Alright, so I'm meant to be working on Chapter ten of Moony, Paddy, Prong & Lily read Goblet of Fire but this plot bunny just wouldn't leave me alone!
Tell me what you thought and review!
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It had started out as a normal day. It really had.
Alright, so for most people, it wouldn't have been considered normal. But for these particular people living in this particular house, it was normal.
You see, Harry James Potter and his two guardians were not normal. In fact, they were rather far from normal, even by wizarding standards. That's right, Harry and his guardians happened to be wizards.
But what distinguished them from other wizards was the fact that Harry Potter happened to be the sole survivor of the Avada Kedavra curse and also happened to have defeated Lord Voldemort at the age of one. Rather impressive for a baby that could barely walk or talk.
And it wasn't just Harry James Potter that distinguished this rather odd household. You see, his primary guardian happened to be Sirius Black, the only man to have ever successfully escaped the wizarding prison, Azkaban. And also the only man to have ever been sent to Azkaban when he was innocent against all charges against him.
And then came Remus Lupin. He wasn't quite as unique as the other two if you bypassed the fact that he was a werewolf. On the other hand, perhaps he wasn't quite so normal.
Both of these two men were also, much to Harry's chagrin, rather overprotective of their charge.
However, they had a reason to be. Just last year, Harry had been forced to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, one of the deadliest competitions ever made. Harry was forced to battle dragons, water demons, merpeople and, in the end, even Voldemort himself. Harry had nearly died at this battle.
The good news was that barely a week into the summer holidays Peter Pettigrew was caught and, in a trial that rocked the wizarding world, Sirius Black, infamous mass murderer, was discovered innocent of all charges against him and given guardianship of the boy-who-lived, Harry James Potter.
So now, the Ministry was forced to admit that Voldemort had returned under testimony of Wormtail and Cornelius Fudge was facing an enquiry and would most likely be sacked. Life was good.
Or at least it would be if Sirius Black could stop brooding over the horrors that his godson had seen less than a month ago. His only consolation was that at least he was here to help Harry through this. A common thought that passed through his head as he looked fondly at his godson was At least nothing like this ever happened in his first two year.
Right?
Sirius Black was about to get a reality check.
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As was mentioned before, it had started out as a normal day. They had gotten up and had breakfast, Harry had gone for a bit of a fly (with Sirius watching his every move like a hawk. He was not quite convinced that Harry had fully recovered from the injuries he had received in the first task), and then they played chess.
It was after lunch when Remus, Sirius and Harry were all sitting in the living room just talking about a few random things that turned this day into one that they'd never forget.
Harry and Sirius had been arguing over who the better team was at Quidditch while Remus was occasionally listening and reading at the same time. Soon enough, Remus was drawn into to the good-natured argument.
"No way Moony!" Sirius exclaimed. "The only way the Hawks would beat the Tigers is if the Tigers seekers broom was jinxed!"
"Um, not quite," Harry interjected before Remus could answer. "I mean, I had my broom jinxed in first year and I still caught the snitch. Well, I nearly swallowed it when I fell off my broom but still," he amended slightly.
He looked up at his two guardians to see them both staring at him with slack jaws. "What?" he asked in slight bewilderment.
"Harry," Sirius said slowly, "Just why was your broom jinxed? And… you fell off?" his voice was normal but inwardly he was imagining his innocent, sweet, little godson at age eleven trying to stay on a jinxed broom. The image didn't sit well with him. Remus was watching Harry carefully and wondering how on earth someone could get close enough to hurt his cub.
Harry's eyes widened when he realized that Sirius and Remus didn't know about what had happened in his first year. Or his second, come to think of it. And he really did not want to tell them. They would be even more protective then they were now, if that was even possible.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything," said Harry quickly, ducking his head.
"Harry," said Sirius, using a stern tone that he rarely bothered with.
"You know, that reminds me that Sirius and I really have no idea about your first and second years," said Remus lightly. "Perhaps you could enlighten us."
"Good idea, Moony," said Sirius approving. "And you can add just why your broom was jinxed as well."
Harry groaned and scanned the room for an escape. "Um, you know I think Ron needed help with some homework…" he said feebly, realizing that this wasn't going to work.
"Actually, I believe Ron never does his homework until the last minute," said Remus calmly.
"Just tell us Harry," said Sirius in a softer tone than before. "I can't be that bad," he added confidently, quite sure that it wouldn't be. After all, what were the chances of Harry's life being threatened in every year of Hogwarts.
You have no idea, Harry thought as he sighed and began apprehensively, "Well, um, alright… where do I start?"
"Why don't we go from when you got your first Hogwarts letter," said Remus kindly, somehow sensing that his cub was not quite ready to divulge what had happened at school. He figured it would be better to start with something safe, like his first Hogwarts letter. For some reason, Harry didn't look all that comforted. In fact, his face seemed to pale a little more.
"Um, alright," Harry said hesitantly.
Sirius and Remus exchanged an uneasy glance, for some reason they had a sense of foreboding that this wouldn't go the way they wanted it to.
"Ok, so it started a few days into summer holidays," Harry began his story, debating on just where to start but realizing gloomily that his guardians would remember the inconsistencies. "I went downstairs and around about in the middle of breakfast, the post came. Uncle Vernon told me to go get it and I did," Harry continued, omitting the fact that he had to dodge Dudley's smelting stick.
"Anyway, so when I got to the front door there was a bill, a letter from Aunt Marge," (Remus and Sirius exchanged a look when Harry mentioned 'Aunt' Marge) "and then a letter for me, from Hogwarts. I took all the letters into the kitchen and began to open mine when –" here Harry hesitated, knowing that from now on his story was quite likely to ignite his guardians tempers.
"Harry? Keep going, kid," Sirius encouraged, still unsure as to why his godson looked so uncomfortable.
