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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-04
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2004-07-15
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77,897
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15/15
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Despondent

Summary:

Harry Potter is taken from the Weasley's yard the day after Christimas.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Boxing Day

Chapter Text

Boxing Day

On the morning of December 26th, Harry put on his clothes, as everyone else in the Burrow is asleep. He was of age and could wave his wand to take down the fairy lights but there was something about climbing on a ladder and taking them down the muggle way. George and Fred had put up the lights the night before with a wave of the wand, but Harry found a ladder in the Burrow's storage with other muggle devices that Arthur Weasley wanted to examine.

Harry put the ladder against the house and started to remove the lights one by one with his hands. It was relaxing to be out in the cold, away from the school and he hoped the fear of Voldemort. Dumbledore installed more wards around the Burrow before Harry's visit to insure Harry's and the Weasley's family's safety. Harry heard footfalls in the light snow and turned; it was only Arthur Weasley.

"Son, a flick of a wand and they're all back in the box and ready for next year," the tall balding man wrapped in an unbuttoned cloaked said

"I like doing things by hand. It makes it more personal," Harry said.

"Molly is making us breakfast." The man holding his wool cloak that appeared to have seen many winters tight with one hand flicked his wand with the other and the fairy lights made their way back into the box turning off as they travelled from the roof of the Burrow to the box laying in the inch or less of freshly fallen snow.

Harry climbed down to the ladder. "I wanted to do something nice for you and your family."

"The offer is appreciated." Arthur hugged the boy briefly.

Harry turned from the tall man's embrace and saw that the house was surrounded by Death Eaters. Small explosions erupted from the windows toward the masses of Death Eaters as Harry went for his wand inside his robes.

Molly stepped out of the door wearing only a robe over her nightclothes. "Gentlemen, your breakfast is on the table."

Harry screamed a few fast curses before he was grabbed and bound by a paralysing curse. Hermione screamed from Ginny's window that help was on the way. Harry remembered that he was wearing a tracking device as he was carried away. Dumbledore and his Order would rescue him. Harry took a deep slow breath and practiced clearing his mind so he wouldn't panic. He didn't need Voldemort to try to possess him as the Order prepared for their next battle.

Arthur Weasley was throwing curses knocking a number of the Death Eaters unconscious as a few bombs from the window from the window hit the men grabbing Harry and knocking them out.

Arthur pointed a wand at Harry and yelled, "Finite Incantatum."

Harry took his wand and stupefied another Death Eater before he was paralysed again and a large man in Death Eater's robes picked him up and disapparated.

A familiar voice Snape's released Harry from the binding spell. "Stay quiet," he continued.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"At my family's manor. It hasn't occupied for many years. The Headmaster and I have put up wards around it in case of an emergency." Snape led Harry to a parlour. All the furniture was under sheets and covered with a layer of dust. It looked like those haunted houses in the late night movies that Dudley used to watch.

Snape waved his wand a few times and muttered some cleaning spells and Harry and Snape had a clean place to sit. "Dumbledore is our secret keeper. No one else knows that we're here. He should be sending up food anytime now."

"The Weasleys?" Harry whined.

"I suspected that my associates will leave them alone once they realize that I have taken you," Snape said.

"They'll know that you no longer work for them," Harry said.

"It couldn't be helped. We have a week until classes start for the spring. Come. We should clean the kitchen before the food arrives." Snape removed his mask and the Death Eater robes. He was wearing his familiar black robes underneath. Snape shook his head and his hair fell limply around his face.

"Happy Christmas," Harry said, as he followed Snape through the dusty old house.

"A day late," Snape sneered.

"It's the thought that counts. Thanks for saving my life."

"Anytime." Snape did a few cleaning spells and the dust and tarnish was gone. The cupboards were empty but Dumbledore wouldn't let them starve.

Harry took a seat at the breakfast table. "So what are we going to do here?"

"Wait. I could teach you legilimency," Snape suggested.

"Would that help me defeat Voldemort?" Harry asked.

Snape sat on the other chair at the breakfast table. "Must you say his name."

"Dumbledore says that I can't defeat him if I fear him. Sir, do you fear him?" Harry looked at the tabletop not wanting to make eye contact with his teacher.

"I would be a fool not to," the older man sneered.

"But you took me to safety and not to his clutches."

"How do you know this isn't a trap?" Snape tapped his long bony fingers on the wooden table.

