Okay, curlybean didn't come out to play last chapter. Come on, girl! Put down that laundry. I've put in lots of Remus today, just for you, lol. :p

Thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate all the time you all take to write them!

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Sirius was grateful for the impromptu visit of his best friend. As much as he knew that he couldn't keep his godson under lock and key in their quarters in the tower all the time, he missed Harry terribly during the week days when he slept in the Gryffindor dorm.

Like a warm and welcoming breeze, Remus had strolled through the door of Sirius' living room that evening, just as a case of the grumps was threatening to darken the Astronomy professor's normally carefree demeanor. Seeing the welcomed familar face of his fellow Marauder, Sirius brightened immediately and he hastily pushed aside the stacks of parchment that were his second years' essays that he had been grading.

"Moony!" he greeted enthusiastically. He stood and moved over to the small cabinet on the wall and withdrew two small crystal tumblers and a tall bottle swirling with reddish amber liquid. "You are a sight for sore eyes, old friend."

He poured two fingers of the pungent bottle contents into each of the glasses and thrust one of them into the werewolf's hand. "Staying the night, I hope?"

Remus rolled his eyes. Leave it to Sirius to get right to the point. He raised the glass to his lips and took a bracing swig of the firewhiskey. It burned going down his throat, but after the last few days he had had, it was a welcoming sensation.

"Apparently I am now, Padfoot," he teased. His week had been tough, but a quick firecall with Sirius last week gave rise to the notion that his friend had probably had a tougher one. Unfortunately, he had not had the time to come to Hogwarts sooner to see after Sirius and Harry. His covert investigation into Moody was a delicate matter and he could not just go running off when he had meetings set up with people who would not take kindly to being brushed off.

"How are you doing, Sirius?" he asked, his face intense with concern. "Is everything okay with Harry? Have you had any more trouble with Severus?"

Sirius led him over to the sitting area and they sank into the plush leather furniture and relaxed in the warmth of the crackling fire. Sirius had a small smile on his face and his eyes were bright and untroubled which immediately calmed the concerned friend.

"Everything is fine, Remus. It was a rough couple of days with Harry, but we got things sorted. As for Snape, Albus saw to that. Amazingly enough, Snivellous didn't even complain about my almost ripping his scrawny throat out. We've come to an understanding about Harry's lessons and such. He won't be trying to undermine my authority as Harry's guardian again," he replied with an air of certainty.

Remus cocked one eyebrow in disbelief. "My, my. What did Albus say to him?"

Sirius snorted and took another sip from his glass. "I have no idea. Albus threw me out of the office after he was done silently lecturing me on my lapse of judgment." At this, both men snickered, memories of their time in the headmaster's office during their Marauder days flooding through their minds. Dumbledore was extremely gifted in making them pale in fear with just an innocent twinkle of his ice blue eyes.

"Poor Severus," Remus chuckled. Neither one of them wanted to imagine what the understated and powerful headmaster would have done to him. A vision of Severus being forced to eat the entire contents of a tub of sherbet lemons came to mind. After a moment, Remus gave him a more pointed look. "What about Harry? Are things back to normal?"

Sirius smiled weakly and nodded. "Yes. It's fine. The boy has impeccable timing, Moony. The minute I decide that he's too mature to need guidance from the likes of me, he goes out and pulls the most ridiculous, not to mention dangerous, stunt. I guess I'm not quite as obsolete a godfather as I was afraid I would be."

At Remus' quizzical stare, Sirius decided to elaborate.

"My sweet and innocent godson," he smirked, "took it upon himself to skive off of class Friday afternoon and then fly his broom up the side of the Astronomy tower to pelt me and my fifth year students with dungbombs!"

Remus choked on his drink and began to cough loudly, a large grin spreading across his face. Sirius shook his head mirthfully. "Not quite subtle, but it was effective. The whole room was inundated with the smell. It was a right proper mess. Then, to add insult to injury, he just about fell off the bloody broom."

Sirius didn't notice Remus sober up immediately and tilt his head to the side in thought. He just continued to ramble in an affectionate tone.

"I swear, Moony, my heart almost gave out on the spot! Fortunately, I was able to summon him to me before he could get hurt." He picked his glass back up and took another swig, shaking his head in mild irritation.

"I made sure he learned his lesson though. He spent the whole weekend grounded in his room and I had him clean up the mess he made, without magic, mind you. Poor lad was up to his elbows in dung. He had to miss the first school Hogsmeade trip too, unfortunately. I do feel a bit bad about that, but he took it very sportingly. Didn't even complain once."

