[Sirius is eleven years old and is spending a week over Christmas at James' house]

"Hey, Sirius, what do you want for lunch?" James called from across the kitchen, opening a couple of wooden cupboards and the fridge.

The young, messy black haired boy quickly got up and joined his friend in the kitchen. The large kitchen window gave a stupendous view on the wide property of the Potters, huge trees towered over the grass and an enormous set of swings and slides was built in the corner. A bit further away, a small lake gently lapped at the slippery, grass banks. There was no snow yet, nor rain, and although the weather was stingingly cold alongside an icy wind it was a beautiful, clear day with a bright blue, cloudless sky.

"Hmm, oh, definitely this." Sirius leaned in towards the fridge and reached for the quiche plate that James' dad had brought home the other day. While pulling the quiche to him, it collided with a big, glass, mixing bowl that contained left over pancake batter from this morning, causing it to topple on the edge of the fridge before crashing to the ground and exploding in thousands of pieces, glass flying everywhere.

Sirius' eyes grew wide with horror, his head spinning with panic. "Oh Merlin, I'm in for it now."

James turned to him. "Hey, mate calm down." he placed on hand on Sirius' shoulder and frowned. "In for what?"

"Well a beating of course! I just broke a probably super expensive glass bowl and made a huge mess of your kitchen." he fixed his gaze on the floor. "Your mum'll probably send me home now."

Footsteps echoed in the stairs and Mrs. Potter appeared in the doorway, hands on her hips. "Who's being sent home?"

"I-I'm so sorry. I tried to reach for the quiche but instead the glass bowl fell to the ground. It was an accident, I swear!" Tears started to roll down Sirius' cheeks as his eyes turned red and blotchy, a knot forming and twisting in his stomach. He could already imagine his mother's furious glare as he was sent home early. She would yell at him, throw him around and lock him in his room. He'd go hungry for days and worst of all Mrs. Potter would never allow him back in her house, she'd forbid James to stay friends with him and he'd be alone. Utterly alone.

"Oh Sirius!" Mrs. Potter sighed and engulfed the sobbing boy into a warm hug, holding on tight as she gently stroked his hair, murmuring softly in his ear. "It's alright, it doesn't matter. It's just a mixing bowl and a bit of pancake batter!"

Sirius raised his head quickly, shocked. "So you're not going to scream at me?"

"Of course not, Sirius, accidents happen. It's happened to James plenty of times!" Mrs. Potter waved her wand at the mess on the kitchen floor and instantly all the glass pieces and batter flew to the bin.

Just as she stuffed her wand back into her pocket, Mr. Potter marched into the kitchen.

"Is anything wrong? I thought I'd heard a crash." Mr. Potter frowned, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist.

Mrs. Potter gave a small, lighthearted  laugh. "Oh, you know our boys, always making trouble."

Sirius gave a soft, relieved sigh, wondering how someone could ever be so gentle and caring.

A/N

Two updates, one day! Have been working on these over the holidays though :) If you have any requests for a one shot or a headcanon please please please comment or pm me. Requests mean more frequent updates obviously...!

Love,
-P