CHAPTER WARNINGS: Injury and some sexual themes again including very non-explicit implications of dubious consent (in a dream). And because Lily feels it's good to swear.

Chapter Eight

Carry On Wayward Son

He was on the floor. Everywhere hurt.

What began to bring him round was the sensation of someone gently shaking him. He managed to curl himself tighter into the foetal position, and thought fleetingly that this must be what it was like to wake from being blind drunk. The shaking continued. He phased in and out of awareness, noticing that it was accompanied by a voice now. He couldn't make out the words though, much less identify who it was, so he stayed stubbornly comatose until he could collect his wits.

The irony was that he was feeling much better than he would have expected. Oh, his body felt absolutely terrible – as if he'd been beaten over and over with wooden mallets – but his head felt much clearer than the last change. He didn't feel like the world was tripping, or that he was dying from some tropical fever. He tried to move a little, and let out an involuntary groan, bringing him properly back to awareness.

"Your father's upstairs – expect he's asleep by now – and Lily insisted on staying up."

"Sirius?"

The man leaning over him gave him a small smile.

"Yes, it's me. Can you move?"

"After a fashion. Maybe."

He twitched over to try and support himself on his hands, but couldn't manage it. Sirius sighed, frowning, and crouched down to pull Ted's arm around his shoulder. Everything from his skin to his muscles protested, however, and before they'd even gotten upright, pain seared across his arm and back. A gasp ripped out of his chest.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked urgently, but Ted just collapsed back, working his other hand to wrap the blanket properly around his waist. At least he could get up with his modesty intact, but his right shoulder throbbed horribly. Sirius stared intently at him for a moment before his eyes fell to the offending injury. He winced.

"Ah, Ted…"

"What have I done?"

"It's swollen, right round to your shoulder blade." Sirius' eyes were filled with sympathy. "Don't you remember?"

Ted sighed.

"It's a bit blurry. I think I smashed it into the door, but…"

He trailed off. Sirius crouched again and gently pulled his chin up to face him.

"It's okay, Ted."

"I barely remember for all the anger. It's like watching and remembering things through a red mist."

"It wasn't you."

He let out an incongruous laugh, devoid of emotion.

"When I transform, it's like something wakes up, inside here." He dug a finger into his temple. "Something else takes over. It used to be something like me…my fears and frustrations…" he struggled for the words. "…only now it's grown into something else, something wild and alien I haven't got a hope of controlling even though I feel it every day. Every time I reach to change – like mum does – even if it's something small, I feel it lying there."

He looked away in self-pitying disgust. Sirius stared at him for a long time.

"Have you talked to anyone else about this?"

"No. Dom tried to get me to, but I…" he shook his head. "And…the thing with my hand…"

"What thing with your hand?"

Ted shook his head. Sirius groaned. Instead of continuing to push, though, he settled beside Ted and changed himself, much to Ted's surprise. The great, black dog sighed in a very human voice, then nudged him with his nose. Despite himself, Ted smiled and reached up to scratch him behind the ears.

"Is this your way of telling me you won't judge?"

He barked.

"Oh, Sirius, I didn't think you would. It just…" his hand faltered and fell back to his side. "I keep…I…"

The dog nudged him more insistently, tail thumping side to side on the hard floor.

"I can't change. Not without letting the Wolf into my head…into my skin." The tail stilled. "And recently, around the full moon, I keep having these involuntary transformations in my hand. Changing it…changing it to claws."

Slowly the dog transformed back to the man. Ted scrubbed at his stinging eyes, but Sirius didn't say anything, instead putting his arms carefully around him.

"That's what the injury on my right hand is."

"Ted, listen to me." Sirius suddenly took his head in both hands. "I told Remus many years ago, and now I'm telling you: you are not a monster."

"That's what Lily keeps saying."

"Well, she's right! And whatever…form of lycanthropy this is, you don't have to go through it alone. We'll find a way through it. Do you understand?"

Ted nodded glumly.

"Now, let's get us a nice cup of tea and see to your arm."

"Okay."

Sirius moved around to his other side to help him to his feet.

"You know what really scares me?" He asked quietly. Sirius was concentrating on getting them up the stairs, but glanced around and shook his head.

"I'm afraid that one day the Wolf will get into my head…and I'll forget how to change back."

