Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is queen of all.

His Family

Chapter Fourteen: Dioramas

Harry's small body flailed about, his legs kicking hard, arms flinging, hands tightly clenched into fists. One knee connected sharply with Sirius's groin and the man let out a howl of pain, bursting awake from his sleep just as Harry started screaming. It was a cry of pure terror, an anguish so strong one might have thought someone was torturing the poor boy.

Sirius sat up quickly, trying not to double over in pain from his godson's very well aimed hit. He grabbed his wand from where it had been set upon a shelf above Harry's bed and pointed it at Harry. "Silencio" Harry's voice went silent, though his mouth was still open, screaming out, voice muted so he didn't wake the rest of the house. Grabbing Harry round the shoulders, Sirius hugged him to his chest, rocking him side to side while placing kisses on his head. "It's alright, Harry. You're safe, you're safe."

Harry's whimpering ceased and he calmed, hands clinging onto the front of Sirius's pajama shirt. His little brow was creased but he seemed more at eased now, enough that Sirius was able to lay back down with him. He kept the little boy wrapped tightly in his arms, holding him close. Harry's breathing evened out and Sirius heaved a sigh of relief.

It had been two weeks since Harry had returned home after his kidnapping. It had been a seriously rough past two weeks, especially during the nighttime. He had so many night terrors that sleeping by himself had become a thing of the past. At first, Sirius had had him sleeping cuddled up between himself and Lexie but that had quickly changed when Harry's kicking had nearly gotten Lexie in her very pregnant stomach. Now Sirius slept with Harry in the little boy's bed. Harry was a trooper, pushing forward and trying to keep going even though sometimes it was very obvious he was fearful. That was what worried Sirius the most actually. Harry had been skittish when he'd first gotten him, but for the past almost four years, he had really come out of his shell. Normally, he was very outgoing and happy, but lately he was more clingy and less talkative.

School had become a difficult situation to deal with. Trying to keep life as normal as possible, Sirius had sent Harry back when the week holiday had ended. However, it was quickly proven to be much harder than previously anticipated. Normally, Harry bounced back pretty quickly! this time though, he hadn't. He had made it through the first hour of class and then he'd run off to the library and hidden under Remus's desk for the rest of the day.

After a little bit of consideration, Sirius had pulled Harry from school for a couple more days until Harry had asked to go back. He'd made it through half of Thursday and a good bit of Friday before he took off to the library. Mrs. Goffy was very understanding, knowing that the Easter holiday had been very difficult for Harry, though she didn't know exactly what had happened. He had done alright the second week, but he was still very anxious.

Sirius was also having a rough time of it. Due to his closeness to the case, he had not been allowed to be one of the Aurors tasked with figuring out exactly who had taken Harry in the first place. A couple of his coworkers had been over to question Harry about what had gone on but the information was spotty. Harry had been unconscious for half of the time and he had never gotten a good look at his initial captor. However, had had gotten a really good look at the people who had (Lexie had just about puked) bought him from his kidnapper. A tall man and woman, both with long light blond hair. He had seen more of the woman than the man, but the person he had seen the most of was their little boy. Harry was always very adamant about the man and woman promising to take him home. He could remember the little boy's name had been 'Draco', and he had tried several times to remember the father's name, having heard it once, but it was much more difficult.

Sirius had one idea of who it had been who had bought his son, but he wasn't allowed in on the case to help. He had asked several times for details on how the investigation was going, but no one would tell him. It was like everyone's mouths had been such and even those who wanted to say something, weren't able to without getting in trouble. Sirius was beginning to get very suspicious. Normally they were able to talk to one another, to get a fresh point of view on a difficult case, but this time… something was different. Sirius couldn't put his finger on it, but something was fishy. And he was going to figure it out.

…...

"Mum, can I have some glue?" Harry asked, knowing that glue was something they kept on one of the tall shelves, out of the reach of a certain little black haired child who's name did not start with an 'H'. Harry was perfectly grown up enough to be trusted to handle glue properly so long as he put it away when he was finished with it, lest someone who shall still go unnamed got into it.

"Me too! Me too!" Rozzie exclaimed, running around the corner and into the playroom where Harry sat at their little arts and crafts table.

"Yes, Rozzie, you too." Lexie smiled, reaching up and taking the glue down from it's very high shelf. She set it down on the table next to Harry and Rozzie reached for it. Harry grabbed it fast, pulling the container of white goo to safety before she could get her hands on it.

"No, Rozzie. You can only use it when someone helps you, remember?"

