Holy Cow ALERTS AND FAVS!

In less than a week there are more for this story

Than the final installment of ATSR (Lily)….

I am astounded.

I am glad so many people like it. Thank you so so much!

As always, I am certainly not JKR

Chapter Ten

Out of SIght

Remus was pretty sure that somehow Sirius had ended up more excited than Harry. In fact, he was pretty sure Harry had no idea what was going on. Sirius had insisted that they take Harry to the muggle shopping center and get his picture taken with father Christmas, Harry had screamed like they were handing him over to Salazar Slytherin himself. He calmed down once they took him back, only to be upset when they passed the paddock of reindeer, to which he started screaming a heartbreaking mixture of Daddy, Amie, and Pongs. They had gone straight home after that. Wrapping presents with Sirius had been more than an adventure. Eventually Remus had delegated him official Harry watcher (even though Harry was asleep) and just finished it himself.

Christmas morning arrived with a chill on the air. Remus looked out at the trees as the blew in the wind. He could hear Sirius and Harry upstairs, they hadn't made their way down yet. Remus wondered idly how long it would take before they could convince Harry to sleep in his own bed. Or rather, how long it would take him to convince Sirius to put Harry in his own bed. Sometimes he wondered if Sirius might just be relying on Harry as much as Harry was relying on Sirius. As if on cue he heard the sounds of Harry's little feet on the steps, tap tap, fwump, tap tap fwump, foot foot bum, foot foot bum.

"Christmas, Christmas!" came Sirius' chant down the steps.

"blgjoahglblbhfoain kjboainbnkanlk." Came Harry's dutiful reply.

Remus smiled to himself, the little boy was swiftly picking up his old speech patterns and rambunctiousness, much aided by Sirius, he might add. He wasn't quite back to his old self completely, but Remus wasn't certain that without James and Lily, Harry would ever be the child he was once meant to be.

"Uncle Remmy!" came Sirius' call from the kitchen, it was followed by soft banging on his bedroom door.

"MOOOOMMMMOOOOO!" Harry cried.

Laughing, he opened his door. Harry's arms immediately shot up in a plea to be held. Responding instantly, he lifted him into his arms.

"Hey there cutie! What brings you down here this morning?" Remus asked, jokingly.

"Pood." Harry said, looking towards the kitchen.

"PRESENTS!" Sirius yelled from within the room, over the racket he was making.

Harry shook his head in disagreement. "Pood." He said seriously, making Remus chuckle.

"Check out those jamies!" he said, holding him out and looking at the red, white, and green footed sleeper Harry wore. "On the Naughty List. Well at least you are honest, that has to count for something little cub."

"Pood." Harry said again.

"Alright, food it is. Uncle Sirius, we are hungry!" he said as he entered the kitchen and strapped Harry into his seat.

"Black Pudding, Eggs, and Bacon on the way." Sirius said, his wand whipping about.

Remus wasn't sure how he knew how to cook, he certainly couldn't, he never had been good at it, but Sirius was, and he seemed to like it. It was just another oddity that was Sirius Black. He watched as he sat the cup and food on Harry's tray and immediately Harry picked up the eggs and stuffed them into his mouth.

"Mmmmm num num num." he said, eggs dribbling out.

"I knew I shouldn't have left him alone with you for more than a few days." Remus said, shaking his head.

Sirius laughed happily in response. Remus had to admit, for the first time since Halloween, Sirius looked happy. Truly happy, like nothing else was weighing on his mind, his eyes weren't hollow or dark underneath, he didn't seem tense or jittery, he seemed completely happy. With a jolt he realized that he was too. He was happy, he was living in a home, with a family, an unconventional one, sure. But who was a werewolf to require normalcy anyways? Somehow in less than a month, Harry had moved in and made them feel whole again, regardless of the gaping hole that James and Lily had left behind. He looked at the chattering baby as he wrinkled his nose at the black pudding on his tray.

He pushed it off the tray and gagged dramatically, "Non." He said firmly.

"What was that Harry?" Remus asked, his previous thought forgotten. "What did you just say?"

Harry wrinkled his nose again, "NON!"

