Chapter 2. Harry's Visit

Harry was three years old now. He had had his birthday just two weeks ago. Sirius had given him a toy broom, several stuffed animals (or "aminals", as Harry called them), a play wand, some candy, and lots of hugs and kisses. He had made Harry a small chocolate cake that said, "Harry Birthday, Harry" in green icing. The cake had been too big for them to eat all at once, so some of it was still in Sirius' refrigerator. When Harry had asked why it wasn't downstairs in the kitchen, Sirius had explained that his aunt and uncle would eat it up.

Harry didn't like his aunt or uncle very much. They were very mean and always told him that he was a bad boy. They had one son, whose name was Dudley. Dudley was Harry's cousin, and he only wanted to do three things in life; eat food, hit Harry, and watch TV. His parents did not have a problem with any of those activities, but Sirius had put his foot down about hitting Harry. Harry didn't like his cousin, Dudley, for these reasons, but Sirius told him that he should just ignore his cousin.

Dudley was only a month older than Harry, but he looked much bigger. Once, Sirius had read Harry a book about trolls. After he was finished, Harry had asked Sirius, quite innocently, if Dudley was a troll.

He still did not understand why Sirius started laughing so hard when Harry asked that.

Harry knew that he did not always live with Sirius. A long, long time ago, he had a mummy and a daddy. They were gone. Harry did not remember them very much, but he thought that he must have been happy there, because he did not have bad dreams about them at night.

After his mummy and daddy went away, Harry had to live with his aunt and uncle. They were supposed to raise him and be very kind to him, but they were bad people and didn't want to have another boy to take care of. They hit Harry and made him sleep in a tiny, cold cupboard. Harry got sick because they never changed his diapers or gave him baths, but when he cried, they just hit him. Sirius told Harry that he knew that the Dursleys were bad people, so he tried to find a way to get them away from Harry.

It didn't work. Harry was still with the Dursleys. But, now, Sirius lived with them as well. Now, Harry had a bedroom instead of a cupboard. So did Sirius. Sirius took care of Harry. Harry thought that Sirius was much nicer than his aunt and uncle. Sirius never hit him. Sirius hugged him a lot. Sirius told Harry that he loved him at least twice every day, and usually much, much more. The Dursleys never told Harry that they loved him. He didn't think that they did, or even liked him a little.

Sirius had told Harry about how he had taken the Dursleys to court because they were mean to him. Harry did not remember this, but he did remember the day that Sirius had hugged him for the first time. It had been strange; he hadn't been held that closely in a very long time. That night, Sirius had given Harry a warm bath and Harry had been able to sleep in a real bedroom, not the cupboard.

Harry had been very happy since then.

Sometimes, though, Harry had nightmares. Most of the time, they were of Uncle Vernon hitting him with a stick. Sometimes, Dudley tried to suffocate Harry, just like he had done before. Harry would wake up, then, and start crying. Sirius would come in and hold him. Sirius would tell Harry that he was safe now and that his aunt and uncle couldn't hurt him.

Every once in awhile, though, Harry had a much scarier dream than those. He dreamed that there was a scary man laughing in a very mean way. He heard screaming in the background. Then, there was a lot of green light. The dream was always like this.

Sirius did not know what to do when this happened. He told Harry that he was having a bad dream, but never told him anything else. Much later, Harry would learn that he had been dreaming about when Lord Voldemort had murdered his parents; in particular, his mum. Sirius did not lie to Harry when he had those dreams, but he never told him about Voldemort or his parents. Sirius also never told Harry that his parents had been murdered. He just said they were gone, and somehow, Harry knew that they would not be back.

Harry's dreams were not all bad. Sometimes, he dreamed that he was playing with a huge dog who he called Paddy. The dog was much bigger than Harry, but he was very gentle. His fur was soft, too. Harry knew that it was only a dream, but sometimes, after he had a nightmare and was drifting off to sleep, he thought that he could feel fur brush against his face. He thought that it could not just be the blankets that were keeping his feet so warm.

Harry never saw the dog during the day. But it seemed as though it was always the same at night.

Harry lay in bed one morning, thinking about this. It was so nice outside. Sirius had moved his bed so that it was on the same side as the window, and the sunlight poured in through it. Harry loved to stare outside at the sky, imagining what shapes the clouds were.

