CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The next few hours were gleeful as Charlie went through the house, meeting up with his family once more. Molly cried with happiness, Arthur was so besides himself with surprise that his glasses fell off, and Ron was delighted. Dumbledore had Charlie assigned to foreign relations, so they all thought he would be staying in Romania for quite a while. Thus, they were all delighted when he came for a visit, though no one knew what Dumbledore would say.

Of course, the sweetest reactions were from Ginny and Tonks.

Ginny was in the room she and and Hermione shared, sprawled over her bed reading an old magazine, hair pinned onto her head for the heat, humming quietly to herself when there was a knock on the door.

"C'min," she called lazily, letting her hair down and doing it back up.

Sirius entered. "Hey, Ginny," he said cheerfully.

Ginny analyzed him. "Y'know, you really should do something about that hair."

Sirius scowled for a moment, then regained his smile. "I've got a surprise for you."

Ginny flicked her magazine to the side and got to her feet, crossing her arms loosely across her chest. "Do you really?" she drawled.

Charlie peered around the door. "Hey, Gin!" he said cheerfully.

Ginny's eyes widened and flickered with happiness. Her mouth formed a small 'O' as she took it all in. One of her eldest brothers who she practically never saw was there. Right in front of her, smiling. She had to be dreaming.

Her face split into a grin.

"Charlie!" she screamed as she ran towards him, flinging her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest.

"Hey," he said softly, and put his arms around his sister's body.

Sirius smiled and motioned for Hermione to follow him out. They quickly left leaving the Weasleys to themselves.

The two Weasleys stood there, holding each other. Ginny realized that she really did not realize how much she would miss her brothers until they returned. She was always harping about how she missed Bill - but Charlie..she never even noticed how much it bothered her that he was gone, until he returned.

"How long are you staying?" Ginny asked in a small voice, to scared to hear the actual answer.

"Long enough to hug you every single day." Charlie whispered.

Ginny grinned and swatted gently at her brother. "Sop," she said, and kissed his stubbly cheek. "Let's go get dinner."

Charlie smiled and shook his head. "There's one more person I have to meet first."

There was a knock on the door.

"C'min," called Tonks. She turned her hair pink again - she'd been experimenting for a little while, but she didn't really want Sirius - who it was bound to be - to see her with bright green polka dotted hair. That would be a bit embarrassing.

Or maybe it was Rem -

Get a grip on yourself.

The door swung open. Tonks looked up - and her mouth dropped.

Charlie leaned in the doorway with a sunny smile. "Hullo, Tonks!"

Tonks stared at him for a moment.

There he was, standing in front of her, the boy who she saw last going off to Romania to pursue his career in dragons. The boy she remembered, so clearly, hugging desperately and waving goodbye to at Kings' Cross for the last time before going home, perhaps even crying though she'd never admit it. The boy she dreamed of seeing again, but never did. Until now.

She flung herself off her bed, stood up straight, marched over to him, and slapped him.

"Took you long enough!" she exclaimed before hugging him.

Despite his stinging cheek, Charlie laughed. "Nice to see you haven't changed, Nymphadora."

"Don't make me slap you again, you good for nothing oaf," Tonks threatened.

Charlie threw an arm around her shoulder. "I've missed you," he said cheerfully.

"Wish I could say the same for you, buddy," Tonks said, trying to hide her smile.

Charlie drew back his arm and faced her. "What?"

"Kidding!" Tonks smiled and ruffled his hair. "I missed you more than anything!"

He made a face and ran his hand through his hair. "Don't mess up my hair, twerp."

"You're the twerp."

"I'm the twerp?"

"Yes."

"You're the one who fancies - "

"I do not!"

"You do soooooo. I got the news from a reliable person."

"My cousin is not reliable. And anyway you fancied Matilda Rasrass back in third year."

"I did NOT!"

"Up until seventh year!"

"Shut up."

"You shut up!"

"He got off, he got off, he got off!"

"Quiet, you three!"

"I knew they wouldn't convict you, they couldn't - "

"He got off, he got off, he got off!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Oh, Harry, this is so wonderful - "

"I can't believe it, I knew all along but I just - oh, I'm so happy - "

"Congratulations, mate!"

Sirius quietly slipped out of the room with a frown on his face.

Only Remus noticed Sirius quietly slithering out of the crowd.

He joined the festivities for a few more minutes, and then decided he'd better go to him.

"Sirius?" he called, making his way through the winding house. "Where are you?"

"Up here," came a muffled voice from the top story.

Remus climbed the enormous staircase, a strange sense of foreboding surrounding him. He had a pretty good idea of what to expect, but not the faintest clue of what he should do. Sirius was hardly ever surly - or, really, serious at all - but when he was...well, James was usually the one to deal with it, back when they were in school. Of course, when they'd lived together at the beginning of the summer, Sirius would have his flashbacks of Azkaban, and nightmares and other such terrors, but that was different. He could deal with that. This, he couldn't.

Sirius was gazing at the stars with a dreamy expression on his face.

