Chapter One: Unexpected Visitors

Seven-year-old Harry Potter-Lupin ran through the massive woods surrounding his Daddy Remus' house, easily dodging around and out pacing the other children that were chasing after him as he made his way to the tallest tree in the whole wood. Living there all his life made these forests almost like his second home, so finding the massive oak in the middle of the woods was an easy enough feat and as soon as he made it to the base, Harry immediately started climbing to the highest branch that was sturdy enough and nested there, barely making it in time before the crowd following him crashed nosily through the underbrush beneath him minutes later.

"I win again," Harry called down idly, drawing the children's attention to the fact that he was now several hundred feet above them, and had done so in mere minutes time. Swaying rhythmically in the breeze, alight on the branch as gracefully as if he had been born amid the clouds and sky, Harry sat down and sighed as the events he was running from caught up with him. "That's three times in a row today..."

"No fair, Lupin, bad form!" The leader of the pack, a freckled faced redhead that was about his age, shouted up to him as the rest of his friends finally caught up, panting, wheezing and heaving, behind him. One kid even flipped Harry the bird as he caught up, "You had a head start, that's the only reason you beat us!"

A few of the others surrounding him called out various forms of agreement, some more violently then others; while the majority of them took a less direct approach, mainly in the form of passing out face first on the grass under their feet.

Harry wasn't listening to the indignant cries of his playmates, he was too busy trying to come to terms with all he had seen and had been told that morning,-was it really only that morning? It seemed so long ago.-to placate his many friends' easily bruised egos. To have all that information dumped on him at once... It had been a bit overwhelming to say the least, life altering at the most and Harry wasn't sure what he should be feeling at the moment, or if he should feel anything other than shock at all...

"Hey, Harry, what's wrong with you?" His friend's worried voice was almost carried away by the sudden breeze that sprung up as he continued to call up to Harry, "You alright up there, mate? Wait... You're not going to jump from there, are you?!?"

Sweeping his arm out in a lazy wave that assuaged the redhead's fears, Harry Potter-Lupin drifted off into the events that brought him up into the tree's highest reaches as he tried to sort out what he was feeling about the whole mess, the group beneath him also quieting as they innately picked up on his reflective mood...

He had been about to enter the living room after just walking up from his third dream in a row about grand adventures and exotic places, his excitement about the trip that his Dad had been planning for them for a couple of days now bleeding over to his dreams and making them even more magical than before, only to stop short at the sight that had greeted his shocked eyes:

Standing in the room directly in front of him, with their backs facing him, had been three older men that were dressed in what looked like long, flowing robes, like the ones he had read wizards wore in his Daddy's books. A moment's thought at how strange it was for these men to be wearing that kind of outfit in the middle of a summer heatwave crossed Harry's mind as he studied the strange men in his house.

The man that had been closest to him had been a bald, black man that was at least a foot taller than his Dad and he wore a deep purple robe that flowed behind him like a cape. He seemed to be unnecessarily edgy being in Harry's house and, when he suddenly spotted Harry hovering in the doorway, his mouth fell open in silent shock. After a moment or two, he closed it and turned his gaze back to the room at large, allowing Harry to let out a breath he didn't know he been holding and do the same.

The man in the middle of the room was easily the tallest person Harry would ever meet, he was so tall his head had almost touched the house's high domed ceiling! He had a friendly looking face that was completely covered in hair, except for two bright, beetle black eyes that surveyed the scene in front of him with a worried air. He didn't worry Harry as much as the other two and he was different from the other men in that he wore an enormous overcoat that seemed to be made of several animal furs and Harry could've sworn that he heard squeaking coming from one of the man's many pockets that covered his coat before Harry turned his attention to the last newcomer.

The last man had stood at the far side of the room, half eclipsed in shadow, clad in deep sapphire robes with navy eyes hidden behind half-moon spectacles that rested on a nose that looked like it had been broken at least once and his lips were pursed into a deep frown. He looked very, very old, with long, white hair and a bread that fell past what looked to be his knees, although it was kind of hard to tell under the robe...

All of this Harry had taken in almost instantaneously, but the sight that both shocked and scared him the most was that his Dad, who had never raised his hand to him in his entire life, had been pointing a narrow stick at the old man's face and looked like he was attacked only moments before; the arm that wasn't holding the stick was hanging limply at his side and Harry had seen a line of blood dripping from it onto the floor, instantly making him see red and the only thing that kept him from bursting out of his hiding spot was the tone his Daddy Remus used with the men.

