Author's Note: As promised, here's some father-son fluff to get you through your holidays. :) It's a bit shorter than I normally write, but I hope you still enjoy it. I'm going a bit cross-eyed trying to edit it, so if there's some glaring mistakes I missed, I'll try to fix them tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! Eat an extra slice of pumpkin pie for me!

July 4, 1995

Sirius woke up, hardly believing it was morning. The sun was up and shining in through his window, so it had to be real, but he just couldn't believe he had slept through the night without a single nightmare.

He and Harry had taken Dreamless Sleep the night before, but they had reduced their dosage, so they weren't sure how it was going to work. He was pleased to note that it still helped him. Now he just needed to find out about his son.

Tiptoeing down the hall, he chanced a peek at Harry, who was still sleeping soundly. He made his way to the kitchen where he tried to work the muggle coffee maker for several minutes before finally giving up and making it magically. He took his steaming mug outside and watched the waves of the ocean from their back porch while he let Harry rest a little longer.

After he had drained his second cup of coffee, his stomach began to rumble and he thought that perhaps the smell of a traditional English breakfast wafting down the hall would wake his slumbering son. But later, as he scooped out the last of the beans onto the two full plates with still no sign of Harry, he decided it was time to intervene. They were on vacation after all, and though he did understand that teenagers slept a lot, he wanted his son up soon so they could enjoy their day. Smiling mischievously, he transformed into Padfoot and wagged his tail the whole way down the hall to his son's room.

Harry was still asleep in nearly the same potion Sirius had seen him in before. His breathing was steady and a small circle of drool stained his pillow under his mouth. His hair was sticking up in every direction all over the pillow and he had the blanket curled around him, making him look so serene.

He really did look perfectly at peace, and Padfoot almost hesitated, but his naughty nature won out, and the teenager let out a long groan as a large black dog landed on him and began licking his face. Harry tried to bury himself further under his covers, but Padfoot persisted, using his teeth to pull the blankets away. After an admirable fight, Harry finally sat up with a scowl, put his glasses on, and pointed at Padfoot.

"Bad dog!"

Padfoot transformed and Sirius stood smirking down at his annoyed son. "Were you planning to sleep all day?"

Harry rubbed his eyes as he shook his head. "No, but it's still early."

Sirius lifted an eyebrow. "It's after 10 o'clock."

"Is it really?" Harry asked as he stood up and stretched.

"Yeah, it really is," Sirius confirmed, looking concerned. "Did you not sleep well last night?"

Harry didn't meet his eyes. Instead he leaned down and picked up his blankets from the floor as he grunted noncommittally, "I slept fine."

Sirius cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "You want to try that again?"

Harry looked at him, his eyes surprised for a moment before he tried to school his features. "I…Well I…" he fumbled over his words before sighing and admitting defeat. "I had one nightmare."

Sirius's shoulders fell and he moved to hug his son, but Harry stepped away. "I'm fine, Dad. It wasn't even that bad."

Sirius frowned. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Harry shook his head. "I can't even remember most of it. It just woke me up around 2 and it took a while to go back to sleep." He walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a change of clothes.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Sirius asked, though he could have easily predicted his son's response.

"I was fine, Dad, really," Harry said firmly. He waved the clothes in his hand and nodded towards the bathroom door.

Sirius nodded. "Ok, go get dressed and come have breakfast, but if you have another nightmare, no matter how bad it is, I want you to wake me, ok?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir. I will."

By the time they had finished breakfast, all thoughts of nightmares had been forgotten.

"So, I have something planned for every evening, but the days are your pick. We can do whatever you want," Sirius explained as he scooped up the last of his sausage.

"What do you have planned?" Harry asked curiously, taking a drink of milk.

"That is a surprise," Sirius told him.

"All of them? You have four surprises planned?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Well, three," Sirius answered, shrugging one shoulder. "I figured we'd leave the last night open. Who knows what we'll find to do while we're here."

Harry nodded. "Well, can you at least tell me what you have planned for tonight?"

Sirius tapped his lips like he was thinking it over. "How about you tell me what you want to do today, and then I'll tell you what we're doing this evening."

