Author's Note:

Surprise visitor! And some good news from Harry.

I am keeping a lot of things the same at the beginning, but please bear with me! As you saw, I have started some very minor changes. I gave Seamus two older sisters (Katie and Darcy) and I said Dean's mother is also an artist and a witch. We never know much about Dean's family outside of his mum remarrying and him being Muggleborn and a fan of West Ham, there are some things I wanted to change there so I did. Eventually. Hopefully, if I don't forget lol.

Review and Comments: To ginnyweasley777: Ha, you think you already know what's going to happen with the new neighbour, do you? To alyson3il: Thank you very much! Yes, what will Sirius get up to with the new neighbour? To darkhk: Thank you! That's so nice to hear you check the site multiple times a day just to see if I've updated, how sweet! To coloredwords: Sirius and cat lady lol? Yes, McGonagall's face when Harry called her auntie would have been priceless, thank you! To geekymom: Thank you! To alix33: Yes, I love Remus having this briefcase from his friends and then becoming a professor to Harry. To Claire Fraser: Of course McGonagall took away points because he called her auntie lol. I'm glad you already like Zee and you think Sirius is going to like her as well? Yes, I love having Sirius be a cheerleader for Neville. I agree, I think he helped him build some confidence in him. 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 SIXTY-SIX:

The One With the Youngest Seeker in Over a Century

Sirius was washing dishes when he recognized Harry's snowy owl Hedwig flying towards him and he quickly dried his hands off, the smile on his face before he realized how impatient he had been lately to hear any news on his godson. Harry had been at school almost a month now.

He stroked Hedwig gently as he took the envelope and quickly opened the letter.

Dear Uncle Sirius,

Hogwarts is brilliant!

Ron and I keep getting lost on the moving staircases and poor Neville — his memory is so bad that he can hardly ever remember the password to Gryffindor Tower, which tends to make the Fat Lady quite annoyed with him.

Classes are going great. Flying Class especially has been pretty wicked. I asked Auntie Minnie not to say anything to you but… you're now hearing from Gryffindor's new Seeker! That's right! Auntie Minnie spoke to Dumbledore who is making an exception for me to be the new Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team!

I know, it seems completely unreal, and why are they bending the rules for me?

Well, in Flying Class, Neville, (he's still not quite comfortable on a broom unless someone is with him and because he was so scared, the broom saw his fear and took off) and well, he fell off and broke his wrist. He's going to be all right though so don't worry, but anyway Madam Hooch had to leave to take him to the Hospital Wing and she told us that if anyone flew while she was away that we would be expelled from Hogwarts. Mrs Longbottom sent Neville a Remembrall earlier in the week to help him out, as you know how bad his memory is sometimes — when he fell, it must have fallen out of his pocket because Malfoy picked it up and said something rude about Neville. I demanded that he give it over to me to be returned and he told me that I had to catch him first.

I knew that it was breaking the rules. But I hate the idea of Malfoy bullying Neville so I grabbed my broom and I started to go up after him. Then that really annoying girl, Hermione, she's so bossy and she's always up in everyone's business, to tell us what to do and what we're doing wrong, she told me not to go and I think that it made me even more angry that she would try to stop me so, I went anyway. He's a good flyer, Uncle Sirius, and I think that he knew that I was going to catch him because he threw the Remembrall and I just went for it. The next thing I knew, Auntie Minnie was marching across the training grounds demanding that I go with her to take me to Wood. I thought — I'm ashamed to say, that I thought for a minute that she was going to beat me with something wooden, but she meant Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and Keeper for the Gryffindor team. She was praising me to him, said I'd caught this Remembrall in a fifty foot dive and how Charlie Weasley couldn't even have done it.

And now I'm new the Seeker.

The youngest Seeker in over a century!

Isn't that completely brilliant? It's a secret though, no one is supposed to know until the first match. You and Uncle Remus will both come, right? I'm so excited I can't even explain it!

How's Marauder doing without me? I miss having him sleep on my feet and have been wearing socks to bed to substitute the warmth of him. But I love my room and all of my roommates are pretty great.

Ron and Neville obviously, but then there's Seamus: He's from Ireland and so funny. Dean is cool bloke too. He's really into art and a huge football fan which completely baffles Ron. Ron can't wrap his head around a sport that only has one ball and doesn't involve flying. I told him maybe next summer we can go to a football match so he can see the appeal of it. But I don't think he's convinced. He just keeps asking me if thats the game we played where we kicked the ball around and why that would be something anyone would want to watch.

