Confusing & Chaotic
Harry wasn’t stupid, really.
Okay, he might have let himself get kidnapped by his defense professor, but he wasn’t exactly a stranger. Lupin knew Harry’s parents, he had known Harry when Harry was a baby.
Harry was sure that Lupin had a good reason for why he thought that he needed to kidnap Harry and drag him to Birmingham… probably.
Admittedly, Harry might have to pretend as if he had struggled with the kidnapping more when he would eventually be asked what happened. That would come later though, because as far as Harry could see - Lupin had no interest in returning to Hogwarts anytime soon.
They had arrived in Lupin’s hometown rather late, early? It was a normal enough town, from what Harry briefly saw while Lupin directed them toward his home. It was freezing and Harry could smell water nearby, but nothing else had made much of an impression with him at that hour.
Lupin lived in an upstairs flat in a plain brick building surrounded by other plain brick buildings. The door that led to his flat had been locked, but Lupin unlocked it easily with his wand and led Harry inside.
“My aunt is here,” Lupin told Harry quietly, nodding at the dusty footprints leading up to the second door at the top of the stairs. “Her name is Polly, I think you’ll like her.”
Harry didn’t think he would, though he didnt have a great reason to believe that so he only nodded uncertainly.
Harry was wrong anyway.
Lupin’s aunt had opened the door before Lupin could open it. Harry’s first thought had been that she didn’t look anything like Lupin, aside from their similar builds.
Tall, thin, and rather pretty - Polly smiled as soon as she saw Lupin, making her seem even prettier for it. Her hair was short, curly, black; not at all like Lupin’s more brown and straight hair.
“Scar!” Polly opened her arms for Lupin and Harry could see she was dressed nicely with a green dress beneath a long black coat. Lupin - who was apparently called Scar by his aunt? - let out a quiet laugh before he opened his arms for her to hug him.
“I knew you wouldn’t stay in some posh castle for gypsy kids,” Polly tutted in a thick accent while she held Lupin. “Welcome home, love.”
“It’s bloody good to be back.” Lupin hugged her for only a moment more before he gentle broke away so he could place a hand on Harry’s shoulder, bringing him to Polly’s attention. “Pol, this is Harry Potter, James and Lily’s boy.”
Harry didn’t even have time to be surprised that the woman seemed to know his parents as well before she was beaming at him and wrapping him in a hug. Harry’s eyes flew to Lupin, trusting him despite the whole kidnapping situation - Lupin only grinned so Harry relaxed.
Polly did actually seem kind, even if Harry was suspicious about the likelihood of her being related to Lupin. She had called Harry a ‘good looking lad’ and then sort of shooed him to bed when he yawned.
Lupin’s place had the dusty feeling of not being in use, but the bedding in the room Harry was pointed toward was fresh and he didn’t waste any time before curling up in the bed.
It had been a strange night and part of Harry wondered if he would wake up in his dorm, the entire night having been a dream.
When Harry woke up, he was still in a dusty bedroom in a flat in Birmingham. His first thought was that it was much later in the day than he usually ever slept in to. His second thought was that his friends must be rather worried.
Harry wondered if Lupin told anyone that he was leaving? And taking Harry?
Ron would probably be happy to have classes canceled for the day, anyway.
Harry sat on the edge of the rather small and plain bedroom for a few minutes, just getting his bearings and stretching. Lupin had put Harry’s truck in the room while Harry slept it seemed, so Harry swapped his pajamas for a pair of his school trousers and another Weasley jumper.
Was it… Hermione’s?
Harry frowned when he looked down at the light brown knitted sweater. How did he end up with Hermione’s jumper?
It probably wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things, it was just strange.
Harry slid his shoes on and hesitated before ultimately grabbing his wand as well. Harry pocketed his wand, doubting if he would need it. It made him feel a bit less uncomfortable to have it on him though.
Harry hesitated with his hand above the doorknob… Lupin kidnapped him, but Harry wasn’t a hostage, surely he was allowed to leave the bedroom?
Yeah… probably…
Feeling more nervous than he had the night before, Harry slowly crept out of the bedroom, listening hard for any sign that Lupin was awake. There were two other doors off the same hallway as the room Harry had slept in. He assumed one was a bedroom, one a bathroom?
Harry didn’t bother checking though, as he heard sounds coming from the main part of the flat.
The main part of the flat was just as dusty and plain as the rest of it. There wasn’t anything to indicate that anyone lived there, aside from the few pieces of mismatched furniture. The sitting room was open, connecting it to a small dining room.
Harry hesitated once again in the doorway of the hallway when he saw that the person making the sounds wasn’t Lupin, but his Aunt Polly.
