Disclaimer: You all should know by now that I don't own them.

Ch.3- Visits and the End of the Summer

          The next morning Harry woke up rather late to find Sirius already up and reading the Daily Prophet as he munched on a bowl of cornflakes at the kitchen table. Harry got himself a bowl of cereal as well and slid into one of the chairs. "Morning, Sirius. Where's Remus?" he asked.

          "Good morning." Sirius replied as he looked up from his paper. "Remus is upstairs doing something; I think he has plans for the day. He should be down in a minute."

          As if on cue, Remus came downstairs pulling his new pair of brown work robes on over his otherwise conventional ensemble of a white button-down shirt, gray trousers and a blue sweater. "Good morning Sirius, Harry." he said as he fastened the clasps on his robes. "You know, you really didn't have to get me these Sirius, I have plenty of clothes."

          Sirius waved a hand impatiently and said, "Remus, you've had most of your clothes since before I was in Azkaban; it's the least I could do. Besides, I've already missed your birthdays and Christmases over the last ten years. Got to start making it up somewhere. At any rate, what are your plans for today?"

          "Well, since Harry has been living with the Dursleys, they have all of his medical records, school transcripts, and the like, and now that he's living with us we need those documents. Or perhaps I should say you need those documents, since you are Harry's legal guardian. So today I'm going over to the Dursleys' house to retrieve those papers. While I'm there, is there anything of yours that you'd like me to bring back?" he asked Harry.

          Harry frowned and said "Well, there's almost nothing there that was actually mine; all of my clothes were Dudley's hand-me-downs, and I really didn't have much else. There is one thing: under my bed in the upstairs bedroom there is a shoebox with a blanket and a small teddy bear in it. I'd rather like to have those back. The blanket is tan with blue stripes on it and the teddy is sort of squashed and brown."

          Remus nodded and said, "I'll be sure to get those. I should be back in a couple of hours, Sirius." And with that, he Disapparated.

          Sirius chuckled and said "I almost wish I was going with him, just to see the looks on their faces."

          "What do you mean?" asked Harry, intrigued.

          "Well, I've known Remus for a number of years now, and one thing I know about him is that he has as much of a sense of humor as I do. If I know him- and I do- he's just Apparated into the Dursleys' living room unannounced."

          Harry started laughing at this and asked, "So what are you planning to do today?"

          Sirius replied "Well, unless you had any ideas, I was just going to work on my bike some more."

          "Can I see it?" asked Harry.

          Sirius was a tad surprised, but said "Sure you can." and lead them outside. The midmorning sun shone brightly on the lush garden, and Sirius led him on the garden path to an old outbuilding, which he unlocked. He flipped on a light switch, whipped the dustcover off of the vintage motorbike in the shed and wheeled it outside.

          "Here it is." Sirius said proudly, gesturing towards it.

          "It's…erm…" Harry said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. Privately he thought that it looked like an old pile of junk, but didn't want to say it to Sirius' face.

          Sirius smiled and said ruefully "Yeah, I know; it's a big pile of rust. I'm going to basically have to strip the whole bike down and restore her."

          "You're going to do all that today?" asked Harry.

          "No, no, all I'm doing today is just cleaning and/or replacing part of the engine. I don't really need any help or anything, so feel free to do whatever you like."

          Harry nodded, still getting used to this new freedom, and said, "Okay, I'll probably just read some more in my textbooks."

          Sirius said "Yeah, that's probably a good idea; the professors prefer it if you've at least skimmed through the books before you get there."

          So for the next several hours Sirius tinkered with his bike, and Harry read some more of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi on the sofa in the living room. Which is where he was when he heard a muffled pop and the front door opened. He looked up to see Remus carrying a medium-sized cardboard file box with a smaller shoebox perched on top of it. He set both boxes down with a thump on the coffee table and sat down heavily in the armchair.

Harry set his book aside, looking slightly concerned, and said, "Are you okay? Would you like a cup of tea?"

Remus was resting his forehead on his hand and looked up at these words. "I'm fine, just a little tired. And a cup of tea would be wonderful, thank you." Harry went into the kitchen and quickly fetched a cup of tea for Remus. As he handed it to him, Remus smiled gratefully and said "Thank you. I don't suppose you could go fetch Sirius for me? I'm sure he'll want to hear all about what happened."

Harry replied in the affirmative and dashed off to go find Sirius, who was still puttering around in the backyard. "Sirius, Remus is back." he said as he bemusedly watched a very dirty Sirius doing something with his wand to a part of the bike's engine. He quickly finished, wheeled the bike back into the shed, and followed Harry back into the house.

