Author's Note: This is kind of an odd chapter. I almost wrote it as a one-shot in the Less Than 19 Years Later series, but then decided it could fit in here if I combined it with what I had already written. You see, I needed to write this chapter, at least the second half of it. Ten days ago, my world stopped. I lost someone very close to me. My heart was, and still is to a large degree, shattered. This chapter was basically my way of processing some of those emotions. Some of the stories shared will just be modifications of some of the ridiculous stunts we pulled together growing up, and some of the feelings will reflect my own or things I've discussed with our family and friends. It's hard for me to say the standard "Enjoy!" but hopefully it's written in a way they would be proud of, and I know it brought a degree of healing for me, which was the main goal. Whether you enjoy it or not, or whether you read it or not, do me a favor and call someone you love and tell them so.

July 8, 1995

Knock, knock

Sirius lowered his eyebrows in confusion as he put down his book. Who would be knocking on their door? Their home had an anti-apparition spell on it, so every witch or wizard they knew used the floo. Once, shortly after he'd moved in, their muggle neighbors that lived a good distance down the street came by to introduce themselves. Sirius had been friendly, but he quickly put a muggle repelling charm on their property afterward so that Harry could fly without fear of being seen.

Sirius put his book down, fingered his wand in its holster, and walked to the door. He drew his wand, took a deep breath, and opened it, relief rushing over him as he saw who it was.

"Amelia? Why didn't you use the floo?"

She smiled at him. "I was afraid the floo chime would wake Harry. I know how badly he needs his sleep right now."

Sirius returned her smile, his heart swelling over the woman he cared so much for caring so deeply for his son. He chuckled and shook his head. "Brankovitch worked him so hard today, I'm not sure anything short of an earthquake would wake him tonight. He was exhausted. He went to bed right after dinner." He moved out the doorway and allowed her to enter. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here so late?"

Amelia stepped through their doorway and turned back towards him. "Well, I stayed at the office really late finishing some things up, and then I had some things I wanted to discuss with you. Is now a good time?"

Sirius nodded and invited her to sit. "Now is perfect. Is everything ok?"

Amelia sighed as she sat down on their couch. "Everything is fine, I just wanted to give you an update on the trials. We got interrupted last time."

Sirius nodded and sat in the arm chair to her right. "Ok. Go ahead."

Amelia took a deep breath. "Well, almost every death eater we arrested that night has confessed. Pettigrew, Crabbe, Goyle. Even Avery and Nott, which I thought would be more difficult. I did have to offer them a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Sirius asked sharply.

Amelia narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't take that tone with me. You know me better than that. I simply told them I would not allow the Dementor's kiss. They'll still spend the rest of their lives in Azkaban."

Sirius smiled crookedly at her. "I thought you were removing the dementors from Azkaban."

"I am, but they didn't need to know that," Amelia answered with a smirk.

Sirius chuckled softly before something occurred to him. "You said almost every death eater."

"Yes, well, there is one hold out," Amelia responded nervously.

"Lucy," Sirius sneered.

"Yes," Amelia confirmed. "He's fighting, and unfortunately he has the money to do so."

Anger pulsed through Sirius. That man had nearly gotten his son killed twice now. He wanted to see him pay. He crossed his legs and leaned back, annoyance written all over his features. "Don't forget we only arrested 12 that night. There were dozens there."

"That's true, but also don't forget that those we didn't arrest mostly fled. They haven't been very active for the last thirteen years, and I don't anticipate them being very active now," Amelia argued gently.

Sirius sighed in frustration. He knew she had a point, but it didn't make it any easier knowing that any number of Voldemort's followers were still at large and could potentially harm his son. "Who do we know for sure was there but wasn't captured?"

It was Amelia's turn to sigh as she thought back. "Well, that's hard to say because most of them were wearing masks, but the ones we did catch said that the Carrow siblings were there. And Macnair."

….

Knock, knock

Harry lifted his head from his pillow. He'd been tossing and turning for the last two hours. His body was physically exhausted, but Harry didn't want to sleep, so he was doing everything in his power to keep himself awake. Two nights before, he'd had such a horrible nightmare that he never wanted to sleep again. He woke up sweating with his heart pounding. It took several minutes before he could fully convince himself that it was just a dream, but in his nightmare, Moody had been there, alive, and remembering that Mad-Eye was dead had been worse than the horrors within the dream.