Polly had a newspaper open in her hands, a lit cigarette dangling from between her lips, and an intense look of concentration on her face as she read. Harry knew that people didn’t like to be interrupted while they read the paper, so he had been prepared to wait until she was finished to ask about Lupin.
“There’s tea on the stove, dear,” Polly said suddenly, catching Harry by surprise as she hadn’t made any other sign that she noticed him. “I put milk in the icebox, if you’d prefer. Scar is meant to be bringing back some bread for toast.”
“Oh. Er… alright…” Harry edged around the table that took up the majority of the dining area so he could get to the kitchen.
The kitchen looked the most lived in, out of the rest of the house that Harry had seen so far. The counters were clean, there was a tea kettle on the stove. There were even empty glass bottles of different size and color lining the top of the cabinets.
They were dusty, like everything else, but pretty. Harry would bet they would catch the sunlight from the window and sparkle when they were clean.
Harry wasn’t actually sure what to do once he had a cup of tea, so he chose to just sit quietly at the table with Polly. Harry had planned to stay quiet so she could read, but she closed the paper and finished off her cigarette as soon as Harry sat down.
“Harry,” Polly turned in her chair so that she could smile kindly at Harry. Harry hadn’t noticed the first time they met, but she had dark blue eyes.
Nothing at all like Lupin’s amber colored eyes.
“Where are you from?” Polly asked him. “Not Scotland?”
“No, ma’am,” Harry said politely. “I live in Surrey.”
“I thought so.” Polly nodded her head and sat back in her chair, crossing her legs elegantly. “I’ve got an ear for accents.”
Since Harry wasn’t sure how to respond to that, he looked down and took a sip of his tea.
“You’re a quiet thing, aren’t you?” Polly hummed thoughtfully, her eyes trained on Harry. “Scar said he kidnapped you then?”
Harry sputtered on his drink, barely refraining from actually spitting tea at Polly. He knew his face turned red with embarrassment as Polly smirked, apparently pleased to have gotten a reaction from him.
“I - maybe?” Harry said, his voice rather hoarse from choking on his hot tea. He cleared his throat and then shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not actually sure what Professor Lupin is doing, ma’am.”
“Is that so?” Polly’s gaze was sharp and Harry got the impression that she was the sort of woman that didn’t let much get past her. When she smiled, it softened her entire face into something kind and warm that made Harry want to smile back automatically.
“No need to stand on airs, dear,” she told him. “Polly’ll suit me just fine. And you’ll break poor Scar’s heart if you call him Professor Lupin. He did go through quite the effort to get you here, hmm? Started a war with the gypsies, I’m sure.”
Harry perked up at that term he didn’t understand again. Harry thought he had heard Uncle Vernon spit the term before, leading Harry to believe it was an insult of some sort. Polly said it easily though and if Lupin had started a war then Harry was curious who it was with.
“Can I… May I ask you a question?” Harry asked, unsure if it would bother her or not.
Polly tilted her head, as if something about Harry’s question was confusing, but she still said he could so Harry pushed on.
“What - who are gypsies?” Harry asked, stammering some as he wasn’t entirely sure the word wasn’t an insult.
“Oh, Scar calls them wizards,” Polly said airily, waving a hand as she said it so casually. “He’ll throw quite the fit over it, but it’s not as if we can go running our mouths about wizards, can we?”
“So you do know about magic!” Harry said, relieved by that. “Are you a witch? Or is Lupin a muggleborn? Not that I mind either way,” he was quick to add.
“No, Scar’s our only gypsy,” Polly said with a fond smile. “His uncle, Charlie Shelby, he’s cursed the same as Scar though, and not a drop of true magic in his blood.”
Harry didn’t understand the bit about Lupin being cursed, but he did understand that Polly clearly cared about Lupin, as her entire face warmed each time she said his name.
More proof that they probably weren’t actually related.
“Do his parents live here too?” Harry asked, quickly becoming comfortable with Polly.
“Oh, his parents died long ago,” Polly said, causing Harry to frown in sympathy. “Charlie found him in the woods one full moon, he brought him back and we’ve all raised him ever since.”
That… that was sort of sad and nice at the same time.
Harry wasn’t sure what to do with the information Polly was freely giving him. It was interesting to learn more about Lupin, but Harry still didn’t know why they were there or when they would be leaving.
Harry did remember another question he had though.
“Did you know my parents?” Harry asked, thinking of Polly’s reaction the night before when Lupin said their names.
“Hmm?” Polly took a moment to light a cigarette she pulled from a slim silver case. Harry wasn’t sure why she offered it to him and he shook his head.
