Sirius set down Harry, still keeping close to him, before giving his favorite cousin a bear hug, knowing he was grinning broadly. The fact that they were the most compatible of the Black siblings had not gone unnoticed by their families, and they both had suspected that there had once been talk of marriage between the two. One of the factors that complicated such an arrangement-their being first cousins notwithstanding, as Sirus's own parents had been second cousins-was the fact that Andromeda was five years his senior. Had it been the other way around, this might have been seen as fortuitous-after all, as his own mother had said, "A decent girl needs an older man to guide her, whether that be her father, an older brother, or, eventually, her husband." (She was one to talk-being the unofficial head of the family!) No doubt, had Sirius and Andromeda fallen in love over the years, the advantageousness of two Black lines being able to keep the family name preserved for another generation would have outweighed any negatives associated with Andromeda being the older one.

Such had not been the case. Sirius loved Andromeda as an older sister, respected and admired her, and perhaps even saw her marriage to Ted as proof that it was possible to escape the Black family with your life intact. But romantic love? While anyone could see that Andromeda was gorgeous, she'd always been family, first.

Putting these thoughts aside, his smile deepened as he felt her firm hug around his frame. He usually visited at least once a month, but acclimating Harry to his new life had meant remaining at home. Not that he minded, but he was glad to be back in familiar company. After separating from his cousin, Sirius spoke.

"Andy. It's lovely to see you once more." Turning to Harry, who'd gone quiet and rather wide eyed, he spoke gently. "Harry, love, this is Andromeda. Remember, the pretty girl from the pictures? She's my cousin. You can call her..."

He trailed off, hoping that his cousin would provide an answer.

"Why don't you call me Aunt Andromeda, Harry? For now, at least." She extended a hand, and smiled warmly.

Harry nodded, slowly, then held out his hand to shake hers. "Hello," he said, rather tremulously.

Andromeda beamed as she gently shook it. "I expect you were too young to remember, but I saw you quite a bit when you were a baby." At his hesitant smile, Andromeda added, encouragingly, "It's lovely to see you again."

"It's-it's nice to meet-to see-you, too," the child stammered.

Andromeda was still smiling, but her eyes showed a look of understanding that Sirius recognized all too well.

"Let's have a seat on the couch, and perhaps some tea and warm biscuits," she offered. "I made a batch this morning. I'll just fetch Ted and Dora. Please, make yourself at home."

They nodded, and Andromeda rather lead the way to the yellow couch. Sirius took a seat on the plush cushions, then wrapped an arm around Harry in a comforting manner. Harry snuggled in close to him, and Sirius rather suspected it had as much to do with being uneasy in these surroundings as wanting to be close to Sirius.

It was, after all, the first house he had been in since entering Grimmauld Place.

"You have nothing to worry about, Harry," Sirius soothed, staring into his eyes. "Andy is one of the kindest women I know, and her husband is just as good. Now, Dora's a bit of a troublemaker," he added, with a wink, "but she has a very kind heart."

His child nodded, but edged a bit closer to Sirius.

Ted strode into the room a moment later, wearing bright yellow robes. Sirius smiled easily as he rose and hugged him. He both liked and respected the man, which was a high compliment for someone who had been in Hufflepuff. Edward Tonks was the same height as Sirius, but there the physical resemblances ended. His skin was paler, his hair rather brown and messy (not entirely unlike James's had been, if far more muted), and his frame, once stocky, was now rather larger. Oh, the man was far from Vernon's corpulence, but Sirius (and Ted, he would sure, would admit) certainly enjoyed his wife's good cooking.

On that note, were the Black genes ones that rejected the tendency towards excess weight in males and females, Sirius imagined that had he been in Ted's place, he would have struggled with overeating.

"Sirius! Harry!" Beaming, Ted walked over to the couch, and then took a seat next to Sirius, keeping Harry on his far side. Sirius noted the man's desire to keep Harry at ease with approval. "How good to see you again! Harry, how are you settling in?"

His voice was gentle, and Harry smiled a bit as he answered, softly, "Very well, sir."

"I'm glad! Sirius may have been a bit of a troublemaker back in school, but he's become quite a respectable adult," Ted added, with an overstated wink.

"Now, Ted! You and I were at Hogwarts for only two years together," Sirius protested, half-heartedly. "I'll have you know I performed my best work in my later years."

Harry giggled, and Sirius gave him a squeeze.

"I may not have been there to witness your hijinks," Ted allowed, "but I've heard the rumors." To Harry, he added, "I don't believe anyone in Hufflepuff ever caused so much trouble."

"I dunno, Ted. Your daughter's following in my footsteps rather well," Sirius shot back, with a laugh.

Ted opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by footsteps, followed by a pretty girl with long brown hair and blue green robes nearly hurling herself into the sitting room.

