Disclaimer: You know the drill. Not my charries.

His Boy

Chapter Five: Check-Up

"Hey buddy, time to wake up." Harry groaned as he was prodded in the side and opened his eyes. Light was streaming in through the windows of the bedroom he was in. He looked up to find Padfoot leaning over him, how long black hair tickling his little face. He giggled and poked Padfoot in the cheek, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. "Good morning!"

"G'mornin'." Harry yawned. He'd had a particularly lovely night's sleep thanks to the calming song and light from the music box. Credit was also to be given to his two plushies, the lion and the dragon, and the bedtime story he had been read. He reached up, wrapping his little arms around Sirius's neck as the man hoisted him out of bed and into his arms for a good snuggly hug. Sirius kissed his cheek before blowing against it, making quite the funny farting noise. Harry laughed and squirmed, having not known cheeks could make noises like that.

"Well Prongslet, let's go have some breakfast. I've made us up some eggs, do you like eggs?" Sirius asked curiously, hoping he did. He knew both James and Lily had liked eggs, though James had always wanted his scrambled with cheese and Lily had preferred hers fried with runny yolks. Harry nodded brightly. He did like eggs when he had had a chance to eat them, though he didn't really know much beyond the scrambled kind.

Sirius carried Harry down to the kitchen and set him down in the usual chair. It was a bit higher up than the others, making it easier for the little boy to see over the table. Harry grinned, sitting up and digging his fork into the plate of scrambled eggs with cheese, looking up at Sirius as he chewed.

"Would you like juice or milk?" Sirius asked curiously, opening the fridge.

"Juice." Harry said after some thought, biting into a piece of buttered toast that as on his plate as well. He was quite pleased with his breakfast, though nothing would ever be better than that train made of waffles he had had yesterday.

"Alright, juice it is!" Sirius grinned, carrying over the carton of orange juice and pouring it into Harry's little glass. Remus had had the idea before he'd left the night before to shrink a couple of cups and plates so that they were more Harry sized. He'd also put an unbreakable charm on them, in case there were any more accidents. Harry took up his glass and sipped at the juice happily.

After breakfast, Sirius gave Harry another bath, letting him play with his new boat and duck for a while before he had to get him out and dressed for the day. Harry sat on the bed, wrapped in a big fluffy towel as Sirius sorted through the bags of clothes they had gotten him yesterday. He found the red dragon t-shirt and a pair of shorts with a plain elastic waist, easily for a four year old to remove should he have to go to the bathroom really bad. He helped Harry put them on as well as a pair of socks before searching for the sneakers they had gotten.

"Padfoot?" Harry asked hesitantly as he watched the pile of clothes on the bed grow bigger. "Can… Can I wear my boots?"

"Your boots?" Sirius sat up, pulling one sneaker out of the bottom of the bag. Harry nodded, pointing to the red rain boots sitting on the floor beside Sirius's knees. Sirius blinked and then laughed, tossing them up onto the bed. "Sure. D'you want to wear your conductor's hat as well?" He asked kindly, holding up the striped cap. Harry nodded as he tugged the boots onto his feet. They were much easier to put on than sneakers. One, no laces. Two, they had handles on each side for him to grab and tug with. Sirius plopped the hat down on Harry's head. Harry grinned up at him from beneath it. Even he knew that a conductor was the person who drove a train.

Sirius couldn't help but grin at the mismatched little boy standing so proudly in front of him. He was quite a sight to behold, but he wasn't about to say no to letting Harry wear what he wanted. It was a bit too sunny and hot out for the boy to be wearing his rain boots, but the hat would help keep the sun off of his face. Besides, the fact that he was expressing himself instead of trying to look for the right answers when it came to his clothes felt good. There was trust there, as Harry smiled at him. Pure and simple trust that somebody wasn't going to yell at him for wearing what pleased him and not having to match, though, to Harry, he did match. Both his boots and shirt were red after all. "There, we're all set. We get to have another ride on the underground together."

