I'm daringly poking my head over back of the sofa...

Is everyone recovered from the cliffhanger?

Hmm, aparently, my readers think I'm a bit evil? Actually, I'm very evil thank you very much!

Okay, next chapter…

xxx

Sirius was now staring at him in something akin to horror. "You're Harry aren't you?" He faltered. "My godson Harry!"

Harry cringed.

"Hell, I fucked my godson! I can't believe this." Sirius bellowed.

Harry winced and hastily interrupted the rant that seemed to be forthcoming. "Um, Sirius, out of the two of us back then, I was the only one who knew I was your godson, and technically I was quite a bit older than you that night and should probably have behaved more responsibly."

Sirius' gaze had become distinctly shuttered and he was now gazing at Harry with unreadable misty gray eyes. "You know, sometimes when you were a teenager I sometimes thought I saw something that really reminded me of him…of you. But I knew it was impossible…it had to be… so I never thought that. If anything I figured that he, or rather you, were in some way distantly related to the Potters… Hell, I think I even once asked James if he had some better looking cousins kicking about somewhere…"

He trailed off still staring at Harry. "How the hell did you do it? Time turners don't go back that far. We both know that."

Harry opened his mouth to begin to explain, but Sirius cut him off anxiously. "Why aren't you fifteen anymore?"

Harry sighed. "I haven't been fifteen for a long time, the truth is Sirius - you've missed a lot."

"A decade?" Sirius questioned as he hesitantly extended a hand towards Harry.

Harry took the hand gratefully and clasped it tightly. "You pretty much missed a decade, yes."

Harry took a deep breath. "But the good news is that the war is mostly over now and Voldemort himself is finally properly dead. And Wormtail and Bellatrix have both been captured and Remus, Tonks, Ron, Dumbledore, Hermione, Ginny, Molly and Arthur all made it through in one piece." Harry smiled crookedly, "and you received a posthumous pardon. So, um, congratulations Sirius, you're a free man; albeit a legally dead one – which may cause some ructions when you first go for a public stroll."

Sirius absorbed this excessive influx of compacted knowledge in absolute silence, his eyes riveted to their joined hands.

Harry shifted uneasily, and then took a deep breath, fully prepared to properly acknowledge his wrongdoings. "I'm sorry Sirius. I should have known better than to seduce you. It was wrong of me. I've made everything so much more complicated for us."

Sirius blinked and then pinned him with an arctic gaze that made Harry squirm, but he pressed on.

"I was thinking about what I wanted." He managed to stutter out. "Not what you might think if you ever found out who I really was. I never really thought you would, which doesn't make things better, but…"

Sirius let out a sharp bark of laughter: "Best shag of my life by far. So I don't think you really need to be terribly sorry, and you did say you might see me again, just that I probably wouldn't recognize you… so really, I should have known."

Harry blinked and then burst out laughing too. Trust Sirius to be flippant about everything. He got himself under control again quickly enough though. "Well, I'm glad you're not too angry with me for that. But really you have every right to be. It isn't one of the smartest things I have ever done."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You saying I was that bad?"

Harry groaned loudly and tried unsuccessfully not to blush violently. "You were there. We were… incredible. I'm just saying it was a pretty daft thing to do and I would understand if you were furious with me. I'm sure you wouldn't have chosen to sleep with the stupid godson who got you killed if you'd known. "

Sirius raised the other eyebrow. "I'm here aren't I? So I don't think you got me killed."

"But that night at the ministry - I almost did. Everyone thought I had, which is why you have missed a decade – everyone thought you were dead. If I hadn't come across a spell that allowed me to travel through time then you would be dead because you fell into the veil, or almost did." Harry frowned and began mumbling to himself. "Now I think this is going to confuse a lot of people, including me. I've thought you dead for years, but actually, I'd already snatched you out of the timeline, only I hadn't yet... Merlin, how much more could I bugger things up?"

Sirius shook his head at Harry's ramblings and leaned closer. "But you figured out how to fix what went wrong. Besides, it wasn't entirely your fault that I was at the ministry that night. Lots of little actions and inactions by lots of different people just added together to make a mess. And don't forget that I was the pig-headed twit who charged off to rescue you and was then stupid enough to start mouthing off at a Death Eater bitch in the middle of a fight."

"But–" Harry's vehement protest was muffled by Sirius smartly clapping a hand over his mouth.

"We were doing exactly the same thing. You were rushing off without thinking to try to save me. I was rushing off without thinking to rescue you."

Harry succeeded in removing Sirius' hand from his mouth, and stared at him. "I lost you a decade of your life, and you're telling me it's okay?"

Sirius sighed heavily. "Well, I have to admit that I would rather have not missed a decade, but I can honestly say that it isn't as bad as being put in Azkaban and losing a decade in there. In any case, you didn't do anything that I didn't do myself, so how can I really blame you? Yes, you were stupid, but so was I. And as I don't fancy wasting my newfound freedom hating myself and all the people I care most about I'm going to say it was just bloody bad luck and-" he paused to smirk, "-simply draw a veil over things."

Harry groaned at Sirius' horrible attempt at humor. Despite the fact he was trying to be funny about a very painful subject, he actually looked as if he meant what he was saying.

"And you're not mad that I went back in time and slept with you either?"

Sirius shrugged, "Nope. But you knew that. Now you're just fishing for compliments."

Harry smiled faintly. "You know, I missed you so much, but even with all the times I dreamt about you coming back after you fell behind the veil, this conversation simply did not feature."

Sirius grinned mischievously, "And with all the times I fantasized about being back in Room number three at the Leaky Cauldron with the mysterious Harry, this conversation really didn't feature either."

Harry couldn't help but blush. "I'm never going to hear the end of that am I?"

