Author's Note:

Time for some more time jumps, but something big is definitely getting started here. And no, they are not getting together yet. Tonks is only sixteen! But some feelings are definitely developing for Remus!

Reviews and Comments: To Guest: Thank you! I always loved the idea of Ginny and Sirius being close as well. They definitely bonded in Order of the Phoenix over bad dreams, it's canon to me. He definitely couldn't say no to her. To nesciamema: Well, Dora did have a crush on Remus a few years ago, but yes, it will be a bit before they are together. Thank you! To E-Dett: Thank you for saying the interaction between Sirius and Ginny was fun! Yes, Tonks is old enough it is okay for Remus to be interested in her, but in his eyes, definitely not! She's sixteen, seventeen in a few months. You're welcome! To alix33: Thank you! I think Percy is under appreciated. My goal is to make people like him this story, even if he does have a stick up his arse some of the time lol. Thanks. To coloredwords: Yes, it has been a while! Thanks for returning to the story! Thank you so much for loving this story and ha, yes, poor Remus, being forced to wank so much. I love the music in this fic as well so thanks for appreciating it. Remus is definitely not a monk, but he's very cautious. Thank you!

To M: Sirius didn't figure it out, at least not yet. He for sure is their number one shipper lol. Thank you! To Guest: I am updating pretty regularly so I'm sorry if that's not fast enough for you. But thanks as it means you want to know more. To Claire Fraser: Yes, this is the beginning of Remus and Tonks, though it is still a long ways off lol. 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 FIFTY-SIX:

The One Where Harry Asks About Sex

The New Year's Eve party of 1989 was just as fun as the last as they ushered in the new decade, but Remus found himself incredibly jealous when Nymphadora brought a date to the party. A fellow Hufflepuff sixth year named Connor McGee that had his hands all over her and Remus found himself clenching his teeth in anger as he watched them.

A monster seemed to reside in his chest that had nothing to do with the wolf, despite the image that Remus had of turning into a wolf and ripping stupid Connor "handsy" McGee to shreds. What right did that little prick have to touch her in that way?

"Moony, you look like you're thinking about attacking someone," Sirius said with a grin and then his eyes narrowed as he saw where his friend was looking. "That boy better watch his hands."

Remus nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

Sirius marched over there and whatever he said had Connor paling and Nymphadora glaring at her cousin, but it relieved Remus to see them no longer touching.

January 1990 came in cold and windy and Sirius and Remus took Harry sledding and skiing for the first time. Sirius was rather hopeless with the Muggle contraptions, but with Remus' help, the three of them were soon sailing down the hills happily and enjoying the cold weather.

March brought in Remus' thirtieth birthday and he smiled as Harry and Sirius celebrated it with him. Harry had pranked him by switching the cake so when Remus blew out his candles the whole cake blew up in his face, covering him in icing sugar and confetti. Sirius and Harry laughed like loons before Harry brought out the real cake.

Remus spent the night of his thirtieth birthday with a brunette named Amanda and as he rode her, he thought about Dora and he cursed himself for it.

He didn't stay the night and he didn't see her again.

At the end of March, Sirius was cleaning up after breakfast when the fireplace whooshed from the living room and they both hurried over to see who was calling them. Sirius' eyes widened as Mr Weasley stepped out.

"Arthur, this is a surprise."

Mr Weasley nodded, his eyes sad. "Sirius, can I have a private word?"

Sirius nodded, pointing his thumb behind him. "Outside, Prongslet."

"Aw, man," Harry said. "How come I can't know stuff?"

Sirius simply grinned at him. "Grown up talk. Go, put on your jacket and take Marauder." He waited until he heard the backdoor close before he turned to Mr Weasley. "What's going on? Is everyone all right?"

Mr Weasley nodded, taking a seat on the chesterfield. "My family is fine, yes. I just wanted to let you know that… well, that Pandora Lovegood died last night."

"What?" Sirius asked in surprise, his eyes widening. "She's only two years older than me! What the hell happened?"

Mr Weasley nodded, tears in his eyes. "I don't know if you were aware, but Pandora is… was an outstanding Potioneer, brilliant and an absolute genius in her field, but a lot of that genius comes with the desire to create and to explore and to do that properly means experimentation. She was working on a new potion of some kind in her home potions laboratory and well… there was a terrible accident."