"Oh!" Harry bounced a bit, looking delighted at this news. He just loved the underground. He grabbed up his lion, hugging it to his chest. After thinking for a moment, he grabbed up one of his new books, hugging that as well. If they were taking the underground, then maybe he would get to see his friend again and he could share his book with her like she'd shared with him yesterday. He had never had anyone to share with before, Dudley had made sure of that. If his cousin had caught Harry playing with any of the other children in their pre-school, he had immediately bullied the child away from Harry, leaving the little bespectacled boy to play by himself most of the time after only three days in the school.

"All set then?" Sirius asked with a smile, reaching down to scoop Harry up and put him on his hip. He just could not get enough of that fresh from bath little boy smell that meant this child was all his. Harry had smelt different as a baby, but there was still just a tinge of baby-smell to him that he hadn't managed to outgrow yet. It reminded him of happier times, with James and Lily. He was trying to keep to the routine they had established for their son when he was little. Unlike most kids, he had been given his baths in the morning, because then he would be clean at the start of the day, rather than just at night. There had always been a bedtime story and a lullaby that Lily sang shortly after dinner and nap time had been right after lunch. After one whole day with the boy, the scheduled was already meshing.

Harry struggled to hold onto both his book and lion at once, trying to keep one in each hand. With his lion it was easy, he could just dangle him over Sirius's shoulder and hold tight. But the book was harder. It was much more slippery and thinner than his lion's tail. Sirius, noticing his effort, took the book from him and held on to it. Harry snuggled against him, pulling his lion up and hugging him closer.

They headed down and out of number twelve, walking the couple of blocks to the underground station. Harry got more and more excited the closer they got to the station, his little eyes wide with glee at the very idea of riding the train again. His eyes went to where he knew the train would pull up when they got down into the station and squirmed about, eager to get through the turnstile and to the platform.

The train came wooshing up the tunnel and Harry leaned forward in Sirius's arms to watch it come. As it slowed to a stop in front of them, Sirius nearly lost his hold on him, he was wriggling around so much. He wanted to get on that train. As soon as the doors opened and the tide of people flowing had had slowed, Sirius carried Harry onto the train. He walked down the aisle, the little boy looking every which way.

"'mione!" He squealed as he caught sight of his friend. "Padfoot… Padfoot!" He pointed to where Hermione and her mother were sitting. The little girl looked up from the book she had today and waved, tugging at her mother's sleeve to get her attention.

"Well, good morning, ladies." Sirius smiled, sitting down in the seat one over from Hermione and letting Harry slip down into the one directly beside her. Harry took his book from his godfather and pressed it at Hermione.

"I bringed dis. Can we read it?" Harry asked excitedly. Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of the book. It was full of dinosaurs, something that every four year old on the planet was easily taken with.

"Oooh yes!" The pair of them opened the book, one half of the large book in each of their laps. Harry ran his finger under the words as Hermione read, copying what Remus had done last night, though he didn't always point at the right word, not seeing anything but rows of letters just yet.

"Good morning." Mrs. Granger smiled down at the children. "Hermione wouldn't stop talking about her new friend yesterday. We were hoping you'd be on the train this morning."

"We were hoping the same." Sirius laughed, ruffling Harry's hair through his hat, but the boy was quite intent on the book. "We've got to go have a check up, right Harry?"

Harry nodded, knowing he should answer, but too involved with learning about what Hermione had said was a T-rex to be interested. "Right, Padfoot."

"Oh, now that'll be fun, Harry!" Mrs. Granger smiled. "Has he had his teeth cleaned recently?"

"Er…. No, but I suppose that'll be next." Sirius nodded, making a mental note to remember to talk to the Healer at St. Mungo's about Harry's teeth. He wanted to be sure everything was ship shape with his godson. Actually, he couldn't remember having had Harry brush his teeth at all in the past couple of days… they'd have to work on that.

