Chapter Four


June 1996

Lupin had been right. Sirius was furious.

The older werewolf had sent a Patronus off to the rest of the Order while Remus shoved an unconscious house-elf inside a small cupboard. Before Lupin left to join Kingsley, Moody, and Tonks—the only members that had sent back any kind of reply—he cast a sleeping spell on Kreacher in case the traitorous thing woke up and made a run for whoever he had betrayed Sirius to. "Likely Bellatrix or Narcissa," Lupin had said before Disapparating from the front step of number twelve.

Remus paced inside, glancing up the staircase and praying to whatever gods would listen that Sirius would not come down until whatever ordeal was happening was over with. Unfortunately, that did not work out too well when the man stormed down the steps, a mirror clutched in his hand.

"What's going on?" Remus asked nervously, ducking to the side and out of Sirius's warpath as the older wizard blazed through the hallway, nearly blasting the kitchen door off its hinges as he made his way to the fireplace, ignoring Remus as he followed behind.

"Harry Potter!" Sirius shouted into the mirror that Remus immediately recognised as one-half of the two-way communicating mirrors that Sirius and James used to speak to one another whenever Professor McGonagall would separate them during detention. When no one answered Sirius's call, he growled fiercely and threw Floo powder into the fireplace. "The Den!" he shouted and then stuck his head inside. "Remus! Moony! You there?!"

"Sirius? What's going on?"

With a frustrated snarl, Sirius pulled himself out of the green flames and looked at him. "You seen . . . er, yourself?" he asked, his eyes filled with stress and worry.

Remus swallowed. "He umm . . . stopped by earlier. Said he had some Order business to deal with," he said, bending the truth and feeling like shit for it. He had lied to Sirius before and knew that his friend lied right back but never about anything like this. And never in such dire circumstances.

"Fuck!" Sirius yelled. "I put a safety ward on Harry before he went back to Hogwarts. Right after Christmas. Lets me know if he's hurt or . . . It's not . . . entirely legal," he added, looking not in the slightest bit guilty. "Damned thing woke me up like a Caterwauling Charm going off in my head not five minutes ago. But I can't leave this bloody house, and someone is supposed to be here to go and check on him since I can't!"

Remus winced. "I . . . Sirius . . . I think he's in the Department of Mysteries." At Sirius's confused expression, he confessed the entire tale, going so far as to open the cupboard where he had stashed the unconscious Kreacher.

Luckily for Remus, Sirius was not completely out of his mind that he would cause harm to his own best friend, twenty years removed or not. He was mad enough to scream and yell and say hurtful things that Remus did not take to heart; Sirius was furious and rightly so. He yelled and shouted obscenities right up to the point where he was stopped from Disapparating to the Ministry of Magic by Tonks. She showed up on the doorstep, looking battle worn with cuts and scrapes on her arms and face, a deep blue shade of hair, and red eyes, though from crying instead of morphing.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, clutching at his chest, anticipating the worst.

"Kingsley's dead. I've . . . I've come to get you. Dumbledore's orders," she said and then looked to Remus. "You as well. Can't leave you alone now, can we?" She tried to offer him a smile but failed miserably at faking one.

"What the fuck happened?" Sirius asked, his anger briefly leaving him only to be replaced with sympathy as he pulled his cousin into a hug. "Is Harry all right?"

Tonks nodded slowly as Sirius let her go. " He's alive and healthy," she said and Sirius sagged with immense relief, actually grasping at his chest with one hand and using the other to lean against the wall. "Boy's right angry, though. Somehow, You-Know-Who put an idea in his head that you'd been snatched up and were being tortured in the Department of Mysteries."

Sirius nodded. "Yes, I was recently informed that Harry tried to call here and got the fucking elf," he said, eyeing Remus with an angry disappointment in his gaze.

"Don't be mad at the kid," she told him. "Both Remuses were right about making you stay put. The older one told me what happened."

Sirius growled. "Yeah well, fuck him," he snapped angrily.

