12 February 1997

Looking at Diagon Alley these days nearly made Sirius feel like he was watching a ghost town compared to what he remembered of its past, he observed as he exited the Quidditch-supplies shop. Along the length of the alley, which used to be so packed that one could barely walk without being bumped or stepped into, Sirius could hardly spot more than two or three dozen of – all hurrying – folks, at least three of which with an auror vibe all over them. That, the many walled up shops and the rather shady look all around simply gave him the chills… The whispers – more like screams now – of war really were all over.

He remembered that the first time he'd been to Diagon Alley, when he was six or seven years-old, he'd found it the most fascinating place he'd ever been to. All the people, the loud voices, the movement… it was nothing like the Grimmauld Place he'd grown up in. Sirius hadn't even cared that he was being carelessly dragged around by his nutcase of a mother, so fascinated the environment of that simple – lower, as Walburga Black liked to refer – magical London location. He remembered even better the first time he'd gone there without his parents, right in that summer after he'd ran away from home and moved in with the Potters. It had been like the place had become even more magical.

Now, ironically Grimmauld Place had become his home and Diagon Alley had become a ghost of what it had once been. How much life could change over the years… how much the world itself could change and yet remain the same.

"Are you planning to stand here on the street for the rest of the day or are you counting on going home anytime before sunset, Padfoot?"

Sirius didn't even need to turn to know that the owner of the voice behind him saying those words was Remus. "Just taking a moment to think, Moony," he mumbled as his old friend joined his side, finally turning to face him. The werewolf looked in a very good mood – the sort of good mood that Sirius could barely recall ever seeing in him. "Back from your lunch break? It's a bit late, don't you think? Past four in the afternoon. I'll be shocked if you tell me you're slacking on your job."

Remus rolled his eyes. "It's the opposite, actually. I got caught up with the work at the shop and ended up eating late – Valentine's day is coming up and everyone seems to think joke products are the perfect gifts, imagine that. Plenty of accounting to make, plenty of shelves to re-stock. And I'm getting the twins' lunch as well," he added, nodding at the large bag he was carrying. "They're even worse than I am. I swear if I didn't remind them of meal times or bring those to them, those two would forget to eat more times than not, so entranced they are with that shop and their experiments."

"Acting as their nanny as well as their shop-manager, aren't you, Moony?" Sirius joked.

"I'm starting to believe I am – I wonder how long they are going to leave with the amount of trouble they cause. This morning when I arrived, they were putting out a fire they'd caused when developing their 'indoors non-damaging fireworks'," Remus informed him dryly.

Sirius snorted. "Well, I see that's not going so well," he stated the obvious.

"Clearly," Remus repeated. "And what are you doing here on Diagon Alley, alone, right in the middle of the afternoon? Don't tell me you're hiding from Mia."

"Why would I want to hide from my beloved wife," he replied. "I've just left Hogwarts, actually, and came by to leave my broom here at Quality Quidditch Supplies for the guys to check. There was a game today – Slytherin-Hufflepuff with the little snakes catching the snitch ten minutes into the game, let me add – and the broom was a little twitchy while I was refereeing – some charm must be working wrong… or Snape has finally decided to off me by sabotaging with my broomstick. One can never know."

Remus let out a frustrated huff. "Sirius, we've talked about this…"

"Yeah, yeah, and Dumbledore says that crap with him helping Malfoy was a secret favour to him, that Snape was just trying to get information out of him and is on your side, that he is a bloody saint and should have a hospital named after him, blah, blah. I still think Snivellus is a shady, fake bastard and that one day we'll get a pretty bad surprise from his corner but that's just me, apparently… Anyway, I don't want him ruining my day, so we'd better change the subject."

Yes, that was probably for the best, Remus accepted. Insisting would only irritate him and an irritated Sirius was a reckless one. "How about we get to the shop and move this conversation altogether? It's freezing out here," he suggested

Sirius nodded. "Seems like a good idea", he agreed, following his friend to what seemed to be the most – if not the only – crowded shop in Diagon Alley. "How do you guys pull this off? Filling the store with people when the whole street is practically empty?"

