Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

New A/N (1/21/2021): Thanks to ILRB80, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Nine

Living On

A lot of things happened in the days, months and years that followed the fall of Voldemort. Sirius and Remus were able to find a home, with the help of Dumbledore, in a quiet neighborhood that was far away from any wizard of any kind, at least to Dumbledore's knowledge. To the rest of the world it had appeared that Sirius and Remus were still living at the flat they had gotten right after Hogwarts. They again used the magical cabinets to get from one place to another, which is how they were able to keep up the facade so easily. The cabinets were charmed so that only Sirius or Remus could open them; even someone using the Polyjuice potion wouldn't be able to use them.

In that way, it was easy for Sirius to continue working as an Auror, rounding up all the Death Eaters he could with his new partner Frank Longbottom. This was a dangerous job and neither one of them took it lightly. This proved to have been an advantage for them, for one night, almost a year after Voldemort's downfall (as most people had been calling it) the Longbottom's residence was attacked. For some reason, Frank had always been a little more cautious than most people about the security he put on his house. It almost seemed as if he was expecting something like this to happen. Anyways, when the three Death Eaters came to the house, Frank had been alerted immediately and was able to easily capture them without much of a fight. Frank had allowed himself to seem like he was alone and weak in hopes that they could find out what the Death Eaters were trying to do, which was to find the Dark Lord so they could resurrect him.

Remus stayed at home most of the time looking after Harry, something he found to be both relieving and a little restricting to do. He knew that he couldn't handle to be staying as a home werewolf forever, but he thought that it was best until Harry was old enough to go to school. He hated feeling like he was a burden on Sirius, not pulling his weight, so he continued to write as much as he could while looking after the hyperactive toddler.

There were only a few people that had known were Sirius and Remus really lived and that they had Harry with them. Dumbledore had wanted it to remain a complete secret but Remus had convinced him that the Longbottoms could be trusted, after all, their son Neville had been threatened too. Besides, they thought it would be nice if Harry could know a boy his own age, even if they could only see each other a few times a year to be safe. Then Sirius said that he wanted to tell his cousin Andromeda, because seeing as Harry was now his nephew and all, they were part of his family. This took a lot longer for Dumbledore to come around to, but after about a year of Sirius non-stop badgering, he finally gave in.

Sirius and Remus had often gone to visit James at the hospital, though they hardly ever went together, preferring one of them staying home with Harry. Over the years James seemed to be getting better, he had more good days, but there still wasn't a day that went by that he didn't throw a fit of some kind. Somehow though, he had picked up on the fact that it wasn't safe to talk about Harry out loud. Sirius had always called him pup and James was quick to pick up the name, so he was often asking about the pup and how he was doing. They had tried a few times to get James released so that they could take him to see Harry, but James would always refuse, saying that he was dangerous… and he would always go into a fit after that. It was heart-breaking for both his friends to see him that way, but there were still plenty of times when their old friend would have control of his emotions and they were able to enjoy themselves.

O

Their stay at their home in the quiet little Muggle village was rather peaceful for the time that they were there. After Harry started going to school, Remus started working as a Muggle librarian, a job that he enjoyed seeing as he had plenty of time to read all that he could ever want. He still wished that he could have gotten a job in the wizarding world, but there were so many anti-werewolf laws that it made it difficult to find and then hold down a job. Though he never broadcast that he was a werewolf, he knew it would become all too clear rather quickly in the wizarding world, and he didn't really want to be discovered. However, seeing as he only had to work during the day as a librarian, and because of the most helpful invention of the Wolfsbane Potion (which Dumbledore provided him every month), he never had to miss a day of work even when it was near the full moon.

Harry did very well in school, and much to Sirius's disappointment, actually enjoyed doing his homework and trying in all of his classes. Sirius, of course, blamed Remus for all this, complaining about the amount of books the werewolf had read to Harry when he was younger. However, Harry also had a mischievous side to him and he often got into trouble at school for causing, what he called innocent pranks, and the school called major disruptions. This of course made Sirius prouder of his nephew than anything he'd ever done. Remus was amused by this too, though he was forced to play the bad guy and punish Harry.

"Now Harry, you know why you're being punished right?" Sirius had asked after the first prank that he pulled at school.

