7

Harry had thoroughly enjoyed himself at Ben's which meant that the two boys had arranged to go on playdates together every few days from then on. Sirius was rather anxious the first time Ben and Sam came around to their place. He had cast Finite Incantatem on everything magical for the duration of the visit and it seemed that he had pulled of pretending to be a muggle well enough.

It was lucky that the house had been inhabited by muggles in the past. All the lights had switches and unless one inspected them very closely, there was no way anybody would notice that there were no actual cables attached but there was a charm connecting them to what Moony had charmed to look like Muggle light bulbs sitting in the lamps.

Otherwise, he hoped that neither Ben nor his Dad would be too interested in "electricity" – Harry had taught him how to say that word properly – or the lack of it. He turned out not to be quite correct about that, however.

Ben's mouth fell open when he realised that Harry lived in a house without a telly. Apparently, the thought alone filled him with all-encompassing horror. Harry did not seem keen to talk about the subject – which seemed to play quite an important part in the life of a boy his age. He had never mentioned wanting one of those machines and even if he had, Sirius would have had a hard time fulfilling that wish. Magic and muggle technology did not mix – the more elaborate the electronic bits the more it would be affected, so a telly was pretty much out of the question.

Still, despite his son's shock, Sam did not seem suspicious at all. He merely chuckled and suggested that they, too, might consider getting rid of the television. Ben stared at him open-mouthed for a second at the proclamation but then seemed to catch himself and realise that his dad was teasing him. He stuck out his tongue and he and Harry thundered up the stairs to play.

'Tea?' asked Sirius, looking at Sam and Moony when Harry and Ben had disappeared. 'Coffee?'

'Coffee would be great,' answered Sam.

'And tea for Remus,' added Sirius with a nod at his friend who smiled back. 'I'll only be a sec.'

As he prepared the drinks, he listened to movement upstairs, and Sam and Moony's voices in the sitting room. Sam had never officially met Moony before and the latter had been quite nervous. They had seen each other in passing at the school gates on occasion but had never had a conversation beyond a friendly nod or a "Good morning".

'…just been doing odd jobs lately,' Moony was saying as Sirius returned with three cups and a plate of biscuits that Moony had baked with Harry's help a few days ago. 'Just to get some money in.'

'So what is it you'd really like to do? Or do you like the flexibility?'

'It's hard to say,' said Moony, a somewhat wistful smile on his face. 'I sort of… missed my chance at taking up a proper profession.'

Sam nodded understandingly. 'Still, not too late, is it? You could take evening classes – catch up on what you missed. It's hard work but maybe it's worth it.'

'I don't think it would help me that much,' answered Moony mildly.

'You didn't miss your chance,' Sirius interrupted. 'That makes it sound like it was your fault.'

Moony sighed tiredly and raised his palms in a gesture of surrender. 'Fine, fine.'

'He has a knack for self-deprecation,' Sirius explained to Sam who picked up on his teasing tone and smiled.

'How did you two meet, then?' he asked.

'School,' answered Sirius promptly. 'We were eleven.'

'We went to the same boarding school and were part of the same house,' Moony added. 'Harry's dad shared a dorm with us.'

Sam was interested in that so they spent a while reminiscing about school days and telling some of the funnier stories (edited to be muggle-friendly, obviously).

As they left late that afternoon, Ben was talking to his father about Harry's collection of dragons, which – although motionless for the duration of his visit – had fascinated the boy to no end. Sirius had been back to the toyshop several times to expand Harry's collection.

Harry was beyond happy to own something that Ben thought cool. In Sirius' opinion, he needed to pull his weight a little more in the friendship… Still, he told himself. What did it matter? Harry had a friend his own age for the first time and he was happy. In time, it would sort itself out and if it did not, Sirius would intervene eventually – or send Moony to do it, as he himself actually had no idea how to do such a thing.

-oOo-

The boys met four times over the course of the week after their first playdate so it did not come as a surprise to Sirius to find Harry talking to Ben and Sam when he came to pick him up from school. He was greeted by smiles and a hug from Harry.

'Harry has just asked me if he can have a sleepover at our house,' Sam informed him.

'A sleepover?' repeated Sirius, confused. So far, Harry had shown himself reluctant to visit Ben alone, even in the afternoon. 'You want a sleepover, Harry?' Harry had never even said that word in Sirius' company as far as he could remember, not to mention a desire to have one.

Harry nodded.

'Yes,' continued Sam. 'He said on the twenty-third this month.'

Sirius frowned and quickly did a calculation. The twenty-third of November would be the following Wednesday and… 'Excuse us for a moment, please. Harry, may I have a word?' He took Harry aside and looked around to make sure that nobody was listening. 'The twenty-third is a full moon, and I'm assuming that's not a coincidence. What are you doing?'

Harry shuffled his feet sheepishly but seemed determined nonetheless. 'I heard you and Remus arguing. You said that if I wasn't at the house, you could stay with him and he wouldn't get hurt.'

Sirius made a note to himself to make sure that Harry could not hear them when he next discussed something sensitive with Moony. For now, he watched Harry intently. That was a good plan, a very good one indeed. He had thought about it himself but he would never have asked Harry. He did not want to pressure him but now that the opportunity had arisen… 'Are you sure, Harry?'

Harry nodded.

'I won't be able to pick you up at night if you get scared. You won't be able to contact me at all. Do you understand that?'

'I do. Everyone says that sleepovers are fun. I've never had one but I don't want Remus to get hurt. I probably won't get scared, anyway. I like Bennie, and his dad. Besides, I haven't used the ball once, have I?'

Sirius watched his face carefully as he spoke but could not detect dishonesty. Sirius himself had toyed with the idea of asking Dumbledore to take care of him for a night but he had never seriously considered it. He had been too afraid that Harry would interpret it as an attempt to get rid of him – which obviously did not seem to be the case. He could not argue with Harry's reasoning, either. He pulled him into a hug.

'Thank you, Harry,' he said.

'I don't mind. I want to help Remus, too.'

Sirius smiled and ruffled his hair. 'You really are your father's son.'

Harry beamed. 'So that was a good idea? You're not angry?'

'I'm not angry. What did you tell Ben and Sam? Did you mention Moony?'

'No, I just said I wanted a sleepover.'

Sirius frowned. 'Well, okay, we'll probably have to invent a little story, okay? I'm going to talk to Sam, and you are going to listen closely so that if someone asks you, there aren't any contradictions, okay?' Encouraging Harry to lie… What would Lily say to that? Still, it was for good cause. She would probably understand. She had always felt for Moony.

Harry nodded.

They returned to the spot where Sam and Ben were still waiting. They seemed a little confused.

'I'm sorry about that,' said Sirius. 'Harry didn't discuss this with me beforehand but the fact is… Well, Remus has a medical condition that means he has to stay overnight at hospital roughly once a month. I like to go with him but of course, I can't do that when I'm looking after Harry. His next appointment is on the twenty-third.'

'Oh, I was beginning to wonder,' said Sam, smiling. 'Of course he can stay over. It'd be our honour to have you, Harry.'

'Yay, we're having a sleepover!' shouted Ben.

Harry was grinning, too.

They discussed it a little further and decided that they should have a trial run, so to speak, to see if Harry really was up to the task. It was promptly arranged for the following Friday and although Harry was nervous and Sirius tossed and turned quite a lot, when he picked him up in the morning, Harry was beaming proudly.

'I did it!' he called. 'I did it, Sirius!'

Sirius laughed and swung him around, ignoring the little stab in his chest that he felt at the thought of Harry not needing him. Where had that come from?

Moony, too, hugged Harry when he told him about the plan and the relief on his face made Sirius swear to himself that he would never let him go back to that place.

