Fic: Harry Potter: Shelter From The Storm [AU R/S] 2/2
See part 1 for notes & warnings
Monday
Alphard arrived at the flat an hour before Detective McGonagall rang their doorbell. She raised an eyebrow at him when he answered the door.
"Alphard Black? Why am I not surprised?"
"Now, now Minerva, I'm here in a professional capacity, just like you," He gestured to her "Please come in."
Detective McGonagall walked into the house and looked around “Where is Mr Potter?”
“In the kitchen.” Alphard stalked off towards the kitchen, not waiting to see if she would be following.
James, Sirius and Remus were all sitting around the table, Harry was down for his nap. The drugs were still locked away, they weren't even going to make mention of them until McGonagall had given them assurances about what would happen.
“I understand your investigation into Mr Pettigrew's assault isn't making much progress.” Alphard said
“How would you understand that, Alphard?”
“I have my sources, Minerva, as you well know.”
James couldn't help but notice that the Detective looked very unimpressed with Alphard “Detective, we may know something.”
“Mr Potter, if you know something, it's your duty to inform us.”
“Hold on,” Alphard interrupted “No one is saying anything until we have some assurances about what will happen to Mr Potter here. Now, we both know that your investigation has involved Theodore Nott, but you've been having trouble connecting Mr Nott and Mr Pettigrew.”
“Go on.”
“Knowing the business Mr Nott is in, you can infer my meaning when I say that we may have something that would help you with that. Mr Potter was tricked by someone he considered a friend. He had no knowledge of the situation, nor any involvement, until he saw what he had been tricked into. Due to the violence involved in this case, and since he is the father of a young son, he did not come forward with this information sooner for fear of what could arise if he did.”
“Whilst some may find your pontificating interesting, Alphard, I would appreciate it if you would arrive at your point sooner rather than later.”
“I always admired your straight talking, Minerva. Right. What we have will help you with your investigation. It will tie Nott to Pettigrew and you can do with it what you will. With this information, there will be no charges against Mr Potter. As I have said, he knew nothing about this situation.”
“Perhaps you had better show me exactly what it is you have for me.”
“Do we have an agreement?”
Detective McGonagall pursed her lips before agreeing. At this, James rose and went to fetch the drugs from Remus' studio. He came back and put the bag on the table, unzipped it and gestured to McGonagall to look. She stood and looked in the bag, her eyes widening slightly
“Mr Potter, how did you come to be in possession of this?”
James looked at Alphard, who nodded, before he started speaking “As you know, Peter and I work together. We were on a project in Dubai a few weeks ago, I was leaving before Peter and he asked me to take a bag of his for him. I didn't think anything of it and agreed. It wasn't until I found out what was in the bag that I realised why he'd asked me to take it. I was flying private, he was flying commercial.”
“When did you discover what the bag contained?”
“I actually found what was in the bag” Remus said “I was looking for a particular toy Harry wanted and believed it to be in a bag in James' room. Instead I found the drugs.”
“Mr Lupin and Mr Black both agreed it would be best to wait until Mr Potter could explain the presence of drugs in the flat instead of jumping to conclusions.” Alphard said
Sirius nodded “We didn't know what to think, so we wanted to talk to James first.”
“When I got home, they confronted me and I realised what Peter had tricked me into doing, none of us had any idea what was going on until you mentioned Theodore Nott.”
“Yes, Mr Nott,” McGonagall said “I am curious as to how you know about Mr Nott's business.”
“That would be me,” Sirius said “I'm an actor. Over the years I've seen Theodore at parties, seen him dealing to people I know. Once James told us his name, I put what had happened to Peter and the drugs together and called Uncle Alphard for advice. James was worried about what could happen to him.”
“Which,” Alphard interjected “He has no reason to worry about now, right Minerva.”
“You can restrain yourself, Alphard, I believe Mr Potter's story and have no interest in investigating his involvement further.” McGonagall pulled out her phone and excused herself from the room
Alphard smiled “That went ok, boys.”
“Thanks Alphard, really” James grinned “I feel a hell of a lot better now.”
“You're welcome. Just, all of you, do me a favour?”
“What?”
“Try not to get involved with any more international drug smuggling rings?”
“We didn't mean to get involved with this one!” Sirius protested
“Just promise.”
“Fine. Promise.”
Tuesday
Since McGonagall had taken possession of the drugs, the atmosphere in the flat had become far lighter. While the case was still on-going, they had no involvement in it. James was back at work. Having informed the partners of his firm what had happened, he was involved in searching for Peter's replacement. The doctors still did not know if he would wake up or not, but James knew that if he did, his future would be behind bars, not working at their firm.
Sirius was enjoying his last free week before the rehearsals for his next play began. He spent his days looking after Harry. Currently he was lying on the sofa, with Harry sitting up on his chest, waiting for Remus to take a break from his work to join them in a trip to the park.
“Harry, Harry!” Sirius held up the cuddly black dog and waved it at Harry who smacked his lips against the dog, making Sirius laugh. Harry grabbed the dog and stuffed an ear into his mouth. “Lovely, Harry. Very elegant.” Harry grinned around the drool covered ear.
“He looks like James does when he eats pasta” Remus smiled at Harry “Here, Harry, have a carrot stick instead,” He handed Harry the carrot stick and took the dog from him “Far tastier than a stuffed animal. No matter what Uncle Padfoot might say.”
“Hey! I eat vegetables. Just think carrots are wrong, that's all. All long and orange. Vegetables shouldn't be like that.”
“Right. Could you at least try not to pass on your irrational feelings about carrots to Harry?”
“They're not irrational! Anyway, he's gnawing on that thing like a rabbit, he's fine.”
“He's also getting carrot bits and drool on your shirt.”
Sirius looked down and sighed “Guess you and me are taking a shower before the park, Harry. Remember, it's all Uncle Moony's fault for giving you carrots.”
Wednesday
“Well done, Harry!” Sirius exclaimed as Harry pulled himself into a standing position, his hands gripping Sirius' legs. He winced as Harry fell back down on his bottom and waited for him to cry. When it didn't come, Sirius laughed and swooped him onto his lap “Good lad! Come on, sit up here with me until your Dad gets out of the meeting. Here, amuse yourself.” Harry took the light up rattle and shook it for a while before stuffing it into his mouth.
“Oh gosh” James' assistant had come back from her break and was smiling down at Harry “Is he yours, Sirius?”
“What? No! That's not even - he belongs to your boss,” he grinned “Can't you tell from the hair?”
Grace laughed “There's a certain resemblance, now that you mention it. What's his name?”
“Harry.”
“Hi Harry. Do you want me to tell James you're here?”
“It's ok, he knows what time we're meeting. I'm a little early, had to get out of the house so Remus could get some work done.”
“Alright. Let me know if you need anything.”
******
James and Sirius came stumbling through the door, loaded down with Harry and grocery bags. “Remus! Oi, Moony, come help us!” James yelled
Remus came out of his studio, there were dots of black ink on his hands and face, Sirius smiled fondly as Remus took some bags out of his hands before placing a light kiss on his cheek “Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” Sirius followed him into the kitchen “Looks like you got your work done.”
“What?” Remus looked at his hands and frowned “Oh - yeah, I guess. Almost all done, I'll finish it up tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow,” James said “I've come up with a plan.”
“I really don't like the sound of this.”
Sirius looked up from stacking the fridge “No, it's good, Moony, honest.”
“Now I'm really unconvinced.”
Sirius threw a lettuce at him “Git.”
“No food fights!” Remus yelled as he ducked the lettuce
“If you've both finished acting like children,” James called from the doorway, Harry on his hip “Can we talk about my idea now?”
“Sorry James, go on.”
“You know the room we have that's full of all the crap we couldn't decide what to do with?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I was thinking we turn it into a room for Harry. I mean - it looks like he's here for a while and I think it'd be good for him to have his own room, a cot as well. He can't go on sleeping in that bassinet forever and, I just - I want to make this real for him.”
“I may be in shock” Remus said “Are you, James Potter, actually taking responsibility for something? Of your own accord?”
“Oh shut up!” James grinned “Well, what do you think?”
“It's a great idea, James. Really, I'm proud of you.”
“Bah Bah Da Bah!”
Sirius laughed “I think Harry's proud of you as well.”
“Are you?” James lifted Harry above his head “Are you proud of your Dad, Harry?” Harry giggled and James handed him off to Remus who bounced him a few times and then flew him over to Sirius
“Ooof, crash landing, Harry!” Sirius carried him to the table and stood him up, holding his hands as Harry jigged up and down a few times before James came over and picked him up again.
“I've taken the rest of the week off work so we can get on with doing the room. The whole Peter situation has thrown the managing team in to panic, so the company is kind of on lockdown.”
“Finding out one of their stars smuggled drugs a bit of a shock?” Sirius smirked
“You could say that, yeah. Think they're just trying to find out if anyone else was doing it.”
“Never been so glad I'm an actor.”
“Yeah, because there's no dodgy dealings involved in that industry.”
Thursday
“Hah! Look, it's you with pink hair!” Remus was sat in the middle of the spare room, looking through a box of photos they'd found “Remember? For that indie film about punk?”
