Little Star

Grumbling noises coming from Stella's room kept her awake all night.

Said grumbling being her stomach.

If she had to admit it, she was starving. It had been almost 20 hours since the last time she had a meal. Well, she was guessing. Stella didn't really have much concept of time during her imprisonment. This torture these men were putting her through, had felt like months, while realistically she had no idea how long she had been there.

"Stella, darling, go back to sleep."

In the midst of her own thoughts, Stella hadn't even realized when Sirius walked in the room. His great figure towering over her, and filling the darkness. She flinched when he bended down to pick her up. He ignored her fuss, and set her down calmly over his shoulder, forcing her head to rest in the crook of his neck.

"Shh, that's it. All better now that Daddy's here, right?"

Yeah, right.

She huffed angrily, "I hate that thing.”

Sirius continued to run his hands in circles along her back, soothing her, and deciding to let her words slide.

The next line he spoke was to himself, not Stella. She could always tell, since there was usually a lack of baby-ness in his voice.

"Still? It's been a week...Not to worry. Daddies will buy Stelly Belly a new bed. One that's fit for a princess," He planted a big sloppy kiss on her head.

 He chuckled to himself when he could hear her little groan. 

However, the physical affection wasn't what was making Stella gag.

Well, partly.

He said it had been a week. A week.

One whole week...and no one's come looking for her. Granted, Stella knew she didn't talk much to her family anymore, but she had friends. She had coworkers. Neighbors. All people of which would definitely have reported her abrupt absence by now. 

It's not like anyone would be able to find her all the way out here. Take away the fact that her captors are wizards for a moment, was she even in the same country? It would make sense if they had taken her back to their home.To which they kept ever-so-sweetly reminding her was her home too. 

It was hopeless. Literally, all faith was lost. Sure, she could hold onto the notion of possibly conspiring with the still unknown Lily and running away, but how long until that happened? Another week? Two? A month? Hell, Stella wouldn't even be surprised if her shit luck took her an entire year before she was given a glimpse of a way out of here.

All these rather depressing thoughts running through her mind at once, caused sobs to begin to violently break through her lungs.

God, she was so sick of crying.

Sirius began his comforting coos once more while trying to identify the problem. 

"Oh no. My little girl is starving, aren't you baby?"

Stella viciously shook her head. She didn't want any more breastmilk. She also wasn't keen on waking Remus up just to feed her. She already felt sorry enough.

He rubbed circles around her back, "Well, we're gonna have to think of something else to get into your tummy won't we? Yes, we will. Yes, we will."

She wondered what that meant. Had Remus given up on breastfeeding her? Was it because of the punch? For a man who seemed more than content with his precious new "baby", he sure did throw in the towel quite quickly.

Stella couldn't help but feel slightly offended by this.

"Let's go get a snack."

There was a 50/50 shot that this so-called 'snack', could be something actually edible for Stella. However, being the pessimist she was, she let out another groan.

Sirius only chuckled at the girl's resistance. The man walked downstairs, with Stella's head bouncing on his shoulder with each step taken.

The refrigerator light shone brightly in Stella's eyes, causing her to flinch away and hide in Sirius' shoulder. A choice which she regretted immediately once she realized how vulnerable she looked.

"How's this baby?"

Stella redirected her gaze to the squeeze bottle Sirius held in his hand. She recognized it as the apple sauce pouches she used to have on her way to work in the mornings.

This would do.

Sirius held the straw to the girl's lips and squeezed the pouch slightly. The strawberry flavor that hit Stella's tongue was so magnificent, she almost started to cry again. She had missed normal tasting foods. Granted, applesauce wasn't exactly what she was hoping for for a meal, but it was a big step up from breast milk.

"Can Daddy have a taste?"

The girl looked to him, with no expression on her face. The man took her silence as confirmation and took a quick squeeze of strawberry applesauce for himself.

He then held it back out for her to suck some more from. Stella was weirded out by this. It was as if they were a real family, sucking from the same straw. She would never get over how both men thought they earned themselves the right to invade her personal space. It was infuriating.

Sirius looked down at the little girl when he had felt a tap on his shoulder. 