"Hey Remus; how'd it go?" Sirius asked as he and Harry returned to the living room.

Remus sighed and said "Well, at the very least I've got all of Harry's records and things. Unfortunately, what with one thing and another, I'm afraid I may have…lost my temper a bit and done something rather rash."

Sirius started snickering and asked, "What'd you do?"

Remus sighed again and replied "Something that will take the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad quite awhile to correct. You see, the Dursleys weren't too pleased when I Apparated into their living room. They all started screaming and I tried to explain what I was there for. Vernon started in on a slew of nasty comments about me, Harry, you, Lily, James, and wizards in general, so I thought it would be best if I just placed him in a Body Bind while I got Harry's files. Petunia had gone into the kitchen earlier (I don't know what happened to your cousin, Harry) and now came back out brandishing an iron frying pan. I Stunned her and went to go find your files and belongings, Harry, and after I'd done so decided that your uncle's bellowing was getting on my nerves so I cast a Silencing charm on him and, just for good measure and since I'd never liked her anyway, transfigured Petunia into a horse before I left."

Sirius was now laughing so hard he was crying, and Harry was laughing as well. Sirius managed to choke out between hysterical laughter "I can't believe you did that Moony! No, wait, never mind; I can believe you did that!" 

Harry was slightly confused, and asked, "Why do you call each other Moony and Padfoot?"

Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance, and Sirius said "That's a story for a later time; right now, let's look through these." indicating the files. "What's in here though?" he wondered aloud as he removed the lid of the shoebox. He smiled and passed the box containing an old blanket and a battered teddy bear to Harry. "I believe these are yours."

Harry eagerly took his teddy out of the box and hugged it, saying "Mr. Snuffles is probably the only thing from the Dursleys that's really mine. A neighbor from down the street gave him to me for my sixth birthday." Harry blushed slightly as he realized he was still hugging his bear in front of Sirius and Remus, and that he had said what the bear's name was. "I mean," he continued, "I named him Mr. Snuffles because I was six and I always thought he had a rather large nose for a bear…" He trailed off, now looking highly embarrassed.

Both of the older men sensed his embarrassment, and Sirius smiled reassuringly, saying "It's okay, Harry; everyone gives odd names to their stuffed animals. When I was five I had a plush monkey named Bertina. I was going to name it Bertram at first, but one of my younger cousins got ahold of it, tied a big blue bow around its neck, and somehow charmed it in place so that you couldn't take the bow off. It was Bertina from then on."

Remus nodded and said, "Yes, I had a bear named Romulus. I loved him, carried him with me wherever I went. Never saw one without the other. My mother, being who she was, called it Romulus and the name just stuck." Having said this, Remus turned to the sheaf of papers in the box marked 'Harry', muttering to himself as he read through them, and passing them to Sirius as he finished each one. "Not organized at all…standard forms for immunizations….school physical…dental records…nasty letter saying that you turned your teacher's wig blue- didn't expect to see that in here- hospital forms: broken ankle, sprained wrist, broken nose…" He paused as he flipped this last form over. "Hm- this one's dated August, 1986. How on earth do you manage to break your nose when you're six?"

Harry snorted at that and supplied "That one wasn't my fault; Dudley broke it for me." Remus looked aghast and Sirius looked murderous as Harry continued, "The rest were my fault, more or less. The broken ankle was from when I fell off of the roof of the school kitchens that one time, and the sprained wrist was from a rugby game." Remus and Sirius still frowned a little at this, and Remus continued reading through the files, finally stacking them in a neat pile in the file box when he was finished and Banishing the box to his study.

Having done this, Remus stood up and stretched, then yawned. Sirius looked rather concerned and said, "Still tired, Moony?"

Remus nodded and replied "Yes, I'll probably take a nap after lunch." He then sat back down in his chair.

Harry had watched this exchange with a great deal of interest and piped up from his chair "It's later now; will you tell me why you call each other Moony and Padfoot now?"

Remus and Sirius looked at each other, and Sirius quietly said to Remus "We probably should tell him now; it is in five days, after all." Remus nodded and both men turned to Harry. Sirius started "I would have told you about all of this sooner, but I didn't for several reasons. It's really Remus' story to tell, not mine, and I wanted to wait until you were a bit more accustomed to the magical world to tell you; I didn't want to startle you right off the bat." Sirius frowned slightly, thought for a minute, then said "I suppose the best place to start would be to tell you about my nickname first. You see, your father, Peter, and I all became what are known as Animagi in our fifth year of school. You remember I told you that Peter could turn into a rat?"

