"Ignore it Harry," Remus said as he brought a cup of tea to Harry and set it on the coffee table in front of him.

"Someone at Hogwarts is talking."

"Someone at Hogwarts always has."

Harry didn't understand how this wasn't phasing Remus at all. "But- someone is on the inside giving information about me to Voldemort."

"The Headmaster knows there are children of death eaters at the school. He can't ban children from coming just because of who their parents are, and even if he could he wouldn't." When Harry just stared at him, not understanding, Remus said, "At school they get the chance to be exposed to new ideas about how the world works and are shown that there are paths for them to take other than joining Voldemort. They get the chance to meet and become friends with Muggleborns and students from outside the social circle of their parents. Those are all things that will make them think twice about following in their parents footsteps."

"And some get exposed to death eater ideals and join the ranks when they might not have before."

"That's what some have argued," Remus said. "In the end, everyone has a choice to make. The goal is to show as many as possible a better path."

Harry stared down at the quote in the morning's Prophet again and let the upset bubble in his stomach for a moment. Everyone in school knew he and Hermione had been dating, so it would be impossible to know who had given Voldemort more ammunition to throw at him in the papers. The day before the Prophet had spoken about how Harry was ‘a boy of very little moral regard.' The Hogwarts Guardian had been quiet all week, and Harry wondered if it was just because they'd run out of material to print, or if it was because his friends were starting to believe the lies the Prophet was spreading around. There was nothing more demoralizing to Harry than the possibility that his friends no longer believed in him... that they believed he no longer cared.

Remus tried to distract Harry throughout the day with an intense training session where he threw everything he had and then some at Harry in the small living room while Harry practiced various shields, but late at night long after Remus had gone to bed, Harry still lay awake staring at the ceiling. After hours of trying to get to sleep and failing, Harry lit his wand and pulled the stack of old Prophets over to himself. While Voldemort's quotes had been on the front page, there were other stories pushed to the back. Stories about missing families, Ministry employees who were acting strangely, and on the very last page, a list of buildings that had been ‘mysteriously' destroyed. The most recent was Fortescue's Ice Cream on Diagon Alley. That had happened sometime late the night before, and Fortescue had disappeared.

Harry wished there was some way he could let his friends know he hadn't abandoned them, or to at least give them hope. If he wrote to them the owl could be traced and he knew they'd want to write back and would have a lot of questions he didn't want to answer. He wasn't looking forward to answering those questions when he eventually returned either, but figured it would be better to hash things out in person than via owl in any case.

Harry's eyes roved around the small living room and fell on an old camera Remus kept on top of the mantle with his sack of floo powder and a picture of Sirius, Lily and James. Harry didn't know how to work a wizarding camera, but he bet he could figure it out. He could send some kind of photo to Luna for the newsletter. What kind of photo though? Harry picked the camera up and then sat back on the couch to think.

He needed a message just for his friends, even if they didn't print it in the newsletter. Something just they would understand so they knew it was from him. Maybe him in front of one of the destroyed buildings, to show he was trying to do something, though really he wasn't.

Harry pulled his jacket on and put his wand up his sleeve. Camera in hand he crept out the front door and into the night. It was three something in the morning and he hoped Remus was asleep enough that the sound of apparating wouldn't wake him. Still not having a firm plan in mind, Harry apparated to behind the Leaky Cauldron and crouched down in the darkness, waiting to see if any kind of alarm had been set off. Once he was sure no one had noticed him apparating in and that he was alone, he entered the alley, wand out but not lit.

More than just Fortescue's had been destroyed as it turned out. Tripple-W was gone, just a hole in between two other shops and filled with rubble. When had that happened? Gladrags wasn't demolished, but it had a big hole in the front glass window, and a sign on the door that read, "Shop Closed. Muggle-Borns Not Allowed To Own Businesses. Wiz. 1327 Code B." Harry tried to think back to the stack of Prophets on the table to any article about a new law, but couldn't think of one. Maybe it had happened the day before or even before Harry had gone to stay with Remus.

Harry was just stepping away from Gladrags when a loud sound came from down the alley. It sounded as if someone had kicked over a group of rubbish bins. Shrinking back into the shadows of the Gladrags' doorway, Harry held his breath and waited, heart beating. There was laughter and then the sound of breaking glass, and two men came into view, one holding his wand on the other.

"Please-" one of them said, but the other shoved him roughly and he fell, before being dragged back up onto his feet.

"Shut it Fortescue. You love your alley so much? I want you to see your shop. I want you to know there's nothing to come back to. If you join us the dark lord will let you rebuild it. He'll have a law made saying everyone has to buy from you and get the other sweet shops shut down."

