Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I looked nothing like J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Summary: A few days in the life of a six year old Elemental Harry Potter.

A/N: Been a few weeks, hasn't it? Sorry, for the wait, but school has buried me with homework and projects. But this weekend, I swore to myself, that I wouldn't make you all wait any longer than you had. And here you are! Aren't ya glad? Haha. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing and editing it. I actually laughed a few times. :P Happy reading!

Chapter 24: The Ups & Downs of Learning & Teaching

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

6-year-old Harry James Potter ran as fast as his legs could carry him across the front yard with only one thought planted firmly in his mind. "To not get caught."

The sun shone high in the sky, lighting up the world with its warm rays, which meant that it was that time of the afternoon that his Godfather helped him further his powers little by little and helped him gain a better control over them.

A few months after his masterful escape from the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, - Madam Pomfrey had shown up at their house the next day and boy did Sirius regret having run away, hehe…but he does not talk about that part of the story when he recounts his flight from that sanitarium - Sirius Orion Black, now the age of 26, had taken to reading about Elementals and their abilities. Now if it were up to Sirius, himself, he would not lay a finger on a book. He held great disdain for them - he did not know how Remus could stand, let alone enjoy, it - but for his Godson he would give the world if he could. So, suppressing the tremendously strong urge to shudder, he had picked up the first of the books, and began to read. He knew that it was necessary for him to be able to understand Harry's power on every level if he was going to help them progress and grow.

They had to go slowly, of course, mainly because magical strain could happen easily. Sirius knew this from earlier experiences when he, Harry, and Remus had started this little routine shortly after Harry's fifth birthday. The two guardians decided in advanced that they would divide the schedule between them. Sirius goes through magical exercises with Harry on the weekends, while Remus took up the inside work such as learning to read, write, and do basic arithmetic, during the week.

Now, the Potter heir thoroughly relished his time with his Guardians as they taught him, they had formed a very tight bond between the three of them and understood each other very well. But these past few weekends Harry had taken to pretending he did not like his outside time with Padfoot. "Why?" Many would ask. Why - to make Padfoot have to chase him around, of course! Sirius would say it was time to practice and Harry would say, "Only if you can catch me!", before dashing off.

So, if you have not been able to tell already, that was the situation Sirius found himself in at this precise moment in time. Did it annoy him? No, not even for a second. Quite the contrary, actually. A grin would spread across his lips every time Harry's laughter and giggles reached his ears as the boy was chased. Children were only children for so long, they seemed to grow up in the blink of an eye, and Sirius was going to make sure he cherished every ounce of his Godson's youthful innocence before it was gone - for he knew he was going to miss it dearly when it was.

Panting, a grin planted in place, Harry ran behind one of the many trees surrounding their house. Trying to catch his breath, he leaned against the tree and listened with all his might. He knew Padfoot was close by and that if he was not careful he would most certainly get caught, but he was ready to dash at the slightest sound of leaf or grass crunching. He waited a beat, expecting to hear something, waited another beat, but no sound came from around the other side of the tree in the direction of the house.

Where'd he go? Harry pondered, frowning slightly, eyebrows creased, almost disappointed. Padfoot can usually catch me faster than this…

Taking his chances, Harry turned around, placed his hands on the tree's rough bark, and risked inclining as far to the left as he could in order to see around the other side of the tree without actually leaving his supposedly hidden position.

He's nowhere! Harry thought to himself as he looked from left to right. Why's he the one hidi…--

A gasp of surprise escaped Harry's lips as a strong pair of hands grabbed him from behind and lifted him into the air.

"Gotcha!" sniggered an all too familiar voice as he lifted the young boy onto his shoulders.

"Padfoot!" breathed Harry, amazed. "How'd you…?"

"Little tricks you learn as you get to be old like me," the Black grinned, walking back in the direction of the house.

"You're not old, Padfoot!" Harry giggled, almost slipping off Sirius' shoulders in the process, but was righted again by his Godfather.

"Glad to hear you think so, Prongslet," Sirius smiled. "But, now, my little Getaway, I have caught you. Sooo…"

Sirius set Harry down a good fifteen feet from the house, and gave his Godson a pointed look.

