A.N. 9 thank you to all of you who reviewed.

Malena

"BONJOUR!" Harry yelled, ecstatic because of the new word he had learned. "Bonjourbonjourbonjour-"

"HARRY!" Sirius called. "Start unpacking!"

Still babbling, Harry Potter, who was now almost five years old, ran down the hallway of their new apartment, still repeating the word that their new neighbor had said that morning. Sirius doubted that Harry even knew what it meant, but he continued to say it.

They had moved, yet again. After about 2 months after Sirius and Harry had met Sandy, they had moved to Brazil, and then to a variety of other places, before stopping in Vietnam. Harry had had trouble transitioning languages, but he was getting better at it. Their neighbor was from France, a photographer that had moved to Vietnam. Harry seemed to like it there. It was only the second day, and he was already making friends with some of the other children in the apartment complex, even though he couldn't exactly understand what most of them were saying. There was the French woman's child, who could speak both French and English. Sirius had seen him on the way out to get groceries the other day while Harry was napping.

Sirius knew that they were going to be living there for probably only a month, since Harry would be starting kindergarten pretty soon, and Sirius wanted him to attend a school where they spoke a language he knew fluently. Harry only knew one word of French, which was one of the languages in Vietnam, and that was-

"BONJOUR!"

"HARRY! START YOUR UNPACKING!"
"Oui, Monsoir!"

Sirius frowned at Harry's new choice of words. "Where did you learn that?"
Harry came out, holding a picture in his little hands. "Felix said it to his daddy."

"Oh really? And who's Felix?" Sirius asked.

"Felix is the boy who lives next door," Harry said simply.

"When did you hear him talking to his daddy?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

Sirius frowned again. "Are the walls that thin?"

"I didn't hear it through the walls," Harry said, sounding as though he thought that Sirius was being quite ridiculous.

"How'd you hear him Harry?"

The child shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Sirius raised his eyebrow. "That's odd."

"Mmmhmm," Harry said, wiping off the picture and its frame that he still held in his hand.

"Sirius?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Why don't I have a Daddy?"

Sirius nearly dropped the box he was putting in the cupboard. "Harry, I already told you that your parents were killed by a very bad wizard. That's why you don't have a daddy."

"I know," Harry said, tracing the outline of the frame with one of his fingers. "But… you said that there was more… that you would tell me everything when I'm older."

"I know, Harry," Sirius sighed, not remembering saying that at all.

"Can you tell me now?"

Sirius sighed again and turned to look at his godson. "No, not yet."

"What about when I'm five. I'll be older then!" Harry said, looking up at his godfather with big his big green eyes. Lily's eyes…

"Maybe. Maybe when you're five," Sirius said, wiping sweat off of his forehead. There were extremely high temperatures in Vietnam. Harry grinned and ran off to his room, still clutching the picture in his hands.

~*~

Even after his first year of teaching at Hogwarts, several of the teachers still thought of him to be the same prank-playing student that he had once been. However, the times had changed, and now Remus was the one dismantling the Dungbombs and telling students off for talking in class. Although he thought that he wasn't as interesting as Professor McGonnogal, or as mystical as Professor Trelawny, he had heard from several students that he was their favorite teacher.

They, of course, knew nothing of his… disease, and he would have to hide away from everyone during that painful time. It was like he was a student again, running away during the full moon to the Shrieking Shack. He knew that there was a potion that could help the transformations, but the Potions Professor wasn't skilled enough to make it. No, Professor Hershwin wasn't very talented at all, and was rather annoying as well. He had been there when Remus was a student, although he had seemed less annoying then. He had just given them a book assignment and told them what to do, before sitting behind his desk and going to sleep. Remus rarely had to actually talk to Professor Hershwin back then, but now he had staff meetings, and had to spend almost every dinner sitting next to him. He was growing to be a huge nuisance, and Remus couldn't wait to be rid of him.

Remus walked down the hallway of Hogwarts, not wearing the usual teaching wardrobe, but instead wearing a simple black sweatshirt and beige slacks. It was almost a month before the school year actually started, and the staff was already having meetings about the upcoming year. Remus pushed open the door to the staff room and found himself face to face with-

"Hello Lupin," growled a sickeningly familiar voice. Remus glared at the man who stood before them.

"Hello Snape," Lupin said. "What are you doing here?"

"Haven't you heard?" Snape asked. "Professor Hershwin is retiring. Hogwarts is in need of a new Potions Master."

