Chapter Text
Speeding down a dirt road on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole on the back of Sirius’s old motorbike, Severus rested his chin on Sirius’s shoulder and slipped his hands into the pockets of Sirius’ black jeans to protect them from the chilly breeze. The pads of his fingers pushed against firm thighs and he decided this was the perfect way to conclude an exhausting, if satisfactory, week. Just the two of them out riding under cover of darkness. They had decided against having dinner with everyone down at the Burrow, though Harry had gone, and their main priority right now was to try and get home before the approaching storm swept in.
“Up and away,” Sirius called a few minutes later once they’d reached the end of the lane that curved through the forest and began to pass through grassy farmer’s fields.
Sirius pushed a button and the motorbike began to lift off of the ground. The pride and joy of his youth, refurbishing it to ride again had brought him a great deal of joy since the war’s end and his rediscovered freedom. Invisibility boosters to conceal them from the muggles were all that Severus had insisted upon before agreeing to come along with him, and he was rather surprised to discover how much fun he had had on it tonight.
“Just so you know, I’m still mad at you,” Sirius shouted over the engine's roar as their manor came into view and he began to descend them back to earth. Making a dramatic show of wiping off Severus’s kiss as he landed the bike in front of the house just to prove his point.
“Was any of it real, Sev?” Sirius asked mockingly, in an exaggerated, high-pitched, feminine voice.
“Did our affair while my loser husband was in Azkaban mean as much to you as it did to me, Severus?” he continued, dismounting the bike and turning around to feast him with a glare. “Or were you just playing me?”
“I thought you would appreciate my transparency tonight,” Severus smirked, as he stood up from the bike as well, “because I assure you that if I’d wanted to keep any of this a secret from you then I would have been most successful.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius huffed, though his dramatics were more for attention than because he was genuinely upset. And Severus knew this - after the enjoyable evening they had just shared - but played along anyway because reassurances had never hurt either of them.
“The meeting was brief,” he promised. “I was in a hurry to get back here after all.”
“I hope you said that to Narcissa,” Sirius sniffed, following Severus through the front door.
“Lumos Maxima,” Severus said, stroking his wand through the air in a half moon so that light shot from it and spread to all the torches and candlelight chandeliers.
The place appeared to be empty. Presumably Harry was still down at the Weasleys. Severus made his way over to the sofa and was amused to discover that Sirius’s annoyance with him for sharing such an intimate discussion with Narcissa didn’t prevent him from laying down with him just as soon as he’d hung up his leather jacket.
Refraining from pointing this out, Severus rested his mouth against the crevice of Sirius’s neck as the other man leaned back into his arms. Deciding not to share that he hadn’t believed for a single moment that Narcissa had come to Hogwarts for a meeting with Professor McGonagall and had just happened upon him by accident, Severus kissed Sirius’s collarbone and noted that it was welcomed this time. Though their contentment with each other did not erase what had come before. Today was the first time that Severus had spoken with Narcissa since Voldemort’s defeat, aside from court proceedings, and he accepted that she’d needed her questions answered.
OOO
“Was any of it real, Severus?” Narcissa had asked him shakily that afternoon in his office. After attempting to exchange a few obligatory minutes of small talk that neither of them had been interested in, she cut straight to what she was most desperate to discuss. “I thought it had been real.”
“Yes,” he had said with a small nod.
He wouldn’t lie and there was no danger of hopes being dashed now that her husband had been released from prison and Severus had adopted Harry Potter as his son. Certain things put to end what had once made sense, just like the right circumstances could bring about resolution and love where it would have once been impossible. Narcissa hadn’t been asking for things to continue like the way they’d been before. She simply wanted to know if the feelings she’d enjoyed had been reciprocated, and there was no reason to pretend that they hadn’t been.
“I was able to play my part convincingly because you were on that side and made my role sometimes bearable,” Severus had admitted quietly, seated across from her with his desk as a barrier. “I couldn’t tell you everything, but I did uphold every promise that I ever made to you.”
“While spying on all of us for Dumbledore,” Narcissa had lowered her gaze.
