Black Bond

by Rajatarangini

An eight year-old Harry Potter comes across Acquila Black, a girl at his school, only to realise that he shares a strange connection with her. Sirius Black escapes Azkaban and reunites with his daughter and godson, together leading the fight against the Darkest wizard of all times Part I of Black Bond (Chapters 1-20 under revision) (Thanks to Nerdman3000 for the cover image)

21. Chapter 21 - Birds, Bees And Werewolves

Author's Note:Hope you all like this chapter though it took quite long to write. And as the title suggests, this chapter does have mention of the birds and bees talk...just a little disclaimer! :-P Btw, book two begins with this update!

amoghtalwar- I'm glad you like big chapters; and though they take long to write, I prefer writing long ones as I get to put a lot of matter in one chapter, and it helps the continuity. And Harry is powerful as well; just that it'll take a little longer for his powers to be known. And yes, he does much, much well academically since Remus is going to coach them during the holidays. I've mentioned it in this chapter. We'd actually thought of it long ago, but it kinda slipped our minds. Glad you pointed that out and reminded us :-) As for Lockhart, I'm afraid he's going to be around for the second book, but he won't try to annoy Harry as he did in canon, since Harry is going to stand up to him. As for the bond, they'll work it out in the coming chapters, but might take a little longer with the Chamber of secrets gathering their attention. And thank you so much for reviewing! Really like the longer reviews, and the points you raise do help us improve the story :-)

mdauben- Glad you liked the Godric's Hollow part. And hope you like this one as well :-)

Nerdman3000- Thanks! And they do get an inkling of them being the Marauders in this chapter ;-)

Dreamhare- Thanks! Ah, yes! It is a mother thing! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you :-)

Goldenfightergirl, A Frozen Shadow, Grazielly, Merida, Guest, Magicheart5355, Misty, the-mockingjays-osirian- Thanks a lot! :-)

xxSunnyBlackxx- We were wondering why didn't review the 19th chapter; glad to hear from you again! And thank you so much! Hope you like this one too!

DerekHaleSiriusBlack1103- Thanks a lot! Glad you loved it! And hope you like the coming chapters too!

Siobhan- Yes, the LIly surviving one, was my other fic; but I'm happy you enjoyed this one!

cflat- The Acquila calling them Aunt Narcissa and Aunt Andromeda part stems from how we address people in my country. We should have worked that out before writing the story:-( but thanks for pointing that out. And as for the till-until, we'll try not to repeat that again. Thanks! :-)

PotterHead999-Ahhh! Thank you so, so much! Glad you liked the 'pig in a wig', and the Sirius-Remus duel, that was a little tough to write, as was the Sirius-Lucius memory! So I'm really happy you loved those parts! And hope you like this one too! Looking forward to hearing from you again! :-*

Guest-I'm so, so happy you liked the portrayal of Acquila and Harry! And you're right about Ginny too! And yes, Acquila's going to be a total Daddy's girl! :-D Hoping you like this update as well! :-)

Hp-Hey! Glad to hear from you again! Yes, you'd said earlier that you like the fic, and we're glad you still like it, along with the Acquila-Harry relationship! Hope you like this one too!

ThinKpOsItIvE- Updated... ;-)

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. It all belongs to J. .

Chapter 21: Birds, Bees and Werewolves

"—or they'll end up in prison like you did!"

"Hold your tongue, Molly!" Andromeda's words were out of her mouth before Molly even completed her sentence; her wand held tightly in her hands, pointing directly at the red-headed Weasley matriarch.

"Don't say that about my father!" snarled Acquila a split second later; a feral glint in her usually warm eyes, her voice sounding clear over Harry's gasp of 'Mrs. Weasley!' and Remus' stern 'That was uncalled for, Molly!'; while Nymphadora bristled angrily, and Ted walked towards his wife.

"I am concerned for the children!" snapped Molly, though she seemed rather startled at Andromeda's wand that was pointing at her.

"Molly! Please—" began Arthur, but Molly silenced him with a few hushed angry whispers.

"Put your wand down, Droma," Ted urged Andromeda softly, but her glare made him fall silent, as she turned her burning gaze back to Molly; the inner Black temper within her rising, wanting to hex the woman who dared to make such disparaging remarks about her cousin.

"This is exactly why I didn't want Harry living with you Blacks!" exclaimed Molly, as Arthur still tried to calm her down. "You're pointing your wand at me just for speaking the truth and voicing my concerns! How are you going to bring Harry up in such a dark—"

"Enough, Molly!" Sirius' voice that was calm, but laced with anger and authority made Molly fall silent. "Put your wand down, Andy," he turned to Andromeda.

"But, Siri! She had no right to—"

"Andy!"

The half-pleading, half-warning tone in Sirius' voice made Andromeda put down her wand, though her eyes were still blazed with anger- making her resemblance to Bellatrix rather more pronounced than usual.

"Molly," said Sirius, turning to the Weasley matriarch, his darkened grey eyes boring into her hazel ones. "As far as sitting on the life-threatening motorbike is concerned, I think I care for the safety of both my children far more than anyone else does. I would never ever have suggested taking the children on the motorbike if I wasn't sure that it was safe enough. And as for teaching them to break rules, I am training them in magic because when Voldemort," he spat, subduing his urge to snort on seeing Molly flinch on hearing Voldemort's name, "returns, his first target is going to be Harry; and as Harry's Godfather and guardian, it's my duty to have him well-equipped to face him. And if I have to break the rules against Underage Sorcery for that, I don't give a damn! And you think Voldemort is going to abide by the laws when he seeks out Harry?My child's life means far more to me than a Ministry law!"

"You…you don't know for certain that You Know Who is going to return…and Harry doesn't need all this training in magic! What he needs is a father! A parental figure! Not someone who sees James Potter in him!" said Molly defiantly, though her anger seemed to have subdued a little on Sirius mentioning Voldemort.

"I have faced Voldemort four times...and I can assure you that he isn't going to take Harry's success at having thwarted his plans to get the Philosopher's Stone kindly. He will try his best to get a body to possess, and when he does so, he is going to try to get vengeance for Harry having defeated him twice. And you think I wouldn't know that Harry isn't James?" Sirius snarled. "I spent every single day of my life at Hogwarts with James! I've seen Jamie at his best and at his worst, I've spent six years seeing him pining after Lily, I've seen his happiness when he first held Harry in his hand, I've fought death-eaters with him, and I've had to enter the wreckage of the house at Godric's Hollow to see Jamie's lifeless body lying at the foot of the stairs! I know that the James who was my best friend, my brother, lies in his tomb at Godric's Hollow! And nobody can replace him! I may have addressed Harry as James; but that doesn't mean that I think Harry is James! The only reason I stayed alive for ten years in Azkaban when I thought that Acquila was dead, was because I had promised James that if anything happened to him and Lily, I would take care of Harry as if he were my own child! I promised him that I would do my best to be a good father to Harry! And I know that I am doing my best to be a father to him! And I see no reason for someone like you, who hasn't known me for more than an hour to cast questions on how I choose to bring up my children! When James and Lily trusted me enough to appoint me as Harry's Godfather, I see no reason why you should question their judgment," said Sirius through gritted teeth, and Remus saw his hand curled into a tight fist to maintain a hold on his anger that he wasn't sure he could reign in for much longer.

"You said you treat him as a friend—" started Molly.

"Not a word more!" thundered Sirius, and the dark, frightening rage in his eyes, on his otherwise impassive face made Molly involuntarily take a step backwards.

"Molly," he said from within gritted teeth, "I knew both your brothers very well and I looked up to them, and they held you in high esteem. So before I lose my temper, and say something that I shouldn't—"

"Lose your temper! Exactly! How is a hot-headed man like you going to bring up two children! And you're losing your temper because every word that I said was truthful! And your past has been dotted with a bevy of witches! Are you even competent enough to bring up Harry Potter?" she shouted defiantly, looking very much like a small tiger.

Over the outraged shouts from Andromeda, Acquila and Nymphadora, Harry's calm, but firm voice somehow caught the attention of the shouting females.

"Mrs. Weasley…please calm down…I know that Sirius addressed me as my father…but that doesn't mean that he treats me as a friend…I mean, he is my friend, but more than that, Sirius is a father to me…he's done everything possible for me…even when he was on the run from the Dementors, he saved me from falling off my broom…when I was upset about my parents he's…he's helped me through it…he's done more for me in the month that he's been my guardian than the Dursleys did in ten whole years—"

"Look, Harry, dear," Molly cut him off, her voice suddenly soft, "I am a mother myself…I've brought up seven children of my own…and Sirius hasn't ever taken care of a growing child! He spent ten years in Azkaban! He might be deranged—"

"ENOUGH!" roared Sirius, his hand itching to grasp his wand and cast a silencing charm on Molly. Azkaban! He hated the very mention of the word! Hated remembering the decade he spent surrounded by Dementors and depressing memories- memories of Lily and James' dead bodies, Walburga cursing him, Remus refusing to talk to him for having sent Snape after him into the Whomping Willow, Athena and Acquila lying dead on the street. He shook his head to clear off the memories, as he glared at Molly, looking ever inch the Head of the Blacks.

With an immense effort, he bit back the retort that was at the tip of his tongue, schooled his features into an expressionless mask, and walked out of the room.

"Dad!"

"Sirius!"

Harry and Acquila made to follow him, but Remus stopped them, and Acquila rounded on Molly.

"Mrs. Weasley! You have no right to talk to my father like that!" thundered Acquila, feeling her inner magic yearning to lash out against the woman, but Harry suddenly grasped her hand with his own, trying to calm her down.

"Acquila, dear! I am just concerned for your—" started Molly.

"Concerned? My father exists! He's there for me! I don't want someone like you, who doesn't even—"

"That's enough, Acquila," said Remus warningly, not wanting Acquila to say something rude which would make Molly vilify Sirius' parenting even further. He led her towards Hermione, hoping the bushy-haired girl would calm her down.

"Molly," snarled Andromeda. "Have you ever been in Azkaban? Do you know how it is to have Dementors surrounding you every minute; have your worst memories flooding through your mind day and night? My cousin is a brave man! The only man to ever escape Azkaban and one of the few to have maintained his sanity in that dreadful place! And he escaped because he wanted to be there for his children! For Harry and Acquila! And for escaping Azkaban, you need to have your mind in place! If Sirius could escape Azkaban, survive almost a year on the run from Dementors, how can you even say that he may be deranged?"

"I…I just meant that he may not be…sane enough to care—"

"Sirius is just as sane as people here are!" thundered Andromeda. "He may be troubled by memories, but that's because he's just coming to terms with the people he's lost! Didn't you grieve for your brothers, Molly? Fabian and Gideon?" demanded Andromeda, as Remus winced. That was a low-blow.

"Didn't your mind keep thinking of their memories? Didn't you grieve for them? And tell me frankly, Molly, have you never seen your brothers in your twin sons?"

Molly turned redder, as she nodded.

"I have," she admitted, "But you need to understand, Andromeda…I meant no disrespect…I'm just—"

"I'm not done talking!" Andromeda cut her off. "What do you mean by raising Sirius' past? I do not deny that he did date a number of girls at Hogwarts, but if Athena had no problems with it, I don't see why you need to probe into his personal life! If Sirius wanted, he could have taken any lady as his wife. He's got more than ten offers from pure-blood patriarchs wanting to marry their daughters and sisters to him. But he hasn't taken any of them up, because he still loves his wife! Because he feels that no other woman will fill up the void that Athena has left in his life! And you have absolutely no right to bring up his past!"

"Look, Andromeda…I didn't mean to…I just want Harry to be brought up with a motherly figure…I'm just concerned because Harry is Ronald's friend…and he's an orphan…and all this training, the motorcycle ride…I don't want to see Harry treading down Sirius' path—" Molly stood by her stand steadfastly, only to be interrupted by Harry.

"I wouldn't mind walking down Sirius' path, Mrs. Weasley," he said quietly. "Sirius was one of the best Aurors in the division! He's faced Voldemort four times and survived…he's defeated LuciusMalfoy a number of times. And he's been loyal enough to my father's memory to survive Azkaban with his sanity intact only to fulfill a promise he made to my dad. Sirius' been the best guardian I could ever havehoped for. I'm really glad that you're concerned for me, Mrs. Weasley. It means a lot to me that without even knowing me well enough, you care for my well-being. But Sirius is my Godfather…he's the man my parents chose to bring me up if anything happened to them…and I couldn't have got better people to bring me up than Sirius and Remus," said Harry with a voice full of finality.

"I understand that you love your Godfather, Harry…but—"

"Molly! I think Harry has made his stand on the matter clear. I know you care for Harry, and I understand that you feel the children need a motherly figure in their lives…but I am there for them. I have taken care of Nymphadora, as well as Sirius and Regulus when they were kids. And I feel I am competent enough to care for both, Acquila and Harry!" said Andromeda pointedly.

"But you aren't even home!" said Molly. "You admitted to me that you are too busy treating patients at St. Mungos to come here often—"

"Do you mean to imply that I cannot handle my job and my responsibilities as a mother and an aunt, Molly?" demanded Andromeda.

"No…of course not," said a flustered Molly. "But from what Ron tells me about Harry's childhood, he hasn't ever had a caring mother figure in his life…and since you aren't here often…if…if he comes over to stay at the Burrow, I can care for him…I'm home all day caring for my own kids, and I would love for Harry to—"

"I do not think my working or being a stay-at-home mother has anything to do with bringing up the children, Molly!" said Andromeda. "You've been home tending to your children all their lives, but you didn't even realise that a criminal had taken shelter in your house posing as your sons' pet rat, did you?" said Andromeda scathingly, as an eerie silence fell upon the room.

"I think both of you need to stop this argument right now," said Remus firmly, knowing that a few more words could lead to hexes flying between the two witches. By mentioning Pettigrew, Andromeda had raised the very topic that he was certain, must have had Molly feel guilty endlessly in the past few days.

"Remus is right," put in Arthur, as he led his very-shaken and speechless wife away to a corner of the room, while Ted gently clasped Andromeda's hand and whispered something to her to calm her down.

It was then that Remus looked around at the other people present in the room, who had hitherto kept silent. The Weasley twins-whom Harry had told him were quite like the Marauders- were silent for a change, while Percy Weasley had an outraged expression on his face. Ronald Weasley had turned a strange shade of red, either from embarrassment at his mother's outburst, or anger at what Andromeda had said. Ginny Weasley, meanwhile, stood in a corner of the room, her eyes darting from her mother to Harry alternately. Neville Longbottom stood with Hermione Granger, Acquila and Harry in another corner of the room, where Harry seemed to be trying to calm Acquila down, going by the urgent words he seemed to be whispering to her. Acquila's hand still lay clasped tightly within Harry's hand as she appeared to be grudgingly agreeing with Harry's pleas to maintain her cool. Nymphadora stood beside Hagrid, her hair a fiery shade of red, matching that of some of the Weasleys in the room, as the half-giant towered over her.

"I want you to apologise to Sirius," said Andromeda firmly, and Molly's expression turned inscrutable, as did Arthur's.

"I think Andromeda is right," put in Augusta Longbottom. Remus had been surprised over how the formidable witch had said nothing until now.

"I understand that you are concerned about the children, Molly. But I know how it is to bring up a child who is without parents. And as far as I can see, Sirius has been doing quite well with both Harry and as far asnot having experience to raise children is concerned, you too were new to parenting when Bill was born and you did just fine. is the same with Sirius. And also, most of your accusations against him were unfounded, especially insinuating that Azkaban has left him deranged. I have seen how people who lose their minds are. And Sirius seems to be more than capable of bringing up two children in that regard," she said sternly, the vulture on top of her hat quivering slightly, as an involuntary shudder seemed to go through her body as she thought of her son and daughter-in-law.

"Ma'am Longbottom's right, Molly! Yeh'd bette' get this matter done with…don't wanta spoil 'Arry's bir'day any more, do yeh?" said Hagrid, as it was then that everyone seemed to suddenly realise that they had gathered there to celebrate Harry's birthday, which Remus was sure, would now be remembered more for the verbal sparring, than the celebrations.

"I—" began Molly, only to stop as she saw Sirius enter the room again.

"Why don't we get on with the birthday? Come one, Harry, let's start with the cake-cutting," said Sirius calmly, though his eyes were still darkened with rage, and what looked like self-doubt.

"Padfoot—" started Remus, as he saw Sirius' bruised knuckles, and knew that he had probably punched the wall to let out his anger.

"No, Mooney," said Sirius firmly, "Let's get on with the birthday," he said, looking anywhere but at Molly.

Neither of the Marauders noticed two identical sets of eyes widen in astonishment at the utterance of their nicknames.

"Mopsy! Please bring the cake," he said, and the house-elf appeared out of thin air, placing a huge cake, which Molly had made for Harry, on the was a Gryffindor lion cake roared from time to time.

"Harry, come on," Sirius called the black-haired boy, who walked towards him, his green eyes strangely duller than usual.

And it was a very subdued crowd that sang Happy Birthday for Harry, after which the assembled people started with the sumptuous dinner that Mopsy had cooked.

"Hawwy," said Ron as the children sat on the large table that had been set for dinner.

"At least swallow your food before you speak, Ron," snapped Hermione as Ron glared at her, before gulping the food and turning to Harry again.

"Harry, I'm…well…I'm sorry that Mum sort of ruined your birthday…I never knew she would say all that against Sirius—"

"It's alright, Ron. Mrs. Weasley cares for me, or she wouldn't have said that," replied Harry, noticing that Ron seemed to be looking at Acquila for her response.

"We don't blame Mrs. Weasley, do we, Acquila?" said Harry, as he nudged her with his elbow.

"Can't we talk of something else?" she said vehemently, glaring daggers at Molly, who sat next to Ginny and Arthur.

"She'll get over it," Harry whispered to Ron, who seemed unusually subdued.

"I won't, Potter," snapped Acquila, before turning to Hermione to discuss something that she had found in the library.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, a whispered conversation seemed to be going on between the twins.

"Do you think it's them?" said Fred.

"I don't know! Doesn't Remus seem too reserved and too much of a peace-maker to be one of the people who made the Map?" responded George.

"But Acquila's dad said 'Mooney'! And Remus said 'Padfoot'!"

"And who're Prongs and Wormtail then?"

"Harry's dad, maybe?And Pettigrew!"

"That traitor? So you mean to tell me that the rat who was Ron and Percy's pet made the Map?"

"It's quite possible! They might be the Marauders and—"

"What are you both whispering?" demanded Percy, as he glared at them.

"Nothing that concerns you—" said Fred.

"—Perfect Prefect," completed George, though they stopped talking about the Marauders after that.

Sirius, meanwhile, sat with Neville and Augusta.

"I've been meaning to apologise to you, Neville," said Sirius.

"For…for what?"

"For stealing you wand," replied Sirius. "I needed a wand to send the Patronus to the Ministry…and Nyx got me yours… Harry told me that McGonagall scolded you for losing it…so well, I'm sorry for that—"

"It's alright, Mister Black," said Neville.

"Call me Sirius," he replied, before saying, "It's Frank's wand, isn't it?"

"Uh…yes…" said Neville. "Did you…you knew him quite well, didn't you?"

"Oh yes, I did…he was one of the best Aurors around, as was Alice. Mad-Eye always said that Alice was one of the best witches he's trained…Frank led our team in an attack against the Avery brothers…his spell-casting in the duels that day was phenomenal," said Sirius, as Augusta smiled proudly at him, while Neville grinned slightly.

"Does his wand work well for you?" asked Sirius, knowing that the answer would be in the negative. Acquila had told him of how Neville wasn't too good with his spell-work and Sirius felt that it might have been because Frank's wand didn't work too well for him.

"Uh…yes, it does…" stuttered Neville, before glancing at his grandmother.

"Are you sure it works well for him, Madam Longbottom?" Sirius asked the elderly witch. "Because I remember using Frank's wand once in a duel, when he had to be taken away as he was injured…and it didn't really work too well for me…and as Ollivander says, the wand chooses the wizard. And though Frank's wand worked exceptionally well for him, it might not have changed it allegiance to Neville…it may still consider Frank its master."

Augusta stared at Sirius for a long moment, before nodding infinitesimally, and then turned to her grandson.

"We'll go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to buy you a wand. Consider it another present for your birthday," she said, as the plump boy smiled happily, and threw Sirius a grateful look, before they started on a conversation on the rare species of plant that Sirius, Harry and Acquila had gifted Neville for his birthday which had been the previous day.

An hour later, as the guests began to leave, while Nymphadora waited for Hermione to bid goodbye to Acquila, before she dropped her home by a portkey that Sirius had gotten from the Ministry. Hermione had been very excited about Nymphadora dropping her home, as she wanted her parents to see her morphing her hair and face; they would love knowing another thing about magic.

"You'll meet me at Diagon Alley, won't you?" Hermione asked Ron, Harry and Acquila.

"Of course, we will. But don't write to us…we won't get the letters till Dad finds out who's been blocking them," said Acquila.

"You can write to Ron and he'll tell us through the floo," put in Harry.

"Alright…I wish you had a telephone," said Hermione. "Would have made it much easier…"

"Dad's been wanting to get one…but the magic in the Manor would interfere with the working of the telephone," sighed Acquila.

"Come on, Hermione. We've got to go! The Portkey leaves in a minute," said Nymphadora.

"Bye, Acquila!" said Hermione, as she hugged the black-haired girl, before hugging Harry and Ron, who blushed red.

After Hermione and Ron left, only Molly and Arthur remained.

Molly walked to Sirius, who stood in a corner with Remus.

"Uh…I'm sorry," said Molly in an almost-inaudible voice.

"You should be," muttered Sirius. But as Harry nudged him slightly, he sighed and said, "It's alright, Molly."

Molly nodded, before disappearing through the fireplace after hugging Harry again.

"I'm sorry about what Molly said, Sirius," said Arthur. "She had her heart in the right place… but she—"

"You don't need to apologise, Arthur. Thank you for coming…and bringing your kids, as well," responded Sirius, before shaking Arthur's hand, as the red-headed man too went through the fireplace.

