5. Two birthdays
The next thing both of them knew was Ronja dancing on their bed in the morning. Sirius groaned, grabbed the child, pulled her under the duvet and murmured:
"Happy birthday, Ronja. Come, sleep a little still, Daddy and I are still terribly tired."
"Can't I get up?" Ronja asked.
"No, it's too early, love. We've been working until well into the night, we need some sleep still," said Remus categorically.
"You worked?"
"Yes, love. We are setting up wards. Now shhh! And try to get a little sleep still," Remus said and covered his daughter. She sighed and obediently closed her eyes, cuddling up to Remus who held her tightly.
They actually still got another hour of sleep. Then Rashid turned up and quietly climbed into bed next to Sirius. Sirius pulled him close in his sleep and never noticed him until he woke up. He looked around and grinned. Both children were sleeping again. Sirius carefully stretched. Slowly he sat up and moved Rashid to the middle of the bed. Then he got up and went to the bathroom. He was still a little self-conscious walking around in the nude like Remus did, but he got used to it again. After all that had never been a problem when they had been together at first. He padded back to the bedroom and started to dress. Ronja was the next to move again. She lifted her head and smiled when she saw Sirius up.
"You're up, Siri! May I get up now too?"
"You may, Ronja. It's your birthday after all!"
"Do I get a party, Siri?"
"Together with Harry, but you're not to know that, okay? You'll still have a cake and all today. But I hope you're not too mad at me because you'll only get my present when it's going to be Harry's birthday."
"Oh no. It will be nice to get something then still!" she reasoned.
"Well, you're a very good girl, little one. Breakfast?"
"Yes. I'm hungry."
"I've got my clothes on. Let's go get you dressed and then down to start breakfast, okay?"
"Mhm. I want to put on my favourite dress!"
"You'll have to get it out then."
"Can I go and wake Harry?"
"Rather not, Ronja, he surely didn't sleep very much in the past four weeks, and we'd like him to get a good rest, before he goes back to Hogwarts. His next year there will be an important one."
"Oh. I see."
The two of them went out of the room. Rashid scooted up to Remus. That woke Remus up. He opened his eyes and smiled at the child.
"Good morning, love. Looks like we've been left behind by the rest of the family."
"Breakfast, Daddy? Rashid hungry."
"Yes, Rashid, just let me get up and then I'll get you dressed."
"Nappy away!" Rashid demanded.
Remus sat up and pulled Rashid's pyjama pants down, then removed the nappy and pulled the pyjama pants up again.
"Better?"
"Much better," Rashid grinned.
"Can't have been comfortable anymore. Let's get rid of this..."
Rashid followed Remus into the bathroom and watched him taking a quick shower and shaving magically, then Remus went back to his bedroom to get dressed. After that he picked Rashid up and went to the children's bathroom with him, to wash him and then get his son dressed.
"It's your sister's birthday today, so what do you want to wear, Rashid?"
"Robes," Rashid declared.
"Robes? Really? Usually you complain about them."
Remus pulled a set of tiny robes from the wardrobe and took a pair of tiny underpants from the chest of drawers. He dressed Rashid and let him out of his room. While the boy went downstairs Remus threw a quick glance into Harry's room. He was still sleeping and Remus let him. He went down to meet the other part of the family in the kitchen. There was a letter from Anna on the counter, together with the gift for Ronja. Remus greeted them:
"Good morning, everyone. And happy birthday, Ronja. You really look lovely today. And you're even wearing a dress!"
She beamed up at him. She wasn't often able to surprise him and she knew exactly that he liked to see her wearing robes or a dress.
"Why? Is that unusual?" Sirius asked.
"Meet Miss jeans, Siri..." Remus replied.
Sirius laughed.
"That's why you had to look for it, Ronja!"
She blushed. Then she smiled again as Sirius levitated her a plate with her breakfast. He had cooked her favourite food and she dug in. Remus sat down and poured a cup of tea, then he took a piece of toast and buttered it. He added jam, cut the toast into small bits and handed the plate to Rashid. He carefully pulled the sleeves of the robes back and summoned a bib to protect the garment while his son ate.
"There you are. Would you like some chocolate milk, Rashid?"
