Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply.
Chapter 11
Remus stepped out of the fireplace at Severus' home. He put his trunk down and turned as he heard Harry shout, "Remmy!" Harry ran into the room and over to Remus who picked him up. "Hi, Harry."
Severus and Lily had followed Harry into the room. "He's been so excited since we told him you were going to be staying here for awhile," Lily said with a smile.
"Come on, Remus and I'll show you where you'll be staying," Severus said. Remus put Harry down and he ran back to Lily. Severus took Remus upstairs to the third floor. "There's a large bedroom here and a smaller one there that you can turn into a study if you need one."
"Well, I do have a lot of books," Remus confessed.
"I'll leave you to get settled in then. Tita will probably have dinner ready in about a half-hour."
"Thank you, Severus. I really appreciate you letting me stay here."
"That's what friends are for, Remus."
Dinner was roasted pork, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans and broccoli with a pumpkin custard for dessert.
"I'm certainly glad Regulus decided to take Kreacher," Remus commented. "Sirius was always so mean to him, yelling and cursing him and calling him foul names. When James moved in it got even worse; they started using him for target practice, casting stinging hexes and leg-locker curses at him for fun when he couldn't move as fast as they wanted him to. I mean Kreacher's not a young elf; he's pretty elderly. I think Mrs. Black bought him with her when she married Sirius' dad. He was devoted to her and is to Regulus."
"Well, I'm glad Reg took him too," Severus remarked. "He should have taken him as soon as Mrs. Black passed, but he never thought his brother would be living at Grimmauld Place."
"Potter was always abusive towards the elves at Potter Manor too. I was stunned the first time I visited and his parents and he sat there and did nothing. He expected the elves to wait on him hand and foot; he wouldn't do the simplest thing for himself. The worse thing was the elves would act as if they were thrilled to do his every bidding."
"They probably weren't thrilled when they got in the privacy of their quarters, I'll bet," Severus said.
"The Potters had a charm on the elves' quarters that allowed them to hear what was going on in there. They didn't trust their elves and wanted to know what they were talking about in private."
"How completely paranoid!" Remus remarked. "James and Sirius always treated the Hogwarts elves crappy too, but the elves got back at them by refusing to clean our dorm room."
"Did you pass the Second-Level Auror test, Remus?" Lily asked
"Yes, and it was a tough exam too. I'm so glad that Sirius asked to be reassigned as James' partner and Alice is my partner now. She took the Second-Level Auror test too and passed brilliantly."
"So you're both higher than Potter and Black?"
"Yes, if we're ever on patrol with those two, we can keep them in line and they'll have to obey us or get in trouble with Scrimgeour and Moody."
"I always liked Alastor. He was strict, but he never treated me any different because I was a woman. He respected me because I was a good Auror."
After dinner, Remus engineered the Hogwarts Express for Harry and then retired early.
Sunday morning after an early breakfast, Remus, Severus, Lily, Severus' parents and grandparents flooed over to the house in Godric's Hallow. Lily was holding Harry who twisted around in her arms looking all around him. "I wonder if he remembers anything," Lily said.
"I don't know, but he probably should stay downstairs with you just in case," Severus answered.
The front door was hanging off its hinges. Severus and Toby straightened it, but it was only a temporary fix. "That door's going to need to be replaced," Toby remarked with an expert eye.
"I suspect everything in the house will need to be replaced," Lily said. She, Eileen and Audra inspected the downstairs while Severus, Remus, Toby and Tiberius went upstairs. Aside from Harry's former nursery, the rest of the house was intact. Half the roof had been blown off over the nursery.
"Cripes," Toby exclaimed. "A wizard blowing up caused this much damage?"
"Well, You-Know-Who was very powerful, Mr. Snape," Remus explained. "Some have said it's possible his magical core was much larger than average."
"I know a Muggle roofing contractor who could probably repair this for you," Toby remarked. "Let's see what it looks like from the outside."
They came back downstairs and went around to the side of the house where the nursery windows were located. "Hmm … you know it could be that a big tree fell on the house during a storm," Toby said.
"I get it," Severus replied. He studied the damage for a moment and then went to work transfiguring an appropriate tree stump. "Do you think that looks as if it was a big enough tree to do that kind of damage?"
