Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine, etc etc

SO guys this isn't just a massive chapter, it's really important! So check it out and get ready for some big changes in the cute little family life of Harry, Sirius, and Dany for a little while.

Read, review, and enjoy,

Stars.

She's gonna save me,
Call me "baby, "
Run her hands through my hair
She'll know me crazy,
Soothe me daily
Better yet she wouldn't care
We'll steal her Lexus,
Be detectives,
Ride round picking up clues
We'll name our children
Jackie and Wilson,
Raise 'em on rhythm and blues.

~Jackie and Wilson, Hozier

Despite the growing anxiety around Rhaegar's presumably unannounced arrival, Harry was becoming more and more eager to meet Dany's brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew. He could tell Dany was looking forward to seeing her brother again, but Sirius was looking less and less thrilled by the day.

"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry was at his daily lessons with the Weasley family and he couldn't quite shake the feeling that his Godparents were being pulled apart by the impending arrival of Dany's brother. The mother of the family turned to look at him kindly,

"Yes, Harry? Do you need help with your multiplying?" Harry shook his head and told her,

"No, I understand it…I was just wondering, Dany and Sirius seem upset with each other lately. Do they not love each other anymore?" Mrs. Weasley sat down next to him and said,

"Harry…your Godparents love each other very much, they always have. But everyone fights with the people they love. But I suppose that is a testament to how much they love each other; that they always manage to make up. Why do you think they're angry at each other?" Harry had been waiting for her to ask and he had been dying to tell her.

"Because Dany's brother is coming home for good, and he's going to be staying with us. But Sirius thinks it's a bad idea. They try really hard to hide it, but they argue about it and the more Dany wants her brother home, the more Sirius wants to keep him away." Mrs. Weasley looked at him curiously,

"Rhaegar is coming home? My, that will cause a scandal. I might just re-subscribe to the Prophet just to see the headlines. And Harry, you have to understand that Dany loves her brother very much, imagine how sad Ron would be if he didn't see his brothers or sister for longer than you've been alive. She wants him back more than almost anything in the world, now that she has you and Sirius. But you have to understand that when he returns, it will be a big affair. Sirius probably wants to keep you all out of the public eye as much as possible and Rhaegar returning will put you all under scrutiny. Does that make sense? But no matter what happens, they love you very much, and they will never stop loving each other. Now, let's get on to History, alright? Boys! Ginny! Come down for your lessons!" Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny came in from different rooms where they had been working on different lessons. Molly Weasley had education down to a science.

The four Weasley children and Harry gathered around Mrs. Weasley as she pulled out a history book. All five immediately groaned. History was the most dreaded lesson of all.

"Oh hush, all of you. This one is interesting, especially because it's about a family that you know." Harry looked at her curiously and she smiled at him slyly. All of the kids scooted a little closer and one of the twins said,

"Mum, if this is the Weasley family history again, I'm going to claw my ears off." The others laughed but all agreed. They must have heard the history of the Weasley family five times since Harry joined them alone.

"No, George this isn't your family, which I'm sorry you find so tragically boring. Today, we're going to learn about the Masters family." She patted the heavy book with a smile.

"Dany's family?" Ron asked curiously,

"Yes, Ron, Dany's family. As a matter of fact, this entire book is about them. Well the noteworthy members, which is practically all of them. Now are you all interested?" All of the kids nodded eagerly and Ron and Harry, who had become fast friends, exchanged a look that said it was very cool to know people in history books, "So, how about we start at the beginning?"

"The beginning of what?" Ginny asked,

"Well, I suppose that would be two things: the beginning of the known Masters genealogy and the beginning of the Ministry of Magic." The kids immediately started whispering. This was by far already the best history lesson ever, "Well, The first record we have of anyone by the name Masters was…" she flipped through the book, "Charles Masters, the first elected Minister of Magic. And of course, as you might have heard Dany say when she, Sirius, and Harry were over for dinner, her family has held the position of Minister ever since."

"That's so cool!" Ron exclaimed and Harry nodded silently. Dany had kept most of this from him, telling him vaguely that her brother had been an up-and-comer in the Ministry when he had fled to the States and no more. She had never said that he had been set to be Minister.

