A Knut to Start the Revolution
Chapter 6

Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to J. K. Rowling.

Hermione Granger had bad news for Harry Potter.

The two were chatting on the telephone on a Saturday, Harry taking advantage of the fact that Uncle Vernon had taken Aunt Petunia and Dudley out for a trip to London. It seemed Duddykins wanted to get a laptop computer (Harry thought the whole exercise to be quite pointless; his cousin already had a perfectly fine computer in his bedroom, and Heaven knew the dunce wasted enough time blasting aliens on it), and so far be it from his parents to deny him every wish he had.

His friend had said, "I'm sorry, Harry, but there is no way for you to act as a legal adult without a guardian, unlike in the United States. British Muggle law states that you need to be eighteen to be considered an adult, and while wizarding customs once allowed surviving heads of pureblood families, if underage, to act with full adult authority, they hold no force now that the Ministry is in charge, and like Muggle law, wizarding law says you must have a magical guardian until you turn seventeen. That having been said, there is the possibility that loopholes exist with regard to appointments to the Wizengamot, which would be your entering wedge."

Harry groused mentally as he realised nobody would elect him Minister for Magic if he still needed someone to sign all his Hogwarts paperwork. Dumbledore had apparently been appointed his magical guardian, but could that not be changed on his request? And as for his Muggle guardians, what they did not know would not hurt them.

He replied, "Well, there goes that plan. Look, is there a way to apply to change my magical guardian? I'd kind of like Remus Lupin to be my guardian; I think he'd appreciate it, as he's my last tie to Sirius and my parents."

The witch said, "I don't know, Harry. The discrimination against werewolves may extend to prohibiting them from being guardians of non-werewolves. But I'll look into it for you."

"Thanks, Hermione. That's all I ask, that you try to find a way."

He rang off, and pondered to himself what to do next when Hedwig flew down to him, depositing Remus Lupin's letter to him. Eagerly, Harry wrote back, his reply essentially saying, "the sooner you visit, the better."

As good as his word about arriving, the werewolf arrived the next day.

/\/\/\

Harry was outside the Dursley house, pretending to do the weeding. It was easier to do that than listen to Dudley's idiotic smarming about how his laptop, which cost two thousand pounds, and had a tiny nine-inch screen, would be the newest part in his arsenal of gaining acceptance at Smeltings. Somehow, Harry doubted that the laptop would gain him much headway among the computer enthusiast crowd there.

So because he was pretending to do the weeding, and actually paying attention to his surroundings, he was unsurprised when he saw a slight shimmer nearby; his suspicions were confirmed when one of the bushes rustled just a bit in a way that was clearly not due to any breeze. A disembodied voice said, "Hello, Harry."

Grinning to himself, and reminding himself to look at the garden, Harry answered, "Hullo, Remus. I'm glad you could make it. Want me to knock off the weeding and show you my bedroom?"

Remus's voice radiated concern as he said, "Harry, have your relatives got you doing these awful chores again? You know you can write to Moody; he'd be glad to come straighten them out."

HArry stood up, brushing off his pants and saying reassuringly, "Don't worry. I just wanted to get out of the house for a bit. Look, why don't you take off that cloak and come ring the doorbell properly? I've got a few surprises for you."

Harry had the feeling that Remus was looking at him askance, but the slight shuffling he heard on the grass told him all he needed to know as he put the gardening tools back in the shed. He then headed indoors, pointedly disregarding Dudley and co., who were currently seated at the dining table, apparently enthralled by the expensive portable computer.

He waited by the door, and when he heard the bell ring, he bellowed, "That's for me. Don't come to the door!"

Ignoring Dudley's predictable "Sod off, you little—", Harry opened the door, grinned at Remus Lupin, and said, "Come on upstairs, please. I'm happy you've come over. How did you set it up?"

As the pair walked upstairs to the smallest bedroom, the werewolf said, "It was hardly difficult, really. I just asked Albus if I could take Tonks's patrol for the day, and he allowed it. It seems she's getting a bit tired of brown hair all the time, anyway."

Harry said, with his hand on the doorknob, "I can imagine that. You know she stumbles even when she's trying to look inconspicuous? That's how I knew she was on patrol around here."

"Well, we're here, Harry. Do you mind opening the door?"