The bitterness in her voice had been unmistakable, even as her eyes had filled with tears of relief that he hadn’t just pretended to care about her. But while Severus had lied and reported nearly everything back to Dumbledore, he had always taken care of the whole Malfoy family to the best of his ability. Not because anyone had ordered him to, but because he’d wanted to. While Narcissa had grappled with Severus taking out Bellatrix in order to save Sirius, he’d gotten Lucius the shortest sentence, saved Draco’s life, and his affection for Narcissa had never been deception.
“Admit to me that the end of Voldemort was exactly what you wanted just as soon as you learned that he was intending to kill your son,” Severus had said softly, and Narcissa’s eyes had widened in alarm as though the Dark Lord was still alive and could come down on them for such treason.
“You came to me because you needed Draco to be protected and you knew that you couldn’t depend on your sister or the Dark Lord to keep him safe, even though you were all supposed to be on the same team,” Severus had continued, leaning back in his chair. “So for those reasons - weren’t you and I actually aligned on the same side this whole time? You just didn’t know it yet.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Narcissa had agreed quietly. “I’m relieved that he’s gone and even Bella - but I had hoped she -”
“There was no hope for Bellatrix,” Severus had stated unapologetically, standing up now to signal to her that it was time to go. “But you’re going to be alright now and you’re going to move on.”
OOO
“We were just there for one another when both of us needed a friend,” Severus said softly, running a finger down the length of Sirius’s arm. “She knows that I’ll watch over Draco….and you know - you know that I love you.”
“Do I know that?” Sirius replied, unable to mask the smile that instantly had appeared on his face at those words.
“Oh alright,” he relented, taking hold of Severus’s hand and squeezing it tightly. “I suppose I might have had some inclination. After all, we could hardly pretend to be staying together for Harry’s sake once he went back to school and we continued living together.”
“Without any real discussion either,” Severus added, for the words hadn’t found him until long after his magic had already told him the truth of his heart. That everything was right where it should be and that he’d found where he belonged.
XXX
The sky was already black with an overcast cloud by the time that Harry, Hermione, and some of the Weasleys sat down to dinner in the Burrow’s garden Friday night. Having waited for more than an hour for Mr Weasley to return from work, they all tried not to wonder too hard about what was keeping him as they tucked into a feast of roast beef, mashed potatoes, salad, and cornbread. Content in the truth that overtime no longer meant grave peril and mass destruction these days, it was far more likely that what was keeping Mr. Weasley had to do with the tediousness of office management and nothing more.
“This looks amazing, Mrs Weasley,” Harry complimented, as he divided a slice of cornbread into two pieces with his butterknife to share with Ginny.
“You are sweet,” Mrs. Weasley beamed at him. “I just hope it doesn’t rain on us.”
She glanced nervously up at the sky which grumbled threateningly, but no water poured down throughout the meal. Ginny smiled as she nibbled at the buttery loaf Harry had passed her while they watched Hermione’s ginger cat Crookshanks pounce at the nomes that kept popping out between the overgrown hedges. The heavy wind blew their hair around and shook the edges of the tablecloth that was weighed down by all their dishes, while the four of them updated Mrs Weasley on all the latest news from Hogwarts.
“Well people were always staring at me anyway so it hasn't changed much,” Harry said in response to being asked once again what it was like to have Severus back at school. “It is sort of satisfying to see him face what I’ve been dealing with since September, while he stayed hidden from the spotlight at home.”
“Even though everyone’s too scared to ask him direct questions anymore,” Ron informed his mum, as he helped himself to more mashed potatoes. “And I highly doubt that he’s being stopped for autographs in the corridor like Harry still is.”
“But I watched Colin Creevy excitedly showing off his essay that was graded ‘Poor’ yesterday simply because Professor Snape had signed his initials underneath a rather scathing comment,” smirked Ginny.
Though Severus was as demanding and unforgiving a teacher as ever, Defence Against the Dark Arts was still nearly every student's most anticipated lesson by the end of his first week back. Without the paranoia and slightly unhinged presence that had accompanied who should have been Alastor Moody three years ago, Severus’s lectures gave them another opportunity to listen to a genuine war hero calmly draw on his own acts to explain the different concepts they were to be learning. Making the theory in their textbooks come alive to them from the perspective of someone who had seen and fought for both sides was an unprecedented experience, and though he would never admit it, Harry knew perfectly well how freeing it was for his Severus to finally be sharing his story.