"Because I'm not supposed to cause a disturbance at school," Harry said bowing his head, and answered how he was sure he was supposed to.

"Of course not," Sirius said looking down the hall to make sure Remus wasn't listening. "It was because you were caught— you have to work better on getting away with it."

Harry smiled at him. "I'll do better next time, I promise."

Though Harry was caught a few times after that talk, he did indeed improve his methods and got away with his pranks more often than not.

However, in the eighth year that they were staying there, a few weeks after Harry's ninth birthday, the Longbottoms and Tonkses had used the magical cabinets to come for a party for the boys, something happened that changed everything. The whole mess had started on a Thursday morning at breakfast right before Sirius was going to go to work. He had picked up the Daily Prophet (Remus had gotten it from the flat that they were "living in" when he woke up earlier that morning), which was his normal morning routine. However, he spit out his pumpkin juice when he read a certain article in it.

"What?" Remus asked looking at his friend alarmed.

"I don't believe it!" Sirius hissed and crumbled up the paper.

"Hey, I didn't read all that!" Remus sighed.

"Those bloody gits… how could they," Sirius shouted, not taking any notice of his friend at all. "Damnit!"

"Sirius!" Remus admonished, Harry was in the living room after all. However, at the same time he couldn't help but notice that something was off about Sirius. He grabbed his friend by the shoulder and made Sirius look at him. "What is it Sirius?"

"My parents are dead!" Sirius snapped.

"Oh…" was all Remus could say about that, though his was eyes turned to concern.

"Regulus died for them!" Sirius shouted. "HE DIED! And they didn't even have the decency to live ten more effing years!"

"Sirius," Remus sighed, and tried to comfort his friend, but the other man turned from him.

Sirius muttered to himself, pacing back and forth as he fumed, until Remus and Harry left to go to school and work a half an hour later. Once alone he really started to get angry, and he was soon throwing things around the room. In the process he accidentally broke Remus's Wolfsbane Potion and unfortunately it was the day of the full moon. Even more unfortunate, Remus came home late that night so he didn't have time to make proper plans, and ended up locking himself in the basement, the same as he always did. The basement had been enchanted so it could handle the wolf he'd become, but this was the first time that he was going to go through the transformation without using the potion, and he was afraid of what he might do. That was why Harry was told to spend the night at a friend's house. Even though Sirius went in the basement with Remus and stopped the wolf from attacking itself too badly, it had still been a hard night on Remus. Worse, after that night there were rumors about wild animals being around and all of the neighbors were talking about it, and gave Remus and Sirius wary looks.

"I don't know if we can stay here much longer," Remus said after the second week of their neighbors' odd behavior. "We've drawn too much attention to ourselves."

"What's wrong with a bit of attention?" Sirius asked.

"Sirius, this isn't a joke!" Remus said sharply. "I hear Ray Stevenson talking the other day and he actually mentioned something about werewolves. I know he doesn't believe it himself, and he meant it as a joke, but I don't like that kind of talk all the same."

"So, what do you think we should do?" Sirius sighed, he had noticed the change in the towns' attitude towards them over the last two weeks too, and it wasn't very pleasant.

"Move," Remus said.

"Don't you think that's a little rash?" Sirius questioned.

"You forget that after the blue wig incident everyone has already been looking at us warily," Remus said.

"I suppose," Sirius said, his mouth thin as he tried not to laugh as he remembered the incident where Harry accidentally turned one of his teachers hair (or he should say hair piece) blue. It was after the boy had to endure a boring lecture about not talking in class, which turn into an even more boring lecture about not running in the halls, which in turn… Well, suffice to say, Harry was lectured for a good few hours and he was wishing for something, anything interesting to happen and poof, blue hair. Unable to stop himself from laughing caused the teacher to realize quickly that something was wrong and upon finding his hair blue, he screamed. The worse part of it was the fact that he knew that Harry had done it, but couldn't find any logical means to explain how it happened. It also didn't help that the teacher was prone to gossip with others. The whole town buzzed about that for a few days and they all got a reputation for being a bit odd after that.

"I think it's best if we just start over," Remus said. "I mentioned this to Dumbledore and he—"

"You talked to Dumbledore before coming to me?" Sirius pouted.

