DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.

It was 12 pm and Harry, Ron, Susan and Hannah, Percy, Fred, George and Ginny were all playing a game of chutes and ladders in the living room.

Upon arriving at the Burrow, Amelia had been quite surprised to find out that Remus and the Abbotts had been invited too. They had arrived shortly afterwards.

Currently, the adults with the exception of Arthur and Dennis who were watching the kids were at the dining table, talking.

Molly said, "I'm so sorry for all that happened to you. I can't believe that we harbored a Death Eater, none other than the one that betrayed Harry's parents!"

Sirius replied, "It's alright Molly. You didn't know. I don't hold it against you. The only ones that I'm really angry with are Peter Pettigrew, Crouch, and the Dursleys."

Molly replied, "Oh yes, those Dursleys are absolutely cruel. Petunia Dursley abused Harry because his mother was magical. And she hates magic. She went as far as to call that little child a wretch!"

Emily spoke, "When Remus told me about it, I was so angry. You should have seen my husband when I told him everything."

The memory of it came to her mind.

It was past 10pm and Emily had just told Dennis everything. Dennis was quite livid.

"HOW DARE THEY!" Dennis yelled, "DID YOU GET THEIR ADDRESS? GIVE IT TO ME! I'LL TEACH THEM TO HARM A CHILD LIKE THAT! I'LL…"

"Get a hold of yourself for goodness' sake Dennis!" Emily said, her voice raised, "I do not have their address, and you will not be going to hex them into oblivion!"

Dennis said angrily, "How could they do that? Good thing Harry is with Amelia now. But those Muggles need to be punished!"

Emily replied, "Amelia will sue them soon. I bet they'll go to jail for what they did."

Dennis punched a pillow nearby and declared, "Good! When that happens, I want to be there! We will be there. Alright, I won't go find them and hex them, but if I see them and they try to harass that poor boy, I'll punch that vile uncle's guts out!"

Molly asked, "Those Dursleys were monsters to keep a child in a cupboard and deprive him of love and affection. Are you planning to file charges against them?"

Sirius replied, "Yeah we are. We'll have to do it the Muggle way though, because for one thing, it'll be risky bringing Harry into the Ministry; we don't want reporters hounding him and making life hectic. You never know what they'll do."

Remus added, "Not to mention, people like Rita Skeeter will make such a huge fuss out of everything and spread slander."

Amelia added, "And plus, the Dursleys are Muggles. In any case, they cannot be sentenced to Azkaban. Of course, I can't preside over the trial, even if it happens that I become the head of DMLE. It would be unfair because Sirius and I are Harry's legal guardians. I do hope they get sent to Muggle prison though. And it would be good if we could somehow do it the Muggle way but just have Harry show his memories without violating the Statue of Secrecy as much as possible. That way, he won't have to make statements in order to testify. Also, it'll be more evidence against the Dursleys."

Molly replied, "I understand what you're saying. In any case, Arthur and I would like to be there for the trial."

Amelia replied, "Thank you very much. I imagine Harry will get upset if he sees those people again. You remember what happened last time at the fair, right?"

Sirius asked, "What exactly happened that day?"

Molly explained, "Well you see, we had all decided to take our children to a fair in London, and while we were having lunch, Harry suddenly got scared. He was whimpering and when we asked him what was happening, it turned out that those horrible Dursleys were nearby. The little one is fat for his age, abnormally fat, obese I call it. And he's a bully. He and his friend came and tried to bully Harry, and then they started trying to snatch the rat while Percy was feeding it. And that cruel uncle just grabbed that rat, dashed it to the ground and kicked it away. Those boys went to try and crush it, and Harry, Ron and Susan were running to stop them, and then suddenly, there was this man yelling out, 'Keep away from me you brats!' Amelia stunned him afterwards and sent us all to her home while she and Dennis brought in Peter Pettigrew. I was so horrified to know. He could have murdered our children in bed! It's so horrible to think of it."

Sirius had a weird expression on his face, not knowing whether to laugh at Pettigrew's fate or not. Sure, Peter deserved it. But still, it would not be right to smile out of spite, especially when a mother was sounding distraught.

Finally, he spoke, "Peter Pettigrew deserved what he got. He certainly won't be able to harm your children now that he's in Azkaban. I can't believe it was the Dursleys who 'ultimately' caused him to get exposed, but still…, that doesn't mean I'm going to let them go for what they did to my godson."

Amelia explained, "Molly, do you remember that I wanted to hold the rat? Actually, I had heard that Pettigrew's animagus form was that of a rat. And everyone thought that only a finger of him remained. So when I saw the rat, I got suspicious and wanted to see if he was missing a finger. If he was, I would have taken him somewhere where no one would be looking and exposed him there myself. But of course, just then, the Dursleys came in."

Molly said, "So that's why you wanted to hold him, but why didn't you just tell me at once?"

Amelia replied, "If I had told you without securing him first, he would have heard what I was saying and escaped. Of course, that did not happen."

Remus said, "Well, now that we have Sirius with us, we can definitely file those charges."

Meanwhile, the children had finished their game and had gone outside to fly on their brooms.

Ron and Susan were on one broom with Ron piloting, and Harry and Ginny were on another broom, with Harry piloting and Ginny screaming in delight, "Wheeee!"

They were racing each other around the house in an oval, and had just finished two out of three laps.

"I'm going to beat you Harry," Ron yelled.

Harry and Ginny laughed even as they flew parallel to Ron and Susan.

Finally, they ended the last lap at a line set up by Uncle Dennis, with Uncle Arthur waving a flag. They both crossed the finish line at the same time.

Ginny cried out, "WON!"

Susan cried out, "No, we won!"

