Chapter Seventy;

After swimming until near nightfall – and several students joining in to play with Aidan, Sirius carried his wet and muddy son into Hogwarts and to their chambers. When they entered, they took a quick look around and didn't see Severus, both shrugging it off and walking to Aidan's room. He placed Aidan down and a kiss to Aidan's forehead. "Alright, love, you go to the bathroom, and get undressed for a bath. I'll be right in there." Sirius said. Aidan nodded in response and ran into his bathroom. Sirius walked out and to his and Severus' room, getting out some dry clothes and putting them on, running a quick cleansing charm until he was to take a shower before he went to sleep, frowning when he didn't see Severus still.

He sighed and walked back into Aidan's room, pulling out some sleepwear and walking inside the bathroom to see his son in boxers. He grinned and sat on the tub, resting his dry clothes on sink and starting a warm bath, adding in lots of bubbles. He stood up and pointed. "Get in; I'll go get a towel." He ordered, walking out of the bathroom. "Whisper!" He called.

Whisper appeared and smiled. "Yes, sirs?"

"Can I get a towel? There wasn't any in the bathroom."

Whisper nodded and disappeared. She returned less than a minute later, handing a towel up to Sirius. "Here you go, sirs."

"Thank you, also, where is Severus?"

"He is at dinner, sirs… it started ten minutes ago."

"Oh… mind bringing Aidan and I something?"

Whisper beamed. "Of course! Whisper will put it on the table by the fire." She nodded, disappearing.

Sirius grinned and walked back into the bathroom, resting the towel atop Aidan's clothes and crossing the room, falling to his knees next to the bathtub and pouring shampoo on his son's hair. Aidan giggled. "I can do that!"

"Really?" Sirius asked a she ruffled the hair.

"Yes." Aidan answered, going under the water and rolling around, coming back up and having bubbles all over his face.

Sirius chuckled and took a cup, filling it with fresh water from the nozzle, pouring it on his sons head until all the soap was gone. "Much better."

"Look!" Aidan said, sticking a dinosaurs' head out from the water.

Sirius grinned. "When did you grab toys?"

"When you were going to change. I have a rubber duck too. Look." He muttered, pulling a duck out of the water.

Sirius grabbed the dinosaur and made roaring noises, fighting his dinosaur vs. Aidan's duck. The two played with the dinosaur and duck toys for near an hour, Aidan shivering and stating the water was cold. Sirius quickly put conditioner in his hair and washed it out, letting the water out and wrapping his son in the towel and pulling him out of the water and putting him on the ground. He dried him off and walked out for Aidan to get dressed, going to check on their food.

Sirius sat at the couch, smirking when he saw the two cheeseburgers on the plate. Whisper had developed a soft spot for Aidan and every time they asked for a meal it seemed she brought his favorite. He nibbled on his burger and when Aidan came out in his pajamas that had charmed snakes crawling on them, he jumped up on the couch next to Sirius and ate his food, they talked about various things, mostly baseball – which Sirius had limited knowledge on, but answered as much as he could – they decided over breaks they'd watch lots of baseball games together. They also spoke about getting a puppy, which Sirius knew Severus would flip about, but he promised to bring it up to him tonight. They also spoke about Skylax and how he was feeling alone and needed another snake buddy.

After they finished, Severus finally came through the door, quirking his eyebrow at the sight: Sirius was sprawled out on the couch, reading a book to himself and Aidan was sleeping on his chest. Sirius peered up and gave Severus a smile. "Hey, where've you been? Dinner ended over an hour ago."

"I had some business with… Pince."

"Everything okay?"

"I suppose... Get him to bed."

Sirius nodded and stood up, gathering Aidan in his arms and walking into Aidan's room, lying him on the bed and tucking him in and placing a kiss to his forehead before walking out and into their room where Severus was pulling his cloak off. "I need a shower." Sirius muttered.

"I do as well. Care to go first?"

"Or we can go at the same time." Sirius crossed the room, wrapping his arms around his waist.

Severus groaned, pulling away. "I don't feel like being touched…"

Sirius quirked his eyebrow. "Severus, what's wrong…?"

"Nothing… just… please don't touch me."

"Severus…"

"Sirius, just go take your shower, please... I'll wait until the morning."

Sirius frowned. "Alright…" He muttered, walking into the bathroom for his shower.

[April 16th, 1999]

The next morning, Sirius opened his eyes and saw the light peering out of the bathroom under the door. He smiled and got up, throwing on some clothes and walking up to the door, listening for water. When he didn't hear anything, he assumed Severus was taking a bath. "I'm heading to breakfast; I'll take Aidan with me."

"… Okay." Severus muttered.

Sirius sighed and walked out, smiling when he saw Aidan in clothes for the day - black jeans and a red shirt, smiling back. "Ready for breakfast?"

"Yes!" Aidan jumped, crossing his arms. "I've been waiting for an hour!"

"An hour? Why didn't you come to wake me up?"

"I didn't want to disturb you or papa."

Sirius smiled and walked over to Aidan, picking him up and walking out of the chambers and towards the Great Hall. "Hey, do you want to sit with Harry today?"

"Yes." Aidan responded, hugging Sirius tightly.

"Alright." He answered, putting him down and pulling his wand out to charm his shirt to say 'Gryffindor rules'. "There, all ready, go on."

Aidan grinned. "Thanks." He said, running into the Great Hall and heading towards the Gryffindor table to sit in between Ron and Harry.

Sirius crossed the hall and up to the head table, sitting next to Pince in Severus' usual seat. He smiled over at her and received a glare – though he never blamed her for hating him – he ruined a lot of books in his days as a student. "Irma, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

Irma sighed. "You may ask as many questions as you please, if I will answer – I'm unsure."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I was just curious as to what you and Severus spoke about last night? Afterwards he was acting very—"

"Severus and I didn't speak yesterday… at all."

Sirius' eyebrow quirked. "You… didn't? But he said—"

"I assure you, I haven't spoken to him in days."

"… Did he show up for dinner last night?"

"No. We assumed you three ate in your chambers."

Sirius tapped his foot, trying to figure out why Severus would lie to him. "Was anyone else missing from dinner?"

Irma went into thought. "Yes… Poppy was, I believe."

Sirius nodded and excused himself, quickly heading towards the infirmary, he was a bit irritated that Severus had lied, but then worried because he lied and coincidentally Poppy was missing from dinner as well. He stepped into the infirmary and smiled. "Poppy?"

Poppy stopped cleaning out vials and turned towards Sirius. "Yes?"

"Was… did you see Severus yesterday?"

Poppy let out a sigh. "Sirius, I can't speak to you."

"Why not? Was he in here?"

"… Yes, he was… you know I can't talk about any—"

"I'm his Husband."

"I know that, but this is a matter he needs to deal with before talking to you."

Sirius sighed. "Poppy, please… He won't tell me anything, he even lied."

"Dear, I assure you, he isn't sick or anything."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I can't tell you. Go talk to him." She waved him off.

Sirius nodded his head and turned on his heel, walking down the corridor and groaning as he remembered he had a class right after breakfast. He headed towards his Transfiguration classroom and took a seat at his desk, drumming his fingers as he waited for his class. He decided a refreshing on some basic Transfiguration spells were needed as he didn't feel like teaching – his mind was elsewhere – he also had nothing planned. Running a hand down his tired face, he smiled as the class filled with students and Aidan followed in behind the group, running up to Sirius' desk and sitting in Sirius' lap, leaning against him.