Well, only one man in particular.

"Get the hell," Dad's shaky grip on the stick tightened as the old man took a step forward, hands upward but a definite note of annoyance on his face, "out of my house, Dumbledore, and stay the hell away from me and my son. I don't want, need, or ask you here, so get the fuck out!"

"Really, Remus, I had no idea Harry was your son. I was under the impression he belonged to James and Lily Potter," The old man eyes had narrowed into slits behind his glasses, Harry guessed that this was Dumbledore, as he kept walking toward Dad, even though he looked like he was ready to fly off the handle. Harry had never seen his father mad like this, even when he accidentally scratched up Dad's brand new car with his bike's handlebars when he was five. "Besides, I doubt that this is anyway to treat a guest in your home."

Dad let out a short, harsh laugh that had all the hairs on the back of Harry's neck raising and made him worry for the older man's health, "Guest? Guest means I invited you in, Dumbledore, or that I even wanted you here. You just bashed in here and started firing hexes at me until you realized I had a wand and could defend myself. If that's your definition of 'guest', remind me never to visit your home."

"Albus," the bald man intoned, his voice reminding Harry of the gravel sliding down the hills he had played on as he saw the man's gaze dart his way before returning his gaze to the two men minutes away from blows in front of him, "I think you should know that-"

"Not now, Kingsley," The man called Dumbledore interrupted sharply, barely sparing the bald man a glance, before returning his penetrating gaze to Dad Remus and immediately, unknowingly lowering himself in Harry's eyes. "Enough of this nonsense and side-stepping the question, Remus, just tell us where Harry is and this will all be much less painful."

These odd men wanted him? Why, what had he done? Harry tried to remember any past misdeeds he might have done before his attention was brought back to his father as he started to speak again.

Dad's voice held even more anger as he hissed at Dumbledore, sounding almost serpentine as he asked, "Why, Albus? So you can send him back to that horrid house and those walking wastes of oxygen and blood? Do you even know what kind of life he had living there?!?"

His 'wand' started to shoot sparks as he recounted one of the worst times in Harry's life. "It was so bad, the very first time I tried to hug him, to show him he was loved, he tensed up so much you could have used him for a tuning fork! Every time I yelled, shouted, or even cheered at something, he cringed like he thought he was at fault and I was going to hit him! Hell, when I saved him from that 'home' you stuck him in, the mother was about to threaten to beat Harry if he touched her son's toys! His damn toys, Albus!"

Daddy Remus had taken a deep breath and had stared at Dumbledore, who Harry was liking less and less, with the kind of look that always told Harry he was in big trouble. "You put him in that environment, Dumbledore, you let those people stomp upon a good, decent child, the only remainder of James and Lily we have, and I will not let you do so again!"

Kingsley and the other man were now looking at Dumbledore as if he was the one they should be questioning and the giant man even pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose with sound of a trumpet as he cried, "Poor Harry, thems sound like the worst sort of Muggles!"

Harry was slightly shocked that the giant knew his name, not to mention confused as to what a 'Muggle' was, as his father nodded at the man. "They were, Hagrid. I thank Merlin every single day that I got Harry out of there before any permanent damage was done to the poor boy!"

Long moments went by as Kingsley comforted the giant Hagrid, who was still crying into his handkerchief, as Dad and Dumbledore glare daggers at each other with the 'wand' Dad still had in Dumbledore's face. Looking at the two of them standing there like that, Harry was suddenly reminded of the story Daddy Remus told him when they visited the grave of Daddy James and Mommy Lily. He had wiped the tears off of his face and looked Harry in the eye before solemnly stating:

They died saving you from one of the evilest men the world knew, may ever know. They sacrificed their futures to make sure you had a life without fear or war. They loved you, Harry, with all their hearts and soul. You were their greatest gift and they would do it all over again if it gave you a chance at a future. Never forget them, Harry, never forget them...

Dumbledore was going to leave me with people that hated me and wanted to hurt me... Harry vaguely remembered a violet faced man and a tall, horsey faced woman that always seemed to be holding a blob of some sort, that apparently was her son. That must be the 'Muggles' Dad saved him from. Does that make him almost as bad as the man my Mom and Dad James fought?

