All my friends are getting married, mortagages and pension plans
And it's obvious my angry adolescent days are done
And I'm happy and I'm settled in the person I've become
But that doesn't mean I'm settled up and sitting out the game
Time may change a lot but some things may stay the same
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
(Frank Turner - Photosynthesis)
Sirius
Five years later, Sirius woke up to bright rays of sunshine coming through the cracks of the curtains. He blinked a few times and turned around. Remus was lying next to him, still sleeping. Feeling a familiar warm feeling deep in his chest, Sirius smiled. It had been five wonderful years. Just as he had hoped, they had all moved into Grimmauldplace although it really didn't deserve that name anymore. Regulus and Sirius had managed to remove all the old portraits on the walls, even the one of his mother. They had cleaned every last corner of every room and painted the walls in warm, welcoming colours.
Remus and Sirius had moved on the first floor where they had a nice, large bedroom and Remus had his own study room full of books. Lily and James were sleeping on the second floor while he children had the topmost landing all for themselves. Harry was sleeping in Sirius' old bedroom and Victoria in Regulus'. Sirius had never thought it possible that he should actually be happy in this house, but he was. He was happier than he had ever been. He and James were still Aurors only that James was, by now, Head of the Auror Department; Lily had gone back to her job in St. Mungos and although she loved it, she had been thrilled, when she had gotten a letter from Dumbledore the previous year, telling her, that he was in 'dire need of a new Potions Master'. As it turned out, teaching came naturally to Lily and it did her good to be away from all those ill and injured people. Remus, however had had not so much luck. At first he had tried to work in Muggle shops again but he had been so miserable that Sirius, James and Lily had had to think of something. Eventually, it had been Alice Longbottom that had had the right idea. She had come to Remus and asked him, whether he could home-school her son, Neville and of course Remus had said yes on the spot. Now, he had his own little class that came to their home every day and sat downstairs in at the kitchen table learning about basic magic stuff as well as some of the Muggle sciences. Obviously, Harry and Victoria were in his class, together with Neville, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George Weasley and Draco Malfoy. Draco was being raised by Regulus and his fiancé Tamara, a Muggle from Israel whom he had met while he had been traveling. After Lucius Malfoy had gone to Azkaban, Narcissa had had a mental breakdown and had been admitted to St. Mungos while Reg and Tamara had taken care of Draco and had ended up adopting him, eventually. Sirius was glad that he and his brother were so close now, it seemed to make up for all the years they had lost and Draco was a great child although he and Harry did not get along quite as good as he hoped they would; they always seemed to be in some kind of competition of whom was better.
»Good morning, Padfoot. «
Sirius blinked. He hadn't realised that Remus had woken up.
»Morning, Moony. «, he said smiling and kissed his boyfriend on the nose.
»We should probably get up. Vic's going to come and get us anyway as soon as she's awake. «, Remus murmured.
»You're right we should. «, Sirius agreed and shifted closer to Remus. »But I don't want to. «
He gave Remus as suggestive kiss and the other man smiled, »Yeah, me neither. «, he said before returning the kiss and quickly deepening it.
»Padfoot! Moony! Get up! Get up! It's my birthday! «, a small, black heard girl in a scarlet pyjama jumped onto their bed, making both Sirius and Remus, groan in frustration and pain.
»Good morning, princess. Is it your birthday today? Really? I had no idea. Moony, did you know that it's her birthday today. «
»No Padfoot. I had no clue. But I guess that calls for celebration doesn't it? «, Moony asked Victoria who nodded eagerly, then she started screeching and laughing as both, Remus and Sirius began tickling her.
»Jesus Christ, it sounds like your trying to slaughter a pig in here. « James said laughing as he entered the room. He looked like he, too had just woken up because he was only dressed in a night gown, his hair was even more of a hopeless mess than usual and his glasses were askew.
»Daddy! «, Victoria shouted and climbed off the bed to ran towards her dad.
