Petunia was agitated. She was waiting on platform 9 ¾, which was intimidating for a plethora of reasons. She'd met Mrs Granger and was having a nice chat, but she was still nervous.

There was a man who'd followed her, she was sure of it. He had long, shaggy, dark hair. She had no idea what he was about, but he was on the platform as well. She wasn't sure if he was stalking her or if he had someone to pick up as well.

The worst part was that he seemed vaguely familiar. Her memory before she'd started with occlumency had been a bit above average at best, so that vague familiarity plagued her.

"You alright, Petunia?"

Petunia shook herself. "Sorry, Jane. Just paranoid, I guess. Ever meet someone and immediately get a creepy feeling?"

Jane had bushy brown hair and a pleasant smile with perfect teeth. Being a dentist with imperfect teeth was just bad business. "Oh, yes. I know exactly what you mean. Who's the creeper?"

Petunia turned to look for the man, but found she couldn't pick him out of the crowd. "I can't see him now. He was just here though. I swear."

Jane nodded. "I believe you. What's he look like? I'll keep an eye out, just in case."

"He's a bit taller than average. Dark hair to his shoulders. I've never really seen his face because of the hair. He strikes me as some kind of heroine addict, he's sort of skinny like that anyway. He's always wearing a suit of some kind, but it's never tailored correctly, always loose and baggy."

Jane's eyes went wide. "How many times have you seen him around? Is he stalking you? Have you rung the police?"

Petunia waved Jane off. "He must live near me. I've only ever seen him around the building and then here today. He just seems… I don't know… withdrawn, dangerous… creepy."

Jane seemed to calm at that. She nodded. "I understand. Just be cautious. You never can tell with men."

The Hogwarts Express was pulling into the station just then, great gouts of steam puffing from the engine.

"Anyway, have you read the Daily Prophet at all? We decided to get a subscription when Hermione's letter came, you know."

Petunia looked at Jane and shook her head. "No. I… wasn't in a good place when Harry got his letter. I don't even know how to go about it, anyway."

"Well, it turns out that this year their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, that's like self-defense Hermione said, was taught by a werewolf. Can you believe it? A real werewolf teaching children self-defense! They're supposed to be Dark creatures, but Hermione said they're terribly misunderstood. She said this Professor Lupin was excellent at teaching."

"A werewolf?" Petunia paled.

"Yes. But he's been sacked. The paper tried to paint the man as dangerous, but Hermione said there wasn't a single incident where he acted inappropriately. She thinks very highly of the man and you know how hard she is to impress. Anyway, I'm thinking of seeing if there's another newspaper since the Prophet reads like a tabloid."

Petunia nodded. The train had just come to a stop and the older students were starting to disembark. They had their trunks levitating behind them, which Petunia was far enough in her occlumency to realize she was jealous about and not repulsed. It was getting easier to come to the station every year, it hurt a little less.

Harry and Hermione were holding hands. Petunia thought they made a cute enough couple. Harry's letters told her about their dates. Petunia had been worried that he wouldn't focus on his studies, but several tea outings with Jane had disabused her of the notion that Hermione would allow any boy she dated to slack academically. Even if it meant putting Hermione second behind studying.

Petunia thought the girl sounded a bit mental over academics, but she was trying to be less judgmental. And it did make sense to study first and pursue relationships second. Petunia wished she'd had that wisdom when she was young. That and maybe the idea that women could be more than just homemakers. Petunia couldn't help being a bit bitter over how lucky these young girls were in that respect.

The creepy man was waving at someone. "Harry!" he shouted.

Petunia froze. Harry waved back at the man. "Sirius! What are you doing here? Where's Aunt Petunia? And Mrs Granger?"

Harry was hugging the strange man.

"I've no idea. I've no idea what they look like, so you tell me, eh?"

The strange man, Sirius, was grinning like he belonged in an asylum.

000

Harry spotted Mrs Granger and Aunt Petunia. Aunt Petunia had that mortified expression she wore whenever someone brought up how Uncle Vernon died. Maybe Mrs Granger had done that on the platform.

