Chapter 21 - Paintings found

Tuesday, 1.2.2000 - Minerva

What an extraordinary afternoon that was. I'm so proud of Sirius, but after all he was my student and always one of the best in Transfigurations, as aggravating as he was otherwise. He's a natural at anything magical. He's different from other brilliant students mainly in the fact that he is intuitive more than anything else. Of course that means he's immensely powerful. He thinks of something and then simply does it. I know that many of his year-mates have looked at him go in awe, because they were struggling with getting all of their theory right while Sirius had an innate ability to just do it. The only one who could keep up with that was James Potter. I know I'm the same and Albus was the same. I suppose Transfigurations demands a good deal of that. But watching Sirius teach Transfigurations humbles me, because he can do what I could not. He can really bring the subject closer to the students. I've seen the fun loving, mischievous, clever Sirius from his Hogwarts days return in the past eighteen months. His students love him for being himself when he teaches. I have taught for many years, but now I know that my true ability is in what I'm doing now. I wouldn't have thought so for a long time. But now I can allow myself to become closer with the students, because they're all mine now, not only a section, and I can pass my love for them to all of them, while I had to hold back as long as it could have been seen as favouritism.

If anyone would have told me that one day I would have a Sirius Black in my staff and entrust him with the position of the Transfigurations teacher and head of Gryffindor house when he himself was still a student, I'm sure I would have hexed that person into the next century. This young man irked me to no end, at the same time it was very hard to resist that undeniable sincerity, loyalty and somewhat awkward charm he had. While I'm returning from dinner to my office and my quarters beneath it I'm trying to remember the seven years Sirius was at Hogwarts as a student. I had only just started a few months before he came to school. He surprised us the very first time he set his feet into the Entrance Hall. He firmly stood far away from his kin and the people his family surrounded him with. He seemed quite in fear of what would happen to him now when I called him to the Sorting Hat. He looked back to James who had stood next to him and vanished under the hat, a lanky eleven years old with arms and legs too long and hands too large to be of much use. I looked at Albus while he was under the hat. His cousin Bellatrix had just been sorted into the traditional Black-house, Slytherin, the moment she had the hat on her head, but with Sirius the hat took longer. It seemed to me that it pronounced Gryffindor with more vigour than for other children. Maybe to assure us it really was sincere with its decision. It was the right one of course.

That particular Sorting was a very special one and once it got to Remus I had just wondered what surprise we might get with him. Albus had told me about the child and while I was, at first, a bit distressed about the responsibility we would be taking by accepting him to the school I immediately knew he belonged to us the moment the hat shouted Gryffindor. I quickly threw another glance to Albus, and noticed that his glances followed Remus' way to the Gryffindor table with a knowing and a proud smile.

As would become our habit in the many years I served as Deputy Headmistress under Albus we discussed the Sorting quietly after the feast in his office. He invited me for a casual game of chess to talk about what I felt during the first time I had officiated in my new function and to reassure me that I had done everything well. I remember him saying that it was an interesting group of first years that had arrived at Hogwarts in this year. I asked him why and he said that an extraordinary amount of children from known practitioners of Old Magic had come to school.

"…and all but two of them are now down in the Slytherin dungeons."

"One is obviously Sirius Black, who's the other?" I asked.

"Myrah King. As you know she went to Ravenclaw."

"What can we do for these children?"

"Unfortunately nothing in particular. I am very interested to follow the path Sirius Black will take. I can tell you that apart from the odd one going to Ravenclaw not one Black was ever sorted into Gryffindor. I have been contacted by Alphard Black beforehand though, Sirius' uncle and he asked me to have an eye out for Sirius. He hoped the boy would be spared to grow up in these dark dungeons. He will be most pleased about the outcome."

We watched Sirius' progress closely in the first few weeks. He integrated himself well into his house, in spite or maybe just because of the evil Howlers his mother sent about his sorting. After some of them had actually got through Albus destroyed the rest before they could explode and strongly discouraged the Black woman to send more as he would not let them pass. All mail to Sirius would be monitored. Then the Howlers did cease but if it weren't for James Potter and Remus Lupin I doubt Sirius Black would have had a good start at Hogwarts. Watching them from the head table I was able to notice, to my astonishment, that it was Remus who supported Sirius most actively.

I always found it interesting to see the difference between the two Black brothers as soon as Regulus came to Hogwarts. They looked almost like identical twins, but there was nothing that would have given them away as brothers other than that. Where Sirius had spunk, was a sparkling character, always full of life, with laughing eyes and an ever laughing mouth, quick witted and spontaneous, a happy child who grew into a very lovely young man, Regulus looked plain, dejected, lacked talent and ideas, struggled in class and generally displayed a very spiteful, haughty attitude. While Sirius' talents spread over almost all core subjects and a few of his electives Regulus had great problems in all of his core subjects and later on in his electives. It was especially interesting to watch them during their exams. They were in the same room when Sirius sat NEWTS and Regulus his OWLS. Sirius was self-assured, went behind his tests with ease and confidence, Regulus mostly stared at his parchments and cautiously filled in his answers. Even with his NEWTS Sirius looked up from his parchments at least fifteen minutes before the end of his allocated time and never touched them again. Regulus still struggled when the time was up.

I don't think I have ever seen siblings being opposites like those two not even between Percy and his twin brothers Fred and George Weasley. Sirius was the most sought after boy in the whole school. Even some of the Slytherin girls were mooning over him and almost swooned when he passed them, even though he was stamped as a 'blood traitor'. I wasn't surprised at all that the lovely boy turned out to be as gay as the month of June. What really surprised me was that his eyes fell on Remus Lupin and firmly stayed there for the rest of his time at Hogwarts. And, as I know now, will do so for the rest of his life. Regulus did succeed with his looks, but sadly his eyes were rather cold.

The blow that Sirius' 'prank' stroked on the four friends early in their fifth year seemed to have destroyed everything they had built up. For weeks Sirius walked completely alone before they seemed to be able to mend things. Neither Albus nor I interfered, but we watched them quite closely ready talk to them if they weren't able to solve their problems on their own. While some people might have thought we were paying that group of four boys an awful lot of attention we knew that we had to. They were constantly up to mischief and consciously so. Black and Potter never had any scruples in seeking trouble, trying to find out just how far they could go. Lupin was less of a plague, but I definitely suspected him to be the mastermind behind many of their schemes and pranks, mainly the ones we could never really trace back to the Marauders. Pettigrew was the tag-along. He worshipped Potter and would have done anything James told him to do. I suppose that was one of the many reasons why we always thought it impossible that he might be the traitor. We all saw him as the boy who had followed James Potter in anything and seemed to worship the ground on which he was walking. How could such an admirer turn to become the murderer of his hero? These days I suppose he must have been very jealous of the success his three friends, even the werewolf had in everything they did. And one day that jealousy must have turned into hatred. Voldemort must have had an easy time convincing this young man to become his spy.

Turning back to my daily work, I'm going through some papers that I have been working on this morning. They're a list of vaults Hogwarts has at Gringotts. We own at least several dozen vaults where we store artefacts of some sorts that have no space here or that have been left to us from former students through their wills. The goblins have sent me this list to approve and to go through the contents in order to find out if they were still in order. Reading over the list I know one thing. I can't go through them, for one I don't have the experience and of course I don't have the time needed to do that. So I pick up my Commumirror to call Albus Dumbledore at his house in Cornwall.

"Hello, Minerva! Is there anything I can help you with or is this just a social call?"

"Hello, Albus! Both! I've had the privilege to watch Sirius' newest batch of students who passed their initial Animagus transformation today. You should have been here, it was wonderful to watch. One of them, Margaret Limbury, transforms into a phoenix, Albus! She's simply magnificent. I think, Sirius will approach you on her behalf to help with her training. He hopes you will have Fawkes come and help her."

