Author's Note:
Reviews and Comments: To Donna Rae Diamond: You're welcome and thank you! To cha-chris: Sirius has been with Zee sporadically since Halloween and yes, Harry is upset and has every right to be. To alix33: I thought it made sense for Harry to write to his friends about being upset about Zee. His friends get it, but are all coming at it from a different angle which is important. Of course Tonks promises Harry he can be godfather LOL. To geekymom: Thank you! To coloredwords: Well, Sirius can hope there will be no more near-death experiences. He has no idea what's to come LOL. I agree, it doesn't make sense for Harry to like Zee immediately. He's never seen Sirius with anyone. He's always had him to himself so this is quite a change for him. To moriahhh: Aw, I'm sad that you don't care for Zee. I only hope she will grow on you. Thanks for saying the chapter was great. To ginnyweasley777: Thank you! Yes, Remus and Tonks are approaching! To Lost: Thank you! I know you still don't like Zee and want to see more jealous Harry before it returns to only Sirius, Remus, and Tonks. Zee will be sticking around I'm afraid, I've grown quite fond of her (as has Sirius).
To Silverstargirl: Sirius should have seen it coming, true, but this is new territory for Sirius. He was very careful with his witches. Harry has never met them. He never brought them home and never once spoke to Harry about them. Harry is going to be a bit resentful and it's completely justified. Sirius fucked up (which I think is important, too). Sirius isn't perfect. Harry's friends definitely didn't mean to say that Harry is a burden on Sirius' life, but Harry in his resentful angry stage, definitely took it to mean that way. To a guy1013: Thank you. To Guest: Wow, thanks for saying you've been looking forward to my story with every update! That's sweet! To love reading20613: 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 SEVENTY-FIVE:
The One Where Harry Is Jealous
As the week went on, Harry thought about what Tonks had said to him; why the idea of Sirius having a woman in his life made him so unhappy. He couldn't explain it. But every day when Zee appeared with a smile and a kind word, when she kissed Sirius or held him close - Harry felt a wave of jealousy and anger pass over him. He wanted all of Sirius' attention!
After all, he was the one who had faced Voldemort yet again!
He was the one who had bravely sought out the stone when McGonagall didn't believe him!
He was the one who had saved the day!
Shouldn't that be celebrated? Shouldn't that be praised?
He was acting like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum and he knew it, but he couldn't stop his emotions from beating him up. He found himself doing his best to find reasons not to like Zee. Even when he knew that they were stupid.
He hated that she wore a big gardening hat when she worked outside.
He hated her rainbow sunglasses.
He hated her rich laugh that made her eyes twinkle.
He hated the way that she was always bringing over chocolate chip biscuits or freshly made danishes as apparently she loved to bake.
He hated that they were always so delicious.
He hated that he was being so stupid.
When Harry saw that she was making dinner for them in the kitchen a few days later, his stomach twisted uncomfortably. Why couldn't she just leave them alone? Why couldn't it be like it was before he went to Hogwarts, when it was just him and Sirius?
And the one thing that had been bugging him the most: Why hadn't Sirius ever mentioned her to him before?
"I'm going to Uncle Moony's for dinner," he announced suddenly from the kitchen doorway when he saw her.
He didn't want to spend any more time with her and Sirius. He wanted Sirius to himself the way that it was supposed to be.
If she was here, he didn't want to be.
Sirius looked up in surprise from the table. "Sure, Prongslet. If you want to."
Harry simply headed straight to the Floo, turning without saying goodbye, and arrived in Remus' living room. Remus was sitting on his sofa reading a book and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Harry!"
Harry sat down next to him and feeling like a young child, rested his head against his uncle's shoulder.
Remus put an arm around him and held him close, dropping a kiss on the top of his son's head. "Hey, everything okay, little Prongs?"
Harry shook his head as Remus held him, feeling content for the first time all summer as Remus gently ran his hand up and down Harry's arm. "Can I sleep over here tonight?"