"Come on! I've spotted them!"

He dragged Sirius and Hermione over to where Aunt Petunia and Mrs Granger were standing. He stuck out his hand to Mrs Granger.

"Hello, Mrs Granger. It's lovely to see you today."

Mrs Granger shook his hand and Harry turned to Aunt Petunia.

"Aunt Petunia, Mrs Granger this is Sirius Black. My parents named him my godfather."

Aunt Petunia seemed nervous as she stuck out her hand to Sirius.

"Lovely to meet you, ladies," Sirius said with a smile and bow as he kissed Petunia's knuckles. He rose to look at Petunia. "I hope you don't mind, but Harry told me where you lived and I've bought a flat in your building. You might have seen me around recently. I would've introduced myself sooner, but I've been in and out of Saint Mungos."

Mrs Granger started. "Are you that Sirius Black? The one who escaped Azkaban?"

Sirius nodded, but he was looking at Aunt Petunia, who had taken a step backward. "I was innocent of the crimes for which I was imprisoned. I assure you, I'm not a danger to Harry or Hermione."

Aunt Petunia nodded silently, but was slightly more comfortable with the man after she'd seen him smile. Funny how close fear and acceptance can be. Professor Lupin walked up to the group with several trunks behind him.

"Hello. Remus Lupin. I'm meeting Sirius here and I just wanted to say that it's been a pleasure teaching Harry and Hermione this year."

Sirius put his arm around the man's shoulders and grinned even more. "You ready to go home, Moony?"

Remus smiled and looked down. "I appreciate it, but I can make my way on my own."

Sirius pulled him tighter, nearly putting him in a headlock. "Nonsense! Which trunk is yours?"

Remus pointed to the shabbiest of the three trunks. Sirius grabbed the trunk and held onto Remus. "See you later, everyone!"

They disappeared with a pop, trunk and all.

Aunt Petunia turned to Harry. "Did you know he was moving near us?"

Harry shook his head.

"Are you lying? If you're lying I'll be much more upset than if you knew and didn't tell me."

"I had no idea. I swear. I figured he just wanted to visit over the Summer. After that business with Pettigrew and the Ministry…"

Aunt Petunia took several deep breaths and then put on a big smile. "Okay! Let's go home then. Lovely seeing you, Jane."

By the time they got to the car, Aunt Petunia asked to hear about the year at Hogwarts. She listened attentively to Harry's excited chatter about transfiguration, runes, and charms. She listened to him complain about the potions professor. He seemed over the moon about his defense class.

They'd barely closed the door to the apartment behind them when someone knocked. Aunt Petunia answered the door.

"Mr Black, Harry hasn't even had a chance to unpack."

"Of course. I'm just so excited. I was cleared yesterday of all ill effects from the dementors. They called my state remarkable, you know. I'm a remarkable fellow," he said with a disarming grin.

Harry groaned. Sirius was hitting on Aunt Petunia. To be fair, Sirius had hit on Madams Hooch and Pomfrey as well, both of whom were at least thirty years his senior, probably more. So maybe he just hit on every female adult he met. He hadn't hit on any students, but the charm seemed to flood out in waves at any older women.

"Sirius," Harry growled.

"I hope I'm not upsetting you, Petunia. I'm a bit flirty, you see. If that bothers you, of course I'll tone it down or stop."

Aunt Petunia giggled. "I thought you were some sort of stalker at the station."

Sirius did his best "who me?" and Aunt Petunia giggled again. Aunt Petunia leaned in and whispered something in Sirius' ear. Something that caused Sirius to blush. But he smirked and said, "I'm sure we can work something out."

Harry was picturing all manner of things that were making him pale. Aunt Petunia had more than one romance novel in her room.

Sirius clapped his hands together, bringing Harry out of that strange and awful line of thought, and said, "Now: as to why I'm actually here. I would like to train Harry to become an animagus. He'll be able to transform himself into an animal."

"What about the underage magic restrictions?" Harry asked.

