Forbidden Forest

After he had left the house where Remus and Snape had taken him, Sirius walked idly for a while, thinking about the next step of his plan.

He couldn't tell either of them what he intended to do, he feared Remus wouldn't agree with his plans and Snape would certainly tell Dumbledore – and the old man would intervene.

So Sirius walked for most of the early morning, in his animagus form, being careful not to be seen by centaurs and other creatures from the Forbidden Forest.

He knew where he was going to find place where he could hide and no one would find him, so he walked back to Hogsmeade, walking through the beautiful village, accepting food from kids and kind people that saw the scraggly dog and felt sorry for him.

A little before noon, Sirius found himself near Florence's house – now Snivellus' house as well.

He stopped in front of the beautiful home, and let out a doggy sigh.

If he were honest with himself, he had to admit he'd always known Florence would never be truly his, but he couldn't shake the feeling that, now that she had married Snivellus, he had lost her forever.

He kept on walking for a few more blocks, until he finally arrived at his destination and, ignoring the sign that said NO TRESPASSING, he walked the long path towards his well-known Shrieking Shack.

A week later

Snapes' family home

Severus arrived home later than he had wished for that night.

The kids and Florence were no longer downstairs; so he walked into the kitchen and found Tiffany still in there.

"Hi, Tiffany, serve me my dinner in the bedroom, please," he said.

"Right away, Master," the elf answered, noticing he was tired and adding half a glass of firewhisky to his tray.

He walked upstairs and heard Florence's sweet voice coming from Christopher's bedroom; he stopped by the door and peeked inside, seeing his beautiful wife in there reading their five-year-old son a book; the boy, all tucked in on his bed, was trying hard not to fall asleep.

Severus smiled at the sweet scene.

Hey, love. He said through their bond.

Florence smiled without looking at the door, not wanting to let her son know his dad was home.

Don't get in here, Chris will want to play with you.

I know. I'm too tired for that tonight. I'll go take a shower.

She discreetly nodded.

Severus had already showered and was having dinner at the small table by the balcony in their bedroom, dressed only a pair of dark-blue boxer-briefs, when Florence entered the room.

"Hey, Sev," she kissed his lips and sat on the bed.

"It took Chris a long time to fall asleep," he commented.

"Yes. He doesn't like that the twins have to go to school, but now he's really upset that Liz will be away this year too," Florence covered herself with the soft duvet.

Severus remembered the thought he had had at the safe-house a week ago, and he decided to mention it to her: "I know you said we should wait to have more babies after Chris, but... he'll be six in November, Flor. And, like you said: he'll be the only kid home after September."

Florence sighed, "I know what you're saying and... I must admit I have thought about it. But- what if this is the year my father returns, Sev? Having more kids now with the eminence of a war sounds reckless and dangerous."

"Do you want more kids?" Severus asked, looking at her expectantly.

Florence smiled and nodded, "Yes. I do. The twins are no longer kids, Liz is already a preteen. I want more babies, at least one more."

He finished his firewhisky and walked to the bed, lying down beside her, "I can't promise you that your father won't return within a year but... It's very unlikely."

"I believe that too," she bit her bottom lip, trying to control her giddiness at the unexpected decision they were about to make.

Severus smiled, "So, does this mean you'll stop taking the contraceptive potion?"

Florence smiled and whispered: "Are we certain we will do this, Sev?"

"I am. But it's your body that will carry about fifteen more kilos for nearly a year and then push a little person out of your vagina. So you decide."

She chuckled at his words and closed her eyes for a moment, then she nodded, "Yes. I'm certain too, I'll stop the potion! I want to have one more baby."

"Yes!" he exclaimed, kissing her animatedly.

Florence touched his face once his lips left hers, asking him: "Why did you arrive so late tonight?"

"There was a meeting this afternoon. Now, on top of the aurors, the Ministry wants to send dementors to patrol the school grounds, because of Black."

