Disclaimer: I do not own HP or any of its characters. If I did, HP would have ended completely different and these guys would've gotten the happy ending they so deserve.

Warnings: Molly and Hermione bashing.

Special thanks to Kitty for beta-reading this!

This story is part of the A Bond of Family series.

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There was something weird going on; was the first thought that entered Ron's mind upon entering number twelve Grimmauld Place's living room that morning, finding most of the usual occupants there.

Well, to be honest his first thought had been about being hungry; the whole reason he had finally dragged himself out of bed, but it was a close second upon walking through that door.

It hadn't been his family; scattered around the room that had warranted the thought, nor was it the presence of Hermione curled up with a book in one of the chairs.

The thought had entered his mind because of the other three males sitting in the large comfortable chairs on his other side of the room in front of the fire; or more specifically Harry.

For the last few weeks, Harry had been badly tempered, yelling at the slightest trigger. And although Ron couldn't even claim not to understand; what with every little thing being hidden from him, he had learned not to trigger Harry's temper in any way to avoid being yelled at by his best friend.

Not that Harry ever reached the volume his mother did; not even at his most angry, but it was still in Ron's best interests to avoid an angry Harry at all costs.

And although it stung that the mood swings did not extent to Sirius in any way, Ron took comfort in the knowledge Hermione and even his own mother received a cold shoulder as well.

But either way, it was fairly surprising when, not only Harry was looking a lot more cheery in the last few days since being reunited with Sirius, this morning he was practically beaming as he chatted with the man and Remus; hands gesturing a mile a minute.

And he wasn't the only one; both adults looked blissfully happy; an air of contentment Ron had never witnessed before surrounded them like a warm cloak.

So it was clear to even his thick skull that something big had happened between them going to bed and him waking up this morning.

It wasn't unusual at all for Harry to already be gone from the room by the time Ron even woke up; but it was to see him well rested for a change.

Quickly moving to where Hermione was seated; Ron dropped into the seat beside her as it somehow felt wrong to intrude on their conversation.

"What happened?" rolling his eyes when he failed to get a response, he shook her shoulder and repeated his question when she looked up to him annoyed.

"What do you mean?"

Indicating towards the three, he watched as Hermione glanced at them before shrugging. "I don't see anything wrong with him."

"He is acting unusual."

"Honestly Ronald, he is just having fun with Sirius and Professor Lupin."

"He hasn't really been in any sort of fun mood lately, now has he?" Ron didn't understand how she couldn't see it.

"Hasn't Sirius and to an extent Professor Lupin been excluded from being on the receiving end of his bad temper from the start?" Hermione huffed. "You would think that with how we've always stuck with him, it would be us who he treats normally but instead it are those two."

So Ron wasn't the only one feeling a little put out that Harry treated them differently, but as he opened his mouth to respond he discovered Hermione had already deemed their conversation unimportant and had returned to her book.

Annoyed at being ignored, Ron was about to say something harsh when Remus suddenly roared in laughter; falling off his seat as he did; causing Harry and Sirius to break out in laughter as well and catching the attention of most of the people in the room.

"Honestly, how old are you?" Ron's mother exclaimed with a disapproving look at Sirius.

"Old enough to be laughing at stupid jokes," Remus answered as he climbed back to his feet; allowing Sirius to help him.

The answer seemed to take Ron's mother aback and she huffed before stomping out of the room when Remus simply took his seat again.

"It wasn't a stupid joke," Sirius protested, sticking out his tongue when Harry rolled his eyes.

"Real mature...Paddy," Harry's words send Remus back into a new fit of laughter while Sirius tried and failed to keep his own expression straight.

"Paddy?" Fred and George curiously turned their full attention to the three from their own spot.

Flushing, Harry smiled. "They have been telling me stories about when I was little and apparently I'd refer to Padfoot as Paddy because I couldn't pronounce it properly."

Sirius laughed. "Your mum tried really hard to get you to pronounce it properly; but your dad had given it up as a lost cause since you didn't ever even call me by my full name, so why would my nickname be any different."

"What did he call you, then?" George asked.

"Siri; like everyone in the family did."

"Harry had pretty much every Muggle in our apartment building believing him to be called that; mortifying our elderly neighbour when she addressed him like that one day and only then learned it was a nickname," Remus laughed.

"I like my nickname and I have always been luckier than you," Sirius shot back.

"What did he call you?" Fred shot Harry a grin; and although the dark-haired boy coloured even worse, he didn't even attempt to hide his smile.

"Remy or Mooey."

"He was just a toddler, I couldn't really expect him to call me Remus when his own godfather often called me Rem," Remus shrugged to everyone's amusement.

"What were his first words?" George eagerly leaned forward at the chance to learn more about the boy who had done so much for him and his brother.

"I have to admit that I have been wondering about that, too," Harry admitted and suddenly Ron saw him in a new light.

Of course he'd always known Harry was an orphan, but somehow he had never truly realised what it meant to grow up without a true family.

Stupid things like first words and things like that were natural for Ron to know because his siblings teased him endlessly about his own first words; eat. Silly things he did as a toddler or as a child; his family had loads of fun telling him stories about all the things he'd done when younger.

But Harry didn't know any of that; had never gotten to learn either and now more than ever before did Ron realise just how much Harry must crave knowing things like that.

How much Harry envied him for having a family that loved him.

Suddenly Ron couldn't believe he had been jealous when Harry had been drawn to Sirius upon arriving at Grimmauld Place; been annoyed that his best friend spend so much time with his godfather and not understood at all. Because adults were no fun at all, especially Sirius, who, before Harry arrived had been mostly withdrawn and hiding in the library with Remus.

But now he realised that to Harry, Sirius, and to an extent Remus, were his family, the only one he had ever had. And his only real link to his parents as many people might have known them, no one had known them like the two men sitting beside him had.

And while Ron and his family considered Harry as one of them, he would never truly be a Weasley. Of course he would want to spend as much time as he could with what little true family he had left.

Family that had unrighteous been kept from him for most of his life.

An amused look was shared between the two men before Sirius beamed so widely even Ron had few qualms over what Harry's first words could have possible been.

"Siri," Remus laughed as Harry shook his head fondly.

