The Watcher
Chapter 6-Adventures in Babysitting
By Magoo
Author's Note: There was a reason I rated this R. You have been warned.
Arabella awoke on Monday morning with a sense of dread deep in the pit of her stomach. Today she would fulfill her promise to Lily and James. Today she would watch Harry. It shouldn't be that trying a task. First, it would be a chance to be with her godson. Second, she had watched him before. After all, as his godmother, it was her duty. Of course, she had some difficulties the first time around.but this would certainly be easier. After all, Harry was older now. Plus, after spending so much time with those awful Dursleys, he should be glad to spend time with his Auntie Ari. Plus, Sirius wouldn't be here to ruin it.
~*~
December 24, 1980.
Ari arrived at the Potter's home in Godric's Hollow for her first real chance to spend time with her godson. As new parents, Lily and James were quite protective of their only child. But, it was Christmas, and they simply couldn't spend it at home. Christmas Day was a day for family, but tonight they needed to go out. With the way the war had been progressing, most people were afraid that they wouldn't be able to go out and be "normal" for much longer, as lives were becoming increasingly entangled in the war. For all James and Lily knew, this could be their last chance to be together, like normal people. It was a time that they fully intended to take advantage of.
A frazzled Lily Potter answered the door at Ari's knock. "Thank Merlin you're here!" she exclaimed. "I thought I was never going to get out of this bloody house again."
Ari quickly hugged her best friend. "Breathe Lily. Just breathe. You and James are going out tonight. You're going to have dinner, and go dancing. It'll be just like old times, okay? For tonight it's just you and James. Nothing else matters, not the war, not real life, just James. I'll take care of everything else, I promise."
Lily nodded, and Ari could tell she was fighting tears. "I know, it's just.I have been stuck in this bloody house for so long. And Harry.he is just.well, he's having a bad night I guess. Crying almost all day, like he knows that we were planning on going out tonight. And James is no help. Really, men know nothing about babies," she added crossly.
Ari grinned. "Of course they don't dear, that's why you don't let them around small children unsupervised. Harry just loves you, and wants to spend time with his mum. Being cooped up all day.let me have a small chat with James. We can make him stay with Harry in the house all day.although, that would be going against what I just said, wouldn't it?"
Lily managed a smile. "Thank you Ari, your insane logic has managed to cheer me up, as always." Ari glared at Lily in response and then grinned back. It's good to see Lily smile again, she thought. This war has been going on too long, and its hurting us all.some more than others.
"Anyway," Ari grinned. "Am I going to babysit, or am I going to babysit? Let me see the little marauder already."
Lily sighed. "I wish you wouldn't encourage that nickname," she grumbled. "Just yesterday I caught James and Sirius planning to teach Harry pranks to play on poor Professor Natas in ten years."
Ari looked horrified at that statement. "Lily, you really have been stuck in Godric's Hollow for too long" she said as they entered the Potter home. "Or have you completely forgotten how she treated Remus? Every single year, a portion of the Defense Exams dedicated to ways for destroying werewolves. It's barbaric!"
"I know," Lily said. "I'm just sick of pulling pranks. We have so much more to think about now. And the willow." She trailed off, but Ari fully understood what Lily meant. The willow wasn't something that the friends ever discussed. It was, without a doubt, the sorest point in their seven years at Hogwarts, and had almost driven the group apart.
"Lily? Sweetheart?" a voice called, and James Potter entered the foyer, holding baby Harry in his arms.
At the sight of her husband, Lily's eyes lit up. She ran over to him, kissed him briefly on the cheek and took Harry out of his arms. "Shh," she whispered. "It's okay, Mummy's here."
Ari's jaw dropped as she watched Lily settle down in a chair, rocking her son back and forth. Was this the same woman who had just been ranting that she needed to leave the house? Lily looked settled in for the night.
"Lily," James began to say. She didn't answer. "Lily," he tried again. "Lily, we have reservations." Nothing seemed to be getting through to her. Finally James had had enough. He reached over, plucked Harry out of Lily's arms, ignored her cry of protest, and handed the baby over to Ari. "Good luck," he called over his shoulder as he led his wife out the door. "You're going to need it." The door closed behind the couple, leaving Ari and Harry alone. Right on cue, the baby started to cry hysterically.
