Sirius let out a deep breath and seemed to relax as soon as Remus and Rory were out of the room.

"Is everything actually alright?" Harry asked. "You seem… Tense."

"It's fine," Sirius said. "Remus just has a history of being… Stubborn for lack of a better word. But it's fine. Nothing I'm not used to."

"I don't think I've ever seen you two argue about anything important," Harry said.

Sirius laughed. "Arguing used to be our primary form of communication. Not to worry. Aurora definitely brings a new layer of complication to our relationship though. Not that she's done anything wrong, by the way."

"Co-parenting," Harry chuckled.

"Something like that," Sirius replied, sitting down. "Speaking of which, before we nearly bit each other's heads off, I did tell him I'd have a chat with you."

"About what?" Harry asked feeling a stab of fear. The last time he and Sirius had a chat like this, he'd wanted to crawl into a hole and evaporate from existence.

"Oh, nothing really," Sirius said. "Just you and Aurora, of course. Things are good?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Great even. It was nice to hang out with her yesterday and just… Be normal."

"Normal?" Sirius asked.

"I know we were probably being watched the whole time, but take that out of the equation… Most people can just visit their girlfriend over the summer without having to think about it," Harry said. "Most normal thing I think we've ever done together."

"You know, when I finished my fifth year, I was 16. I'd just run away from home," Sirius said wistfully. "I stayed round your dad's for a bit, but after Theo's grandfather passed away and Levi moved out, it seemed more sensible to be... I dunno."

"Be unsupervised with your girlfriend?" Harry asked.

"Essentially," Sirius chuckled. Then he gave Harry a look, which Harry could only take to mean the conversation was about to turn uncomfortable. "You'd know all about that."

Harry shrugged. "I mean, I like hanging out with Rory. And I do like being with her all the time, but after we got back together we both agreed that maybe it'd be good for us if we didn't spend every single second of every day with each other. Not that I don't want to always be with her. It's just... Space does us good."

Sirius sighed. "Well, thank goodness you're both healthier and more responsible than I ever bothered to attempt to be."

"Well, you know Rory. She's very sensible," Harry said.

"Sensible about most things," Sirius said.

"Maybe not about Voldemort or being a seer, but about us? Very sensible," Harry said.

"Is that right?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded confidently.

"Can I ask you something?" Sirius asked.

"Sure," Harry said.

"Are you two sexually active?" Sirius asked.

And there it was again, the feeling of wishing a hole would open in the ground and swallow him up. Harry froze, then realized he'd been quiet for some time now and that his lack of denial might be taken for confirmation.

"No. Nope. Definitely not. We are not doing any of that," Harry said.

Did he wake up thinking about yesterday afternoon and wonder what things would be like if they had gone differently? Yes. Was it going to be on his mind all the time now that they'd talked about it? Probably.

"Well, you know," Sirius said plowed on, nonchalant as ever, "being sexually active doesn't simply refer just to standard intercourse. It encompasses a whole host of activities—."

"If I can be honest, Sirius, I don't know if I'm super comfortable with this conversation," Harry said.

"I understand that you might not be. But you want to know what makes me uncomfortable?" Sirius asked. "When I get up early in the morning and see that you aren't in your room and then find you sleeping in your girlfriend's room."

Harry's face went red. Shit. "Oh."

"'Oh' indeed," Sirius said. "Don't worry, I didn't mention it to Remus."

"I don't understand," Harry said.

"Why I didn't say anything?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded. Last time they'd gotten in trouble for fooling around, Sirius had wasted no time in making sure consequences got handed out.

"Well… You're 16. Or you will be in a week or two. Technically, if you two are having sex then, there's not anything anyone can do about it. You're allowed to do whatever you want with each other as long as you've got consent."

"I mean, we weren't," Harry said. "We haven't. We just fell asleep talking."

"I believe you," Sirius said and Harry could tell he meant it, which was a relief. "Just… What was it Remus said—."

"Boundaries," Harry said.

"Yes, that's the word," Sirius said. "Like not sleeping in your girlfriend's room for instance."

"Got it," Harry said with a nod.