"I should have known," Harry laughed while Ron had to bite his lip.

Of course.

It made sense that his best friend and godfather used to be really close; the man had escaped from Azkaban and lived of rats for a long time simply because there was a hint of danger to his godson.

People didn't do that for anyone but those they loved most of all and if there was one thing Ron knew without a doubt about Sirius, it was that he loved Harry more than anything.

But only now did he truly realise the feeling was mutual; or at least had been when Harry had been a baby.

Not that Harry hadn't immediately grown to care about Sirius deeply. Something that had made Ron immensely jealous, because Harry didn't warm up that quickly to anyone; not even Ron.

Yet Sirius had gotten a place in Harry's heart instantly, the moment he had convinced him of his innocence.

Ron had been so jealous, knowing Harry had someone in his life willing to give up everything, to risk absolutely everything just to make sure he was safe.

It wasn't something he would ever see his mother doing for him, despite her claims to love him. Not when there were siblings like Ginny and Percy around. But now, despite still being a little jealous of his best friend, he also felt happiness at the knowledge that his friend had someone in his life who truly and utterly loved him for who he was.

Someone who didn't give a bloody hell about his fame or what Harry had accomplished, something his best friend had clearly needed. And even if Ron himself couldn't have that, he could at least try to be happy for his friend.

"You should have," Sirius nodded. "I was terrified James would be mad at me. He had spend weeks trying to get you to say dada before you'd say nama, but you always refused to utter a single recognisable word no matter what he tried to bribe you with."

"But he wasn't?" Harry asked.

"Not at all. Sirius came over after an Order meeting and the moment you spotted him, you loudly squealed 'Siri' while trying to reach him. Sirius was completely caught off guard and it was pure automatism that made him pick you up," Remus laughed. "They all stared at you in shock for a long moment before James burst out in laughter."

"No one was surprised that his name was the first thing you said. I told you before that the two of you were completely smitten with one another from the first moment you met," Remus directed at Harry, all three of them smiling fondly at some shared memory and Ron forced his clenching stomach to behave.

"I think James was slightly upset when your second word was Paddy, though," Remus continued, making Harry laugh.

"Oh he was. He'd been expecting you to pick me first, but second as well? And only minutes after you'd first ushered Siri, too. He kept whining...nooo Harry, say Daddy...Daddy!" Sirius' voice picked up a deeper tone, which made Remus smile warmly and Harry blinked.

"That was you imitating Dad, wasn't it? Poor Dad. Did I say Daddy after that?" Harry asked.

"No, as a matter of fact, you called him James first as none of us had quite realised just how much of an influence Sirius had on you and because he always called James by name, you picked up on it. But he picked up on that quickly enough and once he started calling James and Lily Mummy and Daddy, you took it over easily enough."

"Bad influence all around, huh Pad?"

"That is what your mother would always say if you'd throw one of your tantrums upon me leaving."

"Never stopped either of you, though. You might have always called him your Siri; he called you his Prongslet, too."

Harry blushed, yet laughed as Sirius swiftly pulled him into a hug. "Mine!"

Ron smiled at the action, pleased to see Harry so completely comfortable around the other man where he normally shied away from lingering touches. But he appeared to have no problem with Sirius holding him close.

He turned to Hermione to comment on it softly but sighed when he saw her nose was still hidden in her book, clearly deaf to the conversation around her. She'd be angry later on at having missed it but he couldn't be bothered to alert her and turned back to the conversation.

"Yes, he'd say that any time James jokingly claimed you liked Sirius better," Remus commented while attempting to keep a straight face.

"He did?" Harry asked, leaning back against Sirius' chest when the older man moved him into the chair beside him more properly and kept an arm around his shoulder. Ron suppressed his surprise that they fit into the chair together, despite it being larger than average. But then again, neither of the two males had much flesh on their bones in the first place, so it wasn't exactly a tight fit either as they made themselves comfortable.

"All the time, which would result in you immediately going to give him a hug and a kiss and claim that Harry loved Daddy too. Truly adorable," Remus said with a fond smile.

"You forgot to add that after that he'd move right on to you to give you a sloppy kiss and a hug too, claiming he loved Remy too," Sirius added and this time Remus smiled warmly as he nodded.

"Always made me happy to know I was accepted by you without any hesitation. I especially loved your little hugs, which were a rare thing to be given to anyone besides your parents and Sirius."

"I'd forgotten about that. I was so used to being hugged by you all the time that I didn't realise you rarely hugged anyone besides your parents and me untill Dumbledore came by and you absolutely refused to come anywhere near him."

"Actually no matter who visited you'd attach yourself firmly to Sirius' hip so to speak no matter who it was. If it was someone you liked you'd move Sirius to sit closer to them so you could play with them while being close to Sirius but otherwise you'd make him sit as far away as possible. You really disliked Peter too and were wary of Moody," Remus said with a smile.

Sirius chuckled. "It made Moody proud though that you had the good sense to distrust him. You did like to play with Fabian the times he and Gideon came over though."

"Fabian?" Harry asked confused and the Weasley children straightened a bit at hearing the name.

"You knew uncle Fabian?" Fred asked surprised. Ron gasped. Their Uncle had died when he himself had just been a toddler, how had Sirius known him and Harry, too from the sound of it.

Sirius' smile dimmed. "I was always closer to Fabian than to Gideon, but we all got along brilliantly and remained in contract even after they graduated and before we all joined the Order. They would come over several times; sometimes bringing several of you over to play with Harry when they were babysitting you to unburden your mother after Ron was born. I do know they kept it a secret, though; as she would've castrated them for bringing you into contact with us."

"We played with Harry when he was a baby?"

"They played with me?" Harry and the twins spoke at the same time that Ron asked "So you knew us when we were little?"

At Sirius' nod, the twins immediately moved their chairs to sit closer to the three so that they did not have to strain themselves to talk and Ron immediately followed their example; not even bothering to warn Hermione as she was engrossed with her book.

"I never met you or your sister and only heard the twins mention Percy as their stupid older brother because he yelled all the time for their mayhem, I do believe Charlie and Bill called him a bore, "Sirius answered Ron before turning to the twins.