"Oookay…" sighed Harry unenthusiastically, lowering his head to gaze at his feet, pretending to be sad. "If I could 'Flame' away you wouldn't be able to catch me…"

Sirius grinned at the usage of his invented word for Harry's ability to 'apparate', so it could be said, but with fire, and shook his head comically, mentally thanking Merlin for the fact that the boy had not mastered 'Flaming' just yet. They had tried it a few times, but it seemed it was still too advanced for his young body to handle. He would not fall in a dead faint like he had for his fourth birthday, but he would be extremely weak the rest of the day and most of the next, barely able to hold himself up on his, seeming to be at the time, jelly filled legs. Sirius was sure a few more years, however, and Harry would have it down to a science.

"Would you really try and Flame away from me, Prongslet?" Sirius inquired, genuine sadness hidden in his tone, something that Harry had absolutely no trouble picking up. His powers had grown some over the past few years, yes, but his empathic ability had been the first and only, so far, to become acute to a 'T'.

The young Potter's head shot up, emerald eyes that seemed to look past you and into your very soul met bluish-grey ones, conveying his deep feelings just through the look in his unique green eyes.

"No, Padfoot. I wouldn't leave you, wouldn't ever want to leave you. You and Moony are like…Daddy's to me. We're all…" Harry looked pensive for a moment, as though searching for the right word, then snapped his fingers as it came to him, a smile spreading across his face. "…Like the three parts of the Oreo! Separated they don't taste as good, but together they taste the best!"

Sirius, eyes shining, a fierce pride bursting deep within him, bent to one knee, put his hands on Harry's shoulders, brought him a few steps closer, and kissed the boy atop his unruly hair.

"You can't…say things like that," the Black murmured without conviction, voice thick with emotion, pulling the boy into his arms, burying his face into the forest of black hair.

"…Does it make you mad?" asked Harry, voice muffled somewhat by Sirius' shirt, knowing the answer to be 'no' before he had even asked it.

"That's the problem…it doesn't," said Sirius, a faint smile on his lips as he released his Godson and composed himself again. Some part deep inside roared at him for the fact that he was happy that Harry thought of him as a father, the part that was as loyal to James and his memory as could be. But then he was okay, because he knew, also, somewhere deep inside him, that if James where to have known he was going to die at the young age that he did, and that he was going to leave his treasured son helplessly by himself in the cruel world, he would have hoped that if Harry were to think of anyone else as father-worthy other that James himself, it would be his two best friends.

"Can we do the marshmallows today, Padfoot? They're yummy," said Harry, eyes coming alive at the prospect. Sirius could not help but laugh, his Godson always found a way to make him smile, it never failed.

"Course we can, Prongslet! I would not mind a few myself," replied Sirius, sitting down on the cool grass, cross-legged, and motioning for Harry to do the same. Smiling, the Potter promptly obeyed, and watched as his Godfather whipped out his wand and conjured a bag of marshmallows out of thin air.

Wicked, thought Harry, his smile rapidly turning into the trademark 'Potter' grin. He may have been around it for years now, and he may be able to do some himself, but Magic never ceased to amaze him. It always made him feel a weird sense of being more at home, then…well…home.

"Here we are," declared Sirius, opening the bag, taking one out, and setting the rest next to him. "Let's let you try without your hands today, okay, kiddo?" Sirius, holding the marshmallow between his forefinger and thumb, held it out between them.

Harry gave Sirius an uncertain glance before returning his gaze to the marshmallow and nodding once.

Okay, okay, you can do this, he told himself firmly, Just because you've never done it without your hands doesn't mean you can't do it.

Harry found his powers more controllable when they were concentrated into something, in this case his hands. Just like Sirius' wand, it was something to concentrate your magic into. Harry knew he could do Air magic with his eyes and hands, knew so by experience. Sooo, that meant he could do Fire the same way, he was sure. But then again, when he did Air magic with his eyes, it was very much out of his line of control, unlike when he did it with his hands.

Shaking his head of these thoughts - this was something Padfoot believed he needed to master, so he was going to master it - Harry's eyes narrowed on the marshmallow, brows creasing with concentration. No more than two seconds later…

"Ahh!" yelped Sirius, dropping the marshmallow, which was on fire, - but fizzled once it hit the ground - flicking his hand back and forth trying to cool it.

Eyes widening to the size of saucers at what, precisely, he had done, Harry jumped up, worry enveloping him.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry!"

