Laocoon's Children, Year II

Years afterward, Harry Potter would describe his first school summer holiday in Betwys Beddau as idyllic. When Neville asked him what he meant, he was hard-pressed to say, but he finally settled for the explanation that it was the last summer when they were all children.

This may have been slightly inaccurate and was certainly ironic; it wasn't as though they were innocent babes in arms. In their first year at school, Harry and his small band had decapitated a dead man, painted several fifth-year Gryffindors with indelible green ink, and narrowly averted a catastrophe of massive proportions. Still, those had been...adventures.

At any rate, that time stood out in Harry's mind as a wonderful summer, despite his initial disappointment that he would not be spending it in London. He had a long list of books to read, and he spent whole days at a time basking in the sun with Snake, reading and practicing his drawing. He was allowed to run wild so long as he stayed within the borders of the town, and besides he had Padfoot with him almost all of the time. The natives of Betwys Beddau had missed the peculiar family -- the little black-haired boy and his likewise black-haired godfather, the quiet cousin who lived with them and worked at the bookshop sometimes, and their big black Newf who was always joining in the football games (such a clever dog). They were outsiders, of course, but the village owned them and was very proprietary -- they were, as one woman once said while discussing the finer aspects of Sirius Black's arse with a friend, Betwys Beddau's outsiders.

Whether Sirius and Remus were satisfied to leave London behind for a provincial Muggle village, they didn't say, but Harry thought Remus slept more calmly than he had in London. Which of course meant that Sirius slept better as well.

Despite the pleasant weather and the freedom to do exactly as they pleased, however, when the big brown barn owl fluttered down onto Sirius' shoulder and dropped a letter on top of the book he was reading, one day early in August, Harry felt as though someone had thrown them a lifeline back to wizarding civilisation.

"School letter!" Sirius said cheerfully, sailing it across the expanse of grass to where Harry was holding a solemn conference with several snakes who lived at the bottom of the garden. His habit of talking to snakes had unnerved Sirius, years ago, but since the snakes kept the garden free of rodents and Snake kept the house bug-less, he tolerated them. Today, Harry had translated, the subject concerned a shrub which had grown over the best basking rock, and whether Harry would consent to trim it back.

Harry picked up the letter and, with a hiss that sent the other snakes wandering off, opened it. Snake, in his place of honour on Harry's collar, slithered over his ear.

"Go on then," Sirius said to the barn owl which was still perched placidly on his shoulder. The owl shook itself and hooted at Harry.

"Letter for you, too," Harry said. He tossed a thick envelope to Sirius, and a smaller, slightly crumpled one on Remus' chest, where the other man lay sleeping. "Probably waiting for a return letter."

"All right then, but he doesn't need to use me as a perch," Sirius said. Just then another owl appeared, and landed on his other shoulder. "You bloody nuisances!"

"Look, it's Hedwig!" Harry cried, as the snowy owl ruffled her feathers cheerfully. The barn owl hooted at her and flew off, as if that was all he'd been waiting for in the first place.

"You're looking fine, Beautiful," Sirius said, lifting her onto his arm and stroking her head with a fingertip. "Did Andromeda take good care of you?"

Hedwig deposited yet another letter and flapped to the ground, landing on the stone back-porch where Sirius had been lounging. She pecked at the door, and Sirius opened it enough for her to slip inside.

"Come on, we'd better feed her. Wake the lazybones, Harry, would you?" Sirius asked, tucking the letters into his pocket and following the owl down the hallway into the kitchen at the front of the house. Harry nudged Remus, who followed them sleepily inside.

Sirius set out a bowl of water and another with some cold leftover mutton in it, which Hedwig ate daintily while they sat at the table.

"Let's see what the news is," Sirius said, peering over Harry's shoulder. "Letter, booklist, ticket -- looks in order, eh?"

Harry glanced up at him and grinned as he nodded his agreement. "What'd you get?"

"Letter from Dumbledore -- looks like some press clippings, probably about our disappearance -- and..." Sirius' brow furrowed. "Something from some art studio, forwarded on by Andromeda."

"Probably wrongly addressed," Remus said with a grin. "What's Andromeda say?"

"She doesn't, other than to write her," Sirius said, setting aside the letter from the studio. "Dumbledore says...well, he says we're all right to return to London and get some of Harry's school things -- and we can move out of Betwys Beddau for the school year at least. Apparently there's been no sign of Pettigrew since the end of June."