"And you only came over a handful of times; but the four of you did play with Harry, yes. You would make castles out of blocks and I remember one memorable occasion where Charlie pleaded with us to make dragons fly around it that he ended up chasing. The memory is rather clear because the two of you pranked Charlie when he forgot you both at the sight of them; despite the fact that you weren't the only ones left behind."

"That sounds like Charlie," Fred admitted. "And like us, to retaliate for it."

"It does, Charlie was a menace when it came to any not huggable creature, I can't even remember the amount of times your uncles smuggled him to me for treatment because they didn't dare take him to St Mungo and get your mother's ire called over them," a fond smile crossed over Sirius' lips. "And I don't remember exactly what you did to him any more, but I do remember Harry retaliated by turning your hair blue because Charlie had eventually picked him up to be able to pet the dragons so he didn't like the two of you ganging up on him."

"That's our partner," neither twin looked the least bit put out by the new revelation; making Harry laugh with them and Ron felt another twitch in his stomach he fought to ignore.

Why did his brothers like Harry more than him? From the moment they had met, the twins had been friendly to Harry and not in the awed struck kind of friendly Ginny did either. They were actually sincerely friendly while they were often bitchy with Ron himself and refused to include him in anything.

The others were obvious to the flash of jealously as his brothers leaned forward to pat Harry's back in late congratulations.

"And none of us ever told Mum either?"

"No, Fabian imprinted it on you all that if you told her, they wouldn't be allowed to babysit you any longer or bring you to visit them. The threat of being denied visitations to your Uncle Siri kept all of you quiet easily enough," Remus laughed.

"Uncle Siri?"

"Yeah," Sirius smiled ruefully. "It was Fabian's idea of a joke when first taking Charlie to me. Said it would keep the secret better if he referred to me as Uncle in case he slipped up. He kept it on when we met the rest of you and you've always referred to me and James as your uncles."

"And Mum never found out about that?" George asked incredulous.

"I think we would still hear it today if she had," Remus said, making the others wince as they realised how true that was.

"Who else did Harry like?" Fred asked; clearly sensing the sobering of the mood as the two men remembered older times and wanting to steer them away from it.

"Moody and McGonagall," Remus' words made Harry groan.

"I must have liked her if Sirius considered her as a possible guardian in case something happened to him."

"I think it had more to do with the fact that she had a huge soft spot for you and would turn into a cat whenever you asked her to so that you could play."

"I remember," Remus thoughtfully nodded. "It is why you left your cat with them permanently. Harry loved petting her and Padfoot so much."

"I petted McGonagall while she was in her Animagus form?" Harry's mortified expression made all the Weasleys laugh; despite understanding perfectly why Harry would be so horrified by that knowledge.

"You petted me in my Animagus form as well, yet that doesn't seem to mortify you nearly as much."

"You are my godfather; she is my Professor and Head of House."

"You called her Auntie Minnie," Sirius' offhanded comment increased the horror on Harry's face tenfold and he truly looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.

"I'll never be able to look her in the eye again!"

"If it makes you feel better, I called her mum once when I was really sick and she carried me to the hospital wing like an infant. It eventually managed to look her into her eyes again."

"It took you a while to be able to do so once James told you about it, though," Remus reminded him. "He was as mortified as you are now upon learning about it."

"That does make me feel a little better," Harry admitted.

"I could fill entire books with all the things you were up to as a toddler, pup."

Ron was surprised Harry didn't protest against the endearment Sirius used, but as Harry gave no sign of being uncomfortable by it, he decided to keep his mouth shut as well.

"Please don't. I am mortified enough and don't need you to give them any more ammunition to tease me."

"We wouldn't dare to tease you, Harry," Fred tried to pull a serious face.

"Not in public anyway. Mum would only be too glad…"

"To tell you humiliating things about ourselves."

"That you'd be able to use against us," they concluded together.

"The two of you sound exactly like Sirius and James would at times. It drove most of the Professors crazy when they would complete each other's sentences or just share a look to be able to hold an entire conversation," Remus smiled fondly.

"Never mind Mum, I'd be terrified of their wrath if you'd try to humiliate Harry," Ron shuddered.

"How so?"

"The pranks they'd pull against you in retaliation would be terrifying."

"You are pranksters?" both twins glanced at Sirius and Remus surprised.

"Haven't you paid attention?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Attention?" George asked confused.

"To what was said before. How did Harry call Sirius in his Animagus form?"

"Paddy," Fred answered immediately.

"Why?"

"Because he couldn't pronounce Padfoo…oh…OH!"

"No way!"

"You are Padfoot?"

"The Marauder's Padfoot?"

"Oh! And he called Remus Mooey...Moony! Of course, you are a werewolf," Fred exclaimed.

"That means Harry's dad must have been a Marauder as well," the twins turned to each other with wide eyes and exclaimed at the same time, "How did we miss that?!"

"I was listening so intensely to their stories that I didn't notice," the continued together before their mouths fell open and they turned back to their heroes.

Sirius blinked. "How do you know about the Marauders?"

"They gave me the Marauder map in my third year after having stolen it from Filch's office in their first year," Harry answered for them as the twins were still in a state of shock.

"I hope you got it out with flair?" Sirius asked with approval in his tone.

"We threw a few dungbombs," Fred admitted a bit hesitantly, clearly afraid to disappoint his long time hero.

"Pathetic. Sirius turned his office in a rainbow of colours once. And not just any colours, neon colours that flashed for an entire week because the teachers were unable to undo his spell work," Remus said.

"Why'd you do that?"

"He kept following Remus around and sticking his nose where it didn't belong," Sirius growled; surprising most in the room with the protectiveness hidden in it.

Glancing at the twins, Harry frowned. "You know, I had kind of expected the two of you to throw yourself at your feel in complete surrender."

"We might still do that."

"We're still in shock of learning that our heroes are sitting right before us."

"Heroes?" Sirius asked surprised. "We weren't heroes, just liked to play pranks to lighten everyone up during the dark times the war threw at us."

"You made people laugh, invented brilliant stuff and lightened the mood. That's hero material to us," George pointed out.

Sirius shrugged. "We didn't invent that much. Spend most of our time working out how to become Animagus, so we didn't invent half as much as we thought up."

