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Candle in the darkness – Remus was sipping fire whiskey – again – when the content of a particular newspaper was brought to his attention; he skimmed over it and spat his mouthful into the fireplace, causing a small fireball to shoot up the chimney. He snorted; putting alcohol in the fire was becoming far too commonplace. He almost forgot to take the floo before stomping over to his fireplace and appeared in Dumbledore's office less than a minute later, screaming profanity after profanity about his stupidity. He was not alone, he noted dryly. Arabella Figg was there screaming what sounded like 'I told you so Professor, I told you!' Minerva was screaming something along the same lines 'they are the worst sort of muggles, knew it from the moment I laid eyes on them.' The two headstrong ladies along with Poppy always had been the strongest mother hen females he knew, more like mother bears really.

Hagrid was sitting there in support of the ladies looking a little drunk. Even Severus Snape was there looking extremely displeased, muttering something about 'how could you do this to Lily's child?' Dumbledore was looking harassed, and rightly so, and Remus decided he was getting enough rub here, so decided to pay attention to the ones actually responsible for dealing the damage. Once this wish of his became apparent, Severus of all people was the one to reason with him, leaving the two headstrong ladies to batter the headmaster quite successfully by themselves. "Are you sure that is wise, they are in muggle jail now."

"Don't worry, nobody will remember me, I want them to tell me who he is staying with."

Half an hour and a little persuasive magic later Remus was sitting in front of the man, Vernon who was looking anything but apologetic, in fact he just looked bored. He took one look at the wand sticking out of his waistband and sneered, "you're one of their lot," he hissed, "well you got what you wanted, "my wife and I are in jail, my son is in protective custody and you got the freak back, we never wanted anything to do with him anyway."

"If you expect me to feel any guilt or sympathy you are sorely mistaken, I am merely here to ask you a question, and if you answer me without any hesitation I may refrain from killing you."

"I was threatened by the man who took the freak away, you don't scare me."

"Call him a freak once more and you die," he said with no trace of bluffing in his words, "his name is Harry Potter, I suggest you use it."

He blinked, "the man who took... Harry away said his name was Adam Turner or Tanner or whatever, I don't really remember for some reason," indeed a mild obliviate spell had been used, "he was a policeman, said neighbours complained."

"What did he look like," he said, something told him the man who had threatened him and taken Harry away was 'one of his lot.'

"I'm not all that sure. Tall, muscled, shaggy black hair, well spoken, blue-grey eyes, weathered skin, crazy, there really isn't much to tell."

Remus however was already paling, his brows drawing together in confusion. Surely that could not be... Paddy hated Harry, he was a death eater, he wanted to kill him, why would he try and kill the Dursleys or at least threaten for hurting them if...

"I thought you would have more faith in me my old friend,"

"I have not come to kill you Remus. Believe it or not I do not actually want you to die. I do not like it that you abandoned me but I will always consider you a friend."

"Where did Dumbledore place my Godson Remus."

"And you let him? You just stood by and let it happen, you did not even try to get custody of him?" His voice did not rise but he let the man know he was unhappy with him. "I do not trust the old fool, but then, I do not trust anyone anymore." He shook his head sadly, "oh Remus, I am disappointed in you even more, you do remember Harry don't you?"

"Just how exactly did he threaten you, what did he say?" There was a particular threat he liked to use when he was angry after being almost abused as a boy. Vernon refused to answer so he drew his wand and shouted 'legilimens.' The memory of Sirius threatening him came as clearly as the thoughts of that morning. Sirius had made an impression, he smiled grimly.

"If I ever find out that you tried to touch, go near, harm, or even try to find Harry ever again, I will torture you for hours until you can no longer feel your own skin. Then, I will proceed to torture your wife. Then, once I am sure you have both been tortured enough, I will proceed to lock you in a cupboard for a week without food or water. Then, I will continue to beat you until all of your bones are severely broken and you lose enough blood to cause unconsciousness. Then, I will strip you down to nothing but your fat, naked body and will hire someone to come and rape you. Preferably some sort of massive unearthly magical beast. And then, only after I am entirely, one hundred percent, certain that you have suffered enough, will I finally kill you myself."

