Chapter 13
As soon as he saw it, Sirius knew that Andy had got it spot on. He had thought he would be the one to find it but it seemed Andy with her women's intuition had got it right. She was bang on the money.
Before his eyes, situated on the Devonshire moors, apparently near the southern coast, was well – home. The large Queen Anne style house would have been large enough for a family of eight or nine, so there would be ample room for the three of them.
"How on earth?" he said as he turned to the excited Black sister.
"Does it matter how I found it, it is what you lot were looking for isn't it?" she said with a smile.
"Yes." Remus said for him.
"Can we go inside and have a look?" asked Harry as he looked up at them. Andy nodded and the four of them went inside.
And when they did go inside they found out that it was going to suit them just as well in as they had thought it was going to from the outside. Built at the end of the nineteenth century, the old house had been built by a wizard of his day who had looked forward to a large family of many children running about the place.
Indeed, if it was anything, then it was too big for the marauders and their pup but it had been a long time since Sirius had fallen in love as soon as he had seen something.
In fact, the last time he had felt such an instant connection to something was when he had laid eyes on his Harry for the very first time. And he knew it was too extreme to compare what he felt for a house to the way that his Harry made him feel. But it was that sort of feeling which made him sure that it was the house for them as they wondered in to the spacious living room.
As his own eyes met those of his werewolf friend he knew Remus felt just the same. As did his godson.
"So what do you think, Harry? Do you think you would like to grow up in a house like this?" said Sirius as he put a hand on his shoulder but he knew he did not have to ask for it was written all over his face; nothing would make him much happier to live in a big old house with his family.
As they walked down the lawn again, Sirius smiled. If they did decide to fulfil Harry's wish and get him a dog, which he had to admit to himself whether Moony liked it or not was more than likely, then they were going to have ample space to run about.
When they had put the over excited six year old to bed (who was delighted to get out of his bath because it was so late) the two marauders had a very short conversation in which the two of them agreed it was the right thing for them to do to move in.
And so things were on the go for them moving into a proper home.
()()()()()
As the date for full moon got nearer Harry got more and more excited about the thought of going to see Sev for the night. When you were a child the things you wanted seem to come even slower.
Sirius didn't know if he was delighted or not that Severus and Harry got on. Now that the two of them had at least tried to make his peace... And it was much better than had Snape tried to get on with him than terrorize the boy.
But then he did not think he was ever going to bring himself to like or to trust the man. There had been so much water under that particular bridge for the two of them that it was simply impossibility.
And yet it was for that reason he could not work out how could be considering leaving Harry with him – how could he leave the most precious thing in his world with someone he did not trust? It would be shear madness...
And yet he knew there was no going back on his world for Harry would be heartbroken if he was not allowed to go and see him. And he had shaken his h,and. He had to be true to what he had said.
And in spite of it, the closer he got to the full moon the more he could not wait to go and have some fun as he had done when he had been a teenager. He had had the best nights of his life during the full moons – and he had no doubt he was going to have another brilliant one that night.
No, in a very weird way he knew he was doing the right thing when he asked his heart. His head was the bit that wasn't sure.
Before he did have time to back out or change his plans, he went through to his godson who was choosing what toys he was going to be taking with him that night.
"You going to be ready to go in a bit buddy?" he said as he went in to the room with a smile on his face.
Harry nodded.
"I think so – do you think Severus would mind if I took more than one toy with me?"
"I do not think he would see that as a problem pup – I certainly don't."
"I know but – Padfoot, I think he is a very different sort of man to you!"
Sirius had always known the boy was sharp but the comment intrigued him more than he was able to say.
"How so?"
Harry shrugged. He did not think he would ever be able to put it into words for as much as he they were very different, at the same time they were kind of the same. It was the biggest contradiction the young lad had so far yet come up against.
"I don't think it is something I can say because if I did then I think – I think as silly as it is I would say you are very alike – I dunno, Padfoot. You're different but the same." The boy looked pensive.
"You know if you do not want to go then I can stay with you. I don't want you to feel as if I am pushing you into this, Harry," but the lad shook his head.
He knew even as he said it that he did want to go – he had been so eager to for the whole week.
"Padfoot – I think that if I did not want to go then I would tell you. I am not scared of you."
It was the best thing he had ever heard.
"I am very glad to hear it young man," said Sirius as he stroked down his hair. "Now, we are, in that case due to go soon. Are you ready?"
Harry nodded as he picked up two of his teddies to go with him. He was certainly a different boy to the one who had confronted Sirius a month before had.
()()()()()
Severus Snape had never taken care of a child for a whole night. He was not and he did not think he was ever going to be the paternal sort. He cared very much for Harry he found and he knew he was always going to now. Not only for Lily's sake but for his own and Harry. He did not want to be on his own forever.