"That's right, darling. We don't need your father getting stuck to a chair again, though maybe we shouldn't have gotten the quick dry kind." Lexie pondered this for a moment as she sat down in one of the small chairs by the table. Rozzie sat down as well and they all got started on their projects.

Harry was working on a diorama for school. They were doing food chains and he had gotten the ocean. After researching about the different types of creatures in the ocean and what they ate, he had enough knowledge to make a decent diorama that was factually accurate. Lexie had helped him figure out how to build his diorama by drawing it out together first and he'd been set the task of actually doing it. Unlike some parents who would do everything with their kid's school projects to make sure they got a good grade, Sirius, Lexie, and Remus always made sure Harry was doing most of the work and got help only when required.

"I make 'rama too?" Rozzie asked, eyeing Harry's shoebox with a rather jealous gleam in her eyes. She always wanted to do everything like her big brother, even wearing similar clothing when she could. Today they both had on overalls and red t-shirts underneath. Lexie, having seen this coming, dug another shoebox out of the little cabinet in the playroom where they kept all of the extra art supplies well out of reach of a certain two year old so she had to ask in order to make messes. Not that that stopped Rozzie of course. Remus had caught her climbing up the shelves towards the glue the other day and after he'd pulled her down crying, she'd tried to jump for it. She'd made it too, her body floating higher than a normal child's would. She'd hovered in the air for a few moments, grabbed the glue, and landed safely back down on her own two feet.

The adults had been torn between being ecstatic that she was showing signs of magic and trying to be firm about not doing things she'd been warned against. It was also quite difficult to keep her from doing it outside of their home. In the yard was fine, but at the school it was risky. They couldn't have her blowing their cover by accident.

Harry stuck his tongue out slightly from between his teeth as he glued a particularly difficult piece of paper to the back of the box. It was painted blue, like the sea, but had been done with two different kinds of food coloring mixed with water. Lexie had said if they made the paper wet and runny, it would look more like water. Harry couldn't help but to agree, liking that idea very much. She had been right too, it did look like water! Making a diorama was so fun.

Once he had all the paper on the box for the water, Harry swiped the glue brush across the bottom of the box spreading it out, wet and sticky. Then he delved one hand into the cup of sand they'd collected from the sand box in the back yard. Harry liked their new sandbox. It was green and shaped like a turtle. Rozzie had been quite enthusiastic when Sirius had set it up for them about a week ago. When the weather was nice enough, they could build castles and whatever else they wanted without worrying about someone coming and stomping on it like they did at the beach or playground.

Harry sprinkled the sand onto the bottom of his box until it was all stuck to the glue and looked as much like the ocean floor as he could get it too. There were a couple of blank spaces where the glue had dried too quickly and some of the sand was bound to come loose if the box was shaken, but Harry thought it was pretty fantastic. He added some green pipe cleaners and paper cut into leaves for the seaweed attached to the ocean floor.

"Wow, Prongslet, that is looking like it's really underwater." Sirius beamed as he came into the playroom. He crouched down beside Harry's chair, admiring his son's hard effort at making the diorama good, no doubt Mrs. Goffy would approve.

"I gotta do the animals next." Harry pointed to some of the little rubber creatures he and Rozzie owned. They normally played with them in the tub, but they had plenty to spare for his school project. "Can you help me tie the strings?"

"Sure." Sirius smiled, always glad to be of some use. Together, he and Harry cut the bits of fishing line Mrs. Goofy had suggested, but not required, to the hanging of anything In the dioramas. It was see through, so it wouldn't take away from the effect of the display so much had it been say, giant black yarn. She had also said to try and use whatever they could find around the house so long as it was okay with their parents instead of going out and buying all of the supplies.

Harry did the tying of knots while Sirius helped by holding the creatures in place. The little plastic sea creatures were actually ideal for tying the string around, their flippers acting as natural buttress to keep it from slipping from around their bodies. Once they were tied, they hung them from the box, pulling each string through a hole made in the top with a thumb tack and then tapping the excess to the box and trimming it.

"no, Pad. The shark comes after the fish, not before. Fish don't eat sharks." Harry laughed, , thinking his father quite silly.

"Hmm, oh! I know. This little spiky dude here, must eat the sharks!" Sirius exclaim holding up a tiny sea urchin Harry had made by crumpling a bit of paper and painting it brown.

"Nooo!" Harry chortled, throwing his head back. Now Padfoot was surely kidding! There was no way he could think a little sea urchin could eat a great big shark. "He lives in the sea floor with sea stars and crabs."

