CRACK
With a sudden "crack", Remus Lupin and Professor McGonagall apparated just outside the gates of Hogwarts, the British wizarding school. Remus looked up at the huge castle with all it's towers and glistening windows. Even though it had been a few years since he graduated, Hogwarts still felt like home to him as soon as he arrived. It had been here, in the Great Hall after the sorting and in the common room, that he had made friends with James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. It was also here that he had met Lily Evans, who had definitely changed his life forever.
"GRYFFINDOR!" Shouted the sorting hat. Remus hopped down from the stool as the table at the far side of the hall erupted in applause. He was glad to see that he wasn't the only new Gryffindor student this year and not even the first new Gryffindor student. He took a seat across from a black-haired boy and reached out to shake his hand.
"Remus. Remus Lupin."
The black-haired boy looked at Remus' hand and then up at Remus. He smiled and said "Sirius. Sirius Black."
Next to Sirius Black sat a girl with the most astonishing green eyes, Remus had ever seen. Even though she was staring at a boy with a weird, crooked-looking nose and long black greasy hair, who hadn't yet been sorted, she reached out to Remus to greet him and said "Lily Evans. Nice to meet you both."
Both Remus and Sirius Black shook hands with Lily Evans.
"It's exciting to see who else makes Gryffindor, isn't it?" Sirius Black had said as the sorting continued. "I myself am very surprised to be in Gryffindor. I'm probably the first in my family for centuries to not be in Slytherin."
Within the next half hour as the sorting finished, Remus, Sirius Black, Lily Evans and the rest of Gryffindor House were joined by Peter Pettigrew, James Potter and several other girls.
After enjoying a wonderful feast and having a blast in the Great Hall, it was time for the students to find their way up to Gryffindor Tower before bedtime. As the other students looking around in awe as they entered the common room, something else caught Remus' attention. Through the high windows, Remus noticed the moon. It wasn't quite full yet, but he knew it was coming up.
"Hey, Remus, what's wrong? You seem kind of… out of it?" James put a hand on Remus' shoulder.
"It's the moon. It'll be full in four days." Remus knew this was inevitable. He knew, sooner or later, he'd have to tell the other boys about his secret. But did he dare? But he had to, didn't he? He'd be sharing a bedroom with these three boys for like seven years! "James, come closer. I have to tell you a secret. Please don't be afraid." He was shaking as he whispered his secret in James' ear. He was fearing James' reaction to his secret.
Half expecting James to scream and run away, either to just get a teacher or simply to get as far away as possible from Remus, he didn't know. But James had this weird smile on his face. He just said "Wicked!" and waved Sirius and Peter over to the window. After James had whispered the same thing to Sirius and Peter, Sirius had the same reaction as James. Remus didn't really know how to react to this. Peter however looked afraid. This, Remus was used to because that was what everyone did. But James and Sirius? What was with them?
Suddenly, Remus could feel that he was home. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the three boys, James, Sirius and Remus.
"Dumbledore should be in his office at this time, we'd better hurry." Professor McGonagall said and hurried off toward the castle. Remus hurried after her, not that he didn't know his way around the castle, he certainly did. He and his friends were probably amongst those students, ever, who had known their way best around the castle, he thought to himself and chuckled.
Professor McGonagall's request of "Peanut Butter Brittle" was followed by a knock on the office door and a voice saying "Come in, come in." To which Professor McGonagall opened the door and she and Remus walked into the Headmaster's office.
"Ah, Professor McGonagall, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The headmaster was sitting behind his desk with a look like he had been expecting company. "Remus? What a surprise, I must say." He added, nodding at Remus. Remus nodded back at Professor Dumbledore and then looked around the room. Portraits from the last several hundred years covered all the walls. Remus had of course been to the headmaster's office before, though not as much as James and Sirius but, he had been there once or twice and knew the interior design.
"Albus, I assume you know what today's date is?" Professor McGonagall stated, getting directly to the point.
"Well, yes, Professor. Today is October 31st." Dumbledore looked very excited at this statement. Remus wondered what Professor Dumbledore was thinking at this very moment.
"Exactly, Albus. Tonight, is exactly a year since James and Lily Potter were murdered. And I have been observing how Harry Potter's aunt and uncle have been treating him. And I must say, Harry Potter deserves so much better than that." Professor McGonagall stated.
