Resolutions

By Neurotica

Twenty-Nine

"Ah, another beautiful Christmas Eve in the Least Noble and Ancient House of Black, Lupin, and Potter."

Remus shook his head, chuckling at his best friend as the two finished decorating the drawing room. "I think you can come up with a better name than that, Padfoot."

Sirius only shrugged as he continued with his own decorations. The kids were downstairs doing whatever it was they'd come up with to pass the time, while Molly, Naomi, and Mira were keeping Emmeline company. Sirius hoped to get Remus occupied long enough so he and Harry could sneak off and check on the Lupins' Christmas present.

It'd taken a lot of sneaking and preparing over the last few months—not to mention a good bit of gold—but Sirius' plan was coming along quite nicely. He'd always felt a little indebted to Remus for everything the werewolf had done for him—helping him get out of Azkaban, giving him a place to live for so long, and just for being there when Sirius needed him—and this was the perfect way to start repaying Remus back. Naomi and Harry had had a lot of creative input into the gift, and had even kept Sirius for going too far overboard. The only problem now was the lack of self-restraint on Sirius' part. He was bursting to tell Remus what he'd done; the look on his best friend's face would be priceless.

A pillow hit him in the side of the head and he turned to find a grinning Remus watching him. "And Emmeline says I zone out. You all right?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking... Listen, I've got something to take care of, I should be back in an hour or two... What?" he added at the odd look Remus was giving him.

"You do realize Molly's going to be cooking soon, don't you?"

"Food isn't the only thing on my mind, mate."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

Rolling his eyes, Sirius waved his wand in an arc, hanging the rest of the Christmas lights. "I do have other interests—my wife and daughter are very interesting, I'll have you know."

"That they are."

"So if you'll excuse me, I have to take care of... this thing," Sirius said rather lamely, trying to ignore the suspicious look on his best friend's face. He quickly made his way down the stairs, pretending he hadn't seen Fred and George huddled in a corner whispering, and located Harry in the kitchen with his friends. Hermione's face was completely hidden by a book—she'd obviously gotten used to blocking out Ron and Ginny's arguments about trivial things (this one seemed to be about Ron's habit of leaving toothpaste in the bathroom sink). Harry was leaning back in his chair looking amused.

Sirius cleared his throat, putting a temporary end to the youngest Weasleys' argument, and drawing the kids' attention. "Ready to go, Harry?"

"Ready to go where?" Harry asked obliviously. Sirius only had to raise one eyebrow before realization dawned on his godson's face. "Oh, right... the thing..." Sirius had to laugh at the resemblance in his and Harry's inability to make believable excuses—they were both normally so good at it. "See you lot later," Harry said, dropping a kiss on Ginny's head as he passed her. "My cloak's upstairs."

Sirius nodded and led the way back through the entrance hall—he continued to ignore the Weasley twins. "You remember where to go, right?" Harry gave him a look worthy of Remus, a how-stupid-can-you-be look. "Just making sure," the Auror said, putting his hands up defensively. "Not to mention you've never Apparated there before."

"I'll be fine, Sirius," Harry replied in exasperation. "I promise I won't get splinched."

"Please don't; I don't want to have to explain to Remus what we were doing you-know-where before we're ready to tell him. Not to mention the paperwork for the Ministry will cut into my eating Molly's food."

Harry appeared in a yard of snow and looked around, and his jaw dropped wide open. "Bloody hell," he breathed, starting wide-eyed at Remus and Emmeline's Christmas gift. "Sirius... it looks exactly like before..."

Sirius grinned. "That was the idea, kid," he said. "Great, isn't it?"

"Bloody brilliant more like. I thought it couldn't be rebuilt..."

"Not exactly the way Remus remembered it. His great-great-grandfather or something built it, so it was overdue for a change anyway. I think he was more concerned with the memories of the place rather than the actual foundation and all that."

Harry nodded. "You think he's going to like it?"

"He bloody well better. I spent months on the floor plans trying to make it perfect. You saw all that stuff I was working on."

"Yeah. Can I see the inside?" Harry didn't wait for a reply before he was making his way through the snow to the familiar front door. He'd known for months what Sirius was going to have done with the inside, but that didn't stop him from being shocked when he actually set eyes on the changes.

