A/N Yes I know, don't say it. It's been forever since an update. No, I didn't fall off the face of the world. Just got very side tracked with real life. Here it is the long awaited part 12. If you are still with me thank you for sticking around. As always reviews good, bad or indifferent are always appreciated.

Thanks to all of those who kept telling me to Update. A certain Prongs person comes to mind.

Thank to The Unicorn Whisperer. Don't know how I could have done it without you.

Now for chapter 12.

After Attivus and the headmaster had departed from Remus's home things seemed to settle down. Sirius had conjured up a bed next to Harry's for himself; he was not taking any more chances with his godson's health. Harry for his part had fallen off to sleep with in a few moments of the company's departure.

Sirius had then walked out of the room and down the stair well to see what had kept Remus from coming back to the room. He found the lycanthropist cleaning up around the fireplace. Remus hearing his friend come down stood and turned with a sheepish smile and said

"Floo powder is a messy business."

"You haven't changed at all Moony have you?" Sirius asked with a small laugh. Remus shrugged and said

"Some things never do. Don't worry Sirius I'm not staying up studying all night. I'll be up in a bit." Sirius smiled knowing his friend had pegged the reason he came down.

"Anything else happen that I should know about?" Remus made a snap decision "No. Just Attivus trying to get Albus to come in for a physical." They both shared a laugh as Sirius started back up the stairs. A few moments later Remus heard Sirius yelling. The warewolf ran up the stairs wand raised.

"Why are you scream . . . oh my god." Remus said stopping mid stream with his question.

"He's gone!" Sirius yelped, wringing his hands frantically.

"Did you check the other side of the bed? Maybe he fell out? Remus answered trying to think logically. "Sirius really when you fall asleep you could sleep through a howling thunder storm" he added.

Sirius opened his mouth but then closed it, and rolled onto the bed looking on the other side of it. Sirius let out a sigh of relief as Harry was on the floor shivering from the cold of the night

"Harry," he called softly putting a hand on his godson's shaking shoulder.

"humm." was all he got as an answer.

Sirius stood up, stepping over Harry, before kneeling down next to him. He slid an arm under Harry's neck and another under his knees, picking him up. He laid his godson gently on the bed, covering him up.

Harry remained motionless through the whole thing he didn't know anything had happened at all. Remus looked at the two in the room and sighed

"He's just like James and yourself. You both sleep through anything"

Sirius gave him a withering look. "Ha ha, I'm laughing out loud. I don't sleep through everything you know."

"Well what would he have though if he had woken up to your yelling?" Remus looked at him and cracked a small smile "My godfather is a raving mad person. After a moment of thought he added "Close enough to everything like that time in 6th year when James tried to wake you. We went through two buckets of ice water to get you to even say anything." Remus challenged

"Hey, Moony speaking of buckets of ice water would you like one right now?"

Remus stared at him "You wouldn't" he said indignantly

"Oh, I would."

"I'd love to see you try." Remus said. He then added "especially with no wand." Sirius grinned

"Get your umbrella ready!" With that he sprinted past Remus (knocking him out of the way) and out of the room. He sprinted the stairs, Remus trailing behind him. He skidded into the kitchen, grabbing the nearest fruit bowl and dumping the apples out of it. He quickly filled it with freezing cold water, positioned himself by the door, waiting for Remus.

After a few moments and Remus hadn't come Sirius started to wonder if his old joke worked at all. Then he heard Remus call "Sirius you may want to come up here." Sirius froze. Moony's voice sounded serious. "And since you're down there you may want to bring a glass up for Harry." He added

"Damn we woke him." Sirius thought as he walked back to the sink to fill a glass. He brought it upstairs and as he neared the room he heard it. Coughing. 'now what' Sirius thought as he walked in the room.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw the state Harry was in. The boy was sweating and shivering at the same time. He was also coughing a little. Remus looked up at Sirius and said "Just as I was about to follow you, lord knows why I wanted to in the first place; but Harry started mumbling in his sleep a moment after that he tried to jump out of his skin."

Sirius nodded, hurrying forward. "Harry?" he called, sitting down on the bed next to Harry, holding out the glass of water. Harry took the water gratefully. He was still trembling. Sirius couldn't tell if it was from cold or fear. He reached out and began to rub Harry's back soothingly.

Harry relaxed a bit but began coughing again as Sirius rubbed his back.

