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Chapter Text

“No. No, it can’t be. James!”

Remus cringed, hearing Sirius’s screams. The man had woken up from nightmares every night since Lily and James had been murdered. Luckily Remus had gotten to him before he could go attempt to kill Peter. He didn’t want to think about what could’ve happened to him if he hadn’t.

Rolling out of bed, he went out to the couch where Sirius had been crashing for the past few nights. “It’s a dream, Padfoot. Wake up.”

Sirius’s grey eyes flew open. After a few minutes, his breathing calmed and he looked at Remus. “Sorry, mate. I – “

“I know. I know. You don’t have to explain it to me.” He sat down at the end of the couch, his clasped hands resting on his knees. “I think you should go to a MindHealer.”

“Look, Moony, I know you mean well, but I really don’t think – “

“I know you don’t think!” Remus turned to him, amber eyes blazing. “You wanted to go off, half-cocked, and kill Peter! Did you not think about what would happen to you? To Harry, your godson?”

“I…” The dark haired man deflated and ran his fingers through his hair. “I was just so upset, I couldn’t think. It was like…”

“Like?”

He shook his head. “You’re going to think I’m mad.”

“Only if you deserve it. Spit it out.”

“It was…as if I’d taken a potion. Or a Confundus. I couldn’t think clearly.”

Remus froze, his mind whirring. “There have been a number of people who have said that to me over the past few weeks. I’m concerned about this. If there is something going ‘round…”

“Voldemort’s been gone for a week now. It can’t be his work.” Sirius rubbed his chin and gazed into space. “What could it be?”

“I don’t know. We can think on it. You seem to be thinking clearly now, so it isn’t affecting you at the moment.” The werewolf shifted to face his friend. “We need to discuss Harry. Not right now, I’d like to sleep a little, but soon. I want him with us.”

“Where is the little bugger, by the way?”

“Albus took him after…after. I don’t know where he is now.”

Sirius jumped up. “What?! Moony, what are you talking about? You let him take Harry?”

“What was I supposed to do? I wasn’t there, I couldn’t stop him. You were there, Padfoot, you could’ve done something,” Remus answered calmly. “We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

“It is morning.”

The brown haired man rolled his eyes. “You know what I meant.”

“Yeah. I guess we should go to bed.”

U_U

Sirius sat down by the table, his hands wrapped around a mug of coffee. “Good morning,” Remus called cheerily. A grunt was his only response. “I’ll have breakfast ready in a couple of minutes. Don’t blow your top. And finish your coffee.”

After the pair ate, Sirius looked up. “Sorry about that. What are we going to do about Harry?”

“First we need to figure out where he is. I can ask Albus, but I doubt he’ll tell me.”

“If he isn’t with me and he isn’t with you, where can he be?” Refilling his cup of coffee, Sirius added cream and sugar before continuing, “He isn’t with Frank and Alice – “

“Obviously.”

Sirius glared at him. “I’m the one thinking out loud right now, not you. So. I doubt he’s with the Weasleys, they have more than enough children already. Who else in the Order has children?”

“That Lily and James would trust?” Remus took a sip of tea. “No one. No one I can think of, at least.”

Silence fell over them until both heads darted up. “You don’t think – “

“He wouldn’t – “

“The Dursleys?!”

U_U

Miles away, Petunia Dursley was glaring at her nephew, the unwanted, unnatural, freakish brat. “Why did that man think he could drop you off here? Vernon and I don’t need to deal with your freakishness.” She picked up the child and shoved him into the cupboard under the stairs, where she’d put him until they could figure out where he would sleep. Then again, perhaps the
cupboard was a good enough for him.

In the cupboard, Harry cried quietly. It had only taken a couple of days to teach him not to cry loudly. A toddler adapts. Perhaps his thoughts weren’t very sophisticated, but what he did know was that he wanted his parents, his Padfoot, and his Moony. They hadn’t come to visit him in all the time he’d been in this awful place.

Unbeknownst to him, Padfoot and Moony were coming up with a plan to bring him home.

U_U

“We are not going to rush into things!”

Sirius glared at his longtime friend. And right now, only surviving one. “I didn’t say we should.”

“What exactly do you think it sounds like?! You want to storm in and take Harry back!” Slamming his fist on the kitchen table, Remus glared right back. “We need a plan. One that will not end in Azkaban or child services. Or the Ministry.”

“Fine. Then what do you suggest?”

Remus grinned and Sirius had to suppress a shiver. It wasn’t a nice grin. “First we’re going to figure out if they should have him. We need the will.”

“Wait a…why didn’t I realize that no one read the will?” The dog Animagus stared. “You were on a mission for the past five months, why do you remember that?”

“Attention to detail. Although putting this together with your fuzzy thoughts…” He shook his head. “Let’s get on with this. We’ll go to Gringotts and ask for a private reading. Then, if you’re the one who is supposed to get Harry, we’ll stop for some Muggle clothes and go get him.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.” Seeing that the other man stayed seated, Sirius groaned. “What now?”

“I’d like a little more of a plan. One that doesn’t allow you to go off half-cocked. We are also going to set some ground rules.” He stood up and stretched, popping his joints. “We are going to Apparate to the Leaky and go straight to Gringotts. No stopping, no checking out Quidditch things, no fawning over girls. Straight to Gringotts. After that, if you’re supposed to get him, we’ll go to Muggle London for clothes, like I said before. Then we go take care of both magical and Muggle adoption papers. Once we get those we can go get Harry.”

Sirius huffed and crossed his arms. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. But if we need a plan B – “

“We’ll go with your usual method of hex everything that moves.”

“Good man.”

Chapter Text

Remus and Sirius stopped outside Gringotts and looked up. “This is it,” Sirius said quietly, “Their will.”

“Assuming the goblins are willing to allow us to hear it. They may have had a will reading already and we missed it.” The werewolf pulled open the doors and motioned for the other man to walk in. “Be polite. And for Merlin’s sake, don’t say anything without thinking twice. We don’t want to scare them off.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m not an idiot, Moony.”

“Sometimes I highly doubt that. Come on.” The two walked in and stopped in front of the main desk. “Remus Lupin. I owled about the Potters’ will reading?”

The goblin looked at them over his glasses. “Yes, we received your letter. I have arranged for a reading in a private room. Griphook!”

“Yes, Narok?” Another goblin came over to them.

“Bring them to the room I have arranged for the reading. Attend to anything the reading says.”

Remus’s eyes narrowed. “Do you mean to say that no one has heard the will?”

“That is exactly what I mean to say. Go along with Griphook, he will take care of it.” Narok shooed them away and turned back to his work.

The two men followed the goblin to a small office with a pensieve on the desk. “So their will is in there?” Sirius asked.

“Wills are generally made as memories. Few witches and wizards leave a paper copy of their will.” The goblin sniffed. “I presume you have not made a will yet? We have goblins on premises to take care of wills if you should decide to take care of yours today.”

“Um…Thanks. But I think I’ll pass.” Sirius sat down carelessly in a chair and looked over at Remus. “Let’s get this moving.”

“For once I agree with you.” Turning to Griphook, Remus settled in the chair beside Sirius. “Can you set up the will, now?”

“Of course. Allow me.” Griphook tapped the pensieve and Lily and James’s forms slowly emerged from the silvery water.

“I, James Potter, of sound body and mind, do declare that this is my last will and testament.”

“I, Lily Evans-Potter, of sound body and mind, do declare that this is my last will and testament.”

James turned to face his wife. “I thought we decided I would talk!”

“No, sweetheart, you decided I would talk. I never said I would.”

“Anyway…” James rolled his eyes and turned to face forwards. “Let’s get on with this will thing.

“If I am dead, that means that Peter Pettigrew must have betrayed us. He was our Secret Keeper. Peter, if you’re here, I suggest you run while you can, assuming the goblins haven’t called the dementors yet.

“To Remus: Moony, I’m sorry to abandon you like this. I leave you ten thousand galleons and the villa in Spain. I know it’s not enough to thank you with, but…I don’t really have another way to talk to you. I’m a little bit dead.”

“And Remus? During the full moon you should really get some rest. And chocolate.” Lily smiled. “I leave you my shares in Honeydukes. Make sure to do well by them.”

Remus sniffed and rubbed his eyes carefully, trying not to let anyone see.

“Now as for the Order and Dumbledore…” James paused for a moment. “Sirius, Remus, if you two are her, I suggest you looking into the Order. There has been some fishy stuff going on lately and I don’t like it.

“Severus. I want to apologize for everything we did in school. It was wrong and we were stupid.” The man shook his head. “I leave you five thousand galleons and – “

“And the potions lab in Potter manor along with most of the potion books we own,” Lily interjected, a grin on her face. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have abandoned you like that over a stupid mistake. I was ready to drop you and I shouldn’t have.”

James rolled his eyes. “Anyway. Sirius, you’re in charge of our son. Harry is in your hands. As his godfather you get to take care of him.”

“Don’t let him stay up too late, don’t let him eat too many sweets – “

“Lily, he’s not an idiot. He knows that.” Winking, James laughed. “Do whatever you feel you need to, Siri. We trust you. That’s why we’re giving you our most precious possession. Our son. Remus, we can’t leave him to you because of your furry little problem. But we want you there every step of the way.”

“Mainly because I don’t trust Sirius on his own,” Lily interrupted. “You’re in charge of his education, Remus. Along with making sure he becomes a good child, not a spoiled brat.”

Sirius wiped his eyes and nose. “James…”

“It’s a memory, Sirius. They can’t hear you,” Remus whispered.

“And Harry.” A soft smile graced Lily’s face. “Sweetheart, your dad and I love you very much. And we’ll always love you no matter what. That’s why we’re leaving you with Sirius and Remus.”

“Since you aren’t in our care, you have my full blessing to prank your guardians as much as you’d like.” James grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “We leave you everything we haven’t left to anyone else along with our love. You get my flying skills, my prank books – “

Lily elbowed her husband. “You also have to behave, Harry. You don’t want Sirius and Remus to get bored of you. The library in Potter Manor has all my research and notes. I want you to take it and see if you can learn something from it. Maybe you’ll get further than I did. You have the brains of two of the smartest people around.”

“Treasure that comment. As I’m sure you already know from our frequent arguments, your mother doesn’t tell me I’m brilliant often enough.”

“James!”

“Hey, it’s true!”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Anyway. The goblins are getting a touch antsy. We love all of you, Harry most of all.”

“Have a great life, guys.” As soon as the last word was out of James’s mouth, the two vanished.

Griphook cleared his throat. “I have already instructed other goblins to fulfill the conditions of the will. Mr. Potter is with his relatives – “

“Yeah, who sent him there?” Sirius interrupted.

Remus gave him a strange look. “Albus Dumbledore. You knew that.”

“I…how? Dumbledore’s a good guy!” Sirius rubbed his forehead. “My head hurts.”

“We have had a number of complaints and similar situations. The goblins are investigating the wizard as we speak,” Griphook interjected. “If we may continue?”

“Yeah, let’s get on with it. Where do we sign for Harry?” The dog Animagus crossed his arms and glared at the goblin. “I want him as soon as possible.”

“These are the required forms to formally adopt him. As he is a toddler, I presume you do not plan on asking his opinion?”

“No, we’d like to adopt him now. Sirius will sign, since Lily and James left Harry to him.” Remus motioned to his friend. “Sirius?”

“I’m doing it, give me a minute.” He took the proffered quill from Griphook and signed his name with a flourish. “There. He’s mine. Ours. Whatever.”

“Now all we have to do is get him,” Remus said with a smile. “I do hope that the Dursleys have not mistreated him.”

A dangerous look entered Sirius’s gray eyes. “They’d better not have harmed a hair on his head. Or else…”

“Yes, yes, I know. Plan B.” Turning to the goblin, the werewolf asked, “Is there an Apparition point in this building? I know there are anti-Apparition wards all over the building, but perhaps…?”

Griphook regarded him with what almost seemed like a smile. “An observant wizard. How refreshing. Yes, there is an Apparition point. If you go out into the hall you will find a sign for the location at the end of it.”

“Thanks.” Sirius grabbed Remus’s arm and dragged him outside.

It was time to get Harry.

Chapter Text

Sirius stopped in front of the house with the number four on it that matched every single other house on the street. “This is it?” he asked Remus.

“This is 4 Privet Drive. That’s what it says on the papers from the goblins.” Remus tucked the sheaf of parchment into his pocket and walked up to the door. Seeing that Sirius wasn’t following, he turned around. “Come with me, Padfoot. He’s your godson.”

“I’m scared. What if he’s happy there and wants to stay? What if he doesn’t like us? What if – “

“What if we just go in and see? We’ll be able to visit with him whenever we want. I’m sure the Dursleys will allow us to come over.” Ringing the doorbell, the werewolf patted Sirius’s shoulder.
“Everything will be alright.”

Or…maybe not.

“Harry is a lovely boy, we’re happy to keep him,” Petunia told Remus. “He’s been through enough trauma over the past few months. Leave him with us, a family situation is much better than…whatever you men have set up.”

Sirius tried to stand up, but Remus pushed him back down. “We have a home set up for a sixteen month old and can take him home immediately. I can’t imagine it is easy to have two children
under two years of age.”

“Petunia manages as well as she can.” Vernon looked over at his wife, who held their enormous son in her arms. “Even though the boy is a problem child, she has him well in hand.”

“Speaking of Harry, where is he? I haven’t seen him since his parents died,” Sirius put in.

“In his room. He misbehaved this morning and he was punished.” Petunia patted her brat’s blonde hair. “Dudders here was so scared by the freakishness his cousin showed – “

“Freakishness? Freakishness?” Sirius jumped out of his chair and this time, Remus didn’t move to stop him. “That’s his magic, you – you ignorant Muggle. And if your lump of a son was traumatized so much, maybe he’ll eat less and he can fit into clothes made for his age.”

“Don’t insult my Dudderkins!” The horse-like woman covered her son’s ears. “He’s sensitive!”

“Where’s Harry?”

Vernon’s piggy eyes glared at the dark haired wizard. “It’s none of your business. He’s ours, we get paid for him – “

“You’re paid to take care of him?!” Sirius shouted.

Now Remus stood up, too, his fists clenched, amber bleeding into his green eyes. “Where is Harry Potter?”

“I told you – “

“Show me. Right now. You will not be happy if you don’t.” The werewolf pulled out his wand and pointed it at the giant Muggle. “Let’s go. Show me.”

“I – “ Vernon looked at his wife, who nodded shakily. “Follow me.”

Sirius and Remus followed him to the stairs, expecting to ascend. To their surprise, Vernon pulled open the door to the cupboard under the stairs. “Out, freak.”

“Muggle – “ Sirius growled.

That was when the tiny toddler crawled out of the cupboard. Harry’s big green eyes met Sirius’s gray ones. “Pafoo?”

“Hey, Prongslet.” The man held out his hands to the boy, who immediately jumped into them. “Padfoot is here. No one’s going to take you away now. You’re going to come home with Moony and me.”

“Mooey?”

Remus took the thin baby from Sirius’s arms and cuddled him. “Yup, we’re going to take you home with us. Now as for you two – “

“Who’s giving you money to take care of Harry?” Sirius asked abruptly. “Tell us. Now.”

“A – An old man. Long white beard. B – Bumdlebore?” Vernon stuttered out. Remus and Sirius exchanged a meaningful look. Here was the old man again, meddling where he wasn’t supposed to.
“He – he said that w-we would g-g-get m-m-m-m-money ev-v-very month.”

“We’re going to take care of that.” The werewolf rested his hand on Harry’s head, pressing it to his shoulder. It worried him that the cheerful child he’d seen just a few months ago was so quiet and sad. A child his age should be jumping out of his arms, not silently resting. “Where are his things?”

“We did not buy him anything. Why should we? He’s not our brat,” Petunia spat, entering the hallway.

Sirius glared at her with fiery eyes. “He is your nephew. Even if you hated Lily, he is still a child. How could you treat a child this way? You gave him no love, no care, you barely gave him a roof over his head. How do you look into your own son’s eyes at night, knowing about the child sleeping downstairs?”

“I – “

“Padfoot.” Remus removed his hand from Harry and lay it on his friend’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“But Moony, they – “

“I know. We can come back another time. I want to take care of Harry first. His wellbeing is the priority, not revenge.” Shooting the Muggles a murderous look, the man left the house with a loud
pop! of Apparition.

Sirius stopped in the doorway before he left. “You’re in for it now. Moony is much more bloodthirsty than I am, especially around full moon. If he wants to take care of Harry…” He paused for effect. “I would wish you luck, but that is my godson you hurt. I’ll be joining him. Looking forward!”

Vernon and Petunia stared open-mouthed at the spot where the wizard had Disapparated for a very, very long time.

U_U

“First things first,” Remus said, setting Harry on the couch in his flat, “We need to get you some clothes.”

“Cose?” Harry looked up at him curiously, emerald eyes wide.

“Yes, you need clothes. Since those awful Muggles didn’t buy you any, and it seems that no one thought to take any from your house, Sirius and I will need to purchase some.” He patted Harry’s
thick black hair gently. “We can go shopping as soon as we finish lunch. Oh, hello, Sirius.”

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair, setting his leather jacket on the couch. “Thanks for not telling me where we’re Apparating to. I went to four different places before thinking to come here!”

“Where did you go?”

“Diagon Alley, James’s and my – “

“Daddy?” Harry asked softly. “Where Daddy?”

Remus and Sirius turned sad eyes on the toddler. “Mommy and Daddy aren’t coming home, Prongslet. You’re with Moony and Padfoot now.” Sirius wrapped his arms around his godson and squeezed him tightly. “We’re never going to leave you. Never.”

“’Kay.”

“Now how does lunch sound?” Remus stood up from his crouch on the floor and turned to Sirius. “What do you want?”

“Which takeaway menus do we have?”

The werewolf rolled his eyes. “There is a child in the picture now. We can’t have takeaway for every meal.”

“Wait, you mean one of us will have to cook?!” Sirius stared at him in disbelief.

“Either that or we need an elf. One of the two,” he replied. “You know what, what about a restaurant in London? We can purchase Muggle clothes and then go to Diagon Alley for any wizard wear or magical toys we need.”

“I’m game with that! Come on, Prongslet! We’re going to have an adventure.” The man swept the toddler up in his arms, making him giggle.

A soft smile spread across Remus’s scarred face. “Let’s go, then.”

Chapter Text

Sirius held up a pair of baby leather pants and looked over at Remus. "These are perfect for him."

"Not happening, Padfoot. He's a baby. We're dressing him as one." Remus pushed the pram over to a display of cute shirts and pants and began to pick out clothes. They had first Apparated to a Muggle department store owned by wizards and bought some baby gear that had been delivered to Remus's flat. The pram they'd had put together in the store so they could use it now. "Even if you would love to have a mini-me, he is a baby and he will dress appropriately."

"Just one mini-me outfit?" Sirius pleaded.

"Fine. One. Only one. And I don't want to hear anything when we go to Diagon Alley." The werewolf set a pile of stuff in the shopping basket hanging off Sirius's arm and continued to go up and down the aisles. "I found everything I want from this store, do you want to buy anything else?"

"I guess that's it, then."

As soon as they paid they exited the store and headed for Diagon Alley. Sirius watched Harry happily chew on a teething toy he had grabbed from the shelf in the department store. Because of what they had seen in the Dursleys' house, neither Remus nor Sirius could say no to the toddler. Every toy he pointed at, every article of clothing he reached for, they put into the basket and bought.

On the way to Diagon Alley they stopped for lunch in a small burger place. "One giant super burger, one chicken salad, and a hot dog, cut into quarters, with chips for all." Sirius leaned on the counter and gave the busty girl behind the counter a grin. Behind him, Remus rolled his eyes as Harry babbled. "Perhaps a little extra for me?"

"Hm, maybe I can arrange for that." She gave him a sly grin back and turned to get their order ready. "I'll bring it over. You can go sit down."

Remus pushed the pram over to an empty table and took Harry out, setting him on the bench. "Can you kindly avoid hitting on women until Harry is out of your sight?" he asked.

