My sincerest apologies for the massive delay in posting this, I had simply forgotten I had actually finished this chapter a little while ago, because I got distracted trying to get my head sorted to carry on with Erotes. Hope you enjoy this update, it might be a little while before there is another though, sorry, but I shall see what I can do.

Previously:

"Given Draco does not require further practice on this particular potion, you shall be brewing it again under your wife's supervision," Snape informed them with a smirk, one which only grew when Harry groaned quietly. "Draco will take notes. You will then be expected to review these fully after the lesson and write an essay explaining any mistakes you made and their significance."

"Yes, sir," Harry said morosely, as Snape headed back to his desk.

"It's okay, Harry," Draco said with a grin, handing over Orion to him, thinking he really looked like he could use some baby cuddles after the professor's decision, "perhaps you won't make any mistakes at all, then there won't be anything much to write about."

"That, my love, might be wishful thinking," Harry told her, as they headed for the door; Draco chuckled as she picked up the travel bag on the way past.

-#-

"You came," Remus said, not looking up from the cup of tea he was cradling in his hands. It was the day of the full moon and he was sat in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, trying to convince himself that he really didn't need to find and open the bottle of brandy he knew was lurking in the bottom of the larder.

"I said I would," Sirius replied a little bluntly, as he took a seat opposite his friend. Things were still a little tense between them but after their talk two days earlier, when Molly and Sirius had come to check on Remus, they were at least on speaking terms again. "I would never leave you to face the full moon alone," Sirius told him sincerely.

"I would hardly blame you for not wanting to be around me at the moment," Remus said morosely, still not looking up from his almost cold beverage. He had made himself tea thinking that he needed to ingest something before the full moon hit, but had been unable to stomach even that.

"Well it's not like I will have to listen to you being a grumpy sod while you're transformed," Sirius pointed out teasingly, a small smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

Remus gave Sirius a rather forced smile in return, knowing his friend was just trying to lighten the mood and make things easier between them. He sipped at his tea, but regretted it pretty quickly, pulling a face as he discarded the now stone-cold beverage off to one side.

"It's not like you will have to listen to my terrible attempts at jokes while I am Padfoot either," Sirius added, seeing how strained Remus' expression was. His presence on the full moon was supposed to help his friend and he didn't like knowing that it was all so difficult for Remus.

He didn't exactly think that he had been wrong when he had said that Remus was avoiding the world in an attempt to avoid the pain and hurt he expected to suffer, but he knew he could have worded it better, and been more supportive. Sirius had apologised but Remus seemed more upset with himself now than with his friend, and Sirius had no idea how to help him with that.

"I've grown rather fond of your terrible jokes, Sirius," Remus said after a few seconds, looking up and meeting Sirius' eye for the first time since his arrival, the warm sincerity of it catching Sirius off guard. Remus laughed at his shocked expression; it was only a quick short laugh, but it was genuine. "Do you think that I could have put up with you and James for so long if I didn't find you a little bit amusing at least some of the time?" he asked teasingly.

"Ha," Sirius barked out, "I suppose that's probably true." He was surprised how much better just seeing a little bit of his old, happier friend shining through made him feel. Remus was always more serious than he and James had been, but Remus had still given as good as he got; this morose and sad man was like a shadow of his friend.

"We should probably go and check the room and get all the wards up and ready," Remus suggested, forcing himself to his feet. They still had time before the transformation would hit him, but this was the first one he would be spending at Grimmauld Place, so he wanted to be quite certain that he wasn't going to be able to break out of the large master bedroom.

Remus had been worried about the suggestion that they ward themselves in there, knowing that the room would be destroyed, but Sirius had actually been quite gleeful at the prospect of the complete destruction of his parents' former bedroom. Soon after moving back into Grimmauld Place, after the previous full moon, Remus had gone through it and removed anything of value, made of silver or that could be particularly dangerous, but had left the rest as it was.

"You worry too much," Sirius said, though he got to his feet too and followed after his friend, as Remus headed up the stairs.