It was very early. Harry always woke up early because Sirius made him go to bed at 7:30 every day. He said that Harry needed to sleep a lot because he was so young and tiny. Harry liked being in his bed…it was so much different from the hard cot that the Dursleys made him sleep on in the cupboard. Harry's mattress was very soft and his blankets and sheets were extremely comfortable. The only problem was that Harry had a pretty good idea that Sirius did not go to bed when he did. As a result, Sirius was more tired in the morning and needed more beauty sleep.

Or maybe it was because he needed more beauty sleep anyway.

Harry giggled at the thought. He better not say that to Sirius. He'd get tickled.

Harry didn't know how to tell time, but Sirius said that he woke up at 8:30 every morning. Harry didn't think this was quite true because Vernon needed to leave the house before 9:00 to get to his job, and Sirius was usually sleeping then.

It was partly because of that that Sirius had a fridge in his room. In theory, Harry could open it and get some food without having to face his relatives when Sirius decided to sleep in. In practice, Harry could barely reach the door and usually just woke Sirius up, pulling on his pajamas and exclaiming that he was hungry.

Today, however, Harry was too busy studying the clouds to wake his godfather up. He thought he could look at them for hours, imagining what kinds of shapes they could be. There was a bunny rabbit! And over there, that was a car!

Harry was so intent that he didn't hear his godfather enter the room. He barely noticed when Sirius cleared his throat.

He did, however, notice when a pair of hands landed over his eyes and a voice said in a pretend scary way, "Guess who!"

"Siri!" Harry giggled, reaching for the hands. As he regained his sight, he saw that Sirius had crawled into his bed and Harry scrambled onto his lap.

Sirius was still wearing his pajamas, but he had a soft, yellow bathrobe on over them. It was Harry's favorite one. It was extremely soft. Sirius explained that this was because it had been washed so many times, which Harry hadn't understood. How could soap make things softer? Sirius hadn't tried to explain to Harry about fabric softener.

"I love you," Harry announced, pulling Sirius' arms so that they draped over his stomach, rather like a shawl.

He examined Sirius' fingers. They were so much bigger than Harry's, at least three times as big. Harry wondered if his fingers would ever be that large. They were also a little darker than Harry's were. On his arms was some hair that, Sirius had explained, men get when they get older. The hair reminded Harry of a dog, but it wasn't as soft as the dog in his dreams.

Sirius kissed Harry on the cheeks. "I love you, too, Snitchy," he replied.

"Your face tickles," Harry noted, still examining Sirius' hands (namely, pulling at the hairs on his godfather's hand as though checking to see if they would come off).

"I know, I didn't shave in a few days."

"Huh?"

"When boys get to be really big, hair grows between their nose and their mouth. That's called a moustache."

Harry frowned. "My uncle has one. It's huge."

"I'm thinking of letting mine grow in," Sirius explained. "But not as much as his."

Harry shook his head violently. "No! You can't!" he exclaimed.

He must have sounded very upset, because Sirius immediately started soothing him. "I won't become your uncle," he murmured.

Harry shook his head. "It will tickle me. You tickle me too much already," he explained.

"Me?" Sirius turned so that his head was facing Harry's. Not the most comfortable position in the world, but he didn't want to make Harry leave his lap. "When do I ever tickle you?"

Harry made a face. "All the time," he informed Sirius.

Sirius snickered. It was true that he had never used the tickling hex on Harry, and didn't plan to until the tiny boy was much, much older and more able to face the intense tickling the hex caused, but he was certainly dangerous without magic.

Of course, so was Harry. After all, Sirius was not quite as ticklish as Harry was (perhaps he had been at one point, but he had never found out until he met his Uncle Alphard; his mum always despised those "ridiculous physical displays"), but under his arms and under his neck were still dangerous areas, and Harry often aimed there when Sirius began a tickle attack.

Mostly, Harry was too tiny to reach there, but he was usually quite determined and had accidental magic on his side.

"Wait," Harry ordered suddenly, and scrambled up from Sirius' lap. He grabbed a blanket from his bed, wrapped it around himself, and then resumed his original position.

Sirius kissed him again. "Cold, puppy?" he asked as he straightened out the blanket so it covered all of Harry.

"No. Comfy," Harry explained, placing his head on Sirius' right arm.

