over without breaking the Statute of Secrecy – present company excluded, of course,” she added, smiling at Sirius.

“We’re running into similar issues,” Tonks said. “We were so glad Arthur invited us, I think it’ll be good for our children to have some friends that aren’t their siblings or cousins – where is he, anyway?”

“He’ll be out in the shed, fiddling with his Muggle junk,” Molly said with an exasperated sigh. “I told that man to be in by noon, but he must’ve gotten side tracked again… He’s got an old car that he’s been taking apart and trying to see how it works.”

“Oh, I love cars,” Sirius said. “Maybe I can lend him a hand sometime.”

“I’m sure Arthur would love that,” said Molly. “I’m sorry in advance if he crowds you – he’s obsessed with Muggles and would love a firsthand account from someone who knows about Magic.”

“Well, I’m a little out of touch, living in a Wizarding home and all, but I’ll do my best to answer his questions,” said Sirius uncomfortably. Would he really be able to pull off being a Muggle to someone as undoubtedly knowledgeable as Arthur Weasley? He’d spent more time in the Muggle world than most Wizards, especially Purebloods, but he was no expert by any stretch of the imagination.

***

Meanwhile, the four Black-Lupin children went outside to find three boys flying in the orchard and a girl watching them and looking put out. Two of the boys were throwing a Quaffle back and fourth while the third tried in vain to catch it.

“Hi!” Teddy said to the girl. “You must be Ginny. I’m Teddy, and this is my sister Hope and our cousins Henry and Evan.”

“Hello,” Ginny said.

“How come you’re not playing Quidditch with them?” Hope asked, nodding at the boys. “Do you not like it?”

Ginny scowled. “They won’t let me play,” she said. “Of course, Ron is allowed to play even though he’s only a year older than me, but apparently I’m too little. But I know it’s really because I’m a girl…”

“That’s dumb,” said Harry. “Hope plays Quidditch, and she’s a girl. And our M- Auncle Tonks isn’t a boy or a girl, but they like Quidditch, too. Quidditch is for everyone.”

“That’s what I said, but they wouldn’t listen,” said Ginny.

“Well, let’s make them come down and we can all play together,” said Harry. “If they won’t let you play, we’ll go inside and do something else!”

“No, wait,” Teddy said. “Let’s confuse them like we tried to with the grown-ups first.” He turned to Dudley and studied him very closely, altering his appearance so that he was once again a perfect copy of his brothers.

“Cool!” Ginny said. “How are you doing that?”

“I’m a Metamorphmagus,” Teddy said.

“Can you teach me?” Ginny asked, but Teddy shook his head.

“It’s something your born with,” he explained. “My Mum’s one too, I got it from them.”

“Oh,” said Ginny. “Too bad.” She turned to Hope. “Are you one, too, then?”

Hope shook her head. “No, only Teddy and Mum got it,” she said.

“Huh,” said Ginny. “Well, whatever. Let’s get my dumb brothers down here and see if we can confuse them. Fred and George are always switching to confuse everyone else, let’s see how they like it!”

Ginny put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly.

The three boys looked over and saw that their sister was no longer alone. They flew right over to the gathered group of kids, landing right in front of them.

Like their sister, all three boys had flaming red hair and freckles. The two tallest and presumably oldest boys looked completely identical, both with a rather stocky build and the same brown eyes as Ginny. The younger boy was only slightly shorter, with a more slender build and blue eyes.

“Hi,” said Harry. “You must be the famous Fred, George, and Ron. I’m Evan, and this is Henry,” Harry pointed to Teddy, “and Teddy,” he said, pointing to Dudley.

“We’re identical triplets,” Dudley added, trying not to laugh.

“Really? Because Mum told us there would be twins and two younger cousins,” one of the identical looking boys said. “By the way, I’m George, and this is Fred.”

“No, he’s not, he’s Fred, and the other one is George,” said Ginny. “It’s not nice to try and confuse our guests, you know. At least give them the chance to learn to tell you apart.” She had a remarkably stony expression as she said this, not even cracking a smile.

“Aw, man, foiled by our own little sister,” Fred sighed. He turned to Hope. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to do the same?”

Hope grinned and mimed zipping her mouth shut.

“Your mum must’ve been mistaken,” said the real Teddy. “It’s just the three of us triplets and little baby Hope…”

“Call me a baby again and I’ll bite your hand off,” Hope threatened.

Ginny giggled while the other twin, apparently George, looked the three boys over.

“Nah, I’m not buying it,” he said. “It was a good try, but you look too identical. Fred and I look completely different to the keen eye, but you three don’t have any tells.”

Harry, Dudley, and Teddy looked at each other, no longer worried about the prank. Was George going to figure out then and there that Harry was using Polyjuice Potion?