"I don't," Harry admitted, lifting his head slightly.

"You have no choice, but to trust me." Snape climbed down from his stool and left the kitchen.

Harry opened the kitchen cabinets in search of a glass and then filled it with tap water. Snape was probably cleaning rooms for Harry and him to sleep in. Harry sipped the warm water slowly. The cabinets in the kitchen opened and they were filled with food.

Harry looked at the large bag of rice, the tins of soup, the bags of vegetables and boxes of breakfast cereals. Dumbledore must have believed that they would be staying there more than a week. Harry opened the refrigerator and found it full with food including sliced meat, eggs, and fruit. The meat bin in the refrigerator had a small fresh chicken. Harry opened the freezer to find wrapped meat and fish plus a few bags of frozen vegetables. Dumbledore expected them to be there more than a week. Harry opened the breadbox and found two loaves of sliced bread. The house had about as much food as his aunt immediately after grocery shopping.

Harry found a full ice tray and put a few ice cubes in his water and then returned to sipping his water. He needed to think about his predicament. The house had muggle style furniture, electric lights, and a refrigerator only a little older than the one his aunt used. Harry was surprised to see a side-by-side frost-free refrigerator in the Snape's manor, but there it was.

Harry checked the cooker and it was gas and looked to be anywhere from ten to twenty years old. The house could be any middle class muggle house.

Snape returned to the kitchen. "I suspect Dumbledore delivered the food."

"The cabinet doors opened and filled with food," Harry explained. "He sent us more than we could eat in a week."

"He likes to be prepared," Snape said, as he took an apple from the refrigerator. "Would you like to make us some eggs and sausage? I didn't have the chance to have breakfast before I was summoned."

Harry easily found a pan and the other cooking utensils that he needed. "I expected appliances powered by magic, not electricity."

"My mother was muggle-born. One of the first things I witnessed the Death Eaters do after I took the mark was kill her. I suspected you're shocked to find out I'm a half blood like yourself." Snape took another bite of fruit. "I'm sure they suspect that I took you here since they pulled my mother from this location twenty year hence."

"We aren't safe." Harry started to cook the sausages; he would cook the eggs in their grease. He didn't know if wizards needed to watch their cholesterol like muggles.

"There are wards here and I doubt anyone would think I would take you here. After breakfast, we'll start our lessons. Perhaps, Dumbledore will send us a post about your friends." Snape sat at the small table in the kitchen.

"It's a nice house," Harry said. "Once it's clean, I'm sure that it will serve us well."

"I cleaned the two bedrooms. Unfortunately, neither of us have clothes."

"Most of my clothes are at Weasleys'." Harry beat the eggs and put the eggs in the grease with the sausages.

"I'm sure that Dumbledore will send clothes." Snape paced the kitchen floor.

Harry put four slices of bread in the large muggle toaster then returned to make the eggs. "I cooked breakfast for my family. Dumbledore sent us a ton of food. One would think he intends us to be here longer than a week."

"I wasted too much time trying to figure that man out." Snape sat down again.

"Relax. The food will be done any second." Harry put salt and pepper on the eggs before putting them on two plates and waited for the toast to be done. Harry took the pitcher of pumpkin juice and put it on the table and then placed two clean glasses on the small table. After the toast popped up, he served breakfast.

"After we eat, you can practice legilimency on me."

"Sir, I don't want to read your thoughts."

"Didn't the headmaster continue your lessons on occlumency?" Snape poured them both juice.

"Of course." Harry started to eat. "Hermione gave me lessons on meditation. You should have taught me meditation before you started to attack my mind. You expected me to learn how to defend myself without teaching me the tools to do so."

"Mr. Potter, I'm still your instructor and I demand that you treat me with respect."

"Sir, you didn't select me for your Advanced Potion class. I should have fought with your decision. Assistant Headmistress McGonagall was disappointed that I didn't since I earned an E on the exam."

"I require an O," Snape sneered. "What are you going to do with yourself once you graduate?"

"I can't become an auror since I didn't take the classes required. I was banned from Quidditch so it isn't likely that I can learn the skill to play professionally. I don't have the classes needed to become a healer and I don't want to work for the Ministry and I don't know if I want to teach."

"It doesn't really matter." Snape ate his food slowly.

"I have time," Harry said. "I'm sure Dumbledore has plans for me."

"That man usually does." Snape covered his toast with butter and jam.

