CHAPTER 2

A/N: I have played a bit with the ages of some characters (really only 1 at this point, but still). Hopefully this won't make anybody particularly angry. Enjoy!

Clashes in the Wizengamot!

by Warden Asherton

Today marked yet another combative day in the Wizengamot as Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore's efforts to delay the vote for the proposed 'Equal Truth' bill came under fire. Voting for the bill, which pushed for mandatory Veritaserium usage in all investigations and trials for crimes requiring incarceration or fines exceeding 500 galleons, has been delayed for the third time by Chief Warlock Dumbledore's refusal to place the item on the official agenda. When asked for a reason behind his refusal to support what many are calling a 'common sense' law, the Chief Warlock would only say "such a momentous change of judicial policy deserves more deliberation than we have so far given it. It is our duty to ensure that the traditions of the Wizarding World are not changed for frivolous reasons". Lord Sirius Black, leader of the coalition pushing for the bill, responded: "The 'Equal Truth' bill was proposed more than a year ago and has the backing of both the DMLE and the majority of Magical Britain. The best legal minds in the country have had a say in it's wording, and it's purpose is increased protection for the people of this country. Chief Warlock Dumbledore's refusal to put the bill to a vote smacks of abuse of power from a man who wants tradition for it's own sake." The last three years have seen increasing friction between the traditional 'light' bloc and Dumbledore, once it's uncontested leader. Many assumed the arrest of several high-ranking ministry official as terrorists in the wake of You-Know-Who's disappearance three years ago would allow this bloc to push a progressive agenda for years to come, but this conflict hints of rocky waters in the political scene and no solution in sight.

James set the paper down next to his coffee as he looked across the table at Sirius, still dressed in his Wizengamot robes, and sighed.

"The old bugger just won't give up, will he?" His best friend merely shrugged as he attempted to fit an entire piece of toast into his mouth before washing it down with a spoonful of porridge. The black hole that was Sirius' stomach never ceased to amaze him, almost as much as his predilection for eating breakfast foods at any time of the day.

"It's Dumbledore. We're talking about the same man who pesters me about your whereabouts at least a dozen times a month despite the fact that you've not been seen in over three years." Sirius tilted his head thoughtfully. "Although he is right about me knowing what happened to you, so i guess…" James laughed and shook his head as he dropped the newspaper on the table.

"I just don't get what he gains from opposing the bill. Like the paper said, it's common sense." The bill, originally Lily's brainchild funneled to the DMLE through Sirius, had been ready for a vote for almost five months. Dumbledore had refused every request to put the matter to a vote in that time.

"It's change." Lily's voice came from behind them both and causing James to smile. She'd been holed up in her basement lab alone for several hours as she worked on a new charm and both James and Sirius knew she did her best work alone. Several years of marriage had taught James that, sweet though his wife might normally be, disturbing her while she was experimenting was normally followed by sleeping on the couch, and she had charmed the damn thing to repel any sort of cushioning spell.

"All laws are change." James said, but to his surprise it was Sirius that answered.

"Not really. The majority of the laws under Dumbledore's tenure have been little tweaks to standing laws. For a long time it was very rare for anything big to get done, and the 'Truth' bill changes one of the long-standing traditions of the Wizengamot."

"Plus you have to remember Dumbledore is over a century old." Lily added as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk. She filled a glass and took a long draft before speaking again. "Magical Britain hasn't changed nearly as much as muggle Britain in that time, and he probably doesn't see a need for change. After all, this is the same society that holds up the founders and Merlin as the end-all of magical prowess. They're not exactly big on progress."

James and Sirius were lost in thought as she finished the last of her milk before placing the glass in the sink and grabbing her coat from the rack near the door.

"I've got to pick up Harry, are you staying for dinner Sirius?" She called as she zipped up the front. The temperature had dropped precipitously in the last few weeks, and she had never been a fan of the cold.

