Harry and Merope to the Rescue - Chapter 10

Disclaimer:

I don't own the HP universe, unfortunately.

On the walk to the suite, Harry just kept talking about inconsequential subjects, like, making plans for Christmas, getting everyone together, maybe having a few surprises, etc., while Remus really started studying Harry's appearance, and especially his eyes. He was silently going over everything he had heard in the lobby, which admittedly wasn't much, but his name was Harry, he was the image of James with Lily's eyes, and he knew him as Moony. What he was starting to suspect had to be impossible right? There was absolutely no way that he could be Little Harry all grown up, could he?

Remus was jarred out of his thoughts when Harry said, "All right. Here we are, suite number 215." Then Harry opened the door and let them all inside. Merope let Little Harry down once the door was closed, and instead of toddling around or running straight over to Remus, he seemed content to just wait and see.

The entrance led to a shared area that was a mix between a living/sitting room and a kitchen/dining area. There was a TV with a couch and chairs on the far side of the room, another set of furniture in a small sitting/visiting area closer to the entrance. The kitchen/dining area was on the left side with the option of eating around the dining table or on the tall chairs at the bar attached to the counter of the kitchen island. There were doors side by side on the left, which were presumed to be the "guest" room and bathroom, and then there was one door on the right, which was more than likely the master bedroom with it's own bathroom.

After briefly surveying their surroundings, Harry turned to Remus and said, "All right, Moony. Straight to the bathroom to get cleaned up, which should be one of those two doors. You'll be staying in the guest room." Before Remus could protest, Harry continued, "I'm going to call room service for tea to be sent up, as it's nearly that time, and Merlin knows when the last time you actually consumed anything besides alcohol. We'll all be here when you're done."

Once again, Remus was prevented from giving a reply when Harry again said, "Oh, before I forget," vanishing the empty suitcases and taking off his backpack (which looked like he was reaching into the air to Remus). Harry summoned up a clean change of muggle clothes for Remus to wear, Harry said, "Here are some clean clothes for you to put on."

Merope was looking at the clothes Remus was currently wearing and said, "I'd suggest emptying out anything in your pockets that you may want to keep, because the clothes you're wearing don't look like they can be patched up anymore, even with magic, we've plenty of clothes with us that you can use. I refuse to let you walk around masquerading as a homeless person anymore." Having said that, she gave a nod of finality.

Once again Remus was prevented from speaking, much less protesting, when he looked at Little Harry, and appeared as if he was going walk over towards him, when Little Harry scrunched up his nose and said, "You stinky, Moony. You go take bath like good boy." Which caused Harry and Merope to smile in satisfied amusement.

Finally, all Remus could do was throw up his hands in defeat and say, "Okay. Okay. I'll go take a bath." Then he took the clean clothes being offered to him from Harry, then turned and made his way to the guest bathroom. Deciding to go for the shock factor, he called over his shoulder, "I expect there to be a good explanation for time traveling, Harry James Potter." Causing Harry's eyes to widen in surprise. Then Remus closed the door to the bathroom in satisfaction at finally getting a word in and commenced to getting cleaned up, casting a sobering charm on himself to make sure he would have a clear head later.

Out in the sitting area Harry said to Merope, "I knew he was smart, he would have had to have been in order to accomplish half the things the Marauders did, but I didn't expect him to pick that up so quickly."

Merope shrugged and said, "Well, we didn't exactly try to hide it. We could have glamoured your eyes or something, but too many people have already seen your eyes to have made that subterfuge worth it, and we did plan to tell him the truth eventually."

"Yes," Harry said, "that's true. Though I don't think I'm ready to reveal all the MoD stuff right away. Perhaps we just tell him about what's happened since we've come and tell him what we know to be true about Sirius. We'll leave our full story for another time, otherwise, we'll be up all night."

Merope hummed in a sort of agreement and then said, "You know, you should probably call room service for the afternoon tea that you told Remus you'd do while he was getting cleaned up."

"You're right," Harry said. Then he walked over to the phone and began studying the book next to it to review the menu and find the phone number he needed to call for room service.

Meanwhile, Merope took Little Harry over to the sitting area and conjured up some temporary toys, rather than pulling some out of the bag for now. The toys she had conjured were an animated stag, doe, grim, and wolf enchanted to interact with Little Harry and each other, which caused him to giggle and clap in delight, then he plopped himself down on the floor and began to play with them.

Then Harry and Merope sat down on the couch, behind where Little Harry was seated on the floor playing, and spoke quietly to themselves as they waited for Remus and the room service.

About ten minutes later, Remus was finished in the bathroom and had just sat down and gave Harry a pointed look, but before Harry could attempt to start talking, there was a knock at the door and Harry said, "Well, that's probably room service, let me go let them in." He quickly walked over to the door, welcomed the wait staff into the suite, directing them to where they could place the cart. When Merope asked where they should place it when they were finished, she was told to just call room service again, and that they would send someone to come pick everything back up. Then Harry walked them back to the exit, handing over a tip to each staff member present, thanking them for their service. They departed very happy with the tips they received.