"Um...could you do something for me?"

The man smiled in between yawns, "Anything, baby."

She scratched her ear out of nervousness. Stella was sure he was going to say no.

"Can you...take off the second diaper? It's making it really hard to sleep."

Sirius sighed. He didn't wanna let go of his strong parental front, but even he wasn't going to be able to sleep if he knew his baby was in pain.

At his moment of hesitation, he watched as Stella grew a disappointed look across her face.

Boy, did that little girl know how to tug on his heartstrings.

The girl would surely learn her lesson later today anyways, once she feels the effect of Remus' absence. 

He thought on it a few more seconds as he fed Stella more applesauce.

"Let's go get you comfortable, baby."

—————————————————

Stella's eyelids fought to open as she was once again being taken out of the crib that morning. 

"Did my little angel get some sleep?"

And that's when her eyes fully perked up. She stared at the man cradling her.

Sirius.

Not Remus.

Sirius was never here in the mornings. Stella had assumed after he put her back to sleep a few hours ago he had left for work. Sometimes he would do that, where we would come in as he was getting ready to leave, and kiss her goodbye. She hated how he always accidentally woke her up. She hated a lot of things about him.

By now, she was getting used to being awoken in Remus' arms, sometimes without a shirt on his body. After he woke her up, it was always a prompt diaper change and then the dreaded breastfeeding. Or breakfast, as Remus liked to call it.

"Wh-why are you here?"

Sirius chuckled and rubbed his nose over the girl's cheek. It actually felt quite nice.

"You almost sound unhappy that I'm here, baby."

Stella debated answering that honestly.

"You're not usually the one here with me in the morning."

The girl had rarely spoken more than two words to them per day, so Sirius' face filled with surprise at her sudden outburst of chattiness.

He adjusted her onto his hip, and walked toward the changing in.  table in the corner of the room. He laid her down as he went to the dresser drawers to pick her an outfit for the day.

"Well, I am today, honey."

Stella was growing tired of this. It was becoming clear he knew what she was asking, and ignoring it. It's not like she wanted Remus to be here with her right now, but a little explanation as to what was going on would certainly help. 

In the peak of her frustration, she notices something. 

The strap. The safety belt that stretches across the table which Remus uses to secure her. Sirius didn't buckle it.  Was he testing her? Or did he just not expect her to roll right off and escape? 

Stella then tried to feel her knees and realized she was in no state to even be thinking about running away. She's have to put that on hold until she got her strength back. Great, another thing to have to keep waiting for. But she didn't know how much longer she could wait. What if her strength only got worse..?

"What do you think of this? Pretty, huh?"

The girl snapped herself out of her trance and looked up to see Sirius towering over her once again holding articles of clothing in his hand. It was a onesie, of course. A white one though, long-sleeve, and colored in different shades of pink flowers. In Sirius' hand was a hair clip which resembled a fully-blossomed tulip. 

She dramatically rolled her head to the side of the table with a sigh, so she didn't have to face him. 

"Does it really matter?"

Sirius had no choice but to move on from her prickly mood. He did hope she would stop thinking that him and Remus were trying to ruin her life eventually, though.

He began to undress and clean her lower region. He also decided not to comment on the fact that she hadn't yet pooped since she'd been there. It was evident that she was in a grumpy mood already this morning, better not to stir the pot so early. Sirius eventually fought against her struggles and got her outfit on her.

Stella had now been sit up in front of the mirror, while Sirius was brushing her hair. She was actually impressed with how well he took care of her hair, but she wasn't going to comment on it.

She decides to ask again, "Where is he?"

The man doesn't even look up to make eye contact, but just continues on partitioning her strands of very dark brown hair. A perfect mix between his and Remus' he thought.

"Where's who, darling?"

He knew what she meant. Who she was referring to. Stella knew this. But what she didn't know, was why he was being so difficult about it. All this avoidance was starting to bring a certain worry in her gut. Like something deeper was going on. 

Did Remus hate her now?

"..Remus."

Sirius sprays a little bit of water on her scalp to smooth out the french braid he was still currently weaving. 