"I know you are looking forward to destroying the master bedroom, but it would probably be best we didn't make a mess of the rest of the house," Remus pointed out, looking over his shoulder as he reached the hallway and continued on up towards the first floor.

"Yeah, that's true; I can imagine what Draco would have to say if Moony got into her and Harry's room," Sirius said with a wince.

"Not to mention all that effort you went to, to make this place liveable," Remus pointed out. "It would be a shame to waste it." The whole house was still in need of a great deal of work, even with everything that Sirius had done before Harry and Draco moved in with him, but it was liveable at the moment, fairly pleasantly so. And for the moment, Remus wasn't feeling up to doing much redecorating or repair works, and Sirius simply didn't have the time for it.

"That's true," Sirius agreed, as they reached the top floor and headed for master bedroom, "maybe adding a few extra wards wouldn't be a terrible idea."

-#-

"That was a really long hour and a half," Harry grumbled putting an arm over Draco's shoulders and cuddling his wife into his side. They had just escaped from Snape's potions classroom, Harry having spent the evening re-brewing the potion they had been making on Tuesday. As promised this had been done under the watchful eyes of his wife, who had taken very detailed notes, notes that the professor had complimented more than Harry's potion.

"You only made three significant mistakes, and a couple of small ones that wouldn't have mattered greatly anyway. It was an improvement on your previous attempt," Draco pointed out. Admittedly Harry still had a great deal to learn if he was going to get the Exceeds Expectations grade he needed but he was making progress.

"I should hope it was an improvement, I spent an hour trying to learn it off by heart last night," Harry told her. He honestly didn't know how he kept making mistakes when he was supposed to literally just do what it said in the book.

"You probably just got nervous with me watching you so closely," Draco suggested. She knew that Harry was perfectly capable of getting it right, but more than once during the lesson Harry had looked to her for approval rather than focusing on what he was supposed to be doing.

"And you think I will be less nervous with some examiner peering over my shoulder the whole time?" Harry asked sceptically, thinking that if anything that was likely to make him even more anxious and therefore careless.

"Well I should hope that you won't be in love with that examiner and therefore you won't be trying so hard to impress them," Draco said looking smug, and enjoying the blush that coloured her husband's cheeks. She had suspected that he had been trying to prove himself to her; his reaction was a nice confirmation of that. "You need to stop trying so hard," she told him affectionately, "you just need to read each step carefully before you act; and try to trust yourself a bit more."

"I trust that I am more likely to make potions explode than do what they are supposed to," Harry said self-deprecatingly, a pout on his face as he released his wife from his side, pushed open the door to their rooms and lead the way inside.

"I think that even Professor Snape would have been impressed if you had managed to cause anexplosion with the ingredients you were using today," Draco told him with amusement, closing the door behind herself.

Harry had already headed straight for the sofa and had taken a seat next to Molly Weasley by the time that Draco turned back around. A soft smile graced Draco's lips as she watched Harry gently brush a lock of hair away from Orion's face. Their son was fast asleep in Molly's arms and it was a beautiful sight, but it was the expression on Harry's face that tugged at Draco's heart.

"Did the lesson go okay?" Molly asked after a few moments of silence.

"It was fine, much as expected," Harry told her. "I have an essay to write up about what I did wrong with the potion I was making today, but that can wait until the weekend." He had just finished brewing the potion and didn't particularly feel like going over it all again at the moment.

"You'll forget what it was that you did wrong by then," Draco chastised lightly, moving over to the sofa and taking Orion gently into her arms so that she could go put him down in his cot while he was sleeping.

"Ah but I have your excellent notes to guide me, love," Harry pointed out, leaning over the back of the sofa to watch his wife as she took Orion into their room, before turning back to Molly. "Has he been asleep long?"

"Only ten, fifteen minutes or so," Molly told him, "and I changed and fed him just before he nodded off so that should hopefully give you a little while before he wakes up again."

"Thank you," Harry said earnestly. "Are you staying here tonight? I mean, you are very welcome to stay, we like having you here, but I understand if you want to get back home…" he rambled.

