Torn

By Neurotica

Four

Over the next few days, Sirius had remained in Ottery St. Catchpole, mostly because it was the first place where he'd found a person that actually liked having him around. Since their first meeting, Ron Weasley had come to find him every day right after breakfast, and had even managed to save the dog some food. Though Sirius knew he needed to move on and continue his search for Wormtail, he couldn't find it in himself to abandon a child who seemed so desperate for a friend. Every time he visited, Ron continued to pour his heart out to the black dog about his family. Sirius had a feeling Ron wouldn't be nearly as open about his family's lack of money if he'd thought he'd been talking to a human. For a five-year-old, Ron had a lot on his mind—mostly whether he would ever measure up to his older brothers' accomplishments. And though Sirius thought it a bit odd for a child so young to worry about such things, he listened to every word Ron spoke, and the boy repaid him by scratching that one spot behind his ears he could never get and feeding him every day.

One afternoon, while Ron was talking about his brother Percy, who apparently had a pet rat called Scabbers, Sirius found an even better way to repay Ron for his kindness than by just being a good listener. Fred and George were once again on the prowl for the youngest Weasley boy, and somehow, they'd discovered the little hideout Ron had built for himself. Both he and Sirius could hear the twins trampling through the woods and just as Ron was getting ready to run and hide, one of the twins had broken through the shrubs. Sirius stood up in front of Ron, growling and bearing his teeth, not actually preparing to attack the twins, but definitely frightening them. The twin in front had screamed in surprise and stumbled backwards a few steps, right into his brother, taking them both to the ground. Sirius began to bark loudly as the twins stumbled over one another, trying to stand and runaway—any of Sirius' old friends who knew what his barks meant would have known he was actually laughing at the two boys. After a moment of fighting to untangle limbs, the twins managed to get their footing and ran through the trees, yelling something about monsters.

Once Sirius had calmed his laughing a bit, he turned to look for Ron—the boy was doubled over, laughing hysterically.

"Thanks!" he managed to choke out. Ron's laughter faded after five minutes, thought his face was still deep red. "I've never seen them so scared!"

Sirius sat down, his tongue hanging out in a canine-grin.

Ron was now looking at the dog thoughtfully. "You need a name," he said suddenly. "Do you have one?"

Sirius replied with a single bark.

"Hmm..." Ron said, studying the dog. "How about Snuffles? You look like a Snuffles..."

Inwardly, Sirius rolled his eyes, and his annoyance at the chosen name must have shown on his face: Ron laughed a little. "Snuffles it is, then."

Sirius huffed resignedly and lay on the ground while Ron picked up one of his comic books to read. Far off in the distance, the pair heard thunder, and Ron looked up, trying to see the sky through the trees. "Looks like it's gonna rain, huh?" he asked the dog. "You can't stay in the rain all night; you'll get sick... Come on, you can stay in the broomshed tonight."

Pleased that he wouldn't be stuck in the rain all night, Sirius stood and followed Ron along the path that led to the Weasley home. Sirius mentally smiled when he laid eyes on the house: it was tall and crooked, not perfect by any means, but it seemed to fit Ron and his family exactly. Mostly for the boy's amusement, Sirius chased a few chickens in the driveway.

"Snuffles, shh!" Ron hissed when Sirius started barking at a chicken he'd run into an old boot. The boy was glancing warily at the house's windows. "We can't let Mum and Dad see you yet." Ron and the dog had arrived at the small shed, and Ron opened the door. "It's a bit dirty and there's a few spiders, but at least you'll be dry... Go on, get in." Sirius obeyed. "Tomorrow, I'll let you out and give you some food. Then maybe I'll give you a bath—you kinda smell—and I'll ask Mum if you can stay with us, okay?" Sirius barked quietly. "Bye, then."

The broomshed door closed and Sirius was in darkness. He found a corner to lie down in before curling up and falling asleep, just as the rain started to fall.

The same storm that was over Devon was in London, and Remus sat on the windowsill in the living room of his new flat watching the lightning. Emmeline had taken Harry out—in their glamour charms—to get Harry some new clothes. Since he'd come to London, the boy had grown a few inches; Remus attributed this to Harry being properly cared for and fed for the first time in years. Remus had opted to stay behind, mostly to give himself some time to think. He'd gotten one of his books from his cottage that consisted of custody information for orphaned children. He'd bought it only a month after Lily and James had been murdered, hoping to find something that would justify the Ministry handing custody of Harry to either him or Emmeline—needless to say, their attempts to properly raise Harry hadn't gotten very far.