"I'm sorry baby, I don't think I know anyone by that name."

Oh. She got it now.

He wanted her to use his "proper title". 

Stella huffed. Did he really have to make this so difficult? 

"Could you-"

"All done!" Sirius planted a kiss on the girls forehead after finishing her french braid and placing the tulip clip in her hair.

Within a second, she was back over his shoulder and leaving the nursery. As the they headed down the hall and towards the stairs, they passed Sirius and Remus' bedroom door. Stella didn't even know if Remus was in there, but the door was slightly ajar so she decided to take a peek.

Nothing. Couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything. Maybe he left.

Did really leave because of her? Because of the punch?

"Looking for something, angel?" He smiles while patting her back soothingly. 

Stella was finding it increasingly difficult to battle her curiosity of asking about Remus' whereabouts, without giving Sirius the one thing he wants to hear. 

All this thinking and weighing of options began to make Stella's brain hurt. That's been happening a lot recently. Overwhelming herself with thoughts such as escaping, misery, and just overall depressing notions.

It also momentarily distracted her from even realizing

 Sirius had just placed her in a high chair at the table.

Sirius came back a few minutes later, placing a baby bottle filled to the brim with milk right in front of her.

"I know it's not as yummy as the real thing, but just try and adjust for now, okay?"

Stella braved up the courage and finally said a word she hadn't dared to try yet with her kidnappers.

"No."

Stella saw Sirius' whole body stiffen. He turned around to face her. 

"No, no, little girl. That's not a word you get to use when Daddy tells you to do something."

"Not before you answer my question." 

He folds his arm across his chest, still staring her down. "And what's that little miss?"

"Where is he? Why are you here instead of him?"

Sirius looked at her calmly before repeating his earlier question, "Where is who?

Stella's patience was only able to stretch so far. She let out frustration by knocking the bottle off the tray table, hard.

"You know who I'm talking about!"

For a moment, she regretted her decision of angering her kidnapper. But, she decided to trust the fact that these men were oddly obsessed with her and wouldn't lay a finger on her.

But his reaction was not what Stella expected at all. He calmly walked over to the side of the room, picked up the bottle, and returned it to the tray.

He spoke in a low voice, "No, actually I don't. I have a hard time understanding little girls, who refuse to use their words to get what they want. So, I'm going to ask you one last time, and maybe if you can be a big girl you'll understand my question. Where is who, Stella?"

If Stella ever had to swallow her pride more in her entire life, now would be the moment.

She gulped, her voice quivered.

"Where's Papa?"

—————————————————

Breakfast had gone mildly well. 

It turned out, Sirius was right. 

The bottle was not as good as the real thing.

This milk was bland and dull. She hated even admitting this, but Stella could tell Remus' milk was much sweeter and much thicker. It was like a warm, vanilla milkshake. Sometimes, she would close her eyes and try to pretend it was.

She had only gotten about a quarter through. No matter how much negotiating went back and forth between her and Sirius, even he knew she was too spoiled by her Papa's milk by now to downgrade to anything else.

He decided to take this as a victory. It would certainly cheer Remus up on a day like today.

Remus, as Stella discovered, was ill. 

That's it. He was just, ill.

Which was the entire explanation Stella received from Sirius. That he was staying in bed to recover. His body was just too weak to care for her today.

Remus certainly was feeling extremely weak. But, not in a way that he could possibly explain to his baby girl right now. They would just have to wait until she was older. Following their plan, her brain was reducing by the days. Soon, she wouldn't be able to comprehend anything. Much less, why her Papa gets brutally sick each month and has to be away from her for a few days.

Stella didn't buy that excuse for a second. 

He was mad at her. It was blatantly obvious. He wasn't 'too weak'; he was 'too hurt' to look her in the eyes again after the brutality of last night. 

It didn't matter. She wasn't bothered. He could stay up there for the rest of his life, if she cared. It didn't affect her anyways.

That's right. This didn't affect her at all.

However, her defiance was affecting Sirius quite a bit.

Today was his first day on his own. Just him and Stella. He couldn't do it; He wasn't good at this like Remus was. Fatherly knowledge didn't come naturally to him.

