A Year In Switzerland Edited Version

by Mariann's

AU Albus Dumbledore needs a place to keep Harry and Sirius safe the path leads abroad SBRL HPHG and others SLASH!

7. A Rat in the Trap

Chapter 06 – A Rat in the Trap

Sirius

So he's decided to look for us and actually found us. I wonder how he did that. On the other hand he knows about Remus' connections to Switzerland, he's been with us when we visited here back in 1977, the summer before our last year at Hogwarts. And of course he knew and must have recognised Ginny. We must catch him! We turn off all the lights, except for a few ones on the upper floors that will be extinguished one by one as if we've all gone to bed.

While the lamps upstairs are still alight, I ask Remus:

"Do you think it wise to send Anana with a letter to Hogwarts, Remus?"

"Yes, I was just thinking I'd write that letter."

"Okay, do that. We can't do anything but wait. I have to hope he won't endanger Barb and Housi."

Remus blanches, but writes the note first and gives it to Anana who's always perching in the classroom. He lets her out on the backside of the house.

"He's coming closer to the house now, Sirius, he's turning around the back of the greenhouse," says Ginny.

"Still blue?"

"Yes – no! Red now!"

"Good. That means he transformed."

Hermione, Harry and I are going to the end of the classroom where Wormtail has to turn up and I tell them to extinguish their wand lights except for the candle Ginny holds to see the map. She moves to the bathroom with it. The rest of the house still has some lights on, which we extinguish one by one. Lily takes care of that.

"He's coming to the front of the house," she whispers.

All of us are ready. Remus takes my place next to Hermione and Harry and James and I take Ron and Morag to the entrance of the house in the kitchen. It looks like he hasn't noticed that there are doors on the side. It's very dark and he won't be able to see us, but we see him when he tries to enter.

"Stunners in his direction, just one after the other, nothing else. Keep your heads low. As soon as he opens the door start using Stupefy," I tell the teens.

"Good. Just let him come!" says Morag.

That's my girl! I think. We can hear him creep to the kitchen door now. He opens it and looks inside. Once he's filling the entrance all four of us start throwing stunners at him and one of them actually hits. Wormtail finds himself on the ground before he's completely inside of the house. We flick on all the lights immediately. I pull the traitor into the house and conjure ropes to bind him so tightly he really can't move an inch of his limbs. The others come over from the classroom.

"Let's hope he was alone…" I say.

"It didn't exactly look like he was with someone. And the map shows no one else around the wards and the house," Ginny says, coming back from the bathroom and extinguishing the candle.

"Still, we'll keep on watching it. We will have to wait for an answer from Hogwarts anyway. Anana takes a while for this trip. Several hours at least, so it will be morning at best."

We decide that Remus and six of the teens go and sleep half the night while I watch with five of the kids. James, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Ernie stay with me while the others go and sleep. We take up residence in the classroom, where we can keep Wormtail out in the open. Hermione goes to get some of the games and we play several rounds. We keep a keen eye on the map and calm down when no other Death Eater shows up around the wards.

After two hours the stunner wears off. Harry has warned us what he's capable of with that silver hand of his, so we have bound his elbows together on his back, even if he can cut through the ropes around his hands he can't do much, as he's chained around the elbows and chained tight to the railing of the stairs on one side and to several other points in the room. It can't be comfortable for him, but it can't be said that we feel very sorry for him. I see when he wakes up and looks around confused. He sees me and blanches. Oh, how I longed for this sweet, sweet moment!

Harry, Ron and Hermione have been beaming ever since we've stunned Wormtail. Harry is on his feet the moment Wormtail seems to have regained consciousness. When he sees us all he blanches. He must have heard of James and Lily's return, but seeing his victim right in front of himself probably gives him the shock of his life.

"So, you're back again, Wormtail! But this time you won't get away. No full moon tonight. No need to transport you between someone with a broken leg and a werewolf who has to transform. We've already sent the news of your capture to Hogwarts you know. This time you won't escape!"

Wormtail seems to think the best policy is to keep his mouth shut. I'm not in the mood to descend on him, I let the teens work their magic. Ron and Hermione both don't hold back with their amount of venom.

"We've grown a bit since the last time we saw you, Wormtail, you won't stand the point of a chance now!" Hermione says coolly.

I'm glad we have shut down the large map and only use one of the small ones surreptitiously. Just in case he would be able to get away we don't want him to know that we've been able to charm a map here.

"You'll never win now! The Dark Lord is back and he'll take over! I'm on the winning side now! Again!" Wormtail finally shrieks.

"That won't help you though, will it?" Ron says with a laugh.

"Your turn to feel some of the horrors now, which you forced Sirius feel, you dirty rat!" Harry threatens.

"The Ministry won't be able to oversee that you are in league with Voldemort and that means they'll have to acknowledge he's back. No more hiding and gathering more forces, Wormtail, do you think your boss will be happy?" Hermione spits.

Wormtail seems to think that she perceives his position just right and pales. He looks dreadful as it is.

"Just disregard him, kids. Let's rather play on…" I say calmly and turn back to the game we've been playing.

They come back to the table, but of course we all watch Wormtail.

James, which I can understand, is the one to get up now. He goes over to where we've bound Wormtail to the railing of the staircase and looks him up and down.

"Why, Wormtail?" he asks.

"James…" Wormtail swallows and squeaks. "James… I was scared… please… have mercy…"

"Just because you were a bloody coward you decided that we had to jump the gun, and then you had the guts to watch how Voldemort killed us and then you went and destroyed Sirius' life on top of this? And you expect mercy from me? After you have been shown mercy by my son and Sirius and Remus? They've shown you the mercy you begged for and then you went and brought back that monster? Were you out of your mind or did you never have one in the first place? What devil has ridden you to have the incredible stupidity to bring back that terrorising monster, just because you were afraid of dying? Are you aware that you have caused the deaths of a huge number of deaths? How many more lives would you be ready to destroy just to keep yourself alive? If it weren't for the fact that you are needed to finally set my best friend free I'd kill you, Wormtail, make no mistake. I might have spared your life the first time around, but this time I will make dead sure that you will die or at least receive the Dementor's Kiss. I swear Wormtail, that I have never ever met a more monstrous human being than you, and that almost includes Voldemort. I would take Snivellus over you any day, because he at least is an honest bastard."

With that James spits Wormtail in the face and turns away to join us at the table, where we resume our games.

I've already cast the hold Animagus spell on him, so he can't transform into the rat right now. He grinds his teeth, but we don't make it easier on him. Then the time comes to wake the others so we can get some sleep. Ernie takes over with the ones in the back of the house and Hermione goes to wake Remus. I'm a bit afraid of letting Remus stay with Wormtail, because of that dratted silver hand. So, when Remus comes down I tell him in German to do anything to stay away from Wormtail.

"I will, love. I don't want to get close to this monstrosity. Besides, I've got Lily with me and it's going to be so much fun to see her reduce him to near cinder."

"Good. James already gave him a tough time. I'll leave you then. I hope I will get some sleep!"

"You will. I slept. Well even!"

Remus

I kiss Siri and he leaves reluctantly. Wormtail watches us and the loathing in his eyes is easy to see. Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Ernie leave and we don't even hold Ernie back who leaves in the wrong direction to be with Ginny.

Lily has come down with me, Blaise, the twins, Justin, Mandy and Morag file in from the back of the house. We take over and play more of the games that lie on the table. We don't even acknowledge Wormtail, but after a while he tries to get to Lily and me.

"Lily, help me! Please!"

Lily sends him a death glare, but returns to her cards. Wormtail tries a few times and then turns to me.

"Remus, you can't let them take me!"

I can't believe the nerve he has, but I don't react.

"Remus, I know you're too good to have me killed!"

"Ignore him," I tell the kids.

"You can't ignore me, Remus! Do they even know what company they enjoy? I don't think they would like to know! You don't belong here, Remus, you have to help me. If you help me out, then the Dark Lord will surely be very thankful…"

"I'm afraid that you are quite delusional about your status to your precious boss, Wormtail! He'll only be glad to be rid of you… he's already got more than the needed amount of idiots," I finally shoot back.

