Remus barreled into the interrogation room like a bull on rollerblades; that is to say, he crashed spectacularly. Whatever Nyarl had done to him, his mind was now woefully out of sync with his body and kept sending his limbs flying every which way. Even an attempt at slow step made him use way too much force, turning him into one hell of a clutz. At the moment, he'd lost all of his wolf-like grace.

"Moony?" Sirius asked from the seat he that he was chained to.

Remus regained his balance. The interrogation room contained one guard, Sirius, his lawyer, a table, two occupied chairs, and one free one. The ex-wolf planted himself in the available seat. "Padfoot."

"Seriously, Moony, I've been gone for, what, two and a half weeks, and you end up looking like this? Have you been binging muscle-growth potions or something? And what's with the clumsiness?"

Remus chuckled. "Yeah... things have been a little crazy at the moment. This isn't even the half of it. You look like shit, though." Remus eyed his friend, who was unshaven, dirty, and worryingly skinny.

"Yeah, well I'd look less like shit if I had some chocolate, but some people—" he eyed the guard with a petulant sneer, "—won't let me have any." Sirius turned back towards Remus. "I know you have some chocolate on you."

Remus did, in fact, have chocolate in his robe pockets. He made no move to retrieve it. "Sirius, look me in the eye and tell me if you're innocent or not, Marauder's honor."

Sirius gulped and looked away. He eventually managed to look Remus in the eye. "I tried to kill Peter for betraying Lily and James, but no, I swear that I have never killed anyone. Ever. Peter was the one to betray us — we switched secret keepers on my suggestion — and Peter blew up the street before he escaped as Wormtail. He framed me. Remus, you have to believe me!"

"I do."

"I'm innocent! I promise you, I'm... Wait, you do? Oh, thank Merlin," Sirius slumped in his chair, relief plastered on his face.

"Actually, I found proof that you are innocent of betraying the Potters — their will." Remus placed his copy of the document on the table. He explained the sealing of the will, the missing paperwork from the DMLE, and Amelia's implications of a conspiracy to get Sirius locked up, possibly without even a trial. With the layer's guidance, the three of them planned out Sirius's defense. Sirius had to eventually be escorted back to his holding cell, so they parted ways as friends again. Remus immediately left the Ministry, and as he had been doing the past few days, made himself scarce.

November twenty-ninth came upon them, leading Moony to once more journey to the Ministry. He was unceremoniously left to wait in a small room adjoining the courtroom, where he could neither see nor hear the details of the trial. He was eventually called in to testify.

While taking the seat at the center of the courtroom, Minister Millicent Bagnold, temporary Chief Warlock, announced his name to the Wizengamot. Asking the following, the Minister asked her opening questions. "How do you know the accused, Sirius Black?"

"We met in Hogwarts in the dorm we shared during our first night at the castle. He, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and I became best friends."

"Describe your involvement in the events leading up to and following the night of October thirty-first, 1981. Please be concise in your recounting."

Remus told them how Lily and James went into hiding and how they suspected that he was a spy for You-Know-Who. He told them how he knew nothing of the events of that night until he had learned about it in the paper. He told them how on the evening before the full moon, he'd had a visitor. "We talked; he was offering me a job at the time, having sought me out specifically. As it was close to the time of my transformation, I begged him to leave. Before he left, he said something that, while not directly relevant to the current situation, inspired me to seek out the last will and testament of James and Lily Potter."

Sirius's lawyer brought an official copy of the will forward and read the relevant parts to the Wizengamot. Remus watched the faces of the Wizengamot's members soften and take a more sympathetic appearance.

"Now," the minister stated, "just a few more questions, to verify the accuracy of Mr. Black's testimony. Was Peter Pettigrew an unregistered animagus, and if so, what was his form?"

"He was an unregistered animagus, yes, and his form was that of a light brown, common garden rat," Remus replied.

"Would it be possible, in your opinion, for Peter Pettigrew to fake his own death? To clarify, I mean does it seem like something he is mentally able and willing to do?"

