Author's Note: I had a hard time with this chapter, my apologies that it took longer than usual. But I have a lot of exciting things about to happen in the next one, so you know, get excited and all that. Disclaimer is the standard, blah blah blah I'm poor okay chapter time!

Harry jumped onto the platform at King's Cross, beaming as Ron threw his bag to him. Hermione stepped down too, and the three of them scanned the platform, searching through the billowing steam and rows of bodies. It was Harry's first year going home for Christmas, actually he thought to himself, the first year that he hadn't thought of Hogwarts as home. Grimmauld Place was his home now, a home he had helped to make over the summer. He couldn't wait to see Sirius and tell him all about the first task of the Triwizard Tournament and how all of Hogwarts had been cheering on Cedric. Hermione saw her parents and bid them goodbye and happy Christmas and then Mrs. Weasley surfaced, the twins behind behind her, to collect Ron.

"Harry, dear," she hugged him, "Happy Christmas! Glad to see you and Ronald have stayed out of trouble thus far this year."

"We do try Mrs. Weasley, honestly."

"Well I can't say the same for some of my other sons," she looked pointedly at Fred and George who had looks of pure mock innocence plastered on their identical faces, "Is Sirius coming to get you? We thought you might be with us this Christmas."

"Sirius is coming, he said he'd meet me here. I just have to find him."

And right on cue, his godfather emerged and swooped him into a hug that nearly cracked his ribs.

"Harry! It's Christmas and you're here and I've got an incredible surprise!"

Harry grinned stupidly, "Sirius! Finally."

"We were beginning to worry" said Mrs. Weasley.

"There are just a shit load of kids here. Nice to see you Molly," he added to Mrs. Weasley who looked scandalized by his language. The twins were looking starstruck, they had heard story after story, some of them from Filch, about the pranks that the younger Sirius Black had masterminded, and contrary to pervading attitudes, they didn't much care if he had murdered a load of people or not. They thought it gave him a dangerous edge. And he did look the part, his hand tattoos peaking out under the cuffs of his thick coat, hair casually long and thrown back.

"Did you bring the bike, Sirius?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Course," Sirius shrugged, "Doing alright Ron? Staying out of trouble?"

Ron nodded and Sirius scoffed, "Terrible, I haven't had one letter from McGonagall this term. The two of you are going to have to work harder."

Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips but didn't say anything except "Come along now Ron, your father is waiting with the car. Where is Ginny anyway? Oh and good to see you Sirius, Harry you have a wonderful Christmas love."

Sirius took Harry's bag and slung it easily over his shoulder, "You just wait until you see who is here to visit for Christmas. We're going to have a fucking grand time kid. I can't wait to hear everything about school. Is Snape still being an arse?"

"Does he know how to be anything else?" Harry laughed.

"Don't worry, we'll devise a few plans for revenge. You brought the map right?"

"Do you really think that I'd leave something that valuable at Hogwarts over break?"

"Perfect. Well you'll have half the Marauders to help you plan your next moves against dear old Snivellus."

"Is...does that mean Professor Lupin is here?!" Harry's face lit up. They'd arrived at Sirius' motorbike and Sirius strapped Harry's bag into one of the magically expanded saddlebags on the back.

"Oi he's not your professor anymore. Merlin that sounds odd, Professor Lupin. But yes he's come to stay for the holidays."

"Does that mean that you two are -"

Sirius cut him off, "It means you mind your own business, pup. Here put on the damn helmet so we can get home and out of the cold. I've got my eyes on a warm drink when we get home and Kreacher is fixing something special for you."

Harry smiled knowingly but didn't say anymore. He got on the bike behind Sirius and just as he kicked the motor into life Sirius called over his shoulder, "And Remus doesn't erm...know that you know anything about our history. I'm sure you'd know better than to go blabbing."

Harry laughed, "Sure Sirius, whatever you say."

And they sped off towards Grimmauld Place.

Remus was, as usual, in a chair near the fire, his feet propped up on a plush ottoman, nose buried in a book. Sirius had always been used to nice things in a way that made Remus a bit uneasy, in a way that reminded you he was used to having money, even if it didn't always come easily to him. Even when he'd left the house and run off to live with the Potters it wasn't exactly a story of destitution. He remembered James' mother's cooking wistfully. But here, warm underneath a thick afghan, with a mug of tea that was keeping itself the perfect temperature, Remus thought he could get used to this level of comfort, especially when, like today, his body was aching and a bit feverish still from his last full moon. He had run the Icelandic countryside, preferring to go back to the land around the cottage over sticking out the moon at Grimmauld Place.