"As much as I'd love to I've got to get back. Amelia and I are meeting with a few of the more moderate-leaning Traditionalists to try and drum up a few more votes." Lily's back was to Sirius which meant he missed her raised eyebrow at his casual reference to the head of the DMLE (and head of the Bones family) by her given name. They had been spending a lot of time together lately, but she was almost a decade older than him and was his superior in the auror corps at one point. "If we get a full majority we can push for a vote of no confidence if Dumbledore keeps stonewalling us." Sirius continued, oblivious to Lily's thoughts.

"Best of luck then, and give Alice my best if you see her." Lily called before stepping out the front door. The Longbottoms were on the very short list of magical families that knew the truth about what had happened to the Potters, as neither James or Lily had wanted to lose touch with such close friends.

As they heard Lily's car drive off and the garage close Sirius smirked at James.

"She's still insisting on a muggle education?" He asked, remembering the rows they'd had over the subject.

"Vehemently" James replied while shuddering slightly as he remembered his nights sleeping in the living room. "She's adamant that Harry be allowed to choose whether or not he wants to live in the magical world and that he get at least a basic muggle education. I was worried about accidental magic but so far nothing's happened." James's lips twitched upwards as he thought of Harry's 'accidental' magical outbursts. Unlike the stories he'd heard of his own childhood from his parents, Harry's accidental magic was suspiciously consistent. From the number of times his son had summoned toys or banished his vegetables (especially peas, which he loathed for some reason) James was beginning to think Harry's magic was less 'accidental' and more 'instinctive'.

"She does know he has to go to a magical school until he at least sits his O.W.L's so his magic isn't bound, right?" Sirius asked as he finished the last of his porridge and looked at his friend.

"If Harry wants to live in the muggle world we'll provide him with tutors. The laws are old but they exist, and it's not like we can't afford it." James said as he took a sip of his coffee. 'Truly the best invention of the muggle world' He thought as Sirius digested that piece of information.

"And if he chooses to live as a muggle?" Sirius asked, his gaze never wavering from James who didn't hesitate at all in his answer.

"Then my son lives as a muggle." His voice held a note of finality as if daring Sirius to argue. "The muggle world produced my wife while the magical world tried to kill my son. I'd rather he be happy and safe in the muggle world than unhappy and persecuted in the magical world any day." Sirius thought about that for a moment before nodding. A sly smile lit up his face as he raised an eyebrow at James.

"Plus any other answer would have you on that couch again, right?" James groaned in response.

"Six nights on that thing was enough for a lifetime. I swear she cursed it….."

The preschool Lily had picked out was about as average as you could get. Average cost, average number of children, the entire thing was picked to give Harry as normal a childhood as was possible for three magicals hiding away in the muggle world. Lily might have made the choice to live in the magical world, a choice she'd never regretted as it gave her James and Harry, but she'd always thought the Hogwarts' policy of showing up on a child's eleventh birthday was insulting. Threatening to mind-wipe a child and their family if they didn't radically alter their plans in the space of at most a year was not conducive to rational decision making, and she wanted her son to have the choice she felt in many ways she'd been denied. To that end she'd shoved her instinctive fear of letting Harry out of her sight down (though she still loaded him up with monitoring charms) and enrolled him in a local preschool to interact with kids his age.

Learning to drive had taken some getting used to after spending so much time using wizarding transport, but she'd come to like the drive over to Harry's preschool and the feeling of normalcy she got from picking him up at the end of the day like any other parent. It reminded her of her own childhood, and she was infinitely grateful Harry wouldn't have to grow up under the spectre of Voldemort as so many children had.

She pulled up to the parking lot of the preschool alongside several other cars, presumably parents there to pick up their children, and walked through the front doors to the area they'd dubbed the 'activity room'. There were about twenty-five young children interacting with each other in relative peace, and she couldn't help but smile as she spotted Harry playing with a set of letter blocks alongside a girl with curly brown hair. While she was debating whether or not to break up the heartwarming scene in front of her something made Harry turn towards her, and her smile turned radiant as his face lit up with joy.

"Mummy!" Harry went from sitting to running so fast Lily almost thought he'd apparated, his small legs propelling him forward with surprising speed. Lily held her arms out to catch her son as he came close, helping him bleed off momentum by spinning him around the the moment he came into her arms. A contented sigh escaped her lips as she held Harry and reassured herself that he was alright. Even after three years in the muggle world Lily had trouble shaking her instinctive need to keep him safe at all times. Seeing him happy and healthy like this made all that effort worthwhile.

