Title: Diagon Alley Turbulence

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. However, since Rowling discarded my favourite characters I picked them up and took them into my care to give them the love and attention they deserve...and occasionally give them reason to need that love and attention no matter how much they deserve it without needing a reason.

Summary: From exploding house appliances and Muggle town visits to a rather eventful Diagon Alley visit, the beginning of the Christmas holidays are both enjoyable as eventful as ever for some of the Marauders.

Warnings: Strong bromance, can't stomach boys being extremely close without it being sexual, then this is not the story for you and you should hit the return button.

This story is part of a series called A Bond of Family. If you are interested in reading the entire series, then the chronological order can be found on my profile.

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Quietly humming along to the radio she put away the last of the dishes and reached for the duster to get on with the next chore on her list.

"Morning."

She would forever deny that the soft unexpected voice right behind her made her squeak loudly and swirl around to throw the duster at a thirteen year old, but that is exactly what happened and she clutched her chest as she realised exactly who was standing behind her.

And although Sirius had caught the duster without a problem before it could hit him, she still stammered out an apology. "Good morning, I am so sorry."

"I think I'm the one who needs to be sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," looking down at the cleaning tool, he gave it a confused look and as he made the material wiggle, a small smile formed on his lips. "What is this?"

"A duster," biting back a smile as he did it again, clearly amused by the soft multicoloured tool and quickly figured out how to extent it as he inspected the yellow handle.

"What's it for?"

Holding her hand out for it, she ran it past the first surface to clean it. "It removes the dust from surfaces to clean it."

"Huh," The boy's eyes remained on the duster and she had the sneaky suspicion he really wanted to test it out himself so gave it a little teasing wiggle. "Can….can I help?"

"If you'd like?" Mentally cheering as the small smile on his lips grew, she handed the tool over and couldn't hold back her own smile has he gave it another delighted little wiggle to make the duster move.

Both of her sons dark-haired friends were utterly charming and obviously came from money with the way they behaved, but where James was all loose limbed and boyish trust, Sirius was much more withdrawn and his eyes held a soul deep yearning she had recognised from her own son's eyes.

In her little boy, it had been a yearning for companionship that she had never been able to give him as they had to move to a new area every other year, whenever the neighbours became too curious to her son's well-being; forcing him to pull away from every friend he made so they could keep his secret.

It had broken her heart every time, but she would do anything to keep her child safe; which was why it had terrified her so much to have that man invade their home after having been denied entrance and find him playing Gobstones with Remus.

She had wanted to pull her child away from him, uncaring that he told them her little boy would be able to go to Wizarding school despite his condition, but then those hopeful and excited green eyes had looked up to her and although the thought of letting him go terrified her, she hadn't had the heart to deny him the chance to go to the school of his dreams.

Not when Lyall seemed to trust the man and it had turned out to have been the best decision she could have ever made, as he not only found the companionship he'd so yearned for in the three boys he shared a dorm with; he actually found true friendship as although all three discovered the truth they had so desperately tried to hide for so long, they clearly didn't care in the slightest.

And their friendship clearly extended beyond school as the two dark-haired boys had accepted his shy invitation to come over during the Christmas holidays to see his house and meet his parents.

But where her boy flourished under the friendship and care of those three boys, that yearning was still very much present in the eyes of the boy he was closest to.

It was something she had noticed in the boy from the moment she had first laid eyes on him, reading the wariness in his eyes despite his utter friendly politeness and it had been heartbreaking to see such distrust and caution in any child.

She wanted to strangle the people who had dared put such learned behaviour into an innocent child and it pained her that she was unable to take him out of such a toxic environment, but knew the Blacks were far above her husband in both status and social standing and neither of them could or would ever risk Remus' safety by even attempting to go up against them.

So instead she tried to find solace in the fact that the child seemed to have found the family and love in her son and other two friends that he clearly didn't get from his own relatives and her heart surged whenever she read the letters her dear boy send her about the antics they all got up to.

Her wish to meet them all had finally come true when they'd arrived yesterday afternoon and although Sirius had been polite and clearly shy if the way he'd kept close to James was anything to go by, she was delighted to properly meet and interact with them both.

