"UNCLE SIRIUS!" Harry raced through the floo before Lily even managed to step outside. "UNCLE SIRIUS WHERE ARE YOU? WE'RE HERE!"
"Harry!" Lily's tone scolded, but her eyes twinkled at her only son's excitement. She knew he felt out of sorts with Draco being part of the family and seeing him have the chance to acclimate to it always pleased her. It also didn't hurt that the girls were visiting with friends, leaving James and Lily the chance to have a night alone. "Indoor voice!"
Sirius was always pleased to hear that voice yelling for him. He had been ever since the little Pronglet had learned to speak. And while he'd come to appreciate another voice so recently, it didn't change the rush of joy he felt as he bounded down the stairs, coming to a halt in front of his young godson. Scooping Harry up, he spun the dark-haired boy around and grinned over his shoulder at Lily. "Oh, enough of that mum business," he scolded her. "I don't get to see him everyday, we should be allowed to use outside voices if we want."
Placing Harry carefully back on the ground, he whispered in the boy's ear, "unless Uncle Remus says no!"
Harry screeched happily as Sirius tossed him in the air and didn't let go of the man's hands when placed back down. He giggled at the secret and shook his head. "Oy!" He whispered back. "We'll have to yell real loud before he gets home then!"
Lily rolled her eyes at the pair. "You both need to work on your secret telling too." She dropped a duffel bag on the floor next to Sirius' feet. "Everything he could possibly need is in there. Please make sure to feed him something other than sweets." She bent to kiss Harry's cheek and hug him close to her. "Be a good boy. I don't want any bad reports!"
"I will, Mum! Now go ahead and take Daddy out!" Harry squeezed Lily one last time. "Love you, Mummy!"
Lily laughed. "You little imp, I love you too." She spared Sirius a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, love."
Affectionately, Sirius reached out and tweaked Lily's hair gently. "You know he's in good hands. After all, I've got this kid having stuff figure out by now. Now go make that husband of yours a really happy man." Over Harry's head, Sirius winked, but then turned back to Harry with gusto. "And you are eating something other than sweets. Dobby's making roast and mashed potatoes, and he's really quite good at it." He glanced over his shoulder to see if Lily had gone yet before continuing, "there is, however, ice cream for dessert."
Harry had made a face at the roast mention, but brightened on hearing about the ice cream. "Brilliant! Can we have gummies with it? Please? Pretty please?"
Already, Sirius was putting the retreating redhaired figure behind him. "Of course we can. I bought plenty the last time I was in Honeydukes because it turns out a little boy who I love very much loves gummies in his ice cream."
"What about MY sprinkles?" Draco arrived just in time to catch the last sentence and was not at all happy. The fact that Harry and Draco could be best mates one day did little to curb their downright bickering the next. He crossed his arms over his chest and regarded both disdainfully. He had heard Harry screeching, but had kept his promise to Remus to give them a little alone time. For Draco, those three minutes had been a killer.
Turning to Draco with a fond smile, Sirius reached out and pulled him close for a tight squeeze. "You know we always have your sprinkles, little one," he told him, ruffling his hair gently. "We never have ice cream night without them."
Draco might have known, but he liked the reassurance. Oh, not of the sprinkles, of course, but that he was special too. He gripped the back of Sirius' shirt with one little hand and looked over at Harry. "Hi."
Harry smiled warmly even if Draco made zero degrees of sense sometimes. "Wanna play with us?" He tugged at Sirius' arm. "Whata we playing?"
Tapping his chin, Sirius pretended to give the question a great deal of thought. "We could play Hide and Seek, or we could pull out the train set, or we could play pretend. I'd say we play my favourite game, charm Uncle Remus' room purple, but I don't think he likes when I play that one much."
Draco giggled. "He yelled at you LOTS for that one, Daddy!" He shook his head, shooting Harry a mischievous smile. "Papa's at work and he always says Daddy's gonna burn the house one day."
Harry's eyes widened. "Burn the house? Oh no! We'd have to escape!"
"He's kidding, Harry," Sirius told him with a grin. "At least, I think he is. I've never actually tried to burn the house down before. I did almost burn our dorm room back in school, though, maybe that's what he's worried about."
Draco gasped and pulled back to look up at his father. "WHAT? You never tolded me that! And neither did Papa or Uncle James! What happened?"
Harry threw his arms around Draco's neck and leaned his chin on his 'cousin' to hear the tale. "Tell us what happened!"
"Harry, you gotta say please!" Draco sighed and shook his head. "Manners! Auntie Lily would be mad." Still, he laughed at Harry's move and leaned over like he was going to give Harry a ride. Naturally, neither went anywhere since they were practically the same size.
A small smile crossed Sirius' face as he looked at 'his' boys. They had their moments, of course. They were like a real family, though, complete with rivalry and affectionate moments. It made his chest puff with pride and his heart swell with pleasure.