Molly smiled at him fondly, placing her hand gently on his arm. "I came here this evening with the intention of staying here; I think it is for the best while Sirius is away. Arthur knows not to expect me home tonight," she assured him.

"Oh, Arthur is welcome here too," Harry pointed out. He was very grateful for everything Molly had done for them, for what she was still doing for them, and he certainly didn't want to cause problems between her and her husband.

"Oh, don't you worry about that, dear," Molly told him kindly. "Arthur has to be up early for work in the morning and so will already be fast asleep, he won't even miss me," she told him with a light chuckle. "It's only for the full moon," she pointed out, "and Arthur loves you and your family as much as I do, so he doesn't mind at all."

"Thanks," Harry said again, knowing that it fell short of the warmth and affection he felt for the Weasleys. "Do you think they are okay? Sirius and Remus I mean," he asked; he knew that the two of them had spoken on Tuesday, and that Sirius' mood had improved since then, but he was still worried about his godfather.

"Oh I am quite certain they will be just fine," Molly said happily; she honestly thought that the familiarity of the full moon together might do the two men some good, remind them of all the reasons they were the best of friends. "Now," she said clapping her hands together and smiling at Harry, determined to change the subject and not let him dwell on the matter, "why don't you get those notes of Draco's out and let's see if we can't get most of that essay written tonight."

Harry groaned, flopping back onto the sofa, his arms limply at his sides and a pout on his face. He heard Molly chuckle at him and turned to look at her, his eyes pleading with her not to make him do the essay now.

"I am no expert in potions," she told him, not going to be swayed by a simple look, "but I have an Exceeds Expectations at N.E.W.T. level, so I am sure we can help you write something that could even impress Severus Snape." She had enough experience, both from her own life and that of her children, to know that putting homework off until the weekend was usually a bad idea.

"Well that sounds like a challenge if ever I heard one," Draco said with amusement as she returned to the room having managed to get Orion back to sleep, the little boy having woken up slightly when she had moved him. "Molly's right about getting it done though, Harry; Ron will not be at all pleased if you have to skip Quidditch practice this weekend to write a potions essay," she pointed out.

Harry sighed and forced his body up from the sofa, going to retrieve the notes from the bag by the door. He didn't want to spend any more time on potions that evening, but he could at least see that it was likely to be a lot easier and quicker process to complete while he had the assistance of not only Draco but Molly too.

-#-

"Morning," Hermione greeted Harry the next day at breakfast, with far too much enthusiasm in his opinion. "You look tired," she commented as she accepted Orion into her arms for a cuddle, having finished her own breakfast already.

"I have a four month old son and a sadistic wife who thinks that spending more than two hours on a potions essay is a good idea; of course I'm tired," Harry grumbled sleepily as he helped himself to a generous serving of porridge before adding strawberries and a large dollop of honey to the top of it and stirring. "Sorry, just been a long week," he apologised with a sigh when Hermione glared at him for taking such a tone with her.

"At least you won't have to write that essay at the weekend now," Hermione pointed out, hoping to cheer him up at little bit, "means you will probably be able to go to Quidditch practice, right?"

"Hopefully," Harry said, nodding as he dug into his porridge, not having realised how hungry he was that morning.

"You're coming to Quidditch this weekend?" Ron asked having caught what the two of them were saying as he arrived, taking a seat on Harry's other side and starting to serve himself a full English breakfast.

"Uh huh," Harry hummed in confirmation, swallowing his food before answering properly. "I hope so, if I can get the reading for Transfiguration finished tonight and assuming that Draco and Orion don't need me, of course."

"Sure," Ron said, nodding. He understood that Harry's priority wasn't Quidditch anymore, but that didn't mean that he was entirely happy about it. He accepted that that was the way things were now, however, and loved both Harry and Orion enough to not want to get between them; he had even found that he cared about Draco now, as weird as that concept still seemed.

