That day mainly revolved around Sirius getting reacquainted with his godson who had a personality almost identical to Lily with only a little bit of James sprinkled in. Sirius didn't seem impressed when Harry expressed such a strong passion towards potions but he didn't say anything because it made him happy and Harry deserved to be happy.
Once Harry was in bed, Remus and Sirius sat in the living room and sipped mugs of hot chocolate.
"So, raising a child? I never thought I'd see the day when you settled down with a child!" Sirius laughed as he watched Remus pick up Harry's toys and place them in the large trunk by the window. Remus seemed to be quite happy to have Harry with him and seemed far less withdrawn. It made Sirius happy to see his friend doing better under the influence of his godson. But Harry had that effect on people; the child had a way of making people relaxed and happy.
"I must agree; I never thought I'd be responsible for a child either but I know I could never be worse than the Dursleys'. They made him sleep in a cupboard, do all of the cooking and the cleaning, and if he was lucky, they might feed him once a day! When he got here, he was surprised that I had provided him with a bed!"
Sirius stared at Remus in shock; he'd figured Harry had been mistreated when he was told Harry'd been left outside until nearly midnight when he'd been attacked but he never pictured it was that bad.
"Thankfully, he's finally warming up to me and has started coming to me when he needs help. He's just beginning to stop staring at his food like I'm going to take it from him," Remus explained with a sigh but he couldn't deny his feeling of pride when he thought about how the child was flourishing and becoming his own person.
"Those damn muggles; how dare they!" Sirius exclaimed quietly.
"Let's change the topic before you get mad and do something to wind up back in Azkaban. How have you been? I know that place is... dark," Remus was unsure what to say to Sirius about Azkaban.
"Yeah, I was thrilled when they told me they caught that vermin Peter; they caught him sniffing around the Weasleys' garden. Actually, their son Percy found him and wanted to keep him as a pet! I shudder at the thought of Peter living in a house with so many children!"
The Weasleys' had seven children; six boys and a girl. But it wasn't shocking, Mrs Weasley was a motherly type. Remus remembered that her youngest children were close to Harry's age.
"Yeah, that would be a scary thought!" Remus laughed.
"Are you ready for next week?" Sirius asked, his voice was suddenly serious and concerned. Remus knew immediately that Sirius was referring to the full moon. Harry's first full moon.
"As ready as I can be. We're going down to the basement to shift and tomorrow, once Harry rests a little bit, I'll take him for ice cream maybe," Remus said, once again explaining his plan for that evening. He figured the ice cream would lift Harry's spirits.
"That's not what I meant. It's not going to be easy seeing James' son go through something like that and after it happens, it will become real for both of you," Sirius said, looking Remus in the eye.
"Becomes real? It's already real!"
Sirius shook his head.
"It might be happening but it won't fully registered in your brain until it happens. Right now, you are probably hoping that somehow it won't happen. That's okay, we all partially deny things we don't want to accept. What I meant was, are you ready for when Harry's infliction becomes reality?"
Remus wasn't sure what to say to that. He'd spent so much of the past few weeks adjusting Harry to his new environment, getting papers signed and getting Harry's potion in him that he never actually processed the fact that Harry was going to be a werewolf. Right now, it was just a notion they were preparing for but Sirius was right; actually seeing it happen was going to be an entirely different thing. And to add insult to the injury, Harry was going to be in pain, even with the potion and there would be nothing Remus could do to make that stop.
"What do I tell him?" Remus asked as the situation become more and more real.
Sirius put his hands on Remus' shoulders and gave him an assuring smile.
"We'll both be there to help him through this. I've been through enough of your transformations to know what to expect and even if he does get... feisty... his bites wouldn't affect me because of my wonderful animagus gift," Sirius laughed but it didn't fully meet his eyes. As happy as he was to get to spend the evening with Harry, he wished the circumstances were different.
"I don't think there is anything I can actually say to prepare him for this. Even if I fully explain it to him, he'll just get frightened and fight it but it will still catch him off guard. He's too young to have to be going through something like this. His only experience as a werewolf should be during muggle Halloween!"
Sirius nodded and tried to figure out the best thing to say but Remus began talking again.
"I guess all I can do is tell him that no matter how much it will hurt, and no matter what happens that he will be okay and that everything will be fine."
Sirius and Remus sat in silence for a few minutes before they dived into a conversation about Harry's passion for potions.
In the morning when Harry woke up, Sirius was asleep on the couch. Harry grinned as he woke Sirius up.
"Do you have a dog?" Harry asked grinning. Sirius smelt like a dog, Harry found it amusing but wondered why he had left his dog at home if he was going to sleep over. Harry was sure dogs needed to go outside to do their business and they had to be fed.
"What makes you ask that?" Sirius asked, grinning; Harry's smile was just as contagious as Lily's was.
"You smell like a dog..."
"Ah, that I do! Maybe, I'll show you why later," Sirius promised. He'd forgotten how keen a werewolf's nose could be and Harry would be able to pick up on his alternate scent.
"Can you read to me?" Harry said, handing Sirius a book about potions.
Harry's first full moon will happen in the next chapter. I finally got my text editor to accept British English...