Chapter 4
Moody placed the bags he carried on the kitchen table then sat down with a soft grunt. “Picked up the potions for the week then talked to those at St. Mungos about nutrient potions. What we’re doing doesn’t seem as though they’re working well.”
“I agree, they aren’t,” Remus sighed, pulling everything out of the bag, reading the labels. “We know he’s taking them, but it doesn’t look like they are doing much. Something we need to ensure is he gets what he needs until he starts eating right. In fact, he looks thinner than when he arrived,” he finished with a sigh. Brow furrowed, he read the names on some of the bottles, not knowing what they were. However, he pushed them aside, assuming Alastor would explain as he went on.
“My thought,” Alastor nodded. “Talking with those there, they gave me the potions they use with those who have serious eating disorders. From the way they explained it, they would help more. Even if it’s too much of what he needs he’ll just expel the rest. Then they suggested a powerful appetite stimulator. I described what the lad’s like when it comes to food and they suggested this.”
“It can only help,” Remus agreed with a small smile. In his eyes, anything at all could help. While they had to wait for the potions to kick in fully for so much, they had other areas to worry about as well. Nutrition was at the top of the list. From what he saw, he wasn’t eating enough to keep a flobberworm alive.
“My thoughts,” Moody gruffed. “Talked to Molly once more, trying to figure out what might entice the lad into eating more, such as favorite whatever, and she didn’t know. Do you have an inkling? Those who dispense the potions said it might aid in what we’re doing.”
“Not really other than sweets,” Remus admitted, shaking his head sadly. “I do know he’s mentioned some Muggle drinks and sweets he adores. One called Pepsi, it’s a drink I think, and Mars Bars. With our kind it’s the standard all of us do.”
“At this point I’m all for getting anything we can down him, so I’ll go out to find what’s needed. Our kind isn’t an issue. It’s just an owl order away. It’s the Muggle version I’ll have an issue with.” Moody imparted, shaking his head after taking a sip from his ever-present flask.
“The Muggle I can handle,” Remus told him with a smile. “There is a small shoppette just down the road. I’ll go load up on plenty to try enticing him into eating more. Once he’s in better shape we can back off the sweets and have him tell us what he likes best then Dobby can handle it from there.”
After a nod, Moody suggested, “Talk with Dobby. He might know what Harry likes. If he does, tell him to have at it. We don’t rightly care what is served and can eat anything.”
“I will. Good idea,” Remus admitted with a smile. Then he said, “Speaking of Dobby—he says Harry is taking the potions as he should. This is good, of course.”
“It is,” Moody replied with a nod. “For now, I don’t think we need worry about him hording them to either not take them or for an attempt of some sort. It’s when he’s in better shape we need to concern ourselves about such issues.”
“I agree,” Remus nodded. “I’m trying to talk to him when he’s awake, but not getting far. It’s my thought I’ll have to wait until he’s in better shape to tackle such endeavors.”
“Probably,” Moody nodded. “For now, it just gets it out there you’ll help and talk it out with him.”
After a nod, Remus told him, “I also spoke with Dobby about talking with him as well. He might be good at having him open up a tad or impart something which will make him feel a tad better. Elves aren’t like we are, but Dobby’s devoted to him and might get the ball rolling on so much.”
“A good idea,” Moody agreed. Shifting around with a groan then tossed out there, “At this juncture, we’ve dictated plenty about so much with him, like where his bedroom and such is, giving the lad a choice might help somewhat. From what I know of him, he won’t want anything outlandish. Let’s see what we can manage. After all, if he’s more comfortable, it might help.”
“Not something I thought of,” Remus admitted. “I’ll have Dobby give it a try and see what comes.” Then, changing topics, he sighed, “While you’re here today I’m going to have you help me look for hiding areas in Sirius’ old room. I’ve gone through it and found a few places, but there wasn’t anything we could use in there. Most everything I found related to school since they were so old. I want to make sure I’ve checked everywhere in there before I shift to the room he picked later.”
“We can do so this afternoon,” Moody told him with a nod. “Let’s see what we can find then go from there.” After pondering it for moment, he asked, “Anything in the school stuff which might be odd or he talked about after coming back here?”
“Just some oddball mythology,” Remus shrugged. “He and James were always interested in such areas. While fascinating, it won’t be anything to help us I don’t think.”
Moody grunted and shook his head, not think it would help anything, but he asked, just to make sure, “What area in particular or just all sorts of the kind?”
“Mostly it had to do with what so many call the Master of Death from the old children’s story. This area always fascinated him and James. In fact, James would swear the objects were real and you could gather all three, thus making you the Master of Death. I doubt it has anything to do with more than just a curiosity. You know the sort of thing,” Remus shrugged, chuckling just a tad. “The two had long debates over it several times in school. They also spent plenty of time in the library looking for clues. While Sirius mentioned it a few times after he opened the house, it wasn’t much. His interest seemed pulled some other direction, though I’m not certain to what topic.”
