Disclaimer: Like previously stated, characters and some places belong to the lovely, the awe inspiring, the magnificent, JK Rowling.

His Boy

Chapter Three: Morning

Sirius yawned the next morning, opening his eyes and feeling a strange weight upon his chest that he didn't recognize. He stared upwards in shock at finding himself not in his cell in Azkaban, but rather in one of the old guest rooms of his old family home. That meant that… He looked down and his entire face lit up with the brightest of grins at the sight of the sleeping child on top of him. Harry's hair was even messier than it had been the night before, his little glasses crooked against his face, hands clutching the front of Sirius's robes tightly.

Not wanting to wake the sleeping little boy, Sirius very carefully sat up and shifted Harry down onto the bed. He rose then, pulling the covers up over the precious child, kissing his little scarred forehead gently. He tiptoed his way over to the door, opening it slowly and silently cursing it as it creaked. Harry stirred, but did not wake. Sirius heaved a sigh of relief and slowly let the door close with a tiny click.

"Morning Sirius." Remus yawned, coming down the stairs. "How's Harry?"

"Still out." Sirius whispered and then pointed to the house elf heads hanging along the wall. "I think we should probably work on getting rid of some of this junk. It's bound to give him nightmares. We can stow it in the attic and get rid of it properly some other day."

"Agreed." Remus nodded, making a face as he grabbed hold of the closest plaque de elf head and pulled it down off of its hook. He and Sirius made quick work of it, pulling all of the elf heads down and levitating them up through the trapdoor on the third landing. Once finished, they stood back to admire their work.

"What are we going to do about your mother's portrait though? We can't unstick her and if he's noisy…"

"We'll just have to try and keep him quiet." Sirius frowned, tugging the last of the hooks out of the wall to make it look more presentable. "At least we got the elf heads down. Those were the worst of it. I'm thinking I should start looking for a house soon though. Something in the country, where he can run and learn Quidditch. That suburb looked like it sucked all the fun out of life."

…

Harry rolled over, snuggling down under the comfy covers. He was having a very nice dream and he didn't want to wake up yet. He sure hoped his aunt didn't come to get him for breakfast soon, he wanted to keep dreaming.

In his dream, there was nothing but the face of a man with kind gray eyes, holding him tightly and keeping him safe as they walked. It just kept repeating itself over and over in his head and he never wanted it to end. He buried his face deeper against his pillow, wishing to sleep forever just so he could see that man… the one who would whisk him away from this terrible place at last.

"Bollocks!" Harry groaned as the shout came from out in the hallway. He didn't want to wake up yet, whatever had angered Uncle Vernon this early in the morning was bound to make him take it out on Harry. "Ouch!"

Harry opened his eyes and shot up straight. This definitely wasn't his cupboard. He was laying in a bed bigger even than the one Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had and twice as squishy feeling. Curiousity overcoming him, he threw back the covers and slipped down onto the floor carefully, it was quite a ways down for him. When his feet hit the wooden floor, the bed was taller than him. He stared at it in awe before padding his way over towards the cracked open door, wishing to investigate but not be seen. How could he be so sure that the person yelling wasn't going to get mad at him?

He peeked his way out the door and his little heart fluttered with pure excitement. The man from his dream was here! He was holding his hand and looking at his fingers as though he'd hurt himself, and when Harry looked closer, he could see blood oozing out of the man's pointer finger. There was also another man there, with brown hair and not as tall as the first one.

"Knicked myself on the damn tack." Sirius winced, putting his finger in his mouth to try and relieve some of the pain. The door behind him and Remus creaked and they both turned their heads in time to see a flash of blue.

Harry ran away from the door and back around to the other side of the bed, scared. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be up yet and that's why the man was yelling? He grabbed the edge of the bedspread and pulled, trying to hoist himself up. He made it halfway when the blanket gave out and he fell, landing hard on his bottom. He bit his lip, trying not to cry because it really hurt.

"Good morning, Pronslet." Sirius smiled, flopping down on his stomach on the bed and grinning down at the boy. He frowned when he found Harry's eyes watering and immediately reached his arms down, pulling the four year old up onto the bed and into his lap. "What's wrong? Did you fall?" Sirius snuggled him close, stroking back the boy's hair.

Harry nodded, sniffling slightly and rubbing a fleecy blue sleeve under his nose. He didn't want to cry in front of the man. Uncle Vernon had always gotten mad at him when he cried, he wasn't supposed to cry.