"What about this fellow then, he looks pretty dangerous."

"Paddy, he has googley eyes. He's not even close to dangerous." Harry shook his head, covering his mouth as he continued to giggle, unable to help it. The item his father had picked up was one of Rozzie's little fuzz balls with eyes and feet and antenna.

"My Wuppie, Daddy!" Rozzie held out her hands, grinning brightly, but looking a little worried that he was going to stick it in Harry's project instead of hers, she was hell bound and determined to make one too, except hers was not about sea creatures.

"Here you are, love." Sirius handed over the fuzz ball moving around the table to see what his daughter and wife were up to inside the other shoebox. It had a green grassy ground, a bright blue sky, and a playground made out of Popsicle sticks. And it was covered with flowers and Wuppies. Some of the teachers had been giving them out as prizes at Harry's school, and far be it for Rozzie to ever be left out of something so impossibly adorable. She was right taken with those strange little things. They kind of reminded Sirius of puffskeins, but with feet and antennas and more visible eyes.

Rozzie took her wuppie with happy eyes and placed him within the box with all of her other ones, making sure he got a good spot on the swing instead of just on the grass.

"Rozzie, is yours a food chain too?" Harry asked curiously, coming around the table to have a look at his sister's diorama.

"Yes. 'nanas." Rozzie nodded, pointing to the center of the box where two tiny plastic bananas sat upon a paper picnic blanket. "Wuppie eat 'nanas."

Harry nodded, quite impressed with Rozzie's diorama, though, she had had a lot of help from Mum. He was proud of his own diorama as well, glad to have such a neat school project. "Pad, I've got to make labels now. For all the creatures and plants."

"Alright." They managed easily enough with the things on the bottom of the box, however, when they got to the hanging things, they faltered.

"Let's figure out how we can put them on nicely." Sirius pondered aloud, staring at Harry's box curiously. How was one supposed to label something without sticking the paper directly onto the object? "Hmm, this might be difficult."

"Tape tags around the strings." Remus suggested, walking through with his nose in a book on the way to the kitchen. He pushed through into the kitchen without another word. Rozzie chased after him, grabbing hold of the back of his robes and letting him drag her on her bottom across the smooth floor and through the bottom half of the Dutch door. The top was almost never closed, letting the adults keep a close eye on the children from the kitchen when they were in the playroom, which was more often than not.

"I know! We can make little labels and put them around the strings above your creatures." Sirius suggested as though some kind of light bulb had exploded above his head.

"That's a good idea." Harry nodded in agreement, laughing at how his Pad didn't seem to have noticed where the idea had come from. That happened sometimes though. Moony would say something and Pad would suddenly, somehow, out of the blue, have the same exact idea. Or maybe the little voice in his head sounded so much like Remus he sometimes got the two confused.

"Ok. Let's get started then."

"Cut first, write after." Remus came back through the door, Rozzie still riding along on his robes. Now he had a cup of coffee in one hand and the book in the other, completely entranced in it as he got sometimes. He seemed completely unaware of the two year old clutching onto the back of his robes, or was so used to it it didn't even phase him.

"Oh, but we should cut out the labels first. To make sure they're all the right size, and then write on them after some can make the words fit." Sirius grinned. Boy, he sure was full of good ideas today.

"Yes." Harry nodded in agreement, taking up the scissors. Lexie stared at them all, watching as her two favorite men began discussing label size while her daughter was pulled out to the playroom and across the living room towards Remus's office. She laid a hand over her stomach, feeling the little one in there wriggle and she smiled. What a strange but wonderful family she had.

"Beans and bread! Beans and bread! Fill me up until I'm fed!" Harry chanted, laughing and racing round and round the kitchen table. His diorama had been finished hours ago and now he had a lot of pent up energy from being stuck inside most of the day. It was pouring buckets of cold rain, not the best for playing out in. Had it been a bit warmer maybe, but it wasn't quite there just yet. Another week or so and it might be,

"Beans, bread, beans, bread!" Rozzie chortled, chasing after her brother. She wasn't quite as fast as he was, so he lapped her every now and then, not that either of them minded. Sirius was working on making dinner as it was his turn. Lexie was having a craving for beans, so beans it was.

"What are you doing in here?" The dark haired woman laughed, coming in through the door and watching as her children raced in circles. Normally they would have been told to calm down after a bit, but then again, the more energy they got out, the better.

