So… a million apologies are in order.

I've been very busy. And I kind of felt I had grown up past this point of doing fanfiction.

Oh how stupid I was.

I've read some reviews from different people and they really touched me. Thank you so much to the amazing reviews this story has gotten since I went on hiatus!

So, marauderingmarauderer is back… if just for one more chapter.

(I'm going to be very busy again, I'm going to be in an opera production at school this semester)

Chapter 5…

…

"Oi, get back here!" Ron yelled as Harry started to run away from his best mate.

It had been a few weeks since Harry moved into Sirius', no his new home.

And it was the best time of his life so far. Hogwarts offered him a refuge from the Dursley's, but sometimes Hogwarts was too much in and of itself.

His new home offered him refuge from all the adventures and mysteries that always seemed to plague him there. Not that he didn't enjoy

adventure and mystery in his young life, but one could get tired of it.

Now, the reason Harry was running away from his best mate was because at that moment, he had unleashed a water balloon, that was so gigantic

that magic must have had a role in its creation, on Ron's head as he was taking a nap on the grass.

The yelling disrupted Sirius' read through of the Daily Prophet.

He almost became annoyed before he realized that he could really care less about being an adult. He grinned as he got up out of his chair and started to walk to the door outside from his study.

He caught his godson right outside the door.

"Sirius!" Harry exclaimed, "You've got to let me go! Ron's going to kill me."

"Oh really?" Sirius replied. "Well, we can't have that now, can we?"

Harry became slightly frightened at the tone of Sirius' voice.

"Ron!" Sirius yelled. "Looking for someone?"

Sirius hoisted Harry above his shoulder - not an easy feat, but one he felt was quite necessary - and ran outside to Ron.

"What's the big idea?" Ron huffed. "Can't do that to your best mate now, can you? It's just not on."

Harry was caught somewhere between the terror and the hilarity of the situation.

"Yes, Harry," Sirius interrupted, "you know it's not on to fool around with a mate's nappy time."

Harry burst out laughing as Ron quickly uttered, "Oi, shut up!"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Here you, go he's all yours."

Sirius set Harry down and Ron quickly tackled him. The teenage boys began to wrestle in the good spirit that can only accompany youth. Sirius grabbed his wand and then whispered "aguamenti."

The two boys became drenched as they suddenly stopped fighting each other. They looked at each other and in the way only best friends can, immediately decided telepathically to attack Sirius.

'I should have seen this coming' thought Sirius as he started to run away from the two teenagers.

But as he was getting older and not quite as quick as he used to be, they caught up to him in no time and proceeded to retaliate.

It was a good day.

….

Later that night, Harry was curled up on the couch in the living room. It was his favorite spot to be in the entire house, particularly at night.

Ron had gone home later that afternoon. Sirius had washed and dried his clothes using a laundry spell he had learned in his bachelor days, but Molly Weasley knew immediately

that her son's clothing had been tainted and gave Sirius a serious talking to. (*AN- pardon the pun, it was unintentional, but I didn't have the heart to take it out.*)

Harry had been laughing in the other room as he heard Sirius having a conversation in the fire with the Weasley Matriarch, assuring her it would never happen again. Sirius felt bad for

obviously lying to her, but it was with all good intent.

Sirius sighed as he walked into the room.

"The trouble you put me through, pup," he stated with a smirk.

Harry immediately felt bad and started to apologize.

"Harry," Sirius interrupted. "Calm down, I was just joking with you. Geez, you need to lighten up."

"Lighten up?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you know," Sirius commented, "learn how to take a joke, or to joke for that matter. Your dad and I were the king of jokers when we were your age. You couldn't get us to stop."

"You were?" Harry asked, playing along with Sirius, although he already knew that the Marauders were jokers.

"Yup, pup! We were an unstoppable team! You're dad and I came up with the ideas and Moony would often help out with the execution, being as smart as he was."

"Because you weren't smart enough?" Harry asked cheekily.

Sirius paused, "And here I was thinking you couldn't joke around, pup! Where has this been hiding?"

Harry laughed as he said, "It comes and goes."

Sirius looked to Harry, contemplating with great focus.

"I know what we're going to be doing this summer," Sirius stated with a tone that Harry knew could only mean trouble.

"What's that Sirius?" Harry asked.

"I'm going to teach you how to consistently joke!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Consistently joke?" Harry asked skeptically.

When you enter your fourth year, the professors won't know what hit them."

"Well actually, Sirius," Harry started. "They know that I'm living with you, so they'll probably figure out what hit them."

"And he's clever too!" Sirius laughed.

Harry laughed as well, though not knowing what was so funny. He always laughed when he was with Sirius. Most of the time there wasn't even a reason.

"Shut up," Harry said.

Sirius put his arm around Harry as he exclaimed in mock shock, "Shut up? My godson, the potty mouth."

Harry just rolled his eyes at his Godfather's antics and walked to the kitchen, "I'm going to make myself a sandwich. I sure hope somebody remembered to go grocery shopping."

Sirius laughed as he watched Harry leave the room. He was so proud of his Godson, and actually loved the fact that he wasn't a jokester… yet. He had always wanted to train his Godson in that field

and now it looked like he was getting his wish.

Sirius didn't have a lot of time for laughter in his stint at Azkaban. One of the things that worried him after he escaped was the thought that he would never be able to laugh again.

And for awhile, he didn't. And then Harry came into his life. Harry, God bless him, was not the funniest of children, but he always seemed to bring out the laughter in Sirius.

And Sirius could really use that.

Azkaban changed Sirius, there was not a doubt. He always had a dark cloud over his head. He could not shake the feeling that dementors were lurking somewhere. The coldness they exude affected

him more deeply than he cared to admit.

He heard Harry call out from the kitchen, "Hey, Sirius! Would you mind turning down the temperature? I feel like I'm being cooked alive."

Sirius forced a laugh as he yelled back, "Sure thing, pup! Sorry about that!"

Sirius took out his wand and made it a little bit colder in the house. Not much, just a little. He hated the cold. It was so cold in Azkaban.

He shook his head as he put away his wand. Some thoughts were better left avoided.

It really was so great that he was able to be a little bit of a kid again with Harry. He really loved the kid. He knew he could never replace James, and he knew that Harry was not his best friend. But it

was nice to have a little reminder with him. And he was realizing that Harry was his own person - unique and everything.

He was actually a little more like Lily. She was always a sweet heart.

Sirius hoped that he could give Harry the home he deserves.

Sirius hoped that he could give himself the home he deserved.

End… for right now at least. I might revisit this later.