Ron glanced at the man surprised. He had thought the man would have been arrogant about his accomplishments. Most people would have been, especially Pure-Bloods from darker families. He berated himself mentally as he realised he had thrown Sirius on the same pile as Malfoy, despite knowing how different he was. Pure-Bloods would never do half the things Sirius had done, it was beneath them.

He only had to look at his brother Percy to realise it was true. The only reason most of his own siblings probably weren't like that was probably because they had grown up so poor and had to do everything themselves.

And yet, hadn't he himself thought himself to be above Harry because he knew so much more about the magical world? Could he truly claim he himself wasn't arrogant at all? Glancing at Sirius, he realised that if Sirius could be considered arrogant then he was a true git for how he had treated Harry the previous year.

He had known Harry hadn't put his own name in the Goblet. And yet, despite knowing very well that his friend wouldn't have done it without him if he had found a way, he had let his jealously take over and treated his best friend horrible.

And when their school mates had bullied Harry he had stood by, his pride stopping him from standing up for his friend, despite the knowledge that Harry would have stood up for him. If anyone was arrogant here it was him and he vowed to himself to do better no matter what. He was so deep in thought that he almost missed Fred's next question so he shook himself to pay attention again.

"Is that how you got your nicknames? We were never able to decipher them, though Moony is rather obvious now. I suppose Padfoot is due to your padded feet as a dog? Prongs…what form did Harry's dad take?"

"He was a stag, got the name Prongs because of his sharp antlers," Sirius answered.

The twins shared a look and Ron could see the other three tense as they knew Pettigrew would be next on their list and he braced himself for the Marauders anger.

But Fred shook his head almost unnoticeable, leaning forward again. "Could the two of you tell us about your pranks? We would love to learn from you."

The unexpected change of subject took both Marauders by surprise; though the tension disappeared out of them immediately and Harry shot them a grateful smile when Sirius chuckled.

"I think I am much more interested in your own adventures as I've gathered from Harry's stories that you manage mayhem perfectly fine on your own. But if you'd like, we could trade stories."

Fred and George beamed at the praise and nodded happily at the arrangement.

"Later though, we wouldn't want your mother to learn about it," Remus warned them softly before everyone picked up the hurried footsteps approaching and all three Weasleys tensed.

"Who made that cake?" Ron's mother shrieked; slamming the door open, startling Hermione out of her book as well and making her blink surprised to see everyone sitting so close together.

Fred and George both shrank as much as Ron did at the anger in her voice, though Sirius simply shrugged. "I did."

"Why would you make a cake?" Molly asked confused.

"I didn't know I needed a reason to be making a cake in my own kitchen if I felt like it," Sirius' voice was cold. "But if you must truly know, I made it for Harry's birthday."

"You shouldn't have; I plan to make one for him today."

"You don't have to bother, Mrs. Weasley, Sirius made a delicious cake that is plenty big enough for everyone to have a piece," Harry praising Sirius' work clearly annoyed Molly.

"It is a pleasure to make one for you, dear. There is no need to claim to like what he made just to spare his feelings," Molly patronised Harry.

"You clearly have never tasted Sirius' cooking before," Remus snorted and Molly turned to him, annoyed at the interruption.

"Why would I ever want to?"

"Because Sirius is the best cook I have ever known."

"You have tasted my cooking often enough by now, haven't you, Remus?"

"You cooking is nice, Molly, I don't deny that. But Sirius' is absolutely amazing."

"Just because you think I'm good at baking, doesn't mean I'm a good cook, too, Rem."

"See, even he agrees he is a horrible cook," Molly pointed out, looking put out when Remus waved her off.

"Then why is your cooking the only thing I have ever seen Moody run for outside of a battle?"

"Moody doesn't count; the man's lack of cooking skills make it unsurprising he would run for any decent meal."

"Then why has he never run for Lily, mine or even Aunt Dorea's cooking? Nor have I ever seen him run over for Molly's meals. Yet, when he learned you were going to cook, he always immediately invited himself over after Order meetings; McGonagall, too."

"That is hardly believable, Moody doesn't trust any food," Molly sneered.

"Oh, he tested it and never filled his plate first, but once he dug in he wouldn't stop until all the food was gone. Harry, too, for that matter."

"Harry was a toddler and would have eaten baby food," Molly snapped; clearly upset at the mere thought anyone could be a better cook than her. Not that Ron could blame her as his mother's food was fantastic.

"Harry never ate that rubbish if we could help it," Sirius interjected.

"We?" Fred asked.

"James and I. The first time Lily tried to feed him a bottle of baby food, he spit it out so we tried it and refused to give him that garbage ever again. I wouldn't have eaten it as Padfoot, let alone as a human. So we took fresh vegetables and other food suitable for babies and mashed that so Harry could eat it. Worked wonders, too, as he always emptied his place."

"You ate baby food?" Hermione looked perplexed.

"Of course. Why would I try to feed a child something I had never tasted myself? James was of the same mindset."

"You would be insane enough to actually it for that reason, Siri. I have to admit Remus' obsession with your cooking has made me curious and I would love to try it some time. If it is even as remotely as tasty as your cake was then it should be marvellous," Harry praised.

"Is it really that good?" Ron hoped Harry would let them have a taste as well; despite his mother's obvious disapproval.

"Best cake I have ever tasted. Remus told me that my parents always tried to get Siri to cook for them as well so I am very curious."

"You are teasing us with this heavenly cake of yours, my friend. Any chance we could have a bite...uncle Siri?" Fred teased, making Sirius laugh even as Ron realised with a jolt that he wasn't the only one to have used that nickname; Harry had as well and didn't even seem to notice doing so.

The boy in question turned to his godfather. "Could we?"

"Why are you asking me? It is your cake."

"You aren't a big fan of sweets before noon."

"On normal days, but this isn't one. On your birthday, you can eat as many sweets as you want as long as you eat normal dinner too, which traditionally you get to choose since it is your special day."

"I get to choose what we eat? Really?"

"It is tradition," Sirius confirmed.

"No, it's not. We get our favourite cake or pie, but have to eat what is on the menu," Ron argued. It wouldn't be fair if Harry got to choose whatever he wanted to eat while he never did. Even if it was his birthday, which had completely slipped his mind and was just glad Hermione had reminded him to buy Harry a present.

