A Little Darkness and Disgrace, But All Is Right Now
They Apparated around the corner, the wolf pressing a soft kiss to his mate's cheek as they walked hand-in-hand up to the door of Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Remus had given him the little kiss after explaining that Muggles, like wizarding people, could be potentially very homophobic. They had agreed not to hide, hoping that the Dursleys were nice people, but Remus had known Petunia through Lily, and remembered her as the sour teenager, jealous of Lily's magic. Sirius asked about their Ministry sanctioned letter, which Remus got out the letter they'd gotten from the Minister, for legal custodial ownership of Harry, paperwork and everything, so Dumbledore couldn’t say a word about it. Sirius knocked on the door while the werewolf tuck some loose hair behind his ear. Both of them were worried that Harry wouldn’t want to go with them.
A small boy with messy black hair, looking no older than four years old, even though they both knew he was six, but looked much smaller, answered the door. He was just able to talk and opened the door, lisping a little as he spoke in his small voice, glasses falling down his nose and oversized clothes flapping about him, “Hello, what can I do for you today?”
Sirius was furious, absolutely enraged that the little boy was expected to run errands around the house at such a young age.
Remus knelt down so that he would be somewhat at Harry’s height despite his towering frame, “Hello there. Is your name Harry?” he asked in a gentle voice to soothe the little boy. He could smell the fear and pain in the young boy.
Harry nodded, he replied meekly, not meeting their eyes, “Yes, sir. I’m Harry.”
Sirius also knelt down to Harry’s height and explained, “Hi Harry. I’m Sirius, this is Remus. We were good friends of your parents and we’ve come to bring you home with us, if you’d like to. Would you like that?” he asked with hope in his silver eyes.
Harry beamed at them both, grabbing hold of them and hugging them tightly, chanting over and over, “You’ve come to rescue me!” he stopped chanting, “Oh, I’m so glad! Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia aren’t very nice.” he made a bit of a face.
Sirius bit down the growl that threatened to spill over his lips. Remus noticed this and gave him a look as if to say, ‘I know, but don’t you dare, you’ll scare him’. The wolf squeezed his hand, murmuring, “Easy there, baby.”
Harry snuggled them both close, just wanting the affection he had been denied over his short six years of life.
Remus couldn’t help but pick him up, instantaneously protectivr over him, so that he didn’t have to crouch down and like this, both of them could hug him together in a sandwiched hug.
There was a shout from indoors of “Boy! Who the devil was it at the bloody door? You’re letting cold in the house!”
The animagus looked furious at the voice, noticing the growing gold in his husband’s gaze. He stroked Harry’s cheek before putting him down gently and asking him, “Harry, can you take us to your relatives? We’re going to have a little talk with them before we take you back to our home, okay?”
Harry nodded, walking into the kitchen and addressing his uncle. While the small boy ran along, Remus mumbled to his husband, “They’re mistreating him, I can smell it. …Not as quite as bad as we were mistreated by our dads, sweetheart but it’s bad enough.” he explained to his husband who looked utterly furious but also terribly worried for the young boy that he hoped would soon be in their care.
Soon, the Lupins, now holding hands to keep the fury under tight wraps, spotted the whale of a man, sitting down in a huge armchair with a plate of biscuits, the newspaper and a cup of tea. Petunia was upstairs with Dudley who was five weeks older than Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived was scared to introduce the men to his uncle and wrung his hands.
Remus sensed this, instantly protective of their would-be adoptive cub, their nephew through James being a brother to his husband. He stepped closer to Harry, holding out a hand for Vernon to shake, “Good day, Mr. Dursley. I am Remus Lupin, Harry’s legal guardian. I was a close friend of his mother’s and we have come to take him out of your care.” his tone was civil, but the animagus could tell he was one slip away from growling at the man, so he squeezed his hand again, a little reassurance, they were always like this, helping each other whenever they could, even had been before Sirius had been carted off to Azkaban.
Vernon bristled instantly, “You could have come to collect him sooner and he needn’t have burdened my doorstep in the first place!” he exclaimed, face turning a warning shade of red for Harry, who felt safe with the two tall men that had just arrived. He hid behind Remus, who happily shielded him from any harm that could possibly come his way.
