Disclaimer:grumbles: I own nothing you stupid icky lawyers…Go away and leave me alone
Chapter 4: Potters Just Won't Die!
James turned to find Sirius and Remus standing in the doorway. Remus only stared dumbly in shock, looking extremely confused, while Sirius stood rigidly, glaring at James with a horrible mix of fear, disgust, and pure hatred burning in his eyes.
Just let my godson go and I swear I'll give you a nice painless death instead of the far more deserving methods I had in mind," Sirius said in an unsteady voice.
James only stood disbelievingly. He had no idea why his best friend was behaving this way. He didn't know how to react.
Remus had no idea what he was supposed to think.
Harry was far more confused than all the Marauders combined. Weren't Sirius and his father best friends? Shouldn't Sirius be just as overwhelmingly happy as Harry was, instead of staring at James as though he'd like nothing more than to send James straight back to his grave?
"Sirius-?"
"Give me my godson," Sirius repeated, this time more urgently, pulling his wand out. "Whatever the filthy rat taught you about James Potter is useless. It may have fooled Dumbledore, but no one can fool me.
'So that's what this is about,' James thought. 'Sirius thinks this all some Death Eater plot.'
Knowing he'd get his head blown off if he didn't, James placed Harry back on the ground. With his wand still pointed in James's direction, Sirius pulled Harry away from his father.
Sirius, I know this hard for you to accept, but-" James tried to explain, but Sirius interrupted shrewdly.
"Oh no. You have no idea how this is not to accept, but I'm not going to put Harry in danger because I'm gullible enough to believe this demented Death Eater rouse."
"Look, ask me anything you like. I'll prove-"
"Dammit, just cut the act out or I swear you really will be a dead man within the next three seconds."
"But Sirius," Harry said softly, tugging on his godfather's sleeve. "Can't you just test him? What if it really is my dad?"
Sirius's cold expression immediately softened into one that James could recognize with the tiny tug.
"Harry I know this is hard for you to understand, but I was there, kiddo. I saw you dad…that night. He's gone, Harry. There's no way that this man could possibly be-"
"Prongs," Remus interrupted, gaining everyone's attention for the first time since he entered the room.
"No one has the ability to copy Prongs. No matter how much anyone knows and acts like James, no matter what potion or charm anyone can use fro his appearance, no one can copy Prongs."
"Brilliant," Harry said, smiling once more.
Sirius suddenly looked uncertain.
"May I?" James asked his friend pleasantly, as though Sirius wasn't pointing his wand at him threateningly.
Sirius still looked skeptical, as though he was trying to decide if this some sort of trick or not. Then, after picking Harry up protectively, he nodded.
Harry beamed, Remus's jaw dropped, and Sirius nearly dropped his godson as a stag appeared before them.
James Potter really was alive.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
James watched in amusement as Sirius and Harry chased after each other in the yard. Harry, being frightfully skilled with wandless magic, was brilliant at holding the great black mutt off, levitating him into the air, sicking the hose on him, creating invisible barriers, and invoking some crazy force that tended to pull Sirius by the tail. It wasn't long before they decided to come in, looking utterly exhausted.
Harry was fast asleep on the couch within minutes.
"I knew he would be good at magic," James commented quietly, "but I had no idea he'd be that good. "Do you always go out there and let him exercise it freely like that?"
"You don't know about the numerous explosions whenever he gets startled. Just a couple months ago I burnt my tongue on my coffee early one morning while he was still half asleep. I cursed a bit and the kid was so out of it he nearly destroyed my kitchen," Sirius explained. "It's better to get it all out of him in the morning so he'll crash and be too tired for magic for the rest of the day. Not only does it give me some quiet for a while, but he's learning how to control it with minimum damage to the house. It works," he said with a shrug, taking a seat beside his friend.
"Yeah," James said, remembering that it was only yesterday to him that Harry had turned their house upside down after he'd managed to get a hold of his wand. " I always knew he'd be a handful. Have you told Dumbledore about this? What does he say?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "He just said to encourage it. Like I couldn't figure that much on my own. He grew up with those damn muggles so he was never allowed to do magic without getting in trouble. Of course he had to be encouraged! I just remember that at Harry's age I only had a few magical accidents every year and never did I have any control over them." Sirius looked over to his sleeping godson across from him. "He's a good kid and everything, but it's kids like Harry that brought about the creation of the sleeping potion."
"So it's true then," James said smugly. "Sirius Black is turning into a buggerheaded old man."
Sirius instantly recognized the term. "I am not!" he protested. "What has that little brat been telling you?"
"Nothing much, I'm afraid. What's he been like these two years? When did he first get up on broomstick? Is he still a little mischief-maker? Does he have a favorite Quidditch team? What about school? Is he-?"
