20 June 1997

Three days passed since the beginning of summer break and there was no prospect whatsoever of things getting even a bit close to normalcy in the house of Black that summer. Just normalcy – that wasn't asking for much, was it? Sirius wondered. Apparently it was, after Harry's game-changing declaration during the journey on the Hogwarts Express. That always seemed to be the huge elephant in the room these days…

It wasn't that the matter came up often – Harry not going back to Hogwarts in the following year – to shake things up. In fact, it was just the other way around: it hadn't been spoken of at all in the past three days. Or rather Mia didn't speak of it, so he and Harry didn't either.

It wasn't very much like himself to avoid speaking about something with Mia, Sirius admitted in his mind. But that was a delicate case. The way she'd broken down in the train when Harry had first told them had left him worried and, since she wasn't talking about it in the first place, letting the matter cool down in her head for a few days before bringing it up again had seemed like a good idea to Sirius at first.

Then, he'd gotten a glimpse of her expression when she thought no one was looking and changed his mind. He could practically see the gears moving inside her head as she tortured herself over and over, thinking of ways to make it all go away and to keep Harry at home, away from harm and with no resentment for them over keeping him there.

That wasn't good, not good at all. Mia dwelling uselessly and stressing herself, him and Harry just going along with it and… oh, Izzy remaining completely oblivious to all that since Harry still hadn't come around to tell her for some reason. All of it was a recipe for disaster and Sirius could just tell that if they didn't fix it soon, the whole mess would blow right up in their faces.

So, he began doing so, starting by his wife. After a quick trip to the fireplace in order to make a little floo call and put his plan into motion, he found Mia in Alex's room (who was out in a play date with young Darcy Finnigan in Wales that afternoon) seemingly folding a stack of clothes piled on her son's bed by hand, which had him raising an eyebrow – that task was not only usually done by means of magic but also belonged to Kreacher, who tended to be very territorial about his house-work. Apparently, Mia was giving the little bastard a run for his money… He swallowed back a chuckle and prepared to speak.

"This is not working," he stated, making her flinch in surprise before she turned to him.

"Merlin, Sirius, you startled me," she told him, breathless. "What's not working?"

He pointed between himself and her. "This. You avoiding talking about what the kid told us and me not pushing you to," he explained.

"I'm not… avoiding it," she said defensively, turning her attention back to the clothes-folding.

"Yes, you are, love," he told her, approaching the bed and sitting on it, observing her closely as she tried to look busy. "Usually you'd be all over this – the bother would be to get you to shut up!"

"Just because I'm not talking about it, doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it," she said without looking at him just before he pulled one of her hands into his, stopping her from what she was doing. She looked at him and sighed. "Sirius…"

"I know you're thinking of it – except you're not actually thinking, you're dwelling. And what have I said about dwelling? It's a waste of time, love, and doesn't lead you anywhere," he stated softly. "Look, you just have to talk about it with me at some point. It always gets better when we do. And this," he said, pointing between them again, meaning the way they were handling matters at the moment, "this sucks, Mia."

She sighed again and dropped the clothes this time, motioning to sit on the bed too, turning sideways to him. "I'm trying to think of a way to deal with this or, Merlin, to figure out a way to let Harry fight this war and stay safe at the same time. But I can't. I try to think of one thing and ten come and then those ten bring another ten each and then those ten each… well, you see where I'm getting."

He nodded. "You're stressed."

She sighed and nodded in return. "Yes. I suppose I am. I try to keep my mind put of it sometimes by not talking about it, being with the kids and…"

"… folding clothes," he finished for her with a chuckle. "How's that working for you?

Mia shook her head. "Not well. The thoughts keep coming and I just…" she sighed again and looked down. "I'm scared, Sirius."

He wrapped one arm around her, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder. "So am I," he confessed. "But I bet it will be easier if we're scared together, love. And in the meanwhile, you need to relax."

"I tried, Sirius. I…"

He cleared his throat, interrupting her. "I took the liberty of calling someone to help you with that."

She pulled away just enough for him to see her narrowed eyes. "What did you do?"