Lily gulped down – what was it? She went through and counted. She was gulping down the last dregs of her…ninth cup of tea. Fuck. She wondered if giving up on sleeping and coming back to the kitchen only to find Tonks (in for a break on her night shift) telling her that Sirius had joined Remus in the attic, then having nine cups of tea, waiting for the dawn, made her just a little bit mental.

She finished the tea with this thought. And decided she didn't care.

"Lily, can you check the potion cabinet for muscle relaxant? Fire seed salve, red cover."

"Already got it out."

She pushed the tin down the table and got up. Ted sighed, Sirius easing into a chair. The new cuts and bruises snaked an obscene art over his skin. The only mercy was that he hadn't disturbed the yellowish remnants of his head injury. He looked ready to drop dead.

"How're you feeling?"

"Not great. No nausea, though."

"Probably 'cos you weren't fucking poisoning yourself."

"Lil!" He groaned as Sirius wordlessly applied the salve. "I still have bit of a headache, you know!"

"I maintain swearing's good for you." She shrugged. "Tea?"

Lily stood and fetched the pot and added a third mug before pouring one for each of them. She was trying not to think of her thumbs in place of Sirius' – trying to stay the guilt that they should have been her thumbs. Ted had his eyes lightly shut and she had the detached feeling that he was perfectly fine without her for the minute. Repressing a tor of confused hurt, she flipped her mind to something else.

"It's dad's trial tomorrow, isn't it?"

Sirius set the tin down, face grim.

"He gets off, I take it?"

"You sound almost disappointed."

"He gets off?"

"'Course he does." Lily slid him the second mug's handle. "What he did was perfectly legal, did no lasting damage and was the result of gross ministry negligence, what more do you want?"

The ragged man dropped into the chair next to Ted and glared into his tea.

"It's not wrong to want to spend more time with Harry." Lily said suddenly.

"Are you saying I wanted him to be convicted?"

"Is it so unthinkable? You'd get to be together, just the two of you."

"I wouldn't take away his whole life just to have him here with me, what do you take me for?"

"Someone who loves him?" Lily scowled. "I didn't say it was a rational thing to want."

Ted's eyelids were fluttering by the time she finished her tenth cuppa, and she felt like going to him, but for some reason she was unsure.

She'd never been unsure.

Half the night she'd gone over the scene in front of the door.

Remembered falling asleep in the hospital wing having wrapped him in her arms.

At the time, both had been because he needed her – and, she was forced to admit, because a part of her needed him – but in the cold light of the morning it was if a barrier had been thrown up.

Sirius took another ten minutes to come out of his own head.

"You need to get some sleep, Ted."

"Can't argue there."

Lily sighed and tried not to slump over the table.

"I'm sorry I caused so much trouble." Ted mumbled suddenly. "Keep screwing up, lately."

"Bollocks." Sirius set the mug down with a thump. "And it's no trouble to me."

"Thanks."

Mrs Weasley cried a lot. It was overkill, really, but the sombre undertone that preceded Harry going to the ministry was palpable all over the house. Harry himself barely spoke to anyone and all the Order members who came to visit looked grim. Lily had to remind herself not to prowl around the house shouting 'of COURSE he's not going to be convicted!', and ended up confining herself to Buckbeak's room instead. The hippogriff looked keenly at her as she fed him dead rats and stroked his feathers – as if he knew something wasn't quite right – but he made no move to harm her, so she promptly settled herself against his flank and dozed off.

Sirius joined her as the sun was setting.

"You're really good with him." He commented as she started awake. "Not that he isn't the trusting type."

"I've been around large animals since I was six years old, both tame and otherwise. And Ted, of course." She shifted luxuriously, nuzzling into the space beneath the wing joint. "When I was little he used to tell me stories of running through the woods in the full moon as if the world was new. I always thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard."

Sirius let out a long breath and sat opposite her on the floor, frowning slightly.

"There's a lot of beauty in the world for those who are willing to see it." He looked out at the London skyline. "But still more who would just destroy it without question or without really looking."

"That's what Fudge represents."

"What?"

Lily shrugged sadly.

"He represents a failure to see what's really there. The ignorance of people too narrow minded to consider that there might be another way of looking at things." She closed her prickling eyes. "Sometimes I think humans set themselves up as so superior they can't see that all we are capable of doing is destroying. I mean…" she gestured vaguely. "…we destroy each other, we destroy anything weaker than us, we lash out at anything stronger because it scares us and we're so terrified of anything different that it has to be stamped out without hesitation."

