Disclaimer – see chapter 1
Father and Son - Chapter 3
Remus and Harry slept for a solid 24 hours, with Poppy and various other order members checking on them, waking Remus or Harry occasionally so they could swallow some potion or another before dozing off again.
When Harry finally awoke, feeling refreshed he saw Remus sitting up in his own bed rubbing his eyes tiredly. Looking up he saw Harry staring at him.
"Hi. Feeling better now?"
"Much. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, it's a bit like recovering after a full moon that's all." Remus said with a smile.
"This is weird isn't it?" Harry said thinking back to his reflection.
"Yes it is. Just think though. You are going to get a bit of a break now, people won't recognise you!"
Harry smiled, it would be nice not to be a famous face anymore.
"What do we do now? You and me?"
"What do you want to do?" Remus countered. "I gave you my opinion yesterday, I would love to get to know you and to look after you. I know it will be very strange - for both of us - but I think we might just be what the other needs."
"I have grown up without a family - the Dursleys have never been a family - they are just the people that I happened to live with. I don't know how to act or what I'm supposed to think or feel - I mean am I suddenly supposed to start calling you 'Dad'? It all feels so strange." Harry said in frustration.
"I believe I can help you both there." Came a voice from the doorway. Dumbledore and Molly entered. Molly went straight to Harry and felt his forehead.
"No fever." She commented in a satisfied sort of way.
"What do you mean Albus?" Remus asked.
"I have a plan that will not only give Harry another layer of protection from the dark lord, but also that will separate him forever from the Dursley's care."
"Go on." Remus prompted. Harry began feeling very nervous. He didn't like the idea of people planning his life, although it seemed to be a worrying habit of the aged headmaster.
"Very few people know Harry is in this house. Even members of the order. They have all been told, however, of the magical infection from which Harry suffered. They all believe, as I did, that Harry has no relatives that would have been able to save him. They believe him dead."
"What?!" Harry exclaimed
"The announcement was made to the media was made this morning." Albus continued
"Harry will attend Hogwarts next year as your son Remus, and you will be returning as the Defence against the Dark arts teacher."
"Won't people be suspicious that Harry Potter dies and Lupin Juniour of Harry's exact same age comes to the school?" Remus remarked sceptically."
"No." It is frowned upon in the wizarding community for werewolves to have children of their own, and the child is removed from the werewolf's care until they are of age. Harry will be of age in the next school year, if we bump his birthday forward a few months so there is nothing anyone can do about it."
"So what, I've been hiding Harry away so that the ministry can't take him away from me?"
"Precisely. Harry will tell everyone that he was educated at home. I have convinced several people not often associated with me to claim, if asked that they took a part in Harry's education. Madame Hawthorne, a witch from Devon has agreed to claim that Harry lived with her for the academic year when you taught at Hogwarts. She lives in near isolation, nobody would know whether she had a guest or not. Ron and Hermione have agreed to tell everyone that they met Harry sometimes in the summer, but were sworn to secrecy about him."
"Do you really think this will work?" Harry said dubiously.
"I don't know." Albus said "but I believe that for a while at least it will keep Voldemort away."
"He can get into my mind! He'll know!"
"He has a point Albus" Remus commented
"Harry, I am really sorry to tell you this, but while you were asleep Poppy did a test and you have received lycanthropy from Remus."
"No." Remus said abruptly "Harry I am so sorry!"
Harry's mouth fell open. He was a werewolf now...
"But the positive side is that If Voldemort tries to use legilimency to locate you he wont be able to sense you. Your mind has changed. you now share it with the demon that is the wolf. The wolf wants dominance over your mind so it can take over on a full moon. It will do the job that occlumency was supposed to perform. It will block - for a time anyway - the link between you and Voldemort."