He smiled at her, then. "Well, as it happens, our dear friend Elizabeth got a big cash bonus from work and is looking forward to spend every sickle of it shopping – she'd like to enlist you to help her. That said, she'll come here to pick you up in…" he checked his watch "… five minutes. That should give you time to change into something more… out-y."

She looked at him, stunned. "Five min… wait, shopping? I'm not in a mood for shopping, Sirius."

"Not just shopping – you'll be hanging out with your best friend, love. I'm sure you'll find a way to entertain yourself with that. Then, you'll come home and we'll head to the Burrow 'cause, in case you've forgotten, Molly has invited us to dinner."

"But the kids…"

"The kids will be fine with me. Alex won't be back from his play date at least until six, Mary's napping at the moment, Izzy's in deep homework-mode – which, by the way, I find very disappointing in a child of mine – and Harry's doing Merlin-knows-what somewhere," Sirius told her. "And I am deeply offended if you think I can't handle a couple of teenagers and an infant on my own."

Mia sighed. "You're not really giving me a choice, are you?"

"It's for your own good," he told her seriously before checking his watch again. "Three minutes."

"You're actually relying on Elizabeth to be here on time?" she asked sceptically before getting up, getting a shrug in return. "I suppose I should go get ready, then." Mia motioned to make her way out but stopped midway to the door. "I guess I should thank you for this. Not the shopping part – I meant the…"

"… trying to get you to stop stressing?" he guessed, receiving a nod in return and approached her. "What else am I here for? I wouldn't say no to a little kiss, though."

Mia smiled softly and covered the rest of the distance that was between them in order to place her lips softly against his. He cradled her face a few moments later, deepening the kiss into something more intense as she parted her lips to him. It was heaven for these short moments.

They pulled away a few seconds later and Mia sighed. "I need to go get ready. Elizabeth is supposed to be here in a minute."

Sirius nodded and reached to place a kiss on her forehead before letting her go. "Go on," he urged her. She did leave for their room that time and was finished with the task of getting ready only a few minutes later.

As Mia had hinted earlier, Elizabeth arrived through the floo network fifteen minutes late with some excuse about not finding the shoes she'd wanted to wear.

"I have no idea where I put them. I can't have left them at Kingsley's flat, can I?" she mumbled, more to herself than to them as she stood in their kitchen. They didn't quite pay attention to her words as their attention was on her usually long blonde hair which barely reached her shoulders that day.

"You cut your hair," Mia observed, surprised.

"Oh," Elizabeth said, smiling as she touched it. "I felt it was time for a change. You know what they say: new fiancé, new hairstyle."

"Nobody says that," Sirius point out.

She glared at him for a second. "Shut up, Sirius. Kingsley loves it still."

He chuckled in return. "How's auror Shacklebolt doing these days, anyway?"

"Very, well, thank you," she said, her lips curling before she turned to Mia. "Ready to go and wipe away that long face?"

Mia sighed. "Do I have to?"

Sirius laughed and turned to Elizabeth. "Make sure she's home by six."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Blimey, Mr. Black, can't she get an extension to that curfew just today?" she asked, trying to mimic a teenager's tone.

"Nope." He reached for his wife and kissed her lips softly. "Have fun, love."

"We'll see about that," she mumbled under her breath before walking to the fireplace and grabbing a handful of floo powder. "Where to?" she asked Elizabeth.

"Diagon Alley, where else?" Elizabeth declared, amused at her friend's reluctance. "You go on first."

Mia did so and was gone from the room in a matter of seconds, leaving Sirius and Elizabeth alone.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about? Her being upset enough for you to call me?" the blonde inquired.

He shook his head. "That's up to her to decide. Just cheer her up, will you? And try not to do so by getting her drunk."

Elizabeth chuckled. "I'm a respectable healer – I don't get people drunk, Sirius Black. I simply drug them." And with that, she walked to the fireplace and flooed away too, leaving Sirius alone in the kitchen, chuckling.

He stayed there for a few more minutes, sitting down while fumbling with an old newspaper containing Dumbledore's eulogy by an old friend of his, Elphias Doge, and sneaking a few of Alex's cookies from the jar, since the boy was away at the moment. No doubt he's wrestle his father for them if he was around…

A crack-like sound echoed in the room suddenly and Sirius didn't even need to turn to the source of it to know it was Kreacher. The house-elf's deep, frog-like voice sounded a few seconds later.

