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Sirius


I get an opportunity to get used to my new wand. I quickly notice that I have to take great care in dosing my spells, as there is a lot of power behind them. I fix a few things around both houses and feel like a real wizard for the first time in fourteen years. I definitely like my new wand. Never would I have imagined to have anything less than a wand by Ollivanders, but now that I have this rare and powerful one I don't mind at all. I'm whistling contentedly while I work to prepare the house. We have now brought everything to the other house that Barb needs there. We have gathered all the personal things from Housi and Barb and moved them. Now we take all the other furniture together and minimise them in size. It's already getting late and we return to Fritz' for dinner and the night.

While Harry and I help the old farmers to move, Remus clears the bureaucracy with the local authorities and gets into contact with an architect for the renovation of the middle part of the house to a class room.

I really look forward to live in the farmhouse. I'm a bit afraid of the way the rooms would be spread among the six of us. I don't really want my own room, I want to keep sharing my room with Remus. But tonight will be the last night before we actually move into the house and we have to decide tomorrow who would have which room. They are all lovely and the view is spectacular, I can't wait!

We have worked a lot during the day and are all fairly tired, so we don't linger and go to bed quite early. After taking a shower, I go to the bedroom and climb into the bed, waiting for Remus to follow.

Remus takes his time. He comes into the room, looks at me, as I'm already lying on my back in the bed and crawls in on the other side. Without even thinking we sleep on the same sides of the bed we used to sleep before I had been taken away. All of a sudden I notice this and it amuses me. While slipping under the duvet, Remus says:

"Good night, Sirius."

"Sleep well, Remy!"

Another awkward night. This is the fifth in a row and I'm pretty sure Remus has not slept much more than I have. I stare at the ceiling, trying desperately to hide my feelings and at the same time I long to tell Remus. When I finally sleep it's already close to two o'clock.

But I'm awake early again. Only this time I don't get out of the bed quietly. I think it's time to give Remus that signal he might need. I decide to turn to Remus, who has once again scooted close to me in his sleep. I wait until Remus wakes up. Remus almost jumps out of the bed when he notices that he has practically slept on me. He tries to get away unnoticed, but my eyes are open and I stare at him. When Remus starts to pull his arm from my chest, my hand shoots up and holds him in place. He turns to me and gazes into my eyes. Then I place my own arm around the werewolf's slim body and pull him close.

"Sirius..." Remus hisses.

"Remus, we have to talk." I say.

"About what?" he asks.

"About us." I say.

"There isn't any us..." Remus says in a low voice.

"But there should be. Don't tell me you left this all behind you! Because I didn't. I can't just leave you behind... I love you."

There. I said it. It's out in the open and he can't avoid it this time.



Remus


My heart seems to stop. Isn't this what I wanted? This conversation, it's what I need so badly. Why then am I unable to respond? I swallow and I'm quiet for just a moment too long. Sirius misinterprets it and starts to turn away.

"Well. Seems there isn't after all. I'm sorry, Remus."

He starts to get up, but finally I'm able to react.

"No! Wait! Don't go!"

Sirius turns and watches as my golden eyes fill with tears. I pull him back and breathe hard, then manage to say:

"I'm sorry, Siri, I'm so sorry, yes, I do love you, I'll always love you!"

A smile spreads over Sirius' face. One that makes him look several years younger and gives him some resemblance with the boy I once knew. He closes the space between us and our lips meet, I snake my arms around Sirius and we keep kissing like it would be forbidden tomorrow. I feel the wolf wake up and take part in the feast. Moony is all excited to have his mate back. Then I feel Sirius' hands on my back, moving up and down and pausing in the small of my back. He finds that sensitive spot on my spine, the one which makes me go wild. Sirius smiles into the kiss when he feels me breathe in hard through my nose. A small moan comes out of my throat. Sirius feels the vibrations of the sound. I start to caress him and slowly advance inside of Sirius' pyjama pants. Sirius breaks the kiss.

"No separate rooms, eh?" he asks with a cheeky grin on his face.

I shake my head. No, I don't want to miss sleeping with Sirius either. I've missed it for fourteen years, that's more than enough. Sirius nods. He returns to my mouth and presses his lips firmly back on mine. He opens his eyes to gaze into my golden orbs. I can feel the glance and my lids flutter open as well. How I love these blue eyes...



Sirius


He still has those incredibly long eyelashes. They are hard to see, because they are so light in colour. I remember the days when we made them visible with lots of black mascara. This time it's Remus who breaks the kiss, just to look into my blue eyes. I know what he thinks. My eyes are alive again. They must have lost their deadened look and I wonder, when it has happened.

"You've just given me a life again, Moony," I say, because it's easy to guess Remus' thoughts under his gaze.

Remus smiles a bit shyly. Then we hear a knock on the door and Harry asks:

"Remus! Sirius! Are you still in bed?"

"We've only just woken up, Harry, we're coming!" Remus replies.

"Good!"



Harry


I continue on my way down to the kitchen. Fritz has already left for work and so I start to gather everything for our breakfast. I banish all the dishes and the food to the table outside, and then I suddenly hear a slight pop and see Albus Dumbledore and my friends materialize out of thin air next to myself.

"Good morning, Harry!" Dumbledore says, blue eyes behind half moon glasses twinkling as usual.

"Oh! Good morning, Professor! Hello, Hermione, Ginny, Ron!"

I drop what I have picked up back onto the counter and run to hug my friends. Then I'm looking a bit shyly at the Professor who looks at the wand in my hand. Clearly he's already noticed I've been using magic during the vacation. "Harry!" squeals Hermione and hugs me tightly.

Ginny and Ron follow suit and I get more dishes out of the cupboard for them. I decide it might be better to carry them out the good old-fashioned Muggle way.

"Did you have breakfast? Remus and Sirius are coming, they're only just getting up. I was just starting to cook breakfast..."

"No, we didn't. We've only just left Hogwarts. We've come by Portkey. We had to prepare all the books for our next year and Professor Dumbledore made a copy of all the books in the library, in miniature format of course. Is this the house we'll stay at?" Hermione asks.

"No, this is the house of a cousin of Remus'. He's already out to work. But we'll leave for ours after breakfast. We're going to furnish it today! You'll love it! - Why don't you sit at the table outside, I'll finish the breakfast quickly, okay?"

"Can I help you anything?" Ginny asks.

"You could take the tea out... and the bread. The rest is already there."

The four newcomers go outside and sit down at the table. I hear Remus and Sirius coming down. I tell them that the breakfast is almost done.

"Oh, fine!" Sirius says.

"And look who's come just a moment ago!" I say with a grin.

The two men go out and greet their guests. I follow them with the food. Ginny has obviously been filled in on Sirius' innocence, but she still stays back a bit shyly, while Ron and Hermione jump up to hug him. Remus looks at them and asks, making a sad face:

"And I don't merit a hug?"

Hermione laughs and says:

"It's not exactly usual to hug a professor, Professor Lupin..."

"Well, I'm Remus for you all, or Moony. We're going to be a big family all six of us! At least I hope we will..."

"In this case I think you do merit a hug!" Hermione says and embraces Remus.

He holds her for a moment and says:

"It's great to see you all! I'm looking forward to be with you four kids!"

"This is going to be a great summer, I'm sure! I've never been to Switzerland before." Hermione says.

"I suppose so. We've already cleared everything with the authorities. They of course wanted you to attend the regular school, seeing that you all are not over 15, but we were able to get it into their heads that you are being home schooled. So now you are officially residents of Lützelflüh."

We all sit down to eat our breakfast. After cleaning up, Remus directs them to the car and says:

"Everyone inside please, I've already packed our stuff yesterday. - Albus..."

Remus opens the passenger seat door for Albus, while Sirius, Ron and Hermione sit on the middle seats, Ginny and I on the back row. Once we're on the way, Albus asks:

"Sirius, do you have a new wand already?"

"Yeppers! And a very nice one, too!"

"Good."