"Very," Sirius agreed, brushing his face against Harry's. His cheeks were so soft, and his eyes were beautiful and enormous…how could anyone not love this little boy? "Do you know what today is?"

"Um…Monday?" Harry guessed.

"Yesterday was Wednesday. So, today is…"

"Tuesday!" Harry announced proudly.

"Very, very close, puppy. Today is Thursday."

"Thursday," Harry repeated.

"Do you know what we're going to do today?" Sirius questioned. He had told Harry about it a few times in the past week, but Sirius wasn't sure if Harry would remember that today was the day of their trip.

"The zoo?" Harry asked, hopeful. He had never been to a zoo before, but Sirius had read him a book about animals in the zoo on his birthday. Harry knew a few of the names of animals at a zoo, and really wanted to see them.

Sirius, however, shook his head. "No, not yet," he replied. He knew it was overprotective of him, knew that muggle parents even took babies to the zoo, but he was still scared that one of the larger animals would break loose and attack Harry.

"Where?" Harry pestered, grabbing Sirius' other hand with excitement.

"We're going to visit your uncle Remus!"

"Oh." Harry grew quiet, trying to remember this uncle. "Who's he?"

"You met him last Christmas," Sirius reminded him, "but that was a long time ago."

It had been seven months ago. Remus hadn't had a lot of spare time before then; he was working at the Ministry of Magic in one of the departments for breaking curses. Sirius originally thought that there was only one, but Remus had explained that there were several, though of different levels. His was not the highest, but it wasn't the lowest either. Because of the recent invention of the Wolfsbane Potion, Remus did not need to miss work the day after a full moon, though it was hardly a pleasant experience for him. He kept his condition quiet, hidden from everyone except his boss, who knew because Remus had been forced to put down his condition as soon as he became of age.

Sirius hated that sort of thing. There was always prejudice against werewolves, but now it looked as though the Ministry was taking it to a new level. Just because some of the werewolves sides with Voldemort…after what he had promised them, could anyone really blamed the werewolves? There were a few evil ones, like Fenrir Greyback, but most of the werewolves were just misunderstood. Remus hoped that the spread of the Wolfsbane Potion would help to lessen the stereotypes, but it was very hard to brew. The ingredients were cheap enough, but it took someone skilled at potions to make this one. The Ministry provided it, out of the wages of the werewolf, for those who worked for them, but the ones that did not were left on their own.

"I don't remember him," Harry confessed. "Sorry."

He looked scared. Maybe Sirius would get angry at him, or even hit him. He had never done that before, but…

"No, it was a long time ago," Sirius reassured, giving Harry a backwards hug. "I wouldn't expect you to."

He smiled widely to show Harry that he wasn't angry, and the small child calmed down. Harry had done this several times, mostly at the beginning of Sirius' "adoption." The Dursleys' abuse didn't go away overnight. Sirius had spoken to Remus about it and Remus, himself childless, had suggested that Sirius continue with what he had been doing. Let Harry know that he wasn't angry, speak soothingly, and give him lots of hugs. So far, the plan was working, but Sirius wondered what he would do if Harry ever started to seriously misbehave. Oh, Harry had cried a few times and called Sirius a "Meanie poopie head" but he never had the kind of tantrum that Dudley graced Number 4, Privet Drive with on an almost daily basis.

They stayed close together for awhile, watching the clouds in the sky. Every now and then, one of them announced what they thought the cloud was.

"Oh, that's a dog!"

"No, silly, that's a pillow!"

"Okay, that's a dog, then," Sirius argued, pointing to one of the larger clouds.

"No, no, no! Bear!" Harry giggled.

After a half an hour of this, Harry's stomach started to growl and Sirius realized that they were due at Moony's in just under an hour. They scurried to get dressed and then, two bowls of cheerios and two glasses of milk later, Sirius and Harry were ready to head to Uncle Remus' house.

It was Harry's first time traveling by Floo powder. Sirius would be holding Harry in his arms during the trip. Floo powder was scary for those who weren't used to it, and Harry was only three years old. Sirius did not want to think of what could happen if he got lost…

"It's going to be very uncomfortable," Sirius warned, "but it's only for a few minutes and I'll be there the whole time. Keep your eyes and your mouth shut. You can burrow in my robes if that will help," he added.

Harry nodded, wide eyed.

"Are you ready?"

Harry nodded again.

Sirius picked up the small child with one hand and reached into the pot for some powder.