Remus' mouth opened in surprise, but he nodded. "Of course you can! Harry, are you all right?"
"It's not the same at home," he murmured quietly, closing his eyes.
Remus only smiled, his hand rubbing Harry's arm in comfort. "What do you mean by that, little Prongs? Coming home after school felt different? You did have quite an exciting year, I suppose."
Harry shrugged. "Not different because of that but just… she's there."
Remus was quiet for a moment. "Zee?"
Harry nodded.
Remus smiled kindly, leaning down to kiss Harry's forehead. "Harry, do you not like Zee?"
He shrugged again in response.
Remus smiled, understanding now. "Little Prongs, she's new in your life, I understand that. She's really nice and she's funny and smart, not to mention beautiful, and Sirius really likes her."
"He doesn't need her," Harry said stubbornly. "He has me."
"Ah," Remus said, nodding as he realized the root of the issue. "But you're not there anymore, not all of the time. You're away at school and Sirius is alone. Do you want him to be alone?"
"Well, no," Harry admitted, shifting uncomfortably on the chesterfield. "But I'm back now so, she can leave." At Remus' questioning look, Harry sighed. "She's always there, Uncle Moony! Uncle Siri doesn't have time for me anymore. He's too busy snogging her. He doesn't even care that I'm home! He didn't even care enough to tell me about her!"
"That is absolutely not true. You are the most important person in Sirius' life and he will always have time for you," Remus said quietly. "As to why Sirius didn't tell you about her… I think that he just got used to keeping his… for lack of a better word — flings, private from you. Zee kind of snuck up on him, I think. I don't think that it was intentional on his part not to tell you about her."
"He'd rather spend time with her," he said bitterly, standing up. "We can't even have dinner without her being there!"
Remus smiled sympathetically. "Harry, Zee has become a very good friend to Sirius and he likes having her around."
Harry rolled his eyes. "He's always snogging her, Uncle Rem, I think they're more than just friends. Can we have pasta for dinner?"
Remus smiled, standing up as well. "I'm sure we can. We might have to make a trip to the grocery store first. But Harry, I want to talk to you about Sirius and Zee. You need to tell Sirius this."
"He won't listen to me."
"Hey," Remus said, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder and turning him to look at him. "He will always listen to you. Always. Now, you can of course stay here with me tonight, but tomorrow morning you're going to go home and tell Sirius what you told me today."
Harry shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "That I want him to stop seeing Zee?"
"That's not fair, Harry," Remus said quietly. "Zee makes Sirius really happy. He deserves to have someone in his life; maybe to get married one day and maybe even have kids too, if that was what he wanted. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but he deserves a chance at it. It wouldn't make him love you any less. What if I found a woman and started dating her and spending time with her? Would you hate me for it, too?" He asked, picking up his teacup and bringing it to his lips.
Harry stared at him for a moment and then shrugged. "Depends if I get to call her Auntie Tonks or not."
Remus choked on his tea, spluttering and his eyes widening. "Excuse me?"
Harry's eyes sparkled in mischief. That certainly answered his question about whether or not his father had a thing for Tonks or not.
"I think that you belong with Tonks so, if it was her, I'd be okay with it," he said so matter of factly that Remus found himself simply staring at him in astonishment. "Uncle Moony, do you really think that Uncle Sirius is going to marry Zee?"
Remus was trying not to choke on his tongue. Where the hell had Harry come to that conclusion about Nymphadora?
"Sirius is not thinking about marriage, I was just saying that you don't know what the future will bring," he said, moving to open his cupboard and to see what was inside as he tried to wind his mind back down from Tonks to Zee.
