average human’s Reviews > Polyjuice > Status Update

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Sirius said, coming out of the bedroom with a large gift wrapped package in his arms. “I had to make sure Harry’s gift was wrapped, didn’t I?”

“No,” Remus sighed fondly. “You really didn’t.”

Especially since the last thing Harry needed was a ‘thanks for the mischief’ gift Sirius got him in exchange for the tears of laughter he’d shed over the bottled memory Minerva sent them.

“Course I did,” Sirius snagged his jacket on and stuck his hands in the leather pockets. “Every junior Marauder needs one. Ready Rem?”

Remus shook his head but accepted Sirius’ outstretched hand.

“Let’s go counsel my godson,” Sirius laughed.

Remus still had his reservations about trying to counsel Harry after a crash course in muggle psychology over the summer, but he could easily admit that he understood why Severus would want him to begin trying at least. If nothing else, Remus hoped he could be a listening ear to any of Harry’s current fears or concerns.

Not that he thought Harry would admit to being afraid or concerned, but maybe Remus could find a way to wheedle some information from the reticent teen.

They quickly walked hand in hand towards the Three Broomsticks, where they had planned on meeting Harry and his friend. The two of them were about to enter the building when Remus held his open hand up to stop Sirius.

“Hey, hold on...” he took a deep breath to try and identify the smell that had stopped him and grimaced when he realized what it was.

“Someone’s hurt,” he whispered. “I can smell blood.”

Sirius dropped Remus’ hand and pulled his wand out immediately. He followed behind Remus as he led him around the corner of the pub, towards the back of the alley where the smell was coming from.

As they approached Remus could make out three figures and snippets of the conversation.

“...I’m not fuckin’ playing with you, am I?”

“... I don’t have it! I swear!”

“... I would get it quick then.”

“Harry?”

Harry, because it was Harry, spun around and blinked at Remus even as he held a knife to a man’s throat.

... a knife to a man’s throat?!

This actually wasn’t that shocking given all he’d learned and seen of Harry before now.

“What the hell is going on here?” Sirius cried. “Harry are you okay?”

Sirius apparently missed the fact that Harry was holding a knife to a man’s throat. A bleeding man.

... Merlin.

Ludo Bagman.

A ministry worker.

“Just talking to my friend,” Harry said brightly. His companion turned around and Remus was now the one blinking at Susan Bones.

Sadly, it also wasn’t that shocking that she was holding another knife to Ludo Bagman’s stomach. Susan Bones was a vicious thing that hid behind saccharine tones and courteous manners. She was also fiercely loyal to Harry and Remus personally thought the red-headed girl would easily kill someone if she thought it would protect Harry.

Which would be a fine sentiment to have in a friend if it weren’t so unsettling.

“It’s fine,” Ludo gasped. “We’re just talking.”

“Harry, Merlin, put the knife down,” Sirius groaned, just now putting the picture together apparently. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Harry said casually, the silver blade still lodged firmly against Ludo’s neck. “Bagman owes my friend some money and we were talking about a repayment plan, yeah?” he glared at Ludo.

“Yeah... yes... yes, I’m going to get the money,” Luda said, his eyes flicking back and forth between Harry and Susan.

“Put him down!” Remus said sharply. “Ludo are you alright?”

“Fine,” Ludo lied, he was bleeding quite heavily from a gash on his cheek. “Just an accident. Nothing to worry about.”

“Not an accident, a misunderstanding,” Susan corrected him sweetly.

“Well I think he understands now.” Harry retracted his knife back to a holster Remus could see peeking out beneath his robes on his forearm and raised his brows at Ludo. “Yeah?”

“Yes.” Bagman scrambled to his feet and quickly stepped away from the children. “I’ll have the first payment by the twenty-fourth.”

“See that you do,” Susan said in honestly what was the politest tone Remus had ever heard. “Because we know where you work.”

“And where you live,” Harry added in an absolutely not polite tone.

“Shut up,” Sirius hissed. “Merlin, Harry.”

Harry and Susan stepped to the side so Ludo could get between them- and Ludo ran from the alley as quickly as he could, a thin but steady trickle of blood trailing behind him.

“Why would you do that?!” Sirius asked them. “You could be arrested! He works for the ministry!”