Harry scrunched up his face in the way he always did that made Sirius think he was just adorably cute, though Sirius wouldn't dare remind his teenage son of that fact. "I don't know. Jet skiing was fun before."

Sirius was practically bouncing in his seat with excitement. "Jet skiing it is!"

….

"This is bloody brilliant!"

Those were the only words Harry could find to describe how he felt as they sailed hundreds of feet above the ocean that evening. Everywhere he looked around him, the sparkling blue ocean contrasted beautifully with the green cliffs of the seaside town. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky with beautiful pinks and purples. It was a good thing he could enjoy the beauty of all the colors around him because seated to his left, Sirius had gone completely white.

Sirius was not nearly as fond of heights as his thrill-loving son, especially when he was completely out of control, but when he had seen the brochure for a local parasailing company, he knew Harry would love it.

"You ok over there, Dad?"

Sirius looked at his son, and though he felt as if his heart was about to pound right out of his chest with fright, he couldn't help but smile at the look of complete joy on Harry's face. He had really missed that look. "I'm ok, Son. Are you having fun?"

Harry laughed. "Fun? Are you kidding? This is incredible!"

Sirius smiled at him, the fondness he felt for his son swelling in his chest. "Good, I'm glad. I thought you would enjoy this." He stopped as he felt them begin to move.

Harry didn't even try to hide his amusement at his father's fearful face. "It's ok. They're just lowering us."

Sirius let out a long sigh of relief. "Ok. We're ok."

Harry laughed even harder at Sirius's expense, causing the older wizard to shoot a glare at the younger, and Harry did make some effort to stop. "Sorry."

Sirius grunted, but he gave his son a wink to let him know he was ok.

"In case I forget to say it later, thank you, Dad," Harry told him sincerely. "This really is just brilliant."

Sirius had the urge to reach out and cup his son's face affectionately, but he was too terrified to let go of his fierce grip he had on his seat. "You're welcome, Pup. But remember, this is just the first one. I still have two more surprises up my sleeve."

July 6, 1995

Harry looked over his shoulder at his father trailing behind him and stuck out his tongue playfully. He turned back around, took a moment to enjoy the feeling of the wind on his face as it turned his normally unkempt hair into a downright unruly mess, then pressed the throttle and sped up. He found himself slightly airborne as he hit a wave and laughed out loud as he landed and saw the cliff he and Sirius were racing to just up ahead. He angled his jet ski to the right and then glanced once again over his shoulder at his father.

Only this time, his father wasn't there.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He angled his jet ski back to the left, but as he turned his head all around him he could not spot his father anywhere. He slowed down and turned in circles, completely perplexed. Where had Sirius gone?

Worry was just starting to replace his confusion when out of nowhere Sirius swerved his own jet ski beside his son's, spraying Harry with a stream of water.

"Hey!" Harry shouted, wiping the water from his face. "What the-"

"Last one there is a flobberworm!" Sirius shouted as he sped away towards the target cliff.

Shaking himself, Harry pushed the throttle to its limit and chased after his father, but with no luck. Sirius passed the cliff, then slowed and turned to gloat as his son reached his destination seconds later.

His son was not pleased.

"How the hell did you do that? I had you beat!" Harry shouted.

Sirius laughed. "You shouldn't be so cocky," he teased.

Harry blinked incredulously. "You had to have cheated. Did you apparate?"

Sirius gripped his chest and feigned innocence. "Me? Cheat? I'm offended. Besides, it would take a lot of talent to apparate with a muggle jet." He wagged his eyebrows up and down.

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's a jet ski, not a jet, and you're crazy! What if you had apparated to the wrong spot and we crashed into each other?" he lectured, his eyes still wide in shock.

Sirius just chuckled in response. "You are starting to sound like Fleamont Potter." He angled his jet ski back towards the shore. "Come on, we'll race back to the dock, and I promise no cheating this time." He didn't wait for Harry to respond as he sped off.

"I think I sound like Sirius Black," Harry muttered grumpily as he turned his own jet ski and raced after his father.

