In the two weeks that followed Ginny's birthday, the Death Eater attacks seemed to calm down or, at least, become less noticeable. Nevertheless, people –both Wizards and Muggles kept on disappearing and very few ended up being found, even though Kingsley had a third of the Auror Department assigned to the case. Though some of those people were bound to be on the run from the war as had happened last time around, the Order believed that number to be very small, compared to the full list of missing people.

Meanwhile, around a week before the new school year was to start, Dumbledore came to Grimmauld place and took Harry with him to help him with the mission of convincing some guy to come teach at Hogwarts, as he had requested. Hours later, when Harry came back home and mentioned to his godparents that the man in question was none other than Horace Slughorn, they were puzzled.

When told the same in the following day, Remus seemed to share the feeling. "Slughorn?" he asked Sirius.

"Yep," he confirmed as he sat on the chair in front of his old friends desk at the twins' shop. Given his dislike for clothes shopping, Sirius had been put in charge of taking care of Alex while Mia was getting new school robes for the kids with Molly Weasley and Hagrid, the latter serving as their guard.

"Are you sure?" the werewolf inquired.

"Yes, Moony," Sirius confirmed once more, giving a glance to Alex, who was sitting on the floor laughing as he waved around a talking Umbridge doll that one of the twins had handed to him downstairs. He decided the kid was doing a nice enough job distracting himself and turned his attention back to Remus. "Harry assured me the name of the teacher Dumbledore took him to meet was Slughorn and said he was a 'short, round bloke with an enormous moustache that sort of made him look like a walrus'. Oh, and he tended to gloat. Ring any bells?"

"That does sound like him," Remus mumbled, nodding in agreement as he scratched his chin. "But why would Dumbledore be hire a new Potions teacher? Unless… oh." He looked straight at Sirius. "You know what that probably means, right? Snape finally got what he wanted. He's the new…"

Sirius quickly held up a hand, interrupting him. "No, don't finish that sentence," he said. "I don't want to hear Snape and DADA with any sort of correlation. I'd rather hope that greasy git Snape finally decided he was done with Hogwarts and left, so Dumbledore had to hire Slughorn to replace him instead." He grinned at his own imagination. "Oh, yes, that would be just brilliant news."

"And unlikely as well," Remus said dryly. "Dumbledore trusts Snape, Padfoot. He's not about to give up a teacher he trusts on to welcome back one he likely hasn't heard of for years and likely someone else, seeing as in that in the 'hopeful' situation you mentioned there would be one more vacant position at Hogwarts."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Don't care. You always were too damn smart for your own good. Just let me live the dream, Moony," he said, leaning against the back of the chair and closing his eyes to imagine it better.

"You know, one would think you'd have grown out of wishing Snape all the horror in the world by the time you were married and with kids," Remus stated, shaking his head at Sirius's dreamy mood.

"Oh, but I'm not wishing him horror this time," he replied. "No, I'm wishing him the best… just as long as the best is far, far away from me, of course. I can just picture it: Snape went on vacation over the Summer Break, met a woman – a very blind or very tasteless woman – and decides to settle down in Russia… No, not Russia. It isn't far away enough. They'll relocate to the Australian desert, become hermits, have a whole litter of greasy haired little spawns and never again return to this little place called Britain. The End."

The werewolf sighed. "Yes, a tear-jerking story, Padfoot. Let me guess, you're the one who makes up the bedside stories for Alex."

Sirius glanced at his little son playing on the floor and grinned. "Mia does help from time to time. Just last night, we were telling him this tale about a perky, colourful princess called Dora who slayed dragons for a living and ended up falling for a knight known by the name of Sir Moony and who seriously needed to get his sense of humour back from wherever he'd left it."

"You've just made that up," Remus pointed out. "And my sense of humour is just where it belongs, thank you. Fact remains that, despite that very interesting story of yours, Sirius, odds are that Snape got the position of DADA teacher. Have you mentioned that to your kids already? Because, if I recall it well, he had a rather obvious dislike for both of them and DADA happens to be Harry's favourite subject."

Sirius stood up, sick of being sat down. "As a matter of fact, Moony, I did tell them and they're with me, obviously, crossing their fingers for Snape to have moved to the moon. At least Slughorn is a better potions master than that git." He reached down and picked up Alex, who'd already gotten to his feet and was protesting for his father's attention.

"And what does Mia think about him being back?"

