That night, Harry and Sirius had a big celebratory dinner. They invited Mr. Glacier, Dr. Stefansen, Dr. Grant, Mrs. Figg, Remus, Barbara and Hermione. Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant called Uncle Mario's. Sirius, Mr. Glacier, Remus and Barbara all enjoyed a round of tequila, although nobody got drunk this time, thankfully. Mrs. Figg enjoyed milk (like her cats); Dr. Grant ordered water; Dr. Stefansen, Harry and Hermione all got apple juice. Sirius got the Giant Mario's Burrito, Barbara got enchiladas, and the rest got pork tacos—all except Dr. Grant, who got fish tacos, as she was a pescatarian.

After dinner was over, Harry hugged Dr. Grant, Mrs. Figg, Remus and Hermione goodbye. He didn't really feel comfortable hugging the others—Dr. Stefansen still kind of weirded him out, Mr. Glacier didn't really seem like the hugging type, and Harry had experience with Barbara's hugs.

Hermione was a very good hugger. Harry didn't know why, but he felt a strange sort of jumping in his stomach when he hugged her—sort of the same feeling he got in Dr. Grant's office before the shots. He didn't understand why he would experience this, seeing as Hermione wasn't going to ambush him with any needles. Even more confusing, this time the feeling was actually kind of…good. And he certainly didn't get this feeling when he hugged anyone else. Since it didn't make any sense, he just put it out of his head as soon as they were done hugging.

Harry was so wound up that night that he could hardly sleep, so finally Sirius had to give him a Sleeping Drought. The next morning was no different. Harry sprang out of bed, full of energy, and broke into Sirius's room. Sirius was still sleeping. Harry jumped on his legs.

"Wake up, Sirius!" he shouted.

"Get off," Sirius mumbled.

"Wake up or I'll pour water on your head!" Harry said jokingly. Sirius sat up in bed and ambushed Harry with tickling. Harry was laughing and trying to push him away.

"Do you surrender?" Sirius shouted.

"I surrender! I surrender!"

"I can't HEAR you!"

"I surrender!" Harry gasped again through his laughter, and only then did Sirius stop tickling him.

"Go get dressed," Sirius said, grinning. "I'm going to hit the showers. Then what do you say we head to Gringotts and put that money in your vault?"

"Yes!" Harry said, and ran out of Sirius's bedroom at top speed.

…

Harry and Sirius reached Diagon Alley by ten in the morning. Harry's heart was still a weightless cloud. Of course, it was because of the lawsuit and the Muggles getting their comeuppance. But he couldn't help but wonder if a part of him was so exuberant because he could still feel his best friend Hermione's hug.

"I don't know what's the matter with you, Prongslet," said Sirius, although he was smiling. "I haven't seen you this happy…well, since I can't remember when."

"Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are penniless and in jail," Harry said gleefully, "and Dudley is going to have to go to an orphanage, probably. It's not like anyone would adopt him."

"True," said Sirius.

Since Harry was practically running and Sirius had to walk fast to keep up with him, they reached Gringotts in no time at all. They walked up to the counter and wasted no time in consulting a free goblin.

"Can I help you?" the goblin asked, sounding bored.

"Yes, we're here to make a deposit in Vault 687," Sirius told him. "It's a Muggle check for one million pounds."

"One million pounds…" The goblin frowned. "So that's about 330 grand."

Sirius whistled. Looking bored, the goblin took the check and told them that he would convert it into gold and place the gold in Vault 687.

"Thanks!" Harry told him.

On their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, where Sirius had parked his bike, Sirius stopped abruptly. Harry turned to see what he was looking at. It was a man who looked to be about Sirius's age, maybe younger; his hair was dirty-blonde, shoulder-length and pleated. He was wearing bright green wizard's robes. Next to him was a girl who could only have been his daughter. She had the same hair, only longer (halfway down her back), and she was blowing bubbles out of a bubble wand and watching everyone in Diagon Alley interestedly. Her dress was designed with life-size sunflowers; her rain boots (which she wore despite the fact that there wasn't a cloud in the sky) didn't match.

"Xeno!" Sirius yelled in surprise. "What're you doing here?"

"Sirius!" the man called Xeno said back. "Good to see you here! I'm glad people have finally stopped believing that nonsense about you being a criminal! We knew he was innocent all along, didn't we, Luna?"

Luna smiled and nodded, then blew another bubble.

"Why, Luna," said Sirius. "I haven't seen you since you were a newborn, and now—you should be ten by now, shouldn't you?"

"Ten and a half!" Luna corrected him, grinning. She still had some baby teeth missing. Then, her wide, pale eyes turned to Harry, and he knew what she was going to say before she said it: "You're Harry Potter."

"I know I am," said Harry.

Sirius grinned.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Xeno asked, smiling at Harry.

"Of course," said Sirius. "Harry, this is Xenophilius Lovegood and his daughter, Luna."

