Sirius' POV

"Sirius?" I hear Moony come into the room behind me.

I drop my head backwards over the top of the sofa to try and see him. As it turns out all I manage to do is make him laugh at me…

"Yeah?" I rub my neck as he comes round in front of me.

"Do you mind buying me some books, paper and pens? I'm trying to teach Wolfcub to read and write, but I'm running short of paper."

"Certainly. Do you mean notebooks, or storybooks?"

"Storybooks," Moony reiterates.

"Ok, I'll do that tomorrow after work."

He smiles and settles himself onto the sofa beside me. I put my arm around him and he rests his head on my shoulder.

"Tired?" I ask him, rubbing his back gently as he curls up to me.

"Mmmm…" he just purrs.

I laugh softly,

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Where is Wolfcub?" I ask after a few minutes.

"In his room practicing to write the letters up to J," he presses his nose against my neck.

"He likes being taught by you," I murmur against his hair.

"It's a novelty. He'll get over it," Moony chuckles.

"I never have," I tell him.

He shakes his head and I can feel his amusement.

"You're biased. You're my Mate."

"He's biased too," I murmur. "He's your son."

Moony is silent for a few minutes,

"You think he thinks of us that way?"

"Why shouldn't he?"

"We are both men, Sirius."

"He's only three, Love. How would he know any different?"

"He calls us Padfoot and Moony."

"Only because he doesn't know the word Daddy," I kiss his temple.

"I guess so…" he murmurs.

"Padfoot!" Wolfcub bounces into the room waving a piece of paper in the air.

I beckon him over and he climbs easily on to the sofa beside me, and then onto my lap. He shows me the ten letters he's been practicing.

"That's great," I grin at him.

"I learn more lets now?" he asks Moony.

"Letters," Moony corrects him with a smile. "I'll teach you some more tomorrow. How about we go to the Burrow now?"

"See Lily and Ginny?" he smiles.

"Yes," my Mate nods. "We can have dinner there."

"Yummy," he nods happily. "Find toys."

He scrambles back off the sofa and runs back up the stairs.

"We should probably tell him not to run on the stairs…" I mutter.

"He's a werewolf," Moony stretches and stands up. "He has good balance, he'll be fine."

I give him a surprised look,

"You tell me off when I run on the stairs!"

"That's because you are a klutz," he smirks at me as he walks out of the room.

"Charming," I sigh, before following him.

Remus' POV

"Sirius! Remus! Devlin, honey!" Molly waves us in. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Hey guys!" James, waves to us as we enter the living room. "How's things?"

I put Devlin down and he runs straight to his godfather.

"I drawed lett-rahs!" he shows him his writing.

James acts suitably impressed, then starts tickling him.

"Drew letters…" I correct, but he clearly isn't listening to me. Sirius just grins.

"What's for dinner?" my Mate asks.

"Sheppard's pie," Molly smiles before bustling off into the kitchen.

Devlin escapes from James' torture, and runs to Lily instead, who scoops him onto her lap and holds him close as he says the names of the letters in turn.

"Something's wrong," I murmur suddenly.

"What?" Sirius' head whips round to look at me from beside me on the sofa.

"James and Lily are nervous about something," I reply quietly. "Can you not sense their tension?"

Sirius glares at James,

"You think it's about…?"

"The cubs? Yes, I do."

"You think they know something new," he states.

"Yes," I reply unnecessarily.

"I'm going to talk to Prongs," he tells me shortly before striding over to his best friend and all but dragging him out of the room.

Sirius' POV

"Prongs? What's happened?"

"That was quick," Prongs looks mildly amused.

"What?"

"Moony picked up on that very quickly," he shrugs.

"He's a little highly strung at the moment," I murmur, then stick my hands in my pockets as I lean against the wall.

"Never would have guessed," he sighs.

"So…?" I prompt after a moment of silence.

"The ministry were not impressed about the sudden swing of public opinion over werewolves," he whispers, then glances back the way we came. "Shall we go for a walk?"

I nod quickly and lead the way out the back of the house and over into the fields beyond.

"This would be a lovely place to live…" I change the subject briefly as we cross the garden. "I understand why he wants to live at Grimmauld… but, well, you know."

Prongs nods,

"There's a lot more space here, especially as you are obviously considering taking on more of the children."

"Hmm," I agree quietly.

We walk squeeze though the hedge and walk on for a few minutes in silence before I can't wait anymore.

"Ok, what do you know?"

"The ministry are no longer 'storing' the werewolves in London," he tells me. "They have started sending them to one of the Ministry buildings left over from the war, up north in a place called Skipton."

"Where the blazes is that?" I wave my hand around in irritation.

"North Yorkshire," he tells me calmly.

"North… oh you're joking, tell me you're joking?" I stare at him.

"Nope," he shrugs. "They're now sending the kids to what used to be the staging zone for prisoners going to Azkaban."

I snort with mock humour,

"Well, at least I know the territory, for when we go to get them," I glare at him, daring him to disagree.

"Tonight?" he asks, not even remotely phased.