Here he was sitting on the couch, watching his daughter play (or at least not looking miserable) in her playpen, and all he could think about is how he's gonna convince her to eat in hour. She'd took at most four sips out of the bottle he made her, before she declared loud and clear by throwing it across the room that she was finished with it. Stella was the most stubborn person he'd ever met, aside from James. 

James. Yes, that was it, he would call James and he'd tell him what to do and everything would be just fine. 

His mate picked up on the first ring.

"Potter residence."

"Prongs! I wanted to ask yo- Hang on, why are you home right now?"

Sirius could practically hear the man's shrug on the other side of the dial-up telephone, "Heard from moody that you weren't going in today. Didn't really inspire much willpower in me to leave the house this morning after that."

Sirius chuckled at his best mate's antics.

He knew the real reason why James didn't go to work today. He was exhausted from last night, for the same reason Remus was. After they had gotten Stella, the couple agreed that Sirius would stop accompanying Remus on full moons. Their friend Peter had grown increasingly busy lately, which left James as the only one to be with Remus during his transformations. 

However, James would never see that as a burden.

"Can't argue with that logic. Listen, I wanted your advice on something. How do you get Harry to eat if he's just absolutley fussing? It's been hours, mate, I'll try anything at this point."

There was a pause on the line. "I don't."

Sirius sighed, "Would you mind expanding on that?"

"Look, mate stop trying to force things. The secret to children is to just keep putting food in front of them, and when they're hungry, they eat. Believe me, little stinker got mushed peas on my favorite red jumper earlier."

"Are you sure? Remus says it's really important tha-"

"All his parenting strategies came from my wife, of course he does!  I'm sure little Stella's a smart girl, she won't starve herself to prove a point. Actually scrap that, I don't know anything about her seeing as I still haven't met her, so..."

"Thanks for the advice, Prongs. I'll see you later."

"Does that mean I can come over?"

"Goodbye, James."

Before Sirius could fully put the phone back on the base, his heart dropped at the sound of a small thud coming from the family room, followed by a loud cry.

"Stella!"

He hadn't even known what happened, before he scooped the small girl up in his arms, allowing her to cry into his chest.

"What happened, my angel?"

"I- I tried to stand up an- and I fell and..." The girl couldn't make it to the end of her sentence without letting out another cry of pain.

Sirius could hear shuffling and groaning coming from the master bedroom upstairs.

Remus was trying to get out of bed.

So, like any good husband, he slyly whispered a locking charm over his daughter's head as he consoled her. He smiled, when he heard their bedroom door magically lock, forcing Remus to get back in bed.

The man was already struggling to comfort his daughter, he couldn't allow his husband to be injuring himself also while trying to get to them. It was worth whatever fight Remus would  try to pick with him for.

"Sweetheart, you have to ask for help-"

"I shouldn't have to! You did this to me!" The girl's growls of pain seemed never ending.

Sirius began to get up with Stella in his arms, and walked over to sit on the couch.

"Honey, you'll be big enough to walk all by yourself one day. But that isn't for a very long time. You have to let us take care of you."

It's like they had an answer for everything. Stella was done trying to make them understand her, it seemed like they were never going to.

So, she just cried and cried into his shoulder. He rubbed her back, she cried some more. 

Don't get him wrong, there was nothing Sirius absolutely hated more than hearing his little girl cry. However what he did love, was how much she clung to him when she did.

It was worth every eye roll, every sigh of frustration, and every misery-filled tantrum. 

No matter what Stella through at him, Sirius considered being her daddy, the luckiest job in the entire universe.

————————————————-

"I'm cross with you."

Sirius had just step foot into his bedroom after finally getting his little girl to take a nap, hoping to do the same for himself. He had forgotten all about the confrontation that was due with his husband.

"I'm sorry, love. You can continue to be cross with me after I wake up."

He flipped onto the side of the bed that was empty since this morning, and began to dive under the covers.

"What if she was really hurt? I wanted to be with her."

Sirius looked at his husband who was sitting up in bed with his arms crossed. "And I wanted you to be here resting."