“I never met them, but I heard stories from Scar,” Polly said after she breathed out a thin stream of smoke. “He was devastated by their deaths, he was.”
“Oh.” Harry kicked a foot under the table while he thought about that. Harry knew that Lupin said he had been good friends with Harry’s parents, Harry didn’t realize that they had truly been so close that Lupin had talked about it to the woman who seemed more like his mum than aunt.
It probably didn’t excuse kidnapping, but it wasn’t as if Harry was being hurt in any way either. Really, he might be safer with Lupin in Small Heath until Sirius Black was caught. At a minimum, Harry thought he had slept much better in Lupin’s flat than he had been at Hogwarts with the dementors presence seeming to seep in the castle through the stones.
Harry had just decided that he really didn’t have any complaints about the situation when a loud laugh reached him from the stairs. Harry looked over at Polly and saw that she was smiling widely as she stubbed out her cigarette.
“That’ll be Arthur,” she said, leaving Harry to wonder who Arthur was.
Arthur, as it turned out, was a man that burst in the flat with Lu — Remus. Harry started in his seat, taken aback by the very loud entrance.
“And this is Scar’s boy!” The man, Arthur, immediately beamed at Harry, revealing a gap between his teeth where it looked like one of his top teeth had gone missing.
Harry would guess, based on Arthur’s slightly crooked nose, lean form, and the scars Harry could see on his face, that it had been knocked out in a fight.
Aside from the general idea that Arthur looked like he got in a load of fights and didn’t lose many, he seemed rather normal. He had on a flat cap over his hair, but had a neatly trimmed dark mustache that must be the same color as his hair. He also wore a rather nice outfit, black trousers and a white dress shirt tucked into them with a long black coat thrown over it all.
It seemed a bit formal, making Harry feel self-conscious in his trousers and jumper, but Remus had on a plain t-shirt so Harry wasn’t the most underdressed of them.
Arthur had an arm around Remus’s shoulders and Harry could tell immediately that they were best mates. Remus was grinning more than Harry had ever seen him and seemed entirely relaxed.
So Harry tried to be relaxed too, even if Arthur did just call him Remus’s boy.
“Hello,” Harry said politely, moving his hands to his lap to twist his fingers together.
“‘Ello he says.” Arthur chuckled, though Harry wasn’t sure why it was funny. “Fucking kidnapped this kid, snatched ‘im right outta his bed, and he says hello.”
Oh. Harry’s lips did twitch some at that. It was sort of funny when Arthur said it.
Remus chuckled too when he saw Harry relax and he shoved at Arthur, pushing himself out of the loose embrace.
“It was a mutually agreed upon kidnapping,” Remus told him, tossing Harry a wink.
“You hear that, Pol?” Arthur shoved Remus playfully and then crossed the room in two long strides to drop down in the chair across from Polly. “‘Mutually agreed upon’. You believe that?”
Polly made a sound that Harry understood to be skepticism, though she hadn’t quit smiling once since the two men entered the flat.
“I believe that Scar believes it,” she said.
Remus threw his hands up, raising a bag that Harry hoped had bread in it because he was starving.
“You’ll notice that Harry isn’t screaming or fleeing,” Remus pointed out, which was true. “I can’t help that you never believe me.”
Arthur laughed again, a deep laugh that made his blue eyes gleam. When Arthur laughed, Polly smiled and got a soft look in her eyes again.
Harry had a terrible amount of questions that he didn’t know who to ask.
Remus did step in the kitchen to ‘figure out some bloody food’ though and once Arthur lit one of Polly’s cigarettes, Harry decided to take a chance.
“Did you grow up here too?” Harry asked, trying to figure out how they all knew each other. Polly had helped raise Remus with a bloke named Charlie. Arthur and Remus seemed close, Polly and Arthur seemed close.
It was confusing and a mystery to work on while Harry waited to find out how long he would be in Small Heath.
“Born and raised,” Arthur said proudly. “I grew up in these streets same as Scar.”
So he and Remus had grown up together, that made sense.
“Oi! Open a window,” Remus suddenly shouted from the kitchen. “Harry doesn’t need to be breathing in your filthy habits.”
“He spends a few months at his posh gypsy school and acts as if he isn't the one who got John smoking,” Polly said, shaking her head. “Arthur, open that window.”
Arthur tucked his cigarette in the corner of his lips so he could get up and open the window behind Harry. Harry actually preferred the unfamiliar cigarette smoke to the cold air that breezed in, causing him to tuck his hands in the sleeves of his jumper.
“I can hear you,” Remus called. “Harry, do you prefer jam or marmalade on your toast?”
