In Another World [Wolfstar]

4. Alphard James Black

3rd November 1981
9am
Remus Lupin's cottage – Hempnall, Norfolk

"Do you have everything?" Remus asked, sitting on the other side of the room. Sirius was gathering together the ingredients for the blood adoption potion for Harry and with his sensitive and enhanced sense of smell Remus could barely stand to be in the same room. He sat there anyway, keeping Sirius company and entertaining Harry.

Remus could barely admit to himself, and certainly never would to Sirius, that he was watching Sirius; wary of another breakdown.

Two days ago, not long after the Aurors had left, when Harry was settled quietly in a hastily transfigured cot in the spare bedroom he and Sirius would be sharing, Sirius had finally let himself think about what had happened to James and Lily. He'd crumpled into a heap in the middle of Remus' kitchen, dropping the full glass he'd been holding, sobbing. It had taken Remus three hours to calm Sirius down, and that was only after spending an hour himself trying to deal with his own breakdown, triggered by Sirius'. The two of them spent the rest of the night reminiscing about Prongs. They'd been treading on eggshells around each other since, both afraid that they'd set each other off again.

Remus knew it had to stop, but that meant having a serious, adult conversation with Sirius about the fact that James and Lily were gone forever, and neither of them were ready for that conversation yet. Remus didn't think they'd be ready for that until Peter was behind bars, but at least Sirius' breakdown had taken down all of the walls they had built up around the other ever since Sirius started suspecting Remus. The paranoia from the war wasn't gone, but the wariness around each other was.

"Finally, yes." Sirius responded, not looking up from cataloguing the ingredients. He was singularly focused on the potion, which Remus had to admit he found a bit odd, seeing Sirius so focused. "It's going to take about a month to make, just like the polyjuice potion considering some of it is so similar, and then I can give it to Harry."

Said boy was quietly playing with magical building blocks that changed colour with just a touch. Remus and Sirius alike were worried about how quiet Harry had been since his parents' deaths. The usually loud and boisterous child had become more and more withdrawn each time he was told that mummy and daddy wouldn't be coming back. Sirius knew they'd need to worry about that soon, but for now he was too focused on ensuring Harry's safety to worry about his happiness.

"Why so long?" Remus asked.

"Don't know, it just seems to be a long bloody potion to make. Couldn't be easy, could it?" Sirius said sarcastically.

Leaving Sirius to start the potion off, Remus took Harry into the kitchen for breakfast. "What do you want for breakfast, mini-Prongs?" The name hurt to use, but it made Harry happy so Remus carried on anyway.

Harry scrunched up his face, thinking very hard. His eyes popped open and he shouted "Muffin!"

From Sirius' direction Remus heard a faint swear and then Sirius was rushing into the kitchen, holding his index finger, which was bleeding sluggishly.

"What the hell happened, Padfoot?"

"Harry surprised me, and I cut myself." Sirius muttered as he ran his finger under the tap to wash away the blood, fumbling for the dittany below the sink and quickly applying it on the shallow cut. Remus snorted in amusement, rummaging through the cupboard beside the old cooker to find the muffins he was sure he had somewhere.

"Pa'foo! Paf hurt." Harry squealed from his seat on the highchair in the kitchen.

"Don't worry, mini-Prongs." Sirius held his previously injured finger out to Harry, who grabbed the digit and pulled it close to his face, squinting at it. "I cut myself, but it's all better now, see?"