The Last Marauder

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Harry woke up when he heard somebody knock at the door.

'Since when do Vernon or Petunia knock when they want something?' Harry wondered but immediately opened his eyes and tried to rise. For a moment, he was confused and even slightly shocked for he didn't recognize the room around him and was not able to sit up because something heavy was pressing him onto the mattress.

His heart started beating faster when a second knock followed and the door opened. Remus Lupin entered the room and smiled at Harry who immediately relaxed. Of course, Lupin and Sirius had taken him away from Privet Drive three day ago, now he remembered. He had talked with Sirius and his godfather had stayed with him to give him some comfort after the nightmare last night.

Harry looked left and saw that Sirius was lying next to him, still fast asleep. The weight that hindered Harry from rising was his left arm that was protectively placed across Harry's belly.

Harry smiled at Lupin.

"Good morning Professor."

"Good morning Harry. Sorry, I didn't want to wake you up. How are you feeling?"

Harry thought for a moment.

"Better", he decided. "I had a nightmare last night, but don't worry. It helped a lot that Sirius was there. I can't thank you both enough for what you've done for me."

Lupin gestured him to stop.
"No need to thank us. Actually I wanted to wake Sirius because Dumbledore wants to talk to him, but I should have remembered that it's easier to raise the dead than to wake Sirius Black."

He laughed and stepped beside the bed.

"Sirius. Wake up. Dumbledore is downstairs, he wants to talk to you."

No reaction.

"Sirius!"

"Mmmphh." Sirius pulled the pillow over his head and tried to keep on sleeping.

Lupin sighed.

"Well, that won't be successful. We have to do it the hard way. Would you help me, Harry?"

Harry removed Sirius' hand from his stomach and sat up.

"Sure, what shall I do?"

Lupin lifted up the shirt Sirius wore and gestured Harry to get hold on his godfather's wrists.

"Just hold him down, that's all. He doesn't like this very much"

Harry raised an eyebrow but did as he was told. He grabbed Sirius' wrists and pushed as hard as he could, wondering what Lupin was about to do.

His professor gave him an evil grin and then all of a sudden started tickling Sirius' sides.

Sirius immediately tensioned and tried to free himself from Harry's hold while fighting his laughter.

"Moony, stop that!"

Lupin didn't even think about it and continued.

"Moony, stop!!! I can't bear that, you know!"

Still no reaction.

"Remus Jonathan Lupin, stop that right now or I will hex you into next month, I swear!"

Lupin stopped his attack and removed the pillow from Sirius' head.

"You're finally awake then? Dumbledore is waiting downstairs, he wants to speak to you."

"That was evil! You get that back, I swear. That's not a civilized way to wake somebody!"

Lupin grinned.

"I would have emptied a bucket of ice water over your head were it not for Harry lying next to you. Now get dressed, Dumbledore's waiting."

He turned and left the room. Sirius shook his head, then looked at Harry.

"Good morning. Feeling better?"

Harry nodded. "A lot, thanks." He raised an eyebrow.

"What Harry?"

"You're ticklish?"

Sirius laughed. "Like hell. But don't ever dare to use that against me. If you hadn't been there, Remus would not have escaped my revenge. Well, I'll better go and see what Dumbledore wants."

He got up and left Harry's bedroom, still shaking his head.

Harry smiled and got up. There was no way he would be able to sleep anymore, so why not get up.

He suddenly realized that he didn't know anything in this house. He just wanted to leave the room and search for the bathroom when again it knocked and Lupin stepped into the room.

"You'll surely be wanting to shower and get dressed. There are some clothes which Sirius got for you in the wardrobe. They probably suit but he wanted to go and buy more with you today. The bathroom is one door to the left, there's a shelf with towels and there are toothbrushes in the cupboard under the sink. Just try to make yourself a home, if you need something call me."

Harry nodded. "Thanks."

He went into the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was standing into every direction as usual but he was quite shocked that he hardly recognized his own face. It looked too thin, there were dark shadows under his eyes and one could guess that his left eye had recently be bruised. He shook his head, stripped off shirt and trainers and took a long, hot shower.

After that, he brushed his teeth, returned to his room and examined his wardrobe. There was a set of different boxer shorts in one shelf, pairs of socks in another. Also two pairs of blue jeans which appeared to be only slightly too big - well, he had lost a lot of weight during the last couple of weeks - a couple of shirts and two sweaters. Harry pulled on shorts and socks, then a shirt and one pair of jeans which he fixed with the belt he had worn before on Dudley's trousers.

A short moment he flinched at the belt for it reminded him of his last encounter with his uncle.

When he had finished dressing, he went downstairs to search for his godfather and Lupin. He now felt really hungry and was longing for breakfast. He stopped in the hall when he heard angry voices coming from what was obviously the living room. Sirius and Lupin were having an argument with Dumbledore.

"As I told you, you haven't seen him. I don't know what would have happened if I had not taken him out there." Sirius sounded angry.

"It's not the fact that you took him but how you took him. I would have thought you were wiser! The Ministry is running amok because of this and were it not Arthur Weasley who is in charge then you both would be in serious trouble."

"Dumbledore, I don't care if I'm in trouble as long as Harry doesn't have to live with those people anymore."

"You're so stubborn, Sirius. Just imagine what the consequences are if you get into trouble. Harry won't be allowed to live with you. And you dragged Remus into it as well."

"Please Dumbledore, leave me out of that. I went to the Dursley's with Sirius; it's my fault as well as it is his. I should have known that he would react like that and have hindered him."

"You're not his babysitter Remus. He has to understand that he is an adult and he has to start behaving like one. He is now responsible for Harry and Harry is not just some ordinary teenager. There are people out there who want him dead."

