Chapter 2
Mrs Potter was not pleased to see them stumble in through the fireplace at 1am in the morning, Sirius could tell that much. She was sitting patiently in the red armchair, facing the fire with a calm smile on her face. The spoon in her teacup was slowly stirring by itself. “Oh, hello boys. A bit late, are we?”
James swallowed slowly. “Hi mum. Er, yeah. Sorry about that. We might have stumbled into a mess, a rather big one to be honest.”
Mrs Potter had yet to discover the new boy in her house, who somehow had managed to hide rather efficiently behind the two significantly shorter boys.”Oh really, and what might that be if I dare to ask?”
Sirius could hear Remus mutter something about being posh in a low voice and had to restrain himself from giving a snarky reply. James shuffled closer to his mother, taking a seat on the sofa and exposing Remus in the act. “Well, you see. Sirius did some magic,” she immediately raised an eyebrow at Sirius who cursed under his breath, “and this lad, Lupin, sort of saw it.”
The spoon took an abrupt stop, clinking rather loudly when it fell to the ceramic rim of the cup. “You performed magic, in front of a muggle?” Mrs Potter was rarely angry, she was a rather understanding woman. Knowing that teenagers, especially boys like her own, were bound to trouble sooner or later. This however, was a rather serious matter which called for a serious mother.
James itched the back of his head, clearly nervous. “That’s the thing mum. We don’t think he’s a muggle, rather on the contrary.” She waited another moment, waiting for more information. She saw no need to call this a grave problem, not if the witness was a wizard. It was impossible for James not to catch on to his mothers need to know more about what’s happened. “He sort of, er, wasn’t aware.”
“Of what, darling?”
“Himself.”
She didn’t say a word for a very long time, watching the three boys with a wary look in her eyes. Presumably trying to figure out if this was another one of the duo's pranks, however they never did execute those in the house. There wasn’t any need to, and she knew with confidence that she’d never given her son a reason to lie.
She rose from her chair, now with a welcoming look on her face as if their belated arrival was all forgotten, and walked up to Remus. “Hello sweetheart. What’s your name?”
Remus was clearly uncomfortable, feeling out of place in his raggedy sweater and worn out jeans. He stumbled on his words when he said: “Remus. Remus Lupin, Mrs Potter.”
“No need for the formalities dear.” She embraced him in a soft hug, kept her hands on his shoulders when she pulled away. “Now, I know my boys don’t feel the need to lie to me. Do you mind showing me?”
He looked at the closest wall, not being sure what to tell her. “Uh, I sort of can’t. Not that they lied! They didn’t, I swear. I just… er… stole Sirius’s wand.”
She gave him an understanding nod, as if this was perfectly normal. “And what happened when you did that?”
His palms were sweaty, god was this unnerving. “The pub, the beer kind of exploded.”
Mrs Potter hummed and turned her head to Sirius. “Sirius, love, do I need to ask why you were with your wand out at the bar?”
Sirius looked at his shoes, a blush rising to his face. “I’d rather you didn’t.” She once again used the magic of waiting the answer out with silence. He couldn’t stand it for long and blurted out: “I cast a spell so that my glass would fill up with beer. Sorry.”
Once again she just hummed before properly answering. “I do understand that you boys drink, just try to be more discreet about it. You were very lucky this time. Might I add that you ought to make yourselves familiar with some new lawas, boys?” She looked at the three of them with warm eyes. “It’s late, you ought to jump in bed. It’s far too late for a scolding, we’ll solve this little hurdle tomorrow morning. Remus dear, you’re welcome to stay.”
Remus thought about it and quickly came to the conclusion that the Potter residence was a far better option than what he had planned in the beginning, crashing on a friends sofa in some grimy flat. “Thank you, I’ll make the sofa then.”
Mrs Potter shook her head firmly. “Nonsense. You’ll share with Sirius. I would have given you your own room of course, however the only free one is filled to the brim with Monty’s documents. A bit of a slob, my husband.”
Remus stared at her for a short while before coming to the conclusion that there was no point in arguing against Mrs Potter, and simply trailed after the two other boys up the stairs.