Harry couldn't make out Fortescue's face in the darkness, but he could see him shaking his head. "Just let me go. I won't tell anyone it was you."

The other man began laughing, and Harry realized his hands were sweating as he rolled his wand between his fingertips. Curses and shields began running through his mind, and just as quickly stopped as the man spoke again with mirth. "Is that your final answer? It's a shame. The dark lord said he really liked you..." the man raised his wand and Fortescue began to beg. Harry could both see and feel the buildup of magic coming from the man's feet as he began to enchant the killing curse. Without thinking, Harry had come out of the shadows and had raised his wand and shouted a binding curse at the man. The man swore as his killing curse was sent up into the air and blasted part of a roof off a shop, and then shrugged out of Harry's binding curse as if it was nothing.

"Who did that!?" the man shouted. Fortescue made a break for it but the man sent something at him that made him go flying face first into the street.

Harry threw several cutting and stinging curses at the man in a row and two of them hit their mark on his face, causing the man to curse even more. Harry tried the binding curse again as he got closer to him but again the curse was thrown off. Harry didn't understand why, because it didn't look like the man was even trying to throw it off.

"Come here you little wretch!" the man screamed as he threw something at Harry he'd never heard before and Harry dodged and blocked at the same time with a shield Remus had only just taught him the day before. Finally Harry was close enough that when he cast the third binding curse he could see that something glowed around the man and kept his binding curse from sticking.

Harry dropped down to his knees, threw another shield up to protect himself from a blasting curse, and then let his fingernails dig at the stone of the alley. There was no dirt here, but there was magic imbued in the stones and Harry let it all come to him before he sent it towards the man with the thought to contain him somehow. The man screeched as the stones from the street rose up around him and squeezed like a gigantic fist. Harry could see the glow around the man shimmering, trying to throw the curse off, but it wasn't a curse, it was just stones and mortar trying to squeeze him to death. It was raw magic that had been soaking into the stones for generations, as far back as when the alley had first been built.

"What are you doing?" the man asked, out of breath. Harry finally released some of the magic and the stones loosened just enough for him to breath.

Harry didn't know what to say, so he said what he'd been thinking about before he'd set out on his late night excursion. "I'm sending a message," he said, only instead of to his friends he said, "to Voldemort."

"What's the message?" the man asked, still trying to catch his breath. "I'll give it to him. Promise I will, just let me live long enough to do it."

Harry was aware Fortescue was lying on the ground next to the erupted stones watching him, waiting for his response. "Dumbledore's Army Lives."

* * *

Remus was at his side faster than Harry thought would have been possible as soon as he opened the door to the cabin and stepped inside.

"Diagonalley? You went out to Diagonalley?"

"How did you-"

"The Prophet!"

Remus practically threw it at him, and Harry shrank back, not used to Remus being so riled up. It was half past six and Harry wondered that the Prophet had come out so early, but then again, he'd left a mess right in front of the Prophet office on the alley, so maybe they would send out an early edition.

"What were you thinking?"

"I wanted to send a message."

"I can see that!"

"Not that message," Harry said, setting the paper down. There was a big photo of bright red words spray painted on the cobblestones of the alley, ‘DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY LIVES'. Fortescue had helped him do it before he disappeared into the night. Harry hadn't asked where he was going and Fortescue hadn't told. The death eater had cursed at them the entire time they'd spray painted the message as he hung in the air in the clutches of the alley cobbles.

"I was just going to do something and take a photo and send it to my friends. I just wanted them to know I hadn't given up on them."

"You could just go back to school you know, instead of trying to give me a heart attack at half five when I get the early edition and find you missing!" Remus pulled Harry into a tight hug and mumbled something about ‘raising teenagers', and Harry didn't argue because he could see how upset the man was.

"What happened?" Remus asked when he let Harry go and gave him a close looking over. Other than being covered in grime and red paint, Harry was fine.

Harry relayed the story and ended with, "It was a wicked block with that shield you taught me yesterday." By the time he was done with his tale, Remus had pushed a mug of strong tea into his hands and gone to sit at the dining table.

"The Prophet says you helped the fugitive Florean Fortescue escape and nearly crushed to death the Editor in Chief of The Daily Prophet. You're being called a hoodlum and a vandal."

"Why are they calling him a fugitive?"

"They said he destroyed his own shop."

"No, I heard them talking. The Death Eater-"

"Martin Green," Remus supplied.

"He was casting the killing curse on Fortescue when I stopped him. He was trying to get Fortescue to join Voldemort."

"That's not what the Prophet will relay to the people though." Remus slid the paper over to Harry so he 'could read it and Harry found himself being slandered as a ‘wild truant teenager' who needed to be ‘gotten under control'.