Until now that is, Remus thought, a small smile forming on his face. If there's been one good thing to come out of Sirius' escape, this is most definitely it. And, they'd been told by Dumbledore, regardless of the fact that the wards around Privet Drive were now functioning correctly, Harry would continue to remain where he was. The reason given was that he was safer from Sirius with Emmeline and Remus, but Remus thought it was because the three of them were getting rather attached to one another, and Dumbledore couldn't bring himself to break them apart just yet.

Either way, Harry wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

But he knew that at some point, someone would suggest sending the boy back to his relatives, and Remus was now trying to find a way to keep Harry. While reading through different wizarding laws that probably hadn't been revised in centuries, he'd come across a rather interesting paragraph and thought it met Harry's circumstances pretty damn well. Parents who chose the caregiver for their child before their deaths could perform a spell on both the child and the caregiver so only that chosen person could take the child. If for some reason the chosen person was unable to care for the child following the deaths of said child's parents, the chosen person could temporarily handover custody to a person or people of his choosing. The moment the original chosen person was able to care for the child again, any other spells that bound the child to another caregiver would be broken. And while it said nothing about the original caregiver going to prison or about a blood protection put in place by a mother's sacrifice, Remus could most definitely picture James and Sirius discussing something like this late at night, while Lily was in bed. And he could also see his two old friends sneaking up to Harry's nursery and performing a charm without Lily's knowledge.

Unfortunately, there was no sure way to know whether James and Sirius had performed the charm on Harry without complicated spells that would exhaust the boy. And if it had been done, Remus and Emmeline's job of keeping Harry safe had become that much more difficult.

The door of the flat opened, startling Remus a bit as he broke out of his thoughts and turned to Emmeline and Harry, both soaking wet, but quite happy. It wasn't often that Remus had a chance to see the two of them in their glamour charms, but he took a moment to really see them. Harry's glamour was one that didn't look like him even a bit: shoulder-length blond hair, dark blue eyes, his glasses had been disillusioned, and he had a more of a fuller body type than normal. Emmeline's glamour looked more like Harry's than Remus' did—her blonde hair was a little shorter than she normally wore her hair, but her eyes matched Harry's perfectly, and she was hardly recognizable, even to people she'd known most of her life. Remus' hair in his glamour was darkened several shades and shaped in a style he never would have worn in his day-to-day life: it had been Emmeline's idea to spike the short hair, and Remus had glared at her with brown eyes through the entire time that she'd styled it. Each of them had voice changing charms and several other spells to throw off anyone who may have been searching for them; Remus honestly couldn't see how Sirius could possibly be certain he'd located his former friends and godson if he began looking for them.

"Look what I got, Remus!" Harry said, crossing the living room. His glamour charm began to wear off the further into the flat he got, and Remus barely held back a chuckle as he watched the change. "Emmeline got me a dragon and she said you could make it fly!"

Harry took said dragon out of the bag he was carrying. It didn't look anything like the dragons Remus had seen in books, but for a Muggle child, it would do. Remus took the stuffed animal and looked closer, finding a smile had been sewn onto its mouth. He laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen a dragon smiling," he said. "How about you, Em?'

Emmeline rolled her eyes, her own glamour charm wearing off. "I bet they smile right before they eat you," she said, tickling Harry's ribs and earning a giggle. "Go take off your shoes, Harry, and Remus and I will get dinner started."

"Okay," Harry said, running towards his bedroom.

The witch watched him leave, fell into an armchair exhaustedly. "I have never seen a child with that much bloody energy in my entire life," she said flatly. "He never tires out, no matter what you do."

Remus laughed again and sat on the sofa. "You've fought Death Eaters and a five-year-old boy is defeating you? I'm disappointed."

She glared at him. "Next time, you take him out shopping, then, if you're so brilliant, and then we'll critique your abilities to handle him."

"You're on," he said with a grin. "Come on, you promised the ball of energy you'd feed him." He went over and pulled Emmeline out of her chair, dragging her to the kitchen. "After dinner, I'll see if I can get him to wind down a bit."

"If you do that, you'll be a bloody miracle worker..."