"Weeping willow wood and a feather from a Turul bird. Very powerful thing it turned out to be! I really love it already."

Albus is impressed.

"The Turul bird? That's rather to be found in the eastern European areas, isn't it?"

"It's Hungarian," Remus explains.

"I remember. Very powerful bird and considered a Dark Creature by many. Though it's not clearly defined as one."

"I couldn't care less, the wand is wonderful. They seem to have a somewhat different view of dark creatures here anyway, since the wand-maker told us one of her regular cores are werewolf hairs."

"Oh, really? That's fascinating."

"But she looked almost like Ollivanders' sister," I remark, "it was almost creepy."

When we reach the house, Remus parks the car under a canopy and we climb out. Housi and Barb come out to greet us. Remus introduces Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione and Ginny and says:

"We'll start brewing the Polyglot Potion as soon as we can, so in a few days you can finally start to understand each other. My young friends will then learn the language in less than a week."

Albus starts to unload a big sack of smallest boxes onto the counter in the kitchen. He says:

"Remus, these are all the boxes we've brought with us. The blue ones belong to Ron, the red ones are Hermione's and the green ones are Ginny's. The black ones are the books in the Restricted Section. The rest is all the material from the regular library. I suggest you keep these small and use charms to find what you are looking for. I trust you are well capable to teach the children these charms."

"Yes, I'm sure I will be able to do that. We are going to renovate the middle part of the house, which contained the hay barn and the storage room for all the tractors and wagons and tools into the classroom and library on the ground and second floor and a huge living room on the top floor. This will take a while though. We've only seen the architect yesterday and have gotten the authorisation from the community to do this. It doesn't take much to get the approval for such a job on a house as it's only renovation."

"Show us the house, please! Then we'll discuss the subjects you will be teaching them."

"Good, come along. You kids can decide which rooms you want. There are five from which you can choose, one for each of you. Sirius and I will take the remaining one."

"Don't you want one for each of you two?" asks Ron.

"We're used to sharing..." says Sirius.

Now that starts to get very suspicious. I really think there's something more between them.

"So are we! I mean we're all sleeping in a dormitory with others..."

"It's okay, Ron, we do want to share, don't worry," Remus insists.

"Well, if you're sure."



Sirius


Dumbledore looks at both of us and when Remus notices his gaze he nods. Albus' face lights up. He pulls me a bit to the side and asks:

"Are you back together?"

"We're working on it..." I confirm.

"You'll have to explain it to the children. You can't hide this, it would make you very unhappy if they found out by themselves."

"Yes, I know, but it's only just happened this morning."

"Did we interrupt anything?" Dumbledore asks with his usual twinkle in the eye.

"No, not really. We only finally started to talk about our relationship again this morning. We needed to, I was almost going crazy. I'm glad, Siri came out," Remus says.

"That's good and I'm happy to hear that, Remus. You need each other."

Yes, I think he's right. We do need each other. We show the house to the others and the girls decide they want the rooms on the top floor. That leaves two rooms for Harry and Ron on the second floor and the remaining one, the largest one, goes to Remus and myself.

The rooms are still empty and their only decoration is the wooden walls. I have picked several pebbles and lead them back up to the room that would become Ginny's. I ask her:

"Okay, Ginny, you're the youngest, let's start with you. How would you like the floor in your room?"

"Wall to wall carpet?" she suggests.

"Okay. What colour?"

"Ehm...Brown."

"Fine."

A wave with my wand, an incantation and we're all standing on a lovely soft carpet. Housi and Barb, who are with us, both gasp, in spite of the fact that they have already got used to our magic in the past few days. Then we move on to the furniture. I produce one of the pebbles and ask:

"Four poster bed like in Hogwarts? Albeit a tad smaller?"

"Oh yes, please!" Ginny says.

"Here you are!"

I transfigure the pebble into a dollhouse sized four poster bed. Before I size it up she tells me where she wants it.

"Do you have your wand at the ready, Ginny?"

"It's still in my trunk." She says and produces her minimised things.

I resize it for her and she takes her wand out and looks at me expectantly.

"Well, then where do you want to put the bed? Onto that wall there? We need to keep one wall free for your wardrobe. Can you do a banishing charm?"

"Not yet."

"Okay, then let me do this for you."

The bed is sized up and levitated to the wall, then I ask:

"Okay, now on to the curtains for your bed, what colour?"

"Gryffindor?" Ginny asks.

"Gryffindor it is!" I say happily and the curtains fix themselves around the bed.

"The rest of the bed stuff we'll go and shop for in the afternoon, okay?" I say.

"That's okay with me..."

After the bed, I make Ginny a wardrobe, a desk and two chairs. The room is quite full, but it leaves enough space for her trunk to be set down at the foot end of the bed. I move on to the other girl's room and Hermione receives a similar furnishing. She does the positioning of her furniture herself and even takes over some of the transfiguration. She's very good at it and I commend her. Both girls also get lovely curtains on their windows, white ones that are pulled to the side close to the bottom of the window, leaving a ruffle and coloured ones to pull closed at night if they want to shut out light.

Hermione's carpet is periwinkle blue and she's delighted with it. I tell her she can play around with the colours and things anytime, before moving down to do the boy's rooms. Ron's room gets done in navy blue and Harry's in mostly Gryffindor red and gold. We advance to our own bedroom. Remus watches and I know he wonders what I have in mind for the two of us. I start with the hardwood floor in a dark wood. Then the four poster, draped with light blue silk curtains and two nightstands. Then the long cupboard with several drawers in the same maple wood I have already brought up for the bed. A chest of drawers, again maple wood. A comfortable and rather squashy looking armchair in front of the window, together with a footstool and a tiny table. The curtains in the same fashion as for the other bedrooms. Then I finish the room off with a lovely mirror on the back of our door.

"You are quite the decorator, Sirius," Albus says with a smile.

"Isn't he though..." Remus mumbles.



Remus


It's clear who Sirius has in mind to use that armchair. I look at my mate and smile, too. Sirius clearly is in his element. He loves to show off things like that and the kids are clearly impressed. Housi and Barb have already given up to be astonished. We return back down to the kitchen. Only the counter and the kitchen appliances have been left, so now it's about getting the furniture here. I write down a long list of things to shop for in the afternoon, glad for the sheer bottomless supply of money in Sirius' Gringotts vault. There is enough space for a long table, fitted with a bench on the wall and chairs on the other side. The bench follows the wall on the opposite side of the counter right around the corner under the window, where it ends right next to the door. Sirius places six chairs along the long table and one on the narrow end. The whole arrangement fills about two thirds of the kitchen, the remaining third being used up by the stairs to the upper floors and down to the cellar. Behind the stairs is a wall with a door to the bathroom beyond. There is another door from the bathroom to the back room on the front of the house.

We proceed to the living room and the two other rooms on the ground floor. The one in the back will become our study. Sirius starts in there and asks me:

"Light wood again okay? I really like that maple wood..."

"So do I, Siri, just go ahead."

"Okay. Here comes."

The floor becomes an elegantly crafted hardwood floor, again in a dark colour. Sirius conjures an oriental rug for one side and another for the other half of the room. The next few pebbles are turned into floor to ceiling bookshelves. They fill every available wall space. Then there are some lovely curtains for the windows, two desks, pushed together, so that we could sit opposite of each other. Sirius fills some of the shelves with drawers. Two more armchairs and a small coffee table finish off this room.

The front and the middle room are to be furnished as our living rooms. There is now a sofa filling the corner in the middle room, a coffee table and two armchairs, some more bookshelves and a combination of small cabinets and shelves with the space for a television set, a stereo and some other small things. Again, I have a few ideas to add to my growing shopping list. The carpet in this room is of a cream colour and another oriental rug completes the furnishing. There is only the front room left now. It gets done with the same creamy carpet, receives a smaller sofa on one wall and a table in a corner, then a coffee table and more armchairs. A sideboard fills a space under one of the windows and a cupboard is set up next to the door. When Sirius has finished everything he drops down on one of the sofas and almost passes out. I'm totally and utterly amazed! He must have exhausted his considerable magical energy today, but the whole house is at least furnished now and we can move in right away. It just leaves me with the extensive shopping trip to get all the kitchen equipment and whatever else we need around the house.

