[A/N: Unfortunately, I have to take another hiatus. My husband is traveling for work so I'll be by myself with my two kids (and two dogs and cat) trying to retain my sanity while keeping everyone fed, healthy and alive for a little while (he's home on the weekends, but a toddler and a second grader take up most of my day as it is so I'll be busy without the help of my partner). I do have a chapter or two of the prequel series that I will post in the meantime (for realsies this time) so look out for that! Otherwise, see you all in April!]

Sirius had no choice but for his house to be ready for company. Luckily, he kept his house quite tidy, a remnant from his days at Grimmauld. He didn't like Kreacher in his room, so he ensured the elf had no reason to go in there unless he was snooping around for his mother.

He didn't mind taking over hosting Christmas dinner. Even better, Harry seemed excited at the prospect.

"I've never been allowed to be at the actual party in my own house before," Harry had said to Aurora when he thought no one could hear them. But Sirius could. Anyone with half a brain would be able to hear those two. Sometimes, they'd talk about Voldemort or Dumbledore's lessons, and they'd have to lean in very close to each other. Sirius couldn't hear a word. But if they were flirting (and they always seemed to be), they couldn't control the volume of their voices.

The good news was that he hadn't overheard anything traumatizing. The bad news was that Harry wasn't going to come back to live with him next summer. The moment he turned 17, he was going to go wherever Rory was. Sirius didn't blame him. Sirius left his house at 16 and never looked back. He hardly left Theo's side. Some of the time. He really had taken advantage of her. It was no wonder she spent most of her nights back at her family's house. "I call it 'The Birdcage,'" Theo told him when they were 16, when she insisted he spend some time away from James to keep her company after her grandfather died.

And then they had two children together. One of whom was sitting on his couch in the living room while James Potter's son whispered flirtatiously in her ear.

But Sirius didn't mind. Even when they thought no one was watching them, Harry and Aurora were exhaustingly sweet to listen in on. They'd obscurely talk about their future together, an unformed amalgamation of their "what ifs" and "why nots" turned into a string of dreams and wishes.

But in those futures, they were always together. A magical future together.

But Sirius wasn't sad. It was sweet. They were happy. They were in love. He wanted them to always be happy and in love.

Sirius could see them from the conservatory. He'd been kicked out of his own kitchen so that Molly could have space to make dinner. Now, he was sitting with Theo, Remus, Tonks, and Bill.

"Did Fleur wind up talking Rory into singing at your wedding?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, actually," Bill replied. "Fleur got her to do just one song for us to dance to, and she agreed. I think it was Slughorn's party that actually clinched it for us. The Weird Sisters were there and chatted with her about it as well."'

"Guess Slughorn and all his connections aren't so bad after all," Sirius said. "Worked out for you."

"So then, Remus, Sirius," Bill said, nodding his head toward the other room, "think it'll be them next?"

Sirius chuckled. "For what it's worth, I don't think Harry'll be too keen to stay here next summer."

"But he was so excited at the start of summer," Tonks said.

"And you get on so well," Theo pointed out.

"Yes, but I think it will take him approximately 10 seconds after turning 17 for him to remember that he likes Rory and Grimmauld better than me and this house," Sirius said. "Which doesn't hurt my feelings. I'm just managing my expectations."

"I'm right there with you," Remus said.

"You still plan on letting Rory have Grimmauold when she turns 17 then?" Tonks asked.

"It's already hers," Remus said dismissively.

"Right, but legally," Tonks said.

"Legally," Remus said. "It was the only way to get Kreacher at Hogwarts and for him to actually listen to Aurora while he was there. He comes with the house."

"Does she know this?" Theo asked.

"She'll figure it out eventually," Sirius said. "I don't think she's going to toss Remus and the Order out."

"She certainly won't turn Harry away," Bill chuckled as a chorus of "Thank yous" sounded from the sitting room. Molly was passing out cookies to the children and had found her way to the conservatory.

"I expected there to be more of them when I got to you, but I was swarmed by teenagers," she said, setting the plate down. She sighed. "Can you believe those three in there will be seventeen so soon?"

"We were just discussing that, actually," Remus said.

"Sirius reckons Harry'll be staying with Rory at Grimmauld next summer," Bill explained.

"Oh, nonsense," Molly said. "They won't even have graduated yet. You can't let them go and get married and move in together."

"Aurora doesn't believe in marriage," Remus said matter-of-factly.

"Besides, they'll be 17. Not like they'll have to do what we tell them anymore," Sirius said. Then shrugged. "They're not very good at taking direction right now as it is."

"Well, it's not proper," Molly said. "And I can't believe you two are being so cavalier about something like this."