Sirius was by his side, ready to fight by his husband’s side when the werewolf squeezed his hand back, as he explained calmly, only gritting his teeth a little, “Yes, well… Forgive us for that, won’t you? My husband and I were getting some personal matters seen to and sorted out.” Although his mother had been a Muggle, Remus had no idea that being gay in the Muggle world wasn’t exactly as accepted as it was in Wizarding society. He entwined his fingers with his husband’s, not backing down, he had hid long enough, and wouldn’t pretend that he and Sirius were friends ever again, he’d done that enough in his early teen years enough, thanks.
Vernon’s face turned a nasty shade of purple, “What?!” he bellowed, “You’re queer and you’re freaks? Petunia! Some of your sister’s lot are here and wanting to take the boy!” he hollered up the stairs, and soon enough, a pinch-faced, bony woman came into view, now that that Harry had led them to the sitting room.
Sirius was not having any of it, he had already faced homophobia in his teenage years from his family, his ex-family, and he wouldn’t be taking it from this stranger either, so he spat at him, glaring frostily at him, “Excuse me?” his fist was curled, knowing that he wouldn’ve thrown punches if his hand hadn’t been in his husband’s.
Remus gave him a stern look that said, ‘Calm down, he’s a Muggle, remember?’ but did send a thought to him, thankful they could still do that, “Sweetheart, mind that sharp tongue, he is a Muggle after all…. Trust me, I want to hurt him too for hurting our godson and nephew but we can’t.”
Sirius nodded, sending a thought in return, “Fine… I’ll tone down my bark, but only for you, darling.” he didn’t stop glaring at the whale of a man, he just didn’t speak to him much now.
Petunia finally spoke, having shown herself a few minutes ago, after coming down the stairs and was visibly panicking on the inside, she had met Remus once at the end of Lily’s fifth year when he had come over to study with Lily for something or another. She exclaimed, trying to hide the pain in her voice because although she resented her, she missed the vivid redhead sister she had barely mourned, “Lupin! What are you doing in my house? Who is this?”
Remus gritted his teeth and sarcastically replied, “Lovely to see you too, Petunia, you haven’t changed a bit. You don’t need to know either of those things. All you need to know is that we’re taking Harry off your hands.”
She looked at him scrupulously, narrowowing her eyes at him carefully, “For how long?” It would be no good if they just took the boy and then brought him back once they’d had enough of the little good-for-nothing, or at least, that was her two cents on the matter.
Remus looked at her strangely, as thought she had just asked an incredibly stupid question, “For good. Why do you ask?” he wondered, hoping she didn’t wish for their nephew to return here, because that wasn’t happening.
Petunia addressed the malnourished six year old, “Boy, go and get your things and be gone.” Who simply nodded meekly, going to his bedroom under the stairs after replying, “Yes, Aunt Petunia.”
The fact that he lived in a cupboard, made Sirius asked softly, the pain of old scars in his mind, remembering how his own mother used to lock him in the basement, but he shook that off, replying in a barely civil voice, “You mean to tell me that’s where you let a child sleep? In a bloody cupboard?” he knew he was pissed, but he literally felt his husband shaking with barely held together rage.
Unbeknownst to this, Petunia wrinkled her nose at him, pointing a bony finger at Sirius, her voice sounding demanding, it wasn’t exactly hard to tell she was still a little sour about how things had happened, “I remember you now. Lily mentioned you once or twice. Black, isn’t it?”
Sirius smirked a bit, noticing the smug smile on his husband’s face out of the corner of his eye as he held his left hand for her to shake, which clearly showed his wedding ring, “Actually, it’s Lupin now, has been for awhile now.” he felt warmth swell through him, feeling his darling wolf trace sof of the tattoos on his hands.
Petunia didn’t know what to say to that and blankly shook his hand, “Petunia Dursley.” she blandly replied, waiting for them to take the boy off of their hands.
Sirius took his hand away, giving his husband his left hand to hold, he had gotten a tattoo the day before their wedding of the date they got married as well as their initials, and knw those calloused fingers would trace it and fiddle with his wedding ring.