Harry nodded and Sirius continued "Well, that's what an Animagus is: a witch or wizard who can turn into an animal at will. Becoming an Animagus is a highly dangerous and difficult thing to do and I'll let Remus explain exactly why we did in a minute. We all gave ourselves nicknames according to our forms. Since Peter could become a rat- how fitting- his nickname was Wormtail. Your father transformed into a stag, and so his name was Prongs. I can turn into a large dog-" here he stood up, changed into his alternate form and back, and sat down again "-and my nickname is Padfoot."

Remus now picked up the story. "They had their reasons for becoming Animagi; they did it for my sake. You see, I suffer from a condition known in medical terms as lycanthropy. In layman's terms, it means that I am a werewolf. I'm perfectly safe right now; I'm human all but one day out of the month. It's only during the full moons that I transform into the werewolf. During my transformations I lock myself in a secure chamber in the cellar that I can't get out of in wolf form."

"Sirius stays with me as Padfoot during the full moons; a werewolf is only a danger to humans, you see. In addition, a recent development in medicinal potions allows me to keep my mind when I transform, as well. A werewolf, when transformed, normally has no human conscience or scruples and is a bloodthirsty, raving monster. However, if I take the Wolfsbane Potion the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform. It also helps lessen some of the pain, although not all of it; turning into a werewolf is…very painful, which is why there are also Silencing Charms on the cellar."

Harry pondered this while they waited anxiously for his reaction. Finally, he spoke. "So- it's a disease then, like cancer, or AIDS? It's not like you asked to be bitten, was it? How did you go to Hogwarts, if you're a werewolf? Were you bitten at Hogwarts?"

Remus was highly relieved that Harry was not scared of him, and replied, "I'm very glad that you see things that way, Harry. Most people aren't very tolerant where werewolves are concerned. We are mistrusted and feared by many in the magical community; consequently I've had trouble finding and keeping a job. To answer your questions: I was bitten as a young child. It was thought that I wouldn't be able to attend Hogwarts, but Albus Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he told my parents that as long as precautions were followed, there shouldn't be any reason why I couldn't attend school. I was smuggled out of the school to a safe place to transform every month, and no one except for the Headmaster, the nurse, and my Head of House knew about it. That is, until Sirius and James worked out why I went missing every month."

"Who was your Head of House?" Harry asked.

"Professor McGonagall was, and still is, the Head of Gryffindor House. There are four Houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Both your parents, as well as Sirius and myself, were in Gryffindor House."

"And what House was…was Peter in?" Harry tentatively asked.

Sirius scowled and replied "Peter was in Gryffindor with the rest of us, surprisingly enough; would've figured the little slimy traitor for a Slytherin…" Seeing Harry's perplexed look, he elaborated. "There's not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. Well, except for Peter."

It was getting on towards afternoon at this point, and all three were hungry, so Remus made them all lunch. He took the time after lunch to call the optometrist and the dentist to make appointments for Harry for the following day, and the day after. He then took a nap, while Sirius and Harry both read; Harry with some more of his textbooks, and Sirius perusing the latest edition of Transfiguration Today.

The next day, Remus informed Harry at breakfast that he had an appointment with the dentist that day, and that both Sirius and he would be taking him there at 4.30 in the afternoon. Sirius looked affronted, and indignantly said "Hey! Why do I have to go?"

Remus coolly replied "Moral support. I have shopping to do in town today, but I will be back in time to pick up you and Harry."

While Remus ran his errands, Sirius and Harry spent the morning chatting, reading, and watching television. Remus returned at around one to make lunch, and then spent some time working in the garden.

Four-thirty found the three walking into Granger and Granger Dental Associates. The waiting room was empty except for a girl reading a very large book and the receptionist. While Remus went over to announce their arrival, Sirius and Harry sat down. Remus finished his business with the receptionist, who informed him that the doctor would see them momentarily, and then went into the back. She came out a minute later carrying her purse and coat and left.

Moments later a slim brown-haired woman came out carrying a clipboard. "Only two more patients today, I see. Mr. Black, why don't we start with you?"

Sirius started, and said, "Wait a minute, you said I was here for moral support, Remus! You never said a thing about making an appointment for me."