There was no doubt about it, Sirius was proving to challenge all his preconceived notions about the man and his actions. Once back in Dumbledore's quarters the old man used him as a scapegoat and asked him what he had found. Remus thought for a moment before shaking his head, taking the easy route out, "I questioned Vernon on the man who found him out and took Harry away but he doesn't remember anything, he must have been obliviated," he said, "not even legilimens could reach it." He apparated back to his house, leaving the old man to continue to be abused, his words already forgotten for now. He sat by his fireplace, hoping, wishing for Sirius to contact him so he could apologise for his earlier greeting and this time agree to listen and get answers. As expected, he was left alone to brood.

Well he'd done all he could for him for the moment, giving Sirius space was all he could do, and wish the stirrings of doubt about his culpability were correct. "I hope for your own good Paddy you are playing your cards right." Only Sirius would threaten somebody the way he did, it had been his favourite threat since he was thirteen. He stared into the flames, perhaps he could try and get contact with Sirius, but of course he had no idea where was, he may not even still be in the country. After a year in Azkaban being abandoned by all he thought he could trust and love he was sure to be bitter and careful. He'd known Sirius his whole life and he'd always been aloof, almost as much as him, he would not find Sirius until he wanted to be found.

Harry was bouncing up and down on the new bed he'd been given, not wanting to go to sleep despite the fact the bags under his eyes had grown to suitcases. Sirius sat on the chair in the room, getting dizzy just by watching him. "Are you tired yet?" He asked for the tenth time as Harry paused in his bouncing to catch his breath. Sirius got no answer; Harry just started to bounce again with renewed vigour, trying to convince himself about his lack of fatigue more than his new guardian. When it was nearing ten and Sirius was starting to get tired himself he decided to try and work out what his Godson's aversion to falling asleep was. When it first became clear he was not going to stop an hour ago he had placed a protective charm around his leg, he was beginning to regret that decision, it only proved to encourage him.

"You know nothing is going to get you when you are asleep," he assured, following a hunch. "Your aunt and uncle are never going to hurt you; they are never going to hurt anyone ever again." He moved over to the bed and caught Harry mid-jump, pulled back the covers and placed his godson under the covers, now swaddled in warmth, his desire to jump was killed. "If you are afraid of having nightmares I will stay with you for tonight," he settled on the foot of the bed and smiled down at him benevolently. "Do you want me to read you another story to send you off to sleep?" Indeed the last five hadn't worked, but he was not going to give up so easily. If at first you don't succeed and all that... although there was a limit, this better not happen every night.

Harry shook his head, "don't wanna sleep," he said tiredly, blinking rapidly, losing the fight to keep him eyes open.

"I'm afraid it's not up for debate, you do not have that sort of control over your body when you are this young, and you need the sleep so just close your eyes."

"But uncle Vernon..."

"Is not here and is never going to get anywhere near you ever again, I will make sure of that, you will never see him unless you want to, he is never going to hurt you."

"But he always finds me when I go to sleep."

"Then you are just going to have to think of other things," he suggested. "Go to sleep thinking of sunny hillsides and rainbows and fantastical places and then your uncle won't be able to find you because he will be warded off by all the good that is with you." He had no idea where that came from, but it sounded better than 'think of battle axes and decapitation of him'.

"But I don't want to close my eyes."

"Why not?"

"Because then I will not able to see you."

Sirius felt his heart clench, adorable in one way, cheesy in another and blunt in the way only an infant an manage, "I'll be here when you open your eyes again."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

Eventually Harry closed his eyes and Sirius fetched another bed in the room as it seems he was not going to be leaving the room this night. Exactly a minute later Harry's eyes flew open and locked with his blue-grey ones. "See," Sirius said with an 'I told you so' smile, as it was clear Harry had been testing him, "I have not left, and I'll stay here tonight if that is what will allow you to sleep."

