Harry Potter and TGTL: Fourth Year

by KappaIota

Sequel to Harry Potter and the Godfather that Lived. AU Fourth Year with Harry facing the Tri-Wizard Tournament, his first crush, Voldemort's return and an overprotective guardian. As with the original, will include teen discipline themes/adult language

28. Chapter 28

A/N There's been a lot of conversation about the Weasley family finances. First off, I'm not picking on them by pointing out that they struggle financially. That's just an accurate observation of the books and movies. I've made my interpretation for the story based on several lines of conversation in canon. With the exception of relating it to their standing in regards to being one of the Sacred Twenty Eight families. That's just a guess on my part, but I feel confident that it would have bearing on how well Arthur is treated professionally, since we know that several high ranking ministry officials are not particularly fond of Muggles.

Ron does say that his father could have taken promotions over the years but didn't because he liked his job. That could be true or it could just be a loyal son defending his father's career. Although Molly seems to lay some of the blame for Arthur's lack of better position on Cornelius Fudge. I think it's fair to put some of the blame on Arthur as well for his family's lack of financial security. A father of seven children rarely exercises his preference for a lower paying job over making sure that his kids aren't always worried about how their parents are going to pay for things. There are lines in the books where Percy, the twins and Ron all wonder how school expenses are going to get covered.

Thank you for all the reviews and PMs! Enjoy today's chapter!

********HP*******

"What, never?"

Harry sat stunned in his bed with a look on his face that was almost afraid to be hopeful. Considering that he'd long ago resigned himself to the fact that he'd have to return to Privet Drive every summer until he became of age, hearing that he'd never be going back was almost too good to be true.

"Never," Sirius confirmed.

He reached out to cup Harry's chin in his hand and gave the boy a pointed look.

"Unless you have some reason why you'd want to say goodbye to them or, I don't know, to the house in general."

He paused and pursed his mouth into a frown after reconsidering.

"Actually I still might say no to that. I don't really want those people anywhere near you."

Gobsmacked, Harry's eyebrows narrowed in confusion. "But Professor Dumbledore said..." He cocked his head to the side and looked quizzically at his father. Not that he wasn't thrilled with the idea, but it was still a little hard to wrap his head around it just yet.

Sirius sighed heavily and leaned back, folding his hands in his lap as he worked out the best way to explain the reasoning behind casting the blood charm with Petunia that night. Especially after everything Harry had endured at her hands and those of his uncle and cousin.

"Dumbledore did what he thought was the right thing at the time, I suppose," he started hesitantly, still annoyed with the man. "It all happened so fast, you see. Because while the rest of the wizarding world was celebrating Voldemort's downfall, we were all shocked and grieving."

He took a moment to swallow hard, the memories that were by far too painful beginning to choke him. So many life altering decisions had been made by the people closest to James and Lily Potter in such a short span of time. It was still hard to process it all.

"We...your parents and I, that is," he hedged, choosing his words very carefully through the anguish, "thought it best that only the people directly involved in casting the Fidelius should know that the rat was taking my place. As far as Dumbledore knew that night, the only possible way Voldemort could have found you all was through my betrayal as the secret keeper."

Here Sirius faltered, the devastated guilt in his eyes almost unbearable to look at. Harry frowned in sympathy and reached out to put a hand on top of his father's trembling arm. Comforted by the kind gesture, Sirius cleared his throat and forced himself to continue.

"When your parents...died," he said hoarsely, "the protection of the Fidelius broke and triggered the Caterwauling Charm your mother had cast on the house in case of dark magic being performed there. Their elderly neighbor, a very kind and formidable witch named Bathilda Bagshot, heard the alarm and rushed over to help, but by then it was too late. She had been a good friend to your mum while you were living in Godric's Hollow and was very fond of you especially. After she found James and Lily, she took you out of your crib to protect you and then summoned Dumbledore."

Harry's eyes widened. It was the first time he'd heard the story of the immediate aftermath of Voldemort's attack on his family. A million questions began to form in his mind but he held his tongue. Knowing that if he spoke right now, Sirius might decide that he'd said enough already.

"It was hours before I heard," Sirius continued. "My team had been on a mission that night which turned out to be a distraction for the attack on your parents. When I got back to headquarters the rumors had already started so I rushed to Godric's Hollow in a blind panic." Here, Sirius faltered. The vision in his mind as clear as the night it happened. "As soon as I saw the house my entire world crumbled around me."

The bereaved man stopped for a moment and clenched his eyes tightly shut. As if by closing them he could block out the sight of the half-blown apart cottage where he'd known so much love and laughter. Where his true family were supposed to be healthy and safe and protected while Sirius was out trying to eliminate the threats to those he loved so well.

He felt Harry clutch his arm and let the gesture soothe him a bit.

"I assumed the absolute worst when I first arrived until I saw you alive in Hagrid's arms," he remembered wistfully. "He'd beaten me there on Dumbledore's orders. Knowing for sure that you were safe was the only thing that kept me from completely falling off the edge in that moment."

He opened his eyes and smiled at Harry, the boy blushing slightly as he gave his father a tiny watery grin.

"I wanted you immediately, of course," Sirius assured Harry, squeezing the hand on his arm affectionately. "But Dumbledore had told Hagrid to take you to Lily's sister for your protection. Voldemort's followers wouldn't have immediately thought about your care being put into the hands of a Muggle, you see," he explained.

Harry frowned but he nodded his head in understanding.

"I should have fought it," Sirius spat out angrily. " I know that now. Legally you were mine. But all I could think about right then was hunting down Peter and making him pay for what he'd done. I just assumed that once I'd killed him, I would collect you from the Muggles and bring you home with me where you belonged."

He looked at his son and wordlessly asked for the boy's forgiveness and understanding. Remembering the talk that the two of them had regarding Harry's feelings in the Shrieking Shack the first time they met in person, Sirius knew that his son had also wrestled with his own desire for revenge.

Fortunately for Sirius, Harry was a better person.

"Revenge is a powerful motivator, Harry. It almost always sees you making foolish choices. I wasn't mature enough then to fight it," Sirius confessed shamefully. "I was young and impulsive. I thought...if I could find Peter...I could see justice done for James and Lily...and you."

Sirius let out a shaky breath and ran a hand down his face to swipe at the stray tear that was threatening to fall before he could continue. Dredging up the past was always going to emotionally wreck him, no matter how many years had passed.

"Your safety and well being was always my first priority," he stated forcefully once he could speak again. "But I'd convinced myself that taking out the rat was the most important thing I could do for you. Alive and free he was a threat to you. But I was also out of my mind with grief and off my game that night, and because I acted rashly in the heat of the moment, I ruined everything we could have had all this time."

Harry grimaced and then leaned forward to wrap his arms around his father. He'd forgiven Sirius a long time ago for what transpired after that fateful night. Especially since Sirius had endured a Hell of his own that was much worse in many ways than the hard, loveless upbringing that Harry had been dragged through.

"It doesn't matter, Papa," he mumbled into his father's shoulder. "We're together now."

Sirius held his son tightly as he worked to settled the flood of emotions washing over him. Somehow, despite everything he'd been through, Harry had still managed to grow up into a decent person.

Not that Sirius could take any of the credit for that.

The only thing he could agree with Albus on this matter was that if Harry had been raised in the wizarding world as the infamous Boy Who Lived he might have become more like the cocky young boy James had been at fourteen rather than sweet and kind like Lily at that age.

"In any case," Sirius sniffed, clearing the tears clogged in his throat, "now that we are together, the blood charm that Albus cast for your protection at the Dursley house can be re-cast with me. James and I were blood too and he made the sacrifice of love as well as your mother that night. As long as you consider my home as your home, it will work."

Harry pulled back astonished, having never even thought of it that way.

"They say that nothing compares to a mother's love," Sirius said with a sad smile. "And in Lily's case, I'm sure that's true. But I promise you that James and I will try our best."

