It was a cold December night on a lonely road in the north of Essex, a few modest houses with modest owners sleeping in the peaceful silence. It was broken by the sound of an engine roaring past loudly. The engine of a motorbike.
Sirius Black stared blankly ahead of him, barely looking where he was going; just knowing he had to go. After waking up after one of the babies kicked so he hard he could feel it on his abdomen straight through Harry, who was spooned in his arms, something had clicked in his head and he had been unable to sleep anymore, he'd lay up thinking. He couldn't do this, who was he kidding? Him, a parent.
He had been careful not to wake Harry as he got up and packed a small suitcase of personal belongings getting on his bike and driving off. He convinced himself that Harry was better off raising the three of them without him there. He just got in the way anyway.
He could have been gone long ago had he traveled faster, but his doubts held him back. And while Lily or Remus would go to the library when in doubt, Sirius would go to James for advice as always. This said, he found himself an hour later pulling up exactly where he had left six months ago. Right in front of the Potter mansion…
BANG
James sat up in bed, the noise startling him. Looking over to Lily, he saw she was still fast asleep. He listened carefully, the only sounds being crickets chirping and the slow tick of the alarm clock next to him. Thinking he had imagined it, he lay back down and rolled over to try and get back to sleep. As he started to drift off, there was a loud crash.
Getting up, he pulled a robe over his naked body and put on his glasses. As he retrieved his wand from under his pillow, he looked to his wife and made the decision not to wake her up. He worried about her enough at work when they had to go on raids without worrying at home, he could handle this himself, it was his job to protect her after all. It had been in his vows at their wedding, to protect her and Harry (a week old at the time) from all harm. He'd failed the latter already in his own mind.
"Lumos" He whispered and held the lit up wand in front of him. Opening the heavy front doors, he carefully entered the grounds, looking around cautiously for where the crash came from. A voice was coming from the forest and from the sounds of it, swearing loudly. Moving in the direction of the noise, he had his wand at ready in front of him, in case the person decided to attack. About two metres from the person and right next to the forest, James stood behind a tree and watched.
"Shit! Stupid thing!" The person said loudly and kicked the object next to them. They let off a scream along with muffled curses and hopped backwards, straight into James. They let off another scream, this one of surprise and James pushed them off, pouncing on them and holding his elbow to their throat.
"Who are you?" He growled and the person coughed loudly and James pointed the lit up wand at its face as it looked at him.
"Gonna hex me, Prongs?" They croaked out and James let go, shining the light more clearly on Sirius.
"Padfoot?" He asked unsurely and Sirius laughed.
"The one and only!" He grinned and James quickly got off him and held out a hand to help him up. He took it and as Sirius stood up, he saw the grin on his face.
"What are you doing here?"
"Can't I come visit my best friend in the middle of the night anymore?" James gave him a sarcastic look. "What?"
"Sirius, you've been missing for six months, where the hell have you been?"
"Ok, ok, I'll explain once we get inside," He looked over to the object that James now recognised as his motorbike. "Stupid thing cut out on me."
"So, tell me where you've been." James said as they sat in front of the fire, a mug of hot chocolate in each of their hands. Sirius looked away and blushed deeply.
"I've kinda been in a relationship." He said quietly, looking away from James. "A serious one."
"What about Remus?"
"I, I just don't know anymore Prongs, I mean, it's just, not right anymore, if you know what I mean. Come on, we're not eighteen anymore, I need someone who I can settle down with, start a family." James didn't reply, but thought to himself for a few minutes. He looked up at Sirius and shook his head, a smirk on his face.
"That's a big step for you Padfoot, so you found that person, why are you here?"
"It's not working out."
"And can't you just end it?"
"It's more complicated than that?"
"Wait, how serious is this relationship?" Sirius nervously twisted the ring on his finger and James's eyes snapped to it then back to Sirius's face. "It's not..." He trailed off.
"Yep, it is Prongs, we're married." He replied.
