(Author's notes)

Ugh…I keep on forgetting how much I hate the snow until it actually comes around! Sure, it's pretty to look at, but when you're shoveling snow out of your driveway while recovering from laryngitis…not fun, not fun at all! Ugh…all right, now that you've heard my rant, let's get back to the story, shall we! ^_^

(Story)

A few days had passed since Harry and Sirius's trip over to the river. It was now a couple hours before dawn, so it was still plenty dark outside in the Ranch. Sirius tiredly put on a large sweatshirt on in the chill of the night air as he made his way over to the stables. He brought a hand up and rubbed his eyes of sleep and groaned in annoyance.

Oh boy…I've gotta feed and water the horses, then I've gotta let the dogs out to help me turn the horses out in a few hours. I have to go over to the store then the pharmacy for medicine because Harry is getting a cold from the bloody freezing river…and on top of that, I have to make the wolfsbane for Remus because his transformation is in a couple days!

As Sirius mind was racing with the day's work he had to do, he noticed something…the stable lights were on and shining through the cracks of the giant sliding doors. Sirius quickly walked up to the stables and cracked one of the doors open. HE paused for a moment when he heard the sound of coughing. Sirius furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and he slid the door open and peeked inside.

Harry was rubbing his nose with his sweatshirt sleeve and sniffed a bit. Next to him, the yellow Labrador stood next to him and faithfully licked Harry's hand. He patted the dog and picked up a bucket of horse feed next to him, and he walking inside the stall to clip the feed to the wall inside. As Harry disappeared in the stall, Sirius walked down the hall and peeked in the stalls. Each of them had fresh water, horse feed, and straw on the floor. By the time Sirius made it to Harry's stall, the boy hurriedly walked out, almost running into Sirius. Harry stumbled back as bit as he avoided crashing into Sirius. After he recovered from his stumble, he glanced up as Sirius wide wide-eyes.

"D-Dad! I swear I wasn't doing anything wrong! I was just feeding the horses and cleaning out the stalls, I swear!" Harry quickly explained. Sirius just gave him a surprised look as he grasped the boy's shoulders and kneeled in front of him.

"Harry…you didn't have to come out here and do this for me. These are my chores that I have to do. And look at yourself! You're starting to get sick from the river! You shouldn't even be out of bed this early young man, let alone be out here when it's chilly!" Sirius said.

"I know Dad but…you're always getting up so early and…I noticed that you've been tired a lot lately and I just wanted to give you a morning to sleep in for once. And besides, you're always working even when you're sick, so why can't I do the sa…the sa…ah-ah-CHOO!" Harry explained before letting out a huge sneeze. Sirius scratched Harry's head as he recovered from his sneeze.

"Oh Harry…where did you learn to be so kind?" Sirius softly asked Harry. The boy just looked back at him with a small smile.

"From you…I've learned everything I know from you, Dad!" Harry said. Sirius beamed at him with pride in his eyes.

"Oh Harry…come here, I need to give you a hug!" Sirius exclaimed as spread his arms out. Harry happily walked into them as Sirius tightly embraced him. A few pats on the back later, Sirius placed his hand on the back of Harry's head.

"O.k. Harry…I'll make you a deal. I'll go back in the house and sleep-in today if you promise to stay inside the house until you feel better. All right?" Sirius asked. Harry didn't say anything, but after a few coughs he nodded his head 'yes'. Sirius then let go of Harry and led him out of the stalls. After Sirius turned off the lights and shut the sliding door shut, he wrapped and arm around Harry and they both walked up towards the house, with nothing but the porch lights and the dogs guiding them there in the dark.

"…I love you Dad." Harry softly said. Sirius smiled back and squeezed the boy closer to him.

"I love you too, son."

(Author's notes)

All right, now I've gotta go to school I promise to update soon! Until then, keep favoring and reviewing me!