Remus opened the door warily the next time someone knocked, "You're back."

"Yes, sorry about that," Saul shifted, "We ah…some of your information came as a surprise. I have people dealing with it now. And…at some point, someone is going to have to deal with Albus, may the Gods help us all."

"Right," Remus muttered, deciding he wasn't prepared to deal with any of that statement right this very second. "Perhaps a conversation for after you've met Hermione properly? I want in on whatever it is you're planning. Sirius will too. They're essentially his children after all and whatever Albus has been up to at that school, it's not been in their best interests. Just...maybe let us get settled somewhat."

Saul hummed, "Very well, once Lord Black is out of St Mungos we'll arrange a chat."

Remus nodded, "This way then."

Saul stopped him. "How…how is she?"

"Still rather closed off, understandably," Remus replied slowly.

"I see," he murmured.

"Just…don't expect miracles," he sighed.

Saul hummed, "I was considering Godparents earlier."

"Oh?"

"Severus Snape came up, apparently he and her ah…Regulus were close."

"Severus Snape?" Remus spluttered, caught completely off guard.

"Oh, you know him?"

"We went to school together," he muttered in reply, "It was…we were not friends."

"Ah," Saul uttered "Not friends enough to discourage it completely?"

Remus made a whining sound at the back of his throat, "Sirius will never go for it"

"Even if it's best for Hermione?"

"How can it possibly be best for her?"

"He can feel the magic that linked him to Regulus linking her to him."

"Fuck," Remus groaned. "I…If you're truly set on it I'll speak to Sirius."

"Good. I'll need to speak to Snape again, he was….reluctant.

"Oh, you're back," Harry spoke flatly, appearing in the hallway, interrupting Remus' next thought.

"Yes," Saul agreed warily, not liking the way the boy was looking at him.

"Staying this time?"

"Harry!" Remus hissed. "That's not…"

"No, no it's fine." Saul interrupted. "It's…rather reassuring, to be honest. Yes, I'm staying, I had something to deal with unexpectedly that couldn't wait. It's being handled now."

Harry still looked unimpressed but Saul didn't know what else to say to him. "Can I go through now?"

Despite his eyes narrowing, Harry stood back and let him enter. Hermione was sitting on the sofa, utterly absorbed in a tombe that was almost as big as she was. Saul cleared his throat nervously.

Her head shot up, eyes watching him warily, "Hello," he murmured, feeling completely out of his depth.

"Hello," she returned, her face blank.

"I ah…how are you?"

The look she shot him was withering. "Peachy," she muttered.

Saul made a small noise of distress. "I ah…know that the last few days haven't been ideal... I know the whole situation isn't ideal but I'll be honest with you, you look better than the last time I saw you. Don't you feel any better?"

"I feel less tired," she muttered reluctantly.

He hummed, "The Grangers ah…indicated they were not involved hugely much?"

She slumped, shaking her head. "No," she whispered.

"I'd like to be more involved," he ventured softly. "I ah… can't promise not to completely mess this up. I hadn't quite expected to be here but if you'll let me I'd like to try. You just need to tell me if I make mistakes."

She looked terrified. "What if they were right?"

"About?" he asked lightly.

"Me. I couldn't get even simple things right most of the time. I knew I wasn't pretty and I wasn't sociable but I used to at least be clever but I…"

"And I'm going to stop you there," Saul growled. "They set you up to fail. Professor McGonagall thinks you're one of the brightest witches to walk Hogwarts halls and that witch doesn't give unnecessary praise. You might not have a giant group of friends Hermione but at the very least you have one that is protective enough to be visibly unimpressed with me. As for how you look, there's nothing bloody wrong with you!"

"You have to say that," she muttered.

"Perhaps, but tact is not my strong suit. Ask my staff." She gave an unwilling smile at his honesty; he was taking it as a win. "Now, I gather Madam Tonks has offered to help with witchy things?" she nodded slowly, "So, in an ideal world, what would you like from me?"

She frowned. "I don't know."

Saul let out a slow breath, deciding that despite his declaration minutes before, he really had better check, "Do you want me involved?"

"I ah…if you want," she murmured

"Ok. As a…as a parent?" Wide eyes that matched his own met their counterpart looking so scared he backtracked immediately. "How about we don't decide right now and just attempt to get to know one another?"

She nodded silently, the fear still so clear on her face that he could have hexed himself for his stupidity. "How are you getting on with Mr Lupin?"

"He seems nice," she offered softly.

