Chapter 17: On With the Show

Ron locked the front door of the joke shop, tapped the sign to say they'd closed due to unforeseen circumstances, and then doubled-back to where Harry, Sirius, and the twins all headed for the office. The tea Ron had grabbed prior to Harry and Sirius' arrival was lost to the floor. Neither of the twins or Ron seemed to give it any thought, so Harry didn't mention it.

Sirius told the three Weasleys what his experience in the hǫrgr had been like. When he started about Hildegard coming through the archway to retrieve him, Harry cut in as gracefully as possible to say that druidic runes on the archway were the necessary tool alone. Ron and the twins fell into ruminative silence over it all, coming out of it in order to tell Sirius about their own time in the interim. The three of them hadn't been all that involved in the front lines of the war, but that story started coming out as well.

It had already been evening when Sirius fell through the veil at the Department of Mysteries. He hadn't needed sleep in all the time he was gone, but returning and being deluged with information of what all he missed made it clear there would be no party tonight. Harry was also exhausted. His shock was starting to wear off. For Sirius' sake (and comfort), Harry just sat quietly and kept an eye on the clock.

At half-four, he nudged Ron's chair with his foot to get his attention. "We ought to go."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Where should we all meet up?"

"Could head to the Burrow," Fred suggested. "Mum'll get her letter before we'd make it there."

"We don't have to skip Grimmauld Place for my sake," Sirius said, although Harry could hear his reluctance. "I don't know that I'd half-mind it knowing I can leave whenever I want. I gotta sleep somewhere until everything at Gringotts is sorted and I find a new place."

"I think Mum would be pissed if we went there anyway," George replied. "She's probably already working on dinner for her and Dad. For something like Sirius coming back, she would've wanted some sort of warning so she could go all out."

Fred hummed. "Takeaway? She and Dad could come by Grimmauld Place once they've ate or whatever. I put in her letter that she better get all her crying out of her system, so hopefully that should spare you."

Sirius chuckled mirthlessly and rubbed his eyes. "Thanks. It's just weird for people to do that. I don't feel like I was gone at all. Sure, it's nice to know I was missed, but it's awkward too. I just want to get on."

Harry patted Sirius' shoulder one more time while Ron gathered up all the letters they'd written to owl off. The shop front had grown dark as the sun dipped behind the top of Diagon Alley's buildings.

Ron sighed as he fell in step with Harry. "Well? All right?"

"It's starting to hit me," Harry said.

"Yeah, I figured. You got quiet."

Harry slipped his hands into his pockets and nodded. His throat ached with it, seemingly more with each step he took away from Sirius. "I didn't expect it."

"Neither did I, mate. Still, it's good, right? I mean, fuck."

"Yeah."

Fuck about summed it right up. Just when Harry adjusted to one thing—like Peter being in Azkaban, Voldemort being alive and captured, or his acquaintanceship with gods—life threw him yet another curveball. And why? Just like there had been no good reason for Sirius to die, there was no good reason for him to come back. It had just happened because it could. Such fickleness, even when it went in Harry's favour, was unsettling in a way. He'd wasted so much time feeling guilty about Sirius. He'd accepted that it was his fault, forgave himself, and pushed forward. What did it say about other losses Harry suffered? Was Dumbledore really gone? Were his parents? But no, they weren't. There were other places to exist, here but somewhere else. Was it even accurate to call death an afterlife? Life didn't really ever end, did it? Harry suddenly had a lot of questions for Hildegard.

His steps slowed as he and Ron reached the point in the street they'd have to separate. Harry still had a hard time meeting Ron's gaze.

"See you back home?" Ron bid him.

Harry nodded, managing a quick smile as he stepped off. He felt like today lasted just as long as the thirty-some-odd months that Sirius had been gone. Walking through Diagon Alley like he had any other day about this time, Harry wondered if he'd imagined the entire thing. Like when Sirius fell through the veil, the entire world kept going even though his had irrevocably changed. The same thing happened with a reversal. People went about their days completely unaware that Sirius Black walked among them again. Someone had come back from the dead today. Sirius had stepped outside time and space, lingering until someone equipped to pull him back had reached out a helping hand.