"I love you mummy! Hug you, kiss you! And a little poop." Rozzie exclaimed, jumping up and down, her lopsided pigtails bopping with her. She wore no shirt, just a pair of little sweatpants and bare feet. She raced forward, hugging Lexie round the legs, her little head barely coming up to the bottom of Lexie's ever growing stomach.

"I love you too." Lexie laughed, patting Rozzie's head. "But no bathroom talk please."

"Mum! Mum! Pad's making beans and bread." Harry grinned, always happy to announce what they were having for dinner. It might not sound like the most interesting of meals, but it always tasted good. The bread was homemade, fresh from one of Mrs. Weasley's recipes while the beans were usually sweet with just enough spice and tang to keep them from being boring. Padfoot usually threw in some chopped vegetables for color.

"So I heard. Come on you two, it's time to wash up your hands before we eat."

"Coming." Harry laughed, racing out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the little bathroom there. He and Rozzie climbed up onto the step stool to reach the sink better, turning on the water and soaping up their hands.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star..." Harry sang, bopping his head back and forth, Rozzie did the same, singing along as they scrubbed, knowing they couldn't rinse until they'd finished the song. Harry had learned at school that the best way to make sure you washed long enough was to sing that particular song while you did it. That way you knew you were clean.

"Dinner!" Sirius called from the kitchen. Harry and Rozzie rinsed their hands off and dried them on their respective towels hanging from either side of the sink before hurrying to the dining room. They always tried to eat dinner in there instead of just the kitchen. It broke up the day and made for a nice, simple, family time.

"This is good Pad." Harry grinned, chewing away at his food happily.

"Thank you, Harry." Sirius reached out, ruffling his son's hair.

"Hey, guess who's birthday is soon?" Remus sat down, coming in for the meal a little bit late. He'd just had to finish one more chapter before he could put his book down.

"Oh oh! I know! Rozzie's!"

"Rozzie, do you remember how old you're going to be?"

"Eleventy-seven." Rozzie grinned matter-of-factly, nodding her head and scooping some beans into her mouth. She wasn't very good at remembering that ages went the same as regular numbers. She could count pretty high for a toddler.

"No. How many is this?" Sirius held up his fingers.

"Two."

"Good. You're two now. What comes after two?"

"Fee!" Rozzie held up her spoon proudly, trying to manipulate her fingers around it to hold up three of them. That she was not very good at yet. Coordination skills took a bit longer to learn for some kids than the mental things did.

"Yes! Very good, Rozzie! So after two comes three. Since you're two right now, that means, on your next birthday, you'll turn three!"

"Are we gonna have a party?" Harry asked curiously, knowing they'd had one for Rozzie's other birthdays, but that had been at their old house. So far, he hadn't really been able to have any friends except for Ron over to the house they lived in now for safety's sake. He really wanted to be able to have a regular birthday party, with everyone there who usually was there.

"We're going to try to. If anything, we'll at least be able to have the Weasleys over. And there's enough of them to make for a good sized birthday party, don't you think?" Lexie smiled, buttering another piece of bread and dipping it into her beans.

"Yeah, but I was hoping Bas or Marny could come too." Harry sighed, setting his spoon down and staring at his plate. He did miss his Muggle friends quite a lot sometimes, especially when fun things were going to be happening that he would have liked to share with them.

"I know, Prongslet. But it's not as easy as it could be to do that. I promise, once summer holidays starts we'll figure out a way to see them, alright?" Sirius suggested, knowing that a Harry was still struggling with missing his friends. He didn't blame the kid. He had been really close to Marny and Bas, even though Ron was his absolute best friend. It hurt his heart to see his young boy so unhappy, but there wasn't anything they could do about it just yet.

"Could Hermione, Bradley, and Elise come then? Or even just Hermione?" Harry pleaded, his whole being full of hope in that moment. Surely at least one of his school friends could come as well? Not that he minded just hanging out with Ron and Ginny, but it was always more fun with other people too...

"We'll see." Sirius sighed after a few moments of deliberation, not wanting to say no, but hoping Harry wouldn't be too disappointed if it came down to it. He'd always been able to have friends over at the old house, so he was struggling with not being able to do the same here. They would have had the birthday party out somewhere, like some of the other kids in Harry's classes had before. Going bowling or something along those lines. Unfortunately, Harry had been unable to attend any of the birthday parties that had taken place since being at a new school. It was too dangerous to be away from the house for too long. Even sending him to school left Sirius and Lexie's nerves on end all day until they knew he was home safely even though Remus was always within the same building to get to Harry quickly if need be. It was hard going to not being afraid of most things, to harboring your family away in a location where they were safest. It was part of being a parent, but it hindered the ability to live life to the fullest sometimes.