-oOo-

Sirius had also been thinking about the conversation that Harry had overheard. What else had they discussed apart from the fact that without Harry in the house, Moony would be able to stay? He did not want Harry to feel like he was being pushed aside and it seemed strange that he did not.

He went through all the late-night talks he had had with Moony that might have been the one Harry had overheard. It took him a long while of pondering but he finally come up with a snippet of a conversation that might serve as an explanation as to why Harry was taking everything so well.

"Harry comes first for you, Padfoot. That is a fact," Moony had said tiredly one evening a few days earlier. It had been coming onto midnight and they had been discussing the topic for almost an hour. "I don't blame you for it one little bit."

"Of course Harry comes first, but that still doesn't mean that I have to sit around and let you do this to yourself."

Then, they had simply been stating the obvious but to Harry it would have been of entirely different value. It was confirmation that Sirius was not lying when he told him how important he was to him.

As planned, Sirius dropped Harry off at Ben's on the eve of the full moon. He was more worried now than he had been the last time but he assured Sirius that he would be fine.

Just like two months previously, they stripped Moony's room and the night was quiet. Sirius woke up in time to see Moony turn back into a man. He got to work instantly, starting to move all the furniture back. Harry was not supposed to know exactly what they had been doing. Moony was out like a light and did not so much as blink when Sirius levitated him into his bed. They had barely ever had a full moon that peaceful.

The hurry was not necessary whatsoever, as Sam would be taking Harry to school directly and Sirius would not be seeing him until that afternoon. He had checked his ball and found it intact, concluding that Harry was okay. They had agreed that should Harry break it, he would come as soon as he could. He paced nervously for an hour or so and then decided that he might as well try to get some sleep. To his great surprise, he actually dozed off for a few hours and when he left to pick up Harry, he was well rested and relaxed.

'Is he okay?' was Harry's first question when they met at the school gate.

'Perfectly fine. He's sleeping now.'

Harry beamed happily. 'So that was good, yes?'

'Very good,' said Sirius. He turned to Sam, who had been watching them with a smile. 'I wanted to say thanks again, Sam, for doing this. It's a great help. I know Remus wants to thank you, too, in person.'

'You're very welcome,' said Sam, still smiling. 'We had fun, didn't we, boys?'

Harry and Ben nodded unanimously.

Since neither of them needed to be anywhere else, they set off for the playground. Harry had been reluctant, saying that he wanted to see how Moony was doing but Sirius assured him that Moony was sleeping and needed to rest. Harry had taken a while to convince but when Sirius had stated that he would not be allowed in Moony's room anyway because he could disturb him, Harry let himself be convinced that an afternoon playing with Ben was not too bad a thing to happen.

'Harry said something last night,' said Sam as they sat on a bench near the sandpit, watching Harry and Ben take off towards the swings.

'He did?' asked Sirius apprehensively, preparing himself to make an excuse. What was this about? There really were a whole bunch of secrets Harry was supposed to keep, he realised with a twinge of guilt.

'Yeah… I wanted to ask you before… well, I know how rumours happen. But I would like to know.'

Sirius shrugged. 'Shoot.' If this was something personal, the worst was already excluded.

'Well, he let slip that you had been to prison.'

Sirius sighed. This was not too bad. He was not going to deny it, had not even asked Harry to keep it quiet. It had been bound to come out eventually. 'I have,' he confirmed. Sam nodded and Sirius knew he wanted to know more. It had to be expected. Sirius would want to know, too, had he been in his place especially if it was someone Harry was in contact with.

'I can't tell you the whole story. Harry doesn't know yet because he hasn't asked me, and I want him to hear it from me.' He paused, choosing how to edit his story. 'I was accused of several murders and sent to prison seven years ago. A few months ago, one of the men I was supposed to have killed was found in hiding. There was a trial and he was proven to have committed all the crimes I was accused of. I was cleared of all charges and released immediately.'

'You were innocent?'

'Yes, completely innocent. Do you think they'd let me have Harry otherwise?'

'No, I suppose not. But how could that happen?'

'There…' Sirius hesitated. 'There was false information going around. It's all quite complicated and I really can't tell you. It has to do with Harry's parents. Everything happened the day after they were murdered.'

'Murdered?' repeated Sam thunderstruck. Sirius was surprised by this reaction.

'Haven't I said that before?'

'No, you said they were killed. I assumed in a car crash or something…'

Sirius shook his head, his jaw tensing. 'No, it wasn't… an accident.'

'But…' Sam was obviously unsure of what to say or do. 'Like… How… Why?'

Sirius considered telling him for a moment. Then, he realised that there was no way he could make the story into anything that Sam would be able to accept. It was too complicated and too far removed from the muggle world. He could not tell him about the war – as far as the muggles were concerned, there had never been one.

'I'm sorry,' said Sam as Sirius hesitated, sobering up. 'I don't mean to pry…'

'It's not that,' replied Sirius. 'It's just… It's a fairly long story. They were good people, the best. They…' He struggled for the right words.

'Don't,' interrupted Sam. 'It's fine. You don't owe me an explanation – you barely even now me. Just…'

'You're worried I might be dangerous,' stated Sirius. Sam begun to shake his head but Sirius did not let him speak. 'I understand – I'd probably feel the same way if I were in your position.'

Sam shrugged sheepishly.

'I swear that the only reason I came here is that I want Harry to have as normal a life as possible. We came here because nobody knew us and we could get a fresh start.' He could not honestly promise that their being in the village did not potentially pose a danger to the other residents. For now, he was quite certain everything was fine but if Voldemort or his followers ever resurfaced and decided to hunt Harry down… Still, he pushed that thought away. At the slightest hint of being discovered, they would pack up and relocate. It would be fine.

Sam nodded pensively. Sirius could not tell whether he had taken note of the omission. When he opened his mouth, Sirius half expected a polite but firm request to stay away from him and Ben. 'I had expected something,' he said instead, sounding ponderous rather than accusing. 'When we first met. No offence, but you looked very ill. I thought you might have been on drugs or sleeping rough or something.'

Sirius shook his head. 'No, that was just the prison.'

'And Remus?'

'What about him?'

'What's his story?'

Sirius thought about his answer. 'You already know. He's had an illness ever since he was a kid. It's what makes him look unhealthy – I assume that that's why you're asking?' Sam nodded. 'He was a good friend of James and mine back at school. He's one of the kindest people you'll ever meet – and he does not have a drug habit,' he added rather passionately. He disliked that anybody would think badly of Moony. It happened way too often.

'I'm sorry,' said Sam. 'For jumping to conclusions.' He bit his lip as if unsure whether to say something.

'What is it?'

'Well… I don't know if you know – or if you want to know, even… Just… People were talking – about you and Remus, mostly. Harry not so much. They don't deal well with new people, especially if they're a bit…' He hesitated. '… unusual.'

Sirius had to chuckle at the phrasing. He had known that people were talking, had known that as soon as Harry started school they would be the talking point of the village. 'Whatever they say about me, people have said worse,' Sirius assured him. He felt more passionately about Moony and whatever unfriendly explanations people came up with to explain his poor health.

'They'll get bored with you eventually,' Sam assured him, his voice partially teasing.

Sirius laughed but sobered up fairly quickly. 'Would… would it be too much to ask for you to keep my past quiet? Not for me, I don't really mind, but Harry…'

Sam smiled. 'I will keep it to myself. Still, I think that Ben heard, too, and he does not keep secrets.'

'It's not a secret,' stressed Sirius. 'But I would be thankful if you didn't shout it from the rooftops.'

Sam nodded. 'I won't,' he promised.