Sirius stared at her with his dark-grey eyes – different to Ted's she realised; more worn. It might have been the light, but she thought his eyes were shining just a little bit. She looked away to the light dancing on the floor and to the stardust in its wake. Suddenly Sirius laughed and she looked up to see him shaking his head.

"What?"

"You're right."

Lily frowned.

"There was a wise woman, though," his voice was slightly choked as though his throat was constricting. "She said that as long as the world had someone to cry for it, there was hope for us yet."

"That's a nice thought."

"Yeah, it was."

He chuckled, sniffing and blinking hard. Lily smiled and tried to imagine the woman he must surely have been quoting.

"I'll never be that wise."

"Oh, I don't know, give it a few years!"

"Well, err…" she wracked her brain for some Zen. "They say the flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all."

"Really? Where's that from?"

"Not telling."

Ever. If he found out it was from a muggle Disney film, she'd never hear the end of it!

Sirius seemed to consider what she said.

"I wonder,"

"What?"

"Well, I'm just wondering if you might be right."

"About a flower blooming in adversity?"

"Yes."

She gave him a long look.

"I doubt anyone will ever be caught accusing you of this again Sirius, but don't be so fucking pretentious!"

"Me? Pretentious?"

"My point exactly."

He scoffed and then laughed unrestrainedly. The sound permeated the settled shadows, and suddenly the old room didn't look as dingy as before. He pulled her gently to her feet, a little like when her father brought her in after sitting her on the veranda swing seat and reading her stories in the dusk. The shadows of Azkaban had never left Sirius' face, and they probably never would completely, yet when he laughed the joy of life seemed to pour from him, touching everything around him.

She hugged him. For a moment he seemed startled, but hugged her back with another ripple of laughter before nudging her out the door. They farewelled Buckbeak and started down the stairs.

"You never know, though."

"Oh? You're saying I might grow up to be 'rare' and 'beautiful'?"

"You are rare and beautiful."

"True." She shot him a haughty look. "Though I dunno about 'blooming in adversity'."

"We'll see."

"So you have no leads?"

"We must be patient, Remus. Though it is little hope Lucius Malfoy has let it out of his sight."

"This is no more than what we expected, Professor, though I must say your optimism for getting the item back at all is most gratifying."

"You could be a little more sensitive to the issue, Severus."

Sirius snorted.

"I notice he is…absent."

"My son suffered the effects of having transformed twice in a short period. He is recovering."

"Oh? Perhaps it was premature of us to suppose him capable of –"

"He is capable!"

"Miss Tonks, kindly sit down! And Severus, please refrain commenting if you cannot say anything that is not untoward of the boy."

"He's not frail, if that's what you're implying."

"Bill?"

"And how would you know, Weasley?"

"I'd know, Snape, because of the way he goes about. And because of the scars. He's not weak, just a bit lacking in self-confidence. And you should hear Lily talking about him. I don't think we've seen anything yet of what he's capable of, 'specially after he gave the death eaters the run around. Doubt he knows either."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I suppose what I'm saying is we need to give him the chance to prove himself before we go off making judgements."

"Exactly, Mr Weasley. My thoughts precisely."

"But prove himself for what? We've already established he's not going to fight because it would destroy the timelines, and even if it wouldn't he's too young!"

"I'm not suggesting differently, Molly."

"They can't stay in this house forever."

"Why not, Mad-eye?"

"It's impractical."

"In what way? It's my house and I'm not ashamed to admit I'd be glad of the company! It's not as if I'd mind looking after them!"

"It's impractical because it compromises Order headquarters."

"It compromises headquarters having Harry here, but that doesn't –"

"Harry will not be staying here, Sirius. He will be returning to Hogwarts for the new term."

There was a pause.

"You're sure?"

"I have in mind a way to countermand Fudge's support. Unless he goes so far as an act of tyranny, he cannot pass conviction within the current laws."

"Wouldn't put it past him."

"Nevertheless, I will make sure that our Mr Potter will be quite alright. Which brings me back to Miss Potter and Mr Lupin. The reason I consider against prolonging their stay in your house, Sirius, is that I cannot protect them as I should like once Hogwarts is under my full care. I cannot abandon a thousand students for the lives of just two, unforgiving as it may be."

"Then what are we to do?"