Though the change had been hard, it was always hard, it had also been the first change in years where he wasn't alone. Where he wasn't stuck in his own head, willing the wolf not to take out his feverish aggression on his own body, the first in which he was free to roam, to run, to feel the icy wind in his fur and the dirt beneath his paws. Because Sirius had been there by his side, huge and ridiculous with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his playful nips and barks keeping Remus' attention away from distant farmhouses. They'd run together like they had in the old days, wrestling and play-fighting and howling stupidly together. He couldn't describe what it felt like to be able to change out in the open where he was meant to be, rather than stuck in a cage where his energy was restless and angry and destructive. So the change had been hard on his body, he couldn't avoid the breaking of bones or the grinding of joints as his skeleton shifted into the massive grey (now streaked with silver) wolf. But Sirius had been there, and that made all the difference.

And he couldn't deny he was looking forward to seeing Harry again. Now that he wasn't Harry's professor anymore, there was no reason that he couldn't be more open and honest with him. There were so many things that he had wanted to tell Harry last year, about how much James and Lily had loved Harry, how they'd given everything to have him and protect him even in the darkest hours of the war, how much he, Remus, had loved James and Lily. He couldn't wait to tell him stories of how brilliant and fiery his mother was, how she had kept James in check. He hoped, well he was almost certain, that Harry needed to hear these stories too. At least Remus needed to tell them. He'd been silent for too many years, on his own.

Harry bounded into the room suddenly, throwing his bag down on the rug.

"Professor Lupin!"

Sirius followed, leaning on the door to the den, "I told you that you can call him Remus, Harry."

"Remus is fine Harry," he started to get up, "It's wonderful to see you."

"Stay down Moony, you're resting." Sirius had a hand on his shoulder before he knew how he had even crossed the room.

"I'm fine. Can't I hug my favorite ex-student?"

Harry hugged Remus somewhat awkwardly, "Sirius told me you were recovering from the full moon. How did it go?"

"It was fine. Your godfather is being a mother hen."

"Excuse me for worrying about you," Sirius muttered something under his breath about "ungrateful" and both Harry and Remus shared a look and laughed.

Harry sat down on the couch opposite Remus and smiled, "It's brilliant that you're going to be around for Christmas. Sirius told me you were in Iceland until he rescued you."

"He told you that he - of course he told you that he rescued me."

"I did!" Sirius protested, "I mean it's bloody cold there."

"You didn't complain the other night." Remus realized only a moment too late how this sounded and he deliberately avoided Sirius' eyes which he knew would be sparkling with barely contained laughter.

"You were in Iceland too?" Harry asked Sirius.

"Yeah, for the full moon. We thought that it would be safer there than here in London. Less chance of running into someone that he could bite after all. We ran the farmland, it was just like the old days eh Moons?"

Remus smiled indulgently, "It was nice to have you there Padfoot. And good that we didn't run into too much trouble."

Harry beamed at the pair of them, "Sirius has told me all about you guys running around Hogwarts at the full moon. It sounds incredible."

"It was. We could have landed in so much trouble."

"That's how you know it was fun Remus."

"I'd love to be an animagus, get to just be free to run around and not be afraid of anything," Harry said.

"It's not like you're invincible Harry" Remus chided but Sirius was having none of it.

"But you feel like it! There's nothing like running as a dog it's not tiring or boring it's exhilarating there are just so many smells and the wind feels…" he trailed off into starry-eyed silence.

Remus smiled softly, "Well that certainly is true."

Remus asked Harry about a million questions about how he was faring at Hogwarts, inquiring after his marks and after Ron and Hermione along with students he liked a little less as well (the Malfoy boy being chief among these). Harry regaled them both with stories of the Triwizard Tournament and the way that Cedric had conquered his dragon. They speculated on what the second task might be and who was most likely to take the Triwizard Cup at the end. Remus had his money on the Bulgarian Seeker but both Sirius and Harry thought this was disloyal.

"You have to cheer for the Hogwarts champion," Harry said for about the fifth time, "that's the whole point of the tournament, to bring the houses together or something."

"I'm not saying I don't hope that Cedric wins, I'm just saying I'm not sure it's the most likely outcome."

"You'd think that he never even been to Hogwarts Harry," Sirius said, shaking his head dramatically. And Remus rolled his eyes.

