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When Arthur sent a Patronus to Remus to ask him whether he wanted to accompany him and a few other Order members to see off Harry at King’s Cross, he very much wanted to say no. He hadn’t been in contact with anyone from the Order since the fight at the Ministry; in fact, he had barely even had the energy to leave his bed. The owls tapping against the windows had been annoying, but they had all eventually given up and flown away, and Remus had been able to go back to sleep. Eventually, however, he knew he was going to have to return to the outside world, and Arthur had found the one thing that might motivate Remus enough to finally do that. He sent a quick return message and got up. There were still a few hours before he was expected to meet the others in London, but if he wanted to convince anyone that he was alright and there was no need for more welfare owl-check ins, he would need at the very least a shower.
Slowly, he made himself go through the motions of getting himself presentable and eating enough to make sure he would not collapse within the next few hours. The shower tired him out and the food tasted of nothing, but he managed to do what needed to be done by keeping his responsibility to take care of Harry in mind. Now that Sirius – no, better not think about that. Just focus on Harry.
He arrived at King’s Cross with about five minutes to spare, which meant ample time for Arthur to throw him a pitying glance and Molly to fuss over him. “Oh, Remus, how thin you’re looking! You really should take better care of yourself. We’re having a little welcome back dinner tonight, now that everyone’s back for the summer. You’re welcome to join us, dear.”
Luckily, Dora must have seen how uncomfortable he was under the attention and rescued him by pretending she needed to speak to him.
“Thanks,” he murmured.
“No problem,” she said, grinning. “Nothing more powerful than a well-meaning mother hen, eh?”
Remus let out a tired sigh and Dora laughed. They talked for a few minutes, with Dora doing most of the talking. The mother hen was the first one to notice the arrival of Harry and his friends. Remus had time to study Harry while he greeted the others, and he could see that he wasn’t feeling well, though of course Harry pretended he was fine. He looked about as tired as Remus felt and seemed a bit out of place amid the energetic group of Weasleys.
“Hello, Harry,” Remus said. It was good to see him, and Remus was glad he’d made the effort. Even if everything else in the world was wrong, at least Harry was still here and still able to smile at him.
“Hi. I didn’t expect... what are you all doing here?”
“Well, we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home.” It had been Dora’s idea, this little intimidation talk, and Remus wondered just what the Dursley family had done to piss her off to explain the glint in her eye. It hadn’t been hard to get others to help; Moody too was clearly looking forward to this.
Moody spotted the Dursleys, and he and Arthur led their group towards them. The dirty and disgusted looks their little group received from the Dursleys made a a little something spark in Remus’ chest; he had been judged for his social status and his illness all his life by close-minded people like them, and he had just about reached his tolerance for dealing with that type of behaviour.
Mr Weasley’s polite greeting was met with a look of disdain from Harry’s uncle, while his aunt and cousin seemed nervous to be in his company. If only they knew that Arthur was the gentlest of them all.
“We thought we’d just have a few words with you about Harry,” said Arthur.
“Yeah, about how he’s treated when he’s at your place,” added Moody. That made Remus pause. He hadn’t talked much to Harry about his life with his relatives other than his general dislike for them. He regretted not asking more questions now.
“I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house –“ started the uncle, but he was quickly interrupted. Moody was in no mood to listen to anything he had to say.
“I expect what you’re not aware of would fill several books, Dursleys.”
The uncle seemed to get more and more angry, the longer he looked at Moody, which Remus thought was rather brave, if stupid. He clearly did not care that Moody would be able to squash him like a bug with a flick of his wand, even though surely he must be aware of how vulnerable he was as a Muggle.
Dora seemed to immensely enjoy the interaction between them, basking in it for a while before saying, “Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is, if we find out you’ve been horrible to Harry –“
“- And make no mistake, we’ll hear about it,” said Remus. He remembered the way Harry’s owl had manhandled Ron and Hermione the summer before, when they’d been under orders not to give Harry the answers he had been looking for. He had no doubt that Harry would let his friends know how he was doing.
He looked over at Harry while Moody once again took over the conversation to lay another threat on Dursley. Dursley again reacted to that threat not by cowering but by getting even angrier. He saw Harry take a small step back when his uncle loudly protested Moody’s threat, and suddenly the whole situation lost its humour. Nice as it was to anger someone who was clearly used to being the strong one and using that strength on others, Remus had to remember that he also had power over Harry. He remembered Si- hearing that Harry had used his godfather’s notoriety to scare his relatives and having a good laugh about it. But now he wondered – what had caused Harry to feel that such a threat was necessary against his own family?
