Harry woke with a start only to stare at the man laying in front of him. He silently watched as the man slept on the floor next to him. He looked like Padfoot, but didn't in a sort of way. 'It is him. Who else would take me away from the Durselys?' Harry didn't know what to think. 'Uncle Vernon always said that no one would ever come for me. Was he saying the truth?' Harry didn't want to believe that. He had always hoped that a long lost relative would sweep him away and that he could live with them.
'Saying that this man was Padfoot...' Harry thought taking a different approach in his thoughts trying to find something solid to stick to, anything to make things fit into place in his mind. 'Won't he eventually see what I really am? What I will always be? A freak? How long will it take him to get tired of me and send me back to the Dursley's? Back to my cupboard?' Harry's shivered at the thought of his cupboard He didn't like his cupboard. It was so small. He didn't like small spaces they scarred him.
Jumping back as the man next to him groaned and sat up rubbing his eyes Harry held his breath. Had he just woken the man up? Was he going to be punished? 'Uncle Vernon always punished me when I woke him up doing something.' Harry thought as he watched in mounting fear as the man fully sat up.
Looking around groggily for a moment Sirius finally found what he was looking for, Harry. "Hey." Sirius said quietly he didn't want to scare him, Harry shut his eyes not wanting to see the blows that were about to come... "Pronglet it's me Padfoot." Harry opened his eyes a little to peek at the man staring at him. "Come on Kido I know your awake I saw you open your eyes." Sirius said tickling the boy's feet.
Harry sat up quickly and drew his feet to his chest making his feet untouchable. "Hey their Har." Sirius reached out again to ruffle to boy's hair. Harry flinched violently, trying to become one with the couch. "Sorry."
Harry looked up quickly not believing that some one was saying sorry to him. "What?" Harry asked before clamping his mouth shut.
"So you do talk. It's me Padfoot. From you dreams I'm here now. I came and got you, and now you're on the couch of my Uncles couch." At the word 'Uncle' Harry flinched again. Sirius got up and sat down on the other end of the couch to give Harry some room to relax in. "You hungry?"
Harry thought for a moment, 'Uncle Vernon always said that I couldn't have any food when I was hungry.' Nagged a little voice inside his head trying to caution him. Ignoring it Harry gave a very slight affirmative nod of his head.
"I'm going to pick you up alright?" Harry nodded bracing himself for something painful to happen. When Vernon Dursley used to pick Harry up it was usually by his hair or an arm. Not by two strong arms grabbing him by his under arms and letting him rest against the holders chest. This confused Harry greatly that Sirius was treating him as if he were made of glass and would break any second. Entering the kitchen Sirius flipped on the light and sat Harry down on the table. Harry was about to get off when Sirius turned to face him with some ice cream cones from the fridge. Even thought Nick was a wizard muggle devices did have their uses.
"Which do you want Har? We have vanilla and caramel or we have vanilla and chocolate." Sirius looked down at the boy who was looking at his feet. "Harry?" The little boy looked up at his name. "Don't you want one?"
Harry only looked at the man. 'What is he playing at? Uncle Vernon offered something then took it away. Well better not make him angry.' "I'm not allowed to have ice cream... there not for bad boys." Harry said quietly.
"Damn muggles..." Sirius muttered under his breath. In a normal voice Sirius shook his head. "Form this moment on Harry James Potter you are a good boy and you get all the ice cream you can have." Harry looked at the ice cream cone held out to him. Was this for real did he get an ice cream cone? Not wanting Padfoot to change his mind Harry took the ice cream cone and ate it happily.
Sirius was relieved when Harry took the cone from him. "Well your mother would probably have killed me if this was the only thing I gave you. What do you want to eat?" Harry didn't answer, he just looked at the floor. "Well let's see I'm not that great of a cook so we could make, PB&J sandwiches." Harry nodded his head, something easy to clean up. Sirius got out the peanut butter, the bread and the knives out. He took one of the knives in his hands and started to spread peanut butter on two of the four pieces of bread. Finishing that Sirius spun around waving the knife in front of him.
Harry jumped of the table quickly as Sirius pointed the knife at him. He backed slowly away from him. He had only just get here and he was already going to be punished for something. His back touched the wall, he was stuck. There was no where to run to, the only door was behind Sirius who was walking towards him with out the knife.