She smirked, her eyes lighting up through her grief a small bit. "Don't think I haven't tried," she said with a tired laugh, and Remus blushed. "Don't worry," she told him. "I'm too old for you."

"Hypocrite," Sirius pointed out, and Tonks smiled while Remus let out a sigh. "So, what happened?" Seeing that she didn't look to be in a good enough state to Apparate again so soon, and the last thing Sirius needed was to have his little cousin splinch herself on the trip, he offered her a chair. Harry was safe and that was what mattered, so Sirius could wait a few minutes to allow Tonks to catch her breath.

She ran a hand through her blue hair which changed to orange as she swept her fingers along the locks that grew in length with the movement. "Right. Well, Harry went off half-cocked to the Ministry after Hermione apparently sent that Umbridge bitch into the Forbidden Forest, and—"

Sirius blinked. "The forest?"

Tonks laughed. "Dumbledore had to have a little treaty with the centaurs. I don't know all the details, but the old toad crossed that little witch in a bad way. Somehow, she and Harry tricked her into going into the Forbidden Forest where they ran into the centaurs and, well . . . You know how Umbridge feels about . . ." Tonks paused and looked at Remus and frowned. "About some people. I guess they up and dragged her off. Then Harry and Hermione plus Ron, Ginny, and two other kids rode fucking thestrals all the bloody way to London!" she said, almost laughing at the preposterousness of it all. "Sneaked into the Ministry, went into the Department of Mysteries, and completely wrecked the place when Death Eaters showed up."

Sirius growled low and fierce at the mention of Death Eaters. "Who? Who was there?"

Remus could feel his own heart beating, the rage inside of him building as he waited to hear whether or not Wormtail had been present. He was not certain if he wanted to know the outcome if Peter had been there. A part of him, the part that had been with Peter just a few weeks ago, tinkering around in Professor Higgs's office, wanted to know that his friend was safe. But knowing the truth—knowing what had happened and what Wormtail had done—Remus could not help but want to hear that Peter had been killed in the battle or at the very least arrested.

"Malfoy, Nott, Dolohov, Mulciber, Crabbe, Avery, Jugson, Macnair, Rookwood . . . the Lestrange brothers. Most were arrested; that's how I know who was who. But Malfoy got away. Fudge approved a warrant for his arrest and to search Malfoy Manor, but we know what's going on there. Who's living there right now. Can't just go in like we're not walking into a trap."

"Wormtail?" Remus whispered.

Tonks shook her head.

"Bellatrix?" Sirius asked.

She nodded and looked down as tears sprung to her eyes once again. "She killed Kings. I . . . I got her, right in the back. She'll live, unfortunately, but hopefully, she'll spend the rest of her life right back in Azkaban where she belongs. That is, if she doesn't escape again."

Sirius looked like he wanted to hit something. Instead, he reached out and pulled his cousin in for a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Dora. I know you and Kings were friends." She nodded and did her best not to cry but let out a sniffle or two. Sirius sighed angrily. "I should have been there."

Tonks snorted and stared at him, wide-eyed. "I'm bloody glad you weren't! Sirius, we were outnumbered. It's only because Dumbledore showed up that any of us survived. Fuck . . . if you were there . . ." She shuddered at the thought. "She would have gone right for you. It was bad. Harry's the least injured of the kids, and when I left he was raging at Dumbledore so loudly, I wouldn't be surprised if someone didn't stun him just to calm him down by the end of the night."

Remus noted immediately that Sirius looked proud at her words.

"Sirius . . . he showed up. You-Know-Who."

Sirius paled at the news. "I want to see Harry," he said immediately.

She nodded. "But, first . . . Sirius, Remus was injured," she said and looked quickly to the younger werewolf. "Other Remus, obviously. He'll live, but . . . it was pretty bad. Malfoy and Bella both hit him. We thought it was a Killing Curse 'cause he fell down some stairs and didn't move. Turns out, it was just a rough stunner, and then he hit his head when he fell. Harry saw it happen and thought that Remus had . . . He went mad, he did," she said, eyes wide. "Went after Malfoy, screaming a few spells I ain't going to repeat or report if you get my meaning." She eyed her cousin carefully as his posture stiffened in response.