»Hello my birthday girl. «, James said and kissed her. »Come on, let's see if we can wake up mum, shall we? «. He carried her out of the room and before he closed the door again he threw his friends a very suggestive look and wiggled his eyebrows
»Right. «, Sirius said, turning his attention back to his boyfriend. »I believe we were in the middle of something. «
Remus
It was the 1st September, 1991, when Remus entered the King's Cross Station together with Sirius, Lily, James, Harry and Victoria. They would be meeting Regulus, Tamara, Draco, Alice, Frank, Neville and the Weasley family at Platform 9 ¾. Harry had been awake since 4 in the morning, he was so excited to finally go to Hogwarts and he was chattering non – stop. James was very quiet and Remus could tell that it was harder than he admitted to let Harry go. He couldn't blame him. They all were so used to all the children in the house all the time that the thought of them not being there was strange. James had been made Minister of Magic, the previous year, so that he had passed on his position as Head of the Department Magical Law Enforcement to Sirius. It was still odd to see both James and Sirius in such high positions, where they had to be responsible and reasonable but they did fantastically. Like everything they did, being in charge was just another thing they excelled in.
»Cut it out, you big baby! «, Lily said suddenly, hitting James on the arm.
Remus turned his head and saw, that James eyes were suspiciously wet. He smiled sympathetically. Victoria was going between her parents and she, too, seemed to find everything more exciting than sad. She was a perfect mixture of James and Lily. Too clever for her own good and barely cared about consequences. Her hair was long and black, her eyes green like the eyes of her mother and brother but unlike Harry, she didn't have to wear glasses. Harry, too was a bright child. He was good in being sarcastic what they all blamed on Remus and had soon picked up on flying a broomstick, much to James' pride. When they arrived at the barrier, Harry's excitement seemed to waver a bit.
»Alright there, kiddo? «, Sirius asked. Harry nodded but his eyes told a different story. »I tell you what. We do it together, yeah? «
»Yeah. «, Harry whispered and blushed slightly.
Sirius put his hands on Harry's shoulders and together they ran towards the wall and through it. Remus, James, Lily and Victoria followed and saw the Hogwarts Express, which was already waiting for them.
»There's Ron! «, Harry called happily and ran off to his friend. A few feet away stood in fact Ron with the rest of his family, the Longbottoms and Regulus, Tamara and Draco.
»Watcher! «, Sirius called as they approached the group. The children began to talk excitedly about Hogwarts and Quidditch, while the parent tried not to get too emotional.
»Alright then, Harry. Time to go, eh? Remember what I told you. Don't pick a fight unless you know you'll win. Don't get caught when you break the rules and be nice to your mum. «
»Yes dad, I know. I won't do anything you wouldn't do. «, Harry said but he was smiling. «
»That's my boy. «. James grinned and kissed Harry on the forehead. Sirius and Remus said their goodbyes as well and the children got onto the train. They all waved as the train slowly won speed and Remus saw that James now had serious troubles not to cry.
»He's gone, Pads. He's gone. «
»I know, Prongs. But he'll be fine. «
»Yeah, I know. «
»And now stop crying or there'll be a nice article about the sobbing Minister in the Prophet tomorrow. Really I don't know what they were thinking. But then again, I should have seen it coming, when they made you Head Boy. The beginning of the end, that's what it was. «
»I thought my marriage was the beginning of the end? «
»Even I make mistakes; James. Even I. «
They bickered like that the whole way back, while Remus and Lily were slowly following them.
»Boys. «, Lily whispered. She shook her head and Remus smiled. When they reached the carpark, Sirius and Remus got on Sirius' motorbike and James, Victoria and Lily into the car. They had to hurry up a bit because Lily still had to fetch her trunk from home before she flooed to her office in Hogwarts. Before she left, they all agreed on meeting up the next weekend. She stepped into the flames and James, Remus, Sirius and Victoria were alone, they all were crying a bit now but everyone was happy. Everything was okay.
