Chapter 11: Guardian

Disclaimer: If you've seen it, I don't own it.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes until Hermione broke the silence. "I didn't know you were getting that little food Harry." She stated out of the blue.

Harry smiled sheepishly. "I never knew that it wasn't normal until I went to Hogwarts first year. We were allowed to eat what we wanted, do what we wanted, ask questions. I wasn't allowed to do any of that for the first eleven years of my life. When the summer before second year came around and I was locked in my room and told that I wouldn't be going back to Hogwarts, I was scared. I was happy that I wasn't locked in that bloody cupboard though. When Draco came I felt bad for him. He was condemned to live with the Dursleys as well."

"That cupboard is a lot larger than it looks. Who knew you could fit two teenage boys in there?" Draco said out of nowhere. "It's the work that freaked me out. I never knew that work was so hard. They made me wash dishes, cook, clean the house, work outside. I didn't mind the small cupboard. When you live with Lucius Malfoy you get used to dark places." Draco shuddered at the memory.

Hermione looked horrified. "You mean you both have been mistreated all your life? Why didn't you ever tell anyone?" Hermione was too shocked to think logically.

"Mione, calm down. Its over now. Dumbledore won't let the Dursleys continue treating them this way." Ron cut in before she could lecture the two boys.

"Do you think I'll like my new guardians?" Dudley, who everyone forgot was there, asked.

'Poor Dudley!' Harry thought. "I'm not sure who you will end up with but they will treat you good. Hey Draco who do you think should be our new guardian?"

"Remus?" Draco suggested.

"I don't think he will because of his transforming but we can ask him." Harry thought for a moment.

"Why don't we ask that now?" Draco suggested standing.

"Um...Ok. Dudley do you want to see if he will be your guardian too?" Harry asked the worried looking boy.

Dudley nodded mutely, not wanting to be left alone with people he didn't know. He hurried after the two boys as they moved to find the kind man.

"Moony!" Harry yelled upon seeing Remus talking quietly to Tonks.

Remus jumped and Tonks' hair changed to bright red in shock. "Aren't you supposed to be at dinner?" Remus asked looking a bit confused.

"Why weren't you at dinner?" Draco suddenly questioned suspicious of the werewolf.

"We...Uh...we were finishing some paperwork and lost track of time. Dobby brought us some sandwiches though." Remus stammered looking everywhere but at the three boys.

"You haven't answered us yet. Why aren't you boys at dinner?" Tonks chose to put the spotlight back on the teens.

"That's what we're here for. Dumbledore found out that the Dursleys were mistreating us and took custody away from them. He said we were to choose a guardian and we came to ask if Remus would be our guardian." Harry explained in one breath.

"Mistreating you? How?" Remus looked angry and didn't seem to hear the part about him being their guardian.

"They were starving us, belittling us, and locking us in a cupboard." Harry muttered hoping Remus wouldn't hear.

But it was close to the full moon so Remus' hearing was better than usual. "They what?! I mean I knew about the cupboard and the work but they starve you and belittle you as well. I reported what I knew but this is pathetic. I thought that was just one of those go to bed without dinner things not go without food." Remus was pacing now. "If Sirius were here..." he trailed off at the thought of Sirius.

Remus reached a wall and banged his hand against it. "Lily and James would be heartbroken. Poor Prongs. His sons, the only offspring of a Marauder, were sent to live with such horrible gits." He said to himself but Harry heard.

"If mom and dad were here, I wouldn't be in this situation." He stated glumly before turning and running off.

Draco stared at Remus for a moment before grabbing the werewolf and spinning him around. "Quit with your self-pity and think! Here we are asking you to be our guardian and you remind him that its because his parents are dead that he's in this situation. If that's not enough he also feels bad because his rightful guardian died defending him, his relatives lost their home and are now forced to be here because of him and that now he has not only a younger brother to worry about but also his cousin finding a guardian. Meanwhile you are here feeling sorry for yourself and for what? Just because you've had a hard life does not give you the bloody right to make Harry miserable." Draco stared at Remus harshly not even sure what he was really angry about. He was angry that Harry was upset but the last week had just been too much for Draco. "If you do accept the position of our guardian you had better learn that he feels bad that so many have been forced to sacrifice so much for him."

Draco left knowing he needed to get his emotions under control. He was confused about everything he was feeling. Too much had happened too quickly for him to cope. Dudley stood shocked for a moment before deciding that he should go wait for someone to find him in his room.

Harry had went back to their room and laid on the bed thinking. He got up and took his photo album out of his bedside table drawer. His eyes filled with tears at the pictures. There was a picture their of the old Order of the Phoenix given to him by Dumbledore the last Christmas. Next to that was a picture of his family and their friends.

James stood smiling and laughing with his arms around Lily's round stomach. Remus and Sirius were wrestling on the floor at the moment and Peter was standing on the edge of the picture wringing his hands.

