Just a Spot of Fun

Things had been boring as of late and it was bound to cause those who were normally active to do stupid things. One man, in particular, missed the days of yesteryear where there was nothing to worry about except OWL results, his best friend's latest plan to win over his love or where to scope out during the next full moon.

That man, many would be frightened to learn, was in the accompaniment of his six-month-old godson.

"Want to give your mummy a little scare?" Sirius Black asked little Harry Potter, his voice alight with mischief. Sirius glanced outside and was glad to see that Lily and James Potter weren't coming home early from their day together or even on their way. He looked at Harry, waiting for some sort of answer.

Harry's great green eyes stared blankly back at him. A bubbly droplet of drool made its way down his chin.

Wiping it up, Sirius said, "That doesn't mean no."

Chuckling to himself with how much yelling he was in for, Sirius ran up the stairs. Harry bounced in Sirius' arms, happily making little baby bouncing sounds. He reached for Sirius' chin with his chubby fingers, amazed at the bit of facial hair Sirius was growing.

They reached the top floor. Sirius brought Harry into his nursery and carefully deposited him into his crib. "I'll be back in just a tick, Harry," Sirius said merrily. He planted a quick kiss on the baby's head (Harry again reached for the stubble) and dashed from the room.

Sirius scouted the two front rooms, checking out which was best placed for his little scheme. He decided on the guest room - his room when he stayed overnight.

Running back to the main floor at top speed, Sirius dug in a closet. "Got you," he said and pulled out a long, candy cane-shaped wooden sled. He quickly put on his winter boots. Still chuckling to himself, Sirius carefully brought it up the stairs. He watched the corners, making sure they didn't scratch the wall. He hated having to clean up things like that; they were always so trivial.

Getting it to his guest bedroom, Sirius leant the sled against the wall beside the window. He then opened the window and carefully took out the screen. He dragged a chair beneath its frame and climbed up. Stepping through, feet sinking in the soft snow, Sirius reached back in and pulled out the sled. His boots crunched the dotted line of ice that ran beneath the roof overhead from where icicles hung and dripped on warmer days.

He set the sled down on the snow and held it in place. Wind blew his short black hair and his breath clouded upon exhalation. The bright late afternoon sun was behind the slightly isolated house. A shadow hung over the slanted area in which the young man stood. Sirius took out his wand and pointed at the sleigh. Rope tied around the back of it and the free end shot into his bedroom. Pleased with his work, Sirius let go and watched.

The sleigh stayed still.

He pushed it.

It didn't move.

He sat on it tenderly and wiggled around.

It didn't slide.

He held the sides and rocked the wooden sled. Proud of his wand work, Sirius stood up and walked ahead of the sled. He kicked some snow off the roof and flattened it out.

Gathering his wits (the little he had, according to Lily and sometimes Remus), Sirius carefully ran back to the window.

He cleaned off his boots before stepping inside and onto the chair below the window. He darted back to Harry's crib to see the little tyke sucking on his bare foot. Sirius leaned over the crib and lightly messed up Harry's down-soft hair. He still only had a thin tuft of black hair spread over the top of his soft skin.

"Your mum's going to kill me, you know," Sirius said conversationally, yet softly, to Harry. Harry gazed up at him doe-like. Aware that he was looking at Harry with adoring eyes, Sirius shook himself. "You're making me go soft, Harry. Now I know what happened to Prongs..." Giving Harry a small poke in the nose as a goodbye, Sirius ran from the room again.

Sirius donned his winter jacket and opened up the Potters' front door. If he was going to do this right, he was going to do it well.

He ran to the driveway and looked up to where he knew his room window was. Squinting in the bright light that shone from behind the house, Sirius worked out a bit of estimation. He took out his wand and began indenting some snow on the driveway.

He knew he had at least a good ten minutes before the couple was scheduled to return, but part of him couldn't believe he was doing this. He ran to the front door and then back to the drive way... back and forth he went until satisfied with the prints left in the snow.

Sirius walked back into James and Lily's house and once again cleaned off his boots. He picked up Harry's outing clothes: a blue one-piece snowsuit and hat.

Going back to the nursery, Sirius collected the waiting Harry and set him on the changing table. He quickly checked to see if he needed to be changed and was thankful that Harry was clean. It was his least favourite part of watching his godson. Sirius put Harry in the blue snowsuit that made him look like a sea star, added the matching fleece toque and then gently pulled on Harry's hood.

Sirius leaned back to inspect his work. Harry's lips were in a pout from the suit surrounding his face, but his eyes looked somewhat interested with what was going on.

"Alright little buddy," Sirius said jovially, picking Harry back up, "you don't look rushed at all." He carried Harry to his room, which was now quite cool, and as carefully as he could, climbed out the window.

He checked the sled once again with his foot and carefully sat himself on it. Harry was gazing all around, although unable to move his head. His mouth opened up and he let out a gurgle.

"That's right," Sirius said in a serious tone, "this may be the last time we're alone together."