"Of course, that is only the men, and that is only one line of the family. The women are nothing to laugh at, just take a look at Danilynn, and there are offshoots of the family, or rather there were before the war. There was a branch of the family that worked with dragons. One of the women almost 200 years ago was said to be so close to the dragons that some thought that she could breathe fire herself." The boys all exchanged looks that said that breathing fire was officially one of the best things ever and Ginny looked interested in the story that her mother was spinning. "There have been curse breakers, bankers, wandmakers, Law Enforcement, Unspeakables, countless members of the family have sat on the Wizengamot, and nearly 20 of them throughout history have been given Orders of Merlin. And of course, there have been Aurors, as Dany is now. However, for all these remarkable feats, there is illness too. Anxiety, depression, and in some places, even bipolar ran rampant. Throughout history, they have been known for their fast-burn tempers, their alignment with law and order, and of course their hair. And until recently, there has been only one living Masters left: Danilynn Charlotte Black. But now, it appears that there are three more blood Masters, bearing the name of their ancestors."

"There is indeed. Who told you, Molly?" All five kids and Mrs. Weasley turned to see Dany in the doorway, with Sirius standing behind her, looking amused. The children all looked back at Mrs. Weasley, who was trying to gauge Dany's reaction at hearing her family history told to children. A mild rendition, but nevertheless. The younger woman appeared not to be angry so she smiled and said,

"Your little one couldn't quite keep it quiet, I'm sorry to say. If you want to keep a secret, you have to make it abundantly clear that it is in fact, a secret." Dany laughed and said,

"Yeah…we're still getting a handle on this whole parenting thing, right Harry?" Harry shook his head,

"You guys are great. I'm sorry. I didn't know it was a secret." Sirius finally entered the room,

"It's okay you told the Weasleys, but they're family, and family has different rules than everyone else. Just don't tell anyone else, alright?" Harry nodded silently and Sirius picked him up pretty easily. Dany smiled at the other woman and said kindly,

"Thank you for keeping him, Molly. I don't know what we'd do with out you and Arthur." Mrs. Weasley waved her off,

"Please, you're family, your husband just said it himself. Now get on home, you three. Oh, and Danilynn? When this brother of your comes into town, I want to meet him." Dany smiled slightly and said,

"We'll have you over for dinner one night. We still don't know when he's coming, so I'll let you know." Harry felt Sirius' arms tighten slightly around him. Before Dany could leave, Mrs. Weasley grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear quickly. Dany pulled back to look at her, shocked and faintly shaking her head, "What? I…where did he…thank you. See you tomorrow, Molly." Harry saw Sirius wrinkle his eyebrows at the whispered words, but he said nothing about it. Dany and Sirius (who was still carrying Harry) silently walked out of the house and towards their home. Harry asked to be put down halfway there and walked between his Godparents. He noticed that every now and then Dany would look at Sirius, with unmistakable worry on her face. Sirius appeared to not notice, although Harry suspected that he was well aware, yet chose to say nothing.

Once they reached their home, Dany said quietly,

"Harry, why don't you clean up your room before dinner? I saw how big of a mess it is this morning."

"It's not messy!"

"It won't be messy the day I don't have eyes, Little Man. Go on, hustle." Harry walked off without much more protest and Sirius watched him go, curious about not only the divergence from the nightly pattern that they had all slipped into, but the quick whisper that Molly had murmured not half an hour ago. Dany looked at him, and as soon as Harry's door audibly closed, her eyes became sad, immensely and deeply saddened. It took him aback for a minute. They had been silently feuding over Rhaegar's return for almost a week now, but he still had no desire to see that look on her face.

"Dan…are you okay? You look like someone just killed your puppy."

"We need to talk." He nodded at the words that no one ever wants to hear and followed her into the living room, where she sat on the couch. Sirius sat down in an armchair across from her, wary of being within the reach of her arms in this mysterious conversation, not that he didn't trust her not to kill him, he just didn't feel like having a grapefruit sized bruise on his arm for a week.

"Are you sure you're alright? Because you really don't look it." She looked at him and threw her hands up in the air,

"No, Sirius, I'm not alright! I'm angry and I'm tired and I'm so afraid. But we've been fighting so much that I can't share any of that with you. What the hell are we doing?" He looked at her bloodshot eyes, shocked,

"Wow, what brought this on?" She slowly shook her head and put it in her hands,

"At the Weasley's, you want to know what Molly told me? What she whispered before we left?"