"That sounds delightful! A phoenix! I don't think I can remember any other Animagus becoming a phoenix ever before, can you?"

"I don't think so, but I don't remember the registry for the last one thousand years like you probably do," I reply with a grin.

He returns the grin with one of his infuriatingly mild smiles.

"I will certainly be there to help. Used to delegate this job regularly myself. Limbury… is she related with the new Potions teacher, Annis Limbury?"

"Yes, she is. She's Annis' oldest daughter. Annis was quite proud, she was present as well."

"Ah, I think, that I remember Miss Limbury now. How did she take it?"

"Oh, I do think she's very pleased. She's all red and gold and her wings are a wonderful dark blue, almost like lapis lazuli," I describe her.

"Excellent."

"The other matter concerns something I've got from the Gringotts goblins today, Albus. They sent me a list with the depository vaults Hogwarts keeps and want us to go through them in detail and find out if everything was still in order with them, mainly if their inventories are still corresponding with the content. Do you think, you could do that for me? It's quite a lot of work, I'm afraid."

In the mirror he looks delighted. I suspect he does find retirement a bit more boring than anticipated and that should give him a little something to do.

"Yes, that sounds like a delightful job, which I'd gladly do for you. It isn't something I have to go through the school governors, do I?"

"You would know, I think. I don't think the goblins would contact me directly if it weren't in my competence though. It's not like they talk about the actual money vaults. These are all storage vaults. There must be about sixty all in all."

"That should be fine, Minerva, would you send me a copy of the list and present me at Gringotts as your representative?"

"Yes. First thing tomorrow. Duncan could help you, too! He still has some time to kill at the moment."

"Now that's a good suggestion. If he wants to I'd gladly see him around!"

"Excellent. I'm off to bed now, that was quite an exhausting day. I'm so proud of Sirius, Albus!"

"How are they doing?"

"Oh, they look perfectly happy. The children are well, too. Remus really looks forward to teaching History next year."

"He's had best marks from his students at the Sunnegg for his History teaching. I'm sure he liked teaching the subject, so it's no wonder he looks forward to doing it. And then we finally have a proper History course at Hogwarts."

We chat for a while before I put the mirror away and retire to my chambers. Duncan is there to keep me warm! Though at the moment I'm starting to feel warmer than usual. Poppy tells me the pregnancy has something to do with that. And thinking of the little one inside of me reminds me that I should make the fact public soon. Only the small circle of my closest friends and Duncan know about it at this point in time. I'm now two months on and so far, I'm still waiting for the ill-famed morning sickness to set in, but I have woken up on a few occasions with a rather queasy stomach lately.

Before we go to sleep, I tell him about the inventory and that I offered his help to Albus.

Thursday, 17.2.2000 / Albus

For the past few days, I have gone through so many Hogwarts memories it frequently made me cry. The vaults I'm to look through contain mainly personal goods from people who have left them to Hogwarts through their wills. Or they have come to us and we have stored them here through troubled times. Some of the vaults I recognise, because I have personally deposited things there during the years of Grindelwald's terror, then the ones of Tom Riddle's first rise. Today I shall look through one of those vaults.

There are only portraits deposited here. When I step into the vault with the goblin waiting patiently outside, I notice that it seems like a rush is going through the vault, waking the inhabitants of the portraits of a decades' long sleep. I can see some of the ones in front rubbing their eyes even. All of a sudden, I think it very cruel to just bury these portraits here. We could still learn so much from them. I know that available wall space does get tighter at Hogwarts, but still… there's still a lot of it there.

"Albus Dumbledore! Is that really you?" a very old gentleman calls from one of the portraits.

I look around, but don't quite recognise him.

"Yes, that would be me. You do have me at a slight disadvantage though?"

"Algernon Blake! I used to supervise your first steps as a teacher. I was a member of the Hogwarts board of governors back in 1911. You look very old though, Albus!"

"Oh! Now I remember you. It's nice to meet again, Algernon."

"Why do you wake us all? It's been ages since someone stepped in here the last time. It feels like a bloody tomb in here!"

"I'm afraid this has been used as a storage vault, Algernon. Your portrait along with many others have been put in here because they weren't supposed to be destroyed, but there was no actual interest or space or other reason to hang the paintings on a wall. I'm to look through the vault."

"Are you still at Hogwarts then?"

"I have retired as Headmaster last year. My successor, Minerva McGonagall, whom you probably don't remember, has asked me to come down here and go through those depository vaults."

"Ah. Well, have a good look around. The light must have woken us all by now."

Indeed I can hear my name being called from many a painting. Are these all portraits? I look at how they have been stacked against the walls one in front of the next on several levels. I look through them one after the other. On the third stack I meet two portraits of the Lupin family! I suppose Remus is not aware that there are wizarding portraits of his parents around. I really wonder how they came into Hogwarts possession. One painting is just Quintus and Fanny, obviously right after or shortly before they got married, the other shows them with Remus. I suppose the little boy on the portrait is about three to four years old.

"Hello Quintus, Fanny!" I say softly.

Quintus looks up and smiles.

"Hello Professor Dumbledore! How wonderful to see you. You look swell!"

"Thank you, Quintus; I do look my age though. A lot of time must have passed since your portraits have come down here…"

"We don't know, but we suspect it's several decades. Do you know if our Remus is still well?"

"Yes, he is. How old is he on this portrait?"

"Almost five. We did want a painting of him because we didn't know what he could expect in life, so we had another family painting commissioned. So he has managed to survive in spite of his condition?"

"Yes, Quintus, he has. I am proud to tell you that at this time he is a teacher at Hogwarts, teaching Defence against the Dark Arts and since Minerva has replaced me as Headmistress last September he has also become Deputy Headmaster."

Quintus and Fanny gape at me in wonderment and then Quintus hoots. Little Remus is quite shaken in his seat and Fanny beams.

"Oh, this is wonderful! Do you think you could get our portraits to him? I have no idea how we landed in this dark tomb here. But since we're alive as portraits we must be dead…"

"I'm certain I will be able to do that. I will certainly place them next to the entrance, so I don't have to look for you anymore. Remus will be so pleased to catch up with you two. Which is why I won't tell you anything more at this moment. Just one thing: yes, you are dead – in Quintus' case though I have to say you *were* dead. You were killed with an Avada Kedavra curse in 1980. In the meantime we have found out that this curse is not as final as we thought it was. Not only was the wand, with which the curse had been cast found, there was also a brother wand available to this wand. As such wands don't work when used to duel each other a very impressive form of priori Incantatem occurs. That causes one wand owner to force the other to regurgitate all of the spells this wand has ever cast. It also releases the souls of anyone murdered with an Avada Kedavra and so you could be revived. We're still waiting to see if the wand that killed Fanny the same way is around somewhere. There are still a few of those wands to go through."

"Wow…" neither Fanny nor Quintus could say any more than that, but then Fanny asks:

"Albus, we remember, that he's been at school and that he's left Hogwarts. He was together with that very nice boy, Sirius Black. We hoped they would stay together, did they? Our portraits must have vanished at some point between his leaving Hogwarts and a year or two afterwards. Do you know how that happened?"

"I think that must have happened when you were murdered. Later on something else came to pass that really changed the world for Remus and he more or less dropped everything and left for a long time."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry I have to tell you that. However, you will hear soon that there is more to your story! Only I don't think it is my place to tell you that."

"It's not like that changes anything for us portraits, Albus. We will just have to get used to the idea," Quintus says quietly.

"Let me call Minerva and tell her about my find!" I tell them and they look very curious when I pull out my Commumirror.

Minerva replies almost immediately.

"Hello, Albus!"

"Hello, Minerva. I'm in one of the vaults containing portraits and I have just stumbled over two portraits of Quintus and Fanny Lupin. Do you give me permission to remove them from the vault and return them to Remus?"

"Oh, what a lovely surprise. Absolutely, Albus, he'll be so pleased to find them!"