"That was amazing, Siri. I've never seen you going through something like this so fast!" I say and sit down next to Sirius to check his health. Sirius just breathes hard for a while and then says:

"I'm fine, but I think I'll stay here while you shop for all the necessities..."

"That's okay, it's not what you would like to do anyway. We need all the bedding, bathroom stuff, kitchen stuff and the entertainment stuff..." I say and ask:

"So who wants to come along with me for that? We'll need some time to get all. And I'll need some of your help."

Both girls and Harry want to come along, but Ron asks:

"Should I stay with Sirius?"

"Yes, stay with me, we can play some chess..." Sirius suggests.

"Fine! Albus? When will you be leaving?" I agree with the suggestions.

"I think I'll have to go now. Can I still apparate?"

"Yes, we haven't done the wards yet. That's for tomorrow."

"Good, then I'll just bid you all goodbye! Oh, I almost forgot, you four are officially allowed to use magic throughout the summer. That on top of the fact that our Ministry is certainly not concerned with underage magic in a foreign country."

"Yay!" they all holler happily.

Then we all shake hands with the headmaster who vanishes. Housi and Barb stare at the place where he has just been and blink. I turn to them and explain:

"That's called apparating. He's already apparated to the place where the school is in England. It's a very comfortable method of travelling. Now we four take leave and will return later on with the groceries and all the things we need..."

I go and pick up my car keys and take the three teens out to the car. We drive to the nearest larger shopping centre and go through the different shops. I start with the larger bits. We buy a television set and the stereo. Once this has been stored in the car, discreetly minimised and hidden, we return for all of the bedding. Each bed receives a mattress, all five of them were put on the top of the car. I look around and tell the teens to watch out, then minimise the five big mattresses as well and store all the bed linens, pillows and duvets in the back of the car. The next trip is for the kitchen utensils and the dishes. We discuss what kind of look we want for the dishes. We buy the necessary amount of dishes, glasses of different sizes and shapes, the pots and pans, every kind of kitchen utensil needed, the cutlery and kitchen knives, an espresso machine, two kettles, bath utensils and whatever else we need. All in all it takes us four hours to gather everything. I'm glad that for once, money isn't an issue. And I'm very glad we did not have to buy furniture, too. And finally we still have to get the groceries. That all done we return home, bringing everything inside and spreading it over the different rooms. Ginny and Hermione bring up the minimised mattresses, put them on the beds and retrieve their wands to resize them. Then they add all the remaining bedding and prepare the beds. They fill the bath cabinets. I'm busy in the kitchen. I fill the cabinets and drawers. Harry brings the television set and the stereo inside and places them on the shelves, then Sirius connects all the plugs. Ron looks excited like he can't wait to turn on the TV and start watching. Together they study the handbook to tune the stations.



Sirius


While Remus takes the others out shopping, Ron and I have not been idle either. I start to spread the books Remus has brought along into the shelves in the study. Then I put all of our clothes into the wardrobe. I unpack the boxes filled with magical games and stuff from Remus' house. Remus always has a lot of photos on his walls and I hang them all on the walls in the living rooms and place the ones from his desk at home on his new desk. Ron helps me with the books.

The teens get settled with their own things in their own rooms. By the time it gets dark everyone is finally completely exhausted, but the house looks very nice already. Remus asks:

"Who's hungry?"

We all lift our hands.

"So who cooks?"

All hands come down right away. Remus sighs. He says:

"If no one cooks there will be no food, you know!"

Finally Harry gets up and saves us all.

"Everybody comfortable with spaghetti?" he asks.

Good idea that will be done quickly and tastes great.

"What is spaghetti?" Ron and Ginny ask.

"Muggle food from Italy. I'll make some, you'll like it."

Harry starts to work in the kitchen and Hermione gets up to help him to make some salad. She asks Ron to lay the table. Ron complies and directs plates, cutlery and glasses to the table, which Remus has covered with a tablecloth. Remus opens a bottle of wine for the two of us and the kids get some cool drinks out of the fridge. It hasn't taken Harry more than half an hour to cook his spaghetti. He drains them and fills a huge platter. Then he adds a Carbonara sauce to them, mixes everything and brings it to the table, where Hermione has already placed the bowl of salad.

"Well, sit down, everybody, food is ready..." Harry calls.

Ron, Hermione and Harry sit on the bench, Ginny, Remus and I take our seats on the chairs and Harry starts filling the plates. Ron and Ginny look a bit confused.

"How do you eat this stuff, Harry?" Ron asks.

Harry, Hermione, Remus and I demonstrate and eat our first bites. Then Remus looks at Harry and compliments him:

"That tastes wonderfully, Harry! You're a swell cook!"

"Yes, you can cook for me anytime," I agree.

Ginny and Ron try spaghetti for the first time in their lives and like them immediately. Harry has made a huge plate full, but we leave nothing. Hermione's salad has tasted very nice, too. We don't talk too much while we eat. Remus demonstrates the use of the dishwasher after the dinner, again only for the sake of Ron and Ginny. The teens magically wash all the pots and clean the kitchen with a spell. And then we all agree to call it a night. I lock all doors magically and follow Remus up to our new bedroom. We have decided to leave the upper bathroom to the girls, while all the boys use the bathroom on the ground floor, which is nice and spacious.

Remus and I go in together, shower and brush our teeth, then we put on dressing gowns and climb the stairs to our bedroom. Once the door is closed, the dressing gowns drop to the floor and I pull Remus into my arms. We kiss and Remus whispers:

"What a beautiful little home you've made for us, love! You have done a sensational job, you know..."

"Thanks, love. I'm knackered though, I would really like to go and sleep. - Oh, and you chose lovely bedclothes..."

"Isn't it though... we chose together, there was a lot of beautiful stuff to be had. Ginny and Hermione picked most of them and also chose which to put here tonight..."

"Let's sleep, okay?"

"Yes, I'm very tired, too. Tomorrow we have another hard day, we need to place the wards. I still have enough Wolfsbane potion for the next two months, but then we need to brew it, Sirius. - I've got the recipe, but I know that I can't do it, maybe you and Hermione are able to?"

"I'll have to study it, Moony, I'll have enough time to work on it though."

"Good. We also need to have a better look at the cellar and put it in a condition that it won't be too uncomfortable for me to spend the full moon nights. Then we have to get some order into all the school stuff Albus brought along. And then we have to tell the children about us..."

"If you have the potion you won't spend the nights in a cellar, Moony! You'll be right here in your bedroom! We can seal that."

"And where will you sleep?"

"Right here with you. Padfoot can well stay with you."

"Oh. Okay."

We slip into bed and scoot closer, then Remus asks:

"Is Harry still taking the potion?"

"I don't know. We'll have to ask him tomorrow, Remus. I don't want him to get addicted."

"Neither do I. We've heard nothing from him these past five nights, so I thought he might still have some potion left."

"We'll check that... he shouldn't take it for more than ten nights in a row."

"Then we'll see what cheering charms and sleep charms on his pillow can achieve. We can teach him the sleep charms. They're definitely much less harmful than the potion. And he already knows the cheering charm."



Ginny


I seem to be the first one to get up in the morning. I traipse down the stairs as quietly as I can and enter the kitchen. I have my wand in my hand and unlock the door to go out and stretch in the sun. I see the beautiful garden in front of the house again and admire it. Oh how lovely this house and this place is! I'm truly happy to have landed here after the ordeal at the Burrow. It's been really scary and only thanks to all of the Portkeys Professor Dumbledore has set up for us throughout the house have we been able to get out of it. Hearing the Death Eaters taking down every layer of wards was terrifying. I'm glad we all got away and hope Mum and Dad are okay. It's still a strange situation, we're here in the hands of an ex convict and a werewolf. Though both of them are so nice, it's a getting used to. Ron seems perfectly fine with the situation, which astounds me. I look around and see that elderly lady from the house across the road, Barb, coming out and going to the henhouse to get the fresh eggs. I wave my hand and say:

"Good morning!"

