Title: Rain
Author: Jillian Knight (The Wolf of Were)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: After Harry's fifth year, he's just spiraling downwards. He needs help, but where does one "mother-hen" owl turn to? No slash.
Remus blinked. Harry had never called him by his childhood name before. "Yes, Harry, it's me, Rem-Moony. It's Moony," he answered gently, wiping the washcloth across the boy's forehead.
Harry's sick eyes brightened, and a small, feeble smile appeared. The younger wizard did not say a word, did not protest as Remus took care of him. He just sat their on Remus' lap, looking up at the werewolf as if though the older wizard was the first person the boy had seen in ages.
"Moony?" Harry asked again hoarsely.
"What is it, Harry?" Remus whispered gently, a concerned look was etched across his face as he laid the boy back on the bed and tucked him under the linens. When Harry did not respond, Remus moved onto the bed and sat by the sick boy. Remus gently began to stroke Harry's still head, reminding himself of the many times his own mother had taken care of the werewolf when he was ill.
The response was instantaneous, and it knocked Remus out of stupor. The sick child curled up on his side and tucked his chin down into the sheets. It was a pitiful sight. Harry was so sick, and Remus did not know where Hedwig was on her task. Sighing to himself, Remus knew that he should of fetched Dumbledore and the rest of the Order as soon as he had seen the owl, and even more so when he had arrived back at Headquarters' with Harry. It would have taken mere minutes, flooing over to Dumbledore's office or informing Mad-Eye, but Remus' main concern was Harry. All he wanted was Madame Pomfrey, and in Remus' opinion, Harry needed medical attention quickly. It was something inside him-probably the wolf-that told him to commit the anomaly.
All the werewolf could do was wait in the room with the sick child; Remus did not want to risk going out of the bedroom. Mad-Eye could smell a conspiracy a quidditch pitch away. Molly would murder him if she found out he had retrieved the boy and had not told her.
"Your life should had been better," Remus told the sleeping child as he gently brushed the boy's wild raven fringe with his fingers. Locks on a child's door, bars on his windows, what other maltreatments did he miss? Those muggles were not even trying to hide their distain from the child.
"Such blatant hatred, where you ever able to heal? Or, are your wounds where we can't see them, and never had a chance to heal." Remus whispered, bending down to kiss the top of Harry's head.
A knock on the door aroused the adult from his musings. It was either Poppy... or someone else. Remus just hoped to Merlin it was not Molly.
Calling the person inside, Remus stood and moved towards the door to greet whoever was on the other side. In sauntered Madame Pomfrey, carrying a large medicine bag.
"Remus, what's wrong? By your letter I thought you had some more complications after the transformation, so I brought extra potions, didn't know what I was going to have to deal with. Remus Julius Lupin! You shouldn't be out of bed, go on! Get back in it!" She spoke quickly, shooing the werewolf towards the bed.
"Please shut the door, Poppy." The mediwitch complied unquestionably and Remus continued, "The visit's not for me. It's for Harry."
"Harry?" For a moment the old witch looked confused, but when she looked towards the bed, she knew exactly who Remus was speaking of. "Harry Potter! Remus, why did you fetch him! Dumbledore will have your pelt on a silver platter!" She said quickly, setting her bag down on the bedside table. Remus winced, Dumbledore would be very upset that Remus deliberately disobeyed him when the old wizard found out.
"My goodness, the poor dear's burning up! Remus, how in Merlin's name did you know he was ill?" She asked, placing her hands behind the boy's neck to check his temperature.
"Hedwig, she came to me earlier today covered in blood. I thought the worse. Poppy, he was locked in his bedroom! Those muggles he lives with did that to last year when we picked him up!" By this time, Poppy was a pale, ashen colour.
"They did what?" She whispered dangerously. All the professors knew that Poppy was very motherly of the students who visit the infirmary the most, especially when their visits were of their own cause.
"They locked a sick child in his bedroom. He probably hasn't been let out for days! Harry's probably got pneumonia!"
Poppy smiled grimly. "Well, Remus, I don't think he has pneumonia, but I am not that sure what he has. I'm going to give him a pepperup potion for the fever. If what you say is true and what I have seen off Harry's body, this is child abuse. Dumbledore's got no right, Headmaster or not, to send a child back to those muggles if he knows about this, and if I find out that Albus knows about this, I will not stand for it. Expect me back tomorrow. Give the poor child a bath and let him sleep.
No one, I repeat, no one is aloud in this room until I find out what is the nature of Harry's affliction. Do not leave this bedroom, the both of you are quarantine until is say you are not. I will, for Harry's sake, tell Alastor and Dumbledore that you are ill, and only a house elf is aloud entrance. Goodnight, Remus."
Remus nodded a quick agreement, and the witch turned on her heel and exited the room, leaving only one small potion on the desk.
The werewolf turned towards the sleeping boy and gently flattened his hair fondly. "Well, Harry, it's just the two of us again. Why don't we go ahead and give you that bath."
Remus pocketed the pepperup potion and gently turned the boy over onto his back. Ragged breathing, tremors running through his thin body, high fevers, Harry's list of health complications were long, and all the causes were unknown. The fever, the werewolf could understand. Fevers and stress were a common duo in wizarding children.
For someone who was nearing his sixteenth year, Harry was quite light. Remus lifted the sick child with ease, and with the same ease, Harry buried himself into the werewolf's front robes. Whatever Harry had been afflicted with, it was making Harry act very unlike the Harry he had once known, but, then again, Harry was always changing.
When Remus had fist saw Harry three years ago, the adult wizard had seen a meek child that had such a great determination, and the second time the werewolf had seen the child all alone. That whole summer, Remus had seen the anger, the bitterness, and the absolute seclusion that Harry had sent up around himself. The boy had seen too much, and it had curse him and the ones Harry had loved the most. When Sirius had fallen; Harry's hope had fallen with him.