Harry did the dishes silently after they both finished eating. Harry decided that he would explore the house. Hopefully, Mrs. Snape was an avid reader and there were muggle novels to be found.

Harry walked to the parlour and found two large bookcases filled with novels, mostly works by both American and British authors of the last nineteenth and early twentieth century. Harry picked up a novel by Mark Twain; from the foreword, it seemed to be about a teenage boy.

Snape looked at Harry spread out on the cream coloured sofa reading Huckleberry Finn. "Potter, we have work to do."

Harry closed the book and sat up.

"Legilimens," Snape shouted.

Harry wasn't ready for the attack. He remembered his Aunt Marge blowing up and his fear that he would be arrested then expelled and Hogwarts was the only place that he ever felt safe. Then he saw hundreds of dementors and he relived the memory of his mother dying. Harry screamed, "Get out of my mind."

"Get me out," Snape sneered.

"Bastard." Harry focused and took hold of his wand. The painful memories were gone.

"The Dark Lord isn't going to wait until you are ready." Snape leered at him. "Not bad. Should we go at it again?"

"You son of a bitch." Harry sat up and tried to make eye contact.

"Control your emotions. Legilimens."

Harry felt himself fall on the sidewalk when he was three or four and he started crying for help and no one came. He crawled back to the house and was told that his parents were dead. He realised that no one at that house cared if he lived or died. He was only a burden to them. Harry focused and shed himself of the bad memory. Harry took a firm grip of his wand and shouted, "Legilimens."

Now, the abused boy in his mind wasn't himself but Severus Snape. He could feel how his father whipped him and told him that he would never be worthy of his love. He felt it when Snape put himself between his mother and his drunken father.

Snape shed a few silent tears before he gained control of his emotions. "Good job. You need to hit me faster."

Harry put his hand out to Snape and moved to the trembling man's cheek to touch the single tear there.

"Don't," Snape snapped.

"Sir, we're more alike than different. I'm not the spoiled brat that you believed me to be. I was dressed in hand-me-downs and given broken toys. If I showed that I liked anything, it was taken from me. Do you know what it is learn not to smile by the age of four?" Harry touched the tear on the older man's cheek. "We're fighting on the same side."

"Potter, you're so naïve. You have survived this long due to luck."

"Then, teach me." Harry smiled slightly and looked into those black eyes. "I have warning before Voldemort attacks. He always sends his Death Eaters first."

"Legilimens."

Harry was ready and didn't even feel a painful memory start when he countered with legilimens. He could feel the abuse Snape suffered as his father's hands. He was a ten-year-old Snape on the Hogwarts' Express the first time and approaching Sirius Black with the offer of friendship only to be pushed away and called a baby. He could feel Snape's shock when the son of his father's best friend pushed him aside and the first time he was called Snivellus by Black and his friends.

It took time for Snape to pull himself together. "Potter, very good."

"Sir, I'm better at controlling my feelings than you it appears." Harry gently touched Snape's arm.

"So it does. I think we both need a break. I'll teach you defensive spells in the morning. Potter, excuse me for breaking down in front of you."

"Sir, you're allowed to be human."

"Perhaps, Dumbledore will deliver clothes. Potter, since the electricity, gas and water was turned back on, would you like to take a shower?"

"Sir, I'll wait for you."

Upstairs there were two large bedrooms with a bathroom between them with a glass door over the bath so it could be used as both a shower and bathtub. "Which room is mine?" Harry asked.

"Either. I feel I should sleep in my parents' room and give you the room that I used as a child, but part of me wants to sleep in my old bed again."

"I can understand that, sir," Harry said. "I'll take the smaller bed. I don't think your parents' ghosts will mind."

"Read your book."

"I'll make lunch."

Harry woke to the sound of screams in the other bedroom. Snape must have been having a nightmare considering all that man had been through it wasn't surprising. Snape was yelling Lupin.

After wrapping himself in a blanket since it was too cold to walk about the house in only his Y-fronts, Harry got out of the twin bed and then walked to larger bedroom.

Harry touched Snape's shoulder lightly. "He isn't here. Did you dream about him?"

"I didn't provide him with his latest dose of wolfsbane."

"You dreamed he attacked you."

Snape turned to Harry.

"Do you want me to stay?" Harry was only wearing his Y-fronts and a blanket since no one had sent his clothes.

"You better go back to your room. I'm old enough to be your father," Snape snapped.

