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Ironically, it was not a dark and stormy day that Remus was met with as he walked briskly down the well kept road. Every house was in order, every door painted it’s own quirky color, and every lawn perfectly mowed, things he noted as he walked up 4 privet drive, surrey. Exactly what you would expect a muggle neighborhood to look like in a hallmark movie. Except the atmosphere was far darker than anything that would have aired around christmas time.
Wand clutched in hand, Remus walked cooly up the steps to the Dursleys home, knocking on the door as loudly as he could, not caring at the moment that he may be disturbing the peace. It was illogical at the moment for him to be here. Hell, it was illogical for him to show his face in public after what had happened, however he wasn’t in a logical head space at the moment. Perhaps you could forgive him that due to his age, or the circumstance, but undeniably it was a stupid idea.
And an idea that James had warned him against.
Well, James didn’t know how nasty Lily’s family could be, and unfortunately now Remus did. After a few moments he knocked again, and finally Petunia flung open the door.
“It’s the middle of the day what could you- oh my,” She gasps, her eyes trailing over the jagged scars on Remus’s face. Remus, unfazed, as he was not exactly looking for her to approve of him, offered her half a tight smile.
“I believe you know someone I am looking for,” Remus said. “I need to speak with Harry Potter,”
“You must be mistaken, no one by that name lives here,” she said.
“I’m quite sure I’m not,” Remus said. “Might I come in? It’s dreadfully cold out,”
Without waiting for an answer he pushed his way inside. Petunia looked flabbergasted at him, and within seconds had a claw-like grip on his shoulder, yanking him back forcefully.
“Just you wait, my husband is upstairs and he’ll-'' She started, as Remus slowly raised his hand, clutching his wand tightly. The words died in her throat, and she could only stare wide eyed at the magical piece of wood.
“I’m looking for Harry,” Remus repeated. “I believe you know where he is, would you be so kind as to help me find him?”
Petunia couldn’t get any words out for several long moments, before she raised a hand to her throat and let out a blood curdling scream, making Remus sigh.
“Look I really don’t have the time or the patience for-”
“Vernon! Vernon!” She screamed, probably disturbing the entire neighborhood.
“Would you kindly shut your mouth,” Remus asked, putting a hand to his head. However, his request fell on deaf ears, and before a moment had passed, Vernon came barreling down the stairs.
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” Vernon growled, storming twordes Remus with his hands outstretched.
“I’ll only be a moment,” Remus said, raising his hands to guard himself. “I would suggest you don’t attack me for both of our sakes,”
“And why the bloody hell wouldn’t I?” Vernon screamed.
“I’m here for a child,” Remus said. “And then I will be on my way,”
“You came here for our Dudley?” Petunia screeched.
“No, what could I possibly want with that gum drop of a child?” Remus asked, not feeling very kindly to the family at the time. “No, I am looking for Harry, he’s two years old, and I know he is logging at this address,”
“Petunia what’s all this fuss for, if he wants Harry let him take the bloody thing,” Vernon said. “It’s not as if I want him here,”
“Look at his hand,” Petunia stage whispered, her entire body trembling.
“Oh all this over a piece of useless wood,” Vernon said. “Follow me, I’ll give you the bastard,”
“Thank you,” Remus said with a scowl. He walked behind the round man into the living room, and to the stairwell, expecting him to go up the stairs, but instead he stopped at the crawl space underneath it.
Four large locks doned the outside of the door, and one by one, Vernon ondid each, snapping the door open with a speedy flick of his wrist. Inside, a dark and dirty closet with a few pillows and one or two toys came into view. The toys were all broken and gross, and the pillows were flat and stained.
“Get out here,” Vernon snapped, reaching into the far back corner and yanking out -much to Remus’s horror- a skinny dark haired boy with thick glasses. Harry didn’t make a peep the entire time, just flopping over, still as a doll, but staring at the men with huge glassy green eyes, the only tell that he was afraid was the widening of them when he saw Vernons huge grin.
“Take the rat,” Vernon said, literally throwing Harry at Remus.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Remus exclaimed, bending his knees as he caught Harry so as to not jolt him too badly. “And how exactly did he get in that closet, it’s all locked up,”
“Oh, you know kids,” Vernon said with a nasty face.
“Well…” Remus said, quite lost for words. He looked down again at the dirty child in his arms, who was holding deathly still, and looked back up. “I will need his clothing. Where is his room?”
“His room…” Vernon said, trailing off. “Oh- yes, his room. Follow me,”
Remus walked very carefully with the shell shocked baby, up their carpeted stairs and into their upstairs area. There were two bedrooms, and a study upstairs, and Vernon led him into the only kids room.