“Oh god, I thought I got rid of all of them!” Sirius made a grab for the photo and Remus fell backwards, his arm outstretched holding the photo away from Sirius
“No! This is mine to keep,” He squirmed as Sirius tried to hold him down “I'm going to make copies, blow it up to the size of a wall - ah, fuck, Sirius!” he yelled as Sirius bit his shoulder “That is not playing fair.”
“Who said we were playing fair?”
“In that case - “ Remus dropped the photo and pulled Sirius down to him, kissing him thoroughly
Sirius pulled back a little “Ok, that's really not fair.” he muttered
“Seriously, I leave you alone for five minutes to put Harry down and you end up snogging?” James stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips leading both Remus and Sirius to burst out laughing.
“If you could just -”
“See your face, oh James -”
“Fuck you both. And get up, we've got a lot of work ahead of us.”
******
“Jaaaaames, can we stop now?” Sirius was resting against the wall, thumbing through paint samples “It's dark and we've done all we can today. The room is clear, and clean. If you're making me face Mothercare tomorrow, I want pizza and sleep.”
“And sex.” Remus added
“That too. But not from James.”
“I should hope not” James snorted “As if I'd let you near my arse.”
“As if I'd want near your arse.”
“We are not having this argument again,” Remus insisted “Go and call Dominos, James. Usual order.”
“Fine. You know you both want my arse anyway.”
Sirius threw the paint samples at him as he left “Egotistical prat.”
Friday
“What kind of cot are we looking for?”
“One unlike the one my mother put me in.” Sirius muttered
“Do you expect me to believe that your mother ever set foot in a Mothercare?”
“You're right, hey, how about this one? It's got these little ball things at either end for him to play with.”
“It looks good to me.”
“Where's James? He's the one who should be picking this stuff.”
“I think he's somewhere in the clothing section.”
“The man who wears the same pair of jeans for weeks is in the clothing section?”
“He saw a Superman onesie.”
“Oh crap. Right, we'll come back for the crib,” Sirius grabbed Remus' hand and pulled him away “We are not letting Harry live in mock superhero clothing for the rest of his life. We have to get him proper clothes, Moony. Trousers and shirts and jumpers and things. How will Harry ever have his dignity if we let James dress him?”
******
“Moony, look, a bubble maker for bathtime!”
“Sirius, you're starting to attract strange looks,” Remus groaned “Would you please be quiet?”
“But Harry would love it!”
“I'm sure he would, but your excitement is worrying me. As is the fact that we still haven't found James and Harry.”
“Tried calling them?”
“No signal.”
“Oh, wait, I think I see James' head!” Sirius stalked towards the buggy section where James was looking very confused “Oi, James, we've been looking all over for you.”
“There's too many.”
Remus joined them “Too many what?”
“Buggies. Look at them all.”
Remus and Sirius looked around, there were indeed rows and rows of buggies “Um.”
“How am I meant to pick just one?”
“I think we can rule out that horrible purple one,” Sirius pointed “And the green one. And the leopard print one, christ, who thought that was a good idea?”
“That leaves us with, uh, about 30 more to choose from.” Remus winced
The three men looked at each other and sighed. A sales assistant appeared “Can I help you with anything?”
James looked like he wanted to kiss her “Yes! Please!”
Saturday
“Well?”
“Moony, it's amazing,” Sirius looked in awe at the nightscape Remus had painted on one wall of Harry's nursery, the deep blues of the sky contrasted with the bright moonlight and silver stars dotted across the entire wall. A group of Chinese lanterns were scattered just above the height of where Harry's cot would reach. “I can't believe you can do this in one day.”
“Think I lie when I say I'm working?” Remus teased, his arm round Sirius' waist.
“No!” Sirius turned his head towards Remus, reached and pushed his hair out of his eyes “You're a very talented man, Moony.”
Remus grinned “Hopefully Harry likes it.”
“It has shiny bits, and some colours, he'll like it.”
“Shall we go and get James?”
“Not yet” Sirius pulled Remus against him “Just let me look at it a while longer.”
******
“James, are you sure you can do this yourself?” Sirius looked dubiously at James wrestling with the cot pieces “Your son is going to be sleeping in this, remember.”
“I design skyscrapers, I can put together a cot.”
“You design skyscrapers, you don't build them. Does that really go in that hole?”
James brandished a screwdriver at Sirius “If you don't start being helpful, I'm going to stick this in your eye.”
“I am being helpful, James. You don't want Harry sleeping in a death trap now, do you?”
“One more word, Sirius. One more word.”
******
“Who bought this for him?” James held up a stuffed Eeyore.
“I did” Sirius answered “Why?”
“Eeyore is a manic depressive, not to mention so incredibly in the closet.”
“Did you just call Eeyore gay?” Sirius' eyes widened “I'm traumatised, James. Traumatised. Honestly, you, a father, making a beloved childhood character all about sex. Disgraceful.”
“James,” Remus choked back a laugh “I don't think Harry is going to pick up on any of that. It's a cuddly toy, he'll drool on it and hug it. Possibly throw up on it. You're overthinking this.”
Sirius nodded “Put him back, James. Right next to that horrible valentines reject Arsenal bear”
“Valentines reject?”
“It's white with red bits, what else would you call it?”
“Arsenal colours.”
“Poor, deluded James,” Sirius sighed “Harry is so lucky he has me to guide him.”
******
The three of them were on the floor in Harry's finished room. Harry wouldn't be sleeping in there until the paint fumes had dissipated, they had the window wide open. Sirius looked around at the room. Remus' nightscape drew your eye as soon as you came in, the other walls were a paler blue and Sirius had potato printed black moons and stars across them randomly. They'd switched the star globe on and Remus was laying with his head in Sirius' lap, watching the patterns dance across the ceiling, a peaceful look on his face. James had put Harry down in his room and was fiddling with the baby monitor, listening to Harry babble himself to sleep.
“James, your kid is really chatty.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess.”
“Something wrong?”
“Just wondering what we're going to do now.”
“Well,” Sirius paused, running his fingers through Remus' hair “I imagine we'll finish this pizza and go to bed.”
“Pillock. I meant what do we do during the days? I'll have to be back at work soon, you're starting rehearsals on Monday and Remus can't look after Harry and work.”
“When the play starts, I can be at home during the day anyway, and when I'm not, we can hire someone.”
“This is just - I mean, there's three of us and we can barely make it work. How did Lily cope?”
“She didn't, mate. That's why we have him.”
“I thought she - I couldn't believe that she'd give him up just like that, but this is hard. It's really hard, isn't it?”
“Yeah. S'why you're lucky you've got us, isn't he Moony?” Sirius poked Remus' cheek
“What?” Remus yawned “Did you just poke me?”
“Were you asleep?”
“Mmm. Y'fingers felt nice. Comfy. Tired.”
“Oh no, you're not sleeping here,” Sirius shoved Remus off his lap, ignoring his yell of discomfort, and stood up reaching his hands down to him “Come on. Bed”
Remus got up sleepily and draped himself over Sirius “Oof. Heavy fucker.”
“Oi,” Remus pinched Sirius' side “Calling me fat?”
“Never, Moony” Sirius grinned “James, you going to bed, or what?”
“In a bit. Just want to get my head together.”
“Ok. Listen, you're doing the right thing here. You know that, right?”
James smiled “Thanks Pads. Night.”
“G'night.”
Sunday
“Foo! Foo!” Harry was sitting in his high chair bashing his fists against the table.
“Think he's trying to say food or Padfoot?”
“Obviously he's trying to say Padfoot,” Sirius smirked “Really Moony, how is that even a question?”
“I forget how big your ego is sometimes,” Remus muttered, grinning at Harry “Here Harry, apple slice?” Harry grasped the slice of apple and gnawed at it. Most of it fell out of his mouth, but he waved his hand at Remus, who gave him another slice “Is James up yet?”
“He went to the gym before you woke up, should be back soon.”
“Think he's ok?”
Sirius rocked back on his chair “Yeah. I think he didn't realise how much he'd love Harry and now he's scared of fu - uh, screwing it up. Most responsibility he's ever had in life.”
“Most responsibility any of us have ever had in life.”
“It's not bad though, is it?”
Remus laughed as Harry played with the bits of chewed up apple “No, it's not bad at all.”
******
James was in the middle of explaining to a very bored Sirius why Arsenal had every chance of winning the Premiership next season when the doorbell rang. Sirius jumped off the sofa “I'll get it!” he yelled, running to the door. Honestly, all these years and James still hadn't realised that Sirius didn't give a stuff about football. He opened the door.
“Hello.”
A young woman with red hair looked at him “Hello. Is James Potter here?”
“Um. Yeah. Who are you?”
“I'm Lily Evans.”
“Oh.” Sirius froze
“Sirius?” James called “Who's at the door?” He came over and stopped dead when he saw Lily
“Hello James.”
“Lily. What - I mean, hi. Why are you here?”
“Could I come in?”
“Yes, yeah, come in.” James and Sirius stepped back to let Lily in. She looked around the living room, at Harry's toys scattered around the room, her eyes settling on the framed sketches of Harry that Remus had drawn.