"Good morning. - Ginny?"

I don't understand her German greeting yet. No, not German, what did Remus say? Ah, Bernese German, that's it.

"Yes, that's right. Sorry, I don't speak any Bernese German yet..."

She doesn't understand me either, but she smiles, waves and gets on with her task.



Sirius


One of today's tasks is to finally brew the Polyglot potion. Now that Remus has the books out he checks the recipe and I check all the ingredients. We seem to have everything and I start brewing with Hermione. Ginny joins us and helps preparing the ingredients.

"Ooh, that looks pretty complex," she says, when she looks at the recipe.

"It's quite demanding, but I think we shouldn't have a problem. It's not as difficult as the Polyjuice potion," says Hermione.

I stare at her in shock! What does she know about Polyjuice potion apart from the fact that Crouch jr has used it to impersonate Mad-Eye Moody?

"What do you know about Polyjuice potion?" I ask her.

"Only that I've brewed it in second year," Hermione says with a smug smirk.

My jaw drops. Then I ask her in a strict tone:

"And what did you have to do this for? That was definitely illegal... I happen to know in which book this potion is to be found and that particular book is in the restricted section of the library!"

"I know. We used a stall in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. We were looking for proof that Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin, but it turned out he wasn't - of course. Harry and Ron impersonated Malfoy's goons to get into the Slytherin common room with him and get information..."

"Oh my! Rather they than I! - Okay, now let's pay attention to what we do here. Do you have the snake's tongues ready? They go first, together with the Armadillo bile and the water. - And you actually brewed it right?"

"I did."

"Wow... then this here must be fairly easy for you."

We concentrate and all three of us work together quite nicely. The potion is complex, but it takes only about four hours. I'm very careful that we do everything right, but compliment both girls in the end. I have to admit that Snape, however mean he is to the kids, really teaches them well. They are both very adept at Potions.

"Well done. That would be ten points to Gryffindor... you both seem to have a knack for potions..."

"I really like it. It's amazing what you can do with potions," says Hermione.



Remus


My job today is to work on the wards. It keeps me busy for the whole day around the house. Housi joins me for a while and asks what I'm doing.

"I'm setting up protective wards. All six of us are targets of a very ugly individual who's after our lives, so that's why we came here, away from England. He's a most unpleasant character who tries to take over the wizarding world. His goal is probably to rot out all Muggles in the process and of course also Muggle born witches and wizards, like Hermione. Her parents are Muggles like you. So now I'm setting up wards and alarms. If anyone magical tries to trespass here there will be an alarm. There will be several layers of wards, so no one can apparate inside of the building. I'm including your house as well, because if they should actually be able to find us, you will need the protection, too."

"And this works?"

"Yes, this works. It is going to be very hard for bad people to get through my wards, as they are one of my specialities."

"That's comforting..."

I smile. I have done most of the wards by the afternoon. When I go inside of the house again, Sirius is just serving the potion to the teens and himself. I watch them drink it and then say:

"From now on I'm only going to speak Bernese German. I'll now invite Housi and Barb into the fold and tell them to talk to you all as much as they can, so you get the hang of it. It takes several days until you will be fluent. But I guarantee that you'll understand it immediately."

Barb is delighted that she will be able to speak with them all now. She offers to show them how to tend to the garden. The children are very helpful and do all the weeding by hand. Barb also teaches them how to make bread and every morning one of the teens goes to get the eggs from the henhouse. The elderly couple stays around us a lot until my friends start to be fluent in the new language. They also start to understand the programs they watch on TV, even though most of it is in German, not Swiss German. They have to adjust to that, but after a week I give them books to read in German and they learn that as well.

We regularly go on shopping trips to get the groceries. I am the one who has to do the driving, but Sirius also takes over now and then. We also shop for Housi and Barb who are happy they don't have to drive very often anymore.

Sirius and I have found together again. Every night when the door is closed we set up silencing charms and enjoy being together, finding our way back to the same intensive sex life we have enjoyed before we were ripped apart so brutally. The only difference to our youth is that we are now much more relaxed. We sit together on the sofa in the living room one evening and Sirius updates his knowledge in Transfiguration theory. We don't even notice that the kids are in the room. I sit in the corner of the sofa, Sirius next to me, but all of a sudden I find his head in my lap and I play absent-mindedly with his hair like we had done so often back in school and our home. My book rests on the back of the sofa, Sirius holds his on his chest and we both continue reading, but Sirius almost purrs when my hand moves and brushes over his cheek. Sirius drops his book on his chest and looks up to me. I notice the glance, lower my own book and smile at my lover. Sirius' hand comes up and caresses my face.

"Almost like back in the Gryffindor tower, love," he whispers.

"Only the sofa here has this very practical corner, love..." I reply.

And all of a sudden we become aware of where we are. We turn our heads to see four fairly baffled teenagers staring at us.

"Ooops..." Sirius says, blushes and I feel the heat rising in my own cheeks as well.

The girls cover their mouths and stifle the bubbling of a giggle with their hands. Ron blushes almost as badly as the two of us. Harry just sits there on the carpet, stares at us and tries to say something, only nothing comes out.

Sirius takes a deep breath. He quickly sits up again and looks at me.

"You two are gay???" Ron cries out all of a sudden.

"So that's why you didn't mind sharing a room..." Harry finally manages and a grin starts to spread on his face.

But then Hermione clears the tension in beaming at us and sitting down next to us to give us both a hug.

"You know I thought there was more in that hug in the Shrieking Shack than you two would let on? I'm happy for you, you fit together perfectly."

"You thought...? - Hermione, you were only thirteen!" Sirius stutters.

"So? I was brought up in an extremely liberal surrounding, you know. My parents talked about things with me."

"Why, thank you for your well wishes. - Yes, Remus and I are a couple. We were going to tell you one of these days, but you have to know that it's very recent that we have found back together again. It's been a week only. So can you forgive us for not falling all over you and telling you? We needed some time to really get together again."

"Together - again?" Ron mouths.

"So this is not new?" Harry asks.

"No, Harry, this isn't new. We've been together for a long time. We got together during school already. Actually we've struggled a bit to come together again now," Sirius explains.

"But we love each other. And always will," I add.

"Well, great..." Harry says.

"I hope you will not be uncomfortable because of it, because it's really important for us and we both need each other..." I say.

"Will take some getting used to it, I think, but I don't mind," Harry assures us and smiles.

"That is a great relief for me, Harry! We've been very afraid of this moment, as most gay couples are, there's still enough homophobia around, you know," Sirius says.

"Well, we can live with it, I guess, so if you don't mind, I'd like to see the programme we were watching," Ron says.

"What's this anyway?" I ask.

"I'm trying to work that out myself," Ron replies.

"It's a soap opera, you dolt!" says Ginny, "and it's actually really no good, but there's a film about wolves afterwards, and I was first to claim it, so we're going to see it."

We have decided that they have to study the TV program beforehand, mark what they want to see and that the television otherwise stays put off.

"Oh..." I say weakly.

It only reminds me that the moon is going to be full in two nights. I'm taking my potion faithfully and we have prepared the cellar, but Sirius is still intent on not letting me transform in there. I try to remain adamant, but Sirius has another idea:

"No, Moony! We'd rather go over to the barn, we can moonward it. Then you'd at least have some space to run! You'd almost kill yourself in that cellar."

"Not with the potion."

"Because you wouldn't even need to lock yourself up with the potion. I won't let you in there."

"I might as well get used to it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You haven't brewed the potion yet, what if yours doesn't turn out right? Until we're sure of that I will go in there."

"Oh yes, and rip yourself open and all? We'll ward the barn. The kids, Housi and Barb will stay indoors and that's it."