Sirius shook his head. "Especially as the teenage Harry I remember was short, skinny, myopic and vaguely obsessed by a pretty Ravenclaw girl." He grinned. "It makes no sense that my sex god was so normal!"

Harry shook his head in disgust. "Oi, a little less of the short and skinny! But, yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking back then. That girl was by far the worst mistake I ever made, and believe me, I've made a few real clangers."

"I'm not the worst? I am surprised. Not just a godparent, but a male godparent?"

"Well, I do find women attractive, but I like men too, and I just find another man simpler to relate to than a woman. One of the longest relationships I had was with…" Harry broke off, suddenly vividly recalling Sirius' feelings about Severus.

"With?" Sirius made a circling motion with his hand, indicating that Harry should continue.

"Um, I sort of had an ongoing affair with a man you don't like."

Sirius sighed heavily. "Snape?"

Harry nodded warily. "Good guess."

Sirius grimaced.

"Yeah, dating mistake number two." Harry agreed with his expression.

Sirius shook his head. "I was just wondering what the creep has got that the rest of us don't. For all that he's a greasy anti-social git with a stupid nose and skinny legs he somehow manages to get pretty attractive lovers… and he can kiss."

Harry suddenly recalled something. "Yeah, you kissed him yourself didn't you?"

"You saw that?"

Harry nodded.

Sirius grimaced again. "It was supposed to be another one of our stupid jokes at his expense, but I actually almost enjoyed it. Imagine my horror. I think it may have been what made me really hate him."

Harry was too busy laughing helplessly to respond.

"Hey you actually dated him! You do not get to laugh at me."

"Yes, I did. And believe it or not, I did actually care about him. He is kind of okay when you get to know him. I just don't think I should really have been involved with him for so long."

"I'll take your word for it." Grunted Sirius. "Don't expect me to be nice to him though."

"Um, actually, I only broke up with him earlier today because I felt bad about sleeping with you yesterday. But don't worry, I don't think he'll want to be around us anyway, so no nice behaviour will be required of you."

Sirius gaped at him. "That was yesterday to you?"

"Yes, well, today really. Actually, no, I don't know anymore. Maybe it was longer ago than that. Ugh, messing with time gets very confusing."

Sirius dropped his head into his hands as Harry babbled.

"Well this must be an pleasant contrast for you." He managed to say. "Seventeen-year-old stud one day, mangy old ex-con the next."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I guess you weren't listening when I said earlier that you're still attractive."

Sirius glared at him from between his fingers.

"Fuck. This is awkward." Harry finally exploded. "I really don't have a clue how to act Sirius. Should I try to go back to treating you like my godfather? Do you want me to pretend that it never happened? Do you want me to act as if you are still first and foremost my father's beloved friend? If so, I probably shouldn't tell you that you're still attractive and I really shouldn't mention that I still faintly have the taste of you in my mouth."

Sirius watched as Harry flung off his cloak and got to his feet.

Harry stared at him, "I know this must be impossible for you to take in too Sirius. But I was so happy that you would be alive again that I didn't really think much about any consequences, and now its all hitting me at once, and I'm just as thrown by it all." Harry loosened his collar and took a nervous pace towards the window. "I know. Normal behaviour for me right?" Harry sighed. "Act first, think later – if at all."

"Harry!" Sirius interrupted the diatribe and Harry froze in the act of pacing away again.

"I think we have some time to discuss everything and sort out how we're going to behave before we actually have to face anyone else." His brow quirked, "Or have you invited everyone here for a wild reunion party?"

"I think Albus may be sorting things out for us with the rest of the world, so I actually thought we could hide away just for a day or two, and maybe get things explained, if that is okay with you."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Then we have time."

Harry nodded.

"So."

"So."

They both trailed off and silently stared at each other.

"Maybe it would have been easier to talk if you didn't have to sit on the bed we shagged on." Harry blurted eventually. Then he blinked and examined what he'd just said and flushed uncomfortably. "Oh, could I make things worse?"

Sirius shook his head and chuckled slightly. "I just can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that you are my godson and yet I've somehow slept with you before you were even born."

Harry hung his head. "I did say it was a bad idea of mine."

"It doesn't help that I missed you growing up for the last ten years, because now when I look at you I really do just see a man I really fancied, not my little godson." Sirius mused.

"That's my fault too." Harry sighed.

Sirius glared at him. "I'm not blaming you. I'm just explaining that I would find it difficult to simply treat you as my godson at first. Truthfully, I'm not even sure I'll ever be able to look at you again without thinking about the way you kiss. But I'll work on that."

Harry smiled as he felt some of his good humour return. "So you aren't horrified that you slept with me?"

"Of course not. It may be a bit weird, but I don't see anything all that wrong with it. I did it before I knew who you were, and it isn't like it was incest and we don't have a really creepy age-gap or anything to be horribly unsettled by."

"Even less of an age-gap now." Harry pointed out immediately. "You're still 36, but I'm 25 now. Which makes me a bit old to really need a godfather don't you think? I can always use another friend though… or maybe even a lover."

Sirius gave him a sharp look. "Are you hinting?" He asked incredulously.

Harry found himself blushing. "Well, I thought I should make it clear that the option is there. But if you want to keep things platonic as of now then I can do that. I'll just be grateful not to completely lose you."

Sirius actually looked more than vaguely tempted Harry realised a moment later.

"I mean, if you make love to me again, it isn't anything you haven't already done." Harry wheedled. "I'm sure everyone will only want me to be happy. They wouldn't care who makes me happy once they got over the surprise. The age gap really is nothing to even consider anymore, and although it has been years since they saw you, they do all still like you..."

Sirius stood up and gave Harry a despairing look. "Oh, just look at me." He demanded. "Can you honestly say you want this old mess? I'm just not the man you remember."

Harry sensed the implied surrender and took a step closer…