Chapter 12
Hi everyone,
I was so excited to see how many people picked up this story. Thank you Jaybat, SLYNNR, & doopy52. Your reviews meant so much to me. I'm so happy you've jumped back on this ride!
Thank you BrookGuitar, XRen316, rose24742, proace19, Hunter Hades Helmsey, Kevin Meyer1, Jonreis, Bierelite, Wijibo, skyefire, wrathofmom, mansigupt, XRen316 for joining the fold! I really hope you like the next installment!
Thank you also dianaanne for your review!
If you are so inclined, please let me know what you think of chapter 12!
~bl00d-orange.
Madam Pomfrey threw green floo powder into the lit fireplace causing wild flames to rise.
"Headmaster's Quarters."
The man had either been already awake or the noise of the floo had lifted him seamlessly out of sleep.
"Sir, Minerva and Severus are here in my office. Can you come through?" Poppy asked.
In five minutes flat, Albus Dumbledore stood before them. The headmaster glanced from person to person, making eye-contact. "What's happened? Has something happened to Harry?"
Minerva looked up towards the ceiling, clenching her hands into fists. She didn't trust herself to speak.
Madam Pomfrey picked up her notes from the desk behind her and handed them to the headmaster.
The man grabbed them then magicked a soft purple chair and lowered himself to sit in it. As the man read, Minerva eyed her boss and brooded over a thought that had been ricocheting throughout her mind since Harry had first exposed the scars. Albus was responsible. Didn't he deserve blame? She had warned him ten years ago that the Dursleys were no good and he had ignored her.
As Albus read, the color dwindled from his face. By the time he'd completed the report, his complexion was ashen.
Another tug in Minerva argued that Albus deserved the benefit of the doubt. "The man should thank his lucky stars for having the appropriate reaction," she thought finally.
A shuffling noise made Professor McGonagall jump. Madam Pomfrey made a startled jerk. The Deputy Headmistress lifted her index finger, ready to rebuke her meddling first-years again for interfering.
But it wasn't Granger or Weasley, it was Harry.
Harry poked his head into the room, then forced himself into Poppy's sitting room.
"Do you know anyone named Remus Lupin?" asked Harry, passing a scrap of parchment to his Head of House.
Minerva took the letter and in a voice just loud enough for the rest of the party to hear, she read:
Dear Harry,
You haven't met me yet and that's entirely my own fault.
I was an old friend of your father's. We used to get into a lot of trouble but we had a really wonderful time at Hogwarts. I hope you enjoyed your first year. Your father was an amazing friend to me. Please, if you should ever need anything, reach out to me and I will be happy to help.
Yours sincerely,
Remus J. Lupin
(they/them)
"This person offered to help me. Maybe I could live with them," Harry said.
Severus jerked his head in a subtle but sharp motion indicating that Potter needed to leave the office.
Agreeing, Poppy nodded to her colleague. "Harry, back to bed with you."
The boy straightened his arms as if they were roots tying him into the ground. "This Remus Lupin said to reach out if I needed anything. I need somewhere to go."
Harry didn't comment on the headmaster's arrival. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on Professor McGonagall's.
"Let's go, Potter," said Professor McGonagall. She realized her exhales had lengthened on their own accord. The Transfiguration Professor placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and began to direct him towards bed.
Harry did not move.
"Where am I going to go? Who's going to take me?" Harry hadn't shouted, but the color of his voice made it sound as if he had. Professor McGonagall deepened her breathing even more.
Madam Pomfrey signaled to her colleagues not to speak. "Harry, we see that you are very upset. That is understandable. We were just discussing what the appropriate next steps will be."
"Potter, get back to bed," hissed Snape.
Barefoot in Hospital Wing pajamas, the boy lifted his head, perhaps hoping to appear taller. He continued to speak, "It's my life! I deserve to know what is going to happen in it!"
Despite her frustration and exhaustion, Minerva was impressed by her young lion. She doubted that there were many other eleven-year-olds that would be able to stand up for themself in front of the headmaster, the matron, and two heads of house.
Dumbledore began to speak. "You're not wrong, Harry. This is your life but you're eleven. We will choose where you will live and who will care for you. This is not your decision to make."
Professor McGonagall saw the hurt playing across the Gryfindor's face. The injustice was so obvious. That the man should have any responsibility for Harry's placement after his last decision's disastrous consequences hit a deep nerve.
Harry's entire body shook with anger, his hands squeezing into more compressed fists.
"Potter," said Professor McGonagall intentionally preventing the Headmaster from speaking. "Harry, you need sleep."
"Why do you get to make these choices for me?" said Harry who was now screaming so loudly that it must have hurt his throat. "I got past Fluffy. I prevented Voldemort from stealing the Sorcerer's Stone. Haven't I proven that I am more able to care for myself than anyone else?" The boy was so tightly wound, he was shaking.
"You would have been murdered four days ago if Professor Dumbledore hadn't reached you in time!" hissed Professor Snape, jutting his head closer and closer to Harry as he spoke.
Very gently and carefully, Professor McGonagall managed to steer the volatile Slytherin away from Harry through subtle movement to both his arms.
In a cautious voice just louder than a whisper, the Minerva spoke, "Severus is right, Harry."
But the Gryffidor demanded to be heard.
