an: alright...i really didn't mean for it to take me this long. I got back last saturday, and I meant to get this up on wednesday...oh well. I had a great time on my trip, for those of you who might care. i didn't want to leave. lol. anyway, this chapter is dedicated to "the good fruit groupies" (you know who you are...if you even don't read this..lol) for being the kewlest people at EFY.

reviewer responses:
Mithril-Moony: sorry this wasn't updated as fast as you probably wanted it to...my bad...
Katie: thanks for reveiwing as always. hope you like this chapter
emuerz: thank you for you're lovely review...I'm glad you liked my explanation as to why sirius didn't respond in the mirror the first time Harry tried to use it
Dante Lewis:ha ha...you're review is so long, I don't know where to being.lol. From the beginning, I suppose. Ok, firstly, you were right about Moony's transformation being harder because of greif and whatnot. It's been clinically proven that, while laughter immensely helps the body's immune system and general health, greif and sorrow can tremendously weaken it. I'm really glad you enjoy the little things that I throw into thse chapter to amuse myself (most of the time, people look over them as they read), you know, like Remus yelling "GWUAH". I realy like that, and you were the only one who commented on it (as well as other things). Oh, and you're mental as well? me too...we have very good company, it would appear. :) As for your last and final question, as of right now (this might change, I don't know) there are two more planned chapters after this...there might be three, but I'm really only planning on two, at the moment. That, of course, does not include the small exerpt of my next fic that I'm throwing in at the end, to give you all an idea on what it's about...
dweem-angel: you were my 90th reviewer...you get virtual chocolate (if you're allergic, let me know, and I'll hook you up with come other virtual candy...lol) thanks for your review.
rockpaperscissors: It would have been very very very hard for Sirius to convince Remus that he wasn't going insane; it would have complicated things a little too much for my taste...lol. I did have fun on my trip, and I didn't forget about you and all the other readers...it just took me a bit to update is all.

disclaimer:...still not Jo...still don't own her characters. I wouldn't mind if I did...

Enjoi

For the next two weeks or so, discussions about what spell to use ensued between James, Sirius, and Remus. Very early on in the discussions, James was sure to mention that the scrolls had mentioned the "use of Great Powers" so their best bet was to figure out what these "Great Powers" were. That alone, proved to be a rather annoying problem. Nowhere in the scrolls was there another mention of these powers, and the trio where left to figure it out for themselves. However, their discussions often led them back to the same place, the same idea, the same concept. A concept that Lily had actually turned them onto.

"Love," Remus said late one night. "Let's face it. It is the greatest power in existence. If we can just find a way to, I don't know, harness it, it should be the power we need."

"And how exactly do you plan on harnessing it?" Sirius asked. "It maybe the greatest power, but it is easily the hardest to control. It's unpredictable."

"Tell Remus that I think he maybe on the right track, though," James said to Sirius, who had to relay all of James's comments to Remus. "Love has saved Harry's life on more than one occasion, so it can be used. It's just a matter of figuring it out."

Sirius told Remus what James had said, then rounded on James. "Yes, I know it's saved Harry's life, but that was a pure, undying love of a mother. Needless to say, I don't think my mother wants me back there!"

"First of all," Remus pointed out, getting rather frustrated how Sirius was always pointing out the weak spots in their ideas, "the only remnants of your mother here is that blasted portrait in the hall. Secondly, just because your mother never loved you, doesn't mean that no one else does, Sirius."

"He's got a point, Sirius," James said. "I mean, come on. Lily and I love you. Remus and Harry obviously love you. Plenty of people want you back. I think it's safe to say, though, that some don't. Snape, for instance. I can't imagine him wanting you back. But Snape is only–"

"Alright, alright," Sirius said impatiently. "I get the picture."

James smiled. "Good. Now we can move on to making this work."

"Is James done lecturing you?" Remus wanted to know. Over the past two weeks, he had learned to read Sirius's facial expressions as a key to what James was saying at the time, if he was saying anything at all. The expression he wore when James was pointing out something to dispute him was a very easy one to identify.

"He was not lecturing me," he said, even though he knew Remus would know better. "And yes, he is done."

Remus smiled. "Alright, so have we finally agreed now that we need to somehow use love in this whole big mess? Because I'm sick of arguing about it."

"I think it's safe to say that we're all agreed on that," Sirius said. "We still have the problem of figuring out exactly how to use it, though."