If Madam Malkin said hello to Harry on his way toward the back of her shop, he didn't hear her. Harry's heart started to pound as he passed through the measuring room. Pansy was going to know right away that something happened. She would think something was wrong. Harry was going to have to say it, that Sirius was alive, and for some reason now it seemed more difficult than anytime before. Harry figured he understood why Sirius chose to bolt into the joke shop. He probably realized how hard this was, and decided to take the burden off Harry by making a chaotic entrance. Harry had no such buffer here.

Pansy sifted through fabric in the shelves with her back to Harry. He knocked on the door frame to announce himself.

"Goodness, is it that time already?" Pansy asked as she glanced up at the clock. She furrowed her brow since it was quite shy yet of five, then turned properly so she could see Harry. "Oh, I thought you were maybe someone else, to be this early. Er. . .everything all right?"

Harry nodded, but his facial muscles pulled his expression in a way that probably didn't reconcile that. His vision blurred. He had to grip his chin to still it before it had any sort of chance to tremble.

"Hey." Pansy's tone softened as she approached. She pulled Harry into a tight hug, rubbing his back as he rested his cheek on top of her head. "You said it's okay, right? Just had a long day, did you?"

"The longest day," Harry managed in little more than a whisper.

If Harry was tired before he arrived, it was nothing compared to when he'd exhausted whatever store depleted itself. He could've fallen asleep standing there, inhaling the faded scent of Pansy's fruity shampoo.

Pansy shifted enough to kiss his collarbone. "Can I ask what happened?"

"Sirius is back."

Pansy went still. "Sirius as in Sirius Black?"

"Yup."

"Your godfather."

"The very same one."

"How? I thought—the veil. . ."

"I'll tell you the details later, but the Department of Mysteries figured out how to pull him out." Harry heaved an exhale. "I've got a bunch of time off work, anyway. Sirius used to be Kingsley's case, and Kingsley officially assigned me to get him readjusted. He just understood how much it meant to me, I think."

"Yeah." Pansy extracted herself from their embrace. She ran a thumb over Harry's jaw before tipping up on her toes to kiss his chapped lips. "I don't know what to say. I'm happy for you. Just. . .wow."

"That about sums it up."

"Should we get out of here, then?" Pansy asked. "I can ask Madam Malkin if it's all right. I don't know that I'll be able to concentrate anyway."

"It's only twenty minutes." Harry cleared his throat. "Fred and George are going to take him to Grimmauld Place. Ron's picking up dinner for all of us. He sent off some notes we wrote to let people know Sirius is back. Honestly, it's best I get all this—" Harry indicated his face with an ill-timed sniffle, "—under control. Sirius doesn't want anyone all weepy about him being here, as he puts it. I was too much in shock earlier to feel anything else, but here we go."

"He might not have any choice but to put up with a little bit of emotion." Pansy slipped out of Harry's arms and pulled him over to her workstation. "Does he not realize how long he was gone? Three years is enough time for the people sad they lost you to have restructured their life around your absence. That doesn't mean those people won't hesitate to make room again, but think of all the things you wish you could've said and never got a chance to. All the guilt, all the questions, all the what-ifs. . .you're getting a very rare opportunity to right all of that."

Heavy thickness swelled anew upward from Harry's chest. "Ergh, stop."

Pansy's eyes took on a squint with her smile as Harry slipped a finger anew underneath the rim of his glasses. "Come sit. You can tell me what I should expect. I've got less than half an hour to prepare to meet another parental figure of yours, and I don't even get a chance to change out of my work robes first."

"He won't care about that." Harry took his usual chair. "If you care, we could always swing by your place first."

"Sure. So what should I know? How do I make a good impression on your godfather?"

"Good question, honestly." Harry shrugged. "That might have changed now anyway, along with everything else. He didn't experience any time passing, so he's relying on me mostly to tell him how things have changed since 1996."

"Right."

By the time five came around, Harry grew a little twitchy about seeing Sirius again. His day had gone back to normal after coming to Madam Malkin's. It felt surreal again to know that Harry would go home and Sirius would be there to greet him.

"We can just go straight to Grimmauld Place if you want," Pansy offered when they left the shop. "I have clothes in your room I can change into, and I don't want to keep you away from him."

"Okay," Harry quickly agreed.

Renewed anxiety bubbled up in Harry as they stood in line for the floos. Was it actually real that Sirius was back? Or had he imagined all of this and made a mad fool of himself in front of Pansy by saying he was? Harry couldn't be going home to sit down to a curry dinner with Sirius. That just wasn't possible.