"Yeah…I guess." Sirius muttered. She looked up from her hands and there were tears leaking from her eyes and leaving trails down her cheeks. It was a rare sight and Sirius wanted to make the tears stop. They got under his skin and hurt him to watch. But for some unfathomable reason, he didn't move or say anything.

"Harry told her today that we've been fighting lately. He thinks we don't love each other anymore. Our own Godson thinks we don't love each other." The words were like a slap to the face. Some thing uncomfortably squeezed inside his chest. Had it been that bad? Had he been treating his own wife so poorly that Harry thought that they didn't love each other? She hadn't committed a capital crime; she just wanted her brother. But the publicity would be brutal and the unrest Rhaegar returning would bring would be unbelievable. He wanted to protect his family from that as much as possible. He moved to the couch, next to her, and touched her face. She looked at the ground, obviously agonizing.

"Dan…I just want to keep us safe. I'm sorry about this, I don't want to fight and God, I love you. More than you could ever know, which is probably why I've been dragging my heels. The last time Rhaegar was involved, you showed up at the Potters bloody and crying, an orphan. And I know it wasn't his fault, but I can't help but have some negative feelings." She looked at him, for the first time since they had been fighting he realized, in the eyes. That fact alone hurt a part of him.

"I know…it's just Rae is my family too, and I'm trying really hard to understand where you're coming from with this, but as much as I love you and Harry, I love my brother. He was my role model when I was growing up and there was nothing more in the world I wanted than to be like my big brother. To hear you hate him so much, it just hurts. Because I love you, I wouldn't have waited around eight years on a man I didn't love. But with me, comes my family and everything attached to it. I waited a really long time to make a life with you, but it's a two way street. You knew who you were marrying, Sirius. You don't just marry a Masters, you marry the whole family."

"Well I was under the impression that you were the only one left." Sirius muttered audibly. He realized his mistake too late.

"…If you had known about Rae then, if you had known he was still alive and in hiding, would you have married me?" Sirius opened his mouth to respond, "You know what? I don't want to know the answer to that and I can probably guess, anyways. Who would be stupid enough to tie themselves to this knowingly?"

"Dany—" But there was no stopping this. She was on a roll and the tears had stopped and turned into a dry anger.

"You know I spent my entire life being used by other people until I met you, Lily, and James. You know when we started dating, you almost got dumped so many times because I kept thinking 'what does he want from me?' but every time James would whack me over the head and tell me to stop being such an idiot. I couldn't believe that someone actually loved me for me, that I for once was being seen as a person and not a cog in the Minister's family unit. I was never allowed to be normal and you knew that! You knew that everything we did together would be in papers and would be gossip and you kept at it. Hell, you asked me to get married, remember? I guess being the center of attention is only fun until it gets old, right?"

Sirius stared at her. Like really stared. This was unhealthy, all of this anger and distrust and anxiety was going to kill her. It had been what had kept them alive during the war, but it was time to let it go. The war was over, and this was not peacetime mentality. This was survival mode.

"Dany. No, you look at me, Danilynn. I am well aware of who you are and I know I asked you to marry me, and I don't regret it for a second, I don't. And believe it or not, if there had been a hundred of your relatives alive, I still would have tried to marry you, because I loved you then, and I love you now. I'm just worried that Rhaegar coming back will put us all at risk. And forgive me for not really being in the mood to throw myself between you and a killing curse right now. I thought I'd never have to do that again, I thought we'd be safe. You may have a brother, but you and Harry are all I have left." Her eyes softened greatly and she gently touched his face, the pad of her thumb resting on his cheekbone. Sirius thought that this was a relatively positive sign.

"I'm sorry. I know you want peace, and so do I, believe me. But my brother has asked me to stand by him once more, and I want to. Can you at least understand why I'm doing what I am?"

"I understand, but it seems that Azkaban has made me exponentially more selfish. I like you right where you are, safe in a warded house, where I can see you." She laughed,

"As appealing as that sounds, you probably shouldn't have gotten with an Auror, if that was your dream."

"True…can you see where I'm coming from?"

"I do, and I know the publicity is horrible, and I'm sorry. But I can't stop the papers, and Fudge will encourage them to be even more incorrigible than usual when Rae comes back…I wish they didn't exist, but they do, and so we're going to have to make do. Besides, if they're going to run stories about us, we might as well give them interesting ones." He laughed at that, despite himself. She smiled a little and he relaxed; the fight was over and the storm had passed, at least for now.