'Thanks.' They sat in silence for a bit, watching Harry and Ben climb around the monkey bars. Sirius was very glad that Harry had found such a good friend. He really did seem to be doing okay, at school, too. Mr Clark had promised to let him know if there were any problems and he asked Harry every day if anything was bothering him. So far, he was yet to hear anything but reports of tricky maths questions and the sports teacher who refused to let him pair up with Ben. And that, Sirius felt, they could deal with.

'Actually, I was going to ask you for a favour,' said Sam, breaking Sirius out of his thoughts. 'As it turns out, Charlie has been invited to a slumber party on Saturday. Carolyn will be at home and I was thinking of taking her out for a movie and a nice meal. Do you think you could have Ben that night?'

Sirius instantly agreed, grateful for any chance to return the favour. He also took it as confirmation that Sam believed what Sirius had told him about being wrongly imprisoned.

When asked Harry instantly took to the idea, too, and Ben was incredibly excited. His long list of things they would be doing on Saturday night was cut short by the fact that Harry finally wanted to go home for dinner and see how Moony was doing.

Harry was practically buzzing with excitement and pride for the remainder of the week. It seemed all he could talk about were what he had planned for when Ben would stay over. Sirius let him get on with most of it, only objecting when the ideas got too far out of hand – 'We will climb on the roof and sit there and pretend to be dragons sitting on a huge pile of gold and eat anyone who tries to get past,' was one of those occasions.

He did not mind, though. Harry was coming out of his shell more regularly, spent minutes or hours giggling in pure silliness or sometimes even ran around the garden or house, apparently unable to contain pent up energy. He seemed happy, content and much more relaxed than even a few weeks ago.

He did not have to look far when it came to searching for the cause of this change. His name was Benjamin and no matter how 'wild' Harry seemed compared to the way he had been when Sirius had first met him, it was still nothing compared to Ben even on his best behaviour.

'He's a handful, isn't he?' asked Moony with a smile when the house was finally silent on Saturday evening.

Sirius nodded. So far, he had not truly appreciated how low maintenance Harry was. Ben, on the other hand, was constantly whizzing about the place, unable to sit still for more than a minute and the noise level such a small human could produce was quite remarkable. He was funny and impulsive and there seemed to be no filter between his brain and his mouth. As a result, he was a little thoughtless at times, but not necessarily intentionally rude.

Harry loosened up in his presence even though there had been a few moments when he seemed worried about his friend's behaviour. Whenever that happened, a smile from Sirius was enough to calm him again, though. Ben reminded him of how Prongs had been when he was little – loud, confident, funny, reckless – and had he raised his son, Harry would probably have some of those traits, too. Or maybe he would not… maybe Harry would always have been a calmer child, thoughtful and considerate. Maybe the Dursley had not caused him to be this way but simply reinforced what was already there to a crippling extent.

'Are you hoping that Harry will pick up on it?'

'He already has,' observed Sirius. 'It'll do him good to be a bit more confident. Don't you think?'

Moony nodded. 'Yes, I suppose so. Don't make him feel like he needs to change, though.'

'I won't,' protested Sirius. 'I want him to be happy.'

'He is happy. He's happier than he's been in years.'

'He better be,' said Sirius harshly but then sighed and continued more quietly. 'I still can't believe how they could do that to him.'

'Fear makes people do horrible things.'

Sirius snorted in contempt and he was ready to make a sharp reply but the sound of footsteps on the stairs made him sigh instead. It seemed like he had cheered too soon – he was not done for the night. Ben stalked into the kitchen, followed by Harry.

'I'm hungry,' Ben announced. 'And so is Harry. We need a snack.' Harry nodded.

Had it just been Ben, Sirius would have considered simply sending him back upstairs. They could not possibly be hungry after a large dinner of fish fingers and chips, followed by masses of sweets and crisps. Still, that would be sending the wrong message to Harry. On the other hand, he would not feed him an unlimited amount of sweets, either. A picture of Dudley appeared before his mind's eye.

'What were you thinking of?' he asked.

'Chocolate,' said Ben promptly, giving the answer that Sirius had expected.

He laughed. 'No chocolate. I'll make you a sandwich if you're really hungry. We've got cream cheese, cheddar or ham. And you'll have to brush your teeth again.' He wondered briefly when he had started to sound like Prongs' mum. Moony was chuckling, apparently thinking along the same lines.

'Aw…' said Ben, visibly disappointed. 'But I want chocolate spread.'

'You've had enough sugar, both of you. Harry, would you like a sandwich?'

Harry hesitated. 'With strawberry jam?' he tried to negotiate.

Sirius shook his head. 'No more sweet stuff, Harry.'

Harry shoulders slumped a little. 'Okay then. But I'd like a drink, please. I'm thirsty.'

Sirius got up to fetch a glass to fill with water as he asked Ben. 'How about you, Ben?'

Ben had been prepared to argue but he took in Harry's acceptance of Sirius' words and decided against it. He would not make a scene in front of Sirius, not with nobody there to back him up. 'No, thank you.' Sirius noted the politeness. That was not common, not without prompting. 'I'm not thirsty, either. Can I have chocolate spread tomorrow morning, though?'

'Yes, that's fine,' said Sirius, handing Harry his drink. He slurped it in silence and then handed the glass back.

'Thank you.'

'You're welcome. Now, off to bed, both of you. It's very late already.' It was, too. The clock on the kitchen wall showed half past eleven. He herded both boys up the stairs and into Harry's room. He hugged Harry and kissed his head as he sat in bed. 'It's time to sleep now, Harry, I mean it,' he told him and Harry nodded earnestly, even a little scared. Ben had pushed Sirius a lot further than Harry ever had, and he was starting to worry about that. If Sirius was being honest, he was starting to get a little annoyed. He was hoping to put a stop to things before Harry started to freak out.

'You, too, Ben,' he said, ruffling the boy's hair. 'Good night, sleep well.'

'But it's not even a school night,' Ben answered. He had already said that the five previous times that Sirius had tried to settle them. 'I'm not tired.'

Sirius crouched down to him and lowered his voice. 'Ben, I know you want to play more and that you're very excited but it's time to sleep now. I know that Harry is tired so if the both of you don't settle down now, I'll move Harry to sleep next door in my room and you'll be on your own, okay? It's enough now.' Sirius did not like to use threats – he usually did not have to, as Harry always did as he asked with one reminder at most. Ben was different. He was constantly probing the limits of what he could get away with.

Ben nodded, defeated. 'Okay,' he muttered.

Moony was still sitting in the kitchen when he returned. 'Do you think he's like this at home?' he asked.

Sirius shrugged. 'I suppose. I don't think it's this extreme every evening, though.'

Moony smiled and sipped his tea. 'Harry is going along with his cheek, though, at least a little.'

Sirius smiled. 'Yeah, I noticed. But he does look to Harry, too, did you see? I had been worried that he's just bossing Harry about.'

'Oh, I don't think you need to worry about that.'

'I don't?'

'He's had enough of being bullied and more importantly, he always tries to do what you would do. He knows that you wouldn't put up with it, so he won't either. Or he tries, at least.'

Sirius sighed. He was well aware that Harry was looking up to him. It was a great honour but also worrying. He knew that he would inevitably let him down at some point. 'I'm doing alright, aren't I?' he asked.

Moony nodded. 'You're doing fine, Padfoot, don't worry.'

Sirius accepted this with a nod. Moony would not lie to him, not about something like this, and things were going okay, at least considering the circumstances. Still, worrying seemed to be a disease he had caught when he had started to care about Harry.

While Harry was at school, Sirius was still doing building work around the house. When things had threatened to draw to a close, he had decided to give the garden a proper once-over, and when he finished that, he had started on a loft conversion, too. They did not need the extra space, but he did need something to keep himself occupied as he still did not know what else to do next.

