ENTERING HIS MOTHER'S BEDROOM, Sirius was more than puzzled when he saw Charlus standing in the middle of the room. He did a double take, looking in the direction of the stairs, when he heard the sound of a faint crack in the distance. Turning his attention back to Charlus, he could see the sympathetic smile, while his eyes watered with a hint of sadness. Beside him, Kreacher stood still, his head drooping, so much that his ears fell over.

"Charlus, I don't understand, you were downstairs and...what is going on?!" Sirius snapped. "Enough of your little mind games, just tell me what's happening! I can't take this anymore!"

"Sirius," Charlus said softly, " calm down-"

"No, I will not calm down! Not until you tell me what's going on around here! Every time I turn around you're coming up with a new plan! Haven't I been supportive? Don't I have enough of your trust that you would just tell me for once instead of having me figure out everything afterwards?"

Walking over, Charlus slowly reached out and grabbed one of Sirius' hand, before guiding him to the edge of the bed to sit. Kreacher looked up and with a gestured nod of Charlus' head, quickly took his leave.

"Listen to me, Sirius, I'm sorry," he said, " I know all of this has been a complete madhouse. But everything I have been doing is for you...for you, Harry, Remus, Maeve, Lyall...even for your mother's sake. All that time I was in St Mungo's, I was completely useless, but now, I can do what I can do to make sure that all of you end up happy. I know this has been frustrating, but I did it so that you wouldn't have additional stress weighing on your shoulders. I figured Azkaban was enough."

"For the love of Merlin, Charlus. Yes, I'll admit that Azkaban was no walk in the park, but how many times do we have to tell you that you don't have to do all of this alone."

"I didn't come up with this plan alone, Sirius, not this time. Your mother actually helped me quite a bit. It was what she wanted to do. Did she tell you goodbye?"

Sirius thought back to the last conversation he shared with his mother, where he told her, he was happy. But then his thoughts travelled to the "Charlus" he had spoken to downstairs. If Charlus was currently in front of him, that meant it was his mother that had so casually left.

"I just have to be sure, Sirius. I'm not going to let anything get in the way of this happy ending. I'll feel better knowing I did everything I could. Now, I'm going to go, alright? While you're at it, I need you to go upstairs and check on your mother. She was having a coughing fit earlier, I don't think there's much time left. I think she wants you there to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

"Goodbye."

It all suddenly made sense, the way she had been asking him if he was happy. Knowing that they still weren't on the best terms, she figured out a way to say goodbye to him that didn't leave either one of them in tears.

"But...how...."

Placing his hand on Sirius' thigh, Charlus gave it a gentle squeeze. " If I know Dumbledore like I think I do, he wasn't going to let us just walk away with Harry. Even if he was facing his own summons, it wasn't going to be that easy. I knew he would try to figure out a way to interfere, if it meant by stalling or something else. I couldn't be sure, so I developed a plan. I figured that Dumbledore would go after me because as Harry's flesh and blood, I would have to be the one present currently. That's who the Dursleys are expecting, that's who the courts are expecting."

"When you say go after you, do you mean like he would try to hurt you?"

"No, not hurt me. That would be foolish if he did. He and Fudge are being watched very closely by the Ministry and by the public because of myself and Rita's article. They have to look uninvolved. So, that would mean, they would hire someone else. They can't find us now because of the protection your father put on this place, but I have a feeling Dumbledore suspected it. More than likely, he had someone watching very closely. Trying to see the move I would make."

"And that would be?"

"Every time everyone here was distracted, I took the opportunity to go to Diagon Alley. Made sure to show just enough of my face so that whoever was tracking me would know it was me. Then I ventured to Knockturn Alley a couple of times."

"Charlus! Have you gone mad? Knockturn Alley? You know how dangerous that place can be. Even with Voldemort gone, that's not a place you go skipping about-"

"Are you going to let me finish or not?" Sirius fell silent. "Right, so I made sure to be seen, entered Borgin and Burkes where I was able to get some Polyjuice Potion. How good of a product it was, I can't be certain, but I made it look like I was going to make it. So I started buying a couple of ingredients out in the open to make it look more obvious. Dumbledore figured out what I was planning. He knew I was attempting to brew a polyjuice potion based on the things I was buying, but he didn't know I already had some to use. Whoever was watching was more than likely going to interfere before I had a chance to complete it. That way, I would be stuck and not able to attend court."

"So my mother got involved?"

"Initially, she wasn't part of it. One of you were going to take the polyjuice potion and pretend to  be me. Whether you went to the courts as me or became the distraction. Your mother wanted to become the distraction. She said she wanted to get back at Dumbledore and Fudge for sending you to Azkaban. She said it was the least she could do and she wanted you to be happy. She told you that, didn't she?"

"She did, but I didn't think...I didn't know...."

"She didn't have much time left, Sirius," Charlus whispered. "When I spoke to her earlier, she coughed into her handkerchief and we both saw the blood on it. She said she didn't want to die in bed. She didn't want to die in this house where so many memories haunted her. She begged me to give her this chance and I couldn't bring myself to say no. So, she went out there as me and I think the polyjuice potion will last long enough that we all go with Harry, I sign the papers along with Petunia, and we leave from there. Maeve already knows where we're going. It's time to go."

There was no time to feel overwhelmed as Sirius stood up, but he couldn't help but shed a few tears for his mother.

Things had not ended on a perfect note between them, not everything had been forgiven, but in her final moments, she proved to him that she was truly sorry. And for her sake, Sirius prayed that when she did finally leave the world, Regulus and Orion would be there, greeting her happily as she wished. And there was one more thing he could do for her so that her soul would be at rest.

"Kreacher!" he barked.

The house-elf appeared in the doorway almost instantly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the nervous look on Charlus' face, him knowing all too well that his husband carried harsh feelings towards Kreacher.

"Yes, Master," Kreacher replied obediently. "What does Master wish Kreacher to do?"

"You're coming with us," Sirius told him, " wherever we're going, you're coming. You are to look after Harry. Remember how you looked after my brother? That's what you're going to do for him, in a respectful manner. And when we leave here in a few....I want you to destroy this place."

"Master?"

"Let my mother's soul rest in peace. This home is haunted with poor memories. Destroy it."

"Yes, Master."