I can't help it, I'm moved to tears and I embrace Sirius and bury my face in the crook of my lover's neck. Sirius holds me tightly.



Sirius


HA! I've won that argument. We spend the full moon night in a happy romp around the barn, which has already been emptied completely and up on the haystack. After several hours we drop in the remaining hay and sleep peacefully until the morning comes. I awake early again and transform back. I feel a warm, moist snout sniffling and a long pink tongue licking my hand. I caress the snout and the head tenderly. Moony lifts his head again, eyes wide open, but he doesn't attack. I smile and pull the wolf closer.

"I love you, Moony. I'll never stop loving you, both you and the wolf. You're so beautiful. And since you're so nice right now, how about going back and into our bedroom? Then I won't have to carry you in there."

It's dawning when I lead the wolf over to the kitchen entrance. Across the small open space between the two houses, Barb is just coming out of her house and freezes, when she sees the big wolf. Moony stops for a moment and sniffs. I turn, see Barb and hiss:

"You stay nice, Remus, stick right by my side!"

Then I relax, when Remus looks up to me and nods. I wave to Barb and wish her a good morning.

"Don't worry, Barb, he's being a nice boy. And yes, it's a wolf, but you'll only see him once a month here and he doesn't chase much beyond rabbits."

Barb, who has a lovely Bernese mountain dog, comes closer and looks at the wolf curiously. She's really interested in everything we are and do and she's such a kind person that we answer every one of her questions. She asks:

"Did I just hear you call this wolf Remus?"

"You did. Because he IS Remus."

"What?"

"Remus is a werewolf. When the moon is full he transforms into the wolf for the night. Which is why we have to get inside now, it's nearly time for the moonset and he'll transform back. He hates for anyone to see this. - See you later!"

"Oh! See you later then. And hopefully it's over soon, Remus!"

Remus all but runs to the door and waits for me to open it for him. I have to take the wards down and open the door. Ginny is in the kitchen and makes herself some coffee. When she sees the wolf charging inside, she freezes. So does Remus. I grin.



Ginny


"Morning, Ginny. Don't drop the mug, please. Remus is okay, just tired and wants to go to bed," Sirius tells me.

"Phew!" I make, relieved. If Sirius is okay and unharmed then I expect to remain so, too.

Remus slinks by me, but I just have to give him a quick hug. He's really impressive, bigger than a natural wolf, almost grey, with some light brown hairs in the grey fur. His golden eyes are really a wolf's eyes. His long snout shows some gleaming white fangs, which look terribly dangerous. I know he's had his potion and that potion is supposed to tame him to keep his own mind, so I guess I'm safe.

"Sleep well, Remus!" I say and scratch him behind the ears.

While Remus and Sirius go upstairs, I hum.

"Wow! I've petted a werewolf!" I tell myself, still in awe.

Remus

I transform back only about ten minutes later and I'm really quite angry at Sirius. But I can't stay awake long enough to really shout at my lover. Sirius just puts me to bed and kisses me on the nose.

"Love you, sweetheart, now sleep!"

When I get up in the afternoon we have to discuss and prepare our tutoring. We sit down in the study and work out a teaching plan and a schedule. Hermione is already busy tutoring Ginny in the fourth year courses, mainly in Charms, Transfiguration and Potions, subjects in which she really has to know the fourth year stuff. Ginny is very capable in all three subjects and she will get along well with the fifth year material, I'm sure about that and glad at the same time.

"So, you'll take over Potions, Transfiguration, Arithmancy and could you do the Herbology theory with them? I'm hopeless when it gets to Herbology..." I say to Sirius.

"Well, I think we can try. Though you might remember that I wasn't much better, but then, Professor Sprout hasn't seen too much of me during school... But I'll concentrate on the main subjects. Harry and Ron will have some work catching up with the Arithmancy, I'm not willing to do Divination with them," Sirius replies.

"Same with me. I'll do Defence, Charms, History and Ancient Runes with them. We'll all give them first hand experience with Muggle Studies, so they will be able to take OWLS in that."

"Well, I'd say we have our crate filled, Remus. They're only four of them luckily."

"Yes, I'm pretty glad about that, too. So, we'll make it uncomplicated, I'll do Monday and Tuesday all day with them and then the morning of Wednesday. You have the rest. That will give us two lots of time to prepare lessons and grade papers."

I note it down and make a schedule. I'd start off with a double lesson of Defence on Monday morning, continue with History and Ancient Runes, then they will have the lunch break and a double lesson of Charms in the afternoon. Then repeat the same on the next day. Wednesday morning will be used for whatever we fancy, do some practical work for Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures theory or doing research for some homework. The afternoon can be used for duelling practice. Thursday will be two periods of Transfiguration, Arithmancy and Herbology and Potions in the afternoon. Friday will be a repetition of Thursday.

"Quick and easy," Sirius grins.

"You're right. And they still get enough free time. If we make dinner the main meal then we won't need more than one and a half hours at lunch. We'll start at eight in the morning, work until almost noon and then they will be off by three thirty in the afternoon. Enough time to do the homework and still get some time to play."



Sirius


Harry's birthday is coming up. I take the girls on an outing during which we get the gifts for Harry. Ron has chipped in with Ginny to choose something nice. We explore the thankfully Malfoy free wizarding part of Bern again and venture into the Muggle part to look for a couple of CDs. I'm delighted to find that lots of music by my old favourites is still around on those new CDs, which I find great, and so I spend quite a lot of money. Hermione, Remus and I have put the money together for a computer. We have a telephone and will have access to what Hermione calls internet as well. Ginny makes big round eyes, when Hermione sets up the computer in the front room. Everything they need has already been installed at the shop. Now they get some games to add and some other fun stuff. Hermione teaches us all how to use the computer. When she prints out a short text we quickly decide to accept any assignment printed out from the computer. It would be a lot easier to read than some of Ron's or Harry's scribbling Remus and I both tease the boys.

Without realising it at first the teens slowly blend Muggle and wizarding lifestyles. They do the gardening by hand, they often cook by hand, they read Muggle books, they love to listen to Muggle music and watch TV, play on the computer and play Muggle games. They use spells for almost everything from doing the laundry to washing the dishes. Sometimes they cook magically. They fly on their brooms and play some Quidditch.

We celebrate Harry's birthday with a party, to which we also invite Housi and Barb as well as Fritz and Klara. The latter two have already come and seen the house and admired it greatly. Hermione and Ginny have gone over to Barb to bake a lovely cake for Harry, while Remus and I cook the dinner. Ron has shooed Harry out of the house and Housi has taken him on a drive to the closest river, armed with fishing rods to have a quiet time of angling. So Ron is now decorating the kitchen and the area around the table on the outside for the party. When Harry and Housi return everything is ready and we welcome the guests. There are some guests from home, too, as Albus Dumbledore brings Minerva McGonagall, Arthur and Molly Weasley, the twins and the Grangers along. The table has been laid outside and once everyone is there, we all sit down and enjoy a wonderful dinner. Molly has brought a cake, too. The twins have brought some fireworks and other items out of their joke fabrication and are delighted, when they catch Fritz and Klara unawares. Luckily the two of them have a solid sense of humour! Remus and I have strictly forbidden them to try anything on our Muggle neighbours. Once we have eaten, Harry opens his gifts and thanks all of us. There are tears in his eyes, this is his first real birthday party after all. The children spend some time among themselves afterwards and Housi and Barb go back to their own house. Fritz and Klara leave, too, as they both have to work tomorrow. Remus and I are happy to show off our house. Arthur, Molly and Minerva are impressed with my work. The Grangers don't even know what to say when they hear every piece of furniture has been 'made' magically.

"This looks marvellous," Molly says and Minerva is astonished how perfectly we mix Muggle and wizarding worlds.

"It came so naturally. It's a Muggle house, but we have a lot of magical things with us, the complete furnishing is magically done, same goes for all the floors."

Arthur is of course eager to learn everything about the Muggle appliances.



