A/N: requested on Tumblr.

September 1, 1992

"The boys have disappeared!" Mrs. Weasley's voice cracked with anxiety.

Sirius was kneeling in front of the fireplace in the basement of Grimmauld Place 12. He leaned forward, his full attention now focused on the woman. Her worried face looked as pale as death despite the flames of the fireplace. "What do you mean, they disappeared?"

"We thought they were right behind us on the platform. It is Ginny's first year, we thought the boys had gotten on the train already. And when we returned to the parking lot where Arthur had parked the car, it was gone! And the boys, they're not on the train -"

"Molly," Sirius said and Mrs. Weasley fell silent, breathing heavily, "are you telling me that Ron and Harry, they took that flying Ford Anglia of yours?"

It hadn't been long since those blasted twins, who reminded him so much of James and himself, had flown the Ford Anglia up to Harry's window, Ron in the backseat, all three of them ready and determined to save Harry from being grounded after having went after Quirrell to prevent Voldemort from getting the stone. Regulus had heard them and assured them that Harry did not need any rescuing before convincing them to land the car safely and come into the house. Molly hadn't been happy with her boys. Yet, a growing pit of anxiety in his stomach made Sirius think that she hadn't expressed her displeasure clearly enough.

She nodded. "Ron knows how to fly it, the twins showed him."

"And that's supposed to be a bloody relief or what!" Sirius all but shouted at the woman. "We have to find them!" He pushed himself up, had to steady himself on the fireplace mantel, nearly tipping one of the vases over that sat on top of it. His knees felt weak at the thought of Harry in that car.

Harry and Ron, twelve years old, children flying that car. Sirius stumbled back, nearly falling as he turned and ran up the stairs to find Regulus.

This wasn't how he had imagined this year to start, he had trusted that Harry was going to be safe with the Weasleys. If he hadn't, he would have never allowed the boy to stay with Ron at the Burrow for the last week of the holidays. For a moment, anger flared up inside him at how careless Molly and Arthur had been, not keeping a closer eye on them. However, he dismissed the thought instantly, Molly and Arthur could impossibly keep an eye on all of their children at all times and Harry and Ron knew better than to disappear. They weren't first-years anymore.

Although Sirius, Regulus, the Weasleys as well as Sirius's Auror colleagues were searching for the flying Ford Anglia, it was as though the car, along with the boys, had dropped off the face of the earth. Right in front of the barrier to platform 9 3/4, they found an empty exercise book carrying Harry's name. It must have slipped off the boy's trolley. For a second, Sirius saw the image of his godson in front of his eyes, losing control of the trolley, falling onto the train tracks. Not that that was what the evidence suggested, the muggles would have noticed instantly.

In the parking lot next to King's Cross, there was a set of fresh tire tracks leading away from the empty parking space, in which Arthur had parked the car. After a couple of yards, they disappeared suddenly. Tracking spells were useless, the only information that they got from them was that the boys were too far away to be located. And still, Sirius craned his head back, searching the sky for a trace of the Ford Anglia, his eyes squinting at the sun reflecting off the airplanes on the way to the close-by airports.

Regulus stood next to him, silently, his face ashen white as he held Harry's rolled up exercise book in both hands, so tightly that he nearly broke its back.

"We'll find him," Sirius said, his voice weak. Regulus looked up, took a deep breath, nodded. Sirius realized that the same frightening images were passing Regulus's mind, the car crashing to the ground, Harry's lifeless body in a mangled car wreck or charred in a ball of flame. "We'll find them both. It's going to be fine. They - they'll be fine."

It was one of the longest days of their lives. With every passing hour, Sirius and Regulus felt as though a year had passed, time stretched out endlessly before them like an empty waterway. It was too much time, enough time to cast blame on the Weasleys first and then on themselves, for not paying closer attention. Sirius wished himself back to that moment on the platform when Molly and Arthur had last seen Harry and Ron. If he hadn't been so occupied with work, he would have gone with them. He should have. What was work anyway compared to Harry, it was nothing, nothing at all. And Reg - he'd been home, clueless, just a short mile from where it all happened. Maybe, if he had peered out of the window in the right moment, he would have seen them in the car zipping like a tube through the sky.