“Here’s old Harry's room,” Vernon said. “Take what you need and then get along,”
“Really?” Remus asked, bending down gently and picking up a shirt off the floor. “Harry wears a 3XL in toddlers?” He asked.
“Uh…”
“Vernon, exactly how stupid do you think I am?” Remus asked, standing to his full height with a mean glint in his eyes. “Because unless there’s something you aren't telling me… something is very wrong here,”
“I think you should be going now,” Vernon said.
White knuckling his wand, Remus though very very hard about cursing the cruel family, or at least threatening to until they told the truth, but as disappointing as it was, he needed to get Harry somewhere safe, and he needed to keep the peace as much as he could so there wasn’t to big a target on his back.
“You know what,” Remus said with a tight smile. “I just remembered, I think I have some clothing from a friend that would fit him perfectly, I’ll just use that,”
“Great idea,” Vernon said eagerly. “Yes, yes very good. You just be on your way now,”
Remus nodded, walking silently down the stairs. Vernon ran ahead of him, putting an arm around Petunia as he approached them. Before leaving however, Remus turned back to look at them.
“I’ll return some time later for the rest of his things,” Remus said. “Please, do us all a favor, don’t forget to find his things by then. I would hate to have more trouble,”
Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel, Harry safe in his grasp and walked with his head held down until he was safely out of sight from the house. All the while, Harry clung to him, but stayed completely silent, not making a single peep, and while Remus was grateful for the fact that he didn’t have to deal with it, he grew concerned for the kid as they walked.
“Come on bud, we’re going somewhere warm,” Remus said. “You’re shivering,”
-0-
“Okay, sorry this is going to sting a little buddy,” Remus said softly, taking out his wand as he looked at Harry in front of him. He’d taken off his clothing, save a unused diaper, the only clean and fitted thing on the poor kid. And even though the clothing that had been offered to him from Dudleys floor was clearly too large because Dudley was a… rounder child, Harry looked like he could easily have worn clothing for a newborn. His cheeks were hollow and every part of the kid was spindally and pointed, nothing like what such a young kid should look like.
On his side, where his ribs where visible through his pale skin, a huge bruise blossomed and his arm hung almost completely limp by it. His knees had scrapes and deep scars, and his arm had a large gash that hadn’t been dressed properly. After muttering a few exclamations Remus began reciting the spell, although he could do it without the words, they helped find him.
Harry had stayed silent up until this point, started whining almost like a dog as Remus’s healing spell started to fix the damage done to his little body. Over in the corner Remus recorded all the injuries that Harry had, as well as including a photo he took, to document everything, just in case. Having to write everything out was grueling and painful, just seeing how long the list was for such a young little kid.
“There you are,” Remus said, finally putting his wand down after a few excruciating minutes. “Feeling better now are we?”
Harry blinked up at him, not answering, but he looked better, and his arm didn’t hang so oddly. Now the only scare left on him was the small lightning bolt on his forehead, which was mostly hidden by his wild hair.
“I’ll tell you Harry, you look so much like your father it’s remarkable,” Remus said. “I bet you anything that I call Sirius and he says the same thing,”
“Si-us?” Harry repeated back, his head tilted slightly.
“Yes, Sirius,” Remus said with a smile. “So you can talk, you’ve just been holding out on me huh?”
“Si-us.” Harry repeated.
“Yes yes, good point, I should probably call him then shouldn’t I?” Remus said, and gently picked up a mirror on the side of his end table.
It was an item that Sirius had gotten his hands on early into his imprisonment, who knows how, and he’d spent the first month desperately trying to call Remus to explain what had happened. Although Remus had dutifully ignored him, finally his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he decided to hear Sirius out. Sirius had talked for almost three hours, explaining every painful detail with astonishing accuracy, all the while trying to not break down crying, and that, coupled with some of his own research, had led Remus to believe his friend, besides, the press’s story never really made any sense to him.
“Where have you been?” Sirius’s voice boomed through the mirror. “Moony, I’ve called you like eight hundred times I am so damn bored in this place,”
“Serius, I may have made a mistake,” Remus said carefully.
“What’d you do?” Sirius asked. “Eat someone alive?”
“Full moon isn’t for a week and a half,” Remus chuckled. “And no,”
“Then what? Blow up a building? Steal a child?”
“Funny you should mention that,” Remus said.
“...what,”
“I stole Harry-”
“Fucking what-”
“Let me finish!” Remus said. “Let me finish,”
“What the hell how- why did you- he was safe at-”
“No he wasn’t,” Remus said coolly.
“What?”