Of course, never sleeping again wasn't really a sustainable plan, but teenagers aren't always known for their problem solving skills.

He was equally as curious as Sirius. Who could be knocking, especially at this hour? It wasn't common for the Dursleys to have visitors, but there had been occasions in which someone knocked. However, in their magical home, where floo travel was most common, and if they apparated, they tended to go in the backyard to do so, the front door was never really used.

Harry flung his legs off the bed and stood up. He walked to his door and carefully turned the knob, praying it didn't squeak when opened. He'd set a silencing charm on his room so his father didn't hear and interrupt his late-night shenanigans, but he wasn't sure if the door opening would alert his father or not. He still hadn't quite perfected his silencing technique, but it must have been working so far because he hadn't woken Sirius yet.

When he heard Amelia's voice, his eyebrows lowered in frustration, and he was tempted to march downstairs and demand an explanation. Sirius wasn't supposed to have Amelia over without telling Harry first. Then, he heard the word "death eater" and his ears perked up. This wasn't a social call at all. He decided he needed to get a bit closer to hear the full conversation, so he fetched his dad's cloak from his wardrobe and crept out.

….

Sirius rubbed a hand through his hair. "As much as I hate to do it, I guess we need to start preparing Harry to testify."

Amelia adjusted in her seat uncomfortably. "Well, that's another thing I wanted to discuss with you. I'm not sure anymore that Harry testifying would be best."

Sirius was surprised, though secretly quite pleased. "Why not?"

"Well, for one," Amelia began, "He's underage, so we couldn't confirm his testimony with Veritaserum if it came to that. And two…" She paused and bit her lip nervously as her fingers fidgeted with her robe.

"What is it Amelia?" Sirius questioned.

"Malfoy has hired Carl Yaxley to represent him."

Sirius rubbed his forehead. "I'm assuming he's some relation to Corban Yaxley."

Amelia nodded. "His brother. And he's fierce, brutal even. If Harry testifies, he'll be merciless. I'm not sure it's worth putting Harry through that."

Sirius leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. "I'm surprised Corban wasn't there that night."

"Well, I'm not so sure he wasn't," Amelia told him. "In fact, I'd be willing to bet he was, but no one has testified differently." She looked at Sirius and raised her eyebrows.

"You think he threatened them?"

"Yes, I do," Amelia answered, "but unfortunately I have no way to prove that."

"This Carl Yaxley, you think he's a Voldy follower too?"

Amelia twisted her face in thought. "I'm not sure about that, but the Yaxley family is a lot like the Black family. Well-known for their pureblood fanaticism."

Sirius nodded as he stared at nothing in particular and digested that information. His eyes absently wandered towards his son's room where he noticed the door was open.

….

Harry wanted nothing more than to march down to their living room and convince Sirius and Amelia that he could take whatever this Yaxley character tried. He didn't need them protecting his feelings. He needed to see Lucius Malfoy go to prison.

But he couldn't do that because he was supposed to be asleep in his bed.

His mind was racing when he heard his father say something that stopped his heart. "Excuse me a moment, I'm going to go check on Harry. His door is open."

Harry scrambled to his room and leapt into bed, stuffing the invisibility cloak under his blankets. He pulled the blankets over his shoulders, curled up and closed his eyes just seconds before Sirius walked into the room.

When parents are as close to their children as Sirius was to Harry, they can pretty easily tell when their child is awake and when they are not, even when their children aren't as terrible at acting as Harry was. Sirius looked down at his son and crossed his arms.

"I know you're not asleep."

Harry wasn't giving up that easily.

"Dad?" he asked groggily as he blinked his eyes a few times.

Sirius chuckled. "You're really going to try that?"

Harry pretended to be confused. "What do you mean?"

Sirius sat down on the small space between Harry and the edge of the bed and pulled the covers back slightly. He reached and fingered the silvery material sticking out. "Do you sleep with your dad's invisibility cloak every night or only on the nights you've been eavesdropping on my conversation with Amelia?"