The fact that Harry was missing forced them to recall the last time each of them had talked to the boy. For Sirius, it had been seven days ago when he had dropped Harry off at the Burrow. He had given his child a one-sided hug and noticed how Harry had tensed up slightly and pushed away quickly, a faint blush on his cheeks at being hugged in front of Ron and his family. Sirius wished he hadn't let go as quickly. Suddenly, seven days without Harry seemed like an impossibly long time and his arms were aching to hug Harry again, to ruffle his hair, anything.

And Reg, he had talked to Harry just last night via the floo, asked him if he needed anything else from home or Diagon Alley. Harry had said no, he was all set for his new year at Hogwarts and there was no need for Regulus to come to the platform either because he wasn't a little child anymore after all.

"I should have gone regardless," Regulus said to Sirius at some point during that long, long day, his voice trembling with guilt. "Just to say goodbye and wish him a good time."

And they thought about what kinds of parents they were, not having said goodbye to their child. Careless, neglectful. Maybe Harry had wanted them to be at the platform, he just hadn't been able to admit it. And now he was gone and Sirius didn't think he would survive if he had to live an eighth day without his child.

Dumbledore's letter came in the evening. The sun had set and Sirius was on his broom up in the foggy air of Northern England, scanning the landscape from high above. He had seen two car crashes today, a muggle driving a maroon Ford Fiesta into a ditch nearby London, and, two hours later, a collision between a motorcycle and a silver-colored Vauxhall Corsa in North Yorkshire. Although neither of the cars looked like anything like the flying Ford Anglia, Sirius had halted in the air, his heart beating up to his throat, eyes transfixed upon the cars' doors as though he was expecting a raven-haired twelve-year-old to emerge from them.

At first, he did not recognize the phoenix emerging from the clouds and flying towards him. The deepening twilight softened its fire-red wings to a muted brown and made him think that it was a buzzard or a harrier. Then, he saw that it was carrying a letter and Sirius had to hold on tightly to his broom as he hovered in the air, his stomach turning over. Fawkes alighted on the tip of his broom, his claws and beak gleaming gold. Sirius took the letter with shaking hands, nearly dropping it.

His hand wandered up to his mouth while he read the lines written in Dumbledore's elegant, slightly slanted handwriting. A dry sob escaped him, causing Fawkes to ruffle his wings.

The boys were alive. They were alive and well and unharmed at Hogwarts.

"I can't believe it. They only got detention, didn't even lose points. If this is a joke, I don't bloody think it's funny." Sirius was pacing up and down the basement at Grimmauld Place.

Regulus was sitting at the head of the long wooden table, his fingers still trembling as he read Dumbledore's letter over and over again like reading it could make Harry materialize in front of him. "He's safe, that's all that counts," he said. His voice was weak. He, too, had spent all day on his broom searching for Harry and Ron.

"Safe for now, until they pull the next stunt that will get them killed! They should have been sent home on the spot!"

"As I know Molly, Ron won't get off as easy as that. Molly will send him a howler for sure. She's done the same for Fred and George once."

Sirius scoffed. "A howler! Harry will wish he'd gotten a bloody howler."

Regulus was silent. He looked up from Dumbledore's letter and glanced at Sirius. His eyes were still dark and deep with the worry that had infested every single cell of his body for the last ten hours. "So you'll do… what? Take him home?"

Sirius crossed his arms on the back of the chair to Regulus' left. "I want to," he said after a short pause.

"Me too but look, it's his first night back at Hogwarts," Regulus said softly. "He just arrived and he's probably exhausted. Apparating him back now -"

"I'll use the floo," Sirius said.

"But he hasn't been expelled. And Sirius, the first night back is always special."

"So what do you expect me to do?"

"I don't expect you to do anything."

