AN: Hi everyone! This is my very first fanfiction! Well, other than crappy one shots in the margins of classwork that is :p Anyway I hope you enjoy!
Standard Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the sole property of J.K. Rowling
Maddison Potter was Harry's sister. Twin sister actually. Harry was never told about her by his aunt and uncle because honestly, do you think they care? She managed to avoid good ol' Moldyvort by simple coincidence, she had been gone that night, she was at the hospital, the same place she had been since her birth. Maddi had been born with underdeveloped lungs, had she been born in a muggle hospital she would not have survived a day. So luckily or perhaps unluckily, she was not there on that night.
Where her brother was sent to live with their aunt and uncle, Maddison got an infinitely better home. One with her Godfather Remus Lupin. The two children had been given different godfathers for security reasons, that and Lily didn't particularly feel the Sirius was up to taking care of a child should they pass, much less two.
In the beginning, it had been hard for Remus. Balancing grieving, his condition, finding work, and taking care of a child, but he managed. As Maddison got older she even helped him, cleaning the house, working as a pet-sitter or walker around the neighborhood, even caring for Remus when he couldn't.
This was one of these times. The morning sun tricked into the Lupin cottage and the muffled howls of pain that had been issuing from the basement most of the night subsided and were replaced with soft whimpers. Maddison crept out of her room to the medicine cabinet and then to the basement door. She put her ear to it to make sure her godfather was entirely human again then opened the door and descended downstairs. Remus looked god-awful. He usually did but still. Last night Moony had been more violent than usual.
Remus lay in a small puddle of blood curled into a ball shaking. He had large, deep cuts along his torso and limbs. Discoloration on his skin and his ankle was at a weird angle. Seeing something like this would, for most children, be quite distressing and hard to stomach, if not terrifying. An eye-opener to how dangerous werewolves are. But Maddi isn't like that.
It's hard for her to see, but not due to the gore. It was seeing such a strong man, one who raised her and protected her when he could barely take care of himself, a man who was kind and caring, witty and kind. Reduced to such a state, in so much pain, unable to move from the pain. It did not make her afraid, but rather sympathetic. Maddi understood werewolves more than most grown adults. Really understood them. Understood that they were people. Just normal people, who had been forced into a painful cursed life with no cure.
"Remus." Maddi whispered, "Can you sit up for me?" The man tried to move but let out a yelp of pain. "Okay then, that's alright. Just take it slow." Maddi kept her voice quiet and soft. Rather like Remus was the child rather than her, and in a way he was. At the moment he was weak, unable to move. He was shy and scared, timid and sensitive. She, on the other hand, was able-bodied and strong, confident and ready to care for her godfather.
"I'm going to start cleaning some of your wounds. Alright?" he moved his head incrementally to show he understood. Maddi took a cloth and dipped it in a bowl of warm water she had brought down with her and started to clean the bigger cuts on Remus' back. Wiping away the blood and making sure they were clean. With a separate rag, she dabbed some murtlap essence onto the wounds to relieve some pain. After the essence, she applied a healing draught and covered the wounds in gauze. She repeated this with all the open wounds in her reach.
"Can you try to move again for me?" Remus tried. He was under obvious strain and his face was pained but with slight assist, he managed to sit up. Maddi quickly laid a blanket down over his lap for privacy and tended to his remaining wounds.
"Can you move your ankle here?" she asked pointing he tried but hissed in pain. It didn't move. She sighed. "Broken." she looked up to meet his face. His eyes were pained and filled with sadness and self-disgust. When he met her hazel eyes he gave a weak sad smile, though it looked like more of a grimace.
"Thank you, Maddison. I don't know what I'd do without you." his voice was hardly audible, and even so, it was raspy and hoarse.
"Oh please, you'd been doing this on your own for years before I learned to clean and heal your wounds. You are more capable than you credit yourself to be. Oh. and no more talking. Your throat is raw we can't have you losing your voice because you overworked it." Remus nodded to show he understood.