“Lily, have a seat,” James gestured to the sofa “Sirius, get Remus, would you?” Sirius nodded and walked off after glancing at Lily one more time.
Lily sat stiffly on the sofa “I expect you want to know what I'm doing here.”
“Actually I was wondering why you left our child on my doorstep with nothing but a note. And also, how you knew where I lived?”
“I fooled your office into giving me your address.”
Sirius came back into the room, bringing Remus with him. Remus sat in the armchair, Sirius sitting on the floor between his legs. James nodded at them before introducing them to Lily. She smiled at them, Remus returned her smile politely, Sirius didn't bother.
“But - Lily, I'm not judging you, but why leave him on my doorstep? You had no way of knowing if I was home, which I wasn't by the way. Remus and Sirius had to take care of him for a week before I got back.”
“I know it was wrong, James, but it got too much. I couldn't cope any more.”
“What about your family?”
“When I told them, they, uh, disowned me. Said that any child brought into the world out of wedlock was a bastard and they'd never accept him. Or me. They said that neither of us existed to them.”
“Fuck, Lily. I'm sorry, really I am.”
Lily looked up at James “I tried without them, the pregnancy was fine, but I had to go back to work to provide for Harry, then all my money went on childcare. And he'd cry at night, I couldn't sleep when he cried and my work started to suffer, and I barely saw him because of the hours I was working and then I just thought - I thought -”
“That I should take him.”
“I know it was wrong, James, and I'm sorry. I apologise to all of you for doing this. I was losing my mind and it was the only thing I could think of,” Lily sat stoically, tears running down her face “I felt so guilty.”
“Here,” Sirius gruffly handed over a box of tissues “And you don't have to apologise. We got used to him, didn't we?”
“We did,” Remus agreed “Harry is a wonderful child. We all love him very much.”
“I know I have no right, but can I see him?”
“You're his mother, Lily,” James said “You have every right. But he is napping at the moment. So,” he got up “Want to join us for lunch?”
Lily smiled and nodded “Please.”
The four of them settled around the kitchen table. Conversation was stilted to begin with, but after Lily asked who had done the sketches of Harry, it started to flow. When they started to hear Harry stirring through the baby monitor, Sirius went to bring him into the kitchen. As Sirius handed him over to Lily, he felt a pang in his heart. What was going to happen now? Apparently Remus was on the same wavelength; as soon as they were settled back in the kitchen, Harry sucking on a bottle, he asked Lily what her plans were.
“I've been offered a position by a friend who needs some help. She runs her own business and needs a PA, she said she'd be fine with me having Harry around.”
“And, is that in London?” Remus asked
“Oh. Um, actually, it's in Somerset. Bridgewater. I'll be moving next month after seeing out my notice at my current job.”
“Somerset?” Sirius said quietly “That's 3 hours away,” He looked at James, his face stricken “James? Say something.”
James didn't say a word in response. He avoided eye contact with everyone and walked out of the kitchen. The next thing they heard was his bedroom door slamming shut.
“Da! Da!” Harry wailed, squirming in Lily's arms. She tried to comfort him, but he wouldn't calm down. Sirius and Remus just sat in the kitchen in shock. Lily was going to take Harry away from them.
“I think we should go,” Lily stood up, holding Harry “I'll come back for his things in a few days. I-I'm sorry. I'm just trying to do what's right for Harry.”
“You're taking him now?” Sirius looked at Remus with panicked eyes
“I think it's best.”
“What? How can you think - Moony, tell her!”
“I can't, Sirius. We have no right”
“Have no right? Who sat up with him when he was teething? Who bought him that stuffed dog he loves so much? Who was there when he first pulled himself up to stand? That was us, Remus. Not her. Us.”
Remus looked at him, a resigned look on his face “But we're not his parents. Only James has rights here.”
“Fine.” Sirius got up and walked to James' room, where he started pounding on the door, yelling at the top of his voice for James to fight for Harry
Harry was still screaming in Lily's arms and she looked at Remus before quietly saying “I'm sorry. I really am.”
“Please don't do this,” Remus pleaded “Don't break up our family.”
“I don't want to, but Harry is my family, he's all the family I have left. I have to do this for him,” She struggled to hold on to Harry as she turned to walk away “I'll be back in a few days.”
Sirius' fists against James' door had got weaker. He heard the front door shut, heard Harry's cries fading away and he slumped onto the floor, barely realising Remus had come to sit down beside him.
Sirius looked up at Remus, heartbroken looks on both their faces “It's not fair Moony, it's not fair.” Sirius' voice was muffled as he buried his face in Remus' neck.
“I know, Padfoot. I know.”
Monday
For once, Remus awoke before Sirius. He lay there, curled around Sirius, trying not to think about the fact that when they got out of bed, there would be no Harry to feed, no Harry to wash, no Harry to play with. They'd got so used to him being in their lives, to have him yanked away so suddenly felt like losing a limb. Sirius was clutching Harry's favourite stuffed dog, he'd taken it from the nursery before they'd gone to bed. They'd lain awake for hours afterwards. Despite everything, Remus felt lucky to have Sirius, knew that no matter what, they would always be able to find comfort in each other. With Harry being taken away, James had nothing. He kissed Sirius' temple and wondered if James had managed to sleep.
At some point during the night, James had left his room and taken a blanket into Harry's nursery. He wasn't sure he'd slept, just lain there, feeling just as numb as he had when Lily had made her announcement. How could she do this to them? How was moving to Somerset, away from them, in Harry's best interest? He could dimly hear his alarm go off in his room. He didn't get up.
Sirius sighed and rolled over. He knew Remus could tell he was awake, but he didn't want to open his eyes. He could feel Remus' hands tracing patterns on his back and he pressed his lips to Remus' neck in return, an easy comfort they'd been doing for years.
“I don't want to go to work.” he muttered quietly
“I know you don't.”
“Don't want to do anything.”
“I know. Me neither.”
“But I have to go to work,” Sirius opened his eyes and tilted his head back to look at Remus “Don't I?”
“You do,” Remus smiled sadly “Life goes on. It has to.”
“I feel stupid. No one died, but I - he's not here, Remus. He's not here.”
Remus tightened his arms around Sirius “It's not stupid, Padfoot. Not stupid at all. When do you have to be at the theatre?”
“11,” Sirius rested his head on Remus' shoulder “How long have I got?”
“A few hours.”
“Good.”
******
Sirius stood at the doorway of Harry's nursery with Remus, both looking at James, who was still lying on the floor.
“James?” Sirius tentatively spoke “I've got to go to work. Your office called. They said you're not expected back until Thursday, so...” He trailed off, James gave no indication he'd heard him.
Remus tugged at Sirius' hand “Come on, let's give him some time.”
They walked through the living room, both trying to ignore Harry's toys scattered across the sofa. Sirius pulled on his leather jacket and kissed Remus goodbye “Keep an eye on him?”
“You know I will. Bring home some takeout?”
“Sure. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
******
Remus had got dressed and made breakfast before he realised James still hadn't come out of Harry's nursery. He took a deep breath and walked down the hall to confront him.
“James?” He walked in and sat down next to James who had at least moved into a sitting position “Did you sleep?”
James shook his head “I don't know. Maybe?”
“Do you want some food?”
“Not hungry.”
“Want to talk?”
“About what?”
“About how you let your son be taken out of here without even putting up a fight.”
James glared at him “Fuck you, I didn't do that.”
“Really? So that wasn't you walking out of the kitchen last night, ignoring Sirius banging on your door, ignoring Harry screaming and just letting Lily leave with Harry?”
“I didn't - she said - it's about what's best for Harry.”
“James,” Remus sighed “You can't believe that.”
“Why not? I've barely been with him, how am I meant to know what's best for him?”
“You're his Dad. Ok, you took a while to get used to the idea, but once you did you became everything that boy needed.”
“You and Sirius helped.”
“I know we did, but we can't stop Lily from taking Harry. You're the only one who can. James, you love Harry, right?”
James looked at his feet “More than anything. I - I didn't know it was possible to love someone that much.”
“Then fight for him. If you won't do it for yourself, do it for Harry. He deserves to know his Dad fought for him.”
“What if she won't listen?”
“She's scared, James. You heard her last night, her family abandoned her, Harry is all she has. She wants help, she just won't ask for it. You just have to find a way of getting her to stay.”
“But I have nothing to offer her.” James whispered
“I wouldn't be so sure about that.”
“What?”
“Remember what we were talking about a few months ago? Taking over the top of this place once the Longbottoms had moved out?”
“Yeah, but they're not going anywhere while that old battleaxe has hold over Frank.”
“I spoke to Frank a few days ago. He's getting married, moving out. His mother can't afford to stay without him, so she's going as well. Probably with Frank if what he said was any indication.”
“So it'll be for sale?”
“And people say you're stupid.”
“Oi” James shoved Remus, but a smile was on his face “You've obviously thought about this, so fancy filling me in?”
“You know I want upstairs so I can have a bigger studio, which would mean the room I use now would be free,” Remus shrugged “It could be Lily's room. It's near Harry's nursery and it's big enough. I think she should move in. With Harry.”
“Be a bit weird.”