Sirius cocked his head to the side. Usually, Reg would defend the boy, make excuses for him. Not today, though. "But you also don't expect me to stay home and do nothing, right?"

"No," Regulus said after a moment of silence, his eyes wandering back to the letter in his hands. "I don't expect that either."

It was only when Sirius was walking up the path that led to the castle, gravel crunching under his feet, that he noticed that he hadn't eaten since breakfast. For a moment, he wondered if he should pass by the kitchens on the way to Gryffindor Tower but then he decided against it. Harry came first. He couldn't think of anything else until he had dealt with him. The thought of Harry caused him to quicken his pace. He wanted to see the boy, wanted to see that he was fine with his own eyes. He wanted to hug him and never let go.

He passed by the Whomping Willow and instantly noticed that the tree looked like it had been attacked by something massive. Branches were torn from the tree and strewn on the ground. The tree was more hostile than usual too. Sirius stopped briefly, watched it swat away a small bird that had come within its reach. The bird squaked and flopped down, landing in the tall, damp grass beneath, its wings making a frantic slapping sound. It was only then that Sirius saw the tire tracks next to the tree, leading into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. Shards of broken glass shone in the moonlight, little pieces of a front or rear window of a car. A broken side mirror lay on the ground close to Sirius and he picked it up, turned it around. Blue color was coming off in flakes, blue like Arthur's Ford Anglia.

Sirius dropped it back to the ground. There it was again, the fear, cramping his stomach like an ice-cold hand.

Sirius had been arguing with the Fat Lady for several minutes now. He was getting impatient. "But you know me. You do. I am a Gryffindor so surely -"

"No password, no entry," she said sourly. "You ought to know how it works, Mr. Black."

"I told you," Sirius said exasperatedly, "I'm here to see my godson. Harry Potter."

She glared at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. "And if it Merlin himself were awaiting you inside - no password, no entry."

Suddenly, there were footsteps behind Sirius. He turned to see Percy Weasley walking toward him, his prefect badge flashing as it reflected the torchlight.

The teenager hummed as he saw Sirius, lips thin, eyes knowing. "You've come for Harry, haven't you?"

"Yes," Sirius said. "Can you tell him to come outside, please?"

Percy shrugged. "I could. Or you could just come inside. I bet you've come just in time for the party." There was a sharp undertone in his voice. He turned abruptly, spoke, "wattlebird."

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung to the side and Sirius gave her a triumphant look as he followed Percy through the portrait hole.

The common room was packed with students. As soon as Sirius had stepped through the portrait hole and straightened up to his full height - he stood out, being a head taller than the average student - the room fell silent. This lasted for a couple of seconds before the whispering began. Sirius cleared his throat awkwardly, glanced at Percy.

"Potter," Percy called, his teenage voice carrying over the heads of the students, "you have a visitor."

The sea of students parted and then Sirius saw Harry. The boy was standing next to the stairs leading up to the dorm rooms, his shoulders curled in an attempt to make himself even smaller than he was, clearly wishing for the ground to open up and swallow him. When his eyes met those of Sirius, his face quickly adopted the same scarlet color that Ron wore.

For a second, Sirius couldn't breathe and he thought his legs were going to give out under him. Harry, he really was alive and well. He was fine.

It was over, this nightmare of a day.

Not that Harry appeared to share that sentiment. Judging from the deer-in-the-headlights look he gave him, Sirius suspected that, for Harry, the nightmare had only just begun. Sirius moved toward the child with a couple of long strides, the sound of his heavy, steel-toed boots filling the room. Harry cringed, took a small step back. His eyes were silently pleading with Sirius not to start yelling.

Sirius forced himself to stop two feet away from Harry. His first instinct was to draw the boy into a hug, his second instinct was to tuck him under his arm and start swatting. Neither option seemed appropriate in the middle of the Gryffindor common room, with so many curious eyes hefted upon them. Despite everything, he did not wish to embarrass Harry any more than absolutely necessary.

"Follow me," he growled in a low voice.

