"Harry! Hurry up!" Sirius called from the bottom of the stairs. "The train leaves in an hour!"

He heard a loud bang, the obvious sound of something being dropped, followed by the voice of a boy who sounded agitated.

"I know, Sirius!" he called back.

Sirius sighed and walked from the bottom of the stairs to the kitchen where his own trunk lay fully packed and prepared. He still couldn't believe it… him, a teacher at Hogwarts. What was Dumbledore thinking? But then again, this did give him the chance to keep an extra eye on his godson, who he had a hunch would be up to no good on the first day.

After all, he was so like how James was at his age. What would James think if he was here now? Sirius found it almost too painful to think about. There was another mile stone in Harry's life that he was missing: his first day at Hogwarts. Harry had been looking forward to starting school ever since he could talk. He loved hearing all the stories of what Sirius, James and Remus had got up to at school. Sirius was almost willing to bet his whole house that Harry would be just as bad as they were, but the thought brought a grin to his face.

Suddenly the fire in the kitchen glowed a brilliant emerald green, and revealed a man standing in its wake, covered in ash from the fire.

"Hey, Sirius."

"Hi, Remus, how you doing?" Sirius answered as he pulled his trunk over to the kitchen door.

"I'm ok, yeah. Where's Harry?" Remus asked, obviously noticing the absence of Sirius's godson.

"Still packing. I told him to not leave it until the morning before, but Harry being Harry he didn't listen all that much." Sirius answered.

"Wonder where he gets that from." Remus laughed.

Sirius turned to look at his friend. He didn't know what would have happened these last ten years if Remus had not of been there for himself and Harry. He remembered the night after James and Lily's murder, how Remus had found him and stopped him going after Peter. He was livid at the time, but now he was so thankful that Remus had intervened. He had taken him to Hagrid, who was in possession of his godson. He had argued and argued with Dumbledore, as had Remus, until he agreed to let him care for Harry. Sirius had taken the one-year-old to his house in London, Grimmauld Place, where Dumbledore became the secret keeper in the hopes that nobody would ever discover Harry was there.

And so, they had lived, on and on every day. Harry grew as the years went by, and his accidental magic stages had been the worst stage for Remus and Sirius. Of course, Remus couldn't live with them permanently due to his condition, but he was there as much as he could be. He had a room upstairs that he stayed in regularly, and he was as fond of Harry as Sirius was.

Sirius was not Harry's dad, he knew that, but he imagined this to be what parenthood felt like. Every time he looked at Harry, he beamed with pride and his heart warmed. He knew he would stop at nothing to ensure Harry was kept safe, away from all the attention, and away from Voldemort, who Sirius was almost certain would return.

Harry of course, knew all about Voldemort. He knew he had killed his parents, that he was the reason he was being raised by Sirius and not his mum and dad. That Voldemort had tried to kill Harry, but instead destroyed himself. Sirius did not pretend he knew the answers to all Harry's questions, but he would not lie to him.

So, when Dumbledore came one day in July, days before Harry's eleventh birthday, and asked him to teach History of Magic at Hogwarts, he jumped at the chance. It not only meant good money, but he could keep an eye on Harry.

Sirius heard a loud bang coming from above him. He turned to Remus, who had sat himself down at the Kitchen table, and muttered, "If he's broken something brand new, I'll kill him."

Remus's face broke into a grin as Sirius left the kitchen and climbed the stairs into the hallway. He reached the main staircase and climbed up two stairs at a time. Harry's bedroom was on the second floor of the house, directly above Sirius's. He reached the second-floor landing and took off down the hall towards Harry's room. The door was open, and he could hear Harry muttering under his breath angrily.

"I hope you're not swearing in there." Sirius said jokingly.

He heard Harry gasp and turn around to look at him.

"You scared me!" He said.

Sirius laughed a little. His godson stood in the middle of the room, wearing an old blue jumper and jeans. His trainers were covered in dirt and the sole was hanging off. Sirius had offered to fix it, but Harry had insisted on doing it himself once he got to Hogwarts, clearly desperate to try magic on his own. His raven black hair was as untidy and as uncontrollable as always, and his bright green eyes were glowing with a look of excitement. On his forehead, was a thin lightening shaped scar, that Sirius secretly wished he could hex off.

"What are you breaking?" Sirius asked.