"I'm not comfortable about tears. Cho cried when I kissed her. Ron cries sometimes when he is afraid. I never cry." Harry sat on the edge of the large bed.

"You saw me cry twice today. Crying is a normal response to strong feelings. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I know that. It's just that my muggle relatives never listened to my cries so I learned not to do it. It was better not to cry than to lose my voice and cause myself more pain when they would only come when it suited them." Harry tried to make eye contact with the older man.

"I think you should go. You are a very attractive boy and I don't want to be tempted."

"I'm no longer a boy."

Snape sat up slightly. "I've noticed." Snape shed a few more silent tears. "Please, go."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Snape sat up on the bed; he was dressed in his shirtsleeves and trousers. "Leave before we do something we both regret."

Harry stood up slowly and looked at Snape. "I'll be in the next room if you want to talk."

Snape barked, "Who is the adult here?"

Harry pulled the blanket tightly around him and walked back to the other bedroom. In the morning, he heard someone walking downstairs and Snape hadn't moved from his bed. Someone had broken the wards. Harry sat up in the bed and told himself not to panic. It might be Dumbledore delivering clothes, but he could do that by magic. He didn't need to make a personal visit. Harry only wearing his Y-fronts grabbed his wand and headed down the stairs.

Professor Lupin was sitting on the sofa. There were two trunks on the lounge floor and a large paper bag. "Harry," Lupin said in a friendly voice. "I went to the Burrow and got your clothes. Mrs. Weasley put them in a bag."

"Thank you," Harry said. "Ron gave me clothes that he outgrew since he's the youngest and has no one else to hand-me-down to."

"With the Potter estate, you can buy new clothes," Professor Lupin said.

"I can't allow the Dursleys to know that I have money. I don't want Uncle Vernon beating me for access to my accounts or demanding that I pay them back for supporting me all these years." Harry took the bag of well-worn clothes to the smaller bedroom.

"We can talk as you unpack. I assume Professor Snape is still asleep." Lupin followed Harry to the child's bedroom. "You can call me Remus since I'm no longer your teacher. Dumbledore thought it would be better than I apparated in and out than he sent you messages that could be intercepted."

"But couldn't you be followed." Harry put the bag paper on the unmade bed.

"A trace on apparate must be done immediately. Two minutes later and it's gone," Lupin explained. "This is where Severus grew up. It explains a lot, a working class muggle house."

Lupin looked at the sparsely furnished boy's room. The bed had a dark blue duvet, a thinner light blue blanket and pale blue sheets. There was an yellow oak armoire, a desk with two small bookcases containing wizard and muggle children's book and a large bookcase beside the wardrobe with adult books mostly wizard textbooks with a few muggle titles mixed in. The small window was draped in dark blue. "Severus never told me about his family."

"You went to school together." Harry opened the wardrobe.

Two pair of trousers that Snape must have worn as a teen were still in it plus a jumper folded on the shelf and a long sleeve light blue shirt. Harry put on the shirt; it was less worn than the ones Ron gave him and it fit better.

Harry took the grey pair of trousers off the hanger. "They look like they should fit."

"I doubt that they fit Severus anymore," Lupin said. "He probably left them over twenty years ago."

Harry put the trousers on. They were a little long but he was only five-nine and Snape was a good four inches taller.

Lupin giggled. "My pants would fit you better."

"But they are in worse condition than Ron's hand-me-downs." Harry rolled the pants up before he found a pair of socks in the bag.

"Probably." Lupin laughed.

"Why deliver the clothes personally?" Harry put on the socks.

"I need to talk to Severus. I need to go back and get him his potion supplies and it would be better if the man made a list. Taking everything would look awful suspicious. I left most of your rags in your dorm and only took half of Severus's clothes. I doubt anyone is going to take a count of your clothes."

"No one would know how many clothes we had to begin with. They would figure out we left when we don't come back after the holiday." Harry put the clothes in the empty armoire and nearly empty wardrobe excluding the two remaining items of clothing and large number of hangers.

"Yes, but we don't want anyone knowing where you went and if you had time to pack or if anyone knows where you went," Lupin explained.

"I'll make you breakfast. Is there anything you like to eat: we're well stocked with groceries?"

"Eggs and sausage. You don't have to cook for me."

"I have nothing else to do."

"There are quite a few books in this house."

"It's strange that Snape didn't sell the place and put everything in storage."