"Yes, please."
"Coming your way, young man!" Sirius said, floated a cupful over and set it down in front of Rashid who giggled.
"Show-off!" Remus said and made a kissing mouth.
"I'm just enjoying my little bits of magic left to me..." Sirius grinned.
Then Remus read Anna's letter. He passed it on to Sirius.
"Read that. It's for you as good as for me."
Sirius picked the letter up and read it. It was a silent goodbye that Anna left them. She would be away for two months and asked them not to look for her. She promised to be back a while before the baby would be born.
"Mum says happy birthday to you, Ronja," Remus said.
"Is she not coming?" Ronja asked.
"No, she left last night. She'll be back when school will already have started again, love."
"Here?"
"No, she has her own place now. You can visit her over the weekends if you want. She'll have a room for you and one for Rashid."
"Oh. Okay. Maybe sometime..." Ronja said.
They heard footsteps on the staircase. Ronja jumped up.
"Harry!" she called and ran out of the kitchen to greet him.
"Good morning, Ronja. And happy birthday!" Harry said.
"Thank you, Harry. Want some breakfast?"
"I'm coming, Ronja. I'm sorry that I don't have a present for you, but you'll get something from me a little later, okay?"
"You're nice, Harry!"
"Thank you, Ronja. You give nice compliments," Harry said, smiling, while he stepped into the kitchen and wished everyone a good morning.
There were two owls soaring through the window. One brought Harry's school letter, the other one brought Harry an additional letter from Hogwarts. Remus knew immediately what that meant. He smiled. Harry took both letters and one of the owls perched on the back of his chair while the other flew out of the window again. Harry looked at the owl, a bit puzzled, then opened the letter it had delivered. Out fell a prefect's badge and a short letter:
Dear Mr Potter
You have been chosen to be one of Gryffindor's prefects this year. Kindly send your acceptance back to Hogwarts as soon as possible. The owl is to wait for your answer.
Sincerely
M. McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
On a second sheet were the names of the other prefects in his year.
List of Fifth Year Prefects 1995:
Gryffindor:Hermione Granger
Harry Potter
Hufflepuff:Susan Bones
Ernie McMillan
Ravenclaw:Lisa Turpin
Terry Boot
Slytherin:Millicent Bulstrode
Blaise Zabini
"HA!" Harry threw a fist in the air.
"What is it?" Sirius asked.
"Malfoy has not been made a prefect! Yay!" Harry said, happy.
"Now there's some good news. But you have made it?"
"Yes. Don't know why exactly, but well, this thing here does look like a prefect's badge, doesn't it?" Harry grinned and held it up.
"Who's the other prefect? Hermione?" Remus asked.
"That was no question. She was going in the direction of that from the first year. There's no one who'll bet against her becoming head girl in seventh year, believe me!"
Remus laughed.
"That would be Hermione, yes. She'll be a good prefect."
"She'll ride on the rules like a walking rulebook, Remus!" Harry protested.
"You'll even it out, Harry. Your Dad was a pretty lenient prefect, had to be, what with being part of the Marauders," Sirius said, laughing.
"I just hope, Ron will be okay with it. He's rather like the twins though, he doesn't have the ambition to become prefect at all."
"Then he shouldn't be a problem."
"Remus, Hermione had a good idea yesterday. Is there a spell that would change Hedwig's feathers brown? She'd be less conspicuous then and since so many people know I have a snowy owl I'm almost afraid to send her out for anything."
"I'd have to look that up, but it's a good idea, Harry. Off my head...Siri, you used to turn the Slytherin's hairs green all the time, do you remember the spell?"
"I think I do. Would you let me try, Harry?"
"Sure, as long as you're sure not to hurt her! She'll be miffed at you forever!"
"Can't risk that."
Harry went to look for ink and a quill. Remus sent him to his study. He came back to the kitchen, wrote his acceptance on the prefect's letter and attached it on the owl's leg. Remus had fed it already.
"Here! Bring that back to Hogwarts, dear!" Harry said and stroked the owl over the head. With a hoot the owl took off and flew out of the window.
Ronja picked up the badge.
"What's a prefect?" she asked.