Also, the Potions teacher is a huge prat. I mean, he's a genius — and that's clear as he definitely knows what he is talking about, but he hates me! I barely have to do anything and he takes away points. And he scares Neville so badly that Neville practically trembles the moment he walks into the classroom! I don't know what to make of him yet.

Love,

Harry

PS: I accidentally called Professor McGonagall Auntie Minnie in Transfiguration class again — she was NOT impressed and took away another five points!

PPS: Please send my broom back with Hedwig as I need to practice with the Gryffindor team for our first match.

Sirius chuckled to himself, grinning down at the letter. Minerva took away house points from him, he would have to speak to her. He had called her Minnie all of the time and she hadn't… no, she had, he thought with a laugh. And she'd given him detention many, many times for it as well.

But the youngest Seeker in a century!

He had known Harry could fly and that he could fly well, but he must have seriously impressed McGonagall if she was willing to bend the rules just for him to play a year early. James would be so proud of him. A Quidditch prodigy, he thought with a grin. He couldn't wait to tell Remus.

He didn't have long to wait because Remus stepped into the kitchen with a grin, a letter in his hand. "Did Harry write to you?"

Sirius grinned. "He's a fucking Quidditch prodigy!"

Remus laughed, taking a seat at the table. "James would be beside himself."

"Oh, I bet he is," he said with a laugh. "And you! I didn't even know you were back!" he said, moving to hug his friend.

Remus smiled, hugging Sirius back. "I got in late yesterday. Harry's letters have been finding me though. He seems to be having a great time."

"Yeah, he does," Sirius said, sitting down across from his friend. "But youngest Seeker in over a century! That is truly amazing! I'm getting him a new broom!"

Remus laughed. "What's wrong with his Nimbus?"

"Absolutely nothing," Sirius told him honestly with a grin. "But if my boy is breaking some record like that and becoming a fucking Quidditch prodigy at eleven, he is getting a brand new bloody broom. I'll head to Diagon Alley later on today and see what's out."

Remus chuckled, scratching his nose. "I think he deserves it. Though it sounds like he has a bit of a disregard for school rules — he didn't even question Madam Hooch's demand to not fly in class and was ultimately rewarded for it."

"We weren't exactly angels, Rem, we have to give him some leeway."

"True," Remus said with a smile.

"So, how was Paris? How was Montgomery?"

Remus grinned and shrugged. "Different than I expected, but well worth the trip I think."

Sirius merely raised an eyebrow.

Remus grinned as he explained about meeting Philippe Montgomery. The man was a Muggleborn wizard and his wife, Ava had been bitten by a werewolf a year into their marriage and while she was pregnant with their first child. The first transformation on top of the stress of learning what was happening to her had caused to her to lose the baby. Philippe had thrown himself into the study of werewolves, determined to find something to save his wife.

But like the world knew, he soon discovered that there was no cure.

Ava tried to convince him to divorce her, to move on with his life, but he refused. She was still the same woman that he had fallen in love with. He built a cellar for her to go in and to keep her safe and out of the harm of others, but she craved being in the open, in the wild. Philippe learned that a werewolf is less likely to harm themselves or others if they have the ability to run and to be free so, he found a forest full of magical creatures just outside of Avignon and Ava started spending her transformations there. She would come home feeling better. When she became pregnant again, they were worried that it wouldn't be safe to have the child.

But a werewolf and a wizard having a baby wasn't anything to fear. It wasn't impossible for a werewolf to pass on the genes of the werewolf, though the chances of it were astronomically slim. Although Montgomery learned that having a mother who was a werewolf did affect the child's moods even if they didn't inherit the werewolf bite. Their daughter Eliana was affected by the cycle of the moon, feeling wild and excited during the nights and wanting to be free from the house. But when she was outside she was calm and happy as if seeing the moon or being near the moon calmed her in some way. Their son Michael was the same, but perfectly normal — one would never know that they had a werewolf for a mother. And their last son, Henry, was the same.

Montgomery continued to study werewolves, the myth and the legend that surrounded them both in the Muggle and the wizarding world. Lycanthropy, a disease that is shared among those who were bitten, transferrable by the blood and saliva only when bitten during the full moon. The creation of the Wolfsbane Potion had done wonders for his wife and Ava was able to stay herself though she still preferred to be outside, in a forest or in the wild as even with the potion she felt calmer out there. Montgomery got the opportunity to be with her during the full moon as she was now not a danger to him when she had the potion.

But she was forced to register herself with the British Ministry of Magic to get access to the potion and Montgomery did not agree with that, but his wife was able to transform more peacefully and nothing else mattered to him.