*
Sirius’ room was massive, Remus couldn’t get it through his head what role the black haired boy had in this family. Mrs Potter had addressed him lovingly, as if he were her own son. That was clearly not the case. No matter how familiarly Sirius was treated by both James and his mother, Remus couldn’t look over the facts that made Sirius so blatantly different. Of course his appearance was a part of it. The jet black hair that fell in lazy waves over his shoulders, his high cheekbones and narrow eyes; nearly pitch black. He was also far paler than both James and Mrs Potter, which made absolutely no sense to Remus unless Sirius happened to be some sort of vampire. Going back and thinking about what had happened earlier that night, it wasn’t entirely excluded from his thoughts. Other than that Sirius carried himself in a completely different manner. His posture was straight, as if he intended to look down on anyone coming in his way. Sure, James’s accent was more classy than the average teenager, but Sirius’s was downright outrageous. Other than that Remus couldn’t stop himself from thinking that his new acquaintance was simply made to be wearing a smart suit of some sort, instead of the motorbike jacket and clearly well used Doc Martens.
Sirius flung himself onto the bed and made some space for Remus beside him. Not that Remus actually joined him, but instead stood awkwardly by the bedroom door. “She took that well, right? She’s an angel, really.” He nodded at the statement, not really knowing what to say. To be frank, Remus was still a bit buzzed from the drinks from earlier the same night and wished for nothing else than to sleep it off. However he simply couldn’t bring himself to share a bed with someone he just met. “What’s up mate?”
“Sorry. I’d just rather sleep on the floor, if you don’t mind?”
Sirius frowned at him, which brought a bit of a panic in Remus’s mind. Brilliant, now he’d offended his new roommate. Luckily, that wasn’t what Sirius was thinking about at all. “Since when did you turn polite. Here man.” A mattress, blanket and two pillows were shoved down on the floor. Of course his bed had double mattresses, what did he expect? Once Remus had made the bed and crawled under the covers Sirius started talking again. “So how do you feel? Being a wizard and all?”
Sirius couldn’t remember a time where he hadn’t known. His mother had constantly reminded him that he was expected to be an exceptional one, carrying on the pride of the noble house of Black. He grimaced at the thought of it, but couldn’t deny that he was a rather good wizard. Naturally he was curious about how it felt to have made this great discovery about oneself.
“It’s as if someone’s taking the piss at me, if I’m being honest. Some cruel joke, really. How do you even know it all?” Sirius waved his hand in a flamboyant motion, raising his eyebrows at Remus. He gave him a short nod.
“The same way you know your muggle things, school.”
“School?”
A smile creeped onto Sirius's face. Merlin, he loved school .Of course the homework and detentions were a menace, but the people were just lovely. It really was like a second home, those ancient hallways and chattering portraits. He even found himself missing Peeves at the worst of times. “Yeah. Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. It’s bloody brilliant, I’m telling you! Me and Prongs, James, chose divination as our added subject last year. It was more as a joke if I’m being honest, but it’s proper fun once you get used to it. The classroom is a hassle to get to though, I could live without that.” As Sirius kept on rambling about Hogwarts and its wonderful nature, Remus listened intently. Almost as if it were a goodnight story, or some type of rap lullaby.
Before he was lulled to sleep by Sirius’s voice, which got raspier by the hour, he asked one last question: “Do they all speak like you? Don’t know if I could stand more than one of you posh sods.”
Sirius huffed. “No need to worry Lupin, there’s actually only two of us pompous shits. You can blame my mother for that.” Immediately regretting he said that, Sirius turned his back to the boy on the floor and shut his eyes rather harshly.
That didn’t stop Remus from answering. “Mm. Mothers are a pain. ‘Night Sirius.”
Sirius couldn’t stop himself from getting the last word. “Goodnight, Lupin.”
*
“Morning lads!” Fleamont Potter was sitting at the head of the table with a newspaper levitating in front of him, drinking a cup of tea.
“Morning dad.” James was usually a person with no difficulties getting up in the mornings, last night had however been trying for all of the boys. His tousled hair (more than usual) and dark circles gave it up that he definitely did not get a good night's sleep.