He had been to see the only member of his family he could stand, his cousin Andromeda. Both she and her husband, Ted, were healers and had given him the idea to take on that occupation. He had always thought that he would be too impatient for it but being with Harry had made him realise that he could be persistent and tolerant if needed. His NEWTs were not quite up to scratch but would give him a reasonable chance of getting into a training programme. Nonetheless, he was still keen to put off the day when he would have to make a decision.

One thing he did not want to put off any longer was a visit to St Mungo's. Moony had told him about Alice and Frank weeks ago but he had never quite managed to make himself face it. That last Monday in November would be the day, though. He had been putting it off, telling himself that he should remain in the village in case Harry needed help, that there was still work to be done in the house, that he had enough on his plate as it was with his nightmares. All of those had been excuses, if valid ones.

After he had taken Harry to school, he had gone home and used the fireplace to take him directly to the hospital lobby. He ignored the bustle around him in the hope that everyone else might ignore him, too. It worked – or at least, by avoiding to look at anyone, he did not catch anybody staring at him. Or maybe nobody even noticed him. After all, as he was neither making funny noises nor sprouting any extra limbs, he was hardly the most extraordinary person in the room.

Remus had told him where to find Alice and Frank so he did not bother cueing up at the busy reception desk and instead headed straight for the stairs. The Janus Thickey Ward on the fourth floor was easy to find. He knocked on the locked door and was allowed in only a minute later.

When he explained who he had come to see, the healer decided to accompany him. 'We have had very mixed reactions to visitors,' he explained. 'We like to keep an eye on things.'

As it turned out, Alice and Frank's reactions to him turned out to be pretty much none at all. Alice was arranging and rearranging a handful of items on a shelf beside her bed while Frank was rocking back and forth in a rocking chair.

Sirius sat in a chair nearby and introduced himself. Alice looked vaguely in his direction when he had begun to speak but had almost immediately returned to her task. Frank did not seem to notice his presence at all. The healer gave Sirius an encouraging smile.

Sirius swallowed hard. He had known what to expect, of course. Moony had told him not to expect too much, but of course he had still hoped. He had known them for a decade; they had saved each other's lives on several occasions. For a moment, he wondered whether it had been a mistake to come, whether he should not have simply kept them in his memory as they had been when he had last seen them.

But, he was a Gryffindor. So he stayed and ignored the stinging feeling in his eyes. Instead, he told them about Moony and their new house. He told them about a few of their best experiences at Hogwarts. He did not, however, talk about the war, or the order. Or about Harry.

In the end, he could almost convince himself that Alice had been listening. At least, she seemed at least marginally aware of his presence. When he left more than half an hour later, Frank was still sitting, rocking back and forth, now tunelessly humming to himself.

He stepped outside into the cold but bright morning and took a deep breath. He had done it, and it had not been bad. But, he told himself, that was part of the problem. It had not been much of anything. He began to walk the streets of London, lost in thoughts.

Given the choice, would they have chosen this over death? Was there hope, any hope of improvement? Was there something to be done, anything to help? And what about Neville? How would the boy feel, seeing his parents like this? He pictured Harry in his place… Wasn't this fait even worse than no parents at all?

By the time his stomach told him that it was time for lunch, Sirius had reached several conclusions. He would visit again. He would try to meet old Augusta and maybe also little Neville – Moony had said they visited often, so sooner or later they would run across one another. Or he would send them an owl. He would ask her permission to talk to the healers – he had a lot of time to spare, so maybe there was something to be done for them, even if it came to nothing in the end. And he wanted to try to introduce Neville and Harry. It would be good for Harry to have someone who truly understood some of what he was dealing with, and maybe Neville could do with a kindred spirit as well.

-oOo-

With his resolutions in place, Sirius felt ready to tackle December and the next big hurdle in sight – Christmas. As it turned out, however, he was in for a bumpy start to the month.

'Not hungry?' asked Sirius on the morning of the first. Harry had been excited to open the first door of his advent calendar but was now rather listlessly picking at his eggs and bacon. Usually, he ate whatever was on his plate and had even taken to asking for seconds lately – which Sirius provided gladly.

Harry shrugged. 'Not really.' He yawned.

'Didn't sleep well, huh?' asked Sirius.

Harry shrugged again. 'I suppose.'

'Alright then. Go get dressed. I'll make you a sandwich for break time, just in case you're hungry by then, okay?'

Harry nodded and slid off his chair. He was quiet all the way to school and bid Sirius a rather lethargic goodbye. He only shrugged when Sirius asked if anything was wrong.

Sirius was content to consider this to be a result of lack of sleep and was expecting to pick up the usual cheerful child that afternoon. He had been wrong. If anything, Harry's mood had gotten worse. His eyes were drooping and he was barely walking – rather, dragging his feet along the ground with what looked like great effort. He evaded all of Sirius' questions but when Sirius finally suggested that he could give him a piggyback ride for the rest of the way home, he did not object.

With the firm intention of sending him to bed for a nap as soon as they got home, Sirius walked on briskly, tripling the speed at which they were travelling.

Then, fully unexpectedly, he found that Harry had started to sob quietly into his shoulder. 'Shh,' he muttered, trying and failing to look at him. 'I've got you, alright? I'm here.' Swiftly deciding that the middle of the road was not a good place to resolve whatever was bothering Harry, he continued after only a brief moment of hesitation with the boy still snivelling softly against his shoulder. 'Can you tell me what's wrong?' Harry was not the type to burst into tears for no reason.

Harry took a while to answer and Sirius eventually managed to make out the words 'I don't know' between the quiet sobs.

'Alright,' he answered and shifted Harry's weight. They were almost home now.

He sat Harry down in the hall to inspect him. He was shivering and flinched away when Sirius rubbed his shoulder.

'Sorry. Did that hurt?'

Harry nodded.

'Why? Does anything else hurt?'

'E… E… Everything hurts when I move.'

'It does?' Sirius was puzzled by this, and worried. He brushed Harry's hair away that was falling into his eyes and noted that his forehead was hot. 'Do you have a fever?'

Harry shrugged again and sniffed. 'I'm not sick,' he told him quite resolutely. 'I'm not sick. You don't need to lock me away. I'm not sick.'

Sirius felt Harry's forehead again. 'I'm not locking you anywhere,' he told him firmly. 'Come on.' He scooped him up again.

'I'm not sick,' Harry assured him. 'Please, please, I'm not sick.'

'Okay,' Sirius answered and sat him down on the couch. He would not start arguing. 'Lie down.' He used his wand to summon Harry's duvet from upstairs.

Harry shook. 'No, I don't need to. I'm okay.'

'Alright,' repeated Sirius. 'You can sit here, alright?' He caught the duvet and laid it around Harry's shoulders. 'Aren't you cold? You're shaking.'

'Just a bit,' admitted Harry. 'But I'm not sick, Sirius, I promise.'

'I understand. Now, just snuggle down for a moment, yeah? I need to find something.'

Harry looked at him suspiciously but seemed to accept that sitting where he was, was not the worst thing that could happen to him.

Sirius left for the kitchen and quickly riffled through the drawer of little potion bottles, looking for Pepper Up. Moony had brought a basic set of medical potions – from Burn Healing Paste to Anti-Nausea Potion – with him when he moved in. Sirius considered the dusty old bottles and wondered if Pepper Up Potion would spoil with time and if so, how he would be able to tell. As he quickly discovered, the answers were yes and yes, as the usually swirling red and orange liquid hat turned into a fine blue powder in its little flask.

Sighing, Sirius opened another drawer to pull out a quill and some parchment. He could not go out to buy anything and leave Harry on his own, so he would have to send Mercury, his owl, to the apothecary in Diagon Alley with an order. It should not take much longer than an hour, seeing as they lived quite close to London. He stuffed his note and a galleon – which would be more than enough for ten bottles but it was good to be safe – into an envelope that he tied to the owl's leg.

