A week had passed since Teddy's visit and the Weasleys' had been introduced to James and Lily during their weekly Sunday dinner at The Burrow that Harry and Ginny had taken them to.
It was an emotional night because during dinner Mrs. Weasley had slipped up and called George, 'Fred'. Of course after realizing her mistake she had broken down into tears and George excused him self from the table. He went up the stairs and into his and his twin's old room shakily. It was not an unusual occurrence, although it started happening less and less over the last two years.
Eventually he returned downstairs, his eyes puffy and swollen. He immediately said his goodbyes and apparated home.
Later that night after Ginny went to bed–she was always more tired than usual after nights like that– James asked Harry about what had happened as Lily and them sat on the sofa.
"Does that happen often?"
Harry nodded wearily, "unfortunately. George hasn't been the same since Fred died. It's like half of him is gone, which techically it is."
"That's awful," Lily shook her head sadly. "I can't even imagine going through it."
"I think it's different for him than it is for the rest of the Weasleys'. I mean yeah, they lost a son and a brother, but George lost his twin. The person who was always there. I just think that he never really thought about what would happen if Fred wasn't there because he always was." Harry explained the best he could.
Just as Lily opened her mouth to speak again, a Patronus in the form of a jackalope came into the sitting room through the fireplace.
Robard's voice filled the quiet house, "Potter, Get to the office. Now, Potter, no lazing about!"
"That's your boss?" James asked with a scoff. "Real friendly fellow, huh?"
"He's just tough on me because he knows I can do well," Harry explained feebly as he started toward his room to tell Ginny and change. "I've got to go, and I probably won't be back till late, so don't wait up."
In his bedroom Ginny was laying down, facing away from the door. "Gin?"
"Yeah?" She mumbled sleepily.
"I've gotten called into work, I have to go," Harry told her as he finished pulling on his work robes. He sat on the edge of the bed and stroked her hair lightly.
"D'you have to?"
"I do," Harry nodded apologetically. "I think it may be a Return."
Ginny shot up from her position quickly, almost hitting Harry in the process. "D-do you think it's Fred?"
"I don't know, Gin," Harry sighed and kissed his girlfriend's forehead. "I won't be back until late, so try to get some sleep."
"I miss him," Ginny said sadly as she laid back down.
"I know," Harry sighed and leaned down to plant one last kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Ginny."
"I love you too, Harry," Ginny gave him a weak smile.
Harry smiled back and slowly he picked himself back up off of the bed and apparated to his cubicle in the Auror Office.
"Potter!"
Harry looked up to see Robards standing by his closed office door. Quickly, he made his way to the man.
"Took you long enough," Robards mumbled. In a louder voice he said, "ain't it just your lucky month, Potter?"
"What do you mean, Sir?" Harry asked, perplexed.
"Just get in there and do the test," Robards said as he began to walk away. "You'll thank me later, and once again, do not squeal."
"Who is it this time?" Thought Harry anxiously as he slowly turned the door knob and pushed the door open.
The first thing he saw when he opened the door was a man with shoulder-length, black hair.
"Sirius?" Harry asked in shock as he stepped in the room fully and closed the door.
The man spun around. It was Sirius Black. "Harry?"
Harry wanted to immediately rush forward and embrace his godfather, but he knew he needed to follow protocol. "Yeah, w-we, uh need to test you with Veritaserum just to be sure, Mr. Black."
"Mr. Black?" Guffawed Sirius.
"Shut up," chuckled Harry as he grabbed the Veritaserum and handed it to Sirius. "Three drops will do."
Sirius nodded and put three drops into his tongue. He immediately went into a blank state. Harry took the potion from him and set it down.
"Name?" He asked.
"Sirius Orion Black."
"Date of birth?"
"November 3, 1959."
"Nicknames?"
"Padfoot and Snuffles."
"How did you escape Hogwarts before being kissed by the Dementors?"
"On a Hippogriff."
"What was the Hippogriff's name?"
"Buckbeak."
Harry let out a huge sigh of relief, "thank Merlin."
He quickly administered the antidote and when Sirius was himself again he asked, "did I pass? Am I me?"