"Sirius," said Harry and Remus together, while Acquila walked towards her father, hugging him tightly, as he patted her head absently.

"I'll be back in some time," he said to the three of them, before going back to his room.

"What's wrong with him?" exclaimed Harry.

"Is he angry with us, as well, Remus?" asked Acquila.

"Of course not! He just needs to think over what happened," said Remus.

"But…I'll go talk to him," said Harry.

"No," said Remus firmly. "He'll come out when he wishes to. Why don't you open your gifts now, Harry?"

"But I wanted to open them with Sirius…" mumbled Harry.

"Dad will come later, Harry. Let's see what Fred and George have given you now," said Acquila, not wanting Harry to get upset any more. Molly Weasley had already ruined his birthday party, and she didn't want her father upsetting Harry even further.

"Come on," she said, dragging Harry to the table that was laden with gifts; not knowing that Sirius wouldn't come out of his room for the next three hours, refusing to open the door for either them or Remus.

xxx

Later that night, Sirius remained seated in his own room, rather than camping outside his daughter's room in his Animagus form as he usually did. In his hands lay a framed photograph of Athena.

"Where am I going wrong, love?" he muttered as his fingers skimmed over her auburn curls that fluttered softly as the wind caressed them.

"I'm doing everything I can...but I'm still falling short...I thought I would learn to become a good father...but I don't think I am…" he mumbled softly, before staring into Athena's blue eyes, as she smiled at him.

"I'm so...so lost without you...I never thought I would have to bring up our child without you by my side...I knew there was a great chance of one of us not surviving the war...but I always thought I would be the one dying...each time I left for a mission, I knew that there was a chance that it would be the last time I saw you...the last time I saw Acquila...but I never thought you'd go before I did...and I'm so incomplete without you...it feels like a part of me is dead...as if I'm just going through life, not living it..."

He pressed his lips to the photograph, wishing that he would have got one chance, just one single chance to talk to his wife, as a memory resurfaced in his mind.

He pushed open the door cautiously, not wanting to wake Athena up at that late hour. His limbs ached with the after-effects of the Crutiatus Curse. It was the third time in his fledgling Auror career that he had faced Bellatrix. And this time, when he had missed the killing curse by less than an inch, he had suddenly realised how life-threatening his job was.

Of course, he had known the risks that came with his each time he took down a death-eater, each time he added another dark wizard to those already in Azkaban, it had strengthened his confidence; and he had started believing that perhaps, he could defeat death. But today, it had been different. If Marlene hadn't saved him in time, he would have been a dead man.

He shivered slightly at the thought of never getting to see Athena again, never getting to see their as-yet-unborn daughter.

He soundlessly entered the bedroom, expecting to see Athena sleeping, only to see a wand pointing at his face, as she lay seated at the edge of the bed.

"What form does my Patronus take?" she asked him, her hand trembling slightly, as the other lay protectively over her swollen belly.

"An eagle," he replied softly, putting his own wand on the table; and she made to get up, struggling with the added weight of the child, who would be born in less than a couple of weeks.

"Don't get up, love," he said, before taking her into his arms in one swift motion, as she kissed him over and over again, her hand roaming over his body as she shed off his robes; wanting to make sure that he wasn't injured.

"I…I don't like this, Sirius…I couldn't sleep…I kept thinking of…" she whispered in a choked voice, still not letting go of him, despite her large midsection making it rather difficult for her to hug him properly.

"I'm alright, Athena…I'm fine…just a few scratches, a few bruises…nothing that won't heal…" he murmured, before he disentangled himself gently from her embrace and made her lie down, wiping off her tears.

She had taken to crying a lot recently, and according to James – who had to face a pregnant Lily, who cried one moment and yelled at him the next- it was the pregnancy hormones that made them overtly emotional.

"Don't lie," Athena whispered accusingly, as her hands skimmed over the two entwined runic symbols he had tattooed on his chest- one of them, the rune for wisdom- as Athena was named for the Goddess of wisdom; and the other, the rune for love. "You got hit with the Cruciatus again, didn't you?" she asked him softly, and he knew that she had noticed the discomfort he felt while moving his limbs.

"Yes," he replied, as he swept aside her hair and kissed her neck, the feel of his cold lips making her shiver involuntarily, while his other hand lay over her stomach; and he smiled as his hands felt his daughter's movements, while Athena suddenly winced in pain.

"Ow!" she muttered, "I can't wait for the baby to get out, Sirius…she keeps kicking all day…"

"It's just a couple of weeks more, sweetheart. And isn't it a good thing that she's kicking? It means she's healthy…she'll probably make a good Quidditch keeper—Oww! What was that for?" he muttered, as Athena hit his arm; and on seeing the furious expression on her face, he knew that it had been the wrong thing to say.

"Good thing that she's kicking? You try carrying around an eight-pound baby in your stomach, Sirius Orion Black! You try sleeping with frequent kicks to your stomach, and with worrying over whether your husband's going to come back alive!" she snapped, before pushing away his hand that lay on her belly, and rolling over to the other side, with her back facing him; groaning slightly, as her huge stomach made it irksome to do so.

"Hey! I didn't mean to—" he started, as he put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him; but he stopped speaking, as he noticed that she was sobbing.

He cursed himself mentally. Now he had not only made her furious, but made her cry as well.

"Don't cry, love," he murmured, trying to make her look at him; but she swatted off his hands again, as she cried into the pillow.

"Please, Athena…look at me," he coaxed her, till she finally rolled over to face him; her blue eyes now watery and red-rimmed.

"I'm sorry, darling. I didn't mean to upset you," he muttered, as she cried into his chest; while his hands rubbed soothing circles on her back, through the soft silk of her robe.

"No…I'm being stupid…it's just the baby…" she muttered, in between sobs. "I'm fine…I just feel too emotional…I don't even know why I'm crying—" her words were cut off, when he captured her lips in a kiss; while her hands came up to his hair, as she pulled him even closer- as close as her huge belly allowed her to- while his hands deftly shed her robes, before they roamed over her torso, reveling in the added weight she had put on due to the pregnancy.

An hour later, as she snuggled into him, listening to his steady heartbeats; he opened his mouth to speak, but then hesitated.

"Speak," she told him, having noticed his hesitation; as she looked up at him, her blue eyes boring into his conflicted grey ones.

He took a long breath. He had to tell her now, rather than telling her in the morning.

"I've to go on a mission tomorrow…and I might not be back for a week…" he whispered, readying himself for another angry onslaught, expecting her to turn away from him. But she stayed put, though her eyes now shimmered with tears again.

"A week?" she let out a choked whisper.

"Yes…I've told Mad-Eye that I'll come back if either Lily or you go into labour…I want to be there when Harry's born…but I've to go…they think the death-eaters are cooped up in Norfolk…along with Voldemort…and Mad-Eye wants to launch an attack…and it may take some days to work out the logistics and…and I've told your mother to come over to stay with you…Marlene may come as well, since she's not part of the team and—"

"Can't someone else go?" she mumbled, before burrowing her face into his neck, her lips trailing kisses from his neck to his chest; while her hands wandered all over him again, as if wanting to commit the contours of his body to her memory.

"No…we're already short on manpower since the last attack…we lost fifteen Aurors…and the newbies…we can't expect them to face Voldemort when we haven't even had time to train them to fight the second-rung death-eaters…and Mad-Eye is with me, love…even Frank's coming though Alice will give birth any day now…and I'll—"

"What if…what if I have the baby and you don't make it back in time?"

"Of course, I'll be back if you have the baby…James will inform me…he'll be at the London Headquarters…Mad-Eye's left him in charge of handling the death-eater activity in and around London till we come back…"

"And what if…if you don't come back at all?" she whispered, as her hands suddenly stilled, and she looked directly into his eyes again, as if wanting to read his thoughts through them.

He said nothing for a long moment before looking away from her earnest gaze; not wanting to give her false hopes that he would be back alive when there was every chance that he could never come back. He could have left his job, refused to go to Norfolk. He knew Athena deserved much, much better than a husband who wasn't home for more than a few hours a week. She deserved a husband, who would stand by her side in the last few weeks of her pregnancy, support her…not go around the countryside fighting Death-Eaters.

But if they did manage to kill Voldemort, or even take down a few of the more prominent Death-Eaters like Malfoy and Bellatrix, the world would be a much safer place to live in. And giving his life for the good of the world seemed completely worth it.

"Sirius? Answer me!" she demanded, cupping his face to make him look at her.

"I don't want to lie to you, Athena…I don't know whether I'll—"

"Whether you'll make it back alive?" she shouted suddenly; as he felt a spasm of worry run through him at the thought of risking the pregnancy by upsetting her.

"Yes," he replied, wanting to tell her the truth, not wanting to give her false hopes.

"I might not make it back alive…according to our sources, it'sVoldemort's headquarters…there are at least fifty Death-Eaters there…and since we're intending to attack them…and it's only fifteen Aurors against the lot of them…we might not—"

SMACK

She slapped him right on his cheek, as his skin stung with the force of her hand.

"Why is it that I always come in second to your job? Why do you have to go around saving the world when your wife might deliver your child any day? Don't you care for me at all? Don't you care for our child? You know you might not come back alive, then WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?" she shrieked; moving away from him.

He lay frozen on the bed. Athena had never, ever slapped him. And he knew better than to blame it on her mood swings due to the pregnancy. She was really, really upset with him. Or she would never have slapped him, pregnant or not.

"Athena," he whispered, not daring to touch her rather he upset her again; but she turned around at the sound of his voice.

"What do you have to say? Are you going to tell me that you're doing this for our child? So that she gets to live in a safer world than we did?"

"Well…yes…" he muttered sheepishly, as her eyes blazed with anger.

"What do you think she's going to think when she knows that you left her to save the world? That you put your job above her? That you preferred leaving her fatherless in your bid to do good to the world?" she demanded, before clutching his shoulders again, and shaking him, as if to put some sense into him."And how the hell am I going to bring up a child if you aren't here with me? I'd rather die with you—"

"Don't say that!" he cut her off harshly, as he grabbed both her hands with one of his, while the other held her chin, as he met her defiant gaze with his smouldering one. "Don't you even think of dying! I became an Auror so that the people I love could live in a better world! I'm going to Norfolk so that you and our child can live freely, without being in fear of your lives from Bellatrix and Malfoy! And no matter what happens to me, you aren't going to die! Even if I don't come back alive, you're going to give birth to our child and bring her up! Your parents, Marlene, James, Lily, Remmy, Peter…they'll all help you! And…" he faltered, hating the very thought of Athena with another man. "And if…when… you find someone else…a good man who'll take care of you and our daughter…who'll love you...you're going to marry—"

"Shut up!" she thundered, her chest heaving with the effort of controlling her tears. "Shut up before I hex you!" she snapped, her hand reaching for her wand; but with Sirius' quicker Auror reflexes, her wand zoomed into his hand and he laid both his, and Athena's wand onto the table.

"Give me back my wand!" she demanded, her teeth gritted.

"I'm not going to risk my life… You slapped me! I don't know what you'll do if I give you your wand!" he responded, a tad sheepishly, before she scooted closer to him, her hand moving over the cheek she had slapped.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have—"

"It's alright…and I'd prefer your slaps to my mother's unforgivable curses any day…" he smirked, putting an arm around her.

"Don't talk of that hag!" she hissed, bristling at the thought of Walburga Black. "And let's nothave this talk of you dying, Sirius—"

"Please, Athena…I was going to have this talk with you long ago…but the risk of me dying had never troubled me until today…" he faltered. "If Marlene hadn't saved me today, I would have died…after beating Malfoy so many times, after escaping Voldemort…I'd become too cocky recently, too over-confident…but when I saw the killing curse miss me by a mere inch, I realisedthat I can't defeat death, Athena…I can't…and I love you too much to give you false hopes about me always coming back home to you…I'm an Auror…and you know how my job is…and I want you to promise me that no matter what happens to me, you'll never, ever give up on life…you'll give birth to our child…and bring her up as best as you can… and I want you to give her the best of things…I don't want our daughter to lack anything…and I know you'll make a good mother…"

"But—" she began, but he stopped her.

"No! Listen to me! You're going to be a wonderful mother, sweetheart…and I know that you won't let our child want for love…and I know that Jamie and Lily will help you out…even Andy and Nymphie will…Nymphie is waiting for her cousin to be born…and our daughter will have lots of people who will love her even if I'm not around…Would you mind her middle name being Dorea? After Mum? And Jamie and Lily can be her Godparents…" he trailed off, knowing he was rambling. But he had never been good at these emotional conversations, anyway.

Athena nodded tearfully.

"So…just promise me that if anything happens to me, you'll take care of her…you won't spend the rest of your life grieving for me…you'll marry a…a good man when you find one…"

"I can't promise you that…" she whispered. "I'm never going to love anyone else, Sirius…you've always been the only one for me…ever since third year—"

"Third year? You never told me that!" he exclaimed, as his hands moved to her stomach again; wanting his child to remember him as her father, even if through just a touch.

"I did…you were the first guy I had a crush on…but you were too busy with other girls…and I gave up on you…till you fell for me," she chuckled, as her hand traced the tattoos on his chest, before moving lower and lower down, hoping to distract him from extracting the promise from her.

"I haven't forgotten what we were talking about," he groaned huskily, before grabbing her hand that now trailed dangerously low, and bringing it up to his chest again. "Promise me…"

"Only if you promise me something in return…"

"What?" he demanded.

"That you'll come back to me…you'll be a great father to our child and any other ones that we'll have—"

"I can't promise you that!"

"That you won't come back? Or—"

"Both! You know I can't promise to come back alive—"

"You can," she whispered. "And you will…because you've never once broken any promise you made to me…promise me you'll come back…please, Sirius…" she pleaded, and Sirius could feel his child kicking from within Athena's stomach, as if joining in her mother's entreaties.

"O…okay…" he muttered. "I promise…but don't tell me to promise you that I'll be a good father…I've never had my own father as much as speak a few words to me…and I met Jamie's dad when I was thirteen…so I have no clue about how to be a good parent to a child…"

"Are you still worried about that?" Athena sighed. "I've told you time and again that you'll be a good father… a great father...you're a good man, Sirius…and though you won't admit it, I know you're full of love that you yearn to shower on someone…and I'm sure that once you see the baby, you'll know how to be a good father to her…you'll learn with time…"

"Umm hmm…" he hummed vaguely, as he kissed her neck again.

"And Andromeda told me that you Blacks—"

"Stop talking of my evil family when I've got barely a few hours before I've to leave…" he mumbled, before proceeding to kiss her soundly.

"What time do you leave?" she asked him breathlessly, after he had finally let go of her.

"In around six hours," he replied, as he pulled her closer to him.

"I think we should sleep then—"

"I can think of a couple of things we can do before we go to sleep," he whispered, her skin tingling as she heard the sudden low baritone that his voice had taken; before he captured her lips with his again.

He sighed deeply as he thought back to that day, the void that Athena had left in his life seeming deeper than ever. He missed everything about her…every single thing… her habit of biting her nails when she was nervous…her sunny smile that always brightened his day…her tinkling laughter…her sweet voice as she sang lullabies when she put Acquila to sleep…he missed waking up with Athena in his arms.

"I love you so much, Athena," he whispered to the photograph, insanely wishing that it would talk back to him and say 'I love you too, Sirius,' as she used to say, when she was alive.

He had fulfilled the first promise he had made to her. There had been times when he had been in the jaws of death, times when he was a bloodied heap lying on the St. Mungo's healers' table. But he had pulled through each time, because he had promised the one girl he loved above all, that he would come back home to her.

But what about the second promise? Till Molly Weasley had voiced her doubts about his parenting ability, he had been rather sure that he was treading down the right path with both Harry and Acquila. But when a mother of seven children had said that he wasn't capable enough of being a good father to Harry, his self-doubts had surfaced again.

Of course, he had yelled at Molly; he had told her that he didn't see Harry as James…and he really didn't, except sometimes when his memories took over the present. And he knew that he wasn't doing anything wrong by teaching his kids magic. Voldemort would be back some day or the other. And Sirius wanted to ensure that Harry was more than capable of beating him, even if he had to break a few laws in the process.

But what if Molly was right? What if he wasn't a good father? Would a good father have wanted to take his kids on a flying motorbike? Hell! Who would he even look up to, as an example of a good father? His own father wouldn't have cared less about whether he went on a flying motorbike or on a dragon, as long as he did nothing to besmirch the family name. Charlus would probably have checked the bike to make sure whether it was safe before handing it over to James and him. And Ted…he would have zoomed away on the motorbike himself for a romantic ride up in the skies with a blushing Andy.

And what about Azkaban? He shuddered at the thought of the damp prison. Had the decade in Azkaban really affected his mind? It had, of course…a little bit. No one could spend time in Azkaban without losing a little of himself. But he wasn't deranged like Bellatrix had been, before she had been shifted away from the cell adjacent to his. Nor had he perished like Barty Crouch's son had.

He had survived, holding on to the promise he had given James. He had escaped Azkaban, because he had managed to keep his wits about! But what if that hadn't been enough? What if he wasn't good enough to be a father to Harry? To Acquila?

"Stop questioning yourself, Sirius!" he heard a soft voice coming from the doorway.

It was Andromeda.

"How did you manage to get past the locking charm?" he muttered.

"I was the one who taught it to you, Sirius," she replied, remembering having taught Sirius the complicated charm when he was twelve, so that he could lock himself up, away from his mother's temper tantrums.

"Oh yes…I'd forgotten that…" he mumbled vaguely.

She walked up to him, before glancing at the photo-frame. She gently pried it away from his hands, before smiling softly at Athena's grinning face.

"You did manage to get the best girl in your year, didn't you?" she smiled at Sirius, who smirked.

"Jamie wouldn't have agreed with that. He always said Lily was—"

Sirius stopped mid-sentence. Now that Molly had said he thought of Harry as James, it seemed strange even saying a simple thing about James.

"Will you stop thinking of what Molly said? I can almost see your mind whirring with thoughts about what she said!" said Andromeda sternly, as Sirius sighed, while she sat down next to him.

"She's a mother to seven kids, Andy! And I've been a father to Acquila for hardly fifteen months when she was a baby! And I wasn't even home for the first few months till I started cutting down on Auror missions! How can Molly be wrong in—"

"Sirius, Molly Weasley was born in the Prewett family! And though the Prewetts were pure-bloods, they didn't leave their children to the house-elves like our parents did! You need to stop taking everything that Molly said seriously because she isn't a Black! She doesn't know us at all!"

"But—"

"No! Listen to me! You and I were…are Blacks! You think it was easy for me to raise Nymphadora? I got the shock of my life when I saw her hair turning from brown to black when I held her in my hands for the very first time! And I was terrified…terrified that I would become as bad a parent to her as my parents were…mother wasn't that bad, actually…she did talk to us at least once a day, even if it was to tell us one more thing to add to the list of 'how to be a good lady'," Andromeda snorted. "Even father was alright at times, if you overlook the fact that he thought of us just as pawns to be sold in the marriage market…I was worried that Nymphadora would turn into another Bellatrix with me for a mother! I didn't even know how to act with a child of my own…never knew how mothers acted with their kids…the only motherly figure I had known was Flimsey, the house-elf! She fed me, dressed me up, played with me…did everything that mother should have done for me…you at least had the Potters as parental figures in your life…I had no one… but I learnt with time…learnt how to feed a child, how to distinguish her cries for hunger and her sobs of plain irritation with her Metamorphmagus abilities…even when she grew up, I learnt to get used to her clumsiness, to accept the fact that she hates the name I gave her…to give her her space when she was upset over Charlie Weasley leaving—"

"Why was Nymphie upset over Charlie Weasley leaving?"

"Because they were dating, of course!"

Sirius sputtered, "She…she dated Molly Weasley's son?"

"She did…and he's a good lad, Sirius…don't give me that look! Even Molly's good at heart—"

"Is that why you had your wand pointed at her?" smirked Sirius.

"Never going to let me live that down, are you? I was just trying to defend my baby cousin's honour…and my temper got the better of me…but as I said, you don't need to take all that she said seriously…nobody can know everything about parenting, Sirius. Even Molly let her son stay with a criminal Animagus as his pet, didn't she? What kind of a mother does that make her?"

"Peter fooled even Jamie and me, Andy…you can't really hold that against Molly—"

"Then how can you let Molly hold your time in prison against you? Has she ever been in Azkaban like you have? Does she know how brave, how mentally strong you were to hold your mind when most others go mad in there? You're the only person ever to escape Azkaban! And you escaped because you cared for Harry and Acquila! Doesn't that say more than enough about the kind of father you are? Which person would have fled from prison, with the Dementors behind them, only for a glimpse of their child, for a chance to talk to their child? Which man would have saved his Godson from falling off his broom without even a wand to help him perform magic? But you did that! And Acquila and Harry both love you, look up to you as their father! Molly knew that you weren't guilty; knew that the person who was guilty was the very one who had hoodwinked them for ten years and stayed in their house! And she had absolutely no right to say that they would end up in prison like you did, when you were wrongly sentenced to prison! She doesn't even know Harry and Acquila well! And I know that she only has their best interests at heart, but you don't need to doubt yourself because of what she said!"

"But, Andy—"

"Do you think Athena would have wanted to you to wallow in self-doubt in a darkened room like this, when Harry and Acquila are worrying about you?"

"I don't know what Athena would have wanted because she isn't here with me!" shouted Sirius suddenly, as he stood up. "I never thought I would have to raise our daughter without Athena by my side! I never thought Harry would be orphaned! And I can't do this, Andy! I've never missed Athena as deeply as I am today! She should have brought up Acquila and Harry! She shouldn't have died! She'd done nothing to that bastard! But he killed her…killed her just because she knew that he was the secret-keeper! Athena should have been here with Acquila! Molly is right…Acquila needs a mother—"

"You can't bring her back, Sirius," Andromeda said softly. "You can't bring Athena back…but what you can do is be a good father to Acquila…which you already are…you just need to stop doubting yourself…you're doing everything that you can for the children…if I was in your place…coming back from a year in prison, and without Ted, I wouldn't have been able to go through a single day…but you've done so well! You're there with Acquila when she wakes up screaming from nightmares, you're doing everything to make Harry stand up strongly against He Who Must…I mean, Vol…Voldemort…despite the Bond, despite having so much to worry about,you're doing much better than anyone in your place would have! And you're going to stop thinking about what Molly said! She doesn't know you at all, and she has no right to say what she did! And now, you're going to stop brooding and come out to talk to the kids!"