Sirius gave a nod of approval. "So the two of you talked on your own then?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

"And you still slept in her room?" Sirius asked.

"I didn't intend to fall asleep," Harry said. "And she did wake me up by hitting me with a pillow and asking me if I'd lost my mind. I told you, very sensible."

"Good for her," Sirius said.

Rory did her best to enjoy her day with her grandfather, but she was distracted. She didn't think she'd ever seen Sirius and her dad argue with each other, not really. She could only imagine they were arguing about something that had to do with her.

She didn't want to press it, and she knew if she did her dad wasn't going to tell her anyway.

They'd probably be fine. No one got along with their friends all of the time, after all.

"Do you live to outdo everyone?" Lyall asked as Rory cleared the dinner table. "What's possessed you to take ancient runes?"

"Didn't you take ancient runes?" Rory asked.

"Of course I did," Lyall said. "But I started in it."

"Harry thinks I'm crazy too," Rory said. "All of my friends think I am, actually."

"Perhaps you are," Lyall said. "But don't let that stop you."

"Never does," Remus said. She turned and flashed him a smile.

"And what's your boyfriend planning on doing," Lyall said. "An Auror still?"

"He got an E in potions so Snape's not going to let him take it, so he won't qualify for the exams," Rory said. "But he's looking into teaching, like Dad."

"Should be easy with his background in illegal educational clubs," Remus said.

"Don't act as if you don't think it's wonderful," Rory said turning to him. "He copied a bunch of your lessons exactly."

"I thought you were lesson planning for him?" Remus asked.

"I helped a bit," she said. "But he's better at all that than me. I'm good in theory and he's good in practice. That's why we worked."

Lyall sighed. "I suppose I should meet this boy then."

Rory looked over to him. "Pardon?"

"I should meet this Harry Potter boy," Lyall said. "Seems to be sticking around. Remus hasn't groaned once since we started talking about him so I assume he likes him better again. So I should meet him."

"Really?" Rory asked. She was simultaneously excited and terrified. What if Lyall hated Harry? That would crush her. She thought so highly of her grandfather's opinion, and she had such a high opinion of Harry as well.

"Of course. You want me to meet him, don't you?" Lyall asked.

"I mean, yes," she said. "I don't know. I just wasn't expecting you to say that right now."

"Well, let's make it happen then," Lyall said. "We'll have dinner. It'll give me a chance to see if Sirius Black has become less irritating. I never particularly cared for him."

"Sirius is perfectly wonderful," Rory said. "Dad only pretends to find him annoying."

"I think it might be some kind of Stockholm Syndrome actually," Remus replied.

Rory yawned as she put the dishes in the sink.

"None of that," Lyall said. "Remus get this girl to bed. She's barely had her eyes open since she got here."

"I'm fine. I've been sleeping too much as it is," Rory said. She was tired. She'd been up all night and got up early today. She might need sleep, but she was tired of being fussed over.

"No, I'll clean up here and I'll see you in a few days for dinner and meet this boyfriend of yours," Lyall said. "And then you'll have to force your father to bring you for the next full moon."

"Yes," Remus said motioning for Rory to move away from the sink. She sighed.

"I feel like every time I try to be helpful you send me away," Rory said.

"Next time you come, I'll let you clean the whole cottage if it makes you happy," Lyall said.

Rory walked over and hugged him. "Find those books for me, will you?"

"Yes, yes," Lyall said. He kissed her on the cheek. "Get some rest. Make sure he does too."

"I'll try," Rory said.

Side-along apparating always made her dizzy, but she would take it over a car, bus, or train any day. She collapsed onto the couch in the living room as soon as she was home.

"I thought you weren't tired," Remus said.

"I'm a liar," Rory said. "I think I'm just tired of being tired."

"I know," Remus said as he locked the front door. "You did endure a lot, you know."

"I know," she said.

"It's not quite the same, but I do know from experience that if you don't rest, your body will, at some point, force you to rest," Remus said.

Rory sighed. "I know, Dad." She sat up. "I just hate—."

"You hate being fussed over and worried over. If it makes you feel better, I also wish I could just magically stop being so concerned with your wellbeing, but seeing as I'm your father, that's unlikely to happen."