"That's when Bellatrix killed Kingsley. You-Know-Who showed up, and Dumbledore and Harry fought him off. At least, that's what I was told. Was too busy myself arresting bloody Death Eaters and trying to Apparate the other kids back to Hogwarts. They'll all live. Ginny cracked her ankle good, and the other two kids are roughed up and bleeding a bit . . . Ron had something leeching off his arms, and he was all funny in the head, and Madam Pomfrey says it was touch and go for Hermione. She got hit with a nasty curse from Dolohov."

Sirius looked like he had aged another ten years, and Remus felt both guilty and relieved that he had kept the man out of this fray. He could not imagine what would have happened had Sirius faced off against his cousin, or what he would have done had he seen Lupin injured in battle or Harry being attacked by Death Eaters.

"But Harry's all right?"

Tonks nodded. "Shaken up. He held up really well. Quite talented, that kid. He's a natural at duelling."

Sirius smiled sadly. "So was his dad."

Remus frowned at the mention of James.

"It's okay that I leave? You're certain?"

Tonks nodded. "Ministry's busy cleaning up the mess. Fudge saw a good portion there at the end. Saw You-Know-Who with his own two eyes. Tried to apologise to Harry there in front of everyone, admitted he was wrong, and started acting like he was ready to rally the troops around Harry and Dumbledore to go wage war." She scoffed. "As though we haven't been fighting one this whole damn year." She rolled her eyes which turned bright blue with the movement. "When Dumbledore turned to take Harry out of there, Fudge realised his mistakes I suppose, calling them out as liars and such; bloody well begged Harry's forgiveness and asked if there was anything he could do to earn back the trust lost."

Sirius growled. "Unfucking likely."

She smirked. "Don't be too sure about that."

"Why?"

Tonks grinned. "I suppose he thought Harry'd ask for a statement in the Daily Prophet, retracting all the nonsense about him being mental, maybe a gift certificate to Honeydukes. But that kid of yours told Fudge that he wanted the murder of his parents properly investigated. He handed over Pettigrew's name and even offered Pensieve memories of the night that rat confessed what he'd done in the Shrieking Shack. Fudge said he'd put his best Aurors on the case. Harry asked for your freedom in exchange for his forgiveness."

Remus smiled at the news. Harry's actions reminded him so much of something James would have done. Potters always did have a knack for using creative ways to tell people to kiss their arse.

Sirius grinned. "That's my boy."


They Floo'd directly into Dumbledore's office as it was the only one open, everything still in place, just where the older wizard had left it when Dolores Umbridge and Minister Fudge tried to have him arrested. Now, it would seem, Hogwart's had its true headmaster back, though not everyone was very pleased about the fact.

"You lied to me all year long! You knew . . . knew everything and . . ."

Remus stepped out of the fireplace just as a messy-haired boy stood, glaring at Albus Dumbledore, betrayal in his eyes. Green eyes, Remus noted and immediately remembered studying with Lily Evans just a few weeks earlier, preparing for N.E.W.T.s.


"I'm not forgiving him, Remus," Lily said as she cross-referenced her notes with one of the eight books she had opened on the large table in the middle of the library. "He charmed doves to follow me around all day. I assume he thought it would look sweet and come off as romantic, but those blasted things shat all over the school, and Filch glared at me for days afterward as though I'd done it."

Remus tried not to laugh, but it was proving difficult. Certainly, the prank had gone a bit too far and he would never confess that he had been the one to help perfect the charm; Lily's temper was a thing of legend and he was not stupid enough to get caught in the crossfire. Still, she eventually figured out how to remove the spell, and then she had somehow managed to vanish all the bird droppings from the floors and drop them on James's head in the middle of Quidditch practice. It was brilliant. Disgusting, but brilliant.

"Will you forgive me?" he asked her, having a feeling that she knew he had at the very least helped.