"Hey Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"How about we do something totally normal and family-like tomorrow?" She smiled and wiped her eyes again,

"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea…what was that?" He listened for a minute and heard what she was talking about: voices. Voices that were far too close to be outside the wards. They exchanged a look and slowly moved towards the door, pulling out their wands.

"Lynn! Mason! What did your father say about that? They don't know we're here yet. You're going to get hexed if you keep this up." Sirius looked at his wife and realized that she had immediately relaxed as soon as the woman outside had spoken.

"But Mom…"

"Listen to your mother, Danilynn." Dany's eyes lit up and she threw the door open, all caution and wariness gone. Sirius followed her much less enthusiastically but couldn't help but smile a little as Danilynn Black hurled herself into the arms of her big brother for the first time in a very long time.

Sirius slowly walked down the stairs from the porch and saw the three other people, a woman, girl, and boy, standing to the side of Rhaegar. He supposed that these were his wife and children. As the two grown siblings clung onto each other like they were drowning, Sirius smiled at the woman. She gratefully smiled back and said,

"Hi, I'm sorry to barge in like this, but Rae insisted that we not reply in case the owl was intercepted. I'm Shay, and this is Lynn and Mason. I'm assuming you're Sirius?" He nodded at the woman who was technically his sister-in-law, "Say hi, kids." Both of them, Sirius realized had the silver hair of their father; perhaps it was the blonde hair of their mother that had allowed this to happen. Sirius doubted it; somehow that hair wormed its way past all semblance of logic or reason. Both of them resembled their father and their aunt; they were beautiful, even at the tender ages of eight and nine. The kids smiled and said,

"Hi."

"Hi yourselves. So I hear that you're Mason," He directed his attention to the boy, who nodded rather timidly, "And you're Danilynn? Am I right?" The girl nodded but smiled slightly and said,

"I go by Lynn. Which is good, I guess because Daddy says that our aunt goes by Dany. Is that her?" Sirius looked back over at where Dany and Rhaegar were now talking, and it struck him now, just as it had when they were seventeen, how much they looked alike. The hair, the brilliant blue eyes, and the faintly aristocratic features were all the same; the only difference that was truly different other than their genders was their heights. While Dany was small, only about 5 foot 2, 5 foot 3 on a good day, her brother was almost 6 foot 4, towering over most people.

"Yeah, that's her, alright…did the hair give it away? Shay, you'll have to tell me just how that hair happens, just by the way." The mother winked with a smirk, an unsaid promise to tell him just how his kids will end up with the silver mane that all Masters possessed, "You kids want to meet your Aunt Dany?" They both nodded hesitantly, but rather excitedly, "Alright, let's go meet her." He led the kids over to where Dany and Rhaegar were talking and it appeared that Dany was now being laughed at by her brother

"…Okay, in my defense, I wasn't aware that I was going to be doing parenting! And nothing has been too much of a train wreck yet! I can only imagine the kinds of stunts you've pulled as a dad. Oh! I should go get Harry, he's been dying to meet you all." Sirius interrupted her monologue,

"Dan, before you go, there's a of couple people who want to meet you." She tuned to face him and looked down at the children that were trailing him and their mother. She leaned down and said,

"Hey, you two…I've waited a really long time to meet you both. I'm sorry it took such a long time. Can you forgive me and your dad for not hurrying up? It's mainly his fault, honestly." Rhaegar rolled his eyes,

"Everything is my fault in this family as it is, thank you for picking up the mantle, Dan." The kids laughed and both threw themselves into her arms. Mason said,

"It's good to meet you Aunt Dany. You might not have ever met us, but Dad always made sure we knew you."

"Yeah, I was even named after you!" Lynn chimed in and Dany smiled at them both and said rather shakily (Sirius was pretty sure she was trying not to cry at this point),

"Well, I have someone inside who is pretty eager to meet you two, so what do you say you go meet him?"

"Is it Harry? Daddy said that he was your Godson!" Lynn asked enthusiastically, something that seemed to run in the family. Sirius had always just assumed it was Dany and her brother that were easily excited, but apparently these apples hadn't fallen far from the tree at all. They all possessed the same contagious enthusiasm. Dany grinned at her niece,

"You bet it is. Come on, he's inside. Shay, I can show you to your rooms, on the way if you want." The other woman nodded gratefully and picked up the single suitcase that held all of the family's clothes (undetectable extension, Sirius suspected) and followed her sister-and-law into the house, along with her children, who seemed to be bouncing with happiness at gaining so many relatives at once.