Now Remus began to snicker slightly. He wondered if Sirius could truly be so very blind to not have recognized the obvious ploy on the boy's part. The entire episode was just so out of character for Harry. Surely Sirius could see that for himself?

Sirius glared at his best friend who was beginning to shake with laughter in the squashy armchair. At the irritated look on the godfather's face, Remus started laughing so hard, tears were beginning to roll down his cheeks.

"What, exactly, is so amusing, Remus?" Sirius demanded crossly. He knitted his eyebrows and Remus could almost see the steam building up in the glowering man's ears. The more perturbed he became, the harder Remus laughed.

"You've been had, Padfoot," he snickered between breaths. "I knew Harry was crafty, but he is good, very good indeed."

Sirius raised one eyebrow in agitation. "What are you trying to say?"

Remus snorted. A sound not usually heard from the normally calm and implacable former professor. "What do you think I'm trying to say?"

Sirius continued to glare at the graying werewolf for a minute before shooting him a disbelieving look. "No. Absolutely not. Are you going daft, old man? Why on Earth would Harry intentionally get himself into trouble?"

Remus smiled indulgently at the bewildered godfather. "Oh, I don't know, Sirius. Maybe to see if his godfather was going to bother to keep raising him or not? You have only been on the job for four months, you lazy thing. Did you honestly think that you were done? Or were you just so good at it that Harry only needed a few months of what other boys need for years?"

Sirius' eyes widened for a moment and then he started to shake his head in disbelief. "No. I don't buy it. Harry was just getting into mischief because he thought I wouldn't say anything about it. It's every fourteen year old's dream come true."

Remus laughed at him, a look of melancholy in his topaz eyes. "Not your fourteen year old's dream, Sirius," he said sadly. "He had three years at Hogwarts to get into that kind of mischief without having to worry about any real consequences, but he's never done anything like this before, has he?"

Seeing his friend truly fail to comprehend, he elaborated. "This is Harry we're talking about. The boy who, although prone to trouble, is so inexperienced in the art of pranking that I was seriously considering doing a paternity spell to confirm that he really is James' son."

Sirius raised one eyebrow in disbelief. Remus could tell that he wasn't convinced.

"Falling off his broom, Sirius? Really? The youngest Seeker in a century? Where there any dementors around? The boy could fly before he could walk. Merlin's malted milkballs, Sirius, you bought him the ruddy toddler's broom as well as the Firebolt that he flies better than a professional Quidditch player."

Slowly, a look of incredulous realization began to dawn on Sirius' face. Of course Remus was right. Why hadn't he realized it before? Sirius had seen Harry do acrobatics on his broom, that had made his godfather's heart jump into his throat, without faltering for a second. He wasn't the type that would lose his balance just from sitting in the air while using his wand to throw dungbombs. Remus smiled softly as his friend finally got the full picture.

"You're a good father, Padfoot. I think this was just Harry's little way of telling you that, at a time when you didn't believe it yourself," he added kindly.

Sirius felt himself having to swallow against an enormous lump in his throat, his eyes starting to mist a little. With enormous effort, he managed to stop himself from sprinting off to the Gryffindor common room and engulfing his godson in a bone crushing hug. "Well," he said in a choked voice, "imagine that."

"Imagine that," Remus echoed, looking fondly at his dearest friend. Sirius Black was never one who suffered from any kind of insecurity about anything, until he became a parent. Who would have thought?

The two men sat in companionable silence and slowly sipped the remaining whiskey from their glasses. Finally, after Sirius had drained the last drop from the heavy tumbler, he leaned over and tossed the empty crystal onto the coffee table in front of him with a loud thunk! Clasping his hands together as he rested his elbows on his knees, he gave Remus a pointed look.

"Alright then, what did you find out about Alastor?"

**************************

Harry looked across the table in the common room and stared as Ron and Hermione bickered quietly over her notes from their latest Charms class. As usual, Ron was attempting to wheedle the whip smart girl into helping the two less scholarly Gryffindor boys with their assignment. Harry wasn't really paying attention to the argument. He was focusing his attention on Ron and trying to make sense out of his uncharacteristic anger towards his best friend.

He kept trying to tell himself that he should be grateful for all of the times that Ron had willingly shared the entire Weasley family with him. It was at the Burrow that Harry had finally had his first real taste of being included and cared for. Uncomfortably, he thought about what had happened over the last weekend. He had been upset to see Ron and Sirius walking together, laughing, while Sirius had his arm around Ron's shoulders. But later, at tea, Sirius had acted like he always did, treating Harry like he was the only thing that mattered in the world.