Busted.

"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly, moving to sit up. "I couldn't sleep."

Sirius frowned. It seemed odd that Harry wouldn't be able to fall asleep after he'd come home from quidditch training so thoroughly exhausted. He pulled the blankets back even more and stood, motioning for Harry to follow. "Come on, you can have a cup of cocoa with Amelia and me."

"Hi Harry," Amelia greeted him as the father and son entered their living room together. "I…I was just leaving," she said as she stood up.

"No, it's fine. Stay," Harry answered. "Dad is making cocoa."

"Technically, Dobby is making cocoa," Sirius said as he called the house elf and put in an order for three mugs.

Amelia opened her mouth to argue, but Harry stopped her.

"Really, it's fine. I umm…I kind of heard you guys talking. So, you don't think I should testify against Malfoy?"

Sirius and Amelia exchanged a look before Amelia answered. "Well, you could, but we would have no way of proving you are telling the truth. It would be your word against his."

"But," Harry began, sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Amelia, "You caught him there. That's got to count for something, right?"

Sirius sighed. "It should, Harry, and perhaps it will, but Lucius used the Imperius defense successfully before, and there's no stopping him from doing it again. We really need definitive proof that he was there on his own volition."

The three of them sat in silence for a few moments as they each mulled over those words. Amelia almost added that Malfoy's lawyer would be brutal to him, but she knew enough about teenage boys to know any implication that they couldn't handle a tough guy would probably not end well. Plus, that would ultimately have to be a call for Sirius to make, so she figured it would be best to let him handle it. Finally, Sirius leaned forward and looked at Harry with concern. "This really isn't something you should be worrying about, Pup. Once you have your hot chocolate, I want you to try to go back to sleep. Ok?"

Harry seemed to have not heard his father at all. "What about that pen-thingy?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "The pen-thingy?" he asked in uncertainty.

"Yeah, that thing that I fell into in Snape's office," Harry reminded him. "The thing that lets you view memories."

Amelia looked at him in astonishment. "Are you talking about a pensieve?"

"Yeah, that," Harry told her. "Couldn't the court look at my memories from that night?"

Amelia rubbed her chin. "I don't remember a time that's ever been done. Pensieves are exceedingly rare, and most witches and wizards don't know how to use them properly. It's also possible to alter a memory, which Lucy's defense will probably claim we did."

Harry's shoulders fell. He lifted his knees to his chest as his arms wrapped around them and he relaxed into the back of the couch with a sigh. "I don't want him to get away with it…again."

"He won't," Sirius and Amelia both said together in a way that was both fierce individually and adorable together. Harry smiled to himself. They really were made for each other.

Dobby popped in with the hot chocolate Sirius had requested, and Amelia noticed how Harry winced as he reached out and took the steaming mug from the devoted house elf.

"Brankovitch must have worked you hard today," she commented.

Harry nodded after he took a sip and set the mug down. "Yeah. I have muscles that are sore that I didn't even know I had."

Amelia chuckled. "You sound like Sirius after his first day of auror training." She smirked at Sirius, whose jaw dropped, an overly dramatic look of betrayal on his face.

"I have no idea what she is talking about. I was perfectly in shape and had no problems," he lied. He winked at his son before adding, "Besides, don't let her fool you, they take it easy on you the first day. It's the second day when Moody would come in and make every bloody inch of your body hurt."

Amelia's eyes went wide at the memory. "Now that is the truth."

She and Sirius told a few tales of their times in auror training as they sipped their cocoa together. Harry was relishing the time listening to stories, but Sirius could see his eyelids drooping. He let his son sit with them and chat a few more minutes, but once Harry's mouth dropped open in a massive yawn, he knew the boy needed to go back to sleep. "Alright, young man. Back to bed with you," he told his son with no sternness.

Harry pouted. "I'm not even tired."

Amelia turned her head to hide her smirk as Sirius stood and pointed up the stairs. "Right. So were you just trying to catch flies with that yawn?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at his father, and when Sirius offered his hand to help him up, Harry didn't take it. "We could play a round of Exploding Snaps," the boy tried hopefully. The familiar dread of going to sleep and experiencing another nightmare was returning.