"Well?" Sirius said expectantly, looking around proudly. "How's it look?"

"Whoa..." Harry shook his head in amazement as he took in the inside. "I love magic..."

Sirius laughed. "I guess that means you approve, then." Harry nodded faintly, still staring around. "Come on, we need to get back before Moony gets more suspicious than he already is. Besides, dinner will be ready soon, and we both know what happens when Molly cooks—it all disappears..."

"That's because you always eat it all," Harry said vaguely. He suddenly jumped out of his shock, remembering what tonight was, other than just Christmas Eve. Tonight was the night he and Ginny had picked to finally announce their engagement. He glanced over at Sirius; luckily his godfather hadn't noticed the look of panic crossing his face. "Er, right," Harry said. "Dinner... I'll see you back at the house, then."

Before Sirius could even raise an eyebrow, Harry Apparated back to Grimmauld Place. He found Ginny in Emmeline's room with Naomi, Mira, Hermione, and Tonks, and cleared his throat nervously, drawing the attention of the witches. "Er, Ginny, could I talk to you for a minute?"

Looking both confused and amused, his fiancée nodded. "Sure," she said, handing Mira over to Tonks and standing from the edge of Emmeline's bed. "What's wrong?" she asked once she and Harry had entered his bedroom and closed the door for privacy.

Harry paced once up the room and back before answering. "Are you sure you want to tell everyone tonight?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You're the one who picked tonight, Harry. And yes, I am sure I want to do this tonight. It's not like we have a lot of chances, since we're at Hogwarts for most of the year. If we don't tell them soon, it's just going to be worse."

With his hands clasped behind his head, still pacing, Harry nodded. "I was just making sure you wanted to..."

Since his back was turned, he didn't see the look Ginny was giving him. "Why do I get the feeling this is about more than just telling our families we're engaged?"

Harry finally stopped his pacing, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked very quietly, not looking at Ginny. "I mean, I know what I want, but you've still got a year of Hogwarts left, and—"

"Okay, you can stop now," Ginny interrupted, sounding bored. "Have you always been this insecure or is this a recent development? I'm not going through this with you again, Harry. I love you very, very much, and I want to marry you. I don't care about how old we are or how much time I've got left at Hogwarts. We've already discussed all these details. Anything I've left out?"

Harry decided not to bring up the whole issue that he might not live to see their wedding day again. "No, that pretty well clears it up," he said, ruffling his hair a little with a shaking hand.

Ginny smiled and took a few steps closer to him. "Good." After a few minutes of blissful distraction, Harry wasn't certain why he'd doubted anything. "We should get downstairs before someone decides to come look for us."

Harry snorted as he pulled away from her. "Yeah, remember what happened last time someone walked in on us..."

The kitchen table in Number Twelve was full of both people and food, though the combined efforts of Ron and Sirius were quickly diminishing the food. So far, there'd only been a few mentions of Arthur, and each time, everybody stopped what they were doing to glance over at Molly for her reaction—she seemed to be taking it all in stride, going on with her meal and conversations, hardly pausing to covertly dab at her eyes with a napkin.

For the most part, all concentration was directed towards Bill and Fleur. The Frenchwoman, who'd returned from her home country that morning, was talking animatedly with whoever would listen about the wedding—where it would be held, who was going to be there, what food would be served, and what people would be wearing. The only other time Remus had experienced a meal with her had been at the Burrow, and she'd spent most of her time complaining about how heavy the food was. Molly had not been impressed.

There was only one person who didn't seem to be enjoying his meal fully tonight—Harry. The boy had hardly gotten through his first plateful, was fidgeting around in his chair, and Remus was sure he'd seen his boy wipe his sweaty brow more than once. Remus wondered if Harry was sick, but finally decided that he was nervous about something. But what Harry had to be nervous about, the werewolf had no idea. Harry had done a decent job of avoiding his guardians that evening—every time Remus or Sirius approached him about something, he'd duck away and join a conversation with one of his friends. Sirius thought Remus was just over-thinking as usual, and as dessert was served, Remus began to wonder if he hadn't been doing just that.

He looked around the table at his friends and family. Emmeline was chatting happily with Tonks. Mira was trying to squirm out of Naomi's arms and into Hermione's. The little girl was beginning to recognize her favorite people now; besides her parents, Mira preferred Harry, Remus, Emmeline, Molly, Ginny, and Hermione, in that order.