"You are going to have to eat that quickly," Hermione said to the red-head, giving his large plate of food a look of distain, "Defence class starts in less than ten minutes." She really didn't understand why Ron was so terrible at getting himself organised, and she had certainly noticed that his ability to get down to the Great Hall for breakfast at a sensible time had vanished since Harry and Draco had moved into a room together the previous year.

"It's fine, Hermione," Ron insisted, but Harry noticed that his friend did pick up the pace anyway. His attention was turned from the two of them however, when he spotted that Draco and Blaise were heading over their way.

"I couldn't stand to listen to Pansy and Daphne's griping for a second longer," Draco explained as she reached where Hermione, Harry and Ron were sat at the Gryffindor table. She was mostly used to not being able to sit with them for meals now, but it was bothering her more than usual today due to the apparent bad moods of the Slytherin girls, who had seemed determined to take it out on everyone else around them.

"You going to just go back to our rooms then?" Harry asked, pushing away his mostly empty bowl and turning on the bench to face his wife.

Draco nodded. "I have some reading I can get done," she told him. "And, if our little man will let me," she added, accepting Orion back into her arms from Hermione, the little boy waving his arms, seemingly pleased to see his mother, "I thought I might try to take a nap."

"Sounds like a good plan," Harry said with a chuckle, "I am profoundly jealous." For a moment he considered whether he could just skip Defence Against the Dark Arts and spend the morning lounging around with his family, but he knew it was something he would regret later when he had to do all the catching up with what he had missed.

"Perhaps you can manage a nap this afternoon," Draco pointed out, knowing that Harry would be taking care of Orion while she had Charms later that day.

"Not if Orion's been napping with you all morning," Harry retorted, though he was smiling and reached out, putting his hands on Draco's hips to pull her towards, him, so that she was standing between his legs. "That's okay, you can be the first to get up with him tonight," he told her with a chuckle, his hands still resting on her hips as she leaned down to kiss him.

It was only a chaste kiss and they pulled apart and looked to their son when he reached up for their faces, letting out little laughs at the sight of his parents kissing. "It's not that funny, Orion," Draco told her son, shaking her head at him in amusement.

"Don't think Umbridge looks amused either," Blaise said, his voice full off concern, as he tapped Draco on the shoulder and gestured across the hall towards here the woman was now heading towards them.

"Damn it," Harry muttered, having spotted her too. "Draco, go now, I love you, see you later," he said quickly, and Draco nodded, stealing a very quick kiss and heading for the door with Orion in her arms.

"Detention, Mr Potter, for inappropriate behaviour and fraternisation," Umbridge said angrily once she reached the small group. "And do not think that just because Mrs Potter made a hasty exit means that she has avoided her own detention. I will be in contact to let you both know the details of where and when you will serve detention," she told him snappishly before striding past them towards the door.

"Fuck," Harry cursed, ignoring Hermione's exclamation at his use of such language. "I had hoped that I could keep Draco out of it," he said, grabbing his bag from by his feet and standing up. He could feel the eyes of many students fixed on his and was keen to get out of there quickly.

"I don't think that that would have been possible given it was her you were kissing," Blaise said with a shrug; he knew that Draco leaving had been worth a try, but it had been a long shot at best and he wasn't the least bit surprised that it hadn't worked; he was certain that Draco wouldn't be either.

"Umbridge has probably been looking for a reason to give you both detentions since the start of term anyway," Ron pointed out, as he too got up from the table, following the other three as they headed off to their first class of the day.

-#-

After their double period of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Sirius had had to speak with a couple of students, so Harry had waited outside the classroom for them to finish; he hadn't wanted to eavesdrop on conversation that were nothing to do with him, but he wanted to talk to him and hadn't had a chance during the lesson. He hadn't seen the older man at breakfast, so expected that Sirius had eaten at Grimmauld Place with Remus before returning; he hoped that boded well for how the full moon went, as he hoped.