And yet, the first thing Harry heard when he stepped out of the parlour fireplace was Sirius' barking laughter drifting up from the kitchen. Harry's heart squeezed with it, and he had to take a second in the lull before Pansy came in behind him to centre himself. No weeping, at least not in front of Sirius. This was a happy occasion, not one to get all emotional about.

"Kitchen!" one of the twins called up.

Pansy smoothed down her robes. "Oh, let's be polite and go say hello first. I can change later."

"All right."

Harry's heart pounded similarly to the first time he'd ever taken Pansy for dinner at the Burrow. After seven months of seeing her, Harry had exhausted everybody important enough in his life to introduce her to. He had no doubt Pansy and Sirius would get on all right, but it was still a little nerve-wracking.

As Harry and Pansy reached the bottom of the kitchen stairs, he placed a hand on her lower back. She'd heard enough about Sirius to know how much he meant to Harry. No doubt she was nervous too, no matter how well she kept a cool head under social pressure.

George spotted them first. "Aw, we hoped you were Ron. We're starving."

Laughter helped break up any tension before it had a chance to land. Sirius cut his short, still grinning slightly as he stood.

"So this is the little lady," he said.

"Yep, this is Pansy," Harry replied as Pansy raised a hand in greeting.

Pansy extended a hand to take Sirius', his other on her shoulder as she tilted her jaw as necessary to accept a kiss to each cheek.

"Pleasure," Sirius told her with a wink. "Come sit then, you two. Tea, anything like that?"

"I'd have tea," Pansy said. "Thank you."

"Blimey, way to make us all look bad," Fred scoffed while crossing his arms.

"It's just formal." Pansy shrugged as she took a seat in the chair Sirius pulled out for her. A tinge of colour blossomed in her cheeks. "Thank you, Sirius."

"Of course," he replied. Before Harry could sit, Sirius' arm was around his shoulders. Sirius looked at the twins. "Be grateful your parents never put you through the wringer on pureblood politesse. Even if Pansy here hadn't been taught the same thing, well, what kind of godfather would I be if I didn't embarrass my godson just a little bit?"

Harry laughed with the rest of them, patting Sirius on the back before they drifted apart. While Sirius made up a cup of tea for Pansy, Harry slipped his coat off to hang from the back of his chair. He loosened his tie.

"You got comfortable pretty fast acting the host here again," Harry observed. "What's that mean, then? Did the magical part of the inheritance reverse itself?"

"Seems so," Sirius said with a nod. "Kreacher's off moping. He answered my summons when we tested it. Thanks for taking care of the house by the way, even if it didn't deserve it. Love what you've done with the place."

Harry furrowed his brow. It wasn't really all that different from when Sirius was last here. Sure, it no longer smelled of dust. They'd managed to get all the junk out, as well as the infestations that took over during its decade of abandonment. The original formal dining room on the ground floor had been converted into the cozy parlour it was now. Walburga rarely made herself known, and some of the drearier wallpaper had been replaced. . .

Okay, so maybe they had changed things. It'd been slow, so slow that Harry hardly noticed it. Kreacher had done well at keeping neglect and disrepair at bay. They joked that Kreacher seemed to try to clean, but clearly he actually did in the gaps of Harry and Ron's notice.

"You left it to me," Harry said with a shrug. "It was mine to take care of. First floor is Ron's, second is mine. I couldn't tell you the last time anyone went further up than that, so your room will be exactly as you left it. That's if you want it, anyway. You're still thinking about finding a new place?"

"The option's there, isn't it?" Sirius asked as he resumed his seat. "You and Ron can keep living here if you like. I don't care. You've probably done more in less than a year to make this feel like a home than entire generations of my family ever managed. The air feels different, but maybe that's just my ears ringing from that little wail of despair Kreacher let out when he saw me."

"I like to think he's had it pretty good." Harry grinned in lieu of a laugh. "I've just told him to do whatever he wants. It seems to work out."

"That's good. He won't have to put up with me for long, I don't think." Sirius hesitated. "That's if you're still on about everything to do with Gringotts."

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Harry flicked his wand to pour himself some tea. "It's your vault. Like I said, I never even touched it. Never even bothered to visit it, actually."

"So what kind of place do you see yourself in?" George asked Sirius. "In the city? Out in the country?"

