Sirius came home to find Sasha sitting on his sofa playing with Harry. He knew the teens had free entrance to the house, and was not sure whether to be happy or slightly irritated at the lack of warning he'd received about Sasha's impending arrival. Still, he was incredibly happy to see him again, having thrown himself into training, mediating and Harry to forget how much he missed the teens. It was with monumental effort he resisted the urge to run up to the young man and give him a hug as it had been two months since he saw him last, dropping him off at the refurbished house. As things stood, he was happy to watch him play some sort of clapping game with the seven year old. It was Harry who noticed him first and ran up to him.

He tore across the room at breakneck speed as if he had not seen his father in several days instead of the half an hour he was out to purchase muggle pizza. He had been introduced to the food when he was at the Granger's and was subsequently hooked. He launched himself into his father's arms, using a little bit of magic to carry him up high enough so he could wrap his little arms around his father's neck without any assistance. Sasha came second, following in his surrogate baby brother's wake and Sirius shifted Harry to be settling on his hip so he had a hand free to give Sasha a one armed hug. Before he could ask why he was here, an unfamiliar girl a year or so younger than Sasha entered the room with her hands in the pockets of her torn jeans.

"Sirius, this is Hannah," Sasha introduced, "we've taken her in, I just thought I should let you know." Sirius did not mind, he was happy about the fact and expected no less. He wondered whether to take the responsibility of finding out her level of schooling and bringing her up to the correct levels like he had the others or to leave it to the teens who had 'adopted' her. The older ones had all gotten jobs and he knew they were saving up for another house/apartment for the other children they found – Hannah here was proof, they just had the eyes for those in need. "We've known each other for a couple of weeks now," Sasha continued, sunny disposition diminishing slightly and nervousness creeping into his voice making Sirius a little nervous for what was to come, "she known everything. I hope you don't mind, it's just, Hannah's a muggle."

Sirius froze; smile not shifting and neither did any other muscle as all the possibilities ran through his mind before he decided it was a good thing – no harm in owning muggle Britain along with the magical one. The Granger parents were muggle and he had been accepted by them with no trouble at all. He walked over to the girl and extended his hand, leaving her no choice but to accept it and he gave it a quick shake. "I am Lord Sirius Orion Black; you can call me Sirius, as you have been accepted by Sasha, which places you under my guardianship. I will not ask much from you bar your loyalty and if you give me that then you will be my protection. Do you accept?" Still stunned, he got a shaky nod from the girl and his smile became more pronounced, "welcome to the pack Hannah."

"How's life been treating you my friend?" Sirius sipped from the wine Arthur Weasley poured for him, wallowing in how easy it was to enjoy such an afternoon.

"Harry and his best friend Hermione are camping. They're only about 30 miles away, they need to be close enough so her parents can come if they need to, but it's still an adventure for them. As for the teens – almost all of them have at least a part time job now, seeming as all they need to buy is food, clothes and luxuries – which they have no experience of, they are doing very well for themselves, they are looking to buy more properties. Regulus and I teach Harry and Hermione all we can, I have taken my seat on the wizengamot, Voldemort's empire is crumbed, I noticed you didn't flinch at his name just now, and I am doing well for myself. For once, life seems to be going to plan, I don't want my life to ever change from this."

"How are you finding it now you are back to a father of one?" Arthur smirked as he sipped his own drink, knowing the answer he was about to receive already.

"It's strange Arthur. There was nothing missing before they came into my life, so now they are gone, why is there such a hole?"

"When Molly and I had Bill we felt our lives were complete now we were a family. Then we had Charlie and we felt more complete if that makes sense. When Bill left for school and Charlie was growing up, Molly felt lost, she needed a baby she could coddle and to be honest, Percy, even at that young age didn't really fill that role so the twins came along. They were pranksters ever since they were old enough to say the word but they're a joy to be around. Ron is the same age as Harry now, we can see him causing trouble, he's loud, brash and a little obnoxious, but that's the twins' doing, he's like that to defend against them. Ginny is the apple of my eye and all her brother's protect her, even the twins tone things down around her."

"I have had experience having a daughter with Hermione."

"I don't know how we'll handle it once they are all at school, but being away from home is how they learn magic, they need to be in the right environment to learn control."

"Control is the exact reason why I don't want Harry to go."

"Yes, I don't think a single Order member has not learnt of your altercation with Dumbledore."

"I for one am glad word got out – his version of events or otherwise."

"We all know his version of events is likely untrue, as long as it is understood I'm stronger than him."

"Yes, you managed to broadcast that message loud and clear."

"How are your kids anyway?"