Remus stared at Dumbledore as the old man raised a hand to his temple.

"I have a notion, though it may prove…interesting for the future. Be that as it may, I don't believe it would cause irreparable damage if they were careful enough."

"Is this what we were discussing earlier, Professor?"

"It is indeed, Minerva."

"I do not see a problem with it, though, as you say, they would have to be careful."

"Careful with what?"

"Maintaining their education whilst keeping them within the safety of my school. It is the most obvious solution."

A murmur went round the table, though most were wondering why they hadn't thought of it before. Sirius was trying not to look too disappointed and Remus seemed torn between relief and pity.

"Now, we must discuss our strategy should tomorrow go awry."

"Lily says it won't."

"And I would trust her word, Mr Black, but still I would rather we were prepared."

"I would take care of him, Professor. Without question. I'm his godfather."

Dumbledore closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. It was going to be a long night, and he found himself almost envious of the young werewolf asleep in bed.

Lying staring at the ceiling wasn't helping in the slightest. His muscles ached fiercely, even as they prevented him from moving. His brain was surprisingly clear and awake, however, after only a few hours. He was imprisoned, then. Doomed to limbo and a blank ceiling.

You nearly kissed her You nearly kissed her You nearly kissed her.

He just wanted time to sort things out. God knows he hadn't had it so far. He needed time away from her, yet he couldn't bear to be away from her.

You sick bastard…

Not that it was even an option and he still needed to protect her and somehow get them home.

You nearly kissed her you nearly kissed her…

He needed to anchor himself back to solid earth, get his head on straight, sort out his life – should he be writing this down? – get them home and snap the hell out of obsessing about her.

Then again, he would be leaving home the following year. He wouldn't see her practically every day and maybe, maybe then it would get easier. He'd be in the midst of experiencing new things, new people, and thoughts of his god-sister would hopefully be stuck up on a shelf somewhere.

Not that he didn't love her to bits, but he wanted out.

And you think it would be easier if she were gone from your life?

He stamped on those thoughts, but they were like Venomous tentacular and writhed up anyway.

You nearly kissed her You nearly kissed her You nearly kissed her...

"And why not? She is beautiful; she is ours."

"She's not ours, she's my god-sister!"

"She did not smell like our blood."

"That's not the point!"

"She was soft and beautiful and ours."

"She's not ours; she can never be ours…"

"She MUST be ours! She cannot be another's!"

"Fuck off, just fuck off, please!"

He whimpered as the man with green eyes and a wolf's grin growled and ran away into the forest, surely following her. He could not let that happen. He was stumbling over the uneven floor, but his limbs were heavy, dragging him down. He shut his eyes, and suddenly he was looking out of the humming sockets of the other. He was burying his face in her hair that was wildfire in the woods, trailing his hands in places he knew were forbidden, but the Wolf wouldn't stop. It dragged its lower lip over her earlobe and whispered, even as she gasped in fright.

"Mine."

"Ted?"

"What?"

He spun around in shock, tangling the sheets around his legs and pitching off the bed.

"You alright?"

"You look a bit pale, mate."

"I'm fine." He said mechanically as George offered a hand. "It's not like I don't have anything to dream about."

The twins exchanged a look.

"You were, err –"

"– moaning a bit, there."

"Don't be crude." He kept his voice devoid of panic and embarrassment. "What d'you want me for, anyway?"

"They want to see you in the kitchen."

"What time is it?"

"Nearly eight in the morning."

He tensed.

Bugger me.

"Lily's right, you do do that!"

"Anyway, we thought you might want to see Harry off."

"Thanks." He pulled on the nearest shirt with a wince and stumbled out the door. Harry looked grey and he didn't seem to be able to eat anything, despite Ted offering pancakes. Mr Weasley looked grim, but seemed to be taking solace from Lily's reassuring eye-rolling and exasperated grins.

How beautiful she could look in the morning…

He fought the mental flash of sense-memory on his lips and focussed on finding a way to sit that didn't make his bones scream. His father offered him sympathy with a cup of tea, but everyone else seemed too preoccupied to notice. Or so he thought until Lily was suddenly at his side.

"You should run a bath. Does wonders when I've had cramp after quidditch."

"Yeah. Might do that in a bit."

"Dumbledore wants to talk to you when he gets back."

At the other end of the table, Harry's frown deepened.