The earnest look on Sirius' face and the honesty in his words broke past the wall of doubt that Harry had constructed in his mind. A wall that had always served to prevent him from getting his hopes up too much after years of being let down. Unlike the Dursleys, Harry knew that Sirius would lay down his life for him.

"So I really don't have to go back there then?" he asked, still just a tad skeptical. "Really never?"

"Never." Sirius shook his head and reached out to take Harry's face in his hands. "You're home where you belong. Where you've always belonged, little one."

Harry beamed a huge smile as his body hitched a deep breath. The unhappy thought that always weighed heavily in the back of his mind, that he'd need to endure the forced co-existence with his horrible family for another three years, was slowly evaporating. As he gradually began accepting Sirius' words, a lifetime of pent up tension bled out of his limbs. The growing relief eerily a mix of practically unbearable elation and exhaustion.

It left him feeling like he'd just finished running a thirteen year long marathon in the jungle. Constantly tangled in vines, drenched in the rain and slogging through mud. Only to find out that it had all been worth it in the end because he'd won the reward of his dreams.

There would be no more glares of hatred across the breakfast table. No more insults or bullying. No more vicious lies about himself or his parents. No more punishments for accidental magic. No more abuse simply for the crime of not being theirs.

"Papa?" he said tiredly, his eyes starting to really droop against his will as a growing sense of immense calm spread through his body.

"Hmm?" Sirius smiled fondly at his son as he rubbed an affectionate thumb over one of the boy's too thin cheeks.

"I think I can sleep now."

*********HP*******

"Harry James! If I have to come in there one more time..."

Luckily for Harry, Sirius was too busy to follow through on his threat.

For the past quarter of an hour he'd been studiously pouring over the very last minute instructions that had just arrived for the portkey which had been delivered earlier this morning from the resort where they would be staying for the next ten days. They were now woefully behind schedule for their departure as there had been an annoying issue concerning whether or not Remus would be allowed past the Dark Magic sensors that all guests were required to walk through on arrival.

"I'm coming," came the frustrated voice from the other room. "I have to find my ruddy Potions book or Snape'll have my head."

Harry and the other kids still had homework to finish over the break whether they wanted to do it or not. Not a large amount, but enough that it would have to be done while they were on holiday as they wouldn't be returning until the night before classes began again.

Sirius was distracted enough at the moment to intentionally fail to correct Harry's lack of a Professor title this time. Occasionally it was still difficult to insist on Harry showing their old foe the proper respect as his teacher regardless of how much help Severus had grudgingly given them.

The portkey, disguised as half of a coconut shell, had a very clear time of departure along with an exact number of travelers. Any deviation from either parameter would render it useless and result in the full default of the hefty fee Sirius had paid in advance for their stay. With time growing incredibly short, he'd already called his disorganized son into the sitting room with his packed bag four times without success and his patience was thinning.

There would be no mucking about this morning if they were going to take this trip, and a certain young man was thisclose to getting a smack if he didn't get a move-on.

Once Molly had sent back word yesterday afternoon that her family would be delighted to join Sirius and Harry on holiday, Sirius had made immediate inquiries into possible destinations.

After spending most of the day going over the best options, he'd ultimately ended up choosing this specific resort in the Maldives because of the absolute security in place that prevented anything carrying a trace of the Dark Arts from penetrating its barriers. Sirius wanted Harry to have a chance to relax and enjoy himself like any other kid on holiday. Without a ton of restrictions placed on his movements for fear of an unwelcome encounter like there had been for him at school these past few months.

Unfortunately, this also meant that Remus, whose lycanthropy technically designated him as a Dark Creature, was initially rejected as a guest.

Sirius was adamant that his closest friend be included in their getaway and had been fighting against that exclusion for the past several hours against Remus' protests that he didn't want to cause an unnecessary fuss.

There would be no full moon during their stay so it wasn't as if Remus was any more of a threat than any other guest. A fact that had Sirius fuming and exchanging furious fire-calls with the resort's general manager since dawn. Especially since Gringott's had already taken the money from his personal vault to pay for a lengthy stay for nine people in the largest villa on the resort.

Luckily Arthur had been able to use some of his connections at the Ministry to provide an official reference of good character which, along with a healthy addition of gold to their already obscenely large bill for extraordinary administration expenses, finally got Remus added to the list of travelers.

A knock at the door heralded the arrival of a large chunk of the Weasley family. Minerva had kindly offered the fireplace in her office for Arthur and Molly to travel from the Burrow and then they'd gone directly to collect their four youngest children from Gryffindor tower. Although the three older sons had been invited as well, all of them had declined due to their work.

As one of only two men in his whole department, Arthur didn't take a lot of time away from the office and he had gobs of vacation time saved up. He and Molly were also thrilled with the chance to spend some of the Christmas holiday with their younger children after all, when they hadn't been planning to see each other because of the Yule Ball.

The lot of them trooped loudly inside the residence with laughter and excitement bubbling over the impending departure. Rather like a small, happy infiltrating army of red hair and noise. An experienced man of seven children, Arthur had already made sure that their bags were shrunken and stashed in their various pockets, which right now only made Sirius more cross at the tardiness of his only child.

"Harry James Potter! I'm counting to three and then I'm..."

The black haired boy bounded into the room, dragging his bulging bag over one shoulder with his new broom in the other hand and coming to stand sheepishly next to his irritated father.

"Sorry, Papa."

Sirius wanted to scold him, really he did, but he also had a sneaking suspicion that his son was going to be getting away with quite a lot of mischief for the foreseeable future if he kept looking at Sirius with those big green eyes and calling him Papa.

The adults in the room beamed at the goofy look on Sirius' face while the kids were all struck dumb by their first look at Harry's fantastic new broom. He hadn't mentioned anything about it to anyone yet, not even to Ron, wanting it to be a surprise for the trip.

Grinning like an idiot, Sirius reached out to take the boy's bag and tapped it with his wand. When it was no larger than a walnut he slipped it into the front pocket of his waistcoat and then repeated the action with the broom. Before the Weasleys could say anything about the Firebolt Supreme, Sirius grabbed the portkey as it began to glow blue, hooked an arm around his son's shoulders and kissed the top of the messy head.

"Let's go."

All nine people in the room quickly crowded to gather around and place a finger on it and a moment later everything began to spin.

Most of them had traveled by portkey to the World Cup, but this was a significantly longer journey and only Sirius, Remus and the Weasley parents arrived without looking completely green around the gills. The longer the distance, the more uncomfortable the trip, and by the time they landed on the small atoll in the Indian Ocean it was generally agreed that skipping breakfast had been a good idea.

Harry was saved from another crash landing by Sirius' hand firmly clasping the back of his shirt and keeping the boy upright this time, although his knees were sore from the hard impact his feet made on the sandy beach. Ron and Ginny were tangled in a lump of gangling arms and legs just at the water's edge, while the twins were wobbling on their feet next to Remus and steadying each other before one of them could fall into an oncoming wave.

"That was a little too close for comfort," Sirius growled as he checked on Harry's overall well-being. His son looked like he'd just swallowed an especially large slug. Annoyed at how close they'd come to landing in the ocean, he made a mental note to have a word or ten with management.

"It's necessary," Arthur said matter-of-fact as he reached down to heft his two youngest to their feet. "They'd need a landing area outside the barrier for the arrivals but wouldn't want to take up too much of the beach that the guests want to use. That's prime real estate."

Ahead of them was an innocuous looking straw booth with a very festive welcome sign and two pretty witches in bright flowery robes who were ready to greet their group with large pineapple shells filled with bubbly drinks. Sirius cocked an eyebrow at how relaxed they looked, but it wasn't hard for him to sense the enormous amount of magical power emanating from the booth itself.

"That'll be the scanning area with the dark magic detectors," Arthur told the group knowledgeably. "It won't be entirely pleasant, but it should be quick."

Harry and Ron gave each other worried looks before Sirius put a comforting hand on each of their backs.

"It's just a little uncomfortable for a second," he assured them. "You'll be fine."

