The next morning Sirius awoke to find himself alone in the room. Hopping out of bed, he made his way slowly though the upper part of the house. "Harry?"

It wasn't but a few minutes later that his nose led him to the kitchen. Expecting to find Remus standing at the stove, he was surprised to see Harry standing on a stool cooking. Sirius rushed over to pull the child away from the hot stove. "Harry! That's a no-no! That stove is very hot, you could hurt yourself very badly."

Harry hung his head. "Sorry Paddy."

Sirius lifted the boy's chin gently, "It's okay Pup. I just don't want you to get hurt. Now…where's Moony? And why did he leave you alone in here?"

"He's not here."

"What?"

"He's not here. Haven't seen him since last night." Harry paused to push his glasses back up on his nose. "I woke up early. So I made breakfast."

"You…made…" He paused to glance at the table. Sure enough, there was a plate stacked high with pancakes, bacon, sausage and fresh orange juice. "Pup…you didn't have to do that. It's nice, don't get me wrong, but you are far too young to be cooking all by yourself."

Harry gazed at him for a long moment. "I don't get it."

Sirius frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I've been cooking breakfast for a long time. Sometimes dinner, too."

Suddenly it made sense to Sirius, the Dursley's had made a servant out of little Harry! He brushed the messy hair away from the small face, "Oh Pup! I'm so sorry!"

Emerald eyes just looked at him in confusion.

Sirius scooped him and settled them both on a kitchen chair. "Listen…you don't ever have to cook or clean or do laundry or anything else that you don't want to do. Okay?"

"But how else will I earn my keep?"

"That's just it, Pup, you don't have to!" Sirius hugged the boy. "I just want you to be the beautiful little boy that you are. I want you to run and play and make lots of noise." At this moment, he was completely unaware just how much these few simple words would come back to haunt him.

"Um…Paddy?"

He grinned, he'd never tire of hearing that name come from the little boy. "Yeah?"

"Breakfast is burning."

Sirius' head whipped around to see black smoke curling up from the frying pan. He pulled out his wand, quickly dispersing everything on the stove.

"Whoa!" Harry breathed. "How'd you do that?"

Sirius turned back to face Harry, "Magic."

"But…but…magic's not real."

"Not real? Who told you – did your Aunt and Uncle tell you that?"

"Yes."

He frowned, "Hmm…looks like I need to explain a few things. But for now, let's eat this yummy breakfast before it gets cold!"

After consuming the scrumptious breakfast that Harry had prepared, and Sirius complimented him several times, he took the child into the sitting room to talk. Settling themselves on the sofa, Sirius attempted to explain magic in terms that a young child would understand.

"You see, Harry, this isn't the folly that the so-called magicians use to entertain muggle children. This is the real thing."

"Muggle? What's a muggle?'

"Non-magic people, like your Aunt and Uncle."

"Oh." The boy nodded. "Am I a muggle?"

Sirius laughed, "Not hardly! You, my little Pup, are a Wizard!"

Emerald eyes widened in delight, "Can I have my own wand?"

"No, sorry. Not until you are older."

"Aww!"

The godfather chuckled and touseled his hair, "Someday Pup, someday. Until then…let's go get dressed and I'll take you shopping for some things that you need."

Once the boy was dressed, Sirius had had to pull out his wand again and shrink Harry's clothing a bit. Apparently they had originally belonged to Dudley some years before, and were still too large for the small boy. Sirius then sent Harry to use the bathroom across the hall while he, himself, got dressed. No sooner had he pulled on a clean pair of pants, than he heard Harry let out a piercing scream. Racing out to the hallway to find the boy crouched in the corner trembling, "What the…Harry? What's wrong?"

Scooping the sobbing child into his arms and comforting him, "Pup, what scared you so much?"

"There…there…was a mon-monster in the bath-bathroom." He hiccupped.

Frowning in confusion, "Monster? What did he look like?"

"He was smaller than me with big, pointy ears and funny looking nose."

The house elf! How in the world had he forgotten about him? "Pup, that was no monster. That was Kreatcher, my mother's old house elf."

"What's a 'house elf'?"

"Hmm…someone who does chores around the house, run errands for the owner of the house, among other things." Sirius thought a simple explanation would suffice for the moment. Pulling out his handkerchief, he wiped away the remaining tears on Harry's face. "Come on, go finish up in the bathroom while I finish getting dressed."

Harry looked up at him and shook his head. "Uh uh!"

Sirius took in the sight of the child standing there squirming; his need of the toilet quite clear. But also his fear of returning the to scene of his fright was written upon his face. Damn you, Kreatcher! "Come on then, I'll go with you."

Once Harry was done using the bathroom and brushing his teeth, both returned across the hall so that Sirius could continue dressing.