"It's annoying, but thank you," Rory said. She got to her feet and walked over and hugged her dad. He put his arms around her and squeezed tightly. "Do you think Grampy will like Harry?"

"Harry's a very hard person to dislike," Remus said.

"Have you tried?" she laughed.

"You told me I wasn't allowed to dislike him, and I did have to remind myself of that several times after you told me what happened," Remus said.

"I thought you'd be more sympathetic towards him, honestly," Rory said.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"Because of Sirius," Rory said. "He's what most people would call a serial cheater, but you're still his friend. You raised me after all."

"I suppose that's fair," Remus said. "But sometimes being a parent stops you from being so rational."

Rory had noticed that.

"Things with you and Sirius are really alright?" Rory asked.

"Of course," Remus assured her.

"You both were just very upset this morning," Rory said.

"Sirius and I have been butting heads since we were your age," Remus said. "Some things never change."

Rory was sure this was true, but seeing them argue still didn't sit well with her. She felt like she had to have been the reason they were arguing, but she couldn't fathom what they would even disagree about. Rory watched herself most days at this point. She had a good relationship with both of them. There was no reason for them to be upset.

"You should get to bed," Remus said. "Tomorrow we can go to the shop and pick something to make for dinner when your grandfather comes over."

"Okay," Rory said. "Do you think we should have Theo and Tonks over as well?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Theo and Tonks?"

"I mean, Theo is with Sirius all the time anyway. And I dunno, Tonks just… Feels like family," Rory said. "I mean, I guess technically she is my family, but—."

"Of course, Aurora. We'll invite them both. No need to explain," Remus said. "It will probably help Harry feel less overwhelmed too."

Rory had been thinking the same thing. She hugged her dad and went to her room. She waited until she saw the light in the kitchen shut off before she grabbed her mirror.

Harry was clearly tired when he appeared in the mirror, but Rory was still happy to see him.

"Almost missed me," he said with a yawn.

"Do you like the house?" Rory asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "It's right near the Burrow, actually. I can walk there. Ron and Hermione are supposed to come tomorrow. I can tell Sirius likes it better here than Grimmauld Place."

"Good," Rory said with a smile.

"How was your grandfather?" Harry asked.

"He's good," Rory said. "He wants to meet you."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. We're going to have dinner sometime this week in fact," Rory said. "I don't want him to ambush you, so I'm giving you a heads-up."

"I appreciate that," he said.

"You'll get to see my flat," Rory realized. "And my room."

"I just always imagine your room is covered in ABBA and Chudley Cannons posters," Harry said.

"It's not," Rory said. "I used to have a poster of Viktor Krum in here, but naturally after Hermione dated him I had to take it down."

"What's there now?" Harry asked.

"I have a much smaller photograph there now, but it's of a much cuter, much cooler Quidditch player," Rory said, glancing at the picture of her and Harry that hung there.

"Bet it's still a seeker," he said.

"It is a seeker," she replied.

"Ah, so it's Galvin Gudgeon then?" Harry teased.

Rory gasped and sat straight up in bed. "You know who Galvin Gudgeon is?"

"The seeker for the Chudley Cannons? Obviously," Harry said.

"You're so attractive when you talk about Quidditch," she said. "I'm going to take his picture down and hang yours up now."

"Wow, the way you talk, I might think you were in love with me Rory Lupin," he said.

Rory smiled at him. "Definitely wouldn't want you to get that idea. I definitely don't have an obnoxious amount of photos of us."

"I might have to take one of your photos to put in my room," he said. "So I can look at you every night before I go to sleep."

"Talking to me not good enough?" she asked.

"No," he said. "Really have to just sneak into your bedroom and sleep next to you to be pacified."

Rory's face burned with heat again. It had been nice waking up to Harry. It had even been nice to kiss him good morning, until she realized that he was not supposed to be in her room and that if Sirius found them they were dead meat.

Then Rory had a thought, about her dad and Sirius and Harry waking up in her room that morning.

"Harry… Sirius didn't see you in my room this morning, did he?" Rory asked. Harry paused and Rory's stomach sank. "Oh, no."