Harry, it seemed, was much more like his father than Remus had previously realized. This meant that after a good, filling meal, and a game of chase-the-charmed-flying-dragon-around-the-flat, the child was passing out on the living room floor in exhaustion. Remus sat in the armchair, drinking his coffee in a superior sort of way, glancing occasionally between Harry and Emmeline. The witch looked back at him rather suspiciously as though wondering what spell or potion Remus had used on the child. When questioned about his methods, Remus only chuckled.

"You obviously didn't know James all that well," he said quietly, not wanting to wake Harry. "The best way to get him to fall asleep was to feed him a big meal and challenge him to a Quidditch game. Nothing ever worked nearly that well, not even Pomfrey's sleeping potions. Harry's the exact same way, it would seem."

Emmeline rolled her eyes. "I still say you slipped something into his mashed potatoes..." She stood up and went over to the boy, picking him up carefully, trying to keep the jostling to a minimum. "Help me put him to bed and maybe I'll consider letting you have some of the pie we picked up today..."

Remus stood, chuckling. "Oh, I will get pie... Don't you have any doubts about that, my dear."

He could see her eyes rolling as they went to Harry's bedroom.

The next day, the rain was still pouring quite heavily, forcing Molly Weasley to reluctantly keep all her children indoors. Most of them had found ways to entertain themselves—Bill and Charlie had found a Quidditch match on the wireless; Percy was reading something to Ginny; and Fred and George seemed to be plotting, as usual. Ron seemed to be the only one who couldn't find any way to occupy his time. He'd already spent most of his morning by the sitting room window, staring outside into the storm. Every time Molly had attempted to divert her youngest son's attention, he only sighed and went back to watching whatever he'd found so captivating. Usually Molly was able to read her children and their moods fairly easily, but Ron's current mood was rather confusing. He seemed sad, anxious, and bored at the same time. And this was nothing like his normal behavior; on a rainy day like this one, he'd either force his brothers to include him on whatever they were doing or he'd be in the kitchen with his mother, helping her cook.

But if she really thought about it, Ron's mood lately had been a little odd. Instead of begging Bill and Charlie to let him fly with them, he went off on his own more often. Ron had always been kind of a loner, though—there weren't any boys his age to play with—and Molly knew that what her son needed most was his own friend to keep him occupied. The only problem was that any children Ron may have become friends with were Muggles, and Ron was so used to not having to hide his family's magical abilities that it just couldn't be allowed until he was a bit older. But if the past few years were any indication Ron wouldn't have the chance to make friends until he was in Hogwarts.

...

Sirius was becoming rather bored with the Weasleys' broomshed. He'd expected Ron to show up hours ago, but finally realized that there was no way any sensible mother would allow her children out in this storm. With this fact firmly implanted in his mind, Sirius was now considering alternate method of escaping the shed. He wouldn't have minded it much if it hadn't been for the fact that the water level within the shed seemed to have risen a few inches in the last few hours alone. By early afternoon, the rain finally seemed to slow down a bit, giving Sirius a semi-clear view of the Weasley home through the high windows of the shed—for a moment, he thought he saw one of the twins looking back at him before said twin's eyes widened and he disappeared from the window. A few hours later—Sirius had lost track of time—the rain had picked up again and it wasn't long before all the lights in the Weasley house were being turned off for the night.

Just as he was beginning to give up for the night, he heard splatters through the mud coming towards the shed, and moments later the door was opening, revealing Ron in a pair of red striped pajamas and old shoes that looked way too big to actually belong to him.

"Hey, Snuffles," Ron said, holding an umbrella above his head. "Sorry I couldn't come earlier, but Mum wouldn't let us leave the house. I saved you some dinner—Mum made roast beef—but it's up in my room. You can sleep there tonight as long as you keep quiet and go under my bed. And I got a few towels to dry you off a bit..."

The black dog gratefully followed the boy through the muddy driveway to a backdoor of the house. Before letting him into the kitchen, Ron cleaned each one of his paws with a towel. Once inside, Sirius inhaled deeply, the scents of the house making him feel very comfortable. He could smell freshly baked biscuits, the dinner Molly Weasley had made for her family, as well as all the scents of the Weasleys themselves. There was one in particular that stopped Sirius in his tracks. Mingled with everything else he smelled, he couldn't quite make out its significance or why it triggered such a wide range of emotions. Unfortunately he didn't have the time to stop and investigate; Ron was urging him on through the house, telling him every couple of steps to keep quiet or else his mum would hear.

