Was it possible for life to get any better? Taking an afternoon stroll with friends, listening to Ron and Ginny argue over something, raised voices and harsh words. Harry and Hermione laughing at them and occasionally adding their own comments or snide remarks. Both having come so far watching and becoming a part of the Weasley family. Being only children they'd never learned the fine art of sibling arguments and for a long time both seemed uneasy with the way the Weasley family poked fun at each other, made jokes, picked fights, yelled and the overall noise level that was created whenever two or more of them were together.
Of course, Harry hadn't grown up alone he'd had his cousin Dudley to grow up along side. Dudley's parents having been pushed into caring for Harry after his parents were killed. Despite Petunia Dursley being his mothers' sister familial love hadn't been there, in fact the Dursley's had never hidden the fact that they didn't like Harry, didn't like his parents, and hated the fact that they had been left to care for a wizard. No, Harry hadn't grown up alone but he might as well have. At least now he had a family, a real family.
Harry and Ginny had been together since Harry's 6th year. There had been no open discussion of marriage, though everyone knew that was waiting somewhere in the future. It seemed that for so long Harry's life had been planned out for him that he and Ginny were both taking a perverse pleasure in not doing anything that people expected of them. Harry had completed Auror training has many had expected but just before the probation period began he quit. He tried out for the Chudley Cannons and was now into his third year as their Seeker. No one should have been surprised by this Quidditch was his passion, but the manner in which it had occurred had shocked the entire Wizarding world.
Ginny who it was assumed would become a teacher had surprised everyone when she began training as a medi-witch. Her interest in medicine had been there all along if anyone had ever looked. Harry had, but then he'd had no choice, as he tended to be her number one patient. She had become very adept with tending injuries helping Ron after his encounter with the brains in the Department of Mysteries. She had spent the summer applying salve to his wounds and learning the proper technique to cast the charms that would sooth the pain. During the following school year she tended many of the injuries that Harry received playing Quidditch, his ban having been lifted the minute Professor Dumbledore had returned to the school. It was during her first year of medi-training that an astonishing discovery was made, Ginny had empathic skills. As her trainers worked with her, her skill began to grow and become more pronounced. For her closest friends it explained a lot. Many had always found that when they were in pain – emotional or physical Ginny's presence had always made them feel better. It also explained Ginny's knack for potions. Her grades in that subject had always been boarder line but that had been blamed on Snape and his dislike for Gryffindors and especially Weasley's. Now they knew it was because of her, when the potion she was brewing had healing properties she always seemed to take extra care and they were always exceedingly successful. When the assignment was to brew a potion that had negative properties her innate sense to protect and tend would prevent her from brewing the potion correctly.
It was because of this that two years ago Remus allowed Ginny to start brewing the Wolfsbane for him and he readily admitted that her potion was the best he'd ever had taken. Though it still tasted bad, for some reason it did not have the rancid taste that was normally associated with the Wolfsbane. He also recovered faster, the pain and stiffness that normally plagued him the whole next day, subsided by lunchtime. They knew for certain that she was not adding anything to the potion, because to do so would render the potion useless, but could not figure out what she was doing that was causing this most welcomed result. It was Molly Weasley who gave the most logical theory for her success. She explained that it was like cooking, food prepared with love and care for those who are dear to us always taste better than food prepared out of obligation and the basic need to provide nourishment. To Harry that explained a lot as to why he thought Mrs. Weasley was the best cook in the world, she certainly had a great deal of love in her. Seeing Hermione's fallen face at her words Molly quickly added that one must also have a basic talent for cooking and enjoy the actual process. This relieved her a great deal as she hated cooking and was truly terrible at it.
Remus couldn't help but grin at the blush that was creeping across Harry's neck from Ginny having just patted him on the bum in front of everyone. Despite the strength of their relationship and the length of time they'd been together Harry still turned red and got flustered whenever anyone walked in on them kissing. He's just like James, Remus thought. His humor as quick and dry, his temper as quick and menacing. And he looks at Ginny the same way that James used to look at Lily. James and Lily would be very proud of the man Harry had become and very happy to have Ginny as his wife, when that day finally arrives.
After the death of her parents Hermione had gone to live with the Weasley's. Her grandparents had been shocked and protested, but her parents Last Will and Testament had been iron clad and adamant in where she was to go should anything happen to them. The Grangers had made changes to their Will after Hermione had told them of Voldemort's return at the end of her 4th year. They had asked Molly and Arthur if they would watch over Hermione should anything happen and they immediately agreed.
