Chapter Seven: One Big Happy Family

Summary: Seventh chapter. Forty-two to go. That about sums it up.

Down in the little kitchen Harry slowly stirred his bowl of soup, as he had been for the past fifteen minutes without eating a bite of it.

"If you'd rather have something else..." Arabella offered as she watched him absently moving the spoon around in circles.

Harry looked up suddenly, snapped out of his thoughts. "What? Oh, no, Arabella, its not that."

"Then what's on your mind, dear?"

Harry looked up at her from under the untidy ruff of hair. "I was just thinking..." Harry let the sentence trail off. He had almost told her he was thinking about his godfather, but had managed to stop himself in time. But Arabella didn't let him off the hook that easily.

"About what?"

Harry stared at his bowl. "Just...things."

He thought his godmother would press for details, but she simply smiled kindly at him from across the table and went back to her own bowl of soup.

"By the way," she said after a few minutes, "I almost forgot to tell you. I have to go on a short trip this afternoon. Remus has agreed to come and stay to keep you company. All right?"

Harry looked up from his soup and managed a slight smile as he nodded. "Sure." He said.

"I'll be back tonight, but it'll be late, so don't try waiting up for me, OK?"

Harry nodded again.

"And one more thing, Harry."

Harry looked up at her again.

"I don't want you going back up to the attic right now. All right?"

"Why not?"

Harry expected a 'just because' answer. But Arabella settled her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands as she looked at him.

"Because I think finding those pictures upset you a bit. And I don't want you dwelling on them. The past is past, Harry. Unfortunately, it can't be changed."

Harry paused for a moment, then nodded to her. He didn't want to tell her that what finding the pictures had done most was simply make him miss his godfather that much more. And in that light Harry was looking forward to having Professor Lupin come and stay with him that evening. Remus Lupin was always a good distracter from his troubles and had always seemed to be able to make him feel somewhat better about things.

Lupin showed up shortly before five. He and Arabella talked briefly in the kitchen before Arabella disapparated with a small pop and Lupin came into the living room where Harry was.

The rest of the evening was pleasant enough. Lupin played a few games of chess with Harry and even helped him a little with Snape's summer essay. But by ten o'clock Harry found himself quite tired and, saying goodnight to Professor Lupin, went off to bed.

Sometime around one in the morning Harry was woken by noises from downstairs. He listened intently to make sure everything was alright. That there wasn't any danger of someone having broken into the house. But shortly he heard his godmother's voice. Although her voice was muffled behind Harry's door, he could tell from the sound she didn't sound pleased about something. There were three other voices with her's. One was Professor Lupin's. But to Harry's tired brain, the other two were simply to low and too muffled to make out who they belong to. So, settling on asking Arabella in the morning, Harry rolled over and went back to sleep.

Harry found himself waking up a bit earlier than usual the next morning . Unable to go back to sleep, he finally pulled on his robe and headed downstairs.

As he walked into the cozy little kitchen, he nearly stumbled over his own feet as he was stopped abruptly by the sight that greeted him.

Seated at the table, reading the morning paper with a cup of coffee in front of him was Sirius.

"Good morning, Harry." Sirius said with a large grin, turning to see his stunned godson standing in the doorway.

Snapping out of his stupor, Harry charged into the kitchen with a cry of delight. He threw his arms Sirius' neck and gave another cry.

"Easy!" Sirius said, pulling him back. "You'll deafen me. That last one was right in my ear."

Harry didn't seem to hear him as he cried out Sirius' name again, hugging him that much tighter about the neck.

Sirius gave up trying to calm Harry down and wrapped his arms about his body and pulled him close.

"So," he said, "can I assume you're happy to see me?"

"Happy?" Harry cried. "I've never been happier to see anyone in my life. I've tried for days to reach you. Just to talk to you. But nothing worked. I didn't think I'd talk to you again all summer after that. I didn't think I'd see you again for a whole year."

"Ah, yes." Sirius replied, pulling Harry back as his voice got a bit stern. "Let's talk about those calls for a minute, shall we?"

"Calls?" Harry looked puzzled. "You knew about them? You got them?"

"Every one, Harry. But tell me something. What is it about someone being 'in hiding' that you seem to have some problem understanding?"