The research on werewolves led him through folk and fairy tales, horror stories and fiction mixed with fact and to learn that those who turned into werewolves were not the monsters that stories made them out to be. Those who were bitten, were not the same as those who were born. They were the people they wanted to be and who they allowed themselves to be and if they were evil before that's what made them evil now, not the wolf.

"I could have told you that, Rem, the evil thing," Sirius said with a smile when Remus finished explaining everything.

Remus shrugged. "It was interesting, Siri. I learned a few things I didn't know, but most of it I did already. But the fact that he and his wife have kids is a little scary to think about and kind of overwhelming if I'm being honest. Adrian and Maia explained about the wolf and the werewolf and having children as well when the four of us went out with Montgomery for a bite. He found it fascinating as well as he was completely unaware of the pack culture."

Sirius grinned at him. "So, you can have a family one day."

Remus paled. "Passing on anything werewolf related is not something I want to do, Sirius."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You just spent the better part of an hour telling me about a werewolf who gave birth to three perfectly healthy non werewolf children. The odds are astronomically slim that your child would turn into a wolf."

"Kids have never been in my future," Remus told him, his eyes wide. "We have Harry."

"Yeah, we do," Sirius said with a smile. "Our own fucking Quidditch prodigy!"

The sound of someone coming up the drive made them both turn to look out the front window. No one ever came up to the front of the house, but usually used the Floo. The thing was, the wards that surrounded Black Cottage meant that unless someone knew where it was, they couldn't find it.

Sirius headed to the front door, a huge smile on his face at the sight of Althea standing there with two twin boys in her arms.

"Thea!" he exclaimed in surprise, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled brightly. "Xander and I are here visiting my parents and my brothers. I thought maybe that you'd like to meet my boys."

Sirius grinned as she carefully placed a baby into his arms, "Wow, hi."

Althea smiled. "That's Niko, he's the oldest by three and a half minutes and this here is Nilo."

"They're beautiful, Thea," he told her honestly, admiring the happy babbling baby. They both were blond like their mother, but Niko had green eyes and Nilo brown. "Where's Xander at?"

"He was helping my father with something so, I thought that I'd come by and visit."

"Who's at the door, Sirius?" Remus asked, stepping out onto the porch and his eyes widening. "Well, hello."

Althea smiled and offered her hand. "You must be Remus, Thea Papakonstantinou. I thought I'd stop by and introduce Sirius to my sons. It's nice to finally meet you," she told him honestly.

Remus smiled back at her. "You too. Your sons are beautiful."

"Thank you," she said, beaming.

"It's nice outside," Sirius said, "Let's go sit in the garden."

"I'll let you two catch up," Remus said with a smile. "Sirius, we'll talk later."

"Sure, bye, Moony."

Remus stepped back inside to Floo home and Sirius led Althea around the house to the back of the house, still carrying Niko in his arms. He used his wand to bring out two tall glasses of lemonade for them.

"So, have you heard from Harry? How is he liking Hogwarts?" Althea asked as she made herself comfortable in one of the chairs in the gazebo with Nilo in her arms.

"I have," he said with a smile. "He loves it, obviously. I just got a letter from him this morning. He's been chosen to be the Seeker for his house team — the youngest Seeker in over a century, in fact!"

Althea's eyes widened. "Wow! What an accomplishment! You must be bursting with pride."

"And then some," he said with a grin. "I told Remus that I'm going to buy him a new broom to celebrate. It's an accomplishment that I am so proud of him for. I wish his dad was here to see it."

Althea nodded, gently kissing her son's cheek as he cooed happily up at her. "I can imagine. These guys burp and I'm full of pride, I can only imagine how I'll be when they actually accomplish something real and worthwhile. Not that important bodily functions aren't worthwhile, but you get my drift."

Sirius smiled at her. "You look great, Thea. Motherhood really becomes you."

"Thank you," she told him. "It's more than I ever could have imagined. I love living in Greece and being close to Apollo is wonderful, too. Medea is expecting again. They're hoping for a boy. I'm on maternity leave from the hospital right now, but I do like working there. Xander is just wonderful. I'm doing really good. And how are you dealing with Harry being away?"

Sirius shrugged, looking at her from under his lashes. "It's harder than I expected, but I'm dealing. I'm fixing up some old motorbikes to sell and I built that workshop of sorts on the side of the house so that I can work on them come winter as well. I'm keeping busy," he told her honestly, reaching for his glass of lemonade to take a long sip. "Almost got attacked by a panther a few weeks ago."

