Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter


"Sirius no!"

"Remus yes!"

"…"

"Tit for tat."

"You are both a twit and a twat."

"…"

"…Is this a bad time?" Remus and Sirius look away from each other to see Harry at the doorway, both plaster smiles onto their faces.

"Never, Harry."

"What can we do for you?"

"Well, I was wondering if Hermione could stay over here until school comes back?" Harry asks, obviously a little nervous about the question.

"So long as her parents are all right with it," Sirius replies, "She's more than welcome."

"Great, is it okay if I head over there and let her know?" Harry and Hermione had both been utterly delighted when they had discovered the mansion Sirius had bought for he, Harry, and Remus to live in was literally two blocks away from Hermione's house. Her parents had been thrilled as well, they'd been over a few times over the holidays, as Sirius and Remus had been to their place. Hermione told Harry that her parents think the two are gay, she tried to say otherwise but they think she just hasn't put two and two together yet. Harry, of course, found this hilarious and immediately began doing anything he could think of to make it appear even more so. Just waiting for the moment it comes up and he can watch the two men flounder as they try to deny something he has made so very obvious. Hermione thinks he's been spending too much time with the twins.

"Sure, just make sure you are –"

"Back by dark, I know," Harry replies with a smile.

Once he leaves, Sirius and Remus both high-five because "He asked us for something he wanted!"

"And he only looked mildly petrified!"

It's certainly been a productive summer.

Sirius is nervous about being alone again when school goes back in three days, Remus is just as nervous about leaving him alone, especially given his latest idea.

"There's no choice, I have to go after him."

"You thought that last time and look where it lead? We're celebrating the simple act of our nephew requesting to have a friend stay over." Sirius gives Remus a stony look, Remus doesn't give in, "Don't give me that look. You made your choice back then and everyone suffered for it. Don't you dare leave us again!" Sirius flinches slightly, Remus takes a breath and reigns himself in, "Pads, the Ministry will find Peter. He's already been found guilty, you're free. That whole situation, it has no bearing on our lives, not anymore. It doesn't matter, it's nothing to do with us. Let them catch the murderer while we finally move on with our lives."

"You mean you finally move on with my cousin?" Remus blinks at Sirius.

"Padfoot…are you jealous?"

"No! I just don't see why she has to be here, in my house, all the damned time." Remus pauses for a moment, there are quite a number of ways he could go with this, most of them continuing this fight. In the end, he goes with the obvious.

"She's not here now." Sirius glares at him, then he sighs.

"I'm sorry. I'm not jealous, I'm scared. I spent so long alone and I don't want to get left behind again." Remus steps forward and hugs him.

"You are never second to her, not to me. You are my best friend, Sirius. My family. I need you here, Harry needs you here. So promise me you aren't going to run off the moment we head back to Hogwarts? Because I have to be honest with you Padfoot, I am terrified that I'm going to get a letter saying you've died or disappeared or something and there won't be anything I can do and I'll be alone again and Harry will probably end up with the Dursleys again only after finally being free of him they'll probably be even worse and I can't let that happen, Sirius please don't leave me again-" Whatever else may have been said is forgotten as Remus lets out a broken sob, unsure why he suddenly feels like he's breaking in two. Things are fine now, everything has worked out, it's all dealt with. Why does everything seem worse now than it did before? Sirius holds him close as Remus cries.

"The full was last night," Sirius reminds him after he finally calms, answering his unspoken frustration when he just doesn't know why he's lost it, "You know that always wreaks havoc on your emotions."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're right. I've run off half-cocked before, we know how that goes. There's no need to repeat the lesson. I promise, I won't go after Peter, or go running off anywhere. I'll focus on my sanctuary and giving mischievous ideas to the twins and helping Harry."

"What are you going to do when he asks for advice on girls?"

"He's better off coming to me anyway."

"You're gay!"

"Yes, and your idea of a healthy relationship is with my baby cousin!"

