Sorry about the delay in updating! I've had one day off in the past 15 and am so sick of working! I have also been rather un-inspired… Dreadful, I know! But we are nearing the end-ish of this! And the sequel has been started!

Alsoooo I am putting up a new fiction sometime this week! I hope you all read and review it!

Anyhow! Enjoy!

"I need to talk to you." Severus stepped from the green flames of the floo and addressed Remus curtly.

"Hello to you to, Severus!" Remus smiled. "It's good of you to drop around. Tea?"

Severus raised his eyes to the roof and sighed. "And you were one of the dependent members of the Order." He muttered in a long-suffering tone. "I need to talk to you and Nymphadora. His eyes flickered towards Harry and Hermione who were watching him curiously. "Privately."

"About?" Remus frowned. "The curse?" He guessed.

Severus nodded tersely and began to pace the room his movements restless, his cloak billowing with his agitated steps.

"They stay." Nymphadora nestled closer to Remus and tightened her grip on his hand.

Severus scowled before Remus spoke very quietly. "They stay. They are family."

The potions master nodded tersely. "As you wish." He studied Remus closely wishing desperately he had better news for the name who had become his sole friend. "I know who casts and controls the curse."

Harry yelped and it was only Hermione's sudden grip on his shoulder that kept him from rising.

"Shhh." She hissed at him. Her eyes were riveted on Remus' face.

The werewolf had paled and a look of hope and despair filled his face. "How? Who?"

Severus sank into a chair and sighed wearily. "Who first. It's Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy cast the curse."

"I am going to kill him!" Nymphadora sprang to her feet. "That bastard! How dare he! Monster! How dare he curse my husband!"

"Dora." Remus pulled his wife down beside him. "Hush." He turned grimly to Snape. "So that is it? There is no way Malfoy would give this up."

Severus shrugged. "There are other ways to break the curse." The words had barely left his lips before Remus began to shake his head.

"No! I will not have you, any of you." He glared at both Harry and Severus as he spoke. "Become murderers for me."

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks. "How did you find out, Professor?" Hermione broke the silence that threated to overwhelm the room as Harry attempted to work out a loop-hole around Remus' words.

"I had someone close to Malfoy come forward." Severus stared at the floor for a long moment. "Draco told me." He spoke softly. "He came to me about six weeks ago and explained that he had the information."

"Why?" Remus murmured.

"He hates his father and I think…" Severus hesitated. "He wants to make up for his actions during the war."

Harry snorted.

"Why did he cast it?" Dora whispered.
"Draco said that he did it in vengeance for Narcissa." Severus shrugged.

"For Dora marrying me?" Remus queried. "Or for having Teddy?"

"Both. I know you have no reason to trust Draco but he could be invaluable."

Remus frowned. "He is a child, Severus. And Lucius is his father. I will not place such a burden on him, he has been through enough. We will do this through the proper channels. The Aurors have him under surveillance. He will trip up eventually."

Severus snorted. "You missed the thirteen years between wars where Malfoy was hidden away in plain sight didn't you?"

Harry frowned. "Can't we take this to the Aurors? Why do we have to wait for them to find something? Surely placing you under a curse like this would be enough! He should be in Azkaban!"

"We have nothing on him." Dora's words were bitter. "He covers his tracks well and he pays too many people in the ministry still. Besides, he would manage to convince enough people it is speculation and… Remus is still a werewolf and people have not forgotten that. Severus is there any way…"

"I am working on something." Severus spoke softly. "I will not kill him, Lupin. Your retribution would be worse than being sent to Azkaban."

Remus' shoulder slumped in slight relief and he nodded, now it was just to convince Harry.

Harry was sitting on one of the garden's low stone walls. He stared at the sunset that cast pinks, oranges and reds over the open pastures that made the Quidditch pitch. It had been twenty-four hours since they had discovered who had placed the curse on Remus, twenty-four hours where they had to pretend normality, twenty-four hours to brood on the promise he had made to Remus not to go after Malfoy or to tell anyone else about what he knew. Harry had gone to work, Dora on a mission she refused to talk about, and Hermione had spent the day between playing with Teddy and reading a potions book Snape had insisted she memorize before he even thought about taking her as an apprentice and Remus… Well, Remus had immersed himself in the books that lined his walls.

Harry sighed moodily. It seemed that now they knew who was responsible they were even further away from helping the werewolf.

"Harry?" Remus settled himself beside the young man and studied the setting sun. They were quiet for a long time before Remus spoke.

"There were days when I never thought I would see another sunset." He murmured softly. "Days where I didn't care about any of the beauty that surrounded me."

"How can you be so calm?"

