Disclaimer: See ch.1

Notes: Thank you SO much to the people who reviewed!!! Such kind words! I'm just afraid now that I might not manage to keep up to that, but I'll try :)

Please keep reviewing and giving opinions, telling me what you like/don't like.

This'll probably be quite a long story, so still some angstyness in this chapter and the next, but not too much. After that there'll be a lot more action as the plot gets underway and I get in the swing of it.

CHAPTER TWO- REMUS LUPIN AND A DISCUSSION

Remus Lupin had been assigned the duty of Harry-watching that night. He hadn't been worried about disrupting his sleep pattern because, being a werewolf, it was never quite reliable anyway. So he wandered up and down the length of Privet Drive, keeping his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

Occasionally his mind would wander to what had happened only two weeks before, but he knew from experience that it was best to let it. He had lost Sirius once before, on that night he had believed him to be a mass murderer and traitor, and had lost his three other best friends on the same night. If he had locked all his feelings away that night he knew that they would have never returned.

He had told Harry of much of this as he could in his letter, and hoped that he would listen to the advice.

At that moment, he turned around to pace back in the other direction, and saw a figure outside 4 Privet Drive looking around in a suspicious manner. He reached for his wand quickly, but stopped, puzzled, when the figure ran away from the house. He couldn't make out the figure in the darkness, but he could tell they weren't wearing Death Eaters robes, which was slightly encouraging. He made his way up the street after the figure, who still seemed to be looking around for something almost frantically.

Remus got closer to the figure, and he was able to make out messy black hair. Was that-? The figure looked around again and Remus caught a glimpse of the side of its face. Harry! What was he doing outside?

*****

Harry had been growing more and more tense beside Remus as he clutched his scar in pain, but there was nothing Remus could do. They couldn't move from the cover of their hiding place, and he couldn't even talk to try and console Harry for fear of being heard. He could only grip his shoulder and hope he got the message.

The truth was, Remus was scared. Voldemort was only metres away, in the house, and Remus thought he knew what would happen if they were found. He was scared for his own life but right now he was much more worried about Harry.

A horrendous roar filled the night that could only have been Voldemort in a pure rage. Harry grasped onto Remus' robes as if for dear life, and his heart went out to him. He could only try to imagine what kind of pain he was going through. Harry seemed to be holding his breath, and his whole body was completely tense with pain. On the other side of the hedgerow, there was chaos.

Then suddenly there an ear splitting boom echoed through the night as the Dursleys' house exploded in a moment that seemed to last ten times as long. In that moment, Remus realised that Harry had lost the last of his protection, the last of his living relatives. Harry gave a small gasp, and then went limp and fell back into Remus' arm. Remus brought the other arm round him in a panic and gently shook the boy. No response.

Curses, screams and cold laughter could be heard from the street; reminding Remus he still needed to be quiet. He looked on in horror at Harry who lay motionless in his arms, but then noted in relief the rise and fall of his chest. He smoothed back the hair from his forehead, which was hot to the touch.

Where before Remus had been scared for his own life, now he was only hoping Voldemort and the Death Eaters would hurry up and go away so he could help Harry. He reasoned that they would need to disperse soon, because as powerful as they were, they wouldn't risk it against the whole of the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix. Remus knew that both these groups would be sent out in all their numbers once they noticed that number 4 Privet Drive, residence of the boy who lived, had exploded. And the blast would have been heard from miles around, so probably half the muggle police force too- not that they would be of much use.

Gradually the chaos died down, and popping sounds indicated the death eaters leaving. Remus, still dubious about venturing away from the cover of the hedge in case there were any stragglers, peered through the small gap and noted that everyone had gone. Besides the unconcerned yet nosy neighbours who had heard the blast and were just now starting to venture out of their houses with morbid curiosity.

Remus suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of urgency, and someplace in his head was telling him to get Harry out of here; hide him, protect him. Remus now realised that with Harry's guardians dead, for they could not have survived such a terrible blast, Harry now had none. Soon the Ministry would undoubtedly be arriving and would wish to take matters into their own hands. Remus shuddered at the thought of Harry under the care of Cornelius Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, or any number of people equally as frightful; perhaps even more so. And now that Harry had escaped Voldemort yet again, the dark lord's wish to kill him would only increase.

Harry wasn't safe anywhere, especially at this moment. Remus had decided that he himself would take care of Harry in any way he could, and the best thing to do right now would probably be to get away from here before the ministry turned up- probably any second now. The question was how. Apparation was useless, since that only accounted for one person. Remus doubted he could carry Harry fast enough to get out of the way in time, they would probably be spotted.

Remus had an idea, and there wasn't enough time to question it. He grabbed his wand from inside his robes and stuck it out onto the road.

BANG! A purple triple-decker bus appeared where Remus had stuck his wand arm out, amongst rubble and bits of house. A pimply conductor leapt out of the bus as Remus went back around the hedge to retrieve Harry.

"Welcome to the- Cor blimey! Wot 'appened 'ere?" asked the conductor, looking around at all the mess.

"No time," said Remus, hoisting Harry onto the bus and dragging the conductor behind him. "Yorkshire, please be fast it's an emergency!"

Yorkshire was the location of Remus' home. Remus knew that the order members would have the sense not to tell Fudge who had been watching Harry that night, so they should be safe for a few days tops. The conductor spotted Harry.

"'Arry Potter! Woss wrong with 'im?" He asked, but then noticed Remus' impatience. "Ern! Yorkshire! Neville's 'ere too. Fink 'e might be in some sorta trouble. Better step on it, Ern!"

Remus nodded in appreciation as the bus set off with another loud bang, then sat and turned his attention to Harry.