"Well, you're alright now." Sirius said kindly, tickling the boy's tummy and giving him an extra hard snuggle. Harry giggled a little bit, wriggling away from his hand, but still quite tenser than a normal four year old would have been. Sirius noticed, but he didn't say a word. It was something they would have to work on, with the way he'd seen Harry had been treated, he figured it was going to take a while before the boy would be able to trust him completely. He reached down and straightened out Harry's glasses, frowning at how they had been taped together to fit. Why were they broken in the first place? He wasn't going to ask, but he was definitely going to be taking Harry to St. Mungo's to have his eyes checked out and maybe get some new glasses that fit him better. This pair looked like someone had picked up a cheap set of reading glasses from a dollar store. "Would you like some breakfast, Harry? I know I do."

"Yessir." Harry nodded shyly and Sirius lifted him up onto his hip as he rose from the bed.

"I'm Padfoot, or Sirius, remember Harry?" Sirius asked, wondering if Harry knew what had happened last night or if it had all been like a dazed haze to him like it almost was to Sirius. Harry nodded, gripping tightly to his godfather's robes as they left the room and headed down stairs. Sirius made sure to pass the hallway quickly, not wanting to wake the portrait of his mother, and hurried down into the basement kitchen where he put Harry on a chair. "You sit here, and we'll see what we've got around here to eat. Hmmmm…"

Sirius began rummaging through the cupboards, not really finding much of anything that would make a good breakfast for anyone but a ghost. "Well, it looks like we should probably do some shopping. But that's alright! We can just go out for breakfast today. It is a very special day, you know Harry."

"It is?" Harry asked before he could stop himself, he quickly covered his mouth with his hands and closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the blow to come, waiting to be told that asking questions was against the rules. But it never came. Instead, he felt himself being lifted up off the chair and spun around. He opened his eyes.

"Because, Prongslet, today is your fourth birthday!" Harry's eyes widened with shock. He'd known that today would be his birthday, but he hadn't known anyone would actually remember it. He'd never had anyone actually tell him his birthday was special, like Dudley's always was. "And we're going to celebrate."

"I… I never getta birdday." Harry said in absolute wonder, his eyes still wide behind his broken glasses. This man… this Padfoot… was so… so nice. He couldn't believe this was really happening. So far, he'd woken up and already had the best day of his life because no one had yelled at him, and he'd even been snuggled and here he was, in the arms of someone who actually seemed to care about him.

"Never get a…. Well, Harry James Potter, you are in for a treat then. We are going to have the biggest, best birthday celebration day you've ever had in your entire life, how about that?" Sirius felt rage welling up inside of him for what the Dursleys had done to his godson. Never had a birthday party? Never in his life had he heard of something so ridiculous. How could anyone deprive a child of something as sacred as a simple birthday celebration.

"Yeah!" Harry beamed, hugging Padfoot around the neck tightly, unable to believe his luck. Things were just getting better and better and he knew he'd probably wake up sometime soon, but if he never did, if he could stay dreaming like this forever, he'd be perfectly fine with that.

"Moooooooo-nnnnnny!" Sirius called before he trotted back up the steps. He was quiet in the hallway, not making another noise until they reached the third landing, Harry bouncing along on his hip. Remus poked his head out of the bathroom, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. He withdrew it, smiling.

"Ah, good morning Harry! I didn't know you were up already."

Harry hid his face against Sirius's shoulder and Sirius gave him a little bounce. "It's alright, Prongslet. This is Moony. He was best friends with your parents too."

At the mention of his parents, Harry peeked up at Remus and gave him a small, shy smile. "Hi. It's my birdday."

"Yes it is, happy birthday!" Remus grinned and came out of the bathroom, leaning up against the wall. "So, what're the plans for today? We're doing something special, right?"

"Right. Well, I was thinking, we could get somebody cleaned up a bit…" Sirius prodded Harry gently in the tummy and the boy gave the smallest of giggled. "And then we could go out to breakfast because we haven't gone grocery shopping in a while. And then I was thinking we could do a little shopping for Prongslet here. He needs clothes and toys, and probably a new pair of glasses that don't rub so much, right Prongslet."

Harry hesitated but then nodded quite eagerly. He could use some glasses that didn't rub… Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had always told him his glasses were fine though and to just live with the rubbing. And clothes of his own that hadn't already been Dudley's? Was that even possible? Did they make clothes his size? All of these questions and a few others flitted through the little boy's mind as Sirius took him into the bathroom, set him on the toilet, and started the water for the tub. He picked up a bottle of soap and squirted it into the tub beneath the faucet.

"That all sounds like a great idea, Padfoot." Moony smiled, rinsing off his tooth brush and placing it in the holder beside the sink. "I'll find him something to wear while you give him his bath." He left the room, leaving the door open in case Sirius needed his help with anything.

