The locket burned in the Fiendfyre inside the fireplace and Sirius and Kreacher had to duck and cover their ears when a wail and vapor came out of it. It was as if someone had been dying. As if someone had actually been burnt in that fire and they could feel a dark presence passing through them and disappearing. The whole house seemed lighter once it was gone.

 Sirius wondered if that would happen to Harry. Sirius couldn’t help but hope the Healers would hurry in their findings. He wanted that evil out of his pup as fast as possible. He had an urge to run back to the flat and make sure Harry was safe and sound. He turned to Kreacher.

“Kreacher, you did well. Regulus would be proud of you. Once we’re done with all of the Horcruxes I want you to take me to that cave so we can recover Regulus’s body and give him a proper burial.” He knew that wouldn’t be possible now. Not while Voldemort magic was still working to animate the Inferi. He’d have to destroy his brother’s body if he tried and he did not want that. But he also knew that that same magic would have preserved it and Regulus deserved proper rest. “I need you to clean up this house. And I need you to find any other information on Horcruxes that might be here. And if by any chance you know anything else I need you to tell me so we can finish what Regulus started for good.”

“I know the Dark Lord isn’t just asking Master Regulus for help. He is entrusting others with his objects.”

“Who Kreacher?” Sirius asked gently.

“Master Regulus isn’t knowing, but after Master Regulus is dying,” Kreacher sobbed. “Kreacher is hearing, in the memorial. Mistress is having a memorial, the tapestry is showing her when Master Regulus passed and Mistress is having a ceremony.”

Sirius knew that, he had tried to attend but his mother ran him away. His father on the other hand had come after him as he left. He hadn’t understood him at the time but maybe Orion had known how Regulus had died. He’d never forget his father’s words. It had been so long since Orion had said anything positive to Sirius. Since he had shown anything but disappointment towards his eldest son.

“You knew better than all of us Siri,” his father hadn’t called him that since before Hogwarts. It wasn’t appropriate for the heir to be called pet names. “But I’m afraid for you. I don’t want you to end up like your brother. Don’t make me have to mourn two sons. Be careful.”

Sirius had nodded and hadn’t protested when his father had pulled him into a hug. So uncharacteristic of the patriarch to display so much emotion in public. He had always been affectionate in private. It had been his mother who had been the hardened one towards her sons, often saying Orion spoiled them. But in public Orion had been the perfect pureblood.

That had been the last time he had seen his father. News of his death had reached him in Azkaban. The guard coming to tell him with glee. One less Black in the world and much as it had surprised him how much losing Regulus had hurt, despite having grown apart so much, so had knowing his father wasn’t out there anymore.

When they informed him of his mother’s passing he had wondered why he hadn’t felt it as he had Regulus’ and Orion’s, but it was hard to miss a mother who had never shown affection towards him, only expectations, demands, and disappointment.

“Who did you hear in the memorial Kreacher?”

“Master Lucius and Mistress Bellatrix. They is wondering how Master Regulus is dying. They is worried because they is being asked to safe keep things for their Master in the same meeting as Master Regulus is being asked to lend me. I is hearing Master Lucius say they had to put them away in a safer place. Where no one could get to them regardless of what happened to them.”

“A safe place,” Sirius thought out loud. “Did they say where?”

“No.”

“Good job Kreacher,” Sirius nodded. “I’ll go now but I’ll be back later. If you need anything to be able to take care of the house owl me. I’ll send you an owl this afternoon so you can use it. You won’t be able to Apparate where I’m staying so don’t try. You might hurt yourself.”

With that Sirius left with a lot on his mind and a completely different relationship with an old enemy. Voldemort had asked Lucius and Bellatrix. He would bet his entire fortune that Lucius’s had been the diary. Where would they store the Horcruxes though? The Lestrange Manors had been raided after their incarceration. Sirius had informed himself. The only reason his flat wasn’t raided was because of the protections and since his parents had still been alive when he was sent to Azkaban his father wouldn’t stand for anyone raiding his properties without all the proper paperwork.

