To Sjannie; I'm not spoiling the reactions of future chapters, but I will confirm there will be no AU after this. The final chapter will be an entire wrap up of its own.

HPHPHPHP

Remus almost caught a faint hint of his own self crashing into his face, and slammed against a glass window. He rubbed furiously at his forehead and muttered more oaths of this repeat, but for once was rather glad they were confined to wherever this was, or he probably would have gone right through that. He squinted at his reflection for a few moments, thanking the setting sun on his face before he forced his eyes to adjust past that and see beyond.

There was a small garden with a tiny little pond just on the edge of the property, other than that it was wide open space. Turning slowly back to the inside of the house he found a comfortable looking couch with the others all groaning and sitting up in various states of unrest. Only James and Alice were close enough to scrutinize though, and he was positive enough James didn't know this place anymore than him that he watched Alice carefully. She however looked just as bemused as him at this new location, so he passed the two and caught sight of the kitchen, where Longbottom was getting uneasily to his feet.

Sirius had landed on top of the refrigerator and was just lying there, looking miserable and very uncomfortable. Frank Longbottom was rubbing his backside and looking just as confused as his girlfriend though.

Remus turned just in time to see Peter, Regulus, and Evans coming out of a hallway and could easily see the question on all of their lips as well. It seemed none of them were quite sure where they were.

Considering past times this had not gone well for them, he didn't blame Prongs at all for his curiosity being abated for once and summoning the book to him, he did however frown in confusion at the new chapter title. "Advanced Guard? Who's coming after Harry now?"

"Keep up Moony," Sirius slurred, his face already turning red from his prolonged, half upside-down position. "Between You-Know-Who, and now random arse dementors after Harry, it's obvious Harry hired advanced bodyguards."

"Yes, I'm so sure that's the ticket," Remus frowned up at him. "Are you okay up there?"

"What's this thing anyways, feels cold, but kind of good," Sirius opened his eyes and twisted his face so it was more against the freezer part.

"Muggle contraption, keeps food cold," he only barely managed to answer before Sirius did fall down from his perch, but he quickly scrambled back to his feet and now leaned his face more intensely against the door.

Remus walked closer to see what had him so riled up. There were a few bits of loose paper tacked to it, like reminders a bathroom sink was clogged, as well as a grocery list, but the idea this was a muggle household was ruined when he spotted the picture Sirius was looking at. It was moving.

A man and a woman he didn't recognize were smiling down at a little girl who was running in delight, and falling quite frequently, but always getting up and continuing. The interesting part was, her hair changed colors every time she got up. From red, to green, to blonde without any discernible reason why, and at one point several colors were in her long mane at once, as if a rainbow were chasing her about. She stopped and did a little spin so she was facing away from her parents, facing them more clearly, and in the blink of an eye her whole face morphed several different features before settling into a heart-shape and taking off once more.

"Well that's, new," he agreed, blinking in confusion at the odd sight. Were the parents doing experimentation on that girl or something?

"Yeah, it is," Sirius said in a weird voice, and Remus checked him to see he wasn't watching the child at all, but the mother, it was unmistakable the way his eyes were scrutinizing her, not tracking the little ones progress.

He hadn't looked closely at either parent really, the kid certainly drew the attention, but now that he was, he frowned in puzzlement to see she did seem vaguely familiar- "there's no way," Sirius breathed, his nose was pressed right to the picture now, causing the girl to fall once more. "Andromeda?"

It took a few moments for Remus to let his mind scatter around and figure out why he recognized that name, before it clicked as one Sirius actually mentioned being related to this cousin from time to time. She was the middle child of the three sisters, but that was all he could think of off the top of his head. He certainly wouldn't have realized it was the same woman now, she was much older for one thing, but Sirius would know best.

"Sirius, you alright?" Remus couldn't understand the strange look on his face as he scrutinized the picture.

"I, um, that's my cousin," he vaguely clarified.

"Yes, I gathered that, though I take no comfort we're in the house of some potential Death Eaters." Remus frowned and waited for him to get to the point. The look on his face was not worry, but something else Remus couldn't put his finger on.

He didn't answer for so long that the book had gone past Harry's next lapse of depressing times at that Muggle place, and reached all the way up to intruders. Sirius finally looked around properly back towards him, but kept the picture in his hand as he finally walked out of the kitchen to keep his eye on this newest danger around Harry.

When Moody and Professor Lupin were announced in quick succession, they all marginally relaxed this was no foreseeable danger, but it did no more to explain their surroundings until the rest of the guard was introduced, and Sirius nearly jumped in surprise at the name Nymphadora Tonks. Remus peaked over his shoulder again just in time for the girl in the picture to have her hair flash from purple, to orange, to pink hardly before he could name said colors. His suspicions were all but confirmed when she explained she was a metamorphmagus, something he'd never heard of, but that must be the explanation for winding up here. Was this her home? Was this where Harry was going to be taken? Maybe even a new girlfriend of his, she didn't sound that much older than Harry with the way she spoke to everyone, and she was singled out going back upstairs with Harry to get his stuff.

Sirius caught his wrist and started dragging him back towards the kitchen, though stopped and kept his head cocked to the side towards James still so he didn't miss a word as he spoke to Remus, "I think Dromeda did something unbelievable?"

"More than what you've done Padfoot? I won't believe it," Remus couldn't help but smirk, but he blinked and quickly caught up with his assumption as he scrutinized the picture again, and their surroundings. "Wow," he breathed before Sirius bounced on his heels and half shouted;

"I think she's married to a muggle! Or Muggle Born. Whichever! I, can you, no one I know would even dare-"

There was a light shining in his bright gray eyes Remus only ever saw when he looked at one person, James. Certainly the admirational look had only ever been attributed to Prongs's next bone-headed prank they'd all gone along with, but never to a member of his own family.

"That's," he swallowed, truly beyond words for what this was implying. "Really great Sirius, looks like you're not the greatest nutjob of your family."

"I'm not the only one," Sirius seemed to savor the words as he went back to eyeing every detail of the photo, and then doing a wild dance around the place as if to take in every detail of this life. Remus let him be, watching fondly as he tripped over his own feet, as uncoordinated as this Tonks in his excitement to finally find someone like him in his own family. Sirius's debilitating fear his blood was cursed had likely only been reinforced by his recent train of bad luck in this future, but maybe, if he really saw there were others who could stand up to his parents, well that could certainly only be a good thing.

He leaned comfortably against the couch now and listened with the first true enjoyment in a long time as Harry escaped those awful muggles and was flying once more, with trusted people. Peter and Regulus were smiling and whispering about something once more, he caught a few snatches of conversation and they seemed to think they were headed to this location for whatever this secret headquarters could be.

Evans, Alice, and Longbottom weren't talking much at all, but seemed just as enraptured at this story's new development, clearly something had been going on behind the scenes while Harry had been kept out of the loop.

James was so antsy by the time Harry landed, he was bouncing on the spot in fascination. The place certainly couldn't be here though, it sounded like a dumpsite more than anything. He supposed though, if they were going to set up some secret place to meet up, a rundown old neighborhood was the place to go.

Sirius had vanished from sight down the hallway, and Remus began to follow him just to keep an eye on that smile. He'd been inspecting things with care, for once, but he didn't want him to get carried away. He froze in surprise though, and whirled back around so fast he nearly fell on his bum himself when he heard the very specific and particular address Harry seemed to be at. 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius's home.