Sirius Black stood uncomfortably on the threshold, staring at the double doors as if waiting for them to magically open. He hadn't stood in front of these doors in a while. Ever since…

Letting out a breath, Sirius twisted the doorknob and stepped into the manor. Really, shouldn't Snape at least lock the door? Anybody could've just walked right in. Like he just did.

Sirius was immediately greeted by a grumpy-looking Severus Snape.

“You don't knock?”

Sirius scowled, folding his arms across his chest. “Do you want me to go back out and knock this time?”

“No, you're in here anyway,” Severus answered, looking tired. Sirius felt awkward being in this house again, after being away from it for so long. There were just too many memories to do with Harry—he couldn't face them just yet. Sirius had tried not to think about Harry too much, ever since the funeral. How could he, when it hurt every bloody time?

Not thinking about Harry, not mourning him, not cherishing the memories that Sirius had with the boy, hurt just as much.

“What are you doing here?” Severus hissed as he continued down the stairs. Sirius frowned, shrugging.

“You know… just came to say hi. Hi.”

“At ten o'clock in the morning?” Severus raised his eyebrows as he now stood in front of Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. He didn't really want to admit to Severus that he felt guilty for not visiting. Sirius had a feeling that Severus really didn't have many visitors lately, and being alone in the huge house must've been… lonely.

He took in the sight of the foyer before he answered. It hadn't changed since the last time he was here. It was large, with a staircase to the right leading to the top floor. To the left was the dining room, and then the right led to the lounge, as well.

“So Snape. Are you going to invite me in for breakfast?” Sirius put on an innocent smile. “I really had nothing for breakfast this morning.”

“Oh, I'm sure,” Severus responded sarcastically. “As much as I would love your company for breakfast, Black, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”

Sirius frowned as Severus turned away and began to go to the dining room. Sirius followed closely behind him.

“Leave? I just got here! What's wrong?”

Severus scowled, though Sirius couldn't see. He sat down by the table, and was annoyed to find that Sirius took a seat across from him.

“Nothing is wrong,” said Severus. “I am just… very busy.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows. “With what?”

“With… something,” Severus answered uncomfortably. The scowl remained on his face. “Just please go, will you? Don't make this so difficult.”

“Difficult,” Sirius echoed in disbelief. “Me? Difficult? I just came to see how you were holding up—I'm not difficult at all!”

“I'm touched that you'd think of me, Black,” Severus said. Sirius frowned at the sarcasm. “I am fine, however. So now that you saw how I was holding up, you can leave now, correct?”

Sirius eyed Severus suspiciously. “Why do you want me to leave so badly?”

Severus was about to answer, but he froze, his eyes widening as he took saw the boy appear behind Sirius. He tried to think of a way to get Harry to leave without Sirius noticing, but came up with nothing. Severus let out a defeated sigh.

“Sev'rus?”

Harry rubbed his eyes, stifling a yawn. He blinked a few times, just noticing the stranger sitting across from Severus. Harry took a seat by Severus, the blanket that he had brought with him was wrapped tightly around him.

Harry gave the stranger an uncomfortable smile. “Hullo. Who're you?”

“Wha—what did you do?” Sirius finally spoke up softly, at last finding his voice. He stared at Harry in horror, and Harry could only stare back in confusion.

“I did nothing,” Severus answered calmly.

“You did something!” Sirius's voice grew louder. “Tha—that's Harry, Snape! Harry! We buried him! You must've done something, because it's not possible for that boy to still be there, sitting beside you, breathing!”

“You will lower your voice,” Severus growled, narrowing his eyes at Sirius. “I did nothing. Now will you keep calm? You're scaring him.”

Sirius didn't take his eyes off Harry as he spoke. “Tell me what happened. Tell me why he's here. Tell me what you did.”

Severus glared. “For the last time Black, I did nothing!”

“I'm gonna go lay down again,” Harry said quietly from beside Severus. “N—nice meeting you,” Harry added weakly as he stood. As he walked past the man for the second time, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the way the man was staring at him. In disbelief.

