A/N: Sorry if anyone would have preferred this to be an update on one of my WIPs, but I'm very excited about this new fic and excited to be back writing in the Harry Potter genre nearly 13 years after I posted my very first fic here - which was a Harry Potter one!

Harry and Sirius Godfathery stuff is some of my absolute fave fic and I've loved this idea for years before finally getting around to writing it. Was originally going to be a very long one-shot but it's grown into a few chapters so buckle in! Also cross posted at Ao3.

The Letter

Dear Sirius Black,

Sorry to bother you. My name is Harry Potter. I think you might have known my parents.

I found an old letter from my mum to my Aunt Petunia when I was cleaning upstairs. She wrote two names in it. One was James Potter. I think that was my dad. The other name was you.

I didn't understand some of the letter but it sounds like you were friends with my parents and liked them a lot. I know it was a long time ago because I am 6 now and they have been dead since I was 1. So I am sorry to bother you now.

But if you can remember them please can you tell me about them? I don't know anyone else I can ask so even if you don't get my letter or don't remember them or don't want to write back to me it's okay. I just wanted to try.

I really miss them and I wish I knew things about them. Even if you can only remember a little thing that you think is boring I want to know it. I'm not allowed to ask my aunt and uncle about them. The only time they talk about them is when they say my dad was a drunk. Was he a drunk?

I think about my mum and dad every day. Anything you can think of would be great. I said this already but I really miss them. It's the main thing I think about almost all the time.

Sorry again for bothering you.

Best wishes,

Harry Potter

Harry was pleased with his letter. He wasn't the best at English or writing but he was very good for his age when he wasn't pretending to be worse than Dudley and the letter said everything he wanted to say and he'd triple checked his spelling and grammar and done his neatest handwriting. He slipped it into the envelope the school receptionist had given him and turned it over to write " Sirius Black " on the front.

Harry paused in dismay. How would he know what address to send the letter to? He realised with a sinking feeling he had no idea how to find out Sirius Black's contact information. For all he knew Sirius Black could have died by now like his parents or live somewhere far away now or something equally unhelpful.

Harry considered his predicament, watching Dudley wrestle Anthony Albright on the school field from the safe vantage point of the bench. As Harry pondered, a large brown owl swooped low over his head and landed directly next to his arm, where it rested on the bench.

Harry had never seen an owl up close before. He'd definitely never seen one in his school playground before; especially not in the middle of the day.

The owl blinked calmly at Harry, eyeing him with patient curiosity. Owls were much bigger up close. Just as Harry was wondering what the owl was doing in his school, it darted forward and plucked Sirius Black's letter from his hands with its beak.

"Hey!" Harry called at the owl, "Give that back!"

He stretched after the owl, trying to grab his letter back. But with a shake of its large wings the owl took off into the air, sailing over the roof of Harry's school and out of sight.

How unfair! That owl had stolen his letter! Did owls eat post? Harry couldn't remember hearing that before and it seemed like the kind of fact one would remember. Maybe the owl was like Dudley and could sense that it could just take Harry's things if it wanted to.

Harry's disbelief and surprise at the presumptuous owl turned to even more dismay as he realised that before he could even get back to the problem of finding out Sirius Black's address, he'd have to write a replacement letter and get another envelope from the receptionist.

Harry tore another sheet of lined paper from his workbook and set to work with his arm protectively around the paper, keeping a cautious eye out for any more thieving owls.

Just a day later, before he had even finished the new letter, Harry was surprised to see the very same owl coming swooping back to him as he sat back on his heels to have a bite of his sandwich while weeding his Aunt's begonias.

At first it seemed the owl might have had a change of heart and brought back the letter it had stolen. But when he took the envelope from its beak, Harry noticed "Sirius Black" had been crossed out and below it was scrawled "Harry Potter"…

More A/N: What do you think? Fun idea? Want more? I have this story very well planned out, just need to do a bit of editing and tweaking, so updates should be very regular.

Also, I may be taking liberties with a six year old's intelligence - I don't really know how clever and articulate one would be. If Harry's a bit advanced for his age let's go with it for the sake of the story. :)