Remus glanced back at Harry and found something odd happening—Ginny had elbowed him and now seemed to be attempting to get him to do something. Harry kept shaking his head. Remus quickly looked away before the boy realized he'd been watching, and after a second, glanced back over. The young pair greatly resembled Lily and James a lot of the time, and right now was one of those times. Lily had always had a way of winning silent arguments with James, just like Ginny was doing now with Harry.

Harry sighed deeply, nodded, and glanced around the table, then stood up and cleared his throat. "Er, could I have everyone's attention?" Remus raised an eyebrow at the timid tone in the young wizard's voice. And it seemed Remus had been the only one who'd even heard Harry besides Ginny.

A few moments later, Ginny got impatient and stood up beside Harry. "Harry and I have an announcement," she said loudly enough for everybody to hear. They all looked up at the couple. Sirius glanced over at Remus, asking silently if he knew what was going on—Remus was relieved to know that Harry and Ginny having an announcement out of nowhere didn't bother only him. He shook his head and looked back at the couple.

"Er, right," Harry said now that he had everyone's attention. "Well, like Ginny said, we have a bit of an announcement..." He took Ginny's left hand and Remus only now noticed a ring there—had she had it on earlier? "Ginny and I are engaged."

The room went completely silent. Every jaw was dropped, and the kids were looking to the adults for their responses. Remus was thankful he hadn't been holding his goblet or he would have dropped it. This hadn't been what he'd expected at all. Granted, he didn't know what he'd been expecting, but this hadn't been it. Maybe Harry and Ginny were going to announce that they'd gotten season tickets to see the Chudley Cannons. It was farfetched, but would have been more expected than this...

"No."

Remus looked over at Sirius who'd just taken a bite of his pudding. To the werewolf's great surprise, his best friend looked very composed.

"What?" Harry asked, his brow furrowed.

"No," Sirius repeated calmly. "You're too young. You're not getting married."

"My parents weren't much older than me when they got married." Remus thought Harry could have come up with a better argument, but let it slide. He wanted to see how this played out with Sirius.

Sirius wasn't fazed. "That was different."

"How?"

"There was a war then."

"There's a war now!" Harry exclaimed, looking completely confused by his godfather's reaction.

Sirius ignored this. "You're too young. You're not ready to be married!"

"Oh, like you were? You've got to be the most emotionally imbalanced person I know, and yet you still got married, and you've got a daughter."

Remus turned his laugh quickly into a cough.

"Go to your room!" Sirius said loudly to his godson while the rest of the kitchen—save Molly—tried to cover their own laughs.

Harry rolled his eyes and fell back into his chair. Ginny sat down slowly next to him.

"Are you two done?" Remus asked quietly. Both Sirius and Harry nodded. "Thank you. Now, I don't think this is a discussion the entire house needs to be involved in, so anybody under the age of thirty-five who isn't named Harry or Ginny, please leave the kitchen for the time being. You can take your plates with you," he added as Ron eyed his dessert hungrily. Once only the young couple, Molly, Sirius, Remus, Naomi, and Emmeline remained, Remus glanced over at Molly—the Weasley matriarch was staring at her daughter in complete shock. "Okay, a ground rule before this conversation begins: we will discuss it like adults," he glared pointedly at Sirius, then Harry, "or it will not happen with either of you in the room. Is this clear?"

Though Remus was speaking mildly, Sirius knew better than to argue with him when his best friend was exercising his authority. He nodded, and a moment later, Harry did as well.

"Good. First, I need to ask both of you this, Harry and Ginny... Are you sure about this?"

"Hold on!" Sirius interrupted loudly. "I want to know something first." He looked at Harry. "Are you out of your bloody mind?"

Remus dropped his head to his hands. This would not be an easy conversation. "Did we forget the ground rule, Sirius?"

"It's a legitimate question, Remus," Sirius said. "He's seventeen, she's sixteen... He's supposed to be the savior of the wizarding world—"

"What, so that means I can't have my own life?" Harry argued. "Weren't you the one who always told me I needed to live my life and not let Voldemort run it?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I meant have fun, not run off and get married!"

