September 1986

"Moony," called six-year-old Harry who was standing next to the bed that held the resting body of Remus.

"Moony, wake up. Let's play." Harry tried again, using his little hands to shake his godfather. The only response the little boy received was a soft groan from Remus as he rolled over away from the child.

Harry frowned and was about to climb on the bed with the intention of jumping on the exhausted man but was picked up by soft hands and removed from the room and taken to his own room. He looked up into the eyes of his neighbor, Annie, who always watched him when his Moony was sick or working late and couldn't pick him up from school. She stayed over last night too while Moony was away for the night.

Annie was the only No-Maj who accepted and knew about magic and was not obliviated when the Ministry found out about her. Remus had to jump through various hoops to keep the girl from losing her memories. She was so good with Harry and honestly, without her, Remus wouldn't have survived raising Harry. The first two years were rough for the werewolf and the then-senior in high school saw the new father struggling with a three-year-old Harry who was quite spectacularly throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of parking lot. She knew how her parents would have dealt with such behavior and it looked to her that the man before her had just about reached that point, but she quickly intervened, introducing herself and then taking Harry's hands and playing a quick game with him, effectively quieting him down. Remus, amazed and grateful beyond belief, asked for her name and offered to drive her home. She jokingly stated that it was a bit strange for a teenager to get into a car with a man she never met before, even if he had an adorable kid, to which Remus blushed as he too realized that his offer was a bit sketchy. However, Annie smiled and gladly took him up on his offer as she told him that she knew he lived across the street from her and she had missed the last bus helping to calm Harry down.

That was the start of a friendship between the wizard and the young No-Maj. It grew more when Remus frantically asked her to watch Harry one weekend as he had no one else to ask to watch his child while he went to do some "errands". She gladly accepted but when Remus didn't return the next morning or afternoon, she went over to the house only to see him sprawled out on his floor, naked. He looked completely beat up and bruised and she thought he was dead until she heard him groan softly. Quickly she got a blanket off the couch and covered him while turning him over and asked him what should she do. That's when Annie learned about potions and bruise balms, something normal humans didn't use. When she saw the bruises starting to fade slightly after applying the cream, she demanded to know what was going on and learned from a weary and extremely exhausted Remus about the magical world. From that day on, she was the only person Remus entrusted to watch over his god-son on full moons.

"Harry, why don't we let your uncle Remus sleep for now? He's not feeling well today," Annie said with a smile as she let Harry slide down her body to stand on the floor.

"But I wanna play with Moony," Harry said as he pouted and crossed his arms.

"You can play with Remus later, Harry. For now, why don't we play with your trains or your quidditch men?" Annie suggested as she picked up the toys to try to pacify Harry.

Harry, however, wanted none of that and instead crawled onto his bed and hid under the covers. Annie smiled. She wished she could give the adorable kid everything he wanted but there was nothing she could do. She sat on the bed and placed her hand where one of Harry's tiny feet rested.

"Do you want to play with your toys or perhaps read with me?"

The covered head shook back and forth negatively.

"Do you want to go flying?" Annie asked knowing it was one of Harry's favorite activities.

Another shake of the covered head was her answer. Stumped and out of entertaining ideas for the little boy, Annie sighed before giving the foot a gentle squeeze.

"Alright, Harry. When you're ready to play I'll be downstairs doing some work." With that, Annie left Harry alone in his room.

Surprisingly, it took Harry fifteen minutes to reappear from under his covers. He poked his head out to see that Annie truly did leave him alone. He climbed off his bed and went into the hallway, trying to find something interesting to do. His toys were fin, but only when Moony played with him or his friend Tyga came over to play. Harry stood in the hall looking around, but the only interesting thing was the closet with the linen. He thought about checking out the potions cabinet but he knew that he would be in big trouble if he played or touched anything in there without Moony's permission. With a huff of frustration at his boredom, Harry started to go back to his room. He stopped when the shadow of a ball began to swing under him. He looked up to see the ball attached to a string and the string was attached to a door.