Where on earth had Harry gotten it into his head that he should be with Nymphadora? She had barely spoken to him since he had rejected her yet again back in November and he could hardly blame her for it. She'd been friendly at Christmas, putting on a big smile — but since then, he'd barely even seen her. Sirius had told him that she was doing great in the Academy and flying through all of the tests brilliantly, though she had come close to failing the stealth detection due to her clumsiness, much to Sirius' amusement. Now she was a full fledged beginner Auror in the Auror Department, an A1. She had moved into her own flat in London just after the Christmas holiday and she was working hard.
He had sent her a birthday present. He wasn't sure why he had, he hadn't spoken to her since his own birthday celebration, but he'd sent her a present. A white gold chain with a small crystal wolf on the end.
He had no idea why he had sent her the wolf either, but when he'd seen it dangling between her breasts the other day, he'd felt an odd claiming to her that satisfied the wolf on many levels.
She'd sent him a polite thank you card in response and he'd crumpled it in his hand and tossed it into the fire.
And when she'd shown up at Sirius' for dinner the week before Harry finished school, Remus' entire being had beckoned towards her. But he stood his ground, greeting her kindly and promptly ignoring her outside of polite conversation.
As he would continue to do so for his own sanity. He was making the right choice, he continued to tell himself, even though he knew now that it had been the wrong one. But he was too late to fix it. He had pushed her too far and now he had even lost her friendship and he had no one to blame but himself.
He looked back at Harry, swallowing carefully. "Why did you say that about Tonks, Harry?"
Harry shrugged, opening a bag of crisps that he found in the cupboard. "You're always staring at her and she at you. It's obvious that you like her, but that you don't want her to know that you're a werewolf, which is stupid because Tonks isn't going to care about that."
Remus only goggled at him. "How did you get so insightful while acting like an insolent child at the same time?"
Harry grinned. "So, you do like her? How come you won't tell her?"
It was probably better to change the subject, Remus thought. He cleared his throat. "Harry, let's go back to Zee here — is she not nice to you?"
"No, she is." At Remus' raised eyebrow he sighed. "She's very nice and she smells good. She's a great cook, too. The other night she made this taco casserole thing and it completely rocked — and she's funny with a cool job. Lady Godiva is kinda wicked, too."
Remus smiled. "So… why don't you want her around?"
"Because when she's around Uncle Padfoot doesn't have time for me. He ends up snogging her instead. I don't get why snogging is so great anyway," Harry said under his breath.
Remus chuckled. "You will one day," he ruffled Harry's hair and reached into the bag of crisps. "You'll talk to Sirius?"
Harry nodded, munching on the crisps. "Do I have to?" At Remus' look, he grumbled. "Okay, but not until tomorrow."
"All right," Remus agreed. "Now, why don't you find some noodles and I'll get started on the sauce. We might not have to make a trip to the store after all."
Harry beamed at him.
But Harry ended up spending three nights with Remus, conning him into staying longer and the happiness on his face when Remus caved made Remus think that maybe Harry having a little break from Sirius was good for him. It was on the second day that Sirius popped into Remus' kitchen as Harry was outside flying.
He glanced at his friend. "He's pissed at me."
Remus, who was washing the dishes only nodded. "Got that impression, did you?"
Sirius sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair. "He just took off and said that he wanted to come over here for dinner. I wasn't going to say no. I like that he knows he can come to you whenever he wants to, but it's been two fucking days, Rem."
Remus smiled at his friend sympathetically. "I'm not going to tell you what he told me, Sirius."
"That's not why I'm here," he said, peeking out the window to spy on Harry flying. "I just want him to talk to me. I want to know what's bothering him and… I miss him."
Remus put the kettle on and sighed. "He will, Sirius. We made a deal. When he goes home, he talks to you. He's going to spend tonight with me and then I'll send him home after breakfast."
Sirius only nodded, stealing one more glance at his godson. "I'm going to spend the night at Zee's if he's here." At Remus' raised eyebrow, he tilted his head. "What?"
"You're spending the night now?"
He shrugged. "We do from time to time yeah, but we haven't since Harry's come home. I won't… it's only me and Harry in the house all of the time, no sleepovers. I won't have her stay when he's there, I won't allow it."