“Hiya Monty.” Sirius sat down in his usual chair, reaching over the table to grab a toast.
Remus didn’t know what to do with himself. Which chair was he supposed to sit in? Was there a specific one for guests? He felt like there was. Was he allowed to take anything he liked for breakfast, or was there some unspoken rule? It was all so very dreadful.
James noticed his uneasiness and pulled out the chair next to him. “Sit down, have some breakfast! Mum makes killer toast, I swear by it!” Sirius hummed in agreement, mouth full of said toast.
Remus sat down, carefully grabbing a piece of toast from the basket and buttering it. “Good morning, Mr Potter.”
Fleamont looked up from his paper and flashed a smile identical to James’s. “Please, call me Monty. What might I call you?”
Remus chewed his bite and swallowed roughly. “Remus. Remus Lupin.”
Mr Potter fell silent, waving his finger to close his paper. He took a proper look at Remus, studying every single feature he had the possibility of seeing. “Lupin you say. Your father didn’t happen to be Lyall Lupin?”
Mrs Potter stopped drinking her tea and laid her motherly eyes on Remus. He felt exceptionally analysed. “Hm, now that you mention it darling, I do see a resemblance.”
Remus felt like he needed to put this conspiracy to a stop, because he truly couldn’t give them an answer. “Sorry, but I don’t know who my father is. Or was. I’ve lived in a children's home since I was two.”
Mrs Potter shook her head. “Oh my Monty, I never expected Lyall to-” She put her hand over Remus’s on the table. “I’m so very sorry love, you are always welcome to stay with us from now on.” Monty gave an agreeing nod to this statement, Remus felt like his heart might burst. Here he was, a stranger in their home, and the first thing they offer him is a place to stay.
“Thank you” was all he could muster to say.
The breakfast table had seemed to forget what Remus’s appearance was actually caused by and Sirius was chattering away about he would be the best quidditch player, besides James, this term. The Potters encouraged him to the skies and James asked his father something about a “Patronus”, whatever that might be. Remus didn’t have it in him to sit there with a hundred questions flying about his head, and simply asked what they were talking about. Fleamont Potter stopped talking to the boys at once and flashed Remus a delicate smile.
“Right, excuse my tardiness Remus. Your tricky situation, I presume?” Remus gave a diligent nod. “No need to worry mate, some school authority figures are on their way.” The word ‘school authority figures’ rang in his head, he had never had a positive connotation to it.
“Oh.” He started fumbling with his plate, putting it away in the sink. “Right, uh. Lovely staying here and all, but I really should go. Can’t stand being a bother.” Sirius and James observed him with a sharp look in their eyes, as if they knew something bad was coming. God, Remus didn’t want to imagine what would happen to a slight criminal in a wizard's home. He turned to them before putting his hand on the doorknob. “Right. See you lot later! It was lovely, really.”
But Remus didn’t get very far after opening the door, something rather colourful and silky was stopping him from getting anywhere. His face was stuffed with some type of scarf, or was it a robe? And he could hear a man chuckling as well as feel a chest rising up and down against his forehead. “Well hello there, Remus Lupin”, a rather full voice said in a gentle tone. Remus looked up and was met by an old man with half-moon shaped glasses. His beard was in intricate knots and braids all the way down to his chest and he had a small smile on his thin lips. He gently put Remus aside and swiftly made his way across the room to sit down at the table, a cup of tea appeared in front of him. “Lyall did an impressive job hiding him away, don’t you reckon?” the old man chuckled for himself.
Remus wasn’t left standing in the doorway by himself, a rather strict woman in green robes gave him a quick look before turning to the remainders of the company. “Albus, this isn’t a light matter.”
The old man, Albus, gave her a thoughtful nod. “No Minerva, you're correct. No need to scare the boy with formalities first thing in the morning.”
“Good morning professor”, James and Sirius mumbled at the same time, looking down on their plates.