"That's a student who has more responsibility than others, Ronja. And a few privileges. Harry is supposed to be a model student now," Remus explained with a bit of a grin.
The day was spent with everyone's attention on Ronja. They all played with her until she almost broke down. In the afternoon Remus went to make tea and brought the cake to the coffee table. Sirius had the camera ready to take a picture when Ronja blew out the candles. They had the cake and tea while she opened her gifts. There was one from her Dad, one from her mother, one from each of her grandfathers and one from her aunt, her mother's younger sister. Remus made a mental note of who sent what and would sit Ronja down to send a thank you note to them all.
They had a lot of fun throughout the day. When it was over, Ronja went to bed all happy and tired. Remus wrote letters to Molly Weasley and the Grangers to invite them all to Harry's party two days later.
By the next morning a now brown Hedwig brought him the reply from the Grangers, while Molly called Remus through Floo.
"Professor Lupin?"
Remus rushed to the fireplace.
"Oh, hello Mrs Weasley! You're lucky, Harry is out of the house right now."
"Good, I hoped it would be early enough for him to still be asleep. Ron is still sleeping anyway. We'd love to come. Can we use the Floo?"
"Yes, we just have to enable it for you, all you need to do is call and I'll open it for a short time."
"Can I help you with something? Cooking or something else perhaps?"
"No, that's okay, I'm getting it all done with Sirius, thank you, Mrs Weasley. So, who will come?"
"Ron, Ginny, the twins, Bill and I. Arthur might join us later, he's been so busy at the Ministry lately that I don't know."
"That's fine. Harry is still absolutely clueless!"
"That's good. See to it that it stays that way. It will be more fun. And please, do call me Molly!"
"Then you must call me Remus, Molly. See you tomorrow then."
"See you tomorrow! Oh, can I at least make the cake?"
"Yes, that would be lovely! I've heard talking of your cakes. Only praise!"
"Harry would know."
Molly smiled, waved and vanished.
Later that morning, Harry came into the house, went up to his room and gathered some of his homework to study in the dining room. When he came down, Remus told him:
"Harry, Anna has taken all her things out of her room. Would you like to have it? It's much nicer than the spare room upstairs. We'll have to change that one to the nursery soon. Sorry to shove you around like this, but I rather do it before you have got too accustomed to it. Come and see it..."
He showed Harry the room and said:
"That will be your room whenever you come home, Harry."
"Okay, Remus."
"You'll have the bathroom here for your convenience, too. The toilet gets used of course, but it's yours."
"Thanks. It's true, it's quite a bit larger than the one upstairs."
"Which will be okay for a nursery and then a small child. We'd rather have the little ones still under our eyes for a while."
"Shall I move my stuff down here right now?"
"Yes, if you want to... "
"Okay, I'll do that."
Remus left Harry to it and went to put his shopping list for the next day together. Harry's Hogwarts letter still lay on the counter and he went back to ask him:
"Harry, do you want to come to the Diagon Alley with me? You could get your books and what you need for the school year..."
"I thought I'd do that with Hermione and Ron..."
"You can still meet them, but you're not to go alone this summer, sorry. You'll have to put up with me coming along."
"That's fine. I know it's necessary. I'll gladly come along today."
"Great. We'll floo over after lunch."
Sirius did the baby-sitting while Remus took Harry to the Diagon Alley where they shopped for the more special things Remus needed for the party the next day. Harry didn't even recognise most of the things he bought. Remus shrank everything he could, so they didn't have to carry heavy loads. Then they bought Harry's school books and since he seemed to be in the middle of a growth spurt, Remus suggested:
"You might get your new robes with Ron and Hermione later on, because the way you seem to be growing right now, three weeks can make a difference..."
"Good idea. I'll need dress robes again. Do you think that means another ball?"
Remus laughed.
"Hopefully! Don't miss any of those balls, Harry, they're so much fun."
"I didn't have any fun the last time."
"Why not?"
Harry blushed.
"Well, first of all the girl I wanted to go with already had a partner and that hurt."
"May I ask who that was?" Remus asked, curious.
"Cho Chang," Harry said after hesitating for a moment.
"Cho Chang... she's a year ahead of you in Ravenclaw, isn't she? Lovely girl and very smart. Ravenclaw Seeker..."
