Glum was the only word able to describe the mood of the three Potters at dinner that night which, for some reason Sirius found immensely entertaining and repeatedly kept disintegrating into bouts of laughter.
Hermione slammed down her cutlery, "Sirius for the last time, this is not funny! We wanted our friends to accept our relationship, not form a bloody queue to join it!"
Emma tried to understand the problem, "But Hermione can't you just tell them no?"
"Mum, how do I tell our friends that I'm willing to share with Luna but not them? They don't know anything about bonds, all they see is Luna's eyes glazing over whenever she even thinks about Harry kissing her and they all want some of the same."
At the mention of kissing her husband, Luna's expression told everyone she was in her happy place, Harry's face was red enough to stop traffic while Sirius ended up with tears running down his cheeks and his head under the table as he laughed uncontrollably, uncontrollably that is until Maia's comment brought him instantly back to the present predicament.
"Oh if Harry's that good a kisser I wonder if he could give some pointers to Sirius, then again they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks!"
The thump of Sirius's head hitting the underside of the table was loud and the force more than enough to rattle the crockery but at least it got the trio smiling, which was Maia's intent in the first place.
Harry was shaking his head in disbelief, "I never thought I would be looking forward to our time at Hogwarts to get some normality into our lives."
"Never mind normality, we've got Jillian's party on Friday night and no way to get out of it!" bemoaned Hermione.
"Unless we were really bad and got grounded?" Luna offered.
Emma was quick to dispel that option, "if you were really bad we wouldn't ground you but take you there ourselves."
Harry actually brightened at this, "That's not a bad idea, you could sit with me all night, bring Danni and she would keep me safe."
Sirius was still rubbing his head, "I can't believe you're getting upset over girls chasing you, just enjoy it!" the sudden change in atmosphere told the marauder he'd said the wrong thing, Harry's murderous expression only confirmed this.
"I already have two wonderful girls who are both my wives, I neither want nor need other girls hanging over me and I will never date anyone else. If you'll excuse us we're going through to the library to talk with my grandparents, maybe they can offer some useful advice."
They left for the library but all three had let Sirius know he was in the doghouse, "Shit! Every time I think that I'm finally getting the hang of this parenting gig it all seems to blow up in my face. How do you both cope?"
Emma gave a sympathetic smile to the struggling marauder, "Dan used to say pretty much the same thing though he was always trying too hard, we have great kids but they face problems that are out-with ours, or anyone else's experience. We just have to provide unconditional love and support, guiding them as best we can."
"We can only do our best and hold our hands up when we make a mistake, by the way Sirius you made one tonight. You basically intimated to Harry that it was all right to fool around with other girls, upsetting the three of them. I would give them time to cool down before trying to apologise, it will probably be safer." Maia offered.