Remus nodded. "That's a good rule."
Sirius sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I miss having him sleep across the hall."
"He'll be home tomorrow, Sirius. Now, go on and scat before he sees you."
Sirius shrugged and headed to the fireplace. "Rem, tell him I love him?"
Remus smiled at his friend. "He knows, but I will. See you later, Sirius."
Sirius disappeared into the green flames with a sigh.
~ ASC ~
When Harry arrived home the next morning after breakfast, Sirius was waiting for him in the living room. He was stretched out on the chesterfield, the newspaper in his lap and Marauder at his feet. He merely raised on eyebrow when Harry stepped out of the fireplace and he took a sip of his tea.
"Morning, Uncle Sirius," he said.
"Morning, Prongslet," Sirius said, watching him carefully.
Harry shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Uncle Moony hadn't said that he had to talk to him right away…
"Are you going to tell me why you ran off so fast the other night and then decided not to come home?"
Harry flushed, looking at his feet. "I wanted to spend some time with Uncle Moony."
Sirius moved his legs to the floor and gestured to the couch. "Sit, Prongslet."
Harry shuffled his feet as he took a seat on the couch, Marauder hopping up and placing his head on Harry's thigh. Harry scratched the dog absentmindedly.
Sirius stared at him for a moment. Harry didn't meet his gaze, but continued to look down at Marauder. "Zee was worried that she upset you the other night, did she?" he asked carefully.
Harry shrugged, still keeping his eyes on the dog.
Sirius bit his bottom lip. "Harry, do I have to remind you that you can always talk to me — about anything? Nothing in this world is more important to me than you."
Harry's eyes met his and the flush of hope there, surprised him. "You promise?"
Sirius sighed, moving closer and wrapping an arm around him. "Prongslet, of course I promise! What's going on? Did Zee do something to upset you?"
Harry tugged himself away from Sirius and climbed to his feet, suddenly feeling as angry as he had the day before. "She's always here!"
Sirius' mouth opened in surprise. "She's not always here, Prongslet."
"Yes, she is!" he exploded, feeling ridiculously angry. "She's been here every day for at least one meal and she was here when we were working on the motorbike and you two just kept talking about engines and comparing the Adler to the Triumph and… and… when I asked a question you just gave me a quick answer and went back to talking to her, or to snogging her! You don't even care that I came home for the summer! All you care about is stupid Zee and having stupid sex with her! I'm going to stay with Uncle Remus for the rest of the summer!" he declared, turning to storm off to his bedroom to pack his things.
Sirius grabbed him before he could make his escape and pushed him back onto the couch. "Harry! You are not moving in with Remus for the summer!"
Harry crossed his arms stubbornly. "I don't need you!"
Sirius' heart clenched at those words. "Harry, I do not care about Zee more than you. Zahira and I… we… I… look, I don't know, we have… something. I guess we're kind of dating… it has been a while and… and I like her. I like her a lot. She makes me smile and we have a lot in common. I don't only care about her and about having sex with her, though I do really enjoy that part."
Harry merely stared at him, a pretty little pout on his face.
Sirius sighed. "Harry, I love you. You are my godson; the son of my heart. What do you want from me?"
Harry glared at him and a whirlwind seemed to whistle through the room, bright flames coming to life in the fireplace that made Sirius jump. "If you like her so much how come you didn't even tell me about her? I didn't even know she existed until you were snogging her in the kitchen!"
Sirius' mouth opened in surprise and he suddenly realized that Harry was right. All of the letters he had sent; every time he had spoken to his godson, he had never once mentioned the new lady in his life.
"Harry… let's calm down a bit here, yeah? Your magic is starting a fire."
Harry merely scowled and when he crossed his arms, the fire went out and the windows slammed shut as the breeze blew through the living room, but when Harry's eyes met his, Sirius knew that he had only shoved his magic down, not stopped it.