--

Harry sat up in bed, waiting until the man and Severus would stop arguing until he could go back downstairs. He was staring at his blanket, listening intently to the loud voices downstairs, but that's when they stopped. Harry struggled, holding his breath to see if he could hear more voices. It seemed they had stopped arguing—which was a sign that Harry just might be able to go downstairs again. His tore his gaze away from the blanket as he heard a noise in the doorway.

The man from downstairs stood, or rather leaned, against the doorframe. He looked hesitant and uncertain. Harry wondered who he was, but could only remember Severus referring to him as “Black”. But who would name their child “Black”, unless it was a nickname or a last name?

“Hi there, Harry,” the man said with a ghost of a smile as he approached Harry's bed. “You might not really remember me—or do you? No, no, I s'pose not. Erm…”

Harry only stared, tilting his head to the side. He waited patiently for the man to continue.

“Sirius Black,” he said after a moments pause. “That—that's me. I, uh… Snape told me about what happened. About the 'realities.'” Sirius sat on the bed. “It's… complicated, huh?”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “You're my godfather, aren't you? At least… this Harry's godfather, anyway…”

“Nah,” Sirius said brightly, with a grin, “I can be your godfather too. Why not? Am I… in your reality, I mean—?”

Harry shook his head. “I don't know, honestly. I've never heard about you before.”

Sirius nodded slowly, glancing down at his hands before fidgeting slightly and looking back up at Harry. “Do you feel like telling me about your reality?” He grinned sheepishly. “I'm curious.”

Harry hesitated before he said, “I guess… there's really not much to tell. I live with my aunt, uncle and cousin and… I go to Hogwarts. I'm in Gryffindor and I'm thirteen.”

Sirius nodded again. “Okay, well… and Snape? Does he still teach at Hogwarts? Is he your father?”

“Yeah, he teaches at Hogwarts.” Harry groaned as he shifted his position. His leg hurt from sitting on it for so long. “I don't think he's my father though. James Potter is.”

Sirius brightened. “Really? Interesting, interesting… funny how I'm not in your reality. Or you don't know me.” He frowned, and then looked worried. “What if James and I weren't friends?” The thought seemed to horrify Sirius. “That's not fair.”

Harry grinned sleepily, shrugging his shoulders. “I'm not sure. I don't know much about my dad. Or my mum, really.”

“Did the same thing happen to them as it did here?” Sirius asked, his voice getting slightly softer.

Harry nodded, and there was a silence that lasted only momentarily between them.

“You're going to stay here, aren't you?” Sirius asked, grinning again. “I think you'll like it. It might take a while to get used to Snape… I've been around here a while and I'm still not that quite used to him yet.”

“I—I don't know,” Harry stammered, “if I'm going to—to stay here or not. I think I really should go back, though, my friends might be worried…”

Sirius frowned. “You're thinking of leaving?” Sirius shook his head, disappointed. “I really feel sorry for Snape now.”

Harry returned the frown. “What do you mean? Did he get you to say this?”

Sirius shook his head again. “No, no. He didn't get me to say anything. I'm just saying—and it's coming from me. Just me, Harry—that… he lost his son once, and then it's just going to happen all over again? It must be… horrible, actually.”

“People back home might be worried if they find that I disappeared,” Harry said softly. “I don't know what's happening back there… but they might…”

Sirius nodded, with a half-hearted grin. “I understand, I guess. There must be something important back in your reality that makes you want to go back so badly, huh?”

“No, not really. It's pretty much the same here as it is back there, except that here this Harry has a family and that, back home, Severus Snape isn't my father,” Harry said.

Sirius seemed to notice the wound on Harry's head. “How did that happen?”

Harry touched the bandage. “I hit my head when I fell. I think I'll take it off soon, the bleeding has probably stopped.”

“Interrogating Harry, are you, Black?” Severus asked from the doorway. Sirius turned his head to look at Severus and gave an embarrassed grin.

“I was just asking a few questions,” Sirius muttered as he stood up. He gave Harry another lopsided grin before stepping past Severus, out of the room.

“So that's Sirius Black,” Harry said, staring at the spot where Sirius had been sitting.