"For a time?" Harry asked
"The link is incredibly strong Harry. But this buys you at least a couple of months to learn occlumency. I will educate you myself. Ron and Hermione are going to help cover your true identity. Hermione will cry frequently and Ron has agreed to show a more 'manly' sort of grieving. They will be a friend of yours a little at first and then get closer through the year. I suggest you find friendships with people you were not previously close to so that they will not notice similarities so much."
"What about the scar?" Harry asked.
"We will conceal it with a skin coloured potion Professor Snape designed. We will apply it to your skin twice a year. Unless someone touches your head and feels your scar they wont know it's there. For the rest of today just keep it covered with your hair"
"You thought of everything."
"I tried. Your new possessions are in trunks ready for you to 'arrive' with. All you need to do is select a name and off you go."
Harry turned to Remus. He felt as though time was on fast forward and he as having enormous difficulties catching up to everyone else. "What should I call myself?"
"Its up to you. I always thought that if I had a son I would have called him Alexander if that helps at all." Remus said pensively
"Alex. I think I can live with that."
Albus smiled in a very self satisfied way. Molly smiled contentedly at Remus and Harry and left the room. "Ready to face your public?" Albus asked.
Remus and Harry nodded. Take this portkey to outside of the house when your dressed then knock on the front door.
With Remus and Harry alone they suddenly felt extremely awkward. "I don't like this." Harry muttered. "Why can't I be normal?"
"You'll be fine. Life is always complicated."
Harry pulled on a new set of clothes that had been spelled to look as though they had been worn several times. "Does it hurt?"
"The full moon?"
"Yeah. It does. Its fast though, and with wolfs bane it is not too bad. I think that us being together, like a pack, will make it easier as well.
The two then touched a portkey and reappeared on the street outside. Remus knocked on the door.
McGonagall opened the door. "Hello Remus and.."
"This is my - son, Alexander"
"Pleased to meet you." Minerva said, then she winked in a way that suggested she knew exactly who Harry was.
They shook hands and were lead into the kitchen. Molly, Arthur, the Weasley children and Moody were all introduced to Harry.
Hermione looked as though she had been crying, as did Ginny. Harry wondered if Ginny knew the truth. She seemed a lot more upset than Hermione. Ron was making a show of staring into space, fiddling with the tablecloth.
Harry sat down at the table. Ginny was not looking at him. Hermione flashed him a nervous tearful sort of smile.
Remus sat next to Harry and handed him the daily Prophet to read.
"HARRY POTTER, DEAD!" Was the blazing headline. Harry felt himself start to shake slightly and put the paper back down, there was an obituary that had obviously been sent him by the DA.
The feeling he had in the bedroom when Albus was telling him the plan intensified. His entire life was now different thanks to one infection. He'd only just found out that Remus was his father and now he was supposed to now only accept it in the space of about 5 minutes, but to immediately take on the act that they were close and had known it for years?!
And then there was the fact that he was now a warewolf, what most people considered a dangerous monster. Harry swallowed down a tide of panic and took a cup of tea that Molly had made him. Harry stared into the cup blankly. He felt a warm hand on his and looked up to meet the eyes of Remus Lupin.
Remus smiled in a reassuring way and gave Harry's hand a squeeze.
"Molly?" Remus asked the 'grieving' woman "I'm going to take Alex upstairs now, we need to unpack."
"It's the rooms on the second floor, Sirius' old room and the one next door on the left." Molly said "I put some towels up there for you." Then she gave a great sniff and embraced her daughter
Once they were upstairs Harry and Remus sat down on the bed Harry had been in for the last day or so.
"Harry - Alex, are you alright with this? I don't mean the plan, I mean us.... I have to admit that it came as a shock to me, as you saw... But what I'm really worried about is you."
"It's weird. I used to dream of this to have someone who was related to me that would 'rescue' me. Now I'm older it feels different. But I've always liked you and you've never been unkind or anything, I'm happy to give it a try. I realise that I don't really know you that well, but I'd like to."
Remus pulled Harry into a hug "It'll be alright, eventually. You're not alone anymore and that's what matters."