Not Knowing

Sirius Black was a complicated man. He was always busy these days; always helping the wizarding world from Lord Voldemort. He helped a few Muggles once. It had been when a group of Death Eaters wanted to torture the Muggles but Sirius put a stop to it. Sirius hated Death Eaters. He hated Voldemort. And everyone knew this.

Sirius was very good friends with James Potter. They met at Hogwarts when they were 11 years old. Since then, they had been friends forever. Sirius thought of James as the brother he never had. Sirius and James had been there for each other. Sirius had been there when James didn't think he could get his Hogwarts work done with all these Head Boy duties. Sirius had been there when James didn't know what he felt for the little red haired Head Girl. Sirius had been there at James's wedding. He had been there when James and Lily moved into their new house. And now he was here to look after their child, Harry Potter.

James and Lily went out tonight to go to a Halloween party that the Longbottoms were throwing. Sirius didn't want to go anyway. He really didn't think highly of the Longbottoms. So, Sirius was stuck babysitting his godson, Harry Potter.

Sirius could tell that Harry was James' son. He looked so much like him. Right now, Harry was playing with a few of his toys. Occasionally Harry would laugh or say something but he was totally distracted with his teddy bear and toy truck.

Sirius walked over to Harry and sat on the carpet with him. "Hi Harry," he said. Harry continued rolling his toy truck along the carpet and didn't look up. "What is that you got there?" Sirius asked.

Harry looked up and grinned. Sirius noticed a few small teeth here and there. Harry gave him the teddy bear. Sirius couldn't help but smile. "Thank you." Sirius said as he got the teddy bear.

"What is his name?" Sirius asked while holding the bear. "Is it Fluffy?" Harry's eyes widened but he nodded his head no. "Ummm how about Paws?" Harry groaned. "No? Well hmm what could it be?" Sirius asked. Harry smiled and pointed his finger at Sirius. "What?" Sirius asked. "Is it named after me?" Harry grinned. "Is his name Sirius?" Harry shook his head. "Oh then what is it?"

Harry said one word, "Padfoot."

Sirius grinned and said to the teddy bear, "Hello I am Sirius. Nice to meet you." Harry was beside himself. He was laughing so hard he was lying on the floor.

Sirius put the teddy bear down and picked up Harry off the ground. "Okay mister! Listen up! You got a few hours with me!" Harry was grinning so widely. "What do you want for dinner?"

Sirius walked into the kitchen and put Harry in his high chair. Harry was watching Sirius look through the fridge and cabinets. "What about this?" Sirius asked while holding what looked like green mush in his hands. Harry stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Yeah I wouldn't eat it either, even if you paid me." Sirius threw the mush in the trashcan. "Gosh what do you eat, Harry? All I see is this slime! No wonder you're so thin." Sirius joked around.

Sirius closed the fridge and sighed. "Well I guess I could always cook something." He turned toward Harry and smiled what was known as his Marauder smile or his smile that he was up to something sneaky.

Ten minutes later Sirius was pouring water all over what look like a big fireball. "Okay maybe that's not the best way to cook chicken." He said as most of the flames died down. He looked at the high chair and saw that Harry wasn't there. Sirius felt the world fall around him.

"HARRY? WHERE ARE YOU?" He said as he left the kitchen. He ran through the living room and saw he wasn't there. He looked down the hall. No sign of Harry. Sirius turned the corner and saw Harry climbing the stairs. "Harry! Come here!" He grabbed Harry and looked him straight in the eyes. "Harry you could have gotten hurt! You shouldn't be sneaking around like that."

He saw that Harry gave him a questioning look. Sirius sighed and said, "Yup you're defiantly the son of Prongs. Always sneaking around. Now come on and let's have dinner. Do you want the green slime or the chicken fireball?"

An hour later Sirius was trying his best to entertain Harry. They had just finished eating dinner (which was cereal) and now Harry had started crying. Sirius had tried everything to stop him from crying but nothing worked. "What do you want Harry?" Sirius asked.

Sirius stood there thinking of all the possible ways to make Harry happy. He was coming close to drawing a blank. But wait a minute, he could always...no he would scare Harry too much. No he wouldn't...James probably does it all the time. Oh well it's worth a try.

Sirius Black had changed into a large black dog right their in the living room. Harry's eyes lit up in wonder. He grinned widely at the dog and started clapping his hands. Sirius walked over to Harry and started licking the boy. Harry was lying on the carpet laughing while the dog licked him.

Soon after Sirius had turned into a dog, Harry stifled a yawn and soon fell asleep on the carpet. Sirius turned back into a wizard and walked over to the little sleeping boy. He picked up Harry and noticed how light he was. He walked up the stairs and into Harry's room.

The room was covered in red and blue colors. It had some pictures of Lily and James on the walls too. Sirius walked over to the rocking chair, set in the corner of the room. He sat down and started rocking the chair.

He could hear Harry's soft snoozes against his ear. Now and then Harry would move a bit on Sirius's shoulder. Sirius often wondered as he rocked Harry, what he must be dreaming about.

Whatever he was dreaming about, it was peaceful and didn't involve Death Eaters or Voldemort. Sirius shuddered as he recalled some of the dreams he had lately been having. All of his recent dreams were scary and depressing.

Sirius rocked Harry for about twenty minutes that night, in that chair until; he too, had fallen asleep with Harry.

~*~

"WAKE UP!" His best friend, James, was shaking Sirius awake. Sirius opened his eyes and noticed that James and Lily were in the room. James was standing right above him shaking his shoulders trying to get him awake. Lily was holding Harry in her arms watching.

"I am up!" Sirius groaned.

"Good! About time too! You even slept through Harry's screams as Lily tried to put Harry in his bed," said James.

Sirius rubbed his eyes and smiled, "I did? Wow! So how was the party?"

Lily walked over to stand by James and said, "It was okay, not the best party I been to though." Sirius noticed Harry started sucking on his thumb.

"Yeah Padfoot, it was a real bore there! I was at least expecting Moony or Wormtail to be there but they weren't. Moony was probably off with some girl. Don't know where Wormtail was though," said James.

Lily looked at her watch and sighed, "Oh well Sirius it's pretty late and we have to get to bed early. We are planning on taking Harry with us to London tomorrow."

"Yeah we're going to take him to Diagon Alley. We're going to get him his first owl," grinned James.

"Oh okay. I better get going anyway. I'll see you later!" Sirius said. He walked down the stairs with James and turned the corner and made it to the front door. "Well better get going Prongs. It was a very interesting experience babysitting Harry. He's a real handful! Much like you," said Sirius as he grabbed his cloak and put it on.

"So...see you later," said James.

"Later," said Sirius as he walked out the door, waving goodbye to James.

So Sirius Black left the Potter household only a few hours later until it happened. Until his best friend and wife was murdered. Until Harry Potter somehow managed to survive. Until everything in the house was ruined including the little Teddy bear named Padfoot.

He left not knowing he would never see his best friend again. Not knowing that Wormtail was betraying them that moment. Not knowing that he was going to be put in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit. Not knowing his godson was sent to horrible Muggles when he should have been the one to look after him. Not knowing he would defiantly not see James Potter, his best friend, later.