Authors Note:

Thank you again to the five or six of you who have been reading. This story is definitely going on right until the end LOL, but I am having fun writing it, however long and epic it may be.

Reviews and Comments: To Ugly-Duckling123: Ha, you will find out this chapter just why Andy is demanding he not be let into the house. To Queen Helen: Thank you so much! Have to leave a short cliffhanger so more than three people might read this story lol… To ObsessedWithHPFanFic: He is a great storyteller, I agree! I love the idea of Remus being an avid reader. Thank you!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

The One With the Tonkses'

Sirius stopped his progress, Harry still in his arms. He felt his face drop in shock and sadness before he quickly masked it. He didn't know what he had been expecting from the only blood relative that he actually liked, but he was extremely disappointed by the result.

But then he stumbled back in surprise when her small body tackled him. He found himself holding Harry closer as the boy held his breath in fear of the sudden invasion that was Andromeda Black Tonks hugging Sirius like her life depended on it. Sirius turned his head to kiss the boy's cheek in reassurance and he burrowed closer into Sirius' embrace.

Andromeda pulled back with tears in her eyes. "Why did you wait so long to come and see me, you stupid prat?" she exclaimed, punching him in the arm. She wiped at her tears furiously, her eyes flashing in annoyance. "I only just found out yesterday that you were released from Azkaban weeks ago. Weeks ago, Sirius Orion!"

He nodded, smiling at her and relaxing. "It was in the papers. Innocent man set free after four years, six months, and twenty days in prison for a crime that he never actually committed."

"I never read the damn paper anymore. There's never anything good in it," she told him honestly. "And who is this little darling? Hi, sweetheart."

Harry turned his head into Sirius' shoulder, holding Prongs tight in his arms.

"This is Harry. He's a little shy."

"Well, come in!" Andromeda exclaimed, ushering her husband to go inside as Sirius and Harry followed.

Sirius took a seat on the lumpy couch in the living room that was surprisingly comfortable and grinned at Ted as he sat across from him in the rocking chair.

"I'm sorry to just drop in unannounced like this. I was literally pulling up in front of the house before the thought even occurred to me that I should have written first."

Andromeda waved her hand as if that was nonsense, taking a seat on the arm of the chair that her husband was in. "No! I'm so glad to see you, Sirius! And you're looking so well, too! When you were arrested… Ted and I couldn't believe it. Ted mentioned something about you supposedly working for He Who Must Not Be Named and how you had betrayed the Potters and I just couldn't wrap my mind around it! But… we kind of lost touch a little so I didn't know what to believe if I'm completely honest with you.

Sirius nodded, understanding. "I know. And I'm sorry that we lost touch. With the war going on, I was working undercover a lot trying to help with the Order. You know how dangerous some of those missions were." When his cousin only glared at her husband, who had indeed found himself on a few of those dangerous missions working with the Order of the Phoenix alongside of Sirius, he continued. "I became focused on being with my friends and trying to keep them safe — which I failed spectacularly at."

Andromeda moved to sit next to him, taking his hand in hers and squeezing lightly as Harry only moved closer to Sirius and away from her outstretched hand.

"You were trying to protect your friends; anything that happened because of that is not your fault."

"I'm the one that insisted that they change Secret Keepers, Andy. If I had let them use me like James wanted to, they would still be alive."

"You don't know that," Ted said, leaning forward in his chair. "You don't know what would have happened. James and Lily Potter were very powerful, but they had a lot of close calls and you can't tempt fate, Sirius. Maybe they were meant to die young. I'm not saying that it's right, but fate works in mysterious ways, like that little boy you're holding — The Boy Who Lived."

Sirius smiled, turning Harry so that he was facing Andromeda and Ted. "If I hadn't made such a stupid mistake and gone after Peter, I would have had him from the start. Lily's sister was his guardian and she didn't take care of him. He's been living with me for almost three weeks now, but he's still rather shy around people that he doesn't know." Sirius gently brushed a finger down Harry's cheek. "Harry, this is my cousin Andy and her husband Ted. Can you say hi to them?"