“Teddy’s blanket is beautiful!” Hermione exclaimed a little while later, walking out of the house with her wand held out in front of her to levitate two apple pies over to the picnic tables. She had offered to retrieve their pudding from the kitchen and had evidently come across the baby’s Christening gift in the process.
“It’s nearly done,” Mrs Weasley smiled, as she cut into the first pie and began to divide it onto plates for them all. “I just want to add some charms to make the yarn change colours for him whenever it's shaken. I did the same for Bill’s and it kept him occupied for hours as a baby.”
“Mine would twist itself into a pink cuddle cat that purred,” Ginny reminisced fondly, “and Ron’s played music when it was squeezed tightly.”
“Now you mention it, I think I heard it playing last night in the dormitory, is that right, mate?” Harry grinned.
“Oh shove off, Harry,” Ron retorted, as his mother placed a piece of apple pie down in front of him.
“So you don’t think the Malfoys will be making an appearance at all?” Ginny asked her mother curiously, wiping a trail of cinnamon from her lips. Ted Tonks had dropped in to pick up the cake Mrs. Weasley had offered to make for Teddy’s party and had told them about his wife’s impromptu visit to her estranged sister that morning. It couldn’t have been more obvious that he’d been uncomfortable with the whole notion despite trying to remain supportive about the inevitable.
Mrs Weasley shook her head as she retook her seat. “I think expecting a reconciliation to that degree would be bordering on foolishness. Ted wasn’t surprised that Andromeda went to see her sister, but awkward and brief was how she described the reunion after.”
While harboring no good feelings towards any member of the Malfoy family, silently Harry had to take a more optimistic outlook towards the prospect of two such different people finding common ground. After all, from observing his fathers he knew that reconciliation was always possible if each person was willing. Not just within the realms of civility but in the deepest matters of the heart and soul. And he included James Potter just the same in this - for the precious little time that Harry had gotten to share with his mother and all three of his fathers as they’d comforted him before his anticipated death, he had gotten enough reassurance to know that the past could be buried and forgiven.
“Maybe we should ask Fred and George to bring some decorations up from the shop for tomorrow,” Ron suggested. “I bet Tonks would get a laugh out of them.”
“Well if you do write, be sure to note that Remus doesn’t want any balloons,” Mrs Weasley replied.
“What’s wrong with balloons?” Hermione asked.
“They received a gift from Sirius,” Mrs Weasley chuckled. “Bouquets of balloons that multiply if you accidentally bump them and appear resistant to vanishing spells. Apparently Grimmauld Place is close to overflowing.”
They all were laughing when Mr Weasley and Percy apparated onto the grassy pasture beyond the Burrow’s protective enchantments. As they drew nearer, Harry could see that Percy’s hornrimmed glasses were smudged and Mr Weasley’s pointed hat was askew, but they both looked immensely pleased about something and energized despite working several hours into the night.
“Watch out for the front page of the Daily Prophet tomorrow!” Percy announced triumphantly, pausing to stand at the head of the table next to his mother. “Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange have been captured!”
“Wonderful,” Hermione breathed and everyone joined her in a collective sigh of relief, for the husband of Bellatrix Lestrange and his brother had been amongst the most dangerous and notorious Death Eaters still at large.
“Hiding out in a cave in Northern Ireland,” Mr Weasley added, pausing to kiss Mrs Weasley on the cheek before sinking down on a chair next to Ron.
“Is that why you’re late, Dad?” Ron asked, swallowing his last mouthful of apple pie.
Mr Weasley nodded, while he began to serve himself the roast beef that had been kept warm for him. “Kingsley wanted as many Ministry officials to bear witness when the aurors brought them in,” he replied. “Photographers and journalists had been called in as well. These are the sort of moments that bring us together and revive faith in our government.”
The rounding up of the Death Eaters had been the first order of business at the Ministry of Magic with each new capture a cause for celebration in the recovering wizarding world. The stealthy intelligent ones had primarily gone into hiding when they’d learned that Voldemort had died for good and couldn’t protect them anymore. Some, like the Malfoys, had surrendered themselves in the immediate aftermath in a bid to negotiate deals and secure lighter, or even non-existent, sentences. Others had been killed by aurors when they'd refused to come quietly.