“I - it doesn’t matter,” Harry said quickly. “Whichever you’re having is fine, thank you.”
“Polite, isn’t ‘e?” Arthur said to Polly, watching Harry curiously.
“A few months around you monsters will fix him,” Polly said.
Harry wasn’t sure why being polite was a thing that needed to be fixed. He didn’t ask though, as he began feeling rather self-conscious under Arthur’s scrutiny.
“Harry doesn’t need fixed.” Remus rejoined them and nodded at Harry as he took the last chair at the table and slid a plate of toast to Harry. “We’ll get better groceries tomorrow,” he said. “But we’ll eat at the pub here soon.”
Harry’s head was going to explode, he was so confused. Why did they need more groceries? Why did Remus sound different in his flat than he did at Hogwarts? Why didn’t Remus offer anyone else food?
Remus immediately fell in an easy conversation with Arthur and Polly while Harry ate his toast and soaked it all in. Remus didn’t make any toast for himself, he only nursed a cup of tea while he talked.
The three adults talked about a variety of people that Harry didn’t know, often speaking at the same time in a way that made Harry think it was a common occurrence. It made it difficult to follow the conversation though, as hard as Harry tried.
Arthur talked about someone named John who apparently had kids and a wife who died, leaving him alone to raise his kids. Polly told Remus about someone named Ada who had been talking about America recently. Remus asked about someone named Finn, then about… horse races? Maybe?
Harry truly couldn’t follow the conversation well enough to be sure of any of it.
Remus abruptly cut himself off and raised a hand, impressively silencing the other two. Harry, who actually hadn’t said anything in a while, remained quiet while Remus looked deep in thought for a few seconds.
“Five pounds says that John’s about to knock on the door,” Remus said after he lowered his hand.
“Yeah, like fuckin’ hell I’m takin’ that bet,” Arthur muttered just before there were loud footsteps on the stairs followed by a brisk knock.
“Nobody’s home,” Remus called with a wide smile.
The door opened anyway and a bloke, probably whoever John was with the kids and no wife, poked his head in.
“Oi, fuck you,” he quipped. “I thought I smelled something nasty up here.”
Harry watched as Remus laughed and got up to cross to the door so he could hug the man briefly. Harry thought the new bloke and Arthur might be related, as they looked something alike. Arthur seemed to be about Remus’s age, the new man a bit younger with more of a handsome and clean-shaved boyish appearance.
If nothing else, the bloke and Arthur had the same colored eyes and taste in caps.
“How are you, John?” Remus asked, confirming his own guess about who the man was. “How are the kids?”
“Bloody exhausting.” John elbowed past Remus and pulled his cap off when he cleared the doorway. He ran a hand through his dark hair, slicking back the long locks on the top of his head, while he immediately looked to Harry. “Who the fuck is this?” he asked.
“Scar’s boy,” Arthur said before Harry could introduce himself. “‘E went and kidnapped a little gypsy boy.”
“Wizard,” Remus said as he closed the door behind John. “Harry, this is Arthur’s brother, John Shelby. John, this is Harry.”
“What’d you do and kidnap some kid for?” John cried indignantly, swinging wide eyes to Remus. “I’ve got four of ‘em if you needed a kid!”
“Harry is family,” Remus said, lifting Harry’s spirits quite high. “I didn’t just snatch up any random kid, you know.”
John ignored Remus entirely in favor of stealing his chair and shaking his head at Arthur.
“He’s been gone four fuckin’ months and suddenly he sounds like a proper arse, don’t he, Arthur?”
“You all sound like arses,” Polly tsk’d as she got to her feet. “I’m off to check on the others. I’ll see you all at the Garrison? I expect Tommy’ll be wanting to have a family meeting.”
Who Tommy was? Harry had no idea. It was a good thing that he wasn’t expecting any answers to his unasked questions because it meant he wasn’t disappointed when Remus settled in Polly’s abandoned seat and started a conversation with the brothers about someone named Danny.
Harry sort of let his attention wander then, more concerned about his friends than he was any of the people that Remus and his mates discussed.
Ron and Hermione had to be worried, Harry was sure of it. It was already late afternoon and Ron would have noticed immediately that Harry and his trunk were gone.
Would they notice Remus’s disappearance and think that he and Harry were together? Would they worry that Harry had been captured by Sirius Black or something dramatic?
Things were already tense between Harry and his friends over the Firebolt he had been gifted and had yet to ride (would he get a chance to fly it?!) and the ongoing feud over his friends’s pets…
Oh.
Hedwig.