"Did you just here that?" he said, excitedly.

Sirius shrugged. "He said no?"

"No, he said no, in FRENCH!"

Sirius looked at Harry with his mouth open in an O. "You don't like that?" Sirius coaxed.

"Non, Non, Blech." He said, shaking his head.

"Well, looks like story hour is paying off." Sirius said with a smirk.

"You are so clever. Just like your mum." Remus said with a smile.

Harry looked at them like they had both gone mad.

After eating, and cleaning up the black pudding mess off of the floor, and chair, and wall, Sirius carried Harry into the sitting room and sat him down beside the multicolored tree. He blinked up at it in awe, before leaning down and peeking at the plate under the tree. He picked up the now empty milk glass and looked inside.

He turned and looked at Remus, his lips in a perfect O, "Ah Gone!" he said, looking back into the cup.

"Father Christmas drank it." He said with a smile.

Harry picked up the small plate that had held a mixed assortment of Christmas biscuits. He pouted out his lip and touched a crumb. "Ah Gone!" he wailed, huge tears springing from his eyes.

Remus scooped him into his arms and patted his back soothingly, pulling the empty dish from his hand. "You could have left him one biscuit Siri." He hissed.

Sirius shrugged guiltily. "I didn't think he would have a melt down over them." He defended.

"It's all right baby. Look, he ate the biscuits but left the presents. Do you want a present?"

Harry turned his little head towards the tree, his lip still pouted out. "Pwesent." He muttered, sniffling slightly.

Sirius laughed and pulled out a longish one.

"Do not give him that first, he won't open anything else." Remus said, grabbing the gift and hiding it behind his back. Harry tried to climb his shoulder to see where it had gone.

"Here little bit, look at this." Sirius said, holding out a smaller package.

Harry took it reluctantly and settled himself into Remus' lap before tearing at the paper. He was every bit of James while opening gifts. Neither Sirius nor Remus could withhold their laughter. Paper had gone flying and as he opened each toy he glanced at it, dropped it, and moved on, he was on a mission.

"I think we forgot to get him any clothes, he has all toys." Remus said, looking around himself as he pulled the long thin package from his back, and placed it in front of Harry.

"Meh, who needs clothes, we were born starkers we should stay starkers." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Well I will remind you of that the next time Harry makes a run for it after bath time." Remus replied.

Harry began to throw paper to and fro, quickly revealing the small, child's broomstick. He jumped from Remus' lap. "BOOM!" he shouted. "FWY! FWY! DADDDEEEE FWY BOOM HAAAWWWEEE FWY DADDDDEEE BOOM HAAAWWWEEEE!" he hopped around, looking for James. He even ran to a window.

Remus looked up at Sirius, whose mouth was set in a thin line, as if he was determined not to show emotion. He sighed and walked over to Harry, sensing that Sirius may have been frozen to the spot. He reached him and took his hand, pulling him back over to the Christmas tree.

"FWY!" Harry insisted. "Daadddeee FWY."

Both Remus and Sirius remembered well that it was James' job to keep an eye on Harry if he flew, that was Lily's rule. It hadn't occurred to them that he might correlate the two, only knowing how much he had loved the first broom Sirius had gotten him.

"Daddy can't fly. But Uncle Siri can fly." Remus said, nudging him towards Sirius.

Harry stayed where he was, his face contemplative. "Daaadddeee Bye." He said certainly.

"Daddy and Mummy had to go away. They can't come home." Remus clarified, trying to disassociate bye bye with James and Lily.

Harry screwed up his face and looked into the fire then after several minutes, back at Sirius. "Petey bye bye?"

Sirius' jaw dropped, he looked at Remus, stunned. They hadn't even thought about Harry remembering him. Sirius cleared his throat. "Yes, yes he is bye bye too."

Harry bent down and lifted the broom, "Hawweee fwy." He said, sitting the broom on the floor and sitting his puffy nappied bum on it.

That evening the wireless sang out in the corner, the two men were playing a much interrupted game of chess while Harry stood by the window, his feet firmly on the ground and bouncing his bum up and down to the music, his hands waving about.