"Hello!" she greeted, all cheer and smiles. "Wotcher, Harry, Uncle Sirius!"

Sirius wasn't technically Dora's uncle, but Andromeda thought it was more polite to address him as such.

"Hello, Dora!" he answered, standing briefly to give his "niece" a hug. "We were just talking about you. Had a good first year?"

While he said this last part to his niece, both Ted and Harry stifled giggles.

"Oh yes, except for Snape." Her face darkened. "I thought you were just having a go at me."

Sirius chuckled. "Well, he's never been my teacher, as we were classmates, but he was a regular terror then. But come, let's properly introduce you to my pup," he added, quickly. "Harry, this is your older cousin, Nymphadora, who goes by Dora."

Harry stood, and they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, Dora," Harry said, with rather more confidence than greeting the adults. Although, come to think of it, his eyes rather widened at the sight of a near teenager in his vicinity.

This wasn't entirely due to his history with the Dursleys, though. Sirius was quite sure that, muggle or magical being, it was universal for kids to be awed by those even a few years older than them.

Dora was, after all, more than twice his age, and already in the school that he might one day be attending.

"You too," Dora returned, with an easy grin. "So, you're living with Sirius and Remus, eh? Are they already teaching you the tricks of the trade?" At Harry's look of confusion, she added, "How to cause trouble and not get caught."

"N-not yet," Harry stammered, looking to Sirius for help.

Sirius put an arm around his shoulder. "We're rather focused on getting Harry settled in and making new friends before that."

Dora's face darkened, just a bit, then softened. The trial had been on full view in the wizarding world, and even those students who didn't subscribe to the Daily Prophet (and really, Sirius suspected that fewer than one in ten did, and those were likely Ravenclaw) had heard the rumors. The Boy Who Lived, set to live among muggles, and the worst kind at that. Made to wear cast off clothes, sleep in a cupboard, do more chores than a house-elf (the last bit, even Sirius admitted, was highly exaggerated-yes, Harry had been set with chores beyond what a near five year old should do, but even Petunia knew that his small body had physical limitations), deprived of all affection...the list went on and on. Respect for the headmaster of Hogwarts declined considerably, for wasn't he the one who had set Harry in the care of these muggles? Even McGonagall, an ardent supporter of him, had been quoted as saying, "I did think it was ill advised. I'd spent a day watching those muggles as a cat-the worst sort of muggles, they were. But Albus believed it was for the boy's protection, and now I regret not interfering."

No doubt, Dora had at least some idea of what Harry had been through since his parents' murder.

"Of course," she said, now taking a seat next to Harry. She looked as though she wanted to say more, but refrained.

Or, perhaps, couldn't think of anything else to say.

Neither could Sirius, quite frankly. It had become rather awkward in the room, even with Andromeda joining them. Suddenly, her pure blood breeding took over, the hospitality instilled in girls from a young age to their equals.

"How's Remus?" she asked, politely.

"Generally well, although he wasn't feeling well today," Sirius answered, honestly. "It's nearing that time, but..." He shrugged. "Could be unrelated. At any rate, he didn't want to join us and possibly make you lot sick."

Sirius had rather hoped that Moony would join them. He'd wanted to speak with Andromeda alone, and unless Harry felt comfortable enough to remain with the others for a period of time, that was now unlikely to happen.

Well, it was hardly pressing, and there was always the option of sending an owl with his questions...

"That's very thoughtful of him," Andromeda praised, and Sirius knew she meant it. Unlike many others in their world, she made no judgements about Remus based on his lycanthropy. She hadn't learned about it until after Sirius had left his family home, and then, her response had been quite similar to theirs-entirely compassionate. Had Severus not been enlisted to make the Wolfsbane potion, Sirius knew that she would have been able to do so-with ease. "I'll send him over some chocolate biscuits to cheer him up. Speaking of which...these aren't going to eat themselves. Come, tuck in! Unless," she added, with a laugh, "you already tried, and discovered I measured the sugar incorrectly or something, and are too polite to tell me?"

Ted and Dora chuckled-either this had happened once before, or the idea was so absurd that it was laughable-and Ted flicked his wand so that the tray floated to Sirus and Harry, first.

They were after all, their guests.

Harry looked awed at this display of magic, but tentatively took a mug of tea and a small biscuit.

Andromeda opened her mouth as though to urge Harry to take another, but Sirius gave her a brief shake of the head. Best not to pressure Harry into taking more right away. Let him eat what he wanted, and if he wanted more afterwards, make sure he knew it was all right. Andromeda closed her mouth, and watched as everyone else-perhaps following Harry's lead-took a single biscuit with their mugs of tea.

The biscuits were, of course, delicious. Far beyond anything that Sirius could manage. He could follow a recipe just fine, but Andromeda had an innate sense of knowing when a food needed a bit of something "extra" to make it that much more flavorful. As a result, everything that she cooked was not simply a dish, but an experience. Why, she could even make dreary vegetables into something he'd ask for seconds of.

