Disclaimer: Characters belong to JK Rowling.

Yes, I do realise there are already a lot of stories like this. But I love them, and this is my version.

His Boy

Chapter Two: Rescue

Sirius set down the mug of coffee he had just finished, leaning back to let the warmth soak into his being, enjoying the fact that he could have coffee now as opposed to that weird gritty stuff they served in Azkaban. He was still having trouble adjusting to the idea that he was free now. It seemed like a dream and he would pinch his thigh under the table every now and then just to be sure. But it was real! He was sitting at the kitchen table in Grimmauld place drinking coffee with his best mate and old headmaster. He had even found the sight of the old house elf, Kreacher, to be a welcome one. The house elf had made them coffee and grimaced at Sirius, having never really liked him much to begin with.

"So, I suppose we should be visiting Harry now then." Sirius suggested coyly, rising from his chair and stretching in a very doglike manner. He yawned and picked up his mug, carrying it over to the sink.

"Sirius, it's late. Harry will be in bed, asleep…"

"I want to be there when he turns four." Sirius stated simply, running a hand through his long black hair. He grimaced. "But perhaps a shower first…"

He made his way upstairs to the bathroom on the first landing, groaning at the sight of the snake legged black marble bathtub. He eyed his reflection in the mirror and jumped in shock. Was they gaunt man with the matted hair really him? He reached up a hand and felt his face… He was still handsome, but… he looked… haunted. But then, that was to be expected after spending time in Azkaban surrounded by Dementors who sucked every ounce of hope and happiness out of you whenever they felt it.

Sirius shucked off his prison clothes, feeling the dirt scratch against his skin as he did so. He turned the water on for the shower and gave it a moment to heat up before climbing in and pulling the curtain around the tub. He groaned, his entire body relaxing as years of dirt and grim cascaded off of him and down the drain. His skin was pale, he noted, quite a lot paler than it had been in years. He needed to get some sun, that was for sure.

Washing himself off with the loan bar of soap that rested on the tray on the side of the tub, Sirius could feel the years of Azkaban being removed from his skin, could feel the wonderful lightness again. He rubbed the soap into his hair, scrubbing hard and for a long time, working to get out all of the gross, caked grim. He hadn't even had a chance to comb it in three years, though it used to be one of his very best feature, he thought.

Once he felt clean enough, Sirius stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel about his waist, reaching for the old comb that sat beside the sink. He pulled it into his hair and grimaced as it got stuck against a particularly matted section. This was going to be impossible. He grabbed his wand and prodded the side of his head, muttering an old spell. He felt his hair expand and then watched as it poofed out to the sides, making him look quite demented. He groaned and began running the comb through it again, the worst of the tangles gone now. He noted that it reached past his shoulders… he would have to get Moony to trim it after they saw Harry.

Feeling quite better with his appearance now, Sirius headed back downstairs in nothing but his towel, ignoring the fact that he was quite ribby. "Alright Moony, let's get going."

"Oh, so there was a person under all of that dirt." Remus smiled at Sirius, rising and pulling out a chair. "But don't you think you might want to put on some clothes before we leave? Having wizards in their house will be one thing for the Dursleys. Having one of them almost naked would be quite another."

"Oh." Sirius looked down, as though just realizing he was only wearing a towel. "Right then." He hurried back up the stairs, following them up until he reached the very last landing. Without even bothering to glance at his younger brother's old bedroom door, Sirius pressed open his own.

Everything was the same as when he'd left it years ago at age sixteen, when he'd run away to live with the Potters. His bed was still unmade, his pictures still on the walls, a book he hadn't wanted tossed on the floor. He wandered over to the dresser and tugged it open, expecting moths or doxies to fly up at him, but they didn't. He groped around, pulling out a set of plain black robes. He let the towel drop and pulled the robes on, ignoring the musty smell of disuse. They still fit him, surprisingly. They were even a bit big.

"There. Now we're set?' Sirius asked as he re-entered the kitchen. Remus smiled and gave a nod, but Dumbledore sighed.

"I still would not advise this…"

"We're going whether you want us to or not, Dumbledore." Sirius shook his head. "I need to see my godson. I need to know that he's alright."