Remus vaguely remembered Snape being rather good at Potions.

"Ah, Remus," said Dumbledore, coming in after him. "I see you have arrived." Remus nodded and swept past Snape, choosing one of the mismatched chairs to sit in, far away from Snape. One by one the teachers trickled in. Some of them looked quite different. Professor McGonnogal was wearing a short-sleeved, light blue robe. Professor Sprout had on some Muggle gardening clothes, but still had her Witch hat perched on her flyaway hair. Trelawney hadn't changed her wardrobe, but had chosen a sickly smelling perfume that she must've marinated in that morning. Dumbledore was wearing his normal robes, and must've been rather hot, and Flitwick had chosen to be like Remus and wear all Muggle clothes. He was wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt and bright green shorts.

"I see that many of you have already gotten acquainted with our latest addition to the Hogwarts family."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"For those of you who haven't, this is Severus Snape. He was a student here a few years ago, and will be working as our Potions Master." Snape sneered around the room, stopping to glare at Remus. Remus knew very well why Snape hated him so much… it was Sirius' fault for the majority of it… it was because of Sirius that Snape knew that he was a werewolf. Remus just prayed that Snape wouldn't say anything to any of the students, for then Remus would most likely be fired or forced to resign.

Dumbledore had moved on to other matters of business, leaving Remus and Snape to loathe each other from across the room.

~*~

"Sirius!" yelled Harry. "SIRIUS!"

Sirius groaned and looked over at the clock. It was three a.m. What on earth could the boy need at this hour?

"I'm coming!" Sirius bellowed, throwing his blankets off of his legs and standing. It was dark and Sirius nearly tripped over the pile of clothes near his bed. Cursing, he walked down the hall to Harry's room.

"What is it, Harry?" Sirius asked. He could see the outline of his godson, sitting up in bed.

"Sirius, I'm all itchy," Harry said. Sirius flipped a switch and light flooded the room. Harry was scratching at his arms, before looking down at himself and saying, "Sirius… I've got spots."

Sirius' eyes got wide and he strode over to Harry's bed, sitting down next to him and examining the boy's arms. He was right. Little red spots littered his arms in random places.

"What on earth…" Sirius said. He picked up Harry and carried him to the living room, putting him on the couch. He turned on the lights and examined Harry under better light. Parts of his skin were irritated from scratching so much. Sirius didn't know what to say… he had never seen this before. Must be some sort of Muggle disease….

Sirius went and got a washcloth, wetted it and put it on Harry's arms, trying to scrub some of the dots off. They wouldn't come off.

"Sirius it really itches!" Harry said.

"I know Harry, I know," Sirius whispered. Suddenly he thought of someone who could help. He jumped up, and went to his room. He started to go through all of his drawers, searching for-

"Ah ha!" Sirius said triumphantly, holding up a creased piece of paper. It had Sandy's phone number on it. Sirius rushed over to the phone and started to dial all the necessary codes in order to reach Florida. He just prayed that she was still living there…

"Hello?" said a woman's voice when he finally got through.

"Sandy?" Sirius said urgently.

"Who is this?" snapped the woman.

"It's Sirius," he replied.

"Oh… Sirius Black?"

"Yes."

"Hi… how're you."

"Er-I'm doing fine, but I'm calling about Harry."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"He's got spots!"

There was silence on the other end for a second, before Sirius heard a faint voice in the background. "Who is it mommy?"

"No one Cameron, go play. Spots, you say?"

"Er… yes," Sirius replied. "They're all over him, and he says they're rather itchy."

"Ah, I think know what that is," Sandy said. "Cameron had it a few months ago."

"What is it?" Sirius asked desperately.

"Chicken Pox."

"He's turning into a chicken!?" Sirius exclaimed.

"No, no," Sandy laughed. "He's-he's not turning into a chicken."

"Well than what is it?!"
"It's… I don't know… Listen, perhaps you'd better come over. I can show you how to care for Harry while he has it."

Sirius paused for a moment, and looked over at Harry, who was scratching feverishly at some dots on his cheek.

"How will I get there? Apparating is dangerous across continents."

"Well, unless you have time to catch a plane," Sandy said, "You don't have much of a choice. We aren't connected to Floo Powder, for obvious reasons, and I doubt that you are too. I've done it loads of times. Hurry up. It'll only get worse the longer you wait."