"Great," Ari announced to no one. "Just great. Exactly how am I expected to take care of a crying baby?" Cradling Harry in her arms, she collapsed into a chair. "Don't cry Harry," she said crossly. "I promised your mum and dad I'd take care of you and I'm certainly going to keep my word. So you hush." Her scolding only made Harry howl louder.
For almost half an hour, Ari tried everything she could think of to get Harry to stop crying. She changed his nappy, fed him, bathed him, hugged him.but nothing seemed to work! All that happened was Harry proved that he had QUITE a set of lungs on him. Out of sheer desperation, Ari decided that perhaps she needed help with this babysitting thing. Remus. She definitely needed to call Remus. After all, he was good with children, especially baby Harry. Placing Harry in his crib, she headed over to the fireplace, and then paused. Bugger, she thought. He and Jane were going out tonight! Of all the nights for someone to have a good time, they just had to choose this one. She sighed. This left her with only one choice. She had to call Sirius. As much as she loved him, she really didn't want to let him near a five month old child. Disaster usually tended to follow Sirius, and combining disaster and babies.well, that was never a good thing. But, she had no choice. Even bad help had to be better than no help.
Reaching into the urn that Lily and James kept by the fireplace, Arabella pulled out some powder and threw it in the blazing fire. "Sirius," she called into the flames. "I could use some help. Floo over here, will you?"
The head of the aforementioned Marauder appeared in the flames, and a roguish grin appeared. "Anything you say," he called. "But I'm warning you, Lily won't be too happy when she finds out you let me near her child." With a parting smirk, he disappeared.
Ari waited a few moments, and then the flames turned a bright emerald, the same emerald as Harry's eyes, Ari thought dully. Soon, Sirius leapt through the flames, landed on his feet, swept Ari into his arms and kissed her. "You said you needed something?" he whispered, holding her close. "I am here to serve your every need." He paused briefly, and added in a more seductive tone, "and I mean every need."
Ari shivered, and all thoughts of babysitting flew straight out of her mind, as she focused instead on her boyfriend. Relaxing into his embrace she began to kiss him back, full of passion. Just as Sirius had successfully pushed her back onto the couch, Harry's wails caught both of them off guard.
"Darn it!" Ari shrieked. "I knew there was a reason I invited you over."
"Oh really," Sirius grinned. "I thought we were succeeding just fine." He ducked quickly to avoid the pillow that Ari had aimed at his head. Both stood and headed over to Harry's bassinet and leaned over to look in on him. The infant was still lying there, howling his head off.
"I must say," Sirius grinned. "He does a fairly good impression of Moony." He turned to stare at the horrified expression on Ari's face. "What! It's true."
"Padfoot, I'm warning you.."
He stuck his tongue out at her. Ari glared at him. "To think, there are much more interesting things you could be doing with that tongue of yours."
"Well, we have to deal with the little Marauder first," Sirius grumbled. "Then I'll put my tongue to work." He reached in and picked up the crying baby. "Come here squirt," he said grumpily. "Your godfather happens to have some ideas for tonight, and you're not helping. So be a good little baby and get some sleep. Please?"
Whatever Sirius had hoped his grumpiness would accomplish didn't come to pass, as Harry continued to howl uncontrollably. "Please Harry," Sirius said, making puppy dog eyes (something which Ari must admit he'd had quite a bit of practice with). "After all, your godmother must have had some.ulterior motives for inviting me over, and you are ruining them."
Ari's heart skipped a beat, as she thought of what was to come. But that was rather.presumptuous of him, and she glared in Sirius' general direction. "I did nothing of the sort Sirius, can I help it if you interpreted it that way? I simply needed help getting Harry to bed. Whatever happens afterward.well, that's just an additional benefit." She grimaced in pain. "I have such a headache," she groaned. "Just what I didn't need." She collapsed onto the couch and curled up in a ball, watching as Sirius tried to calm down Harry. For a while, he just repeated her earlier actions, trying the basics of babysitting.
"You know Ari," he said, after changing Harry for what felt like the 87th time, "when Lily described babysitting she made it sound like a lot more fun than it is. We're supposed to be raiding the kitchen, among other things." Finally, Sirius gave up, and reached for his wand.
"Sirius Black!" Ari cried in shock. "What are you doing?"
She reached out to grab his arm, but she was too late. Sirius had already begun to cast a spell.
"What did you do?" Ari was absolutely livid. But she softened as she saw what Sirius had conjured. Harry's eyes soon closed as he held the teddy bear in his arms, although he did continue to chew on it, even in sleep. Sirius brought Harry into his room, placed him in his crib and shut the door.
