It's now looking like this story will have six chapters.

To the surprise of Sirius, when they arrived at Grimmauld Place Kreacher greeted the three wizards with deep bows. "Kreacher is happy to have the noble heroes of Hogwarts back home. Kreacher was not notified when they left to go to the Ministry that they would not be back." He stared at them, obviously waiting for an explanation.

"We're so sorry, Kreacher." Hermione knelt down. "We really planned to return, but things got messy at the Ministry. If we'd returned, we would have been caught by the Death Eaters."

"We really missed you, Kreacher," Ron added. "Especially your wonderful cooking."

Kreacher gave a slow nod. "Kreacher understands. Kreacher will make you a wonderful welcome back meal." The whole time, Kreacher had not looked at Sirius, but now he turned to the spirit and glared. "Kreacher will ignore the almost invisible blood traitor."

"You little …"

Harry interrupted Sirius. "That's enough, Kreacher. Sirius helped us out. If Regulus was here, he'd embrace his brother."

The House Elf gave this some thought. "If Master Regulus and Master Harry vouch for the almost invisible one, Kreacher will accept him." He slunk out the door mumbling under his breath something that Harry successfully ignored.

Sirius stared after him. "That's almost as impressive as offing old Voldy. What did you do – Imperius him?"

Hermione stood up. "We treated him with kindness."

Sirius snorted. "There had to be something else, but it's not important - as long as he treats you right. When he backslides, though, just give him a swift kick. That will remind him who his master is. It worked for me."

Harry gave Sirius a disappointed look. "It won't be necessary. Come on, let's get settled in before dinner."

As the three ate their roast beef, Sirius began to regale them with tales from his youth. "James and I met on the train, you know. I knew from the start that we'd be best mates."

Harry looked up eagerly. "What was he really like?"

"Oh, he was so self-assured that he was a bit cocky. His parents had spoiled him, you see. As you know, he was an only child. When we were sorted into Gryffindor together, I knew right away the school would never be the same. Between the two of us, we were able to come up with great ideas for pranks. Remus and Peter, may he be cursed, were able to help us so we got away far more than we were caught. When his Dad gave him the invisibility cloak and we were able to finish the Marauder's Map we were unstoppable! It was brilliant! There were times …" He finally noticed that the three had stopped eating. "Look, it was all in good fun. Everyone had a good laugh,"

"Everyone?" asked Ron. "George and Fred sometimes went too far; even I'll admit it. You never did with all your advantages?"

"Never. Oh, we might have caused a few Hufflepuffs to cry, but they're inclined to do that, you know. The only time the Ravenclaws got upset was when we disturbed their studying." Sirius thought a moment and frowned. "Though I have to admit that was most of the time. And the Slytherins deserved it, of course," he added quickly.

Harry pushed around some peas. "Luring Snape down to the Shrieking Shack? Attacking him during the O.W.L.s?"

"Well, we might have gone a bit too far with him. But no one forced Snivellous to go down the tunnel. Even Dumbledore saw our point and barely punished me. I got more grief from your Dad and Remus than from the Headmaster. As for the O.W.L. incident, Snape had just slashed open your Dad's face. We couldn't let that stand. Snivellous gave as good as he got – no need to feel sorry for him."

Harry looked at him in the eye. "Don't call him Snivellous," he admonished. "He saved my life more than once. You're saying Snape attacked you first after your Defense O.W.L? That's not how I saw it in Snape's pensieve."

The ghost looked uncomfortable. "Well, maybe I'm wrong in that case. Or maybe the git somehow faked the memory. In any case," Sirius hurried on, "there were other occasions where he was the instigator!"

"So you still think it was fine to gang up on one person? Did you ever think about how your victims felt?"

"Look, I admit we were berks sometimes, but we were only teenagers, and we were good at judging people. The only ones we really hurt were those who later became Death Eaters."

Hermione put down her fork so hard it thudded. "Or maybe they became Death Eaters because of the way the good and noble Gryffindors treated them."

Ron held up his hands, "Hold your Abraxans, Hermione. Don't blame Sirius for students who became Death Eaters after graduation. There were plenty who never went to school with him, and even some of those that did, would have joined …" he gulped but went on, "Voldemort in any case."

"But even if there were only a handful, that was too many," Harry stubbornly insisted. Hermione put a calming hand on his arm.

Sirius mirrored Ron. "As I said, we were only teenagers. Besides, most of our pranks were pretty funny. Let me tell you about some of them."

In the following weeks, Sirius learned to edit which stories to tell by the expressions on the faces of the three. He pushed aside events that he thought the three wizards might not understand and they began to slip his mind entirely.

July slid by quickly. Though he suspected Sirius was deliberately hiding some events, Harry enjoyed talking with Sirius. He learned a lot about his parents, and even a bit about his grandparents, both during their time at Hogwarts and afterwards. He began to put personalities to the people in the pictures he had in the photo album Hagrid had given him. Sirius also expounded upon his various skirmishes with Death Eaters in the first war. By the end of the month, he had the stories that Sirius told him memorized.

Ron began to make daily visits to the Burrow, occasionally accompanied by Harry or Hermione. In early August Ron returned home to the Burrow for a more extended stay. He came back to Grimmauld Place two weeks later. To Harry's delight, Ginny was with him.

"I've missed you," Harry told her, wrapping his arms around her. He waited to hear the sentiment returned.

To his surprise, Ginny freed herself from his arms, took out her wand, and attacked him with the bat-bogey hex. Harry could hear Sirius roaring with laughter.

