12

12

Harry could admit that his fathers were right about Italy. The country was full of winding roads that snaked their way through beautiful rolling hills. Some had livestock eating on them, but many were covered with vineyards that supplied that country's near endless thirst for wine. Sirius insisted Harry try a glass at one of the restaurants they had stopped at. Harry thought it tasted like a berry mulch with a dry bite as an aftertaste, but sipped on it anyway to make Sirius happy. His baby boy was drinking wine! Harry could practically see Sirius' Marauder mirth bleeding from his pores.

"We are now entering Rome," Sirius sang to his companions as he lifted his voice to mock imitate a tour guide. He'd been reading every large street sign as they passed it doing this same thing for kilometers.

"We'd have gotten here a lot faster had you not insisted on stopping at every vineyard along the way," Remus groused later as Sirius slowly puttered through the streets maneuvering around several stopped cars.

"Why should that be a factor?" Sirius shrugged even as he blew a kiss at a couple of young women on the street corner. "We're in no rush to get back home. Not to mention Logan needs a little refinement before we get back to Great Britain."

"Refinement?" Harry looked up from his book to glare up at Sirius sitting next to him. "What's wrong with the way I am now? Am I too savage for the seat of empire?" He continued with a deadpan and an eyebrow reaching for the scar above it.

"Logan," Sirius looked down at his son and smiled, his eyes shining as his voice dripped honey and innocence. "I love you dearly, but you're practically feral." Sirius smirked at him before winking and then waggling his eyebrows. "The ladies prefer a bit of refinement, if you know what I mean."

"You are NOT giving our teenage son," Remus growled, "'dating' advice." Remus's face was absolutely twitching with his effort not to laugh.

"Where else is he supposed to learn it? You?" Sirius poked Remus' side playfully without looking away from the road. "He who never had a date in school?"

"How was a werewolf supposed to get a date?!" Remus growled at Sirius his voice low and his good mood washed with the change of teasing subject.. "It took everything I had to keep it a secret!"

Sirius looked at Remus with a look of confusion. "Evan," he drawled as he was talking to a child, "you were the least subtle person at Hogwarts. It's astonishing more people didn't find out!"

Remus stared at Sirius, like he was waiting for the punchline. "I was subtle!" Remus yelled at Sirius.

"No you weren't!" Sirius yelled back. "Me and James had to tell so many tales to throw people off because you were just that unsubtle! Once James panicked and said I kissed you and you were so embarrassed that you wouldn't come out of your bed for days! Those Ravenclaws twins would never accept a date with me again," he trailed off into a sad wistful tone.

Harry rolled his eyes and returned to his book as his fathers fought, unsure if there was actually anger there or just some weird sexual tension. When was the last time either of them got laid?. Their fighting was never really anything beyond a sibling rivalry or a lovers quarrel, as he had heard some people happily suggest during their travels. He usually just called it annoying and tried his hardest to ignore them. Remus took them on what Sirius called, 'The scenic tour of Rome' for a few hours, dictating when and where Sirius putter the vehicle until Sirius wanted to stop to eat again. Sirius had picked a small restaurant that Remus argued was actually a cafe. Harry didn't care, but he did have a craving for rice when he had been asked about choices. They parked out front and started to look for a seat when Sirius froze. Remus looked over his shoulder to where Sirius was looking and growled deep in his throat. Harry had no idea what they were reacting to, but he went on high alert anyway. Two fugitive dad's reacting the same way generally meant trouble. Harry rolled bent his knees and watched with a warrior's tension.

Remus grabbed his shoulder firmly and turned them to the side. Remus pushed gently and they began walking up the street towards some tall stone walls that had a lot of people milling around in front of them. "Stay close to us, pup. No matter what," He leaned down to speak into Harry's ear.

"What's going on, Mooey?" Harry asked as matched his father's pace to keep up with his father's longer steps. "What's going on?" His heart was starting to hammer squeezing adrenaline into his system. Harry's magic was tingling under his skin.

"Aurors." Remus whispered as he led him and Sirius through the crowds. Harry's blood ran cold at the word. Auror had always been the boogeyman to him growing up. A word to be feared, but not something that actually existed. Now it was real and following them. Harry nodded and the urgency seeped into his mind and calmed the extra thoughts as Harry went through a mental pre-battle checklist.