"Shit," Sirius said softly.

The pretty brunette was so sweet and had been nothing but friendly to he and Harry. He wished that he had gotten to know her a little better outside of being a friend of Molly Weasley's and Luna's mother, he didn't really know her.

"I never met her husband, but he runs a magazine, right? Is he with Luna?"

Mr Weasley's bottom lip trembled as he spoke. "Yes, he's the editor of The Quibbler. Luna was with her mother when the potion exploded. She watched her mother die and from what Molly told me… it wasn't slow. Xenophilius is with her now at the hospital. Luna had minor burns on her arms, but she hasn't spoken a single word since it happened, to anyone, not even her father."

"Merlin," Sirius whispered, eyes wide. "That poor child!"

Mr Weasley nodded, tears in his eyes. "Anyway, the funeral is going to be on Friday. I'm sure it would mean a lot to Luna if you and Harry came and I know that Xenophilius can use some friendly support. The poor man was head over heels for his wife and he's completely lost right now. Molly is heading over to the house now to help settle Luna in. She was supposed to be released from St Mungo's sometime this morning. She's going to see if he needs anything; to bring over some food and to see how Luna is doing. I just… I thought you should know."

Sirius nodded as Mr Weasley stood up. "No, thank you, Arthur. Let Molly know if she needs help with anything to let me know. I'd be glad to take the kids for a bit if needed as well."

"Thanks, Sirius."

Sirius stood in the living room looking out the front window for almost five minutes after Mr Weasley left. He couldn't imagine what Luna must be going through. She had only just turned nine years old last month and to have witnessed her mother's horrific death like that… he was afraid to find out what the potion was or what it might have contained that made it so deadly to Pandora and caused such burns on her daughter's arms. He sighed and made his way outside to where Harry was throwing a frisbee across the yard to Marauder.

"Harry!"

Harry saw him and hurried over. "What did Mr Weasley want?"

Sirius gestured for him to sit down next to him. "Harry, I have to tell you something very sad. Please come and sit with me."

Harry did as his godfather asked, eyes on Sirius. "What is so sad, Uncle Padfoot?"

Sirius wrapped an arm across Harry's shoulders. "Prongslet, there was an accident last night and Luna's mum was killed. She's dead, Harry."

Harry stared at Sirius, his eyes wide. "Mrs Lovegood is dead?"

Sirius nodded. "It was an accident, but she died, and Luna was there. Mr Weasley said that the funeral is going to be on Friday and I think that we should go and show our support. It would mean a lot to Luna to see her friends there."

Harry was quiet for a long moment, his head on his godfather's shoulder. When he spoke, his voice was almost a whisper. "Like with Neville's granddad?"

"Just like that, Prongslet," he said, kissing the top of Harry's head.

Harry turned into his godfather's arms, his own arms wrapping around him as he buried his face over his heart. "How can an accident take people away, too?"

Sirius hugged him close, dropping another kiss to his head. "Sometimes life happens, Harry. Sometimes we lose those we love and it's very sad, but we have to believe that it was supposed to happen for a reason and that they are in a better place."

"Do you think that Mrs Lovegood is with Mum and Dad and Mr Longbottom?"

Sirius smiled. "Of course. Your mum and dad are taking very good care of both of them. I know it."

Harry smiled against his chest. "Good. Luna won't want her mum to be all alone."

Sirius kissed Harry's forehead. "Come on; let's go finish our breakfast and then we'll see if Mrs Weasley needs any help for Luna and her family, okay?"

Harry nodded, a small smile on his face. "Okay."

~ ASC ~

The funeral was on Friday. Harry had never been to a funeral before, at least not one that he could remember. He hadn't really known Neville well enough to go to his grandfather's funeral with him at the time. It was really sad and Harry didn't know what to do. He had liked Mrs Lovegood. She had been kind and pretty, but he didn't know her very well and he wasn't sad enough to cry. But Luna was his friend and she was sad.

At least he thought she was.