"Why? It's not like he understands." Sirius knelt down in front of his godson. "You don't know what Uncle Siri was doing, do you?"

"Hitting chicks!"

"See?" The werewolf glared at his best friend. "You are teaching him bad habits. I don't want him to walk around telling people you're 'hitting chicks'."

"Hitting chicks! Hitting chicks!"

Sirius pressed a hand to Harry's mouth. "Shhh. Don't prove Uncle Moony right. You won't imitate me, will you?"

"Hitting chicks!"

"My point stands. No more flirting in front of Harry. Now as for you…" Remus turned to his godson. "No more of that, understand?"

Harry's face crumpled. "Unca Moo-ee mad?"

"No, no, of course not. Just a little upset. Very little," Remus assured him. "You want to be a good little boy, right? You'll need to be polite, too."

"'Kay." Harry wiggled in his seat and reached towards the werewolf. "Hug?"

"Of course. Whenever you want one." He gave him a quick hug and kiss to the top of his head before peering over at the counter. "Where is our food? It's been long enough. A place like this, I can't imagine they actually make the food fresh."

"Now that's just mean." Tweaking Harry's nose, Sirius laughed at the look on his face. "Hey, look. There it is."

The waitress from before set the food down with a flourish. "Here's your food." She bent down to whisper into Sirius's ear. "Check out the napkin."

Remus rolled his eyes in exasperation as Sirius eagerly reached for the pile of napkins. "You are very sad. Now Harry, let's try not to splatter ketchup all over your new clothes, okay?"

"'Kay Unca Moo-ee." Harry happily allowed the werewolf to tuck a napkin into his shirt as a bib and then dug into his hot dog and chips with gusto.

"Where do you want to go next?" Sirius asked between bites.

"Madam Malkin's, I suppose. Harry will need robes. After that I was thinking perhaps a toy store? Then Flourish and Blotts, it's very important to read to toddlers – "

The dog Animagus gave him a sly grin. "Plus there's some book that just came out and you must have it. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are," Remus sighed. "Is there anywhere you want to go?"

"I might want to stop in Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment. I don't want to go back to the Aurors, aside from the fact that it's pretty much a drinking club now without Voldemort." Catching sight of Harry's messy fingers reaching for his hair, Sirius swiftly took his godson's hand and wiped it with a napkin. "Maybe I'll find something else I can do. Something safe."

Remus shot him a sharp look. "Since when has safety been a priority?"

"Since…" He fell silent. "I don't know why I never took safety into account. James and I were all gung-ho about being Aurors, we never thought…"

"I see." As the group continued to eat, Remus thought over the information. Having been around Sirius for over seven years Remus felt he knew the man fairly well. Well enough to say that Sirius was rather out of character. His personality, as well as James's, had changed dramatically, ever since…

Ever since the Order of the Phoenix was formed.

U_U

Remus stayed silent on his hypothesis throughout the rest of the day. For one, he didn't want to kill the mood they had going. For another, he wanted to do some more research. "Here, Sirius, take Harry while I look for my books. Go find him some books he'll enjoy, perhaps one of those board books he can chew?"

"I know what to look for, Moony, I've gone shopping for a child before in my life. Let's go, Prongslet." Sirius swept up the toddler in his arms and started for the children's section.

As the sound of Sirius and Harry's conversation faded behind him, Remus began to search through the shelves before him. What he was searching for was some form of mind control. Yes, he knew he sounded insane. The Muggle books and movies Lily forced them all to experience were probably getting to his head, but this was all too strange.

James and Sirius had always been foolhardy and mischievous. But everyone had been surprised when the pair decided to become Aurors. The Potters (and the Blacks, even if Sirius wasn't on great terms with them) were a wealthy, upper class Pureblood family. There was no need, and it was even scandalous, for the sons of such families to work as Aurors. But that wasn't what had Remus suspicious. It was that neither of his friends had ever given a hint to their ambitions. If anything, James and Sirius had come up with many business ideas. Neither was an incredible duelist, but James was excellent at Transfiguration. There was a lot they could have done aside from the Auror Corps.

What also worried him was Sirius's change in personality. Or, perhaps, the reversion of Sirius's personality. Back in first year, when Remus had first met the pair, James and Sirius were both simply troublemakers, not bullies. Their pranks on Severus had taken a turn for the cruel during fifth year. Which, coincidentally, was exactly when the Order started.

Remus pulled a few books off the shelf and inspected them. He felt Occlumency probably was not the answer. All Pureblood families taught their children to shield their minds to some extent and the Potter and Black families were no exception. It had to be something else. Probably not a potion, since the man he suspected was behind everything was not very good at brewing potions. Perhaps a spell? But which one? Not an imperius, this was considerably more subtle. It wasn't apparent at first that the victim, as Remus put it, was affected, because now that he thought about it James and Sirius had not changed overnight. It was as if the spell had taken their worst qualities and expanded it. Flourish and Blotts was probably not the best place to find such books, though. This was more for basic books and schoolbooks, not specialized topics. He would more likely have better luck in Obscurus Books. They had better specialization.

With that thought in mind, Remus selected a few books off the shelf and went to find Harry and Sirius. As he strolled through the stacks of books, he reflected that it was a very nice experience not to have to worry about money very much. Now that he and Sirius were raising Harry together he was considerably less stressed about being able to pay for books he wanted.

"Unca Moo-ee!" Harry held out his arms as Sirius staggered behind him with an enormous stack of books. "I get books!"

"I can see that." Remus lifted the boy into his arms and set his own books on top of the pile. "Mind going to buy that, Padfoot?"

"Ugh, sure. I really think you – "

"Sirius Black?"

Chapter Text

Sirius spun around to find Frank Longbottom standing behind them with a small, round boy holding his hand. "Frank?"

"Alice was supposed to be on Harry duty – "

"Harry duty?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow. He smiled as Harry lifted his head at his name and twisted around. "Harry, this is Frank Longbottom and his son Neville. Would you like to go down and say hello?"

"Okay." He squirmed as the werewolf set him down on the floor. Remus made a mental note to teach him some new words. 'Okay' was not going to cut it forever. The toddler hid behind Remus's legs and peeked at the brown-haired boy. "Hi."

"Hi." Neville leaned against his father's legs and gave Harry a small smile. "I Neviw."

"I Hawwy. Fwends?"

"Fwends." The two boys smiled at each other.

Frank laughed. "I guess they're friends now."

"They're so simple," Sirius commented. The bored teenager behind the counter groaned. "Okay, okay, here are the books."

"Don't be rude, Sirius. Please owl them to my apartment in London." Handing over some coins, Remus turned back to the others. "I understand that some wizarding children need to work over the summer, but don't they know that they have to treat customers with respect?"

"Were you ever one of those poor souls?" Frank asked with interest.

"Yes, I worked in whatever small village we went to on vacation. Of course, I was fired once people realized that I wasn't available a few days a month." He took Harry's hand and the small group exited the store. "Ice cream?"

Sirius pumped his fist. "Yes! Ice cream for all!"

"How does ice cream sound to you, Harry?" Remus asked. One of the changes he'd noticed with the boy was that he didn't volunteer opinions. The fact that it only took a couple of weeks by the Dursleys to make that change did not bode well for that family's wellbeing. Sirius was going to kill them.

"'Kay." Harry moved to stand on Remus's other side, beside Neville. The boys smiled at each other. "I pick?"

"Yes, you can pick out whatever you want." The men exchanged a meaningful look over the boys' heads.

Once in the ice cream store, Sirius took care of ordering for everyone. That may have possibly had something to do with the pretty girl behind the counter, but Remus wasn't going to say anything. The boys sat down beside each other, between Remus and Frank. Harry nervously looked up at his guardian, his big green eyes asking permission. The werewolf nodded solemnly and the boy smiled up at him.

Frank watched his son converse with the Boy Who Lived. "They look like they're getting along," he remarked.

"Yes, it's good to see that. Being with…Lily's sister did not do him good." Remus gently ran his fingers through Harry's dark hair. "He's changed since I last saw him."

"You weren't around much before they died, were you? Dumbledore had you out on all those missions with the werewolves." The other man craned his neck to look for Sirius. "What takes so long to order ice cream?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "There's a pretty girl. I don't think he's coming back any time soon. But yes, I was on missions all the time. I don't know why. There was no way to bring the werewolves to our side. Voldemort gave them everything, place to roam, people to bite…Nothing Dumbledore gave me to bargain with could beat that."

Frank's eyes narrowed. "An impossible mission."

"Yes. I thought of that too." The werewolf pushed Harry's chair closer to the table and sighed. "I've also noticed that Sirius has been slowly reverting back to who he was before the Order was established."

"Alice has changed, too. She's been more…maternal. The caring woman I fell in love with and married." Leaning his head on his hand, Frank thought for a moment. "Now that I think about it, that's been happening to me, too. I'm less interested in fighting, more interested in playing with Neville."

The boy in question looked up. "Daddy?"

"Nothing, Nev. Keep talking to Harry."

"And here we go." Sirius set two trays on the table with a flourish. "Two banana splits for the boys, a chocolate sundae for Moony, a vanilla milkshake for Frank, and a giant popple-lopa sundae for me."

The two men looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Sirius? Everything okay?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Your sundae?"

He laughed and turned to wink at the cashier. "She made me a special treat in preparation for tonight."

"Oh Merlin." Remus rubbed his forehead. "You really have to stop doing that in front of the children."

"What? I'm educating them. Both these kids will need a cool uncle. You two certainly can't take on that role." Sirius ruffled Harry's hair as the boys dug into their banana splits. "Now boys, your first tip is –"

"I don't think they need to hear that," Frank said quickly. "How does a playdate sound?"

"For these two?" Remus looked down at Harry. "Hey Harry, do you want to go play with Neville one day this week?"

Harry clapped his hands. "Yes!"

"I guess it's a date, then." Frank ruffled his son's hair gently. "I'll be sure to tell Alice. Last time I made a playdate for Neville I forgot to tell her. She nearly took my head off."

"I can imagine."

The older man stretched and took a sip of his milkshake. "So Sirius, what are you planning to do about the Black lordship?"

"Hmm?" Sirius looked up, his spoon hanging from his mouth comically. "What about it?"

"Are you going to take it? Both your parents are gone, Regulus is gone, you're the only choice." Leaning over Neville's head, Frank took a couple of napkins and wiped the boy's face.

"Oh. That." His face took on a thoughtful look. "I'm not sure. I don't exactly want to, my family's corrupt enough, but then again, the money wouldn't be too bad."

Remus nodded. "You should do it. As Lord Black, you can allow Andromeda back into the family. That in itself should make it worthwhile."

"I don't know if I can handle the responsibility. There's also the whole Wizengamot thing." Sticking his spoon back in the ice cream, Sirius leaned his arms on the table. "Is it worth it?"

"I would say so. You control the family." Frank met the gray eyes from across the table. "You control Malfoy and Lestrange."

"Good point. Maybe…" He shrugged. "We'll see. I don't have to do it this second, do I?"

"No, you can wait." Remus looked over at Harry, whose face was smeared with ice cream. "You need a bath."

Harry's green eyes widened and began to glisten with tears. "Baff?"

"Bubble bath, of course," Sirius cut in. "With bath toys. Magic bath toys. Does that sound like fun?"

"No baff!"

"You're going to need a bath once we get home. For now, a napkin should suffice." The werewolf began to clean the toddler, studiously ignoring the angry look Sirius had on his face. "You'll like the bath, don't worry."

"Moony…"

Remus pointed a finger at his friend. "No. Don't do or say anything. We'll figure it out later."

"Fine."

U_U

Once the ice cream was finished and the little group bade farewell to the Longbottom men, they set off through Diagon Alley to finish their shopping. Thankfully it wasn't too busy so they weren't hounded by Harry's fans. Of all the shops they went into, only Madam Malkin made a big deal of Harry. Harry himself was terrified of her and hid behind Remus's leg until an assistant coaxed him out. After having some words (harsh words) with the proprietor of the shop, Sirius stormed outside to wait until the other two were finished.

"That was immature," Remus said once he and Harry exited the shop. "Can't you behave for once?"

"She was being ridiculous! And she scared Harry!" Sirius ruffled Harry's hair as they walked down the street. The toddler was beginning to look a little worn out, and he couldn't blame him. It had been a long day for the kid. "How about we go home for some dinner now?"

Remus looked down at Harry and saw the same thing his friend did. "That sounds like a plan. Let's get going."

And so they did.

Chapter Text

Remus set a worn out Harry on the couch in his living room, Sirius looking over his shoulder worriedly. "He's a child, Padfoot. He gets tired. Don't worry about it."

"But he's my child. I'm worried about him." Sirius sat down beside the boy, wrapping an arm around him. "Hey, Prongslet. Want some dinner?"

"'Kay."

"What do you want to eat?" The werewolf moved to Harry's other side and met the emerald eyes. "You can have anything you want."

"'Kay." Shifting onto his side, Harry let out a tiny, adorable yawn and leaned himself into Sirius's side.

Sirius ruffled his hair gently. "So what do you want?" Harry simply shrugged and pressed himself into the cushions. "Come on, champ. There has to be something you really want."

"No."

"Sirius." Leaning over Harry's head, Remus met Sirius's gaze. "Let him be. I'll order a couple of pizzas for us. Why don't you go give him a bath?"

"No baff!"

Both men looked down at the child in shock. "Why don't you want a bath?" Remus asked gently.

"No good." The toddler buried his head in his arms and began to cry softly.

"Baths are fun! Come on, let Padfoot show you." Lifting the boy into his arms, Sirius gently cradled him in his arms. "We'll have fun. And I'll be gentle. If you don't like it then I'll spell you clean. How does that sound?"

"'Kay."

"Good boy." The two men exchanged a significant look as Sirius left the room with Harry over his shoulder. Even though both desperately wanted to pay the Dursleys' a visit, they also knew that right now, Harry needed them.

U_U

Sirius set a subdued Harry on a chair by the kitchen table. "Here we are. Squeaky clean. Wasn't that fun, Prongslet?"

"Yes."

"See? Not so bad." The man ruffled the child's damp hair and turned to Remus. "What's the ETA on dinner?"

"Five more minutes or so." Looking up from his new book, Remus inclined his head towards the piles of parchment obscuring most of the table. "I've been researching some theories."

"Such as?" Sirius handed Harry one of the new toys they'd purchased earlier in the day, effectively turning his attention elsewhere. "You got a lot of books today."

"I was looking into your strange behavior. Yours and James's."

The Animagus gave him a sideways look. "What do you mean?"

"You two changed. Even now, you're very different." Meeting the other man's gaze, he tapped the end of his quill on a line of the current book he was looking at. "You and James would never have assumed I betrayed you before. You also became harder, colder. There were a number of signs."

"I never noticed," Sirius replied quietly.

"I know. I don't blame you, either of you." His head jerked up as the doorbell rang. "There's dinner."

"I'll get – Harry, what's wrong?"

The child was sitting on the chair, clutching a plush dragon with wide, fearful emerald eyes. "Aunt 'tunia an' Unca Bernon."

Remus sighed. "No, Harry. Petunia and Vernon cannot touch you anymore. Sirius officially adopted you. No one can take you away from him. Ever."

"Really?"

"Really."

Trying to break the tension, Sirius scooped up his godson in his arms. "And now it's time for dinner! How does that sound?"

"'Kay."

As the other two walked to the door, Remus began to clear his books and parchment. After Harry went to bed he'd discuss his theory with Sirius.

U_U

Sirius smiled to himself at the sight of a very content Harry curled up on the couch against Remus's side, listening to the man read a book about cats in hats. When he got his hands on the Dursleys…he shook his head. What was with him? As Moony had mentioned before they'd gone to the will reading and earlier, this wasn't him. Already Sirius could feel something different, something…clearer. No, he was not going to go make up with his parents. For one, his father was dead, and for another, Walburga was simply mad. As mad as Bellatrix, if he was comparing. Even Regulus was gone, for some reason that he had never found out. But he no longer felt the urge to be an Auror. Now that he thought of it, he didn't know why he had ever even thought of joining them. It was a brilliant job, but he was a Pureblood. There was no reason for him to do it.

"That's it, Harry. Time for bed," Remus announced, closing the book.

Leaning over, Sirius scooped up the toddler. "Who's ready for bed?!" He wrapped his arms around Harry's waist, holding him like an airplane. "Zoom!"

The pair flew into Harry's light blue room and Sirius gently tossed him onto the snitch-covered bedspread. "There we go. I'll tuck you in and then you'll be all ready for bed."

"Stay." The boy held onto Sirius's sleeve, emerald eyes wide. "No go."

"You want me to stay here? With you?" Sirius ruffled Harry's hair as he nodded. "No problem. Under the covers, now."

Harry did as he said, struggling to pull the heavy comforter over himself. Chuckling, Sirius helped and stretched himself out beside him. The child was already beginning to get tired, his eyes drooping. "Hey there, Prongslet. You're looking tired."

"Seepy," Harry affirmed with a yawn.

"Yeah, I figured. It's been a long day for you." He reached over and picked up a picture frame from the nightstand. "Hey. This is you and your mom and dad."

"Mommy? Daddy?"

Sirius smiled sadly. "Yeah, that's Lily and James. By their wedding. I was the best man, you know?" He looked down at Harry, who had his head pressed into Sirius's side. "Oh. You're asleep. Good night, then."

Giving Harry one last look, Sirius left the room.

U_U

Remus looked up as Sirius entered the living room. "He's asleep?"

"Would I come out if he wasn't?" The dog animagus sat down beside the werewolf, looking at the book in his hands. "What are you researching?"

"Mind control," Remus replied simply.

"Still on the personality changes thing?"

"Yes. It isn't only you and James. Why didn't Alice and Frank try to get Harry? Lily always wanted to go for her Mastery. Why didn't she?" Setting his book on the coffee table, Remus looked at Sirius. "The common denominator is Albus."

"Dumbledore?!" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "How could you think that way?"

"Think about it!" Remus stood up, his hands spread. "Dumbledore insisted that I go on those ridiculous missions! Dumbledore wanted Lily and James to go into hiding! Dumbledore made Peter the Secret Keeper! If he's the head of the Light, how didn't he know about Peter being evil?"

Sirius got to his feet too. "I don't know! But – "

"But nothing! I'm not saying that it has to be him, but everything points to him. Don't you see it?"

"I…guess so." Dropping back down on the couch, Sirius buried his head in his hands. "I can't believe this."

"I know. It sounds mad. But it all adds up." Remus sat down and tentatively wrapped an arm around Sirius's shoulders. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

"He ruined lives. Our lives. Harry won't go to sleep by himself because Albus decided to send him to the Dursleys!" Sirius fisted his hands in his lap. "I just can't believe it. Albus?"

"I know, it – " He looked up sharply as the doorbell rang. "It's rather late, who could that be?"

Pulling his wand out of his jean pocket, Sirius cautiously approached the door. "You go cover Harry. It could be a Death Eater."

"I know. I'm going." Remus nodded at him and left the room.

As he pulled open the door, Sirius kept his wand trained on the opening. "Who is it?"

"Severus Snape," came the voice.

"And how do I know you aren't lying?"

There was a sigh. "I know what Lupin is."

"Many people do," Sirius shot back.

"I learned about it when I followed you to the Whomping Willow based on some clues you decided to drop." Severus shifted, the tip of his wand peeking out of his sleeve. "Now are you going to allow me in or do I have to call the wolf?"

"Fine. Get in here." Sirius pulled open the door to allow the man in. "Remus! It's Severus!"

Remus entered the room and held out a hand to Severus. "It's good to see you."

"I cannot say the same." Severus kept his hand on his wand.

"So why are you here?" Sirius butt in.

"I want to be a part of Harry's life."

Chapter Text

Remus surveyed the living room, a grim look on his face. "So you're the reason Lily and James are dead?" Sirius exploded.