"Yes, that's her. She's really nice. But she went with Cedric..."
"Oh no... that's hard."
"My own fault, I guess. I asked her too late."
"So who did you take?"
"Parvati."
"Well, beauty is certainly there..."
"Oh, Parvati is nice and all, just a bit in love with Divination. But she really didn't have much fun with me. I'm a lousy dancer."
"Hm. Now that we can fix. I'll teach you!"
"You can dance? Lucky you. I feel so clumsy."
"That's just until you get the patterns. You should have fun if you feel sure on the dance floor. Ask Ginny to the ball, that's a sure yes..."
"But then she might think..."
Harry stopped.
"Oh..." he made.
"What was that?" Remus asked with that mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Nothing," Harry said.
They were on their way back to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry heard someone call him.
"Hey, Harry! Oh, hello, Professor Lupin!" It was Parvati who was shopping for her school supplies with Padma and Lavender.
"Hi Harry!"
"Hi girls!"
"Hello Parvati, Padma, Lavender," Remus said.
"Having a nice summer, Harry? Are the Muggles treating you okay?" Lavender asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, Lavender. They're not too bad. Professor Lupin offered to take me to do the shopping this year."
"Great. We miss you, Professor! You should come back to Hogwarts and teach again," Padma said.
"Better not. I know your parents and they wouldn't say anything negative, but there's too many who would. So I don't think I'll be back."
"That's a shame. I'm starting to get a bit sick and tired from having a new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher every year," Parvati supported her sister's opinion.
"I think so, too, but he won't listen," said Harry with a grin.
After a while Remus nodded to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Sorry, girls, we have to go. See you on the Hogwarts Express!"
"See you, Harry! Have a nice rest of the break. Say hello to Ron and Hermione when you see them..." Parvati said and the others said their goodbyes, too.
They returned to the Lupin home and Remus went to stow his groceries away. He had to leave for the normal shop once more to get the rest. This time he left Harry behind who told Sirius about the conversation with the girls.
"...and then Padma asked Remus to come back to Hogwarts and teach again. He went all pink!"
Sirius smiled, but he sighed.
"He's too afraid that something could happen to someone. He really loved to teach, Harry. And I'm sure he was sad to go, but he thought it was for the best. And I'm quite convinced that if he asked for it he could have the job back. But I know he won't. He'll have a couple of excuses, too, the children and the new baby and everything here..."
"It's so bloody unfair!" Harry said, frustrated.
"It is. It's the way werewolves are treated, Harry. Most of those who know what he is condemn him for it. I often wanted to scream when I saw examples. He's got the respect of many people luckily. And I know he'll hold on as long as he got that. He's very attached to Hogwarts, but I doubt he'll return as a teacher."
Harry sat down to do some of his homework. He read the Transfiguration text and tried to work out the meaning of it. It was a rather difficult to understand bit and finally Harry called Sirius to help. Sirius smiled and sat down. He asked Harry questions until Harry understood the problem and was able to work it out. Sirius read the essay when it was finished and said:
"Well done, Harry. Should give you a good mark, the way I know McGonagall."
Harry followed Sirius out of the dining room to the living room where Rashid was running after Ronja. She ran out to the terrace, then through the garden, with Rashid on the pursuit and then back to the terrace and into the living room where both toppled over and Ronja started to tickle Rashid. Both were giggling and seemed to have great fun.
"Sometimes they play together so sweetly," Sirius said.
Remus came back and saw the children rolling around on the floor, mock fighting. He greeted them and put the rest of his shopping away. After dinner and after the children were in bed they played a few rounds of Exploding Snap. Finally, Harry went to bed. Remus and Sirius went upstairs slowly and talked quietly about the plans for the next day.
"I'll have to go and pick up the puppy. She's the cutest little Dalmatian, Siri. With blue eyes!"
"I hear blue eyes are quite frequent in Dalmatians."
"So it seems. She's four months old and housebroken. Shouldn't be a big problem then, just the discipline thing."
"Well, we'll get through that. Ronja will be excited, I think."
"I think so, too. I don't mind having a pet to care for, because Ronja is too small to do everything, but I know she'll gladly feed her and play with her."