"He probably had hopes of retiring from Hogwarts and living here himself. It's a nice little house in a quiet Welsh village. You did take a look out of the window."

Harry yawned. "Only to see that the houses were too close together. There is less land than on Privet Drive. The garden is overgrown, but not as much as I expected. Perhaps, the neighbours had taken to mowing his grass."

"If it wasn't so cold, I'd sit in the garden and chat with the neighbours," Lupin said. "My parents have a house like this. There are four of us and only two bedrooms. I shared with my two brothers. My sister slept with my parents until she went to Hogwarts during the summer she slept in the living room out of her trunk. We didn't have much money but we were loved."

Harry put bread into the toaster then broke the eggs. "Over easy." Harry cooked the sausage in another pan; eggs were easier to cook if there wasn't too much grease.

"That sounds great." Remus sat at the breakfast table.

"Keep telling me about your family. It's nice to hear about a normal family. I love hearing about Ron's family. He's jealous of me when he has everything I could ever want."

"What does he have?"

"A loving family, a beautiful, intelligent girlfriend, everything." Harry sighed. "I didn't have my first friend until I was eleven and I didn't get my first slice of birthday cake until Hagrid visited."

"You had many good birthday since."

"I've been always worrying about Voldemort. I've never had a moment of a normal childhood. The Dursleys did as little for me as they could. They feed me only enough to keep me alive and some summers barely that. They kept me in a cupboard until I received my first owl then they became afraid and gave me a bedroom. They put bars on the window and locks on the door. I know other children do chores but they're given with love. I've heard Mrs. Weasley's voice when she asks Ron or Ginny to help. I felt like lower than a house elf and definitely not wanted."

"I never knew it was that bad." Lupin started the coffee maker.

"I wanted to stay with Sirius only knowing him an half an hour."

"I wanted to believe you had normal teenage problems. I would have wanted to stay elsewhere during my summers. Although we shared a room, my brothers and I didn't talk after I was infected. I usually slept in hallway or on the living room floor. I knew that I was much stronger than a normal boy so I didn't strike them. I learned to hold my feelings inside and keep my distance. I was glad for James, Sirius and Peter. I didn't mind following James if it meant not being an outcast like I was at home," Lupin said. "I knew I had no right to complain. My father wanted to kill me when I was infected but my mother begged him not to. My father couldn't do it after a few days; I was still their son. I was never the favourite. I'm the second boy and third child. My sister was special because she was the only girl and my two brothers had the position of oldest and youngest."

"All families have problems. It's hard to know what is normal and what is beyond tolerable. Where you loved?" Harry asked.

"By my sister, Lily, Severus and Sirius. Sirius and I were the closest friends. He didn't care that I was poor and later he didn't care that I was a werewolf. I managed to seduce him once but Sirius preferred girls and I wasn't going to stand in the way. Severus and I were the closest friends until Sirius tried to kill him. I would have never forgave myself if I killed him."

"You could have just infected him." Harry put the eggs on a plate. "The sausage should be done any second."

"I picked out the groceries. Dumbledore knows nothing about stocking a muggle kitchen," Lupin said.

"I should have known. The freezer is stuffed with meat and fish and only a few bags of vegetables."

"Severus doesn't care much for vegetables and I didn't know the foods that you likes so I picked out a variety."

Harry put more bread in the toaster since he heard movement upstairs. Then, he heard water running; Snape was taking a shower. He would get to see Snape with clean hair.

"Are you half-blood like Snape?" Harry asked.

"My father is many generations back or so he claims. I think his first muggle ancestor is a great-grandparent. My mother's grandmother was muggle and we can't trace our line back but we're wizards just the same."

"You lived in a muggle house." Harry served the fast-cooking sausage.

Lupin put his plate on the table. "It was my great-grandfather's house, my uncle didn't want it and my father was renting us a flat at the time so it seemed like a step up. My great-grandmother was glad not to put it on the market when she moved in her sister's family after her husband of ninety years died. She said the house had too many memories."

"I would guess that there aren't many wizard houses," Harry said.

"Only the wealthiest families or oldest families live in wizard houses. Most of us live in muggle villages and hide our magic from our neighbours. There really aren't that many wizards so it is fairly easy to hide in plain sight."

"There are families in Hogsmeade that are neither rich or old."

"There are exceptions to the rule." Lupin poured the coffee. "Do you want a cup?"

