Chapter 4 – A Change of life
Mr. Weasley sat in the lounge room knitting waiting for the return of her husband with Harry; who she considered to be apart of her family. She had sent the children out to the field to play; Ron had reluctantly left. But only on the promise that he would be called when his friend had arrived. Mrs. Weasley had agreed but also predetermined that she would first access Harry then call Ron.
With a very loud pop, Mr. Weasley had appeared in the lounge room holding onto Harry's trunk. He spoke quickly, as Harry would arrive any minute. "Molly I must worn you, he is in a pretty bad way. Where are the children?"
"In the field."
Just as she had finished a second and third pop came about and before her, Sirius and Remus stood holding the stretcher that Harry lay on. Mrs. Weasley gazed fell on Harry.
"O my, you dear boy."
"It's not as bad as it looks really Mrs. Weasley," he didn't know who he was trying to convince.
Sirius glanced at his godson then at Molly with an expression that said 'yeah right'.
Ron chose this moment to walk into the house. He had had enough of playing Quidditch, Fred and George were being particularly brutal with the bludger and had very nearly knocked Ginny off her broom.
"RONALD WEASLEY...." His mother said. "What are you doing here?"
"Umm Fred and George... Harry! Are you alright?"
"Ron go through the Fireplace and get Madam Pomfrey."
"Cant I..." However he was cut off before he could finish the sentence.
"No. Now do as you are told." Ron went over to the fire place; threw some floo powered in and yelled "Hospital Wing, Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry," then disappeared through the flames.
"Lay him down on the couch Sirius."
"I don't think that would be a good idea Molly." Remus interjected.
"Alright then move the stretcher over here." She pointed to the side of the room that was less cluttered then the rest. Sirius directed the stretcher with the immobile boy lying on it where he was directed.
"You alright bud?"
"Mmm." The boy seemed to be falling asleep.
"Harry you have to stay awake."
"So tried" whispered Harry.
"REMUS!!! Harry stay awake; come on open your eyes..." The boy didn't respond.
Remus had rushed over next to his friend's side. "Harry its Moony, you have to stay awake."
"Cant." A drop of blood hit the floor.
Remus Lupin had been a werewolf since his childhood, despite the painful transformations, which occurred ever month: he was given enhanced abilities which included strength and all five senses.
Moony's head flickered around to see the blood stain on the floor He glanced under the stretcher to see the large blood stain underneath the boys head. "Damn it. Sirius I think his head wound was worse then we thought."
Sirius glanced under the stretcher. "Shit Moony what are we going to do."
"No Uncle Vernon it wasn't it me I swear, it was the house elf. Please I'm sorry...no No NO!!!"
"Moony I can't take anymore of this do something."
"I am thinking Padfoot. Umm... I have it, this will have to do until Poppy gets here. Alfo Potus Water usty." A bowl of water was conjured an appeared in the mid air.
"Sirius, we have to wash around the wound so we can see how bad it is. Sirius on three I am going to life him off the stretcher and turn him over." Sirius looked unsure about what was going to happen; he just found his godson, now he may loss him again.
"Wingardium Leviosa." The boy floated above the stretcher with a flick of Remus's wand Harry's body began to rotate. He let out a scream of pain.
Sirius, Molly and Arthur's knuckles were pure white from clutching their fist tight. There was nothing they could do but watch, the boy they all cared for like a son.
Remus's heart broke for the boy, son of his dead best friend, but he had to do it, everyone else was falling to pieces around him and he was let to do the work no body else was capable of doing. But this knowledge did help the pain in his heart.
"Sirius grab that sponge. Sirius!" The man stood still shocked at the amount of blood around Harry's head.
"Molly." Mrs. Weasley came forward immediately and begun to wash away the blood around the wound. She cleared the majority of the area around the wound.
"Thank you Molly, I think that will be enough," Remus begun to look over the injury.
Because of Remus's condition and the damage he usually inflicted on himself every full moon before the wolfbrane potion was discovered Madam Pomfrey had taught him a great deal about healing, but head wounds he was not greatly experienced in, due to the fact if you had a head injury you would usually would be unable to heal yourself; but he knew he had to do something soon.
The head wound, appeared to be deep and very large. 'What was that charm, come on Remus you know this?' "Altopedia" and with a flick of his wand a green light formed over the wound and then burrowed deep within it; forming a seal over the wound not healing it but rather a cast over the damaged area preventing anymore blood loss.
Sirius stood still unable to move after all that he had seen as an Auror and as a prisoner; this scared him more.
The flames in the fire place roared and three people appeared out of no where. Their sudden arrival awoke Sirius from the daze he was in.
"Alright everyone moves away let me see the boy... Now will you all please give me some room, so that I can help Mr. Potter?" Everyone stepped back from Harry except Sirius he couldn't bring himself to move away from his charge.