It got even better as time passed and the shy, no doubt abused, boy clearly came out of his shell, becoming more animated the longer they interacted and although he was still clearly unsure when Lyall was around; she was delighted she had obviously managed to put him at ease enough that he was actually willing to be around her and actively engage with her without his friends present as a buffer.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she quickly retrieved the spare duster and turned to the nearest shelf to start dusting while Sirius made his way to the fireplace to do the same and if Remus were the one helping out, she would have immediately pulled him away as although she loved him, she knew he was a walking disaster and more likely to break something than actually get any dusting done and especially her precious little doll had suffered enough already.

But as she'd half expected, Sirius was utterly careful as he lifted the various knick-knacks up to dust below them; unintentionally highlighting once more how different he was from most teenage boys.

Leaving him to his work, she quickly finished her half of the room before moving to retrieve the vacuum cleaner, depositing it near the couch and untangling the cord before walking to the outlet, covertly smiling at her assistant.

It was nice to see him relaxed enough in her presence to not tense every time she came near the way he did with Lyall, completely focused on his work and not on her every move as she plugged the cord in.

The familiar noise was cut off by a loud bang, momentarily deafening her and the same instant she was yanked behind Sirius as a sort of barrier formed around them; sparks raining down everywhere and her heart hammered in her throat as she tried to comprehend what had just happened and where the danger was.

She'd been protectively pushed against the wall by the teen as he searched the room with his wand drawn; fully alert for a threat she couldn't see until her eyes fell upon the smouldering remains of what appeared to have been her vacuum cleaner, making her realise what had happened.

"That was my vacuum cleaner," she was aware her voice came out several octaves higher than usual as adrenaline still surged through her, but her heart resettled as alert vigilant grey eyes briefly flashed to her, her breathing hitching by the swirl of magic she could see in them.

She had come to be able to recognise those with magic simply by the spark shimmering in their eyes, easily able to determine how dangerous they were simply by how strong that shimmer was and as such, knew both her husband and son had the potential to be dangerous.

But neither of them had anything on the power she could see shimmering in his grey irises right now and realised Sirius was much more powerful than she'd realised, though she couldn't find it in her to be afraid as those same warm eyes swept over her more thoroughly to ensure she was all right without moving out of her personal space; his protectiveness enveloping her.

"What?"

"My-my vacuum cleaner, it….uh….it's the thing you blew up," tearing her eyes away from the mesmerising power in his eyes, she indicated to the piece of destroyed house appliance before gently placing her hand on his shoulder to not spook him any further than he'd clearly already been. "It's what made the noise that….startled you."

"No, that rolling thing wasn't making a sound when you grabbed it. A vacuum cleaner doesn't make a sound, I learned that in Muggle Studies."

"It wasn't plugged in yet," clearing her throat as the last of the rush of adrenaline began to fade, she indicated to the plug still sitting in the outlet and figuring it was probably safer to take it out before it could cause a fire, she pulled it out.

"I….its supposed to make a sound?" slowly his wand lowered as he seemed to detect the truth in her words, glancing down at the debris.

"Yes, you were taught about them in...Muggle Studies you said?"

"Yeah, but Professor Wiggles didn't mention it's supposed to make noise. He just said Muggles push it back and forth and it automatically sucks dust and dirt up from the floor into a bag."

"After you plugged it in, it does," clicking her tongue, a hint of hysterical laughter threatened to push to the front at his utter confusion. "I know teenagers don't like cleaning, but did you seriously have to murder my vacuum cleaner to get out of it?"

"I...I'm sorry," the last traces of alert vigilance made place for sheepishness and amusement as he clearly picked up on her intended joke and a faint smile returned to his lips, and though he didn't move away from her yet the barrier disappeared. "I can try to fix it?"

"Don't you dare! I've got an excuse to get a new one now," already she envisioned getting the newest 427 Hoover that had only recently been released to replace the one her mother had given her for her wedding.