"He can't afford to lose me, I know too many of his secrets!" he cries.

"Shut up, Wormtail, I won't listen," I tell him.

"You kids should know that you share your house with a monster! He's a bloody werewolf, he'll kill you all if he can!" Wormtail finally shrieks.

I'm not even reacting. But the reaction from my students really pleases me. They all jump up at once and get closer to him. Then Blaise tells him:

"You are nothing but a stinking traitorous rat, Pettigrew! We know he's a werewolf. And do you know how much we care? Not that much! He would never be such a piece of crap as you are. He'd never betray his friends. He'd never creep in the dirt in front of a master like you do."

And Padma adds:

"I don't know how you even earned his friendship ever when you went to school, Pettigrew, because then you'd never betray his secret like you just did. You must be a really ugly coward to be able to do this. We've heard all the stories, we know that Remus, Sirius and James looked at you as a friend and pulled you along. You have them to thank for your Animagus form, you must have had them to thank for even passing school and you gave your thanks in such a lousy way."

"If you ever, ever utter another word against Remus until you're out of here, I will forget the order not to curse you! He's the kindest and friendliest person on this planet, he would never willingly hurt anyone and he's certainly never hurt you! You are scum, Pettigrew! Not even worth being looked at. You utter one more word and I will silence you!" Parvati hisses.

I call them all back and tell them that if he gets too loudmouthed we'll just stun him again. That shuts him up for quite a while. Then he tries again, but we disregard him. I keep my eyes trained on the map occasionally, but all is still clear. Then I see Albus apparating as close to the house as he can get. He has three Order members with him, Nymphadora Tonks, Bill Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt. I sigh with relief. I throw a look at the wall clock which says one fifteen.

"We're getting help now," I tell the kids in German.

"Oh, good. Who's it?" asks Padma.

"The headmaster with three members of the Order of the Phoenix. They'll be here soon."

Half an hour later the house starts to bustle with activity. Dumbledore, Tonks, Bill and Kingsley enter the house and all stare at Pettigrew, some of them in horror of finding him alive and Albus with delight.

"Good evening, everyone! This was really a very nice information you sent me, Remus! I'm most pleased. Kingsley will be, too!"

"I'm sure you are, Kingsley! Great to see you all."

I introduce my students and then go and call Sirius down. He's with us in a moment and greets the others with a huge smile. Tonks embraces him and tells him how happy she is that his name should be cleared.

"We'll have to get him to the Ministry and I'll have to get pictures of him to the Daily Prophet immediately. I'll call the Minister tomorrow and tell him that on my search for Sirius I've rather found someone else who might be able to tell us some interesting stuff. – You'll be able to show yourself in public again soon, Sirius!" Shacklebolt says.

"I hope so. I really like it here, but to be here in a more official function would be nice, too!"

"I quite agree with you. But first let's stun this filth here and get him back to London. You'll hear from us."

Sirius has tears in his eyes. Tonks, still in his arms, looks around and says:

"What's this here? Looks like a classroom?"

"That's what it is, Tonks. It's for the kids here. They've all had reasons to be out of harm's way for a while. So we're teaching them here."

"Wow! So this is one of the Hogwarts safe houses? Albus was so secretive, that I didn't know you'd be keeping one of those houses. How do you guys like that?"

"It's great!" says Mandy.

"Yeah, we have loads of fun!" Ernie confirms.

"Fine! I'm to stay with you for a couple of days, to help keep watch. I've taken off at the office. I'm an Auror. Please call me Tonks, I can't stand my given name!"

"Well, then we should give you one of the spare rooms, Tonks," I say.

We watch as Wormtail gets stunned again and then Bill and Kingsley take him away. Albus leaves with them. I sigh in relief. I could almost kiss Wormtail for making it so easy for us. Then I call Dobby and Winky and order a feast for the next evening. Nothing below a really good party can be tolerated on this day!

The kids are happy to hear that and already start decorating the kitchen. I take Tonks over there and she smiles at the flags of the Hogwarts houses. We've never taken them down and they still adorn the wall behind the bench around the table.

"This looks neat in here! As far as an exile goes, this looks like a great one!"

"I can only agree, dear cousin," says Sirius, who is all smiles and beaming.

"Tonks, you can have my room, I'll just share with Harry for a few nights," Hermione says.

Harry blushes.

"Oh, is there something I should know?" Sirius asks and looks stern.

But he can't hide his grin for more than ten seconds. Funny enough Lily seems to feel similarly. Harry and Hermione grin, too.

"Not yet," Hermione says.

"Do you think we'll have to inform you by formal announcement in a letter?" Harry asks cheekily.

"No thanks. Your snogging sessions are informative enough," Sirius says.

And everyone in the room bursts out laughing, even James and Lily, who regard the budding love between those two with great sympathy.

"We can't be any worse than the two of you," Hermione retorts, pointing at Siri and I as well as James and Lily.

I think I hear Tonks giggle. I think, Tonks deserves a stern look. And I think she doesn't even mind. She's clearly amused.

Tonks

They seem to have a fairly merry household here. And it looks like Sirius and Remus have found together again, how nice. James and Lily's return must have made them hilariously happy, too. Interesting – that girl looks like she's Harry's girlfriend and that they are quite comfortable together if she wants to leave her room to me. Well, I'm fine with that, anything to make a couple happy. The kids seem to be very content here. Well, I think I would be, if I'd have the luck to have two teachers like that.

"I show you your room now, okay?" the girl, Hermione, asks me.

"Thanks a bunch! But if there's another way I don't want to shut you out of your room…"

"It's okay. Believe me, I gladly take the excuse," she says while we're walking up the staircase.

I grin.

"So you need to push your boyfriend a little or what?"

"Fifteen year old boys are so thick! He's a sweetheart, but he needs to be pushed a little now and then, not only in all things love… but he'll grow up."

"You might want to take care. Potters usually fall once – and hard…"

"Not that I'd mind. Though I have ambition for a professional career. I don't know what yet, but I know that I'll have my choice of possibilities."

We arrive on the top floor. On the way she shows me the bathroom, then she opens the door to a really lovely room. Then she grabs a few clothes and says:

"Well, if I need something I'll allow myself to come and get it if you don't mind."

"Not at all, Hermione! Thank you very much. This is a lovely room."

"Just wait until you see the view. In case it's a clear day for once tomorrow, or today, better said. It's breathtaking. Have you ever been in Switzerland?"

"Nope, never. Do I see the mountains?"

"Oh yes, you do see the mountains. – Well, get settled and get a bit of rest, then just come down for breakfast. We're either in the kitchen or over in our common room. That's on the top floor above the classroom."

"Thanks, I'll find you guys. We'll just have time for a few hours of sleep."

I put my overnight bag down and look out of the window. I enjoy a few hours of sleep. I take my wand and go down to meet them all again. Remus and Sirius are in the kitchen and enjoy their breakfast. They tell me to sit at the head of the table.

"We have our fixed seats. You're taking the one available free seat, Tonks," Sirius tells me.

"I see. – So, how do you like teaching, Sirius?"

"It's still a very strange feeling, Tonks. But I like what I do. I don't know if I'm any good, but they at least manage the transfigurations I teach them and they seem to grasp the theory, so maybe I'm not such a bad teacher. I'm also teaching them Potions and Arithmancy."

"You have only one class, shouldn't be too draining…"

"Well, it is, actually. I can't imagine having so many classes as in Hogwarts. The way we have it here is great though. We each have two full days of classes and the remaining day is usually something we do all together. Sort of the odd things. We know what they have to know for their OWLS and we teach them that. And some things beyond that… and James and Lily help, too, so our kids here probably have a first class education they wouldn't even get at Hogwarts. I think, they're even aware of how privileged they are," he says.

I've never seen him so sincere and I can well remember him when I was little. When I mention it I get a rueful smile.

"I could be as careless as I wanted with myself, Tonks, but there's no way I'm going to be that for them. They depend on my serenity, so I'm pulling myself together."

