Author's note: Wow, all of these reviews! I am so privileged to have reviewers like you lot, I'm so grateful to you all. Thank you.
And guess what! I have been a member of FF for exactly one year today! It really doesn't seem like that long!
Hope you like this chapter!
Chapter seven: Sleep Over!
Once inside Arabella's house Harry looked at Remus for a cue. He had never been to a sleepover before and wasn't sure how he was supposed to act.
"Shall we make some cakes first?" Remus asked, every bit as excited as the small boy.
Harry agreed enthusiastically and so Remus got out the ingredients for a simple chocolate cake, unwilling to start something too complicated and show off his poor cooking skills. The time he had set Hogwarts kitchens on fire was still legendry between the house elves, much to Remus' embarrassment.
Luckily, the episode was not repeated this time and half an hour later a perfectly cooked chocolate sponge was slipped out of the oven and, after cooling down, was devoured hungrily. There had been no incidents in making it apart from little Harry getting flour on his nose and looking so adorable that Remus had to fight the urge to hug him as tightly as possible, and Harry dropping an egg and seeming to be under the impression that Remus was actually going to hit him for the small accident. Remus soon convinced him otherwise with the nice prop of the bag of chocolate drops (which were meant to go in the cake but somehow never made it.)
"What do you want to do next?" Remus asked the small boy once the entire cake had disappeared.
Harry wracked his brain for ideas but couldn't remember what Dudley had said he was going to do.
"Let's watch a film," Remus suggested when he saw Harry was stuck for ideas.
Ten minutes later, Remus found himself in front of Arabella's creaky old television set, watching 101 Dalmations with a very contented seven year old and an over flowing bowl of popcorn. He tried to watch the film but he wasn't used to dealing with an energetic child especially so close to the full moon and so he found his eyelids drooping.
Harry loved the film, he had often dreamed about having a dog all of his own but he knew the Dursleys would never get him one. The dog of his dreams had now changed from an Alsatian (to scare off all of the bullies at school) into a Dalmatian puppy. When the film ended, he looked around to tell Remus how great it was, when he realised he was asleep. Unwilling to disturb the man who had been so kind to him, he settled down to play by himself.
Remus awoke to the sound of laughter, a sound he had not heard for quite a long time. He opened his eyes to find Harry sat on the floor making his stag run around and around and around him in circles, it made Remus dizzy just to watch them. He smiled, one day he was going to tell Harry all about that stag, but not today.
"Let's give you a bath then so you're all clean ready for tomorrow," Remus said at last, when he realised the time and the fact that Harry needed to go to bed. He led the way to the bathroom not seeing the look of fear sweeping over Harry's face. When the man gave him his bath, he would be sure to see the bruises and then he would realise what a freak he was and send him straight back onto the streets. After all, who would voluntarily give a freak house room even if it was for just one night?
"Come on, Harry," Remus called. Harry looked up quickly, realising that the man had reached the bathroom already and he still hadn't moved. He quickly scuttled after him, blushing slightly.
Once in the bathroom both godfather and godson just looked at each other awkwardly, neither knowing exactly how this was going to work. Remus didn't know whether to leave Harry to bath or whether he was still young enough to need help while Harry couldn't even remember a time when he had had a proper bath. Aunt Petunia always waited until it was really dark and cold outside and then had sent him outside with a hosepipe which only sprayed freezing cold water.
"Do you…Do you normally bath by yourself?" Remus asked at last, filling the tub up with warm water as he spoke.
Harry bit his lip, he normally had his Aunt's version of a bath by himself but he suspected that the last time he had had a proper bath was when his parents bathed him, after all, they must have bathed him! Unless they hated him too.
He wondered how to answer, and then it suddenly struck him. If he said he normally had a bath by himself then Remus would leave him and he wouldn't see the bruises!
"B-b-by myself," Harry stammered, he had never been very good at lying.
Remus looked visibly relieved, he wouldn't have even known how to go about bathing a child. "Well, the shampoo and conditioner is just here and there are a few different sorts of shower gel there, you can choose which one you want. I'll be back for you in about twenty minutes, okay?" he turned the tap off and walked towards the door, wishing Arabella had some sort of bubble bath which would make the bath look much more inviting.