He smiled at the gesture, taking his hand and tracing the tattoo like always, but left the ring alone, as he commanded her in his commanding but gentle voice, “Answer my question.”
Petunia bawlked a little but merely nodded, “Yes, that’s where the little good-for-nothing sleeps. He wasn’t worth a room, ever since Dumbledore dumped him on our doorstep six years ago.”
Sirius looked positively murderous and barked out, “What did you just say?” he noticed his hold on his husband’s hand was tighter.
Petunia looked irritated, and sniffed, “I am not repeating myself.” she looked indignant.
Sensing his husband’s annoyance, which he wasn’t as good at masking as he was, Remus put a hand on his shoulder, “Sirius…” he warned him, a slight growl to his voice. He nodded in understanding, watching Harry waddle over to them, had a small tattered bag with his precious little belongings in it.
Sirius’ breath hitched in his throat at the tears shining in the little boy’s eyes, he was reminded too much of James one hopeless night when he thought he’d fucked up, takne things too far and lost Lily for good. He immediately picked him up and whispered, “It’s going to be okay, fawn. You’re safe now. Rem will deal with this lot. You just hold on to me, and hey, if you want to sleep go right ahead and take a little nap, eh?” Harry nodded and held onto him tightly, only taking a few minutes to drift off in his godfather's embrace.
Remus saw red when he saw the tears in the little boy’s eyes, so he let a teensy bit of the wolf in him out, “How dare you…” he breathed in a growl, burning up with anger, “How dare you, no, how can you treat a child like that? Lily would be livid with you, so if you’re not ashamed, you should be.” he roughly stated, his voice gravelly in his fuse of short-temper, continuing for the next few minutes, thunderously arguing with Petunia about child abuse, his hatred of abusers coming from Lyall Lupin, his father. He said his final piece, swearing up and down that he would report to the childcare welfare services that she had been abusing her nephew severely. It was plain to see in the child's appearance after all; small and scrawny for his age, malnourished and too thin. He turned to Sirius, "We're going home now before I kill one of these people, sweetheart."
The shorter man nodded, careful not to wake young Harry. They Apparated back to their home in Wales with their godson in tow. Things would soon change for young Potter in a positive way, so much so that the young wizard would be prepared for talking to other wizards a lot better and knowing a lot more about his history than he currently did.
It didn't take long to put Harry down to bed in his new bedroom and make lunch. Soon, they were sitting at the kitchen table and discussing plans for what they would do next, knowing that they would have to find someone to watch over their nephew while they were gone.
The Animagus suggested that they go to St Mungo's and try to have a child of their own.His husband had kissed his cheek and quietly agreed with him but was worried who between them would carry the child. Sirius explained that it would be only logical if he were to be the one to carry the child so not to add to Remus' monthly pain. So, it was decided. Tomorrow, they would bring Harry to the burrow for a playdate with the Weasley's while they went to St Mungo's.
They made sure that Harry had lunch, helped him unpack his meagre belongings before transfiguring a few items to actually fit the small boy. When around nine o’clock came around, Sirius bathed him, playing with the bubbles with him, getting him out of the bath, drying him off, making sure he got into soft pyjamas, while Remus gave him a small cup of hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows on top, reading him a story before tucking him in together and going to their own room, tying the place up a fair bit, leading to time flying by. By twelve thirty in the morning, both were shattered and just remembered to get into simple pyjamas before crawling into bed, boxers and t-shirts were usually the nightly routine.
Remus hugged his husband close, cradling him in his arms as he breathed into his hear, “Goodnight, my sweet, radiant mate. Sweet dreams, Pads.” he kissed his neck and face a few times before getting comfortable.
The animagus smiled warmly over his shoulder at him, “Goodnight to you too, my handsome, wonderful, smooth and sensual wolf.” he kissed his face a bit as he laughed softly, “How could anyone not dream sweetly in your arms, Moons? Thanks, and same to you all the same, love.” he mumbled, snuggling close and falling asleep in his husband’s arms, tomorrow they would see about being a proper family, their nephew would be no less loved, and it would be good for the kids to grow up together.