"It's very important to start oral hygiene early on. That way he learns good habits…. I'm a dentist." Mrs. Granger explained simply, digging into her purse. She pulled out a card and handed it to Sirius. "My husband and I have our own office up on Chandler Kip Street. We would love to have a look at Harry's teeth. The work number on there works for the office hours listed, but if there's an emergency, our home number is on there as well."

"Oh! Great, thanks." Sirius smiled, taking out his wallet and slipping the card into it where it wouldn't get lost. He couldn't remember if the Healers worked on teeth, he was fairly certain they did. But it would always be nice to have a back up, not to mention a phone number in case he ever wanted to try and schedule Harry a play-date in the future. Harry and Hermione seemed to get along quite well, not to mention they both seemed to have taken the liberty of having some say in their outfits. Hermione also was wearing a pair of rain boots (what was it about them that attracted children?), but hers were blue with green polka dots and clashed with the frilly tutu and butterfly wings she also had on. The train was slowing again. "Well, this is our stop. Say bye, Harry."

Harry frowned, looking torn between going with his godfather and continuing sharing his book with his friend. "We gonna ride da train tomorrow too, Padfoot?" He asked curiously, hoping the answer was yes.

"Probably not, we're moving into our new house later today, remember?"

"Oh… " Harry's frown grew and he looked at Hermione longingly. If they were moving, would he ever see her again?

"Don't worry, we'd be more than happy to have you over to play sometime, isn't that right Hermione?" Mrs. Granger asked, stroking her daughter's hair. The little girl nodded. Mrs. Granger looked up at Sirius as he pulled Harry up into his arms. "Have you gotten a new number where we could reach you?"

"Oh, yeah." Sirius nodded, digging into his pocket. He'd written down the information about the house on a slip of paper that he would need for St. Mungo's. He found a pen and copied it down on a blank bit of the paper and then tore it off, handing it to Mrs. Granger. "Here it is. Give us a ring anytime. Even if we can't manage to get a play-date, it'd be great for Harry to have someone his own age to talk to, right Harry?"

"Mhm!" Harry nodded brightly, squirming. Sirius put him down and he climbed back up on the seat, wrapping his arms around his little friend. "I love my friend." Hermione hugged him back delightfully and then Harry and Sirius left the train, Harry waving over his shoulder at his little friend. He quite liked having a friend, even if he didn't get to see her all of the time.

The two wizards made their way up to the street, walking in the other direction than they had yesterday, away from the shops. Harry had taken to hiding his face in Sirius's shoulder, the amount of strangers around them causing him to get a little bit anxious. He'd decided he didn't like strangers very much at all. What if they were like his aunt and uncle?

"Alright then, Prongslet." Sirius set the little boy down. They had stopped in front of a dingy old shop front, a manikin in the window. "Now, this, is going to be something different, so I don't want you to get scared ok? And stay quiet until we get inside." Harry nodded, having no clue what he was going on about. Sirius had figured he would introduce Harry to magic slowly, and what could be slower than a manikin just nodding it's head? Besides, he'd feel better once Harry knew about magic, surely his aunt and uncle had never mentioned it. And the kid needed to see a Healer. "I have Harry Potter here for his appointment."

The manikin nodded and gestured them forward. Sirius watched as Harry's eyes grew to the size of small salad plates and took the kid's hand, dragging him right on in through the window.

Harry was boggled. First a moving manikin and then they were walking through a window? When they emerged, they were standing in some kind of large lobby. Everything was very white and polished. A woman sat behind a large desk, dressed in a minty green dress type thing. At least, to Harry it was a dress. Sirius led him towards the desk, hoisting him back up into his arms. "Padfoot?"

"That was magic, Harry." Sirius explained, trying to make it as simple as possible. Harry's eyes got even bigger than they already were. He knew what magic was. It was the stuff of the fairy tales his teacher at pre-school had read to them, though not so much after Aunt Petunia had complained, saying they didn't want the boys exposed to such nonsense. Harry had always enjoyed the fairy tales immensely though. But… if they had just seen magic, then that meant it wasn't all nonsense, right? He looked at Sirius in confusion.

