This isn't as long as I thought I would be but almost 2000 words are good enough. 

"B-but he might-- I-I mean--" Harry worries his bottom lip, unable to finish his sentence in fear that Draco might snap at him.

"It's alright, Harry. Would I ever put you in danger?" the blonde questions.

"N-no."

"Then you gotta trust me on this."

"Yeah Harry," Neville pipes up from a few paces back, "I may not be too much of an animal person but I have a good feeling about him."

The next few days are filled with trying to train the newly dubbed Paddy, as Harry had named him. When they were first brainstorming names for the dog Harry suddenly remembered something from his childhood. He was adamant that they call the animal Paddy after a long-forgotten memory.

Once the newest addition to their group had a name it became much easier to train him. Paddy responded to all of them well enough but always rushed to follow command as soon as Harry ordered. In fact, the two quickly became the best of friends with Paddy quicking becoming another protector of the malnourished boy as well.

"That's why you should let us keep Paddy. It will not only show we have great responsibility but Harry will be devastated if we had to get rid of Paddy." Draco knows that it's a bit of a low blow to have Harry purposely lay with the animal on the couch all throughout his speech, but there is a reason why he was sorted into Slytherin after all.

"I don't know, Dragon," Lucius contemplates. "Is an animal what we really need right now. I'm not sure you all could handle it."

"We can so handle it," Neville says only to cower slightly when all attention transfers to him. "We've been taking really good care of Paddy and even taught him some tricks. Paddy, come." The dog immediately bounds over to Neville after gently extracting himself from under Harry. To show the adults how well behaved he can be, Sirius sits, lays and rolls over when told to do so. He knows that to get close to his godcub he needs to keep up the obedient pet act. Even if the only thing he wants to do is sink his teeth into Snivellous and he's every single Deatheater in the house.

"Well we can't dispute how well the boys have taken care of the beast and it doesn't seem to be too vicious," Bellatrix observes. "Do you really want to keep him?"

"Please, Aunt Bella," Harry gazes at the black-haired woman with large puppy dog eyes. With Paddy sitting near Draco, Harry had put his feet into the chair curling into an upright fetal position. Paddy notices the defensive position and quickly makes his way over to him only to get ferociously cuddled. Bella doesn't have the heart to deny what could be Harry's first wish.

"If it's ok with the others it's alright with me." Narcissa and Lucius both agree soon after but Severus can't be less excited.

"Are we certain that this beast is safe to have in the house? Around the children?" he asks the room.

"Please, Uncle Severus. We'll do anything to keep him." Draco begs. He knows that just as easily everyone agreed with Bella they could agree with the Potions Professor.

"Alright," he relinquishes after getting three puppy dog eyes. "But if he steps a single toe out of line he goes back to where he came from. Am I understood?"

Three little "Yes, Sir's" ring out before the boys rush off to go play.

Over the next few days Paddy becomes even more protective of Harry. Everywhere that the little raven-haired boy went Paddy could be seen a step behind. He even went as far as to growl at anyone that Harry flinched at.

"I swear that dog has grown much too close to Harry in such a short amount of time," Severus complains as he storms into the family sitting room.

"Sounds to me like someone is a tad bit jealous of an animal," Bellatrix giggles.

"I am not jealous of that mutt. I'm just waiting for you all to come to your senses and realize that that thing you've allowed in this house is dangerous."

"Paddy is not dangerous," Cissa argues. "He's just protective of Harry. Animals are very sensitive to emotions. He probably felt Harry's fear and nervousness and is trying to make him feel better."

"There's something about that mutt that I don't like," Severus stalks away. "And I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

No one realises just how right Severus is until 3 days later when Harry doesn't come down for his morning bottle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sounds of someone apperating reverberates throughout the room Harry and Paddy appear in.

"W-what's g-going on." Harry looks around the dark, dusty room from his spot on the floor. Everything is completely unfamiliar. Paddy's pained yelp has Harry snapping his head towards him, only to recoil in horror. Before his eyes Paddy's fur retracts into his body, his bones rearrange, and even his muzzle grows smaller until a large man with shaggy brown hair is standing before him.

"Hi-" the man is cut off by Harry's terrified scream before he burst into tears. The frightened Gryffindor attempts to stumble to his feet but ends up falling several times before he huddles into a corner.

"Hey there's no need for that. You can trust me. I'm Sirius Black," the man tries and fails to soothes Harry.