"That doesn't seem right," Remus said. "If I were Peter I'd want all the publicity I could get. You know how he was."

"Mmh...could be a trap, but Dumbledore says he thinks he's being distracted by other things. Says to write back and let him know when we're arriving and the Tonkses will meet us in London."

"Distracted?" Remus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's a rather big risk."

"Well, it's not my words," Sirius answered. "What's your letter?"

Remus turned the envelope over in his hands, studying it. "It's from St. Mungo's..." he slit the wax open and unfolded the parchment. "Hmm. Nothing important," he said, folding it and giving Sirius a significant look. "Due for a checkup, that's all."

Sirius nodded, and Harry looked confused for a moment before being distracted by the press clippings. "Look, Sirius, here's one about you."

Sirius accepted the article from Harry. "Wanted, Dead Or Alive," he read. "How utterly tasteless. Look, Moony, it's a wanted poster for me."

"Well, you did go missing and you neglected to notify the press," Remus chuckled. "It's a flattering photograph. There'll be a feeding frenzy among the society columnists when we go back to London. I'm starving," he added. "Who wants waffles?"

Harry grinned and ran into the kitchen, where they heard him clanging about as he unearthed several metal bowls in his quest for the waffle iron.

"I'm due for my five-year test," Remus said hastily, to Sirius, over the racket. "I'll schedule it for after Harry leaves."

"I'll come with you," Sirius answered. "Maybe you ought to take Harry school shopping -- you draw less of a crowd," he said apologetically.

"It's a good idea -- well, we could always disguise you," Remus grinned, just as there was a splashing noise from the kitchen.

"Sounds like the milk spilled," Sirius said. "I'll go help -- sit, man, you're two days from the full moon."

"I'm not an invalid," Remus grumbled, but he did look grateful as he sank into the dining-room chair.

His movement stirred the press clippings that had spread themselves across the table, and he sorted them slowly into order, studying each one. Most of them were frivolous enough -- this person or that speculating about where Sirius Black had absconded to with his young godson. A few concerned Tonks&Tonks, the clothes shop that Andromeda and Ted ran out of the old Black house on Grimmauld Place, and one of them was a mention of Nymphadora receiving some kind of merit award. Most of the ones with photos attached featured Harry's face, or the classic Black profile that Sirius and Andromeda both shared; he paused when he came across one that had his own face, cropped from a photo someone had snapped of him and Sirius having dinner with Harry last Christmas holiday. After a moment he separated that one out, held it flat on the palm of his hand, and gave it an intense, concentrated stare.

"What's burning in here?" Sirius asked, carrying in the first plate of waffles hot from the iron. Harry followed behind, precariously carrying a pot of honey, a jar of pumpkin preserve, and a butter dish.

"Nothing," Remus replied with a real smile. He dusted some fluffy white ash off his hands quickly, plucking the butter dish out of the air and allowing Sirius to present him with the best waffle of the batch.

***

Daily Prophet........28 July 1992

SIRIUS BLACK'S MYSTERIOUS MANSERVANT: WHO IS LUPIN?
Rita Skeeter, Feature Columnist

Much has been written about handsome young playboy Sirius Black, heir to the
Black fortunes and guardian of the Boy Who Lived. Black, who divides his time
between an undisclosed summer chateau and a luxurious flat above the Tonks&Tonks
department store owned by his cousin Andromeda Tonks, is considered an
extremely private man. He has always declined interviews with various news sources
and is demonstrably protective of his young charge, who will be entering his second
year at the prestigious Hogwarts School in the autumn.

There is, however, a shadow hanging over -- or rather, following behind -- Sirius
Black. His mysterious manservant, Remus Lupin, can often be seen in the
background -- of photographs taken of Mr Black, of articles written about him
and his godson. Hovering always in the shadows, the silent Mr Lupin appears as a
sort of butler-bodyguard; he rarely speaks, never smiles for the photographs, and
is almost never acknowledged openly by either Black or Potter.

Who is Remus Lupin?

Your devoted columnist has been hard at work uncovering information about Mr
Lupin, which it must be said is carefully guarded; his medical file at St Mungo's is
under lock and key, his employment history outside of Black's payroll is sketchy
and vague, and his educational records are confidential. A fellow student of Black's
at Hogwarts, Lupin is remembered by most as a "plain, quiet sort of fellow" and a
"decent prefect", faint praise indeed for a Gryffindor whose friends included archvillain
Peter Pettigrew and martyred hero James Potter.