Remus was hesitant at first but eventually replied, "Yes. Looking back on it, Peter always seemed to be a cowardly individual. The only reason I hadn't considered it before was that Peter seemed loyal to us. So yes, I think he would be mentally able and willing to do just about anything to ensure his own survival, including faking his own death."

"No further questions," the minister said. "Now, if there are no further witnesses and no more issues to address..." She paused, waiting for an interjection. None came. "Then I motion for a vote."

Each charge was brought up and voted upon. "On the charge of betraying the Potter family, we find you not guilty. On the charge of being an accomplice to the murders of James and Lily Potter, and the attempted murder of Harry Potter, we find you not guilty. On the twelve charges of murdering muggles, we find you not guilty. On the charge of murdering Peter Pettigrew, we find you guilty not of murder, but of attempted murder.

"However, given the extreme circumstances of the situation, for the crime of attempted murder, I sentence you to the minimum punishment of two months in Azkaban's low-security wing, with the possibility of parole in one month for good behavior. So mote it be."

From where he was sitting, Remus could hear Sirius muttering, "That's not... I don't want to go back."

Remus made his way over to his friend. "Padfoot. Behave, 'cause I want to see you in a month. I'll be searching for Wormtail and I know you'll want to be out before I find him so you can find him yourself."

"Hah! Alright, Moony. Just this once, I solemnly swear that I am up to no trouble." He grinned in that distinctly cheeky way that only Sirius could manage. "Oh, Remus, Harry is with Petunia, Lily's sister. Could you go check up on him for me? Let him know that his Pa'foo will be coming to check up on him soon?"

"Sure. But why is he with Petunia? He should have been taken straight to you."

Sirius shrugged. "Hagrid was one of the first ones there that night. He gave Harry to Dumbledore, who put him with Petunia."

"Dumbledore was also the one who sealed their will, which would have given you guardianship of Harry." Remus frowned. "Hmm... Well, perhaps it was for the best. I'll still go check on Prongslet."

"Thanks, Moony. I'll see you in a month."

With Sirius having had his trial, it was like a weight had been lifted from Remus's chest. He relaxed, knowing that his friend wasn't a traitor and knowing that they'd see each other soon enough.

Knowing that Harry was with Petunia, however, put some of that weight back onto his chest. They'd met once at Lily and James's wedding. Petunia struck him as the kind of woman who was easily consumed by envy but was otherwise a pleasant woman. He had not met Petunia's husband, and couldn't remember his first name.

It took him a bit to track her down, but Remus eventually found himself in front of an ordinary house on an ordinary street in Surry. There was no character to the house, nothing that made it stand out like a wizard's house did, so Remus found himself repeatedly comparing the number on the building to the address written on a small scrap of parchment.

Satisfied that he was in the right place, Remus knocked on the front door. A minute later, the door opened to reveal a slightly overweight, brown haired man. An air of tiredness hung around him. "Yes?"

"You wouldn't happen to be Mr. Dursley, would you? Your wife is Petunia, right? May I speak with her?"

"Yes, I am and she is," Mr. Dursley said. "Might I ask who you are?"

"Remus Lupin. I'm a close friend of your sister-in-law, Lily."

The man across from Remus turned and yelled into the house. "Pet, there's a young man at the door claiming to be one of your sister's friends!" he yelled.

Hurried footsteps came from deeper in the house. "I'm coming, Vernon." The speaker stepped into the foyer and spotted the ex-werewolf. "Remus? Come in. Get off the porch before the neighbors see you and start gossiping."

Remus stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "Petunia, I just heard that Lily's son was placed here with you. I wanted to check up on him."

"If by placed here, you meant dropped on the front porch in a basket in the middle of the night, without even ringing the doorbell to let us know that he was here, then yes, he was placed here. More like abandoned," Petunia said.

"Are you kidding me?! Dumbledore did that?! That cannot be legal," Remus growled. "He should have been placed with Sirius immediately. Sirius is his godfather, and you already have a child. I'm positive that he should have been the one caring for Harry, not you."