"Harry, I've tried to keep my private life just that, private and separate from you. I never wanted you to get attached to someone that I had no interest in being with longterm. I… I tend to sleep around. I shag women and… that's it," he finished lamely.
"Why?"
Sirius sighed, blowing his cheeks out slowly. "When you get older, Harry, you… there are urges… but that's not… look, I was always focused on you. You are my entire world. I never wanted to let anyone or anything make you feel the way that you are feeling right now and I'm so sorry that I failed you in that regard. You are what's important in my life, not the women whom I've slept with. Zee moved in next door and there was just this… chemistry between us. But even when I knew it was different, I was still in the mindset that I should keep it hidden from you. I'm sorry for that, Prongslet. Zee is… she's different. She's my friend and I don't really know what that means yet, but she is different. She wanted to come over and to meet you because all I ever talk about is you. You are the most important person in my life and she knows that. I love you more than anyone. More than life. I'm sorry that I kept her from you."
Harry stared down at Marauder, still petting him softly as a tear rolled down his cheek. "You lied to me."
"Hey," Sirius said, putting his arm around Harry again. "I didn't mean too, Prongslet. I can be… I can be very selfish sometimes, it's one of my faults. I'm not perfect and I made a mistake. I'm sorry."
"Are you going to marry her?" Harry asked, his eyes full of unshed tears as he looked up at Sirius.
Sirius' mouth opened in surprise. "What?"
"Are you going to marry her?" Harry repeated, his eyes hard now.
"No, Harry," Sirius said, kissing Harry's forehead. "I don't plan on marrying her."
"Not ever?"
Sirius sighed. "I've never thought about marriage. That was always something your dad wanted. James was a big romantic and he wanted to marry your mum more than anything in the world. No more lies, yeah?" At Harry's nod, he kissed his forehead again. "At this moment, I do not plan on getting married. Not to Zee. Not to anyone. But, I can't predict the future, can I? I won't say never because you never know what will happen. But Zee and I… we're just friends and neighbours and we have a little something else. I care about her. But I love you."
Harry's eyes sharpened again when Sirius said that he cared for her and the words came out of his mouth before he could stop them. Even though he knew they were selfish and childish, he didn't care.
"You spend all of your time with her and it's not fair! I want you here with me all of the time. I don't want you to see her anymore! If you really love me, you'll make her go away!"
Sirius' mouth opened in surprise and then he closed it. "You want me to stop seeing her? To stop being her friend?"
Harry nodded stubbornly. "Yes."
Sirius sighed, his eyes sad. He was quiet for a long moment. Harry wondered if he might have pushed him too far, but then he answered.
"Prongslet, if that's what you want… if… if that's what you need from me right now then… okay, I won't see her again."
Harry's mouth opened in surprise. "You — you won't?"
"No, I won't," Sirius said, sadly. "I'll go over there right now and tell her that I can't see her anymore. Will that make you happy?"
"Yes," Harry said, hugging Sirius tightly. He was completely shocked that Sirius had agreed so quickly.
Sirius hugged him back, kissing the top of his head as Tonks came in through the Floo. "Hey, Tonks," he said, giving her a half-hearted smile.
"Wotcher!"
"Can you stay with Harry for a bit? I have to run next door and talk to Zee."
"Of course," Tonks said with a smile. "You okay, Sirius? You look so… I don't know, I kind of want to say wounded?"
Sirius shrugged with a smile. "I'll be fine."
When the front door closed behind him, Tonks turned to Harry. "What was that about?"
Harry shrugged, but he had a pit in his stomach that he wasn't sure he liked the feeling of nor did he like the taste it seemed to have left in his mouth.
But now he would have Sirius all to himself again.
Exactly the way it was supposed to be.
