"Harry," Remus starts slowly. "Is there something you haven't been telling me in your letters?"
Harry gives Remus a sheepish smile as Tom leans towards Harry and whispers, "I thought you wrote him ahead of time!"
"I did!" Harry whispers back. "I just. Might not have been all that specific?"
"Okay, who are you?" Remus asks, turning to Tom. His eyes are tinged amber, and he looks like he's seconds away from pulling Harry to the side and apparating far, far away.
"Our best guess is a secret great-uncle." Harry jumps in. Remus gets an extremely perplexed look on his face.
"My name is Tom," Tom interjects. "And we can absolutely explain. Everything. But can we do this somewhere else? Somewhere muggle, maybe? I don't… I don't want to be seen yet."
Tom had spent the whole train ride in an empty compartment covered in the invisibility cloak, and he's beginning to look more and more jumpy the longer they stand on the platform.
Remus narrows his eyes but jerks his head in a nod. He holds out a hand to Harry and an arm to Tom, then apparates into an empty alley.
Tom stumbles away, face tinged green.
"Have you never side-apparated?" Harry asks worriedly.
"It's been over fifty years," Tom says as he leans heavily on a wall. "Give me a break."
Remus rubs his face tiredly. "There's a cafe across the street. Let's go get something to eat and you… you two can explain over some dinner."
Harry and Tom follow Remus into the cafe and sit while Remus grabs them some food. He comes back carrying a couple sandwiches and some mugs.
Remus sets the food and drinks down in front of the two and sits down himself, resting his chin on his fist. "Okay. Explain."
Harry has already started on his sandwich, so he explains in between bites.
"To preface," Harry starts, "you are not going to be happy with me."
Remus nods. "I'd gathered," he says flatly, gaze flicking over to Tom.
Tom cringes, and Harry pushes down the rising tide of despair that comes with disappointing Remus, then continues:
"So the Chamber of Secrets was opened on Halloween, and Slytherin's monster was running around petrifying students. No one died, though!"
Remus goes still and his eyes go amber. Harry watches nervously as Remus struggles to get himself under control, eyes bleeding back to brown. The full moon had happened only a couple days earlier, and it shows. Harry wishes that it wasn't so close, but- well, there's not really anything he can do about that.
Tom tenses up besides Harry almost imperceptibly and Harry belatedly realizes he doesn't think he's mentioned that Remus is a werewolf. Whoops.
Once he's sure Remus is back in control of Moony, Harry launches back into his explanation and says, "but turns out it was a cursed diary all along."
Harry and Tom go on to explain about the diary, the circumstances leading to Tom's release, and some of the theories they'd come up with in regards to the diary. They're fairly certain that the diary had once belonged to Salazar himself, or one of his heirs.
"Tom- you seem to be remarkably well-adjusted for someone who's spent the last fifty years in complete isolation," Remus points out.
Tom shrugs. "I kept myself busy," he says vaguely. Harry gets the idea that Tom doesn't just love talking about his imprisonment.
Remus leans back, looking weary. "Harry," he starts.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about everything going on," Harry says quickly, nervously shredding a paper napkin. "I just didn't want you to take me out of Hogwarts."
"Harry," Remus says again. "I am not going to permanently pull you out of Hogwarts, not without you agreeing to it. You need to tell me these things.
"Did it occur to you that I could have helped you research? Or knew things that could help you protect your friends? I understand it's hard for you to trust adults, but you could have died in that diary, and I wouldn't have- if Merlin hadn't been there-"
Harry looks down at the table, biting back tears. He feels a bit sick.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
Remus sighs tiredly. Tom is looking out the window, likely pretending he's anywhere but here.
"I think you made the best decision you could, knowing what you knew," Merlin decides, hissing in his ear.
"Thanks, Merlin," Harry says back. It doesn't really help, but he appreciates the attempt.
"Let's go home," Remus finally says, pushing his chair back and standing up. "I think we could all use a quiet night in. You too, Tom."
Tom looks up at Remus, surprise flashing on his face. "Wh- Really?"
