Sirius wandered through London, his hand tightly wrapped around his wand and his body tense. It was Hallows Eve and this night was far from normal and despite being in Muggle London, he knew that he wasn't exactly safe. Finally, he found what he was looking for. A nursery store.

As soon as he stepped through the threshold, the vast array of horrible colors hit him right in the face. Pastel pinks and blues. Everywhere. They were bloody everywhere! He looked on at prams of various colors, cots with elephants and owls to teddy bears and cakes printed on. Mobiles with stars and smiling monkeys. There was so much to choose from and he needed it all now.

"Good evening, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?" Sirius looked up at the sales clerk who'd approached him. Normally he'd be all over this lovely little blond with the delicious looking pert breasts, but he was on a mission. Remus was livid with him from their row that morning and the day had not progressed in his favor. He must do everything he could to make it better.

He'd start with the shopping.

"Uh, yes. I, uh. You see, my friends have this little boy. Great kid. Well they had, he's ours now," Sirius was babbling and he saw the clerk's eyes get wider as words kept pouring almost nonsensically out of his mouth. "Well, no it's not like we kidnapped him or anything. They had an accident and we're taking care of him now and, oh bugger, I'm just making a mess of this, aren't I?" He held his hands out in front of him and took a deep breath. She smiled gently.

"Well yeah, a little. Your friends had an accident and leave you their baby and you come in looking like something's chasing you through the streets." Sirius pulled another deep breath through his nose and ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I'm a bit frazzled right now. We just found out we'd be taking care of him and we don't have anything for him. He's coming tonight, for all I know he's at our flat right now. Can you help me? We need a cot and a pram and one of those carrier things that you wear on your front and a mobile probably. Do you think we'll need anything else?" The clerk had a look on her face, discerning him and trying to figure out if she should help someone who was going to be taking care of someone else's child after the parents had an 'accident.'

"Please, I'm desperate here." Ultimately, Sirius had apparently looked confused and pitiful enough to win her sympathies. A shrewd smile came across her face as she glanced around and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Alright! I'll help you." He felt some of the tension slide out of his shoulders as he smiled back at her.

"Thank you. So much, really. Thank you," He glanced around the store, a frown creasing his brow.

"So...Where do we start?"

"Well, that depends. How much are you willing to spend?"

With two carts of baby things shrunken and stuffed into his pockets, Sirius apparated back to the flat. Remembering that Harry would probably be sleeping now, he landed outside so as not to wake him. As quietly as he could, he snuck into the house being greeted by a sight of Remus nodding off with little baby Harry sleeping snugly in his arms. With a small smile, Sirius made his way to the spare bedroom to start setting things up. With all but the finishing touches done, he found the small portable bed that he'd purchased and brought it back to the living room. As gently as he could, he took Harry from Remus' arms and laid him down in the little cot.

"Sirius-" Remus blearily sat upright before Sirius put his finger to his lips and walked back toward the guest room. With the heel of his hand rubbing his eye, Remus followed. The darker man smiled when he heard the soft gasp of surprise from his lover.

He'd transfigured the walls to be a soft light blue, the cot and the mobile set up by the window with sheer white curtains over it. Stars sparkled behind wisps of clouds against the ceiling and the quiet sound of crickets magically came from the walls. There was a small changing table where Sirius was packing away cloth diapers and the plastic liners beside the wet wipes and the basket of items that needed to go to the kitchen. The closet had baskets lining the shelves transfigured from hangers filled with tiny onesies, shirts and trousers of varying sizes, labeled so they would know what to grab for the baby when they were in a rush. Another shelf had tiny shoes lining it with sweaters waiting to be pulled over a baby head.

"Where did all this stuff come from?" Sirius smiled at his fatigued counterpart before laying a small blanket for Harry in the cot.

"I told you that I would take care of it and I did. Are you really that surprised?"

"No, no I'm not surprised. Well, I am but that's mainly because I didn't know you even knew what we would need to get." Sirius grinned sheepishly before shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I had some help from the girl at the shop. She was far too excited to get me all the things I would need for little Harry." Remus rolled his eyes. Of course there was a girl.

"Now don't act that way, it wasn't like that. She was just really helpful, that's all." Sirius made his way back to the living room and gently picked up the sleeping child. With more care than Remus had ever seen him use with anything, the animagus laid Harry in bed, tucked the blanket around him and ushered Remus out of the room, grabbing the rest of the baby things that needed putting away. With a final glance over their shoulders, and a lowering of the lights the shut the door behind them.

"He seems to be doing alright." Sirius murmured, filing away the bottles and bibs where he could find space. He heard the creak of the kitchen chair taking on weight and a sigh before Remus began to speak.

"Well he was quite distraught when Hagrid brought him here. Screaming and sobbing. It was a few minutes of cuddles and silliness from Uncle Moony before he calmed down a bit. A bottle and a change later, he was fast asleep. He's had a long day, I'm afraid." Remus rubbed his eyes and looked up to find Sirius standing before him with two cups of tea and biscuits. A small smile spread across his face as Sirius sat down.

"We've all had a bit of a day today." The silence weighed on them, heavy and isolating like the darkness that accompanied it. They both knew that Harry would be missing them and that it would be a long road before he understood that Uncle Moony and Uncle Pads would be taking care of him from now on. How does anyone make an infant understand that anyway?

"Christ, it was yesterday when we saw them. Yesterday. What the fuck?" Remus laid a hand on his quickly crumbling boyfriend's shoulder. Gone was the burning anger he'd felt all day, he was too exhausted for that anymore. Now all he felt was the emptiness of loss and the confusion accompanying a new huge responsibility that he now had to bear.

"I know, Sirius. But look at it this way, they would be so happy knowing that if anyone had to take care of Harry, it was us." Sirius nodded, biting his lip hard as tears welled up in his eyes.

"But they're gone, Rem. I just...I can't believe they're gone." For the first time all day, tears slipped from between his dark lashes casting scars down his face as his heart finally broke. Remus firmly gripped the shoulders of Sirius' robes and pulled him into his arms.

I know, so sad, so mean. All that's left now is the epilogue, folks!

Thanks for reading!

XX Willow