Chapter Text
The year is 1981. The last day of October, Halloween. It's a silent night, the only sound that interrupts the quiet and serene little town of Godric's Hollow is the sudden roaring of an engine. At the end of the road, there's a house. Or the ruins of what once was. The flying motorcycle touches down on the ground outside of the wreckage that once was the Potter's dwelling. A tall man gets off the bike, long black hair falls to his shoulders.
After he found Wormtail's hideout deserted without any signs of a struggle, Sirius had rushed here, hoping against hope that his fears were unfounded. But as he lays eyes on the ruined house, half of the upper floor blown to smithereens, he can feel his heart dropping to his stomach.
Bursting through the door he calls out desperately for James and Lily, only to be met in the doorway with the gut-wrenching sight of his best friend's body lying lifeless in the staircase. He's not even wearing his shoes, no signs of his wand anywhere near him. Did he even have it on him? They must have been caught by surprise.
At the sight Sirius almost falls back through the door he just came through, hot tears streaming down his face. Though, knowing Prongs, he would want him to take care of his beloved family first and foremost. With that thought in mind, he sucks up his tears and keeps going deeper into the house while calling out for Lily. He takes the steps up the stairs two at a time as he keeps calling out her name, growing more and more desperate by the second. Maybe, just maybe at least Lily and Harry survived. Bursting into the nursery he tragically finds this to be only half true.
It doesn't take him long at all after rushing into the room to spot Lily's limp body leaned against the crib, her stunningly green eyes dull and lifeless. The only relief comes from what's behind her; standing in his crib with his tiny little hands gripping the wooden bars is little baby Harry. He's bleeding from his forehead and red-faced from crying so much, but he's alive. Mercifully alive!
Sirius wastes no time scooping up his godson into his arms, he holds him close to his chest while wiping the blood off his face best he can with the sleeve of his shirt. He coos to the little baby that 'everything will be alright' just like he used to see James and Lily do sometimes when he came to visit. Recognizing Sirius on some infantile level, Harry calms down and allows himself to nestle into Sirius' warm embrace while gurgling softly as Sirius gently rocks and comforts him. The pair stays like this until Harry finally drifts off to sleep, his eyes puffy of all the crying and still with traces of blood all over his face, and Sirius struggling to hold back his tears as his cries might disturb little Harry.
Instead, Sirius quickly and efficiently gathers up everything and anything a baby might need that he can salvage from the destroyed house, throwing it all into a bag, grabbing some personal items of James and Lily that he can't bear to leave behind while he's at it. He can't take too much time though as Death Eaters might come swarming in at any given moment. He gathers everything promptly and returns to his motorbike outside with little Harry soundly asleep in his embrace. With one last mournful glance back at the place where James and Lily died, he takes off into the sky, silently promising to make good on his godfatherly duties and protect Harry with his life.
The first challenge presents itself only a few hours later as Sirius arrives at his house. He transforms his old school trunk, that he had stashed under the bed, into a crib. Dumping out the old books and whatnot that he had stuffed in it on the floor. He gently gets the still sleeping Harry settled in his new improvised bed. He barely has time to catch his breath though as he sits down and watches over the sleeping baby, his intruder alarm alerts him to the arrival of an unwelcome guest.
Instinctively Sirius rips out his wand and flies to his feet, all his fatigue gone as he grips the wand tightly. He positions himself between the improvised crib and the door. With a threatening tone Sirius demands for the stranger to reveal themselves, only to be greeted by the sight of Albus Dumbledore himself. Who, despite the night's terrible events, has to be said looks entirely serene.
"Evening Sirius." Dumbledore greets in his usual placid voice, as if they had simply bumped into each other on any other normal uneventful night. He notices Harry, sleeping soundly, in the make-shift crib behind Sirius.
"Ah, I see you've got Harry. I thought that might be the case when Hagrid told me the little boy was missing." The words are innocent enough, but despite the calm, pleasant tone Sirius can clearly hear the unspoken accusation behind them.
"Well, as his godfather I am simply doing my job by looking after the boy." Sirius replies coldly. He has lowered his wand now. Dumbledore fixates those piercing ice blue eyes on him.
"It was also your job to be James and Lily's secret keeper." Dumbledore adds, his voice still calm and controlled, but there's a chill to it that sends shivers up once spine. Sirius though stands his ground, clenching his teeth, his eyes flaring up.
"I did not sell my best friend to Voldemort if that's what you're insinuating, old man." Sirius barks back at him. Dumbledore doesn't even flinch as he retorts:
"Well, someone did. Or else Lord Voldemort would not have been able to breach the Fidelius charm." At Dumbledore's words, a burning rage that makes his blood fume simmers up within Sirius, threatening to boil over and burn him. Before he can stop himself, he hisses out a single word through his grit teeth.