"Okay," he muttered, before suddenly, his shoulders hunched as he sat down on the floor, laying his head on Andromeda's knees.

"I miss her, Andy…I don't know how long I'll be able to go on without her…" he whispered, as she ran her fingers through his hair affectionately.

"I know you miss Athena, Sirius…but she wouldn't have wanted you to keep grieving for her…it's been eleven years since she's gone…and…" Andromeda faltered, not knowing whether this was the right time to voice her thoughts.

"Eleven years, Andy? It seems like just yesterday that I bid her goodbye before I left for Godric's Hollow…I'll never forget her, Andy…I'll keep loving her till I die…"

"You…you can't spend you life alone with only her memories, Sirius. You're just thirty-two! You have all of your life before you! I know you'll always love her, but you need to move—"

"No!" he snarled, suddenly lifting up his head from her knees, and glaring defiantly at her. "Don't even think that I'm going to go for some other woman!"

"Why not?" she demanded. "Wouldn't you have wanted Athena to marry someone else if something had happened to you? Would you have wanted her to spend her life grieving—"

"That's different!" he huffed angrily.

"That isn't different, Sirius! You're my cousin! And I love you! And I can't see you pining for Athena all your life! You need someone to love you, someone to care for you, someone who'll give you all the love you deserve and—"

"I need no one! I have my children and their love's enough for me!" he roared, before standing up.

"It's not the same, Sirius! I'm not telling you to marry someone right now! But at least keep your mind open to the idea of—"

"NO! And I'm not having this conversation with you ever again!" he thundered, before walking towards the door. As he turned, he saw the pained expression on Andromeda's face, and he walked back to her, before kissing her forehead.

"I'm…I shouldn't have yelled at you, Andy…but I don't want you to talk of this…even think of this again," he said in a voice that merited no protest, before walking out of the room.

He went to Harry's room first, only to see him talking to Acquila, a gloomy expression on his face.

"Sirius!" he exclaimed in relief when he saw him, but Acquila just glared at her father.

"Finally decided to stop brooding, have you?" she remarked.

"Yes, I have. And don't take that tone with me…I was just thinking, not brooding. And why haven't both of you gone to bed as yet?" said Sirius.

"Because we were waiting for you!" said Harry, as he jumped off the bed and walked towards Sirius, hugging him tightly.

"You know that you are a good…a good father to me, don't you? You don't need to pay attention to what Ron's Mum said…I couldn't have got a better Godfather than you, Sirius…and…and all that she said about Azkaban doesn't matter…" said Harry softly.

"Thank you, kiddo," said Sirius, ruffling Harry's hair and making it even messier than it was, before leading him back to his bed.

"Go to sleep now," he said, smiling at Harry. He had realised in the past few weeks that Harry wasn't really expressive with his emotions. He wondered whom he had got that from, since both Lily as well as James, were quite outspoken with their thoughts and feelings. Harry'sbehaviour had perhaps stemmed from years of indifference by the Dursleys, he thought darkly. He had perhaps had no one to share his thoughts with, till he met Acquila at the Muggleschool. And that made Harry's words about Sirius even more precious to him, as he had expressed his views on him very staunchly before Molly.

"And you, come on, I'll tuck you in bed," Sirius said to Acquila, who was still glaring at him.

"Good night, Harry," she said to Harry, before walking off to her own room, as Sirius followed soon after her.

"Stop glaring at me, will you?" he snapped at Acquila, as he pulled the blanket over her, while adjusting the cooling charm that Mopsy had cast over the room.

"Then you stop shutting yourself from the world when you're upset!" she retorted hotly.

"I didn't shut myself up! I was just thinking!" he muttered.

"Just thinking? Was that why you yelled at Remus when he came to talk to you? He had to go to Dora's house and call Aunt Andy to take off your locking charm!"

"I…I just needed to think—"

"You never tell me what you're thinking! Whether it's about your nightmares or the connection between Harry and me, or about what Ron's mother said! You expect me to tell you everything, but you tell me nothing! Ron's mum said all those rude things and spoiltHarry's birthday, and then you upset Harry even further when you locked yourself in your room!" she exclaimed hotly.

"So are you angry because I don't tell you what I'm thinking or because I upset Harry?" he asked her, as he chuckled slightly.

"Both!" she replied.

"I'll…I'll apologise to Harry tomorrow," he muttered.

"And?" she demanded.

"And what?" he asked her.

"Aren't you going to tell me about what you were thinking?" she asked him, an indignant expression on her face that strangely reminded him of a young Regulus.

"Fine," he sighed. "I was thinking about Athena," he said.

"You were?" she said, her eyes suddenly bright. "What about Mum?"

"Uh…a couple of weeks before you were born," he muttered, before telling her of the conversation they had had.

"But you are a good father! You did keep up your promise!" exclaimed Acquila, after he had finished telling her of his talk with Athena.

"Am I?" he murmured, before his voice rose a notch higher in volume. "I wasn't there for ten years of your life, Acquila! Nor for Harry! Molly may be right for all you know—"

"She isn't right, Dad!" Acquila cut him off.

"Hmm…" Sirius hummed absently, and Acquila could see that his mind was still elsewhere.

"So did you make it in time? When I was born?" she asked him suddenly, wanting to bring him back into the conversation.

"Just in time…around ten minutes before you arrived," he said. "We were attacking the Death-eaters and it took me quite some time to escape from the site unscathed…"

"Did Mum forgive you? For reaching the hospital late?"

"Oh, she did! She was so elated when you were born, she forgot all about me having reached late…you were the prettiest baby I had ever seen, though James said Harry was cuter," he chuckled. "Harry was such a quiet kid…you were the cranky one…kept Athena up on so many nights…I regret that sometimes, you know…that I was so deep into doing my duty as an Auror, that I was hardly ever home with Athena and you…till one day, I came home and you didn't even recognise me as your father…you had forgotten me as I was hardly ever home. And then I spoke to Mad-Eye about cutting down on Auror missions to spend time with you…but I missed quite a lot of your infancy…and then of course, all your childhood as well…" he trailed off gravely.

"But you do have me now," she said, sitting up and putting her arms around him.

"That I do," he smiled, as he pressed a kiss onto her head.

"You should go to sleep now," he said, and she sighed. She had been hoping to speak a lot more with her father, hoping that he would share his thoughts with her; but he hadn't, as always.

She was his daughter for God's sake! Didn't she have a right to know what he was thinking, what he was upset about? A right to know more about her mother? Sirius spoke often about James and Lily, but never much about Athena. And when Acquila had mentioned this to Remus, he had told her that Sirius was still grieving for Athena; and perhaps talking of her reopened his wounds.

But him subduing all his thoughts, all his hurt within him wasn't right, was it? Why couldn't he tell her more about him? About his life before Azkaban?About his life with her mother? Of course, she loved her father, she was glad to have him back. But sometimes, she felt as if she didn't know him at all! Especially at times like these when he shut his thoughts away from her.

"You're upset," said Sirius suddenly, observing the sudden dullness that entered his daughter's grey eyes.

"I am," she said, deciding to be honest with him.

"Why?" he demanded.

"Because sometimes, I feel as if I don't know you at all! You hardly talk to me about you…your childhood…about Mum…"

"I do tell you about it all!" he protested. "I told you about Reggie, didn't I? And I've told you all about my school days…and I did tell you about Athena that day…"

"You just said that I reminded you of her when I was miffed with you…that'sall…why don't you talk to me about her?"

He replied nothing for a long moment. What could he tell her? That he felt guilty about all the times he had put his job above Athena? Hell! He had even left Athena at home on that Halloween night when she had begged to accompany him to Godric's Hollow! If he had agreed to let her come with him, perhaps none of this would have happened…it would have been Athena tucking Acquila in bed, Athena telling Acquila about how they fell in love…

He felt deeply guilt about indirectly leading to James and Lily dying. But though he had hardly ever admitted it to even himself, he knew that deep down, he felt even more guilty about not having been able to protect Athena despite being her husband, despite being one of the best Aurors in the division! And for telling Acquila about the happy memories he had shared with Athena, he needed to have the memories in the first place!

All that had whirled through his mind in the decade he had spent in Azkaban, were the bad memories, the guilty ones, the painful ones, and the promise he had made to James. The happier memories had all been buried deep inside his mind. He could tell the kids about James and Lily because Remus had helped him refresh their days at Hogwarts; he kept reminding him of the happy times the Marauders had spent. But the happy memories with Athena- they were buried somewhere within the bottomless recesses of his mind, pushed deeper and deeper by all the dark thoughts that had flooded through his mind in Azkaban. And it was only once in a while, that some memory resurfaced.

"I'm waiting for you to reply, you know," said Acquila.

"I—uh…" he faltered, before deciding that honesty would probably work well. Acquila was right. She was his daughter, and he had to open up to her, tell her about him and Athena.

"I don't talk much about Athena because…because that Halloween night, when we knew that something had gone wrong," he said, declining to mention that it had been Acquila crying for Harry that had alerted them about Harry being in danger. "I left home to go to Godric's Hollow…and Athena wanted to accompany me…she wanted to come with me…but I refused, I made her promise that she would stay home with you…and if I hadn't, then perhaps she wouldn't have died…I couldn't protect her, I couldn't save her because I went off to kill that rat! I should have come back home with Harry, then I would have been able to stop that traitor from…from killing her…" his voice caught in his throat, as the guilt over his wife's death came rushing down over him like an avalanche.

"It's not your fault, Dad!" she said softly as she looked up at him, shocked to see his eyes reddening and moist.

"It is…it is! I couldn't save her. I let her die because of my recklessness, my stupidity…I made you as good as an orphan…and I made Harry spend his childhood with those evil Muggles…" he mumbled, as he tried to hold back the tears that were prickling his eyes. He couldn't cry before his daughter! He wouldn't!

"DAD!" she shouted suddenly, as she moved over to sit facing him. "You need to stop blaming yourself for everything! Harry doesn't blame you at all for his parents' deaths! And nor do I blame you for Pettigrew killing Mom! You did what you felt was right! And in hindsight, everything seems different than it does when we take the decisions!"

"You…you don't understand, Acquila…you're too young to—"

"I'm old enough to realise that you need to stop beating yourself up about something that we can't change! About something that isn't your fault! Pettigrew killed Mum, not you! And if there's anyone to blame for Mum dying, it's Pettigrew! The same goes for Harry's parents! Voldemort and Pettigrew killed them, not you! And you need to stop dwelling on the past! You have Harry, and me, and Remus! And I don't want to see you regretting the past day and night! You think I don't see you lost in thoughts for most part of the day? One moment you're smiling, and the next, your eyes get that…that 'haunted look', as Harry puts it! And you're getting worse since we went to Godric's Hollow! You think Mum would want to see you brooding and moping all day—"

"I do not mope!" he protested weakly.

"You do! I don't know much about Mum, but from whatever Remus has told me about her and you, I think she would have smacked you on the head on seeing you blaming yourself and doubting your parenting abilities!"

"That she would have," he smiled slightly.

"And you think Harry's Dad would want you berating yourself? From what you've told me about him, he was always a jovial man, a witty fellow who would forever keep putting a smile on people's faces, forever making them laugh! And I don't think he's going to like your self-vilifying behaviour!"

"Remmy put you up to this, didn't he?" exclaimed Sirius suddenly. "'Self-vilifying behavior'! That's something Mooney would say!"

"He didn't tell me to talk to you," she replied, "But Harry and I may have heard Aunt Andromeda talking to Remus," she smirked.

"I'm going to lock that Invisibility Cloak away, one of these days!" he said under his breath.

"We wouldn't have to be using it if you adults were honest with us, you know," she remarked, and Sirius knew she was referring to the bond, or rather 'the connection', as Harry and she had termed it.

"You're children! And you don't need to know everything," he responded.

"Don't tell us! We'll find out anyway," she smirked with a Marauder-like glint in her eyes.

"And don't get off track now," she continued. "You aren't going to blame yourself anymore! Either for Harry's parents' deaths, or for mom's!" she said in an authoritative voice.

"You would have made a better Head of House than I am if you were a boy, you know," he said, wondering why she had inherited all the traits that his family had made their own over the years. He had almost felt like she was a female Arcturus Black from the way she had spoken.

"I hope that's a compliment considering you've never cared for all this House business," she retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"It is a compliment," he chuckled. "Go to sleep now," he said, knowing he had a lot to think about.

"Remember what I said," she said, as she kissed him on his cheek, before lying down on her bed again.

"I will," he gave her a genuine smile, before heading towards the door.

"Good night, Dad. And I love you a lot," she whispered.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he said, before he turned around again.

"And Acquila?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't want you sleeping in Harry's bed again," he said, remembering how he had found the both of them wrapped around each other the morning after they had visited Godric's Hollow.

"Huh? Why? He's my best friend! And I've found that I sleep better when he's next to me…no nightmares of Quirrell and Voldemort…"

"However that may be, I don't want you both sleeping in the same bed…it's just not right…and you're growing up…" he mumbled, as he groaned mentally, realising that he would have to give Acquila the 'talk' sooner rather than later.

"Alright," Acquila huffed sleepily, drawing Sirius away from his thoughts, before she yawned and snuggled deeper into her bed.

As he walked back to his room, he smiled thinking of what Acquila had said. Perhaps she was right. He needed to let go of the guilt, let go of the past. And if doing so would put a smile on his daughter's face, he would certainly stop trying to blame himself. It was strange how Acquila looked just like him, but showed glimpses of Athena from time to time.

If Athena had been here, she would have loved… He curbed his thoughts. He needed to stop thinking of the 'what ifs'. Acquila was right; he needed to stop dwelling over the past. He had a beautiful daughter, a wonderful Godson, a loyal friend in Remus, and the best family he could have asked for in Andy, Nymphie and Ted. And he was Sirius Black. And Sirius Black never backed down from a challenge. He would listen to what Acquila had said, even if it would take quite some efforts to wrench his mind from the memories and regrets of the past. And he would be a great father to both his children, no matter what Molly Weasley thought.

xxx

"I just can't get it right!" shouted Acquila in irritation.

"It's a fourth year spell, love," said Sirius, "It'll obviously take you time to master it. And you just need to channel your magic into it—"

"May I use my wand then?"

"No, you shouldn't. Remmy and I don't want you to depend on your wand. You're a gifted witch, and you should make the most of your powers. Come on, now. Try it again. Summon the ball towards you!" said Sirius, as Acquila stared hard at the Muggle tennis ball, trying to summon it towards her.

Meanwhile, Remus stood beside Harry.

"Accio apple!"

The apple that lay at the other end of the room rose into the air, and zoomed towards him, before falling down onto the ground with a thud.

"It's too far away!" he groaned. He had been trying to summon the fruit towards him since the past twenty minutes, but it always fell down to the ground in mid-zoom.

"You can do it, Harry, just a couple of more tries…"

"I don't even see how I can use this to defend myself in a duel," he huffed. He had learnt spells during the earlier training sessions quite quickly, but the summoning charm was giving him problems, and he was getting rather impatient and annoyed.

"Of course you can! I can beat you in a duel using 'Accio'," smirkedRemus.

"How can you defeat me with a summoning charm?" exclaimed Harry.

"I'll show you," said Remus, as he walked away to stand facing Harry.

They bowed slightly at each other, before taking their dueling stances, wands raised.

Harry clutched his wand tightly in his hand, wondering if Remus would summon it. He also placed his feet firmly on the ground, not wanting to be zooming through the air himself.

"Let's begin," said Remus, as Harry waited for the spell to come, preferring to defend than to attack.

"Accio Harry's glasses!" shouted Remus, and before Harry could react, his glasses flew off his face towards Remus, as he looked around blindly, able to see only the blurred form of Remus far opposite him. He panicked; without his glasses, he could hardly see anything, let alone dodge the non-verbal spells he was sure Remus would send at him.

Before he could even put up a shield charm, he spotted what seemed like a blurred pink jet of light zooming towards him, and he barely dodged it by an inch.

"Proteg—"

Before he could even complete the incantation, Remus' 'Incarcerous' had him bound in ropes, while a split second later, his wand flew into Remus' hands, despite his efforts to hold on to it.

"Damn!" muttered Harry, as he heard Acquila chuckling from somewhere around him.

"Don't let Andy hear you swear, Harry! She'll wash your mouth with the soap bubble charm," he heard Sirius say, as Remusvanished the ropes, and handed him his glasses.

As Harry put on his glasses, heaving a sigh of relief at being able to see clearly, he saw Remus smiling at him with an 'I told you so' look on his face, before he turned to Sirius.

"He's learnt to swear from you, Padfoot. And Andromeda knows that. It might just be your mouth that gets full of soap the next time Harry swears!"

"As if you have the cleanest vocabulary on the planet, Mooney!" snorted Sirius. "Remember when Jamie and I put snake eggs in your potion, only to have it explode right into your face, and vanish all the hair on your head? When Slughorn gave you a P grade for it, you ran after Jamie and me, swearing at the top of your voice, threatening to—"

"That's enough, Padfoot," Remus cut him off, his face quite red. "I was just upset because you purposely ruined my potion! And it was the first time that I failed!"

"Why did Dad and you ruin his potion?" asked Harry.

"Well, Snivellus was sitting on the table next to Remmy…and we were hoping that Remmy would have the sense to walk away when we put in the snake eggs! The potion was meant to vanish the greasy hair off Snivellus' head! But Mooney here, was too busy flirting with Megan Wheatnick to see us gesturing wildly at him, telling him to walk away!" chuckled Sirius.

"I wasn't flirting with her! And her name wasn't Megan! It was MeggieWheatnick," said Remus, before glaring at Sirius as the Animagus waggled his eyebrows teasingly, while Harry and Acquila laughed.

"Meggie was it? Wasn't she the one who asked you out to Hogsmeade?"

"Why are we talking of this, Sirius?" groaned Remus.

"She asked you out to Hogsmeade? Did you say yes, Remus? Did you have a girlfriend at Hogwarts?" asked Acquila eagerly. She had always wondered why Remus seemed to never have had a girlfriend or a love-life. Her father had had quite the colourful past when it came to girls before he settled down with her mother. Harry's father too had fallen for Lily when he was barely a teenager. So why had Remus never mentioned anything about his past?

"Uh…I said yes…but I didn't like her in that way…I just didn't want to hurt her feelings by saying no," said Remus vaguely.

"Liar! You did like her! You just didn't want to date her because—" Sirius stopped suddenly, realising that he had just been able to mention Remus' furry little problem.

"Because?" asked Harry.

"Uh…well…just because…" shrugged Sirius, as Remus glared at him.

"Come on, tell us! If you do, I'll tell you about the girl who fancies Harry!" smirkedAcquila, as Sirius's eyes grew wide, while Harry blushed.

"Fa—Fancies Harry? Who fancies Harry?" he exclaimed, as Harry mumbled, "It's nothing…just ignore her…"

"I won't tell you till you tell us why Remus didn't date that girl when he liked her!"

Sirius exchanged a look with Remus, who shot him a dark glare, before the Werewolf smiled at Acquila. "I didn't date her because Sirius had already dated her in fifth year! And it was against the Marauder code to date an ex-girlfriend of another Marauder—"

"H—Hey!" sputtered Sirius, "I never dated Meggie Wheatnick! She wasn't my type! She had too many freckles on her face! Liar!"

Remus smirked at him, before whispering, "Serves you right!" as Sirius glared at him, while Acquila shot her father a withering look, and Harry suddenly exclaimed, "Is that why you didn't date anyone at Hogwarts, Remus? Because Sirius had already dated most of the girls—"

"Oi!" protested Sirius loudly, "Stop making the wrong conclusions, kiddo!" while Remus just chuckled.

"My non-existent relationships with some girls aside, tell us who fancies Harry," Sirius said, effectively changing the topic as Acquila glowered even harder at him, as she thought of his past alliances with the opposite sex.

"Ginny Weasley, is it?" Remus asked her before she could reply.

"Yes," replied Acquila, as Harry's eyes darted around the room, looking anywhere but at the two men who were sniggering.

"I noticed her at the party," Remus continued, "Couldn't take her eyes off Harry."

"Damn! She's a red-head!" muttered Sirius under his breath. All he could hope for was that Harry didn't have a thing for red-heads like some of his Potter ancestors had. If Harry fell for Ginny Weasley in the future, things could indeed get bad for Acquila, and the bond that they shared.

As Acquila giggled, Harry muttered something incoherent, before saying, "Why don't we go back to dueling? You said you'll let Acquila and I duel together against one of you…"

"Why not, kiddo? Anything to take our minds of the Weasley girl, eh?" laughed Sirius, before leading them to the middle of the room again.

"I'll duel them," said Remus, and Sirius nodded.

"Petrificus Totallus!" shouted Remus, as he shot a spell at Harry, who dodged it as Remus simultaneously dodged Acquila's wandless jelly-legs jinx.

He sent then sent a stinging hex at Harry, who blocked it with his shield charm.

"Talantallegra!"

"Rictusempra!"

"Stupefy!"

"Furnunculus!"

Spells flew through the air in quick succession, and though Remus had held back the power he sent through his curses, the children were blocking the spells quite commendably, along with sending some of their own, though Acquila did get hit by the jelly-legs once, which Harry had somehow managed to reverse without even pointing his wand at her legs.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" shouted Harry and Acquila together, and to Sirius' open-mouthed surprise, he saw two distinct jets of spells shoot out from Harry's wand and Acquila's fingers, before they merged in mid-air, and zoomed towards Remus with such power that he was knocked off his feet and fell backwards into the wall and then, onto the ground.

