A/N: I am sorry that this took so long. Hope it works for you.

Chapter 10

When his tears stopped falling, Sirius finally took stock of just how uncomfortable his position was. He'd collapsed in an odd way with his bent legs half trapped beneath him and Temperance on his lap, effectively cutting off his circulation. He shifted with a grunt, rousing Temperance.

She'd been drifting, her eyes mostly dry now but her mind miles away when she felt Sirius moving. She looked up at him and, noting how uncomfortable he must be, pushed herself off his lap to the ground next to him. Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her with him against the back wall. They sat in silence for several long moments, both watching Buckbeak snuffle in his sleep.

It was Sirius who broke the silence, "Hermione says you're a doctor now."

Temperance looked up at him, surprised, "I am. How does Hermione know?"

"She spent all day talking about you right after you arrived. Don't know how she managed to get any cleaning done, nevermind breathing. That girl talks faster than anyone I've ever met. Must've done some research too, 'cause she was talking about things from when we were just kids…" He drifted off, Temperance's mind following his to thought's of better times. "I'm glad you got to be a doctor." His voice was softer now, a little whistful.

Not wanting to dwell on aborted graduation plans, Temperance told him instead, "They offered me the job at the Jeffersonian right out of college. State of the art lab, whatever I needed, it was everything I'd dreamed of. They let me build my own department, hire whomever I wanted. I even had my own grad student two years… two years later." She looked away, her voice trembling as she thought of Zack.

Picking up on her distress, Sirius tightened his arm around her, "What happened?"

"Zack he…" she shuddered, fighting back the tears that always threatened when she thought of her first beloved student, "There was a serial killer, Gormogon, he practiced cannibalism and was slowly rebuilding a silver skeleton according to old Templar Knights superstitions. And he, he chose Zack as his apprentice. My Zack! He took him and there was an explosion in the lab and Zack almost lost his hands. And I just, why didn't he tell me?"

Her words dissolved into quiet sobs and Sirius held her closer wishing, not for the first time, that things had been different. "It's not your fault," he said to her, knowing that now was not the time to discuss had beens.

"I know," she choked, "It was the only way we could have caught him. But I could have helped him. If he told me I could have kept him safe."

She sobbed again, and Sirius said no more. He didn't have the right words, and doubted he ever really would, but he would be there for her as he hadn't in the past.

Her tears calmed quicker than he expected. She was wiping her eyes with only a few strangled sniffs minutes later. "We should probably go down. Molly will be calling for dinner soon."

Sirius huffed. "If that woman couldn't cook…" he grumbled, allowing Temperance to pull him to his feet. She looked at him oddly. Molly and Sirius had never really gotten along, but they had never openly hated each other either. "She thinks I don't know how to take care of Harry. Decided that all I see is James in the boy and now I can't keep my head straight. Probably expects me to lose my head at the first opportunity and go running out, bet she thinks I'll betray the Order too."

"She doesn't know you, Sirius."

"You're bloody right she doesn't."

"You were only a second year when Molly and Arthur graduated, and honestly, I didn't even like you then. They weren't members of the Order last time either, you remember. She just doesn't know you Sirius."

Sirius eyed her for a long moment, "If she starts on about Harry I'm not staying. I've heard enough from Snape."

Temperance nodded, it was actually more than she expected. Besides, she really didn't think Molly had a right to think poorly of Sirius. He, at least, had had no choice being in Azkaban; Molly on the other hand, had willingly overlooked her duty towards Harry on the word of an old man. Taking his hand, she led him out of the room and downstairs. They made their way towards the drawing room first, Temperance wanting to look in on her partner and nephew.

They were still there, all four of them seated on the couch talking. It seemed that Booth had exhausted his stories and the kids were now regaling him with tales of their time at Hogwarts.

"And then last year Professor Snape read out this dreadful article about me and Harry to the entire fourth year potions class," Hermione was saying as they entered.

"He didn't write it, did he?" Sirius asked. All four occupants of the couch spun in shock at the sound of his voice.

"No," Hermione answered quickly, "It was a Rita Skeeter article, from the Daily Prophet."

"Yeah," Ron added, "She was writing all kinds of stuff about Hermione last year. Mum believed all of it, wasn't very nice to Hermione for a while."

Temperance and Sirius exchanged a glance, it seemed they would need to be talking to Molly. But Hermione was already defending her, "It wasn't that bad really Ron, your mum was just looking out for you."

Ron scoffed, "Mum shoulda known better than to trust anything that Skeeter woman had to say."

By now, Harry had edged his way off the couch, and indicated to Booth to do the same. "C'mon," he said quietly to his aunt and godfather, "They'll be at it for hours. Ron's still sore over not believing me last year."