Remus was quiet.

"Did she ask about me?"

He sighed, "Of course she did. I told her you were ill."

The light-haired man's head quickly shot back in his husband's direction.

"You what? She'll never believe that! Oh Godric, she probably thinks I'm angry with her because of last night."

Sirius mumbled half asleep, "But, you're not."

"But, she doesn't know that!"

"Look, It'll be fine, you can see her tomorrow."

“I can't wait until tomorrow! When she wakes up, bring her in here and maybe I can try feeding her. You can even put a glamour spell on me to hide the scars."

At this point, Sirius is fully awake.

"No. I will not."

"Sirius, I want to see my daug-"

"I won't cover up who you are. And I especially won't let you push your body when you're not ready. It’ll be fine, she’ll see you tomorrow and she'll miss you even more."

Remus turned his face towards Sirius, "She misses me?"

"Let's just say she refused to eat her breakfast, unless it was her Papa feeding it to her."

Panic arose in him, "Does that mean she's not eating? She didn't even have dinner last night!"

Sirius moved over so that he was right next to his husband in bed.

"Moony, that was meant to comfort you."

Remus huffed, "Why don't we use that breast pump Lily got us? That way, we can use it to make her a bottle for when she wakes up. My chest has been aching since yesterday, it would be good to get some relief anyway."

"If that's what you want, my love, I'll go bring it down from the attic."

"Thank you."

"Now, you know what I want?"

Remus smiled lightly at him, "What?"

Sirius leans over and kisses his husband quickly, shutting him up, and dives under the covers.

"To get some sleep."

—————————————————

Sirius was now more than halfway through the day of caring for his daughter on his own.

He'd say he'd earned himself a B+ so far.

Right now, he was struggling to open the breast pump pouch, to allow the milk to transfer over to the bottle.

This wouldn't seem like an entirely stressful task, if his baby wasn't screaming her head off in her high chair. He didn't even know what it was about this time, but he was sure it was her dramatics flaring up again.

"Guess she shares that with her daddy," Sirius imagined Remus would say if he had been there.

He really missed his husband. Taking care of a child by yourself for an entire day turned out to be extremely difficult.

If he was being honest, Sirius didn't think he could do this. He wasn't nearly as good at being a stay-at-home parent like Remus was. What did that say about his skills as a father, if he couldn't even keep his daughter safe, happy, and healthy for one day.

To start, he took his eyes off her which allowed her to fall down and bruise herself. Her injury led to her being in an even worse sour mood. And finally, she wouldn't open her mouth to eat anything Sirius would give her.

Basically, he was failing every category.

His B+ began to look more like a C- now.

Stella's cries of frustration erupted once more throughout the kitchen. 

"Daddy's trying, baby, he swears."

This did little to calm the girl. 

She was so irritated at him for waking her up, after it took her so long to get into a good sleep. Not only had he woken her up, but he had her sitting in a cold highchair, waiting forever to be fed.

She just wished Remus was here. 

Remus would know that she prefers it when he sways with her on the rocking chair for a little bit right after waking her up. 

He knows that if he's preoccupied in the kitchen, it's best to put Stella in her high chair somewhere near him so she didn't feel isolated.

And most of all, he could predict what was wrong with her before she even knew herself.

All these thoughts eventually made the tears flowing from her eyes stop.

What the hell's wrong with you? This is the man who kidnapped you!

It's not that she liked Remus, but if she had to pick one of her two captors to spend her time with, it would be him.

Sirius, on the other hand, was a hot mess. 

He tried to warm milk in the breast pump pouch in the microwave, but resulted in melting the plastic and giving the kitchen an aroma of burnt rubber.

Stella found it funny how they treated her like an useless baby, but even she would've known better.

"Why can't you just go ask him for help?"

Sirius eyes looked over to where she was sitting.

He didn't like that she was still speaking in full sentences. They anticipated that her mind and speech would be regressing much more by now.

"Because Daddy promised Papa that he could do this. So, he's going to do it."

Suddenly, out of thin air, a man appeared from the fire place with a loud thud. 

Stella couldn't believe her eyes.

