Author's Note: Okay sorry about taking so long on getting this next
chapter out. It would have been out sooner if my beta reader had
finished with it sooner. But here it is so r/r. Oh, and if you would
like me to email you when the next chapter comes out, let me know
through a review or email me.
Disclaimer: I must agree with everyone else. If I owned the characters why would I have the word disclaimer at the top of my page?
3 Men and A Baby **Chapter 4**
"And they lived happily ever after. The End!" Remus Lupin slammed the book shut as he finished it for the sixth time.
"Gin?" Harry asked; looking up and making the perfect puppy dog eyes and his bottom lip trembled.
Frustration shown in Remus's eyes as he told Harry "No Harry, you've got to go to bed."
Harry put on another spectacular show of making a tear run down his check as he looked up at Remus and sniffled.
The two sat in the rocking chair with the blanket covering them; neither had noticed James, who was standing in the doorway.
Remus turned away from Harry, not wanting to give in but not quite able to say no to the small boy. He saw James standing there smirking and gave him a pleading look, desperately trying to find a way out.
"Come on Harry, time for bed." James said, finally getting Remus out of the predicament he was in.
Apparently Harry knew he wouldn't be able to trick his dad into staying up, for he gave Remus another sad look and looked expectantly at his dad who had made his way over. As James picked Harry off Remus's lap Remus looked at Harry sadly "Don't I get a hug?" He asked this and the seventeen month old immediately leaned over and practically fell into Remus's arms as he gave him a hug.
As Harry broke away from him James sat him down in the crib. He looked up with wide green eyes as they left the room, only turning back once to give back the bottle Remus had been holding in his hand.
Harry sighed slightly as he rolled over onto his stomach; it was going to be a long night! ******** Harry immediately woke up as Sirius bounced into the room; he was making enough racket to wake up a herd of elephants so it was no wonder Harry was wide-awake.
"Guess what day it is?" Sirius asked excitedly to his godson who hadn't understood a word he had said.
Sirius looked at his confused face and answered, "It's Christmas Eve."
"Chritma?" Harry asked looking quite excited.
"No, it's Christmas Eve, as in the night before Christmas. And your dad had to run some errands so guess who you get to play with."
Harry face had gone back to the confused statement he was wearing earlier, for he had never heard of a Christmas Eve.
Sighing slightly Sirius said, "Come on, bucko! Remus' is fixing breakfast, and that's always a treat!" ******** James arrived home to a relatively spotless house, which surprised him as it was only lunchtime and he hardly doubted that either Sirius or Remus had done much of the work. It didn't take long for him to figure out the truth as cries of "No! Harry, Don't!" came from the next room. James peeked in the door to find that the room was almost as spotless as the last.
Sirius was chiding the young boy who stood at his feet, looking quite upset. James laughed slightly, causing the occupants of the room to turn to see who was there.
"So, who's been cleaning?" James asked Remus and Sirius who both turned to look at Harry, who had take James's positions at the door and had an innocent look plastered on his face.
James sighed slightly as he looked at the young boy in khaki pants and a light green sweatshirt that had gold writing that stated 'Daddy's Boy' "What did he do this time?" He asked finally noticing that Harry was slowly moving out the door.
"Oh, absolutely nothing!" Sirius said quite sarcastically. "Just causing mass destruction to the house!"
Rolling his eyes, Remus replied with "I wouldn't exactly call it mass destruction.'"
"He cleaned. He has now been officially declared a neat freak." Sirius shrieked slightly.
James sniggered "That doesn't sound to bad."
"Well Sirius left out one important detail. He was using his finger again."
James turned to scold Harry but discovered Harry had long ago made his escape. Leaving before anyone could notice. Turning back to the adults he said, "So is the whole house this way?"
The other two nodded and he continued "Have you had any peace and quiet today?"
Sirius glared at James for no apparent reason "For about five minutes while he ate breakfast. And then just like that funny pink rabbit on all the muggle commercials he just kept going and going and going and going, and going, and going..."
"Okay, Sirius that's enough." Remus said, " I'm sure James gets the picture."
"And going and going and going and going..."
Before Sirius could continue a shattering crash came from another room and a shriek, proclaiming that something had indeed been broken.
Two moans of "Not again." Met James ears as he headed off in the direction of the sound. He entered the kitchen a second later and had to contain his laughter.
Harry stood in the middle of a shattered jar of flour or what used to be a jar of flour. The kitchen was covered in the white dust and Harry looked like some ghost. Even his hair had gone slightly gray.
Harry looked around a bit and knowing that he was indeed in trouble said very quietly "Oops," He looked around again and then looked as if he had made up his mind "Kea."
The three adults grabbed him each trying to stop him from completing the spell as they were trying their hardest to get him to stop using that stuff, even if they used it all the time. ******** The day passed quickly for the household. The adults spent the day trying to keep Harry from doing the things, which he wasn't supposed to do. Such as use his magic.
Nighttime fell quickly and before they knew it, Harry was running at full speed out of the room at the mention of going to bed. James rolled his eyes as he heard a crash from the next room. Sirius grinned at the other two and took off at a fast walk, yelling "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
The other two grinned slightly, thankful for the 'second child' of the household. Within minutes he was back, carrying a giggling Harry who he was tickling unmercifully. Between giggles Harry was shrieking "Paddy! Paddy!"
Padfoot grinned at the other two "Think he's ready to go to bed now?"
Sirius carried Harry up the stairs listening to laughter echoing behind him.
Harry looked up at him with wide eyes "Paddy? Sleep?"
"Yup, time to sleep." Sirius said.
"You sleep?" Harry asked, his green eyes wide.
"Nope it's time for you to sleep." Sirius said.
Harry picked out two words from the sentence and said them aloud "You to?"
"No, you need to sleep."
The boy giggled slightly before repeating, "No, you need to sleep."
"We sleep together?" Sirius asked, trying to outsmart Harry.
"Sleep together." Harry agreed.
They were in the room by that time and Sirius sat down in the chair in the corner. Harry cuddled closer to Sirius leaning against his chest, listening to the rhythmic sound of the adults breathing.
Before long both were fast asleep. ******************** James woke with a start as a crash and a giggle came from over the baby monitor, announcing that it was six-thirty in the morning, and that Harry was wide awake. He sighed, not wanting to get out of the bed, it was way too early, but for some reason Harry hadn't realized that.
His gazed wandered with his mind as he glanced around the room.
His eyes landed on the bedside table, where a picture, taken in the early fall, sat. He remembered that day clearly.
***Flashback (Early Fall)*** Finally after what felt like years of rain, it had finally stopped. It was cloudy but the weather was warm, and thus the occupants of Godric Hollow had decided this day was perfect for a picnic.
Upon a flannel blanket in the middle of the yard laid Lily Potter. The sun beat down on her making her hair turn a golden red and drying up the mud puddles. Her green eyes sparkled as she watched everything around her.
First there was her son, who was currently playing in mud puddles. His jeans were streaked with mud, totally covered from about the knee down. Harry's shoes were now unrecognizable, as they had gone from a red to dark brown with the mud. His red t-shirt was slightly splattered although not nearly as much as the jeans. The mud was streaked down his face and almost everywhere else as he picked up the mud and let it drop, again. He was quite amused with it and kept picking it up and dropping it. He occasionally would rub his eye or scratch his head causing more mud to be caked on him.
Lily turned to look at her husband, and Sirius, who were chasing each other around the yard. James would scoop down every once in a while and grab some mud before turning around and throwing the mud at Sirius. He would then have to run as fast as he could in the other direction.
A light sparked in the corner of her eye she turned and grinned at Remus who held a camera. She grinned again as another photo was shot and Harry came toward her. He wrapped her in a hug. Causing most of the mud from him to transfer from him to her.
***End Flashback***
That was where picture had been taken. James and Sirius acting like two year olds and Harry playing in the mud, and Lily on the blanket. The memory was captured in that small frame that sat on James bedside table. Another crash came from the small baby monitor next to the picture and he rolled out of bed. A single tear rolled down his cheek yet a hand appeared to wipe it away.
The last thought had shaken him. He had just realized that it was Christmas, his first Christmas since the age of eleven without Lily. A couple more tears fell down his cheek but he quickly wiped them away. It wouldn't do for him to break down on Christmas.