"What?" Althea asked, her eyes wide. "Did you just say a panther?"

Sirius nodded. "Aye, I did! I'm a sweaty mess from working in the heat, taking a break on the front stoop with a pint and this black panther comes running up the drive. I petrified the panther and the next thing I know this woman is yelling at me. Apparently the panther is her pet. What kind of brainless bint keeps a panther as a fucking pet?"

"Panthers are cats, Sirius, and cats can be great pets. I doubt that she's brainless if she's smart enough to have trained a panther," Althea told him honestly. "I hope that you didn't tell her that she was brainless."

"Of course I did! I don't think I said bint, but I definitely said brainless. She and her damn cat moved into the house next door. I haven't seen hide nor hair from her since she set her cat on me, but that's probably the most interesting thing to happen since Harry left," he told her honestly.

"The woman is your new neighbour?" Althea said with a grin. "Sounds entertaining. Have you gone over to welcome her to the neighbourhood?"

Sirius looked baffled by this. "No, why?"

Althea merely raised her eyebrows. "You don't want to speak to a woman? She must be very unattractive then."

"Ha ha," Sirius said in annoyance. "I didn't say that."

"So, she's beautiful then?"

"I didn't say that either," he said, frowning.

Althea grinned at him. "Then why haven't you welcomed her?"

"Were you not listening, Castellanos? She has a pet panther that tried to eat me!" Sirius exclaimed as if this completely explained everything.

Althea simply laughed. "It's Papakonstantinou now and you should still be neighbourly, see if she needs help settling in. How long has she been there?"

"Just over two weeks I'd guess, no, maybe three or four actually as this happened after Harry had been gone a week. She's probably all settled in now, I'd imagine. The realtor said that she was selling to a family so, she has tons of help."

"Does she have a big family?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Sirius asked her. "I only met her and that bloody panther."

Althea rolled her eyes at him. "I see that you are still as hopeless as ever."

He grinned at her. "I've missed you, Thea."

"I've missed you, too." She carefully passed Nilo into Sirius' opposite arm.

"Er… I don't know if I can handle two."

"Just for a moment," Althea said as took Niko from him. "Now you can hold Nilo for a bit."

"I remember when Harry was this small. I can't believe my boy is at Hogwarts, I feel like it was only yesterday that he looked this tiny."

Althea smiled, watching him with her son, a small smile on her face. "You're good with kids."

"Surprisingly, eh? Never really been around them much except for my cousin Tonks and then Harry. Speaking of Tonks, did I tell you that she's at the boot camp to be an Auror? She has two weeks left and then she spends three weeks undergoing some gruelling physical and psychological tests. If anyone can do it, she can. That woman is not to be trifled with when she wants something," he told her with a smile. "She wants Remus actually, but he's a stubborn git."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Isn't he your age?"

"Yeah, which is one of the reasons why he's being a stubborn git. But age is just a number," he told her.

"Well, yes, but sometimes the age difference is too vast. Though, Xander is fifteen years older than me."

"Really?" Sirius asked in surprise. "I didn't realize that."

She nodded. "I was shocked when I found out, but the age difference doesn't even matter to me. You don't even notice it. He's everything that I've ever wanted and he's an amazing husband and father. We're actually expecting again," she said, placing a hand over her still flat stomach.

Sirius' eyes widened. "Seriously? Moving a little fast, are you?"

She laughed. "It wasn't planned, that's for sure. Niko and Nilo are still only seven months old, but I am pregnant again. We knew that we wanted more kids, but we were hoping to wait a few years first as now we're going to be extra busy with twin boys who will be walking by the time this baby comes. We're really going to have our hands full. But, this pregnancy came about anyway so, I guess we'll have to be ready now."

"I'll say," Sirius said with a laugh, kissing the top of Nilo's head. "Congratulations, Thea. I'm happy for you."

Althea leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Thank you." Her eyes narrowed slightly when her gaze landed just behind him. "You said that panther was friendly, right?"

Sirius stood up, turning to see the black panther sleek its way around the edge of garden. If the panther was going to keep getting loose he was going to have to get a fence or something, he thought as Marauder moved to bark at her. Or he would have to alter the warding.

"She's fine, Thea, I think, but no sudden movements. She doesn't know you. Marauder, stay back, boy."

Thea carefully accepted Nilo back into her arms as Sirius stepped out from the gazebo, closing the door behind him.

"Lady G," he said softly, hands open so that she could sniff him. She was looking at Marauder in disdain, but making no move to hurt him.