~ ASC ~
Sirius stood outside of Zee's cottage, taking deep, slow breaths. The short walk down the street and through the trees to her cottage seemed to have taken forever and with each step he kept telling himself that no matter how much he didn't want to do this, he had to — for Harry.
He knocked briskly. He couldn't stop the smile from forming on his face when she opened the door. She was in a short red sun dress that tied around her neck, barefoot, and her hair was loose, tight curls pooling over her shoulders. She was so gorgeous, he thought.
"Hey, Sirius," she said with a smile, leaning in to kiss him quickly before inviting him inside.
She smelt like cinnamon and vanilla and his gut clenched at the thought of not seeing her again. He really did care for her.
"I didn't expect to see you this morning. I thought that you were going to spend the day with Harry."
"I am," he said, dragging his fingers through his hair as he sighed, frowning at her. It would be better if he just blurted it out. "Listen, I came by to talk to you real quick. It's been great between us. I mean, whatever this is that we've had going on has been great, and you are amazing and beautiful, but I think that it's time for me to move on."
Zee's mouth parted in surprise. "Move on?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah. It's been fun, but I think it's time to end things between us."
Zee simply stared at him. "You're joking, right?"
He shook his head. "No, I'm not. I've loved the easiness of just having to come next door to get laid, but it has gone on too long and to be honest, I think I can do better."
The slap stung his cheek and surprised him more than it should have, making his eyes widen.
"Easy access to get shagged? Did you just say that to me?" she demanded, her eyes dark and blazing. "How dare you? And you think that you can do better? Are you fucking kidding me? Could you be any more of a complete bloody prick right now?"
Sirius shrugged, rubbing a hand over his cheek. "Not my fault that you put out so easily." Her eyes flashed and he took a step back, carefully keeping a blank expression on his face. "Thanks for the sex. I'll see you around — neighbour."
Sirius turned to open the front door and Lady Godiva hissed at him. He nodded at the panther and closed the door behind him. He didn't look back. And when he got back to his own cottage, he took a minute to stand in the drive and compose himself.
It was done.
She wouldn't question it as he had been harsh for that exact reason and Harry would be happy now.
When he saw Harry's eyes light up at the sight of him, his heart clenched. He had never loved anyone or anything the way he loved his boy. He would go to the moon for him if he asked him to. Nothing mattered more than Harry's happiness and after knowing that Harry had faced Voldemort again at the age of eleven, he wasn't taking any of that happiness away from him.
Not even for a second.
Harry's happiness was all that mattered and anything and everything he could do to protect that, to protect him, he would. Harry would be enough for him.
~ ASC ~
Sirius woke in the darkness, blinking as he reached across the bed, surprised to find it cold. After what he said to Zee, there was no way that she would ever be gracing his bed to warm it again. He'd only ever had a nightmare once when she'd been there — dreamed of being back in his cell in Azkaban, and he'd woken her because he'd been drenched in icy sweat. It had scared her as she shook him, trying to get him to awaken. He'd briefly told her that he'd had a bad dream and then he'd kissed her, begged her to make him warm again and she'd kissed him back, straddling him and made him think of much better things.
They hadn't spoken about it again.
His dream tonight had been intense, he thought. He'd been chasing Lady Godiva as he searched for Harry and Lady G had hissed at the man in the turban, her teeth gripping his head as the face growing out from the back of his head screamed in agony and then the man's face had changed to Harry's, his eyes flashing red and he murmured the killing curse.
Sirius had stood there, holding a hand over the panther's head as Harry morphed into James.
"Why didn't you save him? You were too busy thinking with your cock as usual! It's your fault that he's become a murderer. He's the darkest wizard to ever have lived, Sirius! You're even worse than your father ever was! Harry would have been better off living with the Dursleys!"
James turned into Zee who beckoned him forward seductively.
"Don't worry about Harry, Sirius, you have me. All you need is me. I'm going to ride you until you pop like fresh champagne — come for me."
And then Harry was there, bloody and bruised at five years old, his eyes wounded and when Sirius reached for him, he flinched.
