Remus approached the door cautiously, glancing back at Sirius once more before flinging the door open, wand held in a defensive stance. A tall dark haired woman stood silently smirking on the other side of the door.

"Nuts!" Sirius shouted, barreling down the stairs and engulfing the woman. "It's been ages what're you doing here?!"

" star!" The woman mouthed the word silently in reply, rolling her eyes in amusement and wiggling her arms helplessly where Sirius' excited embrace had pinned them to her sides.

"Sirius her hands..." Remus pointed out pulling his old friend free and shutting the door. "It's good to see you Nuntis, what brings you by?"

Nuntis scowled reaching around and whacking Remus in the back of the head before rapidly signing, "were you going to tell me you had a kid Remus?! Honestly I'm shopping in diagon alley and I overhear this Weasley, knew she was a Weasley right away the red hair of course, woman discussing Remus Lupin and his precious little girl!"

Remus had the good sense to look guilty, "uh, sorry Nun, been a bit busy you know, harboring a fugitive, fighting Voldemort..."

"Raising a daughter.." Sirius supplied unhelpfully.

Nuntis made a gesture as if Sirius had proven her point while Remus glared at the other man. "Not helping Sirius," he grumbled.

Sirius smirked leading the woman to the plush sofa.

"So, when did you have a kid? Where is she?" Nuntis signed quickly, her eyes alight with excitement.

"Caelen's asleep upstairs," Sirius supplied with a fond smile, "long full moon night and all..." Both men glanced at each other guiltily, the movement going unmissed by the attentive woman.

"The pair of you still being idiots I see," she remarked with an eye roll. She was met by matching blank expressions. "I'll just go check on her shall I?"

--

Caelen sat quietly, snuggled into her softest pajamas in the center of her bed wondering if she should open Harry's present now or wait. A soft knock drew her attention to the slightly open doorway. She shrank back nervously at the sight of the unfamiliar woman before Sirius popped up behind her.

"Hey puppy, this is Nuts," he began as he sat on the edge of the bed pulling the clearly uncertain child into his arms, "she's a friend of your dad's and mine from when we were in Hogwarts."

Caelen smiled tentatively at the silent figure, "nice to meet you Nuts."

The woman grinned before signing something to Sirius, earning a puzzled expression from Caelen. "Nuts says it's nice to meet you too and I'm her favorite." He translated with a large smirk.

Caelen glanced between them before whispering, "she didn't really say you're her favorite did she?"

Nuntis' body shook with silent laughter and she made her way cautiously toward the bed, pulling out a dark leather bound notebook as she went. "Hello Caelen, my name is actually Nuntis and you're right I didn't say Sirius was my favorite, Remus was always the more likable of the pair." She wrote in a beautiful script before passing the book to the little girl.

Caelen giggled poking her godfather, "see I knew she hadn't said that!"

Sirius huffed, standing quickly as if offended before turning to wink reassuringly at the child. "I'm going to go downstairs and magic some dinner, don't be telling her tales Nuts!"

The woman smirked sticking her tongue out at the retreating Black. "So little one, tell me about yourself?"

Caelen glanced from the words scrawled into the notebook and back up to the woman's face. "Should I write in there too or can I just talk?" She questioned uncertainly.

The woman smiled before taking the notebook once more to respond, "I write because I assume you do not know sign and I am unable to speak. You are free to speak or write as you wish."

"Why can't you speak?" Caelen asked curiously. Big brown eyes studied the woman as if she could discern the reasons herself.

Nuntis' lips twisted into a sad smile as her hands moved to respond, words flowing once more across paper. "When I was very young, my father attacked me. I'd been defending my mother. My vocal cords were irreparably damaged, even for magic."

The room grew silent as Caelen absorbed the information. Nuntis wondered briefly if she'd said too much before the young girl inched closer, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry that happened to you," Caelen whispered, "do you miss speaking?"

"You're very much like your father, Caelen." Nuntis wrote, smiling softly at the girl. "I met your father at Hogwarts, I was already unable to speak by that point. He tried so hard to make communicating easier for me. Eventually we devised our own signs, part normal sign language, part something of our own creation. Sirius would always forget certain word's signs and make up his own anyway."

Caelen smiled proudly, "my daddy is the best." She stated with obvious pride.

________

Sirius wandered into the small cheerful kitchen, a light smile plastered on his face. "So whatever I haven't done to corrupt the kid by this point, Nuts should have accomplished in the next fifteen minutes or so."

Remus smiled slightly as he continued pulling ingredients for supper. "She looks well."

"Yeah she does," Sirius agreed readily. "Why do you do that?"

Remus paused, his knife stalling halfway through a carrot, "what?"

The dog animagus advanced confidently reaching out to snag a handful or sliced carrots and munching them happily. "This what you're doing," he waved his hand at the pile of veggies awaiting slicing. "Why do it all manually? You're far more than capable of using magic, why bother?"

"I like doing it this way, it's calming, gives me something to do with my hands," Remus responded quietly, swatting at Sirius as he attempted to swipe more carrots. "If you keep that up we won't have enough for the soup," he scolded with a smile.

Sirius pouted, "You don't care about my eyesight do you? You want me to grow into an old blind dog!"

"Shut up Sirius," Remus laughed, "go and get the milk and cheese won't you?"

Sirius smirked before moving forward, eyes squeezed shut, arms outstretched. He moved as if he were blind and searching for potential obstacles as he went.

"Sirius watch what you're doing," Remus ordered without looking away from his cutting.

"That you moony? I hear your lovely voice but I was deprived of carrots in my youth and alas my old eyes have grown weary!"

Remus snorted at his dramatic friend as he dumped the sliced carrots, onions, and potatoes into a large pot. "Sirius I mean it be careful."

"Would you say you're serious?" The black haired man asked, laughing.

Remus rolled his eyes as he turned for more carrots, both men realizing their mistake too late. The pair collided landing in a laughing heap on the kitchen floor. "Sirius you daft wanker!" Remus gasped through his laughter, "get off me you great oaf!"

Sirius nuzzled into his best friend's shoulder, his own shaking with mirth. "See what happens, why couldn't you just share your carrots moons! Why!" He wailed rolling onto his back, his arm flung across his head dramatically.

"Oh honestly," Remus groaned standing in one fluid movement and dropping the remaining, uncut, carrots onto the laughing man's belly. "There, don't blame me when you're as old as Dumbledore and your sight actually begins to fail! I gave you the carrots."

Sirius grinned brightly up at the man towering above him, "you're a saint Remmy, a saint!"

"Yeah, yeah," the taller man scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Just get out of my kitchen before you break something!"

__________________________

Hey peoples!!! I'm so so sorry I know it's taken forever and this chapter is short *cringe* my daughters back in preschool and I'm struggling to adjust to the early mornings I swear the lack of sleep is sapling my creativity!! I've been working on this chapter so often I'd write a paragraph and go completely blank or just simply get distracted and have to stop for a while I swear my focus is gone! Anywho I'm super sorry I'll try really hard to get your next chapter soon hopefully you enjoyed this.

Oh! Nuts aka Nuntis is a creation of All_Our_Sins sort of a collaboration but her brainchild. We have a whole story planned for her for later when I'm finished with lupins cub but for now she'll be an active player here 😊😊