"Young Miss Mary be awake, Master," he announced evenly. Kreacher was fond of the Black children, so he tended to always keep an eye on them to make sure they were alright either they were awake or asleep – him warning them when the baby woke up had sort of become a habit in the house.

Sirius nodded and closed the newspaper, putting it on the kitchen table in order to get up. "I'll go check on her, thanks."

He only realized he'd thanked the house-elf midway through the stairs that led up to the ground floor and that made him feel a bit… odd. He'd be damned – the little bastard had grown on him. When had that happened? He'd spent so long detesting him over his clear allegiance to his mother in his childhood… He supposed now Kreacher had evolved into a more bearable position in his mind through his fondness for Mia and the children, either he wanted it or not – he was trying to decide if that pleased him or freaked him out. At that rate they might end up as friends in two or three years' time, he thought with a shiver.

He decided not to think of it ahead of time and reached the third floor in a few minutes, immediately hearing his youngest daughter's whimpers of protest. Just a few seconds away from full-fledged wailing, he thought as he stepped into the nursery.

The little girl lay on her cot, flaying her limbs around in annoyance as if she was angry at every living soul in the world. His Mary was a social baby, he knew, thus waking up alone was something she didn't like one bit.

She calmed down a little just as she saw her father and lay there, tears just peaking out of her brown eyes, looking up at him with an expression that almost certainly meant 'Well, what are you waiting for? Get me out of here!'.

"You know, you're way too small to have that big of a temper, pretty," he pointed out.

Mary gave him a tiny inpatient frown in return and scrunched up her little face like she was threatening to become loud if he didn't do what she wanted soon.

"Alright, alright, no need for threats," Sirius shook his head and chuckled and reached into the cot, picking his little daughter up. Pleased, Mary gave him an appreciative coo and immediately reached for his face with a miniature hand just as he settled her against his side. "You know, I've got a feeling you're gonna be quite a handful in a few years with that temper of yours." He reached with his lips to the baby's cheek and kissed her there, making her giggle in return. She smelled like baby powder and soap. There was nothing like it.

He smiled at her, then, and marvelled just a little at how big his tiny little girl had gotten. Seemed like it was just the day before that Mia had told him about her, so freaked out he'd been about the injuries she'd suffered at the Department of Mysteries, and then there she was in his arms nearly six-months old. She was growing like a weed.

"So, little one," he told her as Mary tried to chew her entire fist at the same time, "this afternoon you're stuck with Daddy 'cause Mommy has gone out with Auntie Elizabeth. Or rather Daddy had her kidnap Mommy. In my defence, it's for her own good." Either she was paying attention to him or not, the baby girl showed him a drool-covered hand in response and, after a light chuckle, Sirius reached for a clean burping cloth hanging on one of the rocking chair's arms in order to clean it. He shoved it into his pocket afterwards, figuring it might be needed again later. "Wanna go see what Izzy and Harry are up to now?"

Sirius didn't wait for any sign of response and just walked out of the room with the baby on his arms.

He went down the stairs and quickly reached his eldest daughter's room. She was sitting at her desk, nibbling on the top of her quill in frustration as she apparently struggled with something written on likely one of the thickest books Sirius had ever seen.

He let out a breath before speaking. "I have never, ever been so disappointed at you in my life, Isabelle," he said in mock outrage, startling her.

She looked at him in confusion. "What did I do?"

"More likely what are you doing," he corrected. "Homework in the first week of Summer Break?" He looked at Mary and gave her a serious look. "Sacrilege! Homework is something you do in the Hogwarts Express when you're riding into the new school-year."

Izzy rolled her eyes in disbelief. "You scared me there for a moment – I thought you were referring to something serious."

"It is serious. Everything about me is serious. Pun intended, in case you're wondering," he stated, grinning as he stepped in and sat on his daughter's bed by the desk, placing little Mary on his lap on a sideways sitting position.

"Lame joke, Daddy. That's just too easy – I thought you were better than that," Izzy told him. "And for your information, I'm doing homework right now because I don't want to have to worry about it for the rest of the summer."

