A/N Thank you all, for the lovely support.

Happenstance

"Wake up, Harry. It's birthday time," Sirius spoke stroking the toddler's messy hair.

Harry's eyes shot up in the next instant and he squealed in joy. His Godfather joined in his happiness and imitated his excited squeals.

"Le's go, flying," the newly turned three yr. old excitedly piped in.

"Sure mate, but not right now. We need to eat the delicious breakfast that's waiting for us, downstairs," Sirius said donning the responsible role.

Harry's lips curled into a tiny pout and crossed his hands, "No."

Sirius' eyes twinkled, looking at Harry, who resembled his father so much when he tried to argue. He chuckled and reached to the far end of the side table to retrieve Harry's glasses. Another trait, that related the boy to his father so closely. He then tucked Harry's lower lip back into his mouth and placed the glasses on his eyes. Harry was still trying to perfect Lily's glare and his attempts made him look adorable. Here he was, the perfect mixture of both his friends, who are still with him, in the form of their little boy.

Sirius laughed and lifted the little boy up on his shoulders and strolled out of the room. He deposited Harry on the high chair and called, "Kreacher, breakfast."

Harry clapped his hands and yelled, "Pancakes."

"Of course," Sirius gave a smile filled with affection. He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled louder, "Kreacher, Pancakes. Now."

A sudden pop sounded and an old elf appeared with a food-laden plate, wobbling in his fragile hands. "My blood traitor master, requesting disgusting food. Oh! My poor mistress. She'll be devastated." The elf laid the plate on the table and sniffled.

"Enough," Sirius growled making the elf yelp. "Away, now." He said throwing the elf a disgusted look as Kreacher cowered back.

As the elf disappeared with a pop, Sirius turned to Harry who was looking at the place the elf just vanished in a quizzical expression, "Kreacher? sad?"

"Forget that thing," Sirius said shaking his head. "Now who's ready for some delicious pancakes?" He said wiggling the plate in front of the toddler's eyes.

"Me," Harry said raising his hands.

Sirius gave him a general helping of the pancakes and coated them with copious amounts of syrup. "Tuck in, kiddo."

As Harry lunged into the pancakes, Sirius thoughts turned to the elf and its disparaging behavior. Life for them hadn't been easy after they have rescued Harry from the Dursleys. Sirius' main mission was to keep Harry safe from the trouble. With Voldemort's followers still on the loose and Dumbledore on their tail, Britain didn't seem safe at that moment. He did the only thing he thought was right at that time. He vanished to the North American continent with his Godson. Remus insisted them to stay back. But Sirius remained adamant. Remus cautioned Sirius as he began his journey, it's not going to be easy with a small child in an entirely new place.

But it turns out it wasn't difficult. Life was content and easy. Nobody knew or cared if the babe was the boy-who-lived. That was more than enough for Sirius. He decided at that moment, he would stay there forever and give Harry the best childhood possible. But one day an owl about his deranged mother made him grudgingly return to Britain.

Walburga Black had finally bid the mortal world, goodbye and as the last remaining heir of the Black Family, Sirius was summoned by his uncle Alphard Black. He had demanded Sirius had to come at once to take up the responsibility of his house. Sirius couldn't deny the wishes of the person, who had once guided him when he ran away from his family. Grudgingly, he had returned to Britain just a month ago. He hated his parents' house before, even though they were not alive now, the house was still a reminder of everything evil and he loathed to live here. But his uncle insisted that he should be living there to claim the inheritance. For Sirius, his inheritance was equal to the hair on his little toe, but he couldn't argue with the fact that he would be able to provide a better life for Harry, as a head of the Black Family. And the added advantage of a house without his mother was definitely appealing. So he accepted the house and the deranged elf that came with it.

"All done," Harry said lifting his empty plate. "Le's go flying," Harry said pushing his glasses up his nose.

Sirius gave a bright smile, pushing his dreary thoughts away. "Come on, Harry. Before Moony stops by and ruins our plans, we better be off." Harry squealed loudly as Sirius started tucking him in an outer gear with sufficient padding. Harry patiently waited as Sirius checked for all the accident-prone parts and gave a satisfied nod. "You're all set."