Somewhere where no one could access despite the political climate? Sirius stopped on his track. Somewhere that operated separate from the ministry. That didn’t care a whit what the Ministry wanted…Gringotts. Sirius smiled dangerously, oh, he never thought being Lord Black would come in so handy one day. Instead of turning to the flat he went to Diagon Alley. Remus had Harry and he’d protect Harry more if he managed to get rid of two Horcruxes in one day.

---

Sirius was pleased with himself as he strolled the halls of Hogwarts. He had indeed found Helga’s Hufflepuff cup in Bellatrix’s vault – to which he had access since he was Lord Black and she was incapacitated- and after scanning the cup determined it was a Horcrux. He had flooed to Hogwarts and he and Dumbledore had disposed of the cup much in the same manner as the previous two Horcruxes. They were three Horcruxes down.

Dumbledore said he was having a hard time convincing Sughorn to talk but he was confident he would break the man soon. He also had good news, he had managed to track down the old Gaunt house which Dumbledore was almost sure might have been where Voldemort hid at least one of the Horcruxes. Especially after hearing the tale about the cave.

“Remember the story the matron at his orphanage told me, about their trip to the seaside and how he trapped two of other kids in a cave? I think it’s the same cave,” Dumbledore had said. Well, on the weekend Dumbledore intended to track the Gaunt shack. Sirius didn’t think he should go alone, not after hearing about the protections on the cave, but he had a deal with Harry. Weekends were theirs. With the Governor’s Board and the Wizengamot Sirius spent a lot of the week out and about while Harry was in classes with Remus. But the weekends were theirs. He had told Dumbledore this and Dumbledore suggested he’d ask Remus to accompany him. Sirius nodded but something inside him froze at the thought. He was worried about Dumbledore going alone, but Dumbledore was Dumbledore. As much as he might care for the old man he wasn’t close to him. He might worry. But for Remus, he really didn’t want to explore what he was feeling.

So he accepted the fact that this weekend Dumbledore and Remus would be going to Little Hangleton look for Horcruxes and bid Dumbledore goodbye.

As he got farther away from Dumbledore’s office and the weekend got even farther away the fact that they were three Horcruxes down started bringing a spring to his step again. Especially after he caught sight of two forms from the corner of his eyes. He slowed down a bit to let them catch up.

“That’s him,” said a whispering voice.

“You sure?” answered another.

“Yes, his picture was in the Prophet.”

“Okay. Should we go?”

“Yeah.”

Sirius bit the inside of his cheeks to prevent him laughing. As stealth went the two children who had not very covertly been following him had a lot to learn about. He had recognized them by Harry’s description though and had a pretty good idea of who they were. So he lingered giving them a chance to actually engage him in conversation by taking his time to arrive to the Entrance Hall. He was here though and could not dawdle more. So, instead, he turned around and said clearly, “Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, would you like a word?”

There was a yelp and the two children came out from behind an armor.

“How did you know we were there?” Ron asked blushing.

“Lucky guess,” Sirius shrugged.

“Er, Mr. Black, see,” Hermione started awkwardly and with a stolen glance at Ron for encouragement she plunged. “We wanted to see Harry.”

“Really?” he asked innocently. “Harry is of the opinion you hate him.”

“NO!” both children cried suddenly and Hermione continued. “We messed everything up,” she sighed. “We were shocked when he spoke Parseltongue and we kind of…well, we bollixed our reaction up, but we never thought that he was evil.”

“No, we should have helped him but… we were scared,” Ron hurried to help her. “Not of Harry sir, is just, everyone else was ganging up on him and… we’re not like him sir! Harry is fearless, we were scared they’d do the same to us. We should have stood by him.”

Sirius sighed. Part of him wanted to say “Yes you should,” but part of him knew they were just kids, they shouldn’t have had to be afraid. Harry shouldn’t have had to be afraid. “He isn’t fearless. He just wasn’t given a choice. I’ll talk to him. See if he accepts to see you. But I promised him he doesn’t have to come back here, so you might have to wait till summer.”

“We’ll ask our parents if we can leave the school for a weekend sir if we have to. Just please, we want to see him. Is he okay?” Hermione asked worried.

