Babysitting Harry

Babysitting Harry

"Sirius, thank-you again for agreeing to watch Harry while Lily and I go out," said James Potter to his best friend and son's godfather, Sirius Black.

"No problem, James. Little Harry and I will have fun. He won't even know you two are gone," said Sirius, glancing over at the one-year-old Harry.

"Well, we should be back in a few hours. Harry will probably fall asleep sometime soon," stated Lily.

"I guess we'll be going then."

James and Lily quickly walked over to Harry who was playing with a toy truck; each gave him a kiss on the forehead, and slipped out the door before the child noticed they were even leaving.

"So, Harry, I guess it's just you and me tonight. You're not going to give me any trouble are you?"

The little green-eyed child looked up from his truck and stared into his godfather's own hazel eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before Harry giggled a baby's laugh and went back to pushing the little toy truck across the carpeted floor.

Sirius chuckled and walked into the kitchen of the Potters' home.

"Well Harry," Sirius said, "your mommy and daddy already fed you, but they didn't feed me, so I'm going to make myself a sandwich."

Harry, now bored with his toys, crawled into the kitchen behind Sirius. Sirius had already started making his sandwich- with magic of course. A knife was spreading mayonnaise on slices of bread and another was cutting up a tomato. Thin slices of lunchmeat were layering themselves onto the bread while the salt and pepper shakers were hovering above it all as if hanging on invisible strings.

His godson watched this all with wide eyes.

"Soon, you'll be able to do that too," Sirius told Harry before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

Harry smiled.

Sirius finished off his sandwich with a few more bites when Harry started trying to talk to him.

"Woo, woo!" he shouted.

"Huh?" said Sirius, looking at him oddly.

"Woo!"

"Woo what? What are you trying to say?"

"Woo!"

"I still don't get it."

"Woo, woo!"

Harry was starting to become frustrated by now, not understanding that his godfather couldn't comprehend his attempts at talking.

"What Harry? Do you want a bottle or something? Let's try that."

Sirius got up from his chair and mixed the right amount of the boiled water left for Harry's bottles with the baby bottle formula. He shook the bottle and handed it to Harry.

Harry took it and looked as if he were about to drink the baby formula, but instead, screamed "NO!" and chucked the bottle as hard as he could, hitting Sirius square in the stomach.

"Jeez! Where did you learn to throw so hard?" asked Sirius, placing his hand on the spot where the bottle had hit him. "You might want to think about trying out for the position of a beater when you're older and get to school."

Harry giggled loudly, then decided to start shouting at Sirius again.

"Woo! Woo!"

"I still don't understand."

"Woo, woo! Woo!" shouted the baby, even louder.

"Do you want one of your toys or something? Let's go in here and see what you've got."

Sirius walked back into the living room where Harry's toy box was tucked into the corner. Harry followed him again on his hands and knees.

Sirius began pulling out random toys and games. He put each item in front of Harry, making sure not to let go of any of them. He was afraid of having something thrown at him again.

Each time, Harry would push the toy away from him.

Sirius was now near the bottom of the box where all the stuffed animals were. He began pulling these out too. First, a stuffed hippogriff, then a cat, a dragon, and an owl. All of which were pushed away too. Finally, he pulled out a big, stuffed, black dog, which Sirius had given Harry on his birthday.

"Woo! Woo!" shouted Harry, when Sirius pulled it out.

It had finally clicked in his head.

"Woof? Is that what you're trying to say?"

Harry grinned and pointed at Sirius, who was still clutching the stuffed animal. "Woo!" he said again.

"Oh...here," he said, handing the child his toy.

Harry took it, but again, he threw it at Sirius.

"Well, it's better than a bottle," said Sirius as the dog grazed his knee and landed on the floor behind him.

Again, Harry pointed at his godfather and shouted his attempts of barking like a dog.

"Oh! I understand now!" Sirius exclaimed. "Give me just a minute and we can play. Just let me put this mess away first," he said, indicating the pile of toys on the floor next to the toy box.

"Locomotor Toys!"

Every toy, including the stuffed animal dog, rose up off the floor and moved in the direction of Sirius' wand. They all glided smoothly through the air and landed gently and quietly into the box.

Harry again, watched everything his godfather did.

"Alright! Are you ready Harry? We're going to have to stay in the house though. We don't need anyone walking down the street to start panicking because they see you alone with a big black dog."

Harry smiled. Even if he didn't understand everything that was being said to him.

Sirius smiled back at his godson.

"Woo!" shouted Harry.

"Okay, okay. Be patient."

Sirius paused only for a second before he transformed into his animagus from of a black shaggy dog.

Harry laughed before imitating the barks of a dog again.

"Woo!"

"WOOF!" barked out Sirius, hoping that Harry would be satisfied.

Harry started to laugh even louder. He quickly crawled towards the Potters' coffee table so he could stand up while holding onto the sides.

Sirius trotted over and touched noses with Harry. Harry started patting Sirius on the top of his head, still holding on to the edge of the coffee table with his other hand.

Harry took his hand off of Sirius' head and grabbed a handful of fur near his neck.

"Ouch, kid," thought Sirius, since he wasn't able to talk now that he was in his dog form.