The teenager smirked in a way that suddenly struck Remus as being much like James's when he had a brilliant prank in mind, and the werewolf automatically began running through a list of all the things to watch out for as soon as the door opened.

Luckily, all that he saw was a normal bedroom…

Wait.

The room was out of proportion to the rest of the house. It wasn't obvious if you weren't looking too closely, but he could tell the room seemed to be about double its true size. The bed looked too close to that of the beds in Gryffindor Tower, and Harry's clothing seemed less worn and threadbare than what he'd seen the boy wearing on other occasions.

After giving Harry the hairy eyeball, he said sternly, "Harry, you're not allowed to do magic outside—"

"—Of school, I know, Remus. This changes things."

He read over the waiver that was handed to him, and with a rare unforced grin, he said, "Excellent! I'm really happy for you. But how did you get this waiver? Amelia Bones doesn't just hand them out."

"True, but I wrote to her and asked for this waiver. I figured that idiot Fudge owed me a few favours after the way he attempted to ruin my reputation in the Daily Prophet before Voldemort showed his face. I reckoned Fudge wouldn't try to block Bones from issuing the waiver, and I was right."

Brown eyebrows lifted as he marvelled at the strategic thinking. He didn't remember Harry ever calling in favours before, or using his status as the Boy Who Lived to wangle a few extra things for himself. Judiciously applied, such manoeuvring on Harry's part could lead to some… interesting… political changes at the Ministry and at Hogwarts.

He shut the door behind them, and Harry sat on his bed, while gesturing at the chair for Remus to sit. Green eyes seemed to lose their sparkle, and softly, he said, "How do you feel about… Sirius?"

Sighing, the older man said, "I won't deny it's… it's hard. But it's one of the things we have to deal with as life goes on. I've gone a long time believing that none of the Marauders, besides me, were still alive in any useful capacity. Having Sirius back was like a gift each and every day he was here. I think he'd like it if we'd remember him like that, rather than forgetting to live at all."

Harry could see the faraway look in Remus's eyes as he said, with some effort, "Well, maybe you could tell me about some of the times in school? Like, where my Dad and Sirius just… acted funny?"

The werewolf could tell that his younger fellow was still feeling a bit sensitive about the memory he had seen in Snape's Pensieve. He dredged up some of his memories and said, "Hmm. Well, why don't I tell you about the time James started noticing girls early in second year, and decided he liked Lily? He got this idea…"

And soon, the two of them were laughing at stories of James's early years, when he tried, and failed, to get the attention of Lily Evans, or when he would prank Professor Burbage in Muggle Studies, earning him a few detentions, although the professor never seemed to get too angry about the pranks.

The werewolf had just finished telling the story of the time when Sirius had accidentally hit Peter with a flower-growing charm, making lilies (naturally) sprout up in place of Peter's hair. They had ended up having to go to Madam Pomfrey, Sirius apologising profusely all the way. He'd meant, he said, to cast the charm at a vase, but his arm had twitched when James had touched his shoulder.

The werewolf had looked at his watch, and said, "Merlin! I'm sorry, Harry. I've been talking to you for a lot longer than I had intended. I was supposed to be patrolling for real, but it's all right, honestly. Nobody will get mad at you, except perhaps Severus. But then we know the man has his own… unique situation."

Harry chuckled at Remus' talent for understatement, and said, "I'm just thankful you were able to tell me those stories. It's not often I get to hear about things like this."

"If you want me to visit you regularly, I can do that. Headmaster Dumbledore has asked me to take some time off from trying to visit the werewolf clans. It's been a thankless job, Harry. Far too many of them think they may have a chance at a better life with Voldemort in charge. Personally, I'm not so sure. He's a pureblood supremacist and part of that ideology, of necessity, means 'half-breeds' are to be scorned and reviled. Look at how some people view centaurs, for example. But anyway, I didn't mean to bring up all that extraneous political talk."

"Still, it's there." Harry replied. "And heaven knows I'll be in it soon enough. But anyway, I was wondering if I could, um, ask you for something."

Amiably, Remus said, "Certainly, Harry. What can I do for you?"

A bit uncertainly, Harry replied, "Well, you know how Sirius was my guardian, or would have been if he had ever been declared innocent. Anyway, I'd like it if you could be my magical guardian, or godfather at least, even if the Ministry might not recognise it. Er, that is, if you want to."

