A/N: Glory be, I'm glad my exams are over. Sleep, here I come!

Last chapter didn't seem to go anywhere, you might have noticed. This is because Chapter 10 and 11 were originally one chapter, but I've split them because it was such a long one. I found I loved writing smitten!Tonks so much. Very little smitten!Tonks in this one, unfortunately, but enough Lupin to satisfy my appetite.

Read on!

Lost: Small Boy, Answers to Harry

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Molly served Remus lemonade with a hand that was shaking so much the cordial spilled onto the table. Remus had to help her to pour out glasses for Arthur and herself as well.

"I'm sorry," she said, waving her hand across her face and taking a shuddering breath, "I just…I don't know what to think. I keep telling myself not to lose hope, that an owl will arrive from Hogwarts any moment telling us he's safe…but what if he isn't? What if my little baby Bill is…" she couldn't bring herself to say 'dead', "…and all my hopes are for nothing?"

Remus touched her arm reassuringly. "Then don't think about it yet. What have you heard so far? I only know what Charlie and Nymphadora told me."

Arthur came back into the room with the Daily Prophet and dropped it onto the table as if it were something that burned him, "speculation. Rumours. Nonsense," he said bitterly, "Dumbledore released a statement saying Hogwarts has taken every child in, but the way they wrote it, it doesn't sound like Dumbledore. I think the Prophet was just making the statement up."

"Dumbledore would certainly have taken all the children in," Remus replied, "and I fear that perhaps he has locked the school down to protect it from further attacks. What he may or may not realise is that the reason for the attack on the train is not in Hogwarts, or among the students there. Dumbledore will have found the attack completely unexpected – many death eaters' children still attend Hogwarts, as well as the children of you-know-who's potential supporters. By attacking the train, you-know-who may actually have driven away a number of allies from his cause. And you-know-who's greatest strength is his followers. What he wanted must have meant more to him than all that."

Arthur frowned, "that 'nephew' of yours…I wasn't aware you had any siblings, Remus, let alone siblings that would produce a child of such striking resemblance to your friend James Potter. Why are you pretending to be his uncle?"

Remus sighed, "His name is Harry, and he is the Potters' son. And, Molly, Arthur, please forgive him for this – he was what the death eaters' were looking for when they attacked the train. I do not totally understand it myself, but I know that the reason the Potters went into hiding four years ago was because of Harry's birth and the threat he posed to you-know-who," he raised his hand as both Weasleys opened their mouths, "don't ask me more than that, I don't know the whole of the story, and I cannot tell you much more. James has always trusted me but he has not shared everything with me, and I swore to him I would never reveal what I know to anyone. All I can tell you is that, four nights ago you-know-who attacked the Potters' house, with what intent, I can suspect but not be sure of. He killed Lily and James, and injured Harry before he fled the scene. My friend Sirius Black arrived, and according to Harry, chased you-know-who away – although I find this unlikely, myself – and then took off with Harry to London, before disappearing.

"Harry has passed from hand to hand since then until he arrived with me. He was taken in my some old muggles, who then dumped him in the house of Andromeda, Sirius' cousin, who then got rid of him as quickly as possible by having her daughter Tonks escort him to Hogwarts, who was subsequently attacked during the journey, and rescued by your son, and the three of them managed to reach my cottage late last night. And now I must pass him on again."

Arthur took a breath, "you want us to take care of him. But what you are saying is that everyone who has looked after this boy in the past week has vanished, been killed or attacked, or gotten rid of him before they can be threatened."

"Yes," said Remus, leaning forward with desperation in his eyes, "and I swear, I will be back tomorrow to take him back again, but Harry has arrived at a most inconvenient time for me," he pointed at a calender hanging on the pantry door, "as you know, I tend to get a bit, er, moody around this time of month, and there is no way I could look after Harry tonight. I have lost three friends in the last four days – one dead, one vanished, one a traitor – and I have no one left I can trust. Please, take Harry for one night, that's all I ask, and tomorrow I will contact Dumbledore and fly him to Hogwarts myself, and remain with him there."

There was a silence for several moments, then Molly, her voice choked with tears, said, "of course we will, Remus, how can you suggest anything else? Leave an innocent child at the hands of death eaters? We will protect him with our life!"