Sirius smiled gently, “He’s getting there.”

---

The rat had scurried from the bag and to the safety of the bed as soon as Ron had put it down. He had to stop going around in Ron’s bag. That was so close. He was just thankful Sirius had been in human form or else he would have smelled him. No, he would have to stay in the dorm where it was safe. At least, as long as Harry did not come back.

Here he could keep his ears open. It would have been best if Ron and Harry hadn’t been estranged. He would know if Harry made the connection between him and Wormtail. He had no idea how detailed Sirius might have been in his accounts. The Prophet sure hadn’t spared the details they knew. Apparently even under Veritaserum Sirius had managed not to let the detail that they were Animagus out. That was a perk of Veritaserum, the questioner had to be precise in their questions because the potion would make Sirius tell the truth but wouldn’t actually compel him to give more information than asked for. Even if he wanted to. The potion dazed him too much for that. So Sirius had just said he’d faked his death. The Prophet had assumed he had Apparated out after cutting his finger off and either Sirius hadn’t seen the need to correct them or hadn’t bothered to. He didn’t know.

He had to keep his ears open. At the first sign of danger he’d have to run. He didn’t want to. He had a cozy situation here. But he’d rather be on the run than in Azkaban.

---

Sirius entered the flat to find Remus and Harry playing video games. Sirius had bought the TV and video games since they were part of Harry’s life as a Muggle, before Hogwarts. A part Harry had been allowed only to watch not to touch and Sirius decided to indulge him. It had been one of his Christmas presents. Sirius had decided to buy it when he had seen Harry stare at one on display. When they had been walking back home from the full check up in St. Mungo’s that Sirius had taken Harry to on that first week they had been together.

“I see you two are studying hard,” Sirius said and the two guilty parties startled.

“Sirius!” Harry cried happily and ran to give Sirius a hug. Harry was getting better with initiating physical contact. “We didn’t hear you come in.”

“No,” Sirius agreed. “You two were very busy studying,” he finished seriously and Harry blushed.

“You took longer than expected,” Remus said nonchalantly putting the controllers away. “Our class ended a while ago.”

“Yeah, well. Stuff happened,” Sirius said shortly. He ruffled Harry’s hair relishing in the feel of his pup, knowing he was a bit safer today than he was yesterday, “Say pup. Why don’t you practice a bit more so you can take that old man out,” he said pointing at Remus who glared at him, “while I talk to him in my room?”

“Okay,” Harry sighed and Sirius gave Remus a jerky nod towards his room. They both walked there slowly and Sirius closed the door and cast a silencing ward.

“If this is about my furr-“

“No,” Sirius cut him shortly. “This is about Horcruxes and Albus needing you to go with him to destroy another.”

“Horcr- what- you can’t mean-”

“Pieces of Voldemort’s soul that the bastard scattered around. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Remus rubbed his forehead shocked, “Start from the beginning Sirius,” and so Sirius did. From when the Healer at St. Mungo’s found the foreign presence on that first consult, about the diary, about finding the locket and the cup and how Dumbledore thought he knew where to find another one. Once he was done he felt lighter. He had been holding this to himself all along and even strategizing with Dumbledore he hadn’t confessed how scared he was for Harry. If they didn’t find a way to safely destroy the Horcrux. But somehow in the middle of his story Remus had stopped being the man who abandoned them and he was Moony, and to Moony he could confess all his deepest fears. He looked at Moony and saw the fear he felt reflected there and he felt something that he had been missing for so long. He felt an urge that he had been battling for so long but didn’t want to anymore. He was about to move when Remus said quietly.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? The risk Harry was in?” and there was hurt in Remus’s voice.

Sirius didn’t think to lie, “I didn’t know if you’d run away again.”

“How could you think that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he shot back and Remus stood abruptly from the bed where he had been sitting while Sirius had been pacing. He stopped and inch from Sirius’s face and yelled.

“Are you ever going to forgive me?”

“Why should I? You forgot everything so easily?” Sirius yelled back thankful for the ward and Harry being wholly unaware of what was going on in here.