One by one the group took the offered drink and downed it before they were shuttled forward through an invisible entryway that had their insides tingling like there was a swarm of bees buzzing around in their veins. When Remus' turn came, the welcoming staff, having already been informed of the special circumstances, used their wands to perform an extra series of tests to make sure that the lycanthropy was the only darkness detected.

It only took a couple of moments before everyone but Sirius and Harry had gone through the invisible barrier with no problems, although they looked even more queasy than they already had once they were on the other side. Feeling a tad bit of trepidation coupled with the already present nausea, Harry was gently herded towards the barrier by his father's hand on his back.

He had a light headache that he was battling from the trip as it was, so when he moved closer to the barrier, he wasn't entirely sure if the growing pinch he was now feeling in his head was normal or not. But not wanting to hold up their arrival any longer, he pushed the worry aside.

Taking a quick breath Harry moved forward into the barrier and felt uncomfortably squeezed for a split second of painful constriction before an ear splitting alarm rang out and abruptly shoved him backwards out towards the water's edge again. He landed hard on his bum on the sand, his head ringing and the wind knocked out of him. Sirius immediately dropped down next to him and frantically looked him over.

"Harry! Are you okay?"

The boy groaned and clasped a hand over his scar which was now burning fiercely. He felt like his head was about to explode and the blaring noise from the klaxons in the scanning area wasn't helping.

Within seconds the two tropically clad witches with the pineapple drinks rushed over. They'd lost all of the relaxed attitude and welcoming smiles and were currently standing over Harry and Sirius with their wands drawn and looking prepared to duel. Sirius moved protectively in front of his son and glared fiercely at them, ready in a heartbeat to transform into the much more intimidating guise of Padfoot if they moved even a fraction of an inch closer to his kid.

If it wasn't for the fact that he wanted his hands free to wield his own wand if necessary, he already would have done.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" he growled at them, baring his teeth in a gesture that underlay his true nature.

The women didn't answer him, but the alarms had obviously triggered a response from the main building of the resort and there were now two more people making their way over quickly on an enormous flying carpet. Behind Sirius, Harry hissed as his forehead gave another painful twinge.

"Alright, little one?"

Harry grunted a little as he rubbed his head again. It wasn't awful and the last thing he wanted to do was say anything that might provoke his father into an altercation in a foreign land.

"Yes, Papa."

With the arrival of the new man and woman, both dressed a little more somberly in floaty but official looking robes with the resort's logo emblazoned on the front, Arthur also stepped back through the scanning area and rejoined them on the edge of the beach. Sirius could see that Remus wanted to come back through as well but he shook his head slightly at the werewolf's questioning look.

The last thing they needed right now was to have the resort staff refuse to allow Remus back in if he voluntarily exited the barrier.

"Mr. Black? I am Mr. Didi the General Manager. We spoke several times earlier."

The man held out his hand in greeting with an anxious look on his face. Sirius hesitated a minute and then shook it, confident that Arthur could brandish his wand fast enough if necessary.

"Mr. Didi," he responded as civilly as he could. "Is there a reason why my son has been welcomed to your island so poorly?"

The other man's practiced smile faltered for a quick second at the blatant attack on the resort's notoriously exceptional hospitality before he plastered it back on. He was a man that was good at his job, ensuring the complete enjoyment and satisfaction of his wealthy and privileged guests. The last thing he wanted to do was to offend the person who hadn't even blinked at the price tag for a ten day stay in their most luxurious villa.

"My deepest apologies Mr. Black," he said with a small head bow. "I'm sure we can clear up any misunderstanding immediately."

With that he turned to the woman who had accompanied him and nodded. Moving forward slowly, so as not to make any aggressive movements, she raised her wand with the obvious intent to use it to run tests and silently asked for Sirius' consent before she approached Harry. Sirius frowned cautiously but he moved away just enough to allow her closer to his child.

Over a period of what felt like an hour, but was really only a couple of minutes, she made several passes over the boy, stopping with her wand hovering directly over Harry's forehead.

Using the tip, she pushed back Harry's messy fringe to reveal his infamous lightening bolt scar. A startled look of realization passed over her exotic features before she quickly regained her aloof composure. She then leaned over and said a few quick and quiet words in her native language to her boss before turning back to Sirius.

"This boy carries Dark Magic in this scar. Of a very ancient and rare spell," she stated with concern, her forehead furrowed. "You know this, yes?"

Sensing that the danger had passed, Sirius held out a hand to lift Harry to his feet and put a protective grip on the boy's shoulder. "Of course we do," he snapped irritably. "A very evil man tried to kill my son when he was a baby. The curse rebounded on him but left Harry with the scar."

Surprisingly the woman shook her head with a large frown on her face. Her obvious disagreement with the exact nature of Harry's scar disconcerting them all.

"No. This? This is something more," she insisted but didn't elaborate. Turning to the welcoming witches, who had by now holstered their wands, she nodded and gave them the go-ahead for Harry's entry. "I will have books sent to your villa if you choose to research further. Have a very good stay, gentlemen."

Sirius, Harry and Arthur watched her make her way back through the barrier and onto the waiting carpet. Mr. Didi once again offered his profuse apologies over any confusion and then stalked off to join her. They were airborne and out of sight before Harry had even managed to stumble his way back to the scanning area behind his father.

"What did she mean?"

Sirius paled slightly before he turned to look down at his son's anxious face at the question. He wished he had an answer himself to be quite honest. Her words had put a lead weight the size of a cannonball in his stomach.

"Let's not worry too much about it it just yet. Okay, kiddo?" he suggested as he suppressed his own nerves. "I'm sure it's nothing we don't already know. We'll see what her books have to say before getting all worked up."

Harry didn't look convinced but this wasn't the place to press the issue. There would be time later and he trusted Sirius to be straight with him. Especially about things involving Voldemort and the night of his parents' murders. Grimacing, he moved to push himself back into the scanning area and was relieved when it spat him out on the other side with his waiting friends without more discomfort.

Behind him, Sirius followed at a slower pace. Anxiety beginning to rise up from his gut to squeeze his heart in an icy fist of fear.

*********HP*********

Their entire island, which admittedly was not particularly large compared to others scattered in the Maldives, contained only one resort.

Really, in basic architecture and function, it wasn't all that much different from the hundreds of Muggle resorts that graced that particular area of the Indian Ocean.

Well, except for being fully magical, that is.

Magic meant that the island was unplottable, so even the hourly seaplanes that streamed through the skies had no idea it was there. The barrier that covered the entire land mass, plus a fair amount of the waters surrounding it, was impervious to any kind of magical penetration with the exception of the carefully crafted portkeys that carried the guests to and fro for their holidays.

The owner of this island and several others was a very wealthy and singularly gifted wizard who'd made his life's work studying the complexities of the most ancient forms of magic. As a scholar who was solely concerned with the unlimited potential regarding the creation of spells and charms, he made no judgements of his guests' personal ideologies and sought only to provide them with the very best in bespoke holidays.

For that reason there were two very different luxury pleasure island resorts in his real estate portfolio. One where Dark Magic was strictly prohibited and another, situated on a different atoll far, far away, that allowed its guests to indulge in it with hedonist abandon.

Privacy on both islands was absolutely guaranteed.

Each booking was made by a resort specialist who took an Unbreakable Vow that ensured that no identity of any guest would ever be revealed to anyone but staff members. What's more, all staff members were also secret keepers.

These precautions were not taken lightly. The penalty for breaking the vow or divulging the secret was instantaneous death and there had never yet been an instance where the penalty had been carried out.

Of course the cost for this kind of protection was enormous and only the very wealthiest of the wizarding world were able to afford a holiday at one of the resorts. It tended to make the already elite clientele even more select.

For a rich father whose primary concern was the safety of his oft targeted son, no price was too high.

When Sirius had booked the villa for their stay, the security measures in place had been the focal point of his decision in choosing it and he hadn't really bothered to question the more aesthetic amenities. All he'd wanted to know was that it offered a good deal of privacy so even a chance encounter by anyone that might recognize them was lessened.