Sirius saw his mistake and quickly put the knife down, berating himself for not being careful about his actions. "I'm sorry-" Harry hurriedly started to apologize for something he didn't do.
"Har... it's okay Harry, you did nothing wrong." Sirius said walking towards that little boy. "You can have whatever want to eat..." He soothed.
Harry fidgeted in front of his godfather. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
Sirius raked a hand threw his hair. "It's okay Pronglet. Come on want to go back to the table?" Harry looked at him for a moment and raised his arms to be picked up. Sirius laughed and bent down slowly picking up his beloved godson. "Okay then." Sirius sat Harry down on the table again and went back to the fridge. Deciding that maybe Ben & Jerry's ice cream would be better. "Do you want some Phish Food? It's really good." Harry nodded his head. If some food was offered to him than he wasn't going to let it get away.
"It's not real Phish Food its just Rocky Road with Chocolate Fish swim through it. That's all." Sirius handed Harry the pint of Ice cream and a spoon. "When you're done with that we can have a sandwich okay?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded quickly. He then proceeded to launch himself into very good ice cream.
Sirius smiled as he watched his godson eat the ice cream. He seemed to like it. Turning back to the counter he picked up the knife again making sure that Harry wasn't looking his way he cut the bread and buttered it, added the peanut butter, and the jelly.
Sirius looked down as a little hand tugged on his robes. "Um... Sir... Could I um... Have some water please?" Harry asked cautiously. Sirius didn't even blink an eye and handed the little boy a cup of water. A few moments later, while he was cutting the crusts off the bread he looked down, as there was another little tug on his robes. "I'm sorry Sir. But... I can't finish all of this. I'll get a tummy ache. Dudley always does. I don't want a tummy ache. They hurt lots." He said quietly holding up the quarter eaten container.
"That's okay Har. You can eat however much you want. And it's perfect timing I just finished the sandwiches." Sirius picked up the two plates and sat down at the kitchen table with Harry. "Okay then... These are peanut and Hawaiian Strawberry... or something like that... it's good trust me." Sirius said glancing over at the sink where the bottle was.
A half an hour passed in relative silence... unless you counted laughter as noise. Harry and Sirius bot had a problem keeping the Jelly in the sandwiches. At the end Sirius didn't finish his sandwich instead he ended up with a very messy table, with bread eyes, a peanut butter smile, and a jelly nose with bits of ice cream dripping out of it.
Laughing Sirius left the mess and picked up Harry again, who was getting used to it and laid his head in the crook of Sirius' neck. "That's what I thought. You need to get back to sleep." Sirius chuckled. "Harry? Still awake?" He felt Harry nod tiredly.
Sirius eased Harry into a sitting position. "Okay then." The black haired man slowly took Harry's shirt off. "Tell me if anything hurts okay?" Sirius folded the shirt and put it next to Harry, only then did he notice that he had taken off his shirt.
Harry woke up instantly and pulled back his shirt, he didn't want it taken off. He shoved it over his head getting it, on inside out and backwards. "No..." Harry pleaded as Sirius reached out his hand to take the shirt off again.
"Harry you need to take that shirt of so I can put healing stuff on your tummy." Sirius said slightly more sternly than he wanted to. Harry on the other hand sensed it as an order and didn't want to make Sirius mad so he hurriedly took the shirt off and sat quietly in front of the older man, wringing his hands in his lap. Sirius smiled at the little boy in front of him. "Okay then...this," Sirius held up the salve, "Is going to make all of these," He pointed to the bruising and cuts on Harry's chest, "All better. Tell me if it hurts okay?" Harry nodded his head.
He didn't like this at all. This was sure to hurt. Uncle Vernon once said that rubbing salt on cuts wouldn't hurt, but it did. Harry's breathing came out in short spurts, as Sirius' hand grew nearer with the salve on it. Harry closed his eyes tightly as he wanted for the pain... it never came. All there was, was sweet coolness He opened his eyes and looked down at his chest, where Sirius was rubbing the salve. Usually it hurt just to touch his chest but Sirius' touch was cool and very gentle. Harry then looked up at Sirius' face; his eyebrows were knitted together in concentration, not wanting to cause Harry any harm.
"There all better." Sirius said pulling his hand away and closing the jar tightly. "That wasn't so bad was it?" Sirius asked, Harry shook his head timidly.