"Thank you!" Petunia exclaimed. "I knew that there was something odd about that. I knew it! Let's go see him so I can put Harry where he belongs, with your kind."

"His kind?" Vernon asked.

Petunia and Remus looked at him, then Remus looked at Petunia. "He doesn't know yet, does he?"

"I had no reason to tell him," Petunia said. "It never came up."

"I am right here. Do you mind not talking about me like I'm not here?" Vernon asked.

"Sorry, Mr. Dursley. I won't tell what isn't mine to say. But Petunia, Sirius was just imprisoned. He's got two months, or a month with parole before he could possibly take custody from you. Worse case, he might not be able to."

Petunia frowned. "Let's hope it's sooner than later."

"Agreed. Though, in the meantime, if you ever need help, I'm available. Babysitting or whatever else comes up... anything at all. I'll give you my phone number." Yes, Remus had a phone. Sometimes he worked at a muggle location and occasionally he made muggle friends; they obviously couldn't fire call him.

Petunia smiled, but it was a weary smile, that of someone who was in the midst of having the life drained out of them. The smile was reflected on her husband's face. "Brilliant. I think Vernon and I will take you up on that offer, won't we?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Petunia and I haven't had a night to ourselves in a long time." His voice carried a note of fatigue.

"Oh, you probably came to see Harry, didn't you?" Petunia slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Come, come. He and Dudley are playing in the sitting room." Petunia led Remus towards the back of the house, while Vernon followed behind.

In the sitting room, the two boys were entertaining themselves with a pile of blocks and a toy airplane. They were sitting apart from each other, and Dudley had his back towards Harry. Remus noted that the young boys' faces were very similar, with only the color of Harry's eyes and hair distinguishing him from Dudley. Marring Harry's forehead, however, was a lightning bolt-shaped cut that was still scabbed over. "How did Harry hurt his head?"

"It was like that when he was dropped on our doorstep," Petunia said. "It was still bleeding a little, so I cleaned it up as best I could. It's been over a month, but it still hasn't healed."

"Mind if I take a look at it? I'm no healer, but I have patched up a few nicks and cuts."

"Be my guest," Petunia said.

Remus went over and picked up Harry. "Hey there, Prongslet! How are you?"

"UNCLE MOONY!" the little toddler screamed joyfully. "Uncle Moony! Uncle Moony! Where mummy?"

"Ah..." Remus faltered. How did you explain to a toddler that their parent was dead? He sat down on the couch and plopped Harry in his lap. "Your mummy is somewhere else. Mummy loves you, you know." Remus poked Harry in the belly, causing the toddler to giggle.

"Uncle Moony? Where Pa'foo?"

"Padfoot is... in a big castle, fighting scary monsters so that they don't come after you. He'll be here soon, and then you can play with him all you like. Alright?"

"Mmmhmmm." The young wizard grinned.

"Now, let me take a look at you. How's your head?" He brushed aside the thin strands of hair that covered the boy's forehead. The moment his finger brushed against the cut, he jerked his hand back in pain. "Bloody hell, what was that!?"

"Remus?" asked Petunia wearily.

"Petunia, dear, could I have a moment alone with Harry? And you know that thing you haven't told Vernon yet? I think it's time you tell him." Remus looked back at Harry and drew his wand. "Merlin save us..."

Petunia's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "Vernon, we really need to talk. Let me just grab Dudley first." She scooped up her own little boy, a nervous Vernon following behind her.

As for Remus, he tapped his wand to Harry's head. "What are you?" he muttered to the scar. A little of his magic flowed from his wand and into the wound, letting him feel out whatever was in there. It was the most basic of diagnostic spells, but it would allow him to feel out the issue for himself.