"That'll work," Toby replied.
Lily, Audra and Eileen discussed how to redecorate the downstairs. "This entire kitchen should be remodeled. I always hated it," Lily said.
"These rooms need to be painted in lighter shades," Audra remarked. "It's extremely dreary in here."
"And all new furniture too," Eileen said. "This is badly damaged and it looks pretty uncomfortable anyway. What on earth was Dumbledore thinking?"
"Well, we went into hiding suddenly so I suppose he didn't really care if the house was comfortable just safe."
"It didn't turn out to be that either," Audra said tartly. "I never liked or trusted that man. Severus offered Dumbledore his home for you, your husband, and Harry to stay in and we offered Armorel, but he wouldn't have any of it."
"I never liked him because he wouldn't step in and stop Sev from being bullied," Eileen added.
"Dumbledore has been appropriately punished. I cast a hex on him that I invented called the Pinocchio Hex. It caused his nose to grow longer whenever he lied."
"I would have liked to have seen that," Audra said laughing. "How long did it last?"
"It apparently lasted three or four days because I cast it on Monday and I didn't see him again until Friday."
"I wished I could have been a mouse in the corner of his office," Eileen said. "I wonder how long his nose actually got."
"Well, his nose started getting longer the moment I cast the hex and if it kept growing he must have spent a lot of time studying the floor," Lily replied giggling.
"Serves him right!" Audra said stoutly. She looked around. "Remus is going to need an elf too. We have a young elf named Calix who's very reliable and I think he'll do well with Remus."
"I'm sure Remus will appreciate your thoughtfulness, Audra," Lily said.
Tiberius and Remus came back into the house talking about wards. Like Severus' and Eileen and Toby's houses, this house was under the Fidelius Charm with Tiberius as the Secret Keeper. Toby and Severus came in behind them. Toby looked around. "It looks as if you could use new furniture, Remus."
"I think this house needs a complete makeover," Eileen stated.
"I agree with Mum," Severus said. He wanted to erase any trace of You-Know-Who and James Potter.
They decided to leave, but first Lily wanted to see the statue Dumblebum had put in the square. They apparated there and at first it was a memorial to Muggle war heroes, but then that melted away and she saw a statue of her holding Harry and Potter with his arm around her. They were all smiling idiotically as if they didn't have a care in the world. It made Lily so angry that she pulled out her wand and before anybody could stop her she yelled, "Confringo!" The monument was blasted into a thousand pieces.
"Lily!" Severus yelled. He grabbed her. "We have to get out of here before the Muggle police show up!"
Lily quickly waved her wand over the wreckage and reformed it into the memorial to the Muggle war heroes and she said, "Immutabilis."
They all quickly apparated back to Severus' house and he called Tita for tea and scones.
"What was that spell you used, Lily?" Remus asked curiously.
"From now on all that statue will ever be is a Muggle war memorial. It won't change into anything else and Dumblebum won't be able to change it back. That spell blocks him from changing anything. The nerve of that self-righteous old fart!"
Severus didn't voice his thoughts that Dumbledore had wanted Lily and Potter to be the victims of Voldemort so he could have complete control over Harry and use their deaths to rally his troops or else he would have accepted his offer or his grandparents offer to hide them if he had been really concerned about their safety.
After tea, his parents and grandparents flooed back home. Toby promised to bring one of his store catalogues before he and Eileen left.
Monday morning the front page of the Prophet reported a mysterious explosion in Godric's Hallow early Sunday morning that was heard by both magical and non-magical residents. Aurors were sent, but found nothing suspicious.
"I'll bet Dumbledore flooed over there to see what happened," Severus remarked. "He's going to be awfully surprised if he checks the house. He won't be able to find it because of the new Fidelius Charm my grandfather cast on it with him as the Secret Keeper."
"Good! Remus deserves to live in peace there without being bothered by him or Potter and Black."
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Later in the week Lily went Christmas shopping with Alice. "Did you hear about that explosion in Godric's Hallow?" Alice asked. "Scrimgeour sent Moody, Kingsley, Crockford, and Knightly to check it out, but they found nothing amiss. I'm the one that fire-called the Aurors."