Saul hummed "Your Uncle gets out soon too. Are you feeling ok about that?"

She shrugged, "I imagine I'll have to be."

He bit back a sigh, not entirely sure how to proceed. "I work in the Department of Mysteries." he blurted, "How do you feel about visiting?"

Hermione blinked, "What do you do?"

"Me personally? I'm the director. The department as a whole…ah. Many things. We exist to try and explain the unexplainable and to push the bounds of magic."

"I see," she murmured, her face finally showing some life. "I think I'd like to see that."

"Good." he breathed, almost slumping in his relief, "That's good. We'll sort that out. Maybe you'll consider agreeing to at least one set say with me?"

"I ah…I could."

"Wonderful I propose a Wednesday because quite frankly the cakes in the canteen are better that day. I don't know why…a mystery we've never quite been able to solve."

She gave a slight huff of laughter and he had to force down his pleased grin. "Now, how does from lunchtime sound? Start with cake and end with experiments."

"Alright," she agreed softly.

"Wonderful!" he grinned. "Now I ah…I imagine you have questions."

"Some," she agreed.

"Well if I promise to try and answer them, will you ask?"

She looked momentarily scared before saying her shoulders, "Why now?"

"Why am I here now?" he checked, at her nod she sighed, "I told you there was a standard ten-year clause. We have it because we often dabble in blood magic and the clause nullifies the less savoury ways blood can be used by someone if they were to steal it. I had truly forgotten."

"If it nullifies blood why didn't it work on ah…."

Saul almost snorted at the embarrassed flush climbing up her cheeks but decided to help her, "My sample? Because it couldn't, we needed the samples intact so the clause was modified slightly."

"But then didn't you know it was in place?" she frowned.

"No, or well, yes but I rarely think about it consciously. It's a standard part of any contract that becomes active when we sign. I wasn't the only Unspeakable to volunteer, it could quite easily have happened to any one of us. And as poor an excuse, as I'm sure it is, I truly did forget."

"Oh", she murmured, "Was it a big surprise?"

Saul snorted, a look of genuine mirth on his face, "You could say that." he agreed. "I ah…my partners don't tend to have the correct biology to produce children."

"Neither apparently did my mother," she muttered, making him laugh.

"Well no, but Regulus and I had no contact and an awful lot of magical help."

Tiling her head Hermione conceded the point, "Do they know why the experiment mainly failed?

"No.'' Saul sighed, "Or perhaps partially. All of those who reached term had higher than standard magical readings. But we don't understand why the successful combinations caused that and we cannot pinpoint where magic comes from. Until we do, we're unlikely to move forward."

"Oh," she whispered, "Are you still experimenting?"

"Not that I'm aware of but quite frankly I wasn't aware we had successfully got three babies to term so…" he paused, "I really should check that."

"Probably," Hermione muttered.

He looked slightly sheepish, "Sometimes it's rather easy to lose track of what they're all up to. Magic is limitless, and we learn more daily. And it's exciting and groundbreaking but I'll admit, sometimes they take it a little bit further than they should without clearance."

"Like growing babies."

"Exactly that," he sighed. "Now, what is it you're reading? I gather you are a bit of a bibliophile and I feel like I need to point out that our library is vastly superior to Hogwarts.

That turned out to be the icebreaker he needed, his daughter's love of reading appeared to be genuine if nothing else and he left a few hours later, feeling less apprehensive than he had. He hoped to Godric that he wasn't being overly optimistic.

Remus sighed, both children were silent again and tense. Sirius was due to be released shortly and he was no closer to figuring out what he was doing than he had been when he'd been handed them. It was a more startling change in Harry, the boy had seemed reasonably well adjusted, clearly just pleased to have left the Durselys but even Hermione had managed to open up a little. And now they were back to looking nervous and unsure, nothing he said lightened the mood.

All of them jumped when the door opened and Sirius wandered in looking as apprehensive as he felt, Andromeda Tonks beside him.

"Hello you two," Andromeda smiled as if they did not both look terrified.

"Andromeda," they murmured in response, their eyes flitting to her briefly before darting away, returning to their knees.

"You remember Sirius?" she prompted.

They nodded silently in unison, eyes moving to watch him as he sunk into the sofa. "I imagine this is going to be difficult," he began, not looking sure. "But ah…well, we'll muddle through won't we?" he grimaced at the continued silence, "How have you both been settling in?"

Harry and Hermione shared a silent look before Harry mumbled, "Fine."

