Hi!

Sorry I forgot to post last week-end. I can't even justify myself by saying shit happened or something similar. Well, shit happened, but I also just... forgot. I had the chapter ready for a month now, so I can't also say that my muse died. I don't think anyone's life is hanging on the fact that I publish on time or not, and if it does, please go see a psychologist, and also tell me because I could use the ego boost :-)

Anyway, you have my sincere excuses for the one who were waiting on me.

Thanks Millie for your nice review. There is all kind of strange pairings in fanfictions, so for the first chapter (the one with the red nose), I said to myself "the hell with it, let's make them do it." In my country, France, the President's wife has been his primary school teacher (and we were all like WHAT...? when we heard about that, French people are not that weird in general). So, it is technically possible that such a relationship happens, even if I would be at first very sceptical if someone I knew started something similar. And a lot of people wouldn't bat an eye if the guy in the relationship was decades older than the girl, as it too happens a lot. I could give you other arguments about the plausability of Severus and Minerva banging, but in truth I just found it funny and that was enough of a reason to go with it.

I said it before, but maybe it is worth retelling, I don't have nor will have any money to spare for a long time coming. So I'm sorry for all those artists out there fishing for paid commissions, you are utterly out of luck with me. I prefer, and you might confer with me, eating over having a nice banner alongside my silly fic.

So, this chapter was fun to write. As usual, I'm French and don't have any beta, so every mistake is my own.

Also, I welcome any review as long as you don't outright insult me. I'd like to hear your thoughts about what I write.

Finally, if you liked this serie, and haven't checked my other one named out Elf Out Of the Shelve yet, chances are you'll like it too.

Have a nice read !

It was starting to become a pattern. They would make stupid bets, Sirius would manage to make it, and get a date in the process.

Of course, Ackerman only loved him better for it, but hey, who cared about Cowen?

When he came back to the ministry after his two weeks of free (and unpaid) vacations, Sirius had been pleased to hear that the surname had stuck, and people called the man Cowen behind his back. Someone even managed to circulate a picture of the incident all over the building.

Sirius was in love. Bones was perfect.

He was also focusing all eyes on him, letting free reign for James to act in the shadows to better help their side of the war.

It was a win-win situation, really. Except for the inordinate amount of paperwork shoved in his way. Still, having all of it going through his hands was proving to be a treasure of intel. He'd been assigned to train the common law enforcement forces too, and they were getting better and better. Two or three more months, and they'd have their chances against a basic Auror squad. Especially if Dawlish was leading it.

When his flat was destroyed in a Death Eater raid, he naturally spent the night at Amelia's. He never left after that, and if he didn't need bets to get a date anymore, they found new reasons to keep bedding.

When Remus, officially still his roommate, finally came back from his mission, Amelia offered him a room in her manor.

When he declined, she told him that her nephew needed a tutor, and a pack.

Remus froze.

Sirius proposed.

The Manor soon housed a married couple, one of the husband's best men, one of the wife's nephew, and an ever-increasing population of refugees in the west wing.

There was finally a safe place for the werewolves who didn't want to support Voldemort. Tents were planted on the grounds, and the massive ornamental gardens were repurposed into vegetable gardens.

Years later, when the Dark Lord got wind of a half-heard prophecy, the Potters and Longbottoms moved in. Strength was in number, after all, and the Bones' ancestral home counted two hundred and seventy-six grown up inhabitants. All of whom made daily offerings to strengthen the wards' magic.

The terrorists tried to attack them. Once. They never did it again, mainly due to the fact that they died. Voldemort lost eighty percent of his forces that night, and all of his inner circle, but one.

Lucius Malfoy was always the slippery one. Unfortunately, Snivellus too.

Two hundred angry werewolves, well fed and well trained, were a formidable force. Add to that the Order, and creative defences imagined by bored Marauders who had nothing else better to do, slaughter was a given. The toll had been high for them, but much higher for their aggressors.

Unmasking Peter after the battle amongst the dead was a stab in the back. He was long gone, but still, Sirius kicked him in the balls, repeatedly. In fact, Sirius managed to break his pelvis and hips and burst his bladder and liver before his wife took him away.

After that, it was only a game of patience and careful planning to trick the Dark Lord and capture him. A quick date with a dementor and the villain was gone.

Or so everyone thought until Sirius found a locket in Grimmauld Place when his mum finally kicked the bucket.

The hunt for Horcruxes began, led by select individuals. Sirius, Amelia, Remus, James, Lily, Frank, Alice, and Andromeda dubbed themselves the Merry Band, because they could.

Let's just say that if the Merry Band wanted to become the wealthiest people on the planet, they could. They certainly could "visit" Gringotts vaults whenever they fancied it. They also could empty Malfoy manor in one night. (The last one, they did actually. It had been fun. It helped pay for the basilisk venom needed to dispose of the garnered objects.)

When Sirius finally got fired, after a thousand too many pranks, he only had one thing to say.

"Worth it."