Could it be that Remus Lupin has some sort of hold over an old school chum? Can it be
blackmail, dear readers?

What dark secret does Remus John Lupin hide underneath his quiet exterior, and why
does Black keep him so close? Is he merely a highly-paid confidential employee, or is
he benefiting from knowing where a rich man's skeletons are buried?

***

"Did you ever open the letter Andromeda sent on?" Remus asked, as he undressed for bed that evening. Sirius took a moment to appreciate the line of his spine as he bent to shed his trousers, then answered.

"Not yet -- put it around here somewhere..." he reached for the nightstand, where the letter was already doing bookmark service in his latest reading. "Probably some kind of junk mail."

"You'd think she'd know what to forward, though," Remus answered. He slipped the pyjama bottoms up over his hips and sat on the bed, falling back to rest his head on Sirius' stomach, comfortably. "I'm curious."

"Well, we can fix that," Sirius replied, deftly tearing off the end and shaking out a thin but expensive-looking sheet of paper. "They probably just want to sell me a portrait of myself. Dear Mr. Black, Heir of the Most Noble and et cetera et cetera, patronage of your excellent mother and father -- that's sucking up, that is, nobody who ever met my mother would say that -- understand that your thirty-third birthday is approaching and..." Sirius stared at the letter.

"And?" Remus prompted. "Bit nervous about thirty-three, are we?"

"It has come to our attention," Sirius read, "That you have not yet made an appointment with our studio, and we would like to inquire if you plan on doing so in the near future. Our patented Dorian Gray portraiture process, as we are sure you are aware, preserves the youthfulness of the Wizard painted well into his tenth or eleventh decade if handled with proper care, but requires two to three weeks to complete. Due to your family's long history with the Broosh&Chakle portrait studio, and your approach to the age when portraits are generally taken, we are pleased to offer you the same service -- oh bloody hell, I remember this now..."

"Who're Broosh&Chakle?" Remus inquired, studying the dismay in Sirius' face.

"Dead," Sirius replied. "It's just the studio name now. They do portraits like my mum's -- d'you remember?"

"Vaguely. Didn't it shout nasty things at you when you went with the appraiser to have the house looked at, after she died?"

"More than nasty," Sirius said grimly. "I had some specialists in to remove it. There's a charm done so that the portrait does most of the aging, and the subject stays more or less the way they are until the portraits begins to disintegrate or they die. It's not perfect, but it's popular with the noble families. My father had his done at thirty because he thought he looked respectable enough to get good tables at the best restaurants and young enough to get the waitresses on the side," Sirius sighed. "It's a petty vanity."

Remus sat up and smiled at him. "Going to do it?"

Sirius looked shocked. "Of course not, why would I? I'm not a lecher or a bigot, and I don't need to hide those things like they did."

"Yes, but..." Remus shrugged. "I mean...you shouldn't not do it just because your family did it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Remus took his hand, weaving their fingers together. "I don't care if you look thirty-three the rest of your life or ninety-three. But you are extremely handsome, Sirius -- "

" -- Moony -- "

" -- and if you throw away that letter, I want it to be because you don't want it, and not because of anything your family did or didn't do," Remus continued. "Your family shouldn't haunt you the rest of your life."

"They don't," Sirius said sullenly. He sat up too, resting his forehead against Remus', one hand reaching up to stroke through his hair. "And I like grey hair," he added teasingly, separating out the silvery strands that were beginning to thread more and more through the pale brown. "Do you want me to have one done?"

"Merlin, I told you. I don't care," Remus answered. "But I'm sure you can afford it, and it's a family tradition that does you no harm, and I think it would be sweet, in a rather vain fashion, which is really the phrase that best describes you at any rate."

Sirius gave him a light slap on the cheek for that, and Remus laughed.

"Sleep on it," he advised. "See what you think tomorrow."

Sirius sighed and laid back again, and Remus curled around him, drawing the light summer blankets up over their bodies.

"I was thinking of charming it brown," Remus said after a while.

"Charming what brown?" Sirius asked sleepily.

"My hair. It doesn't mean anything, it's just the lycanthropy. I could charm it out pretty easily."

"I like it."

"Liar."

"I told you I did," Sirius said. Remus snorted. "I do. Makes you easy to pick out in a crowd."

Remus laughed, then, and said something about something Sirius didn't quite catch, because he was slipping down into sleep.