"Good, I ah...Remus has been keeping you reasonably entertained?"

Remus rolled his eyes at him exasperatedly as Hermione managed a quiet, "Yes."

"And Andromeda says you're visiting her on a Monday," he pushed, keeping his focus on Hermoine.``

"Yes," she agreed softly.

"And ah…Saul? Are we going with names, not titles?"

"Yes," she agreed again.

"Right, so Saul and the Department of Mysteries on a Wednesday afternoon for the summer?"

"Uhuh."

He swallowed, his eyes moving to Harry, "We thought you'd maybe like to practise your flying while Hermiones at the Ministry. I'm not in any fit state but Ted was on the Hufflepuff team, he plays in a works tournament still."

Harry's eyes lit up. "Yes." he agreed immediately.

"Good. That's good. I ah..we have some other things we'll need to cover a…occlumency at the like. But we can wait a little bit." he attempted a smile. Andromeda sighed heavily.

"Not too long, unfortunately," she contradicted. "However I imagine we can take the night."

"What's occlumency?" Hermione ventured.

"It's the ability to shield your mind from others." she frowned, so Sirius continued, "Its counterpart, legilimency, allows you to see inside someone's mind. A truly skilled one can do so undetected."

"That's…Jesus." Hermione muttered, "And…are there many?"

"Legilimens? No. Or not that we're aware of, but Dumbledore is one."

"And…does he regularly look inside people's heads?" Hermione looked horrified.

"I honestly don't know but it's not a chance I want to take," Sirius replied gently.

"But he's the Headmaster! Surely there are ethical considerations."

Andromeda snorted, despite the hard look on her face, "Hermione, you and Harry have been involved in things you've had no business being involved in two years running. I don't think Albus Dumbledore is as concerned about ethics as he should be."

She paled as she eyed her new cousin. "You think it was deliberate."

Harry startled beside her, "You do?"

"We hope not." Andromeda corrected looking utterly unconvinced, "But it's a concerning precedent to have set, no?"

"The mirror," Hermione mumbled and Harry froze.

"What about the mirror?" he demanded.

"Strange coincidence that you'd seen it before, no?" she turned to face him, ignoring the adults in the room.

"Yes," he whispered.

"Mirror?" Andromeda demanded.

"Of Erised," Harry replied slowly, "It…it shows you what you want most."

Andromeda blinked, "And what's that got to do with Dumbledore?"

"He found me looking at it and explained what it was. Then it was where the stone was hidden."

"I see,'' Andromeda replied, her tone glacial, able to guess what he'd seen by the look on his face.

"So. Occlumency," Sirius interjected, struggling to mask his own rising fury.

Despite his ever-growing horror, Remus quirked his lips into a smile, his eyes on Hermione "There'll be books.

She gave a slight huff of laughter, as Harry nudged her, "That's you sorted then. And afterwards, you can explain what I need to know?"

"Or you could read them yourself and then discuss them in case you each pick up something the other missed," Andromeda interjected pointedly.

"Or we could do that," Harry sighed, pouting slightly.

"Good, Hermione does not exist to do your academic work for you."

Harry flushed, "Understood" he muttered.

Smiling serenely, Andromeda ignored Sirius' frown, "Wonderful! Now, I'll leave you to get to know each other, I'll be back on Thursday."

Three days later having managed to feel like he wasn't screwing this up past the point of fixing, Sirius sighed as he lowered himself carefully onto the bed, his joints creaking. "Merlin I'm bloody old," he muttered, drawing a laugh from Remus.

"Aren't we all," he agreed. "Yours at least should get better. Mine on the other hand…."

He snorted "Nonsense, we've not got two 't they say kids keep you young?" Remus swung to look at him incredulously. "Yeah alright. Maybe not."

"Did Saul owl?"

"He's coming tomorrow, why?" Sirius asked, not sure where this was going.

"He wanted to discuss Hermione's godparents. Or well, godfather."

Narrowing his eyes Sirius looked him over, catching the tense posture, "Oh?"

Choosing his words carefully, Remus sat down next to him on the bed, "Apparently Regulus and Snape…did something. It wasn't clear what, to be honest, but it magically linked them."

"Are you trying to tell me my brother married Snape?"