“Pft, he’s not going to arrest us,” Harry scoffed. “Worst case scenario is he calls the Aurors, we deny it, he says it was us, then we tell them he owes us 1346 Galleons because he made a bet with minors and he loses his job. I’ll walk away from it because I’ve got a good lawyer and I’m famous, Sue will walk away because I’ll loan her my lawyer and her aunt runs the law enforcement.”

“1800 Galleons,” Susan grinned at Harry as she handed him the red handled pocket knife she had. “Interest, remember? Plus the Minister likes us.”

“Oh yeah,” Harry laughed, which set Susan off in to a peal of giggles. Remus and Sirius just gaped at them, both slack jawed and shaken.

“Is this the wizard mafia?!” Remus eventually cried, unable to hold his exasperation in any longer.

“What’s a mafia?” Sirius asked him just as Harry beamed and nodded his head.

“They’re like a gang only they do more money stuff than crimes,” Harry said eagerly, which Remus wasn’t actually sure if it was true or not. He’d only seen the one muggle film about the mafia back in the 80’s with Lily and Peter, but the mafia had seemed like criminals to him, and certainly not something Harry should be aspiring for.

“Let’s just get inside before your godson stabs anyone else or gets arrested,” Remus groaned. “Susan, will you be joining us?”

“Of course,” Susan smiled at them but Remus didn’t think he was imagining the threat in her eyes.

Of course.



Remus and Sirius sent each other a bewildered look as they followed behind the two children to the Three Broomsticks entrance.

Children who just cut open a man’s face over a bit of gold.

Well... 1800, or even 1346, Galleons was more than ‘a bit’ of gold. But probably still less than what Lucius Malfoy would charge to defend Harry and Susan in two criminal assault cases.

Harry led them through the pub, strutting confidently to a booth in a back corner. He stood to the side and let Susan slide in first before he took a seat on the end and his eyes flicked around the pub a few times. Remus and Sirius quickly sat across from them and they both faltered at starting a conversation.

What do you say to the teenagers who you just found assaulting a man with a knife?

“How’s life?” Sirius apparently found something to say, which wasn’t a big shock since Sirius hates silence even more now that he’s free from Azkaban than he did before. It did seem a bit casual considering the predicament they just found the duo in, but apparently Sirius was planning on ignoring their assault with deadly weapons in favor of faking normalcy.

“Fine,” Harry shrugged.

“Here Pup, this is for you.” Sirius slid his package across the table to Harry and smiled at him, his excitement at his ridiculous purchase for his godson returning.

Remus was still puzzling over the assault.

“Why?” Harry looked bemused by the oddly wrapped package.

“It’s a thank you gift,” Sirius explained, his grey eyes were sparkling with the joy that only Harry can bring to him. “Minnie sent me a memory of you trying to enter your name in the goblet and I haven’t laughed that hard in years. Whose idea was the lasso?”

“Theo’s,” Susan smiled genuinely at Sirius. “Hermione made him watch a muggle film about cowboys and he was dying to try it out.”

“Wicked,” Sirius chuckled while Harry cautiously unwrapped the package.

“What the fuck,” Harry let out a bark of laughter when he held up a black leather jacket that was the perfect replica of Sirius’ own. “What’s this then?”

“It’s a time honored tradition,” Sirius said with mock solemnity. “Your attack on the Goblet has proven you to be a true marauder and as such you needed the official jacket.”

Harry glanced at Remus for a moment before sharing a smirk with Susan.

“You’re telling me that you, my Dad, Pettigrew, and Lupin all had leather jackets?”

Remus would have been offended that Harry thought he couldn’t pull off a leather jacket if Harry wasn’t absolutely correct. Not only did he look silly in Sirius’ jacket, but the thick leather would never replace the comfort of a thick cardigan.

“Nope,” Sirius admitted easily. “Only me. Your Dad said I looked like a git, Rem refused to wear one because he’s not cool, and Pettigrew would have looked like a tosser in one.”

Harry surprisingly let out another laugh and pulled the jacket on.

“You look brilliant,” Susan assured him. “Much better than Black does,” she added with a small grin.

“Thanks,” Harry told her before saluting Sirius half heartedly. “I’m not gonna fuckin’ prank anyone, but I do like this jacket.”