Harry nibbled his at first, but when it came to the last third, he put the whole morsel in his mouth and chewed. Andromeda hovered the tray around the circle, seeing as everyone had finished, and this time, Harry tentatively took two. Sirius smiled and gave his ward a nod of approval.

Between bites and sips of tea, they discussed any number of topics, from Dora's successful first year at school to how Fudge was faring as the minister.

"They wanted Dumbledore to accept the position, but he refused," Ted recalled. "Wouldn't leave Hogwarts, don't you know, and he could hardly do both."

Andromeda made a slight face before straightening out her features. "Fudge is managing well enough, I expect, although there hasn't been much to challenge him. Millicent Bagnold might not have been able to prevent You Know Who from coming to power, but who could have, really? Now that we're in a time of peace, I daresay Fudge is counting his lucky stars."

"Not that you're hoping for some more excitement, are you?" Ted teased, squeezing his wife's hand.

Andromeda chuckled. "Hardly. I'm quite content with how things are going in the wizarding world. For the most part, anyway," she added.

After the tea was finished and the biscuits long gone, Dora stretched and asked Harry if he'd like to see her room.

"What a good idea!" Sirius enthused. "You've never seen a proper one before." With an exaggerated wink, he added, "Might get ideas for toys to ask for, come Christmas."

But Harry looked as though Sirius were about to ship him off to Hogwarts at that very moment.

"Why don't I come with you?" he asked, speaking softly. Gently. "We can make sure the room's safe. Free of any mischief."

Harry managed a small smile at this, and Dora broke into giggles.

"I promise, it's safe!" she assured Harry. "A bit girly, perhaps, but safe."

"Ah, we can handle that, right, Puppy?" Sirius grinned. "Lead the way, if you please!"

Giggling further, Dora headed up the staircase, Sirius and Harry behind her by a few paces. Dora paused in front of one of the doors, then opened it.

"I, er, haven't had much of a chance to straighten up," she admitted, apologetically.

"Perfectly all right. You should have seen my childhood bedroom," Sirius reassured her.

The room wasn't nearly as messy as Sirius's had once been-it was one of the things that got on his mother's nerves, so even though Kreacher or one of the other elves cleaned it regularly, Sirius had made it a habit to mess it up afterwards-but it wasn't immaculate. No clothes were scattered on the floors, but a blue robe peaked out of the laundry bin. Dora had made her bed, albeit rather hastily, and the two pillows looked rather worn. A few textbooks were on her desk, two dog-eared, and one faced down. Both grievous displays of books would send Madam Pince into a conniption, personal book or not. Her open closet displayed an ample amount of robes for daily wear on hangers, and these looked to be in decent condition. A blue dressing gown hung rather lopsided on a hook just inside. A small selection of furniture sat in various parts of the room-a chair near her bed, a small couch on the other side-both that looked like they were made of very comfortable material. A separate closet, which Dora opened immediately, contained an assortment of muggle and magical toys.

"Ah, I see we've hit the jackpot!" he said, with a laugh. "I'm glad to see that you enjoy muggle games, Dora."

"Yes, but it's a hard sell teaching them to my roommates," she added, with a slight sigh. "Two are muggle born, so they know about them, and are up for a game of regular Chess or Go Fish or other muggle games. The rest either think they're dull, or get distracted by the pieces, and we never end up finishing a full game!"

"Remus would sympathize with you," Sirius recalled. "He brought some muggle games, and we didn't have any biases against them, of course, but it was quite a while before we lost our fascination of how ordinary they were, and managed to play them. I still think Wizard's Chess is superior to the muggle kind."

"Mum says it's a bit more quiet. So are regular cards, compared to Exploding Snap." Dora grinned. "But Dad and I can make any game loud! Shall we begin?" She looked at Harry. "How about Go Fish? That's pretty straightforward."

At Harry's nod, Sirius agreed. They'd completed two rounds before he felt comfortable leaving Harry upstairs, and reminded himself to purchase a muggle deck of cards soon.

Once he was back in the sitting room with Andromeda and Ted, the conversation turned to how Harry was adjusting.

"He's a lovely boy, Sirius," she praised. "How are you and Remus managing?"

Sirius didn't pause before answering truthfully. Andromeda was, after all, his favorite and most trusted cousin. Of all the people he knew, aside from Remus, she was the most trustworthy. Besides that, she was a mother.

"I'm over the moon that he's finally with us, and he's happy most of the time. He's a great kid," Sirius began.

"I can see that," Andromeda answered, with a smile. "He clearly loves you, Sirius."

Sirius smiled. "I love him. So much it hurts, sometimes."

Ted chuckled. "We both felt that way when Nymphadora came home from St. Mungos. Dromeda said she'd kill anyone who tried to hurt her. I answered I had dibs on that. Nearly got hexed as a result."

