Misunderstandings, Miscommunications and Logic
Remus Lupin thought of himself as many things but coward was not one. Unfortunately, at that precise moment, he was reconsidering that.
He had the suicidal task of retrieving Harry Potter from Privet Drive, the summer after his fifth year and to take him back to the wizarding world.
The problem was that he had stayed at his relative's house for the whole summer and not just a few weeks as he was supposed to. This was due to 'safety measures that had to be taken at last moment and couldn't be discussed with him.' Those were the words Albus Dumbledore had said when he announced the news to the order.
The main problem was that they had assured Harry that he would be spending his birthday with his friends and that ANY decision would be discussed with him.
So now, Remus had the mission to get him straight to the school, as for safety measures, it was risky for him to take the train.
Actually, that was the best way to delay Harry from finding out three things that had been hidden from him: a summer quidditch camp to which he was invited; the reading of Sirius Black's last will and the lift of the ban for the use of magic for underage wizards.
The first was due to the fact that he would NEVER agree to not go and they didn't think it was good to have him somewhere away from their watch. Curiously, they had sent Ron on his place. Remus never understood why it was safe to send the redhead instead of Harry and no one could answer that either.
The second matter was more complicated as no one had any idea of what Sirius had written on his will and, more specifically, what he had decided about his godson's future. It turned out that Sirius emancipated him and that was not good according to Albus.
"We need Harry to help us and it's not good that he had the freedom to do whatever he wants. He needs guidance," the aged wizard said seriously.
"And you'll guide him like last year, Albus? Or this year you'll show your true face?" Minerva asked with a thick tone of voice. Few people inside the order were happy about how he had managed Harry's situation the past year and now they were voicing it very loudly. Minerva was one of the loudest members that did it, with Remus close behind.
Instead of answering, Albus did what he did best: ignore the opinion and change the topic to something different. Unfortunately, that didn't go unnoticed to anyone.
The third matter was the most simple: Harry alone with his relatives for month and with the chance to use his wand was the same that a disaster ready to happen.
So now, the werewolf had the task of talking to the teen and taking him to school. Also, he had to do his best to calm him down before he met the headmaster and some other members of the order.
So, he apparated inside the teen's room, only to find him wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, reading a book of muggle chemistry and his things all around. That was the first signal of problems to Remus. (Actually it was the first inside the room because he knew that there would be LOTS of problems.)
"Harry…" Remus started to say, but the teen raised his hand, asking silence as he continued reading. The man sighed and tried again, "Harry…"
"Can't you wait for a minute? I'm doing something, if you didn't notice," the teen said seriously.
Knowing that pressing him would only make the matters worse, Remus remained quiet for ten minutes. That was when Harry closed the book and put it aside.
"Isn't it a bit late to catch the train?" The teen asked as checked his watch: it was almost one o'clock.
"There was a change of plans and I'm here to take you to Hogwarts," Remus said seriously.
"I'm afraid that there is a misunderstanding here, Lupin," Harry said seriously, adding the last word with venom on his voice.
"Which one?" Remus asked, having notice his tone of voice very clearly.
"What gave you the idea I would be returning to Hogwarts?" Harry asked with sarcasm.
"Listen, we know that you are angry with us right now. But we can explain all of this," Remus said, as he paled with his words and what it meant.
"I'm sure that you can do it, Lupin, I'm sure of it. Unfortunately, it's not your time to speak," Harry said before he continued, "It seems that there have been a lot of… misunderstandings between you and me during the summer. I mean, I can't read one of the letters that you sent me without finding at least one," the teen said, inviting Remus to sit down as he wanted to go through the letters.
"We can do that later, ok?" Remus asked, but he shut up as he found the teen's wand pointed into the middle of his eyes. He immediately sat down without another word.
"Let's start with this: 'Harry, don't worry, you'll be out of your relatives' house before your birthday'. It's connected also to this one: 'You'll be there not more than a few weeks. You'll be out before you realize it,'" the teen said reading the letters. Then he added with sarcasm, "What should I have realized? I never understood that." Then he added with more sarcasm, "I liked your gifts, man. I really loved them."