"Would you shut your trap already? You're going to wake him ranting on and on like that," Sirius said sternly, getting up from his seat and picking up a leather-bound book sitting on the coffee table. "Here. Maybe this will help satisfy your curiosity until he wakes up and you can ask him yourself," he said handing James the book.
James opened it to find picture after picture of Harry, smiling brightly in every single one. Sirius was often laughing with him, or being the guinea pig in a prank, or just standing aside watching his godson proudly. Remus appeared quite often as well, also frequently the victim of a joke. Then there was a group of redheads with son that James didn't recognize.
"Who are they?" James asked curiously, pointing to the picture.
Sirius looked over James's shoulder and smiled at the picture of the Weasley twins ganging up on their two younger siblings armed with snowballs. Harry, hiding under the invisibility cloak he'd gotten that year for Christmas, was freaking the twins out as he pelted snowballs at them. Unfortunately Fred managed to hit Harry after finding where the snowballs were coming from. Harry then came out from under his cloak and shouted over at the two trees where the oldest of the Weasley brothers, Bill and Charlie, came out and helped the younger ones send Fred and George home shivering.
"Those are the Weasleys," Sirius informed his friend. "Arthur works at the Ministry with me, Misuse of Muggle-Artifacts. I had to take Harry to the office one day while Remus had a job interview. There was some sort of emergency while we were there, Unforgivables being used on muggles or something, and obviously I couldn't take Harry, so Arthur volunteered to look after him for a while. After that I learned that he had a whole mess of children and Harry really could have used friends his age then. So Harry and Ron there, who's going to Hogwarts the same year as Harry, are now best friends. That's Bill and Charlie, the oldest. Percy's not in the picture, but he has future no-fun-all-rules-prefect written all over him. Then there's the littlest and only girl, Ginny, who has had a bit of a crush on Harry since the moment she met him, which is absolutely hilarious to watch.
"The Weasleys all treat Harry like family. I'm shocked Molly hasn't tried to kidnap Harry, dye his hair red, and claim him as her own yet. Mind you, she's probably considered it. She doesn't really approve of my parenting, you see," Sirius explained, looking a little uncomfortable.
"Which I've told you a hundred times, Padfoot, is because she's one of those kind of mums who has to nurture every sweet little boy who steps foot into her house, and she's not over here all the time to see for herself the way you look after Harry," Remus said sternly, walking into the room wit tea for himself and coffee for Sirius and James as they would need it when Harry got up. "She already had a biased opinion of you before ever walked into her house. To her you're just a childish, self-centered man with a hotheaded temper and a mouth a sailor would be ashamed of, and while yes, you are all those things, she doesn't see all you're redeeming qualities like…" Remus paused pensively for a moment before turning to James. "Umm…help me out here, Prongs."
James thought about it for a moment then answered, "Er, you adorable puppy dogs face."
Sirius rolled his eyes and smacked James upside the head as he and Remus burst out laughing. Harry groaned at the noise and rolled over, hushing the Marauders.
James looked at Sirius and said quite seriously, " It looks to me like you've been one hell of godfather," gesturing to the photo album of happy pictures of the past two years. "Even if it has turned you into a buggerheaded old man."
"A buggerheaded old man with rules," Remus amended.
"Well at least I'm not the one with all the gray hairs, Moony," Sirius shot back.
"You seem to forget that you're five months older, Padfoot," Remus reminded him.
"The both of you are bickering old men and I'm not a day over twenty," James said triumphantly, sticking his tongue out at the pair of them.
Both Remus and Sirius glanced at each other in silent agreement.
"You dare to call your fellow Marauders old?" Remus asked in a hurt tone.
"Gray hair and rule-making sounds a lot more like ancient than old, doesn't it," James replied thoughtfully.
"That's an act of war, Potter!" Sirius declared.
Harry woke up to the sounds of shouting coming from the kitchen. Getting up from the couch curiously, he walked to the kitchen and opened the door cautiously to nearly get squirted with chocolate syrup.
"What the-?"
All three Marauders looked up, all covered in a variety of foods.
"Uh…it's not what it looks like," Sirius said, trying to hide the incriminating bottle of chocolate.
"You guys had a food fight!" Harry exclaimed, staring at the "adults" in awe.
"Um…no we didn't?" Remus replied, looking at James for help.
"Of course we are!" James said grinning. "Grab some food and help me show these two how old and feeble they are, Harry!"
"Hey! No fair!" Sirius declared. "Harry, get James or you're grounded!"
"I'm the dad around here, Sirius. Ha! Harry, get the old mutt or your grounded!"
"How dare you turn my own godson against me, Prongs! That's just wrong!"
While Sirius and James were busy trying to recruit Harry Remus handed Harry the ketchup, he took the mustard, and they both attacked.
