Hestia made one last note on her parchment and took a deep breath. "Well, that's done. I can't imagine a single additional measurement of this property I could possibly need to ward it."

"Me, neither," Sirius said. "I've never even heard of someone needing to do soil analysis charms to set up wards."

"That's because most wards only go about ten feet deep before wrapping back inward. These will go thirty."

Sirius whistled. "Damn. This place is going to be locked down as tightly as Black Manor in London by the time you're done."

"I hope so," Hestia said. "I know how much those kids could be in danger if the wrong people find out where they live."

"Speaking of which…Tempus." Sirius stared at the time. "They should have been home an hour ago."

"Could they be inside watching that telly-vision?" Hestia asked.

Sirius spun around and started toward the house. "Hermione's not much for it, and they were both curious about what we were doing." As soon as he was inside, he called out for the children and got no reply.

"Alright, I am officially worried," he said. "They don't usually stay after school for activities anymore since they're focused on learning as much about the Wizarding World as they can." He hurried into the foyer. "Their backpacks are here, so they must have come home. But why didn't they come outside?"

"Um…Sirius?" Hestia's voice was more distant than he expected, and he realised she hadn't followed him into the foyer. "Could you come here?"

When he arrived in the kitchen, he found her standing over the kitchen table. "Wasn't your letter from Mrs. Lovegood right there?" she asked, pointing at an empty corner of the table.

"Fuck me," Sirius said. "It was. What's the fastest way to get to a floo?"

"I…um…can apparate us to my flat," Hestia said. "It's not very clean right now, though."

"I need to make sure those kids are alright," Sirius replied. "Your flat could be literally full of shite and I wouldn't give a fuck."

"It's not that bad," Hestia grumbled as she pulled him into an embrace.

A quick trip through a mad god's drinking straw deposited them into the sitting room of Hestia's small flat. Random books on warding were strewn around the sofa and various garments hung on drying racks in the rest of the room.

"Merlin!" Hestia reached for the nearest rack of undergarments, probably to try to hide it, but Sirius ignored her and strode over to the fireplace.

"I could not care less, my dear," he said as he grabbed the floo directory on the mantelpiece. "There we go! For Xeno and Pandora Lovegood, we call The Rook."

After they finished their third cookie each with no sign of any adults, Harry suggested they have another. Hermione thought that would ruin their supper, so Luna enthusiastically proposed a debate on the topic. They agreed, at which point she pulled out an ancient, dog-eared copy of Robert's Rules of Order and announced she would be the Speaker and run the debate. Neither of them knew any parliamentary procedure, but somehow Luna managed to keep the whole thing running smoothly with a minimum of referrals to the book.

They also couldn't figure out how she'd procured a tarnished old ceremonial mace, but it looked spiky enough that they agreed with a silent nod that it would be best not to press the issue.

They were well into Hermione's second rebuttal, which focused on the importance of proper nutrition in the diet of growing children, when a familiar voice spoke up from behind them.

"Is anyone there? Harry, Hermione, is that you?" Sirius asked. Only his head was visible as a construct of green fire in the fireplace.

Harry and Hermione both leapt back, startled, but Luna only waved enthusiastically. "Hullo!" she said.

"What the hell is that?" Harry asked, pointing at the fireplace.

"Language!" Hermione said.

"This is a floo, Harry," Sirius said. "It's a means of magical transportation and communication. I hadn't had a chance to show either of you yet."

"Yay!" Luna clapped her hands excitedly. "You got to learn something new today, too! I learnt how muggles make biscuits and you learnt what a floo is. That makes today a good day."

Hermione furrowed her brows, but reluctantly nodded, as if she wanted to find fault with that statement but couldn't. "Yes, I suppose it does," she said.

"Is that Pandora and Xeno's daughter with you?" Sirius asked.

"That's what they've always told me," Luna said.

"Yep, you're definitely theirs," Sirius said. "Hi, there. I'm Sirius Black."

"It's lovely to meet you, Mr. Black. I'm Luna Lovegood."

"Likewise. May I come through?" Sirius asked.

Luna frowned. "I'm sorry, but Mummy and Daddy told me not to open the floo to strangers."

"It's OK," Harry said. "He's our magical guardian, so he's not a stranger to us."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again, apparently realising she shouldn't argue when Harry was trying to help them.

"That's a good point," Luna said. "So I guess you could let him in."

"Great!" Harry squinted at the fireplace. "Um…how do I do that?"

"Just tap the runic inscription to the upper right of the fireplace," Luna said.

