In a week, Harry was back to his happy self.
"Remmie, can we go to the park today? Please?" Harry begged at breakfast.
"Sure Pup," Sirius answered from behind the newspaper.
"Yay! Park, park, park!" he chanted.
They got to the park at eleven and Sirius helped Harry walk up the playground steps to go down the slide. They did this ten or so times, with Remus catching Harry at the bottom, when two older boys showed up. By this point, Harry was able to crawl to the stairs and go down the slide, so Remus and Sirius had gone to sit on a bench nearby, keeping an eye on him and enjoying the fresh air.
"Hi," Harry bowed his head, shy, "I'm Harry."
"We don't care about your name, Pipsqueak. It's our turn to use the slide."
"But I was here first. You can go down after me though."
"We want the slide!" the other boy pushed him down the slide backwards.
"Cub!" Remus and Sirius were there even before he knew what had happened, "Are you okay?"
"Wahh!" Harry began to sob, more out of shock than pain.
"It's okay, Remmie's got you," Remus picked him up and hugged him tight, swaying from side-to-side.
The boys were laughing. Sirius turned to them, wand out, "Hey! You two are in big trouble! Get down here right now!"
"We don't listen to strangers!"
"Siri, forget it. Let's just go home."
"No Remus!" Sirius pulled away from him, "I'm sick of standing by while Harry gets hurt!"
Remus leaned closer to Sirius, "If you perform magic, you'll be back in Askaban! What good is that for Harry?"
Sirius deflated, "You're right. Come here, Pup. You're okay," he pet Harry's unruly hair.
With a few more sniffles, Harry gave him a small smile.
"You okay, Cub?" Remus held Harry on his hip.
"I have to use the potty," Harry admitted with a blush.
Sirius barked a laugh and Remus smiled gently in amusement.
"Let's have a quick potty break and then we can play on the monkey bars, okay?" Remus reasoned.
"Yay! Monkey, monkey, monkey! I love monkeys!" Harry cheered.
Remus laughed, "I know you do, Bud. Let's walk," he set Harry down between Sirius and himself. Harry stumbled for a moment before Sirius took his hand to steady him.
"Left, right, left, right. There you go. That's my Pup!" Sirius praised.
Harry's laugh could be heard across the playground.