"Professor, Potter's got an Auto-Answer Quill." Lucius Malfoy's brat drawled across the classroom. Remus Lupin was teaching the third year Gryffindor/Slytherin group. They were taking a quiz, so Remus was surprised to see that Harry was indeed holding a shiny silver colored cheat quill.
Harry. James and Lily's son. His godson, Lily and James had given their son two godfathers. His cub. His wolf had claimed Harry as his own the day the child was born and that was why being separated from him was so difficult.
"Harry, as this is a quiz, I'm going to have to confiscate the quill, take five points from Gryffindor, and you're going to have to restart. Give me the quill." Harry looked slightly panicked.
"I can't do that Professor." Harry said quietly.
"Why not?" he asked, honestly surprised. Harry was generally a well behaved child. The young Gryffindor looked around frantically.
"If I put it away, can we talk after class?" he asked hesitantly. Remus nodded his assent and watched as his cub put the quill in his bag and pulled out a standard quill. He handed the boy a new parchment and walked back to his desk. The class passed quickly after that. They finished the quiz and Remus had them start their homework. A 12 inch essay on three Dark Creatures they had learned about so far. The bell rang all of the students left, bar Harry and Hermione.
"Go on Hermione. It's Professor Lupin, I'll just explain the situation and hope he doesn't freak out. He shouldn't I mean, he's a very rational person." he heard Harry saying. He smiled slightly, glad that his Cub felt comfortable talking to him, but was unsettled that the boy might say something that would make him 'freak out'. Hermione left and Harry made his way to the desk.
It was quite remarkable just how much Harry looked like James, but if one knew where to look, you could see Lily as well. He had her eyes of course, his face was rounder, like her's, and if the light hit it just right, you could just barely see the red highlights in the boy's untidy black hair. As a baby, the similarities to his mother had been more pronounced. His voice was similar to Lily's along with his temperament. His fierce loyalty was the mark of both elder Potters.
There was an awkward silence as they stared at each other. Harry pulled the quill from the bag.
"This isn't an Auto-Answer Quill, it's a quill Hermione got me for my birthday while she was in France. It's made of Occamy egg shells." his student explained. Lupin paled, surely his godson didn't know. Occamy egg shells we're silver and as a Lycanthrope, silver would burn him.
"Why couldn't you tell me this during class?" he asked quietly.
"You would've wanted to check right?"
"Yes. Is that an issue?" Remus inquired, knowing he would have had big problems if Harry had given him that quill in class. Harry paused for a moment, as a determined looked settled onto his face.
"IknowaboutyourLycanthropy." the boy replied in one breath. He inhaled sharply and briefly wondered if he was about to lose his job. If being around him made Harry uncomfortable he'd leave. It was why he had never visited the boy. It was also why Remus was now looking determinedly at his hands. He couldn't look into his Godson's eyes and see disgust directed at him. Disgust for what he was, for what he became every full moon. Remus braced himself. Although he heard the child, he couldn't distinguish any emotion in his voice.
"Pardon?" the Professor said politely shifting his gaze to the desk.
"I know about your Lycanthropy." Harry repeated. That time, Remus noticed multiple things. First of all, there was no disgust, merely uncertainty when Harry said this and secondly, he had said 'Lycanthropy' and not 'Werewolf' meaning he had done at least a little bit of research. He was concerned that Harry hadn't done enough though, as he didn't seem even slightly phased about the fact that his Professor wasn't entirely human.
"Oh." he replied. "Harry, I- does that, er, make you uncomfortable?"
"What? Why would you think that? I don't by into the werewolf prejudices if that's it. " the younger wizard told him, spitting the word 'werewolf' distastefully. Remus tentatively looked up. The only expression on Harry's face was confusion.
"It's just that you seemed rather nervous to talk to me about this." he explained.
"Well I was but not because of you. I didn't want to alienate you or something. Hermione reminds me frequently how tactless I am. Another reason was that you thought I was cheating on a test and Professor, you're scary when your angry. I guess it's because of your 'inner wolf' so to speak, but your eyes turn from dark amber to almost gold. It's awesome. But, you go quiet and far too calm, or you say you're disappointed which is so much worse" Remus laughed slightly. "Professor, can I ask you something?" Harry asked timidly.
"Of course, Harry." the Professor told him. Harry reached into his bag and pulled out a small book. The boy flipped through it, before evidently finding what he wanted. He put on the desk and Remus gasped. It was a picture from his seventh year. It was Lily, James, Peter Pettigrew, Alice Longbottom(née Prewett), Frank Longbottom, Marlene Mckinnon, Himself, and Sirius Black.