"Wow, Sirius. That's commitment! – By the way, how did you know Wormtail was sneaking around?"

"Ginny saw him at the railway station in Bern yesterday. He followed them on the train, but he couldn't detect Ginny anymore and left it, but he somehow must have fooled the kids and found his way, because a few hours later he showed up on our spy map. We've made a map of the house and the surrounding, which we charmed to show us people and animals crawling around."

"Great! Like the Marauder's Map?"

"Similar. It's a bit more sophisticated. Shows Death Eaters in red, normal people in black, animals with names in blue and Animagi when in their Animagus form in blue as well, but with their full name."

"That's really sophisticated. Good for you, now we have Wormtail, they're going to drop some Veritaserum inside of him for sure…"

"It would be too good to be able to return home free."

"Not that you're particularly hot for your home, I suppose…" I say sardonically.

"No, of course not. This house here is more like it."

After the breakfast I decide to make a round around the premises. Sirius gets dressed into a warm cloak and comes with me. We check on the area, find no wards breached and nothing wrong, so we get back into the house.

Parvati

After the night's excitement we get a nice lazy Sunday. No one does much, I go and take a nap in my room, some of the others do the same. Then we get a big early dinner, which reminds us all of Hogwarts. Actually I don't miss the draughty castle at all, it's really much nicer here in this cosy house with our lovely big and bright classroom. We don't have the gloom of all the candles here. And we don't have a raging monster as a Potions teacher.

We're going to have a baby in the house! Lily announced this evening that she's pregnant and that by Harry's birthday he'd have a sibling! How cute! I love babies.

I've written Mum and Dad a letter and sent it off with Morgana. Now it's time to go to bed, as we have classes again tomorrow and life will turn back to normal.

While I slip under the duvet I muse about last night's events. If I have kept any doubts about Sirius' innocence they are now certainly gone after I saw that man. Gosh, what a piece of dung! And he's actually just given away Remus' secret of being a werewolf. Luckily we've known about it, it would have simply been awful for Remus otherwise.

Harry

I can't get over what Hermione did. Dear me, she's determined to share the bed with me. Does this mean she really wants to be with me for good? I know I want her around for good. I may be clumsy, but I know that I'm in love. I'm not that much of a prat not to recognise it. I'm more of a prat in telling her. Or not telling her rather. And mum and dad are already cracking jokes alongside Sirius and Remus, intent on embarrassing me all the time! They tease us something awful! There she is now. Gosh, she's lovely. I wear nothing but a pair of pyjama bottoms and a thin t-shirt, she has put on a thin and long t-shirt.

"Which side do you want?" I ask her.

"Never mind which one, Harry, as long as I can cuddle up with you!" she says.

"You really want that?" I ask.

"Of course I do! I told you I'd look up the necessary spells or potions. And I did."

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that, Hermione. Give me time, please."

"Harry, if you can say you're not ready we'll wait until you are. I just want to let you know that I did what was necessary and if we need contraception we'll have it."

"Good. I'm glad, Hermione, because I love you, but I've got to come to terms with touching you and being touched first, you know."

We climb into the bed and she crawls next to me, taking me into her arms, then she kisses me and admits:

"You know, that's not a problem. Usually it's the girls who have to hold back. But let's touch as much and as often as we can, you'll get the 'go ahead' from your body… you're way too underfed with human touch, love, it's time you get used to it!"

I know that! And that's why it still scares me, but her hands on my chest make me shudder and in no time I can feel my nipples like I've never felt them before. We kiss and then she cuddles up and I pull her close.

Then I know nothing until I wake up. Not even the faintest bit of a nightmare, just warmth and happiness and when I finally pry my eyes open I remember. Hermione has spent the night with me. I'm only too happy that we don't have to get up right away as it's Sunday morning. So I can just look at her sleeping. It's still dark, but we haven't pulled the curtains closed, so I can see her in the dim light.

I must have drifted off to sleep again, because when I open my eyes the next time the sun is up and Hermione looks at me. She smiles. I smile back, pull her down and kiss her. She melts into the kiss and kisses me right back. The little butterflies in my stomach start to flutter, at least two thousand of them at once! And then something else stirs and I think that my pyjama pants feel strangely tight all of a sudden. Especially when she guides my hand under her nightshirt, which is really only an overlong t-shirt. I notice that she wears nothing underneath. Then she whispers into my ear:

"You know, lovers should really wear nothing but their skin and maybe a touch of perfume…"

"Are we lovers?" I ask her.

"Soon, Harry, soon! Believe me. And trust your body."

To emphasise this she brushes over my lower abdomen and my crotch. Wow! Now there's a good feeling. Maybe she's right and we ought to give this a try after all.

Sirius

I love nothing as much as I love waking up next to Remus. It's really the best feeling in the world and I hope I'll never ever have to miss it again. I'm usually the first to wake up and it gives me the chance to watch my love as he's still asleep. He must be the most lovable and innocent man on this globe when he's asleep. His face shows not one of the lines he still shows during the day. He's relaxed, usually on his side, the knee of his lower leg pulled up a bit and the upper leg stretched out. Sometimes he's all over me, pressing tightly along my body with his upper leg swung over me.

He's damn sexy. Greying hair? Who cares! His hair's shoulder length and it's still that light brown with a touch of gold. I love his eyebrows and lashes. They're very light in colour and the lashes are long. He's got those beautiful longish ears, not big, but with an elegant curve. His face is rather narrow with an aristocratic nose and finely swung lips. They're just right, not too thin, not thick. I know there's two rows of well kept teeth under them, with just slightly longer canine teeth. They're nothing compared to his wolf teeth of course. His chin is softly modelled, not too pointed. I lightly start to kiss his eyelids, over his cheekbone, nibble on the outer edge of his ear and earlobe, then move along his jaw to his lips. By the time I get there his eyes flutter open and he smiles. I wake him up and he smiles!

"Wonderful lover of mine," I murmur.

He stretches. Then he pulls me closer and leans in to return my kiss. And for the next hour or so we don't care for anyone around us.

I re-enter the world of the conscious people at about half past nine. Remus still resides on top of me and smiles. He looks about as happy as I feel. We kiss once more and then he says:

"Well, time to get up, I suppose. Tonks will start to wonder."

"Oh let her wonder! There's enough people to start breakfast, doesn't have to be us!" I protest.

But he's getting up slowly and I follow. We pick up our clothes and put on our dressing gowns, then we go downstairs to take a shower and get dressed. The bathroom is clear and we take our time for the shower.

When we finally sit down at the breakfast table, Tonks is there already and pushes the Daily Prophet under my nose. Special Sunday edition. Death Eater arrested – Identification unsure, but looks like Peter Pettigrew, I read. Oh dear. The article tells the story a bit twisted, but basically correct:

"A Death Eater has been arrested last night while attempting to break into a Safe House for some Hogwarts students at an undisclosed location. A teacher and students have stunned the Death Eater whose name seems to be Peter Pettigrew. Magical citizens who have lived through the War against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the late Seventies will remember Peter Pettigrew to have been allegedly killed in the London street incidence of November 1st 1981, when Sirius Black was supposed to have murdered Pettigrew and twelve Muggles with one curse. It seems that this case will now have to be unrolled again and investigated.

This reporter has to ask several questions regarding that incident. The very first has to be if this Death Eater is the same Peter Pettigrew who was murdered. Especially considered the fact, that Peter Pettigrew was supposed to be a firm follower of the Light and had been awarded with an Order of Merlin, first class, after his heroic death.

The next question is consequently, whether Sirius Black really was a Death Eater himself, after having supported the Light for several years as an Auror. It seems that no one in his closer surrounding could ever understand why he had been working for the Dark Lord in the first place and were completely shocked when they heard about the murder of James and Lily Potter on October 31st 1981. No one had suspected Black to be a follower of the Dark Lord. His friends finally settled on the fact that the Black family has a certain reputation of being rather dark. Had he been a follower of You-Know-Who?