While Harry was delighted to see his mother it didn't take long for his young mind to focus on a new subject. He squirmed slightly in Lily's arms until she set him down, at which point he grabbed her hand and towed her over to the young girl he'd been playing blocks with. She looked up as Lily and Harry came closer, and Lily was surprised to feel Harry's hand slip out of her own as he ran over to his playmate and pulled her towards them.

"Mommy, meet Hermine!" Harry beamed brightly, but the little girl next to him scowled slightly.

"Hello ma'am. I'm Hermione." She introduced herself politely, stressing the third syllable. Harry blushed as she looked at him archly before muttering an apology, eliciting a laugh from Lily.

"It's very nice to meet you Hermione. Thank you for keeping Harry company." She smiled at the young girl before the alphabet blocks on the ground caught her eye. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment and looked back at Hermione who suddenly looked at the ground sheepishly.

"Exploration?" The word spelled out in blocks was something Lily would not have expected someone their age to spell, it was definitely beyond Harry's capabilities. Hermione shuffled her feet nervously as Lily looked at her, and her back heel caught the edge of the stacked blocks. They wobbled for a second before starting to fall, but before they could go more than a few millimeters Lily felt a pulse of magic and they righted themselves. She shot a quick glare at Harry who immediately looked contrite, then turned quickly back to Hermione.

"I hope I'll see you again sometime Hermione. Thank you again for keeping an eye on Harry." Lily scooped Harry up and quickly signed him out before walking back to the car. Once Harry was belted in and they were on the road she allowed some of the tension in her shoulders to relax, and glanced at her son.

"You know you're not supposed to do that Harry." To his credit her son didn't try to deny what he did.

"I was helping. The blocks fell." His reply was slightly petulant as if he couldn't understand why he was being scolded for something so obvious. Lily sighed as she stopped at a red light and turned to fully face Harry.

"I know sweetheart but your daddy and I have talked to you about this before. You can only do magic at home, otherwise we could all get in trouble. Please Harry, don't do it again." She said while feeling slightly guilty for scolding him. She loved the convenience of magic and often found herself doing the more tedious house chores with it just because it was easier. Harry's magic seemed more responsive to his whims than most people's, and telling him to hold off on doing magic while she used it so casually had to be sending mixed signals. Harry gave a small sigh and nodded as the light turned green, but his next question almost sent Lily into the bumper of the car in front of her.

"Mommy, if I'm not allowed to do magic outside how come Hermione is?"

As Sirius watched the last of the Wizengamot members file out of Bones Manor he gave a huge sigh and sank into one of the comfortable armchairs adorning the sitting room. The meeting had been long and trying with Sirius feeling like he spent much of it beating his head against a brick wall, but it was not all useless. A few of the neutral families had seemed receptive of their pitch against Dumbledore, maybe not for ideological reasons but out of distrust for the 'Leader of the Light'. The smell of tea and a cup entering his field of vision caused him to sit up with a groan as he gratefully took the saucer from Amelia, smiling at her in thanks for her kindness.

"That could have gone worse, I suppose" She said as she sipped her own tea.

"We knew most of them would be a long shot anyways Am." Sirius replied as he took a large gulp of the warm liquid. "Most of the death eaters may be gone from the Wizengamot, but their sympathisers still hold to the same ideals. Even snubbing Dumbledore isn't enough for them to give up the immunity they've enjoyed for so long." The Regent Bones nodded her head sadly at that as her thoughts turned to the chaos of three years ago. Peter Pettigrew showing up in a DMLE holding cell with a signed confession and a list of death eaters that included several Wizengamot members and prominent heads of old pureblood families had caused an uproar lasting weeks. When the dust had finally settled a large number of the "dark" block had been tried and sentenced while more than a few of the 'neutral' block had come under investigation. While the dark block had taken a huge hit and hated Dumbledore on principle, losing the right to waive Veritaserum was a step most would never endorse.