The werewolf was clearly touched by the request, and he said softly, "I'd be more than happy to, Harry. I was, frankly, a bit worried about whether we would still be able to get along after I found out that Albus had told you something he had been withholding from you – I didn't get much in the way of details but it was clear that you and he hadn't parted on very good terms. I know I didn't do much to insist that you be kept more fully informed about why it was so important to learn Occlumency. I can't imagine that Severus was that helpful about it, though."

The teen shook his head, trying not to get too upset over the whole Occlumency fiasco.

"No," he said. "Dumbledore said he was trying to make it so Snape and I could get along, but that didn't work out too well. I've been trying to learn it from books, which explain what 'clearing your mind' actually means. That's all he really did, was say, 'clear your mind', and then hit me with Legilimency attacks. Admittedly, I didn't take the time to learn Occlumency properly, but…"

He sighed, and with some effort, said lightly, "Well, that's all water under the bridge now. It turned out Occlumency wasn't even the key to getting Voldemort out of my mind; it was…" He willed his voice to stay steady as he finished with, "it was the love I felt for Sirius that did it."

Remus stayed quiet; he was clearly trying to find words which wouldn't expose still-tender wounds in each person's psyche, and failing.

After a few moments of silence, Harry said awkwardly, "Well…thanks for coming here. Can you… can you come back again soon?"

Remus smiled wanly and replied, "Of course. I'll see if I can be put on the normal patrol schedule so we can talk like this on a regular basis. I think Moody is on next. I fully expect his statements regarding 'constant vigilance' to be loudly proclaimed in my ear back at headquarters if he catches me inside here, you know."

Harry chuckled. "I remember the time he said I shouldn't put my wand in my back pocket because I could blow my buttocks off."

The older man was clearly trying not to laugh out loud as he opened the door, and his eyes danced merrily as he accompanied Harry down the stairs. At the front door, he got his composure back and was able to speak without chuckling. "Harry, I want you to know I'll try to be available to you as much as I can. James would have wanted me to be there for you."

Harry impulsively reached out, hugging the older man. Remus, although startled, returned the embrace fondly, and smiled warmly as Harry slowly broke the embrace, blushing a bit. A bit nervously, he opened the door, and said, "Goodbye, Remus."

"And goodbye, Harry. I'm only an owl away."

Harry waved, smiling, as his – Friend? Uncle? - reached under a privet hedge, and picked up a battered suitcase which, he was sure, contained Mad-Eye's invisibility cloak. He closed the door, as Remus began walking along Privet Drive.

Harry thus began composing his letter to Madam Bones.

Madam Bones,

I am writing on a matter of importance to me. I have been told that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is my magical guardian. However, I would like to petition to have Remus Lupin become my magical guardian. If Sirius Black had been declared innocent, he would have likely been able to become my magical guardian. One of his best friends and my last tie to my family is Remus Lupin; those two reasons are why I want to have my magical guardian changed.

I realise this may cause controversy within the Ministry if there are laws in place which prevent werewolves from becoming guardians, but I want to emphasise that I am cognisant of the reasons for staying in the Muggle world over summer vacations, and in any case I have only a year until majority, and would not be staying in the same residence with Mr Lupin during my school years. Thus, any alleged danger to me is moot.

With kind regards,
Harry Potter.

The boy then looked up a charm to make the letter visible only to the recipient or sender, and executed it. The parchment glittered a bit, then resumed its normal colour. Harry then placed it in an envelope, remembering to apply a magical seal which would only open in the event that it was handled by Amelia Bones.

Harry then set the letter aside, shushing Hedwig when she hooted indignantly. He said, "Sorry, girl. I have to wait until Hermione tells me how to properly petition for a change of magical guardian; this is my guarantee that it will happen."

Somewhat mollified, the owl fluttered her feathers, and accepted an owl treat from Harry.

Author Notes:

An addendum - so you folks are aware, in 1996 a laptop was usually a 486SX-25 with 8 megs of RAM and had a really expensive thin-film transistor screen, and they could be passive or active matrix. Of course the active matrix screens cost a lot more. :P I pulled the figure of two thousand pounds out of my head, but the exchange rate into Canadian dollars makes that over four thousand, which was about right for a very "top-end" laptop which would be obsolete in less than three years. Heehee.

Thanks go to Maddevillechilde for the beta work on the original version.

I corrected a couple of anachronisms and a plot inconsistency relative to a later chapter.