He quickly walked down the hallway and composed himself. Entering the nursery, he was surprised to see Sirius sound asleep in the rocking chair, muttering he said "What a shock, Padfoot could always sleep through anything. Even on Christmas."
Harry turned from where he was standing. "Chritma?" He asked.
"Yes, Christmas."
"Chritma!" Harry sang as James picked him up, dropping him on top of Sirius. Sirius gasped in breath, as Harry kept saying his new favorite word. He continued to look around in confusion before seeing James.
"I'm going to murder you." Sirius growled.
James look hurt "Not in front of Harry. He might get ideas. Plus it is Christmas."
"Chritma!" Harry shrieked.
"Yup, it's Christmas." Sirius answered. "Let's go wake up Moody now."
Harry looked up at him for a moment "Chritma? Moody?"
James's grin was quite evil as he said, "Now be very quiet Harry."
Harry nodded solemnly as Sirius carried him out of the room, closely followed by James. They quietly snuck into Remus's room; Sirius dangled Harry over Remus before dropping him.
Remus shot up and Harry bounced himself, still on top of Moody. "Moody it Chritma!!" Harry sang.
Now Remus turned to glare at his two friends. "You're going to get it."
"But it's Chritma, Moody" Sirius said grinned.
"And you can fix your on breakfast."
That shut both of his friends up in two seconds flat. "Come on, let's go open presents." Moody said, grabbing Harry and heading down the stairs letting James and Sirius stare bewilderedly behind them.
****************************** The three watched as Harry opened present after present, they were silent for a while before Remus started talking quietly. "Don't you think we overdid it a bit? I mean he's only a year and a half you know."
"Yeah, but only about quarter of these are even from us, or anyone we know. It seems like the whole wizarding population and there dog sent Harry a present." Sirius pointed out.
They went silent as they watched Harry grab a present that was wrapped in familiar wrapping and was easily recognized as one they had given him.
Harry slowly stared at the silvery piece of fabric that he held in his hands It hid his hands from sight as they were completely see through. He played with it a minute more before awkwardly stuffing it over his head and continuing on with his presents.
"Don't you think he's a bit young for that?" Remus asked James who was grinning cheerfully.
"No, I don't think so. Besides you're just jealous." He replied still smiling cheerfully.
"Jealous of a one year old?" Sirius said quite sarcastically "Why would we be jealous of a one year old?"
"Oh, come on Sirius, he's going to need it more then you ever will."
"You really think so?" Remus asked. "Or will the people who potty trained him and taught him his numbers need it?"
Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment "The ones who potty trained him of course."
"Oh you big babies. Would I ever leave you out?" James said this as he pulled out two packages. His two friends grabbed them and opened them to find an invisibility cloak in each.
From somewhere to James's side Sirius said "So Jamesie, money burning a hole in your pocket?"
Nothing was there when James turned to look at the one who had spoken "Not at all why would you say that?"
"Because last time you decided you had to much money you bought everyone a broomsticks."
"What? When did I buy everyone broomsticks? I have never bought you a broomstick," James said indignantly.
"You're kidding right, or do you actually not remember that? You even bought Lily a broomstick and if she has ever risen more then two feet off the ground, without being forced I'll drop in shock." Remus said this with a grin, but the grin faded as James's mood darkened at the mention of Lily. The three went silent and continued to watch Harry until the presents were unwrapped, with barely ten more words shared between the three of them.
When the presents were finally unwrapped and you couldn't see what color the carpet was since the wrapping paper covered the floor from corner to corner Remus looked towards the grandfather clock that stood near the door. "Is it really necessary that we eat breakfast. We've got barely an hour until we're supposed to be over to Molly's for lunch."
Before James could get a simple no out Sirius was already at it saying stuff such as "Of course it's necessary what are you trying to do? Kill us?" and "Look at poor Lil' Harry's sunken cheeks, you're going to make him go hungry?" He kept going on and on about how they would all starve to death if they didn't have breakfast at least once today. He shook his head and walked towards the partially invisible Harry "Come on, buddy, let's go get ready to go. I'll even give you a snack if you're good."
"Choco!" Harry shrieked trying to grab a chocolate frog that he'd set free during his unveiling of presents.
"I don't thinks so. We'll try something nutritional like sugar coated cereal instead." He tickled the boy who gave a shriek before heading to the kitchen to grab the nutritional breakfast he had talked about.
**********
The four apparated to the Burrow, finding it completely useless to keep the appearating spell away from Harry since he already knew it. Sirius carried Harry on his shoulders. The young boy clapped and cried "'Gin!" as the magic twirled through the air. The knocked on the door, since none of them had felt comfortable using the spell to appear inside the house, and it was opened in a second. To their surprise a boy of about twelve years old opened the door, seeing whom it was he turned around and called out "MUM! They're Here!" Molly walked up behind the boy scolding Charlie for not inviting them in; he turned around and said to the guest "Please come in," with a roll of his eyes and a sarcastic tone.
The three walked in and Sirius placed Harry on the ground. The young boy looked up surprised at his Godfather, but before he could do anything Molly swept him into a hug.
"Oh he's so cute. Look at this cute little outfit." Harry looked uncomfortable and squirmed a little. She let him down onto the ground but kept going on about how cute he was dressed up in the white collared long sleeved shirt and dress pants. A simple vest with a design across the chest was worn above the shirt.
"Obviously someone who watches him has some fashion sense." She praised. She turned to her son's before introducing them "That's Bill and Charlie over there playing chess. Bill is fourteen and Charlie just turned twelve. Fred and George are over there playing on the brooms. They're three years old. Percy's the five year old, reading the book on the couch and Ron is watching Bill and Charlie. He's Harry's age. Oh and of course, Ginny she's the one playing on the carpet. She's just learned to walk and is ten months old.
All of them took the scene in with bewildered eyes wondering how anyone could keep this family straight with all the red hair. "Dinner's about ready so if you want to come into the kitchen, we'll get everyone seated."
James grabbed the still-eager-to-be-picked-up-by-someone-he-knew Harry and carried him through the door that the two twins (He couldn't remember there names) led him through.
The three marveled at the smell in the kitchen, trying to figure out when they had started to miss the food cooked by someone who could actually cook without burning everything.
Molly was calling out orders to her sons telling the oldest to carry something over to the table while scolding Ron for dropping his and the plate's next to his forks on the floor. "Harry goes over there at the small table, and you three can sit wherever you wish." James nodded his understanding yet seemed unwilling to let go of his son but did so. Without a word the three chose seats next to each other in the middle and sat down.
It was within minutes that the food was served throughout the two tables and everyone began eating.
Fred and George grinned at each other watching from across the table as Harry and Ron played in their food, completely smearing it across anything and everything. Fred flipped mashed potatoes at Harry who looked up and grinned just as George flipped some across the tables. Five years old Percy was just about to tell as he found out he could no longer talk. Harry grinned and continued to eat as two spoons started to flick food across the table, as if by magic. It just so happened to be their dumb luck that Charlie looked over at them.
"By golly, would you look at that!" All the adults glanced over at the smaller table where the younger kids were seating.
Two of the five adults stared as the other three glanced at each other and singled one out to say, "Harry!"
The spoons immediately dropped but Harry continued to eat as if nothing had happened.
"That's not normal." Arthur said slowly still glancing at the small kid.
************************** "Let Percy go!" James said quite frustrated as Harry gave him an innocent smile and repeated what he had heard Paddy say before "Sorry, it just a prank."
It would have been quite comical had it of been someone rather then Percy.
Sirius muffled a laugh as he received a glare from Percy and James. Harry giggled but stopped as James turned to him.
"Harry we're going to have to go home if you're going to keep doing this." He threatened. Harry's eyes went wide like he had understood the tone of voice, even if he hadn't quite understood the words. His eyes flashed for a second and Percy was suddenly able to move.
Percy was slightly angry as he looked down on Harry he huffed slightly before marching out of the room.
Sirius laughed at the exchange, earning another glare from James. As James was glaring he didn't see Harry sneak out of the room
************************* Molly and the rest of the adults sat talking when she heard a crash come from upstairs. "I'll go see what happened." She offered before Sirius, Remus or James could move.