"Rage doesn't help anyone, Harry. I have been through that more times than I can count. After I lost your parents and you, after I had to dwell on the fact Sirius was the 'traitor'. After I had discovered what a fool I had been and that the true traitor had been free. After I lost Sirius again. So many times rage has threatened to consume, but it's not worth the price, Harry. It never is. I am so blessed. I have Dora and Teddy. I have you and I have Hermione. I have the Weasley's who may as well be family. I have never had so many people to love at one time." His lips twitched. "Happiness is not something that should be destroyed through jealousy or rage."

"How about hatred?"

"Hatred won't get you anywhere. You sound a great deal like Sirius. He would have been foaming at the mouth at the idea of killing Malfoy, it would have consumed him and in a way I would have lost the support and strength from him I needed."

Harry grimaced at the blatant blackmail. "Would my dad?"

"Perhaps before, but after he and your mother started going out, no, he would have waited."

"After sixth year?"

Remus glanced sideways at the younger man. "What did Sirius tell you about that?"

Harry shrugged. "Not much. He told me he had nearly gotten his best friend killed because he was an idiot. That my dad punched him and broke his nose and he deserved it. And that you forgave him even though it was unforgivable."

"He was young." Remus sighed. "And very stupid. He held a grudge against Severus and didn't stop to think about the consequences."

"He was a prat." Harry muttered.

The werewolf laughed. "He was. You know, Minerva and Albus made him watch this film on exactly what happens to werewolves that bite someone and are caught. It was, thankfully, after I decided forgiving him was probably the best idea before James broke his nose again."

"What happened?" Harry looked curious.

"Sirius refused to let me out of his sight. Followed me everywhere. He was only like that a few other times."

"When he found out about… You know. The silver."

"Yes, that was a hard time. He blamed himself for the burns and seemed to think I was going to drop dead in front of him. A few of the moons at Grimmauld were bad. I spent one of them with a small werewolf colony in Southern England. They didn't respond well to me, I apparated back to Grimmauld as soon as I regained consciousness and I managed to end up in the kitchen without splinching myself. Poor Molly had a heart attack and after that Sirius proved that he was able to worry more than Molly Weasley!"

Harry smiled. "It would have been so different." He murmured. "If none of it had happened. I would have had brothers and sisters. Sirius would have been the irresponsible god-father. You would have been the uncle that Dad made stay after full moons, the one we could go to for advice. The one that kept said irresponsible god-father in line."

Remus laughed. "You are probably right." He agreed. "Even before, when you were a baby, I seemed to end up in Godric's Hollow after every full moon. I would wake up and you would be watching me, or Lily would be sitting beside me, or…" His voice cracked. "In the early days Padfoot would be curled up at my feet of with his paws on my arm so I knew he was there."

Harry shifted slightly and his shoulder settled against Remus'. "I wish…"

"I know." Remus murmured. "We all do."

"Would they have been proud?"

"Of you? Oh, Harry, they would be so proud! Sirius was, there was hardly a conversation where your name was not brought up. Not that I minded." Remus added.

Harry smiled. "I wish I could have known him longer. Both of you, together. You always had fun but… But you were like brothers. You only had to look at each other to know what the other was thinking. Even Azkaban didn't change that."

"No. We were always close, Sirius' animagus being a dog made it easy to talk to him. Even at school he knew when I needed to talk to something that wouldn't reply."

"He told me you were the best confident a man could have." Harry spoke suddenly. "He said that you were the best and truest friend and that no one could replace you."

Remus studied the young face for a long time. "Thank you." He whispered. "I… I suppose, seeing I was the 'insecure' one." Harry smothered a laugh and Remus elbowed him gently. "That I always needed to hear them tell me that their friendship meant something."

Harry nodded and considered the words. "You know, seeing you are the 'insecure' one." His tone was half-teasing, half-serious. "I want you to know that… Well, you mean a lot to me, Remus. You have always been there and… You are the closest thing to a father I have ever had. Sirius was… The irresponsible god-father. But you, you are amazing and I…" He shifted uncomfortably.

"Thank you, Harry." Remus gripped the younger man's hand tightly for a brief moment. "Thank you."

They turned their eyes towards the sky again, the sun had vanished, only a tinge of pink reminding the earth that it had departed swiftly and silently. The inky blue of night was stretching across the heavens and a star twinkled into existence.

Remus smiled. "Sirius." He whispered. "The first to be seen, the last to leave." He rose stiffly. "Good night, old friend." He waited for Harry to join him and the two moved slowly towards the house where their family was waiting for them."

I don't think the Dog Star is the first to appear etc. but it worked for this so as of today, the laws of the stars have changed! :D

Review!