Even Severus hadn’t been entirely spared. Forced to go through more than a day of intensive questioning and investigation to establish that what he’d claimed about following Dumbledore’s orders was the truth. Harry and Sirius had refused to go home until he was free to go with them, and their involvement in the apprehension of guilty followers of Voldemort had been minimal ever since.
“How did they find them?” Hermione asked eagerly.
“Magic leaves traces,” Mr Weasley answered knowledgeably. “There were discreet but unmistakable signs of magic up in those caves. Pureblood wizards, like the Lestranges, don’t have the remotest sense of how to exist without their wands and to reduce themselves to living like muggles is probably - to them - just as degrading as life in an Azkaban cell. The aurors, in their searches, were able to detect magical waves in a place they ordinarily wouldn’t be. That was how Dolohov and Yaxley were captured as well.”
“Is there going to be a trial, Dad?” asked Ginny.
Mr Weasley shook his head but it was Percy who answered. “Considering the Lestranges had already received life sentences after the first war, they’re probably already in transit back to Azkaban as we speak.”
Never to see the light of day again. Imprisoned for life for torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom to the point of insanity. Brave aurors and the parents of Neville had been condemned to a fate worse than death, so that even the remainder of their attackers being arrested - Bellatrix and Barty Crouch Junior had already been killed - did not feel much like justice to Harry. It wasn’t satisfactory and nothing could be. As Harry took a sip from his water glass and felt his spirits sinking at the reminder that nothing that happened now could ever be enough. And about how he wasn’t even supposed to have even been alive for this part anyway.
He didn't blame Dumbledore for condemning him to die. If that was what had been needed to bring about the end of Lord Voldemort then it had needed to be done. Dumbledore’s betrayal had seemed like nothing when they’d spoken in the place between life and death. The choice to go on or to return and bring about the end of Lord Voldemort had been entirely Harry’s. He’d gone back - and he would never fear death.
"Harry! HARRY!"
Harry wasn't sure how many times Ginny had called his name before he'd heard her, but the way that everyone was looking at him suggested that his daydreaming had not gone unnoticed.
"You were doing it again," Ginny said, lowering the hand that she had been waving in front of his face. "You went somewhere for a minute there."
"Thinking about the captured Death Eaters," Harry said dismissively, ignoring the worried look he'd caught Mr and Mrs Weasley exchanging. "I think I am going to go home now. I'm pretty tired and we're going to Grimmauld Place rather early."
He didn't give anyone the opportunity to stop him. Lightly brushing off his friends' mild protests and offers to accompany him back, he mounted his Firebolt and took off into the sky before Mrs Weasley could say anything about the rain.
For it had begun to fall as he reached his highest heights. So near to the clouds, the rain droplets stung as they struck his hands and face. Though he found it strangely soothing at times like this. When the guilt of his own survival and good fortune became too much and he had to ask himself why he had been spared, protected, and undeniably blessed. It seemed so wrong at times. When he was the one that Voldemort had wanted the most.
He sped home on his broomstick as quickly as could. Soaked to the skin and shaking with cold by the time his feet touched the ground and he spotted Sirius’s motorbike in front of the house. As relief surged through him that they were back, and even more so once he got inside and saw them sitting on the sofa together and laughing about something while they waited for him.
“I’m not okay,” Harry confessed as he threw open the door.
Almost instantly, Sirius was up and pulling Harry tightly into his arms. They stood in the entrance of their beautiful home with Severus right beside them looking sad, but not surprised.
“I’ve got you,” Sirius murmured. “You don’t have to be okay.”
XXX
“I’m glad you came home early,” Sirius told him, picking up the clothes that had been slung on the chair near the window and moving to hang them away in the wardrobe. “Severus is bringing up a snack and then we can just stay here and not do anything for a little while. What do you think?”
Shutting the door to the wardrobe, Sirius turned around just in time to see Harry settling into his bed. He nodded.
“Remember when I told you about me running away from home and heading straight to the Potters’?” Sirius asked, stealing a quick glance at the framed photograph of James standing with Lily on the dresser, before he looked back at Harry.