Sirius chuckled as he watched him. "Well baby boy, you certainly get your moves from Jamie that is for sure." He said with a grin.

Remus laughed remembering James dancing around their dorm room on several occasions. "Look at that nappy bum wiggle." He said with a smile. "Your go."

You wouldn't even know that the tension from this afternoon had happened, Harry had returned to a happy bouncing (literally) baby. Even he and Sirius had pushed past it fairly quickly. As it would happen for the upcoming weeks and months, a moment would come, that rendered them broken but it passed as quickly as it came. Harry spoke up and grew, he played and laughed as did Remus and Sirius. They began to learn who they were now. Certainly they weren't the same carefree boys that were once the marauders, they had changed, they had grown in their own ways. Faced with the prospect of being surrogate parents, and learning to overcome grief and pain they were becoming the men that they never realized they had the potential to be. Were there bumps in the road? Huge ones. Did they stumble or fall over certain dates or an unexpected word from Harry? Weekly, it seemed. But the thing to note was the fact that they always got back up.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sirius stood in the hall watching Remus read to Harry before bed. He glanced out at the last night sky of May. Tonight they were trying to put him in the toddler bed. So far Sirius had slept with Harry every night since they got him. He listened as the muggle fairy tale was read out in eloquent French, and Harry listened with rapt attention. He loved being read to. As the story finished Remus sat him down and took his hand, leading him over to the small bed. Harry shook off his hand and walked over to his little side table fiddling with a music box that was there.

Sirius walked into the room and knelt down beside him, touching his soft, thickening hair.

"It is night night time baby boy." He said with a smile.

Harry pulled away and continued to play as if he hadn't heard him.

"Harry, let's get into your big boy bed." Remus tried.

Harry ignored him completely. He pulled on the bottom drawer and peeked inside. He came back up holding a picture. It was the one of Harry with James and Lily from the cottage. Sirius looked at the picture, holding his breath. He had forgotten he hid that in there. He remembered doing it. He had never put the pictures out, none of them. He had brought them home and couldn't bear to look at them. He had been certain that Harry didn't need the constant reminder either. He could honestly say he had forgotten all about the pictures. Suddenly his heart sank, how could he have forgotten about James?

Remus glanced at the picture and then at Sirius. He hadn't even known it was in there.

"What did you find?" Remus asked as Harry placed the picture on the little bed.

Harry pointed at it. "See it?" he said, his eyes boring into the picture, his eyebrows pulled in in the middle.

Sirius sat down beside him and ran his finger over the frame. "Who is that Harry?" he said, pointing to the photo image of Harry that was sucking on his fingers.

"Baby." Harry said with half a smile.

"That's right. That is a baby." Remus encouraged. He pointed at Lily. "Harry, who is that?"

Harry looked closely, his tongue poked out, as it always was when he was deep in thought. "Who dat?" he asked in return pointing at Lily.

Remus heard Sirius choke on his words behind him. "Harry, that is your mummy, you know your mummy." He said, choking back a sob.

Harry looked closer. "Who dat?" he asked, pointing at James.

Remus glanced back at Sirius, who looked devastated, he was beyond words.

Remus pointed at the picture. "Look." He said pointing to each in turn. "Harry's Mummy, Harry's Daddy, and Harry." He said softly. "Votre maman, votre papa, et Harry" he said.

Harry shook his head. "No, non, Mummy Ah gone, Dadddeee ah gone." He said simply, no trace of distress in his face. He sat the picture on the floor and headed for the door of the room. "Bye, I Pway!" he said with a smile.

Sirius was staring at the picture on the floor as if his eyes were glued to it. Remus stood and placed his hand on his head, ruffling his hair as they used to do to James.

"No Harry, it is time for bed. In your big boy bed." He said firmly.

"No, no nigh nigh." Harry pouted.

Remus took his hand and led him to the little white wooden bed and sat him upon it, tucking the striped blanket around his legs.

"Yes night night." He said.

Harry held up his arms to Sirius. "Nigh nigh unca Siwi, Nigh nigh unca Siwi." He cried, tears welling in his green pools.

