" Severus, would you please give us a briefing on what has been happening on the other side…" Dumbledore's voice rang through the smoke filled room he and twenty others were cramped into.

Sitting in the dimly lit kitchen of the Black Manor, Remus Lupin tried to focus on what Snape was saying, but found it nearly impossible to do so. Looking around the kitchen table and to the few others that had the privilege of sitting instead of standing for an hour due their punctuality, he saw he wasn't the only one. Molly Weasley sat ringing her hands in her apron, both she and Remus down right distracted with worry.

 No one had heard from Harry in the last week, and although this normally wouldn't result in this much concern, both knew Harry personally and knew that when left alone with his thoughts, Harry could get pretty badly mixed up.

By the end of the two-hour meeting, both adults hastily left the crowded room meeting in Sirius' old bedroom for some privacy.

" Remus," Molly said frantically looking around for any eavesdroppers, " I am going to go check on him. I can't take it any longer. I need to see for myself that he's okay."

Remus had to smile despite the seriousness of the matter at hand. Even if Harry had lost his parents and godfather, Molly Weasley would always be an absolutely wonderful stand in mother.

Remus looked Molly over. She was completely exhausted and trying to take care of her kids and household while Mr. Weasley was away.

" No Molly, let me go check on him. I think I could do myself and him some good by talking with him…" said Remus.

Beside the point, he already knew that Harry wouldn't be okay and Molly already had enough on her plate as it is without worrying too much over Harry's well being.

Remus on the other hand had decided that he would be the one to look after Harry from now on. James and Lily would have wanted him to anyways.

 Molly studied Remus for one moment as if to consider what he was said and then nodded, albeit reluctantly.

" Alright, but you let him know that I love him, okay?" She asked desperately, her eyes wide with earnestness.

" Of course Molly." Remus said grabbing her shoulder for extra emphasis because she looked on the verge of tears. " Why don't you go back home? I'm sure your children miss you, I'll owl or floo once I have returned."

Molly shook her head once again and looked as though she was about to leave when she turned back to Remus.

" That boy means the world to the lot of us," said Molly motioning toward the Order just a few rooms down, " you look him over real carefully. Don't let him pull that, 'I'm fine although you'll never know I'm really dying on the inside,' on you."

With that final note, she turned abruptly and made her way to the fireplace where she immediately flooed home, the words " the Burrow" still ringing through the air as Remus made his way to the fireplace.

Remus didn't know what to expect when he landed in the Dursley's living room, but complete silence with an eerie cleanliness about the house wasn't it.

" Hello…?" Remus asked walking around the first floor of the house. He walked all the way through the kitchen before spotting even a sign of life. He didn't know how Harry could stand to live in such a neat and proper house.

He caught sight of the three Dursley's outside at their picnic table eating their fancy dinner of steak and potatoes, Harry nowhere in sight. Part of Remus told him to immediately go find the boy, but then he knew the Dursley's, and they would be quiet upset to have one of 'his kind' in the house with out their knowledge.

Walking through the back door, Petunia jumped up, unnaturally silent for her character simply just staring at him with eyes that told him his visit was not unnecessary.

" You- you," Vernon sputtered indignantly throwing his napkin down, "How did you get in my house?! Get out, you have no right!"

 Remus took odd pleasure in the fact he could make the man's face turn ten different shades of purple and red within seconds.

" Vernon- leave it be, I will show him to Harry." Petunia admonished. An uncomfortable tension filled the air around them. Remus was sure that was the first time Petunia had ever stood up to Vernon, telling him what to do. Completely speechless, Vernon watched as his wife and the 'freaky man' entered his house and vanished out of sight as they rounded the corner of the living room.

" He's been in a right state." Petunia said quietly. Remus thought he actually heard a tone of concern in her voice, but dismissed it. This was the lady that hated James and Lily with a passion. This was the lady that married that bastard that made sure Harry enjoyed himself as little as possible.

" He hasn't come out of his bedroom since the night he got here. We told him to write you- we told him to get up and go outside." Her voice trailed off as they neared the staircase. " I have never seen the boy like this. He hasn't eaten for a week… just lies on that bed, staring at the wall or out the window…"

Remus was about to explain how Harry lost his godfather but decided that it was Harry's right to let them know and he obviously hadn't.