"Hello," Harry said softly, cuddling Prongs closer in his arms.

Andromeda smiled warmly. "How would you like some pumpkin juice, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, please."

Andromeda smiled and stood up. "Sirius, would you like some tea?"

"That'd be great, thanks."

Ted stood up to help his wife and a few minutes later, they returned with tea and biscuits and a glass of pumpkin juice for Harry. Harry moved over to sit on the floor, still holding onto Prongs as he accepted the pumpkin juice.

Ted had pulled out a box of dominoes and opened it up on the floor next to Harry and was quietly showing him how to stack them close together and to build a winding trail around the room. Harry looked up at Sirius when Ted asked him if he wanted to build with him.

"Go on, Prongslet, it's okay," Sirius told him with a smile.

Harry beamed at him and crawled over to the dominoes that Ted had set up and listened attentively as Ted explained how you had to stack them just so to make the effect work when you knocked them down.

Sirius smiled as he watched Harry for a moment before he turned back to Andromeda. "Listen, I wanted to see you, obviously, and with everything that I've been doing — trying to get my life back on track, and now trying to organize my life with Harry… I'm his godfather, if you remember — and I have full custody of him now."

Andromeda nodded, her dark hooded eyes smiling at him. "I remember. You were so proud the day that you rushed over here and told me that your godson had just been born."

Sirius chuckled as the memory washed over him of the day that he had become a godfather.

He had been pacing within the halls of St Mungo's with Remus and Peter. James and Lily had been in the room for hours; felt like days.

"Sit down, Padfoot!" Peter insisted, leaning back in his chair. "Pacing back and forth like a mad man isn't going to make it go any faster."

"Pete's right, Sirius; come sit down," Remus told him, patting the bench next to him.

Sirius only looked up at his friends, eyes wide. "I can't. I'm too… edgy. James is in there having a fucking baby!"

"Well, technically, Lily's having the fucking baby, but I know what you mean," Peter said, grinning widely. "Never would have believed that tosser would have got the chance to date Evans let alone convince the poor girl to marry him and breed."

Remus laughed, dragging his fists over his tired eyes. "That tosser wore her down and she had the hots for him for years; we all knew it. She was just smart enough not to show it."

Sirius grinned. "Remember that time that she told him she'd rather kiss every Death Eater on the arse than spend another moment talking in his presence?"

Remus laughed, smirking at his friends. "Merlin, I thought Prongs was going to die. He stuttered and stared at her like she had suddenly grown three heads. Now they are having a baby together. It seems like the world is really changing."

"Just because they're having a baby doesn't mean our world is changing," Sirius insisted, his eyes on his friends.

"Babies change things, Padfoot," Peter told him, crossing his feet at the ankles. "Babies change everything."

The door at the end of the hall opened and James rushed out, black hair sticking up worse than ever, crooked glasses and a face splitting grin plastered across his mouth.

"It's a boy! Quick, come see!" he exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waved them forward.

Peter and Remus stood up, following Sirius who was in the lead, as they made their way into the room where Lily was sitting. She was propped up in the bed, her dark red hair damp and plaited at her neck as she held a tiny bundle in a green and blue blanket knitted by Euphemia Potter.

"Marauders, I'd like for you to meet the first Marauder of the new generation, Prongs II," James announced proudly, beaming so brightly that he was practically glowing.

"James, for the last time — we are not naming our son Prongs II!" Lily exclaimed, rolling her eyes at her husband. She smiled warmly at the three of them. "Come closer and meet your nephew, Marauders."

"Nephew?" Remus asked, smiling brightly.

James grinned widely. "Obviously, Uncle Moony. Say hello to Prongs II."

"Harry," Lily said, chuckling. "His name is Harry James Potter."

