Disclaimer:grumbles: I own nothing you stupid icky lawyers…Go away and leave me alone

Chapter 2: Bad Words and Muddy Mutts

Harry woke in a bedroom that had to be three times the size of Dudley's. He lay in a gigantic spacious four-poster bed full of heavy snug blankets and comfy pillows. It was beyond anything could imagine after four years of a cramped cupboard, an uncomfortable cot, and a thin sheet. There were even toys and books all neatly placed in a chest or on the shelves as though calling for him to take them out of place.

For a while, Harry could only sit in awe, having no idea why he would be in such unbelievable room. The Dursleys would do their own chores before they put Harry in such an extravagant place where he could break so many obviously expensive things. Then his eyes fell on the man who had rescued him the night before, Sirius, in a picture on the fireplace mantle with a baby in his arms, standing beside a man in glasses whose hair was as stubbornly untidy as his own.

Harry marveled at the photograph, and the others beside it. Not only were they all moving, smiling, laughing, and waving up at him, but these were the first pictures he had ever seen of his parents. For the first time Harry could see that he looked like a little version of his father with his mother's stunningly bright green eyes.

The sound of distant voices reached Harry's ears. He reluctantly turned away from the pictures, walked across the room, and opened one of two large oak doors to peer outside.

Downstairs, Sirius was picking moodily at his breakfast as he discussed the previous night with Remus, and about what he suspected of his godson's treatment over the last four years.

"Yes, Sirius, Lily always said they were some of the most wretched people she had ever known, but-"

"But nothing, Remus! From what I gather they kept him in a cupboard! A cupboard! Not to mention he was wearing pajamas that looked as though they belonged to a baby elephant. When I went back to get his things they were all the same. That great whale of boy had a bedroom and another to hold all his of nice clothes and about an entire toyshop. Harry only had a cramped corner and hand-me-downs that could swallow him whole," Sirius ranted.

"Hand-me-downs are perfectly norm-"

"And why can they swallow him whole?" Sirius interrupted. "Because Harry's only getting a small fraction of what he should while his cousin was eating five times of what he should! I sincerely doubt Harry has gained a single pound that wasn't height related since he was put on those Muggles' doorstep."

"I thing you're exaggerating a little too much, Sirius," Remus said rationally. "Besides, they're gone now. There's no reason to-"

"Damn lucky for them I hadn't gotten there first or I-"

"Sirius?"

The adults turned to find a sleepy looking Harry standing timidly in the doorway. Remus, taking his first good look at the small boy could slightly understand where Sirius was coming from. Harry was far too scrawny for someone his age.

"Er-How long have you been standing there, kiddo?" Sirius asked, motioning for Harry to take seat next to him.

Harry was half tempted to ask why Sirius kept calling him kiddo as he took his seat at the table, though he knew better than to ask questions. "Don't worry. I hear people say bad words all the time. I don't mind," the ignorant child answered.

"And such a vile thing for me to do." Sirius said, remembering Lily's smacking hand whenever he used foul language in front of her baby boy. "You know better than to say such offensive words, don't you Harry?"

Harry nodded vigorously, then asked, "What's vile?" before he could stop himself.

Instead of the usual scolding for asking questions, Harry was surprised when Sirius answered, "It means disgusting, nasty, icky."

"Oh." Trying his luck Harry asked cautiously, "What's offensive?"

"Wrong, rude, hurtful to others," Remus replied.

"Who are you?" Harry asked next, wondering if this newfound freedom would last long.

"Harry, this Remus Lupin, a friend of mine who was also close to your parents," Sirius introduced. "You can call him Moony. He'll come by every once in awhile to make sure I'm not burning down the house or something equally stupid."

"What would you like for breakfast, Harry?" asked Remus, smiling kindly.

This was something different. He could ask questions and have people ask want he wanted. He couldn't remember ever being such a question in his life. He just took whatever he got and was grateful whether he liked it or not.

"Um…toast," he answered, listing his usual breakfast meal.

"Nothing else?" Sirius asked, surprised. " Eggs, bacon, pancakes…?"

"Pancakes?" Harry repeated excitedly, shocked that he would be offered such a treat.

