Chapter 3: Cooking up trouble

"Alright." Said Dumbledore firmly "We've heard enough. James, Lily come with me. Harry stay with Sirius at headquarters."

Sirius stopped laughing abruptly and his face fell. "Why do I have to be put on babysitting duty?" He whined

Harry's head darted back and forth between the adults as if he where watching a tennis match.

"You're the godfather." James retorted with a smirk smugly planted in his lips

"You have to have the bloody kid first!" Shot back an agitated Sirius, crossing his arms.

The old man cleared his throat. "I have to have a private word with James and Lily, concerning recent events. Don't worry we shouldn't be more than an hour."

With that the man got up and left the room, the couple not far behind him.

"You two be good." Said Lily in such a sweet voice it could have corroded teeth.

Sirius grunted.

Harry stared after them. Should he follow? But the man had said to stay. Was he in trouble? Had he done something wrong? Unable to answer his questions and not willing to ask another question after their previous response, he turned to the other occupant of the room waiting for some sort of entertainment.

"So kid, "said the man "What do you want to do?"

Harry shrugged not knowing how to answer: he was normally told what to do.

"How old are you anyway?"

Harry held up his full hand proudly. "I'm five." He announced puffing out his chest.

The good looking man raised his eyebrow looking impressed. "That big, hun?"

Harry nodded vigorously.

"Why you're practically full grown, you don't need a babysitter." The little boy beamed, it was a welcome change from being told he was too small. "Hmm…" Sirius eyes darted around the room in thought. "How about cooking? We could make a cake for dessert tonight, wouldn't that be nice?"

Harry smiled and pushed out of his chair ready for action. This man was nice.

Sirius smiled sloppily and stood up and walked towards the cooking area, Harry almost tripping over his heals.

"Alright so… where gonna need flower…egg's…" the man darted around the room grabbing the ingredients for a basic cake, ticking them off mentally. Harry just watched not knowing where anything was.

"Ok so that's everything." Sirius smiled down at the boy. "Your gonna need to be a bit taller to see over the counter there, chef." He pulled out a stick and whispered something.

Then something happened that Harry could have sworn actually happened: A chair flew over and landed in front of him. Harry stared wide eyed, things like that only happened in your imagination and uncle Vernon had told him there was no such thing as imagination.

"Well jump on, we need to get cooking if we want to be done before the old farts get back."

Hesitantly Harry stepped up and felt reassured when the chair did not collapse.

After a few broken eggs and lots of spilt ingredients they where ready to mix.

The man pulled out the stick he had used earlier and lifted it high.

"No!" Harry cried out loudly, startling Sirius who almost fell over "That's not how you do it!"

"Oh really," said Sirius raising his eyebrows again and crossing his arms "How do you do it then?"

"Like this." Harry grabbed the mans stick and promptly started to stir the ingredients with it, humming a song he had learnt in music class earlier that week.

Sirius went ballistic! "NO Harry! NOT MY WAND!" He stomped his foot like he was the five year old and moaned. "Not My wand!!… Fine, fine just do whatever you want… bloody muggles!"

Harry ignored him and kept going until it was just the right texture. He did a lot of cooking at the Dursley's. Harry turned to Sirius a look of complete excitement on his face, presenting the wand to him.

"Can I lick it?" Yummy cake mix was stuck on the stick and now dripping on the floor. Never once at the Dursley's had Harry ever been allowed to lick the spatula, that had always been a privilege only for Dudley. But now Dudley was nowhere to be seen.

Sirius sighed. "Fine, I can't see what harm it'll do."

Harry cheered and took his time, careful not to miss one piece of the mix, then thrust the wand into Sirius's hand. Sirius looked slightly disgusted and ran over to the sink very quickly.

Without the help of the man Harry started to poor the thick cake into the pan. He apologized profusely for spilling, Aunt Petunia would have been so mad, but Sirius just shrugged it off like he didn't care.

Cautiously Harry placed the pan in the oven, with help from the man and they both just stood there for a few minutes panting and marveling at their work of art.

Footstep's where coming, then "What in the bloody blazes is going on here?"

They turned to see James, Lily and Dumbledore, the older man the only one showing any amusement.

"Cooking!" said Harry enthusiastically

"What he said." Sirius nodded in Harry's direction.

While the adults talked heatedly Harry examined his fingers and stated licking the mix off.

"Don't do that." Said the woman coming towards Harry a look of concern on her face "that has raw egg's in it."

Immediately the little boy stopped and let Lily wipe his hands with a wash cloth.

"He didn't eat any more of it, did he?" she asked Sirius looking suspicious

"Course not." He replied looking offended "What type of babysitter do you think I am?"