"Oh my!" shouted Harry.

"I'm so sorry!" shouted Acquila, as they rushed towards the fallen Werewolf, who groaned slightly, while Sirius walked up to him, and gave him a hand to help him stand up.

"Are you hurt?" said Acquila, as Remus rubbed the back of his head gingerly, wincing slightly as his fingers moved over the swollen bump that had resulted from the sudden, hard contact with the wall and the floor.

"Do we have a first-aid kit?" exclaimed Harry, remembering Aunt Petunia bustling over to Dudley with a first-aid kit when he had lied about Harry having pushed him into the wall; though Petunia knew that Harry could never ever have managed to push that massive boulder of fat!

"First-aid kit, kiddo? You live in the Wizarding world now," said Sirius, as he waved his wand over Remus' head with what was probably a healing spell.

"I'm fine, Harry, don't worry," said Remus, as he smiled at the two kids.

But Acquila had a perplexed expression on her face.

"How did we knock you off your feet, Remus? It was just a simple disarming spell!" she asked him, her brow furrowed in thought.

"Well, when more than one person uses a disarming charm, the power of the spells together can knock a person off his feet, Acquila," replied Remus.

Acquila nodded, but she still seemed deep in thought.

"I think we've had enough for the day," put in Sirius. "Andy's called us for dinner tonight, hasn't she? Why don't you both freshen up and get ready? And then we'll go to Andy's place."

"Alright," said Harry, before he grabbed Acquila's hand and both of them walked away, discussing the duel with Remus.

"Did you see that? It was because of the bond, wasn't it?" asked Sirius, when he was sure that the kids were out of earshot.

"It was," responded Remus.

"I could almost feel the power of the combined spells whooshing past me!" exclaimed an awed Sirius. "They are so powerful together…" he mumbled. "And that is just now... imagine when they grow up they will be much stronger...And this was just a simple disarming spell…imagine if they duel together with other spells…the red-eyed bastard won't stand a chance against Harry!"

Remus nodded. "You're right. But Voldemort isn't one of the most powerful wizards of all times for nothing, Sirius. We need to train the kids better…teach them more spells…especially the attacking ones. I've noticed that Harry seemed to prefer defending than attacking—"

"He gets that from James, I guess," smiled Sirius. "Prongs would defend, and I would attack when we dueled together as a team…" he trailed off.

"Did you see him reverse the jelly-legs jinx? I think he did it wandlessly, without even realising that he'd done so," remarked Remus.

"I did…I think Harry's a powerful wizard as well…remember James used to tell us that they're descended from the Peverells? And the Potters have had so many powerful witches and wizards among their ancestors? Do you think we can help Harry perform magic wandlessly, like Acquila does? I'm sure he can if he tries hard enough…and there's no harm in it, is there? It'll help him if Merlin forbid he ever loses his wand in a duel…" replied Sirius.

"You're right. I'd almost forgotten about the Peverells? Remember we used to wonder whether James' cloak was the one in the tale of the three brothers?"

"I always thought the tale was a myth, Remmy," responded Sirius. "A stone to bring people back from the dead? You think that's even possible? If they've moved on to the after-life, how can they materialize before you…I mean, after you die, you either turn into a ghost, or you just move on! How can you bring back the dead…or a shadow of the dead…" remarked Sirius skeptically.

"What about the Elder Wand? It's shown up so many times in History!" said Remus, who was quite the history-buff.

"It's just a fable! And the Deathly Hallows are a myth! And why are we even talking of this? We were talking of the bond, weren't we?"

"You mentioned the Peverells," shrugged Remus, before he saw the worried expression on Sirius' face.

"We need to tell them, don't we?" muttered Sirius.

"Dumbledore said not to—"

"I don't care what Dumbledore said! The kids will work it out anyway!"

"At least wait for a couple of years—"

"Hell, Remmy! I don't know what to do!" shouted Sirius suddenly, running a frustrated hand through his hair, mussing up the black locks of hair that had till a moment ago fallen gracefully onto his shoulder; while his eyes flickered with conflicting emotions.

"Did you hear what she said about Ginny Weasley?"

"I already knew that she had a thing for Harry—" began Remus.

"And you didn't even tell me!" exclaimed Sirius, with a mock-wounded expression.

"I was rather wary of mentioning something about a Weasley around you, after you spent three hours locking yourself away from the kids because of what Molly said," remarked Remus dryly as Sirius rolled his eyes, before he turned mellow again.

"What if he likes her? The Weasley girl…she's a red-head—"

"All Potters didn't like red-heads, Sirius! He won't necessarily fall for a girl with red-hair! Didn't Charlus love Dorea? And she had black hair, like all Blacks do," said Remus.

"Their marriage was arranged by their parents, Remmy…they fell in love later…" mumbled Sirius, thoughhe seemed slightly placated.

"I…I don't know…I don't want them to love each other because they share a soul-bond! I want them to love each other because they want to love each other…" said Sirius. "But I can't keep them in the dark for long, Mooney…I don't want to lie to them. I mean, we haven't even told Harry of the prophecy—"

"We aren't telling him of the prophecy any time soon, Sirius," said Remus firmly.

Sirius hummed in agreement, though he kept silent, thinking deeply as the creases of worry on his forehead doubled.

"Now the Bond aside," said Remus, wanting Sirius to stop worrying, "I have something else for you to think about."

"What?" sighed Sirius.

"You know Acquila will turn twelve this week, don't you?"

"Obviously!"

"Shouldn't you be telling her about…uh…you know, growing up and reproduction and the like…" said Remus.

"'Reproduction'? Leave it to you to use the technical terms, Prefect Mooney," snorted Sirius, before he turned somber. "I was hoping you'll help me explain it to Acquila—"

"W…WHAT?" sputtered Remus. "You should be the one telling her! You're her father! And I have absolutely no idea of how to go around explaining all that to a girl!"

"And you think I know how to?" exclaimed Sirius. "She's my daughter for heaven's sake! A daughter I met just around a month ago! You think it won't be weird for me to tell her about sex and…and that time of the month and all that?"

Remus groaned. There was no way he would be the one telling Acquila about it all! From all that he knew about the girl, she would start spouting off questions to him, thanks to her inherent inquisitiveness, and Remus didn't want to be the one explaining to her about parts of the male and female anatomy.

"You…you'll be able to tell them better…" he muttered to Sirius.

"Them?" gasped Sirius.

"Of course! Them! You think Harry knows anything about how babies are made, and where they come out from, etc, etc? I doubt Vernon Dursley ever spoke to him on this topic," responded Remus wryly.

"Oh yes…alright," muttered Sirius. "We'll tell him."

"We?"

"Yes! We! My father never told me anything about all this…James told me when Dad told him," said Sirius, referring to Charlus.

"Alright, we'll tell him," sighed Remus. "And talking to Harry will be better than talking to Acquila. I'm sure he won't ask too many questions…he'll probably just blush red in embarrassment, nod his head, and rush out of the room."

"You're right…As for Acquila—Hey! I'll tell Andy to talk to her! I mean, I'm sure she's given Nymphie the sex talk when she was younger…" said Sirius, before nudging Remus with his elbow.

"What?" said Remus.

"Isn't your imagination going into overdrive?"

"Why?" muttered Remus, though he knew where Sirius was treading.

"Because I mentioned Nymphie and sex in the same sentence!" smirked Sirius.

"I don't think of her that way! And…and she's too young for me…and I'm a werewolf—"

"So you've thought about it!" shouted Sirius triumphantly. "The fact that you have this list of reasons about why you shouldn't date Nymphie chalked out in your mind, means that you have given her a thought!"

"N—no, no! I haven't! And I've used the Werewolf reason for every girl Lily and Athena tried to set me up with—"

"But not the age difference reason! So that means you've pictured Nymphie and you together!"

"Stop this, Sirius!" groaned Remus. "And she's your cousin for Merlin's sake! You should be getting all elder-brotherly and threatening to knock my teeth out if I as much as look at her—"

"Ha ha!" snorted Sirius. "That's never happening! And she likes you, Remmy! When are you going to get that in that thick skull of yours? She likes you despite the age difference and the—"

"It's just a school-girl crush! And she doesn't know what I am! I'm a monst—"

"Not that monster thing again, Mooney! When are you going to stop thinking of yourself as something you're not? I wish Jamie was here…he would have hexed you till you swore that you aren't a monster!" said Sirius, and Remus was glad that the usual sorrow that seemed to engulf Sirius whenever James was mentioned hadn't surfaced.

"Let's not talk of this now, Padfoot, please," said Remus.

"Alright," huffed Sirius, before he smirked, "She's a Metamorphmagus, you know!"

"So?" asked Remus, before his eyes widened, and he blushed at the realization of what Sirius meant to say.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Sirius!" he muttered.

"What?" exclaimed Sirius innocently, with a shrug of his shoulders. "I just said that she's a Metamorphmagus—Oh Merlin!" he suddenly exclaimed dramatically. "Was little Mooney thinking of naughty things that a Metamorphmagus could do with—Ow!" he yelled as Remus smacked his head.

"We aren't talking about this again!" he said to Sirius, though he seemed strangely flustered.

"Alright, alright," said Sirius, though he kept smirking at having made Remus think of Nymphie.

"By the way, Padfoot?" said Remus, an amused glint in his amber eyes.

"Yes?"

"Have you realised that whatever knowledge we give Harry about…uh…copulation, he'd be using it with Acquila?" chuckled Remus, as Sirius seemed to have choked on his own breath, as he turned redder and redder.

"Damn you, Mooney!" he swore after a long moment, as he shook his head, trying to shake off the thoughts of Harry and his daughter. "I'm going to kill you for this! How the hell am I going to talk to Harry now when I think that he's going to—to—Ugh!" he shuddered, before flicking his wand at Remus, which the Werewolf blocked easily, leading to an hour-long battle of jinxes and hexes, which Acquila and Harry somehow managed to put an end towhen they came back to see why the adults hadn't emerged from the room.

xxx

Bartemius Crouch sighed deeply as he threw the Daily Prophet on the floor; his fists clenched in fury. Damn Rita Skeeter! Barty had heard rumours of Sirius Black having 'requested' the Daily Prophet editor to stop publishing reports on Black and Harry Potter. And since she wasn't allowed to write reports on them, Rita had gone back to the best eyeball-grabbing topic since Black's acquittal - vilifying Barty and his past. Rita had brought up long-forgotten issues again, especially those which would harm his already-fragile reputation.

Barty Crouch is infamous for having authorised the use of unforgivables against Death-Eaters by the Auror Force, a move that had been heavily criticised by well-known witches and wizards including Albus Dumbledore.

"Of course, Crouch's decision of authorising the use of unforgivables was preposterous! The Auror Department exists to apprehend people using Dark Curses! And Aurors using those very Dark Curses to capture Death-eaters betrayed the reasons for which the Auror Force was first formed," says Elphias Dodge, a close friend of Chief Warlock Dumbledore.

Barty snorted as he remembered Skeeter's words. Those who were in the thick of the war had known that Aurors regularly used the Crutiatus during interrogation if the captured death-eaters needed to be coerced into divulging information. And the killing curse was used quite liberally, especially by the Aurors in Moody's team, including Black himself! Barty authorising the use of unforgivables had just made the hitherto unlawful use of the curses legal. And it had stopped people like Malfoy dragging Aurors to the Wizengamot for having used the unforgivable against them! Barty had passed the law to help the Auror force! To give the death-eaters what they deserved! To help fight the dark forces! Where was Elphias Dodge when people left, right and centre were praising Barty for having helped capture so many death-eaters? Where were his detractors when he was tipped to take over as Minister of Magic thanks to the very laws he had passed?

He knew that raising this matter wouldn't harm him as much as the other issues did. What would harm him was the public uproar against him for having denied Black a trial.

Barty Crouch granted a trial to the notorious death-eaters Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange and his own son Bartemius Crouch Junior. The four of them were caught red-handed at the scene of crime as they tortured eminent Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity. But Crouch denied Sirius Black a fair trial when there was absolutely no proof of the handsome Head of the Blacks having played any part in the killings of thirteen Muggles and Peter Pettigrew! Shouldn't Crouch have granted Black, who was one of the best Aurors in the department, at least a chance to defend himself when proven death-eaters like the Lestranges and Crouch Junior were given a chance to state their case before the entire Wizengamot? Never before has there been a case in wizarding Britain where the Head of the DMLE has allowed such a travesty of justice to occur!

Travesty of justice? Though Crouch would never admit it to anyone, he knew he had been wrong in denying Black a trial. But no proof? Was Skeeter mad? Black was the only man standing amidst the wreckage on that Muggle Street, with thirteen dead bodies surrounding him! And he had laughed! Laughed when the Aurors had arrested him! And his wife McKinnon and daughter were dead as well! What else was everyone to think other than blaming Black for the killings?

Peter Pettigrew was a pathetic excuse for a wizard; while Sirius Black had descended from a long line of wizards and witches who were proficient at Dark Arts. So what was Barty to think? Who was a more probable suspect for having blasted the street? Puny Peter Pettigrew? Or Sirius Orion Black? And Albus Dumbledore himself had testified that James Potter had told him that Sirius was the secret-keeper! But of course, Rita Skeeter had conveniently omitted mentioning that fact, though admittedly very few knew of the Fidelius Charm.

And it had been three days after Sirius' capture that Junior had been caught at the Longbotton's house. And Barty obviously, had had more pressing matters on his hand than giving Black a trial. And he had been shunted out of the DMLE just months after Black's incarceration! Shouldn't Skeeter have been blaming the person who had succeeded him as the head of the DMLE as well for denying Black a trial?

Lord Black doesn't seem to have forgiven Crouch for the injustice that he meted out to him, as was evidenced by Crouch's conspicuous absence at the recently held funeral of Cassiopeia Black. To those not in the know, Bartemius Crouch is the son of Charis Black, who was a daughter of the House of Black, and closely related to Cassiopeia. Crouch's absence at the funeral suggests that Sirius Black is in no mood to forget Crouch denying him a trial. If it hadn't been for Bartemius Crouch, Acquila Black and Harry Potter would have had a much better childhood than the ones they had at a Muggle orphanage and at a Muggle relatives's house respectively. If it wasn't for the bias and prejudice that dwells in Bartemius Crouch's dark mind, Sirius Black would have probably been occupying the exalted position of the Head of the Aurors! He would have been surrounded by his loving family, rather than reacquainting himself with the daughter he hadn't met for ten long years, as he is doing now.

Barty snorted loudly again! He had every intention of going for Cassiopeia's funeral, but Sirius Bloody Black had altered the wards to block Barty's entry! But Skeeter had no bloody business dragging that matter into the limelight! Just as Sirius had no right to stop him from attending the funeral! Barty knew Cassiopeia far longer, and far more closely than Black could have!

And what the hell had Skeeter written about his dark heart? And bias and prejudice? If he had been biased, he wouldn't have sent his son to Azkaban!

"Bloody Hell!" he swore aloud, as he remembered that he had sent his son was currently snoozing in his bedroom under the watch of his house-elf. He had kept up the charade of living a solitary life without his wife and son for so long in the public eye that he sometimes even forgot that his son existed!

Hell, if he could, he would have obliviated all the memories of his son from his mind!

He remembered the day his beloved Margaret had laid his son in his arms. They had named him Bartemius, hoping that he would follow in Barty's own footsteps.

But Barty Junior had inherited nothing of his mother's kindness, nothing of his father's hatred of the dark arts. On the contrary, he had befriended Rabastan Lestrange at Hogwarts. Barty hadn't paid attention to Junior's friends, of course. The Lestranges were related to the Crouchs by marriage, they were respectable people to befriend. And Barty had better things to dwell on than his son's friends. And now when he looked back at it, he knew that he had ignored his son, been indifferent to him. All he had cared about was putting death-eaters into prison, amending laws to bolster the Aurors efforts to kill dark wizards; and whenever he got time, to put a smile onto Margaret's face.

Margaret! How his heart ached at the thought of his wife! She had been the only silver lining in his life that had only seen indifference that his parents had meted out to him. And Margaret had given him love, affection, everything that Barty had craved for since he had been a little child.

But Margaret had died! And while dying, extracted a promise from him that he would hide the fact of Junior's existence from the entire world; that he would care for him as she had! And against his will, Barty was bound by love and honour to protect his son, keep him hidden from the world. That very son, whom he had treated with just as much indifference as his own parents had treated him.

Had it been his fault perhaps? If Barty wasn't feeling as low in spirits as he was feeling now, he would never have admitted that the course his son's life had taken was due to him. But he knew that it had been his fault. The way his own parents had treated him, Barty should have known how not to treat his son. But he hadn't cared for him at all, left him to his own devices; not even spoken a word of love, a word of kindness to him in the years since his son had been born. If he paid even a little attention to his son, he would have stopped him from befriending the Lestranges, taken more of an interest in his life. But he hadn't! It was Barty who had led his son to find solace with other people. It was Barty who had led his son into the hands of the Dark Lord.

And unfortunately, Junior had inherited the very qualities from Charis Black that the Blacks had been infamous for- a fascination for the Dark Arts, the eccentricity, derangement that characterized Blacks like Walburga and Bellatrix, the hunger for power, blood supremacist views…the list could go on and on. And it was these very qualities that had lured Junior to the Dark Lord; that had given Junior the hatred, the gumption, the inhuman bent of mind that had led him to torturing two fellow human beings into insanity.

"Master! Winky requests—" began the squeaky voice of his house-elf.

"Not now, Winky! Leave me alone!" snarled Barty.

"Winky is sorry, Master! Winky did not want to—"

"OUT!"

The whimpering elf disappeared with a crack, as Barty had an insane urge to pull out his hair.

Since the past five to six years, the elf had taken to pleading with Barty daily, begging him to let Junior out of the house, to let him out of the confines of the house, to let him see the world outside the house that he had been cooped in since more than a decade.

But Barty couldn't, of course! How on earth could he allow that boy out of the house? His job was already on the line, thanks to Skeeter's reports, and anyone getting even an inkling of Junior being alive would lead to not only Barty being thrown out of his job, but also a life sentence in Azkaban for helping a prisoner escape and harbouring him for eleven years.

The biggest question that arises is about how Barty Crouch is still hanging on to his job as the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation! How can a prejudiced, bigoted wizard like Crouch be responsible for handling Britain's relations with their neighbouring nations? How can a man whose own son tortured two Aurors into insanity be allowed to represent our country at international meetings and conferences?

He didn't really care about the money that the job gave him; he had enough money in his vaults to let him live a life of luxury. What he cared about was his honour, his respectability! He was the only son of Casper Crouch. He was the last in the male line of the House of Crouch, since Junior was legally deceased. And he couldn't let his family line end with the ignominy of having been thrown out of the pitiable post that he held.

"Damn!" he swore aloud again, before he stood up.

What wouldn't he give to turn his wand on his son and end his bloody life? Two words were all it would take, and it would end his guilt, end the life of a death-eater! The promise he had given to Margaret was the only thing that held him back.

Sometimes, especially recently since his name was being tarnished in the newspapers on a daily basis, Barty wanted nothing better than to drink all day. It seemed like drinking was the only thing that kept him sane, kept his mind away from the ever-increasing load of his problems.

He picked up the bottle of alcohol from the table, staring at the swirling liquid within it. He uncorked the bottle, lifting it to his lips, before he put it down again.

He wouldn't drink; not tonight. He knew he had been losing grip with his magic, losing grip on his mind, thanks to him being depressed, drunk and melancholy all day. At times, he had even felt as if his son was fighting the Imperius Curse that he had cast on him. And he knew it was his own unstable state of mind that was causing that to happen. But he couldn't let that happen! He couldn't let his son fight the Curse, and go off to do whatever it was that insane death-eaters like him would do.

He walked into his son's room, wand in hand, before shouting, "Imperio!"

xxx

It was the seventh of August- two days after Acquila had turned twelve. She hadn't wanted a celebration of her birthday like Harry had; not wanting to meet Molly Weasley again. And Sirius and Remus had agreed. They had taken the children to a Muggle water park instead, along with Nymphadora, after which they had all had a quiet dinner with Andy and Ted, at a Muggle restaurant where they hadn't needed to worry about Wizarding reporters snapping their photographs.

Sirius sat on the couch in the drawing room of Black Manor, perusing the day's edition of the Daily Prophet; his eyes moving quickly over the page. His brow furrowed slightly as he read the report of AntiquisBlishwick having retired as the Head of the Auror Department to be replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour. Sirius hadn't known Scrimgeour too well in his time in the Auror Department, though he had crossed paths with him often. Sirius had almost always been in the team led by Mad-Eye Moody, while Scrimgeour had Proudfoot, Dawlish and Cavendish in the team under him.

Sirius opened his mouth to tell Remus and the kids, who were sitting in the farthest corner of the room about the recent development, but snapped it shut when he saw the three of them engrossed deeply in talk. As he listened to what Remus was saying, he realised that he was telling them about the International Warlock Convention of 1289- something which would come up in the second year curriculum for History of Magic.

Since the past couple of days, Remus had taken to helping Harry and Acquila with their homework, along with teaching them some of the second-year syllabus. Remus had seen the children's grades in their first year tests, and though he had deemed Acquila's grades quite good, he had been rather disappointed on seeing Harry's grades in History and Potions. Both James and Lily had more often than not been in the top five students in their academic year. And Remus felt that even Harry was intelligent enough to be as good as James, if not Lily, who had stood first in their seventh year. Sirius didn't blame Harry in the slightest; he knew from first-hand experience about how Cuthbert Binns' lectures had been. Remus and Lily had been the only ones in their year who had learnt to be immune to the sleepiness that inevitably accompanied sitting for a History of Magic lecture. For Sirius and James, History lessons were meant for catching up on lost sleep, chalking out new plans for James to make Lily like him or planning pranks on Snivellus.

But Remus had been adamant about teaching the children at least the theory part of their lessons in most subjects. Sirius had dissuaded him at first, as neither James, nor he, had ever even opened an academic book in their vacations, let alone complete their homework. Holidays were for pranks, and having fun, not studying! But Acquila had enthusiastically agreed to being taught by Remus, and Harry had followed suit a tad unwillingly.