Curiosity was a fault of Harry's and it almost always got him a stern talking to or a few swats on his behind because he would put himself in danger. Not on purpose of course, but it happened and his uncle would have to save him or get him out from a place he shouldn't have wandered into. Now he was thinking to himself if investigating that door would get him into trouble, but he couldn't help wondering what was up there. Standing on his toes, Harry reached up to grab the ball, but it was, of course, too far away. Harry glared at the offending ball that he couldn't reach. If only it would open by itself!

Suddenly the door opened and gently settled on the floor revealing stairs. Harry tilted his head at the door opening by itself before realizing that he was a wizard with magic. With an exasperated sigh at himself, the six-year-old slowly made his way up the stairs.

'It's really dark up here,' Harry observed as he looked around the room. There were boxes everywhere and from what Harry could read on them, most of them were his. He saw a few boxes marked "Remus" in his godfather's loopy yet neat handwriting. His disappointment grew after each box he opened. The ones with his name on it had some old toys and clothes he couldn't fit anymore, while all of Moony's boxes had papers, clothes, or books, and there were more book boxes than clothes ones. Leaving the last box opened, Harry turned his head to look around the room once more. Nothing seemed particularly interesting and the six-year-old begrudgingly made his way to the entrance of the attic. He stopped when something hiding away in the dark corner behind the door to the attic caught his attention. The writing on the outside read "Godric's Hollow, Harry's things" on it in handwriting that Harry didn't recognize. Not that he would be able to read the other words. He was good at reading for his age but his skills weren't that good and all he could make out was "Harry's things" on the box. The first thing he saw when he opened the box was an old blue blanket with a lion and his name embroidered in gold at the bottom right corner. Harry picked it up and draped it around his neck as he continued to rummage through the box. There was something familiar and comforting about the blanket that Harry wanted to keep it close.

It wasn't long before Harry stopped again, this time with a photo in his hand. Remus was standing on the right with his hand on another man's shoulder. He had short black hair that reached his shoulders and gray eyes that looked just as happy as the other people in the picture. That man's arm was around the shoulders of a woman with red hair and green eyes who was holding a baby in her arms and slightly leaning against the last man in the picture who wore glasses. Everyone was smiling and waving at him. Harry smiled as well.

"Harry?"

The young wizard turned to face the voice that called him. Annie stood on one of the steps looking at Harry, though Harry could only see a shadow of her due to her blocking the light from the hallway. "What are you doing up here?"

"s'plorin," the six-year-old mumbled as he stood up from the box. "Look what I found, Annie," he showed the young woman the picture with Remus and the other people standing together in front of a house. Annie smiled at the people waving at her.

"That's a nice picture, Harry. Why don't we take it downstairs so we can see it better?"

"Do you know who these people are, Annie?" Harry asked standing at the top of the stairs. Annie turned to the boy and took the picture from him. Of course, she didn't know anyone in the photo except for Remus, but she didn't want to just brush Harry aside as if his question was a silly childish one.

"No, I can't say that I know anyone in the picture except your uncle Remus," she said as she handed the picture back. "Now, how about we go outside and play in the leaves? We can make a pile and take turns jumping in them."

Harry smiled and agreed. Once he put the picture and blanket away in his room, he put on his shoes and jacket then ran outside to join his babysitter.

~*R.L.~*H.P.~*R.L.~*

"Thank you again for watching Harry, Annie. I'm sorry that I was completely out of it today." Remus said as he helped the younger woman with her coat.

"There's no need to thank me or apologize, Remus. I love watching Harry. He's so angelic and well behaved."

"I'm glad to hear that. He really is a good kid." Remus responded as he thought fondly of his child.

The two of them stood at the door talking a bit more before Annie picked up her bag and left to go home. Remus walked into the kitchen to start cleaning up the dinner dishes. Annie was nice enough to put a plate in the over for him as he didn't get up from resting until just a little while ago. Harry was in the tub splashing about, no doubt making a mess, but that was one of the many joys of being a parent. So long as your child was having fun, some messes were fine and easy to clean.