"I dropped my cauldron, I couldn't make it fit in the stupid trunk." Harry replied, turning his head to look at the trunk which was lying open on his bed. Harry had the second biggest room in the house, after Sirius. He had a double bed that was covered in blue and red sheets, a chest of old drawers where Sirius knew he kept the photos of his parents hidden, a wardrobe for his clothes, a desk stood in the corner piled high with bits of parchment and Quidditch magazines, he had a bulletin board pinned with all different kinds of posters, a bedside table which held a lamp and two photographs: one of Harry as a baby with his mum and dad, and one of Harry a few years ago with Sirius and Remus. He was sitting on Sirius's shoulders, his head thrown back laughing while Remus sent sparks flying around his head. Both were magical photos, so both continuously moved.

Sirius crossed the room to Harry and lifted the cauldron out of his trunk. Underneath it was piles of robes, all stuffed in to the trunk. Sirius turned back to Harry.

"That would be why, Harry." Harry's face broke into a smile as he reached forward to fold up the robes. Sirius ruffled up his hair, and sat down on the bed as Harry folded his robes.

"Nervous?"

Harry's eyes snapped up to meet Sirius's, and he shrugged.

"It's ok to be, you know… Just remember I'll be close by if ever you need me."

"I know." Said Harry, finally fitting his cauldron into his trunk and taking a seat next to Sirius.

"I'm gonna miss this place while we're away." Harry whispered.

Sirius looked around. The house was old, very old, but they had made it their home. When they had first arrived nearly ten years ago, the house had been dusty and full of all sorts of disturbing items. Sirius and Remus had spent weeks trying to remove all the house-elf heads and even longer getting rid of the portrait of Sirius's mum, which had screamed all sorts and nearly always woke up baby Harry. They had cleaned the whole house. Kreacher, the family house-elf, was next to useless. They had re-painted the house in bright colours and patterns, removing the old and peeling wallpapers. They built a room for Harry, which once belonged to Regulus, Sirius's brother. The house had been a prison to Sirius when he was a child, but now it was his haven. The place Harry had grown up. The place they once again could call their home.

"I will too. But we'll be back in the Summer, that will be before you know it!" Sirius answered.

Harry and Sirius had both agreed to remain at Hogwarts for Christmas. Partly because he wanted Harry to see how magnificent the castle was at Christmas, but also because he didn't have the energy to have to go through all this packing lark more than twice a year.

"Have you got everything?" Sirius asked, placing a protective arm around his godson's shoulder.

"I think so…"

"Where's your wand?"

"In my trunk."

"Positive?"

"Yes."

Sirius didn't particularly want to think about the wand in the trunk. He had taken Harry to Diagon Alley two weeks ago, to buy all his supplies. They had entered Ollivander's last, Sirius's arms nearly breaking with the weight of all Harry's books and quills. Mr Ollivander looked more than happy to see Harry, almost like he had been waiting anxiously by the door for him. Harry had nearly destroyed the place trying to find a suitable wand. But then Ollivander had given him a wand, a wand containing the same core as Voldemort's own wand. Sirius's heart had dropped to his stomach. He prayed the wand would not be appropriate, but of course it was. He wrote to Dumbledore as soon as they got home to tell him. Harry had sensed that Sirius was anxious about his wand, and had quizzed him all through dinner that night. Sirius had snapped, and told him to go to bed. He told Remus when he visited later that evening, and he was just as shocked. Safe to say Harry had been angry at Sirius for a good few days before he finally came around. Sirius didn't even know why he was agitated, it wasn't even Harry's fault.

The snowy white owl in the cage on Harry's desk hooted impatiently. She had been a gift from Hagrid for Harry's 11th birthday, and he was already very fond of her. Hagrid had also kept in touch with Sirius and Harry, often sending Harry birthday and Christmas presents. He had called her Hedwig, after much research into his new schoolbooks. Sirius, too, was very fond of the snowy owl.

"You get Hedwig, I'll lift the trunk." Sirius said to Harry as they stood up.

"By that you mean you're going to make it float downstairs, don't you?"

Sirius grinned. "Why of course." He said. He pulled out his wand from his robes and flicked it at the trunk.

"Wingardium Leviosa." He muttered.

The trunk was lifted slightly into the air. Sirius left the room, dragging the floating case behind him.