“I was just so blinded by all this fury that I couldn’t even think straight, but on instinct I knew that getting to James was all that made sense. And I’m so grateful that even when you don’t understand precisely what’s wrong right now, you knew that coming home to us made sense. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right by you.”
“You do all of it right,” Harry said softly, which had to be an exaggeration but was appreciated by Sirius nonetheless. “I’m just done - I’d thought the end of Voldemort could mean it was over. But it’s never going to be over - Voldemort’s dead, but they’re still dead too,” his hands clenched into fists around his blankets while he brought his knees up to his chest.
Sirius watched as Harry turned to stare at the same photograph of Lily and James that had caught his own attention. In the passing months, more pictures of the Potters had been put up around the entire house in places of honour. There was nothing that couldn’t be shared once he and Severus had put in the work to come together so that Harry would never need to feel torn in his loyalties and love for all his parents. But Sirius didn’t think this was about Lily or James right now.
“His followers are all still out there biding their time and waiting for the next Dark Lord to come bust them out so they can follow him instead,” Harry voiced bitterly, but when Sirius walked over and leant down to kiss the lighting bolt scar on his forehead, Harry let out what sounded like a sigh of relief and pressed his head more deeply against his lips.
“I’ve got you,” Sirius’s voice was muffled against the scar.
It never hurt anymore and Harry no longer needed to drink potions to keep his mind to himself, but the violation to his body, which came from discovering that a part of Lord Voldemort’s soul had lived inside him until very recently, couldn’t just disappear overnight. Or perhaps not even in a lifetime, Sirius thought, as he climbed into the bed next to Harry and hugged his close.
“Thank you,” Harry sighed, leaning back against him heavily.
“Don’t thank me,” Sirius responded gruffly. “Being a father - having a family - it’s more than I ever dared to dream of…you’re doing me a favour - you’re giving me a gift. And after we were cheated out of so much time together. We’ve got a lot to make up for.”
Sirius hoped that assuring Harry that he savored a close and special bond as much as he did, would keep Harry coming back to him whenever he saw fit without any reservations. Physical affection was something that came easy to Sirius and closeness to other people was what he craved more than anything after twelve horrific and isolating years spent in Azkaban. He no longer felt the need to pour a drink to soothe himself to sleep now that Severus lay within fingers reach of him all throughout the night, and he wanted their son to relish in the same sort of security. All Sirius wanted was to be there for him.
“What did you do?” Harry asked a few minutes later, sitting up a little straighter in Sirius’s embrace to examine the plate of golden cinnamon rolls that Severus was levitating into the room.
“I hope they’ll taste just like yours,” Severus replied, reaching for the teapot that had followed him up the stairs and pouring some into a small porcelain cup which he handed to Harry. “Do you remember making them for our breakfast at Spinner’s End?”
“Of course,” Harry nodded, bringing his tea to his lips with one hand as he reached for the platter of cinnamon rolls that had settled on his nightstand with the other. “That’s when we stopped pretending that I was only staying with you for extra lessons.”
Severus gave Harry a small smile before turning around to peruse the floor to ceiling bookshelves that had become a worthy feature in every room of the house since they’d emptied out Spinner’s End. Sirius pressed his chin down into Harry’s shoulder and his insides twisted with guilt as he recalled how he had shown up unannounced that day and full of indignation upon discovering that his godson had chosen to remain with Severus of his own accord instead of him. It was impressive how far they had come since then, but coparenting Harry in the beginning had certainly not been easy.
“Harry, give Sirius a good shake, for he appears to have been struck by one of Fred and George’s Patented Daydream Charms,” Severus said, turning back around with a book in his hand and fixing Sirius with a curious stare.
Deciding against reminding them of what could only be thought of as an expression of his jealousy and insecurity, Sirius smiled and hugged Harry a bit more tightly to himself before saying, “I’m just glad that you started keeping our boy for more than extra lessons."
“The best decision I’ve ever made,” Severus agreed softly, pulling his wand out of the sleeve of his shirt and pointing it at the armchair nearest the window so that it flew across the room to reposition itself directly next to Harry’s bedside.