"I'm sorry, but it was me that caused that explosion. I blew up that idiotic statue Dumbledore put in the square there. It made me so mad when I saw it I just blew it into smithereens!"
"It was rather revolting," Alice remarked. She was one of the few that knew what the reality of Lily's marriage had been.
"He won't be putting it back either! I reassembled it into the Muggle war memorial and put a spell on it that prevents him from changing it back into that idiotic memorial of Potter, me and Harry."
"That's good," Alice replied. "I hated that phony thing and I wanted to blow it up every time I saw it!"
"Remus will soon be your neighbor. We're going to be fixing up the house and he's going to rent it. Potter and Black moved back to Potter Manor when Regulus took their house elf to live with him and they never told Remus they were leaving either!"
"Creeps!" Alice muttered. "I was hoping those two git wouldn't be moving there."
"Sev bought the house right from under Dumblebum's nose after ... after it happened."
"By the way is it true?"
"Is what true?"
"Pomona was telling me you hexed him and they didn't see him for three days."
"He deserved it too! He deliberately left Harry with Petunia and ignored the specific instructions I left that Harry was to go to either you or Sev. He didn't even give him to Black or McDonald as Potter specified; he took him straight to Petunia!"
"Everybody's wondering what you did to him," Alice chuckled. "None of the Professor's saw him from breakfast Monday morning to breakfast Friday morning."
"I used the Pinocchio Hex on him – every time he lies his nose grows longer and as much as Dumbledore lies his nose must have been a foot long by the time I got to Filius' classroom."
"I've never heard of that hex," Alice said. "Where did you find it?"
"I invented it. I had a lot of time on my hands when I was pregnant with Harry. But that was the first time I ever tried it on anybody."
"Frank and I were talking and we don't want to send Neville to Hogwarts," Alice confessed. "I never liked all the house rivalry and the open prejudice Dumbledore showed against the Slytherins and the Hufflepuff's. Pomona said she and Filius have tried countless times to take Dumbledore to task for his prejudices, but he just ignores them. Frank thinks the quality of education under Dumbledore has gone down."
"Sev and I were saying the same thing. Dumblebum's not going to make Harry's life miserable making him think he's the only one who can save the Wizarding World if You-Know-Who does manage to return somehow. We're thinking about home schooling Harry. There's no law that says magical children have to go to Hogwarts and he'll be able to take his OWL's and NEWT's at the Ministry."
"And he'll probably be advanced because he's getting more individual attention," Alice said. She bit her lip in thought and then said, "I wonder if you might consider teaching Neville too?"
"Yes, we'd consider it," Lily replied. "We've been talking about setting up a small school at the house once Harry's too old for Miss Sherry's."
"So what about you and Sev?" Alice asked changing the subject. "You're both living in the same house and raising Harry together."
Lily sighed. "I don't really know how Sev feels about me. Marrying Potter was like a slap in his face after the horrible way Potter treated him all through school. I just can't understand what I was thinking back then. How could I have thought Potter changed? He hadn't. He was still hexing Sev right up to graduation. I overheard him and Black laughing about it one time."
"But you and Sev still remained friends after you married?"
"As much as we could. Potter didn't want me to have anything to do with Sev and threw a tantrum every time I got an owl or anything else from him. He actually forbade me to name Sev as Harry's guardian, but I did it anyway."
"Well, I always thought Sev felt more than just friendship for you," Alice stated.
"He's grown up from the gawky teenager he was back then," Lily said. "But there's still the issue of my marrying Potter."
"Yes, but when you returned through the veil, you returned to Sev's house not to the house in Godric's Hollow or Potter Manor. There must have been a reason for that," Alice persisted.
"I guess it was because I've always felt safe with Sev and I knew he would protect me even if it meant his life."
"Well, that's pretty high praise. Why don't you let Harry have an overnight with Neville some weekend and tell Tita to make a romantic dinner for you and Sev?"
Lily laughed. "Well, we really can't right now with Remus temporarily boarding at the house."
"Well, then after you get the house repaired in Godric's Hollow and Remus moves in," Alice persisted. "After all, you were given a second chance and were it me I'd make the most of it."
"Thanks Alice, you've always been the voice of common sense," Lily said fondly, giving her a hug.