His face fell a little. "She got really emotional. Not about him, of course. About Lily. She used to be his favourite, remember? Mia just burst into tears when Harry told us the things Slughorn had said about Lily – the usual stuff: great student, wonderful person… It probably has something to do with those mad pregnancy hormones too but, Merlin, she cried on my shoulder for like half an hour. I didn't even know what to tell her."

"Sometimes I forget we weren't the only ones who lost a best friend," Remus murmured.

"Lily was as much of a sister to Mia and to Elizabeth as James was a brother to us." A short period of silence followed his words. It was bittersweet thinking of them – what was and what could have been. They had to live with that.

A delighted squeal had them snapping out of it to see that Alex was holding the Umbridge doll by a leg, spinning it around. The doll kept on protesting, citing fake ministry decrees and threatening detentions in a squeaky voice that disappeared every few seconds, not to mention turning purple and red with rage, while the little boy waved it around, highly amused. At some point Alex launched it against the sofa and the miniature Umbridge ended up with its head stuck between the couch cushions. "Bad!"

Sirius snorted at that. "That's my boy. Such a great judge of character in such a young age."

"Rebelling early, I see," Remus observed, taking a moment to observe his godson's delight before going on with their conversation, taking a more good-natured tone this time. "You know, I'm confident Albus would be more than welcome to clarify your doubts over Snape's job situation, in case you asked him. That way, you might avoid unpleasant surprises."

"Not a chance, Moony. As long as I don't ask, I can hold on to the threads of my wonderful fantasy of a Snape-less Hogwarts," Sirius stated with a grin.

"Well, are you poetic today… not to mention procrastinating," Moony declared.

"Says the king of procrastinators, if that word even exists," Sirius countered, turning to his son. "Can you say how many months it took Uncle Moony to get his hands on Auntie Tonks, mate?"

The toddler gave him a confused look and just pointed at Remus, giggling. "Moooy!"

"That was not procrastinating, Padfoot. That was thinking things thoroughly. Regular people do it a lot."

"Call it what you want. Took you too damn long," Sirius said just as someone knocked on the door and Tonks poked her head in. "And speaking of the devil…"

"Wotcher, guys," the metamorphagus greeted them in a tone as colourful as her pink hair before she turned to Sirius. "Mia's downstairs looking for you."

"Mama?" little Alex asked as he heard his mother's name but couldn't see her anywhere. He looked at his father with an inquisitive look in his little face. "Whew Mama?"

"Downstairs, mate," Sirius told him with a chuckle. "Daddy will take you there."

"I thought you were on all-day service today," Remus pointed out to Tonks.

She nodded, stepping into the room. "I am. There was a change of plans and Kingsley assigned me to Diagon Alley. Dawlish is covering for me and it's time for lunch, so I thought I could come by."

"Ah, that's sweet," Sirius teased as he walked closer to the door, summoning the Umbridge doll back to Alex on his way there. "Well, the wife's looking for you, so Alex and I won't stand on the way of your booty call. Have fun kids!"

Remus's face paled immediately. "This is not a booty…" But before he could finish, Sirius was already out the door and had it closed behind him.

"Uncle Moony's getting frisky," Sirius told his son as he carried him down the stairs. "Or at least auntie Tonks is making him."

"Fikky?" the little boy asked, confused.

"Ah, nevermind. I've got to stop saying this kind of stuff around you or your mom will kill me." The sounds in shop were filled with laughter and, from time to time, surprised shouts, caused by some of the products. As he stepped in it from the stairs, it took him several scans around the room to spot his wife standing by a group of her Hogwarts students, who were greeting her, likely glad to have an actual human teacher instead of an undead one back in their classes. He grinned and pushed his way through the crowd in order to reach them. "Mrs. Black," he said as the students spread around the room.

Mia turned around, raising an eyebrow at the greeting. "Mr. Black," she replied in amusement before looking at her son and reaching to brush his dark hair away from his eyes. "And little Mr. Black."

"Up, Mama," the little boy giggled, reaching for her with his arms.

She smiled and picked her son up carefully, holding him on her hip. He stilled in her arms immediately, resting his head against her shoulder. Sometimes, it was like he knew he had to be careful around his mother and, especially, 'the baby in the bump', as Sirius usually referred it to Alex. Her smart little boy, Mia thought, kissing his brow. She looked up at Sirius. "Well, did you have fun while we were out shopping for school robes?"

"I can't complain," he said. "Did I miss anything out there?"

"Not really," she said with a bored shrug. But suddenly, it like something just came to her. "Actually… remember how you noticed Ollivander's was closed and had its windows covered with broadsheets?"

