A/N: Chapter 3! The first plot-y chapter! Yay!

Disclaimer: I do not own the HP series so please don't send me to Azkaban for copyright infringement :(

Previously:

"She-she's gone, Dad! I'll n-never see Mum ag-again!" Harry said through his tears. Severus started slightly at Harry calling him 'Dad' but did nothing.

"I know," Severus said comfortingly, stroking the boy's hair. A lone tear slid down Snape's nose. "I know."

A Sirius Idea

10 Years Later

Remus Lupin was out of a job again. Sadly, because he was a werewolf it was extremely hard for him to keep a job for long.

"…and you'll have until the end of the day to clear out your desk of personal belongings, otherwise they'll be trashed," the portly man finished smugly. How Remus hated the man!

"Right, got it," Remus replied tiredly. The full moon had been two days ago and Remus was still sore. He wanted nothing more to go home and sleep.

"Be out of here by six!" The fat man called over his shoulder.

"I'll be gone long before that," Remus mumbled under his breath. Good riddance to bad bosses! He quickly tossed his remaining stuff into the small cardboard box provided then vacated the premises. Well, now what to do?

Remus Apparated home with his box. He shared a small house in Godric's Hollow with James and Sirius. Peter had married long ago and left. The three remaining were lonely bachelors. Honestly, Lupin wasn't surprised he wasn't in a relationship. After all he was a werewolf, an extremely dangerous Dark creature. Sirius's bachelordom wasn't shocking as he was unable to hold down a monogamous (or really, polygamous either) relationship for over a month in his entire school career. But James? That puzzled the werewolf.

James and Lily had been married and deeply in love when suddenly Lily left, taking 3-year old Harry with her. The two of them had disappeared without warning and no one had heard a peep out of either for a decade and a half. At first, James had been out of his mind with worry and fear of the worst and Remus had been too. But after all this time, the mystery remained unsolved and James was still lonely.

"I'm home!" Remus called into the seemingly-empty house. It wasn't empty, of course. James was moping around here somewhere. Being a Potter, James had vaults upon vaults of gold stored in Gringotts and lived off of that. James had offered Remus some of his Potter money as well but Remus had declined. James already paid for their house and food so what more could Remus ask of him?

"Moony!" Sirius cheered gleefully. He bounded down the steps of their shared home. "You're back early!" Years previous, Sirius's parents finally kicked it and left Sirius, the only heir, all their gold. Like James, Sirius didn't have to work but unlike James, Sirius chose to. He owned and operated a muggle mechanic shop specializing in motorcycles. Sirius made good money amongst wizards and muggles alike.

"Hi, Sirius," Remus said tiredly.

Sirius heard his tone, saw his box and his face fell. "Again?" He asked sadly.

"Again," Remus confirmed.

"That sucks!" Sirius was angry for his friend. Remus Lupin was the smartest, kindest, awesomest person Sirius knew but because of something Remus couldn't control his life was terrible!

"Don't worry about it, Pads," Lupin replied automatically. Every time he lost his job, the three went through the same routine of anger, resentfulness, drunkenness and grudging hangover acceptance.

"Whazzamatter?" James clumsily stumbled down the stairs. He shakily ran his hand through his shaggy black hair and rubbed his hazel eyes under his glasses. James was obviously drunk.

"What's with him?" Remus whispered.

"Didn't you check the calendar? It's that day," Sirius muttered back.

Oh. Oops. Every Halloween, James got smashed beyond belief because Lily and Harry left all those years ago. James would start crying, begging Remus to tell him what had went wrong, then he would profess his deep love for Lily and Harry before weepily contemplating suicide. Remus and Sirius would do damage control and make sure James got to bed before he could do anything truly stupid. The only day worse than Halloween was Christmas Eve. Years ago, James had gotten an owl informing him of his and Lily's imminent divorce. The letter was untraceable and was the only communication he'd had with her for 15 years.

"Hi, James," Remus said tentatively.

"Remmy~ Why're ya back so… so… what time is it?"

"He got canned again," Sirius said bluntly.