“Dude let me finish,” Remus said. “So I was trying to check up on Harry, because I promised myself I would, and so I was trying to find a way to subtly look into their house-”
“Remus-”
“Shut up,” Remus said quickly, trying to get the story out. “Now I didn’t really have any means to do it with magic, aside from actually breaking and entering, so I got a muggle camera and recorded everything for about a week,”
“That’s-”
“Illegal, I know,” Remus said. “But I wasn’t going to do anything with it, just make sure Harry was okay. But he wasn’t. I mean, Sirius, they beat him with anything they can find, no one feeds him anything that shouldn’t be in a rubbish bin, it was fucking awful to watch it. And all the while poor Harry just stood there and took it, he never cried or anything. I watched him once try and give his aunt a hug, and she turned around and bashed his head against the wall. I couldn’t leave him there, what else was I supposed to do? It’s not like I wanted someone else to take him, who knows who he would have ended up with,”
“Bloody hell Moony,”
“Sirius the way that they screamed at this kid literally made my blood run cold. I wasn’t just upset, I don’t know if he would have made it living there. Reminds me more of your family than anything, but at least yours fed and clothed you. When I got there, he was locked in a bloody closet. I couldn’t believe it. I had to book it out in order to keep from hexing them both,”
“Moony, it isn’t safe-”
“He’s got his mothers spell, you know that, he’ll be fine if they come back,” Remus said. “And even though he’s a bit behind other kids I keep seeing him move things with his mind, he’ll be casting spells before his next birthday at his rate, intentionally or not,”
“I’m not quite as worried about Harry,” Sirius said. “You’ve had a big enough target on your own back mate, they’ll be after you-”
“I don’t care for my own safety,” Remus said. “If they kill me Harry will go live at Hogwarts I’m sure. Minerva wouldn’t send him back there. I might need you to write her and explain but-”
“Okay Mooney, listen- and I know, this is a crazy idea but hear me out- I don’t want you to die. Like specifically you, I would like to see continuing to live,”
“You’re awful annoying, you know that,” Remus said. “And so I was thinking- oh- bloody hell, he’s trying to eat a candle, I’ll call you back later Pads,”
“No need,” Sirius said.
“What-” Remus looked back in confusion at the mirror, but before he could get any questions in, Sirius was already hanging up.
“I’ll talk to you soon!” Sirius said cheerfully, before hanging up the mirror. Remus blinked at the mirror in confusion for a moment, but decided it wasn’t worth the thought as he grabbed the candle away from Harry. Harry stared at him with huge glassy eyes full of tears and made another grabby motion for the candle wax, which he had taken a bite out of already.
“Are you hungry buddy?” Remus asked, trying to smooth Harry's unmanageable hair. “Wanna find something to eat?”
Harry just looked at him in confusion, blinking at him, before trying to grab the candle back again. Remus blew out the candle and picked Harry up, walking into his kitchen.
He lived in a small old house that was freezing cold 90% of the time, and the rest of the time unbearably humid. It wasn’t well insulated, or insulated at all really, and the wood had started to rot about 80 years ago. But it was safe, and it had multiple extra rooms, one of which he could dedicate to the small child in his arms.
Oddly enough, out of his friends, he was the least nurturing when Harry came around. Of course James was, it was his kid, and Sirius was basically a second James, always holding Harry and trying to teach him to talk, even at a month old. And Peter had babysat when no one else would, but despite being close with Lily, Remus never offered to hold Harry, and only actually spent time alone with the kid when he had to. Not because of a lack of affection, but because he was such a delicate little child, and Remus was perpetually afraid of injuring him. He still felt that way, but at least Harry could hold his head up this time.
Then again, last time Remus held him he was a happy baby, not a malnourished toddler covered in dirt and bruises.
“I don’t really know what kids eat, little guy,” Remus said, opening his bare fridge. “Are you too young for bananas?” When he took the banana out of the fridge Harry made a grabbing motion for it, so Remus assumed it was okay. Muttering a spell under his breath, he had a knife chop the banana while he found peanut butter buried in his fridge.
“Here, sorry about the paper plate,” Remus said, offering Harry the banana and peanut butter. Harry stared at it for a minute, and then looked at Remus, and pointed to himself.
“Yes Harry, that’s for you,” Remus said. “Eat up,”
“Me?” Harry asked, outloud this time, making Remus smile.
“Yes you,” Remus said, pointing at Harry. “You’re Harry,”
“Me Harry,” Harry said. “Me eat?”
“Yes, eat up,” Remus said. Harry looked back at the plate, confused.
