Hello to anyone who is still reading or hoping or has completely forgotten that this exists. I've run across this story again and realized that I never finished it and that it needed some tweaks here and there. I've deleted the original first chapter - this is the newly edited one. I am very much hoping to finish this story and have the written chapters be a little more polished than they were last time.

Chapter 1 –

"Sirius, why are you worrying so much? I was in a coma twenty years ago, not yesterday. "

"Yes, for nearly four months. And I just think that you should be careful. You've been especially under the weather of late."

"Ha - this is a joke. Sirius Black telling me to be careful. So I've been under the weather. It was a hard full moon. You never seemed to care this much before. What's going on?"

Sirius didn't look Remus in the eyes, but fidgeted with the sleeves of his shirt. "Nothing's going on, Mooney. It's just now that the war's over, I have time to worry about the small stuff, I guess."

Remus relaxed slightly, understanding this feeling all too well, but something still wasn't quite right. At any rate, he wouldn't get it out of Sirius if he continued to badger him. He'd maraud it out of him somehow. They sat uncomfortably for a few minutes, the Black library creaking all around them as the wind blew outside.

"It's getting windy out there, Moony. Autumn is coming around."

"Yes, Ginny will be off for Hogwarts soon. Harry's going to mope." There was another awkward silence. "Look - just relax, Padfoot. The war's over so let's celebrate, not bite each other's heads off. Besides, Harry's having everyone for dinner tonight. I have a feeling there's going to be an announcement tonight."

This caught Sirius' attention sufficiently to distract him from their previous conversation. "You think so? You think he did it?"

Remus grinned. "I think he did."

The two men shared a warm smile at the thought of their best friend's son. James and Lily were missing their son's life, so Sirius and Remus had taken it upon themselves to stand as witness and family for the boy. For each of the three, it was the only family they had left. Sirius had disowned his natal family long ago and Remus' family had never been big. He might have gotten together with Tonks while the war was on, but she had died in the final battle, leaving Remus alone again. They had just been starting out, only to have their newly kindled flame snuffed.

Remus shook himself. He tried not to think about it too much as it only got him down. He hadn't known the colorful witch as well as he would have liked and now he never would.

Sirius, reading the down look on his mate's face, suggested they go help the young Harry with dinner. "Or you know we'll be eating burnt potatoes and watery, flavorless soup for dinner."

Remus thought skeptically of Harry's cooking skills and agreed. "Let's go help, or we'll never hear the end of it from Molly."

With that the two men headed for the kitchen, where they could hear the banging of pans as they descended the stairs. It was going to be a long afternoon.

By six o'clock Harry, Remus and Sirius had sorted out dinner. Harry looked around the warm and ready kitchen, pleased with what they had accomplished. He had been delegated non-cooking aspects, such as peeling potatoes, fetching ingredients, and setting the table. In his full and troubled youth, he had only managed to learn how to cook breakfast. Sirius had thrown together a meaty stew, while Remus had prepared fresh legumes from the small garden the men had been working on. The garden was one of their many projects around the house to help liven and brighten the place up.

The three bachelors had been living there by themselves over the past few summer months since the death of Voldemort and the end of the war and he had been enjoying the company of his parents' two best friends. He finally had a family of his very own. The Weasley's had always accepted him into the family, but it wasn't his family. It was Ron's. The three men had frequent visits from the Burrow's inhabitants, which included Hermione. Her parents had died a week before the final battle. She had been staying with the Weasley's since then. Harry suspected she was getting a little cooped up there, with Molly constantly pushing her and Ron together. Harry had his suspicions about his two friends' relationship, but was waiting for one of them to talk to him.

He checked his watch and at 6:15 on the dot he saw the fire place sparkle green. Ginny fell out of it with Fred with a crash. He rushed to help her off the floor and pulled her out of the way just in time to keep the tumbling pair of Hermione and George from landing on her. He planted a kiss on Ginny's forehead and gave her a warm smile before turning to Hermione, who was being helped up by George.

"Alright Hermione? Where's everyone else?"

"Hello Harry," Hermione smiled, giving him a quick hug," They're umm…"

"What she means to say," George filled in.

"-Is Mum's telling Ronald off for last night," Fred finished with a laugh.

" They got into a row, Ron had some choice language for Mum and we thought we'd head over and let them have it out," George continued.

"What's up with Ron?" Harry looked at Hermione searchingly. Looking frustrated, she turned red and mumbled something under her breath.

"What she means to say is that she dumped Ron and he's being sour about it. Mum caught him sneaking into Hermione's room last night and they've been rowing all morning about it," Ginny finished.

Harry looked at Hermione, who turned even redder, though he could see hints of her temper starting to flare.