'Hurry, alright?' he asked, stroking his head.

Mercury clicked his beak to indicate that he had understood and swooped out of the open window.

Harry had buried himself deeply in his blanket but scrambled into a sitting position when Sirius entered. 'Did you find what you were looking for?'

'No, I didn't,' answered Sirius, sinking down next to Harry. 'I was looking for a potion to make you feel better but now I've sent Mercury to get some. He won't be long.'

Harry shook his head again. 'You don't need to make me take anything, please.'

'You don't have to take it if you don't want to but I think it would help.' He pulled Harry into his lap. The child leaned into his chest and began to sob quietly again. 'I already promised I'd never lock you in, didn't I?' he reminded him. 'And I promised I'd never hurt you so if I didn't think the potion would be good for you, I wouldn't suggest you drink it.'

Harry sniffed. 'I don't want to be sick.'

Sirius chuckled. 'I don't think anyone wants to be sick but it's not really a matter of choice, is it?'

'But I don't want to be sick so you don't think I'm disgusting and I'll get you sick.'

Sirius shrugged. 'I don't mind. I promised I'd look after you and that's what I'll do.' He felt Harry's forehead again. 'Now, you definitely have a temperature. Are you feeling cold?'

Harry nodded.

Sirius drew his wand and cast a Warming Charm on Harry's blanket. 'Alright. And your arms and legs hurt? How about your head?'

'Hurts, too,' muttered Harry.

'Okay. Sore throat? Is your tummy feeling queasy?'

This time, Harry shook his head.

'Hungry at all? Did you eat lunch?'

'I'm not hungry.' He started to snivel into Sirius' shoulder again.

'It sounds like a cold. You'll be right as rain in a few days and until then, I'll look after you, alright?' He adjusted his hold so that Harry could lie comfortably before gently plucking his glasses from his nose and setting them down on the coffee table in front of them.

''don' wanna sleep,' Harry muttered.

'No? What do you want to do?'

'Dunno,' he mumbled, fighting to keep his eyes open once more. He was fighting a lost battle.

Sirius chuckled. 'Why don't you close your eyes until you've thought of something, alright?'

Harry remained out cold until after Sirius had prepared dinner. Mercury had long since returned with the potion but Sirius had not been able to bring himself to wake Harry. Besides, the potion worked best to cure a budding cold. Curing fever would take a while anyway.

Sirius had placed a Monitoring Charm on Harry – he remembered that from when he had been tiny. Still, it worked and his whistling wand alerted Sirius when Harry began to stir. He was just sitting up when Sirius slipped into the sitting room.

Harry was bleary eyed and obviously disoriented.

'Hey,' muttered Sirius and crouched down next to the sofa. 'How are you feeling?'

Harry swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment. 'Dizzy,' he answered finally. 'What time izzit?'

'A little after six. You've been asleep for a while.'

'I need to help you make dinner,' said Harry. 'And I need to do my homework. Mr…'

'You need to rest,' said Sirius firmly. 'There's no point in doing that homework – you're not going to school tomorrow. And dinner's ready. I made some soup for you.'

Harry snivelled again. 'I'm not hungry.'

'Fine,' Sirius hurried to say and reached out to wipe away the tears. Harry's skin was still hot. 'No need to cry.'

'Sirius, I… I think I might be… I might be sick'

You don't say, thought Sirius but made sure only to nod and not look amused.

'But, Sirius, I swear I didn't mean to.'

'Okay, I believe you,' answered Sirius, the amusement from a moment ago vanishing. He decided to play along for now. It was hardly the right time to discuss whatever had sparked this peculiar attitude – the Dursleys, with all likelihood. But it would get them nowhere with Harry in this state. 'I got you something that will make you better.' He reached over to the coffee table where he had placed the little phial of potion.

To his surprise, Harry shook his head.

'It will help, I promise.'

Harry shook his head again, his lips pressed together tightly. More tears were appearing in his eyes.

Sirius tried for several minutes to talk Harry into taking the medicine but the only thing that accomplished was to reduce Harry to a sobbing mess that would flinch away the moment he approached. He considered forcing Harry to swallow it – it was for his own good after all, and he would understand later – but he could not bring himself to do it.

Instead, he eventually set the potion aside and swore to Harry that he would not make him take anything. After that, Harry at least let him touch him again but the tears remained.

It had not really been the potion, Sirius realised after several minutes of holding the child. He was simply distressed – scared and in pain. It was hard to watch, every sob tearing at something in his chest.

In the end, he managed have Harry eat a little bit of soup and drink a glass of water. He had been riffling through some books and found a spell that would measure temperature. It only confirmed what he had already known – Harry had a fever. By the time he had tidied the kitchen, Harry had already fallen asleep again.

He carried the boy upstairs and changed him into his pyjamas without even waking properly. He decided to have him spent the night in Sirius' bed just in case. He could not rely on Harry calling for help otherwise.

Sirius was woken several times that night, the first time when Harry was sick over the edge of the bed. Sirius cleaned it up with a muttered 'Evanesco' and a flick of his wand before Harry even got the chance to apologise. He still cried, though, and Sirius held him tightly for a while until he drifted off again.

They were woken again and again by Harry's fever-induced nightmares. Usually – at least, as far as Sirius could tell – Harry was able to snap out of his bad dreams quite quickly or could not remember them at all. It was unsettling to see him wake up sobbing.

'Please don't send me back, Sirius, please don't. I swear, I'll never be bad again, I promise,' Harry sobbed around half past three in the morning.

'Shh, I'm not going to, Harry. I'm not sending you anywhere,' Sirius had muttered back, pulling the sweaty and disoriented child into a hug. 'You were dreaming, it wasn't real.'

This sort of dream repeated, always featuring Harry doing something "bad" and Sirius and/or Moony being disappointed or angry. The fact that Harry seemed so truly terrified of that happening unnerved Sirius. Harry had never mentioned dreaming about that sort of thing – then again, it would be logical for him not to confide in Sirius if he had been bothered by these thoughts before.

Each time their sleep was disturbed, Harry had to wake up fully in order to calm down enough to go back to sleep. It was painfully obvious that he was feeling miserable but he persistently refused to take the potion that Sirius offered him – even though he could not satisfactorily explain why he did it.

All in all, it was a difficult night and Sirius only now got a sense of how it would have been for Lily and Prongs when Harry had been tiny and in need of changing or feeding every couple of hours. Still, it was no small consolation that Harry seemed to take so much comfort in his presence.

Harry's fever was still quite high the next day, a Friday. Sirius gave him pumpkin juice to drink to give him some sugar at least. On Saturday, Harry got some of his appetite and sense of humour back and on Sunday, the fever was gone altogether and Harry claimed to be feeling so well that Sirius agreed that the two of them could go for a small walk outside. He appeared to be completely back to normal apart from being somewhat paler than usual.

Sirius watched him closely as they walked along narrow paths between bare fields. He had seen a very different side to Harry in the past couple of days, one that had exposed many of the needs and insecurities that the boy usually kept well hidden. Of course, Sirius could not tell for sure how much had simply been down to the illness and fever induced nightmares, and how much Harry carried around with him on a regular basis.

Sirius did not forget the nightmares, though, and kept a close eye on his godson.

Everything seemed to be going well, however. He had even been to see Mr Clark again who had told him that Harry was developing well at school. He had apparently found some more friends apart from Ben. This, combined with the arrangement for full moons – Sam had made it a standing offer – left Sirius with the quiet hope that things were finally quietening down.

