Chapter 2
“Merlin’s pants, mates… he’s six years old! We’ll be fine. In fact we’ll have a grand old time. You didn’t need to bother with all these… instructions…”
Remus looked down at the extensive list of guidelines he’d been given for his 3 days with Harry. Surely this was unnecessary.
“You don’t understand, Moony. I’ve been with him every day of his life since we brought him home.”
“So it’s about damned time you took your lovely wife on a vacation.”
“Moony, you’re not supposed to say ‘damned’” Little Harry chided him. It was hard to contain a laugh.
“Why not? You just did.”
“Minerva’s been poisoning his young mind with this stifling limitation on vocabulary.” Sirius rolled his eyes. It was a fruitless battle. At least the kid used profanity in the correct context?
“Well I knew there must have been a reason you decided I’d be the best person to leave in charge.”
“Don’t flatter yourself Remus. If I really wanted our boy learning some colorful language we’d have left him with Mad Eye.” Marlene reminded.
Alastor Moody was another member of their odd little patchwork family. He was tough as nails with a prickly exterior but he’d been the closest thing to a grandfather that Harry had. He’d been fiercely loyal to them since Marlene marched up to him at the ministry. She’d been in dire need of help with getting Sirius a fair trial when he was falsely accused of betraying his closest friends. He’d been important to her late sister and brother-in-law, The Bones family. When your whole family dies in a war, that tenuous connection as enough to forge permanent bonds.
“Well that’s a terrifying thought. Mad Eye Moody the babysitter.” Remus knew the old man, and like most everyone, found him terrifying.
“But Mad Eye is AWESOME! Did you know his eye can see through people’s clothes? Crouch wears frilly knickers. He saw it!”
“Good to know…”
“You’re ok too, Moony. Because you’ve always got chocolate.”
When Remus finally persuaded them to be on their way, the young couple flooed to the little rented vacation cabin in the woods. It was a strange feeling, to have three whole days to themselves.
“Do you think he’ll do alright?”
Sirius worried about the boy as a matter of instinct now. It was impossible to turn off that part of his brain. It was terrifying but there was no helping it.
“Remus might come out of it with a few more grey hairs but Harry will probably have the time of his life. You know he’ll send a patronus if anything comes up. Can you please try to relax a bit?”
“I can try. Hey so...there’s no one here. Not for miles and miles. I could walk around starkers if I wanted.”
“Not to discourage or anything, because believe my I wouldn’t mind… but surely you’d get cold?”
“Well yes, but the point is that I could!”
He pulled Marlene into his arms, hugging her so tight that her feet lifted off the floor for just a moment. The couple’s height difference was over a foot. Sirius took advantage of her diminutive size and seized the opportunity to pick her up and shower her with tiny kisses all over her freckled face.
“You’re a ridiculous person, Sirius Black.”
“Harry told me to bring him home a baby brother or sister.”
Sirius looked just like Padfoot for a moment.
“He’s mentioned it to me too. Stop looking at me like a sad puppy. No. I won’t bring a baby into the world until I’m good and certain that things are safe.”
She caressed her husband’s face gently as he sat down on the sofa, still holding her in his arms. She hated to tell him no, but this was one thing that she stood firm on no matter how much he resembled a very sad puppy.
“It’s been years… Harry could be a big brother and we’d get to have our little niffler.”
“No nifflers. Pettigrew is still alive. Voldemort could come back.”
The couple had talked about these things at length years ago, and were at an agreement that this peace was an uneasy and temporary one. Of course it would have been nice to be able to believe otherwise, especially considering who Harry was and how much of a target he’d become the minute that Voldemort regained any semblance of power. But Marlene refused to live with her head in the sand. Protecting the family that she had left took priority over expanding it.
“I wish he would get on with it then, I’d really like to see him good and dead before it’s too late for a niffler.”
“Well at least we have our Harry.” She reminded him gently.
Though Harry had never called them Mum and Dad, he was theirs, and they were happy to be Duckie and Pads as long as they got to be the people to love him and guide him as best they could in the uncertain world they lived in.
“Yeah. He’s a good egg. Probably driving Moony up a wall…”
“I miss him Sirius. It’s strange. He’s exhausting but here we are, completely free and alone and we miss him.”
“Me too. When did we turn into those people?”
“Probably when I started taking tea out of a mug that says #1 Duck.”
Sirius broke out into a smile that quickly grew into a laugh. Marlene was right behind him. It was nice to know that no matter how surreal things got, they were on the same page.