Chapter Text
“Sirius?!” Harry called out, stepping out of the floo and dusting off the Hogwarts uniform he was wearing. He had traveled straight from school through the Headmaster’s fireplace, after eventually getting permission. He had been concerned when his fire-calls to Sirius had been left unanswered all week, so he had gone straight to Dumbledore to share his concerns. After much persuading, Dumbledore relented and allowed him to visit for the Sunday to assuage his worries.
Sirius, who had been dozing in the armchair in the next room, jolted awake when hearing his name being yelled around the house. He cursed under his breath and placed a hand over his pounding heart, he’d been dreaming of his rather wonderful dear old mum, and the yell had been a little too reminiscent of those unpleasant times.
“Christ.” He sighed, raking a hand through his unkempt curly locks. Once we was fully awake and realized the visitor had not, in fact, been his deceased mother, he followed the racket.
In the room, he saw Harry, hair wild and eyes wide.
“Harry?” Sirius said, eyebrows rising in surprise.
“Sirius!” Harry sighed in relief. “Merlin. I thought something had happened to you. Dumbledore told me you were fine, but when you hadn’t been replying to my fire-calls, I got kind of concerned…” He trailed off, scratching the back of his now flushed red neck. He realized how clingy he sounded and cringed inwardly.
“Oh fuck!” Sirius cursed, smacking his own forehead. “Harry, I’m so sorry. It’s been a bloody mad house the last few days.. It doesn’t really excuse my behavior…but I should have at least given you a warning that it would be more difficult to chat this week. I completely lost track of time.”
“S’okay.” Harry replied meekly, feeling a little hurt, but knowing full well that Sirius would never intentionally hurt him. Something really must have been going on. “What happened?”
“It’s hard to explain…I”m not sure if–” Sirius began when suddenly they heard a sudden shriek from outside.
Harry jolted in surprise and immediately ran over to the backdoor.
“Harry, wait!” Sirius called out, but it was too late.
Harry yanked the door open, pulling his wand out, prepared to help whoever was in danger outside.
However, what he saw stumped him completely.
Tonks was sitting on her broom, cackling like a madwoman, while a red-faced pink-haired young boy had his knees hooked over the broom, dangling his body towards the floor, exposing his chubby little tummy. He must have been the one to make the noise earlier, as he was still shrieking, but now Harry realized he was shrieking with laughter. Meanwhile, Remus was standing underneath them with his arms out, as if to catch the boy, and he looked simultaneously stressed and exasperated.
“Dora, I have enough gray hairs as it is! Do you really have to show him these crazy tricks at his young age? What if he falls?!”
“Relax, grumpy. I’ve put enough safety charms on him that would put Flitwick to shame. He couldn’t be safer...and look at him, he loves it.” She chuckled.
As if to prove her point, Tonks lifts the boy back up and sits him on the broom and flies a backwards loop while holding him close to her chest with her left arm.
“BEST DAY EVER!” The boy whooped.
Remus meanwhile yelped in a very undignified manner and jerked backwards, following the broom’s path, whilst still holding his arms out as a safety net.
“What in Merlin’s name is going on?!” Harry eventually shouted, completely bewildered.
Tonks startled at the noise and abruptly stopped flying, causing her to lose grip on the boy, who fell forward from the sudden motion. He tumbled off the broom and all three adults, plus Harry, cried out.
The boy plummeted down but luckily fell straight into Remus’ waiting arms. Simultaneously, something shimmered in the air and Harry realized it was an invisible stretchy rope attaching him to the broom so he couldn’t fall all the way down to the ground.
Tonks vanished the rope charm and immediately flew to the ground and jumped off her broom, fussing over the boy who was held in Remus’ iron grip.
Tonks waved her wand at the boy again. Harry assumed she must have removed a cushioning charm or something similar as well.
“Teddy, are you okay?” Remus croaked, his hand trembling slightly as he carded through the boy’s now blue hair.
“Sweetheart?” Tonks said, rubbing the boy’s back.
For an agonizing second, it was silent and then suddenly the boy grinned from ear to ear and yelled, “AGAIN!”
“Fuc- I mean, Merlin, no.” Tonks shook her head, chuckling in relief.
“Ffwrch, roedd hynny'n frawychus–” (Fuck, that was scary–) Remus started muttering and cursing in welsh.
“And you say I’m irresponsible.” Sirius snickered. “You’ve both got your work cut out for you, that kid has a bloody death wish.”
“Can someone please tell me, what the hell is going on?!” Harry huffed.
They all looked at each other, seemingly having some sort of non-verbal conversation, before Remus sighed. “Harry, meet Teddy.”