Unconditional Love

CHAPTER 1...

“Not your home,” Peter said. “Mine.”

With that, Harry Potter and Peter Pettigrew disappeared from Privet Drive.

°°¤øøø¤°°

Three years later...

Harry yawned and turned over in bed. Blinking his eyes open blearily, the young boy smiled impishly before jumping out of bed. Today was the day! He was going to go school! Merlin’s Academy of Magic and all Magical Beings was awaiting him.

Harry Banjeke jumped out of bed and ran down the hall towards his father’s room. Without knocking, the black haired boy burst into the room and jumped on to the bed.

The slightly overweight black haired man in the bed groaned and turned his back on the excited blob.

“Five more minutes.”

Harry grinned at the mumbled words before shaking the man impatiently.

“Dad!” Harry shouted excitedly, shaking the man so hard, Peter was surprised that he hadn’t suffered from a concussion afterwards. “Daaaad!!!”

Peter sat up abruptly and stared around warily, wand in hands already, eyes searching for any danger. Harry rolled his eyes at this usual display before waving his hands in front of the man’s face.

“Dad! Todayistheday! I’mfinallygoingtogotoschoolandican’twaitohmyGodohmyGod! Ican’tbelievethati’mfinallygoing! Comeondad! Getoutofbedbeforewe’relatebecauseif we’relatethenitsgoingtobeyourfaultandIdon’twanttobelate!”

With that, the slightly dazed and more than confused Peter was pushed and pulled out of the comfortable and warm bed by Harry, who was far too energetic and happy and awake for his liking.

Easing his arm out of the boy’s slightly-more-than-tight grip, Peter rubbed at it absently before ruffling Harry’s hair and grinning, sharing the boy’s enthusiasm.

“Come on then Harry,” Peter said mock sternly. “We wouldn’t want to be late now would we?”

Harry grinned, but shook his head.

No, he wouldn’t want to be late.

°°¤øøø¤°°

“Goodbye Harry,” Peter said sadly, trying not to tear up in front of Harry. He could cry when he got home.

“Bye dad,” Harry whispered, wrapping his arms around Peter’s neck and squeezing softly. “I’ll write everyday.”

Peter laughed.

“I’m sure you’ll be too busy being chased by girls and having fun to remember me,” Peter teased. Harry blushed, but said nothing.

Hugging his father again, Harry boarded the school bus with his trunk and found a seat. Waving madly at his father, Harry pressed his face to the window until he disappeared from view.

“Can I seat here?”

Harry turned to see a small and slightly frightened looking boy standing uncertainly near the seat. Harry nodded and the boy flashed a quick smile before sliding into the seat.

“I’m Harry,” Harry introduced himself, holding out his hand. The boy smiled and shook it lightly.

“My name’s David Thomas,” the boy said softly. Harry grinned in a friendly manner before digging into his pocket and pulling out a packet of Dancin’ Teddies: They’ll Dance All the Way to Your Stomach and More! Offering David the packet, the black boy smiled shyly before reaching in and taking out a squirming red gummy bear.

“Is this your first year too?” David asked. Harry nodded vigorously before biting the head off a green bear. The rest of the body continued to wiggle and do its strange dance.

David just looked amused.

“Do you have any siblings?” Harry asked after swallowing the rest of the lolly. David hesitated slightly before nodding.

“A younger brother, but I haven’t seen him since I was six. My parents are divorced and my mother moved to England with him,” David explained softly. Harry grimaced in sympathy.

“I’m sorry,” he offered, feeling slightly bad for bringing the topic up. David smiled and dismissed the apology with a wave of his hand.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said finally. “I don’t remember much of Dean, but I would like to see him again. We are, after all, brothers and I know that my dad misses him. I miss my mum though.”

“I never knew my mum or dad,” Harry said finally. David looked curious, but didn’t ask.

“They died when I was one,” Harry explained. David looked dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to say.

“Oh,” he said softly. “I’m sorry.”

Harry sighed, but smiled a second later. “But I live with my guardian now. And I suppose his my dad in some ways. I love him and he loves me. That’s enough.”

David grinned back.

“I’m glad for you.”

From there, the two young boys talked about anything and everything. David, it seemed, was slightly addicted to baseball as well. Harry launched into a detailed recount of what had happened in the last Laker’s game since David had missed it because he was on holiday and where they were didn’t have a television.

Before they knew it, the bus arrived at the school and Harry and David excitedly got off the vehicle. Other buses were pulling up and letting students off as well.

Harry and David looked at each other and grinned.