"Aunt Petunia said magic is not real." Harry explained, looking around himself now. "But you're magic?"

"Yes, I am. I'm a wizard." Sirius nodded, stroking the little boy's hair. "Your aunt lied to you. She knows magic is real. Her sister, your mum, was a witch and your dad was a wizard." Sirius didn't think Harry's eyes could have gotten wider than they already were, but he was wrong. The green orbs in Harry's head were practically bugging out of their sockets at this point. "Which means you're a wizard too."

"But I can't do magic." Harry frowned shaking his head. How could he be a wizard if he couldn't do magic. Sirius just laughed, plopping the kid's conductor had back onto his head.

"Sure ya can. You probably already have and just didn't know it. Have you ever made things happen that you had idea how you made them happen?"

"I…" Harry wracked his brains, trying to remember if he'd ever done something like that, but was almost sure he hadn't. And then it hit him. "Auntie cut my hair once and it looked really yucky. But when I waked up it was all better and she was so mad at me." Harry shuddered, remembering the belting he'd gotten for that one plus the extra day in his cupboard where he'd wet himself and gotten in serious trouble for that as well. He didn't know why he'd gotten in trouble though, it wasn't as if he could make his hair grow. It did that on it's own, didn't it?

"That was magic, Harry!" Sirius beamed, hugging him. "This place we're in, is a hospital for wizards and witches. You're going to see a Healer and have a check-up."

"Ok." Harry nodded, not sure what a check-up was really. He knew Dudley had them sometimes, but he always cried and screamed when he had to go to them. But then, Dudley screamed and cried at just about anything when he didn't get his way. He was magic though! Magic! He beamed, his eyes not so wide now and when they reached the desk with the lady behind it, he gave her a heart melting smile that would have turned even the strongest of men into putty.

"Hi there." Sirius smiled, repositioning Harry to his other hip to give the other one a break. "We're here for an appointment for Harry Potter." Harry watched as the lady's eyes strangely got a little big and she stared at him with curiosity, her eyes flitting to his forehead, though he wasn't sure as to why. Was it his lightning scar he'd gotten as a baby?

"Yes, yes…." The woman rifled through her papers and brought out a packet. "Children's ward is up on the third floor. Fill these out in the waiting room and then give them to the woman there. Have a nice day, Harry!" Harry blinked and smiled back at her as they left, giving her a wave.

"Have a nice day." He repeated, watching as her smile grew. Sirius carried him up four flights of stairs, going through a door on the fourth landing. Harry's eyes were assaulted with bright colors. Just about every color in the big crayon box Dudley had. It was much better than the white room that head been downstairs. Sirius sat down in one of the chairs up against the wall and shifted Harry into the one beside him so he could fill out the forms. Harry looked around curiously.

There were other kids in the room with their parents and they were all playing with toys, reading books, or bawling their eyes out. Harry wondered if they were all here to get a check-up as well. He looked up at Sirius, but a different question left his mouth. "Can I play too, Padfoot?"

"Sure, go right ahead." Harry grinned and slid off of his seat, wandering over to where a brown haired boy (who also wore rain boots) was stacking blocks. He sat down across from him and watched for a minute as the boy worked on building his tower as high as it would go before it fell. He looked up at Harry after a minute and offered him a block. Harry took it and they began building together.

"Are you here for a check-up too?" Harry asked curiously, placing a flat red block on top of a green one. The other boy nodded.

"My Gwan brings me every year for a check-up. I'm Neville and I'm four, what's your name?" Harry grinned at him brightly.

"I'm Harry. I'm four too." Neville smiled back and satisfied, they continued with their building. They managed to get the tower tall enough that they had to stand to get the next blocks on, but it teetered and crashed to the floor after a minute.

"Neville Longbottom?" Someone called and Neville looked up. An older woman came and picked him up.

"It's your turn, Neville."