Sirius toyed with his teacup. Harry smiled at the serene expression that softened his features. "I'm not sure. I never got to think about it. The country, maybe? I liked the quiet back when Buckbeak and I were out on our own. The only downsides of it were things like unsteady meals and the whole fear of being caught."

"Something like the Burrow?" Fred suggested. "A cottage, or something?"

"Maybe something like Malfoy's place," Harry mused.

"Ooh," Fred replied, although both his and George's eyes lit up. "Yeah."

"Clearly you're not talking about their manor," Sirius said.

Harry shook his head. "Malfoy and his fiancée live in Bergen—in Norway. They have a cottage up on one of the mountains. It looks down over the city and the bay, but it's as good as rural. Great view."

George hummed. "No mountains around London, is the thing."

"What about the Highlands?" Fred asked.

Sirius lit up anew. "I liked Scotland a lot. Winter wouldn't be as rough with a roof over my head, and maybe a cozy fireplace. . ."

With a starting place, they all threw ideas around as to what Sirius' ideal home would look like. Pansy sat quietly to start, just listening while sipping her tea, although was encouraged to contribute when Sirius liked her suggestion of an outdoor hot tub. Harry shifted closer to her so he could rest an arm across the back of her chair.

He was in the middle of telling Sirius that his motorbike had been stored in Mr Weasley's shed when the fireplace up in the parlour whooshed.

"Kitchen!" Fred called. "Honestly, that better be Ron this time. I'm about ravenous."

The fireplace whooshed again, and more than one set of footsteps approached the stairs. Harry heard Ron's voice, then Hermione's in response. The two of them plus Viktor entered the kitchen, flushed in the face and hair still yet to settle. All three packed brown bags that squeaked with the rub of takeaway containers.

"I dropped the list we made, so I just bought whatever looked good," Ron said with a grin. "I sought out some extra hands while I waited."

"We would've come by anyway." Hermione glowed as she hugged Sirius, who'd gotten up. "I don't know that you ever met Viktor, Sirius?"

"Heard plenty about this one." Sirius stuck a hand out to Viktor.

Viktor grinned as they shook. "Likewise."

"And I doubt any of it was good!" Sirius nudged Hermione. "Better not have been, anyway."

"Of course not." Viktor's expression turned solemn, although a hint of humour lingered in his tone. "I heard all about your rule-breaking, and how that eventually graduated to law-breaking."

Harry had pointed his wand back at the cupboards to summon a pile of plates, and nearly lost his concentration on it as they all laughed. Although this pleased Sirius, Hermione still looked slightly abashed. Her grin returned with another squeeze about the shoulders from Sirius.

Considering Ron bought whatever looked good at the restaurant, that may have just consisted of the entire menu. The spread took up almost the entire table. The rice, naan bread, and various dips had to be set instead on the counter. Before Harry could dribble butter chicken down his white work shirt, Pansy mentioned that she still wanted to change out of her work robes. The two of them nipped upstairs. When they returned, the kitchen's chaos had settled along with everyone back in their seats. It was a lot quieter with preoccupied mouths.

Harry revisited the spread a couple times, eventually tapering off when just a little tikka masala sat on his plate along with a few bites of naan. He figured he'd pick as his stomach made room for it. Conversation came up again, over which Harry hardly heard the fireplace whoosh upstairs.

"Kitchen!" Ron called.

Three more people sounded on the stairs, one quicker and lighter than the other two. Tonks entered the kitchen first, her grin wide and feet quick as she darted along the table toward Sirius. He'd barely stood before she jumped into a hug.

"Brilliant," she said with a hearty pat to his back. "I don't even care how, I'm just glad to see you. Although, what did you do? Bargain with Death himself?"

"Irritated the hell out of him. Her. Them. Whatever," Sirius said with a wink.

"Aw, I was imagining something a lot cooler than that. Maybe something to do with fiddles." Tonks' face fell. "This means I have to give you back your record collection, doesn't it?"

Sirius' head tipped back with his laugh. Andromeda and Ted came in then, both grinning. Sirius' expression softened when he noticed them.

"Now there's a face I haven't seen in a long time," he said.

Andromeda opened her arms to welcome him into an embrace. She rubbed his shoulders. "It's been far too many years. Now imagine my shock when I received a letter saying that we'd actually have a chance for this."

Sirius chuckled. "You're not going to cry, are you?"

