James knows it’s got bad again when Sirius’ near-daily letters turn into a weekly letter and then into fortnightly letters. He knows it’s horrific when Sirius himself stumbles off the Knight Bus, up the driveway from the gate and just about collapses on the front step of Potter Manor.
Effie and Monty lift him between them, and he’s taken upstairs to the room next to James’ bedroom where Effie shoos Monty and James out, her Healer training and motherly instincts kicking in for this poor boy who’s obviously in need of some care and attention. James paces around the living room, waiting for his mother to come back downstairs and tell him that Sirius is okay, that he’ll never have to go back to Grimmauld Place, that he’ll never have to deal with his horrible bitch of a mother ever again.
Monty watches him pace, lets his son try and work out some of the agitated energy that he’s been building up over the last few weeks as Sirius’ letters have become few and far between. With the number of owls flying in and out of James’ bedroom window over the last few weeks, Monty wouldn’t be surprised if his sons’ friends are all aware that there’s something going on with Sirius that they have no idea about.
“James, come and sit down. Your pacing around isn’t going to help him, it won’t help you and it won’t help your mother if she comes downstairs and finds you pacing like that.” James collapses into his father, tears starting to drip down his face. Monty pulls his son into him and holds him, letting James cry out all of his tears. “Please tell Mum that he can’t go back there Dad, you’ve seen how bad he is and if he goes back it’ll get worse!”
Monty nods, a plan forming in his brain. He doesn’t speak it out loud because it’s definitely something he’ll need to discuss with Effie before either of the children become aware of it but it’s something he thinks could work. Effie herself reappears at the door, a grim look set upon her usually smiley features. “He’ll be okay but he’s got to rest. And no, James, you can’t go in there now. Let him sleep tonight, and then you can go and bug him tomorrow whilst he’s recovering.” James nods, and hugs his parents tightly before heading upstairs to bed.
“Effie, we can’t let the boy go back there. You and I both know what Walburga Black is capable of, and this just proves that Sirius needs some support and a place of safety during the holidays. If we were to offer to take him off our hands, do you think Walburga would accept?” Effie’s eyes shine with silent tears as she inclines her head in a slow nod. “He can’t go back there. That poor boy’s back was just awful. Scars all over him, some of them fresh. It’s unlikely that Walburga will want to accept straight away but we can’t send him back there.”
Monty pulls her into him, mirroring the way he’d pulled his son to him and Effie lets the dam break. Cries for Sirius, cries for James who’d been so shaken at the sight of his best friend collapsed on the ground, cries for parents who can have the strength to treat their children so horribly, cries for the little brother that Sirius has left behind.
“If Regulus needs us, are you happy to take them both in, Effie?” She nods gently against his chest. “I think it’s unlikely, Mont, but if he turns up here the way Sirius has tonight or if Sirius asks, I’ll have no qualms about giving them a safe place, a home that they can find peace, love and acceptance in.”
Over the next few days, Effie and Monty narrow their plan down. A large number of owls and a few days of recovery later, when they feel that Sirius is strong enough to be talked to, they send James out to spend some time on his broom and Effie sits down next to Sirius on his bed, offering him an arm to curl into as they talk.
Monty walks him through the letters that they’ve sent to his mother, the offer of adoption and the fact that she’s happy to let the Potters take Sirius out of her house. They tell him that if Regulus needs them, they’ll be happy to offer him the same as they’re offering Sirius. They tell him that they’d love for Sirius to become a Potter, to have somewhere safe and peaceful to come during the holidays, that they’d love to be the people he writes his letters home to.
Sirius cries. Cries for the years of parental loss that he’s felt, pent up in his body, cries for the safety of the Potter house and how thankful he is that James was the person he met on the train at the beginning of their first year, cries for the offer that is being given to not just him but the little brother that he’s left behind, cries for how gentle and loving Effie and Monty are being with him. He accepts the offer and all that’s left to do is to go to Gringotts to sign the legal documents that make him a Potter.
Effie and Monty take steps to ensure that Sirius doesn’t have to see Walburga when he signs the documents that make him a Potter in all legal terms. They arrange with their account manager that Walburga will sign the documents at a different time and that Monty will be there when she does it. Sirius signs the documents a week later and Effie and Monty take him to Fortescue’s for ice cream afterwards, James meeting them there after being left to himself at Quality Quidditch Supplies for an hour or two.
James works out what his parents have done the day that they get their Hogwarts letters for their third year. Two owls come sailing in through the open patio doors and two letters for Potter (one for James and the other for a certain Sirius Orion) are deposited on the table in front of them whilst they’re eating breakfast. James picks both up to start with and his eyes widen when he reads Sirius’ name. “YOU’RE A POTTER NOW? And to think that none of you told me!”