As they stepped out of the room, Temperance exchanged a brief smile with Booth before turning back to Harry, "What about last year?"

Harry just shrugged and kept going on his way to the kitchen, "He thought I entered the Tournament on purpose."

Temperance reached out to touch his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. He turned to her, confused. Her voice empty, Temperance asked, "Did you?"

Immediately Harry became indignant, "Of course not! I don't go looking for trouble. Besides, it's not like I want to die!"

"Then whey were you competing?"

"I don't know!" he shouted, "Someone put my name in the Goblet and they decided I had to compete to find out why."

Temperance's face went dark, and she stormed down the hall towards the kitchen, knowing that at least Molly would be in there.

Sirius whistled, "I feel sorry for Dumbledore when she catches up to him."

"What are you talking about?" Booth asked. He glanced at Harry, who looked as confused as he felt, then back at Sirius.

"Haven't you ever seen her mad?"

"Plenty of times," Booth shrugged, "What tournament's she so mad about?"

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament," Sirius explained, "It hasn't happened in years because the death toll got too high. But the Ministry started it up last year, with new rules."

"You could only enter if you were of age," Harry added, "There were a lot of people trying to get in anyways."

Booth stared at the both of them, then his eyes turned slowly towards the door where his partner had disappeared. He was not at all happy with what he was hearing, and fully understood any and all anger Temperance was feeling. "Maybe we should go with her," he spoke slowly, as though testing his words. But when he locked eyes with Sirius, he knew that the man had understood the unspoken sentiment. They would go to help.

BONES

"Molly?" Temperance addressed the woman the instant she stepped into the kitchen, "How does the Order contact Dumbledore in case of emergencies?"

Startled, Molly hurried to answer, "He left us some of Fawkes's feathers. They're over there. We take them with us on missions and are supposed to light them if anything goes wrong."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth that one of the feathers was flying through the air towards Temperance. She caught it, and the feather barely had time to make contact with her hand before it burst into flame. Molly stared at her, shocked, for all of two seconds before there were a series of pops and two people appeared in the kitchen, wands drawn.

It took them a moment to realize that there was no immediate danger, and slowly their wands were lowered as they turned to look at the two occupants of the kitchen.

"Molly, Temperance," Dumbledore spoke calmly, though there was an undercurrent of annoyance in his voice that was unusual, "Is everything alright?"

"There's something I would like to ask you, Professor," Temperance got straight to the point, barely sparing a glance for McGonagall, who had accompanied Dumbledore. "I want to know why you allowed Harry to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

She heard the door open behind her and felt the presence of Booth, Sirius, and Harry enter the room. She could see the slight flicker of unease in Dumbledore's eyes as his audience grew. With a sigh, he turned first to McGonagall, "Minerva, perhaps you should return to Hogwarts. It doesn't appear that there is any cause for concern here. I will be fine on my own."

Before McGonagall could react, Booth stepped forward, "Not gonna happen. Everyone stays right where they are."

"And you are?" Dumbledore asked.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI," he introduced himself, preferring the badge he never went anywhere without.

"You have no jurisdiction here," McGonagall told him.

"Maybe not," Booth shrugged, "But Bones is my partner, and where she goes, I go."

Temperance glanced over at him, smiling at him gratefully when he met her eyes. Turning back to Dumbledore, she said, "You should start."

The Headmaster sighed once more, "There was nothing I could do, the rules of the Tournament say that anyone who's name comes out of the Goblet has to compete."

"Rules you changed when you added an age restriction," Temperance pointed out.

"There was nothing I could do," Dumbledore repeated. But he had become again aware of the number of people in the room. "Temperance, perhaps it would be best—"

"Why did you send Harry to live with Vernon and Petunia?" Temperance cut him off.

"Oh Bones, I forgot to tell you, Agent Prichard called an hour ago. They arrested Vernon Dursley on charges of child neglect and abuse." Booth eyed Dumbledore, "He's the one that put your nephew there?" Temperance nodded. "I don't think any school would look too happily at a child neglect charge," Booth mused, "Hey Bones, you think you could magic me up a pair of handcuffs?"

"That's enough," McGonagall inserted herself between Dumbledore and Booth, "Agent Booth, you do not have jurisdiction in this world." Booth opened his mouth to argue, but McGonagall cut him off, turning back to Dumbledore, "Albus, leave."
"Minerva, this isn't necessary, tempers are just running a little high," he reasoned.

"Agent Booth's perhaps," McGonagall agreed, "But Temperance is one of mine, Albus. Now please, leave."

Knowing that he would do best to follow McGonagall's wishes, Dumbledore turned sharply on his heel, and disappeared.

"Now," McGonagall turned back to the partners before her, "What is this you were saying about Vernon Dursley being arrested?"