"In a way, yes. But as I said, I regret my actions." Severus looked down at the teacup held tightly in his hands. "Had I known the Dark Lord would kill Lily – "

"And you only thought about Lily?! You didn't care about James or their unborn child?!" He stood up, fists clenched at his sides. "You still call him the Dark Lord too! How do we know you're not still working for You-Know-Who?"

"Dumbledore trusts him, so – " Remus started.

Sirius cut in. "From what you've said about Dumbledore, that isn't a very good estimation of Snivellus here."

"Perhaps, but why do you hate him so much?" The werewolf fixed him with a stern look. "Remember what I said about Dumbledore and when I thought this all started."

"I..." His brow furrowed. "I don't know. He was always odd when we were kids, so I always thought that that was why I didn't like him."

"Did it never strike you as odd that you have always hated me? At your age, you should have outgrown the urge to dislike me this much," Severus added. "This senseless hatred should have ended years ago, while we were still in school."

"I realize that now. But why do you want to get involved? Even if Dumbledore was the cause, James and I were horrible to you." Sirius sighed. "There's so much I don't know. How much of who I am and who my friends and enemies are is my doing, and how much of it is Dumbledore's doing?"

Remus shook his head. "I can't say. But shall we start over? Pretend nothing happened? If that would be alright with you, Severus."

"I...believe it would be satisfactory," Severus replied slowly. "I am not innocent myself. I played enough pranks on the three of you as well."

"Fine. That's settled. But now what? The three of us are going to live together and raise Harry?" The dog animagus leaned against the back of the couch and gave the other two men a searching look. "That's all I can think of. Especially since you want to be a large part of his life, Severus."

"My flat isn't large enough for the three of us. Not without...stepping on each other's toes." Remus took a sip of tea to give himself a minute to think. "And that's putting it lightly. This isn't a large flat, there isn't enough room for three adults and a toddler."

"I may have a solution to that." Leaning forward, the Potions Master set his teacup delicately on the table. "I recently discovered that my grandfather left Prince Manor to me in his will. It - "

"Your grandfather died nearly twenty years ago. What took so long?"

Severus shook his head. "I do not know. But based on Remus's assumptions - "

"You would assume that it had to do with Dumbledore," Remus finished.

"Of course. Had I had somewhere to go, somewhere without my father, somewhere that was my own..." Severus's voice trailed off. "I do not think I would have become a Death Eater."

Sirius's gaze pinned itself on the man. "So you're a Death Eater."

"I was a Death Eater. I am not now. And," he took a deep breath, "I was not interested in turning to the Dark Lord until after Lily rejected me in fifth year. When I had to meet Dumbledore to discuss my mother's death."

Realization dawned on Remus's face. "He wanted you to become a Death Eater."

"I suppose so. It worked well for him. He had a spy in Voldemort's ranks who was beholden to him," Severus replied bitterly. "I cannot believe I did not see it earlier."

"Nor can I. Which is why I assume that Dumbledore had us under some sort of compulsion spell or potion." Remus thought for a moment before continuing, "Then again...it could have been Legilimency."

Sirius shook his head. "Couldn't have. All Blacks are taught Occlumency from an early age, we can't be controlled. And the one thing my parents did compliment me on was that I was good at shielding my mind."

"As am I, to remain a spy in Voldemort's inner circle for so long." Running a hand over his chin, Severus mentally ran through the different potions and spells he knew of. "It may have been a potion. A spell would be too obvious. Dumbledore is not as adept at wandless magic as he would like us to think. A potion would explain why you, Remus, were not affected after being sent to the werewolves."

"I would not have been given the potion for awhile. That sounds about right."

"But what are we going to do?" Sirius butt in. "We can't let Albus control everyone! Not with Harry here."

"We're not going to. But since Voldemort has been defeated, thanks to the toddler sleeping in the next room." Remus gave his friend a stern look to remind him to stay quiet. "I think we can safely assume that he won't bother bringing too many people under his control. Sure, he'll keep everyone under it enough to keep them from realizing what he was doing, but I don't think he will do it as heavily as he did before."

"I agree." Severus stood up. "If possible, I would like a sample of your blood, Black."

"Why, are you actually a vampire?" Sirius held up his hands at Remus's angry look. "Kidding. What do you need it for, Snape?"

"I am going to analyze it to see if there are any potions or compounds that should not be there. In which case I will need a list of all potions you have been taking over the past few months, to check what should and should not be there." Seeing Sirius open his mouth to protest, he held up a hand. "I do know what I am doing. I studied under a Healer for several months before getting my mastery. A Potions Master may be called upon to be a Healer in a pinch and therefore needs to know enough about healing to fulfill that requirement, should it come to that."

"Fine, I'll let you suck my blood."

Severus rolled his eyes. "My Animagus form is one of an eagle, not a bat. I'll do it now, in order to ensure that the potion is not completely out of your system."

"Then I'll go check on Harry. He hasn't been sleeping very well lately." Remus got to his feet and went to the next room, where an awake Harry was sitting up in the toddler bed they'd purchased, green eyes wide. "Hello there. I see that you aren't sleeping."

"Scawy." The toddler crawled into Remus's open arms, snuggling against his chest. "Mooey stay."

"I'll stay with you. Just until you fall asleep." He ran his hand through the soft black hair, trying to calm the child. "Everything's going to be great. Sirius and I are here, and one of your mom's friends came to visit you."

"Mommy?"

Remus sighed. "No, Severus Snape, your mom's friend. You'll meet him tomorrow, okay?"

"'Kay."

Watching Harry fall asleep, Remus reflected that he probably had no idea what was going on. He was a toddler, barely old enough to understand what was going on.

Finally, after nearly half an hour, Harry was asleep. Remus gently set him on the bed and left the room.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Sirius looked up from the newspaper he was reading as Remus entered the room. "Harry asleep?"

"Finally. I think he had a nightmare again." Remus sat down beside Sirius and picked up his book. "Severus left?"

"Yep. As soon as he had his blood sample he ran out, something about the test's potency." He lowered the newspaper to look to the werewolf. "Are you sure you trust him? I suppose I can believe what he said about being controlled by Dumbledore. It fits with everything we've seen. But can we trust him with Harry?"

"Remember. We were terrible to him in Hogwarts. I'm surprised he's willing to talk to us." The other man shook his head. "I don't know if we can trust him outright. But I think we should give him a chance. If he can give us a chance, we can at least give the same to him."

"I agree." Stretching, Sirius rose to his feet and dropped the newspaper on the end table. "I'm going to get to bed. Starting tomorrow I'm going to look into my family's businesses. It's time I started living up to my history."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I recall you saying the Blacks have always been evil?"

"There have been enough good Blacks over the years. Not recently, but there were a number. I want to bring the Black family into polite society again."

"Then go ahead. I want to do a little more research on the spell end of Albus's control before I turn in." Remus picked up a self-inking quill and made a note in one of his books. "Have a good night."

"Good night."

Chapter Text

Sirius let out a bark of laughter as Harry poked at the pancakes with his fork. "It's safe to eat, mate. They won't kill you. Put some syrup on them, they'll taste even better."

"'Kay." Harry reached for the syrup, but Remus scooped it up.

"I'll give you some. It's too heavy for a little boy like you." The werewolf carefully poured a small amount of syrup on the stack of pancakes and pushed the plate back to the toddler. "Here you go. Do you need help cutting it up?"

"Pease," Harry replied softly. He watched as Remus cut up his pancakes, green eyes focusing on the knife. Once the man finished, Harry happily began eating. "Mmm."

"Good to hear that my cooking skills are as good as ever," Sirius commented. "The connoisseur approves."

"Yes, taking advice from the two-year-old." Remus patted Harry's head and began to serve himself food. "Severus owled me this morning. We can join him later this afternoon to see Prince Manor."

"I have meetings with the goblins and other business people today. You two go see it, I trust your judgment on the matter." Taking a bite of his own breakfast, Sirius turned to his godson. "You behave yourself with Remus, okay, Prongslet? No pranks just yet."

"He's two, Sirius. He can't prank me."

"That's what you think. He's pranked me before, when Lily and James were...around." He cast a quick look at Harry, who was engrossed in his breakfast. "Anyway. Are you sure you can handle him?"

"I've taken him out alone before. I always manage." Remus took a deep sip of coffee, savoring the rich taste. "I have to admit, I never thought you would ever be able to cook this well."

"What, you doubted me?" Sirius clutched at his heart in fake shock. "I can't believe you, Moony! To think that my own friend turned on me!"

Harry giggled at his godfather's antics and Sirius ruffled his hair. "You like that, don't you? You like when Uncle Moony's a meanie to Uncle Padfoot."

"I highly doubt he even understands what's going on. Finish eating, Harry, and then maybe we'll go out." Remus turned Harry's attention back to the pancakes and looked up at Sirius. "Are you alright with my going off with Severus?"

"There's no reason for me to worry. He appears to be telling the truth. My Padfoot instincts have never been wrong before," Sirius remarked. "I've always been wary of Peter. Maybe I should trust my instincts more often."

"Then we'll trust them."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Severus looked at the bundled up child in Remus's arms. "It is not that cold here."

"It's colder than what Harry would be used to. I also don't know what the Dursleys did to him, so for all I know his immune system could be compromised." Remus adjusted Harry to rest in a more comfortable position. "He doesn't seem to mind wearing the hat, coat, and scarf, so I suppose he's okay with it."

"Petunia...abused him?" Severus questioned slowly.

"Yes." The werewolf watched the man carefully. "Harry was being kept in a cupboard under the stairs and bullied by his cousin when Sirius and I went to get him."

"They will pay." The Potions Master turned on his heel and started back up the path from Prince Manor before Remus grabbed his arm. "What? I am going to go make them pay for what they have done to Lily's child."

"You can join Sirius and I. With you in the picture we can probably start thinking of ideas tonight, even. Perhaps after Harry goes to bed?" At Severus's short nod, Remus let out a sigh of relief. Having to control Sirius was bad enough. He wouldn't be able to handle both of them at once. "How about the manor now?"

"Fine. Follow me." Severus stalked up the path, Remus following hot on his heels with Harry in tow. "I have never been here, although I know that it has been vacant since my grandfather's death. The manor was hidden under the Fidelius charm and could not be found until I, as the new Secret Keeper, received the note from my grandfather. I do not know if he had house elves, so the state of the manor could be...less than optimal."

"It would still be a better choice than my flat, especially since both you and Sirius have decided to join the Harry-raising team." As they came up to the doors, Harry began to struggle in Remus's arms. "Do you want to go down?"

"Yeah." Once he was on solid ground the toddler walked up to the door and turned to the two men. "Open?"

"He is certainly a curious child," Severus remarked, opening the door while grabbing Harry's hood to keep him from running inside.

"It's better than how he was yesterday. He's usually like this, but yesterday he was quiet and inactive." Remus knelt down and met Harry's green gaze. "You can't run away from Uncle Severus and I, understand?"

Harry looked up at Severus. "Unca Sev?"

"Yes, I suppose I do not have a choice about this." He gave the toddler a dirty look. "Uncle Sev, indeed."

"Your name is difficult for a two year old to pronounce, Severus. Cut him some slack." Peering down the hall, Remus tried to see what was down the dark passage. "Shall we explore?"

"That would be what you marauders do best." Severus led the way down the long hallway, the moth eaten carpet crumbling beneath their feet. "I did not think it would be in such terrible condition."

"Neither would I. Your grandfather had house elves, didn't he?" Remus asked. "House elves usually take care of the house even after the owner has died. This...doesn't look like they did."

Severus shook his head. "I believe my grandfather sent them to Hogwarts. In his will he warned me against Albus Dumbledore, saying he had suspicions that the man was not as good as he said he was. The elves were meant to spy on the Headmaster until I called them back to Prince Manor."

"Oooooh," came Harry's voice from ahead of them. The two men looked down and realized that the toddler had slipped away from them while they were talking. They exchanged a quick look, then Severus began to race down the hall, Remus hot on his heels. "Big."

Remus just barely had time to come to a stop before he crashed into Severus, who'd paused suddenly in the doorway. "What is this?" He asked in awe.

They stood in a ballroom, one that had certainly seen better days, but a ballroom nonetheless. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling every couple of feet, most still intact. The area at the end of the room for musicians still had several sheets of music lying on the tiled floor, as if they would be back to pick them up in a few days when they realized it had been left behind. On the opposite side of the room was the dais for the Prince family and close friends, the table listing down in the front due to the splintered legs. The heavy tapestries on the walls hung thick with dust, their colors muted from prolonged exposure to the sun.

"This...it looks abandoned." Remus took Harry's hand to keep him from running into the room. Some of the crystals had fallen to the floor and shattered, making the room a danger to the toddler. "I can't imagine what the rest of the house looks like."

Severus nodded slowly. "I agree. I believe I will have the house elves come back - "

A loud pop! interrupted him as six house elves appeared in the room. "Master Severus has returned?!" the oldest one, a female, said shakily. "It has been many years since Wilma has had a real master. She will start making the manor good for Master Severus!"

"You are all my elves?" Severus looked around at the group with wide eyes. It took a lot to surprise him, but he hadn't thought his grandfather had this many house elves. It took magic to support house elves, a lot of magic. To have six house elves...his grandfather must have been very, very powerful.

"Master Eric was having more house elves, but theys not around anymore." A small male elf hung his head. "Hogwarts is not being good for elves."

"I see that." His black eyes flashed. The elves were bound to Hogwarts herself, not to Albus Dumbledore, but even then, Hogwarts could not support that many elves at a time. When it came to the choice between powering the wards or giving the house elves the extra power they could use, the wards took precedence, as they should. Albus was the one who either didn't or wouldn't understand that. "You will be here, in the Manor, from now on. You will no longer be working in Hogwarts. If I do not have the power to support all of you, tell me and I will see what I can do to resolve that problem. For now I would like you to restore the house to its former state, before it fell into disrepair. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Master Severus, sir!" The first elf dipped her head and popped away. One by one, the other five elves followed suit.

Remus looked on with wide eyes. "I suppose we should get out of their way, then."

"I would assume that would be a good idea. We have much to discuss, starting with the blood sample I took from Black last night." Severus exited the room, black robes swirling around him as he walked. "You may join me in my house for lunch, if you wish."

"That would probably be the best idea. Should we pick up takeaway?"

"I believe I am a decent enough cook that neither of you will die," he remarked drily. "There is no need for takeaway."

"Then let's get going. I want to know what you've discovered. You still live in the house in Spinner's End?" Remus lifted Harry in his arms so that they would get out of the manor faster. "If so I can Apparate there with Harry."

"Yes, I am still in Spinner's End. Once we're out of here we can Apparate. I do not know what the exact wards on the manor are and I would prefer not to have to explain to the mutt why you have been swallowed up by the floor."

Remus rolled his eyes. Apparently this was Severus's attempt at a joke. A rather dry one, but still a joke nonetheless.

Once they got out of the bounds of the manor they Apparated away to Severus's house.

Chapter Text

Remus looked around the small house incredulously. "You…you did this? Yourself?"

"Who else would have done it?" Severus flicked the light switch on, brightening the sunlit house even more. He'd worked hard to set all this up, to get his house into good shape. It was far from perfect, but it was comfortable and suited him very well. "Keep the child away from the couch. I do not need to see it dirtied."

"Of course not." The werewolf looked at the camel-colored sofas on either side of a darker brown end table. The entire house was done in shades of brown, colors he would never have expected in Severus's house. He would've expected either silver and green or black, those fit the man's personality more. "Harry, don't touch anything with dirty hands, alright?"

"'Kay." Harry wiggled to be put down. Once his feet touched the ground he started exploring the living room.

"What did you have in mind for lunch?" Remus asked, following the other man to the kitchen.

"A light pasta dish, something Harry can have as well." Pulling out a couple of pans, Severus began to get lunch ready. "As for Dumbledore..."

"Yes, I was wondering what you found in Sirius's blood." He sat down by the kitchen table, knowing the Potions Master would get upset if he was in the way. "Was it a potion in the end?"

"It was. Several potions, in fact." Severus filled a pot with water and set it on the stove. "It...is not a good situation. Even considering how long it's been since Dumbledore gave Black the potions, I would suggest something to flush his system just in case. The potions are strong, very strong, and should not have been used in concert with each other."

Remus's brow furrowed. "What were they?"

"A potion to make the drinker trust the person who gave it to him. Another one to keep someone from asking too many questions. A third to make a person open to suggestions from the person giving the potion." He shrugged. "I would be interested in testing a few more people to see if they have the same traces in their bloodstream. I do, in approximately the same concentration as Black, although I would assume that that is because he had to counteract some other potions that I brewed for myself. Black is headstrong which would explain why he was drugged to that level."

"What about me?"

Severus considered the werewolf. "I would assume that you have less than either of us. You already trusted Dumbledore and did most of what he said out of gratitude. In addition, he had you out on missions and could not give you the potions himself, which would have negated the effect of potions that bond with the giver's magical signature. As a werewolf the potions would have had to be modified slightly and I highly doubt that there are many Potions Masters out there that can brew like that."

"And I would presume that you consider yourself one of the few that can?" Remus replied with a small grin.

"I do. You have used my potions, have you not?" At the man's nod, Severus continued, "They are more effective than most potions you have used, I'd expect. I modify my potions to specifically target a werewolf. In the long run they are more effective on all people, not merely werewolves, which helps for my potions-selling business in general."

"You...sell potions?"

"I do. Hogwarts does not pay enough for me to not have another source of income, not if I want to create my own potions." His face took on an annoyed look. "Albus appears to think that since professors have room and board for free while working in a school, we do not need large salaries as well. Cut the peppers if you do not mind."

Remus took the knife the other man held out to him and began to do as he was told. "Why did you decide to become a professor, anyway? I cannot imagine it was your first choice as a career."

"Albus insisted I take up the position after I returned to him from the Dark Lord. I suppose it was to keep me close enough to drug me, as well." Looking down at the floor, Severus raised an eyebrow. "I presume you know where the child is, am I correct?"

"What – Oh, Harry!" The werewolf dropped the knife and vegetable and raced from the room.

Severus took one last look at the food before following the other man to the living room. "How could you lose a child the second day you have him?"

"Your house is not that large, he has to be close by," Remus said calmly. He had babysat Harry before and this was something the toddler enjoyed doing. Despite Sirius's shouts to the contrary, Lily had always felt that it was he who taught the toddler to be the little prankster he was. "It – there we go."

"What are you – ah. I see." The Potions Master found himself nearly grinning as Remus pointed to the small foot sticking out from behind the couch. "Out, child."

Harry crawled out, a book in his hand. "Hawwy in twubble?" he asked nervously.

"No, you are not in trouble." Remus shot Severus a quick look to keep his mouth shut. "We were just looking for you. Come here to Uncle Moony."

"He had better not have ruined my book. Hand it over." Taking the book from Harry's hands Severus began to flip through it, noting that the child had not damaged it in the least.

"Is it good enough for you?"

Severus gave the werewolf an unamused look. "Yes. For some unknown reason, he did not decide to completely destroy the volume."

"He's been trained. Lily didn't want her books ruined and therefore taught him from early on that books are not made to be destroyed," Remus replied, lifting Harry into his arms. "You're a good boy, aren't you, Harry?"

"Hawwy good boy," the child agreed. With that, the trio went back to the kitchen to finish cooking and eat.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Remus looked up from his book as his front door opened. A couple of minutes later Sirius entered the room and collapsed on the couch. "Long day?" he said pleasantly.

Sirius shook his head. "You don't even know. First of all, someone's been taking money out of the accounts – "

"I'm not saying Dumbledore is not at fault, but are you sure it can't be someone else taking it?" Remus closed and folded the newspaper and set it on the end table. "Your family is known for backstabbing each other."

"It can't be. The only ones still alive are the Black sisters; Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix. Narcissa doesn't have access anymore because she's married to Lucius, Andy was disowned, magic won't recognize her, and Bella...Bella doesn't want to acknowledge that she could use our money. She's barking mad, anyway." The man shook his head. "The only person it could be is Dumbledore. I allowed him limited access to my accounts for funds for the Order. Nothing should be taken out now, though."