Harry


I'm having the best birthday of my life. All the people I love are here to share it. It really couldn't be any better. We teenagers have some fun in the forest while Remus and Sirius show off the house. The twins find the area brilliant and wish they could stay for a few days. It's almost midnight, when we finally return to the house, but no one hurries us home, so we just sit down at the table outside, which Remus has now fitted with some fairy lights.

"Did you get around the country already?" George asks.

"Not too much, we've only been here for ten days, don't forget. But we're already speaking the local language now, which is fun," says Ron.

"Remus promised us that we'll get some outings still. We already know our schedule for the school year and it's going to be the coolest kind of school you can have, I'm sure. Both of them are really great!" Ginny says.

"That's true. Ginny and I helped Sirius brew the Polyglot potion and now we're all three working to learn to master the Wolfsbane potion for Remus. He's still got his supply from Snape," Hermione chimes in.

"That sounds great!" Fred says.

"Yes, I really almost envy you! We'd miss Quidditch though. And we won't have our brilliant seeker!"

"Who knows, I might be allowed to come for the matches... I can always train here. As a seeker I don't need to be included in all the strategy stuff..." I say.

"We can ask Professor McGonagall in any case..." muses Fred.

"Ask me what, Weasley?" the crisp voice of our head of house comes from the other side of the long table. Darn, she never misses anything.

"Oh - you heard... well, we'll be out of our seeker for the school year..."

"Yes, unfortunately," McGonagall confirms.

"So we thought, that maybe Harry would be allowed to come to the matches..."

"I don't think that's wise, Weasley. First of all he won't be able to train with the team and then he shouldn't show his face in England at all for a while..."

"But if he would be playing it would look as if he was there and it wouldn't be obvious that he's left the country... they might keep searching for him there..." George says.

"We'll have to think about that. I'm still not convinced. Harry's safety is more important than the Quidditch Cup, Weasley! Besides, if no one sees him at Hogwarts during regular classes it wouldn't change a thing, only endanger him more."

"She's right about that one, you know," says Ron to his twin brothers.

"Yes, I guess she is..." Fred admits sadly, "That means, we not only have to find a new Keeper, but a new Seeker as well. I think, we'll have Angelina as team captain."

The party finally ends shortly after midnight, when our guests from the U.K. leave and return home. They use Portkeys. Remus, Sirius and we kids clear up using magic and go to bed. We all sleep well into the next day.



Hermione


I still can't believe I'm here and safe! My parents tell me they have settled in at their new house. Not even I know where it is now. It will be very hard for them to rebuild their practice after that attack and the loss of the house. Luckily the insurance accepted the claim and they would have a full replacement. But so many memories are lost, so much of what we all loved is gone up in ashes. In the end there's only one thing that matters, we're all alive and well, nothing is more important than that.

Today starts off sunny. I sit up in my bed, pull the curtains open and get up. The window is open and I stretch, looking over the geraniums out in the open. I will never tire of this view. We're in a valley, but high up on the northern side of it. The house faces south and we get to see the mountains really close. I smile, then stretch once more and start to look through the geraniums to pick off the wilted ones. I have taken over from where Barb left, caring for the flowers on the window sills and on the stone terrace which runs along the front of the house between the façade and the garden. This done I banish the flowers to the compost in the garden below, pick up my dressing gown and go to take a quick shower. I'm perfectly happy right now. True, I do miss my parents, but I'm with my best friends and my favourite teacher and my probably soon to be other favourite teacher, judging from the way we worked on that potion together. I'm almost able to forget there is a Voldemort and Death Eaters running around.

'It's been a month now and not the slightest word about anything,' I muse.

The Daily Prophet has never even brought anything about Death Eater activities, not even in hushed tones. Only comments from the Ministry that the rumours Dumbledore spreads are just that, rumours, and that there's not the slightest sign of Voldemort having returned. Dumbledore has not been able to tell us anything else though and neither has Arthur Weasley, so maybe they are really only gathering their forces right now and the attacks on my family and the Weasleys were warnings for Harry. Mr. Weasley has worked tirelessly among the more open minded Ministry employees and has even found a tireless helper in Amos Diggory, so at least some people are prepared for the things to come. It's strange to know we're on the eve of a war. Have people felt like that before the First and Second Muggle World War as well, I wonder?

I push those thoughts out of my mind and get dressed. I traipse downstairs to start the breakfast. While I'm busy I hear someone else coming down, turn around and see Ginny joining me.

"Hey! Did I wake you up?" I ask her.

She shakes her head and says: "No, you didn't. Good morning Hermione."

"Morning, Ginny."

We both take a mug of tea outside and sit down on the stoop of the kitchen door to enjoy the morning sun. The kitchen isn't the brightest spot in the house and we have to turn on the light when we are in there for most of the time. It runs behind the three front rooms and has only one window on the side of the house, next to the entrance. The other end of the kitchen is now the bathroom, which holds the window on the other side. But the door to the outside faces east, so we have the morning sun. We sit in companionable silence. Harry comes down next and joins us.

"Hi girls!"

"Morning, Harry!" we both say.

"And how lovely it is," he smiles, "Did you sleep well?"

"Wonderfully, thanks, Harry. You're quite the charmer today," says Ginny, looking up at him. I wonder if she still holds on to her crush for him.

"Well, I'm feeling so perfectly happy right now, I have to show it to everyone else!"



Harry


The girls move apart and let me sit down between them. I love them both; a lot. I've been trying to sort out my feelings for the two since they have come to live with us. Ginny is sweet. She shows signs of becoming a very powerful witch, but so far she still needs to grow into that, as she is still very shy and rarely speaks up. Though she did start to become more outspoken lately. She is undoubtedly a very lovely girl, too. She takes after her father and is slender, freckled, her coppery red hair hanging way below her shoulder blades. Hermione is still quite small for her age, but the same goes for myself. She is quite well developed by now and I throw a quick glance at her chest. Hermione's hair is as bushy as ever, but lovely and soft, and it hangs down almost as long as Ginny's. She has only two or three stray freckles on her nose, which I really think is very cute. Both girls have almost the same colour of dark brown eyes. Both have a lovely nose, Ginny's is a bit longer.

Their looks is one thing, they're both good looking, but I also like their personality. Naturally I'm a lot closer to Hermione than to Ginny. Ginny's everlasting crush on me doesn't help because until recently she's been so blocked around me. Now she opens up a bit and doesn't sputter around me and I'm glad to see that she isn't prone to embarrassing little accidents anymore. It seems to me that I can now start to know the Ginny Ron knows and loves. Hermione is more serious than Ginny, that much is clear. Which doesn't mean she doesn't have a sense of humour. Oh dear, my thoughts about the girls turn around in circles. It might be best to just hang around them a lot and maybe I'll be able to find out. Having a sudden inspiration I get up again after a while and say:

"I'm going to wake Ron. See you later!"

I run up the stairs and don't even bother to knock when I invade Ron's bedroom. I pull the curtains open and hop on the bed next to a groaning Ron, who turns around and moans:

"Harry!!! It's not your birthday anymore, you know! You've no right to wake me up this early!"

"Early? It's close to ten! Rise and shine, honey! - Listen, Ron, I have a fairly important question..."

"A question? What about?"

"It's difficult... but I want to be totally fair. Are you still interested in Hermione? You know, like in going out with Hermione..."

"Harry! Of course not! And what do you mean by 'still'? It was never like that!!!"

"Are you dead sure about that?" I ask, a bit breathless.

"Why do you want to know? - Oh! You have a crush on her, don't you?"

I blush a bit. No, I think, I'm blushing badly.

"I'm sorting out things," I say evasively.

"Aha! Well, I'm still sorting mine out, but I can definitely tell you, I'm not looking at Hermione that way... good luck, mate."

"It's difficult, Ron! I look at Ginny and think she's incredibly sweet, then I think of all that I've already been through with Hermione and think she's just impossibly nice and both of them are very cute and beautiful... how am I going to solve this???"

"By not making my sister unhappy!" Ron growls.