"After my grandpa," James said with a smile. "He was an Auror and the coolest bloke around. And James for the coolest bloke in this little man's life: Moi."

"Um, excuse me — godfather claims that status," Sirius said raising his hand in acknowledgement and taking a seat on the edge of the bed, looking at Harry. "Hi there, Prongslet, I'm your godfather."

"That's Uncle Padfoot, Harry, otherwise known as Uncle Sirius or Uncle Moron," James said, smiling down at his son.

"Your dad's the moron, Prongslet. I'm the cool one. Stick with me, little man and we got this."

Lily smiled up at the four men around her. The Marauders; the man she loved more than life itself, and the men he called his brothers. "Sirius, would you like to hold your Prongslet first?"

Sirius beamed as Lily carefully placed Harry into his arms. "He's so small, Lil; barely weighs a thing!"

Peter leaned in, smiling. "He's got James' black hair disaster."

"You don't know that it's going to be a disaster, Pete," James said defensively, looking at his son's mop of black unruly hair.

Peter only smirked. "I think we do, Prongs."

Sirius gently ran his finger down Harry's cheek, grinning when Harry's tiny hand gripped his finger hard. "Hi there, Prongslet, strong grip you've got there."

Sirius passed the baby to Remus who looked panicked.

"Um, Peter can — oh boy," he exclaimed in panic as Sirius left the baby in his arms. "Hi, little Prongs."

Lily smiled at him. "Relax, Rem, he's fine."

"He's so precious," Remus told her, a soft smile on his face. "Right, Harry? Are you precious?"

Harry only stared up at him, fingers twitching until he grabbed a hold of Remus' finger. Remus smiled and carefully passed the baby over to Peter who held him with expert ease.

"Hi, Harry," Peter said, cradling him against him. "You are going to be a great little Marauder, aren't you, Prongs II?"

James grinned widely. "See, darling, even the boys agree that the Prongs nickname must live on!"

Sirius smiled. "He is Prongslet, little Prongs, Prongs II."

Lily smiled at them. "His name is Harry, but whatever endearing nicknames you three give him is for you blokes alone."

James took his son from Peter, holding him closely in his arms. "He's our Harry," he said, taking Lily's hand in his own and leaning down to kiss her softly. "Thank you for giving me my son. I love you."

Lily held his cheek in her hand, her green eyes on his as she kissed him. "I love you, James."

His lips met hers again for a longer kiss and Peter cleared his throat.

"Well, we'll leave the new family alone to get acquainted. But we'll see you when you head home."

Remus and Sirius nodded, saying goodbye before the three of them left the room.

"James and Lily have a fucking son!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I have a godson! We have a fucking nephew!"

Remus grinned widely. "It is rather marvellous, isn't it?"

Peter nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It really is. When my cousin had her first, it's the greatest thing. But now we're like uncles and that's just… the ultimate, you know?"

Sirius grinned widely. "I have to go tell Andy!"

"But Sirius, it's three in the —" Remus began as Sirius Disapparated on the spot, leaving his friends staring after him in amusement, and arrived just outside of the house in Shoreditch. He practically ran to the front door to ring the bell.

Andromeda answered, her eyes half closed, but they widened when she saw her cousin there. "Sirius, what's wrong? Are you all right? What happened?"

Sirius grinned like a fool, picking her up and swinging her around in his arms. "I'm an uncle, Andy! I have a godson! A fucking godson!"

Andromeda stared at him, her mouth open in shock for a full thirty seconds before she comprehended what he had just said. "Sirius Black! Did you just wake me up at three forty-five in the morning to announce that your godson was born?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I don't even care, Andy! I'm godfather to the cutest mother fucking kid in the universe named Harry James Potter and I'm proud as hell."

Andromeda finally smiled. "I can't even be mad, you git! Congratulations, Sirius."

Sirius hugged her again. "I'm going to be the best godfather ever to this kid. My little Prongslet."

"Prongslet?"

