One Day They'll Know Your Name

What a stupid name

Harry was silent as he moved on to rearranging the tulips. He pulled them up gently, one at a time, making sure to get all of the roots, then replanted them in a different spot. Finally he spoke. "I'm sorry about Regulus." He was silent for another moment, then asked, "Is there a charm to copy handwriting?"

Sirius didn't answer for a moment. "Ye-," he coughed and started again, "Yeah. There's a few. But the person has to have a sample of the handwriting for all the charms I know of."

Harry nodded, then dropped the subject. Sirius was thinking too much about the war, and Harry wasn't going to let that stand. "You know, the day that note came was the deadline for us to give you our answer about becoming Animagi."

Sirius nodded, relaxing into the grass. "Did you lot decide?"

"We want to accept. It's too much of an advantage to just brush off, and if we're Animagi without people knowing, then we have more ways of escaping anything that might happen to us." Harry sighed. "I guess we can't really do it this summer though, since you and I are stuck here. Would it be difficult to do during the school year?"

"I don't think it would be too hard, the worst part would be finding excuses to not speak for a month."

"If nothing else we can make a huge deal out of it. Maybe a bet, or one of us starting the Quiet Game, or Hermione declaring that she wants to try to learn sign language and wordless casting, and that the fastest way to do it would be not talking for a month or something. It wouldn't be that difficult." As he spoke, Harry moved on to rearranging the roses.

Sirius laughed quietly. "I can see why you were Sorted into Slytherin, Pup. You definitely have cunning in spades."

Harry grinned at the compliment and dropped an extra weed he found on Sirius' face, causing the adult to splutter and rub his face dramatically. Harry laughed and finished up the roses, quietly talking with Sirius about random things.

Harry finally stood up and wiped his trousers as clean as he could while Sirius transformed back into Padfoot, grabbing the sack of weeds to dump. Harry then hooked the hose to the spigot and quickly watered the garden before hosing off his hands and heading inside for whatever his aunt was going to give him for lunch. After eating the five carrot sticks she basically threw at him, she sent him outside to paint the shed and wash Padfoot, since "I will not have that mangy mutt be dirty near my house!"

Harry took one look at Padfoot, shook his head, and went to paint the shed. After he finished he grabbed the hose and looked over at Padfoot.

"Aunt Petunia demands you be washed, so are you going to be a good godfather and sit still or are you going to pretend to be the dog you currently are and try to run away?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Padfoot barked and bounded over to Harry. Harry grinned. "Guess that's a no on the running away then. You going to sit still?" Padfoot flopped down at his feet and rolled over, and Harry laughed, turning the hose on and pointing it at the dog. Padfoot instantly yelped at the cold water, jumping up and shaking vigorously to try to dislodge the water. Harry kept spraying him with the water, laughing as Padfoot tried to get away without running off. He finally shut the water off and began scrubbing the dog with one of the old towels Aunt Petunia refused to touch and some soap Harry had nicked from Uncle Vernon's shampoo bottle. After the thorough washing, he rinsed Padfoot off, then let him shake out all over the grass. Harry then used the other old towel he'd grabbed to rub Padfoot dry, just to have him shake water all over Harry before he even got close with the towel. Harry just laughed and grabbed the dog by the scruff and rubbed him dry before hosing himself down and drying off as best he could without getting any of Sirius' fur on him. Aunt Petunia might actually kill him if he brought dog fur into the house, especially on the day her precious Duddykins was set to arrive. That thought sobered Harry and he quickly headed inside, knowing Aunt Petunia would want him to make dinner to her exacting standards.

Petunia pointed towards the bathroom without even looking at him, so he quickly rinsed off in the shower and changed clothes, knowing she wouldn't want him in the bathroom for more than five minutes. He came back to the kitchen, where Aunt Petunia merely pointed at the stove, where Harry found a recipe for what he remembered was Dudley's favorite meal when they were younger.

An hour later found Harry setting the table for three and Uncle Vernon's car pulling into the driveway. Harry quickly put the last dish on the table, then hurried into the kitchen to wash the first of the dishes while the Dursleys ate. When he reappeared to take the dishes that the Dursleys were done with, Dudley spoke up.

"Dad warned me you were here, freak, but I was really hoping he was kidding. At least I get to practice my boxing skills and use my Smeltings stick for something useful this summer."

Harry ignored him and continued taking the dishes away. Thankfully Dudley didn't have the stick with him, or he was sure he would have been hit by now. After they finished dessert, Harry finished cleaning the kitchen and table, then headed towards his cupboard. Dudley, unsurprisingly, was leaning against the front door, holding his Smeltings stick and tapping it against the side of the house. Harry jumped lightly over it as Dudley swung it towards him, but Padfoot growled fiercely from the darkness outside. Dudley glanced fearfully outside for a moment, but when no other sound came, he smirked and swung at Harry again. Harry wasn't paying attention this time, and Dudley caught him on his barely healed back.

Harry bit his lip to hold back his groan and heard Padfoot's growling increase. He turned around just in time to see Padfoot leap from the darkness just outside the door into the light, causing Dudley to let out a high pitched squeal. Padfoot grabbed the stick and yanked it out of Dudley's hands, growling the whole time, then dropped it and snapped at Dudley's leg, missing by almost an entire foot. It seemed Padfoot was still thinking at least somewhat clearly, thankfully, but Harry knew this would still most likely end in a beating for him.

Surprisingly enough, it didn't, and Harry was just locked in the cupboard for the night with no meals for two weeks.

Two weeks later, Marge arrived.

Harry wakes up a day after the end of last chapter, and is forced to do outside chores all day with only a small break in the middle. He and Sirius are able to have a conversation, and at the end Dudley arrives.