Remus said nothing. After all, they hadn't sent him a gift, just the promise that he would have a party as soon as he was out. That was supposed to happen two days before Albus set the wards around the house: wards that stopped the teen from crossing the door and kept him inside Privet Drive all the time.
"Let's continue, shall we?" Harry asked, as he took another letter, "I loved this one: 'Don't worry, we won't repeat last year's mistakes,'" Then he added, "The good news is that you didn't repeat. This year, they were worse! And that's something that I could never consider possible, trust me."
"Harry…" Remus started to say, but the student raised his hand to shut him up once more.
"You'll have the chance to talk, relax," Harry said before he took another parchment, "Let's see this one: 'We won't take any decision without discussing it with you before. Everything will be agreed to between you and us before anything happens,." Then the hero took two parchments and gave them to Remus, "The funniest part here is that I don't remember sending those letters. And as obviously they are replies, I don't remember receiving the first ones, either."
Remus didn't need to read them to know what they were: the 'replies' that the managers of the quidditch camp and the goblins had received about their letters. In the first one, 'Harry' stated that he couldn't go due to personal issues and gave his place to Ron. The second was similar, but he named Albus as representative of him at the meeting.
"Do you know what's the funniest part abut Sirius' will?" Harry asked with a twisted smile. When Remus looked at him with curiosity, the teen said, "It turns out that when I had to be on the tournament, I was declared of age. You see, I didn't need his will read to be emancipated. Isn't it ironic?" Then he added: "By the way, I also know that I can do magic. If I haven't cursed you yet, it's because for some reason my parents considered you a good friend and I'm holding myself for their respect. Give me one little reason, and I'll stop doing so. Are we clear?"
"Clear," Remus said with a sigh and knowing that now, he was under the teen's mercy.
"Let's continue with the letters and let's jump straight to the one in which I was informed about my imprisonment," Harry said taking a new parchment and scanning it. When he found it, he said, "Here is the part that I looked for: 'If you have any emergency and need to contact us, please inform Mrs. Figg and the guard that will be there every day.'" Then he asked, "Why did you need to leave a guard here if I couldn't leave the house? I fail to see the reason."
"It was to tell us if you needed to send a message," Remus said with another sigh.
As answer, Harry burst out in laughter and gave him a tape recorder with two earphones. With his hand, the teen invited him to listen it and Remus pressed the 'play' button.
"I wasn't aware of this," Remus tried to say, as now he was paler than ever. He had just heard Harry talking to Snape and the teen saying that he NEEDED to talk to Dumbledore immediately. Snape dismissed him saying that the Headmaster was busy and had no time 'to waste with a brat that can't take simple orders.'
"Listen to the next recording," Harry said waving his hand and motioning to the recorder. Remus took a breath and pressed 'play' again.
It wasn't one recording, there were SEVEN of them. Each was of a phone call between Harry and Arabella in which the teen insisted on his need to talk to Albus and the squib saying that it was impossible. In the last one, the woman suggested that Harry send him an owl before hanging up the phone.
"That was funny, especially, since you kidnapped my owl," Harry said with sarcasm before he asked, "Do you know why I needed to talk to Dumbledore so urgently?"
"No, but I guess that you'll tell me," Remus said with sarcasm.
"Let's use logic here," Harry said, ignoring his tone of voice. "Dumbledore said on his letter that I had to remain here as there was some kind of issues with the wards. Am I correct?"
"They were very weak and no one knew why," the werewolf said with a nod. He knew Albus had talked to Filius and Bill about that matter, but the three had no idea of the reason or how to fix it.
"I have the feeling that this might help," Harry said as he gave him a piece of paper. This time it wasn't a parchment, it was a piece of muggle paper.
"Shit!" Remus curse as he finished it.
The paper was a letter written by Petunia and informing Harry that the family was leaving Europe as Vernon got a promotion and they were being sent to Australia.