"I see. Thinking about it now...Bella's madness." Meeting his friend's eyes, Remus continued, "There are plenty of potions that cause madness. She could actually enjoy the death and destruction of You-Know-Who, but on the other hand, if she's not insane, she could be a good ally."

Sirius shook his head. "She's always been a sadist. Maybe Dumbly gave her potions to push her more towards insanity, but no, she's definitely not an ally. I sent letters to both Narcissa and Andromeda inviting them back into the family –"

"You were disowned. How can you do that?"

"You're really not familiar with the Pureblood family system, are you?" At Remus's head shake, Sirius crossed his arms and continued, "My father did not disown me. My mother blasted me off the tapestry and I left my home, but I was still part of the family. Regulus was put into the place of the Heir, but you always need a spare. After my parents died I received a letter from the goblins calling me to take my place as Head of the family. I can bring Andromeda back into the family as well as give Narcissa her old Black privileges despite her marriage."

Remus nodded slowly. "So you did that. Did you take care of anything else?"

"I'll be overseeing my father's – I mean, my – businesses once or twice a week from now on. I've also taken up my seat in the Wizengamot and will start voting." He leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. "I also figured we should possibly start looking for a babysitter."

"For what?"

"To go visit the Dursleys. They deserve to suffer for what they've done to Prongslet." A dark gleam entered Sirius's gray eyes. "They will not get away with this."

"I told you, we're not going off to kill or torture them if it's going to get us arrested. That will put Harry right back into their hands." Remus met his friend's gaze and held it. "If you want to go get yourself arrested, go ahead, but you do realize that that means that Harry will be forced to live with the Dursleys. I am not considered a fit guardian for a child."

"Fine. Tomorrow I have a meeting with Narcissa in the Black offices in our business buildings in Finance Alley. Tell Severus to come over tomorrow afternoon and we'll come up with a plan. It's about time we take care of this." Sirius stood up. "I'm going to go check on Harry and go to bed. We'll sleep on it and see about coming up with a real plan of action, including what to do about Albus and my...family."

The werewolf nodded and got to his feet as well. "I suppose we'll discuss Severus's findings tomorrow as well?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, I'm tired. I've just been so worried about Harry and Albus getting to him..." He ran both hands through his thick black hair. "Tomorrow afternoon we'll discuss Albus and the Dursleys with Severus and figure out what to do. I won't do anything without a plan."

"Good. Then have a good night." The two men went upstairs, and after ensuring that Harry is okay, went their separate ways to get to sleep. If today had been long, tomorrow would be even longer.

Chapter Text

Sirius groaned and rolled over as a heavy weight settled on his back. "Moony, it's way too early for you to be – "

"Unca Pa'foo?" came a quiet voice.

"Oh, hey, Prongslet." He shifted so that Harry fell off his back and landed on the bed. "Why are you up so early? It's only – "

"Harry, you have to finish eating," Remus called through the open door.

"No! Don' like!" The toddler buried himself into the blanket, his head pressed into Sirius's side. "No eat!"

The werewolf sighed and reached under the blanket, grasping a small ankle gently. "It's oatmeal. It's good for you. Now come on, you're going to meet someone new today."

"'Kay." Harry looked at Sirius, who was sitting up in bed half asleep. "Pa'foo come?"

"In a couple of minutes. I have to get dressed first," Sirius replied. "I'll be there in a few."

"Now that that's taken care of." Remus swept the boy into his arms and started for the kitchen. "You're going to meet another little boy today."

"Neviw?" Looking down at the bowl of oatmeal on the table, Harry wrinkled his nose. "No wike."

"I'm sure you don't like it. But it's good for you." After setting him down by the table, Remus spooned a spoonful of oatmeal into Harry's small mouth. "You're not playing with Neville today. You're going to meet Sirius's cousin, Draco Malfoy."

"Wait, what? Narcissa didn't say anything about that." Sirius finished pulling his shirt down before sitting beside his godson. "She said she's meeting me at the Black offices and is leaving Draco at home with Lucius."

"She sent an owl saying she was bringing Draco with her. Lucius has other plans today and she doesn't want to leave him with the house elves." Seeing Sirius's annoyed look, Remus correctly interpreted it and held up a hand. "I wouldn't have opened your mail if not for the fact that the owl looked ready to murder me if I didn't take the letter and respond."

"And what did you respond?"

He shrugged. "That it would be alright. What else should I have said?"

"You could've woken me up!" Sirius retorted. "I would've told her – "

"Told her what? No, she couldn't bring her son because you're worried that he'll influence Harry? I was under the impression that you wanted to see if mending fences was even a possibility." The worn-looking man met the flint-like gaze. "You know you would have been even more upset if I woke you up. This was three hours ago."

"What?!" Looking at the clock hanging above the stove, Sirius's mouth dropped open. "Moony, it's nearly eleven! I'm supposed to meet Narcissa in fifteen minutes!"

"Then I suggest you get ready. Harry here is all set to go once he – Harry, what's wrong?" Both men looked down at the toddler for the first time since they began arguing. He had stopped eating and was looking up at them with an expression of fear on his young face.

"No hurt Hawwy. Hawwy good boy." Both hands went up to cover the small head, shielding it from any coming blows. "Hawwy sowwy."

"No, Harry, we're not upset with you," Remus said softly, kneeling down so that he was on Harry's level. "We're just arguing. No one's going to hurt you."

"Yeah, champ, we're never going to hurt you like your aunt and uncle did. No one will hurt you when you're with us. Don't cry." The other man wrapped both arms around Harry, holding him close. "You'll come with me to meet the Malfoys and we'll see if they're really good. How does that sound?"

"'Kay." Harry quietly looked down at his bowl and started eating by himself. His guardians shared a meaningful look over his messy head. From now on they had to make sure that all arguments happened either behind closed doors or after Harry had gone to bed. There was no way either of them was going to risk his happiness. "Aw done."

Remus lifted Harry off the chair and rested him on his hip. "Then let's go get your shoes on while Padfoot finishes getting ready."

"Good idea. Have fun, you two." Sirius went back into his bedroom to finish getting ready. He felt like he had to keep an open mind about Narcissa, however much he wanted to believe that Lucius was a Death Eater. At the moment he couldn't think of how having Malfoy on the Dark side would help Dumbledore, but if it turned out that Lucius had been controlled...who knew. He also had to admit that Narcissa had never seemed the type to go dark, as far as he could remember from when they were younger. She had always made a big deal of keeping her family safe and Voldemort was not the way to do that. The man had had a reputation of torturing his followers to keep them in line, and that would have included Lucius and even Draco, if he was around.

He exited his bedroom to find Harry standing by the door, now wrapped up in his winter gear. "Hey little guy. You all ready to go?" At Harry's solemn nod, Sirius swept him up into his arms and gave Remus a two-fingered salute. "We'll be off, then. What will you do with your new found free time?"

"I suppose I'll offer my help to Severus in fixing up his Manor. I'm sure he can use some help." Remus gently patted the top of Harry's hat-covered head. "Have fun."

"Thanks."

"And try to have an open mind. Allow Harry to play with Draco and try to listen to what Narcissa says. She may not be evil." He gave Harry one last look and turned to leave the room.

Sirius rolled his eyes, muttering, "I'm not an idiot."

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to!"

Remus let out a low chuckle and left the room.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"They seem to be getting along well," Narcissa commented quietly, watching her son and Harry pushing a ball back and forth.

"Yes." Sirius had to admit that he hadn't thought they would. If he was being completely honest, he had been hoping they wouldn't. It would have made it easier to hate the Malfoys. As it stood, right now, he could see where they were coming from and understood why they had done what they did. "You were saying?"

The blonde, regal woman inclined her head slightly. "I discussed the situation with my husband. Lucius was able to pinpoint a time when he felt that his mindset changed – approximately seventh year. You would have been in first year. Could it be that Dumbledore was controlling us from then?"

"Anything is possible. He influenced Severus and I as well," he replied. He looked down as a small hand patted his knee. "What's up, pup?"

"Up." Harry pressed both hands to his godfather's knees, trying to lift himself up. "Peas?"

Draco's tiny blond eyebrows scrunched together, making Narcissa smile. "Come here, Dragon. You can sit on my lap as well." Wrapping an arm around his waist, she lifted him to sit on her lap. "You were saying, Sirius?"

"Right." He brushed a hand through Harry's hair, making the toddler look up. "Nothing with you. Now, Narcissa, the reason I called you here...you're more of a Slytherin than I am."

Narcissa raised a single eyebrow. "Your point?"

"I want you, Severus, and Lucius to help us bring down Dumbledore. Us being Remus and myself," he added quickly, seeing her begin to ask a question. "We need someone who can think like that, who thinks in that sneaky way."

"I see. What would be in it for us?" At his incredulous look, she continued, "You do realize that no Slytherin will do something for free, correct?"

"I just figured - "

"Do not assume anything. That is your first lesson about Slytherins." She looked down at the top of her son's head. "Of course, for many Slytherins, the safety of their families will be enough. For myself and Lucius that is all we require: a guarantee that the Dark Lord will never be able to come after us, even if he does return."

"So you believe Dumbledore, then, when he says Voldy isn't dead?" Sirius asked.

The blonde, aristocratic woman sighed quietly and brushed her fingers through Draco's hair. "Yes. The Dark Lord was too smart not to have a contingency plan in place in case of anything happening to him. I do not know what he may have done, but I am certain he did something to prolong his life."

"We just have to figure out what it is." The Animagus set Harry on the ground and stood up. "I think we are finished here, then. I will tell Severus that you and Lucius are willing to help."

"Thank you. You will work on a plan in case of the Dark Lord's return, to keep us safe?" At his nod, she finished, "Then yes, I suppose we are finished. Draco, it is time to go."

"Bye." The blond slid off Narcissa's lap as she stood up and waved to Harry.

"Bye-bye." Harry gave him a shy smile before latching onto Sirius's leg.

Narcissa let a slight smile break through the Pureblood mask. "I also suppose we will have to stay in touch for playdates with the boys."

"Yes, I'll send you an owl for a playdate sometime next week." Sirius ruffled his godson's hair. "Have a good day."

"Thank you. To you as well." With that, the Malfoys exited the room, leaving Sirius and Harry alone.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Severus glared at the two men in front of him. "I am not mind-raping Dursley, even if he is a muggle."

"No one said to mind-rape him," Remus said with a sigh. "Sirius wants to make him feel what Harry must have felt. That can be accomplished with a spell. What I'm asking is for you to see if you can find out any information Dumbledore may have given Vernon and Petunia about Harry. That's all."

"Fine. But that, and only that. Any more and I will not go along with this plan." The Potions Master gave them one last glare to enforce his request and continued, "Other than that, I have special potions prepared to put on the walls and floorboards to attract vermin. It can only be removed by an antidote I possess."

Sirius nodded. "Good. They are going to pay for what they've done to Harry. They're not getting away with this."

"Trust me, they won't." Remus's amber eyes hardened. "They are going to get exactly what they deserve. No one hurts my cub and gets away with it."

Severus contemplated the werewolf in front of him. One of the things that set werewolves apart in terms of family was the concept of a pack: having to have a large family, whether it was a blood family or one the werewolf chose for itself. During his research to perfect the Wolfsbane Potion, Severus had observed several werewolves and their 'packs'. When with a pack, a werewolf was much calmer and able to be controlled more easily. It was when the wolf became agitated and alone that it would attack others. A werewolf living with a pack, whether its human family or its chosen pack, would fare better than a werewolf alone in the wild. It was impressive that Lupin had gone without biting anyone for so long, seeing as his "pack" had only contained Black, Potter, and Pettigrew.

"I already asked Alice if she could come over to keep an eye on Harry. She'll be here - " Remus started, but was interrupted by the crackling of the Floo.

"I'm here. Harry will be completely safe in my hands." A hard look entered the woman's normally soft eyes. "Give them hell from me."

Sirius gave her a small bow. "Your wish is our command, milady."

"No child should ever be treated in such a way," Severus agreed. "They will pay."

"Just...don't get yourselves hurt or arrested, alright? I don't know if Dumbledore will allow us to take Harry." Alice gave Remus a pat on the back. "Good luck."

The werewolf nodded firmly. "Thank you."

She watched as the unlikely trio exited the house into the night, intent on revenge.

Chapter Text

Severus carefully tucked his wand into the pocket of his trousers before looking at the two men behind him. "Will you be joining me?"

"We're coming, we're coming. You have to give us a minute." Sirius ran his hand through his hair. "As Moony here keeps reminding us, we don't want to get arrested or anything."

"No, we do not. Harry would wind up going right back to the Dursleys and none of us want that to happen," Remus commented, dusting off his gray slacks. "Let's go. I want to get back to Harry."

The dog Animagus nodded. "So do I."

"Then shall we get moving?" Severus approached the door cautiously. The so-called "wards" Albus touted were certainly there, although not nearly at the level that he had promised they would be.
These would keep out a low-level Death Eater, but someone of Lucius or Severus's caliber could blast through these wards easily. "Lupin, if you will?"

"Certainly." Taking a step forward, Remus pulled out his wand and silently opened the door. The three men crept into the house quietly, hearing the sounds of the telly in the background. It was late enough that the child was asleep, but early enough that the Dursleys would be awake, as they were.

Sirius paused in the doorway to the sitting room, surveying the two people who were responsible for the torture and tormenting of his godson. His face curled into a snarl. "Let's get on with it. Before I lose whatever self control I have left."

"Relax, mutt." With that, Severus Transfigured his clothes back to his regular robes and swirled into the sitting room. "Good evening, Tunie."

"You!" The horselike woman jumped from her seat and glared at him. "What are you doing here? You...You were on the bad side!"

Severus smoothly raised an eyebrow. "Was I? And how might you know that?"

"L-Lily sent me a letter," she stuttered. Peering behind him, she caught sight of Sirius and Remus. "And you two as well?!"

"Yeah, when we told Severus about what was going on, he decided to join us. I didn't realize he knew you from before." Sirius looked over at the Potions Master. "Were you friends?"

"Hardly. She was a petty child, jealous of everything Lily could do. She begged Albus to get into Hogwarts," the man sneered. He pulled his wand out of his robes, twirling it between his fingers. "I can understand that, perhaps. I was certainly jealous of James Potter when I saw him together with Lily. However, I was not the one who treated my flesh and blood like this. You should be thankful I have some morals, or else you would never survive the night for treating Lily's son in such a way."

Taking a step forward, Remus pointed his wand at Vernon, who was silently shaking on the couch. His nose wrinkled as a pungent scent filled the air. "Disgusting. A grown man, like yourself, reduced to this? I would have pity, but this is my cub you hurt. You will pay."

Sirius suppressed a shiver. Had anyone asked him before this encounter who he thought would be the most violent, he would have said himself or Snape. But now...he would bet on Remus. There was a gleam in his eye that matched the look he normally only had during the full moon. He rested a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Calm down, Moony. We can't go to Azkaban now. Harry is waiting for us."

With a visible shudder, Remus yanked his emotions under control, his eyes never leaving the Dursleys' faces. "Do what you must, Severus. Sirius and I will follow."

"Of course." Severus turned his attention to the two pathetic humans in front of him, leveling his wand first at Petunia's face. "Legilimens."

It only took ten minutes for Severus to finish looking through the minds of both of the Dursleys. When his search was complete, he turned to Sirius and Remus. "It is done. Go ahead with whatever you wanted to do."

Sirius took a step forward, nodding to Remus as he did so. "You hurt Harry," the man whispered harshly. "You beat him, and neglected him, and made him feel unwanted. You can feel the same way too."

As one, Sirius and Remus stepped forward and leveled their wands at the two Dursleys. They cast the spell silently, making the two muggles collapse on the floor.

"What did you do?" Severus asked.

"A spell to transfer all Harry's experiences in this house to them. The spell pulls memories from the house itself, then molds them to fit the mind of the person it was cast on." Remus looked at
Vernon in disgust. "I felt it was appropriate and told Sirius to use it."

"I see." The Potions Master pulled a vial of silver potion from the pocket of his robe and shook it gently. "I'll get this spread around the house."

Sirius eyed the vial with interest. "What's that?"

"A potion of my own devising. It is meant to be the opposite of Felix Felicis." Severus uncapped the glass container and waved his wand. "If I spread it around the house, it should cause as much bad luck as possible to happen to these...muggles. I presume you are not against that?"

"Not at all. Are we doing anything about the boy?" Remus asked.

"No. He didn't really do anything to be punished for." Giving the house one last look, Sirius kicked Vernon's ribs. "Let's get out of here. The filth is getting to me."

As they exited the Dursley dwelling, Remus surveyed the scene they were leaving. "Wait...this feels rather anticlimactic," he remarked. The other two looked to him, and he continued, "We're leaving the house in perfect condition, and we didn't even hurt those two very badly. This just does not scream the Marauders' work."

"That may be because I am not a marauder," was Severus's answer.

Sirius twirled his wand between his fingers and laughed. "Oh, no, after this? You're at least an honorary marauder, even James would agree. I say we trash the place."

"It seems that Petunia is a rather fastidious housewife." Remus exchanged a wolfish grin with Sirius, while Severus looked on with a morbid interest. The antics of the Marauders, while annoying, humiliating, and downright bullying, were still incredible. "Shall we?"

"We shall." The two men descended on the spotless kitchen with a fervor Severus had rarely seen from them. Within minutes, the formerly clean room was destroyed. China lay shattered on the dirt-covered floor, small sparkles of glass and crystal twinkling in the wreckage. Food from the refrigerator was now rotting on the counters accompanied by dirty silverware. Many of the kitchen chairs were destroyed and the table was leaning dangerously towards the left. Sirius dusted his hands off with a satisfied sigh. "There we go. Anything you'd like to do, Snape?"

"No, I think I'm good. We should go." He looked over his shoulder towards the door. "The wards are down, now that you've completely destroyed any chance Harry will ever live here. Dumbledore will be here any minute now."

"Then let's move. Are you coming back with us, Severus?" Remus tucked his wand into his robe pocket. "You're welcome to, if you would like."

"Yes, thank you," Severus answered. "But first, let me get rid of the evidence."

The three men left the house and walked partway down the street before Disapparating into the night. Minutes after their disappearance, an old man with a long gray beard and questionable fashion sense popped into existence a few feet away. He surveyed the area thoroughly, trying to find the magical signatures of the people who had been here before, the people who had broken the wards. But it was too late. One of them must have wiped the magical traces from the area before they left. Albus would have to be careful now. Sure, it could just be a rogue Death Eater, but it could also be one of his followers who had broken free of his influence. He had gotten lazy about administering the doses of potion to the former Order, as well as other witches and wizards who could be helpful to him. It was time to rectify that mistake.

He gave the street one last look, then turned around and strode off into the darkness. The boy was certainly safe where he was, even with the broken wards. No one would come for him here. For now, Albus had much more important things to do.

Chapter Text

"Now what?" Sirius asked, raising his glass of firewhiskey. They had returned to Remus's apartment to both relieve Alice of her babysitting duties as well as celebrate destroying the Dursleys. "That takes care of Harry's family, what do we do about Dumbledore?"

Severus took an appreciative sip of his own glass of wine. "I believe we should first secure allies for ourselves, powerful ones who can stand against Albus."

"We already have the Malfoys..." The dog Animagus looked over at Remus, who was contemplating his glass. "Moony? Opinions?"

"You do have the Malfoys, but I feel that we need to get a diverse group." The werewolf began ticking names off his fingers. "They fulfill Dark, Pureblood, and rich. You'll need them to get the Dark and Pureblood families on your side, provided you are willing to compromise on some things. Albus likes getting his way and only doing things using his methods, but he's never tried to work with them."

"True..."

"I see what you're saying," Severus murmured. "What we need to find out first is what the draw was for the Purebloods to become Death Eaters. I can give you some insight, but cannot say for sure."

