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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:

The next day, Sirius began making a list of memories that he wanted to include in the Pensieve for Harry. He agreed with Dumbledore that it should be something that he should wait on and not show to Harry until he was older because he would understand and appreciate it better, but he wanted to make sure that when Harry was given the opportunity to view it, it would be full of wonderful memories of his parents.

He smiled to himself as he made his list, listening with half an ear as Harry recited Latin phrases with Remus in the sunroom.

➾ First time I met James and Lily

➾ Our best pranks

➾ First time I met Fee and Monty

➾ A few of James' embarrassing attempts to woo Lily

➾ Discovering Remus was a werewolf

➾ Telling Remus we still wanted to be friends

➾ First Animagus transformation

➾ The map

➾ Our notorious nicknames

➾ James playing Quidditch

➾ Harry's first birthday party

He couldn't stop smiling as he wrote the list out and he didn't hear Remus come into the kitchen. He jolted when his friend spoke in his ear.

"What's 'James' embarrassing attempts to woo Lily', Merlin, that could be lengthy! What's this about, Padfoot?"

Sirius smiled at him. "Where's Harry?"

"He's outside burning off some energy with Marauder. I was going to have some iced tea and go watch him, want to join me?" Remus asked him as he poured himself a glass of iced tea and then a second one for Sirius.

Sirius nodded, accepting the iced tea from Remus before he followed his friend outside and they sat in the lawn chairs, grinning as Harry hung upside down on the monkey bars of the tree house while Marauder barked playfully around him.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about it, but with everything that's been going on, I kind of forgot," he said grinning sheepishly. "Dumbledore gave me the idea. I was telling him how I want Harry to have memories of his parents; to really get a chance to know them and he suggested that I place memories in a Pensieve for him to view."

Remus' eyebrow rose in surprise. "What a great idea, Sirius."

Sirius smiled. "I thought so. I agree with Albus that he's a little too young yet to, you know, really appreciate them. But I thought if between the two of us we start collecting those memories now; show him our first interactions and our favourite moments that we had with James and with Lily and with both of them together, that he can get to know them a little bit. Minerva already said that she would be more than happy to contribute a few of her own from us misbehaving in her classroom."

Remus laughed. "I'd imagine that she would definitely have a few of those."

He grinned. "Yeah, a few. Some of the moments of James and Lily being in love with each other that we witnessed too. You know, once Lily finally realized that she was in love with James. For example, do you remember when over Easter weekend of seventh year, James had to go to Paris with Fleamont because some great uncle was dying and Monty needed his support and help?"

"Vaguely," Remus said. "What about it?"

Sirius smiled as he spoke and jogged his friend's memory at the same time as the flashback came into both of their minds.

James had been gone for three days. Sirius couldn't believe how quiet it was not having his best mate around. Lily was extra quiet; working on her Head Girl duties and dutifully studying for exams, but Sirius knew that she missed him. She was still grieving the loss of her own parents, only a month before she had lost both of them to a terrible car accident and James had hated that he had to leave her alone for even a second.

But his dad had needed him.

Remus, Sirius and Peter had all promised to make sure that she was alright in his absence, but they weren't James and she knew it no matter how much she appreciated them.

But on the third day of his absence, James' beautiful owl Poseidon came flying into the Great Hall that morning and Lily's face had lit up when he flew towards her and then she had looked confused at the sight of the bright red envelope in his beak.

"A Howler?" She asked, her eyes wide in horror.

Sirius grinned taking the letter from Poseidon. "You better open it, Evans. You know what happens when you don't. My mum used to send me enough of them. Trust me, I'm practically an expert."

Lily hesitated before she carefully accepted the letter from Sirius' hand suspiciously. "Why would he send me a Howler? I - I haven't done anything wrong. Absolutely nothing to warrant a screaming letter!"

Sirius grinned as it started to emit sparks. "Lil, it's going to blow. Open it!"

Remus, tired of watching them arguing, had simply plucked the letter from Lily's grasp and popped it open, dropping it in front of her as Peter stuffed his fingers in his ears in anticipation of the screams.

The enveloped shrivelled up into a paper cut out of James' face.

But it didn't scream.

Instead, the letter began to sing. James' soft melodic voice filling the Great Hall.

"As I write this letter, send my love to you. Remember that I'll always, be in love with you. Treasure these few words till we're together. Keep all my love, forever. P.S. I love you; you, you, you. I'll be coming home again to you, love. And till the day I do, love. P.S. I love you; you, you, you! P.S. I love you; you, you, you! You, you, you! I love you."