The further up the crooked staircase they went, the stronger the scent became. Sirius had a strong feeling he should have known what it was, and every time he came to the verge of naming it, it slipped away from him. Finally, they'd made it to Ron's room on the topmost floor of the house, and according to the boy, right below the ghoul in the attic.

"But don't be scared by him," Ron told the dog, closing his bedroom door and turning on a lantern. "He just likes to make loads of noise."

Sirius' eyes took a minute to adjust—the moment Ron had turned on the lights, they'd been invaded by a vast amount of orange. He eventually realized it hadn't been his eyes: Ron had decorated his room in Chudley Cannons merchandise.

"Here you go, Snuffles," Ron said, opening a drawer in his wardrobe and pulling out a large plate of meat, potatoes, and vegetables. "You've got to eat quick so I can get the plate back downstairs before Mum misses it..."

Sirius was happy to oblige. As he ate, he was careful not to make a mess of himself or of the floor Ron had placed his pate on. Just as he was finishing up, he saw Ron had built him a makeshift bed right under his own bed. "You gotta sleep down there," Ron said with an apologetic shrug. "At least for now, until I ask Mum about you."

Sirius whuffed quietly and obediently crawled under the bed, surprised at how much room he actually had to stretch out—one of Ron's parents must have enlarged the space for storage. While Ron took the dog's empty plate downstairs to put away, Sirius poked his head out from under the bed and looked around some more. This wasn't quite how he'd planned to spend his time on the run from the Ministry, but it was safer than wandering around London where anyone could see him. Besides, with the Weasleys being a wizarding family, Sirius would have no trouble keeping an eye on the news. And if he stayed in hiding long enough, there might even be a chance that the Ministry would cut back on their searches for him...

Ron returned a few minutes later, said a very tired goodnight, blew out the lantern, and before another word could be spoken, both boy and dog were sleeping peacefully.

Sirius woke quite suddenly the next morning. It was a moment or two before his brain was awake enough to realize that the high-pitched squeals he was hearing belonged to a woman, and it took a bit longer than that before the squeals began to represent actual words. Above him, the child in the bed began moving around, obviously also startled out of his sleep by the woman's screams. The bedspread that hid Sirius from the open bedroom lifted up and Ron's upside down face was now visible.

"Sounds like the twins are using Ginny for their stupid experiments again," the boy said wearily. "You better stay here; Mum doesn't sound likes she's in the mood for new pets yet." The bedspread dropped in front of Sirius again and the dog could hear the boy getting out of bed and preparing for breakfast.

When he arrived in the kitchen, Ron saw exactly why his mother was yelling at Fred and George, and he was quite tempted to turn around and go back upstairs. Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ginny, and their father were all eating their breakfasts, trying to block out the twins once again landing themselves in trouble. What made Ron want to turn around and go back to his room was the fact that he knew the reason their mother was so angry hadn't been caused by the twins. Somehow, Ron had missed a lot of dirt when he'd let Snuffles inside last night, and it seemed his mum believed without a doubt that her twins had been up to no good at some point during the night while the rest of the family had been asleep.

Once their mother had run out of breath from her rant, the twins sat at the table with identical mutinous looks on their faces—Ron was careful to keep his eyes averted from the twins' as the family ate breakfast. After the table had been cleared and their father left for work, all the children except Fred and George were allowed to go play—their punishment was to degnome the entire garden by themselves. No matter how many times they tried to say they hadn't done anything, their mother continued to not believe them. As they left through the backdoor, Ron decided it would probably be best if the twins never found out who had actually tracked the mud inside. When the house was mostly empty—Bill and Charlie were heading out to play Quidditch, promising to check in with their mother every few hours (there was an escaped convict on the loose, after all); Ginny stayed in the kitchen to play with her dolls; and Percy had gone up to lock himself in his room with his books—Ron snuck a stack of toast and some sausages to take Snuffles and headed back upstairs.

Back in London, Harry and Remus were watching cartoons. Emmeline had gone back to her job in the Ministry—after nearly a month of personal time, she'd decided it was time to face her ever-growing inbox. The rain had finally stopped and Remus was considering taking Harry out for the day. He'd wanted to head to Diagon Alley for some time, hoping to pick up a few books from Flourish and Blotts. When asked, if he would be interested, Harry's eyes had lit up with excitement. He'd heard all about Diagon Alley and the strange things that could be found there. So around noon, the two of them dressed before Remus placed glamour charms over the both of them. Before leaving the flat, Remus made certain Harry remembered their story.