"I told him it was a possibility a week ago," Remus said. "He agreed that it wouldn't be good if the neighbors got too suspicious of us, and he would start looking for another place to live if things don't improve soon. I haven't told him but I think we should actually move now."

"Hmph, that just sounds like a lot of technicality that you're trying to pacify me with," Sirius muttered.

Remus shrugged as if to say, yeah pretty much. "Our lease is up in a week, so if we are going to move, now is the time."

"Wow, that's quick," Sirius said. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I don't know," Remus said. "I just don't want to transform here again… I don't feel comfortable—"

"I'm sorry Remus… about—" Sirius started.

"We've been over this a hundred times Padfoot, I've forgiven you," Remus rolled his eyes. "Besides, I don't think you're going to like what I have to say next and we can call ourselves even after that."

"What is it?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"I think we're probably going to have to move into your house for a while in the meantime…" Remus said.

"My house?" Sirius said confused for only a second before his eyes went wide and he screamed, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Remus just looked at his friend calmly, waiting for Sirius to cool down.

"I'm not going back to that house! EVER!" Sirius hissed.

"I doubt we'll get a house in the next week—" Remus started.

"We don't have to move so quickly," Sirius said. "Or we can stay at the flat—"

"You know that Dumbledore won't go for that for one second," Remus said. "The flat is in Diagon Alley, and he doesn't want Harry anywhere near there."

"Then we can stay at Hogwarts," Sirius said. "It's summer time so it should be empty."

"Maybe," Remus said slowly. "But I was thinking that it would probably be best if we 'move' into Grimmauld Place."

"What do you mean by 'move'?" Sirius questioned.

"I mean that the flat cost a lot, especially for a place that we don't even live in," Remus said. "It's not economical to keep it, especially when you have a perfectly good house that we could pretend to live in. Besides, it's unplottable, undetectable by Muggles and Wizards alike, and has more defensive wards on it than any other place that Dumbledore could put us up in before he can get the blood wards up."

"I'm not going to do it Remus, so just don't bring it up again," Sirius huffed and stormed out of the room.

O

Three days later, despite Sirius's well thought out argument (of 'I don't wanna'), the three of them were standing inside the house that he had loathed throughout his childhood. "I can't believe you've talked me into this."

"Sorry," Remus chuckled.

"I don't see what's so bad about this place, other than it seems very Black in here," Harry said smiling.

"You just had to teach him about puns," Sirius groaned.

"As if," Remus rolled his eyes. "You're the one that's always using the Sirius pun."

"He's right Padfoot, it's all your fault," Harry chuckled.

"What is master doing here, Kreacher wonders?" said a croaky voice from behind them, it was a house elf and he was bowing, but his tone was filled with loathing.

"I'm going to be staying here for a little while," Sirius said coldly. "And if you bother any of us… just stay out of our sights and we'll leave soon enough."

Harry was frowning at Sirius, he had met a few house elves before, in fact he technically owned a few and they would come to visit him from time to time to report how they were keeping the Potter Manor in tip top shape even in his absents. Remus had taught him to treat them with respect and not to just boss them around, saying that it was important to be nice to everyone and everything you met and not to judge them by their outward appearance but for the character they have. He was wondering if this Kreacher was nice or not, and judging from the contempt in the elf's eyes, he was leading toward not.

"Sirius!" Remus said, seeing Harry's look. "Don't be so rude. It's nice to finally meet you…"

"Who are you, Kreacher wonders?" Kreacher said to Harry, he could feel the aura coming from him and he knew that the boy was his master, too. However, he didn't know how that could be, seeing as there was no record of this boy anywhere he knew of.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said. "And it's rude to interrupt people. Please don't do that."

"Kreacher is sorry sir, but Kreacher is being told not to talk to dark creature," Kreacher said with a bow, he wasn't sure about this boy yet so he gave him all the respect he would his master and mistress.

"You little piece of filth…" Sirius started angrily.

"Sirius, it's okay," Remus sighed sadly.

"It's not okay," Sirius spat. "I don't—"

"I would prefer it if you speak to Mooney… er… Remus, with respect Kreacher," Harry said sadly. "He is very dear to me and I don't like it when people prosecute against him."