"Of course not," Andromeda breezed after pulling back and assessing him in a nearly maternal manner. "The ability for that is long bred out of us Blacks. This is Ted, Sirius."

Sirius extended a hand, but Ted pulled him into a hug instead. The three Tonks' ended up taking seats at the table, and Ron told them to grab a plate if they were at all hungry. Andromeda and Ted had already ate, although Ted still took a piece of naan. Tonks dished herself a decent plate, barely making a dent in all that remained.

Things settled down just in time for the fireplace to whoosh again. Footsteps were already on their way to the kitchen before anyone could announce where they were. Mrs Weasley entered, her face blotchy and eyes wet.

"No, Molly!" Sirius groaned. "No tears!"

She ignored that, storming so quickly to his end of the table that Sirius didn't have time to rise. He pulled an exaggerated face as Mrs Weasley gave him a tight hug. Ron and the twins all tried just as valiantly to call off their mother, but there was nothing for it. All Sirius could do was pat Mrs Weasley on the shoulder.

"Oh, I just can't believe it," was about the only coherent thing Harry caught out of all she said until she stood straight. Mrs Weasley left a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Goodness, Sirius—all the things I said to you—"

"Forget about it," Sirius told her. "All of it. It doesn't matter."

"It does so matter!" she snapped.

"Can we talk about it another day?" Sirius pat her hand. "Preferably when I don't have a house full of company?"

Mrs Weasley blinked and looked down the table, as if she only noticed then how many people lined each of its sides. "Yes, of course. Today is just for celebration."

"It is," Mr Weasley said from where he took a seat next to Tonks. He'd practically snuck into the room in comparison to Mrs Weasley's entrance. "Good to see you, Sirius."

"You too, Arthur." Sirius grinned and leaned back in his seat. "Heard you've got my bike?"

"It's been well-cared for too, so no worries there. Mind if I grab a plate?"

"Arthur, you just ate," Mrs Weasley said.

"Both of you help yourselves," Sirius told them. "Whatever you want. I think Ron about bought out the restaurant."

"Pretty much," Ron said, while Hermione nodded.

Since Harry mostly just sat back to take everything in, he'd furrowed his brow at Mr Weasley's tone when he agreed with Mrs Weasley about a day of celebration. His sense that Mr Weasley referred to something that happened before they'd even received Ron's owl about Sirius only grew stronger as conversation once again encompassed the entire table. Mrs Weasley certainly glowed about something. Harry caught Ron's eye. A quirk of his eyebrow confirmed that he'd noticed too.

Andromeda and Ted eventually stood, saying that they'd make room at the table for more well-wishers that would inevitably come through. Andromeda stooped down to kiss Sirius' cheek in farewell.

"You'll have to come to dinner the next time all us Blacks get together," Andromeda told him. "With most everyone gone and then Bella in Azkaban, guess who that leaves in charge?"

Sirius pointed at Andromeda, who did the same at herself with a laugh.

"Things have changed a lot with our family now." Andromeda squeezed his shoulder one more time. "I think you'll like it."

"We'll see."

Although he likely meant to jest, Harry heard the hesitation in Sirius' tone. He hadn't had nearly enough time to warm to the idea of a familial relationship with the Malfoys—and the Notts by extension. It couldn't be helped, and Harry just hoped Andromeda and Narcissa would both be cognizant of that. Forcing Sirius to interact with Lucius and Wesley wouldn't likely end well. Harry might have to remind them of that before they gave it any real try, as well as tell them to brace for the possibility it might never actually take.

Not long after the parlour fireplace whooshed with Andromeda and Ted's departure did George lean forward on the table. "All right, Mum. Dad. What're you two so sparky about then?"

"Well, in case you failed to notice. . ." Mrs Weasley said with a gesture down the table toward Sirius.

Fred waved a hand. "The other thing."

Mrs Weasley's cheeks tinged pink. "Other. . .?"

"We might as well just tell them," Mr Weasley ran his fingers over the bottle of beer he'd half-drank. "It's not certain, though. You all ought to keep that in mind."

"What's this, then?" Ron asked.

Mr Weasley toyed briefly with his bottom lip. When he looked back up, there was a smile in his eyes. "I was offered a new position at the Ministry today."

"Which?"

Mr Weasley hesitated, his idle fingers growing quicker on the bottle's neck. "I haven't accepted or anything. Just keep that in mind."