"Come on Padfoot, Madam Pomfrey will take care of him." The man stood his ground, but when his best friends began to tug on his arm, he followed unwillingly.
Madam Pomfrey began to cast spells and wave her wand over her patient, multicolor glows hovered over the boy on the other side of the room.
"Moony it's my fault, I should have protected him."
"Sirius there was nothing you could have done, what's important it that you're here now." A hand lay on his shoulder, comforting and familiar.
"Sirius, Harry is going to be ok, I have complete confidence in Madam Pomfrey." Sirius didn't respond but rather kept his gaze, and continued to focus on the Medi Witch and the by who she was treating, ignoring Dumbledore's words.
"Moony he is all I have left of Prongs, I promised him, I promised. Harry and you are all I have left." His voice became shaky. He didn't notice anyone else in the room except Remus and Harry, nothing else made a dint.
"I know Sirius, nothing will happen and you have not broken your promise to James."
He didn't answer but rather stood there as if in a midst focusing on a distance object.
One hour later, Madam Pomfrey's muttering and wand movements began to slow, until she ceased. She turned to the others in the room.
"He is sleeping and will live, but...there will be a significant recovery period." Sirius breathed a slight sign of relief but not enough to change his expression. "I have given him something to sleep I would advise not to move him for the next 24 hours as I have used a vast amount of spells. I will bring you some potions to help with the healing of his wounds and the malnutrition he has suffered. I will be back tomorrow morning."
"What was the extent of his injuries?" Sirius blurted out.
"I found four broken ribs; his shoulder was dislocated as well as a broken knee, four broken figures, a fractured wrist as well as some internal bleeding the head wound which Remus sealed. Then there is also the malnutrition and damage to his organs. That was the extent of the physical damage, emotional I cant say; but I am surprised he lived this long, you are just lucky you got to him when you did."
Remus closed his eyes blinking away the tears which had formed in the corner of his eyes.
Molly gasped in shock and Arthur hugged his wife unable to believe that this could have happened.
Dumbledore, signed he couldn't help but blame himself. Sirius stood still unable to move or give a type of reaction at all rather just glazed forward. Dumbledore once again replaced the hand on his old pupils shoulder in a fatherly gesture. He ignored the gesture and walked over to the stretcher and sat down next to the boy.
Ron stood in a corner, dumbfounded at what he had heard about his best friend. His mother came over and rapped her arms around her youngest son and held him as only a mother could.
"Ron go up stairs I will call you for dinner soon." Ron didn't argue, but rather just went and did as he was told. When he reached his room he sat at his desk and took out a roll of parchment.
Hermione,
They just brought Harry, here he is really sick. Madam Pomfrey says he will live and should be fine eventually. She told us what was wrong with him and what she was able to heal; four broken ribs, his shoulder was dislocated as well as a broken knee, four broken fingers, a fractured wrist as well as some internal bleeding the head wound, there is also malnutrition and damage to his organs. Sirius is in a really bad way. Remus is here too as well as Dumbledore. I will tell you if we have any more news.
Ron
"Pig take the letter to 'mione please" he tried the note and the bird left. Then he lay down on his bed.
Sirius had not moved, "Remus, Molly, Arthur, Poppy shall we talk in the kitchen." The company followed and the five adults sat down at the dinning room table.
"Now the reason I asked you all here is that I believe that Sirius may leave Harry when he is better to seek revenge for Harry."
"Professor I think that we all have that idea."
"Arthur I understand and I feel the same but we can't do anything that will cause any of us to incur the minister's wrath. Arthur, you and Molly have 7 children to look after, Remus you have to take care of Sirius and Harry now." No one spoke it was all true, but it doesn't mean they liked it.
Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey left, after dinner; Remus was to stay the night as was Sirius. Remus was going to be staying in Percy's Room, as it was vacant at this time due to Percy's disbelief in the facts that Volemont was back.
Ron had not yet left his room and had missed Dinner which was in its entirety extremely unsettling.
Sirius still sat next to his Godson reacting to every move he made waiting for him to wake up. Molly had made up the couch for him as Harry was not to the moved even floated while the spells were taking effect there had been a lot of damage and would take time for the damage to heal. Sirius hadn't touched the food Remus had brought in either he just sat and stared.
The rest of the children had been banned form going anywhere near the lounge room, and if found out; Molly had promised there would be hell to pay. So out of fear of their mothers rather and respect for Harry they stayed away.
Lupin had noticed that Ron was absent from dinner, and what he knew of the boy this was unusual indeed. He had thus asked Mr. and Mrs. Weasley if he could be the one to talk to their son as he thought he may be able to help.
Making his way up the old stair case and down through the hallway until he reached the end, where a door stood in front of him barring the sign.