Maddi finished dressing her godfather's wounds and tied the blanket around his waist in a pair of makeshift trousers. "Come on, we need to get you upstairs. Try and avoid putting any pressure on your broken ankle." Maddi wrapped Remus' arm around her shoulders and she wrapped hers around his in a brace. Slowly with much effort, he managed to stand up on his good foot. Using Maddi as a crutch they hobbled up the stairs. It was quite the process but they managed it. Maddi brought Remus to the living room and deposited him on the couch. She went to the cabinet once more and grabbed a pain relief potion, and some more wrappings.
"Take this. I'm going to splint your ankle." Remus didn't protest and downed the potion once it kicked in Maddi kneeled down and reset his numbed ankle something that would, had he not been medicated, would be immensely painful for Remus. Once it was straightened and in place, Madison wrapped the ankle so that it would not move or shift from its current position.
"That should do it. You should be able to put a little bit of pressure on it now but keep it on ice." she handed him an ice pack. I'm going to go make breakfast. Remus nodded again.
Maddi made her way to the kitchen and pulled out some eggs, hash browns, bread, and butter. She threw four pieces of bread into the toaster oven on the counter and then began to cook the eggs and potatoes. This was a normal day-after breakfast in the Lupin home. Protein from the eggs, carbs from the toast, and happiness from the potatoes. No meat. That was a very strict rule in the Lupin home held by both Remus and Maddi. No meat entered their home unless it was living.
For Remus eating meat just reminded him of what he was and the bloodlust he had on those nights. He distanced himself as much as possible from anything that made him feel like that. For Maddi, it was because she loved Remus and because she felt it inhumane to eat animals when there are perfectly good foods out there that don't require something dying in order to be obtained.
Maddi plated her simple masterpieces and brought them out to where she had left Remus. "Here." she handed him his plate. He smiled thankfully at her and took the plate and began to eat. Maddi sat across from him and ate her own portion. They didn't normally eat in the living room but seeing as Remus was immobile it was a special case.
When they finished Maddi took both their plates to the kitchen again and started washing. An owl had left a copy of the profit for them and a letter. The lupins didn't often get letters, seeing as all close friends were no longer with them as was family. So this was a surprise. It was more of a surprise when Maddi picked it up to find her name on it in emerald ink.
'Miss M. Potter-Lupin Second bedroom to the left, Rose cottage, the country.' That was her alright. Turning over the letter Maddi gasped as she laid eyes on the purple wax Hogwarts crest sealing the letter. It took all her self-control to keep her from yelling and ripping the letter open then and there. She knew Remus would want to be there to open the letter with her, and knew he would want to celebrate but he was in no state to do so right now. So Maddi set down the letter propping it up against the window ledge and made her way back to the living room with the paper. Remus had fallen asleep in her absence.
She didn't blame the poor guy. He was exhausted and after a good meal and a pain relief potion, sleep was inevitable. Maddison gazed upon his sleeping form with fondness. It was the only time he ever seemed at peace. It made him look like the age he was. He was only thirty, but he looked closer to forty, except for now.
It was times like this that Maddison really questioned who was the child in the household and who was the guardian. She often felt motherly towards Remus, like he was a child lost in the world. A world that was cruel and unfair. One that tried it's hardest to make his life as miserable as possible. Sometimes she wondered if he really was still a child. He had never gotten the chance to be one properly, having been bitten so young, so who's to say that child wasn't still there? Living out the childhood he missed in little moments throughout his life, hiding just under the surface.
Remus took on responsibility so young. First his bite. He took that on at age four. Then, once his life had moved past that hurdle. He had been tasked as her guardian. The world had taken everything from this man who had never had anything to give. Maddison often felt guilty about it. But as Moony took extra care to remind her: she was the greatest thing to have ever happened to him.
Maddison didn't remember too much from her early years in the care of St Mungos. But she remembered that after 1981 Remus was at her side quite often. His body— forever a few degrees warmer than the average humans— was next to her nearly constantly. He would be there when she woke up crying and sometimes wake her up with his own quiet sobbing before lulling her back into sleep.
He told her she was the only thing that ever kept him from wanting to end it all. Kept him sane and in tact. Gave him a welcome distraction.
And here they were. A decade later still in that balance. He was there for her nightmares and she was there for his. She was his cub and he was her Moony.