***

When Draco Malfoy arrived at the train platform, Andromeda Tonks had taken one look at him and silently cursed her sister. He looked healthy enough, but he was pale and more gaunt than any twelve-year-old ought to be; clearly Narcissa wasn't feeding the boy properly, and the first thing Andromeda did once they were home was sit him down and bring him and Neville tea while Ted made some rather enormous sandwiches.

"Doesn't she feed you?" Andromeda asked, as Draco eagerly tackled his second turkey sandwich. "I know you have house-elves who cook."

"Yeah," Draco said, after swallowing and setting his sandwich down. Never let it be said she hadn't taught the boy manners, at any rate. "She's been remodeling. The kitchen was the last to go."

"Remodeling? Why?" Andromeda asked, faintly amused. "It's not as though she does a lot of entertaining, Draco."

He shrugged. "Why's she do anything? I don't know. Anyway, it means she spent the summer shouting at the workmen who were doing the redecoration charms and not me. Then she decided to do the kitchen, so Mendy hasn't had anywhere to cook. So we've been mostly eating cold leftover soup and porridge -- we had bread for a while, but we ran out...anyway, Mum told her not to make sandwiches."

"Your mum's nuts," Neville said. Andromeda gave him a sharp look. "Well, she is. Go on, tell her why you couldn't have sandwiches."

"Because they're barbaric," Draco recited, then took another enormous bite out of the one in front of him. "And they're a Muggle invention."

"So is underwear," Ted said, winking at Draco, and the boys laughed. "I'd like to see her face if she found that out."

"Well, you're here now," Andromeda said, daintily eating a crisp. "And as you know I'm a terrible influence on the family, so you say what you'd like to eat and we'll fix it. You are, however, required to wear underwear in the house."

This brought on another wave of laughter from the boys, and after Draco had finished his sandwich she sent them off to Neville's room to play. Once they were gone, their voices (and occasional faint thumps and explosions) muffled by the door, she looked at Ted, who looked back seriously.

"I think perhaps we should talk to Dora about this," she said. "Clearly he's being maltreated, Ted. Aurors have the right to do inspections and take custody of children who're being abused."

"This isn't like Neville, love," Ted answered, sipping his now-cold tea thoughtfully. "Narcissa has a lot of power, whether or not she's gone absolutely round the twist, and she could probably get Dora out of a job if she really tried. Besides, Dora's not -- "

"I have power and influence too. The boy was starving!"

"It'd be hard to prove that. She was feeding him, and she had an excuse. Besides, who's to say taking him away might not be worse? You've seen what they do to children, Andromeda -- look what they did to poor Harry when his parents died, shipped him off to live with Muggles."

"I'm his closest relation -- "

"But you're also a disowned Black."

Andromeda looked at him, shocked.

"Sirius hasn't adopted Harry. If he dies, Draco gets everything that's entailed, as the next male in the line. If you were to try to get custody of him, a lot of people might think it was suspicious. This isn't just child-care, Andromeda, it's politics."

"To hell with politics!"

"You say that now, but I don't want to see Draco put in some Muggle orphanage somewhere. We've got him now," Ted continued, soothingly. "We'll feed him up before school starts and he'll stay here or at school for the winter holidays. Narcissa won't even see him until next June, and by that time I'm sure the remodeling will be over."

Andromeda rested her chin on one hand. "I don't like it, Ted."

"I know, but you can't go around taking in stray puppies when they already have owners," he said with a grin, and rose to kiss her forehead. "I'm going to go down to the market and buy some supplies for dinner. Lamb and new potatoes sound good?"

"And get some eggs, he likes omelettes."

Ted gave her a grin and a salute, and vanished down the stairs. From Neville's room came another explosion and a shriek of laughter; starving or not, he was in good spirits now.

***

"Harry!"

The shout was the first sign they had that they'd been sighted; Remus, who was a good deal taller than Harry and a bit taller than Sirius, shaded his eyes and then pointed in the direction most of the passengers leaving the train were headed.

"There they are," he said. "Neville's spotted you -- no you don't," he added, catching Harry by the shoulder as the boy began to run in the direction he'd pointed. "Not going to lose you in this crowd, Harry."

Neville broke through the sea of people then, followed closely by Draco and Ted; there were a few minutes of confused greetings before Ted pulled them out of the way of other people disembarking, over to where Andromeda and Dora were standing near a newspaper stand.