“James, you're a straight man who lives with a gay couple, all of whom have been looking after a child for the past few weeks. Somehow I don't think a traditional home life is on the cards for you.”
“Wanker.”
“Only when Sirius is working.”
“Oh, I did not need to know that.”
“So uptight” Remus grinned “So what do you think?”
“Do you think she'll go for it?”
“I think she wants a reason not to go to Somerset, but you won't know if you don't ask her. She said she'd be over in a few days for Harry's things.”
“Right. Hey, Moony?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. For being practical about this. Without you I - I don't know what would've happened.”
“I love Harry too, James. I don't want him gone.”
“Still. Thanks.”
Tuesday
Sirius walked in the door and threw his jacket on the armchair “So did you call them?”
“Call who, Padfoot?”
“Don't do that,” Sirius came and sat next to Remus on the sofa “The estate agent, you know who.”
“Yes, I called them.”
“And?”
“And they said they would, in principle, accept our offer.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Remus put his book down and smiled at Sirius “We'll have to see if we need planning permission to get rid of what makes them flats, turn it into a proper house again, but even if we do, it won't be too much of a bother.”
“So this will work? We'll get to keep Harry? I mean - if we have the house, she can't say no, can she?”
“Sirius, it's not a done deal, you know that. You can't -”
“I can't get excited, I know,” Sirius paused “But Moony -”
“I know. I want it too.”
Wednesday
Sirius hadn't sat down since arriving home, he was too nervous, his mind racing at what Lily could say to their offer. He walked into the kitchen to make some tea, his fingers tapping the counter as he waited for the kettle to boil. Remus came up behind him, rested his hand on top of Sirius' and wrapped his other arm around his waist, pulling Sirius back against him.
“Calm down, Padfoot,” he said softly “You'll spill boiling water over yourself if you're this jittery.”
“And you wouldn't love me with scalded skin?”
“Nope,” Remus smiled “I'd kick you out of bed for sure.”
“Git.”
Remus let go of Sirius' hand, letting him reach for the kettle “Make me a cup?”
“Yep. Get me the milk?”
“Uh huh,” Remus walked over to the fridge “Are you ok?” he asked, handing over the milk
“Nervous. I want her to say yes so much, Moony.”
Remus took the mug of tea from Sirius “Yeah. I know. Has James come out of his room yet?”
“He went to the loo, but otherwise, no. He knows he has to be the one to ask her. Wish you could do it. You won't say something stupid.”
“Awful lot of faith you have in James there.”
Sirius leant against the kitchen counter “He's not exactly great with the big speeches. Usually ends up in a lot of swearing.”
“I've told him it doesn't need to be a big speech. He just needs to ask. He'll be ok.”
The doorbell rang, James stuck his head out of his bedroom and yelled “I think that's her.”
Remus looked at Sirius who seemed to be glued to the counter and sighed “Guess I'm getting it, then.”
Harry's face lit up when he saw Remus open the door and let out a happy giggle when he was lifted out of the buggy by Sirius, his hands grabbing at Sirius' hair. James walked into the living room as Lily sat on the sofa. He sat next to her, and they both watched Sirius and Remus entertain Harry.
“James, I want to apologise for the last time I was here. I had no right to just take Harry the same day I turned up without talking to you, I just -”
James cut her off “There's no need.”
“You're not angry?”
“I - I was angry. Now I just want to talk to you. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you want to move to Somerset?”
Lily looked away from James “It's not about what I want, James. It's the only option I have.”
“What if it wasn't?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know Remus is an artist, well, we've been planning for a while to buy the top part of this house so that he could have a bigger studio and we could have a bit more space. The people upstairs are moving out, so we've put an offer in.”
“That's great, James, but what does it have to do with me?”
“Sorry. The thing is, once we've done that, we'll have a spare room here. We already have a nursery finished for Harry, and all of us are more than happy to look after him.”
“I don't - I mean I -”
“Look, myself and Sirius have been friends since we were 6. Remus and Sirius have been together for 10 years. We've always thought of ourselves as a family and when Harry turned up, we took on raising him as a family and we miss him. We miss him so much. If what you want is to leave London, to move to Somerset, then we won't stand in your way, but we would really, really love it if you and Harry would stay here, with us, be part of our family,” James smiled at her “We're a little strange, but we make it work.”
Lily laughed “Are you all sure about this? I don't want to - if it would be putting you out at all, I wouldn't -”
Remus looked over at her “Lily, sorry, but do we look like we're being put out? I think I can speak for all of us when I say these last couple of days without Harry have been awful. We want you both here.”
“I don't really know what to say, I don't want to leave London, really I don't. I just thought it'd be best for Harry.”
“We know,” Sirius said “We want what's best for him as well. Which is why you should both move in with us.”
“Do I have a choice here?” Lily smiled
Sirius laughed “Of course you do. We're just planning on making it really, really hard for you if you say no.”
“Sirius!” Remus batted him around the head “Excuse him, Lily, politeness wasn't really part of his upbringing.”
“Hey, that was the polite version!”
James looked at Lily “I hope this isn't putting you off.”
“Actually, it's oddly entertaining.”
“I don't want to pressure you, but do you have an answer?”
Lily looked around at them all, all three of them had hopeful looks on their faces but her eyes settled on Harry. He was sitting contentedly on the floor between Remus and Sirius, his hands clapping together and a smile on his face. He looked happy and loved. It was that which made up her mind. She looked at James “I want what's best for Harry and I think this is what's best for him,” She grinned. “We'll move in.”
“Yes!” Sirius punched a fist in the air before pulling Remus towards him for a kiss.
James got off the sofa and picked Harry up, frowning at them both “Not in front of Harry!” He rolled his eyes as Sirius stuck two fingers up at him, not letting go of Remus for a second.
Sitting back down on the sofa with Harry on his lap, he glanced at Lily “I really hope you aren't regretting this already.”
She settled back into the sofa, tucking her legs under her “Oh, they're cute. It's good, y'know, knowing that Harry was around people who love him.”
“Da!” Harry made a grab for James' fingers “Da!”
Sirius finally let Remus go, both their faces flushed. Sirius leant against Remus, his head on Remus' shoulder. He snaked his arm around Remus' waist, fingers splayed under his shirt, and smiled “I think he might actually realise you're his Dad, James.”
“You think?” James turned Harry around so he was facing him “Who am I Harry? Who am I?”
“Da!” Harry exclaimed
“I'll take that.”
“I hate to burst your bubble,” Lily said “But he called the bus driver 'Da' yesterday as well.”
Remus laughed at the look on James' face and settled back into Sirius' embrace, surveying the scene before him. Smiles on faces and laughter, everything he'd had growing up, everything he'd wanted for their family. Everything was going to be just fine.
Six months later
“Woah there, Harry.” Sirius scooped up Harry as he toddled towards the kitchen.
“No!” Harry yelled “No!”
Sirius groaned “Why, out of all the words in the world, did you have to learn that one? Can't say things like 'sun' or 'moon', but that one, you've got down.” He put Harry back in the living room “How about we do blocks? Want to do blocks, Harry?”
Harry reached for the colourful blocks and stacked some up before grinning and smashing his fist into them, laughing as they fell.
“Some things never change,” Remus observed from the doorway, crouching down to lift Harry as he toddled towards him “Hi kiddo, what have you been doing today?”
“Mostly smashing blocks and refusing to eat cheese” Sirius leant over Harry's head and kissed Remus softly “Hi.”
“Hi,” Remus closed the door behind him “Refusing to eat cheese? Now, Harry, why would you do a thing like that? Cheese is lovely.”
“No!”
“Right. We're still on that, are we?”
“Oh yes, we're still on that,” Sirius said “Please teach him another word, Moony, please.”
Remus laughed “Why me?”
“You're smart! Teach him to say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious for all I care, just something other than that infernal word.”
“No.” Remus smirked
“I'm going to kill you.”
James came walking in “Why are you killing Remus?”
“He's not,” Remus said “He's just frustrated because he's never heard the word 'no' so much in his life.”
“Oi!”
“What? That wasn't an insult.”
“Oh. It sounded like one.”
“I have no idea what either of you are talking about,” James laughed “When's Lily back?”
“She's just gone to the newsagent, she should be back soon. She knows what time the appointment is, don't worry.”
******
“I think we stand out a bit, Moony.” Sirius whispered
“You usually enjoy being the centre of attention, Padfoot.”
“Yeah but -” Sirius stopped talking as a woman came out of the office.
“Next, Mr Potter, Miss Evans, Mr Black and Mr Lupin and...Harry?” They all stood up, James holding Harry's hand as he toddled along, the woman smiled “All of you? Ok, follow me.”
Sirius took Remus' hand and walked alongside Lily, following James and Harry into the room.
The photography studio had a large sofa in it, and Harry headed straight for it, climbing up onto the seat and looking at them expectantly.
The photographer laughed, “Looks like he's ready? Mum, Dad, are you ready?”
“It's not just us,” Lily said “They're family too. We all want to be in the photo.”
“Fine with me,” the photographer said “There's room on that sofa for all of you.”
They settled on the sofa, Harry in the middle between James and Remus, Lily next to James and Sirius next to Remus.