With no other criteria in mind, he was simply told that the available villa was the largest on the property, that it had nine bedrooms and that it was all-inclusive.

He was satisfied by the basic description because the size was more than enough for their little group. It's not like he could argue the details anyway since they were a very last minute booking and it happened to also be the only one available. And nine bedrooms meant that each of them could have their own room, including Arthur and Molly if they desired.

They didnt...

Also Sirius, having only been on one holiday before when he'd traveled to Mallorca with the Potters during the summer before his fifth year, just assumed that all-inclusive meant that meals and beverages and activities all came with the price of admission. Sure it was a little more expensive than he'd been expecting to pay for a simple getaway, but once again he justified it as making up for years of lost time with his son.

But upon their arrival at the villa, the nine of them grandly ferried there on a small fleet of spectacular flying carpets, they quickly realized that their villa was, in actuality, a resort unto itself.

It was comprised of twelve large and luxurious straw-thatched structures that were connected to each other by a series of gracefully winding natural wood stairs and bridges. Partially shrouded by a spectacular jungle of greenery and blooms, all of the enormous huts encircled a vast private pool with a sunken dining area dropped directly in the center of it. The access to the dining area was connected to the main building of the villa by a walkway that barely avoided being breached by the water's depth. Off to the side was a long spiral water slide that spilled down from the top floor of the tallest building.

The master wing of the villa contained three of the interconnected bedroom huts all with private bath, and had its own smaller, even more private pool and a tropical garden entirely hidden from view by the dense island foliage. This was where Sirius, Harry and Remus would be staying as Sirius was hopeful to spend some time with his son just on their own as well as time with Remus.

Besides getting some much needed rest, the old friends had several pressing topics concerning Harry's safety to discuss that Sirius preferred be kept just between the two of them for now.

A smaller master suite was set off by itself on the other side of the main pool and was clearly designed with more privacy for a couple in mind. As they had been up for several hours already, Arthur and Molly happily claimed that one for themselves and were quickly ensconced far away from their children's prying eyes citing a need to rest from their travel.

Feeling a bit ill from the giddy smiles on his parents' faces, their youngest son silently hoped that his mum and dad had decided that seven children were enough.

The group of bedroom huts in the middle of the complex were divided up between the Weasley children and the twins took the opportunity to have their own bedrooms for the first time in their lives. Although Ron and Ginny immediately wagered a bet between themselves on just how long it would take before their brothers went mad over the unnatural silence in their separate bungalows.

Because the villa was designed to be self-sufficient if the occupants wanted complete privacy, it also had an entire building just for the kitchen and indoor dining area which came with the services of an entire army of house elves. Ron had an unhappy passing thought about how enraged Hermione would be about the extent of their domestic help before he pushed it out of his mind.

Most of the time recently he found himself vacillating wildly between feelings of jealousy and anger and missing her desperately. He'd promised himself to try to put her out of his mind as much as possible while they were on holiday although he knew it was a losing prospect.

Each member of their party was then given two designated house elves to attend to their every need. Baggage was immediately collected and swiftly sorted into each bedroom by one of the elves while the other plied their temporary masters with food and drinks and helpful information. The kids were especially excited to be taken on a tour of facilities.

Feeling overheated and wanting to get comfortable in the much balmier environment, Sirius and Remus decided to head into their bungalows to change into more appropriate attire.

All the bedroom bungalows came with an entire wardrobe full of island wear that could easily be sized up or down for use by the guests. Pulling off his heavy travel cloak that was necessary for December in Scotland, Sirius picked out a white linen button down shirt and a pair of light cotton khaki shorts to put on before going to lay out by the giant pool to relax after the chaos of their morning, with Remus joining him shortly after in similar attire.

Meanwhile the teenagers had already run off with their little team of elves to explore the rest of their accommodations.

There was a fully equipped spa in one of the larger huts, with massages available round the clock for anyone that wanted one. A large game room that, upon first inspection, was sadly empty. It took Fred making a sarcastic comment about the disappointing lack of furnishings for his personal elf to inform the group that any game ever created, Wizarding or Muggle alike, would appear simply by asking for it.

They immediately tested this theory and were soon drowning in amusements filling every corner in the room until Harry's elf banished it all away again before they were unable to move.

The villa also had a work-out room, although it wasn't likely to get any use from its current occupants who would much rather be outside in the water or in the sky for their exercise. All of the kids were wild about flying and there wasn't one among them who didn't instantly fall in love with the flying carpets and lament their lack of use in Britain. Fortunately, there were a dozen hovering on the outskirts of the pool area just waiting to be used.

Fred and George looked especially excited about that.

Once they found their way back outside by the pool Sirius handed his son's enlarged broom to him, knowing how nervous the boy had been about shrinking it in the first place. It took the unabashed admiration and desire to try out Harry's new acquisition for the group to be informed that the entire villa was equipped with the Doubling Charm.

Less than five minutes after the boy had been bombarded with pleas to ride the Firebolt Supreme, they all had one.

One of Sirius' personal elves, the obvious leader of all the others if the pristine and ornately embroidered handkerchief he wore was any indication, finally explained what all-inclusive really meant at the resort.

Guests could literally have anything they wanted, just by asking for it.

There were a few restrictions, just as a matter of necessity, of course. Even on a luxury island, Gamp's Law still existed. But anything, and they really meant anything, could be created for a short period of time as long as the basic raw materials to create it were already in the vast treasure trove of natural resources owned by the resort.

The magic used to create the items decayed after a short period of time, so sadly nothing could be taken from the island upon departure, but other than that, the sky was the limit.

Fred and George wasted no time in testing this theory, and before anyone knew it, there was a quarter-sized Quidditch pitch rising up out of the ocean along their villa's private stretch of beach.

That took care of activities for the rest of their first afternoon on the island. With each of them racing on a Firebolt Supreme, it was next to impossible to get the fly-happy teenagers out of the air, especially since they'd all been denied their favorite sport since school began that year.

Ultimately, it took the combined exasperated voices of both Molly and Sirius to get their kids to land long enough to have dinner. As a welcome, the villa's elves had prepared a magnificent beach barbecue full of freshly caught seafood, grilled vegetables and exotic fruits. Sadly, by the time they had all eaten their fill, the magic of the doubling charm had begun to erode the speed of the broom copies and the Quidditch stadium was becoming decidedly lopsided.

The disappointed teens were cheered up by the repeated assurances that it could all be created again, as many times as the kids wanted for the duration of their stay. So feeling a bit windblown for the day, Harry and the Weasley siblings chose to spend the rest of the evening indulging in the endless delights of the game room instead, while the adults took the opportunity for a little social time to drink pina coladas and relax by the pool.

It was going to be a brilliant holiday.

***********HP***************

Sirius was enjoying the heat of the sun's rays shining down on him as he stretched out on the wooden beach lounger by the master wing's smaller, private pool and read his book. A few feet away from him, Harry was spread out on a large, round thick pad with a clamshell-type bamboo frame. The bed was suspended by ropes that were tied to the circle of palm trees surrounding him and was big enough to hold three people easily with a dozen or so colorful pillows that made it all exceptionally comfy.

Shaded by the giant palm fronds, the bed swinging gently in the warm tropical breeze, the boy was deeply asleep. His arms and legs sprawled akimbo among the pile of pillows. His young face carefree and smooth in slumber.

He was the perfect picture of contentment.

In the three days since their arrival on the island, this had become part of the daily routine between them. Sirius wanted his son to enjoy himself, it was a holiday after all, but fun was only one of the objectives and it certainly wasn't the most important one.

Harry needed to rest and recharge after months of pressure and stress from school, friends and the tournament.

Not that the boy didn't have responsibilities to attend to as well. There was still homework to be done and he had yet to start on the work for the second task. Both Remus and Sirius knew the general nature of the underwater feat he would be asked to perform, but they also were determined to have Harry figure out as much as possible on his own before they stepped in.