Lily flooed home and stepped out of the fireplace with several bags. Severus got up off the couch to help her. "Where's Harry, Sev?"
"He's taking a nap. He played with Remus some of the afternoon and helped me when I brewed, but he should be waking up pretty soon."
"Good, I want to hide these before he gets up," Lily said.
"There's that big closet in the basement; I have the door warded so Harry can't go down there near the swimming pool."
"Perfect," Lily replied heading towards the basement door. When she came back up, Severus said, "Mum fire-called and said dad had found a roofing company to repair the roof on the house in Godric's Hollow. He said they could start on Monday."
"Good, but your grandfather will have to take the wards down while they're working on it."
"Yes, I sent Aesculapius with the message and he's going to take the wards down Sunday afternoon."
"Remus will be excited to be in his own place," Lily commented. "We've got to get furniture and paint the rooms so Remus can move in before it gets cold."
"We'll all be working on it so it will most likely be done before Christmas. It shouldn't take the roofing company long to rebuild that section of the roof and put new shingles on."
"That's true. It does seem as if they work really fast."
They were interrupted by the sound of small feet coming down the stairs and Harry ran into the room clutching Greyboy and his bear. "Mummy!"
Lily bent and scooped Harry up into her arms. "Did you have a good afternoon, Harry?"
Harry nodded. "I play with Remmy, help Da bew, and then I go to sleep."
"Yes you did, Harry and you did a really good job of it too," Severus said. "I think we have a future Potion Master in residence."
Harry giggled at his da's comment even though he didn't understand it.
The next two weeks they spent redoing Remus house. Alice and Frank came over to help. Severus used the spell Dilato Adstringo to expand and tighten the window frames and used Scourgify to clean them and Toby hung blinds on each window and hung new doors, making sure each door had deadbolts in addition to regular locks. Lily decided to vanish all of the carpets since the wood floors underneath were hardwood and turned out to be very beautiful once she and Alice cleaned and polished them.
Tiberius got Remus' fireplace hooked to the floo network and Eileen, Audra and Frank painted, using their wands, which was much easier than painting the Muggle way. Remus' bedroom they painted a soft blue, while his study next door, Harry's old nursery, was painted a soothing green, and the guest room was painted pale lavender. They painted the living room a warm brown color and the kitchen a cheerful yellow and the dining room a painted a pale white with just the faintest touch of green. Lily and Alice cleaned the chandelier and the other overhead lights. All were very dusty and grimy.
Toby who was handy with his hands fixed up the bathrooms, tiling the walls, and putting in new fixtures. Once all the remodeling was done, they all went to Toby's London early one morning store to pick out the furniture. The store was having its grand opening sale and during the day it was very busy and Toby needed to be there.
Lily picked out two comfortable 3-seat sofa and two matching armchairs, all with a blue and lavender motif while Eileen picked out a sturdy coffee table and end tables to go with it and lamps.
Remus picked out his bedroom furniture and his desk and bookcases for his study while Audra picked out the dining room set, buffet, and hutch as well as the furniture for the guest bedroom. Eileen picked out the rugs to go on the floors throughout the house. Severus picked out a small, sturdy table and four chairs for the kitchen.
Toby happily totaled up the bill and between the sale prices and the family discount, Severus was very happy with the final bill. Toby promised to deliver the furniture himself the following week along with two of his most trusted delivery men. Before they left the store, Severus cast a locator charm on the lorry so it would automatically guide them to the house in Godric's Hollow.
Remus, Lily, Harry and Severus apparated to the house the next week to wait for the lorry from Toby's store to arrive. Remus had packed his books and his clothes into boxes and his trunk, shrank them and put them into his pocket. Calix, the elf who Audra had sent over, greeted them as they came in but made himself scarce when the lorry arrived. At least half the village of Godric's Hollow was Muggle while the other half was magical people so a lorry coming through would not cause any commotion. When they arrived, Lily directed them where to put the furniture. She made a comfortable grouping with the two sofa's sitting lengthwise in front of the fire place with the coffee table between them and the two armchairs on the other end. There was a long intricately woven rug underneath the coffee table. She also arranged the new dining room table, buffet and hutch for him While Severus arranged the kitchen furniture.
