The World Cup incident had been the talk of the whole Wizarding community for quite some time. What the ministry had let out was that the House Elf of Bartemius Crouch, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was found with a stolen wand. Not just any wand, but one that belonged to no other than Harry Potter—with the last spell being the one used to evoke the Death Eater's mark.

Ofcourse no one could hardly believe that a house elf had the initiative to do it all on it's own—Jane, Remus and Sirius have been particularly suspicious about that, but kept their discussions about it in discretion so Florence wouldn't have to worry about it too much.

The days had passed by faster because of this, and soon Jane found herself doing school shopping with Florence at Diagon Alley again. Both of them made their way in and out of the shops quickly, wanting to get home sooner.

"Did we get everything on your list, dear?" she asked, carrying a pile of books in her arms, as did Florence. With slight struggle, Florence managed to reach into her pocket to pull out the folded checklist, her eyes skimming through the writing.

"Uh, I just need a few rolls of parchment and new Quidditch gloves—"

"Quidditch gloves? Didn't you buy a pair last time we came here?" she frowned.

"Well yeah," Florence said sheepishly, "But that was a year ago. I need a new one."

"Fine," Jane huffed, "A few rolls of parchment and a quick stop at Quidditch Quality Supplies, and then we're going home. Alright?"

Florence grinned, "Sounds like a plan."

Everything was going as planned, until—much to Jane's utter horror—a familiar looking black dog came squeezing through the crowd. Florence had been momentarily shocked—nearly dropping her books, before the two followed it to wherever it was going.

"Sirius!" Jane hissed as soon as they were out of prying eyes, the black dog shifting to it's obvious human form. Sirius simply batted his eyes at her, a grin on his face, "Ah, Jane! What were the odds of me seeing you here on this busy day?"

"You nitwit!" said Jane, her arms crossed over her chest in obvious displeasure, "Dumbledore told you to stay home! What if someone saw you?!"

"Well," he began cheekily. Florence was highly amused in the situation, however kept it to herself for the sake of her mum who was already stressing out.

"They obviously won't see me, Jane, because I—" he shifted into the big black dog, then shifted back to human form again, "—obviously have the greatest disguise in the world!"

"Sirius!" she scolded again, frowning, "Stop doing that! And shift back into your animagus form, someone might see you."

"Now, now, all I'm doing is trying to make your sanity look good. It would be better for them to catch you talking to a escaped criminal rather than a large, unresponsive dog, right?"

"Please," sighed Jane, rubbing at her temples in distress, "Let's just go home."

"But it's boring there," he whined, as if momentarily forgetting that he was a fully grown man instead of a still-growing teenager. "Moony's an awful killjoy. I want to go somewhere, even for a little while. Please." he begged.

"Fine," said Jane, sounding defeated. "But only for awhile," she said, "And stay in your animagus form."

Sirius happily agreed, and the black dog appeared once more, now in the company of mother and daughter.

They found a muggle park somewhere nearby, and Florence took Sirius—who was a big black dog— and played with him at the park. She ran around and played fetch with him, and also helping him slide down this fairly long tube slide that the park also had.

Truth was Jane felt incredibly sorry for Sirius who had to bear being stuck in one place for a long time. It was the least she could do, take him out to play as a dog for awhile, and she wondered whether or not the man had asked Remus for permission.

This thought was eventually dismissed, Jane subconsciously smiling as she watched Florence and Sirius chase each other around the park.

The three went home, not before grabbing a few cones of ice cream from an ice cream truck along the way. Jane opened the door of the house to see Remus, by the bathroom door, leaning against it almost helplessly.

"Jane!" he said, as if relieved by her presence, "It's Sirius, he's been in the loo for an hour and a half! I think something's wrong with—" Remus stopped in mid franticness, glaring at Sirius who was already laughing behind Jane, "You. Where have you been?"

"Why didn't you just open the door to see if he was inside?" questioned Jane, brows raised.

"Because," said Remus, "I didn't know where the keys were. And I didn't want to break down the door."

"Er," said Florence, "You could have used your wand...?"

"I did," he said, before glaring at Sirius once more, "But it was a bit hard to tell which spell he used to spell the door shut. An Alohomora did nothing to it."

"Relax, Moony," said Sirius in a nonchalant voice, before collapsing onto the couch, "I just went on a little stroll at Diagon Alley, nothing wrong with that—"

"Nothing wrong?! You're wanted in every nook and cranny at Diagon Alley, your face plastered in every wizarding community. And Dumbledore told you not to leave the house!"

"Cut me a bit of slack, Moons," scoffed Sirius, "I already recieved an earful of that from Jane."

"What were you even doing at Diagon alley?"

"I placed an order for something. Did the whole dog-messenger style, don't worry."

"What did you order?" Remus pushed on, getting curious.

"You'll see. It will arrive in a few days," he said, "I'm tired. Maybe you could end the interrogation now..."

"No," said Remus, still clearly agitated with the man's actions, "Sirus—you snuck out of the house, in to the open without anyone accompanying you. Do you even know how big of a risk that is?"