"If I may say something, Sirius," Molly said, surprising Remus a little—he'd almost forgotten she was there.

"Yeah, sure, Molly," Sirius muttered—he'd obviously been just as surprised.

Molly turned to Harry and Ginny. "Arthur and I talked about who we wanted to see Ginny end up with; Harry, we agreed, was the perfect match for her. You have been a part of our family for years, Harry, and this will make it official. I thought I'd be more shocked when it happened, and though I'm not agreeing with the timing, I feel better about this than I did when Bill told me he was marrying Fleur."

Naomi cleared her throat. "Sirius, I'm aware you're a little upset about this—" Sirius snorted derisively. "—but Lily and James did get married under almost the same circumstances as Harry and Ginny are doing now. If you'll remember correctly, Remus and I wanted to get married before we got out of Hogwarts, but my parents talked us out of it—"

"And why was that, Naomi? Because you were too young," Sirius said.

"What about Julia?" Harry asked quietly. Sirius snapped his head over to his godson. "If you'd been with her longer, wouldn't you have wanted to marry her sooner?"

Remus had to fight not to let his jaw drop. It was never a good idea to bring Julia into a conversation when Sirius wasn't expecting it, and this was probably the worst time to bring her up. Sirius seemed to agree. His jaw was clenched and there was a vein in his neck that was popping out. "That's a little irrelevant, don't you think, Harry? Seeing as Julia died before I even got the chance?" he said harshly.

Remus hesitated. "He does have a point, though, Sirius," he said. Sirius looked at him with a mix of confusion and anger. "Harry and Ginny have known each other a long time. We all knew this was going to happen at some point—this is just sooner than we'd expected."

"Look," Harry said quietly. "I've thought all this through. I've thought about the fact that Ginny's still got a year at Hogwarts; I've thought about what I've got to do in terms of Voldemort... I've thought about it all.. Over and over again. And this is what I want—what we want," he corrected himself, taking Ginny's hand again. "We're not getting married until she finishes Hogwarts, but we wanted to do this now, just in case something happened to one of us. We're not asking for permission; we're just informing you."

Sirius sighed, shaking his head. "Just like your father," he murmured. "Well, at least you didn't make any flowers grow out of an examiner's head... Maybe you should do that to Snape... It'd be an improvement on his appearance," he said as an afterthought.

Harry grinned. "I was planning on doing it during graduation."

Sirius laughed. "Good boy..." He sighed again. "All right. Even though I still think you're far too young for all this, I'll support you just as I have with everything else."

Harry smiled. "Thank you."

"Just do us all a favor," Molly said, her stern tone returning. "No eloping."

Later in the evening, while most of the house was occupied, Sirius and Harry snuck up behind Remus and wrapped a blindfold around his eyes—Sirius performed a charm to make sure there was no way he would be able to see through it.

"Just stay quiet and no one gets hurt," Sirius whispered in his best friend's ear.

Harry looked at him oddly. "Overkill, don't you think?"

Sirius shrugged.

Remus sighed. "What are you two doing?" he asked as Harry and Sirius led him through the front hall.

"Giving you your Christmas present," Sirius said distractedly as he tried not to let Remus run into anything. "Harry, Naomi, and I have worked our arses off on this, and we're ready for you to see it."

Harry opened the door. "And unfortunately, we've got to leave the house for it. Oh, he'll need his cloak, Sirius. It's a bit chilly out."

"Right." Sirius grabbed Remus' cloak off the coat hanger next to the door and put it around the other wizard's shoulders. "Okay, Moony, we're going to Side-Along-Apparate you to the place."

"And where are we Apparating to?" Remus asked.

"That's for us to know and you to find out shortly," Harry said airily. "See you there, Sirius." Harry disappeared with a pop.

"Sirius," Remus said, grabbing on to the Auror's arm. "What have you two done? And will it result in my having to negotiate your and Harry's release from jail?"

Sirius chuckled. "Just calm down, Moony, you're going to love this." He concentrated hard on their destination and watched grimy Grimmauld Place disappear, and after a few seconds, the dark front yard of the cottage appeared. Harry was waiting, grinning, on the front steps. Sirius waved him over and turned Remus away from the cottage before taking off the blindfold—it was too dark to really make out where they were, but Sirius was sure his best friend would figure it out quickly, being the smart werewolf he was.