Remus led the trio towards the larger crowds near the tall stone walls. He could tell now that these stone walls were taller than the several story buildings that were built across the street from the wall. There were several large doorways in the wall that had queues of people being admitted slowly. Remus took out his wand and whispered a spell and suddenly the large wall was behind them, Harry grabbed his belly and felt one heave from his gut before he forced his queasiness down as he needed to focus. On the other side of the wall were several large stone buildings as far as he could see and some kind of stone road that covered most of the ground. A shame, Harry thought, since the parts of nature that were allowed within the walls hummed pleasantly.

"Apparating in front of non-magicals Remus?" Sirius gave him a shaky smile even as he was coloring his cheeks from pale to green to pink. "Never knew you had it in you to break the rules."

"Where have you been?" Remus grabbed both of their arms and started pulling them along, walking quickly once more. As the one apparting he was a bit less out of sorts "We stole Harry, fled the country, and have been breaking laws in just about every country we've been in!" Remus' eyes flicked around them as his mind fought with the new data input to figure out some sort of plan. "I don't like doing it, but I became comfortable with this when I was hanging around you and James at school."

Sirius chuckled as they headed towards the large stone building nearest to them. "My dear Remus. I love you more everyday."

Remus lightly laughed at the attempt at levity and rolled his eyes hard as they neared the building. There were two men standing on either side of a big door wearing darker blue uniforms and weird flat hats that quickly became alerted to their presence. One of the men shouted something to them in a language Harry didn't understand, but Sirius seemed to as he stopped the group not too far away the men and responded to them smoothly. Remus kept looking around them, clearly still flustered due to the Aurors that had caught their scent. His head stopped behind them and Harry saw what he saw. The Aurors were furiously speaking with more men in blue uniforms trying to get something across to be allowed in. Remus turned back to the uniformed men still talking with Sirius.

"I beg your forgiveness." He spoke calmly before speaking some sleeping spell and dropping the men to the ground in snoring heaps.

"Mooey! Underhanded preemptive strike?" Harry whispered in reverence of his father. Remus was never one to attack anyone until he was pushed to no other alternative, so it was a pleasant surprise for Harry. Harry smirked, and an occasion he would make sure to bring up the next time Mooey tried to lecture him about his extracurricular activities.

"I try not to go too far, pup, but I am willing to do whatever it takes to protect my family." He spoke lowly as he ushered them past the sleeping men and into the building.

Inside the stone building was a small room where a man wearing the same dark blue uniform as the ones outside was sitting behind a wooden desk. He began to say something, but Remus quickly attacked and stunned him and continued through another door across from them without so much as breaking his stride. He closed the door behind them and whispered a spell to seal the door with a squelching sound. Harry looked around the larger room they were now and found row upon row of bookshelves full of books.

"Remus," Sirius whispered fearfully and urgently. "This is bad, like caught-red-handed-by-McGonagall-in-a-broom-cupboard-with-no-pants-on bad"

"We've had bad before, dear Sirius. This is nothing new." Remus said without looking at him, his eyes were closed as he listened for any sign of pursuit behind them.

"No. Remus, you don't understand. I think this is a secret archive if that locking device we used magic to pass through is any indication!" Sirius hissed in panic.

Remus' head snapped over to Sirius and his eyes flashed open. "This is a secret archive?" He demanded. He turned forward once more, his eyes closed as if in pain as he pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a shaky breath. "Ok. We need to get out of here." He ordered softly.

Sirius and Harry nodded as they followed him through the many bookshelves in the large room. Harry thought that this place almost looked like the Library of Alexandria, except this place felt far less alive. More sanitized, which probably also extended into the materials stored here. Unfortunate, Harry thought to himself. He enjoyed reading new things, but he disliked the idea of someone deciding for him what he should learn. So much information was lost that way.

It was easy enough to avoid the few people that were milling about, but it seemed like every door to the outside they came to had guards positioned outside. They were boxed in on all sides and it wouldn't be long until the aurors caught up to them.

"Let's try downstairs?" Sirius suggested after finding yet more guards.

"Downstairs?" Remus rounded on him, looming over him threateningly. "Has the Black family madness finally taken you?!" He growled like the werewolf inside him was trying to break free.

"We're not exactly swimming in options here, Remus!" Sirius snarled back at him in a whisper. "It's the one place we haven't checked yet!"

"Fathers?" Harry interjected calmly, getting both their attentions. "Not that I wouldn't absolutely love watching you two finally have a go of it, but can we do this later? You know, when we're not being hunted?"

