Meeting Harry

Written for Round 2 of Fire The Canon's October Fanfiction Tournament (stories about Sirius) and the Arithmancy part of ladyoftheknightley's School Subjects Competition (stories using facts/canon).

"Remus and Peter not coming round tonight then?" asked Sirius, settling down on the sofa in James and Lily's living room.

James shook his head. "Nah. Remus still isn't feeling great after the full moon and as for Peter, he was so vague about his plans for this evening that the only thing I can think of is that he must have a date."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "A date! The sly dog. I feel like we should be hurt that he's kept it from us but after what happened with that Vanessa girl I guess I can't blame him," he said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," nodded James. "That was unfortunate."

At that moment Lily entered, a small bundle cradled carefully in her arms.

"Hey beautiful, how are you?" Sirius asked.

As she sat down next to him he could see the dark circles under her eyes but the radiant smile she gave him seemed to erase them completely. "I'm great and I would like to introduce you to Harry James Potter." And then speaking softly to Harry she said, "Harry sweetheart, this is Uncle Sirius. Daddy and I are hoping he'll be your godfather as well."

"What?" Sirius spluttered, glancing between the two of them. "You want me to be his godfather? Are you sure?"

Lily and James chuckled. "Of course we're sure," said James. "There's nobody we'd trust more."

"But if you," Lily began, fixing both Sirius and James with a steely stare. "If either of you encourage my baby boy to become an underage, illegal animagus or to do any of the other dangerous, foolhardy things you lot have got up to in the past I won't be responsible for my actions."

Both of them had plenty of firsthand experience of Lily's temper, and that was when she hadn't just had a baby, so their replies came quickly.

"Understood."

"Absolutely."

"Good. Now do you want to hold him?" asked Lily.

"Uhh..." Sirius blustered. "I don't know. I don't want to disturb him, he seems perfectly happy with you."

"Oh come on, it's not difficult. And if you're going to his godfather you're going to have to get used to it all you know, holding, playing, feeding, dirty nappies," said James, giving an exaggerated shudder at the last one.

Sirius peered warily at Harry as if expecting him to jump out of his blankets at any minute and attack him.

"See I was thinking I could be the cool godfather that he comes to when he's a teenager and you two are on his case and he needs a break."

"You'd think we were asking you to hold a Manticore," laughed Lily. "He's just a baby."

"Well all right then," Sirius relented, still looking uncertain. "But you'll have to show me how to hold him. I don't think I've ever held a baby before in my life."

After a few words about how to position himself Lily carefully placed Harry in Sirius' arms. The movement seemed to upset Harry who scrunched up his face and let out a pitiful wail.

"What do I do?" Sirius panicked.

"Don't worry," replied Lily, stroking Harry's cheek softly. "He just needs to settle again. See," she added as he did just that.

Sirius forced himself to relax slightly and stared down at Harry in curiosity. Noticing the tuft of jet black hair already covering his head he smirked at James.

"Well we can see whose hair he's inherited. I really hope you haven't passed on your eyesight to him as well. That really would just be too cruel."

Looking back down at Harry, Sirius was surprised to see him staring intently up at him with vivid green eyes, the likes of which he'd only ever seen on Lily.

"Oh look he likes you," exclaimed Lily. "Keep talking."

"Hello Harry," said Sirius, mouth strangely dry. "Don't you worry about your hair, we'll figure something out."

"Hey," protested James but Sirius barely heard him.

Being called 'uncle Sirius' and then being asked to be Harry's godfather had left him feeling strangely emotional in a way that he couldn't explain. Babies had never really held any appeal to him. Even when James, Lily and other friends from school had been gripped with baby fever over the last few months he had sat on the sidelines slightly bewildered about all the fuss. But now, holding Harry in his arms and staring down into his serious little face, he understood it.

A flash broke his reverie and he looked up to see James holding a camera, grinning. "I think somebody wants one of his own."

Sirius snorted. "I wouldn't go that far. I'm up for the fun stuff like spoiling him rotten and teaching him about Quidditch and pranks and girls. But I think I'll leave the pooing, puking, teenage mood swings and groundings to you two."

The three of them laughed, although Lily's was almost more yawn than laugh. She seemed to be half asleep where she sat.

"Go and get some sleep Lils," suggested James. "Harry's not due for a feed for a few hours and Sirius and I can manage until then."

"Absolutely," said Sirius, pulling faces at Harry. "We can have some quality guy time can't we Harry? Teach you the rules of Quidditch."

She chuckled and rubbed a hand across her face. "I think I will if you don't mind. You'll come and get me if you need anything?"

After they both assured her that they would she disappeared upstairs, James giving her hand a gentle squeeze as she passed him. Sirius looked back down at Harry and saw with a smile that he was slowly drifting off to sleep.

"Well I guess Quidditch can wait for now," he said softly before turning to James. "Who'd have thought it eh? James Potter, husband and father."

James grinned as he stretched his legs out in front of him. "I know and we can't forget Sirius Black, uncle and godfather. When did we get so old?"

"Speak for yourself," replied Sirius, in mock outrage. "I'm certainly not old, just..." He paused, searching for the right word. "Older."

"Older," nodded James. "Fair enough."