Sirius paused again and said, "All right, give me your address."

He grabbed a pen and scribbled down what she said, before saying his farewell and hanging up the phone.

"Come on Harry, we're going on a little trip."

"Where," Harry asked, scratching his neck. "Are we going to a park!?"

"No, Harry, we're going to visit Sandy," Sirius picked up the five year old and a second later they had disappeared with a pop.

~*~

Remus took out the key to his flat. He never stayed there much, only in the summer, and he rented it out to Peter or another friend during that time. Today, he was surprised to find that the door was already unlocked, and slightly ajar. There were little shuffling noises coming from inside… Remus glared his eyes and pulled out his wand. That day had been bad enough, finding out that Severus Snape was going to be a new teacher there, and he didn't want to make things worse by getting killed.

Remus slowly pushed the door open, thankful for its silence, and walked inside. The shuffling noises were coming from the kitchen. Remus adjusted his grip and sprang around the corner, pointing his wand at the person who was standing in front of the open refrigerator.

"Hi Remus," Peter said, closing the door, with the jug of orange juice in one hand and a ham sandwich in the other. He looked at the wand that Remus still held tightly. "Going to curse me, eh?"

Remus sighed and lowered his wand. "What are you doing here Peter?"

"Waiting for you of course," Peter said, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Why who do you think I was?"

"I don't know…" Remus said uneasily.

"Well, I'm certainly not Sirius, if that's what you were thinking," Peter said, giving an uneasy laugh.

"Yeah… any news about him?" Remus asked, running a hand through his light brown hair.

"Not an inkling. It's like he disappeared…"

Peter got sort of a frightened look on his face, and sat down at the kitchen table.

"How was the meeting?" Peter asked.

"A disaster," Remus groaned. "Severus Snape is the new Potions Master."

Peter spit out the orange juice that he had just took a sip of. "What?!" He exclaimed. "But he was- wasn't he a Death Eater?"

"He was never convicted…" Remus said bitterly. "Honestly, I have no idea why Dumbledore hired him."

Peter sort of shifted his gaze to the floor and took another sip of orange juice.
"Why'd you come and visit me?" Remus asked, remembering that Peter had been waiting for him to arrive.

"Oh! Right…" Peter said. "I came to ask if you wanted to go to dinner with me and my new girlfriend."

"Wouldn't that be awkward? I mean, I'm not dating right now, so it'd just be you, me and her."

"She's bringing a friend for you!" Peter said happily. "You'll love her! She's funny, she's smart, she's gorgeous, what more could you want?"

Remus gave a smile and said, "Alright, I'll bite. When is it?"

"August 3rd, at the Leaky Cauldron."

~*~

Sirius appeared in a small living room, still holding his spotted godson. A woman was standing there, filing her nails. There was a girl that was Harry's age sitting on a couch, staring at the television with wide, unblinking eyes.

"There you are," Sandy said. "Took you long enough. Good to see you made it in one piece."

"I'm itchy," Harry proclaimed.

"Yep," Sandy said, taking a look at Harry's arm. "Definitely chicken pox. The best thing to do would be to give him an oatmeal bath."

Sirius raised his eyebrow. "An oatmeal bath."

"Don't ask, just follow me." Sandy led the both of them out of the room, and into one of the bathrooms in the flat.

"Fill the tub halfway with water, I'll be right back."
Sirius sat Harry on the counter near the sink, and turned the taps. A minute later Sandy reappeared, holding a box of oatmeal.

"Alright Harry, time for a bath," Sirius said, lifting the tee shirt that Harry wore to bed off.

"I don't want to take a bath," Harry said, sticking out his upper lips and crossing his arms.

"I'm sure that they have some toys that you could play with," Sirius said. Sandy started to pour oatmeal into the bath water, before they left Harry to get finished undressing.

A minute later Harry was yelling out, "SIRIUS! SIRIUS!"

Sirius walked back into the bathroom. "What's the matter, Harry?"
"There are things floating in this water," Harry said, lifting up his hand that had soggy oatmeal in it.
"It's supposed to be like that," Sirius said, pulling some pieces of oatmeal out of Harry's messy black hair.

"It's gross," Harry said, dropping the goop into the water.

"It'll help your chicken pox."

Harry splashed around a bit more, before asking if there were any toys that he could play with.

"Er… sure," Sirius picked up one of Cameron's toys from the floor. "Here you go."