"What?" James said more clearly. He blinked rapidly and seemed to sober up considerably. "What do you mean?"

"He means I was fired. Again. I found his statement to be pretty clear," Remus said teasingly, trying to take the edge off his despair.

"Why?" James demanded.

"Why do you think?" Lupin replied tensely. "Don't worry about it, James! It's happened before and it'll happen again."

"No it won't. Not if I can help it!" James said angrily.

"But you can't help it!" Remus bellowed. "No one can."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down, guys!" Sirius stepped in before anything drastic could happen. "It's obvious we need to take a breather or something. A little hiatus, if you will."

James and Remus stared at Sirius.

"What are you suggesting?" Remus asked carefully. He still hadn't forgotten the fondue incident and he'd be damned before he repeated it.

Sirius grinned. "I was going to wait until tomorrow before bringing this up, but Moony got canned and Jamesie's all upset everyone's yelling—"

"Get to the point!" James and Remus cut him off in unison. If you didn't stop Sirius before he went off on a tangent it could be hours before you got a word in edgewise.

Sirius smiled gleefully and said, "Vacation!"

Awkward silence and gaping accompanied Sirius's announcement.

"I'm sorry, but did you just say 'vacation'?" James asked, skeptical yet polite. Years of Pureblood training and conditioning didn't just disappear overnight.

"Indeed I did! Think about it for a minute!" Sirius pleaded. "The three of us wreaking havoc in a foreign country and a different girl every night! It'd be just like old times!"

"Okay, I just thought about it…" Remus said.

"And?" Sirius bounced eagerly.

"IT'S A HORRIBLE IDEA!" Remus exploded.

Sirius's face fell momentarily, but then he said, "Why? Why not? Give me one good reason why we shouldn't go on vacay."

Try as he may, neither Remus nor James could think of an acceptable answer. They just kind of stood there, gaping like goldfish as their brains scrambled for ideas.

"Well… Y-you have the shop…" Remus said weakly. In the past, he had used his work as an excuse not to go since jobs were hard for werewolves to come by, but obviously that wouldn't work anymore.

"I own the shop," Sirius said, waving his hand dismissively. "I can close it for a bit."

"We can't just leave…" James tried.

"Oh really? Why not?" Sirius challenged. James and Remus fell silent. "I thought so! Pack your bags, gentlemen! We're going to New York City!"

!

"EVANS!" Severus Snape screamed to a seemingly empty house.

"Coming!" Came the distant reply. Severus sighed and closed the front door. No use letting the cold air in. The cosy townhouse had heating problems on the best of days, and late October was cold in New York City. Severus hoped Harry wouldn't take too long. His potions store opened soon and Severus was certain customers were already lining up outside the door. Plus, Severus had to drop Harry off at band practice.

The front door flew open and one Harry Evans stumbled out, attempting to hold his guitar case, put on a sock and walk simultaneously. Severus inspected his resident teenager.

Harry's shoulder-length shaggy hair was held up in a messy ponytail and his mirrored aviators were perched precariously on top of his head. Harry wore his typical teen attire, which composed of a tight band tee, an unzipped jailhouse-stripe hoodie, colorful skinny jeans and scruffy black Converse high tops. Today the band was the Rolling Stones and the jeans were hot pink. In mind of the cold weather, Harry had added a rainbow zebra-print scarf.

Harry's emerald green eyes flashed with annoyance as he lost his balance. Luckily, Severus caught Harry by his bicep before he could fall.

"You forgot your coat," Severus informed him dryly. Harry cursed and ran back into the townhouse. "And your hat!" Severus called after him. It was always the hat Harry forgot, never the scarf.

Harry lurched out of the townhouse again, this time sporting a skull-emblazoned beanie and black leather jacket. He grabbed his guitar case and ran down the outside stairs two at a time. At the bottom of the steps, Harry Evans paused and looked back at his guardian who waited with an vaguely amused expression outside the front door. "Well, what are you waiting for? C'mon, hurry up!" Harry shouted back and threw himself into the car.

Severus smirked. Teenagers.