Harry toddled after Sirius as he ventured to his shed. Harry excitedly pointed to the broomstick, but Sirius with a smile pulled his motorcycle outside. "Broom?" the little tyke asked blinking his eyes.

"Soon, buddy. But today we are going for a zoom-zoomy ride," Sirius said coaxing his head into a small helmet. Harry's bright eyes were still fixed on the broomstick. Sirius sighed and lifted him to make him sit on the seat of the motorcycle. He looked into his eyes and softly spoke, "As soon as you turn five, I promise you we'll get the fastest broom in the whole wide world."

"Well, is that true? If it really is the fastest broom in the whole wide world, we need to wait until you are eleven," another voice joined them.

"Uncle Moo'y," Harry said with a tiny pout. "No broom. My birthday."

"Yes mate, its your birthday. But, for once, what Sirius did was right. It is a grown up broom, prongslet," Remus said giving an appreciative look at Sirius' actions.

Harry knew his demands are not going to be met today, so he gave up and sat on the motorcycle.

Remus turned to Sirius and said, "Are you sure, Sirius? It's not even a month. Everybody would know about Harry."

"You can relax, Remus. We are going into the muggle world," Sirius said hopping behind Harry.

"Really, Sirius? Muggle world? I don't know the rules in America, but here Muggles are still not supposed to see us," Remus interjected.

Sirius winked at him and pressed a tiny knob on the handle. In the next instant, the motorcycle along with Harry and Sirius vanished. Remus' eyes widened and they reappeared in the next moment followed by a squealing laughter. "Invisibility Booster, my friend," Sirius said with a proud look on his face. He applied an extra sticking charm to Harry's little bottom placing him into the carriage attached to the motorcycle. He secured a harness to put him close to his body.

Remus couldn't take his eyes of the pair. He couldn't help but admire how much Sirius had grown in the past one year when he was left alone to take care of the little boy. Remus remembered Sirius' desperate owls asking how to console a toddler who wakes up in the middle of night shuddering in fear, asking for his lost parents. It seemed they have found their solace in each other. Remus brushed a tear that escaped his eye when Harry put his hands around Sirius' neck and gave him a smacking kiss on his cheek.

"Be here, later in the afternoon. We are going to have a birthday party," Sirius said to Remus and zoomed off into the air and disappeared not a moment later.

"It's great," Harry yelled as Sirius maneuvered the motorcycle in the air. The warm morning air was tickling the tyke making him laugh and Sirius couldn't be happier.

"Padfoot," Harry called pointing to a series of clouds. "Deer."

Sirius squinted his eyes to see a big cloud that was shaped in the form of two deer. A stag and a doe. He glanced at them and quietly spoke, "Did you come to see your kid? He's just amazing. Just like you, Prongs and Lily. I wish you were here, to see him grow."

Suddenly, the bike sputtered and there were flashes of light around them, but it went all still. Before the duo could take a relieved breath it happened again. And then it occurred to Sirius, "We must be running out of petrol."

"Sirius?"

"No worries, buddy. We are going to take a short break," Sirius said lowering the motorcycle to a road level. But the invisibility booster gave them away as they landed in the middle of a farmer's market. Sirius immediately adjusted and parked the motorcycle to a side, trying to make them look like they just drove there, and not some weird people who had a flying mishap, but their whole act wasn't missed by a curious pair of eyes.

Sirius chided himself and slowly unbuckled Harry. He still needed to hone his Godfather skills. How stupid he can be, to forget to fill up the petrol tank. Another thing added to his list. He picked up the little guy and slumped him on his shoulders, looking around. Before he could turn there was a tug on his shirt and he glanced down.

"Hullo," a little girl with bright brown eyes greeted him. "Did you just fall from the sky?"

Sirius was shocked at her words. He started slowly shaking his head with a forceful laughter. But his godson took the opportunity of answering the little girls' question. "Yes, we fly on a motorcycle."

"Harry," Sirius laughed even louder trying to mask the uncomfortable situation. "No, we weren't flying." He then turned to the little girl in front of him who was looking at them with intriguing eyes. "It's impossible. How can anybody fly?"

