The Leaky Cauldron – Sirius arrived at the Leaky Cauldron at 1pm, he was not taking any chances with them. He hated having to be cautious around Remus but he was not the man he was, he was not going to take chances anymore. Besides, after the talk he'd had with Harry, it was painfully obvious that Harry was doing better with him than he had done anywhere else. They feasted on fish and chips, the first thing he'd seen on the menu, he'd never had it before, but Harry was excited at the idea. He said that his cousin often had that as a treat and from what he heard that brat was horribly spoilt, therefore fish and chips must be some wonderful muggle dish.

As it turned out it was unspectacular and rather cheap. It also turned out he was eating it wrong, but he was never to fear, his godson corrected him. "You're meant to eat the chips then the fish," he pointed out upon seeing Sirius was eating them together as it was served. He demonstrated by picking up a chip and popping it in his mouth, then using his fork to eat a mouthful of fish. Sirius failed to see why it was so important or how it made a great deal of difference, it was all going to be eaten eventually so why bother with how you eat it?

"Why does it matter?"

"It's just the way you eat it," he said as if he was asking a silly question that he should know the answer to anyway and why on earth was he not just taking his word for it and obeying those wiser than he? It was an impressive tone for an eight year old but then he and his father had always had that air about them too.

Sirius decided to humour him, for what harm could it do? "Say I eat this in the way you instruct me, what of the peas?"

"You eat them with the fish?"

"You do not sound so sure now, master."

Harry smiled, "Dudley didn't eat the peas at all, he just left it in a pile."

"It seems to be that your cousin did not like his vegetables."

"He said they were yucky and horrid and he left them behind, but that meant I could eat them when I cleared the plates away."

"Well you won't have to do any housework while you're staying with me."

"I won't?"

"No. That is what I have a house elf for."

"But with Professor Snape I always helped the house elves."

"Oh, and did you enjoy it?"

Harry looked unsure, "I always liked being with them," he answered, "I liked cooking."

Sirius looked surprised. "Cooking? What on Earth was he doing letting you cook?"

Harry looked affronted, "I am good at cooking!"

"Yes, but you could hurt yourself."

"I am always very careful near the stove, the house elves were always there keeping a careful eye on me when I was using the knives and when I was near the oven."

"Did Severus know you were using the stove?"

Harry shrugged, "he didn't ask, but I was never burnt so he never questioned it."

"You are far too young to be cooking, if you want to assist Kreacher in cooking, tell me first and you will get him to do the cutting and the dealing with the oven.

Harry nodded, "ok," he mumbled around a mouthful of chip.

After lunch, which was finished off with ice cream, they paid a visit to the pet store. Sirius needed to pick up some food for his raven and he wanted to buy Harry a pet of his own. Harry looked around at the creatures; they ranged from wolves and tigers, which Sirius urged Harry to walk past, to little things like toads and rats. Eventually he was stopped as a young owlet hooted at him from her cage tucked into the side of the store and he walked over to her with a smile of his face and hooted back happily, pretending to have a conversation.

"If you want her that will be three galleons," said the shop keeper without even looking up from the magazine he was reading, it was turning out to be a spectacularly boring day with very little visitors, his voice was incredibly fed up.

"Three galleons?" Sirius asked, confused, "that's very cheap."

The shop keeper shrugged, "she pecks anyone she sees, been trying to get rid of her selling her cheap but no one would have her, tried selling her free with other owls, still no one would have her. But she seems to have taken a shine to your boy," he said with a smile, finally looking up and gesturing to where she was flying around Harry's head. "Besides, we all owe Harry a lot, and you one big apology, no one else is going to have her, so three galleons."

It seemed a reasonable explanation so Sirius placed the money into his outstretched hand and Harry's face lit up as the handle of the cage was pressed into his hand. "I get to keep her?" He said in awe as he held the cage in both hands daintily as if it was a piece of glass.

"She's yours," Sirius shrugged, "you have to take good care of her."

Harry nodded vigorously, "we'll be best of friends."

"Do you have any idea what you want to call her?"

Harry thought for a moment before shouting out, "Hedwig!"

"Hedwig, huh? Interesting name, how did you come up with that?"

"She liked to fly around my head," he said in explanation. "She likes the name Hedwig," he claimed boldly as if his name choice needed justification.

"Does she now?" Sirius smiled indulgently, "I guess she told you this?"

Harry nodded.

"Ok, Ok, let's go back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet Severus and Remus."

"But I thought you said Professor Snape and Moony weren't arriving until seven."

"That does not mean they will arrive then."

Harry thought for a moment, "when we came to meet Snape, he was always already there, waiting for us," he said as if he had just had an epiphany.

Indeed at three o clock both Remus and Severus appeared in the room in the Leaky Cauldron that Sirius had booked for himself and Harry. They both had their wands drawn and were ready to apprehend him if need arise, but Sirius was one step ahead of them and had not only arrived before them but had a shield around himself and his cub in one corner of the room once they appeared. "My, my, boys," he said patronisingly, "what are you doing four hours early? And what is with the spells?" He asked as the stunners dissolved against the shield he had put up, "is this how you greet people nowadays?"

Remus looked at Harry who was perfectly safe and happy on Sirius' lap and sheathed his wand, "you gave us a stare kidnapping Harry in the middle of the night, with pulling a stunt like that, how were we to know that you were good?"

"You should never have questioned it Remus. You have known me my whole life, you should never have questioned it, even when I was arrested, you should have stood by me. Now I am proven innocent, it hurts even more that you shoot at me."

"I'm sorry Padfoot, I was a little hasty, I was just worried, I see now that you are both fine. Severus you can put your wand away, everything is fine." Severus obeyed.

