A/N: Submission for the Houses Competition
House: Ravenclaw
Year: 7
Category: Standard
Prompt: [object] Slide
Word Count: 1818
I do not own any of JKR's wonderful wizarding world, I am just borrowing it for a time
Sirius did not need to love another human being ever again. He looked into the bright green eyes in front of him, and he knew this was it for him. The one person he was meant to care for, to love.
"Sirius, give me my son back," Lily called out from the hospital bed. Sirius looked from the little bundle in his arms, the splitting image of his father, except for the eyes.
Lily looked tired but happy as she accepted her son back.
James looked proudly at his new son and then over at his best friend. "Sirius, will you be Harry's godfather?" He couldn't think of anyone better for the honour.
Sirius felt a surge of delight at these words and clapped James on the shoulder. "I would be honoured," he beamed, reaching over to caress the infant's cheek.
He hadn't thought that he could feel this way about another human being and, even if Harry wasn't his own son, he was so happy to finally meet him and get to be a part of his young life.
"I hope you realise that godfather means I'm your go-to-babysitter?" Sirius said with a grin. He saw that Lily had made a face that looked somewhere between scepticism and dread, as if she was wondering whether it was safe to leave her precious baby with a grown man who liked to transform into a dog and chase his own tail.
James did not seem to notice this, however, and clapped Sirius on the shoulder. "I could think of no one better!" he said, grinning. "Don't you think Lily?" Lily seemed to give James a look which Sirius interpreted as 'We'll talk about this later when Sirius isn't present.' It happened a lot.
James picked up on this signal and nodded, "It will be a little while before we go out without him but sure, we can cross that bridge when we get to it."
Lily still didn't seem too convinced, but Sirius put it down to the pregnancy hormones. He would be the best godfather/babysitter they had ever seen!
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Nearly three months went by before Sirius got the opportunity to look after Harry. Lily allowed him, of course, to come and play with Harry while she was present but this time she had reluctantly allowed James to take her out for the night - 'a well-deserved break' he'd called it. Sirius had insisted that he would be fine, James had taught him how to change a nappy, when to feed him, how to hold him, how to throw Harry up in the air when Lily wasn't looking. The boy did love to fly, a born Quidditch player, they reckoned.
Sirius shooed them out of the door, holding baby Harry around his middle, using his spare hand to make him wave bye-bye to his mum and dad. "We'll be fine! Go have some fun for a change!" he assured Lily, "I have his bottle ready and it will be a little playtime and then bed, so easy even a monkey could do it!" He grinned.
"Sirius…" Lily growled, but was stopped by James laying a hand on her arm and pulling her away. Sirius heard a "They'll be okay!" and saw James wave to Sirius before they Apparated away.
Sirius looked to Harry who looked up at him with wide, curious eyes. "Your silly mummy, Harry!" he, said tickling the infant and making him giggle. "We are going to have some fun!"
He carried Harry inside and closed the door. He had big plans; he had been preparing since the kid was born. Sirius placed Harry in his magical bouncing chair while he prepared for the ride of Harry's life.
With a flick of his wand, he created a small foam slide with a slight incline. It started from the seat of the sofa and down to the floor. It wasn't much but for a three-month-old infant, it was sure to be a thrill. He had created a small foam cushion at the bottom just in case.
"Ready Harry?" he asked, and received a babble in reply which he took as a 'Yes'. He pulled Harry out of the chair and placed him at the top of the slide, he could just about sit unaided but Sirius held him in place to be on the safe side. Harry looked at him and then the slide curiously as if to ask what was going on.
"This, Harry, is a slide, and it's a lot of fun," Sirius smiled at him. "Let's go!" He pushed the boy gently down the slide and smiled to himself as Harry squealed with delight, waving his pudgy little arms and legs. He held him carefully, supporting his neck to make sure that he didn't hurt himself.
"See!" Sirius lifted Harry up in the air, relishing the boy's squeals after he had landed safely on the cushion. "I knew you would like it, you are a little daredevil, Harry Potter!" He blew a raspberry on Harry's tummy eliciting another giggle fit from the three-month-old. "Again?" He asked as Harry bounced happily in Sirius' arms which he took for a yes.
