Can I See Them Please?
At the weekend, while Ron and Hermione were probably in Honeydukes or at the Shrieking Shack, Harry walked down to Professor Lupin's office feeling more nervous than he thought was entirely necessary. As he was about to open the door he heard a soft sound, almost like crying, coming from inside the office. To give the occupants more dignity Harry raised his hand to knock, there was a large sniff and a muttered spell said before Lupin's voice rang through to the corridor. “Come in.” he said, so Harry opened the door just as the cabinet (with the boggart they had used in class) closed with a bang. “Ar Harry, I see you have come to have your questions answered”
“Yes, errr yes I have. Are you okay professor?” Harry asked upon seeing that it must have been Lupin crying just moments before, as there wasn’t anyone else in the office.
“Perfectly well thank you Harry, please have a seat” Lupin fostered to the seat in front of where he now sat. Harry sat down graciously accepting a cup of tea that Lupin slid toward him. “ I understand you will have a lot of questions and I will try to answer as many as I can but you must know, Harry, that there are questions that I can’t answer.”
Over the last couple of days Harry had come up with a list of questions he had wanted to know but now, being here all he wanted was to see them, so that's what he asked. “ Can I see them…please” Professor Lupin looked momentarily shocked but soon composed his face.
“You deserve that at least'' and with that Lupin opened the cabinet and the boggart appeared as it had before, in the shape of the seven people. Harry got up from his chair but Lupin raised his hand blocking Harry's way. “ You can’t get too close, or the boggart will change, you see” Harry understood but he was not pleased as his Professor nodded his head for Harry to sit back down.
“ How did you know them?” Harry asked once he was seated back down.
“ I met your father on the train to Hogwarts in our first year, we were the closest of friends. I met your mother once we were sorted, I thought she was so bossy and annoying” As Lupin talked he started to smile. “We became close friends in our second year, she helped me when even I didn't know how to help myself”
“What were they like?” Harry said smiling now too.
“James had an ego the size of a lake but a heart to match. He didn't care what others would say about him being friends with me, he loved his friends and we all became like family, the first real family I ever had. Your mother, she was such a bright light, the smartest in our year but she always helped others, Lily was probably the first person that I didn’t have to question who actually loved me.” A small tear ran down Professor Lupin's face into the corner of his smiling mouth.
“Did you love her?”
“I loved them all, they were my family.”
“Who are the others?” Harry asked as he gestured to where the other bodies lay.
“Marline McKinnon” Remus pointed to the blond girl. “The best beater on the Gryffindor team, was one of our best friends. She was shy when I first met her but she became the life of the party when she felt at home with us. Dorcas Meadows“ lupin now pointed to the dark haired girl. “She was the bravest and most brazen person I knew. We saw her as the most notorious, under-appreciated prankster, some said better than James and Sirius. They were the first to die or at least the first people who we were close to that died. Marline was attacked in their home, her whole family gone in an afternoon, Dorcas found her and it only went down from there. She made it her mission to find the death eaters who did it, she found them. It took five death eaters to take her down. They went down heroes, fighting to try and make the wizarding world safer.”
“Did I ever meet them?” Harry asked, knowing he was born during the first wizarding war.
“Yes, in fact Marline was training at St Mungo's at the time you were born, so she was the one who delivered you, who was the first to hold you. Dorcas fainted when she saw your mom giving birth and if I didn’t know better was terrified to hold you but she was the first to give you a cockroach cluster, accidentally of course.” Lupin said, giving Harry a wink which made Harry laugh.
“Fred and George would of loved her”
“Yes, I’m sure they would have gotten on like a house on fire” Professor Lupin chuckled.
“Who’s he?” Harry asked, breaking the laughter as he pointed at the youngest of the figures.
The professor sobered up quickly and looking down at the boy said “Regulus Black, nobody knew we were friends, we used to meet up at the astronomy tower late at night, we never talked about anything heavy, mostly we disgust books but when we ran into each other in the corridor we acted like we'd never shared a word. He was a Slytherin you see. Lupin explained at Harry’s puzzled look. “We were very similar I would say, he was just always made to be bad so eventually, inevitably even he joined Voldemort and was killed in battle I presume. He was a sour subject with my friends so we never talked about him.”
“and…?” Harry said knowing Sirius Black was next.
“And Regulus’ brothers Sirius Black, the first Black to be put in Gryffindor. He received howlers for a month after that, but it was nothing compared to the amount he got when his mum found out he was friends with me. After the first one he didn't eat breakfast in the dining room so I didn’t have to listen to what they said. He was a very proud person and too popular for his own good, when we were younger he was my first friend, my best friend. Him and James were as close as brothers, Sirius was certainly closer with James than his real brother. I think the war was too much for him, so he did what his parents would have wanted him to do. He just snapped.”
“Why? Why did he betray my parents? You say he was a good guy, so why did he do it?” Harry was starting to get angry. Why was Professor Lupin making him out to be a good person and excusing him of guilt Harry thought.
“I don’t think we will ever know, Harry.” Lupin said calmly. Harry was just about to start shouting, he even stood up, before they heard a knock at the door.
“I finished making your potion for tomorrow Lup…” Snape cut off as he walked into the room seeing Harry poised over the table and the six dead bodies on the floor. Snape took a step back with confusion and Harry sensed something more. “Lily?”
Lupin waved his wand for the third time making the boggart go back into the cabinet. “You should go now Harry, see you in class on Tuesday, don’t forget your homework.” Professor Lupin said ushering Harry out of the office as he passed Snape, Harry looked up at him before his professor had completely pushed him out of the door and closed it.