Authors Note:

A short chapter!

I keep coming back to the dog idea because children trust animals explicitly in a way that can't be explained. They are loyal and loving and just there for you. Harry needs that and it's something that Sirius realizes and can give him.

Reviews and Comments: To ObsessedWithHPFanfic: I think Sirius knows he must be patient and understanding! I'm glad he got Harry as well! Thank you!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER SEVEN:

The One Where Sirius Punches Vernon Dursley

It was after midnight when Remus left and Sirius headed up to bed, but he slept fitfully. He still wasn't used to the luxury of a comfortable bed and the dreams were still too close to the surface. His own childhood memories combined with the knowledge of how Harry had been mistreated and he soon found himself staring at the ceiling of his room, wondering how he was going to raise this child.

How was he going to get Harry to trust him?

He was pulled from his insomnia by Harry's cries some time after two in the morning. He rushed from his bedroom into Harry's, and sat on the edge of the bed, turning the bedroom light on.

"Harry?"

Tears rolled down Harry's cheeks as he clung desperately to the stag stuffed animal. "I'm sorry! I tried to wait until morning! I tried! I'm sorry!"

"Tried to wait for what, Harry?" Sirius asked and then he felt the wetness under his hand and realized what had happened.

Harry had wet the bed.

"Harry… it's okay, don't cry."

Harry looked at him for a moment, his face tear-stained. "You won't push my face in it?"

The outrage Sirius felt must have shown on his face because Harry cowered away for a moment.

"No, no, Harry — I'm not upset with you." He took Harry's hand in his and squeezed lightly. "I would never push your face in it."

"I tried to wait until breakfast! I did!"

"Harry, why were you trying to wait?" Sirius asked, already afraid to learn the answer.

"Uncle Vernon says I can't get up in the night, I have to wait until breakfast time to use the loo. And the door is always locked so I can't get out!"

Sirius kissed Harry's little hand making his eyes widen in wonder. "No rules here, Harry. You use the toilet whenever you need to go. That door will never be locked. Now, let's clean this up, shall we?" He pointed his wand at the bed. "Scourgify!" The bed instantly became dry and clean. He pointed his wand at Harry's pyjama pants, "Scourgify!" Harry was clean.

Harry stared at him in amazement.

Sirius smiled and tucked him in again. "Magic, I told you."

"Uncle Padfoot?"

"Yes?" Sirius asked, smiling warmly. The sound of Harry's little voice calling him Uncle Padfoot made him feel ridiculously warm and fuzzy inside.

"I had a dream that you were a dog like this," he said holding up the stuffed black dog and holding it out to Sirius.

Sirius smiled at him, accepting the stuffed animal. "I can be sometimes, remember? You used to love it when I was a dog when you were a baby."

Harry's eyes widened. "It wasn't a dream? You really are the dog."

Sirius tucked him in and then transformed into his dog Animagus, hopping onto the bed and snuggling himself next to Harry. Harry's arms came around him, giggling when Sirius licked his face. He snuggled the dog close, his sweet child smell making Sirius smile.

"Stay, Uncle Padfoot," he whispered and then he drifted off to sleep, his head snuggled against Sirius' soft fur.

~ASC~

Sirius woke up in the morning with Harry still snuggled up to him. He carefully pried himself from the child and transformed back into himself, heading to the bath to shower and change. When he got downstairs, Remus was already there making breakfast.

"Good morning, Moony," he said, grabbing his leather jacket from the kitchen chair. "I showed him my furrier form and I slept with him. He was calm for the rest of the night."

"Good," Remus said, his eyes looking towards the ceiling. "We'll be fine."

Sirius nodded and headed outside to rev up his bike. He had been planning to see Dumbledore first, but after last night's bathroom incident, he had changed his mind. He used the bike's flying mechanism and soared through the sky invisible to the world around him and landed on the front lawn of the Dursley residence.

He rang the bell consistently until Vernon Dursley pulled it open and glared angrily at him.

"Where's the boy?"

Sirius pushed his way into the house, closing the front door behind him. "That boy is never stepping foot in this house again." He shoved Vernon backwards until he was up against the wall. "How dare you treat your nephew with such contempt?"

"We never wanted him!" Vernon shouted. "He's a bad seed and was always getting into trouble — never doing what he was told!"