"Dementors in the school?! It's bad enough they're already in Hogsmeade," Florence said, shaking her head, "I went for a walk with Chris this afternoon and I heard people mentioning it in the stores. I even saw a dementor. No one is happy about it - obviously."

"Some people are saying that Black is after Harry," said Severus, pulling her to his chest.

"Well, it's not surprising that he'd want to see his godson, don't you think? I was asking myself the other day how come he hasn't showed up here yet. He'll probably want to see the twins."

Severus growled, clearly disapproving of the thought of Sirius' presence in that house.

"The thing is," he spoke, "Some are saying that he wants to find Harry to end what he started twelve years ago."

"What?" Florence frowned, "They're saying Sirius wants to kill Harry? But we both know that's not possible. Sirius didn't kill James and Lily, we know Pettigrew was their Secret-Keeper."

"But no one else knows that besides us, Pomfrey, Remus and Dumbledore," he kissed her left hand, "The aurors from Azkaban said that Black kept repeating 'He's in Hogwarts. He's in Hogwarts' in his last days in prison."

"That's odd," Florence thought for a moment, "But it doesn't mean he's out to kill Harry. He could be talking about you, as far as we know."

"I've thought about that, Flor," Severus sounded concerned, "But I'm not his target, if I were, he'd have tried something the other day while I slept… I just don't understand why he'd run from us. Whatever it is that he wants in Hogwarts, he could have asked for help instead of running."

"I don't understand that either, Sev. But we know this is not the first time Sirius hides something from us," she looked at him, touching a hand to his face, "And he hates you; I bet he thought you wouldn't help him or would tell Dumbledore about whatever it is he wants to do in the school."

He nodded, massaging her scalp, "Remus is afraid Black might be crazy… that he may be believing that he actually killed James and Lily, after all these years locked up in Azkaban…."

"But you said Sirius looked fine."

"He did look like a man that had been in prison, but he didn't sound like a lunatic to me," Severus sincerely replied.

"Let's hope that you're right and he's not crazy, as Remus fears. Otherwise..." began Florence, worried.

"We'll have to kill him," finished Severus, not as happy about that prospect as he once thought he'd be.

And Florence closed her eyes, hoping with all her heart that they wouldn't have to do that.

One night, two days before the beginning of the school term, Severus was home taking a shower while Florence was in bed, reading, enjoying the silence after all the kids went to bed, when Tiffany walked into the room.

"I'm sorry to bother Mistress Flor, but... there's a letter and Tiffany thinks it's urgent," she handed the envelope to Florence

"Of course, Tiff. Thank you," she said, noticing it was from the Ministry and frowning as she read it.

"What's that?" asked Severus, walking into the room dressed in just a pair of joggers, his long hair still wet.

"Harry turned Vernon Dursley's sister into a balloon this evening."

Severus laughed, "That's bloody brilliant!"

"Yes, but Fudge is letting me know he ran away from home."

Then he suddenly stopped laughing, understanding why she hadn't found it funny.

"That's not good," he said, "Without knowing Black's true intentions, I don't like the idea of Harry wandering around at night."

"Me neither," she got out of bed and summoned a dress from the closet, getting dressed quickly, "I'll go after him, I can find him through the Trace."

"Florence-"

"Don't try to stop me, Severus. You know you can't," she simply said.

He let out an annoyed sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose and knowing he truly wasn't as skilled as her to be able to stop her from leaving – and out of the two of them, she'd be more welcomed by Harry than he.

Florence cast the Tracking Spell and disapparated to Little Whinging, easily finding Harry in the playground of a small park; she let out a relieved sigh seeing he was safe, then she thought about what she should do to get him out of that potentially dangerous situation, and she quickly came up with a plan.

Raising her wand, she whispered: "Knight Bus, calling the Knight Bus, I need an emergency pick up in Little Whinging for underage wizard Harry Potter."