"Which I understand, but you also need to take into consideration that-"

"There's nothing more to consider." Sirius pocketed his wand and made for the stairs again, Remus and Dumbledore following after him. "Now, where is he? What's the address?"

Dumbledore held out his arms to both men. "I'll take you there. Just hold on tight." Sirius and Remus each took one of the older man's arms and held firmly as he spun on his heel, apparating right out of the hallway of Grimmauld place.

They appeared on a quiet, lamp lit street. All the houses looked exactly the same, all the lawns well manicured and green. It looked like one of those impossibly safe neighborhoods, where nothing bad was ever known to of happened and anything that did happen was just gossip worthy, as opposed to newspaper worthy. It was too… perfect. Sirius sighed. James and Lily would have wanted Harry to grow up someplace a little more unique than this, someplace safe, but with… more trees. Someplace more magical. There was definitely not a place for a little boy to play on his toy broom around here.

"Dumbledore, is this correct?" Sirius asked concernedly, eyeing the identical houses with a look of disgusting. He turned his head to look up at the street sign above them. It stated that they were on Privet Drive.

"Yes. Number four is right there." Dumbledore said, indicating the fourth house on the left. Sirius made for it, almost breaking into a run in his excitement to see his godson. He was so very close now! "Slow down, Sirius. I think, perhaps, I should go first. "

Dumbledore stepped up onto the front steps first and reached out one long finger to press the doorbell button. Sirius and Remus stood behind him, the dog bouncing on his knees, the werewolf looking more and more stressed out by the anticipation.

…..

Harry was dreaming again. He rolled over on his little mattress in the cupboard under the stairs, whimpering as images flew through his nearly four year old brain. Someone was screaming… and then there was that horrible flash of green light he hated so much. The one associated with the crazy high pitched laughter that could not be described as anything but evil.

"Who the bloody hell could it be at this hour?" Vernon Dursley walked past the stairs for the front door. It was ten o'clock in the evening, much too late for house calls, that was for certain. The large man wrenched the door open and found himself face to face with an older gentleman, his white hair and beard sweeping down past his waist. There were two other men behind him, one of long black hair, the other a very shabby looking mousey brown haired man. They were all wearing robes. "What the bloody hell do you want?"

"Good evening, Mr. Dursley." Dumbledore spoke kindly, with the air of someone talking to a fussy child. He stepped over the threshold without being invited in and his comrades followed him in, shutting the door behind them. "We've come to pay little Harry a visit, though, we know it is rather late."

"What do you want to see that boy for?" Vernon stated angrily, his face growing purple at the mere mention of his nephew. Petunia appeared in the doorway to the living room and gasped as she caught sight of the three wizards in her entryway.

"What is this? What's going on?" She asked, skittering to get behind her husband, peering out from behind him.

"They want to see the boy."

"Where is he?" Sirius asked urgently, stepping forward, ignoring the way the Muggle winced as he did so. "Sleeping up in his room, I hope." He dashed for the stairs, thundering up them without invitation. He moved down the hallway while Vernon Dursley shouted after him.

"Get out of my house you vermin!"

"Please, calm down Mr. Durlsey."

"We just want to see Harry." Remus stated calmly, trying to sooth and failing miserably.

Sirius peeked into every bedroom upstairs, but spotted nothing of interest to him. There was the typical parents' bedroom, a playroom full of toys that looked like they'd seen better days, a sleeping butterball in the next one, and a spare room that looked like it was for guests. But no sign of Harry whatsoever. He came back down the stairs. "Where is he, Dursley? What have you done with my godson?"

"G-godson?" Petunia stammered.

"Damn straight. Now where is he? In here…?" Sirius flitted into the living room, peering around. There was no sign of Harry in this room either. Just pictures of the butterball upstairs. He frowned. Why were there no pictures of Harry here? Surely he couldn't be that blonde, piggy looking child he'd seen upstairs? "What have you done with him?"

….

There was yelling… Harry sat up straight in his bed, groping around the dark cupboard for his broken glasses. He found them and pulled them onto his face, the tape he'd used to mend them scratching at the already irritated skin of his nose. The tape made his glasses stick to his face sometimes, especially when it got hot and he got sweaty. He could hear the voices, they were muffled by his cupboard.

