Chapter One - Vanishing Kid
Nearly eight years had passed since Remus had taken in his best friends' son, and his life had changed significantly, all for the better. Every day was a new mischief with Harry. He felt his life was better for having the child in it. Moving pictures on the wall showed just how much time had passed. Eight years ago, pictures of a baby boy with raven hair and brilliant green eyes hung around the house. Now they showed a thin young boy riding a broom, playing with friends at the park, at his first Quidditch game with Remus. The house held many signs of the child living there.
Harry now lay in his bed, peacefully asleep. Remus entered his bedroom and it was his voice that made the first noise of the day.
"Time to get up, Harry."
Harry slowly opened his eyes and yawned. "Morning dad," Harry said.
"Good morning. Sleep good?" he asked.
"Yeah," Harry answered.
"Breakfast is almost ready. Get up and dressed for school," Remus said and left. Because they lived in a muggle town, Harry went to the local muggle school. Remus had even gotten a job working at the high school. His monthly disappearances went unnoticed thanks to Dumbledore's great idea, involving Ms. Emmeline Vance and some polyjuice potion.
Harry crawled out of bed and once he was dressed, went downstairs into the kitchen. He sat down as Remus set a plate of eggs in front of him. "How about I just stay home today?" Harry tried.
"You only have a few more weeks to go. Then you have three months off. I think you can wait," Remus said.
"I had to give it a try," Harry shrugged.
"I've got to get to work. I'll see you when I get home," Remus said, "Bye."
"Bye," Harry said. Once Remus left, he pushed his breakfast aside and took his math book out of book bag. He was always one to put homework off to last minute. Once he finished his work, he left the house. He walked down the road into town.
"Hey, Potter!" a familiar sneering voice called as Harry walked past the park. He ignored the boy and continued walking, hoping he would just be left alone today. He stopped and turned around when he heard several sets of footsteps behind him. A tall blond boy stood with three others behind him. They all wore nasty grins and had cigarettes in hand or hanging from their mouth.
"It's rude to ignore people when they're talking to you, Harry. I thought we were friends?" the blond boy asked.
"Maybe he thinks he's too good to be our friend," one of the boys said.
"Is that it? Too good to talk to us?" the blond boy asked. Harry said nothing.
"Answer him!" one of the boys pushed him.
"No," Harry said.
"No, you won't answer him?" the boy asked.
"No, I don't think I'm too good to talk to you guys," Harry muttered.
"And you're not too good to empty your pockets into my hand?" the blond smirked.
"Come on Mason. Leave me the hell alone," Harry said. As soon as the words left his mouth, Mason grabbed him by the collar. His face was an inch from Harry's. Mason was three years older than Harry and much bigger. It was the same Mason Harry knew from the park eight years ago and had been best friends with for five years, until Mason started at the public high school. There, Mason got new friends and a new attitude, which included beating up on younger kids, stealing, and causing any kind of trouble he could.
"What was that?" he asked threateningly, narrowing his eyes.
"N-Nothing," Harry said. Mason threw him back and Harry landed hard on the pavement. The boys laughed at Harry, sprawled on the ground. A surge of anger rose in him. It must have shown on his face, because one of the boys brought attention to it.
"Look. He's getting mad. I think he might cry," he mocked.
"Shut up!" Harry yelled.
"And what are you going to do if we don't, ickle Harry? Mason asked. Harry showed him exactly what he was going to do. He kicked one foot up and it landed squarely in Mason's groin. A funny noise escaped his mouth as he fell to his knees. Harry jumped up and bolted down the street before any of the boys could register what had just happened. He had only a few seconds head start on them and still two blocks to his school.
"You're screwed, Potter!" one of them yelled. Harry ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He thought he could make it. And amazingly, he did. The other boys ran after him all the way to the front of the school.
"Just wait until after school, Potter. You're dead," one boy called threateningly as Harry entered the building. Mason wasn't with them then, but Harry knew he would be with them after school, waiting right outside the building for Harry.
"What happened?" asked Jermaine, a friend of Harry's, entering the school behind him.
"I kicked Mason in the balls," Harry said. He'd have laughed or grinned, if it weren't for the fact that he was going to have to deal with him after school.
"You kicked him in his balls?" Jermaine asked, shocked.
"Yeah, and now they're going to beat the shit out of me after school," he said grimly.
"Look on the bright side of things," Jermaine shrugged.
"What bright side?" Harry asked skeptically.
"Well, I hear the food at the hospital isn't half so bad anymore," Jermaine said jokingly.
"What a bright side," Harry muttered.