Before Sirius knew it, they had less than a week to go until Christmas. Harry's last day at school was a Wednesday, the twenty-first. The day afterwards, the Weasleys would come over for dinner. The twenty-third was a full moon. Then there were Christmas Eve, Christmas Day… Sirius sighed at the calendar. At least, he tried to console himself, there was no danger of getting bored over the holidays.

He dropped an excited Harry off at school on Wednesday morning and disapparated as soon as he was out of sight of any muggles. He still had a lot to do – with the dinner the following day and the full moon, all preparations for Christmas had to be finished today. Moony was in charge of buying food. That was one worry off his mind. He had sent an owl to the Weasleys the previous week and asked to come over to the Burrow to discuss a few details. He had received a standing invitation.

The Weasleys' house was tall, wonky and obviously magical. This was a building erected with an eye on practicality, not aesthetics. Still, it had a certain rustic charm to it. He walked up to the front door, upsetting some chickens on the way, and knocked. After a short wait, the door was opened by a small and round woman with red hair. She smiled up at him kindly. 'Mr Black, come in, come in.' She eyed him with some curiosity, probably because of his muggle clothes.

'Thank you, Mrs Weasley.' As he shrugged of his coat, he noticed the four freckled and ginger heads poking out of a doorway. He grinned at them. Mrs Weasley took his coat from him and somehow managed to hang it up alongside at least three dozen other jackets and cloaks. She turned to lead him to the kitchen, her movement making the children scuttle away.

When he had knocked, they had apparently been sitting around the kitchen table that was covered in bits of coloured paper, stars, tinsel, scissors, glue, glitter and all sorts of other things used for crafts.

'We are making decorations,' Mrs Weasley explained with a smile. 'These are Fred and George,' she said, ruffling the hair of the two oldest children. They were obviously twins.

'No, I'm Fred.'

'No, I'm Fred.'

'Mum, he's pretending to be me again.'

'No, he's pretending to be me.'

Sirius laughed over their mother's affectionate scolding of 'Behave when we have guests' and offered them a hand each. 'Nice to meet you, boys. I'm Sirius.'

'This is Ronald.' She indicated to the third boy who smiled at Sirius shyly and shook his hand.

'And Ginevra, our youngest.'

The girl glared at her mother. 'I'm Ginny,' she told Sirius forcefully. Though amused by her ferocity, he kept a smile off his face as he extended his hand to her, too. 'Nice to meet you, Ginny.'

Before anything else could be said, she blurted out: 'Were you really in Azkaban?'

'Don't be so nosey, Ginny,' said her mother before Sirius could answer. 'Mr Black, do sit down. Would you like a cup of tea?'

'Yes, thank you. And please, call me Sirius.'

Sirius drew up a chair under the curious glances of the four kids. 'So, what have you been making?' he asked.

He was promptly shown pictures and ornaments and tried to listen to four voices at once, explaining what they had been making and who it was for. Fred and George in particular were hard to understand as they seemed to be experimenting with taking over each other's sentences every other word.

'This is for Bill,' said Ginny proudly, doing her best to make herself heard over her brothers.

'Bill?' asked Sirius as Mrs Weasley placed a steaming mug before him and a plate of biscuits in the centre of the table. There was a scuffle as four pairs of little hands grabbed as many sweets as they could hold.

'Bill, Charly and Percy are due back from Hogwarts this afternoon. We're rather looking forwards to it, aren't we?'

The children nodded in unison. They could not speak because their mouths were full. Mrs Weasley drew up a chair for herself, too.

'Mr Bl… Sirius, are you certain that you want all of us to come tomorrow? It would be perfectly understandable if it was just Arthur and Percy, maybe also Bill and Charlie, but there really is no need to have all of us.'

'No, don't worry. I invited all of you and I'm not backing out. Actually, there another reason why I really would like to have all of you.'

'Oh?'

'Yes, er… Do you think it would be possible to talk in private for a few minutes?'

Mrs Weasley seemed surprised but promptly shooed her four youngest from the kitchen. They grudgingly obliged and each grabbed another handful of biscuits 'for the journey', as Fred – or George – put it. As soon as the door closed behind them, Mrs Weasley pointed her wand at it and muttered a spell under her breath. Sirius smiled. He could guess that all of them would be listening at the door. She looked at Sirius expectantly.

'Well, I'm not sure if you know this but I am Harry Potter's godfather.'

She nodded. 'Yes, I know. It was in the papers.'

'Yes – well… The thing is that he has been living with me for a few months now. We have kept it quiet, for security reasons, as I'm sure you can understand.'

'Poor thing…'

'We would also like to keep it a secret for as long as possible. I know it is a lot to ask but would it be possible to make it seem like he is just staying with me for the holidays? I know that the secret is bound to come out be we would just like it to be later rather than sooner.'

She nodded. 'Of course. I will arrange for that.'

'Thank you. There is also… well, Harry's never met anyone of our world except my friend Remus, Dumbledore and me. He does not know that he is famous, nor does he know why. I told him about my involvement but with the rest, I am waiting to tell him until he asks.'

She nodded compassionately. 'It must be horrible to tell a child such a thing. And he's no older than my little Ronnie…'

'That's why I want to wait until he asks. I won't lie to him about something like this but I don't want to tell him any sooner than need be, either. I'd just rather he heard it from me than your children. Do you think that can be arranged, too?'

'Yes, of course. I think… well, I'll tell them not to mention it. I'd probably do that anyway – he shouldn't be reminded of such terrible things, should he? Not at Christmas, poor boy…'

'It's okay if something gets through. I don't like to ask anybody to lie. That's not good for Harry, either, but… I'd like to save him some pain. He's a very good kid.'

Suddenly, there was a loud thump from the next room, followed by a wail and the shout of 'Mum!' Mrs Weasley hurried across the room without hesitation. She began to scold her children before she had even reached the hall. 'What have I told you… Best behaviour, I said, didn't I? Always the same. Why don't you ever listen? What happened here? Fred, George, what did you do?'

'Nothing!' complained two voices at once. The wailing stopped.

'He jumped…' began one of the twins.

'…off the sofa…' continued his brother.

'…and fell,' ended the first one.

'It wasn't us!' said the other.

'You're the oldest now! You should have been looking out for him!'

'It's not our fault…'

'…he's clumsy! Ginny did it before him…'

'…and she didn't hurt herself! Even though…'

'…she's just a girl! Ronnie's always been a little slow…' Before either of them could finish the sentence, the two younger children interrupted.

'I'm not just a girl! Mum, tell them…'

'I'm not slow! And don't call me "Ronnie"…'

Sirius chuckled quietly and helped himself to another mince pie, waiting for the argument to blow over. What would it have been like a few years ago, at some point with seven little children at home? What would it be like tonight? He hoped for Mrs Weasley's sake that her husband would return from work before her remaining sons arrived at King's Cross. Seven… He had his hands full when it was just Ben and Harry, and he had never had them for more than a couple of hours at a time.

Mrs Weasley returned with a red-eyed Ron, whom she sat on a chair and with a practiced flick of her wand conjured some ice that she wrapped in a clean tea towel. The other children trailed in after her, looking chastised. 'And I've had to leave our guest alone do deal with this. That's very rude,' she continued to tell them off. 'And I told you to behave. If I see any more if this, you won't be coming with tomorrow, do you understand me?' She handed the tea towel to Ron who pressed it to his forehead. The children nodded. 'That is if Mr Black still wants you to come after he has seen the racket you've made…'

'They are very welcome,' said Sirius, smiling. 'I always like a bit of chaos in the house, Molly.' Besides, he hoped that Harry would make friends with them. He trusted the Weasleys – they were good people. Some more or less regular contact with magical children could not hurt Harry – provided they got along, obviously. He was still planning to introduce him to Neville at some point but had not run across him yet.