"I'll pay for it," he immediately offered even as a sweep from his wand made the small fire and burning smell disappear and he finally moved away from her to approach the carcass to investigate it.

"I'm not going to have you pay for a vacuum cleaner!" Incredulous, she followed him and watched as he reached for a piece of debris. "Careful, it might be hot."

"I broke it, I fix or replace it and since it doesn't look like there's much left to fix, I should replace it," and there truly wasn't much left of the stupid thing as he'd been very thorough. But he had listened to her warning and magically lifted what was left of the cord for inspection. "So it needs that plugged into that hole to work?"

"That only counts for adults," she said sternly before nodding. "Yes, you plug the cord into the electrical net to turn it on."

"Electrical net? Its the same thing that's making your radio work as that has the same kind of cord?"

"A plug," she corrected him, guiding him over to the still playing radio and pulled the plug out of the outlet, startling him as the radio stopped working. "Every outlet is hooked up onto a net of electricity, which is what most Muggle appliance need to make them work. The electricity runs through cables through the entire house and run outside to hook up to a much larger network that provides the entire neighbourhood with electricity."

"The cord is the wire attaching the plug and the electrical item together," showing him the plug, she re-plugged it and immediately the radio started playing again and his eyes lit up with fascination.

"Does every neighbourhood have the same network?"

"Pretty much most of the world does. Outside of certain areas and countries that are poorer, but that's a whole different discussion and way over my head."

"So everyone can use this network regardless of their abilities or how old they are?"

"Well, I wouldn't let small children anywhere near an outlet as electricity can be severely dangerous if just touched, but basically yes," it was amazing to see how fascinated he was by something she'd always taken for granted, especially considering the no doubt amazing things he could do with his magic.

"Dangerous how?"

"If you get shocked by electricity then you get a very painful shock and if the current is high enough it can actually give you severe burns or stop your heart. Short circuits can be very dangerous to both yourself and everything around you if not handled quickly and properly," seeing the question forming on his lips, she explained. "Not every piece of equipment uses the same amount of electricity. A vacuum cleaner uses more than a radio, but less than the television."

"Right, but they all still have to be plugged into the outlet to work. Can you just plug in as many things as you wish?"

"No, if you plug in too many items at the same time in the same group then everything stops working. When that happens we have to replace a burst fuse," indicating he should follow her, she led him to the fuse box and opened it. "Each of these white things are fuses. They are electrical safety devices that provide over-current protection of an electrical circuit. If you plug in too many things all at once the one corresponding with those outlets bursts and shuts down to prevent fire from breaking out."

"And that causes a short circuit?" He proved he was truly paying attention and closing the fuse box again she guided him back to the destroyed vacuum cleaner to pick up the cord, showing the different wires inside it; stripping back the copper protection cover to reveal the iron wire.

"When a plug is broken these protective covers break and the iron wires can touch each other, causing short circuit. It can result in sparks and even fire if it's not taken care of immediately."

"But only when it's plugged in?"

"Exactly," grinning at her quick student, she handed over the plug so he could investigate it more clearly; seemingly unaware of how close he was standing to her to do so. "Now, don't ask me more in depth questions as that's basically the extent of my knowledge."

"It's clearly more than what Professor Wiggles knows," Sirius muttered as he looked down at the cord. "What will you do with this now?"

"Throw it out as it's useless now," seeing the way he tightened his hold on the cord, she laughed. "If you want, you can have it as it won't work any more. Maybe you can peel it all apart and see exactly how it's put together."

"Because it's only dangerous if I plug it in to the electricity net," one more showing his understanding of what she'd told him, he pocketed the cord.

"You don't keep any of it?"

"Not unless you'd like to build a piece of ridiculous art out of it?" Gently bumping into his shoulder at his snort, she grinned. "You have some very nice reflexes, by the way and thank you for trying to protect me from the evil and mean vacuum cleaner."

"I truly am sorry. I was startled by the sudden noise and didn't think," sheepishly, he Vanished the ruined remains before looking around the room and gave another sweep of his wand, making her realise the entire floor was suddenly clean and gaped.