Arthur came along and spoke, "Both of you won. That doesn't happen very much. Well, good flying children."

Harry cried out, "Thank you Uncle Arthur."

Arthur patted Harry's head saying, "You're welcome Harry."

Soon afterwards, it was time for lunch and Molly called everyone outside to come and eat.

Harry was delighted to find delicious watermelon slices like the previous time.

Molly had made some special noodle soup plus some delicious burgers with plenty of lettuce, which Harry and Susan loved.

Molly smiled and patted the children on their heads as she served them.

Soon after lunch, Amelia read the kids a story in the living room and then Ginny fell asleep. Harry, Susan, Ron and Hannah went off to play a quidditch board game with Fred and George who had taught them how to play it and Percy went to read a book.

Later on, around 5:30 pm, Amelia, Sirius and the children, as well as the Abbotts and Remus returned to their homes after plenty of goodbye hugs.

Soon, Amelia, Sirius, Harry and Susan were sitting down on the sofa in the living room opposite the fireplace.

Just then, Amelia thought she would check to see if there were any letters for her.

Sure enough, near the mail slot, there was a sealed envelope from the Ministry of Magic.

She opened it and was stunned to see what was written to her in the letter addressed to her.

Sirius noticed her wide open mouth and moved over to her asking, "Amy, what's happening?"

He looked at the letter. He was surprised to find out that it was from the Minister herself. He was even more surprised to see what had been written.

Madam Amelia Bones,

Owing to your efficiency in handling responsibilities entrusted to you, and your sense of justice, you have been appointed as the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I can think of no better person for the post.

I understand that you have two children to take care of and will want to spend time with them. For that matter, I request you to find a capable deputy as soon as possible so that your responsibilities as the new head will not cause you to sacrifice time with your children.

You are requested to be present for an official meeting at 9 am on Monday, 14 May 1984, in which your promotion shall be announced to all members of the DMLE.

Sincerely,

Millicent Bagnold,

(Signature)

Minister for Magic

Sirius hugged Amelia and cried out excitedly, "This is awesome! Congratulations Amy! You'll be a wonderful head. You're perfect for the post."

Amelia looked at Sirius and said, "I'm happy to be made the Head of DMLE. I didn't think it would be so soon, but what about the children? I may have more responsibilities, all kinds of meetings and if there's a lot to handle, then I'm afraid I may not be able to come home early enough. I only hope I don't end up staying late into the night. Then Harry and Susan will be upset."

Sirius replied, "Amy, all you have to do is to appoint a capable deputy head. Then if it's not something that absolutely requires your presence, you'll be able to come back home early enough. And plus, I won't head back into the auror office until September."

Amelia replied, "I hope I will be able to come back home by 4:30 in the evening."

Sirius replied, "Of course you will be able to."

Amelia said, "At least in September, Harry and Susan will be starting school. I'm planning to send both of them to a Muggle primary school. Lily would have wanted that. She would have sent Susan along with Harry, if it had happened that I had died instead of her and Susan was in her care."

Sirius replied, "I'm thinking of the same thing too. Harry and Susan will be spending ten months a year away from us once they start going to Hogwarts. So this will be good for them. And yes, Lily would have wanted that. Maybe every day, we could take turns at coming back a little early and picking them up from school, one day me, one day you, or if one of us is too busy, then the other, or if both of us are busy, maybe Remus or Emily."

Amelia replied, "That's a wonderful idea. Emily told me Hannah will definitely be attending a Muggle primary school. Harry and Susan will have a friend with them. And one of us will be there to pick them up from school, at least most of the time."

Just then, someone rang the doorbell.

Amelia opened the door and was surprised to find Snape standing on the porch.

Snape said, "Good evening Amelia. I hope your children are doing well."

Amelia replied, "Good evening. Of course they're doing well. Come on inside."

Snape was about to step inside when he suddenly stopped short, having just noticed none other than Sirius Black who was standing right next to Amelia.

And to his surprise, Sirius spoke, not arrogantly but politely, "Before you say something, I want to tell you something. I'm really sorry for the way we bullied you. I admit, it was cruel on our part. Yeah, we did have some resentment towards you, mainly because a lot of pureblood fanatics were in Slytherin, and you were with them. Still, that was no way to treat you. I'm really sorry. And one more thing, thank you for telling Harry about his mother. You knew her before Hogwarts, and I really appreciate you telling Harry stories about her especially from those times."

Snape was stunned to hear that. After a few moments, he held out his hand and said, "I don't know if I can forget what you did to me, but I made my mistakes too. I hung out with people like Avery and Mulciber who bullied Muggleborns and called them names, condoning crimes against them, and I joined the Dark Lord. I became a spy later on, but I could have become so much more. And I was quite mean to Harry some days ago. I'm sorry for that."

Sirius replied, "I was quite furious with you when Amelia told me about how you treated Harry that day, but if he has forgiven you and is comfortable around you, then it's only right that I apologize for what James and I did to you."

They then shook each other's hands in respect.

Just then, Harry and Susan saw them and came bounding over.

"Uncle Sev," Harry and Susan yelled, hugging him.

Snape hugged them saying, "Hello children. I see Uncle Sirius has come home. You must be very happy."

Susan replied, "Yes, Uncle Paddy is home!"

Snape looked at Sirius and said with amusement, "Paddy, nice name indeed for a mangy mutt."

Sirius replied, "Excuse me! I thought we just apologized to each other. And just look at my long hair! How do you call that mangy?"

Amelia rolled her eyes at Sirius and said, "Oh Sirius, my soon-to-be husband, if you go on about how good you look…"

Sirius replied smilingly, "What'll you do? Eat me?"

Amelia replied, "Perhaps I will!"