The two older men at least had the decency to look ashamed of their actions. "You're right pup. Wrong time. Wrong place." Remus answered in a hushed tone. "Let's try downstairs, like Sirius suggested."

Sirius smiled up at the taller man. "You're getting soft in your old age." He teased.

"Yeah, probably. Later." He sighed as he turned away from Sirius. "Let's check the lower floor."

They managed to slip by a few more people and made it to an empty stairway that led down a floor. The next floor looked much like the one above it, just slightly more cool. There were just as many bookshelves on this level as the other. It was fortuitous that there were only a couple people sitting at small tables and fully engrossed in the books in front of them.

"That should keep them out of our hair until we get out of here." Sirius told Harry after he threw out a small spell that created a bubble of silence around the researchers.

"I'm sorry to say this, but it doesn't look like there are any doors down here." Remus sighed.

Sirius patted him on the back. "It's alright, old boy. We'll just have to think of something else."

Sirius and Remus began recommending different plans to one another and discussing them in a quick exchange, tossing ideas and out and discarding them just as quickly. Harry, however, was distracted. There was a small bit of magic that he could sense that was not on the main floor, and only after coming down a level was he feeling it. He was used to the different ways magic felt. The magic found in nature felt like the wind, subtle yet never ending. His fathers magic was sharp and bright, like the fireworks they watched in China. The magic used for enchantments, like his bag or Sirius' motorcycle, hummed pleasantly. This magic was much different. It was old, kind of like the magic he found in the old ruins they visited throughout Central and South America, but not exactly so. That magic still felt somewhat alive, still feeding off the natural magic around it.

Harry walked away from his fathers and towards the magic he felt. They didn't stop him, probably because there really wasn't anywhere for him to go. He found the magic was inside a seemingly bare concrete wall. Harry put his hands on the wall to better feel the magic. It was old and thin, like it had bled out from where it had been cast many many years ago. Given the state of this magic, Harry guessed it was a spell that had been cast here several centuries ago.

Harry grabbed onto the spell with his magic and tried to pull at it, but it was difficult. The spell had not moved in a very long time and was resistant to his movements. He moved to what he felt was the edge and tried pulling there. It began to move, little by little, but it was stiff and slow. Remus found where he was when he was getting close to finally getting it pulled back.

"I think we've hashed out a plan. We'll need to move quickly, though," Remus murmured as he slid up to Harry placing his hand on Harry's shoulder to get his attention. "Pup? What are you doing?" He questioned in his concerned father tone.

"There's magic here. Old magic, not powerful old just, been here a long time," Harry said as he concentrated on feeding it just enough to pull the enchantment into moving. "I'm trying to see what's behind it." Harry continued without looking at his father.

"Is this really important right now?" Remus hissed with his simmering anger as he gripped Harry hard to pull him away.

"It is if it's a hidden door," Harry replied as he continued to feel and tug on the magic.

"How can you be sure it's a door?" Sirius asked as he joined the conversation, his eyes flitting around the room betraying his anxiety.

"Why else would something be magically hidden in a secret archive centuries ago?" Harry huffed as he shrugged off Remus' hand and lifted his hands to the wall and helped him feel the magic.

Remus sighed heavily as he turned to Sirius, who only shrugged in response. They patrolled their surroundings carefully while they let Harry work. Luckily for them, it only took another minute for him to pull the magic back and reveal a very old looking wooden door.

"Ha! I was right!" Harry exclaimed as he opened the door.

Remus sighed heavily again, only this time Sirius chuckled to himself. "Leave it to Harry to find a door that looks like it's been hidden magically since the middle ages."

They followed Harry through the door into a dark, arched hallway that clashed with the room they had just been in. As soon as the door shut, the magic sealed the door again. Harry could open it again, but he'd wait until they got more of an idea of where they were. Remus and Sirius pulled out their wands and created light at the ends to light the hallway.

"Haven't seen a hallway like this since our time in Hogwarts." Sirius spoke conversationally as they walked down the barren hallway. "Hallways like these are only found in exceptionally old places anymore."

"Why do I feel like we shouldn't be here?" Remus added uneasily.

"You mean like the multitude of places we snuck into at Hogwarts?" Sirius smirked at his friend. "Relax Moony. It's unlikely the Aurors will be able to find the door we came through, so we have time to explore. We might even get lucky and they'll think we've fled when we go back!" He added with a smile.

"We can hope I suppose," Remus muttered, thoroughly unconvinced.