"Maybe in your family, but in ours it doesn't work like that," Sirius contradicted him. "He gets to choose what he wants to eat on his birthday and we try to make it happen if we can."

"I had already planned to heat a pot of soup since we will spend most of the day cleaning," Molly said. "There is no time to make a grand dinner if we are to clean out the first floor today."

"You can do that, if you want," Sirius shrugged. "But unless Harry wants to eat soup, I have no plan of doing so and I certainly have absolutely no intention to clean all day. An hour or so is fine if you insist, but after that we're going to spend his birthday doing fun things as birthdays are meant to be spend."

"Honestly, Sirius, that is just irresponsib..."

"Oh, do shut up," Sirius cut her off harshly, a cold glare in his eyes. "My house, my rules. If you don't like that then go brood in your bedroom or go clean yourself. If you keep on trying my patience I might just have to kick you out all together."

Molly snapped her mouth shut at the clear threat; staring at him with unmistakable fear while almost everyone else stared at Sirius in shock.

Ron gaped; no one had ever dared to speak to his mother like that and certainly not Sirius. The man had never talked back to his mother like that before and for a brief moment he wondered what had changed before he caught sight of the triumphant in Harry's eyes.

Had he talked to Sirius about Ron's mother?

Even Ron had noticed the absurd hostile behaviour his mother had displayed towards Sirius from the moment they had arrived at the man's house. But more surprisingly even was the fact that Sirius let her walk all over him; which was not the image Ron had gotten from the man in the short time he had known him. The man had hardly been timid when trying to kill Pettigrew a little over a year earlier, though he had listened to Remus when the other had demanded they told Harry the full story first. Had urged him on, but hadn't argued.

And then he had listened to his godson when Harry had stopped him from killing Pettigrew; but that were both people he clearly cared for so it made sense that he would listen to them.

But for his mother, Sirius clearly felt no affection at all and only tolerated her presence at the house because Dumbledore had said they needed to be there. But although he didn't like her, he did let her berate him and be nasty without trying to defend himself.

Since Harry's arrival, he had begun to argue but still had never defended himself until now and something clearly had changed overnight; Ron was willing to eat his shoe if it didn't have to do with Harry's overnight change as well.

Something had happened to make Sirius suddenly stand his ground and actually silenced Molly Weasley.

Sirius stared Molly down for a long moment with those cold haunted eyes in clear warning for a long moment before he returned his attention to Harry; the cold steel immediately disappearing out of them. "What would you like to do and eat?"

Harry glanced at Molly briefly, but there was no shy uncertainty in his gaze or a desire to make her like him in his green eyes as he smiled at his godfather. "Some games in the afternoon sounds nice, maybe we could talk some more as well. And as for dinner, I would like to taste your food."

"Any preferences?"

"Whatever are you best at making that wouldn't be too much trouble," Harry scratched at his nose with an apologetic smile. "No trouble at all, sorry, force of habit. I don't really know."

"Is there anything you have always wanted to eat but never could?" Remus asked.

"Well, often when Dudley was really annoyed, he would demand pizza and the Dursleys would take him out for one. I've always wanted to taste it at least once," Harry admitted.

"Then pizza it is, any specific flavour in mind?" Sirius asked.

"No idea, what do you guys like?"

"What is pizza?" all Weasley siblings asked in unison while Molly sniffed but remained surprisingly silent.

"Oh Harry, pizza is so greasy and fat, I doubt you would like it," Hermione's voice was small, clearly afraid of drawing Sirius' annoyance on her but unable to remain silent.

"That truly depends on how you make them," Sirius wove off her concern. "He said he wanted to taste my food so I will simply make one. Pizza is made of yeasted flatbread and covered in various toppings, though most commonly cheese and ham."

"When Auntie Hope introduced us to pizza I liked the one with different kind of cheese or chicken the most. Your dad was much the same while your mother liked fish. I'm not entirely sure about Remus...didn't you like the Mozzarella one to most?"

"I did," Remus confirmed. "Fish and meat toppings were both too overcooked for me as due to my lycanthropy I usually like both half raw."

"That's gross," Harry pulled a face, making Remus laugh.

"Your dad thought the same. He didn't have a problem with rare meat, but half cooked fish wasn't something he could understand. Which was kind of hypocritical since he did like salty herring."

"That was Lily, James absolutely refused to even touch it, found the smell of it already disgusting," Sirius corrected him, smiling fondly at some memory that came to him.

"Fish isn't so bad, but I wouldn't want it raw either. Have I ever tasted pizza when I was little?" Harry asked.

"You didn't refuse any of the pieces we offered you so I think you liked them all well enough. How about I make a few different kinds so you can try it for yourself and the others can taste them all too since it's obvious they never had pizza either?" Sirius' compromise rose a cheer from the Weasley children.

Harry nodded happily. "On one condition though."

"Which is?"

"I get to help you. You promised you'd teach me how to make cake, but I'd like to learn how to make other things too."

"You already know how to cook don't you?" Sirius asked confused. "Those sick bastards made you cook didn't they?"

"Yeah, but I've never enjoyed it. I would like to learn to cook new things that I might actually enjoy making from you."

Molly huffed; but one glance from Sirius' steely eyes kept her mouth closed; making Ron marvel at Sirius' ability to shut her up like that.

"All right, you can help me then. Would you be willing to pick up the ingredients needed if I make a list?"

"Of course, anything to get out from cleaning duty," Remus teased. "Though I refuse to leave before I've had a piece of that delicious cake."

"I'll get it!" Fred immediately jumped up and ran out of the room.

"Don't forget plates and cutlery," Remus called after him bemused.

"I'll get those." George ran after his brother, clearly just as eagerly.

Shifting in his seat, Ron watched Hermione pick up her chair and move to join them. She had been remarkable quiet since Sirius had snapped and Ron relished the silence from her nagging.

Harry turned to Sirius as the other produced a neatly wrapped package out of nowhere.

"What's that?"

"I did tell you you'd get your birthday present in the morning didn't I?"

"You already gave me a present," Harry made a vague hand gesture in the air that made Sirius smile secretively and Ron frown. Why couldn't he just say what he had gotten?