"Clearly I pissed him off," Harry said. "Look, he didn't even wait for Voldemort to give a statement. He just rambled on about me."

Harry pulled the camera out and asked Remus how to get the pictures out he'd taken. Remus tapped the camera with his wand and the photos appeared on the table. Harry had noticed there had been no picture in the prophet of Martin Green being held up by the alley's raw magic. Luckily Harry had a photo of that and the ‘vandalism' spray painted in three foot high letters in front of him.

"I take it you're sending those off to Hogwarts?"

"Shouldn't I?"

"I don't think it matters what I think anymore," Remus said, standing to start making breakfast. "Once you've made up your mind, you do what you want."

"I'm sorry I scared you Remus," Harry said. He did feel sorry. He also just felt cooped up in the house and bored and useless.

"I believe you," Remus said. "You're very much like your mother though. No one can tell you anything."

"Are you going to kick me out?"

"We've discussed this already."

"Yeah but-"

Remus cut him off as he began making toast. "Are you going back out in the middle of the night again?"

"I-"

"I can tell you're getting bored Harry. You need something to do. You need to be with Ron and Hermione."

"Snape'd have my hide if I snuck out to vandalize the street in the middle of the night."

"The Headmaster would too," Remus said. Harry thought he said this in lieu of ‘I should now to make you think twice about scaring me like that again,' but Remus continued with, "I don't think you've ever seen the Headmaster truly angry with a student. I have. It's not something one ever wants to experience, or even to recall in later years."

Harry set his tea down. "What did you do Remus?" If Remus had seen him angry, he must have had the experience first hand.

"I- tried to eat a student."

"What? Who?"

"Your father."

"James?"

Remus gave him a look of consternation. "Severus, and I'd prefer not to talk about it. The Headmaster wasn't angry with me in any case as I had no control over it. I was in the room as he yelled at James and Sirius though and it's something I'd like to forget. James said the Headmaster was so angry he thought he was going to cane them. I'm surprised he didn't given I almost killed Severus becuase of a stupid prank."

Remus sat down heavily with two pieces of toast with jam and gave one to Harry.

"No more late night excursions," he said seriously. Harry nodded, and only after Remus had given him another look and Harry apologized again did Remus say with a light tone, "We can't have the world thinking you're a hoodlum now can we?"

* * *

Voldemort was just as angry as Martin Green about the message Harry had left. He was angry at Martin Green for printing the photo of the ‘vandalism' more than anything though, and the same day the article appeared, Martin Green disappeared without a word. The entire vandalized area of the alley was blasted to bits, and Voldemort went quiet in The Prophet for several days. The Hogwarts Guardian had proof it had all happened though, and spread both of Harry's photos around. The other student papers, and papers of other nationalities picked up the story, and they didn't report about ‘Harry the hoodlum'. They reported about a man being dragged down the alley in the middle of the night and being saved by a teenager who was stronger with magic than a full fledged death eater.

Harry had just wanted his friends to know that he was still with them in spirit, but this was quickly morphing into something far beyond that. As Harry spent the remaining days until Christmas break writing essays and answering questions Remus asked about his schoolwork, more photos began circulating in the student newsletters and international papers. Photos of three foot high words painted in yellow on the side of Boden, and of blue words painted in the grass outside Beauxbatons, and of gigantic orange words hanging from a sheet strung between the two buildings Weasley's Wizard Wheezes used to sit between. Vandalism everywhere, and in different languages declaring proudly: DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY LIVES!

* * *

Harry supposed the Weasley twins were the ones responsible for the words, ‘YOU KNOW POO, I'M WATCHING YOU' appearing on the street in Muggle London on billboards and fliers printed on parchment hung up around the city and in Diagonalley. Remus wanted to be sure Harry wasn't responsible and had taken to coming out of his room at random hours of the night to check that Harry was still there.

"It has to be Fred and George," Harry said. "I had nothing to do with this."

"It doesn't matter. Everyone will think it was you."

"Very childish," Harry said of the twins, though quietly he thought to himself they were brilliant. Voldemort was no longer using the Prophet to say Harry was a coward, because with his blatant acts of ‘vandalism' across the country and in other places Voldemort had previously attacked, no one could say he was just running away from a fight. To the world it looked as though Harry was calling Voldemort out.

Remus wasn't pleased, but Harry couldn't do anything about it but assure Remus such taunting wasn't his style. Harry didn't know what to feel about it. He didn't want to call Voldemort out and dreaded the day he'd have to face him again. He still had nightmares about the night in the Ministry when even the Headmaster's magic barely held Voldemort off. Harry wasn't nearly as strong as Dumbledore, so how was he supposed to defeat him? On the other hand though, he didn't feel like a total coward in the eyes of the media and his friends anymore. He didn't know why it was so important to him but it was. He'd rather be Harry the hoodlum than Harry the coward.