"Now," he said, as he drew Ari into a passionate embrace. "Where were we?"
They fell onto the couch, a tangle of limbs. Ari groaned as Sirius kissed her over and over, their exchange growing more passionate as the minutes passed. The world could be ending and Ari wouldn't care, the only thing that mattered was being here, with Sirius. She shivered with pleasure as his hands worked their way down her body, and she moaned as he drew off her blouse, never pausing in his caresses. Ari ran her hands through Sirius' hair, pulling it loose so that it draped around his shoulders. Their kissing grew more urgent, and Ari pulled unsuccessfully at Sirius' shirt, trying desperately to get rid of the unwanted material. Bare skin met bare skin, and Ari moaned once again as Sirius' explorations became increasingly intimate.
Their kisses continued to grow in urgency, and just as Sirius' hands reached their goal, an outraged voice interrupted:
"Ari? Padfoot? What on earth?"
"MY COUCH!" another voice roared. The shouting also had an unfortunate side effect, as Harry's screams were added to the chaos.
Sirius tumbled off the couch in shock, and Ari colored to her waist. Quickly reaching for the missing items of apparel, she turned to face the very angry Potters.
"James, Lily," she began. "I can explain. Harry was crying, and I thought that Sirius would be able to calm him down some. So I invited him over, and then Harry went to sleep, and well one thing led to another." She trailed off at the sight of something she never wanted to see on her best friends' faces. Disappointment. Ari hung her head. "I'm sorry," she managed to whisper.
Lily looked like she wanted nothing more than to tear into her, but a look from James stopped her. Shaking her head, Lily went to go check on Harry and stop his cries. She came out a moment later, holding the bear.
"Where did you get this?" she whispered, her voice full of emotion.
Ari gestured at Sirius. "He conjured it," she said, trying to smile.
Obviously, this was the wrong thing to say, as Lily turned white and Sirius seemed to shrink back. "Padfoot," Lily said dangerously. "Why would you pull a stunt like this?"
Sirius tried to flash her one of his trademark grins. "Why Lily, I just thought that Junior here could use a Teddy Bear.was that such a wrong assumption?"
"Only if you turned a priceless vase into the aforementioned bear," Lily said through gritted teeth.
"I'm sorry Lily," Sirius said, and for once it was obvious he was sincere. No one wanted to cause Lily any more annoyance.
She managed a wan smile. "It's all right. I can turn it back easily." She paused, and then continued, "I think James and I can handle it from here. Next time we need a babysitter.well, perhaps we'll see if Remus or Jane is available."
Ari bit her lip in an attempt to hold back tears. "Lily, I."
"Save it," Lily snapped. "I asked you to babysit because I thought I could trust you to protect my son. Obviously, you two had other ideas. You're Harry's godparents, and you swore to watch over him." She then spoke the words that Ari had never wanted to hear. "I'm beginning to think we made the wrong choice."
James looked horrified at his wife's words. She however, was in no mood to listen, and exited the room. "I'll talk to her when she's calmed down a bit," James said quietly, and then ushered Ari and Sirius to the door.
~*~
Lily never had forgotten the events of that night, and Ari had never been asked to babysit again. But now, it was a new chance. This time Arabella could do it the right way. She had learned from Ari's mistakes, and she could watch Harry, and nothing could go wrong.
Arabella's stomach lurched as she heard the doorbell. Petunia was here. With Harry. As she ran to the door, she checked in the mirror to make sure her "old woman" disguise was still functioning. Opening the door, she beamed at the sight of baby Harry. "Petunia, dearie, what an honor to see you again. And how is my charge doing today?"
"He's fine," Petunia said quickly. "Here he is, do what you will with him. I have to take my precious Dudley-kins to the doctor. I'm so worried that he may be getting ill."
"Of course dearie, your child is the important thing. Make sure the doctor is thorough."
"Thank you Mrs. Figg, I would never have been able to manage otherwise. Don't want the boy in my hair all day."
"Obviously not, now you must be on your way. Don't want to be late, goodbye."
Arabella picked up Harry and shut the door on Petunia. She picked up her godson and smiled. Unlike the last time she had held him, he was currently wide awake. He took one look at her, and hid. Arabella tried everything, but she couldn't even get a smile out of him. He used to smile, she thought. Why won't he now?