When the letter finished singing, it merely lay down in front of her and folded in half and Lily knew that if she just opened it again, James' voice would once more fill the Great Hall. Tears welled up in Lily's eyes as some of the girls nearby made squeals of aw around her.

Sirius draped his arm around her shoulders. "Looks like Jamie found a new way to use a Howler, love."

Lily punched him lightly on the shoulder. "I'm completely mortified!"

Remus smiled at her. "And even more in love with him than you already were."

Lily only smirked at him. "Maybe." She kissed Remus' cheek and then Sirius'. "But this tells me that he's coming home very soon!"

Sirius grinned at Remus as they watched Lily take the letter and hurry off. "That girl's got it bad."

Remus laughed. "So does the boy who sang the love letter."

And the two of them just grinned at each other.

Remus smiled at the memory. "I forgot about that. Lily must have replayed that letter a hundred times in the two more days it took James to come back."

"At least; the charm was definitely starting to wear off," Sirius said with a laugh. "But really, stuff like that, I think Harry would get a kick out of when he gets older and sees how much his parents were in love, you know?"

He quickly added 'P.S. I Love You' to the list.

Remus nodded. "I agree. And yeah, when's he's older. But let's collect as many as we can from everyone. Hagrid has some great ones of the time that he spent gardening with Lily by his hut. Lily adored Hagrid."

Sirius grinned as he made a note of it. "Exactly. I want memories from everyone who knew them. I want so many that it's going to feel like he was there, experiencing these things with us and with them. Their wedding for example; or when Lily asked me to walk her down the aisle."

"When they asked you to be dogfather," Remus said with a laugh.

Sirius chuckled. "You're hilarious, Moony. But yes, those memories."

Remus smiled at his friend. "It sounds like a great idea to me. How long are you going to wait to show him?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. I just think that when it is the right time, we'll both know, yeah?"

"I agree. For now, I guess we can both start collecting them."

"Perfect."

On Wednesday, Sirius was spending the day with Harry. He and Remus had switched Harry's schooling to Thursday for the week since Harry would be staying with Remus so that Sirius could go on his last date with Althea. They had just sat down to lunch when Augusta Longbottom Floo called and Sirius hurried into the living room to answer it.

"Mrs Longbottom, what can I do for you?"

Her face was stern and her eyes were sad as she spoke. "I - something's come up rather suddenly. Would it be possible for Neville to come over for a few hours and possibly stay into the evening?"

"Of course," Sirius said in surprise. "We'd be happy to have him. Is everything alright?"

Mrs Longbottom simply shook her head. "My husband … he's passed rather suddenly. I just need some time to organize everything and … it will be alright. Thank you. I'll send Neville right over."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs Longbottom," Sirius said sincerely.

She merely nodded, her lips tight and disappeared from the fire.

Neville tripped out of the fireplace less than two minutes later, falling onto his knees and whacking his elbow on the corner of the hearth. Tears welled up in his eyes as he cradled his elbow.

Sirius immediately moved to the boy, taking his arm. "Hey there, little man, are you okay? Elbow hits are the worst!" He said, grinning at him. "They call it your funny bone, you know? Don't know why, because it only hurts and it's not funny."

Neville cracked a small smile and Sirius grinned back.

"Have you had lunch yet, little man?"

Neville shook his head. "No, Mr Black."

Sirius smiled warmly. "It's Sirius, Neville. Come on into the kitchen. Harry and I are eating potato, ham and cheddar soup and warm bread. Would you like some?"

Neville nodded, following Sirius into the kitchen and taking a seat next to Harry who brightened at the sight of him.

"Hi Neville!"

Neville smiled back. "Hi Harry."

Sirius served the soup and bread to Neville and then sat back down. He watched Neville take a tentative bite and smile before he dipped his bread into the thick cream soup.

"I didn't know you were coming over, Neville," Harry said with a big grin.

"Me neither," Neville said quietly.

Harry frowned. "What's wrong?"

Neville put his spoon down, his eyes on his feet. "Gran won't tell me."

Sirius watched the boy's bottom lip tremble and his eyes met Harry's for a moment before he got up and knelt down in front of Neville, touching his arm gently. "Neville, it's going to be alright."