"Moony!"

And speaking of his child…

Remus set the dishes to wash and dry themselves before walking upstairs to the bathroom where a pool of water awaited his sock-clad feet. Harry was looking over the lip of the tub with wide innocent eyes and an "oh" on his lips. Remus sighed causing Harry to look up.

"Moony, the tub leaked out."

"Yes, I'm sure it did. It also looks like it had help from a certain little boy inside of the tub." Remus commented as he waved his wand to dry the water while grabbing a towel.

"I wonder who that boy could be," Harry smiled as he held up his arms for Remus to pick him up out of the tub. Remus groaned playfully and made a show of Harry being heavy as he placed his very wet child on the bathroom mat. Harry giggled as he started to dry his body.

"You're old, Moony."

"Old? You little scamp. I think you need a lesson in manners." Remus said, positioning his fingers to tickle his god-son.

"No! Not the tickle monster!" Harry squealed as he ran out of the bathroom, dropping his towel in the process.

Remus picked up the towel, chuckling as he placed it on the rack to dry before leaving the bathroom. It wasn't hard to locate his cub who was giggling under a pile of clothes in his bedroom closet. Even without his innovative cub's method of pulling all of his clothes off the rack to hide, Remus would have been able to smell the boy out. Perks of being a werewolf, Mari would often tease him when he complained about his heightened senses. Tiptoeing across the room, Remus slowly opened the ajar closet door. With a loud "gotcha!" Remus scooped the naked, squealing child out of the closet, tickling him until Harry called out "mercy".

Remus waited until Harry caught his breath before telling the child to put on some pajamas. Harry crawled off the bed still giggling and made his way to the dresser to pull out some underwear and pajamas with pictures of various cartoon monsters on them. He crawled back onto his bed where Remus had already pulled the covers back for him. After being tucked in, Harry moved his hand under his pillow to get comfortable and felt the photograph he had placed there earlier. In his earlier excitement, Harry had forgotten about the photograph from the attic. He pulled it from under the fabric and handed it to his godfather. "Moony, who are these people?"

Remus looked at the picture and inhaled sharply. It had been a very long time since he had seen this picture; the last time being five years ago when he returned to Godric's Hollow for Harry's things before forcing custody from the Dursleys to himself. He had put the picture away along with Harry's other baby things from England as, selfishly, it was too painful to look at the items that reminded him of his friends and the betrayal of that night.

The older wizard swallowed and allowed his lungs to breath before clearing his throat. "Harry, where did you get this?" Of course, Remus knew exactly where the child acquired the photo from, but it was a rule of his to always ask Harry questions instead of accusing the child of wrongdoing. It's worked all of these years and Harry normally tells the truth when asked a question. He wasn't going to ruin the child's streak of telling the truth by lashing out just because he was emotional.

The child in question looked at Remus inquisitively. "I found it upstairs in the attic. It was in a box." When Remus didn't reply, Harry put his head down contritely. "Am I in trouble?" he asked. He never meant to upset his god-father. He was just curious about the attic and then that box had so many interesting things in it.

Remus finally pulled his eyes away from the picture at Harry's question. His heart constricted at the crestfallen face. Shifting his body at an angle, Remus pulled Harry onto his lap. He gently ran his fingers through the boy's unruly hair.

"You're not in trouble, cub." Looking at the picture, Remus sighed before moving the picture closer to Harry. "The people in this picture are very special, Harry." He pointed to James, "This is your father, James Potter. He was an amazing and incredibly nice person…at times. Just like you, he loved to fly and was very skilled on a broom. He was quite the prankster like a little boy I know, but they were always harmless."

"Was he fun?" Harry asked.

"Very much so. There was never a time where we weren't laughing or having fun in between classes or the common room."

"What's a common room?"

"It's a place where students gathered to do homework or to relax with their friends at the school I went to with your parents." Remus answered fondly as he remembered his time at school.