Harry jumped out of bed and walked over to where Sirius was lying in bed and climbed into his lap. "You want to sleep with me tonight cub?" Harry did not answer as he buried himself into the crook of Sirius' arms and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Sirius had a memory of when Regulus had bad dreams as a child; he would always come and sneak into Sirius' bed for the night. James did the same thing when they were both still eleven. It would seem Harry had taken after his father, they were both snugglers. Sirius smiled tiredly as he gazed at his cub tucked against his side under his arm, messy black hair fallen over his closed emerald eyes, thumb firmly in his mouth. He wrapped his other arm around him and they both fell asleep, bad dreams affected neither of them that night and they slept peacefully until morning.

"You need a bath." Now if there was one thing that Harry thought everyone knew, was that baths were not fun (except Dudley, but Harry held a firm belief that Dudley was stupid). Baths were often cold and quick and painful and annoying. And, with that thought in mind, Harry shook his head. Unfortunately, Harry quickly found out that Sirius didn't share his firm belief. The man had picked him up without a second thought, "come on, it's not that bad."

Harry squirmed incessantly, shaking his head, "No," he whined, "I don't want one." He did not need a bath, he'd had one less than a week ago, and he never had one more than once a week.

"It'll be fine," the man hefted him up to get a better hold on him once Harry's half-hearted struggle became a tad too much for the man to continue holding him without becoming uncomfortable or hurting the little boy, his leg was still tender, "It'll be over quickly." Harry did not care if it lasted two minutes; it was two minutes too long. Harry sagged against Sirius' shoulder blade as he heard the door open behind him, it was too late, he was not getting free. Harry realised with a heavy heart that he should have known that from the beginning, he never did get free. In fact, he should have known by now to stop struggling, it only ever made things worse. That had been his uncle's first lesson, always take the punishment he was given, he was a freak, he deserved it.

Sirius frowned worriedly as he felt the boy sag against his chest. Sure, Sirius remembered when he used to fight the house elf tooth and nail so that he wouldn't get a bath, screaming, kicking, swearing and throwing up a storm but he had never been truly scared of them, like Harry seemed to be. He wasn't throwing a tantrum, he knew what tantrums were, heaven knew he threw enough of them when he was a child, as had Regulus and Harry had been quite fussy when he was very, very young, often crying for reasons no one could suss out. Harry just squirmed, a horrified look on his face as if he was about to endure something far more horrible than a mere bath. This child had been through a lot, what did they do to make his scared.

Obviously something had happened at the Dursleys to make him afraid of such an 'ordeal', though what he was not sure. He was not so dim as to not know by now that Harry's fear stemmed from something that had happened at the house of his relatives. It made him feel ill to call those animals his relatives, if they did not have a son of their own he'd have killed them, he still might. Perhaps the muggles had made him bathe in cold water or they put soap in his eyes, he was not really old enough or big enough to be able to wash himself. Anger rose once more but this time it was not just at the Dursleys, and they made him physically sick. They could be good actors he was sure but that little boy had looked like he'd never had a bath in his life.

He was ill, his little body was broken, he'd been starved, he was dying. He really thought the doddery old man had a little more sense than locking a defenceless child in a viper's nest. Out of all the people that Dumbledore could've placed him with, Lily's sister would've been the last he'd chose. She'd been a little jerk back when Lily had first started Hogwarts, and it seemed (if anything) she'd only gotten worse. And Harry had to bear the brunt of it. Add Vernon and their little Demon Spawn to the mix and it was a recipe for disaster. He was still recovering from the shock of it himself, never mind poor Harry. Sirius pushed that thought out of his mind and hefted the child further up on his hip, making sure that he wouldn't fall. "It'll be quick," he told the subdued child, "we'll get you in and out." The idea after all was not to scare or hurt him; the idea was to clean him.

"But it's cold. And I can't breathe."