“Here, try like this,” Remus said, gently picking up a piece of banana with peanut butter on it, and putting it in Harry's hand. “Put that in your mouth,”
Harry slowly did so, and seemed to light up a little bit at the food. He quickly put another piece in his mouth, and giggled with happiness.
“Careful, don’t go too fast,” Remus said, holding his tiny hands to keep him from shoveling all the food in. “You can eat it all, but if you’re too fast you’ll choke. Understand?”
“Me eat?” Harry asked, confused, his mouth still full of banana.
“Harry ate slowly,” Remus reiterated.
“Me eat… slow,”
“Yes, very good,” Remus said. “Now you can have another piece of banana,” Harry very cautiously put another piece in his mouth, grinning with delight.
“Yum,” Harry said with a giggle.
“Is the food yummy?” Remus asked, smiling at him. Harry nodded his head, making his hair flop into his face. “Aw, I’m glad,”
“This ananana,” Harry said, pointing to the banana.
“Yes, that's a banana,” Remus said. “Ba-na-na,”
“Banana Nahm” Harry said, making Remus laugh.
“Okay, close enough,” He said with a smile.
“Ah ananana,” Harry said, pointing to the banana.
“Ba-na-na,”
“Ananana,”
“Good job,” Remus said, making Harry give him a huge grin. Harry whispered the word softly to himself a few times, before laughing again and sticking a piece in his mouth. “Okay, finish up and then I’ll get you cleaned up, alright?”
“Ananana,”
Harry’s speech was behind what it should have been, but Remus wasn’t exactly shocked that the Dursleys didn’t sit there with flash cards trying to teach him, he could only hope that Harry would catch up quickly.
-0-
Remus had managed to get most of the dirt off of Harry with a wet washcloth, and while he was scrubbing Harry had somehow managed to fall asleep on the counter top, seeming completely content, and simultaneously trapping Remus by lying on his hand. Although he contemplated not moving at all, Remus eventually decided that it was better to put Harry in something bed-like, and ended up tucking him in on the sofa with a throw blanket.
Not a second later, a coyote howl pierced the air, making Remus jump. Harry, miraculously, slept through it, but the howling didn’t stop. Sighing in annoyance, Remus walked over to his window, intending to pull it closed, when he caught a glimpse at what was responsible for the noise.
Much to his concern, it was not a coyote outside his house, but a large black shaggy dog, looking a little bit worse for the wear, but still distinctly mischievous, paced around the perimeter of his yard, howling as loud as he could.
“Bloody hell,” Remus muttered to himself. He shut the window and pulled open his front door, scowling. “Padfoot that better not be you,” The dog wagged its tail, and did a little jump that Remus unfortunately recognised. “What is- ugh, get inside. Now.”
Without waiting to be told twice, the dog bounded into his living room and shook the dirt off of his coat, making Remus wince. He shut the door, and by the time he was able to look back, Sirius had taken the dog's place.
“You are supposed to be in jail,” Remus said in a strained voice.
“Okay but you know that I shouldn’t be!” Sirius said. “You don’t think it was my fault do you?”
“No,” Remus said. “But that doesn't matter, they do,”
“Oh, good, glad you’re such a law abiding citizen moony,” Sirius said. “It sure would be a shame if you did something illegal today-”
“You’re going to wake Harry up,” Remus said, making a face at him.
“Where is he?” Sirius asked, softening his voice in a way that made Remus smile.
“On the sofa,” Remus said, pointing behind Sirius. “He’s only been asleep a few minutes,”
“Sorry,” Sirius sighed.
“Don’t be, I think he’d sleep through a hurricane,” Remus said. “...how did you get here so quickly?”
“I was able to fit through the bars in my cell as a dog,” Sirius said. “I couldn’t when they first got me but I figured out a few months ago that I could, didn’t care to do it until now,”
“Right, of course,” Remus said. “You sit here with Harry for a second, I’ll be right back, alright?”
“Where are you going?” Sirius asked, concerned.
“No where, I just need to grab a few things around the house,” Remus said.
“Oh, alright then,” Sirius said, and very contentedly plopped himself down on the carpet to look at Harry, not seeming to mind his dirty matted hair or his torn clothing.
He looked at Harry with the purest amount of love a person could, it was obvious from the moment he’d meet the little boy that Sirius would do anything for him, including sit on the hardwood floor in Remus’s drafty house to make sure the kid didn’t roll off of Remus’s sofa in his sleep. By the time Remus had gotten back, he found Harry awake again, staring wide eyed at Sirius, although he didn’t seem scared.
“Si-us,” Harry said, pointing.
“Moony, he knows my name!” Sirius said gleefully. “He couldn’t talk last time I saw him!”
“I know, crazy isn’t it,” Remus said, smiling.