Harry stared up at the row of brightly coloured bottles in awe, so many pretty colours to choose from. He realised the older man was waiting for an answer and he nodded agreeably, noting that he would have to be dried and dressed by the time the man came back if he didn't want his bruises to be seen.
He watched the nice man leave the room, waiting until the door was shut behind him before gingerly slipping his clothes off, trying not to aggravate the bruises and welts. He looked at the bathroom door one last time before slipping into the water, wincing slightly as the hot water irritated his injuries.
He gingerly reached up and got the shampoo off of the little shelf and squeezed some onto his hand. He had knew how to do this part, Aunt Petunia had often given him the shampoo she didn't want, it was usually unwanted gifts from Aunt Marge which smelt like mouldy cheese.
He put the shampoo on his head and rubbed it in. It was then that he realised he didn't known how to get it off, at the Dursleys he had always just lifted the hose pipe so that it sloshed onto his head, there was no way he could do that in a bath tub. The water only came up to his chest, the only way to get it off would be to…put his head underwater, he didn't relish that at all. Far too similar to what Dudley used to do to him.
Oh well, he could move on. It might just go away by itself. Harry stared at the still water surrounding him and reached out experimentally tapping the water, he was rewarded with a satisfying splosh. Giggling quietly he did it again, slightly harder this time. This time he got a definite splash. He began to thump his feet up and down, laughing at the little whirlpools he made.
Soon he was splashing around in the water as much as he could, throwing his whole body into the water (though keeping his head carefully above the surface) and making as big a splashes as he could.
He was just about to try standing up and jumping up and down in the water when he heard the stairs creaking, his laughter stopped immediately and his eyes widened. Twenty minutes couldn't be up yet, could they? But it did seem like an awful long time since Remus had shut the door behind him.
Harry dived out of the bath, shoving his clothes on his soaking frame as fast as possible, Remus could not see his bruises!
There was a soft tap on the door.
"Harry? Are you done?" Remus asked.
"Umm…yes," Harry tentatively replied. He looked around the bathroom and was horrified to find that it was flooded from his splashing experiments, water dripped down the walls and added to the already formed puddles on the floor. He gulped, Remus was never going to let him stay the night now, and he was going to shout and smack Harry and he would probably never meet him at the park again or be nice to him and he'd probably take the stag back and…
The door was pushed open and Remus came face to face with a pair of terrified emerald eyes, the owner of which began to back away as fast as he could, so fast that his little wet feet slipped on the wet floor and sent him flailing across the floor.
"Steady," Remus rushed forwards and helped the boy back to his feet. Harry snuffled, bracing himself for the punch that was sure to come once the nice man took a proper look at his bathroom. Harry sniffled, he knew it wasn't allowed but he couldn't help it, he had ruined it; just like he ruined everything.
"Hey, don't cry. You're not hurt, are you?" Remus asked worriedly, lifting the boy into his arms and hugging him tightly.
Harry shook his head though he added a silent yet.
There was silence for a moment and Harry sucked in his breath as he realised what had caught the man's attention.
"You have been having fun, haven't you?" Remus chuckled.
Harry looked up at him in surprise, he was laughing? But he was supposed to shout! He was supposed to make sure Harry couldn't sit down for days, he was supposed to…to…be like the Dursleys always had.
"Harry, you're all wet! Is this from when you fell over?" Remus asked, feeling the little boy's clothes. "But your hair is all wet too and…Harry your hair is still all full of shampoo."
Harry sniffed, now Remus was still going to find out how 'he couldn't even cope with the most miniscule of tasks' as Uncle Vernon had always said.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Remus sighed. Sitting down on the soaking floor and resting Harry on his lap.
Harry blinked up at him in surprise, adults didn't say sorry! Adults shouted and hit. Harry should be the one who was sorry.
"I should have made sure you really were okay, and I should have checked on you or something. I haven't looked after a child before, Harry, other than you when you were a baby and then I had hundreds of pages from Lily on how to do it. I will probably get lots of things wrong, so I'm sorry, okay?" Remus explained.
Harry blinked up at him, his mouth wide open in surprise.
"Let's get you back in the tub then," Remus murmured, when he realised Harry was not going to answer.