"I'm Jamie Evans," Harry said carefully, "and you're my daddy."

Remus smiled at him. "Very good." He picked the child up, exited the flat, and locking it with wandless magic before heading out. After a few blocks, Remus placed Harry on his shoulders, making it much easier to maneuver their way through all the people on the sidewalk.

The wizard couldn't help but smile when the Leaky Cauldron came into view. No matter how many times he'd come to Diagon Alley in his lifetime, the place never bored him. After an automatic—and slightly paranoia-induced—scan of the pub to see if he recognized anyone, Remus nodded hello to Tom the barkeep, confident that the other man had no idea who Remus and Harry were, and headed out to the courtyard. He could almost see Harry's questioning gaze as he stood in front of the brick wall and counted three-up and two-across. He tapped the brick that would open Diagon Alley up for them and stood back so Harry could get the full view of it.

"Wow..." the child on his shoulders whispered in amazement as an archway began to appear, showing the entire alley.

Remus chuckled a little and stepped through, pleased to be back in the magical world.

As they walked, Remus noticed that not one person gave them a second glance. This was mostly due to Emmeline's idea to add a charm to their glamours that made people forget they'd ever been seen. This charm disappeared only when the "magic word" was spoken. Harry's was the only one that remained permanent until he was within the safety of the flat, no matter what he said.

"Can we go to Gringotts?" Harry asked rather excitedly.

Remus grinned and shook his head. There weren't many children who thought fun included a visit to the bank. "I suppose," he said. "We will need a bit of gold today, won't we?"

"Yup," Harry said. Though he couldn't see the boy, Remus was pretty certain he was looking all around, taking everything in.

They climbed the white stone steps and Remus reached up to take Harry off his shoulders before going inside. "Hold on to my hand, Jamie," he said quietly, passing by the goblins who stood guard and held the doors open. He got the sudden feeling that those goblins knew exactly who they were. This didn't worry Remus in the least, though; goblins didn't care who you were, so long as you didn't try stealing from them.

They waited in line for a few minutes, and every so often, Remus glanced down at Harry—he was staring around the bank at all the different wizards, goblins, and a hag with his mouth slightly open. When it was their turn, Remus stepped up to the tall counter and Harry let go of his hand, now trying to pull himself up to see over. Remus chuckled and lifted him up, setting on top of the counter. The goblin raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't comment.

"I just need to convert Muggle money into gold, please," Remus said politely to the goblin. He pulled out his wallet and took a few bills from it, passing them to the goblin. After a few tests to make certain the money hadn't been counterfeited, the goblin—Bob, his nameplate said—handed Remus a handful of gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts. With a smile, Remus pocketed the coins Harry hadn't taken to examine, said thank you to Bob the Goblin, and picked up the boy again to leave.

"Where now?" Harry asked when they were back in the bright sunshine in Diagon Alley. "Can we go see the magic animals?"

So not like James, Remus thought with an inward smirk. If his old friend had been present, they would have already been inside Quality Quidditch Supplies or Gambol and Japes Joke Shop. "For a bit," Remus told the boy. "Then I would like to visit the bookshop, and afterwards, we might go for ice cream at Florean Fortescue's." He was almost certain Harry hadn't heard anything after "for a bit"; Remus was now being dragged by the hand down the alley while Harry searched for the Magical Menagerie.

During the hour they spent looking at the different animals, Harry had strayed off to look at the bunnies that turned themselves into top hats, and Remus, pretending to be interested in a book on the care of cornish pixies, overheard a conversation between another customer and the shopkeeper regarding Sirius. Apparently, the dementors of Azkaban were starting to get restless—they'd never had a prisoner escape under their watch and they wanted Sirius back. The Minister of Magic, who probably feared the vile creatures as much as the rest of the world, had been very reluctant to let them loose in England to search for him, but as more time went on without any hints of Sirius' whereabouts, it seemed she was beginning to believe there was no other choice: early next week, a group of dementors would be allowed to leave their posts to do their own searching, and Bagnold had even given them permission to Kiss Sirius when he was found.

Remus wasn't quite sure how he felt about this. On one hand, dementors were the foulest of beings ever created and he'd always thought it rather cruel to allow them around humans, no matter what they'd done. During the war against Voldemort, the dementors had turned on the Ministry, siding with the Dark Lord after he'd promised all the human souls they could ever want. Only days after Voldemort's fall, the dementors had returned to their posts as the wizard prison as though Voldemort had never existed. The Ministry's alliance with dementors had always boggled Remus' mind and he knew that if given the chance again, the dementors would do the exact same thing.