“Ah, yes, the Deathly Hallows theory,” Moody chortled, shaking his head. “They weren’t the only ones hunting for those. Plenty still can’t accept it’s just a story. Look at Lovegood. He’s still hunting them.”
“I know,” Remus agreed with a smile. “James and Sirius were heavily into the hunt, trust me.”
“While an amusing anecdote, it’s nothing which will help us now,” Moody gruffed, one side of his mouth turned up in a grin.”
“Nope,” Remus agreed with a chuckle himself. “I’m sure Sirius tried pulling Harry in since I doubt Harry has ever heard our fairy tales, but it probably doesn’t relate. And won’t be much help. I do wonder what he was doing, though, and am sure it might help. We just need to find anything he left behind.”
“If it’s in the house we’ll manage,” Moody assured him. Once more revisiting the topic of the potions, he began to run through what some of the side effects might be and what to watch for.
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Dobby had seated himself on the edge of Mr. Harry Potter’s bed. Feet covered in his normal odd socks, they were swinging slightly. Like Mr. Remus told him to, he was talking to Mr. Harry Potter, trying to help him. Of course, he had heard what the problem was and wanted to help. He just hoped what he said helped Mr. Harry Potter feel better.
A glance at Mr. Harry Potter told him his eyes were still shut, but he could tell he was awake. It just seemed he didn’t want to talk. Quietly, he said, “Dobby is worried about Mr. Harry Potter Sir. Yous always talk to Dobby when he is around.” Then he waited, looking at him.
Eyes shut, Harry focused on Sirius and what he needed to do, but heard Dobby. He felt guilty about not talking to the elf who adored him. It crept in as well with Remus. He was sure the man hurt plenty too over Sirius. With a sigh, not opening his eyes, he muttered a soft, “Sorry, Dobby.”
Happy Mr. Harry Potter talked to him, Dobby smiled. “What can Dobby do for Mr. Harry Potter Sir to make him feel a little better? Dobby knows Mr. Harry Potter hurts bad, so he wants him to feel better.”
Harry hadn’t been taking the potions long, but he was able to see through the haze of grief slightly, enough to think more clearly. Of course, the focus always ended up on Sirius. Then he added in what Sirius told him. He needed to figure out how to bring Sirius back. It wasn’t something he could do in this room. The energy to get out of bed and walk to Sirius’ room wasn’t something he had either. However, if Dobby could move him into Sirius’ room, he might be able to start looking for what he needed.
Though he knew it would get back to Remus and Professor Moody, he said, softly, “I want to move to Sirius’ room. Don’t clean it, I just want to move in there.” Though he didn’t open his eyes and look at Dobby, he waited to see what the elf would say.
“Dobby can do that,” the elf said, nodding vigorously, a smile on his face. Then he placed his hand on Mr. Harry Potter’s arm and popped out then into the other room.
Finally, Harry opened his eyes a little, looking around. Then he gave a small sad smile and snuggled into the bed that still smelled like Sirius. “Thank you, Dobby,” he muttered, pulling the comforter over himself and sighed, eyes going shut again.
Dobby was happy Mr. Harry Potter seemed as though he were a little happier. Gently tucking the boy in, he then went to move all his things into the room. Once done he would go down and talk to Mr. Remus Lupin.
Mind now starting to work on what he had to do. Harry felt certain Dobby could help him find the journal if he couldn’t manage on his own. Starting the following day, he would try to get out of bed and look for it.
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Remus stepped into Sirius’ room and glanced at the bed. Harry was asleep, of course, but he did notice there appeared as though there was a small smile on his face as he did. With a soft sigh, he shook his head. No, he wouldn’t make Harry move back to the room they made for him, but he didn’t think staying in here was the healthiest thing in the world.
After walking over to the bed, he reached out and stroke Harry’s head softly, a sad smile on his face. He thought, because Harry at least spoke to Dobby, there was at least some small improvement and a move the right direction. And it appeared Dobby had hit on something they could use; asking Harry direct questions about what he wanted rather than just dictating. Oh, it would be small areas, but it might help. He would make certain he kept it in mind.
After another rub on the head, he then left, shutting the door softly behind him.
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Brow furrowed as he looked at the papers Alastor had managed to find, Remus shook his head. Yes, they were about the Deathly Hallows, but some were quite recent, not from school like most. “I don’t understand the attraction to this, Alastor,” Remus admitted with a sigh.
“I don’t either,” Alastor grunted, looking through yet another hiding place his spell detected. “Just one of those areas, I guess. However, it’s harmless unless you focus completely on it. Sirius didn’t, from what I can tell anyway. From what all of us saw he didn’t let it rule his life and focused where was needed when he had to.”
Once more pulling out plenty of notes on the Hallows, he added, “I suppose it might have been his way of handling staying in this bloody nasty place with the memories.”
“That very well could be,” Remus conceded with a nod, looking up as Alastor pulled out more papers. “More about the Hallows?” He asked, assuming.
After a spell to detect the age, seeing it read as recent, his brow then furrowed as he looked at the handwriting. “Yes. Recent too,” he said distractedly. “And the handwriting on these aren’t from Sirius.” Then he handed them to Remus.