"MOONY!"
"Uh-oh. Run for it!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"My lord, are the rumors true?" Bellatrix asked. "Has Potter really returned?"
"Yes," Voldemort hissed in answer. "The boy has something to do with, I assure you, Bella."
"My Lord," Bellatrix said hesitantly. "If Potter really has returned we have no hope of coming close to the boy again. The last attempts have been continually thwarted by Black. With Potter also protecting the boy, perhaps it would be best to return you to power now, using another."
"A second Potter has escaped death by hands because of that boy. There will be no other. I want only the blood of Harry Potter, do I make myself clear, Bellatrix?"
"Yes my Lord," she replied dutifully, sinking into a low bow.
"Lord Voldemort has his reasons. You must learn patience, Bella, something I can easily fix. The boy can't hide behind his precious guardians forever. We shall wait for the opportunity to present itself. In the mean time…"
"Yes my Lord?"
"Crucio!" Voldemort looked down at his servant twitching and screaming on the floor indifferently. "Never doubt my power to kill a Potter, Bellatrix. I finish what I've begun."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Harry leapt out of bed as pain exploded and coursed through his scar. He ran out of his lonely bedroom and into the hall, ready to knock on Sirius's door.
But as the pain began to dull, Harry realized that there was two doors for him to choose from.
Harry stood between them, trying to figure out which to take. He always went to Sirius when he had a bad dream. Sirius was all he had. But now his father was here for him as well. Harry was stuck between wanting his father there for him, and the familiar comfort that Sirius had always provided for him.
Unable to make a decision, Harry crawled back into bed, feeling very alone. No one was there to draw his attention away from the high-pitched voice of Voldemort or the vision of the Death Eater who had tried and tried again to take him form Sirius, on the floor screaming in pain.
"DAD! SIRIUS!" Harry called at the top of his lungs in fright.
Both adults were in room in seconds, both with wands out and ready. They sighed in relief as they found Harry alone.
"Harry, what's wrong, kiddo?" James asked worriedly.
"Nightmare?" Sirius guessed.
Harry nodded. "I-I got scared."
"You want to tell us about it?" James asked, sitting next to his son.
Harry shook his head vigorously.
"You want to tell us who was in it?" Sirius asked, knowing there were only three people in Harry's nightmares that really scared him: Voldemort, Bellatrix, and his uncle.
Harry considered it for a moment before answering, "Bellatrix and Voldemort."
James's eyes widened upon hearing those names in his son's dreams.
"What kind of dream?" Sirius asked, trying to sound comforting instead of demanding.
"It hurt," Harry answered, knowing Sirius would understand. "A lot," he added, rubbing his scar.
"What do you mean?" James asked, also trying to keep his tone. Dreams weren't supposed to hurt.
"Harry sometimes has dreams that real when it comes to Voldemort. It has something to do with the connection between him and Voldemort through his scar. It hurts him whenever this kind of thing happens," Sirius explained, hoping James would wait until morning to freak out.
Taking a seat on the opposite side of Harry, he rubbed soothing circles on his godson's back. "Harry, you know you have to tell me what was in that dream."
Harry buried his face in his father's sleeve. "It was scary."
"I know it was, Harry," Sirius said understandingly, "but you know what's happened before. If you don't tell us then James and I won't be as prepared to help you if Voldemort's planning something again. I can't let anything happen to you because you were scared of a dream, alright Harry?"
James held his son in a tight embrace as Harry nodded against his chest. Harry looked up at Sirius, hesitated, but said fearfully, "They know we've got Dad back and Bellatrix was worried it'd be harder to get me now. She said something about using another instead, but Voldemort wouldn't let her. He did one of those bad curses on her and hurt her a lot, Padfoot. The ones you told me about. Then he said…" Harry pause and look up at his father.
"Go on Harry," James encouraged.
Harry took a deep breath and continued. "H-he said she should never doubt his power t-to k-kill a Potter. He said he'd f-finish what he begun."
Sirius looked up fearfully at James upon hearing that. They both silently agreed it was a conversation best left in the morning while Harry slept. The two hugged their charge tightly.
"That was very brave, Harry." Sirius told him. "You did good, kid. Okay?"
Harry nodded, biting his lip. "Can you two stay with me tonight?"
"You think I'd leave you alone with a dream like that?" James asked weakly. "Scoot over, kiddo, you're stuck with me whether you like it or not."
"We'd be kinda squished if I joined in, Harry." Sirius pointed out, knowing both he and James tended to roll around quite a bit from sharing a dorm with his friend for seven years.
Harry patted his lap, making his meaning clear.
"Alright, fine," Sirius said, transforming into the great black dog and jumping on his godson.
Harry snuggled up between the two of them, never feeling safer than he did now.
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