"Sirius?" Harry called out as he poked his head around the doorway to his godfather's classroom, once the last couple of students had left, presumably heading towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Back here," Sirius called out. Harry quickly figured out that the voice was coming from the large storage cupboard near the back of the room; presumably Sirius had headed back there for something once the others had left.

"So you obviously survived last night." Harry teased as he walked the length of the room. "How's Remus?" he asked, smiling as Sirius came out of the storage cupboard with a mirror Harry recognised as a foe glass. As always, he could make out a few vague shapes, but no one identifiable or close enough to worry about right away.

"Remus is fine, or at least as fine as he ever is in the days after the full moon," Sirius said with a shrug, as he placed the mirror onto his desk. "I… the full moon helped, doing something normal," he tried to explain, not really sure he was making any sense.

"Normal," Harry said, snorting with amusement, "only you could call spending the night of a full moon with a werewolf while transformed into a dog normal. I'm glad it helped; though Orion has really missed his grandfather."

"Yeah, I was kind of an arse, wasn't I," Sirius said with a lopsided apologetic smile, sitting down at his desk. "This whole mess with Remus, it just had me worried…"

"You had us worried too," Harry pointed out, grabbing a chair from one of the desks and dragging it over, so that he could sit opposite Sirius. "I get that he is really depressed or something, but what are we supposed to do when you start shutting us out. We understand that you can't always be there to help us with Orion, and that's completely fine, but we also know how much you love Orion… When you start avoiding spending time with him…"

"I know, I know," Sirius said with a sigh, lounging back in his chair. "I have missed you guys. All three of you," he added quickly. "Sorry." He did feel bad for how he had treated them; everything with Remus had hit him hard and he knew he hadn't handled it very well.

"It's okay, honestly," Harry said earnestly. "We get that you have been worried about Remus."

"Still am," Sirius told him, leaning forward on his desk. "This full moon might have gone well, but he seems to be in a funk. I think he might have kicked the worst of it for now, but going to have to keep an eye on him."

"I am sure that Molly won't object to coming and spending time with Orion a little more often," Harry said with an understanding smile, trying not to show the worry he felt for both Remus and Sirius. "We get that he is important to you."

"He is my one remaining friend," Sirius said with a nod, glad that Harry understood. "I just don't want to see him implode, or just give up, and both seem likely at the moment. He is my best friend, I am supposed to help him, not make it all worse," he ranted, before sighing and resting his head forward onto the desk.

"You know…" Harry said hesitantly, "it would be okay, if you… erm, want to be more than friends. I mean, I know it isn't up to us, but we wouldn't have a problem with it. We just want you to be happy…"

"Wait, what?" Sirius asked, lifting up his head and looking at Harry with wide eyes.

"You and Remus…" Harry said. "It's not a problem if you two are…"

"We're best friends, just friends, very strictly friends," Sirius said firmly. "And straight. We are both very straight, or at least I am, I did sometimes wonder about Remus, but pretty sure he is at least mostly straight."

"Oh…," Harry said blushing bright red at the misunderstanding. "Well that's fine too," he said with an awkward chuckle. "I'm, erm, just going to go get some lunch then," he said, not really sure what to say now. He loved Sirius like a parent and he supposed that was why it was so weird to talk about him having any kind of relationship.

Sirius chuckled too, though more with amusement at Harry's obvious discomfort. It was kind of adorable in a way. He gave his godson a smile. "Come on, let's go get some lunch," he agreed, getting to his feet and heading around the desk. He had kind of been planning on spending his lunch time taking a nap, but he hadn't had much breakfast and food actually sounded appealing.

"Yeah, okay, that would be good," Harry said with a nod, getting to his feet, the two of them heading out of the classroom. "Oh, and maybe don't tell Remus that…"

"That you though he was gay and head over heels in love with me?" Sirius asked teasingly with a grin. "I mean I would hardly blame him if he was, I mean I am fabulous but…"

"Sirius," Harry said with a groan, knowing that he was going to be trying to live down this misunderstanding for quite some time.