"Easy," Sirius whispered, patting his back. Harry nodded and handed the now empty cup back to his godfather. Harry was trying to lie back down and Sirius put the cup down quickly to help his godson. Remus looked on and asked, "How does your stomach feel now Harry?" He was wondering if a warm compress would be needed tonight.

"'Urts," mumbled Harry, rubbing the spot on his stomach where the incision had been made.

"Then we will do something about it right now." Sirius said before Remus could. He could see Harry trying to object. "No objections." he stated again in the parent voice as he began to unbutton the top of Harry's nightshirt. Only then did he realize that it had been soaked through. He furrowed his brow in thought. "Remus could you go get me a washcloth and a bowl of cool water, and a clean nightshirt?"

Remus just nodded and left the room to get the supplies. As he did Sirius put his hand to Harry's forehead and knew that the fever was not receding. How he wished he could give the fever-reducing potion but he couldn't until Attivus gave the okay.

Harry looked up at him. His eyes were dull and clouded. His face was very pale and shined with a fresh sheet of sweat.

"Siri?" he whispered.

"Yes, Harry" Sirius answered as he took a tissue to wipe the sweat off his godson's face as he waited for Remus's return.

"I don't feel too good," he muttered, his voice hoarse from coughing. Sirius didn't hesitate for a moment; he lifted the boy into his arms and made a mad dash for the bathroom.

"Sirius?" Remus called, coming back into Harry's room to find it deserted. He heard a flush of the toilet and a moment later Sirius emerged carrying a shivering Harry.

"What happened?" Remus asked fretfully.

"Let's just say Harry's stomach doesn't like him too much right now." Sirius answered laying his godson back on the bed. "Feeling better Harry?" He asked as he put the covers over him.

"Better," he mumbled as a fresh sweat broke out on his face. Sirius reached out for the bowl that Remus offered him. He then took the towel and dipped it into the bowl. He proceeded to wipe his godson's face arms and neck with the cloth.

He had a one-sided conversation with himself as he did this, babbling about of all things, the O. W. L.s.

"Sirius, Harry doesn't take them till the end of this coming year." Remus said trying to put some humor into the moment.

"Er, yeah, right," Sirius said suddenly feeling very sheepish. "How's the Quidditch team shaping up this year? I mean you looked really great in third year, and . . ." At the mention of Quidditch Harry looked down at the sheets. It reminded him of Cedric. No matter how many times Sirius said that Cedric's death wasn't Harry's fault, no matter what was said Cedric still wouldn't be able to face off against Harry even if Quidditch was re -instated this year.

Why? Because he, Harry had talked Cedric into taking the cup with him. Harry felt like it was his fault. The dreams said so as well.

Sirius looked up at Harry, he was shaking again. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Hufflepuff will be without a seeker this year. They wouldn't have been if it wasn't for me." Harry said his voice almost a whisper. Sirius raised an eyebrow before he got a sinking feeling in his stomach. He vaguely remembered shouts of "Go Cedric!" from the stands as the two Seekers raced after the Snitch. He mentally cursed himself in several languages.

"How can I even return to the team? Cedric can't why should I? I deserved what the Dursley's gave me Siri. I did." Harry said as tears rolled freely down his face.

"No, no," Sirius said quickly, drawing Harry into his embrace. "Cedric wouldn't want that! Harry, you have something very few people have, pure talent. Dumbledore told me you caught a Rememberall from a fifty foot dive your first time on a broomstick! Do you have any idea how amazing that is? Cedric wouldn't want you to give up something like that. I know he wouldn't."

Harry just fell into the embrace that his godfather had him in. His head lay on Sirius's chest. He could hear the heart beat and it was soothing to him. Then the coughing started again. He felt Sirius start rubbing his back again. Harry just sighed as the coughing stopped. His stomach didn't hurt when he was in this position and he felt safe. He felt his lids grow heavy from tiredness and tears.

Soon Sirius realized that Harry had stopped coughing. He looked down at him, and smiled when he saw Harry had fallen asleep against him. It gave all his parental instincts a jolt.

He carefully and slowly laid Harry back against his pillows and covered him back up. He just sat there stunned. Thinking 'Did I just do that?' Remus must have known what was going through his friend's mind because at that moment Remus whispered to him "Good job Padfoot. See parenting can be easy." Sirius jumped at the sudden sound.