Harry was a year and a half old. From what Arabella remembered of him, he had been a curious child, trying to get into everything. He used to climb around, and had started walking and talking. Not now though. Now, he just sat there and stared. Almost as if his spirit was being crushed. He was scared of this new environment. Arabella had failed. She hadn't been there to encourage him, to let his spirit grow. Somehow, she must reverse this. The Dursleys would not win. They would not be allowed to crush his spirit, to stamp all that was magical out of him. No matter what, Harry had to keep his spirit. The part of him that was magical could not be allowed to die.
Arabella sighed. There was only one thing she could do, although she would be in quite a bit of trouble if she got caught. Grasping her pendant, she transformed back to normal. She lifted Harry into her arms. "Well little one, you are growing, aren't you?" But her words were hollow. Harry didn't weigh nearly as much as he should have. Not that he was necessarily underfed, but he wasn't necessarily getting enough to eat either.
"Do you recognize me Harry?" she asked. He just stared at her blankly. His green eyes, which had been so bright at one time, were now dulled. "It's me, Auntie Ari." Every part of her felt betrayed at using that name, one which she now felt was dead and gone. But if it worked.who was she to question it.
"Pah-foot," Harry said clearly. "Awi and Pah-foot."
Arabella's lip trembled. "Yes, Harry, that's right. Ari and Padfoot. But just Ari now. I'm here sweetie, and I'm not going to let you go."
Harry looked up at her, and smiled. That one simple act filled Arabella's heart with joy. She could win this. They all could win. Harry snuggled into her lap, and Arabella began to speak. "Once upon a time."
Next chapter, Arabella finds out about her research for the Ministry of Magic.and some dangerous news for werewolves everywhere.
Author's Note: The smut is dedicated to GP, because it got her to shut up. Remus had it worse. End of story. V also gets some credit, but as she didn't send me the Buffy tape, I won't dedicate the chapter to her. Bah. Anne, I owe you a lot. I really wouldn't have been able to write this without your help. Amy, thank you for encouraging me and telling me I don't SUX. NY GALs, I will see you at the movie. And Z? Thank you for howling. All of Harry's howls go to you. Juliane, thank you for nominating me as fic of the week. To Devon, for being so patient. I know I haven't been there as much as I should. I'm really sorry. Liz, thank you for everything. I would not have been able to finish without you.
Chapter 6-Adventures in Babysitting
By Magoo
Author's Note: There was a reason I rated this R. You have been warned.
Arabella awoke on Monday morning with a sense of dread deep in the pit of her stomach. Today she would fulfill her promise to Lily and James. Today she would watch Harry. It shouldn't be that trying a task. First, it would be a chance to be with her godson. Second, she had watched him before. After all, as his godmother, it was her duty. Of course, she had some difficulties the first time around.but this would certainly be easier. After all, Harry was older now. Plus, after spending so much time with those awful Dursleys, he should be glad to spend time with his Auntie Ari. Plus, Sirius wouldn't be here to ruin it.
~*~
December 24, 1980.
Ari arrived at the Potter's home in Godric's Hollow for her first real chance to spend time with her godson. As new parents, Lily and James were quite protective of their only child. But, it was Christmas, and they simply couldn't spend it at home. Christmas Day was a day for family, but tonight they needed to go out. With the way the war had been progressing, most people were afraid that they wouldn't be able to go out and be "normal" for much longer, as lives were becoming increasingly entangled in the war. For all James and Lily knew, this could be their last chance to be together, like normal people. It was a time that they fully intended to take advantage of.
A frazzled Lily Potter answered the door at Ari's knock. "Thank Merlin you're here!" she exclaimed. "I thought I was never going to get out of this bloody house again."
Ari quickly hugged her best friend. "Breathe Lily. Just breathe. You and James are going out tonight. You're going to have dinner, and go dancing. It'll be just like old times, okay? For tonight it's just you and James. Nothing else matters, not the war, not real life, just James. I'll take care of everything else, I promise."
Lily nodded, and Ari could tell she was fighting tears. "I know, it's just.I have been stuck in this bloody house for so long. And Harry.he is just.well, he's having a bad night I guess. Crying almost all day, like he knows that we were planning on going out tonight. And James is no help. Really, men know nothing about babies," she added crossly.
Ari grinned. "Of course they don't dear, that's why you don't let them around small children unsupervised. Harry just loves you, and wants to spend time with his mum. Being cooped up all day.let me have a small chat with James. We can make him stay with Harry in the house all day.although, that would be going against what I just said, wouldn't it?"