Sirius sat cross-legged and Harry placed safely on his lap, leaning the infant against his stomach. The older man couldn't help letting an excited chuckle escape his lips.

Then he heard them: James and Lily's voices. His chuckling escalated. Taking a deep breath, Sirius put a stopper in his laughing.

He was so much trouble.

But it was still funny.

He saw his favourite couple turn onto their driveway from the heavily tree-lined road, completely involved with one another.

"Disgusting, isn't it Harry?" he said in Harry's ear. Well, against the hood.

Harry gave an excited squeal.

Sirius bit his lip. He wasn't sure whether or not he should be happy or upset that neither of Harry's parents heard.

James and Lily stopped walking halfway up the path to the house. From Sirius' perspective, he saw their heads look downwards at their driveway. They were obviously confused with all the marks in the snow. Their heads followed multiple foot prints that lead to and from the strange marks in the snow at their feet...

Harry squealed louder this time and bounced a tad.

Lily's head snapped up and she emitted a shrill, gargled cry. Her hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide.

Harry garbled out some more, arms trying to move in his thick snowsuit. It was a losing battle.

James was staring at his son in Sirius arms, hand also over his mouth.

"You're just in time!" Sirius called to the stupefied parents. Harry squealed again with Sirius' loud voice. "This is Harry's favourite part!"

Lily stumbled back into James' chest, who steadied her with both hands. "SIRIUS BLACK!" she shrieked.

"Hold on, we'll be down in just a second!" Sirius called, hardly able to hold in his laughter.

"You most certainly will NOT!" Lily shrieked again, turning her head to look at James. "Why aren't you yelling at him?" she exclaimed. Her face must have turned furious,

Sirius guessed, to wipe the smile from James' face. "You're LAUGHING? Our six-month-old is on the roof!"

"Lily, love-"

"SIRIUS BLACK! You... you are so dead!" Lily wrenched herself from James' hands and ran into her house, not even slamming the door or taking off her boots.

"Padfoot, you're so dead," James said loudly with a chuckle.

"Do you think I should meet her inside?" asked Sirius with an evil glint in his eyes, bouncing Harry in his lap.

"Unless you want her to blast you from the roof," James answered him.

Sirius took Harry in his arms and very carefully got to his feet. He climbed in just as carefully and found Lily waiting for him, tapping her foot. Her cool exterior belied the panic she must have felt.

She ran forward and took Harry from his arms before they were completely inside. She hugged her baby with all her might and turned her upper body left and right, head buried in the snowsuit.

When Sirius jumped off the chair, he looked at the two of them. Lily's eyes, he saw, were glaring at him from over Harry's shoulder. He felt a shock on his side. "Ouch!" he exclaimed.

Lily laid Harry down on Sirius' bed and began taking him out of his blue snowsuit. "I don't know what you are on, Sirius," she said, and Sirius felt another shock on his arm.

He jumped again. "But I'm sure that I can get you off of it."

He felt another jolt on his lower back and his hands flew to the area. "Alright Lily," he said, "no need for uncontrolled magic."

"Uncontrolled?" Lily exclaimed, calm voice gone. Her eyes were glaring dangerously at Sirius while she picked Harry up again, cradling him. "You brought my baby on the roof!"

"We were fine-"

"No, you are obviously not fine!" she yelled, causing Harry's face to scrunch up. She made calming hushing noises and ran a finger over Harry's nose and chin; she and James were very pleased to discover in Harry's first month home that it calmed him easily. Harry's face became happy once again and he reached a hand for Lily's hair, grabbing a fistful. "You are sick in the head, Sirius," Lily said once again in a calm voice.

"Lily, it was just a bit of fun," Sirius reasoned, nonetheless relieved when James walked into the room.

"He's all right, is he?" James asked, standing behind his wife. He wrapped an arm around her and let Harry hold his finger. "Hullo Harry."

"And you wanted him as godfather," Lily said icily. She turned her head to look at James.

"You agreed-"

"Before I knew he was mental!"

"Hey-" Sirius tried to cut in.

"You always knew he was mental."

"Hey!" he cut in louder. He got the three Potters to look at him. "You're keeping my godson awake when he'd obviously much rather be asleep."

James and Lily looked to their son. Harry's eyes were drifting closed, but he let go of neither Lily's hair nor James' pinkie.

"You do realise that you've just given Remus that little extra boost for full babysitting rights, eh?" James said undeterred from Sirius' way of changing the subject.

"Little extra boost? I'd think it'd take more than a little," Sirius said indignantly. He started to unzip his jacket, but it was soon evident that Lily would do something drastic if he thought of staying. He quickly zipped it back up.

"Well, you only ever really had one thing over him," Lily said truthfully and a bit coldly.

Sirius' face turned into one of hurt. "What was that?" he asked.

"You're the godfather," Lily told him. She shifted the sleeping Harry in her arms.

Sirius' mouth dropped. "That's got to be more than just a notch, though."

"Oh, it is," Lily said, "but without it, Remus wins with flying colours."

Sirius looked to James with his hurt look for help and the truth.