"Bill passed his Owls last year and left school, got an apprenticeship as a curse breaker for Gringotts and it doing exceedingly well I hear. He says he'll go back to school and do his NEWTs when he's older and he'll pay for his final 2 years of education himself, Molly and I are very proud of him. Charlie will be taking his OWL's in 2 years; he's a third year student now. Percy will be going to Hogwarts next September, he thinks is highly appropriate he now has an owl courtesy of you and thanks you. He has called him Errol and dotes on the bird like Molly and I do our daughter, I hope it does not get in the way of his studies. Fred and George are as troublesome as always, Ron and Ginny are just little kids – not much to say to be honest."

"I got a new recruit three days ago, a girl called Hannah, a muggle this time. Do not think less of me for saying it but she's a problem child. Don't get me wrong, I think she's wonderful and her being a muggle is in no way a bad thing and she already knows everything. Sasha found her and it is obvious he thinks the world of her by the way he looks at her – but he's at that age you know? She had a bad start to life – she was abused when she was younger and ran away from home at 12. She does all the wrong things thinking it cool and making her tough – stealing, smoking, drinking, drugs, sex – the first and the last are easy to curb but she has cravings for the others. Apparently she was stealing even before she ran away for the thrill of it."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"We are getting through. She has surrogate older siblings who could take her flying if she only said she wanted to which would give her a thrill. As for sex, I think Sasha will kill anybody who looks at her twice so one does not have to worry there. Well Andrew and Sasha are taking good care of her and Hermione's parents are huge a help too."

"And you get a branch into the muggle world."

"Indeed, I want to help all the kids, not just the magical ones."

"It was great to catch up with you Sirius although I need to get back soon. You need to make sure to go and talk to Moody sometimes or he'll get jealous. You know you were always his favourite pupil, being the first and quickest to ever best him, especially at his middle of the night pranks. He always talked about you, even when you were in prison, I don't think he ever really believed it either, but it was just the two of us, there was very little we could do."

"It's ok Arthur, Azkaban changed me, but I would say it did so for the better. And as for being his prize student, well, there is no such thing as an unintelligent prankster, after one grows up and learns how to apply those skills to other situations, one can find they can rule the world. So don't you worry about your twins, they're going to grow up to be fine young men anyone would be proud to call their sons."

Arthur laughed. "Oh I am sure of that my friend, I'm sure of that."

Harry's 9th birthday was held in the teen's place for a change of scenery and not because Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the most Ancient and Noble house of Black, Regent for the most Ancient and Noble house of Potter was rendered helpless when faced with his son's puppy dog eyes. The house now held fifteen young people. William and Moira had gotten their own place a couple of miles away but Hannah, Dean, Sophie, Truly and Jordan had moved in. Each one of them had been found by the original teen, Hannah and Truly were muggles, Jordan was a wizard and Dean was a squib. Sirius had a soft spot for him as he was abandoned by his family when it was discovered, and he was the one most affected by the absence of parents.

A lot of the time one could find him sitting by a window staring off into space. Sasha and he had grown very close and he was slowly losing his grief into the joy of flying. Hannah was not cured of her bad habits and Sirius was sure that Sasha who was now nearly of age would marry her soon. Harry – he was still at the age where he found everything funny and he was an innocent. Having felt guilty for never introducing Harry to many other young people, he had invited Molly and Arthur to his party and asked them if they wanted to bring the younger children with them. He simply did not know anyone else, Amelia he knew had a young niece the same age but despite how much she owed him, he did not know her well enough to invite her to a party.

Bill and Charlie had considered themselves too old for such antics despite who was going to be there and were both very serious about their career and studies respectively. Percy who was now a second year came, with Errol on his shoulder because the two were apparently very close, the owl being much more than his pet and his friend but his familiar. Sirius had absolutely no trouble seeing why he never pulled Molly out of her baby complex after Bill and Charlie left for Hogwarts. Percy greeted him with a formal handshake and startling eloquence and it soon became clear this was not behaviour drilled into him by his parents for meeting a Lord but completely natural. It could be seen as being a young gentleman if he was not so snobbish about it, such behaviour would see him ostracised, and hopefully it would tone down in later years.

The twins came next, walking hand in hand, talking in their own secret language, identical to the last freckle and a mischievous glint in their eyes. They were both eleven years old and scheduled to start Hogwarts and wreak havoc in its halls in the coming September. Sirius was excited to meet the two of them and to see if they were as cheeky as their father claimed them to be. If they were to be the next marauders then a marauder needed to check to see that they were indeed worthy of taking up the mantle. After a quick check, Sirius was pleased to announce that they were, and was even considering giving them the marauders map, although of course they would have to relinquish it after a couple of years to the son of Padfoot and Prongs.