And finally the most important question must be how did Pettigrew survive, if it is indeed the same Peter Pettigrew who was supposed to have been killed?

Investigations are starting, has been the sole comment from the Ministry of Magic."

"Not very informative," I remark and hand Tonks the paper back.

"No, but the Ministry will probably remain tight-lipped for a while. We can only hope that Dumbledore will be close by in the investigations. Kingsley certainly will be, since he's heading the search Aurors who are after you," Tonks says.

"What really makes me mad is that they put a lot of blame on you all the time, Sirius! As if Lily and I weren't in the position to tell them it wasn't you who murdered all those Muggles," James rants.

"And I hope, that Dumbledore finally opens up his mouth a bit. He's been keeping everyone in the dark long enough. I mean we're all willing to fight Voldemort, but if he continues to hold back information that might help us…" Harry throws in and trails off.

I have to nod. It's true, we've not been informed very well. In the last war he had been equally close-mouthed about things, treating all people on a 'doesn't need to know more than absolutely necessary' basis and that led to most of the distrust among us four friends. Remus probably thinks the same, but he won't accept disrespect of Dumbledore, so he looks at Harry darkly.

"I don't want to show disrespect, but what he does seems counterproductive in my eyes. He thinks I'll be important to fight the thing, but he won't really go to lengths as to show me how and when. It's infuriating."

"I quite understand your feelings, Harry, but I'm sure Albus wants you all to stick to what your first duty is at the moment: learning. You're by no means a fully trained wizard yet and with all that you've achieved against Voldemort there was always an incredible amount of luck involved."

"That's true," Harry concedes.

"So you have to learn a lot more and that's one of the reasons we're all here. To give us all time to recuperate for that fight. Siri needs it as much as you do."

"But why can't he tell me that?"

"Because it's obvious," James reasons.

We spend the day mostly inside, as the weather is not of the best. In the early afternoon Anana arrives with a message from Dumbledore, that we were to receive an Auror for the next few weeks to guard our house. He reassures me that only Aurors will be used who have been informed of my innocence and who believe it. Kingsley is to handpick them. Tonks is told to stay at our place for a week and to watch the map during night shifts. We decide to take some of the guard duty and the students immediately accept a four hour duty in the evening. They will be doing their homework setting a table in front of the map, always two of them.

Harry and Hermione take the first shift. Ginny and Ernie follow on Monday, Blaise and Justin take over Tuesday, the Patil twins do it on Wednesday, Mandy, Ron and Morag watch on Thursday evening, Remus and I take over Friday and James and Lily will have the Saturday shift. Tonks relieves them at eleven in the evening and stays there until early in the morning.

Lily

At the festive dinner we finally get our chance to tell the gang our news. Harry and Hermione both know, but they have kept the secret. I get the attention of the whole family and tell them:

"James and I have some news for you. By the time Harry celebrates his next birthday, he'll probably do it already as the big brother of whatever swims in here!" and I point to my belly.

The first who are up to congratulate us are Sirius and Remus. I'm not surprised, but it's so good to see them happy. Remus embraces me and I promise:

"This time will be your turn for the godfather, Remus. That child might need someone more serious, since we're determined to have it grow up with us. You know how corrupting James will be!"

Remus grins and asks:

"How do you know that I won't be just as bad?

Tonks

It's remarkably easy to watch the area with this map. It's spying around the warded area so well that I can see everyone who moves around, but luckily there's never a Death Eater. Since this is far out in the country there are hardly ever any people to see. The road comes off the small road through the big forest and only leads to this farmhouse.

The longer I stay here the more I'm convinced that Pettigrew's was a rogue action to try and catch someone out of the group. Maybe he was over cross with Voldemort and wanted to make up by capturing anyone from Harry's surrounding. It would have been easy to lure Harry anywhere if there was someone he loved being caught. And Harry would have run blindly out to save anyone in his closer surrounding, he is that way. He'd even risk his neck to save Dobby or Winky. Luckily the plan hasn't worked.

We get more information about the Ministry investigation. Of course Fudge still tries to deny Voldemort is back, but once they have Pettigrew under Veritaserum he surely must be believed. Hopefully it will be possible to make the investigators believe that the Dark Mark on his forearm is indeed a proof that he's a Death Eater.

On Wednesday we get another owl from Dumbledore telling us that the important questions had been asked Pettigrew about two dozen times and that he of course stated the right answers under the Veritaserum and repeated them over and over in the same wording. According to Dumbledore Fudge went as far as ordering a triple dose of the truth serum before he believed what he heard.

Friday morning I'm tired from my watch, but I decide to stay on to watch how Siri manages as a teacher. I come back from having some breakfast and take a seat close to the map on the wall to watch. The students take their seats. From the way their school materials lie on the tables I suppose that they sit at the same place every day. Sirius comes in and says:

"Well, we'll continue with what we started last Friday. As you know by now, the best results in transfigurations are achieved with a very lively fantasy. You need to have the image of what you want to get in your head. That's what makes it possible to actually transfigure something small into something entirely different. What do you think is the most difficult part in transfiguring a small object into a larger and completely different one?"

Hermione, Harry, Blaise, both of the twins and Ginny have their arms in the air immediately. Sirius picks Ginny to reply:

"I think it's the mass. Like when you used those pebbles to make furniture. You had only the tiny bit of stone, but you produced a large amount of mass."

"Very good, Ginny, that's five points for Gryffindor. And what else?"

This time he picks Blaise.

"The material itself. You had a stone pebble and you made wood or fabric out of it."

"Very good again, Blaise, take five points for Slytherin. Anything else? Parvati!"

"Colour and form."

"That's right again. Another five points for Gryffindor. Now we have several points to reflect and to keep in our minds while speaking the incantations for the actual transfiguration. How do we decide on the correct spells for the different aspects?"

"We can decide ad hoc or we can use pre-defined spells for more regular transfigurations," Hermione says.

Sirius casually works his students closer to the actual exercising of such transfigurations. I remember how Minerva McGonagall used to lecture and think that these kids are damn lucky to have Sirius as a teacher. He seems quite sure of what he does and looks at ease standing in front of eleven students. I catch myself following the lesson with the same interest as he gets from the students and when he notices he asks me one of his questions. And I grin and have to actually search for the answer in my brain. I'm so far beyond the stage of using theory in transfiguration I don't know the answer. He grins and tells the kids:

"You see, you're closer to it than Tonks. She's actually so good at it by now that she doesn't need to decide what kind of incantation she'll need to do a successful transfiguration, she just does it. You will get there one day. Most people forget a lot of what they learn in theory and most people are unable to transfigure something inanimate into something animate by the time they're out of school for more than a year. So – let's start practicing. You get a bunch of small items and you try to make anything larger out of it. The only thing not allowed is something closely related to whatever object I give you. In other words, if I give you a pebble you're not to make a larger stone out of it or just giving it another colour. You're to make something as different as a book or a quill out of it. Okay? Get going then. First one to get a significant difference gets 20 points."

He walks around and helps them with ideas and spells. Hermione is the only one who gets some change in her feather. It has become a broom. Sirius gives her the 20 points, but remarks:

"Actually, that was unfair to the rest of the class, I should give those 20 points to the second one who achieves it. It was predictable without a crystal ball or tea leaves, that Hermione would be the first. So there's a second chance, people!"

The kids all snicker to that and I laugh. I know he never liked Divination much. He is, after all, really a product of McGonagall's teaching. He's rarely as reasonable, but he definitely has the same sharp intellect and sense of the reality.

After a double period of Transfiguration they continue with Arithmancy, another double lesson. I'm leaving to go and take a nap, then I return for lunch and then I want to watch them doing Potions. Again Sirius has no problems with lecturing. He does it the same way he's worked in Transfigurations in the morning, working through the theory by asking them questions. After twenty minutes they are set to work on the day's potion. Sirius lets down a white board on which he sends the recipe for the potion with his wand. A pen of some sort writes the text on the board. The students copy it, then vanish out of the classroom. Sirius turns to me and grins.