Harry jumped up and did just that while Hermione watched him, absorbing the whole process. As soon as he did it, Sirius leapt out of the floo in a burst of green fire. He hugged Harry tightly, and after a moment reached over and pulled Hermione into his embrace, too. "I was so worried," he said.

"Um…may I come over, too?" Hestia's voice spoke up from the fireplace.

"Oh!" Luna said. "I recognise him now. That's Stubby Boardman! Daddy has some posters of your band in his work room."

"Definitely the right house," Hestia muttered.

"Is it OK if I let Hestia in?" Harry asked. "She's really nice."

Luna shrugged. "Mummy did say it was fine if Mr. Boardman came over, even if he brought a friend."

Sirius started coughing wildly as Harry reached over and tapped the runes again.

"I don't want to know, do I?" Hermione asked.

Sirius shook his head, still coughing.

Hestia's emergence from the floo wasn't quite as graceful as Sirius's, but she still landed on her feet.

"I don't know, either," Luna said. "Mummy said she'd explain more when I was married. I know! Harry—"

Harry pulled away from Sirius and crossed his arms. "Just so we're clear, I'm not going to marry you so you can find out sooner."

"Oh, poo," Luna said.

"Merlin!" Hestia said. "That conversation escalated quickly. Do I even want to know how you knew she would—"

"No," Harry, Hermione, and Sirius said simultaneously.

"Are you both alright?" Sirius asked. "What happened?"

"We were looking at a parchment on the kitchen table," Hermione said, "and it pulled us here somehow."

"That was called a portkey," Sirius said. "It's a triggered magical device that can take you from one place to another. Luna's mother is an old friend of mine and she sent it to me. I shouldn't have left it around, but how in Merlin's name did you manage to trigger it?"

"I was explaining how to decipher the handwriting," Hermione said, "and I mentioned that Harry's letters tended to be stubbier."

Sirius sighed. "That would do it. The activation word was 'Stubby.'"

"Because that's your name!" Luna said.

"It really isn't," Sirius replied.

Luna winked at him. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Sirius shook his head and turned back to Harry and Hermione. "What have you been doing since you arrived? It smells delicious in here."

"Harry made us biscuits the muggle way," Luna said. "They were really good. I didn't know you could make biscuits without using magic."

"Thanks!" Harry said.

"They really were, but we probably ate too many," Hermione said.

"That's what we were debating just now," Luna added. "Harry was speaking in favour of eating a fourth snickerdoodle, and Hermione was speaking against. I was the Speaker!" She hefted the mace excitedly, though it took both hands.

Hestia raised her eyebrows. "Um…that's lovely, dear, but maybe you should put that down now that the debate is over."

Luna sighed and put the mace down on the floor.

"Thank you for being such a good hostess, Luna," Sirius said. The little girl preened and Harry had to smile at how happy she was about the biscuits. "Are your parents around?"

She shook her head. "Daddy is on an expedition and Mummy has been working in her lab for the last two hours, and it's locked and silenced. She had that look in her eyes, too, so she might not be out for awhile."

"I remember that look," Sirius said. "You're almost certainly right that she won't be back for quite some time. I'm afraid I need to take Harry and Hermione home now, so they won't get to meet her."

"It's alright." Luna sighed again. "Thank you for coming to visit, Harry and Hermione. I know you didn't really mean to, but it was lovely having you, anyway. It was almost like having a friend again."

Hermione ran over and pulled Luna into a tight hug and Hestia actually gasped. Harry's jaw dropped and he turned to Sirius, but the older man looked just as surprised.

"We're definitely your friends," Hermione said.

"Really?" Luna sounded surprised.

"Really," Hermione said firmly.

Luna snuggled into Hermione's embrace and sniffled a little.

"Um…Luna?" Harry asked. "When you said your mother wouldn't be done for awhile, how long did you mean?"

"I don't know," Luna said. "Maybe another hour, maybe another three hours. Why do you ask?"

"We don't want you to go without supper," Harry said.

"Mummy does sometimes forget to make food when Daddy's not here to do it," Luna said. "Those are the nights we have toast with cheese for supper."

"Oh, my," Hestia said.

Harry nodded. "Luna, we're going to kidnap you back to our house, then. We can feed you and send you back with something for your mother. Hermione, do you remember what we were going to have for supper tonight?"

"My parents were just going to get takeout Indian because they were working late," Hermione.

"Oh, good, there's always tons of leftovers from that," Harry said. "I would've had to start cooking something otherwise."

"Harry," Hestia said gently, "Sirius or I could also have gone out to get something. You don't have to do that by yourself."