Ron's Room
Stay out
The old professor knocked on the door only to receive no answer therefore he proceeded to enter. Finding the young man laying on his bed, eyes focused on the ceiling.
"Ron?"
"Professor Lupin?"
"You do realize I am not your professor anymore therefore you can call me Remus."
"Ok." The boy continued to stare.
"So you going to talk to me or are we going to sit here the entire night because it really makes no different to me, I don't have anywhere else to be."
"Harry...what if he is not ok?"
Remus left out a deep breath. He had been wrestling with the same question. If Harry did get worst and God forbid die it would kill Sirius. He had the utmost faith in Madam Pomfrey but sometimes things don't work out as planned.
"You heard madam Pomfrey, Harry will recover."
"I heard her... Remus did you read the letter I sent Sirius." Remus remembered the letter it was what had caused them to find Harry and hence save his life.
"Yes I did."
"Well what it didn't say was that Fred, George and I, we went there to get Harry out and we didn't, we couldn't see him. And it was getting light and we were worried about being seen."
"Ron it's not your fault, no one knew, it was you, which told us what was happening that lead us to getting him out. So you could say you saved him." He knew it would be of small comfort to the boy.
"But Remus..." and the rest of the sentence was inaudible, because Ron had finally broken into tears. So the old man comforted the child listening to his woes and trying to settle some of them.
About an hour later Ron's tears had stopped falling, he thanked Remus for listening. Remus went down stairs to take a glance at Sirius and Harry. Harry still lay asleep now accompanied by Sirius who sat in the chair with one arm draped lightly across Harry's stomach in a protective fashion. Remus shut the doors to the lounge room and went to bed tomorrow was going to be a long day and he needed some sleep.
He fell into bed, not bothering to change into the clothes he had gotten just before, for him and Sirius. But when hitting the soft pillow he fell deep into slumber. Dreaming of his cousin and the same treatment that Peter had been shown; the black eyes and broken bones, which sadly resulted in his death at the age of 10. Both boys were the same age just one had the better brother as a father. Jack had been sent to prison after that as he was a muggle. So was his father. Remus's mother was the witch and that is how he had inherited his powers from. Jack was not longer in jail he had been given a life sentence which had ended 3 years ago.
The night didn't pass quickly like it should do when people sleep but rather, Remus was plagued by the imagers of his past causing him to wake constantly and what little sleep he received was meet by extreme tossing and turning.
The sun rose over the field next to the Weasley home, causing the house to fill with light. The roasters crowed among the day and Remus gave up on his futile attempts to sleep and go up to greet the day.
He went down stairs after splashing some cold water on his face to check on his charges.
The house was still asleep except for the mistress, who was outside feeding the pigs and chocks.
He made his way silently through the kitchen and the lounge room, not to wake the occupants. Sliding the doors open he found Sirius still asleep on to Harry now with two arms draped on the child rather then one. The thing which amazed him was that Harry was awake, and moreover looking directly at him.
"Professor" the Harry said quietly as to not wake his Godfather. Lupin stepped into the room and past a finger to his lips to silence the boy. He approached his old friends looked at him and the child he consider to be apart of his family. Harry nodded. Moony lifted Padfoot off the pinned child and back onto the chair. Casting a silencing charm around the two the conversation continued.
"Professor..."
He smiled at the small skinny and very pale boy, not only because of lack of food but sunshine as well. "I guess I am going to have to tell you one by one... Harry you need not call me Professor anymore. I don't teach at Hogwarts, now since we will be seeing each other often... living under the same roof and all." The boy's face lit up in a huge smile. "You can call me Remus, or Moony if you like."
"Ok... and do you mean it... do you mean it am I really going to come and live with you and Sirius; how?"
"Yes and that is a matter for later."
The thought just came to Harry's mind; "Pro...umm Remus is Hedwig alright?"
"Yes she is fine, she is staying in Ron's room for the moment, and I don't believe she is very fond of Pig much." Harry just realized he was in the Wesley's living room that means that he had left the Dursley's but also meant that everyone knew. 'Great!'
"Umm... Remus can I ask you a question why is Sirius still asleep, umm what I mean is that he told me once how he can only sleep for four hours max before he wakes up or he becomes over tried." Moony smiled.
"Well you see Harry I may have slipped something into Padfoot's tea last night as to help him sleep." The maunder grin passed the former professor's lips.
"Won't he be angry when he wakes up?"
"Probably but I only do it when it's for his own good and he know that."
"You mean you have done this before?"
Sirius chose this moment to enter the land of the conscience.
"Moony I can't believe you did that too me again... Harry your awake!" The Godfather looked at the boy still lying down.
"So you fell any better today, Buddy?" Sirius asked with wide eyes.
"Better" Harry replied. Two loud pops sounded and what had only been three now were five.
"I see the patience is now awake...could you please all step to the side so I may examine him" the old witch stated. The three gentlemen stepped aside and into the kitchen, while the nurse did her job.