But on seeing both the black-haired children's eyes alight with curiosity, and Remus speaking animatedly- something he did very rarely, Sirius knew that Remus had as always been right. Remus was good at teaching- a hundred times better than Binns; and as Harry had declared, better than Snivellus could ever dream of being. And Harry and Acquila looked forward to Remus teaching them for couple of hours each day. And at the rate that they were going, Sirius felt that both of them would definitely ace the second-year tests. Lily and Athena would both probably look upon them with pride from the heavens.

Sirius smiled as Acquila's grey eyes were ablaze with a strange inquisitiveness, while her face held the same half-puzzled, half-expectant expression that Athena had carried whenever she had questions that were about to be answered. As Remus explained something about the Sardinian sorcerers who had participated in the Convention, Sirius smiled again as he realised that Remus would indeed make a great teacher. Perhaps, he could convince him to take up the Defence against the Dark Arts post that Dumbledore had offered him a month ago. Though Remus had never mentioned his reasons for refusing the post, Sirius knew that he had done so for Sirius. He hadn't wanted Sirius to spend his days solitarily when the kids would leave for Hogwarts. And knowing how many difficulties Remus faced in getting a job, his refusal of the post told Sirius of how much the Werewolf cared for him. But as mild-mannered as Remus looked, Sirius knew that the man could be the most stubborn person on earth when he decided on something. And convincing Remus to take up the post would be extremely tough. But Sirius could always try.

Sirius' thoughts were interrupted by a sudden surge of flames in the fireplace. He grabbed his wand from the table beside him, thanks to the months of being trained by Moody, even if it had been years ago.

"Sirius!" said the man as he brushed the soot off his robes.

"Hello, Ted," smiled Sirius, as he put his wand down again. "What brings you—" started Sirius, before he was cut off by the kind-faced man.

"You've got to come with menow!" said Ted, as Harry, Acquila and Remus walked over to greet him.

"What's the matter?" asked Sirius, as he stood up in an instant, wand back in hand. "Is something wrong?" he asked him hastily, on seeing the panicked look on Ted's face.

"Yes," sighed Ted. "Your cousin and my daughter might just blow my house apart with their argument! Just come with me, before they start hexing each other!"

"Why are they arguing, Uncle Ted?" asked Acquila.

"Dora got her NEWTS…and—"

"And she wants to join the Aurors," put in Sirius dryly, remembering the argument he had had with Andromeda when he himself had been about to join the Aurors.

"Come on. I'll talk to Andy," muttered Sirius.

"We'll come as well—" started Harry, but Remus stopped him.

"Why don't we stay here and let Sirius sort it out? I wouldn't want either of you to be hit by a stray hex. The Blacks can be pretty vicious if they don't get their way, you know," he chuckled as Sirius rolled his eyes.

"He's right," put in Ted. "And my daughter has unfortunately inherited the infamous Black temper," he said wryly, before disappearing through the flames after a smile at Harry and Acquila, while Sirius followed suit.

"WHY CAN'T YOU LET ME DO WHAT I WANT, MUM?" Sirius winced as Nymphie's loud voice seemed to sear his eardrums. Never had he thought that Nymphadora, who always seemed so cheerful and carefree, could whip up such a temper. The Metamorphmagus' hair was now a fiery shade of red, streaked with orange and yellow tints- making it look as if her hair was made of fire. Her wand lay clamped tightly in her hand, pointing at her mother, while Andromeda's wand too, was raised at her daughter.

"YOU'RE MY DAUGHTER! AND YOU'RE GOING TO DO WHAT I SAY! YOU ARE NEVER JOINING THE AUROR—"

"I AM! YOU CAN'T STOP—"

Sirius' silencing charm had Dora and Andromeda, both moving their jaws with no voice coming out of their throats, while their wands flew into Sirius' outstretched hands before they could even react.

At the furious expression on both the female faces- with Nymphadora's features looking more Black family-like than ever- Sirius waved his wand to negate the silencing charm.

"Give me my wand!" the mother-daughter duo shouted in unison, before throwing each other a glare, as Ted chuckled.

"Channeling my mum, are you, Andy? Raising a wand at your own child!" smirked Sirius, as their wands lay tightly within his hand, making it clear that he had no intention of returning them.

"Don't you dare compare me to Aunt Walburga, Sirius!" shouted Andromeda, though her disheveled hair and blazing eyes brought out the physical similarities she shared with her deceased, deranged Aunt.

"And Ted?" she began, glaring daggers at her husband, "You had said you'll support me! But you chickened out! You brought Sirius here, knowing he'll side with Nymphadora—"

"Don't call me that!" snarled her daughter, as Ted Tonks took a step backwards.

"I said I'll support you if you're right, but in this case, I think Dora's right, dear. It's her life…and she can do what she wants to—" began Ted.

"You—you—" Andromeda stuttered, as she couldn't think of a word strong enough to convey her anger against her husband.

"You're sleeping on the couch for the next six months!" she snarled finally, as Ted's face was aghast, while Sirius chuckled heartily.

"Six…six months, Droma?" exclaimed Ted.

"Oh, don't you worry, Ted! She'll get over this… I remember she couldn't keep your hands off you when—" began Sirius, but he was cut off from a loud exclamation of disgust from Nymphadora.

"Oi! I'm still here! And I don't want to listen to what my parents did! Ugh!" she shuddered, as Andromeda, whose cheeks were blotched with a strange shade of pink, said, "You can't convince me this time, Siri…my daughter is not going to become an Auror when You Know Who is—"

"Stop mollycoddling me, Mum! I'm not a child!" shouted Nymphadora, as Andromeda retorted loudly, advancing towards her daughter.

"Umm, Sirius?" said Ted, his voice soft in the loud voices of his daughter and wife.

"I'll sort this out, Ted," smirked Sirius, as Ted sighed in relief and departed into the inner room.

"Nymphie, why don't you let me talk to my stubborn cousin?" Sirius asked Nymphadora, who nodded gratefully at him, before glaring at her mother again and then followed her father.

"I don't want to listen to you, Sirius," snapped Andromeda, as she walked towards the window, her back facing Sirius as she stared at the Muggle kids walking hand-in-hand down the street.

"Come on, Andy, you can't—"

"Don't you 'Andy' me, Sirius!"

"You know she'll do what she wants irrespective of your take on it, don't you?" said Sirius softly, as he walked up to his cousin, and led her to a chair, while he took the one opposite her.

"I won't let her," muttered Andromeda, though Sirius could see that she knew she was fighting a losing battle.

"She's your daughter, Andy," said Sirius gently. "And if you could defy all the Blacks to marry Ted, you think Nymphie won't defy you to join the Aurors? And you aren't half as scary as Aunt Druella was," he smirked at which she gave him a fierce, angry look which was rather reminiscent of her mother.

But then she suddenly sighed deeply; all traces of anger disappearing from her face to be replaced by creases of worry.

"I can't convince her, can I?" she whispered in a defeated tone.

"You can't…and honestly Andy, you shouldn't even want to. You should be proud of her, on the contrary…I mean, she's brave enough to want to fight the Dark forces…and honestly, I have no doubt that she'll make a great Auror—"

"Tell me that when she stumbles in the midst of a duel due to her clumsiness!" Andromeda cut him off angrily, and before he could reply, she continued, "And believe me, Siri, I amproud of her. Nothing would make me prouder to know that my daughter is contributing her best in making the world a better place…but I'm a mother…and she's my only child…how do you think I would feel if I see her…see her dead…" Andromeda trailed off in a choked voice, and Sirius knew that she was thinking of Nymphie's chances of perishing on duty.

"I won't let anything happen to her, Andy," he responded.

"What do you mean by that?" she snapped, her moist eyes boring fiercely into his grey ones.

"Well…I'm re-joining the Aurors," he muttered, finally giving voice to the decision he had subconsciously made in the past couple of days.

"You're…what!" she exclaimed, standing up and pacing around the room angrily. Sirius wondered wryly whether it was a Black trait, as he too, was used to pacing around his room repeatedly whenever he was upset or angry.

"You are not going to join the Aurors!" she exclaimed vehemently. "I am not going to let you do that! I've lost you once! And I'm not going to lose you again!"

"You won't lose me, Andy," he replied in a placating voice. "I survived four years as an Auror before I was hauled off to prison, didn't I? I'll make it through this time as well—"

"Survived? With bruises and cuts and burns and injuries! How many scars do you have from the battles you've fought?" She grabbed his hand and pushed back the sleeve of his robes, and pointed out the deep gash that ran from his wrist till his elbow.

"This is just one of them! What about the one on your chest? The one on your ankle? The ones on your—"

"The scars don't matter, Andy!" he snapped, grabbing his hand back from hers and setting his sleeve right.

"They don't matter? Then what matters, Sirius? I knew you would want to go back to that bloody job!" she shouted, as his eyes widened slightly at her use of 'bloody'. The Andy he knew never swore.

"Fighting duels, capturing death-eaters…that's all that matters to you, isn't it? That's all that has ever mattered to you! Were you there when Athena was in labour?" she shouted.

"I…I did come…I know I came late but—" he stuttered, the guilt suddenly hitting him as if it had been just yesterday that he had reached St. Mungos hours after Athena was in labour.

"Late? You came five hours after she was taken to St. Mungos! And where the hell were you? Fighting Bella and her cronies! Saving the world was more important to you than being there for the birth of your child! I was there with Athena and her mother, holding her hand, telling her that you would come soon when she was yelling for you, when she was—"

"I know that, Andy!" he screamed, not wanting to be reminded of that day. "You don't need to remind me of that! You think I've ever forgiven myself for that?" he shouted, as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "But you need to understand, Andy…I couldn't have sat on the sidelines and watched Voldemort destroyour world! I'm a bloody Gryffindor! And I've always wanted to fight! I wanted to make Britain a safer place! Wanted to make my daughter grow up in a world which wasn't like the one we grew up in—"

"And how did Britain repay you for what you did, Sirius?" she rounded on him, her black eyes glinting furiously. "What did they give you for all the death-eaters you put in prison? What did you get for all the hours of your life with Athena that you sacrificed for ridding the world of evil? Ten years of prison! That's what you got!"

"ANDY—"

"NO! The number of death-eaters you captured was second only to Moody! And you got nothing for it! Did anyone demand a trial for you? Mad-Eye?Dumbledore? All the people whose families you saved, the Order of the Phoenix that you fought for; did even one of them come to your aid? Did even one of them support you?"

"For Merlin's sake, Andy! Even you didn't support me! How the hell do you expect others to have stood up for me when my own cousin didn't—" he stopped suddenly, knowing he'd better stop than say something they both would regret.

"You…you've never truly forgiven…me for that, have you, Siri?" she whispered, a pained expression on her face.

"I forgave you for it long ago, Andy…I've forgiven everyone for it…Remmy, Dumbledore, you…and seeing that it was me who suggested that bastard for the secret-keeper, I bloody well deserved the years in Azkaban for leading Jamie and Lily to their deaths—"

"That wasn't your fault, Siri!" she exclaimed, as she walked towards him and pulled him into her arms, and it took him a long moment before he put his arms around her, encasing himself into those very arms which used to envelop him after Walburga had hexed him for not being the bigoted son she wanted him to be.

Andromeda's mind wandered back to the days when he was just a little boy, who hardly came up to her waist…the days when his smile with two of his front teeth missing would brighten her mood…the days when she had to bend down to wrap his short six year-old body into her embrace.

When had life got so complicated for her little cousin? When had Sirius grown up into the tall man before her, with the haunted look in his eyes, and hidden guilt in his heart? Why had his life been reduced to living as a widower with a past filled with horrors of the Dementors having invaded his mind; with troubles ranging from the Bond that bound Acquila and Harry, to You Know Who's possible resurgence burdening his mind? Her cousin deserved so much better… he deserved to live a happy life, with a woman to care for him and his children… not a life spent in the constant throes of death, which being an Auror would inevitably come with.

Sirius gently freed himself from his cousin.

"I don't hold…whatever happened against you…and I don't want you ever thinking that I haven't forgiven you for not having demanded a trial…it's a matter that's long dead and buried…I just brought it up because…because you said that nobody supported me…" he trailed off, as she nodded tearfully.

"You aren't going to listen to me, are you?" she whispered.

"I'm not," he replied softly. "You need to understand, Andy, that Voldemort is certainly coming back sooner or later. And whether I am an Auror or not, I am always going to be in the line of fire, because he is going to target Harry! And I won't let him harm either of my children! Irrespective of whether I join the Auror force again, I am going to stand between Voldemort and Harry…Voldemort's going to have to kill me before he can get to either of my kids…and if I am an Auror, it gives me added ammunition to aid my fight against him! I will have the entire Auror force behind me…and I want to go back to being an Auror, Andy…back to fighting evil, to saving lives, to making a difference…I thought…" he faltered, before continuing, "I had thought that I'd be better off sitting at home and playing a full-time father to the kids…but…but when I visited James and Lily's graves that day, I realised that the war against the Dark side isn't over yet…it isn't going to be over till Voldermort's gone for good…and I can't sit twiddling my thumbs when I know that I can make a difference! He killed Jamie, Andy…Voldemort killed Jamie!" he shouted, his eyes blazing with the most intense rage that Andromeda had ever seen. "And I'm not going to rest till I see Voldemort dead! The prophecy says that Harry may be the one who will finish Voldemort forever," he said, not caring that Andromeda wasn't supposed to have knowledge of the prophecy. "But if I get my hands on him, I swear that I'm going to do my best to kill him…he killed James…he orphaned Harry…and come what may, I am going to make him pay with his life for that!" he snarled, and Andromeda knew that convincing him to give up his plan to join the Aurors would be futile.

She could see the determination in his eyes; the righteous anger for his friends' murders that fuelled his desire to see You Know Who dead. And she knew that when a Black was determined, nothing and no one could stand in their path.

"Okay then…" she mumbled in a shaking voice. "But…but promise me you'll be safe…you'll come back to the children…" she said to him earnestly.

"No…no promises, Andy…I promised Athena once that I would always come back safely to her…no more promises…I'll try to avoid killing myself…but if I find Voldemort, I'd rather die after killing him and give Harry and Acquila a safe, happy future…you know, Andy…when I was with Athena, I was afraid of death, not because I was scared of dying, because I was scared that I would never see Athena again…but now I don't fear death at all…I know that even if something happens to me, Remmy and Ted and you will take care of the kids…and then I can join Athena wherever she is—"

"Stop that, Sirius!" snapped Andromeda. "Stop talking of dying!"

"I'm telling you what I honestly feel, Andy," he responded. "I won't lie to you…I've never lied to you, and I see no reason to start now…and me joining the Aurors aside, I want you to let Nymphie do as she wishes. And—"

"There is no way I am going to let my daughter join the Aurors, seeing the nonsense about dying that you have been spouting!"

"Oh come on, Andy! Nymphie loves Harry and Acquila! They're as close as siblings! You think Nymphie is going to watch Voldemort harm the kids? You think she won't join the battle? You think she won't protect the kids? If you let her become an Auror, you give her a better chance at survival! Auror training is tough and rigorous now…even more than when we were trained…James and I had just a three-month training period…but currently, it's three years! And Nymphie will learn to defend herself under Mad-Eye! He's the best Auror ever! She'll be trained to deal with death-eaters, with law-breakers…believe me, Andy…Nymphie has the potential to become a good Auror…and irrespective of your opinion on it, she's going to join the Aurors anyway! So you'd do better supporting her dreams than impeding them—"

"What if it was Acquila, Sirius?" Andromeda cut him off. "What if it was your daughter wanting to join the Aurors? Would you have let her? You didn't even want Athena to go on whatever missions the Order of the Phoenix sent her on! And would you have let Acquila or Harry join the Aurors, knowing the risks they they would face? Tell me! Would you have agreed if you were in my place?" she demanded furiously.

Sirius stood speechless for a long moment, his mind whirring with thoughts. Would he have allowed his children to become Aurors? He knew first-hand of the risks Aurors faced, the life-threatening duels, untreatable injuries, the macabre Dark Curses…would he have agreed if it was Acquila wanting to join the Aurors?

'NO' was the first word that came to his mind. He wouldn't let his children face the perennial risk of death! But then, would he try to force his opinions and wishes on his children like his own mother had? Would he try to stop them from achieving their dreams like his family had? He wouldn't! And as far as Harry was concerned, Sirius knew that he would always face the risk of being harmed, thanks to Voldemort. And Acquila would always stand by Harry's side. So his children would face risks anyway! And he would never come in way of their dreams, their aspirations.

"I…I would have let them do what they wished…" he replied, still a tad hesitant.

"It's easy for you to say so, Sirius…but…but I know Nymphadora…she wouldn't think twice before leaving her family and kids behind if she has to join battle…she's just like you! And she's my only child…I can't lose her…" she whispered brokenly, as Sirius clasped her hands with his.

"Don't cry, Andy…you know I don't like seeing you cry…I know you're scared about Nymphie joining the Aurors…but believe me…she isn't going to go back on her decision…and she would want your support, rather than facing your anger and disagreement…she's wanted to become an Auror since she was six, Andy! And she won't give up on her goal…just support her, Andy…let her do what she wishes…and I promise you I'll never let her come to any harm…I'll take any curses meant for her than let her face them…and if Merlin forbid, Voldemort rises and goes back to the height of his power, you know that Nymphie will never be safe due to her half-blood status, and because of your disownment…you might as well let her equip herself to defend herself than—"

"You're right…" muttered Andromeda, as she wiped off the tear that slipped from the corner of her eye.

"I'm always right, Andy," he replied, smirking as she glared at him before taking a deep breath.

"I'll go and tell Nymphadora that I'll allow her to join the Aurors—"

"She might not take kindly to the word 'allow' with the kind of mood she's been in, Andy," chuckled Sirius. "Just say that you support her decision."

Andromeda just rolled her eyes elegantly.

"Go talk to her," said Sirius. "I'll go back to the Manor. I've to inform the children and Remmy of my decision."

"That's one discussion I don't want to be present for…I can't imagine Acquila being happy with you being an Auror again," remarked Andromeda.

"W…what? Why?" exclaimed Sirius.

"I can't see her being alright with her father putting his life at risk when she's just got him back, especially after you told her of your duel with Lucius."

"Uh…maybe you're right…but Remmy will handle her if I can't…I mean, he's good at such stuff…"

"Oh my! Still letting Remus clean up the messes you get yourself in?" Andromeda shook her head in mock-exasperation.

Sirius just smirked at her in reply, before his brow creased in thought as he remembered something that he had been wanting to tell Andy since the past few days; while Andromeda saw hesitancy and a hint of embarrassment clouding his features.

"You want to say something, Siri?" she asked him, arching an eyebrow gracefully.

"Umm…yes…" he replied, before taking a long pause.

Damn! He had never been good at discussing female stuff! Cracking filthy jokes with the Marauders was all fine, but talking to females about their…uh…well, monthly courses put him at considerable discomfort. And talking to Andromeda about sex was even worse! Andromeda had been brought up with an age-old, orthodox upbringing; where men and women never discussed anything even remotely related to carnal relations. And though he had long ago fallen out with the ways of his family, he knew that the Andromeda that he knew before he had gone to Azkaban, was an extremely prudish woman, just like her mother had brought her up to be. Hell! Most pure-bloods were prudish! According to James, who had hung out quite a lot in the Muggle world once he started dating Lily, people in the Muggle world were very open with discussing sex. But the wizarding world was still stuck somewhere in the Middle Ages, as evidenced by their use of quills for writing, lanterns and candles for lighting, etc. And he had absolutely no idea how to go about talking of this matter with Andromeda.

He knew that Acquila needed to be told about growing up, and whatever it was that mothers told their daughters when they were on the cusp of puberty. But he had never imagined that Athena wouldn't be around to give Acquila the talk. He had absolutely no idea of how to go about informing his daughter of the intricacies of the female body. And he didn't even want to imagine how he would tell Acquila of the physical changes she would face in the coming months. So he had no option, but to talk to Andromeda.

"I'm waiting, Sirius," said Andromeda dryly, as she saw a multitude of emotions flit through her cousin's eyes.

"Uh…you know Acquila's twelve, don't you?" he mumbled.

"Of course, I do! Weren't you there when I wished her and gave her her birthday gift?" responded Andromeda, having quite a good idea of where this talk was going, but rather enjoying seeing Sirius squirming under her gaze.

"Yes…I didn't mean that…I meant that she's…uh…growing up…and Athena isn't here…and I don't know…how to…I mean…"

"Just spit it out, Sirius!" said Andromeda, her eyes twinkling with amusement. It was strange how her cousin, who unabashedly spoke of any and every topic under the sun, was stuttering when it came to this matter.

"I was just hoping you would tell her about…you know…I mean, you're a healer…oh yes!" he exclaimed suddenly. "You're a healer! Who better than you to explain to her about females! And puberty and sex and monthly courses and all that!" he said, before an expression of distaste flickered in his face.

"Wipe that look off your face, Sirius!" said Andromeda. "You're such a Black when it comes to this topic! All girls grow up and bleed every month! It's how nature made women! There's absolutely no need for you to feel embarrassed, while talking of it!"

Sirius mumbled something incoherent, as he seemed visible uncomfortable, but the amused glint in Andromeda's eyes had him exclaiming aloud, "You're enjoying watching me squirm, aren't you, Andy?"

"Of course, I am…it's not everyday that some matter has you shutting up," she chuckled, as he glared at her.

"But you don't worry," she said, on a serious note. "I was intending to talk to Acquila of it anyway. If she's inherited the Black genes, I'm sure she'll attain puberty soon like Cissy, Bella and—"

"Ugh!" shuddered Sirius, cutting her off. "I don't want to know about my cousins and—and whatever! All I care is that you're talking to Acquila about it, telling her about…uh…reproduction," he said, remembering the term Remus had used, "And about how to fix herself up if…if you know…she…" he faltered. "Yes…just talk to her…I'll leave now…" he muttered, wanting nothing better than to go back to the Manor. "And thanks a lot, Andy," he said sincerely.