"Good. I shall see you soon then, Minerva!"

I close the mirror. Quintus and Fanny still look very curious. That gives me the opportunity to smile and tell them that this is an invention of one of their son's students.

"She is probably one of the most gifted young witches these days. Muggle-born of course. He has taught her in Defence, Charms, History and Ancient Runes for three years, when we had to hide her and a couple of other students in a safe house. He'll certainly tell you about it. It's something he's very proud of, because Hermione actually invented this device in her sixth year on a challenge of his. That was four years ago and these days no one seems to be without one of those Commumirrors anymore."

"Sounds great."

"Anyway, I take you out and let you wait for a while until I've gone through the rest of this place."

While I do that, I find other portraits of people I know the relatives would like to have them returned. I collect about thirty of those portraits and take a list of the others to inquire later for relatives or friends who would like to have them. Many must have been hastily deposited in here to just have them safe, but then forgotten. The list contains more than five hundred names.

That concludes my work in the vaults for today. I pack up the portraits and cover them well, then spell them weightless and pick the package up. The list goes into my pocket and then I leave Gringotts, apparating to the Leaky Cauldron to use the public fireplace to Minerva's office. I call her and she opens the Floo communication for me. I floo over and greet her.

"I've brought a couple of those portraits, Minerva. I know that there are a couple of relatives of the people on them around and I'll look them up and return those paintings to their rightful owners."

"That's a nice find, Albus. Did you forget about these things?"

"Well, I didn't really forget, it more like slipped out of my mind; because it was secure to place them there and then I was distracted enough that I left them there. Let me just take out the two for Remus."

We pick out the two paintings. Minerva smiles and asks:

"Do you want to take them down to Remus? He should be down at their flat."

"Oh, I'd love to. It should be such a surprise for him. I'm sure you didn't tell him?"

"Do you take me for a spoilsport, Albus? Of course not!"

I have the portraits out and Minerva greets the Lupins who both seems to chuckle about our bantering.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall. We're very pleased to return to our son!" Fanny says.

"He'll be out of his mind of happiness about getting you, believe me, Mrs Lupin. He'll love to catch up with you. And I'm sure you'll love most of what you will hear."

I levitate the two paintings and Minerva accompanies me down the stairs and through the castle to the teachers' quarters where she gives the password to the wall. We go through and knock on the door to Remus and Sirius' flat. Little Adara Black opens the door.

"Hello, Addie, may we come in? We have something of a surprise for Remus…" Minerva announces.

"Of course. Hello, Auntie Minnie, hello, Professor Dumbledore."

She steps back; we enter and look around. I haven't seen the enlarged flat, but it looks very nice indeed. Remus and Sirius are on their feet the moment we enter.

Sirius

We get a surprise visit from Albus and Minerva. I guide them to the sitting area right by the window and sit down, while Winky comes and brings tea for all. Albus has two paintings under his arm and his twinkling eyes tell me that there's a surprise for one of us.

"Remus, you may know that Minerva has asked me to take over a task for her at Gringotts and when I was going about my business checking through storage vaults owned by Hogwarts I found these two portraits. Do you remember them?"

He turns them around and I gasp. Remus gasps even louder and puts his hands over his mouth. He stares at the paintings, then at Albus and whispers:

"Yes, I do. How did they end up in that vault? I always wondered what happened to them… I do remember that they vanished, but I never thought to ask you."

"I honestly can't tell you, Remus. All I know is that in the confusion of those days I put everything aside that I came across or that was left to me to care for. But they are clearly yours and I'd like to return them to you today."

"Thank you so much, Albus! Hello Mum, Dad!"

"Hello Remus! You look great," Fanny remarks.

"Thanks, Mum. I am feeling great, so I suppose I look it, too… I'll have so much to tell you two. Well, mum most of course, but both of you can't know that…"

"I see Sirius is still with you! Hello, Sirius. And how are you?"

"Just grand, Mum. I've missed you guys so much. It was the worst blow ever when Death Eaters killed you…"

Remus gives me a glare. Oh darn it, they probably don't know! But Quintus quietly greets us and tells Remus that Albus has already informed them of that fact.

"Oh, good, then that's out of the way already."

We magically hang up the portrait of my parents-in-law only next to uncle Alphard and tell the other portrait it would be taken to our Townhouse the coming weekend. It's been a quick decision.

The nicest bit is to present our two grandchildren to my in-laws. Seraina and Denny look at them with interest, but they have yet to understand the meaning. They know Quintus of course, and I suppose they know that we wait to find Fanny, but they don't really know what grandparents mean. They're already familiar with Uncle Alphard's portrait and they know that he cannot join us as a living person, so they'll certainly adjust to their grandparents, well, their grandmother first of all.

"How delightful! I would never have thought you'd have children one day; this is just the nicest surprise you could present us with, dears! They look both really lovely. And who is the young lady? She looks very much like you, Sirius, is she a daughter of yours?" Fanny exclaims.

"Feels like. But she's my little sister, Mum," I tell her.

Addie comes closer to me and looks at the portrait curiously, and then she asks me:

"Why do you call her Mum, Sirius?"

"Well, because this, Addie, is Remus' Mum! She has become mine when I got together with Remus, you know. I have to say that I gladly dropped ours for her, because she's just been the best! You already know Remus' dad. I'm sure they won't mind you calling them grand-mum and granddad. Mum, Dad, please meet Adara Black, my little sister. We'll tell you her story, of course, but before that we have a lot more to say to stay true to the chronology."

Out of the corner of my eyes, I notice Albus and Minerva leaving us alone, so we can start to tell the story of our lives to Remus' parents. Quintus asks:

"Well, we know that some Death Eaters killed us, but what happened? And when did it happen?"

"At the end of the year 1980. Do you remember that year?"

"Oh, certainly. I think your friends had a baby in summer, didn't they? James and Lily Potter…" Fanny remarks.

"Exactly. I was made little Harry's godfather."

"How are they?"

"They were targeted by the Death Eaters and in November 1981 they were killed. Mum, Dad, this is going to be a very difficult story to tell you, but remember, it does have a happy ending!" Remus explains.

"Okay, start right after our death then…" Quintus suggests.

"In February my brother noticed he didn't want to be a Death Eater after all. When he tried to get out of the fold they tortured and killed him," I start.

"Oh dear."

"Then we went through half a year with James and Lily moving about three times until they finally landed in a cottage in Godric's Hollow. Sirius and I went through difficult times in our relationship, the war was getting ever nastier and we started to distrust each other. Then someone tipped Albus off that someone right in our midst had been giving information to Voldemort for almost a year. I knew it wasn't me, I thought Peter would be incapable to do such a thing, so I started to suspect Sirius. To say that our relationship was strained would be an understatement," Remus continues.

"I came to just about the same conclusion as Remus, I knew it wasn't me, it couldn't possibly be Peter, he was too weak, but Remus was a powerful wizard, he might willingly or unwillingly be the spy. So when it came down that James and Lily were supposed to be covered with a Fidelius charm they chose me to be their Secret Keeper. I accepted at first, but then I had second thoughts. A couple of them actually. The very first was that I was a much too obvious choice. Everyone knew we were as close as brothers. I expected the Death Eaters to come running to me as soon as it would be known that the Potters were under the charm. Then I thought that if Remus was the spy and tried to pry the secret from me, I couldn't withstand. I would have been incapable of keeping it. I loved him too much."

"So who was it then?" Quintus asks.