Once the women and children vanished, Sirius looked at Rhaegar and tried really hard not to hate him for being here. The older man smiled tiredly,

"Sirius Black…damn I always knew it would be you and Dany. If my old man were alive, I'd be collecting money from a bet right now. I heard about Azkaban; Dan wrote me a few times about it. I'm sorry that that happened to you, really; you don't deserve to be in that poor excuse for a place. And I know you don't want us here, and I don't blame you. To say there's going to be a shit-storm would be an incredible understatement. Fudge and Malfoy won't take kindly to this, and if you want me gone, I'll leave your house. But know that I'm not leaving England. This is my home, and I have spent far too much of my life in hiding. I'm not asking you to like that I'm here, but can we not hate each other? I don't hate you, I'm actually grateful; you loved my sister when no one else did. We grew up around power leeches who wanted nothing more than to marry her for her money and her family. Then she met you and God you should have heard her talk about you. You saw her for her, so thank you because that's all I ever wanted for her." Sirius blinked. This was much more diplomatic than the Rhaegar he had known as a teenager.

"I don't want this trouble for her, for either of us or Harry, but there doesn't seem to be a way around it, does there? I don't hate you, I…it's just the last time you were in England, Dany showed up to the Potters bloody and an orphan. I don't want Harry to ever have to see that. I can't help but be a little hesitant to have you living with us…but you're family, and I hear that if you marry one Masters, you marry the whole family. Besides, it would be good to have a couple more adults around and Harry could certainly use a couple more kids his own age to play with. The Weasley's are great, but perhaps there's nothing quite like family."

"There is really nothing like family, indeed…How about we leave this as a work in progress? I'll do my best to keep a low profile, as long as you try not to hate me so much, at least for the kids' sake, and for Dan." Sirius smiled; had the guy become a bleeding diplomat in the past decade? "I've been a diplomat for way too long…no more fire in the belly, I suppose." Sirius actually laughed at that; he had actually been a diplomat. The two walked up the stairs and Sirius leaned on the railing, with a raised eyebrow, amused by the thought that any of the Masters could ever loose their fire,

"I seriously doubt that…if your sister is any indication, you all never lose the beast in your belly or the lion in your heart. Nothing will quite get you going like Fudge and Malfoy ruling over the Ministry; believe me. We're not even in that part of the Ministry and people are still pissed that fudge is so deep in Malfoy's pocket. Dan said that you're looking for a spot on the Wizengamot?" Rhaegar nodded at his brother-in-law,

"Yeah, I don't think campaigning to out Fudge would be a very good idea…talk about a civil war. I'd just like to come home, if that isn't too much to ask of the world. It probably is, but somehow things never go quite as planned anyways. My plans always tend to go to shit. I think it runs in the family, someone else we know was never good, either." Sirius chuckled,

"Really? Well that's certainly interesting…I bet there are all kinds of things you could share about my lovely wife's childhood, aren't there, Masters?" Rhaegar laughed,

"There are indeed, Black, there are indeed…I think this might be the beginning of some really humiliating times for Danilynn."

"It appears so, yes. She'll be thrilled."

"She'll be livid, but alas, its my job as her brother to embarrass her every chance I get. You two still Aurors?" Sirius nodded absently as the two watched nature pass by the front of the house,

"Yeah…Dany never stopped and I came back when I got out of the hole. Moody's just as much of a pain in the ass as he's always been, just by the way. He'll be bloody thrilled to see you again, I'll tell you that. I think having you and Dany back is like his wet dream or something. I know how close he was to your dad…which I never got to say sorry for; Rhea and Daniel were good people, you two lost them too soon." Rhaegar nodded with a sad smile,

"They were, I always knew I'd have to spend the rest of my life trying to fill my dad's shoes, but I didn't realize then how impossible that is. He was a great Minister and a phenomenal father; I can never live up to that."

