Chapter Eight

Remus made salad and sandwiches for them all, even using some of the already-grown vegetables from Harry's garden. Both Marauders had been shocked at how much he'd done in a day and a half. More so at how fast the plants had grown. When Harry told them about his Mum's special fertilizer, neither had ever heard of it. Seeing Harry's surprise, Remus said, "your Mum was a genius. She started training as an Unspeakable right after Hogwarts."

"What's an Unspeakable?" asked Harry.

Remus ruffled his hair, "sorry, cub. An Unspeakable is what we call someone who works in the Department of Mysteries. That's where they do research on all kinds of magic."

"Really?" asked Harry excitedly, "and my Mum was one?"

"Yep," said Sirius, ruffling Harry's already messy hair as he brought his dishes to the sink, "your dad and me were Aurors. That's like a policeman."

"Neat!" exclaimed Harry. Turning curious eyes to Remus he asked, "what do you do?"

Remus smiled sadly, "I don't have a wizarding job, but sometimes I write articles for magazines."

Harry smiled at him, "neat. Why don't you have a magic job?"

Remus smiled widely at Harry's curiosity. He seems very intelligent. He has a lot of natural curiosity, I'm glad those Muggles didn't manage to stamp it out. In fact it's almost like- oh Merlin! Lily's brains and James' curiosity, I don't know if this world's ready for that! He smiled again, Then again, this could be fun. "Well," he answered Harry, who didn't seem aware of his inner monologue, though he did notice Sirius' calculating look.

Deciding he couldn't lie to Harry, he said, "because most people don't want to hire me."

"Why?" Harry asked immediately, then his eyes narrowed, "is it 'cause you're a werewolf?"

Remus looked at him, eyes wide in shock, "h-how did you know?"

Harry shrugged, "Mum and Dad left their journals here. They were interesting and Dad's said something about it."

Remus and Sirius looked at him with bemused expressions.

"You're not scared of me, are you Harry?" Remus asked tentatively.

"No." said Harry with another shrug, "why would I?"

Sirius gave Remus a look that said clearly, "I told you so!"

Remus only smiled.

….

Albus Dumbledore sighed. After spending hours on rethinking his plans for Harry, he then tried to get in touch with Sirius before he demanded custody. Albus was just glad that he hadn't done it right after the trial. If he had, then it would be impossible short of murder to keep Harry with the Dursleys. He sighed again and reached for a lemon drop from the bowl on his desk. Sirius hadn't been at the Leaky Cauldron, and when he'd tried to floo Remus, there had been no answer. He sucked on the lemon drop and thought about the problem. I need to find Black, convince him Harry was safe and happy with the Dursleys. Maybe I should let them know to expect something, so they can make sure the boy will tell him that. Hmm, maybe talk to Arabella, need to get her report anyway. With that thought, and one last swallow of the lemon drop, he got up and walked over to the fireplace. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, he tossed it in the fire and said, "Arabella Figg!" clearly as he knelt to put his head in the floo.

"Hello Albus," said Mrs. Figg as she bent closer to the fire where Dumbledore's head was sitting.

"Ah Arabella, how are you?" he asked genially.

"All right Albus, and you?"

"Fine fine," he said, "and how are Harry and his family?"

"Oh they're all fine," said Arabella, "went on a trip before school starts, as a matter of fact. Took both boys."

Albus gave her his first genuine smile since that blasted article, "they took Harry?"

"Well, I assume so, since they didn't ask me to mind him," said Arabella.

"Ah excellent," said Albus.

With a few more pleasantries, Albus soon pulled his head out of the fire. Wonderful, he thought, with Black off somewhere, most likely with Lupin, and young Harry off with his family, it will give some time to come up with a plan to keep the boy with the Dursleys. He smiled again,

things might still turn out his way after all.

"Now Harry," said Remus, as they headed back to the couch, "why don't you tell us about how you found this trunk. And where it is."

Harry shuffled nervously, "ok. Well, the Dursleys put it on my chore list to clean the attic. The trunk was in the back."

"When was this?" asked Sirius.

"Day before yesterday,"

"Same day as the letters," murmured Remus. Sirius nodded.

"What letters?" asked Harry.

"It's a long story, pup," said Sirius, ruffling Harry's hair.

"Best start at the beginning, then." said Remus cheerfully.

"Ok then, I met your dad and Remus on the train to Hogwarts first year…."

Harry smiled as he settled in to listen.

A/N I just wanted to show a little family bonding. A bit of Dumbledore's manipulations. Don't worry, the Dursleys will DEFINITELY get what's coming to them! Next chapter will have a slight time jump for the rest of the two weeks. Next up; The Marauders plotting, Dumbledore scheming, and the Dursleys' return. Coming soon!