Shooting Star

Chapter Thirty-Three

Four Years Later

"Hey, Alice." I smiled, going into hers and Frank's room. "Frank. How are we feeling today?"
"Lovely." Alice smiled. "Thank you. And yourself?"
"I'm quite well." I smiled sadly. This is the hardest part of the day. "How are you, Frank?"
"Good." He said.
"Do you guys need anything before I go home?"
"No, thank you, though. Where's that cute little boy that visits sometimes?" Alice asked.
"Neville. He's with his Gran." I said softly. "So you guys are good?"
"Yes. Thank you."
Alice used to be beautiful. She still is, of course, but in a different way.
"All right. I'll see you guys later, then."
"Goodbye." They said.
"Mummy!" Harry said when I picked him up from St. Mungo's nursery.
"Hey, love." I smiled as he slid his little hand into mine, even as my heart broke as it did every time he called me Mum or Sirius Dad. "How was your day?"
"Good." Five-year-old Harry smiled up at me. "Look what I made!" He held a piece of paper up.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" I smiled, entirely uncertain of what it was supposed to be. "I love it."
"Good! It's for you."
"It's for me?" I smiled as I took it. "Thank you so much, Harry."
"It's 'cause you're the best mummy in the world."
I've told him before. We've all told him before. It never got any easier.
"Thank you." I said instead of telling him. Remus told us we should just let him do it until he was old enough to understand. He said that we didn't currently have an obligation to James and Lily, but to Harry. He was right, yes, but that didn't make it any harder. I handed him a piece of candy. "Ms. Strout sent this for you."
He grinned as he took it from me. He unwrapped it, popped it in his mouth, and held the trash out to me. I smiled and took it.
When we got home, I sat on the couch, reading. Harry messily ate a snack of Graham crackers on the coffee table.
"Who's that?" Harry pointed at a picture on the table.
"That's me, silly." I ruffled his hair, leaning forwards to look at the picture.
"Who's that?" He pointed to Remus.
"You know who that is." I said.
"Moony!"
"Yep."
"Who's that?"
"That's your mummy." I said. "Her name's Lily."
"She's pretty."
"Yes, she's beautiful."
"Who's that?" He pointed to James.
"That's your daddy." I ran my fingers through his hair. "You have your daddy's hair. And your mummy's eyes." I smiled.
Sirius walked through the door just then.
"Daddy!" Harry pointed at Sirius.
"Hey, kiddo." Sirius smiled, ruffling his hair as he came to it beside me. "What's up?"
"I drawed mummy a picture." He said in response.
"You drew me a picture." I corrected.
"I drewed her a picture." Harry corrected. Close enough.
"You did? Can I see?"
Harry toddled off to go get it from the counter. We watched him reach up and feel around blindly for it, finally pulling it over to the edge and bringing it proudly to Sirius.
"You're quite the little artist, aren't you?" Sirius smiled.
Harry beamed.
Remus showed after a while. "Uncle Remus!" Harry grinned.
"Uncle Remus?" Sirius and I asked, turning.
"Remus!" I smiled.
"Moooooony!" Sirius grinned.
"Hey." Remus said. "What's for dinner?"
"I don't know. What are you cooking?" I asked.
"Ah, touché." He laughed. "Shall I go get pizza?"
"You're on dinner duty. Do what you wish."
So we ate pizza for dinner.
"Why are you staring at me, Black?" I asked, not looking up from my food.
"My proposal was awful, wasn't it?" He asked.
"What proposal?" I asked, both Remus and I looking at him like he was crazy.
"The location transfer." He said sarcastically. "The marriage proposal, of course."
"What's a proposal?" Harry asked Sirius.
"When you ask the girl you love to marry you." Sirius said.
"Oh." Harry said, and continued eating his pizza, content.
"It wasn't awful." I said. "It was expected, really."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Nothing." I shrugged. "It just wasn't unexpected. It's typical of you."
"Typical of me?" He asked, putting his hand to his heart like he was offended. "Typical of me?"
"Sorry." I said, not realizing it was such a huge deal.
"There is nothing 'typical' about me, thank you very much."
Remus and I gave each other a great-here-we-go-again look.
"I can do better." Sirius said. "I'll do better."
"This is typical of you too, Padfoot." Remus tried.
"Stay out of this, Lupin." Sirius pointed across the table.
Harry just ate his pizza, not paying us any mind.
"Can you watch Harry tomorrow night?" Sirius asked Remus.
Harry looked up at his name, but when he saw that nobody was talking to him, he looked back down.
"Sure." Remus shrugged. "What do you say, Harry? Just you and me?"
Harry looked up. "Okay." He smiled, not having a clue what Remus was talking about.
"Sirius, darling, don't you think--" I began.
"No." Remus said.
"No?" I asked, looking at him funny.
"Sirius doesn't think." He casually helped himself to another slice of pizza.
I stifled a laugh. "Sirius--"
"Do what Remus said. What ever said is probably right. He's always right. You're interrupting my planning." Sirius said, and got up from the table.
"Told you." Remus grinned.
"Moony!" Harry exclaimed suddenly.
"Yes?"
"I draw---I drewed Mummy a picture." Harry corrected himself. At least he was trying.
"You drew Mummy a picture?" Remus asked, mimicking his excitement.
"Yeah!"
"Yeah! It's of Bugs Bunny and Daffidity Duck." Harry said.
Oh!
"What're you waiting for? Show me."
Harry hopped down from his seat and ran to the living room to get the picture of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Now that I look at it again, those gray squiggles could be Bugs.
When Sirius came back in, the three of us were sitting on the couch watching Loony Toons. Harry was half on my lap, half on Remus'. I was falling asleep on Remus' shoulder, his arm around me. "I--" He began.
"Hush! Taylor's--" Remus began.
"Black." Sirius said. "Her name's Black."
"Yes, I know. But that's ambiguous since there are two of you around. But you already woke her, anyways."
"Sorry." He said.
"What were you saying, Sirius?" I asked, sitting upright.
"I've decided what we're doing."
"And what's that?"
"No spoilers." He grinned.

