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

Chapter 3: Two to Six Years Later

Two years had passed and Sirius had kept his word to Lily and James, though there had been several close calls and Sirius had gone out of mind with worry every time Harry disappeared. He had been driven to do things he never imagined he would do.

Sirius had set up rules.

His godson could never be out after nightfall. Harry was not allowed to wander if they ever left the house, but keep a hold of Sirius's hand and stay by his side at all times. He was not allowed to touch a wand as well, as it often led to chaos and the occasional dangerous explosion.

Those had been the necessary rules, but Sirius soon found he made others without even realizing it. Harry had to finish 2/3 of meal before leaving the table. Harry was not allowed to tamper with the height restriction set on his broom until Sirius felt he was ready. Before Sirius pulled him out of school to be taught at home, Harry wasn't allowed to do anything else until his homework was finished and was not allowed to stay up past nine on school nights. If any of the rules were broken, Harry was punished, usually by taking away his broom for the appropriate amount of time.

It wasn't until Remus made a comment during a dinner he had stayed over for, when Sirius said, "You know the rules," after Harry tried to get away from his meal with only a few bites, that Sirius became aware of how horrifyingly parental he had become.

Still, even with Remus's taunting voice reminding him how "grown-up his icke Padfoot was" whenever Harry knocked on his door after a bad dream and snuggled close under the blankets with him he could only think of the good that came with the rules. Harry was still safe and happy with him and that was all that mattered.

Of course, raising a small child could be rather draining. Sirius was usually very good about waking at the crack of dawn with his godson despite his firm belief that the day didn't start until at least ten in the morning. Today, however, Sirius wasn't coming out his first deep sleep in weeks without a fight.

Harry pulled Remus upstairs by the sleeve into Sirius's room and put a finger to his lips.

Remus glanced at his watch and sighed. Either his watch was three hours slow, or Sirius should have been up hours ago.

"Get up you lazy mutt! It's going on one o'clock! Time to feed your godson, take a shower, have a life!"

"Sirius only pushed his head deeper into his pillow and muttered, "Take notes for me Remy. I'm sick today."

Rolling his eyes as Harry giggled, Remus strode over Sirius and gave him one hard shove, pushing him right out of bed.

"Goddamit Mother! I said I'm up!"

"Do you always speak to your mother like that?" Harry asked curiously, climbing onto Sirius's bed and jumping on contently.

Sirius decided not to answer.

"Do have any idea what time it is, Sirius?" Remus asked sternly.

"Um…" Sirius glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table. "Holy hell, Harry! Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I tried like fifty-eight bazillion times!" Harry exclaimed, still jumping.

"Do you have any idea how long you left Harry unattended? Do you have any clue what could happen to any seven-year-old in that time, let alone Harry Potter, being alone that long?" Remus demanded.

"Nothing happened, did it?" Sirius asked worriedly, looking very guilty.

Remus was tempted to say that Voldemort himself had his wand directed at Harry, just to get the point through Sirius's infamously thick skull, but decided against it.

"No, but something damn well could have. If you wanted some extra sleep, Sirius, you should have just sent Harry to my place. You know, I'm always willing to take him off your hands for awhile if you'd like."

"I know, Moony. I just didn't realize how late it was," Sirius said apologetically.

Picking himself off the floor, Sirius held his arms out to Harry who jumped into happily.

"I'm starving, how about you, kiddo?" Sirius asked, having missed both breakfast and lunch.

Harry nodded vigorously.

The three walked downstairs into the kitchen where an owl was waiting impatiently on the open window ledge. Putting Harry down at the table, Sirius went to take the letter from its outstretched claw.

"You don't have to go to the Ministry, do you?" Harry asked nervously.

Harry hated his godfather's job as a Ministry Auror. It was the only thing he could see Sirius doing for a living and Sirius enjoyed it and all. He was one of the best, and he got to stay home more often than other Ministry workers when he wasn't on call, but Harry hated it. Remus had already gotten four calls from St. Mungo's informing them of Sirius's more serious injuries, and even when Sirus did manage to escape to hospitalization he still often came home with cuts and bruises.

"Hogwarts?" Sirius muttered, staring at the seal. "Must be from Dumbledore. But why-?"

"I'd gotten one as well," Remus announced. "That's why I came here in the first place to find you still fast asleep."

Shrugging, Sirius opened the letter and read it through quickly, taking a seat next to Harry.

"What's it about?" Harry asked curiously.

"Huh? Um…nothing much." Sirius said evasively, folding the letter. "We're going to have to go to Hogwarts in a bit, though. Go on and eat without me, kid. I have to get ready to go." He turned to Remus, "What do you know about this, Moony?"

"Probably as much as do, Padfoot; practically nothing."

"Do I get to come too?" Harry asked pleadingly.

"Yes, but you have to wait outside Dumbledore's office," Sirius replied. "You can have a look about the castle or something. Be ready to go in about a half hour," he said getting up from the table.

