Chapter Text
Sirius moving in was a gradual thing.
It started with Lily’s cancer diagnosis. Harry was six week old and James had been really overwhelmed and scared. They thought it was only for a short time back then and Sirius helped by bringing them soup and baby sitting Harry when James accompanied Lily to her appointments.
It wasn’t.
Lily’s health became worse every day. The chemo didn’t work how it should and the cancer was spreading. It was devastating to see her go from a strong, energetic woman to a ghostly figure that looked way to small in that big hospital bed.
James wasn’t as strong as her. He had tried to stay positive and keep things together. He brought the baby with him to her room in the hospital almost every day, told her what they had done and what new things Harry had learned. He told her what they’d do once she got healthy again. How he’d work extra hard so he could take her and Harry to the beach.
James still had to work though and since Sirius worked from home and was self-employed he moved his office in Harry nursery room and had an eye on the child while James went in the lab.
More days than not Sirius would stay after James came home, they ate together and on some evenings Sirius would fall asleep on the couch.
At the end of Lily’s illness she wasn’t even able to scold him or join in on planning their beach holiday. On what food she liked to eat or what hotel they should stay in.
she barely was able to turn her head to look at their son.
After Lily’s death he was a mess.
If it weren’t for Harry he’d probably just stopped eating. The world stopped making sense now that Lily wasn’t there.
Luckily for him and Harry, James’ friends were there to make sure they survived.
Remus took over fridge duty and went grocery shopping with James so that they wouldn’t live of instant soup and crackers, Peter turned up every Thursday evening to clean his home together Sirius was there.
Feeding and caring for Harry when James just couldn’t, holding James to screaming and tears at how incredible unfair it was that Lily was gone. Just like that.
He was also the one to throw out all of James’ alcohol and all his sleeping pills and to help when James, several months after her death, cleared her office. He hoped it would feel more like a new beginning when he couldn’t pretend that she was still just on a weekend trip when her room was still like that.
It didn’t help.
Everything, including his child reminded him of Lily and it hurt. Everything hurt and whoever said that it got better with time was a liar. It didn’t hurt less to miss her. He just got a little more used to the pain.
He really didn’t know what to do with the room back then so he just put a sandbag (punching something inanimate was still healthier than getting drunk) and a few of Harry’s toys in and called it a day.
They moved a short time later. It wasn’t a planned move. James run away. From the emptiness of his apartment and from the memories this place held for him.
It was only felt natural to search for a home big enough to fit three bedrooms, since the Marauders were over at James’ place all the time.
So, at the tender age of 22, James Potter became a house owner.
It was surprisingly good for him.
He liked painting the rooms and finding new furniture at second-hand stores. He dug out a little garden pond and planted a whole lot of lilies all over the places.
The extra room next to the kitchen became Sirius office and guest room was full of Sirius stuff. The man maybe went back to his place every few weeks to make sure it didn’t burn to the ground.
Harry found a friend on one of the neighbourhood kids that randomly appeared in his garden. The toddler, Ron, was only slightly older than Harry, very red-haired and very independent. Harry instantly liked him, happy to have someone his own age to play with.
It was only after Sirius had watched the boys in the sandbox for over two hours while James tried to find out who he had to return this child to, that a group of similar red-haired boys scuttled through the hedge to fetch their youngest brother. One of the older boys explained to them that Ron had wandered off from their tree-house on the forest a few hundred metres further down the path.
They had played and obviously their games were not to the liking of the toddler so he decided to go explore the new neighbour’s garden instead.
They they had only noticed a few hours later when it started to rain he’d not been with them to run for shelter on their tree-house.
James wasn’t sure if he liked the mother of Harry’s new friend. After listening to the hoard of red-haired children he’d asked them for their house phone number, so he could call a parent to take them home. And she came, an hour later looking quite dishevelled and with another baby balanced on her hips, already scolding the swarm of children before even stepping through the garden gate.
He learned that they were indeed meant to watch their toddler brother, but not to walk away from the house and losing Ron.
She was friendly enough but James didn’t like how she noted how young he looked (how are you supposed to look at age 22) and how well Sirius handled Harry.
They just met. She didn’t have the right to judge him for trying to to be not a total failure of a father.
Not after she just managed to lose four of her children because she was too focused in her youngest, the only daughter.
“Next time you boys can just bring Ron right to us, of that’s alright with your Mum. Harry sure liked playing with Ron and I don’t mind watching two instead of one kid. it’s much more entertaining.” Sirius proposed putting a hand between James shoulder blades to keep him from starting a fight. It was probably not good for your health to start a fight with this lady.
“That would be a big help, thank you. Your family can join us for Sunday tea if you want.” she smiled extra sweetly though James was sure he could see uneasiness on her face.
That has not been the first time James had been mistaken as a couple… and to be fair Sirius was literally Harry’s parent in everything but blood and title. He didn’t feel upset that they were confused for a couple, he was just angry that people thought that the being a couple, even if just hypothetically, was wrong. That him and Sirius raising Harry together was wrong.
James asked him to legally adopt Harry that evening.
Sirius cried.
They had a little party of two with take away sushi and beer and feel asleep on the couch watching another Star Trek rerun.
A week later Sirius cancelled his lease and officially moved in with James and Harry.
Remus looked very happy for about half a minute until he saw that the guest room was now Sirius room for real and him and Peter now had to sleep in the living room whenever they decided to stay over night.