Sirius, who was busy creeping along the dark hallway, attempting to ignore his ancestors painting trailing after him, froze, shock creeping into his veins. "They didn–" He cut himself off, forcibly reminding himself that they probably did, and hefted the child closer to him, "It won't be cold," he told the boy rather stiffly, "and your head will be above the water at all times." Bubbles, Sirius decided, were needed. And preferably a hatchet, machete, and hammer to beat and pummel those goddamn bastards into a bloody pulp. Getting them arrested was not enough; his magic and protective side was calling out for retribution, 'they must learn'. Nobody had the right to act that way to anyone and heaven help the individual who dared hurt his cub. But not today, because he had to make raising Harry his priority now.

"Alright then," he grinned at the wide-eyed child, "let's get you cleaned up."

Harry slowly shuffled over towards him, rather tensely, Sirius noted, and helped him turn the water on and get the tub set up. "Do you want anything?" Sirius made sure to ask, he didn't know the child's bathing techniques – for all he knew, Harry may freak out if Sirius helped or may not know what to do either way, or wanted toys, ah toys, that was a good place to start. Lily had bright him loads of bath toys as a baby. "Toys?" Harry never looked up to meet his eyes; he merely shook his head slowly, deliberately staring down at his feet all the while. "Alright then," Sirius said, sighing quietly, "watch this." Without further ado, he placed his hand in the water and a softly spoken spell later a torrent of bubbles poured out of his hand and into the bathtub, splaying over the water that was steadily rising.

He turned to see the boy gaping at the multi-coloured bubbles. "Wow!" He answered with a winning grin, which widened once he saw Harry return one without a second hesitation. The boy was too cute. He wisely decided not to tell him that. While he seemed to be comfortable with him, far too quickly he added, he had to be careful to take things slow.

"Do you need any help Harry?"

Sirius watched as the boys grin faded as he nodded shyly. "A'nt Petunia usually gives me a bath… says I took too much time on my own…"

"Well," Sirius kneeled down, helping the boy out of his shoes as Harry began to take off his shirt, "you can stay in as long as you like, alright – we'll be sure to get you out before it gets too cold. And it'll be nice and warm, and I can transfigure you a rubber duck. How's that sound?" He watched Harry's small smile widen slightly as he nodded.

"Excellent," Sirius rubbed his hands together, "let's get you all set up then?"

"I can't unbutton my trousers," Harry whined softly, fumbling with the offensive button on his trousers. Sirius managed to undo the particularly child unfriendly button, wondering why they didn't simply pull the pants down as they were large. Very large. The next thing they were doing was going to Diagon alley and getting him clothes that fit. Sirius realised he should have done that while the boy was ill and sleeping as he was in a hospital gown there, he would not have been gone for more than an hour. But he did not want to leave him alone, the whole time he had been pumping his magic into him, he supposed a shrinking spell would do for now, on a set of his clothes. No child of his would be wearing scratchy wool but the finest of silks, that was what Harry deserved.

"Woah there," he said, laughing softly before pulling Harry away from the bathtub. "You've still got your socks on." Sirius sat his bare bottom down onto the bathtubs side, sliding off each sock before allowing Harry to climb into the tub. "Not too hot?" he asked once Harry had settled down. he'd always had baths at a practically scalding temperature, he'd told himself he needed to make it slightly cooler for another.

"It's good…" Harry said softly, playing with the bubbles. They refused to pop, to his utter bafflement. Sirius transfigured a bar of soap; there were plenty of others, into a rubber duck. Sirius frowned at the distorted image of that muggle toy that Lily had bought Harry nearly as soon as he was born, he did not quite remember the image well enough. Well, a couple more tries had it looking vaguely like that bright, yellow duck, and an experimental squeak managed to draw Harry's attention away from the bubbles. He handed it to the child with a smile.

"Alright Harry," he said after about thirty minutes, "let's get this finished up." The man saw the boy open his mouth as if to object, so the bath was not that bad after all, before slowly closing it, nodding slowly, a frown on his features. "We'll do it again tomorrow," he said, planning on somehow fixating that transfigured duck to stay as a transfigured duck, "you'll have your duck and bubbles and anything you want."