Harry knew that he should not have felt so smug about that. It was too much like the way Dudley had acted towards him regarding Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. He couldn't help himself, though. Finally having a parent of his own, he found himself very unwilling to share his godfather's attention with anybody. And truthfully, if it had just been the Hogsmeade trip, Harry could have seen himself getting over any feelings of jealousy very quickly. After all, he had knowingly pulled the prank that got him in trouble in the first place, so it was really his fault that he couldn't be there to join either his godfather or his best friend during the outing. It's not as if they purposefully went off without him.

However, just as he was feeling a little better about things, he had been abruptly reminded of the Sunday afternoon room cleaning/treasure hunt that he was meant to be doing with Ron. Apparently, Ron had stopped by Sirius' quarters to check and see if he was still supposed to be working that afternoon. Sirius had not made it clear to him while they were talking on Saturday. So, Harry had been surprised and more than a little upset when his godfather had come into his room to tell him that he and Ron would be working downstairs together for a while.

Although Harry knew that his punishment meant that he had to stay in his room all day, and Sirius would be out in the living room preparing lesson plans and not doing anything with him, it hurt more than a little to know that they would be spending time together while Harry would be all alone. Harry had tried to remind himself that he knew the consequences when he pulled the prank, but he felt a bit abandoned and it stung him more than he would have thought possible. He had too much pride to make a fuss, so he just bit his tongue and didn't complain. To his credit, he didn't even think about levelling any blame at Sirius, taking full responsibility for his own choices.

Harry didn't know that Sirius didn't want to deny Ron the chance to earn Hermione's bracelet, so he had agreed to spend a couple of hours with the redhead in the next room on the list. When he told his godson what he was doing, Harry had given no indication that he was bothered by it, so he didn't give the matter a second thought.

That had been irritating enough for the fourteen year old. However, he had been given another one of Snape's 'detentions' on Tuesday and it had been extremely taxing on him. Snape was upping the level of invasion attempts and it was becoming increasingly harder for Harry to fight them off. After two hours of a mental beating from the snarky professor who, unbeknownst to the boy, was still smarting from the unholy reprimand the headmaster had given him over the whole issue with Sirius, Harry left the classroom in an extremely sour mood.

In need of some sympathy and, okay...okay, probably a hug or two from his godfather, Harry had trudged up to the Astronomy tower instead of returning to the Gryffindor dorm. When he arrived, Sirius wasn't in his quarters, even though the hour was drawing quite late in the evening. On a hunch, Harry sprinted up the stairs to his classroom, coming to an abrupt halt when he heard voices coming from inside.

Edging his way towards the door as silently as he could, he was gobsmacked by the sight of his godfather and best friend working on a large model of Orion's Belt. They were laughing, drinking butterbeer and making a rather large mess. Wounded, and feeling left out again, Harry had slunk silently back down the stairs. When he arrived in the Gryffindor dorm, he had gone straight to his bed and drawn the curtains, refusing to speak to any of the other boys in the room.

What he didn't know was that Sirius and Ron had agreed that the nights that Harry had his special 'detentions' would be the best time for Ron to assist Sirius with his lesson preparations. Since Harry was going to be busy anyway, he wouldn't have the free time to spend with either one of them. Both of them mistakenly assumed that the other had told Harry about the new arrangement. As Harry had made it perfectly clear that he no longer feared the lessons with Snape and didn't want Sirius monitoring them, just in case there was another clash of personalities, Sirius never thought that Harry would come looking for him after they were over unless there was trouble. And, if there was, he certainly never thought that his godson would just slink away instead of telling him about it.

Now, as Harry glared across the table at his best friend, he choked back a harsh accusation. As much as the growing closeness between Sirius and Ron bothered him, he fought to convince himself that it was his turn to be generous with family.

**********

"Everyone I have spoken to agrees, Sirius. Alastor was fine until a month or so ago," Remus declared sadly. He had just finished explaining the multiple conversations he had been part of since beginning the hushed inquiry into the former auror. "You know that he has never been the most open of fellows with his personal life but, even still, he apparently has not been himself. Spiked levels of paranoia, even by his standards, short tempered, forgetful. A few think he may be becoming a danger to himself."