Sirius remembered the absolute meltdown Molly had when Fred and George left Hogwarts last year. It was no wonder she was taking this bit of speculation poorly.

"I think they need an eye kept on them," Molly said.

"That's because you still read those gossip rags, Molly," Tonks said. "If you want the real scoop on what's happening at Hogwarts, I told you you have to join us for Tea Time Tuesday."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Like I said before, I don't have time to sit around and gossip with you two every week."

"Every other week, then?" Sirius offered.

Molly waved him off and returned to the kitchen.

"Tea Time Tuesday?" Remus asked.

"You intruded upon in when you visited the first and last time," Sirius said. "Tonks comes over, and we both serve tea."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Right, gossip."

"I get to hear all sorts of things just sitting around at Hogwarts while I do paperwork," Tonks said. "Plus Rory complains to me about that magazine just about every week. They should hire me as a fact-checker."

"The magazine is that interested in her?" Remus asked.

"Her and Harry," Bill said. "At first, they were printing about them sporadically, but now there's a whole page that gives you your weekly 'Aurorry Update.'"

"I'm sorry. Did you 'Aurrory?'" Remus asked.

"You're not a celebrity it-couple without them turning your names into a portmanteau these days," Sirius said.

"They're 16. They're not a celebrity couple," Remus said. "How are their lives that interesting while they're at school?"

"You're right. They're not that interesting," Tonks said. "But they've got classmates sending in gossip and pictures to the magazine. It's annoying but not illegal. I don't think Rory even really cared until that Quidditch match on your birthday."

Sirius remembered. "Yes. So scandalous for the team captain's girlfriend to wear his jersey after he wins a match."

Remus scoffed. "That was fairly normal when we were at school."

"It is for them too," Bill said.

"It wasn't the jersey that was important," Tonks said. "It was, you know, because of the implication."

"The implication?" Remus asked.

"Because he has to take the jersey off for her to put it on, so that can only mean one thing," Theo said.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that's just about how Rory reacted when she showed me the magazine," Tonks said.

"You know," Sirius chimed in, "this has been bugging me for a while, but since when do you call her 'Rory'?"

Tonks shrugged. "I dunno. Probably being around her at school so much. It's stuck."

"I'm not allowed to call her Rory. I tried once, and she told me it didn't feel right and not to do it again," Sirius huffed.

"I could probably get away with it," Bill mused.

"Yes, I'm sure you could since she has a giggle fit every time you say more than three words to her," Tonks said, rolling her eyes. "I get to call her Rory because she likes and trusts me and because I'm not one of these two."

She motioned to Remus and Sirius as she said this.

"She likes and trusts both of us," Sirius said.

"Yeah, but you're her dad, and I am not," Tonks said.

"Let's do a test. Call her," Bill said.

Tonks rolled her eyes but called out for Aurora. She appeared a few seconds later, Harry with her as they chatted.

"What's up?" Aurora asked, pausing her conversation with Harry.

"My fault, dear. I just realized I never told you Happy Christmas today, Rory," Bill said.

Rory tried to bite back a smile, and her golden cheeks started to redden. "Happy Christmas."

She scurried away. Harry briefly narrowed his eyes at Bill before following.

"Oh, my god. Harry looked like he was going to murder you just now," Theo said.

"I literally felt a bit of fear when he met my eyes," Bill said.

"Don't even pretend to flirt with his girlfriend if you know what's good for you," Tonks said.

Fleur called out to Bill from the other room. He got up from his seat and walked out. Sirius watched until Charlie was talking to Fleur. Harry and Rory were still sitting together. Her head was on his shoulder.

"It does make me glad to see them happy," Remus said. "Even if it also makes me feel incredibly old to think about them turning seventeen."

"Do you remember when you turned seventeen?" Sirius asked with a chuckle.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Do I remember you all kidnapping me in the middle of the night, dragging me from the castle to Hogsmeade where you'd set up an illegal portkey to take us to Glasgow for a so-called 'pub crawl' that ended with you and Wormtail nearly getting into a bar fight with some muggles? Yes, I remember that."

"But you did go with them," Theo pointed out.

"Yes, you always do this. Paint yourself as an unwilling participant, but you were always in on our shenanigans," Sirius said.

"Well, if you were going to do something stupid, I had to make sure you didn't get yourself killed doing it, didn't I?" Remus asked.

"You two have been party to far more illegal activity than I was previously aware of," Tonks said. "Remus, weren't you head boy?"

"Dumbledore tried very hard to get Sirius and James reined in," Remus said. "But you've met him. And his daughter."

"At least she doesn't go out looking to cause trouble just because it will be funny," Theo said.

"Unless it's Snape," Remus said.