She turned and stared at him, her emerald green eyes sparkling in the light that broke through the nearby window. James was wrong about a lot of things, but Lily Evans being beautiful was not one of them. He himself had developed a crush on her sometime in the middle of third year when she had been paired with him to help improve his Potions marks, but that affection soon blossomed into a true friendship and soon she felt more like a sister than anything.

"I'll forgive you if you teach me how they did it," she said with a twinkle of mischief in those bright eyes.

Remus grinned. "You want to get back at him?"

She nodded. "Black too. Only instead of doves, I'm thinking owls," she said, laughing, and Remus could tell that she was grinning at the thought of every owl in the school Owlery flying into the Great Hall and circling Sirius and James and pecking them angrily. "Maybe cats," she added. "There are so many cats in the castle. Could you imagine?"

"Sirius hates cats," he pointed out.

"Then it's settled," she said smugly. "After we finished our O.W.L.s, you and I are going to prank your friends. Maybe if I speak Potter's own language, he'll get the hint that I don't like him."

Remus rolled his eyes. He knew that James was a prat, but he also knew that Lily purposely provoked him far too often for her own good, and that half the time when James went out of his way to pursue her, she would blush and smile in between hexing him. If James could actually figure out how to talk to the witch like a human, Remus thought they would make a decent pair. The likelihood of that happening though was ridiculously slim.

"You got it," Remus said with a smile. "After O.W.L.s."

They hadn't gotten around to pranking James and Sirius after O.W.L.s, of course. Because his two friends—and Peter there egging them on—had decided to turn their attention on Severus Snape instead and ended up provoking the boy into ending his friendship with Lily. And Lily had blamed them all—Remus included for not standing up to his friends when he should have known better.


Lily's green eyes had a way of making a man feel either ten feet tall or like the most useless person in the world. She could instil guilt in a person as though Professor McGonagall had been giving her private lessons. Staring at those same green eyes in the face of a boy—Lily's son—was a reminder that Remus would never be able to properly apologise to her for his part in what happened to Snape.

The rest of the boy was a mirror image of James, which made Remus initially excited until reality set in and the grief was instantly returned to him. Harry. This was Harry Potter.

Harry Potter who had not noticed the light from the fireplace or Remus and Sirius stepping out of the flames as he bore down upon the headmaster in genuine anger. "They killed Kingsley. Remus could have . . . Ron and Ginny and Neville . . . Luna was hurt too, and Hermione almost died!"

"Harry . . ." Sirius whispered, and the boy turned. All the anger faded from his face as he ran into his godfather's arms, clinging to him with a mighty grip.

"I tried . . . I thought . . . Sirius, I thought they had you, and I couldn't let them . . ."

"It's all right, son," Sirius said, kissing the top of Harry's head. "I know what happened, and even though it was reckless and stupid what you did," he said in a bit of a scolding tone, "I wouldn't have expected you to act any differently. You'd never let someone you love get hurt without doing something about it. In the future, I'd prefer it if you tried to hold off on breaking down doors and risking your own life."

"Fudge is—" Harry began to say, but Sirius cut him off quickly.

"I know. Tonks told me. Let's not worry about that now. I want to make sure everyone's all right," he said firmly and glanced up at Dumbledore with a look that seemed to be a mixture of anger and reluctant gratitude. Whatever Dumbledore had done to anger Harry, somehow the older wizard had managed to bring the boy back to Hogwarts alive, and that was not something easily forgotten.

"I've just told him . . ." Dumbledore began with a heavy sigh. "He knows about the prophecy."

Sirius growled. He had wanted to tell Harry the truth from the beginning, but the rest of the Order fought against him at every turn. Now, only after an absolute disaster had happened, was Dumbledore willing to agree with him. Sirius ignored the older wizard and took Harry's face in his hands. "You are not a weapon, do you hear me?"

"But it says I have to—"

"Molly says I have to stop cursing so much," Sirius said with a scoff. "Doesn't mean I'm fucking going to. I don't give a shit what some barmy may-or-may-not-be-Seer said years and years ago. You are a kid, my kid, and I'll be damned if anyone," he said looking over Harry's shoulder at Dumbledore who had the grace to look guilty, "thinks they're going to turn you into some bloody weapon to fight that bastard."