"Dunno what you're complaining about. He's gonna be at the trial."

"Really?"

"'Course he is. Now get out there and show up the pricks who dared to bring this up!"

Despite himself, Ted smirked. Harry looked taken aback, but marginally better as Mr and Mrs Weasley shepherded him out the door, Molly shooting a reproving look at Lily. Sirius gave her a grateful smile and put an arm around her shoulders before disappearing into the depths of the house. It was subtle, but Ted could have sworn Lily's presence had affected him more than anyone realised – as if she represented more than just a temporary addition to their little family. As if the memory of his best friend's wife was slowly drawing out the best in him.

The smile stayed, and he wondered vaguely what Sirius would do once they were gone. Harry had described him as being not very happy, fondly as he remembered him. He would still have his godson, and that was something. But Ted knew in his heart that the memory of Lily Evans and even the presence of just Lily herself was different again. It was…like a challenge to do better.

The only challenge he himself had ever hoped to meet, minor brilliances or no.

The only challenge he could never meet.

The morning passed about as fast as could have been expected. Harry got home in a state of elation, and everyone celebrated. Even Sirius, though whether it was a combination of his understanding smile or Lily's persistent poke in the ribs, he never found out. Fred, George and Ginny dragged Lily into their tribal dance round the kitchen to the chant of 'HE GOT OFF! HE GOT OFF! HE GOT OFF!' before being forcibly evicted by Mrs Weasley. Unfortunately, Sirius then joined them in the drawing room to continue, pulling Harry and Ron along with him. Ted laughed at Mrs Weasley's scandalised expression, and even more when he realised Hermione was looking almost wistful.

Remus arrived back for a few minutes at lunch to congratulate Harry, though he couldn't stay for long. Lily pulled him haphazardly into the fray, much to everyone's delight (save his quiet-natured father's) and all in all no one wanted to break the mood. Even rescuing Remus turned up another round of laughs when Lily insisted he take her place. His muscles were still hurting badly, but he braved it, tripping over his own feet as they whirled round the room a turn. Even through the pain, he marvelled at how natural this movement was for her; how she seemed to fly.

You nearly kissed her…

"Are you alright, Ted?"

"Just a bit sore." He muttered, though he thought he must have let some of the bottled up emotion show on his face because Mr Weasley looked confused. Was everyone noticing now?

"We encountered Lucius Malfoy at the ministry." Mr Weasley tried to say it offhandedly, but it still cut the air like a knife.

Well that's ONE way to stop thinking about something, certainly!

"What did he say?"

"Nothing forthcoming. Not that we would have expected any different from him."

"I take it, then, that he didn't offer to return my magnum opus?"

Mr Weasley chuckled darkly.

"Not that I asked in front of Fudge."

Ted sighed and watched the others settle into a proper party atmosphere. It might have been his imagination, but he got the feeling it was Lily who wasn't letting it go. She was always one for a party, and she'd had precious few things to really celebrate lately. He hated to think that that might have been because of him. And now he was back on Lily…

Suddenly their eyes met from across the room and she flashed him a grin that was entirely her own. The grin that made his insides feel like they were on fire, and he smiled back, meeting her mirth with genuine glee and the stray, dangerous thought that the world would be alright.

"Mr Lupin, might I have a word?"

The music in the drawing room was loud enough that they'd had to cast a sound-proofing charm on the door to prevent Wulberga from waking up, but it was worth it for the sense of joy pervading the dark house. It seemed to transform everyone it touched, though none more than Harry and Sirius. Lily chose the music, of course, and he'd had a hand in the food with Mrs Weasley. The twins did the decorating. There were even a fair few Order members who turned up, though no one would own up as to how the word got around.

No one really cared.

Each and every one of them felt the storm outside and it was enough to laugh and revel before braving it once more. His father had found him when he'd returned for the evening and put an arm around him as they watched Lily challenging all the Weasleys to a furious tournament of gobstones, loudly supported on both sides by the rest of the room. He didn't say thank you, but it was in every gesture as they stood together. Then his mother had emerged from the other side of the drawing room in a beautiful hot-pink dress and striped stockings, looking up from the game to catch their eyes.

Remus had gone a little slack-jawed and Tonks had blushed. Ted rolled his eyes and prodded his father to join her. Sirius gave him the thumbs up from where he stood craning over the game with Harry and he grinned when he noticed that Lily was still winning after beating Bill, Fred and Weasley Senior. Now she was gearing to thrash Ron, who had the look of a man about to run up the white flag, Mundungus gleefully preparing to call in the bets.