Sirius quickly glanced at the cover of the old beaten up book in Severus’s hand as he sat down, which had clearly been handled a lot in its lifetime. Its colourfully printed illustration made it appear both friendly and juvenile. Titled ‘James and the Giant Peach’ by Roald Dahl, Sirius had never heard of it before and realized that it must have been written by a muggle. A preserved relic from Severus’s own humble beginnings, brought out to comfort and nurture their son tonight in a most unimposing way.
"I borrowed it from the library so many times when I was a child that the librarian eventually told me to just keep it for my own," Severus explained. "The author has written several books .Growing up I devoured them all. It was the closest to magic I could get before Hogwarts. "
And with that, he began to read aloud to them.
“Until he was four years old, James Henry Trotter had a happy life,” Severus began to read aloud without further ado, causing Sirius’s face to break out into a broad grin behind Harry’s back. “He lived peacefully with his mother and father in a beautiful house beside the sea. There were always plenty of other children for him to play with , and there was the sandy beach for him to run about on, and the ocean to paddle in. It was the perfect life for a small boy….”
XXX
“What are you thinking, Teddy? Are you wondering who this mad character is that’s got you? Sirius cooed animatedly the next day. “Is that it, sweet boy?”
“A few more minutes and I’m afraid your voice will remain at that octave permanently,” Severus commented dryly, but Sirius just laughed.
“Stop pretending like you’re not dying to hold him,” Sirius said reproachfully. “Just admit it and we won’t think less of you.”
But Severus just backed up a bit further from the proffered infant and looked over in the direction of the living room where Harry was snacking on mince pies with his friends. It was as if he was looking for someone to wave him over - some welcomed distraction to help him escape from the terror of potentially being made to hold a baby. As Teddy let out a sudden loud screech that caught everyone’s attention.
“Aww don’t let him hurt your feelings,” Sirius bounced the baby soothingly in his arms. “I didn’t really want to hand you off anyway. Your Mummy and Daddy are going to have to fight me to get you back later - but only if you stop crying. Where’s a smile?”
He puffed his cheeks out and scrunched up his nose to distract Teddy with silly faces while he swayed him. The fussing was consistent, but not desperate as the baby paused between cries to watch him curiously. Tonks was smiling at the pair of them without feeling any urgency to step in to take her child back.
“Sirius, you’re such a natural,” she exclaimed, reaching over to tickle her baby’s bare toes.
Though Alastor ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody, standing right next to her drinking from his personal hip-flask despite the bottles of wine and butterbeer on the kitchen counter, looked less amused.
“Gag charms,” he growled. “One thing surely to give away position and get everyone killed is a crying baby.”
“Do you know how messed up that sounds, Mad-Eye?” Tonks rolled her eyes exaggeratedly up to the ceiling. She was glowing with happiness and the absence of dark circles under her eyes suggested that Remus was doing his fair share around the house. Though Sirius kept reminding her to let him know immediately if he wasn't.
“You insist on making me your child’s godfather, one thing I’m going to instill in him early is constant vigilance,” Moody said shortly. “It's the law of nature that the louder and smaller ones get eaten first. I'm just looking out for the lad.”
“Alright then,” Tonks relented, her hands held up in mock surrender. “Just know that I draw the line on you performing a gag charm on my one week old, thanks.”
The ex-auror and his protege exchanged exasperated looks that could not disguise the mutual fondness they felt for one another. Mad-Eye had been watching out for Tonks since she’d begun her training at the auror academy. Where she was bubbly and playful, he was harsh and unamused. Despite their shared profession, Sirius didn’t think he could imagine two people more different from each other, but that only made the closeness of their bond all the more endearing to onlookers.
“Look what I found on the floor,” Andromeda said with an exasperated sigh, coming over with a pair of mint green knit booties in her hand.
“He doesn’t like them,” Sirius told her matter-of-factly, blinking his eyes at Teddy who had stopped fussing by now and looked like he was close to being on the verge of sleep. “I told you, little man, that you were going to have to hide them better than that. You know what they say about Grandmother’s and their knitting. I think we should get him a pair of black leather trainers instead.”
“Well, you are alone,” Andromeda retorted, slipping the booties back onto the baby’s doll-like feet and then kissing each one in turn. “Now he’s all picture ready, aren’t you? I asked Molly to call everyone in from the conservatory.”