"Did you just vacuum with a spell?" Clearly picking up on her indignation, he smiled shyly. "I'm going to throttle Lyall!"

"He never told you it's possible to clean with magic?" His amusement grew.

"No, he could've easily saved me hours of work! Next you're going to tell me there is a way to iron clothes without an ironer!"

"I don't know what an ironer is, but there are spells to take wrinkles out of clothes and fold them, though not everyone is good at those type of spells."

"That is exactly what an ironer is, oh he's getting a bucket of ice cold water over his head for that!" Relishing in the stifled laugh her indignation caused, she huffed theatrically. "Can anyone learn those spells?"

"If they have the talent for it."

"Is Remus any good at them?"

"No," the sudden annoyance in his voice made her heart jump in delight as she realised what had caused the change behind her son's cleaning methods.

"You're the reason he tries to clean up after himself now, aren't you?" At his confused look, she elaborated. "I love my son, but he's a pig. He never cleans up after himself and his idea of cleaning is just shoving everything in a corner or under his bed. At least it used to be until he went to Hogwarts. He is still a pig, but now he tries to pick up after himself and I couldn't figure out what caused the change."

"Maybe," he admitted, wetting his lips. "Messes can be a hazard in case of emergency and makes it harder to find things and it's just plain disgusting to leave dirty things laying around. It's normal to make a mess when doing something, but once you are done or you stop then you clean up what you can and no longer need."

"I never met a teenage boy who was a neat-freak," she grinned delighted. "Are the other two like you or are they like Remus?"

"Pete's an even bigger pig than Remus is, if we'd let him be then he would never clean anything but James is actually a fairly clean person, especially considering he is a Pure-Blood who has a ton of House-elves at his disposal to clean up after him. Outside of his Quidditch uniform, he rarely leaves a mess."

It was hard to believe anyone could be worse than her son but from the clear frustration on Sirius' face it was clearly a source of great irritation that such a person existed and shared a dorm with him.

"And does Peter clean up after himself the way Remus tries to do now?"

"He has no choice, we're not his servants and I refuse to let Tiffy or any of the other House-elves at Hogwarts take care of any mess he makes. I'm not sleeping and living in a filthy dorm or having others having to clean up after us when we are fully capable of cleaning up after ourselves," he shrugged. "We compromised so that he can do with his bed, closet and night-stand what he wants as long as it doesn't smell but everywhere else he has to clean up after himself."

It sounded like a good compromise indeed and smiling, she glanced at the laundry basket she'd shoved underneath the side table before looking up to him while overly dramatically batting her eyes at him. "You said there was a spell to take wrinkles out of clothes and fold them, didn't you? Any chance you happen to know it?"

Snorting at her, he murmured a spell that made all the clothes straighten and neatly fold themselves before returning to the basket in neat piles waiting to be cleared away.

"I love magic," she breathed out in awe as three hours of work was done in moments.

"Muggles have made life fairly easy for themselves even without the ability to use magic," Sirius freely admitted, twirling his wand between his fingers. "Any other chores that need to be done that you clearly hate?"

Laughing, she bumped into his shoulder again. "No, that were my chores for the day, so thank you. But perhaps you can teach Remus how to do those spells?"

"I can try?"

"I'll buy you all the sweets you can carry for the attempt alone," she tried to bribe him, making him laugh. "Oh wait, you're not a big fan of sweets, are you? I'll find something else to bribe you with then."

"You really don't have to do that," laughing, he slipped his wand back into his sleeve but as he did that her eyes fell onto the hand he was cradling against his stomach and she realised he'd not moved at all during their conversation.

"Are you hurt?" She asked alarmed, not even having considered the boy might've gotten hurt protecting her.

"What? Oh, no," a little shyly he opened his hand to reveal the small porcelain doll that was normally on her fire mantle above the fireplace.

"Did you actually protect her when I startled you?" A warm rush of affection washed over her as he flushed, the action clearly having been purely automatic to keep something fragile safe.

"Thank you, lord knows she's been broken enough times already," gently picking her up out of his hand, she inspected her and showed him the various glued cracks.

"I noticed those, what happened to her?"

