Chapter Six; Sirius Black

Snape froze and started slowly backing away from it feeling his whole entire body starting to tremble. His heart slowed down to the point where he almost thought it had stopped and his breath became cold. There was still that vicious gleam inside the dog's eyes as it continued to growl at him and lots of slobber escaped from its mouth.

Meanwhile Lily was pacing the living room frantically and occasionally stopping to look out the window. That's when all of a sudden Harry woke up and clearing his throat inside his fist he stopped at the end of the hallway and looked at her. "Where's Daddy?" he asked her when she suddenly turned to look back at him.

"Harry, what are you doing here? You should be in bed." She told him.

"But I'm better now Mummy, honestly. I want to play with you and Daddy now, where is he?" he questioned her but before she could open her mouth to answer him Snape burst in through the door and into the house. He quickly slammed it behind him and pressed his back up against it breathing heavily.

"What happened Severus?" Lily asked him anxiously as he shot a nervous glance over at Harry.

"I'm afraid that I've got some rather bad news." He begun.

"Why? Where's Cowboy?" Harry wondered.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I took him out for a walk and the leash slipped out of my hands and he took off after a rat. Then his big black dog chased me home instead." His father explained.

"You mean he ran away?" Harry asked him blinking his sweet and innocent eyes at him and Snape's heart shattered.

"I'm sorry Harry, as soon as I can I'll go out and look for him I promise." He assured him as Harry simply nodded at him. Snape was rather taken aback at the fact that he understood and how mature he was acting for his age. However even though Lily felt sorry for her son as well that his beloved puppy dog was gone, she had found that her mind was suddenly distracted.

"What did you say that the other dog looked like?" she asked him. "The one that followed you home."

"Chased me home is more like it and he was a big black one, he sort of looked like the grim." He explained as Lily gasped and placed her hand over her chest.

"What's the grim?" Harry asked looking up at both of his parents for the answer but neither one of them responded.

"Oh my God, Sirius." She said before she headed towards the door.

"What!? Are you crazy!? Don't open that!" Snape cried in a hushed whisper but Lily turned the doorknob anyway forcing him to step aside. For there, where the big black dog once stood was the man from Harry's nightmare. Snape suddenly became enraged and withdrew his wand as Harry fearfully hid behind his leg. "Get away from my son!" Snape hissed angrily when all of a sudden a very confused and bewildered look grew onto Black's face.

"Son? Harry is your son?" he questioned with disbelief and incredibility.

"Yes he's my son, and I'm not going to let you hurt him!" Snape hissed as Sirius turned to look at Lily for an explanation.

"It's a long story." She replied.

"Oh." Sirius began before looking back over at Snape. "But why would I try and hurt Harry?" he wondered.

"For the same reason that you tried to chew my leg off!" Snape yelled.

"That didn't have anything to do with Harry, that had to do with the fact about you letting Pettigrew escape." He told him with a cold and icy stare. "I certainly wouldn't try and harm my own godson!" he cried.

"Alright, hang on for a second. I'm confused. If you don't want to hurt Harry, why did he have a nightmare about it?" Lily asked him.

"I'm afraid that's a rather long story as well." Black began.

"Well we've got time, why don't you gentlemen go ahead and sit on the couch and I'll go brew up some tea." Lily suggested as Snape tilt his head back and breathed a heavy and reluctant sigh.

"Alright fine." He said as Black started making his way into the living room while Harry still clutched ahold of Snape's pant leg. "It's alright, nothing's going to happen to you." He told the frightened child before he bent down and hoisted him up inside his arms. "I promise you that." He assured him before he kissed his cheek and carried him over to the couch and sat him down on top of his lap.

"It's alright Harry, you don't need to be afraid of me." Black began before he sat down on the couch opposite side of them. "I'm a good person despite what anybody else might think or say about me." He told him softly.

"Well if you're such a good person then why did you spend the last few years in Azkaban for betraying the Potter family?" Snape inquired as the warm and loving smile suddenly vanished from his face.

"Because I was falsely accused that's why." He spat. "Peter Pettigrew gives a whole new meaning to the phrase dirty rat. I'm sorry Lily, I owe you a huge apology." He began as he looked up at her while she entered the room and gave him his teacup. "If it wasn't for me suggesting for him to be your new secret keeper, James would still be alive." He told her.

"Alright let's say for a moment that you're telling the truth." Snape began while Lily headed over in his direction and handed him his cup of tea. "If you're so innocent then why did Harry dream that you strangled his dog and almost killed him?" he questioned.

"As I said before," Sirius began before taking a sip of tea. "it's all the handy work of Peter Pettigrew. You see the night that James died he went around the street shouting to all the neighbors that I had done it, to the point where they actually started believing him. Of course You-Know-Who used this to his advantage, and he started planting even more evil thoughts about me inside their minds. And since Harry has such a connection to him, it was very easy for him to plant it inside his.

He figured that if Lily found out that the person who was at fault for the death of her first husband escaped Azkaban that she would go out looking to destroy me, then eventually Pettigrew would find her and bring her to him to destroy." He explained.

"Yeah well his plan backfired, because I never believed for one second that you were guilty Sirius." Lily told him before she took a sip of her own tea.

"Thanks Lily, I really appreciate that. It means a lot to me and I'm very proud to call you and Harry my friends." He told her while Harry just remained silent because even though he was smart for his age, he was way too little to understand what was going on.

"I still don't understand what made Harry so sick this morning and the fact that he's perfectly fine now." Snape said as Sirius shrugged.

"I'm afraid that even I don't know the answer to that." He began picking up his teacup again and taking another sip. "Maybe it's because that You-Know-Who is way too powerful to be inside such a little body. One thing is for sure, I'm glad that I found you when I did, just in case Lily turned out believing that I was guilty. Sure the dementors might hunt me down and suck out my soul for it, but I rather die than lose either you or Harry since I already lost one of the best friends I've ever had." He said.

"Please believe me Severus. I know that I have done some awful things to you in the past, but I would never try to harm Lily or Harry. And I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you into believing that." He told him when all of a sudden Snape nodded showing him that he finally believed that he was telling the truth.

"I believe you." Harry spoke softly speaking for the very first time since his godfather had entered his house.

"Thank you Harry, it means a great deal to me hearing you say that." He told him while smiling warmly at him. "And I promise that I'll help you and your father find your puppy." He added as Harry suddenly slid off his father's lap and hurried over to Black and threw his arms around his neck and thanked him while embracing him tightly.