Chapter Ten

As the month progressed Harry slowly started to adjust and open up. He was a quiet boy at first but that started changing when Sirius and Remus started telling him stories about the Marauders' adventures. Harry delighted in these stories and often asked for them as bedtime stories.

"Sirius, Remus"

"Yes Harry" both men answered

"Can you please tell me a Marauder story?"

With that they launched into the story,

"We were in our first year, it was right after Christmas and James had just gotten his invisibility cloak. We set out to get back at Filch, who was the caretaker of Hogwarts, who had given us detention before the holidays. You see his cat, Mrs. Norris, had found us out after curfew. She was too quiet so we snuck out under the invisibility cloak one night and managed to attach a bell to Mrs. Norris. It stayed on her for a few days and we had no more of her sneaking up on us or other students. The best thing was Filch couldn't figure out who had done it."

They finished the story and tucked Harry in. As he drifted off to sleep they snuck out and went downstairs.

Remus started the discussion,

"Sirius, the full moon is in a week. We have to tell Harry."

"Moony, he doesn't need any more worries. He had finally started to open up. Now you can transform in the locked basement with silencing spells. I'll put Harry to bed and then join you downstairs as Padfoot to help you through the night so you don't hurt yourself as much. Nothing will go wrong."

Remus knew Sirius had beaten him and he just hoped Sirius was right that nothing would go wrong. He moved on to the next topic.

"Padfoot, have you talked to Moody about getting your position back?"

"I start up again in two weeks. I just have to get my Auror's license again which Moody is going to help me to do. My status will be a regular Auror with a bit of seniority. Kingsley Shacklebolt is my partner which is great because I knew him all those years ago."

Sirius seemed overjoyed to Remus to talk about going back to work. He had been a great Auror and had been renowned, along with James. Remus knew that Sirius would recover from Azkaban by keeping busy and getting back to what he loved. He just hoped as did Sirius that Harry would accept Sirius working.

Both men retired to their individual bedrooms. Remus's with Gryffindor colors and his usual collection of books. Sirius's with the same color scheme but also school hood pictures and mementos from the past. Also creeping in were a few recent pictures of the three. One was Harry taking his first ride on a broomstick; Padfoot chasing Harry around the yard; Harry sitting on Remus's lap reading a book. For Sirius these pictures reminded him life went on after Azkaban and helped him to recover from his time in the wizarding prison. With one last glance at the pictures, Sirius nodded off to sleep.