Harry kept his head down as he followed Sirius outside. As soon as they stepped through the portrait hole and were out of anyone's sight, Sirius grabbed the boy's wrist, dragged him along as he strode down the corridor. He had to swallow hard at the feel of the boy's thin wrist, the Whomping Willow's mighty branches could have snapped it in two like a twig. It was a miracle neither boy had gotten hurt.

"Siri, I can explain," Harry said desperately, digging his heels in to slow Sirius down.

"We'll see about that in a minute," Sirius said harshly. He felt Harry's other hand working on his fingers, trying to loosen Sirius's grip on his wrist.

Sirius opened the door to an empty classroom at the end of the corridor and ushered the boy inside. It was dark, only the moon cast its silver-blue light through the tall windows. Sirius waved his hand, causing the torches on the walls to flare up and add their flickering light to the blue glow. He closed the door behind himself and Harry and locked it. Only then, he let go of the child. He walked up to one of the desks, grabbed an armless chair, and pulled it up to the front of the classroom, the chair's hind legs scraping across the floor.

Harry had not moved away from the door. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Sirius intended to do and Harry watched Sirius, an expression of helpless terror on his face.

"Come here," Sirius said as he sat in the chair, pointing to a spot on the floor directly in front of him.

Harry shook his head. "Let me explain, please!"

"Oh, don't worry, boy, you will explain yourself. And now come here."

Reluctantly, Harry shuffled toward Sirius. He stopped a few feet away from the man, his fingers curling around the wooden edge of one of the desks in the second row.

Sirius was still pointing to the ground. "I didn't say stay over there, I said come here."

"Siri, please," Harry whined. "It's not our fault!"

That whine.

Sirius's patience snapped. He rose to his feet and, with two quick steps, was next to the boy. He took him by his arm, spun him around, and placed a swat on the boy's bottom before leading him up to the chair. The swat had been over Harry's robes and trousers so Sirius doubted that it had hurt much, however, it had been enough to drive tears into the child's eyes.

Sirius sat down once more, pulling Harry up until he stood in between his knees, his hands on the boy's hips to keep him in place. "Now you may explain," Sirius said sternly.

"It's not our fault, please," Harry exclaimed. His hands wandered down to Sirius's in an attempt to loosen their grip on his hips. Sirius's fingers tightened in response. "The barrier didn't open and we didn't know what to do! So we - we -"

The chair creaked under Sirius as he leaned forward ever-so-slightly. "You what?"

Harry shuffled his feet, lowering his eyes. "We - we thought that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley might be caught behind the barrier and that they couldn't get out. And we didn't know what to do. So we took the car to fly to Hogwarts. I know it was stupid but we really didn't know what else to do."

"Why didn't you wait?"

Harry looked up. "We did! We waited forever but they didn't come out!"

"How long did you wait?"

"We -" Harry bit his lip. "I don't know but it was long."

"Because Molly told me she returned to the parking lot five minutes after the train departed and the car was gone already. Care to explain that?"

"That can't be. It wasn't just five minutes," Harry said, frowning.

Sirius reached around the boy and swatted him hard. Harry jumped, a little yelp passing his lips.

"Are you saying Molly was lying to me?"

"N-no," Harry responded, tears in his voice, "we really did wait. But they didn't come back and we didn't want to be late."

"You could have walked home from King's Cross. You know the way, it's not even a mile."

"Yeah but…" Harry swallowed hard, "we didn't think of that… we thought we had to catch up with the train."

Sirius landed another swat that was hard enough to bring Harry onto his tiptoes. "You could have called Reg, he would have apparated there within seconds. You had the mirror, didn't you?"

Harry hesitated but then nodded.

"Then why didn't you call him?"

"I didn't think of it," Harry said in a small voice. His eyes were pleading with Sirius. "Really, I didn't."

Sirius' jaw clenched. "You didn't think of it? What were you thinking then if you didn't think of walking the short way home, waiting by the car, or calling Reg by the mirror?"

Harry lowered his head, bit his trembling bottom lip. "I don't know… Ron said it and I thought it was a good idea."