They continued to follow Harry through the hallway, which he found funny. They were in charge until they found something beyond their expertise, at which point Harry typically took over. They carefully walked down a stone spiral staircase that looked like it had seen better days. It held up while they were on it at least, but Harry wasn't about to trust it again without fortifying it magically. The staircase led to another room, but it was too dark to see anything. Harry brought his palms together and created light between them that he pulled out into an orb and tossed into the air above them, where it hovered. The room was full of many different things. Everything from bookshelves full of books to broken pots to reading chairs were covered in a heavy layer of dust.

"Where are we now?" Sirius asked with his hands on his hips.

"Wherever it is, it's dusty." Remus said just before having a sneezing fit.

Harry walked further into the room, feeling the magical hum of an enchanted item somewhere within the room. He had to move several overturned tables and reading chairs, but he finally found the item that was humming. It was a tall wooden wardrobe. He reached out to feel it when the trio felt the telltale vibrations of an explosion in the stone floor.

"It didn't take the Aurors long to find us," Sirius muttered as he pulled his wand out.

"Are you surprised?" Remus pulled out his own wand. "Non magicals have rather advanced technology nowadays."

"Hey! I think this goes somewhere else," Harry told them as he opened the wardrobe. Inside were very old smelling robes and shoes.

"Are you saying it's a Vanishing Cabinet?" Sirius asked as he dropped his wand to his side and walked over to Harry to view the cabinet.

"I'm not really sure what a vanishing cabinet is ," Harry said as he pointed to the wardrobe. "But this feels it's magic is flowing to some place far away."

"Is this really the time to be playing with old magic we found in a secret hallway," Remus chest heaved under the fury he poured into his words, "In the secret archives of the fucking Vatican?!" Remus snarled at the two of them.

"There's no better time," Harry replied with a sage's calm words. Smirking at his fathers Harry continued with a sing song voice, "Or would you rather fight it out with the now platoon of Aurors?"

Remus looked out to the dark stairwell that they came down before looking back to Harry. "Alright pup. Let's try out this bit of old magic," He sulked, resigned to Harry's plan.

The wardrobe was big enough that, once they removed the old clothes, all three of them were able to fit inside it with little issue. Remus closed the doors, making sure they were closed fully. Harry put his hands on the side of the wardrobe and used his fingers to find a rune that he nudged into work with his magic. The magic of the item grasped at them and pulled.

They were blinded by bright sunlight and knocked into the ground like they had been tossed out of a bar. Harry carefully opened his eyes and saw that they were now outside in some sort of forest clearing. He quickly looked to his fathers, finding Sirius already sitting up and Remus still laying on the ground with his arms over his head.

"You alright there Moony?" Sirius asked as he poked Remus' shoulder.

"We broke into the VATICAN!" He yelled at Sirius as he sprang to his feet. "The Vatican, Sirius!"

"It's alright, Moony. We did things like that all the time in school," Sirius attempted to soothe the enraged werewolf with words that weren't quite soothing. Even Sirius grimaced as he spoke.

"This is nothing like that!" Remus began to pace angrily through the wild grass. "Hogwarts was practically begging us to find it's secrets!" Remus rounded on Sirius again his finger pointed straight at Sirius' heart. "If my grandmother finds out I broke into the fucking VATICAN, she's going to skin me alive and put it on display in her living room wall!"

"We won't tell her." Sirius raised his hands in surrender. "We promise, right?" He turned to Harry, who nodded in agreement though he tried hard not to snicker. Remus calmed himself down enough to look at their surroundings. They were in a small clearing in the forest that allowed the bright sun to hit them. The grass was long and covered in dew, leaving their clothes slightly wet.

"Where are we now?!" Remus growled as he stomped away throwing his hands up over his head exasperated.

"I hope we aren't too far away. We left my motorcycle near that cafe," Sirius groused as he tried to wipe off some of the plant bits that were stuck to his pants.

"Cuz that's important," Harry drawled. "We'll get it once we figure out where we are," Harry walked over and helped Sirius wipe off his jacket and shirt.

Harry and Sirius followed the path Remus took that went between many large trees. They found Remus not too far away standing near what looked like an overgrown dirt road.

"I think I found a road," Remus announced as they came near him. "No idea if it's an actual road that's used or if it's an old farm road that's only used by animals, but it should lead to some kind of civilization."

"Then which way?" Sirius asked, looking down both ways of the road.