Next she pointed her wand to Harry and whispered a coercion spell: "Cogere," noticing the boy's expression change from worried to relaxed, then she planted the idea in his mind: "You'll want to go to the Leaky Cauldron, that's in London," then she lowered her wand, finishing the spell, and waited.

Harry touched his temple as if he was having a headache and sat down on the curb, but as soon as he had sat, he got up, looking scared all of a sudden – as if he had seen something frightening across the street from him.

Florence looked attentively and then she saw what it was: "Sirius!" she whispered, her heart racing in fear as she recognised the shaggy black dog staring at Harry, her mind replaying Severus's words that maybe Sirius had begun to believe he actually had killed Lily and James and that he had to kill Harry too.

The dog barked at the boy and Florence ran towards them, but before she could protect her godson, a purple triple-decker bus appeared and she stopped, hiding once again, keeping her eyes on the dog as she waited for Harry to get on the bus.

Once the Knight Bus was gone, she pointed her wand towards the place in the woods where she'd seen the dog just a second ago and said: "Sirius! I know it's you!"

For a moment she thought he had fled, but then the dog walked out of the bushes and stared at her and she could see surprise in his blue eyes.

"I need to know, Padfoot," she never lowered her wand, "Tell me you're not here to kill him. Tell me you know you didn't kill Lily and James."

But the dog just tilted his head.

"C'mon, Sirius! I don't want to hurt you, but will, if you try to harm Harry!" she said, with tears in her eyes.

But Sirius just barked once more and ran back into the bushes behind him.

Florence didn't follow him, she lowered her wand and apparated back home.

Severus was in the living room, pacing as he waited for his wife to return; he wasn't afraid she would get herself hurt, for there was nothing Black could do that would harm her. However, they didn't know how crazy the man had become, or if he was acting alone.

If she doesn't show up in twenty minutes I'll go after her.

But as soon as he had thought that, Severus heard the familiar 'pop' of someone apparating in the backyard and ran to the backdoor.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Harry's safe," Florence replied, walking into the house and going straight to the library, "I have to write to Fudge, let him know Harry's on his way to the Leaky Cauldron."

"How?"

"The Knight Bus," she picked up paper and a pen and quickly wrote a message, "Tiffany!" she called.

"Yes, Mistress Flor?" asked the elf as soon as she appeared.

"Pop to Minister Cornelius Fudge's house and ask his elf to deliver this to him as soon as possible, please."

She gave her the letter and Tiffany disappeared.

"What about Black?" asked Severus, "Did you see him?"

"Yes," Florence looked at him, concerned, "He was there, looking at Harry from across the street."

"So he did go after the boy. Did he threaten Harry?"

"Not really. I can't say for sure," she sounded hesitant, "I approached him after Harry went off with the Bus. I begged him to tell me if he was there to harm Harry, I told him we wouldn't let him do that. But he just stared at me, barked once and left."

"So... we still don't know what he wants," said Severus.

She shook her head, "No, we don't."

Leaky Cauldron

Harry arrived at the famous wizarding pub and inn known as The Leaky Cauldron early in the morning, the sun had just risen.

He walked into the place and was under the impression that his arrival had been somehow expected, for the owner immediately took him to room 11 where Harry was surprised to see not only Minister Cornelius Fudge, but also Hogwarts Mediwitch Florence Delacour, waiting for him.

"Hi, Mr Potter," she greeted him kindly, "Have a seat. Did you enjoy riding the Knight Bus?"

Harry frowned and just nodded, rendered speechless in his confusion over how she could possibly know he had arrived in that purple menace they called a bus.

"Hello, Harry! As Minister for Magic," Fudge spoke loudly. "It's my duty to inform you that your uncle's sister was located, safely deflated and had all her memories from last night's incident erased," he gave him a weak smile, "So all is well."

Harry felt like a frowny expression would be etched forever on his face, for he couldn't understand the Minister's amicable tone or the lack of mention of a punishment.

"Something wrong, Harry?" Florence asked, noticing his confusion.

