Thanks for reviewing: Azzy494, Luty Malfoy, ROSSELLA1, Loads of Randomness, Tonks-is-cool, and Eva9673.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter.

Also the POV will jump around a little (okay, somewhat) during this chapter. Plus this is a setting-up/padding chapter more than anything else. I hope you guys don't get too confused and/or aggravated. :(

However by the leap of logic I made in the previous author's note… WE ALL OWN WEREWOLVES! SQUEE!

Speaking of werewolves, still making full moon alternations.

Chapter Five: Meanwhile Black had tried to enchant the mop to clean the floor, which was going as well as one would suspect.

Early the next morning Snape was awakened by a crash downstairs. Followed by a second, and a third which was the loudest of all. Placing a pillow over his face he grumbled, "What in the name of Merlin did they do now?"

Muttering darkly to himself he rolled out of bed and pulled on a black bed robe over his green-grey pajamas. Kicking the matching slippers onto his feet Snape made his way into the hall. In a pile of the bottom of the stairs were the other three occupants of the house as well as three brown sleds.

"What are you three doing?"

Lupin looked over at Black. "I thought you had cast an Imperturbable charm on his door so he could sleep in?"

"It must have worn off…"

"Uh-huh."

"It must have!" a wounded Black insisted. "Really, Lupin, I don't not care for Snape that much."

Lupin raised his eyebrows. "So, you do care for Snape that much- which is to say, enough to not cast a proper Imperturbable charm on his bedroom."

Black just blew a raspberry at the other wizard. Snape sighed. "I need to go get dressed and have breakfast; then Potter and I need to go clothes shopping for him."

"Really? You were serious about that?"

"No, I'm- OW! Snape, Moony punched me!"

"It was a slap to the arm, and it could not have hurt that badly. Besides, you deserved it," Lupin rolled his eyes, but Black sulked anyway. Loudly griping about the absurdities supposedly adult wizards got themselves into Snape retreated back into his bedroom.

Mentally he supposed that he and Potter would take the Floo to Diagon Alley, get some money from Potter's vault at Gringotts, and then go shopping for a combination of Muggle and wizarding clothes. Hopefully Black and Lupin wouldn't destroy the house while they were away.

The next few days remained relatively quiet, although a trip to Hogsmeade inevitably led Black and Lupin to Zonko's. Snape supposed the only reason he wasn't being pranked from dawn to dawn was that they were grateful for providing a house to live. Also they might have been concerned about the impeding full moon and thus not risking cutting off Lupin's Wolfsbane potion supply.

Potter was still far too quiet… Snape didn't like it. It wasn't the quiet before a prank as much as he might wish it to be; apparently Petunia was far more vindictive than he had ever imagined. But at least the clothes fit him now, even if they were rather vibrant colors. Still he was staying in touch with Granger and Weasley via Hedwig. Furthermore Potter could cook fairly well, but he only had rudimentary skills so Snape had taken it upon himself to make sure the first time Potter tried a complicated recipe he wouldn't end up killing anyone by mistake.

On the morn of the fourteenth, which was a cloudy and gloomy day, two wizards Apparated a short distance away from Snape's house at Spinner's End. One was a tall, sturdy man who looked to have been in a great many battles with various bits and pieces of him (most notably a leg replaced by a wooden peg) missing as well as numerous scars. He had on a brown fedora, covering one eye as well as wearing a thick brown trench coat. His companion was even odder in black combat boots, torn jeans, and a neon pink T-shirt that matched her pixie haircut. She was a young woman with a pretty heart-shaped face with big brown eyes.

"Tonks, change your hair."

"Why?" the woman protested as they began to walk towards Snape's house. "I mean, they're the ones who have to make a good impression on me."

"Tonks!"

Screwing up her face Tonks changed the color of her hair from neon pink to a vivid purple. And promptly tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. As she scrambled to her feet the man just looked down at her. With a grumble he stated, "That doesn't count."

"Aw, come on, Moody. Stop being so… well, moody," the woman smiled up at him. Moody just grumbled as he continued to trudge along, the woman a few paces behind him.

Out front of the battered house was Lupin, casually dressed in a beige sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, digging up a patch of the front yard for a garden. It was too late for most plants, but he was hoping to start the process with a slight crop of peapods. Moody rapped on the front gate. Gruffly he stated, "Tonks brought me along to make sure she went about this right."

Standing up, Lupin brushed off dirt onto his jeans. He smiled at Moody. "That sounds reasonable. So… oh, hello."

"Hi," Tonks managed. Even though his sandy brown hair was streaked through with grey, this wizard was extremely handsome. He also looked pretty fit as well as having warm tawny brown eyes. Pushing back a clump of her now-purple hair she inquired, "May we come in?"

"Oh, sure. You're early; we weren't expecting you for another half-hour."

"Blame Moody- constant vigilance!"

"Ah, of course," Lupin nodded as he led them to the cracked open front door. From within there came the noise of loud noises. Resigned Lupin closed his eyes.

"Why did they have to pick today of all days to start letting loose with the verbal barrages?"

"Er?" Tonks scratched the back of her head. "What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid that Sirius, James, Peter, and I got along horribly with Snape at Hogwarts… it's a habit that's been carried over to now."

"Then why live here?" Moody rumbled pushing up his fedora to reveal a large magical blue eye that mismatched with his other small brown one. Lupin shrugged. "Right now neither Black nor I have a lot of options… besides, Snape probably has his own reasons to make sure Harry makes it to adulthood. All right, let's go in."

Lupin led the pair into the kitchen, where a trail of muddy shoeprints tracked across an otherwise pristine floor. Snape, mop in hand, was yelling at Black who was yelling back. Potter was sitting on top of the kitchen table, his head going back and forth between the shouters as if watching a particularly fascinating game of catch. At length Black raised his hands up in exasperation.