"Oh," Harry replied as he ran a little finger over his father's face. He moved the same finger over Lily's face. "Is that my mommy?"

"Yes," Remus replied hoarsely. He cleared his throat and replied with a stronger "Yes, that woman is your mother, Lily." Harry continued to look at the picture before looking at Remus expectantly, who smiled gently at the picture.

"Your mother was amazing. She was the brightest witch of our age group and top of our class. She seriously disliked bullies and would defend anyone, even those who once bullied her. She has quite the temper though, similar to a little boy I know…"

"Can I meet him?" Harry interrupted.

Remus looked confused at his god-son. "Who?"

"The boy you keep talking about. He sounds really fun!"

Remus laughed loudly. Harry looked up at his godfather with a smile. "Do you feel better, Moony?" he asked causing Remus to stop laughing as he made eye contact with Harry. "Yes, but why do you ask?"

The six-year-old shrugged. "Dunno. I guess 'cuz you seemed really sad when you talked about my mom and dad."

Silence enclosed the bedroom. Remus wanted to kick himself for letting his emotions show to the child on his lap. It was his job to protect Harry and his feelings, not the other way around. He kissed the top of the little boy's head. He had to do better with hiding his emotions from Harry. Children shouldn't have to concern themselves with the woes and worries of their parents, yet the ever-perceptive child on his lap always seemed to know when Remus was feeling down.

"I'm alright now, cub." Remus responded after clearing his throat again. Harry looked up at the man holding him. He couldn't tell him if his god-father was telling the truth or not, but he didn't ask again as he wanted to know about the last man in the photo. He put his finger on the third man.

"Moony, who is this?"

Harry felt Remus tense, tightening his hold on the little boy who looked up at him curiously. "Moony?"

Remus jumped slightly at Harry calling his name. He sighed, regulating his breathing as he adjusted his hold on his child. Memories of his time as a boy in school with James, Peter, and Sirius swirled through his head, followed brutally by the news of Sirius' betrayal and Lily and James' death. As vehemently as Sirius was about hating Voldemort and dark wizards, and how adamant he was about becoming an Auror to fight against the dark side, it came as a strong blow to Remus to find out that Sirius would turn the Potters over to that madman.

"Moony, who is this man?" Harry asked again. Remus closed his eyes and sighed once more.

"That man, Harry, is Sirius Black. He used to be a friend of ours, your parents and I, until the day he betrayed your mum and dad."

Harry moved his finger over Sirius's face. "How did he betray them?"

Remus hesitated again, wondering how far he should go with this story. He personally didn't want to discuss Sirius or that night, especially with Harry. Who knew how the child would take the information? As it was, Harry was already suffering from random nightmares of that night. Telling the child about the man who essentially was the cause of his parent's death and almost his own would surely cause the child to suffer even worse nightmares.

"Moony…" Harry whined, tired of his godfather's constant pauses.

"I don't think you're old enough to hear this, Harry."

"Yes, I am. I wanna know how he betrayed my parents." Harry replied with a whine while kicking his feet under the covers.

"Harry, enough." Remus admonished.

"But you won't finish telling me the story," Harry pouted.

Remus contemplated telling the child 'no' and putting him to bed, tears or not. He wasn't one to tolerate tantrums and his cub knew it, but he also figured it would be beneficial for Harry to know about his other god-father even at this young of an age…regardless of his initial thoughts that telling this story would scare Harry.

"Alright, alright. You win this time, but no more whining, understand?"

Harry nodded before snuggling closer to Remus, eager to hear the story. With another sigh, Remus began the abridged tale of Sirius Black.

"Sirius was our friend during our years at school. Your father and Sirius were inseparable, almost like how you and Tyga are so close. Where one was, the other was as well. Both Sirius and James wanted to become Aurors to fight against dark wizards, and they did. The head of the MLE…"

"What's MLE?"