Remus' face broke into an enormous smile, and he looked at Arthur to make sure he had his friend's agreement as well. Arthur nodded, "I wouldn't refuse you if you-know-who was knocking on the door this very moment," he said.

At that moment, there came a loud knocking at the door, and all three jumped in their seats. Molly's eyes widened, but Arthur waved his hand, "we've got wards around the house. Dark wizards can't approach without triggering them," he said hastily, and got up to answer the door. They heard him greeting someone, the sound of a witch's voice replying loudly and then Arthur returned, tailed by Andromeda Tonks, looking regal in a black satin cloak and an enormous blue witch's hat, which she swept off her head as she entered.

"Good morning," she said, holding out a hand for Molly to shake, and she looked at Lupin, "Remus," she said coldly, her eyes flicking to the calender on the pantry door.

"Morning, Andromeda," said Lupin, smiling pleasantly, "you are looking lovely, today. Is Ted well?"

"As well as can be," said Andromeda with a sniff.

"I assume you've come to collect your daughter?" Lupin said, leaning back in his seat.

Before Andromeda could reply, a deafening squawk of, "MUM!" broke from the doorway on the other side of the room. Nymphadora rushed across the kitchen, arms outstretched.

"Dora!" cried Andromeda, enveloping her daughter in the folds of her cloak and lifting her off her feet, "oh, my darling, my beloved, my dearest one! Oh, I'm so sorry! I've been such a fool!"

"Yes, you have," said Lupin loudly, and there was an angry note in his voice. Everyone turned to stare at him, "and it may have cost a number of innocent children their lives. It almost lost you your daughter, not to mention my charge. It could have lost Molly and Arthur two sons!" the Weasleys looked at one another, frowning at this sudden outburst.

Andromeda lowered Nymphadora to the ground. The girl was looking from her mother to Lupin in surprise.

Andromeda said sharply, "and what other option did I have, Remus? I couldn't risk floo powder. I couldn't fly him to Hogwarts."

"You could have apparated to Hogsmeade and walked the rest of the way," said Lupin, getting to his feet, "you could have done any number of things that were not throw him onto a train and say 'well, he's Dumbledore's problem now'. But you were too afraid they would trace him back to your family, if you took him to Dumbledore yourself!"

"I have a daughter to protect!" Andromeda said, and fury was building around her like a storm cloud. Charlie, the twins, Ronald and Harry appeared in the doorway behind her.

"You have a daughter to lose!" snarled Lupin, "and you will lose her, if you-know-who ever gets a hold of Harry! I promise you, if that day ever comes, we'll all lose!"

Andromeda opened her mouth to bellow some retort, but a tiny voice yelled out, "STOP IT!"

Harry was standing in the middle of the kitchen, "stop arguing! I hate it!" he said, "it's arguing that makes the problems!"

Lupin looked like he wanted to launch another verbal attack at Andromeda, then he bowed his head, "I'm sorry, Harry," he said.

Andromeda looked at Harry, and for a moment it seemed she was also going to apologise, then she took Nymphadora's hand, nodded her head at Arthur and Molly, and said, "I must be off now. Thank you for taking care of my daughter," and she swept out.

Nymphadora waved goodbye to Harry and Charlie as she disappeared, "bye!" she called to them, "bye, Lupin! I'll see you later!" she added, and then her mother lead her out the door and she was gone.

Lupin sank back into his chair, "I'm sorry," he said to the room in general, "I got carried away."

"You should be sorry," said Harry, climbing onto the seat beside him, "you shouldn't fight, Moony, it's bad for you. Leave the fight to Sirius. He does it better."

Lupin laughed, "hit the nail on the head there, Harry. Oh, I need him right now, that's for sure."

"Then come help me find him," Harry shook Lupin's arm demandingly, "he's lost but we can find him, even if we have to get Dumbledore to help. I promise I won't be scared of Dumbledore just so long as we find Sirius."

Lupin shook his head, "tomorrow, Harry, I promise. Tomorrow I'll get Dumbledore and we'll find Sirius," he sound weary and not at all convincing, "but not today, and not this night."