“Ok, say cheese everyone!”
“No!”
Monday
Alphard arrived at the flat an hour before Detective McGonagall rang their doorbell. She raised an eyebrow at him when he answered the door.
"Alphard Black? Why am I not surprised?"
"Now, now Minerva, I'm here in a professional capacity, just like you," He gestured to her "Please come in."
Detective McGonagall walked into the house and looked around “Where is Mr Potter?”
“In the kitchen.” Alphard stalked off towards the kitchen, not waiting to see if she would be following.
James, Sirius and Remus were all sitting around the table, Harry was down for his nap. The drugs were still locked away, they weren't even going to make mention of them until McGonagall had given them assurances about what would happen.
“I understand your investigation into Mr Pettigrew's assault isn't making much progress.” Alphard said
“How would you understand that, Alphard?”
“I have my sources, Minerva, as you well know.”
James couldn't help but notice that the Detective looked very unimpressed with Alphard “Detective, we may know something.”
“Mr Potter, if you know something, it's your duty to inform us.”
“Hold on,” Alphard interrupted “No one is saying anything until we have some assurances about what will happen to Mr Potter here. Now, we both know that your investigation has involved Theodore Nott, but you've been having trouble connecting Mr Nott and Mr Pettigrew.”
“Go on.”
“Knowing the business Mr Nott is in, you can infer my meaning when I say that we may have something that would help you with that. Mr Potter was tricked by someone he considered a friend. He had no knowledge of the situation, nor any involvement, until he saw what he had been tricked into. Due to the violence involved in this case, and since he is the father of a young son, he did not come forward with this information sooner for fear of what could arise if he did.”
“Whilst some may find your pontificating interesting, Alphard, I would appreciate it if you would arrive at your point sooner rather than later.”
“I always admired your straight talking, Minerva. Right. What we have will help you with your investigation. It will tie Nott to Pettigrew and you can do with it what you will. With this information, there will be no charges against Mr Potter. As I have said, he knew nothing about this situation.”
“Perhaps you had better show me exactly what it is you have for me.”
“Do we have an agreement?”
Detective McGonagall pursed her lips before agreeing. At this, James rose and went to fetch the drugs from Remus' studio. He came back and put the bag on the table, unzipped it and gestured to McGonagall to look. She stood and looked in the bag, her eyes widening slightly
“Mr Potter, how did you come to be in possession of this?”
James looked at Alphard, who nodded, before he started speaking “As you know, Peter and I work together. We were on a project in Dubai a few weeks ago, I was leaving before Peter and he asked me to take a bag of his for him. I didn't think anything of it and agreed. It wasn't until I found out what was in the bag that I realised why he'd asked me to take it. I was flying private, he was flying commercial.”
“When did you discover what the bag contained?”
“I actually found what was in the bag” Remus said “I was looking for a particular toy Harry wanted and believed it to be in a bag in James' room. Instead I found the drugs.”
“Mr Lupin and Mr Black both agreed it would be best to wait until Mr Potter could explain the presence of drugs in the flat instead of jumping to conclusions.” Alphard said
Sirius nodded “We didn't know what to think, so we wanted to talk to James first.”
“When I got home, they confronted me and I realised what Peter had tricked me into doing, none of us had any idea what was going on until you mentioned Theodore Nott.”
“Yes, Mr Nott,” McGonagall said “I am curious as to how you know about Mr Nott's business.”
“That would be me,” Sirius said “I'm an actor. Over the years I've seen Theodore at parties, seen him dealing to people I know. Once James told us his name, I put what had happened to Peter and the drugs together and called Uncle Alphard for advice. James was worried about what could happen to him.”
“Which,” Alphard interjected “He has no reason to worry about now, right Minerva.”
“You can restrain yourself, Alphard, I believe Mr Potter's story and have no interest in investigating his involvement further.” McGonagall pulled out her phone and excused herself from the room
Alphard smiled “That went ok, boys.”
“Thanks Alphard, really” James grinned “I feel a hell of a lot better now.”
“You're welcome. Just, all of you, do me a favour?”
“What?”
“Try not to get involved with any more international drug smuggling rings?”
“We didn't mean to get involved with this one!” Sirius protested
“Just promise.”
“Fine. Promise.”
Tuesday
Since McGonagall had taken possession of the drugs, the atmosphere in the flat had become far lighter. While the case was still on-going, they had no involvement in it. James was back at work. Having informed the partners of his firm what had happened, he was involved in searching for Peter's replacement. The doctors still did not know if he would wake up or not, but James knew that if he did, his future would be behind bars, not working at their firm.
Sirius was enjoying his last free week before the rehearsals for his next play began. He spent his days looking after Harry. Currently he was lying on the sofa, with Harry sitting up on his chest, waiting for Remus to take a break from his work to join them in a trip to the park.
“Harry, Harry!” Sirius held up the cuddly black dog and waved it at Harry who smacked his lips against the dog, making Sirius laugh. Harry grabbed the dog and stuffed an ear into his mouth. “Lovely, Harry. Very elegant.” Harry grinned around the drool covered ear.
“He looks like James does when he eats pasta” Remus smiled at Harry “Here, Harry, have a carrot stick instead,” He handed Harry the carrot stick and took the dog from him “Far tastier than a stuffed animal. No matter what Uncle Padfoot might say.”
“Hey! I eat vegetables. Just think carrots are wrong, that's all. All long and orange. Vegetables shouldn't be like that.”
“Right. Could you at least try not to pass on your irrational feelings about carrots to Harry?”
“They're not irrational! Anyway, he's gnawing on that thing like a rabbit, he's fine.”
“He's also getting carrot bits and drool on your shirt.”
Sirius looked down and sighed “Guess you and me are taking a shower before the park, Harry. Remember, it's all Uncle Moony's fault for giving you carrots.”
Wednesday
“Well done, Harry!” Sirius exclaimed as Harry pulled himself into a standing position, his hands gripping Sirius' legs. He winced as Harry fell back down on his bottom and waited for him to cry. When it didn't come, Sirius laughed and swooped him onto his lap “Good lad! Come on, sit up here with me until your Dad gets out of the meeting. Here, amuse yourself.” Harry took the light up rattle and shook it for a while before stuffing it into his mouth.
“Oh gosh” James' assistant had come back from her break and was smiling down at Harry “Is he yours, Sirius?”
“What? No! That's not even - he belongs to your boss,” he grinned “Can't you tell from the hair?”
Grace laughed “There's a certain resemblance, now that you mention it. What's his name?”
“Harry.”
“Hi Harry. Do you want me to tell James you're here?”
“It's ok, he knows what time we're meeting. I'm a little early, had to get out of the house so Remus could get some work done.”
“Alright. Let me know if you need anything.”
******
James and Sirius came stumbling through the door, loaded down with Harry and grocery bags. “Remus! Oi, Moony, come help us!” James yelled
Remus came out of his studio, there were dots of black ink on his hands and face, Sirius smiled fondly as Remus took some bags out of his hands before placing a light kiss on his cheek “Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” Sirius followed him into the kitchen “Looks like you got your work done.”
“What?” Remus looked at his hands and frowned “Oh - yeah, I guess. Almost all done, I'll finish it up tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow,” James said “I've come up with a plan.”
“I really don't like the sound of this.”
Sirius looked up from stacking the fridge “No, it's good, Moony, honest.”
“Now I'm really unconvinced.”
Sirius threw a lettuce at him “Git.”
“No food fights!” Remus yelled as he ducked the lettuce
“If you've both finished acting like children,” James called from the doorway, Harry on his hip “Can we talk about my idea now?”
“Sorry James, go on.”
“You know the room we have that's full of all the crap we couldn't decide what to do with?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I was thinking we turn it into a room for Harry. I mean - it looks like he's here for a while and I think it'd be good for him to have his own room, a cot as well. He can't go on sleeping in that bassinet forever and, I just - I want to make this real for him.”
“I may be in shock” Remus said “Are you, James Potter, actually taking responsibility for something? Of your own accord?”
“Oh shut up!” James grinned “Well, what do you think?”
“It's a great idea, James. Really, I'm proud of you.”
“Bah Bah Da Bah!”
Sirius laughed “I think Harry's proud of you as well.”
“Are you?” James lifted Harry above his head “Are you proud of your Dad, Harry?” Harry giggled and James handed him off to Remus who bounced him a few times and then flew him over to Sirius
“Ooof, crash landing, Harry!” Sirius carried him to the table and stood him up, holding his hands as Harry jigged up and down a few times before James came over and picked him up again.
“I've taken the rest of the week off work so we can get on with doing the room. The whole Peter situation has thrown the managing team in to panic, so the company is kind of on lockdown.”
“Finding out one of their stars smuggled drugs a bit of a shock?” Sirius smirked
“You could say that, yeah. Think they're just trying to find out if anyone else was doing it.”
“Never been so glad I'm an actor.”
“Yeah, because there's no dodgy dealings involved in that industry.”
Thursday
“Hah! Look, it's you with pink hair!” Remus was sat in the middle of the spare room, looking through a box of photos they'd found “Remember? For that indie film about punk?”