Sirius was sure that some people connected with the tournament would call his advance knowledge of the details cheating since he was the father of one of the champions, but he disagreed.

As far as he was concerned, it was forcing his fourteen-year-old to compete in life-or-death trials with three other older and much more technically accomplished students that was the actual cheating part.

Rules be damned.

He wasn't letting his kid become a casualty of the enormous egos belonging to the self-important people responsible for running the bloody tournament.

So with unavoidable chores in mind and knowing how much trouble Harry and Ron could get into when left to their own devices for too long, Sirius had immediately implemented an unofficially official schedule for his danger magnet son upon their arrival.

First and foremost, Harry was allowed to sleep-in each morning for as long as he wanted. Relaxation and overall recuperation being the most critical part of the holiday in Sirius' opinion. Breakfast would be made available to him at any time upon waking and there was no hurry in eating it, but directly after breakfast Harry was required to spend one hour every day working on his homework

Obviously the rule for homework time didn't apply to the Weasley children since they weren't subject to Sirius' wishes, but he was actually surprised to find that Molly was fully in favor of it as well. Stressing to her brood that they were lucky to have the ready availability of both a current and a former professor as part of their party, she sharply reminded them all that there should be no excuses as to why assignments weren't completed before the the start of the new term.

So each morning the teenagers gathered together at a table in the shade from the tropical sun and hit the books before the rest of the day's adventures began.

After homework, Sirius offered Harry the opportunity to continue the skills training regimen that they had started at school. Harry wasn't required to train if he didn't want to, but he loved working out with his father and happily jumped at the chance. The other kids were invited too, and Sirius was pleased at how interested Harry's friends were in improving their fighting techniques.

Especially since there had been no dueling offered at Hogwarts since that disastrous attempt two years ago when Harry learned what it meant to be a Parselmouth.

Once they had done a couple of hours of intense training it was time to troop back to the dining bungalow where there was a large luncheon buffet waiting for them. The vast amount of food on offer was necessary considering how many calories the kids were burning off while they exercised and the eager to please house elves were besides themselves with happiness over taking care of such a friendly group of wizards and witches.

Both Harry and Ron had the metabolism of hummingbirds, with Molly remarking the first day that she worked harder to keep Ron fed than any of her other children combined and they were continually provided with enormous spreads of local delicacies and comfort foods alike to keep the growing teenagers sated at all times.

Late afternoons were spent swimming or flying or indulging in any other number of sporting delights that the resort provided, and after dinner there were games to play and endless fireworks shows to watch.

It had the entire group enjoying themselves immensely.

Although that's not to say that there weren't a few bumps along the road at first.

The day of their arrival, once they had finished partaking of the elaborate beach barbecue, Sirius had pulled his already worn out son aside and given him two options. He could adhere to his normal ten o'clock bedtime every night and have the majority of his days free to do as he pleased with his friends, or he could choose to stay up late with the other kids as long as he took a nap the following afternoon.

Either way, Sirius was insistent that his overtired, overworked and just generally over-stressed son was going to be getting more than his usual amount of sleep each day for the duration of the break. That part was non-negotiable because the concerned father really didn't want to keep looking at the dark circles around his fourteen-year-old child's eyes that had him looking far too much like a messy haired raccoon.

Harry wasn't particularly thrilled about either option, but he also knew that when his father felt strongly about something nothing was going to change his mind. Whether or not Harry liked it, he was going to have to do as he was told, and in the end he'd chosen to keep his usual bedtime intact figuring that he'd probably be tired by the end of every day anyway.

There was certainly no way he was going to be forced to nap in the middle of the day like a sodding toddler.

So he'd spent the first evening after the barbecue up in the game room with his friends and having a very jolly time, determined to turn in early. But unfortunately he'd enjoyed himself so much that he'd stopped paying attention to his watch which was still set on Hogwarts time. After all, it was easy to forget yourself when you had every conceivable amusement at your command.

What's more, they'd also happily discovered that the room next to the gaming area appeared to be a perpetually refilling sweets bar. It was filled with row upon row of every kind of chocolate and sugared treat imaginable on one side of the room with a full-sized ice cream parlor on the other, complete with kitchen elves always on duty to make floats and sundaes and anything else the children asked for.

Harry thought it was a lot like having their own private branch of Honeydukes in their villa and he could just about hear the protests by Hermione on behalf of the house elves as well as her dentist parents on the behalf of Harry's and the Weasley's endangered teeth.

In between games, with so much pleasure at their disposal, the lot of them ferried back and forth several times between the two rooms with their arms loaded with sweets and none of them were really paying any attention to how late it was getting. And while Sirius, Arthur or Remus would take an occasional casual pass by the room to check and make sure that the kids were still alive and breathing and more or less in once piece, they were left alone to have fun.

It meant that Harry was thoroughly exhausted and a bit sick to his stomach from all the sweets by the time he finally fell into bed well after midnight.

Although he had woken up sluggishly the next morning, Harry still tumbled out of his bed at a reasonably early hour and somehow managed to amble over to the dining bungalow in time to join the others for breakfast. Molly, always an early riser, already had her brood up and about first thing in the morning as a matter of course, and they were used to being grudgingly dragged out of their beds regardless of how sleepy they still might be.

Ron told Harry that he was just grateful for the lack of a garden to de-gnome as he sat slumped at the table and snorkeled his way through a plate of eggs and sausages.

By the time the morning's activities were over and lunch had been consumed, Harry, now used to an earlier night since he was living full-time in their residence at school with a strictly enforced bedtime, was clearly dragging.

Sirius wasn't at all pleased about the pale color of his exhausted son's face and when Ron tried to coax his best friend into a race along the beach on the flying carpets, Harry's worried papa made it quite clear that his tired son was going straight back to bed.

Now up until this point, Molly had mostly approved of Sirius' parenting skills once her initial skepticism had been cleared up at the beginning of last summer. But there was still a part of her that just instinctively wanted to mother a boy who didn't have one of his own.

It meant that she didn't always think before she spoke, since at times she still saw Harry as just another one of her children and, in her house, she was the ultimate authority as far as the well-being of the kids was concerned.

That, coupled with the new and unaccustomed freedom of not actually having to cook and clean for her family, which was something that she'd been doing for her entire adult life, it all had her feeling a tad off balance and an especial need to cluck and fuss over something.

"Sirius, Harry's on holiday!" she gushed, her tongue slightly loosened by the buzz from a second rum punch she'd been served with lunch. "He's young with gobs of energy, isn't he? Go on, boys. Enjoy the fresh air and sunshine while you can. It's good for your growth!"

Harry, who knew when he fell into bed very late last night that his father would be following through on his threat to make Harry nap today, had been about to the leave the table to obediently head to his room. But with a storm brewing between Sirius and Molly, he immediately stilled like a deer caught in the headlights.

Although his father had a perfectly calm smile on his face, the boy recognized the danger in the swirling gray of his eyes.

Next to Harry, Ron slid quietly back into his seat at the lunch table, wanting nothing more than to stay out of the line of fire.

"Thank you for your concern, Molly," Sirius said with forced pleasantry. "But I think it's best for Harry to go back to bed for a bit. He's looking a little worse for wear today and there will be plenty of time to fly later."

"Nonsense!" Molly laughed, not seeing the problem. She'd always pushed her children into the restorative air of the outdoors when they looked peaky at home. Mind made up, she moved quickly over to Ron and Harry to shoo them out towards the side of the pool where the carpets were hovering discretely.

"Trust me, Sirius," she assured him with a condescending smile. "Children need to be out and about on a fine day like today. Not cooped up inside."

Harry could see that his father was working very hard to keep his temper in check. He knew that Sirius really did have a good deal of respect for the Weasleys as parents, but that didn't mean that he would continue to take Mrs. Weasely's unsolicited interference all that much longer.

"Papa's right, Mrs. Weasley," he said, going over to stand next to Sirius in a sign of solidarity. "I'm pretty knackered to be honest. Ron, you don't mind if we go later, do you?"