Leaving the adults alone she went into the living room, where she found Bill and Charlie playing gobstones, while Fred and George were busy hitting each other with sticks, while balancing on a broomstick, and pretending to be beaters.
"Where are Ron and Harry?" Molly asked looking from one pair of children to the other.
Bill looked up and said, "They were here just a second ago."
Molly nodded before heading up the stairs, turning in to the room that Ron and Ginny shared at the moment. She walked in happy to find the two lost boys here.
It was a pretty normal scene for any moment. Ginny had apparently woken up from her nap, as she was sitting up in her crib a startled expression adorned her face. Harry and Ron sat on the floor throwing a ball back and forth. They seemed quite content, and were giggling. It was strange as she looked at Harry; the aura around him was rather amazing for someone that size. She shut the door trying to be quiet and unnoticed as the two boys played but a squeak made the two look up at her.
"Hi!" Ron said brightly, he turned to look at Harry and questioned "Bye- bye?"
Harry nodded in agreement and waved towards Molly Weasley "Bye-bye."
Molly popped out of the room and Ginny giggled.
"Come on Gin, let go!" Ron told Ginny and the two boys helped Ginny out of the crib.
Sitting on the floor she looked up at them with wide eyes, as Harry reached for Ginny's hands and helped her stand up. Each boy took one of her hands and helped her out of the room.
*****************************
It was with a pop the Molly appeared in another room, another house, and most likely another city. A simple look around at where she was confirmed her beliefs and had her wondering where exactly she was. Opening the door she realized that she was in a closet, that hadn't been cleaned recently.
She walked out of the closet and looked around the room, not recognizing it. Glancing around she recognized it to be a nursery. It was painted a navy blue, and decked out in red, yellow and the same navy blue. The crib sat in a corner, with the striped blanket ruffled. The room was relatively clean, except the closet that was a complete mess.
Molly wandered out of the room and down the stairs. She entered the living room and immediately recognized the house. Pictures were hung upon the wall of Sirius, Remus, James and Harry. She grinned at one that was of them in school. The three had somehow managed to get a hold of a bucket of pink goo, and were in the process of dumping it over the head of an unsuspecting Peter Pettigrew.
Another picture caught her eye. In this one Harry was being rocked to sleep by his mother. A tear prickled in her eye as she watched Lily slowly rock him, with a peaceful look in her eye.
She glanced at the corner where James and Sirius sat, fast asleep on a couch. Sirius was practically on the floor though, and looked highly uncomfortable. James was using Sirius as a pillow right now, and the drool that dribbled down his chin was smeared across Sirius's shoulder.
She continued glancing around the room, looking at the different photos that were hung up. Some were of Harry, while others were of their time at school. Her eyes finally fell upon a jar of floo powder by the fireplace, and the fire was still lighted. She grabbed a pinch of floo powder and said "The Burrow!" as she walked through the fire and waited a couple of seconds before exiting into the kitchen where her husband, James, Remus, and Sirius still sat talking about the recent quidditch match.
The four looked up surprised as she brushed herself off.
"Where have you been?" Arthur asked her.
"A certain somebody that we were talking about early, was practicing his special little talent, and sent me to a closet." She said looking at James in the eye as she continued with "You've got to talk to somebody about that. Try owling Dumbledore, he might know something." **************************
"Watch Harry." Ron whispered showing Harry what would happen if he went into a room with his eyes covered. "See they can't see me."
The adults watched amused as Ron crept through the kitchen and toward the counter where the cookies were kept.
From the doorway a whispered "Sure?" Ron nodded and a moment later Harry walked in. One hand covering his eyes, and the other holding on to Ginny, who also had their eyes covered. Harry was watching Ginny from the corner of his eye while she toddled with him towards Ron.
"Ron," Harry whispered, "Help." He said after Ginny opened her eyes and said "Peabo. (Peek-a-boo) In order to make sure no one saw Ginny, Harry hurriedly covered her eyes with his hands. Only realizing that he had just left his eyes uncovered. He used his other hand to cover his eyes leaving Ginny without anything to hold on to. Unfortunately for the two undercover agents, who were trying to steal the cookies, Ginny took one unsteady step forward that sent her falling backwards into a sitting position. Her wide eyes looked from Ron to Harry as tears started to fall, and she began to cry.
Harry knelt beside her, peeking between his fingers with one hand, and with the other, which had fallen off Ginny when she fell, started to pet Ginny like a dog, saying "It otay, Gin, it otay."
Ron rushed over and tried to comfort Ginny too. Yet the two didn't get anywhere except in scaring Ginny further.
The five adults were near hysterics now, as they tried to suppress their laughter. Molly stood up and picked up Ginny, noticing both boys still had one hand covering their eyes, she walked over to the cookie jar. She took one out and handed it to Ginny who stopped crying and took the cookie. Putting some in her mouth she sucked on it, as she didn't quite have enough teeth to eat it. Then Molly started to put some on a plate to take over to the table. When she had finished that task, she turned to the others sitting at the table "Do you know anybody else who would like a cookie?"
Ron and Harry instantly uncovered their eyes. Walking over they put the puppy dog eyes on before saying "Peas?"
"Well, there you two are! I've been looking for you. Where have you been?" Molly said faking a tone of surprise.
Harry raised his hands to shrug and said "Gone?"
"Gone?" Molly questioned as she handed each boy a cookie.
Ron also shrugged saying "All gone." and nodding solemnly.
The two turned and left the kitchen. Leaving the adults to burst into laughter.
**********
At three o'clock, they finally decided to leave, as Harry had begun getting crankier. They finally realized that he hadn't had his nap and it would probably be better to get him home before he decided to blow up the Weasley household.
They used floo powder to leave, laughing as they exited; Sirius carried Harry and stopped as he noticed someone sitting on the couch.
The two behind them bumped into Sirius's back, surprised at the sudden stop, but there mouths dropped open as they recognized the person.
"Well aren't you going to give your mom a hug?" Emma Black said looking at her son.
Sirius set Harry on the floor, before moving towards her and giving her a hug. Harry looked cautiously at the lady standing in the room.
The two pulled apart and Emma turned around towards the other two men, "Hello James, Remus." She pulled each into a hug, which they returned, but gave the other two pained looks, trying the hardest to resist the urge to escape from her and run to their comfort zone under their beds.
After their turn, she turned towards Harry, putting on a voice especially reserved for (A/N: Enter the word *Scarring* here) little kids. "Hello Harry, come give Auntie Em a hug."
Harry gave her a wide eyed scared look, before turning towards where his dad and Remus were standing and frantically reaching up to be held.
Remus quickly grabbed him, and said, "He's a bit shy." He smirked as he remembered the way Harry had acted around the Weasleys, not a bit shy. He wiped the smirk off his face as quickly as possible and said "Would you like some tea? I'll go get us some." He handed Harry to James before practically running out of the room.
"So, why are you here?" Sirius asked.
Emma gave Sirius a stern look before saying, "Making sure my baby was alright. Plus its Christmas and you didn't even call."
"Sorry, mum." Sirius hastily tried to explain, trying to figure a way to get her to leave. "We went and had dinner with the Weasley family. Really nice people they are. So how long are you staying?"
"Are you trying to get rid of me, Sirius Lee Black?" She asked.
Sirius jumped slightly "Of course not." He answered quickly "We just had.er. plans, for later tonight."
James looked at him surprised at the blunt lie; they had no such plans.
"Well, I'll stay and take care of Harry." She said smiling at Harry, and he ducked his head into his dad's chest, trying to get away from the scary lady.
"No, that's not necessary. Molly is planning on having him. He and Ron are friends." Sirius said trying to get out of the hole he had dug.
"Well, just call Molly up and tell her not to worry about it,"
Sirius nodded glumly, not sure how he was going to get himself out of this. "It's not until eight anyways, and we'll only be gone for a couple minutes."
James glared at Sirius for a moment as he said, "I'm going to see what's taking Remus so long." He left carrying Harry, as he heard Sirius say, "I'll go call Molly, be right back mum."
Sirius caught up with James in no time and apologized immediately "I didn't mean too. I was just trying to get her to go away."