Zee stepped around the woods at the back of the garden and Lady Godiva merely turned her head to look at her before moving towards Sirius slowly.

"Thea, let's get the boys inside," he said calmly, staying in front of her while she came out of the gazebo.

He knew the panther was on the edge of the warding and wouldn't be able to reach the house without his permission, but he still wasn't taking any chances.

"Go on, love, inside, keep those boys safe," he told her as she went through the backdoor to the kitchen.

"She won't hurt you," Zee told him, snapping her fingers and Lady Godiva immediately turned and went to stand next to her owner.

"Not taking any chances when I see a panther on the loose," he told her. "Marauder, heel," he said snapping his fingers at the ground as Marauder trotted over and sat down next to him. "You should keep better control on her or put her on leash at least."

Zee rolled her eyes. "We were going for a walk and she was exploring the new territory. She recognized your scent. I think she rather likes you."

Sirius looked at the cat in interest now, her amber eyes locking onto his as he walked towards them. He lifted the warding just enough to show the cottage and the garden behind him.

"I can't say I blame her as I'm incredibly sexy."

Zee snorted at that. "Sorry to wander into your garden but — holy hell that is an amazing treehouse!" she exclaimed, her eyes having moved around to it as it appeared behind the warding.

He grinned widely at her, eyes moving to the treehouse in the trees. "Yeah, we love it. I built it for Harry a few years back."

"It's amazing," she told him with a smile, her rainbow sunglasses blocking her eyes.

She was wearing the big hat again that hid all of her hair. But this time she was in denim cut off shorts and wedge heeled sandals with a pink vest blouse tied at the waist showing a bit of her rather impressive cleavage and revealing her flat and rather toned stomach, which to his surprise, had a dangling silver chain hanging from her navel. A green and gold tattoo of some kind was peeking out around her ribcage.

Althea stepped out of the backdoor, her arms crossed in front of her. "Sirius, I put the boys in bed, is it safe to come out here?"

"Yeah, yeah, Thea, come here," he said gesturing her over. "This is the new neighbour Zee and her pet, Lady Godiva."

Althea smiled warmly at her. "A pet panther is so unique. She's beautiful. I'm Althea."

"Thank you," Zee said, stroking the panther's head who nuzzled into her hand in contentment.

"How are you liking the neighbourhood?" Althea asked, her eyes on the panther with interest.

"I like it," Zee said with a smile. "My neighbour on the other side is an elderly woman with six cats, all of who are completely fascinated by Lady G. Mrs Campbell is equally as fascinated with Lady Godiva. It's a nice thirty minute walk to Mrs Campbell's house and around the bend to pass here and make it back home. I like that we're all close enough, but far enough apart to give us our privacy, which I like."

Althea nodded. "I agree. This is a lovely area. Sirius has done wonders with Black Cottage."

Sirius grinned at her. "I do know what I'm doing, thank you very much."

She laughed and elbowed him lightly. "I know. Well, sometimes," she smirked as he rolled his eyes at her.

Zee smiled at them. "Well, we better be heading back home. I just needed a break from unpacking. I've been painting everything and making it my own, but my bedroom is still a huge mess. I've only successfully unpacked the kitchen and bath so far. It was wonderful to meet you."

"You as well," Althea told her.

"Lady G seems to be cool with Marauder," Sirius told her with a smile. "Next time she comes around, I won't panic. She's welcome here."

"Thanks, see you around."

Sirius watched her saunter away, his eyes on her firm, curvy behind long enough that Althea hit him. "What?"

"You failed to mention how gorgeous she is!" Althea told him with a grin.

"I barely noticed."

"Please," Althea smirked. "You were just checking out her arse."

Sirius' tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip. "All right, it may have crossed my mind once or twice. She was wearing that stupid hat again though."

Althea raised her eyebrow in question.

"She has a lot of brown curly hair, I don't understand why it's all up in that hat."

Althea just smirked at him. "She's a brunette?"

"It's more like a caramel, browns, and golds all mixed in with her curls. What?" He asked when he realized that she was staring at him in complete amusement.

Althea only shook her head. "Nothing. Come on; you can make me a cup of tea and tell me more about this mysterious Zee."

"There's nothing else to tell," Sirius said as he followed her inside, Marauder trailing after him.

Althea only smirked at him. "Not yet."

End Author's Notes:

Just a reminder of Althea's little family tree:

Apollo and Medea Castellanos

Daphne Grace (3)

Circe Althea (2)

Xander and Althea Papakonstantinou (pregnant)

Niko Alexander (7months)

Nilo Alexander (7months)

Thank you for reading and please review!