That was when he heard the soft voice behind him.

"Professor?"

"Might we go somewhere quieter?"

Dumbledore gestured gracefully around the crowded and noisy drawing room.

"Certainly."

They slipped quietly away. Ted fought the butterflies trying to hatch in his stomach at the prospect of Dumbledore wanting to talk privately to him. They ended up in the comparatively deafening silence of the kitchen.

"It seems that between you, you've caused quite a stir. I don't think I've seen Sirius Black in such spirits since the deaths of James and Lily."

Ted stared at him, temporarily lost for what to say. The brilliant eyes seemed for a moment focussed on something far away, a tinge of long-worn grief overlaying the usual twinkle. It passed quickly, though, as Dumbledore looked up, suddenly very present.

"I brought you in here so that we might discuss your academic grades."

"Sir?"

"Your grades and, I suppose more specifically, your O.W.L qualifications."

"Professor?" he had literally no idea where this was going, but obliged the old man's kind smile and did his best to remember accurately from memory. Dumbledore questioned him quite thoroughly, about both him and Lily, before seeming satisfied and getting to his feet. Ted narrowly escaped tangling his legs on the chair when he jumped up to open the door for him. With a last amused smile he left, bidding him good-night, and leaving him distinctly puzzled.

He told Sirius, who sighed heavily, but told him he would find out soon enough. They were interrupted when Lily's last, triumphant victory over George rippled through the room.

The days, and then weeks, by-passed them in a blur leading up to the end of the holidays. They'd even gone shopping, with everyone pitching in, since it was impractical for the two of them to continuously borrow clothes. It was as if they had moved in to the lives of their past without realising it, and Ted had the nasty feeling that things would be changed now however careful they were. Though, as Remus pointed out when Ted voiced his concerns, it could hardly be change for the worst.

And, since there were no leads on the time turner, the situation was looking as if it was going to stay put for a while yet to come. A few months? He wondered if their future would be recognisable. If they had, unwittingly, altered the fabric of history, like that old theory of a butterfly flapping its wings on the other side of the world. Even the smallest things could change the course of the future; Harry's victory over Voldemort had proved that.

And it was wrong – he had to get them home. He had to get her home. He was responsible for her. He swung between enjoying himself and anxiously obsessing over what to do, sometimes many times in one day. Lily had caught him brooding more than once and had shoved him out of Buckbeak's room the second time, refusing to let him be moody. Yet somehow he managed it, hiding in new places. Still, it wasn't as if he was morose all the time. The atmosphere since the party had stayed almost…family-ish. As if Grimmauld place was just any other home in that part of London.

Rather than the headquarters to the organisation saving the world.

He had yet to find out what Dumbledore had meant, though he thought it might have had something to do with the arrangements for him and Lily. He kept catching Sirius and Mrs Weasley giving him curious looks. A few days before September the First, the lists for everyone else arrived and there was a great commotion with Ron being made Prefect.

"Who in their right mind would make Ron a prefect?" Fred exclaimed in disbelief. Ted snorted. They all thought Harry would be made prefect, but he privately thought his fifteen-year-old godfather was far too impulsive and distracted with other things. And that he attracted too much trouble. Lily had made a game of coaxing out his and everyone's previous adventures and, though many of them weren't news, some were downright shocking.

"You blackmailed Rita Skeeta?"

"Oh yes, and she was quite unhappy about it, I can tell you!"

"Seriously?"

Still, Harry wasn't taking it very well. He was reminded vividly of when Albus stole the seeker position from right underneath James (only the second first year ever to do it) and decided to forgo the company for downstairs.

The back of his neck prickled. He knew even before Dumbledore spoke that he was there once again.

What is it with boys and having the biggest penis?

She was privately surprised, sometimes, that they didn't just get it over with and measure. Ginny wasn't much of a help, either, since she was torn between her older brother and her – well, her admirer as Fred and George had taken to calling Harry. They'd made few steps towards actually being together, but she supposed they had to get used to the idea first. And she knew they weren't strictly speaking supposed to get together until half-way through the following year, so it was understandable. Didn't stop her teasing.