"What is it, Dad?" Fred asked.

"Head of Magical Enforcement."

A hush fell around the table. Harry's jaw was among the ones that dropped.

George recovered first. "You ought to take it! Right on, Dad. Blimey, what's there even to think about?"

"Now's the best time too," Fred agreed with a vigorous nod, eyes alight. "Everything's changing, and I bet Madam Bones wants to make sure it's the right kind of people in positions like that. Right?"

"I wanted to talk to Kingsley first." Mr Weasley's shoulders relaxed as he looked around at them all. "I spoke to Amelia at-length about it all this afternoon. I'm not her first choice. Kingsley was, and Gawain the second. Neither of them wanted it. Amelia thought Kingsley the natural choice, given he would most likely be in her office right now if he hadn't been picked up by Voldemort at Azkaban."

"Did she maybe just offer it to Kingsley like a courtesy?" Ron asked. "Not that he wouldn't be good for it, mind."

Harry cleared his throat. "Could be Kingsley doesn't want to remove himself from the Auror office right now. Maybe there's less to do, but our body count is still frightfully low."

"Yeah," Tonks agreed with a glance toward Harry. "None of my cubicle neighbours right now speak English as their first language. We need everyone we can get until that mass-recruitment pans out."

"So what else did Madam Bones say about it?" George asked. "I mean, you've run the Dark Artefacts office for a while now, she's seen how you do in a leadership position. . ."

The Weasleys took over the conversation, with Harry and Tonks pitching in regarding what sliver of perspective they could offer from their positions on Level Two. Harry definitely would not mind having Mr Weasley at the helm of their department. He had a patience and coolness about him that could help set the tone of a post-war Britain.

Sirius was just as happy to get the focus off him for a little bit. He came around Mr Weasley when his beer ran low to replace the bottle, and things started to feel so damn normal—as if Sirius had never actually left. This was just a casual evening, with people coming and going to visit. That feeling spiked again when the fireplace whooshed up in the parlour.

"Kitchen!" Sirius beat them all to it.

Like when the Tonks family came through, one of the people that arrived rushed ahead down the stairs. A beaming and bright-eyed Ginny rounded the corner from the stairwell. Mrs Weasley made an odd noise of surprise, although Ginny skipped her over for now to jump at Sirius much like Tonks had.

"You kids gotta stop showing up," Sirius jested as they released each other. "It makes me realize all over again how long I've been gone."

"Oh shut up," Ginny told him. "You haven't even aged a day. Don't complain."

They all laughed, and Ginny doubled back along the table to her parents to say hello. While she had her arms wrapped around Mrs Weasley from behind, Professor McGonagall and Professor Vance stepped into the kitchen. Both beamed, although McGonagall surreptitiously wiped an eye before Sirius brought her into a hug.

"It's so good to see you, Sirius," she said. "That was about the last owl I expected to receive."

"A common tale," he replied. "Beer? Help yourself."

McGonagall gave him a funny look, somewhere between jarred and stern. It softened as she recovered. "Tea would be just fine, thank you. Oh—Severus sends his warmest regards."

Sirius' smile tightened, his eyes far too warm to be convincing. "I'm sure he does."

McGonagall and Vance took the seats that Andromeda and Ted had left empty. It didn't take much convincing of either of them to have some wine. Tonks left then to make more room, so Ginny plopped down between Pansy and her parents. Once Mrs Weasley had fussed enough, Ginny subsided into whispers and giggles with Pansy. Harry couldn't believe, for how fatigued he was, that it was only a little past eight at this point.

The others started to feel it too, Sirius most noticeably so. From his perspective, he'd probably been awake for coming on twenty-four hours. The reality of it was worse. He hadn't slept in nearly three years. The others seemed to sense this in how they started filing off. McGonagall, Vance, and Ginny left first, headed back to Hogwarts. Mr and Mrs Weasley weren't far behind. The food had long gone cold, but Fred and George helped Ron package it all back up so that it could go in the ice box. Pansy stifled constant yawns, although shook her head when Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

"Go to bed if you're tired," he told her.

"Are you coming up soon?" Pansy asked.

"Pretty soon, I think."