"We aren't together."

"And his Dad's idea of wooing a girl was to stalk her for seven years."

"All right, can't defend that one."

"And Lily's idea of romance was shouting at a football match together at the local pub as she tried to explain, yet again, how the bloody game works to James who would forever remain clueless." Remus chuckles.

"Yes, and yours was the closest alcove." Sirius laughs, forehead on Remus' chest.

"Maybe we should get him to speak to Hugo, he can tell him tales about meeting Jean?" Sirius suggests, Remus chuckles.

"Sure, just dump him off to Hermione's parents and hope for the best."

"Well she's come out all right, hasn't she? Find me a more put together person than Hermione Granger and I'll reconsider. Besides, who else is there?"

"WE'RE BACK!" Sirius smiles amusedly.

"Get some rest, I'll go sort feed the kids."


"Hermione! Long time no see," Sirius tells her as he walks into the loungeroom, she laughs and gets up, hugging him.

"Hi Padfoot. How's Professor Moony feeling?"

"Well he's mocking me so he must be fine."

"I think he'd be doing that on his death bed."

"This is true. Now, what would you two like for dinner?" Harry and Hermione both look awkward and a little panic-stricken, but Sirius knew they would. Harry still isn't great when it comes to food. He's not great with not being the one cooking it, not great with being served, not great with not cleaning up everything, not great with having a choice in what is eaten, and not great at eating at a table with the rest of them. He's better with most of it because he's spent so much time with the Weasleys, but having a choice in the food eaten is not something he's grown comfortable with.

Hermione just doesn't want to be rude or a bother by actually making a request, but also knows that Harry won't which means it's down to her and that makes her panic.

So Sirius isn't worried when anxiousness is their first response, but that doesn't mean he has any idea of what to do about it. So he does what he's been doing since Harry moved in at the beginning of the Easter holidays last year. What would Mum do? 'Mum' of course referring to Euphemia Potter and not his own horrid Mother. Make it fun.

"I was thinking maybe we could do homemade pizzas or build your own burgers, something like that? Get us all in there?" Hermione subtly gauges Harry's reaction before giving her own, he seems hesitant.

"Could we do that tomorrow? Only I don't think Professor Moony would be able to join that tonight." Sirius nods, thankful Hermione had worked out the problem, because Sirius had had no idea. Harry smiles gratefully at her and she nods slightly.

"Good point."

"Why don't we ask Uncle Moony what he wants to eat?" Harry suggests, his fall back option is always 'find out what Uncle Moony wants to do' because that always seems like the sensible and morally right direction to go in.

"He eats a lot around the full moon, he probably won't even notice what is put in front of him before he inhales it," Sirius explains.

"Then we should do something we can make a lot of and is filling, plus it should be healthy. Has to be good for replacing energy, and he could do with gaining some more weight, so picking foods to help with that around a time where he'll eat lots of it is probably a good idea," Hermione tells them.

"What about pasta?" Harry suggests, happy to offer suggestions if it's for someone else and not himself.

"Moony does love pasta, any preferences?" Sirius asks, the two frown at each other, "Are you both attempting to work out the best pasta dish for Remus' health?"

"…you need to put weight on too," Hermione justifies.

"Azkaban did your health no wonders," Harry adds. Sirius sighs, shaking his head and rubbing at his forehead.

"Well, you aren't wrong. I think everyone in this house could do with some carbs in their diet." Then Sirius remembers something from years ago, "What about Bolognese with bowtie pasta?" Harry's eyes widen.

"Come on Harry, open wide."

"No."

"Darling, he's not going to eat mushy peas."

"Not if you keep saying that he won't."

"It's boring, he's a Potter, he needs more interesting food."

"Well what would you suggest?"

"Oooooh."

"Yes, that's right Harry, oooh. This, right here, this is Grandma Potter's famous Bolognese sauce, always paired with bowtie pasta or it's just made wrong."