"Yeah," Harry laughed as he threw his arms around his godfather. "Merlin Sirius, I missed you."
"Well, it seems like I saw you just yesterday," Sirius chucked as he hugged Harry, "but if I remembered the afterlife then I'm sure I would've missed you, too."
After a few minutes Harry pulled away, "do you know how long you've been gone?"
"Yeah, that guy only told me that I'd been dead for four years and now I'm back." Sirius replied. "And apparently my names been cleared. Real good that did after I died."
"Alright, well, why don't we go to my house and I'll answer your questions?" Harry suggested.
"Okay," Sirius nodded. "I'm assuming we're going to side along apparate?"
Harry nodded and grasped Sirius' shoulder.
"Don't splinch me," Sirius said as Harry got ready to apparate. He shook his head with a chuckle and apparated into the kitchen of his house.
"So this is home sweet home?" Asked Sirius.
"Yep," nodded Harry as he put up silencing charms. When Sirius gave him an odd look, he explained, "I don't want to wake Ginny up."
"Ginny Weasley?" Asked Sirius with a loud laugh. "You and Ginny?"
Harry nodded and Sirius continued to laugh, "finally!"
"Yeah whatever," Harry mumbled as he blushed a bit. He took a seat at the table and said, "have a seat."
Sirius sat down and said, "so I can ask anything I want?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded.
"Okay," Sirius thought for a second, "who else died after me?"
"Wow," Harry's eyes widened, "you really don't waste time, do you?"
"Go on, Harry," Sirius said, "get it over with. I can take it."
"Okay," Harry sighed. "Well, not long after you, Dumbledore died..."
After a moment of letting it sink in, Sirius asked incredulously, "Albus Dumbledore is... Dead?"
Harry nodded sadly and Sirius asked, "Who else?"
"Mad-Eye Moody and Snape also died."
Sirius was a bit shocked, but wasn't as upset with those revelations as he wasn't as close with the two.
"Sirius," Harry sighed sadly, "these last three aren't going to be as easy for me to say or for you to hear."
"Okay," Sirius nodded cautiously, "just get on with it."
"Fred Weasley," Sirius involuntarily gasped upon hearing the twin's name, "Tonks, and Remus died the night of the Final Battle."
"No," Sirius murmured. "It can't be. Moony, Tonks, and Fred can't be dead."
"Sirius, I'm so sorry." Harry said quietly, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.
"But they'll all come back, right?" Sirius asked hopefully. "Moony will come back? Right?"
"I really hope so, Sirius"
"A-am I the first to Return?" Questioned Sirius after a few minutes of heavy silence.
Harry shook his head, "quite a few people who died fighting for our side have Returned. Only a couple very close to us have come back so far."
"Who?" Asked Sirius halfheartedly.
"Well, let's just wait it out and see, shall we?" Asked Harry mischievously.
"Really?" Whined Sirius and Harry nodded. "Fine. Fill me in on how life's been."
Harry and Sirius talked until the wee hours of the morning. Harry lifted the charms around six-thirty when he knew that Ginny woke up and came to the kitchen for some tea.
Not long after Ginny walked into the room while stifling a yawn.
In her tired state, seeing Sirius didn't register as 'not normal' right away. "G'morning, Harry, Sirius."
She made her way to the tea kettle until halfway there, she stopped. She spun around on her heels with a gasp of, "Sirius?!"
"Hey Ginny!" Sirius smiled. Ginny immediately rushed over and embraced him.
"Sirius, it's great to see you!" Ginny smiled as she pulled back. She was happy to see Sirius, Harry could tell, although he could still see the little flash of disappointment in her eyes that it wasn't Fred.
The three talked for a while until Ginny had to leave for work.
Around 7:45 footsteps could be heard walking down the stairs.
"Really, Lils?" They heard a voice coming from outside the door. Sirius' gaze immediately snapped to Harry, who nodded. Sirius quickly stood and faced the door. "But I don't wanna go on a run, I wanna go back to sleep."
"Seriously, James you act like a child sometimes," Lily was shaking her head as she pushed open the kitchen door.
The couple's jaws dropped when they saw Sirius.
"Padfoot?"