Harry sniffled and nodded his head. "I'm . . . I want to fight him. I have to fight him."

"You have to go to school and let the Order take care of things," Sirius corrected. "If what Tonks said is true and Fudge is on his way to finding out the truth about Peter, I'll be free soon, and I intend on keeping my promise," he said firmly. "What's my promise, Harry?"

Harry swallowed hard. "Proper family."

Sirius grinned, clapping the boy on the shoulder. "That's right. So you focus on being a kid and leave the rest to me, yeah?"

The boy hesitated. "He got in my head and . . ."

Sirius frowned. "Harry. You need to learn Occlumency. That's a point that I actually agreed with. Maybe this time, we'll get you a proper instructor," he said and glared at Dumbledore fiercely.

The headmaster merely nodded his head and stood to leave. "If the three of you will excuse me, there is a great deal of things that need to be dealt with in the wake of tonight's events. I assume you'll be headed to the hospital wing soon. I'll let Poppy know you're on your way," he said and then, with his eyes twinkling, left the office.

At the mention of "three" Harry curiously turned and looked over Sirius's shoulder, his attention falling on Remus for the first time. Shocked by the fact that a stranger had been there the whole time while he'd had a proper breakdown, Harry flushed with embarrassment and wiped at the tear tracks on his face. "Sirius? Who's he?"

"Umm . . ." Remus muttered, not entirely certain who was and was not allowed to know the truth.

"Remus's kid," Sirius replied. "At least, that's what you need to know for right now, okay?" he said, looking down at Harry who appeared incredibly shocked to hear that his former professor had a son. "We'll explain everything when we can. For now," he said and put a hand on the back of Harry's neck, pulling the boy in close, "know you can trust him. I can't trust him," Sirius added turning back to glare a bit at the young werewolf. "But I imagine that's because he's just a dumb kid who thinks he knows better than me."

Remus rolled his eyes and Sirius chuckled. The night had been shit, but seeing Harry alive and well had calmed Sirius immensely. "Let's go look in on everyone, yeah?"

Harry nodded and hugged his godfather once more before reluctantly releasing him and turning his attention toward Remus. "Why doesn't he trust you?" he asked suspiciously.

Remus cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I found out what was happening tonight. I overheard the end of your conversation with Kreacher. Couldn't get to the fireplace in time to stop you from dashing off," he said with a frown. "And . . . and I told Lu—" He paused and then cleared his throat again. "I told my dad and suggested that Sirius be left out of the loop. He's been angry and jumpy the past few days, and I was worried he'd go off and get himself arrested or worse."

Harry nodded in understanding, looking up as he exited Dumbledore's office side-by-side with Remus, staring at Sirius who walked ahead of them, likely eavesdropping on their conversation. Harry smiled, looking relieved.

"Thank you," he muttered. "I know he wants to help, but it was stupid of me to go running off. People got hurt. People died. If Sirius had . . ." He stopped talking and stared down at the floor, a scowl back on his face as he contemplated the ramifications of his own reckless behaviour.

The pair walked in silence toward the infirmary, following in Sirius's wake. As they approached the doors, Harry stopped and turned to face Remus and he offered him a kind smile and an extended hand.

"Harry Potter."

Remus smiled, remembering the last time he shook James's hand. They had been watching Peter and Sirius wrestle in the common room over a liquorice wand. James bet Remus five Knuts that Sirius would end it with a headlock, whereas Remus insisted that Peter would shift into Animagus form and run away. They had shaken on it, and Remus used the five Knuts he won off the bet to buy them each a butterbeer that following weekend in Hogsmeade.

He stared at Harry's extended hand, frowning at the glimmering sight of scars that looked like words on the back of it. Ignoring them for now, Remus reached out and took the hand in friendship, smiling up into the face of James Potter with Lily Evans's eyes.

"Remus Lupin."