"hello there Lupin, how are you? I know we talked a lot and I know you always wanted to take care of a boy so, that it, this is Ron, he is 4 and he comes from not exactely a happy home."

"Oh Arabella, this must be a tragedy! How about you too come inside and tell me more about it and, in this time, this little buddy can watch some cartoons for a bit."

The woman pushed the boy a little for him to enter first. The house wasn't that big. From the entry you could see the kitchen, on left was the living room and on right was a small bathroom. He couldn't see what was upstairs, but he could tell the house is clean and sparkling. Maybe there were more kids around the house to help with chores. They lead him to a small sofa and turned on the tv. He never watched tv, kids are not allowed to watch it. His mom always says that he was dumb enough, no need to be dumber...but soon, he found himself mesmerized with the moving images. In front of him.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen

"so, Arabella, what do we have here?"

"not so much, I've seen worse. So, the boy cleans around the house, doesn't eat properly, bath once in a while with dirty and cold water, wear worn clothes, no toys from what I can see, and sometimes is beaten because he breaks objects by accident. I think that this is all. I found all of this because I gave hin veritaserum, one of the house rules was to never speak with strangers what his mom was doing. "

" not so happy, indeed. But I must take care of it, the boy needs a guardian and how about I adopt him? Give me 2 weeks to see what I can do. After that, I shall sign the papers if it is ok, right? "

" right. So, I am leaving him in your care and, beware, he doesn't have clothes to fit him. Maybe you could buy him some. Oh, I forgot... Here are some money for taking him shopping for what he needs, I can't provide more, but maybe this is enough for some shirts and pants, maybe some shoes. "

" we will manage, don't worry, I have money saved by myself and I didn't know how to spend them untill now. "

" ok then, have a nice... Some nice 2 weeks, I will come after that to see how he is. For now, bye Lupin."

Then, she went to see the boy who was fast asleep on the sofa with his thumb stuck in his mouth. " bye little boy, have fun with your new guardian" she whispered gently brushing some hair from his face.

Lupin then came to wake the boy. It was late. Already 7 p.m. and he had a schedule: food, bath, story, sleep.

"Ron? Ronny? Come on, weaky-weaky"

"hmmm? Whewe I am? Who awe you?

" I think you fell asleep. My name is Lupin, you were brought here, in my house, by a nice lady called Arabella"

"oh, I wemembew now. I must be youw sewvant, siw, wight siw? My name in Wonald Weaswey, nice to meet you"

"oh, you have some maners I see, but no need to call me sir, buddy. Just call me by my name: Lupin. And you are not my servant, I am your new guardian"

"Guawdian? What is a guawdian"

"a guardian is like a parent. It looks after you, makes sure you eat properly and have enough sleep and also have clothes and toys"

"so... It means I have to wowk hawdew fow toys. Pwease don't make me cwean the bathwoom too. Wast time I got sick 3 days fwom being wet and cowd on the fwoow tiwes." said Ron with tears in his eyes. He knew that he already worked as hard as he can just for being fed and have 2 sets of clothes.

"no, boy, not such thing. You will receive all of that without needing to clean! Your chores would be simple: keep your room clean and water the plants in the kitchen, which are 3 pots. That's all you have to do!"

"you suwe? I can cwean, you know? I fit undew bed, thewe is always dust thewe."

"not under mine, I assure you of that. What do you say about supper? You must be hungry"

"I can't, siw, I awweady eaten once today. Can't have mowe meawes"

"oh, sure you can, you must eat 3 times a day, no question about it! Also you need a bath young man. From.now on, we have new rules"

"new wuwes?"

"yes! New rules!

1- you would eat 3 times a day and everytime you are hungry between meals you would reveive a fruit

2 - bath every evening before bed

3 - no wear clothes more than one day

Tomorrow we will go shopping for new clothes and toys

4- clean bedroom

5 - water the three pots in the kitchen"

"you suwe? I can weawn how to cook. I can do mowe! Fowd cwothes and, and..."