Lily managed a smile. "Thank you Ari, your insane logic has managed to cheer me up, as always." Ari glared at Lily in response and then grinned back. It's good to see Lily smile again, she thought. This war has been going on too long, and its hurting us all.some more than others.
"Anyway," Ari grinned. "Am I going to babysit, or am I going to babysit? Let me see the little marauder already."
Lily sighed. "I wish you wouldn't encourage that nickname," she grumbled. "Just yesterday I caught James and Sirius planning to teach Harry pranks to play on poor Professor Natas in ten years."
Ari looked horrified at that statement. "Lily, you really have been stuck in Godric's Hollow for too long" she said as they entered the Potter home. "Or have you completely forgotten how she treated Remus? Every single year, a portion of the Defense Exams dedicated to ways for destroying werewolves. It's barbaric!"
"I know," Lily said. "I'm just sick of pulling pranks. We have so much more to think about now. And the willow." She trailed off, but Ari fully understood what Lily meant. The willow wasn't something that the friends ever discussed. It was, without a doubt, the sorest point in their seven years at Hogwarts, and had almost driven the group apart.
"Lily? Sweetheart?" a voice called, and James Potter entered the foyer, holding baby Harry in his arms.
At the sight of her husband, Lily's eyes lit up. She ran over to him, kissed him briefly on the cheek and took Harry out of his arms. "Shh," she whispered. "It's okay, Mummy's here."
Ari's jaw dropped as she watched Lily settle down in a chair, rocking her son back and forth. Was this the same woman who had just been ranting that she needed to leave the house? Lily looked settled in for the night.
"Lily," James began to say. She didn't answer. "Lily," he tried again. "Lily, we have reservations." Nothing seemed to be getting through to her. Finally James had had enough. He reached over, plucked Harry out of Lily's arms, ignored her cry of protest, and handed the baby over to Ari. "Good luck," he called over his shoulder as he led his wife out the door. "You're going to need it." The door closed behind the couple, leaving Ari and Harry alone. Right on cue, the baby started to cry hysterically.
"Great," Ari announced to no one. "Just great. Exactly how am I expected to take care of a crying baby?" Cradling Harry in her arms, she collapsed into a chair. "Don't cry Harry," she said crossly. "I promised your mum and dad I'd take care of you and I'm certainly going to keep my word. So you hush." Her scolding only made Harry howl louder.
For almost half an hour, Ari tried everything she could think of to get Harry to stop crying. She changed his nappy, fed him, bathed him, hugged him.but nothing seemed to work! All that happened was Harry proved that he had QUITE a set of lungs on him. Out of sheer desperation, Ari decided that perhaps she needed help with this babysitting thing. Remus. She definitely needed to call Remus. After all, he was good with children, especially baby Harry. Placing Harry in his crib, she headed over to the fireplace, and then paused. Bugger, she thought. He and Jane were going out tonight! Of all the nights for someone to have a good time, they just had to choose this one. She sighed. This left her with only one choice. She had to call Sirius. As much as she loved him, she really didn't want to let him near a five month old child. Disaster usually tended to follow Sirius, and combining disaster and babies.well, that was never a good thing. But, she had no choice. Even bad help had to be better than no help.
Reaching into the urn that Lily and James kept by the fireplace, Arabella pulled out some powder and threw it in the blazing fire. "Sirius," she called into the flames. "I could use some help. Floo over here, will you?"
The head of the aforementioned Marauder appeared in the flames, and a roguish grin appeared. "Anything you say," he called. "But I'm warning you, Lily won't be too happy when she finds out you let me near her child." With a parting smirk, he disappeared.
Ari waited a few moments, and then the flames turned a bright emerald, the same emerald as Harry's eyes, Ari thought dully. Soon, Sirius leapt through the flames, landed on his feet, swept Ari into his arms and kissed her. "You said you needed something?" he whispered, holding her close. "I am here to serve your every need." He paused briefly, and added in a more seductive tone, "and I mean every need."
Ari shivered, and all thoughts of babysitting flew straight out of her mind, as she focused instead on her boyfriend. Relaxing into his embrace she began to kiss him back, full of passion. Just as Sirius had successfully pushed her back onto the couch, Harry's wails caught both of them off guard.
"Darn it!" Ari shrieked. "I knew there was a reason I invited you over."