Remus went upstairs with Toby and his delivery men to tell them where the upstairs furniture should be placed. When they were through Toby and his men came back downstairs and picked up the heavy canvases that had covered the furniture to prevent it from being damaged while transporting them.
Severus, carrying Harry, went out to the lorry with them and talked to his dad for a few minutes. Toby gave Harry a hug and waved. Harry waved back and yelled, "Go, Manchester!" The lorry was charmed to take them out of Godric's Hollow and back to the store. They went back inside
"Does Master Lupin wish Calix to do anything special for him?"
Remus knew Calix would not be comfortable without some kind of a title to call him, but he didn't want to be called 'Master.' "Calix, you may call me Mr. Remus and if you would light fires in the fireplace here in the living room and upstairs in my bedroom I would appreciate it."
"Calix will do as Mr. Remus' requests. Does Mr. Remus wish Calix to prepare dinner for him?"
"Yes, that would be fine, Calix."
"Looks as if you're all set, Remus," Severus said. "So I guess we'll be going. If you need anything else you can fire-call me."
"Thanks, Sev, Lily. I really appreciate everything you've done for me."
"I've brewed more Wolfsbane and I'll bring it over when its ready."
Lily gave Remus a hug and so did Harry who was a little bit sad that Remus would be living somewhere else now. "Bye, Remmy."
"Harry, you needn't be sad. I'm just a floo ride away and you're welcome to come and see me any time your mum and da say it's okay."
"Okay, Remmy!" Harry replied brightening considerably.
"I'll see you soon," Remus said.
"We expect to see you on Christmas Eve, Remus," Lily said. "No excuses will be accepted."
Remus held up his hands. "I'll be there." He waved as they prepared to disapparate back home.
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James was lounging in the library of Potter Manor reading the evening edition of the Daily Prophet when Sirius came in. "Hey, Prongs! What happened to your house?"
"What house?" James asked looking up at Sirius.
"The house you were living in when you were in hiding."
"Who cares, Padfoot? I don't have any good memories of that place anyway stuck there with Harry always bawling and Lily always nagging non-stop."
"Well, I was flying on my broom in the area just now and I noticed it's not there anymore. Dumbledore, you and I always knew where it was, but I can't see it anymore."
James sat up. "I don't know. I thought Dumbledore put some kind of ward over the place to prevent Death Eaters from getting in and vandalizing it because it's a monument to the light and to the fact I died fighting against You-Know-Who. They can't stand that I was instrumental in getting rid of him."
"We'd better take a look and see if they've gotten it hidden somehow," Sirius said
"Maybe you're right," James agreed. "Let's take our brooms, fly over, and have a closer look."
"We'd better cast a Notice-Me-Not charm while we're flying over the Muggle area and then we can take it off once we get to the magical neighborhood," Sirius suggested.
"Good idea," James answered.
They went outside with their brooms and pushed off from the ground into the air with James flying behind Sirius. "Come on, Padfoot!" He yelled. "You fly like an old lady!"
"That's what you think, Prongs!" Sirius said leaning forward on his broom to increase his speed.
"You can't beat me!" James yelled passing him by. "You forget I was the best flyer ever at Hogwarts!"
They flew over the house and it was indeed as Sirius had said. "I don't know see it, Padfoot. Where the hell is it?" James yelled circling around and around. "Are you sure we're in the right place?"
"It was right here, Prongs! I remember that crooked tree across the street there," Sirius yelled back.
"We'd better let Dumbledore know there's something going on here. If it's Death Eaters, we can capture them and get credit for it instead of always having Scrimgeour yelling at us for some minor rule breaking."
They both circled around the house again before turning and heading back to Potter Manor.
"Mr. Remus," Calix called scampering into the dining room where Remus was finishing up his dinner that had been expertly prepared by Calix. "I thinks there was somebody outside the house. I thinks I heard voices."
"You stay in here and let me check it out," Remus said. He opened the front door and went outside. It was getting dark, but with his excellent night vision Remus could see the two brooms flying off. He went back inside. "It looks as if we had two visitors and they'll probably be back." He was certain it was probably James and Sirius, but they could come back as many times as they wanted to and they could even bring Albus with them, but they still wouldn't be able to see or hear a damn thing!
A/N: Immutabilis - Unchangeable