"So, how do you enjoy watching me teach, dear cousin?"

I have to grin.

"Looks like you do this well, Sirius. Where are they?"

"Oh, just getting the supplies from our store. It's down in the cellar below the kitchen. They'll be right back."

"Do you like teaching?"

"I was a bit insecure in the beginning, but I'm beginning to really like it, yes. I never knew I could do it. Remus helps me a lot of course."

"Kind sweet soul that he is," I say with a grin.

Sirius

She gives me food for thought without knowing it. I've never really had another purpose in life but fight Voldemort since I've left school. Not exactly a healthy start in my adult life it was either. I never even had the time to stop and think what I wanted to do with my life and all of a sudden life seems to just show me the answer to a question I never asked. Remus was always regarded as the 'professor' amongst the four of us. He was the one who dedicated much of his time to help Wormtail. In fact, if it hadn't been for Remus, Wormtail would probably have been unable to scratch up even one NEWT. As it was he managed two, one in History and one in Potions. I thought about my own career at school. I was brilliant enough to have it easy, so I did get ten OWLS and another six NEWTS. Since I was not quite the son my parents wanted they probably brushed it aside, but I wouldn't know since I left that house the first moment I could.

Do I like teaching? I repeat that question in my head while I watch the students start their work on today's potion, which is a morphing solution working only on inanimate objects. It compliments our Transfiguration discipline right now, I think amusedly. Then I return to the question which is now firmly planted in my head. Do I like teaching and would I consider teaching as a full time profession? If I'm ever in a position to even choose a career of course. I think about the discussions among the students about their other teachers and how they curse Snape. They all despise him, even the Slytherins in the group. It's no wonder they hate him, because he clearly shows them how much he dislikes them and how he makes them miserable. I do know all about Harry's encounters with the greasy git, he hasn't written about them ever, but since we've come here he's told me about all of them. Looks, like he's doing it again and again, picking on… Oops, I need to interfere here…

"Parvati, don't put that essence of mandrake root in yet!"

She stops, looks at the recipe and blushes.

"Thanks," she says.

"You're welcome. Wouldn't want a potion exploding in our lovely classroom, now would we?" I say soothingly and grin.

"No, we wouldn't. Though someone else would have just waited for that and then take the opportunity to really, really rant and dock a huge amount of points…"

She continues to work. She usually works together with Padma, but today she's doing her potion with Morag, who's not all too good at the subject. Which is probably why she didn't notice Parvati making the mistake in the first place.

When I pass Tonks she asks me:

"Was that a blow at Snape?"

"What do you think? They hate him even more than he hates them. You can achieve certain results by making them so miserable, but I think in the end it's counterproductive. They are clearly having a good time here and therefore try their best. Though his strict ways has given them a better basis than they will ever know they have. Even if he tells them they're not good enough to even turn up in his classroom he knows they will almost all be able to brew a potion they've never done before by simply reading a recipe."

"You're actually defending him? Wow… Siri, I'm impressed. I was one of his victims, too, you know…"

"I'm not. Not really. I've just been thinking that it's almost impossible to really teach without loving it. If you don't like teaching you'll be a lousy teacher, I'm sure. Suppose you have to ask the kids what they think. Therefore they're the critics … "

"I just wonder what it is that makes Dumbledore stick to Snape. I mean, he's really one fucked up personality…" Tonks says.

"I don't know what it is precisely, but I have several ideas. One is that Dumbledore kept him out of Azkaban. Snape was a Death Eater which he doesn't deny and he is one at the moment, only we know he's double crossing Voldemort. And I trust him not to double cross Dumbledore. Another is that Snape needs to have an eye on Slytherin house. He's the one who can keep them in line. Then there is the understanding between them which I don't like, but which I have to live with as it's none of my business. I don't even know if it's any of those reasons that tie Snape to Dumbledore. But with Voldemort back again Hogwarts is certainly the place to keep Snape safe and nurture him back if he gets the outpour of Voldemort's wrath. Which he probably gets quite often until we get rid of the vermin."

"That hits home. All of it, I think. And maybe some other things, too."

"Well possible. You know how Dumbledore hates it if people try to peek into his cards. He's like an oyster. Nothing he doesn't want out comes out of him. No wonder Harry is so frustrated. I know I am sometimes. But at the moment I have enough to distract me to not dwell on it too much. Maybe that's all Dumbledore's doing, though, keep us too busy to think."

"Could be."

I look at the clock and see that there's not much time left now. I check the kids' work. Except for one cauldron they're all done and the last one is close. I have a couple of small bits of wood ready to try the potions. The kids have all worked well today, all the potions work on the wood and morph the small logs into flat boards. I give them some homework, to read up on a more advanced version of the potion which would be used to get a specific result, not a random one.

"Take lots of nice little notes, please, this will be your next test! But we'll still talk about it before you brew the potion as a test. You need examples. Try to find as specific texts as possible."

They gather their stuff, empty their cauldrons and clean the workspace, then the day is over for them. I pick up my books and notes and accompany Tonks over to the living room. She sits down on the sofa and asks:

"Up to a game of chess, Siri?"

"Yes, why not? I'll just quickly take this over to the desk and clean up."

Remus

I hear Sirius and Tonks coming back from the classroom. Siri comes and deposits his stuff on his desk and clears up.

"Hey there, love!"

He comes around to kiss me. I return the favour and get up. I've been reading and notice it's time for some other stuff than straining my brain.

"What are you up to?" I ask Siri.

"Tonks has asked me for a game of chess…"

"Fine. I come and watch!"

Sirius summons the chess set and the board and puts it down on the coffee table. Tonks sits down on one of the armchairs, Siri takes the couch and I sit next to him, idly playing with his long hair while I watch them play. It's very quiet in the room until there's more activity from the students in the kitchen and the front room. James and Lily have gone over to the kids. While Tonks concentrates on one of her next moves I suggest:

"How about a sleighing outing on one of the next Wednesdays when we do Muggle Studies, Siri? I know how much fun it is and the kids would certainly love it."

"Sleighing? I don't think I've ever done that."

"You get those two or three person sledges and just go down a long slope, usually on a mountain road which is prepared for that. There's already quite a lot of snow higher up and there are several tracks we can choose from. We could swap and take a weekend and go up to Bergün. I have an aunt not too far away from there and she's got that huge house where she lives all by herself. I'm sure we could kip there."

"That does sound like fun, Remus. Let's check with her."

"As long as it's not Christmas, she's always got a bunch of her offspring in the house then. But otherwise we'd surely be welcome. It's perfect for skiing up there, you know."

"You have a load of very convenient relatives, Remus," Tonks remarks.

I laugh and tell her that my mother's family is huge.

"She was one of about three in her generation of siblings and cousins who chose to go to Hogwarts rather than Beauxbatons. And she had four siblings and at least fifteen cousins. Most of them are spread over Switzerland. Family name is Chevrolet. They originally came from the western part of the country and were all French speaking, but they branched out about fifty years ago. Now I have aunts, uncles and cousins as far apart as Geneva or the Graubünden, where afore mentioned aunt resides. She got there through her husband who was a Muggle. Her three children are all squibs. She's the only witch in that family and hardly uses magic. I'm not even sure if her grandchildren are aware of the fact that she's a witch."

Tonks decides to move a pawn to protect one of her free standing bishops. Sirius looks over the board and tries to guess what her intentions are. He directs a knight forward.

After a while I get up and go to the kitchen to check the preparation of the dinner. Then I see Anana coming to the window and open the door for her. She flies inside and lands on my shoulder while I close the door again. It's getting awfully cold outside now! Monday will be Zibelemärit (yearly onion market in Bern) and I intend to rouse them VERY early to get there and have some fun! I'm still musing about that and take the letter off Anana's leg. Anana flies over to the owl perch in the class room and I bring her something to nibble. Then I sit down at the kitchen table to read the letter.