Sirius appraised them, taking in their looks. "Hello, what do we have here? Ragged appearance, ruffled clothes and mussed up hair. Either you two have only just gotten out of bed or you've grown a lot more intimate in the past few weeks."

"Our intimacy is none of your concern."

"So you have grown intimate!"

"We're friends," Remus said firmly.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow.

"Good friends," Severus added.

"Best of friends," Remus affirmed.

"Lovers, actually," Severus corrected.

"Yes, we are gay lovers!"

"No need to scream it from the rooftops," Sirius said, paling. "All you needed to do was say yes, I did not want a breakdown of your relationship. I will be hearing wedding bells soon."

"You asked," Severus smirked.

"I observed. That reminds me, I agree I would have a child doing some work so they do not grow spoilt and idle, but I have a bone to pick with you, why was Harry using the oven and the knives? Surely you care about his safety?"

Severus blinked before turning to Harry, "is this true?"

Harry blinked, looking uncomfortable, "I just wanted to cook," he said uncertainly.

"You are too small to be using such utensils; you should have asked the house elf."

"And why was he sleeping in the wardrobe?"

"He said he felt too exposed on the bed, we worked past it."

"And why was the only time he ate everything given to him was the last few days that he has spent with me?"

"Coincidence," Severus snapped. "His relatives starved him, again we have been working to correct that and now evidently his stomach has grown. I have a bone to pick with you; I do not want Harry to be living with a murderer."

"And I do not want him to be living with a death eater."

"I am not a death eater anymore."

"And I mean no harm to Harry, just those who have hurt him."

"You have shown yourself to be a sadistic bas-"

"Now, now Severus," Remus cut in, "that is uncalled for, we know Sirius is innocent."

"He was prepared to kill me at fifteen!"

"I know," Sirius said, "and nothing I can do or say can really make up for it, I could save your life, spend the rest of my existence serving you, give you all my money, my house and Harry and it still wouldn't be enough. All I can offer you really is a heartfelt apology and that does not really mean much I know, but I'm serious. I really am sorry and I hope you can forgive me, I know you have it in you, you're banging my best mate."

"SIRIUS!" Remus yelled after the last part as the old dog had evidently forgotten that there was a child in the room.

"Sorry," he said, looking a little abashed.

"We are here to discuss a schedule," Severus said, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand. How about I have Harry during the school holidays and weekends, Remus has Harry Mondays and Tuesdays and you have Harry Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays."

"I couldn't help but notice you giving yourself the most contact there Severus," Remus said with an amused smirk.

Sirius just let out a bark of laughter, "I'm not that desperate to make up. I am grateful you saved him but to be honest you have no say in the contact you get. I am not a sadistic bastard," he said, covering a sleepy Harry's ears, "I am not going to restrict access, but I am not going to go from three days a week to three days a week, seven years in isolation was enough. Since I was never actually convicted seeming as I was given no trial, I was always Harry's guardian, and now, seeming as I have disposed of the Durselys, and you are unfit guardians in my opinion seeming as in my assessment he has done better with me than with either of you, it is either my way or no way."

They continued to listen because they knew he was right. Severus had not expected what he said to work anyway, if he had his way he would not let Sirius near him at all, but he didn't have his way and Sirius actually had the rights to get his own way if he wanted. "Now, this is how things are going to work. Remus can see him on Saturdays and you, Severus can see him on Sundays, if you decide to spend the weekend together with Harry, that is none of my concern, and if I want to spend the weekend with you, again, you cannot tell me not to. I will take Harry travelling when I wish and I plan to do a lot of it before Harry is eleven. If these times happen to be on school holidays I may or may not give you an invite."

Well that was fair, neither Severus nor Remus could dispute that, Sirius was his guardian and while he was exploiting that slightly, he was acting as any deprived parent would. Harry jumped off his lap to go and play with a snowy owlet in the corner and give her some treats, apparently bored with this conversation and not really following it anyway. "Sirius," he said softly, holding his finger, "Hedwig just bit me, doesn't she like me anymore?"

"Did it hurt?"

"Not really, no."

"Then she was just playing or showing you affection." Immediately Sirius forgot them and went to speak with Harry and tried to coax Hedwig onto his arm, which she did eventually. Remus and Severus ordered some food up and when they came to play with Hedwig too she pecked them and would not let them near, well it was clear she had chosen her masters very firmly. "Just you wait until she settles on your shoulder and nibbles your ear in affection, that can hurt. But Owls and naturally gentle, Night can be vicious even though he doesn't mean it."

"Night?"

"My raven. He's out hunting at the moment, he will come back eventually, he always goes for inordinately long lengths of time, but I'm sure he's safe. I was going to call him Edgar Allen Poe but that was a bit of a mouthful and I don't like the name Edgar or Poe anyway and just Allen is too common and Nevermore is too obvious."

"Isn't Night a common name too? I mean surely there are lots of people out there who would call a black bird Night, not at all like Hedwig," he boasted.

"Probably," he conceded leaving Harry to think that one of them wasn't making very much sense or was defeating their own objective. "There is no need to blow your own trumpet, but while Night could be perceived as a common name, not many people own a raven, they are very picky about their masters and only pick the worthy."

With Harry in the room it was probably the first time Severus had been in the presence of Sirius without them trying to hex each other. He was still reeling from shock at his apology, he'd expected one from Remus, but never from Sirius, even though it did turn out he was good after all, and he'd kind of known that anyway seeming as he had known who the death eaters were. His hate and his fear of exposure had kind of kept his mouth shut and he didn't try to help meaning an innocent man spent seven years in hell, he should probably apologise for that one day.