“Oh god, I thought I got rid of all of them!” Sirius made a grab for the photo and Remus fell backwards, his arm outstretched holding the photo away from Sirius
“No! This is mine to keep,” He squirmed as Sirius tried to hold him down “I'm going to make copies, blow it up to the size of a wall - ah, fuck, Sirius!” he yelled as Sirius bit his shoulder “That is not playing fair.”
“Who said we were playing fair?”
“In that case - “ Remus dropped the photo and pulled Sirius down to him, kissing him thoroughly
Sirius pulled back a little “Ok, that's really not fair.” he muttered
“Seriously, I leave you alone for five minutes to put Harry down and you end up snogging?” James stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips leading both Remus and Sirius to burst out laughing.
“If you could just -”
“See your face, oh James -”
“Fuck you both. And get up, we've got a lot of work ahead of us.”
******
“Jaaaaames, can we stop now?” Sirius was resting against the wall, thumbing through paint samples “It's dark and we've done all we can today. The room is clear, and clean. If you're making me face Mothercare tomorrow, I want pizza and sleep.”
“And sex.” Remus added
“That too. But not from James.”
“I should hope not” James snorted “As if I'd let you near my arse.”
“As if I'd want near your arse.”
“We are not having this argument again,” Remus insisted “Go and call Dominos, James. Usual order.”
“Fine. You know you both want my arse anyway.”
Sirius threw the paint samples at him as he left “Egotistical prat.”
Friday
“What kind of cot are we looking for?”
“One unlike the one my mother put me in.” Sirius muttered
“Do you expect me to believe that your mother ever set foot in a Mothercare?”
“You're right, hey, how about this one? It's got these little ball things at either end for him to play with.”
“It looks good to me.”
“Where's James? He's the one who should be picking this stuff.”
“I think he's somewhere in the clothing section.”
“The man who wears the same pair of jeans for weeks is in the clothing section?”
“He saw a Superman onesie.”
“Oh crap. Right, we'll come back for the crib,” Sirius grabbed Remus' hand and pulled him away “We are not letting Harry live in mock superhero clothing for the rest of his life. We have to get him proper clothes, Moony. Trousers and shirts and jumpers and things. How will Harry ever have his dignity if we let James dress him?”
******
“Moony, look, a bubble maker for bathtime!”
“Sirius, you're starting to attract strange looks,” Remus groaned “Would you please be quiet?”
“But Harry would love it!”
“I'm sure he would, but your excitement is worrying me. As is the fact that we still haven't found James and Harry.”
“Tried calling them?”
“No signal.”
“Oh, wait, I think I see James' head!” Sirius stalked towards the buggy section where James was looking very confused “Oi, James, we've been looking all over for you.”
“There's too many.”
Remus joined them “Too many what?”
“Buggies. Look at them all.”
Remus and Sirius looked around, there were indeed rows and rows of buggies “Um.”
“How am I meant to pick just one?”
“I think we can rule out that horrible purple one,” Sirius pointed “And the green one. And the leopard print one, christ, who thought that was a good idea?”
“That leaves us with, uh, about 30 more to choose from.” Remus winced
The three men looked at each other and sighed. A sales assistant appeared “Can I help you with anything?”
James looked like he wanted to kiss her “Yes! Please!”
Saturday
“Well?”
“Moony, it's amazing,” Sirius looked in awe at the nightscape Remus had painted on one wall of Harry's nursery, the deep blues of the sky contrasted with the bright moonlight and silver stars dotted across the entire wall. A group of Chinese lanterns were scattered just above the height of where Harry's cot would reach. “I can't believe you can do this in one day.”
“Think I lie when I say I'm working?” Remus teased, his arm round Sirius' waist.
“No!” Sirius turned his head towards Remus, reached and pushed his hair out of his eyes “You're a very talented man, Moony.”
Remus grinned “Hopefully Harry likes it.”
“It has shiny bits, and some colours, he'll like it.”
“Shall we go and get James?”
“Not yet” Sirius pulled Remus against him “Just let me look at it a while longer.”
******
“James, are you sure you can do this yourself?” Sirius looked dubiously at James wrestling with the cot pieces “Your son is going to be sleeping in this, remember.”
“I design skyscrapers, I can put together a cot.”
“You design skyscrapers, you don't build them. Does that really go in that hole?”
James brandished a screwdriver at Sirius “If you don't start being helpful, I'm going to stick this in your eye.”
“I am being helpful, James. You don't want Harry sleeping in a death trap now, do you?”
“One more word, Sirius. One more word.”
******
“Who bought this for him?” James held up a stuffed Eeyore.
“I did” Sirius answered “Why?”
“Eeyore is a manic depressive, not to mention so incredibly in the closet.”
“Did you just call Eeyore gay?” Sirius' eyes widened “I'm traumatised, James. Traumatised. Honestly, you, a father, making a beloved childhood character all about sex. Disgraceful.”
“James,” Remus choked back a laugh “I don't think Harry is going to pick up on any of that. It's a cuddly toy, he'll drool on it and hug it. Possibly throw up on it. You're overthinking this.”
Sirius nodded “Put him back, James. Right next to that horrible valentines reject Arsenal bear”
“Valentines reject?”
“It's white with red bits, what else would you call it?”
“Arsenal colours.”
“Poor, deluded James,” Sirius sighed “Harry is so lucky he has me to guide him.”
******
The three of them were on the floor in Harry's finished room. Harry wouldn't be sleeping in there until the paint fumes had dissipated, they had the window wide open. Sirius looked around at the room. Remus' nightscape drew your eye as soon as you came in, the other walls were a paler blue and Sirius had potato printed black moons and stars across them randomly. They'd switched the star globe on and Remus was laying with his head in Sirius' lap, watching the patterns dance across the ceiling, a peaceful look on his face. James had put Harry down in his room and was fiddling with the baby monitor, listening to Harry babble himself to sleep.
“James, your kid is really chatty.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess.”
“Something wrong?”
“Just wondering what we're going to do now.”
“Well,” Sirius paused, running his fingers through Remus' hair “I imagine we'll finish this pizza and go to bed.”
“Pillock. I meant what do we do during the days? I'll have to be back at work soon, you're starting rehearsals on Monday and Remus can't look after Harry and work.”
“When the play starts, I can be at home during the day anyway, and when I'm not, we can hire someone.”
“This is just - I mean, there's three of us and we can barely make it work. How did Lily cope?”
“She didn't, mate. That's why we have him.”
“I thought she - I couldn't believe that she'd give him up just like that, but this is hard. It's really hard, isn't it?”
“Yeah. S'why you're lucky you've got us, isn't he Moony?” Sirius poked Remus' cheek
“What?” Remus yawned “Did you just poke me?”
“Were you asleep?”
“Mmm. Y'fingers felt nice. Comfy. Tired.”
“Oh no, you're not sleeping here,” Sirius shoved Remus off his lap, ignoring his yell of discomfort, and stood up reaching his hands down to him “Come on. Bed”
Remus got up sleepily and draped himself over Sirius “Oof. Heavy fucker.”
“Oi,” Remus pinched Sirius' side “Calling me fat?”
“Never, Moony” Sirius grinned “James, you going to bed, or what?”
“In a bit. Just want to get my head together.”
“Ok. Listen, you're doing the right thing here. You know that, right?”
James smiled “Thanks Pads. Night.”
“G'night.”
Sunday
“Foo! Foo!” Harry was sitting in his high chair bashing his fists against the table.
“Think he's trying to say food or Padfoot?”
“Obviously he's trying to say Padfoot,” Sirius smirked “Really Moony, how is that even a question?”
“I forget how big your ego is sometimes,” Remus muttered, grinning at Harry “Here Harry, apple slice?” Harry grasped the slice of apple and gnawed at it. Most of it fell out of his mouth, but he waved his hand at Remus, who gave him another slice “Is James up yet?”
“He went to the gym before you woke up, should be back soon.”
“Think he's ok?”
Sirius rocked back on his chair “Yeah. I think he didn't realise how much he'd love Harry and now he's scared of fu - uh, screwing it up. Most responsibility he's ever had in life.”
“Most responsibility any of us have ever had in life.”
“It's not bad though, is it?”
Remus laughed as Harry played with the bits of chewed up apple “No, it's not bad at all.”
******
James was in the middle of explaining to a very bored Sirius why Arsenal had every chance of winning the Premiership next season when the doorbell rang. Sirius jumped off the sofa “I'll get it!” he yelled, running to the door. Honestly, all these years and James still hadn't realised that Sirius didn't give a stuff about football. He opened the door.
“Hello.”
A young woman with red hair looked at him “Hello. Is James Potter here?”
“Um. Yeah. Who are you?”
“I'm Lily Evans.”
“Oh.” Sirius froze
“Sirius?” James called “Who's at the door?” He came over and stopped dead when he saw Lily
“Hello James.”
“Lily. What - I mean, hi. Why are you here?”
“Could I come in?”
“Yes, yeah, come in.” James and Sirius stepped back to let Lily in. She looked around the living room, at Harry's toys scattered around the room, her eyes settling on the framed sketches of Harry that Remus had drawn.