"You don't need to thank me, Sirius. She's like a daughter to me…and I would have spoken to her about it soon anyway…I'll go talk to Nymphadora now…while you go home and learn to grow up! I mean, in a few years I'll need to tell Acquila about the contraceptive spell. How are you—"

"Hey! What contraceptive spell! You don't need to tell her anything about that! You just tell her about the monthly courses…actually, don't even tell her about sex! I don't want her to get any ideas!" exclaimed Sirius. "She's doing nothing that will need that spell till she's at least thirty!"

"At what age did you lose your virginity, Sirius?"

Sirius's face coloured deeply. Boasting about the girls he'd bedded to his male mates when he was at Hogwarts was different. But talking about it with Andromeda was just too embarrassing.

"I am not having this conversation with you, Andy!" he retorted weakly.

Andromeda chuckled. "What I meant is that if she's anything like you were in your teens, she'll certainly need to—"

"I am a man! I was a hormonal boy when I was a teenager! And Acquila is a girl! She can't behave like I did when I was thirteen! I won't have her getting within a meter of any boy!"

"You're such a male chauvinistic—"

"Hey!" protested Sirius. "I'm not! It's just that Acquila's my daughter! And I know how boys are when they're in their teens! And I don't want her falling for some idiotic guy's charms! She's not going to date anyone! And she's never going to sleep—"

"She's going to marry Harry some day! And then she'll make love—"

"UGH! I've had enough of Remus telling me about Harry and Acquila! I'm done! I'm leaving! I don't want to think of—" he shuddered at the very thought of Acquila even kissing a guy, even if it was Harry, and even when he knew it was bound to happen some day or the other. "Just talk to Nymphie about the Auror matter now…and talk to Acquila when you meet her next…and we're never ever talking of this again!" he exclaimed, before rushing into the fireplace without a backward look, leaving a chuckling Andromeda behind him.

xxx

"Why's Dad taking so long?" asked Acquila. "You think Aunt Andy hexed him for trying to support Dora?"

"I don't think so," chuckled Remus, though he would have enjoyed watching the Black cousins duel. "I guess Sirius is just talking to her…trying to convince her," replied Remus, looking closely at the black-haired girl, before turning his gaze to Harry.

Though Sirius hadn't told him about joining the Aurors, Remus knew from Sirius' behaviour of late that he would certainly want to rejoin the Auror force. And he doubted whether Acquila would react kindly to it. And rather than watch another father-daughter argument, Remus thought it better to prepare the children for Sirius' decision.

"Acquila, Harry, I want to talk to both of you about something," he said.

The kids nodded, looking at him expectantly.

"Well," began Remus, before he hesitated. Should he even be talking to the children about this matter, when Sirius hadn't even told him about rejoining the Aurors? But he had observed Sirius closely in the past few days, especially since they had been back from Godric's Hollow. At first, he had had the haunted, sorrowful glint in his eyes; but then, the sorrow had slowly been replaced by determination, and a thirst for revenge- the same determination he had seen when Charlus Potter had been killed in a death-eater attack, when the Prewett twins had been killed and Sirius had sworn to kill Octavius Travers for killing the twins, when the McKinnons had been decimated and Sirius had vowed to hunt down those who had murdered Marlene… And he was sure that Sirius was itching to get back onto the field, to fight the Dark forces, to avenge James and Lily's deaths. Once upon a time, it would have been James, who would have known what Sirius was thinking without him even having to put his thoughts into words. And it was strange how Remus had seemed to have filled into that position a wee bit.

"Remus?" said Harry, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Oh yes," said Remus, deciding to directly get on with the matter. "Sirius hasn't spoken to me about it yet, but from whatever I have observed of him since the past few days, I'm sure he's going to want to join the Auror force again," he said, watching as Harry's green eyes suddenly seemed to have conflicting emotions flitting through them, while Acquila's grey ones glowered with rage.

"He can't!" she exclaimed. "He can't join the Aurors! It's dangerous…and what if something happens to him…what if he…" she faltered, before looking at Harry. "Say something!"

"Err…Acquila, I think you should let Sirius do what he wants to—"

"How can you say that?" she snapped at Harry, who ran a hand through his already-messy hair; a habit that he seemed to have picked up from Sirius, which made his resemblance to James stand out even more than it usually did.

"I mean…he was in Azkaban for so many years…and now that he's finally back, shouldn't he be doing what he wants to do—"

"And get himself killed in the process like Ron's uncles did?" she asked him furiously.

"Acquila" said Remus softly. "Those days were different. The war was on, and the survival rate of Aurors was extremely low, thanks to frequent battles with death-eaters and Voldemort himself. But currently, the Wizarding world is at peace. And there are hardly any dark wizards operating in Britain…he isn't at too much of a risk—"

"But you told me he was high on the hit-list of death-eaters!"

"He was," agreed Remus. "But if and when he tells you about it, just listen to him with an open mind, Acquila—"

"He doesn't even need to work for the money! We have piles of galleons in the vault!"

"Sirius never worked for money, Acquila. He became an Auror because he wanted to; because he'd grown up seeing James' dad fighting death-eaters, because he wanted to set himself apart from his family, because he wanted to—"

"To save the world," snarled Acquila. "He told me…that he used to go around on Auror missions and leave Mum and me alone at home. He'll do that now as well, won't he? He won't be with Harry and me…" she trailed off, the expression on her face a mixture of anger and hurt.

"Sirius will always have time for you," said Remus with conviction. He had seen Sirius regret not spending enough time with Athena and Acquila when Acquila was younger because he was forever off on Auror duty. And he knew that at least when the kids were home for the summer, Sirius would certainly convince the Auror head to let him take time off for the kids, especially with training the kids in magic being extremely high on the priority list.

"He's joining the Aurors for me, isn't he?" muttered Harry suddenly. "To protect me if Voldemort come back…"

"He is," agreed Remus again, "But that's not the only reason. Sirius has never been someone who can sit home twiddling his thumbs. He's always wanted to be in the thick of action, making a difference to the world, fighting evil…and once the first of September arrives, both of you won't be home any longer…and I wouldn't want Sirius sitting around alone, brooding over his past. Believe me, getting back into the Auror department is going to help him…give him something productive to spend his time rather than dwelling on the past…and it's where he belongs," said Remus softly, as he noticed Harry gradually shifting himself to sit closer to Acquila, as he put his arm around her, while she clasped his hand with hers, intertwining their fingers. Was it the Bond at work? Telling Harry that Acquila was upset, that she needed him?

"I'm not saying that you've to agree with Padfoot, just give him a chance to speak to you without flying into a rage," said Remus, though his gaze still flickered surreptitiously between their faces to their entwined hands.

"I don't fly into a rage," she muttered, as Harry chuckled softly.

"Weren't you the girl who set Lucius Malfoy on fire?" he smirked, as she glared at him, her grey eyes boring into his amused green ones.

"That was different," she mumbled, before gasping as the flames in the fireplace turned green and a boy stepped in to the room.

"Ron!" exclaimed Harry, as he grinned at Ron..

"Did you get the Hogwarts letter, mate?" Ron asked Harry, after greeting Remus and Acquila.

"We didn't," sighed Acquila and Harry together, before Remus groaned inaudibly. They had wondered about why the children hadn't received the school letters yet. Perhaps whoever was blocking the letters had blocked the letters from Hogwarts as well. Sirius had gone through every inch of Black Manor, and the areas surrounding it to ascertain whether there was any magical trace of the person who was blocking the letters; but neither Sirius, nor Mad-Eye, whom Sirius had called over to investigate, had caught any hint of wizarding magic around the Manor. Remus privately thought that it was probably magic being performed by a magical being. But neither the Centaurs, not the Goblins, nor Merpeople would bother with stopping the letters. Perhaps, it was a house-elf. But then who would have ordered their house-elf to stop the children's letters? And if they did indeed want to stop the letters, why would they stop only Harry and Acquila's letters and not Sirius'? Were they scared of working around the Black Head of House, perchance?

"Remus? Remus!" he felt Acquila's soft hands shaking his own.

"Oh…sorry," he mumbled, realising that he had been lost in thought.

"I asked you whether you know Gilderoy Lokchart," said Acquila.

"Yes, I've heard of him…he writes books claiming to have saved villages from vampires and trolls and werewolves," he replied, his voice tightening when he mentioned Werewolves. Remus remembered Lockhart claiming that he had cured a Werewolf using a 'Homorphous Charm'- a charm that certainly didn't exist. "But I've read some of his books, and he seems to be a fraud. But why do you want to know about him?" he continued.

"The entire book-list's full of Lockhart's books. The new DADA teacher must be a fan, Fred reckons it's a witch," guffawed Ron. "Mum's a big fan of Lockhart, you know," he continued, "But don't tell her I told you that."

Remus chuckled, while Acquila stiffened at the mention of Molly Weasley. She doubted she could ever forgive the woman for whatever she had said against her father.

"He's won some award at Witch Weekly for a number of years in a row…though they gave it to Sirius recently," said Remus.

"Dad's won an award?" gasped Acquila.

"The Most Charming Smile Award," smirked Remus, as Harry sniggered loudly, before asking, "But when did they see Sirius smile? He's been keeping out of the public eye."

"Remember the picture they published of both of you and Sirius, at the Quidditch stadium on your birthday?" asked Remus, as Harry grimaced. Despite Sirius' efforts, the photographers had managed to snag a photo of the three of them. Sirius had been rather furious on seeing the photograph, and Remus had somehow managed to stop him barging into the publisher's office for publishing pictures of minors without parental assent.

"Yeah, mate…you seem to have been all over the news since Summer's begun," muttered Ron, and Harry wondered why Ron seemed so…jealous?

"I don't like it at all…all the Boy Who Lived nonsense…my parents died to save me…it isn't something I like to be reminded of," he remarked, and the tips of Ron's ears turned red, and he nodded sheepishly.

"Hermione's sent a letter, by the way," said Ron, as Acquila quickly took the letter from his hands.

"She's going to Diagon Alley on Wednesday," she said after reading the letter.

"Can you guys come too, on Wednesday? Mum and Dad are taking all of us, as well…we could all meet up," said Ron hesitantly, wondering whether Sirius would bring Harry and Acquila to meet the Weasleys after the fiasco at Harry's birthday.

"Why not?" said Remus, sensing Ron's thoughts. "You know Sirius doesn't hold what Molly said that day against all of you, don't you?"

Ron nodded, though Remus realised that he seemed a lot more at ease now.

"—Bloody Hell!" They heard Sirius swear aloud as he walked in through the fireplace, his face seeming strangely red, and flustered.

"I finally managed to convince Andy to—Oh! Hello, Ron," said Sirius, as he noticed Ron smiling sheepishly at him.

"Hello, Sirius," smiled Ron, relieved as Sirius grinned at him.

"Why don't you go play Quidditch? You can show Ron the new broom—" began Sirius.

"You got a new broom?" gasped Ron, "Which one?"

"Nimbus Two Thousand One," replied Harry.

"That's the newest one in the market!" exclaimed Ron. "Come one! Let me see it!" he said, as he followed Harry to the Quidditch pitch.

"You know, Dad, if you want to discuss something without us around, you can just tell us rather than sending us to play Quidditch," remarked Acquila coldly, before she followed the boys out of the room.

"What's wrong with her?" muttered Sirius.

"Uh…well, are you planning to rejoin the Aurors?" asked Remus.

"I am, but how did you know—"

"I've known you far too long to not know what you're thinking, Padfoot," smirked Remus, before continuing, "I told the kids that you might rejoin—"

"You did what?" gasped Sirius indignantly, before sighing, "It's good you did, actually…what did Acquila say? And Harry?"

"Harry seemed quite alright with it, but Acquila didn't take it too well…but I tried telling her to…"

"Thanks, Mooney," Sirius cut him off sincerely. "I mean, you didn't have to—"

"Of course, I had to…I doubt you could withstand arguing with Andromeda and Acquila in the span of a few hours," he chuckled.

"I didn't argue with Andy! I just made her understand," Sirus rolled his eyes.

"So, did she agree? For Nymphadora—"

"I don't know why you call her Nymphadora, Mooney! You can call her Nymphie, or Dora, or even Tonks," sniggered Sirius, "Unless you're going to give her a special pet name in future!" he winked.

"I'm not!" muttered Remus, "And Nymphadora is a nice name…it means a gift from the fairies, the nymphs," he explained, before stopping at the amused expression on Sirius' face.

"So she's a gift from the nymphs for you, is she?" smirked Sirius.

"No, Padfoot," mumbled Remus, "I was just telling you that she has a nice name…I don't know why she doesn't like it—"

"I think she won't mind you calling her Nymphadora, you know," Sirius smiled slyly at Remus

"Can we come back to the matter at hand, Sirius?" asked Remus sternly, as Sirius nodded, though the smile still remained glued to his face.

"Ron said he and his siblings got the Hogwarts letters, as did Hermione."

Sirius swore under his breath.

"This letter-blocking thing's getting a tad too much, isn't it? I mean, even letters from Hogwarts are being blocked! You…you think someone's wanting to stop the kids from going back to Hogwarts?"

"But that doesn't make sense! It isn't as if we can't go to Dumbledore to personally collect the children's letters, or buy the books from the book-list given to Ron," remarked Remus. "And since you didn't detect any magical signature around the grounds, nor on Hedwig when she came back empty-handed, or rather empty-taloned, I don't think it's a witch or a wizard blocking the mail—"

"You think it's another magical being then? A goblin? An Centaur? An elf?"

"An elf," replied Remus. "I mean, the only families having house-elves are the old pure-blood families. And the only people who know the location of Black Manor, is those who have already visited it over the years, which includes people who're related to the Blacks," he said pointedly.

"So you reckon it's a family with a house-elf that's trying to stop the mail?"

"It's possible," said Remus.

"That can be anyone, Remmy," muttered Sirius, "Malfoy, Travers, Flint, Avery, Macmillan, Blishwick…the list goes on and on. I know there aren't many families with house-elves nowadays…but most of the ones who do have elves are followers of Voldemort!" hissed Sirius, his face turning suddenly infuriated.

"You think we should shift elsewhere? The Gamp Mansion? That's safe! It hasn't been visited by anyone since decades…I don't like staying here, knowing that there's some magical being meters away from the Manor trying to stop the owls from delivering mail! I mean, they might be able to enter the Manor for all we know!"

"They can't enter the Manor, Sirius! We've blocked the floo for everyone apart from Andromeda's family, the Weasleys, and the Longbottoms. And Mopsy and I have been re-checking the wards every couple of hours. They haven't been tampered in the slightest. So no one's tried to enter the Manor. They're just grabbing hold of the Owls before they can deliver us the letters. And the strange part is that letters addressed to you and me are getting through to us. So whoever it is, only has something to do with kids," Remus paused before continuing, "I think we should meet Dumbledore," he said quietly.

Sirius inclined an eyebrow, before snorting. "I knew you'd say this sooner or later."

"And we need to talk to him about the Bond, as well—"

"We'll mention the Bond, but don't expect me to blindly agree with what Dumbledore says. I'm their father, and I'll decide what to do irrespective of what Dumbledore feels on the matter. And promise me that you won't side with Dumbledore unless he's has good enough reasons for keeping this hidden," said Sirius pointedly.

"I never side with anyone unless they have staunch reasons for what they're doing, Sirius," responded Remus, as Sirius rolled his eyes again. He knew that Remus would more often than not believe with what Dumbledore said. He felt that he owed Dumbledore for letting him study in Hogwarts, despite his lycanthropy, when very few people would have agreed to let a Werewolf study with other children.

"Alright," he replied. "Do we go visit him now?"

"Okay," replied Remus, as they departed for Hogwarts, after telling Mopsy to take care of the kids till they returned, along with calling Dora to baby-sit them again.

xxx

"Hello, Remus! Sirius!" exclaimed Albus Dumbledore as he saw the two men enter his room, escorted by Minerva McGonagall.

"Thank you, Minerva," said Dumbledore, as she made to leave.

"Oh yes, thanks, Minnie," said Sirius, throwing his former teacher a sly grin.

"Don't call me that, Black," she snapped, but Sirius saw the ends of her lips widen in a small smile.

"Oh come on, Minnie! Admit it, I've always been your favourite student," smirked Sirius.

"I do not have favourites, Sirius," she replied, though they both knew that she had always had a soft spot for him. "Now get on with your talk with the Headmaster, and dare you run after me in your Dog form again when I'm strolling around the Castle as a Cat!" she told him sternly, as Remus chuckled. They had spotted Minerva on the edges of the school grounds in her feline form, and Sirius had transformed and given her chase for almost four hundred metres, with the Deputy-headmistress mewing aloud in fright at having an enormous Dog chasing her, till she had finally realised that it was Sirius.

Sirius merely smirked at her, before she left, muttering under her breath about grown-up former students who were intent on still behaving like eleven-year olds.

"So, Sirius? What brings you both here?"

"I will look into the matter," said Dumbledore, after they both had told him of the mail being blocked. "I assure you that Harry and Acquila won't come to any harm in Hogwarts this year."

"I hope the DADA teacher this year doesn't have Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head again," said Sirius sarcastically, as Remus threw him a glare at his rudeness, while Dumbledore merely smiled at him ruefully.

"I admit I wasn't able to decipher that Voldemort had possessed Quirrell last year, but the teacher this year is certainly not possessed, though he is quite a bit self-centered and publicity-seeking," he sighed.

"No!" gasped Remus, "Please tell me that it isn't Gilderoy Lockhart!"

Dumbledore merely nodded sadly in reply, while Remus swore uncharacteristically under his breath.

"Who's Lockhart?" asked Sirius, as Remus told him whatever it was that he knew about the fellow.

"You can't have such an incompetent teacher teaching the kids defence, Dumbledore! We need Harry to be ready to face attacks, to be able to defend himself! What is this Lockhart bloke going to teach the kids? You can't—"

"I'm afraid there isn't any other person to do the job, Sirius," sighed Dumbledore. "The job's cursed. And Lockhart's application for the post was the only one we got."

"Then, Remmy! You go for it! You don't need to—"

"I'm afraid I can't give the job to Remus because I've already had Lockhart sign the magical contract for teaching Defence for a year," sighed Dumbledore. "And anyway, I had a matter on which I was hoping Remus would help me."

"What is it, Albus?" asked Remus.

"I was hoping you might go to Albania for a couple of weeks."

"Albania?" asked Sirius sharply.

"I think Voldemort has currently gone back to taking shelter in Albania. And with Remus being quite adept at locating people, I was hoping he would help me," replied Dumbledore.

"I'd do anything for the children, Albus," smiled Remus. "And it isn't as if I have a job that I have to work for. I do have a lot of free time on my hands, and I would be more than happy to find out where—"

"We'll talk about this first, Remmy," cut in Sirius sharply. "I can't have you going around facing danger, especially Voldemort—"

"I'm not a kid, Padfoot," protested Remus in half-indignation and half-amusement.

"But you're family, Remmy. And after what happened to Quirrell, I can't risk you—"

"I'm not Quirrell, Sirius! Voldemort will never be able to control me, or possess me…I already have a wolf dwelling in my mind…I doubt there's place for Voldemort as well," he remarked dryly.

"We'll discuss this later," said Sirius firmly, and Remus nodded.

"I'll let you know, Albus," he said to Dumbledore, who nodded as well.

"Now is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked the two men, his blue eyes twinkling merrily.

"The Bond," muttered Sirius.

"Ah! Have you discovered something new about it?"

"Yes," said Remus, "Quite a few things. At the graveyard at Godric's Hollow, Acquila seemed to have read Harry's thoughts without him even having to utter them aloud…" Remus trailed off, as Sirius' uncanny sense of observation noticed the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes subsiding slightly at the mention of the graveyard; he had perhaps remembered that his own family was buried there.

"And," continued Remus, "They cannot cast spells at the other."

"Oh!" said Dumbledore, "I must admit I hadn't foreseen that. Nicolas and Perenelle hadn't told me of this, though it is possible that it's something exclusive to the Bond between Harry and Acquila."

"When they fired the disarming spell together, the two jets of spells merged together and knocked me off my feet," said Remus sheepishly.

"Ah!" said Dumbledore smiling amusedly.

"And I am going to tell them about the Bond soon," put in Sirius, as Dumbledore's smile faded away.

"I would advise you not to—"

"It isn't you who has to lie to them, Dumbledore! I have to! And I'm neither comfortable, nor adept at withholding the truth like you are," retorted Sirius.

Remus glared at Sirius again, disliking him being this rude to their former Headmaster, but Sirius just rolled his eyes at him.

Dumbledore sighed heavily, before he spoke.

"Have they guessed that you know of the Bond?"

"Of course they have! We caught them listening to our talks under the Invisibility Cloak!" exclaimed Sirius. "I can't keep lying to them forever!"

"Despite knowing that you know of it, Acquila and Harry haven't pestered you to tell them the truth, have they?"

"No," replied Remus softly.

"So I don't see why you can't keep them in the dark till they start demanding answers—"

"You mean to tell me that till my daughter throws a temper tantrum demanding to know what it is that I'm hiding from her, I should continue lying to her?" snapped Sirius.

"You aren't lying, Sirius, just hiding the truth," said Dumbledore.

"It's the same thing, Dumbledore!" retorted Sirius irately.

You do realise that the Bond is an extremely rare phenomenon, don't you, Sirius?" said Dumbledore after a long moment.

"Of course, I do."

"And you know that if one of them is hurt or killed, the other will die as well?"

"I do know that as well, Dumbledore," muttered Sirius.

"And what do you think will happen when news of this Bond gets out to the wizarding world at large? What do you think people like Lucius Malfoy will do with this information? Kill one of them and the other dies as well. Killing two birds with one stone, as the Muggles put it," said Dumbledore. "And I think you have made enough enemies in your childhood and during your years as an Auror. And what better way to get revenge than to harm both your daughter and your Godson in one go?"