"Eh, you don't know, you might surprise yourself. I've definitely been doing that quite a lot lately; Harry was dumped on us and let's just leave it at 'baptism by fire'." Rhaegar laughed at that,

"At least you missed the diaper phase…unless you have little ones of your own, which between you and me, is totally worth it." Sirius was taken aback. Sure he had thought about a family when they had been kids, but he hadn't considered starting one now; they were so busy.

"It's kind of an inconvenient time right now. We have the training wheels on this bike, with no intention of taking them off anytime soon." Rhaegar laughed at that analogy that he thought seemed incredibly accurate to parenting,

"It's always an inconvenient time, dude…it's never perfect timing to have your wife say 'Honey, I'm pregnant' but you just roll with it, I guess." Sirius went to respond about just how inconvenient it was when a feminine voice interrupted him,

"Aww, boys are you getting along out here?" Both Sirius and Rhaegar turned around to see Dany was leaned up against the doorframe into the house with a smile playing on the edges of her lips. Rhaegar answered easily,

"Sure, sure. Just giving my brother-in-law some tips for if you two ever decide to have some little crumb-snatchers and nose-pickers of your own." Dany raised an eyebrow at Sirius, who shrugged as if to say "what? He brought it up". She laughed and said,

"I honestly don't care what you two are talking about, as long as you're getting along. How about you boys come in? Shay offered to make dinner tonight, the kids are getting along famously, and neither of us has been off our feet all day. Besides, I'm sure you'd like to see the house again, Rae." Sirius smiled at her, when she looked at him, worried that there was some kind of conflict that she wasn't seeing. Oddly enough, there really wasn't.

The man Rhaegar was now was very much like his father, despite his protests that he would never grow into his father's shadow. Sirius had always liked Daniel Masters; he had been a kind man, a good father with a gentle heart, he loved his wife dearly, and was known for delivering justice swiftly and fairly. Rhaegar had been a hothead as a young man, all the raw material had been there to be a great leader, but occasionally his temper would become out of control and he would become erratic and dangerous. Like Dany's anger, it was what kept him alive during the war, but this was peacetime; it was time to put away the defense mechanisms, at least for now.

Sirius smiled nodded encouragingly at her and she seemed to relax slightly, warily half-believing that there was no huge feud between her husband and brother. But she wasn't an idiot, she would be watching for bad blood for weeks to come. Sirius walked into the house, taking Dany's hand on the way in, who allowed herself to be pulled through the house by her hand, laughing. Rhaegar followed them in, back into his childhood home, that he was relieved to see was back to being lived in and loved by his family.

The three walked into the kitchen to see Shay trying to teach Mason and Harry how to cook, as Lynn looked on from where she was perched on top of the counter, occasionally giggling at the boys inept movements. The young girl looked up when they walked in and smiled at all three of them, as a huge puff of flour exploded from between Harry and Mason, all over Shay and Lynn. Lynn erupted into loud laughter that reminded Sirius of what Dany had sounded had like during the Great Hogwarts Food Fight of 1976.

"Mason Daniel! Harry James! What did I say about the flour?"

"…Not to touch it." They both muttered, looking very much like they had been caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar,

"Not to touch it. And did you touch it?" both boys nodded, now covered in the powdery white substance, "You did indeed. Mason…you are so lucky that I haven't picked a timeout corner in this house yet. Dan, Sirius, I don't know what you do about Harry misbehaving, so that's up to you." Mason looked rather fearful of the timeout corner and went to go stand by his dad, who looked rather amused by the entire thing. Dany and Sirius exchanged a look; Harry didn't usually ever misbehave. They didn't have rules because it never happened. Dany shrugged,

"You're off the hook tonight Harry, just because it's a special night. You have to listen to Shay and Rae like you listen to us, alright?" He nodded quickly and muttered,

"Sorry, Dany. We didn't mean to, it was just an accident." Dany kissed him on the forehead and said,

"I know, but you have to listen to the adults, especially in the kitchen. We don't need you accidentally sticking your hand in a pot of hot water. Just don't do it again. Sirius do you have anything to add?" He shook his head,

"No, she's right though. The Kitchen can be a dangerous place, not to mention a messy one. If we weren't magic, someone would have to clean that all up by hand, and that wouldn't be very fair, would it?" Harry shook his head, feeling quite guilty,

"No…I didn't think about that, honest Padfoot. I'll clean it up on my own if you want." Sirius looked at Dany with a raised eyebrow and she shook her head: not tonight.