"Oh, that would be fun. I haven't played Exploding Snaps in ages," Amelia said enthusiastically. The comment had the dual benefit of teasing Sirius and winning her points with Harry.

Sirius glared at her for a moment before he tapped his chin in thought and looked back at his son. "Ok, one game of Exploding Snaps, on one condition."

Harry looked at him. "What is it?"

"You have to take a full dose of Dreamless Sleep after."

Harry sighed in defeat. "Goodnight Amelia," he said begrudgingly as he stood and allowed his father to walk him up to his room.

After he had Harry tucked back in beneath his warm blankets, Sirius sat down on the side of the bed and stroked his son's head. "You want to talk about what's keeping you up?" he asked softly.

Harry shook his head against his pillow. "Nothing. I just couldn't sleep. I'll be fine."

Sirius frowned at him. They desperately needed some way to stop these blasted nightmares and get Harry's sleep regulated, and nothing, other than potions, seemed to be working. "Would you like to sleep in my room?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. Truthfully he did want to, but a couple of reasons held him back. One, he knew that if he said yes, Sirius would say goodbye to Amelia so that he could stay with Harry, and Sirius looked so happy with Amelia that Harry didn't want to interrupt them. Two, if he went to Sirius's room, he would be forced to actually go to sleep. "No, I'll be ok. Thanks though."

Sirius smiled down at his son before he leaned in and kissed his temple. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me. And for future reference, you don't have to eavesdrop on Amelia and me. You are always welcome to just come and talk with us. Ok?"

Harry nodded. "Ok."

"Good night son. I love you."

"Good night, Dad. Love you too."

Sirius waved the lights off and walked to the door. Just before he stepped through, Harry's voice caught his attention.

"Dad?"

Sirius turned around and waved his hand again to re-light the room. "Yeah?"

Harry sat up on his elbows. "Can I ask you a question?"

Sirius nodded and walked back to his son. Harry was biting his lip nervously and looking everywhere but at his father. Sirius braced himself, thinking Harry was about to ask about how his relationship with Amelia was evolving.

That wasn't it at all.

"Do you think you could show me some memories of my mum and dad, in one of those pens-things?"

Sirius stopped in his tracks, though his heart beat faster. That wasn't what he was expecting at all, and he had no idea how to respond. There were a number of limitations to that idea. One, they would have to find a pensieve, which were exceedingly rare, but Sirius did have enough money and resources that they could likely do it. But then there was the issue of Sirius having to actually relive those memories alongside his son. Could he do that?

"It's just," Harry continued after seeing the uncertainty in Sirius's eyes, "I told you about seeing them when I…that night." He looked at his father, who nodded his understanding, so he continued. "I'm not even sure that was real. Plus I heard them when the dementors were around. I just want a memory of them that I know is real and isn't them screaming."

In an instant, Sirius had his answer. Could he do this? Of course he could. For Harry, he could do anything.

"Ok, son. I'll show you some. We'll have to find a pensieve, but we'll do it. Ok?" He sat down on the side of Harry's bed and touched his cheek as they both smiled. "I have a lot of happy memories I can share with you."

July 12, 1995

"Are you, like, absolutely sure about this?" Harry asked again.

Not even a little bit, Sirius thought, but for you I'll do it.

"I'm sure, Harry. This will probably be good for both of us. Unfortunately, the last memory I have with your parents is the night I found them, so I could use a reminder of the good times too."

Harry nodded hesitantly. As much as he complained about Sirius's overprotective nature, he could be equally as protective towards his father. "If you're sure."

Sirius nodded as he picked up the first vial. "This is a good one. Remus gave it to me, actually. You're going to enjoy this," he told his son, though he was also trying to convince himself. He tipped the silver wisp towards the basin and took Harry's hand as they leaned in.

….

Harry instantly recognized the room he was standing in as his dormitory at Hogwarts, except, instead of five, there were nine beds. Harry could tell it was dark outside, but the moon was bright. Not quite full yet, but close, which explained why a teenage Remus was the only boy sitting up awake in his bed. His wand was lit as he read over what looked like an ancient Transfiguration textbook.