"Do I know you outside of this year, because you seem familiar, your always staring at me, and your in this picture with my parents." It wasn't an accusation, just a question. He sighed.
"Yes. I'm going to tell you a story, Harry. The story of the Marauder era." Remus said. Harry's eyes widened slightly and his mouth formed a silent 'oh'.
"Moony," he whispered, so quietly, Remus was sure he'd heard wrong. Harry looked at him. "Were the Marauders up to no good? Would they solemnly swear it?" Lupin's jaw dropped. Harry had the map. Of all the Hogwarts students to end up with it, it was Harry. He shook his head with a smile.
"Of course. Someone had to get the mischief managed." Harry's eyes lit up.
"Mr. Moony?" he asked.
"Indeed, Mr. Prongslet. So, back to the story. I was bitten at an early age and that day, all dreams of going to Hogwarts were gone. When I was ten, we received an owl from Professor Dumbledore. I could go to Hogwarts on a few conditions. I was to tell no one about my illness and I had a designated place to transform. The Shrieking Shack."
"I thought that place was haunted?" Harry interjected.
"No, that was me. With nothing else to bite, I would bite and scratch myself, causing the howling. So anyhow, I was ecstatic, I could go to school. On the platform, I met a boy named Peter Pettigrew. He was just as nervous as I and so we found a compartment with three other boys and a girl in it. James Potter, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and-" he sighed. "Sirius Black."
"That's how it happened." Harry muttered to himself.
"How what happened?" Remus asked.
"He's my Godfather." Remus froze.
"Um, well, er- I am too." he finally stuttered. Harry's head snapped up and smiled hugely.
"You are?" he asked brightly. Remus nodded. "Wicked!" the boy exclaimed. Remus beamed.
"So, your father and Si- Black were discussing houses and offended Severus. He left, as did your mother. I rode the entire ride with those three, cracking jokes, playing games, and in general having a good time." Harry nodded. "I always missed lessons the day after the moon and my friends didn't fail to notice. In second year they figured out what I am-" Harry interrupted.
"No, they already knew what you were, Remus Lupin, their best friend. All they figured out was that you also happen to be a Lycanthrope." he said hotly.
"Okay then, they figured out that I'm a Lycanthrope and I was terrified that they wouldn't want to be my friend. Actually, I was wrong. They became animagi and we became the Marauders. Your father was Prongs, a stag, Peter was Wormtail, a rat, and Black was Padfoot, a huge, bear-like black dog." Harry's eyes went wide and he swore, loudly. The boy then blushed when he realized he had sworn in front of, not only his Professor, but his godfather.
"Sorry Professor, but I've seen a huge black dog twice since Black escaped. This also means that if he was trying to kill me he's very bad at it. I saw him the first time in a dark street, alone. He was also at the quidditch match." This time it was Remus who swore, followed by a blush. Harry smirked at him.
"What are you up to Sirius?" he muttered. He turned to Harry. "Well, now you know. If you see it again, run. We don't know that it's Black but it's better to be safe than sorry. Back to the story. The were my best friends. Every full moon we would run around together." Harry's eyes lit up.
"And because they were in animal form, they couldn't be infected! Brilliant!" the boy said, awed. Remus was impressed too, but for different reasons. Harry really had done a lot of research on Lycanthropy.
"Yes. After we graduated, your parents were married and you were born, so they went into hiding." Remus was careful to avoid mentioning the prophecy.
"And they were under the Fidelius Charm, chose the wrong secret keeper, and Black betrayed them." Harry finished for him, bitterly. He nodded and opened a drawer to his desk, pulling out a small photo album. He flipped through it until he found a picture of the Marauders, three in animagus for, one a human, and copied it. He gave the copy to Harry who took it gingerly and added it to his own album, which he shrunk and put in his pocket. He grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote Harry and excuse for being late to his next class.
"Thanks for the picture Professor."
"You're welcome Harry, and as your Godfather, I think you can call me Remus in private." he told the boy with a smile. Harry nodded and made to leave. He stopped at the door.
"Pro- Remus, as I wasn't cheating, do you think Gryffindor could have those points back?" Remus laughed.
"Of course Harry. Five points to Gryffindor for your quick thinking during class. There would have been a serious issue if anyone had seen the silver burn me."
"Thanks. By the way, Hermione knows but we aren't telling Ron. He'd be a prat about it." Harry said with a smile as he walked out. As the door swing shut Remus breathed a sigh of relief. That went well.