"No, no, no! G-get away f-from m-e," he flairs his legs.

"Cub you have to listen to me. They can't take you away from me ever again. No one will come between us. Just you and me forever." The statement doesn't get the reaction Sirius hopes for, instead, the child just sobs louder into his bear. The animagus is so glad that he had the piece of mind to bring it along with Harry's blanket with them when they left.

"W-wanna go b-back! Go b-back!" Harry curls more into himself. He doesn't know this man or what's going on. One minute he and his dog are playing in the woods by the Manor when all of a sudden the animal grabs Harry but the shirt and the pair apparates away.

"I can't take you back, Harry. I'm the one that's supposed to be taking care of you. I'm your godfather," Sirius tries to explain. He internally cheers when his cub's crying lessens dramatically and looks at him in confusion.

"My w-what?" he sniffles.

"Your parents wanted me to take care of you in the event that something ever happened to them. They told everyone, especially when they heard about the prophecy," he looks away ashamed, eyes a bit unfocused, before continuing. "It's my fault that you grew up in that awful house with those horrid muggles. My fault. My fault. my fault." Subconsciously Sirius had started rocking back and forth from his place on the floor in front of Harry, scaring the child more as he spoke.

"B-but-" 

"But I was selfish and went after that damn rat! I still need to find him but you are my number one priority right now. I'm never letting you out of my sight again." Harry immediately starts sobbing again once Sirius is done with his speech.

"I want Sev'rus! You're scary," the Griffindore exclaims while backing up further away from the man. 

"Wait, wait, wait. How about we do something else? I could show you some pictures," he tries to calm the child. The loud noises of his sobbing are beginning to become almost too much to bear.

"I have pictures," Harry says in a small voice, his cries tampering down.

"That's great. Where are they?"

"With my..." he trails off before his face falls once more. "My school things." he finishes as silent tears track their way down his rosy cheeks. "I don't h-have my s-school things. I-I left th-them."

"Hey, hey. Don't cry. I have them. Your trunk is in your new room. I can take you to it. I'll give you a tour of the whole house," Sirius rushes out in hopes to save off a meltdown. Quickly he makes his way up the stairs into Harry's new bedroom to fetch his trunk and bring it down. "Here you are, Cub."

"W-why do y-you call m-me Cub?" he stares questioningly at the man then at his things. He doesn't trust this person at all to just give him his items. This has to be some kind of trick.

"Because that's what I use to call you when you were little. Don't you remember? We all had our little nicknames in school growing up. Your dad was Prongs, there's Wormtail, that damned rat, and of course... Moony," Sirius starts off his sentence excited but trails off just as he did previously. Harry wants to ask if he's ok but the vacant almost dark look Sirius adopts has him stopping himself. Quickly shaking himself Sirius focus is back on Harry, much to his displeasure. "You'll meet him a bit later. When you're settled in."

"W-what do I c-call y-you?"

"My nickname was Padfoot but you can keep calling me Paddy. Do you remember me? Is that why you picked that name?" Sirius inches closer without much thought. It isn't until Harry chokes on another sob that he realizes how close he's gotten to the boy.

"H-how about you go through your trunk to make sure everything is there while I make us some lunch?"

"'m not hungry," Harry pulls his legs even closer to himself. He's not lying. Whenever he gets really stressed or nervous the first thing to go is his appetite.

"You should try to eat something anyway," Sirius frowns trying to think of the last thing he's seen the boy eat. "You threw away half your bowl of cereal this morning. You need to eat."

Harry doesn't say anything, but he knows for sure that he's not eating whatever this man puts in front of him. Roughly 20 minutes later, Harry had gone through his belongings twice and ensured that everything is where it should be including his photo album and wand. Sirius calls Harry into the kitchen where he puts two large pieces of chicken on a plate for each of them.

"Please sit and eat," he tells the child gesturing to the table. Once he sits, Sirius quickly digs into his food. No one could imagine how much he's missed having hot meat when he was locked away, especially when he spent most of his time in his animagus form. "Go on, Harry. Dig in. I can get some more later," he explains when he notices the young Gryffindor just looking at his plate.

"Not hungry," he states.

"You haven't eaten in a while and I know you haven't been feeling well. Please just take a few bites."

Touched and confused by the man's concern, Harry rips a piece of meat off the bird and shoves it into his mouth. Upon tasting how good it is he continues to eat and kick his legs slightly. The fear and anxiety slowly melt so the pair enjoy their meal together.