As Sirius opened his mouth to reply, Dumbledore continued, "And what do you think Voldemort will do when he gets wind of this? He may still be just a wraith, but once he gets a body to possess again, don't you think he would want Acquila to get vengeance for his defeat through Harry's hands? And—"

"Do you think the children are going to go around telling the world about their Bond, Dumbledore?" snorted Sirius. "They know enough about the dangers they face to realise that this is something that should remain secret, that knowledge of this in the wrong hands would only serve to hurt them—" Sirius began before Dumbledore interrupted him.

"Do you think they won't tell their friends about this? Mister Weasley, Miss Granger and—"

"I think we can trust the Weasleys to keep this secret, and Acquila tells me that Hermione is someone she trusts implicitly!" responded Sirius.

"And Draco Malfoy?" said Dumbledore, as Sirius stiffened.

"Can you assure me that your daughter won't tell Draco Malfoy about the soul bond? Can you assure me that Draco won't relay the information to Lucius?"

Sirius hesitated before replying, "If Acquila knows that Harry's and her safety hinges on the bond, I'm sure she won't tell Draco about this—"

"I think you underestimate the loyalty and love your daughter has for your cousin, Sirius," said Dumbledore gravely. "Due to the years that she spent believing that she was an orphan, that she had no family, she grew closer to both Nymphadora and Draco by virtue of them having been the first family she knew—"

"And who is to blame for that, Dumbledore? Weren't you the one who put her in that orphanage?" snarled Sirius.

"Padfoot, I think talking of this isn't going to change the past," said Remus firmly, "And we've been over this many times. I may not agree completely with what Dumbledore did, but it did serve to keep Acquila away from Walburga, Arcturus, and Pollux, didn't it? And she had a better life at the Orphanage than Harry did with his own relatives."

Sirius nodded grudgingly, as Dumbledore continued.

"Even apart from Draco, you do realise that the very safety of the wizarding world depends on Harry, don't you? If Voldemort makes a return Harry is the only one who can defeat him for good as per the prophecy. And Acquila needs to be standing strongly by his side. And for Harry to defeat Voldemort, the biggest weapon he has is going to be love. They need to love each other, Sirius—"

"They already do, Albus," said Remus softly. "I have observed them. They always seem to be in sync with each other, Harry's always ready to calm Acquila down before she can fly into a temper…she's always there to help him when he thinks of James and Lily…even the way they look at each other sometimes…it's as if the world around them doesn't exist…as if both of them are the only people—"

"Enough with this, Mooney," Sirius cut him off weakly. After the talk he had with Andromeda about Acquila and Harry, all this was just too much to take in. Of course, he wanted nothing more than both of them to love each other and strengthen the bond. But it was still tough to think of his twelve-year old daughter, whom he had just been reunited with, deeply in love with some boy. She was his daughter for Merlin's sake! His little girl! And she seemed to be growing up a little too soon for his liking.

"I know that they love each other, Remus, but is that love enough to strengthen the Bond? If supposing you do tell them that their souls are bound to each other, that they are to be together for life; how do you think they will react? Put yourself in their shoes and think of it…don't you think the awkwardness will seep in? Harry might still be accepting of it…but Acquila? I mean no offence, Sirius, but she's your daughter, and she's bound to be stubborn," sighed Dumbledore as Sirius arched an eyebrow.

"Do you think she will just accept that her soul's bound to Harry; that Harry is going to have to be her partner for life just because of the Bond? Do you think she would like the Bond making decisions for her? How had you reacted when your mother told her of your betrothal to Elia Yaxley?" asked Dumbledore, as Sirius sighed.

"That was different! She was a Yaxley! And I didn't even know her well enough! But Harry and Acquila have known each other since they were eight," said Sirius, but his brow had furrowed in worry. This was exactly why he hadn't wanted to tell the children about the bond first- because he didn't want them to feel as if they were being forced to be with each other…because he wanted them to have at least a year or two of a peaceful childhood.

"You know that I refused to tell Harry about why Voldemort targeted James and Lily specifically, don't you?" continued Dumbledore as Sirius nodded.

"I didn't because I wanted him to stay a child for a little longer, to spend his childhood as other children do…and I hope you do the same, Sirius. Both Harry and Acquila have faced a lot of indifference and apathy in life, whether it was from the Dursleys or from Acquila's peers at the Orphanage. Let them live their childhood a little longer, because if and when Voldemort makes a return, they will have to grow up even if they don't want to. Let them discover love for themselves. The only weapon Harry has to defeat Voldemort is love; and if this love comes from his heart, comes from within, rather than being forced on him due to sharing a soul with Acquila, it'll help him greatly in the end. Let them discover the bond on their own, let them make the bond stronger and impenetrable. Mark my words, Sirius, at the risk of sounding immodest and arrogant, I must tell you that more often than not that my reasoning and decisions turn out to be correct."

Sirius stared at Dumbledore with an inscrutable expression, before he looked at Remus.

"Here are the school letters," said Dumbledore as he handed over two envelopes to Sirius.

"Thank you," said Sirius as he stood up, and Remus knew that he would say nothing about this matter again. He needed time to think, to sort out his thoughts; time to wonder what James, Lily and Athena would have wanted him to do.

"You're welcome, Sirius. And do let me know about your decision regarding Albania, Remus," said Dumbledore as the two men stood up to depart.

xxx

Lucius Malfoy stared at the diary again. It was strange how the diary attracted him, but also repulsed him at the same time. What was it that it contained? How would it open the Chamber of secrets? He had of course, opened the diary, only to see that all the pages were blank. He hadn't dared to write in it, though.

How could he slip it to Harry or Acquila? He knew that Acquila had written to Draco recently, telling him of her impending trip to Diagon Alley. If Lucius visited Diagon Alley with Draco the same day, would he perhaps be able to slip the diary among Potter's books?

He snorted. With Black snooping around him, it would be impossible to evade him and slip the diary to Potter. But perhaps, Draco could help him. Lucius knew that Draco had a soft spot for his cousin, not only because he had been told that he would marry her in future, but also because she was beautiful, a typical pure-blood, and she seemed to care for Draco. And he also knew that Draco detested Potter completely. If he convinced Draco that Potter could be thrown out of his way, would he agree to aid Lucius in his plan?

Lucius smirked. Even if Draco didn't agree willingly, he could force him into following his orders.

Now the only problem that remained was Narcissa. How he wished his wife has been loyal to him and his cause? Her Black brains would have helped him in his plans. But trusting her was out of question now. Luckily, she wouldn't be accompanying him to Diagon Alley. Narcissa had planned a gathering of some pure-bloos witches on Wednesday. So Lucius would be saved from having to come up with a reason to make his disloyal wife stay at home.

Now all he had to do was bully Draco into obeying him, and refraining from revealing his plans to Narcissa. Draco couldn't be trusted with what the diary actually did, though. He would certainly boast that he was the one to open the Chamber of Secrets to his idiotic friends. So all he had to tell him was that he could get Potter out of his way if he slipped the diary to him.

And then whatever creature crawled out of the Chamber would not only purge the Castle of Mudbloods and half-bloods, but also kill Harry and Acquila, and through them, land Sirius Black a blow he would never recover from. And then, Lucius would be the happiest, richest and most powerful wizard in Britain.

xxx

Remus waved Harry, Acquila and Sirius goodbye, as he climbed up the staircase to his room to sleep; a dull headache had apparently started to bother him since morning. Acquila wondered why Remus fell ill this often; and she wished she knew the reason for the unnatural paleness and gauntness that had overtaken him since that morning.

It was finally Wednesday, and they were headed to the Diagon Alley to buy their school supplies and text books. And Acquila and Harry were both looking forward to the visit because this year, they would finally have a parent accompanying them, unlike the previous year when they had gone with McGonagall and Hagrid respectively.

"Acquila, you go through first," said Sirius, offering her floo powder.

She took a pinch between her fingers and stepped in the flames.

"See you on the other side!" she said, dropped the powder and exclaimed clearly, "Diagon Alley!" before she disappeared in whirl of flames.

Acquila stepped out of the grate at Leaky Cauldron into the bustling and noisy pub. She brushed off the soot from her robes as she waited for Harry and her dad, trying her best to ignore the stares that were coming her way from the people around her. But a few minutes later only Sirius emerged looking extremely panicked.

"Where's Harry?" Acquila asked, sensing something amiss. "Is he coming in after you?"

"No! He hasn't come here, has he?" Sirius asked and continued, not waiting for an answer, "Merlin! I knew it. He inhaled a handful of ash...and didn't utter the destination clearly!"

"Oh my! What do we do now? Where must he have gone?" exclaimed Acquila worried, before looking around the Leaky Cauldron, as if expecting Harry pop out from under one of the tables.

Sirius made his way to where Tom, the owner of the pub was serving customers.

"Sirius Black! It's been years since I've seen you here, eh!" smiled Tom. "What would you like to have?"

"Nothing today, Tom. But do you know where the nearest grate is, where one can floo to?" asked Sirius him urgently. "How could I lose Harry? James is going to kill me when I die, after Remmy and Andy are done hexing me!" he muttered under his breath.

"It's in Knockturn Alley...Borgin and Burkes," replied Tom gloomily. He had been hoping Sirius would stay longer, especially since he had seen him after eleven long years. The last time he had seen him, he had been with there with James Potter, celebrating a successful Auror raid with a few bottles of drinks.

"Merlin's and Morgana!" Sirius swore and turned to Acquila, "Don't worry…we'll find him. He'll be fine," he mumbled, assuring himself more than his daughter.

"I think he is fine, Dad," Acquila said in a calm voice. She was uncertain, but her instincts told her that she was right. "I mean, I would have felt it, if he was hurt, right?" she asked him.

"Yes," muttered Sirius, slightly relieved. If Harry was injured or in serious trouble, Acquila would definitely have sensed it.

"Come, let's go. The sooner we find him, the better. Knockturn Alley is not really a place you want to land up in, if you're Harry Potter," he said, taking her hand and walking towards the brick entrance of Diagon Alley.

They made their way at almost a sprint down Diagon Alley and spotted Draco and Lucius Malfoy walking out of Knockturn Alley. Acquila wanted to call out to Draco, who fortunately hadn't noticed them, but finding Harry was more important so they ducked into the alley, when suddenly, Acquila bumped right into what seemed to be a big brown tree-trunk, which upon recovering from having knocked into it, turned out to be Hagrid in a brown cloak.

"Wat are yeh doin' in 'ere Sirius? An' with Acquila... this is no place fer kids...and where's 'Arry?" asked Hagrid as he looked around for the green-eyed boy.

"Floo problem...he must have landed in Borgin and Burkes... you check the street in case he's finding a way out and I'll check the shop," Sirius said hurriedly as Hagrid nodded, and Acquila ran after her father, her hand clasped tightly within his.

Sirius sprinted down the street and turned a corner, Acquila struggling to keep pace with his long strides. Borgin and Burkes was right ahead. As they neared the shop, Acquila saw that it was empty; even the owner wasn't in sight.

But as they entered, a small bell tinkled, and a stooping man came out, smoothening his greasy hair back from his face with a sickening smile.

"Ah! Lord Black! To what do I owe this pleasure? You can have anything from my store. I assure you, it's all reasonably priced and—" began the man.

"Shut the hell up, Borgin!" snarled Sirius. He had never liked this place; it was reeking of dark magic. His deranged mother had bought loads of dark objects from this very shop, most of which were residing in Grimmauld Place and the vaults in Gringotts. Sirius didn't like the owner, Mr. Borgin either. He had met him on several occasions when he had been younger and his mother had dragged to the shop, wanting to teach Sirius how to distinguish between fake artifacts and the real ones.

"Don't touch anything in here!" Sirius warned his daughter, as she seemed to be drawn to a certain opal necklace.

"I am not here to buy anything!" said Sirius and Borgin's smile dropped.

"Today is clearly not a good day for me. First Malfoy comes to sell, not buy and now him," he muttered.

"Malfoy was here?" exclaimed Sirius, his Animagus hearing having heard the man's almost inaudible muttering. "Did you see a boy around here?"

"The young Mister Malfoy?"

"No, Harry Potter," said Sirius, deciding to be upfront with the man.

"No, I haven't! And why would Potter be—"

"Tell me the truth, Borgin!" roared Sirius, and Acquila gasped as she saw the dangerous glint in her father's eyes, as he grabbed Borgin by the neck of his robes, and pointed his wand at his throat.

"Tell me the truth! Was Harry here? Don't you lie, or I'll not only hex you within an inch of your life, but I'll also have your shop shut down when I get back into the Auror office!" he thundered.

"I—I don't know, Lord Black…I haven't seen Potter here…" sputtered Borgin, as Sirius glared into his eyes, trying to use Legilimency on him, before letting go of him suddenly, as the man fell into the cabinet behind him.

"Come on, Acquila," said Sirius gruffly, as he grabbed her hand and took her out of the doorway to the shop.

Sirius grumbled darkly under his breath, hoping that Hagrid had found Harry. He could not imagine Harry wandering the spooky streets of Knockturn Alley on his own, scared and alone. He shot a stinging hex at a filthy man with matted hair who leered at Acquila, before pulling her even closer to him. Damn! If Athena ever knew that he was roaming the streets of Knockturn Alley with Acquila…

"Sirius!" he suddenly heard Harry calling out to him.

"Harry!" Acquila rushed to him before Sirius could do so, dragging Sirius behind him since their hands were intertwined. He let go off her hand as she hugged Harry tightly.

"I was so scared! Did you look at the people around here! I thought we'd never find you—"

"I'm alright, Acquila," replied Harry, before Sirius pulled him into a hug, as well.

"Found 'im at the other end 'of the street," said Hagrid, before proceeding to brush the soot off Harry, who nearly stumbled into a nearby barrel of dragon-dung from the force of Hagrid's hand, before a chuckling Sirius steadied him just in time.

"Are you really fine, kiddo? Did anyone trouble you?" Sirius asked as Harry shook his head.

"We are never travelling by floo again," Sirius declared, his heartbeats finally returning back to normal.

"I'm fine with that," quipped Harry. "Not my favorite way to travel, anyway!" he said, as they walked into the sunny Diagon Alley.

"By the way, what were you doing in there, Hagrid?" Sirius asked the half-giant as he waved his wand and cleaned the soot off Harry's robes.

"I was lookin' fer a Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellent," growled Hagrid."They're ruinin' the school cabbages."

"Oh!" Sirius said, before Hagrid suddenly exclaimed, "How come yeh never wrote back ter me?"

"We never got your letters! Someone's blocking our letters," Acquila replied.

"We can't seem to find out who's doing it," Sirius sighed.

"Complain ter the Ministry, I say, or tell Dumbledo'. Well, gotta be off… See yer two at Hogwarts!" said Hagrid and he strode away, head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the packed street.

Sirius then turned to Harry.

"Whose fireplace did you end up coming out of?"

"I think his name was Borgin... that's what I heard Malfoy's Dad call him," Harry replied.

"That bloody shopkeeper lied to me! He said he didn't see you in his shop!" exclaimed Sirius. Damn! Had the decade in Azkaban made him forget all his Auror training in interrogating suspects? He had been almost sure that Borgin hadn't lied to him.

"No, no! He didn't see me," clarified Harry.

"What do you mean?" asked Acquila.

"When I came out of the fireplace I saw the Malfoys entering. So I did the first thing that came to my mind. I hid in a cabinet which was next to the fireplace—"

"You did what?" Sirius cut him off sharply. "You hid in a cabinet in Borgin and Burkes! It could have swallowed you alive for all we know! Or locked you within it forever! Everything in that shop is cursed with dark magic! Next time on, just send me a Patronus…damn the underage law—Oh Merlin! You don't know the Patronus Charm, do you? Remmy can teach you…I doubt I can still cast a Patronus…" Sirius trailed off.

"What's the Patronus Charm?" asked Acquila, but Sirius told Harry to continue.

"The fishy part was that Malfoy was selling items from his Manor that he thought would harm his image if the Ministry raided his house," said Harry.

"That's nothing new," snorted Sirius. "Malfoy must own heaps of illegal magical items just like my mother did. Grimmauld place is full of them… That's why I didn't take you both to see it as yet…and Kreacher's not what you call a friendly house elf…"

They made their way to the stationery to buy quills and parchment, when Harry stopped just before entering the shop.

"What's wrong, kiddo?"

"We forgot to go to Gringotts! I don't have any coins on me…I'll have to withdraw gold from my vault," said Harry.

"I have enough galleons to cover up all the costs, Harry," responded Sirius.

"But—"

"I know what you're trying to say, Harry. But you consider us family, don't you?" Sirius asked him.

"Of course, I do."

"You're like my son, kiddo. What's mine is rightfully yours and Acquila's. You can use the money from the Potter vault when you turn seventeen. But till then, I'm your guardian and I'm going to take care of you," said Sirius, pulling a grinning Harry into a one-armed hug.

Harry smiled, as he thought of what his Godfather had said. After years of being ignored and ill-treated by the Dursleys, he found it tough to believe at times that he had got such a loving Godfather.

"Where do you think Ron and Hermione are?" asked Acquila and Harry shrugged in reply as they left the stationery shop and headed to Madam Malkin's. Both Harry and Acquila had grown a few inches during the vacations and were in need of new robes.

They entered Madam Malkin's and saw Ginny being fitted into her new robes with Mrs. Weasley hovering about her, as Madam Malkin was taking measurements.

Sirius caught Mrs. Weasley's eye and diverted his gaze, not too keen on talking to her. Harry and Acquila looked from Mrs. Weasley to Sirius, expecting them to explode into a shouting match but thankfully, it didn't happen, though the awkwardness in the air refused to dissipate.

"I'll measure your children in a moment, Lord Black. I'm almost done here," said Madam Malkin as Sirius nodded.

"Oh hello, Harry!" exclaimed Molly Weasley, as she gathered Harry into a hug. She turned to Acquila as well, but the girl was looking anywhere but at the Weasley matriarch.

Ginny's eyes were fixed on Harry, as she saw him whispering something to Acquila, probably telling her to greet her mother. But Acquila stood stubbornly beside Harry, not even looking at Molly. As Harry clasped Acquila's hand, Ginny felt a surge of jealousy creep through her veins. She did not like Acquila Black, at all!

Harry smiled at Ginny and mouthed a 'Hi' and she blushed red, and returned the smile. Ginny saw Acquila smiling at her too, but she ignored the girl. Acquila Black seemed to be a rude, egoistical and snobbish girl. How someone as noble as Harry could like her was beyond Ginny's comprehension.

Sensing Acquila's gaze on her, Ginny turned her face to observe Sirius Black. She saw Sirius picking out the most expensive of robes for both his kids; and as Ginny looked from the rich robes to her own second-hand robes which were being altered, she felt greatly embarrassed. Harry Potter would never like someone like her when he had Acquila Black by his side. And though she rather disliked Acquila, she could see why the Daily Prophet had praised her looks. The girl seemed to carry herself gracefully without any efforts, as if the grace and poise ran through her very blood. Her face seemed straight out of the illustrations of the Muggle princesses in the book of fairy-tales that her mother's squib relative had gifted Ginny. Her hair was braided elegantly, while the Muggle skirt and blouse she had worn made her look even prettier. Her eyes were grey; but a very unique shade of grey- just like her father's eyes. And they seemed to pierce through whatever her gaze fell on; and they seemed to sparkle strangely whenever she looked at Harry.

She then looked at Harry. When she had seen him lying on the Infirmary bed, he had been a skinny, lanky boy. But he seemed to have put on some weight. His black hair fell onto his forehead messily, covering the scar; and though his hair was untidy, unlike his Godfather's hair that fell onto his broad shoulders with an effortless elegance, Ginny preferred the messiness of Harry's raven locks. She then observed his green eyes, admiring the almond-shaped orbs, which he had inherited from his mother. They seemed just so…alive, full of life, full of a strange happiness.

"Ginny!" she heard her mother calling, and stepped down from the stool after the measurements were done, and Harry climbed up in her place.

"Harry dear, do come to Flourish and Blotts," said Molly. "Ron and Hermione will be there," she smiled, before she grabbed Ginny's hand and departed.

Just after they left Acquila chuckled loudly.

"Did you see that, Dad?"

"What, sweetheart?"

"The way Ginny was blushing when Harry smiled at her!"

"She wasn't," muttered Harry, but his face coloured involuntarily. Sirius smiled slightly on seeing Harry's blushing face. If it had been James instead of Harry, he would have probably lapped up all the attention; but Harry seemed to have taken completely after Lily in this department.

"She was!" protested Acquila.

"Wasn't!"

"She was!"

"That's enough, now! Let's get your measurements done," said Sirius, before he sighed deeply. He had been observing Ginny as well. And he seen the dreamy way in which she had observed Harry- a look he knew very well since he had had hordes of girls eyeing him in a similar way when he had been in school.

He could just hope that Harry wouldn't fall for Ginny since he was sure they would be interacting often because she was Ron's sister. And the weirdest part was that Acquila had been teasing Harry about Ginny without displaying even the slightest ounce of jealousy or envy. She was a Black for heaven's sake! And the Blacks were extremely possessive about the people they loved. Sirius smirked as he remembered Davis Brownwood coming out with an un-curable case of boils on his face when he had dared ask Athena out. And only James had known that it had been Sirius who had hexed the idiot out of jealousy, and for daring to set sights on his girl.

But of course, Harry and Acquila were just twelve years of age…but nevertheless, it was strange watching Acquila react so coolly to Ginny's not-so-subtle admiration of Harry. Probably when she grew up, she would start disliking other girls paying attention to Harry, just like Athena would get rather annoyed when Sirius used to grab female eyeballs wherever they went. But Harry and Acquila were just children now…and he somehow wished they would remain kids forever…

They walked out of Madam Malkin's half an hour later with new robes in hand and the headed for Flourish and Blotts.

They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they approached it, they saw to their surprise, a large crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:

GILDEROY LOCKHART

will be signing copies of his autobiography

MAGICAL ME

today 12:30 P.m. to 4:30 P.m.

They spotted Ron and a very excited Hermione entering too.