Later that evening, after all of the young children of the house had had their respective baths, Harry traipsed down the stairs and into the living room wearing his pajamas and a towel for a cape. Rozzie followed closely behind him, her nightgown almost skimming the floor, manta ray blanket dragging as it always did as it dangled from her neck.

"Hear ye, hear ye, people of the living room!" Harry began, raising a paper towel tube high in the air. Rozzie mimicked him, except her sword was from a toilet roll. Her lay lank, dripping down her back, though it didn't seem to bug her. "We have a great announcement to make."

"'nnouncement!" Rozzie repeated, nodding her head very seriously, her little chin set hard as it always got when something was going on like this. Though, it was usually very difficult to take Rozzie seriously at all because she was so darn cute when she did it.

Sirius looked up from the newspaper he was reading, eyes gazing at his two little ones in their capes. Lexie set down her knitting. She had taken up a lot of knitting lately ever since she'd gotten pregnant with this baby. Something about having not had enough time to finish things for Rozzie due to her having come much earlier than expected. The worry surrounding her daughter had put a great damper on making her anything, but this time her pregnancy was going smoothly and she was hell bent on getting this little white sweater finished on time. Remus slipped a piece of parchment into his book and shut it, ready for whatever the kids had planned this time.

"It has come to our attention…"

"'ttention!"

"That there is a serious lack…"

"Se-rus wack!"

"…Of ice cream in our tummies." Harry finished boldly, his voice loud and proud, very much hoping that this tone of going about asking for ice cream would actually manage to get them some. It was a very rare case when the children were allowed to have ice cream before bed, something about the sugar, but far be it for Harry and Rozzie to not at least attempt to procure some now and then. It was only natural.

"Nooooo!" Rozzie threw her hands to her face, mouth open in the way Harry had showed her to look shocked. He had trained her well, but it still came off as really bad acting, but then again, she was only going on three.

"Oh dear, what should we do about this awful conspiracy?" Remus asked, trying to look shocked as well, furrowing his brow and punching one fist into his hand.

"How might we remedy the situation, oh great and wonderful Queen of all?" Sirius questioned, turning to look at Lexie. Everyone eyes flew to her, knowing that she usually had the final say on anything that seemed remotely fun. Sirius was always up for fun, so he was an easy target for the kids to weasel things out of. Remus was a lot less lenient, but he was still an absolute sucker for those big puppy-dog eyes. Lexie, however, was stern when needed to be, the absolute foot down when things needed to calm down and get less Sirius and more serious.

After what seemed like an hour of deliberation and rocking in her chair, Lexie finally nodded, lifting her needles back up and resuming her work on the tiny white sweater. "Half a scoop each, but only of the vanilla. The chocolate has too much sugar."

"We have reached the goal!" Harry shouted, laughing and jumping as he turned to race towards the kitchen, so very pleased that it had worked this time. A half of scoop of vanilla was a victory in his eyes.

"Yaaaaay! I'ceam!" Rozzie cheered, bouncing after her brother and dropping the cardboard toilet roll.

Sirius laughed, rising from the couch where he'd been sitting. He laid the newspaper down on the coffee table and walked over to his wife. He gave her a kiss, eyes shining. "You are the best, you know that right?"

Lexie waved him off, but she was smiling. Oh what a crazy world it was.

Ok, first I would like to apologize a super-mega load for the fact that it has taken about five months for me to finish the chapter and get it up. I actually have no valid excuse for it, except for having been sucked back into the magical world of Harry Potter roleplaying. This, I realize, is probably a very unacceptable reason for most of you, and all I can say is I am really, really sorry it has taken this long. I think I might have just needed a little bit (ok, maybe a big bit...) of a break to refresh my brain. I am also sorry this chapter is kinda mostly just a short crappy filler. I loved writing it, but it's not nearly as good as I wish it was. However, the next few should be much better as we've got Rozzie birthday coming up soon! Despite it's obvious lackluster, I really do hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, I love hearing from all of you and it makes me smile when I still get little messages saying you've liked or followed or reviewed, or sent me a PM. I also love any ideas or suggestions you might have for what you'd like to see happen next to Harry and Sirius and the rest of em!

If you like Harry Potter roleplays and would like to see where I disappeared to for the last five months, there is a wonderful link in my profile.

Love and hugs and alligators for all!

S.Q.O.