Note: While third person, this chapter includes Sirius's point of view on occasion.

Harry woke up the next day in the arms of a familiar figure, and it took him a few moments to recall why his godfather was sleeping next to him.

After feeling rather embarrassed for another moment or so, he decided that as Sirius had made the choice to stay with him, it wasn't really worth feeling awkward over. Anyway, Harry noted as he tried to move over, only to have Sirius' arms follow him and tighten their hold upon his side, he was clearly stuck like this for the time being.

It's a good thing, he mused, grinning to himself, that I don't need to use the toilet.

At that, he rested his head against his godfather's shoulder once more, which must have been how he'd slept for the last several hours. Sirius let out a noise that could only be described as a snore, and Harry managed not to snicker.

His thoughts turned back to his nightmare, which was still painful, but less haunting in early morning hours. Was that why they were called nightmares?

Not that the mere idea of losing Sirius didn't fill Harry with a powerful ache. He'd gone with his friends to the Department of Mysteries to avoid this, and nearly caused Sirius's death as a result. If Dumbledore hadn't shown up...

Looking back, Harry felt that, while it had been a reckless move on his part, and certainly a mistake to trust those visions from Voldemort, it also hadn't been a complete waste. Now, after all, Fudge couldn't deny the return of Voldemort. Harry grinned to himself as he thought that the minister probably be sacked, just like that toad Umbridge had lost her job at Hogwarts. He shouldn't have been surprised to hear the second bit of news. Of course, the way the position was cursed, she would have been gone by the end of the year either way.

As Harry lay in Sirius' arms, nearly as immobilized as if he'd been under the Petrificus Totalus charm, he began to wonder who the next teacher for his best class would be. Surely, though, Dumbledore would find someone, without having to resort to another idiot from the Ministry of Magic. Anyway, if Fudge got sacked, likely as not, they wouldn't have someone as evil as Umbridge.

Feeling very warm between the blankets and the weight of his godfather's arms around him, Harry found himself beginning to drift off again...

When Sirius woke up, hours after he'd first awoken in the middle of the night, it was to see his godson still sleeping, curled up against him as though he was five instead of fifteen. Not that he minded, having been the one to insist on staying with the boy. True, the bed wasn't quite as comfortable as the one in the guest room, and certainly nowhere near as the one at his childhood home. He could hardly complain after spending over a decade in a small cell in Azkaban, and another couple of years on the streets, usually in his animagus form. Even when he resumed his human form on occasion, he always slept as Padfoot, for warmth as well as practicality, and dogs were generally easy to please with their sleeping arrangements.

Stray ones, at any rate.

Careful not to wake him up, Sirius turned his head towards Harry, who was still sleeping soundly. He was glad. Being awoken in the middle of the night by the screams of his godson had been very frightening, even though Sirius knew that it could hardly be unexpected. He didn't know all of the details of the last year, nor any of Harry's years at school, only bits and pieces. The Sorcerer's Stone had been protected at Hogwarts during his first year, leading to a deadly encounter with Professor Quirrel, and then the Chamber of Secrets had been opened by a possessed Ginny Weasley in his second year. Being the cause of the trouble in Harry's third year, Sirius knew more about this. Then, there was the Triwizard Tournament, which Harry had handled remarkably well, leading up to the revival of Lord Voldemort at the conclusion. Yes, Sirius had been certain that someone was trying to murder Harry, but he would have bet galleons on Karkaroff or even Bagman over Barty Crouch Jr. posing as Mad Eye Moony.

Sirius hadn't known very much about Harry's fifth year, except that in addition to preparing for the O.W.L. examinations, he'd been stuck with Umbridge making his life miserable, joining up with Snape. He'd given Harry the mirror before the Occlumency lessons began as a way to communicate, but Harry had never used it. He'd never given Sirius much information about what had gone on in those lessons, only his breech into Snape's pensieve. While he didn't entirely blame Harry for looking at the memory-he and James would have done this, given half the chance-it gave Snape the excuse to quit teaching Harry. Not that he'd done much in the way of that beforehand.

Then, his near death, and the only good from that being that the wizarding world now accepted what Harry had been saying for a year: Voldemort was back. Also, he'd been there when Dumbledore had apologized and explained to Harry about the prophecy. It was a start, at least.

Sirius realized that he'd been running his hands over Harry's hair. James, being been resolved that his own hair would remain perpetually messy, had gone through a phase where he tried to make it even messier. Harry had seen this in Snape's memory. James must have grown out of that right before dating Lily.