Sirius grinned. "Nickname — long story." He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "And a new tattoo idea. See you Andy!"

He Disapparated again before she could respond and she was left standing at the front door of her home, grinning widely.

"It was one of the best days of my life. When James and Lily asked me to be godfather back before they even knew if they were having a boy or a girl, I was just so honoured and so excited, you know? Especially with Fee and Monty having passed before Harry was born. It meant a lot to me," Sirius told her, smiling. "And I loved that baby from the first instant that I held him." He looked over at Harry who was smiling at Ted as they shifted the row of dominoes around the side of the couch. "I want to be the best godfather I can be to him. He needs me, now more than ever."

Andromeda smiled at him. "He looks pretty content to me."

Sirius grinned at her. "The people that he was living with, they mistreated him; abused him. He's really come around the last few weeks with me and he's just really starting to trust Remus too, which is good. Remus is going to help out as much as he can as well."

"You know that if you need anything you only have to ask," Andromeda told him with a smile. "And Dora is old enough to babysit herself now when she comes home for the summer holidays. I'm sure she'd love it if you asked her over to play with Harry."

"Old enough to babysit? You're kidding, right?"

Andromeda chuckled, reaching for the picture frame on the table next to her. "I'm not. She turned thirteen in May."

Sirius grinned at the photo of his cousin standing between her parents. Her long brown hair was streaked with a dark pink, braided to the side and she had three earrings in each lobe making him smile. "I love the earrings."

"You would," Andromeda said as she looked at his adorned left ear. "She wants the top of her ears done now. I promised her that when she was thirteen we'd talk about it so I can imagine what our summer conversation is going to be."

"The pink looks great too, I'm surprised that you let her dye it."

Andromeda smiled. "Actually, I didn't."

Sirius chuckled, his eyes wide. "She went out and got it done herself? Brave little bird."

"Oh, she is that — but no. I guess you never got the chance to find out, but well, Dora's a Metamorphmagus."

"What?" Sirius asked in surprise. "As in the ability to change her appearance at will?"

Andromeda nodded. "One in the same. No one has had the ability in our family in four generations. I kind of assumed that it had died out, but here we are."

"That's brilliant!"

"She thinks so. She started young with it, but Ted and I didn't catch on. We thought that it was just her magic coming through. But do you remember how I could never decide what her eye colour was as it always seemed to be changing? She was doing that. And her hair would grow and shorten, it seemed almost with her mood, but when she was five, she asked me why the neighbour had such a strange nose. When I asked her what she meant, she showed me on her own face and I just about jumped out of my skin!"

"What did you do?" Sirius asked, rather intrigued. "How did you find out?"

"Well, I took her to St Mungo's where they tested her blood and found the gene that had gone dormant in the Black bloodline was active again in her bloodstream," Andromeda explained. "And Dora controls it so well. By the time that she started Hogwarts she could change her entire appearance in under thirty seconds. I'm hoping that she uses her powers for good, but Professor Sprout is always writing me letters about her escapades at school. It seems that she is a bit of a prankster."

Sirius beamed. "Excellent."

Andromeda laughed. "You would love it. I think that you got into more trouble at school than anyone I knew."

Sirius grinned, shrugging good naturally. "Possibly." He grabbed a biscuit from the tray and grinned at his cousin. "I did actually want to talk to you about something."

"Of course," Andromeda said, smiling warmly at him.

"Remus took Harry to the library yesterday. He likes stories, our boy does, and we discovered that he reads pretty well. He was attending a Muggle primary school before he came to live with me. But now that he knows about the magical world, I think putting him back into a Muggle school isn't the best idea," Sirius explained, looking over at Harry who was still ever so carefully stacking the dominoes. "I asked Remus to be in charge of his schooling. He's the smartest person that I know and he has such patience for teaching; bloke always wanted to be a professor. But the two of us were talking, and we don't really know what we should teach him. I mean, what are the most important things that he has to know before he goes off to Hogwarts. What did you and Ted teach Dora?" Sirius asked with interest.