Going into his spare room, one last time he checked everything was ready for the boy when he got there. He did not think he had ever had guests before. It was not as if he had any close friends.
He had been on his own for far too long.
For the evening, he had picked up a few games he was going to be able to play with Harry – all of which of course had some educational merit – as well as some drinking chocolate which he knew his mother had been so fond of when she had been young. He knew he should not make comparisons between the two of them but he could not help himself.
He was glad to see Black was apparently just as eager to keep the peace between the two of them as he was and he got Harry to him if anything earlier than later then he should have.
Part of him he guessed had expected Black to pull out at the last minute. But it seemed he was a man of his word these days.
"Severus!" said Harry as he came into view, delighted to see him.
It had been a long time coming for the lad to go and see him.
In spite of his excitement though, Harry still seemed to be able to read Severus well and whereas whenever he had been parted From Sirius he was always only too glad to throw himself in his arms on the reunion, he did not think that Severus would be too happy to hug him.
"How are you young man?"
"I am good," he said as Sirius put Harry's bag down.
"And you are ready for a good night?" again Harry nodded as the two men looked at one another.
"I am going to be back to get him at ten in the morning, is that ok?" asked Sirius as Severus tried to smile reassuringly at Harry.
"Absolutely – I don't have a class until twelve so ten is going to be fine."
"Good – right mate, well have a good time and I will see you in the morning," said Sirius as he turned to his pup.
"Ok Padfoot," said Harry as he cuddled into him to say goodbye.
"Sleep well pup. Love you lots, ok?" said Sirius totally unashamed of the way he felt for him even in front of the man who he had once thought to be his enemy.
It was not as if they were going to be friends but they were not as far apart as they had been in the past. "Love you too."
Sirius let him go and turned to the professor.
"Severus – I shall see you in the morning," he said and once he and the man who was going to have his god son for the night had shared a nod, he left the two of them to it and once more, just as he had done when he had met Harry for the first time, Severus felt nervous.
Much like Sirius and Remus when they had picked Harry up, he felt he knew very little about the boy or how to take care of him.
But he still knew he was going to be able to do a lot better job than the little lads aunt and uncle he done when they had had him.
"Right young man, can I get you a drink?"
z/z/z
So that they were going to be able to be close to Harry even when he was in Snape's care, Sirius and Remus had returned to the old haunt of the Shrieking Shack. When they had been planning there night they had both commented on how irresponsible it would be to behave as they had done when they had been students.
But part of the attraction of Sirius coming out with Remus that night was that they were both do determined to try and recreate the past.
Of course, they both knew they were never going to be able to do it completely, for James was gone from them and Peter was as well even if they were gone for very different reasons. No, neither of them had told themselves that night was going to be as it had been for it was not going to be.
But they were going to have a laugh between them; and they had been fine every night when they had been out there as kids, save one. Severus was too preoccupied with Harry that night to worry over what they were doing.
No, the pair of them were going to be fine.
Remus had forgotten how it felt when he had not had to dread the full moon. He had looked forward to it when he had had his friends around him and once more he was again now he knew Sirius was going to be at his side once more.
As the Animagus got back from dropping off their young charge, the two of them shared a grin and then a brotherly embrace, saying all they needed to without opening there mouth. It was going to be a good night.
\/\/\/
Even though he had thought he was going to spend the night trying to play some game of educational worth with Harry, Severus could not be helped but be drawn into a game of exploding snap when Harry asked to play.
He did not think he could ever enjoy himself so much just to see another being enjoying himself but he did. The way Harry's smile made him feel was very much the way his mothers had. He did not think many other people would know this but it seemed to Severus that Harry had his mothers smile even more than he had her eyes.
He knew he had not been one of the people Harry had been with from the start since he had come into the wizarding world but even he could tell how much happier he was from when he had been with his aunt and his uncle. It was in the way that he never had to be prompted into saying please or thank you. Even though he had never had a lot to do with kids Harry's age, he knew they were not as grateful as he was.
Nor should he have to be though.
"Sev?" asked Harry from where he was sitting, formalities between them dropped. Though he knew he was never going to be an uncle to him in the way that Remus was, for he did not think he was ever going to be able to cut a very cosy figure, neither did he want to be Mr. Snape to Harry.
He did not want the barriers up between them.
"Yes Harry?"
"What are you thinking?"
For such a small lad, he was very perceptive and he was very intuitive. He did not know anyone of anyone of an adult age who seemed to think as deeply as Harry did never mind a child.
Severus had always held the belief that thoughts as well as memories should be kept very private. On the whole, he did not approve of being over emotional.