“Pranks are old news,” Sirius waved his hand airily. “The new news is the Triwizard Tournament. Are you worried? The first task is coming up,” he said seriously.

“I’m not worried,” Harry sat up and grinned at his godfather. “Mione reckons we’ll have to fight a Wendigo, wouldn’t that be amazing?”

“No,” Sirius sputtered. “No it wouldn’t. Merlin Pup. Wendigo are impossible to kill.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Harry shrugged again and the silence became tense until Remus offered to get them drinks.

When he returned with four butterbeers, the conversation was flowing a little more easily between Sirius and Susan as the witch chatted with Sirius about the changes her aunt had incorporated in to the aurors department.

“I read that the other students aren’t being very supportive of your place as a champion,” Remus said lightly to Harry as the other two carried on their conversation. “I guess they aren’t happy about you being in the tournament?”

“That’s an understatement,” Harry snorted. “But I think we’re changing their minds.”

“I bet you are.” Remus thought of the graffiti on his classroom door and Harry and Susan holding knives to a grown wizard. “How are you guys handling that?”

Harry gave him an odd look before he smirked and glanced at Susan. Susan quit talking with Sirius for a moment and smirked back at Harry. They looked oddly like Sirius and James used to when they were plotting a new prank or spectacle.

Well... maybe if Sirius and James had been little budding assassins with mafia aspirations that is. Remus had never been so glad that Sirius’ dream job used to always be Hit Wizard.

“Through a strong offense,” Harry said slyly. “It’s hard to wear buttons saying I suck when they keep catching on fire, isn’t it?”

Sirius roared with laughter, drawing more than a few sets of eyes towards them.

“Severus has his hands full, doesn’t he?” Remus unwittingly chuckled, he’d never felt so bad for Severus before in his life. “How are things besides that? Is it interesting having Moody as a Professor?”

Harry and Susan talked about their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes they’d had so far. It was rather jarring to see them behaving like any other student enjoying their weekend off when not an hour ago they were shaking a man down in an alleyway with knives.

Remus could also see from the way they described their current DADA class that the two of them were much more taken with Alastor Moody than they ever had been him. Of course Remus never would have used an Unforgiveable on a student. Considering Alastor’s own grey view of ‘rules’ and ‘regulations’ perhaps it wasn’t very surprising that Harry and Susan seemed to be fond of him as a Professor.

“You’d be a wicked Auror,” Sirius told Harry after Harry described throwing off the Imperious Curse with absolutely no effort. “It’s a shame they’re a bunch of tossers.”

“Isn’t it?” Susan grinned, despite her aunt being included in Sirius’ ‘tossers’ category.

The four of them talked more about the students’ other classes and Sirius described a recent short trip they took to the States. Before long Remus looked up and saw that the sun was setting.

“Are you guys ready to head to our place? It’s not far,” he said.

“Sure,” Harry agreed much more easily than Remus had anticipated. “Let’s go Sue.”

“And you’re sure your aunt gave you permission?” Sirius asked her, uncharacteristically serious for once.

“Would I lie to you?” Susan asked indignantly.

Remus let it go, but the answer was yes. Harry’s vicious best friend would absolutely lie straight to their faces if it meant staying by his side.

Though, he wouldn’t deny that he was much happier that Harry brought along Susan as opposed to his boyfriend.

Even if Susan had a feral look in her eyes sometimes that set Remus on edge.



The four of them walked across town towards their new place with Harry and Sirius talking away at the speed of light as they went.

“Muggles have blow torches- I could just burn it.”

“Or here’s an idea- freeze the feet then burn it.”

“Think I’ll lose points if it dies?”

“No, that’s the whole point, right?”

“Okay here’s another idea, tell me if it’s mad...”

Remus shook his head and attempted to keep track of their conversation, but it was mostly nonsense. He looked over at Susan and saw that she was smiling happily at whatever Harry and Sirius were discussing that involved explosives and flames.

Harry and Susan might resemble the mischievous Marauders, but Remus had the feeling that both students were much harder than they had ever been in their youth. Which, in Harry’s case especially, was a hardness he’d been forced to develop as a means of survival Remus suspected. But it was still disheartening to imagine how different his life may have been if James and Lily were still around to raise their son. Remus pushed those thoughts away and focused instead on the various methods for coaxing reluctant clients in to talking that he read about in a psychology textbook Severus sent him over the summer.

