Sirius looked after his friend anxiously. The man had not shown any sign of improvement over the past weeks despite being surrounded by well-doers and happy survivors of the war. In fact, the only time that he had ventured out of his decimated home was to go to the trial (Sirius scoffed. Trial? If James hadn't been there they wouldn't even have given him one.) getting Sirius out of Azkaban and condemning the damn rat to a well deserved death when he was found. Other than that he seemed to be residing inside the remaining shell of his house. Namely, this consisted only of the basement.
Sighing he followed after his friend. The basement stairs wobbled ominously as he stepped on them. "Fortus", he muttered half-heartedly at them. James was being reckless living in this place. Half of the falling structure would probably crush him on accident. Sirius blinked. That would explain one reason why he still lived in this deathtrap.
Looking back at the stairs he whispered the spell again to make sure that at least one structure in this house couldn't be bloody well used by James to kill himself. Hurrying into the cave, as it was now known by the remaining sane Marauders, Sirius actively resembled a rather skinnier, Mediterranean-toned version of Molly Weasley. Anxiously, he sat in one corner with an eye planted firmly on his friend while the other focused on the child he was lifting out of a makeshift crib.
"Hello pup." The child giggled as he attempted to get some of the greasy hair dangling in front of its face. Sirius made a rather cross face as he considered that only two weeks in the prison had given him such disgusting locks in comparison to usual flowing mane. Harry sitting on his lamp echoed his look with his own special touch.
His eyes crossed rather lopsidedly, and his little fingers were still stuck in his gummy mouth but he had otherwise created a perfect replica of his godfather's face. It was bloody priceless.
Sirius burst out laughing as he clutched onto the chair with one arm and his pup with the other. Soon the laughter of the two filled the dank dungeon of the basement as they wore themselves out.
Neither noticed the man coming down the stairs with the camera until a bright light went off in front of their dazed faces. Again identical looks of agitation and confusion mingled on their faces leading to another round of laughter as Moony joined the gathering in the basement. Soon, however both men crinkled their noses.
"It would appear the young chap needs changing, old boy." Sirius stated in his most pompous imitation of Bartemius Crouch. He had recently become a popular figure of ridicule after being caught sending masses of people to jail without trials and furthermore harboring a fugitive son.
"Indeed you are, Messer Padfoot," Remus replied with a hardly straight face, "and as you are his Godfather, I believe you must change it." With this the man ran up the dilapidated stairs into safety.
Sirius cursed under his breath. Damn man had gotten away again. This was the twentieth time he'd had to change a filthy nappy since⦠since Halloween. Sirius faltered halfway up the stairs. He turned to look at his friend who had been sitting in the corner the whole time.
James's face remained blank and passive as it had been for the last month. Nothing it seemed could save him from the torment of losing Lily. He had apparently not moved during the entire scene at all. In fact, Sirius had serious doubts about whether he had seen anything since sitting. Sirius twisted around again. The Sirius serious jokes weren't the same without James, and as he felt a pang in his stomach he rather doubted he'd ever have a good name joke ever again.
James sat on the chair he'd been glued to for the last hour. His eyes staring blankly ahead, and his heart it seemed without beating.