"As if I would want to do something like that! But if I land with Hermione she might be very unhappy for a while, Ron! I don't know if she's still got that crush, but she'll be hurt in any case if I fall for Hermione."

"Well, you're on your own in that department. I can't help you solve this."

"Do you have a crush on someone?"

"No," Ron says curtly. And adds, after a few moments: "And if I had it would not be someone with breasts..."

I stare at Ron. Is he telling me he's gay?

"Ron? Do you think you're rather playing for the other team?"

"'M not sure. It's just that girls don't seem to turn me on in any way," he admits with another blush.

"Listen to your wet dreams, then... they should tell you what you like," I grin.

Ron blushes again. Then he admits:

"That's why I think I'm gay."

"Look at Remus and Sirius, I don't think there's anything you need to be ashamed about, Ron. It's just a bit more difficult to find someone in your life."

"I know."

"Did you tell anyone else yet?"

"No. As I said, I'm still not sure."

"I see. - Will you get up now?"

Ron throws a pillow at me and says:

"After having been woken up so brutally, well, yes, I think so."

"Good! We're outside," I say cheerfully and run out of his room.

When I reach the terrace I find Ginny practicing Charms with Hermione. They have my last year's book out and are going through all the charms we learned in fourth year.

"How are you doing, Ginny?" I ask her.

"Quite well, Harry! We've been through most of the spells by now."

"That's great. You'll be perfectly ready to join our classes then."

"I expect to. That will mean that I'll be able to take my OWLS with you guys! And if we can go back to Hogwarts I'll be allowed to move up to your grade!"

"And you'll have school finished one year earlier."

"Only means I'll probably have to wait longer to get my apparition license."

Remus turns up on the living room window.

"Good morning everyone!"

"Hi Remus!" we call back in unison.

"Are you girls working?"

"Yes, Remus."

"So you'd better keep doing that. Harry, do you want to come along shopping?"

"Yep!" I say and jump up.

Remus and I get into the car and drive off to the usual shops to get the groceries for ourselves and our neighbours. Barb has given Remus a list and some money. I guard both. We start at the butcher's and move on to the dairy to get our supply of milk, cream and cheese. Finally we have to go to the shopping centre where we get everything we couldn't get in the specialised shops. I always enjoy the time I can spend alone with either Remus or Sirius. We're always able to talk about things privately.

"Remus?" I ask, while we carry our bags to the car.

"Hm?"

"How did you know Sirius was the one? How did you find out what you felt for him was love?"

Remus smiles.

"I'm not really a good person to ask that question, Harry. The wolf had a lot to say as to who I fell in love with."

"Didn't you ever like someone before Siri?"

"I did. - Or, I thought I did. It's not the same. I actually had relationships with a couple of people, before I was with Sirius and after he'd been taken to Azkaban, but I can't really tell you anything about the how. The wolf did not fully accept them anyway. You might rather ask Sirius that one, he was much less sure in the beginning than I was. I think, Moony had decided on first sight that this was his mate."

"Oh, I forgot the mating part."

"It is a good part, believe me. Neither your godfather nor I thought about ever separating. We wouldn't have, which is why he finally decided not to be the Secret Keeper of your parents. He couldn't have left me. And he suspected me, so he thought once he was your Secret Keeper, he wouldn't be able to resist me if I tried to pry the secret from him."

"That makes sense in a way."

"Which is why I have forgiven him, too. He loved me through all of this. Even though he suspected me, he loved me."

I smile.

"He chose well!"

"Thank you, Harry. - Why do you ask this question? Are you in love?"

"I don't know. That's rather why I'm asking it. I want to know if there's a way one can know for certain that one's in love. I don't think I am that far..."

"I think, if you really are, you will know for good."

"What if one likes more than one person? And can't decide?"

We have put the groceries into the car and sit inside again. Remus closes the belt, starts the car and looks back to get out of the parking space. He is clearly amused and replies:

"Then one should wait for a while longer. I'm quite sure there are signs which one is the right one. And in the end there's always the possibility that it's someone entirely different, you know."

"This is too complicated," I grumble.

"If it is something serious I would not play around if I were you, Harry, even if it is just an option right now. If it's just for experimenting go ahead, but don't leave the girl in the dark. You're torn between Ginny and Hermione, aren't you?"

I nod. He's damn perceptive. Or I'm damn obvious, that is probably more the case.

"And I don't want to hurt either one. I like them both to bits, but I don't know how I can figure out which one I like more..."

"There's no recipe for that, I think. How about you follow the advice you gave Ron before? It was a useful one..."

"Oh, you heard that?"

"You left the door open and, well, there's my hearing... sorry about that."

"So you know about Ron, too?"

Remus nods.

"He'll not like that."

"We won't mention it, Harry. If he needs more advice he knows where to find us."

I sigh.

When we get back home, I take Barb's shopping over to her and help her stowing it all away. She looks at me and says:

"I've seen you with your two friends this morning. They are lovely girls, Harry."

"They are! Hermione has been my best friend since almost the beginning of school at Hogwarts. She's always top of our year. Right now she's teaching Ginny, so Ginny will be able to join us in our classes."

"Are you a bit in love with her?"

"I don't know. - I like her. A lot. But I also like Ginny. A lot. So I just can't seem to figure it out."

"That's tough. Why don't you spend time with only one of them at a time. That should help you figuring it out... the way I understand it you will only start school in September, is that right?"

"Yes. That's how it is in Britain."

"We used to have that here, too, now it's different. It used to be that farmer's children needed to help their parents in the summer, but that's of course not necessary anymore, so they've mostly changed the vacation patterns."

I consider her advice and I'm a bit more cheerful when I return to the farmhouse. I ask Hermione if she wants to go for a walk with me.



Hermione

"A walk? That would be lovely..."

We start off through the pasture right behind the house and up the hill until we reach the top, then we sit down in the grass. It has been mowed a month ago and is growing back slowly. I pull out a blade of grass and chew on it. I always do that when I'm nervous and I'm very nervous right now. Harry usually only goes on a walk with me when he's stressed out but today he's all relaxed and seems cheerful. Harry flops down on his back and stares into the sky.

"I wonder where all the cows are..." he says.

"Housi told me that most of them are higher up in the mountains in summer. So the farmers can harvest the grass here for the winter feeding."

"Oh, I see."

"I love it here. And you?" I ask.

"It seems so unreal. Don't you think so, too? So far away and we're not even far from the next town. But you notice nothing of it."

"That's true."

"But yes, I really like it here, too. - What's not to like? We're a family and we have another month free of school and we have Remus and Sirius around all the time. Even in class it won't be much different with them..."

I laugh softly. How typical it is that Harry would name the family as his source of happiness. Yes, I enjoy that, too, having my three friends around like siblings. Though I would have liked one of them rather not as a sibling. I look down on Harry. Those eyes... gosh, I've never seen any green eyes like these. They are like emeralds.



Harry


I notice she's staring at me and it gives me a fuzzy feeling. Does that mean she'd be interested in taking our friendship one step further?

"I'm looking forward to them teaching us, Harry. We can learn so much more being only four of us in the class. This will be great!" she says.

Before I can reply, a figure appears just a few metres away from us at the edge of the forest. He is dressed in black robes, so my first thought is Death Eater, but then I notice that there's no mask and the hood of his cloak is down. It's Snape. Hermione realises it at the same time.

"Snape? What does he want here?" I wonder in a low voice.

"No idea," she replies and then calls: "Professor Snape!!!"

Snape looks up and comes close. We both get up and greet him:

"Hello, Professor. Did you want to come to Remus and Sirius?" Hermione asks.

"Have to. Where do I find the place you live?" he asks back curtly, ever the same old miserable overgrown bat.

"You're pretty close actually, it's the farmhouse over there." Hermione points at the house.

"Ah! No need to accompany me, I'll get there." He snaps and turns around.

"Everyone's probably on the terrace at the front of the house, next to the garden."