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"C'mon Harry," Jame said encouragingly. "Give Daddy his wand back now."

Harry had no intention of doing such a thing. He was having far too much fun. He had already exploded nearly every kitchen appliance, conjured an army of rubber duckies that were currently invading the kitchen, turned the entire living room, it's contents, and his parents bright orange, shrunk his father down to his size, and sent his mother flying about the ceiling after disarming her.

"For crying out loud, James, just take it from him!" Lily shouted from above.

"How thick do you think I am? If I try that again he might give me Snivellus's hair next!"

Harry gave a little giggle at that, though he probably couldn't understand most of what his father said.

"And now I'm just planting ideas in his head," James muttered.

"JAMES! WE'RE THE PARENTS! DO SOMETHING!"

Face the wrath of his wife or his son? They were both quite formidable at the moment. The only way out of this was to somehow trick his exceptionally bright child into surrendering the wand.

James put on the most serious and threatening face he could fake in his bright orange toddler state and said quite clearly and sternly, "Harry James Potter, give your father his wand back this instant or you won't ride a broomstick until you're twenty."

Now that much Harry understood. Harry dropped the wand in shock and started counting his fingers, his expression becoming more fearsome the higher he got as James snatched the wand up and started putting thing to right again.

He paused at Lily. Did he really want to bring her back down just yet? The look in her eyes as he hesitated was so menacing that he figured he wouldn't live to see Harry's second birthday if he didn't.

Once all was right in the Potter household Lily prepared herself to scold her son for disobeying his parents, before proceeding to yell at her husband for stupidly leaving his wand where Harry could get a hold of it.

Harry, sitting down and not managing to get past twelve on his toes started crying and reaching for his mother.

James, alarmed that his bluff had actually caused his son to cry, picked Harry up and tried to soothe him.

"C'mon Harry, I didn't mean it. I'll take you up as soon as I get your mother to trust me alone with you," James promised, ignoring the glare from his wife. "Shhh. It's alright, kiddo. You know I could never deny you a broomstick."

"Since her husband was failing so miserably, Lily took her son into her arms and made her own feeble attempted at calming her baby.

After five minutes of Harry's wailings, both parents were starting to worry. Harry never cried like this unless something was wrong.

"I'm calling Sirius," James announced, knowing if they couldn't find what was the matter, Harry's godfather would.

"And a healer," Lily added, rocking Harry back and forth.

"He hasn't got a fever, Lily. We've checked. He's fine."

"I just want to be certain," she said over her son's wails.

James glanced back at his son worriedly. No, he wasn't sick, or sour about the broomstick or the wand. Still he clung to his mother the way he would after waking from a nightmare and refused to be put for five seconds until he was fast asleep. James could remember rocking Harry back and forth for hours, much like how Lily was now, reassuring his son that whatever was in the dream didn't matter and because he'd never let anything hurt Harry. Every time he tried and failed to put Harry down, he'd promise to stay with Harry no matter what.

Suddenly the wards around the house alerted him to an intruder and realization hit James like he'd just gotten run over by the Hogwarts Express.

"Lily, take Harry and go!" It's him! Go! Rin! I'll hold him off-"

Just as Lily had started to run off with their baby boy the door had burst open and Lord Voldemort came in with that annoying high-pitched laugher.

Then they had dueled.

"The next thing I knew the house was in ruins. I tried calling Sirius and Remus, but I couldn't reach Remus, probably because it was so late, and apparently Sirius had moved overnight or something." James went on. "Dumbledore, where's Lily? What happened to her and Harry?" he asked desperately, sounding somewhat fearful of the reply.

Dumbledore sighed as James finished his story and sent the two owls away. "James, you'll have to forgive my shock upon seeing you tonight. There's no easy way to tell you this, but there's quite a bit you need to know before Sirius and Remus arrive."

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Harry was told he was welcome to go anywhere he pleased in on the castle grounds with the exception of the hospital wing and the Forbidden Forest (though Harry thought the name made it quite obvious he wasn't allowed there), since the students were still gone for the summer holidays.

He had of course heard all about Hogwarts through Padfoot's and Moony's stories, but seeing it was a different thing entirely. The Quidditch Pitch was huge, the staircase kept changing on him, rooms appeared out of nowhere, and he gotten lost with his very first turn. Harry stood and gaped when he found the Great Hall with the enchanted ceiling. The entire castle was amazing and filled with more magic than Harry could have ever imagined.

He couldn't believe his luck when he found the Fat Lady, who luckily didn't insist on a password since the children were all gone. Harry was stunned that he was actually in the Gryffindor common room, where the Marauders came up with their greatest pranks.

After taking in the cozy room, Harry's eyes fell on a rug in a corner of the room, seemingly randomly placed. Harry grinned as the story of one of his father's pranks gone wrong came to mind. He forgot just what his father was planning on exploding with a dungbomb of his own creation, but it went off early and destroyed a good chunk of the common room and could have easily harmed a student. It took a month of repairs and the smell lingered into their following year, Sirius had told him.