"I told the Potters to choose Peter. No one would think he would do something like that. Peter was the perfect inconspicuous choice. I would be the decoy. If the Death Eaters would be after me they could have tortured me to death, but I wouldn't have been able to tell them anything. And we decided not to tell anyone about the switch so I would have taken the knowledge of who the real Secret Keeper was to my death. I went to check on Peter every day. Only a week after the charm had been cast, the Potters were betrayed and Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow, where he successfully killed James. Then he rounded on Lily ordering her to move aside, so he could kill Harry, who was the main target, because he was one of two possible children who were prophesised to be Voldemort's destroyer. She of course refused and finally told Voldemort to kill her instead of her son. She knew that Voldemort would still go after Harry after that, but we now know that she had cast a spell over her son that would protect him because she sacrificed herself. When Voldemort cast Avada Kedavra on Harry, the baby survived with nothing more than a cut on his forehead. The spell bounded right back to Voldemort. Now we don't know if he was too far on his way to immortality or the spell had been weakened because it rebounded, but it managed to outright kill the body and left Voldemort a helpless, weak kind of a spirit. He fled. That same night I went to check on Peter, but didn't find him. Now he hadn't told me that he planned to go out, in fact the plan was that he would go into hiding, too, as would Remus and I. But he wasn't in his flat, there was no sign of any struggle or even argument, he was gone. That seemed strange and I began to worry about his safety, until I saw what had happened at Godric's Hollow. The cottage was almost a smouldering ruin, but I could get inside and found the bodies of James and then Lily who lay right beside Harry. The baby was screaming and only when I picked him up he quieted down a bit. It was the moment I realised that Peter must have betrayed them. He must have been with Voldemort, too, but vanished when his master had fled. I saw Voldemort's robes, but his wand had gone. Then Hagrid turned up. You remember him, don't you?"

"Groundskeeper at Hogwarts, isn't it?" Fanny asks.

"That's the one. He told me, that Dumbledore had ordered him to take Harry somewhere safe. I argued with him, because I knew that James and Lily had wanted me to take Harry, should he survive them as a minor. But Hagrid refused, so I let him take Harry and gave him my bike to get there faster. I was devastated. James had meant more to me than anyone in my family, almost as much as Remus, to lose him was just about the worst thing that could have happened to us. I was out of my mind then and knew only one thing. I had to find Peter. You remember our Animagus forms, don't you?"

"Yes, I do, what about it?" Quintus wants to know.

Both of Remus' parents seem to hold their breaths waiting for the rest of the tale.

I continue: "Well, I tracked Peter down by the next day on a not overly busy London street, called out to him, but he was prepared. Cried out for everyone to hear that I'd betrayed James and Lily, then cut off a finger and blew up the street behind him with the wand in his back, then he transformed and was gone. As a rat it was easy for him to vanish. I was left behind and realised he'd just had one up on me… he'd killed a good dozen people with that explosion."

"Sirius was captured on the spot, found laughing hysterically. They never even questioned him, they carted him right off to Azkaban. I only learned about it all three days later when I came back from a short trip abroad. Dumbledore told me what happened and that Crouch and Fudge had decided that the case was clear and Sirius was guilty. All I had known was that he was the Potters' Secret Keeper and on that basis I must have expected him to actually have killed Peter and the Muggles."

"Merlin, I don't want to know how you felt, love," says Fanny and I'm not sure whether she only means Remus by that.

"I was down on the ground. I think, I was out of it for at least a year, scraping just about by. You know how hard it was to get jobs with my condition. I fled to France, to one of the werewolf communities there until I got a chance to go to Romania and spend time with a specialist on vampires. He took me in and I spent a few years with him. I learned everything about catching and killing vampires from him. Nothing helped me get over Sirius though. I was not only mad at him, I was furious. I kept trying to cast his memory out of my mind, but I never succeeded. So I ran around half the world for several years until one day an owl caught up with me. It was the early summer of 1993. Albus had written and offered me a job at Hogwarts. I was to teach Defence against the Dark Arts. I didn't want to. Didn't want to go back where the memories of our years together would haunt me every moment of the day, but he talked me into it. When he came to talk to me he dropped the information that Sirius had been able to escape from Azkaban."

"Escape from Azkaban? How on earth did you manage to do that, Sirius?" Quintus asks, flabbergasted.

"Later, Quintus let Remus continue."

Remus tells him the whole bit of Harry's third year in a few words, my attempts to get into the Gryffindor tower, Harry's escapades and then the moment we met again in the Shrieking Shack; and how he transformed in the worst of moments. Again, I can almost feel the Lupins' baited breaths, even though their portraits of course don't breathe.

"Sirius is better to tell you how it went on after that…"

"I kept Remus away from the students. He had only missed one dose of the Wolfsbane, so he was probably coherent enough not to put up too much of a fight and ran into the forest. But in the meantime Pettigrew had taken his chances and picked up Remus' dropped wand, freed himself, froze Hermione's cat and Ron, then he transformed and was off once again. I was later captured, but not before the Dementors got to Harry, Hermione and myself. Harry had managed to chase them out of the way with a very impressive Patronus."

"That's amazing. A third year casting a full corporeal Patronus," Fanny whispers.

"And it was Remus who taught him! He's a great teacher, Mum!" I say with pride.

She smiles at that and muses:

"I always thought he would make a superb teacher. I'm very glad to hear you ended up as one, sweetheart!"

"So am I! – Anyway, they shoved me into Flitwick's office, you know that this is up on the seventh floor! I didn't have a wand, the door was very securely locked and Fudge was there because of that blasted beheading of Buckbeak. He had called for a Dementor immediately and Snape was of course delighted because he thought I would finally be Kissed. I really thought I was a goner. I sat there in that office, knew that I was innocent of those crimes and knew that my life would be over in a few minutes. But then the window was spelled open and Harry and Hermione were outside on Buckbeak's back! I was out in a moment and we flew up to the tower where Harry and Hermione got down and I was able to get away. I really owe the two of them my soul."

"But how had they managed! I thought they both landed in the hospital wing when you landed in Flitwick's office…" Fanny asks.

"Turned out that Hermione had a time-turner the whole year long. She had been entrusted with the thing to get to additional classes. Dumbledore had told them to go back three hours – they would be able to save two innocent lives. And they did. Buckbeak and myself. You can imagine how proud I am of those two!"

"Wow! What a story, Sirius. I don't even want to think about what you went through in Azkaban. In the course of the time, we've seen more than one werewolf ending up there and we were always afraid that one day it would be Remus. That's the main reason why we trained his self-control to such an extreme point. We wanted him to be able to keep himself out of trouble."

"He did, Mum. He has never hurt anyone. Never!"

"At least never in my wolf form…" Remus mutters.

We go on to tell the Lupins how Voldemort had been given another body and how we got together again after Harry's fourth year and ended up in Switzerland. They are quite delighted about those stories.

"We accumulated a few more students and then we had the shock of our lives, Mum. Sirius was out with the kids for a few hours of fun in the public bath and I was able to enjoy a day completely on my own. Until Albus came along and surprised me. He brought two people with him whom I believed firmly buried in the ground, James and Lily Potter! The Priori Incantatem spell had brought forth a number of shadows, who all helped Harry in that infernal graveyard, and subsequently we learned that Avada Kedavra isn't the end of the world. When the curse is cast it takes the soul from the person who is killed into the wand that was used to cast the curse. Regurgitating the spells through force brings the soul out of the caster's wand and the first thing that soul does is going and looking for its body. And just like that these persons killed through Avada Kedavra are coming back to life! Any corpse that hasn't been cremated does not decay as a consequence of the curse. It was absolutely crazy to wrap our minds around it at first, but it was true. They were back and came to stay with us."