Sirius nodded slowly, setting his firewhiskey on the table. "Yeah. I mean, I suppose that part of it is maintaining Pureblood culture. I know that that was part of what my father liked about Voldemort: he wanted to uphold customs and cultures that we no longer perform."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked. After marrying his muggle mother, his father had turned his back on all Pureblood customs, so he hadn't grown up with the knowledge. Sirius had never discussed it, wanting to get as far from his family as possible, and James and Peter hadn't said anything to spare his feelings. "Why do you not do them anymore?"

"Some of them are considered Dark, some have been corrupted to the point that people won't do them because of the negative connotations..." He rubbed the back of his head, trying to think of an example. "Well, let's see...there's the marriage connection."

At this, Severus's head shot up. "The what?"

"The marriage connection. It's this ceremony the bride and groom go through, it's a small thing they do." Taking a sip of his drink, Sirius continued, "It involves a bit of a blood exchange between the couple, which is why it's considered Dark Magic. Magic blesses the union and the couple has a connection for life."

Remus's eyes narrowed. "And divorce?"

"That...leads to some messy situations." Sirius leaned back against the sofa and let out a sigh. "Magic doesn't always bless the union. Some couples who aren't completely sure perform the ceremony once they get engaged. That's usually more common. If the connection doesn't work, then there's no engagement and no wedding. But for a divorce...this is why divorce is uncommon in the magical world. If two people just aren't right for each other, magic won't make the connection between them. On the other hand, if over the years a couple falls out of love, the connection will weaken as well. It works the other way too; the stronger the love, the stronger the connection will be."

"You said there are others?" Severus asked quietly. This new information was more than he could handle at the moment. He had always known about Dark Magic being just that, dark, not evil, but not just how far the fears of such magic reached. "Such as...?"

Sirius shook his head, mentally dredging through his mother's examples of Dark Magic. "Ah! The Fidelius charm!" At the pair of confused faces staring at him, he continued, "The charm attaches itself to the magic of the Secret Keeper through a minute amount of blood spilled on the grounds of the area being placed under the charm. That's why the charm ends when the Secret Keeper dies."

"You didn't do that," Remus recalled.

"No, I didn't. James wouldn't do it. His parents bought into the whole 'blood magic is evil' spiel of Dumbles's and wouldn't do anything remotely related to blood magic." Sirius set his glass on the coffee table and stood up. "It's late, and we should get some sleep. Things will still be the same in the morning and we'll probably be able to think more clearly then."

Severus raised an eyebrow at his childhood tormentor. "You're suggesting that we wait for the morning?"

"Yes, why?"

"You generally are not the one to suggest such rational behavior. I would expect that from Lupin." The Potions Master pulled his cloak around his shoulders. "I would suggest, however, that you get in contact with your cousin. The Tonks family will be good to have on our side as a magically-neutral family."

"I'll send a letter to Andy tomorrow morning. I doubt she'll want to be bothered by an owl at this time of night." He turned to Remus. "Does she have kids yet?"

"How should I know? It's your family." Remus got to his feet and collected the cups. "Have a good night, then, Severus, if I don't see you later."

"Good night." Severus and Sirius headed for the door as the third man went to the kitchen. "I have classes tomorrow. However, you may owl me if there is something urgent."

Sirius nodded and pulled open the door of Remus's flat. He made a mental note to discuss their living arrangements with Severus the next evening. There was no way two men, plus a child who would hopefully go back to his boisterous self, could live in the small flat. He knew Remus and Severus had gone to Prince Manor, but hadn't heard what was the result. "'Night."

"Good night."

Chapter Text

"Good morning," Remus greeted as Sirius stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Food is ready for you."

"And that's why we're friends." He collapsed into the seat and gratefully accepted the mug of coffee the other man handed him. Taking a deep sip of the hot liquid, he looked across the table at Harry, who was happily digging into a bowl of oatmeal. "Did he actually sleep the entire night?"

"It seems like it. I didn't wake up with him." Patting Harry's head, Remus pushed a plate of bacon and eggs towards Sirius. "Don't forget about that letter to Andromeda."

"Of course not. I also want to look into neutral families." At Remus's raised eyebrow, he continued, "We have Light families. There's nothing to worry about there. Now that we have the Malfoys on our side as well, that takes care of Dark. Our problem is the Gray, or neutral, families."

Remus propped his chin on his hand, sipping his tea thoughtfully. "And what's the difference?"

"It's...complicated." Sirius took a bite of eggs before continuing, "Technically there's no difference. It's really a tradition thing. Light families refuse to do anything with blood, Dark families are considered violent, and Gray families can be anywhere in between. It has nothing to do with the kind of magic you have. It's based on what you use your magic for."

"What do you mean?" the werewolf asked, his eyes wide.

"Based on what my mother told me – and I wouldn't believe it if not for the fact that I found it in some of the Black histories – Light families are the ones who have mostly used their magic for healing and building. Dark families use their magic for fighting and destruction. Not - " He held up a hand, seeing his friend open his mouth. " - for evil. Light witches and wizards are usually found as healers or even teachers. Dark witches and wizards are the ones who become aurors or curse breakers. That's why you're more likely to find a Dark Lord than a Light one."

"Explain Dumbledore, then."

Sirius shook his head. "Unusual, but not unheard of. Think about it. Part of healing is Mindhealing, right? And one of the characteristics of a Dark or Light Lord or Lady is that he or she is convinced that what they're doing is the right thing. I'm sure Dumbledore thinks that what he was doing is right. Voldemort is evil, no question about that, so Dumbledore is doing what he thinks is necessary to combat that threat. It's not completely insane. The problem is that he's meddling in our lives and no one gave him permission."

"I see." Remus set his cup on the table, his face thoughtful. "Then who do you want to go to?"

"I don't know. I don't know any Gray families," Sirius admitted. "Or at least, I'm pretty sure I don't. I'll owl Andy - "

"Amelia!" Seeing Harry jump at his shout, Remus rubbed his head gently. "Not you. I'm not yelling at you. But Padfoot, what about Amelia?"

The other man nodded slowly. "That makes sense. I mean, I'm not sure she's Gray, but I do know that she is known to be completely impartial. If we can get her on our side..."

"Other people will follow," Remus finished. "That sounds good. What's our plan for today, then?"

"I'm going to owl Andy now, to find out if we can meet today. Then I'll send one to Amelia. We had some great times together in Hogwarts." A dreamy look passed over Sirius's face before he abruptly shook his head. "Anyway. I'll take care of that. What do you want to do with Harry?"

"I suppose I'll take him to Prince Manor. Severus does not have enough time to teach, spy on Dumbledore, and work on making the Manor liveable. I volunteered to do so." He looked down at Harry, who gazed back up at him with wide emerald eyes. "Looks like we're going to go visit Uncle Sev's house, Prongslet. We'll set up your new room, maybe. How does that sound?"

Harry gave him a toothy grin and went back to eating. Sirius shook his head. "I thought he was talking more."

"He is. But not that much more. If he can answer with a nod, he will. We need to break that habit." Remus stood up and set his cup in the sink. "He definitely has the vocabulary, though. There's nothing to worry about there. I'll work on it with him."

"Sounds good. I'll go owl Andy." Taking his plate, Sirius headed over to the office at the back of the flat. Normally it was used by Remus for research, but it had somehow become the center of their operations. The desk was stocked with parchment, quills, and ink, making it an ideal workstation. The only flaw was that there was no wax for his seal. Andy would know that it was truly him by that seal, as it was hard to fake.

"Hey, Moony?" Sirius called down the hall.

"Yes?"

"Do you have wax, by any chance?" He poked his head out the door to find Remus standing there, holding Harry in his arms. "For my seal?"

The other man raised an eyebrow. "Your seal?"

"Best way for Andy to know that it's me. It's nearly impossible to counterfeit a true seal." Sirius took Harry in his arms as Remus rummaged through the desk in search of some sort of wax. "It's the Seal of the House of Black. There's a glamor on it that makes it hard to fake and Andromeda will know that I have it and it's really me sending the letter. She never replied to my letter from a few days ago, maybe she doesn't realize that it's me."

"Good reasoning." Handing a small stick of wax over to his friend, Remus took back Harry and watched Sirius with interest. The dog animagus lit a fire with his wand and heated the wax before carefully dripping some of the hot, red liquid onto a spare piece of parchment. Pulling a thin chain over his head, Sirius murmured a spell and pressed an ornate ring into the puddle of wax. "Is that all?"

"Yes." Sirius removed the seal and set it on the side, allowing the image to be seen. The Black coat of arms, with its three ravens and sword, appeared to rise up off the parchment. It glittered slightly, as if the red wax had been infused with gold. "Now that I know I can still do that and the magic works, I'll get that letter off to Andy. When are you going to the Manor?"

Remus shrugged the shoulder that was not currently supporting Harry's head. "As soon as I get Harry dressed and ready to go. I want to have everything ready as soon as possible. This flat is going to get very tight very fast."

"True. Harry needs room to play." The boy in question lifted his head and Sirius ruffled his hair gently. "We're going to get you a new home to live in, one where you can ride a toy broom and become the Quidditch star your dad and I began training you to be. Oh, and one that's big enough for pranks."

"He is a year and a half, Padfoot, you are not corrupting him at this age!" Remus turned to Harry. "You are going to get very good grades and then you can go on to do whatever insanity your godfather gets you into. Understood?"

Harry nodded, messy hair bouncing. "'Kay."

"Good. At least someone listens to me." The werewolf turned to exit the room. "I'm going to go get Harry ready to go. Enjoy your day."

"You too." Sirius sat down at the desk to get started on the letter, letting out a quiet sigh. Time to get to work.

Chapter Text

Sirius stood in front of what seemed to be a regular London townhouse for several long seconds before taking a deep breath and raising his hand to knock on the door. To his surprise, it immediately swung open. "Er...hello?" he called in.

"You're cousin Sirius?" A bright pink head peeked around the edge of the door, making him jump. A young girl, around nine or so, grinned up at him. "I'm Nymphadora. But everyone just calls me Tonks."

"No, they don't, Dora, now stop telling people to call you that." Andromeda entered the hall, an apron wrapped around her waist. "Good morning, Sirius."

"Morning, Andy." Looking from mother to daughter, Sirius grinned. "I see you've mellowed over the years. You really let your kid dye her hair?"

The woman shook her head in exasperation. "I didn't. Dora is a metamorphomagus."

"Ah. Well, congratulations to you, then," he told the girl, who grinned again. "Can we talk?"

"Of course. That's why you came." Andromeda guided him into the living room before shooing Tonks upstairs. "Go do some of that work I assigned you. I don't want you going into Hogwarts knowing absolutely nothing."

"Yes Mum."

Sirius watched her go upstairs, an odd expression on his face. "There hasn't been a metamorph in the Black family for nearly a century."

"I know." She sighed and shook her head. "I spoke to a Healer when she was born. He felt that because of the centuries of inbreeding within the family, the metamorph ability was never able to appear. Bringing new, Muggle blood into the mix reactivated it."

"I see." Sitting down on the sofa across from her, Sirius leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "So."

"Your letter was rather light on details. What did you want to discuss with me?" Andromeda met his gaze. "You haven't spoken to me since your father removed me from the family. Why now?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I just...The explanation for all of this, why I'm here, why I'm not talking to you...it's all the same."

Her dark eyes hardened. "Go on."

"It starts with Dumbledore." Over the next half hour, he carefully explained everything he, Severus, and Remus had put together about the man. Andromeda listened just as carefully, occasionally asking questions about how they had reached certain conclusions.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Andromeda finally said.

Sirius's eyebrows jumped to his hairline. "Really?"

"Yes. As Severus said, Dumbledore favored Gryffindor the most." She crossed her arms, continuing, "I also suspected that there must be something going on when you didn't contact me after leaving home. I knew you would have and I was waiting for you to reach out to Ted and I before offering you somewhere to live. Seeing as you didn't, I felt that you either joined the family hatred of me, or there was something wrong."

"So...you mean, we might not be the only ones who know there's something up?"

"Of course not. Did you three think that you were the only ones smart enough to see what was going on?" Giving him a slight grin, one that he recognized from when they were children, she continued, "There aren't many people who realized that there was something wrong, but there are enough."

He leaned forward. "Who else?"

"I can't say. What I've said is already too much. I'll speak to some of them, discuss what you've told me. We've never had any proof of what Dumbledore has been doing." She ran her hands through her hair, brushing it out of her face. "You did do a good job, I'll give you that much. Would you like anything to drink?"

"Er...yes, thanks. Shouldn't you have asked that earlier?"

Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Yes, because you are the paragon of Pureblood manners. Go upstairs and get Dora, she's been eager to meet you."

"You told her I was coming?" Sirius asked. The news that there were more people who knew what was going on had thrown him a bit.

"She saw your letter. That child gets into everything." She tutted and stood up. "I swear, I'd think you were secretly corrupting her."

Sirius laughed and headed up the stairs.

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"Stay right there, Harry. Don't go running around." Remus set the toddler on a couch against the wall of the parlor, sending up clouds of dust. Harry sneezed loudly then looked up, an expression of surprise on his face. "That's a sneeze. You know what a sneeze is."

Leaving the child on the couch, he stood in the center of the room and carefully surveyed it. "Wilma?" he called, feeling rather foolish talking to the air.

The house elf popped into the room, a dirty rag clenched in her tiny fist. "Master Wolf called?"

"Ah." He didn't know how to react to his new name. Severus had warned him that he'd told the house elves to consider both Sirius and Remus as their masters, but he didn't realize that he would be given a new title. "Yes. How are the repairs going?"

"We has done all the bedrooms and kitchens. We gets to the parlor and ballroom next." She shook the rag in her hand meaningfully. "Does Master Wolf and Little Master wants to go look?"

"Yes, I suppose so. Only to see what the rooms look like to plan how to redecorate, not because I don't trust your cleaning," he hastened to add, seeing her face fall. "Will you show us?"

"Yes!" The house elf took off across the room, forcing Remus to scoop up Harry and practically run to catch up with her.

They paused at the top of the landing. "The left wing bes the family suites and the right wing bes the guest rooms. Wilma and Barney cleaned all rooms."

"Thank you, you didn't have to. Is there a nursery, or something similar, where we can set up Harry's room?" Remus set Harry on the light gray marble floor and held his hand.

"Master Eric did not believe in nurseries. He say to put babies in rooms." Wilma's ears drooped. "But Wilma can make a nursery!"

"No, no, that's okay." He held out his free hand in an attempt to comfort her. "I just wanted to know if there was one. I'll go check out the rooms now. You can get back to whatever you were doing."

"Thank you, Master Wolf." With a crack! the house elf disappeared.

 Remus shook his head and started down the hall to the first room. Upon opening the door, he saw that it was decorated in white and cream, leaving it ready for personalization. He presumed the rest of the rooms were the same, and after inspecting each of them, he found that his assumption was correct. "Which room do you want, Prongslet?"

Harry looked up at his adopted uncle and then at the row of doors. Stifling a chuckle, Remus watched as the toddler carefully checked each room before silently pointing to the one in the center. "Dere," he said quietly.

"That sounds good. Should we make it the same as your old room, with your Mum and Dad?" The werewolf lifted him in his arms, settling him against his hip. Harry rubbed his head against Remus's shoulder, signaling his approval. "Great. Let's get some measurements and the we can buy paint and other things to decorate. How does that sound?"

"'Kay."

"Great." Remus held back a sigh. He was really going to need to arrange for Harry to go to a Mindhealer or someone of the sort. But right now, he had a manor to decorate and make livable for three men and a toddler, unless he wanted them all squashed into his flat.

Today was going to be a fun day.

Chapter Text

Severus gracefully exited the fireplace into what used to be his grandfather's office. The first thing he'd done when the wolf told him he was cleaning the manor was to hook the Floo up to the one in his office at Hogwarts. To his surprise, the room he was now standing in was much cleaner than it had been the last time he was here. The house elves must have been working around the clock. 

He pushed open the door to reveal a pristine hallway. From downstairs he could hear a low murmuring and correctly assumed it was Black and the werewolf. Descending the marble staircase, he turned right and entered the room. 

"There you are." Black turned to him and offered a blue mug. "We have tea and coffee, whatever you want. We need to talk." 

"I take it your meeting with Andromeda was successful?" Severus asked as he sat down and poured himself tea.  

"It was...unexpected." Sirius looked over at Remus, who motioned for him to continue. "We're not the only ones suspicious of Albus." 

The Potions Master raised an eyebrow. "And?" 

"What do you mean, 'and'? You knew about this?" 

"Of course not." Letting out an impatient sigh, Severus continued, "However, I cannot say I am surprised. Did you truly think the three of us were the only ones smart enough to figure it out? We are barely four years out of Hogwarts. You and I would not have our posts if not for the war and, I suspect, Albus's involvement. Certainly people older and wiser than us would have figured this out." 

"Wait. Go back." Remus leaned forward, cupping his mug of coffee between thin, long-fingered hands. "Your posts?" 

"I as a teacher in Hogwarts, Black here as a fully-fledged Auror. I may have grown up far from magic, but when we were first years Aurors were not twenty-one years of age. They needed much more training, as well as the fact that I know you, Black, took off a year between graduation and joining the Auror Corps." He shook his head. "And for me to teach student three to four years my junior? I am not an experienced enough Potions Master to warrant such regard." 

"But why...spies." Sirius slammed his mug down on the table, making the other two men jump. "He needed spies in the Aurors. The older ones wouldn't give him enough information, they wouldn't believe in him that much. He needed James, Frank and I to do it, to give him the information he would need to move his pawns. And you..." 

Severus shook his head. "Not as a spy. Most, if not all, teachers agree with him. As I have said before, he had me as a spy for the Dark Lord. When I found out that Lily was to be killed, he insisted that I take on the teaching position. Ostensibly to protect me, although it seems more likely that it was to keep his new pet under his control." 

"Albus has a lot to answer for," Remus growled. 

"He does. For now, however, we need to decide whether or not we will join forces with Mrs. Tonks." Severus inclined his head towards Sirius. "What was her verdict?" 

"She has to discuss it with some of the others, it isn't just her decision to make. She said she'll get back to me when she has more information." Picking up his mug, Sirius leaned back against the sofa. "I suppose it's a waiting game now." 

Remus raised an eyebrow. "It's good to see that you're thinking rationally now." 

"I'm a Gryffindor, not stupid. You still need a plan." The dog Animagus took a sip of coffee. "I know when I was younger I was always good with coming up with things, thinking them through. I believe the change was because of Dumbledore and his potions." 

"That would be entirely possible. I cannot imagine a Black being that stupid, even if you constantly tried to be different from your family." Severus turned to the werewolf. "How is Potter doing?" 

"I wanted to discuss that, actually." Remus leaned forward to set his mug on the table and straightened up, facing the other two men. "We need him in some sort of day care or school. Severus, you're in Hogwarts, and Sirius, you're busy with the Wizengamot and other Black things. I'm still researching some of the Dumbledore influences. There's no one to watch over Harry during the day and I truly do not want to leave the house elves in charge of him." 

"There aren't any magical daycares or primary schools. Traditionally women don't go out to work until their children are old enough to either stay home alone or go to Hogwarts." Sirius spread his hands. "There's nothing out there." 

Severus's eyes narrowed. "You mean...children have no background knowledge when they come to Hogwarts? Nothing about spells, proper potions preparation...even math?" 

"Well..." Shifting uncomfortably, Sirius attempted to avoid Severus's hard gaze. "Whatever the mother teaches." 

"So if the mother either doesn't know, or isn't good at, a subject, the children will be lacking in that area?" 

"Yes." 

"Lovely." The Potions Master shook his head. "This would explain why my younger years know nothing about Potions and basic math, and my older years having abysmal skills in those areas." 

Remus ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "This is ridiculous." 

"I will not have that child go to Hogwarts as ignorant as all other children. If need be, I will personally teach him what he needs to know." Seeing the other two men staring at him, he cocked a single eyebrow. "Yes?" 

"You...you're offering to teach him?" Sirius stuttered. 

"Yes. From what I have witnessed, he is not a dumb child and I will not have him grow up as one." He took a sip of tea before continuing, "However, that does not solve our current problem of taking care of him during the day." 