"We're bloody wizards, Snape! Really, a wave of the wand and it'll be fixed!"

"It's the principle of the thing, Black," Snape retorted coldly. "Hard work ought to be its own reward; and furthermore I had told all of you that I would be cleaning the kitchen floor this morning during breakfast. Did you listen? NO!"

Here Potter impudently wiggled his socked feet. Black glowered over at his godson, saying, "You're not helping."

"I wasn't trying to," Potter managed to say between barely concealed laughs. Black growled and jerked the mop out of Snape's hand. Forcefully he dunked the mop into the tin bucket of soapy water next to Snape. Then he started to wipe at the muddy footprints, only succeeding in spreading around the dirt. Crossly he stopped and stared down at the swirled dirt on the floor.

"Huh? How do Muggles do this cleaning thing?"

With a laugh Potter hopped off the table and held out his hand.

"I can do it for you, Padfoot."

Black held the mop towards himself possessively. "I can do it!"

"No you can't," Potter smiled. Lupin stuck his hands into his jean pockets as he and the two visitors watched as the three-way debate get underway over who would clean the floor and how. After a few minutes Lupin coughed loudly.

"Guys, the Aurors are here."

Guiltily the trio jumped apart. Moody stomped in, plopping himself down at the kitchen table. Tonks opted to sit on the nearest clear counter instead while Lupin leaned against the doorframe. Cheekily Tonks inquired, "So besides the odd cleaning discussion how things are going?"

"All right," Black acknowledged. He looked over at Snape. "Anything you need or want to add?"

"You cannot sum everything up with an 'all right', Black," Snape griped.

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can!"

"Guys," Lupin sighed, making Potter smile as he sat across from Moody. Snape frowned as he looked behind the pair of Aurors. "I thought there was going to be one Auror- that's what the letter said."

"Yes, well, I qualified literally less than a month ago so I figured it'd be for the best if I brought along a retired Auror to make sure I do this right."

"Me, in other words," Moody stated. His magical eye on Potter he stated, "I'm Alastor Moody, retired Auror. Dumbledore has talked me into being the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for a year- not that I'd stay any longer anyhow. So I'll be seeing a lot of Potter anyway this coming term. Over there is Tonks, newly made Auror."

"Any relation to Andromeda?" Black inquired curiously giving the female Auror a closer look. But at the same time Potter questioned, "Don't you have a first name?"

"It's Nymphdora but she hates it," Lupin volunteered. With a lopsided smile he commented, "I knew you looked familiar."

Tonks blushed slightly but focused on the task at hand. "But how-?"

"I'm your mum's cousin," Black admitted. "A few times before- before, well you know, I and my friends came over for visits. But really, you weren't even old enough for Hogwarts that last time."

"I might remember something; do you think that's why they picked me to visit? But I didn't know that… Mum doesn't like to talk about her family."

"I can't blame her, especially after it seemed that I'd gone to the Dark side as well."

"Focus," Moody snapped. "We're here about Potter."

"Hi," Potter shifted awkwardly in his seat. "Why did you guys have to come anyway?"

Tonks shrugged. "I don't know. I'm on the bottom rung of the political ladder so I have nothing besides my directions- make sure that you don't need sent back to your Muggle relatives for your own safety or whatever."

"What!" yelped Potter. At the same time the sink window noticeably cracked. Black, Lupin, Snape, and Moody exchanged dark looks. Moody frowned severely. "Only if these three aren't being proper guardians or if there's too much risk that we need to reinforce the blood bonds."

"It's not my home, Spinner's End is my home," Potter refuted flatly. Moody's magical eye swiveled over to the cracked window. "So it would seem."

Experimentally swishing the mop in the bucket Black asked, "But why worry when we're taking care of Harry and not when the Dursleys were?"

Tonks shrugged. "Again- I don't know. But really, Potter looks happy and healthy… despite us catching you all off guard."

Snape and Black glowered at one another. Lupin looked back and forth between the pair, pleading, "You two were doing so well until today."

Moody asked, "Potter, you doing well here?"

"I can do my homework in the open… they tell me about my parents… I don't have to do as many chores… I like it here."

Tonks beamed as she hopped down from the counter. "Well, so far so good! Thanks for letting us come by!"

"Er, is that all?" Snape questioned. Tonks looked over at Moody who used his magical eye to scan the house. "It certainly seems secure enough. Listen, we Aurors aren't meant to serve as Social Services; Tonks was only given this assignment because she's green and this is the Boy Who Lived we're talking about here."

Potter ducked his head. Moody stood up, shifting his fedora to hide his magical eye again. "Well, we'll be going then. The Ministry wants Tonks to check in on you four every fortnight. Good-bye."

"Bye," agreed Tonks, winking at Lupin. Happily she followed Moody out of the house. Black prodded dubiously at the floor with the mop.

"This day is so weird."

"Do you have a compulsion to state the obvious, Black?" Snape retorted. For a response Black flicked the mop at the pants of the other wizard. Lupin just shook his head.

Out front Moody grumbled, "Tonks, promise me something."

"Depends on the promise."

"Good girl- constant vigilance," Moody distractedly praised her. "Listen, Potter shouldn't go back to his Muggle relatives. That cracked window was accidental magic."

"At his age?" Tonks asked skeptically.

"Yes. It happens… under certain circumstances. The threesome are aware of this, so they'll take care of him. Just keep him from his Muggle relatives as best as you can."

"All right, Moody. I need to go do some paperwork now- wotcher!" Tonks nodded before Apparating. With a slight headshake Moody Apparated as well.

Meanwhile Black had tried to enchant the mop to clean the floor, which was going as well as one would suspect.