"Merlin's balls! What animal died in here?"

Sirius' eyes practically lit up at the sight of the man.

"Prongs!"

Stella watched as Sirius ran into the living room and engulfed the man standing there in a hug.

Sirius pulled back hesitantly, "What are you doing here?"

'Prongs' gave him a dumbfounded look.

"I was invited."

"By who?"

"By you!"

"What! I definitely didn't invite you," Sirius shook his head.

"On the phone earlier, you said you'd see me later. This is later."

Sirius wiped a hand down his face in exasperation, "Look, normally I'd love you being here, really. But, Rem and I had a strict agreement on no one coming over yet. We don't wanna freak her out."

Stella absolutely despised the fact that he was speaking about her as if he wasn't right in the other room, still in her eyesight.

"I meant no harm, Padfoot, I could just tell that you were stressing out doing this yourself and I wanted to make it easier on you. Plus, it's practically a crime Stella hasn't met her only godfather yet."

Godfather?

Sirius looks as though he's debating these words.

"Alright, you can stay. But keep your bloody voice down! I don't want a word of this to get back to Remus." 

The man begins to tsk at Sirius as he pushes past him, and walks into the kitchen towards Stella.

"Swearing in front of your own child? Wow, you really have hit a low point today."

The man looks down at Stella and smiles.

"Hi there, love. I'm your Uncle James, it's nice to meet you, sweetheart."

Stella gave the now-identified man no response.

He turns back to look at Sirius, "That potion worked wonders, she looks so tiny and young. I don't think Lils would be able to tell the difference, honestly."

Sirius walks back over to the burnt plastic bag of breast milk. 

James looks over, "Yeah, mate. You're gonna have to toss that."

He huffs, "I guess I could always mash up some peas or something."

Both Stella and James make a disgusted face towards him. 

"Well, she's not exactly leaving me with many options!"

James turns his attention back towards Stella.

"Why don't we leave Daddy here with the bad smell and the peas? Do you wanna see the present your Uncle James got you?"

Stella was desperate to get out of this chair and this room. She also appreciated how he never made any forward actions towards her, like picking her up without asking her consent.

And he seemed funny.

There was no reason not to like James so far. 

She nodded her head up at him and he snaked his hands under her armpits, lifting her out of the seat. The pair walked out of the kitchen with Stella on James' hip.

James brought her into the library, which he knew from previous knowledge that it was the quietest spot of Sirius and Remus' cottage.

Stella had never seen it before, but it was so...big.

She had to remind herself that it was because she was so small now.

He sat down with her on his lap, in the big leather chair that almost sinks to the ground.

Once he got her settled, James pulled something out of his pocket.

It was small, mostly being covered by his hand. A ball, Stella realized. It was gold, and the design was beautiful.

James held the ball in front of her, when all of the sudden, the gold ball grew wings.

Two thin white feathers peaked out from its sides. It quickly jumped out of James' hand and began buzzing around Stella's head playfully.

The girl giggled in delight. This was actually a pretty cool gift.

"You like that don't you? It's called a snitch. The real thing's a bit more of a bother to control, but if you like it, I'll get you a real one when you're older. Right after we start training for quidditch tryouts of course, that is if Remus would ever allow it."

Reality would sink back in whenever Stella heard someone use the phrase 'when you're older'. It scared her that she'd be staying with these people forever. Surely that wouldn't happen, though. Surely, she'd find an escape by then.

The snitch seemed to be taunting Stella, beginning to fly just out of her reach. 

"Let's chase it," says James.

He picked the girl up and carried her all throughout the study, chasing the snitch around at a mild pace, while keeping Stella engaged.

He looked down at her and smiled, "You like it?"

Stella nodded profusely at him, not even caring if a hint of a smile breaks onto her face.

"Well, then I'll make you a deal. It's all yours if you cooperate with Daddy and eat your dinner. Every last bite."

It's never that simple with these people.

Stella weighed her options. Ultimately, she really enjoyed the excitement the snitch brought into her gloomy capture. 

She decided she would cooperate for the sake of her new toy.

James leaned his head down to kiss her cheek, "Good girl."