"Canis den!" he shouted as he threw the powder into the fire with one arm. As soon as it was gone, he put that arm around Harry's back, holding him even more tightly.

Harry seemed all right when they arrived at Lupin's. The back of his shirt and pants were a little sooty, but the rest of him was fine. Sirius suspected that he hadn't fared so well.

"Remus!" called Sirius, still holding Harry. "We're here!"

A thin man, just a few inches taller than Sirius, with light brown hair and an excited look on his face entered the room.

"Sirius!" he called, rushing to hug them. "And this is Harry, I assume?"

"Sure is," Sirius grinned. He put Harry down on the floor and gave his old friend a bear hug. Remus squeezed back. "It's been awhile," he whispered.

Remus nodded. "The hours are horrible."

"I can tell," Sirius laughed. Even though Remus was excited, Sirius could see the bags beneath his eyes.

"Thanks, Padfoot." Remus rolled his eyes, then turned his attention to Harry, who was looking around the room with a dazed expression. He knelt down on the floor, but even in this position, he was still significantly taller than Harry. "Hello, there, Harry," he smiled.

"H-hi," Harry whispered back. He looked Remus in the eye for a minute, and the werewolf smiled encouragingly. Seconds later, though, Harry's attention was back on Sirius.

"He's a little shy," Sirius explained, messing up Harry's hair. "But he's very sweet."

"I can tell," Moony smiled, standing up. "Would you like something to eat? I have some biscuits…"

Normally, Sirius didn't want Harry to eat sweets so early in the morning, but since this was a special occasion and he was already a little on the edge, he consented.

"I'll bring them in," Remus replied, smiling. "Do you want anything to drink? Harry? Have you had pumpkin juice yet?"

Harry shook his head. "I've had…milk, orange juice, water, and chocolate milk. Oh, and apple juice," he recalled.

"It's very good; would you like to try some?"

Harry looked at Sirius, anxious.

"It doesn't sting," Sirius answered the unspoken question. "It tastes a little like apple juice, except it's sweeter. I'm having some. Do you want to try mine and then see if you like it?"

Harry nodded shyly.

"I'll be right back," Remus promised.

After he left the room, Sirius turned his attention to Harry, who had wrapped himself around Sirius' leg. He lifted the child into his arms and headed for one of the couches.

It was pale blue and even softer than Harry's bed. In fact, it was rather long, easily long enough for Sirius to take a nap on. Sirius wondered if Remus had used magic on it. Most wizarding homes had plush chairs; couches were seen as a muggle invention. Even so, there were a few stores that carried them.

Harry hugged one of the pillows and then breathed in its scent. "It smells good," he told Sirius, showing him the pillow.

Sirius couldn't smell anything unusual, but perhaps he was used to it already.

Remus joined them before long, carrying a pitcher of pumpkin juice, some biscuits, and three glasses. Naturally, he used magic to keep the glasses in the air.

The biscuits were delicious. Sirius had never caught on about cooking, but Remus clearly had mastered it. Either that, or Sirius hadn't had biscuits in so long that anything would have tasted good to him. After all, Sirius was not a picky eater.

Harry did enjoy the pumpkin juice, but Sirius explained that he couldn't have it too often because it wasn't a muggle drink. Harry still didn't know very much about his magic, aside from the fact that he was a wizard and could make things happen accidentally, and Sirius didn't want to overburden him with information that Harry would need to keep hidden.

Harry grew less shy about Remus. Although he preferred his godfather, he seemed very content to sit in Remus' lap and listen to the werewolf tell him made up stories. Harry even fell asleep in Remus' arms at one point. The werewolf had looked surprised, but pleased, when this event occurred. He started to move Harry (what if Sirius did not like his friend giving Harry that kind of attention?), but Sirius stopped him with a smile.

"He's a light sleeper. It's time for his nap, anyway, and if you wake him up, it might be awhile before he gets back to sleep. He also gets cranky when he doesn't have his nap," Sirius added, rolling his eyes.

"Cranky?" Remus inquired, finding it hard to believe of this shy little boy.

"Yes," Sirius replied, smiling. "Rather like James, although a lot more mild, given the fact that Harry is three."

Remus snorted. "Has he used any accidental magic against you?"

"A few times, but nothing too serious. Once, he raised my bed so I couldn't get in," Sirius recalled. "I think he was tired of having to wake me."