"I just...this isn't something that we should have to fight for." His head hung dejectedly. "This should have been a law right after Veritaserum was invented, but there's so much bloody politics involved." He didn't look up as he felt a hand come to rest lightly on his shoulder but leaned into the touch slightly. As much as he protested when Lily brought it up Sirius couldn't deny he took a great deal of comfort from Amelia's presence, comfort he sorely needed after all the backdoor politicking they'd done tonight.

"We'll get there." There was quiet conviction in Amelia's voice as she spoke. "Five years ago nobody would ever believe a bill like this would even have a chance, and now the only thing stopping it is an obstinate old man. History wasn't made in a day Siri, and each step forward puts a little more distance between us and the dark ages magical Britain has lived in for so long." It was an uncharacteristically poetic speech for the normally blunt woman but Sirius nodded his head after a moment's deliberation. Their society was moving forward, even if a large portion was being dragged along kicking and screaming, and he was proud to stand at the forefront. He hoped Harry and Susan would never have to go through the terror his generation had known, a hope that was at the core of every move he'd made in the Wizengamot. His dark mood broken for now, Sirius gave a tired groan as he slowly stood up and cracked his back as he glanced at the door.

"I suppose it's getting late, and we have another set of committee meetings tomorrow." He said halfheartedly. Both of them knew how little Sirius wanted to return to the manor at Grimmauld place he'd inherited with his parent's death. He'd taken up the mantle of the Black family for the legislative influence it offered and the opportunity to give the Potters a little more protection, but the old house was too much like a mausoleum for him to ever be comfortable in it.

"We've got more than enough guest rooms Siri, and showing up to a committee meeting sans arms because you splinched yourself in exhaustion would be embarrassing." Amelia's tone was playful but insistent as she pushed led him away from the door and deeper into the manor. Sirius's token protest was soundly ignored along with the look of relief that had crossed his face at her offer, but both of them had small smiles as they walked upstairs.

Sirius was gone by the time Lily pulled the car into the garage of their home in Crawley and Harry's constant chatter about his day let Lily's mind drift over what he'd said. When Harry had first mentioned Hermione doing magic she'd had a fleeting thought of packing everything up and moving all three of them to another town. They'd gone through an enormous amount of effort to prevent anyone from finding their whereabouts, and the thought of some obliviator checking up on a muggleborn's accidental magic and finding them was the stuff of nightmares for her. Once the initial panic had passed she began to look at it as more of a good thing than bad: Any magic picked up by the Ministry would be attributed to Hermione, which shielded Harry's slip-ups quite nicely. The part of her that wanted to lock Harry in a warded room with a 24/7 guard was still panicking slightly but overall she was beginning to think of the whole event as a stroke of luck.

As four-year-olds were wont to do Harry crashed not long after dinner, falling asleep almost mid-word as he and James waged a mock-war with sets of animated plastic soldiers. Lily made a pot of coffee as James put Harry to bed and accepted a mug gratefully when he reached the kitchen again as he waited for his wife to tell him what had her so distracted. She outlined what she'd seen at the daycare and Harry's comments about Hermione in short order only to raise her eyebrow at James who'd broken down laughing as soon as she finished speaking.

"I fail to see what's so funny about this my love." Lily ground out the last part in a frosty tone. James managed to calm himself down to just the occasional involuntary laugh as he stared at his irritated wife before answering.

"It's just the Harry has definitely inherited the Potter luck. We choose an area with zero magical presence to hide from the magical world and somehow our son finds a muggleborn witch less than a month after starting preschool. Next thing you know he'll have brought home a stray hippogriff he found in the parking lot." He took a deep pull from his mug while his wife's irritated expression slowly faded. He put his mug down on the counter before walking over to his wife and pulling her into his arms.

"It could be worse you know." He murmured softly. "We're safe, Harry's safe. Anything else we can deal with in time. Besides, it might be good for him to have a friend like this Hermione." James carefully pronounced the Shakespearean name, careful with his enunciation after hearing about Harry's mistake. "He's had so little opportunity to interact with kids his own age that I worry sometimes. Neville and Susan are great, but they can't come over much and still maintain our secret for long." Lily nodded and allowed a small smile to form. Her drive to protect Harry was not without reason, but she had to admit it had denied her son some of the normal parts of growing up. Having a friend that was both his own age and nearby could be a good thing.