He put her on his hip and bounced her as he walked them back over to the kitchen.

There stood Sirius desperately mixing an orange substance with a small spoon. 

"I think someone's finally hungry," James announced.

Sirius looked up and let out a exasperated smile at his best mate's words.

"Good, I found some yummy mushed sweet potato. Let's give it a try, Stelly."

A pit of disgust grew in the girl's stomach as her eyes met James. 

Her godfather gave her a knowing look along with a slight pinch under her thigh. Reminding her to be a good girl and cooperate.

She nodded.

—————————————————

Stella sat buckled into her high chair, staring at Sirius while he silently, but rather gratefully, fed her the mushed sweet potato.

He was making googly-eyes at her and silly smiles to encourage her to like it, but however still no sound was present in his voice.

Of course, that’s only what it seemed like to Stella.

A muffliato had been cast Sirius, so not Remus or Stella could hear his and James’ conversation from any point in the house.

“She actually punched him?”

Sirius put on an over enthusiastic smile as he fed his daughter a spoon of sweet potato, so as to not give away any clues of the adults’ conversation. 

However he frowned slightly at the memory, “Yeah, last night when he tried feeding her. Got him right in the jaw.”

James was always the optimist.

“You blokes have to look at this whole thing from her point of view. She basically got kidnapped and taken away from everything she knows, by two men she thought were harmless strangers. And now they expect her to act as their child-”

“We didn’t kidnap her! We saved her.”

“I know that mate. But she doesn’t. You have to give her time to see that this truly is better than the shite life she was living on her own. It’ll sink in eventually, I promise.”

Sirius sighed and filled another spoonful to feed to Stella. He may have accidentally let a few of them fall all over her during his conversation with James.

He could stare at her like this for hours. His calm, obedient, sticky little girl.

“I need something good to tell Remus about today. Truth is, I’m a bad father and he’s beginning to realize it.”

“Bullshit.”

“Prongs!” Sirius scolded.

James held his hands up in mock surrender.

“She can’t hear us anyway. And you are the furthest thing from a bad father. Babies can be stressful on anyone, and I’m sure little Stella here has given Remus a run for his money as well. Kids drain the life outta ya mate, it’s just the way of life.”

“But what if I’m messing her up? Surely it shouldn’t take her this long to be willing to eat something? She hasn’t even made a mess in her nappy yet and it’s been over a week.”

James put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Look, it’s way too early for you to be thinking these things right now. If the same problems are still present a few months from now with no improvement whatsoever, than you can worry. You have to trust that she’ll let her guard down at her own time.”

Sirius sent a crooked side-smile to his friend, “You’re right.”

“Besides,” James laughed, “It’s not like she can hold in her poo forever. Sweet potato will cut right through her. Have fun cleaning that mess.”

James knew what he had to do in order to cheer Sirius up. It was one thing to tell him, but he had to show him that he wasn’t a bad father.

He removed the muffliato.

James got up from his spot at the table and unstrapped Stella from her high chair, and lifted her into his arms.

“Why don’t we leave Daddy to clean up the mess, while Uncle Prongs goes and cleans this little mess?” He playfully booped her nose.

Stella looked down at her own body and saw the orange stains of sweet potato all over her onesie and cheeks. The messy look of her further adding to the childish illusion.

James and Stella headed over to the downstairs bathroom to wash up, while Sirius began scrubbing down the countertops from his earlier dinner attempts.

James didn’t want to do this to Stella. Especially since they were getting on so well already, and she was finally warming up to someone.

But Sirius was his best mate. He has been ever since they were eleven years old. Sirius was the most over-confident lad James had ever met. If he was at a point in his life where that confidence needed restoring, then it was up to James to help his friend get there.

“Did you enjoy your dinner?”

Stella bit back a remark, and decided to leave it at a shrug.

“Well thank you for being such a good girl for me. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He sat her on the ledge of the sink as he began wiping her down with a wet cloth.

He didn’t want to do it.

But he had to.

James muttered an incantation lowly.

“Alvum motus,” he whispered.

Stella was none the wiser, happily allowing James to clean up the mess over her face. Until, the effects of the spell began to erupt inside of her body.