“Great,” Tonks smiled brightly at her mother. “Bill brought his camera to capture photographs of Teddy with everyone.”
“Are you sure you want to create visual evidence of the people closest to your child?” Moody asked her seriously.
“We’ll risk it Mad-Eye,” Remus said, coming back inside the main living area. He plucked Teddy up swiftly from his best friend’s arms before Sirius could object. “Come on, let’s stand in front of the balloon backdrop.”
“So you admit that you love it?” Sirius laughed, taking out his wand and pointing it at the rainbow assortment of balloons so that they arranged themselves into a pale blue and white arc for the parents, godparents, and grandparents to stand underneath.
“We love it,” Tonks assured him, wrapping an arm around Remus’s waist as she looked up at the balloon hippogriff that Sirius had left unaltered, flapping its wings up by the chandelier.
Sirius took a few accommodating steps back when Bill came over with the camera to focus in on Remus, Tonks, Ted, Andromeda, and Molly all beaming down at Teddy, while Mad-Eye’s grizzly face twisted into something like a grin in the back corner. Not being chosen as the godfather didn’t upset Sirius, who had appreciated getting to see Tonks take charge and choose the people who had always been there for her this time. Moody, her mentor, and Molly Weasley, who had always been a most supportive influence in Tonks’ life. Remus had said he’d pick the godparents for their next child and getting to be Teddy’s uncle was more than enough right now.
“Did you read the spread about the Lestranges on the front page of the prophet this morning, Severus?” Sirius heard Arthur Weasley ask quietly behind him.
“Yes, but fortunately Harry had already pre-warned me about what you and Percy had learned,” Severus answered softly. “I lost count of how many owls were tapping on the windows this morning with requests for comments that I won’t give. Have they been transferred to Azkaban yet?”
“Still being held at the Ministry,” Arthur replied. “Kingsley wanted them interrogated for information about some of the others still at large.”
“A waste of time,” Severus said shortly. “They won’t talk.”
The news of more captured Death Eaters and a slightly safer community would always be met with mixed feelings. Sirius understood that, Severus understood that, and both of them understood exactly why news that brought so many people delight would have worn Harry down just like it had last night. They could never be perfectly satisfied with anything. This was important to realize so that they wouldn’t waste time chasing the impossible. The secret to contentment was compartmentalizing all the different factions of life. Which Harry had learned to do on his own long ago, which enabled him to laugh and enjoy himself with his friends right now as if last night hadn’t happened.
“Alright, Angelina, lay it on me,” Fred was saying loudly as Sirius navigated closer to the group seated together on the living room sofa and rug to listen. “How many do you want? Hypothetically.”
“I dunno,” Angelina giggled, glancing at Teddy who was now being photographed in the arms of Mrs Weasley. “Are we talking like that? Isn’t it early for that?”
“Well clearly the logical answer is ‘no more than five’,” George said, shooting a pointed look at his younger brother and sister. “You don’t want more than five. More than five just invents trouble.”
“Trouble?” Hermione snorted. “Wasn’t it you two that set off explosive fireworks and flew away from Hogwarts on your brooms?”
“Mum’s never going to let you forget it either,” Ron added.
“The stuff of legends,” Fred said proudly. “You should be honoured to have such inspirational big brothers to look up to…”
“Well anyway,” Ginny said, after stealing a swig of butterbeer from the bottle Harry was holding. “Judging by our family, the proper number of children to have is as many as it takes to have a daughter. So I think all of you have me to thank for your existence.”
“Watch it,” Fred cautioned.
“You sort of asked for it,” Harry grinned down at Ginny, who was seated on the carpet with her back leant against his legs.
Sirius had been watching their exchanges more and more with particular interest over the past few months. He could see what was happening as clearly as anyone else could, and his only objection came from worrying about whether Ron would be upset and if it would have an impact on his and Harry’s friendship. That was the only thing he saw fit to caution Harry about the scant times they’d discussed Ginny together, but everyone seemed to be flourishing right before his eyes anyway. Harry was going to be just fine.
“And in eight months, we’ll all be celebrating together again when our baby is born,” Fleur announced loudly, one hand in the crook of her husband’s arm and the other on her flat stomach.