"Ok, that does complicate it more, but don't worry, tomorrow, we'll go down to the ministry, get the divorce papers, and you'll be free by the New Year." Sirius nodded and stared off into the fire.
Harry woke the next morning as a wave of morning sickness hit him. He managed to lift himself up, a task that became harder with each passing day, and make it to the bathroom without throwing up over the carpet.
After throwing up everything he had eaten the pervious day, he held onto the toilet and managed to pull himself back into a standing position. After brushing his teeth to get rid of the taste of vomit, he made his way out of the bathroom to find the bed empty. Guessing Sirius had to go to work, he thought nothing of it and made the bed right before Crosby called him from his room.
After making breakfast for Crosby and a slice of dry toast for himself, he started the usual chores of dusting, vacuuming and floor scrubbing. Crosby behaved through all of this and sat on the living room floor playing with his toys. Harry now was ready to fulfil his end of the promise and picked him up and after dressing him warmly took him outside to the backyard to play in the snow. He helped him roll snow balls and together they managed to make a (rather deformed looking) snowman.
As Crosby made a snow angel, Harry looked around and his eye caught the tiny snow covered shed in the corner of the yard he'd never noticed before. Walking towards it, he heard a sound from inside and frowned as it shook. He decided to wait for Sirius to come back before checking it, just now it was something dangerous, and he didn't even have his wand with him. Not that it was much use anyway; the babies seemed to dry up pretty much all his magic. He remembered how he'd barely been able to do a levitating charm for about a month before and a month after Crosby was born.
As he started walking back, he saw Crosby bent over something.
"Crosby? What are you doing?" He asked and as he got nearer, Crosby turned around to face him, something in his arms. Harry crouched down to his level to look closer at the two oblong bunches of snow.
"I made them for you." He said and handed them to Harry. "They're so they can be out for Christmas." Harry frowned.
"Who out for Christmas, love?" Crosby giggled and placed his hand on Harry's stomach, one of the babies kicking it hard, making Crosby laugh harder. "Oh no, they won't be out for a while still." Crosby's happy smile turned to confusion.
"Why not?" Harry put his hand on Crosby's, taking it in his own and rubbing his thumb over it.
"Because they're not strong enough just yet, but they'll be here before you know it. Now come on, let's go inside, we'll have some cocoa to warm us up." He took the hand off his stomach and held it as stood up before going back through the kitchen door.
Late in the morning, Lily awoke and slowly shuffled downstairs sleepily in her dressing gown. She was surprised to see her husband already up and sitting by Sirius in the kitchen. She looked at him curiously, slightly more awake than before.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him curiously and he grinned.
"He's back Lil, for good, isn't it wonderful?" James answered and Lily gave him a smile before her eyes turned back to him.
If you're back, then what the hell have you done with Harry?
And the angsty-ness has made it's way back into the story! Since no one reviews fluff, expect a lot more of it...
Question for Reviewers: Would you rather I finish off my other stories firstor post the sequel straight after this story?
MadamBlack: Where have you been? I never said it was pink. I said lemon at end of story, maybe...
MysticRuby: Lol, thanks for the capslock! You're really SWET too!
YoBlossom: Wanna draw it for me? There's something special in it for you...
Shadow-Hawk-Opal: I won't comment much because that goes deep into the plot of the story and I could spoil it for you, so I'll shut my mouth. It's no problem that I added the line, it improves the story!
Rikkairora: Thanks.
HP Girl 28:Remus doesn't know and I think decorating is the least of the problems for them right now... Skin? Explain please.
RanmasAngel: I'm trying to get people do it, but I have no one who will do fanart...:(
Cucami: Thanks!
Sweet Mercy: Very kinky Harry!
Sliver of Melody: Now you can 'Poor Harry' evenmore!
velveteen-dragon: Please do, I really need someone to talk to at the moment, life is just, crap!
Miru Amai: It's ok, enjoy work...
Joe: THANK YOUagain.
Kyle: It's not finished yet, and yes there will be a sequel...