"…fine, but you're bathing him tonight."

Harry can feel his eyes watering, Sirius looks at him in confusion.

"What did you remember?" Hermione asks him.

"Dad telling Mum about Grandma Potter's Bolognese sauce," Harry replies, Sirius can't help but feel astounded. He's heard Harry talking about remembering things, but it's completely unreal to watch it happen like that, especially to have been the one to trigger it.

"You should note that when Prongs said 'Grandma Potter's', he did not mean his Grandma. We don't know where it came from, but it's been in the family for generations. Doesn't matter if it's passed down from female or male member, it's always been 'Grandma Potter's'. Mum taught James how to cook it when he was a kid, she taught me my first summer over there. Said every proper Potter has to know." Hermione laughs, looking delighted, "Must teach you to make it at some point Harry." Harry's eyes widen at that thought, then he beams, running at Sirius and hugging him tightly.

"I love you Uncle Padfoot."

"I love you too Mini-Prongs. Right, why don't you two go off and play and I'll go make food?" Harry hesitates for a moment, then he nods.

"Uncle Moony put a telescope in the attic, want to take a look?" Hermione grins, nodding. The telescope is the single most expensive thing Remus owns. He bought it back during the first war. The first thing he ever saved up for and then bought with his own money. Harry had been shocked when Remus said he was welcome to use, so long as he's careful with it, it's quite old now. It's for this reason that Harry won't be offering to show it to Ron, and for that reason that Tonks is not even aware they have an attic.

The two spend a while up there, trying to name the stars. They got so enthralled with it they even pull out their star maps from Astronomy at school so that they can work out what they are looking at.


When Sirius comes up to collect them he finds Harry calling out degrees and sizes and names to Hermione who is carefully plotting them out on a new map.

"I'm not even surprised." Hermione and Harry both flush in embarrassment, but Sirius just smiles encouragingly at them as he walks closer, "May I?" Hermione nods, so he looks over the map, "This is good work. Do you think we should get this painted somewhere? I reckon that would look good on a wall."

"Why not in here? Make it look like a proper observatory or something?" Harry suggests, Sirius looks around the room, nodding.

"Good thinking."

"It's not going to be accurate for long though, things move." Sirius frowns.

"We start a tradition. Paint that one up, same size as the map, and put a date by it. Then every time a kid is born in the family we can do one of what the sky looked like the day/night they were born?" Sirius suggests, the two seem to love that idea, "Brill. Meanwhile, dinners ready." Harry looks at him for a moment and then shakes his head.

"You know, Uncle Padfoot, sometimes I think you're the coolest person to ever exist, then you go and say 'Brill' and I realise that Uncle Moony's knitted sweaters are less lame than you are."

"…well damn kid, tell me how you really feel." The three laugh as they head down to join Remus and Kreacher at the table for dinner.


The next day, something is noticeably wrong with Harry. Everyone can tell from the moment he enters the room.

"Prongslet?" Sirius asks, Harry looks up questioningly, "Everything all right?" Harry then notices Remus, Tonks, and Hermione watching him with concern as well and swallows a little harshly, nodding. He's not sure when Tonks got here, but she turns up randomly so it's not a surprise. For all Sirius complains about it, he gets along really well with her and likes having a non-insane family member around.

"Just had a weird dream."

"Oh, I had one of those last night. There was this cat, I ran after it but it was running away from me. I could only catch a glimpse of it before it was gone out of my vision again. Finally got a bite on it, turns out I'd been chasing my tail for what felt like hours."

"That wasn't a dream, Pads, that was Monday evening." Sirius throws a bit of toast at him.

"Mine was less amusing. It was…well it wasn't happy."

"Want to talk about it?" Hermione offers, Harry shrugs as he sits.

"Not much to talk about. I think it's just paranoia, honestly."

"Paranoia? About what?" Remus questions.

"Oh you know, Pettigrew getting free, Voldemort coming back, him gaining followers and killing people again. The usual things I fixate on."