"I was trying to get Granddad to play with me. He promised and we were playing hide and seek tag. He found me and I ran and he was … then he just fell to the ground!" Tears welled up in his eyes. "I tried to wake him up. I shook him. But he just … he just stared at me, but he … he wasn't really seeing me. Then I yelled for Gran and she came running and she tried to wake him up, but she couldn't. He wouldn't wake up. It's my fault, I made him play and he said he was tired."

Sirius wrapped his arms around the boy as he cried into his shoulder. "Shh, it's okay, little man. It's not your fault."

"It is!" Neville insisted, in between sobs. "Now he won't wake up! Why won't he wake up, Mr Bl - Sirius?"

Sirius sighed. "He died, Neville. He's not going to wake up."

Neville's tear filled blue eyes met Sirius' grey ones. "I don't want him to die!"

Sirius smiled sympathetically. "I know, little man. No one wants to lose anyone we love. But sometimes these things happen and it's no one's fault. He was an old man and he lived a good long life. I'm sure that he loved playing hide and seek tag with you. I bet it was one of his favourite things to do, right?"

Neville nodded, sniffling and wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "He liked to hide in the laundry baskets and then he'd jump out and scare me."

Sirius chuckled. "That sounds fun."

Neville smiled a little. "One time, he hid in the closet behind Gran's cloaks and when I opened it and didn't see him, he jumped out and grabbed me and I screamed and he laughed and laughed. He said that he was trying to scare my magic out."

"See? He loved to play with you."

Neville nodded, sniffling a little. "I loved to play with him too."

Sirius rubbed his back gently as he cried and when he was done he pat his arm. "Try to eat up some soup okay and then the three of us will maybe read a story?"

Neville nodded and mechanically began to eat his soup. Harry was just watching him as he finished his own soup. When they were done, Harry started to fill up the sink with soap and Sirius shook his head, leaning down to whisper to him.

"We'll clean up later, Harry. Why don't you run upstairs and get your copy of The Tales of Beedle The Bard, I think it's a good time to read about the Three Brothers." he said, looking at Neville who was still sitting at the table looking kind of sad and lost.

Sirius glanced out the window as Harry hurried upstairs. It was kind of a gloomy day, but still fairly warm out. When Harry came back down with the book, Sirius told Neville they were going out into the treehouse.

The three of them stepped into the house and Sirius crawled into the hammock. "Come on you two, in with me."

Harry immediately crawled into the hammock, lying down next to Sirius.

Neville merely stared at them. "It doesn't look very sturdy," he said suspiciously as the hammock rocked back and forth.

Sirius smiled at him. "It's supposed to swing. It's very soothing. Come on, Nev," he held out his arms and Neville let him lift him into the hammock.

Sirius stretched his arms out, one arm draped around each child and he opened the book up to 'The Tale of the Three Brothers.' He remembered the story as something that Lily had read to her belly when she was pregnant with Harry, just after Euphemia and Fleamont had died. He wasn't entirely sure what made him reach for it now, but he felt like it was the exact story needed to help Neville understand death and to understand why his grandfather had to leave him.

He smiled at the boys and began to read:

"There were once three brothers …"

When he closed the book, Neville was sleeping against his chest on one side of him and Harry was just watching him on the other.

Sirius kept his arm around Neville, hoping the sleep would help the boy in his grief.

"Is Neville going to be okay, Uncle Padfoot?" Harry asked quietly, his eyes on his new friend.

"He'll be fine, Harry. Sometimes, we lose the people that we love and it's very hard on those of us who have to keep on living. Neville lost his granddad and he saw it happen; that's something that's going to be with him for the rest of his life, but he also has many happy memories with his granddad and those are always going to be in his heart," Sirius told him. "Death comes for everyone eventually, Harry, as we learned in this story. Mr Longbottom had a very good life. And Neville will miss him. But we never truly lose those who leave us. They will always still be there, right here," he said tapping Harry's heart. "In our hearts."

Harry snuggled close to Sirius, his face resting over his heart. "How can I make Neville feel better?"

Sirius kissed the top of Harry's head with a small smile. "Just tell him that you're sorry for his loss and just be there for him. That's all. Just be his friend, Harry."

Harry smiled. "That's easy, he's already my friend."

Sirius smiled and rubbed Harry's arm. "Exactly."

Harry watched Neville sleep for a minute and then he held the book back up to Sirius. "I'm not tired, Uncle Padfoot, can you read Babbitty Rabbitty?"

Sirius chuckled and opened the book back up. "Sure, Harry."