Suddenly, a pulse of black magic erupted from Harry's head, invisible and almost undetectable. Had Remus not been looking for it explicitly, Remus would have likely missed it. But he felt it, and it felt awful, absolutely disgusting. He could almost hear that foul power whispering in the back of his mind. For a second, the power felt like Harry's own magic; if Remus hadn't immediately realized that there was no possible way a child could have produced malice on that level, let alone a toddler, he might have thought it had been Harry himself that had put out that disgusting feeling.

And then it occurred to Remus that whatever this thing was on Harry's head, the Dursleys had been living with it for over a month now. Muggles had absolutely no metal defenses; they couldn't even frown away a cheering charm, let alone whatever the hell this was. They needed to go to St. Mungo's, and they needed to go there now.

Grabbing Harry tightly, Remus stood and carried the boy in the directions the sound of conversation was coming from. He entered the room, where Petunia was explaining things to Vernon. "We need to go to St. Mungo's Hospital. The wound on Harry's head is cursed."

Petunia stilled. "Oh... oh dear. Yes, well I suppose I have to come with you then."

Remus shook his head. "No, I mean 'we' as in all of us, need to go to St. Mungo's. The curse just tried to attack my mind, as I'm sure it's tried to attack you lot. And without the same mental protections Harry and I naturally have, the three of you could be very ill without even noticing it."

"Vernon, get the car keys."

"I don't want to wait in a car; I know a quicker way," Remus said. He yanked his shoe off his foot, pulled out his wand, and tapped it while saying "Portus." Then he held out the portkey. "Petunia, Vernon, grab this and grab Dudley. It's a portkey; it will teleport us to the hospital."

Vernon was confused but complied eventually. When the three adults and two toddlers were touching Remus's shoe, he warned, "When you feel like you're about to fall, kick your legs out repeatedly. Ready? Mischief Managed."

The magical hooks grabbed them by their navels and hurled them through the aether. After around fifteen seconds of spinning (and screaming by everyone except Remus), the hooks loosened. Petunia and Dudley were ungracefully dumped on the floor of St. Mungo's, while Vernon and Remus managed to float down.

"That was brilliant!" Vernon exclaimed. "Really quite fun."

"You are the only man I have ever met that thinks so," Remus said, hugging the crying toddler in his arms to calm him down. Meanwhile, Vernon helped Petunia and Dudley (who, like his father, was smiling) back on their feet.

"Where are we?" Vernon asked.

A nurse ran up to them. "St. Mungo's Hospital. Who's injured?"

"Curse-based mental influence, all of us," Remus said. "The two of us are wizards," — he motioned to Harry — "but they are Harry's muggle relatives. They know."

"Right. Let's get you up to the fourth floor."

They were escorted up and very promptly seen by a healer. He cast diagnostic charms on all of them. "Well, I'm glad you came in. There are a lot of spells on all of you, and since most of you are muggles, this raises a lot of questions."

Remus explained the situation. "Well, that doesn't answer all of my questions," the healer said. "But it's a start. Alright, from what I see, there is foul magic coming from Harry's scar, no doubt left behind from when he survived You-Know-Who's attack. Remus, you were absolutely correct that it has been affecting each and every one of you. However, there are other behavior modification charms on all of you, cast with a different magical signature.

"The good news is that for the Dursleys, since they are muggles, we can purge them of magic very easily. Since their bodies have only the tiniest spark of magic, smaller than the weakest of spells, all spells on their bodies are easily picked out and pried off. For Remus and Harry, it's more complicated, but not impossible."

The healer waved his wand, causing three golden bubbles to surround the three Dursleys. They shrank, passing through their flesh until they were naught but the size of grapes. The healer again waved his wand, causing the three orbs to emerge from their bodies, pulling the foreign magic with it.

As the orb left them, the three muggles involuntarily smiled. "Oh, that felt quite pleasant," Vernon said.

"Wow, I feel as if I just drank a lot of coffee," Petunia added. "My head feels so clear."

Dudley giggled.

"The three of you should be good to go," the healer said. "Why don't you three go wait in the waiting room while I deal with these two?" The Dursleys agreed and departed. The healer turned back to Remus. "I didn't want to tell them, but some of those spells were quite malicious. You were right about the influence of the curse on Mr. Potter, but the other wizard definitely had it out for them. You might want to inspect their home for other such charms."

