"Come on, you old dog, I'll race you. To the other side of the pitch and back," challenged Harry.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "You're on, Cub," he said.

Harry grinned. "Ready, Set – hey!"

Sirius chortled as he flew past Harry, yelling "Go!"

Harry shook his head in amusement, and took off after Sirius. He quickly caught up with him. "You need all the help you can get."

Sirius grinned. "Yeah? Hey, look, there's Red!" he said, looking over Harry's shoulder.

"What? Where?" asked Harry, stopping to turn around and look for Ginny. He couldn't see her any where. Sirius's gleeful laugh told him she was never there.

"You old mongrel," cursed Harry, as Sirius looped the Quidditch posts and prepared for the return flight. "I'll get you for that," he yelled, as Sirius zoomed past him heading for the other end. Sirius's raised middle finger gave Harry the impetus to put his head down, and in the end, the better broom won.

"I need to get me a Firebolt," said Sirius, clapping Harry on the back as they walked off the pitch, broomsticks flung over their shoulders. They were off to meet Hagrid for afternoon tea.

"I don't think they sell them to crazy old dogs," grinned Harry.

"Oy, I'm not that old. In fact, I'm probably in my prime," strutted Sirius.

"That was a low blow you took, telling me Ginny was there," protested Harry. "I would have kicked your ass by more if you hadn't resorted to dirty tricks."

"I'm a Marauder," protested Sirius. "Dirty tricks and pranks are our speciality."

Harry shook his head, laughing, and Sirius clapped him on the shoulder again. From a distance, they could see Hagrid waving to them, his big dog Fluffy beside him.

In truth, Harry had enjoyed the last couple of weeks. He was spending time with his family, rather than having them hovering over him incessantly.

He and Remus had gone to Godric's Hollow to look over his parents old home. The houses on the properties on either side had been demolished a couple of years ago, and Harry had bought the land. While part of him hated to demolish the house his parents had lived in with him as a baby, he couldn't bring himself to move into it, even to extend it. So it was either demolish and re-build, or leave it as an empty shell.

The more Harry thought about it, the more excited he was about building a new home. With the extra land, he could put in his own Quidditch pitch. He decided to pick up some magazines, to get some ideas of what sort of house he wanted. Maybe he could ask Ginny for the guy's names who worked on her cottage. He remembered one of them spoke with an Irish accent.

Again, everything came back to Ginny.

His hormones kept harping on how much he needed her. He thought back to an earlier conversation, with her, when she tried to convince him she just wasn't a sexual person. It would almost be funny if it wasn't odd. Harry couldn't understand why she'd claim something so outrageous. Granted, she tended to wear loose-fitting clothes, that she assumed hid her sexuality. She just didn't realise how much seeing her in her brothers old Quidditch jersey, sliding off one shoulder turned him on. Or her silky knickers. What non-sexual person wore silky underwear?

Harry couldn't understand why she seemed to be holding that part of herself back. She was a life-lover, a giver, a dare anything kind of woman, who stood up for her beliefs. He'd bet the bank on that. She'd been so generous and giving with him, it bugged him that he felt there was something off about it all. Then there was her easy acceptance of no future for them.

"Who does that?" Harry murmured.

Sirius and Hagrid stopped talking and looked at him. "What?"

"I just don't get her. I mean, you meet someone, you work at it and it either works out or it doesn't, right?" asked Harry.

Hagrid looked confused. Sirius looked amused. "You know, if we're going to be talking about women, maybe we should talk about Red."

Harry's head snapped up. "What? I wasn't talking about Ginny," he lied.

"I didn't say you were," said Sirius, smoothly. "I'm guessing your time with her is coming to an end soon, anyway. She's been really great."

Harry stared at Sirius. He had that look on his face, when he met a woman he liked. A couple of dates, then a week or two of sex, and Sirius was done. But not with Ginny, no way.

"No," he said firmly.

"No, why?" asked Sirius.

"No, because," said Harry.

"Ah, looks like Moony was right. You DO have a thing for her," said Sirius, amused.

"I don't – CAN'T have a thing for anyone right now. I don't even know what I'm doing next month. I'm not even sure if I want to go back to the DMLE," said Harry.

"Okay, so you're life isn't on track right now. But you're getting there, Cub. You only had those horrible headaches once last week."

Twice, but Harry had been able to shut one down using some visualisation techniqes Ginny had shown him. Not that he would admit that to Sirius.

"She's got you tied up in knots. When you get better, you'll be strong enough to know what you really want," said Sirius.

'Sirius just didn't get it', thought Harry. Their emotional connection when they made love had rocked his world inside and out. He couldn't let her heal him and love him and give him her all, then ask for nothing in return. He had to find out what was bugging her. She had been distant with him when he'd been having his treatments. Harry wanted to talk. Something, or someone had hurt her. Harry wanted to help her as she was was helping him. Then, they could make love again.