Remus nodded and remained silent for a moment, obviously trying to brainstorm ideas. "Hey, can you read me what those scrolls say, again?" he asked.

"No problem," Sirius said as James scrambled around the office looking for the piece of parchment that he had written the translations for the important parts of the scrolls on.

"Here you go," James said, handing the parchment to Sirius.

Sirius read the parchment to Remus, and, once again, Remus lapsed into silence as all three of them tried to think of what was read in new ways. It was Remus who spoke first. "It says something along the lines of the Living have to desire whoever we're trying to get back back, right?"

Sirius nodded.

"So that would mean that someone who's alive needs to...needs to–"

"Instigate," James supplied and Sirius relayed to Remus.

"Yes, instigate the spell, you know, to show that we really do want him back."

James and Sirius nodded.

"But once you start it," James said, "we can step in and help finish the spell off. Tell him that, alright?"

By now, Sirius didn't need to be told when to tell Remus things, and did it out of habit.

"Yeah," Remus said nodding. "That makes sense."

"So," Sirius said brightly, "all we need to do now is find a spell that serves our purposes, and figure out how to cast it simultaneously. Not to mention, we might want to find a place to cast it. It wouldn't do much good for me appear in the middle of Diagon Alley, would it?"

"That sounds about right," Remus and James said at the same time, though Remus didn't know it.

Sirius, at this point in time, had no knowledge of the news articles that were going around about his innocence. Remus never told him about them. If asked, Remus would say he didn't know why he didn't tell Sirius, but it was probably because he had been around Athena to long, and her love of surprises had a tendency to wear off on others.

Sirius folded his arms. "Well, I doubt that there is spell already in existence for what we need to do," he said. "But, it shouldn't be too hard to create one, should it?"

"I don't think so," Remus said. "So long as it meets all the requirements we have. There's probably some ancient spell we could base it off of."

James smiled. "I would be more than happy to take care of that and let you two know what you need to do," he said brightly.

"Prongs says he'll take care of that," Sirius said as James turned to the bookshelves behind them. "He, or I rather, will let you know what you need to do and when."

"Right," he replied. "Do you know how long this will all take?"

"Dunno. Let me ask," Sirius said, turning around to face James. "Hey how long do you think this is going to take?"

"I don't know," James said, still looking at the bookshelves. "A day. A week. A month. Less than a year, probably."

"James has no idea, either," Sirius said, turning back to the mirror. "Although he's confident that it will be less than year."

"That's comforting," Remus said with a wry grin. He turned his head the opposite way, as though someone on his side was calling him. "Hey, I've got to go," he said when he turned back around. "Let me know when you figure this all out."

Sirius nodded. "See you in less than a year," he said as Remus disappeared out of the mirror.

Sirius turned around to ask James how long he really thought this was take, but found him already immersed in some ancient book. Figures, he thought. He knew better (unlike Jared) than to try and bother James, and quietly stood up and left the study. He walked out into the living room where Lily was sitting, reading a book. She looked up as he walked into the room.

"Hey, Sirius," she said. "You done talking to Remus?"

He nodded and sat down. "We finally decided what to do, now we just have to figure out how to do it."

Lily smiled, as she often did. "I'm sure you'll find a way to manage it," she said brightly.

"James is working on it right now," he said. "And you know as well as I do that he's not going to quit until he finds a way. There's no doubt in my mind that I won't be going back."

"But you have doubts about something," she said calmly.

"Of course I have doubts about something," he said. "I would be a fool not to. I'm just going to deal with them when they occur, and not worry about them til then."

"For as long as I've known you," Lily said, "you've always been like that. You shrug things off until you have to deal with them. It doesn't seem like all that bad of a way to live, even if it is a bit irresponsible."

Sirius shrugged. "It suits me," he said dismissively.

Lily looked at him. It was obvious that Sirius was not going to tell her what he was having doubts about. She knew from experience that people often felt more at ease after confiding worries in others. By the looks of it, however, Sirius didn't have any plans in confiding his doubts in anyone, probably not even to James (who probably wouldn't have been listening, immersed as he was). She frowned slightly at him, but he was to busy staring off in to space to really notice. He's a grown man, she chided herself. It's his decision tell people if anything's bothering him. Besides, his best friend is here; if he's going to tell anyone, it'll be James.

