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Is that a normal occurrence every morning, or did you know I was here?" His friend asked irritably. Sirius blinked in surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked in confusion. Remus sighed and rubbed his temples.

"You left standing orders with your house elves to let me in, no matter the time of day or night in case I needed somewhere safe to be. I came in late last night and crashed in the room you have set aside for me. I woke up much, much earlier than I had planned to hear the woman I think of as a sister scream your name on and off for about two or three hours. I was ready to knock myself out when she finally stopped," Remus explained with a look of discomfort on his face. Sirius grinned unrepentantly.

"That's pretty much normal every morning," he said with smug satisfaction. "And every afternoon and evening unless she's got something scheduled, which she almost always does. If I don't stake a claim in the morning, I'm usually out of luck."

"For two hours, Padfoot?" Remus demanded. Sirius shrugged.

"I don't know what to tell you, Remus," Sirius said with a grin. "Wait until you're married, then you can tell me what is and isn't acceptable."

"Actually, that's exactly why I'm here," Remus said darkly.

"Remus!" Hermione called from the stairs, a smile lighting up her face.

Marriage had agreed with Hermione. She looked healthy and happy, her skin was radiant and her eyes shone with love and affection. She hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek. He hugged her back stiffly and released her quickly to step back. Forever burned into his eardrums were her screams of pleasure, and he couldn't quite look her in the eye at the moment.

"Look, Hermione," he growled at her shoes. "What exactly are you up to?"

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Remus. Why don't we go into the dining room and have some breakfast? Sirius, I don't care what Moody said, I expect you to eat something before you leave this house," Hermione snapped at her husband when he attempted to sneak towards the front door. He sighed and headed to the dining room instead. "I don't know what that man is thinking, driving all of you the way he is, no stopping for breaks. I swear James has lost a stone since starting in the Auror department. I'm going to have to speak to that man if this continues."

"Who, James?" Remus and Sirius both asked as they tried to follow Hermione's rant.

"No, Auror Moody," Hermione said calmly as she sat down in the chair that Sirius had pulled out for her. Both men started slightly at that and then hid small smiles. Sirius would dearly love to see his tiny kitten tear into Moody.

"Now, Remus, what were you going on about before?" Sirius asked his friend. Remus turned and glared at Hermione.

"What the bloody hell, Hermione?" Remus demanded. "You've gotten me betrothed to a five year-old?"

"What?!" Sirius burst out before he started laughing. "Oh, kitten, that's...that's…what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that if I didn't force his hand, Remus would most likely ignore the poor thing and reject his mate. He's just noble and self-sacrificing enough to do it, the bloody git," Hermione said tartly. Remus growled at her and she shook her finger at him. "Don't you growl at me, Remus Lupin! You and I both know that that girl is your mate. Even her mother recognized the truth and she fully supported the betrothal."

"What about you?" Remus demanded bitterly, turning to his friend. "Do you support this as well?"

"Is this girl really your mate?" Sirius asked him bluntly. Remus sighed and closed his eyes.

"Yes, damn it, she is, but Padfoot she's five!" Remus countered. Hermione sighed heavily.

"No one is asking you to marry the child tomorrow. You'll be married in fifteen years or so. When she's twenty," Hermione pointed out dryly. Remus snorted in derision.

"Right. Splendid," he muttered. He glared at Sirius. "How can you be so calm about this?"

What key element am I missing?" Sirius asked Hermione. She smiled at him and sent him a wave of affection.

"Remus has been officially betrothed to Nymphadora Tonks, Andromeda's child," Hermione said sweetly.

"He what?!" Sirius asked in shocked surprise. He turned to Remus and saw his friend's face fall slightly, hurt flashing in his eyes. "No, wait, Remus, I'm not upset that it's you, I'm just surprised. How did you arrange a betrothal, Hermione?"

"I did nothing. Meda approached Alphard and he did it all," Hermione said smugly.

"So that means that we'll be related," Sirius said with a happy grin. Remus blinked at him.

"You're really okay with this?" Remus asked him cautiously.

"Well, if she's your mate Remus you really don't have a choice," Sirius pointed out to his friend.

"Well, no," Remus admitted. Hermione frowned slightly.

"Remus, is the main problem that you thought Sirius would be upset with you, would reject you as his friend?" Hermione asked in an odd voice. Sirius glanced at her and then turned to Remus.

"You didn't really believe that I would reject you, would you?" Sirius asked in surprise. "You do remember who I am, right? I've seen more betrothals straight from the cradle than you can shake your wand at, and a lot of them were with older wizards or even witches."

"Yeah, but," Remus tried to explain and Hermione cut him off with a sharp look.

"I'm quite sure that your lycanthropy was never a consideration. Sirius has invested heavily in the company that's patented the new Wolfsbane potion, and he's planning on making a killing when we convince the Ministry to subsidize it," Hermione said firmly. Sirius grinned at his friend.

"It was going to be a birthday surprise, but you've gone and spoiled that part," Sirius said cheerfully.

"My birthday?" Remus repeated blankly. Sirius nodded earnestly.

"Yeah, it's in two months, you know… your birthday?" Sirius looked at him with concerned eyes.

"We're having a party for you here, of course," Hermione added. "Your future-in-laws and your betrothed will come for a small luncheon with your parents, Sirius and I and James and Lily. Oh, and my parents and Sirius' Uncle Alphard. Just family, really. We'll have your other party later that night."