He stood up, "I must go home and prepare myself for moonrise," he said to Arthur and Molly, who were still standing a little dumbstruck beside the kitchen sink.

"But…but you haven't even had lunch yet!" Molly cried.

Lupin paused for a moment, "alright," he said, "I'll stay for lunch. Then I really must go."

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Night-time in the burrow was not quiet, even when everyone was asleep. And not everyone was asleep. Harry lay awake in the darkness, listening to the breathing of the three other boys in the room. He was sleeping in Ronald's bed, while Ronald had taken Fred's and Fred was doubling with George. Bill's bed, in the room next door, remained empty. Harry listened to the creaks and groans of the tall house, the clanking of the pipes and the soft mumbling of Ron in his sleep.

He liked the Weasleys. He liked having someone his own age to play with, not to mention the twins and Ginny, who were more fun than any children Harry had been friends with before. He'd never had a chance to play with other wizarding children. And he liked Molly Weasley, even though she wasn't all that much like his own mother. But she was very kind, and Arthur too. And having Charlie as a big brother was almost like having Sirius when Sirius had drunk a bit too much firewhisky, which didn't happen that often but was always a lot of fun when it did. He missed Tonks already, but he was sure he would see her soon enough, even if she went off to Hogwarts with Charlie.

But it was Sirius that weighed on his mind. In the pit of his stomach, the four-year-old boy knew, without a grain of uncertainty, that his Godfather was in danger and suffering for it. This thought niggled and pressed at him, making him unable to sleep. He had been sure that as soon as he found Moony, Sirius would not be far behind. Moony would make everything better.

But Moony had gone home with nothing more than a promise about tomorrow. And Sirius was still lost and suffering. Clearly, Harry had to go to the highest authority, and find Dumbledore all by himself: only then, it seemed, would he be finally reunited with his Godfather. To Harry, who heard Dumbledore's name whispered in reverent voices and who remembered his one glimpse of the man as a towering statue of silver beard and twinkling blue eye, Dumbledore seemed rather like an Emperor, or a God. How on earth could he, Harry, small and sleepy and with no magic to speak of, make his way to Hogwarts, Dumbledore's palace, and convince this towering Emperor to help him bring Sirius home?

He would have to find Moony, and convince Moony that there was no time to waste. Only Moony knew how to get to Dumbledore.

This decision resolved in his mind, Harry pushed Ronald's covers off himself as quietly as he could and slipped over to the door, which was open a crack, and out into the hall of the Burrow. The only way he could get to Moony's house was through the fireplace: that seemed obvious enough. But he couldn't light a fire without magic.

Harry pushed open the door to the room where Charlie and Percy were sleeping soundly. The moonlight streamed through the window, so bright the whole room was illuminated. Charlie's wand sat on the cabinet beside his bed, between Percy's glasses and a box of cough drops. Harry padded over and picked up the wand. He didn't know any spells, but he knew that when he held his father's wand, he could achieve many fascinating results that often made his mother shriek and snatch it off him, scolding, "Harry, don't touch that! You'll set the house on fire!"

Well, thought Harry, as he snuck back into the hall, if he could set the house on fire he could certainly set fire to a simply hearth. He headed down the twisting staircase to the living room, where the enormous fireplace stood, wood piled high for the next day's use. When he got there he knelt and poked the wand into the centre of the twigs and brambles, trying to think of flames and burning things.

For a while, he could not get anything to happen. He shook the wand, frustrated, and at last a few sparks shot out of the end. Pleased, Harry tapped the twigs with his wand, and they began to glow and crackle with flame. In moments, he had a decent child-sized fire burning in the fireplace.

Harry stood up and realised the familiar box of floo powder was on top of the mantelpiece, high above his reach. He stretched out his hands, pointed the wand at the box, and mentally commanded it to come to him. The box began to shake, and wriggle, and finally fell off the mantelpiece and crashed onto the carpet. Floo powder spilled everywhere. Harry felt a little guilty at making a mess for Molly to clean up, but pushing the guilt aside, he picked up a handful of powder and threw it onto his dwindling fire.

At once, huge roaring flames exploded in the fireplace, bursting outwards and licking around Harry's ears. They didn't burn him, and he pushed his hand into them experimentally. It just felt like a cool breeze playing up and down his arm.