Ron was vigorously shaking his head, but he didn't dare open his mouth to verbally oppose his mother's position. Nothing good ever came out of doing that.

Slow to take a hint and now feeling like this was a fight she didn't want to lose, Molly dug her heels in as she took Harry's face in her hands.

"Oh Harry, dear," she clucked. "Don't you think..."

"Molly."

From across the table, Arthur had finally felt the need to intervene. Unlike his wife, he could see quite clearly how Sirius was getting more and more irritated with Molly's unwanted input in a private family matter.

"Harry's father wants him to take a rest," he said pointedly.

Feeling the lingering affects of the alcohol she rarely touched, Molly sputtered incredulously until she looked around at all the uncomfortable faces staring back at her. Finally realizing just how pushy she was being, her grin fell slightly. She took a second good look at Harry, now seeing what Sirius had been seeing all along, and she felt immediately guilty.

"I'm terribly sorry, dear," she said, her face frowning as she patted Harry gently on the shoulder. "Of course you should have a lie-down if you're feeling tired. Perhaps we all should," she suggested weakly. "This midday sun is hot, isn't it?"

Feeling bad for the woman he genuinely cared for, Harry gave her a big smile to show her that he wasn't upset and a quick peck on the cheek that seemed to cheer her up. She wasn't quite sure what had come over her, aside from the fact that her always busy hands were feeling a little useless at the moment.

"Molly," Sirius began with a conciliatory smile, wanting to lessen the tension now that they were all on the same page, "might I suggest a relaxing massage? I understand that the services offered in our little spa here are top notch. After all, it's only right that the adults should have some fun too and I know it's important to Harry that you enjoy yourself."

"That's sounds like fun, Mummy," Ginny perked up. "Can I come? We can have a girls day together."

Molly beamed at the idea, especially since Sirius didn't seem to be holding a grudge. She reluctantly acknowledged to herself that she probably wouldn't have been so charitable if their positions had been reversed.

"Why, yes dear. Of course."

Harry shot a look of appreciation over at the youngest Weasley for helping to smooth over what could have been a rough bump in their holiday road. Ginny just gave him a wink and a shy smile back as she moved to link arms with her mother and head off for the spa bungalow where the ladies were pleased to find that the magic of the room was charmed to conjure the masseuse of their dreams.

Neither Molly nor Ginny would ever reveal to anyone that they'd spent a very pleasant two hours that afternoon getting their backs rubbed by Gilderoy Lockhart and Harry Potter.

After that, they ladies spent quite a bit of time in the villa's spa.

Meanwhile Ron had announced his intention to also head back to his room to shut his eyes for an hour or so. He was just glad that his mother wasn't around to nag him into raking the sand on the beach or some other kind of disagreeable chore to torment him with, and the twins were off to collect samples from the sweets room and ask their personal elves for help in creating new treats for the Skiving Snackboxes.

Comforted that he wasn't about to miss out on any fun with the others, Harry decided that a daily nap maybe wasn't such a bad idea after all since he really did feel like he could crash for the better part of a year. He'd followed Sirius back to their private wing, and instead of holing up in his bedroom bungalow he'd collapsed onto the incredibly soft hanging bed that was part of their hidden garden.

He'd also slept like a rock for over two full hours that first day and woke up looking happier and more energetic then he had in weeks. Sirius was too pleased with the improvement in his son's pallor to be smug about being right.

Today Harry was asleep on his swinging bed dressed in a tank top and his bathing trunks, having taken a quick dip in the large villa pool with Ron and the twins just before they sat down to eat lunch. Although the boy liked the open, airy feel of the entire villa, he also decided that he didn't like to nap directly in the sun like Sirius did and the amount of shade provided by the large palm trees was perfect.

Sirius didn't blame his son for his attraction to the super soft hanging bed. While the kids were off broom racing along the beach the day before, he'd tried the pad himself and immediately conked out. It was like the thing was enchanted to give the occupant the perfect sleep.

Which, to be perfectly fair, it probably was.

It hadn't taken very long for the island life to really start to grow on Sirius. It was calm and relaxing here, with no real worries to speak of and the ocean breezes blowing off the water towards them were warm and soothing. A far cry from the icy harshness of the North Sea and all the terrible memories he carried from there.

Here his son was safe and protected from the darkness that seemed to follow in the boy's footsteps back home.

Quite honestly, he couldn't help feeling that it would be so much easier to just never go back.

Sirius was sure he could happily finish raising Harry in a far away place like this. Where the boy that had known so much sadness and tragedy would finally have the weight of the world lifted from his narrow shoulders and just be a normal, happy kid for a change.

The idea would have seemed ludicrous to Sirius back in the days when James was still alive and the two of them were young and fearless. They lived for excitement and looked for danger around every corner, because that's what you did when you were cocky and thought that nothing would ever touch you.

Even the start of the war hadn't dampened their confidence that they would survive it all and live forever.

Lily had written to him more than once after they'd gone into hiding to tell Sirius that even knowing the risks outside waiting for him, James was chafing over the confines of their hidden cottage, and Sirius could well believe it.

James was never one to be locked up in a cage. He'd rather be running towards a battle head on just like Sirius, rather than away from it. There was a good reason after all why Harry fit the description in the prophecyl. His parents had defied Voldemort three times because neither of them would stand down in the face of evil.

In the end it was only because of Lily's insistence that Harry needed his father with them that eventually convinced James to leave the fight to others.

Sirius had been exactly the same way at the time, and to his shame he had been working on a plan to spring James from the house so that the two of them could fight side-by-side once more before the fateful night that his brother-in-arms was cruelly taken from him.

It had taken twelve years of torment in Azkaban to finally make him grow up enough to realize that life wasn't going to turn out like you thought it would when you were seventeen and it was only now that he was fully responsible for a child himself that he understood what Lily had known all along back then.

Harry needed to always be his first priority.

Even if that meant leaving everything they knew far behind to live on a semi-isolated but safe island in the middle of the ocean to ensure that their son would live to grow up and have a family of his own someday.

He was pulled out of his deep thoughts by the quiet arrival of Remus who gently dragged another lounge chair closer to Sirius and plopped down into it. One of the perks of being among the group renting the best villa at the resort was the special privileges that came along with it. Remus had been given the opportunity today to tour and sample the exotic gardens that the horticultural specialists maintained on site.

"Did you get it?"

Sirius didn't take his eyes off the placid form of his child while he asked the question. Harry's ability to successfully pull off the next task was in real doubt at the moment.

Remus shifted and pulled a sack out of the front pocket of the cropped, turquoise pants he was currently wearing and handed it to his friend. Sirius turned, rolled his eyes over his friend's attire and peered inside the sack.

"You know you look ridiculous in those things, right?"

Shrugging, Remus stretched out on the lounger and summoned his elf to request a pitcher of iced lemonade and two glasses.

"You're the one that's always telling me to loosen up. I'm just trying to blend in with the rest of the guests. We don't want to stand out, remember."

The lemonade appeared on the table in between them and proceeded to pour itself into the two glasses. Remus picked one up and took a long swallow as he wiped some perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"That's blend, not blind, Moony," Sirius teased, receiving a hand gesture in return that would have gotten his son a telling-off for using. "Thank you for getting this," he continued quietly as he put the sack of gillyweed off to the side of his lounger. "I have a feeling that it's going to be necessary."

The original plan that Sirius and Remus had settled on for Harry in regards to the second task had been to take the opportunity of holidaying at the beach to teach the boy the Bubble-head Charm. That way he would have plenty of oxygen for his swim in the Black Lake to get to the merpeople village with no difficulty.

It was only after they had arrived at the island that Harry had offhandedly informed his father that he wasn't a particularly good swimmer. In retrospect, Sirius should have expected it. Of course Harry's poor excuse for relatives wouldn't have bothered to ensure that the boy could swim properly.