Sirius sat back against the padding of the sofa and exhaled deeply. This was the news that he had been dreading to hear. He raised his right hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, tightly closing his eyes. He did not want to be the one that would be responsible for putting a black mark against his old mentor's formerly respectable record of service.

"Do you think we should speak to Albus?" Remus asked gently. He knew how much Sirius had respected his mentor. He couldn't imagine the difficulty his friend must be having in absorbing the troublesome and comfortless news he had been forced to deliver.

"I don't know, Moony," Sirius responded softly, sighing as he fell further into the soft cushions. "He hasn't done anything harmful since that little demonstration. Actually, the students seem to like his classes. Maybe, as long as I can keep an eye on him, teaching is the best thing for him right now. I'm beginning to wonder whether or not Albus already knew this and that is why he made the offer in the first place. I thought it was just for Harry's benefit, but now, I'm not so sure."

Remus nodded slightly and stood, crossing the room with the two discarded glasses and refilling them from the bottle still resting on the shelf. With a weary stride, he returned to the sitting area and nudged one into his friend's hand. Normally, Remus was not the type of man who drank two glasses of whiskey in one night, but it was such a sad and tired night. Alastor Moody was the stuff of legends in the auror world. It hurt to see someone of his stature start to fall by the wayside.

"We can always just keep an eye on him, Padfoot. Maybe, it would help just to try and keep him from any unnecessary embarrassment. I'll try to come by as much as I can to help out when you aren't able. I've already spoken to Albus about enduring my transformations in the Forbidden Forest instead of my house. He agrees with you that it is a safer solution all around if you are with me during the full moons."

At this new information, Sirius sat up a little more and smiled widely. It had taken forever to convince Remus to come back to Hogwarts, even on a limited basis. He had left his much needed teaching position at the end of the last term after nearly forgetting his potion within snarling distance of hundreds of sleeping children. Sirius knew that he still had nightmares about what could have happened to both of them had not Snape come in search of them. As loathe as they usually were to talk about it, the subject of their adolescent torment was responsible for saving Remus from execution by the Ministry and Sirius from the Dementor's Kiss.

"I'm very glad to hear it, old man," Sirius answered affectionately. "I've long missed our moonlight romps in the woods." His face became melancholy at the memories and neither man spoke as they silently remembered the two others that would never join them again.

***************************

"Harry!"

Harry turned around and saw his smiling godfather coming towards them. The trio had just finished their last class of the day and were on their way back to the dorms to unload their books before heading off for dinner. He looked at Sirius quizzically, wondering what he wanted. Harry was due to meet him for the 'family dinner' in just under half an hour anyway. Was there something wrong?

He stood and waited, motioning for Ron and Hermione to stay as well. Sirius didn't look upset so he figured that it, whatever it was, was not too sensitive a matter for them to hear.

"Is everything okay, Sirius?" he asked, a bit concerned. His response was a large grin on the man's handsome face as he caught up to them and nodded greetings at Harry's friends. He reached over and ruffled Harry's short hair affectionately.

"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to catch you before you went to your dorm. I want you to put on some of your casual clothes and meet me at the front door in fifteen minutes, okay?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow, intrigued by the unusual request. Not that he wasn't delighted by the change of plans. Yesterday, during dinner, Sirius had made it very clear that Harry was to stay in their quarters after dinner this evening and study for his upcoming Transfiguration exam. At Sirius' request, given Harry's extra tutoring, Minerva was adding ten extra questions to his exam and Sirius wanted his godson to be well prepared for it.

"Why?" he asked, pleased, but puzzled.

Sirius draped an arm around his shoulders, his eyes dancing with mischief. Harry loved to see his godfather acting this carefree. Sometimes, especially lately, Sirius acted just too...well, serious.

"Because, my dearest godchild, I think you and I need an evening out and I'm getting bored with the spices in the Hogwarts' kitchens. I'm taking you into Muggle London tonight and we are going to eat the hottest curry we can find and see a movie. Would you like that?"

Harry's eyes popped wide and he beamed from ear to ear. "Absolutely!" He couldn't think of anything he would rather do with his brilliant godfather than what the man had suggested. Belatedly, he frowned a bit as he remembered what the original plans were supposed to be. "But, I thought I had to study for my exam tonight?"

Sirius gave him a small smile and tightened his grip. "I think you'll do just fine, won't you? I know you were studying very hard last weekend and you had all the answers right when I was quizzing you. I think we both deserve a fun night out together." His heart warmed at the sight of his godson's appreciative smile and then he looked apologetically at the other two Gryffindors. "I'm sorry, you two. I'm not allowed to take you with us. Professor McGonagall barely consented to let me sign Harry out, and he's my kid."