"You think her parents have noticed anything?" She asked James curiously. Lily didn't remember many specifics about her own accidental magic, only that her parents had mentioned 'odd happenings' from when she was young.

"It's possible, especially if it happens enough for Harry to pick up on it. In an area like this I doubt they have any idea what's going on though." He replied with a slight frown as he began to see where Lily's train of thought was going.

"Lils, we can't." His wife's expression instantly turned stormy and James spoke quickly in an attempt to head off his impending doom.

"There are laws against revealing the magical world to muggles, you know that. We can't risk anything pointing Dumbledore our way!" He said, hoping the mention of the man they suspected had set their son up to die would be enough to divert her anger. While it did pull some of the intensity from her ire it failed to divert it all.

"I remember the day McGonagall came to my front door James, how it made my family feel to be denied that knowledge for over a decade. The Wizengamot expects muggleborn families to send their kids away with no preparation and more importantly no choice." They'd had this argument before but it had always been hypothetical. Now there were real people influenced by it, a little girl Harry had played with and parents who had no explanation for the unbelievable things they might have seen.

"Showing up on a family's doorstep and telling them they need to give up their child or have someone mess with their heads isn't a choice James, it's an ultimatum. We can give this family years to prepare for what's ahead instead of having it sprung on them. As for Dumbledore finding out their daughter is Harry's age and muggleborn, what contact would he have with them before their daughter is 11?" James couldn't help hearing the passion behind her argument and the unspoken wish that her family had been given the help she was proposing. The former Auror in him was wary of breaking a law as ingrained as the Statute of Secrecy, but the more he thought about it the less telling Hermione's parents seemed like a violation. After all the Statute was never intended to apply to the family of muggleborn witches and wizards. His reluctance was further worn down by the idea of his son having friends he could be himself around instead of hiding a huge facet of his life, but the death knell was the borderline pleading look his wife was giving him. He never could argue with Lily when she turned that look on him.

"Fine Lily, we'll tell them." His sigh was short lived as her thank you kiss combined with celebratory bouncing temporarily shorted out his brain. Lily smirked as she saw the effect she'd had on her husband even after several years of marriage before turning her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"We'll have to meet them face to face for this." She mused while her husband recovered the ability to form coherent sentences. "Maybe propose a playdate and use it as a chance to sound them out as people. I don't want to put Hermione in a bad position if they turn out to be like Tuney and her husband." Her face hardened as she thought about her estranged sister. Petunia Dursley nee Evans's hatred of magic had poisoned their once-close relationship to the point where she hadn't bothered to accept or reject her invitation to Lily's wedding, instead choosing to just not show up. The idea of telling Hermione's parents only to make her the focus of hatred like that was not acceptable. James nodded his agreement immediately, well aware of his sister-in-law's attitude and in-line with Lily's precautions. Lily noticed the still slightly dazed look on his face with a smile and decided that planning could wait until tomorrow. Right now she needed to thank her oh-so-understanding husband.

The playdate had been a huge success for Harry and Hermione, but it was the Granger's obvious pride and love for their daughter that made up Lily's mind. She and Emma had hit it off fairly quickly as both young mothers were more than willing to talk about their children, while Dan and James had established a sort of friendly detachment while watching the children. James's history as an ex-Auror had meshed well with Dan's quiet demeanor, even if their vastly different upbringings meant the two had little in common besides their children. When Emma had extended an invitation for dinner Lily only had to meet James's eyes for a second before agreeing, her hand tapping the disillusioned wand holster on her arm to tell James her plan.

Dinner followed the trend of the day with good conversation and much laughter, and a curious Emma agreed to talk to the Potters alone after dinner with little prodding. It took only a few minutes to settle the two children in the den downstairs under James's watchful eye before both Dr.'s Granger claimed seats in the living room with Lily, whose attention was apparently on internal thoughts.

"You've been growing more nervous by the minute Lily, I hope whatever you want to talk about isn't something bad?" Emma inquired gently. Lily jumped slightly as if she'd forgotten they were before giving Emma a guilty look.