"I suppose that I can still take care of him for now, until we come up with a better solution," Remus replied. "Maybe Alice or Frank will have an idea. Or maybe even Narcissa." 

"Cissy is very traditional. I doubt you'll be able to get her to give up Draco." Sirius spread his hands. "But you're welcome to attempt to talk to her." 

"Then I suppose that is a plan." Shifting in his seat, Severus cast his gaze upwards. "Is Potter asleep?" 

Remus smiled softly. "Yes, he spent the entire day running around watching the elves fix up the Manor. He tired himself out." 

"I'm going to go upstairs and check on him," Sirius announced, getting to his feet. 

"Don’t wake him up." 

"I won't." 

Taking the stairs two at a time, Sirius went up to the room he and Remus had chosen for his godson. He pushed open the door as quietly as possible and crept inside. Harry lay in the middle of the crib, his thumb in his mouth and his free hand wrapped around a stuffed wolf. Leaning over, Sirius gently ran his fingers through the thick black hair, making the child sigh with contentment.  

Straightening, he looked around the room to see what Remus had decided to do in terms of decoration. Each of the walls was painted a lighter shade of each of the house colors and the furniture was a light, honeyed wood. Covering the windows were curtains with the contrasting color of the house – silver on the windows of the green wall and pale gold on the windows of the red wall. The sea green toy chest in the corner was propped open by the many toys the two men had purchased during their first day with Harry. It was a plain, simple room, but Sirius figured Harry could remodel when he was a bit older. For now, it would do.  

He turned back to his godson to once more ensure he was okay. "We're going to make the world a better place for you, Prongslet," he promised quietly, cupping the back of the toddler's head. "For you, and Neville, and everyone else." 

Chapter Text

“One and a half feet of parchment on the properties of bubotuber pus in potions for next week. Dismissed,” Severus announced to his third year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. As the children scurried to clean up and escape the dungeons, he sank into his seat. After Black had informed him of the lack of pre-Hogwarts education, he had begun rethinking his teaching style. No wonder the students were so abysmal at Potions; they had no foundation. He had always assumed the dunderheads at least knew the difference between chop and slice, but now…He would have to revise his lessons. 

Waving his wand lazily, Severus set his classroom to rights and headed back to his office. Black’s words had resonated with him. As he had seen time and time again here in Hogwarts, if you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself. The first step to rectifying the level of ignorance in his students was to pause what he had planned to do and begin a series of classes on basic Potions skills. Part of him wished to ignore the issue and merely continue his lessons, but he knew, in the long run, this was the best thing to do. His OWL and NEWT students were more likely to do well if they knew why they were doing what they were doing, and his younger students would not show their ignorance in later years.  

For the future, however…he wanted to set up a school. Severus had never viewed himself as a teacher, not in all his years at Hogwarts. But after a year and a half of teaching, he realized that it was something he enjoyed, for some unknown reason. He most certainly did not enjoy teaching all of his students; most of the Gryffindor students were terribly disrespectful and refused to put in any effort. For the students who did put in effort, though, he found that he took pleasure in their success. The Slytherins who approached him for help always found that he would assist them with an amount of patience not seen in class. It was a position he had not expected, but did not find unpleasant. What he disliked about his job was the location: Hogwarts. 

After the conclusions drawn by himself, the mutt, and the wolf, he no longer desired to work at Hogwarts. Albus had manipulated him into accepting the position as teacher once Slughorn had retired, which was a good part of why he gained the reputation of being an “evil git”, as many of his students said behind his back. That first year as a teacher he had been resentful to Dumbledore and he had taken that resentment out on his students. Perhaps that had been extreme, but in his defense, he had been merely a couple of years older than his students!  

But a school…Severus would be the one in charge of the school. He could set it up however he desired, combining muggle and magical subjects. The skills he found the students lacked, such as essay writing, research, and simple maths, would be taught. It was a heady concept, and one that needed much thought and planning.  

For now, he would keep a pre-Hogwarts school in the back of his mind. It would not do to risk Albus realizing that three of his pawns were pawns no longer. Changing his curriculum to teach his students was already risky, but he could rationalize that. Leaving to establish a school would certainly tip the headmaster off. 

Severus dropped into the chair behind his desk and pulled a stack of essays from his sixth years. Right now, he had to keep up his façade and be the evil bat of the dungeons.  

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Sirius rubbed his eyes, trying to push away the swirling numbers taking over his mind. His Gringotts account manager had sent him a folder full of information for the various Black family vaults. They were in a rather sorry state. For some reason, he had authorized Dumbledore to remove hundreds of Galleons a month as a donation to Hogwarts. There was also a note allowing the old man to take whatever money he needed from the vaults for the Order of the Phoenix. He remembered doing it, the memories were clear, but…it brought home the fact that Dumbledore was controlling him. Even if the old fart had been as upstanding and honest as he pretended he was, there was no way Sirius would have allowed him free reign over his accounts.  

He stood up and went to the window, pressing his aching head against the cool glass. He, Remus, and Sniv-Severus had a lot of work ahead of them. Dumbledore had the hearts and minds of most of the Wizarding World. It would be nigh impossible for three twenty-one year olds to topple him. Thankfully Andromeda had people who knew what was going on. There was some hope there. But it would be a long, hard, uphill battle.  

Right now he had other things to worry about. Someone needed to take care of Harry. Today Sirius was in charge of Harry-sitting, since Remus was talking to Narcissa about a school. He had to admit it was a good idea. Being taught by his mother had been traumatizing enough, but what Severus had pointed out what painfully true. If the mother didn’t know a subject, the child would know nothing about it as well. He hated to think about the children of some of his…girlfriends…from Hogwarts. Most of those girls were complete and total bimbos, which meant that their children were doomed to be the same way.  

Sirius had owled Narcissa immediately following the discussion the night before. To his surprise, she answered immediately, expressing an interest in meeting with Remus the next day, today. He’d always thought she was one of the smarter people he knew. Why would she want to look into a school? Not that he was complaining at her painless acquiescence, but he had to admit that he was certainly curious.  

He would just have to wait until Remus returned to get all the details. 

Chapter Text

Remus looked around the parlor of Malfoy Manor with trepidation. He’d never been allowed to step foot into the Manor, let alone go to the inner sanctum, the family rooms. But now here he was, by invitation of the lady of the house no less. He couldn’t mess up, not now. Not when there was so much at stake.

“Tea, Mr. Lupin?” Narcissa asked, beckoning for a house elf to come.

“Yes, thank you, Lady Malfoy. Please, call me Remus.” He shifted on the couch, worried that he would spoil the delicate fabric.

“In that case, I must insist that you call me Narcissa.” She clasped her hands in her lap before continuing, “I believe your letter mentioned discussing a school?”

Remus nodded once. “Sirius, Severus, and I were discussing the education of young children in the magical world and discovered that there is no education. Severus did not know this.”

“I suppose that that would be why he is so hard on his students about preparation. How is he to know they know nothing?” A house elf appeared with a tray of tea, and Narcissa began serving herself and her guest. “I did not know he was unaware of the state of education or else I would have said something to him. I presume you want to set up a school?”

“I do. Severus seemed quite interested as well,” Remus replied, accepting the delicate china mug from Narcissa. “I have to admit, I’m rather busy now. I also would have no idea where to start with finding children to go to the school, or teachers to teach there.”

“I see.” Summoning a quill, ink, and sheaf of parchment, Narcissa set her tea on the low table in front of her and began writing gracefully. “Here are some teachers I can suggest, although I do believe that Severus would be the best for Potions. He would make an excellent Headmaster as well.”

“You don’t think Severus is too…” It took Remus a moment to find an inoffensive word to describe what he was worried about. “Harsh?”

“I think he has been dealt an awful hand in life and if given the chance, he will be much softer. Moving on.” The blonde tapped her chin with the feathery end of the quill. “I believe Lucius may have some properties you can use to house the school. I will discuss it with him this evening. In terms of students, I will send letters to some of Draco’s friends’ parents. I know that a number of them have expressed the desire to have their children learn more.”

Remus’s jaw dropped in surprise. “You think they would be willing to do this?”

“Of course! Some parents recognize their own insufficiencies and would like for someone to help teach their children. If done properly, this idea will be greeted with open arms by the Pureblood community.” Handing Remus the top sheet, Narcissa began writing quickly on another. “Here is a list of subjects I believe would be the most desired by parents. I’ve written my suggestions for teachers beside each one.”

“You’re doing much more than I had ever imagined. I assumed I would have to beg you for assistance, but this…” The werewolf shook his head. “This is incredible.”

Narcissa fixed him with a stern look, one that reminded him that while she was now a Malfoy, Black blood still ran in her veins. “This is the education of our children, the next generation. I will do everything in my power to help with that. Anyone would do the same.”

“Not for a werewolf,” he said quietly.

“Perhaps. But I know my cousin, and he would never allow danger to come to his godson, not if he were in his right mind. I also know what you have been doing to fix the situation Albus Dumbledore has put you all in.” Seeing the surprise on his face, she shrugged, an odd gesture from so formal a woman. “I found out from Sirius and Andromeda. If the information were shared amongst the Pureblood families, I believe they will consent to you having a hand in the school.”

“I suppose sharing some information would be alright. Not the specifics, but maybe just enough to show that we’re trying?” Remus sighed. “I don’t know if this is the right thing to do. Maybe we should be focusing on Dumbledore and leave this for later?”

“No. You must set the foundation now, before people think fighting Dumbledore is the only thing you want to accomplish.” Narcissa lifted her cup of tea and took a delicate sip. “I wish to help in any way I can. Draco’s education is important to me.”

“Thank you.” Setting down his cup of tea, Remus scanned the parchment in his hand. “Ah...some of these people are leaders in their respective fields. How will we afford to pay them? I don’t want to exclude some families just because they cannot afford the exorbitant tuition we’d need to charge.”

“You would be surprised at how much people value education. I’m sure many of these people will be willing to decrease their salary to educate the next generation.” At the doubtful look on the werewolf’s face, she continued, “I suppose it is because you are a werewolf that you are unaware of this, but the youth of the magical community are cherished. It can be hard for Purebloods to have children, and once we finally have them, we want to raise them as well as we possibly can. Our children are precious to us. Even experts are willing to sacrifice for their sake.”

Remus shook his head slowly. This meeting was nothing like he had imagined. He’d assumed that he would need to beg Narcissa for her help, and perhaps she would give him a few names of people she thought could assist him. This...she was practically taking charge of the whole thing! Not that he was complaining. Narcissa knew everyone and if anyone could open a successful school, it would be her. “Thank you. I cannot tell you how much this means to me.”

“You think this meeting is over?” Narcissa raised a single eyebrow. “We are going to plan out as much of this school as we possibly can. Severus has a free period in five minutes and I have already owled him to come meet us. At the very least, I want a basic framework for this school by the end of today. Right now, this is the most important item on my list of things to accomplish.”

“I see that,” he replied, mind still racing. “So Severus - “

“Is already here,” a dour voice finished from the doorway. Severus entered the room and sat down across from Remus. “Good afternoon, wolf.”

“Severus.”

Narcissa sighed. “Boys. Behave. At least try to get along. Now, to start…”

HPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Sirius lifted his attention from the paperwork he was reading through when the Floo flashed green. “Moony?”

“Yes.” The werewolf carefully exited the fireplace and brushed off his robes, not noticing Sirius’s eager expression.

“So? What happened?”

“The meeting went well. Narcissa had Severus come in and we came up with a basic idea for the school.” Remus handed him the sheaf of parchment Narcissa had copied. “There you go. It seems that Severus will be the headmaster of this school. Are you...alright with that?”

“Sure, we’re staying in his house, and he’s pretty much the only one who’s qualified to teach. Why should I be upset?” He began flipping through the parchment, pausing as he saw the names. “Huh. Cissy has good taste in teachers.”

“You’re not worried about their salary?”

“Of course not. They’ll do it for less than you would expect, seeing as it’s for children.” Tearing his gaze from the paper he was scanning, he caught sight of the disbelief on Remus’s face. “Didn’t Narcissa explain this to you? People will do anything for kids.”

Remus sighed and shook his head. “She told me, but I figured that was just what she wanted me to think. I didn’t realize that it was true.”

“Yeah, people are crazy about kids. Makes what my dear mother did all the more awful.” Sirius’s gray eyes took on a haunted look, making Remus wince. “It also means that if anyone discovers what Dumbledore caused to happen to Harry, they’ll go ballistic. Children are important to everyone.”

“I’m still surprised about that as well.” Suddenly, a thought struck Remus. “Where’s Harry?”

“Napping. He went down awhile ago, should be up soon.” An entry in the list of possible locations for the school made Sirius freeze. “Malfoy Estates? Lucius is going along with this?”

“Why are you so surprised by that? He agreed to work with us before, and you yourself just said that everyone does anything for children.” Remus took the stack of parchment and began flipping through it quickly, searching for something. “I thought Narcissa said she put some photographs in here. I suppose not.”

Sirius shook his head. “Narcissa I expected. Lucius is a different story. This is more than simply overthrowing You-Know-Who to keep his family safe. This is getting involved and helping everyone. He has to realize that if we’re doing this for Harry, we’re going to open it to everyone, not just Purebloods.”

“I don’t think Narcissa cares, and I feel as though Lucius is controlled by her quite often. I’m not even sure if he realizes that,” Remus replied slowly. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, I think we should take whatever we can get. Severus is quite enthusiastic about it himself, which can only help us.”

“True. I suppose I’ll owl Lucius tonight, then, and try to set up a meeting for tomorrow to begin discussing the monetary aspects of the school. I want it set up as soon as possible.” The dog Animagus ran a hand through his thick hair and shook his head. “I don’t know if it’s smart to pull Severus from Hogwarts just yet, though. Dumbledore may realize that something is up.”

“Severus said he’d stay for now and work on the school from the background. He brought up the same point.” Setting the paper on the table, Remus sighed. “I believe this is going to take a lot more work than we thought it would at first.”

“Nothing worth doing is ever easy,” Sirius quipped. “I’m going to jot down a quick note to Lucius and head to bed. I want to spend tomorrow working on the school.”

Remus nodded. “That sounds like a plan.”

Chapter Text

Sirius hesitantly knocked on the door to Lucius Malfoy's study. At the call to enter, he pushed open the door and took a tentative step into the room. "I'm not going to hex you, Black," came Lucius's irritable voice from within the study. "Narcissa would never forgive me." 

"So it has nothing to do with not wanting to hurt me?" Sirius took a seat in front of the desk and set the folder Remus had brought home the night before in front of him. "Anyway. We're here to discuss a school?" 

"Yes, my wife mentioned it." Lucius drew his own folder with the same contents out of a desk drawer. "I studied the proposals that the werewolf - " 

"Don't call him that." 

Lucius smoothly raised a single blonde eyebrow. "Pardon?" 

"The 'werewolf', as you call him, is my sole surviving friend and loyal to a fault. He's just as human as you and I, if not more." Sirius gave the blond an angry glare. "He has a name. Use it." 

"Of course." Inclining his head slightly, Lucius began to flip through the papers on his desk. "You are correct." 

Sirius had to make a conscious effort to keep his mouth closed. Once he'd recovered from the shock, he sputtered out, "Y-you agree with me?" 

The other man looked up from the list he was reading. "Certainly. Remus Lupin has done no harm to me, nor to anyone else. I was wrong to not treat him with the respect I would anyone else. May we get on with things?" 

"Er, yeah. Sure." He shook his head once to clear it, much like a waterlogged dog, and looked down at the papers before him. "So, first order of business: location." 

"I believe we should first determine who our target audience is," Lucius suggested. "Once we know who we are catering to, it will be easier to determine what facilities we require." 

"All right." Sirius selected a different page and set it on top of his pile. "I figured we'd go until the year before Hogwarts, right? No one would send their children to us after that." 

"True. However, I believe that is something to keep in mind for the future. I know that there are several Pureblood families that would prefer to keep their children closer to home," Lucius replied. "Narcissa and I amongst them." 

The dog animagus raised an eyebrow. "Why? If you don't mind my asking. I know my parents insisted I go, and so did James Potter's." For once, he was interested in the Pureblood politics Lucius was talking about. He'd always believed that Purebloods wanted their children in Hogwarts. The idea of the Hogwarts Houses always seemed to be important to the families. His mother had had a fit and nearly disowned him when he'd been put in Gryffindor. 

Lucius raised an eyebrow right back at him. "What parent in their right mind would want to send their eleven-year-old child to a boarding school where there is no discipline? I hesitate to bring up the past, as Narcissa has informed me that it was not entirely your fault, but you and James Potter were allowed to bully Severus for six years with little to no punishment. It was only the interference of Lily Evans that stopped your pranks. I would never wish to send Draco into such an environment, where he will be bullied because he is Slytherin." 

"Already know he's going to be a snake, do you?" Sirius quipped, without his usual sneer that came out when talking about the Slytherins. "I apologized to Severus. There must have been some negative emotion I felt towards him, because Remus told me that the potion acts on emotions. But I would never have done that. I...I hated how my mother treated me. I would never have bullied another student like that." 

"Good. Because Severus is like a brother to me, and I will not have you making him miserable," Lucius answered. His silver gaze promised that he would do all he could to prevent Sirius from bullying the other man again. "But back to the matter at hand: I doubt that the parents of Muggleborns or half-bloods are thrilled with the need to send children so far from home at so young an age, especially to a school that caters to magic. For the Pureblood parents, I know that many would prefer to have the ability to teach their children Pureblood culture as well as any family magics." 

"You don't really believe in the whole 'family magic' idea, do you?" Sirius wrinkled his nose slightly before he realized what he was doing and stopped. His mother had told him about family magic when he was younger, before he'd begun to rebel against the family and all it stood for. Once he'd been sorted into Gryffindor, she refused to teach him anything at all. His father had been unable to do anything to change his mother's mind, and agreed with her, to some extent. Much of the Black magic was considered Dark, and since Gryffindor was primarily made up of Light witches and wizards, Orion Black had chosen not to risk the family magic being made public or worse, illegal. Privately, Sirius doubted that family magic was anything more than a myth and possibly extra training. As a teenager, he hadn't cared that he wasn't taught the magic that, in his opinion, didn't exist.  

"You do not?" The blond shook his head and pulled open a drawer. From within, he drew out a light gray book embossed with the Malfoy crest, resplendent with its twin dragons on either side of the letter 'M'. "This is the Malfoy book of family magic. The Malfoys have always been known for their alchemy, much like the Princes have been known for their gifted Potions Masters." 

Sirius's gaze sharpened. "Severus." 

"Indeed." Lucius looked at the book for a minute more before replacing it in the drawer. "The Blacks are the fighters. You mentioned earlier that Mr. Lupin said that the spell acted on emotions you must have already felt. Your career as an Auror may have stemmed from your inner family magic." 

"Huh. That makes...quite a bit of sense."  

"I would not say something if it did not make sense. However, we are moving from what we came here to discuss." Taking up a quill, he tapped the sharp end against the parchment. "What is the minimum age we are going to take into this school?" 

"Er...I have no idea." Sirius spread his hands. "How young should we go? Muggle schools start around three or four years of age." 

Lucius made a note on his parchment. "Four is more likely to be supported by Pureblood families. It allows them to begin teaching their children the values they hold most important, and the children will be old enough to know how to behave in public. It is also soon enough in the children's lives that they will be open to new knowledge." 

"That sounds right. We can go with that." Sirius hastily scribbled on his own parchment. He knew Remus would want to know everything about the meeting when he got back. "So, from ages four to around ten, eleven?" 

"Yes." 

Sirius absentmindedly rubbed his cheek with the feathery end of the quill. "I think we should set the cutoff the same as Hogwarts: students have to be four by September 1st, when we start the school year." 

"I agree, but why do you wish to do so?" Lucius asked curiously. 