Once they arrived at their cottage Remus worried over the best way to try and get some one on one conversation with Harry. Luckily, after a quick tour of the little three bedroom place, Susan mentioned a spell in transfiguration that she was having trouble with and Sirius immediately leapt to assist her.

“Minnie used to hate it because I was her best and worst student,” he laughed, drawing smiles from the two students.

Remus loved that man so much. Even without knowing it, he’d said the perfect thing with the perfect offer and helped Remus out tremendously.

“Harry, do you know much about cooking?” Remus asked. “If you don’t want to watch them work on a spell I’m sure you already have memorized, I’d love some help.”

Harry squinted at him for a split second, as if judging the truth behind his words, before shrugging.

“Alright then, sure,” he said. “What’re you making?”

“Spaghetti,” Remus said with a wry smile, leading Harry to their cozy kitchen. “I’m a terrible cook, but it looked easy enough.”

“I know how to make spaghetti,” Harry said, which was rather surprising considering Harry had owned a House-Elf since he was 12.

Remus let Harry give him instructions for mincing the tomatoes while Harry himself flitted around the kitchen completing other tasks.

“Where’d you learn to cook?” Remus asked conversationally when Harry joined him with a stack of onions.

“Surrey,” Harry said after a long pause.

“Did you cook with your aunt and uncle?”

Harry’s hands hesitated for a moment when he was mid-slice on an onion. He glanced up at Remus quickly, but Remus kept his expression impassive and only mildly curious.

“No,” Harry said shortly, shifting away from Remus subtly. “And you’re dicing when you should be mincing.”

Remus chuckled and readjusted his work.

“I bet you’re a dab at potions,” he said. “I’d think a lot of cooking skills translate over to preparing potions easily.”

Harry hummed, “Yeah, maybe.”

Remus let Harry fall in to a thoughtful silence while they worked together for a few minutes before trying again.

“Do you ever miss your moms family? I think I remember Lily telling me her sister had a son your age.”

“Pft,” Harry sneered as he made a particularly vicious cut of the peppers he was now chopping. “Dudley was his name.”

“Was?” Remus glanced up at him in surprise. “Did he pass away?”

“He’s dead to me,” Harry quipped.

“So I’d guess that you don’t miss them then,” Remus said with a kind smile. “I never had any family aside from my parents until I started Hogwarts. Your grandparents all but adopted Sirius and I. They were lovely people.”

“Yeah?” Harry’s face was schooled in to an expression of disinterest, but Remus could detect the slightest hint of curiosity in his voice.

“Yeah, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were two of the kindest people you could ever meet. They did dote on your father a bit too much though,” he grinned at Harry who he was pleased to see gave him a small smile in return. “I only met your moms parents once though, but they seemed just as kind as your mom was.”

“Weird thing to brag about to a kid who never met his grandparents,” Harry said lightly.

Yeah... yeah it was.

“Merlin,” Remus grimaced and felt his entire face heat up with shame. “I’m so sorry Harry, of course you wouldn’t want to hear about that would you? I wasn’t thinking.”

“Everyone does it,” Harry said. “Everyone tells me how nice my family was and how wonderful, but that doesn’t bring them back, does it? Just rubs it in what I never got.”

“I’m sorry Harry, I never thought of it like that,” Remus said gently. “I just- I thought maybe you’d want to hear the good things. I could tell you about their flaws and mistakes instead or I can shut up, you tell me.”

Harry rolled his eyes, but he was also chuckling under his breath too, which Remus took as a good sign.

“Snape says my moms mom was terrifying,” Harry said. “He couldn’t lie to her because she was so scary.”

“I imagine most kids feel that way about their parents,” Remus said, thankful for the chance to change the subject. “I can’t imagine being brave enough to ever lie to Severus.”

Harry shrugged. Remus personally thought Harry shrugged as a way to stall when he wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted to say.

“I don’t lie to him, and he doesn’t lie to me. If he asks me something, I tell him.”

“All the time?” Remus asked as he poured the minced tomatoes in to a bowl.