"Oh really," Sirius grinned. "I thought we were succeeding just fine." He ducked quickly to avoid the pillow that Ari had aimed at his head. Both stood and headed over to Harry's bassinet and leaned over to look in on him. The infant was still lying there, howling his head off.
"I must say," Sirius grinned. "He does a fairly good impression of Moony." He turned to stare at the horrified expression on Ari's face. "What! It's true."
"Padfoot, I'm warning you.."
He stuck his tongue out at her. Ari glared at him. "To think, there are much more interesting things you could be doing with that tongue of yours."
"Well, we have to deal with the little Marauder first," Sirius grumbled. "Then I'll put my tongue to work." He reached in and picked up the crying baby. "Come here squirt," he said grumpily. "Your godfather happens to have some ideas for tonight, and you're not helping. So be a good little baby and get some sleep. Please?"
Whatever Sirius had hoped his grumpiness would accomplish didn't come to pass, as Harry continued to howl uncontrollably. "Please Harry," Sirius said, making puppy dog eyes (something which Ari must admit he'd had quite a bit of practice with). "After all, your godmother must have had some.ulterior motives for inviting me over, and you are ruining them."
Ari's heart skipped a beat, as she thought of what was to come. But that was rather.presumptuous of him, and she glared in Sirius' general direction. "I did nothing of the sort Sirius, can I help it if you interpreted it that way? I simply needed help getting Harry to bed. Whatever happens afterward.well, that's just an additional benefit." She grimaced in pain. "I have such a headache," she groaned. "Just what I didn't need." She collapsed onto the couch and curled up in a ball, watching as Sirius tried to calm down Harry. For a while, he just repeated her earlier actions, trying the basics of babysitting.
"You know Ari," he said, after changing Harry for what felt like the 87th time, "when Lily described babysitting she made it sound like a lot more fun than it is. We're supposed to be raiding the kitchen, among other things." Finally, Sirius gave up, and reached for his wand.
"Sirius Black!" Ari cried in shock. "What are you doing?"
She reached out to grab his arm, but she was too late. Sirius had already begun to cast a spell.
"What did you do?" Ari was absolutely livid. But she softened as she saw what Sirius had conjured. Harry's eyes soon closed as he held the teddy bear in his arms, although he did continue to chew on it, even in sleep. Sirius brought Harry into his room, placed him in his crib and shut the door.
"Now," he said, as he drew Ari into a passionate embrace. "Where were we?"
They fell onto the couch, a tangle of limbs. Ari groaned as Sirius kissed her over and over, their exchange growing more passionate as the minutes passed. The world could be ending and Ari wouldn't care, the only thing that mattered was being here, with Sirius. She shivered with pleasure as his hands worked their way down her body, and she moaned as he drew off her blouse, never pausing in his caresses. Ari ran her hands through Sirius' hair, pulling it loose so that it draped around his shoulders. Their kissing grew more urgent, and Ari pulled unsuccessfully at Sirius' shirt, trying desperately to get rid of the unwanted material. Bare skin met bare skin, and Ari moaned once again as Sirius' explorations became increasingly intimate.
Their kisses continued to grow in urgency, and just as Sirius' hands reached their goal, an outraged voice interrupted:
"Ari? Padfoot? What on earth?"
"MY COUCH!" another voice roared. The shouting also had an unfortunate side effect, as Harry's screams were added to the chaos.
Sirius tumbled off the couch in shock, and Ari colored to her waist. Quickly reaching for the missing items of apparel, she turned to face the very angry Potters.
"James, Lily," she began. "I can explain. Harry was crying, and I thought that Sirius would be able to calm him down some. So I invited him over, and then Harry went to sleep, and well one thing led to another." She trailed off at the sight of something she never wanted to see on her best friends' faces. Disappointment. Ari hung her head. "I'm sorry," she managed to whisper.
Lily looked like she wanted nothing more than to tear into her, but a look from James stopped her. Shaking her head, Lily went to go check on Harry and stop his cries. She came out a moment later, holding the bear.
"Where did you get this?" she whispered, her voice full of emotion.
Ari gestured at Sirius. "He conjured it," she said, trying to smile.
Obviously, this was the wrong thing to say, as Lily turned white and Sirius seemed to shrink back. "Padfoot," Lily said dangerously. "Why would you pull a stunt like this?"
Sirius tried to flash her one of his trademark grins. "Why Lily, I just thought that Junior here could use a Teddy Bear.was that such a wrong assumption?"
"Only if you turned a priceless vase into the aforementioned bear," Lily said through gritted teeth.