Harry watched curiously as the bubbles began to expand out of the water, a foaming wall of white. Dudley usually got his bath first, but the time he was done and it was Harry's turn, the water was usually cold and the bubbles were flat, making the water milky looking and not nearly as much fun as it could have been. He leaned forward on the toilet, peering into the tub, wanting a closer look. Sirius turned off the tap and lifted him up off the toilet and set him to stand on the floor. He helped him off with his footed pajamas and then lifted him into the tub, noting a few bruises that looked like somebody had whapped the boy on the backside with a belt, but he didn't mention it to Harry. He'd have him checked out better at St. Mungo's, he decided.

"How's the water, Prongslet?" Harry sat down in the tub, the water up to his waist, surrounded by bubbles up to his chest. He looked up at Sirius, his glasses fogging and Sirius laughed, reaching out to remove them for him.

"Warm." Harry stated after a few seconds of deliberation. He had never had a warm bath before, and it felt strange, but nice to be submerged in a tub of hot water.

"Good. Well, let's wash you up and then you can play for a bit if you want. We'll have to get you some toys for the tub later as well. Can you think of any kind you would want?" Sirius lathered his hands up with soap and began scrubbing Harry's hair. The boy was already fairly clean for a four year old, but after hearing what a neat freak her sister was from Lily, Sirius wasn't the least bit surprised. Harry tilted his head back, knowing how to keep the soap from getting into his eyes.

"Um… a… a… a boat?" Harry asked, closing his eyes and waiting to be yelled at. But Sirius just chuckled.

"What kind of boat? A sailboat or a speedboat?" Harry deliberated for a few moments. No one had ever asked for his opinion on anything before, and had always discouraged him from speaking it. What if he made the wrong decision and Padfoot got mad. Gentle hands smoothed back his hair, lifting a cup to rinse it with, one of the hands blocking his eyes from the onslaught of soapy water.

"A… sailboat?" Harry asked, not wanting to get it wrong and get in trouble.

"Then a sailboat it is!" Sirius smiled and rinsed the boy's hair a few more times before he was satisfied that all of the soap was out of it. He kept a happy outer appearance, but inside he was wondering what could have happened to make Harry so indecisive, to make his answers questions as opposed to the solid answers a four year old should make. Had the Dursleys not let him say what he wanted? He was almost positive they hadn't. From the way Harry acted, it was as if he was completely bottled up about how he felt. Sirius didn't like it, but he'd help him come out of his shell more if it killed him. He wanted Harry to be happy and not scared to express himself… like his parents had been. "You know Harry, when I ask you a question, I want you to answer it with what you think."

"But…" Harry frowned, not really knowing how to respond to that. He dropped his voice, mumbling to his lap. "But what if I answer wrong?"

"With me, you can never answer wrong." Sirius stroked the boy's cheek, planting a kiss on top of his head and rising from the floor. "Alright Prongslet, we've got a busy day a head of us and I think it's time to get going. You can play in the tub tomorrow. Up please." Harry stood up and Sirius lifted him out of the tub with a towel, wrapping it around him tightly and setting him down on the floor, helping him dry off.

"Here we are!" Remus reentered the room, brandishing a small pair of green overalls and a white t-shirt. "I found these in the old nursery, Padfoot, I think they were probably Regulus's, but they should fit Harry. They were the only things not moth eaten though. Or… completely out of style."

Sirius laughed, remembering the old getups his mother used to push him and his younger brother into years ago in understanding. "They're fine. We're going to get things Harry will want to wear today, anyway, right Prongslet?" Harry nodded, hoping his agreeing with Padfoot was alright. He didn't want to get into trouble.

Sirius helped Harry get dressed (he got a little confused with the hooks on the overalls) and then Remus came back brandishing a pair socks and a pair of little shoes that looked to be about thirty years older than Sirius and they helped him tie them onto his little feet. While Harry was in the bathroom going potty, Sirius and Remus were in the bedroom, discussing matters.

"I don't think we should take him to Diagon Alley just yet. It might be overwhelming if anyone recognizes him." Remus suggested, pulling on his own shoes. "We can probably just stick to Muggle London for now and introduce him to magic slowly so as not to frighten him."

"You're right, as usual." Sirius nodded in agreement, fumbling with the knotted laces of his old school trainers. He did not want to wear the shoes he'd had to wear in Azkaban. He'd seen enough of them the past three years at it was. "If you don't mind, I'd also like to speak to a real estate agent about getting a house in the country. Harry's bound to go exploring eventually, and I don't want him seeing most of what's in this place. He'll have nightmares."

"I bet we can talk to the witch who helped me find my flat. She's very nice. I'll give her a call and set up an appointment for this afternoon if I can. Maybe Harry will want a nap after lunch, small children usually need one. I could probably stay here and watch him while you meet up with Debbie."