Sirius was already several yards ahead of Harry, but he tended to avoid waves rather than jump them like his son, so it didn't take long for Harry to almost catch up. Catching a glimpse of his son nearing him, Sirius stuck out his wand towards the ocean and caused a light wall of water to spray his son. Harry wiped his face and glared at the back of his father's head. He could faintly see the dock in the distance and knew his time was limited to catch him.

"Two can play at this game," Harry said, grinning wickedly as he pulled his own wand from the pocket of his swimsuit and pointed it towards his unsuspecting father. "Arresto Momentum"

Sirius was smiling triumphantly as he saw the dock drawing closer when all of a sudden his jet ski slowed to a crawl. He wondered briefly if he had run out of gas when his son slowed beside him, twirling his wand between his fingers.

"What's wrong, Dad? Did something slow you down?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes on his devious son. "Harry James, you break that charm right n-" He sputtered as Harry sped away, spraying water in his face.

Sirius cursed, pulled his own wand out again, and lifted the charm on his jet ski, but it was too late. By the time he caught up with Harry, the boy was waiting on the dock with his feet propped up, grinning from ear to ear.

"You're not allowed to do magic without supervision, young man," Sirius attempted to lecture, but the big, goofy grin on Harry's face that had been so absent so often this summer made it impossible for him to even pretend to scold the boy.

Harry scoffed. "You were right there. And you're not allowed to apparate in the middle of the ocean."

Sirius smirked. "Oh, is that a rule now?"

"Yeah. You could've killed both of us if you got your location wrong." He noticed Sirius roll his eyes, so he added. "Admit it, if I had done something like that, I'd be over your knee right now."

Sirius chuckled. "Harry, when you learn to apparate, you'll find that with time, you can be much more accurate and precise with where you land. Trust me, if I did apparate, and I'm admitting to nothing, I would have done it completely safely. You're just sore that I beat you and now I get to pick the movie tonight." He climbed off his jet ski and onto the dock with his son.

Harry held up a hand. "Wait a second, I won the race back. So I get to pick the movie."

Sirius shook his head. "Nope, the race out there was for the movie. The race back was just for bragging rights, which you don't get, because you cheated." He tweaked his son's nose before putting an arm around him as they walked back towards land.

Harry laughed. "To quote the wisest man I know, I'm admitting to nothing."

Sirius stopped and looked at him. "You really think I'm the wisest man you know?"

"No, I've heard Remus say that before."

Sirius threw his head back in laughter before he picked his son up and threw him over his shoulders, ignoring the boy's wiggling and protest. "Come on, you cheeky brat. I'm starving, and we need to eat before the last surprise."

….

"You're joking," Harry managed to say when he had finally picked his jaw up from the floor.

Sirius laughed as he shook his head. "I'm really not."

"I'm going to practice with the Italian national quidditch team?" Harry asked again.

"Yes," Sirius confirmed yet again. "Yes, you are."

"But…but…how?"

Sirius chuckled. "Their manager, Owen Anthony, was a friend of mine back at Hogwarts. I called in some favors." He shrugged. "Long story short, he invited you in for a scrimmage. Now come on. You don't want to be late."

Sirius sat in the stands and watched as his son zoomed through the sky , looking quite at home among a group of professional quidditch players, much like James would have been. As he sat there, his mind drifted to the vacation they'd had so far, and he couldn't help but smile at just how wonderful it had been.

When they arrived on Saturday, they'd done little more than unpack, pick up some food for the week, and swim in the pool outside their beach home. That evening, Sirius had prepared a large dinner while Harry figured out how to work the VCR their muggle vacation home had when they purchased it, and they settled on the couch after dinner and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which Sirius thought was a bit odd. But Harry had told him that Dudley enjoyed the cartoon when they were younger, so occasionally he'd been allowed to watch with him, and he was anxious to see the film.

"Don't you think fighting turtles is a bit unrealistic?" Sirius had asked him.

Harry had laughed and answered, "Yes, but I would have thought a school for magic where they fly on brooms and use owls to send mail was a bit unrealistic a few years ago."

"Fair point," Sirius responded, and though he didn't particularly enjoy the movie, he did enjoy the fact that Harry had fallen asleep leaning over on his shoulder that night.