"Well, it's awfully nice that you offered but how about we just picked it up real fast and got on with the night?" He nodded at them both and hugged them each and Dany flicked her wand and the flour that coated half of their kitchen vanished into thin air. Dany smiled and said, "Why don't you kids go play in Harry's room, where you can't get flour over half of the house?" The three of them nodded, leaving the adults alone. Shay put something in the oven and joined the other three at the kitchen table. She said,

"Where did that apology come from?" Dany and Sirius exchanged a look that said they weren't quite sure. Dany spoke slowly, trying to come up with an answer, because honestly neither of them was quite sure why he had offered to clean up the house.

"That was the Lily in him I think, she was my best friend in school and Harry's mom. I honestly don't think James knew how to say 'sorry' on the day he died, so Lord knows it's not James' outstanding manners and remorseful nature. That sounded much more like Lils." Rhaegar nodded,

"I remember Lily, she was a sweet girl, very gracious and gentle. She was kind of a spitfire but all of you girls were; I was sorry to hear what happened to her and James. At least Harry survived; if they could see us all now, I'm sure that would be some kind of consolation." Sirius and Dany both smiled at him, sadly. They both still missed their dear friends; their loss had left hole in both of the Blacks' hearts that neither of them had quite managed to fill. Dany doubted that their deaths will ever seem like a distant memory, even now it seemed like yesterday that Lily and James Potter had died.

"Thank you. But I don't think that their deaths will ever not hurt…for us or for Harry. It was just too bad of a time, and right after Marlene, Alice, and Frank…and then Sirius was arrested and Harry was sent off to his Muggle relatives; sometimes I think that it's a miracle that I made it through that year and a half at all." Dany said quietly. Her brother nodded sadly,

"Whatever did happen to the Longbottoms? I never saw them in the American obituaries, and the deaths of Aurors usually makes it over the pond." Sirius and Dany exchanged a dark look and Dany answered her brother heavily,

"Honestly, they would have been better off dead, if you ask me. One night Bellatrix Lestrange broke into their house, their son, Neville, was only about six months old at the time. We don't know why she was there really, probably because they were Aurors and she was bored. No matter the reason, the used the Cruciatus curse on them, until they were driven to insanity. That was on the tail of the deaths of Fabian and Gideon Prewett, and needless to say, the last sibling, Molly, took the loss of her sister very hard. Actually, Molly is married to Arthur Weasley now, do you remember him from school? I think he was a few years older than you. But anyways, they're our good friends now; they live just a few miles away from us and Harry loves their children. All seven of their children." Dany added the last part with a wry smile. Shay and Rhaegar both looked amazed,

"How on Earth does one raise seven children?" Shay asked, rather like how one asked how the Earth spun,

"She's a force to be reckoned with, believe me. You have not seen a tightly run ship until you have seen the house of Molly Weasley," Sirius laughed "Besides, it's not as bad as it sounds, the oldest three are already in Hogwarts so she's only got four little ones under her feet. Arthur works at the Ministry, and even if they didn't need the money I think he still would, just to get out of the house." Rhaegar laughed and nodded,

"Sometimes I thought about quitting back in the States, Heaven knows we don't need the money, but Shay would always tell me that I'd regret it. I have a sincere feeling that she was absolutely right. Diplomacy wasn't for me, but at least it gave me something to do that wasn't changing diapers. I understand his struggle; living with seven kids? You can forget it." Dany's eyes lit up,

"Oh! Molly meant for me to tell you that she's quite insistent upon meeting you all; would you and the kids be open to dinner with them tomorrow night? At this point it appears that we'll probably be taking the day off anyways, so it really wouldn't be any trouble." Rhaegar looked at his wife and smiled hopefully, but Shay seemed more hesitant,

"That sounds wonderful, it will be nice to get to know people…but you said Arthur works—"

"In the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department; a two person department, him being one of them. I don't think you have to worry about him ratting on you to Fudge. No one will say anything until you're ready, Rhaegar." Sirius chuckled. Out of all of the workers in the Ministry, he suspected Arthur Weasley the least of ever willingly sharing information with Cornelius Fudge. To say the Weasleys weren't big fans of the current Minster was the understatement of the century. Shay relented,

"Alright, I'm sure they're wonderful people. Besides, it will be good for the kids to meet some other kids their age, before they go to Hogwarts." Dany grinned and said,