"Hello Sirius," Andromeda said, giving him a hug, and Remus a kiss on the cheek. "Welcome back to civilisation. Hi Harry!"

"Hi Aunt Andromeda!" Harry said, looking up from his huddle with his friends. "Hi Dora!"

"Hi Harry," Nymphadora said, with a grin. "Wotcha, Sirius, Remus."

"How's the invalid?" Sirius asked.

"If I wasn't leaning on it, I'd shake my cane at you," she said.

"We told her she could wait at home, but she refused," Ted put in. "Course it means I'll have to carry her back -- " He ducked Dora's well-aimed swat.

"I can walk just fine, thank you," she said. "It's good for me."

"Have you got bags we should be collecting?" Andromeda asked, gently steering the boys towards the exit.

"Moody's sending up our boxes in a few days, so we just brought the essentials," Sirius answered. "We're leaving the furnishings there this time -- going to have to buy some new things for the flat."

"How was your summer?" Ted asked.

"Provincial," Remus murmured wryly.

"Pleasant," Sirius corrected. "Harry got a lot of reading done for school, and Remus paid service to his work ethic by being gainfully employed, and I slept a lot."

"How do you manage such a stressful life," Andromeda asked with a laugh. "I suppose your plans for the year include sleeping a lot, as well?"

"I thought it might be a part of the schedule," Sirius replied.

They ambled towards Diagon Alley, their pace set by Dora, who was as she'd promised walking fine, albeit slowly. While Neville and Harry compared notes on their respective pets, with Snake curled around Harry's ear and Trevor placidly croaking in Neville's pocket, Draco hung back a little until he was walking just ahead of Sirius.

"Wotcha, Draco," Sirius said, touseling his white-blond hair. "Keeping out of trouble?"

"Yes," Draco answered. "Mostly."

"Only mostly?"

"The boys think it's fun to try and sneak into Knockturn Alley," Ted said, only mildly disapprovingly.

"Well, it is," Sirius agreed. "Trying, anyhow."

"Don't encourage them." Ted rolled his eyes. "Still, I suppose it keeps them occupied. And now they've got Harry to distract them, don't they, Harry?" he called. Harry, who was showing Neville some trick Snake had learned, shot him a grin before returning to the conversation.

"Harry nearly got us in a world of trouble a few weeks ago," Sirius said, gallantly offering Dora his arm when she stumbled a bit. She glared at him and looked disdainful of it, and he shrugged. "We were at a dinner with some of his football friends -- their parents are always throwing dinners -- "

" -- trying to set him up with an appropriate mother for Harry," Remus added, smiling.

" -- thank you, I'll tell the story," Sirius replied. "We were at this dinner and the boys were talking about school -- they all go to the local comprehensive, except one or two -- and one of the boys turned to Harry and asked what was so special about Hogwarts, what they teach there."

"Oh, dear..." Andromeda said, stifling a grin.

"Harry, cool as you like, turned to the boy and said he was learning how to be a wizard. I thought the Ministry was going to swoop down on us then and there," Sirius recounted, shaking his head. "I couldn't believe he just out and said it, he's always so good about being discreet. And of course the parents are laughing, but the boys all seemed to believe him. So another boy piped up and said there wasn't any such thing, and Harry said there was, and the first boy said he ought to prove it."

"He didn't."

"Well, he didn't have his wand, not that it would have worked anyway, and he knows the rules about underaged wizardry, so I wasn't too worried, but he got that look in his eye like he's about to pull a fast one -- "

" -- not at all like the look you get when you're about to do that, I'm sure -- "

"And he pointed at the boy in question and said Jiggery pokery mumbletypeg!"

Andromeda and Ted burst out laughing.

"And would you believe it, he was so intent and serious about it that the other boy nearly wet his pants in fright and spent the rest of the evening worrying he was going to be turned into a frog."

"When everyone knows that Jiggery pokery mumbletypeg is the incantation to turn someone into a cat," Remus added, grinning. "Fake or not, it almost gave Sirius and me heart attacks."

"Speaking of which," Sirius said, "We haven't had any details on Dora's accident -- Dumbledore sent us some clippings, but nothing about the injury. What happened?"

"Oh, it's so stupid," Dora sighed.

"Heroic, sweetheart, the word is 'heroic'," Ted said.