Harry drew back a little. Sirius sounded somewhat angry with him.

Noting how quiet his godson suddenly got, Sirius softened his tone slightly. "I'm not angry, Harry." He corrected. "I'm sure you thought it was harmless to try and contact me." Sirius pulled Harry back from him until he could look him in the eyes. "But Harry, what you did was very dangerous for me. Some of the things you tried could have been traced to me. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded solemnly. He turned his eyes from Sirius' gaze. He hadn't thought he was endangering Sirius. He would never have tried to contact him if he thought for a moment it put Sirius in danger.

"I just..." Harry began. "I just wanted to talk to you. I didn't mean to do anything wrong."

Sirius grabbed his godson and pulled him into a tight embrace. He hated the pained sound in Harry's voice. "I know you didn't, Harry." He whispered to him, caressing a hand down the back of his head. "But we have to be very careful with what we do. The most innocent thing can put me in danger. You understand now?"

Harry pulled back and nodded. Past a tear that ran down his cheek, Harry managed to force a small smile. "How long are you staying?" He asked quietly, not sure he wanted to know the answer. He feared it was going to be an all to short visit. Just long enough to tell Harry to stop trying to contact him and then disapparating.

Sirius smiled at his godson as he reached up and wiped the tear off his cheek. "Well, that's going to be up to your godmother."

Harry sighed in disappointment. Arabella would probably send Sirius back to wherever he had come from retroactively if she could.

"You're going to be gone before you got here then." Harry smiled weakly, voicing his belief.

"Well, fortunately Arabella doesn't have a time-turner, so that isn't to likely." Sirius mused.

"So when do you have to leave?" Harry insisted on knowing how short the visit was going to be.

"Unfortunately, not soon enough." Arabella stated as she came down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning, 'Bella." Sirius piped up cheerfully. The greeting only earned him a dark look from Arabella. Sirius faked a cowering pose. "Good Lord! And you're usually the cheerful one in the morning."

"Very little to be cheerful about this morning." She replied, heading for the stove.

"Wait a minute!" Sirius called out in mock fear. "You're not...cooking."

Arabella gave no response to Sirius' taunt as she started pulling out her skillet.

"For the love of heaven, 'Bella!" Sirius stated desperately. "There's a child present!"

Arabella suddenly spun about, aiming a dangerous skillet angrily just inches from Sirius' face.

"If you don't want to eat at my table, you don't have too, Mr. Black!" She stated sharply. "But I think it'll make your stay a very hungry one. Since left to your own devices, I'm sure you'd starve."

The comment brought the main question back to the forefront for Harry.

"How long is he staying?" He asked his godmother.

Arabella looked at Harry, then back at Sirius. "You didn't explain it to him?" She asked, none of the anger having left her tone.

"I was getting to it, 'Bella." Sirius stated. Turning back to Harry, Sirius laid a hand on each of his godson's shoulders. "You see, Harry," he explained, "although I know you didn't mean any harm by what you did, your trying to contact me has made it a bit unsafe for me to return to where I was staying for now. We have no idea if someone might have intercepted any of those calls. So that location had to be abandoned for a while."

"I really am sorry." Harry apologized again. "I honestly didn't mean to cause so much trouble."

"Why didn't you just tell me you missed Sirius?" Arabella asked him, sitting down next to him at the table. "I could have arranged for you to talk to him safely."

Harry tried not to let his embarrassment show. "I thought you'd be angry...or hurt...that I wanted to talk to Sirius." Harry replied. "And you were trying so hard to make sure I was happy here."

"But Harry, I would have understood. Sirius is your godfather. And he's been a large part of your life the past year. I didn't expect you to just forget about him."

"Just the same," Sirius stated, directing Harry's attention back to him, "the end result is that the powers that be, meaning Dumbledore this time, felt that perhaps we could solve two problems here with one solution. He suggested that the best answer might be that I stay here for a while. That way I have a safe place to live, and you wouldn't feel so lonely. How about that?"

Harry stood stunned for a moment, certain he hadn't heard right. Sirius was going to live with them?

A sudden cry of joy echoed through the small kitchen as Harry once again threw his arms about Sirius' neck and hugged him tightly.

"And we have a winner!" Sirius stated, happily hugging his godson back.