Remus smiles wryly. "Fifty years in a diary or not, you're still a teenager. I'm not going to just abandon you to the streets of London."
Tom looks like he's conflicted between wanting to protest that he could definitely handle a week on the streets of London and wanting to thank Remus profoundly. Harry would laugh, but he still feels sort of like he's going to throw up- disappointing Remus tends to do that to him.
Harry ends up going to bed early, giving into the urge to hide that he gets whenever he feels like an adult is mad at him. He tosses and turns for a couple hours before giving up and getting out of bed to grab a glass of water. Harry slips out from his room, intent on heading straight to the kitchen.
Despite how rich Remus and Harry are, they elected on getting a smaller two-bedroom house surrounded by lots of land (with the best ward-work money can buy, both for Harry's general protection and for Moony). Because of this, Harry has to pass by the living room to get into the kitchen.
Harry didn't intend on eavesdropping, he really didn't, but ten years at the Dursley's means he's learned to never pass up the opportunity to do so. As he hears the voices of Remus and Tom talking quietly in the living room, Harry presses up against the wall near the door and slows his breathing down so he can hear better.
"I can't possibly take your room. Let me sleep on the couch," Tom says desperately.
Remus sighs. "I'm not making you sleep on the couch. I'd feel much better if you took the room. We'll figure something more permanent out tomorrow."
There's silence for a moment. Then Tom clears his throat.
"Permanent?" Tom finally asks.
Remus chuckles dryly. "You still have a year and a half until you graduate. I don't suppose you have anywhere else to stay? Money? A job?"
"You're just going to allow me into your home, just like that? I'm a complete stranger to you."
Another moment of silence. Harry can almost picture Remus shrugging, or raising an eyebrow, or taking a sip from his mug.
"Harry went a long, long time without a family. I get the feeling it's something you aren't very accustomed to either. Harry cares about you, Tom, and I think you probably care for him too. I'm not going to be the one to take that from either of you. You have a place in our home for as long as you want or need one."
Harry grins into his hands as silence falls again. If there's one thing he knows about Remus, it's that he'll always put his family first.
Harry barely catches Tom's nearly-inaudible "thank you," before he decides it's time to head back to his own room. He thinks he'll be able to go to sleep now.
The next morning, Remus makes everyone breakfast, the muggle way. As he sets a plate in front of Harry, he says, "I'm revoking your flying privileges over the break and if something at school happens again I fully expect you to write to me right away."
Harry nods, and to his relief that's the last of it. The three spend the week playing games, going on day-trips, and helping Harry with his ridiculous piles of homework.
"I just don't understand why the teachers assign so much over Easter," Harry grumbles as he fights his way through yet another essay.
Tom is chewing on the end of his quill as he reviews Harry's History paper and doesn't bother with a response.
On the other hand, Remus puts down the Defense assignment he'd been going over with an expression of disgust. "Your defense teacher is unbelievably incompetent."
"Believe me," Harry says. "I know. It's getting harder and harder to keep Theo from murdering him."
Remus nods sympathetically and then turns to Tom. "You're registering for Hogwarts this last term, right? What's the plan there?"
Tom grimaces. "Uh," he says. "You see, we'd prefer to go about it as quietly as possible so we thought… I'd sneak into the Headmaster's office and get the Hat to sort me?"
At the tired look Remus gives him, Tom hurriedly goes to explain, "we have reason to believe that will be enough to get me registered."
"And you don't want to get registered normally because…"
"Dumbledore never liked me," Tom says, shrugging. "I'd prefer not to have to deal with him at all. If we tried to go the usual route, he'd probably keep me from registering."
"Why doesn't Dumbledore like you?" Remus asks.
"I made it a bit of a priority to push against his anti-dark propaganda. I was a real thorn in his side," Tom says, a note of smugness in his voice. "He'll know that if I graduate Hogwarts it'll be a major political disaster for him."
Harry can believe it. Tom is smart, charismatic, and has extremely ambitious political aspirations. Harry is simultaneously excited and terrified for the inevitable Granger v Riddle election for Minister of Magic.