"We've got a floo connection to one of the back rooms open to the public during working hours. People seem to be more comfortable with flooing directly into the shop," Remus explained as walked in the shop's direction. "Besides," he added when they reached it, "people need cheerful stuff. Outside of a joke shop, what else can they find that for sale?"

"Got a point there," Sirius admitted, stepping in and frowning at the thought that he'd have to dig his way through that forsaken mob crowding the inside or the shop. Thankfully, because he was already used to it, Remus led the way through the tight knit of people, leaving the bag containing Fred and George's lunches with the blonde girl at the counter, whose name Sirius just couldn't remember. Then, they made their way up the stairs behind the counter, which led up to the upper floor where they could find Remus's cramped office, as always with books and piles of parchment all over it.

"So, how's Mia? And the children?" Remus asked him, removing his cloak and placing it on the back of his chair before sitting down by the desk.

"They're good," Sirius said, taking a seat opposite him. Like a charm, the mention of his wife and kids put him in a high mood. "They're great, actually. Mia is her same old self – no hormonal explosions these days, thank Merlin –, Harry and Izzy are doing fine at school, Alex is running all over the place and Mary is as happy as a little baby can be."

"Keeping you and Mia awake, then?"

Sirius's grin flashed. "I forgot what a full night of sleep feels like. It's amazing. She smiled at me this morning – Mia said it was probably gas but I don't think so. She's turning six-weeks-today. Kids can smile from that age on. I read it somewhere."

"I'll take your word for it," Remus told him, rather amused. He'd never imagined back when he'd met Sirius Black in his first train ride to Hogwarts that that daring, slightly unhappy boy would grow up to become such a proud, happy dad. "Any incidents involving teaching Alex bad words lately?"

Sirius visibly gulped. "No, thank Merlin. Blimey, Mia threatened to put a censoring hex on me if Alex ever learned some sort of curse word from me again. You know what that thing does to you? It gives you a jolt every time you even think of something slightly inappropriate! I can't have that, Moony – this is me. I am always thinking of something inappropriate!"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Who told you a censoring hex worked like that?"

"Mia did," he said. "Why do you ask?" But before his friend could answer, Sirius realized the truth, immediately feeling awfully dumb. "Oh, she was lying wasn't she? She was just trying to scare me."

The werewolf nodded. "The censoring hex just silences any inappropriate word you say – there are no jolts involved, as far as I know."

He narrowed his eyes. "Damn, that was well-played. I should have known it was bogus – it sounded way too sadistic for Mia to consider."

"Rather impressive, actually," Remus stated, to his friend's annoyance. "Not everyone can fool a Marauder like that…"

"Oh, shut up," Sirius replied in a touchy tone. "Anyway," he said, emphasising the fact that he really wanted to change the subject, "I noticed you didn't drop by this weekend, which I found odd since Tonks always drags your sorry arse to Grimmauld Place every Sunday afternoon to spend time with your godkids…" The silly smile that covered Remus's face for a single moment had Sirius raising an eyebrow. Interesting, he thought. "I'll assume it wasn't because of some auror emergency for Tonks – a more horizontal emergency, maybe…"

"We just got busy," Remus said quickly, the smile inadvertently flashing again for another moment. "We'll drop by tomorrow or something, don't worry."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at him. "For Merlin's sake, Moony, tell me that stupid grin means you asked her to marry you already," he begged his friend who, to his disappointment, shook his head in a 'no'. Faced with the denial, Sirius gave him a frustrated look. "Are you kidding me? You've been carrying the bloody ring around for over two months! You know, I'm her cousin, mate. That gives me the right to hit you – and I mean hit you as in punch you and not hex you – if I think you're starting to lead her on!"

A moment of silence followed that threat, during which Sirius glared at his oldest friend, trying to observe his reaction. The fact that Remus didn't look even slightly afraid was nearly offensive – hadn't he looked scary enough? Sirius asked himself. Probably not. If anything, his friend looked… amused with his reaction.

