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The Ruins of House Potter

Chapter 4 – An old Wolf

By Jamnaz79

Notice: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not claim to own it or wish to make any money off of it. I am merely using the characters to write some hopefully enjoyable stories. All rights belong to the sacred lady, may she grace us with future stories someday.

"He is a strong willed boy. That school of his taught him to take care of himself. I am sure we will come back to a house in perfect order." Vernon replied calmly knowing he had won the argument now. He smiled towards her and innocently offered, "What about that new doctor that moved in? Didn't he offer to help with the boy?"

"Yes, but I get a feeling that there is something strange about him." Petunia calmly stated to herself as she tapped her chin lightly in thought. She took a deep breath as she considered. The new doctor did seem to be an upstanding man, he was polite and friendly and helped Sally Anderson's boy down the street when he fell off of a swing. It would only be a week that they would be gone and the man would just have to check up on Harry. Finally she reasoned enough to give in with a sigh, "Very well Vernon. I will bring the boy over to meet him later today."

~~~ RoHP ~~~

The Dursleys were so busy with packing that they forgot to take Harry over to meet the neighbor that would be watching them. They were out of the house bright and early around nine in the morning. Harry, of course, had already been up for three hours. He had awoken and done his morning exercises including a three mile jog. Next he cooked a good hearty English breakfast for his family. His family came down and joined him for the morning meal. They ate quickly and were out of the house thirty minutes later. The last words he heard from them were be good and there is a fridge full of food if he needed.

He met his guardian for the week while working in the yard. Aunt Petunia loved her rose bushes. It was not a surprise when he found on the list to prune and care for the flower beds and rose bush. Harry was busy at work at doing just that when he felt a presence coming closer. He never knew how he did it but he could always feel others in his general area. Somehow he could even notice people behind walls. If Harry concentrated on the person sometimes he could even feel hints of emotions coming off of the person.

So the young man was not surprised when he felt the presence of the man coming up behind him. He turned around slowly rising to stand up before the man got within ten feet of him. The man stood just less than six foot in height. He had light brown hair that was turning towards grey and a mustache to match. A pair of dark blue eyes centered a small nose. He wore a suit that looked to be out of style but pressed and cleaned properly. What took Harry's attention though was the surprise written on the man's face. The man spoke quietly but just loud enough for Harry to hear," James?"

Harry blinked in surprise too at the words of the man. His mouth opened and closed twice. This man knew his father's name! Could he be one of those terrorists that murdered his family? The Dursleys had told him that his mother and father worked for the government and were killed by IRA terrorists in a strike. There didn't appear to be any hostility in the man, still Harry took a step backwards from the man unconsciously sliding his feet to shoulder length apart his hands rising to be ready for an attack. His voice was cold as he spoke up at the man, "Who are you?"

The man blinked at the reaction of the boy. From his view the youth looked ready for a fight. Instantly he raised his hands upwards to his sides to show them to be empty, "Peace Harry. You just look so like your father it surprised me. I am Doctor Lupin, your relatives may have mentioned me? I live down the street at number 9 and will be looking in after you from time to time."

"You knew my father?" The words came out of his mouth barely above a whisper at the surprise. His emeralds narrowed on the man studying him closely.

"Yes, I went to boarding school with him in Scotland. I was there when you were born. You may not remember me but you used to call me Mooney." The man broken into a smile for the youth, for a moment his eyes took on a distant cast. It was as if when he was looking at Harry he was seeing the boy from his childhood instead of the son. "Those were the best years of my life. So when I finally found out where you were living with your relatives, I figured I might be able to move my practice to Surrey. I could perhaps help in teaching you a thing or two about them. Have your Aunt and Uncle talked of them much?"

"Only that they were killed by terrorists from the IRA. Mom went away to school and she met my father. They both worked for the government and were killed by the terrorists." Harry answered more calmly even as his eyes carefully watched the other man waiting for any possible strike.

"Yes, that is true in a way. They were some of the bravest people I have ever known. Your father was a bit of a troublemaker. He used to get into terrible mischief. We spent years pulling pranks and worse while at school. Your mother on the other hand was a brilliant woman, perhaps the smartest person I have ever met." Remus spoke calmly and clearly even as he looked at Harry it was obvious that he was not seeing the boy. The older man fell silent for a few minutes then shook his head once, his shaggy light brown-grey hair ruffled against his shoulders.

"You really knew them? But, why now?" Harry frowned as he looked at the man, "Why are you living here now?"

"I will not lie to you Harry. For a long time I went through tough times Harry. After your parents and some of my friends died from the attacks I went through a very hard number of years. I got out of it though when I decided to go to school again. I finished up my doctorate and I became licensed. I debated where to open a practice and decided to do it here. Because, I wanted the chance to be near their son. If things had been different I would have been considered an Uncle to you. I know these words won't make up for my disappearing. But, perhaps I can over time repay my failure and teach you a bit about them." The older man looked upon the boy with a sad smile.

Harry stayed silent for long moments just watching the other man. Finally he relaxed his shoulders and stance and smiled at the man, "I will give you a chance. You decided despite everything to come back now at least and find me. You must care for my parents if you were willing to move to Surrey just to be around their son."

"More than words can ever tell cub. More than words…."The older man stated wistfully as a smile spread over his lips.