"Oh, right," Harry said. "Sorry, I forgot."

Hestia shot Sirius a glance that seemed to be full of meaning that Harry couldn't translate.

"That's a great idea, Harry," Hermione said. "Luna, would you like to come to our house for supper?"

"I'd love to!" Luna said. "Just let me leave a note for Mummy."

Sirius and Hestia apparated the children back to the Grangers' house to find two confused, but not yet concerned Grangers. Isaac was setting out the Indian food, so Miranda went out into the backyard to figure out what was going on.

"Sirius?" she asked as she opened the back door, "I don't remember discussing taking the children anywhere today…or having three of them, for that matter."

Luna waved cheerily. "Hullo! I've been kidnapped! But it's only fair, because I think I kidnapped Harry and Hermione first."

"What." Miranda stormed into the backyard.

Sirius sighed. "That is not how I wanted to start this conversation."

"Mother?" Hermione asked. "Would you mind setting the table for two extra places? We've just dragged Ms. Jones all over England and I've invited Luna here to supper."

"It's alright, really," Hestia said. "I don't want to intrude."

"You," Miranda said, "are not the problem and are always welcome. Can someone explain to me where you've all been?"

"Ooooh." Luna had wandered over to the old clothesline in the yard. "You have an anti-nargle net? How clever!"

"Luna," Harry said, "could you come here so we can introduce you?"

"I don't see why not," she replied.

He sighed. "Please come here so we can introduce you."

"Sure!" She skipped merrily over. "It's lovely to meet you, or at least it will be when you tell me your name. My name is Luna Lovegood, and I made friends today!"

"Um…hello." Miranda blinked. "My name is Miranda Granger, and I'm Hermione's mother. I'm glad you made some friends today, dear."

"I am, too," Luna said seriously. "It's been so long since I had any that I wasn't sure if I remembered how to do it, but Hermione and Harry are ever so clever at it and even made me biscuits so I could give them to them and be a good hostess. Mummy always said I should be a good hostess, but she's never shown me how to bake without magic like Harry did."

"Luna!" Sirius hissed. "This is a muggle neighbourhood. Don't mention magic!"

"Wow, really?" She looked around again. "I've never been to a muggle house before. What a grand adventure!"

"Indeed!" Hermione said with forced cheer. "Harry, why don't you show our guest around the yard while I talk to Mother?"

He nodded and introduced Luna to Isaac's garden, which she had a predictably large number of questions about.

Hermione ran up to her mother and gave her a hug as soon as Luna was occupied. "It's been a weird afternoon," she said. "Let's go inside and we'll explain everything. Also, I'm going to do the dishes myself tonight. Harry's been wonderful today and he deserves a break."

"Very well, dear," Miranda said.

Once they were back inside, Hermione, Sirius, and Hestia explained the events of the day and why Harry was distracting the chatty, underfed waif outside.

"I'm really sorry about the portkey," Sirius said. "I feel awful about just leaving it around, but I got distracted by the warding work and it didn't occur to me that they'd accidentally say the activation word."

"I should have thought of that, too," Hestia said.

Isaac smiled ruefully. "That was ill-considered, but since neither of you have children, I understand. When they're young, you develop a certain level of paranoia about what they might manage to get into and you start to assume they'll do something like that."

"They all seek out different ways to kill themselves," Miranda added. "It's remarkable our species has survived as long as it has. Hermione, you and Harry were very brave and kept your heads well."

"Thank you," Hermione said. "I don't think I would have done as well without Harry there. He's better at dealing with new people than I am. Also, Luna nearly had a panic attack until Harry offered to make her some biscuits to give to us. I think she's been alone with her parents for a couple of years and she was terrified that we'd think she was a bad hostess and leave."

"That poor child!" Miranda said.

"She's very strange, but also very sweet," Hermione said. "Speaking of her, I'm going to give Harry a break now that we've talked. She's a lot to deal with."

Right after Hermione left, Harry hurried into the house, waved, and kept hurrying straight into the loo. A few minutes after that, he emerged. "Sorry, I've been holding it for awhile," he said. "Luna's house was weird and I didn't want to find out what the toilets might do to me."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Smart, Pup. The Lovegoods are unusual even by Wizarding standards."

Isaac stood up and put a hand on Harry's shoulder, a motion from which the boy didn't even flinch anymore. "You were very brave today. Our Hermione isn't always the best at dealing with unexpected situations or unusual people, and today was full of both. I'm glad you were there with her."

"I'll always be there if she needs me," Harry said, "just like she always is for me."