Harry watched Remus for a moment before he looked at Sirius. "Why are there so many beds?"

Sirius looked around fondly. "These were the other boys in our year," he explained as if it were obvious.

"There were nine Gryffindor boys in your year?" Harry asked incredulously.

Sirius frowned at him. "Yes, that was normal back then, Harry. Your class is very small, as are the ones around your year. People weren't having as many children around the time you were born, because of…"

"The war," Harry finished for him. "Right. So, what are we doing here?"

Sirius smirked. "Just wait."

Harry raised an eyebrow at him, but before he could wonder any longer, he heard a noise coming from just outside the door. He hardly had time to question it before the door opened, spilling four Gryffindor girls into the room, each of their arms loaded down with an assortment of colorful…

"Are those water balloons?" Harry questioned, his jaw dropping in shock.

Sirius laughed. "Yes, they are. You will recognize the leader of the pack of witches."

Harry heard Remus question the girls' presence, but he was too busy watching in awe as his mother walked directly to the bed his father was still sleeping in and began pelting the unsuspecting teenager.

James woke suddenly, his face already dripping as more balloons began plummeting towards him.

"Bloody…"

Splash!

"Hell Evans!"

Splash!

"What do you think…"

Splash!

James finally cursed and reached for his wand, throwing up a shield. Lily stopped her assault and glared at him.

"Alright, Evans. Now tell me what is going on!" James demanded.

"I had a date with Sam Macdonald tonight," Lily began to explain, her face quickly reddening to match her hair. "I thought he stood me up," she went on, her teeth gritted tightly together.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Evans, but I always thought that guy was a bit of a tosser anyway," James replied.

"SHUT UP!" Lily shouted, launching another balloon at him, though his shield was able to block it. "I THOUGHT he had stood me up. But he didn't, did he Potter?"

James shrugged innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about…"

Splash!

Lily's anger mixed with James's arrogance made his shield fail, and now his face was dripping again.

"YOU TRANSFIGURED HIM INTO A TOAD!" Lily shouted.

"I think technically he was just a rather large frog," James defended.

Splash!

Both teenage and present day Sirius were laughing hysterically. Harry was too dumbstruck, but he did get a good laugh out of what happened next.

Lily turned her head to teenage Sirius and spoke to the girls that had accompanied her. "Get Black too. He probably helped. And Peter and Remus too."

What followed was a loud, rowdy, watery mess until McGonagall eventually caught the riot in progress and proceeded to give the telling-off of a lifetime to everyone involved.

Sirius took Harry by the shoulder and pulled him out of the memory, both of them collapsing in their chairs in fits of giggles.

"How did mum and her friends get in there?" Harry asked.

Sirius wiped his eyes where tears of laughter had been forming. "The girls' dormitory keeps boys out, but not the other way around. To be honest, I'm surprised that the rule wasn't changed after that incident."

"And dad really transfigured her date into a toad?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, it was definitely just a large frog."

They both dissolved into laughter again. Eventually, Harry cleared his throat. "Did he get caught?"

"No," Sirius assured him, shaking his head. "He scared the piss out of Macdonald. He certainly wasn't going to tattle. And your dad was right. He was a bit of a tosser."

Harry chuckled another moment before they both went silent. He rubbed his fingers along the arm of the chair before working up the courage to ask, "So, do you think we could do another?"

Sirius took a deep breath. Truthfully, that hadn't been nearly as bad as he thought it would be. In fact, it was kind of nice to relive that memory, but he knew the next one wouldn't be quite as entertaining. It wasn't a funny tale, just a remembrance of times gone by, and he knew seeing James in such a relaxed setting was going to make him long to reach out and hug the man.

But he had hugged James and gotten to spend countless hours with him, things that he would remember for the rest of his life, unlike Harry, who had been so well loved by both his parents but yet had no memory of it. He felt he owed it to his son to share a bit of that with him.

Sirius reached out and ran a hand through his son's hair. "Yeah, let's do another."

….

It was dark, again, but they weren't at Hogwarts. Teenage Sirius and James were sitting by a small river, James holding a fishing rod over the water while Sirius lounged on a rock and read some sort of astronomy book, glancing up at the sky from time to time. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, though they both seemed perfectly content.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"North Devon," Sirius answered. "Your grandparents used to take us camping here."

