Hey everyone! Welcome back or just welcome to the fic in general :D

There were three things i wanted to say before i let you read :D

1. this is a warning to anyone who likes fanfics where either Sirius or Snape replace James as Harry's father. Harry will not be calling Sirius (or Snape for that matter when he does come into the story) dad. I really hate to damper the mood but someone sent me a pm asking me if this was going to be one of those fics. it won't be.

2. I totally forgot to mention my beta in my last chapter! A big shout-out to Stephanie O for being such a great beta! You're so awesome!

3. I just edited something in this chapter, so if you got the alert, i'm sorry but this isn't new!

And with that, please enjoy :D this is much less choppy than the last chapter. we really begin to get into the story with the next one aha sorry about that! this chapter's also a bit sad but i promise the next one will be happier!

Disclaimer: i do not own Harry Potter

"Well, it's not much. But we can make it home."Sirius said to Lily as they walked into the door of their newly purchased Muggle home. They'd agreed to live a low life and stay inside of the house most of the time for Harry's safety as well as Harry, Lily, and Sirius's new fame made it hard to live in the Wizarding World. Lily and Sirius didn't want Harry to grow up in such a toxic society for him. Lily remembered her first encounter with wizards since Halloween. She had tried to go to Gringotts with Harry to pull out money for their new home. It seemed that everyone at Diagon Ally swarmed the two of them trying to get a glimpse of him. She didn't want Harry to grow up with that.

Sirius was having some difficulty with the idea of living with muggles. Not that he hated them or anything, but the adjustments he had to make in his life were unusual to him. They were only going to use magic at home, no Quittich outside anywhere near their house, no brooms in general, and no apparating whatsoever outside. They needed to blend in and maybe mingle with muggle society but they had no problem with being the "weird" people at the end of the street.

The house they'd chosen was in village of Ottery St. Catchpole. The Weasleys (Arthur was a friend of the Potters from the ministry) lived close by as well as the Diggorys and the Lovegoods. The house they had chosen had a beautiful garden and was styled to look like a cottage. It was a four bedroom house with a library that was perfect for Lily's incessant search for new information. The house was quite nice and they liked the fact that the Weasleys lived close by. Harry could have some socialization with children like him that way.

"It's beautiful." Lily said to Sirius. "I would like to stop by our old house soon though and grab a few things we had to leave behind in the chaos. It just gets too much attention right now. Maybe in a few years we can move back in if we fix up Harry's room. I want him to know he's a Potter, even if James isn't here to tell him." She sighed as they stood in the parlor room of the new house. I just hope this doesn't last forever.

They'd been settled into the new house for two days now. The date was November tenth. Sirius and Lily were discussing if Lily should get a part-time muggle job while they were living there. She didn't want to sit around the house all day. James and Lily had put Harry in wizard daycare while they were working every day. Lily had loved her job as an unspeakable but she just couldn't be a part of wizarding society any more. She hated the fame.

"I mean, our only problem is what to do with Harry during the day. It'd only be a period of about five hours since it would be a part-time job but it's still five hours that we just can't leave Harry alone for."

"I know but there's no day care here. Most mothers are stay at homes."

Their conversation was interrupted as they heard a knocking coming from the door. Lily got up to open it. She found a rosy cheeked Molly Weasley with a tray of what appeared to be brownies.

"Hello Lily! I know you moved in two days ago but I wanted to give you some time to move in. I brought you brownies as a house warming gift! Can I come in?"

"Of course! Come in, come in!" Lily smiled as she took the tray of brownies to the kitchen. Sirius greeted Molly warmly. He hadn't been as good of friends with Arthur as James was but they were still acquaintances so he'd met Molly before. Molly saw Harry and immediately rushed to pick him up. She loved children and Lily thought it was just adorable.

"He's so cute!" Harry giggled as Molly cooed. Molly talked with Lily and Sirius for a while until Harry fell asleep in her arms. "Lily, Sirius, there was another reason why I came over. I wanted to offer you anything that Arthur or I could do for you. I know this time has to be hard for you and we'd like to do anything we can. If you need anything just ask, really. Like if you needed someone to watch Harry, or clean while you were at work. I'd be more than willing," Molly said with a kind smile.

Lily and Sirius looked at each other. "That's very kind of you Molly. We really appreciate that. In fact," Sirius said, "Lily and I were just trying to figure out a problem that you just might be able to solve. Lily really wants to get a muggle job. She loves working but she doesn't want to leave Harry alone. Would you mind? We'd be willing to watch…. Err… some of your kids every once in a while."