Finally, after several moments where Daddy Remus seemed seconds away from blasting Dumbledore's face in, Dumbledore broke the staring contest with Harry's father as the giant Hagrid regains control of his tears. "I will only ask this of you politely one more time, Remus, then I will no longer act as a friend in your home; where is Harry?"

"I'm right here, old man," Harry's statement caused all three adults to whip around and stare at him in surprise as he walked through the doorway and for his Daddy Remus to stare at him with a mixture of pride, fear and exasperation. Harry gave him an apologetic smile as he planted himself defiantly beside his father, unable to understandably explain that, after losing one Dad, he doesn't want to lose another.

Fixing the intruders with a suspicious glare, he noticed that Kingsley and Hagrid are looking at him in quiet amazement and Dumbledore is flat out infuriated. Focusing most of his seven-year-old glare on the older man, his next words caused all three of them to lose control of their jaws in amazement.

"What are you doing to my Dad?!?"

"Hey, Harry!" A sudden, shriller voice cut through his thoughtful musings and almost had him falling out of the tree, his quick reflexes the only thing saving him from falling to the forest floor, "You've been awful quiet; did you fall asleep up there?"

Looking down from his perch, Harry saw that the sky had darkened considerably and that most of the kids he had been playing with had left, probably to dinner. The only ones left were the redheaded boy that had called out to him earlier, another redhead, a girl, that had called out to him this time, and a blonde that was picking daisies at the base of his tree, completely unconcerned with what was going on around her.

Struck by a sudden thought that came to him as abruptly as his need to climb the tree he was now sitting in and was quickly considering making it his new home, Harry called down to the trio below him, 'Hey! What do you guys know about wizards?"

The redheads shared a look that went by too quick for Harry to understand before the brother looked back up at Harry and asked, "What d'you mean 'what do we know about wizards'? Are you alright, mate? Did you hit your head climbing up there?"

Harry was dying to talk to someone, anyone, about everything that he had been told that morning before being asked to go outside 'so that the grown-ups could have a moment and talk'. He had been reluctant to do so at first, not wanting to leave his Daddy Remus alone with Dumbledore, but had complied when the older men swore that they weren't going to 'steal' his father away.

Dumbledore had always scrunched his face up whenever Harry had called his Daddy Remus 'father' or 'daddy' and Harry decided that he would use the phrase more often while he was around. His Daddy Remus didn't seem to mind that every other word his cub spoke was 'dad', 'pa' or 'father'. As a matter of fact, he seemed to pick up on what his cub was doing and gave him a huge grin of encouragement.

"I mean what I said; what do you guys know about wizards?" Harry reiterated, coming back to the here and now, praying that one of his friends would know what he was talking about as he started his decent ot of the tree, but unable to tell them due to a Statue of Secrecy. "Do you think there might be... real ones out there?"

This time the redheads shared a look Harry knew all too well, a look he had seen multiple times when his dad would let him sleepover with their bumbling, slightly klutzy, but really nice neighbor every few weeks; they were considering how much to tell him, or whether they should tell him anything at all. Harry was on the verge of telling them to forget it, that he had his answer, when the blonde spoke up, her soft voice surprisingly carrying almost all the way up the tree as Harry continued to climb down.

"My father always told me stories about wizards and witches; when and how they're called, where they were trained and where they practice, some of the jobs they have, and even some of the magical creatures they have. Do you want to hear them? He's thinking about turning them in a series of books for children. They're very good..."

Harry hesitated on one of the lower branches; he had heard her father talk before and had even visited their house on one of the days that his Daddy Remus 'wasn't feeling well' and their klutzy neighbor had been too busy with work to watch him. He wasn't sure if he should believe the man who thought the wire hanger segment his daughter found in the woods was the skeleton of a rare type of wolverine...

The girl didn't seem to be picking up on his skepticism, even though the other two could see it on his face from where they stood as he finally dropped to the forest floor, nor did she wait for an answer before starting headlong into her explanation:

"He told me it all starts when you're really little and you don't have full control over the powerful magic inside you. You start turning things into birds or bats and start seeing unicorns in the forest..."

She had Harry's complete attention right after that sentence and he could only stand there and listen in shocked joy, and Ron and Ginny Weasley in absolute horror, as Luna Lovegood told him, in almost complete tandem with Dumbledore, what he had learned that morning.

A/N: Well, here is chapter two and for those of you who want the challenge details, go to PadyandMoony's profile and they're listed right there.

Up next:

We see how Severus is coping...

A Malfoy learns of Harry's 'kidnapping'...