The next day held much more excitement. They'd jet skied before lunch, gone cliff diving in the afternoon, had their parasailing adventure that evening, then finished up the night with ice cream, just like Harry had wanted.

Harry was pleased to discover that a pretty, young muggle was working at their favorite ice cream shop now, and the look on both teenagers' faces that first evening guaranteed Sirius that they'd be coming back every night even if he hadn't already promised his son they would before they even arrived in Italy. The sweet blonde had flirted shamelessly with his clueless son, who blushed and fumbled over his words the entire time, reminding Sirius once again of the boy's biological father.

The next day, they swam in the morning before taking a break from the sun and spending the afternoon playing muggle board games in the house. They went out for dinner at a local pizzeria and then Sirius surprised Harry with a sunset cruise watching dolphins and other marine life. Harry did enjoy it and thanked his father several times, but Sirius could tell that if he wanted the boy to truly start to heal from the trauma of earlier that summer, he needed to insert a bit more adrenaline into their activities. They had of course ended the night at the ice cream shop again.

Today, they had spent practically all day in the water, from snorkeling that morning to jet skiing all afternoon, and Sirius had begun to wonder if he had worn the boy out too much for him to fully enjoy this quidditch surprise. Now, as he watched his son easily fly in and out of the other players searching for the snitch, he realized his worries had been for nothing. The boy had plenty of energy, and it was a balm to Sirius's soul to see his normally active son so active yet again after he'd moped around most of the last couple of weeks.

He sighed as he thought about what would happen once this week was over. He knew that inevitably they'd have to go home and start moving on. They'd have to visit Healer Williams and keep talking about that awful night. They'd eventually be forced to enter the wizarding world again and deal with all that entailed. They would have to continue their lives when every day wasn't packed with adventures and fun, and they would have to learn to live that way again. Sirius had been a fun father all week, but he knew he would have to soon resume his role as just the father, the one that made Harry rest, do his homework, and limit his sugar intake.

Whether it was because of the Dreamless Sleep or the fact that the boy was just exhausted every night, Sirius didn't know, but Harry hadn't had any more nightmares that he had told Sirius about since the first night either, but Sirius knew they would come eventually.

But right now, he wasn't going to think about that. They were still on vacation for one more day, and he intended to enjoy it. He propped his feet on the seat in front of him and relaxed his head back into his hands as he watched his son dive for the snitch.

….

Sirius held the door to the ice cream shop open for his son. He didn't even have to look inside to know that the pretty young blonde that worked there was on duty that evening. He could see it in the way his son's face lit up.

"Welcome back," the young girl, whose name tag read "Hallie," greeted them cheerily, though she was only looking at Harry with a flirtatious smile. "Let me guess. Bacio in a cone?"

Harry nodded, smiling at her. He was just about to ask, "How did you guess?" when Sirius interrupted their conversation.

"Again? You've gotten that the last two nights! Why don't you try something new?" Sirius teased his son.

"I like the bacio," Harry said defensively, his cheeks heating up.

Sirius rolled his eyes and smiled at the giggling girl behind the counter. "I'll try the fragola tonight, please. I like to live a little."

Harry looked murderously at his father who simply gave him a gentle shove towards the register.

As they took their seats, Sirius began to question his son about the scrimmage. "Did you learn anything from Owen or the team?"

Harry scowled. "Yeah, that I'm a terrible seeker."

Sirius rolled his eyes at his son who, once again, so reminded him of James. His late best friend was confident to the point of arrogance about many things, but let him lose a quidditch match and it was like his whole world was ending. "Harry, just because a professional quidditch player ten years older than you caught the snitch seconds before you did doesn't make you a terrible quidditch player." He took a bite of his ice cream, then added. "In fact, Owen told me you were one of the best young players he'd seen."

Harry licked his ice cream in an attempt to hide his smile. "I can't believe their seeker beat me to the snitch. He just came out of nowhere. When I asked him how he did it, he said that he could tell exactly what I was doing when I dove for it. Said I needed to work on being more sneaky about pursuing the snitch. He gave me some tips."

"I'm not sure how I feel about you learning to be more sneaky. Seems like something that could come back to haunt me," Sirius teased him.