“Lily, have a seat,” James gestured to the sofa “Sirius, get Remus, would you?” Sirius nodded and walked off after glancing at Lily one more time.
Lily sat stiffly on the sofa “I expect you want to know what I'm doing here.”
“Actually I was wondering why you left our child on my doorstep with nothing but a note. And also, how you knew where I lived?”
“I fooled your office into giving me your address.”
Sirius came back into the room, bringing Remus with him. Remus sat in the armchair, Sirius sitting on the floor between his legs. James nodded at them before introducing them to Lily. She smiled at them, Remus returned her smile politely, Sirius didn't bother.
“But - Lily, I'm not judging you, but why leave him on my doorstep? You had no way of knowing if I was home, which I wasn't by the way. Remus and Sirius had to take care of him for a week before I got back.”
“I know it was wrong, James, but it got too much. I couldn't cope any more.”
“What about your family?”
“When I told them, they, uh, disowned me. Said that any child brought into the world out of wedlock was a bastard and they'd never accept him. Or me. They said that neither of us existed to them.”
“Fuck, Lily. I'm sorry, really I am.”
Lily looked up at James “I tried without them, the pregnancy was fine, but I had to go back to work to provide for Harry, then all my money went on childcare. And he'd cry at night, I couldn't sleep when he cried and my work started to suffer, and I barely saw him because of the hours I was working and then I just thought - I thought -”
“That I should take him.”
“I know it was wrong, James, and I'm sorry. I apologise to all of you for doing this. I was losing my mind and it was the only thing I could think of,” Lily sat stoically, tears running down her face “I felt so guilty.”
“Here,” Sirius gruffly handed over a box of tissues “And you don't have to apologise. We got used to him, didn't we?”
“We did,” Remus agreed “Harry is a wonderful child. We all love him very much.”
“I know I have no right, but can I see him?”
“You're his mother, Lily,” James said “You have every right. But he is napping at the moment. So,” he got up “Want to join us for lunch?”
Lily smiled and nodded “Please.”
The four of them settled around the kitchen table. Conversation was stilted to begin with, but after Lily asked who had done the sketches of Harry, it started to flow. When they started to hear Harry stirring through the baby monitor, Sirius went to bring him into the kitchen. As Sirius handed him over to Lily, he felt a pang in his heart. What was going to happen now? Apparently Remus was on the same wavelength; as soon as they were settled back in the kitchen, Harry sucking on a bottle, he asked Lily what her plans were.
“I've been offered a position by a friend who needs some help. She runs her own business and needs a PA, she said she'd be fine with me having Harry around.”
“And, is that in London?” Remus asked
“Oh. Um, actually, it's in Somerset. Bridgewater. I'll be moving next month after seeing out my notice at my current job.”
“Somerset?” Sirius said quietly “That's 3 hours away,” He looked at James, his face stricken “James? Say something.”
James didn't say a word in response. He avoided eye contact with everyone and walked out of the kitchen. The next thing they heard was his bedroom door slamming shut.
“Da! Da!” Harry wailed, squirming in Lily's arms. She tried to comfort him, but he wouldn't calm down. Sirius and Remus just sat in the kitchen in shock. Lily was going to take Harry away from them.
“I think we should go,” Lily stood up, holding Harry “I'll come back for his things in a few days. I-I'm sorry. I'm just trying to do what's right for Harry.”
“You're taking him now?” Sirius looked at Remus with panicked eyes
“I think it's best.”
“What? How can you think - Moony, tell her!”
“I can't, Sirius. We have no right”
“Have no right? Who sat up with him when he was teething? Who bought him that stuffed dog he loves so much? Who was there when he first pulled himself up to stand? That was us, Remus. Not her. Us.”
Remus looked at him, a resigned look on his face “But we're not his parents. Only James has rights here.”
“Fine.” Sirius got up and walked to James' room, where he started pounding on the door, yelling at the top of his voice for James to fight for Harry
Harry was still screaming in Lily's arms and she looked at Remus before quietly saying “I'm sorry. I really am.”
“Please don't do this,” Remus pleaded “Don't break up our family.”
“I don't want to, but Harry is my family, he's all the family I have left. I have to do this for him,” She struggled to hold on to Harry as she turned to walk away “I'll be back in a few days.”
Sirius' fists against James' door had got weaker. He heard the front door shut, heard Harry's cries fading away and he slumped onto the floor, barely realising Remus had come to sit down beside him.
Sirius looked up at Remus, heartbroken looks on both their faces “It's not fair Moony, it's not fair.” Sirius' voice was muffled as he buried his face in Remus' neck.
“I know, Padfoot. I know.”
Monday
For once, Remus awoke before Sirius. He lay there, curled around Sirius, trying not to think about the fact that when they got out of bed, there would be no Harry to feed, no Harry to wash, no Harry to play with. They'd got so used to him being in their lives, to have him yanked away so suddenly felt like losing a limb. Sirius was clutching Harry's favourite stuffed dog, he'd taken it from the nursery before they'd gone to bed. They'd lain awake for hours afterwards. Despite everything, Remus felt lucky to have Sirius, knew that no matter what, they would always be able to find comfort in each other. With Harry being taken away, James had nothing. He kissed Sirius' temple and wondered if James had managed to sleep.
At some point during the night, James had left his room and taken a blanket into Harry's nursery. He wasn't sure he'd slept, just lain there, feeling just as numb as he had when Lily had made her announcement. How could she do this to them? How was moving to Somerset, away from them, in Harry's best interest? He could dimly hear his alarm go off in his room. He didn't get up.
Sirius sighed and rolled over. He knew Remus could tell he was awake, but he didn't want to open his eyes. He could feel Remus' hands tracing patterns on his back and he pressed his lips to Remus' neck in return, an easy comfort they'd been doing for years.
“I don't want to go to work.” he muttered quietly
“I know you don't.”
“Don't want to do anything.”
“I know. Me neither.”
“But I have to go to work,” Sirius opened his eyes and tilted his head back to look at Remus “Don't I?”
“You do,” Remus smiled sadly “Life goes on. It has to.”
“I feel stupid. No one died, but I - he's not here, Remus. He's not here.”
Remus tightened his arms around Sirius “It's not stupid, Padfoot. Not stupid at all. When do you have to be at the theatre?”
“11,” Sirius rested his head on Remus' shoulder “How long have I got?”
“A few hours.”
“Good.”
******
Sirius stood at the doorway of Harry's nursery with Remus, both looking at James, who was still lying on the floor.
“James?” Sirius tentatively spoke “I've got to go to work. Your office called. They said you're not expected back until Thursday, so...” He trailed off, James gave no indication he'd heard him.
Remus tugged at Sirius' hand “Come on, let's give him some time.”
They walked through the living room, both trying to ignore Harry's toys scattered across the sofa. Sirius pulled on his leather jacket and kissed Remus goodbye “Keep an eye on him?”
“You know I will. Bring home some takeout?”
“Sure. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
******
Remus had got dressed and made breakfast before he realised James still hadn't come out of Harry's nursery. He took a deep breath and walked down the hall to confront him.
“James?” He walked in and sat down next to James who had at least moved into a sitting position “Did you sleep?”
James shook his head “I don't know. Maybe?”
“Do you want some food?”
“Not hungry.”
“Want to talk?”
“About what?”
“About how you let your son be taken out of here without even putting up a fight.”
James glared at him “Fuck you, I didn't do that.”
“Really? So that wasn't you walking out of the kitchen last night, ignoring Sirius banging on your door, ignoring Harry screaming and just letting Lily leave with Harry?”
“I didn't - she said - it's about what's best for Harry.”
“James,” Remus sighed “You can't believe that.”
“Why not? I've barely been with him, how am I meant to know what's best for him?”
“You're his Dad. Ok, you took a while to get used to the idea, but once you did you became everything that boy needed.”
“You and Sirius helped.”
“I know we did, but we can't stop Lily from taking Harry. You're the only one who can. James, you love Harry, right?”
James looked at his feet “More than anything. I - I didn't know it was possible to love someone that much.”
“Then fight for him. If you won't do it for yourself, do it for Harry. He deserves to know his Dad fought for him.”
“What if she won't listen?”
“She's scared, James. You heard her last night, her family abandoned her, Harry is all she has. She wants help, she just won't ask for it. You just have to find a way of getting her to stay.”
“But I have nothing to offer her.” James whispered
“I wouldn't be so sure about that.”
“What?”
“Remember what we were talking about a few months ago? Taking over the top of this place once the Longbottoms had moved out?”
“Yeah, but they're not going anywhere while that old battleaxe has hold over Frank.”
“I spoke to Frank a few days ago. He's getting married, moving out. His mother can't afford to stay without him, so she's going as well. Probably with Frank if what he said was any indication.”
“So it'll be for sale?”
“And people say you're stupid.”
“Oi” James shoved Remus, but a smile was on his face “You've obviously thought about this, so fancy filling me in?”
“You know I want upstairs so I can have a bigger studio, which would mean the room I use now would be free,” Remus shrugged “It could be Lily's room. It's near Harry's nursery and it's big enough. I think she should move in. With Harry.”
“Be a bit weird.”