She stood up at the front, her long blonde hair in a braid down the centre of her back, her hand in her father's, and she stared at the wooden box that her mother was lying in. Sirius told him that it was called a coffin and that the box would be closed and then buried in a cemetery where Mrs Lovegood would be placed to rest. Harry wasn't sure he liked that description. The thought of Mrs Lovegood being under the ground made him uneasy. Then he started to wonder if thats what his parents were in, some underground coffin and that made him even more uneasy so he pushed those thoughts aside.

Xenophilius Lovegood's long hair, the same shade as his daughter's, was pulled back in a plait at his neck. His eyes were bloodshot from crying and his face stained with his tears. His face was rough with white-blond stubble. Luna had shifted to rest her head against her father's ribs and his arm came around her protectively. He made a speech where he spoke about how he had met Pandora and how she had always called him eccentric, but he was her X and she was his everything.

After the funeral, Mrs Weasley told Sirius that Mr Lovegood had decided to take a year off and was leaving The Quibbler in the hands of his assistant while they were gone. He was taking Luna away on a trip to learn more about some of the creatures he wanted to write about and so that they could grieve together. Apparently they were starting in Denmark where a forest supposedly had a meteor that showed proof of moon frogs before spending some time in Greece to search for Heliopaths.

Mrs Weasley said that Luna still hadn't spoken a single word since her mother's death. Nor had she cried.

Sirius hoped that this year long trip with her father helped her grieve and to figure things out. The nine-year-old-girl needed to grieve her mother and needed to learn how to move on.

He understood that better than anyone.

~ ASC ~

In April, Sirius decided to take Harry on their first real holiday. After sending Kreacher off to check out some of the old Black family homesteads, Sirius had decided that they were going to Rome and were most definitely not staying in one of the Black family holdings. The manor in Sussex was occupied by his aunt and uncle. The house in Greece was currently being sub-letted to a wizarding couple who were working in the country on visas. The flat in South Africa was in much needed repair (Kreacher had agreed to go there and to make it presentable once again as he had already done to most of the Black properties thus far). The condo in New York intrigued Sirius, having never been across the pond himself, but he ultimately voted on Rome.

Remus decided to stay behind, insisting that this was a holiday for the two of them as he had things he wanted to do here with them gone. Remus would keep Marauder while Sirius and Harry went abroad.

Sirius rented a large hotel suite in Rome for two weeks (deciding against staying in the decrepit Tuscany home) and planned the day-to-day activities before he told Harry about it. He was really excited. He couldn't even remember the last time that he had even gone anywhere himself. He was pretty sure that it had been after he had graduated from Hogwarts, which to his surprise was over a decade ago.

When Harry finished his classes for the day on the Friday afternoon (he and Remus were up to the eighteenth century in both Muggle and magical history, quite fluent in Latin reading, writing and speaking, fairly fluent in French; and well versed in all forms of literature), Sirius was grinning widely at him.

"Got a surprise for you, Prongslet," he said.

Harry grinned back at him. "Must be a good one because you can't stop smiling."

Remus chuckled and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "He's got you there, Padfoot."

Sirius simply grinned wider. "Okay, okay you can see right through me," he said as Harry smirked knowingly at him. "Harry, we're going on holiday and we leave first thing tomorrow morning."

Harry's brow furrowed. "A trip?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. We're going to Italy for two weeks. Just you and me. What do you say?"

His eyes widened. "Italy?"

"I thought it would be fun. We'll go around and see some of the old ruins, visit the ancient city of Pompeii and see the history there, catch a gladiator show and check out the venues, explore the catacombs, and do some shopping… Plus there's an entire dragon reserve hidden in Tuscany where my family has a house. We're going to stay in a hotel, as I think you remember, the Black houses aren't in the best of conditions. What do you think, Harry? Does it sound fun?"

Harry's eyes had widened at the words 'dragon reserve.' "It sounds wicked! We're really going for two whole weeks!"

"We really are!"

Harry turned to look at Remus. "You're not coming, Uncle Moony?"

Remus shook his head with a smile. "Nah, I got some stuff to do around here. But you and Uncle Padfoot are going to go and have a great time. And don't worry, I'll take good care of Marauder."

Harry beamed at him.

