My Godfather

Chapter XXXIV: A Teenager in the Family

As promised, Sirius took Harry to the beach and needless to say, he enjoyed himself, other than some 'unexpected events.' At one point, Sirius had been literally cornered by three very pretty witches, who were simply vying for his attention. Harry had found it very uncomfortable when they batted their eyelashes or 'innocently' ran their fingers down Sirius' arm. He had actually thought his pepperoni pizza would make a rather hasty reappearance.

One of them had repeatedly pinched and pulled Harry's cheeks and called him a 'cute little boy' before gushing about how single dads were the wonderful. His cheeks felt sore! To make things more awkward for Harry, Sirius had flirted with those ladies, reciprocating their honey sweet words with his disarmingly charming smile laced with a compliment or two.

He was relieved when the women finally left. "I'm not a cute little boy!" That was the first thing he said once they were out of earshot. His father burst out laughing, pulled Harry into a headlock and tousled his hair. "Well, I don't know about cute, but you're definitely little." Sirius teased. Harry squirmed out of the headlock and glared at the man.

"I am not little. I'm just slightly shorter than the other boys in my year." He protested, although an unwilling grin had appeared on his face. "You're probably right." Sirius replied before smirking at the boy. "Although, I have a hunch that you would still fit into that old onesie of yours. I think it's tucked away somewhere in my wardrobe." The man commented casually.

"Hey!"

"Just kidding." Sirius said, throwing his arm around his boy's shoulders. Harry knew that his father was just pulling his leg but that didn't change the face that he was indeed shorter than quite a few of his classmates. "Why can't I get taller?" He groaned, kicking the sand around him. "Don't fret about it, kiddo. You'll grow. In fact, you have grown a good deal this year and you've gained a bit of weight as well." Sirius reassured him.

"Well I don't feel any taller. If anything, I think I'm growing shorter! Ron's nearly as tall as his dad already and even Malfoy is taller than me. I'll be scrawny for the rest of my life." Harry grumbled. Sirius rolled his eyes at his son's worries and sat down on the sand, pulling Harry with him. "You'll develop grey hair even before you come of age, if you don't stop worrying so much."

"Besides, both James and Lily were amongst the shortest students in our batch. James wasn't much taller than what you are now, nor was Lily." The offhand manner, in which Sirius said the words, somehow calmed Harry. It made him feel more.... normal.

"Fine. I'll stop worrying." Harry replied. Sirius grinned mischievously and pinched Harry's cheek. "Well, aren't you a cute little boy."

"DAD!"

******

"SURPRISE!" Harry jolted awake and stared with wide eyes. Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny were all standing in his bedroom, with huge smiles. "W-What?" His words came out like a yawn as he had been fast asleep. He put on his glasses to get a better look.

George lightly whacked him across the head. "Close your mouth, mate. You'll catch flies." All of them were grinning widely at him. Fred stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Harry Potter, we are all gathered here today at this hour so that we may bring in your birthday and be with you on this special day." He spoke in an overly dramatic and formal tone, eliciting giggles and laughs from everyone.

"Yeah, stop staring and get out of bed, lad. It's your birthday. Almost." Harry glanced at the clock on his nightstand: 11:30. Half an hour left. "Pup, do you plan to just sit there and gawk at them for the remainder of the night?" It was then that he noticed his father standing at the door. "Dad, you knew about this?"