Removing the rug, Harry could see where his father had cemented the huge crater as part of his punishment.

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Sirius gaped at the headmaster for what seemed to eternity in his mind. The word 'ALIVE!' flashed like a gigantic neon sign before his eyes and echoed within his ears. It seemed impossible to even allow the word into his thoughts after all these years, but Dumbledore had given that the man currently within the hospital wing really was James Potter, without a doubt in his mind.

But it couldn't be true. There had to be another explanation. The real James Potter couldn't be alive, no matter how much wished it was. It could only be the sick work of the Death Eaters, trying to hurt his godson again.

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After a full examination, Madam Pomfrey still wasn't satisfied with James's perfect health. She seemed to have a need to find something that wasn't normal for an average adult wizard's body. After hours of being poked and prodded with the nurse's wand, James finally snuck out of the hospital wing when she left for some instrument that definitely didn't sound very pleasant.

Afraid that Dumbledore would send him back to the nurse if he dared to badger him with the zillion other questions James hadn't asked yet, he started to wander about the castle.

James could only repeat the information in his mind over and over trying to make some sort of sense of it all.

'Harry's alright. That's what was most important. Still, Harry, his baby boy, defeated the most feared dark wizard at fifteen months. Lily…his beautiful Lily…was gone. Nearly six years had pasted since yesterday. Harry was seven. Harry was sent to live with the Dursleys while Sirius suffered four years of imprisonment. It was all wrong. That wasn't how it was supposed to be, but Sirius was freed and saved Harry during a Death Eater attack on the Dursleys that had cost them their lives. The Death Eaters was still after them. It'd been six years….Lily…He was believed to be dead…for six bloody years.

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Harry jumped as the portrait door swung open. Smiling brightly he ran to the door excitedly saying, "I found it Sirius! I found the spot where-"

Harry came too an abrupt halt at the man in front of him, his smile quickly fading. The man in the pictures, in the stories, the one that Sirius said he was most like, was standing before him. His father was here, with him, in Hogwarts, obviously alive and well though a little pale in the face, but here.

James stood there just as shocked as Harry, for it was most certainly his son in front of him. Only his son could have inherited such unruly black hair, standing up in all directions. Only his son could have such brilliant emerald green eyes…exactly like Lily's. He knew Sirius and Remus would come to today, but as anxious as was to see his son, James hadn't expected him. He wasn't prepared to find Harry in Gryffindor common room.

For several seconds they only stood staring at one another in shock, taking in every detail of the other. Both were so painfully afraid that should they blink the other would vanish.

"D-dad?" Harry finally said timidly, his voice full of uncertainty.

James nodded numbly.

Sirius's anxious calls could be heard through the portrait, but quickly faded. Neither of them moved.

"H-he sounds worried," Harry managed to get out. "Sirius gets mad if I worry him. He'll take my broom away again."

Harry made to walk past his father, sure this wasn't real, positive he was dreaming. He needed to find Sirius. He needed to talk to him. He needed to wake up from this from dream so he could be back with his godfather looking after him as he fell back to sleep.

"Wait," James said suddenly, stopping Harry in his tracks. Bright green eyes stared up at him almost cautiously. "You're my son. You're Harry," he said thickly.

Harry nodded with a slight smile.

"You fly?"

Harry nodded again, grinning broadly. "Sirius got me one of the new Comet Two Sixties for Christmas. It's awesome! Only…the worrying buggerhead won't let me higher than forty feet," he grumbled.

James burst out laughing at his son's new term for his godfather. "Worrying buggerhead? Sirius? Maybe Remus…but definitely not-"

"He starts freaking out every time I dive!" Harry exclaimed. "He keeps checking to make sure I'm next to him whenever we go shopping or something every minute. It's annoying. Moony says it's just a phase, but he won't stop!"

James had to stop and wonder what parenting a small child must be like to have such an affect on Sirius. Sirius was the most carefree person he knew.

"Dad?"

"Yes Harry?"

Harry hesitated for a moment, but Sirius had always insisted upon him asking whatever question popped into his head, and boy did he have questions now. "What happened? Sirius and everyone…they said…you and mum…"

James winced at the mention of Harry's mother. Her death still seemed so unreal to him. Still he sighed and squatted to be eyelevel with his son.

"I'm not sure what happened, Harry," James said sadly. "Dumbledore has a few guesses, but all that's important is that I'm here now. I've got a second chance to look after my son."

"So…you back, to stay?"

"Most definitely staying," James confirmed, pulling Harry into the tight embrace he'd been holding back since he found him. Harry returned it, resting his on his father's shoulder as he lifted him up. "Now let's go find that buggerhead godfather of yours-"

"Let him go," a cold voice said from behind.

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