Over the course of the party alone, they turned the spaghetti into worms, dumped paint over his head paying no heed and having no fear for the fact he was a Lord and turned Errol a disgusting shade of pink. Sirius could not have been prouder unless it was his own son. Ron was the same age as Harry and just as his parents described him. He was loud and brash and not like Harry and Hermione at all, but they seemed to get on like a house of fire as Andrew would say. Hermione and he had a bit of an altercation being such polar opposites but it was soon smoothed over, and the three were soon playing tag or hungry hippos or hide and seek with the youngest of the Weasley bunch and the only daughter.

Ginny Weasley was small, shy, and even at eight years old, was absolutely in love with the boy who lived. It was a shame really, because not only should she not be feeling such thing for a boy who does not really exist – as those stories were only fantasy fairy tales, once Harry started to have such feelings, he would bet his family ring it would be towards a certain bushy haired light brunette girl. Still, she was sweet and polite and a lot like her brother Percy in a way. She seemed to be struggling with her identity – Sirius was supposed she was at that age - between being a little girl in a house full of brothers and being an honorary boy. Being another boy just meant joining in the games and rough and tumble play and flying a lot easier as it was what everyone else enjoyed doing…

There was not much one can give to a little boy who had everything. Sirius had spoiled Harry, not just for missing out on his life and his dreadful start to it, but being away for so long as well. But at 8 years old and still bearing the physical and mental scars of his time with the Dursleys, one soon learnt that he did not expect much either. He was not going to throw a tantrum if he did not get the latest broom, he was not disappointed over the books and candies he received from his new friends, it was precisely what he wanted. It warmed Sirius to see the little boy running around and playing with his friends and surrogate siblings – William and Moira had cleared their day to come to spend some time with them all too.

Of course, Andy, Tonks, Remus and Teddy were there too. The little pup was always a pleasure to have around and it was a great excuse to gate crash the party as Padfoot for a little while. Harry adored him being a dog and his new muscular physique had him playing pony to 3 excited nine year olds and one excited 8 year old all high on sugar. The twins could see they wanted to join in but wanted to pretend they were too mature at the same time. Still, it was great fun to prank them back by making them almost wet themselves with fear by pretending to turn feral and pouncing on them, snarling furiously. Harry and Hermione having seen the trick before being tricked themselves though perhaps not to the same extent given their ages at the time, played along for a little bit before losing their composure and laughing uproariously.

Teddy had grown quite a bit since Sirius last saw him and had been working on his speech along with other milestones. He could now string sentences together amongst other things and seemed to be fully coming into his humanity. He was however; still part canine and particularly strong and his senses were phenomenal. He seemed to be enjoy the party far more than Harry did, he was bouncing off the walls with all the new sounds and smells to sample. Although Teddy was of course excited to see the teens and the new recruits as always, he still orientated around Tonks and Remus and Tonks always kept her eyes on him except when she was staring at his werewolf friend. She was sixteen now, the age most girls start to get serious crushes – and she already had a son. It made him wonder – just when did she grow up so fast?

The Grangers had organised the whole event, and had treated doing so as a privilege more than a favour so Sirius was left with no guilt about leaving the subject he was so out of his depth with to them. The other parties had been small, just Remus, Tonks and Teddy and the Grangers as the only guests. Now he was fully out of hiding as it were and the empire successfully crumbled, Sirius supposed he could afford to be a little more fervent. It was not of course, a fully muggle party – not that it would have affected anyone really, except perhaps the youngest Weasleys given their pureblood upbringing and reliance on magic for everything. There were a few magical extras such as flying and party tricks which Sirius and Regulus took care of as it was to be their only role.

They held the day as a 13th birthday party for Dean. His actual 13th birthday was not for another couple of weeks, but he was happier sharing the attention with his surrogate younger brother than having a party dedicated to solely him. The Grangers loved Dean; he was so polite to them and bonded with Hermione so naturally they truly thought him one of their own. They were such natural parents, their instincts just called out to them regarding the poor boy. Sirius knew they were planning to ask him if he would like to fully become a Granger and he honestly had no idea what the answer would be. Dean desperately wanted to be part of a family, but what Sirius was unsure about was whether he'd be happy with any family, or only happy with his biological one.

Nearing the end of the day, when the Weasley clan had gone home and Regulus sat with Harry sleeping one knee and Hermione slumped against his chest on the other – he broached the subject. He did little more than shove the three of them into the room together. Jean had no idea what he was doing, but Andrew caught onto Sirius' actions immediately. Sirius pressed his ear up against the door to listen to what was going on, he was not rude enough to stand disillusioned in the corridor, but too curious to leave them well alone. "Dean," Andrew started, "my wife and I have been talking at length with Sirius and well… I'm really bad at building up to these things so I'm just going to come out and say it. Dean – we would be honoured if you would like to become a Granger."