"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Harry, the poor kid has to stay with her all night." James glanced down at Harry as he said this. Harry's eyes were wide as if he understood everything that was being said and was highly dreading the night. "And I suggest that you explain it to Remus, cause he isn't going to be to happy about it."
"Sorry buddy. I didn't mean to get you stuck with her. I wouldn't want anyone stuck with her. Well, maybe Voldemort." Sirius said, looking at Harry, who nodded solemnly.
They had reached the kitchen by this time and saw that Remus was making the tea completely by hand. Not even bothering to take out the wand in his pocket.
"Cheater," Sirius muttered, as he pulled out his own wand and finished the tea.
"Hey, what did you do that for?" Remus asked turning around to face Sirius. "You just taught Harry how to make tea, you know."
"Ah, come on Moony. You were just going to leave us alone out there, weren't you?" Sirius asked, glaring at him when Moony gave him an innocent look.
"Yup, that was the plan." He was still giving them an innocent look.
"Big mistake there," James said, "Go on Padfoot, and tell him what happened."
Sirius shifted uncomfortable as he said "I was just trying to get her to leave, and said we were going somewhere tonight, and that we wouldn't be around."
"Yeah, well she insisted on babysitting Harry for us, so we have to leave for about a half of an hour tonight." James continued and finished for Sirius.
Remus gave Harry a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry buddy, maybe I can say I'm not feeling too well and stick around."
Harry grinned at him before wriggling to be let down; James set him down before asking, "So, where are we going to go?"
"We could head to Diagon Alley or something." Sirius suggested as he watched Harry toddle over to a cupboard and open it.
"On Christmas? I highly doubt anything's open." Remus pointed out.
"How about we go over to the Weasleys?" James thought out loud, "Harry didn't have his nap so we can put him to bed before we go. Sirius why don't you go call Molly, for real this time, and tell her our story."
Sirius headed out of the room, as Remus picked up the tea and headed towards the door. James turned towards Harry and noticed that the pans that had been in the cupboard were now five feet in the air.
"Harry," He said sternly, forgetting one very important detail. Harry turned startled and the pans crashed to the floor as he lost his concentration.
"Oh come here you. Can't you ever just stay out of trouble?" James said in mock exasperation. "You're too much like me."
********** "James are we going to go or not?" Sirius shouted up the stairs.
"Now don't worry about a thing. We'll be just fine here." Emma was saying to Remus who rolled his eyes slightly.
"We'll only be a couple of minutes. We'll just wish them a Merry Christmas and be on our way. Don't worry about it." Sirius said reassuringly.
"If he wakes up we'll be at the Burrow. And there's bottles in the fridge." James said as he came down the stairs.
"Don't worry, I raised Sirius after all." Emma pointed out trying to calm them down but James took one look at Sirius and said, "Right, I think I'll stay here after all."
Sirius laughed and pulled James arm as the three of them appearated back to the Burrow.
"Molly?" Remus called glancing around the now familiar living room. The three walked into the kitchen and took seats around the table where both Molly and Arthur were already sitting.
"Explain what happened again, please?" Molly asked a confused look still adorned her face from when Sirius talked to her earlier.
"Well you see..." Sirius began.
"Let me sum it up for you in four words." James said looking rather innocent "Sirius is an idiot."
"Yeah Sirius it's all your fault. If you had: one, learned to keep your mouth shut and two; said Merry Christmas to your mum or sent a card we wouldn't be in this mess." Remus told Sirius.
"Well, you weren't much help now were you? Just doing whatever you were doing and letting me do all the talking." Sirius retorted.
"You know we're not going to accomplish anything with you two acting like two year olds now are we?" James said to the two of them.
Molly and Arthur watched the exchange in silence; the rest went silent for a moment before Sirius asked "So how are we going to keep her from knowing about Harry?"
"What do you mean knowing about Harry? She's known him for almost two years. Unless you think she shouldn't know he's alive.' Remus said as though he thought Sirius had lost it.
"I wasn't talking about her knowing that he was alive." Sirius said exasperatedly. "I meant about his, you know." He said glancing at them. Finally it dawned on Remus what Sirius was talking about mouthing an "Oh."
"That's a good point eh James. His your son, what's your idea?" Remus asked.
"Sirius must have an idea, since he brought it up. So what do you think Sirius?"
"I don't know that's why I was asking you." Sirius said anxiously.
There was silence between the five adults and Sirius was once again the first to speak up. "How about we tell her Harry has a bad reaction to people he doesn't know that he gets a bad rash when he gets nervous." Sirius said.
"Only you could come up with something like that, Sirius. Honestly, she'll want to stick around longer if you tell her that. She'll want to spend as much time with him as possible." Remus retorted.
"Okay smart guy," Sirius replied his voice rising and teeth clenched, "You tell me what we're going to do."
"That is enough out of both of you. I will not have you bickering. If you wake up anyone I'll pound you senseless." Molly Weasley said going rather red in the face. Sirius and Remus had never heard Molly loose her temper, sat with shocked expressions on their faces. "Now that problem has been solved James, tell them what you and Arthur came up with."
James looked as though he was about to run out of the room if she lost her temper again, but said steadily "We'll just try to keep him out of the house as much as possible. You know father/son outings and play dates with Ron. And hopefully she'll decide to go home soon."
"If Sirius would have learned to keep his mouth shut we wouldn't have to worry about it."
"And obviously somebody needs to have a nap don't they Remus!" said Sirius sarcastically sticking his tongue out at Remus.
"Yeah Well..." Remus began but was interrupted by Sirius, who had stuck his fingers in his ears and was saying rather loudly "I'm not listening. I'm not listening."
"James, make him shut up!" Remus said in a whiny five-year-old voice as Sirius continued with "I'm not listening."
"Just ignore him." James said leaving the two to their bickering.
"What's up with those two?" Arthur asked watching the two.
James sighed "Sirius decided it was to quiet after we left your house and 'accidentally' knocked Remus's new cloak to the floor."
"It was an accident!" Sirius insisted in a slightly raised voice.
"Oh sure." Remus sarcastically added "And it was an accident that Harry was sitting there."
"It was" He insisted again.
Remus rolled his eyes, "And it was an accident that Harry just happened to have a nice bright red sucker in his hand."
"And you gave it to him. So there, it's not all my fault."
"And the fact he had a chocolate frog in his other hand wasn't your fault either now, was it?"
Sirius tried for the innocent look again "It's not my fault he got a million chocolate frogs for Christmas."
"Yeah, you only gave him half of that million."
"Yeah? Well that one wasn't from my half!"
" Really how could you tell?" retorted Remus
Sirius stood up before shouting, "Because I handed it to him, you twit!"
"Oh so you're admitting it now are you?" Remus raged on, standing up so he could glare Sirius in the eye. "So admit it, you meant to, didn't you?"
"Um, guys," James interrupted as the two glared at each other not even bothering to glance at James. "I'm going home. Okay?"
"I'm not admitting to anything!"
"Well, have a fun time, Molly. If they get to be to much deal with them anyway you see fit." James said as he began to leave the room, he reached the door and turned around with a grin "Personally I like thumbscrews and clothes hangers the best."
Molly looked confusedly after James as he appearated out of the doorway before turning back to the other two. If looks could kill they would be dead!
"Alright you two! Your bickering like Percy and the twins. Do I have to do what I do with them?" The question fell on deaf ears though as the two continued to argue.
"Fine!" Remus, sit down in that corner. Sirius, you sit in the other one. If I hear one word pass between the two of you, you'll be grounded." Molly shouted in a slightly quiet voice as to not wake up the children. The two grown men cowered in fear and backed into their corners, so they wouldn't upset Molly further.
"Calm down dearest. There's no need to yell." Arthur said trying to calm Molly down.
Unknown to rest of the people in the room Sirius was now carefully sneaking his wand out of his pocket.
"How can I calm down when they're acting worse then the twins?" Molly stated now thoroughly enraged.
POP! It appeared that Sirius had finally managed to use his wand without the knowledge of the others.
"Sirius Black! I'm going to kill you." Shouted Remus before appearating out.
"See dear, now there off your back." Arthur comforted.