In this, though, Ginny just agreed with the twins on both sides of the deprecating comments, leaving neither bloke with real allies. Except maybe Hermione. She sided with Ron (and they hadn't believed her when she said they'd end up together, honestly!)

She ducked past Mrs Weasley as she crooned and went off to find Sirius. He'd probably laugh. She was starting to wonder what they would do for the intermittent months whilst the others were at school. It had been on her mind, but she had belligerently pushed it back, even as Ted worried (he was too much of a worrier). She sometimes wondered if he couldn't just sit back and enjoy things for once.

She encountered Sirius in his room. To her surprise, he was looking unhappy too.

"James was never a prefect, either." He muttered distractedly. "It was Remus in our year."

"It was Ted in his." She came over to sit by him on the bed. Sirius looked up with a grin and shook his head.

"Sometimes it's eerie how alike they are." Then he sighed as if something weighed on his heart. "I wish –"

He broke off abruptly and jerked his head down.

"But, there it is anyway." He forced a smile back onto his face and forced himself to raise his head. "Has Molly told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

So Sirius did, and she ended up staring blankly at him for a few seconds before replying, "That's mental."

Sirius gave a sad laugh and shook his head.

"It's the best thing to do for you both."

"But what if we change things?"

"Just…try to stay out of major plot events, that's all."

"But…but…what's everyone going to say? I mean we're going to stick out like sore thumbs, and – and how are you planning to explain our last names?"

"Dumbledore is sorting through the details. And it's not unheard of, coming in as new students. We had a girl called Amelia Halwitt come in in our third year because she'd been home schooled."

Lily fell silent. It was a truly bonkers idea – and no wonder he was upset.

"You'll be alright won't you?"

Sirius didn't answer, but led them down for the get-together Mrs Weasley was spearheading. Ted was nowhere to be seen, but Mrs Weasley seemed to have broken the news to everyone else. It was like being shoved on a train to Blackpool: everything was lights and food and laughing, while at the same time the wold seemed to be speeding past. For the first time ever, she found it impossible to focus on the celebrations and merely kept her eyes peeled for the seventeen-year-old's lanky frame. Kansas came on one the radio and she was distracted for a moment by the classic song.

'Carry on my wayward son! There'll be peace when you are done...'

She twirled a little, singing along, before spying Harry and Sirius pouring over an old photograph in the corner. Sirius looked up and beckoned to her, lifting the photo so she could see the assembled first Order of the Phoenix.

'Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man…

'Though my mind could think, I still was a mad man!'

She saw Sirius with his short, if still shaggy, hair and her grandparents, smiling and waving out of the picture. They all looked so proud and happy, even in the midst of the war they were fighting.

'Masquerading as a man with a reason…'

She saw Remus and realised with shock and a feeling that settled in her stomach how much Ted really looked like a younger version of him. Same hair, same rolled shoulders…

'And if I claim to be a wise man, well…

'…it surely means that I don't know.'

Sirius put an arm around the both of them.

"Mr Lupin?"

"Hmm?"

"I do not wish to ask this of you, but I cannot but think you are the only man who could do it."

Dumbledore sighed behind him, and he didn't need to meet the twinkling blue eyes to know what he wanted. His head bowed, but felt his mouth twitch in a smile.

"You want me to keep an eye on them…to protect them?"

'I set a course for winds of fortune,

'But I hear the voices say…'

"Did you ever need to ask?"

A.N: Changelog Edit 1:

*Changed "Lilly" to "Lily". At least I've gotten used to that now!

*Changed the title song because it fit much more naturally and because it is a very good one to sing along to.

*Changed from Ted talking to Sirius in the kitchen to Lily mainly because it's a very Mary Sue thing to say and because Lily, with the expressive personality she has, was more likely to say it anyway.

*Altered Ted's dialogue with Sirius in the basement so that it better expressed what I've worked out for the cannon

I think this is a necessary chapter, even if it drags the story a fair bit, because it sets up all the parts of Ted's story in particular and progresses Sirius' relationship with Lily a fair amount as well.

Carry on My Wayward Son is, in a word, the Kansas song that everyone knows. It's the theme song on Supernatural, but I knew it long before watching that. To me, it's the song that always got played in the car whenever we were going anywhere because of the first playlist my sister ever made and stuck on a CD.

Anyway, I always like to hear what you guys (tumbleweed rolls by) think...reviews are like crack. And Merry Christmas, anyway :)