"Minerva, dear, we went through this last year. Harry Potter must live with a blood relative and call her house home for the protection spell to work." Professor Dumbledore explained.
"I understand all that, Albus, but what if Harry doesn't call his aunt's house home? What if he never feels welcome at her house?"
"Petunia Dursley is Lily Potter's sister, of course he will call her house home." Professor Dumbledore looked very calmly at his two visitors. "Harry Potter will be safe with his aunt and uncle until he is ready to attend Hogwarts at age 11, then he will return to Privet Drive every summer until he turns 17 years old and comes of age." Remus thought that Professor Dumbledore made this statement sound as though it was the most natural thing in the whole world. This irritated him a bit as this may not be case anymore. God, he hoped this wasn't the case anymore. Having Harry living with him would be like having a little piece of James and Lily back. A very important piece of James and Lily. Harry had been like Remus' own son and he had loved him like so.
"Albus, just listen to me!" Professor McGonagall was getting furious at her headmaster. He wasn't listening to her, not at all. "Albus, I have observed the family's daily life and they don't care about Harry. They ignore him, they abuse him and he's just a baby for crying out loud!" The portraits around the room were beginning to listen in to the conversation, one by one.
"Nonetheless, she is his aunt. She is his mother's sister. She loves him and he must stay where he is."
"She's got a point, you know. You really ought to listen to Professor McGonagall." Remus looked up at the wall to the right of him, to Professor Dumbledore's left. To his surprise, one of the portraits had joined in the conversation. All the rest of the portraits were either looking at the portrait or else whispering to each other. Remus looked quickly at Professor McGonagall, who was smirking.
"Please explain yourself, Phineas." Professor Dumbledore also looked up at the portrait.
"No, I'd say, listen to Minerva. Let her explain." The old headmaster Phineas Nigellus was sitting with his arms crossed inside his frame and looking stern at Albus Dumbledore. That same stern look, Professor McGonagall was known for having. Remus, looking around again, noticed that most of the other portraits were either nodding at Dumbledore or looking at Professor McGonagall.
"Albus, look I've thought a lot about this, these past two days. Petunia and Vernon Dursley are mistreating Harry Potter and by now he is only two years old. If he has to grow up in this environment, he might not be a well-functional boy. He might never feel welcome in their home, because he might not feel that they want him there and then how can he call it his home? And if he doesn't call it home, will the protection spell work? And if the spell doesn't work, couldn't he just as well be living somewhere else, with someone else who would love him as their own?"
Albus Dumbledore looked at Professor McGonagall, then to Remus Lupin and up to Phineas Nigellus on the wall, still given Dumbledore his stern look with his arms crossed.
"Think about it, Albus, you old fool. It makes sense what she says." The former headmaster added.
Dumbledore sighed. "Well, if I agreed to this, who would he be living with then? Do we know anyone that would take him in?"
Remus took a step forward and raised his right hand, as if to take a vow. "Headmaster, if I may? Professor McGonagall came to me to ask me if I would be interested in this honor, sir. And I must say, I have never been offered a greater honor in my whole life. I would like to take Harry Potter in treat him as he deserves to be treated."
"And love him like his own." Professor McGonagall added.
"I have loved Harry Potter as my own my whole life." Remus looked down and paused for a moment before looking up at Professor Dumbledore and adding "You know that James and Lily were my best friends. One could never ask for better anywhere at any time. Lily had cared for me like no other had ever had before and especially when I needed her the most. She deserves to have me show her son the same love and care in his greatest time of need."
At these words, an old Headmaster from the 17th century, hanging on the wall behind Professor Dumbledore, burst into tears. He used his long, white beard to wipe his eyes with. "Albus, please let the boy get a good childhood and let the young man honor his friends."
Albus Dumbledore looked around the office once more. "One can still not interpret the spells as one likes. It is what it is. But I can feel where this is going if it comes down to a vote." Professor Dumbledore sighed. Professor McGonagall looked up at the portraits and smiled at them as if she was thanking them for help. "But you have managed to remember that tonight is the full moon, I suppose?"
Remus looked to Professor McGonagall whose face was turning red. "How dare you, Albus?! How dare you use that against him!" Remus took a step back from Professor McGonagall as she continued, becoming quite scared of her, actually. "Do you not think I have thought of that, Albus?! DO YOU NOT?!"
Dumbledore turned towards Professor McGonagall and Remus and said: "One can still not interpret the spells as one likes, I trust you know that, Minerva."