Teddy decided to take one for the team. Grinning, he returned to his normal appearance once again, his blond hair turning back to bright turquoise and his eyes a deep brown. He gained about an inch in height as well, being the tallest boy in spite of being the youngest.

“Okay, you caught us,” Teddy said with a grin. “I’m actually their cousin, Teddy. I’m a Metamorphmagus – I can change my appearance at will. And I copied Evan here,” he pointed to Dudley this time. “To mess with you. They’re actually twins, though,” he added.

Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny all burst into laughter, having been successfully distracted by Teddy’s antics, and the Black-Lupin kids joined them, relieved that the crisis seemed to be over for the time being.

“Oi, that was brilliant,” Ron said when he could speak again. “I don’t think anyone has ever tried to beat Fred and George at their own game before…”

“Speaking of games, how about we get a game of Quidditch going?” Harry asked. “We have enough people for four a side.”

“As long as you don’t mind letting us little girls play,” Hope said with a mocking grin.

“Alright, but only if our Mum doesn’t come out and yell at us for being ‘too rough with your little sister!’” Fred said in a decently accurate but shrill imitation of Mrs. Weasley.

Everyone laughed.

“We can’t use Bludgers or a Snitch, they might fly off into the village,” George said when everyone had grabbed their brooms. “So we’ll do three Chasers and a Keeper a side. We’ll play to 150 points, or whoever has the most when the adults call us inside. Whichever comes first.”

“Works for us,” Harry said. “How are we deciding teams?”

“Well, Fred and I should be on different teams – since we’re so much bigger and older, it’d be unfair to you ickle little ones otherwise,” George said.

“I’ll show you,” Ginny grumbled, but so quietly that only Hope could hear.

“Well, if we’re splitting up one set of twins, it’s only fair that we split up both,” added Fred. “Evan, you can be on my side, and George can have Henry.”

“Okay,” said Harry. “We’ll take Ginny, too.”

Fred grinned. “Sure, we’ll take Ron, then,” he said before George could protest.

“Then we’ll take Hope,” said Ginny. “Let’s show them what these girls can do, huh?”

“Alright, Teddy, you’re with us,” said Dudley.

“Spectacular,” said George, and the teams split into huddles.

“Alright, Henry, I’m thinking you’ve got the best Keeper’s build out of all of us,” George said, but Harry and Hope both shook their heads.

“You’ll want him as a Chaser, believe me,” Hope said. “He’s faster than he looks, usually plays Seeker at home.”

George quirked his eyebrow but shrugged. “Alright, I’ll be the Keeper,” he said. “You three be the Chasers; Hope and Ginny are too small to block the goals.”

Ginny scowled, but she didn’t protest – she wanted to be a Chaser anyway. Hope just rolled her eyes.

They broke the huddle and got into the air. Ron had been chosen as the Keeper for the other side, while Teddy, Dudley, and Fred were the Chasers.

Harry got in between Hope and Ginny in the lineup, and he hoped his necessary “Henry Evans” disguise wouldn’t hurt his game too much. Dudley was taller and bulkier than Harry, and it made his movements both on the ground and in the air a little awkward as he got used to it, but if Teddy and Mum could do it – albeit with a little bit of clumsiness – all the time, he could do it for one Quidditch game. Or so he hoped.

“I’ll let you have the first serve,” Fred said, clearly thinking his team was at some sort of advantage.

Ha! Harry thought. We’ll see about that! Even in a different body, flying was more natural to him than walking, and Hope, with her strong vision and reflexes, was no slouch on the Quidditch field either.

Dudley wasn’t bad, but he had more of a Beater or Keeper’s build and the skills to go with it, and Teddy was a fairly decent flier but his natural clumsiness made him fumble the Quaffle more than any of the others during their matches at home.

The Weasleys were still unknowns, but on the strictly Black-Lupin side of things, Harry felt his team had the advantage.

Harry threw the Quaffle to Hope, who caught it easily and took off like a bullet for the other team’s goalposts, and the game began.

Ginny, Harry noticed as they started playing properly, was a very talented flier for someone who apparently didn’t get to do it very often. After Hope scored for the first time, Fred tried to pass the Quaffle to Teddy, but Teddy fumbled the ball and Ginny was quick to intercept it, soaring toward the goal and putting it right past Ron.

“I think I figured out why they don’t let you play with them,” Harry crowed loudly to Ginny as they returned to center. “You’re too good! They don’t want to get beat by their little sister!”

Fred, George, and Ron all went bright red and sputtered protests, insisting that they just didn’t want their mother to yell at them for being “too rough” with their little sister.

“Well, you know, Henry, not everyone is used to a little girl beating them at everything,” Hope teased.

Harry rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue at her before jumping back into the game to intercept the Quaffle as Teddy passed it to Ron.