-#-

"You actually thought that Sirius was gay?" Draco asked with amusement, as Sirius happily told her all about the conversation he and Harry had had just before lunch. Harry just groaned, accepting Orion from Draco, in his arms; he was not best pleased that now his wife was teasing him too.

The small group of them were meeting just outside of the Great Hall, having had to sit at different tables for their meal thanks to Umbridge's rules and regulations; Draco had been taking care of Orion all morning, so had had their son with her, Blaise watching over them just in case, but Harry would be with the four month old for the afternoon.

"I was just trying to be nice," Harry grumbled under his breath, causing Sirius to grin widely, as Draco chuckled. "It's not like I said you guys should actually get together, just that we wouldn't have a problem with it if you did." He felt pretty stupid for having thought that anything could happen between the two men, but he just thought it might, give how close they were.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Harry," Hermione said firmly, scowling at the others when they just continued to show their amusement. She was proud of her best friend for having taken the initiative to try and make sure that Sirius would feel comfortable exploring a relationship with the other man, if he wanted to.

"The thought was nice but honestly…" Sirius started to say, but he never had a chance to say anymore before they were interrupted by a sharp and very unwelcome cough. "Madam Umbridge," Sirius said tersely, turning to face the woman who was stood just behind Hermione and Draco, a very forced smile on her face.

"You are loitering in the corridors," she informed them, "this is not acceptable. As a teacher, I would expect you to set a better example to students of this establishment, Professor Black."

"Well I wanted to give a perfectly good example of how not to behave," Sirius said with all the seriousness he could muster, earning a few snorts of laughter from the students around him as he gave her a falsely pleasant smile.

"Move along, all of you," Umbridge said sternly, looking not at all pleased at being mocked by Sirius. The group shared looks, but they didn't need more trouble and so Harry and Ron started to head off towards the Potter rooms, intending to spend a little time together with Orion, waving goodbye to the others. "Not you, Mrs Potter," the high inquisitor added quickly, when Draco went to follow Blaise and Hermione off towards their next class.

Draco stopped, forcing the expression of annoyance from her face before turning back to the odious woman; the others all stopped too, turning back and watching on with concern, not about to leave Draco alone with the Umbridge. "Madam Umbridge, is there anything you need?" Draco asked. "I would so hate to be late for my next lesson," she said with deliberate politeness. Around her the others were watching closely, and Harry had even started to make his way back towards her.

"I simply wished let you know that I will contact you shortly regarding the time and place of your detention," the woman told the young blonde. "And I assure you that it will not be taken with your husband, as I would hate to leave you without someone to care for your child," she added, with a clearly mocking expression.

"How… considerate," Harry said sarcastically with a scowl, knowing that Orion's childcare was the very least of Umbridge's concerns. He wrapped an arm around his wife's waist and began to lead her away, the others promptly following after him. He had nothing to say to the awful woman, nothing that wouldn't end with him in more trouble anyway.

"Spiteful bitch," Ron spat out, once he was sure that they were out of hearing range. He was getting really tired of her messing with his friend's lives; it was hard enough for Draco and Harry being teenage parents, without her meddling.

"Ron," Hermione chastised, but there was a distinct lack of heat in her voice as she did so. She too was struggling to find any reason to actually stand up for the High Inquisitor.

"You should at least keep from using such language around a teacher," Blaise pointed out with a smile, "he might have to start giving you detentions." Sirius gave him a grin in return. It was still strange for the older man to be a professor at the school and to have to discipline the kind of behaviour he would have thought was hilarious and brilliant during his own youth.

"A detention with Sirius?" Harry said with a laugh, trying to imagine such a thing. "That would probably actually be fun, count me in," he said, smiling at his godfather, as Sirius chuckled his own amusement.

"Cheeky sod," Sirius said affectionately, giving Harry a light push. "Get off with you," he said with a laugh. Harry paused just long enough to steal a kiss from his wife and to let Draco press a kiss to Orion's forehead, before he and Ron headed off down the corridor towards his rooms, leaving the others to go find their classes.

Thank you for reading. Please do take a moment to leave me a review.