" It's the second door on the right." Petunia said turning and walking away leaving Remus standing in the hall of a strange house, with a strange feeling that his life was about to dramatically change.

Taking a deep breath, Remus strode up the stairs and counted the doors on his right. The second one came before he would have liked, he wasn't sure how Harry would respond to him.

See- this is why he needs Sirius! Remus thought frantically, Sirius would have busted this door down and forced Harry to talk to him. He would have known what to do and done it perfectly. He was amazing with Harry… he was all Harry really needed.

 

 Shaking the thought when he heard the door he was standing in front of creek open, he took one last deep breathe before coming face to face with emerald eyes.

Desolate. Un kept. Stoic.

The look on Harry's face when he saw Remus was blank. He said nothing, did nothing, only opened the door so Remus could enter and then proceeded to walk right back to his bed where he flopped down on his stomach facing the wall.

 Remus closed his eyes and questioned for a fleeting second whether it had been a good idea for him to come in the first place. Molly could have mothered the boy. A tiny voice in the back of Remus' head told him that Harry didn't need mothering, he needed someone he could talk to about Sirius, someone who knew him well, someone who also loved him so much it hurt, and Remus knew that he was exactly that person.

" I heard you standing outside." Harry said simply, his voice monotone and wielding no emotion whatsoever as he offered his curt explanation.

Taking that as his invitation in, Remus maneuvered over the mess of things on Harry's floor- mainly photo albums, books, and clothes- and from their scattered position on the floor and the numerous broken things lying here and there, Remus assumed Harry had in a fit of anger thrown his possessions across the room- like he had done with Albus' office, which Remus helped to clean up.

For a minute a heavy silence lingered in the room. No one spoke, no one moved, and to Remus' great surprise, it was Harry who began the round of questions.

" What're you doing here?" he asked with no attempt to hide the miserable tone in his voice. Part of Remus wished Harry's voice betrayed annoyance or coldness because he could have dealt with that- but plain, brutal anguish was a whole new story.

" You haven't written for the last week, so I thought I'd come and check on you- you know, see how the Dursley's are treating you."  Remus said clearing his suddenly dry throat and using his most non-accusing voice he could muster up.

Harry was silent.

" How are they treating you?" Remus asked, changing his tactics to be the one asking the questions.

" Just dandy." Harry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and a wide smile plastered on his pale face,  "they're my new best friends."

Remus sighed heavily. He wished with his whole heart that Sirius were here to help mend Harry's pain, but however ironic and unfortunate it was, Sirius was Harry's pain.

Stumped as to how to talk to Harry in a way to get a sincere reaction, Remus walked over to the boy and gently but forcefully turned Harry over so he was facing him and pulled the boy to his feet.

" Come on- we're going." Remus said softly but sternly and resolutely clearly allowing no room for objections.

" Going where?" Harry shouted defiantly, the calm act he had been going for completely slipping through the cracks at the prospect of having to go somewhere.

Blast! This boy go through mood changes faster than his mother, Remus thought, First he's stoic, then sarcastic, now angry as hell.

Remus shook his head, for heard not so much of anger but a plead. Harry didn't want to go somewhere he was forced to deal with what happened. He was waiting to wake up and find it was all a bad dream.

Remus knew the signs of denial all too well, for he had been there fifteen years ago and knew better than to allow it to happen again.

" To the Burrow." Remus said. Harry needed love… he needed his friends. He needed someone to make sure he was being taken care of. Obviously the Dursley's weren't doing that, letting Harry skip meals and stay locked up in the house for a week.

" I don't want to go to the Weasley's!" Shouted Harry, his voice laced with desperation.

" To bad Harry." Remus said curtly, guiding Harry out of the room by the cuff of his neck. " You're not going to stay here and mope all day, waiting for something that will never come."

The look in Harry's eyes told Remus Harry knew of what he spoke- told Remus that Harry understood what he himself was going through, but that didn't mean Harry was ready to talk.

But Before Harry could voice his opinion on the matter they were in the fireplace, Remus saying very clearly, " The Burrow."