Remus Lupin stood in front of the door with his hand raised in indecision. Should he knock or just leave the boy alone? He had been living in America when he heard the news of his best friend's son; he remembered how angry he had become upon reading about how Harry had been abused by his muggle relatives and wanted nothing more than to return to England to make sure the boy was alright. Yet, finances ensured it had taken him until now to return to Europe.
Now he stood in front of the burrow, deciding whether to knock or just leave altogether; in truth, Remus was afraid of seeing Harry again. He had abandoned the boy the night that James and Lily had died, too consumed in his own grief to even consider checking in to see if Harry was alright, and knowing that Harry was abused all those years just made Remus feel worse about his actions.
Steeling his nerves, Remus knocked hard on the door before letting his hand fall quickly to his side; a moment later, the door opened to reveal a small elf with a bemused expression on its face,
"Can I help you, sir?" The house-elf asked in a high voice,
"Jaya?" Remus asked in a shocked voice, "Is that you?"
For a moment, Jaya simply stared wide-eyed at Remus before she let out a cry of happiness and jumped into Remus' arms to deliver a fierce huh,
"Mr. Mooney! You are being alive! Jaya thought you lost!"
For a moment, Remus was lost in memories of so long ago when he was younger and would visit James during the holidays, and little Jaya would bring them snacks; a tear slid down Remus' cheek at the memory before a loud voice caused the two to end the hug,
"Who is it, Jaya?"
A moment later, Molly Weasley appeared in the doorway and went pale at the ghost before her,
"Remus….?"
"Hello Molly, been a long time…." Remus said sheepishly,
"Long time…...?" Molly breathed, before she turned crimson, "LONG TIME!? TRY SIX BLOODY YEARS, REMUS! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
"I…." Remus began before he was cut off by Molly,
"DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW WORRIED ARTHUR AND I WERE WHEN YOU DISAPPEARED?! LILY AND JAMES WERE DEAD, SIRIUS WAS IN PRISON FOR MURDERING PETER, AND YOU WERE JUST GONE! WE THOUGHT YOU HAD BEEN KILLED!"
I had to leave, Molly!" Remus yelled suddenly, cutting her off before she could continue, "I lost everything that night! All of my friends were dead. I knew I couldn't take care of Harry! But, honestly, who would let someone like me care for a baby?! I had nothing left here worth staying for, so I left; I went to America to try and lose myself; things were dark for a long time before I managed to pull myself together; I work in a muggle bookshop now in New York."
"Nothing worth staying for….?" Molly said in a cold tone, "Harry needed you, Remus! Do you have any idea what his aunt and uncle did to him? They tortured him, and where were you? Hiding away in the colonies when your nephew needed you!"
Remus hung his head in shame at the truth of the words; he knew Molly was right, that he should have stayed, yet remembering how broken he was, Remus knew he couldn't have.
"I was a broken man, Molly," Remus said in a hollow voice, "Broken and alone, would Harry really have been better in my hands? And if I had taken him, he would never have found you and had a family worth having."
Molly's anger subsided slightly at the words, though she still held a stern look on her face,
"I assume you're here to see Harry, then?"
Remus nodded slowly before answering in the same hollow voice,
"If you will allow it, that is."
For a moment, Remus feared that Molly would send him away and prepared himself for such, when suddenly Molly was hugging him, tears running down her cheeks,
"Of course, I'll allow it, you silly old man. Did you think I wouldn't?"
For a moment, Remus was rendered stunned at Molly's altruism before tears slowly slid down his cheeks,
"Thank you, Molly," Remus replied in a soft voice.
"The children are out playing quidditch but should be done by lunch; why don't you come in, and we can talk while we wait for them?" Molly said as she withdrew from the hug and walked inside. Remus nodded quickly and followed her, Jaya right behind him.
XXXX
Harry stared at the man in front of him in stunned silence; he and the others had just returned from a fun day of playing quidditch when Molly had introduced Harry to Remus Lupin, his dad's best friend apparently, and to say that Harry was shocked was an understatement. As the silence stretched, Harry found himself studying the man intently.
Remus was gray-haired and weathered, making him look far older than he actually was; he was wearing a heavily patched cloak that looked as though it had seen better days, but the thing that caught Harry's eyes were Remus' eyes; they looked like Harry's used to, hollow and sad. Despite himself, Harry felt the man needed a hug more than anything else.
"You look just like your father," Remus said sadly, "Except for your eyes, those are all Lily's,"
"You said you're my uncle?" Harry asked after a moment,
"Adopted uncle," Remus clarified, "James was my best friend, you probably don't remember, but you used to call me Uncle Mooney,"
"If you're my uncle," Harry said in a tight voice, "Then why did you leave me?"