"Could you please stop talking about me as if I wasn't there? And I think I was behaving like a responsible adult for I took him away from people who didn't care whether he was alive and unharmed or not. Conversation over. If the Ministry wants to tell me off for what I've done than they shall do so. But I don't regret it and I would do it again if I had to."

Harry opened the door and stepped into the room. He didn't want them to continue fighting because of him so he had decided to interrupt it.

"Good morning Professor."

Dumbledore sat in an armchair and when hearing his name he turned around towards Harry and smiled.

"Good morning Harry. How are you doing?"

"Fine, thank you. Please don't bear a grudge on Sirius and Professor Lupin, I'm more than thankful for what they've done."

Dumbledore smiled once more.

"I think we have cleared that issue. Now it's important that you're here and we'll do anything to protect Sirius' house as good as possible. I guess you and your godfather have a lot to tell each other and there are urgent matters that call me back to Hogwarts and then I will take some time and think about additional security spells for your house. I think I'll leave you now. Enjoy the rest of you holiday Harry."

Harry nodded. "I will, I'm sure."

Dumbledore turned towards Sirius.
"Please keep me informed if something happens. Good bye Sirius, Remus."

He nodded and left through the fireplace.

Sirius grunted something, he obviously still was angry.

"Why didn't he just apparate?"

"Anti-Apparition spell around this house." Lupin smiled. "Besides, he can't apparate on Hogwarts grounds. I thought you knew that."

"Let me guess: Hogwarts. A History?"

Lupin nodded. "Exactly. Let me guess: Hermione?"

Harry grinned. "Exactly."

Sirius got up and gently pushed Harry towards the door.

"You must be starving. I've made breakfast, come along. After that, I'll give you the big tour through the house and then I thought we'd go and get you some clothes."

Harry nodded. "Food sounds good. I haven't chewed anything for the last four weeks."

Another concerned look crossed Sirius' face as he gestured Harry to sit down and placed a huge mug of hot chocolate in front of him.

"You should start low then, otherwise you won't keep your breakfast within. How about some toast?"

Harry nodded and allowed Sirius to place a huge plate with buttered toast and a smaller one with some scrambled eggs in front of him.

"Just don't gulp it or you will eat too much. Madam Pomfrey told me that you should do a little low after you've woken up, but as soon as you feel up to it you can just continue normally. She gave me some Pepper-up-Potion for you."

He handed Harry a flask and his godson swallowed its content without hesitation. Madam Pomfrey could get really angry if her instructions were not followed.

Harry started to eat and realized how much he had missed the fact that food was available at any time he wanted it. He enjoyed this breakfast in the kitchen with Sirius and Lupin around and felt that he could get used to this.

"Will you be in trouble because of me?"

Sirius looked up from his coffee and caught Harry's gaze.

"No. Not really. Arthur Weasley likes you too much to put me into trouble for that little toad incident."

"Toad incident?"

Lupin nearly choked on his tea.

"You don't remember?" Sirius asked while gently patting Lupin on the back. "Well, I got a little out of mind when we fetched you, your uncle said some nasty thing and somehow...miraculously, turned into a toad. Don't know how that could have happened."

"But he won't stay like that, will he?"

"I think Remus saw to it that he didn't. Actually, I don't care."

Harry nodded. Sirius obviously didn't want to talk about that now. He turned to Lupin.

"Can I ask you a question Professor?"

"Only if you stop calling me Professor during the holiday. Call me Remus please. Or Moony." He smiled. "What is it?"

Harry grinned.

"Jonathan?"

Lupin sighed but then laughed. "Doesn't fit with Remus, does it? My mum insisted on giving me that name after she couldn't talk my father out of Remus. An English name. She insisted on it just as she had insisted on me learning English as well as French. That's it.

"You're French?"

Lupin nodded. "My father is. My mother is English. I grew up in France before I went to Hogwarts and my mother wanted to give me a name that would remind me of my English roots. But your godfather has always used it to tease me."

"I would never do such a thing as tease you Remus. I carefully remind you of facts, that's all. Finished Harry?"

When Harry nodded Sirius rose to show his godson his new home.

"Well, this is obviously the kitchen, easy enough. Next door is the living room, you've already seen that as well. Else there's only a storage room next to the kitchen and my study."

He showed Harry quite a large room with a desk, some large shelves of books and two armchairs as furniture. Harry reminded himself that Sirius had worked for the Ministry as an Auror before he had been arrested and definitely had needed a place to do his researches.

They went upstairs where Sirius continued the tour.

"This room is yours as you know. You can decorate it just the way you like it. There's the bathroom, opposite of it is the guest room where Remus stays whenever he's here. There are two more guestrooms next to it. You're free to invite Ron and Hermione to come over when you do better and have accustomed a little if you like. There's plenty of room for guests in this house.

And here we have my room."

Sirius opened the door and both Lupin and Harry chuckled, Lupin obviously had difficulties not to break into a laughing fit. Behind the door was definitely a bachelor's room. Sirius' bed was untidy even though he had not slept in it last night. The wardrobe stood open and clothes seemed to be spread all around the room. The bedside table was covered with all kinds of different things, books, parchments, empty cups and plates.

"Sirius, call the police. Someone has blown up your room."

That was too much for Lupin. He held his stomach which hurt from the laughter with one hand and supported himself on the wall with the other.

"Ha, ha. Very funny you two. This is my room and I like it the way it is. So stop laughing or I'll throw the both of you out."

"You've turned it into this in barely a week?"

"Harry!"

Lupin and Harry suppressed their laughter and they went back into the kitchen. Lupin bid them goodbye and left for he had to prepare next year's lessons.

"Well Harry, let's do some shopping, shall we?"