"The last two times you've fixated on that you've been right," Hermione comments with a frown. Sirius and Remus exchange looks, Harry sees this and narrows his eyes.

"What?"

"Harry…we weren't sure whether or not to tell you. We don't want you to be worried or get involved or anything but…Peter escaped from Azkaban."

"He what?" Harry asks, looking like he just can't believe it, Hermione puts an arm around him.

"How?" She asks.

"We don't know. Obviously he was in a cell that prevented him from transforming into his Animagus form, and to be doubly sure he was in a cell without bars. All solid stone so that even if he could transform, he'd have nowhere to go," Tonks tells them.

"But like Padfoot and I agreed, he's none of our concern, not anymore. So lets just forget about it all, all right?" Remus suggests, but Sirius frowns.

"What exactly happened in this dream?" Harry frowns too.

"I was in a house, and Wormtail was there. So was Voldemort but, well he wasn't exactly human. He didn't seem…whole. Like he was only a part of himself. There was another man too but, well I've never seen him before. Voldemort was giving him a job to do. Then they realised they were being watched. It was my perspective but I wasn't me. I was some old Muggle caretaker of the house. Voldemort killed him with the killing curse." Sirius blinks at him, Harry just shrugs and digs in to his breakfast, as though such dreams aren't completely terrifying and ridiculous.

"Do you know where this house was?" Harry frowns as he thinks back.

"No."

"Anything else at all?"

"Only that…" Harry trails off, looking nervous.

"Only that…?"

"Voldemort told the man to gather their old comrades, to send them a sign." The three adults exchange worried looks, "But, I mean…it's just a dream, it doesn't mean anything…right?" Remus nods slowly.

"You're absolutely right Harry. I think we're all feeling a bit paranoid at the moment." Sirius nods.

"Yes, paranoid." Hermione grimaces, Harry raises an eyebrow at her, she shakes her head, he gives her an expectant look, she sighs.

"I was just thinking of an old Muggle saying."

"What old Muggle saying?" Tonks asks, Hermione grimaces again.

"It's not paranoia if they're really after you."


Sirius and Remus are nervous, after that, about allowing the two kids to join the Weasleys for the Quidditch World Cup. But as Sirius points out, Remus is the one who wanted life to go on, and so the kids were allowed to go.

They floo to the Burrow as soon as they hear what happened.

"Harry!" Sirius calls as soon as they get out, Harry rushes over to him, "Hermione?"

"I'm here, I'm fine Padfoot," She tells him, Sirius nods. The last thing he wants to do is tell her parents that their daughter had been killed because they didn't call off this entire idea after all the warning signs.

Sirius tries to ban Harry from going to Hogwarts after that, too afraid something is going to go terribly wrong. Remus sighs, dragging his old friend off to the side and having a hurried chat with him. The two minutes they are gone feel like an eternity to the terrified Harry who Molly attempts to console. But no amount of warm and motherly arms around him could distract him from the growing pit of coldness in his stomach at the thought of not returning to Hogwarts.

Still, they come back and Sirius is looking rather unhappy. Remus merely nods to Harry who immediately relaxes and flings himself at the both of them, promising to stay out of trouble and behave.

No one thinks that will last long.


Remus sits with his fellow teachers as the names of the contestants are called out. For some reason he can't identify, he's on edge right up until Diggory's name is called. He lets out a breath of relief, Minerva looks mildly amused.

"Everything all right?" Remus chuckles.

"I had the most ridiculous worry that somehow, this was not going to go according to plan."

"Well, we shall all be forever glad you are the Professor of History and not Divination." Remus chuckles again. Then the Goblet starts flaring up once more, he and McGonagall slowly look up at it.

"…please don't be Harry," he whispers to himself.

"Why on Earth would it be Mr Potter?" Minerva asks him, Remus shrugs.

"Because it's always bloody him."

"Harry Potter."

"And there it is."