"Naw, I'm good! I had half expected it to turn out that way anyway," Sirius chuckled, motioning again for Harry to sit down, giving him a reassuring smile as he blew on his fingers. The Potter sat down uneasily, eyeing Sirius' hand as though expecting it to burst into flame or something…

"Are you sure?" he inquired again, anxiously. "I'm sorry, Padfoot..."

"Don't apologize for something you had no control over, Prongslet! How many times do I have to tell you? Did you mean to burn my fingers?"

Looking thunderstruck by the very idea, Harry vigorously shook his head 'no.'

"Well, then, all's well that ends well. It's going to be like this now, but as Moony says, "Practice makes perfect", and you'll have it down in no time. You may be able to do it even better than with your hands in the end," Sirius assured, having finally cooled his fingers, extracting another marshmallow from the bag, Harry giving him a dubious look as he did so.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

By the end of the weekend, Harry felt horrible. He was positive he would never get his power under control with anything other than his hands. Sirius had come inside with his hands very red from having caught fire, however briefly, more than twenty times. Though, beyond Harry's line of comprehension, Padfoot was not upset about it at all. He seemed gleeful, if nothing else. He was still optimistic that the young Potter was going to be able to learn how to do it without any trouble. Remus had looked up a spell that healed minor burns and had preformed it on his friend. …Seeing as how the Black had outright refused going to 'that woman' again.

But it was Monday, now, and Harry was going to have five days before he ended up burning Padfoot again. So, trying to get his mind off the topic of his difficulties with Handless Elemental Magic and what he had put Padfoot through, even though Padfoot had been more than willing, Harry got up from bed, stretched, yawned, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked blearily around his bedroom before realizing why he could not see anything, and quickly grabbed his glasses off the nightstand and put them on, bringing the room into much clearer focus.

One of Harry's fifth birthday gifts had been a remodeling of his bedroom, Moony had done it, and then on his sixth Sirius had done another one. The messy haired child liked it, it was fun having different decorations, wallpaper, bedspreads, and stuff every year. Padfoot, Moony, and Harry decided on it being a tradition. "Same old, same old, is boring!" Sirius would say. This year Harry's favorite part of his room was his wallpaper and ceiling. It was covered in Quidditch wallpaper that actually moved; brightly robed players playing the game. His ceiling was a painting of the clear sky with a Golden Snitch zipping around being chased by two Seekers of the opposing teams which occasionally where being chased by Bludgers. Harry liked watching these two at night before he fell asleep.

Padding over to his closet, he opened it and picked out a pair of jeans and the Chudley Cannons T-shirt Ron gave him for his Birthday a few months ago. Disrobing himself of his dragon covered pajamas, which was a gift from Charlie, Harry slipped into his clothes, made his bed - which was covered in little black dogs which looked suspiciously like Padfoot - , and proceeded out of his room, going downstairs, taking the steps two at a time, a little something that Fred and George had taught him to do.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

-In the time that Harry was getting ready to come down to breakfast-

"He really likes it, Padfoot, I don't know why you're making such a fuss," stated Remus as the two set the table for a breakfast consisting of chocolate chip pancakes.

"It's reading, Moony! I mean, I can understand reading because you have to, but actually liking it?" replied Sirius, repulsed at the thought.

"I like reading."

"That's because you're, you."

"Are you calling me weird?"

"No…maybe…"

Remus sighed and shook his head as he placed two pancakes on each of the three plates.

"Prongs didn't like to read," Sirius stated sullenly, sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Harry's not Prongs," countered the lycanthrope easily.

"I know, I'm just trying to figure out where he got it from…"

"Lily loved to read."

"Oh yeah… I told Prongs not to get involved with her! Told him she would be trouble from the off. But did he listen to me? Noooo…"

"You were just jealous you were losing your best friend to a girl," sighed Remus, sitting down as well. Sirius gaped open-mouthed at the Lupin as though he had never seen him before.

"I resent that."

"Don't lie to yourself, you wanted all of us to be bachelors forever. Moreover, if James hadn't married Lily, Harry wouldn't be around. With every loss there is a gain, and vise-versa, as they say."