Harry blinked owlishly at him, "a sailboat too?" He asked, tilting his head back as Sirius helped to rinse his hair. Harry remembered Dudley had one of those and this man was even nicer to him than Aunt Petunia was to his cousin.

"A sailboat too. And a race car if you want – or even a train. You name it, I'll find it, or transfigure it." He had almost four years of spoiling to make up for, well he'd spoiled him for his first year when he'd been living happily with his parents, three years then.

"Cookie?" Sirius asked, holding out the last cookie of the packet to the child hovering behind him. Harry jumped slightly at being addressed before he nodded shyly, his raven hair bouncing in front of his eyes. Sirius, though, quirked a brow when Harry didn't take the cookie (he was hard pressed to eat it himself, they were delicious) and wiggled it in front of the child's face. Harry blushed, and slowly took the cookie in one hand, keeping an eye on Sirius before eating it. He'd been with him two full days now and seemed to do that every time Sirius offered him a snack.

It was the same with mealtimes, whenever a plate was put in front of him he had to be encouraged before eating it and when he did he placed an arm around his plate possessively before shovelling the food into his mouth as fast as he could. In contrast to how he acted with food, he only ever managed to eat about a third of what was on his plate before claiming to be full. Sirius could never bring himself to scold him on his table manners, not just because it was obvious he had been starved in the past and this was why he was acting this way but because he himself had had atrocious manners as a child and did not feel licensed to say anything just yet. He would set a good example and only say anything if things did not improve after a week or three.

Pushing the observation to the back of his mind for the moment, Sirius went back to prowling through the cupboards, "You have any preferences for supper tonight?" He asked, giving it up for a bad job as he slammed the next cupboard closed. Really, just where on Earth was Kreacher keeping the food, and speaking of that elf where was he? Harry had been here two days now and he had not seen hide nor hair of him. Harry shook his head, nibbling on his cookie. He'd barely said a word since the night before, seemingly embarrassed for something– at least, that's what Sirius got from his silence. Sirius' shoulders slumped, not liking him being unresponsive, he wanted to spoil the child and to do that he wanted to feed him with what he enjoyed.

He moved toward the table, dragging the kid along behind him. It'd not do for Harry to wander off in this house and come across something rather nasty. He was pretty sure that there was a boggart upstairs in one of the desk drawers in the drawing room but seeming as he was not sure where and seldom went into that room anyway he had not yet gotten rid of it and could not be bothered to do so now. Harry would be in for an awful surprise if he'd discovered that on an unsuspected tour around the house. No, it was best to keep Harry where he could keep an eye on him. Locking him in with a boggart had been one of his parents' favourite punishments and actually aided in his mastering of wand-less magic in his desire to be saved.

But, at the same time, Sirius already realized that he needn't drag Harry around the house with him anyways, the boy seemed to hover where ever he went (unless he was in the bathroom, although Harry had taken to enlisting Sirius' help on that task when it was Harry's turn to bathe). "Pizza?" Sirius said, looking up questionably at the child still standing beside him. Harry shrugged, curling in on himself slightly awkwardly before yelping as Sirius grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the table, "Sit, sit," he said, never moving from his own chair. Harry sat quickly, obediently, waiting quietly as he stared at his godfather through wide emerald eyes, sitting on the edge of the wooden chair beneath him. The child opened his mouth once before closing it once more and looking down at his hands clasped in his lap.

"You alright?" Sirius asked, worried, as Harry teetered slightly. The boy nodded quickly and Sirius bit his lip. "Pizza," Sirius prompted, "delicious, tasty, mouth-watering pizza," he said tantalizingly, "Dinner? Tonight?" He was still being unresponsive. Harry shrugged once again, still seated on the edge of his seat only a foot away from where Sirius was lounging. "You do like pizza," Sirius finally ventured after a moment of silence, "right?"