"ok, let's say that you have to dust, sweep, fold clothes and arrange things in 1 room: your bedroom. Also with the watering, there are 5 things you are doing around the house. Because of this, you receive: 3 meals a day, bath every night and new clothes. Also, because I want to give you a gift, considering toys being a gift. We have 5 chores for 5 things in return. Deal? "

Ron tought for a moment... It was acceptable. One room, receiving food and baths, starting from tomorrow. Not so bad, maybe things were to get better for him.

" deaw! " Ron nodded determined. Wasn't so hard what he was asked to do. He rose from his spot determined to start cleaning the room they were talking about.

"ok starting from tomorrow, this is what you have to do. For now, come and eat, my boy, you need straight for tomorrow. But before that, let's take a bath, we don't want you to be dusty around food, don' we?"

Walking in the bathroom, Lupin started the water and ordered for the boy to take his clothes off. He stumbled on his trousers when he took them off and had a hard time with the t-shirt, but managed to get them off. He didn't wear panties, unfortunately, his one pair were in loundry at home and the other had too many holes to be worn, but because he was small, no one could tell if he was with or witouth them.

"Ok boy, hop in! Let's wash this hair of yours first"

"but... My watew is new, I am not awowed in new watew.

" why so? This water is clean and warm, try it"

"no, I will get it diwty and no one would bath aftew me. You go fiwst, me aftew you"

"no Ron, my house rule is that everyone would bath in clean and warm water and we will change it after each other."

"new wuwe?"

"yeah, new rule. Now get in, I will get you a nice pair of PJs and new underwear. Come on, take your time, it is nice, trust me"

"o... Ok... You suwe? I don't mind being aftew you"

"yes, I am perfectly fine with clean water, trust me. Now wash yourself, I will come and help you after I get you something to wear. I should not be long"

And, indeed, in 10 minutes Lupin was back with the clothes and, to his surprise, Ron was finished and waiting in the middle of the bathroom with water dripping from his hair. That was fast!

" here, dress with these. These should fit better than your clothes"

The boy studied the clothes and something was missing. Something that was necessary for the night because, without it he would receive a punishment, without it everyone would be mad and dissapointed.

"but... Whewe is my nappy?"

"what nappy Ron? Aren't you able to tell when you need to go potty?"

"yes, but at night mommy gives me nappies to weaw. Sometimea I make messes at night and wake up wet. I don't want to make the messes in the bed."

"how often do you make messes?"

"almost evewy night..." Ron said in almost a whisper. So, the boy has night accident. For a 4 year old was more than normal, but he needs to understand that he must be off of nappies.

"No nappies tonight, Ron, you are a big boy and I know that you are verry capable to tell when you need to wee. So, let's get over this nappy thing and start to act like a big boy! We will try tonight and we will see what happens"

"ok..." Ron said without much fuss, but inside he was nervous. It was his first night, first of many nights, without a nappy. Will he made it though? And what if he needs to pee, will Lupin be mad because he woke him up?

"now, we shall eat before bed, right? Off you go!"

Ron went after Lupin in the small kitchen. Sitting at the table, the man put in front of him a plate with smashed potatoes and chicken and peas and a little bit of salad. He stared in awe as it was more than he would eat in 2 days at home. Or maybe it was a trap, maybe that was the food for both of them, because there is no way that he could eat all of that.

They sat in silence at the table, Ron waiting for the permission to eat. After Lupin told him that it is ok and encourage him to start eating, he took bite by bite way to fast for his new guardian's liking. Even if Lupin tried to show him how to eat slower or tried to tell him that he would be sick, it didn't matter... The food was too good and finally he could eat the necessary amount for his age and maybe a bit more.

"and now, after you finished eating, let's get to bed, I bet you are tired after all that happened today."

Ron meets his new guardian with a big yawn and drowsy eyes. He sure was tired. He needs to sleep because tomorrow he will have to clean and water plants and do the laundry and go shopping and do laundry again and maybe clean once again because dust was bad. But now... now he will allow himself to sleep in a comfy bed. Inside him, verry deep inside, he miss his blanket, the one which he had since he was born, the one which he had to gave up for his little sister. He wanted his blanket, but now was too late for it. Also, it wasn't long since he had to gave up his dummy. He missed his little comfort gave by these little things, they felt like home...