"Granted," the Black consented, leaning back in his chair; Remus had an awfully true point. "But reading?" he whined. Remus rolled his eyes as Sirius dragged them back to the initial subject. Luckily for the lycanthrope, for a moment anyway, Harry entered the kitchen at that exact second.

"G'Morning, Prongslet!" Sirius greeted amiably, sitting up quickly enough.

"Good Morning, Harry," Remus smiled.

"Morning," the young Potter returned, taking his place at the table, toes scuffing the floor since he was not yet big enough to sit perfectly in the chair.

"Did you brush your teeth, cub?" inquired Remus abruptly, right when the emerald eyed boy had picked up his fork to begin eating the delicious looking pancakes. A sheepish looked crept onto Harry's face, as he slowly shook his head in the negative.

"Thought so," grinned Remus knowingly. "Hop to it, and hurry back, mmkay? You don't want it to get cold do you?"

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

-Later that afternoon-

"5 + 5?"

"Um…10?"

"Yep! How about 10 + 5?"

"Erm…" Harry lifted up his hands and used his fingers to help him add. "…15."

"Right. 10 – 9?"

"1!" Harry replied instantly, he knew that one. Remus chuckled at this.

Harry was an exceptionally bright child - Remus had known this before they had started to school him, but it never ceased to make him smile - and loved to learn new things. It had taken the messy haired child a bit to understand the basics of Arithmetic, but he finally had adding and subtracting down, and they would be moving onto multiplication here soon. Harry had mixed feelings about math. He did not hate it, but he did not love it either. Reading, on the other hand, he enjoyed completely. He had gained a hunger to learn how ever since Remus had started reading him bedtime stories. Sirius knew this, now, and blamed Remus for his Godson's pleasure in reading, while Remus told him to stop acting so childish about the matter.

Needless to say Harry picked up the basics of reading and the alphabet ten times faster than he had arithmetic, and had read his first short book - not perfectly, of course - a month after Remus started teaching him. The young boy could now do it very well and whenever he did not know a word, he would just ask Moony.

"Where's Padfoot, Moony?" asked Harry, as Remus picked up the flashcards they had been using and put them away. The two worked in the Potter's room where Sirius had bought Harry a desk to be able to do his schoolwork on.

"Sulking in his room, knowing him," Remus sighed with a smile.

"Why?"

"Because he has yet to accept that life doesn't revolve around him and his view of things."

"…Oh," said Harry, as though he fully understood, which was far from the truth, but decided against asking for a more explicit answer. Moony and Padfoot had their off days, their disagreeing days, Harry knew, even though it did not happen often, but when it did he knew it was best to let them fix it between themselves.

If it's ever fixed he thought to himself, giggling mentally. There were some disagreements that never came to an end; some people could be really stubborn.

"Anyway, let's move on to writing, eh?"

After a half hour of writing out the alphabet and then forming words with the letters - Harry's handwriting was not the best in the world, but really, what 6-year-old's is? - , they proceeded onto Harry's favorite subject.

"Can we go to the store, Moony?" requested Harry, a little after he read, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie", aloud to Remus and the older man declared their school day done.

"Why would you need to go to the store?"

"I want to pick out my own book to read," explained Harry, grinning.

"Ah, I see. You mean a bookstore."

"Mmhmm!"

"Sure we can, I could probably pick out a few for myself, as well," the Lupin replied with a nod. It had been a while since he had bought some new books.

"Cool! I'll go get my shoes!" announced Harry happily, hurriedly getting up, almost tripping because he had gotten his foot stuck in the leg of the chair, grabbing his desk for support for a moment before he steadied himself, then ran to his bed and bent down to look for his shoes, the whole time a smile planted on his lips.

Laughing at the seven-second scene that had unfolded in front of him, Remus went over to the bed to help his Charge look for his shoes.

These are truly The Ups & Downs of Learning & Teaching...

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

A/N: So, what did you think of it? Good, bad, horrible, okay? I love hearing all of your opinions, and the more I get, the faster I try to update. Motivation is the key to all your wishes people! –Smiles-

Anywho, I've got a question for you. Just for curiosities sake, "if you were an Elemental witch / wizard, which two Elements do you think you'd be?" –Grins-

Well, that's it for now, I'll try and see when I can update again, but if you guys want 'soon', there is only one thing you've gotta do. Review, Review, Review!

Until next time…

-Chloe

A.K.A – Japanime1