"Hey, what was that for?" Harry demanded as he frantically shooed bats away from his nose.

"Harry Potter, if you ever leave me like that again you'll get far worse!"

"But Ginny," Harry asked bemusedly, "I've seen you since the battle."

"Yeah, but you weren't in any shape for me to tell you that then."

Ron and Harry looked at each other in confusion, but Hermione nodded. "Anyway," the older witch said, "Ron and I had plans to go to Diagon Alley to get some things that we need, and we have to get going."

"We do?" Ron asked bemusedly.

"Yes, Ronald, we do."

Ron finally understood the silent message from Hermione and headed to the door.

Harry and Ginny headed to the living room. "Umm, is it safe to hold your hand?" Harry asked tentatively.

Ginny laughed as she pulled him down onto the sofa. "More than safe."

As the two started to embrace, they suddenly felt a chill. They jumped back to either side of the sofa as Sirius appeared between them, laughing. "Hey, Prongslet, did I ever tell you about the time James and Lily went to a muggle movie? He didn't know I knew they were going there that night, so I snuck in and hit him with a thirst spell just as he was about to begin snogging. While he was getting something to drink, I sat beside Lily. Since some muggle had sat on her other side – I may have encouraged him a bit, but don't tell anyone - Prongs didn't have any choice but to sit next to me. The best part was that since we were surrounded by muggles he couldn't do anything. He was mad at first, but soon he was laughing with me so hard that the people around us told us to shush up. Lily was so embarrassed she pretended she didn't know us." Sirius stopped laughing when he noticed they were staring at him in disgust and disappointment. "Don't you think that's hysterical?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, we don't," Harry said scathingly. "Look, Sirius, what's funny to you is not necessarily funny to everyone else. Would you mind giving us some privacy?"

"If that's how you feel about it. Your father had more of a sense of humor," the spirit huffed.

"Yeah, well, I'm not him. I just finished a year of wandering around the countryside, living in a tent and hunting bits of an insane megalomaniac, culminated by being killed and killing in turn the darkest wizard Britain has seen in fifty years. Right now, I just want time with my girlfriend."

As Sirius floated out of the room, Harry looked after him and sighed. "I think I hurt his feelings. I need to apologize."

Ginny grabbed his arm before he could stand up. "Or you could wait until after we've become reacquainted."

Harry grinned. "I like that idea better."

Harry didn't see Sirius the rest of the day, but the next morning the spirit seemed to have forgotten all about the incident.

Two days later, the four sat around the kitchen table making plans for the day. "I've always wanted to just go to the shore to relax." Harry suggested. "Away from the wizarding world. You know, a place where no one knows who I am."

Ron nodded. "I used to envy you, you know. But getting stared at all the time is getting annoying."

Sirius drifted in between Harry and Hermione. "Nah, beaches are no fun when you can't swim. How about we head to muggle London?"

"Too hot this time of year with all the crowds," Hermione protested. "But you don't have to go with us. Why don't you go to muggle London while we hit the beach?"

"No, I'll go with you." He suddenly smiled. "It'll be great to see all the birds in swimsuits!"

"Excuse me, Sirius, but you're talking about Ginny and Hermione," pointed out Harry icily.

Sirius realized his mistake and started over. "Have I told you about the time James and Lily went to the beach? Lily was wearing this adorable two-piece outfit that had James …"

"I get the point. Anyway, does that sound like a plan everyone?"

Everyone scattered. Harry and Ginny were the first two to returned to the kitchen. Ginny looked around carefully. "Harry – does Sirius have to be with you every minute?"

"That's not fair Ginny – it's not every minute."

"Close enough. Doesn't he have a life?"

"Actually, no, he doesn't."

Ginny snorted. "Badly phrased. But he's been like an overeager krup you can't escape."

"Are you getting a krup? I've always wanted one," Sirius said as he floated through the wall. "Ron and Hermione said to tell you they'll be down in a minute. Hermione is helping Ron transfigure shorts into a swimsuit with a pocket for a wand – the type that you use for spells, that is."

Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes, but Harry worried about how much Sirius had overheard.

One night towards the end of August, the four were enjoying a relaxing evening by playing Exploding Snap in the parlor when Sirius came over and floated behind Hermione. "Stop! Hold on to the Mountain Trolls! You'll …" he stopped abruptly when Hermione put down her entire hand. "I do know how to play, Sirius."

"I was just trying to help!"

Harry looked between the two of them. "Hey, Sirius – maybe you can find something else to do while we finish this game."

"Well, if that's how you feel, I'll just leave," said the ghost in a huff and he drifted out the room.

Harry stared after him. "Uh oh, I think I hurt his feelings again." He started to get up.

"Give him a bit of time, mate," Ron suggested. "Let him calm down first. Your turn is next."

When Harry found Sirius in the kitchen an hour later, he found the ghost looking longingly at a bottle of firewhisky that had been left out. "I can't even pick it up," he said mournfully.

Harry sat down. "Look, Sirius, I love spending time with you and hearing your stories, but I can't spend every minute with you."

"But I came back to be with you!"

Harry sighed. "I know, and I appreciate that. But I need to spend time with others, too, and they don't always appreciate your company."

"Yeah, sometimes I felt like a third wheel with James and Lily too."

"Hey, it's only a few days until school starts, and then you'll be coming back to Hogwarts with us. Can you just give me a bit of space until then?"

"Of course, Prongslet! I understand. I'll find something else to do. Is all forgiven?"

Harry nodded, happy that everything was working out.

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