“And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?” said Dursley, louder than before. Well, that was clearly him asking to be given proof. Moody opened his mouth, no doubt to further intimidate Dursley to his own amusement, but Remus was quicker.
“Do you know what a werewolf is, Mr Dursley?” he asked.
That clearly threw him off, but fortunately, Remus wasn’t waiting for an actual answer.
“It’s someone who transforms into an uncontrollable, bloodthirsty beast once a month. They tear anyone they come across apart in seconds with basically no chance for escape. Do you think you could run from a werewolf? Could your son?” At this he glanced towards Harry’s cousin, who was hiding behind his mother and gave a little squeak at this reference to him. Perfect.
“We will be asking Harry to keep us updated on how he’s doing, and rest assured that I will be reading every one of them. I suggest that you keep that in mind with how you treat your nephew. Full moon’s coming up.”
“You can’t do that! I have rights!” Dursley barked.
“Oh, there are laws forbidding me from biting anyone. But unfortunately for you, I only have one care in this world and that’s Harry’s well-being so I will follow through on my threats, regardless of the consequences.”
“You’re bluffing!”
He was. Probably. “I might be. Are you willing to risk your family to find out?”
Dursley finally gave up on trying to argue, settling on angry spluttering instead. That was alright for Remus. No one else said a word, and some of them were eyeing him worriedly, so instead he turned towards Harry.
“Take care, Harry. Write to me at least every three days or someone will come check on you, alright?”
Harry nodded, eyes wide. Remus supposed that it must have been quite the shock to see this side of him, considering that Harry still referred to him by his Hogwarts honorific.
With another shoulder squeeze, Remus walked out of King’s Cross station and apparated back home. He was exhausted after that display of energy, but he also felt giddy. He chuckled to himself as he thought back to how Dursley had looked at him. Then he thought of how much Sirius would have enjoyed this little show and he started laughing. He couldn’t tell whether the tears streaming down his face were from laughing or whether they were tears of grief, but that was fine. For the first time since Sirius’ death, he felt like he could breathe again.
The energy from threatening Harry’s uncle did not last long. Remus went back to spending large parts of the day in bed, sometimes sleeping but often just existing. He also studied the paper every morning, looking for any available freelance work. Over the last year, he had spent most of his time either doing missions for the Order or at Grimmauld Place, but now that he was back in his empty home, he needed something to occupy his time. Plus, with most of his salary he’d earned at Hogwarts used up, money was getting tight.
Remus did have one thing to brighten his days, however. It was exactly three days after seeing Harry off at King’s Cross that the first letter arrived.
‘Dear Professor Lupin,’ it read. ‘What you did at the train station was bloody brilliant, I’ve honestly never seen the Dursleys so scared. So far they’ve mostly left me alone, but at mealtimes they’ve started asking me whether I want seconds, which they’ve never done before. I thought Uncle Vernon was gonna throw a fit the first time Aunt Petunia said it, but then of course he didn’t because he’s terrified of the big, scary werewolf. I wanted to say thanks for what you all (but especially you) did, it means a lot. Harry’
Remus chuckled at Harry’s enthusiasm. It wasn’t often someone was thanked for threatening to murder someone’s relatives, but then again, when had Remus’ life ever been normal. Harry’s owl was still there, clearly waiting for a reply, so he got a new roll of parchment and some ink to write back to Harry.
‘Dear Harry, Thanks for the punctual check-in. I’m glad my attempt at intimidation was successful, seeing as it’s not something I make a habit of doing. I’ll pass on your thanks to the others. You’re quite welcome; we do all care about you and your well-being, you know.’ There, he paused. Should he say more? Tell Harry how he had once been considered the communal child of all the Marauders rather than just James and Lily’s? No, that would likely only embarrass the teenager, especially coming from someone he still referred to as a Professor. ‘I’ll accept your gratitude in the form of a name change, though. Honestly, Harry, I haven’t been your teacher in over two years now. You can call me Remus, or even Moony if you’d like. As two former Defence instructors (though my position was a bit more official than yours), we are equals after all.’ He paused again, then grinned before signing the letter with ‘The big, scary werewolf.’ After the dramatic end to his teaching career as Defence teacher, the need for secrecy around his condition had all but vanished, and while it still wasn’t something he liked to bring up in conversation, this new use of his lycanthropy had proved to be more fun than expected.
The next letter arrived perfectly on time, just like the previous one.