"She did the math when she was pregnant, mate, I had no say," James said sadly. "Just be happy you're over Peter."

"I'm - I'd be appalled if I wasn't."

"Well, thank you for babysitting and dangling our son from the roof-"

"I didn't dangle him!" Sirius interrupted Lily.

"-and I hope you won't be too offended if we don't call on you again for Harry," she finished, her glare deepening.

Taking the hint, James took Sirius by the arm and had to take a moment to wrestle his pinkie free from Harry's baby-grip. Sirius was led out of his guest bedroom and down the stairs. He was already wearing all he brought, so James just leant against the wall and raised an eyebrow to his best friend.

"It'll blow over," he said.

"You should really hear what I have planned next-"

"No, I really shouldn't."

"It involves one of the ladies from the Order - I'm thinking Dorcas - Harry and a joke on Snape," Sirius began, being gently pushed out the front door. "She shows up on his door with Harry, speaking about the night they both had too much to drink-"

The door closed in his face. From where he stood on the front step, Sirius heard James say, "You will forgive us for not calling again, won't you?"

Sirius shook his head and knew James wouldn't reopen the door to sneak him in. No doubt he was already on his way back to his family. Sirius exhaled a deep breath to a job well done. He Apparated back to his place, a smallish flat that he spent little time in to which it greatly showed, and found an owl sleeping outside his window.

He had to fight with the lock and then use plenty of muscle to push the window up.

The tawny owl had awoken and watched him with passing interest. With a soft hoot, he lifted his leg to offer the short letter attached.

Sirius took it and without so much as a glance, the owl tipped over the sill and flew off. "Much like your owner," Sirius muttered to the empty air next to him. The winter wind blew into his flat, but he didn't bother to close the window. The air around him was stale and it needed to be freshened, lest it smother him in his sleep.

Black,

You know very well that I will not take any such part in this ghastly idea of yours. I have talked to the others with whom you've written and they too believe you to be in need of medication. McKinnon, especially.

Until our next inevitable meeting,

Dorcas Meadows

Sirius sighed. Did nobody believe in good old-fashioned fun anymore? Maybe he could get Moony to help him with something. He was in need of something to do other than Order business and with all the horrid headlines of late, Sirius was sure he would be up for a bit of fun-

The thought was immediately squashed when he remembered that Remus was Lily's 'preferred' babysitter. Sirius scoffed. Maybe Peter, then; he was usually up for something.

Sirius went to his kitchen table, on which sat a long roll of unused parchment and a handful of quills.

Wormtail,

I've got a plan. Write back in haste and we can work out the preliminary details. You are the one and only person who I can trust with it.

Padfoot

He'd have to wait until his own owl - better known as the one he named that dropped by once and a while - came by before he could send it. Peter would jump at the chance to be the trusted one. Remus - the preferred - would have to sit this one out.

An owl flew through his open window and landed on the one kitchen chair next to his elbow.

"Ben," Sirius greeted.

The burrowing owl hooted and dropped a bloodied mouse on the table.

Sirius stared at it for a moment, held back a shudder and said, "Thank you." It was then that Sirius noticed a note tied to his leg. He frowned. "Have you been frequenting other's houses?" He couldn't keep the accusation from his tone.

Ben hooted.

Sirius grudgingly took the letter and unfurled it. He recognised the writing immediately and groaned.

Sirius

James told me what you said. Don't even think of taking Harry out again. He is not to be used as some sick part of your mental plans.

"She didn't even sign it," he muttered to Ben.

Ben at some point figured that Sirius didn't appreciate his gift and began to eat it himself.

Sirius leaned against the bare counter and folded the letter. He frowned. Boredom was settling in again.

"Maybe I should look into furniture," he said to Ben. "And dishes."

The small brown owl hopped across the table and picked up the letter with his beak.

Sirius waved him off. "That goes to Peter."

A soft flutter later, Ben had left out the window and in his place a few snowflakes drifted in.

Sirius didn't like the boredom and he didn't much fancy furniture shopping. Why did James have to become such a... a family man? And so young!

With the snowflakes came a small silver figure through the window and it continued to the kitchen. Sirius didn't notice it until it grew to its tall form, antlers and all, and stood before him.

"Prongs."

James' Patronus shimmered; it reared its head and stomped a hoof.

Sirius frowned again. James was never very good at communicating through Patronuses. "What?" he asked it.

The stag galloped to his bedroom door and disappeared before it.

Sirius followed its lead and entered his bedroom. James' face in the fire was awaiting him.

"I was calling for you, but had to resort that bloody Patronus method," James said.

"Silence charm on my door," Sirius said as a way of explanation.

"Lily's bathing Harry in the kitchen sink, so I only have a short time," the bespectacled man said. "I was thinking of your idea earlier and have tweaked on it a bit."

"In a way that doesn't involve Harry?"

"Exactly," James laughed. "Things have been too serious around here and I think you're right to try and brighten them a bit." He grinned slyly. "Care for a spot of fun?"