Snapshots

1985

Remus looked up from the newspaper he had been pretending to read while he watched Sirius play with Harry in the sandbox as a heavily pregnant woman pushing a pram and with a little girl clinging to her skirt cleared her throat.

"I don't mean to disturb you, but is this seat taken?" she asked with a lilting accent.

"Not at all," Remus said with a slight smile and scooted over, wincing; the full moon had been worse than normal this month.

"Thank you," the woman said and sank down onto the bench. She shooed her daughter off and adjusted a blanket over the baby sleeping in the pram. With a sigh, she turned back to Remus. "Which one is yours?"

Remus folded his newspaper and pointed to Sirius and Harry digging in the sand with plastic shovels and a bright yellow toy lorry. "The two in the sand box."

The woman laughed softly when she looked at the pair as Harry "scolded" Sirius for not pushing the truck right. "Your partner and his son?"

Remus smiled wanly. "His godson."

"Oh," the lady said. "May I ask what happened to his parents? Or are you just stuck babysitting?"

Remus watched as Harry pounced on Sirius and blew a raspberry against his godfather's cheek. Sirius winked at Remus and waved. Remus smiled, turned back to his companion, and lied through his teeth. "They died in a car crash when he was little. Well, littler than he is now, that is."

The woman smiled and watched her daughter play on the swings for a moment. "The poor dear. I'd hate to leave behind such a small child--it really isn't fair to him, but no one ever promised life would be, as they say. I hope he doesn't remember any of it?"

Remus sighed, thinking of the nights Harry had ran into their bedroom because he'd had a nightmare tinged in green. "He doesn't, thank God."

The lady smiled and took her baby, blanket and all, from the pram. "Well, at least he's happy from what I can tell." She reached for a bottle in her baby bag on the ground, found she couldn't reach it, and turned to Remus. "Would you mind handing me that?"

Remus reached down and grabbed the bottle, passed it to her, and started when Harry ran full force into him.

"Moony!" the boy said, shaking with excitement. "Can we get ice cream? Can we, please? Padfoot said we could if you said it was okay. So can we?"

Remus chuckled and stood. "As long as Padfoot says it's alright, then I guess we can."

"Yay!" Harry shouted and ran back to Sirius as fast as his small legs could carry him.

Remus bid the lady goodbye and limped towards his "two kids" as Sirius grabbed Harry by the waist and playfully spun him around in midair, the five-year-old shrieking in delight. Sirius sat the boy down and straightened his Superman tee shirt when he noticed Remus.

"Moony!" Harry said and, staggering towards him, took Remus' hand and started to pull him.

"Hold your horses, Harry," Sirius said and ruffled his hair.

Harry stuck out his bottom lip and stared up at him. "But I don't have any horses."

Both men chuckled.

"It's a figure of speech," Remus said and picked him up.

"Oh. One of those again, huh?" Harry said matter-of-factly and wrapped an arm around Remus' neck, the toy lorry clucked tightly to his chest.

Remus saw Sirius struggle to keep from laughing and couldn't help smiling himself. Harry looked between them, decided he could care less, and tried to clamber onto Remus' strong shoulders.

"Okay, squirt," Sirius said and pulled Harry off Remus. "You're not a chimpanzee, though I'm sure that's debatable, and Moony's not feeling well." He ignored the glare Remus shot at him and sat Harry on his own shoulders.

Harry stared down at Remus, his green eyes shining brightly behind his glasses. "You're sick again?"

Remus sighed. "Yes, Harry."

Harry smiled. "Ice cream'll make you feel better--it always make me feel better."

Sirius chuckled. "Does it, Harry? What flavour do you want?"

"'Nilla!" Harry said. "Moony wants chocolate!"

Sirius smiled and arched an eyebrow at Remus. "Hear that, Moony? You're predictable."

Remus raised an eyebrow in return. "And you're not?

"'Course not," Sirius said. "Want to bet on it?"

Remus smirked. "Fine. Harry, what flavour does Padfoot want?"

Harry glanced at Remus, then at the top of Sirius' head, and said, "Strawberry."

"Damn," Sirius swore and Harry giggled. "You win, Moony. What do I have to do?"

Remus glanced up at Harry before grinning at Sirius. "Maybe I should tell you later," he said innocently.

"Moony!" Sirius laughed. "I hope I'm thinking what you're thinking."

Remus leaned in for a kiss. "I don't think so, Sirius. You're going to clean out the garage."

"Moony, that's not fair!" Sirius whined. "I don't want to clean out that monstrosity."

Harry giggled and started to squirm impatiently. "Ice cream!"

Remus smiled up at Harry and leaned into Sirius for another quick kiss. He whispered, "Clean out the garage and then we'll see where things go from there...."

"But I still have to clean out the garage?"

"Harry can help you then."

"Hey!" Harry said. "I just want ice cream."

"Well, then let's hurry up and go get you that ice cream," Remus said with a smile. "Then Padfoot here can clean out all his junk around the car. What do you say to that, Harry?"

Harry took a handful of Sirius' hair and tugged. "Mush!"

"Et tu, Harry?" Sirius said with a laugh. "You and Moony planned this, didn't you?"

Harry's giggle was answer enough.