"You'll be doing the meditations. You also have to keep a certain leaf in your mouth for a month. That was the hardest part for me, anyway. I swallowed the damned thing. Twice. Spit it out in my sleep a few times too. I've high hopes that you'll manage it on the first try though. You're already an Occlumens of some minor skill."

Harry nodded.

"And, if your Aunt doesn't mind, I'll take you flying on weekends. There's a broom racing track we used to practice on in Wales. I checked that they were still in business and they are."

"Can Aunt Petunia come too?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't see why not. She won't be able to ride the brooms. Unless you don't mind riding as a passenger? I think they rent two-seaters. I can arrange a portkey or we can take the Knight Bus. My bike only seats two and I think Remus will want to come to watch as well at some point. Never was a great flier, that one."

Aunt Petunia smiled. "Of course. Why don't you go home and get a calendar so we can figure out dates? Dudley doesn't get home until next week. Can he come too?"

"Dudley is…?"

"My cousin," Harry answered.

Sirius shrugged again. "I'll have to check with the course, but I don't mind."

Aunt Petunia nodded.

"One last thing. I'm inviting you both to dinner tonight. Now I'm not what you might call culinarily inclined, so I'll be ordering take-away. Remus insists he knows how to cook, but he still looks skinny so I'm not keen to believe him."

Harry looked at Aunt Petunia. She sighed. "All right. I didn't want to cook tonight anyway."

"Brilliant! I'll see you both tonight then. We're in 415." That was only a few doors down the hall. "Say six o'clock?"

000

Remus sat in his room and sighed. He felt like such a charity case and it was eating him. But Sirius hadn't asked him to stay, Sirius had just sent a letter as soon as the Prophet printed the story that said, "Moony, I'm almost glad you've been sacked so you can help me with my new place! I've got the second room all set for you, so don't worry about a thing."

Remus sighed one last time before pulling his wand out and setting his things to unpack.

"Moony!"

Sirius needn't have shouted so loudly. Remus was a werewolf. That came with certain super-sensory benefits. Or curses, when a roommate tried to shag every bird with a pulse he came across and succeeded more often than one would expect.

Remus opened the door. "Yes?"

"We're going to order take-away. Help your oldest friend."

Remus smiled. "Dumbledore is my oldest friend. You're just my longest tenured."

"There's that rapier wit! Really though, I need a hand. I don't know how to order without magic. Here: I have a bunch of menus from places."

Sirius opened a drawer and pulled a stack of fliers and menus out onto the kitchen counter. Remus sighed and began looking over the pamphlets.

"Harry and Petunia will be joining us for dinner, so we need to order enough for all of us."

Remus grunted as he looked over the Chinese menu. It offered a Bejing Roast Duck dish that was piquing his interest.

"Also, we're going to make regular outings to the broom track on weekends. You're welcome to come along."

"No, thank you. I saw how Harry flies this year. I don't think I could take watching the two of you compete," he said as he scribbled down menu items with a muggle pen. It felt almost foreign after using quills all year.

000

Harry and Petunia arrived just as the delivery man was leaving apartment 415. Petunia pressed the button for the buzzer.

"Just a sec!"

Sirius opened the door while Remus was emptying cartons onto plates in the kitchen.

"Welcome! Come on in."

Once the door closed, Sirius took out his wand and waved it at the cabinets in the kitchen. Place settings flew out and landed around the dining table. Remus walked the plates over as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm not sure if he's showing off or just lazy."

"Bit of both, at a wager," Harry replied with a grin.

"Thank you for having us over, Mr Black."

"Of course! Can I get you a drink?"

"God yes. Anything with alcohol will be fine."

Petunia was clearly struggling with the situation for one reason or another. Maybe even several.

They all sat down and tucked in.

Harry looked over to Sirius. "Tell me a bit more about the animagus training."

"Well, as I said earlier: there's a lot of meditation involved, so that's the first thing. And you have to hold a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month. Everything else will have to wait until after that."

Harry looked to Remus. "How was it for you, since Sirius is being evasive?"

Remus smiled and looked down. "Oh, I never bothered with the skill myself."

