That Thursday Harry found the Room of Requirement just as he remembered, but with one difference, sitting in the corner reading a book. It wasn't anyone Harry expected to see in this particular room. Of course, Harry thought to himself, it only made sense, seeing as how the individual sitting in the corner was one of the makers of a map. The same map that Harry used to get to this room, as a matter of fact. As the door closed behind the bespectacled boy, the man sitting in the corner looked up.
"Hello, Harry," his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher said. Putting the book down on the shelf beside him, and rising from the burgundy pillow he had been sitting on. "Dobby told me that his was the room you used."
Harry beamed, and asked, "Why did you come?"
"Molly asked me to check it out," Lupin replied, a touch of disgust in his voice. Then he looked up at Harry, and said with a touch of rebelliousness, "And the twins told me I should help with the training."
"It's hard work," Harry told him, "but if you're up to it, please, be my guest."
Lupin smiled at him. "I would be honoured," he replied, taking a bow. But when he rose, his face was clouded with an unreadable expression.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked him, concerned.
The werewolf looked at Harry, his young face etched with lines of worry, frustration, and, at this time, nervousness. "I never told any one what Sirius left me," he said quietly, and Harry's eyes shifted from the man in front of him to the floor at his feet. "But you have to know what he told me," Lupin continued, a note of urgency in his voice, causing Harry to look at him. "He gave me custody of you," Lupin said, his eyes not moving from Harry's face. Harry's heart jumped.
"So, that means that –"
"It's up to you," Lupin interrupted. "The only home I have right now is Hogwarts, and I'll be staying at Headquarters to help with everything going on there, but you need a legal guardian." He paused here, and glanced at the door before continuing. "If you feel that you would rather have Mrs. Weasley as your guardian, that's alright with me."
Harry looked up at him, shocked. "No," he said, without even thinking. Lupin gave him a confused look. "I want you as a guardian," he said. Lupin looked ecstatic.
"So you don't mind everything that's going on? I mean, with my werewolf –"
"What difference does that make?" Harry asked, "I don't care if you're pregnant, I want you to be my guardian."
Lupin laughed. "Well," he said, "seeing as how we are talking about pregnancy, you wouldn't mind if I had a baby?" He patted his stomach tenderly. "Because you might have a sibling soon!"
Harry laughed. "Congratulations!" he exclaimed, going along with the joke. The two of them laughed until about thirty people all entered the room.
"What's so funny?" Ron asked, and Harry laughed even harder.
"It's nothing, Ron," Lupin said, tears of laughter in his own eyes. "Shall we get started then?" he asked Harry, who was finally recovering.
"Yeah," he said wiping the tears out of his own eyes. "Grab a pillow, everyone," he announced, pulling out a roll of parchment from his bag.
Everyone settled down quickly, and the look on Lupin's face told Harry that he was very impressed. Smiling to himself, Harry turned back to the room at large.
"Welcome back, everybody," he said, looking around at all the familiar faces from last year, as well as many unfamiliar and anxious faces. "I see we have some new members," Harry added, smiling. "So, let's make this official, again," he said, dipping his quill into his inkwell. "Just sign your name somewhere on here, and we'll get going."
Ron was first to sign his name. Following him was Lavender, Parvati, her twin Padma, Ginny, Hannah, and Ernie. Ernie passed the roll to a boy, who looked as if he was in first year. The boy hesitated, and looked up at Harry.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked him, and the boy sighed.
"This is Dumbledore's Army, right?" he asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied, "why?"
"Just making sure," the boy said, as he signed his name. He passed the parchment to Neville. He glanced at the boy's name and let out a small gasp.
"You're a Granger?" he asked the boy, and as the boy nodded Ron and Harry gasped as well.
"Are you related to Hermione?" Ron asked him.
The boy nodded, looking very intimidated by the sixth years. He looked up at Harry, and saw that Harry was staring at him. "Stay afterwards, okay?" Harry asked him. The boy nodded.
Once everyone had signed, Harry tacked it up on the wall. He then wrote "Dumbledore's Army" across the top. Some of the new members whispered to each other, and Harry distinctly heard one girl say, "Does Dumbledore know about this?"
"Dumbledore knows exactly what we are doing in here," Harry said, and the girl blushed. He smiled at her and continued. "But first, let me introduce a new and experienced individual, who will be helping me teach you." Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Lupin shake his head and give a small smile. "This," said Harry, directing their attention to Lupin, "is the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he will be coming to nearly every one of these meetings we have." He paused here, and as some of the older members whispered together, he himself whispered to Lupin, "What did you want them to call you?"