"Wormtail."
Dumbledore slightly tilts his head to the side, the ice-cold sharpness that filled his piercing stare a moment ago disappearing without a trace. "Would you care to elaborate?"
So that's exactly what the younger man does, recalling how he had convinced James and Lily to switch their secret keeper to Pettigrew without saying anything, since he himself was the obvious target. That way he planned to act as a decoy to distract the Death Eaters from the real secret keeper for as long as possible, because Voldemort would never suspect a worthless guy like Wormtail of being the secret keeper. The only big flaw in his brilliant plan, of course, being that Sirius too failed to suspect him of being the spy because of that very same reason.
"I should have known!" Sirius exclaims angrily with a guilt-ridden voice. "Ever since we were in school, Wormtail's always been the sort of coward who gravitates towards those with power. So of course, he would hedge his chances by playing both sides. It's so obvious in hindsight! Still, I didn't suspect him, and because of that James and Lily are..."
The last words die on his lips, his face twisted in a pained expression. Reaching out a comforting hand on his shoulder Dumbledore attempts to console him. "Sirius, I know all too well the pain of blaming oneself for the death of a loved one. Though I also know that it will do you no good to dwell on the past. For now, we have to consider the future. In particular, the future of young Harry."
Pulling himself together and looking firmly straight into Dumbledore's eyes, Sirius' voice is decisive. "I'll look after him. That's what James and Lily wanted. There's no need to worry about providing, I have the funds to make sure he wants for nothing."
At his words Dumbledore scowls, he looks as if the words about to come out of his own mouth tastes sour even to him. "That be as it may, I believe the best course of action will be to leave Harry in the care of Lily's muggle sister Petunia..."
Sirius shakes off Dumbledore's hand still on his shoulder violently before he's even done speaking. "Over my dead body!"
"There, Harry will have protection that no one else can offer him thanks to his mother's blood running through his veins." Dumbledore finished his sentence, not even reacting to Sirius' interruption. Sirius, in turn, stares at the old man as if he has finally lost it.
"You're out of your mind if you think those people are better than me, his actual godfather , at raising him!" Sirius angrily exclaims. "Lily told me all about her sister once. She always despised Lily for being a witch, there's no way she'll do a good job raising her wizard son!"
As Sirius says this his slackened grip around the wand goes taunt again. A gesture that is not lost on Dumbledore.
"Do you intend to duel me over Harry?" Dumbledore asks coyly, almost amused. Sirius grits his teeth, gripping the wand even tighter in his hand.
"If I must, then yes, I do." He decides, not an ounce of fear or hesitation in his voice. Instead of reacting with hostility, the old man simply throws his hands up with a shrug.
"I suppose there's nothing I can do if that's the case." Despite Dumbledore's words, both men know this to be a full-on lie. While Sirius might be a protege, there's simply no wizard as powerful as Albus Dumbledore. But they are also both wise enough to know that if Sirius is willing to face unbeatable odds for Harry's sake, there's nothing he wouldn't do for him, making him a more than worthy guardian.
With the matters of Harry's caretaker now resolved, it comes time to focus on more practical and pressing matters. First and foremost is making sure that little rat Pettigrew does not escape, with Dumbledore dispatching Moody and the Longbottoms to bring him in. This does however require that Sirius reveals that he and Wormtail are unregistered animagi, though Sirius ensures him that this is a small price to pay in return for ensuring that the man who sold out his best friend and his family to Voldemort will not get away scot-free.
As for Sirius' place, Dumbledore insists that it be fitted with a number of protective spells to ensure that none of Voldemort's old followers can attempt to finish the job their vanquished master started. Sirius, of course, has no objections to this. He even adds a few of his own spells that he recalls being put over his childhood home at Grimmauld Place. Which means that before long, Sirius' house is arguably the best protected home in all of Britain, with the only building capable of surpassing it being Hogwarts.
Even with the many protective spells it's not the only challenge Sirius must face. While he is more than willing to take on a parental role for Harry, it doesn't mean that he is prepared to. In the earlier days he's often struggling and wondering how in Merlin's beard James and Lily made it look so easy. Luckily for both of them, Sirius is not alone, as even though most of his blood family would much rather spit on him than help him, he does have one true brother left in the form of Remus Lupin.
