An Unconventional Upbringing

by Uncertain Anonymous

This story is written for thegenuineimitation's "I Was Raised By…" Challenge on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum. It's nice to say that, while I still don't own the series, I have once again found my muse.

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Remus looked exhausted, was Poppy's first thought. Her second was mostly just a surge of pity. The third was a bit angry, aimed more at his absence than his condition. The fourth was a resigned sigh of a thought.

Remus Lupin lay unconscious, bruised and cut in one of the cots in Poppy Pomfrey's infirmary, tucked under the sheets. He looked far too old for his age, Poppy decided before she turned to go get Harry.

...

When she returned, Remus was blinking himself awake.

"Ah!" she announced, surprising him. "Good, you're awake. I need you to look after Harry while I look in the library for more books on how people treated the Poplomau Virus back when it was first around. Harry hates the library -" a blatant lie, he loved it "- for whatever reason, so I need someone to take care of him while I'm there."

"Ah - but - I!" Remus stuttered, wide-eyed. Poppy raised a brow and nodded her head to tell him to sit up. He instinctively listened, and she nearly smirked.

"Here," she said, holding the baby towards him, "you put your arm around him like so, remember? And you hold his head carefully like -"

"I know how to hold him," Remus said petulantly, reluctantly wrapping his arms around the bundle handed to him - a bundle that, confusingly enough, cooed and stated "Moo!" rather fondly, of all things to say.

"I wouldn't have guessed it," Poppy retorted, then stood up straight. "I'll be back in a while. Take good care of him. Extra nappies are in my office. So is some of his food if you need it." And with that, she turned and left.

After closing the door, Poppy sighed quietly and leaned against it, waiting to hear some sort of reaction - preferably, Remus talking to the poor orphan. When, at last, she heard him whisper "Hi there, Harry" with the kind of shaking breath that implied tears, Poppy smiled sadly and headed off to Dumbledore's office.

This may hurt him in the short run, but Remus really did need to acknowledge his misery, just as Harry needed to keep a familiar figure that knew his parents that wasn't just her.