Still, he couldn't allow Draco to try and carry Harry off with him. He made his way to the couch, motioning to the boys to follow him. "Come here, you two, and I'll tell you the tale of Sirius Black and the Charms Book of Doom!" He dropped his voice as if he were telling them the ultimate ghost story.
Squealing, the pair dashed after him with each scrambling into a side. Their differences were apparent, however, as Harry draped a leg over Sirius' knees and leaned back against the couch pillows while Draco insisted on being held.
"What did you do bad, Daddy?"
"Yeah, Uncle Sirius! What?"
As easily as if he'd done it all of his life, Sirius rested one hand on Harry's leg and the other arm tucked neatly around Draco. "Now, why do you two just assume I did something bad?" he questioned, a smirk playing on his lips. "Maybe it was completely accidental!"
Harry snickered which caused him to look exactly like James. "Cause Mum's told me all you and Dad did!"
Draco nodded his agreement. "Papa's told me lots 'bout the things you made him do."
"Made him?" Sirius yelped, looking put out. "I'll have you know that, erm, well, most of the things your papa did he did willingly, thank you." But then he smiled and shrugged. "And besides, it was sort of an accident. Um. Sort of. I hadn't exactly planned for the entire room to go up in flames..."
"But Papa said you got detention more," Draco pointed out. "And he STILL likes time-out more than you." His face clouded and he pouted in a way only Draco could.
"That's 'cause Uncle Remus wants us to grow up and NOT get detention!" Harry's giggles made his entire body shake. "I can't wait," he added in a way that clearly said he was going to get many detentions.
"Oy, Daddy, keep going!" Draco merely shook his head at his friend.
Sirius should have been more worried that Harry was bound and determined to follow in his father's (and Sirius' own) footsteps, but it wasn't as if detention was life-altering. Besides, he'd learned quite a bit in the offices of Professors McGonagall and Flitwick.
Ah, Flitwick. Flitwick and his horrible incendia charm. "All I wanted to do was practise my Charms homework," Sirius began innocently enough. "And would you believe my horrible awful book caught fire?"
"HOW?" Chorused the two little boys. "Oy, jinx," Harry told Draco.
Groaning, Draco turned to Sirius expectantly.
"How about I owe you both a soda?" Sirius said, in response to Harry's jinx. "In fact, I could get up and get them now..." He moved to get up, a wicked little smile on his face.
"DADDY!" Draco tugged at Sirius' pants leg.
"Yeah! You gotta tell us!" Harry grabbed Sirius' free leg.
Stumbling backwards a bit, Sirius collapsed in a heap on the couch, taking up more room than necessary. "Oh, fine, if you two insist. I got mad at my book. And instead of practicing my spell on the bucket of water I'd been using, I switched to practicing on my book..." His eyes twinkled a bit at the memory. It had scared the hell out of him when he'd done it, but the look on Moony's face as the book had caught fire had made it all worthwhile.
Harry's face lit up. "Wicked!"
Draco, on the other hand, winced. "But you coulda got hurt." He curled up closer to Sirius if that was even possible.
"Well," Sirius explained to Draco, gently stroking his hair, "I hadn't meant to do it at the time. I thought I'd just use the water spell we'd learned the week before and put it out--if it worked. But it seems I was already so mad from not being able to do the charm before that by the time I'd switched to my book, I was a little over excited."
"You won't do that again?" Draco reached up to graze Sirius' face with a finger.
Harry looked at the exchange with great curiosity. As much as everyone tried to explain Draco, the boy left Harry baffled sometimes.
"Never ever," Sirius promised, dropping a kiss on Draco's forehead. "I learn my lesson, even when it's stuff I shouldn't have been doing in the first place. Plus I had detention for a week!" Winking at Harry, he poked his godson in his tummy in a definite tickle. "And your dad wouldn't stop making fire jokes around me after that."
Harry promptly erupted in laughter. "Draco, help me get him!"
"Agh!" Draco jumped over Sirius and soon the man had two small children attacking him with wiggling fingers.
"Oi!" Sirius yelped, helplessly giggling in a way no man in his thirties ever should. "Stop it stop it stop it or I'm getting neither of you anything for your...augh, stop it, birthdays!"
"Yes, you are!" Harry yelled over the onslaught. "You love us, Uncle Sirius!"
"Yeah!" Draco agreed. "And Papa won't let you. Or Auntie Lily. She'll yell real loud!"
"No louder than this!" Sirius proclaimed, and, wiggling out of the boys' grasp, he yelled, "Rooooar!" in his best dragon imitation, swooping to scoop one boy under each arm.
"Aghhhh! Don't drop me!" Draco cried though he was chuckling as he grabbed onto his father's side.
"Or me!" Harry shrieked though rather than grab on, he squirmed and tried to escape. "Rawr! I'm a baby dragon!"
"No! I am!" Draco dissented. "My name!"
There they went again. Neither one could seem to manage to share. Sirius grinned, however, and dropped them both ceremoniously on the magically softer couch. Wandless magic was good for something! "You can both be baby dragons!" he declared. "Dragon mummies usually have a couple at a time, after all. She sits by her nest and watches them for a long time and then when they hatch, she carries them just like that!" He wasn't entirely sure of that, but it sounded sort of brilliant.