After a lengthy discussion between himself and Remus on how to solve the problem, they both agreed that Harry would need the added temporary enchantments of the gills and webbed feet and hands that only the ingestion of gillweed could provide. Fortunately for them, it was quite a common plant in the area they were currently in and the resort's manager, still eager to make up the for the early missteps in their arrival, was more than happy to provide all they wanted.

The two friends sat in silence and sipped at their drinks for a few moments. Finally Remus gave his wand a flick and erected a silencing bubble around them.

"So how's your book?"

Truthfully?

Sirius' book sucked.

The resort's head of security was true to her word and just an hour after their arrival a very nervous house elf appeared in Sirius' bedroom and wordlessly presented him with a large, ugly book called Secrets of the Darkest Art, as well as a few slimmer volumes on magical scars.

He could feel the evil radiating from the large book and just holding it made him feel incredibly dirty. Not wanting his overly curious son to see it just yet, he'd conjured a jacket for one of his Astronomy reference books to cover it and had spent every quiet moment he'd had since then reading through its vile contents.

All it had done was confirm his worst fears.

"It makes me sick just holding it in my hands," he answered truthfully.

"And?"

Sirius turned tired, sad eyes to look at his friend, unable to bring himself to say the words before casting a distraught glance at his peacefully slumbering child.

Feeling incredibly helpless in that moment, Remus sighed heavily and leaned back in his seat with his eyes tightly closed.

"Merlin help us."

***********HP**************

"You sure you're not mad?"

Harry looked up from his Transfiguration homework to see Ron staring at him worriedly. The two of them were down at the end of the long wooden dining table that was partially inside the main bungalow of the villa and sheltered by the outdoor seating area of the floor above them. Down at the end of the table the twins were helping Ginny with her History of Magic essay.

And by help Harry was pretty sure that meant that they were sharing one with her from a paper they stole out of Filch's office at some point. It wasn't as if Professor Binns would ever be able to tell the difference anyway.

"Don't be stupid," Harry replied shaking his head and turning back to his assignment. "You've been in trouble loads of times when I wasn't."

Ron had almost not wanted to tell his best friend that his mother had completely forgotten about the howler she'd sent after finding out about Ron and Harry wandering outside during a full moon when Ron had taken Harry to see the dragons. The one where she'd threatened to charm her trusty wooden spoon to follow her errant son around during the Christmas holiday and repeatedly whack him.

He'd thought that staying at school for the holiday would have guaranteed him a reprieve, sure that by the time the spring term ended all would be forgiven. And as excited as he'd been by the idea of this island getaway, it also reminded him that he'd be spending ten days in close proximity with his irate Mum.

Once they had arrived on the island, the wait for her to bring it up had finally driven him mad, so Ron had quietly gone to his father earlier this morning to willingly surrender himself since it was common knowledge among the Weasley children that you didn't want to make Mum come looking for you when you were already in her bad books.

Arthur would usually play intermediary for his repentant kids, only this time he was able to tell his youngest son that he was off the hook. Mrs. Weasley was incredibly upset about the fact that Ron hadn't had a date to the ball like the rest of his friends and she felt that he'd been punished enough.

She didn't like her children missing out on any fun, especially when she'd gone to a great deal of trouble to get Ron those dress robes!

Arthur had also warned his son that it probably wouldn't be wise to bring up Hermione's name around his mother any time soon as there had been more than a few unkind words spoken under Molly's breath about his ex-girlfriend and haughty Bulgarian Quidditch players regularly since Christmas Day.

While happy for Ron's good luck, Harry felt bad for his missing friend since it wasn't quite Hermione's fault in the first place. But by the look he'd seen on Mrs. Weasley's face a few times during their time on the island whenever Hermione's name was brought up in conversation, he wouldn't want to be in his friend's shoes right now either.

So Ron seemed to have caught a lucky break, and knowing how bad Harry had caught it from Sirius that night, he was feeling more than a little guilty. Especially considering that Harry had then offered up the embarrassing confession about his own punishment to keep the other students at the Gryffindor table from teasing Ron about the howler.

But truly Harry wasn't mad.

Because while the whole thing had started with Sirius being furious enough to wallop Harry's backside with that nasty little switch, it had ultimately ended with a brilliant day of flying together on his father's motorbike.

One of the best days that they'd had together, really.

It also left Harry with the lingering desire to fly the motorbike himself one day and now he just had to figure out a way to ask his father to let him.

"It's fine, Ron," he said when his friend still looked worried. "Really. It was a long time ago."

Ron didn't look convinced, but he wasn't going to push.

"You are going to tell your Mum that it wasn't really Hermione's fault tho, right?"

Harry looked sternly at his best friend, silently reminding him of his original role in that whole upsetting incident. He was determined that the two of them needed to figure a way to work this problem out because he wasn't about to lose the companionship of either one of them.

"Yeah, alright," Ron agreed with a frown. "Just not until after we're back. I don't want to give Mum any ideas."

There was a storm front coming in far off in the distance, so it wasn't looking to be a good day for outdoor activities. Harry had struck a bargain with his father to work twice as long on his studies today if he was allowed a free day tomorrow in exchange and Sirius easily agreed.

Harry would actually need the extra study time since he'd already been informed by his father that even when all his assignments were complete, he'd still have to spend an hour each morning in some kind of academic pursuit.

Although Harry felt that it was frightfully unfair to saddle him with more work while he was on holiday, Sirius helpfully reminded him that his grades were still not auror training program caliber.

Remus had helpfully offered to set another assignment for him and Harry, thinking that his former DADA professor would have something brilliant in mind, was furious later when he was instead given an Herbology book entitled Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean and told to read the first three chapters and take notes.

It felt like a cruel prank to pull on a kid who'd been hoping for something a little more spell-work related.

He was probably feeling a bit cross this morning as he was still quite tired since they'd been up late celebrating a fantastic New Year's Eve last night with the entire island shooting the most spectacular display of fireworks in the air that Harry had ever seen. It surpassed even the show put on during the Quidditch World Cup over the summer and that was really saying something.

Mrs. Weasley was buzzing around the villa simply gushing over the fact that she'd actually been able to see her favorite singer perform in person last night. Harry had known for a couple of years now that Mrs. Weasley absolutely adored Celestina Warbeck. He'd certainly heard his friends' mum play her music often enough while he stayed at the Burrow.

It had been a surprise to them all to find out that their resort had booked the famous entertainer for their New Year's Eve gala, even though the banshees that normally served as her back-up singers were forbidden entry through the safety barrier. Banshees were Dark Creatures and although Remus had somehow been allowed through, the same couldn't be said for Celestina's crew.

Not that they were needed anyway considering how loudly Mrs. Weasley was singing along to A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love and You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me.

She was all the back-up that Celestina needed.

It also meant that Molly was in an especially good mood this morning as she danced around the villa happily humming.

Then the weather actually broke a lot earlier than anyone thought, so after lunch Harry and Sirius were able to swim a few laps together in their private pool before having their usual afternoon rest. Sirius was very glad of the private time for the two of them right now.

He'd been giving real thought to the idea he'd had a few days earlier and decided it was time to test the waters with his son.

Harry pulled himself up out of the pool and sat on the edge while he brushed the chlorine out of his eyes and put his glasses back on. His father came over with a towel that he dropped on the boy's head, roughly rubbing the damp hair with a mischievous grin before letting his son finish drying himself off.

"Come have a seat with your papa," Sirius called, patting the lounge chair next to him.

There was a pitcher of mango juice that Harry had developed a fondness for and a plate of chocolate biscuits on the table between the loungers and the boy bounded over to help himself to a little snack before flopping down next to where Sirius was sitting with a hesitant look on his face.

"Can we start having this at home?" Harry asked before he took a long drink of the juice.

Sirius pursed his lips and waited a few second before responding. It was as good of an opening as any to begin their conversation.

"Or we could just stay here and you can have it whenever you want."

Harry chuckled as he took another swig and it took him a moment to realize that his father wasn't joking.

"Stay here? Longer than for a holiday, you mean?"

"Maybe," Sirius shrugged. "You like this place, don't you?"

