AN: well here's the final installment! I know that this story was a little abrupt at points so especially big thanks for the all the great feedback! I hope that you enjoyed it :)

Might as well put another disclaimer here...I own nothing of Harry Potter or his world.

Epilogue: A Future Unplanned

Twelve years later: Summer of 1993

Gia put the last dish away from the dishwasher and wandered absently into the other room. She couldn't believe that she'd be going to London tomorrow to pick up Adhara from the Hogwarts Express. Her baby had just finished up her second year. She frowned, one thing that she'd never really gotten used to riding the muggle the train.

The plan of living as a muggle had been fairly successful. She had assumed the names that Sirius had picked out for them- Grace and Annie Snow. Gia and Adhara had moved around for a bit before finally settling down into a house in Bath where Gia ran a bookstore. Then Adhara's Hogwarts letter had arrived- with her real name on the address.

Both Gia and Adhara (who knew the basic story of why they were in hiding although some of the details had been kept back from her) had been worried that she wouldn't be able to go to school. But after a meeting with Professor Dumbledore, they had quickly come up with a plan.

Dumbledore said that he thought it would be better for both their safety if she went by Annie Snow at Hogwarts. Gia paused as she walked by the window. She thought that she'd seen a Hippogriff and a large black dog. She looked again. Yep that was definitely a Hippogriff, but not a dog. It was Sirius. She opened the back door and stood in the frame silently looking at him.

"Dumbledore told me where to find you." He said hesitantly. Gia stood contemplating him for a second before turning her back and walking inside, leaving the door open behind her.

"The hippogriff stays outside." She called over her shoulder. Sirius gave a half smile and tied Buckbeak to a tree. With a final pat on the hippogriff's head he followed his wife into the house.

"So you've been here all this time?" Sirius asked after staring at her for a moment.

"Eight years. Addy and I moved around a bit just after…" They sank into silence as her sentence trailed off.

"Sirius-"

"Gia-"

They said at the same time and Sirius chuckled a bit.

"You go first." He said and she nodded and took a deep breath.

"Tell me the truth. Tell me what happened." Gia blurted out. Sirius swallowed hard.

"I should've told you a long time ago." He said in a low voice and took a deep steadying breath. "I guess you could say that it all started with a werewolf…" And Sirius proceeded to tell her the story; starting in Hogwarts and all through Peter's betrayal. "…One of the things I regret the most is that I never told you that we switched. I thought that I'd have…" He trailed off shrugging helplessly.

"Plenty of time." Gia said softly and he nodded blinking back tears. "Why didn't you find me before? Right when you got out?" She asked to break the silence. He looked over at her a bit confused. "You escaped from Azkaban last summer."

"Oh." Sirius blushed. "I was afraid that you'd have been with someone else." He finally mumbled not quite looking at her.

"You idiot." Gia said somewhat fondly. "When I read the paper that night, I went right to the ministry and tried to see you. I couldn't believe that you would've done all that until you told me to my face." Sirius gave her a ghost of a smile.

"Dumbledore told me. He also said that he was quite impressed with you concealment charms." His smile widened as Gia blushed a bit.

"Yeah." She swallowed over the lump in her throat. "Lily taught me how." They sat in silence for a moment, just staring at each other before Gia found the courage to ask the question that had been pressing on her mind. "Did you not trust me? Back then I mean?" She mumbled at last and Sirius looked at her surprised.

"I did! Still do. Or else I wouldn't have come here." He answered sincerely. She still looked a bit skeptically and he sighed taking her hand. "I asked Remus a bunch of times to tell you about him being a werewolf, but he always said no."

"I guess I can understand that." Gia said after a moment. "I mean he didn't even tell me after everything happened." She gave a slightly bitter chuckle. "Of course I disappeared the next day."

"He's sensitive about it." Sirius said somewhat defensively.

"I understand." She said with a smile.

"And I was going to tell you about switching Secret Keepers but Peter insisted." Gia interrupted with a frustrated sound. "I know. Now I know why he was so insistent…" Sirius broke off in frustration and ran a hand through his hair unable to go on.

"It's ok." She said taking his hands in her own. They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment and Sirius realized what really wanted to do was to kiss her. As he leaned in, Gia stood up abruptly. "Well you must be exhausted." She gave a fake yawn. "Why don't you shower and then head to bed." And she quickly went upstairs.

"Okay." Sirius muttered feeling how filthy he was for the first time all night. He sighed and went upstairs.

Gia lay in her bed, alone, staring at the dark ceiling. She'd heard Sirius exit the bathroom about an hour ago and paced in front of her doorway before going on to the guest room. She sighed. He was just down the hall and innocent like she'd always thought! All these years and finally, finally, it wasn't wrong for her to want to be with him.