“I can’t believe how big he is either,” Sirius said, looking in wonder at the little boy. “He’s like an entire person now. Before he was just a kind of raisin,”
“Kids grow fast,” Remus commented, although Sirius comments pained him slightly. It was a hard contrast to show just how much they had lost. Almost two years sense they had all been together. “I put some clothing in the bathroom for you, if you wanna shower and change,”
“What are you talking about, this is peak fashion,” Sirius said, posing in the tattered robes.
“Well at least your humor survived,” Remus said with a smile. “And go comb your hair out, it looks awful,”
“My hair looks fabulous,”
“It’s a bird's nest,” Remus said, rolling his eyes. “I’m going to go find some better blankets for Harry, he keeps shivering. If i’m not here when you get back you can eat anything in the kitchen,”
“I would have anyways,” Sirius called, already halfway upstairs.
“Yeah- I know,”
It was amazing how quickly they fell into old patterns, even after almost two years, even with everything so different. Remus waited until his friend was all the way upstairs and he could hear the water running to pick Harry up and go in search of a blanket.
“Si-us,” Harry muttered, looking upstairs.
“Yeah, Sirius went upstairs,” Remus said.
“Mooey,” Harry said, this time poking Remus in the face.
“What?” Remus asked with a smile.
“Mooey,” Harry said again, poking Remus.
“Did Sirius teach you that?” Remus asked, already knowing the answer.
“Mooey,” Harry repeated, helpfully, with another poke.
“Of course he did. He’s been back for five minutes and he’s already causing trouble,” He said with an affectionate grin. “I’m Remus,”
“Mooey,”
“Remus,”
“No,” Harry said with a scowl. “Mooey,”
“I- okay, that’s fine for now,” Remus said, shrugging. “Come on, lets try and find you something to keep you warm,”
-0-
Remus shockingly didn’t have any baby clothing lying around, but he wrapped Harry up in another wool blanket and tucked him back into the sofa by the time that Sirius was out of the shower. His hair was still quite tangled, but it at least wasn’t so bad, and the dirt was off of him. Harry was sound asleep within seconds, he didn’t seem at all bothered by the noises around him, and easily drifted off.
“Finally,” Remus said as Sirius entered. “Took you long enough,”
“You try washing a year's worth of dirt off with off brand soap moony,” sirius said, laughing.
“Well maybe if you spent more than three minutes in the shower before you were captured you would know how to wash more effectively,” Remus said. “And leave my soap choice alone you bastard,”
“Good to see you’re still as uptight as always,” Sirius said, laughing.
“Oh shut your face,” Remus said. “Go get something to eat, you look like a skeleton,”
“Gee, thanks,” Sirius said.
“For real mate, I can count your ribs through that shirt,” Remus said. “And before you couldn’t even fit in my clothes,”
“Hey I don’t need much convincing,” Sirius said, walking into the kitchen. Remus was about to follow, but after eyeing Sirius’s hair, which normally he had paid constant attention to, Remus instead quickly ran upstairs.
“Hey where did you go-” Sirius asked, seeing Remus return from upstairs into the living room. Sirius had seemingly grabbed whatever he could find, and was eating two protein bars, a banana, and a lump of cheese.
“Sit on the floor,” Remus instructed. Sirius cautiously did as he was told, sitting where Remus had pointed. Remus sat cross legged in the chair behind him, pulling a hair brush out of his pocket. “Hold still,”
“Aw, you’re grooming me,” Sirius remarked with a smile. “Just two canines bonding together- ow!”
“Yeah I’ve got your hair in my hands, you better hush,” Remus said with a grin.
“Sadist,”
“Oh you’re fine,” Remus said, gently raking the comb through his hair.
Despite his complaints, after he finished scarfing down his food Sirius quickly relaxed against the chair as Remus worked on his hair, letting his friend work out the impressively matted knots. Sirius’s hair had a tendency to matte even when he took care of it, so it was no surprise to anyone that it had basically turned into a giant tangle over the past year. As Remus brushed, clumps of dirt and dust were finally freed. Although after the shower it was closer to mud than dirt.
“I want to know how you got a bone in your hair,” Remus said in horror, holding up what looked like a mouse’s femer.
“I don’t know man,'' Sirius said. “I slept on the floor, I probably fell asleep on a skeleton,”
“Oh,” Remus said. “Was it as bad in there as it seems?” Remus asked carefully.
“I got used to it after a few months,” Sirius said. “I kinda had to, you could see the people who didn’t- or hear them I guess,”
“Must have been horrible,” Remus said. Sirius shrugged, keeping his eyes fixed on the coffee table.
