Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related articles nor do I own the song 'When did you fall' sung by Chris Rice. I also do not own anything that you recognise. I also realise that this song is used a lot in this ship but as far as I know this is original. If not, sorry. Furthermore I do not own any board games mentioned in this story, they belong to Hasbro and related companies and affiliates.
A/N: Ok, first fanfic ever that has made it from my brain to the computer so whether it any good or not I don't know. Review please so I know and constructive criticism is ok, otherwise how will I improve. Oh and a line of indicates a flashback, solid line indicates passing time.
Snowman
It's amazing how perspectives change. I still remember the first time I saw you and often wonder how you came to feel the way you do, because when we first met that was the furthest thing from my mind.
"Sirius you are kidding us, right?" James cried while looking up at a neat little four-bedroom house surrounded by snow. The group of friends on the driveway could hear laughter and shouting followed by the occasional crash of what they assumed was broken pottery. Sirius beamed at the house.
"No Prongs I'm afraid not, besides cheer up, Moony isn't complaining" he said while patting Remus' shoulder. Remus just sighed; the truth was he could think of quite a few other things that he would rather be doing than babysitting a four-year-old in his Christmas break. Studying sprang to the forefront of his mind immediately but he kept quiet anyway.
"Hey Padfoot" James enquired while gazing at what Remus could only assume to be holly, "How come Wormtail gets out of sitting duty"
"Oh he said something about his mum being ill or something, I wasn't really listening" Sirius replied looking up "oh there's Andromeda"
Remus looked up the drive to spot what could only be described as a extremely relieved looking woman waving and gesturing for them to come in. The three marauders looked at each other, squared their shoulders and marched into the house.
"Hey 'Dromeda" Sirius said wrapping his older cousin in a hug.
"Hello Sirius" she replied distracted "thank goodness you're here. Right well, Nymphadora has already eaten just keep her occupied and out of trouble. Contact me if anything major goes wrong, the numbers on the fridge, don't feed her any sugar and her bedtimes at eight. Got it?"
The friends nodded bemused.
"Right, Ted and I have got to go and remember to just keep her out of trouble"
"'Dromeda, how much trouble can a four year old cause" asked Sirius.
Andromeda turned from leaving while Ted continued down the drive shaking his head apparently amused. She opened her mouth, closed it, thought for a bit then just shook her head and waved goodbye hurrying down the drive to catch up with her husband.
"Odd" muttered James while shutting the door.
"Hi"
The Marauders all jumped and looked behind them to see a little girl with copper hair wearing a pair of red and green chequered pyjamas.
"Hi" she repeated staring at them looking slightly amused "are you all here to look after me then?"
"Yep" said Sirius striding forward and kneeling down in front of the girl, " I'm Sirius, what's your name?"
"Dorrie" she replied staring over his shoulder. "Who are you?" She directed at the other two Marauders.
"I thought her mum said her name was Nymphadora" James whispered to Remus ignoring the question, but seeing the little girls angry glare retracted the statement and held up a placating hand, "Ok, Dorrie it is. I'm James and this is Remus" he said indicating Remus with a wave of his hand.
Dorrie ginned and tugged on Sirius' trouser leg.
"Can we play now?"
Two hours later and the living room was littered with toys and board games and the three friends were lying on the chairs and floor suddenly realising why Dorries mother warned them to keep her out of trouble. The four-year-old had boundless energy and got bored easily. When bored she would wonder and explore possible breakable objects, which she nearly always broke. They had already used about twenty ruparo charms already. They were exhausted. Dorrie however was sitting in the middle of the floor playing with a hastily conjured ball.
"Hey Padfoot" James asked wearily "wasn't her hair red?"
"Dunno" Mumbled Sirius "Why? Missing Lily already" he chuckled cracking open an eye.
"No, its just that its blonde now" he replied staring mystified at the girl on the rug.
They all looked at Dorrie playing and stared in wonder. James and Sirius looked pointedly at Remus who rolled his eyes.
"Dorrie" he said quietly.
"Yeah" she replied not looking up.
"Um… how did your hair change colour?"
Dorries face lit up with happiness as she lifted her head to look at Remus.
"I'm a metamorphmagothingy" She said positively bouncing in excitement, "it means that I can look like whatever I want but mummy says that I can't control it yet but that I just need practice, wanna see?" She asked gazing up at the marauders wide eyed. Sirius nodded while glancing round at the clock on the mantle, he did a double take and then gulped.
"Guys, its almost nine, we missed Dorries bedtime and we still need to clean up. 'Dromeda will be back in about an hour. Dorrie needs to get to bed, but first;" he said starting to gather toys, "she can collect board games. If your careful" he added glaring at the child who nodded hopefully.
This choice however was soon regretted after a landslide involving Monopoly, Cluedo and Risk... and James' shin. So James and Sirius bundled Dorrie up in her coat and sent her outside with a grumbling Remus to play in the snow while they cleaned. Within five minutes however Remus was enjoying himself, talking to the small child and hearing about how difficult morphing was. He was happily levitating the head of a snowman; onto a body that Dorrie had spent the better part of half an hour making; and turning it different colours for her (and his) amusement when Dorrie suddenly started shaking his trouser leg.
"Looks, look" she cried " Did it change? Did it change?" asked Dorrie pointing at her hair.
Remus took a glance and had to stifle a laugh.
"Yes it did" he chuckled staring at her bubblegum pink hair "well done"
Dorrie beamed proudly and her hair faded back to a mousy brown as Sirius called them in.
Later as the marauders were walking back down the drive after being thanked profusely by Andromeda and Ted, Sirius elbowed Remus in the ribs.
"Looks like you made an impression on Dorrie, Moony" he said pointing up.
Remus followed the direction of his arm and spotted a young pink haired witch waving like a loony grinning ear to ear with a scar identical to Remus' across her face. Remus sighed amused as James and Sirius doubled over with silent laughter at Dorries little crush on her babysitter.
My friends tortured me for months over your crush, and even though we never went back to baby-sit I never forgot that grin on your face. Over the years Sirius' and James' silent ribbing gave way to more serious thoughts and they eventually forgot about how a four-year-old metamorphmagus had a crush on me. However I continued to think on how talented you would likely be if you could master such a power at such a young age. I didn't realise how right I was until many years later when we met again.
A/N: OK so first fanfic. Reviews would be grateful, if you liked it tell me why. If you hated it tell me why. If you didn't read it why am I giving you an option. And if you don't like Harry Potter what are you doing on this site.