Ron proposed while she was still in hospital following the attack on Hogwarts. She accepted but they only just recently started talking about setting a wedding date. They both wanted to be settled in their careers before they took on the mantle of marriage and a family. Ron was now a full-fledged Auror having completed two years of training and a yearlong probation. Hermione had been inundated with job offers from not just the Ministry of Magic in Great Britain but from Ministries in other countries as well. She finally settled on accepting a position with the Department of Care and Control of Magical Creatures. In five years she worked her way up from staff to Assistant Director and is sitting on the precipice of being the youngest witch ever appointed Director of a Ministry department. Amos Diggory had been talking retirement for sometime and it appeared it would happen within the year. He seemed to be waiting to see if the proposal to disband the Werewolf Registry would pass. Though he had long been an advocate of the Registry, Hermione had blanketed his desk with reports, statistics, and testimonials that had finally persuaded him to see things differently. Now it looked like he wanted credit for its repeal. Hermione was willing to let him take the credit, though it had been she who had written it and was currently working tirelessly to see it pushed through. She wished she was having the same luck with house-elves but so far that argument had fallen on deaf ears, many of which belonged to the elves themselves. There were very few Dobby's out there.
But it was Sirius who had come the farthest. For Harry and the others he was a completely different person. For Remus he was becoming closer to the man he'd known before doubt and suspicion had become a shadow over their friendship. Before James and Lily had been killed and Azkaban had taken twelve years of his life and before life as an escaped convict had him hiding and sitting back brooding and depressed while others fought against evil and lived their lives in the world. Immediately following his re-birth, as they all called it, there had been understandable grief over the loss of two more years of his own life and time away from his friends and godson. The grief was subdued with the knowledge that Peter Pettigrew had been captured just two months after his 'death' and was currently in Azkaban. Sirius had declined the offer to go and see his betrayer, he vowed never to set foot in Azkaban prison again. He had nearly laughed himself sick when they told him Snape and gotten himself thoroughly thrashed on Firewhiskey after the memorial service given him by the Ministry of Magic, where they not only publicly announced his innocence but awarded him posthumously the Order of Merlin, First Class for his dedication to the fight against evil.
The paperwork of bringing Sirius back to life had been surprising easy. As had returning to him his possessions. One of Dumbledore's requirements for members of the Order was that they keep an updated Will. Sirius' had been very straightforward. He left Number 12 Grimmauld Place to Albus and the Order of Phoenix along with a substantial amount of money to be used to clean and refurbish the gloomy place. It was his wish that if members of the Order were going to have to stay at the house, especially for any length of time that they be comfortable. It was something he had been working towards when he 'died'. He had at first refused Albus when he insisted on returning the house back to Sirius. Remus knew it was because he felt that no matter what changes were made; some could not be and couldn't bring himself to live with those memories. Remus told him to wait until he saw the place before he refused the offer.
He still smiled at the look on Sirius' face when they walked into the house the first time. It had still been disillusioned then but once it became visible the appearance was astonishing. Fresh paint and new shutters had replaced the cracked and pealing paint and broken shutters. The black door was now Gryffindor red and the twisted serpent doorknocker had been changed to a lion's head. Sirius had laughed at the thought of what his family would say to that. Despite the exterior appearance it was the interior that had left him speechless. The torn wallpaper was gone, the walls painted an elegant ivory. The threadbare carpets pulled up and attractive rugs placed down over hardwood floors that had been refinished a shining honey oak. Every piece of dark magic bric brac was gone and replaced by vases and bowls filled with silk flowers and plants – Molly had said fresh would be preferred but impracticable as it could be days between someone being able to water or replace them. All of the dark furniture was gone replaced by lighter more attractive and comfortable pieces.
He'd let out a heavy sigh of relief at the missing elf heads and his mother's portrait. Remus knew that it had been the portrait that Sirius had been dreading seeing the most and he took great pleasure in telling him how it had finally been removed. After the attack at the Ministry and with the knowledge of what Kreacher had done Remus had returned to Headquarters prepared to do serious harm to the lying elf. However he never got the chance, he found him lying on the floor under Mrs. Black's portrait dead. There was no evidence of foul play and elves are prohibited from committing actual suicide. It appeared he had simply curled up and willed himself to die. At Remus' loud shout of frustration and grief Mrs. Black woke and began screaming. As he attempted to close the curtains over her portrait he hit the frame causing the portrait to shift and hang crooked on the wall. He'd been startled by the sight but taking a chance he took the frame in his hands and without any effort removed it from the wall. He remembered looking down at the dead elf, and thinking that they'd tried for nearly a year to get that portrait off the wall and had never been able to move it. Obviously it had not been dark or ancient magic that kept it in place but Kreacher's and with him dead the magic no longer worked. Sirius accepted Albus' offer and retook possession of his home on the grounds that it would always be available to the Order.