“Was a lot better after you sent me the mirror,” He said. “Talking to you pretty much kept me sane. You know, you just adjust to what you have to,”
“I guess,” Remus said. “I don’t know, I don’t think i would have made it,”
“Oh sure you would have,” Sirius scoffed. “I would rather spend a month in there then be you on a full moon,”
“Haha,” Remus said dully.
“Besides, my parents prepared me well to be in prison, at least no one tried to make me marry my cousin,”
“Sirius,”
“What it’s true,” Sirius said, laughing again.
Remus chuckled, slightly uncomfortably, and continued to work on the matted hair. Sirius continued to talk cheerfully with Remus, but after a few minutes his energy clearly started waning, and even though he kept up the conversation he was almost asleep sitting up.
“You should go sleep in my bed, I’m going to stay down here for a while to make sure Harry’s okay,” Remus said. “Tomorrow I’ll get one of the spare rooms cleared out,”
“I’m not stealing your bed, I’ll sleep down here,” Sirius said.
“Absolutely not,” Remus said.
“No no, if I turn into a dog the floor isn’t so bad-”
“I’m sorry you spent about a year in jail, sleeping on stone floors, you take the damn bed Padfoot,”
“But it’s your bed,” Sirius said.
“Yes, and it’s my house and my food. Doesn't mean you can’t still use it,” Remus said.
“Nope, I’m sleeping down here,” Sirius said. “I’ll go to sleep now, in fact,”
“Well I was going to sleep down here anyway, so no matter what you do I won’t be in my bed,” Remus said, crossing his arms.
“Really? You’ve intended to sleep down here all day?”
“Yes, yes I have,”
“Mooney-” Sirius started, looking both amused and highly annoyed.
“Nope, I’m not arguing this with you,” Remus said. “Go up and go to bed, you look like you got hit by a truck,”
“At least my hair is beautiful,” Sirius said, flipping his overgrown hair dramatically.
“Yeah you’re welcome, by the way,” Remus said, laughing.
“So I guess I’ll… go upstairs,” Sirius said, picking up his plate.
“Yeah, I’ll take care of that,” Remus said, taking the dish. “Go sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,”
“...yeah, alright then,” Sirius said, smiling at him, before turning and walking upstairs.
“Try not to shed on my bed,” Remus called after him, making Sirius laugh.
After handling Sirius’s dish, Remus walked back into the living room and started putting away anything that had been left out. He was too amped up to sleep, but he also didn’t want to leave Harry alone, just in case anything happened.
It wasn’t until he’d folded every unused blanket and double checked all his books had been put away that he was finally able to sit down and for a second. With a hand propping up his head, he watched as Harry slept, taking in small breaths so his chest barely moved. More than once he went over and checked to make sure that he was breathing alright.
Harry looked so small on the sofa. Not just small as any child would, but small in that he seemed to be completely drowning in blankets. The light in the room was provided only by the moon, and the pale light made Harry look worse than he did before. Even still, his pale skin was a few shades lighter than it should have been, and he looked ill. And that was ignoring the obvious injuries he’d healed when they arrived. It made Remus sick to think about what had happened to him at the Dursleys, and worse, what would have continued to happen. He could only hope that Harry was young enough to not remember.
And that he could give him a better life here.
-0-
Sirius couldn’t sleep.
Well, no, maybe that wasn’t it. He didn’t want to sleep.
No, not quite.
Well either way, he wasn’t asleep. He was sitting there and diligently waiting for the clock to hit 5 so he could get up and start making food for everyone. Even though he’d expected to fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, the moment he was alone in the darkness again, the comfort of the bed would do nothing to ease his nerves. He spent most of the night practicing different spells, trying to make sure he wasn’t too rusty. Finally, the first rays of sun started to peak over the clouds, and he eagerly got out of bed.
No amount of sleep deprivation could have curbed his enthusiasm to be in this house right now. With Remus and Harry. He tried not to dwell on the ‘why’ they were there, and stayed focused on the moment they were in, because finally it was one he wasn’t fixated on escaping.
As he snuck down the stairs, he was greeted with little Harry, sitting bolt upright on the sofa, his huge green eyes darting around the room. Intrigued, Sirius walked closer to the boy, catching his eye. Harry froze, not moving an inch, but staring wide eyed as Sirius calmly walked closer to the boy. Very gently, Sirius raised his hands, so that Harry could see them, and made his way to the sofa.
“Early morning huh?” Sirius whispered softly. Harry didn’t move, just kept staring at him. “I’m going to cook something, if Mooney’s got any food left. Do you wanna come into the kitchen with me?”