He was glad he had a plan.

Hagrid still looked confused, but cheered up when Sirius asked him about Rosmerta, from the Three Broomsticks tavern in Hogsmeade. Harry barely listened as the two older men talked about people he didn't know.

Some time later, they Apparated away, and returned to Grimmauld Place. Harry realised he had forgotten he was supposed to do some duelling with Tonks, so he rushed up to his room, and got changed.

Sirius and Remus were in the kitchen talking to Andi. By the smell of it, she was preparing tea. Harry poked his head in to say hi, only to be ushered off and told to get a move on, tea would be ready in half an hour.

Harry went to greet Tonks, but said the first words that came to his mind. "Merlin, you look awful."

Tonks smiled weakly. "Thanks, Harry. And you don't have a girlfriend, why...?"

Harry ignored the dig, and came over to her. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Bring it on," she snapped.

Harry held his hands up in surrender. Tonks used the opportunity to fire off a shot. Harry tried to dodge it, but got hit on his hip.

"Hey," he protested.

They moved around the room, firing spells at each other. Tonks's shots grew more wayward as they went. She also seemed to get paler and paler.

"Tonks, don't you -" Harry dodged a spell, that went over his shoulder.

"-think we need to stop -" another went between his legs.

"Some thing is obviously -" one flew over his head, smashing the ceiling light.

"WRONG!" shouted Harry, firing off a spell. It hit Tonks on the shoulder, causing her to spin around and drop down.

"Oh, god, oh my god, oh my god," stuttered Harry, sprinting over to Tonks. He knelt over her. She leaned back against him, tears in her eyes.

"Oh my God, Tonks, I am so sorry," gushed Harry. "Are you hurt? Shall I get Andi?" he implored.

"Hey you two – Tonks, what happened?" asked Remus, coming into their training room. He rushed over to her and knelt down. Tonks left Harry's arms for Remus's and started crying and muttering.

Remus lifted his head. "Andi. We need you here, NOW!" He turned to look at Harry. "What happened?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know. She didn't look right when we started, but she kept firing off spells at me. I finally fired one back, and it hit. I'm sorry, Remus, you know I'd never hurt Tonks."

Harry was upset, but relieved when Remus nodded his head. Remus leaned over Tonks, encouraging her to get up. He kept a tight grip on her as she tried; Harry stayed close on the other side.

Andi and Sirius came running in. "What's going on? Dora, are you all right?" asked Andi, looking worriedly at her daughter.

Tonks gulped and shook her head. "I-I went and saw a healer the other day. He confirmed it. And already my magic is off. I'll need to leave my job and everything," bawled Tonks.

Remus and Andi exchanged horrified looks. Sirius and Harry exchanged worried looks. Remus knelt down on his knees, and brushed the hair off her face.

Tonks looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I know we never really talked about it but..." She started crying again. Then she got mad.

"I hate this. This-this bloody crying. All these hormones going crazy. I'll go mad for the next few months."

Andi gasped, her hand over her mouth. Remus stiffened. A few months, is that all the time they had left?

Sirius placed his hand on Remus's shoulder, offering some comfort. Remus kept his attention on his wife.

"Tonks, what is it?" he asked, gently.

Sniffing and wiping her nose on the back of her hand, Tonks looked at Remus in the eye. "Oh Remus, you...I...we're going to have a baby."

Harry expelled air he wasn't even aware he'd been holding. Andi let out a little shriek of joy. Sirius shook his head from side to side, chuckling softly.

Only Remus didn't react. He simply stared at Tonks, who met his eyes fearfully.

"I-ah, don't think I heard you right. Um, what did you say?" he asked, stunned.

"I'm pregnant," whispered Tonks.

"What?" asked Remus, standing up suddenly. "How?"

Sirius sighed. "Do we have to have 'The Talk again, Moony. It was bad enough with Harry. You see, when a wizard likes a witch-"

"Hey!" protested Harry, smiling.

"You're pregnant? This is amazing!" yelled Remus, picking Tonks up and spinning her around. He stopped and kissed her passionately.

"I'm going to be a grandmother," cried Andi, putting her arms around both Tonks and Remus.

"This calls for a celebration," said Sirius. "Another Marauder is on the way. Who knew Remus had it in him?" he said, cheekily.

"Oy!" cried Remus, unable to keep a big grin off his face.

"Oh, tell me all about it," Andi asked Tonks. The two women went off talking about cycles and hormones and who knew what else.

"You're going to be a great father, Moony," said Sirius.

Remus froze.

"I'm going to be a father. Merlin, I'm going to be someone's father. I...I..."

Remus passed out.

While Sirius fell on the sofa, laughing so hard, Harry knelt down to help Remus. He couldn't help feeling that right now, Remus was the luckiest man in the world.