Then he checked the date and saw that the letter was from the day after Harry sent his last letter to the order. The next day, Albus set the wards and Hedwig was 'kidnapped.' Obviously, Harry had no way to get in touch with them to tell them this, especially, after Severus and Arabella didn't inform the Order about his attempts to talk to them.
"Let's forget about everything else. I want YOU to explain HOW you missed something like that," Harry ordered Remus seriously.
"You want the truth?" Remus asked and the teen nodded. "I can't explain it to myself. So don't ask me to explain it to you."
"And I have to thank you for the sincerity," Harry asked with sarcasm. Before the werewolf answered, the teen continued, "So, as you can see, there have been a LOT of misunderstandings and miscommunications between, you, me and everyone else. After all, we are human being and we make mistakes, right?"
Remus said nothing as he was wondering how he would explain all of this to everyone. And he could also see how would be blamed: Albus!
"You see, I decided to use your logic about my safety. And with that, and not because of the letters, misunderstandings and everything else, you'll know why I'm dropping out of Hogwarts. And for once, it's very, very, very simple and easy to understand. Do you want to hear it?" The teen asked with a sweet smile.
"Go ahead. Perhaps I can use that explanation later with the order," Remus commented with a sarcastic smile.
"Ok, let's start with the three things that you hid from me. After all, they are the key of the matter," Harry said taking again the 'replies' that he had 'sent'.
"Now, that you didn't tell me that I could use magic is something easy to understand. Obviously, if I could do magic while locked here with my family it would have been VERY dangerous for them," Harry said seriously.
"Actually, the bet was that they wouldn't survive a week," Remus commented with a twisted laughter.
"You give me too much credit," the teen said with sarcasm before he added, "They wouldn't have reached the third day." Then he continued, "Let's talk about the quidditch camp first.
"I know from first hand that quidditch can be VERY dangerous, so I can understand that you were worried about my safety there. But if you see the logical side, you'll see that it's more than just that.
"The things are like this: if you say quidditch, you'll think of a team. If you think of a team, you'll think of a House team. If you think of a house, the first thing that comes into your mind is Gryffindor. That is connected to Hogwarts," Harry said before he added, "If you use that logic, Remus, Hogwarts is dangerous."
"I can't disagree," Remus said, as he processed everything that he had said and saw that it had some logic.
"Wait till you hear about the will, and you'll see that I'm right," the teen assured him, before he continued:
"So, the will was read at Gringotts. If someone mentions Gringotts, then you think about Diagon Alley. The alley usually means shopping. Shopping is ALWAYS connected to supplies. Those supplies mean school. And school means Hogwarts," Harry said before he summed it up, "So, using the same logic that you use, if going to Gringotts for the reading of Sirius' will is not safe for me, going to Hogwarts is dangerous." Then he asked, "Do you see the logic here?"
"So if you follow that logic and Hogwarts is dangerous…" Remus said suddenly.
"…The WW is dangerous too." Harry said with a nod before he added: "And, as my safety is the most important thing and I HAVE to stay away from anything that could threaten my life, I HAVE to leave FOREVER." Then the teen took his backpack and said, "Happy life in hell!" He pointed his wand to it and was gone.
"How the hell shall we explain this to the world?" Remus asked to himself, as he took all the parchments and the recordings and left.
… … … …
When Remus entered Dumbledore's office inside Hogwarts, he found the whole order waiting for him and Harry.
"He's gone," the former teacher said to everyone before they asked where Harry was.
"What do you mean, gone?" Everyone asked at the same time.
"You better watch this," Remus said, before he went to the Pensieve and put there the memory of what had happened at Harry's room.
As soon as everyone heard, they started to blame each other, but mainly Albus and Severus as the first had locked him there and the second should have informed them that he wanted to talk to them.
As everyone discussed and shouted to each other, Remus sighed. Harry's logic was right and he would be safer out of the school than on it. Now they had to worry about two things: how to kill Voldemort without him and how to tell the world that they had screwed up everything so much.
"Good luck, Harry," Remus muttered to himself.