"Bye Harry!" Neville grinned at him, waving as he was led away for his check up. Harry figured that since Neville didn't seem scared of having a check-up, he wouldn't be either. He liked Neville a lot better than he liked Dudley anyways.

Harry stayed and built with the blocks for a bit, but soon wandered back over to Sirius who had reached the end of the forms. He climbed up into his chair and leaned against his godfather's arm, his legs swinging back and forth happily. "Padfoot, I think I made a new friend."

"Did you now?" Sirius asked, looking down and smiling at his godson. His expression turned to confusion after a moment though. Were his eyes going, or did…

"Mhm. Neville! He likes building blocks too."

"Harry? Is that one of Hermione's boots you're wearing?" Sirius asked, pointing down to Harry's feet. The little boy's left foot had one of his shiny red boots on it, but his right foot had a shiny blue boot with green polka dots on it. Harry looked down at his feet and then grinned up at his godfather.

"We traded cause we has the same size feet. See?" Harry took off both of the boots, holding them up to show Sirius who took them. Sure enough, they were perfectly the same size. Sirius handed them back to Harry who pulled them back onto his feet using their handles. How that pair of children had pulled that over on both him and Hermione's mother he may never know. He supposed it must have been while they were talking.

"Well, I don't know if Hermione's mum will like that very much. We should probably call them later to let them know you guys traded."

"Ok." Harry kept grinning. Hermione had said her mum wouldn't mind, and besides, they were her boots, not her mum's. Harry had agreed, liking the idea of having two different boots. He did adore his red boots, because they were his absolute favorite color, but he'd been intrigued by the polka dots on Hermione's. Sirius finished the paperwork and carried it over to the witch behind the desk. She took it, looked it over, and then began filing it away.

"Harry Potter?" The room suddenly hushed completely as the Healer called for him, though Harry couldn't understand as to why. Sirius lifted him up and hurried to follow the Healer behind the double doors, not liking the way every eye had turned to stare at his godson.

The Healer led them down a long hallway colored in yellow and into a small room that was quite friendly despite its sterile appearance. There was a mobile of dragons hanging from the ceiling, a couple pictures of funny looking animals, and a large measuring stick against the wall with a dragon at the bottom of it. Sirius set Harry down on the padded table and the little boy swung his legs, looking up at the mobile with interest.

"Good morning, Harry." The Healer smiled as she closed the door behind her and flipped a couple pages on her clipboard. "It's lovely to see you. The last time you were here, you were just about a year old. And now look at you! What a big boy you are."

Harry beamed proudly, his chest puffing out with delight at being called a big boy. This lady was nice, and Padfoot had brought him to her, so she had to be ok, right? "I am very big."

"Yes, you are." The Healer smiled and set her clipboard down on a counter beside a small sink that stood in the opposite corner of the room beside a couple of chairs. "Alright then, Harry, if you could just hop down take off your boots and your hat so I can see how tall you've gotten." Harry did as he was told, slipping the boots off to reveal his little white socks and jumping down off of the table with a little bit of Sirius's help. He stood in front of the dragon and measuring stick as he was told, watching as the lady checked how tall he was and writing it down.

The Healer had him do a whole bunch of fun things, like seeing how long he could hop on one foot for and holding his back straight as he could was he walked along a line of tape on the floor. She used a funny tool to look in his ears and up his nose (which he thought was quite silly) and a strange lighted stick to look down his throat. She listened to his heart beat and had him breathe two different ways before she let him listen to Padfoot's heart. She'd shone her light in his eyes and given his glasses a tap with her weird stick, making them shrink to a child friendly size. When he'd put them back on, he could see so much better than he had before. Then she'd had him stand on a scale so she could see how much he weighed. She poked and prodded him, hemmed and hahed, and even checked the bruises Uncle Vernon had given him on his backside. He didn't think he liked that part too much.

"You can put your boots back on now Harry and play with this while I talk to your godfather, alright?" Harry nodded and tugged his boots on before taking the cool tool she had listened to his heart with from her. He wanted to see if his lion had a heart beat too.