Harry looked horrified. "Sirius no!"
"What's wrong with it?" Sirius asked. "It's just a horse."

"It's pink!" Harry gasped. "I can't play with a girl's toy! It might have cooties!"

Sirius laughed and put the toy back where he found it. "Well then, you won't have anything to play with. You only have to stay in there for a few more minutes."

Harry frowned and continued splashing the oatmeal water everywhere. Suddenly the door creaked open, and Cameron walked in.

"MOMMY!" She shrieked. "THERE ARE BOYS IN HERE!"

"I know Cameron," Sandy said. "You remember Harry and Sirius, don't you?"

"MOMMY! THEY COULD GIVE US COOTIES!" Cameron continued to scream.

"Oh Cameron, be quiet," Sandy snapped. "We don't want to disturb the neighbors."

"Harry, I think you've had enough time soaking," Sirius looked at Harry's fingers. "You're getting all pruney."

Harry started to stand up, and Cameron went screaming from the bathroom.

"MOMMY! ONE OF THE BOYS IS NAKED! IN MY TUB!"
"That's nice, sweetie," Sandy said calmly. "Sirius, the towels are in the closet."

"Thanks, Sandy," Sirius went and grabbed one big towel, and Harry started to dry himself off. After Harry was dressed again, Sirius rubbed his hair until it was merely damp and sticking up in all directions.

"Why don't you go out and watch TV with Cameron," Sandy called from the kitchen. "I'll make you a snack."

"Actually, Sandy, we'd better get back home. It's still the middle of the night at our house," Sirius said, walking into the kitchen with Harry beside him.

"I'm not tired, Sirius," Harry said, pulling at Sirius' pajama pant's leg.

"Sirius, you're welcome to camp out in the guest room for the rest of the night. Harry can have an extended nap later."

"No, no that's quite alright," Sirius yawned. He followed Sandy back into the kitchen. "Thank you for your help Sandy."

"You're welcome. It was no problem. Cameron came down with it a few months ago. I got it as well, so I know perfectly well how to take care of it."

"I have to thank you somehow. Perhaps… dinner?" Sirius asked.

Sandy raised one of her eyebrows. "Dinner, eh? And would this, Mr. Black, be a ploy just to get me in bed?"

Sirius looked horrified. "NO! This is just a… wait…" He saw that Sandy was sniggering as she was spreading jelly on a piece of bread.

"Believe it or not, Mr. Black, your reputation has spread far and wide, and it has even reached little old me."

"So, is that a yes?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"No. It's a no. There's no way in hell I'm going to let another man so much as touch me, ever again," Sandy said. "You've heard about my past, there's been nothing but bad things with men."

"Oh, so you don't swing that way?"

Sandy burst into laughter again. "I-I didn't say that! I just mean that if- oh stop laughing!"

Sirius was the one laughing now. He couldn't stop for several minutes, that is, until Sandy smacked him upside the head.
"But-but really, I need to repay you somehow," Sirius finally managed to choke out.

Sandy thought for a moment and said very slowly. "I have an idea."

"Name it."

Sandy lowered her voice. "You see, Cameron isn't what you'd call a people person. She doesn't have any friends at daycare, just an invisible friend named Alice."

"Oh… well, it'll be a little hard to keep up a friendship this far away, wouldn't it?"

"No, not really," Sandy said. "Just have Harry send Cameron a letter every so often. She likes mail. And perhaps during the summers they could get together."
"But at that park, they couldn't stand each other," Sirius said. "Do you really think that they can be friends?"

Sandy grabbed Sirius by the jaw and turned his head to look at the living room. Both of the kids were sitting side by side, staring at the TV, where some giant yellow bird was dancing around."

"Shouldn't take that long, don't you think?" Sandy said, letting go of Sirius.

"Y-yeah," Sirius said, yawning again. "Alright, you've got a deal."

"Good," Sandy said. "Now, go take a nap, you're tired and you have to work later."

Sirius rolled his eyes, while Sandy told him how to get to the guestroom. Sirius took her advice however, and fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Sirius awoke a few hours later, to the sound of Harry and Cameron giggling madly, and the sound of the TV. He scratched his cheek and rolled out of the bed. He walked ran a hand through his hair and walked out to the living room.

"Harry," He yawned, trying to scratch his back. "We've got to get home."

"Look!" Cameron cried. "Sirius is spotty too!"
Harry giggled and Sirius looked down at his arms. He was covered in little red spots…