He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "I don't know what we've done wrong with her," he told his baby daughter, shaking his head. "Coming out so… responsible." He shivered visibly and made an effort to make the last word sound like some sort of disease.

"Don't start corrupting her already, Daddy, she's far too young for that," Izzy stated, reaching for her sister in order to give a little caress to the soft brown fuzz on her head, which had the baby laughing.

"I resent that you call this 'corruption'," Sirius informed her. "Anyway, what were you chewing your quill about? You sounded a bit annoyed there."

Izzy groaned and turned back to her book. "It's Ancient Runes. There's this word here I can't translate… what the hell does 'alethes' mean?"

Sirius shrugged cluelessly. "My guess would be some sort of curse word."

She rolled her eyes. "Professor Babbling wouldn't give us a curse-word to translate, Daddy."

"Point made," he admitted, turning to Mary, who was busy trying to reach for her foot with her hand. "Any ideas from you, little one?" She simply looked at him, confused. "Yeah, me either," he responded like she'd just spoken to him.

"I can't find it anywhere in this dictionary!" Izzy said, closing the comically large book in front of her, at least four inches thick.

"Maybe you're looking on the wrong place, Izzybel," he pointed out.

"I've looked at every word starting with an A in the translation to the Latin alphabet!" she said in frustration.

"Well, maybe it doesn't start with an A. What if it has a silent H or something?" he offered.

Izzy paused and just looked at him for a few seconds. "Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Genes can only do so much passing down intelligence, love," Sirius mockingly said.

"Yeah, I guess Mom didn't pass me down everything there was to pass after all," she pointed out.

Sirius gave her an appalled look and stood up, taking the baby with him. "You know, just for that, Mary here was just bumped up to the condition of 'favourite daughter' and you down to 'problem child'. At least she doesn't talk back to her beloved father."

Izzy grinned at him in amusement. "That would be because she's yet to say her first word, Daddy."

He narrowed his eyes further. "Problem child. I think I'm leaving to somewhere where I'm more appreciated."

She waved him away, chuckling as he walked out, and opened her dictionary again to search for the word.

Sirius had to bite his lower lip to keep himself from smiling at his eldest daughter's nerve. Not that she was there to see it or anything – it was a matter of principle not to give her that satisfaction, even if unknowingly, after all… "Well, since our presence if not welcome by your sister, let's head to somewhere where we are," he told little Mary, who gave him a radiant toothless smile.

Because there was no sign of Harry in his room or the living room, Sirius decided to give the library a try. With the plans ahead of him, it was only natural the kid would try to do some research or something.

We was pleased to see he was right about his godson's whereabouts when he spotted him at the wooden reading table in the centre of the room, meddling with a book as he wrote down a bunch of stuff.

"Researching, hum?" he asked casually, making his way to the table and sitting down with Mary on his lap again, surrounding her with one arm to make sure she wouldn't slip away. She unsuccessfully tried to reach a piece of parchment on the table, likely to eat it– she just seemed like she would chew and grab anything these days… must be the approaching teething.

Harry looked up and shrugged. "Something like that," he said noncommittally.

Sirius raised his eyebrows curiously and snatched Harry's parchment without a warning.

"Hey, I was writing there!" he protested.

"Yeah, yeah," his godfather mumbled as he brought the piece of parchment closer. Little Mary tried to grab a handful of it from him and whimpered in protest when Sirius held it just out of her reach. He absently moved his leg to rock her a little in a soothing fashion and started to read. Almost immediately, he put the parchment back on the table and stared at Harry. "You've got to be kidding me. Homework? You are doing homework?"

Harry looked embarrassed since he knew that was the most useless thing he could possibly be doing at the moment, considering he wasn't coming back to Hogwarts. "Er… yeah."

"Is there something in this house's water that's affecting both you and Izzy? Or have you two been possessed by Hermione? Maybe even Moony. Last I checked they were both alive," he said before sighing. "No, but really, you do realize there's absolutely no sense for you to waste time with homework, right? Not when you're…" He gestured with his hand but didn't finish the sentence. Honestly, that was still a bit too fresh.