Remus cleared his throat before speaking, hoping he'd be able to hold the laughter. "You know, punching me would probably hurt you more than it would hurt me – one of the very few perks of being a werewolf is the fact that I'm generally less hurt-able than most people."

Sirius shrugged. "Like I'd care – it would be worth proving the point. What the hell is wrong with you? Why won't you just ask her? I thought we'd already reached the conclusion that you're right for her."

"If you'd let me explain instead of throwing a fit, maybe you'd already know why by now," Remus replied.

"Fine, tell me then. I can't wait to hear it," Sirius told him, leaving back against the chair.

Lupin sighed before speaking. "I didn't ask Dora because… well, because she beat me to it," he finally said.

Sirius's first look was of disbelief towards his friend. Then, minutes later, the disbelief shifted into amused joy. "She asked you?"

"Last Friday afternoon. She knew about the ring," Remus explained. "She saw it weeks ago but decided to wait for me to ask without telling me she knew about it. Apparently, she got sick of waiting and just took matters into her own hands. It's safe to say it completely caught me by surprise."

Like a candle, Sirius's face lit up. "Go Tonks! I told you she was the perfect woman for you, didn't I? If you tell me you refused, Moony, you'll have to give me a few minutes to fetch Fred and George so they'll help me beat the crap out of you."

"I don't think you'll need to worry about that," his friend pointed out in a very low, slightly embarrassed tone.

Sirius shook his head, snorting. "Well, I'll be damned. You got engaged. Finally!"

"I did, yes… and that's not quite all of it…" Remus swallowed hard. "Remember the advice you gave me when I first told you about the ring?"

He shrugged. "Stop freaking out and ask her? Don't worry, mate, there's no shame in being the girl asking – it leads to the same end, doesn't it?"

"No, I'm not talking about that part. I mean what you said about afterwards, Padfoot. What I should do after the proposal…"

He scratched his chin, trying to recall it but there seemed to be a large blank spot named 'my best friend just got over the commitment issues and got engaged' over all his memories. "Sorry, mate, it's been a few months. I'm just can't rem…" But before he could finish his words, the memory came and he stared at Remus in disbelief. "You didn't."

"We did."

"You eloped?"

"We did," Remus repeated, not quite able to hide a nervous smile now.

"You got married?" Sirius asked again, disbelief still all over his voice as he slowly stood up. "As in… right exchanging, husband and wife married? Are you mocking me, Moony? April's fool day is more than a month away."

The werewolf shook his head. "I am not mocking you, Padfoot. I promise. It happened right after the proposal – it was sudden, yes, but felt right and we just… knew we had to do it then or else one of us – probably me – would over-think it and ruin everything. Still feels hard to believe to me too, actually. But it's true. I am… married."

Sirius had to laugh at that. "Well, congratulations, I guess. I'll confess I didn't think you had it in you to go ahead with it but, Merlin, it feels great to be wrong," he said, circling the desk to approach his friend, who stood up too for a quick 'manly hug'. "Honestly, mate, I'm thrilled about you guys. But you could have said something sooner, you know? It's been a few days."

"We were… occupied. You're actually one of the first to know. We're only telling Ted and Andromeda tonight after work. I hope they take it well…"

"Well, they'd better, since they eloped themselves," Sirius pointed out, making his way back to his seat and sighed. "Merlin, an engagement, a wedding… What's next? Tonks is nine-months pregnant and has been hiding it with her Metamorphagus powers?"

Remus visibly paled. "No! I don't think that's even possible."

"Just saying," he replied, lifting his hands up for a moment in defeat. "By the way, I'm still your Best Man. Count on a bachelor party when you least expect it – just because you're not a bachelor anymore, that doesn't count as an excuse. I'd take care of it tonight but I've already got plans for myself and Mia." That night, he thought happily, it was the end of those six miserable weeks of abstinence after a woman had a baby. And he just couldn't wait to get his hands on Mia… He cleared his throat, hoping to clear the now-so-appropriate thoughts that were fogging his mind too. "So, why are you here working and not still enjoying your honeymoon? That's just shameful."