"Dear Remus and Sirius This is the outcome of our case at the Ministry. Kingsley has taken Pettigrew back to the security wards inside the Ministry and questioned him under Veritaserum and with a whole array of witnesses around, the last questioning yesterday even allowed three reporters. You know that already. The most important outcome of the questioning is that Fudge now believes in Sirius' innocence. The sentence to the Dementor's Kiss therefore has been lifted and he's not a fugitive anymore. However it will be necessary that Sirius accepts being questioned as well. Fudge has already set the date of Pettigrew's trial. It's on 10th January next year. He suspects that we know where Sirius is and has ordered me to let him know that he'll be asked to testify. The most positive in this summoning is the fact that Sirius will NOT be the defendant, but a witness! We can safely say there's nothing to fear for him to come home right now. So please return to Hogwarts a day or two before the trial starts, Sirius, so we can go over the testimony you're to give. Albus Dumbledore "

"YAY!" I cry out.

Then I jump up and rush over to the living room to hand Sirius the letter. While he reads I drape my arms around his shoulders and bury my face in his robes. The tears of happiness roll and I can't hold them back anymore. I cry openly and when he's read the letter, he bawls along with me.

"What's wrong with you two?" Tonks asks

I notice that Sirius just drops the parchment on the chess board. Tonks' queen loudly protests about being mistreated like this, but we don't care. Three minutes later, Tonks says:

"Sirius! I can't believe it – you're free! You're free! Wow, you're FREE!"

She jumps up, comes around the coffee table and hugs us both. Sirius hasn't been able to say one word yet. He still cries. After so many years he's finally allowed to hold his head up again – it's such an incredibly good feeling! Finally I look up and tell Tonks:

"You're going to watch the kids with James and Lily for the rest of the weekend! I take Sirius out! This is something we want to celebrate just the two of us, okay?"

"Sure, no problem! You two go make yourselves beautiful, I will baby-sit!"

And she grins. I think that grin must spread over all four of her cheeks. It takes a moment until Siri finds his composure again, then we get up. I take the letter and we go over to look for the students. We find most of them in their common room, including James and Lily.

"Hey!" I call softly. "Can you put out the sound on the telly for a moment?"

Hermione turns the telly off completely and looks up at us.

"What's wrong with you two? You cried?" she asks.

"Yes, we cried. Nothing unhappy though. Read that letter!"

Hermione picks up the letter and reads it aloud. The longer she reads, the more excited she looks and finally she almost screams:

"Sirius! You're free! That basically says you're free!"

She drops the letter on the table, jumps up and hugs Sirius, closely followed by Lily, James, Harry, Ron and Ginny, then even the other students come and give him a hug. Sirius still hasn't said one word, but I know he will find his speech again sooner or later. He still has tears streaming down his face. Ginny looks up and asks:

"Do you think we could be coming with you for that trial?"

"I don't know yet, Ginny, but I know that Harry, Ron and Hermione will probably be called as witnesses, too. I think they at least will be allowed to go, but maybe we can take you along for the ride. I'm going to write a reply to Albus now and then Sirius and I will go out tonight! So you guys are allowed to stay up as long as you want, but remember to let the house stand in one piece, okay? I feel the need to take Sirius out and celebrate only the two of us…"

"Quite understandable. We won't expect you back early!" Harry says with a cheeky grin.

"Lily, James and Tonks are there to baby-sit you all… and no, don't expect us before Sunday afternoon!" I shoot back!

James

Finally! Finally they saw reason! Finally my friend will be able to live a very normal life again, openly and free! We send them both off to a weekend of celebration among themselves, which they really deserve now. Remus looks something up in the computer and then calls a hotel and tells us, that he's found a room in the Montreux Palace Hotel for the two coming nights. Off with you two, go and celebrate as much as you possibly can and don't worry about the gang. We'll look after them. Sirius is completely unable to even utter a word. The poor fellow is so surprised and happy, he just keeps crying. Can't blame him! He's got every reason on earth to be happy.

Now if we could only get rid of Riddle, rather earlier than later, then I'd be completely happy. Even though this here is a happy exile, it still is an exile and I would like to end it as soon as possible. Unfortunately it all goes down to the fact that my son seems to be the one who has to do it. But until then I watch my wife getting more and more round and hopefully bear a healthy child. I am so happy we're pregnant. I've been an only child, my parents were elderly when they got me late in life, so I was the apple of their eyes, but I would prefer a real family, with a boisterous gang of kids, who would be a never ending source of laughter and happiness. And I do hope that Harry will find the way to that, too.

Sirius

I'm still numb. The letters in front of me flow into each other and I'm trying to focus, but I really only see one thing. The Dementors are called back and I'm free!

I think I'm still crying on the way down to Lützelflüh. Remus has called a very noble hotel in Montreux and gotten a nice room with the view over the Lac Léman. It's late November, but who cares – even if it would snow or if the weather turns the worst kind of depressing I'd never notice I think. We've packed some of our best clothes in an overnight suitcase and were off. He's driving and I just sit next to him, my left hand on his right thigh and I'm still bawling.

"Come on, Siri, get a grip! We're going to spend a weekend in a luxury hotel! Just you and I and a lovely suite!"

I smile through my tears. Finally I manage the words:

"Thank you, love! I'm so happy, I don't know how to talk anymore!"

"That's okay… you're paying for the weekend, after all, so it's me who has to thank you!"

"You know that all that money in the Gringotts vault is yours as good as mine. And now we'll have access to the whole Black wealth as well. I'm rather fond of spending some for some foolish things! It's more than we can ever spend anyway."

"You need that, love! You need to be cuddled and treated with the best now! I'm glad there's money that belongs to you and you can use it now. You deserve a whole lot of money from the Ministry on top of that, even if no one can repay you for fourteen lost years. After all, Fudge and Crouch are directly responsible for your suffering."

"I just want to be left in peace, Remus! I just want to know that I'm not hunted anymore. All I want now is to live with you and forget the rest of the world. We've both lost enough. Teaching the kids is an option, that's something I can see myself do. Get lost in doing that and living with you. In the end it all comes to that, I just want to be with you for as long as we both live!" I say in a low voice.

"I love you, Paddy!"

We are now reaching the highway and we get on in the direction of Bern. It's half past five and we have about two hours to drive to Montreux. I still can't believe we got a suite for the two nights right away. Of course it's totally off season, so it's to be expected that they have rooms free. I'm excited, the Montreux Palace is a very exclusive place and I'm still amazed that Remus just went and booked the most expensive hotel in a fairly exclusive town on the shores of the Lake Geneva. I'm going to go shopping with him tomorrow and we'll have two wonderful nights together.

Remus concentrates on the road and after passing Bern changes in the direction to Lausanne. We reach Montreux at half past seven and check in. The car gets taken to the garage. We get to our room and it takes my breath away. It's huge with an open bedroom and a rather large sofa with two armchairs and a coffee table. There's an antique wardrobe and the desk looks just as antique as the rest of the furniture. The bathroom is big and contains a tub big enough for the two of us. But we dress up and decide to go and have dinner at Harry's New York Bar. There's live music from a jazzy orchestra and the food is very international. We choose something Italian and enjoy our time together. We have a small table. Remus sits to my right and while we wait for the food we enjoy our drinks. I look at him and smile.

"So what do we do tonight?"

"We eat, then we'll go and find a club to dance until we almost drop dead and then we come back and make love. Then we'll take a nap, wake up and make love again. Then we might get some more sleep and if it's morning by the time we wake up we call home to see if everything is okay, then we'll have breakfast to our room and maybe make some more love…"

I lean in and shut him up by kissing him. He pulls away and asks with that incredibly beautiful cheeky grin he only shows me:

"Something you don't like in that plan?"

"It's very detailed, Remy… what's not to like?"

"Oh, it's not complete! I've only planned tonight. There's still tomorrow. What do we do tomorrow? We take a walk obviously, we do want to see where we are, don't we? We might take a ship to Lausanne and back, since you don't have a passport, Evian is out of the question as it's over in France. We do some shopping in Lausanne and here… then we might take a swim in the indoors pool here and go back to our room to make some love before we go to dinner."