"I... I don't think so?" Remus heard the question in his own voice. "I don't know. I didn't ask. I don't think Saul knew either. But, he can feel Hermione's magic. Saul thought it would help nullify that"

Sirius paused, blowing out a slow breath. He didn't quite know what to make of his niece. She seemed grown up in a way he didn't feel and while he knew it was absolutely not healthy he had no idea how to get behind her walls, the only one she really let in was Harry and even then he had quickly realised that in many ways it was superficial. She loved him, that much was clear, and she knew him possibly better than the boy knew himself, but she held herself back, putting her feelings secondary to his, shielding him from anything remotely difficult. It..annoyed him slightly that Harry didn't notice. Which made him feel guilty because the boy's upbringing had been beyond shit; Hermione was quite possibly the first person to put him first he could remember. How could he be expected to realise it was wrong?

It didn't take away the fact that Hermione needed someone in her corner. And he was, obviously, but he had to be in Harry's too, so did Remus. But a godparent…he had already considered asking Andromeda to be Harry's godmother, she'd likely be a good fit and it would link her to him, allow her to keep him safe. He hadn't considered Hermione, not beyond fleetingly acknowledging she'd need them, but it wasn't his place to choose them was it? She had a father. And that also left him feeling off balance. He was her Uncle and her patriarch but not her parent, or he didn't think he was mean to be her parent, he had no idea what parameters Saul intended to set. And until he did, Sirius felt like he was floundering slightly, of course, it was all new, and that didn't help, nor did the fact they were all bloody traumatised in some way…but Snape? Gods, could he?

Part of him wanted to say no without thinking it through, he had hated him from the moment he set eyes on him. Which, he could acknowledge now, wasn't fair. But to trust him with his niece? Reggie had trusted him though, he knew that, if Reggie had had any say Snape would likely have been godfather to his children. Which meant he had to consider it didn't he? And Snape was formidable. He knew that. But he was also, unless things had changed drastically, an utter arsehole. Maybe he needed to speak to the children. They at least had seen the man in the last decade. He didn't like this new feeling of having to be responsible, but every time he considered not being, his niece's destroyed face came back to him as she closed herself off, Harry's throwaway comments that hinted at far more trauma than he showed floated through his head and he had to force himself to second guess his initial reaction. They were counting on him to be the actual adult. And Merlin didn't that thought sound patently absurd. He had to try though, didn't he? They deserved that as an absolute minimum if he was honest.

"I don't know," he replied finally. "I think I'd like to speak to you. And then Hermione."

Nodding slowly, Remus tried to hide his shock, "Maybe we are getting old" he mused, "That was almost mature pads."

Sirius snorted, "I fucking hated every word."

Saul eyed Sirius Black mentally sizing the other man up. Sirius stared back doing similarly. "What's my remit?" he blurted.

"In what way?" Saul checked slowly.

"I just…Remus mentioned godparents and I…I'd been thinking about making Andromeda Harry's godmother and I know Hermione needs some too but I…it's not my place is it?"

Saul froze considering him, not at all sure what he wanted to answer. He was the girl's father. And he intended to be involved. Heavily involved. But he wasn't the one who'd be doing the day-to-day tasks. He wasn't the one she lived with. "I think we need to agree on bigger things between us," he mused finally, "Like godparents. However, you are the one that's here. You can't run everything by me."

Sirius blinked, "You want me to…parent?" he hedged.

"Yes." Saul agreed, "Otherwise she'd be living with me."

"Why isn't she living with you?"

"Because I think it's better for her to be here." he paused eyeing the man, "Do you not want her here?

" WHat ? No! That's not it! Gods. That's not what I meant! It's just….neither of them are technically mine and I'm trying to work out…boundaries. Harry is easier, he was always meant to come to me if the unthinkable happened, but I was struggling with Hermione because well… you're alive. And…"

"Going to be involved," Saul finished, "And make no mistake, I have no intention of going anywhere. But if she's going to be here so of course you're going to have to parent her."

"Right," Sirius sighed, "So. Snape."

"Yes, I think he's a good choice. Remus implied you'd have issues."

"Reservations." he mumbled, "I…we were not on good terms. I think I want to speak to Hermione, and then Snape before I give an opinion."

"That's fair," Saul agreed. "And godmother?"

"Christ. I have no idea." Sirius ran an exhausted hand over his face, it had been the longest fortnight of his life and it wasn't even done.

"I had considered Amelia." Saul mused. "We're friends, she didn't seem intimidated by Snape and I must confess I like that she has some experience with teenagers. Merlin knows the rest of us don't."