Once he took the parchments, Remus looked down at them. Knowing this messy handwriting, he said, looking at Alastor, “The writing is Harry’s. I remember it from when I taught.”
“Betting he drew Harry into his obsession over it. They might have bonded over it, the reason they were close,” Alastor hypothesized distractedly as he cast the spell again, revealing another hiding place.
“That could be,” Remus agreed with a nod, looking through the new parchments Alastor handed him distractedly before the man went to dig into the new hiding spot. “It’s harmless, of course, nothing to worry about.”
“True, lad,” Alastor agreed as he pulled out some small trinkets. Looking them over, he snorted when he saw the Hallows symbol and what purported to show the ring and wand. Passing those back to Remus, he just shook his head. “They could have been up to so much worse, honestly. And if Sirius worked on this he wasn’t apt to drink as much as he had been.”
“Again, true,” Remus admitted, still reading through what Harry wrote. Since it was nothing more than about the legend of the Deathstick and ring, he didn’t worry too much about it. “Legends can be fun to work with, honestly. I suppose they used it to bond over.”
“I agree,” Alastor gruffed as he dug into a new hiding place. This time he found nothing about the Hallows, but some old bits and bobs from his time as school. After dumping them on the dresser, he cast the spell again, finding yet another. With a snort, he let out a chuckle and imparted, “Sirius was bloody obsessed with hiding places, that’s for damned sure!”
“With the way his family was, it was probably something he had to use for so much, like letters from us,” Remus told him, smiling a tad, but the sadness creeping into it.
This time he pulled out old letters from when they were in school. “Probably,” Alastor agreed with a nod. This time when he cast the spell nothing new turned up. “That’s it that I can find. Let’s take everything downstairs and read through it. Doubt it’ll help anything, but you never know. Might be some hints about areas with the lad.”
“We’ll see what we can find,” Remus nodded, gathering all the papers. “I say we get a couple of books on the topic to see what matches up where and if there is something in these that might relate to more. You and I know the basics, but a more in-depth dig might be wise.”
“I agree,” Alastor nodded, leading the way out of the room after he set things to right. It wouldn’t do for the lad to come down and see they had rifled through the room. No sense in upsetting him more than he was.
“I’ll owl Albus to see if he knows some good ones rather than us just trying to figure it out. Won’t tell him exactly why, but will say it’s to help Harry,” Remus told him as they made their way downstairs.
“We need Albus’ hands as far out of this as we can get them,” Moody told him after stepping into the kitchen. After taking a seat at the table with a soft groan, he then added, “Not sure what is going on there, after the bit with the lad and no one checking on him, but I don’t like it. It’s my feeling it’s best the two of us tackle this alone. Everyone else can stay away.”
Remus felt a tad startled at what Alastor said, but agreed with a nod. “Wise, yes. However, when it comes to books he’s the best to ask. This wasn’t an area which interested me, so I never looked more into it despite James and Sirius trying to pull me in.”
After nodding as an answer, Alastor then pondered it for a second before saying, “Let me go talk to Lovegood. He might be a better source for such matters. This way we keep everyone else out of it. I bet he knows the best out there.”
“While he’s a tad—off with so much, it might be better,” Remus agreed with a soft chuckle.
“More than just ‘off’,” Alastor replied with a chuckle. Then he shifted back to the parchments, especially the new ones to see if they could find any hint as to something strange or odd. It might be the standard about the legends, but there might be more.
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Eyes opening about 1 AM, Harry was stiff. He had another of those dreams which were a memory mixed with a dream. Though it was slow going, he was remembering more. And this bit helped.
From what he remembered of the conversation the dream brought up dealt with the Master of Death more. It was Sirius explaining how becoming the Master of Death would get rid of his Horcrux because he had to be on the Astral Plane to bring him back, thus touching the afterlife as well.
Harry sat up slightly and looked around. In the talk, Sirius also told him what the journal looked like, so he was damned sure he could find it with help from Dobby. While Dobby would tell Remus, he didn’t care. If asked, he would tell the truth; it was something he and Sirius worked on together. Even if he looked at the journal it wouldn’t be an issue since it would just look like research on the Hallows. He, on the other hand, would know the codes written in it.
Turning over, he looked around the room, trying to remember where all the hiding places Sirius talked about. While he knew the notes and such were down in his old room, somewhere he put them so they stayed separate, he didn’t need those. He just needed the journal. Once he had that he could find out the rest of what he could do.
Eyes shutting again, his mind worked on all he had to do. And, despite what he wanted, he had to pull himself out of his depression and work on everything. The faster he managed, the faster Sirius would be back with him. And to manage he had to once more get on practicing with Astral Projection. He could by now, but he needed to get back to it. There was so much he had to do while on the other plane, he needed his strength to manage.
Harry then flopped over onto his back, eyes not opening, then sighed. There was so much to do and he couldn’t remember what all it was or how to go about it. No, he would find the journal then go from there. Starting tomorrow, he would get out of bed to make it look like he was trying to feel better then find what he needed.