A/N: *crawls out of college dungeon* Hello everybody! Here is the next installment of "Raising Harry"! Sorry it took so long, I was rather busy. This chapter is more cute fluff than real plot (fair warning) but it introduces some important concepts that will play out in a few chapters.
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed! I apologize to everyone who reviewed over the past two weeks, I had a holiday and haven't caught up yet. But every review is meaningful!
As before, the long AN is at the end of the chapter.
Enjoy!
Sirius spun around to find Frank Longbottom standing behind them with a small, round boy holding his hand. "Frank?"
"Alice was supposed to be on Harry duty – "
"Harry duty?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow. He smiled as Harry lifted his head at his name and twisted around. "Harry, this is Frank Longbottom and his son Neville. Would you like to go down and say hello?"
"Okay." He squirmed as the werewolf set him down on the floor. Remus made a mental note to teach him some new words. 'Okay' was not going to cut it forever. The toddler hid behind Remus's legs and peeked at the brown-haired boy. "Hi."
"Hi." Neville leaned against his father's legs and gave Harry a small smile. "I Neviw."
"I Hawwy. Fwends?"
"Fwends." The two boys smiled at each other.
Frank laughed. "I guess they're friends now."
"They're so simple," Sirius commented. The bored teenager behind the counter groaned. "Okay, okay, here are the books."
"Don't be rude, Sirius. Please owl them to my apartment in London." Handing over some coins, Remus turned back to the others. "I understand that some wizarding children need to work over the summer, but don't they know that they have to treat customers with respect?"
"Were you ever one of those poor souls?" Frank asked with interest.
"Yes, I worked in whatever small village we went to on vacation. Of course, I was fired once people realized that I wasn't available a few days a month." He took Harry's hand and the small group exited the store. "Ice cream?"
Sirius pumped his fist. "Yes! Ice cream for all!"
"How does ice cream sound to you, Harry?" Remus asked. One of the changes he'd noticed with the boy was that he didn't volunteer opinions. The fact that it only took a couple of weeks by the Dursleys to make that change did not bode well for that family's wellbeing. Sirius was going to kill them.
"'Kay." Harry moved to stand on Remus's other side, beside Neville. The boys smiled at each other. "I pick?"
"Yes, you can pick out whatever you want." The men exchanged a meaningful look over the boys' heads.
Once in the ice cream store, Sirius took care of ordering for everyone. That may have possibly had something to do with the pretty girl behind the counter, but Remus wasn't going to say anything. The boys sat down beside each other, between Remus and Frank. Harry nervously looked up at his guardian, his big green eyes asking permission. The werewolf nodded solemnly and the boy smiled up at him.
Frank watched his son converse with the Boy Who Lived. "They look like they're getting along," he remarked.
"Yes, it's good to see that. Being with…Lily's sister did not do him good." Remus gently ran his fingers through Harry's dark hair. "He's changed since I last saw him."
"You weren't around much before they died, were you? Dumbledore had you out on all those missions with the werewolves." The other man craned his neck to look for Sirius. "What takes so long to order ice cream?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "There's a pretty girl. I don't think he's coming back any time soon. But yes, I was on missions all the time. I don't know why. There was no way to bring the werewolves to our side. Voldemort gave them everything, place to roam, people to bite…Nothing Dumbledore gave me to bargain with could beat that."
Frank's eyes narrowed. "An impossible mission."
"Yes. I thought of that too." The werewolf pushed Harry's chair closer to the table and sighed. "I've also noticed that Sirius has been slowly reverting back to who he was before the Order was established."
"Alice has changed, too. She's been more…maternal. The caring woman I fell in love with and married." Leaning his head on his hand, Frank thought for a moment. "Now that I think about it, that's been happening to me, too. I'm less interested in fighting, more interested in playing with Neville."
The boy in question looked up. "Daddy?"
"Nothing, Nev. Keep talking to Harry."
