As Sirius was sitting and reading the letters he had received from the Gringotts regarding his account, Harry came downstairs, warily. Sirius sighed internally. It was evident that last night's reassurance had not smoothed out his godson's worries. With an encouraging smile on his face, Sirius led Harry to the breakfast table, aware that Harry was still too afraid to do anything on his own.

"Did you sleep well pup?" He asked, still smiling and Harry nodded timidly. He made sure that Harry had enough on his plate and only then did he sit down and start his own breakfast. As he was eating his beacon, another thought crossed his mind: What if those marks he saw on Harry's torso last night were only a fragment of what his pup had gone through? That thought was enough for him to lose his appetite.

"Pup", he began once both of them were done eating, "let's go up to your room. I need to talk to you. I promise you that you're not in trouble." He added the last sentence on seeing Harry's fearful expression. The two of them headed upstairs, Harry was trembling slightly.

"Ok now, I need you to take your shirt off." Harry blanched at this sentence, fear prominent on his small face. "I'm s-sorry-"

Sirius cut off all attempts to apologise by pulling Harry into his arms. His godson's form was extremely stiff and his eyes were refusing to meet his godfather's. "Harry James, do not apologise. You have nothing to be sorry for. I promised you that I'd never hurt you and I still stand by what I said." He rubbed the trembling boy's back until he felt Harry relax. "Pup, I need to see what your aunt and uncle did to you so that I may help. Do you trust me?" Sirius asked, carding his fingers through Harry's hair. Harry nodded slowly after what seemed like forever and Sirius couldn't help but smile widely. Harry trusted him!

"Alright then. Arms up." He instructed and Harry obeyed, fear not leaving his face. Sirius gently grabbed the hem of Harry's shirt and tugged it over the boy's head. The concerned godfather stifled a gasp when he saw the condition of Harry's upper half. They were covered with faded scars, some welts that looked like they'd never heal, and so many buckle marks. He took hold of Harry's waist and slowly turned him around and was horrified to see that even his back was in the same condition. His look of horror morphed into one of disgust when he thought about the pathetic muggles who had done this to his beloved godson.

Harry saw the look of disgust on his godfather's face and mistook it as disgust towards himself. This was it. The moment Sirius would come to know about his weakness and inability to stand up to his muggle uncle. He would be thrown out now. But that thought wasn't given further impetus as Sirius pulled Harry into a fierce hug. "I'm so sorry pup. I'm so sorry."

Harry was shocked on hearing his godfather apologise. He had expected Sirius to turn him away and yet here he was, hugging Harry tightly. "W-why are y-you s-sorry?" He asked incredulously. He felt Sirius's arms tighten around him and didn't push the matter any further. Instead, he just relaxed against the arms that were holding him.

"What they did to you was wrong. I need you to believe me when I tell you that I'll never send you back. You need to believe me when I say that I'll never hurt you. Please trust me pup."

Two weeks later

Over the next two weeks, Harry came out of his shell miraculously quick. He was still nowhere close to becoming a mischief maker like his father but he talked a lot more now and even complained about things like his bedtime. He had completely stopped flinching whenever Sirius embraced him, instead he leant into the comforting touch.

Life at Black Manor was much more relaxed now, since Harry was no longer that boy who was terrified of his godfather. He was much more comfortable around Sirius despite the tiny bit of shyness that remained. The aforementioned boy was currently sleeping in his room or rather trying to not wake up.

"Harry, it's time to wake up pup. You've had your share of 'five more minutes' and it's time to wake up now, for real." Said Sirius firmly as he pulled the covers off his boy. Harry groaned but made no move to get up. Instead he turned away from Sirius and snuggled against his pillow. Sirius smirked at his godson's reluctance to wake up. Only two weeks ago, Harry had been very frightened of him. Now, this was how he was. Sirius couldn't be any happier. But, at the moment, he need to get Harry out of bed so with deft fingers, he attacked Harry's sides and started tickling him mercilessly.

"Aw stop! Pleeease! I'll get up. I promise." Pleaded Harry as he rolled over and try to dodge the fingers, in vain. "What was that young man?" Asked Sirius, the mirth evident in his voice as he tickled his pup. Harry realised that Sirius wasn't going to stop until he got out of bed so with a half hearted huff, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, looking younger than ever.

Sirius gently pushed Harry's hair out of his eyes and grinned at him. "Get dressed and come downstairs for breakfast pup. I have planned something for today." That got Harry excited. "What is it? What have you planned? Pleease tell me Sirius!" Came the whiny plea.

"Not a chance Harry. Get ready and I'll tell you all that you want to know." Said Sirius, ruffling Harry's hair and walking out of the room. Harry knew that his godfather wasn't going to tell him anything so he pushed himself up and threw his legs over the side of the bed to get up.