Sirius looked up at the sound of his name. He gripped the picture and stood it on the side table, pointing his wand and fixing it there with a sticking charm.

"Sorry little bit, tonight you sleep in here." He said with a sad smile. "But look the picture can sleep in here too, every night with you alright? They will keep you safe just like always." He said, only stumbling over the words a bit.

He lay Harry down, he popped back up, his cries intensifying. Remus stood and sat in the rocking chair, they had decided to weather this storm together, to provide a united front, mainly to keep Sirius from backing out again. Sirius lay him back down and he popped back up, now sobbing and thrashing.

"I can't use a sticking charm on him can I?" Sirius hissed.

Remus bit back a laugh, "Unfortunately not."

"Damn." He muttered as he lay him back down again.

After ten more up and downs Harry stayed in his bed, though he had thrown a terrible fit. And was now gasping and hiccupping while Sirius rubbed circles on his back and brushed his hair from his face, whispering the story of Babbity Rabbity from entirely from memory. They watched as his breathing evened out, even though he did hiccup from his extended crying spell every so often, and his eyes remained closed. Remus stood and pointed to the door, Sirius held up a finger, asking for just a minute. Remus nodded and headed out of the room, leaning against the wall outside to wait.

"Goodnight baby boy. Sleep tight. And remember," he could picture Sirius pointing from the bedside. "Harry's mummy, Harry's daddy, and Harry. Always and forever." He said as he stood and left the room.

When he made it to the hall he saw Remus standing there. He leaned against the opposite wall, putting up a one way silencing charm as he did, so they could still hear Harry but he could not hear them.

"I can't believe he doesn't remember them." He gasped in a dry voice, his normal mask of confidence slipping.

"He didn't forget them, he remembers that he has a mum and dad, he knows they went away, he just, he doesn't remember what they look like. You can't blame him Sirius. He is not even two years old. It has been more than seven months since he last saw them. He was only 15 months old when they died."

"I don't blame him." Sirius snapped. "I blame myself. I didn't, I didn't put the pictures out. I couldn't right after. And then, I got so caught up in Harry and life that I-I forgot. I forgot to put up the pictures. I forgot about Jamie. I never thought he would forget them, it just, I never thought about it. How could I let him forget them? How could I fail them like this?" he said miserably. He was nearing hysteria, very close to Harry's state mere moments ago.

Remus reached out and took him by the arm, leading him downstairs. Sirius sat at the kitchen table and let his head fall onto the solid wood. Remus waived his wand and summoned a tea set up before sitting across from his friend.

"It isn't your fault. I did it too. I never sat them up, I never showed him a picture, I never mentioned it to you again after Godric's Hollow. And it wasn't because I was afraid to fight, it was because I forgot. It never occurred to me once we got him and we were being run ragged by a one year old while trying to figure out how to move on with an entirely new life. You didn't fail them. Quite the opposite, you fought the entire ministry to get that child. You fought your very friends and mentors, against all odds. You put the real traitor in Azkaban, you not only gave them justice but you are giving their son the life he deserves. You are no a failure in any sense of the work. This is not set in stone. We can fix it. We will fix it. We will put up the pictures. It isn't as if we don't say their names or talk about them in correlation to Harry daily. We are always saying how much he is like them. He knows who they are and about them, he just forgot their faces, we can fix that."

Sirius looked up and nodded. "They are in my room, in the bottom of my wardrobe."

They should have gone to bed when Harry had first fallen asleep, but they spent a little more than an hour hanging and placing photos from the cottage. When they did finally go to sleep Harry woke them every two hours from that point, crying to go to Sirius' bed. At 4 in the morning, they both sat in the hall, Harry was finally asleep again. Sirius dropped his head into his hands.

"Why did we decide to do this again?" he moaned.

"Because if you ever want to go on another date, you can't be home by bedtime and if she wants to stay over, your bed will be really cramped with Harry in it."

"Right, there was that."

"Not to mention we are starting potty training when I get back from the moon, so if you haven't broken him of sleeping in your bed by then, you will be the one that he is having his overnight accidents on."

"And then there was that too. Right, so operation Harry sleeps in his own room is underway."