"Finished," Remus said as he placed the borrowed quill carefully down on the table.
"Excellent," Minerva replied. "Just a moment." She signed her name at the bottom, dated the parchment, then tapped it with her wand. The parchment folded itself into a paper airplane and took off from the room.
"No worries," she told him. "I've charmed it so that only Alastor Moody or the Minister can open it."
"Thank you, professor."
"Ah, Mr. Lupin, you are an adult now; you could call me Minerva," she suggested.
"That's rather hard to do if you call me Mr. Lupin," remarked Remus.
"Good point," she chuckled. "Well then, Remus, do you have plans for this afternoon?"
"No ma'am, um, no Minerva. I don't."
She smiled. "Then perhaps you would like to accompany me. I am going to check in on little Harry."
"Yes, please!" He nearly jumped from the chair to stand next to her.
"I thought you might. First, we'll use the Floo to pop out to Hogsmeade. I have a brief stop to make there. It will be a tight fit, but I believe we'll fit in the Floo together if we move quickly."
"Okay."
Minerva grabbed a pinch of powder from the pot on the mantle, tossed it into the fire, and said, "Hogsmeade Hideaway." When the flames flared green, she stepped forward with Remus on her heels.
They stepped out into a small, sparsely furnished room.
"You are welcome to come with me, or you can stay right here and I'll be back shortly," she said.
"I haven't been to Hogsmeade in three years," he replied with a sad smile. "I think I'll come along."
Stepping outside the cottage, Remus froze. "This is the shack, isn't it? Or rather, wasn't it?" He turned to look over the small building that appeared to be dilapidated from the outside.
"Yes, it is. I should have mentioned that. I'm sorry. I simply didn't think."
"No, it's alright. I just never expected to be there again. It didn't look like that when I was using it," he commented as they headed into town.
"I should think not. We wanted you to be safe, but there wasn't really a concern for comfort-"
"No, there wouldn't have been. I'd have simply destroyed anything you put in there anyway," he said. "Well, at least until..."
"Until your friends were keeping you company." Minerva peered at him from the corner of her eye. "I don't know how you all managed to keep that a secret. How did I never know?"
"Each of them did it a different month until all three had completed the process. They decided it would be less suspicious that way."
"They were right," she admitted as they reached Honedukes. "I just need to pop in here for a few things, and we can be on our way."
"Would you rather I not come in?" he asked.
"No, of course not. I simply wanted to let you know what my plans are."
"Thank you," Remus said, opening the door and holding it for her.
The smell of sugar and chocolate hit him as he stepped into the shop. He wandered the shelves, picking up a small package from one and a small bag from another. He met the professor at the till just as she finished paying.
When he stepped back out into the cool air of Hogsmeade, he held up the bag of his purchases and laughed a bit. "I have no idea what I'm going to do with these. For now, I suppose I should put them away."
"Good idea."
Using his wand, he quickly shrunk the bag and tucked it in a pocket, then asked. "Where exactly is Harry? Who has him?"
"He's with Lily's sister."
"Petunia?" Remus goggled. "You can be serious! Except, of course, I know you are. You would never joke about this. Why?"
"She was the best choice, and she is family," Minerva said.
"She hates magical people. She and Lily haven't gotten along since Lily received her Hogwarts letter. I don't think they have even spoken in years. There had to be someone else."
She sighed. "Believe me, I tried to argue that same thing." She continued to explain everything she knew and what she had done to make certain the child was cared for. "If Sirius is released, has a place to live, and means to take care of himself, if he wants Harry, we can try again then."
"What if that cancels out the blood protection?" Remus asked.
"I've been researching that very topic."
"I can do that too. It's not like I have anything else to do."
"Wait on that for a bit," Minerva said. "I have another possibility in mind. Now, take my arm."
They spun on the spot and quickly landed in a back garden. As they reached the door, it opened.
"Hello again."
"Hello," Minerva said. "This is Remus Lupin. He has come with me to see young Harry, as he was a friend of the Potters. Remus, this is Arabella Figg."
"Hello, ma'am."
"I've seen neither hide nor hair of Petunia this week," she told them as they entered her house. "Vernon has stomped out the door in a right fit every morning. He even went out today, and on Saturdays, he usually stays in."
"You haven't spoken to either of them?" Minerva asked.
"No, Dumbledore asked that I only keep watch. Should I go to talk to Petunia? I could offer my assistance; tell her I helped take care of my twin siblings," Arabella asked.
Minerva thought for a moment before she responded, "No, I think it's best for now if you simply observe. Certainly, if you speak with her in passing, don't let on that you know anything about the magical world."
"Oh no, never," Ms. Figg reassured her.
"Thank you again for the use of your garden. I brought you a little something." Minerva handed her the bag of sweets.
"Honeyduke's? Oh my," the other woman sighed. "You didn't need to."
"You deserve to be shown appreciation."
Arabella dug into the bag and removed a sugar quill. She slipped it into her mouth to suck on just a bit. The resulting smile nearly split her face. "It tastes just like I remember."
"I'm so glad. We'll be on our way," Minerva said.
"When you're done, just give a quick knock and let yourselves in."
"Thank you."
As Minerva and Remus walked to the Dursley's home, she spoke in a low voice and explained the situation with Arabella.