"Magical Law Enforcement. It's very similar to police officers in the no-maj world, and both James and Sirius were two of the best Aurors on the force, even as newcomers. James took a leave of absence after you were born, meaning he decided to stay home with you and your mum as the war was getting worse, but Sirius didn't have a family to protect and he continued to fight. He truly was one of the best," Remus paused and shifted Harry a bit before continuing, "the last time I saw your parents and Sirius was right around your first birthday. Sometime in August I was sent to do some work and wasn't around. Times were dark then. So very dark that everyone was in hiding. Trying to see friends and family was a major risk to everyone involved," another pause, "the next time I saw you, Harry, was when I picked you up from your Aunt and Uncle's house in Surrey, England, and then we moved here to America."

"Oh…" Harry said softly. "Uncle Remus?"

"Harry," Remus hugged the child to him. He was prepared for an onslaught of tears as Harry only called him 'uncle' or 'dad' when he was upset. Instead, Remus got, But how did he betray my mom and dad?"

A little shocked at the question, Remus answered, "The paper said that Sirius was the secret keeper for your parents. He was supposed to keep where you and your parents lived a secret and he told Voldemort where you were. Sirius went to the dark side for power."

"How do you know?"

"What do you mean? The paper…"

"How do you know that Sirius did that?" Harry asked as he sat up a little. "Did you ask him?"

"Well, no…but," Remus stammered.

Harry turned around to look Remus in the face. "Then how do you know that he is a bad man?"

"The paper said that he told Voldemort," Remus started to explain again but was once again interrupted.

"Uncle Remus, did Sirius get…um…that thing where bad people are in a room with the grumpy man behind the big desk and other people tell on the bad person?"

Remus thought for a moment at what his child could be thinking about before hesitantly saying, "do you mean a trial?"

"Yes! Did he get one of those things?" Harry asked, his face completely serious.

"I don't think that he did, Harry, but what difference does it make? He did something horrible and was punished for it." Remus said exasperatedly.

"You have to get a…a…trial thing before they put you in jail. That's the law, Uncle Remus." Harry said pointedly.

"Not when the person who did something wrong tells the truth about what they did." Remus weakly replied even though he knew his kid had a point.

Harry stared at Remus for a long time after that remark. With a little huff, he crawled under the covers and turned his back towards his god-father. Remus looked on bemused, wondering what he said to upset his cub. "Harry?"

"I'm not talking to you. Not until you ask Sirius if he really is a bad man or not," came the muffled reply from the six-year-old. "You always tell me not to believe every rumor and to get the facts myself before judging someone, and now you are doing it. You're breaking your own rule, Uncle Remus."

Remus stared flabbergasted at the back of his child. The audacity of this kid! In a way, he knew that Harry was throwing a temper tantrum, something that Remus would not tolerate in his house, but he just couldn't find it in himself to scold Harry when the child had a point. He had nothing to say in reply, so after staring like a fish at the small body under the covers for a few more minutes, Remus bade Harry a goodnight before shutting off the lights, leaving the hallway light dimmed as a nightlight.

Downstairs, Remus dropped onto the couch. He was mentally exhausted from telling Harry about his parents and Sirius and the strange discussion afterward as well as physically exhausted because of the full moon two nights before. As he sat there staring at the photograph he accidentally took from Harry, he couldn't help but wonder if he had been wrong these last five years. Was Sirius innocent and did Remus only go along with what everyone said because he was distraught?

Doubt and guilt filled Remus as he thought about the possibility that his friend was actually innocent of the crime he was imprisoned for this entire time and he wanted answers to this mess. If Sirius was innocent, then he needed to be out of that hell hole. If he was guilty, then Remus would demand answers to the question that had plagued him for the last five years: Why did he betray Lily and James?

He was determined to find out, for his sake as well as Harry's.

~*R.L.~*H.P.~*R.L.~*

A/N: Thanks guys for taking the time to read this! I hope you enjoy the first of three chapters. Harry is a bit too perceptive for a six-year-old but he's still so adorable. I kind of depicted this Harry off of my nephew, my heart. Anywho, Remus will be visiting his old friend very soon. Don't forget to leave a review :D