"That was hardly your birthday present and more your good right, pup. This is your actual birthday present."

"What is it?" Harry accepted the package from Sirius; holding it up to look at the wrapping. Ron couldn't see anything special about it, just plain yellowish paper but it made Harry smile for some reason.

"That's for you to find out," Sirius said with a tease. "It's from me and Remus both actually. Or actually, it is a Marauder present."

"Is it going to explode in my face? Make me grow antlers?" Harry eyed the package suspiciously.

"Just open it, pup," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Easy for you to say. You don't have a prankster for a godfather. I haven't forgotten those candles yet," Harry laughed.

"What candles?" Fred asked as he and George entered the room again, Remus flicking his wand to move the small table from the other side of the room to stand between their chairs so that Fred could place the cake on the table. George quickly dumped his load too before both sat down again.

"We chatted a bit last night and they gave me the cake. Sang me a song and had me blow the candles. Only they wouldn't go out no matter how hard I blew on them."

Fred and George chuckled. "Nice one. We used to play that one on Ron, fell for it every time."

"It's a treasured old one," Remus agreed. "Now open it."

Harry chuckled. "Impatient are we? If I were to be mean I would wait just to tease you," he teased Remus as the man shifted in his seat; though Sirius simply rolled his eyes with a chuckle so Harry carefully unwrapped the present.

"A box?" He asked as he stared at the large unmarked box.

"Yes, we gave you a plain box for your birthday," Sirius nodded. "Do you like it?"

Harry snorted. "Don't tease," poking his elbow into Sirius' rib, made his godfather yelp and shift aside while Harry returned his attention to the box and glanced inside.

"Neat! A practical Defence book," he took the book out of the box before falling silent as he spotted what was underneath it.

"Sirius?" He looked up to his godfather in awe.

"You are fifteen now; a few years older than when we started our research. I don't want you to practice any of it without me there, but you can read the theory behind it in the meantime. And we thought you might like to read out notes on it. By the time you have the first two steps down, which you may practice on your own, it will be either Easter or summer and we will see from there if you are interested in truly learning."

"You are actually giving me permission?" Harry's words made the others gasp as they realised what Sirius was talking about.

"With all that is hanging over your head it would be a great back-up. It's been on my mind for a while now and after talking with Remus, we think you are old enough now to get a start on learning if you want to."

"He is much too young to learn something like that, it's illegal! What are you two thinking!" Molly shrieked as she realised what he was talking about as well.

"Talking to me is illegal too, in case you had forgotten; yet you annoyingly keep doing so and you find it safe enough to have most of your children in my presence as well. If you had listened to me, then you would have heard me say I only want him to go over the theory for now. So sit down and calm down."

"Who cares if it's illegal when there's a mass murdering lunatic after him and this could save his life?" Remus added.

"He is just a child," Molly shrieked. "You cannot do this, Dumble..."

"Dumbledore has no say in this matter as he is the Headmaster of his school. He can forbid him from studying it at school, but has no further say in what I allow my godson to learn."

"You should be happy Sirius is willing to help me instead of letting me attempt to figure it out myself, Mrs Weasley," Harry piped up. "McGonagall told us all sort of things can go wrong if you try to do the transformation without professional back-up. At least with Sirius I have someone who knows what I have to do and what to do if things go wrong. Because I doubt they managed it without trial and error."

"You could say that again," Sirius smiled faintly while Remus snorted.

"They wanted to surprise me so they didn't tell me, but I've seen some of the errors they went though."

"Such as?" Fred asked curious.

"I remember Sirius having an extra pair of ears on top of his head a couple of weeks," Remus said.

Sirius laughed. "You forget to mention my matching tail. That one was a disaster, it was lucky our school uniforms weren't tight or it could have been a real pain."

Remus chuckled. "It was rather funny. I was curious to what they were up to but your dad and Sirius kept insisting they were just trying to find other uses for the Polyjuice potion."

"Your dad sported the beginning of antlers for a while too, but those were small enough that they were hidden by his messy hair and Remus never found out about those till we told him."

"About the only thing Dad's hair was probably good for."

"Yeah, James and I took pictures of each other during the long and slow process, originally to amuse Remus with the stories once we'd have succeeded but we figured you'd like them too. And the best part is that they don't include Peter at all. He had no problem with his progress being noted but he didn't want to be photographed for it so you won't have to see his face, though I can't take his account out of the notes without messing up the research," Sirius sounded almost apologizing for his incapability to do so.

"You made pictures without the traitor being involved?" Harry reached for the book but Sirius placed his hand on his.

"You can check it out later, pup. We'll be here all day if you open it now because there's matching stories to the pictures you'll want to ask about. The pictures match the notes and research results but you'll want to know more so let's do it tonight, okay?"

Harry bit his lip, glancing up at Sirius. "One peek?"

Sirius laughed, giving in easily. "All right, one peek…take page fifteen, it speaks for itself."

Harry curiously skipped to the mentioned page, trying not to peek while the others leaned forward, despite the book still being in the box and them not seeing anything. Even Molly shuffled slightly closer to take a peek.

Snorting at what the twins and Harry could clearly see from their positions; he let it slide back into the box again without telling Ron what they had seen.

Harry took the other book from his lap as well and returned it to the box as well before giving Sirius a hug and smiling to Remus.

"Thank you both," He said while Sirius hugged him back and Remus nodded mischievously.

"How about you share some more of that cake with us as a thank you?"

Harry nodded, standing up to slice the cake in pieces.

"Are you going to leave a piece for Ginny too?" Hermione glanced at Molly before taking a plate from Harry.

"Where is Ginny anyway?" Ron asked, only now noticing his sister's absence.

"She's still asleep. Wasn't feeling well so I gave her a sleeping potion so she'd get some rest," Sirius answered.

"Ginny is sick? Why didn't you inform me?" Molly screeched.

"Because she's fine. I checked on her this morning and she was sleeping soundly and didn't have a fever anymore," Sirius answered calmly.

"You went into her bedroom!" Molly shrieked even harder than before, making everyone else wince but Sirius didn't bat an eye at her volume from so close by.