Hestia insisted on accompanying Sirius when he took Luna back to his flat so she could floo home, and something in her tone of voice warned him that it wasn't to make a pass at him. Since it was a nice night in the London area, Sirius transfigured the younger girl a jacket from one of Isaac's old undershirts and they walked the fifteen minutes to Sirius's flat. Luna was inquisitive about everything she saw in the muggle world and it was all Sirius could do to keep the conversation quiet enough not to break the Statute.

Once they were back to Sirius's small, one-bedroom flat, the living room of which he kept clean in case any of the Grangers stopped by, Luna enthusiastically hugged them goodbye and floo'd home. As the green flames of the floo died away, Hestia turned to Sirius. The normal red flames of the fireplace burned in her hazel eyes.

"I've ignored a lot," she said. "Like the things Miranda said to me the day we met, or how Harry flinches from loud noises, or how he never sits with his back to a door. But today he was the one who thought it was necessary to check if Luna was eating enough, and he was getting ready to manage dinner for Luna by himself and it never even occurred to him to ask an adult. He's ten, Sirius. Who taught him these habits, and where the fuck are they?"

Lying to Hestia just then struck Sirius as a terrible idea for a variety of reasons, not least of which was the fact that the fire in his fireplace was burning at least a foot higher by the time she stopped talking than it had been when she started. "They're in prison," he said. "They're going to be there for another eight years. When they're released, I'll make sure Harry doesn't get his hands dirty."

Hestia's fury faded away and the reflection of the firelight in her eyes grew fuzzy as a layer of tears formed there. "Why?" was all she said.

"Lily's sister hated magic and she hated people like us who could wield it when she couldn't," Sirius said. "Harry went to them anyway."

"Merlin!" the shorter woman bent over a bit, her wavy black hair falling in curtains around her face. "I feel physically ill. All those years…all those books…while I was reading stories about how marvellous his life was, he was being abused! I feel complicit, like I allowed myself to be lulled into a false sense of security about him while he needed help."

Before Sirius could consider the impropriety of doing so, he'd pulled her into an embrace. Propriety aside, she certainly didn't seem to mind; the witch clung to him like a life raft. "That's similar to his reaction when I told him about the books for the first time," Sirius said. "He was furious, as was Hermione."

"As they should be!" Hestia's grip tightened. "The Grangers…they rescued him, didn't they? You were in prison."

Sirius nodded. "I failed him as much as anyone."

"It's not your fault," Hestia said. "You made a mistake, sure, but then the rest of our world failed you as badly as it failed Harry. I'm surprised you don't hate all of us."

"I kind of did," Sirius admitted, "until I met my niece Nymphadora. We used to play together when she was little, but I assumed she felt like everyone else until Ted Tonks was finally ready to tell Amelia about me. He brought Nym over, too, and she ran over and hugged me. She'd never given up. All those years…I'd given up, but she never had. Every time I think I should just take Harry and the Grangers to Australia and let this damn fool island burn, I remember Nym and I can't do it."

Hestia snuggled into his embrace. "You're a better man than I—we deserve, Sirius Black." She then froze, released the hug, and backed away from him while frantically looking everywhere but at his eyes. "I…I should go. May I use your…um…" she gestured at his fireplace. "Floo?"

"Of course," Sirius said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Hestia's normally pink cheeks were as red as the fire. "Thank you." She took a pinch of floo powder, called out, "Hestia's Hideaway," and disappeared in a flash of green.

Sirius stared at the fire long after it had turned back to red, lost in his thoughts and the dancing flames.

It was a warm, beautiful day in early November, a rare and wonderful gift from nature before the winter set in, and Luna was determined to make the most of it. She'd spent the whole morning aimlessly wandering through the woods, gone home for a sandwich and to check in with her parents, and was now back outside and following the little stream just to see if it was doing anything interesting. It usually wasn't, but one never knew, and one of the best lessons her father had ever taught her was that sometimes the research was its own reward.

It wasn't until she nearly tripped over the pond and the redheaded girl skipping stones across it that she realised how far she'd followed the water.

"Oh, hullo there, Luna!" Ginevra said. "It's been a minute since I've seen you. How have you been?"

"I've been good," Luna said. "I've made some new friends, Harry and Hermione, and they've invited me over to their house for dinner tonight. Would you like to come? Every week they introduce me to muggle food from a different country. Some of it's a bit spicy, but it's all so interesting!"

"They're muggles?" Ginevra asked. "However did you meet them?"

"They're actually muggle-born," Luna replied. "It's a long story, but it turns out they know Stubby Boardman, who's also a friend of my parents."