Remus paled at the question and had to clear his throat before answering,
"I'm so sorry, Harry," Remus said sadly, "I shouldn't have, but I wasn't in a good place after that night; for a long time afterward, I was not well…."
"I don't care!" Harry suddenly yelled, making everyone jump, "You're my uncle! You were supposed to protect me! Instead, I got sent to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, who hurt me and called me names!"
Harry's hair had become blood-red amid his tirade, and Remus stared at it in shock as the boy continued, tears now falling down his cheeks,
"They hated me just because I could do magic! They hurt me all the time, and I had no one to protect me!"
"Harry…. I…." Remus began, unable to find the words,
"I hate you!" Harry yelled before he ran up the stairs, crying hard; they heard a door slam a moment later.
Almost immediately, Luna quickly walked toward the stairs, and Molly softly asked where she was going,
"To comfort Harry, of course," Luna replied as if the answer was obvious, "He needs someone with him right now."
Molly had to fight to keep the smile from her face at the words; it was clear that Luna really cared for the boy, and Harry was a good influence on her as well; in the past few weeks since meeting Harry, Luna had come out of her shell and seemed more outspoken than before, much to her parent's delight.
"We'll all go," Percy said simply, drawing nods from the rest of the children before they all began to climb the stairs after their brother, leaving Remus alone with Molly,
"I shouldn't have come here," Remus said sadly, "I should have known that my presence here would not be well received…."
"He'll come around, Remus," Molly replied, "He just needs time. It was quite a shock after all,"
"He hates me, Molly," Remus said in a sad voice, "And he's right too, I abandoned him, and because of my decision, the boy was tortured for years!"
"Then make it up to him," Molly replied quickly, "Show him that you will not abandon him this time,"
Remus said nothing, simply stared at the floor as Molly moved towards the stairs; before she began to ascend them, she turned one last time to Remus,
"I'm going to go and talk with Harry now; I hope you'll still be here when we come back down."
"I will be," Remus said in a severe voice, "I promise I will not abandon Harry again,"
Molly nodded her head quickly before turning and walking up the stairs to check on her son.
XXXX
Harry was sobbing into Charlie's shoulder when Molly entered the room; around him, the rest of the children were gently watching and saying words to try and cheer the boy up, but nothing seemed to help.
"Children, why don't you all go downstairs and enjoy your lunch? I want to speak to Harry for a moment," Molly said in a firm voice that left no room for discussion; grumbling about its unfairness, the children, slowly left the room and headed downstairs, leaving Molly and Harry alone. Molly then sat on the bed beside Harry and pulled him into her embrace, gently stroking his hair as he began to cry again.
"It's going to be okay, sweetie," Molly said soothingly,
"He just left me behind," Harry sobbed, "He left me with them!"
Molly said nothing for several moments, just continued to gently stroke Harry's hair before finally speaking in a soft voice,
"It wasn't his fault, sweetie; Remus loved your parents like they were family. But, unfortunately, when they died, I truly believe a piece of Remus did as well; it broke the poor man."
"If he really loved my mummy and daddy like family, why did he just abandon me!" Harry asked angrily, "Why didn't he protect me from them?!"
"Sometimes, when something bad happens to us, we can make the wrong decision," Molly explained, "Remus is a good man. He just made the wrong choice is all,"
"I hate him!" Harry sobbed,
"No, you don't, sweetie," Molly replied gently, "You're just angry, and you have a right to be, but I think you should give him a chance to prove how sorry he is."
For a few moments, Harry said nothing; finally, he managed to get a hold of himself and pulled away from Molly, wiping his eyes with his sleeve,
"I'm sorry I acted that way, mum," Harry said in a small voice,
"It's perfectly alright, Harry," Molly replied as she ruffled his now blue hair, "But how about we go downstairs, and you and Remus can try again?"
Harry said nothing at first, but Molly could tell he was thinking hard as his hair began to quickly change colors,
"What if he leaves me again?" Harry asked softly,
"That won't happen," Molly said firmly, "Remus feels awful for what he did, and all he wants now is to rectify his mistake if you let him."
Harry bit his lip in indecision for a moment as Molly watched tensely,
"I should go apologize to him; I was very rude," Harry said after a moment; Molly cheered internally in pride at Harry's decision and nodded her head as she helped him off the bed.
A moment later, Harry was once again standing in front of Remus Lupin, who looked as though he had aged ten years since Harry had last seen him; Harry stared at his shoes for a moment before he gathered his courage and mumbled,
"I'm sorry for saying I hated you, Mr. Lupin; I didn't mean it,"
"That's quite alright, Harry. I understand the reason for it, and please call me Remus; you'll make me feel old if you call me Mr. Lupin."