"And can you blame her for that?" Sirius asked. "And she's only gotten detention once this year since she dropped his class. I think we know who the actual problem was in this equation, and it wasn't her."

"Didn't she technically get that detention because of Harry?" Tonks asked.

Sirius cut a glare at her. "Let's stop pointing fingers."

They all laughed, and Sirius was pleased to see Tonks and Remus in particular laughing. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in the same room with them this long where things felt normal.

"Tonks! Theo! Could you come and give me a hand!" Molly called out.

Tonks sighed. "I knew it was coming."

"Should be fine as long as she doesn't ask you to hold anything fragile," Remus quipped.

Tonks rolled her eyes, but a faint blush crept into her cheeks. "Lovely to have you back, Remus."

Sirius has been doing a very poor job at keeping his mouth shut about Remus and his cousin. But he was trying really hard today because it was Christmas, and the day was going so well. He took a long drink of wine as the women left the room. He noticed Remus watching them as they left.

Then Remus looked over to him and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm impressed with how many of your thoughts you're keeping to yourself tonight," Remus said.

"I do a better job of it than you realize," Sirius laughed. "Besides, couldn't very well have you go and get upset at Christmas. I can save my honesty for another time."

Remus looked back to the other room. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Sirius asked.

"Do you think I need to be more selfish?" Remus asked.

"Absolutely," Sirius answered quickly. "If anyone needs to stop worrying so much about other people and just do what makes them happy, it's you."

Remus sighed as if that's what he expected Sirius to say. "Things could go completely sideways."

"Sure," Sirius said with a shrug. "But what if they don't?"

"It's perfectly fine," Harry insisted.

Rory shook her head. She would not be undeterred. She was examining the slice of bread with a look of irritation on her face.

"I told you I overproofed it," Rory said. "And now it's dense."

"Tastes alright," Ron said, his mouth full. Rory glared at him.

"It was a compliment," Harry said. "The bread is fine."

"I don't want the bread to be just fine," Rory huffed.

Dinner was long over. Everyone was gathered in the sitting room around the fire, picking at leftovers and drinking. Rory had one glass of wine that she had not even halfway finished because she was so fixated on the bread.

"Are you still on about the bread?" Remus asked as he walked over to them. "Sirius just said that it would be lovely with some soup."

"Because it can't stand on its own," she said, crossing the room to Sirius.

"Oops," Remus said. "I hope Sirius likes talking about the density of sourdough bread."

"He'll learn to," Harry chuckled. "You did, after all."

"I pretend to," he said. "It helps that you indulge her. Do you bake at home often?"

Harry nodded. "I used to hate it, but now, as long as I'm keeping busy, my family leaves me alone."

Remus gave Harry a pitying look. Probably not the answer he was looking for, but it was the honest one.

"I heard I have you to thank," Remus changed the subject, "for the letters she wrote."

"Oh, I just thought it might help," Harry said. "She was pretty down about you being gone. She missed you a lot. By the way, I did have to talk her out of making an outline detailing the best way to give you an update on what you missed and where she would incorporate the letters. It sounded a bit like a lecture. She just wanted to be certain you didn't miss anything."

"She loves very intensely sometimes," Remus said.

"Reminds of someone who thinks that a baby grand piano is a perfectly normal birthday present," Harry said.

"Exactly," Remus laughed. Then after a beat, he said, "You've been well?"

The question caught Harry a little off-guard. "Me?" Remus nodded. "Oh. Yeah. I have been. I mean, all I really have to complain about are my classes and my friends being stupid."

"Very standard fare for being 16," Remus said.

"Exactly," Harry said. "Although the SOP trying to lure Rory into their good graces is also not my favorite."

"No one's favorite," Remus said. "She didn't tell you she was talking to them at all. That surprised me."

Thinking about it still made something twist uncomfortably inside of Harry. "She was struggling a lot more than she let on. Said she didn't tell me because she wanted me to have plausible deniability."

"How considerate of her," Remus said.

Harry nodded. "She said she didn't want Voldemort to be able to get inside her head again."

"I'm sure you can empathize," Remus said.

"Exactly. I was kind of upset she didn't tell me, actually. But she's just… Scared. The same way everyone else is scared. And dropping defense against the dark arts really bugged her. She just wanted to feel safe," Harry said. He shrugged. "So I just started doing all of my lessons from class with her."

Remus did a double take. "You do your classes with her?"

Harry nodded. "Once a week, I take everything we learned in Snape's class, and I teach it to her. That way she can still learn and practice the material but she doesn't have to deal with the anxiety of actually being in the class. It's kind of like the DA, but it's just the two of us."

Remus stared at him blankly for a moment. "And you came up with the idea to do that for her?"