"Don't put this on Ron, little boy. Reg tried calling you for hours. We were looking for you, all of us - Molly, Arthur, me and Reg, nearly all of my colleagues. And you - you didn't even think of picking up the mirror?"

Harry snuffled. He didn't respond.

Sirius' fingers tightened on the boy's hip. "Where did you have your mirror, Harry James?"

Harry kept silent, his eyes glued to the floor. Sirius reached around him once more and landed a hard swat that caused Harry to try to twist away and throw his hands back to cover himself. "Oww!"

"Look at me," Sirius said, reaching out and taking hold of the child's chin. "Reg tried to reach you all day. Do you understand what I'm saying? All day. We were out looking for you for over ten hours, Harry! We didn't know if you were dead or alive. Do you have ANYidea how worried we were?"

Harry winced at his godfather's tone. Sirius's voice was like glass and stones scraping together. "I'm sorry…"

Sirius shook his head, his gray eyes like steel, bearing into Harry's emerald ones. "Now you tell me, Harry: where did you have your bloody mirror?"

"It was in my trunk," Harry whispered, blinking rapidly.

Sirius took a deep breath, leaned back, and studied his child for a couple of seconds, watched him squirm under his gaze while a deadly silence ruled the classroom.

Then, Sirius reached out wordlessly, unbuttoned Harry's school robes. The boy stood frozen, his bottom lip trembling.

"Siri, please, no," Harry croaked when Sirius got Harry's robes off and hung them over the back of his chair before undoing Harry's trousers.

"Oh yes, little boy. You must be delusional to think you'll get away with this," Sirius said. "Hand me your glasses." He had trouble keeping his voice calm and even. When Harry had not responded to Regulus's calls through the mirror, Sirius had secretly hoped that Harry had forgotten the mirror at the Burrow. It was a thought they both had clung to because the alternative, Harry not being able to respond because they crashed the car and he was injured or worse, was too painful to imagine. But now, hearing that Harry had had it but had not even looked at the mirror once, had not even carried it on himself like he was supposed to and had instead put it in his trunk and forgotten about it, it felt like a slap to Sirius's face.

Harry shook his head, his hands inadvertently wandering up to his glasses. His eyes were wide and filled to the brim with tears. "But Professor McGonagall already gave us detention!"

"And she did not take any points from you, correct?"

"Y-yeah because the term hadn't started."

Sirius fixed the boy with a stern look. "Yes, Dumbledore mentioned that in his letter. This means that, if the school doesn't take care of it, I will."

"But that's unfair! Ron isn't getting spanked and it was his idea!"

Sirius did not have the nerve to argue with the boy. He simply removed Harry's glasses, ignoring the whine that accompanied it, reached behind himself, and put it in the pocket of Harry's robe. Then, he lowered the child's trousers and underwear to his knees before pulling Harry across his lap.

Harry was already crying quietly before the first swat fell. Sirius didn't hesitate, he raised his hand high and brought it down on the pale backside presented to him. When Harry kicked his legs, Sirius readjusted him by shifting him forward slightly so his hips were resting on Sirius's left thigh and his legs were trapped between Sirius's.

It didn't take more than a handful of swats until Harry was sobbing, his right arm wound around Sirius's leg, the fingertips of his left hand balancing on the cold stone floor.

The goosebumps, which had sprouted on Harry's bottom and thighs at his skin being exposed to the cold air, slowly disappeared as Sirius proceeded to methodically warm the small backside with the flat of his open hand, his jaw knotted in grim determination.

Sirius didn't know if he had ever felt so disappointed with his child or so frustrated. All it would have taken for Harry to end this nightmare was a quick call home, that was why he had been given the mirror in the first place - to use it in the case of an emergency. But no, Harry hadn't wasted a single thought on that. Sirius ground his teeth as he laid down four swats to the sensitive undercurve of Harry's bottom.

He felt Harry unwrap his right arm from around his leg and prepared himself to catch the small hand before it managed to block his target.