Suddenly a plate with a stack full of pancakes drenched in syrup popped out of nowhere in front of him with a tall glass of chocolate milk. Harry started at the food in awe. It had appeared as though by…

"It's just the house-elves," Sirius explained.

"House-elves?"

"They're magical creatures that live to serve their wizarding families," Remus informed him.

Harry instinctively flinched at hearing those words. "How come grown-ups get to say bad words?" he asked curiously.

"What?"

"You said a bad word, and then Moony got to say the really, really bad ones that not even Uncle Vernon would say."

"What words was that?" Remus asked, frowning.

Harry clapped both of his hands over his mouth. He wouldn't dare say those words again.

"It's all right, Harry. You can say them this time for us," Sirius said reassuringly. "We want to know what the really bad ones are so we're careful next we want to say them."

Harry removed his hands slowly and asked fearfully, "You won't punish me?"

"No punishment this time," Sirius promised him.

Harry took a deep breath, as though preparing for the worst, before whispering, "W-wizard…a-and magic," then clapped his hands back over his mouth. Looking between the two stunned adults Harry braced himself, just in case.

"They punished you for that?" Sirius finally shouted incredulously, coming out of his stupor. "It's who you are for Merlin's sake!"

Remus frowned. Perhaps Sirius wasn't exaggerating as much as he thought he had.

Sirius rose from his seat furiously, wincing as Harry shrunk back. He strode out of the kitchen, needing to kick some furniture away from his godson.

"It's really offensive, isn't it?" Harry asked, removing his hands from his mouth once more.

"No, Harry, but it was really of vile of your relatives to teach you that," said Remus. "You're now allowed to say those words as much as you want to."

"But it made Sirius angry."

"At your family because you're afraid to do something not only common but practically necessary in our world," Remus explained.

Sirius marched back into the kitchen.

"How?" he asked.

"Pardon?" said Remus.

"How did they punish you, Harry?" he repeated.

Remus was about to say Sirius was probably overreacting until Harry muttered to his pancakes, "I'm not allowed."

Sirius's unsteady hand raked through his long dark hair as he bent down next to his godson. "Harry, I need to know how they punished you," Sirius repeated once more softly. "I promise you won't get into any trouble. Can you tell me the worse thing they ever did to you?"

For a moment Harry only continued to stare into his pancakes before looking to Sirius with questioning eyes. Finally he turned back to his pancakes and mumbled, "Uncle Vernon would get really angry, and he'd hit me if I was really bad, then he would lock me in my cupboard for a week without meals, and Aunt Petunia would let me out to do chores all day while Uncle Vernon went to work."

Sirius paled considerably and pulled Harry into a tight hug, which Harry returned uncertainly, before getting up and saying in a voice of forced calm, "Finish your breakfast, kiddo. Remus, would you mind looking after him while I go and pay Dumbledore a visit."

"Of course," Remus agreed numbly, his face also completely drained of color.

After Sirius left for several hours, Remus told Harry stories of the Marauders' old school days. Harry listened aptly, thrilled with the idea of midnight adventures with a werewolf in a magic school. He thoroughly enjoyed the PB&J sandwich for lunch followed by fudgy ice cream. Never had anyone rewarded him with such treats so often. When Remus suggested they go upstairs to play with the new toys Sirius had gotten him, Harry cheered with joy and raced Remus up to his new bedroom.

By the time Sirius had gotten home he found Harry on the couch asleep with the stuffed Padfoot toy and a smile on his face.

"Well, it's about time, Sirius," Remus said coming into the room. "I wouldn't mind crashing myself. He's really careful about making too much noise, but once you get him riled up he's quite the handful. How were things with Dumbledore?"

"Loud and productive," said Sirius wearily. "After making the old man feel like scum and I got some anger out, he helped me out a bit with some extra protection charms for the house and Harry. It's damn near impossible for anyone to harm my godson now, and if by some Death Eater miracle someone does, I'll know about it instantly. You can't find a safer kid in the world."

"Don't get cocky, Padfoot, and keep in mind keep in mind that Harry isn't the only one here in danger. You need to be careful," Remus warned.

"You worry too much, Moony," Sirius said offhandedly.