A cry from upstairs made them groan. "And Ginny's wide awake." Molly said, storming up the stairs to take care of her daughter.
Disclaimer: I must agree with everyone else. If I owned the characters why would I have the word disclaimer at the top of my page?
3 Men and A Baby **Chapter 4**
"And they lived happily ever after. The End!" Remus Lupin slammed the book shut as he finished it for the sixth time.
"Gin?" Harry asked; looking up and making the perfect puppy dog eyes and his bottom lip trembled.
Frustration shown in Remus's eyes as he told Harry "No Harry, you've got to go to bed."
Harry put on another spectacular show of making a tear run down his check as he looked up at Remus and sniffled.
The two sat in the rocking chair with the blanket covering them; neither had noticed James, who was standing in the doorway.
Remus turned away from Harry, not wanting to give in but not quite able to say no to the small boy. He saw James standing there smirking and gave him a pleading look, desperately trying to find a way out.
"Come on Harry, time for bed." James said, finally getting Remus out of the predicament he was in.
Apparently Harry knew he wouldn't be able to trick his dad into staying up, for he gave Remus another sad look and looked expectantly at his dad who had made his way over. As James picked Harry off Remus's lap Remus looked at Harry sadly "Don't I get a hug?" He asked this and the seventeen month old immediately leaned over and practically fell into Remus's arms as he gave him a hug.
As Harry broke away from him James sat him down in the crib. He looked up with wide green eyes as they left the room, only turning back once to give back the bottle Remus had been holding in his hand.
Harry sighed slightly as he rolled over onto his stomach; it was going to be a long night! ******** Harry immediately woke up as Sirius bounced into the room; he was making enough racket to wake up a herd of elephants so it was no wonder Harry was wide-awake.
"Guess what day it is?" Sirius asked excitedly to his godson who hadn't understood a word he had said.
Sirius looked at his confused face and answered, "It's Christmas Eve."
"Chritma?" Harry asked looking quite excited.
"No, it's Christmas Eve, as in the night before Christmas. And your dad had to run some errands so guess who you get to play with."
Harry face had gone back to the confused statement he was wearing earlier, for he had never heard of a Christmas Eve.
Sighing slightly Sirius said, "Come on, bucko! Remus' is fixing breakfast, and that's always a treat!" ******** James arrived home to a relatively spotless house, which surprised him as it was only lunchtime and he hardly doubted that either Sirius or Remus had done much of the work. It didn't take long for him to figure out the truth as cries of "No! Harry, Don't!" came from the next room. James peeked in the door to find that the room was almost as spotless as the last.
Sirius was chiding the young boy who stood at his feet, looking quite upset. James laughed slightly, causing the occupants of the room to turn to see who was there.
"So, who's been cleaning?" James asked Remus and Sirius who both turned to look at Harry, who had take James's positions at the door and had an innocent look plastered on his face.
James sighed slightly as he looked at the young boy in khaki pants and a light green sweatshirt that had gold writing that stated 'Daddy's Boy' "What did he do this time?" He asked finally noticing that Harry was slowly moving out the door.
"Oh, absolutely nothing!" Sirius said quite sarcastically. "Just causing mass destruction to the house!"
Rolling his eyes, Remus replied with "I wouldn't exactly call it mass destruction.'"
"He cleaned. He has now been officially declared a neat freak." Sirius shrieked slightly.
James sniggered "That doesn't sound to bad."
"Well Sirius left out one important detail. He was using his finger again."
James turned to scold Harry but discovered Harry had long ago made his escape. Leaving before anyone could notice. Turning back to the adults he said, "So is the whole house this way?"
The other two nodded and he continued "Have you had any peace and quiet today?"
Sirius glared at James for no apparent reason "For about five minutes while he ate breakfast. And then just like that funny pink rabbit on all the muggle commercials he just kept going and going and going and going, and going, and going..."
"Okay, Sirius that's enough." Remus said, " I'm sure James gets the picture."
"And going and going and going and going..."
Before Sirius could continue a shattering crash came from another room and a shriek, proclaiming that something had indeed been broken.
Two moans of "Not again." Met James ears as he headed off in the direction of the sound. He entered the kitchen a second later and had to contain his laughter.
Harry stood in the middle of a shattered jar of flour or what used to be a jar of flour. The kitchen was covered in the white dust and Harry looked like some ghost. Even his hair had gone slightly gray.
Harry looked around a bit and knowing that he was indeed in trouble said very quietly "Oops," He looked around again and then looked as if he had made up his mind "Kea."
The three adults grabbed him each trying to stop him from completing the spell as they were trying their hardest to get him to stop using that stuff, even if they used it all the time. ******** The day passed quickly for the household. The adults spent the day trying to keep Harry from doing the things, which he wasn't supposed to do. Such as use his magic.
Nighttime fell quickly and before they knew it, Harry was running at full speed out of the room at the mention of going to bed. James rolled his eyes as he heard a crash from the next room. Sirius grinned at the other two and took off at a fast walk, yelling "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
The other two grinned slightly, thankful for the 'second child' of the household. Within minutes he was back, carrying a giggling Harry who he was tickling unmercifully. Between giggles Harry was shrieking "Paddy! Paddy!"
Padfoot grinned at the other two "Think he's ready to go to bed now?"
Sirius carried Harry up the stairs listening to laughter echoing behind him.
Harry looked up at him with wide eyes "Paddy? Sleep?"
"Yup, time to sleep." Sirius said.
"You sleep?" Harry asked, his green eyes wide.
"Nope it's time for you to sleep." Sirius said.
Harry picked out two words from the sentence and said them aloud "You to?"
"No, you need to sleep."
The boy giggled slightly before repeating, "No, you need to sleep."
"We sleep together?" Sirius asked, trying to outsmart Harry.
"Sleep together." Harry agreed.
They were in the room by that time and Sirius sat down in the chair in the corner. Harry cuddled closer to Sirius leaning against his chest, listening to the rhythmic sound of the adults breathing.
Before long both were fast asleep. ******************** James woke with a start as a crash and a giggle came from over the baby monitor, announcing that it was six-thirty in the morning, and that Harry was wide awake. He sighed, not wanting to get out of the bed, it was way too early, but for some reason Harry hadn't realized that.
His gazed wandered with his mind as he glanced around the room.
His eyes landed on the bedside table, where a picture, taken in the early fall, sat. He remembered that day clearly.
***Flashback (Early Fall)*** Finally after what felt like years of rain, it had finally stopped. It was cloudy but the weather was warm, and thus the occupants of Godric Hollow had decided this day was perfect for a picnic.
Upon a flannel blanket in the middle of the yard laid Lily Potter. The sun beat down on her making her hair turn a golden red and drying up the mud puddles. Her green eyes sparkled as she watched everything around her.
First there was her son, who was currently playing in mud puddles. His jeans were streaked with mud, totally covered from about the knee down. Harry's shoes were now unrecognizable, as they had gone from a red to dark brown with the mud. His red t-shirt was slightly splattered although not nearly as much as the jeans. The mud was streaked down his face and almost everywhere else as he picked up the mud and let it drop, again. He was quite amused with it and kept picking it up and dropping it. He occasionally would rub his eye or scratch his head causing more mud to be caked on him.
Lily turned to look at her husband, and Sirius, who were chasing each other around the yard. James would scoop down every once in a while and grab some mud before turning around and throwing the mud at Sirius. He would then have to run as fast as he could in the other direction.
A light sparked in the corner of her eye she turned and grinned at Remus who held a camera. She grinned again as another photo was shot and Harry came toward her. He wrapped her in a hug. Causing most of the mud from him to transfer from him to her.
***End Flashback***
That was where picture had been taken. James and Sirius acting like two year olds and Harry playing in the mud, and Lily on the blanket. The memory was captured in that small frame that sat on James bedside table. Another crash came from the small baby monitor next to the picture and he rolled out of bed. A single tear rolled down his cheek yet a hand appeared to wipe it away.
The last thought had shaken him. He had just realized that it was Christmas, his first Christmas since the age of eleven without Lily. A couple more tears fell down his cheek but he quickly wiped them away. It wouldn't do for him to break down on Christmas.