Sirius glanced down at Harry as he said the last few words and saw Harry blush from what he hoped was happiness at the endearment. He was pretty sure he was right as he had felt Harry lean into him a bit more right after he said it. Damning the potential for embarrassment, he leaned over and kissed the top of Harry's head.

"Go on now, then. Get ready. I want to take off as soon as we can."

Harry nodded and reluctantly left his godfather's half embrace. Sirius watched the three start to walk off, before calling over to Harry. "Bring a warm jacket, young man. It's going to be cool out tonight!" Harry smirked, pleased with the concern, and waved his acknowledgement as they continued to scurry off.

Sirius watched his godson's departure with great fondness in his heart. Remus' talk had left him emotionally filled with deep love for the boy. Harry had allowed himself to be sternly chastised just to prove how much he needed his godfather. He was such a warm hearted child and Sirius often felt that he was not worthy of Harry and his innate goodness. He shouldn't be surprised.

Although James was a very good man, a good friend, Lily had enough love inside of her to give to the entire world. It had not surprised Sirius to have found out that, even in death, Lily had loved enough to bestow the most potent ancient magical protection on her son. In many ways, Harry was just like his father, but when it came to love, he was his mother's child.

All day long, Sirius had been eager to spend some quality time with his godson. He felt so wretchedly guilty for punishing Harry when he had only done what he did for Sirius' sake. He couldn't take it back, but he could try to make up for it. A night out, just the two of them doing something out of the ordinary, was just the ticket, he had decided.

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius had changed his clothes as well, looking handsome enough to make every muggle female in London swoon, and he was already waiting at the large wooden castle doors when Harry came trotting down the corridor. He greeted his godson, noting with approval the medium weight coat he had draped over his arm and they took off down the path towards the gates.

"So, what's the special occasion?" Harry asked, as he bounced excitedly next to his godfather's long elegant strides. He didn't want to spoil the evening by admitting to Sirius that he had never been to the movies before. The Dursleys had never permitted him to join them on their outings.

"Oh," his godfather sighed, "I was just visiting with Remus last night. I told him about your foray into the Marauder world last week," he answered, nonchalantly. "I missed spending time with you last weekend. Especially seeing as you could have gravely injured yourself. I was worried."

He looked down at his godson, who was pointedly looking in the other direction. He stopped his stride and took Harry gently by the shoulders. "I told him how my heart almost stopped beating when you just about fell off your broom." At this, Harry's young face developed a very guilty look. "Of course, Remus assured me that you are as likely to fall off of your broom from just sitting on it, as Dumbledore becoming a Death Eater." He cupped Harry's face with his hand and gave his godson a soft meaningful look. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Harry stared up at his godfather's apologetic face and clearly understood the double meaning of his last words. Silently, he wrapped his arms around Sirius' waist and held him tightly. They both knew what had happened now, but they wouldn't speak of it further.

It was done.

*************

Exhausted, the two of them slowly trudged up the hill towards the castle. Harry was still feeling a bit queasy from the apparition. He really didn't care for the mode of travel and decided right then and there that he would choose to fly his broom as an adult whenever it was feasibly possible.

As they walked on, every now and then he would pick a kernel of popcorn out of the bag that he still carried and throw it up in the air, attempting to catch it in his mouth. More times that not, unfortunately, he missed. He didn't care. He was enjoying spending time with Sirius, just the two of them.

"I'm not sure I cared for the movie," Sirius observed, a bit disappointed. "When I read that the title was 'Interview with the Vampire', I was expecting actual interviews. I had been hoping that they might have managed to get a hold of my old mate, Sanguini. He was always a glory hog for parties and celebrity. I'm sure he would have loved to have been in their movie."

Harry snorted and missed another kernel. "I thought it was brilliant," he said, truthfully. It wouldn't have mattered what film was playing. It was his first and he saw it with his godfather. Even though he had practically choked on his chicken vindaloo at dinner, the spices being so strong that he had to gulp down all the water in his glass and in Sirius' after taking too big a bite, he had enjoyed every minute of their evening together.

Sirius lifted an eyebrow and gave his godson a disbelieving look. "I question your taste in cinema, Harry James. I guess I'll have to take you more often so you can broaden your horizons a little, okay?"

Harry looked up at him and gave him a soft smile. "Okay."

