Harry Potter lay down in the grass of the park, the old and semi-rusted swings creaking as they swayed in the slight breeze. It wasn't too hot out today due to the overcast sky above. It was one of the more gloomier summer days, which Harry was perfectly fine with. His mood matched the weather, after all.

He hadn't gotten a letter from his friends all summer. Not once! He had gotten plenty of messages from Sirius though(which he was extremelyhappy with) But if Sirius, a wanted fugitive, who, by natural circumstance, shouldn't be able to send too many letters, could reach him, then why hadn't Ron or Hermione? His first reaction was to assume they didn't want to, but that wouldn't be true. They had written him the last two summer...True, second year he hadn't gotten any of them because a certain house elf, but they still wrote. Why would they stop now? It made him wonder if someone was withholding his mail again. That didn't explain why Sirius's letters got through though, if that were the case.

Then again, Sirius's bird hadn't exactly been...normal, either. A toucan wasn't exactly normal owl post material.

Harry sighed. He didn't like over thinking. It gave him a headache, and he got enough of those on his own. He decided to just go with it and ask Ron and Hermione what was going on when he saw them. Until then, he was able to talk to Sirius and get to know him better.

It shocked the be-speckled boy just how attached and trusting he was towards the man in such a short time span. He was no fool when it came to his own mannerisms. Harry *knew* he didn't trust very easily, maybe it came from the Dursleys, maybe it came from being hunted every year by death eaters, Voldemort, or crazy fans. Maybe it was because he nearly died every year at least once, he didn't know. But he found himself drawn towards Sirius Black and it was, at first, a little disconcerting. He found he missed Sirius. A lot. He had only gotten to sit down and talk to the man once, where he had told Harry they would be a family, and he found that each letter he got, he grew more and more to miss him.

It was nice to talk to his godfather because he learned quite a lot too, not just about that man himself, but about his parents and Professor Lupin. The stories were hilariously funny and always cheered him up from his constant state of gloominess, because who could be happy at somewhere like the Dursleys?

Harry was taken out of his thoughts by a raindrop hitting his face. He squinted and saw that the sky had been steadily turning greyer as he had been lost in thought. Now rain was beginning to sprinkle down, he figured that was a sign to start heading back. Aunt Petunia would be furious if he tracked mud on the floor, and he'd just be cleaning it up anyway.

~HP~HP~HP~HP~HP~

He had gotten back in time before it had started pouring, therefore bypassing his Aunt's wrath. His relatives were better this summer. I guess the threat of your godfather, who was a widely known murderer, had that effect. Of course it still made Harry incredibly angry that Sirius was reputed as a murderer at all, but Sirius had said to use him to get a bit of peace this summer, and Harry wouldn't mind some peace and quiet.

He was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the last letter he had recieved. Sirius had said he was in some tropic area(which had explained the toucan and various other bird of paradise that had delivered his letters) doing some buisness for the headmaster. He also had said he had been working on a surpise for his birthday with Professor Lupin, who was with him. The warmth that spread through the boy when he read that made him feel slightly ridicules. It was just a present!

But a little voice inside him couldn't help but to say in wonder 'Tt was from his *godfather*" A present from his only caring family member. And Harry decided that any present he got from Sirius would be better than some of the stuff the Dursleys had sent him. He had snorted at that thought. As if Sirius would send him a used sock.

...Then again, he did like pranks.

That had him grinning like a loon. The memory of some of the pranks he had been told by Sirius were good for entertainment, because most of them were performed on Snape and, on occasion, Lucius Malfoy. The image of the platinum blonde haired man in half the situations described made him cackle in glee. Something which Harry didn't do often. Cackling aside, he was excited, for his birthday to get here, for the first time in his life.

This is short. I know. It's a taste. I am not planning this fic. I am trying to get back into the Harry Potter fandom to better finish my other HP story Mary Poppins and so started this. So this will come as I write it. I do plan on making this a full length story though, don't worry. Leave a comment and let me know what's up.

~ILWADW

P.S. I do not have a beta. Spell check is all I got. Be thankful for that much.