The next morning, Sirius and Harry both double checked their bags to make sure they were packed for the trip. Sirius had procured an international portkey straight into the Italian Ministry's Department of Magical Transportation otherwise known as the Dipartimento dei Trasporti Magici. Sirius had explained to Harry about the portkey and how it would feel to use one, but Harry still hadn't been fully prepared for the sensation of it and found himself on the ground looking up at his godfather when they landed in Rome. His only experience with a portkey had been to Greece and it had been long enough ago that Harry had forgotten the feeling.

Sirius simply grinned down at him and helped him to his feet. They were staying in the large wizarding hotel in the middle of Rome called La Locanda Magica (The Magic Inn). It was in the centre of Rome in the wizarding village of Caput Mundi. Once they were checked in and had unpacked a little, Sirius led Harry out into the wizarding village. It held a similar layout to Diagon Alley, but Caput Mundi also possessed a large Colosseum which had been built during the peak of the Roman Empire and was still very impressive and not actually in ruins. They went inside and walked through the barracks and the gladiator areas before seeing a Quidditch game held within the Colosseum, now used mostly as an arena for the sport.

"It's been years since I've come here," Sirius said wistfully after the Quidditch game.

Harry grinned up at him as they took a seat in a muggle café and Sirius, speaking perfect Italian, ordered them some food. "You were here before?"

"A few times. As a Black it was important to travel to important ministry functions and balls. I came to the Italian Ministry mostly for balls as a child with my parents, but also a few times to the Zabini Manor in Sicily for parties and whatnot. The Zabinis are a well known rich family that have homes all over the world and the Baroness of Sardinia likes to throw elaborate parties. Plus we had a house in Tuscany, but I was only there once when I was about eight. The best time I ever had in Rome though, was right after I finished school. Your mum and dad, Uncle Moony, and our friend Peter, and some girls from school, Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas, all came here for a bit. We took a big end of school trip; came here, went to France, Germany, Russia, and ended up in Hong Kong. We were gone most of the summer, it was an incredible trip," Sirius told him, reminiscing fondly.

"That sounds fun."

"It was," Sirius told him with a smile. "We had talked about doing it for years and the war was really getting darker and more intense and we decided that if we were going to go that was the time to do it. Fee and Monty pushed us to go. They said it would be good for us to get away and to see some of the world and not to let the war scare us into missing out on any opportunities. Monty said something about the war still being there when we got back and of course it was."

"Uncle Sirius?"

"Yes, Prongslet?"

Harry hesitated before he spoke, smiling at the waitress when she brought their beverages over, two tall glasses of pink lemonade. "You and Uncle Moony are always mentioning the dark times and the war," his brow furrowed slightly as he spoke. "Were you soldiers like in the Muggle books with uniforms and weapons?"

Sirius smiled at him, taking a sip of his own lemonade. "Kind of. We were definitely soldiers, but not quite the same. You see, Harry, you know all about who Voldemort was. He was a dark wizard, one of the worst in the world since Grindelwald. He had all sorts of followers and these people who followed him called themselves Death Eaters. The wizarding world was scared. People were dying and people were getting hurt and those that were followers of Voldemort, most of them did it in secret. They wore masks which meant that you never really knew who you could trust and who you couldn't. It was dark times and everyone was afraid. The Ministry of Magic and the Aurors were constantly working hard to try to put an end to Voldemort, but no one really knew how. But there was one person that Voldemort never really wanted to cross; someone that he was truly afraid of."

"Who?"

"Dumbledore," Sirius said with a smile. "Dumbledore's an amazing wizard, Harry. He's the one who defeated Grindelwald back in the 1940s. His battle with him is the stuff that legends are made out of. He's smart and brave and he seems to be almost fearless. Voldemort knew not to directly challenge him, but Dumbledore didn't know how to stop Voldemort himself, either. He could see that Ministry of Magic wasn't quite up to the task themselves, at least not in any way that he could see so, he started recruiting people that he trusted, people who he believed could help the cause and he formed a special organization to help fight the war in their own way. We were all involved in it. Some of us worked undercover in our jobs and some went undercover on missions to try to find out secrets and to learn who the Death Eaters were or who they were trying to recruit or to try to find out what Voldemort's next move was. It worked well, as we caught some Death Eaters, and that was how Dumbledore discovered that Voldemort was after your parents and you. But, unfortunately, it didn't do enough to end the war quick enough or to stop people from dying."