He quickly walked down the hallway and composed himself. Entering the nursery, he was surprised to see Sirius sound asleep in the rocking chair, muttering he said "What a shock, Padfoot could always sleep through anything. Even on Christmas."
Harry turned from where he was standing. "Chritma?" He asked.
"Yes, Christmas."
"Chritma!" Harry sang as James picked him up, dropping him on top of Sirius. Sirius gasped in breath, as Harry kept saying his new favorite word. He continued to look around in confusion before seeing James.
"I'm going to murder you." Sirius growled.
James look hurt "Not in front of Harry. He might get ideas. Plus it is Christmas."
"Chritma!" Harry shrieked.
"Yup, it's Christmas." Sirius answered. "Let's go wake up Moody now."
Harry looked up at him for a moment "Chritma? Moody?"
James's grin was quite evil as he said, "Now be very quiet Harry."
Harry nodded solemnly as Sirius carried him out of the room, closely followed by James. They quietly snuck into Remus's room; Sirius dangled Harry over Remus before dropping him.
Remus shot up and Harry bounced himself, still on top of Moody. "Moody it Chritma!!" Harry sang.
Now Remus turned to glare at his two friends. "You're going to get it."
"But it's Chritma, Moody" Sirius said grinned.
"And you can fix your on breakfast."
That shut both of his friends up in two seconds flat. "Come on, let's go open presents." Moody said, grabbing Harry and heading down the stairs letting James and Sirius stare bewilderedly behind them.
****************************** The three watched as Harry opened present after present, they were silent for a while before Remus started talking quietly. "Don't you think we overdid it a bit? I mean he's only a year and a half you know."
"Yeah, but only about quarter of these are even from us, or anyone we know. It seems like the whole wizarding population and there dog sent Harry a present." Sirius pointed out.
They went silent as they watched Harry grab a present that was wrapped in familiar wrapping and was easily recognized as one they had given him.
Harry slowly stared at the silvery piece of fabric that he held in his hands It hid his hands from sight as they were completely see through. He played with it a minute more before awkwardly stuffing it over his head and continuing on with his presents.
"Don't you think he's a bit young for that?" Remus asked James who was grinning cheerfully.
"No, I don't think so. Besides you're just jealous." He replied still smiling cheerfully.
"Jealous of a one year old?" Sirius said quite sarcastically "Why would we be jealous of a one year old?"
"Oh, come on Sirius, he's going to need it more then you ever will."
"You really think so?" Remus asked. "Or will the people who potty trained him and taught him his numbers need it?"
Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment "The ones who potty trained him of course."
"Oh you big babies. Would I ever leave you out?" James said this as he pulled out two packages. His two friends grabbed them and opened them to find an invisibility cloak in each.
From somewhere to James's side Sirius said "So Jamesie, money burning a hole in your pocket?"
Nothing was there when James turned to look at the one who had spoken "Not at all why would you say that?"
"Because last time you decided you had to much money you bought everyone a broomsticks."
"What? When did I buy everyone broomsticks? I have never bought you a broomstick," James said indignantly.
"You're kidding right, or do you actually not remember that? You even bought Lily a broomstick and if she has ever risen more then two feet off the ground, without being forced I'll drop in shock." Remus said this with a grin, but the grin faded as James's mood darkened at the mention of Lily. The three went silent and continued to watch Harry until the presents were unwrapped, with barely ten more words shared between the three of them.
When the presents were finally unwrapped and you couldn't see what color the carpet was since the wrapping paper covered the floor from corner to corner Remus looked towards the grandfather clock that stood near the door. "Is it really necessary that we eat breakfast. We've got barely an hour until we're supposed to be over to Molly's for lunch."
Before James could get a simple no out Sirius was already at it saying stuff such as "Of course it's necessary what are you trying to do? Kill us?" and "Look at poor Lil' Harry's sunken cheeks, you're going to make him go hungry?" He kept going on and on about how they would all starve to death if they didn't have breakfast at least once today. He shook his head and walked towards the partially invisible Harry "Come on, buddy, let's go get ready to go. I'll even give you a snack if you're good."
"Choco!" Harry shrieked trying to grab a chocolate frog that he'd set free during his unveiling of presents.
"I don't thinks so. We'll try something nutritional like sugar coated cereal instead." He tickled the boy who gave a shriek before heading to the kitchen to grab the nutritional breakfast he had talked about.
**********
The four apparated to the Burrow, finding it completely useless to keep the appearating spell away from Harry since he already knew it. Sirius carried Harry on his shoulders. The young boy clapped and cried "'Gin!" as the magic twirled through the air. The knocked on the door, since none of them had felt comfortable using the spell to appear inside the house, and it was opened in a second. To their surprise a boy of about twelve years old opened the door, seeing whom it was he turned around and called out "MUM! They're Here!" Molly walked up behind the boy scolding Charlie for not inviting them in; he turned around and said to the guest "Please come in," with a roll of his eyes and a sarcastic tone.
The three walked in and Sirius placed Harry on the ground. The young boy looked up surprised at his Godfather, but before he could do anything Molly swept him into a hug.
"Oh he's so cute. Look at this cute little outfit." Harry looked uncomfortable and squirmed a little. She let him down onto the ground but kept going on about how cute he was dressed up in the white collared long sleeved shirt and dress pants. A simple vest with a design across the chest was worn above the shirt.
"Obviously someone who watches him has some fashion sense." She praised. She turned to her son's before introducing them "That's Bill and Charlie over there playing chess. Bill is fourteen and Charlie just turned twelve. Fred and George are over there playing on the brooms. They're three years old. Percy's the five year old, reading the book on the couch and Ron is watching Bill and Charlie. He's Harry's age. Oh and of course, Ginny she's the one playing on the carpet. She's just learned to walk and is ten months old.
All of them took the scene in with bewildered eyes wondering how anyone could keep this family straight with all the red hair. "Dinner's about ready so if you want to come into the kitchen, we'll get everyone seated."
James grabbed the still-eager-to-be-picked-up-by-someone-he-knew Harry and carried him through the door that the two twins (He couldn't remember there names) led him through.
The three marveled at the smell in the kitchen, trying to figure out when they had started to miss the food cooked by someone who could actually cook without burning everything.
Molly was calling out orders to her sons telling the oldest to carry something over to the table while scolding Ron for dropping his and the plate's next to his forks on the floor. "Harry goes over there at the small table, and you three can sit wherever you wish." James nodded his understanding yet seemed unwilling to let go of his son but did so. Without a word the three chose seats next to each other in the middle and sat down.
It was within minutes that the food was served throughout the two tables and everyone began eating.
Fred and George grinned at each other watching from across the table as Harry and Ron played in their food, completely smearing it across anything and everything. Fred flipped mashed potatoes at Harry who looked up and grinned just as George flipped some across the tables. Five years old Percy was just about to tell as he found out he could no longer talk. Harry grinned and continued to eat as two spoons started to flick food across the table, as if by magic. It just so happened to be their dumb luck that Charlie looked over at them.
"By golly, would you look at that!" All the adults glanced over at the smaller table where the younger kids were seating.
Two of the five adults stared as the other three glanced at each other and singled one out to say, "Harry!"
The spoons immediately dropped but Harry continued to eat as if nothing had happened.
"That's not normal." Arthur said slowly still glancing at the small kid.
************************** "Let Percy go!" James said quite frustrated as Harry gave him an innocent smile and repeated what he had heard Paddy say before "Sorry, it just a prank."
It would have been quite comical had it of been someone rather then Percy.
Sirius muffled a laugh as he received a glare from Percy and James. Harry giggled but stopped as James turned to him.
"Harry we're going to have to go home if you're going to keep doing this." He threatened. Harry's eyes went wide like he had understood the tone of voice, even if he hadn't quite understood the words. His eyes flashed for a second and Percy was suddenly able to move.
Percy was slightly angry as he looked down on Harry he huffed slightly before marching out of the room.
Sirius laughed at the exchange, earning another glare from James. As James was glaring he didn't see Harry sneak out of the room
************************* Molly and the rest of the adults sat talking when she heard a crash come from upstairs. "I'll go see what happened." She offered before Sirius, Remus or James could move.