"Yeah. Kind of weird. I don't remember the bloke ever remodelling that place. It looks like it's been exactly the same for the past two or three centuries."

"Well, he isn't remodelling this time either," Mia informed him. "See, while the kids were trying on their school robes, Molly and I ended up talking along with Madam Malkin and when we brought up Ollivander's, she told us what happened. Apparently, just last night the shop was attacked and Mr. Ollivander just… vanished."

"Death Eaters? How come the Order wasn't called?"

"From what she said, nobody heard anything at all. They only found the store completely trashed around seven this morning – that's why it didn't show up in the paper or anything because they couldn't have had the time to write anything. Apparently, the aurors are still there."

"Hum, so that's probably why Tonks is around…" Sirius mumbled.

Mia nodded. "It doesn't seem a random attack at all, does it?"

"Whoever did it, was careful enough not to call attention and to cover after themselves." He shook his head, closing his hands in fists to relieve the stress. "Damn it, it's like people are vanishing every week! Is this ever going to end?" His voice raised in frustration when he said that last part.

She clutched her son closer and remained silent, waiting for Sirius to calm down again. She could tell when he needed a moment just to think – this was one of these times. At some point, when she saw he was doing better, one of her hands rubbed his forearm as the other held Alex and finally looked her in the eyes.

"Sorry about the explosion," he whispered.

"It's okay. You deal with my mood swings all too frequently, so I'd say we're even."

"Mom, Dad," they heard their daughter's voice coming from nearby. She appeared by their side less than a second later. "Fred and George asked if we wanted to stay here and help around after lunch. This place is too crowded even for them. Can we stay?"

"Oh, you and Ginny?" Mia asked.

"With Harry, Ron and Hermione if they want to," she said. "Can we? Please? We don't have anything else to do back home."

Mia looked at Sirius, who gave her a shrug and answered for both of them. "Sure, why not?"

"Just don't stay too late and have Remus take you and Harry home," Mia added.

"And speaking of him, where is he?" Sirius asked, suddenly curious.

"Around, probably," she said, not completely honestly. She wasn't sure where Harry was exactly but she knew what he'd been doing for the past ten minutes… which was following Malfoy around with Ron and Hermione after they'd spotted him acting funny. She and Ginny would be with him if it wasn't for the fact that they didn't fit under the invisibility cloak… "I should go. The twins are waiting for an answer," she excused herself.

Still, not even the quick exit had kept Sirius from guessing she was hiding something. And it was probably related to the fact that the shop's door opened minutes later and 'nobody' seemed to come in. He'd been under James's invisibility cloak too many times in his Hogwarts years to blame that on the wind. He made a point not to mention his suspicions to Mia, though, knowing she'd have fit over it and, after all, there was a solidarity code among followers of the art of sneaking out…

"Well, I guess I'll go get the kids so we can go get some lunch," he told Mia, using it as an excuse to go have a little word with Harry.

Mia, who'd been sharing some relaxed baby talk with her son, looked up at him and nodded. "Okay, I'll be waiting here," she agreed as she leaned closer to him and had him reaching down for a soft kiss on the lips.

"I'll try not to take long," he promised, walking his way to the corner, secluded from most people's views by the flight of steps covering it, from where he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione emerge, visible this time around. It was like as soon as his godson laid eyes on him, he knew Sirius was aware of his little trip. "Had a nice walk?"

Harry nodded back at the corner, knowing they probably shouldn't have that conversation in front of everyone. They all retreated to that space under the stairs, Sirius giving his godson an inquiring look. "Well?"

"We followed Malfoy," Harry confessed. "I know we shouldn't have but he was acting really odd. We needed to know…"

"I'm not here to scold you, kid, though there are better ways of handling that sort of thing. What did you guys find out?"

This time, Hermione was the one to talk. "Well… he went to Borgin and Burke's. It's this really sinister shop…"

"In Knockturn Alley," Sirius finished, turning to Harry. That part, as much as he tried, he couldn't be okay about. "You went into Knockturn Alley? Just the three of you? Are you mad? That's the most dangerous magical place you could possibly find in London!"

"We were under the Invisibility Cloak. Nobody saw us," he replied.

"Still, Harry! I'm fine with a little sneaking out, I really am. Merlin knows I did that myself a lot but you can't get yourself straight into places like Knockturn Alley," Sirius told him seriously. "If someone found you there…" He shook his head, trying not to think of what would happen. "I know I don't exactly have the best record on cautiousness but, for Merlin's sake, you can't risk your life like that. Any of you. If your godmother even imagined you went to that place…"

"Okay, okay," Harry agreed. He knew it took a lot to have Sirius show worry like that. "I won't go back there. I promise I won't."