“That's Sirius Black,” Severus echoed, nodding. “Do you feel all right, Harry? You look a little sick. I do suppose, however, that Black may have that effect on people.”

Harry grinned as he pulled the blankets off and stood up. “Nope, I feel fine. How long is Sirius going to be staying for? Will he be staying here? Is it breakfast yet?”

Severus gave Harry a look. “For Merlin's sake child, one question at a time! How could you possibly produce so many questions at once?”

Harry grinned, walking out of the bedroom with Severus by his side. “I guess it's a gift. So how long is Sirius going to be staying for?”

“I'm not quite sure,” Severus answered honestly as they went down the flight of stairs, into the foyer. “You should ask him.”

“Ask who what?”

Sirius appeared again, coming out of the dining area to meet Severus and Harry. “Breakfast's ready, by the way. You should hurry up before it all gets cold. Well, before the hot stuff gets cold, anyway. I've always loved Nome's French toast.”

Harry followed Severus and Sirius into the dining room, taking his usual place at the table since he arrived at the manor. It was piled with more food than usual, Harry noticed, and suspected that Sirius had asked Nome to make a few extra things since he was obviously staying for breakfast.

“So, Snape,” Sirius started casually. His eyes flickered onto Harry. “Can I—can I ask how you knew that it was actually Harry you found that day? It could've been anyone taking on the appearance of him.”

“His eyes,” Severus explained curtly, just as he had when Harry asked. “I could tell by his eyes.”

“Of course,” Sirius said, nodding his head. “I forgot that little thing that you used to be able to do with Harry. Like that time when I bought Harry that toy broom, which rose only a little in the air. Then he fell because—”

“Because you weren't paying attention to him,” Severus interjected, giving Sirius a look.

“Because I was distracted for a minute,” Sirius corrected, returning the look. Severus didn't bother to argue. “And when you asked where he got the bruise from, he lied to you, and you were able to tell that he was lying because you could see it in his eyes.” Sirius tilted his head to the side. “Why'd he lie to you about it, again? He never really used to lie to you… or any of us.”

“I didn't want Harry riding that broom without me there to watch over him,” Severus reminded Sirius. “He could've gotten hurt—which he did.”

“Ah, that's right.” Sirius smiled. “He didn't want me to get in trouble.”

Harry, as he tried a piece of the French toast Sirius had been talking about, kept his eyes down on his plate. He wished that he could remember that day, though he knew he could never because it wasn't really him who had that memory. It wasn't like he had amnesia—he had nothing to remember.

--

Later that day, Harry had found out that—after a very loud “discussion” about it—Sirius would be staying until the end of the summer. If Harry did decide to go back, he wondered if Sirius actually would stay until the summer was over. Severus would be going back to Hogwarts, too. What if Harry did decide to stay here though? It was all so tempting.

Harry sat in the lounge, staring into the burning fire that he had asked Severus to light. He had never actually sat in front of a real fire before, to just enjoy it. Though it was still summertime, Harry didn't mind the heat. It was relaxing. Severus and Sirius said they both didn't mind it much, either. Besides, it wasn't a hot day out. It was grey, dull, cold and raining quite violently out. The fire just warmed the house up.

Harry turned around when he heard somebody behind him. It was only Severus.

“Some time,” Harry started slowly, turning his gaze back to the fire as Severus sat down on the couch near Harry, “before I go back—” If I decide to go back, Harry thought to himself, and then continued, “—we should get marshmallows and roast them. I've never done that before.”

“Yes,” Severus said uncomfortably, his brow furrowing as Harry's eyes immediately swerved back onto him. “We—what are you staring at?”

Harry blushed as Severus noticed his stare, and he immediately averted his eyes, muttering, “Sorry.”

“What's the matter?” Severus asked, the frown still placed on his face.

“I—I've just never seen you in green before,” Harry said. He coughed, briefly meeting Severus's gaze again. “I just mean… back—well, back—the different you always just wore black… whenever I saw him, anyway,” Harry added quickly.

“Things are different,” Severus reminded him, falling silent afterwards.

“Yeah,” Harry said softly, his eyes drifting back onto the fire that roared in the handsome fireplace. “I know they are.”