He reached up and touched the bruise on Sirius' cheek from Vernon. Sirius jerked back at the touch. Harry took his band back quickly as if burned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Harry murmured shoving his hands into his pockets but his eyes were trained on Sirius' jaw.
Sirius thought for a moment and handed Harry the jar. Harry happily stuck in between his feet and twisted the lid off. He stuck his fingers in the stuff and gently put it on Sirius' jaw carefully watching to see if he was hurting him. Pulling his hand away Harry kissed the now fading bruise and smiled. "There all better. No more pain." He said remembering that was what mothers did to make their child all better. Even though Sirius' wasn't a child, he wanted to help him.
Nick watched quietly from the doorway to the living room as the scene took place. Sirius in just a few hours had gone a great way with the traumatized boy. The smile grew however when Sirius said something, that made Harry cautiously lean forward and hug him. Nick not wanted to intrude on the rest of this special moment for Sirius, left silently into his room.
Sirius smiled as Harry hugged him. All he had said was thank you, and Harry just hugged him, which he returned of course. "I love you Har. Don't ever forget that okay. No matter what." Sirius said stroking the little boys back soothingly. 'I love you so much Harry, I'm sorry it took me so long to find you.' Sirius thought to himself.
Harry jumped as he heard the voice inside his head. 'That's odd.' He thought looking at Sirius who looked bewildered.
'Harry? Can you hear me?' Sirius asked in his head. Harry nodded his head.
'Siri?' Harry asked cautiously back. Sirius nodded and smiled.
'Well this is cool isn't it?' Sirius thought back laughing out loud. "Okay enough of that. You need to get to sleep." Sirius laid Harry down on the couch and tucked the covers under his chin. "Sleep tight Harry, don't let the Grindylow's bite." Sirius kissed Harry's forehead and practically fell to the floor in exzautian (can't spell... its supposed to sound like this ex- zaw-s- tion... u know the thing when your really tierd! I'm really sorry but I can't spell worth a damn sorry!) Falling asleep instantly.
Harry on the other hand was deep in thought. This really was Sirius. Why could he talk to him so easily in his dreams but not when he was face to face with him? He didn't understand why he was so scared of him. He peeked over the side of the couch. He had an idea, maybe this would sort of tell Sirius that he cared about him.
Getting silently off the couch and concentrated on the image of Sirius lying in the couch. Seconds passed and Sirius slowly floated up and onto the couch. Harry smiled tiredly as his job finished. He looked at his godfather, his savior. He picked up Sirius' arm and lay next to his godfather's chest.
Sirius' eyes drifted open and smiled as he felt Harry snuggle in beside him; he was shocked how soft the floor got. 'Nick must have come in.' He thought to himself. He felt as if he could win a race from how happy he was. Neither himself nor Harry noticed the blood that was seeping from Harry's back and chest, from the intensity from his wand less magic. Sirius only pulled his Harry closer to him.
Sirius woke to the sound of cooking. He glanced at the clock and whined, it was only six thirty in the morning. Sitting up he felt sticky, he looked down at himself and jumped his arm was covered in bloody, yet he wasn't hurt. He jumped to his feet and raced for the kitchen. "Harry!" He yelled, it must have to be Harry's. The little boy spun around to look at him; he was finishing putting plates and dishes onto the table, eggs, bacon, and bread was cooking on the stove and counter. This confused Sirius' to no end there was no stove, yet the eggs were on the counter cooking, as if on a stove.
Realizations hit Sirius' like a ton of bricks as he watched as Harry faltered in walking across to the Fridge. "Harry stop what you're doing!" He yelled, Harry dropped the milk glass he was holding the glass shattered over his feet, in bedding glass into his feet and ankles.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to drop it." Harry hurriedly explained he looked down at his feet and grimaced, that was a nasty mess. He braced himself for Sirius' next words. Uncle Vernon usually had him walk barefooted across the glass to get something that he needed that moment, and then would hit him. He saw out of the corner of his eyes Sirius rushing towards him.
Panicked Harry ran for it, he didn't want to get hurt. He took a chancy dodge out of Sirius' way and ran into the short hallway. There was a door at the end of the hall, he ran for that rooms, threw the door open and looked immediately for some place to hide out of the way of anybody. The wardrobe provided a perfect place. He crouched into the corner of it. He held his breath, Sirius' would find him quickly, Uncle Vernon always did when he let him run for it. It was always a game that Vernon would like to play, seek and hurt.