"Hey, Sirius," Remus said quietly, sitting down next to him.

Sirius didn't say anything.

"You…you okay?" he asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, I thought if Harry…" He broke off and stared out the window.

"Could come and stay with you," finished Remus.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah but it's not just... I thought...I thought I might be able to do James wanted me to do; protect his son."

Remus let that sit in the air for a while, before saying, "You areprotecting Harry, maybe not directly, but when he needs you, you're there for him."

"You don't understand," Sirius turned away from Remus. "I don't protect anyone. I was supposed to protect my brother, and then looked what happened there! I need to protect Harry, but it seems like he just keeps getting into danger. Danger that I just can't bloody get him out of! What good am I? I'm supposed to be his godfather!"

Remus looked at his friend. "Sirius, mate, do you know how much you have risked your life to protect Harry? Hell, you might even die to protect him - you would die to protect him."

Sirius snorted. "I can't keep him safe from anything," he growled. "Dammit, Remus, I can't watch him while he's in Hogwarts, I won't know if he's dead or dying or what the hell is happening to him! Molly's right - she's just -right. I'm not - I can't. I just - I don't. ARGH!"

To express how utterly furious he was at the general state of being in the world, Sirius demonstratively kicked the wall.

Red face, panting, Sirius turned back to Remus. And Remus looked at him with an amused expression on his face despite the situation.

"Well," he said. "Didn't that feel good?"

Sirius groaned but nodded and sat back down. "I just can't do anything, Remus!"

"Mate, we are in the middle of two wars, there's always something you can do." Remus said.

Sirius looked up. "Just because we're in the middle of two wars doesn't mean I have all the freedom, did you forget that I am wanted for killing thirteen people?"

Remus chuckled. "Y'know," he said casually, "maybe we should do something about that hair."

Sirius's hand flew to his head. "Argh! I forgot!" he cried. And, all thoughts of sadness nearly forgotten, he turned around and ran out the door, shouting, "WEASSSSLEYS! YOU CHANGE MY HAIR BACK THIS INSTANT!"

Remus chuckled, amused. "He really needs to sort out his priorities..."

"Just apply some every week, and your hair will be silky-smooth black once more. After a month, it'll stay black without the dye," Fred said smearing the dye onto Sirius' hair.

"And it better stay like that, too. Or I will be convicted of something else." Sirius muttered darkly.

George froze at the sink, and Fred's hands paused.

"It won't happen again," the twins promised.

"Good."

At that moment Remus and Charlie appeared in the door frame. "Hullo, chaps," Charlie greeted. "Hows that hair comin' along?"

"Splendidly," Fred said sardonically.

"I was just telling Charlie about the prank war so far," Remus said. "And he seems rather proud of you Fred and George."

"Well we're not proud of him," George said jutting his chin towards the traitorous Weasley.

"Hey," Charlie put his hands up in the air. "It would be biased to choose you guys. Plus, you guys don't need me, between you two and Ginny and Ron, you'll guys think of something."

"Did you ever hear 'more the merrier?'" Fred countered.

Charlie shrugged. "You'll guys get more at Hogwarts, calm down." Fred snorted. "Besides, I do like your pranks. Very...original."

"You ought know," said George, amused, "since you and Bill were our pranking templates when we were little..."

"Not them as much as Percy, I'd think," said Sirius before realizing what he was saying. He clamped his mouth shut.

A silence locked onto them.

"Sorry," said Sirius immediately.

"'Sfine," muttered Charlie.

Fred had an unreadable expression on his face, as did George.

There was a terribly awkward silence.

"He's a prat," said Fred plainly. "That's pretty much all there is to it. Can we just...yeah. Pranks."

"Pranks," agreed George.

"We're gonna own you guys," said Remus with certainty, rubbing his hands together. "We have Charlie, we have Tonks.."

"No!" Fred and George said in unison. "We're gonna own you."

"I know ALL your tricks," said Charlie grandly. "So actually, we're going to own you."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

Sirius smiled, rubbing the dye carefully into his hair, and thought, Remus is right. There'll always be something for me to be doing.

Suddenly, Tonks walked in.

"Oh HELLO," said Remus backing into George who glared at the back of Remus' head.

"Potato sacks?" asked Tonks. "No! That was not what I was supposed to say," she added hastily.

Sirius laughed and looked evilly at Fred and George, who in turn looked evilly at Charlie, who in turn looked evilly at Tonks.

He grinned. This prank war was just beginning.

A/N: For Bittersweet x:Hey all! Well..one to go. Hope you guys didnt mind the angst in this...it was my idea, for the record, because I am far too obsessed with stories where Sirius is sad. Tis rather worrying..anyway, I dedicate this to potterride's lunchbox who is evil and wants to kill me. That's all, lovelies! Do review

From Potterride: I'll make this short. This was a very angsty chapter. And the next chappie is that last :(. Si si, horrible. Anyways, stick around for the part two of this thing Bittersweet and I do with our time. Review, kind people!