"I don't really want to talk about your insufferable brother, Ginny. He's been suffocating me for too long, and I just want a few minutes without - "

She was interrupted by the floo turning green again, and Mr. Weasley walked through.

They all started to speak, but he held up his hands to stop them. "They're coming directly after me. Just don't say anything and it will be…"

The floo flared green and out stepped a contrastingly bright red Mrs. Weasley, who was holding Ron by the ear as they walked out of the fireplace.

"Oww, Mum. Let go."

"I will not be having you using that language with me, Ronald, whether you've been through a war or not. Just because you've acted like an adult about some things does not mean you can use that language with me or anyone else - and that includes Hermione!"

At this Hermione threw her hands up, and walked out of the kitchen. Harry knew she would head for the library. Where else in the house would Hermione go to calm down?

Hermione's exit alerted Mrs. Weasley to their surroundings, and catching sight of the rest of her family staring, she let go of Ron and caught Harry up in a hug. "Harry, how good it is to see you. And look at the table, dinner looks so nice. You've done a wonderful job."

"Yes and the food will be good too," Sirius joked as he walked in. Molly gave him a motherly stern look, before giving him a hug too.

"I'm glad to see you looking so good, Sirius. You were a bit peaky last time we were here."

"Yes, I'm feeling much better, Molly, thank you."

Harry smiled, hugging Ginny as he watched Molly and Sirius interact. They had not always gotten on well during the war, but each had made a concerted effort to mend things after the war.

As everyone started to settle down to the table for dinner, Harry noted that Remus hadn't come down yet. "I'll just nip upstairs to get Remus and find 'Mione. You all go and ahead with eating - got to get it while it's still hot," he smiled knowingly at Mrs. Weasley. He squeezed Ginny's hand once more before dashing into the den and up the stairs after his friend.

Hermione had exited the kitchen in a much more dramatic way than she normally would have, but she was at wits end with Molly and Ron. She rushed up the stairs to the third floor. The library always helped to calm her - all the books filling the room in silence, allowing her a moment to breathe. She hurried down the hallway, eyes on the floor as she marched angrily. She barely noticed where her feet took her when she bumped into something solid. Falling hard to the floor, she rubbed her backside as she looked up to see what she'd hit. Remus had caught himself on the wall, not falling all the way to the floor.

Hermione looked instantly horrified. It was bad enough that she was mad, let alone her knocking other people over as she bashed around the house.

"Remus, I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I didn't mean - "But the rest of her words were drowned out by her sobbing.

"Hermione, are you hurt?" He rushed to her side, wondering if she'd really hurt herself. He placed an arm around her crying form gently, checking surreptitiously for a broken rib. She'd hit the wall pretty hard before she'd landed on the floor. She waved his question away, continuing to cry.

"Are you alright?" he pressed again.

"No, I'm not. I can't take it anymore. I can't deal with living with them. I've got to get out of that house. I can't live with him and I really can't live with her now," she cried. All her frustration that had built up over the past few weeks finally drained out all at once. She held onto Remus' shoulder and cried harder.

Remus didn't know what to do. Here he was, sitting on the floor with a woman who was clutching to him as she cried. He didn't mind the contact. In fact, he had entertained thoughts of the bright young woman next to him many a time, but he had been her professor and she was so young. He pushed these thoughts from his mind as he patted her back lightly.

"Then don't live there anymore."

The voice startled both Remus and Hermione. Remus jumped, separating himself a little guiltily from Hermione's crying form, as he found Harry standing at the head of the stairs. His eyes twinkled a little at Remus' gesture, before turning back to Hermione. In being startled, she had stopped crying abruptly and sat there hiccupping for a moment before his comment dawned upon her.

"But where would I go, Harry? My parents are gone. Their house was sold to pay for their funerals. I don't have a job and I can't afford anything."

Harry looked at her in a chastising, but loving way. "Hermione, be logical. We've got three people in this big house that has more rooms than we know what to do with. Come stay here. You'll still get to see the Weasley's but you won't have to live with them day in and day out. If you're really that upset about it all, then let's fix it."

Hermione looked tearful again, but rushed at Harry, throwing her arms around him. "Thank you, Harry." Pulling away slightly, she asked, "But what about Sirius, and you Remus? I don't want to be a bother to anyone."

Remus had by now recovered from his being caught holding the girl as she cried, and smiled at her encouragingly, "We'd love you to stay. We'll ask Sirius, but he understands too well about Molly. He won't turn you away, dear."

With that Hermione smiled, still a little watery and red-eyed, but looking much better at the prospect of not living with the Weasleys.

"Let's go down to dinner," Harry suggested heartily. As glad as he was that this issue was taken care of for now, he had his own to attend to. He placed an arm around Hermione's shoulder and gave Remus a look over her head before walking down the stairs.