Taking a deep breath and steeling himself, Harry stepped into the fire, saying aloud,

"Remus Lupin's Cottage."

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Charlie twitched in his sleep and rolled over. Something had woken him, though he could not hear anything unusual. How curious. He opened his eyes. Through the window, the full moon illuminated the bedroom and the landscape outside in lines of silver. Charlie closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but a distant whooshing sound caught his attention. He sat up, straining his ears.

It must have been one of the twins going to the toilet, he decided, and tried to settle back down. He glanced over at his brother Percy, snoring softly, and beyond Percy, Bill's empty bed, neatly made and unoccupied. He felt a little worry gnaw his stomach. But no use thinking about it now.

A glint of moonlight struck Percy's glasses and Charlie looked at them, wondering why he was so sure something was wrong. There were Percy's spectacles, folded neatly. There was the book on Goblin History that Percy was reading. There was the box of cough drops still waiting to be taken back to the medicine cabinet, and the little wicker basket where Bill kept his collection of interesting-shaped rocks. And there was…

There was…

Where was Charlie's wand?

Charlie sat bolt upright. It was gone. His wand was gone. He knew he had put it on the cabinet before he had gone to bed, he remembered placing it there, within Percy's jealous sight. He swung his feet out over the floor and got out of bed, dropping to his hands and knees to see if it had rolled off the cabinet and under the bed. But the carpet was bare. And how could it have rolled off, with Percy's glasses on one side and the box on the other?

Charlie, imagining dark wizards creeping through the house and wandering ghosts descending on the bedrooms, ran out into the hall. He was going to go and wake his parents, but then he saw a light from downstairs. Fear thumping in his chest, he tip-toed slowly down the stairs, peering around the corner with his legs tensed to flee.

The living room was empty, but a blazing green fire burned in the grate. Charlie could see the box of floo powder spilled across the carpet, and there, lying beside it, a wand that had been cast aside. Charlie ran down and snatched it up, and relief flooded through him as soon as he touched it. Definitely his wand.

But then…who had taken it, and lit the fire?

Oh no, thought Charlie. He raced back upstairs and pushed open the door to his younger brothers' bedroom. The twins, arms thrown haphazardly in every direction, snored on their backs on the far bed. Ronald was curled in a nest of blankets in the centre bed.

The near bed was empty. Charlie backed away from the door, scrambled down the corridor and threw open the door to his parent's bedroom.

"Dad!" he yelled, "Mum, Dad! Wake up!" his little sister, still sleeping in a cot in the corner, rolled over and began to cry, "wake up!" Charlie yelled, as his parents raised their heads, "wake up! Harry's gone!"

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He stumbled out of the fireplace, coughing from the soot. It took him a moment for his eyes to adjust, but Harry quickly felt a thrill of success. He was in Moony's cosy, familiar cottage. He headed straight for Moony's bed, already trying to formulate an argument to make his friend take him to Dumbledore.

But he stopped a few feet from the bed. It was empty. Where was Moony? Harry felt frustration rise in him. The fireplace, without any fire to keep it burning, dulled and went out, so that the room was plunged briefly into darkness. But the light from the full moon filled it quickly and Harry began to search for any sign of where his friend had gone. The bed was neatly made. All Lupin's clothes were stacked on the shelf at the end of the bed. His travelling trunk was standing upright, and empty, at the side.

Harry turned his head and saw, for the first time, that the wardrobe which usually stood beside the fireplace had been pulled away from the wall. Hidden behind it was a door Harry had never seen before. Curiously, Harry walked towards the door and touched the handle.

There was a bang, and a growl, and the sound of scratching. Harry jumped back. There was some kind of animal in there! And clearly, since Moony was not in the main room, he must also be behind the door.

Or perhaps, reasoned Harry, Moony and the animal were one and the same. After all, both Sirius and his father had often transformed into animals, a tall stag and a hulking black dog, before his very eyes. And Peter, too, though not as often. Turning into an animal was a skill all grown men seemed to possess. Well, the Sirius dog and the James stag had never harmed Harry.

He reached out, turned the handle of the door, and opened it a crack.

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TBC