Minerva gave them a stark look. “Mr Black, Mr Potter. Dare I ask what you’ve gotten yourselves into?” They did not answer her, using their time off of school to their advantage. “Naturally, to be fairly honest I’d rather not now.” The strict look on her face made a brief disappearance, she was clearly well acquaintanced with the friends pattern to find themselves in trouble by now. “Mr Lupin, do you care to return to the table?”
It didn’t matter to Remus that the woman wasn’t his professor, something about her tone made him aware that he was expected to oblige. He pulled his chair out and sat down in it, rather disappointed by the results of his failed escape. “Uhm, sorry to interrupt Miss, but they didn’t mean to.”
She gave him a thin smile. “Oh I don’t doubt that in the slightest, they rarely do. Now, you boys better run along. We might be sitting here for some time, which I’m sure already makes your skin crawl.”
None of the boys had it in them to go against her word, no matter how curious they were about Lyall Lupin and his actions. Together they shuffled up the stairs and soon enough they found themselves in James’ room. Remus' mouth fell open when he saw the posters on James’s walls, people flying on brooms in a rather lively manner. Never in his life would he be able to imagine that pictures had the ability to move, but now he was sitting here in front of them with his very own eyes. Sirius and James immediately began discussing the possible outcome of the meeting down stairs.
“Oi, Prongs! Do you still have that ear of yours?” Remus turned his head to James in utter shock, but was pleased to see that James had both of his ears intact.
“Nah mate, mum confiscated it some time ago. How about one of those echoing spells?”
Sirius shook his head. “Can’t risk doing illegal magic with both McGonagall and Dumbledore in the house, can we?” James hummed, drowning in conspirations regarding how to eavesdrop on the adults.
“Bugger! Our only choice is to rot away up here it seems.”
Remus had spent the time they were planning with scanning the room. A very pretty chess set had caught his eye. All of the pieces were carved with exquisite details and even had little faces. He desperately wanted to play. Sirius noticed his newly found interest and gave him a devilish smile. “Oh, you’re gonna bloody love this, mate.”
*
Euphemia Potter was absolutely furious at the situation. She had gone under the impression that Dumbledore somehow had missed out on a magical child over the past fifteen years, which was already infuriating enough if you asked her. The fact that Lyall Lupin, a man who many people in the wizarding world would consider as loyal and a friend, abandoned his son at only the age of two was simply unfathomable to her.
Dumbledore was equally as concerned as her, however he tried to grasp reason behind the decision. “Euphemia, I completely understand the frustration this brings you.”
He didn’t get the chance to continue. “Frustration? Albus! This is awful! How could this possibly not have come to your attention earlier? Who knows where the boy would’ve ended up if not for last night!”
“Yes, you are correct. This is a very severe mess we’ve found ourselves in. But as both you and I know, Lyall Lupin has been dead for years and so has his wife.”
Euphemia did not care, dead or missing or the happiest couple wandering the earth. This was simply something she could not bring herself to overlook. “The boy is fifteen! Fifteen years, all alone!”
McGonagall gave her a solemn nod. “I agree Euphemia, a grave mistake has been made. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do to reverse time.”
Fleamont had been sitting in silence, observing the rest of the party while pondering solutions. “What should we do then, Albus? He can’t possibly catch up in just a couple of months, can he?”
Minerva gave Dumbledore one of her well known “don’t even think about it” looks. No matter how gifted a wizard was, catching up on five years of education was simply not doable. Dumbledore looked at her, understanding what she was trying to mediate to him. “No, Fleamont. That would be quite the task. However, I believe with some proper training, and friends, Remus might get a good start.”
Euphemia would not here of any more of their conspiring, three adults who had no understanding what a boy without any loving parents in his life truly needed. “I will not hear of it, Remus is not spending his summer with his nose in textbooks on my watch.”
He didn’t ask her in a condescending way. Albus was truly curious of what Euphemia had in mind. “What do you suppose we ought to do then?”
“Simple. He’s staying here, if that’s what he wishes for. We will train him in a manner that isn’t forceful. That’s the only way I’m sending him to Hogwarts, Albus.”
“Very well then. I presume you still have James’s old books, no? The matter is settled.” Dumbledore finished his tea in silence before he and Minerva apparated their way back to where they came from.