A tear rolled off Harry's face and fell onto the picture startling the occupants.

Harry took the picture out, closed the album, and allowed himself to cry. No one would see him. He laid down clutching the picture to his chest and cried himself to sleep.

Draco had gone to the secret apartment to get away from everything. He sat on one of the couches in front of the fire and watched the flames. Lucius had been a horrible man and had treated Draco the same as a house-elf but it still felt weird to not have him breathing down Draco's neck. Since he was little Draco had hated the man. He wasn't a loving like most fathers. Instead he kept the house in line with an iron fist.

Draco attempted to sort out his feelings. He didn't hate the Dursleys for treating him wrong. He lived with Lucius his whole life so the Dursleys weren't that bad. If Draco thought about it, he knew he felt bad that they had lost their home. He knew that it had to be weird to come into a world that had only brought trouble to you. He felt bad for Dudley. In fact, he knew what Dudley felt like. All of a sudden you get moved away from the only family you ever knew into a completely different environment and such. Poor kid, Draco at least had Harry to help deal. Hopefully, whoever Dudley ended up with would make sure that Dudley saw Harry. It would help a bit.

Draco began to think back to his outburst. He knew he shouldn't have yelled at the man but he had hurt his twin brother. He couldn't just stand there. Harry had stood up for him in the Weasleys eyes. Draco continued to try and sort out his feelings (something he was not used to having) and soon nodded off on the couch.

Remus didn't know what was wrong with him. He had sat on the floor when Draco stormed off and hadn't moved since. He vaguely remember hearing Tonks say she was going to see what was happening and felt her squeeze his shoulder before leaving to see what she could learn.

So he sat there not just a little shocked at the whole conversation. The shock wore off enough for him to think about the proposition. They had asked him to be their guardian. Remus J. Lupin the guardian of three teenage boys. Could he do it?

This was how Moody found him. Moody stood and watched him for a few minutes waiting for the younger man to notice him. After ten minutes he got tired of waiting and hit him with his walking stick. (on orders from Madam Pomprey, he was to use it when he was at Headquarters.)

Remus jumped at the contact and stared up at the old man.

"You know sitting in the middle of the hall isn't a good idea." Moody said as he helped Remus up.

"Yeah yeah. I don't know what I'm going to do Mad-eye. Did you know that they asked me to be their guardian? I want to but there is always the risk that one of my transformations might not be controlled. What do you think I should do?"

Dumbledore and McGonagall knocked quietly on the twin's door. When there was no answer Dumbledore slowly edged the door open to see if they were just not answering. He had heard about the argument from Tonks and had decided to come see how the boys were fairing. He knew it had to be difficult for them but he knew it must be done. Once everything settled down, the boys would be ok.

Dumbledore spotted Harry on the bed and moved toward it. His heart broke at what he saw. The boy was clutching a picture to him and had tear tracks down his face and damping his pillow.

"The poor boy. Albus he's been through so much. Is there anything we can do for him?" McGonagall asked looking at her young lion.

"He still has much more to go through Minerva. All we can do is be there for him when he needs us. Let him sleep. I want Remus to come see him. It would be good for both of them to get their feelings about this out. And Draco. We have to get him as well." He remembered about the other young boy who they had to worry about.

"Where is Draco?" McGonagall noticed the other bed remained empty.

"Probably in their little sanctuary." Dumbledore opened the door to the place and went in search of Draco. A few seconds later, he returned with Draco floating in front of him. He laid Draco on his bed and slipped quietly out of the room in search of Remus.

Dumbledore never found Remus because Remus wandered into the twin's room on his own with Tonks right beside him. His talk with Mad-eye had helped him make his decision and he wanted to tell the boys. When he spotted both of them asleep he decided to wait for them to wake. He moved to pull Harry's shoes off when he noticed the picture and tear tracks. He gestured for Tonks to join him from where she was taking Draco's shoes of and magically changing him into his pajamas.

Tonks pulled the sheets over the boy and brushed his hair out of his face before joining Remus. She carefully pulled the picture out of the boy's grasp and looked at it. Lily was laughing as James attempted to save Remus from Sirius while Remus slowly slipped out of the fight to touch Lily's stomach. "Its all right Harry. Dad will win." The whisper from the picture came.

Tonks handed it to Remus and whispered that she was going to go check on Dudley. She slipped out and he gently removed the boy's shoes. After magically changing him into pajamas and tucking him in. Remus set the picture on the nightstand and kissed both boys on the forehead. "Its alright Harry, Draco. We'll get through this together."

A/N: see quick update. I hope it was long enough. I really do. 2,070 words. Is that long enough? I'm halfway through with Chapter 12 so be just a bit patient and I'll give you a treat. ::Grins evily:: next update soon!