"Please tell me now." Harry pleaded as he wolfed down his scrambled eggs. "Oh alright you little menace." Said Sirius. Harry waited for his godfather to begin. "I need to go to the ministry today regarding some matters that need to be looked into and I'll be back by seven o'clock so I was wondering if you would want to call a friend over for a while or something." He said.

Harry nearly fell off his chair at this. Over the past two weeks, Sirius had proved to be absolutely brilliant. Harry had starting trusting him more and more with each passing day and he even looked up to him now. But he hadn't actually expected Sirius to let him have his friends over. Dudley would always call his friends over and aunt Petunia had made lots stuff for his friends while he had remained in his cupboard. The thought that even he was allowed to call his friends over filled him with a joy that was large enough to make him cry.

"I've never been allowed to have anyone over. Thank you so much Sirius." He said sincerely as he went to his godfather and hugged him around his middle. "You're more than welcome pup." Said Sirius, suppressing the anger that rose inside him at the Dursleys.

"However, there is one major rule you have to follow and I expect you to strictly stick to it while I'm gone. Is that understood young man?" Said Sirius, sternly. "Yes sir." Replied Harry, giving Sirius his full attention. "No leaving the house. As you know, after Pettigrew was caught, security has increased so I expect you to stay at home." That was a rather constricting rule as he had been hoping to fly around the grounds but he nodded nonetheless.

After that, the two of them are their lunch. Just as Sirius was getting ready to leave, the floo roared to life and out came Ronald Weasley. "Good afternoon Ron." Said Sirius, smiling pleasantly at the redhead. "Good afternoon Mr. Black thank you for letting me come over." Said Ron, remembering his mother's warning to be polite while speaking to adults. "Just Sirius please, Ron. Anyway, I hope you both have a good time and I'll see you in the evening Harry. Be good and have fun." Said Sirius, giving Harry a hug and was gone with a crack.

The two best mates decided to engage themselves by playing a few games of wizard's chess. After that Becky brought them stuff to eat. As the two boys ate, Harry couldn't help but let his thoughts wander.

The two weeks of this summer had so far been the best days of his life. Living with Sirius had been absolutely brilliant. He had also discovered certain things about Sirius. He absolutely hated lying, cheating or stealing of any sort. His godfather also had a rather fiery temper ( he found out about that when a reporter named Rita Skeeter had written something about him being Voldemort's close follower in the prophet. Sirius had marched straight to the ministry and had given the witch a piece of his mind). The next thing he had found our was that Sirius was very, very, very rich. The Blacks had been and are one of the most powerful wizarding families to ever roam the planet.

After thinking and eating, they played exploding snap for a while after which Ron had to go home. He said goodbye and left, using the floo. For a little bit, Harry went through the quidditch comics Sirius had bought for him but even that didn't hold his attention for more than fifteen minutes.

He looked at the clock which showed six fifteen. This meant that he still had forty five minutes left before Sirius came home. Maybe, just maybe if he took a quick spin on his broom and came back before Sirius was home. Once the idea had gotten into his head, it was difficult to dismiss it. So, ignoring the tiny but if guilt that he felt for disobeying Sirius, he grabbed his broom which was upstairs in his room and he went out of the house.

As Harry flew around the grounds, a joyful scream made its way out of his mouth. He lost track of time and flew higher than normal and that's when he saw it. It was robed, a hooded figure that glided towards him. All of a sudden, Harry felt cold and empty. Every single one of his uncle's beatings came back to him. He had finally started to move on but this had to happen. The next thing he knew was that he was falling. In his half conscious state, he caught a glimpse of a silvery dog that ran straight to the hooded monster.

Just as Harry was sure that he was going to fall hard, he hit the ground, it did t hurt a bit, just startled him s lot. The last thing he saw before he fully slipped into unconsciousness were the furious yet concerned eyes of his godfather.

Sirius was absolutely furious with his godson. He had apparated back home at about a quarter to seven and had found his godson missing. Harry wasn't there in any part of the house. He had searched every nook and corner of the house, his anxiety only multiplying by the second. On a split second thought, he had rushed outside, only to find Harry falling from his broom. He sent a Patronus zooming towards the dementor and then cast a cushioning charm to soften Harry's fall.

As he carried Harry's unconscious form back to the manor, he was trying to understand why had Harry so blatantly disobeyed that one single rule that had been given to him. He wasn't the sort who would deliberately do something g wrong. But then again, he was James' son. He was bound to do something so rash and foolish. He mentally cursed himself in all the twelve languages that he knew for not having given Harry a firm set of rules earlier.

He set Harry down in his bedroom and settled down in a chair, waiting for him to regain consciousness. Once Harry woke up, the two of them would be having a long and very detailed talk.