A loud fart suddenly ripped through the air. Stella wasn’t given any time to be embarrassed by this, seeing as the next few came right after.

The farts became wet, making loud and horrible squelching noises able to be heard from outside the diaper.

Stella’s eyes widened as she looked up to James confused as to the sudden shift in digestion.

Everything happened so fast.

All the weight in Stella’s tummy started to feel like someone was yanking all of the waste out of her. As if everything she had storing over the last week was ready to come out now, all at once.

And it sure seemed that way.

The loud wet farts continued, and Stella’s tummy ached severely from the pain. 

James looked down at her and acted concerned, “Woah, are you alright sweetheart?”

Jeez was this embarrassing for Stella. It seemed as though whoever was out to punish her today, wasn’t satisfied just yet.

Soon a lot of tension began to build up at the entrance of her anus. 

Please, no. Anything but this.

But it was too late. Poop started gushing out of her like a river stream. The hot mess began filling her diaper without her consent, and couldn’t stop no matter how hard she tried. Her face was on fire from how hard she was pushing, considering how much poop was coming out of her tiny little body in a short amount of time.

Just when it seemed like it was ending, a new wave of poop and farts began making their out of her. Stella was absolutely mortified. Not only did she never wish to poop in this diaper,  but she was actually doing it in front of James.

That’s when James scooped her up and laid her over his shoulder, rubbing his hand over her back to soothe her.

“It’s okay sweetheart, it’ll be over soon. Just keep pushing, it sounds like you’re almost there.”

She hated this. She hated every second of this. But this moment was  single-handedly the most painful digestion of her entire life, and the only way to make it go away was to push.

More poop continued to emanate from in between her buttocks, as the new poop fell out softer and easier than before.

Stella didn’t even realize it at first, but she began to let out grunts of pain.

James hushed her and patted her back, trying to help her get the poo out easier.

“You’re doing great honey. Just a little more poopy to go, I promise. You’re being such a brave girl right now. Daddy and Papa are going to be so proud of their little girl.”

Shit.

Stella didn’t even think of the soon-to-be ecstatic reactions of Sirius and Remus, once they saw that she finally succumbed to their torture and pooped herself like an incontinent little baby.

The pain became too much.

Stella was soon crying from the pain of all the pooping and farting. 

She don’t know how one minute she was perfectly fine and the next a literal pooping machine.

Until it had stopped.

 “Are we all better now?”

Stella didn’t say anything, only sobbed into his chest.

“I think it’s time we go see Daddy. He’ll clean your little butt and make us feel all better. Let’s go, stinky girl.”

James turned off the bathroom light and walked back over to the kitchen, with Stella over his shoulder, balling her eyes out.

Sirius’ head snapped up to the horrible sound of his little one crying, and his heart grew concerned. 

“What’s wrong?” He rushed over to them.

James took the opportunity to smile at him, knowing Stella couldn’t see.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong. Stella just left her Daddy a present for all his hard work today. Smells like she left him a big one.”

Sirius Black broke out into a grin like never before. 

He needed this. He so desperately needed this to assure himself he wasn’t ruining his little girl.

James turned 180 degrees so Stella was now facing Sirius instead.

“Isn’t that right Stella?” James cooed.

And in that moment, Sirius became the happiest man alive. 

He was sure he’d remember the next moment for years and years to come. On Stella’s first day of school, on each of her birthdays, on her wedding day….

It would go up in the memory hall of fame, next to the day he ran away to live with James’ family, and the day he married Remus.

Nothing could erase this moment.

Stella reached over James’ shoulder and outstretched her arms to Sirius, begging for her daddy. Begging him to take her and hold her, and to make her pain go away. 

Sirius hated nothing more than the sound of his little girl’s sobs, but he had to admit, it was quite nice to feel needed by her like this. Like he was the only one in the whole word capable of making her feel better in that moment in time.

He took her into his arms and squeezed her body against his. 

“It’s okay, darling. You’re going to be okay,” He soothed and rocked her, “That’s it, it’s all okay. Daddy’s here now.”