But he could not say there was not something very persuasive about the lad's eyes.
"I was just thinking about your mother and how very like her you are," He said with a sad smile. He had wondered when the two of them were going to broach the subject of Lily as there had always been that inevitability that they were going to have to at some point…
"Do you think I am? Sirius thinks I am a lot like daddy!"
Severus could not say he was surprised by that. No doubt he had been told what a saint James had been and what a brilliant Quidditch players.
No, he had no doubt Black had a selective memory. But it was not the time to talk about James...
"No, it is all your mother I can see in you – her kindness especially."
He knew there was going to come a day when he was a teenager that he was not going to be so kind to him. That he was going to wonder why he had not been the one to go and get him. Why he had let him root with his aunt and uncle...
And it was going to be that he was going to blame those questions on the fact Harry was James son.
But when he was young and innocent it seemed to him he was utterly his mother's child. He could only hope he was going to be able to stay that way.
"Do you think if she was here then she would like me?"
He had to pity the boy. How was it when he had such dismal parents they had been allowed to see him grow up when the best of mothers had been deprived of her own son.
"I know she would have loved very much."
The words had come out of his mouth before he had had a chance to censor what came out of it.
His mind turned back to the games before he had a chance to get too emotional but he still felt Harry's penetrating eyes on him.
\/\/\/
Sirius and Remus both knew what the other was feeling and it was a very odd emotion. Since the two of them had had Harry they had only ever left them with the other. So to leave him with an outsider who was not even Dumbledore...
And Snape none the less...
As dusk drew on they both knew they were going to have to go soon. After all, they had to be there well before Remus changed and the days were now very much shorter than they had been when they had first got Harry back.
Remus wondered if this was the way Lily had felt when she had left him for the first time or how it was how James had felt. Then it was Sirius who they had left him with so somehow he doubted it.
But it was not as if he had a chance to go and change his mind. He had to get ready for the full moon.
That did not mean he was not intensely aware of the fact Sirius could go back to the castle and spend the night with the others instead of him.
The way he felt he did not think he would blame him in the least. It was a hard thing to be a parent. He did not think either of them had had a big enough appreciation of that fact when they had taken harry on.
"Ready?" Sirius said as he broke him out of his thoughts. The Animagus had been trying to get himself ready to leave the lad all day and now that he had, as much as he would love to go back to him, as Remus thought he would, he knew his duty lay elsewhere that night.
He had to be with his best friend.
If anything did go wrong for the boy then he did not think he was ever going to be able to forgive himself or Remus but he could not allow himself to think like that. It was going to be fine.
Things had to go right and he had to be able to leave the boy alone for more than ten minutes at a time. It was going to be no life for Harry to be smothered by them one hundred percent of the time and he knew it.
Seeing that there was a resolve about Sirius now, Remus nodded. They both had to be strong that night and so the two of them left the flat to go up to Hogwarts, to relive the glory days of their past.
\/\/\/\/
After a mug of hot chocolate, Harry settled into bed quite quickly given that it was a new, strange bed that he was not used to. Though there was a longing in him to go home he did not think it was as bad as he had thought it would be.
When he thought back on that night, he smiled. Though he knew he still did not know the Potions Master wonderfully, he felt as if he did at least know him a little and as an extension of that he did now know his mother a little better which was the most wonderful feeling in the world.
He had been the extension to her he had been looking for.
He was the link to his mother his aunt should have been.
With that thought in his head he began to let eyes close and listened to the sounds which surrounded Hogwarts. It truly was in his opinion the most magical place in the world. The last sound he heard before he rolled over into a peaceful slumber was the far off howl of a wolf in the forest.
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Author Note: Hey all, sorry for being gone so long – I did mean to update in January but it was quite a month for me in the real world for all the wrong reasons. Sufficient to say I got writers block (which explains the lack of – something – in this chapter). I think had circumstances been different, I might have got a bit more out of the Lily connection for Harry with Snape. I might go back to it in the summer. Thankfully, life has got back on track in the most remarkable and miraculous way ever (I did not expect to be updating even this soon!).
I am not going to set any dates for updating but hopefully it will now be a little more regular once more now I am home and settled again.
Just a quick note on the house Andy found: if you go to google and type in Sagamore Hill, you'll see the house I based the guys new home on. Historically, rather than being in the south east of England, it is across the pond in Oyster Bay and was the home of Theodore Roosevelt and his quite frankly awesome family. I would *love* to go there to visit one day (it's on my 'bucket list') - even from the outside it looks so warm, if you know what I mean? A real 'home' rather than a house, which becomes even more so when you read up on TR. Sigh... one day people... one day...