Gia frowned. She should go to sleep, she still had to pick up Adhara from Hogwarts the next day. Just then she heard a yell come from Sirius' room. She sat up sharply and listened more carefully. Maybe she'd imagined it. Then she heard it again. Gia quickly got up and grabbed her wand, running to the guest room fearing the worst. But there were no dementors there like she'd feared. He was having a nightmare.

"Sirius." Gia called calmly putting her wand down on the nightstand and climbing into the bed beside him. "Sirius, I'm here." She carefully placed one hand on his arm and with the other she stroked his hair, pleased when he began to calm down a bit.

"No." Sirius moaned. His arms flailed around for a moment and Gia adjusted her grip on him.

"Sirius, wake-up."

"No." He cried out again but he did wake up a bit. He blinked groggily and looked around the room in confusion. He finally realized Gia was there. "You're here again." He mumbled. She gave a hesitant smile and he gave one back.

"I'm here for you." She said not sure what he meant.

"Don't you hate me?" He asked in a small voice.

"I've never hated you." She said still caressing him. He looked confused.

"No?"

"No." She waited for a moment and then Sirius suddenly smiled and closed his eyes again.

"Love you." He said and fell back asleep, pulling her to him. Gia tried to get up after a moment, but he held her tight. Finally, she just gave a small smile, kissed his forehead and snuggled up to him quickly falling asleep.

OOOOOOOOOoooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo

Sirius jerked awaked as a cacophony of bells went off in the morning. Gia mumbled incoherently against his chest and he looked down at her in surprise.

"Five more minutes." Gia whimpered and Sirius laughed as he realized the bells were her alarm clock. His laugh woke her up. "Sirius-"

"Good morning." He said grinning. She looked at him and couldn't help but smile back at the look on his face. They stared at each other for a moment. "I still love you." Sirius said lowering his eyes, as though afraid she no longer felt the same. Gia felt her heart skip a beat.

"I love you too." She admitted and he looked up hopefully. "But Sirius-"

"I know it's been a long time." He interrupted. "But it's us Gia. I know we can work this out."

"Sirius." She said with a smile. "I was going to say it'd take some time." He gave a sheepish smile and she sighed realizing the alarm was still going off. "Dammit. I've got to go pick up Adhara." His eyes lit up.

"Can I-"

"You stay here. I'll tell her on the way." He pouted a bit but eventually nodded.

"Do you think we'll work it out?" He asked as she got out of the bed.

"I'm sure of it."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That night Adhara sat at the dinner table with her mother and father for the first time she could remember. She watched as her parents hesitantly talked, their hands brushing occasionally on the table.

At first, when her mother had told her the news, she had been shocked and angry. Because of him, she'd had to live her life in hiding and her friends didn't even know her real name. But her mother had looked so hopeful and Adhara thought about how awful her mother's life had been and she'd said that she'd give her dad a chance.

Then they'd gotten home and she'd seen how happy he was just to see her…she felt like she had to do something so they would all stay happy. At least for the summer.

"I think that we should go on a trip." Adhara said and both her parents looked over at her, breaking off their own conversation. "So we can all stay together. I mean yeah, he's an animagus, but a big black dog and hippogriff might still attract attention." She finished sarcastically. Sirius beamed at her.

"That's my girl. Bloody brilliant." He said making Adhara blush.

"Well, the hat did think about putting me in Ravenclaw." She muttered a bit embarrassed.

"Where did it put you?" Sirius asked a bit hesitantly. Adhara and Gia exchanged grins.

"Gryffindor." They said together and all three Blacks laughed.

"So what kind of trip were you thinking of?" Gia asked at last giving Sirius another helping of dinner. Adhara shrugged.

"No where in particular." She looked at her father for a second. "Maybe somewhere warm."

"That sounds…great." Sirius said and so they decided to go to the Caribbean. Sirius could leave the next night and then Gia and Adhara would meet him there after Gia got her affairs at the bookstore in order.

"Well, this should be an interesting summer." Adhara said and gave a rueful smile. "Too bad I won't be able to tell anyone."

"Someday. You will someday." Gia said patting her daughter's hand affectionately.

"I swear. We'll get it sorted. Let's just have a good summer together then worry about the future." Sirius said and the other two nodded and silently agreed. After all, they'd lived this long in hiding, uncertain whether Sirius was guilty or not. Now that they knew Sirius was innocent it seemed that even though they were hiding, at least now they had the hope that everything would work out for him in the end.

The End

AN: So I am planning on writing a sequel (that was my evil little plan all along...) but I'm having some writer's block with that story. I have a basic idea so hopefully it'll come together! and reviews help with writer's block...honestly!