Remus sighed and said, "Yes, well, would you have agreed to go if I'd told you? Dental care is not exactly prevalent in Azkaban, Sirius. Now, I suggest you follow the nice dentist back there before I put you in a full Body-Bind curse and levitate you myself!"

Harry, meanwhile, had gotten a look at the title of the book the girl was reading (A History of Magic) and had struck up a conversation. He hadn't been paying too much attention to Sirius and Remus' argument, but looked up when Dr. Granger said "The other Dr. Granger will be out shortly to see Mr. Potter. I hope you don't mind the receptionist leaving, but as you're the last two patients of the day, she asked if she could pop off early." With that, she led a very irritated and grumbling Sirius back.

Hermione Granger (for that was her name) noticed Remus in one of the waiting room chairs, and brightly said "Mr. Lupin! It's nice to see you again."

They exchanged pleasantries and Harry, who had been wondering about Remus talking about magic in front of the Muggle dentist, curiously asked, "How do you two know each other?"

Remus replied "When completely Muggleborn students with no knowledge of the magical world are invited to attend Hogwarts, a Liaison Officer is appointed them to answer any questions they may have, help them obtain supplies, and so on. I'm Miss Granger's liaison."

He was interrupted by the male Dr. Granger calling Harry back. The rest of the visit was relatively uneventful, although Sirius needed several cavities filled and Remus had to be called back to perform a Numbing charm on Sirius' mouth, as he refused point-blank to allow the dentist anywhere near him with the Novocaine.

On the way home, Harry voiced his initial impression of Hermione as a bossy know-it-all. Remus merely smiled and said that sometimes you have to get to know someone before realize what they're like and you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Sirius was unable to add any words of wisdom to this, as his jaw muscles were still numb.

The following day Harry had an appointment with the optometrist, and it turned out that his old glasses prescription was still fine. Sirius insisted on getting him another pair, however, because his old glasses were very scratched and worn, and no longer quite fit his face.

The night of the full moon, Harry was locked in his room (just in case) and Sirius stayed with Remus down in the cellar. He carried Remus upstairs in the morning, while Harry was still asleep. Harry did wake up early enough to make Remus breakfast, however. Remus half-heartedly protested that it really wasn't necessary for Harry to have gone to all the trouble of cooking for him, although he was very grateful that he had. Harry responded that he didn't mind at all; he rather liked cooking now that no one was actually forcing him to do so.

The last few weeks in August were filled with fun, stories, and laughter. It was, without a doubt, one of the happiest times of Harry's life. It was certainly the happiest month in recent memory for Sirius and Remus; all three had been alone and were now knit together in a solid familial bond.

All too soon, September first arrived, and everyone was rushing around getting ready. Well, to be more specific, Sirius was rushing around so much it felt like three people, so excited was he. Harry was also extremely animated, and while Remus was just as excited as either of the two, he calmly made sure that everything was packed and everyone had eaten.

Sirius borrowed Remus' car and drove Harry to King's Cross station. They arrived between platforms 9 and 10 with ten minutes to spare, just as a large red-haired family disappeared through the barrier. Harry just noticed the mother going through and turned to Sirius with a hint of trepidation.

"Are you sure I just walk through the barrier? It looks awfully solid to me."

Sirius just smiled and said, "Yes, that's what you do. You might want to try it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, then." Gulping nervously, Harry ran straight at the barrier- and right through it. Sirius followed him through a second later, saying "See? What'd I tell you?" He helped Harry get his trunk and Hedwig on the train, and then came the moment that both had been dreading.

Sirius knelt down to look Harry in the eye and put a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, it's been one of the best times of my life, this past month. It's unfair that I'm just getting to know you and you're going off to Hogwarts already. I almost wish you didn't have to go, but…" He broke off here, looking distinctly teary-eyed, and continued. "I'm really going to miss you Harry. Who's going to help me tease Moony, now?" He cracked a watery grin. "Really, though, owl us and let us know if you need anything, how you're doing, how school is going, everything. You know you can always talk to Remus or me about anything. If you need anything at all, just owl us and we'll be there for you."

The warning whistle for the train's departure in a minute sounded, and Sirius said, "I suppose you'd better get on the train then. You have money for the food trolley, and your luggage and everything, so…" He enveloped Harry in a tight hug and said, "I love you Harry, and I always will." He let go of Harry, who climbed onto the train just in time. Harry watched Sirius from his compartment as the train began to pull out of the station. He didn't stop waving until the platform was out of sight.