Sirius did not need to be peering through the keyhole to know the hug that came next and made sure to call Dean by his new surname at every opportunity – and the members of the house declined back down to fourteen.

Moody had been like Arthur said he was during his numerous visit to his favourite ginger. Apparently the jealousy had spilled over into work and while the thought of Moody acting like, well, a moody teen was amusing, one must not forget the man was formidable. He had not forgotten when he had been ambushed and Snape had been hit. It was a curse from Moody, there was something about the way that hardened him and while he did not use the unforgivable ones, he would use curses that were just as bad. The nerve snapper was a brutal hex, Snape or somebody else could have been paralysed because of it. Sirius didn't blame him for it, he couldn't, but even without the motto of the man being 'constant vigilance' he was ready to erect a shield in an instant.

"You never come to see your old mentor anymore," Moody said with a nostalgic sigh as he sipped the wine he had poured for the both of them. It made Sirius want to remark that apart from auror training when he was required to stay with the veteran, he had never in fact been struck with the urge to come and see him. Moody had not come to visit him either (although he supposed Alastor could be excused given that unless given express permission, preferably by portkey, it was impossible for the man to drop by). "I don't blame you though lad," he continued, "the last time we met I was trying to apprehend you and I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I never fully thought you guilty either."

Sirius did in fact believe him but did not say so because he had never thought him innocent either and to Sirius, that was what mattered. "I heard you got quite a few new recruits in the last six months." Sirius just nodded again, in the 6 months since Harry's birthday, he had had 17 new children introduced to him some of them muggles, spotted by Hannah, some of them witches and wizards. They were all very young, which was surprising, the youngest being an intelligent muggle boy of 7, the eldest a serious witch of 14. Cal was a strange one, his intelligence was confusing given his living situation, his story was that he was at a school for the gifted, a recent orphan he threw himself into his studies, he ran away from being abused by the staff and had only been on the streets for 3 weeks.

Because most of the children were so young, Sirius had felt obliged to try and find them families and had used friends in the ministry to help him achieve such a task. The muggle children were more difficult to find homes for seeming as he was not as well known in the muggle world so he ended up naming himself their guardian, but while he could provide for him, we he could not offer them the comfort and love they needed. It was sad but Hannah and Sasha were doing their best and now they were both adults they named themselves the parents of the 11 muggle children under their care. He smiled at the thought of the two young adults, "Sasha asked Hannah to marry him a month ago," he mentioned to change the topic to a more enjoyable subject, "she shot him down."

"Harsh," Moody sympathised with a small wince, "why?"

"The same reason I told him not to do it when he came to me and showed me the ring he was going to give her that evening. They are not ready to get married, well he is, and they are in love, but Hannah had an awful childhood and she is still very young. She is not afraid of being abandoned by him, she is sure that he is the one for her, but marriage and especially having a child is scary to her. When she was on the streets she found a man about 20 years her senior who took her in and she paid him back with sexual favours. He gave her all the things she wanted, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, it was her idea of the high life until she got pregnant."

"I think I can see where this is heading."

Sirius nodded. "He told her that this was his kid and that she was not to worry and that he would take care of the two of them and that he would even marry her if she wanted. She said yes although on her part, if any actual feelings were involved I am not sure, it soon became clear he didn't care about her. When the baby started to show he grabbed her by the hair and shoved her out, telling her he didn't want to see the slut around him anymore." Sirius had kept his voice and face completely impassive but had to take a moment to calm himself so he could keep it up until the end of his explanation – why was he telling of this to Moody of all people again? It was Alastor though, a weathered veteran, if he couldn't handle tough experiences, nobody could.

"Let me guess," he continued, picking up where Sirius left off, "scared and alone with nowhere to go, she went back into prostitution on the streets. She obviously does not have a baby at the moment so she performed a 'back street abortion', lost herself into drugs and alcohol and that was when Sasha found her. That would explain why she is wary of marriage even if she is not wary of abandonment and why she is wary of having a child, or rather, wary of finding out she can't have children."

Sirius nodded, not at all surprised about Alastor's leap of intuition for the final stage of the explanation. His voice had been impassive too, war hardened people, he had seen things and done things best left untouched upon. "she is lucky to be alive really, the body can sustain poisons such as drugs and alcohol well along with sleeping rough, but the abortion – that could have caused blood poisoning and killed her, especially with it being performed a couple of months into the pregnancy, she was very lucky."

"Does she still feel anything for the man who took her in?"

"No. She hates him and quite rightly so. He completely broke all misplaced trust she had in him it was probably the best thing he ever did for her because now she has Sasha and now she has me. He was a paedophile Alastor, taking advantage of the runaway girl."

"I was just wondering, if that being the case, you could have him put away."

"No, that won't happen."

"Why?"

"He's dead."