The stairs above his head thundered and he cowered slightly, figuring something bad must be going on for Uncle Vernon to be pounding up them at this time of night. What time was it anyway? He'd been in bed for quite a while… they always sent him straight after dinner, letting Dudley stay up to watch tv after his bath and giving him a snack before he had to go to bed. But Harry had always supposed that was because Dudley was older and he was just Harry, the bane of his aunt and uncle's existence.

"What have you done with him?" Harry blinked, hearing the stranger's voice. Only…. It was familiar somehow. He didn't know from where, but he knew somehow, that he'd heard it somewhere before, and it warmed his little insides. "Where's Harry?"

His name! The familiar voice of the stranger had said his name! Harry bit his little lip, torn between asking to be let out of the cupboard and facing Uncle Vernon's wrath, or staying put. Eventually, curiousity got the better of him. He raised one fist and knocked on the inside of the cupboard door.

….

"What was that?" Remus asked, his sensitive ears picking up Harry's knock. He looked around the hallway, just as concerned for the boy's well being now that Sirius hadn't been able to find him yet. It shouldn't have been so hard to find one little boy, now should it?

"I swear, Dursley, if you have harmed my godson in anyway…" Sirius grabbed hold of the front of the bigger man's shirt, pressing his wand tip against the man's neck. "Tell me where he is, or I swear I'll…."

….

Harry banged on the door harder now, feeling a rising desperate urge to get out of the cupboard and to the voice. He had to know who it was… he just had to. He raised both hands, slamming them as hard as he could against the door. "Lemme out! Lemme out!" Those three words that he had never dared speak before left his mouth before he could stop himself. They were forbidden and he was sure to get a walloping for it, but at that moment, he didn't care. All that mattered was getting to the owner of the voice.

…

"Lemme out! Lemme out!"

All five adults standing in the hallway turned their head to look at the stairs. The little door beneath them was moving, rattling as though something… or someone… was pounding on it. Sirius dropped his hold on Vernon and stooped down in front of the cupboard door, horror on his face. "Harry?" The banging stopped immediately.

"Yes! Harry! Puh-eeeeeeeeeease lemme oooooout!"

Sirius grabbed the latch and pulled it back, tearing the door open and filling the little dark cupboard with light. His gray eyes fell upon a tiny little boy with a shock of black hair, glasses over his emerald almond shaped eyes. He wore blue footed pajamas covered with fluffy clouds that looked as though they had seen better days. Without thinking, Sirius reached his hands in, but Harry flinched away, scared now.

Harry looked up at the man, fear all over his little face. He was torn between being afraid of the man and getting out of the cupboard, but he didn't really have a choice in the matter. The man grabbed him up and pulled him out of the cupboard. Harry whimpered, quite certain he was going to get it for making such loud noises. But the man didn't hurt him.

He hugged him.

Sirius gripped Harry tightly to him, placing a hand on the back of his head instinctively, having not held the boy since he was a baby. He closed his eyes, burying his face against the little boy's shoulder, breathing him in. "Oh Harry."

Harry burst into tears, not sure what to make of this strange form of affection he'd never really experienced. Nobody had held him unless it as to hurt him since he had learned how to walk. He wrapped his tiny arms around the man's neck and held on for dear life, his legs moving to wrap about the man's torso, not wanting him to let go. He smelt funny… but… strangely familiar. Almost like a scent he had forgotten to smell until just now. His tears calmed.

"You have two extra rooms upstairs, and you kept him under the stairs?" Remus looked livid, and Sirius could see the wolf in his eyes now.

"How dare you! He's a child, not a… a… broom!" Sirius yelled, outraged. He felt Harry tense up, and rubbed a hand over his back, snuggling him closer, trying to reassure him. "Shhhh, Prongslet. Right. We're leaving. You're never allowed to see Harry again. As his legal guardian deemed by his parents' will, I'm taking him. If you so much as try to stop us, I'll blow your house up with you in it."

Sirius spun around, marching past Dumbledore, Remus, and the awestruck Dursleys. "Remus, get his things."

"Right." Remus nodded and burrowed down into the cupboard, searching around for the things the boy might want to keep. He found a stuffed bear, or at least he thought it was a bear… it didn't have a head, but left it. There was nothing in here worth taking, not even in little boy standards.