Remus looks pained, as though he wants to protest more but can't actually argue Tom's point.
"You do have me supporting you, now," Remus says finally.
Tom cocks his head. "No offense," he starts, "but I'm not sure how that changes things?"
Harry abruptly remembers another thing he forgot to tell Tom.
Remus sees Harry's cringe and laughs, eyes crinkling. "I see Harry forgot to mention the fact that I'm currently one of the most politically powerful men in Magical Britain."
"Wh- you- what?" Tom sputters.
Harry has never seen him this unbalanced. It's delightful, but he takes pity on his brother.
"I'm the heir to the Potter lordship, obviously, but I'm also heir to the Black and Slytherin lordships. I asked for Remus to take over my political duties until I'm old enough to do it myself."
"Slytherin from conquest?" Tom asks, furrowing his brow. Harry nods. "That makes sense. How are you heir to the Black Lordship, though?"
Harry and Remus exchange an uncomfortable look, but work together to explain the Sirius Black situation anyways.
By the end of the explanation, Tom's eyes are hard. "Good," he says. "Black got what he deserved."
Remus looks sad and wistful like he always does when Sirius Black is mentioned in any capacity, so Harry decides to get the conversation back on track.
"So, do we want Remus to help you get registered for school?" Harry asks.
Tom sits back on the couch, thinking. Then he shakes his head. "It'll take too long. I'd- I would appreciate it if you could be in my corner for whatever fallout there is, though."
Remus nods. "No problem. Just make sure to write to me so I can actually help," Remus says pointedly. Tom hesitates, then nods alongside Harry.
Remus had offered to buy Tom an owl, but Tom had politely turned him down, saying he'll just use the school ones. One thing Remus did insist on was buying Tom a wand.
Tom is uncharacteristically nervous as they walk towards Ollivander's. Harry can tell because he sort of shuts down, commenting on things only when absolutely necessary.
"You two don't need to come in with me," Tom says as they approach the store. Remus raises an eyebrow but nods, handing Tom seven galleons.
"We'll wait out here."
It takes an hour and a half, but whenever Harry gets antsy and tries to get up to see if Tom is okay, Remus tells him that not everyone matches with the first wand that they try and to just be patient.
Eventually, Tom comes outside. He's scowling, but his face clears up when he sees Remus and Harry.
"Well?" Harry asks excitedly.
Tom flicks his wrist and his new wand shoots into his hand. It's silver and polished, and looks almost more like a rod of metal than a piece of wood.
"Aspen and dragon heart-string," Tom says. Instead of sounding proud, he sounds almost… resigned.
"Is it bad?" Harry asks, confused.
Tom shakes his head and smiles. "It'll work. I just… it's not my old wand."
Harry grimaces. Tom is so good at wandless magic that it somehow hadn't occurred to him that Tom likely had a wand before he'd gotten trapped.
"I'm sorry," Harry says. Tom shrugs.
"Let's get going," Remus cuts in, checking his watch. "We have more errands to run."
They spend the day finishing the shopping for Tom's school supplies. Percy had very helpfully sent a list of books and materials from his own sixth year, so they knew what to buy. Some of the shop-keepers looked at them oddly, likely wondering why the three (plus Merlin) were buying school supplies in the middle of April.
Finally they've gotten everything, and are back at home. It's the last day before Tom and Harry head back to Hogwarts, and Harry is getting progressively more and more nervous.
"What are we thinking?" Harry asks Merlin as he's trying and failing to go to bed. "Are we sure that Hogwarts will even accept Tom as a student? So many things could go wrong!"
Harry sits up, working himself into a frenzy. "And sneaking into Dumbledore's office? We're absolutely going to get caught!"
Merlin slithers onto Harry's shoulders sleepily flicking her tongue on his cheek. She uses her weight to try and push him back into bed, and Harry lets her do so.
"It's going to be okay," Merlin says.
"How do you know?" Harry whispers.
"Because there's a good chance this ends with Dumbledore on fire, and I like that," Merlin says as she drifts back off to sleep.
That should not be comforting, but it's enough and at last Harry manages to fall asleep.