"Oh, I see." Ginevra sighed. "I'm sure they're lovely and just as odd as you are, but I'll have to pass. That food sounds a bit queer for my tastes and I'd rather read about the wizard Harry than chat with a weird muggle-born Harry."

"I understand," Luna said sadly. "I suppose I should be getting home to get ready. It's been nice to see you, Ginevra."

"Likewise," Ginevra said as she skipped another stone.

"Is everything OK, Luna?" Harry asked as he used some flexible injera bread to take a scoop of misir wat. He liked Ethiopian food, but he wasn't always clear on how one was supposed to grab runny lentil stews with bread. "You've seemed a little down tonight."

She put down some injera she'd been absently chewing and hugged his arm tightly. "You're a perfectly good Harry," she said. "I ran into my friend Ginevra today and mentioned I was going to see you and Hermione, and she said she'd rather read about Harry Potter than meet some random muggle-born 'Harry' who's odd enough to want to be my friend. I think that's mean, but I don't want you to have fewer friends because people think you're weird for wanting to be my friend. You and Hermione are so nice and you deserve to have more friends, even if one of them isn't me." She paused. "Harry, are you alright? Was some of the food too spicy for you?"

"I'm…fine…" Harry said between coughs. That Sirius was clearly trying to contain his laughter was not helping matters.

"Luna?" Hermione asked gently from where she was sitting on Harry's other side. "I think we may have misled you about something and I'm terribly sorry. Harry's not a muggle-born like me. He's muggle-raised."

"Oh, I see," Luna said. "That doesn't seem like it's worth apologising for, though."

Harry put his injera down on his plate so he could hug Luna back. "It's the next part we feel sorry about. My last name is 'Potter.' I forgot we hadn't told you, but when we first met you I wasn't sure who you were or why we were there, so I didn't want to say too much about who I was, then I forgot when I focused on making the biscuits."

The smaller girl froze in his arms. "You're…not messing with me, are you? Ginevra's brothers do that sometimes, but you don't. You're really him."

"I really am," Harry said.

Hermione nodded. "I completely forgot you couldn't have known," she said. "We didn't mean to keep it from you."

"But…the books…" Luna said.

"Are complete and utter hogwash," Harry said. "I grew up with my aunt and uncle until the Grangers rescued me, and I didn't meet Sirius until months later."

"Oh, my," Luna's voice was small from inside Harry's arms. "Um…hello, Harry Potter."

"Hello, Luna Lovegood," Harry replied.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Now do you see why I asked you to make your parents promise not to mention anything about Harry?"

She nodded. "I thought it was because you were famous and didn't want your nephew being hounded by the press."

"I'm really not…well, I guess I am famous, but I'm famous as myself and not as the lead singer of a band," Sirius said.

"Well, I won't let them hound Harry for any reason," Luna said. "It wouldn't be right."

"I have an idea," Harry said. "Luna, is Ginevra your age?"

"Yes, she is."

"Perfect. Please keep implying I'm muggleborn to her, and then introduce us in a couple of years when you come to Hogwarts. I just want to see the look on her face."

Hermione frowned, then cocked her head. "I was going to say that seems a little mean, but it's perfect, isn't it?"

"I think it is," Harry said. "I'll never be the 'Harry Potter' she's reading about, so to her I am just some random Harry."

Miranda cleared her throat. "That's an unusual way to conceptualise your fame, Harry."

He shrugged and released Luna from his embrace. "I don't even see it as my fame," he said. "It's just a bunch of people giving me credit for something my parents did and making up stories about me. If I'm going to be famous, I want it to be because I actually did something awesome, not because people have deluded themselves into thinking I did."

"Good for you," Isaac said. "I know you will one day."

"I had no idea," Luna said. "You're right, though. Hermione and I are lucky we have you as a friend, not that other Harry Potter. He spends all of his time with popular people in the books, and from what Hermione has told me, she's kind of like me in that we're not popular people."

Hermione nodded. "I'm very lucky to have the real Harry Potter as a friend, regardless, and I wouldn't trade him for anyone. Ginevra can keep her Harry Potter if she wants him. I think you're right that he wouldn't want to be our friend, anyway."

"I wouldn't trade you for anyone, either," Harry said. "It sounds like Harry Potter…I'm sorry, this conversation is now too weird for me to handle. I was just about to psychoanalyse a fictional version of myself."

Luna nodded sagely. "That's probably a bad sign. Let's leave Ginevra's Harry Potter to her and let ours eat his dinner."

"I agree," Hermione said, and Harry nodded enthusiastically.