Snape nods and stalks off. Hermione and I follow him a bit slower. He surely has news, we don't want to miss out if we can listen in on the conversation with Remus and Sirius.



Remus


Sirius and I are sitting in two comfortable deck chairs and read. Sirius is still going through all the theory for his Transfiguration lessons. He is almost done with that and has the Potions books already waiting next to him on the ground. All of a sudden I see Severus walk up to us.

"Oh, hello Severus. Come, sit down under the sunshade - you would melt otherwise, it's pretty warm today."

"Lupin - Black! I'd better, yes. I'm bringing the school materials you'll need for the next school year and I'm also bringing you news that you will have to add two more students to your group. - Do you remember Blaise Zabini?"

"Yes, now a fifth year Slytherin," I confirm.

"His parents have been killed. He only escaped because he had been with his grandmother at the time. We have him safely at Hogwarts right now."

"Death Eaters?"

"Yes."

"Now why would they kill Slytherins?" Sirius asks.

"They were not inclined to follow the Dark Lord, Black. Reason enough to kill even purebloods. Not every Slytherin follows the Dark Lord. That's one. The other is Justin Finch-Fletchley. Hufflepuff."

"I remember Justin, too. - Oh, some more visitors, just a moment, Severus, I'll have to tend to them, they are the people who will reconstruct the part of the house which is going to become the class room."

I get up and walk over to where two persons climb out of a car. I greet them and lead them to the house, where we discuss some details about when the construction work would be starting. I guide them to the very back of the house and we look at the former stable.

"Could you possibly rebuild this into bedrooms and bathrooms?"

"Of course we could. We thought we should offer to do that part as well, but you never mentioned anything..."

"Yes. The reason is that the necessity only came up right now. We will have some more pupils, so it would be great to have this done, too."

"We could draw out some plans and give you some ideas in a few days if you like. How many rooms will you need?"

"Well, this is about the same size as the front rooms and kitchen on the other side, isn't it?"

"Yes. Looks like this is about it."

"That would mean two rooms on the inside, one bathroom in between and three rooms to the outside wall on the first two floors and three more rooms and a bathroom on the upper floor. Just in case they decide to dump more students on us."

The architect laughs and says, serious again:

"But we won't get that done before September."

"That won't matter. The two more we will get for sure can bunk with the two boys."

"Good. You'll have our ideas within two days."



Sirius


I summon some iced tea for us all to drink. Ginny sits at the table under the sunshade and writes a letter for her parents. Ron is sitting in the front room and plays on the computer.

Snape looks around.

"Pretty place..." he growls. I bet he begrudges us the pleasure to have an easy way out of the war right now..

"Yes, it is. We're all happy here, believe me. It's like a small bit of heaven after all I've been through. The kids are great, too. I'm sure, Blaise and Justin will adjust well and be just as happy."

"You're going to teach them Potions, I suppose? Lupin wasn't worth much in that subject..."

"Yes. Right now I've worked through all the Transfiguration theory again, the fifth year bit in any case, I'm ready to go through the Potions now. Will you give me what you've planned to do with them?"

"I've got it all here with me. - Were these people Muggles?"

"Yes, don't do any magic until they are gone. The neighbours and former owners of the house are Muggles, too, but they know about us and they're comfortable with it."

Hermione and Harry have sat down at the table, too. Harry has gone to get some glasses and more iced tea. He takes out a game to play with Hermione and Ginny joins them once she has finished her letter. We see Remus showing the architects to their car and once they are gone he joins us again. A slight wind starts to blow. Then, as we continue talking, I notice the sky covering and I'm not the only one. By now we have learned that this is a sign for a hefty thunderstorm, so we quickly banish everything inside.

"You better turn the computer off, Ron!" Hermione calls.

"Why?"

"Impending thunderstorm! Computers don't like that much."

"Oh. - Okay."

Barb's dog comes running inside with us. He feels the coming tempest, too. And really, not long after that we hear the first claps of thunder and see the first bolts of lightning. The kitchen is getting as dark as night and we turn on the light.

"Let's go to the living room. Though we will have to turn on the light there, too," I suggest.

We sit down and Snape resizes the packages he has brought. There is the syllabus for all the subjects we intend to teach, then there are the school books for the children, including the ones for the two boys who would be added to the group, then there are all the potions ingredients that came in dried form.

"I'll send you all the fresh parts when you need them. Or can you get them locally?"

"We have to go to Bern, but that's okay, I can get them here. It's a good sized apothecary. And maybe I can owl order them," I say.

"Just hope that next time there won't be any Lucius Malfoy walking past when we're in it..." Remus remarks.

"Lucius? In Switzerland? What was he doing there, I wonder..."

"No idea, and we didn't wait to find out, we had the shop owner show us an alternative exit and were out of there," I say.

"That was probably wise. Well, inquire and tell me if you should need anything sent. We can always use Anana, though it would be better if you can get them locally," Snape says.

"That's good then. - So the attacks have started?" asks Remus.

"In a way. Not much so far, but I know of several raids already. That Zabini killing was a routine bullying thing though. He wants to point out that he won't take 'no' for an answer."

"How does Fudge react?" I ask.

"Not at all of course, what would you think, Black? No, they are quick to hush it all up, but we have order members who usually get there before the Aurors do and they take the tracks and pictures. When the time is right we'll play them into the hands of the Daily Prophet. We have already gathered some evidence that Aurors are to put memory charms on neighbours so they won't remember seeing the Dark Mark."

"Fudge is dangerous!" I remark.

"And he sits right in Lucius Malfoy's pocket, because he already got so many 'donations' that he's an easy target for blackmail. Lucius practically orders him around. All we need is some proof for it and we'll get it. Then we can possibly do Fudge in," Snape says.

"If he hasn't already consolidated his power too well to be touched! Anything you could do about catching Pettigrew?" I ask.

"I've only seen him once so far. I think Voldemort keeps him out of sight. But I've only been summoned three times. The first time wasn't pleasant."

"But you were able to get back into the fold?" Remus asks, wide-eyed.

"More or less. I think I'm still on probation, but I'll get there. I know very well how to handle Voldemort. I'm just afraid that I will be the cause of some deaths. He's already ordered me to brew several poisons and I can't have them all fail."

"You do need to prove yourself. That's an ugly job, Severus," says Remus and I agree wholeheartedly.

"You've got the nicer end here... never mind. I must be going."

"When will you bring Blaise and Justin?" Remus asks.

"Minerva will do that. I don't know when exactly, I think they won't want anyone to know."

"Fine. We'll just arrange that Harry moves in with Ron then. Until we have the back part of the house reconstructed they will have to bunk together."

"They should survive."

The reconstruction work on the barn starts the next day. The remaining hay has been removed, the whole area thoroughly cleaned and now the workers build in large dormer windows and skylights, make a more solid floor and isolate everything. The ground floor receives glass walls on the two outer walls, doors directly to the outside on both sides, two to the stable side and one to the kitchen. It goes amazingly fast and they have already done quite a lot when the architects come and show us the plans for the stable area of the house. They look very nice, all rooms will be fitted with hardwood floors and the walls will be wood panelled. All three floors will get the regular windows like the ones on the front of the house and dormer windows for the rooms on the inner side. The bathrooms will be inside and have no windows, but we get three of them, one on each floor and the one on the bottom would also be used if needed during class. The architects calculate it will take until the End of October, maybe November until everything will be finished, so they will have to do with the boys being a bit more crowded for a while.

The class room on the ground floor will be fitted with a whiteboard which we can let down from the ceiling. I'll furnish it with two rows of long tables, and some more as the potion stations where the tables will be covered with granite tops. Since the barn area makes for a large part of the house we will have lots of space. The class room floor will be tiled and partly covered with carpets for additional warmth. It also gets fitted for a central heating with floor heating. The upper levels receive hardwood floors, covered with carpets. On the second floor we will set up the library with shelves along the sides and in the middle there is space for some work tables. The top floor will be furnished with several armchairs and sofas and some small tables like a fairly large living room. It will serve as the kid's common room.