They had a huge dinner topped off by Harry's favorite treacle tart and then sleepily headed to bed with plans made to take Harry shopping in Diagon Alley in the morning. Harry had to get Christmas gifts for his school mates and new supplies for school as well as some owl treats for Hedwig. He'd never been able to take trips to Diagon Alley over breaks before and he and Sirius were equally giddy to get to Quality Quidditch Supplies and check out the newest brooms and equipment. Remus on the other hand, needed to visit Flourish and Blotts to check out a new book on the wolfsbane potion which he had to start making himself now that Dumbledore wasn't ordering Snape to make it for him.

"Goodnight boys." Sirius waved to the two of them as he climbed the third set of stairs up to his room.

Remus smiled and hugged Harry properly, "I'm so glad to be spending the holidays with you Harry, Sirius and I have so much to tell you about your Mum and Dad. But for now just know that they'd be so proud of the young man you've become."

"Thanks Remus. I'm glad you're here."

"Me too Harry."

Remus turned towards his door and began to open it when Harry spoke again, looking towards the stairs to check if Sirius had made it to his room, "Hey Remus?"

"Mmm?"

"I erm...Sirius asked me not to say anything...but I'm glad that you're my godfather too and well...I just thought I should tell you that."

Remus blushed, he could feel the heat rising in his face, "Wait, what...erm...else did he tell you?"

Harry looked uncomfortable, "I don't want to get in the way or make things weird or anything. But I mean, I can already tell that he's happier with you around. And like I said, I'm proud to have you as my godfather too."

Remus was floored, he opened his mouth, closed it again and took a deep breath, "I wanted to tell you."

Harry shrugged, "It's okay. I understand things are..or were...complicated right? Between the two of you. But we're all getting the chance to start over yeah?"

"Yeah, we are. We're both going to be there for you the way we should have been. That's a promise."

"I'm glad."

"Me too Harry," he hugged Harry again, "Get some sleep okay?"

"You won't tell Sirius that I said anything?"

"Of course not," he felt overwhelmed, "Goodnight."

"Wait, Remus. One more thing?"

Remus stopped, hoping that Harry wasn't about to have some opinion on a relationship that he shouldn't even know about in the first place. It was quite enough that now he knew a fourteen year old was going to be watching Sirius and him for clues as to what was (or was not) happening between them. Remus may have only taught Harry for a year but that year had taught Remus that Harry inherited James' penchant for sticking his nose exactly where it didn't belong. Before Sirius and Remus had gotten together James had been completely insufferable trying to get them both to admit their feelings for one another. He could only hope that the younger Potter had more sense, but the chances were slim.

"I am a bit tired Harry."

"Okay. I just wanted to tell you not to blame yourself."

"For what?"

"All of it."

Remus nearly laughed, the idea that his worry could be turned off like a sink spigot was frankly hilarious. But he knew Harry's intentions were good. They always were.

"I will do my best."

He smiled, opening the door to his room and finally laying his achy body down on the soft mattress. It was several hours before his busy mind let him drift into sleep.

Five days later Remus rolled over and groaned. He lit his wand and pointed it at the clock opposite the bed which told him it was a 5:22am. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, there was no reason why any of them should be up this early, but clearly Sirius and Harry had decided otherwise. The laughs and loud words of their wrestling and teasing filtered up to the second floor where they had woke Remus out of a deep sleep. He had been dreaming of Hogwarts, of his small office off the DADA classroom, of watching students fly lazily by his window as they practiced with Madam Hooch. It had been a good dream, he remembered the light that had filtered through the window onto his face. Remus tried for a few minutes to block out the noise and slip back into his dream but it was dispersing into nothing as quick as a warm breath in cold air. Just then Sirius gave a particularly loud barking laugh and Harry could be heard shushing him, a noise which was itself quite as loud as the laugh that came before. Remus sighed. As much as he liked the idea of going back to sleep there was nothing for it. They were clearly determined to have Christmas morning come as early as possible.

Remus slid off the bed and placed his feet on the cold wood floor, then threw his dressing gown over his pajamas. He descended the stairs, the noise of laughter louder with every step. When he entered the den he was welcomed by complete disarray. Sirius was sprawled out on the floor in a pair of sweatpants and a ratty old tshirt, his hair in an uncombed mess around him. Harry, in his striped Gryffindor pajamas, was sitting on Sirius' chest, pinning him to the ground, with his arms crossed triumphantly. Around them were stacks of presents of every shape and size, with the humongous Christmas tree they had decorated the night before twinkling behind them.