"… not going back to school?" Harry finished for him, receiving a nod in return. "I know it's stupid and waste of time but…" He paused.

"Yes?" Sirius asked.

Harry asked. "I was researching and researching and getting nowhere. It was driving me nuts, so I stopped for a while and just needed to do something… normal. Homework's normal."

Well, that did make sense. "I suppose that serves as a good enough excuse," Sirius admitted. "But isn't Ginny usually the one in charge of, you know…" His throat felt a bit ticklish for some reason and he coughed before continuing, "…giving you normal?"

Harry stared at him for a moment, a bit horrified. That little cough before Sirius had finished the sentence… by normal he surely didn't mean…

His expression must have mirrored exactly what he was thinking, since his godfather was quick to answer his thoughts. "Not that sort of normal!" Sirius called quickly. "I mean normal as in normal. Dictionary normal. Not that. If your normal involves that normal, well, that's your business – awkward enough last time we talked about… normal in your fourth year. Though I supposed if you really, really needed to talk about it…"

"I think I lost you by the fourth time you said 'normal'," Harry pointed out, embarrassed enough by the less current meaning Sirius had given to the word 'normal'. Merlin, he just had too much of a mess in his life to even worry about it… The closest he and Ginny had gotten there was maybe a little feeling up after a particularly hassling Quidditch game – honestly, it seemed right to save that for when things were more certain. For when he wouldn't have to worry if he's make it through the year…

"Good – let's just forget about my mad ramblings, shall we?" Sirius suggested. "I meant that I thought Ginny was in charge of keeping things… as ordinary as possible for you. You know, as well as being a girlfriend, helping with research, yada, yada."

"Oh, right, that," Harry said. "Sure, yeah."

"Then why are you here doing literally useless homework to fill your ordinary-need when you could just be with her doing the same. No offense to…" he paused in order to see what subject Harry was covering in what seemed to be an essay, once again keeping the piece of parchment out of Mary's reach "…transfiguration or anything but Ginny sure is more pleasant to spend time with than homework."

"Well, yeah. Usually," Harry agreed. "But she… hum… Mrs. Weasley's making her help with the details for Bill and Fleur's wedding. Don't get me wrong, I love her. I'd jump in front of a curse aimed for her without a second thought but…"

"… the wedding planning is too much for you to handle," Sirius guessed easily.

Harry swallowed hard and nodded. "It's not like it's gonna kill her or anything… Plus, it's a girl thing, I guess."

Sirius chuckled. "You keep thinking that, kid. It's gonna come back to bite you in the arse at some point."

Harry looked at him in confusion but didn't press the matter any further. He actually had something else in a much more serious tone to ask his godfather. "I'll take your word for it. So, hum, there's something I need to… It has nothing to do with this: Ginny or… Well, I just needed to know: how's aunt Mia handling this whole… thing with me going away? She hasn't said a word about it since the train."

Sirius sighed, shifting Mary so she was resting against his chest, her little head resting against it as she sucked her thumb – hearing his heartbeat seemed to be enough to entertain her. "I know – I'm working on it, kid. Trust me. She's been a bit stressed because of it – we can't blame her, can we? It's a lot to take in for someone who raised you since you were very little. Part of her still sees you as her little boy."

Harry nodded silently. "I figured it would be the hardest on her… But I had to tell you two. I couldn't just… disappear one day."

"Of course not. No one's questioning that, kid," Sirius told him. "If you just vanished without a warning… well, you'd be grounded for the rest of your life just as soon as we laid our eyes on you again. Trust me, it wouldn't be pretty."

Harry had to chuckle. "I imagine it wouldn't."

"But, really listen, kid," Sirius told him. "Do you think you're really ready for this? To go out just with Ron and Hermione and hunt down Horcruxes?"

He sighed. "Honestly, not completely. But I don't think anyone would ever be able to say with full certainty that they're ready for something like this. Dumbledore trained me for it, though – that's something I doubt anybody else can say."

"And is it enough?" Sirius asked.

"It has to be," Harry told him.