So, was this the problem? Had Harry lost hope and just stopped functioning? Was this a starved child's last attempt for a new hope, for a childhood never attained, or perhaps for love?
Remus stripped Harry of his boxers and sat him up in the bathtub. Remus could not help but think how small the boy was. He had always been. The werewolf magically adjusted the water's temperature and sat on the edge of the tub, supporting Harry so he would not drown.
There were many times during Harry's infancy when Remus had bathed Harry while Lily would take a much needed nap. It was quite funny to know that in fact, Harry was not the one that had given his mother the problem. He was a good, quiet baby. It was more of his godfather and father who needed the babysitting around the house than the baby did. When Harry would cry, no one would know. He would only give tears as a sign of discomfort.
When the tub's water reached Harry's stomach, Remus shut the taps off and transfigured an extra washcloth into a cup. Remus noticed small movements from Harry as he filled the cup with tub water and began bathing the boy. The boy was either feigning sleep or he was just awaking. When the eyes slowly opened, Remus assumed the second choice.
The boy blinked owlishly before laying his head sideways on Remus' thigh.
"Moony?" Harry's voice was that of a child's cry, scared and small. By now Remus was quite sure that the only word Harry could say anymore was 'Moony.'
Harry was getting restless in the bathtub. Remus opted instead of washing Harry's hair normally, the werewolf just used a simple cleansing spell. It took less time, and Harry did not seem to mind the magic.
Ever since Harry had awoken in mid-bath, he had kept his head down on Remus' thigh and on hand clutching the robe near Remus' knee. The child weakly protested any little thing if it called for Remus to move him. So, Remus decided to let Harry sit in the warm bath until he feel back asleep.
The werewolf could wait, and so could the water¾it was magically heated.
Remus idly ran his fingers through Harry's hair. Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus had a bad habit during Harry's first years of doing that deed when they were deep in thought. It was probably the reason why Harry's hair was like it was today.
Dumbledore was going to want a very good explanation on why Harry was here at Grimmauld Place, and Remus had no idea how to start explaining his reason. When he felt Harry tense up again, Remus was sure he had heard a small sniffling sound. Gently, the werewolf picked up the child out of the still warm water and wrapped him in a magical towel.
Adverting his eyes from Remus', Harry buried his face into the werewolf's shoulder. The trembling that had subsided in sleep and in the bath were back in full force.
Remus took Harry back into the bedroom and laid him down on the bed while he removed the spells on Harry's belongings, changing them back to their original size. He returned to his bedside vigilante with sleepwear and some undergarments for the child.
He quickly helped dress Harry, gave him the potion, and toweled the boy's hair dry. Remus did not say a word during the process, neither did Harry, but when Remus was not watching him, the werewolf could feel Harry's eyes watching him.
The silence was unnatural. Soon, Remus found himself talking to the laying form of Harry, even though the boy did not talk to him. He wanted the noises that he usually heard from Harry be made, the facial expressions used, anything at all.
But, Harry just laid there, looking up at Remus as though he had never seen anything like him before. It was all child-like. His voice that had held a soft, newly forming baritone sound was gone, replaced with something, or someone, Remus had never met. It was so innocent that it actually began creating worry inside him. Harry's eyes were softer now, the emerald green glow brighter, but at the same time dark with some mysterious secret. His body reacted in a way that Remus had never seen the boy use. The Harry he knew did not like to be touched, did not like any parental emotions displayed upon him when not needed, and did not like people to think he was a child, and this Harry wanted it all.
It pained Remus to think that this was happening to Harry now; all this pain and anguish was just thrown upon him. Dumbledore had told him all of the Prophecy after Sirius had fallen. Sirius had told him much about it, but had left out parts because he had forgotten some of it during his stay in Azkaban.
Harry was still awake, looking at Remus' face. When Remus tried to look him in the eye, Harry looked away. The werewolf was getting tired of this little game, and all the rest of them that Harry played. Something in the back of his mind told him off for the thought. Playing a little game? Harry did not play games, except for quidditch. Remus found it quiet odd and perturbing that his conscience sounded a bit like Sirius.
Author's Note: I take my first sentence of last chapter's author's notes back. This chapter was much harder, and I don't think I portrayed this chapter in the way I wanted too. But, alas, I've got a headache and I don't want to redo it again. Urgh. Just something in this chapter just didn't flow right to me... but I'm.. so.. tired.. But, on better note, I was so happy that I got all those reviews! My friends called me up on the phone on the next day and I was absolutely giddy by all the people who said they like it. I just hope I didn't turned you guys off with a crappy chapter... Please forgive me! Just really bad week.
I think I've got a good idea of character on Madame Pomfrey and Remus. Please folks, I know Harry seemed so freaking weird, but all will explained in the next one or two... or three... chapters. Tell me what you think, but please don't send me a review just telling me I made some little spelling error like typing "to" instead of "too" or just some little typing misspell (unless it gets so bad that you look at this and think "Did she have some epileptic fit?"). Big things, like cannon important information (If I misspelled cannon names and places tell me!), tell me! Anyways, I have to type this up at night, and right now it's 11:27 pm and I'm typing up this a/n. So, I'm used to late nights, and very early mornings. I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning to go to school at 7:00 just because my momma won't let me drive to school. It's a horrible, horrible injustice. Probably like this last chapter. Tell me what you think and give me some hints what you folks want to read about! Do me a favour and make me really happy when I get home from school tomorrow! Please...
Love,
Jilly (Wolfy)
P.S.: Please Review!