“Yup.” Harry poured the onions and peppers in to the bowl as well and took it to the stove.

Remus bit his lower lip for a moment while he tried to find a way to continue that line of conversation without putting Harry’s defenses up.

“I like to think I rarely lied to my parents, but there were some things I definitely kept to myself. Your godfather for example.”

“Really?” Harry looked over his shoulder at Remus and scowled darkly for a moment. “Were you ashamed of him?”

Remus smiled as he realized that this teenager who looked insulted on Sirius’ behalf is the same one who threw a knife at the same man not even twelve months ago.

... and the same one with a knife to a man’s throat less than four hours ago.

“Not of him, but of myself,” Remus explained. “It used to be much more stigmatized to be a homosexual. And I was afraid my parents would think it was one oddity too many and cut me out of their lives.”

“Hmm,” Harry flicked the stove to life and began expertly cooking the vegetables they prepared. “Homosexual means you’re just attracted to men, yeah?”

“It does,” Remus said.

“Theo said I’m not gay. He says Blaise and I are ‘bisexual’.” Harry laughed, “Blaise says he’s ‘babe-sexual’ though.”

Remus chuckled at that. Blaise Zabini was going to be a heartbreaker he was sure of it.

“Were you nervous to tell Severus about Fred?” he asked when Harry began throwing spices Remus could scarcely identify in the pan with the simmering vegetables.

“What?” Harry glanced at him incredulously before turning back to the stove. “No. Snape practically told me I should accept his date. Course now he pretends like he hates Fred, but it’s mostly an act I think. Can you get water going for the pasta?”

“Sure.” Remus grabbed another large pot and filled it with water and obediently handed it to Harry. “I imagine it would be hard to hate Fred Weasley. He’s quite charismatic.”

“Yeah, he makes friends like nothing else,” Harry shook his head in faux-exasperation. “It’s mad how everyone likes him.”

“Sirius is like that too,” Remus smiled at yet another thing he had in common with Harry. “It was exhausting. I’d want to read in quiet and Sirius would want to go to a party with his fifty closest friends.”

Harry’s momentary look of irritation was a reminder that Remus likely was not forgiven for busting the party Harry and Fred attended last winter. He tried to change the subject while still probing Harry for more information.

“That smells great,” he said honestly. “Do you ever cook at your home during the holidays?”

“I tried baking a cake once,” Harry said with a sheepish grin. “But I buggered it up, didn’t I? Mavis was mad as hell.”

Remus assumed it would be a moot point to comment on Harry’s language. But that was really more of a Severus problem anyway.

“This’ll be done in ten,” Harry said, he turned down the heat settings and looked pleased with himself. “Do you wanna try the sauce?”

“Sure.” Remus accepted the spoon with the tomato sauce on it that Harry offered and was impressed with the taste. “Merlin Harry, that’s amazing!”

“I mastered spaghetti by the time I was six,” Harry said proudly.

Which... was disturbing. Six was a young age to even pour a bowl of cereal competently, let alone cooking a meal on a hot stove.

“That’s quite the accomplishment,” Remus said neutrally. “Can you cook much else? Besides cake,” he smiled.

“Loads,” Harry bragged. “I used to do all the cooking in Surrey.”

“Wow,” Remus tried to make himself sound impressed rather than startled by the confession. “Nobody helped you?”

“No,” Harry laughed, but it was a cold and joyless sound. “I was a fuckin’ House Elf to those people.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Remus said, keeping his tone light and not pitying. “Want me to call Sirius and Susan in here?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Remus quickly called for Sirius and Susan who were engaged in a mock-duel in the sitting room which now had books and throw pillows scattered everywhere.

“Supper’s finished,” he said. “Come and eat.”

“You didn’t cook it, did you Moony?” Sirius nudged Susan with his elbow lightly. “Moons is a terrible cook.”

“I’m not terrible,” Remus disagreed. “But no, Harry did most of the work.”

Sirius laughed and led Susan to the table.

“After you my dear,” he said pretentiously as he held her chair out.

“Thank you sir,” Susan laughed as she accepted the seat.

“Ta da!” Harry levitated two bowls to the table and landed them in the middle of the table while Remus quickly grabbed dinnerware.

“Looks awesome,” Sirius said with an eager smile. “Much better than whatever goop Moody would have made.”