A gray mouse squeaked in surprise as Harry put his hand down. Harry picked up the fat gray rat and thought of him as a little stuffed animal, and before you could say Marauders it was a little stuffed rat. The door was thrown open and Harry held his breath again.
Sirius walked into the room. Harry was nowhere in sight. Sirius looked under the bed and in the bathroom. "Harry? Pronglet come out here please." Sirius called quietly. No one immerged. Sirius stepped over to the wardrobe, he hadn't looked there yet.
The young black haired man pulled open the door and the light from the room illuminated the dark space where Harry was huddled clutching something to his chest. He looked up at Sirius tears starting to fall.
"I'm sorry, I'll do more chores..." Harry tried, Sirius bent down to be eye level with his godson. "I'll do better I promise it won't happen again. Please don't hit me..." Sirius felt his anger grow with Harry's please
"Harry... Harry it's okay don't worry about it." Sirius soothed. Harry would have none of it though.
"Please I'm so sorry, please don't-" Harry hiccuped as Sirius reached down and picked him up. Harry tensed but slowly released it putting his arms around Sirius' neck.
'It's okay Harry.' Sirius soothed in his head. Harry cried harder. 'No one's going to hurt you. Calm down all right?'
Harry couldn't help but clutch to his godfather tighter. 'Siri...I was so scared... you... you were going to hurt me like Uncle Vernon did.' Harry cried desperately into the Sirius' head.
'No Harry I will never hurt you like your uncle did. I promise all right?" Harry didn't give a response. Sirius walked back into the kitchen and set Harry on the table again, then cleaned up the mess showing Harry that he didn't mind.
Turning back to the tabletop 'stove' Sirius grimaced. All the food was ruined to extremely blackness. (Sounds like molly cooking pop corn ask later Cho) "What do you want for breakfast?" Harry looked hurt that Sirius' didn't want the food that he cooked.
Harry got up and quietly pulled a napkin out and put some food on it. He sat back down at the table and started munching on the very burnt food. Sirius stared questionably at the little boy, who looked happy eating blackened food. "Harry... what are you doing?" Harry looked up at him innocently, then started to panic.
"I'm sorry... I'll make more for you right now... I'm sorry." Harry said hurriedly getting up and throwing the food that was already made out. Sirius stopped him there.
"Harry... Harry... slow down there. Let me explain." Harry looked up at Sirius fearfully. Sirius concentrated on that look for a moment then thought of a good solution. 'Pronglet. What I meant was why were you eating food that wasn't any good. You can't have liked that over something tasty could you?' Sirius asked through his head. Harry stared at the floor.
'My...Uncle Vernon said that I could always have the scraps... And I knew that you'd want something better, but I was so hungry I just ate first. I'm sorry.' Harry explained quietly back.
Sirius sat down on the floor pulling Harry down with him. 'Harry from now on you can have the best food in this house all right? No more let overs, no more burnt food. It its not good then don't eat it. If you don't like it don't eat it. Alright?' Harry nodded not believing his head. 'Now then. If there was any food in the world that you would want to eat what would it be?'
That was a hard question. There were so many things that Harry had never had. The little voice drilled into his head by his uncle made him think reason. Don't be a nucience (again it's supposed to be like –new- sense-). 'The ice cream from last night?' Harry said shyly. Sirius laughed out loud.
"Ice cream for breakfast it is." Sirius made Harry a cone and made himself one. Harry started eating his.
"SIRIUS JAMERSON BLACK!" Nick yelled at the doorway, Sirius jumped slightly and turned to look at the old man in front of him. "You had better not be feeding that boy ice cream for breakfast." Harry jumped dropping his ice cream at the mans sudden appearance, the flinched violently and whimpered at being referred to as 'boy.' They must be talking about him, and the man in the doorway didn't seem too happy about him.
Nick's expression softened at the sound of Harry's whimper. "Don't worry Harry. I'm not mad at you." Nick glared at Sirius. "I'm mad at him." He jerked his hand at Sirius.
Harry was on full alert. "Please don't hurt him... he had a bruise already. Please don't hurt him, you can hit me but don't hurt Padfoot." Harry cried standing in front of Sirius.