So I hope you liked that er

Surprise….

I should probably be hiding from you all.

You should know, this was ALWAYS planned.

This part didn't change.

I did elude to it though earlier,

And a few of you questioned it via PM several weeks ago.

I have to say, I'm impressed you picked up on it.

Sorry for the delay, I got a new laptop and was waiting for hubs to put

This story on it.

Thanks for reading, and reviews.

Annnnnnd

Let's continue

Are you ready to…

TIME JUMP

Chapter 27

Missions and Memories

"Dad! I'm going to be late!" Harry cried taking the steps two at a time.

Sirius turned from his place at the table, looking at his watch. "You're hardly going to be late squirt, it's only 7." He pointed out.

Harry rolled his eyes and pushed his longish, messy hair from his eyes. "It's TODAY! TODAY! I can't be late!" he insisted.

Remus came in, rubbing his neck and laughing. "Am I to take it that it's today then?" he asked Sirius with a grin.

Sirius burst into laughter.

Harry poked his tongue out. "You're not helping Uncle John. I'm going to be late." He griped.

Remus grinned. "Jamie, the match isn't until 2 this afternoon. You're not going to be late." He assured the boy.

Sirius chuckled at the excited ten year old. They had been going by their middle names for so long now that it had become normal to answer to either name while at home. It was safer in public to not use their real names. Even though after more than 4 years they had settled on the sleepy island of Morro de São Paulo, Brazil, they had blended in as muggles, flawlessly. Sirius had yet to break the bindings on Harry's magic, they had decided that keeping the shard of Voldemort's soul separate was the most important way to go, and it kept Harry from accidentally using magic while around muggles and in school. Harry had accustomed to being James Evan Black easily, just as Remus had easily slipped into the role of Jonathan Evan Black, James' uncle and the older brother of Ryan James Black.

The trio had completely disappeared from the world they started out in, they had cut all ties but one. And that one, kept Sirius and Remus fairly busy from time to time.

"Dad!" Harry whined.

Sirius grinned. "It's just a football match Harry…it will be alright, and you won't be late. You're starting striker, I'll have you there." He told him.

"And we'll both be there to watch." Remus added with a smile. "Why don't you sit down and try to eat some breakfast, football star?" he asked.

Harry, knowing he was outnumbered sat down, resigned to his fate of having to wait till game time to leave. "Just a football match…Show what you know. My WHOLE LIFE depends on this match." Harry said, scrunching his nose and sitting down at the table.

Sirius looked at Harry, amused. "Good to know you rest your future on the fate of 10 and 11 year olds kicking a ball around a field." He said, grinning.

Remus laughed loudly and coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "Hypocrite."

Sirius looked at his longtime friend and brother and smirked. "And how do you figure that?" he asked.

"Quidditch." Was all Remus had to say for Sirius to get it and Harry to hop up and run upstairs looking for the most recent World Quidditch statistics that his father had brought home for him after his last mission.

Remus and Sirius' eyes followed Harry until he was out of sight. "I have to leave at 8 tonight. No question. I won't be back for a while, I've got to get into the Black vault." He said seriously.

Remus narrowed his eyes. "This plan is too dangerous. If you go and are gone for too long, I'll have to leave for the moon. We can't leave Jamie…Harry here alone." He said.

"You just got back 4 days ago. It can't be that difficult. The black family vault will let me in, it's based on bloodline, not keys. I'm one of only three that can actually get in. The Goblins will let me in without second thought, I'll be disguised, and before anyone realizes anything….I'll be out. This is the last shard." Sirius replied evenly.

Remus nodded. "You got the diadem and diary." He said.

Sirius rubbed the scar along his arm that he had sustained while getting that diary, "Never let me forget that I hate peacocks." He muttered.

"Well, to be fair, how were we supposed to know they were charmed with dark magic to be guardians?" Remus asked.

Sirius continued muttering under his breath as he thought about that night that was almost disastrous. Luckily Lucius had easily been willing to believe that the ministry was just conducting raids to comply with new muggle laws. The diadem hadn't been difficult to get, but difficult to track down. They hadn't known that it really existed at all. It had been Remus who recognized the old Tiara, it had taken weeks of racking his brain before he remembered where he had seen it. He kept thinking it reminded him of Hogwarts, but kept blowing it off, thinking it must just have been because of the Ravenclaw link. But it was after a full moon, when he had been sleeping for hours that he had woken up with a random memory. The tiara, he had seen it in Hogwarts, on two separate occasions. It was in the room that they had hidden their stores of fanged Frisbees in 6th year from Filtch, and three contraband brooms, during their 7th year, when they almost got caught with them. It was the last time that they had lost the map to Filtch, he took everything they had on them but their clothes.

After finding the tiara and recovering the diary, That made 4 Horcruxes that they had in their possession as Remus had gone with Dumbledore to collect the locket, his werewolf blood making the charms not recognize him as a wizard, and making the potion not fully work on him. It had been Severus who made up a counter potion for him. Remus didn't know what Dumbledore had on the once death eater. But Remus knew it had to be something big for Severus to make a potion with minimal questioning and to hand it over getting no answers in response.