"Don't touch me! I don't like to be touched! Why did you leave me here? Why didn't you save me?"
And then he was in his dark cell, the cries around him deafening, and his bloody fists banged on the walls as he screamed.
His own screams were what had woken him and he reached across the bed once more, still finding it cold and empty. Then he felt eyes on him and saw Harry and Marauder in the doorway of his bedroom.
"Hey, Prongslet," he said, his voice a little rougher than he had intended.
Harry merely stared at him. "Another nightmare?"
Sirius nodded, swallowing slowly. The last thing he needed was to worry his son with his nightmares. "I guess so. Don't remember it though which is good. Didn't mean to wake you."
Harry shrugged and moved to hop up onto the bed. "It's okay. I was dreaming about Voldemort."
Sirius nodded, wrapping an arm around Harry. "We're a pair, eh?" He kissed the top of his head. "Nightmares plaguing us, left and right."
Harry grinned up at him. "It sucks."
"Completely," Sirius said with a grin, kissing the top of his son's head again. "I guess you're probably getting too big to climb into bed with me and want me to make everything better, eh?"
Harry smiled at him. "I don't know, it sounds like you need me to make everything better now?"
Sirius smiled back. "Definitely. Just having you home again makes me feel better." He wrapped his arms tighter around him. "You're growing up, kid. It's terrifying."
"I'm still small! Ron towers over me and Neville is even taller!"
Sirius grinned, chuckling. Harry was still a little on the small side, still kind of scrawny despite how much he ate, but Sirius knew that his father had been the same. "Nothing to worry about, everyone gets their growth spurts at different ages. Your dad was the shortest until after second year than he towered over all of us. Then suddenly the summer before fourth year, Remus grew like a weed and put us all to shame. James and I were so pissed, we liked being the tall ones."
Harry smiled back. "So, I will grow taller? I want to be as tall as Uncle Remus."
Sirius chuckled. "Well, maybe not that tall, but you'll be tall don't worry. James was a hundred eighty-eight centimetres. Remember how much you've grown since just Christmas? I marked it on the post in the kitchen doorway. And you have grown taller, you almost reach Tonks' shoulders now."
Harry rolled his eyes. "But she's short!"
Sirius smirked at him. "She's not that short, Prongslet. You'll grow tall, I promise. Speaking of growing up, you're going to be twelve soon. What are we doing for your birthday this year?"
"You're not going to plan it?" Harry asked in surprise.
He grinned. "I can. I just thought that you're turning twelve and you have your new friends from school so maybe you had something in mind."
He shrugged. "I don't know. Can we just have a party here? With maybe music and a bonfire?"
"That sounds nice and simple."
"Simple sounds nice. Can I invite whoever I want?"
"A hundred people."
Harry laughed. "I don't even know a hundred people."
Sirius kissed his forehead. "Then the limit is endless. Send out owls tomorrow morning."
"Okay," he said, moving to hop off the bed. "Will you be all right if I go back to my own room?"
"Who's the parent here, mister?" At Harry's quick grin, he smiled. "Go, I'm good."
Harry only stared at him. "I can stay if you want… if... if you don't want to be alone."
Sirius smiled gratefully at him. "I'll be fine. Go to bed."
But he waited until Harry was back in his room sleeping soundly and then he made his way downstairs and outside to the workshop.
He wasn't going back to sleep tonight.
End Author's Notes:
I had fun writing this chapter. Harry has been spoiled by essentially growing up with the undivided attention of Sirius and Remus so, I thought that when that attention is diverted a bit, he would notice, and he wasn't going to be too fond of anyone who took it away. Not to mention that Sirius has never before introduced anyone he was dating to Harry until Zee. Harry only knew Althea as his healer and later as a friend of his godfather's. Sirius hasn't said anything about a new someone in his life — obviously Harry is not going to take that well.
Thank you for reading and please review!