“Hey- he helped,” Harry said.

Which was probably the first nice thing Harry had ever said about Remus.

“I minced the tomatoes,” Remus shrugged and pulled a chair out for Harry before taking his own seat. “Harry’s the real genius here.”

Harry shrugged modestly, which was surprising. Harry usually takes a lot of pride in the things he accomplishes. But maybe he doesn’t consider cooking to be much of an accomplishment?

“Let’s dig in,” Sirius cried.

Everyone ate and complimented Harry on his culinary skills. Remus was happy when Susan and Harry brought up the current werewolf legislation and they spent most of dinner discussing the various ways different legislations help and hurt werewolves. It was a relief to have a familiar topic to carry on with the two students who had seemed to dislike him the most during his short career as a professor.

Harry and Susan were both clearly well-educated in politics. Remus actually had a hard time keeping up with their theories and ideas on current laws and regulations. Sirius had all but given up and was only adding in thoughtful hums here and there.

“Aconite being so expensive is just another way that the Ministry keeps the poverty cycle going for werewolves,” Harry said, his eyes were lit up and glowing brightly, showing his obviously intense passion for the topic. “Deny werewolves jobs with one legislation, rack up the cost of the main ingredient in wolfsbane with another, and BAM!” he smacked the table lightly. “They make sure that wolves can’t afford the one thing that would actually improve their lives.”

“It ensures that werewolves are always second class citizens,” Susan said disdainfully. “It’s an effective and disgusting way to keep purebloods in the top of the food chain.”

“Exactly!” Remus nodded vehemently. “And now they want to have a public registry of wolves for ‘the public safety’, it’s unfair to enforce on people who had no choice in the matter! It might as well be a list called ‘do not hire’.”

“I’m going to change it one day,” Harry swore.

And Remus believed him. He thought there probably wasn’t anything Harry couldn’t accomplish if he really wanted to.

Especially if he kept carrying around the dagger that Remus occasionally saw glinting beneath the sleeve of his robes.



When everyone was in bed, Remus felt a twinge of guilt. He’d meant to talk more with Harry about his own life during his stay and now felt like they’d hardly scratched any surfaces.

Then Remus got his second lucky break of the day and heard someone in the kitchen. The light footsteps made him hopeful that it was Harry, that boy moved as quietly as any ghost. He thought maybe Harry was searching for a drink or a snack, he hadn’t ate much at dinner.

“I’ll be back,” he murmured to Sirius.

“Kay,” Sirius sighed before rolling over and easily falling back asleep.

Remus shook his head at the man before carefully climbing out of their bed and quietly moving towards the kitchen. He’d give anything to fall asleep as easily as Sirius.

“Harry?”

Harry spun around and brandished his, apparently constantly carried, knife strapped to his arm in Remus’ direction before he blinked a few times and withdrew it.

“Oh. Hey.”

“Are you alright?” Harry looked ill, and he smelled ill as well. Not like an infection, something Remus could easily identify, but just... different. His face was pale and covered with a sheen of sweat, his hands had the slightest tremble to them, and his eyes were mildly glassy as he stared up at Remus from his seat at the dining table.

“Fine,” Harry muttered. Which Remus didn’t think was true. But he also knew Harry had a severe potions allergy that put him in the hospital last year, so he wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“Should I call Severus?” he asked hesitantly. “I’d offer you a potion, but I think he’d probably kill me if I poisoned you.”

Harry gave him a half-smile and cradled his head in his hands.

“No, I’ll be fine here soon. He’ll just freak out.”

Remus grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water before offering it to Harry.

“I never used to think Severus was a ‘freak out’ kind of person before you came along,” he said kindly. “He’s very fond of you, isn’t he?”

“Suppose so,” Harry mumbled before quickly drinking the water. “Ta.”

“Can I get you anything else?” Remus asked him with concern. Harry peeked up at him and Remus saw the quickest flash of longing before he lowered his eyes and shook his head.

“I don’t mind, really,” he assured Harry. “Are you hungry? Maybe something light to eat?”

“Maybe... maybe that hot chocolate, like you had that one night? If you’ve got it, if not it’s fine. Actually never mind, I’m fine.”

Remus hid a sad smile at Harry’s own refusal to state a want to someone.