"Alright then, thanks Moony." Sirius clapped his friend on the back and rose from the bed as Harry entered the room, fussing with the straps on his overalls again.

"Padfoot? I… I think I need help." Harry said softly, tangled in his straps. Sirius reached down and helped him straighten them out, buckling them properly and lifting Harry up into his arms. He loved holding the boy, knowing that he was here with him, safe a sound where he belonged.

"All better. Alright Harry, it's time for breakfast. We're going to take the underground and find a place to eat." Sirius, Harry, and Remus made their way downstairs and out the front door of number twelve, making sure to stay extra quiet in the hallway. Harry had caught on rather quickly that it was a place where one shouldn't make noise, though he didn't know exactly why.

Once outside, the trio of young men walked the couple of blocks it took to get to the underground station. Harry had never been on the underground before, and when he spotted the train, he got rather excited, but nervous as well. He clung to Sirius tightly, watching it pull into the station, the doors opening to let a river of people out. Harry didn't think he had seen so many people in one place in his entire life. Whenever the Dursleys had gone out, he'd been left with the babysitter, Mrs. Figg, who had a lot of cats but was nice to him. She usually showed him pictures of all her cats, alive and dead, and let him watch her soap operas with her while they ate lunch that usually consisted of peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches that Harry enjoyed greatly.

Sirius boarded the train, keeping a firm hold on Harry as he did so, not wanting to drop him in the pushing and shoving of the other people trying to get on the train all at the same time. He took a seat and let Harry peer curiously out the window, his eyes wide as the doors closed and the train started moving. Remus sat down beside Sirius, leaning back against his seat as though the train was just a normal everyday thing for him.

Sirius looked down at Harry and had to smile at the look of stunned excitement on the little boy's face. He made a mental note to get the boy a toy train as well as a sailboat. Harry climbed off of Sirius's lap and onto the seat beside him, standing up to get a better look out the window.

"Oh my goodness, he's so cute! Is he your's?" The woman sitting across from Sirius asked and Sirius couldn't help but beam proudly. The woman seemed very nice, with slightly frizzy brown hair. She had a little girl sitting beside her with a child's book in her lap.

"Yep. He's my godson, actually, but he's fully my responsibility. " Sirius gave Harry a prod and the little boy turned his attention from the train moving to his godfather. "Say hello, Harry."

Harry looked at the woman his godfather indicated and gave a very small smile before noticing the book the girl was reading. He had seen that book before, at his pre-school. He particularly liked the pictures because they were of dragons and they popped up, but he had never had the words read to him before. He tugged at Padfoot's sleeve, pointing to the book, whispering. "Padfoot…"

"Yes, Harry?" Sirius looked down at him and Harry bit his lip. He wanted to ask so badly, but… what if he got in trouble? He took a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly, whispering again.

"Can we get that book too?"

"Huh? You like the book?" Harry nodded and Sirius smiled, patting his head affectionately. The little girl looked up from her book, having apparently heard. She slid down off of her seat and held it out to Harry.

"Would you like to read it with me?" She asked sweetly, climbing up into the chair beside him as Harry took the book and gazed down at the pictures excitedly.

"My Hermione is only four, but she's learned how to read earlier than most children. She just adores books." The woman said proudly, moving to sit beside her daughter.

"I am four." Harry said, ponderingly. He'd been three yesterday, but today was his birthday, so that meant he was four now, just like his new friend. He grinned at Hermione and she grinned back, turning the book to the first page and reading it aloud for him. Sirius watched as Harry became absolutely enraptured with the book and made another mental note to pick up some books as well as toys.

"I'm four and three-quarters." Hermione stated ever so proudly, turning to the next page where the dragon in the story popped up breathing fire. The train began to slow down and Sirius looked up, noting that they had reached their stop.

"We have to go now. It was very nice meeting you." Sirius smiled and lifted Harry up onto his hip while Remus rose.

"You as well. Bye bye, Harry." The woman waved and Harry waved back as they got off the train to join the line of people heading up the stairs. He could see the little girl waving to him from the window of the train and kept waving back at her over Sirius's shoulder until the train was out of sight and they came out onto the street.

"And now, let the birthday celebrating, begin." Remus laughed as they made their way down the street, searching for the perfect little place to get breakfast.

Here you are! YAY another chapter already. I'm really enjoying writing this story so far, because little Harry is so imcredibly adorable and lovable I think. Lemme know what you think of it, I love hearing for you whether it be to critique my writing, flame me, or give me praise. I make an effort to respond to each and every one of my reviewers and if you don't get a response, well, I most likely just got distracted and forgot.

Love always,

S.Q.O.