She headed off, so Harry took on helping Sirius clean up all the dishes and empty bottles that littered the kitchen. To Harry it felt like a pretty average load for a get-together. He liked to think that Sirius had a chance to see that it wasn't just the house itself that had changed, but how it was used. It hardly felt like the Black home anymore. When Harry had smelled the old Grimmauld Place on Sirius' jacket earlier, it reminded him of a place truly abandoned. Harry found himself quietly relieved that one of Sirius' orders of business tonight hadn't been to sell this place as fast as possible.

The fireplace whooshed up in the parlour.

"Kitchen!" Fred yelled.

A single set of steps came down the stairs. Ron and the twins were in view of the bottom, so they looked up before Lupin came around the corner. Harry stopped organizing bottles, and what little concentration Sirius mustered through his fatigue to wash the dishes faltered. A fork clattered about the sink before coming to rest.

Lupin leaned against the wall, arms folded. He tried to fend off a grin, but wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"Already missed the party, did I?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" Sirius replied. "Look at the lot of us. We're geared to go all night."

They all looked about as knackered as Harry felt. Lupin exhaled a spurt of air as he appraised the room.

"I didn't know if I should believe it or not when I got that note from Harry." Lupin glanced at him. "Then again, you do have a tendency to surprise. What, were you so rotten that not even Death wanted you?"

Sirius broke into a broad grin on his way across the kitchen. "Something like that, I reckon. I'll ask next time we cross paths."

Harry took over the dishes to give them their moment, silence falling spare some heavy pats on each other's backs through a hug.

"Did you actually die, then?" Lupin asked. "I thought the note said you didn't."

"Long story, but I got pulled back. Would you believe me if I told you I've been in Chile all this time?"

"Fuck no."

"Good, you're still as sharp as I left you. Sticking around a bit? Cup of tea?"

"Nothing stronger than that? I can smell the beer on your breath."

"Fine. A lovely, sweet glass of Sauvignon blanc it is," Sirius said in a purposely obnoxious French accent. "Are you hungry, by chance?"

"Yeah, take whatever," Ron told him. "If you wanna dish up, we'll just put the rest away."

Sirius passed Harry by for the ice box, patting him on the shoulder. "You don't need to do that. I can take care of it."

"All right." Harry rubbed his eyes. "I might head to bed then. I'm knackered."

Even then, Harry didn't want to be antisocial. He leaned over the back of a chair opposite where Lupin sat at the table. They exchanged nods before getting sidetracked saying goodbye to the twins as they left. Ron headed up after them.

"All right then?" Harry asked. "I've been waiting to see you around the Ministry."

"I'm due there after Easter." Lupin leaned back in his seat. "One more full moon, then time to recover. I wanted to be around anyway for the trials. They must be due to start soon?"

Harry nodded. "The schedule was released this morning. Peter's is on the seventh."

Although Lupin had come down to the kitchen with the sort of aloofness Sirius appreciated tonight from his visitors, Harry saw it ripple with that. Lupin pressed his lips together, and his gaze grew long when he looked at Sirius.

"Don't you dare," Sirius told him with raised eyebrows and a pointed finger. He set a beer in front of Lupin. "No crying allowed."

"I wasn't going to." Lupin frowned. "Just. . ." He looked back at Harry. "Good on you, bringing him in. Did he put up a fight?"

"No," Harry said. "I think he was relieved it was over."

"Probably." Sirius scoffed. "Miserable little fucking coward. I don't suppose he's getting charged with framing me, is he?"

"I haven't seen the charges, but I could ask Kingsley next time I see him," Harry replied. "I know for sure accessory to murder of Magnus Norheim. Probably my parents, since your name being cleared left it open as to who ought to be brought to justice for that. Everyone's known it was Peter since '96. They could just never find him. Can't blame them on that, since turns out he was in rat form in Paris. Good luck picking him out there, right? Especially down in the Catacombs."

Lupin's expression lengthened out again, as did Sirius'. Sirius rubbed his face before taking a long draught from his beer. "Yeah. It's about time this all came to an end."

"The trials are invite-only, but I'll make sure you both get one," Harry said. "I don't see why you wouldn't."

The two of them nodded, sharing this time in the fatigue Sirius had come down with through the evening. Since neither of them had anything else to say about it, Harry stood up straight.

"I'm gonna head to bed, anyway," he told them. "See you in the morning, Sirius. Lupin, see you when I see you, I guess?"

Lupin laughed, a strained sound, although some light returned to his eyes. "Soon enough, I'm sure."