"We're there to watch over them."
"We are. I'm glad you say 'we', Padfoot. You are really becoming part of the family now. You don't even have an idea how happy that makes me. The children, too, they're much closer to you already than they ever were to Anna."
"Must have been that you monopolised them, love," Sirius teased.
"Did not! She does like them, but she definitely keeps them at distance."
Remus pulled Sirius into the bedroom and closed the door, then he was all around him and kissed him. Sirius gave him everything back right away. Thin summer clothes were quickly strewn over the floor and they rolled around on the bed.
"It gets more precious, when you have to stick to the night, doesn't it?" Remus asked, caressing Sirius' face afterwards.
"Well, there's no quick shags somewhere in the house anymore, that's for sure," Sirius confirmed, "I guess you're right on that one. I don't love you any less, Remy."
"I know. I do love the sex with you, it's still important to me."
"Thank you so much for giving it to me, love."
"I get enough back..." Remus sighed.
It had been a warm day and it was a warm night now, and they didn't even need any sheets or even a duvet, they lay naked and sated on the bed, content and tired. Remus slowly drifted off to sleep, soon followed by Sirius. Only to be awoken a few hours later by screams coming from Harry's room. Both jumped and quickly dressed into shorts before running down. Harry sat in bed, screaming, his eyes shut tightly and there were a few drops of blood on his scar. Sirius pulled him into his arms and rocked him until he woke up. It took another ten minutes, and while the screaming faded away, Harry wouldn't wake up and continued to shake.
"Harry, Harry, it's okay. It's a dream..." Sirius said in a low voice.
Finally, Harry woke up. By now, even Ronja and Rashid had woken up and Remus went to bring them back to bed.
"Do you remember anything from the dream, Harry?" Sirius asked.
Harry nodded. Tears ran down his cheeks and he said:
"There was a raid somewhere. I couldn't see where it was, but there were a lot of people. It must have been some place where there were a few wizards, because the Death Eaters attacked and killed a few of them. I saw some apparating away, but in any case Wormtail was there, because his silver hand was easy to see! He doesn't even cover it, Sirius! There must have been about half a dozen people killed. And Voldemort right in the middle of them, torturing them."
Sirius drew a long breath. That sounded like a report in the Daily Prophet fifteen years before. It had started again. He wondered whether there would be any mentioning of the incident in the Daily Prophet the next day. For the moment he calmed Harry down until he could go back to sleep and then went back up to mull it all over in his head. And to tell Remus about it.
The next morning they all got up a little later, after their sleep had been disrupted. Once they were all in the kitchen for the breakfast and everyone had wished Harry a happy birthday, they looked at the Daily Prophet. And gaped, because not only was there a report (albeit rather short), there was a mention of a Death Eater with a silver hand.
"One step closer to being recognised, Pettigrew!" Sirius growled.
Remus read on:
"The attack hit two families of mixed Muggle/Wizard background and two adults as well as two children were killed. The Dark Mark above the houses is the second time we've seen it in the past twelve months. The Ministry disclaims any connection to the rumours of a new rising of You-Know-Who. It remains to be seen whether the rumours aren't right after all.
Through private sources the Daily Prophet has gathered information about a Death Eater with a silver hand. According to our information this Death Eater is no one else but Peter Pettigrew. Several people had seen that Peter Pettigrew is not dead and, in fact, a cohort of the Dark Lord. If this can be proved, then there are some questions to be asked regarding the guilt of Sirius Black. While the Ministry claims Sirius Black to be behind the attacks and the Dark Mark seen last year after the Quidditch World Cup final match, Harry Potter has claimed to have seen Peter Pettigrew and even said that Pettigrew had been the one to kill Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory. Minister Cornelius Fudge has brushed his statement aside, claiming that Harry Potter was a teenager whose mental health was at best questionable."
"Well, that sounds a lot better than last years verbal attacks, Harry," Sirius remarked.
"I'd say so, too. Not a word from Skeeter in the last month anyway," Remus said.
"That would be because Hermione has caught her. Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus. She's changing into a beetle. Easy to listen in on anything and then twisting it around and around to sell more papers..." Harry said, smirking.
"Hermione has caught her? Wow!" Sirius said.