Andromeda snorted. "I was hardly myself, between the potions and having given birth a mere day earlier."

Ted patted his wife's hand. "You were remarkable."

Sirius hadn't been at the delivery, but he'd visited the week later-well after his cousin was at home and beginning to take on the role of mother to a newborn. This had been new for her, as witches and wizards from pure blood families typically "delegated" all "unsavory" parts of early child rearing to house elves or nannies. Walburga Black would never have lowered herself to nurse her own offspring, let alone wake in the middle of the night to check on the cries of screaming infants-or children, when it came down to it. Andromeda had to figure everything out for herself, and Sirius thought she'd done a remarkable job.

Even more complicated, which he'd learned upon his first visit, was that his cousin's pregnancy and delivery had not been exactly "standard" in the wizarding world. Nymphadora being a metamorphagus had been a shock to everyone, because the ability was so rare, and it had taken a lot out of her mother. While Dora's gift might not have been the sole reason she was an only child, it likely played a role. The fact that this small child, now almost a teenager, would be their only one made her all the more precious-and the experience of parenthood more precarious.

Sirius was hardly in this sort of situation. He'd been engaged to Marlene McKinnon before her and her family had been killed by Death Eaters. The weight of her loss might have caused him to take reckless actions later on, such as switching to Wormtail as the Secret Keeper. After the death of James and Lily, and the subsequent loss of Harry, he'd spent the next sixth month in somewhat of a daze-made worse by his tendency to imbibe-until Remus finally showed up, destroyed his supply of fire whiskey, and told him that all was not lost, and if he wasn't a complete imbecile, he'd do whatever he could to get Harry back.

Legally, of course. Sirius wasn't about to go on the run for the remainder of his life. He could manage all right, but it wouldn't be fair to Harry.

"Sirius?"

Andromeda's voice, and Sirius had the sneaking suspicion that it hadn't been the first time she'd called his name.

"Sorry, Andy. Lost in thought." He grinned. "I reckon I understand wanting to hurt anyone who hurts Harry. More than reckon, really. After how the Dursleys treated him, it's rather a daily temptation not to storm their house and hex them into the ground." He sighed. "Might have, had the trial not gone as it had."

"I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking, ignoring Lily and James's will like that," Andromeda answered, stiffly. "Ted, you don't mind?" At the shake of her husband's head, she continued, "Well, after we heard about it, we decided to add some extra precautions in case something were to happen to us, and our wishes regarding Dora went ignored. I know, it's unlikely, but you can hardly be too careful."

"Boy Who Lived or not, the fact that there had to be a trial, and that Dumbledore isn't in Azkaban, makes me see the potential corruption of our world," Ted added, darkly.

"He said he was doing it for the blood protection." Sirius sighed. "But that's bullocks-sorry, Andy. Severus was able to create a potion to do the same thing, and what if James had survived? Would Dumbledore had taken Harry away from his father for the same reason?"

Andromeda walked over and sat besides Sirius. A moment later, Ted did the same.

"I'm rather ruining the occasion, aren't I?" Sirius asked, with a short laugh.

"Hardly. We're your family, Sirius, and it's not as though either of us has much in the way of that left. No sense in pretending that everything is well when it isn't." She placed an arm around his shoulders. "We'll be here for you, little cousin."

Another laugh, although this one was more sincere. "Thanks, big cousin."

"So, how's Harry settling in? Really?" Andromeda asked.

Sirius gave her the same assessment that he'd provided the Healer. Harry was happy, usually, but uncertain. He feared being punished for things Sirius wouldn't have thought twice of, and was only recently beginning to take second helpings of food without fearing-well, their displeasure. Nightmares weren't a regular occurrence, but they did happen from time to time.

Andromeda sighed. "It sounds like Harry's beginning to trust you, but there's certainly a long way to go."

"I keep worrying I'll muck up, make him fear me even more," Sirius admitted.

"You will make mistakes, Sirius," Ted spoke up, with a chuckle. "It's part of being a parent. Especially now that Dora's nearly a teenager and living away most of the year, she's certainly prone to telling us when we're doing something she doesn't like."

Andromeda let out a light laugh. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, love. But yes, Sirius, you mustn't expect yourself to be perfect. Goodness knows, our parents were far from that, and we turned out reasonably well."

Sirius stiffened. "I'd hope that I could be better than my parents without trying."

"To be sure," Andromeda reassured him. "I only mean...you mustn't put so much pressure on yourself."

"It's bloody hard not to," Sirius groused. "Sorry. I'll try."

Andromeda squeezed his shoulders again. "Have you given any thought to his education?"

Author's note:

I'd planned to make this all one chapter, but it's getting fairly long as it is, so I'll add a second "part." If you're enjoying this, please take a moment to leave some feedback.