Sirius snorted, "Her I can agree to. I like Amy. And she has a niece, doesn't she? Susan. It might be nice to introduce her to Hermione." he hesitated, "I'm worried about her."

"In what way?"

"She's…incredibly closed off."

"Which we expected."

"I thought she might open up a bit when we were not obviously there."

"With Harry?" Saul guessed.

"Yes," he sighed, "she doesn't. She mothers him and he lets her."

Saul stilled clearly mulling that over. "I see," he replied finally. " I'll…discuss it with her. I'll maybe ask Amy for advice first."

"Right. When are you meeting Snape?"

"I'll organise it this week."

"Right," Sirius trailed off awkwardly. "This is…"

"Hard?" Saul offered.

"More than." Sirius sighed, "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Neither do the rest of us, Lord Black." Saul returned dryly.

Remus watched as Harry flew circles above their heads, attempting manoeuvres as he went, trying not to worry about how Sirius' conversation was going. Hermione was curled, a giant book on her knees, propped up against a tree having been forced outside. "Good book?" he ventured.

She startled, her eyes sliding to him warily. "Yes," she agreed.

"What's it about?"

She frowned, her body tense, although he couldn't figure out why. "Wizarding etiquette," she muttered, "Andromeda recommended it as a starting point."

"I see." he nodded, "Is it very different from muggle etiquette?"

Slowly she shook her head, "No. Or not from what we now consider old-fashioned manners. Knuckle kisses, curtseying etcetera, all went out of fashion barring a few specific situations."

"Such as?" he checked lightly, trying to keep her talking, hoping if she did she'd relax. She was still so tense. He could see her mentally weighing up every word, what she was avoiding saying he wasn't sure, but there was something.

"Well you'd expect to curtsy if you met the Queen." she shrugged, "But you wouldn't expect to see a woman curtsy on the street unless she was teasing I suppose. But you know that. You mentioned spending time in the muggle world."

"Yes," he admitted, "enough to get by certainly. the ….anonymity was nice."

She smiled sadly, "Because of Sirius?"

He stilled, "No love. Did no one mention it?"

"Mention what?"

"I'm a werewolf." he watched her waiting on the disgust, the fear. What he saw was curiosity.

"I don't know much about werewolves," she muttered, "Is that…bad?"

He snorted loudly. "Oh Hermione." he sighed, "It's considered bad yes. To my knowledge, I am the only were to be allowed access to Hogwarts in the entirety of his history."

"Why?" she demanded, her face the picture of indignation.

"Because people fear us," he murmured softly.

"People fear you?" she scoffed, eyeing him. "Remus I've seen you fold socks. You say you like Sci-fi but I've seen those muggle romance novels you pretend you're not reading. And you hide chocolate like it's going to disappear. "

He let out a startled bark of laughter. She'd been watching, he realised, cataloguing little facts in an attempt to get to know them. "And yet none of those things mean I am not dangerous."

"You fold your socks!"

He shook his head, eyeing the miniature witch fondly. "Don't ever change," he murmured.

She frowned at him then, "I don't understand."

"Weres lose control," he tried to explain, "Well, without wolfsbane. We attack, bite, try and turn any human close. During the war, a wolf known as Greyback was often used to threaten families Voldemort wanted onside. He is the alpha, and he has a fondness for children."

"He bit you," she murmured, clearly hearing what it wasn't saying.

"He bit me," Remus agreed with a sad smile. "I was four."

"Oh Remus," she stretched her hand out as if she was going to touch him, drawing it back sharply before she could make contact. Pointedly, he reached for her, taking her hand. She tensed but didn't pull back.

"He has control of most weres. There are no other options. The laws…" he trailed off considering his words. "They make integration difficult."

"How?" she demanded.

"How," he mused, wondering how honest to be, "Lack of rights, a public registry that automatically puts those registered at a disadvantage, we are not considered humans. We are considered beasts. The books written focus on subduing, killing or demonising werewolves. There is little information on the reality."

She frowned, an undefinable look flashing over her face. "We'll be fixing that," she muttered finally as if to herself before turning to look at him, "You wouldn't write a book?"

"I…I hadn't considered it, no."

"Why?"

"Who wants to read that werewolves are human?" he countered bitterly.

"How do you know until you try? Maybe giving another point of view will be enough to get people talking."

He tensed next to her, his hand spasming. He almost jumped out of his skin when she squeezed him back. "I'll think about it," he murmured.

With a hum, she let him go, "Sirius could work on changing some laws now, couldn't he?"