Harry hoped he was back at Hogwarts before his poor owl had a chance to notice his absence. Harry’s chest ached when he pictured Hedwig flying in at breakfast to bring him a note from Hagrid (the only person who ever wrote to Harry during term) and not finding him in his usual seat.
Harry was abruptly pulled from that rather sad thought when someone kicked the leg of his chair beneath the table, startling him. Harry blinked and saw that the three men were quiet and watching him with curiosity.
“Er… sorry?” Harry said, looking at Remus and fighting down a blush at having been caught unaware. “Did you say something?”
“Nevermind,” Remus said, not unkindly. He stretched back in his chair, reaching out to flick Arthur in the ear as he did. “Why don’t you boys piss off for a while, huh? Give me a chance to shower properly before we go to the pub.”
“Thank fuck,” Arthur said, crinkling his nose. “You smell like shit, Scar.”
“It’s because I’ve been around you rancid muppets,” Remus grinned, not missing a beat. “Go on, see if you can’t find Danny and Marcus, eh? We’ll meet you in a bit.”
Arthur and John seemed cheerful enough about being quite blatantly tossed from Remus‘s flat. They both told Harry that they would see him later at the pub that Harry pieced together was called the Garrison.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Remus turned and smiled wryly at Harry.
“You must have questions,” Remus said, the only opening Harry needed.
“A few,” Harry agreed. Remus seemed willing to listen to Harry’s questions so he asked them all at once before he could change his mind or get irritated. “Why do they call you Scar? How are you all related? When are we going back to Hogwarts? Does anyone know where we are?”
“That is a lot of questions,” Remus sighed. He rubbed his hand over his face, adopting a more pensive expression. “I suppose I’ll start with the easiest. Arthur and John are brothers. They have two other brothers, Tommy and Finn, and a sister, Ada. Polly is their aunt. I’m not related to any of them, by blood, but they’re the only family I’ve ever had.”
Harry nodded in understanding and waited for the rest of his questions to hopefully be answered.
“Scar is a childhood nickname,” Remus went on. “Charlie, the man who raised me, used to say that every day I had a new scar and the nickname stuck. And, yes, Albus knows you’re with me.”
Remus said that last part a bit more slowly, carefully, than he said the rest of it and Harry pondered the implication of that for a second.
“And he’s unhappy about it?” Harry guessed, thinking about how Polly said that Remus had started a war by taking Harry.
“Quite,” Remus said, seemingly all of a sudden cheery about that. “I’m entirely furious with Albus though, so I consider us momentarily even.”
That didn’t make much sense to Harry and he didn’t hesitate to point it out. Remus sobered up again, he was rather moody, and shifted in his chair so he could lean toward Harry some.
“Harry, when I said that you are a part of my family, I meant that,” Remus said, once again making Harry’s stomach swoop with joy.
It was nice, being considered family by Remus. Remus was clearly a bit mentally unstable, but he was kind too and Harry hoped that didn’t change when their… current situation… ended.
“You should have grown up here,” Remus suddenly snapped, much more irritated than Harry had ever heard him speak. Remus ran a rough hand through his hair and Harry inched back on his seat when Remus began ranting in a heated tone.
“Everyone knew that if James had ever suspected Sirius of being a traitor, I would have been your official godfather,” Remus said, scowling past Harry at the wall. “When everything happened all those years ago, Albus lied to me, right to my bloody face.”
A truly dark expression crossed Remus’s face, suddenly making Harry realize that Remus was a werewolf.
Remus, who wore soft looking cardigans in class and handed out chocolate to students, was someone who could be dangerous.
Harry stayed very quiet, even holding his breath, as he waited for Remus to exhale sharply and finish explaining himself.
“Albus told me that you were with Lily’s parents. They were wonderful people, truly. I thought that was an acceptable arrangement, I knew they would provide for you and care for you. I was hurt when they never reached out, but Albus said to give them space.
“To then find out that Albus sent you to Petunia?” Remus sneered Harry’s aunt’s name in a way that was heartening even while Harry’s pulse raced a bit too quickly to be comfortable. “It was unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable.”
So… so Harry didn’t think that Remus had any plans on them returning to Hogwarts.
The downside of that was that Harry’s friends and his owl were at Hogwarts. Childishly, Harry couldn’t help the wistful thought about the Firebolt at Hogwarts that might or might not be jinxed. That made him realize that Oliver was going to be furious to lose his seeker midway through the year and if Harry didn’t return to school that Gryffindor might not win the Quidditch Cup.
The upside, that Harry tried very hard to focus on while swallowing down the hard lump in his throat, was that Harry very likely wouldn’t be returning to his relatives house if Remus had his way. Also, Harry probably didn’t need to worry about the potions essay that he hadn’t started yet.