"Really?"

"I didn't see the point."

"Why not?"

"James, Sirius, and Peter became animagi so they could be with me during the full moon. I just… helped them at it."

"That's a shame. You should try it anyway now that you've got some free time. If I have to do it, I shouldn't be alone, should I?"

Remus smiled again. "I doubt Miss Granger is going to miss out on extracurricular magic lessons, so you won't be alone."

"Well then you'll make a third. Come on: what have you to lose?"

"I think it's illegal for a werewolf to become an animagus."

"So what? Those laws are stupid anyway. You're a werewolf, not a… a nundu. You transform against your will once a month. I'm sure there are husbands who say the same about their wives. Quit being such a p… sissy."

"Well, when you put it in such juvenile terms, how can I refuse?" Remus expressionless face hinted at his inherent sarcasm.

Harry smiled brightly. "Brilliant. It's settled then. You, me, and Hermione will become animagi this Summer."

Petunia wondered at the sanity of agreeing to let Sirius do anything with Harry. He was clearly a child and made everyone around him act like a child. She was even acting like a child.

000

It had been a month of having the leaf in their mouths and Sirius had guided them all through the meditations. Remus knew already what his animal form would be and had more than a little fear over completing the process. Harry and Hermione were so excited that he just couldn't bring himself to disappoint them, however.

"I'm a lioness." Hermione was in a state of shock. She was so hoping for an otter. She loved otters. A lioness would be a more useful form, she supposed, it being a land animal and all. Still, she was a bit disappointed. "Harry?"

"What else could I possibly be? It's been ringing round my head for years."

Sirius was excited like a kid on Christmas morning. "Say it. Go on. I want to hear it."

"I am the dragon." The room seemed to shudder and they could all feel it ringing in their teeth and guts.

Sirius nudged Remus' arm. "See? I told you. Didn't I tell you? I did tell you."

Remus merely smiled, nodded, and responded in monotone, "Yes. Just as I'm a werewolf. Yay."

"Hermione, go ahead and go first. You might not get your clothes the first time, so just be aware."

Hermione sighed and focused on joining herself to her animal, letting the magic flow through her. It gave her some pleasure as she shifted into a great predator. She was a little annoyed, however, to find that her clothes were shredded in a pile next to her.

She glared at Sirius, who put his hands up and said, "I told you your clothes might not change. You chose to continue wearing them instead of changing into a bath robe or going nude or something."

She glared harder.

"I'm not saying you should have gone nude, of course. Just that it was an option to save your clothes that you didn't take. You could have done a sheet or a bathrobe or a towel or any number of non-trivial modesty covering devices. You could've even just gone into a room and morphed in private."

"Way to dig yourself deeper," Remus commented. Hermione growled.

"Harry, you'll have to wait for me to cast the space expansion charms. I know Remus won't want to change without some precautions against transmitting his condition, so you'll have to go before him."

Sirius took out his wand and the room was suddenly several times its original volume.

"Okay. Go ahead."

Harry took off his shirt, glasses, and trousers, but left his boxers on. He connected his magic to the vision of his inner animal and shifted. Remus and Sirius gasped and took a step back. Hermione was so shocked she shifted back to herself and scrambled, nude, several steps back.

"Well? What do you think?" Harry's voice rumbled out from the mouth of the dragon. His scales were black with a purple pearlessence that made them shimmer as he moved. He had great leathery wings and his body clearly had corded muscles that rippled beneath the scales and his tail curled around him. His eyes were the exact shade of green Harry's eyes normally were, but they were slitted and reptilian.

"You can talk?" Sirius whispered. "That's… so not fair," he whined, very much like a dog.

"What kind of dragon am I then?"

Remus frowned as he walked around Harry, examining the dragon. "Your head has horns that look like a Welsh Green, but your scales are black like a Hungarian Horntail. They also shimmer a bit like an Antipodaen Opaleye. Or a fish. Anyway, your tail has an arrow-shaped spike like a Hebridian Black. If I had to guess, I'd say you're a mutt, Harry."