“Perfect, that’s what I came down here for anyway,” Remus lied. “Two hot chocolates coming right up.”

Harry seemed to be torn between cradling his head in both hands and watching Remus warily as he prepared the drinks. Remus thought they were both relieved when he finally sat down and slid a large mug of cocoa across the table to Harry.

“Thanks,” Harry muttered. Remus nodded in acknowledgment and they sat in what was surprisingly a companionable silence for a few minutes while they sipped their drinks.

“I told the Muggle Mind Healer that hot chocolate made me happy,” Harry smirked at him with only a hint of sarcasm lacing his tone. “But I also told him magic and flying did too.”

Remus chuckled and remembered the little bit of information Sirius had shared with him about their mind healer sessions.

“Sirius didn’t tell me what you guys talked about but he did say: ‘Moony it’s hard not talking about magic in front of muggles’.”

Harry let out a huff of laughter at that and looked remarkably like a mischievous James when he leant across the table towards him.

“I needed Black to talk about magic too or else that Mind Healer would just think I was crazy and Snape wouldn’t obliviate him.”

“That’s quite Slytherin of you,” Remus grinned. And it was. Harry didn’t want the muggle to know anything about him and so he did what he could to get the man’s memory erased.

It was undeniably cunning, but also smart. Much like most of Harry’s decisions.

“Timmy told me I’m an excellent Slytherin,” Harry said. Remus racked his brains trying to remember a student Harry was friends with that would be called Timmy but eventually conceded.

“Who’s Timmy?”

“Voldemort.”

Remus choked on his cocoa and Harry watched with perhaps too much interest as Remus worked to clear his airway.

“Sorry,” he gasped. “Caught me by surprise.”

“It’s stupid to be scared of a name,” Harry said lightly. “Isn’t it?”

“I think my surprise came more from hearing him called ‘Timmy’ than hearing his name,” Remus said a bit sarcastically.

“Timmy is his name,” Harry insisted, his eyes gleeful, if still glassy, and his voice earnest. “Voldemort’s just his street name.”

Remus wasn’t sure if Harry had meant to let that slip or not and tried to choose his words carefully as he probed at that line of conversation.

“What’s a street name?” he asked.

“It’s a thing street kids do,” Harry explained. “It’s like nicknames they give so if the cops bust them they can’t take them back to their real parents.”

“Aah, what was yours?”

“James, easy enough to remember, wasn’t it?”

“Aah.”

Remus hadn’t been aware that Harry had lived on the streets long enough to need a ‘street name’. Which must mean he wasn’t referring to his brief stint the Daily Prophet mentioned in his second year. So...

So before Hogwarts?

“Did you stay in London a lot? I stayed in a shelter there for a few days when I was between jobs,” Remus said truthfully. “Let’s see... I think it was in 1989.”

“I would have been... 9?” Harry asked. Remus nodded. “Yeah, brill, I would have loved to meet a wizard before Hogwarts. Even if it was just you.”

Remus ignored that light jab as he processed that. Harry was 9 and living on the streets? But when he was 6 he’d been cooking for his relatives.

“Phew, you’re tough to have been so young and survived.” Remus hoped appealing to Harry’s ego might keep him talking. “Nine is awfully young to be navigating shelters on your own. Or was your moms family with you?”

“Pft,” Harry scoffed. “I was on my own a week after I turned eight. Kids older than me were dying every day, but not me, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Remus nodded absently as his heart broke. “It’s impressive.”

It was also terrible and tragic and the saddest thing Remus had ever heard.

“Thanks,” Harry gave him a ghost of a grin before he finished off his drink. “I think I’m going to go back to bed.”

Remus looked him over and thought Harry looked a bit healthier than he had, though he was still pale and had a slight tremble in his hands.

“Alright, if you need anything just come beat on our door, okay?”

“Sure,” Harry agreed.

They both knew he wouldn’t.

Remus sat at the table for another hour longer, just staring in his empty mug. Eventually he summoned a parchment and made a few quick notes on Harry.

Survivor was underlined thrice. He thought perhaps that was Harry’s most defining personality trait.

Chapter End Notes

Up Next: Harry doesn’t understand relationships, or families, but he’s starting to understand jealousy.