Harry felt the balmy summer night hair hit his face and he opened his eyes, looking back through the open door of number four curiously. Never see his aunt and uncle again? Take him? He blinked, turning his head to look at the man who had finally, at last, come to whisk him away from this terrible place. Was this a dream? No… it couldn't be. It was too…. Real.

"If only I had known sooner." Dumbledore sighed, looking quite guilty as he shut the door behind him and Remus who was carrying nothing but the blanket Harry had been left on the doorstep in three years ago. "I am so sorry."

"Dumbledore, you couldn't have known. It was the only option anyway, Remus wouldn't have been able to take him." Sirius shook his head, stroking Harry's messy hair affectionately. He couldn't believe he was holding his godson at last! He was so much bigger than the last time he'd seen him, though thinner than he would have liked to see him. "Heya Harry."

"Hi." Harry stated simply, his eyes wide with the shock of it all. He still didn't really understand what was happening, nor why they were leaving number four, but adults didn't like it when he asked questions, so he kept his mouth.

"You probably don't remember me, Prongslet, but I' m your godfather, Sirius." Sirius explained kindly, carrying the little boy down the street towards the spot where they had apparated to. It was the safest to appear and disappear out of the sight of Muggles. "But you always just called me Padfoot."

"Padfoot." Harry frowned, the name slipped awkwardly from his tongue. He couldn't remember having ever said it before.

"Well, it was more like 'ahdut' when you were a baby."

"I knowed chu when I wassa baby?" Harry asked curiously, hugging tighter to Padfoot, though not wanting to stop looking at him. He wasn't like any man Harry had ever seen before in his life. His hair was long and his face was slightly sunken, but he had a kindness in his gray eyes that even the four year old noticed. It was weird, but he felt… safe in this man's arms.

"That's right." Sirius beamed at him, flicking some of that untidy black hair out of the boy's eyes so he could see him better. "Your mum and dad were two of my very best friends." He watched as the boy's eyes grew so impossibly wide they were almost perfect spheres.

"You knowed my mummy and daddy?" Harry couldn't believe it. No one ever talked about his parents before. All he knew about them was that they had died in a car crash when he was very small and that was why he lived with his aunt and uncle.

"Yep." Sirius smiled, rocking Harry back and forth slightly as they walked. "But we can talk more about that tomorrow. For now, I think you'd better get back to sleep." Harry yawned and shook his head, but rested his head down on Sirius's shoulder. He was quite sleepy.

"I not sweepy."

"Yes you are." Sirius grinned as Harry's eyes closed tiredly and he was out like a light. It would be easier apparating with him now. He hadn't wanted to go over explaining the whole process so late at night.

The three men and little boy apparated away, appearing seconds later back at Grimmauld place. Harry was still asleep, completely unaware of the world around him, except that it was warm and he was comfortable sleeping against the man's shoulder. Sirius carried him inside the house, deciding that they would either have to redecorate or move. He figured moving might be the best option. He had enough gold in his vault at Gringotts, being the only Black left he'd inherited everything when his parents had died. Afterall, Harry deserved to live someplace better than this old heap of crap.

"I should be getting back to the school. I must write a letter to the Ministry to explain the boy's new living accommodations. They have to be informed. I trust that you will be fine?" Dumbledore asked and Sirius nodded as he headed up the stairs.

"We'll be alright. I'm just going to take him up to bed. Moony, you can stay in my room if you'd like. I don't think Harry needs to be seeing bikini clad Muggle girls when he wakes up."

Remus laughed and followed them up the stairs, bidding Sirius a goodnight on the second landing. Sirius carried Harry into one of the cleaner and least sinister looking bedroom there. It had been his and Regulus's playroom when they were younger, converted into a guest room when they had both become school aged. Sirius sat down on the bed, kicking off his shoes and laying back. He pulled the covers up over him and Harry, who lay on his chest now. He didn't want to let go of the boy just yet, not only when he'd just gotten him back. He held his godson close as he drifted off to sleep.

Hehe! I hope you liked it! I just love Sirius and wittle Harry. Lemme know what you thought, I would love to know.

Lots of love,

S.Q.O.