"So, you beat him?" Sirius asked quietly, punching his fist forward as Vernon yelped in fright and Sirius' fist hit the wall next to his head. "Instilled a fear in him," he said, punching his fist out again and causing Vernon to yell as his fist hit the wall on the other side of Vernon's head. "That innocent little child and you beat him and mistreated him in ways that I can't even imagine." He tightened his grip on the front of Vernon's shirt and glared menacingly at him. "I should kill you right now."

"No!" Petunia screamed, her hands covering her mouth in horror from where she stood in the kitchen doorway.

Sirius dropped his hands away from Vernon and ripped open the door of the cupboard under the stairs, staring in disgust at the dirty soiled cot and clothing there. His eyes fell on the large stuffed white stag that he had bought for Lily as a joke back in sixth year, the one that she had given to Harry and he grabbed it, leaving everything else behind.

"You sicken me, Petunia. Lily always spoke highly of you. She always said how she regretted the way the two of you had drifted apart and how she wished you could be close again. How do you think she would feel about the way that you've treated her son?"

Petunia whimpered, holding Dudley close to her as his arms wrapped around her legs. "We never wanted him," she whispered.

Sirius let his fist fly again, but this time he aimed for Vernon's gut and watched as the man doubled over in pain. "You will never see him again. You will never touch him again. You will never hurt him again. Do you understand me?"

Petunia rushed to help her husband and she nodded. "Yes."

Sirius looked at where Dudley stood, his hands covered in chocolate as he greedily ate a large piece of chocolate cake with his hands. Then he stormed out of the house, hopped onto his bike and flew straight towards Hogwarts making the eight-hour rode trip in just under two hours.

By the time he arrived outside of the front gates, most of his rage had calmed down, but not enough of it. He made his way up the stairs and found Dumbledore sitting at his desk, drinking tea and eating toast. "Albus, I see that you've been expecting me."

Dumbledore gestured for him to take a seat. "I expected you to be earlier if I'm honest. Would you like some breakfast, Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head. "No. Albus, I would not like some damn breakfast! I'm here about Harry."

Dumbledore nodded as Sirius took a seat in front of him. "Did you go visit him?"

"I kidnapped him actually."

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "You — what?"

"Didn't plan on it, mind you," Sirius told him. "I was only going to take him to the park, get to know him a bit, but he can't stay there another minute, Albus. The Dursleys are abusing him."

"Abusing him?" Dumbledore asked in alarm, his eyes narrowing slightly over his half-moon spectacles. "That is an austere accusation, Sirius."

"He lives in a fucking cupboard under the stairs! He's scared of baths because someone holds his head under the water! He has deep welts across his back; can't bear to be touched or come upon suddenly in any way! He peed his bed because he's too afraid to go to the toilet without permission. He's afraid to show pain for fear of being punished. He has no friends because his cousin scares the other kids away from him and it's only been one day, Albus - I know there's more that I haven't even come across yet. I've barely scratched the surface of the mistreatment this child has undergone," Sirius explained, his eyes dark with rage. "He is NEVER going back there. I won't allow it!"

"Agreed," Dumbledore said, his eyes on Sirius'. "I kept my eye from a distance and from where I could see that Petunia didn't love him, he looked safe and that's where I was wrong. You did right, Sirius. I will terminate any guardianship Petunia Dursley has over her nephew immediately."

"And what about them?" Sirius demanded. "I want them punished for the way that they treated their nephew. In fact, the punch to the gut I gave Vernon Dursley a few hours ago hardly compares to what those horrible people deserve!"

Dumbledore closed his eyes. "I wish that you wouldn't have done that, Sirius."

"I want them punished, Albus! I want them punished for what they did to him — for how they treated him!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes flashing in anger. "And I'm telling you this because it took everything in me not to kill them. I can't afford to go back to prison. Harry needs me now more than ever. I am his godfather."

Dumbledore nodded. He could see the rage vibrating from the young man in front of him and the restraint that he was holding back. He had made the right decision and Dumbledore was ashamed that he hadn't done more to check on the boy's welfare.

"You have the paperwork listing you as guardian?" When Sirius nodded, Dumbledore folded his hands in front of him. "First thing tomorrow, I'll bring it to the Ministry and we'll get the ball rolling on your custody case. Don't worry about the Dursleys, they will be getting a visit from the Auror Department very soon."

Sirius simply stared at Dumbledore. "Make it sooner."