"Christmas holiday is coming up," Remus commented casually as he sat down in a dining chair with a piece of toast and cup of coffee.

"I know," Harry said, pretending he was trying to study Transfiguration instead of thinking of other things.

"If you're going back, I'll take you."

"I'm still thinking about it. Ron and Hermione will probably be going home for the break anyway."

"Maybe." Remus ate his toast and then looked over at Harry. "I have an Order meeting tomorrow night at eight. I should only be gone a couple hours."

Harry looked up from his book and met Remus' eyes. "Are you going to tell them you have me?"

"I wasn't planning to, no. That's not why I brought it up."

"Then why?"

"I won't be here to see if you sneak out."

"You're giving me advance notice so I can sneak out?"

"I'm letting you know I'm not going to be happy if you do. You won't know if I'm going to be out for thirty minutes or two hours, or I could decide to pop home for something I forgot."

"Or you could be gone all night and not know at all if I went out." At the look on Remus' face Harry laughed though. "Come on, where do I even have to go? I'd tell you if I was going back to Hogwarts and you know I'd rather not."

"You went out to Diagon two weeks ago."

"I told you why I did that. Look what happened. People are spreading the message everywhere. I've no reason to go out and do that again." Harry wondered if they'd be talking about it at the Order meeting and wished for just a moment he could go so he could hear what they'd say and hear the twins explain themselves to Dumbledore for their shenanigans.

"Stay in Harry. I don't have to tell you how dangerous it is."

"I hear you Remus. I don't want to run into Voldemort anymore than anyone does. What am I gonna do, Jelly legs him to death?" Harry meant it to be funny but supposed too much anxiety had come across in his voice, because Remus seemed appeased and sad at the same time and left him alone about it after that.

As Harry thought about where he would go if he weren't here, he was surprised to come up with several places. His thoughts roamed to Gemini where there was moonfruit growing in one of the trees and how that could give him a boost of magical energy to fight with when it was time to face Voldemort down. He also thought about going back to thank Cedric's father for helping him find Remus and for getting him out of the rain. Harry even about going out to pick up some more clothes. He'd been living in the clothes he had plus a couple shirts Remus had given him for the last several weeks and desperately wanted something more to wear. He didn't know where he could possibly go to get new clothes that would be open at night, but Gemini and going to see Amos Diggory were both doable and both away from crowds of people where he could potentially cross paths with Death Eaters.

When it came time for Remus to leave he gave Harry a pointed look and said, "Dinner's on the table so there's no need to go out."

"Thanks," Harry told him.

"And you have no idea when I'll be back."

"No idea," Harry echoed, pretending to be very interested in finishing the extra long essay Remus had set him to an hour ago.

"You'll probably have time to finish that essay by the time I get back," Remus said, putting his coat on.

"Should have," Harry said.

Remus looked like he wanted to just take Harry with him to the meeting, but sighed and waved at Harry before apparating away. Harry waited ten minutes while working on his essay to see if Remus would make good on his threat to return, but Remus didn't come back. Harry pulled on his jacket and put his wand up his sleeve and thought about Gemini. If he was quick and only spent a few minutes gathering moon fruit, and only spent a few minutes seeing Amos Diggory then he could be back in an hour. He might even have time to finish that essay before Remus returned. Harry apparated out of the cabin with a pop and found himself in the darkness outside his old cabin at Gemini. The school was deserted as he'd expected and he breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't until Harry hiked up the hill in the light drizzle of rain to the trees behind the cabin that he realized there was a problem with his plan. It was cloudy and raining and there was no moonfruit in bloom. The clouds would have to part so moonlight could shine through on the trees if he was going to pick any.

Harry cast a water repellant charm on himself that did nothing to keep out the cold and moved up against the tree to wait. He checked his watch every so often to see that twenty, then forty, then fifty seven minutes had passed when there was finally a break in the clouds and the rain stopped. Harry looked up into the branches above him and found a tiny sliver of moonlight illuminating white globs of moonfruit in the tallest branches. Harry set to climbing the tree and fell several times because the branches and moss were wet and slippery before he finally made it high enough to reach the fruit. He pulled one silvery slippery blob off a limb and almost dropped it before stuffing it into his jacket pocket. He had to climb to another branch for another blob, and then higher again to get a third. He had seven by the time he was done and spent nearly half an hour trying to climb carefully back out of the tree as it had begun to rain again.