"You're wonderful, love! That sounds like the most wonderful weekend we've ever spent in our life! HA! I can just hear the disgust in my mother's screech. She'd be outraged if she knew about how I'm spending the family's wealth! Makes me want to do this more often…"

"Oh please, let's leave your mother out of this… she has a habit of spoiling your mood, even if she's been dead these past ten or so years."

"They told me in Azkaban. They couldn't know that this was one of the few things that brightened my mood in that place. Gosh, she should have been sitting there much rather than I. After all she thought Voldemort had his ideas right. So you're right, I'm leaving her out of this. There is one little thing I must add to tomorrow's plan, sweetheart."

"What's that?"

"One of our shopping stops will be at a jewellery. I want us to wear rings again."

He looks at me with golden eyes full of admiration. I gaze inside and feel tears well up again. He pulls my hand to his lips and kisses my fingers, then leans in and kisses me tenderly on my cheek.

"I agree with your suggestion, love."

The waitress brings the food. She places the plates gently in front of us and wishes us "bon appetit, messieurs," then we taste the food which is great. We take our time to eat, add a nice dessert and finish our meal with coffee and finally Remus pays with our credit card. This is one thing I'm still not used to and I find it amazing. Remus really knows his ways in this Muggle world much better than I do. We get up and walk past the reception area, where Remus asks the attendant for a good dancing club. We have to go to Lausanne for what we want, as the season is dead here and the only real dancing club plays only techno, house and the likes, not something for our mood. We want it more romantic. So we're on our way to Lausanne, where we find a better choice of clubs. We decide to apparate. And then we spend the next few hours arm in arm and not caring if people stare at us because we're two guys. Someone spits at us in French that we belong in a gay bar, but Remus just coolly tells him that we do not appreciate ghettos.

It's almost three o'clock when we find a dark corner and return to Montreux. We find our way back inside and get the key to our room. Remus almost starts undressing me in the lift!

Remus

What a delightful evening that was! Now we'll add a delightful night of making love! The room is a dream! I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow, Siri will love the view over the lake and into the Alps. He unlocks the door and we get in, locking the door with a spell and in the next moment I feel his lips on mine. I quickly push down the jacket of his suit, start pulling open his tie and work on the buttons on his shirt. He never stops kissing me, holding me in his arms and running his hands over my back. I'm almost purring and if I don't watch out I'll melt! We do get undressed though and he drops down on his knees and sucks my cock right into his mouth. I gasp.

Merlin, it's good! I've had an erection for quite a while, but now I'm feeling my cock hardening even more. It feels so good. So good… I need to hold myself up by putting my hands on his shoulders. I close my eyes to feel even more of it. Finally I grab my wand and cast silencing charms to the walls, floor and ceiling. I drop the wand on the coffee table and still he keeps sucking, licking the tip of my cock and it will only take a few more seconds, yes! I come, right into his throat and he swallows every single drop of my seed. I slowly open my eyes and look down on him. Gosh, he's so beautiful. He's the most beautiful creature in this world and I have him back for good. I smile at him and sink down on the floor. He embraces me again and pulls me close, then we both sink down on the soft carpet, but I protest:

"Love, we'd better move to that wonderful bed over there!"

He chuckles and nods. We have a bit of a hard time getting up and stagger to the bed, but we both enjoy sinking down on this wonderful king-sized bed. It's huge!

"Lovely playground…" Siri says with an amused smile.

"Stop talking, Pads, I want to feel that nice hard thing inside of me!" I retort and touch his cock.

Oh, but he's hard! And oh, how I want that hardness inside of me. He doesn't make me wait, he's impatient as well. I roll onto my stomach and he prepares me quickly before plunging inside. I gasp again, but softly, it's so good. He has his knees drawn up along my body and pushes, slowly at first, then increasing speed. All the while he caresses my back and my shoulders with both his hands. Then he leans down, stretches his legs again and pulls us around, so that I'm now lying on top of him. I'm only a bit shorter than Sirius, so my head gets to rest on his shoulder. I'm turning my face to reach his throat. He tilts his head back to give me access and I bite him lightly, while he continues to thrust inside of me. I can now hold against easily and since this is a slow rhythm it takes a long time until he comes. I'm hard again long before that and he starts to pump my cock until we almost share the orgasm. I come first, driven over the edge by his constant rubbing over the most sensitive spot on my cock and teasing my prostate at the same time with his thrusts. My clenching muscles send him over the edge just after that. I just pull up the blankets and cover us both before I lie back on his body and we find sleep.

Sirius

Gosh, that was good. Not much, or even very long, but intensive. All we could muster after a long night out and all the dancing. Hell, he feels nice. I never want to leave him, but I must have fallen asleep after a few minutes, because when I wake up the day is dawning and we get a few rays of sunshine through those wonderful thick curtains. They're of a very warm dark red and I disentangle myself from my lover, get up and pull them apart. Now I can see that our room has a small balcony. Actually it's more like a bay window, with hardly a frame, only glass. The glass can be pushed aside though. Slowly I walk back to the bed and look down on my sleeping lover.

My heart is pounding every time I look at him or think of him. I love him and I know I'll always love him. It's not his beauty alone, it's the whole package. Remus spells lovable! Oh, I know there's a monster raging inside of him, but Remus is the master of that beast. And a subdued Moony is a lovable Moony. He's the most beautiful wolf! The black pupils become slits and look like torpedoes in a golden sea when there's light and when it's dark they almost fill his eyes, just leaving a golden corona. I can't even say which version I find more beautiful. And when he's human… I don't think I could even name all the reasons why I love him.

I sit down on the bed and draw up my knees. I rest my chin on them while I watch him sleep. No, I'll not wake him up. He needs his sleep. He's the one who carries the whole responsibility for our numerous 'family' and I know he doesn't, can't take it lightly. But then he can rarely take things lightly these days. Maybe we'll get back to a more carefree life now? I feel like spun into a cocoon in that wonderful farmhouse of ours. Okay, the Sunnegg (sunny nook) is only rented, but I suppose we're going to buy it eventually.

He stirs and turns onto his side, facing me. Then his arm feels around for me and he wakes up, because he doesn't find me. He opens his eyes and sees me right next to him. He smiles that wonderful smile, the one only I get to see. His mouth opens a wee bit for it and his pearly white teeth show through the still rosy lips. I turn around, lean in and kiss him tenderly. He wraps his arms around me and kisses me back. I sneak back under the blankets next to him to feel his skin, share his warmth. We just hold each other and kiss for a while. Then I look at the clock and see that it's close to nine already. Shortly after that there's a soft knock on the door and the breakfast we've ordered the day before is served. I cover Remus and quickly dress into my dressing gown. I go to get the door and let the waiter in. He rolls a nicely sized table into the room and I tell him to just leave it next to the coffee table.

I notice too late that Remus' wand still lies there. The waiter stares, but doesn't ask any questions, I give him a tip and he leaves the room. I lift the cover from the table. There's coffee for me, a pot of tea for Remus, scrambled eggs and a few rashes of bacon, fresh bread, a plate with assorted cheeses, butter, several tiny glass jars of jam and some honey. Then there is a plate with ham slices and other assorted sausages.

I lay everything out on the coffee table. Remus gets up and joins me, wearing nothing but his skin. I grin and finally wish him a good morning in words:

"Good morning, love. Care for a spot of breakfast?"

"Good morning, Siri. Oh yes, I do! This looks rather lovely, don't you think?"

"It does… here, have some tea!"

I pour a cup for him and then a cup of coffee for myself. I add a spoonful of sugar to my coffee and then turn to my plate of eggs and bacon. We enjoy a lengthy breakfast, not looking at the time. When we finally get up we decide to take advantage of the good weather and stroll along the main road of Montreux, which stretches for a fair bit. There are about two dozen jewellers' shops. We walk through four of them, looking at all the rings and finally decide on two simple gold bands, both with a single inlaid diamond. We ask the shop assistant to have our names engraved and today's date. It doesn't even take long. We do take the little boxes for the rings, but we put them on right outside of the shop.