Harry's eyebrows lifted as he glanced around the very pretty private garden he'd come to enjoy. "Well, yeah, sure. It's nice," he agreed. "But what about school? Won't I miss a ton if we don't go back on Wednesday?"

"Not if we simply move here," Sirius started cautiously. "We could home school you and bring you back to Britain to sit your big exams when they come up."

Harry choked on the swallow of juice he was just taking. Not sure if he'd heard his father correctly.

"Move here? For real?"

He looked over at his father who shrugged calmly and realized that Sirius wasn't merely suggesting an extended vacation, but an entire relocation. And while he'd had a thoroughly enjoyable time, he didn't think that he'd like to make his stay on the island permanent.

"Remus would join us," Sirius went on to explain. "We made a pretty good job of your lessons over the summer. And if there are any gaps, I'm sure we could find adequate tutors for you."

"But what about my friends?" Harry sputtered. "What about the bloody tournament?"

Sirius ignored the language and leaned forward with his hands clasped in front of him. He'd already thought about the ramifications of Harry forfeiting the rest of his participation in the tournament and he and Remus were of the same mind that it could be possible.

"Your friends could always come visit you," he assured his son. "I'm sure they'd love spending time here when they're available. And the tournament's not to worry."

"You're serious," Harry said incredulously, ignoring his father's exasperated grimace at the obvious pun. "But how? Isn't this basically a hotel?"

Relieved that his son didn't seem to be dismissing the idea out of hand, Sirius shrugged again.

"It is, but I've made inquiries with the general manager and it seems that most of the villas are privately owned and rented out by the resort when the owners aren't in residence. We could easily buy one, if we wanted."

Harry sat back in his chair feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. What had started out as a casual question about juice had quickly escalated into an entire life shift. It was going to take him a minute to process.

"So would you be okay with moving here?"

Sirius was looking at his son nervously, and Harry realized that something really big must be happening to push him into giving such an outlandish idea real thought. The boy wasn't stupid. He knew that Sirius had been reading up on the whatever it was that had Harry rejected by the Dark Magic sensor on their arrival and he'd been waiting for his father to talk to him about it.

He also knew that he didn't want to leave his school and his friends behind to move halfway across the world where he didn't know anyone his own age and there was no Hogwarts to attend. But Sirius wouldn't suggest such a drastic action if he wasn't genuinely worried.

"No,'" he answered honestly. "Not even a little bit. But I will if you say so, Papa."

Harry was looking at Sirius with absolute faith and trust in his eyes. It was humbling for the man to see that his son would willingly turn his life upside down without a word of complaint if that was what Sirius thought best. It wasn't all that long ago that he'd had little faith in his own ability to be a parent, but he must be doing something right after all.

"Well," he hedged, "let's think on it a little more before we decide anything. Alright? We'll talk about it again in a day or two."

"Yes, sir," Harry responded tiredly as he got up from the lounger to head for his hanging bed. "Will you tell me about what's in that book you're reading then too?"

Sirius instantly froze for a second.

Of course he should have realized that his bright son would not be fooled.

Sirius hadn't exactly been hiding his worry over the past few days and the conversation they'd just had only served to confirm his son's suspicions. Harry turned to look at him expectantly and the worried father knew that the time had passed to protect his boy from the information he'd unearthed.

"Yes."

Satisfied, Harry threw him a tiny, sad smile before climbing onto the swinging pad and getting comfortable before closing his eyes.

**********HP**********

"What's the good word, Harry?"

Harry was angrily brooding on the edge of the giant pool, the detested golden egg gripped tightly in his hands as he threw George a poisonous glare.

"Cedric Diggory is an enormous git!"

The twins turned to each other and laughed. It wasn't often that they saw their young friend in such bad temper.

"That he is, mate," Fred agreed as the brothers towards the dining area for food.

Although Harry knew it was his own fault that Cho had been left in a lurch in the rose garden the night of the Yule Ball, he wasn't even close to forgiving Diggory for swooping right in and taking Harry's place.

Especially since Harry had already spent twenty minutes this morning submerged in the tub of his bungalow's bathroom while his ears bled from the deafening ruckus that poured out from the instrument of torture that he was currently holding like a ticking time bomb.

Take a bath, indeed.

He was so furiously preoccupied that he didn't even notice when his father called the Weasley twins over to the table where he was sitting in the afternoon sun and nursing a ridiculously colorful fruity drink with a large pair of earmuffs on his head.

It had just been the two of them in the villa once Remus and Ron left to have a life-sized game of wizard's chess out on their private beach.

This time with a set that wasn't inclined to kill them.

Arthur had taken Ginny to ride the seahorses on the other side of the island after lunch and Molly was out on a stroll over to the shops in the main resort building to look at souvenirs.

Sitting cross-legged on the pool deck, Harry was currently grumbling at the egg that had officially become the bane of his existence.

His father told him that he wouldn't mind if Harry tried to work out the puzzle of the egg while the others were out, regardless of the obnoxious noise it produced, and so the boy grudgingly opened the blasted thing multiple times and tried desperately to hear past the screeching for some clue that had so far evaded him.

The twins had been taking advantage of one of their last days at the resort to enjoy a spirited ride on their recently conjured copies of Harry's Firebolt Supreme when hunger pangs struck. Now coming back from their quick snack while Harry's egg was wailing, they'd slapped their hands over their ears and were making a run for the beach when Sirius waved wildly to get their attention.

A moment later, enormous grins bursting on their faces, the two mischief makers quickly mounted their brooms and started zooming at top speed around the pool. They buzzed Harry several times which only made him even more furious as he futilely tried to swat them away like winged pests and George was laughing so hard that he almost lost his balance when his twin, with an experienced beater's precision, shoved Harry and his squalling egg into the water.

For a split second Harry was pretty sure that he was going to hex Ron's brothers so badly it would render them unrecognizable to everyone including their parents until he realized that the egg had stopped its bloody screeching and was now singing beautifully to him instead.

Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

He was so startled that he didn't catch it all at first so he'd opened and closed it underwater an additional three times to make sure that he didn't miss any of the details. Triumphant, he'd sputtered to the surface to find his father sitting on the edge of the pool and grinning at him.

********HP**************

It was their last official day in paradise and the entire party had colorful blankets spread out on the sand of their private beach while the house elves were busy grilling burgers and sausages for their lunch buffet.

Molly was sitting on one of the blankets and smiling widely as she took photos of her brood romping around in the waves. Arthur and Remus were waist deep in the shallow with Ron and Ginny, re-casting the Bubble-head Charm on the two youngest redheads while Harry, who'd just about perfected the charm after two days of intense lessons with his father, was snorkeling a little further out with Sirius and the twins.

They were all tanned, happy and thoroughly rested.

It had been a good holiday.

When the food was ready, the elves sent up a spray of colorful sparks to the group out in the water and they all immediately swam towards shore. Hungry, thirsty and waterlogged, they were eager to partake of the endless array of delights they'd been provided with for the last nine days.

Ron and the twins shoved each other good-naturedly to queue up with their plates while Arthur and Remus were clapping loudly over the fact that Ginny had just managed to cast the Bubble-head Charm on her own.

Arthur's chest puffed up proudly.

His baby girl would become a formidable witch one day, just like her mum.

Harry had raced his father back to their blanket and they both dropped tiredly onto the sand with a laugh. Sirius loved to see his child so relaxed and carefree and it only made him want to stay where they were even more.

But first they needed to have a serious discussion about the contents of that evil little book.

And as much as he wanted to protect his son, he knew that in the end Harry needed to have a real say in how they proceeded. It wasn't fair to burden a child with such heavy responsibility, but they didn't have a choice.

Sirius could hide his child away from the world forever, but it would still be a cage.

A gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless.

And neither Potters, nor Blacks for that matter, did well in cages.

Whether Sirius wanted to or not, he knew the only way to give his son a life, a real life, would be to face the darkness that threatened him head-on.

And they would do it.

Together.