He zipped up his jacket pockets and re-cast the water repellant charm on himself before trying to concentrate on getting to Amos Diggory's house. He wanted to appear on the lane that led from the Weasley's to the Diggory's, but after several minutes of concentration found he couldn't apparate at all. Maybe it was too far a distance. It was all the way at the south of England. Instead Harry focused on apparating back to Remus' house, which was still thankfully dark and empty when he got there, and then south to the Diggory's. Instead of the peaceful quiet lane he expected, Harry appeared in the midst of flames and screaming.

Harry ducked as he tried to figure out what was going on and who was wailing, and saw a figure pop up from behind a large rock next to what was Amos Diggory's house before it had been set ablaze. The figure cast a red spell that sizzled through the air to Harry's right. Another figure twenty feet from Harry ducked and cast a spell that felt oily and made Harry's skin crawl back towards the house. The wailing continued and Harry realized it was a woman. If this was going on here, what was going on at the Burrow down the lane? Making sure there was no one behind him that he might give away his location to, Harry cast several spells in quick succession at the Death Eaters. None of them hit their marks, but it distracted them long enough that one of Amos Diggory's spells hit one square in the back and another in the rear end, making him howl. There was quiet for a moment aside from the crackling of the flames and the wailing seemed to have stopped.

Diggory's head appeared again from around the side of the burning building and Harry cautiously lifted a hand in the air to let him know where he was. On impulse Mr. Diggory sent another red spell at him and Harry pulled his hand back just in time not to be hit.

"It's me Mr. Diggory!" Harry called.

"Who?"

"Cedric's friend Harry!"

"Harry?"

Harry raised his hand again, ready to pull it away once more, but this time no spell was fired at him and he got up cautiously and approached the flaming house. Amos and a woman he could only assume was his wife were crouched down beside a decorative boulder with scorch marks marring one side.

"Get down, what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you."

"Whatever you came to do, thank you. You distracted them."

"Was that all of them? What about the Weasleys?"

"I don't know," Amos said gravely. "The alarm went off at my wife's house and she came here. They followed her. You need to find a safe place. We're leaving here."

Harry looked at the flaming house and thought they didn't have much of a choice.

"I did that," Amos said. "My flame stinger went astray."

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"Don't be. Come with us. The bindings I put on those two won't last for long and they'll wake up soon."

"I have somewhere safe to go," Harry said.

"Then go there. Don't stick around here." Amos took his wife's arm and then stuck a hand out to Harry to shake. "Thank you. Go now, don't wait." Then he let go of Harry's hand and was gone with a pop, just like Fortescue, and Harry wondered where they had gone and if they'd be safe there.

Harry crept down the lane towards the Burrow and found the field on fire, but the house seemed undamaged and the flames stopped as though there was a magical circle drawn around the perimeter of the house to keep it safe. There was no one around, for which Harry was thankful (they were probably at the Order meeting and the two Death Eaters who did this were probably lying stunned outside the Diggory's house), so Harry walked back down the lane. He didn't want to apparate straight back to Remus' house for fear he'd lead them back there, and was entertaining ideas of somehow permanently binding the two Death Eaters that were here while they were incapacitated.

Both men were still knocked out when he got back to the flaming house, whose flames had subsided somewhat now, and Harry crouched next to an overgrown patch of weeds on the side of the lane to think on what to do. He cast a binding charm at one of the unconscious men and was pleased that it bound the man in ropes, and then did the same to the other. That wouldn't hold them though, and there were no rocks around to force up around them like the cobbles on Diagonalley. The only thing available was mud and that wouldn't do much. Harry put his fingers down in the mud on the side of the lane to see what he could do with it and only succeeded in liquifying it to the point that the men sank into it. Harry went up to them and took their wands and snapped them and threw the pieces towards the smouldering house and then put his fingers back into the mud. The men sank further and Harry went to each and pulled just their faces above the mud so they could breathe. Then he did his best to solidify the mud (which he had to do with a spell because he couldn't figure out how to with Root), and stood back to admire his work. He wondered if this would hold them. They would have to wandlessly cast spells to liquify the mud and break their bindings. Harry sent a tongue tie hex at their mouths and hoped they didn't know how to cast wordlessly and wandlessly. He figured he could tell Remus as soon as he returned from the meeting that they were here and Remus could bring the Order back before the men woke and figured out how to escape their earthen prison. Remus would know he went out if he told but with a look at his watch he reasoned Remus probably already knew. It was midnight and Harry had been gone for almost four hours. Surely Remus was home by now worrying himself sick, or would be soon if the meeting had run long.