"Excellent, I'll go send an owl to Molly after dinner," As the timer beeped suddenly. Shay got up and pulled a wonderful looking roast from the oven, along with a couple loaves of bread (Dany supposed this is where the flour had come from), "I'll also have to write Moody to tell him that we're not coming in tomorrow. He might actually drop by when he finds out why. He'll be thrilled to see you Rae, I'm telling you." Sirius nodded in confirmation that at this point, they couldn't go into work tomorrow. And she was right about Moody; "thrilled" would be putting mildly. The old man never shut up about the days of the "Masters' Dynasty," as he fondly called it, and how great and prosperous the Wizarding community had been under the leadership of one of Britain's oldest families. Sirius had almost told him that Rhaegar was alive purely to shut him up on at least three separate occasions. His wife had been less than impressed with this.

"Ah, Alastor Moody, he and Dad certainly were close. I never understood how someone as eloquent and, well, polished as Dad could get along so well with someone so gruff. Maybe it was refreshing to hear someone bark the truth at you, for once." Rhaegar laughed and Dany chuckled in agreement. Their mother had tried to be as nice as possible when delivering the truth, and outside of her and their children, no one ever really told Daniel Masters the whole truth, at least the ugly ones. Except Alastor Moody, who had no qualms about offending the Minister and telling him, "pull your head out of your ass, you have a damn country to lead Masters. If I die on the job just for your ass to let our world go to shit; I will haunt you until the end of your days". Ah, yes Alastor Moody was a good friend, Dany thought fondly of her mentor. Shay checked something on the oven and then called out,

"Harry! Lynn! Mason! Dinner!" Three sets of feet came down the stairs a minute later, and then all three of them appeared in the Kitchen, looking very excited at the prospect of living together (apparently they had all decided that all family was awesome and they had a lot of time to make up for). Harry came bounding up to his Godparents and was practically glowing,

"Dany! You have such a cool niece and nephew. Dudley was definitely not this cool. He was a big, old, fat bully." Sirius snorted loudly and Rae laughed, something he tried to turn into a cough under his wife's gaze. Dany's lips twitched in amusement too. She picked up her Godson and put him in her lap,

"Harry, I understand that Dudley wasn't very, erm, nice. But I don't suggest calling people 'big, old, fat bullies'. And if you must, at least not to their faces." Shay looked mortified at this advice and Sirius and her brother roared with laughter, no longer trying to hide their amusement; they were now grasping at each other's shoulders to stay halfway upright. The other two kids laughed at the comment.

"Danilynn! I don't know how good of advice that is…" Shay said worriedly. Dany shrugged and answered,

"He's going to do it anyways, if either of his parents are any indication. He might as well not get his pounded in." Rae and Sirius continued to snicker at the entire situation.

"Well…he's your kid. Come on, you lot. Let's eat." Everyone scrambled around the circular kitchen table with Harry between his Godparents. Apparently as much as he liked his newfound relations, he was still wary. They all started eating and Dany looked like she was going to cry, this was the first meal she hadn't made in a very long time that wasn't Sirius' quasi-subsistence meals. As hard as he tried, he apparently missed some lessons on how to cook in a way that was more than for survival. Needless to say, the nights Dany cooked were highly anticipated by all parties involved.

"Shay, this is amazing. And the best part is I didn't make it." Dany joked. The other woman laughed,

"I know that feeling, sister. Rae tries, but he just doesn't know how to make food taste good. It's not his fault, really, I think he just…well it's not his strong point."

"Hey! It's not that bad!" Rhaegar exclaimed, rather indignantly.

"It's true, Daddy. Your cooking isn't very good." Lynn said smartly and Mason nodded in agreement,

"It's actually quite horrible, if we're being honest. Sorry, Dad." Dany, Harry, and Sirius all laughed but then Dany looked at Sirius wryly with a small smile,

"I don't know what you're laughing about Sirius Orion Black; your cooking is less than glorious."

"Well, I'm sorry I offered to help you." Dany grinned and said,

"That's a lot of talk from a man whose initials are in-fact, SOB." Shay and Rae laughed into their drinks and Dany laughed and clapped her hands together victoriously, "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for an opportunity to use that one. Too long, that's how long." The family spent the rest of the night laughing and joking, the kids giggling at jokes they didn't quite understand, and everyone thinking, "this is family".