His godfather sighed – he had a point in a way. Apart from Voldemort himself, Dumbledore must have been the one person on Earth who knew more than just bits and pieces about Horcruxes. The next question Sirius asked had actually been in his mind for a few days – he knew it was just too easy to actually work but he had to ask. "Any chance you can do it from home? Still live here and apparate around… You know what I mean."

There was a pause after the question. It lasted just a moment. "I thought of that. I did, for your sake. And I concluded something: maybe I might," Harry confessed. "Speaking in theory, I might. But when it comes to reality… tell me something: how would you feel if one day I got too caught up chasing a lead and didn't make it back home? Maybe even for days. What would aunt Mia do?"

"Freak out," Sirius replied immediately. What else? He knew he would freak out too.

Harry nodded. "Exactly. And I can't do that. I can't deal with that. I can't be half at home, half out there. I need to do this in my own pace and if I stay at home, I'll always feel like I owe it to you to show every day just to point out that I'm alive, which may very well not be possible. It would get in the way and it would be dangerous to you – if he finds out I'm hunting his horcruxes, he'll come after me with all he had and the first thing he'll is strike my base if I have one. I know the house is protected but how sure are you that he won't find a way around it? I can't do that to you or to myself."

Sirius sighed as he rubbed his baby's back. "You sure thought that through."

"I had a long time to think," Harry replied. "I figured you and Mia would think of that too. I can't stay but I can promise you, though, that I'll find a way to let you know sometimes that I'm fine. I owe that much to you."

Sirius nodded. "I suppose I can't really ask for more than that after you made that point. It did sound too easy if you just used home as a base… You're taking the two-way mirror with you, though – no discussion. And we'll have to work on a few handy spells, though. You never know what comes up."

"But the trace…"

His godfather shrugged. "Phew, with all the wards around this house, the guys at the ministry probably wouldn't be able to tell if half of it blew up, let alone that an underage wizard used magic. Did it loads of times when I was your age – how do you think I managed to run away from here?"

Strangelly, that made sense. "I'd never thought of that," Harry admitted.

"Yeah, well, I figured Mia wouldn't like to have you casting spells left and right here in the house," Sirius told him sheepishly. "Let's just keep quiet about it, okay? She'll have my hide if this becomes common knowledge. I'm sure little ears won't tell," he said, nodding at Mary, sitting her back on his lap again. "But, well, do we have an agreement? Let me make sure you know what you're doing before you go? If anything, for your godmother's peace of mind."

"I'm always open to learning new spells," Harry said easily. "Especially defence ones. You really don't have to ask twice."

Sirius offered him his hand to shake and Harry accepted it firmly. "It's a deal, then," his godfather declared.

"A deal."

Sirius cleared his threat. "Now that we have this out of the way and since we're already on this matter… I've been wondering… when are you planning to tell Izzy?"

He looked at Sirius in confusion. "Tell her about what?"

He gave his godson a strange look. "About those plans for next year. What else are we talking about? It's a bit awkward that she'd the only one here at home that doesn't know, isn't it?"

There as a slight pause in the conversation, during which only Mary cooed and flung one of her pudgy arms against the table.

"You are planning to tell her, right?" Sirius inquired uncertainly.

"I forgot," Harry mumbled in a low tone, half disbelieving.

"Hum?"

"I completely forgot to tell her," he said. "I was planning to do right after I told you. But then you two reacted so… complicatedly. I figured I could only handle an explanation a day and left it to the day before yesterday. But then…"

"… you forgot?" Sirius asked in disbelief. "You actually forgot? As in it passed your mind."

He nodded, feeling stupid. How was that even possible? He thought. All there had been in his mind for the past three days was the Horcrux Hunt, the preparations, research… And how many times had he run into his sister in that house? He only needed to sum two and two in order for the thought 'hey, maybe I should let her in into this little secret' to form in his head. But he hadn't. The whole 'I forgot' thing just sounded like a really bad excuse, honestly… And the worst part was that it wasn't one.

Sirius sighed. "Harry, you'd better get it done soon. If she finds out another way, she's gonna…"

"Who's gonna find out what another way?" they heard a familiar voice asking, which revealed itself to be Izzy's herself as they turned to face the door.

