To Hope for Happiness

To Hope for Happiness

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Save Your Loved

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- 2 Weeks

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Harry rubbed his eyes. Had he heard something?

He sat up on his bed in the smaller bedroom of Privet Drive #4. Yes, there definitely had been a sound. A big, brown owl was flying outside his window, trying to get inside. There was a scroll of parchment tied to her leg.

Harry was surprised. He of course recognized the owl, knowing it to be the one Sirius usually sent him letters by. But his godfather usually only owled him about once a week, and he'd just received an owl from Sirius the day before! What was this about?

He got up and opened the window, letting the bird inside. He untied the letter from her leg and gave some of his last owl treats to her. Then he unfolded the letter and, curious to know exactly what had happened, started to read it.

"Harry," it said,

"We just wanted to tell you to prepare for anything today. Something has happened, and it will eventually have effect on you.

It's nothing too serious, though. Don't worry too much -- Sirius and I aren't exactly fine right now, but we will be. Just be ready for anything, okay?

Remus"

Harry stared at the letter. What on Earth could have happened? And how could it have effect on him, when he was at Dursleys'? Nothing ever happened there!

At least nothing good.

He looked at his clock and sighed. He had to get to work immediately before Aunt Petunia came and shouted at him. They had been a bit cautious around him after his third year and the incident before he got to Hogwarts. However, when they had noticed his depression after his fourth year and the Triwizard Tournament, they had become just as bad as they had been when he was just a kid -- if not worse.

His fifth and sixth years had brought no change. Voldemort hadn't attacked, but everyone in Wizarding World felt the pressure of the Dark around them. Sirius hadn't been set free yet, and although Harry had heard of him and professor Lupin -- whom he nowadays referred to as Remus, by the werewolf's own request -- regularly, he felt completely alone. Ron and Hermione had always been around, of course, but studying was taking more and more of Hermione's time and even Ron seemed to have become more distant than before.

Sighing, he got dressed and limped to the kitchen. There he started preparing breakfast, not wanting to make Uncle Vernon angry at him.

He flinched when his elbow hit the edge of the table. He had bruises all around his body. After his fifth year, Uncle Vernon had started to beat him whenever he got angry. Which was often.

The Dursleys eventually came to the kitchen and ate the breakfast he had made for them. When he had done the dishes, he ate his own breakfast -- a slice of toast and a glass of water. Then he started cleaning the kitchen floor.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Boy, go and see who it is!" Uncle Vernon shouted.

Harry dared to smile slightly in secret when he heard Dudley getting up and walking to the door. Uncle Vernon wouldn't send him there, not with his blackened eye. It was somehow soothing to know that there was one chore he was free of -- at least until the bruises faded.

Before Dudley, who definitely didn't move too fast, had got to the door, there was a loud crash when the door was kicked in.

Harry peered out of the kitchen. His eyes widened when he saw the scene in front of him.

Dudley was sitting on the floor, seemingly having fallen on his bum. Had the situation been different, Harry could have maybe allowed himself a little smile when he saw his fat cousin on the floor. However, he also saw the people on the door, and his heart missed a beat.

At this point Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had come from the living room. Petunia started screaming, and Uncle Vernon shouted, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What are we doing?" echoed a man with long, raven-black hair and piercing silver eyes as he stepped over the door. "Did we do anything, Remus?"

"Well, you didn't do anything, or at least not anything that I know of," said the other man, who had honey brown hair and warm amber eyes. "Not yet, at the very least. But I think I may have happened to break their door."

"Oh, what a pity," the black-haired man said, giving his hand to the other man and helping him over the door -- not that he needed help, of course. "Should we fix it, what do you think?" With these words, he slipped a wand from his sleeve, pointed at the door and murmured some words. In an instant, it was again standing in the doorway, seemingly untouched.

"Who are you?" Uncle Vernon shouted. His face was bright red. "You're some of those freaks, aren't you?" Of course they were. Although the first man could have easily been mistaken for a Muggle in his jeans and T-shirt, the other man's robes were more than slightly hard to ignore in this completely normal Muggle house.

"Define 'freaks'," said the brown-haired man, raising an eyebrow. "If you mean wizards, then yes, we are. My name is Remus Lupin-Black, and my mate is called Sirius Lupin-Black."

"Sirius Black!" Aunt Petunia cried out. "That -- that mass murderer?"

"Yes, that," Sirius admitted, "but not a mass murderer." He looked firmly at the two Muggles in front of him. "Where's my godson?"