This forest had far more magic than Harry was used to. Everything in nature had at least some magic in it, but the plants here were practically made of magic. There was a stronger source of magic down one side of the road that felt strange. It was both natural and unnaturally amplified.

"Let's go this way," Harry pointed towards the source of magic.

Harry didn't bother waiting for an answer and started walking towards the magic source. Sirius followed without question, muttering under his breath about it being 'one of those days where Harry gets pulled into something life altering'. Remus took a shuddering breath and nodded to Sirius' comment before trudging like a sullen tennager after them. The road went over a small hill and curved around some large trees before passing through an old iron bar gate set into a tall stone wall that was still standing strong, but had seen much better days.

"What the hell is this?" Remus demanded an answer from the iron bar gate, his hands out with his palms to the sky like he was presenting the gate to Sirius and Harry. "This isn't what we need right now!"

"Calm down there, Old Boy. We're away from the aurors. We have all the time in the world to get our bearings." Sirius said as he kicked at pebble at a pile of weird looking stones on one side of the gate.

One of the stones rolled off the pile, which was followed by a few more that seemed to fall off the pile on their own. Sirius jumped back from the pile with his wand out when all the stones began to move to stack on top of each other. Remus joined Sirius in a battle stance while Harry was rooted to the spot by his interest. The rocks continued to stack themselves until they finally settled into the vague shape of a person. A person that was hunched forward slightly and was using it's long arms that stretched to the ground to both hold itself up and walk. Harry thought it looked like someone had sculpted a human mixed with a Gorilla out of stones. The second pile of stones moved in much the same way and formed a second stone creature almost exactly like the first.

"Remus?" Sirius' voice quivered slightly. "I don't remember ever reading about creatures like these. I don't know how to fight them."

"They might be magical constructs. Maybe?" Remus answered hesitantly. "It was a short chapter in Magical History. A lost art that may not have actually existed." The two stone creatures took a long step towards Harry. Remus flinched into action and moved towards Harry to protect him, but the stone creature closest to him stopped him with a growl that sounded like falling earth. "Pup." He spoke urgently. "Get behind me!"

The second creature moved towards Harry. He couldn't tell if it was aggressive or not, but he chose not to take any chances. As much much as he wanted to study this creature, he couldn't let it hurt him or his fathers. Harry raised his hand and summoned a ball of light in the palm of his hand that he then detonated into a shockwave. The two creatures were pushed into an upright position, but came back down onto their long arms. The two creatures stood there for a moment, like statues, until they suddenly fell apart. Their stones scattered on the ground and rolled back into piles where they found them. The old iron bar fence then opened slowly with a long creaking sound that only stopped when the gate was opened completely.

"Okay," Sirius started slowly drawing out his first word as he processed what just happened. "Is anyone else here confused and slightly terrified?" He looked to Remus who was standing as still as a statue and Harry who was looking closer at the now inanimate stone piles. "Just me?" He squeaked, largely to himself.

"I don't think they're going to get back up," Harry said as he straightened out again. "Shall we go on in?"

Sirius looked to Remus, "Oh bloody hell, it IS going to be one of those days," He whimpered. Remus looked somewhere between concerned and terrified. Remus shook off his stupor and nodded wordlessly. Harry led them again down the unkempt dirt road like he normally did, loose and curious. Sirius, who was struggling with the onset of a small panic attack, followed close to Remus, who was making sure to stay close to Harry while Remus' head was on a swivel. There wasn't much to see since the road ran through an incredibly dense forest. There were birds calling from the tree tops that Harry couldn't name, flora or fauna.

The road turned a couple times before the trio saw something other than trees and forest plants. The trees opened up to another, much larger iron gate. This one was set into a stone wall that was both taller and thicker than the first. Even the iron bars themselves were much thicker with other iron bars that were curved between the straight ones and that Harry thought kind of looked like plants with leaves and flowers. As they came closer, they noticed there was a metal plaque above the gate that had something written on it in an ornate script.

"What does that say?" Harry looked at it with his head cocked to the side. "Bro...broke...lande..." He attempted to read the script, but could accept that he had no idea what language it was written in, much less how it was actually pronounced. "Brok...land? Brookland? Hey dad! We're in Brookland!" Harry pointed at at the sign and smiled over his shoulder at his fathers with a stupid grin on his face.

"I think that's French," Sirius spoke as he stood next to Harry as he rubbed his eyes, suddenly not in the mood to deal with his son. "Brocéliande."