"And here we go." Sirius set two trays on the table with a flourish. "Two banana splits for the boys, a chocolate sundae for Moony, a vanilla milkshake for Frank, and a giant popple-lopa sundae for me."
The two men looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Sirius? Everything okay?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, why not?"
"Your sundae?"
He laughed and turned to wink at the cashier. "She made me a special treat in preparation for tonight."
"Oh Merlin." Remus rubbed his forehead. "You really have to stop doing that in front of the children."
"What? I'm educating them. Both these kids will need a cool uncle. You two certainly can't take on that role." Sirius ruffled Harry's hair as the boys dug into their banana splits. "Now boys, your first tip is –"
"I don't think they need to hear that," Frank said quickly. "How does a playdate sound?"
"For these two?" Remus looked down at Harry. "Hey Harry, do you want to go play with Neville one day this week?"
Harry clapped his hands. "Yes!"
"I guess it's a date, then." Frank ruffled his son's hair gently. "I'll be sure to tell Alice. Last time I made a playdate for Neville I forgot to tell her. She nearly took my head off."
"I can imagine."
The older man stretched and took a sip of his milkshake. "So Sirius, what are you planning to do about the Black lordship?"
"Hmm?" Sirius looked up, his spoon hanging from his mouth comically. "What about it?"
"Are you going to take it? Both your parents are gone, Regulus is gone, you're the only choice." Leaning over Neville's head, Frank took a couple of napkins and wiped the boy's face.
"Oh. That." His face took on a thoughtful look. "I'm not sure. I don't exactly want to, my family's corrupt enough, but then again, the money wouldn't be too bad."
Remus nodded. "You should do it. As Lord Black, you can allow Andromeda back into the family. That in itself should make it worthwhile."
"I don't know if I can handle the responsibility. There's also the whole Wizengamot thing." Sticking his spoon back in the ice cream, Sirius leaned his arms on the table. "Is it worth it?"
"I would say so. You control the family." Frank met the gray eyes from across the table. "You control Malfoy and Lestrange."
"Good point. Maybe…" He shrugged. "We'll see. I don't have to do it this second, do I?"
"No, you can wait." Remus looked over at Harry, whose face was smeared with ice cream. "You need a bath."
Harry's green eyes widened and began to glisten with tears. "Baff?"
"Bubble bath, of course," Sirius cut in. "With bath toys. Magic bath toys. Does that sound like fun?"
"No baff!"
"You're going to need a bath once we get home. For now, a napkin should suffice." The werewolf began to clean the toddler, studiously ignoring the angry look Sirius had on his face. "You'll like the bath, don't worry."
"Moony…"
Remus pointed a finger at his friend. "No. Don't do or say anything. We'll figure it out later."
"Fine."
U_U
Once the ice cream was finished and the little group bade farewell to the Longbottom men, they set off through Diagon Alley to finish their shopping. Thankfully it wasn't too busy so they weren't hounded by Harry's fans. Of all the shops they went into, only Madam Malkin made a big deal of Harry. Harry himself was terrified of her and hid behind Remus's leg until an assistant coaxed him out. After having some words (harsh words) with the proprietor of the shop, Sirius stormed outside to wait until the other two were finished.
"That was immature," Remus said once he and Harry exited the shop. "Can't you behave for once?"
"She was being ridiculous! And she scared Harry!" Sirius ruffled Harry's hair as they walked down the street. The toddler was beginning to look a little worn out, and he couldn't blame him. It had been a long day for the kid. "How about we go home for some dinner now?"
Remus looked down at Harry and saw the same thing his friend did. "That sounds like a plan. Let's get going."
And so they did.
A/N: One of the big points that came up is Lucius. Many readers (you!) requested to get rid of him, while others brought up valid points about making him good. What I'd like to do is make him good (if I told you he would be bad, I changed my mind) and I will take all those reviews into account. Thank you all!
Someone mentioned wanting to see Sirius with someone. I'm leaning towards Amelia Bones, but if anyone has any other ideas, I'm open!
Thank you all for reading! Any other story comments would be appreciated, too!