"He could try," he sighed, "But people are unlikely to be resistant."

"Which is why we need something showing them how stupid it is." she countered. "Is…is Hogwarts the only magical school?"

"No," he frowned not seeing where she was going.

"So if someone was to offer to teach werewolf children elsewhere…"

Remus let out a startled laugh, staring at her incredulously. "Oh Hermione. Yes, I imagine they could. But finding teachers would be hard."

"Are all werewolves bitten young?"

"No," he replied slowly.

"So couldn't some of the adults teach?"

"Merlin, Kid." he blew out a breath, his mind whirling. "Yes they could," he agreed finally. "However we'd need to build up trust because currently the Packs, rather understandably, do not trust wizards and they do not trust me because I live amongst them. And we'd need assurances that the Ministry wasn't going to swoop in and ah…cause issues."

"You mean murder them."

"Or throw them in Azkaban," he sighed.

She paled, "You think they would?"

"I think there is a lot of hate," he replied softly, "And a lot of prejudice."

"So first we work on changing the perception of werewolves, and then we get Sirius to deal with the Ministry. And then we approach the Packs."

He snorted, surprising them both by wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her into his side. "You little witch are going to change the world."

She laughed uncomfortably, "Unlikely."

"Don't downplay your talents, Hermione," he warned, "People hear werewolf and automatically think dangerous beast. I can count on one hand how many people are kind. There are even fewer who have ever actively discussed how to change things so that things are better, fairer."

She sighed but dropped her head onto his shoulder. He fought the urge to freeze lest he move wrong and make her rethink it. "No one deserves to be ostracised for something they have no control over," she murmured.

With a sad smile, he pulled her closer, knowing she wasn't just thinking about the wolves.

She seems less awkward around you," Sirius voiced hesitantly as he climbed into bed having finally sent Saul home.

Remus hummed, "We spoke about wolves."

"Oh?"

"She has some ideas," he yawned. "She thinks I should write a book."

"On wolves?" Sirius checked.

"Yes, to counteract all the other ones out there."

"She might have a point," Sirius replied thoughtfully.

"We'll see. I want this year at Hogwarts over with first. I can't be outed before that, it'd be catastrophic and I need to be there to see how they are. Godric knows they're not actually likely to tell us."

"Fair point," Sirius sighed heavily. "Saul is…I don't know what to make of him."

"No. He's trying though. And he got her talking."

"I know. Which is something. I don't know what to make of her either. I know we need to get her to open up, but I have no idea how."

"Time I think." Remus murmured, "Based on today, she hates injustice, wants to know things, so knowledge is a way in and you have all those Black family secrets to share."

"And her relationship with Harry?"

"Noticed that?" Remus returned wryly. "I think Harry needs more people to rely on. If he had actual adults in his corner, he might lean on her less. We also probably need to discuss remembering Hermione is the same age as him and acceptable expectations."

"And her? She protects him."

"Yes, but if he had other people protecting him I think it'd lessen. He hasn't for so long." Sirius winced, "And..we need to find some way to remind her she's a kid."

"Saul thought of Amy for godmother. We discussed her niece. Susan."

Remus hummed, nodding. "More friends isn't a bad thing. She mentioned Neville Longbottom briefly too. Apparently they're friends."

"So we have them over," Sirius declared. "I want to see Weasleys too. There were concerns that the youngest, Ronald isn't it? Was Harry's friend, not Hermione's. That'll need to wait until they're back though. Depending on Narcissa's decision, she might have suggestions for witches. Although two years of bullying might make some of those suggestions difficult."

"We won't know until Narcissa decides what she's doing. However, yes, I imagine two years of being told you're worthless because something you have no control over is not going to be an ideal foundation for a friendship. Maybe we need to consider people who haven't actively hated the pair of them."

"She'll fall in line," Sirius muttered, "I can't see her voluntarily leaving the family. And you're right...I know you're right, but that's all going to be on you. I have no idea where to even begin suggesting people, you'll at least be teaching them this year."

"Quite. I'll...pay attention. In the meantime, what about Dora?"

"Andy said she thought she'd be good for Hermione." Sirius agreed. "I just…I don't want her to feel like we're pushing her away."

"No," Remus sighed, "I imagine the balance is going to be difficult."

"More than," Sirius snorted. "Fuck I am not qualified for this."

"Neither of us are , Pads. And yet we're the best hope they have."

"Fuck." Sirius muttered despondently. "Those poor kids."