"I don't know," Harry's voice was soft, and Sirius saw him peak up shyly at him, Sirius merely let out a small sigh of relief at finally hearing Harry's voice; he had been getting worried about him, "I've never had pizza before."

The expression of relief quickly morphed into a blank expression, unfortunately. Sirius swallowed heavily. "Pizza," he repeated, "I believe that pizza is in order tonight." The raven-haired child didn't react to that though, merely staring at Sirius; that strange quiet following as both of them stared at each other. He wasn't used to this silence. Even in Azkaban there were usually screams and pleas in the background. Sirius fumbled for something to say before letting out a whoosh of air as he sat back against his seat. "You've never had pizza?" he asked.

Harry shook his head. "A'nt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn' lemme eat any," he replied quietly, "they usually only had pizza when they took Dudley out for dinner. I stayed with Miss Figg and ate her Cabbage Soup."

"You'll have pizza," Sirius whispered, his eyes not leaving Harry even as the kid turned away, "you'll get anything you want, you've just got to ask, and I'll find it. I promise."

He watched as the boy swallowed painfully before opening his mouth and closing it once again. Harry blinked once looked away and looked back up at Sirius as he stood up. "Can- can we make cookies?" Harry asked, "choc- chocolate chip cookies?"

"I'll find us a recipe book," Sirius promised at once, "and we'll make the best cookies ever made." Honestly he was sceptical in his culinary skills, he was not an accomplished cook like Remus, he had never had to learn, his family had had a house elf just like James' household, or did it? He couldn't remember, maybe it was James' mother who did all the cooking.

The man leaned forward and plucked his godson off of the seat with ease. The boy gasped in surprise and threw his arms and legs around Sirius in order to get a better hold. "We'll have lunch in an hour," Sirius said, hoisting the child up to get a better grip on him, "Peanut butter sound good to you?" He felt Harry nod in the affirmative against his shoulder where the boy was burrowing his face in his robe. "We'll have a bunch of food in the cupboards by 6 and a pizza ready by seven. It'll be just like magic."

As if he said the magic words, Harry lifted his head up from his shoulder. "Really?" Harry asked, mystified, "it'll be magic?"

"Like magic," Sirius corrected gently, feeling the bizarre urge to bounce Harry up and down like he had done when the boy was a toddler. "Not exactly. Cause I'll be having the hired help to help me out with it."

"And we'll 'ave food?" Harry asked, blinking up at him with wide eyes.

Sirius plopped the child down onto his own bare feet. "We'll have a bunch of food," Sirius answered, grinning, "as much as we need. Plus some."

Harry just gaped at him once again probably just thinking about how it was 'like magic' – Sirius had discovered that anything even remotely similar to magic would gain Harry's attention. Sirius' grin morphed into a small smile as he looked at Harry. He prodded the child's back slightly, prompting him to move forward and followed along behind him as Harry let a small laugh escape him. "Onward Harry," Sirius said, "We've got to go tell Kreacher that we need some food", that is if he could find him, "and then I'm pretty sure that I have a deck of Exploding Snap somewhere if I can find it…" He trailed off; the deck was probably in his room. He wondered if it was moth eaten. It was a possibility, might as well bring out the wizard chess set just in case. He couldn't be too sure.

"We've got a couple hours before lunch time," Sirius promised.

"Then we can have lunch?" He asked, his voice almost too soft, Sirius had to strain to hear it.

"Then we'll have lunch," the man nodded, it'd be simple enough. Find games, play, eat, read him something, possibly, maybe sneak out for a few minutes and look for Kreacher for he was still missing, then they could eat dinner, shower and head off to bed. Harry was looking forward to meeting said house elf as he'd never seen one before and Sirius promised they would like each other, because he'd kill Kreacher before he hurt his cub. Easy, simple, and somehow too simple, Sirius had an idea that this perfect life was going to blow up on them somehow sooner or later, maybe not now, not tomorrow, but soon.