Harry chuckled and continued to eat his ice cream. Chocolate dripped from his cone onto his hand, so he walked to the counter to grab them some napkins. Sirius noticed Hallie say something to Harry and smile, but Sirius couldn't make out what it was. When Harry returned, Sirius was smirking in a way that Harry knew promised nothing good for him.

"You think the girl behind the counter is cute, don't you?"

Harry's eyes went wide. "Shhhh! She could hear you!"

"I'll take that as a yes," Sirius said with a laugh. He took a bite of his ice cream and puckered his lips. "This is too tart. Let me have some of yours."

Harry held his cone close to his body. "No way. You're the one who insists on trying something new every time we come here. Go get something you actually like."

Sirius considered summoning the cone right out of his son's hand just to mess with him, but there were a lot of muggles in the ice cream shop that night, and he didn't want to chance it, so he pretended to be offended. "Go buy something else? Do you think I am made of money?"

Harry snorted. "Says the man who bought six jet skis this week."

"Well, we have a lot of guests at the house," Sirius answered. He noticed just over Harry's shoulder that the young girl was looking at them again, so he leaned a bit closer. "Would you like to go order for me so you have another chance to talk to your friend?"

Harry blushed. "She's pretty, but if you haven't noticed, she appears to live in Italy," he whispered.

"Oh maybe you misunderstood me. I said 'talk to your friend' not 'marry her,'" SIrius retorted.

"Would you keep your voice down, please," Harry hissed desperately.

Sirius shook his head in amusement. He dug in his pockets for enough muggle money for another bowl of ice cream, handed the money to his son, said "limone this time please," then leaned his chair back and watched his son's attempt at flirting.

Fortunately for Harry, he was the only customer in line at the moment. Sirius could see the two teenagers chatting as she scooped out the ice cream, the young girl batting her eyelashes and giggling. Harry continued to stand at the register and chat with her even after she had handed him his change and ice cream, and she seemed in no hurry for him to sit down and let her get back to work. After a few minutes, another customer entered, she quickly jotted something down on a napkin and handed it to Harry. He smiled at her, then joined Sirius at their table again.

"Well, well, what do you have?" Sirius asked as Harry sat down across from him and handed him his ice cream.

Harry snorted. "Hallie's phone number. She gave it to me."

Sirius smirked. "I take it 'Hallie' is the sweet girl behind the counter?"

"Yeah," Harry confirmed as he took a bite of his ice cream. "She said she worked late tonight, but asked if I wanted to meet her and her friends for a movie tomorrow night."

"Oh yeah? And what did you tell her?"

Harry shrugged. "I told her I probably couldn't. She gave me her number anyway, which is mostly useless considering we don't use phones."

Sirius considered this a moment. He and James had gone out plenty of times when the Potters brought them to this same beachside town, often with muggle teenagers they'd met down at the beach. Other than his crippling fear of letting Harry out of his sight, which he knew he would eventually have to get over, Sirius saw no reason Harry couldn't do the same.

Sirius creased his forehead. "Well, there's a phone at the house. I don't know how to use it, but I'm assuming you do. Why couldn't you go out with her tomorrow?"

Harry lifted an eyebrow. "Well, for one, I thought I was grounded."

Sius supposed that was a fair point, but he was tempted to give the boy a free pass for the evening if he wanted it. Though Harry hadn't talked about it, it had been pretty obvious to Sirius how he was pining over Ginny, and Sirius thought it might be good for the boy to go out and have some fun, especially after how rough their summer had been.

"And two," Harry continued, "I really didn't think you'd let me go anywhere without you."

Sirius sighed. That was another fair point. But they were in a muggle area of another country, so logically they were in little to no danger, even though that thought alone made Sirius's heart speed up a bit. Plus, they did own an invisibility cloak, so Sirius could technically stick around them.

Not that Harry would be particularly fond of that idea.

Sirius found himself torn between wanting Harry to cheer up and move on from all the trauma they'd been through and still feeling the overwhelming need to protect him.

Maybe it was time they both took a step forward.

"What if I gave you a free pass for one night?"

Harry looked up from his ice cream to his father, his surprise written all over his face. "What?"