‘Dear Remus, Things are still going well here. They’re barely giving me chores, so mostly I’m just taking walks or doing summer homework. I’m almost done, which is almost a shame because at least it was something to do (and no, that’s not an invitation for you to give me more homework, REMUS). Is there anything interesting going on at Headquarters? How have you been doing? Harry’
Remus sighed. It was the question everyone asked him, yet he still didn’t know how to answer it honestly, or whether he even should be honest.
‘Dear Harry, If you’re so bored, perhaps you could willingly help with the housework. The point of our chat with your aunt and uncle was for them to treat you well, not for you to be living in luxury. You still have another summer (or at least part of one) after this before you turn seventeen, do try to keep that in mind. I won’t be giving you any homework, but I do have some books I could send you to read, if you want them. I’m not living at Headquarters anymore and haven’t been to any meetings this summer, so I have no news on that front.’ Was Grimmauld Place even still useable for the Order? Remus realised he hadn’t considered whether Sirius had left behind a will. He decided to write to Albus once he was done with this letter. ‘As for me, I’ve been doing fine.’ Remus did feel slightly bad for the lie, but only slightly. ‘I am no stranger to grief. The world will forever be a poorer place for Sirius’ loss, and I am sorry that he could not be a godfather to you as he wanted to and as you deserve. I could never hope to replace him, nor do I want to, but I do hope you know that you can come to me with anything, including conversations about Sirius. Remus’
Harry’s third letter arrived on the day of the full moon, and Remus groaned at the tapping on the window. He desperately wanted to stay in bed and ignore it, but he had a responsibility to make sure Harry was doing okay, so he slowly struggled out of bed and towards the window. This moon was going to be a rough one, he could tell.
‘Dear Remus, No amount of chores is ever going to make the Dursleys like me, and I’m still doing loads more than Dudley ever has. Everything’s still fine. Harry’
Remus sunk into his chair. Harry was mad at him for what he’d said, and Remus knew that on any other day he likely would have taken his time to think about how best to word his reply letter, but he was tired and his body was aching all over.
‘Dear Harry, I didn’t mean to imply that you do nothing, just that you could be doing more. Whatever your relationship with them, they did give you a place to sleep and food after all. There are plenty of people who do not even have those basic necessities.’ Including me at some point, Remus thought bitterly. He sent off the letter and went to prepare for a hard night.
The night was about as brutal as he had expected. Once he made it back home, he only bandaged the worst of the injuries and went to sleep.
He woke up to go to the toilet, drinking water from the sink while he was there, and once he even managed to make it all the way to the kitchen to warm up some pre-made soup. That cost him so much energy that he slept for another twelve hours afterwards.
At some point there was knocking on the door, but Remus ignored it. He did not have the energy to get up and walk all the way to the door. He pulled the duvet over his head and closed his eyes again.
They must have let themselves in because Remus suddenly became aware of another presence in his bedroom.
“Oh Remus, dear,” he heard Molly Weasley say. “Let’s get you all cleaned up, then you can have something to eat. I brought lunch.”
She performed several charms on him and his bedding, which Remus realised must have still been covered in blood stains. He was sure that usually someone seeing him in that state would have horrified him, but he only felt a mild annoyance at his sleep being disturbed.
“Harry wrote to us, you know. He was worried about you when you didn’t reply to his last letter. And right he was, dear, you should have let us know you weren’t feeling well. I can hardly blame you, of course, what with your best friend dying so suddenly. And so soon after Azkaban too... A shame, really.”
At the mention of Sirius and Azkaban, Remus’ already upset stomach twinged, and he only just had enough time to lean over the edge of the bed before throwing up. He hadn’t had anything to eat in too long, so it was only a small amount of bile, but it took all the energy he’d had. He heard Molly sigh and mumble something, then he once again fell asleep.
When he woke up, there was a plate of sandwiches and some fruit beside his bed as well as a letter. It was from Harry.
‘Dear Remus, I asked one the Weasleys to check on you when Hedwig returned my last letter unopened. Please write back to me when you can so I know you’re alive okay. Harry’
Remus ate a handful of grapes to wash down the awful taste in his mouth. He would write back to Harry soon, just as soon as he’d had a little nap...
It was another two days before he wrote that reply to Harry, and even then it wasn’t very long.
‘Dear Harry, I commend you for your big heart, but there’s no need to worry. I have dealt with full moons, some harder than others, for as long as I can remember, and I will continue to deal with them. Please keep checking in regularly, and in turn I’ll try to be consistent in my replies too. Remus’
It was Molly who sent it to Harry the next time she visited with more food and to coax Remus into getting himself cleaned up.