I nod,

"Of course. Do you want to ask Harry to come?"

"No, he really shouldn't be getting into trouble so early in his career unless he has to," Prongs shrugs.

I laugh shortly,

"Where as me and you have proved ourselves?"

He smirks,

"We've proved ourselves unreliable, nothing we can do now."

"True," I nod and turn to head back to the Burrow.

"Will Moony come?"

"He'll want to, I think," I shrug. "But I won't let him. Somebody has to stay with Wolfcub."

"Padfoot," he catches my arm, "are you ok?"

I jerk away from him glaring,

"Oh, I'm just great Prongs! Brilliant! Super doper!" I start to stride off again, but he grabs my arm again.

"Padfoot, if you're not up for this I'll go with Harry."

"I'm fine," I growl out between gritted teeth after unsuccessfully trying to break his grip.

"No, you're not," he tells me. "Padfoot, I'm your best friend. Talk to me."

I snort and look away,

"I'm not sure I can do this, Prongs."

"Do what?"

"I'm a father!" I hiss urgently. "I think I can cope with one…" I tail off.

"Padfoot, you're doing fine. You'll continue to do fine," he grips my shoulder. "Padfoot, you think me and Evans are just going to sit back and laugh if anything happens to you?"

"No," I agree, looking out across the fields again, "but those kids can't just get passed around when we get them home. They need stability; either Remus and I have to take them, or you and Evans or whatever. It wouldn't be fair to anyone involved to move them around."

"No," he agrees, "but that isn't going to happen. Padfoot it'll be fine. Kids love you. You're a kid yourself after all."

Now I do laugh,

"Yeah, ok, but these kids are going to have problems. Is it fair to try and look after too many?"

"Is it fair to leave them in a cage in the Ministry? Look, Padfoot, I know what this is; you just want me to confirm what you already know. You're doing the right thing, mate, that's all that maters."

"Thanks, Prongs," I grip his arm briefly in thanks.

"He does love you," I hear him say as I start to turn away.

I feel myself wince and I close my eyes, taking a deep steadying breath.

"That's what this is really about," he shakes his head. "You really think Moony doesn't love you?"

"How can I tell? He can't complain!" I almost beg him for answers. "I'm the alpha, he's the beta. He can't complain to me, its not the way the Pack dynamics work. He could hate me and I would never know. He always tried so hard to make me happy…"

"Padfoot…"

"Prongs, you know what he was like when we first mated," I shake my head in desperation ignore his interruption. "What if he never really got over the werewolf's urge to act happy to make me happy? What if all the years we've had together has been an illusion? What…?"

"Padfoot, don't be ridiculous!"

"You know bloody well its not ridiculous!"

Prongs just glares at me.

"I'm being ridiculous, aren't I?" I shoot my best friend an apologetic look.

"Yes," he rolls his eyes.

I take a deep breathe,

"Sorry, Prongs."

He claps me on the shoulder,

"Don't worry about it."

We turn and fall in step together as we walk back to the Burrow.

"Padfoooooot!" Devlin calls out to me as he runs across the garden. "Molly say dinner ready!"

"Ah," I grin and scoop him into my arms, "excellent! I'm starving."

"Thas what Moony say you would say," he tells me seriously.

"Moony is a very intelligent man," I tell him.

Remus' POV

I watch Sirius carrying our son back to the Burrow through the window.

He's smiling, but it's a slightly forced smile. Devlin doesn't appear to notice though, and just bounces in Sirius' arms as he walks.

"Everything will be ok," Lily tells me in a very matter-of-fact tone.

I smile at her,

"I hope so."

Later

"They have put children in that place?" I whisper.

Sirius doesn't answer my question. He has, after all, answered it five times in the last few minutes. He just rocks me in his arms, with his face against my hair.

"We're going to get them out of there, Moony," he murmurs. "We'll protect them."

"When are we going?" I pull myself together a little and lean back to look my Mate in the eyes.

"You're not going," he tells me calmly. "You're staying here with Wolfcub. I'm going with Prongs."

I scowl slightly,

"Because you think Wolfcub needs protection? Or because you think I do?"

"That is a stupid question," he kisses my nose. "You are more than capable of looking after yourself. I know that Moony."

I drop my head back to his chest,

"You're going right away?"

"Do you want me to wait?" he pulls away and gets up. "I'll see you shortly."

He shoots me a smile, then Disapperates.

Author notes / Author grovelling

I'm in hiding. Don't flame me for ignoring you for so long… grovel grovel…

I would love tell you that there is a really good reason for me not updating in ABSOLUTELY AGES! But there isn't… Facts are I got writers block and couldn't finish this chapter to save my life. I'm not convinced I like it now, but to I guess I just need to get this out in whatever form I can and just try to start on the next chapter. My other story is equally cursed at the moment… I just can't seem to get into the right frame of mind at the moment.

Anyway, enough excuses, I do hope you enjoy this chapter, especially those of you who have been pestering me. I would hate to let you down. Hopefully you won't have to wait so long for the next one. :)