"Hey, at least we won't have to worry about any Mason juniors running around in the future, now will we?" Jermaine said, grinning.
All day, Harry's mind was kept busy with the thought of Mason and his friends after school. He didn't pay attention in class and he knew he didn't do half as good on his math test as he could have. He now doubted what a good idea it was to kick the older boy. He knew he'd be sure it wasn't worth it after school was out and he was face to face with him.
"Mr. Potter?" Harry snapped out of his thoughts as he heard his name called by his teacher, Mrs. Burge.
"The answer's Benjamin Franklin," whispered drew, the boy that sat next to Harry in class.
"Benjamin Franklin," Harry said.
"Three hundred and twelve divided by seven is Benjamin Franklin?" she asked, giving him a stern look. Drew fell into silent fits of laughter beside him. Had he not been so preoccupied, he'd have made it a point to pay him back.
"Sorry," he said to his teacher.
"You will remain after class, Mr. Potter," Mrs. Burge said. "Yes, ma'am," he said. Once she walked away, he dropped his head onto his desk rather hard. There went his last chance at avoiding Mason and his friends. They were let out ten minutes before the younger students and Harry would have had a chance to get home before they got out, but now he'd probably get out just as they did.
After class he had to endure minutes that seemed hours of his teacher lecturing on how he should be paying attention. When he was dismissed, he took his time leaving. He knew the high school had already dismissed five minutes earlier, and so Mason would just be waiting for him. And sure enough, when he walked outside, Mason and his friends were standing right there.
Harry again make a run for it, hoping to be able to make it down the street to the high school where Remus would be. He wasn't as lucky this time as he was in the morning. He nearly made it to the school, though, when he was tackled to the ground. His knees and arms stung as they scraped against the rough pavement. Harry struggled to get away, but Mason, being almost twice his size, easily held him down. Mason's friends circled the struggling two, laughing and egging Mason on.
"Get off of me!" Harry yelled and was surprised when Mason let him go and got to his feet, Harry did the same.
"Are you going to cry, Potter?" Mason asked mockingly, "You got a little booboo? Gonna cry like a little girl?" The other boys laughed. Harry clenched his fists, anger rising.
"No where to run, now. No daddy to protect you now. No mommy either, I suppose," he said tauntingly.
"Shut up!" Harry yelled. Anger was again coursing through him, slowly turning into fury.
"Your mommy and daddy are dead, aren't they? Poor little Harry. Stuck with that git, Mr. Lupin, as a father," Mason goaded. Harry held back threatening tears. He had told Mason about his parents when they were friends. It hurt to have it used against him like that. "I think he's going to cry!" one of the boys called out.
"Poor parentless Harry," Mason said, "You're gonna cry, right? Cause you got a booboo and no mommy to kiss it and make it better?" "Shut the hell up!" Harry roared and he sent a furious punch to Mason's face. Blood spurted from the tall boy's nose. He glared at Harry, heatedly. Fear replaced Harry's anger as Mason raised his fist. Harry backed away. The cold, angry look in his eyes scared Harry. Mason was about to hit him, when suddenly, his fist disappeared. Mason screamed. His friends only stared unbelievingly at the spot where his fist had once been. There was no blood or open flesh, like it was sliced off. It looked like it had never been there at all. Then, slowly, his arm began to vanish. Harry gasped as he realized that it was him that did it. He hadn't meant to. He had just lost control. Mason's three friends ran away towards the high school, most likely to get help.
"What the hell happened?" he cried, "Oh my god! What happened?"
Harry ran away from him. not stooping until he was home. He ran up to his room, slammed his door shut, and collapsed on his bed. He had done underage magic. It was against the law for wizards under seventeen to do magic. He wouldn't be allowed into Hogwarts now. He hadn't even gotten the letter yet and he was going to be expelled. What if what he did was serious enough to have him sent to Azkaban? Remus had told him about the wizarding prison before and he didn't want to go there.
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"Two-hundred word essay on 'The Crucible' due Thursday," Remus said to the students before him. A general groan was heard throughout the room. The bell rang signaling the end of the school day and the students all gladly left the school for the fresh air and freedom outside.
Remus sat at his desk to grade the papers he had collected that day. He was only at it for a few minutes, when a loud scream was heard through his open window. Remus stood from his desk and went to the window. He couldn't see anything, though, over the high wall that enclosed the school grounds. He would have passed it off as nothing if it didn't continue. He went left his classroom and headed for the double-doors at the front of the school. He wasn't the only one going out to see what was going on.