Those words made Sirius' heart swell in his chest. His experiences with family had been unpleasant for the most part. He had always been held to exacting standards to which he had never, no matter how hard he tried, seemed to measure up. Now he was surrounded by people who were family and loved him no matter what. He could tell by the look on Remus' face that he felt the same way. Well, the Lupins had always loved their son unconditionally, but Remus had always felt like he'd failed them somehow because he was a werewolf. They'd never felt like that, and would have been horrified to hear it suggested, but Remus did. Hermione cleared her throat delicately.

"Sirius? You don't want to be late," she chided him gently. He nodded and finished his eggs, kippers and toast, washing it all down with tea. A quick kiss on the lips and he was out the door.

"You Saw something, didn't you," Remus asked her quietly. Hermione grew absolutely still and fixed him with a cold glare. He shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"I Saw you reject that poor woman because of your fears and insecurities. I saw her pine for you, Remus John Lupin. I didn't think such a thing was really possible, but she was truly pining away for you. You were being such a selfish prig, I wanted to smack you," Hermione snapped in irritation. Remus started slightly. She never been anything but unfailingly kind and gentle with him in the entire time they had known one another.

"So this was your solution?" He asked dryly. She glared at him.

"You will be kind to the child, and when she is a woman you will reap the benefits," Hermione told him flatly. He nodded.

"Yes, ma'am," he murmured faintly. She smiled sweetly at him and sipped her tea.

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HG/HP/HB

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Lucius was pacing again. Regulus rubbed his brow in irritation and tried to tune out his fellow knight. He was hunched over a letter from Hermione that was creased from folding and unfolding and refolding. She had asked some very difficult questions about his parents and he was afraid that whatever it was she suspected might actually be going on. He loved his mother almost as much as he hated her, and he was so conflicted about what he should do with her that he couldn't sleep some nights. He watched his father like a hawk whenever his mother left them alone, which was almost never he had realized with a sinking sensation in his gut. He watched his mother carefully as well, and he grew ever more disturbed. Something wasn't quite right, Hermione was right about that.

"Where is she?" Lucius snapped impatiently, pacing back and forth again.

"I have no idea," Severus snapped back. "I'm not her social secretary."

"I'm right here," Hermione said coolly, one brow raised at all of them. "What on earth has all of you wound so tightly?"

"We found out how he's doing it," Lucius said flatly, his silver eyes veiled. Hermione's eyes widened and she gave a short nod.

"Very well, how is he doing it?" Hermione asked.

"You said he'd gone to Hogwarts to request a job, correct?" Lucius checked with Hermione. She nodded.

"Yes, that's how Rowena's diadem got into the room of requirement," she agreed. It was the one horcrux they actually had, and they kept it hidden in a carefully warded room of the French dower house.

"That's not the only thing he did while he was there," Lucius said with an expression of distaste. "He cast a copying spell on the book. It has all sorts of tamper-proof charms and wards, but a copying spell is considered perfectly innocuous. The headmaster or the deputy headmaster do one every year so that they have a list of the current incoming students to distribute to all the teachers to give them an idea of the class sizes, et cetera. It never occurred to anyone that somebody might do something like what he's done. It just…it never occurred to them."

"Of course it didn't," Hermione soothed, one hand on Lucius' arm. "You all have to remember that we aren't him. We have to work to think the way he does because no sane, rational witch or wizard would ever think that way. Sometimes we'll make mistakes, or miscalculate because we didn't expect something. I can't think of that as a failure on your part because it means you aren't as depraved as he is."

"People are dying," Lucius said in a pained voice. His face tightened slightly. "Children are dying."

The very last thing that a wizard like Lucius Malfoy would ever do would be to sit around and talk about his feelings, but Narcissa's miscarriage and resulting depression had hit him just as hard as it had her. He had realized with that miscarriage that he really did love his wife. As a pureblood who was currently suffering the repercussions of inbreeding, children were incredibly precious. He would move heaven and earth if it meant he could put a baby in Narcissa's arms. When Hermione had pulled her little stunt in the bookstore, he'd gone to her immediately and given her a firm set down for getting Narcissa's hopes up, and revealing her Seer abilities. Hermione had laughed in his face and explained that among women it was common to offer platitudes and encourage the woman involved that there would be another baby. Hermione strongly doubted that Narcissa would attribute Seer abilities to her speech because they were so rare. He was uncertain if Narcissa believed that, but so far he was certain she hadn't told anyone. He had been conflicted at first because he still cared very deeply for Hermione, but he realized that both women had shifted in importance within his heart. He would most likely always care for Hermione: she was his first love and the woman who had shown him that he didn't have to be a Death Eater. For all of that and more, she would always be special to him, but he realized that both women had shifted in importance within his heart. He would most likely always care for Hermione: she was his first love and the woman who had shown him that he didn't have to be a Death Eater. For all of that and more, she would always be special to him, but they had both made promises and oaths that they were honor bound to uphold. That and he truly loved Narcissa, and Hermione was very much in love with Sirius. All of that was shoved ruthlessly to the back of his mind under the revulsion he felt about the Death Eaters that were murdering children.

"That's true," Hermione agreed sadly. "Children are dying. We need to stop it as soon as possible. Regulus, you still have access to the castle; do you feel this is something that you can take care of by yourself?"

"I did the detection charms that revealed his spells," Regulus said firmly. "I was extremely careful with that because I didn't want to do anything strong enough to leave a magical signature. I don't think it can be any of your milites, domina."