He nodded, "I don't understand, I used magic outside school."

"For the second time, yes," said Fudge, quickly glancing at the mediwitch and Harry thought he saw a glimpse of fear in the man's eyes.

"I broke the law," Harry said.

"Yes, but..." the Minister exhaled and laughed, "The Ministry don't send people to Azkaban for blowing up their aunt, Harry! If we did that, we'd need a special department just to deal with family disputes. Not to mention a second Azkaban!"

Harry glanced at the mediwitch, trying to understand what she was doing there.

"I'm here as a Hogwarts' envoy," Florence explained with a smile, "In case the Ministry tried to expel you, I would be forced to intervene," she looked at Fudge and, although she still smiled, her green eyes sparkled menacingly and the man seemed to cower slightly, "Now, Harry," she turned to look at him and her eyes had the kindness he was used to see, "Running away like that – given the state of things – was very irresponsible of you," she sounded worried.

"The state of things? You mean because of Sirius Black?" Harry asked, trying to understand.

Florence smiled, hearing him say Sirius's name without knowing who he was – plus her uncertainty as to why Sirius had escaped – made her deeply sad.

"Yes, Harry. You must be careful," she gave him a concerned smile.

"But, Madam Delacour, what does he have to do with me?"

"Not specifically with you," she lied, "We must all be careful."

Harry nodded and Florence added: "That being said, I ask you not to wander in the Alley. I took the liberty to get all your books and necessary school supplies already. Also, the Weasleys are here in the Leaky Cauldron, so you won't be alone until you have to go to Hogwarts tomorrow."

He nodded, "Thank you, Ma'am."

"Good," she smiled, "Now, Tom is already in the corridor and he'll show you to your room."

Harry just nodded and left the room.

As the door closed, Fudge turned to Florence, frowning: "He doesn't know you're his godmother and that Sirius Black is his godfather."

"No. And he'll remain ignorant of that," Florence replied, firmly, making it clear he shouldn't open his mouth.

"I can assure you I won't tell him anything," he said, hands raised in a sign of surrender.

Florence just nodded once and left the room, knocking on another room down that same corridor.

Remus Lupin opened the door and smiled at her.

"Tom mentioned that a certain Mr Lupin had arrived here last night. I had to come see you."

"I'm glad you did!" he pulled her into a hug after he'd closed the door, "Come on in, Flor. I had scented you were around. What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Her smile quickly died and concern filled her eyes, "I wish it was for a happy reason but... I saw Sirius last night. In Little Whinging."

"Why was he there?" Remus frowned.

"I couldn't find out. I begged him to tell me he wasn't there to harm Harry, but he never changed from his animagus form. He just looked at me, barked and left."

Remus sighed heavily, "Did you feel if he was about to attack Harry or something?"

"No. But I can't say that with a hundred percent certainty," she shook her head.

Remus exhaled, as worried as her, "I had thought about taking the train with the students – now I'm certain that's what I must do."

Florence nodded, "That's a good idea."

"Even with all the dementors around, Sirius has fooled them once; until we are sure he's not escaped to hurt Harry, I think one of us should always know where the boy is."

"I agree with you," Florence nodded, then she smiled again, "I'm glad you'll be in Hogwarts this year," she hugged him again, noticing then that he seemed to have lost weight, "Have you been taking the wolfsbane I send you, Remus?"

He immediately winced, "Yes, but..."

"But what?" she angrily asked, suddenly realising that something wasn't right with him.

"Some months I didn't take it, because I was trying to become friends with Fenrir Greyback," he grimaced as he said it, knowing she'd be furious at him.

"What? Why would you do such utter stupidity?" she demanded.

"To keep us all informed about possible Dark Siders meetings."

"Severus already has his ways of knowing that!" she interrupted him, exasperated.

"Not amongst the werewolves, Flor. They know everything. They can smell it - literally."

"So what? That's not worth your life, Remus!"