"I haven't told Fred and George about the wedding yet. Besides, there's a lot of work to think of now: there's Valentine's Day and then the twins are thinking of opening a new branch of the shop at Hogsmeade… Dora is also buried in work at the ministry."

"Shameful," Sirius repeated. "Well, get your arse of that chair and follow me, at least," he instructed him, getting up.

"What for?"

"We, my friend, are going to the Three Broomsticks and we're grabbing a butterbeer. It's not every day my best friend, a marauder, announces he eloped – we've got to drink to it. Besides, I believe I still have a Best man toast to improvise."

"Where's Mia?" Sirius asked his mother-in-law when he arrived at home and saw her sitting in the living room on her own reading the Quibbler, Mia nowhere to be seen. "And Alex?" he added, noting his son was missing too.

"Gabe took Alex out for a walk and Mia went out," Lulu mumbled, not looking up from the magazine. "She and Elizabeth decided to have a girl's night out tonight and are probably arriving late. Gabe and I will stay over to help you with the kids."

Shocked, Sirius opened his mouth and closed it again seconds later. "But… she… tonight? She went out tonight? Tonight of all nights?"

Lulu calmly looked up. "Is there anything special about tonight?"

"We… well, yes! We're finally allowed to…" He stopped, recalling he was in fact talking to his wife's mother and that mentioning shagging Mia would probably be awkward. To him, at least, since Lulu hardly found anything remotely awkward. "We had plans," he said plainly.

"Did you even tell Mia about those… plans?" she asked

"I…" No, he hadn't. But, what the hell, it wasn't a hard one to figure out, was it? "It was implied."

"On what?" Lulu asked again, feigning innocence.

"On… nothing."

"You're not making any sense at all," Lulu pointed out.

He huffed. "Oh, fine. It's been six weeks since she had the baby. That's all I'm saying."

"Ah, so your plans were to shag my daughter, then," his mother-in-law stated casually. "About that… you should probably know that Elizabeth advised her during today's appointment to extend that abstinence period for a couple more weeks. Just to be safe. That's why Mia went out with her tonight – to… avoid temptation, so to speak."

Sirius's look was of horror. "No…"

"It's just two weeks. If you managed thirteen years without her, two weeks will be nothing," Lulu pointed out with a shrug.

"But… but I…"

"Oh, she did leave you a note, by the way," Lulu said, reaching for the left pocket of her jeans and handing a folded piece of parchment to him, which he accepted with a grunt. However, as soon as he started read the short note, there was relief.

"Waiting for you at our old flat…Bring a change of clothes and don't be late.

Love you,

Mia."

His glare was immediately directed at an amused Lulu as he looked down at her, shaking his head. "That was just cruel."

Lulu grinned in amusement. "What? Did I get the message wrong? Was it three weeks instead?"

Sirius kept on glaring. "No, I don't think you did get the wrong message. You're just a horrible, sadistic mother-in-law sometimes, you know? I wonder why I even like you at all."

"I'm very likeable – just ask Gabe. And you make it too easy for me by believing just anything."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do. Especially when you're thinking with your lower brain, which is most of the time."

"Oh, just shut up," he said irritably, especially recalling the fact that he'd been well fooled by his own wife with the whole censoring hex thing. "You know what? Stay here mocking yourself while I'm going upstairs to get my things for tonight and check on Mary." And, just as he said that, he gave Lulu another narrow-eyed look, which had her laughing, and walked out of the room.

I don't think with my… 'lower-brain' all that much, do I? Sirius wondered as he climbed up the stairs. He was just madly in love with his wife and couldn't get enough of her. He couldn't help it, honestly, not even when she'd so cruelly been fooling him for the past six weeks with thought of a fake hex.