In the end, Harry’s team had beaten the others a very solid 150 – 70.

“Wow, you’re all really good,” Ron said.

“You weren’t so bad yourself,” said Harry. “But we had our own star player…”

“Seriously! I didn’t see that coming! Ginny, how did you learn how to play like that?” Ron asked. Fortunately, he sounded more impressed than truly annoyed.

“I’ll only tell you if you promise not to tell Mum,” said Ginny. “I don’t like her coddling me, either, you know…”

Ron mimed zipping his mouth shut like a zipper.

“Dearest little sister, we would never,” George said, sounding a little insulted.

“Who do you think we are, Percy?” Fred added.

“Alright, alright, I just had to double check!” Ginny said. She allowed herself a small grin. “I’ve been sneaking out every night to fly while everyone’s asleep for the past year.”

Fred and George looked at each other and howled with laughter.

“Oh, thank Merlin, our baby sister really is one of us!” Fred said. “Not another Percy…”

“We have passed on our trouble making torch!” added George.

They both lifted Ginny up on their shoulders and carried her back to the house, cheering and hollering all the way.

“They’re mental, both of them,” Ron said, shaking his head, but he was smiling. “Ginny, too, come to think of it.”

“Good,” said Dudley. “Normal people are boring.”

Hope poked him. “How would you know what normal people are like?” she teased. “You’ve never met one.”

“And hopefully never will!” said Dudley. The others laughed.

When they got inside the house, Molly had just finished preparing lunch. Tonks, Sirius, Remus were already sitting at the table chatting.

“Go on and get washed up for lunch, kids,” Molly said. “Arthur should be in any minute, I’ve just sent Fred, George, and Ginny to fetch him.”

“Knowing those three, it’ll be an hour,” Ron muttered just quietly enough that his mother couldn’t hear.

Harry, Dudley, Teddy, and Hope snickered as they followed him to the bathroom.

Contrary to Ron’s teasing, Fred, George, Ginny, and a freckled red haired man who could only be their father were already seated at the table when Harry, Ron, Dudley, Teddy, and Hope finished washing their hands and joined them.

“So, tell me more about batteries,” the man said to Sirius. “I’ve heard they can do eklectricty even without being plugged in – fascinating.”

“Now, Arthur, don’t bombard our guests with questions, it’s rude,” Molly chided gently. “I’ve made Cornish pasties – everyone dig in and help yourselves.”

“Excellent cooking, Molly, thank you,” Sirius said though mouthfuls of pasty.

“They’re as good as yours, Dad,” Dudley said.

“That’s high praise,” Remus said with a smile. “Romulus is the cook in our family – Tonks and I were mostly living on takeaway before he came to live with us.”

Molly went slightly red and beamed. “Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” she said. “Perhaps we can cook together sometime, Romulus.”

“That would be nice,” Sirius said.

After lunch, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny decided to take their new friends on a tour of the house.

“This is my room,” Ginny said as they went up to the first floor. It appeared to be the only bedroom on the floor, and was rather small and overlooked the orchard.

“Mum and Dad just built it recently,” George said. “Ginny gets her own room because she’s a girl, so unfair…”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “You and Fred like sharing a room.”

“It’s the principle of the thing!”

“Ron and Bill both have their own rooms, too.”

“Because Bill’s the oldest and a Head Boy, and Ron is…” George hesitated.

“Mum’s favorite? I know,” Ron cut in.

“A prat,” George corrected, shoving his little brother. Ron kicked George back.

“Hope has her own room at home, too,” Harry chimed in, cutting off the potential wrestling match. “She usually comes in to sleep in ours, though… I guess she finds Teddy and Evan’s snoring to be relaxing…”

Dudley and Teddy, standing on either side of Harry, both punched him in the arm. “I do not snore!” they said in unison.

Everyone chuckled at the expense of their respective siblings, and Ginny opened the door to show her new friends the inside.

“Is that Gwenog Jones? She’s so cool!” said Hope, eyeing the poster on one of the walls. “The Arrows are my favorite team, but the Harpies are a close second…”

“The Harpies are the best!” Ginny gushed. “Appleby is alright, I guess – at least you’re not a Canons fan, they haven't won a game since before I was born…”

“Oh, shut up,” Ron grumbled. “The Canons will make a come back any day now…”

Ginny closed her door and led everyone up the stairs again, bickering with Ron about Quidditch the whole way. The next floor had two bedrooms.

“That’s Percy and Charlie’s room,” Fred said, pointing to one. “We’re not allowed in there while they’re at school – not for lack of trying, mind you…”

“Mum and Dad locked it up tight,” George added. “As if they don’t trust us or something!”

“And are they right not to trust you?” Harry asked with a sly grin. He seemed to get the measure of the twins by now.

