Reflection

"Alright, I gave this thing a lot of thought and this is what I have thought of," James said.

James, Sirius and Remus were sitting in the kitchen to decide what Dumbledore had asked them to. Immediately after Dumbledore's departure, James had gone upstairs to think about it, clearly.

"We're listening," Remus said, for himself and Sirius.

"I'll adopt Hermione," James said. He didn't give anyone any chance to say anything as he added quickly, "You guys have a future. Plus, I brought Hermione in our lives." James' voice trailed off at the end, unsure of his friends' reactions.

James knew he wouldn't be able to marry again, while Remus and Sirius will do, even if they both kept denying it; different reasons, of course. A baby might lower their prospects. Plus, he didn't want them to burden them with a responsibility when he was the one to bring Hermione here. But, what if they didn't think of her as a responsibility and want to adopt her?

"We don't mind, James," Sirius said, making James breathe a sigh of relief. "But, let me warn you," Sirius threatened, "You might be her father legally, but we all are her fathers."

Remus nodded his approval. While James was brooding upstairs, Remus and Sirius had talked. They had decided that James deserved this – a bit of happiness after everything he has gone through. He deserved a family – an official one, at least.

What they had not expected were tears in James' eyes. He launched himself at his friends with loads of thank-you's.

"Don't be so thankful, James," Remus said, patting James on his back. "Someone will have to go to her school when we receive complaints on her behaviour."

"Yeah," Sirius added seriously, "Someone will have to give her sex-education as well."

James laughed with his friends as they rattled off their fingers the worst duties a father has to perform, according to them, at least.

"Don't forget, reprimanding her for causing mischief," Remus was saying.

James sighed happily. All was well as long as he had Sirius and Remus with him.


"We'll live together at Remus' place. Not only is that house cosy, but also in muggle neighbourhood."

Currently, James was seated across Dumbledore in his office, telling him about their decisions regarding Hermione.

"I'll adopt her, magically and in muggle world. Remus and Sirius will be her godfathers. She'll know both the worlds, we'll make sure of that. And," James hesitated, "We have decided to keep her name Granger; we don't want her to lose her identity."

Dumbledore beamed at his former student. "You have made a fine choice, Son. I am very proud of you."

James flushed and gave Dumbledore a bright grin.

"Since you have read all the papers and are ready for adoption," Dumbledore said, "We will meet tomorrow at Ministry at ten to initiate the adoption process."

James nodded as he took leave. Hermione will be his daughter tomorrow. He will once again have a family.


When James reached home, there was a cake lying on the table.

"What is this for?" James asked Sirius, who was playing with Hermione. James tried to think of any occasion, but couldn't come up with any answer.

"We're celebrating the decision to make Hermione ours," Sirius answered and Remus rolled his eyes.

"I tried to talk him out of it," Remus said, "But...," he trailed off with a shrug.

Smiling and shaking his head, James joined them at the table. Sirius had an annoying habit of celebrating anything and everything he deemed worth a celebration.

"Alright, Devil," Sirius said, placing Hermione on the table. James noticed she was wearing a black t-shirt and light blue jeans, Sirius' favourite attire. "You'll cut the cake."

Remus once again rolled his eyes and James frowned.

"She isn't going anywhere near a knife," James deadpanned.

"He had been practicing with Devil since the cake arrived," Remus informed him. "He has already finished five pastries."

Sirius grinned and handed Hermione a wand, which James noticed was his. But before he could object, Hermione had happily slashed the cake ... with his wand.

The result. Three faces splashed in cream. Remus had, intelligently, stayed a step behind.

Hermione and Sirius were laughing madly and Remus was shaking his head. Hermione then moved towards James and, still laughing, offered him his wand, fully coated with cream.

Smiling, James took it from her and somewhere a flash burst.

"Now that's what I call a perfect father-daughter moment," Sirius commented from behind the camera.

James grinned at the implication. He was Hermione's father. Well, would be by tomorrow.

He was still grinning when an hour later they had tired themselves from the photo session that had ensued; the cake being spent on make-up rather than eating, Remus being the major victim.


"Hey, Moony, what are you doing at this ungodly hour?" Padfoot mumbled sleepily. He had come downstairs to drink water, only to find Moony staring out of the window of the living room.

There was an album on the table and a photograph of Lily and Harry smiling at him.

"Thinking," Remus replied.

"At this hour?" Sirius asked shocked. Couldn't Moony find some better time to think instead of three in the morning?

"I had a dream about Harry," Remus said, still staring out of the window. "Are we doing an injustice to his memory by letting James adopt Hermione?"

The question was asked quietly and painfully. Sirius wondered how long Moony had been up.

Standing beside Remus, Sirius said in a soft voice. "Remember, I had almost similar thoughts when Prongs brought Hermione home?" Taking a deep breath, Sirius continued, "She hasn't taken Harry's place, but she has reduced the ache Harry caused."

"You have accepted his death." It was a statement.

Letting a tear drop, Sirius nodded, "I have. I still don't believe it, but..."

Remus turned to Sirius and gave him a hug.