Remus recovered from full moon enough for Molly to believe him that he would not die the second she left him to his own devices, but he still had to promise to come by for dinner in the near future. As he and Harry continued to correspond regularly, he noticed that Harry’s letters were less cheerful than they had been in the beginning. They weren’t as short and cold as that one letter after Remus had inadvertently hurt Harry, but Remus felt that something was still off. It might just be that the novelty of being left alone by his aunt and uncle was fading, but Remus suspected there was more to it than that.
He cast an invisibility charm on himself and apparated to a spot near the Dursleys’ house, just like he’d always done while guarding Harry the previous summer. He saw Harry working in the garden, drenched in sweat. He must have been working for a while already.
Remus would have liked to talk to Harry. They’d struck up an interesting conversation about teaching methods in their letters that he would have loved to continue in person; Harry had a unique perspective due to his less formal experience as a Defence instructor. If he really wanted to know whether Harry was leaving things out in his reports of his relatives’ behaviour towards him he would need to watch in secret, though, so he settled in to watch.
Harry continued his work in the garden (planting little flowers all around the perimeter of the garden) until almost dinner time, but it was interrupted when a car pulled up to the house. Remus saw Harry looking startled by the car’s arrival and hurry his planting.
“BOY!” the uncle yelled as he got out of the car. “I told you to get this done before I come home, you lazy layabout!”
He stomped towards Harry and grabbed him by the back of his t-shirt, abruptly pulling him upwards and into the house. Remus got angrier and angrier as he watched how Harry’s uncle stood by doing nothing as Harry cooked, how his face distorted in what Remus assumed were screamed threats and insults, and finally how Dursley raised his hand and moved to hit the side of Harry’s head. That was when the wall that divided the kitchen from the garden exploded.
Before Remus had time to think, he was standing inside the Dursleys’ house, wand pointed at Harry’s uncle. Harry had ducked out of the way and was watching from the side lines.
“I stood by while Sirius was abused in his own home because I was a kid and couldn’t do anything, but I will be damned if I let it happen to Harry now. You abused your power over the person you were meant to be protecting, you vile, pathetic waste of a human being.”
With a flick of his wand Harry’s school things and his trunk all appeared floating in the hallway where they all put themselves into the trunk before gently landing beside Harry.
“Now you will apologise for how badly you’ve treated Harry, and you will promise never to bother him again.”
Dursley’s face took on a shade of red that would have worried Remus, had he had any concern for the man’s health. “I most certainly will not! That boy has eaten our food, slept in our house, -“
He stopped when Remus’ wand dug into his throat. “Apologise,” Remus growled.
“Honestly, Remus, it’s fine. He won’t apologise and I don’t need him to. Can we just leave?” Harry spoke up, startling Remus who had almost forgotten he was there. He stood still for another few seconds, staring into Dursley’s sweaty face. However unaffected the man may pretend to be, he was nervous at what Remus could do to him. He was right to be.
Finally, Remus stepped back and said, “Come on, Harry, we’re leaving.”
Harry walked out ahead Remus, his suitcase in one hand and Hedwig’s cage in the other. He stepped out of the front door into the street when Remus paused. He turned to look at the Dursley family one last time and fired a quick spell at them before following Harry. Fortunately, the boy didn’t seem to have noticed. If he wasn’t going to get an apology, at least this would ensure that they weren’t likely to ever treat him badly again.
Without another look back, Remus and Harry walked down Privet Drive, both in silence. Remus was glad to have the time to calm himself down. It was Harry who eventually broke the silence.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth, but after that first full moon they thought they were safe and you weren’t doing well and I didn’t want to worry you and –“
“Harry,” Remus interrupted. “It’s okay, I don’t blame you. You shouldn’t have had to worry about me in the first place, I was supposed to be a reliable person for you to talk to in case you needed help. I’m just glad you’re okay now.”
“What – Where are we going now? Am I going to have to go back?”
“No, you won’t. I promise you that. They were supposed to provide safety for you, but if that doesn’t include safety from them, it’s useless. I’m sorry for what I said in that letter about being more grateful; clearly they didn’t deserve it and I shouldn’t have assumed.”
Harry smiled. “That’s alright. This more than made up for it.”
Now Remus allowed himself a little smile too. It had felt pretty good. Then he remembered Harry’s first question. “And as to where we’re going... Where do you want to go? As I told you uncle at King’s Cross, the only thing left in this world that I care about is you, so wherever you want to go, I’ll be there.”
Harry smiled, and thought for a while. “I’ve always wanted to see the sea,” he said eventually.
“Alright, then that’s where we’ll go. Take my arm and hold on tight.”