"She almost missed the start of the History of Magic exam because she had the idea how Skeeter was getting all the inside information even after Dumbledore had forbidden her to come to Hogwarts. In fact he forbade her to be anywhere on the Hogwarts grounds."
"An Animagus, oh dear. What happened to her?"
"You will have to ask Hermione. She said she'd let her go once she got back home, under the condition that she wouldn't write anything for at least one year. Otherwise she'd spill the beans about Skeeter being an illegal Animagus."
Remus and Sirius laughed and Harry kept smirking.
"I think I like Hermione. Daddy was angry so often about that Skeeter person," said Ronja.
"You are one clever little lady, Ronja! She said she'd like to meet you, when I talked to her on the phone."
"And she surely will, there's still a whole month of the break left," Remus promised, then he said:
"Now why don't you go outside with Harry, and if you still want to, he might like to take you up on his broom, Ronja..."
"Oh, I'd love to go! Please, Harry, please take me on your broom!" Ronja jumped down from her chair and hopped up and down in front of Harry who grinned and said:
"Okay, Ronja, come on, I'll go and get it."
"And there's no hurry, Harry, Sirius and I have some stuff to do."
"Well understood. You want us out of the way, that's fine with me. We'll be outside!"
"Good."
Remus and Sirius put the dishes away and started to prepare the party. They decorated the house and laid the table for the large dinner. Then they cooked together. It was the first time they worked together in the kitchen...
"... since your birthday party in September before..." Sirius said in a low voice.
Remus looked at him and quickly interrupted what he was doing to go and give Sirius the hug he needed in that moment. Sirius' eyes were moist and he rested his head on Remus' shoulder for a while.
"It's over, love and I've got a feeling that your ordeal with Azkaban will end fairly soon. They have already associated that silver hand with Peter, it's just a matter of time."
"I know. I'm scared, Remus, if Fudge goes as far as to blame me for those attacks."
"He'll isolate himself. He won't be able to do that too long, Voldemort has been seen, too, and he'll make himself more and more visible, I'm sure."
Sirius steadied himself with a deep breath. They were almost done with the preparations and had time to go and take a quick shower. Their timing had been perfect as they hadn't been back down for more than a few minutes, when the first guest announced their arrival. It was Minerva and Albus. Sirius opened the Floo while Remus departed to go and pick up the puppy. He was back home half an hour later and found the house full of people. Sirius led them to the terrace and served cool drinks and aperitifs. The Grangers and the Weasleys had come together. Sirius had floo called Arabella to the fold.
Remus smiled when he saw them all through the large glass door. He called Sirius inside.
"Here, love, you want to give it to Ronja yourself, I'm sure. Isn't she cute as a button?"
Remus held the puppy in his arms. She seemed to feel quite happy there and gave a few small yips. Sirius took her and held her for a while, getting acquainted.
"You are one cute puppy, little one. We'll have to find you a name, but that will be your Mum's first job. Come, let me take you to her."
Sirius waited, until Remus had greeted all the guests and no one was paying attention to him. Then he went outside.
"It was Ronja's birthday three days ago and I had promised her a present, but could only get it now. That's why Remus was back late. Come here, Ronja, so I can give you my present," Sirius said.
Ronja all but flew over to him. Sirius had stood a bit away from anyone else, now he crouched down and put the puppy on the terrace.
"She's yours, Ronja."
"She's all mine? Siri - oh, I love her already, she's so cuuuute! What's her name?"
"She doesn't have one yet, Ronja, you'll have to give her one."
Everyone else now stood around them and watched.
"Sniffles," Ronja declared, "that will be Snuffles and Sniffles. Isn't it funny?"
"Aww, this is sweet, Ronja!" said Hermione.
Ronja caressed the puppy and looked around for approval from Sirius and her father for the name.
"If it has to be, then she'll be Sniffles," said Sirius.
He would have liked to veto it, but he thought for a moment and then realised that Ronja loved him and wanted to associate her puppy to her huge dog. She hugged the puppy who licked her face with abandon. Ronja didn't oppose at all, just happily bonded with her new dog. Remus watched and was amused. She was clearly a dog person, he had long thought so already. Sirius stood up and positioned himself next to Remus who put his arm around Sirius' waist.