"He did, but… He didn't tell your dad." Rory thought her heart stopped beating for a moment. "I was surprised too. But he said that… Even if something had happened there wasn't really anything anyone could do about it. Just to, you know, not sleep in your room again. Boundaries and all that."

"Oh," Rory said. She was relieved, but that made it a mystery why they were arguing this morning.

"Is something the matter?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. It just really bothered me hearing them argue this morning," Rory said.

"I don't know either," Harry said. "Sirius basically said that arguing is their standard form of communication."

"Yeah, it just seemed… Dad is always irritated with Sirius, but it felt different," Rory said.

"From what I was able to gather, they might have just disagreed on parenting," Harry said. "Sirius kind of implied that it was about you, but that it wasn't because you had done anything."

Rory pouted.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Fish," Harry said. "Even if Sirius is being ridiculous about something, your dad is always really reasonable. I'm sure he'll talk sense into him if there's an issue."

"I guess you're right," Rory said. She laid down on her pillow. "I'm exhausted."

"Me too," he said. "Get some sleep. I'll talk to you in the morning before Ron and Hermione get here."

"Alright," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said.

She sat the mirror on her bedside table. She forced herself out of bed and turned off her lights, but didn't bother to change into pajamas before climbing back onto her bed and falling asleep.

"Kind of weird that you live in Cedric Diggory's old house isn't it?" Ron asked.

Harry was kind of grateful that Sirius held off on telling him that the house he'd bought used to belong to the Diggorys. But now that he was already in the space, it was easier to push that thought from his head.

He had his own room for the first time in his life. Sure, he technically had his own room in Surrey, but that wasn't really home. This was home. Sirius had intentionally made space for him here. Wanted Harry to make his own space here.

"I try not to think about it," Harry said. "I didn't even know Cedric that well. Just… ended up getting dragged into my mess."

"Do you like it?" Hermione asked, examining his window frame.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Better than Surrey."

"Better than Grimmauld," Ron muttered.

"It's Sirius' family home," Hermione pointed out.

"If he liked it so much, he'd have stayed there," Ron said. "I think he likes it better without the spiders."

"And the picture of his mum in the hallway that tells him how worthless she thinks he is," Harry said. "He said Rory and her brother could have it if they want."

"Does Rory talk to her brother much?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. "He's supposed to visit in August before we start school. She said he seemed nice. She said they don't have a ton in common, but that they have similar energy, whatever that means."

"She's always on about energy and auras and vibes these days," Ron said rolling his eyes.

"What's this?" Hermione asked, picking up the mirror from his pillow.

"Think you'd know what a mirror is, Hermione," Ron said.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she sat it back down.

"It's a two-way mirror, actually," Harry said. "Sirius gave it to me for Christmas so we could talk without the fireplace, but I didn't want him to be tempted to sneak out of the house and get into trouble again so I never used it. But now Rory has the other one."

"So it's kind of like a phone," Hermione said. "That must be convenient for you, not having to write."

"We still write," Harry said. "She said it's easier to write some of her thoughts out than speak them."

Ron shook his head. "I don't know how that girl's head works."

Harry didn't either, but he liked it. He liked talking to her in person, obviously, and having the mirror was excellent. But he liked having the physical reminder in the form of her letters.

"How is Rory doing?" Hermione asked.

"Fine, all things considered," Harry said. "We don't really talk much about what happened at the ministry."

"Don't blame her," Ron said. "I don't like to think about what happened and no one even tried to kill me."

"I think we're all in that boat a little bit," Harry said. "She's just got the worst of it."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"So… You know, Quidditch captain gets to use the prefects' bathrooms?" Ron asked.

"I didn't know that," Harry said. "Are you planning on trying out for the team again this year?"

"Should I?" Ron asked. "I didn't exactly do great last year."

"You won the cup for Gryffindor," Harry said. "I think you at least did fine. Rory wouldn't shut up about the match after I got my letter."

"Really?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "I'm kind of glad Rory gets motion sickness and can't pay Quidditch. She'd be a nightmare."

"If Rory could play Quidditch she'd be captain, not you," Hermione said with a smirk.

Harry thought for a moment. "You know what, that's probably true."