Andromeda smiled, sipping her tea as she looked thoughtful. "I assume that you are thinking like I did that the Black family way is not the best method." When Sirius only rolled his eyes in response, she laughed. "Ted and I talked about it and we decided that teaching Dora what we wanted her to know was all that mattered. Latin of course, and reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also some history, some literature, and some potion making. Ted taught her how to make some healing salves. Things they can do without magic. Ted also wanted her to know about the Muggle world so we went to see movies and concerts in the Muggle world and we had fun. It's about having fun, Sirius, and teaching Harry what you think he needs to know to be successful in the world."

"Oh," Sirius said, relaxing. "I think that I was making this out to be a lot bigger in my head — like I needed to know some secret to teach him."

She chuckled and set her tea cup down on the table. "No. So, tell me, did you move into Uncle Alphard's old place, the cottage in, where is it? Sidmouth?"

Sirius nodded, looking over at Harry who had his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as he carefully lined up each tile as Ted instructed him, before turning back to his cousin. "I am. I repainted, but it's in pretty good repair. The garden needs some work, but I'll get to it. I think once Remus starts teaching Harry, I'll have some more time to myself."

"If you need help with the gardens let me know and I'll avoid you. I absolutely do not have a green thumb," she said with a laugh. "But I'd be happy to help you pick out some lovely flowers or shrubs that I think will look nice. Just don't let me touch them."

Ted chuckled from the floor and grinned up at Sirius. "She's right about that, Sirius. I gave her roses for her birthday and they were dead the next day. I don't know what she does wrong."

Sirius grinned as Harry placed the last domino down. "Good to know. Wait, then who is responsible for the beautiful flowerbeds and garden up the walkway?"

"That's all Edward," Andromeda said. "I try to stay away from his plants as much as I can."

"It's for the best, dear. Push this one right here, Harry," Ted instructed, pointing to the first domino that Harry had stood up.

Harry looked hesitant as his eyes moved around to the large circular trail they had built. "Push it?"

Ted nodded with a smile. "Yes. It's what you do when you play dominoes. You watch the effect of your careful planning and see if you stacked them up properly."

"Go on, Harry, I want to see," Sirius said, coming to sit on the floor next to his godson.

Harry bit his bottom lip before he gently pushed the domino and grinned widely as the effect knocked all of them down in a mechanical motion, following the trail that he had built. "Wow!"

Sirius laughed and kissed his cheek. "Good job, Prongslet!"

Andromeda stood up and smiled at them. "You'll stay for lunch?"

"I never say no to free food, Andy," Sirius said with a grin, remembering the letter to McGonagall that he had put in his jacket pocket when he moved to stand up. "Hey, can I borrow your owl?

~ ASC ~

After leaving Andy and Ted's house, Sirius and Harry headed to Diagon Alley. Sirius needed to purchase his own owl if he was going to be corresponding with anyone. He remembered the owl that he had when he had been at school. Her name had been Snow in direct contradiction of her dark feathers. She had passed away shortly after he had left school; having belonged to his family for almost twenty years.

He held Harry's hand as they stepped into Eeylops Owl Emporium later that afternoon. He smiled at the clerk behind the desk before they walked around to look at the owls. Harry's eyes were drawn towards a large tawny owl with red in her feathers.

"Do you like that one, Harry? She's pretty, isn't she?"

Harry nodded, looking up at the cage. "I like her tail," he said, pointing to where the reddish feathers fanned off into a soft gold and white.

"She is a beauty," the clerk said from behind him. "She's five years old; used to belong to my aunt, who sadly has passed on. Her name is Persephone. Are you interested? I can let her go for thirty Galleons."

Sirius watched as Harry tentatively reached a finger out to stroke her wing and Persephone closed her eyes, hooting in contentment and he smiled.

"Sold."

The clerk beamed at him. "Let me ring you up."