Harry didn’t say anything, so Sirius shook his head, patting the kids back quickly, before making his way into the kitchen. The second he left however, Harry slid down off the sofa and walked over to Sirius, standing directly behind him.
“Oh, fancy seeing you here,” Sirius said, laughing quietly. “Come here, little man,”
With that, Sirius lifted Harry and placed him on the counter top. Harry, with his ragged clothing and bedhead, looked completely bewildered at being placed up so high, and he stared at Sirius, either confused or concerned.
“Okay, let’s see,” Sirius said, walking over to the fridge. “Do you like eggs Harry? Yes or no?”
“What egg?” Harry asked in a sleepy voice. Sirius held up one of the eggs he’d found, and Harry just looked at it.
“You know, eggs,” Sirius said. “You can scramble them, you can boil them, you can fry them, you can make… other things… I think,”
Harry shrugged, and continued to stare blankly at Sirius.
“You gotta help me out here bud,” Sirius said. Predictably, Harry did nothing, leaving Sirius to his own devices foodwise. Sirius decided to play it safe with scrambled eggs. and toast for all three of them, and he only caught one thing on fire (an improvement from the last time he cooked for Remus).
“Uh oh,” Harry said, pointing to the toaster, which was smoking violently.
“Aw fuck me-” Sirius said, running over and trying to put out the fire with a dishcloth. He managed to beat it out, but the toast, and possibly the toaster, was ruined. “Aw shit, uh, okay Harry are you okay?” Harry didn’t say or do anything, so Sirius took that as a yes as he moved the smoking toaster into the sink.
“What happened here?” Remus’s sleepy voice made Sirius jump, as he turned around apprehensive to look at Remus. “Pads, did you light something on fire?”
“Nooo,” Sirius said. “Out of curiosity only, that toaster wasn’t sentimental or anything, was it?”
“Did you catch anything else on fire?” Remus asked, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Everything inside the toaster,”
“...good clarification,” Remus said. “Okay just- Harry don’t do that,” He said, grabbing the toddler, who was trying to get off the counter himself, leading him to dangle off the edge.
“Sorry,” Harry said quietly, staring at Remus, setting him down on the ground.
“Toaster aside, I made food,” Sirius said, gesturing to the eggs. “Well… I made eggs, the toast didn’t quite go as planned,”
“What time is it?” Remus asked.
“Don’t worry about that-”
“Sirius, why are you cooking eggs at five in the morning?” Remus asked, looking at his watch.
“Uh…” Sirius said, staring at Remus without answering the question. Remus stood there, waiting as he held Harry, until it was clear that Sirius wasn’t going to say anything.
“Okay, you take Harry and go eat your eggs,” Remus said.
“Look, I finished the dishes and stuff too,” Sirius said, gesturing to the clean sink. “Toaster aside,”
“Well… that’s great actually,” Remus said tiredly, turning around. “Thank you,”
“You’re welcome!” Sirius said chipperly. Remus, turning back, squinted as Sirius suspiciously. “What?”
“You’re being way too energetic,” Remus said, furrowing his brow. “It’s 5 in the morning, you should be more tired,”
“I’m a morning person,” Sirius defended.
“That’s bullshit,” Remus said. Sirius sometimes forgot the disadvantages of knowing someone since you were 11. Remus opened his mouth to say something else, but whatever it was got cut off by Harry’s piercing scream, startling both of them.
“What happened?” Sirius asked, darting over to Harry at the same time as Remus did.
“I don’t know,” Remus said, kneeling down. “Harry? What’s wrong?”
Harry stopped screaming as soon as they ran over, but looked at them with hugy teary eyes, one tiny hand holding onto his other arm, and his mouth pressed tight. Remus and Sirius exchanged a look of concern, before turning their attention back to the kid.
“Harry, I’m going to pick you up, alright?” Remus asked. Harry didn’t say anything, so Remus scooped the toddler up, holding him tightly. Sirius stood with them, looking at the young child with worry.
“Buddy, can you tell me what’s wrong?” Sirius asked. Harry shook his head firmly, still not opening his mouth.
“Sirius,” Remus said slowly. “Look at his arm,”
“What about his- oh,”
Harry’s skinny arm had a huge bruise all the way from his elbow to his shoulder, that was varying shades of purple and green. Harry’s tiny hand covered the darkest parts, but from what they could see it looked intense and painful.
“Harry, what happened?” Remus asked, gently setting the boy on the countertop so they could see his arm better. “When did you get hurt?” Harry didn’t say anything, just blinking at them with huge eyes, allowing a few tears to fall.
“You don’t think the Dursleys did that, do you?” Sirius asked darkly.