Neville slept for almost two hours and when he woke up, he was wrapped around Sirius in the hammock who was sleeping and Harry was sleeping wrapped around the other side of his godfather. Neville looked rather alarmed by this set-up, but when he shifted, the hammock moved and he immediately lied back down, scared that he would fall out.

His movements caused Sirius to wake and he smiled kindly.

"Hi Neville, did you sleep alright?"

He nodded. "I have to use the bathroom."

Sirius smiled and gently lifted Neville out of the hammock. He left Harry curled into the hammock and walked with Neville up to the house to show him where the bathroom was. When he came back downstairs, he smiled at him.

"Do you need anything?"

Neville shook his head as Harry came into the house, yawning. "No."

Harry hurried over and hugged Neville. "I'm sorry about your granddad, Neville."

Neville smiled and hugged him back.

Harry grinned when he let go. "Want to build a giant domino fort in the living room?"

"Okay," Neville said, following Harry.

Sirius grinned as he watched them together. Neville would be alright, he thought. He'd be just fine.

By the time Thursday came around, Sirius was anxious for his last date with Althea. Even Harry noticed that he was a little restless, but Harry seemed okay with spending the night and most of the day tomorrow at Remus' house. He loved going there to spend time with Remus and staying in his room. Neville had ended up sleeping over that night, Sirius had tucked him into bed with Harry, Marauder curled at their feet. Mrs Longbottom hadn't come back until almost midnight, apologizing profusely for leaving Neville with him for so long.

Sirius had told her that it was fine and that Neville was asleep upstairs and was more than welcome to stay until the morning. He offered his condolences again and learned that Mr Longbottom had suffered a heart attack and died quickly, but the shock was quite difficult for the family, obviously. He had filled her in on Neville's reaction and she agreed to leave him sleeping until tomorrow; thanking Sirius again for looking after him. Sirius told her that Neville was welcome any time. He was a cute kid and Sirius genuinely liked him.

Mrs Longbottom picked him up after breakfast and Sirius was left to deal with his plans for Althea. She had sent a letter the day before with the name of a Muggle restaurant in downtown London and Sirius had quickly gone and made a reservation for Thursday night at seven.

He dressed himself in black jeans and a black silk dress shirt which he left unbuttoned at the top. He used a leather strip to tug his hair back into a short stubby tail at the base of his neck. He had opted for Apparition as he was meeting her there.

When she walked into the restaurant in the black dress that he had requested she wear and a red velvet jacket overtop, he felt his face break out into a grin.

He stood up to greet her, kissing her softly and then pulling the chair out for her to sit down.

"Hi, you look amazing," he said.

Althea smiled at him, taking in his rather dressed up appearance. "As do you," she said with a smile as the waiter approached their table. They ordered wine and an appetizer before Althea spoke again. "I was surprised that you wanted to do this dinner thing."

Sirius merely lifted an eyebrow. "Why? We've done it before."

"Yes," she said carefully, smirking at him. "That was before we started having lots and lots of fantastic sex."

He chuckled, reaching across the table to trail a finger tip along her forearm. "Don't worry, Castellanos, we'll be having lots and lots of fantastic sex later on."

She laughed and bit her bottom lip. "I can't believe that I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Are you excited?" He asked her as the waiter poured them each a glass of wine and left the bottle on the table.

She nodded, her eyes bright. "Very and slightly nauseous. I mean, it's going to be wonderful. It's an opportunity to travel abroad which I've always wanted to do, but more importantly, I'm going to be helping people. But there's a war going on too and that scares me a little."

Sirius smiled at her. "That's understandable. Only a complete moron wouldn't be scared."

Althea shrugged. "And I'm going to miss Priya so much. She's been my best friend and roommate for almost six years now. But I think she's secretly looking forward to having the flat to herself."

Sirius' fingers continued to gently stroke her wrist as she spoke and he just listened, smiling at her and urging her to continue.

"Plus I'm going to miss my patients; all of those adorable kids that I get to take care of. But Healer Braxton is taking over most of them, including Harry by the way, and he's truly wonderful."

"He's a man? That sucks, I was looking forward to seducing a new healer."

She kicked him lightly under the table and he grinned. "Prat," she said laughing. "He's also in his sixties, but he's very kind. Harry will like him. If you even need to see him of course as Harry is all up to date on his medical."

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."