Sirius and the Healer moved to the opposite corner, the Healer sitting down at a desk and Sirius in a chair. "Well, he's quite a bit underweight for his age, so you'll have to make sure he's eating enough. Lots of fruits and veggies, and plenty of whole milk to make sure he's getting the calcium his bones need. I don't like the looks of those bruises at all. They've healed up some, but they still look awful. Do you know how he got them?"

"He hasn't said, and I didn't want to pressure him by asking. I've only had him since the night before last. One of them looks kind of like the buckle on a belt though." Sirius shook his head.

"That's what I thought as well. I want you to take this balm and give his bruises a rub before bedtime every night. That way they heal up a bit quicker than they are and it'll relieve some of the pain. It'll also give you a moment where he's thinking about them and might tell you how he got them in the first place. He's obviously been neglected, so I also think you should tread very carefully. Try not to raise your voice when he's naughty and just give him a time out in the corner. After that, you should hug him and remind him that you love him, but that you would like it if he would try to not be naughty."

"He's actually been something of an angel, which is weird because I knew his parents."

"He's probably afraid of misbehaving then. Once he starts, you'll know he's really coming out of his shell and trusting you. He really likes you a lot already by the looks of it though."

"So, he doesn't fully trust me yet, then?" Sirius asked. He had been so sure that morning that Harry did trust him…

"No, but in time, I should think. For now, just try and make sure he feels safe with you. Has he been sleeping alright?"

"Yeah, he sleeps fine. He took his nap without a problem yesterday, and he went straight to sleep after his story last night."

"That's wonderful. Have you developed a daily routine?" The Healer seemed quite pleased to hear this.

"Well, so far he get's breakfast and a bath in the morning. And then we go and do whatever we need to do. Then we have lunch and he has a nap after that. There's some time inbetween naptime and dinner. There's a bit more time after dinner for playing, but then we get on his jammies and read his story before he goes to sleep. It's how his parents went about things when they were still here."

"Wonderful! Children do well with routines. Familiarity is a good thing. Did you have any questions?"

"Well…" Sirius began, pondering. "I was wondering about his eyes and teeth…"

"His teeth are in absolute perfect condition, though he does need to brush them a bit more. I checked and cleaned them when I was looking down his throat."

"Did you really?" Sirius asked, sounding quite astonished.

"Yes. We check everything when it comes to our patients, Mr. Black. I didn't put my wand in his mouth for nothing. Anything else?"

"Nope, I think that's about it." Sirius nodded.

"Alright then. Harry, come here a moment, I've got some surprises for you." Harry scampered over to them, the stethoscope still hanging out of his ears. He handed it back to the Healer who smiled and placed it back around her neck. "For being such a lovely boy today, you get these."

Harry beamed as he was handed a tiny little bag. He peeked inside it and found a tiny red toothbrush and a little tube of tooth paste along with some floss. "Those of for you teeth to make them all nice and clean. You've got to remember to brush and floss after breakfast and before bed. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes!" Harry grinned, bouncing. His aunt had always helped his cousin brush his teeth, but Harry had never gotten to have his brushed before, so it was quite exciting.

"And you also get this." The Healer handed him a big round sticker and Harry's eyes grew wide at the sight of the friendly looking train with a face on the front. He beamed and handed it to Sirius who peeled it off the backing and put it on Harry's shirt for him.

"Thank you." Harry shot his melting smile to the Healer who grinned back at him. He raised a hand. "Have a nice day!" He'd learned that from the lady downstairs and thought it sounded like quite a good thing to say when he said good bye to people. Sirius scooped him up and Harry clung to his lion and book as they left, Sirius thanking the Healer as they did so.

Yay! This one could have been a lot longer, but I decided to cut it off there and save the next bit for the next chapter. Anyways, I hope you liked it. Lemme know what you thought!

Love always,

S.Q.O.