Sirius realised that in the time he’d been distracted by looking through Lily’s lingerie drawer, Harry had wandered away and was currently, um, lost.
James is going to kill me, he thought. And then he realised that he’d had that particular thought about a million times since they’d met at the age of eleven. No. This time, he’ll really kill me. Losing your best mate’s baby had to rank high in the list of Unforgivable Sins.
Maybe just above perving about in his wife’s knickers drawer.
Sirius sighed and crushed his hands through his hair, trying to reign in his rising panic. I’ll look through the house one more time. He can’t have disappeared. Then the panic broke through. He’s a magical child, you dolt! Of course he can disappear! Adding in the just-recalled thought that You-Know-Who was after Lily and James, his panic turned into out-and-out terror.
“I’ll only be gone about two hours,” said James. “I promised to pick up Lily’s order at Jigger’s in Diagon Alley, and run a few more errands. I’m sure he won’t give you any trouble!”
Sirius lifted Harry and swung him around. Harry squealed in delight. He pulled at his godfather’s hair and they both tumbled to the ground, laughing.
“Your dad’s got to do the boring errands while your mum’s at work. But we’re going to have fun, right, Harry?”
They’d played horse and rider, chase the big black dog, catch the floating ball, and Transfigured a flower vase into some of Harry’s favourite things. When Harry needed his nappy changed, they’d gone upstairs to his parents' room. All cleaned up, Harry clambered down off the bed and Sirius’ attention was drawn to an intriguing bit of red lace hanging out of an open drawer, beckoning to him.
“Harry! Stop mucking about! Where are you?” Sirius screamed. Swearing under his breath, he tore through the house in earnest, searching room after room. He looked in every closet, behind and under every piece of furniture, and tore apart the attic. The littlest Potter was nowhere to be found.
Sirius stumbled into the kitchen, sweat pouring down his back.
Take it easy, you fuckwit. You need to calm down.
Sirius opened every cupboard into the kitchen until he found one containing a single, opened (thank Merlin!) bottle of Ogden’s Firewhisky. He grabbed a glass, poured a double shot and downed it.
Only after the burning in his throat eased to a dull throb, did Sirius smack himself upside his own head. Sirius was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, trained in Stealth, Tracking and Surveillance. The pure-blood snob inside of Sirius Black cleared its throat and spoke up.
Are you a stupid Muggle or are you a wizard? Use your wand, imbecile.
Sirius pulled out his wand from his jacket pocket and placed it in the palm of his hand, putting an image of Harry in his mind.
“Point Me!”
The wand spun around, stopping with its tip pointing to the right, in the direction of the kitchen door. Which was, Sirius noted, opened just a crack “ just wide enough for a very small, thirteen-month-old child to toddle through.
Shit.
“Hey, Padfoot! I’m back!”
Sirius squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose.
I’m a dead man.
James was smiling as he entered the kitchen. But the smile evaporated when he noted the bottle of whisky and the glass in Sirius’ hand. He placed the parcels he was carrying down next to the open bottle on the countertop.
“Get all your errands done?” Sirius asked, his eyes focussing on everything in the kitchen except James.
“Where’s Harry, Sirius?” James’ voice, normally a moderate baritone, had dropped several octaves to a dangerous basso.
Sirius licked his lips, which had gone suddenly dry. “Um… we’re playing Hide and Seek.”
James picked up the whisky bottle. “And you thought you’d take a break?”
“Well… Harry likes to think he’s hard to find.”
James eyes turned to slits behind his glasses. “So, you know where he is. Right?”
“Sure… I…. I think he’s outside,” he said pointing to the just-open kitchen door.
“YOU THINK?” James yelled and Sirius cringed.
James flew out of the kitchen so quickly it was as if he had Apparated. Sirius roused himself to follow.
Once outside, they began to call out and scour the grounds for signs of Harry. Unfortunately, the area behind the house was not enclosed, but opened up into a common garden, shared by the surrounding houses. The garden was filled with bushes, trees and all manner of holes and places for a small child to be lost or hurt… or worse.
Sirius poked through some bushes where, he noticed, some branches had been pushed aside.
“James!” he called out. “Over here!”
James ran over, his face flushed and eyes wide with worry.
“What?”
Sirius pointed to a nappy, still pinned. It was the one he’d just put on Harry, but Harry wasn’t in it anymore.
James picked it up and looked at Sirius.
“If anything has happened to him, Padfoot, I swear I’ll kill you.”
Sirius swallowed hard. “Don’t worry, Prongs, I’ll do it for you.”
Behind them, they heard a small laugh.
Whipping around they saw… nothing.
“Harry! Where are you?” James called as they both ran in the direction of the laugh.
“Shh…” whispered Sirius, holding out his hand to James, the Order’s signal to freeze and wait.
“'Prise!” said a very small voice that laughed again.
It came from… above. They looked up and there, in the bough of the tree, sat Harry, starkers and laughing his little head off.
“Harry! How…? What…?” stammered Sirius.
Pointing his wand at Harry, James swished and flicked. “Wingardium Leviosa!”
Harry rose into the air and, directed by James’ wand, floated safely to the ground at their feet.
James scooped him up with a hug so fierce that Harry yelped.
Then, abruptly holding Harry out in front of him, James glared at his son with a serious frown.
“Young man, that was a very bad thing to do!”
Harry looked scared. So did Sirius.
“Never go outside on your own! No, Harry! Not ever!”
Harry’s mouth began to quiver and he burst into tears.
James pulled him back into a fierce hug and rocked him in his arms, stroking his hair. “You scared us so badly. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you.” Squeezing his eyes shut and shaking with relief, James shed a few tears of his own.
If there weren’t anti-Apparition wards in place, Sirius would have gladly disappeared right then and there. He toed the grass and gravel under his feet, waiting for his turn.
“Sirius,” said James, trying to keep his voice neutral so as to not further upset Harry. “You’ll help me make dinner and we’ll talk more about this tonight, when Lily gets home.”
Sirius paled. He had thought it couldn’t get any worse. But it would. He’d rather face the Cruciatus Curse than the full-on fury of Lily Evans Potter.
“Um… are you sure there isn’t anything else…?”
“No. She’ll be home in an hour, so let’s set to work.”
James turned and walked back to the house, Harry still sniffling into his father’s shoulder.
Sirius leaned over to pick up the nappy “ thankfully, still clean “ from the ground where James had dropped it. With a sigh he looked up at the tree branch where Harry had been, and wondered how the baby had managed it. Then, as Sirius recalled Harry’s pleasure at having ‘'prised’ them, his heart lifted at his godson’s cleverness.
A huge grin played across his face. His first prank! Sirius thought proudly, tucking the nappy into his pocket.
Feeling that the responsibility of setting a good example to his godson had been well served, Sirius held his head high and went to help James with dinner.
******
This fic is dedicated to my brother, who liked to shed his clothes when little, as he strolled on his own through the neighborhood. We'd find him by following the clothing trail!