Althea sighed and sipped her wine. "Priya says that I'm projecting my anxieties onto my patients and that they will definitely be fine without me. But I just want everyone to be well taken care of while I'm gone, you know? I mean, who even knows how long I will be out?"

"I thought that it was only a four month contract," Sirius asked her, sipping his own wine. "Are you thinking of staying longer?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Who's to say what the future will bring? Maybe when I get out there I'll want to come back home right away or maybe I will want to stay longer. I just … I don't want to leave any loose ends behind."

"Loose ends?"

She ran her finger along the rim of her glass. "I really like you, Black. More than I expected I would to be honest," she admitted as he grinned at her. "But I know myself pretty well and this thing we've got going between us … it's … it's not long term."

His eyebrow rose up in surprise. "Oh, it's not? And what makes you say that?"

Althea smiled at him. "First of all, you are more than a hundred percent dedicated to Harry and to raising him and I am well aware that he is first and foremost in your life as he very well should be. Second, you never hesitated in cancelling a date or missing a Monday afternoon at my place because of something that was going on like building the treehouse for instance. After your first break with me when you started the treehouse, I didn't see you again until it was finished. And third, we both knew from the start that it would only be short term."

"Are you breaking up with me Castellanos?" He said with a grin as he drank his wine. "I'm wounded."

The waiter placed an appetizer in front of them of antipasto and calamari.

"We were never really together, Black."

Sirius took her hand in his and kissed her palm. "I do care about you. It wasn't just sex."

"No, it wasn't," she said with a smile. "I think that it's been a pretty great friendship too."

Sirius smiled at her. "Friends with benefits."

She chuckled as she bit into a piece of calamari. "Really great benefits."

Sirius grinned widely. "Later on, I'm going to show you just how great those benefits can be." He kissed her hand again. "But until then, tell me more about Sri Lanka. I want to know everything you know and what you plan to do."

When she smiled at him, he simply smiled back and listened to her talk.

Later, when they got back to her flat, Sirius pinned her against her bedroom door, his mouth moving down her throat, her arms around his neck as she tilted her head back to give him better access.

His hands ran over her bum down her thighs and he peeled the dress off of her slowly, a wicked grin on his face as he let his lips slowly trail up her body after the dress, kneading and suckling her breasts as his fingers found her, wet and pulsing for him. When the first orgasm ripped through her, he tugged his jeans down his hips and plunged into her where they stood, riding her slowly and thoroughly as she simply held on.

When she finally made it to her bed, Sirius crawled in behind her, slapping her bum lightly. "On all fours, Castellanos," he said hotly and she merely grinned, doing as he asked and then simply groaning his name when he slid into her. Her body rocking back towards his, her hands fisting in the sheets and then he pulled out, flipping her over and plunging into her again, hard and deep and she closed her eyes as he hit her pleasure spot.

Afterwards, she ran her fingers along his tattoos with a soft smile on her face.

"I like goodbye sex."

He snorted and slapped her butt. "How is it different from regular sex?"

She grinned up at him. "Because I'm calling it goodbye sex."

He laughed and stretched in the bed. "What time do you have to be at the hospital tomorrow?"

"Four in the afternoon. Our portkey leaves at four thirty," she said, sliding her hand down between his legs and gently fondling him.

Sirius groaned softly. "I've got my work cut out for me then," he murmured, covering her hand with his and stopping her hand. "I believe I promised to fuck you until the moment you had to leave."

Althea grinned, straddling his hips. "I believe you did," she said as she rubbed herself against him. "What are you going to do about that?"

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pistoled his hips up and into her and she gasped in surprise. His mouth found her breast and she simply held on as he showed her exactly what he was going to do about it.

By noon the next day, Sirius had wiggled his way into her shower with her and was kissing her body as he washed her skin. They'd had sex four times the night before and twice that morning. He'd helped her finish up the last minute packing before she'd insisted that she had to shower.

When he slid into her with the hot water beating down on them, she smiled and kissed him softly and they stood there, riding each other under the hot spray.

Once she was dressed, her bags packed and ready to go, she stood on her toes and kissed him softly.

"Thank you for last night," she said, a soft smile on her face.

Sirius grinned at her. "I'm going to miss you, Castellanos."

Althea smiled up at him. "Good." She kissed his cheek. "I'll drop you a letter sometime and tell you about Sri Lanka and you can tell me how life with Harry is going."

Sirius nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Sounds great."

He hugged her goodbye and wished her luck and then she was gone.