Raised by Canines {A Harry Potter fanfiction}

10. Guilt

Harry decided that Uncle Moony must have been in a bad mood again. The man barely spoke as he bathed Harry or helped him into his pajamas, and he wasn't nearly as gentle as he usually was. He looked tired, and Harry was beginning to wish that Uncle Padfoot was home. He'd have much rather had him helping him tonight.

"Do you want to pick out a story, Harry?"

Harry frowned. They rarely called him by name anymore. He shook his head, hearing the exhaustion in Remus' voice. They could just rock tonight.

"Okay then." He didn't sound put out or angry, but Harry was beginning to wonder if he'd done something wrong. The man pulled back the covers on Harry's bed and picked the little one up, placing him in the bed and tucking him in.

Wait, what? Harry was so confused. They always rocked, no matter what. He was starting to get upset. He hadn't been having any nightmares since they started rocking at night and now...

His lower lip trembled. He must have done something wrong.

Remus placed a quick kiss on Harry's forehead and muttered a quick "Goodnight, love you," before quickly leaving the room.

Harry faced away from the door, tears starting to spill down his cheeks. He wanted Uncle Padfoot.

*~*~*

Remus was stressed. He paced the sitting room as anxious thoughts wracked his brain; even though he was exhausted, the man could not force himself to sit still. He felt sick and hated himself at the moment; he didn't put Harry to bed the 'right' way that night and the boy had proceeded to cry himself to sleep.

His ultra-sensitive hearing had let him hear every sniffle, every shuddering breath.

How dare he do that to his cub?

Sirius opened the door, dropping his keys on the table next to the door as he came in. He threw Remus a questioning look. "Look, Moony, I had a long day and watching you pace like that is making me even more tired. Sit down."

He did, his head in his hands. "God, Padfoot, I made him cry."

"You what?"

Wrong thing to start with.

"I didn't put him to bed the way we normally do and he cried himself to sleep."

Sirius' grey eyes stormed as he crossed his arms. "How dare you. How dare you do that to him."

"I've got a lot on my mind, Sirius. I'm sorry I didn't do it right one time."

"No. No, that's not good enough. We are parents now and he comes first. Rocking him to sleep is not much to ask."

"I couldn't do it!" It was for the first time in years that Remus had even begun to raise his voice at his friend. "All I can think about is how, in a few days, I could get out of the basement and possibly hurt him."

"You and I know full well that Moony cannot get out."

"He almost did last time, Sirius. Imagine what he'll do this time since Harry and I are so much closer. That door coming down is a very real possibility."

"Fine." Sirius threw his arms up, exasperated. "We'll figure something else out. But punishing yourself for something that hasn't even happened yet is not only making you feel worse, but it's hurting Harry!"

"Sirius-"

"No! I'm not finished! You need to quit being selfish and realize how much Harry loves you. You can't just pull away like you tried to do to James and me. That's not fair to him and you know it. And now, because you couldn't pull your head out of your butt, our child is probably going to end up having nightmares tonight. He's a child, Remus. He doesn't understand. If you are freaking out, you do it after he's been taken care of, got it?"

If Remus didn't hate himself before, he definitely did now. "Got it."

Sirius sighed. "Goodnight, Remus." With that he made his way to his room and came out a few minutes later, clad in a white t-shirt and checkered sleep pants.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm sleeping with Harry. If he has nightmares because somebody didn't do their job right I don't want him waking up alone."

If Harry hadn't been asleep, Remus would bet money that Sirius would have slammed that door shut.

*~*~*

"Uncle Padfoot?"

Sirius' eyes blinked open and he took a second, letting them adjust to the dark room. The tiny, confused face of his godson was looking up at him. "Hey, Puppy, what's up?"

"Bad dream."

"Come here, kiddo." He tugged Harry closer to his chest and held him tightly, frowning. He knew this would happen. "Want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "Uncle Moony's mad at me."

Sirius shook his head. "No, baby, he's not. He's just...he's getting very sick, and he doesn't want to risk giving it to you." It wasn't totally a lie, but Sirius was still kicking himself. He wished they could just tell him already, but Harry was just too young.

"Oh." Harry let out a shuddering breath. "Missed you, Uncle Padfoot."

"I missed you too, Pup." He squeezed Harry a little. "Go back to sleep. I'll try to be home early tomorrow night so I can put you to bed, alright?"

"Okay."

*~*~*

Remus woke up, incredibly hot. He looked down and suddenly understood why--it was as if every blanket in the house was now on top of his own comforter. A second later his door opened silently, and Sirius' comforter walked into his room. It came to stand by his bed and was thrown up onto it, revealing Harry whose hair looked worse than his father's did on a bad day. He pushed the rest of the blanket onto the bed and started to climb up to finish spreading it out when he looked over at his uncle.

He studied the amused look and offered a shy smile. "Mornin' Uncle Moony."

Harry looked like a deer caught in headlights, and Remus had to bite back a chuckle. He looked so cute, halfway on the bed and looking so embarrassed to have been caught.

"Good morning, cub. You've certainly been busy, haven't you?"

"Uncle Padfoot said you were sick and you'd be really cold when you woke up." He slid to the floor and rocked back and forth on his heels, not taking his eyes off his feet.

"Oh he did, did he?" Sirius knew he hated being hot, especially so close to the full moon. This must have been payback, but Remus found himself swallowing a lump in his throat. Harry had forgiven him so quickly and he certainly didn't feel like he deserved it. Remus reached down and picked the boy up, setting him in his lap and leaning back against the headboard. He pulled the blankets up so that they covered Harry too and held him close, and kissed his head. "Thank you, cub."

Harry snuggled closer, last night forgotten. "I love you Uncle Moony."

"I love you too, Harry."

Now all he had to do was fix things with Padfoot, again.

A/N: Hello everybody! Things are really going to start happening within the next few chapters; I wanted to spend a bit of time getting Harry settled with them before I started to get into anything too heavy. Of course, there will still be some fluff, so don't worry ;). Continue to comment, read, and vote! I cannot believe I've gotten almost 600 reads and 53 votes!