~~~ RoHP ~~~

Over the next few months of summer Harry spent time over with Remus often. He learned a number of stories about his father and growing up. He also learned a bit about his mother and her life at school. Remus unfortunately didn't have any pictures of his parents supposedly they were destroyed in a fire of his old home. Still, it was a link to his parents. As much as he appreciated his relatives care for him, this was a chance to know his real parents. Harry was excited! But, school came back around and the young man returned to the Academy where he posted top marks in his class.

It would be two years later at age eleven when the next major event would come to change Harry's life. Once again the family was off to visit Aunt Marge. Harry was to be left home under the watch of Doctor Lupin. It was to be two weeks away for the family on a small yacht. It seemed that the new partial owners of Grunning's liked the work of Vernon and sponsored a private yacht for them for a few weeks in the Caribbean. Normally they would have brought Harry too but they had to leave before the young man was due back from schooling. Harry's class schedule went an extra couple of weeks past those of Dudley's own school. So instead the family took Aunt Marge with them on the trip.

After two weeks away and no word Harry started to feel a nagging worry but it was possible they decided to stay a longer time. Three weeks went by and the boy started to worry, he had Doctor Lupin start to look into the matter and contact the local police about their disappearance. Word did not come to Harry till six weeks later that the search had found the remains of the yacht off of the island of Grand Turk. It seemed that in the middle of the night the small ship had been out in the same waters that the large cruise ships used. According to the report the ship had the lights turned off because they had managed to run out of gas. A large Carnival cruise ship named the Freedom never saw the small vessel. The little yacht had little chance and by the time the Dursley family had woken up they had little chance to survive the oncoming cruise vessel that was close to the size of an air craft carrier. To put it simple, he was the last individual alive with Evans blood in him.

The few weeks after that were spent in a blur. Grunning's had a large funeral. Harry actually inherited the house and everything else from the Dursley since he was the last male relative. Aunt Marge left everything to her bulldogs of course. Harry had taken to getting used to Doctor Lupin watching over him. The boy had been living at Remus house since the accident was official. It would not be viewed as proper for a child of eleven to be live on his own. The authorities at first wanted to take him away to an orphanage but somehow Remus had been able to stop that from happening. The pair would often have talks over tea in the evening of that summer.

It was during one of these visits that a topic that was unexpected was broached.

"Harry, you are too young to live alone per the state. I wanted to know how you would feel if I adopted you?" Remus offered gently towards the boy.

The young boy frowned as he looked over his cup of tea. Part of Harry would truthfully welcome the man who he had become friends with over the years to watch over him. But, anther portion was worried. I seemed that everyone that Harry got close to disappeared. They would eventually have something tragic happen to them and he would be alone again. Still this man was showing him loyalty, trust, and caring taking him into his home to watch over and look after. How could he in good conscious turn this down? "Are you sure you want to do that Doctor Lupin?"

"Yes Harry. I am sure that I would want you to live with me. I would not want to see you taken away. I know I am not your family but cub, I do care about you. I think you are becoming a young man that your parents would be proud of…." Remus paused for a long moment and let out a sigh. He leaned back into his chair for a long time staring at his own cup of tea. He broke his silence as his pale blue eyes looked upwards at Harry meeting him in the eye, "There is more though Harry. You need to learn about your true legacy. I had promised I would not tell you till your letter came but I can't do that if you live with me. I need you tell you the truth. I need to tell you the whole truth."

The boy blinked in surprise staring at the man for long moments. Confusion was plainly written on the face of the youth as he watched his possible future guardian, "My legacy? What truth?"

"You are a wizard Harry…."

Author Note: Another chapter put together off of the top of my head. I hope folks are enjoying this a bit. Please give me any suggestions or advice. In this world I am planning to have Hogwarts start at 13. Anyone know of a place to find a good list of Hogwarts students? I would love to find a few Hufflepuff students from the books that might be in Harry's year (2 years older than standard HJP)