“You called it,” Sirius heard Harry mutter to Ginny.
“Didn’t think she’d have the gall to try and steal the attention today though,” Ginny replied, as Mrs Weasley rushed to embrace her oldest son and Tonks called out enthusiastic congratulations while looking entirely unbothered.
“Alright, let’s get one of everyone now,” Remus suggested, beckoning them all towards him.“I think Teddy’s got a few more good minutes in him before he tells us enough in the loudest way possible.”
“Can I hold him now then?” Ginny asked hopefully, “I haven’t had a turn yet.”
“Of course,” Tonks said brightly, carefully transporting Teddy into Ginny’s arms once they'd all found their places underneath the arc of balloons with her. “What about you, Harry? Ron?”
“They’re too scared,” Ginny answered for them, her eyes glued on the tiny baby in her arms.
“That’s not - “
Harry and Ron both opened their mouths to object, but Sirius had already tried to get Harry to hold Teddy when they'd gotten there, and quickly got shot down. The boys didn’t have much interest in babies and saw no need to gush over a tiny person who couldn’t really do anything noteworthy just yet.
“Don’t worry Ginny," Sirius said, taking his spot in the back of the group portrait next to Severus and resting a discreet hand on his waist. "James was the same way and once his own baby was on the way he couldn’t stop humming nursery rhymes under his breath.”
Bill charmed the camera to flash on its own so that nobody would be absent from the photograph. He stood proudly next to his own expectant wife. The Weasleys' red hair spread throughout the frame, with Tonks' a honey blonde to match her son's current colour, and Sirius and Andromeda both sporting the dark and attractive looks that characterized the Black family. Harry, Hermione, Severus, Mad-Eye, Angelina Johnson, and the proud father and grandfather in Remus and Ted. Such an eclectic group that had all come together as family on the other side of war which they'd all been impacted by in some form or another. And how fortunate they were to not ever have to be alone.
“Don’t be mad,” Remus said apologetically, once his wife and mother-in-law declared themselves satisfied with the quantity and quality of photographs they had taken, and permitted everyone to move.
“The time has come,” he declared. Shooting a quick look at Sirius before he pointed his wand at one of the largest balloons that had overtaken his house for the past week and it began to shrink down until it disappeared entirely.
“This seems like a challenge,” Sirius grinned, taking out his own wand and pointing it at another balloon so that it began to increase in size, he shot it over towards Remus like a bludger. “Dodge it, let’s see if you’re still fast enough!”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, Sirius,” Andromeda giggled, though her wand was out now too and she sent a straight line of attached balloons shooting towards her cousin, who blocked them with a flick of his own wand and rerouted them towards Harry and Ron, who were quick to jump in as well in this spontaneous bout of play.
“See, you’re going to have a lot of fun growing up in such a silly family,” Tonks told Teddy, before she joined the fray as well with enthusiasm.
Sides seemed to have been drawn. With Fred, George, and Angelina jumping in to enchant the balloons to grow and conquer with Sirius, while Harry and Ron joined forces with Remus, Tonks, and Andromeda. Balloons growing and shrinking, dancing and flying. Andromeda was laughing her head off and on the sidelines Ted was shaking his head as he helped himself to more butterbeer and settled down on the sofa to watch with Mad-Eye, Hermione, and Mr and Mrs Weasley.
“Here, sir, would you?” Ginny spontaneously deposited Teddy into Professor Snape’s unsuspecting arms.
She rushed off to lambast some balloons at her brothers before Severus could try and stop her. Though he didn’t seem to be in as much of a hurry as one might have expected him to be.
Turning away from the laughter and noise, but walking extremely slow, as if nervous he might drop the precious bundle in his arms. Sirius was watching Severus swaddle Teddy up with a blanket Tonks had left on the kitchen counter before resting him gently on his shoulder, and paid the price for his distraction when a balloon charmed by Harry knocked him square in the face, but he didn’t care.
Sirius grinned even more broadly. His heart was so full that it was making his ribcage feel too restrictive. He knew that the reason they’d survived and endured all that they’d been made to endure was to get to this very moment in time. He hoped the others could see it too. It was meant to be and it was worth fighting for.