"Siri stooop, I'm sorryyy," Harry cried when Sirius caught his hand a second later and tucked it under his stomach, pulling the child up closer to himself in order to provide him with a steadier basis. Sirius imagined that it couldn't be very comfortable for Harry to hang off his thigh like this, having to steady himself on the floor. Usually, Sirius took care of spankings in Harry's bedroom with the child's upper body safely resting on his mattress. For some reason, however, Sirius did not mind this position as much as he had thought he would as it provided him with excellent access to the boy's sit spots.

"I'd expect most children in your position to be sorry," Sirius lectured as he moved on to Harry's thighs for another round of swats, deepening the shade of pink already blooming there, "however, being sorry simply isn't enough this time. You have to start thinking, Harry. I don't know what was going on in that head of yours when you decided to hot-wire Arthur's car, believe me though, taking a flying car to Hogwarts is never ever an acceptable option. So I don't understand why you are surprised to find yourself in this position. It should have been clear to you from the beginning that this was going to be how things were going to end - and believe me, you're on the lucky end of this situation right now."

"Lucky?! I'm n-nooot," Harry protested. He cringed when Sirius placed two hard swats on his sit spots.

"Oh, you think this is bad?" Sirius asked as he kept layering stinging swats on the boy's defenseless behind. "I think you should thank your stars that you're merely finding yourself over my knee for a well-deserved spanking instead of slowly bleeding out in some roadside ditch or at the foot of a mountain because it was too foggy to see properly. This is why you are bloody lucky, boy!" Sirius accentuated this with one last round of four fiery swats that covered the child's whole backside, turning it into an even shade of cherry red. Tears were burning in his eyes at the thought of what could have happened, at the fact that he was holding Harry so close now, the child's warm, breathing body tucked safely under his left arm. He was so lucky to hold him again, even if he had to hold him like this.

Harry was sobbing hard.

Sirius rested his hand on the small of Harry's back, allowed his godson to take few deep breaths. "I don't ever want to have to do that again, however, don't think for a second that I won't."

Harry's hair was disheveled and sticking out in ten different directions. It bobbed back and forth as he nodded his head. "I'm sorryyyy…"

Sirius took a deep, shuddering breath, blinked away the tears that sat in the corners of his eyes and blurred his vision. "All right," he said hoarsely, "easy, pup. It's over now." He rubbed the child's back until the sobbing died out and his breathing rate returned to normal.

After nearly a minute, Harry pushed himself up and Sirius helped him return his underwear and trousers to their rightful place. He then gently placed his palms on each side of Harry's face, the child's tear-stained cheeks just as red and hot as Sirius's hands.

"I know I was very hard on you just now," he whispered, his voice unsteady, cracking, "but you have to understand that you mean the world to me and th-" his voice broke and he leaned forward, pressed his forehead against Harry's, closed his eyes as he fought to regain control.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed that Harry was looking at him, his red-rimmed eyes fixed upon Sirius's, tear stains coating his cheeks, glistening in the moonlight.

"Come here," Sirius said, drawing the boy up to his chest. He felt Harry's breath hitching slightly, warm against his neck, and his arms automatically tightened around his godson's narrow frame as he guided him to sit onto his lap. Harry winced when his throbbing bottom came in contact with Sirius's left thigh and Sirius quickly moved him back a bit to alleviate the pressure. "I know, I know… breathe, pup. You're fine."

Sirius did not think that he had ever been so hard on Harry. For a brief moment, a wave of guilt swept over him and he considered healing the child so that he did not have to sit on a sore bottom on the next day. Then he realized how ridiculous his thoughts were. While he had spanked the child thoroughly, he had done so carefully and only with his bare hand. The sting from that was going to fade over the night. He wished, however, that they were at Grimmauld Place and that he could tuck Harry into bed and sit with him until he fell asleep. Harry wouldn't appreciate that gesture here at Hogwarts though - Sirius was nearly certain that Harry would rather take another spanking than being tucked into his bed under the eyes of his friends. Sirius bit his lip in order to restrain the small smile that was tugging the corners of his lips. He turned his head slightly to kiss the top of Harry's head, his wiry beard brushing the child's forehead. At least now, Harry still allowed him to comfort him.