"Kreacher will try, Master Harry," Kreacher bowed again.

"And please don't bow," Harry smiled. "I can already see that you're a good house elf."

"Thank you, Master Harry," Kreacher said, his tone a little proud. "If you is needing anything master, Kreacher will get it for you."

"Thanks," Harry nodded and Kreacher left the room soon after that.

"Merlin Harry, how did you do that?" Sirius said looking at him incredulously. "That whelp is horrible."

"He didn't seem so bad to me," Harry shrugged. "Besides, I'm very good with house elves… how else do you think I would have gotten all those prank products if Triny wasn't helping me out."

"You had Triny get you prank items? I always thought you stole them from me…" Sirius muttered. "I can never remember where I put anything or how close I am to running out."

"Nope," Harry said. "Triny get's them from Dad's old room I think, she tells me there's still plenty of things I can use from there."

"I'm sure they are," Remus said and he and Sirius chuckled fondly.

"Anyways, I've found that you just have to be nice to an elf and they're usually pretty good to you back," Harry smiled. "I reckon Kreacher must be a bit sad now that he lost your— his old masters, he just wants to know that someone still cares about him… that he has someone to still care for."

"Whatever," Sirius rolled his eyes. "I know I'm not going to be setting a good example, but I'm not ever going to like that fil— Kreacher, there's just too many things that happened between us."

"It's okay Sirius, I'm going to like him anyways," Harry smiled. "So, where am I staying?"

"I don't know, pick a room," Sirius shrugged. "There should be about ten of them to choose from… just stay away from the one that's labelled Sirius… and Regulus, too."

Harry could hear the pain in Sirius's voice as he mentioned his brother. He had often wondered about what kind of man Regulus was, because his uncle would say very little about him and he would always have the same hurt expression that he now had. Harry was sure that something terrible happened and Regulus had died long before he was supposed to, and Sirius was very upset about that fact. Harry thought about going into Regulus's bedroom, he wanted to find out more about him, but at the same time he didn't want to make Sirius more upset.

"What is Master Harry doing?" Kreacher asked, causing Harry to jump.

"Er… nothing," Harry said quickly. "I was just trying to figure out where to sleep."

"You is looking at Master Regulus's door," Kreacher said, his tone was very sad and when Harry looked at the elf he could see that his ears had dropped.

"Can you tell me about him Kreacher?" Harry asked.

"Kreacher would be glad to," Kreacher said, his expression was hard to read, but Harry figured that the elf was really glad to tell him this, but also pained to say anything.

"You don't have to if it would be difficult for you," Harry said. "I know Sirius has trouble talking about his brother, other than saying that he was brave and nice."

"Master Sirius said that?" Kreacher said, not hiding his shock and then his face contorted and he looked almost ill. "Kreacher is sorry, sir, Kreacher did not mean to say that sir."

"It's okay Kreacher," Harry smiled. "Feel free to say anything you want. Or ask anything you want, too."

Kreacher started rocking back and forth and he looked a little scared about something.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, concerned.

"Nothing sir," Kreacher said, he had been wondering if Harry had really meant it about the questions or not. His mistress never liked him to ask questions, she was very kind to him, telling him he did a great job, but she didn't think it was proper for an elf to ask questions. On the other hand, Regulus had always encouraged him to ask him anything. Regulus would say the more questions Kreacher asked, the more opportunity he had to learn something new, because he hardly ever had the answer to the elf's questions.

"Okay," Harry said still concerned but knew that it wasn't right to push an elf when they were like this.

"Kreacher is wondering how Master Harry is part of Kreacher's family?" Kreacher said and shuddered at his own daring to ask that. However, when Harry started to laugh, he felt a little better.

"That's because Sirius made my mum his sister," Harry smiled. "So he's my uncle now… by blood, which I guess means that I'm part of your family, too."

Kreacher looked thoughtfully at Harry, but he didn't really understand what the boy meant. He push that aside, it wasn't really important why Harry felt like family only that he did. "Kreacher will tell you all about master Regulus now if you want."

"I'd like that," Harry smiled and then he went to an empty room that he now claimed as his own and listened to Kreacher tell him about Regulus.