Lily elbowed Sirius in the side. "What he means is that we'd really appreciate it if you took care of Harry while Sirius and I were at work. I'd get a part time job so it wouldn't be all day every day but more like for a few hours every other day. I just don't think I'd be able to sit at home all day with Harry. I'd probably go crazy." Lily smiled sweetly.

"Oh I'd love to! It'd be no problem. It might give Ron someone to play with. The twins are just too hyper all the time and are spending time with each other and Ginny is only a few months old so much of my attention goes to her. And don't worry, I'll talk to the older kids who know who he is. No one will be judging him for what happened on Halloween." Molly gave the two young adults her motherly smile.

"That'd be great Molly. Thank you so much." Lily took Harry from Molly and kissed his still inflamed scab on his forehead. "Would you like a tour of the house? You know, before Sirius messes it up?"

Molly laughed. "Boys. What will we do. I'd love a tour."

"Hey. You do know I'm right here." Sirius pouted and announced that he was going to Diagon Ally to pick up a new set of Robes for work. Sirius had decided to keep his Auror job mainly because he was much less famous than the other two and he loved his job. The plan was to pretend that he wasn't living with them so that most questions would be avoided. Lily wanted her and Harry to seem to have 'fallen off of the face of the earth'. She simply wanted no part in the tabloids.

"Dinner's at five. And visit Remus while you're gone. See if his mind has changed."

Sirius nodded his head and said goodbye to Lily, Harry, and Molly. He left the house and apparated to Remus' cottage first. This could take a while.

Remus sat alone at his cottage, reading another book. He'd isolated himself from his friends since his return from the hospital. James would be so disappointed in you kept repeating in his head. He didn't deserve his friends. He couldn't even trust them. Of course he was set up by Peter but he should have trusted his instincts. Sirius was good and he'd tried to get him a life term in Azkaban. He felt horrible. Lily had asked him to move in with them but he couldn't do so knowing that he was a terrible friend not to mention a danger to her baby.

The door knocked and Remus made no move to open it. After five minutes of furious pounding, the visitor gave up and unlocked the door magically. Remus continued to read. What kind of rude asshole lets himself in… "Remus? I know you're here. Don't try acting like you're not." Sirius's voice rang through his cottage.

"Sirius? I told you I didn't want visitors." Of course, he had been expecting for Sirius to ignore his request. It was Sirius after all.

"So? What's your point? I came to talk and talk is what we'll do." Remus suddenly found himself without his book. He now unfortunately had no choice but to look up at Sirius. "Well. I'm waiting for an answer."Sirius continued impatiently.

Remus sighed. He didn't want to have to say it again. He'd already explained it once in a letter. Of course, he'd gotten a howler in response but that didn't matter to him. He'd just let the screams be background noise as he continued to read the book he had been reading at the time. "Sirius, you are aware of my position on this. It is not safe for me to be living in that house with a baby. God knows what might happen if I get loose while I'm transformed and you two can't stop me. Maybe I'll move in when he's older but I just can't let myself live there right now. I promise I'll be over often but right now I'm planning on getting a muggle job and hiding. If the world finds out that the boy-who-lived and his mother were living with a werewolf… I just don't think you understand the consequences of that, Sirius. None of you ever will. If I'm discovered living with you I'd get blamed for bad intentions towards a child. It's wizarding law since he isn't my own child. I could get put in Azkaban. Azkaban does not treat werewolves nicely. Sirius the press will find you and when they do… it's best for all of us that I'm not there."

Sirius was silent. Remus had left out the part where he could go to Azkaban in his letters in addition to the way the world would react to Remus's presence in his house. He and Lily had forgotten about the Anti-Werewolf Child-Protection Law of 1811. Remus couldn't live with them. Sirius sighed deeply, regretting trying to make Remus move in with them so fervently and pushing a subject that obviously hurt Remus. "Well Remus, I don't know what to say. Just know that you'll always be welcome at the house. They can't get you for spending the day. We'd love your company. And you know we love you to death. I mean, Harry just lost his father. Don't make him lose an Uncle as well." Remus smiled since he could tell that the conversation wasn't really about Harry anymore but he continued the conversation as if it were.

"How is Harry by the way?"