Himself and Dumbledore had also gotten a ring from an old shack and hollow outside of Little Hangleton. It had been fairly easy going until the old man put the damn ring on. Remus still couldn't understand what on earth he was thinking, doing such a thing.

"So….a few weeks? Harry won't be happy." Remus said with a sigh, the boy always got upset when one of them was gone for even just a few days. He would repeatedly ask if the other was returning or if they were gone. He would get listless and anxious and his nightmares would return.

Sirius glanced at the stairs and nodded. "A few weeks at minimum, but it shouldn't be too terribly bad. Afterall, I'm the only Black by name now, it shouldn't be hard for me to gather what I need from the vault. Just…his nightmares are getting worse, and more frequent. He's been up with them a lot, he slept in my room three of the last 5 nights." He said sadly.

"You know….this is, supposedly the last one." Remus replied.

Sirius nodded solemnly. "Other than Harry that is." He said darkly.

Remus fell silent, they had both been terrified for this moment to come, for years of planning to come down to the horcrux that was with in Harry. How did you kill a soul when it was living bound, with in another living soul? Especially when that living soul was practically your own child. They were both quiet for a long time until the sound of running feet announced Harry's return and a rapid pounding could be heard on the front door.

"It's Mitchell, Marcel and Aaron." He shouted from the steps as he jumped the last two.

Sirius smiled genuinely at his 10 year old son as he hopped on one foot, trying to put on his shoe. Harry was fully dressed in his football uniform already and he knew that the other three boys would be too. He stood and walked to the door, opening it easily and smiling at the three kids.
"Hey boys, what brings you here?" he asked teasingly.

Marcel smiled and laughed. "Come on Mr. Black you know it's game day." The dark headed boy said, throwing a ball at Harry who instantly caught it one handed, despite the fact that he was still shoving his shoe on.

"We're going over to the field…can Jamesy come with us?" Aaron asked, smiling innocently.

"I don't like how simple and innocent this sounds….you lot sound like you're up to trouble." Remus said thoughtfully, though he was smiling.

Harry quickly hugged his uncle around the waist before running to the door, hugging his father on the way. "Us? Up to trouble? You don't know us at all." He said, not waiting for permission before walking out of the house. "Bye, see you after the match." He yelled as the other three boys waved and followed him out.

Sirius watched him walk away and turned to Remus, sighing as he shut the door. "I think our little bit is growing up." He said sadly.

Remus smiled and nodded. "Which was our entire goal to begin with. For him to get the chance to grow up."

0o0o0o0o

Her mind wandered as she walked, she was worried about her father, the healers had said there was nothing more they could do, that this was natural. She had watched as her father's health got worse with every visit he made to her in Russia and this last time, he had been unable to come. That's when she knew it was severe, he would not let anything keep him from his granddaughter. So she had made the decision to move back to London to be with him so her daughter could be with him in these last months. It did make her more protective over the little girl though. Every shadow looked like a death eater and every sound made her jump when they were home alone. Trying to live normally when you were paralyzed with fear and grief was more difficult than she realized it would be. But being back here bombarded her with memories and emotions that she hadn't ever let go of.

The sudden release of pressure in her hand and the shot of dark hair running in front of her brought her back to the right now as she watched the pink tu tu clad little girl take off at a run, cackling about her escape.

"Rian Samantha Abbott, you get your little backside back here." Melanie called after her precocious three year old daughter.

She watched as the little girl spun on a dime like she was a ballerina, the black curls bouncing around her face as she did. Rian all but bounced back to her mother, grinning happily.

"I pway wif dem." Rian said, pointing to the play park across the street.

Melanie knew that she needed to let her meet the kids in the area, she had to let her be a normal kid. Afterall, no one knew whose daughter she was. As far as anyone here in London was concerned, Melanie had transferred to the Russian ministry, had a baby with a man there and come home years later due to her father's health. No one knew she was Sirius' daughter, no one had ever come hunting them. It would be safe her head said. But her heart would shout at her that Jessalyn thought the same thing for her litle girl. And while Melanie was a strong woman, she couldn't live through burying another child, especially not one of her own, and especially after living all these years without word from the little boy she loved as a son. It felt sometimes as if she had buried him with Sammi all those years ago.

She looked down at the light of her life and smiled. "I know you do little love, but mummy has things to do today, maybe tomorrow." She said taking the little hand in hers.

"But I wanna pway now. Wanna pway wif dem kids now. Not in the morrow." Rian protested.

Melanie smiled and shook her head. "Not right now. Later on, maybe you and I will come over and play, or we'll go to the zoo."

"I wanna pway pwease. Pwease, pwease, pwease!" Rian pouted out her lip and her chin trembled dangerously, Melanie was forcibly reminded of Harry at this age.

She picked her daughter up and held her close, her tears threatening to overflow as they always did when she thought of Harry. It was worse being back here, they were all she thought about, it made it hard to concentrate, and hard to sleep. She could only truly focus on Rian, and honestly, that's all she cared about, was keeping Rian safe.

"I know it's no fair or fun. But we have to finish getting unpacked in our new apartment." She said as she pushed the door to her old building open and walked up to the apartment that she had kept all this time.