"No Emma, nothing bad. Just the opposite in fact. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to lay this out." She replied, her tone nervous. A few moments of thinking later she gave a slight shrug and a slight smile before looking at the Grangers.

"Have you ever noticed anything….strange happening around Hermione?" As if a switch was thrown the atmosphere surrounding the two Grangers turned shocked and nervous. Emma's eyes were darting around the room as if looking for hidden dangers while Dan was staring at Lily with a wary expression.

"I'll take that as a yes." Lily said wryly as she watched the couple in front of her. "Please, I'm only asking because if I'm right I can help explain what's happening." Emma stopped looking around and focused squarely on Lily while Dan's expression now held a hint of hope. Rather than try and explain with words Lily, using very slow and deliberate motions, pulled her wand from its holster before pointing it at the unoccupied love seat. In other circumstances the Granger's reaction, mouths open with shock, would have been funny as she used a silent levitating charm to raise the seat, but Lily was too nervous to laugh.

"What….how…." Dan's silence was broken by a look of combined confusion and wonder.

"I'm a witch." Lily stated. "Just like James and Harry are wizards." Emma was the first to break from the sight in front of them.

"How can Harry be a wizard? Isn't he a bit young to be doing….that?" Lily smiled as she directed the love seat back to its original position.

"Being a witch or wizard isn't a religious choice or a skill, it's an inborn trait. Harry was born a wizard just like Hermione was born a witch." Dan was still looking at the love seat like he expected it to fly away at any moment but Emma was focused on Lily now.

"You think Hermione is a witch? If it's a genetic trait and neither Dan nor I are witches, how could that be?" Lily was taking the questions as a good sign, she much preferred them to anger or denial.

"Normally magical children, the literal kind, are born to magical parents. As far as I can tell the chances of a child being born magical seems slightly higher if both parents are magical but the vast majority with at least one magical parent are born that way. Sometimes though witches or wizards are born from parents with no magical ancestry. We're not sure why, but it happens often enough to make up a good percentage of the magicals in Britain." Lily paused as she looked at Emma. "It happened to me." Emma's eyes widened as she looked between Lily and the door that led to the den.

"Normally you wouldn't be told about the magical world until Hermione's eleventh birthday with her Hogwarts letter, but I personally think that law is discriminatory. Plus this way Harry has a friend around his own age that he doesn't have to hide anything from." Emma's brow creased in confusion as questions began to build up, but Dan's question cut to the heart of the matter.

"But there's nothing physically or mentally wrong with Hermione, right?" Lily's negative seemed to take a weight off the man's chest, and his expression shifted back towards the normal quiet acceptance that she'd come to know. She could tell Emma still had a lot of questions but for Dan the most important thing was taken care of: his baby girl was fine and everything else they could deal with. By the time the Potters, with Harry asleep in James's arms, waved goodbye and walked to their car Lily felt like she'd been ransacked for information, but also that she'd gained two good friends that day.

The last three years had not been particularly kind to Albus Dumbledore, and it had all started that Halloween night. Plans laid in place years earlier had gone up in smoke like so much dross in one night and the downhill plunge had not stopped there. Every attempt to find out where the Potters had disappeared to had been a frustrating failure, and once-loyal followers had turned against his guidance in the most petulant ways headed by that damnable Black.

The follow up article to yesterday's Wizengamot coverage was every bit as critical as the one before, and the worst part was that the Prophet might even be underplaying things. The bloc he'd controlled for the better part of four decades had largely gone rogue and was now following the guidance of a Black of all people, leaving Dumbledore's political power severely hampered.

"Why can't they see that all I do, I do for the Greater Good" He thought in an uncharacteristic moment of frustration. To a man used to getting his own way for so long the recent frustrations had been….difficult to deal with. The one bright spot was his confidence that he would find the Potter's eventually, and when he did his plans could be restarted from where they left off.

"Nobody can run from fate forever my boy." He said as he stared at an old Order picture featuring a baby Harry in his mother's arms. "Nobody".