"Remus and I were simply floored, but that was nothing like Harry was going through. At first he thought they were Death Eaters in disguise who used an especially cruel trick. It took us all a while to really understand it. But we have them back, they're healthy again and they helped us with the students. We got a few more and in the end there were thirteen of them from all four houses. Though six out of them were Gryffindors. I started to leave Azkaban behind me then. We've had a near perfect home with thirteen children, two house-elves and all the protection that was possible. We loved it! The kids loved the school in this form. Shortly after we started we were able to capture Pettigrew. Then I was freed just like that, they just set a trial for Pettigrew and I had to go there as a witness. Remus, Harry, Ron and Hermione had to come, too, of course. But I was free then. Didn't want to go anywhere though, all I wanted was stay with my loved ones. When the kids were in their sixth year Harry and Dumbledore were able to kill Voldemort! The idiot had turned up on our grounds with a few of his remaining Death Eaters and they weren't getting through Remus' wards. These wards were mostly set on intent. They were trimmed to recognise the Dark Mark on someone and gave alarm. And they were so exquisite, that even Voldemort couldn't just break them. So he was there with a good dozen of his Death Eaters and couldn't get past. Dumbledore allowed Harry a shot at Voldemort, under the cover of his Invisibility Cloak. Voldemort never knew what hit him. It took a while until the coast was clear of the remaining Death Eaters, of course, especially since the Ministry was pretty well equipped with them. And for that time we still had to stay at the safe-house. But Dumbledore offered the kids to return to Hogwarts for their seventh year if they wanted. Only two of the girls and one boy took him up on the offer, the rest preferred to stay at the Sunnegg. They had all paired off early on and were too comfortable to want to go back to their big separated dorms."

"Interesting. So they had their own rooms?"

"Yes, they did. We had the house renovated and the stable area was converted into bedrooms. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had their rooms on our side and the rest went to the back of the house. But the couples were pretty much together. Harry and Hermione moved up to Hermione's room under the roof, Ron moved into Justin Finch-Fletchley's room at the back and his sister Ginny bunked up with a Hufflepuff named Ernie McMillan. Justin's a Hufflepuff, too. Then there were the Patil twins. Padma and Parvati, shacked up with the two Slytherin boys in the group, one of them a Zabini, the other a Malfoy. Narcissa's son."

"Wow… I can see how they preferred to stay that way."

Remus grins.

"Albus even offered them to get a separate dorm with rooms that they could share. By that time they had become their own kind of house, you know. But they didn't only want their rooms, they also wanted our teaching. Dumbledore had left them the choice, even though he wanted Sirius and I back here at Hogwarts, but he said that we could have the jobs, whether it be a year earlier or later. So we stayed there for another year. Lily and James have produced a second child who was born just before Harry turned 16 and I got my first godchild. And a good year later they decided they wanted another child and offered Sirius and I to give us ours. It was the most wonderful thing that happened to both of us, and the two children are really the apples of our eyes. We couldn't be happier now."

"That's just wonderful, Remus. I know the feeling, believe me. I'm so happy for you two!" Quintus says.

Naturally we still have a few stories to tell, not the least the one of finding Quintus again alive. Then Quintus wants to know:

"You mentioned a potion for Remus before, what is this?"

"Oh, that's right, we didn't talk about the potion," I exclaim and grin.

I explain it to them and they're immensely relieved to hear that there's something which helps werewolves.

"But we also didn't tell you something else. During their sixth year I taught the kids to become Animagi. And since I taught a whole class I talked Remus into trying, too. Look at the result!"

Remus sighs, but transforms and the Lupins both gasp.

"What! Does that mean, Remus is an Animagus now?"

"Yes, he is. It helps him to transform before the moon rises and he won't go through the pain of the transformation. So the potion takes care of his mind and the Animagus of the body. He's just curling up on the carpet until we go to bed and anyone can touch him, even on full moon nights," I say.

"Oh my god! That is the single most wonderful thing I can imagine for you, Remus! It must be the next best thing to a cure. I'm absolutely thrilled about that. It explains your healthy look, doesn't it?"

"Yes, Mum, it does. Ever since that day I haven't gone through a painful transformation anymore. And Moony is quite a friendly fellow these days."

"This is amazing, Remus. You are really an outstanding wizard, you know," says Quintus.

"Thanks, Dad. Anyway, after the kids were through with their NEWTS – and collectively they had the highest ever NEWTS recorded for one class! – we came back home to Hogwarts. I went back to teaching Defence, Sirius started off teaching Potions, but last year Albus decided to retire, which meant that Minerva was made Headmistress and she wanted Sirius to take over Transfigurations. I hear that it's moved up to be one of the favourite subjects these days," Remus says and grins.

"I could imagine that you're quite a favourite teacher for those many young girls around the school," Fanny laughs.

"Well, they all know I'm with Remus, so they can have their little crushes, but they also know it won't lead anywhere…" I grin.

"But it's not all, my dears. Lily and James were only the first ones to be brought back to life. As soon as our students had passed their NEWTS Lily and Harry contacted the DMLE and shortly afterwards Lily and Ollivander went about to find brother wands to other wands that had been confiscated by the Ministry. Owners of wands already sold were asked if they would help to free the souls that were stuck in those wands. Harry went through a long series of Priori Incantatems against Voldemort's old wand and many others have helped with other wands. His and their help brought back all of the Avada Kedavra victims from those wands that have already been tested. There are still many wands waiting to be tested though. It's not really that quick a process, because it's a small team that the Ministry can afford to set to work on only this. Once the spell is cast and the souls have left the wands there have to be nationwide searches for the victims to crawl out of their graves – literally! Not an easy task, so there are never more than two or three at once. In the meantime most of the public graveyards and some private ones have been covered with monitoring spells to find them a little faster."

"Did we...?" Quintus asks, but doesn't go on.

"You have. We're still waiting for Mum to show up. We don't know who the Death Eaters were that killed you, we couldn't identify all of the Death Eaters, because many used stolen wands to kill with Unforgivables and there are still at least twenty or so wands that wait to be brought against a possible brother wand."

"Oh. How very strange that my portrait is awake then..."

"Well, you must have been awake since you were murdered. Once awake a portrait obviously doesn't go back to be dormant."

"Well, I do hope that Fanny is coming back again, too, because I can't imagine I would be happy to live without my best friend and lover."

"That's what we hope. It's all a very slow process, because no one who has been dead for almost two decades will just come back and go on as if nothing had happened between. We have to be there for these people and sometimes it's not easy."

We have reached dinner time. Remus and I grab each one of the twins and take them over to the table. Winky brings the food. We fill the plates of our children first. We finally have Winky loosened up enough that she eats with us. She's still twitchy to be there for every possible need we might have, but it's nice to see that she really regards herself as a part of the family now. A welcome one, not just as a servant.

Friday, 18.2.2000 / Remus

To be able to talk to my mum in her portrait is similar to having James and Lily around again. When I'm telling Dad about the portraits he is happy, even though for him, talking to Mum's portrait must open up even larger wounds. It certainly did rip those wounds in me open again that were caused by their deaths. Their murder was the moment when something started to push Sirius and me apart. It was the moment when I started to suspect my lover of being the traitor. It almost tore me apart, because I loved him so much, which was the main reason I never spoke about my suspicion. I can't say how many times I've wished that I had spoken about it since I've learned about his innocence. I've tortured myself with that thought for a year after the showdown in the Shrieking Shack.

I'm getting up this morning, looking forward to only three lessons in the morning. While Sirius eats with the children, I am going to breakfast in the Great Hall. Sitting down on my usual spot next to Minerva I wish her a good morning.

"You were rather gone all of a sudden yesterday, Minerva," I remark.

She smiles.

"You didn't need us there. Albus and I enjoyed a wonderful game of chess up in my office instead. I'm quite sure he misses our regular meetings a lot. He was also happy to chat with Duncan."

"I'm sure of that. He entertains quite a lot of guests as I've heard, but you are very close to him… he must miss you."

"Yes, but I can't leave here all too often. Though everything seems to be running very smoothly."

"It does. The school governors seem happy, too…"

"Yes, the board is quiet these days. We're doing well with the budget, that's their main concern. As you know, we get regular donations from many areas, that, the school fees and the Ministry funds keep us running very nicely. Albus' work in the Hogwarts vaults at Gringotts has brought forth a lot that I thought we could actually sell at an auction sometime soon. That will be something to organise. I'm not sure if something like that has ever been done here before."

