Feeling rather sleepy himself, Sirius took Harry upstairs and gently placed him in his crib. Stifling a yawn, he tucked Harry in and quietly tiptoed out of his room, only to hear Harry start to whimper.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, picking Harry back up, but Harry wouldn't calm down. He continued to cry and cry.
"What would Lily do?" he mumbled, bouncing Harry in his arms. 'Maybe a lullaby would help,' he thought. 'But no! I can't sing!'
Sirius tried to hum the Hogwarts school song, but to no avail.
Harry still cried. Thinking of other songs, he tried to sing them, mumbling the words when he couldn't remember them.
"Umm..." he said frantically, bouncing some more.
"Err...R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me! R-E-S-P-E-C-T, hmm hmm hm hm hm hm hmmmmmm! Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, just a lil' bit!"
Harry looked at him, slightly frightened yet fascinated all the
same, and his crying finally reduced to just an occasional whine, with a little scrunched up face.
"Do you like that song?" Sirius asked nervously, as if Harry were grading his performance. "I do too. Long story. I won't tell you that one...you've heard enough from me and my stories, haven't you?"
Harry had finally quieted down, and he was now chewing on his hand, getting his saliva absolutely everywhere. Sirius walked around upstairs, making sure Harry didn't start to cry again. When Harry's eyes began to droop, he took the baby to its bed and sat him down gently inside of it, quietly backing out of the room to leave Harry to his nap.
Feeling relieved, Sirius walked back to his bedroom and collapsed on the bed with a sigh. He was thinking he needed more naps than Harry did at the moment, so he closed his eyes to try and catch up on his rest.
An hour or so passed and Sirius's eyes fluttered open. The whole house was completely silent, except the curtains flapping as the breeze blew in through the open window. Thinking it was too quiet, Sirius got up, stretched, and went to check on Harry. As he reached little Harry's bedroom, he began to talk to Harry in a whisper, in case he was still asleep.
"Ohh...Harry! Are you still sleep--"
He paused with horror. Harry was not in his baby bed. Only blankets and a little pillow.
"Oh bloody hell," he murmured, panicking. "HARRY?"
Terrible thoughts were running through his head of Harry's possible kidnapping, and with his heart once again beating at an incredible rate, he ran throughout the house, yelling for Harry, racing downstairs and tripping on the last one, where he began throwing the cabinets open.
"Harry! Where in Merlin's name--oh no, oh no, oh no--"
"Sirius, I suppose this is what you are looking for?"
Starting so bad he hit his head violently on the top of one of the cabinets, he turned to see Albus Dumbledore, with his twinkling blue eyes and a smile, holding a gurgling baby Harry in his arms. Relief swept over him and he felt weak in the knees, he sank to the floor and sat there for a few minutes.
"Headmaster!" he said. "When--I mean, what are you doing here?"
"Lily managed to send me a letter, she wanted me to come and check on you. Oh my, I wasn't supposed to tell you that, was I?" he said innocently. "Ah, Sirius, my boy. What on earth were you doing?"
"Oh, please don't tell Lily!" Sirius shrieked, standing and
bounding forward. "She will decapitate me, I'm telling you, Headmaster, please..."
Dumbledore chuckled, and Harry pulled on his beard, giggling.
"I won't tell Lily, if you promise to watch where Harry's going!" he said pleasantly.
"He was taking a nap, I put him in his baby bed, I'm assuming you came and got him then?"
Dumbledore looked at him closely. "Sirius, Harry was crawling around down here."
Sirius blinked with confusion. "Uhh, Headmaster, his--no, I put him in his baby bed! Then I went to take a nap! How in the hell--?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Never underestimate the powers of a baby wizard."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying that Harry
Apparated out of his bed, came down the stairs, and ran into you?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying, but you never know," said
Dumbledore, looking thoughtful. Shaking his head and laughing at how ridiculous that sounded, he gently took baby Harry from Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Headmaster, for not letting him escape the house." They both grinned at each other.
"You're very welcome, Sirius, and have a nice day."
He turned to leave, but Sirius stopped him. "Wait, you're not going to tell Lily, are you?" he asked fearfully.
"No, Sirius," Dumbledore said softly, still smiling. Sirius looked elated. "Thank you so much!" he whispered. Dumbledore waved a hand and disappeared out of the door, laughing.
"Now, Harry Houdini," said Sirius, looking down at those green eyes. "Let's go see if you're hungry again."
Harry was indeed a bit hungry, and as Sirius fed him, he couldn't get over the fact that Harry had so skillfully escaped his bed. He wondered if it really was by magic, as Dumbledore suggested...
After feeding Harry, he took plenty of care to make sure Harry didn't spit up on him. When Harry didn't, and looked quite relaxed, Sirius grinned.
"Ha ha!" he said, with triumph. "My clothes are clean!"
Harry hiccuped and spat up on his shoulder. Sirius winced. "Ugh. Fine, I take that back. Spoke too soon, didn't
I?" The green-eyed baby giggled loudly.
Sirius went (yet again) to go clean his robes and he got some toys for Harry. Mostly, Harry just chewed on them, but a few times he banged them on the ground with delight then chewed on them again.
"A wonderful way to catch germs," said Sirius, smiling. "Honestly, do you even think about what could be on that floor?" Sirius frowned at himself. "Ooohh, Sirius," he said to himself in a mocking voice. "You're turning into a mummy! Ooohh!" He scowled then mentally smacked himself.
Harry paid him no mind, he only giggled at himself.