"Well, most people would assume that he'd stay the same, I mean, after all he is only a year and a few months old. But he hasn't. His demeanor has slowly been getting increasingly sadder. I mean, I think the kid is finally starting to get that he won't see his dad again. It's really sad Remus. Every time he sees Lily crying he crawls to her or tries to get to her and cries as well and says "Da" or "Prons". It hurts to watch. When I went outside to clean the driveway from snow the muggle way for appearances, Harry was saying 'Dada! Dada!' since that used to be James's job and I guess he just assumed it was him."

Remus was quiet for a while, absorbing the information. "And Lily? How's she coping?"

"Well, better than I ever expected her to be. I can tell that she misses James so much but I just don't know what to tell her. I think half the reason why she keeps trying to get you to come live with us is because you understand her so much better than I do. I never really understood girls, Moony. I mean, you're not that much better but you were friends with Lily two years before I was and in those developmental years… I guess it really counts. So if you can't live with us, can you spend some time at the house? I mean Lily really needs someone who understands her. Not only that but she needs a job. She needs something to do every day that doesn't revolve around Harry. I get the feeling that she's slipping into depression and without something to distract her that doesn't look like James, I fear it will be really bad. She needs something to keep her busy. Now she's giving Molly a tour of the house and Molly offered to watch him while she's at work. I know that Lily only wants a part-time job so she can spend time with Harry but I think she needs a full-time one. How to tell her that without mentioning the fear of depression part is what I'm trying to figure out."

Remus wasn't shocked. First over the fact that it was Sirius who was being the responsible and perceptive one. Once he got over that he realized that in past times of tension, Lily was always the one that was working or cleaning or studying or doing something. There was no way that anyone could ever make her calm down. That's what makes Lily, Lily though. Without her workaholicness she just wasn't herself. Now that James was dead, she probably felt like she had to fulfill the space of two parents in Harry's life. But she needed to realize that Harry had Sirius and himself as well. She wasn't alone. Sirius didn't get that though. He just realized that she was going into depression (which, in itself, was quite impressive since he was usually the least observant of them all). Remus knew Lily. And right now, Lily was compensating her happiness when she should know that Harry will be happy regardless.

"Why don't we get to the house then? I have a feeling that Lily and I are going to have a nice long chat." Sirius beamed.

"Sorry Remus, I'll tell you the address since you don't know where it is but I need to go to Gringotts. And you need to use the floo since apparition is too loud and some muggle is too likely to hear."

"Alright Sirius." Sirius then told him the address and went to the door. He heard Remus leave and wished him luck mentally knowing that Lily was most likely waiting to ambush him.

He stood on the steps of the cottage finally getting the chance to think of what had happened in the last few days. It seemed that everything was going wrong compared to where he thought he'd be. He was now responsible for a child, living in a family environment, and famous for being released from Azkaban because he had no trial. Speaking of which, somehow Fudge managed to keep his job but the entire British Wizarding community knew that what Fudge had done was illegal. He was on edge with everyone.

Sirius sighed once more as he apparated to Diagon Alley, wanting nothing more than to be able to go back in time.

Lily sat on the couch in the living room watching her son play with a set of blocks on the floor. She was beaming as Harry managed to make a block that he couldn't find float behind him and hit him in the back gently. She laughed as Harry turned around, confused as to what had hit him. Any concerns that the child had had were gone since he had found the block sitting directly behind his butt. Lily found it to be the most adorable thing ever. Suddenly she heard the fireplace begin to crackle. She held her breath and hoped that it was Remus.

A body flung out of the fireplace and began coughing. "Lily?" Remus said. Lily laughed at the ashy ball calling for her and picked up a very confused Harry.

"Remus! I'm glad to see you!" Lily grabbed her wand off of the side table. "Here let me help you, scourgify!" The ashy ball immediately turned into a clean Remus.

"Thank you Lily," Remus said as he stood straighter.

"MOOEY!" Harry shouted as he was now able to see Remus's face. Remus smiled at the child and turned to Lily, explaining to her everything he had explained to Sirius.

"Remus you know that I don't care if you're a werewolf or not, but I don't want you to go to Azkaban. I'm sorry we tried to push you into this Remus but we love you and I sincerely hope that you can remain a constant influence in Harry's childhood. I need someone to balance out Sirius!" she said as she tried to smile and make the situation better.

"Oh Lily. Good luck with that." The two laughed until Harry hiccupped. They began to laugh again and Lily realized that she might just be able to live with the hand she had been dealt in life.

Thanks for reading everyone, please review! I appreciate it!