They took turns describing their trip to the Dursley's, Booth unable to escape the feeling that he was giving a report to his boss, and Temperance feeling once more like an errant student.

When they were finished, McGonagall glanced over at Harry, "It appears I owe you an apology Mr. Potter."

"Professor?" Harry questioned, sharing a confused glance with his aunt.

McGonagall sighed, "I was uncomfortable with Dumbledore leaving you at your aunt and uncles, but believed that you would be safe, and accepted that he had his reasons. Now," she eyed Booth and Temperance, "I see I should have been more cautious."

"It's alright, Professor," Harry assured her a little hesitantly. The kitchen door opened once more, and Ron and Hermione entered, looking around in surprise at the gathering in the room.

"So that's it?" Booth asked, "That man shouldn't be around children."

"There's nothing we can do Booth," Temperance sighed, "Right now, Hogwarts is the best place for him to be."

At the disbelieving look on Booth's face, McGonagall explained further, "With," she hesitated and her eyes found Harry's, "Voldemort's return, it will be more important than ever to have Albus at Hogwarts. Both for the confidence he will be able to give the students, and the fear he can instill in our enemy. However, it appears I will need to keep a much closer eye on things this year." She looked over at her three students, standing close together and exchanging frequent glances. "It appears there are some things I need to look into."

"Professor?" Hermione spoke up a little tentatively, "I've been meaning to ask you. About our detention first year with Malfoy and Neville, why did you send us to the Forbidden Forest?"

McGonagall's eyes widened almost comically, "Starting with that, it seems." She backed up two paces then, nodding her goodbyes to all present, and spun on her heel.

As soon as they heard the pop that announced McGonagall's departure, Sirius clapped Temperance and Booth on the back. "That was brilliant," he announced, "Boy'm I glad the Aurors don't have anyone like you two in their ranks."

Booth grinned at him, not fully understanding but knowing a compliment when he heard one. He glanced over at Temperance to see her smiling up at Sirius adoringly. He bit back a pained sigh. He'd believed it when Sirius had said they were in a relationship, but hearing about it, and seeing it were two different things. There was a sharp tug at his heart when he saw her face now, and it hurt to learn that he never had had a chance with her.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Booth backed away, "I should get going."

"What?" Temperance's voice pitched a little in distress as she turned to him, "Why?"

"Oh, you must stay," Molly insisted, "I was just about to call everyone for dinner."

"No, that's okay," Booth backed towards the door as he spoke, directly into Sirius.

"Let's talk," he whispered to Booth and Booth alone, raising his voice, he told the ladies, "We'll just be right back." And without waiting for an answer, dragged Booth out the door with him.

Molly turned to Temperance incredulously, "Shouldn't you do something?"

"Sirius isn't going to do anything," Temperance eyed her oddly as she turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione and motioned the three towards the table.

BONES

Glancing about him quickly for an empty room, Sirius drug Booth down the hall. He found an empty cupboard and threw the other man inside. Although unnerved, Booth didn't struggle nearly as much as Sirius would have expected.

"What the hell is this place?" Booth groused as Sirius stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

"Broom cupboard," Sirius shrugged as he lit his wand. The two men shuffled awkwardly about, both trying to find a comfortable place to sit. "Shouldn't you be a little more uncomfortable sitting in a cupboard with a mass murderer?" Sirius wondered aloud.

It was Booth's turn to shrug, "I hear your innocent. Besides, Bones' dad murdered the Deputy Director of the FBI and I've been in pretty close quarters with him."

Sirius just shook his head a little mournfully. "Do you love her?"

"What?" Booth's voice jumped a couple octaves in shock.

"Bones, Tempe, do you love her?" Sirius repeated. Booth just stared at him, wide eyed. "Gonna need an answer here, mate. And it better be the truth."

"Fine, okay, yes. I love her."

Sirius sat back. "Good."

Booth's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He felt almost bare, the way he'd spat out his long secret love for Temperance. This had not been the reaction he'd been expecting.

"Look, I'm sure you've figured out that Bones needs protecting, no matter how much she doesn't want it." Booth nodded slowly, of course he was aware of that; he and Temperance had tracked down enough killers for him to be more than aware of how easily she found trouble. "She's going back to America," Sirius confessed, "As soon as the school year ends she's taking Harry back there with her. I can't marry her, and I can't go with her until my name is cleared."

"You want me to keep an eye on her," Booth realized.

Sirius nodded, "I need you to take care of her if anything happens to me."

Booth's expression turned dark, "If you leave her again I will hunt you down and kill you."

Sirius mulled it over, he'd already decided that nothing would keep him from his family again, but Booth's commitment was good. "Guess you'll have to stay for dinner," was all he said, opening up the cupboard door and waiting for Booth to step out first.