"That was a very good idea, Remus. I'm glad you let me be the one to give her Sniffles."
"Not that you particularly like that name, eh?"
"No, but she's just shown that she loves me, hasn't she?"
"I think she did. Not long and she'll call you Daddy, too..."
"That would be nice, love. Or would you mind it very much?"
"Not at all, Siri. I know my position in her heart and I'm not afraid to lose it."
"I love you."
They left Ronja with her puppy for a while and turned to their guests. Molly had deposited the cake on the table outside and asked for a knife to cut it. Remus summoned one and she put it next to the cake on the table. Harry's presents had been put on a pile on another table, which Sirius had conjured. The candles were lit and Molly asked Harry to blow them out.
"I hear the Muggles do this, so go ahead, Harry! Blow them out!"
Harry grinned - it was the first time in his life he got to do that and he blew them all out in one go. Hermione said:
"Now you have to right to wish for something, Harry, just don't tell, otherwise it won't come true!"
"A wish, huh? Well... I think, I know something."
He smiled.
"Do you want to open your presents, Harry?" Molly asked, while she cut pieces out of the huge cake.
"Yes, I think I do," Harry said and started on the pile.
The first thing he got was the book from Sirius. He looked at it briefly, then grinned and went to thank Sirius who hugged him. Then came Hermione's, a survival guide for the O.W.L.S, which didn't surprise him. She grinned and said:
"Open the book, Harry!"
He did and inside he found a gift voucher for Quality Quidditch Supplies. He beamed at her and went to hug her, too.
"This is so sweet, Hermione! Thanks for this! And the book, I know it will come in handy."
"Couldn't just give you something practical alone..." she whispered.
"Thanks so much!"
Harry was amazed at the number of presents. He had received something from the twins, from Molly and Arthur, from Ginny, Ron, then Albus gave him a wonderful gold pocket watch.
"It's not only a watch, Harry, but it will take some time to explain it all. I'll come by one of these days and we'll talk about it, if it's alright with you."
"Thank you so much, Professor! It's a wonderful watch, too."
And finally there was Minerva McGonagall who stepped up to Harry. She gave him a small box. Harry opened it and found a small golden chain with a pendant that he could open. Minerva showed him how and said:
"Harry, this is something your mother gave me after she got married. I think you should have it now. Open it!"
Harry did and found a small picture of his mother inside. She was smiling at him and waved. She looked beautiful. Harry looked up at his teacher. She smiled, too. He was a bit tongue tied, but then he just stepped up and hugged her. Minerva returned the hug. She was strict with her students, but no one could have said that she was unemotional. Sirius whispered into Remus' ear:
"Tell me, she's not a softie deep down!"
"Of course she is... have you only noticed that now?" Remus asked back.
Then the party went inside to eat the nice dinner Remus and Sirius had prepared. They had to watch out for Sniffles who filed between their legs at the table, but Remus and Sirius started the obedience lessons right there. They showed Ronja how to tell Sniffles what she was allowed to do and what not.
Then they spent a very enjoyable evening together. Ron, Hermione and Harry caught up. Harry remembered to ask Hermione what she had done with Skeeter. She grinned and said, gesturing to Dumbledore.
"I owled Professor Dumbledore about it and he came and picked her up. I don't know what he did with her. There hasn't been anything in her style in the Daily Prophet since then."
"Which reminds me that I wanted to ask you how you found out about Miss Skeeter being an Animagus, Miss Granger," said Dumbledore.
"Oh, every time when there was one of her articles about Harry we had seen a large beetle just before. Viktor pulled one out of my hair after the second task, Harry and Ron had seen one just before that thing about Hagrid was posted. Then we saw Malfoy and his friends from far and Malfoy seemed to be holding something in his hand and speaking to it. We first thought about a microphone, but I don't think the wizarding world uses those. And then there was the thing when she overheard Harry in the Divination class room. How could she have got up there? No one in our house would have given her that information, not even Lavender and Parvati. So how could she know about his scar hurting? And when I caught her, she was sitting on the window sill of the hospital wing. Imagine what would have been the headline the next day! She must have seen Sirius!"
