Chapter 17: Parenting 101

'No, no, n – Eargh! … Oooh! … yuck!'

Harry opened his eyes to see Sirius holding a small child at arms' length while staring in disgust at the mess that covered the front of his shirt.

'You just had to spit up all over me, didn't you?' Sirius mumbled under his breath. 'Couldn't wait for Remus or Tonks or – Ah, Harry, you're awake… perfect. Here, hold this.' He deposited the little girl on Harry's lap and darted from the room like a scared rabbit.

Harry smirked, and turned his attention to the baby, who was gurgling happily to herself.

While her sister took after their mother in hair and eye colour, this child favoured their father, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Despite these differences, both girls shared similar facial features; it was easy to tell they were sisters.

Ten minutes later, Sirius reluctantly reentered the living room. The older girl followed behind him, hair tousled from sleep. Upon catching sight of her sister, the toddler began to wave her arms excitedly, almost hitting Harry in the face.

'Kay!' she squealed. 'Kay!'

'I found Brown-Eyes looking for you, Harry,' Sirius informed him with a lazy grin. 'It's astounding how you just reel in fans by the dozens.'

But Harry was only half listening. He was looking at the older girl. 'Is that your name? Kay?'

She looked at him for a moment before slowly shaking her head. 'Caitlyn,' she murmured before ducking her head and staring at her knees.

'Oh, erm… that's a nice name,' said Sirius awkwardly, and Harry hid a smile; his godfather sounded way out of his depth. It was amusing how he could face a troupe of Death Eaters without flinching, yet tiptoed around these girls as if they would explode at any moment.

Looking back to the older girl, whom they now knew to be Caitlyn, Harry asked, 'And what's your sister's name?'

Caitlyn clambered onto the couch to sit beside him and the baby. 'She's Elise, but she doesn't talk much. She just cries and makes a lot of mess.'

'So I've noticed,' Sirius muttered dryly.

Caitlyn was running a hand through her hair. 'My pigtails are coming out.'

Sirius blinked uncomprehendingly. 'Your what?'

She fixed him with an impatient stare, as though surely he was being difficult on purpose. 'These,' she said, reaching up to grab a bunch of hair in each hand, 'are pigtails. Can you fix them?'

There was a great deal of umming and erring on Sirius' part until he finally said, 'Uh, I don't know how.'

'You don't?' repeated Caitlyn in a tone that implied that, as far as she were concerned, not possessing this skill was a very serious thing indeed.

'No… sorry,' Sirius added hastily, watching her cautiously.

'Oh.' Caitlyn appeared to think for a moment. 'Do you have a brush?' she asked.

'A brush?' Sirius repeated blankly. 'Oh, yeah…' He glanced around the room and made a vague hand gesture. 'Somewhere about.'

'You mean you don't know where your hairbrush is?' said Caitlyn slowly, eyes wide. Her incredulity was very clear. 'What if you needed it?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Then I guess I'd have to find it. But I don't need it, so I don't have to know where it is.'

Caitlyn surveyed him critically. 'You do need it. Your hair is scruffy.'

By now, Harry was sporting an enormous grin. Watching his godfather standing meekly while being told off by a little girl was amusing to say the least.

Sirius cleared his throat. 'Are you hungry?' he asked her, obviously keen to change the subject.

Caitlyn forgot all about her hair. She slid off the couch and clumsily hoisted Elise into her small arms. The baby shifted slightly but didn't complain, apparently used to being hefted about like a sack of potatoes.

Harry threw aside his blankets, swung his legs off the couch and moved to follow. Sirius hovered nearby, ready to lend assistance if necessary. Being an independent person, Harry couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable, but he knew Sirius had reason to worry, so he didn't voice his irritation.

They crowded around the kitchen table. Harry tried not to cringe as Caitlyn slung her little sister over her shoulder in an attempt to free up her hands for climbing onto the chair.

Sirius summoned a few boxes of cereal out of the pantry, fetched the milk and placed them in the centre of the table. With a few flicks of his wrist he sent three bowls skidding along the length of the table where they came to rest in front of the kids. Cutlery soon flew out of the drawer to land with a dull chink beside the bowls.

'Grub's up!' said Sirius brightly, waving his wand in the direction of the freezer; a loaf of bread came zooming around the corner and deposited several slices of bread in the toaster.

Throughout this brief display of magic, a small smile had unfurled on Caitlyn's face. 'Your dad's pretty cool,' she said to Harry.

'What?' Harry asked, uncomprehendingly. For a moment, he couldn't understand why Sirius froze midway through buttering a slice of toast. But then Caitlyn pointed to Sirius.

'Your dad. He's cool,' she repeated, her mouth full of cereal.

Harry felt a rush of affection for the people around him. 'Yeah, he is,' he said quietly, grinning at Sirius.

Sirius swallowed. He cleared his throat. Twice. When he finally spoke, his eyes were oddly moist. 'Thank you.'

He had looked at Caitlyn as he said it, but Harry felt a hand give his shoulder a squeeze.