Sirius black stepped through the floo at the Potter's house in Crawley with his arms full of squirming girl. Susan Bones was a sweet girl to be sure, but like any young child she was wary of something as foreign and flashy as floo travel and Sirius had had trouble keeping her from falling mid-floo. He wasn't sure what would happen if she did fall, but he wasn't about to endanger his fledgeling relationship with Amelia by losing the girl she thought of as a daughter in the floo system.

"That'd be just perfect" Sirius muttered under his breath as he set Susan down. "How was my day? Good, nothing spectacular besides losing Susan in the twisting nether that is the floo."

"Who's lost in the twisting nether?" Sirius looked up to see Alice Longbottom looking at him with a bemused expression as Susan toddled away towards the playroom Lily and James had set up for Harry. Sirius could hear Harry and at least one other young voice coming from the room, and assumed Alice had already dropped Neville off to play.

"No one, just thinking morbid thoughts." Sirius replied as she gave him a quick welcoming hug. "Susan isn't particularly fond of floo travel and I was worried I'd drop her for a minute there. Amelia would not be happy with me." He immediately tensed as Alice gave a sly smile, the same one Lily sported whenever she was about to embarrass him greatly.

"Amelia, eh? And why are you the one taking care of the heir Bones Mr. Black?" Sirius groaned slightly at her ribbing but decided to treat the whole thing like the muggle bandaids Lily had once covered him in as retribution for turning her skin yellow. Doing it all at once would prevent prolonged torture later.

"Yes Alice, Amelia. And try not to make a big deal in front of Susan, I'm trying to make a good impression with her. She means a lot to Amelia." Surprised at his serious tone Alice merely nodded once before leading him to the playroom. His face instantly broke into a smile as he saw Harry and Neville playing with a set of toys shaped like magical creatures, but it was the sight of Susan stacking blocks with a brunette girl that confused him.

"Who's that?" He asked, pointing at the unknown child. Before Alice could answer a voice came from the door to Lily's basement lab just before the redhead came into view.

"That's Hermione, she's a friend of Harry's from preschool." Sirius nodded and said nothing as he looked at the children (one of whom, Harry, was intermittently animating a stuffed dragon) for several seconds before his eyes widened in shock.

"She's a friend from Harry's muggle preschool!?" He exclaimed as he turned to towards Lily who nodded with a smile. Sirius's head whipped between the kids and Lily several times before she took pity on him.

"Relax Padfoot, she's muggleborn." Sirius's confusion abated slightly while a tinge of suspicion entered his expression.

"And how does a young muggleborn girl know about magic?" Lily's smile didn't falter an inch, if anything she looked even more innocent.

"You didn't." Sirius's voice was flat with disbelief causing Lily to cock an eyebrow.

"I didn't break any laws Sirius Black so don't take that tone with me. Hogwarts may chose to leave muggleborn families looking for answers until their eleventh birthday but there's no legal reason why we can't tell them sooner." She said challengingly. Sirius ran his hand through his hair for a moment before responding.

"The whole point of living out here was anonymity. What if they let your identity slip?" He said with concern.

"Slip to who Sirius? They're muggles in the middle of an area that had practically no magical presence. Hermione's outbursts have been too small for the obliviators to get involved so far and they have no ability to contact anyone we're hiding from. Of all the people who know they're the least likely to let our secret slip of all." Lily's expression softened as she looked toward the playroom where all four children had been drawn into some sort of game involving a set of brightly colored pick up sticks. "Besides, Harry needed a friend close to home that he could see more often, and Hermione needed someone to tell her the accidental magic wasn't a bad thing."

Lily's neat rebuttal of his arguments had taken the wind from his sails, so Sirius dropped the issue. Ingrained habits died hard, but he couldn't argue that Lily had followed the law (technically) and the four children were getting along so well he couldn't bring himself to protest too much.

Sirius only stayed at the Potter's for a few more minutes before mentioning a meeting he had to attend and leaving through the fireplace. He was gone for less than a minute before Alice turned to her best friend with a wide grin and a nod towards the departed Lord Black.

"So….Sirius and Amelia?" She asked and laughed as Lily's smile mirrored her own. Deep in the halls of the Ministry of Magic Sirius Black inexplicably began to sweat.