James throws his arms around his best friend and the two collapse off their chairs onto the cold stone floor below where they emerge some time later, two matching grins on their faces. “Imagine the look on Minnie’s face when she finds out that she’ll be dealing with two Potters in her classes!” James bursts into hysterical laughter and Sirius snorts. Effie gives them a minute to pick themselves back up and then reminds them that they’re in the middle of their breakfast. Plans for the day immediately change into a day of shopping for school items in Diagon Alley, where the Potter boys insist on going into every shop, and ending the day at Florean Fortescue’s, James’ favourite back to school tradition.
Professor McGonagall does indeed have a look on her face the first time she has to tell Sirius off in class. She looks proud of him whilst she’s doing it so Sirius finds it almost a little hard to pay attention and at the end of the lesson, hangs back and gives her a tight hug as he’s leaving. She pats him on the head, a little unsure as to whether to hug him back but if she does gently hug him back, it’s their secret to keep.
A year later, Sirius writes home begging Effie and Monty to help Regulus. Regulus ends up coming home with them for the summer, where he spends most of his time either hidden away in the bedroom that he and Sirius have moved into or in the potions lab that Monty spends his free time in. Monty’s his favourite person in the Potter household, with the exception of his older brother who seems to be making up for lost time, with the two becoming almost as close as James and Sirius are.
Regulus ends up as a Potter, which raises some eyebrows when they go back after the summer. His friends seem to not care at all but Sirius and James know there are whispers between the other Slytherin students and are often caught near the Slytherin common room, wands held in a way that suggests they’re ready to attack if Regulus needs them. Notices go up, reminding students about the consequences of attacking others whether they’re in their houses or not and whilst there are grumblings about it, the other Slytherins back down.
10 years later, 5 years after actually realising just how oblivious they’ve each been about the other’s feelings, Remus asks Sirius to marry him in a spur of the moment where the words that have been floating around his head, hand on the little box he’s been carrying around, just tumble out of his mouth. They’re lying on the balcony of Sirius’ room at Potter Manor (because Effie and Monty finally managed to persuade Regulus into having his own room), watching the stars and Sirius is telling Remus for the 100th time all about the star that he’s named after.
Remus hasn’t been paying any attention, although if anyone asked, he could probably tell you what Sirius is saying word for word. He’s too busy looking at Sirius, admiring how the moonlight highlights his features, glowing off his cheeks that are now filled out with Effie’s cooking and the motherly loving hugs that she gives him every day before and after work.
Remus rolls onto his side as Sirius is talking and carefully arranges himself so he’s kneeling with one knee, his other foot pointing at Sirius who’s still pointing up at the stars. Remus clears his throat quietly, which instantly alerts Sirius to him. “Sirius, I’ve been in love with you for 8 years and if I don’t do this now, I’ll never do it because I’ll get scared so uh… Sirius Orion Potter, will you do me the honour of letting me love you for the rest of our lives?”
Sirius bursts into tears, throwing himself towards Remus who carefully places the ring box just inside the doorway to ensure it doesn’t fall off the balcony. He hugs Sirius to him, one hand stroking his hair and the other wrapped around his back. Sirius sniffles into his shoulder then pulls back and demands to see the ring that Remus has for him. It’s the ring that belonged to Remus’ mother before she passed away, telling Remus that she wanted her ring to go to whoever he thought would make him happiest. He’s had it changed a little to fit more on Sirius, who immediately falls in love with it and slides it onto Sirius’ finger where it shrinks to fit perfectly on his finger.
They get married two months later, in a small affair in the grounds of Potter Manor surrounded by their friends and family. Remus and Sirius decide to hyphenate their surnames, both taking Potter-Lupin as their legal last names. James throws his arms around them as soon as they let him, pulling his adopted brothers to him to show how much it means to him that they’re both Potters now. Regulus grins at Sirius from the front row where he’s seated with Monty and Effie who’ve both been crying, giving him a thumbs up in his silent way of approving of what Sirius has just done.
The Auror force that year becomes well-known in the history books. Potter, Potter-Lupin and Potter-Lupin become names known through the ranks of Aurors who follow them, not just for the cases they’ve solved but for the signing of the Auror forms and memos to fellow Ministry workers as “Potter”, leaving Robards flummoxed in future years when he goes back through cases for training and finds numerous “Potter” cases (all sorted numerically, because you just can’t sort that many cases by their forenames). The Ministry and its workers are all relieved when news goes around that James, Sirius and Remus will all be stepping down to spend time with their young families.
But Effie and Monty will always treasure the letters sent home ending with “your loving son, Sirius Potter”, those from a grateful Remus signed “your son-in-law, Remus Potter-Lupin” and those messy ones from James, and eventually, news from his lovely Lily includes a tiny fingerprint next to them with the words “Harry James Potter, born 31st July 1980” inscribed by Lily’s handwriting.