"Oh," Harry said quietly, drinking his lemonade.

Sirius reached across the table and squeezed Harry's hand in his own. "We were sworn to secrecy and we all trusted each other. We had each other's backs. It was a war and we were soldiers in that war. None of us wanted to sit back and wait for someone else to finish it; we wanted to help protect those we loved and to protect our homes. Do you understand that?"

Harry nodded as the waitress brought them sandwiches for lunch. "I understand." He was quiet for a moment, picking at the food on his plate. "Are you going to go off and fight again?"

Sirius' brow furrowed. "Fight again?"

"You… you said before that you didn't really think that he was gone; that he might come back some day. If he does, are you going to have to go away and fight again?"

Sirius smiled at Harry. "Harry, that is nothing that you have to worry about. Voldemort is gone. You defeated him as a baby."

"But he might come back, you said so?"

"He might," Sirius told him honestly. "But it's been almost nine years and there's been no sign of him anywhere. You don't have to worry about that, Prongslet. I'm here and I have no plans of going anywhere."

Harry smiled at him and took a large bite of his sandwich. "Good."

Sirius watched him for a moment. "Harry, are you worried about Voldemort? That was a long time ago, Prongslet. The war is over."

Harry shrugged. "I know that."

Sirius kept his eyes on him. "Prongslet, you know that you can ask me anything, right? Even if it's just a question about the war or about what happened when you were a baby. Questions are always allowed, remember?"

Harry nodded as he ate his sandwich. "I know."

Sirius helped himself to his own lunch, eyes on his godson. He had never really thought about Harry being scared of Voldemort. He had told him what had happened to his parents (who had most definitely not been killed in a car crash as Petunia Dursley had informed him) and that he had defeated Voldemort as a baby and was now known as The Boy Who Lived, but he had never really given the impression that there was something to worry about there. He didn't want to give that impression. He honestly did think Voldemort had disappeared almost too easily considering the damage that he and his followers had inflicted upon the wizarding world for over a decade, but it had been almost nine years. Harry was going to be turning ten years old in July and there hadn't been any sign that the dark wizard wasn't truly gone.

But he remembered how sure the prisoners had been in Azkaban, how convinced they were that their master wasn't really gone. Dumbledore himself wasn't even fully convinced. But there was no need for Harry to worry about that. Sirius had no plans of ever letting anyone lay their hands on his godson.

Harry ate quietly and when he spoke again, it surprised Sirius, who had become lost in his own thoughts.

"I'm not worried about him. I just… sometimes I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't killed my mum and dad."

Sirius nodded, his eyes sad. "You would have grown up with some pretty amazing parents, that's what. James would have been the best dad in the whole world and I bet you would have had a few brothers and sisters. Lily wanted a big family and she loved you so much. She would have spoiled you rotten. But don't worry, I would have done the same as your godfather, obviously."

Harry smiled at the image. "But you are the best dad in the whole world, Uncle Sirius."

Sirius looked at Harry in surprise. "Harry," he said softly, leaning across the table to kiss his forehead. "You're the best son in the whole world and I couldn't be more proud of the fact that you think of me like a dad. I think of you as my son, too, my baby boy. It's an honour to be here and to watch you grow up. James and Lily would be so proud of you."

Harry smiled at him. It always made him feel warm inside when Sirius told him his parents would be proud of him. He took a drink of his lemonade and grinned at his godfather. "What are we doing after lunch?"

Sirius just grinned back at him. "You'll see."

After lunch they spent some time in Muggle Rome and went to see the ruins. They spent the next two days exploring ruins and learning about the history of the Roman Empire. They took a portkey to Pompeii to explore the ancient city there and Sirius bit his lip to stop himself from busting into laughter when Harry asked the tour guide what the picture was in the brothel (a clear image of fellatio) among the graffiti painted on the wall.