"Simple. As of now, we're planning to have the school filter directly into Hogwarts, Durmstrang, or any other magical boarding school. They all have the same cutoff. Part of the point, to my mind, is for the students to meet new people. If they make friends, shouldn't we try to keep them together?" He dipped the quill into the blue ink at his elbow and added that point to his parchment. "At least, that makes sense to me. Otherwise we'll wind up splitting them up later on. It – why are you looking at me like that?" 

The expression of surprise on Lucius's face was what had made Sirius pause. The Pureblood's ice mask rarely dropped even a fraction of an inch, but now it was completely shattered. "You...are much more astute than I thought. I had not thought of that aspect of the education. The children could be making lifelong friends and allies at this school." 

"I was thinking more along the lines of friends than allies, but anyway." Sirius gave himself a mental shake before continuing, "Now that we have an age range, let's discuss location. This is what Remus and Narcissa had in mind." 

Lucius accepted the photograph from the Gryffindor. "The Malfoy Ranch house? Why would they choose that one?" 

"Remus said that it's easy to navigate and there's a lot of land for the children to play on. There's room for several small Quidditch pitches, the perfect size for children, as well as a playground for the children who are too young for Quidditch or don't want to play," Sirius explained. 

"I agree on all points. I see why it would be easy to navigate. With everything on one floor, there is less of a chance for younger children to get lost by accident," Lucius said absently, now looking at the corresponding parchment with more data on the property. "However, I'd like to make some modifications to the property before we open it as a school." 

"Meaning? And since when is it 'we'?" 

Lucius lifted his silver gaze from the parchment and met Sirius's eyes. "I'd like to put in a covered walkway, so that the children can go from room to room without getting soaked if it is raining, since I presume that we will need to take out the doors leading from room to room. As for why 'we', well, I am your financial backer. I expect some input in the school." 

"Oh." He took a minute to think it over before deciding that there was some truth to the blond's words. "Fine. But there is to be nothing overly Dark in the school. I won't turn it into a Pureblood-only snobbery school. Half-bloods will be allowed in the school, as well as Muggleborns." 

"Do you not listen to what others tell you? The Wizarding community needs Dark magic just as much as it does Light and Gray magics," Lucius answered. Sirius could hear a slight undercurrent of anger to his words. "We need everything to survive. Yes, I will fight for Dark magic in the curriculum." 

Sirius raised both hands, realizing that there had been a mistake. "I apologize. I'm used to using Dark and evil interchangeably. What I meant was that we will not be teaching magic that you may have done under Voldemort's reign of terror. The children will learn all of the old rituals, such as the magic connection by a wedding or the true version of the Fidelius Charm." 

Lucius jumped up from his seat, slamming both palms on the desk. Sirius had never seen him this angry. "Of course we will not teach the children such magic! What the Dark Lord did was sick. I never want Draco to know any of the spells I have done other than as a list of forbidden spells. That will not be taught in the school under any circumstances. I would never allow it, much less suggest it." 

"Of course not. I'm sorry I brought it up," Sirius said in an attempt to get the other man to calm down. "What else do you want a say in?" 

His attempt worked, and Lucius deflated, sitting back down in his chair. "The teachers. Narcissa told me that she gave Mr. Lupin a list of people she feels would be a good fit. However, I know that you will not be able to convince all of them to sign up to teach, and you will need to find other teachers. I would like some input as to who you hire to teach each subject." 

"Sure. I..." Sirius tried to find the words for what he wanted to say. "I hope you don’t mind if I put it like this, but I would like your input simply to ensure that none of our teachers are former Death Eaters. I know, you were forced into it, and I'm sure there are others who were as well. But I want you to tell Severus and Remus when that's the case, or when the person we're looking into was a strong supporter of Voldemort." 

"I do not mind. That is precisely where I would like to help." Lucius made a note on his parchment before continuing, "Now. Subjects." 

Sirius pulled out a piece of parchment. "This is what Narcissa and Remus came up with during their meeting yesterday." 

"I see." Locating his own copy of the list, Lucius scanned it carefully. "This will not work." 

"What do you mean?" 

Lucius began making marks beside each subject as he said the name. "Healing, Astronomy, Divination, Alchemy, Ancient Runes, and a number of others on here are either not feasible in a school for children or will not have enough students interested to warrant its own class. I understand that this is nowhere near a final decision, but I must admit that I do not know what my wife or your friend was thinking." 

"I think they were using the Hogwarts curriculum as a guide. We're not doing an Astronomy class; that won't work at all. I don't think there is a single parent who would be willing to bring their child to school after dark once a week for a few years," Sirius agreed. "And yes, I can't see having too much of an interest in Healing or Alchemy. These kids are pretty young. But I do think it would be a good idea to expose them to these concepts while they're young. Hogwarts has very little guidance for what to do after school. At least, for the Gryffindors. We just met with Professor McGonagall in fifth year." 

"Professor Slughorn spoke to several students at length, but most were given a cursory meeting." Lucius thought for a moment before continuing, "We can set aside one class a week for the oldest year for these classes. Depending on the subject, we can either give a single lecture that gives a brief introduction to the topic, or a series of lectures. For example, I do not think we will be able to give many lectures on Healing. The students are too young to perform the spells on humans. An introduction to the area will suffice. On the other hand, Alchemy could be a subject more students are interested in, and we can give them a few weeks of lectures as well as a few weeks of practical work." 

Sirius felt a grin spread across his face. "I like that. I like that a lot. I wish we had had that when we were in Hogwarts. It would have given more students a look at the different fields they could make a career in. For the Purebloods, and maybe some of the half-bloods, it wouldn't have made as much of a difference, but the Muggleborns don't know enough about the Wizarding World." 

"We will first need to determine how to find Muggleborn students." Dipping his quill into the inkpot on his desk, Lucius wrote a note to that effect on his parchment. "As it stands, when a Muggleborn child does his or her first piece of accidental magic, the registry of magical children that is held by the International Confederation of Wizards is updated with the name, birthdate, and location of the child. Each of the schools has its own smaller version of this that is updated based on specific criteria. For example, the Hogwarts book adds a name when the child is located in Western Europe, or if either of the child's parents attended Hogwarts in the past." 

"That makes sense. Do you know of any way we can get access to the book?" Sirius asked. "Or maybe we can create our own book to update from the ICW's." 

Lucius nodded. "I can find out. There should not be a problem with that. I know several wizards who are part of the ICW, and I am sure they will think this idea just as wise as I do. However, we may have a problem with Muggleborn students." 

"Why?" 

"They may not be up to par with our Wizarding students." Holding up a hand to forestall any premature protests, Lucius continued, "We will know about the Pureblood and half-blood students from a very young age. Their parents will know about the school and can enroll them easily. However, the Muggleborn students will only be offered admission to the school once they have shown signs of magic." 

Sirius nodded, not seeing where he was going with this. "Yes..." 

Lucius made an impatient noise. "Really, Black, can you not see the problem? All the Wizarding students will begin their schooling at age four. Muggleborn students will begin their schooling either at age four, or whenever their magic shows itself." 

"Ah." Now he saw what the problem was. "If a child's magic doesn't show until they're six or seven..." 

"They will be several years behind the other students academically," Lucius finished. "We need a plan for what to do in such a case." 

"I think that'll depend on how old the students are." Sirius tapped his chin with his quill. "For younger students, we can arrange for tutors either during class time or after school. For older students, we can look into peer to peer mentoring; another student, one who has been part of the school for a long period of time, can help the new student get used to the school. Maybe a half-blood, who will at least have some idea of the Muggleborn's background." 

"That is a good point." The other man quickly added it to his growing list of notes. "I believe that this is a good enough list for me to get started with. I will have one of my men put together plans for my modifications to the existing building and send it over to you." 

"I'll check with Severus on what we discussed, see if he has any other suggestions." Sirius got to his feet as Lucius did the same across the desk. "This was...better than I thought it would be." 

"Yes." The blond reached over and shook his hand. "This was a more productive meeting than I had expected." 

"I guess we'll meet again when there is more to discuss?" 

Lucius paused for a moment. "I believe we should make this a regular occurrence. Shall we meet every Monday, time to be determined?" 

"That sounds good." Gathering his belongings, Sirius headed towards the door. "See you next Monday, then." 

"Good afternoon," Lucius replied, going back to his desk. He had quite a bit of work to do now. 

Chapter Text

Remus raised his gaze from the parchment Sirius had handed him upon exiting the Floo. "This looks good," he said slowly. "The ideas are solid. But we're going to make sure there are Muggle subjects as well, right?"

"I figured Severus would be the best person to talk to about that. He should know what subjects we'd need." Sirius folded himself onto the couch and looked around the room. "Where'd Harry go? Is he already asleep?"

"Yes. I want to try to keep him on a schedule, if possible." Remus lay the parchment on his knees and smoothed it out. "But back to this. I believe we're going to need to teach the children at least basic mathematics and science. Even potions use some form of chemistry, and it's definitely important for children to know about biology. Not everything is able to be healed by magic."

Nodding, Sirius leaned forward to pour himself a glass of the light wine on the low table. "We discussed it. We also discussed the Muggleborn children."

"Oh?"

"We needed to have some way to keep track of them and bring them into the school." He shook his head. "I just don't know…there's so much to think about, between the school and Dumbledore. What we didn't talk about is the safety of the students. If we open the school soon, he may find out about what's going on, that we know his plan."

Remus nodded, taking a sip of his own wine. "You won't start the school at least until September, and I doubt you'll have everything available to open then. Start with how the school will be run and how it will be structured, then worry about the extras, alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Moony."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHP

Severus gracefully exited the Floo into the flat and promptly tripped over a toy car lying in front of the fireplace. Holding back a curse, he swiftly regained his balance and spelled the soot from his cloak. Perhaps he no longer hated the mutt and werewolf, but that did not mean he should look sloppy. He still had a reputation to uphold, after all.

He strode through the flat, his steps unhesitant and purposeful. It seemed that no one was awake, giving the normally warm house a creepy aura to it. A soft footstep behind him made him whirl around, pulling his wand from his sleeve.

"It's just me," Sirius whispered quickly, conjuring a ball of light and holding it up to his face. "Remus went to bed already. It's getting close to the full moon, he's starting to feel the effects of the moon."

"Of course." Severus lowered his wand slowly, giving the other man a distrustful look. Despite their making up, the two of them had never been alone together.

"Er…tea!" Seeing Severus's raised eyebrow, Sirius turned red. "Ah…shall I make up a pot of tea? Remus bought some chamomile tea, I can brew a pot."

Severus inclined his head. "Thank you."

"Not a problem." The two men walked to the kitchen and Sirius pulled out a kettle. "So…how were your classes?"

"As well as can be hoped. Albus insists that I favor my Slytherins and take points unnecessarily from the Gryffindors." Shaking his head, Severus sat down at the table. "I do wish he would realize that it is because the Gryffindors genuinely do not know what they're doing."

Sirius turned to look over his shoulder. "Oi! Don't say Gryffindors are stupid. Moony's pretty smart."

"It's not that they are dumb; it's that they were never taught." He rested his hands on the table, gazing at the burn marks and scars across their backs. "Horace Slughorn only taught the students he liked. He did a decent job teaching, but once he put the directions for the potion on the board, he paid no attention to any students who couldn't help him in the future."

"Everyone says that he has a knack for favoring students who go on to become masters in their field," Sirius commented, sitting down at the table and pouring them each a mug of tea.

The other man snorted. "Have you ever thought that the reason they continue on to do great things is because he singled them out? He gives his favored students extra attention, helping them out with connections and jobs. Of course they're going to go on to do great things, they've been given the tools to do so."

"Huh. That makes sense."

"I do try to only say things that make sense," Severus drawled.

"See, that's why we used to tease you! At the beginning, at least." At Severus's raised eyebrow, the dog Animagus continued, "You showed up at Hogwarts, eleven years old, all sarcastic and cynical. When James and I started off making fun of you, it was because you intimidated us."

The Potions master tilted his head. "I…never thought of it that way. I grew up with sarcasm, I did not realize that other children didn't get it. Lily always did."

"Lily was always the smartest of us all. Smarter than Remus, even." Sirius propped his chin on his hands. "You were sweet on her, weren't you? We always knew that. It was part of why James was terrible to you. He always knew that it was you versus him for Lily's affection."

"You two knew?"

Sirius straightened up, spreading his hands. "Of course we knew! Anyone with eyes knew you liked her, and she liked you. Honestly, if you hadn't called her Mudblood and gotten so involved in the Dark Arts, I think she would have chosen you instead. Lily never seemed to be James's biggest fan."

"W-what?" Severus felt his mouth drop open as he stared at the other man. He'd never known that Lily had feelings for him just as he had feelings for her. Throughout their years at Hogwarts, he had always assumed his friend would go for a boy with the money and political power of James Potter. Even if Lily had never cared about such things before they began school, things could change, especially when everyone thought the Slytherins were evil. "You truly think so?"

"I do try to only say things that are true," Sirius quipped.

"I just…" He shook his head. "I cannot believe that Lily…"

Reaching over, Sirius rested a hand on the other man's arm, making him look up. "Yeah. I wish we could go back and change everything. Sure, that would probably mean my best mate wouldn't have married his wonderful wife – we all loved Lily, you know – but I wish what we did while we were in school had never happened."

"You regret it?" Severus asked quietly, not daring to believe his ears. "You regret what you and the other Marauders did to me?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know it was mostly orchestrated by Dumbledore, but it still had to feed on our own emotions. James and I were very much spoiled Pureblood brats, and Remus and Peter were too scared to fight us on it." The Animagus sighed and gazed off at a point over Severus's shoulder. "I wonder what our lives would have been like if not for Albus Dumbledore's meddling. He has a lot to answer for."

"He does. That brings us back to our main topic: Dumbledore." Severus paused to take a sip of the hot tea in front of him. "We must do something about him. I dislike having to bully three-quarters of my students, and I also dislike that he believes he has the right to stick his nose in everyone's business."

"I agree. I'm waiting for a response from Andromeda Tonks, my cousin, before we do more on that front. Like I told you after I met with her, she needs to talk to other people before giving us more information." Blowing on his own mug of tea, Sirius continued, "Remus, Narcissa, Lucius, and I also discussed different aspects of the school. I think that for now, we're stuck with the waiting game, as Lily used to say."

A grin pulled at the corner of Severus's lips. "I remember that she enjoyed that phrase. Lily always enjoyed her Muggle-isms, as the pair of us used to call it."

"We did too!" Sirius exclaimed. "Once she and Prongs got together – "

"Prongs?"

He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "We – that is, James, Peter, and I – were all Animagi. We figured it out in order to keep Remus company during the full moon. My nickname is Padfoot and I'm a dog Animagus, James was a stag and nicknamed Prongs, and Peter was a rat nicknamed Wormtail."

"I did wonder how James could save me in fifth year," Severus mused.

"I'm – sorry." Sirius hung his head, avoiding the other man's gaze. "I should never have done that. It endangered your life and Remus's, and I had no right. I don't know what I was thinking, I – "

"You were not thinking anything." Coming to the other side of the table, Severus sat down in a chair beside Sirius and took the man's hands in his own. "You were very much under the influence of the potions from Dumbledore, and I suspect you had numerous spells placed on you as well. The build-up of potions in your system was entirely too much for only an occasional dose over the course of your years at Hogwarts. Based on what I saw, you must have had a very, very heavy dose given to you as often as daily, or at the very least, every other day. You were not in control of your actions and I forgive you entirely."

Sirius raised his head. "Are you certain of that?"

"Of course. In order to get my Potions Mastery, I had to learn to determine when a potion was mixed with another substance. One such substance was blood." Severus reached over to his former seat and pulled his mug of tea towards him. "I found myself interested in medical potions and took the extra time to learn some Mediwizard skills. That is why I knew how to analyze your blood for the Potions Dumbledore used on you."

"I should have done something after Hogwarts rather than just work as an Auror." He shook his head. "Assuming I have enough time between overthrowing Dumbledore, creating our own school, and taking up my Black Lord responsibilities, I would like to train in using my family magic, battle magic."

"That is a smart idea." Covering his mouth, Severus attempted to stifle a yawn. "I believe it is time for me to retire."

"Remus always says that this tea makes him fall asleep quickly." Sirius hesitated before continuing, "You can stay, if you'd like. You can have my bed, I'll take the couch."

"I will take the couch. I do not trust myself to Apparate to my home when I am this exhausted." Severus followed Sirius to the next room and took out his wand to Transfigure Remus's throw cushions into a pillow and a blanket. "I will take care of myself. Good night."

"Yeah…good night."

"And Sirius?"

The man turned and looked over his shoulder. "Hm?"

"I do mean it. I do not blame any of you for what happened during Hogwarts. The only one I blame is Albus Dumbledore, and we are doing all we can to take care of that problem."

Sirius bared his teeth, showing a hint of his Animagus form. "Of course. He is not going to ruin our Harry's life. Not on my watch."

Severus gave him a matching evil smirk. "Nor mine."

"Then we're settled. Have a good night."

"Good night."

Chapter Text

“Good…morning, Severus,” Remus greeted hesitantly, seeing the other man standing beside the couch neatly folding a blanket.

“Good morning. I apologize for barging in on you like this, I did not trust myself to Apparate home last night.” Severus set the blanket on the back of the couch and turned to face Remus. “I shall make my way back to my quarters now, I suppose.”

Remus shook himself out of his surprise. “Oh – no, there’s no need for that. You should stay for breakfast. We have plenty of food, and – “

“And what would Albus say if I were to miss breakfast at Hogwarts?” Severus pointed out, his usual sarcastic tone absent from his voice. “Professors are expected to be by at least two meals a day. Missing even one meal brings up questions I’d prefer not to have to evade.”

“Right, right I forgot about Albus.” Sighing, Remus ran a hand through his already messy hair, bringing to mind James Potter. Severus suppressed a laugh. “Will we see you tonight? Sirius seems sure that Andromeda will owl us today.”

“I shall do my best to come by. As of now, I have no detentions or obligations this evening. Of course, if some of the Gryffindor dunderheads decide to drop something into their potions – “

“C’mon, it can’t only be the Gryffindors. Are you really telling me that the Ravens and ‘Puffs do nothing?” Sirius asked, entering the kitchen with Harry in his arms. “Everyone has an off day, and all houses have their troublemakers.”

“I find that Gryffindors are the worst. Most Gryffindors have the Slytherin prejudice instilled in them from a young age and therefore do not listen to me. Some of them do not even bother to read the directions I put on the board.” Severus raised an eyebrow at Harry, who was watching him with wide green eyes. “Yes, child?”

Harry turned his head away and burrowed his face in Sirius’s shoulder, making the Animagus gently pat the back of his head. “Severus isn’t scary, Harry. He’s just in a bad mood. Like, all the time.” Sirius gave Severus a glare. “Don’t scare him, he’s already in a bad enough way as it is.”

“Of course. I…apologize.” Resting a hand on Harry’s back, the Potions Master waited until the child looked up before continuing, “Don’t be frightened. I won’t bite.”

“You remember Severus, Harry. He owns the house that you liked exploring.” Remus set his spatula to the side and came over to the small group. “Speaking of the house…not to be pushy, but is there any word on how the work is progressing?”

“Yes, that is part of why I stopped by last night,” Severus replied. “My house elves say that we should be able to move in by tomorrow evening. If you would like to, that is…”

Remus took up his spatula once again and turned to the stove. “Of course we would. There is nowhere near enough room here for two men and a toddler. If you’re still alright with the three of us moving in – “

“The manor is entirely too large for one person. I certainly do not mind having another three people living there.” A small, uncharacteristic grin tugged at the corner of Severus’s lips. “Considering the size of the house, I do believe that should we wish, we would never have to even see each other.”

“Do you not want to see us?” Sirius asked as he sat at the table, settling Harry into the high chair beside him. “I mean, I do have the Black fortune, I guess I could see if I have any house elves left to clean up a property – “

“It was a joke, Black.” Severus shook his head. “Honestly, how you can reach twenty-one years of age and still not know what a joke is boggles the mind.”

Sirius groaned. “I could say the same about you, you know.”