Clearing his mind of those thought, he was quick enough grabbing a few of his clothes from his and Mia's room and shoving them into a bag, whose size he reduced so he could carry it in his pocket. Then, leaving the room, he stepped into the nursery and smiled when he saw his daughter awake in her bassinet.

She was punching and kicking her little arms and legs on the air and seemed to be in a verge of crying – clearly Mary wasn't too happy with being alone and awake, so throwing a temper seemed to be a fitting reaction. Hurrying, Sirius picked her up before she had a chance of starting a fit and the little girl seemed to be happy enough in her father's arms.

Sirius grinned down at her. "Hi there, baby," he greeted little Mary, who reached towards his face with her little arms and stared up with curious little eyes. "Had a good nap?" As expected, he didn't get any response from her as the baby just kept on looking up. "Not in a chatty mood, hum? Alright then. I suppose it's no use asking you for another smile, is it, little girl? Because we both know that was not gas. You're probably the nicest girl to Daddy in this house."

Uninterested, Mary yawned and closed her eyes as her little hands curled into fists and she apparently went down for another nap. Typical – she might be a delightfully good baby during the day but at night… at night the beast came out, so to speak.

He kissed the baby's brow again and placed her back in her cradle, exiting the room silently so he wouldn't wake her back up. When he reached the first floor again, he poked his head back into the living room in order to talk to Lulu.

"Hey, if you need something with the kids…"

His mother-in-law shot him a 'get lost' sort of look over the magazine she'd resumed ready. "I'm sure we'll be able to handle them just fine. And, for the record, if you and Mia go obsessive on me and start flooing every half hour to check on the kids, I'm turning off the connection. I swear I am."

"We're not that bad," he replied. "It's just… Mary's still very little."

Lulu raised an eyebrow at him. "Did I not raise your wife, Sirius? Mary will be fine, I'll floo if, Merlin forbid, something bad happens. Now, I was under the impression you were more than eager to get your hands on Mia so," she waved her hand towards the door, "shoo."

He rolled his eyes but didn't bother insisting on the matter – if there was someone he knew he could trust his newborn baby with for a night, it was Lulu, no matter how much she could annoy him from time to time.

On his way down, Sirius was glad to run into Alex and Gabe, who were just arriving from their walk, which gave him a chance to have slightly senseless chat with his son and kiss him goodnight before he left. Also, he was relieved that, unlike Lulu, Gabe didn't make a point of letting him know he was aware of what was happening between him and Mia that night. The 'don't ask, don't tell' strategy worked well enough between them.

At the kitchen, he reached for the pot of floo powder resting over the fireplace mantel, grabbing a handful of it, which he used to materialize himself into the fireplace of his and Mia's old flat. The living room was the first thing he saw, noting the already set, candle-lit table before his wife made her way opposite him, coming from the kitchen. She was wearing a simple knee-length black dress which looked just right on her.

"Hi," Mia greeted, approaching him lazily.

"Hey," he replied as he cupped her face with his hands and brought his head down so their lips could meet in a long, sweet, greeting kiss. "This was a nice surprise."

"Well, I figured doing this at home with a baby waking us every three hours wouldn't be such a good idea," she explained, her hand reaching for his before they laced their fingers together. "Lulu said she didn't mind babysitting for a night. Besides, you're always the romantic one, so I decided this time would be on me to plan us a date."

He pressed a soft kiss on her lips again. "I think it's a wonderful idea. I take it this means Elizabeth actually gave you a clean health bill."

Mia nodded. "Of course. Why wouldn't she?"

"Well, you should probably ask your mother about that. Let's just say the initial information she gave me about tonight involved you going out with Elizabeth because we weren't allowed to shag for another two weeks," he said.

She gave him a sympathetic look, caressing his face softly in a supportive fashion. "Was that thought scary?"

"Terrifying. I'm afraid you'll have to… wear me out tonight so I can get a decent night of nightmare-free sleep," he told her in his best mock-serious tone. "I'm traumatized."

She kissed his cheek before they walked towards the sofa. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you later."

