A/N: I do not own Dr. Seuss.

4. Stories

"The girl laughed as she stood on the grave. Zombies couldn't get her! She turned to leave, but she couldn't movie! Something had grabbed her ankle! The girl screamed for help, but no one could hear her. She turned to look at the thing that had grabbed her, and was terrified at the sight. The monster was huge and was covered in maggots and had glowing red eyes and –"

"SIRIUS BLACK! What on Earth are you reading to my son?!" Lily stormed over to the crib and picked baby Harry up.

"I...um...well..." Sirius tried to hide the book of horror stories, but Lily grabbed it with her free hand. She read the title (647 Horror Stories to Put You in Therapy) and scowled at Sirius who was trying to look innocent, but wound up only incurring Lily's wrath even further, and she exploded in anger at him again.

"Sirius, what have I told you about reading these gruesome horror stories to Harry? He's not even a year old; you'll give him nightmares! Why can't you just read him normal children's books?" She motioned to a pile of Dr. Seuss books on the floor.

Sirius scoffed. "Oh, come on, Lily! Harry doesn't want to read these! They're so boring." Sirius grabbed Harry out of Lily's arms and swung him around. Harry giggled with delight. "He wants action and adventure, Lils! Not some senseless poem about multi-colored fish."

Lily pouted at Sirius' smug look as baby Harry gurgled excitedly. "You can scare the pants off of him when he's older, Sirius, but for now, stick with these." Lily handed Sirius The Cat In The Hat and with a final stern look at her only son's godfather, left the room, closing the door behind her.

Sirius sighed and placed baby Harry back in his crib. "Well, kid," he said, "I tried." He sat down in the chair beside the crib and opened the book and began to read:

"The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat there with Sally.
We sat there, we two.
And I said, 'How I wish...
That this story wasn't so boring!'"

Harry giggled at Sirius's addition and Sirius smiled.

"Too wet to go out
And blah blah blah...Ah, here's a good part.

And the something went BUMP!
How that bump made us jump!"

Harry and Sirius shared a look.

"Then the Cat in the Hat burst in with a chainsaw and me and Sally screamed and the Cat laughed and the fish jumped out of the bowl to protect us, but the cat sliced him into pieces and..."

Harry giggled and laughed and he never once had nightmares with his godfather around.