"You have to surrender!"

"I can't breathe...you little twat." Sirius choked out, his chest struggling to expand under Harry's weight.

"Sorry? What was that?"

"I said I surrender! Get off." Harry rolled off, laughing and Sirius sat up rubbing the spot. Only then did he catch sight of Remus standing there in the doorway with tired eyes and raised eyebrows.

Sirius flashed him a crooked smile. "Look Harry you went and woke up the wolf."

"You know very well that I am a creature of the night and not of the morning." Remus meant it to come out sternly but it sounded a little more whiny than he had intended. He was grumpy and exhausted and did not like being woken up early.

"But it's CHRISTMAS Remus!" Harry called happily, if a little haphazardly. He was perched on the back of the large sofa, one of his feet tapping on the cushions and looking decidedly twitchy. His hair was sticking up in every direction even more than usual. He looked a bit deranged.

"How much tea has he been allowed this morning?"

"Not tea, coffee!" Harry was practically yelling now.

"Woah take it down a few decibels, pup," Sirius laughed. Remus shot a look at Sirius who shrugged, "It is Christmas. Sorry to have woken you."

"Liar. You just wanted to get to presents. You probably encouraged this behavior."

Sirius shrugged but didn't look guilty.

"I have one for you Remus!" Harry brought over a package wrapped in the deepest blue with constellations moving lazily across the wrapping. Remus admired the paper as Kreacher handed him a steaming mug of Irish breakfast tea. "I picked the wrapping because it has you and Sirius in the same sky." Harry blushed a little but persevered in explaining, "See? Here's the dogstar" he pointed to the brightest star on the wrapping, "and there's you in the corner," this time indicating a full moon, "I like that you can see both of you on a clear night."

Remus smiled. He had always liked that too. He remembered sitting in the small living room of their flat and looking out the window as he waited for Sirius to come home from an Order mission. It had been Sirius and James heading out together, Remus was making dinner and keeping an eye on the clock, trying not to worry himself to death. He'd been out there himself several days before, tracking down and tailing a suspected Death Eater. He remembered leaning out of the window of the flat, so that he could keep both Sirius's star and the moon in his field of vision. He felt like if he could just see them both at the same time, keep them together, then Sirius would come back safely. It had been a clear night that night too. And Sirius had come home.

"Aren't you going to open in?" Harry asked as Remus stared at the paper. Remus unwrapped the corners carefully, not wanting to rip through the stars. Inside was a black box. Remus opened it slowly and inside on a sapphire pillow was a silver pocket watch. Remus looked up at Harry in shock to see the young man grinning, "Harry, this, you've spent far too much money."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about that, I've never had a family Christmas before. Open it." Remus pushed the button to open the watch and inside were three hands with each of their names on it, one that said Harry, one that said Sirius and one with Remus' own name. Around the edge of the watch were, like the clock that the Weasleys had, a number of locations: Grimmauld Place, Hogwarts, Hogsmede, Traveling, and Danger, among others. All the hands currently pointed to Grimmauld Place. The face of the watch was mostly dark, with perhaps a third of the face white. "It shows the moon phase, see? Sirius and I each have a matching one. Now we can all help keep an eye on one another, even when we're separated. And you know, we'll know when the next full moon is coming."

Remus willed himself to keep it together, but the struggle must have shown on his face because Harry enfolded Remus in his arms, "Happy Christmas Remus."

"Happy Christmas Harry."

Remus had gotten Harry a notebook that was spelled to keep track of your most brilliant or original thoughts (Sirius had laughed, "He'll bring it home at the end of the year and it'll still be empty!" earning him a slap to the back of the head from Remus), a ton of Mars Bars (Harry had confessed he sometimes missed Muggle candy), a book of the best seekers in Quidditch history. Remus and had also gone in on with Sirius on a brand new broomstick, a Firebolt that Harry didn't put down for at least several days after he unwrapped it. In addition to the broomstick Harry received a two-way mirror from Sirius, a fresh pot of invisible ink to pass notes in class, and a whole pile of dungbombs.

Sirius had gotten Remus a huge box of Honeydukes chocolate, a metal bookmark that was spelled to make the book it rested in searchable by voice, socks with the Icelandic flag on them ("well if you love it so much, you should wear it"), and a new kettle that kept your water at the perfect temperature for brewing.