The man had flushed red. "Er, well this was a special place for grownups to, er… explore… each other…"

Harry had only cocked his head. "It looks like a penis inside of her —"

Sirius had simply covered Harry's mouth with his hand. "Sorry! He's a curious little boy," he said, chuckling. He bent down to look at his godson. "Harry, a brothel was a place for grownups to come and to have sex. One day, when you're older we'll discuss sex, okay?"

"Why would you want to put your prick inside of someone else's mouth?" Harry asked, absolutely disgusted at the thought.

Sirius simply grinned at him, the back of his neck flushing red as the tour moved on ahead. "Harry, when you get older, you'll understand so, let's just leave that alone for when you're old enough to understand it, okay?"

Harry only nodded as Sirius stood up and he pointed at another depiction of art. "Why is that woman on her hands and knees with the man kneeling behind her?"

"Harry," Sirius said, trying not to laugh. "Grownup stuff."

Harry sighed. "I just wanna know!"

Sirius draped an arm around his godson's shoulders. "Curiosity is a great thing. When you're older, I will answer all of your questions, I promise."

"How much older?"

Sirius grinned at him. "When you decide that it would be nice to kiss a girl on the mouth."

"Eww!"

"Or a boy," Sirius added afterwards. He didn't want to be close minded.

"Eww!"

Sirius chuckled. "Exactly why we will talk about it when you get older."

Harry simply stared at him in horror and Sirius laughed and they hurried off to catch up with the tour guide as he explained about the city that had been preserved by volcanic ash.

They spent two whole days inside of Vatican City, looking at the artwork and the statues and listening to the guides discuss the history of the Catholic Church. They spent time in Florence and looked around the gold market (Sirius purchased small gold hoop earrings), did some shopping from some venues (Sirius purchased a beautiful scenic painting of the city of Florence at sunset), and they sent some funny photos back to Remus in the Owl Post. They went to Pisa and climbed to the top of the leaning tower before heading to Sicily to the dragon reserve there.

Harry was beyond fascinated.

They spoke to the man in charge, a weathered looking man with salt and pepper hair and a huge handlebar moustache. His name was Carlos Santorini and he had been part of the reserve in Sicily for thirty-five years. They had sixteen fully grown dragons on the reserve including twelve newly hatched dragons and three nesting mothers.

"This is a Chinese Fireball, we call her Mǔ shī which essentially means lioness. She arrived here a fortnight ago, just in time to lay her eggs and one of our trainers insisted that we take her in," Santorini explained carefully guiding them near her. "Don't get too close now. She's very protective of her eggs. They should hatch within the next week. See those gold spikes on her? She will use them as a weapon if needed. She sliced the shit out of one of our trainers last week. And next to her is the one of the most dangerous dragons in the world, a Peruvian Vipertooth. They have venomous fangs like snakes and tend to like to eat humans."

Harry's eyes widened at that statement. "They eat people?"

Santorini laughed. "They can. We keep him under control. That's why he's chained down for now. See how his wing is injured? He's called Brutus as he's a bit of a tough guy. We captured him in Tuscany when we saw his wing was injured. Looks like maybe he was hit in the air by something, possibly those stupid Muggle aero-planes. He's small, but he can be deadly. Once he's healed up and he realizes that he can trust us, we'll set him free."

"Where do they go?" Harry asked in wonder. He had certainly never seen a dragon just flying around before.

"All over the world. Usually they live in caves or mountains, sometimes near volcanoes. A lot of them stay on the reserves. We don't force them to stay with us, but they are safest here. It's hard to keep them under control and not let the Muggles know of their existence," Santorini explained. He gestured over to where three newly hatched dragons were sitting. "Want to see the new whelps?"

Harry nodded eagerly, clinging to Sirius' hand as they were led over to the babies. "Can I touch one?"

Santorini nodded, reaching out to tickle the chin of the small green baby dragon. "Of course. Just be careful. They don't know their own strength and powers yet."

Harry carefully reached a hand out to gently pet the head of the green dragon. The scales were smooth and cold to the touch but radiated heat. He found it fascinating. "My friend Ginny's brother Charlie loves dragons. He wants to be a trainer like you."