Harry apparated away to the town next to Little Whinging, and to a spot outside London, once again to Gemini, and then finally to Remus' home. His mouth fell at the flames that greeted him when he arrived. At first Harry was confused and thought he had accidentally apparated back to the Diggory's, but this wasn't their cottage on the lane, it was Remus' cabin at the edge of the wood. While Harry was out helping the Diggory's someone had come and torched Remus' cabin, flames leaping into the night sky and the blaze lighting the entire property.

"REMUS!" Harry yelled. There was no one else around which meant whatever fight had taken place here was long over. "REMUS!" There was no answer. Harry ran at the house intending to go in and drag Remus out, but he couldn't get within twenty feet of it without the heat scorching his skin. Harry backed up to find relief from the heat and then ran at the house again, determined to get in and save Remus, but only succeeded in burning the skin on his hands before he had to back quickly away again. "REMUS!" Harry yelled again, feeling frantic and hopeless at the same time. If Remus was inside he was gone by now. Harry reached up to his hair and wove his fingers through it, at a loss for what to do. Remus was gone because Harry had disobeyed and gone out. He was gone because he had helped the Diggory's. He was just gone and there was nothing more than that in that moment. Remus was dead.

Harry didn't know how long he stood there and watched the flames burn, mind blank, but at some point he came back to himself, probably because his hands hurt from the burns he'd received. They were black and Harry wasn't sure if it was charred flesh or soot until he realized his sweat jacket was covered in soot as well.

He well and truly had no place to go now. He'd exhausted every option. Harry was surprised when Remus' voice sounded in his head and reminded him once again that the holidays were almost upon them and he had a place to return to. A place with a half brother and friends and a father he didn't want to deal with... didn't want to see. The only thing was that Harry wanted his father just then in a way he'd never wanted anyone before. Harry wanted someone to hold him and tell him it would be ok even though he knew it wouldn't be. He didn't know if Severus Snape was capable of hugging him or would even want to, but he had nothing else... no one else to go back to but Snape. Harry apparated away, heart empty and eyes blank.

The darkness of the drive leading up to the Hogwarts gates was a stark contrast to the blaze that had lit Harry's eyes a moment before and Harry blinked a few times feeling blind in the darkness. The bright flames still colored his vision as tried to blink them away and pulled the gate open, glad it opened for him and wasn't locked tight. He closed it behind him and plodded up the dirt drive towards the castle. It was drizzling here too, as it had been at Gemini and was causing the soot to become thick mud on his hands and clothes. It was also causing the snow on the ground to become slush that came up over his shoes and soaked his socks.

When Harry made the great oak front door to the castle he pulled on it but found it wouldn't open. He threw two unlocking spells at it and then let go of the heavy handle he'd been yanking on. He'd been running all this time trying not to come back. It hadn't crossed his mind that the castle didn't want him back. He pounded on the door several times with his fist and then gave up and slid down the door to the snow. He wanted to be up in his dormitory bed in the safety of the castle. That was the next best thing to finding his father and he knew when he did the man would spend hours on end yelling at him for getting Remus killed instead of holding him tightly (or perhaps the Headmaster would yell him senseless instead). If Harry had his broom he could just fly up to Gryffindor tower and break a window in his dorm to get in. Ron would be surprised but he and the other boys would let him go to sleep he'd bet. He didn't have a broom though. He supposed he'd have to slog to the Quidditch Pitch and spend the night in the changing rooms so he didn't freeze to death in the cold.

Just when Harry had given up all hope of getting into the castle and finding his father, the sound of a heavy lock sliding open was heard and the door inched open. Harry looked up and saw an eye peeking out and staring down at him. The door opened further and a surprised voice asked, "Harry?"

Harry pulled himself up to face the Headmistress.

"It is you," she said, "or the wards would have bound you already." She opened the door enough to let him in and he came in. He was surprised to see several sleeping bags on the floor against the walls near the stairs with wary people staring at him. He didn't recognize any of them and they were too old to be students.

McGonagall closed the door behind him and slid the heavy bolt into place and cast several wards at it.

"Harry, what happened?"

Harry stared at her and willed tears not to come into his eyes, but it didn't work and they pooled there anyway. He opened his mouth to tell her but there was a lump in his throat. After a moment he tried again. "Remus is dead," Harry said.

Minerva put her hand up over her mouth. "Oh my. Harry-"

"Where is Professor Snape?"

"He's in the dungeon. He just returned a couple hours ago-, Harry wait!"

She reached out for him but Harry had already strode off on shaky legs towards the entrance to the Dungeons and was running down the stairs. The lump in his throat was too tight to tell her that it was his fault that Remus was dead, and that was sure to be her next question.