Harry stirred, and Sirius continued to run a hand through his hair, although rather tentatively, now that his godson was awake.

"Hey, pup," he greeted, softly. "Sleep well?"

Harry's eyes opened, his face relaxed. "Yeah. Pretty well." Yawning, he tried to stretch, and Sirius loosened his remaining arm draped over the boy, allowing him free movement. "Thanks."

"No more nightmares, then?" Sirius asked, watching as Harry became more aware of his surroundings.

Harry shook his head, then looked a little sheepish. "I, er, I didn't mean to wake you, Sirius."

Sirius gave a chortle. "'Course you didn't, pup. You looked like you were still dreaming when I came in." Giving Harry's shoulder a squeeze, he asked, "You have them a lot?"

"Well, last summer, right after he first came back. Dudley could hear me yelling, but he didn't come in my room or anything. My aunt and uncle either didn't hear or didn't care." Harry shrugged. "Probably both."

The fact that Harry's relatives paid his well being so little mind didn't surprise Sirius, but it still angered him. If James and Lily were looking down on him, and he was sure they were, they must be wishing they had their wands to give Petunia and Vernon Dursley the hexing of their life.

"Lily never spoke highly of her sister, but I would have thought that she would have matured enough to raise you without letting a childhood grudge get in the way," Sirius said, not without some bitterness.

"Grudge?" Harry echoed, sitting up in bed.

"That she wasn't a witch, like your mother," Sirius explained.

"But she hates anything to do with magic," Harry protested, his eyes widening.

"It's her way of coping. Hate what you can't have, and all that." Sirius placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I suppose you bore the brunt of it."

Harry nodded, then looked away. "She hates me. All three of them."

It was very difficult for Sirius to be able to refute this, having seen a mild version of how the Dursleys treated Harry. Granted, they hadn't starved him, and probably didn't beat him (or not badly, anyway), but he'd received more love from his parents than his godson had known since his parents died.

"Dumbledore should have let me take you," he said. "I only went after Peter because I wanted revenge for him betraying your parents. I hadn't expected him to turn the tables on me like that."

"I hadn't expected him to try to escape," Harry reassured him, watching his face. "Back when we first met, I mean."

"Me neither. I should have, though. Looking back, there was so much we could have done differently that night," Sirius sighed.

He knew that Harry and Hermione had gone back in time to save him, but under the rules of time travel, they hadn't been able to trap Wormtail.

"At least, they know you're innocent. And I only have to go back to the Dursleys once more, and you'll come with me?" Harry asked.

Sirius grinned. "You're stuck with me now, kiddo. I hope you'll live with me until you get married. Then," he added, teasingly, "I'll move in with you and your wife, and babysit your kids."

Harry snickered. "That's a long way off."

"Good." Sirius hugged him. "Take your time. Then, once you find the right one, you'll know it."

Later that day, after Harry and Sirius had returned from seeing a movie, Hedwig arrived with a letter from Dumbledore. While it was addressed to both of them, Harry opened the letter, and, with a puzzled look, showed it to his godfather.

"He wants your help with an errand," Sirius mused, "and then says we should go directly to Grimmauld Place."

Harry made a face. Sirius understood. Harry likely didn't mind helping Dumbledore, or not really, even though he still felt rather annoyed by the way the headmaster had treated him with indifference over the past year.

"You don't have to help him, if you'd rather not," Sirius reassured him.

"No, I will," Harry said, hastily. "I was just thinking of you...and your old home."

Sirius was touched, and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "It won't be so bad, now. It's nearly habitable, and I won't be shut up in it," he reassured Harry.

Harry looked relieved. "And Kreacher?"

Sirius sighed. "We can't free him, and I can't control him. Perhaps, Dumbledore has a way to silence him without killing him."

Harry nodded. "If I didn't know Dobby and Winky..."

"Serving the Malfoy family, it's rather a wonder that Dobby turned out as good as he did." Sirius shrugged. "But, he was all too glad to be freed. There's an oddball everywhere, I suppose."

Harry grinned. "Yeah, and he's a lot better now that he's not trying to save my life."

"Trying to save your life?" Sirius repeated.

Sitting down on Harry's bed, Harry began to tell him about his second year at Hogwarts.

A/N: Short chapter, I know. I had a better version written out, but I typed the wrong key on my computer, and it completely disappeared. I expect that the next chapter will feature more "catch up" between Harry and Sirius. As close as they were in the series, I don't think Harry ever told him what went on each year before they met.