"Sirius?" Harry's voice was muffled by Sirius's shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"Is Reg very mad?"

"He's -" Sirius scratched his beard, searching for the right words, "he's not mad anymore, I don't think so. He knows that you've been punished. But you should call him before you go to bed. He too needs to see for himself that you're fine."

Harry turned his head, glancing up at Sirius. "He was worried too, wasn't he?"

Sirius nearly laughed at the absurdity of that question. "Of course he was. He was absolutely sick with worry."

"Oh," Harry said. "I just thought… because he didn't come here, you know."

"To protect you from me?" Sirius's lips twisted up.

"No," Harry responded. "I just thought maybe he was too mad and didn't want to see me."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "He's dying to see you. I guess he simply didn't want to embarrass you even more. I mean, me entering the Gryffindor common room was something already, but Reg, he's a Slytherin. It would have been a scandal." He winked at Harry.

Harry groaned, hid his face in Sirius' shoulder once more. "That was the worst of it all! You didn't have to come inside… you could have sent someone to get me!"

Sirius hummed. He had not entered the Gryffindor common room with the intention of embarrassing Harry. He had done so because, as soon as the portrait of the Fat Lady had swung to the side, he could not have waited for a second longer to see him. "Sorry," he said softly. "At least I didn't send a howler."

Harry knitted his brows in confusion. "A what?"

Sirius smirked. For some reason, he did not feel like ruining the surprise, as Harry would undoubtedly warn Ron about what awaited him. It would be unfair for Ron to get off easy after all. "Tomorrow, you'll see what I mean."

Harry looked at him for another moment, then shrugged. He brushed a hand across his face to wipe away the remaining tears, then squinted his eyes.

Sirius reached back into the pocket of Harry's robes which were still draped over the back of his chair. He took out Harry's glasses and handed them to the boy.

Harry put the glasses on, then, however, settled back onto Sirius's lap. "Do you have to leave soon?"

"I'll stay as long as you allow me to."

"Good," Harry said, relaxing slightly. "Because I don't want to go back yet."

A soft smile curved up the edges of Sirius's lips. He rested his chin on top of Harry's head. "Me neither." Suddenly, his stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten in many hours, and he shifted in his chair. "Though, in all honesty, I wouldn't mind a little trip down to the kitchens. You had dinner, didn't you?"

Harry nodded. "Professor McGonagall gave us sandwiches."

"Mmmh. Sounds delicious."

Harry glanced at him. "Didn't you have anything to eat?"

"Not since breakfast," Sirius confessed. "I was kind of busy, you know." He tapped the tip of Harry's nose.

Harry bit his lip. "Sorry."

Sirius smiled, gave the boy a gentle squeeze. "Now that I've found you though, how about we see if the house elves have any left-over dessert for us?"

Harry cocked his head in curiosity. So far, he had never actually been to the kitchens. "It's past curfew though."

Sirius chuckled. "Well. I know how to get there without being caught so it makes no difference."

A smile formed on Harry's lips. He got to his feet. "Okay. I'm in."

"Brilliant. Let's go then," Sirius said with a grin. He got up from his chair, stretched his limbs, his joints cracking from having been locked in the same position for so long. Harry stood next to him, throwing on his robe, his eyes still reddened but now also shining with excitement. Sirius had told him countless stories of how he and James had roamed the corridors at night when they had been students at Hogwarts and Harry had listened to them wide-eyed as though they were adventure stories. While Sirius did not want to encourage such behavior, especially after what had happened at the end of Harry's first year, he couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. And Sirius had always thought that it was better to know one's surroundings than to risk getting lost in a labyrinth.

When Harry turned and grinned up at him, the moonlight reflecting off his glasses, Sirius smiled back warmly. He put an arm around the child's narrow shoulders as they walked out of the door.