"Brocéliande? Why does that name sound familiar?" Remus muttered to himself.

"No idea, Old Boy." Sirius shrugged having calmed down a bit but still fighting with the chaos of his afternoon.. "If you don't know, I sure as hell don't."

The iron gate suddenly began moving upwards until it stopped about halfway up the opening in the stone wall. Even only halfway up, the iron bars were still high above their heads. Harry walked inside with little hesitation, unafraid of anything that may be here. This place was practically dripping in raw magic and he just had to explore all of it. Remus darted after him, unwilling to let him get out of arms reach of him. Sirius meandered after them, less tense than Remus, but that was because he was very internal at the moment.

Sirius stopped near a three tiered water fountain that was in the middle of an unkempt plot of land surrounded by the stone walls. There looked to be the remnants of a stone walkway that circled the fountain and led to some stone stairs that went up to a large wooden door at the stone castle. The small plants were growing up between the stones and were pushing them out of place.

"This place looks like it's been abandoned for a long time." Sirius sat down on the edge of the fountain. "But that only begs the question...where are we?" He asked Remus.

Remus was just about to answer him when the fountain began to shake and move. Sirius practically aparrated behind Remus, he moved so fast to get away from the fountain. Remus had never really put his wand away, so he was battle ready with Sirius looking over his shoulder and his wand out the side. A strip of stone came up from the water of the different tiers and the fountain split open to reveal another smaller set of stairs that led to a shiny stone door that was covered in both real and stone vines. There was another plaque above this door that was in the same script as the front gate, however this one looked brand new.

"What do those words say?" Harry asked from around Remus' other shoulder since he wouldn't allow Harry to move any closer. "Is it French again? Mydin Emrs?" He tried to read the script, but knew he was butchering it.

"No. No no no no." Remus spoke with an desperate tone, like he couldn't get enough air. "That can't be right!" Remus began to hyperventilate. "This isn't possible!"

"What!? By Merlin what is it!" Sirius grabbed onto Remus' arms and held him firmly as he shook the werewolf. "What's wrong?" He shouted in Remus' face, losing the grasp he had on his own calm.

"Myrddin...Emrys..." He whispered barely loud enough for Harry to hear. "That's where I knew Brocéliande from. It's the mythical forest where Merlin is said to be buried."

Sirius looked up at Remus with big eyes. "What? No! You've read it wrong." He stated firmly as he began to heave breaths that seemed to not bring enough air. He looked around Remus to read the plaque again, "It must be someone else."

Sirius read the plaque himself, but found the same thing Remus read. He yanked his wand out from his pocket and sloppily conjured up a wooden sitting chair. He quickly grabbed the chair and began beating it against the ground vigorously. Remus pulled out his own wand and quietly conjured up three matching chairs, an eating table, and four place settings of plates and silverware. Sirius turned to the newly conjured table and chairs and began to viciously smash everything with his bare hands. Harry knew better than to get anywhere near Sirius when he got into one of these moods, so he went to stand near Remus, whom was now standing faceing the stone wall near an imposing statue of metal armor that towered over his father.

"Are you alright Mooey?" Harry asked softly as he came near.

"I'm...not sure pup. I'm really not sure." Remus sighed as he turned to Harry. "This is all...a bit much." He twirled his wand over his shoulder and fixed the furniture that Sirius had destroyed so he could destroy it again.

"I won't pretend to know the full extent of what's happening here, but it seems bad?" Harry asked questioningly, mostly to himself.

"Is there anything else?" Remus turned to face him head on with a look of parental fury on his face. "You got us down to the vaults through a hidden magical door and then managed to use a vanishing cabinet that didn't work on it's own. There was the monks in China. The Indians in Canada. So tell me Harry James Potter: Is there anything else that you've done that i should have already known about?" He growled his question at Harry.

Harry considered lying to his father about some of the things that had happened over the years, but thought better of it. Remus always said that telling the truth, no matter how bad, was better in the long run than lying. And he would find the truth out eventually, so there was no point in lying. At least anymore, he was going to be sixteen soon and really it might help talking through a few issues that'd he'd been sitting on.