"We promise," Hermione added, Ron nodding by her side.

Sirius let out a breath. "Well, fine… What did you find out, then?"

"He was talking to the clerk, Borgin, I think, about fixing something, something he couldn't take to the shop. I have no idea what it was," Harry told him. "And the he threatened the guy in case he told someone – he said he'd send in some bloke to handle things if he said something and when Borgin heard his name, he got really frightened." He turned to his friends. "What was he called? I can't remember it."

"Greyvle…" Ron said, not completely sure. "No, Greyback. I think it was Greyback."

Sirius froze immediately. The first time he'd heard that name, was when he was sixteen and James had managed to smuggle a couple of bottles of firewhiskey into the school during Easter break. That night, he and the guys had gotten really drunk in their dorm – drunk enough never to do something like that again, just to avoid a hangover like the one they'd had to deal with in the morning after. But that night was also the first time Remus had felt loose enough to tell them exactly how he'd been turned into a werewolf: how his father had unknowingly offended a werewolf called Fenrir Greyback, how the sick bastard had gotten himself close to him on purpose during full moon and how he'd turned him. Despite being completely smashed that night, none of the marauders – or, at least, neither he nor James – had ever forgotten that name or what he'd done to one of them. Hearing that name again, knowing he was tagging along with the Death Eaters, only made the whole thing more unsettling, more vicious.

"You know who he is," Harry said, identifying the recognition in his eyes.

"You don't want to cross paths with that guy," Sirius told them shortly – he'd leave it for Remus to tell them more if he wanted to. "I'll warn the Order, okay? I'll make sure they know what you saw. And if you see something odd like this again – I mean see, not go look for – tell me, okay?"

Harry nodded. "I will." He knew Sirius, of all people, would believe him.

"Do you think Malfoy may be up to something?" Hermione inquired.

"If he's anything like his parents, I wouldn't be surprised if he was, honestly," his godfather stated. "But then again, I may be wrong." He sighed. "Let's just get to Mia before she starts wondering what we're doing."

"You won't tell her, will you?" Harry asked, nervously. "About us going to Knockturn Alley. She'd have my hide. I'll be washing dishes for the rest of my life."

He looked as horrified by the thought of her reaction as Harry did. "And deal with the hormonal rampage when she found out that I didn't ground you for it? I'll try to leave that part out, don't worry. I'd rather keep my skin as well."

Several days after Sirius informed the Order of what Harry had witnessed, there was still no word on Greyback, which had Sirius both worried and relieved. Even if he'd like to know of his enemy's whereabouts, no news was better than any news…

In the first day of September, when Sirius and Mia arrived to Platform 9 ¾ fifteen minutes ahead of time and with no fuss whatsoever that morning, she couldn't help finding it amazingly odd.

The morning of the first of September was, ever since she'd first taken Harry to the Hogwarts Express five years before, marked in her calendar as the equivalent to a civil revolution: there was confusion, yelling, rush… though, luckily, there were no fatalities. Between misplaced wands and last minute packing, she usually ended that morning glad that the following one was yet a year away.

That time, by the instant she'd woken up – two hours after she'd planned, for her own panic – the kids, who she'd expected to be shouting on the hallway and asking where something or other was, were calmly having breakfast, their trunks unbelievably packed and resting by the fireplace and Alex was already dressed and fed, ready to be taken to Lulu for the day. Tough Sirius hadn't said a word or hinted it, Mia had a feeling he'd been the mind behind that 'bizarre' occurrence, likely with Kreacher's help.

The Weasleys arrived and joined them a few minutes later, surprisingly bringing the twins along with them to the station.

"We could never miss our first chance to see off our beloved younger siblings and friends while knowing we're not going anywhere, could we?" Fred stated after he and his twin were inquired by Izzy about they was doing there.

George nodded. "We brought white handkerchiefs to wave at you guys – they give a whole new dramatic degree to the situation."

"I bet you guys spent years waiting for this," Izzy said dryly.

"Of course we were. I mean, don't take this the wrong way – we loved Hogwarts and we had a blast there. Our future just wasn't compatible with full-time education," he explained.

"Not compatible…" Molly grumbled under her breath, having heard them. "Didn't even take your NEWTs! If that joke shop hadn't made it through, you'd be disgraced!"