"Oh, it feels so good to have a ring again! Let everyone know we belong together, love!" I say and pull Remus close for a kiss.

"Property of Remus Lupin! That's what I should have engraved in your ring, sweetheart!" he teases me.

"Well, I don't think I can find anything wrong in that. Want me to get a tattoo on my bum?" I tease back.

"Not a bad idea. But a wizarding one with a wolf running around it!"

"Now there's a good idea. Moony running around on my body! But I bet he'll mostly behave and nap somewhere."

"Padfoot wouldn't. Padfoot would constantly bark and play and run after rabbits or butterflies and tease grey tabby cats with square markings around the eyes!"

Oh, he can tease me evilly! Reminding me of my encounter with McGonagall back in sixth year when I accidentally met her on the grounds and chased her up a tree! I'm only glad she seems to have forgotten about that black dog once she's known about my Animagus form. But he makes me laugh and we hold hands on our walk to the next shop we're in the mood to visit. A few boutiques and about two or three purchases later it's almost four o'clock and the shops close. We walk back to the hotel, put down our bags and take swimming trunks and bathrobes down to the pool. It's a beautiful large area sparkling with light. We use the changing rooms to change into our swimming trunks and drop towels and bathrobes on two deck chairs. I fix my hair into a pony tail. Then we go into the water which is heated to a very nice temperature. We swim for a while and play in the water. There are only three other guests using the pool, so we have all the space to move around.

We have fun for at least an hour before we leave the pool to the sauna. We shed our trunks and bathrobes and enjoy a lengthy sauna, with intermissions in a pool of cold water. After the third round we just relax in the comfortable resting chairs, then we grab our bathrobes and our clothes again and return to our room. We shed the bathrobes and drop on the bed for another round of love making. We're so relaxed it's one of the most memorable sessions ever. We slowly, very slowly reach our climax and it's absolutely marvellous, the way we both come within moments from each other. We kiss for long whiles, just kiss and caress each other. Sometimes I have the feeling that a kiss from Remus is better than penetration, because it's more intimate than anything. His lips are so warm, so soft. I drift off…

Remus

…when I wake up it's almost eight and time for dinner. We get dressed, black trousers, white shirt, black dinner jacket, tie. Both of us look amazingly elegant. It feels strange on me. But then we leave and try the other main restaurant in the hotel, because we're too tired to go out and look for anything outside the hotel. It's French cuisine, very refined and we share a canard à l'orange. It tastes wonderful. I choose a fine Bourgogne wine and we enjoy the bottle together, deciding to rather take the tipsiness and walk back to our room instead of going out. Both, the food and wine are excellent. We move on to the bar for a few drinks before we find our way back into our room. Now that we're nicely relaxed and feel so well our lovemaking gets more intense. Sirius takes me and I reciprocate, give him whatever he wants and I find pleasure in doing so. When we finally pull up the blankets to sleep we've enjoyed several orgasms.

We have to leave the room just before eleven, so we sleep in and enjoy another nice breakfast in our room. Then we pack and go down to the reception to hand in the key and settle the bill. I'm really not someone who needs all that luxury, but I've enjoyed our weekend, which was almost like a honeymoon, albeit a bit short for a honeymoon. My credit card is accepted and I sign the bill. We have to wait for a moment as our car is brought from the garage. Then we board it and take off, back to our cosy home in the Emmental.

"This was the most wonderful, awesome thing we've ever done together, Remus! Should I die tomorrow I'd die a happy man, no, the happiest man on earth! I think we should do something like this every once in a while from now on. Celebrate our love!" Padfoot says.

"Gets a bit costly, my dear. Do you know how much we spent for just two nights?"

"Nah. Don't want to know either."

"Okay, I won't tell you then. But let me say it was a considerable amount of galleons."

He just laughs. We get on the highway and a good two hours later we return to our farmhouse on the hill. We find two Aurors there who are on duty to check the area. They are a bit miffed as the kids have just told them we were out of the house over the weekend. But I tell them it's not what happens usually around here.

Then we tell the kids they will have to get up at four o'clock the next morning.

"Four in the morning?" Ron wails.

"Four in the morning. That is if you want to come with us to the Zibelemärit in Bern. Otherwise you can get up at the normal time and write an essay," I offer.

He looks at me with so much disgust I have to laugh. They decide to put the alarms on four o'clock in the morning.

Ginny

Well, getting up that early is a bit hard. But I find my way downstairs, still with my eyes half closed. We're welcomed with a mug of hot chocolate, sweetened with lots of sugar, which wakes me up in no time. We're all dressed in warm clothes, boots, jeans, t-shirts, sweaters and coats or thick jackets, as it's cold outside. Remus explains that the Zibelemärit often marks the first snow in Bern and once outside I think it smells like snow. We don't have any here yet, but a bit further up there is some already. We all file into the car and drive to Burgdorf where we take the train to Bern. There are extra trains from all over Switzerland to reach the Zibelemärit.

Once we get to the city however we're amazed that it's alive with thousands of people who all got up to see the sights early. There's indeed fresh snow and just half an hour after we reached Bern more snow begins to softly fall. We course through the thick throng of people admiring the market stands. There are a lot of different stands, but most of them do indeed sell onions! All sorts of onions which are presented in beautifully crafted braids! There are the small hot red shallots, the regular big white onions, the larger red onions, all lovingly braided to long plaits. Between the onion braids there are some braids made from garlic. Remus buys two of those.

"Tomorrow I'm going to use half of one of these braids to make a garlic soup, you'll love it! I've learned that in Romania, where it gets so very cold in winter that one really needs something like this soup. It warms up the inside wonderfully!"

We have to take care not to get lost, because we're walking through so many people. Sirius and Remus finally gather us and tell us to meet again after two hours at the same spot.

"I think it's impossible to stick together. If you lose us, come here to this spot and at the latest two hours later we'll all get here, okay?" Sirius suggests.

That makes sense. We take good notice of the spot and march off. After a while I'm alone with Ernie, who takes my hand. We've been getting a lot closer in the past few weeks already.

"It's great to be alone with you in this crowd, Ginny. Let's go on together…"

"Just today or longer?" I ask.

"Longer. Definitely longer," her replies immediately.

I squeeze his hand a little and beam at him.

"You're very cute, Ginny and I've liked you for ages. I just hope, Ron lets me live…"

"His bark is much worse than his bite, believe me. Besides that he's got a healthy portion of respect for me, so don't worry," I assure Ernie.

He grins.

"Good to know. Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"Of course!"

He kisses me right in the middle of this huge crowd! It's my first real kiss and I find it perfect! I hold him tight, he holds me tight and we don't care for the masses of people who pass us. Then we walk on, across the big market square. We look at the market stands. Then we pass a stand where we can buy baked bread with melted cheese. It tastes wonderful. We have just finished it when we reach a stand where we can get slices of Zibelechueche, which is a filo dough with onions and a mixture of cream, milk and bacon cubes. We try some and both like it a lot! There's a similar kind of cheese cake, which tastes just as nice.

The time flies. We walk through the town and have great fun. Every two hours we meet at the same point until it's time to have lunch somewhere. Remus has already reserved some tables in an Italian restaurant. We take our time for pizza and wait for the afternoon.

The afternoon, which promises more fun, because there's a huge confetti battle. Everywhere we can see small bags full of confetti being sold. We are already quite colourful by the time we get our own bags of confetti! This is great fun, I have never been in something like this! You pick a handful of your confetti, aim and try to throw them at someone else's face! And no one gets angry, everyone just laughs, children and adults alike. HA! The twins would adore this, only they'd probably invent something to have whole bags spread over the people. Sirius and James definitely enjoy it, too! They're very Slytherin-like and sneaky when they come up from behind and 'smear' a handful of confetti into our mouths.

We only get back to catch the train when it's already past seven. Everyone on the train seems to be full of confetti, at least everyone who's been in the thick of it. We point out people without any confetti and Hermione grins:

"They must have come straight from work and they surely made a wide berth around all this action."