"It's all I can do, Flor. After Umbridge's law passed, I lost my job. Greyback has clients that prefer to have werewolves as security guards working in their banks and stores, and they pay handsomely. I needed him."

She frowned, understanding, "I don't like it, Remus. But... I get it. And have you learned anything recently?"

"No. There are no signs of your father's return. All is the same."

"Good," Florence sighed, letting out a small smile, "It sure makes me glad to know that. Although you shouldn't be risking yourself working for Greyback!" she slapped his arm – something that barely gave him any pain. Then she told him: "Severus and I have decided to have another baby."

He genuinely smiled, "Really? That's great!"

"Yes. The twins are no longer kids, Liz is going to Beauxbatons tomorrow-"

"Already?" he asked, surprised. "Blimey! I haven't seen her in a year. I bet she's grown a lot!"

"Oh, yes, she has. She's gorgeous and so materialistic. Ugh! I have no idea how-" she started to say it but stopped herself: "No no, wait, I do know how she turned out like that."

"Severus has probably given everything she's ever wanted and more," Remus chuckled.

"Exactly. All she has to do is ask and he gives it to her. When she was a baby, she didn't even have to say anything, she just pointed her little finger to something and he gave it to her."

Remus laughed, "I can totally see Severus doing that," he looked at her, "You're amazing parents, Flor. You should have as many babies as the Weasleys!"

"Well, that's Severus's goal. But I'll be happy with just one more," she held his hands, "Will you accept being godfather this time? Dumbledore is Liz's and Pomfrey is Christopher's."

He hesitated, "I don't know, Flor. It's a big responsibility."

"C'mon, Moony! Please."

"Alright. Alright," he accepted with a smile.

"Thank you!" she hugged him.

"Let me know when you get pregnant."

"I will!" she smiled at him, "I'll see you tomorrow at the welcoming feast, right?"

"Yes."

"Bye, Remus!" she kissed his cheek and left to go home.

Snapes' family home

Severus was in the living room, reading his newspaper while Chris played on the rug near him, when Florence walked into the house.

"All went according to plan," she told him with a smile.

"Really," he drawled with an arched eyebrow, lowering his newspaper and staring at her, "And why do I see Remus Lupin in your mind, wife?"

She walked to him, smirking, "That's because I just spent the last hour in bed with him. Husband."

Severus frowned at her, not liking her foolish and provocative joke.

She laughed at him and sat on his lap, folding his newspaper and putting it on the side table, "Do I really have to tell you that's not true?"

"No," he replied, but she could feel his jealousy eating him up inside.

Florence kissed his lips and continued in a more serious tone: "I told Remus about last night and he thinks we should all keep tabs on Harry's whereabouts until we learn more about Sirius's intentions."

"I agree with him."

"Good. He'll be on the train tomorrow."

"That's excellent. So I'll only have to endure his presence for an hour during dinner and then we'll be able to go to my quarters."

"Why? I want to spend some time with my friend."

Severus possessively stared at her, I've had enough of this Remus nonsense, wife. Get upstairs. Now. We're working on that baby this morning.

The contraceptive is still working, husband.

I don't care. Get upstairs.

And she obeyed, giggling and almost running to their bedroom.

Hogwarts

Next night

At the high table

"How was the trip?" Florence asked, hugging Remus as he sat on the chair to her right.

"Not good," Remus said, seeming very worried, "Dementors boarded the train and... one of them went straight to Harry."

"What do you mean?" she frowned.

"It attacked him, unprovoked. Harry fell down screaming and I sent the dementor away."

"Did you give Harry some chocolate?" she asked, looking towards the Gryffindor table.

"Yes. Don't worry," he touched her hand, "He's fine, Flor."

"Hands off, Lupin!" growled Severus, sitting beside Florence.

She just rolled her eyes at him, and Remus took his hand away from hers.

But their small interaction didn't go unnoticed by the students – which started a whole new set of rumours and theories about the Mediwitch, the Potions Master and the new DADA teacher.