The rest of Sirius' estate had been divided equally between Harry and Remus. There had been no difficultly for Harry to return every cent of it. His parents had left him so well off he'd never needed to use any of Sirius' money. Remus had returned most of his portion, Sirius had urged him to keep it but he refused. He had spent in those last two years only what was necessary to keep body and soul alive and to replace articles of clothing that had become too shabby to wear or mend.
Remus was drawn out of his memory by the sound of Sirius' bark like laughter as Ron swept Ginny up and threw her over his shoulder and began to spin in place until she was too dizzy to stand. The dizziness gave Ron the time he needed to get away before she could hex him. It seemed his preferred way to end all of their arguments as they'd seen this tacit used several times in the past.
Fred and George had taken to referring to the six them as a 'pack', which Remus and Sirius couldn't really argue with, as they both harbored canine tendencies. Ever since the end of the war they had been nearly inseparable, with the exception of Ginny's last year at Hogwarts and Ron and Harry's time away for Auror training but at that they came home every chance the got.
'Home' offered a variety of options. In addition to Grimmauld Place and of course The Burrow for Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione, they also had Harry's ancestral estate as well as Remus' family home to choose from. On Harry's 21st birthday last year he'd been given the title and deed to Godric's Hollow. No one, not even Sirius had known it was coming. The letter with the deed and instructions had shown up at breakfast in the morning. By dinnertime they discovered that Harry owned the land that the village sat on and hidden in the woods surrounding the village was Gryffindor Hall, a scaled down version of Hogwarts. Remus' family home was modest compared to Harry and Sirius' places but it was comfortable and spacious. His parents had long ago left England, returning only occasionally for the odd Christmas or birthday and had given the house to Remus. The twins had been greatly amused to find out that the house was in a village called Stafford's Den. It was just what a pack needed. Unlike all the other's Remus' house had never had a name and Ginny insisted that that omission be remedied immediately. After several suggestions and heated discussions they all agreed on the rather absurd name 'Lion's Lair', Remus wasn't real keen on it but Sirius and Ron thought it brilliant and the others were eventually persuaded. It was where they stayed the majority of the time. With the other two places being used for weekend get a way's and when they needed to be in London for a few days.
For the most part they all lived together, but it wasn't as unseemly as it might appear to outsiders. First off Molly and Arthur would never have stood for it if they thought wildly inappropriate behavior was taking place. Secondly despite the commitment to each other, Remus knew that the two young couples had not yet taken their relationships across that final line. He knew this because he had the misfortune of over hearing a conversation between Ginny and Hermione. He shuddered at the memory of that day. He'd been in the gardening shed sorting seeds when he heard their voices as they made their way to the wooden bench under the arbor. He had not intended to eaves drop on their conversation, words had just filtered through and by the time he realized what they were talking about there was no way he could leave the shed without being discovered and embarrassing all three of them. So he stayed completely quiet and prayed that he wouldn't be discovered. He felt sure nothing had changed since then since just yesterday he entered the bathroom after Harry was finished showering and there was no steam on the mirror. When he put his hand under the dripping showerhead the water was ice cold – poor guy.
From time to time they separated. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione would go to the Burrow for the weekend while Remus and Sirius stayed at the Lair or Grimmauld Place either together or separately – if the need for privacy arose. That was another thing that reminded Remus about the Sirius of his youth. He was once again the object of affection for every eligible witch in England (and even a Muggle or two). It had taken a little time but Sirius had quickly gotten back into the dating scene and was making up for lost time. Sirius spends a great deal of time trying to set him up but he isn't interested in the type of women he brings around.