"Well," Harry drew out the word as his mind scrambled for a good place to start. "I met a Quetzalcoatl when we visited Peru. His name is Amaru. We still talk occasionally, ghostly projections and all that. Eh, the monks in China gave me a dragon egg." Harry raised his arm to show Oheo as the tattoo on his arm. She popped up off his arm and climbed over his shoulders rubbing her long body against his neck and shoulders as she seemed to purr and looking at Remus her tail gently flicked left and right almost like a cat. "I had to meditate to hatch her egg," Harry absently ran his fingers along her jaw and under the neck to pet her scales and hide as he thought about his next words, "during which I met my mom, Lily I mean, and pushed something evil out of my head. I still have it in my bag. Oh! And the Patil twins are probably both pregnant!" He added the last one for a bit of levity, since he hated it when his fathers got too upset or too angry. Remus's face got paler and paler and when Harry mentioned his mother, Remus' eyes glittered until large pools of water ran rivers of sadness and joy down his cheeks.

"They're what?!" Sirius roared from the broken again table. Snapping Harry and Remus' attention over to him. "Is that true?!" He stomped towards Harry, his anger still raging. "If it's true that you got those two girls pregnant, I swear to the Raven Goddess that I'll…" As Sirius neared Harry, close enough for Harry to see the fire in his eyes, and he lifted his wand to point it at Harry. The moment Sirius rounded on his son to finish his threat the iron statue suddenly came to life and grabbed Sirius around his waist and picked him up off the ground. "Hey! Put me down you before I reduce you to a molten lump! I have a son to beat some sense into! Release me!" The iron statue walked away from Harry and Remus through the gate they had come the trio had come through. Sirius' screams changed to barking and snarling that could be heard behind the stone wall, his attempt to wriggle away in his animagus form, that was silenced by a startled yip and a the unmistakable sound of water splashing.

Remus turned to Harry. "Perhaps not the best time to make pregnancy jokes." He suggested in a subdued tone.

"Yikes..." Harry drew his 's' into a hiss as he ran his fingers through his hair, "...That's an understatement." Harry sighed to himself. "Dad? What happened? He's never gotten that angry with me before," Harry was legitimately worried that he had done something very wrong.

"Don't take it personally pup," Remus placed a firm hand on Harry's shoulder. "He got that anger from his mother, Walburga. He does well keeping it under control, but I think the close call with the Aurors upset him more than he let on." The iron statue returned to it's spot on the wall and became a statue once more. Sirius walked back into the courtyard, now sopping wet but seemingly more calm. "How about you go and explore the castle for a bit? Let me talk to Sirius alone for a bit, ok?"

Harry nodded to his father and walked up the large staircase to a set of large double doors to the castle. He looked over his shoulder to check on Sirius before walking through the doors.

Remus summoned two of the wooden chairs to him and offered one to Sirius as he approached. He sat down heavily into the chair as Remus then conjured a small table and a tea set between them. Remus poured himself a cup of hot tea and then pulled out a silver flask from his pocket and poured a heavy amount of the liquid into the cup before silently handing it to Sirius. He held it in his hand for a long, quiet moment before throwing his head back and drinking the entire flask of liquid.

Inside the castle, Harry wandered around the rooms drinking in the feel of magic in the stones an the paintings, not really sure what to make of it all. There were moving portraits like his fathers told him on the walls of people in strange looking outfits covering both sides of the hallways and the rooms he peeked into. The parts of the walls not covered by pictures or other decorations looked like it had plants molded out of the walls covering them like ivy and flowers. He opened another door he came to and found an incredibly large library that looked much taller than it should have been compared to the outside. The next door he opened was a rather underfurnished room with two more of those vanishing cabinets standing across from each other.

Harry noticed a small housecat sitting on the floor between them that turned to face him and look at him with one very large eye that took up it's entire face. Only then did Harry notice that the cat looked like it was made out of metal. It got up smoothly and walked towards him to exit the room. Harry moved his foot to give it enough room to get by him. He could only really shake his head as he entered to take a closer at the cabinets. They looked nearly identical except for the crests that were affixed above the walls behind them. One was one he did not recognize, a gold key crossed with a silver key he raised and eyebrow at that one and turned his attention to the other crest. The second was one he had heard his fathers describe many times. A crest divided into four with a large 'H' in the center and four different animal on each quarter field: a snake, a lion, a badger, and a raven, the scroll beneath read "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus". It was without a doubt the crest of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry opened the cabinet, almost expecting to find clothes, but thankfully found it empty. Harry chuckled to himself, thinking of one of the his favorite book series that had magical cabinets. He stepped into it and closed the door behind him.

"Well this isn't Narnia," He drawled as he placed his hands on his hips after he stepped out into the stonework on the other side.