Harry huffed and fire came out his nostrils. "Sorry! Sorry!"

Hermione shifted back to her lioness form and nudged Remus. Her head was at his waist, which made her an average sized lion, easily more than 120 kilograms. Remus stumbled forward and looked to Sirius, who changed immediately into a giant black dog.

Remus sighed. He pulled off his robe, connected his wolf with his magic, and felt the transfiguration begin to take hold. It was by far less painful than his monthly transformation and he remained in control, much like when he was on the Wolfsbane potion only more.

With the potion, he still felt the wolf in the back of his mind screaming at him to act a certain way, to do certain things. This was completely him, no wolf involved. He shifted back and put his robe on.

"I'll get robes for you lot. Sirius, don't be a child."

Sirius shifted back and called, "Hey! I can be an adult any time I like!"

Harry shifted back down and kept his hands covering his groin. His boxers lay in tatters on the floor.

"Not going to be easy for me to practice, is it?"

Sirius looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Harry still couldn't raise just one eyebrow and was considering giving up trying. "You can always practice here. And you'll have plenty of space if you practice in the Forbidden Forrest at Hogwarts."

"Not like you lot though. Hermione can just lock a classroom door and practice. I'm what? Eight meters long? Three or four meters tall at the shoulder?"

"Yeah. About that…"

"What?"

"You'll only get bigger. You've just turned fourteen, so your form is still an adolescent. Hermione too."

Remus held up the robe for Hermione while looking away and she shifted, taking the robe. "You're saying our forms aren't finished growing yet because we're not finished growing?"

Sirius grimaced and responded, "Yes."

"So I'll be a great big lioness weighing twenty stone or so?"

Sirius shrugged. "No idea how much a stone is, so sure. Why not."

"A stone is a bit more than six kilos," Hermione and Remus said in stereo.

"I'm pretty sure I'll still outweigh you, 'Mione."

"Well you're just a great bloody dragon, aren't you?"

"I am the dragon." The walls shook and one of the pictures fell off the wall.

"Don't you take that tone with me, Mister."

Harry lifted his hands. "Sorry! Instinct. Couldn't help it."

"Instinct?"

Remus stepped between the two. "There can be, and usually is, some bleed over between your animagus form and your human form. You may have noticed Sirius is a bit of a dog."

"Oh. Great. I'm so glad I let you all talk me into this now. I'm sure my lioness instincts will prove really useful in future. And I see some Ministry owls as well. You said this was allowed!"

The owls deposited warning slips to Harry and Hermione for illegal underage magic use.

"I'll go to the Ministry this afternoon and clear it up. This is supposed to be allowed since you aren't using wands," Sirius said with a frown.

"You'd better!" Hermione snarled.

"There's a bit of the lioness. You already have plenty of instincts that you ignore. These are just new ones. Sirius chooses to let his instincts guide him. Because he's a great big man-child."

"Hey!"

"You are."

Everyone was smiling except Hermione. "I just… I never thought of myself like a lion."

"No?" Remus asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"It's a huge part of a gryffon, so much that lions are what Gryffindors, which have the gryffon in their crest, are known as. I've seen how you act and it really isn't a surprise to me. I'm sure it isn't a surprise to Harry or Sirius. I bet your parents wouldn't even be all that surprised."

Harry nodded.

Sirius clapped his hands together. "Right. That's settled. You lot all just need to practice more to figure out the nuances, so it's time for celebratory ice cream," he finished with a grin.

Hermione glared at him.

"Which I will purchase and leave you to eat while I straighten out the underage magic warning you've received?"

Hermione nodded. "Better."

Sirius just grumbled something about Peter's trial being a walk in the park compared to dealing with angry women.

A/N: Anyone jumps on me for "pairing" Sirius with Petunia needs to grow up. Flirting is not "pairing" and if you need me to explain that to you, you are too stupid to be my target audience. I respect my target audience. My target audience is at least a little clever. If you need your hand held and reassurance that Sirius will never give the long pork to Petunia in an author's note, you are also not my target audience.

Anyway, hope you enjoy reading.