Sirius stared at his ice cream as he willed himself to keep speaking. "What if we ignored your restriction for one night and I let you go out with this Hallie?"

Harry just blinked at his father in shock. "I…I don't know. I guess that would be cool."

"Do you think she's pretty?" Sirius asked.

Harry peeked over his shoulder at her. She smiled and waved at him. Harry blushed bright red as he waved back and turned around to a smirking Sirius. "Yeah, she's pretty. But I mean, she lives in Italy."

"Well, I'm not proposing you marry her, Pup, but wouldn't it be fun to go out for a while? Just have a fun night with a girl that knows nothing about you other than you have a devilishly handsome father and you really, really like ice cream?" Sirius countered.

Harry rolled his eyes, though his smile deceived him. "Maybe that would be nice."

Sirius nodded. "You'll have to promise to be exactly where you say you'll be and be home exactly when I say you will be, but I think it could be arranged."

Harry lifted his eyes up to his father. "Aren't you scared?"

Sirius took a deep breath. "Terrified. But I can't be scared forever."

July 7, 1995

"So, you're really letting me go?" Harry asked Sirius for the hundredth or so time. "I'm not going to turn around at some point this evening and see you a few rows behind us in the theatre?"

Sirius discarded the book he had been trying to read as a distraction while his son was getting ready for his date, but the effort was useless. He was a nervous wreck. He just didn't want Harry to know that.

"You know, that's not a bad idea now that you mention it," he teased his son playfully.

While it was unlikely Sirius would actually do something like that, Harry gave him a slight glare to curtail any thought of such an act from his father. "Ha, ha," he said sarcastically as he glanced into the mirror and tried to smooth his hair down.

Sirius stood up and walked over to his son. He looked at Harry's reflection in the mirror and placed his hands on his son's shoulders. "I'm not going to follow you to the theatre. Nor will I be at the restaurant with you. However, should you find yourself anywhere other than the places you told me you would be tonight and I catch you, I will cause quite the spectacle. So go and have fun, but behave yourself, and be home by 11."

Harry looked at Sirius's reflection and smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes and Sirius could tell something else was bothering Harry.

"What's wrong, Pup?"

Harry turned so that his body was facing his father, but he chewed his lip nervously and looked down at his shoes.

"Harry?"

Emerald eyes lined with tears looked into Sirius's grey ones. "I guess I'm just nervous. I haven't been anywhere without you or Remus since…"

Instantly, Sirius knew Harry's nerves had nothing to do with the fact he was going on a date, and he mentally kicked himself for not seeing this coming. The truth was, Harry was always so cavalier about his own safety that Sirius never really imagined the scars of the night they defeated Voldemort would keep the boy from living his life now. What was also true was that Sirius was just as nervous for Harry to go anywhere without him, and that fact was making it very difficult for him to comfort his son. He took a deep breath and hugged Harry.

"You want to know something? I'm nervous too. Terrified, really. But we have to start moving forward. As much as I want to keep you in a bubble to prevent anything bad from ever happening to you, it doesn't change the fact that we're actually in very little danger now, especially here in Italy with muggles, and we can't be scared forever. In a way, I feel like that might be letting Voldemort defeat us even after he's dead."

Harry nodded thoughtfully into Sirius's chest. He sniffled and wiped his eyes, eager to hide any evidence that he had been crying from his date. "I guess I better go. I'm supposed to meet her in ten minutes."

Sirius really didn't want to let him go, didn't want to unwrap his arms from around his son. Harry had actually allowed the man to comfort him, and he wanted to stay that way as long as possible, but he knew he couldn't. Reluctantly he pulled away and rubbed his son's back another moment before he nodded and let him go. "So, tell me your plan one more time so we're both clear."

"I'm meeting her and her friends at that pizza restaurant across from the ice cream shop, then the movie starts at 7:30. If we have time before curfew, we might grab some ice cream after."

Sirius nodded. "And you have your wand, mirror, and necklace, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Harry confirmed, showing all three to his father. He walked over to their front door, then paused and turned to Sirius.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"If you want, you can wear my invisibility cloak and walk with me to the pizza shop, just so you know it isn't a trap or anything."