"You'd better," he said, pulling her onto his lap before she had the chance to sit down by his side, her legs stretching along the sofa. "So… I've got news."

"Good news?"

"Good and bad," he said. "I'll start with the bad – so… today I came across a certain piece of information concerning censoring charms and, guess what I found out, Mrs. Black? They don't involve any painful jolts whenever a person thinks of something 'inappropriate' like you told me they did. What do you have to say in your defence?"

She crossed her arms against her chest. "You inadvertently taught my son a handful of curse-words – that entitles me to make up anything I want to enhance the effect of any threat concerning that fact. Besides, it worked. You've been too scared to even think of uttering a curse around Mary, who's still very far away from speaking, much less Alex."

He glared. "Now I see how you take after Lulu," Sirius pointed out. "You can be just as bad as she is when you want to."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Quit being so dramatic – Lu's not even bad. Now get on with it and tell me about the good news if you're done with the 'bad' ones."

"Oh, the good ones. They're nothing, really," he said, casually. "Moony, you know, that old pal of mine who has tons issues about being a werewolf and who's been dating this really nice Metamorphagus?"

"Doesn't ring a bell," Mia joked.

"Well, then you probably don't care that much that he and the aforementioned really nice Metamorphagus eloped in the Ministry of Magic last Friday," Sirius said like it wasn't a big deal.

Mia's face shifted to disbelief immediately and she stood up. "You're kidding me."

"I said something along those lines too," Sirius pointed out. "But you'd better believe it. Our friend, Remus John Lupin got married. To Tonks. She was the one who proposed and everything. I swear it's true."

"I… wow," she said as she allowed Sirius to pull her back down onto his lap. "I don't know what to say. That's wonderful." She paused. "Should we go there now and congratulate them in person?"

Sirius shook his head. "You can do that tomorrow – they're coming by Grimmauld Place. Right now they're probably at Andromeda's breaking the news to her and Ted. Just leave them be for now."

"It's just… Merlin, I'm so happy for them," Mia said with an enormous smile.

"You're not the only one. Moony got the girl in the end. Or the girl got him, in this case," Sirius pointed out, brushing his hand along her leg. "Makes me think back to when I got the girl. Seems like such a long time ago."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Which time? When we first got together or when we got married?"

"Both times. Did I ever mention that giving us a try as something more than friends was the best decision I've ever made in my life?" he said, giving her lips a peck.

"Can't remember. But it'd the same with me," she replied, pulling his back by the collar of his shirt and deepening the kiss they'd shared before, sinking into it, even.

He felt like a teenage boy as he pulled his legs onto the sofa and felt Mia's body pressing over his while their lips moved together and their hands roamed everywhere, soon entering a full blown snog like those they had when they were young students at Hogwarts. Of course, their technique had improved in the meanwhile as had their knowledge of each other's bodies. They knew what to do, where to touch and when to do so. It was one of those good old snogs multiplied by a dozen in terms of enjoyment.

"Do you think dinner can wait?" he breathed against her lips at some point as they broke apart for a moment or two.

"Kreacher sent Cottage Pie – we can always heat it back later…" she told him in a breathy voice. "Take me to the bedroom. Now."

She didn't need to say that twice as he immediately lifted her body, picking her up with his arms, and hurried when carrying her to their small old bedroom, crossing every obstacle – from doorways to furniture – with determination. When he reached it, he saw the only light in the room was coming from the dozens of candles that had been spread all over it, causing a dim, yellowish and romantic environment. She'd put quite a work on it…

"Perfect," he whispered as he motioned towards the bed, placing her down on top of the dark red duvet.

"Kiss me," she demanded as soon as he let go of her. "I missed this. Come down here and make love to me, Sirius."

He grinned down at her, both warmly and playfully. His hand reached for her face, caressing her cheek with an incredible softness. "I promise, love, there's nothing else I'd rather do right now." And so he did.

A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter :D It was honestly the best part of my week, between exams and presentations - tomorrow it's french, which I'm not so great at, so wish me luck. Feedback is welcome. Review!