"Indeed she saw Sirius. I have thoroughly questioned her and have threatened her with a memory charm and to spill the information about her being an unregistered Animagus. Unless she starts attacking Fudge when there's an opportunity and bring up every sighting of Pettigrew," Albus said.
Everyone on the table hooted or roared with laughter.
"Fudge doesn't stand the point of a chance, if she sticks to it..."
"Oh, she doesn't think I'm an obsolete dingbat anymore, believe me... she's been quite docile, and I won't forget to remind her of her promise in regular postings."
Remus and Sirius laughed again.
"You're brilliant, Professor!" Fred exclaimed.
"Thank you, Mr Weasley, I do think this was a rather good bit of work myself."
"So, do you think that article this morning was actually Skeeter's doing?"
"Yes, it is. She got her information from some people in my service. We were very sorry that we hadn't had any information about where they would strike at all. But it certainly did alert the Ministry. I know that the new Head of the Department of Law Enforcement, Ashley Grover, has talked to Cornelius to call Alastor Moody back into the Ministry."
"Where does this Ashley Grover stand? Rather on ours or rather on the Minister's side?"
Dumbledore gave a very broad smile.
"I was lucky, I have to say. Cornelius had four candidates and he asked me for advice. I told him to appoint Ashley. Ashley is one of the few who believe that Voldemort is indeed back. He will strictly oppose to put a muzzle on the press or the WWN. We have to be able to keep up a path through the media."
"Does Cornelius Fudge even stand a chance against you, sir?" George asked.
"I do hope that Cornelius recognises that he is on our side, Mr Weasley. He has to wake up or he will have to be removed. We cannot afford a man in his position who is not ready and able to organise the resistance against a threat such as Voldemort presents. I realise I'm being very blunt, which is not my usual style, but this is no time for niceties. We will have to fight. Everyone in this room will be concerned, maybe even the smallest ones."
This was a very sombre statement, but they all felt the time was like that. Harry felt a lump in his throat. He held the pendant on the golden chain.
"We will fight, Professor," said Fred and George as one.
"So will I," said Ginny.
"And I," added Bill.
Ron, Hermione and Harry didn't stand back and Remus was in awe at the sincerity of the teenagers. They were some who had understood the signs of the time. He feared for them, but he was proud of them, too. Dumbledore sighed.
"We hope you young people don't have to participate too much. Your first duty is to learn."
Then Dumbledore was the one who decidedly pushed those thoughts away and they returned to happier things. The time flew and soon the guests had left. Sirius and Remus had still some work to do on the wards. They did it in the light of the almost full moon. Two more days and it would be full. When they finished with their last wards and went back inside, Remus said:
"You will have to stay in the house during the full moon, love. I'll do well enough, you've seen the shed, it's comfortably equipped with loads of blankets and pillows."
"I'll hate to be away from you, Remus."
"I know, but there are three children in the house and they need you more than I do. Right now I have the potion and it helps. I won't hurt myself."
"I'm glad for that, love. Let's go and check on Sniffles. She has to be let out once more, I suppose."
"Yes, she will. I've given her a sweater Ronja wore, so she has something to cuddle with."
They went inside and let the dog in the garden, where she could take a short run and pee. After dinner, Sirius had transfigured a small box into a dog's basket, complete with cushion and a blanket. They added the sweater and the little dog settled quite happily. Sirius looked down at her and said:
"If she gets homesick, Padfoot can always take care of her for a while."
Remus laughed.
"It's so practical to have an Animagus dog in the house," he said, "he's the best babysitter, he can calm the puppy and he can play with the children as a dog..."
Sirius glared at him, but had to laugh, too. All of a sudden he pulled Remus into a fierce hug.
"What's that for?" Remus asked.
"That's for the family, sweetheart. I already feel so integrated and happy in it, it's amazing. Even though I can't go anywhere, I don't even miss it. I'm glad to be a prisoner here. You and the children. This is the best time of my life so far!"
Now Remus returned the hug.
"We love you, Padfoot. You've become one of us. You've always been the most important member of my pack. Now you've taken your rightful place in my family. Anna may have given birth to them, but look at how they love you already. And Harry, too."
"I love them, Remus. Let's go to sleep."