Sirius excused himself after another few minutes, leaving by the Floo network, thus testing that it would work smoothly the next day.

School would finish early today on account of a play that would be performed by the students. Parents had been invited to arrive an hour early to watch and Sirius and Moony had of course chosen to attend. All the kids had small roles only, one sentence each to make sure that nobody felt treated unjustly. Harry's part was a reciting a line from a poem and Sirius made sure to let him know that he had done it brilliantly.

Harry beamed. He and Ben were tumbling around the playground excitedly as Moony and Sirius stood and talked to Sam.

'And you really are sure it's okay for Harry to stay over?' asked Moony. 'We'd understand. It's the night before Christmas Eve and…'

'It's fine,' said Sam, smiling. 'We've got nothing planned until the afternoon and since Harry will keep Ben busy, we might actually have a chance to get a few things done beforehand. So if anything, he'll make things easier.'

It began to snow around lunchtime the next day. By the time the Weasleys arrived in the middle of the afternoon, there was a layer of about an inch and a half covering the garden. Sirius and Moony spent most of the day in the kitchen, cooking. Harry tried to help but he had been too excited to be trusted with anything important ever since Sirius had told him how Percy had been the one who had found Pettigrew and thus made it possible for Sirius to be released from prison.

Harry was sitting at the kitchen table trying to do some colouring in – in an effort to make a Christmas card for Ben – when the fireplace in the sitting room roared into life for the first time. He jumped, dropping his pencil and ran ahead, but only into the hall where he waited for Sirius – it seemed he was not excited enough to face complete strangers all by himself. Moony stayed behind, watching the pots.

Mr Weasley had been the first through. He shook Sirius' hand with a smile. 'Thanks again for the invitation, Mr Black,' he said. 'We are honoured.'

Sirius waved him off. 'It's nothing. And call me Sirius, please.'

'Only if you call me Arthur.'

Harry stood half hidden behind Sirius but Arthur's kind smile reassured him enough to shake hands with him. 'I'm Harry.'

'Nice to meet you, Harry.'

Again and again, the fireplace lit up green as one ginger person after the other emerged. They were introduced to everyone.

Bill was the oldest. He was broad shouldered and as tall as Sirius, handsome and confident. Even after a few minutes, Sirius could tell that all of his younger siblings looked up to him, and that Bill knew it, too. He was their leader and he assumed that roll with quiet grace.

Charlie was a lot closer to him in age than he was to Percy, the next youngest. He was smaller, stockier and not as obviously good-looking, but very charismatic with an infectious laugh. He was the only one who Bill looked to as an equal. His handshake was firm and Sirius instantly knew that he would be everyone's good mate.

Percy reminded Sirius of a young Moony with his studious air. He was calmer than his siblings and after a few minutes of talking to him, Sirius would have put him into Ravenclaw. Percy did his best to look immaculate and older than he actually was. His gaze darted to Bill every few seconds, looking for guidance and reassurance. He was taken aback when Harry hugged him tightly and thanked him for getting his godfather out of prison.

Fred and George were just as Sirius had first met them, carefree jokesters. They grinned at Harry and spoke in unison, making him laugh after a moment of confusion.

Ron was once more a little shy but he, too, shook Harry's hand and introduced himself. His eyes darted up to Harry's scar but with a glance at his mother, he did not say anything about it.

Ginny smiled at everyone cheerfully with the confidence of a little girl who knew that she could wrap everyone around her little finger with her big, brown eyes. She was the closest to Harry in size, if not necessarily in age and he seemed to notice. They were both used to being the smallest.

Most of the sitting room was taken up by a large dining table that Sirius had conjured up out for the occasion. Everyone found a seat eventually, after a lot of pushing, arguing and a single and but final call to order by Mrs Weasley. They had cake, biscuits, tea, hot chocolate and coffee. Harry sat next to Percy and hung onto his every word in an act of hero worship – at least for the first few minutes after which he seemed to decide that while Percy may have been the one to get his godfather out of prison, this did not mean that he was interesting. Sirius watched this with a little smile. Afterwards, Harry concentrated on Ron, Fred and George. He seemed to be better entertained with them.

When the kids had finished their food, someone suggested playing outside in the snow for a bit. The four youngest Weasleys and Harry were instantly thrilled by the idea. Mrs Weasley urged Percy to go with them but he shook his head indignantly. 'I am too old for throwing snowballs, Mother,' he said. His older brothers exchanged an indulgent smile over this and one of the twins and Ginny stuck out their tongues at him while Ron ant the other twin merely rolled their eyes.

Percy was three years behind Charlie at school but the difference seemed bigger. Charlie was sixteen and had been hit by puberty, his voice was deep and his shoulders broad. Percy was twelve. The age gap to Fred and George was less than two years, and it showed. Bill and Charlie were the "older ones" and even though Percy was at Hogwarts with them, he did not manage to come across like them. He was trying too hard.

The five youngest children filed out into the hall, busily putting on shoes and coats – Mrs Weasley had used the Floo network to fetch everything her kids would need. Sirius walked past them on his way into the kitchen to make more tea.

'You can't play, you're too small,' said one of the twins to Ginny.

'Yeah, and you're a girl,' said Ron. 'Girls can't throw.'

'Mum said to let me play with you!' complained Ginny.

The other twin shrugged and grinned at her. 'And what're you gonna do, ickle-Ginny? Run to Mummy and cry?' Sirius stopped just inside the kitchen door and continued to listen.

'I'll tell Bill and he'll hex you!'

'No, he won't,' said Ron. 'He knows you're too small to play with us.'

'I'll play with you,' Harry spoke up. 'I'll show you my dragons if you want.'

'Okay,' said Ginny instantly.

'No,' complained Ron. 'You're supposed to come with us and play outside.'

'But it's mean if Ginny's left behind on her own. I'll stay with her.'

There was a moment of silence as options were silently weighed in three little boys' heads.

'Fine, she can come,' said one of the twins grudgingly. 'But she'll have to be on your team, Harry.'

The door opened and footsteps lead outside. It was only then that Sirius noticed that he was not alone in the room; Arthur stood by the stove. He smiled at Sirius. 'He's clever,' he told Sirius, letting him know that he, too, had been listening. 'And kind. You can be very proud of him.'

'I am,' said Sirius, setting down the teapot and filling the kettle.

Arthur nodded and watched with interest as Sirius turned a knob at the front of the stove and flames erupted at the top. 'How does that work?' he asked eagerly.

Sirius shrugged. 'You'll have to ask Remus. I don't know squat about muggle technology.'

Arthur nodded and proceeded to inspect the stove until the water was almost boiling. Sirius watched him in quiet amusement.

'Why do you have one?'

'It's a muggle area. We can't really live amongst magic folk, not with Harry. This is my way of hiding –it was either this or complete isolation, and the latter wouldn't be good for any of us.'

Arthur nodded. 'He would be used to muggles, Harry, wouldn't he?'

'Yeah, he is.'

'Does he see them much, his family?'

'No, he hasn't seen them since he moved in with me, and I don't think he will again, either.'

Arthur looked shocked and Sirius decided to elaborate. 'It was his choice to come here,' he explained. 'I would never have forced him. They… they were horrible, despicable… Trust me, if you had seen how they treated him, you would have taken him away, too. And he doesn't miss them.'

Arthur looked even more shocked now but it was no longer directed at Sirius. The water boiled and he poured it into the teapot.

'Arthur, Harry and I… we owe your family everything. If Pettigrew hadn't been found… I'd probably spend the rest of my live in that hellhole and Harry would have to keep living with those muggles. So, if there is anything, anything at all I can do for you, just say the word. I mean it.'