Remus rolled his eyes and sighed. It was so typical of Sirius to tell him he was worrying too much with Death Eaters after him, as though he was only worrying about whether or not it would rain that afternoon.

"Look Sirius," said Remus somewhat sternly. "I'm nor sure what you've done in the short time you've been with Harry, but all this morning he's been waiting impatiently for you to come home, asking for story after story about Padfoot and Prongs, and at breakfast he had complete blind faith in you while it me over an hour to get him to say more than three-worded sentences to me at a time. The kid absolutely adores you, Padfoot, so do me and Harry a favor and be careful."

It took Sirius a moment to get over Remus being so direct with him, but once it faded he nodded quite seriously for a change at his friend.

"Good. You know I'm being completely honest about Harry," Remus said with a small smile. "It's almost exactly like when he was a baby."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, confused.

"You remember, how you always had a sixth sense about Harry. Whenever he started crying and his parents were at a lost you came over without even knowing he was crying to begin with knew exactly what he wanted. James secretly worried Harry's first word would 'Padfoot' instead of 'Dada,'" Remus explained. "Harry adored you then too."

"A sixth sense?" Sirius repeated. "It was all lucky coincidence, Moony."

"Whatever you say, Padfoot, but it seems as though that luck has returned. How else do you explain showing up at Harry's house just as the Death Eaters had last night?" Remus asked. "And the Dursleys. You knew the extent of their mistreatment the entire time, didn't you?"

"That was a hunch, a belief sprung from the obvious malnutrition and neglect. And I was too excited about Harry coming to sleep last night. It was a lucky coincidence, that's it."

"Whatever it is, you should learn to embrace it. Enjoy it. Do you have any idea how many parents would kill for that kind of gift?" Remus asked, grinning widely. "Besides, if he's as much as James as I think he is, you're going to need it. Good luck, Padfoot," he added before disapparating from the house.

"I always knew Moony was off his rocker," Sirius muttered before turning back to Harry. "Now are you going to continue pretending you're asleep, or are you going to see what Padfoot got you while he was gone?"

Harry shot up from the couch and looked up at Sirius anxiously.

Laughing, Sirius emptied his pockets of the shrunken shopping bags and enlarged them back to normal size. There had to be about twenty bags littering the living room. Opening them, Sirius revealed brand new robes, jeans, t-shirts, sweaters, pajamas, and cloaks, which all appeared to be about Harry's size. Harry, never being given anything new or something that could actually fit him, could only gape at the fine clothes for several moments.

"This is all for me?" he asked timidly.

"No, it's the newest style for adults to go walking around in toddler-sized clothes," Sirius said sarcastically. "Of course it's for you, kiddo! We could take some of it back if you don't like it or it doesn't fit right, but I thought you could use-"

Sirius was caught off as Harry hugged him tightly around the waist.

"Thank you so, so, so, so, so much, Sirius," Harry said sincerely, half believing himself to be in some fairy-tale dream to be with such a nice godfather.

"Well you're very welcome, Harry," Sirius replied, chuckling lightly to see the kid so worked up over clothes as though he had just gotten his first top quality broomstick. "Now go change out those and put the rest of it in your wardrobe, alright?"

Harry nodded and ran upstairs with as many bags as he could carry without tripping over his own two feet.

Most of day after that was spent rather quietly, which was really starting to bug Sirius. He'd grown up with Harry's fairly rambunctious father, and the whole wizarding world knew just how loud Lily could be. It never seemed possible for their five-year-old son to spend his afternoon reading a book or coloring quietly. It was just plain wrong in Sirius's mind, and he wasn't about to let it go on a moment longer

"Oh Harry," Sirius said in a singsong tone, catching his godson's attention.

Seeing the evil glint in Sirius's eyes, Harry instinctively knew what was coming. He dropped his crayon and ran for it just as Sirius transformed into the gigantic shaggy black dog and tore after him. Barks and giggles resounded throughout the house as Sirius chased the boy outside where he belonged.

Once outside something caught Harry's eye and gave him a brilliant idea, only Padfoot had him cornered against a row of bushes.