"Sounds like an excellent idea, Minerva!"

We take our time for the breakfast while discussing a few more things. My first lesson is starting at eight thirty, so I'm in no hurry.

"What do you think about a ball in spring, Remus? I know that you people have given the students dance lessons, I suppose it would be nice if they could use these skills for once. So I've thought we could hold a dance again for once. We don't do that very often…"

"Yes, why not? That's always fun. How about the end of May some time?"

She nods.

"That sounds fine. OWLS and NEWTS will be over by then and the other exams aren't as tough, so the students might enjoy this."

"I think it would be nice if every student gets to go to at least one or two official balls during their time at Hogwarts. In the meantime we're holding regular dances here in the Great Hall, and I know that many students do enjoy it greatly."

"I'll run it by the school governors then. It's always a bit of an extra expense, so they have the last word. I agree with you that it would be a good thing for the students. I don't think it has to be as monstrous as the Yule ball we held during the Triwizard Tournament, rather something with music coming from sound systems. No live band needed. Or just a small dance orchestra, nothing as big as the Weird Sisters."

"Very reasonable. They could choose their preferred music that way. That's a good idea and shouldn't ask for too much in terms of expenses. Fourth years up?"

"Yes, at the most. Maybe only even fifth, sixth and seventh years that would make it easier to oversee. However, I would suggest that we opt to have them invite younger students as partners. There are some fifth years who are together with younger students," Minerva suggests.

I nod, taking quick notes and jotting down ideas.

"Yes, that may be better. No fixed partners required though. It's up to them to have an escort or find a partner at the ball."

"Duly noted. I agree, that this makes it easier for the shyer students."

"Fine. I'll have to check the dates of the last OWLS/NEWTS exams. I'll announce it on the house notice boards then."

"They're during the last full week of May. Friday is the 26th."

"Ah, that's good, the ball would then be on the 27th, and the full moon before that is on the 18th. We'll hold regular exams in the last week of May and the first week of June then. The ball would only put the sixth years under a bit of stress, but I don't think that's too great."

"Fine with me."

Minerva gives me a smile and I get up, having noted the dates quickly on a slip of parchment. In my office, I quickly jot it down on the desk-planner and underline the dates. Sirius comes in and starts picking up his materials for his morning lessons.

"What's that?" he asks and points to my notes.

I explain quickly, gathering up my own books and walking out of the office.

"Ah! That auction is a good idea. We should get a prominent auctioneer for that event and do it here in August or so…" Sirius says.

"That's a great idea. The auction's income could be used to set up a foundation at Gringotts for Hogwarts expenses – when there are greater needs or so. Sort of a nest egg. If there's enough to create a good interest."

We reach our classrooms where some of the students are already waiting. I let mine, sixth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws inside and start the lecture as soon as everyone has arrived. After that period I have a double lesson with the seventh years from Slytherin and Hufflepuff. They're practicing real duels now, so all the tables vanish and they get paired up. After the two lessons they have worked out quite a bit. I watch them leave after announcing a quiz test for Tuesday morning.

"Work over chapters twenty-two to twenty-eight in your textbooks. Questions will be out of them," I hint.

They groan a bit, but they still wish me a nice weekend. I'm waiting for Sirius, who's only had three classes this morning, too, and we walk up to our office together. I have time now to properly enter the two dates into my agenda.

"There will be a dance on 27th May. And I need to pick a date in August for that auction. Should be fun! Albus finds loads of things in those Gringotts vaults and many of them can be auctioned off," I tell Sirius.

"With the proceeds going to Hogwarts as you mentioned. Sounds like a great idea. He'll know what can go and what could possibly be harmful."

"Exactly. And he was happy to take the job. He might be acting as an auctioneer, too, what do you think?"

"Would be quite a good idea. We could also try to get someone from WWN who's popular and has a very able mouth…"

"Great idea, too. I'll write to them and see what we can come up with."

We gather all of our things needed and head down to our flat. I prepare the things we need to take along while Sirius gets the children ready. Once we're ready I have them grip the Portkey, which I activate as soon as everyone has it tightly in their hands. Even the twins can hold it on their own by now.

We land in the big living room on the Sunnegg and even though we're in a big tumble on the ground we don't mind. We get a hearty laugh for a welcome, but I'm up on my feet quite quickly.

"Well done, you little people. We'll have to do a bit of work on the landing though! Look outside, it's so beautiful here!"

The sun blazes inside through the big glass sides! I'm looking out and there doesn't seem to be one bit of a cloud in the winter sky. I've really learned to love the winters up here, as there's so much sun! It's still cold, but in the sun one doesn't feel it. The twins haven't been here since Christmas and they run to the glass windows. They flatten their noses on the glass to look out. Justin comes in and transforms to a cat. Seraina squeals and pounces on him.

"Ouf!" Sirius cries. "Hey! Be a bit softer with the poor cat, Seraina. You can't pounce on poor Justin like you can pounce on Padfoot and Moony!"

Justin manages to wiggle out underneath the girl and takes a leap, Seraina runs after him and starts a big chase all through the living room. We grin, but we call her back. She looks back for one moment, then turns to the big tabby cat again, only to land straight on Justin who's transformed back. He's catching her and now she gets tickled until she's screaming.

We have to laugh when Denny has recovered from the Portkey ride enough to join the fray with Addie, who helps the twins, so that now the tabs are turned and all three children crawl and jump over Justin and tickle him. Of course it doesn't take much to pull in Lizzie and Andy, and the whole bunch of children stick together!

"What… ouf! Ouch! Seraina!… no, please! He he he he, stop! Seraina! What the heck! Hey, that's five on one!" Justin really looks like he needs help.

"And you're calling yourself an Auror, Justin?" Sirius asks with a big grin.

"Well, yes, I do my best!" he squeals between laughing.

I decide it's time to pick up the twins from under the pile, because if we don't there will be that irksome moment when all the laughing changes to a lot of crying. Sirius and I lift a twin each and calm them down, James grabs Andy. Justin still breathes hard and turns to Addie and Lizzie:

"Well, now it's getting a bit easier, young lady! That calls for a tickle war, you do understand that, don't you?" he asks in a very menacing tone.

Addie grins.

"Catch me first!" she cries and jumps away, pulling Lizzie with her.

"Accio Addie and Lizzie!" Justin calls, pointing his wand.

She squeals while she zooms back to Justin. There's a very amused audience consisting of ourselves, Lily and James, Ginny, Ernie and Blaise.

"No fair – using magic when I can't!" she complains.

"Hey, Addie, want me to help you?" Blaise calls.

"Please!"

Blaise hops on the scene, grabs Justin and while Addie gets out of reach, the two start a little mock fight. In the end Justin just rolls on his back, acting dead. That's of course, when Ron returns from his midnight to noon shift. He sees Justin and runs to him.

"Justin! What happened?"

Justin waits, until Ron closes up, then he pulls his lover right down onto himself and sighs:

"An invasion of little people, Ron! Believe me, they're very dangerous!" Justin whispers.

But Addie has heard him and protests: "We're not dangerous, Justin!"

"No, we'we not!" Seraina squeaks from Sirius' shoulder.

Sirius and I laugh again.

"Not really, little one. They're just making fun of you!" Sirius tells her with a grin.

"Fun… good?" she asks.

Sirius guffaws.

"Of course that's good, love! You laugh, therefore it's good. Just as long as you don't laugh at someone who's really hurting or in trouble."

Sirius

After all the hilarity it's not easy to calm the children down, but we sit together to have some lunch, then the twins go down for their usual afternoon nap. Seraina as usual has no problem, but Denny is still a bit riled up, he needs some soothing before he's ready to sleep. Only half an hour after Seraina is he finally in the land of dreams. I return downstairs to pick up my briefcase with a couple of tests and essays to grade. I think it would be best to do it right away, so I'm using the time of the twins' nap for the grading of two tests, which is done pretty fast. The essays of my fifth years take a lot longer, they're quite long and I have asked for detailed ones, so that's what I'm getting.