They played on the slide for a good half an hour, which was impressive considering Harry's age. He fed Harry from his bottle, changed his nappy and then told Harry a bedtime story - the time they had created a water slide down the stairs at Hogwarts and Professor Dumbledore had been the first to try it out.
Lily seemed speechless when they got home; the house was still standing, her son was still breathing and unharmed and Sirius was reading in the rocking chair in Harry's nursery. He had cleaned up the slide, leaving no evidence of its existence, it was a secret for the two of them alone, godfather and godson.
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Each time Sirius watched Harry (which happened about once a month), Sirius devised a more complicated slide. The boy loved it and as he was growing and able to do more and more, Sirius added more to the slide, researching charms and enchantments to make the ultimate thrill ride for an infant, a magically enhanced slide which protected the child as they slid down, so they didn't fall off it or hit the ground too hard. His parents were none the wiser and soon even Lily was asking Sirius to babysit without a second thought. Sirius found this hilarious as, if Lily knew what she was doing to her son once a month, he was sure that he would never be invited to babysit again. James, on the other hand, would think it was genius.
When Harry was six months old and could sit and crawl, he made the slide into a two-tiered slide with a small platform in the middle where he slid along before dipping down again.
At eight months, he made a slide that wound around the lounge, it dipped and then rose again before landing in a pit of soft pillows. It was this slide that Sirius choose to modify from then on, adding a little water feature (and then removing it again when Harry disagreed about getting wet) and adding animal noises as he slid past. Each month the slide got more and more elaborate. He wanted to perfect it in time for Harry's first birthday where he would reveal it to the family, feigning ignorance that it was the first time he had made such a thing. Harry was the perfect guinea pig and he was becoming more and more of a daredevil; as soon as he learnt to crawl, he was out of the pit and at the top of the slide again, not even waiting for Sirius to help him up. He had created a monster.
The day of Harry's birthday party was a hot July day and Sirius was nervous. He had bought Harry a miniature broom which floated only a metre off the floor. He just knew that Harry would love it but he was even more confident that Harry would love the slide more.
Sirius strolled into the kitchen and gave Lily a hug. "Where's the birthday boy?" he asked with a grin. "I have one present here and a surprise which I will need to commandeer your lounge for later."
Lily looked at him with apprehension, "He's out in the garden," she answered, not sure how to ask him about the surprise. Sirius placed the present on the pile with the other gifts before heading outside to collect his godson, giving Lily no opportunity to question him about his plan.
"Happy Birthday, Harry!" he cheered, pulling Harry up out of the little playpen they had constructed for the little toddler. Harry squealed and babbled away to him, he was so close to speaking that Lily and James had decided to call each other 'Mama' and 'Dada' in the hope that he copied them.
"I have a surprise for you, Harry, shall we go inside and have some fun?" He asked. James looked over at him curiously, probably wondering what his best friend was up to. He and Remus followed Sirius inside and pulled Lily with them on the way.
Not waiting for the adults to catch up, he placed Harry on the floor and smiled at him, "Let's show them what we do for fun, right Harry? What do we do?" He asked.
A little voice spoke, "..side.." Sirius stopped what he was doing for a moment, he cringed and then grinned. Lily was going to kill him.
"What did you say, Harry?" Lily asked as she entered the lounge.
"Side!" Harry said, pointing a little finger at the object Sirius was creating with his wand, "Side!" Harry seemed to be beside himself with excitement and couldn't stay still.
The slide was finally complete and the other adults were shocked into silence. Sirius grinned and picked Harry up, "That's right Harry, a slide. Let's show Mummy and Daddy how much fun it is!" Sirius placed Harry at the top of the slide and then activated the charms so that Harry could slide down and around without falling. The new, improved slide included a loop-de-loop and a small gap which he flew across without issue. Sirius, James and Remus laughed at the little boy's squeals of delight, but Lily looked perturbed.
"My son's first word is 'Slide'?" she asked, hands on hips. "What exactly have you been doing with my son while you were looking after him?"
Sirius gave Lily a charming smile. "I was just encouraging Harry in future Quidditch pursuits, he loves it and it is perfectly safe," he said, placing a hand on her arm.
Lily looked from Sirius to her son and saw how happy he was, it may be a bit wild but Harry apparently was born to be a speed demon just like his father.
A/N: The bedtime story Sirius tells Harry is a reference to my story - Slip and Slide