Slowly a smile began to spread across Harry's face before he nodded at Remus, who was likewise sporting a broad smile; which promptly vanished a moment later when Percy appeared with Scabbers resting on his shoulder; Remus paled instantly and began to shake slightly, making Harry ask in a worried tone,
"Are you okay, Remus?"
For a moment, Remus said nothing, only stared at Percy with an expression that Harry could not understand; finally, after another moment, Remus replied in a tight voice,
"I'm fine, Harry. I just need to speak with your mother for a moment, if you'll excuse me."
Quickly but calmly, Remus approached Molly and said in an agitated whisper,
"We need to talk right now,"
"Is everything alright?" Molly whispered back,
"I'll explain in a moment, follow me," Remus replied quickly before turning and walking up the stairs and into the first vacant room he came to, Molly following close behind; once they were alone, Remus quickly cast a silencing charm on the room, before turning to Molly, a wild look in his eye that made her suddenly nervous.
"The rat your son has; where did he get it?" Remus asked quickly,
"Scabbers?" Molly asked bemused, "Percy found him in the garden last year and has had him ever since; why?"
"Because that's no rat. It's an animagus!" Remus replied, making Molly's eyes widen in alarm,
"And not just any animagus either; I know this one personally; his name is Peter Pettigrew!"
"Pettigrew? But he was killed by Sirius Black. How can that be possible?" Molly said quickly, desperately trying not to panic,
"I don't know!" Remus said, equally panicky, "I thought Sirius killed him! But if he's alive, that would mean that Sirius was set up!"
"What do we do?" Molly asked in a terrified voice,
"I'll go to Dumbledore and tell him what I know," Remus replied, "Then have him summon the Aurors; you send the children out to play or something. The important thing is that they are not here when we try and capture Peter. I don't want him to hurt your children when we try to capture him."
Molly nodded her head in understanding and quickly masked her expression of fear, replacing it with one of calm as the two left the room and went back downstairs, where the children were eagerly enjoying their lunch.
As Remus walked to the fireplace, he cast one last look at the rat who seemed to be sleeping on the arm of the couch in the living room; nodding quickly at Molly, Remus grabbed a handful of Floo Powder before throwing it into the fireplace and shouting,
"Hogwarts!"
A moment later, he was gone, and Harry looked at Molly in bemusement,
"Where did Remus go?" Harry asked softly before taking another bite of his sandwich,
"He's just going to see Professor Dumbledore, sweetie," Molly replied warmly, "He'll be back shortly."
As the children began to talk amongst themselves, Molly said she was going to see the Lovegoods for a little while and that while she was gone, Charlie would be in charge and that the kids were to behave themselves.
Quickly, Molly apparated to the Lovegood home and knocked hard on the door; a moment later, it was answered by Luna's mother, who looked at Molly in bemusement for a moment before ushering her inside.
"Is everything okay?" Pandora Lovegood asked in a worried voice as Molly began to pace the living room,
"Luna's fine," Molly replied in a forced, calm voice, "But I need to ask a favor from you, Pandora,"
"Of course, Molly. What is it?" Pandora asked,
"I need you to watch the children for a little while this afternoon; Aurors will soon be descending on the burrow, and I can't have the children at the house when the Aurors arrive."
"Molly, what is going on?" Pandora asked in a worried voice,
Molly took a deep breath to calm herself before sitting on the couch and patting the cushion for Pandora to join her; a few minutes later, once Molly had relayed the whole story, Pandora looked white as a ghost, and it took a few moments for her to find her voice,
"Pettigrew is alive? But how is that possible?! Sirius Black is in Azkaban for killing him!"
"Obviously, Sirius was framed," Molly replied quickly, "But what's important right now is that the children are not harmed when the Aurors come to arrest him!"
"I will protect them with my life, Molly," Pandora replied in a firm voice, "I give you my word on it."
Molly nodded her head gratefully at the words before looking around as though she had forgotten something,
"Where is Xenophilius?" Molly asked,
"He had an appointment at St. Mungo's," Pandora replied quickly,
"Nothing serious, I hope," Molly replied,
"No, he's fine," Pandora said simply, "Just a routine checkup, but let's not get off topic. When will you be bringing the children over?"
"I'll fetch them now; I don't know how long it will take for Remus and Dumbledore to return with the Aurors," Molly said quickly as she rose to her feet, "Thank you so much for this, Pandora,"
"No thanks are necessary, Molly," Pandora replied warmly, "Your family has made a major impact on my Luna, and for that, I am eternally grateful."
"It's been Harry, more than anyone else," Molly laughed, making Pandora grin,
"Yes, it would seem as though Luna is quite taken with the boy."
Molly laughed at the words before growing serious again,
"I shall return shortly with the children, and again, thank you for this,"
Pandora nodded her head quickly before Molly turned in place and apparated back to the burrow with a loud 'CRACK.'