"But I didn't get caught." he said in a matter-of-fact, which further annoyed his friend.

"What if you did?"

"But I didn't" Sirius repeated, with a slight scowl on his face, "Now drop it. I'm tired." With this, Sirius had sauntered past his friend, disappearing into a corridor.

"Merlin," they heard his faint voice from echoing throughout the house, "It smells like burnt blankets in here."

"Is it just me, or do they squabble like a married couple?" Florence whispered to her mum, who chuckled as a memory resurfaced, "They've always been like that."

"What took you long in bringing him back home?" Remus inquired, not in the way when he was talking to Sirius, it was more of a normal inquiry than an accusation.

"I let him play at the park for awhile. He's right you know, he does need some time out..."

Remus' eyes widened at the brief but vivid image of a fully grown Sirius going down a spiral slide that was only a few inches longer than his height.

"In animagus form," Jane added, once she caught up to the look on his face.

"Right," said Remus, pursing his lips "You two must be hungry. I made tea and chocolate brownies—"

Jane was sniffing the air, brows raised as she caught the stench of something burnt, Remus shooting her a sheepish look, "Okay, I made the tea, and tried to make the brownies. They were a flop."

"It's my oven, you see," said Florence, "I can help if you want."

"She makes the best brownies." Jane told Remus, who smiled, "Well then, by all means please take the floor."

Florence missed baking—she hardly had any time at all to bake at Hogwarts during the previous year, as she was busy with her academic endeavors.

Cleaning up was much easier with her mum and Remus around, who immediately picked up a dirty utensil that she had just used and proceeding to washing them.

Normally she'd have to guard the chocolate batter from a vicious swiper that went by the name Nicolai—but her two companions had been patient and behave, consuming tea as he waited.

Miss Mimsy had strolled in to the kitchen at one point, climbing on to Jane's lap for excessive petting. The cat looked content on her lap, however sending dirty looks towards Florence's direction.

"Did you see that!" Florence said, a chocolate smeared spatula pointed accusingly at the cat's direction.

Jane's brow arched in question.

"See what?" She asked, genuinely puzzled as she looked down at the cat who then proceeded to licking her paw.

"Miss Mimsy just glared at me," Florence said, "Your cat just glared at me!"

Remus snorted at this, "Must be some evil cat, then."

"You have no idea." she said, eyes narrowed at the seemingly innocent cat. "Don't be silly, Florence, Miss Mimsy is simply behaving herself."

"No, no she isn't. And I don't want cats in the kitchen."

"But she's only going to stay for a little bit more...."

"Mum, we'll get cat hair on the brownies, do you want that?"

"We won't get cat hair on the brownies," said Jane, who sighed as she saw the adamant look on her daughter's face.

"Fine, then," she placed the cat back on to the floor, Miss Mimsy making her way out of the kitchen with ease.

Soon, the brownies were ready, and the pleasant aroma had filled the kitchen as soon as she opened the oven to take them out.

"That smells wonderful," said Remus, who giddily watched Florence cut them into smaller cubes of bite-sized brownies.

"Wait until you taste them," said Jane, who was almost always very proud of Florence's talents in the kitchen.

Sirius had plopped in to the kitchen on several seconds after they had started to feast upon the plate of brownies, swiping one from Remus' plate.

"I thought you were going to rest?"

"I decided that I did not need to anymore and would much rather spend my time eating whatever that pleasant smell is." said Sirius shortly, before stuffing half a brownie into his mouth. "My, she's a better cook than you were before," he said to Jane, earning a scowl from the woman.

"I was a fairly good cook," she defended herself, " Just not all the time."

"I'm telling you, Florence," Sirius chuckled in amusement, "Your mother almost burned my flat down to a crisp. I wasn't exactly sure if she was trying to cook me up or her welcome-to-your-new-home casserole..."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Jane was trying to cook you alive," Remus remarked, "You are pretty vexing..."

"Well, Remus isn't wrong." mused Jane.

"Ganging up on me, are you now?" He huffed, "Two against one doesn't seem so much of a fair fight." Sirius frowned, "Perhaps your daughter might want to back me up—"

"The brownies are getting cold!" Florence interrupted, partly amused by how childish their squabbling was. She plopped another helping of brownies and filled their cups with tea, "They're not really goodwhen they're cold." she said, and the adults dived right in to it.

The house was never as noisy at it was at that very moment, and Florence couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. It wasn't an annoying sort noisy, but one that brought comfort to her. The house was only ever lively when there was a party. She subconsciously wished that they would stay, even after whatever it is that's making them stay with them is over.

In all the years that she had been alone with her mother, she had never really seen her face glow in odd familiarity with the people she was with. She looked at home, with the people from her past.

Florence wondered what it would have been like if her father was still alive. Her mother would look much younger with everyday—Sirius often told her how madly inlove they were, and how they seemed to keep the other happy almost every day.

"Florence," she heard her name being called out, quickly snapping out of her trance. Her mother was looking concernedly at her, "You had a really far off look. Are you quite alright?"

She smiled, one that was definitely genuine, "I'm fine, in fact, I'm just really happy."