Harry returned to the group and said, "Well, while it would be more comfortable to sit here and talk, it would be easier for Little Harry if we gathered around the dining table, so he can sit in a high chair." Merope and Remus were in agreement, but Little Harry didn't want to leave his new toys. Harry said, "Look, Harry, I'll freeze them so they can't run away from you and then you can come right back here to play after we have all finished eating. Okay?"

Little Harry looked back and forth, alternating between the food, the toys, and Harry, finally he said softly, "O-tay, Daddy." Causing Remus to blink in confusion, trying to process the fact that Little Harry was essentially calling himself "daddy".

After they all gathered around the table and the food had been served, Harry said, "I can't tell you everything right now." Looking pointedly at Little Harry and then back at Remus, hoping to silently convey the reason why.

Remus looked back and forth between the Harrys a moment and nodded. "Just tell me what you can tell me now," he said, "and then we'll worry about more details later on."

Satisfied that Remus understood, Harry said, "This is my wife, Mary." Remus nodded in acknowledgement. "We arrived in the middle of the night on Saturday, December 5th, in Little Whinging, Surrey, where Headmaster Dumbledore, in his infinite wisdom, placed Little Harry with Lily's magic-hating muggle sister and her magic-hating muggle husband and their young son, who was close to same age as Little Harry."

Remus interjected in shock, "That imbecile! He sent Harry to Petunia of all people? Sirius, the traitor that he turned out to be, would have been a better choice than her."

Harry cleared his throat and said, "Now, that's where you're wrong. Sirius was not the traitor."

Remus asked, "Truly? What actually happened then, why is he in Azkaban?"

"I promise to get to that eventually, Moony," Harry said, "but you're going to have to let me catch you up to speed on the here and now first. Then I'll tell you about Sirius and we'll make a plan for getting him freed." Remus huffed in impatience, but gestured for Harry to continue.

"When we arrived," Harry said, "Death Eaters were there and had already killed the muggles present, but they were unable to find Little Harry. I'm not sure why they couldn't find him, but the DEs were discussing just burning the house down with fiendfyre, presumably in an effort to make sure they got Little Harry from wherever he was hiding.

"Mary rescued Little Harry from the cupboard under the stairs - yes, Remus, that's where they kept him, and that would have been his room until he started Hogwarts, if the wards had not fallen and changed everything. Now please let me finish or we will be here all night." Remus made the gesture of locking his mouth with a key, and waved Harry to continue.

"Well, the DEs, as it turned out, were the ones that claimed to be under the imperius curse," Harry said with an eye roll. "I'm not going to tell you any more details on that for now, but needless to say, they won't be bothering anyone else ever again."

Merope spoke up and said, "I think perhaps we should leave the rest of the details for after Little Harry is busy playing or sleeping." She said looking pointedly at Little Harry's intense look of concentration, as he seemed to find the conversation more fascinating to listen to than eating his food was.

Properly chastised, Harry and Remus began talking about mundane things. Whether Remus would like to join them for the rest of their time at the hotel, any plans for afterwards would depend upon later discussions, etc.

Finally, everyone was finished and Harry called down to room service to let them know he would leave the cart outside the door for pickup. Then they all gathered into the sitting area and before Harry could unfreeze the animated toys, Little Harry climbed up into Remus' lap the moment he sat down, then he laid his head on Moony's chest and said, "Missed Moony."

Remus returned Little Harry's hug emotionally and said, "Oh, cub, I missed you, too. I tried to find you, but I couldn't. Dumbledore," saying the name with a growl, "wouldn't tell me where you were, told me I would be a danger, and I almost believed him." The last part was said in a hushed whisper and a couple of tears had escaped.

Little Harry sat up and looked at Remus, patting his little hand on his cheek in comfort and said, "Moony no da'grous. Just furry. Daddy and Mummy said."

Harry and Merope smiled softly at the interaction and Remus hiccup-laughed and said, "Thank you for reminding me, cub. I had almost forgotten how sweet and understanding you are." Giving Little Harry one final squeeze, he said, "Now, why don't you go play while I talk with your mummy and daddy about some stuff. I'll talk to you again before you go to sleep."

Little Harry climbed down and Merope led him, carrying his toys, over to the living area and turned on the TV so he could watch cartoons while he played with his toys. Finding an episode of Danger Mouse, Merope turned it up a little bit and then unfroze Little Harry's toys.

After returning to the sitting area, Merope erected a one-way privacy ward, so they could still listen for Little Harry, and then sat down next to Harry. Remus' first question was, "So, how did the whole 'daddy' thing come about?"

Harry scratched the back of his neck and said, "Well, the night we brought him home with us, Mary took him home first, and I stayed around a little longer to listen in on the aurors and Dumbledore. When I arrived home and he saw me for the first time, he called me daddy and held on to me and cried. It was after he calmed down when he realized I wasn't actually daddy. I told him my name was Harry, he told me that was his name. I offered for him to call me Uncle Harry, but his experience with Vernon Dursley put him off the thought of uncles for life, based on his reaction. When I offered for him to call me daddy, he wanted to, and accepted Mary as 'new mummy' and that was that."