She sighed. It was getting late. "I'm heading off to bed," she told Sirius. "Tell James to go to bed when you head in for the night."

Sirius snapped out of his reverie and nodded. As Lily headed upstairs, he slowly slid back into his thoughts.

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For another week, James barricaded himself in among his books. This time, however, he was a bit more tolerable of others' presencearound him. Since he was actually trying to create a spell, he needed as much feedback as he possibly could get. He needed his friend's, his wife's, and his brother's knowledge of magic as well as his own to make sure he didn't mess things up completely and end up actually killing Sirius by mistake. He was constantly asking everyone how they thought certain things would play out, and if they knew of any negative repercussions that doing whatever he was speculating at the time might have.

Sometime after the first week, James found an old, and seldom used spell that he could manipulate to serve their purposes. James claimed to the whole house that it was most definitely the luckiest thing that had ever happened to him. Even after he found the spell, however, he needed to figure out how to manipulate it. This proved more difficult. Now that he had a basis for getting Sirius back, he also had rules that he had to work around to get it to work. When he was just trying to figure out a spell to use, his options were literally limitless. He could use any combination of spells, he could use any method of magic, so long as it worked. Now, however, there were rules and barriers to the spell he had found. He had to find ways to work around them without accidently killing anyone within 5 miles of the place where the place would be cast (on both planes of existence). Most of the time, he was fine with bending rules a little to serve his purposes. However, magic did have rules that he simply could not overlook.

Sirius, meanwhile, was really starting to realize what this all meant. He had known since he first went and told James about the nightmares he had been having that he would be going home. However, he never really understood what this really meant. He was, in all actuality, getting a second chance at life. How many people got that? Not many. In his mind, he kept listing all the things he wanted to do, things he had taken for granted when he was still alive. He began to really anticipate the day when he could return home. For him, the day couldn't come soon enough either.

And, luckily for him, that day didn't seem to be too far off. Sometime in the middle of November, James had an astounding breakthrough. He ran out of his study, laughing like a madman, yelling for the whole house (and possibly, all of Godric's Hallow): "I DID IT! I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!" It took Lily, Sirius, and Jared, who was visiting at the time, a few minutes to figure out what James was talking about. They were caught a bit off-guard, seeing as how none of them were expecting to come running out of his study like he did.

Sirius blinked for a couple of seconds until what James said sank in. "You figured it out?" he asked in disbelief. "You figured it out! Ah, James, I could kiss you!"

"Please don't," James said, backing away slightly.

"That's great, honey," Lily said brightly just as Jared said, "Good job."

"When do I leave?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Whenever Remus gets things ready on his end," James said, smiling broadly.

"Well, have you told him yet? Does he know what he has to do?"

"Sirius, Remus can't see me in the mirror, remember?" James said slowly, as if talking to a young child.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Sirius replied sheepishly. "We need to tell him."

"Obviously," James said, chuckling. "Otherwise you're stuck here. Not that we wouldn't mind it."

"I would," Jared said teasingly. "He's had the guest bedroom for too long. I have to sleep on the couch when I stay here overnight."

"Oh, we know how you love the couch," Lily joked.

The mood in the room was obvious. Everyone was ecstatic. They had been trying to find a way for Sirius to get home for months, and finally, they found a way. How could they not be happy?

Sirius whipped out the mirror from his pocket; he had kept it because he was the only one Remus could see in the mirror and it wouldn't make sense for anyone else to have it. "Come on," he said impatiently. "Let's tell him."

"Go ahead. We're not stopping you."

"Right," Sirius said. He looked down at his mirror and distinctly called Remus's name.

Remus's face appeared in the mirror. "What's up?" he asked.

"James finally figured out how to get me back," Sirius said enthusiastically.

"That's wonderful," said Remus exuberantly. "How do we do it?"

"I don't know. He never told me," Sirius said smiling, he turned behind him to ask James how to perform the spell, but James was a step ahead of him. In his hand he held a piece of parchment. On the piece of parchment were the directions Remus needed to instigate the spell.

"Just read it off," James said, handing the parchment to his friend.

"Alright," Sirius said, and he began to read the parchment. Some of what was needed and needed to be done, Remus found to be a bit odd, and it showed on his face. James would explain to Sirius the reasons behind some of the more confusing aspects of the spell and had Sirius relay them to Remus.