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed as they neared. "I mean, he's written almost the entire booklist!"

Acquila looked at Hermione in surprise. Why did Hermione's cheeks seem blotched with tinges of pink?

"Did you actually squeal, Hermione?" chuckled Acquila.

"Of course, I did not!" giggled Hermione in an unHermioneish way. "But did you see his photograph there? Looks handsome, doesn't he?" she whispered, as Acquila stared at her horrified. Had Hermione just called someone handsome?

"Do you fancy Lockhart?" she whispered to her, as Ron spoke to Harry behind them.

"Of course not!" said Hermione, though she didn't meet Acquila's eyes.

The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age. A harrassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying, "Calmly, please, ladies ... Don't push, there ... mind the books, now ..."

Acquila, Harry, Ron, and Hermione squeezed inside, followed by Sirius. A long line wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were standing with Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute ..."

"Let's buy the books and get out of here," muttered Sirius, well aware that the reporters flocking the book shop to take pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart would soon notice Harry and him, as well.

Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.

A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

"Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet –"

"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.

Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Ron and then he saw Harry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?"

The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward and seized Harry's arm, but he suddenly, Lockhart found a strong hand gripping his own wrist.

"Let go of Harry," said Sirius commandingly, and Lockhart withdrew his hand as if it had been burnt.

"Mer—Merlin me! Sirius Black! It must be my lucky day!" he sputtered. "Come, click a picture with me. The people will love us on the front page!"

"Thanks for the offer, but I am afraid I must decline it," said Sirius from within gritted teeth and he took Harry and disappeared in the crowd.

"No problem!" Lockhart said his smile still gleaming, though his expression fell a little. "Maybe next time!" he called out to Sirius and Harry, before he turned to the gathered people.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! The Hogwarts students will be getting 'Magical me' not the book but me in flesh and blood. I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Harry and Acquila said nothing, having already been told of this by Remus. But the crowd cheered madly. Ron made a face, while Hermione seemed to be at the edge of her excitement, as she squealed with happiness, her eyes glued to Lockhart's smile.

They bought their books and made their way to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing next to her new cauldron.

"Let's get out of here," Sirius urged the kids to move out of the bookshop, but he suddenly stopped in his tracks when he came face to face with none other than Lucius Malfoy.

"I noticed you almost made the headlines again, Potter," said Lucius who was wearing a sneer much like Draco usually did.

"Don't you dare talk to my Godson!" snarled Sirius, as he gripped Harry's hand, as Lucius glared at him and he glowered even harder at the blonde-haired man.

Meanwhile, Draco made his way to Acquila who was behind Harry and greeted her with a hug and smirked at Harry, who just snorted.

"Famous Harry Potter," said Draco.

"Leave him alone!" said Ginny. She was glaring at Draco, as Acquila smacked him on his arm for mocking Harry.

"Draco," Acquila said in a warning tone, as Sirius turned his gaze to the blonde boy.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy as he ducked away from Acquila's hand as she went to hit him again and Ginny went scarlet.

"Don't be rude, Draco! You promised you'd be civil to my friends!" said Acquila, glaring at him.

"Yes, Acquila. It won't happen again," Draco assure her, though he continued grinning evilly at Harry.

"Malfoy! Keep away from my children!" snarled Sirius, as the smirk got wiped Draco's face.

"Sorry…sorry, Mister Black," sputtered Draco, while Lucius bristled angrily. His son was such a coward at times! One word from Black and he was backing away from him!

"It's Lord Black for you," growled Sirius.

"Coward!" put in Ron as he saw Draco cowering under Sirius' glare while looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe.

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George."What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley," Lucius said, diverting his attention from Sirius.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Lucius. "All those raids ... I hope they're paying you overtime?"

"Let's leave, Arthur," said Sirius, not wanting to drag the Weasleys into the limelight after the Pettigrew-Scabbers fiasco.

But Lucius reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the second hand books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," Lucius said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Arthur flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Lucius, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and , who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley ... and I thought your family could sink no lower ..."

"Shut the hell up, Malfoy!" Sirius whipped out his wand, but there was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying as did Harry's books. Arthur had thrown himself at Lucius, knocking him backward into a bookshelf just as Sirius stood in front of Mr. and Mrs. Granger to protect them in case Lucius tried to attack them instead.

Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of,

"Get him, Dad!" from Fred and George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"

The crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over.

"Gentlemen, please - please!" cried the assistant, as Harry and Acquila stared at them open-mouthed, not knowing what to do.

Taking advantage of the cacophony and confusion in the store Draco discreetly dropped a black diary into the pile of Harry's new and glossy books which were strewn on the floor, when everyone's eyes were on the fight, just as his father had told him to. He slipped out from the crowd and next to his father as he was about to punch Mr. Weasley.

"Protego!" shouted Sirius finally, putting up a shield charm between the two squabbling wizards, as the assistant shouted, "Break it up, there, gents, break it up -"

Lucius and Arthur still glared daggers at each other, but Hagrid waded toward them through the sea of books, and in an instant he had pulled Arthur and Lucius apart and Sirius sighed in relief.

Arthur had a cut lip and Lucius had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.

"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you -"

Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting him off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it is - come on now - let's get outta here."

Harry and Ginny bent down to pick up their books when Sirius reached them.

Harry stuffed all his newly-bought books back in his half torn paper bag and helped Ginny with her books, as the red-haired girl blushed in embarrassment as Harry put her second-hand books into her cauldron.

"Thank you!" she said in a small voice, and ran to Mrs. Weasley, cauldron in hand.

The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Molly beside herself with fury.

"A fine example to set for your children . . . brawling in public . . . what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought -"

"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report - said it was all publicity -"

"First the murderous rat, and now this!" Molly muttered furiously as she led her kids to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Aren't you going by floo?" Ron asked them, turning behind as the Blacks and Harry stopped just outside the pub entrance.

"I had a floo mishap," explained Harry, "landed in Knockturn Alley...it's along story… I'll write to you about it."

"Knockturn Alley! Excellent!" the twins exclaimed.

"We've never been allowed in there," Ron said enviously.

"I should surely think not," said Sirius. "None of you are ever to enter that Alley…neither on purpose, or by mistake! The people and the dark artifacts I've seen in there…" he trailed off.

Fred and George cocked a brow at each other. If this man was indeed Padfoot, wouldn't he have encouraged them to explore Knockturn Alley? Because a man who had made the Marauders' map would certainly need to have an exploring, and inquisitive streak within him. But then Remus had called him 'Padfoot'! And Padfoot wasn't exactly a common nickname.

Molly looked on as Sirius explained to the kids about how dangerous it would be to walk down Knockturn Alley, especially when they couldn't use magic as they were underage.

Had she been hasty in judging him, perhaps? She had seen him break up the fight between Arthur and Malfoy…something completely unlike what a Black would have done.

And he had actually told the children to keep away from Knockturn Alley-something she hadn't expected him to do. He had even stood in front of the Grangers to protect them from Malfoy; though admittedly it had been something drilled into his mind during his Auror training. She remembered Fabian telling her about how the first thing an Auror was supposed to do was protect Muggles. So she had been hasty in accusing him of things that night at the party, she thought rather embarrassedly.

She smiled at him hesitantly when he caught her gaze; and he smiled back at her slightly, before he looked affectionately at Acquila, who was hugging Hermione goodbye.

And five minutes later, the Weasleys and the Grangers departed.

"So we are going by portkey, then?" Harry asked Sirius, after waving goodbye to Ron.

"I have a better idea," Sirius said, smirking. "How about we go by the Knight bus?"

"Yes!" Both Harry and Acquila exclaimed excitedly. They had heard all about what a rollercoaster ride it was and they wanted to experience it for themselves.

Sirius stuck out his wand arm and huge purple three-decker bus materialised in front of them. And they climbed into the bus for a slightly vomit-inducing, but exciting ride.

xxx

Sirius walked into the Ministry of Magic, his dark grey robes bringing out the colour of his eyes. He met Kingsley Shacklebolt on the way along with passing by Macnair, whom he had been surprised to see in the Ministry. That man had been a death-eater for Merlin's sake! And here, he was walking around in Ministry employee-attire as if he owned the very place!

Rather than falling prey to his anger, Sirius decided to think of something else, and his thoughts went back to the children. Acquila had agreed to let him rejoin the Auror force after a fiery exchange of words, followed by Remus and Harry calming her down, after which she had hugged him and even wished him luck for his meeting with Scrimgeour. Harry had agreed with much better grace, before muttering that he wished Sirius would remain safe as he didn't want to see another of his family die. Though the grief of Aunt Cassiopeia's death had slowly lessened, Sirius knew that her dying words and having witnessed her death still preyed on Harry's mind frequently.

"Lord Black!" he heard a voice call from behind him and he turned, wand in hand.

"Hello, Madam Bones!" he nodded. "And please call me Sirius. You know I've never been one for formalities, especially the traditional ones," he grinned at Amelia.

"What brings you here?" she asked him.

"I've scheduled a meeting with Scrimgeour...I intend to join the Aurors again," replied Sirius.

"That's good news! The Department was hoping you'd rejoin them soon, especially Kingsley and Dawlish," she shot him a genuine smile, before she noticed a couple of young witches eyeing him appreciatively.

"Still attracting eyeballs, eh?" she snorted.

"I can't help that I'm handsome," he winked. "I ought to go now. Can't antagonise my future boss by reaching late, can I?"

He shot her another smile and departed as she nodded at him, glad to see him going back to being the Sirius Black of old, even if it included him being his usual vain self when it came to his looks. But she could see why females seemed to flock to him. If Amelia had been a little younger, and displayed more of an interest in settling down, she would surely have tried going for him, she thought amusedly, before she spotted Umbridge walking towards her with a sickening smile on her face. She sighed and nodded at the toad-faced lady, wanting nothing more than to hit her with a silencing charm, before proceeding into her office.

xxx

"Lord Black," Rufus Scrimgeour greeted Sirius as he entered his office.

"Just Sirius Black, Mister Scrimgeour," said Sirius. "I've come here hoping to rejoin the Department, not as the Head of the Blacks."

Scrimgeour eyed Sirius closely.

"I fail to see why you would want to work, seeing that you probably have more money than you can spend in a lifetime," said Scrimgeour.

Sirius smiled inwardly, glad that Scrimgeour wasn't falling over himself to fulfill his wishes like Fudge would have. He wanted to be taken into the Auror Department on his own merits, not because he was Lord Black. And though he had just met Scrimgeour for the first time, he felt that this man would care more about a person's work and ability than his reputation.

"I have never worked for money, Mister Scrimgeour. When I first joined the Aurors, I was nothing more than a disowned son of the House of Black; but I hadn't wanted the job for money, but to fight the dark forces," said Sirius firmly.

"I see," said Scrimgeour, before he stared at Sirius even more intently.

"You do realise that you are one of the only Aurors in the past many decades wanting to rejoin the Department?" he finally said.

Sirius nodded. Most Aurors who left the Department, never came back. They generally resigned because they couldn't stomach the violence, the constant near-death situations they were put in and the risks their families inevitably faced after being targeted by Death-Eaters. And those who had to resign due to injuries couldn't come back because an Auror had to clear stringent fitness tests before even being considered as a potential trainee.

"And you do realise that just because you were once slated to take over as Head of the Department, you can't expect to be treated differently from the other trainees?" asked Scrimgeour pointedly.

"Of course, I do," replied Sirius immediately. Was that insecurity he saw in Scrimgeour's eyes? Of course, Sirius had once been thought of as the youngest Auror who would head the department; but going back to the point where he would be next in line to head the Aurors was next to impossible now. And he hoped that Scrimgeour had enough sense to realise that.

"Look, Sirius, I know that if Cornelius Fudge gets wind of this, he'll probably arrange—what do the Muggles call it? Oh yes! A red-carpet! He'll arrange a red-carpet for you to be welcomed to the Force. But as long as I am—"

"I have no intentions of having the rules bent for me," Sirius cut him off sharply, and Scrimgeour seemed rather affronted at having been interrupted.

"I have been an Auror myself, and I know that every person who wishes to become an Auror has to pass the physical and mental fitness tests as well as the week-long tests to gauge their capability. And I have every intention of going through the necessary process. I know that if I had wanted to, I could easily have got into the Department directly, thanks to the number of duels I have fought and the number of death-eaters I've put in Azkaban. But I wish to abide by the procedure and get into the Force on my merit rather than my past achievements or the clout my last name carries," said Sirius firmly, and after another long stare at him, Scrimgeour nodded.

"I must say that you are rather different from what I had expected you to be," said Scrimgeour.

"Do I take that as a yes?" asked Sirius.

"Yes," said Scrimgeour. "You'll get the letter intimating you about the date of the tests in the coming week."

"Thank you, Sir," said Sirius, as he stood up and prepared to leave.

"Sirius?" called out Scrimgeour as he reached the door.

"Yes, Sir?"

"I'm sure we could reduce the training period for you from three years to around twelve months if Mad-Eye feels that you still are Auror that you were a decade ago."

Sirius nodded, before leaving the room; a determined smile tugging at the end of his lips. Now that Scrimgeour had thrown him a challenge, he would definitely do his very best to go back to becoming the Auror that he once was.

xxx

"Guys! I'm here!" Nymphadora announced as she tried to step out of the fireplace at Black Manor with as much grace as she could muster.

She called out again, but no one replied. It seemed like no one was home. Generally, when Harry and Acquila were at the Manor, there would always be a lot of noise and mischief and chasing each other around.

But today, the Manor was too silent, and it made her extremely uncomfortable. She searched the living room, their bedrooms and even the Quidditch pitch, but they were nowhere in sight and she started getting worried

"Hello!" She called out. "Where are you? Come out! If this is some kind of prank I'm going to hex both of you!" she warned aloud, but neither Harry, nor Acquila responded.

There seemed to be no one at the Manor! But Sirius himself had called her over to be with the kids since he was going out with Remus. Her wand in hand, she stealthily walked around the Manor, as stealthily as her clumsy limbs could manage. Since her mother had supported her decision of joining the Auror force, Sirius had drilled in her about how she needed to be alert at all times because Mad-Eye wouldn't take anyone who was less than alert at all times, as his trainee, along with telling her that if she didn't stop being clumsy, she would fail at Stealth and Tracking. And what better opportunity to test her skills?

She tip-toed towards Sirius' room, when she heard the distant clinking of utensils from the kitchen and went over, hoping it was Mopsy or the kids and not an intruder.

She reached the kitchen door, sucked in her breath and entered it; only to be engulfed with the delicious aroma of the food cooking in the kitchen. She could see the chicken cooking on the magical fire, vegetables boiling and the chocolaty scent of a brownie being baked.

Mopsy was bustling around adding spices to the chicken.

Nymphadora stuffed her wand back in her pocket, "Mopsy! Where are Harry and Acquila? They are home, right? Please tell me they are home!" she looked at the house elf anxiously.

"Master Potter and Miss Black are being in the library, Miss Tonks!" Mopsy bowed and went back to her cooking.

Nymphadora sighed in relief. Why hadn't she thought of the library? She needed to be more smart than suspicious, if she was going to be an Auror! How could she become a good Auror if she couldn't even locate her own cousins in their own house? She shook her head at her own silliness and walked up to the library.

She opened the door and entered the gloomy library as the strong scent of parchment washed over her.

"Harry! Acquila!"

"Dora! Back here!" Harry's voice called out from a distance.

'No wonder they didn't hear me when I was searching for them,' Nymphadora thought, as she went deeper into the library to find Harry and Acquila sitting behind stacks and stacks of books on a small round ebony table at the very end of the library.

"I searched everywhere for you!" She said, sitting down on a spare chair.

"Mopsy knew! You should have asked her," Acquila said, not looking up from a huge dusty book.

"Yeah well…I did ask her...but after searching the entire Manor for ten minutes," she said in an embarrassed voice. "What are you both doing, anyway?" she said, changing the topic.

"You know...the usual...searching for stuff about our connection," said Harry, as without even looking up at him, Acquila pushed up his glasses, that had slid down to the tip of his nose.

"Thanks," he muttered, as he smiled at Acquila, while she smiled back at him; their eyes sparkling strangely when they met the other's eyes.

"Ahmm!" Dora coughed, making them both look away from the other. What was it with these two? She had known a little about the bond, of course, from whatever Sirius had told her; but they seemed so much in sync with each other. Or how was it that Acquila had known that Harry's glasses were sliding off his face without even looking up at him?

And they were just twelve years old for Merlin's sake! And all they had been doing was looking at each other, but Dora strangely felt as if she had been intruding on something private when she had looked at them.

"Why did you cough, Dora? Are you unwell, as well?" Harry asked her.

"No, I'm fine. How is Remus? Is he as bad as he was last time?" asked Nymphadora, remembering that Remus was unwell.

"He's as bad as he was last time…I'm really worried about him," said Acquila, as she finally kept aside her book.

"Did you notice anything strange about his illness this time?" Dora asked her, wanting to get to the bottom of this…a mystery to solve!

"Actually," said Harry, sharing a look with Acquila. "This time it was as if they were expecting him to fall ill... like they already knew it was going to happen."

"That's weird! How can you know whether someone's going to fall ill!?" Nymphadora wondered.

"We were thinking along the same lines. We were even planning to look up his symptoms to see if we could find some disease that corresponds to it," said Acquila.

"You're right! I'll look up his symptoms…I'll be able to find something sooner. Mum and dad, both are healers and I know a thing or two about diseases and healing," she said, walking to the medicine-related section of the library; her thoughts filling with various possibilities of the illness Remus had.

She picked out a few books which she thought would be useful and made her way back to where the kids were seated.

She conjured a parchment and borrowed Harry's quill and noted down the obvious symptoms that Remus had.

'Headache, moodiness, fatigue, exhaustion, paleness…' She wrote down.

"Merlin! Sounds like a girl's PMS troubles!" she muttered to herself.

"What?" asked Acquila and Harry.

"Nothing," she replied, and went back to flipping pages and racking her brain.

After an hour of researching, Nymphadora hadn't found anything at all! All the illnesses which had Remus' symptoms didn't seem like what Remus suffered from! And none of them mentioned any monthly relapses.

She put down her book and huffed in annoyance.

What is it that Remus suffered from? His symptoms were common but his illness wasn't. None of the diseases she read about recurred monthly.

What if Remus wasn't really ill? What if these symptoms were the cause of something entirely different? It could be possible, couldn't it? Anything was possible in the magical world.

She straightened up and conjured a new parchment and wrote down some points that she had found fishy about Remus that she thought might link to his condition.

She continued writing for almost fifteen minutes, writing everything that she knew of Remus; pausing frequently to recollect more things that struck her as strange.

She read through her points thrice after she had finished writing; when suddenly, she gasped aloud, "It can't be! But that must be it! That is the only explanation!"

"What happened, Dora? Did you find out what's wrong with Remus?" exclaimed Acquila.

"Is it that bad?" Harry asked worriedly, as Dora didn't answer and had a look that suggested she was speechless with shock.

Nymphadora snapped out of her stupor and came back to her senses a moment later.

"May—maybe, but I need to be sure," she said, shoving the list into Acquila's hand."Read it."

"The first one is about Remus falling ill often when he was a kid," Acquila read and looked up at Dora.

"During the Quidditch match, Remus told me that he used to fall ill quite often…even when he was a kid. And he was grateful that his mother took care of him in spite of his illness. Think about it…any mother would generally care for their kid, especially when he's ill…so his condition must be extremely severe if he's so grateful to his mother, right?" said Dora.

"I guess so," said Harry, "But maybe he is just grateful person...I mean, Remus is always appreciative even of even the smallest of things. He thanks me for giving him the newspaper or passing him his wand…thanks Mopsy for the tiniest of things…things for which most people don't generally thank people…" Harry said.

"Hmmm…maybe… But read further," said Dora.

"You've just written 'Mooney'…and why's there a heart drawn beside it?" exclaimed Acquila.

"Uh…I was just doodling! Ignore the heart…" she said, waving her hand vaguely, though her hair turned strangely red. "Have you two ever wondered why Remus' pet name is Mooney when all the other Marauders were nicknamed after their Animagus form? Do you even know Remus' Animagus form?" she asked them.

"No!" Harry and Acquila said simultaneously, looking at each other and understanding what Dora was trying to say.

"Yes! Now when I think of it whenever I asked Remus or Sirius his Animagus form, they always changed the topic," said Harry, as Acquila nodded, realising the same.

"Mooney seems like 'Moon'… Why would they nickname him after the moon?" Acquila wondered.

"I'm getting to that," said Dora."What day is it today? Do you know?"

"It's Sunday!" Harry answered, confused as to what that had to do with Remus.

"Yes. But it is also a full moon day, night rather! And the last time Remus fell ill was also a full moon day, remember?" exclaimed Dora.

"Yeah! We were watching the moon from the balcony that night after Dad left with Remus. I remember! It was a full moon night!" Acquila confirmed.

"So he falls ill on a full moon? It might even be coincidental for all you know!" exclaimed Harry, feeling like the more things unraveled, the more confusing the matter got.

"Do you remember the toys you found at Potter Manor, Harry?" Dora asked him as Acquila read out the next point.

"Yes...There was a stag, a rat, a dog and a wolf," replied Harry, ticking them off his fingers.

"Oh my God!" Acquila gasped, the parchment in her hand falling onto the ground, as a shudder ran through her.

"What?" Harry asked, before somehow, he knew what Acquila was thinking, and his eyes widened as well.

"Dora, do you mean to imply that Remus is a... a... WEREWOLF?" Acquila stuttered, putting Harry's thoughts into words, as Dora nodded and Acquila and Harry stared at each other, their thoughts flowing as one.

---

A/N: The next update might take a tad bit longer, as the coming weeks will be a little hectic. My friend, who writes this fic with me, as well as I, have some big exams coming up, so time to write is a little hard to find. And I'm a big cricket fan, and with one of the greatest ever cricketers to have played for my country retiring, I might just be a little caught up in watching up on his last two matches and crying my eyes out :-( But will try to get the next chapter out as soon as we can manage.