Walking with Sirius and others, listening to the laughter, he was glad that the full moon was last night when it had been raining and he would have been inside anyway. They had stayed at the Lair, which is their habit for most full moons. He is uncomfortable being else where for his transformations and refused to allow Sirius or Harry to modify a room in their homes to hold him should for some unexplained reason the Wolfsbane not work effectively. It was an unlikely prospect but Remus could not be swayed. He was grateful for Ginny's skill and preparation of the Wolfsbane potion. In the past he never would have had the energy to go out for a walk the day after going through a transformation. Previously he had never been able to do anything the next day except sleep and suffer through the aches and pains. He hadn't been able to go to work that morning, but by mid-day had felt fit enough to go into the office for a few hours and now he was enjoying the end of the day with his friends, his family, his 'pack' he thought with a laugh.
Work. What a great word – work. He would always be grateful to Arthur Weasley and Albus Dumbledore. After Cornelius Fudge died of his injuries from the attack on the Ministry, Dumbledore nominated Arthur for the position of Minister of Magic and he'd been elected unanimously. The combination of Dumbledore's support and word getting out that Arthur had attempted to protect the Minister against his own son had weighed heavily with many that there was no one else better suited for the position. Arthur having always been vocal about his believes regarding those who suffered with lycanthropy had made as one of his first decrees the refusal to hire someone because of lycanthropy illegal. It had taken some persuasion but he'd quickly gotten it passed by the Council and then immediately hired Remus to serve as Director of Magical Education.
The Education department had turned out to be one of the most corrupt within the Ministry. Certainly they had long known that the Board of Governors was susceptible to coercion. Remus had always loved to teach but thought some of the traditional classes and methods could use some shaking up so had jumped at the opportunity. He had the satisfaction of seeing many of his changes implemented and though not all of them had worked out – yet, most of them had with very positive response. The school year had just ended and already he was anxious for September 1st to arrive. He would like to be able to take credit for the change that was coming to Hogwarts next year but the truth was it was Albus Dumbledore who had come up with the idea. Dumbledore who they had lost two years ago had not been able to implement his plan but Remus and Professor McGonogall were doing it for him. It really was a great idea and an excellent way to honor Professor Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley. Man, were people going to be surprised when the new list of Hogwarts teachers and classes were posted.
"Remus. Remus where are you? Earth to Moony." Sirius had been trying to get Remus' attention for several minutes and though his face looked peaceful his thoughts were clearly somewhere else. Looking over at Sirius, Remus just smiled. "Sorry, mind was wondering. What is it?"
"We asked if you knew who that was up there at the house." Sirius said.
"Must be a Muggle," Ron said. "She's driving a car." The Lair was situated on the far outskirts of the village and it was quite a hike between the two. It was unlikely that someone would walk to the house and a witch or wizard would have Apparated. As there were a couple of nearby cottages and smaller houses he thought whoever it was, was most likely lost.
"She's driving a GREAT car." Harry replied. "That's a Jaguar XKR. It accelerates like a jet. The V8 engine barely hints at the 400-horse power under the hood. They drive like the wind…" Harry stopped when he noticed the look on his friends faces "at least that's what I read. What? I keep track of what's happening in the car world, I like cars, that's a great car." Ginny laughed and kissed him on the cheek.
"Were you expecting anyone Remus?" Hermione asked.
"No" Remus replied but as they drew closer he started to feel a sensation he had only just recently felt again.
"Well, let's just let Padfoot check her out. Get a sense of her character. You can always tell about a person by the way they treat dogs." And get a closer look at that car Sirius thought. Though he preferred motorcycles, he like Harry had an appreciation for sleek, sexy sports cars – and from what he could tell from this distance the woman on the porch was as sleek and sexy as her car.
Remus tried to stop him, "Sirius wait." But it was to late. In an instant the man was gone and a big black dog was bounding towards the front door. As he raced through the yard and towards the woman on the front porch Padfoot wasn't quite sure how he intended to greet their guest but his intentions no longer mattered when she turned and in clipped tone with one hand raised said "SIT, STAY." Which is just what he did, too stunned to do anything else.
"And just want did you think you were going to do? I suppose you thought you would just come leaping up on me and share a bit of dust and grass." The voice was pleasant, quietly stern and held just a bit of Irish. Padfoot cocked his head to one side interested to see what would happen next, now that he was past the shock of being commanded.
"Well now, let's have a look at you" the woman said has she knelt down and placed her hands on either side of the dog's large head. Rubbing him behind his ears she laughed and stated, "You are a handsome fellow aren't you?" Enjoying the moment Padfoot licked her face and rested one paw on her knee. "And friendly too. I thought Sirius Black was a man who held himself aloof until he knew a person better." With that Padfoot was gone and a very irate Sirius was pulling the woman to her feet demanding, "Who the bloody hell are you?"