He threw another piece of popcorn up in the air and was just about to dash after it, when he was practically knocked over by the large black behemoth that reached it first and swallowed it down, looking as triumphant as an enormous dog can.

"Padfoot! Not fair!" he called, good naturedly as he raced his godfather to the castle doors.

**************************

Back in the musty foul smelling room, Harry's stomach churned. The vision flickered in and out of focus as his subconscious mind fought to escape the hellish pull. Vaguely, he saw the small shape stirring in the middle of the molding chair.

"Is it done, servant?" it hissed, menacingly.

Struggling to free himself, Harry could barely see the blurring figure prostrate on the floor. "Almost, my master. Almost," it whimpered pitifully.

Grunting from the exertion, Harry had just about pulled himself away when he was stopped short.

"Almost isn't good enough, servant. Crucio!"

Harry felt the pain immediately and finally disengaged himself. Bolting up in his bed, covered in sweat, he screamed.

It took him a minute to recognize his surroundings. He was in his bed, in the Gryffindor dorm room. His scarlet bed hangings were closed as usual. Under Sirius' advice, he had begun to cast a silencing charm around himself before going to sleep so that he would not wake the other boys during a nightmare. This was the first one he had suffered since arriving back at school.

As he struggled to calm his breathing, he became aware of the dull ache in his head as well as the burning bolts of pain shooting through his arms and legs. He shivered from his sweat soaked t-shirt and the lingering discomfort.

All in all, he was feeling just miserable. Still a bit sick from his dinner out, now compounded monumentally by the aftereffects of one of the bad night terrors, he wanted to be in the comfort of his godfather's quarters. He knew he would not get back to sleep on his own tonight. Just being a few doors down from Sirius made him feel safe. Besides which, he knew that his protective godfather would want to know about the nightmare immediately. He had told him as much at the beginning of term.

Still struggling against the aftershocks, he wasn't thinking clearly as he fumbled to put his glasses on and then staggered out of the room. The other boys, having not been awoken by any noises, still slumbered on unawares.

Stumbling out into the corridors, he realized he had made a huge mistake in leaving his wand behind. Not only was it pitch black in the corridors at this hour, but Sirius would surely have some very stern words to say about going out unprotected. He pushed back the concern and ambled forward as best as he could. Holding out his right hand to feel his way along the cold stone walls, he tripped on a crack in the floor and fell to his knees.

"Bugger!" he grunted, feeling his left ankle turn a bit too harshly to the side. Still shivering in his damp shirt, he rubbed his ankle furiously as he prepared to get back up and hobble to the Astronomy tower entrance. A dull throb of pain pressed against his scar again, reminding him of his nightmare and he reached up a cool palm to soothe it for a moment. His eyes closed as he attempted to feel some small relief, he didn't see the light coming towards him until he heard the unmistakable sneer.

"Potter! What in Merlin's name are you doing out at this time of night?"

Harry sighed. He knew that voice. He unwillingly opened his eyes and was temporarily blinded by the lumos light of the man's wand.

"Please, Professor. I need to see Sirius," he said, quietly.

Snape looked down at the shivering black haired mess on the ground. Potter didn't usually sound so tired and forlorn, especially when caught in the act of being out after hours. The boy also looked terrible and, seeing as how Snape himself was walking the corridors because of a discomforting itching of his left arm, he immediately knew what the trouble was. Promising himself to give the boy a heated lecture about keeping his guard up when he was recovered, he silently muttered a spell and a large silvery object shot out of his wand. Bending down, he hoisted Potter up to his feet and began to half drag the boy toward his godfather's residence.

By the time they were halfway up the spiraling staircase, Sirius had flung open his door and was shooting down to meet them. Frantic with worry, he pulled Harry away from Snape's arms and crushed the boy to his chest. He threw Snape a genuine look of appreciation. "Thank you, Severus," he said, breathlessly. Snape gave him a curt nod and spun around, retreating as quickly as he had come.

Harry leaned contentedly against his godfather, soothed by the vibration of Sirius' heart beating in his chest. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"Are you hurt?" Sirius demanded, his voice trembling with concern. He panicked slightly when he felt Harry nodding.

"I twisted my ankle, I think," the boy said tiredly, exhausted again now that he was with his godfather. Sirius bent his head down and saw that Harry was barefoot, his left ankle swelling painfully.

Easily, he lifted his small framed godson off of his feet and cradled him tightly. "Okay, little one. I've got you," he replied, shakily.

Carrying his precious bundle up the rest of the way, he took Harry inside his quarters to give him a father's comfort.

************