As the discussion followed from there with Molly protesting some more and unsuccessfully begging her sons to just go take their exams, Mia stood a few feet away, observing the platform around her.

There were aurors everywhere, some indentified as such, others dressed to mingle with the crowd. Their presence only seemed to identify the feeling of uneasiness that hung over everyone's heads. Still, the same way she and Sirius struggled to keep things as normal as possible around their home and family, she could see other people fighting to keep normalcy too: by one of the train's entrance's, Neville's grandmother was fussing with the collar of his shirt, making him look incredibly embarrassed; nearby, Luna Lovegood stood kissing her father's cheek goodbye before boarding the train; finally, by another entrance, Seamus Finnigan was being hugged tightly by a short blonde woman that Mia assumed to be his mother, as his father stood grinning by their side, holding in his arms a little girl with dark blond hair who looked about the same age as Alex. They were all fighting back, or at least, not letting themselves be defeated by the fear around.

A pair of arms surrounded her waist suddenly, resting their hands on her belly. "Knut for your thoughts?" Sirius's voice filled her ears.

"Hum, they're not worth that much," she replied, smiling to herself as kissed her cheek from behind. "It's just sentimental rubbish. I could kiss you to make up for the lack of decent thought but I think that's worth a little more than a knut."

"Name a price, Madam. I'll see what I can arrange."

She turned around to face him and smiled as his arms still circled her. "You know what? I think you can get them for free this time. After all, you were so nice and took care of everything so the kids leaving wouldn't make a mess like it always does…"

"Anything to protect my beloved wife and my baby from a bomb of stress like that one," he replied. "I believe we were talking about payment…"

"I didn't say I'd do it now, did I?" she said. "It would just be shameful for two respected teachers like us to kiss in front of all these students. Spoil their innocent minds…"

"You're a cruel, cruel woman," he informed her dramatically.

"Yes, I'm a wicked witch," she confirmed with a smirked, pulling away as both Izzy and Harry approached to say their goodbyes.

The two of them stood with them, talking for a few minutes as they waited for Ginny to finish her farewells with her family so they could go find a compartment on the train together, while Ron and Hermione would be attending a prefect meeting.

"It's going to suck if Snape does turn out as the new DADA teacher," Harry told his godfather while Mia spoke with Izzy. "If I even had a chance to ever make an auror without potions, then I'll be doomed with DADA now…"

Sirius shook his head. "If you made it with Umbridge, you'll be fine with Snape. Better the devil you know, isn't it? Besides, I have a feeling you'll have something else to fill your defence needs…"

"Something else?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is that some sort of hint about Ginny?"

"Unless you're planning to duel with her instead of snogging, I don't think she would apply to satisfaction of defence needs. Look, I'm not even supposed to be telling you this but Dumbledore's planning to sort of turn the DA into a more… curricular subject."

His face lit up suddenly. "Really?"

"Really. It probably won't be the same as it was but I guess it will be more than nothing. Can't say more than that. Just, please, can you try to look surprise when he announces it during the fest?" Harry gave it a try and faked a surprised look. Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Hum, maybe you should keep training it on the train."

"Hey!"

"Don't worry, James was almost as bad as you. He couldn't keep a straight face while lying," he said with a snort before noticing on the clock that it was almost time to board the train. "Now, because I'm a really great godfather, I'll tell you that the guys at the train keep the key for the luggage compartment hidden in the lamp just by the passage to it. That happens to be a very useful place for certain activities such as snogging that pretty redhead that's coming in our direction." He patted Harry's shoulder before motioning to go join Mia again. "Use that knowledge well, kid."

The goodbyes that followed were quick, considering they'd be seeing each other again just that night, unlike the other parents, and the kids quickly hoped into the train, waving at them from the windows. Like promised, the twins soon stood by the train, waving white handkerchiefs and wiping fake tears as their mother scolded them for mocking the others.

As they watched the train leave, Mia's hand linked to her husband's. "Let's hope this is just another year."

Sirius knew the odds of that happening were minimal at that rate, yet, he didn't say that out loud. Maybe luck would be on their side that time around – he wouldn't want to jinx it. "Yeah, let's hope."

A/N: Hey, guys sorry for the delay but I had a busy day because, well, it's my birthday (I've just reached the wonderful twenties) and I had a birthday party to plan... I hope you liked the chapter. I basically deleted half of it the day before yesterday and wrote it all over again... Feedback is welcome, as always. Review!