"I mean, you're her dad, and you taught defense against the dark arts. Tonks is at the school every other day. I hardly ever leave her side. If she doesn't feel safe with all of us protecting her, if she only feels safe if she can do it herself then she's got to learn, right?" Harry said. He shrugged. "It was the only thing that made sense."

Remus smiled at Harry as he spoke, and Harry felt his cheeks heating with every word, but he got them out.

"Harry, I have had my reservations about you and Aurora. Admittedly, most of those reservations were unfounded and inspired by the fact that I was roommates with your father for seven years," Remus said. Harry managed a laugh. "But you and Aurora together, I think you're an excellent match. And it does make me happy to see the two of you together."

Harry fought back a smile. "Thanks. Feels good to hear you say that."

"I should have said it before now," Remus said with a nod. "I get the feeling that I'm going to be spending a lot of Christmases with you in the future."

"I hope so," Harry said.

Rory appeared suddenly, defensively taking Harry's arm.

"You're not interrogating him, are you?" she asked accusingly. "You know I won't stand for that."

"We were just discussing your dowry, actually," Harry said.

Rory rolled her eyes. "I keep forgetting you're the one that's trouble."

"I'll leave you two," Remus said, excusing himself.

"He wasn't bugging you?" Rory asked.

"No," Harry chuckled, he kissed her cheek. "You know I like your dad, right?"

"You were convinced he hated you a few months ago," Rory said.

"Well, he doesn't," Harry said. "I think if he actually did—"

"I'd have dumped you a long time ago, probably," Rory teased. Harry kissed her again.

"Rory."

Ron walked over, a small parcel in his hand. He held it out to her.

"Is this for me?" she asked.

He nodded. "I got it for you a while ago. You should still have it."

Rory took it and opened it. It was a Chudley Cannon's T-shirt.

"Thanks, Ron," Rory said. "This is really nice."

"We were friends before all this. Even when you and Harry were broken up, we were still friends. I know you're mad about Hermione," he said. "And I will apologize to her."

"Oh, will you?" Rory asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Hermione and I always work it out, right?"

Rory was still hesitant. "I'd like to see you work out this time."

"I think we can all work it out, honestly," Ron said. "I mean, what if Lav apologized for all that stuff she said?"

Rory was still sufficiently fed up with the topic of making up with Lavender. "No offense, but I don't really want to hang out with anyone who went around calling me a slut behind my back," she said.

"That's not what she said," Ron said.

"She might as well have," Rory huffed. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a lull in the conversation of the room as they had this exchange, and the room was virtually silent.

When the silence was past, Ron shuffled away as Mr. Weasley declared, as casually as possible, that it was time for the Weasleys to head out.

They bid everyone goodbye, and the house slowly emptied. Once the Weasleys were gone, Rory, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Theo were all that remained. Remus was tidying things up in the conservatory with Rory, likely having a chat about her outburst at Ron.

"So, she really doesn't like Lavender then," Sirius said, keeping his voice low. "You all said that there was just a personality difference."

"That's what I would've called it before Ron started dating her. But when they got together, Lavender was adamant that she and Rory be friends even though Rory was not the least bit interested," Harry said.

"Doesn't sound like they became friends at all," Sirius said.

"Rory tried. Ron's her friend. And Hermione said not to be mad at him over it," Harry said. "So, to be nice, when Lavender suggested a double date, Rory agreed."

"And that didn't go well?" Sirius asked.

"Didn't go at all. They got into an argument before we left the dorm that morning. They both agreed they'd rather eat glass than spend the afternoon with each other if I recall correctly," Harry said.

Tonks and Theo laughed, and Sirius shook his head pityingly, clearly trying not to laugh so he could get his next words out.

"And it was during this argument that the name calling happened then?" Sirius asked.

Harry shrugged. "I think it was just the first time she ever said it to Rory's face. I guess she'd said something to that effect a few other times. I kind of went off on Ron about it."

"Oh, really?" Theo asked. "Why?"

"I told him that Rory didn't want to be friends with Lavender and he kept pushing it, and Rory certainly could've made a bit more of an effort, but aside from saying that Lavender was irritating she didn't talk about her behind back and I wouldn't let her if she tried, because Ron's my friend," Harry said.

"I get it," Sirius said. "Girls always add a layer of complication to relationships. They still do."

Theo scoffed. "We're not in a relationship, Sirius."

"I wasn't talking about you," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

Right, Harry realized, looking over to Tonks. She frowned.

"I don't like that you just looked at me," she said.

"Well, it's just Rory tells me things. And the patronus—"

Tonks shushed him. "My god, he's in the other room. Do you and Sirius have any tact?"

"If you knew James Potter, you wouldn't be asking that question," Theo said.