"Thanks." Harry took his plate to the table and started to eat.

Lupin handed Harry of cup of coffee. "I'm running at the mouth."

"I know so little about normal wizard families." Harry poured milk into his coffee then two spoonful of sugar. "I'm surprised that the wizard population isn't larger. You're from a large family and the Weasley have seven children and a number of other families have three or more children."

"There are a few reasons that the populations stays small although the muggle population seems to grow without bounds. Wizards are a large percentage of the population in other parts of the world."

"Outside Europe?" Harry asked.

"Africa, the Middle East, Asia. Moslems are more willing to accept magic although they do regulate it more than us. Buddists and other Asians don't seem as threatened by magic. There are people that claim that one third of the Chinese are wizards but I think that is highly unlikely."

"Why not? Wizards would survive in the worse conditions and natural selection predicts survival of the fittest. Hermione has books on the muggle science of genetics and some families survive to the elimination of all other families. Why do European wizards keep their numbers down?"

"A few of our practices keep the numbers down. Many families test their infants to see if they are squibs; unfortunately, many children with magic don't exhibit it young and die from these tests. Since the aristocracy are the ones that do these horrid tests, the Ministry has never been able to put them to an end. We have a larger percentage of gay and bisexuals than in the muggle population. Gays and lesbians have always had societal pressure to reproduce but when they do, they don't have as many children. We have always promoted education for women and many women delay childbirth and therefore have fewer children. Since we aren't as likely to die at a young age, one heir is all that is necessary to maintain the estate and many wealthy families have only one heir so the estate won't be divided. Then, there are society pressures for small families. They are very few jobs in the wizard community and purebloods will get them first." Lupin returned to eating. It was easier to talk without food in his mouth.

"Go on."

"There is only one purely wizard village left. There are wizard sections in some larger towns and cities, but there is always fear that they will spread too large and the Ministry won't be able to hide them. Magic has limitations. The war hasn't helped with population. Both sides are afraid that their children will be called to fight and there are the causalities themselves. I think you get the idea."

"I'm the last Potter and Neville is the last Longbottom." Harry got up from his seat when he heard someone on the stairs. "I have to serve Professor Snape."

"You aren't a house elf. Professor Snape is capable of getting his own food," Lupin insisted.

Professor Snape put a kettle on the range and served himself the remaining food. "Mr. Potter, thanks for breakfast."

"Harry, we don't know how long we'll be here."

"Lupin, I assume that you're here for your wolfsbane. Unfortunately, your month's potion is at the castle." Snape put the plate on the table and started to eat.

"I brought your baggage," Lupin stated.

Harry cleaned the dishes and counter as the two men finished eating.

"Can I trust you to keep guard on Harry?" Snape asked. "You won't abandon him if things get messy."

"I'll fight until the death to save him," Lupin stated.

"You might need to. A life given for another is one of the strongest types of magic," Snape said. "I shan't be long." Snape picked up a strip of gold wire from on top of book on the coffee table and promptly disappeared.

"Would you give your life for mine?" Harry asked, as he collected the dishes from the table.

Lupin nodded. "My blood might be enough to give you the power to vanquish Voldemort."

"You need to love me for blood magic to work."

"I love you as a son."

"You must have nieces and nephews."

"And I've never seen them. They know that I'm not contagious in human form but they don't want me near the children."

Harry put a wet hand on Lupin's shoulder. "I know it must hurt."

"Severus and I were good friends until Sirius did that prank. I never forgave Sirius for that. It was just a prank to Sirius. I would have been the one with blood on my hands. I would have been the one executed for killing someone. The worst part would have been waiting for Macnair to kill me. I can't remember the death I cause as a wolf. All I remember is the fragments of the body and full feeling in my stomach."

"Have you killed?" Harry asked. Harry felt his stomach feel hollow although he had just eaten. Professor Lupin had killed and apparently didn't feel remorse. There was calm acceptable of it in his voice. He was angry with Sirius for trying to make him kill a friend at school. He didn't want to die for a murder that he couldn't remember doing.

"A few times. Before Hogwarts, I killed a child were stupid enough to be out at night. My parents would chain me in a field or a vacant lot. There were reports of a large rabid dog in a few neighbourhoods."

"If they chained you at different location, how did you get home when you broke free?"