They just stared at her for a few seconds as Mary squirmed around in her father's lap. That was not happening. It was too much of a coincidence she had to walk in right then… But then again, many said there was no such thing as coincidences. If that some scheme plotted by some higher power playing them like chess pawns, neither Harry nor Sirius felt too happy with it.

"Izzybel," Sirius said, awkwardly. "Finished homework already?"

She nodded. "Just did."

"Hum," he mumbled. "So… er, did you end up finding out what that word meant? A… abe…"

"It was halethes. It did have ah H," Izzy provided, raising an eyebrow. "And I did – it meant 'truth'."

He stared some more. Truth. Come on! Sirius thought. That was a bloody long stretch of fate… He turned to Harry, who sat unmoving and silently praying she wouldn't take offence in his… forgetfulness.

"So, what were you talking about?" she insisted. "Or is it some big male secret you can't share with me? If that's the case, I'm taking Mary with me. If I can't hear it, neither can she."

"Er… actually, hum, it's none of that," Harry started nervously. "Have a seat, Izzy."

She looked at him suspiciously, knowing that sentence usually wasn't the start to anything good. "Who's dying?" she asked immediately as she approached the table and sat by her father's side, unceremoniously pulling her little sister from her father's lap into her own. Mary squealed happily and started fumbling with the tips of Izzy's long hair.

"What? No one's dying," Harry said immediately. "Hopefully, I mean."

Sirius frowned. "Don't even joke about it, kid," he warned his godson in an unlikely stern tone.

"Not joking," Harry replied.

Izzy cleared her throat. "Get to the point, please? Really to the point."

Harry nearly protested but stopped himself. She was right; he needed to get to the point. There was no use dancing around the matter – at least not with her. He'd known Izzy literally since the day she was born and he was pretty sure she didn't need to be eased into it. With a sigh, he spoke. Just rip it like a Muggle plaster. "I'm leaving this August. I'm going to hunt the Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione."

She didn't flinch or speak or react in any sort of way, she just looked while her baby sister played with her hands on her lap.

Sirius observed his daughter for a long moment before speaking, taken aback by his daughter's apparently apathetic reaction to Harry's bluntness. "Izzybel? Are you okay?" he inquired.

She ignored her father's question. "How long have you been planning this?" she asked in a serene tone like she wasn't surprised.

"A while. Ever since Dumbledore…" Harry didn't finish saying that, letting her fill the blank on her own.

"A few weeks, then," she summed up.

He nodded silently.

She nodded in return before speaking, her voice taking a heavier tone, then. "And Ron and Hermione know, obviously," she concluded. "Clearly Dad as well and probably Mom too. I won't even ask about Ginny. Maybe even a few of the Weasleys through Ron, too?"

"Er… yeah," he said. "Yeah, they all know. I mean, I'm not sure if Ron has mentioned it to his parents yet, but the rest… We're mostly trying to keep it in a trustful group. So, yeah, they know."

"They all do – isn't it great?" she asked in an all too cheery tone. Mary apparently didn't like it as she squirmed uncomfortably on her sister's lap.

Harry looked at her, now free of the nerves behind breaking the news. "Is there something you want to say, Izzy?"

"Me? Oh, nothing," she said, not bothering to sound truthful while she absently passed Mary back to her father's arms.

"Izzybel…" Sirius started as he cradled the baby.

"Nothing at all," Izzy continued.

"Doesn't sound like it," Harry informed her.

"Doesn't it? I have nothing to say just as I didn't when I figured you, Ron and Hermione had were plotting something for the past few days. And when I figured Ginny was in it too. Because I imagined it mustn't be that important or my brother wouldn't completely keep me out of it."

Harry sighed. "I didn't keep you out of it – I've just told you, Izzy!"

"Yeah, you've just told me!" she said back, this time shouting. "After you figured it all out, decided every bloody detail, date and time of when you're leaving. You're just informing me – might as well send me a memo and be done with it!"