I woke up in the middle of the night to Harry screaming and Sirius jumping out of bed. I was right on his heels as we burst into his bedroom. He laid in the middle of his bed, the blankets thrown off, curled up in a ball, crying. His sheets were wet beneath him.
"You want the kid or the bed?" I asked.
"I don't make beds." Sirius held his hands up and swooped Harry off the bed. Harry threw his arms around Sirius' neck, crying.
Tears stung my eyes as I stripped the bed.
When I finished, I walked in the bathroom just as Sirius playfully splashed Harry with water. "Sirius Black, you're making a mess." I said. "Water's meant to stay in the tub." But in this case, I think there's more on the floor.
"Harry did it!" Sirius held up his hands.
"Sure, blame the kid." I grinned.
"I didn't do it!" Harry said.
"Sirius, love, you're wetter than Harry. You should have just gotten in with him."
"You say that because you want my clothes off." He smirked up at me.
I hit him on the back of the head and grabbed a towel from under the sink, holding it out for Harry to come into. "Come on, kid. Let's get you dressed."
After Harry fell back asleep (in our bed) Sirius brought him to his bed. I paced back and forth the whole thirty seconds he was gone, and spoke as soon as he opened the door. "What happened?" I asked.
"He had a nightmare." He said quietly.
"About what?"
"A flash of green light." Sirius avoided my gaze. "And a woman screaming."
Tears spilled over onto my cheeks. "I wonder if it hurt."
Sirius shrugged. "I don't know..."
I threw my arms around him. I would have sobbed if Harry hadn't been here and sleeping. "Lie to me." I pleaded desperately.
He hugged me back. "Everything's okay."