"Okay, Remus, as I said, we've been working on this for a few months. It's really a gift for you, Emmeline, and the twins, but since the twins won't be born for a few months and Emmeline is stuck in bed, you're the only one who gets to see it for now."

Remus squinted his eyes and looked around at the trees. Harry stood on one side of him, Sirius on the other, so he couldn't turn around and see the finished project just yet. "Are we... Why did you two bring me here? What could possibly be here for me to see except burnt wood covered in snow?"

"Oh, Remus," Harry said in mock-sorrow, shaking his head. "Ye of little faith..."

"No offense to either of you meant, but this is the last place I want to be," Remus said, sounding a tad angry. "Can we just go back to Number Twelve?"

Sirius looked at Harry with his brow furrowed, wondering why his best friend was being so objective to being there, other than the obvious misery just the thought of the cottage brought him. Harry shrugged. "Can we show you your Christmas present first?" Sirius asked.

Sighing, Remus nodded. "Yes, let's get it over with. But if you've just set up some sort of prank, I'm not talking to either of you for the next month."

"Like that's a punishment," Sirius muttered under his breath, earning a glare from Remus. "Right, turn around."

Unenthusiastically, and seemingly against his better judgment, Remus turned and stared. "What..." he breathed. "You rebuilt... How did you... When did you..."

Sirius and Harry grinned. "It's taken a lot of planning and sneaking and calling in favors. You don't want to know who I called in favors from," Sirius added hastily at Remus' raised eyebrow. "Looks great, doesn't it?"

"It's... perfect..." Remus murmured, walking towards the front door. "Why did you do this?"

The Auror shrugged. "You deserve it. For all the rubbish you've put up with between Harry and me... And Naomi wanted in; she said she felt partially responsible for what happened to the cottage in the first place, so she wanted to try and make it up to you."

"Wow…" Remus touched the front door as though he was testing to see if it was real. "Every detail down to the last peel of paint." He turned to Sirius and Harry. "Thank you," he said sincerely and almost tearfully.

"You're welcome," Harry said, coming to stand in front of Remus. "If you liked the outside, wait until you see the inside."

Sirius snorted. "Brace yourself, Moony, this isn't exactly your old cottage..."

"It's not?" Remus asked suspiciously. "What is it, then?"

"You'll see," Sirius said, opening the front door. "After you, Mister Moony..."

Remus entered and a light turned on automatically. Sirius stood behind him just to make sure that if he fell over in shock, he wouldn't fall flat on the ground. And there was plenty for him to fall over in shock about.

Instead of the slightly cramped one-floor plan of the old cottage, Sirius had the inside magically expanded to hold two floors. The first floor was mostly the same, but with not-so-subtle changes—the living room was much larger and had new furniture sitting on top of the beige carpets. The kitchen was completely redone, and instead of the bedrooms that were down the hall, there was a brand-new dining room. Pictures lined the walls in the hallway, and shining wooden floors led to the kitchen, sitting room, and basement. A wooden staircase led to the upstairs where bedrooms were setup for Remus and Emmeline, the twins, and two guest rooms. An office was across from the bathroom and held wall-to-wall bookshelves filled with brand-new books and a desk in the center. There was even a large playroom for the twins when they got old enough to understand the concept of toys.

By the end of the tour, Remus was breathless. "I can't believe you did this," he said in disbelief, sitting on the staircase. "It's incredible."

"Like Sirius said, you deserve it," Harry said, sitting beside his surrogate godfather. "Besides, do you really want to raise the twins at Number Twelve?"

"I think I'm offended," Sirius said, leaning against the wall next to his family. "The place is getting easier to live in, you've got to admit that..."

"Well, since you destroyed half the wall and took out your mother's portrait, it has," Remus said, grinning. "And I noticed there are a few extra bedrooms here..."

Sirius shrugged. "In case you have guests who drink so much they can't Floo home," he said dismissively.

Laughing, Remus nodded. "It wouldn't be the same if you, Harry, Naomi, and Mira weren't here with us. We obviously can't move in until the twins are born, but I would like for you to come live here again."