"Is there any way to tell who cast those spells?" Remus asked.

"Yes. St. Mungo's always keeps samples of the magical signatures of those who enter its walls. That record is combined with one generated by Hogwarts so that the DMLE can investigate who cursed who. When a patient comes in cursed by an unknown, we are required to disclose that information." The healer motioned to the three golden orbs, which each contained a smaller orb of silver magic. "We'll get these tested. Now, since you and Harry are wizards, we'll have to tackle each spell one at a time, rather than scooping them off like we did with the others."

The healer laid them down on the examination table and began poking them with his wand. He pried spell after spell off of them, and with each one that came off, Remus felt a little lighter. The ex-werewolf hadn't even realized his thoughts had been as clouded as they had been. Finally, the healer said, "I have good news, less good news, and very bad news. Good news: You have been completely purged. Less good news: Harry has been purged of almost everything. And bad news..."

The healer sighed. His face looked like he was calm, but his wand was shaking in his vice-like grip. "You might want to sit down for this. Harry's cut is not caused by a curse. It's caused by a parasitic soul fragment attached to his head. Just by the feel of it, I'd bet my life that You-Know-Who did that to Harry."

Remus growled, "Harry has a piece of You-Know-Who's soul in his head?!"

The healer's shaking was growing worse. "Y-yes. I c-can destroy it... I think..." He raised his wand at Harry's head, though it was shaking so badly that Remus seriously questioned the healer's aim. And then the healer started incanting, "A-a-avada k-k-k-"

Remus punched the healer with all his augmented strength. Then he pounced, landing on the healer as a fully transformed beast. "You tried to kill Harry!" He roared.

The door burst open. "Stupefy!"

Remus saw black.

Remus awoke feeling strangely calm. He was also tied to a chair. "What happened?"

"You tried to kill one of our healers," a woman's voice said. Remus looked up and saw a nurse holding her wand at him. "To be fair, he just tried to kill a baby. I stunned you, then him, and then forced an admittedly heavy dose of calming draughts down each of your throats. I tied you up and woke him up. He explained his reasoning. I have to say, if it didn't involve murdering a baby, I would have agreed with him."

"What?!"

The healer spoke up, revealing his presence to Remus. "There is a piece of Voldemort's soul in Harry. That means there's another piece out there, connected by sympathetic magic. If one part of him is alive, then You-Know-Who is still alive somewhere. He could come back, and I just can't deal with that. Not again."

Remus didn't say anything. Shock and calming draught mixed in his mind, making him hold his tongue.

The healer continued, "If Harry was a muggle, getting the soul fragment out of him would have been easy. The fragment won't leave until there's no living magic in the body; for a muggle, we could put them through a controlled, reversible death, comparable to snuffing out a candle and relighting it before the wax cooled. But for wizards, our anatomy and physiology is significantly altered by the presence of magic. Our skulls are magically bigger on the inside to accommodate the extra pieces of brain that we need to manipulate magic. When wizards die, our brains are pulverized by the shrinking space. Short of hitting Harry with the killing curse and hoping You-Know-Who's soul takes the hit for him, there's nothing we can do."

"I see," Remus said, a bit too calmly.

"We've sealed it up as best we could; the soul fragment shouldn't cause any problems anymore. Well, I say that, but we can't know with absolute certainty. We'd need a necromancer to be certain, but good luck finding one in Europe that won't kill you," the healer said.

Medically speaking, there wasn't much more to cover. Still both heavily affected by the calming draught, Remus and the healer concluded their conversation and finished up at the hospital. Remus took the Dursleys back to their home, where he searched for other spells that might have been placed on the household. Finding several, he calmly dismantled them. Then he bid the Dursleys and Harry farewell and apparated home. There, he sat on his bed until the calming draught finally wore off, letting his emotions come to the surface.

Remus cried.