Santorini smiled. "Well, we can always use more good wizards and witches to help us. This one is a Common Welsh Green, but we think she might have some Norwegian Ridgeback mixed in with her. See how her scales change colour like that? It doesn't happen too often, but they sometimes mix."

Harry nodded and grinned up at Sirius. "Hagrid would love this."

Sirius laughed thinking of the keeper at Hogwarts. "Hagrid would definitely love this. But he would also have to be watched closely as he would probably try to take one home."

"Dragons don't make good pets," Santorini said, sternly, making Sirius laugh.

"You don't have to tell us that."

They spent three hours on the reserve, meeting all of the dragons and Harry asked questions about them all. Sirius kept his camera out and snapped photos of all of the dragons and Harry standing next to them. On the way out, they purchased a set of three decorative dragon eggs made of stone and jewels that Harry had been fascinated with along with a tiny Hungarian Horntail figurine that breathed real fire. Harry thought it was the coolest looking dragon and wished that the reserve had one for him to see for real.

After the dragon reserve, they headed back into the city of Rome where they explored the Catacombs. They went on a guided tour with the Muggles before taking the wizarding tour. The wizarding tour of the Catacombs came equipped with a detailed discussion on the history of the tombs and the jobs of the curse breakers who worked steadily to discover them.

One of the curse breakers, a tall beautiful woman with chocolate brown hair named Sareena Sahadi explained how new tombs and new curses were constantly being discovered the further they explored under the ground.

"How do you know it's cursed?" Sirius asked her as she explained about the process of how one particular tomb was opened safely.

Sareena smiled warmly at him. "Usually I find out when a report comes across my desk that some brainless Muggle tried to open it and is suffering from the pain of their organs being burning from the inside out or freezing inside of them or claiming to have seen a mummy on the loose. Otherwise, most witches and wizards know better than to try to open an unknown anything that looks suspicious with a simple locking charm. It's better to use the revealing charm and to see what enchantments may be encompassing it."

Harry grinned up at her. "Does that always work?"

"Not always, but it sometimes puts us on the right path to discovering what comes next," Sareena explained with a smile. "Are you going to be a curse breaker when you grow up?"

Harry shook his head, blushing. "Nah. I'm going to be a Quidditch player."

Sirius laughed and draped an arm over his shoulders. "That would certainly make James happy."

Sareena went on to explain how some of the tombs and hidden passages within the Catacombs were cursed to live within dimensions, how some of the tombs intersected with a tomb in Paris, and how some of them were part of ancient tombs that were buried in Egypt and Jerusalem, but still had parts within Rome. This meant that they had to be opened in the correct order and the riddle properly solved before it could be broken. Curse breaking involved a lot of riddles and charms and hard work from what Harry understood.

After being underground, Harry and Sirius decided to take in another Quidditch game, cheering on the Italian teams as they played against one another in the Colosseum. Then they had gelato as they walked through the city.

By the time they arrived back in Devon, they were both tired and happy to be home. Remus was waiting for them with a smile on his face and Marauder rushed towards Harry, barking in excitement.

Harry laughed, landing on his bum as Marauder eagerly greeted him. "Hi, Marauder! Hi, boy!"

Marauder barked again and again before he moved to greet Sirius.

Remus grinned at them both as Sirius placed their bags by the front door and greeted the dog. "Well, did you two have a grand time?"

Harry nodded eagerly and began to tell Remus all about Italy and what they had seen. He pulled out the photos too and explained all about the reserve, the Catacombs, Pompeii, the gold market, the shopping, and the Vatican before he showed Remus his new Hungarian Horntail figurine. Remus just listened with a big smile on his face.

"It sounds like you two had an incredible time and that you learned lots of stuff as well," Remus said with a smile.

Harry nodded. "I did learn lots of stuff! And some stuff I knew already from you about the Roman Empire. It's brilliant that so much of the ancient Roman architecture and stuff is still there."

Sirius ruffled Harry's hair. "It is pretty brilliant. Why don't you head upstairs and have a bath before bed, Prongslet? It's getting late. You can tell Uncle Moony all about our trip tomorrow."

Harry sighed, hugging Remus goodnight, and hurrying up the stairs.

Sirius simply grinned after him. It had been a great trip and he couldn't wait to take Harry somewhere else.