Harry rounded the corner towards Snape's office and he hurried past it to what he thought might be the door to the man's quarters. He didn't know what else it could be in this corridor as it was the last door before a dead end. Harry rapped hard on the door and then stood back. When it didn't open immediately he rapped on it again and then pounded on it with the side of his fist. Finally the door was thrown open and Snape stood there looking ready to murder whoever was trying to break down his door at this hour of the night. He looked surprised when he realized it was Harry there soaked and covered in soot and dirt, but didn't have time to say anything before Harry had thrown himself bodily at him and was holding him around the middle for dear life.

Severus pulled Harry backwards into the quarters and shut the door quietly and the two stood there for several minutes as Harry clung to him and cried into his shirt. Severus held his shoulders and the back of his head and let him cry. He wasn't sure he'd see the boy again and here he was falling to pieces.

"What has happened?"

"I killed Remus."

"That is doubtful."

"Remus is dead," Harry said into his shirt. "They burned him alive."

"I saw him four hours ago at an Order meeting."

"He's dead," Harry said. "I couldn't save him. The fire was too hot." Harry finally let go of Severus and pulled back to show him his hands. He knew the man couldn't tell they were burnt under the soot, but Harry could feel that they were.

"You're injured."

"It was too hot to get into the cabin."

"I'm surprised you knew where it was. It is not information he has shared with anyone." Severus steered Harry through a livingroom and then down a hall to a bathroom and had him sit on the closed toilet seat. Severus sat on the edge of the tub and used a cloth to gently clean off Harry's hands though it hurt for him to do so.

"They're burned, but not terribly."

"I tried to save him, I really did, I promise."

"I believe you."

Severus looked up at movement in the door and found the Headmaster there watching and listening, though Harry hadn't noticed him yet.

"I couldn't get into the house."

"So you said."

"I came back to the cabin and it was on fire. Remus was gonna come straight back after the meeting. He was in there. I should have been there."

"You saved the Diggory's."

Harry finally looked up and found the Headmaster. "And not Remus," Harry said, tears making muddy soot tracks down his face. They were quiet for a few moments as Severus gently rubbed burn salve into Harry's hands. Harry surprised them when he broke the silence a moment later and asked the Headmaster, "How did you know about the Diggorys?"

"They're here. So is Florean Fortescue," the Headmaster said. "You've been busy Harry."

Harry hung his head. He'd been busy being disobedient and costing Remus his life. He knew already.

"Perhaps we should discuss this after he's had some sleep," Severus said. "It's past three."

"Of course," the Headmaster said sadly, though he looked like he'd rather hear Harry's story now. The Headmaster left the bathroom and Severus told Harry he should take a shower. Harry winced when his hands accidentally touched the counter though and Severus rose and shut the door before returning to help Harry get his soiled jacket and shirt off. He helped him out of the rest of the clothes and Harry was thankful he was too tired and sad to be embarrassed right now as he stepped into the tub and Severus turned the shower on. Severus used some kind of spell to get most of the soot off but there was soot left on Harry's face and neck that Severus scrubbed off with a washcloth and then he shampooed and rinsed Harry's hair. He sent two drying spells and a warming spell at Harry and then helped him into some clothes the elves had brought from Harry's trunk. Harry was thankful to have them.

The Headmaster was waiting at the dining room table but Severus ignored him as he led Harry back to the living room and directed him to one of the two soft dark gray couches. Harry laid down and fell asleep before Severus could bring him a blanket, which he draped over him.

"Minerva was right," Albus said when Severus came into the kitchen where the Headmaster was standing and watching as Severus had put Harry to bed. "He looks like he's in shock. I sent someone to check on Remus. His house is burned to the ground."

"The boy must have been staying with him." Severus sneered. "He sat there at the meeting and acted as though he hadn't a clue where he was."

"I imagine Harry will have quite a story to tell when he wakes."

"I will bring him to you in the morning," Severus said.

"It's interesting that he came to you Severus, even after Minerva greeted him."

"Not interesting enough to discuss," Severus said, crossing his arms.

"Of course. Try to get some sleep dear boy. The coming day may be long."

The Headmaster left and Severus leaned back against the doorframe to the kitchen and stared at Harry's sleeping form on the couch. Had he really been staying with Remus all this time? Why had he come back now instead of running to somewhere else? The boy was clearly able to live independently now and had had many grand adventures while away, saving Fortescue and facing off with three death eaters now as well as vandalizing destroyed buildings across the country and even in other countries. Severus took a breath and quelled his anger at the boy's foolish stunts for the time being. For the moment he was just happy to have eyes on Harry again and to know he was safe and finally where he should be. For now at least no harm could come to him, from himself or otherwise. Not while he slept under his father's watchful gaze.