"We could," Sirius nodded, "but Naomi and I are planning to fix Number Twelve up some more—redecorate everything, take out the carpets and replace them, get new furniture, the whole nine. And Harry and I discussed months ago about giving him my old flat in London after he graduates—makes a little more sense now, since he'll be planning a family at some point," he added with only a slight grumble.

Remus' amusement faded just a little. "So I guess this means we're all splitting up..."

Sirius looked from Harry to Remus. "Yeah, I guess it does," he said sadly. "But it's not like we won't be seeing each other every day, and we're not even doing this until after the twins are born, right? And they'll need a few months before they can really be moved, won't they?"

"I suppose." Remus didn't seem too convinced, but Sirius decided not to think about that right now.

"Come on, boys, it's Christmas, there's no need to get depressed." He stuck out a hand to help Remus up. "Let's get back to the celebrations and have a few drinks. I know I could use one..."

Harry made his way to bed around midnight. He was still in a slight daze at how quickly his family had accepted the fact that he was engaged to Ginny. Sirius was even making jokes about Harry settling down before he had the chance to experience bachelor life. He'd said it would be an easier adjustment—James had no problem adapting to being married to Lily, so why should Harry. At least that was Sirius' take on it. As for why Sirius reacted the way he did when Harry and Ginny first made the announcement, well, Remus claimed Sirius was just in denial that Harry was growing up and didn't want to let it happen so easily.

Harry walked into his room and reached for the light switch—but the light didn't turn on. He glanced back in the hall, thinking of calling someone to help him, but the door slammed shut in his face and hands pulled him to the bed where he was forcefully sat down. He tried to go for his wand, but whoever was in the room with him had anticipated this move and summoned it. The thought to scream for help crossed his mind for a second until five beams of light appeared and he realized the Weasley boys had detained him. None of them, not even Ron, had a smile on their freckled faces.

Harry gulped. "Hey," he said lamely. "What's going on?"

Bill stepped forward. The ponytail and earring he wore made him more intimidating now. "It has come to our attention, Harry James Potter, that you wish to wed our baby sister, one Ginevra Molly Weasley. Is this correct?"

Meekly, Harry nodded.

Charlie stood next to his older brother, looking equally as sinister. "I'm sure you've noticed just how protective of Ginny we are. And as her older brothers, it is our duty to make certain the man she wishes to spend her life with is worthy."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "You've known me since I was six. Shouldn't you know by now whether I'm worthy or not?"

"It is not for you to question, young Harry," one of the twins said. Harry couldn't tell which it was right now.

The other twin nodded solemnly. "If we are to allow you to be with her, you will cooperate."

"And if you don't cooperate," Ron said, "Fred and George have a few surprises for you." The twins crossed their arms threateningly in unison.

Harry rolled his eyes and covered his laugh with a sigh. "No need for all that," he said. "I'll cooperate."

"Good decision," Bill said. "Now, while it is true that we have known you and your family for many years, and we know that you are decent people, Ginny is our number one concern."

"We want to be sure you will take care of her, no matter what," Charlie said. "Will you?"

"Of course," Harry said firmly. He tried to expand, but Ron cut him off.

"Will you be honest and faithful to her?"

"Always," Harry said. "Is this really necessary?"

The Weasley boys nodded. "You agreed to cooperate," one of the twins said.

"We highly suggest you do," the other concluded.

"Do you intend to give Ginny everything she deserves and more?" Bill asked. "And will you support her through everything she does?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, and yes," he said. "Look, I love Ginny. I know you guys know that. I will take care of her. I will make her as happy as she can be. You have my word on that."

The other five wizards stared ominously at Harry for a few moments before Bill motioned for them to follow him to a corner of the room. Harry tried to listen to their whispers, but found they'd muffled their conversation. He waited patiently, wondering if they would decide to initiate him into the family with some sort of jinx—that would be something the twins would do...

But after some long minutes, they returned and stood in a semicircle around Harry. Bill nodded, and Charlie waved his wand to turn the lights back on. Harry shielded his eyes from the sudden invasion of light. "Very well," the eldest Weasley boy said. "You have our approval."

"And we have your word that you won't hurt her," Charlie said.

"If you do hurt her," Fred said.

"You'll answer to us," George finished.

Ron smiled. "Congratulations, mate. Welcome to the family."