On the other hand, what Sirius had done was heinous. Still, though, did he actually deserve to lose his soul because of it? Wouldn't a much more fitting punishment be one where he was forced to relive what he'd done every time he breathed until his dying day?

"Hey, Dad, look at this!" said a voice somewhere behind Remus. Only when someone tugged at his shirt did Remus realize Harry was trying to get his attention. The boy had found a baby turtle that did somersaults in the palm of his hand. "Can I get him?"

Remus smiled. "Pets are a big responsibility..."

"I know, but I promise I'll take real good care of him," Harry replied with a pair of puppy dog eyes Remus couldn't say no to. They were the same eyes James had used to charm his way out of several detentions during Hogwarts.

When the baby turtle stuck his head out of its shell and seemed to give them the same look, Remus laughed and nodded. "All right... But we've got to get him a small tank and food..."

Harry had already begun cheering and turned around to find things his new turtle would need. With the help of the shopkeeper, by the time they'd finally left, Remus' money pouch was much lighter than it had been, and after a quick stop at the bookshop, he and Harry had arrived at Florean Fortescue's—both had ordered large bowls of ice cream.

"I'm gonna name him Bruce," Harry said suddenly, alternating his attention from his ice cream to the turtle.

Remus raised an eyebrow, swallowing a bite of double chocolate and peanut butter ice cream. "Why Bruce?"

Harry shrugged one shoulder. "It's just a good name for him," he responded simply.

The wizard chuckled and went back to his dessert. Once they'd both finished, and Remus had cleaned the mess Harry had made on his face, the two of them began to make their way back to the flat. Remus had carefully transfigured their Diagon Alley purchases to make them resemble something a Muggle wouldn't raise an eyebrow at. When they arrived home, Emmeline was waiting for them in the kitchen, watching them enter with her own raised eyebrow.

"And just where have you two been?" she asked, looking from Harry's beaming face to Remus.

"Diagon Alley," Remus said, sitting beside her.

Harry ran up to her and showed her his new pet. "Look what Remus got me!"

Emmeline looked at the wizard. "A turtle?"

He shrugged. "He does somersaults... Tell me you could pass that up. And his name is Bruce."

Emmeline rolled her eyes. "Bruce, huh? Well, go put Bruce in your room, Harry, and go ahead and take your bath..."

Harry ran off, leaving the two adults alone. Remus took a good look at his friend; she looked more stressed than she had when she'd left that morning, and she seemed to be considering how to tell him something. "What?" he asked.

She hesitated. "I heard some things at work today," she said slowly and quietly. "And I think know why the wards on Privet Drive were broken."

"Why?"

"Well, before Lily and James died, Lily went to her sister's house to talk to her. She told me about it afterwards and I didn't think anything of it—she didn't really go into details about what they talked about. Apparently, Lily told Petunia who was to take care of Harry if she and James were killed and Petunia agreed—I think Lily may have even done some sort of charm to ensure that this happened. The person they discussed was to be number one on the list to get custody of Harry. If that person couldn't do it for some reason, Harry would go to Petunia, but once that person was able again, any charms that tied Harry to the Dursleys would be cancelled," she said. "I'd have to talk to Dumbledore to know for certain, but I really think that is what happened."

Remus stared at her. Hadn't he been thinking the same exact thing just yesterday? "How could you have found this out?"

"Kingsley Shacklebolt," she responded. "He came to me and said he'd been looking through the files from the murders, and he'd found something odd on the report that showed what magic had been cast in James' and Lily's house that night. Lily didn't even have time to do any sort of protection charms on Harry—blood or otherwise. The magic was performed after Voldemort killed her. Whatever Lily and Petunia did that day, it went into effect the moment Lily stopped breathing, and that was what saved Harry."

The wizard nodded slowly, his brow furrowed in thought. He'd always been under the impression that it had been Lily's sacrifice for Harry that had saved the boy from Voldemort. And though that may still be a factor, there was much more that needed to be known. Remus was almost certain who Lily would have entrusted the life and safety of her only son to, but there was only one way to know for sure. He looked up at Emmeline and sighed. "I think we need to go to Privet Drive and have a talk with Petunia..."