"Broomsticks?" the little girl said with a beatific smile. "I have seen before."

Sirius' face burst into a bright smile, "Is that so? So you are not a Muggle."

"No, she's a witch," a tall and lanky man, who had come up behind her, whispered. "Are you wizards, then?"

Sirius' expression suddenly became guarded and he nodded his head curtly. But his head started swirling with the ideas of how to get away from this place, before the nosy people in front of him, got further into the details.

"Richard Granger," the man extended his hand in greeting. "Imagine our surprise when an old man with a funny hat and a long beard, knocks on our front door, claiming an explanation for the weird things happening around us. Turns out our little Hermione is a witch."

Sirius' mind fell into a train of thought. He returned the man's greeting and answered, "Sirius Black." His eyes were fixed on the man's face trying to notice any kind of recognition. But Richard Granger just smiled and the little girl giggled. That caught Sirius' attention and he gently lowered Harry to the ground. Sirius then crouched on the ground and looked at the girl's laughing eyes. "So you are Hermione."

"Yes, I'm Hermione Granger and you are Sirius Black," she giggled again covering her mouth.

"What's funny?" Harry asked shrugging his shoulders.

"No idea. Let's ask the girl," Sirius said pointing to Hermione.

"I saw Sirius in the sky. You are a dogstar," she said chuckling.

"Sirius is a d..," Harry started to say, but Sirius gently clamped his hand Harry's mouth, stopping him from revealing too much.

"Hermione, that's rude. You don't make fun of others' names. You have to apologize, darling," her father admonished.

"Sorry," she said trying to stifle the chuckle.

"It's alright, little one. I love being called a dog," Sirius said with a wink. "How do you know about broom sticks?"

"I know many things. I read about broomsticks. Mr. Dumbledore told me."

"I love brooms. I get a big broom, soon," Harry chimed ecstatically.

"Are you not afraid?" Hermione asked with her big brown eyes going wide.

"No, I brave," Harry said trying to expand his tiny chest. "You come with me?"

"No, I hate flying," Hermione said moving behind his father.

Harry's face fell at her declaration and Sirius scooped him up immediately. "Not everyone likes, flying Harry. Your mum didn't like it either."

"You both are having a father and son time, on this lovely Saturday?" Richard Granger asked lifting Hermione.

"It's my Birthday," Harry declared pumping his fists. "We go flying."

"Happy birthday," Hermione said happily. She reached for a small purse hanging from her shoulder and picked out a small glittery pencil. She pushed it into Harry's hands. Harry looked enthralled by the flying snitches on the pencil. "I got it from Diagon Alley."

Sirius laughed and turned to Richard Granger, "We recently moved to London. As he said, it's Harry's birthday."

"Can Hermine come? Please, please, pafoo?"

"Can we go, Papa. I want to go to Harry's birthday?"

"Sorry pumpkin. We shouldn't impose. We can sure arrange for a playdate."

But Sirius couldn't deny the birthday boy's wish. At least he would have a safe playmate for the near future. "It would be our pleasure," Sirius said extending his hand. "If this intelligent witch came to our party."

Both the children's faces brightened up and Sirius couldn't help but believe that this was a good thing.

"We are at this address," Sirius said conjuring a piece of parchment that contained the address of his home. He passed it into Richard's extended hand and said, "if you could come by this afternoon, it would be great. You see Harry has no friends here."

"Sure, we'll be there. Hermione seems quite excited too. Do you need help with the motorcycle?"

"Thank you for your offer. But I think we have to resort to magical methods," Sirius thanked the man for his kind offer.

"Fine then, I'll leave it to you. Nice meeting you, Mr. Black. We'll see you in the afternoon," Richard Granger said and walked away taking the smiling girl who was still talking to Harry in animated gestures.

He turned to Harry and spoke, "It seems we have to cut short out flying trip, buddy."

Nothing seemed to deter Harry's bright spirits that morning as he looked at his new friend. Sirius put Harry back into his carriage and moved them to a secluded spot. He apparated them back to the Grimmauld place, thinking whether he had done a good thing or a mistake by inviting a little Muggle-born girl to his house.