"Interesting," he commented, "and concerning that a Squib, no matter how experienced she is with magical children, is who Dumbledore chooses to watch out for Harry. I suppose Petunia wouldn't willingly allow a witch or a wizard, but still. Who's going to help him when he starts to experience magic outbursts?"
"I plan on checking in with the Dursleys regularly."
Remus shook his head. "I don't understand. Dumbledore was just going to leave Harry on the front step with a letter? Was he ever going to check in on the boy? He couldn't have really meant to just leave him and never go back."
"I don't know if he ever planned to go back, but I can promise you he fully intended to leave the child with nothing but a letter," she replied.
"And no money, nothing to help them raise him?"
"Not that I know of, no," she said, then turned to walk up the front walk of Number 4. "We're here. We can discuss everything further after our visit."
She knocked on the door. Remus stood at her side.
They waited.
Minerva knocked again. They continued to wait.
"Perhaps they aren't home," Remus suggested. "They may have left while Ms. Figg was letting us in."
The professor considered. She looked surreptitiously up and down the street, then she moved as if stretching and whispered, "Homenum Revelio."
A second later she whispered to Remus, "Petunia is in there, as are both her son and Harry."
"Shall I knock?" he asked.
"No, I know how to handle this," she sighed and raised her fist to the door, pounded three times, and began to speak loudly. "Mrs. Dursley, I know you're there. I told you I would return today. I can quite easily make a spectacle of myself should you choose not to open the door. Is that what you-"
"How dare you come here and make a spectacle?" Petunia hissed from the doorway. "You're not welcome! Go away!"
"We will do no such thing, Mrs. Dursley. I informed you that I would be returning today to check on the child."
"And my husband told you that you and your kind aren't allowed in our house!"
"Ma'am, excuse me," Remus said. "Perhaps we should take this conversation inside."
"I just said no!" she whisper shouted in response.
"At this point, how many of your neighbors do you think have their noses to their windows?" Minerva asked calmly.
Petunia took a step forward and looked around quickly before stepping back. "Fine, but this is the last time!"
"We can discuss that shortly," Minerva replied. "Where is Harry?"
Petunia didn't answer; she just pointed at the stairs, then rushed down the hallway to the kitchen as Dudley began to scream.
"Well, she's quite something," Remus commented. "I assume you know how to find Harry."
Minerva nodded.
"Lead the way." He gestured to the stairs.
She did just that, showing him to the room she had had set up as Harry's. They found the boy sitting in his crib, alternating between babbling to himself and chewing on the ear of the teddy bear.
"Harry," Remus sighed. "He really is safe."
The toddler looked up at them and smiled. "Moony!" He called and stood up, reaching out.
Tears began to slip down Remus's face as he pulled the child out of the crib. "Harry." He hugged the child tight, then pulled back suddenly. "No wonder you were excited to see me," he chuckled, taking the boy to the changing table. "You always saved it for Moony, huh? At least some things don't change."
"Moony?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
Remus ducked his head as he began to change the boy's diaper. "We all had nicknames. Sirius mentioned Peter's in his interrogation."
"Wormtail."
Harry suddenly made a noise. Remus looked at the boy. "Was that too rough? You're rather dirty, little man, and your bottom is a bit red. I'm sorry."
"I don't think that was the reason," Minerva said, "though there is some Muggle bottom cream there on the table. You should probably use that rather than magic."
"Just in case Petunia comes up, certainly. If you don't think it was his bottom, why do you think he reacted that way?"
"Wormtail," she repeated, and Harry again made a noise, watching the boy they both saw; he also scrunched up his face.
"He didn't do that when I said Peter, though," Remus observed. "Wormtail."
Harry made the same noise for a third time.
"Did Sirius teach you that, or was it?" he paused. "Lily?"
"Perhaps he simply doesn't like Peter."
"It's possible. Peter never spent as much time at their home, and even when he did, he didn't interact with Harry as much as Sirius and I did."
"Clearly you did," she gestured to the table as Remus buttoned up Harry's pajamas and picked him up again. "You're quite comfortable with him."
"I was often on diaper duty."
"Can't say I'm surprised that Sirius would avoid that," Minerva said with a smile.
"Nope, Padfoot always managed to avoid the dirty ones at least, though he wasn't bad with wet nappies."
"Padfoot? I assume because his animagus form is a dog."
"Pa-foo?" Harry looked around the room.
"He's not here right now, Harry, but I'm sure he'll come see you as soon as he's able. Yes, kind of obvious, but then again, so are Moony and Wormtail."
"And James?"
"Was Prongs."
"He was a stag, you said?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Sirius used to call Harry Pronglet. It drove Lily crazy, but James loved it."
"You four were so inseparable. What happened with Peter?" Minerva asked.
Remus shook his head. "I don't know. He was always with us, but he was never as close to any of us as we were with each other. For that matter, I wasn't as close with Sirius or James as they were with each other."
"And yet, they became Animagi for you."
"Which is why I never felt bad that they were closer. I knew they cared about me and cared for me, and that was enough. I didn't need to be anyone's favorite."
"But Peter?"
"I don't know. Let me think about it," he said.
"Please do," she replied. "I suppose we should go down and talk to Petunia."
"I suppose we should."
A/N: I only have three chapters done after this one though I am working on one more I'm stalling out. I won't give up the story but I may have to take a break.