"You ignored me when I tried to warn you about what was about to happen with the stone," yelled Harry.
Professor McGonagall took a deep breath in the hopes that Harry might copy her.
"That is fair, Harry," she said. Her calm veneer faded for a second then returned to place. "But today you were not ignored. Today, you have our undivided attention and our actions will be better. You and your friends overcame the obstacles we placed in the Third Floor Corridor, you exposed our weaknesses. We will do better, Harry. Can you try to believe that for me?" `
For a moment Harry stood unmoving, releasing deep breaths loud enough to carry across the room. Eventually the pace of his breathing slowed. He looked up at Minerva and nodded, giving her a nearly imperceptible smile.
Professor McGonagall put an arm around the boy and walked him out of the room. When they had reached the bed, she found a seat on a wooden chair beside his bedside and took it.
"Harry," she said softly, "you have to know we will not let anyone hurt you like that again," said Professor McGonagall.
Then, Harry said something he had never said before in his life. "Professor McGonagall, would you sit with me, please."
"Sure," she said kindly. A small smile appeared on her face that lit up her eyes. "I'm right here," she said, and she placed a soft hand on the boy's shoulder.
Professor McGonagall was true to her word. She stayed with Harry until he had fallen asleep.
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While Minerva watched over Potter, Dumbledore picked up the thread of the previous conversation. "Harry needs a guardian. Magic has its own way of working. I don't think it's by chance that Remus' letter should appear."
The skin on Dumbledore's face was grayish in color. Severus could guess how the man was feeling but the emotions didn't show themself on the man's face.
Severus fought to keep his hands still. He was well aware of how his anger and frustration would spurt out when left unchecked.
"Are you suggesting that after everything that boy has been through, your plan is to throw him literally to the wolves, or wolf, I should say."
The headmaster looked benignly at the Potions Master. "I know the history between you and Remus is fraught but it doesn't mean that they would not be an appropriate choice for Harry."
"And the ministry -" began Severus.
"Doesn't need to know. I daresay they have no chance of getting past the wiles of three Hogwarts Professors and Hogwarts' seasoned healer."
The Transfiguration Professor reentered the office. Severus felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up and found the hand belonged to Minerva.
"Going off of the look on Severus' face, I take it you're thinking of having Remus take custody of Harry Potter," Minerva said to the headmaster. The witch tightened her grip on Severus' shoulder, "and I take it you are not pleased with this development, Severus."
"Not pleased," he hissed, "not pleased, you must be joking. They're violent," he said, squeezing the glass in an attempt to stop shaking.
The witch loosened her grip on the man's shoulder but did not move her hand.
"Give us an example, Severus, an example of Remus being violent, that is," Poppy said placidly.
Pink light began to shine through Poppy's window.
"I'm supposed to give you an example of a time a werewolf acted violently?" putting his hands in the space in front of him.
"This is silly," said Poppy, redirecting the conversation, "we don't even know if Remus will even be open to being Harry's guardian. I am, however, interested in what Albus has said about magic. If Albus thinks there is something more to this, then I think we should find out."
"So we all apparate to their place and demand that they adopt Harry?" asked Minerva
Poppy inclined her head. Her hands were placed lightly on her lap.
"Partially," said Madam Pomfrey, "mainly the apparating to their home part."
"I need a fucking drink," muttered Severus.
Poppy summoned a bottle of brandy, poured a few jiggers into a glass and handed it to her colleague.
"Maybe, Severus can stay behind, keep an eye on the three dunderheads," said Albus with a small smile.
The Potion's Professor let out an angry snort, like that of a dragon. "First of all, that's my line," he muttered, "second of all," his voice becoming more crisp and cold, "none of you seem to recall Remus nearly killing me sixteen years ago." The Slytherin Professor felt his temperature sky-rocket.
A look passed over Professor Dumbledore's face, a mixture of boredom and exhaustion. "Professor Snape, even you must realize that what happened in the Shrieking Shack that day was more complicated than you are implying."
"How dare you?" His eyes locked on Professor Dumbledore's, "Literally, WHAT THE FUCK, You come in hereā¦." Rage had overcome sense, reason washed away. Within the space of five seconds his anger had turned to sadness and then to shame. Severus closed his mouth and cleared his mind. Eleven years had passed since he had lost control in front of his boss.
When he had released his hands from their tight fists and steadied his breathing, Poppy spoke, "Albus is right, Severus," said Poppy. "This was sixteen years ago." The witch paused for a moment then spoke again, "Severus, drink your brandy."
Albus spoke up, "You are a different person, Severus, from who you were at fifteen and Remus is as well. We will reconvene in twenty minutes," Albus said, bringing the conversation to a close, "let's clean up and get dressed so we at least look like staff."
"Severus, would you remain here and make sure Harry stays put and Ron and Hermione make it on the train?" asked Poppy.
Severus looked affronted. "You're joking. As I seem to be the only one capable of viewing this objectively. I'm coming," said Severus.
"It's fine," said Dumbledore with a small shrug, "we'll loop in Pomona and Filius to supervise our unruly Gryffindors. I doubt they'll be shocked to find that something new has arisen involving Harry, Weasley, and Granger."
Severus, Poppy, and Minerva nodded and made it so.
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