"Yes, she came downstairs last night feeling unwell but didn't want me to alert you; so I gave her some potion and helped her back upstairs. I didn't enter your daughter's room with any bad intention if that is what you are implying," Sirius raised an eyebrow. "But I knew you might get hysterical about me trying to help so I asked Remus and Harry to accompany me when I went to check on her this morning and made sure Hermione was still in the room as well."

"I don't understand why you don't trust Sirius, Mrs. Weasley. He's only been caring for your child, nothing more," Harry sounded angry and although Ron glanced at him wearily, he made no move to defend his mother from his friend's anger.

If anyone was lining up for a good dressing down it was his mother for how she was treating Sirius. And as selfish as it sounded, Ron looked forward to see him yell at his mum; see what she thought of her perfect Harry when he yelled at her for a change.

With the way things were looking; it seemed only a matter of time before Harry or Sirius would explode up on her. And Ron would put his money on Harry; if he would've had any, for his annoyance at her behaviour towards his precious godfather was visibly building up and the boy was bound to explode while Sirius seemed remarkable unimpressed by her angry remarks.

The man must have nerves of steel, Ron thought secretly.

"A male has no business being in a young girl's bedroom, dear. Especially not an adult, so he should have gotten me."

"Ginny didn't want him to alert you, he just told you that. And either way Hermione was in the room as well," Harry replied impatiently.

"What do you think he's going to do to Ginny? Rape her and slit her throat?" George snorted disbelievingly. "It's Sirius."

"If he had wanted to harm any of us, he would have done it upon first arriving. He wouldn't have taken our noise, mess and your behaviour for weeks first," Fred continued.

"He'd have slit our throats in our sleeps once Harry arrived; or send Kreacher at us and feigned disobedience as we all know Kreacher hates us all," George laughed.

"Don't talk like that!" Molly shrieked.

"Oh, I wouldn't harm you guys; you are both very nice. But I could indeed always blame Kreacher for the others," Sirius pulled a fake tragic expression; his breathing stocking slightly. "I am so sorry Arthur, but that elf just lost it. He can't act against me or Harry, was unable to reach the twins and I think he actually fears Moony. But your wife, youngest and the girls...well...I truly am sorry."

Everyone laughed at his tone of voice, though Molly and Hermione both bristled in anger.

"That's not funny!"

"It kind of is, the perfect murder, too, since Kreacher indeed hates the whole lot of you. And if he weren't under strict orders to not act against any of you at any time no matter his reasoning unless my life or that of my heir was in legitimate danger; he might've done exactly that," Sirius shrugged.

"Your heir?"

"You," Sirius replied offhandedly, but Harry's eyes widened.

"Wait...when you say he cannot act against me, you mean that's because I'm your heir?"

"Of course you are. And house-elves can never act against heirs without permission from the Head of House or a parent; which he sure as hell is never going to get from me."

"How long have I been your heir?"

"Since your birth," Sirius frowned. "I blood-adopted you when within twenty-four hours since you were born."

"You blood-adopted him? But that means he is legally considered your son," Fred beamed and Ron stared at the two dark-haired men before him.

The Black family was ancient and possessed a lot of money; if Harry was legally considered Sirius' son then he would inherit all of that money someday on top of the fortune he already possessed. It wasn't fair!

"Not that the Ministry cares, but sort of, yes."

"But what about if you would have had children of your own?" Hermione asked.

"Harry would still have been considered my first-born and thus heir if I was going to ever have them."

"You can't have children?" Hermione gasped.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I don't want any," Sirius frowned at her. "The so called pure Black line dies when I do."

"But won't your line continue through his blood since you blood-adopted him?" George inquired.

"No, because his grandmother was a Black as well, he already had my blood running through his veins," Sirius answered.

"My grandmother was a Black? We're related?" Harry exclaimed; making Sirius turn to him confused.

"Yes, I told you that."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did, I told you that all the Pure-Bloods are interrelated in some way."

"So Dad and you were related?"

"Yes, your grandmother was officially my great-aunt."

"So that means we are related as well?"

"Logically, yes and you are related to the Weasleys through my blood."

"Wicked! You are our cousin," Fred and George slapped Harry on the back; making Ron's stomach clench again despite being happy Harry was actually part of the family after all.

Harry smiled at them, but didn't turn his attention from Sirius. "So what? We are cousins several times removed?"

"I think so. I've never been really good at remembering that stupid family tree inside out despite how much they tried to drill it into me when I was little. They never quite liked it when I said I only needed to remember that the Black family line consisted out of a bunch of overly inbred idiots," Sirius' words made Remus tense for a moment and a pained expression crossed his expression for a split second before he schooled it as Sirius cheerfully continued without having noticed the reaction.

"But much more important than that stupid tree is your dad having performed a blood ritual with me when we were fifteen. Because of that, you are simply my nephew."

"A what?"

"A blood ritual. Mum and Dad accepted me into their home as a second son without hesitation after I ran away from Grimmauld Place; but James wanted to make it official. They gave James permission to perform a blood ritual," Sirius thought for a moment. "In Muggle terms it would basically mean that we became blood brothers; I became part of the Potter family line."

"And with you blood-adopting me when I was born..."

"You are legally seen as my heir."

"So technically I'm your son?"

"For magic, yes. But for the Ministry, a blood adoption ritual would need to be performed. But it's truly only a small technicality."

Sirius seemed to catch the disappointment flashing over Harry's face.

"If I ever get free; that'll be the first course of action I'll take."

"What does being your heir entitle," Harry wasn't entirely able to keep the joy out of his voice as he looked up to his godfather.

"You will inherit everything I possess upon the event of my death," Sirius pulled a face. "Which includes Kreacher if he doesn't do us a favour long before that time."

"I think I'd prefer to keep him around if it means you will become very old."

"Seconded," Remus cleared his throat. "But we could always hope he just dies early."

"Kreacher isn't in his right mind, you shouldn't talk so badly about him," Hermione berated him.

"Dobby isn't entirely in his right mind; Kreacher is just evil," Sirius waved her protest off and accepted the plate Remus handed him as the man had taken over cutting the cake when Harry got distracted.

"I agree with that," Harry laughed. "Tuck in."

Everyone followed his example immediately; only Hermione and Molly had refused the cake.