Harry looked around. "I don't see them."

"That's because they're back in the tent, asleep, thinking James and I are doing the same. We, of course, snuck out."

Harry nodded his understanding as he turned his face back to the scene in front of him.

James picked up a small, smooth stone and tossed it towards Sirius. "What are you reading?"

Sirius closed the book and read the title. "The Stars: A New Way to See Them, It's a muggle astronomy guide. I'm looking for constellations."

"Don't you want to fish?" James asked.

"Not really," Sirius replied, sitting up.

"You fish with Dad," James commented.

"That's because your dad loves to fish, and I don't have the heart to tell him I don't particularly care for it," Sirius explained. "Besides, I do love being beside the water. It's relaxing."

"He's your dad too, you know," James mentioned as he reeled in his line.

Young Sirius lowered his book and looked at him. It was hard to see in the dim moonlight, but Harry thought he could tell his cheeks were turning pink. Maybe it was just how well he knew Sirius. "Yeah, I know."

James smirked. "You're going to be pissed at yourself if Mum and Dad catch us and all you did was read the whole time."

"If Mum and dad Catch us," Sirius told him, the words might have felt strange, but they definitely caused him to smile, "We're dead anyway, so it doesn't really matter." He pulled out a box of cigarettes and offered one to James, which he took, before lighting his own.

James scoffed as he put his pole down and lit his. "We won't get caught."

Sirius smirked at him and blew out a puff of smoke. "Never have yet."

James climbed onto the rock Sirius was sitting on and looked up at the sky. "Which one are you looking for?"

Sirius pointed up and slightly to the right. "Centaurus. I think that's Alpha Centauri right there, but I can't seem to find Beta Centauri. Maybe a cloud is covering it."

James raised an eyebrow. "You want to say that in English?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "It's the name of the stars, git." He picked up his book and read for a moment, then dropped it. "I think we're too far north to see it all."

With a nod of understanding, James crushed his cigarette on the rock, grabbed his fishing pole again, and stood up. "Does that mean you want to fish now?"

"Nah," Sirius told him, chuckling at his friend's enthusiasm. "I'm going to keep looking. You go ahead."

James shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"We did this a lot," modern-day Sirius explained to Harry. "We'd sneak down here and fish all night. Well James would fish mostly, and I would read. Sometimes we went swimming, which was dangerous. Sometimes we brought booze we could smuggle away, which was even more dangerous. Don't get any ideas," he said playfully as he poked a finger in Harry's chest. "But we had a good time. He never understood why I wanted to read, and I never understood why he wanted to fish, but we enjoyed just being together. It was our spot."

"Could you take me there sometime?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Of course," Sirius answered. "Now, let's get back."

….

In the final memory, Harry found himself standing with Sirius inside a church. A younger Sirius was checking his reflection in a mirror close to them while James stood at a vanity a few feet away and buttoned the sleeves of his shirt. Both of them were dressed in nicely tailored, black muggle suits with white dress shirts and lavender ties.

"I'm telling you Prongs," young Sirius began, not taking his eyes away from the mirror, "I'm thrilled you're marrying a muggleborn. Not only because it would piss off my mother, and you know how much I love doing that, but also because I look spectacular in this suit. I may start wearing muggle attire all the time."

"I don't think the best man is supposed to look better than the groom," James commented as he turned to him and smiled.

Sirius shook his head. "It's just the bride I can't look better than."

"Well there's no chance of that," James teased and they both chuckled.

Sirius put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm happy for you, mate."

Harry could see tears beginning to form in James's eyes as he smiled at Sirius.

"Prongs always exuded confidence, but I could tell when I touched his shoulder there that he was trembling. He was so nervous. He'd even thrown up earlier that morning. He blamed it on the copious amounts of alcohol we all had drunk the night before, but I knew it was nerves," modern-day Sirius explained.

Just then, a door behind them opened and a young Remus entered. Harry had never seen him dressed so nicely, not even at his own wedding. He appeared to hold the door open for someone, but no one walked through, before he let it go and walked over to James and Sirius.

Harry looked up at Sirius curiously.