"You heard that, too?" asked Mr. White, the Geometry teacher.
"Yes. And so did half the town, I'll bet," Remus said.
Outside, laying on the ground was Mason Romano, a student of Remus's. The left side of his body was missing and continuing to vanish slowly. Remus gasped. A crowd of people was beginning to form around the boy. Remus stepped forward to undo the damage that he knew was done by nothing other than magic. But before he could do anything, several cracks were heard and members from the magical reversal squad appeared. Mason was fixed in a moment by one of the ministry workers. The others began to modify memories.
"Remus! What happened here?" asked Kingsley Shacklebolt. Remus knew the man through Dumbledore.
"I'm not sure. But I'm guessing some accidental magic," Remus said.
"And as Harry and you are the only wizards in the area, I'm hoping it was Harry," Kingsley said,
"No need to worry about it. We'll have it all cleared up quickly. This is nothing compared to some of the other stuff. You should have seen the three year old muggle born, last week, that turned her mother into a giraffe when she wouldn't let her watch television."
"So everything will be taken care of here then?" Remus asked.
"No problems," Kingsley assured him.
"I have to get home, now," Remus said. He bid Kingsley goodbye and apparated to his home. As soon as he appeared in his living room, Laertes greeted him.
"Master Harry is upset, sir. He is been up in his room," Laertes said. "Thank you, Laertes," he said. He walked up the stairs and knocked on Harry's bedroom door before going in. Harry was curled up on his bed.
"Harry, are you okay?" Remus asked.
"No," was the muffled response. Remus sat on the edge of the bed where Harry had his face buried into a pillow.
"Want to tell me what happened?" Remus prompted lightly. Harry sat up on the bed to explain. Remus let out a small gasp when he saw Harry's arms. They were all scratched and bloody.
"Merlin, Harry! What happened? Did Mason do that to you?" Remus asked. "Yeah," Harry said. Remus saw the knees of Harry's jeans were torn and bloody, too.
"These look terrible. We'll have to clean them up before I can heal them," he said. "It's fine. A few scratches aren't going to kill me," Harry said.
"At least go wash them up," Remus said.
"I'm fine," Harry snapped. Remus shook his head exasperatedly but decided to let it go.
"Well, what happened after school today?" he asked.
"It started before," Harry said, "When I was walking to school, him and his friends started with me, as usual. And so he got me mad enough that I kicked him in the- Well, I kicked him."
Remus knew he shouldn't condone the behavior, provoked or not, but he couldn't help the smile that crept across his face. He knew Mason was a trouble-maker and a bully, and most likely deserved it.
"His friends chased me down to the school, " Harry continued, "And one of them said that I was dead after school. So, when school ended, they met me outside the building. I tried to run, but Mason tackled me. That's how I got all these scrapes."
"So that made you mad enough to use wandless magic?" Remus asked.
"No. It was when he started talking about you and my real dad and mum," Harry said, "I hit him and then he was about to hit me back when his arm started just disappearing. I didn't mean to do it, though. I guess I just lost control. I'm sorry."Harry sat looking like he thought he was going to be reprimanded for the incident.
"Don't worry on it. The ministry came and sorted everything out. Mason is back to normal.
Though, I'm not sure if that's a good thing. And the memories were modified. So no one will remember a thing," Remus said.
"So then I'm not expelled from Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"Certainly not," Remus answered, "Even the best of wizards let their emotions get the better of them sometimes. You'll learn to control it in time."
Remus looked at the scrapes on Harry's arms and knees. Harry must have noticed him looking, because he rolled his eyes.
"Fine. I'll go clean them up," he said, laughing. He left the room and when he came back, the cuts were cleaned up and Remus saw that they didn't look half so bad now.
"Would you please let me heal those, now?" Remus asked.
"No," Harry said firmly, looking over the scrapes that ran up his arms, "They look cool."
Remus grinned as he remembered one of his best friends saying the same thing many years ago. Remus had suggested James get a cut on his arm healed at the hospital wing to which he responded, 'No way. It looks cool'
"I know you'll tire of hearing it, but in a lot of ways, you're like your father," Remus said. Harry smiled. Remus had made the decision when Harry first asked Remus to be his dad that he should also know about his mother and true father, not only think of Remus as his father. Remus loved Harry like he was he was his own son and he knew Harry loved him like he was his father, but he knew he couldn't lead Harry into thinking he was his father.
"Tell me about him and my mum when you all were at Hogwarts," Harry said. Remus smiled and began telling about the marauder's era at Hogwarts. Harry never tired of hearing about it and Remus never tired of telling.