"You know I was wondering ... what if Harry comes back ... and then, what will James do?" Remus asked, moments later. "Will he abandon Hermione? After few moments I realised the absurdity of it all. Harry is never coming back. It's only Hermione we have got."

"I'll not commit any mistake this time," Sirius said fiercely, "I will protect my family with my own life, if I have to."

"You never did, Padfoot," Remus said. He knew Sirius still blamed himself for Lily's death ... and Harry's.

"I have to get this out, Moony," Sirirus said, his face scrunched up in pain. "There was a time ... I had a doubt about you. I thought ... y-you were the ... traitor. I would feel guilty about it every time I thought about it, yet I couldn't think of anyone else. I-I never ... thought it would be ... Peter. H-he ... how could he?"

Remus was quiet. Sirius, however, continued.

"I would drink every time I would label you as a traitor. I couldn't even voice the thought to James ... it was so absurd. You would be gone for so many days ... no idea ... no hint. I-I thought ... I even followed you on some occasions." Tears were running down Sirius' face. "I would lose you ... always and even though I had never found anything suspicious, I couldn't shake the thought. I have lost the count I had hit the wall with my fist. Do you think you can forgive me, Moony?"

Sirius' eyes implored Remus' face for an emotion; there was none. This was worse than he had expected. He wanted Remus to shout, to curse him, to yell at him, not to close himself. Remus was this way before he became friends with James and Sirius. Did that mean...?

"I knew."

The words were spoken so softly, Sirius assumed he had imagined them.

"I knew it," Remus continued. "I noticed a difference in your behaviour. I could smell distrust from you. At first, I was confused as to what was causing it, who was causing it. But I guess, I always knew. I just didn't want to admit it. I once saw you following me ... that confirmed it."

Sirius turned away. Remus' voice was so flat and detached...

"It hurt me," Remus said, his voice cracking with emotion, "It hurt me lot. It seemed the monster finally caught up with me. I was a monster, so an obvious traitor."

Silence.

"I was absent for days because I was working as a spy on Dumbledore's orders among the werewolves. I didn't tell any of you because I knew you wouldn't let me do it. It seemed all so empty when I realised you think of me as a traitor. I further started avoiding you and Lily and James. I never got similar feelings from them, but ... I-I just couldn't feel like facing th--"

"I'm sorry, Moony," Sirius cut Remus in. It seemed so absurd, so foolish that he had ever doubted his best friend. "I'm so sorry. I don't even have words to apologise."

For the first time, Remus turned to look at his friend. "I forgave you long ago, Padfoot. Surprisingly, they were Severus' words that made me do it. I forgave you long ago."

"Severus?"

Remus chuckled. "Yes. I think he was the only one who realised something was amiss between us. One day he made a comment in passing. I didn't understand it at that time but on giving it a thought I realised he was right. If I remember correctly, he had said – it's easy and tempting to give in to misunderstandings. Rational thinking and communication, however tedious they may seem, always help."

"No way he said that!" Sirius asked astonished. "But it's right. I should have talked to you."

"So should have I," Remus said. "But I couldn't talk to you without giving away my situation and at that point it wasn't possible. So..."

"I am sorry, Moony."

"It's all over, Padfoot. Bury it in the past. We all make mistakes. Important thing is to learn from them, not to keep repenting on them."

In the comfortable silence that followed, Sirius vowed never to make a mistake again.


A/N: Do you all think you can forgive me for this delay? Please do. I will try my level best not to delay this much. Anyway, i didn't want this chapter to be so emotional or sad, but it took its own course and i couldn't help , let me know what you think of it.

Now, you guys don't know how happy you made with your reviews. I mean, 101 reviews? Great! There used to be a system earlier where it wasn't possible to repeat thank'you's to my reviewers, but its not now. That has created a problem to me in replying to you guys. So, here is a joint thank you. And be patient; all of your questions would be answered in due time.

Thanks to all of you. Few people deserve special thanks since they bothered to answer my questions and give me suggestions, but other reviewers deserve my grattitude equally well for taking out time to read and review. Njae, ShadX, Ria, brokenblackdevil, AnnaOtaku, Carlies, Moto Moon, Hannah, deadpeace68686, embirsiphonelilathia, Lucilia, excessivelyperky, sleepy kitty,Christlover4ever, sarah, Embir_lily, Waxx-Butterflies, dUlCe InVieRnO, emily02, harmonious, crazedchick, May Fleur, My-Edward-1992, Melora, ReadingWolf, Mwhahahaha 18, Time Rose, LizzyHogwarts, Readerforlife, Michelle Black a.k.a. Elle, literaryobsession, Avalonfreak, Darkness-Lightness, hellsmile89, LK-HoGwArTs-hEaDgIrL, jessisrose 85.

ShadX is my 100th reviewer. He he.

And thanks to those people as well who put my story on alert or me as a favourite author. You have no idea how humbled i feel. Thanks to those as well who didnt review, but your reading my story is also a motivation to go on.

Cheers to all of you. Bye bye till we meet again. Do read and review please.