Harry
cerasi
Please note:This one'sa little different.
"What do you all do in there?" Harry asked. Sirius looked at him and grinned.
"Top secret Order business, of course," he said. Harry scowled.
"What does that involve?" Harry asked, and accepted a cup of tea from Sirius, allowing it to warm his cold fingers.
"Matters that you must be overage to deal with," Sirius said, and he rested back in his chair.
Harry sighed and pulled a snitch out of his pocket. He opened his palm and waited for the thing to take flight, and then snatched it back into his hand before it could get too far. He let it go again, and snatched it back again. He let it go again, a little further this time.
Sirius watched calmly. He knew James' old tricks, and he saw them mirrored so much in Harry. And yet, this was Harry. There was something, some distinct element which Sirius could not place, that set Harry so far from his father.
"You're much better than we were," Sirius said. It was only when Harry looked up at him, shocked, that he realised he had said it aloud. Harry stared at him and waited, holding the snitch tight in his hand.
"Who?" Harry said.
"Everyone," Sirius smiled. "Come on, now. Let's go find something interesting to do. I'm nothing if not bored."
Harry stood up with a grin, and they both haphazardly tossed their tea cups in the sink, leaving them there for somebody else.
"Exploding snap?" Harry asked.
"Alright, but I warn you: I'm incredibly good at it," Sirius said.
"Cocky," Harry laughed, and they ran up the stairs, two at a time, nearly knocking over a rather shocked Remus,who thenreceived a quick kiss from Sirius as they kept on running.
"Where are you, Peter?" Sirius whispered maliciously.
He crept into the dorm room, peering about at the five four-poster beds in the room. Decisions, decisions.
He crept to the first and flinched as he saw a child who reminded him so much of a young Peter that it hurt. His face was all chubby and innocent, just like Peter's had once been. He prayed that this child would not face the same atrocities, nor make the same decisions, and his mind drifted off to Remus, whom he knew was somewhere in this huge castle, completely unaware,
He selected another bed and crept over to it. Nothing remarkable here, either. Just a sleeping boy, with posters magically clinging to the inside of his curtains, all depicting static muggle sporting teams.
Sirius chose another bed and pulled back the curtains, and his knees buckled under him and he dropped his wand and he fell, kneeling, to the floor.
He sat there, peering at the sleeping boy. His mind was lost in all sorts of memories and his breath was coming shallow, his heart beating fast.
Black hair, all massed and messy. Glasses on the bedside table, big and round like his father used to wear them. Sirius took a deep shuddering breath and reached out a hand, so gently, to touch the boy's face.
When he did, Sirius froze, for the boy's eyes cracked drowsily open and he mumbled something, looking at Sirius, before closing his eyes and rolling away. Green, so green. The eyes of his mother and the face of his father.
Sirius tore his own eyes away from his godson, sighing deeply and standing up. As he did, his eyes caught a flash of gold, and peered more closely at the boy's hand. There, resting gently in his grasp with its wings folded away, was a little golden snitch.
"Merlin," Sirius whispered, and he turned away.
Sirius walked back and forth in front of the clean-white door, rubbing a hand over his face every now and again. Each time he would stop, turn and walk back past the door, and Remus sat quietly in a chair, watching Sirius with a little trepidation.
Sirius stopped and he turned around, but before he could take another step he heard Remus quietly speaking.
"It'll be fine," Remus said.
"What if something goes wrong?" Sirius asked, his eyes pleading.
"Nothing will go wrong," Remus reassured him.
Sirius nodded but as he took a deep breath, Remus saw his body shake. His hands were plunged deep in his pockets, and yet they fidgeted. He wriggled his feet around and chewed on his lip. His hair was a mess, and that was quite possibly a first.
"Has it happened yet?" Peter called, rushing into the room all pink with hurry.
"No," Sirius whined. "We've heard nothing since they went in there. Nothing."
Just as he said this, the door cracked open and a nurse stuck her head out.
"The father said you might like to come in, now," she said.
Without answering, the three of them barged through the door and into the room, and there they all stopped and stared.
James sat in the chair beside the bed, and Lily lay allfrazzledon the bed, but smiling like they had never seen her smile before. In her hands, Sirius saw for the first time, was the tiniest little person he could ever have imagined. James stood up and Lily passed the baby over to him, and James nodded Sirius over.
"Hold him," James said. Sirius looked up shocked and then down to the tiny child that was being passed over to his hands.
"What- uh… name?" Sirius stuttered out.
"Harry," James whispered, and he placed the infant into Sirius' strong arms.
Sirius looked down and felt a rush of something incredible through his body. His heart beat heavily, and he found himself laughing gently.
"Harry," he said, and he smiled.
The End.
And I wish, at this point, to thank everyone so much for all that they've said and done for me. Each review I get makes me feel so damned happy (I really am a review whore!) and they make me want to write more, which I do, and then I get more people telling me that they like what I write which, really, is all I want to get out of life. So thank you, and I hope that this series, and my other writing (except Unexpected Happenings and Not Quite Dead!), has done as much for you as it has done for me.
Cheers
cd