Then Harry added, "I went to Gringotts and adopted him the next day, to get guardianship away from Dumbledore, then I misfiled the paperwork at the Ministry, so it will be a little while before anyone can figure out where Little Harry actually is. For reasons I'll explain later, there are a couple dozen people that were present in Diagon Alley that know that I have a son named Harry. They should have a hard time thinking he's the true Boy-Who-Lived because we healed his scar, and they'll just think he's my son because he shares my eye color and everything."

"Oh," Harry said, "I should probably explain that my identity here is Hadrian Evan Potter. Mary's real name is Merope Gaunt Potter, but after arriving here, we had it legally changed to Mary Grant Potter. We'll explain the reasons for that eventually, but suffice it to say, Dumbledore would have started poking his nose even more if he knew her real name, so that's why we've had it changed." Then Harry said, "Let's see, where should I start the story again?"

Merope said, "Why don't we tell him what we know about Sirius? And then you can tell the both of us what you overheard at Walburga's while you were out this morning, since you haven't had the chance to tell me about it yet, either."

"All right." Harry said, "Let me tell you the condensed version. Sirius was not the secret keeper, he was the decoy. The real secret keeper was Wormtail. Sirius tracked him down, but he blew up the street after loudly blaming Sirius for the death of James and Lily, killing 12 muggles. Wormtail escaped by cutting off his finger and transforming into his rat form and jumping into the sewer."

Then Merope jumped in, "Leaving everyone to blame Sirius for betraying the Potters, killing Peter in an act of revenge, and the killing of the 12 muggles. He was then thrown in Azkaban without a trial, and unless we make a plan, he will remain there due to oversight and bribes. Though, I believe the bribery may not be an issue, considering the DEs are no longer among us." Turning to Harry, Merope asked, "You don't suppose that Dumbledore had any part in keeping Sirius locked up without a trial, do you?"

Harry thought for a moment and said, "You know, I wouldn't put it past him, as he would do everything in his power to retain control over Little Harry, but what I really think has happened is that it was more convenient for him to leave Sirius there. With Sirius in Azkaban, he doesn't lose control of Little Harry, so rather than fight to get Sirius a trial, he chose to stay silent, but he's not actively keeping him from getting a trial, at least that's the feeling I have; however, I think the biggest opposition would have come from Malfoy, as it would make Draco the only living male with Black blood. He would have been hoping to prevent Sirius from producing an heir, leaving Draco to inherit the title and head of house status. I doubt he ever realized that Sirius made his godson his heir as soon as he was named as godfather."

Merope nodded thoughtfully. Remus remained silent, as he could think of nothing else to say at this particular moment. His head was twirling with thoughts, but he couldn't grab focus on any of them, there were so many floating around.

"Anyway," Harry said, "I know where Wormtail can be found, assuming it's the same as it was in my time. So far there have been very few differences that we've noticed. So until we've got a plan in place, it's better that Wormtail stay where he is until we're ready to take care of him."

Then Harry told Remus about the horcruxes, the fact that they had been destroyed, but not how. He wasn't ready to get into the whole ordeal of he and Merope being time-traveling immortals.

Remus was fuming when he realized Little Harry had been made into one of the abominations, but was thankful that Harry and his wife were able to remove it without causing Little Harry any discomfort.

Then Harry told him about what he had overheard while he was retrieving the locket from Grimmauld Place, how devastated Walburga sounded, and how he thought she would be willing to fight to get Sirius a trial. He felt that she was in the perfect position to go to the Ministry and demand a trial, one, because she was his mother, and two, she was a member of an ancient and noble house and the Ministry officials would have more incentive to try to appease her. Granted, they would have probably listened to Dumbledore, if he had chosen to push for it.

By the time they had briefly discussed a somewhat workable plan, it was already time for supper, so they decided to table the discussion for now and go out to a restaurant to eat. Little Harry was just excited for the new experiences and very happy to have Moony back.

When they arrived back at the suite, Little Harry was showing his exhaustion from all of the excitement that had happened to him today, so Merope gave him a soothing bath, and then had him to tell everyone goodnight, before taking him into hers and Harry's room, where she placed him in the middle of the bed and read him a story from The Tales of Beedle the Bard. He quickly fell asleep before she could even reach the middle of The Fountain of Fair Fortune. So she put the book away, kissed his forehead, set some monitoring wards, and returned to the sitting area, where Harry and Remus were laughing over the pranks that Harry had keyed to Dumbledore while he was at Hogwarts that morning. Merope couldn't very well complain about the pranks, since she was the very one who had suggested them.

They talked until late in the night, until Merope noticed the time and reminded the men how early toddlers had the tendency to wake up early. So they said goodnight and left for their rooms to make an attempt to get enough rest in order to take Little Harry to the zoo the next day, and to work on their plan for freeing Sirius and decide on when and how to approach Walburga Black.