Saturday, 19.2.2000 / Remus

We gather the family to take them out to a winter walk in the animal park in Bern. We're packing them all in the car, together with Harry, Hermione and Nevin. Hermione takes over the driving for once. It's nice to just sit with them driving! Sirius and I can just cuddle in the back row and watch over the children.

It's a beautiful winter morning! It's been very cold and there's even fresh snow, so the Dählhölzli looks very coated in white. We're all warmed with charms. Once we arrive at the small parking lot we take the strollers out and enlarge them and then we enlarge the pram for Nevin, who's taking his midmorning nap, but briefly wakes up when he feels the cold air. Hermione pulls up the hood of the pram and fixes it. Addie dances around us and looks forward to the walk. She has Lizzie on her hand who as usual sticks to her. Once the car is properly locked we advance to the children's zoo.

The Dählhölzli is a wonderful animal park set along the river Aare. It is situated alongside the river and stretches up on a hill, completely covered with a fairly thick, protected forest. What is amazing is that it is practically just a few steps to the centre of the city, but in this forest no one would think there IS a town this close. The largest part of the zoo is open to the public for free. Well integrated into the forest are a large number of enclosures for the numerous species of ungulates that the zoo keeps. In one corner of the park is a smaller enclosed area where one has to pay a small entrance fee.

We've chosen to park the car on one of two possible parking lots right down on the river. This way we get to the children's zoo part first. We release the triplets from their strollers for that and let them run around. They're like all other children delighted to get into close contact with the pygmy goats, who don't seem to have a problem with the low temperatures and the snow. They're climbing and jumping around as they would in summer. We let the children enter the paddock. Addie leads the smaller children to a small group of goats. Knowing enough about pygmy goats from being around their mother when she's transformed, they quickly follow Addie's example and reach out with their little hands. Sirius has the camera out and we watch how Andy, Seraina and Denny caress baby goats and squeal when the little animals nibble on their fingers and clothes. Lizzie is even cuter. She is not afraid to get close and quickly befriends one of the little goats, caressing it. Only as little goats are, they try to eat whatever they get in front of them and the goat starts to nibble on Lizzie's sleeves. Lily laughs, but helps her daughter to disentangle herself from the little mouth. As this is Lily's Animagus form, she's also quite happy to caress one or the other little goat.

As we don't see many visitors yet, the children are practically alone. The reason is probably that the weather is really cold, it's just below zero degrees, the frost is prominent on all plants and the snow covers the ground about ten centimetres high. It crunches under our feet. But neither the cold nor the snow dampens the enthusiasm of our children. They climb around with the goats and we leave them time to do so as long as they are happy. Unperturbed by the cold because of the warming charms they play for at least half an hour. We're waiting for them to get their fill. It's Addie who gets enough after some time and calls the little ones back to the gate. I pick up Denny when he comes running all flushed and cheerful.

"That was fun, Denny, wasn't it?" I ask.

"So fun, Papa! Goat nibble Denny!"

"I've seen that, love. Are you still warm enough?"

"Denny wawm," he confirms with a nod and struggles to get down again.

I let him down with a smile. He's just as active as his Daddy, has a very hard time to ever sit still. He calls Seraina, who's on Sirius' arms. Sirius lets her back down again and we start to slowly proceed along the few paddocks with mini-pigs, donkeys and ponies to the playground, which is now definitely not the best place to be. Even with the warming charms and thick gloves the play things can hardly be touched they're so cold, so we rather forcibly have to move the children along.

Hermione

Harry happily pushes the pram as we pass the restaurant on the little road to the first animal paddocks on the other side. We have to walk up to the forest area, because after the flood last year the newly restored area around the river has not yet been handed over to the public as they're still under construction. The whole lower parts have been almost a metre under water last spring and after that the people responsible for the Dählhölzli decided on taking the opportunity for a complete restoration of the natural ebb and flow of the river, which in this area means regular spring flooding of small ponds outside of the riverbed. They're still constructing the new structures, taking out all the old concrete formed ponds and leaving natural grounds. Along the old path they're building a long bridge with a grid underneath to keep the otters and beavers in their enclosures. The water can flow through freely. Smaller fish can enter and leave the ponds inside of the enclosures. There will be space for the grey pelicans, cormorants, beavers and otters. Of course the regular wild population that usually resides here will be just as welcome. Cranes, herons, ducks and storks usually populate the park during their nesting season. I resolve to come back as soon as this area will be open to the public in summer.

But right now we're walking up a steep hill which leads us to the upper areas of the zoo. This is all deeper in the forest and we soon get to the large paddocks for the deer and other hoofed animals. There's red and roe deer, there are bezoar goats from Crete and a small variety of Asian deer.

Andy, Seraina and Denny are back in their strollers for this part of the walk. It's like a large circle and we arrive back on the same spot we started out, then we turn to the part where we have to pay an entrance fee. This area is also still under renovation. There's now a flamingo pond, but of course it's much too cold for these delicate birds, which are inside somewhere, not open to the public. Along the way to the entrance we watch a few bird cages. It's fun to watch the children trying to spot the birds, but mostly only discovering the sparrows flying in and out of the cages. They don't care and enjoy even the sparrows. I imagine how this will be in a few years and expect half a kindergarten to be with us then.

Nevin is sleeping through all of this. Once we get inside of the building we have to get out of our clothes and remove the warming charms, that's when he wakes up. I find a few chairs comfortable enough for me to nurse my son. I really watch out to keep a regular pattern. He's doing well, the little one, and usually I can feel the milk even before he calls me. Sirius and Remus take the twins ahead on the walk, while Addie stays with us. She's still amazed to watch Nevin suckle on my breast. It hasn't lost any of its fascination yet, but I don't mind as long as she doesn't distract Nevin. After the meal, I'm looking for an area to change the baby's nappies. There is a changing table in the women's toilets, so I quickly take Nevin there to change him, with Addie in tow of course.

"Can I do that, Hermione?" she asks.

"You could, but would you mind to wait until tonight? You can then help me bathe Nevin," I offer.

"Okay!" she agrees immediately.

I grin. Bathing is even more fun than only changing the baby. I dress Nevin again and lift him up. He has started to give me smiles now and I feel him responding much more. It was a difficult discovery that it takes so long until something came back from my baby. Something that told me that Nevin recognises me beyond being the source of his food. I pick him up and we return to Harry, who waits patiently for our return. We leave the pram next to the coat racks at the entrance. Then we walk around the small building admiring the exotic birds, fish and reptiles.

"Harry, can you talk to the snakes for me?" Addie asks.

"I don't know if it works through the glass, Addie," he tries to avoid something with which he still doesn't feel comfortable.

"I've heard the story of the vanishing glass, Harry," Addie counters with a grin. Almost a little Slytherin there!

"You're getting to be too much like your big brother, you know that, kid?" Harry shoots back, but there's now a grin on his face, too. After all these years I think he's made his peace with this story and sees it the way we see it. As a pretty good revenge on his cousin.

Harry seems to attract the snakes in any case. There are some fer-de-lance vipers and they both seem to feel him, so they start to come alive and we see three of them crawling as close to the glass as they can get on their branches. Harry looks around, then he hisses something and listens as he gets a reply.

"What are they saying, Harry?" Addie asks excitedly.

"Just the usual. That they are astonished that a human can talk to them and that I was currently the only one who could at all, though it beats me how they can know that, seeing as they have been in here ever since they were alive."

"Ask them!" Addie orders.

Harry seems to do just that. He turns back to Addie and translates for her:

"They say that there are many ways of getting information from other snakes. Through insects and birds. But one of them has been captured in the wild, while all the others have been here for a while. They came from other zoos. The snake captured in the wild knows most and it knows that the other master of the Parseltongue is dead. They also tell me that with Voldemort the last of Slytherin's line has been extinguished."