"But Auntie Lily's not MY mummy," Draco argued. "Just Harry's!"
"Oy, doofus, it's just pretend!" Put out, Harry sat up and glowered at Draco.
Sirius sighed and took his place on the couch again, holding out his arms to both boys. "Harry, don't call Draco names." Carefully, he eyed Draco, reaching out to touch his cheek. "It is just pretend, my littlest dragon. You and Harry aren't really brothers, of course, but you know what? Neither are Uncle James and I, but we sure do act like it, don't we? And his mummy and daddy took really good care of me, just like Aunt Lily and Uncle James do for you when Papa and I can't."
Harry frowned at the reprimand, but said nothing as he snuggled into Sirius' chest. Draco hesitated, but followed suit. His grey eyes met Harry's green ones and he smiled a bit. "They do," he admitted.
"And you and Uncle Remus take care of me when Mum and Dad can't," Harry added helpfully.
"So see?" Sirius explained, giving each boy an extra squeeze in turn. "It's like we're our own big dragon family. I'll bet there's some animals out there who live in communities and all take care of each other. I'll bet Remus could even find a book on it." Grinning, he winked at them. "And then, when we're all old, you and your kids will have to take care of us!"
Harry giggled again, but Draco was mulling it all over very seriously. Seeming to come to a conclusion of some sort, he impulsively threw his arms around both Sirius and Harry.
Startled, Harry looked up at his godfather with a mystified expression.
But Sirius thought he understood. In some ways, Draco was still very much the outsider in a family unit that had developed many years ago. And some aspects of his new family had to be scary and confusing. Knowing he was accepted and would be long into his parents' old age had to help him a bit. Sirius gave Draco a tight hug of his own before drawing Harry in. "That's what families do, after all. Take good care of each other. Even when the two of you have ickles of your very own."
"Ewww," Harry answered. "I don't wanna marry and have kids!" It was very much like the sentiment he had expressed on New Year's, but Draco didn't argue this time. Instead, he nodded somberly as tears sprang to his eyes. Sirius was right; he did still feel out of sorts sometimes.
Still confused, but not liking when people were sad, Harry finally released into the three way embrace. "It's okay, Draco. I'll have babies so yours can play with them. Big promise!"
"Big big big promise?" Sirius prodded. "I need lots of little great nieces and great nephews, you know. Vivi and Holly might not want me baby-sitting all of theirs. And you," he said with a grin, tickling Draco under his chin, "well, I need grandsons and granddaughters to corrupt against Remus' orders. You know that!"
Feeling better, Draco planted a sloppy kiss on Sirius' cheek. "You can live with me and play with them ALL the time!"
"Yeah!" Harry agreed happily. "We can get houses that stick together and there won't be time-outs or nothing!"
Lifting an eyebrow, Sirius feared he and James may have created a little monster with a no time-out rule. "No pet dragons, that's all I ask!" he demanded. "I'll be too old to run from them and I'd probably get eaten and I doubt I taste very good, at least not without salt."
"Daddy!" Draco rolled eyes once again. "I'd never let them get you! I love you too big!"
"Yeah!" Harry nodded his agreement. "Me and Draco will protect you! And if that don't work, Mummy can take care of them."
"But she'll be old, too!" Sirius protested, his gray eyes wide. "And even Lily Potter can't yell at mean dragons when she's old!"
"Uncle Sirius...Mummy can yell REALLLLLLLLLLL loud, don't you remember?" Harry exchanged a knowing glance with Draco.
"He's right, Daddy, and she even holds you down if you won't sit in time out!"
Sirius chuckled, then, leaning back lazily on the couch. Which was probably a mistake with two pre-teen boys full of countless amounts of energy. One couldn't be lazy with that pair around. "Now, now, would she be that mean?" he questioned. "You make her sound like a mean old lady. And I happen to know that she just bought Harry those new puzzles last week and she got Draco a brand new colouring book the other day, and she made brownies for you both last week. Does that sound like some mean old lady to you?"
"No! She's the bestest auntie EVER." Draco poked at Sirius. "She's just a toughie when we're naughty."
"Which is a lot sometimes." Harry looked far from sorry though. If anything, he looked pleased. "But she's still the best mummy!"
She was certainly better than Sirius' own mummy. "She just loves you both and wants you to grow up to be proper young men, and not the little rugrats I let you be," he joked, poking Draco right back.
"You give time-out too," Draco complained though he had to admit if Sirius had to reprimand him, he REALLY pushed it.
"But we won't get it tonight," Harry chimed in. "Don't worry, Draco. We'll be real good!"
Draco grinned. "Sounds VERY good cause I want that ice cream!"
"Come on, my little ice cream dragons," Sirius said, and with a laugh, he got up and took two small hands in each of his, leading the way to the kitchen to get ice cream he knew would ruin their appetites for dinner. And not really caring, either.