“You think I forgot?” Remus spluttered and without thinking he pulled the other man into a rough kiss which he then broke and said steely. “I never forgot you.”

He then turned around and stalked out of the room grabbing his coat from the hanger and turning to Harry who was on the couch still playing. “Harry I’m a gay werewolf who’s been in love with your stupid godfather for over sixteen years. Have a nice day,” and with that he stalked out of the apartment banging the door and leaving a gaping twelve-year-old behind.

Sirius walked dazedly out of the room to find Harry staring at the door. Harry turned to him and asked, “Do I have to find the love of my life in school too?”

“Uh?” Sirius asked stupidly.

“Mom and dad started dating in school and you and Remus had to have started in school, he said sixteen years and you two are old but not that much, I don’t think I know anyone I want to marry.”

“That’s, what?” Sirius said pointing to the door. “Of all the things he said that’s what worries you?”

“I really don’t want to get married now,” Harry shook his head simply. “I’m too young. Married people are weird.”

“That- married people aren’t- you don’t have to- I’m losing my mind,” Sirius finally said rubbing his eyes and starting to laugh.

Harry just watched as his godfather slowly made his way to the couch and sat next to Harry putting the controllers away.

“Pup, I’m serious.”

“I know,” Harry answered cheekily and Sirius glared at him.

“Did you understand what Remus said? About him being a gay werewolf and, er, that meaning I’m –“

“Gay too?” Sirius nodded. “Uhu,” Harry nodded simply.

“Don’t you have questions?”

“Nope.”

“You’re okay with me being-“

“Uhu.”

“You sure?” Sirius asked skeptically. Harry was taking all of this too well. Harry inhaled deeply and said.

“Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hate anything that is not considered normal,” Sirius nodded. They had spoken about this in the joint sessions with the Healer. “They hate me,” and Sirius felt a pang but couldn’t deny that. “Because I’m not normal,” Harry said making quotation marks with his fingers and Sirius was satisfied that Harry realized that it didn’t matter he wasn’t just like everyone else.

“People sometimes are irrational about people who are different than them.”

“Exactly,” Harry said. “I spent all my life being hated for being different, I don’t care if people are different than me. I just care that they don’t hate me. And you don’t, right?” Harry asked worried.

Sirius smiled and pulled Harry to him kissing his temple, “No, pup. I love you. And so does the scaredy-werewolf that stormed out of here, and speaking of that. About werewolves,” he pulled back looking straight at Harry. “You understood that right?”

Harry nodded, “We had to read on them for Lockhart. That’s why Remus is always ill when he goes away on business right?” Sirius nodded and waited for the question. About if Remus was a monster. As Harry opened his mouth he dreaded what would come out. “In Lockhart’s book he said he cured one. I had to reenact in class and all. Can’t we ask him to cure Remus? I read that the transformations are awful, that they hurt themselves because most werewolves lock themselves up so they won’t hurt anyone and then they turn on themselves.”

Sirius had to smile again and deep down thank Dumbledore. Because he knew that if there was a book like that in the Hogwarts library instead of the biased crap he had found, it was thank to Dumbledore. He’d find out later that it had actually been a book Remus wrote under an alias. He looked sadly at Harry and shook his head, “No pup. Lockhart was a fraud. That spell he mentioned- your dad and I came across it when we were researching ways to help Moony. It only forces back the transformation once and it’s very painful for the werewolf. Not to mention the spell is ridiculously hard. I highly doubt Lockhart can manage it.”

“Is that why you became Animagi?” Harry asked and Sirius nodded.

“Werewolves aren’t dangerous to animals and that way we could distract him from hurting himself. Nowadays he has a potion he takes but it still takes a lot from him due to the transformation. But at least the worse is off, hurting himself.”

Harry nodded satisfied that there was something and he turned o Sirius, “I want to learn to be an Animagus too. So I can help.”

Sirius couldn’t help but smile at his pup and pull him closer. Every time Harry did something like this he marveled at how Harry had managed to keep such a good nature despite everything. To take the abuse and learn to be better instead of just replicating it.