Sirius smiled. "I just might do that."

….

Sirius was supposed to be walking away. He had promised Harry that as soon as the boy reached the table of teenagers, he would head back to their beach house, but his curiosity was winning out right now. He surveyed the other teenagers at the table. There were three other girls and three guys. One of the girls he recognized from the ice cream shop as well, but the others were complete strangers. Harry seemed to naturally fall into conversation with them, and eventually he forced his feet to walk down the street.

Back at their beach house, Sirius did everything he could to occupy his time. He packed up their things, swam a few laps in the pool, baked some biscuits, and finally settled for pretending to read again and actually debating whether he should get the cloak and go check on his son.

At about 10:30, he decided that perhaps the sound of the ocean waves could calm him enough to make it through the next half hour, so he settled on a lounge chair by their pool with a bottle of wine. Whether that would have actually calmed him he wasn't sure because he'd only been out there a few minutes when he heard their front door open.

"Dad?" Harry called out.

"Our here, Harry," he called back, frowning. He glanced at his watch. It was barely 10:40. "You're home early," he said as Harry walked outside.

Harry shrugged. "I didn't want to be late." He sat down in the chair beside Sirius and propped his feet up.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "So, how did it go?"

Harry twisted his face. "It was fun, but…I don't know. I guess she wasn't really my type. Plus her friend, the other one that works at the ice cream shop, wouldn't shut up about how cute you were. I wanted to throw up."

Sirius grimaced. He was normally smug about his good looks, but the thought of someone his son's age finding him attractive made him squirm a bit. "Sorry kid."

Harry shook his head and smiled. "It's fine. Like I said, she wasn't really my type."

Sirius hesitated, then said. "You mean she wasn't redheaded and her last name wasn't Weasley?"

Harry met his eyes. "Something like that," he answered quietly.

Sirius nodded. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Have you talked to Miss Weasley at all since we've been home? Any chance you two will get back together any time soon, because I know you miss her."

A sigh escaped Harry as he kicked off his shoes and placed them beside his chair before he answered. "Ron says she's been talking to Dean Thomas."

"Really?" Sirius asked, somewhat surprised. Harry and Dean shared a dorm, sure, but Sirius also thought they were friends. He found it surprising that Mr. Thomas would move in so quickly on Harry's ex.

Harry shrugged. "According to Ron."

"So you haven't talked to Ginny yourself?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I didn't want to bother her if she's moved on."

Sirius scoffed. "Harry, I'm nearly certain that if you wrote to Ginny today, she would drop any guy she's been seeing by tomorrow."

Harry drummed his fingers on the side of his chair as he thought about that. "Maybe I will write to her." Sirius nodded and they sat in silence, listening to the waves for a moment before Harry spoke again.

"Completely hypothetically, let's say she is firmly dating Dean now. How much trouble would I be in if I punched him on our first day back at Hogwarts?"

Sirius looked at his son with a raised eyebrow. "How about we don't find out?"

Harry smirked. "Deal. I did have fun tonight though." He stopped himself from saying that the main reason he came home was because he just didn't want to be away from Sirius any longer. He leaned back further in the seat and looked at his dad. "Thanks for letting me go."

Sirius looked at him, then, before he could talk himself out of it, lifted his arm and invited his son to sit with him. To his delight, Harry didn't hesitate. He moved immediately to lay his head on Sirius's shoulder.

"I've had fun this week," Harry told him as he settled in. "Thanks for everything."

Sirius kissed the top of his head. "You're welcome. I have had a lot of fun with you as well."

Harry nuzzled in closer and let out a soft sigh as he looked out at the ocean. "Can we just stay here forever?"

Sirius chuckled. "Kid, you don't know how many times I've considered that, especially when our home wasn't particularly safe for us."

Harry looked up at him. "But it's safe now."

Sirius nodded slowly, like he was unsure if he agreed or not. "Yes, yes it is." He pulled his son a little closer, trying to quiet the fears that going back to Britain always brought to his mind.

Harry laid his head back down. "I love you, Dad."

Sirius smiled a watery smile. "I love you too, Son."