Harry steeled himself and continued, saying it all very quickly, "Ok, so I started to open it but then Dudley told Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and they ripped the letter from my hand and then literally threw me and Dudley from the room."
"Wait, so the Dursleys didn't give you your Hogwarts letter?" Remus exclaimed.
"What do you mean, literally threw you out of the room?" asked Sirius, his eyes flashing.
Harry visibly winced, "You know, he might have maybe picked me up and chucked me out."
Sirius growled and went over to the couch where Harry was sitting and pulled the boy into a hug.
"Um, Sirius," said Harry, "I'm fine, it was nearly four years ago."
"I know," said Sirius unabashedly. "Anyway Harry, keep going. What convinced them to give you your Hogwarts letter?" he asked as he moved to the other side of the couch.
Harry winced once more and, figuring that this part would be best to get over with quickly, said in one breath, "Well, see, my bedroom back then was sort of a cupboard and Uncle Vernon was sort of scared and anyway he gave me a bedroom after that but burned my letter."
"Your bedroom was a cupboard?" Sirius asked in a voice that obviously meant he was trying to keep his anger at bay.
"Yeah," said Harry in a small voice, looking down and fidgeting.
"A cupboard? A cupboard?" Remus muttered furiously. "Oh, those muggles. Making my cub sleep in a cupboard!?! Oh, just wait till you meet me on the full moon, you despicable muggles!"
"Um, Moony," said Harry, a little cautiously.
"Hm, oh don't worry Harry I'm fine," Remus said adding silently, but they won't be! One look at his best friends' face meant that he was thinking the exact same thing.
"Keep going, kiddo," said Sirius, returning his full attention to his godson.
"Well, Uncle Vernon really didn't want me to go to Hogwarts and just kept burning all the letters. He even nailed down the mailbox and the doors and everything," said Harry, sounding upbeat in a way to take his guardians attentions from what he was actually saying. It didn't work very well.
Remus was muttering something like, "Idiots… full moon… my cub…" while Sirius had conjured a notebook and was scribbling something down. Harry had to wonder what their reactions to his second year when he had been starved would be. Somehow, he had the feeling that that year would not go well.
"Anyway, in the end, Uncle Vernon got so sick of all the letters that we all left because he thought that if we could 'shake them off' they would stop sending the letters. The day before my birthday, we ended up on this hut on a sea rock sort of place," said Harry, a lot more calmly now that the hard part was over. After all, nobody said he had to mention his sleeping conditions in the hut.
"So, we ended up staying there for the night. 'Course, Uncle Vernon didn't know how to make a fire so it was a little cold because of the storm but not that bad," Harry said, bending the truth a little.
"Where did you sleep?" asked Remus, knowing that if they had made Harry sleep in a cupboard for ten years, it was likely that it wouldn't be much better in a completely different place.
Why does he have to be so damn smart? Harry cursed silently. Outwardly, he smiled slightly and said, "It wasn't that bad, I mean I slept on the floor but I did have a blanket."
"Let me get this straight," Sirius cut in with narrowed eyes, "You slept on the floor of hut out in the sea during a raging storm with only a single blanket?"
"Um, yeah," Harry mumbled, looking down.
Sirius exhaled loudly and the next thing that Harry knew, Sirius was in front of him and putting a blanket over him and quite literally tucking him in. Harry just looked at Sirius incredulously. Admittedly it was a very cold summer but where had this come from?
"Um, Sirius?" said Harry tentatively.
"What? You need to stay warm, what if you get a cold?" Sirius defended. "I refuse to let my godson stay cold anymore than you already had to." Remus was nodding emphatically and even waved his wand in the direction of the fireplace to light it.
"Alright," said Harry slowly, nodding his head and looking between his guardians.
"Alright kiddo, keep going but tell us if you're cold, ok?" Sirius sad brightly, settling back down on his own couch.
Somehow, Harry doubted he would get cold but he bit his tongue. "So, at exactly midnight, Hagrid showed up and gave me my Hogwarts letter in person. He also threatened Uncle Vernon and scared him so much that he could barely talk," Harry added, hoping that this would dissuade any further attempts to harm his relatives.
"Serves him right," Remus said under his breath, nettled over the treatment of his cub. Sirius nodded in agreement with the werewolf.
"Uh, anyway, so Hagrid lit a fire and made some food and everything. Oh, and he also gave me a birthday cake!" Harry said, suddenly remembering. He smiled at the memory.
Sirius and Remus vowed to thank Hagrid for bringing some happiness into their charges life and to also thank him for threatening Dursley of course!
"So anyway, Hagrid told me about Voldemort and about how Mum and Dad died," Harry continued, making Remus' eyes narrow when he realized that the Dursleys' had lied to Harry about his parents deaths.
"And then Uncle Vernon called Professor Dumbledore a 'crackpot old fool' which made Hagrid really mad," said Harry, smiling at the memory. "And then… well Hagrid gave my cousin Dudley a pigs tail!"
They all roared with laughter and Remus amended his punishment slightly to not include the full moon. That didn't mean that they would go unpunished for treating Harry that way though.
"So, did Dursley decide to retreat after that then?" Sirius asked, still watching Harry like a hawk for any sign of the shivers.
"Yeah, and Hagrid gave me his coat to sleep under and then he took me for my supplies the next day," Harry said, this time with genuine happiness.
"Well, that was a bit of a rocky start," said Remus, a little more calm now that Hagrid had dealt some revenge on Vernon.
"Yep, now onto the Hogwarts years kid!" said Sirius happily, but still curious to know about that jinxed broom…
Harry winced a little and wondered, is it possible for me to get grounded over something that happened three years ago????
-----------Authors Notes-------------
So, what did you guys think of this? Please let me know if I should continue!
Please review.