Feeling one too many there, Sirius stood up – something told him that interfering in their squabble or whatever that tense exchange or words could be called would just make it worse for one or both sides and that was what he'd do if he just stayed there longer. He was sure that anything he might say would just fuel his daughter's rage further. And, honeatly, he didn't really want Mary to be right in the middle of the shouting. "You know what? I think Mary is not in a library mood, are you, princess?" he said, looking at the baby, who buried her little face on the crook of his neck, not pleased with the shouting. "You two vent what you have to vent but if you jump at each other's throats, you're grounded," he warned them without a hint of humour in his voice. "I'll be right outside."

Neither Harry nor Izzy seemed to react to what he said but he knew they'd heard him – with that, he walked out and stood right by the door, walking back and forth to soothe the annoyed baby. From inside the library, their voices came loud enough for him to hear without any magical-aid but not too much to upset Mary further.

"I just didn't tell you before because I didn't want you to have to keep it from your parents," Harry's voice came.

"Oh, come on! I'm a big girl – I can decide that on my own. Besides, if you asked me to keep a secret, even if that secret was that you'd robbed Gringotts or something, I would have kept it for you. I would have told you to tell them but I wouldn't have breathed a word if you didn't want me to! That's what friends do and just because I'm as good as your sister, it doesn't mean that I'm less of a friend – you used to know that!"

"I know that!"

"Oh, really? Then why am I always the last one to know?"

"To know what?"

"Everything that matters! Remember the prophecy? You found out with Mom and Dad, then you told Ginny, Ron, Hermione and finally, like days later, who? Me! The Horcruxes: Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Mom, Dad and who again? Me! And now, surprise, surprise, who's the last one to know of your plans to play hero yet another time? And who didn't take any part in helping you with them because of that? ME! I am always the last one to find out!"

"No, you're not. Most people don't even have any idea of any of that, Izzy," Harry tried to plead.

"Most people haven't been your friends since they were in diapers! Most people weren't your only friends for practically a decade!"

The case wasn't good for any, Sirius thought. Maybe Izzy was being overdramatic but she had a point – it had to sting, knowing she was the last one to know. Again and again. "This one's sticky, Mary," he mumbled to the little girl in his arms, who appeared to be getting sleepy.

"I don't do it on purpose!" Harry stated.

"No, but it sucks that you do it out of instinct, anyway," she replied. Sirius heard the sound of a chair dragging and then his daughter announced she was leaving. Harry didn't respond and she just started walking out.

Izzy came out the door, fast as a Muggle bullet, and darted towards the kitchen, barely even giving Sirius time to ask her anything. "Where are you going?" he shouted after her.

"To the Burrow," she yelled back without stopping.

He didn't bother going after her, knowing she'd already be gone by the time he reached the kitchen.

"Kreacher!" he called.

The elf materialized out of nowhere and stood opposite him evenly. "Yes, Master."

"Go after her. Make sure she got to the Burrow alright and then come back," he instructed the house-elf. If she wasn't going to stay around to cool down, Sirius needed to know that at least she'd gotten to her destination safely. He'd go check himself if he wasn't sure that interfering that soon after the fight wouldn't do any good.

Kreacher didn't protest at the least and gave him a ghost of an approving nod before disapparating with a 'pop'.

Sirius let out a breath just as soon as the elf left. That really was a sticky one. Turned out, he'd been right in the end – the whole situation had been a recipe for disaster and, as expected, it had blown right on their faces. Or rather Harry's mostly.

Mia would have known how to handle it better, he was sure. And it irked it beyond words. How was it possible that he could feel like such an enlightened father in some ways and such a clueless one in others?

Sirius sighed and looked at the baby again – she seemed to be snoozing on his arms, all pink-cheeked and cuddled against him. At least that one seemed to be happy enough, he thought. "Maybe Mommy was right to wonder if I could handle you and those two at the same time," he admitted in annoyance. "Bloody teenagers and their hormones. You're staying that size forever, you hear me?" He kissed the top of the sleeping baby's head as he cradled her closely. "Not an inch bigger, Mary."

A/N: After a week full of papers and chapter writing, I'm finally done with college for a couple of weeks (Thank god!). I thought it would never end. Anyway, things got a bit sticky between Harry and Izzy this time around - I was planning this for a while, thus the lack of Izzy for a while... You'll have the follow-up next chapter, don't worry. Feedback is welcome, as always - Review!