The academy wouldn’t know what had hit them.

°°¤øøø¤°°

Remus sighed and rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on and Sirius pacing around in front of his was not helping.

“Sirius!” Remus finally snapped, glaring and the other man. “Stop it!” Sirius froze mid-step. When Remus used that tone of voice, you obeyed.

“I know as much as you want to, we can not get Harry from his relatives,” Remus continued gently, eyes softening slightly at the anguish that was clear on Sirius’s face.

“Why not!?” Sirius asked. Remus and he had returned from the funeral of Lily and James to find that Harry was not in Dumbledore’s arms waiting for them, but instead at his relatives. To say that the man was angry would have been an understatement. Sirius was downright furious. His eyes crackled with barely suppressed rage and his hands were shaking from being clenched.

“Because Albus believes that Voldemort isn’t really gone. He’s just disappeared. We have no protection against him or Deatheaters if they decided they want to hurt Harry. We’re not his blood relatives,” Remus said finally, remembering the letter he had received from Dumbledore a few minutes ago. Inside, the werewolf was seething just as badly, if not more, than Sirius, but unlike Sirius, he at least tried to understand Dumbledore’s reasoning, even if he did not respect them.

“We can protect him more than those freakin’.....monsters can! Did you see the way they treated Lily at the wedding?! They might as well have spat on her from the way they treated her! Imagine what they’ll do to Harry! He’ll need more protection from those bastards then he will from Deatheaters!”

Remus winced at the shout. Ooo..... He could feel the migraine coming on.. But, as much as he tried to deny it, he agreed with Sirius. Those relatives of Lily’s were nothing short of evil. He would hate to think of what they would do with Harry.

“Alright,” Remus said finally with a small sigh. “We’ll go tonight. To get Harry.”

Sirius’s jaw dropped. Moony agreed with him. Moony agreed with him. MOONY agreed with HIM. Oh my God....

“Shut up Sirius and get ready,” Remus said with a slight grin. “We better hope that Albus won’t skin us afterwards. If he does, you made me do it.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the grin that formed on his lips.

°°¤øøø¤°°

Harry sighed in content before patting his stuffed stomach contently. Next to him, David laughed softly at his friend’s antics.

“I wonder where we sleep,” David mused, looking around the giant hall as if it held all the answers to life. Harry rolled his eyes.

“When we came in, I saw a couple of staircases,” he said. Before David could say anything, the headmistress stood up and clapped her hands.

“Welcome back to another year children,” Headmistress Jackson said warmly, her blue eyes taking in the first years. “Another year for knowledge and fun! Welcome first years. I hope that you find Merlin’s Academy of Magic and Magical Beings to your liking. All other years, please help the first years should they lose their way around the buildings. Please remember, no magic out of any of the buildings unless in the supervision of a teacher. Goodnight children!”

With that, the students started to rise from their tables and head towards the double doors. The first years exchanged worried looks with each other and then uncertainly at the students streaming out of the doors.

“First years!” all first years looked relieved as they heard the shout. All turned towards the older girl as she pushed her way through the crowd. She flashed them a quick smile as she saw what was obviously the eleven/ten year olds standing there in a whole group and shuffling.

“First rule,” she said warmly as she turned and motioned for the children of follow her. “Is to never, ever walk against the flow of students. Not if you have some want to get squashed, pushed and elbowed deathwish.”

With that, the first years followed the fifth year up the staircase next to the right wall. Five minutes later, they were outside a wide wooden door that looked like it was made in the fifteen century. Opening the door, the fifth year turned and smiled.

“This is your dormitory. There are four dormitories with five beds each for both boys and for girls. I’ll leave you to settle who sleeps in what room with whom. Boys to the left and girls to the right. Your stuff should be in the common room. All remember how to get to the hall?” At the nods the girl smiled and bade them goodnight.

The first years filed into the common room to see that all their stuff was placed neatly in the middle of the room.

“Oh!I almost forgot!”

Everybody jumped and turned to see the fifth year had poked her head into the room again.

“My name’s Jennifer and I am a fifth year prefect! Goodnight!”

°°¤øøø¤°°

Sirius and Remus crept silently up to the house and looed at each other. Both took a breath. This was it. There was no turning back.

Then something happened that wasn’t supposed to happen. They two hadn’t got within five metres of the house when all of a sudden they were repelled and both flew several feet into the air and landed not very gently on their butts. Wincing and rubbing the sore spot, Sirius narrowed his eyes at the house.

A popping noise drew their attention and both paled at who they saw standing there.