"How late do you sleep?"

"It's really not that bad. I go to bed around ten because I like to read…I'd say I wake up around 9. Of course, Harry insists that I wake up earlier, so usually the tickle monster has to interfere."

Remus rolled his eyes. He had heard of that story shortly after it had occurred. He knew that Sirius was always gentle with Harry, but wondered if Harry enjoyed this kind of attention. Many children, after all, did not.

Then again, if Harry was truly against it, he would probably say something. Harry still tiptoed around the edges when his aunt and uncle were concerned, but he was always fairly honest with Sirius.

"He's been having those dreams again," Sirius sighed. "About Voldemort."

Moony closed his eyes. "How bad are they? What does he see? Poor kid…he's too young to be having those kinds of dreams."

"Harry dreams that he hears a man laughing cruelly and he hears screaming in the background. It's his mum, although I would never tell him this. He says that he sees a lot of green light, and then he wakes up."

"How often do these dreams occur?" Remus wondered. "If they get to be too bad, there's always the Dreamless Sleep potion, although I am not sure how well that would work on someone so young."

"They have child versions of it," Sirius reminded. "I guess those dreams are once a week. Maybe once every ten days. There is no exact pattern; it's not as though they always occur on a Monday."

Remus sighed. "You haven't told him."

It was not a question.

"All Harry knows is that his parents are gone and will not be back. He knows that I'm not his dad, but he probably sees me like a dad. I haven't told him about Voldemort and don't plan to until he is much, much older. I will not lie about his parents' deaths, though. That would be an insult to their memories. But I think I'll tell him the truth about his parents on the same day I tell him about Voldemort, since the two are connected."

"I wouldn't want to be either of you on that day," the werewolf remarked, taking a swig of pumpkin juice. "Are you going tell Harry about Peter?"

Sirius shook his head. "Maybe, when he's eleven or so, I'll tell him that Wormtail caused his parents' deaths. I don't want to tell Harry that he was their Secret Keeper. I don't think I could stand him knowing that I caused his parents' death."

"No one knew," Remus reassured Sirius, putting an arm on his shoulder. "We never suspected that it was him. You thought it might be me, for the obvious reasons, and I assumed that it was you, or someone close to us."

Sirius sighed. "At least I had the sense to tell Dumbledore that we changed Secret Keepers. If I hadn't, then I would be in Azkaban instead of that rat."

"What did happen?" Remus questioned.

"After we performed the charm, I went to Dumbledore and told him that we changed Secret Keepers. He asked if I thought this was wise, and I replied that no one would think of asking Peter, because he simply wasn't in our league. Dumbledore didn't seem entirely convinced. Less than a week later, when James and Lily died…" He stopped, too choked up to continue. "I was so stupid."

Remus shook his head. "Lily and James wouldn't blame you, Padfoot. You got Harry out of the Dursleys care, which is important. If it weren't for that, do you know what Harry's life would have been like?"

"Dumbledore insisted that Harry would remain alive if he stayed with those muggles. He didn't think that it mattered that Harry would be miserable."

"Do you really think that's fair?" Moony countered. "Blood protection matters. No Death Eater could get Harry when he was with his aunt and uncle."

Sirius sighed. "You were there. You saw the pictures. Sure, parents have done worse, but I had to get Harry out of their hands."

"You did. So stop blaming yourself." Remus' voice was firm.

Sirius managed a weak smile. He wiped a few tears away from his face.

"Harry's up," Remus noted, gazing at the little boy whose eyes had just opened.

"Have a good nap, puppy?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded. "You're upset," he noted.

Sirius didn't deny it. "Your uncle and I were just talking about some serious things."

Harry jumped out of Remus' lap and scrambled next to him to give Sirius a hug.

"Don't be sad," he ordered. "Or tickle monster will come."

Sirius managed a laugh at that. "Well, Remus, we should probably be heading home. It's nearly dinnertime."

Remus laughed. "You wouldn't be imposing. Besides, I've tasted your cooking."

Sirius grinned. "Okay, we'll stay."

"Yay!" announced Harry.

A few hours later, Harry and Sirius headed back to Privet Drive. Although he felt a little better after his talk with Moony, Sirius was a little sad to leave so soon.

Especially when Sirius' knew that the Dursleys would be waiting in Remus' absence.