* * *

"Where is he!? Where's Harry!? Tell me he's here!"

Those that had been trying to sleep in the Entrance Hall were woken a third time and sat up bleary eyed once again as shouting rang out across the hall. First the Diggory's had shown up seeking refuge and the Headmaster, newly returned from wherever he had been had let them in. Then hours later Harry Potter, the Harry Potter had knocked on the door and one of them had gone to fetch McGonagall who let him in. The scene with Potter had been short lived however as he ran off and McGonagall had gone up to get the Headmaster. Now Remus Lupin was standing in the hall demanding to know where the Boy-Who-Lived was. No one had let him in, he'd gotten in on his own.

"Dungeons," a bleary eyed sleep deprived twenty something man said, pointing towards the stairwell Lupin would need. Lupin raced out of sight and the young man asked, "Who's going to go tell the Headmistress that Lupin's not dead after all?" There were murmurs until another twenty something got up and shivered in the cold air before trodding up the stairs and out of sight. The rest of the small group closed their eyes and burrowed back into their sleeping bags. The sun would be up soon and people would be coming down for breakfast, then they'd have no choice but to get up. Just another normal night in the Hogwarts Entrance Hall.

* * *

"Severus! Severus open up! I need to see him!"

The door opened and Severus stared at Remus warily.

"Is he here Severus? Is Harry here? Tell me he came here!"

"He's on the sofa. You'll wake the entire bloody castle if you don't stop-"

But Remus had pushed past Severus roughly and gone to the sofa. He choked when he saw Harry there on the couch sleeping and then stepped back, ran his hand through his hair (which looked as if he'd been doing this all night already), turned in a circle and then stopped to stare at Harry again.

"I'd hoped he'd come back here. After the meeting I went back to the house and he was gone. I went out to look for him and when I came back to the house two hours later to see if he'd come back it was nothing but embers. I'd feared the worst Severus. My only hope was that he'd come back here."

"You lied. You deserved the stress of not knowing."

Remus looked at him guiltily. He supposed he deserved that. It was only hours earlier that he'd pretended not to know where Harry was, not that anyone had asked him directly.

"Has he been with you the entire time?"

"Since he left Beauxbatons. Amos Diggory found him near the Burrow and contacted me. I took him home. He begged me not to take him back to Hogwarts and let him recuperate before I told anyone."

"Clearly he has recuperated," Severus spat, picking up an old copy of The Prophet from his desk with Harry's handiwork plastered all over the front page and throwing it into Remus' hands.

"He snuck out."

"Several times!" Severus spat. "Every night, to taunt Voldemort and vandalize the countryside!"

"That only happened the first time," Remus said. "Then he left again tonight when I went to the meeting. I have no idea where he went."

"He went back to the Diggory's and got into a duel with two Death Eaters, who he encased in mud and left there for us to find. He believes you are dead."

Remus moved to wake Harry but Severus pulled him away. "Let him sleep." Remus looked as though he wanted to fight Severus on the issue but nodded and took a step back. There was a knock on the door a moment later and Severus waved his hand to open it knowing it must be the Headmaster. It was.

"Severus, they said Remus-" his eyes had already found Remus however and he stepped inside and embraced him. "Harry was so certain you were dead."

Remus spent several minutes relaying to the Headmaster what he'd already told Severus and then asked the Headmaster about Amos and his wife.

"They turned up just after midnight seeking refuge. Apparently Harry showed up at the end of a firefight with them and distracted the two Death Eaters long enough for Amos to disable them. Amos told Harry to get somewhere safe and came here. When we went later to check the area we found the two Death Eaters encased in mud up to their mouths and noses. Their tongues were jinxed and they were bound with ropes. Their wands had been snapped. They were both very distraught."

"I'm just relieved Harry is here. I've been trying to convince him to come back by the holidays. When I couldn't find him I feared the worst... that he'd been in the house when it was attacked. My only hope was that he'd listened and come here."

"Why did he not want to return?" Albus asked.

Remus gave a sideways glance at Severus, who crossed his arms and glared at him, and then said, "You'll have to ask Harry when he wakes up."

"Very well."

They stared at Harry as he slept for several moments, but Severus' eyes were on Remus. The man had hidden his son from him. It was clear to him that Remus knew Harry was his son, that he might be worried about him, but he'd hidden him away anyway. In that moment Severus had to work very hard not to wish that Remus had died. He was just another marauder, the last living one as it were, and just like all marauder's, he wanted to cause Severus pain and keep Lily (or her son) away from him.

Feet away Harry slept, dreaming that Remus was still alive, and wishing with all his heart that it were true.