Harry's eyes widened as the garden hose rose on it's own accord behind Padfoot and unexpectedly turned itself on. Padfoot gave a high-pitched yelp and jumped a mile high as water sprayed him from behind, soaking his fur.

As the garden hose relented it's attack and settled back to the ground, Padfoot glared back at his godson. Harry knew he was in trouble now. He'd done something really freaky this time and drenched Sirius in the process. Harry had just enough time to think, Uh-oh, before Padfoot charged after him and pinned him to the ground. Sirius transformed again and tickled his godson ruthlessly in revenge.

"Stop-stop it, Padfoot!" Harry shouted through his uncontrollable giggle fit.

"Say Padfoot wins," Sirius said, grinning triumphantly.

"Never!"

Sirius continued tickling relentlessly. "Say it."

Harry was now laughing so hard he could barely get a breath in.

"St-op it! Lemme-go!"

"Not until you say it," Sirius said teasingly.

"Pad-foot-wins," Harry gasped defeatedly.

"What was that?"

"Padfoot wins! Padfoot wins!"

Sirius stopped, satisfied, and got off the small boy.

"Of course I win," he said smugly, shaking his dripping hair in a very dog-like manner. "That ought to teach you not to challenge-"

Sirius was cut off as mud splattered across his face. Whipping the muck out of his eyes he found Harry's incriminating muddy hand.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh's right," Sirius replied menacingly, gathering his own handful of mud.

They spent hours outside until Sirius insisted it was getting too late. After both had bathed and Sirius got the house-elves to wash their downright grimy clothes, they had a rather large dinner that Harry quickly found he couldn't finish. Sirius, however, wouldn't allow Harry to leave the table he had eaten at least ¾ of what was on his plate, claiming he was much too skinny to not finish a meal.

At nine, Sirius figured it was time was bed, though Harry refused to sleep without a Marauder story. When Harry started nodding off, Sirius attempted to leave for his own bed. Harry woke with a start and hesitantly begged Sirius not to leave, not just yet.

Sirius sighed and sank back down on Harry's bed. "What's up with you, kiddo?" he asked, rubbing soothing circles on Harry's back, because it just felt so natural to do so.

"Nothing," Harry mumbled into Sirius's shoulder. "I just don't want you go yet."

Sirius took a guess. "Scared of the Death Eaters, huh?"

Harry paused, then nodded shamefully. "Why did they come last night?"

Sirius chewed his lip pensively. It was best to get it over with now, he figured, even if it had to be a watered-down version.

"Because when you were really, really little, their master, Voldemort, wanted to hurt you, but you made him go away instead. That's how you got that scar," Sirius explained wearily, pushing the boy's messy hair out of his eyes to reveal the famous lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead. "After you stopped their master, they were all caught and punished for all the bad things they did, and you were the wizarding world's hero. Now they're angry and want their master back. They want to hurt you because you made their master go away."

Harry listened as though it was all just another bedtime story. "I didn't do that," he said disbelievingly.

"You were only a year old, Harry. You wouldn't remember it," replied Sirius.

"Well how did I do it then? A baby can't do that," Harry asked curiously.

"You could, only no one knows how. When Voldemort tried to hurt you, all you got was that cut and his power broke. Now he's hiding, barely alive."

"Why would he want to hurt me, though?" Harry asked curiously, his eyes drooping sleepily. "I didn't do anything."

"I'll tell you when you're older, okay?"

"Fine," Harry said disappointedly, too tired to care much.

A comfortable silence fell over the two as Harry finally let his eyes close. He smiled as Sirius stroked his hair absently. He couldn't get over the difference between Sirius and the Dursleys. Part of him was certain if he'd fall asleep he'd wake to the sound of Aunt Petunia knocking loudly on his cupboard door, ordering him to get breakfast started, and Sirius would turn out to be just a dream.

Harry opened his eyes to peer up at his godfather.

"Sirius?"

"Hmmm?"

Harry fiddled with his blanket nervously. "Um…could you, maybe, stay here tonight?" he asked, remembering that Aunt Petunia let Dudley stay with her when he had a nightmare or something, yet always shunned Harry away.

"Of course, kiddo," Sirius answered, climbing under the blankets with his godson and holding him tightly.