"You weren't kidding, Remus," Fred and George whistled impressed. "This is fantastic."

"Happy to hear you like it," Sirius smiled while Remus simply took another bite.

"When did you make this?" Ron asked around a mouthful of delicious cake as he hadn't seen Sirius work in the kitchen or he would have heard his mother scream about it.

"Last night. Remus helped, though."

"You mean I emptied the bowl after you put the cake into the oven," Remus corrected him cheerfully.

"You always do, it's remarkable how good your timing is, always arriving just when I'm about to finish preparing the stuff I'm baking so that you can empty it out."

"That's not entirely true, I've joined you often enough at Hogwarts to see the entire process happen," Remus protested, making Sirius laugh.

"Only because that meant you could steal bites before I include the eggs."

"I arrived too late, though," Harry pouted.

"You weren't really supposed to know about it until this morning. I had already started later than planned because Ginny an...she interrupted me," the twins tensed before Sirius corrected himself. "So I already started much later than planned and I hadn't expected you until much later."

"What were you doing in the kitchen during the night?" Ron curiously looked at his best friend; hoping he would finally find out what had happened to make his behaviour change so much.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Nightmares again?" Hermione asked sympathetically.

"No, Ron's snoring," Sirius' answer made Harry look up alarmed.

"I don't snore," Ron exclaimed scandalised, causing everyone else to stare at him in disbelief.

"Yes you do, I can hear you two floors up. The first time it happened I thought it were the workers near Remus' house cutting down wood to prepare for winter. But upon realising the year and where I was, I got up to find out what was making that noise and discovered it was you. I'm surprised your dorm mates get any rest at all at night," Sirius looked pained.

"I always thought no one could match Peter's snoring, but you give him a run for his money. If I don't put on Silencing Charms on my bedroom door, I can't sleep at all."

"You get kind of used to it after a while; we don't usually hear him any more," Fred and George said while Harry snorted.

"Really? It's not unusual that he wakes me several times a week with his snoring and I can't get back to sleep. It's not so bad when I'm the one who sleeps earlier then I can sleep through it most of the time," Harry turned to Sirius. "I didn't hear him in your room any more so how did you solve the problem?"

"I put a Silencing Charm on my door, too. Normally I don't because I want to be able to hear if you are all right but since you were with me I used it. Kept you sleeping like a block too."

"You slept in Sirius' room?" Hermione asked suspicious.

Harry blushed as he realised the rest was still there too but nodded. "Yeah, I went downstairs for a cup of chocolate when Sirius offered and I took his offer. Had a good night's sleep for a change."

"So it's partly my fault that you've been sleeping badly?" Ron asked horrified, unable to deny his snoring if everyone said he did so. He felt horrible at the knowledge that he might be partly responsible for his best friend's lack of a good night's rest.

"Partly," Harry admitted hesitantly.

"Why didn't you say so?" Ron asked hurt.

Harry shrugged. "It's not like you do it on purpose. And our dorm mates never mention it either, they usually sleep through it. Dean and Neville snore a bit too so I doubt they ever notice."

"I'll teach you the Silencing Charm so you can erect a shield around your bed, you won't have to hear them and they won't hear you," Sirius offered to which Harry nodded happily.

"We aren't allowed to practice magic outside of school," Hermione quickly reminded him.

"And who's going to tell them if he does?" Remus her with a glance.

"The Trace will alert the Ministry," she defended herself.

"Only in a house with Muggles does the Trace work properly as they can't see who performs the magic in a magical house and expect the parents to control their offspring," Remus answered.

"But that's unfair! That means those living with magical relatives can secretly use and practice magic while Muggleborn can't!" she exclaimed in anger.

"Welcome to my world when Dobby used magic and I got punished for it," Harry grumbled.

"We'll clear that up one day pup. In the meantime you can just use one of the old practice wands so they can't trace the spell back to your own wand," Sirius assured him.

Hermione bristled. "But…." A glare from Sirius prevented her from continuing though she crossed her arms in disapproval.

"You have more than one wand?" Fred asked.

"Yes, my own wand was taken from me upon my arrest fourteen years ago, so after arriving here I started to use one of the wands my ancestors kept here in case of emergency. I could hardly walk into Ollivanders to get a new wand. Though a not so little birdie stole my original wand from the Ministry files and returned it to me. I've always loved this wand too as the Potters bought it for me after I ran away," Sirius said while twirling his wand between his fingers.

"My grandparents bought that wand for you?" Harry asked as he looked at the wand. Upon noticing his glance Sirius handed Harry the wand so he could look at it more properly.

"Yes, I ran away without my wand, but I needed one to be able to go to school so your grandfather got me a new one."

"It's cleaner than mine," he admitted before taking out his own wand to compare it, making the many fingerprints on it stand out next to Sirius' clean wand.

"I usually clean it every day. Your wand is like an extension of your hand, it's important to keep it in good conditions or there is the possibility it might snap during battle."

"That can happen?" several voices asked at once alarmed and Ron immediately vowed to clean his wand more often.

"Oh yes. It happened to a friend of your mum's, Mary MacDonald, in fifth year. She was cornered by Mulciber and tried to duel with him but her wand cracked and snapped, leaving her unable to defend herself against his sick sense of humour," Remus answered.

"What happened to her?" Harry asked.

"He cursed her with Dark Magic. Not sure what exactly happened. Wouldn't tell us though we made Mulciber pay for attacking a Gryffindor like that," Sirius' tone of voice told Ron he had indeed made him pay.

"Are both still alive now?" Harry asked.

"Mulciber is in Azkaban and Mary disappeared shortly after graduating from Hogwarts," Sirius said softly.

"They never found her?" Hermione asked softly, having stopped her furious muttering to be able to participate in the conversation again. Though she still kept her arms crossed.

"A lot of Muggle-born witches and wizards disappeared after graduating. Many went into hiding while others were killed by Death Eaters during the war. There are many people that were never located. Perhaps they found it safer to simply remain in hiding," Remus admitted.

"It were dark times," Sirius agreed with a nod. "Speaking of dark, if we want to spend the afternoon having fun, we would be wise to start cleaning.

Fred and George quickly cleaned away their dirty plates while Sirius wrote a list for Remus before he left and the others made their way upstairs.