"Stupid," Dora replied. "We had a call that someone had got into one of the animal pens at the London Magical Zoo, and so Kingsley and Medder and Callie and I all went down to see what had happened. As it turns out, Dung Fletcher had tried to sneak into the Ashwinder pen and fell into the Grindylow pond instead. Well, you know how those little buggers are -- "

"Language around the children," Ted said quietly.

"Sorry dad -- you know how they are, they get hold of you and won't let go, so Kingsley sent me in because I can change my shape a bit if I get grabbed. We didn't know," she said, aggrieved, "that I'm one of the one-in-twelve who are allergic to Grindylow bites. In I went, and while I was trying to get Dung free, one of them latched onto my leg and wouldn't let go. I kicked it a bit and broke its fingers -- all the zoo people are very upset, seems they think their precious Grindylow is more important than my leg -- and it let go and they all started biting me..."

"The end result of which," Ted supplied, as Dora sighed in frustration, "was that Kingsley had to go in and fetch both of them out since Dung still had a Grindylow hanging tight to his -- er -- "

"His danglers," Dora said, sounding satisfied. "He'd cast an invisibility charm, so he was naked -- "

Remus and Sirius winced in sympathy.

"Anyway," Ted said hastily, "Kingsley and Dora between the two of them managed to get Dung out all right, and then Dora went and passed out from anaphylactic shock. The Healers only just got to her in time."

"It was touch and go for a few days," Andromeda said softly.

"I'm fine," Dora announced to no-one in particular. "It's just taking a while to get back on my feet, that's all. And the Aurors say I ought to take it easy for a few months, so I'm on medical pension and they helped me find something to keep me sharp while I do all the recovery stuff."

"Andromeda mentioned that in her letter, what are you up to?" Remus inquired.

"I'm going to be teaching," she replied. "I'm the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. I'm really only down for the day, then I've got to get back -- thought I'd see you lot, and pick up my professors' robes."

"You're the new Defence teacher?" Sirius asked.

"Congratulations!" Remus said. "Good, you can keep an eye on Harry, make sure he's not getting into too much trouble."

"I bet Snape about bit his tongue off when he heard," Sirius mused.

"He wasn't too happy," Andromeda admitted. "Of course he's happy for Dora, but -- "

"He'd like to see her dead in a ditch so he can have the post?" Remus asked, with a mischevious grin.

"Something like that," Dora answered, equally mischevious. "I'm sorry if he thinks I took his job, but he wasn't even the one I beat out for the post -- you know Gilderoy Lockhart?"

"The ponce who writes all the adventure and how-to books?" Sirius asked. "Don't tell me Dumbledore was considering him."

"Sirius is just bitter because Lockhart beat him out for Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award," Remus grinned.

"Well, there aren't a lot of people who'd take the job," Andromeda said. "I don't know why they keep turning down Severus, he's more than qualified, but apart from him, only Lockhart applied, and then they switched him out for our Dora at the last minute. Apparently Dumbledore would rather have her. Can't say I blame him," she added proudly.

"It's not that big a deal," Dora said, but she flushed happily. "It's just for a year, anyhow. I'll take my requalification exams right after the school year ends."

"I'm glad she's taking some time off," Ted said quietly, to Sirius, as Harry turned around to demand if it was true that Dora was going to be a teacher. "It was quite a shock to Andromeda and me. I don't think Dora herself knows quite how close we came to losing her."

"I wish we could have been here," Sirius answered. "She's all right now, though, isn't she?"

"She's getting there. Been a dangerous summer, really. First Severus' heart nearly gave out -- did you hear about that?"

"We knew he was ill," Sirius said noncommittally.

"Well, that was a worry, though apparently he's recovered. And then Dora was attacked, and Neville caught the Kneazlepox...I'll be a bit glad when school starts and Andromeda can let Madam Pomfrey fret about everyone for a while."

"As if Andromeda would trust anyone else with her children," Sirius said with a grin. "Let me know when she's planning on sending a care package, and I'll chip in a few Galleons."

"Here we are then," Andromeda said, as they arrived at the front door of the Leaky Cauldron. "Ted, you take everyone through and down to the shop, I'm just going to have a word with Tom about buying some wine for dinner."

"Right, everyone, this way," Ted said, leading the little band towards the back, and out through the receding brick wall, into Diagon Alley. "There's a roast in the oven and Neville and Draco made a giant pudding -- sugared violets and all -- "

"Home!" Harry cried happily, and Sirius caught Remus grinning even wider than he was, as they emerged back into the wizarding world.