"Not that anyone cries about that," Addie mumbles.

Harry grins. Then he moves us on until we reach Sirius and Remus again, who are watching the leaf cutting ant colony. Addie shudders when she looks at them.

"Ewww! They look horrible. I wouldn't want any of them crawling over my hands," she decides.

"They are pretty ugly, aren't they?" Remus replies. "But they are amazing nevertheless. Look how they carry these big bits of leaves, which must weigh more than the ants themselves."

Addie isn't convinced.

"Can we move on?"

"Sure."

Once we're done on the inside we pick up our coats and return to the outside, where we immediately renew the warming charms. A fairly large area awaits us to walk through. We start with the seals who seem to enjoy the cold weather a lot and who frolic around the length of their long basin. There's a baby seal that absolutely delights Addie. It's from last spring, so it's grown to about half the size of the adults by now. What a playful little one, shooting through the water, jumping up on the resting areas and off again at lightning speed.

There are Przewalsky's horses and musk oxes to be seen. All are out and happy about the cold weather.

But when we get to the cages with the owls Addie feels so sorry for them, because they can't fly around freely.

"Yes, that is a bit sad, isn't it?" Harry agrees.

We pass the area where the wolves are. There's a pack of five of them. The twins struggle to get close to them, but Sirius and Remus hold them back.

"They're not like Hermione and Papa, sweetheart, you can't go and hug them," Sirius tells them.

"Why?" Seraina wants to know.

I can hardly believe it. She's not even two yet and asks 'why' questions.

"They are wild wolves. Even though they're in an enclosure here, they're still quite wild and would probably think that you're an intruder so they would attack you to protect their territory, or they'd think what a practical bit of food this little girl is and eat you," Sirius explains.

I'm not sure how much of this Seraina actually understands already, but she does strike me as a pretty clever little girl.

Remus

Finally, after strolling through the park for three hours we return down the hill and enter the restaurant for a snack before returning home. The children get hot cocoa, the rest of us tea or coffee. There is a lovely cake buffet from which we let the children choose. They eat everything up not leaving one little crumb. No wonder, as they've been out and about in the cold for so long. Even the triplets have walked about half the way on their own little feet. But they're all knackered now and I've hardly left the parking lot when they're all sound asleep already.

To give them time for a good nap I take the time and we make a longer trip to reach our home. The triplets and Nevin enjoy a long nap of about two hours before we get there. Even Lizzie falls asleep.

How quickly this day has passed. The sun goes down early. Once it's dark we enjoy the huge fire in the living room. The children, refreshed from their long nap, play on the carpet around us. Addie sits on one of the sofas and reads. Her cheeks glow in a healthy red from the sun. After coming home she's changed into a set of bright red robes, which contrast beautifully with her long black hair.

Sirius and I get some cuddle time for us. Some of the gang are around and prepare to go out for dinner and later on for other activities. Jason apparates in just before dinner. Mandy gets up to welcome him. He'll stay here for dinner, then they want to go to the theatre in Bern to see an opera.

I won't be able to talk much as it's a full moon tonight and I have to transform before dinner. It's still an early moonrise. So when Jason turns up, I'm already in my wolf form.

"Hi Jason!" everyone greets him.

"Hello everyone."

He sits down with Mandy and they start to talk about his day. I'm comfortably rolled up next to Sirius on the sofa. He keeps caressing me and I bury my snout in his lap, hiding my whiskers from our children who still haven't fully checked that they should not pull them.

"Any juicy little scandals from the Ministry, Jason?" Sirius asks with a twinkle.

Jason grins.

"Sorry, Sirius, can't say there are any. Almost boring these days, no intrigues, no backstabbing, the best I can offer is that we have been working on collecting facts on Fudge to finally take him to court. Not like it wasn't at least five years too late, but there you are. He doesn't know that we're actually investigating. There's too much of a danger of him fleeing the country if we let it become known, so you know how to keep your mouths shut. I'm only telling you because you know how to do that. You guys would be some of the first who would like to see him tried and sentenced, wouldn't you?"

His grin gets even wider as we confirm that, so he continues:

"I bet he thought he'd be let off the hook! But how can we let seventeen years of mismanagement be left unpunished? Almost everything Fudge did was questionable. You can only exclude the actions he's taken directly upon Dumbledore's advice, everything he did out of his own will was close to a criminal action. The number of bribes and the amounts of that he's accepted from Malfoy and other high ranked Death Eaters for example. We especially don't want him to get away with all that money. We did already find a lot of evidence and for once the Gringotts goblins have agreed to cooperate, especially when we told them that they would certainly not be made responsible and the young Lord Malfoy has given them the okay to publicise ever single bank transfer of his father's. The worst that can happen to them is the temporary loss of some fees for vaults owned by Fudge in case we have to close them down."

"Finally! I really can't regret that he will be made responsible for his actions," says Sirius.

"Certainly not. Expect to get a call as a witness by the way. You are an important witness to prove what kind of a character he was and how his approach to legal matters was corrupted by his fears and the money he got from Malfoy and the likes. We're even tempted to see if Malfoy isn't ready to testify. But that will be a last resort, we do have the goblins' records of the payments he made."

"Luckily they record everything, even the obviously illegal things…" Sirius mutters.

"Yes, well, for them the action wasn't illegal at all. I mean they transferred money from one vault to another upon the demand of one of their clients. Completely normal transaction. The illegal part of it is only within our jurisdiction concerning the giving and receiving parties. To every donation Lucius made for institutions like St. Mungo's he made a personal one to Fudge. He was made school governor strictly upon Fudge's wish against at least two thirds of the other governors and most of the staff at the Department of Magical Education who knew he'd only stir up political trouble. Would you believe that Fudge actually kept the original letter with which Lucius asked him to help him to this office? Malfoy was clever enough to keep out of the Ministry itself. He rather used his influence within the wizarding economy leaders with much, possibly largely stolen money. That could unfortunately not be proven."

"So what will the actual charges against Fudge be?" Harry asks.

"First of all corruption. But we'll be charging him for multiple aiding and abetting murder. And finally we'll have him for blatant misuse of his office before he became Minister and in the years of his service as Minister, which has been to the detriment of the whole magical community. There were numerous miscarriages of justice, first of all Sirius' case. Sending you to Azkaban for life without a trial could even be one of the key events to get a decision against Fudge from the jury. People have in the meantime understood that what happened to you out of the blue could happen to everyone else under an administration like Fudge's."

"That sounds like quite an impressive catalogue," Hermione remarks.

"Oh, you bet, because that's just the general charges. Once all the offences are listed it's going to fill a couple of long rolls of parchment, believe me. There will be a fairly long list of joint plaintiffs, to which I hope to count you, Sirius."

"I'll be there - just need to tell me and my lawyer what kind of information you'll need, Jason."

"Thanks."

"Are you leading the investigation then, Jason?" Lily asks.

"I'm part of a team of four lawyers in the department. I'm currently busy listing all the offences. Two of my colleagues are doing the legwork of the investigation and search the archives and the last one has been busy negotiating with the goblins."

"Well, I would say that actually is some interesting gossip, Jason. Our discretion is certainly guaranteed," Sirius promises.

Everyone in the room confirms that.

"Thanks. I'm glad for that. Actually I'm glad for you guys, because I have a hard time working on that case and having to keep it all inside of myself. We're afraid he'd be out of the country the moment he notices what we're up to, but as soon as we have one or two more points cleared in our investigation we'll be able to go out and arrest him. That should be in the next three weeks."

After that they're moving away from this rather important subject, share dinner and more general gossip before Mandy prepares fully for her evening out with Jason. They both look very well dressed when they come back down from her room to wish us a good evening.

"Have a very pleasant evening, you two!" the family wishes them and they're off.