"Lupin's fine," he replied, "and you might as well tell them all about the werewolf thing, too."
Harry nodded and turned back to the D.A. "Even though he is your professor," he said, silencing the whispers, "you can call him Lupin while we are in here. And you should also all know that he is a werewolf –" Whispers broke out among the students, and Harry looked miffed. "And if you have a problem with that, you might as well leave, because we aren't a prejudiced group in here." When no one left, Harry continued. "Even though Hermione isn't here," he said, his gaze travelling from Ernie, who was wondering what had happened to her, to her little brother, new to the wizarding world, "we will be doing this." He glanced at his watch, and seeing that it was nearly nine o'clock, said, "But we'll have another meeting soon to start some practise. I think we'll just run through stunning and disarming, to help the beginners along," he said. "The word will be spread somehow telling you of the next meeting."
"Can we do those coins again?" Luna asked, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head in excitement.
"Yeah," Harry said, "but I need to make some more. See you all later!"
As they all left in a clamour, Harry turned back to Lupin. "That's everybody," he said to Lupin.
"They sure do respect you," Lupin said, his eyes twinkling. "I can't wait for next week."
"Neither can I," said a voice from behind Harry.
"So you're Hermione's little brother?" Harry asked the brown eyed, brown haired boy.
"Yes," he said, not looking directly at Harry or Lupin.
"And what is your name?" Lupin asked him kindly.
"Jonathon," the boy replied, still not making eye contact with the two. Harry glanced at Lupin, and saw that the man was looking at the boy with a peculiar expression.
"What happened that night?" Lupin asked him, his eyes not moving from the boy's face. At once, the boy's expression changed, becoming upset, and maybe even a little angry.
"I don't want to talk about it," Jonathon replied, and finally looked up into Lupin's tired yet kind face.
"You have to talk about it," Lupin told him, "or you will never get over it."
At this, Jonathon sighed, resigned to the task of telling the tale. Taking a deep breath, he began.
"On Friday, when Hermione got home from Hogwarts, she told us about Voldemort, and how he came back. She told us to be wary of new people we met on the street, because Voldemort has lots of followers. I never go out anyways," he added. "So one day during the first week of July, we went to the beach, like we always do. It's a tradition we have. I noticed Herm's wand sticking out of her beach bag, and I asked her why she had it. She said that she wanted to be ready if they were attacked, because she was muggle-born, and they would want to kill her. Is that true?" he asked.
"Yes," said Lupin, sighing.
"Oh," Jonathon said, continuing. "Well, we got to the beach, and while mum and dad went to buy some hot dogs, me and Herm spread out the towels. Then this boy with blonde hair came up to us."
"Malfoy," Harry breathed.
"Yeah," Jonathon said, nodding at Harry, "that's what Herm called him. She said something like, 'stay away from us, Malfoy.' And he was like, 'we're watching you mud-blood, so you better watch your back.' And then he laughed and walked away. What's a mud-blood?" he asked.
Lupin sighed. "It's what some wizards and witches call others who are of muggle descent, like what you and Hermione are. Please continue."
"Okay, well, he didn't bother us again, but Herm never told mum and dad about him. She told me once we got back home that she didn't want to spoil the day for them. Then the next day, I was helping Herm with the dishes while mum and dad were at work. We heard popping noises coming from the living room. Herm took out her wand and told me to go and hide. I was really scared, so I ran up the stairs as Herm went out into the living room." Jonathon paused, looking very upset.
"Just take your time," Lupin told him, pulling up a chair for the nervous boy. Jonathon took a deep breath and resumed.
"Well, I made it upstairs, as quiet as I could. I could see some people in the living room, but they had cloaks on, with their hoods up. Then one of the people yelled, 'Come out you mud-blood!' and then Herm came out of the kitchen and went into the living room. She had her wand in her hand, and as she went into the living room, the other people hissed at her. After that, it was all a blur," he said, his big brown eyes misting over with tears.
"Okay," said Lupin, "we can just leave it –"
"And then they just took her!" he shouted, frustrated, with tears rolling down his cheeks. "And I could hear her yelling at them to let her go, and could hear her shouting spells at them! And I couldn't do anything! I COULDN'T HELP MY OWN SISTER!" Jonathon cried, his emotion taking over. Lupin got up and went over to him, wrapping him in a fatherly embrace, letting Jonathon cry into his shoulder.