“We can all say many things about each other, but let’s not. Severus, you need to get back to Hogwarts before Dumbledore begins to suspect something is wrong.” Turning to Sirius, Remus continued, “Padfoot, go get yourself dressed in case Andromeda comes by or owls and needs you to come over as soon as possible. I’ll keep an eye on Harry and make breakfast. Does that work for everyone?”

“Yes, Moony.” Snapping off a crisp salute, Sirius ducked Remus’s mock slap and raced from the room.

“I’ll head over to Hogwarts. It is already past the time I normally go down to breakfast.” Severus awkwardly looked at the toddler, who was staring at him. “Have a good day.”

“Say good-bye to Severus, Harry.”

Harry looked up at Severus, making the man inhale sharply. Until now, the child hadn’t met his gaze. Now, faced with the full force of Lily’s eyes, he found that he couldn’t turn away. “I – “

“Are you alright?” Remus’s face was etched with concern. “Severus?”

“I – yes, I’m fine.” Shaking his head, he pressed a hand to his forehead. “May I use your Floo?”

“Sure.” Still, the werewolf scrutinized him carefully. “Are you certain you’re alright? You can tell Albus that you are ill.”

Severus shook his head again. “It is nothing. I will see you this evening.”

“Good luck.” Remus watched him leave before turning to Harry with a sigh. “That man…he’s going to kill himself one day. He needs to let loose and relax a little.”

“Huh?”

He looked down at the toddler, who was staring at him with wide eyes. “Nothing, Harry. Don’t you worry your head about these things. The adults will take care of everything…I hope.”

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Sirius read over the parchment in his hands for what felt like the hundredth time. It still made just as little sense as it had the first time he’d read it.

Sirius Black,

I regret to inform you that we have decided to not allow you to return to the family. You have disgraced us and do not deserve the chance rejoin our family. You turned your back on both the Black family and myself. The Tonks home is not open to you.

However, I will not keep you from your childhood home. Grimmauld Place is open to you, of course, as it is your inheritance. I will ensure that it is free and clear by eight o’clock this evening. No one will bother you should you choose to arrive then.

Sincerely,

Andromeda Tonks

“What is it?” Remus finally asked. “You’ve been staring at the letter for a good ten minutes already.”

“I...She won’t let me back. Andy says that what I’ve done is too terrible and she can’t let me into her life.” His blank stare looked over the paper again, still not accepting the information. “I can’t believe it. I thought of all people, she would accept me again.”

“Let me see that.” The werewolf easily plucked the paper from Sirius’s unresisting fingers. Reading through it quickly, he let out a quiet laugh. “You’re an idiot sometimes, you know that?”

Sirius’s head snapped up. “I am not!”

“Yes, you are. She’s trying to tell you when and where to meet up with her.” Remus set the parchment on the kitchen table and flattened it out. “Grimmauld Place, tonight at eight.”

“I – really?” He leaned over and read the letter once more. “How d’you figure that?”

Remus shook his head. “Really, Padfoot. Andromeda met with you earlier, do you truly think she would suddenly decide not to have anything to do with you? I assume she wants to protect the message if it’s intercepted. If Albus sees this, he’ll assume you don’t have any familial support. If he thinks you’re alone, he’ll think you’re vulnerable. It takes any suspicion off of you.”

“But – “

“Don’t you see? Andromeda’s trying to protect everyone involved.” He rested a hand on his friend’s arm. “She doesn’t want to see you hurt. This will keep us all safe, including Harry.”

“I understand.” Sirius gave the parchment one last look before resting his hand on it. “I wish she would be clearer on these things.”

“It’s to keep Albus from figuring out that something is going on. I think she has the right thoughts about this.” His head shot up at the sound of a quiet cry. “Harry.”

Sirius pushed himself off the table to stand straight. “I’ll go get him. Do you mind owling Alice and asking her if she’d take Harry tonight? Or watch him, at least?”

“Sure. I – you think I should come along?” Remus’s self-consciousness over being a werewolf made him feel as though he didn’t deserve to be there, something Sirius knew he had to take care of already. He just hadn’t been sure whether this was due to Dumbledore’s potions or if it was Remus himself. “Are you certain?”

“Moony, you have to come along. You’re the one who figured out that something was going on. I’m sure Andromeda meant for both of us to go to this meeting.”

Remus nervously twisted his fingers together. “If you’re sure…”

“I am. One hundred percent.” Sirius clapped his friend on the back. “You take care of Alice and I’ll go get Harry.”

“Alright.”

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The instant his final class ended, Severus hurried along his students to finish cleaning up. It was an odd feeling for him. Normally he didn’t care much about when he finished up his classes. So long as they didn’t take forever cleaning, he didn’t mind if they took their time. At the end of the day, someone had to clean the cauldrons and supplies, and it may as well be the students.

But now he had something to look forward to. Working with Sirius and Remus was affecting him positively. He had more to his life than simply going from school to his quarters to meals and repeat. He had Harry, and the case against Albus.

As soon as the students finished cleaning up and left the classroom, Severus gathered up his things and headed down the secret passageway to his private rooms. One thing Horace Slughorn’s laziness was useful for: the man had set up many passageways so that he would never have to encounter a student outside of class unless he specifically arranged a meeting. Severus did have to admit it was nice not having to worry about a student attacking him for help between classes. More importantly, it meant that Albus couldn’t waylay him and make him late for his meeting with Sirius and Remus.

He had a couple of hours before dinner, so he figured he’d go over to the pair to check in. If Andromeda Tonks had, in fact, responded to Sirius, he would need time to organize his thoughts. Setting the basket of potions vials on the end table, he quickly straightened his robes and headed to the fireplace to Floo over to Remus’s apartment.

“Afternoon, Severus,” Remus called from the couch.

“Good afternoon.” Severus looked down to find Harry sitting on the floor close to his feet, his face upturned. “Good afternoon to you, too.”

“Hi.”

Severus felt his eyebrows jump. “He speaks? To me?”

“Sure he does, why not?” Entering the room with a handful of ties, Sirius held the bunch out to Remus. “Which one should I wear?”

“I doubt anyone will care. The meeting is too important for that.” As he set his newspaper on the end table, Remus rose to his feet and turned to the Potions Master. “Andromeda owled Sirius today. She’d like us to meet her tonight at eight in Grimmauld Place.”

He cast a glance to the toddler sitting at his feet. “And the child?”

“I owled Alice to babysit him. She said she would come pick up Harry at around six.” Remus raised an eyebrow at Severus. “He does have a name, you know.”

“Hawwy,” the child in question offered, looking up at the man. “I Hawwy.”

“Yes you are.” Sirius entered the room and scooped up his godson, chucking him under the chin and making him laugh. “And you’re amazing. I suppose you’ll be joining us to meet with Andy, Severus?”

“You suppose correctly.”

Remus began to head towards the kitchen. “I’ll put together some sort of tea from what I have in the house. We can discuss what we will and will not discuss with the group over tea.”

“Thanks, Moony,” Sirius called after him. Turning to the Potions Master, he continued, “Do you have some sort of official record of the potions, by any chance? Concrete evidence will help prove that what we say is true.”

It took a moment for Severus to regain his speech. He wasn’t used to Sirius presenting such a sensible idea. “I – yes, I do. The spells I used on your blood sample creates a parchment with signs that are impossible to counterfeit.”

“Great. Can you make a copy we can give to Andromeda and whoever she chooses to have us speak to?”

“Of course.” He cast a swift glance towards the fireplace. “The parchment is in my rooms at Hogwarts, I will collect it when I go back for dinner.”

Sirius gave him a genuine smile, something Severus couldn’t remember ever receiving from the man. “Thanks, Severus.”

“You’re…welcome. I’m happy to help,” Severus found himself saying. It looked like Black really had changed.

Maybe this partnership would work out, after all.

Chapter Text

Sirius stood on the sidewalk in front of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, fidgeting nervously. Beside him, Severus sighed and shook his head. “We may as well go in, Black. There is no reason to wait outside.”

“I know, I know. But I don’t know what Andy’s going to say. What if she really meant what she said in the letter? What if Remus is wrong?” He turned anxious gray eyes to the Potions master. “And what about Harry? He was so upset that we were leaving him with Frank and Alice. Maybe I should go back.”

“You are not going back.” Remus grabbed Sirius’s shoulders and pushed him towards the house. “Let’s go. Inside. We’re here, and we may as well find out what’s going on.”

Sirius took a deep breath. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

The three men walked up to the dreary townhouse. As they climbed the stairs, Sirius took the lead and paused in front of the door. “Here we go.”

“Staring at the door is not going to make it open, Padfoot,” Remus commented. “Go on. Knock.”

Raising a hand, Sirius hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door. It felt like an age, but in reality was only a moment or two, before the door was pulled open, revealing Andromeda. "Good evening, Sirius," she greeted pleasantly. "I see that you received my letter."

"Yes. Remus...explained what it meant." Sirius awkwardly stood in the doorway, shifting from one foot to the other. “I wasn’t sure - “

“Of course not. I was hoping that you would understand the true meaning of my letter, but I should have realized you might not.” Andromeda gave him a gentle smile. “It is good that at least Mr. Lupin understood my message.”

“Black was quite distraught by the basic meaning of the letter.” Casting Sirius an annoyed glance, Severus turned to their hostess. ”Would I be correct to assume you have been using Grimmauld Place as your headquarters?”

Andromeda inclined her head. “You would be correct. Come in; there are several people I believe you should meet.”

Closing the door behind them, the three men followed her to the drawing room. “Wait - all of these people are involved?” Sirius asked, surprised.

Sitting in the drawing room was the most eclectic group of people he’d ever seen. Abraxas Malfoy appeared to be holding court in one of the large armchairs in the corner, his wand-cane grasped in his hand. Beside him sat Augusta Longbottom, her back perfectly straight and ladylike. On the next couch was Amelia Bones, who was tapping her foot impatiently. Finally, beside her, was -

“Regulus?” Sirius gasped. “What are you – you're – aren't you dead?”

The younger Black brother smoothly rose to his feet. “No. Kreacher helped save me after I defied the Dark Lord. I felt it more prudent to remain in hiding instead of risking my life again.”

“Once Walburga died, he took over Grimmauld Place and invited us to use it as a meeting place. You aren’t the first, second, or even the third Black to figure out that something fishy is going on.” Seeing his flabbergasted expression, Andromeda laughed. “Oh, Sirius, did you truly think he was dead?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed, finally regaining his senses. “Father sent me an owl to tell me that Regulus was dead, what was I supposed to think?”

“You were supposed to come here and check the tapestry,” came a voice from the doorway.

Sirius whirled around to find Orion Black standing at the door. “What?!”

The corner of Orion’s mouth twitched. “Part of the purpose of the owl was to bring you back into the family. Of course, Walburga never knew about the invitation, but I had hoped you would understand the true meaning behind it. Alas, I see I should not have expected so much from you.”

“But - ” Sirius shook his head, much like his Animagus form. “I don’t understand – how do you all know about this?”

“Do you children truly think you are the only ones to determine that Albus Dumbledore has ulterior motives?” Abraxas said silkily, stroking the top of his cane. “We have known of this since the three of you began your schooling at Hogwarts.”

Severus’s eyes widened just a fraction. “You’ve known for that long?”

“It was difficult not to, what with Dumbledore’s prejudice against Slytherin.” Augusta crossed her arms. “That man has never had the interests of the students in mind, only his own. That Order of the Phoenix - “

“Organizing a resistance was a smart move!” Sirius interrupted. “You have to give him that, at least.”

Amelia Bones fixed him with an icy glare. “Truly? You think it was a good idea for the headmaster of Hogwarts, who is responsible for the lives of his students, to pick a side in the war and fight?”

Sirius abruptly deflated. “I guess, when you put it that way...”

“Albus Dumbledore is a great man,” Andromeda said quietly. “No one is taking away from that. He is powerful, and brilliant, and a good strategist. But the man only focuses on the big picture, as you yourself have seen. His handling of Harry Potter is the best example of that. He doesn’t think of his cogs as real people with emotions.”

“He also must learn to focus on one thing at a time,” Abraxas continued. “His primary job is to educate and keep the students of Hogwarts safe. Not to create a vigilante group to take down a tyrant. I knew Lord Voldemort as a student and joined the ranks of his Death Eaters before I knew of his true goals. Had Albus Dumbledore fulfilled his role as a teacher, guiding and believing in his students, I doubt Tom Riddle would have risen to the heights he has as Lord Voldemort.”

Severus’s mouth dropped open, and he had to consciously close it. “His name...?”

“Is Tom Riddle, yes. He is a half-blood, just as you are.” Seeing Severus’s surprised expression, Abraxas smoothly raised one perfect eyebrow. “Did you think I did not know your blood status? I make it a point to know everything about my son’s friends.”

“Then you know...”

He nodded. ”I know of your indiscretions at Tom’s side. I also know of the circumstances that led to your decision as well as your actions after the fact. Otherwise, I assure you, you would not be standing here.”

“I see.” Severus fell silent, mulling over Abraxas’s words. “Then you know about Dumbledore’s manipulations?”

“Indeed.”

Orion sat beside Regulus’s vacated seat. “We all know of his manipulations. I regret that I never realized that you were under his manipulations, Sirius. I assure you, had I known, you would never have reached the point of leaving the family.”

Sirius just stood there, flabbergasted. Everything he’d ever known was falling apart around him. Yes, he’d discovered Dumbledore’s betrayals before, right after Lily and James’s deaths, but everything else...everything else was new. People he’d thought were on the side of Voldemort were not, and Regulus...Regulus was alive!

If there was one thing he’d absolutely regretted, it was that he’d never taken the time to make up with his brother. Regulus had been a child and Sirius had been too stubborn to realize it. His brother had needed his guidance, limited though it was. At the end of the day it was Sirius’s fault.

“I don’t blame you,” Regulus said quietly.

Sirius’s head shot up. “How - “

“I know the look you get when you start blaming yourself.” Regulus gave him a small smile. “It’s both our faults. We both should have been more willing to compromise and not make a big deal of things. Dumbledore should not have come between us.”

“I blame your mother for that,” Orion said heavily. “Walburga was deeply influenced by Dumbledore.”

Abraxas shifted to face him. “He manipulated her as well?”

“I do not think so. I believe his emphasis on Slytherin being the house of evil was what set her off.” Orion shook his head. “Her parents were the same. I’d hoped, once I married her, that she would prove to have been parroting her parents’ beliefs, but it was not to be.”

Sirius pressed his fingers to his temples. “Then...everything I have ever known in a lie.”

Remus rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We knew that from the beginning, Padfoot. Once we started finding out about Dumbledore’s schemes, did you really think nothing else was affected?”

“I didn’t think about it.” He rubbed his temples once more before dropping his hand and looked up at his father. “I...apologize. I should have thought about this before. I should have come here after Regulus’s death.”

Instead of replying to his son, Orion turned to Severus. “Am I correct in assuming that you tested my son for any potions that could have been controlling him?”

Severus inclined his head. “I did. There were many, much more than is healthy. Had Lupin not caught the discrepancy when he did, I fear your son would never have made it to the year’s end.”

Now Sirius dropped into an empty armchair. “He would have killed me?”

“Possibly not.” Severus shrugged, a gesture that seemed out of place in the room full of Wizarding nobility. “Dumbledore may not have intended to continue dosing you. It could be that he planned to stop dosing you once Harry was fully settled by the Dursleys – “

“Harry Potter was left with a magic-hating Muggle family?” Abraxas exploded. At the surprised glance from Sirius, he continued, “I have no arguments with Muggles who know their place and stay out of Wizardkind’s way. But to send the child who defeated the Dark Lord to a family of Muggles who despise magic…there is something more to this than we anticipated.”

Sirius just shook his head, speechless. Nothing made sense anymore.

Orion gave his son a sympathetic pat. “I understand that this is probably more than you thought you would hear tonight. It is a lot to take in. But the purpose of bringing you here was to show you that you are not alone. The older generation, even those you thought were your enemy, are here to support you. There is no way three young men can overthrow someone as powerful as Albus Dumbledore on their own as well as revolutionize our educational system.”

“You have us, brother.” Regulus’s gray gaze met Sirius’s identical one. “You know, I think, deep down, perhaps I knew something was going on. I couldn’t understand why you suddenly hated me. Yes, there were House rivalries, but we were brothers…”

“There is something going on in Hogwarts. House rivalries were never this bad when we were in school.” Augusta waited for Abraxas and Orion to agree with her before continuing, “I, for one, would like to get to the bottom of this before my Neville goes to school. The Heir of the Longbottom family will not be allowed in an environment that is unsafe, and so long as Albus Dumbledore has the ability to do what he wishes with the school, it will not be safe.”

“Same for my niece Susan,” Amelia Bones agreed. “The school is not safe for children.”

“Here, here,” Andromeda said, raising a glass. The others either nodded or raised their own glass. “I’d prefer not to send Nymphadora, but I don’t have a choice there.”

Orion’s face took on a thoughtful expression. “Perhaps…this can be a good thing.”

“How so?” Abraxas asked.

“We have Severus already working at Hogwarts. If he is amenable, he can keep an eye out for any suspicious doings in Hogwarts itself. Have you trained in warding and magic signatures?” Orion directed his question to Severus, who nodded. “Excellent. I’d like you to keep an eye on what magic is flowing through Hogwarts. I suspect there is something there that should not be there.”

Andromeda crossed her arms. “And how does that help my daughter?”

“For one, she has a protector, someone to keep an eye on her to ensure Dumbledore does not do something we would…regret. For another, your daughter is a metamorphomagus. She can fit in anywhere, do anything. She can hear things Severus cannot.” Seeing that Andromeda was not understanding what he was getting at, Orion elaborated, “Nymphadora will be our other spy, an unknowing one. I would like to hear of any information she writes in her letters regarding House rivalries, detentions, and classes. This would be a way for us to get a finger on the pulse of the students of Hogwarts. Is Dumbledore actively encouraging unfair treatment or merely turning a blind eye towards it? Nymphadora will help us figure it out.”

“Fine. Only if this won’t lead to her getting hurt.”

“It will not.” Orion turned to his eldest son. “I hear from Abraxas that you are considering opening a magical primary school?”

Sirius nodded. “Remus and Severus were unaware that children only learn as much as their parents know when they’re young, and we decided, together, that something must be done to change that.”

“That is a good goal and a good move for you at the moment. Dumbledore will not think you know what he was doing to you and you should be able to fly beneath the radar, as Muggles say.” Abraxas flashed a hungry grin. “What you want to do is important. This school will be an excellent way for children to get to know each other before House prejudices set in. It will be a way for them to build connections without being under Dumbledore’s influence. It would also encourage Muggleborns to become a part of our world early enough to avoid any prejudice.”

“Wait.” Remus finally spoke. “I was under the impression that the goal was to purge Muggleborns from our society. Or so we’ve all been led to believe.”

Abraxas snorted. “Yes, because everything Dumbledore has told you is true.” Remus ducked his head. “No, child, those of us on the ‘Dark’ side do not have a problem with Muggleborns, provided they know that they are not here to change the Wizarding world to be more like the Muggle world. There are certainly ways we can improve, but not everything translates to our world. We have our own culture that is not like the Muggles’.”

“I see.” And he did. The old pureblood families were most worried about losing their identity. Being able to ensure that the new members of Wizarding society understood how things worked from the very beginning would go a long way towards purebloods trusting Muggleborns.

“Is this all you called us here for?” Sirius asked. “To let us know that we’re not along and we’re on the right track with what to do?”

Orion’s eyes twinkled. “Of course not. I also had to bring my wayward son back into the fold. Now, what have you been up to over the last month? I believe I heard a rumor that you kidnapped Harry Potter…”

As Sirius launched into the tale of how they took Harry from the Dursleys and how he, Remus, and Severus went back to punish them, Remus could feel a knot in his chest loosening. It wasn’t as hopeless as he’d thought. There were others out there, other people who knew what was going on and believed them. Now they just had to build up the school and expose Dumbledore for who he really was.

Simple, right?