Remus in turn got Sirius new motorcycle boots, a tshirt which featured a German Shepherd wearing sunglasses and was emblazoned with the words "Bad to the Bone" (Sirius laughed so hard at this he had a difficult time breathing and Harry had to thump him on the back to bring him back to his sanity), and a Oyster card loaded with some Muggle money for when Sirius wanted to venture out into Muggle London.

Things had settled down a bit, Harry had come down from his caffeine high and was crashing on one of the large sofas, when Remus retrieved one more box from his room. He considered not giving it to Sirius, they were, after all, trying to keep things casual between them at Remus' request. Sirius hadn't brought up James, or their old relationship, or anything. He was letting Remus have space, time to come around. And Remus appreciated this. The new Sirius Black seemed to have a measure of self-control (just a tiny measure but it was there nevertheless) that the younger Sirius he remembered did not. He stood in the guest room and ran a finger over the red wrapping. He didn't have to break the peace this way, but...something in his gut told him to go ahead. After all, he wanted Sirius to have it. So he steeled his Gryffindor courage and marched back downstairs, reaching around the sitting Sirius to place the box in his lap.

"There was one more thing for you Sirius."

"Aw Moony you did enough already."

"Don't worry, I didn't buy this one, at least not recently. Anyway, you're just not the same without it."

Sirius looked back at him, confused, but didn't comment. He slipped the gold ribbon from the ends of the package and ripped off the paper. Remus was fidgeting, twisting his fingers behind his back and shifting his weight from one leg to the other nervously. There was a good chance that Sirius was going to get emotional, well as much as he ever did, and he was worried that the calm, family atmosphere that had made the day so memorable, so unlike Remus' recent Christmases, would be snapped like a frozen thread.

Sirius pushed aside the tissue and pulled out his jacket. The black leather jacket that Remus had bought him years and years ago on the high street in Camden the very day that they moved into their new flat together. It had been one of the only things that Remus kept out of storage, had moved with him each time he wandered. He wouldn't be able to feel even the slightest bit at home if the jacket weren't slung over the back of a chair or on a peg near the door. It had decorated his chambers at Hogwarts and even more recently had been hung over one of the posts of his little bed in Iceland. He knew it was ridiculous, childish even, but the presence of the jacket had soothed him. Even when he had hated Sirius, cursed him, wanted him dead for what Remus thought he had done to James, to Lily, to Peter, to him, he'd always kept it near him. It made him feel as if the man he loved were still coming back.

Sirius ran his hands over the soft leather, the slightly faded embroidered wolf on the shoulder, the studs that he had added, the two pins on the lapel (one featured the image of a rising phoenix, the other a pink triangle on a black background) and for a long time, he didn't say anything. He brought the jacket to his face and inhaled.

"I thought this was long gone. I can't...wow...holy shit Moony," Sirius, it seemed, was at a loss for words - something that had happened only a handful of times as long as Remus had known him, "When I came back here I looked for it. I don't know why I hoped it was here, I knew if it was anywhere it would be in the flat but I didn't...I haven't gone over there."

"Well, like I said, I don't think you can be your proper self again without it," Remus looked at him smiling and yet, felt a twinge of sadness somewhere at the corners of his eyes, "Aren't you going to see if it still fits?"

Sirius stood and threw the jacket on in one fluid movement, the same movement he practiced a thousand times leaving the house to get cigarettes or groceries or to take Remus out for the night. The jacket settled on his shoulders, which were just slightly smaller than they had been. Though it didn't fit perfectly anymore, Remus had the sudden feeling that he was seeing Sirius for the first time since he had gone to Azkaban - that every interaction they'd had since the Shrieking Shack was a bit unreal. Here was Sirius, his Sirius, at last.

"I'll have to work out a bit, get the shoulders back."

Remus grinned, "It looks perfect Pads."

Sirius closed his eyes for a brief minute, "It smells like you." Remus blushed and opened his mouth to try to explain why he'd had the jacket in the first place, but at that moment Harry finally looked up from his Seeker book and saw Sirius in his jacket.

"Woah! Sirius you look dangerous! That's a brilliant jacket."

"Vintage Harry, that's real quality right there, Remus bought me this jacket when punk was actually dangerous."

Remus sat down and listened to the two of them argue over whether Sirius was old or cool or some combination of the two but he mostly blocked them out. He let out a long sigh. So that might have been what other people would consider 'a moment' and Remus had made it out alive. He tried not to let himself believe that one moment would multiply easily into two or three or even more, but there was a tiny spark of hope that ignited in his chest and today, on Christmas at least, Remus refused to snuff it out.