"I always returned to the place I was chained to fall asleep. I was human when my parents picked me up so I would look in the newspaper for reports of animal attacks over the next few days in that town. My parents would avoid the papers and news on the telly since they didn't want to know that their baby was eating people, but I knew when I did from the feeling in my belly and remembrance of blood."

"How old were the first time that you broke your chains?"

"Nine. I remember eating a child. I don't recall the details except he or she wasn't much bigger than I. My parents bond me tighter after that. I didn't break them again until I was thirteen."

Harry focused on washing the dishes. He felt the stomach acid in his rather full stomach churn. "Do you like killing?"

"I did. I killed quite a number during the years Sirius was in prison. I travelled so I wouldn't leave a trail of bodies. I took small jobs that required few or no references. I never stayed anywhere more than three or four months. I hate what being a werewolf does to my body. I hate the exhaustion the day or two afterwards and I hate that I'm short-tempered and anxious before it. Of course, the pain of transformation is something I could live without."

"Are you that heartless?"

"I can't remember much about the time I'm a werewolf. It's either wallow in guilt or find a way that I don't need to suffer or cause other people to suffer. My family turned its back on me once I finished school, not that I blamed them. They couldn't find chains strong enough to hold me and when they managed to I would claw myself in an attempt to escape. I would claw the metal around my neck, back or limbs. They would break my bones to slow my transformation. The change starts in the bones and if they broke my back, I would change slower and was less likely to escape and possibly kill people."

"They must have known by the blood." Harry dried the dishes and put them away.

"We never talked about it. They knew I was monster and better off dead but they could bear the thought of killing me. So they found places to chain me, used a silencing spell and broke my bones so I wasn't likely to escape. My mother couldn't watch so my older brother and father hit me with a sledgehammer in places that would kill a normal boy and watch me scream silently in agony."

"They hit you with a hammer in human form." Harry was horrified.

"It was before wolfsbane. If I broke free, I would have eaten any of them. They couldn't take the chance that I could scratch or bite a family member. I remember the pain. Imagine every month during the summer having your back broken multiple times by a loved one because they believed it was the best they could do for you."

"Did it help?"

"I didn't have the strength to murder when I was too busy healing. I'll have nightmares about the pain for the rest of my life but I only ate one person those summers."

"Remus, there must be other avenues."

"Chaining me spread so I can't bite or scratch myself while I holler in pain. I only met other werewolves in passing and hear stories of them trying to bite off their own limbs to escape the chains that their loving family tied them in. I wouldn't wish my worst enemy this disease."

"Professor Snape will return with your wolfsbane. You should learn to make it yourself."

"Sirius and I were working on learning before he died. It is an intricate potion and probably only three to five are gifted enough to make it in England."

"And Professor Snape makes it for you alone?"

"No. He also makes it for apothecaries. He knows that they charge more than most werewolves can afford. My parents were rather poor but both of my parents would have worked two jobs as well as my older brother when he lived at home to give me the relief that wolfsbane gives. I suspect that many family members are working second and third jobs to buy wolfsbane to help an infected son, daughter, sister or brother."

"And Snape doesn't charge you."

"He claims that he pays a debt by providing it for me."

Harry sat on the sofa beside Lupin. "And I thought I had it rough. What does a dose of wolfsbane go for?"

"I never asked." Lupin stretched out on the sofa and raked his hand through prematurely grey hair.

"If something happens to Professor Snape, I'll buy it for you."

"Harry, that isn't necessary."

Snape returned carrying a few cases apparently with the aid of a lightening charm. Snape put the cases on the floor and opened one. "Lupin, here is your wolfsbane. On the night of the full moon, please have the decency to change somewhere else."

"I understand." Lupin put the vial in his robe pocket.

"Flashbacks of the time that Sirius nearly feed me to you." Snape took one of the three crates to the basement. "Potter, Lupin, bring the other two down."

Harry picked up the second crate. It was heavier than he expected. It must have returned to normal weight when Snape put the crates down. Harry looked at the small dusty room as he put the crate on the floor.

"Harry, you can help me transfigure the rubbish in this room into the equipment that I need for a potion lab."

"Sir, you shouldn't transfigure a cauldron."

"Not my instruments. I packed my tools. I need you help me make tables, benches and chairs."

"I can manage that, sir."

"Be my guest."

"Describe what you want. I need to know the height of the table and the material you would like it to be. I can't see what is in your mind."

"I'll draw a picture for you."

"I'll do it in the morning."