“I healed him when he came, he had much worse injuries,” Remus said.
“Was a bone broken? Or something like that?” sirius asked. “Sometimes even if you heal it the area will swell,”
“That must be it, he hasn’t fallen or anything,” Remus said, gently taking Harry’s arm so he could look at it. “This arm was hanging oddly before,”
“How does a bloody two year old get their arm broken?” Sirius asked.
“What do you think?” Remus said. “He was literally locked in a closet when I found him,”
“You don’t think that the Dursleys were this bad, do you?” Sirius asked.
“If I didn’t then I wouldn’t have taken him,” Remus said.
“I’m going to fucking kill them,” Sirius said darlky, looking at the damaged arm.
“I don’t need you going back to jail for murder. Again,” Remus said.
“Look at his arm-” Sirius said, gesturing dramatically at Harry’s injury.
“I see the bloody arm Pads,” Remus snapped. “He’s still in better shape than when I found him. It’s not like hurting the Dursleys will help him at all, in fact it’ll only hurt when you get taken back to prison,”
“So we just do nothing then?” Sirius asked. “That’s not right,”
“Well not nothing,” Remus said. “We keep Harry here, safe, and we try and stay here with him for as long as we can,”
“Alright, alright. Fine,” Sirius said.
“Good,” Remus said. “Now would you please go get me an ice pack from the freezer?”
“Why not just use magic,”
“I’ve used two healing spells on him in the last 24 hours,” Remus said. “He’s barely two years old, if I use another spell it could overload his system,”
“That’s a thing?” Sirius asked.
“Yeah, happened to me a few times, not very fun,” Remus said. “And on someone as small as Harry, it could cause his system to just continue healing, it would confuse his brain and essentially cause a metastasis outbreak,”
“That sounds… I don’t know half of those words,” Sirius said, shaking his head.
“I- really? Half?”
“Leave me alone Moony, I didn’t pay attention in class,” Sirius said.
“Yeah, I know, I was there,”
“Wait but really, what does that mean?” Sirius asked. “Talk to me like I’m stupid,”
“So like normal?” Remus asked, making Sirius make a horrified face. “It would basically give him temporary cancer. We could eventually cure it but it would be excruciating,”
“Definitely don’t wanna do that,” Sirius said.
“Yeah I agree0”
“Mooey,” Harry said, startling both of them.
“Oh my gosh is that what he calls you?” Sirius said. “That’s the cutest shit ever,”
“Ay don’t swear around him,” Remus said, picking Harry up, being very careful of his arm. “He seems to copy everything you say,”
“No he doesn't,” Sirius defended.
“No he doesn't,” Harry repeated.
“...oh,” Sirius said, “sorry?”
“Look, I’m going to change into normal clothing,” Remus said tiredly, handing Harry over to Sirius. “You take care of him, and try not to light anything else on fire, okay?”
“...yeah,” Sirius said, gingerly holding the injured child. Remus tried to take a step away, but Harry darted his hand out, grabbing onto Remus's sweater.
“Mooey no,” Harry said, tightening his fist on the clothing.
“I’ll be right back, Harry,” Remus said.
“Mooey no go,” Harry said again, pulling the most dramatic puppy dog eyes ever seen.
“I’ll walk him upstairs with you,” Sirius offered.
“Good idea,” Remus said.
They walked single file up the creaky stairs, Sirius holding onto the distressed Harry. The upstairs of Remus’s house was only slightly warmer than the downstairs, meaning that you could barely see your breath up there, but it was an improvement they all welcomed. Harry was, for some reason, much calmer about watching Remus walk into his bathroom to change then he was about him leaving the kitchen, and allowed for the man to leave without putting up a fight.
Remus was only gone for a minute at most, just long enough to change and brush his teeth, but by the time he came back into his bedroom both Sirius and Harry had somehow managed to fall asleep on his bed. Making a mental note to change the sheets as he watched Harry drool on them, he grabbed his book and some parchment of the nightstand and contented himself to sit calmly and wait for them to wake up.
At least, he thought to himself, this was better then where Harry had been, right? They sure as hell wouldn’t be hurting the kid, and it couldn’t be that much worse here with them. By the end of today Remus and Sirius would clean out the spare room and get him an actual place to sleep, and they fed him and everything here. Surley, having himself and Sirius wasn’t as bad as the Dursleys, it couldn't be.
As Remus was thinking, spinning a quill in his hand, Harry lifted his head briefly, staring at him sleepily, before crawling over and laying his head in Remus’s lap, one tiny fist grabbing onto Remus’s hand as he curled around him tightly.
“Night night Mooey,”
The bedroom did not get cleaned that day.