"Hey! Don't scare me like that," he hissed, checking that Harry was still asleep. Remus gave a small grin

"Do you want me to watch over him the rest of the night?"

"No thanks, I'm good," Sirius said a protective edge to his voice.

"Down Paddy, just trying to help. Do you want me to charm this to stay warm in case he wakes up again?" Remus asked pointing to the warm compress he had brought into the room.

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

"No apology needed." Remus said waving it off as he said the charm to keep the compress warm. "If nothing else I'm going to try to get some sleep while there is still some night left. We both know what is happening in two nights." Remus said with a slight shudder. Sirius nodded.

"What are we going to do about it Moons?"

"You are going to stay with Harry. Remember I haven't had the wolfsbane potion since I left Hogwarts. I will go into the forest for the night." Remus said in a tone that left no room for argument.

"W-what if he gets sick?" asked Sirius. "I'm no good at this, you are. Sometimes I wonder why James made Harry's godfather, you're better at it than I'll ever be."

"Sirius, you're selling yourself short. Who took care of Harry when he called for help? You did. Who took care of him when he started getting sick before you brought him here? You did. Who refuses to leave him for a moment? You do. James I think made the best decision when it came to whom Harry's godfather should be." Remus said ticking off the points on his fingers.

He then added," Remember if Harry gets worse Attivus is just a firewall away."

"Yes, but . . . well . . . I wasn't going to leave him alone to get worse. I mean . . . well. . wouldn't you do the same thing?" Sirius stuttered.

"Of course I would. But, Sirius you did those things. You could have sent me to check on him but you went yourself. You didn't worry about this. You're doing a wonderful job. I think Harry would agree if he was awake." After Sirius's silent fight for words Remus added "Padfoot, what were you going to do when you first saw how bad his dreams were? You wrote me a letter but it never got here what did it say?"

"Er, ah . . .," Sirius scrunched up his face in thought. "I can't remember exactly. I was too worried about Harry at the time."

"Exactly, you were handling the situation. Why do you doubt yourself? James didn't doubt you." Remus said.

"Yeah, but James thought multi-colored kangaroos were funny."

"Only when he had drank one too many drinks at Rosemerta's." Remus smiled at the memory. "You're avoiding the question Sirius...why do you doubt yourself?"

Sirius sighed heavily. "Last time I checked I said 'Me? Get married? Have kids? I would be happy spending my life single and responsibility free.' Doesn't inspire much confidence does it?"

Remus looked at his friend sympathetically then said "Then why did you say yes when James asked you? And last time I checked that was close to 14 years ago. What does today's Sirius say?"

"I think I should have my head examined," Sirius said dryly. Remus then heaved a sigh

"Try again and make this answer real please." Remus caught himself in time not to make the mistake of saying serious to Sirius.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "Fine. I say that I think I might be able to do this." He looked at Harry fondly. "I really do love him. He's really perfect, you know?"

"I know you love him, and I know that he loves you. You'll be fine. It'll only be for one night and you've been with Harry close to a week now haven't you?"Remus said trying to get the point across to his thickheaded friend.

"Uh huh," Sirius nodded, running a hand through Harry's thick hair. "I guess you're right as usual." Remus got up and patted Sirius on the shoulder then he said

"James really did make the right choice you know."

"Why am I not surprised?" Sirius sighed. He looked up at the ceiling, speaking to it. "You always have to be right, eh Prongsie? One day, I'll prove you wrong! Maybe I'll teach Harry how to ride a motorbike."

"Lilly would come back from beyond the grave and give you a swift kick in the arse." Remus chuckled. "She was always afraid that the three of us would corrupt poor Harry before he was even in Hogwarts." He added.

"I'm working on it." Grinned Sirius.

"I don't doubt it. But the Weasley twins have already started it. I hate to admit it but if we were all at Hogwarts at the same time I don't think it would've still been standing. We also would've had one hell of a run for our galleons." Remus said in amusement.

"Perhaps," Sirius said thickly, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes. Well, now that your feeling better I am turning in. I suggest you do the same but maybe as padfoot so you can hear if he falls out of the bed again.G'Night Sirius." Remus said heading for the door.

"Night Moony," he heard Sirius say before there was a soft pop! Remus looked back to see Padfoot scrambling up onto the bed, and nuzzling himself under Harry's right arm before lying down with his head on his paws. Remus just chuckled softly as he closed the door behind him.