When Remus first comes to offer his assistance to his old friend, Sirius can hardly look him in the eyes as he feels a tremendous guilt for assuming Remus was Voldemort's spy. Though as ever, Remus shows himself to be the most level-headed of all the Marauders, recognizing that his suspicion was simply born from a desire to keep the Potter's safe and instantly forgives his old friend. After all, Remus himself suspected Sirius the moment he heard about the Potter's demise as he thought Sirius to be their secret keeper. Which Sirius promptly forgives him for in return.
Yet another saving grace comes in the form of Sirius' cousin Andromeda, who knows the struggles of parenting all too well, having a young daughter of her own. As a result, she becomes a frequent guest and even occasional babysitter for young Harry the following few years on the rare occasions when Remus and Sirius need to be absent. As a result her young daughter Nymphadora develops a close relationship with her little baby cousin and her uncle Sirius.
However, the trial of parenting is sadly not the only hurdle that Sirius must overcome. He can't get over the guilt he feels for his supposed role in Pettigrew's betrayal, a feeling that isn't helped by the traitorous rat's evasion to capture. Every night he is plagued by nightmares of James and Lily, replaying the moment he suggested they put their trust in Wormtail. The moment he handed that traitor everything he needed to sell his dearest and closest friend and his family to Voldemort.
Sirius knows that if not for his responsibility to look after Harry, he would have hunted Pettigrew down himself and killed him long before the Aurors ever could have gotten the chance. But the thoughts never stop plaguing him, the only thing that prevents him from going after him being that after failing James and Lily once already, he has no intention of doing so again. Which means, at least for now, Pettigrew gets to live, no matter how much the thought causes his blood to boil.
Luckily, whenever his grief and anger grow too great to bear, he has one remedy; transforming into a dog and curling up in front of Harry's crib. The baby always giggles with delight when he sees Sirius' shaggy canine form, grabbing handfuls of his thick black fur and gently patting his head with his little baby hands. At times, Sirius wonders if Harry actually likes him better as a dog, hardly surprising considering how many times James had joked that he should remain this way permanently. The thought makes him chuckle, but it does make his heart ache thinking that James isn't there anymore to tell his stupid jokes. Though it does him well to see Harry smile so joyfully.
Thankfully this is a common occurrence over the years that follow, with Sirius making it one of his top priorities to ensure that Harry grows up in a place that feels like home, having experienced firsthand what it feels like to be deprived of parental love and affection. As a result, he and Harry develop a deep father-son bond, with Harry filling the hole in Sirius' heart that James left behind. While in turn, Sirius becomes whatever Harry needs him to be, serving as protector, confidante, guide, friend, and above all, the person most devoted to this child in all the world.
As Harry grows older Sirius shares the stories of his adventures with James and the other Marauders, maybe encouraging the boy's rebellious instincts more than Remus would have liked. Speaking of which, Remus has made himself a near-permanent houseguest at this point.
Unfortunately, as the years go by, these are not the only stories Sirius and Remus have to tell Harry. One day when the boy is 6, he asks the dreaded question that they have been anxiously anticipating. The question of what happened to his parents?
Refusing to lie to Harry, Sirius recounts the events of and leading up to James and Lily's deaths as best he can without making it too gruesome or complex for the young Harry to understand. Though he freely admits that much of what happened that fated night five years ago is still a mystery.
Understandably, this is a lot for a 6-year-old to process, despite his and Remus efforts to simplify it. Fortunately, being a bright kid, Harry eventually makes his peace with it and soon returns to his usual inquisitive ways before long, much to Sirius' pride.
When Harry gets a bit older, Sirius also begins giving him some rudimentary magical training, allowing Harry to use his wand and relying on the imprecise nature of the trace to conceal their flagrant flaunting of the decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. Which Remus, though he doesn't endorse to begin with and does berate Sirius for at first, ultimately accepts and even ends up teaching Harry the disarming spell, Expelliarmus. His reasoning being that "If you're going to start learning early you might as well learn something that can keep you safe."
While Sirius teaches him Alohomora, in case he decides to do any 'extra-curricular exploration', much to Remus' dismay. Though he also acknowledges that it's a waste of breath to ask the son of James and godson of Sirius to not do at least a little bit of rule breaking.
Which has always been the case when Harry causes some mischief throughout his life or does a bit of rule bending. In the end of the day, as long as he doesn't do anything too stupid or dangerous, they never want to limit any of his freedom more than necessary. But they've always been overprotective thanks to the always looming threat of Voldemort's remaining followers. They always tell him that if he's ever in trouble, whether it be trouble he made himself or not, no matter how big or bad it is, he can always ask them for help.
So, the years pass, and Harry grows up surrounded by love, magic and wonder. He simply could not be happier. And soon, the fateful year arrive that he will be turning 11. The year he'll be going to Hogwarts.