"I'm here, Sirius," Harry said, stepping into sight. He heard his godfather draw a quick breath when the man saw him. Well, he could not really blame Sirius. He was undeniably quite a sight with his bruised face, far too large hand-me-down clothes, and skinny, underfed frame.

"Harry!" Remus exclaimed in shock. "What have they done to you?"

"Nothing he doesn't deserve," Uncle Vernon growled. He was seemingly too shocked and enraged to pay attention to what he was saying. "Now, get out of here!"

"No, we won't," Sirius said firmly. "Not without Harry." He waved an official-looking parchment in the air. "From now on, we are his guardians. You have no more claims over him."

"But you're a criminal!" Aunt Petunia shouted. "And you can't be both his guardians! You can't be married!"

"No, he's not, and yes, according to Wizarding Laws, we bloody well can," Remus said. Harry blinked at that. He had never heard his former professor swear before.

"You broke the door?" Dudley managed to say at last. It seemed that he hadn't understood anything until now. He stared at Remus, looking up and down his undeniably weak-looking body. "How? It was a strong door, and you don't look strong!"

Remus grinned his best wolf-grin at the boy. "There are many things that werewolves are capable of even when humans aren't," he said, not even trying to make up any other explanation. He seemingly specifically wanted to scare the Dursleys as much as he could.

"Werewolves?" Dudley cried out, trying to stumble backwards, still on the floor. His face was a mask of fear, and his parents were no better.

"Get away from my poor baby, you monster!" Aunt Petunia screamed. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

"Remus is not a monster," Sirius sighed, sounding frustrated. "And he's not going to hurt your overgrown pig in any way -- if you don't try anything stupid, that is." Then his expression turned furious once again. "You are the only monster here, Dursley," he growled at Uncle Vernon. "And you'll pay for that!"

"You can't threaten me in my own house!" Uncle Vernon said, his voice was shaking with fear. "You can't do anything! You're just -- just freaks!"

"Oh, but we can," Sirius said with a silky voice that reminded Harry very much of professor Snape -- not that he'd ever told Sirius that, of course. "We very well can. And guess what? If I didn't want to get Harry out of this hellhole as quickly as only possible, I'd spend this whole day here torturing you. Don't think I don't know ways. I could make you scream ten times before I even touched you or casted a single spell on you."

"Sirius, stop that," Remus sighed. "Just make sure that they stay here, okay? I'll go and fetch Harry's things from wherever they are."

"If you want," Sirius shrugged. "But take that little pig with you to carry the things." He pointed at Dudley, who yelped and backed away from the mere thought of having to be near to the threatening werewolf.

"My trunk's in the cupboard under the stairs," Harry said quietly. He didn't want to question the men about their words, all he wanted was to get away as soon as possible. He'd of course known that his godfather and Remus were lovers -- how could he not? With all those gazes they passed to each other, it was all too obvious -- but he wanted to find out exactly how Sirius' name had been cleared. As Remus raised an eyebrow at his statement about the cupboard, he waved the question away. The werewolf understood, but his expression told that he wanted to know everything about Harry's treatment at the Dursleys'.

When they'd got the trunk -- Remus indeed made Dudley carry it around -- Harry led their way upstairs to the little room he called his own. Not that there was much room for him, what with all Dudley's things, old and new, filling it almost completely. As Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's treatment had taken a turn for the worse, Dudley had also started to use the smaller bedroom as his garbage bin again.

"My most important stuff is under that loose floor board." Harry pointed at a place on the floor, and then kneeled down to lift the board up. "My wand, school books, photo album, and the Map."

Remus nodded. "You still have that old thing?" he then asked, smiling a bit. "Very well. Pack!" In an instant, all Harry's things had been sent to his trunk. Remus then shrank it and put it into his pocket. Noticing Hedwig's cage in the corner of the room, he asked, "Where's your owl?"

"I sent her away in the beginning of the summer," Harry said quietly. "I don't know where she went -- I told her to go to the Weasleys, but I guess she didn't, since otherwise they would have tried to contact me for sure. Wherever she is, she's now better off than here. The Dursleys never let me take any food up here, so I couldn't feed her."

Nodding again, this time slower, Remus shrank the cage, too, and put it into his pocket. "I'm sure she will return as soon as we get you away from here," he said reassuringly. "Now, we'll just leave from this horrid place and go to our new home, shall we?"

Harry was all too glad to obey.

*