"Hi," said Harry, waving. Luna waved back.

"So…where's Pandora?" Sirius asked, looking around with his hands in his pockets. "Wouldn't she enjoy a day like this?"

"She would have," said Xeno matter-of-factly. "But I'm afraid she passed away a few years ago."

"Oh, Merlin…" Sirius looked mortified. "That's terrible. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," said Xeno calmly. "Sometimes I do wonder if I can raise a girl right all on my own, without her mother…but I think we're doing well so far."

"Look, let me buy you and Luna a drink in the Leaky Cauldron, okay?" said Sirius. Then he bent down and asked kindly, "Do you like butterbeer, Luna?"

"Yeah!" she said excitedly.

"Well, my godson Harry does too," Sirius told her. "You two could chat over one while we all go to the Leaky Cauldron. How does that sound?"

"Good!" Luna grabbed Harry's hand, to his surprise, and pulled him off towards the Leaky Cauldron. Harry heard Sirius's bark of laughter, and he and Xeno soon followed.

Xeno and Sirius both got regular beer, and Luna and Harry both got butterbeer. Luna introduced Harry to something she called "Butterbeer Fizzies", which she claimed her mother had invented. They were little magical tablets, and when you put them in your butterbeer, the liquid changed color to the same color as the tablet. It also made the butterbeer very bubbly, like soda pop, hence the name "Butterbeer Fizzies". Butterbeer was not normally carbonated, but with the Butterbeer Fizzies it sure was. Luna and Harry finished theirs, let out obnoxiously loud burps, and felt the carbonation bubbling in their noses.

"What do you say, Harry?" said Sirius.

"Must be a barge coming through!" Harry said back.

Luna laughed, then added in a singsong voice, "Past the lips and over the gums, look out tummy, here it comes!"

"I try to limit her to one when she's using those things," Xeno told Sirius.

"Good call." Sirius nodded.

Sirius and Harry said goodbye to Xeno and Luna after finishing their drinks. Xeno and Luna went out the back entrance, back into Diagon Alley, while Harry and Sirius left out the front door, into Muggle London.

"I was meaning to ask," said Harry. "How are those antidepressants treating you?"

"Hmm…well, I'm not sure if they're actually making me happier, but they do have some rather unseemly side effects," Sirius replied.

"Like what?" Harry asked.

"I'd rather not say," Sirius said, a little uncomfortably.

"Oh, come on."

"Fine." Sirius sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'm not as…regular as I used to be, if you catch my drift."

"So I guess that means we won't be eating at Uncle Mario's again any time soon," said Harry, grinning. He normally wouldn't have laughed at Sirius's pain, but he was just in such a good mood today that everything seemed funny. Even Sirius smiled.

"No, definitely no Mexican food," he agreed. "Well, except maybe chips and guacamole for dinner tonight…I hear avocadoes have lots of fiber."

…

Chips and guacamole made an excellent dinner. Harry and Sirius watched TV while they ate it. During the ad break, Harry asked Sirius something he had been thinking about.

"I've got a way for you to tell if you really love Barbara," he said.

"Oh?" Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Well, let's say you were stranded out in the middle of a desert with only Barbara, Professor Dumbledore and a horse," Harry began.

"Wait, why Dumbledore?" Sirius interrupted.

"Isn't he supposed to be the greatest wizard of his age?"

"I suppose," said Sirius, sounding disgruntled. "Not that knowingly sending babies off to abusive homes is very 'great'…at least not in my opinion."

"Anyway," said Harry. "You're stuck out in the desert with Barbara, the greatest wizard of the age, and a horse to take you home. But the problem is, the horse can only carry two people."

"We don't even need the horse," said Sirius. "I can just use Side-Along Apparition with Barbara, and Dumbledore can Disapparate on his own. I suppose I'd have to use a Memory Charm on Barbara afterwards, unless we were married and she knew about my powers, but again, we would have no need for the horse."

"Say it was like Hogwarts, then!" Harry said exasperatedly. "You know, the desert has an Anti-Apparation Jinx on it."

"All right, then…" Sirius frowned. "I guess maybe Barbara and Dumbledore could ride while I walked. I wouldn't make Barbara walk, of course, and Dumbledore's too old, but I can walk long distances as Padfoot without my paws getting tired. I could walk next to the horse while it takes Barbara and Dumbledore home."

"Sirius!" Harry groaned. "The point of this question is not to find a loophole! The point is to figure out who you would leave behind!"

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked. "Maybe the real answer is that instead of wasting time trying to figure out who to leave behind, I should be using my brains to think outside the box and find a way for all of us to come home safely."

Harry paused and thought about that for a moment.

"Well…you may be right," he said slowly. "And that way, you do get to save them all."

"Sounds better, doesn't it?" Sirius asked, smiling slightly, and they finished eating their dinner.