Leaving the adults alone she went into the living room, where she found Bill and Charlie playing gobstones, while Fred and George were busy hitting each other with sticks, while balancing on a broomstick, and pretending to be beaters.
"Where are Ron and Harry?" Molly asked looking from one pair of children to the other.
Bill looked up and said, "They were here just a second ago."
Molly nodded before heading up the stairs, turning in to the room that Ron and Ginny shared at the moment. She walked in happy to find the two lost boys here.
It was a pretty normal scene for any moment. Ginny had apparently woken up from her nap, as she was sitting up in her crib a startled expression adorned her face. Harry and Ron sat on the floor throwing a ball back and forth. They seemed quite content, and were giggling. It was strange as she looked at Harry; the aura around him was rather amazing for someone that size. She shut the door trying to be quiet and unnoticed as the two boys played but a squeak made the two look up at her.
"Hi!" Ron said brightly, he turned to look at Harry and questioned "Bye- bye?"
Harry nodded in agreement and waved towards Molly Weasley "Bye-bye."
Molly popped out of the room and Ginny giggled.
"Come on Gin, let go!" Ron told Ginny and the two boys helped Ginny out of the crib.
Sitting on the floor she looked up at them with wide eyes, as Harry reached for Ginny's hands and helped her stand up. Each boy took one of her hands and helped her out of the room.
*****************************
It was with a pop the Molly appeared in another room, another house, and most likely another city. A simple look around at where she was confirmed her beliefs and had her wondering where exactly she was. Opening the door she realized that she was in a closet, that hadn't been cleaned recently.
She walked out of the closet and looked around the room, not recognizing it. Glancing around she recognized it to be a nursery. It was painted a navy blue, and decked out in red, yellow and the same navy blue. The crib sat in a corner, with the striped blanket ruffled. The room was relatively clean, except the closet that was a complete mess.
Molly wandered out of the room and down the stairs. She entered the living room and immediately recognized the house. Pictures were hung upon the wall of Sirius, Remus, James and Harry. She grinned at one that was of them in school. The three had somehow managed to get a hold of a bucket of pink goo, and were in the process of dumping it over the head of an unsuspecting Peter Pettigrew.
Another picture caught her eye. In this one Harry was being rocked to sleep by his mother. A tear prickled in her eye as she watched Lily slowly rock him, with a peaceful look in her eye.
She glanced at the corner where James and Sirius sat, fast asleep on a couch. Sirius was practically on the floor though, and looked highly uncomfortable. James was using Sirius as a pillow right now, and the drool that dribbled down his chin was smeared across Sirius's shoulder.
She continued glancing around the room, looking at the different photos that were hung up. Some were of Harry, while others were of their time at school. Her eyes finally fell upon a jar of floo powder by the fireplace, and the fire was still lighted. She grabbed a pinch of floo powder and said "The Burrow!" as she walked through the fire and waited a couple of seconds before exiting into the kitchen where her husband, James, Remus, and Sirius still sat talking about the recent quidditch match.
The four looked up surprised as she brushed herself off.
"Where have you been?" Arthur asked her.
"A certain somebody that we were talking about early, was practicing his special little talent, and sent me to a closet." She said looking at James in the eye as she continued with "You've got to talk to somebody about that. Try owling Dumbledore, he might know something." **************************
"Watch Harry." Ron whispered showing Harry what would happen if he went into a room with his eyes covered. "See they can't see me."
The adults watched amused as Ron crept through the kitchen and toward the counter where the cookies were kept.
From the doorway a whispered "Sure?" Ron nodded and a moment later Harry walked in. One hand covering his eyes, and the other holding on to Ginny, who also had their eyes covered. Harry was watching Ginny from the corner of his eye while she toddled with him towards Ron.
"Ron," Harry whispered, "Help." He said after Ginny opened her eyes and said "Peabo. (Peek-a-boo) In order to make sure no one saw Ginny, Harry hurriedly covered her eyes with his hands. Only realizing that he had just left his eyes uncovered. He used his other hand to cover his eyes leaving Ginny without anything to hold on to. Unfortunately for the two undercover agents, who were trying to steal the cookies, Ginny took one unsteady step forward that sent her falling backwards into a sitting position. Her wide eyes looked from Ron to Harry as tears started to fall, and she began to cry.
Harry knelt beside her, peeking between his fingers with one hand, and with the other, which had fallen off Ginny when she fell, started to pet Ginny like a dog, saying "It otay, Gin, it otay."
Ron rushed over and tried to comfort Ginny too. Yet the two didn't get anywhere except in scaring Ginny further.
The five adults were near hysterics now, as they tried to suppress their laughter. Molly stood up and picked up Ginny, noticing both boys still had one hand covering their eyes, she walked over to the cookie jar. She took one out and handed it to Ginny who stopped crying and took the cookie. Putting some in her mouth she sucked on it, as she didn't quite have enough teeth to eat it. Then Molly started to put some on a plate to take over to the table. When she had finished that task, she turned to the others sitting at the table "Do you know anybody else who would like a cookie?"
Ron and Harry instantly uncovered their eyes. Walking over they put the puppy dog eyes on before saying "Peas?"
"Well, there you two are! I've been looking for you. Where have you been?" Molly said faking a tone of surprise.
Harry raised his hands to shrug and said "Gone?"
"Gone?" Molly questioned as she handed each boy a cookie.
Ron also shrugged saying "All gone." and nodding solemnly.
The two turned and left the kitchen. Leaving the adults to burst into laughter.
**********
At three o'clock, they finally decided to leave, as Harry had begun getting crankier. They finally realized that he hadn't had his nap and it would probably be better to get him home before he decided to blow up the Weasley household.
They used floo powder to leave, laughing as they exited; Sirius carried Harry and stopped as he noticed someone sitting on the couch.
The two behind them bumped into Sirius's back, surprised at the sudden stop, but there mouths dropped open as they recognized the person.
"Well aren't you going to give your mom a hug?" Emma Black said looking at her son.
Sirius set Harry on the floor, before moving towards her and giving her a hug. Harry looked cautiously at the lady standing in the room.
The two pulled apart and Emma turned around towards the other two men, "Hello James, Remus." She pulled each into a hug, which they returned, but gave the other two pained looks, trying the hardest to resist the urge to escape from her and run to their comfort zone under their beds.
After their turn, she turned towards Harry, putting on a voice especially reserved for (A/N: Enter the word *Scarring* here) little kids. "Hello Harry, come give Auntie Em a hug."
Harry gave her a wide eyed scared look, before turning towards where his dad and Remus were standing and frantically reaching up to be held.
Remus quickly grabbed him, and said, "He's a bit shy." He smirked as he remembered the way Harry had acted around the Weasleys, not a bit shy. He wiped the smirk off his face as quickly as possible and said "Would you like some tea? I'll go get us some." He handed Harry to James before practically running out of the room.
"So, why are you here?" Sirius asked.
Emma gave Sirius a stern look before saying, "Making sure my baby was alright. Plus its Christmas and you didn't even call."
"Sorry, mum." Sirius hastily tried to explain, trying to figure a way to get her to leave. "We went and had dinner with the Weasley family. Really nice people they are. So how long are you staying?"
"Are you trying to get rid of me, Sirius Lee Black?" She asked.
Sirius jumped slightly "Of course not." He answered quickly "We just had.er. plans, for later tonight."
James looked at him surprised at the blunt lie; they had no such plans.
"Well, I'll stay and take care of Harry." She said smiling at Harry, and he ducked his head into his dad's chest, trying to get away from the scary lady.
"No, that's not necessary. Molly is planning on having him. He and Ron are friends." Sirius said trying to get out of the hole he had dug.
"Well, just call Molly up and tell her not to worry about it,"
Sirius nodded glumly, not sure how he was going to get himself out of this. "It's not until eight anyways, and we'll only be gone for a couple minutes."
James glared at Sirius for a moment as he said, "I'm going to see what's taking Remus so long." He left carrying Harry, as he heard Sirius say, "I'll go call Molly, be right back mum."
Sirius caught up with James in no time and apologized immediately "I didn't mean too. I was just trying to get her to go away."