Lupin put down his case. "You should treat Harry like a house elf: his muggle relative treated him that way."

"And he seemed to prosper that way," Snape sneered.

"Sir, I don't mind assisting you," Harry said.

"Once we have tables, benches and clean shelves, you can help me chop and stir potions. You can help me learn all the things I forget to tell my students. The beauty of potions is in the details," Snape stated.

"Yes, sir." Harry smiled. Harry could visualise a long wooden table slightly lower than the ones that they used in his potion classroom. "I can conjure a table and benches for you. I can see them in my mind's eye now."

"McGonagall says that transfiguration was an art."

"Excuse me, sirs. I needed space to make the rubbish in this room into the furniture that Professor Snape requires."

Snape and Lupin stood at the edge of the stairs. "Go ahead, Harry," Lupin said.

Harry waved his wand and imagined a solid wooden table of the correct height. The mass of old magazines and other useless materials converted to a solid oak table. Then, Harry visualise two heavy benches and they formed. He focused on some remaining debris and a magazine rack formed. He focused a large library type wooden chair formed.

"I think that will do. If we ever get back to Hogwarts, I'll insists that McGonagall gives you points for extra credit," Snape said.

"I believe that was a compliment," Lupin said.

"Could you make functional furniture out of junk?" Snape asked the werewolf.

Lupin shook his head.

"Harry, don't let it go to your head. Making furniture from garbage won't kill the Dark Lord," Snape said. "However, I can now set up a temporary potion lab in this room.

"If you can do that to junk, you could make your rags into respectable clothes," Lupin whispered to Harry.

"You think so. I have enough rags that we could both be dressed in clothes that would put Malfoy to shame," Harry said.

"We should leave him to his work while he's in a reasonably good mood." Lupin headed up the stairs. "What is he teaching you?"

"I don't trust him," Harry whispered.

"Me, either. Would you mind if I stayed?" Lupin whispered back.

"Not at all. He tells me that he's a spy for Dumbledore and on our side but there are times that I don't believe him."

"Do you think he'll serve us both to Voldemort?" Lupin asked.

"I don't know. He told me that the Death Eaters killed his mother in this house. I don't know how to read that." Harry went to his small bedroom and opened a book.

"Can we talk a little longer?"

"I would like some quiet. We'll talk after lunch."

"I could make lunch or we could eat breakfast cereal as a mid-morning snack and forget about lunch."

"Did you and your siblings do that?"

"When we were little on Saturday. We could get more hours outside to play."

"You had good times."

"They don't make up for the bad. I'll always be a monster, something feared. Jerry will probably have nightmares all his life about needing to break his brother's spine to prevent him for killing people. No teenage boy should need to take a sledgehammer to his brother three or more times a year."

"Maybe you should a write a letter to your brother to thank him." Harry took off his jumper and unhooked his pants and snuggled under the blanket.

"I thanked him the day after and during the school year. He knew that I hated the pain that he caused but I understood why he did it. Wolfsbane is so much better."

"I can't imagine."

"I wouldn't want you to try. He's amazed that I don't hate him." Lupin kissed Harry's forehead. "I'll make us lunch or make cornflake sweets."

"I'll rest awhile then I'll read."

"I know you're afraid." Lupin put a hand lightly over Harry's unruly hair.

"I'm staying with an Ex-Death Eater that has probably killed dozens of people and a werewolf that admits liking the taste of blood," Harry said.

"Dumbledore must figure two monsters are the most qualified to protect you from another monster." Lupin raked his hand slowly over Harry's thick hair.

"I don't even know if Dumbledore sent you both or if you're working for Voldemort." Harry turned and looked at Lupin; he wasn't going to get any reading done until Lupin left the bedroom.

"I could relay a message to him. You don't believe that I would forge his signature." Lupin flashed a smile.

"Why are you here?"

"To train you in the Dark Arts and to protect you from Severus's temper. We can't have Severus making you more vulnerable when you need to face that beast."

"Severus or Voldemort?" Harry sat up on the edge of the bed.

"Severus is on our side."

"We believe him to be. I'm learning legilimency; his mind isn't closed to me. In time, I'll be able to see his intentions more clearly," Harry whispered.

"Be careful. Whatever Severus is; don't believe him to be your friend."

"Are you my friend?"

"As much as a werewolf can be anyone's friend." Lupin ruffled Harry's hair once more before leaving the room. "Enjoy your book," he shouted from the hallway.