Harry took his other hand off the table slowly, trying to get closer to Sirius without falling over. Sirius tried hard not to move for fear of having his godson fall and hurt himself.

Harry took a couple of cautious steps, while still clutching Sirius' fur, to where he was now beside Sirius. He let go his Sirius' neck and grabbed a new handful of hair from his side. He stretched out the arm of his free hand, trying to grab a hold of Sirius' wagging tail.

"All right then...let's make a game out of this," Sirius thought to himself.

He stopped wagging his shaggy tail so it was just within Harry's reach. Harry continued stretching his little arm until his baby-sized fingers barely touched Sirius' tail. Right as Harry started to close his fingers around the tail, Sirius started wagging it again so Harry couldn't get a hold of it. Harry watched as the tail swung back and forth, laughing each time it came close to his face.

Again, Sirius kept his tail motionless, waiting for Harry's attempts of grabbing at it.

They continued playing Sirius' game until he decided to let the child feel like he accomplished something by catching the tail.

But, Sirius soon regretted it, for he found out that one-year-old children could not only throw hard, but they could pull with the same strength.

"Let's leave the tail, and go on to something else, alright?" Sirius though, just as Harry screamed out in triumph and pulled Sirius' tail hard and to the side.

Harry, now satisfied with having "captured" Sirius' tail, let himself back down on the floor. Sirius took this moment to turn around and face the direction of his godson before Harry changed his mind. Harry laughed and gave his godfather a goofy baby smile. Sirius laughed to himself.

"Now we're going to play hide-and-seek," thought Sirius to himself. Sirius barked loudly and sped off past Harry. The baby turned and crawled as quickly as he could in Sirius' direction.

But Sirius was much quicker. He had covered the inside of the house already and had snuck up behind Harry. He nudged the baby with his nose, causing Harry to look over his shoulder to see who was behind him. When he saw it was his godfather, he laughed loud and hard. Sirius smiled inside and turned back around to surprise Harry again. This time he waited for Harry to come to him.

Right before Harry came around the corner, Sirius transformed back to his human self.

Harry poked his head around the corner, and Sirius shouted out "BOO!". This caused Harry to laugh even more and he rushed to his godfather. Sirius stood up as he lifted the child from the floor, and raised Harry high up in the air. Harry still laughed.

"Alright buddy. I've got to take a breath," said Sirius as he carried the child back into the living room and sat down on the couch. He sat Harry in his lap.

Harry looked straight at his godfather's face with his bright green eyes before deciding to grab a hold of Sirius' nose.

"Honk, honk!" yelled Harry in his baby's voice.

"Hey! Let go of my nose, kid," said Sirius as he pried Harry's fingers off of his face. Harry giggled and started clapping his hands together. "Did you think that was funny?" asked Sirius.

A mischievous grin broke across Harry's face.

"That's what I thought."

Harry looked at Sirius again and gave a tiny yawn, as if he were trying to hide the fact that he was sleepy.

"Someone's getting tired. I see those droopy eyes. Hold on just a minute and we'll try to go to sleep," said Sirius, setting Harry on the couch, among the pillows, so he was sitting upright against the back of it.

He walked into the kitchen and quickly made another bottle for his godson. When he came back to Harry, the baby gave another yawn. This time, it was a little bigger. Sirius chuckled and picked Harry back up as he stretched himself out on his back across the couch. He settled Harry on top of himself so he could give the baby his bottle.

Harry began to slowly drink the formula as Sirius began to hum a lullaby.

In just a few minutes, Harry had fallen asleep on Sirius' stomach. Sirius himself had started to feel his eyes droop too. He closed them and instantly, fell asleep.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Sirius woke up to the sound of a set of keys jingling in the doorknob. He opened his eyes to see two of his best friends walking through the doorway.

"Hey," whispered Sirius, as the two walked into the living room.

"Hey Padfoot," said James.

"Did you have a good time?"

"Yes, we did. Thank-you. We had a wonderful time," answered Lily.

"Looks like you two wore each other out," whispered James, nodding his head towards Harry.

"Yeah. That nice neighborhood dog came by for a visit, and played with Harry for a little while," said Sirius.

"Sirius, we don't have a neighborhood dog," laughed Lily.

"Sure you do," replied Sirius with a sly smile.

"Oh! You mean that big black dog that runs around, wreaking havoc throughout the streets?" asked James.

"Yeah. That one."

The three friends laughed, causing Harry to stir in his sleep.

"I should probably take him upstairs," said Lily as she reached out to pick up Harry.

"Wait," said Sirius quickly, " is it all right if I stay here with him?"

Lily looked at him, and then at her husband. "Is that all right with you James?"

"Yeah. That's fine with me."

"Thanks," said Sirius, smiling.

"Well, we'll be going to bed then."

"Alright. Thank-you again."

"Sure. And thank-you for watching him tonight. We appreciated it," said James, walking towards his son and lightly kissing him on the forehead. Lily did the same.

"'Night Sirius."

"Goodnight you two."

Lily and James quietly walked up the stairs, leaving Sirius with Harry again.

Sirius closed his eyes once more and wrapped his arms around his godson before falling back to sleep, hoping he'd be able to baby-sit another time.