He reached out and carefully began to unbutton Harry's top. Harry leaned in to the gentle touch. It wasn't until Remus' gasp of surprise that Harry remembered the welts on his back, they didn't hurt so much when he didn't think about it and he had got so use to the pain that he didn't notice that much. He tried to jump backwards but Remus kept a tight grip.
There was silence for a moment, Remus stared at Harry's back in absolute horror while Harry wondered mournfully whether it would be very cold outside. The silence was only broken by Harry starting to cry.
"Hey, don't cry!" Remus exclaimed frantically. "I'll sort it out for you." He pulled Harry into a hug, Harry stayed rigid, unsure of what he was supposed to do.
Remus sighed, how could anyone reach seven years old and not know how to hug? He wished heartily that the Dursleys would go to the woods one full moon.
Remus stayed cuddling the boy until his sobs quietened and began to slowly undress Harry fully, being extra careful in view of the child's injuries.
"Come on then, let's get you washed properly." Remus slipped the little boy back into the tub and carefully began to wash the shampoo off of the little boy's head. He used a little cup to slosh water on top of his head and Harry wondered why he hadn't seen it, he wasn't to know that after seeing the bruises Remus had put two and two together and transfigured some soap into a cup so that Harry wouldn't have to put his head under water.
Harry tried to keep as still as possible but he couldn't help squirming a little bit as the water lapped against his injuries. He was taken by surprise when Remus suddenly pifted him slightly out of the water and began to rub some sort of cream onto his back. Harry struggled, confused as to what was happening, but just as soon as he was back into the water Harry felt a weird coldness, like someone had put an ice cube on his back. And suddenly he no longer felt the sting on his back and bottom, he twisted his head back as far as he could…there was no welts anymore, there wasn't even any scars.
Harry stared at the man in shock and happiness, how had the man done that? And why would he waste his special creamy stuff on making sure Harry didn't hurt anymore? He opened his mouth to ask but before he got a chance Remus spoke first.
"Which shower gel do you want, Harry?"
Harry stared up at the row of brightly coloured bottles which had awed him so much earlier. "The red one, please."
Harry watched delightedly as Remus took down the desired bottle and giggled as Remus put some on the wash cloth and gently began to clean him. "It tickles!"
Remus chuckled too.
A few minutes later he was lifting the little boy out of the bath and wrapping him up in a big fluffy towel which he preceded to dry him with, gently.
"Let's get you into some dry clothes," Remus murmured when he had finished drying him, waving his wand and transfiguring the sopping wet (and ridiculously oversized) clothes for a pair of Gryffindor red pyjamas. Harry stared at the fitted clothes in amazement, he could walk without stumbling on the trouser legs! He could lift his arms without the excess material weighing them down! He didn't look so much like a freak! He realised Remus was looking at him and so he looked up and smiled shyly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Remus smiled back. "Now, come on, let's get you tucked up in bed."
Harry followed the man obediently, stopping outside of a cupboard but continuing to scuttle after the sandy-haired man when he did not stop or slow his pace.
"Here we go!" Remus exclaimed, pushing open a door to a large, tidy room. "It's not very child-friendly I'm afraid."
Harry stared in awe at the massive room which was him, how can the man be apologising? It was positively the best room Harry had ever seen in his life.
"Under the covers then," Remus walked over to the big bed and pulled back the covers. Unaware of the boy's awe or the fact that he had never slept in a bed before.
Harry ran to the bed excitedly and jumped on, it bounced! It was so soft. Harry allowed Remus to tuck his in, feeling like he was being engulfed by a giant marshmallow. He had never felt so comfortable before. He watched, slightly warily, as Remus came too close for comfort.
Remus kissed the boy (who flinched as he came close) lightly on the forehead and tucked him in tightly. Harry smiled at him sleepily, his smile growing as he watched Remus settle on a chair by his bed. Slowing his eyelids lowered, fluttering slightly, and then closed completely. Little Harry Potter was fast asleep.
Remus watched him, still feeling the anger bubbling up in his stomach as he remembered the dark purple bruises on the little boy. Harry deserved better, and Harry would get better; Remus would make sure of that. Because it was as he watched the little boy sleep, tiny arms wrapped around the soft toy stag, he made up his mind; Harry was never going back to the Dursleys again. He would live with him.