"Peter was there too," Sirius said begrudgingly. "I altered the memory."

Harry nodded and turned his attention back to the young Marauders.

"Your mum says we have to pin these to our suits," Remus told them. He opened the box to reveal four beautiful cream colored lilies with a small lavender ribbon tied around each.

Harry watched as the three friends pinned each other's boutonnieres to their suits and checked over each other. James glanced at his watch, then looked at young Sirius. "You better go if you're going to walk Lily down the aisle."

Young Sirius nodded and walked towards the door. James told Remus and his currently-absent other groomsman that he would be right back, and then turned to accompany Sirius. Older Sirius and Harry followed them too.

Young Sirius watched curiously as James joined him in the hallway. "You know you can't come with me. You're not supposed to see the bride before the ceremony," he teased.

James nodded. "I know. I just wanted to tell you before we get started, that…" he hesitated, then continued. "Well, I just wanted to say that you're more than my best friend, Siri. You're my brother, and I've loved growing up with you and living with you." He took a breath and then spoke again, sounding more confident as he went on. "I really don't know where I'd be without you as a best friend. I love you. You know that right?"

Young Sirius smiled brightly and hugged his best friend. "I know that Jamie. I love you too. Lily may be crazy enough to marry you, but she's not crazy enough to try and keep me away. We may not be living together, but nothing else is changing. We're still brothers, right?"

"Brothers, right. Forever," James agreed. "And of course you can come visit anytime you want."

"You sure I shouldn't check with Lily on that first?" Sirius asked playfully.

James made a face. "I'm the man of the house, and I say you can," James said in clearly fake pompousness as he puffed out his chest.

"Oh well, I'll just tell Evans you said that when I get over there."

"Oh dear Merlin, don't do that!" James answered.

Both of them laughed before exchanging one final hug.

"I love you, Padfoot."

"I love you, Prongs."

….

Harry was quiet during dinner that evening, and Sirius understood. They had stayed and watched the entire wedding, Harry seeing for the first time his paternal grandparents. Pulling his son out of that memory had been one of the hardest things Sirius had had to do, and he wondered briefly if letting Harry see it at all was a mistake.

"Harry," he started, his voice a bit hoarse from nerves, "do you think today was a bad idea?"

Harry's eyes were wide as he suddenly looked at Sirius. "No! Not at all. It was just hard leaving them, you know?"

"I get it, I really do," Sirius told him. "Maybe we should take a break before doing that again though. Ok?"

Harry nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Ok."

Sirius reached out and took his son's hand. "The memories are wonderful, and I love that I can share them with you, but we do have to move forward. Your mum and dad wouldn't want us dwelling on the memories and forgetting to live, don't you think?"

Harry sighed. "I guess you're right. But thank you, you know, for sharing them. I know it must have been hard on you as well."

Sirius nodded and squeezed his son's hand. "It was, but it was worth it." He pulled his hand back and reached into his pocket. "Now, how about instead of a memory, I share an experience with you? One your father had too."

Harry lowered his eyebrows in confusion until Sirius pulled out a small box and slid it over to his son. Harry knew without opening it exactly what it was. "The mandrake leaf?" he asked excitedly, his voice much brighter than it had been all afternoon and evening.

"Yep," Sirius confirmed. "Tonight is the full moon, so if you want to become an animagus, you'll need to put that in your mouth and keep it there until the next one. You still want to go through the process, right?"

"Absolutely!" Harry answered. "Thanks!"

Sirius nodded. "Why don't you go get packed for Ron's, and then I'll help you place it before I take you over there."

Harry practically leapt from his seat and sprinted towards the door, but before he exited, he turned and launched at Sirius, hugging the man fiercely. "Thanks, Dad."

Sirius chuckled and hugged him back before shoo-ing him out the door. "You're welcome, Pup. Now go!"

Sirius sat and watched Harry retreat fondly. He missed James and Lily every day, some days so badly it hurt, but he was beyond thankful for their boy. The boy that was so much like them, shared their bravery, loyalty, and unfailing kindness, not to mention the green eyes and unruly hair, was in a way, like having them here with him, and he thanked every god he knew that they had entrusted that boy to him.