"Now Mr. Potter please don't move I want to see how you are healing." Harry lay perfectly still, while the witch moved her wand over the boy beginning at his feet and as the wand glowed red proceeded up towards his head.
"You are doing much better then yesterday Mr. Potter, I shall be giving your Godfather and Remus some potions with directs on when you must take them. Now I expect you will do as they say otherwise I will be back and will ensure that you do." She winked at the boy but her words held truth.
"I will."
"Now why don't you get some sleep while I talk to Remus and Sirius." Harry didn't argue and nodded off as her sentence had finished.
The adults looked up as the witch entered.
"He is doing much better, I am fully confident that physically he shall make a full recovery...now what I said yesterday here are the potions I spoke of; there are six, the directions of each are written on the label.' She handed over a large brown package.
"Madam Pomfrey when can we move Harry we wish to take him home?" Sirius asked.
"Well, Mr. black I believe at the end of the day Harry shall be well enough to go to black Manor, yes Mr. black I know a lot more then you think."
"Yes Poppy you always did." Remus stated.
"yes I always did know more then you told me about the scrapes the four of you got into... now I will visit Mr. Potter every second day for a week then I will recess his condition. Now I must leave I shall see you tomorrow around midday." A loud pop sounded and the witch disappeared.
"Now that Harry's health is known there is a matter I must discuss with you Sirius, I have talked to Remus and now you, it concerns the Dursley's." said the old headmaster.
Sirius gave a deep growl. "Dursley's ..." Sirius rasped.
"Now Sirius this is what we need to talk about, I want you oath that you shall not go after the Dursley's for this."
Sirius said nothing.
"Padfoot if you want to stay out of Azkaban and give Harry the family he deserves." Moony tried to get his friend to see sense. Sirius sat and thought about all that had been told. The other two sat and waited for the thirds reply.
"I will not seek revenge on the Dursley's for Harry sake."
"Good, thank you Sirius now shall we see how Harry is doing," the headmaster was pleased with the outcome and thankful to Remus; without him he was sure Sirius would not have agreed.
Harry lay on the stretcher he had only fallen asleep for 15 minutes before waking. Then he lay listening to the conversation that was going on in the kitchen. It was amazing how people cared about him he had never had that before and now it was a strange feeling. He had Remus and Sirius now, the family he was denied.
He began to think about all that had happened to him since the beginning of the holidays. He had arrived at Kings Cross station as he did ever summer where he had departed with his friends wishing them well and promising that they would catch up in the summer. The Dursley's stood there looking particular murderous. Despite all the years Harry had lived with the Dursley's he had never seen the look that Uncle Vernon was giving him. His eyes were black, pupil dilated and he stood grinding his teeth.
Harry had reluctantly walked over to where the only connection with the people in front of him was blood.
The car trip home was uneventful. Harry sat looking out the window while Vernon babbled about his business to Dudley and Petunia.
When they arrived in the driveway of number four Private Drive things went to hell. Vernon yelled at Harry to get out of the car and into the house. He practically pulled him out when he thought Harry as doddering. "GET YOUR STUFF" he bellowed.
Harry knows something was different but he wasn't sure what, he let Hedwig out of her cage quickly, "Go do something, come back later, and let me see what's going on." The bird had nipped his finger and left. Harry hulled his trunk and Hedwig's cage inside, pulling the trunk into the cupboard under the stairs which Vernon had locked with several very strong and powerful locks.
Harry then carried Hedwig's cage upstairs into his bedroom. The door slammed behind him. "I have had enough of you burdening my family. But since we are forced to keep you I shall make sure you don't go back to those freaks and never have anything to do with your abnormalities anymore." Vernon's voice wad so full of anger and his face was purple from the amount of effort it took to yell at Harry. He stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut. Harry then heard the click of the locks outside his door there were eleven. And so Harry's summer had begun.
Harry was bought out of the trance he was in when the voices from the kitchen materialized in front of him.
"Harry" Sirius asked.
"Yes."
"What were you thinking about?"
"Oh nothing much, Quidditch mostly." It hurt to lie to his Godfather but he didn't really want to go into it again with Sirius.
"Ok well you ready to go buddy?"
"Umm... yeah."
"Ok well what's going to happen is that I am going to apparate with you back to Black manor and Moony's going to use the fireplace and take your stuff, he will have to go first so that he can pull down the anti appartion shields for a few minutes for us. You ok with that."
"Yep."
"Ok, Moony do you wanna go now?"
"Ok"
Remus went over to the fireplace and shouted BLACK MANOR. In a swirl of flames he disappeared out of sight.
"Now Harry dear, I will come over and see how you are feeling in a few days."
TBC
An: i would like to dedicate this chapter to krr84. Thanks for the review and i hope you like this chapter.