Arthur shook his head. 'Percy found out. He acted out of curiosity. It was mere chance that this set things in motion that would prove your innocence. You have no reason to be thankful. On the contrary, if I had acted correctly, I would have uncovered Pettigrew the day Percy found him.'

'But still Percy exposed him and that is the sole reason why I'm free.'

Arthur smiled sadly but did not reply. He was not an easy person to argue with, what with his calm reason and understanding smile.

Still, Sirius tried again. 'So, if you won't take anything, how about your children? Are there any Christmas wishes yet unfulfilled?'

Arthur looked undecided now, his pride about not accepting anything and the urge to see his children happy battling inside him. Sirius grinned, smelling a victory. He would gladly have given the Weasleys his money but he knew before he asked that they would not take it. They were too honest for that. Still, giving some extra Christmas presents to the kids seemed fair enough.

He grabbed the teapot and headed back to the sitting room, Arthur behind him. Without the younger kids, the room was a lot less loud and chaotic. Percy was talking to Moony about some book he had read, and Moony seemed interested enough. Molly was quietly arguing with her oldest son. 'And your hair is way too long, Bill. Who is going to employ you looking like that?'

Bill was leaning back in his chair, at ease with his mother's criticism. Sirius ran a hand through his own hair. He had not cut it since the day before his trial and while not as long as Bill's, it was still too long to meet Molly's approval, he knew that. He winked at Bill and sat down.

'So, what are you thinking of doing after Hogwarts?' he asked him. 'Is this your final year?'

Bill nodded, obviously thankful for the change of topic. 'I want to work as a cursebreaker, preferably for Gringotts, in Egypt or somewhere in South America – I've looked into Peru, Bolivia and Chile. It all sounds fascinating and exciting, so maybe that's where I'll end up.'

'Not bad,' said Sirius impressed. 'So, you're doing… Arithmancy, Ancient Runes… What else?'

'Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms. That's what I need but I'm trying to get NEWTs in Potions and Herbology, too, just in case.'

'Sounds like a lot of work.'

Bill nodded. 'Yeah, it keeps me busy.'

'He's Head Boy, too,' said Mrs Weasley proudly, brushing some dust of his shoulder. 'And Charles is a Prefect.'

'Mum, you don't need to brag,' said Charlie, winking at her. 'I won't be Head Boy, though,' he told Sirius. 'I'm hoping to become Quidditch Captain next year.'

'What position do you play?' asked Sirius.

'Seeker.'

'The best one Gryffindor's had for years,' interjected Bill. 'I've heard from it from Dumbledore himself that he is the best seeker Gryffindor has had since Minerva McGonagall played.'

Sirius laughed. 'Old Minnie was a seeker? Even after all these years, she still surprises me.'

'Sirius,' said Moony warningly.

Sirius rolled his eyes at him and winked at a chuckling Bill and Charlie. 'She always had a soft spot for me,' he told them, refraining from any dirtier jokes since Percy was listening. 'If you see her, feel free to tell her that she still is the woman of my dreams.'

Moony choked on his tea, Bill and Charlie burst out laughing, and Arthur hid a smile behind his cup. Molly, too, was trying to stifle a laugh. Percy alone seemed scandalised.

'For how long will she put me in detention if I repeat that to her?' asked Charlie.

'None,' said Sirius. 'She never put me in detention.'

'She so did,' muttered Moony.

'Yes, she always did, but not for flirting with her. You were there. She always almost smiled at me.'

Moony looked to Bill and Charlie and shook his head.

'James believed me!' complained Sirius, pretending to pout.

Moony smiled. 'Yes, he said he did. Then again, he might have just been trying to egg you on to see how far you would go.'

'She'd put you in detention,' said Bill to Charlie with conviction.

'She wouldn't,' said Sirius. 'I'm willing to bet you.'

'How much?' asked Charlie.

Sirius considered this. 'Okay, if she puts you in detention, I'll send her a howler to arrive at breakfast, declaring my undying love.'

Charlie grinned. 'You're on.' They shook on it.

Bill laughed. 'Oh, little brother, I so hope you land in detention.

'Charles, I'm not sure this is a good idea. You are a Prefect after…'

'Don't worry,' Moony interrupted her, back to his calm and reasonable self. 'Sirius is right. She never got really angry with him.'

'Besides,' added Sirius, 'James was made Head Boy and you should have seen all the stunts he pulled at school. She has a sense of humour, even if she doesn't let it show all that often.' Everyone chuckled again and Sirius chose to change the subject to something that would seem less horrid to the youngest at the table. 'So, Percy, do you play Quidditch at all?'

Percy shook his head.

'A wise decision,' interjected Moony.

'How about you, Sirius?' asked Bill.

Sirius opened his mouth to answer but Moony had snorted derisively. 'What?' he complained instead.

'Please,' said Moony. 'Playing Quidditch would actually have involved doing something. I remember when there were times when we couldn't get you out of bed unless we could offer you food or pretty girls, or both. You even spent an entire month once without doing one bit of homework.'

'Good times,' said Sirius with a wistful smile. 'Drove my parents mad, that did.' Then, realising who he was talking to, he decided to amend that statement. 'Which they deserved because they were vile, evil sods – very much unlike your fine parents,' he added with a look at the three Weasley boys.

'What happens when you don't do homework for a month?' asked Charlie, sounding slightly in awe.

Sirius shrugged. 'Well, by the end I was spending every minute I wasn't in class in detention. It got boring eventually – plus, the record was what I was really after. Once I completed the month, there wasn't much incentive to go on. A whole term might have been nice but I decided not to push it.'

The last part made Moony snort again. Charlie and Bill chuckled and even Arthur seemed amused while Percy again looked scandalised. Molly's glare was distinctly disapproving but Sirius had the ability to ignore such things.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George stayed outside until Mrs Weasley called them in for dinner. Their cheeks were red and they were soaked to the skin, but grins were etched into all of their faces. One of the twins sported a scrape on his left cheek and Mrs Weasley instantly fussed over him. 'Freddie, what happened?'

Fred shrugged. 'Nothing.'

'It was me,' said Harry at the same time. 'I threw a snowball at him and it did that. I didn't mean to hurt him. I'm sorry.'

Fred sighed and looked down at him. 'I told you, it's fine. I wasn't gonna drop you in.'

Harry's eyes darted from Sirius to Mrs Weasley and back again. 'I'm sorry,' he repeated. Sirius, too, looked to Mrs Weasley. She seemed a little confused at the way he so readily admitted to the misdeed. Sirius supposed that the Weasley children had a rule of not snitching on each other. They only pair of siblings Harry regularly experienced were Ben and Charlie who were constantly at each other's throats and had no such qualms. With seven kids in the house, Sirius supposed that turning each other in for every minor misdeed would be to anyone's advantage.

'You should be more careful next time, Harry,' said Sirius, sensing that Mrs Weasley was hesitant to criticise Harry in front of him. 'You should always make sure that there're no stones or anything in a snowball before you throw it.'

'Yeah, best hope it doesn't scar, Harry,' said George. 'Otherwise people will be able to tell us apart and that would be a real pain in th…' His twin gave him a warning look. '…bum,' he finished, fooling no one into thinking that that was what he had been planning to say.

Harry was still looking chastised but when he saw Sirius laugh, he smiled as well.

Dinner was once more loud and chaotic. Harry told Sirius and Moony all about the battle they had fought with snowballs, Fred and George against the rest of them. They had built a fort and a snowman, too. Sirius was very glad to hear all this, and even happier when Harry asked, 'Can they come over again, to play?'

It would be easier for Harry to enter the magical world with some friends by his side instead of dropping him off at King's Cross eventually, into a world where he knew nobody but everybody believed to know him. But it was a long time yet until that day and until then, Sirius would make sure to prepare him to the best of his abilities.