One thing in particular, Remus found very perplexing. "The people," Remus said. "You said that there needs to be two or three people present in the room who care about Sirius and want you back when the spell is cast. Why?"

"James says that's one of the more abstract ideas in the spell," Sirius said after James explained it to him. "It's something about having actual people who love me, I guess, and having more there than here. It doesn't really make much sense to me, but James says it doesn't matter if it makes sense or not, so long as the people are there."

"Is there a preference of three people to two people?" he asked.

"James says not really. He thinks it would be easier if you had three, but understands if you can only get two people (that includes yourself, so you know) at the time," Sirius said.

"No, it's okay. I've got two other people in mind that will be very happy to see you," Remus said slyly.

"Really? Who?" Sirius wanted to know.

Remus grinned. "It's a surprise," he said. "Anyway, when are we doing this?"

"Whenever you can get this ready," Sirius said.

Remus nodded. "In three weeks, I think, there's a Hogsmeade trip up at Hogwarts, it would be a good opportunity for Harry to be there," he said.

"Alright. I'm going to show up wherever you cast the spell, you know," Sirius said. "So you might to do this somewhere more secluded. You know, so I'm not arrested as soon as I show up."

"I know, Sirius," Remus said. "I've got it all covered. How are you two going to know when I'm casting the spell?"

"Tell him I've got it arranged so we'll know immediately when the spell starts to take place. There's nothing he needs to worry about," James said from the couch where he was now sitting with Lily and Jared.

Remus nodded when Sirius told him what James had said. "I'll take care of everything I need to," he said. "Don't worry about a thing. I'll see you in about 3 week then."

"Right," Sirius responded.

"Anyway, there's a meeting for the Order that I have to be at in a few minutes," Remus said. "So I've got to split." With that, he disappeared from the mirror.

Sirius turned to James. "He's hiding something, isn't he?" he asked.

"It wouldn't surprise me," James said. "He probably is thinking up some grand return for you. I wouldn't put it past him."

"I hate not knowing what's going on," Sirius complained as he flopped down on an armchair. "Just like I hate surprises."

James grinned. "It's alright, mate. You'll know in three weeks what he's planning, then it will no longer be a surprise."

"You're just as bad as he is," Sirius complained. It seemed to him that those three weeks couldn't pass quick enough.

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As the day got nearer, something kept nagging Sirius in the back of his mind. He was anxious to get back, but he was convinced that there was something he needed to take care of here before he left. He didn't tell anyone what was nagging him, because he knew that James would as soon knock him out as let him do what he was planning on.

It was two nights before the pre-appointed date when Sirius decided to carry out his plans. James and Lily were in the living room playing chess. Despite his often short attention span, James was a very good chess player, simply because he was used to looking at situations through different perspectives and planning ahead according to what he noticed. At the current point in time, he was beating Lily in chess very badly. Sirius poked his head into the living room.

"Hey, James, where's your old invisibility cloak?" he asked casually.

James looked up from his game with a suspicious look on his face. "In the trunk at the end of my bed," he said slowly. "Why?"

"Because there's something I need to take care of before I leave in a few days," he said. "I need to go out, and it wouldn't do me any good to get into trouble now, so I'd like to use you're cloak as a safety precaution."

"What are you planning on doing?" James asked, sounding even more suspicious.

"It's nothing serious," he said nonchalantly. "Just something I want to deal with."

"What are you up to?" James asked again, hoping to get a straight answer this time.

"It's nothing," Sirius said. "I'll be back tomorrow, I swear." With that last comment, he left the room and headed upstairs, presumably to grab James's cloak.

James turned back to Lily. "What was that all about?" he asked. Lily shrugged in response. It was very lucky (for Sirius, leastways) that neither Lily nor James knew what Sirius was up to. For, if either of them had known that Sirius had left to have a little 'talk' with Actaeon before he left, they would have never let him out of their sight.

final an: yes, you all read that last sentence correctly. Sirius is going to have a little "chat" with Actaeon before he leaves, just to clarify a few matters, but that is not until the next chapter. Alright, also, for those of you who are curious, this story is soon coming to an end. I only expect 2, possibly 3, chapters left.

as always, please forgive my typos...for some reason unbeknownst to me, yesterday, I could not type well to save my life. I did proofread, but I'm not sure how well I did...lol. please review

Delano