"Met 'im before, we did. Called 'imself Neville. Oh, I'm Stan Shunpike. Is 'e all right? We'll give you this one for free you don't 'afta pay," Stan rambled in a slightly hushed voice, taking account of the sleeping witch on a bedstead at the back of the bus.

"Pay!" Remus looked up distracted, having forgotten about money. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what change was in there, trying to give it to Stan.

"Oh no, keep it, we insist! Right, Ern?"

"Ar," said the driver. "Since it's an emergency. Speaking of, you'll havter tell me where you're headed. We're in Yorkshire."

"Right," Remus said walking up beside the driver. He noticed things would leap out of the way of the bus' way as he talked Ern through the finer directions to his cottage. As they approached Remus realised he couldn't have anyone knowing where Harry had gone, including the friendly staff of the Knight Bus. They pulled up at their destination.

"'Ere we are," said Stan.

Remus paused for a moment in consideration then raised his wand to point at the conductor who looked slightly surprised.

"Obliviate!" he said, and did the same to Ern, while holding Harry where they couldn't see him. Stan and Ern looked around, obviously very confused.

"Where are we? Who're you?" Stan asked Remus in bewilderment. Remus ignored him.

"Thank you very much," he said, pressing a single gold galleon into Stan's hand. Then he hurriedly carried Harry off the bus, making sure they couldn't see him, towards the quaint country cottage.

*****

There was warmth, and voices. Harry put what seemed to be ten times the usual amount of effort into opening his eyes. His head hurt terribly.

He was in a bed. From where he was lying he couldn't see very much, and what he could see was blurry. He could see wooden beams on the ceiling, which seemed to be dancing in a warm flickering light. He didn't know where he was, so he concentrated on listening to the voices.

"So you didn't tell anyone where he is?" a concerned voice.

"To be fair, my dear boy, I didn't know for sure myself. Though Voldemort isn't the type to keep accomplishments quiet, and I had my suspicions," a slight pause. "So does the Ministry, however. Not everyone is as shortsighted as mister Fudge. But no, I believe it would be in Harry's best interests if we kept his location a secret for the time being."

"I thought the same, but Albus, should we not even let them know he survived? What if they presume the worst? That's what it might look like- Harry gone, the house exploded..."

"Alas, you are most likely correct, though I still believe this is for the best."

Harry had by now realised that the two people talking were Professors Dumbledore and Lupin. He tried to lift his head to see them but his already blurry vision swam in protest and his head throbbed with a sickening pain. He let his head drop back down onto the pillow and exhaled sharply. There was the sound of movement from the direction of the voices, which suggested Harry's awakening had been noticed.

"I think he's waking up, I'll floo you again later with details," said Remus' voice.

"Yes and do remember to perform the procedure, if Harry is agreeable," said Dumbledore's voice, and then it disappeared.

There was the sound of footsteps and then Remus was within Harry's sight above him. He sat down in a chair beside the bed and smiled at Harry sympathetically.

"How do you feel?"

"Fine," Harry said automatically, ignoring the streaks of pain pounding in his head. "Where are we?"

"This is my house, we're in Yorkshire," said Remus kindly. "Do you remember what happened?"

Do you remember what happened? Suddenly images and memories flashed through Harry's head. A vision, Professor Lupin, Death Eaters, Voldemort, pain, an explosion, more pain, the Dursleys... He remembered now. His aunt, uncle and cousin were dead because of him. Harry lowered his eyes.

"I remember," he said. Remus nodded and there was silence for a moment.

"How's your head?" Remus asked. After a moments consideration Harry decided to refrain from giving his usual response of fine.

"Hurts. My scar too, a bit," he said.

Remus opened a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of blue liquid. He opened it and poured some into the cap.

"Here, drink this it might help. Dunno about the scar though," Remus said. Harry drank the liquid, which tasted slightly of the smell of old leather boots, though not entirely unpleasant. Harry was surprised to find that the majority of the pain disappeared right away.

"Thanks. How long have I been out?"

"Not long. Just over an hour. I would suggest you got some more sleep but there's something I need to discuss with you," Remus started, looking apologetic.

"Alright," Harry replied, wondering what else had gone wrong now.

"The Dursleys... are gone," said Remus sadly, but something told Harry this was not what he had wanted to discuss. "And your remaining protection outside Hogwarts... is gone. You're not safe."

Harry just nodded to say Remus should continue, as his tone said he was planning to.

"You know about the Fidelius charm, what it does," said Remus, gulping.

Harry just nodded again slowly, plagued with thoughts of his parents. He didn't think he liked the direction this discussion was going.

"Dumbledore suggested maybe you should have the charm performed on you, you know, to keep you safe until the new school year. And I needed to ask you what you think..." Remus paused. "What do you think?"

"I-" Harry didn't know what to say, or what he thought. "You mean you suggest I just hide all my life? Always hiding or under protection? Sure, Voldemort won't find me, but neither will anybody else!"

"No! Well I mean yes but, no. Just until the start of the school year, the charm I mean. If we don't perform the charm we'll just have to be on the run all summer, Harry. At least this way you can relax a bit. It's your decision, but either way, we have to take action now."

We. Suddenly Harry realised that Professor Lupin was in this with him, and the tone of his voice said he wasn't going to change his mind so Harry didn't even try. But instead there was someone else in this with him, and as much as Remus wanted the best for Harry, Harry also wanted the best for Remus.

"You would perform the charm?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Well, that is if you trust me," Remus replied.

"Of course I do!" Harry said without the slightest hint of doubt. He sighed, defeated. "Alright. Perform the charm."

Remus smiled widely. "You're sure?"

"Absolutely," Harry said. Well, as close as he ever would be anyway.