"Neither Lyall or Remus are the most careful of persons so she's a mess."

"She looks old, they never tried to fix her?" Gently, oh so gently, he reached out to brush a finger over one of the bigger cracks.

"First time Lyall tried to do that, he cracked her even further so she became a modern Humpty Dumpty," she brushed her thumb over the soft hair. "He's terrible at spells like that and I've never even dared to ask Remus to fix her as he's truly his father's son sometimes."

"I don't know how Humpty Dumbly is."

"He is the fictional being in a nursery rhyme I used to tell to Remus when he was little," smiling up at Sirius, she told it to him. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Four-score Men and Four-score more, could not make Humpty Dumpty where he was before."

"Because no matter how well you put something back together that was broken, there will always be traces left of the damage done. Kind of sad when you think about it."

It was heartbreaking to see a boy his age understand exactly what the meaning of the rhyme was in the version she told it as, something she wasn't quite sure her son had ever truly gotten.

"There are a lot of different versions of the rhyme but they indeed all have in common that he cannot be put together again in the end. In Through the Looking-Glass he is actually described as an egg so the metaphor is a little easier to understand for children."

"Through the Looking-Glass?"

"Its a fictional children's book and the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

"Are they any good?" The eagerness in his voice broke the sad atmosphere that had risen with the rhyme and she chuckled at the not so closeted bookworm.

"Why don't I grab both books from the shelf later and you can take them back to Hogwarts with you so you can decide for yourself?"

"I'd like that," biting his lip, he looked down at the doll still in her hand. "I know you said Humpty Dumpty couldn't be put together again, but I'm not bad at Mending spells so I could try and fix her, if you'd like? I promise I'll be careful."

"I believe you," holding out the doll, she could actually feel the tingle of his magic and watched in awe as the cracked skin smoothed out as his wand gently travelled over the cracks to heal them one by one. And although she was fairly sure he could've done it with a single tap, she appreciated the gentle attention he gave the little doll. "She was a gift from my grandmother when I was little and I always tried to keep her safe."

"A simple cushion spell should protect her from being damaged again should she fall once more," a soft tap against the smooth little head made him nod and forgetting to be careful around him, she threw her arms around him in gratitude; but to her surprise he didn't flinch and simply leaned into her embrace without hesitation.

Her heart soared as she realised that somehow she'd managed to gain his trust and for all that he was shy and obviously not used to a motherly touch, he didn't hesitate to melt into her embrace so she was content to hold him for a long moment until he pulled back with a small flush.

Not calling attention to his obvious shyness returning, she simply replaced the doll where she belonged before turning back to him. "So, now that you've taken care of my chores for the day, how would you feel about accompanying me to town so I can get a new vacuum cleaner?"

"You can just buy those in a shop?"

"Not every shop, but most household supply store sell them and there's even one in town," she narrowed her eyes at him warningly. "You're not paying for it, though."

"I wouldn't actually be paying for it myself," a mischievous smile crossed his lips. "I'd use Black money."

Assuming he meant the money of his relatives and not actually dirty money, she raised her eyebrow. "And how would you be doing that?"

"With this card," he pulled out an honest to god credit card from his pocket and grinned at her no doubt gobsmacked expression. "I've requested for a way to pay in the Muggle World at Gringotts two years ago and as I'm a minor, the Goblins set me up with a personal credit card linked to the Black family vault."

"I somehow doubt they'd be happy with you spending money here," she knew enough about the House of Black to be aware of how racist they were, even if the boy before her was anything but.

"They don't know," his smile turned wicked. "Most Pure-Bloods are arrogant beyond imagination, the Blacks even more so than most. They never check their account and since I'm officially an Heir to the bloodline, the Goblins are under no obligation to inform either the Head of House or the ones holding the account about my business and I've been using their money for quite some time already."

"What have you been doing with that money?" If he had been Remus, she would have worried about his health as she knew her son spent his entire allowance on sweets and prank junk. But she didn't get the same vibe from Sirius that he would spend money on trivial matters even if she hadn't known he didn't care for sweets so was simply curious to what he would use it for.

