A Little Flame / Sirius Black

Chapter Four

"Please Lily, just please.... I need to see her and talk to her. I need to see my son. Please tell me her address or just arrange a meeting" Sirius begged hysterically.

Lily stared back at him, her face devoid of the pity she felt for him.

"Fine, I'll ask Ria. Even I don't know her address as she was previously living in a rented flat from where she cleared out before she left the country. And I don't think she's going to let you into her house so soon. I suppose she might agree to a meeting, but I don't think she will let you near the child in near future'' Lily agreed hesitantly.

"Thank you so much Lily, thank you!!!" Sirius gushed tears streaming down his eyes.

"I am not doing this for your benefit, Sirius. I'm still not impressed with what you did. I am doing this because I want the poor child who did absolutely nothing wrong in this whole mess to have a chance at knowing both his parents" Lily admonished him.

Sirius nodded fervently while James looked on sadly with a sleeping Harry in his arms.

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Ria considered her friend sitting across the table in the coffee shop at Diagon Alley.

Lily was right. It wasn't right that she took Theo's chance of having a dad away because she got hurt by Sirius.

Especially since she knew what an absence of a parent could do to you, first hand.

Also Sirius seemed to actually want to be a dad. But what if he loses interest soon or worse later, when Theo is old enough to be hurt by it? What if she falls for him again? Won't that complicate matters?

An ache in her chest told her that she still loved Sirius as she had silently loved him during her teenage years.

If Sirius meant to stick around, she should harden her heart. She cannot complicate anything for her child. Theo was and will remain her first priority.

Her unhappiness didn't really matter. In the long run, she would be happy with her child.

With a long sigh, she decided. "Yes Lily, I'll meet with Sirius" hoping that she didn't make the wrong decision.

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"Well, this isn't awkward at all!" Sirius joked awkwardly, his laughter trailed off when he realised that nobody was laughing with him.

James and Remus face-palmed. Peter just looked clueless. Ria merely raised her eyebrows at him.

They were sitting in the Potters' parlour. Lily had stepped out with Harry to calm him down after he started crying.

Ria had refused to bring her son until Sirius and she reached an agreement of sorts.

In the beginning Sirius had presented her with a huge bouquet of tulips and lilies. She had stared at him in disbelief until he blushed.

"So, um.. W-what's his name? My son's?" Sirius asked after a while.

Ria wanted to snap and tell him, it was her son, not his, but she refrained. She must be on good terms with Sirius for Theo's sake. Getting an encouraging look from Lily who had come down by then, "Theseus, Theo for short" she replied.

"That's nice" his eyes turned softer.

"Can I meet him?" he asked after a while, his voice oddly thick.

Ria felt uncertain, but seeing the longing in Sirius' eyes, she nodded.

He let out a whoop of joy and grabbed Peter and started jumping around with him.

Ria bit back a smile while James, Lily and Remus looked amused.

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Sirius stared at the huge beach house in front of him.

This was the place where the woman he thought was a gold digger lived. He felt like an idiot.

The door was open. He stared at it for a few minutes and then entered stealthily. He was earlier than he had agreed. The temptation to see his son was too much.

Sirius stared down at the gift he carried. He literally had to force himself to buy only one gift. He didn't want Ria to think that he was trying to bribe his son into liking him.

"Who's this handsome baby?" he heard the mother of his child coo. There was a tug in his heart.

He moved slowly towards the voice. He entered what appeared to be the nursery. He saw Ria helping his baby put on new clothes. His baby. His son. His flesh and blood.

He wasn't a new born. He was a lot more developed than that. He might have already developed likes and dislikes that he knew nothing about.

Ria sat on a rocking chair holding his, no their, son to her chest and started rocking him, blissfully unaware of his presence, lost in the moment of motherhood.

Their son rubbed his face on his mother's neck and turned his cheek away from her face and put his head onto the shoulder facing his father.

Grey eyes met grey and time stopped.

Sirius Black felt a landslide within. He had had moments in his life where he was so blissfully happy that he felt that those moments lasted forever.

Nothing could compare to this. He stared hungrily at the perfect picture the mother son duo made and made a decision. Sirius had often made decisions that he regretted in haste but he knew that this decision was going to be the best decision of his life.

As Theo stared confused at the stranger that his father was, Sirius Black made the decision that rocked world as he knew it.

Theo will be his. Ria will be his. He was going to marry Ria and legally give his son his name. She will be his wife and they were going to be a family. He looked into his son's eyes and vowed that he will never let him down again. A silent promise that he intended to keep.