“James, you're a straight man who lives with a gay couple, all of whom have been looking after a child for the past few weeks. Somehow I don't think a traditional home life is on the cards for you.”
“Wanker.”
“Only when Sirius is working.”
“Oh, I did not need to know that.”
“So uptight” Remus grinned “So what do you think?”
“Do you think she'll go for it?”
“I think she wants a reason not to go to Somerset, but you won't know if you don't ask her. She said she'd be over in a few days for Harry's things.”
“Right. Hey, Moony?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. For being practical about this. Without you I - I don't know what would've happened.”
“I love Harry too, James. I don't want him gone.”
“Still. Thanks.”
Tuesday
Sirius walked in the door and threw his jacket on the armchair “So did you call them?”
“Call who, Padfoot?”
“Don't do that,” Sirius came and sat next to Remus on the sofa “The estate agent, you know who.”
“Yes, I called them.”
“And?”
“And they said they would, in principle, accept our offer.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Remus put his book down and smiled at Sirius “We'll have to see if we need planning permission to get rid of what makes them flats, turn it into a proper house again, but even if we do, it won't be too much of a bother.”
“So this will work? We'll get to keep Harry? I mean - if we have the house, she can't say no, can she?”
“Sirius, it's not a done deal, you know that. You can't -”
“I can't get excited, I know,” Sirius paused “But Moony -”
“I know. I want it too.”
Wednesday
Sirius hadn't sat down since arriving home, he was too nervous, his mind racing at what Lily could say to their offer. He walked into the kitchen to make some tea, his fingers tapping the counter as he waited for the kettle to boil. Remus came up behind him, rested his hand on top of Sirius' and wrapped his other arm around his waist, pulling Sirius back against him.
“Calm down, Padfoot,” he said softly “You'll spill boiling water over yourself if you're this jittery.”
“And you wouldn't love me with scalded skin?”
“Nope,” Remus smiled “I'd kick you out of bed for sure.”
“Git.”
Remus let go of Sirius' hand, letting him reach for the kettle “Make me a cup?”
“Yep. Get me the milk?”
“Uh huh,” Remus walked over to the fridge “Are you ok?” he asked, handing over the milk
“Nervous. I want her to say yes so much, Moony.”
Remus took the mug of tea from Sirius “Yeah. I know. Has James come out of his room yet?”
“He went to the loo, but otherwise, no. He knows he has to be the one to ask her. Wish you could do it. You won't say something stupid.”
“Awful lot of faith you have in James there.”
Sirius leant against the kitchen counter “He's not exactly great with the big speeches. Usually ends up in a lot of swearing.”
“I've told him it doesn't need to be a big speech. He just needs to ask. He'll be ok.”
The doorbell rang, James stuck his head out of his bedroom and yelled “I think that's her.”
Remus looked at Sirius who seemed to be glued to the counter and sighed “Guess I'm getting it, then.”
Harry's face lit up when he saw Remus open the door and let out a happy giggle when he was lifted out of the buggy by Sirius, his hands grabbing at Sirius' hair. James walked into the living room as Lily sat on the sofa. He sat next to her, and they both watched Sirius and Remus entertain Harry.
“James, I want to apologise for the last time I was here. I had no right to just take Harry the same day I turned up without talking to you, I just -”
James cut her off “There's no need.”
“You're not angry?”
“I - I was angry. Now I just want to talk to you. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you want to move to Somerset?”
Lily looked away from James “It's not about what I want, James. It's the only option I have.”
“What if it wasn't?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know Remus is an artist, well, we've been planning for a while to buy the top part of this house so that he could have a bigger studio and we could have a bit more space. The people upstairs are moving out, so we've put an offer in.”
“That's great, James, but what does it have to do with me?”
“Sorry. The thing is, once we've done that, we'll have a spare room here. We already have a nursery finished for Harry, and all of us are more than happy to look after him.”
“I don't - I mean I -”
“Look, myself and Sirius have been friends since we were 6. Remus and Sirius have been together for 10 years. We've always thought of ourselves as a family and when Harry turned up, we took on raising him as a family and we miss him. We miss him so much. If what you want is to leave London, to move to Somerset, then we won't stand in your way, but we would really, really love it if you and Harry would stay here, with us, be part of our family,” James smiled at her “We're a little strange, but we make it work.”
Lily laughed “Are you all sure about this? I don't want to - if it would be putting you out at all, I wouldn't -”
Remus looked over at her “Lily, sorry, but do we look like we're being put out? I think I can speak for all of us when I say these last couple of days without Harry have been awful. We want you both here.”
“I don't really know what to say, I don't want to leave London, really I don't. I just thought it'd be best for Harry.”
“We know,” Sirius said “We want what's best for him as well. Which is why you should both move in with us.”
“Do I have a choice here?” Lily smiled
Sirius laughed “Of course you do. We're just planning on making it really, really hard for you if you say no.”
“Sirius!” Remus batted him around the head “Excuse him, Lily, politeness wasn't really part of his upbringing.”
“Hey, that was the polite version!”
James looked at Lily “I hope this isn't putting you off.”
“Actually, it's oddly entertaining.”
“I don't want to pressure you, but do you have an answer?”
Lily looked around at them all, all three of them had hopeful looks on their faces but her eyes settled on Harry. He was sitting contentedly on the floor between Remus and Sirius, his hands clapping together and a smile on his face. He looked happy and loved. It was that which made up her mind. She looked at James “I want what's best for Harry and I think this is what's best for him,” She grinned. “We'll move in.”
“Yes!” Sirius punched a fist in the air before pulling Remus towards him for a kiss.
James got off the sofa and picked Harry up, frowning at them both “Not in front of Harry!” He rolled his eyes as Sirius stuck two fingers up at him, not letting go of Remus for a second.
Sitting back down on the sofa with Harry on his lap, he glanced at Lily “I really hope you aren't regretting this already.”
She settled back into the sofa, tucking her legs under her “Oh, they're cute. It's good, y'know, knowing that Harry was around people who love him.”
“Da!” Harry made a grab for James' fingers “Da!”
Sirius finally let Remus go, both their faces flushed. Sirius leant against Remus, his head on Remus' shoulder. He snaked his arm around Remus' waist, fingers splayed under his shirt, and smiled “I think he might actually realise you're his Dad, James.”
“You think?” James turned Harry around so he was facing him “Who am I Harry? Who am I?”
“Da!” Harry exclaimed
“I'll take that.”
“I hate to burst your bubble,” Lily said “But he called the bus driver 'Da' yesterday as well.”
Remus laughed at the look on James' face and settled back into Sirius' embrace, surveying the scene before him. Smiles on faces and laughter, everything he'd had growing up, everything he'd wanted for their family. Everything was going to be just fine.
Six months later
“Woah there, Harry.” Sirius scooped up Harry as he toddled towards the kitchen.
“No!” Harry yelled “No!”
Sirius groaned “Why, out of all the words in the world, did you have to learn that one? Can't say things like 'sun' or 'moon', but that one, you've got down.” He put Harry back in the living room “How about we do blocks? Want to do blocks, Harry?”
Harry reached for the colourful blocks and stacked some up before grinning and smashing his fist into them, laughing as they fell.
“Some things never change,” Remus observed from the doorway, crouching down to lift Harry as he toddled towards him “Hi kiddo, what have you been doing today?”
“Mostly smashing blocks and refusing to eat cheese” Sirius leant over Harry's head and kissed Remus softly “Hi.”
“Hi,” Remus closed the door behind him “Refusing to eat cheese? Now, Harry, why would you do a thing like that? Cheese is lovely.”
“No!”
“Right. We're still on that, are we?”
“Oh yes, we're still on that,” Sirius said “Please teach him another word, Moony, please.”
Remus laughed “Why me?”
“You're smart! Teach him to say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious for all I care, just something other than that infernal word.”
“No.” Remus smirked
“I'm going to kill you.”
James came walking in “Why are you killing Remus?”
“He's not,” Remus said “He's just frustrated because he's never heard the word 'no' so much in his life.”
“Oi!”
“What? That wasn't an insult.”
“Oh. It sounded like one.”
“I have no idea what either of you are talking about,” James laughed “When's Lily back?”
“She's just gone to the newsagent, she should be back soon. She knows what time the appointment is, don't worry.”
******
“I think we stand out a bit, Moony.” Sirius whispered
“You usually enjoy being the centre of attention, Padfoot.”
“Yeah but -” Sirius stopped talking as a woman came out of the office.
“Next, Mr Potter, Miss Evans, Mr Black and Mr Lupin and...Harry?” They all stood up, James holding Harry's hand as he toddled along, the woman smiled “All of you? Ok, follow me.”
Sirius took Remus' hand and walked alongside Lily, following James and Harry into the room.
The photography studio had a large sofa in it, and Harry headed straight for it, climbing up onto the seat and looking at them expectantly.
The photographer laughed, “Looks like he's ready? Mum, Dad, are you ready?”
“It's not just us,” Lily said “They're family too. We all want to be in the photo.”
“Fine with me,” the photographer said “There's room on that sofa for all of you.”
They settled on the sofa, Harry in the middle between James and Remus, Lily next to James and Sirius next to Remus.
“Ok, say cheese everyone!”
“No!”