“Of course,” said Fred with a smirk. “Here, our room is across the hall.”

He opened the door opposite Percy and Charlie’s room and they all stepped inside. The room had two twin beds on opposite sides of the room and a bunch of random clutter, including a large collection of Muggle prank items and an odd assortment of hairpins, scattered all around it.

“We heard there’s a Muggle trick for opening locks with hairpins, but we haven’t figured it out yet,” George explained sadly.

“Entirely unrelated to our brothers’ unattended bedrooms, you understand,” Fred added.

“Of course,” said Harry with a straight face.

“Bill’s room is on the third floor and Mum and Dad are on the fourth,” Ron said when they’d finished. “I’m all the way up top, right below the attic.”

Everyone followed Ron up the steps and into the last room. Everything in the room was a very bright orange, from the bedspread to the walls. There were several posters of the Chudley Canons all over the walls.

Harry, Dudley, and Teddy all squinted, their eyes feeling slightly overwhelmed by the blast of orange, but Hope didn’t seem phased.

“Oh, it’s nice. Kind of like Ginny’s,” Hope said.

“No way,” Ginny said. “I have much better taste in color – and Quidditch teams…”

Hope shrugged. “Didn’t look that different to me,” she said.

“She’s colorblind,” Teddy explained quickly, before either Ron or Ginny could take offense.

“What’s that?” Ron asked.

“It means she can’t see color, duh, Ron,” Ginny cut in. “That’s the only reason why she’d think our rooms are anything alike…”

“Really? You can’t see color at all?” Ron asked. "Does everything just look gray, then? How do you watch Quidditch if you can't tell the teams apart?”

“No, I can see some color,” Hope said. “It’s just – different. It’s hard to explain because I’ve never seen color like a hu- like a regular person before. But most colors, like red and green, just kinda look the same. I can see blue really good, though, so it’s my favorite. That’s why I like the Arrows – their uniforms are easiest for me to pick out. My gran, she’s a healer, says my eyes are die-chrome-attic.” She sounded out the last word. “It means I can’t see red or green.”

“Huh,” said Ginny. “I guess you wouldn’t want to be in Gryffindor or Slytherin once you get to Hogwarts, then?”

“Who would want to be in Slytherin anyway?” Fred muttered.

Harry glared at him. “Our Gran was in Slytherin, so watch your mouth,” he said.

“No offense meant,” Fred said hastily. Harry rolled his eyes.

Ginny cleared her throat. “Who wants to go back outside and play another game of Quidditch?”

“Okay, but different teams this time!” Ron said. “You and Henry can’t be on the same team again, it isn’t fair…”

“Oh, so now I’m too good to play with you,” Ginny scoffed as the eight children scrambled back down the stairs.

“I’ll take Henry, Ron, and Hope this time,” said Fred as they grabbed their brooms. “George, you can have Teddy, Evan, and Ginny.”

“You’re on,” said George. “To one fifty again?”

Everyone agreed and got back on their brooms in new team formations.

Ron and Dudley both played Keeper this time, and Harry got in formation between Hope and Fred.

Ginny was truly an amazing player, Harry noticed as she slipped easily between everyone on the field. Harry did his best to keep up, but the Polyjuice potion made him slower than usual, and he’d always been more of a Seeker than a Chaser anyway. Ginny, however, looked like she was born to be in the air – it was one thing to witness as a teammate, but as a competitor, she was a whole other level. Harry couldn’t help but be impressed watching her fly, even as her team soundly beat his at 150 to 110 by the time the sun started to set and the adults called them inside.

“I think we should be heading home,” Sirius said, checking his watch.

All eight children groaned.

“Don’t worry, we’ll come back soon,” Remus said. “It was a pleasure to meet you all, thank you for inviting us,” he added to Arthur and Molly. He nudged the kids gently to get them to remember their manners.

“Thank you for inviting us, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,” the four Black-Lupin children chorused.

“Any time, dears,” Molly said. “I’m so glad everyone had a good time.”

After bidding their final goodbyes, the Black-Lupins went back through the fireplace – first Tonks, then the kids one by one, with Remus and Sirius once again bringing up the rear.

“You know, I’m not so sure it was a great idea to have my backstory make me a Muggle,” Sirius commented. “Having to be escorted through the Floo like a toddler is a little embarrassing…”

“Yes, but who would suspect notorious mass murderer and Death Eater Sirius Black to be hiding as a single Muggle father?” Remus said. “Besides, I think it’s cute when you hold my arm like that…”

“Ew!” Harry said.

“Get a room!” echoed Dudley.

“I don’t think the kids approve of our flirting, Moony,” Sirius said, miming a dramatic frown.

“I wonder if they’d prefer we snog instead?” Remus wondered out loud.

Four small voices started booing that idea, and the three adults chuckled.

It had been a good day.