"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Harry, the poor kid has to stay with her all night." James glanced down at Harry as he said this. Harry's eyes were wide as if he understood everything that was being said and was highly dreading the night. "And I suggest that you explain it to Remus, cause he isn't going to be to happy about it."
"Sorry buddy. I didn't mean to get you stuck with her. I wouldn't want anyone stuck with her. Well, maybe Voldemort." Sirius said, looking at Harry, who nodded solemnly.
They had reached the kitchen by this time and saw that Remus was making the tea completely by hand. Not even bothering to take out the wand in his pocket.
"Cheater," Sirius muttered, as he pulled out his own wand and finished the tea.
"Hey, what did you do that for?" Remus asked turning around to face Sirius. "You just taught Harry how to make tea, you know."
"Ah, come on Moony. You were just going to leave us alone out there, weren't you?" Sirius asked, glaring at him when Moony gave him an innocent look.
"Yup, that was the plan." He was still giving them an innocent look.
"Big mistake there," James said, "Go on Padfoot, and tell him what happened."
Sirius shifted uncomfortable as he said "I was just trying to get her to leave, and said we were going somewhere tonight, and that we wouldn't be around."
"Yeah, well she insisted on babysitting Harry for us, so we have to leave for about a half of an hour tonight." James continued and finished for Sirius.
Remus gave Harry a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry buddy, maybe I can say I'm not feeling too well and stick around."
Harry grinned at him before wriggling to be let down; James set him down before asking, "So, where are we going to go?"
"We could head to Diagon Alley or something." Sirius suggested as he watched Harry toddle over to a cupboard and open it.
"On Christmas? I highly doubt anything's open." Remus pointed out.
"How about we go over to the Weasleys?" James thought out loud, "Harry didn't have his nap so we can put him to bed before we go. Sirius why don't you go call Molly, for real this time, and tell her our story."
Sirius headed out of the room, as Remus picked up the tea and headed towards the door. James turned towards Harry and noticed that the pans that had been in the cupboard were now five feet in the air.
"Harry," He said sternly, forgetting one very important detail. Harry turned startled and the pans crashed to the floor as he lost his concentration.
"Oh come here you. Can't you ever just stay out of trouble?" James said in mock exasperation. "You're too much like me."
********** "James are we going to go or not?" Sirius shouted up the stairs.
"Now don't worry about a thing. We'll be just fine here." Emma was saying to Remus who rolled his eyes slightly.
"We'll only be a couple of minutes. We'll just wish them a Merry Christmas and be on our way. Don't worry about it." Sirius said reassuringly.
"If he wakes up we'll be at the Burrow. And there's bottles in the fridge." James said as he came down the stairs.
"Don't worry, I raised Sirius after all." Emma pointed out trying to calm them down but James took one look at Sirius and said, "Right, I think I'll stay here after all."
Sirius laughed and pulled James arm as the three of them appearated back to the Burrow.
"Molly?" Remus called glancing around the now familiar living room. The three walked into the kitchen and took seats around the table where both Molly and Arthur were already sitting.
"Explain what happened again, please?" Molly asked a confused look still adorned her face from when Sirius talked to her earlier.
"Well you see..." Sirius began.
"Let me sum it up for you in four words." James said looking rather innocent "Sirius is an idiot."
"Yeah Sirius it's all your fault. If you had: one, learned to keep your mouth shut and two; said Merry Christmas to your mum or sent a card we wouldn't be in this mess." Remus told Sirius.
"Well, you weren't much help now were you? Just doing whatever you were doing and letting me do all the talking." Sirius retorted.
"You know we're not going to accomplish anything with you two acting like two year olds now are we?" James said to the two of them.
Molly and Arthur watched the exchange in silence; the rest went silent for a moment before Sirius asked "So how are we going to keep her from knowing about Harry?"
"What do you mean knowing about Harry? She's known him for almost two years. Unless you think she shouldn't know he's alive.' Remus said as though he thought Sirius had lost it.
"I wasn't talking about her knowing that he was alive." Sirius said exasperatedly. "I meant about his, you know." He said glancing at them. Finally it dawned on Remus what Sirius was talking about mouthing an "Oh."
"That's a good point eh James. His your son, what's your idea?" Remus asked.
"Sirius must have an idea, since he brought it up. So what do you think Sirius?"
"I don't know that's why I was asking you." Sirius said anxiously.
There was silence between the five adults and Sirius was once again the first to speak up. "How about we tell her Harry has a bad reaction to people he doesn't know that he gets a bad rash when he gets nervous." Sirius said.
"Only you could come up with something like that, Sirius. Honestly, she'll want to stick around longer if you tell her that. She'll want to spend as much time with him as possible." Remus retorted.
"Okay smart guy," Sirius replied his voice rising and teeth clenched, "You tell me what we're going to do."
"That is enough out of both of you. I will not have you bickering. If you wake up anyone I'll pound you senseless." Molly Weasley said going rather red in the face. Sirius and Remus had never heard Molly loose her temper, sat with shocked expressions on their faces. "Now that problem has been solved James, tell them what you and Arthur came up with."
James looked as though he was about to run out of the room if she lost her temper again, but said steadily "We'll just try to keep him out of the house as much as possible. You know father/son outings and play dates with Ron. And hopefully she'll decide to go home soon."
"If Sirius would have learned to keep his mouth shut we wouldn't have to worry about it."
"And obviously somebody needs to have a nap don't they Remus!" said Sirius sarcastically sticking his tongue out at Remus.
"Yeah Well..." Remus began but was interrupted by Sirius, who had stuck his fingers in his ears and was saying rather loudly "I'm not listening. I'm not listening."
"James, make him shut up!" Remus said in a whiny five-year-old voice as Sirius continued with "I'm not listening."
"Just ignore him." James said leaving the two to their bickering.
"What's up with those two?" Arthur asked watching the two.
James sighed "Sirius decided it was to quiet after we left your house and 'accidentally' knocked Remus's new cloak to the floor."
"It was an accident!" Sirius insisted in a slightly raised voice.
"Oh sure." Remus sarcastically added "And it was an accident that Harry was sitting there."
"It was" He insisted again.
Remus rolled his eyes, "And it was an accident that Harry just happened to have a nice bright red sucker in his hand."
"And you gave it to him. So there, it's not all my fault."
"And the fact he had a chocolate frog in his other hand wasn't your fault either now, was it?"
Sirius tried for the innocent look again "It's not my fault he got a million chocolate frogs for Christmas."
"Yeah, you only gave him half of that million."
"Yeah? Well that one wasn't from my half!"
" Really how could you tell?" retorted Remus
Sirius stood up before shouting, "Because I handed it to him, you twit!"
"Oh so you're admitting it now are you?" Remus raged on, standing up so he could glare Sirius in the eye. "So admit it, you meant to, didn't you?"
"Um, guys," James interrupted as the two glared at each other not even bothering to glance at James. "I'm going home. Okay?"
"I'm not admitting to anything!"
"Well, have a fun time, Molly. If they get to be to much deal with them anyway you see fit." James said as he began to leave the room, he reached the door and turned around with a grin "Personally I like thumbscrews and clothes hangers the best."
Molly looked confusedly after James as he appearated out of the doorway before turning back to the other two. If looks could kill they would be dead!
"Alright you two! Your bickering like Percy and the twins. Do I have to do what I do with them?" The question fell on deaf ears though as the two continued to argue.
"Fine!" Remus, sit down in that corner. Sirius, you sit in the other one. If I hear one word pass between the two of you, you'll be grounded." Molly shouted in a slightly quiet voice as to not wake up the children. The two grown men cowered in fear and backed into their corners, so they wouldn't upset Molly further.
"Calm down dearest. There's no need to yell." Arthur said trying to calm Molly down.
Unknown to rest of the people in the room Sirius was now carefully sneaking his wand out of his pocket.
"How can I calm down when they're acting worse then the twins?" Molly stated now thoroughly enraged.
POP! It appeared that Sirius had finally managed to use his wand without the knowledge of the others.
"Sirius Black! I'm going to kill you." Shouted Remus before appearating out.
"See dear, now there off your back." Arthur comforted.
A cry from upstairs made them groan. "And Ginny's wide awake." Molly said, storming up the stairs to take care of her daughter.