"I'm sorry Lily," Sirius said, and for once it was obvious he was sincere. No one wanted to cause Lily any more annoyance.
She managed a wan smile. "It's all right. I can turn it back easily." She paused, and then continued, "I think James and I can handle it from here. Next time we need a babysitter.well, perhaps we'll see if Remus or Jane is available."
Ari bit her lip in an attempt to hold back tears. "Lily, I."
"Save it," Lily snapped. "I asked you to babysit because I thought I could trust you to protect my son. Obviously, you two had other ideas. You're Harry's godparents, and you swore to watch over him." She then spoke the words that Ari had never wanted to hear. "I'm beginning to think we made the wrong choice."
James looked horrified at his wife's words. She however, was in no mood to listen, and exited the room. "I'll talk to her when she's calmed down a bit," James said quietly, and then ushered Ari and Sirius to the door.
~*~
Lily never had forgotten the events of that night, and Ari had never been asked to babysit again. But now, it was a new chance. This time Arabella could do it the right way. She had learned from Ari's mistakes, and she could watch Harry, and nothing could go wrong.
Arabella's stomach lurched as she heard the doorbell. Petunia was here. With Harry. As she ran to the door, she checked in the mirror to make sure her "old woman" disguise was still functioning. Opening the door, she beamed at the sight of baby Harry. "Petunia, dearie, what an honor to see you again. And how is my charge doing today?"
"He's fine," Petunia said quickly. "Here he is, do what you will with him. I have to take my precious Dudley-kins to the doctor. I'm so worried that he may be getting ill."
"Of course dearie, your child is the important thing. Make sure the doctor is thorough."
"Thank you Mrs. Figg, I would never have been able to manage otherwise. Don't want the boy in my hair all day."
"Obviously not, now you must be on your way. Don't want to be late, goodbye."
Arabella picked up Harry and shut the door on Petunia. She picked up her godson and smiled. Unlike the last time she had held him, he was currently wide awake. He took one look at her, and hid. Arabella tried everything, but she couldn't even get a smile out of him. He used to smile, she thought. Why won't he now?
Harry was a year and a half old. From what Arabella remembered of him, he had been a curious child, trying to get into everything. He used to climb around, and had started walking and talking. Not now though. Now, he just sat there and stared. Almost as if his spirit was being crushed. He was scared of this new environment. Arabella had failed. She hadn't been there to encourage him, to let his spirit grow. Somehow, she must reverse this. The Dursleys would not win. They would not be allowed to crush his spirit, to stamp all that was magical out of him. No matter what, Harry had to keep his spirit. The part of him that was magical could not be allowed to die.
Arabella sighed. There was only one thing she could do, although she would be in quite a bit of trouble if she got caught. Grasping her pendant, she transformed back to normal. She lifted Harry into her arms. "Well little one, you are growing, aren't you?" But her words were hollow. Harry didn't weigh nearly as much as he should have. Not that he was necessarily underfed, but he wasn't necessarily getting enough to eat either.
"Do you recognize me Harry?" she asked. He just stared at her blankly. His green eyes, which had been so bright at one time, were now dulled. "It's me, Auntie Ari." Every part of her felt betrayed at using that name, one which she now felt was dead and gone. But if it worked.who was she to question it.
"Pah-foot," Harry said clearly. "Awi and Pah-foot."
Arabella's lip trembled. "Yes, Harry, that's right. Ari and Padfoot. But just Ari now. I'm here sweetie, and I'm not going to let you go."
Harry looked up at her, and smiled. That one simple act filled Arabella's heart with joy. She could win this. They all could win. Harry snuggled into her lap, and Arabella began to speak. "Once upon a time."
Next chapter, Arabella finds out about her research for the Ministry of Magic.and some dangerous news for werewolves everywhere.
Author's Note: The smut is dedicated to GP, because it got her to shut up. Remus had it worse. End of story. V also gets some credit, but as she didn't send me the Buffy tape, I won't dedicate the chapter to her. Bah. Anne, I owe you a lot. I really wouldn't have been able to write this without your help. Amy, thank you for encouraging me and telling me I don't SUX. NY GALs, I will see you at the movie. And Z? Thank you for howling. All of Harry's howls go to you. Juliane, thank you for nominating me as fic of the week. To Devon, for being so patient. I know I haven't been there as much as I should. I'm really sorry. Liz, thank you for everything. I would not have been able to finish without you.