Time Travel? Really!

A house becomes a (crazy) home

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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By mid-July the new family was completely caught up with each other and happily living each day doing something new. The time-travelling girl had retold the story of her past life and time-travelling accident, and while initially somewhat sceptical – time travel wasn't exactly common, even with magic involved – the two men believed her easily with all the evidence she had. Remus and Sirius had been utterly distraught when they discovered what Rose had gone through before, and resolved to be the adults this time around and take care of her like they should have done before.

The two men were still incredibly guilty that they hadn't been around to take care of her as a child but they were still grateful for the chance to be a family from now on. Sirius had immediately and, surprisingly without protest, submitted himself to daily visits at St Mungo's for healing; it didn't hurt that his favourite cousin Andromeda was part of the team healing him. He wanted to be there for everyone in his life and he wouldn't be able to do that without extensive physical and psychological healing. He wasn't in a good place right now; going straight to Azkaban after seeing two of your friends dead and learning that another friend was a traitor didn't provide much of an opportunity to mentally process anything, and he needed help to properly deal with everything from ten years ago.

Sirius was a man who enjoyed putting on airs and acting snobbish for fun but he wasn't ignorant in the slightest. He was always aware of the family madness lurking in the back of his mind, waiting for an opportunity to rear its ugly head. Sirius was intimately aware of the madness of his own mind and even more so after Azkaban. He couldn't help but wonder if he had been worse in Rose's old life because people had still considered him to be guilty, other than his family anyway.

The Black cousins' reunion was rather tearful and happy – something the Black family would have cursed them for no doubt – but they couldn't care less. They were the ones who'd had to deal with being part of a family that willingly signed up to kill and torture people and were cast out for disagreeing with the crazy bastards. Andromeda had never believed that Sirius was guilty but no one would listen to a disinherited woman that married a muggle-born. She was so happy that Sirius was free and getting the help that he needed and deserved, and she couldn't wait to properly catch up with him.

In the mean-time Sirius had designated Amelia as his proxy on the Wizengamot; he knew that if he tried to vote for anything right now no one would trust his judgement what with having spent ten years in Azkaban. In the meantime he followed Rose's advice and secured all of his properties against anyone unwanted. None of them had allowed Dumbledore access– the Blacks would never allow him to visit their properties – but now they were all secure against undesirable visitors. Also known as Death Eaters and Voldemort sympathisers.

The knowledge that the Black family was still standing because of him was rather ironic: the runaway Heir who had been nothing but a monumental disappointment was now entirely responsible for maintaining the existence of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. He really couldn't ignore the humour of the situation.

His relationship with Amelia was not nearly as secure as his assets however, but after she confessed that there had been no one else in the past decade they'd decided to take it steady. She still had the engagement ring from before and they still considered themselves to be engaged, but they wanted to develop their relationship again slowly. She now spent a few days here and there at The Pottery talking with Sirius and Remus, filling in the portraits on her plans for Rose's safety, and spending time with Rose. Sirius was thrilled with how well Amelia and Rose got on. They had developed something of a friendship as Amelia treated the girl as the woman she was mentally and the two of them bonded over Rose's future work with the Ministry.