"Nothing bad," he promised. "I've set up a little bit of a support system for a few people who have been wronged by the world, bought some small things to further our research and maybe gave a little to some Muggle charities whose work overlaps with people who have been harmed by wizarding kind and some animals shelters. And in a bit, I'll be using it to buy you a vacuum cleaner to replace the one I've broken."

"You…." she had expected him to be using the money for something good, but this was beyond what she had expected. "Wronged how?"

"Magical creatures who have been shunned and or disgraced so they can't make an honest living for themselves."

"Werewolves," she breathed out as she realised exactly what he was hinting at.

"Among others, yes. It's wrong that society shuns them for something they can't help and although I'm well aware that there's plenty of terrible werewolves, I've found that most simply want to live in peace and if I can do a little something to try and help them with that, then how can I not do everything I can?"

"What did you do?" Realising she was coming on too strongly as he withdrew into himself suddenly, she consciously loosened her stance, smiling as it worked and his posture relaxed as he seemed to understand how she'd meant it.

"Mostly I'm arranging for a steady and reliable food source for them as well as the ability to rest safely sometimes. I said the Black's don't check their accounts, but I don't dare risk taking large amounts all at once to provide permanent residences for them all. It would put them all at risk as it would be traceable and I refuse to be the one to put them in danger."

"You wouldn't and that is amazing," swallowing thickly, she stepped closer to him and lightly bumped into him. "But be careful for yourself. I really don't want you to get hurt."

"I know how to be careful," and although she knew that obviously must be true, she couldn't help but wrap an arm around his shoulder to pull him into her side; smiling when he hummed contently and simply leaned into her for a long moment. "Please don't tell Remus, he wouldn't understand that I'm not doing this for just him."

"I know and I won't. He would think you are pitying him when instead you are trying to help others who happen to be like him," she agreed, knowing her son would indeed not understand just yet. Squeezing his shoulder, she let go of him again. "All right, so what do you say about going to town? Do you want to wait for the boys or are we going together?"

"Is...is that allowed?"

"To go to town? Why wouldn't it be?"

"To go without Remus, you're his mother."

"I have no idea," she admitted as she honestly had no idea if it would be improper or not. "Do we care?"

"No…." a hesitant smile crossed over his lips. "And if we do wait for James and Remus then we'll be waiting a long time as I doubt they'll get up before noon."

"Yet you're already awake."

"I'm an early riser," he admitted.

"So I've noticed. I honestly hadn't expected company at eight o'clock in the morning as I'm used to Remus sleeping in and James doesn't seem like an early riser either," she laughed. "And I know I couldn't have waken you up as Lyall put a Silencing Charm onto Remus' bedroom when he was young so he wouldn't be woken up by my early morning cleaning."

"I noticed," he didn't elaborate if he'd noticed the Charm or the silence and she didn't ask.

"So…..want to go to town together? You'd honestly be doing Remus a favour by not dragging him along as he hates shopping."

"Yeah, I'll just leave a note so they know where we are when they wake up. It would be best to go now as it seems the rain has stopped."

Turning to the window she realised he was right and the steady drizzle she'd woken up to had finally let up. "Sounds like a plan. Do you have a coat?"

"No, just a cloak but I doubt Remus would mind if I borrowed his," which considering he was wearing a pair of her son's old jeans he'd outgrown and a sweater that had to belong to James considering it said Potter on the back, she indeed doubted he'd mind.

"I can do you one better," walking into the hallways she picked up Remus' old winter coat and held it up. "He's outgrown this one and I've been meaning to bring it to the thrift shop, but I think it will fit you reasonably well enough so you can have it."

"Thrift shop?" Accepting her help getting into the coat, he shrugged it into place and zipped it up. "Thank you."

It was too big on him even with the sweater, but not ridiculously so and humming approvingly, she tugged it properly over his shoulders. "Bit big, but you can grow into it and it'll keep you warm. A thrift shop is a second-hand shop."

Seeing his confusion clear up she didn't elaborate further and shrugged on her own coat while he scribbled a quick note and left it on the table before following her out of the door.