Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A special thanks to The Lonely God With a Box for beta'ing my story.

A/N: Here is chapter 33. Enjoy

Chapter 33

After being somewhat chastised and comforted by his former professor and colleague, Remus walked the hallways trying to clear his head. Yes, he was thinking about the things that he and Minerva talked about, but there was something else nagging him in the back of his head. He really couldn't put his finger on it, but it wouldn't go away. As he continued to walk, it became apparent what it was. It was a smell. It was a smell that he, even though he hadn't smell it in a very long time, would always remind him of when he was turned when he was just a small child.

Standing in the middle of the hallway, the smell was just as powerful as it was earlier. Remus turned and saw where he really was. He was standing outside Poppy's room. He knew that she was attacked by Albus and a few Death Eaters. She also mentioned that one of them was Greyback. As long as he lived, he would never forget Greyback. Now, standing in front of Poppy's door, Remus' eyes got large with realization as to why he was having a nagging feeling. Quickly, he turned and headed back to Minerva's room.

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“We have got to find out where Harry is,” Molly said, waving her wand so that the kettle on the stove could fill up with water and begin to boil.

“We'll find him, Molly,” Arthur soothed.

A knock on the door brought the adults out of their on musing. Alastor and Arthur were sitting at the table and Molly was standing by the stove.

“Who could that be at this hour?” Molly absently wiped her hands on her apron walking towards the door.

She opened the door and couldn't believe what she was seeing. There standing in front of her was the very child she has been worried about since Arthur started feeling phantom pains from his warding.

“HARRY!” she shrieked, gripping Harry's shoulders and bringing him into a bone crushing hug.

“Hi, Mrs. Weasley,” Harry mumbled in Molly's shoulder.

All the fear of not knowing where Harry was just poured out of Molly. She's always loved Harry like he was one of hers. And when she learned that the warding fell, she couldn't help worrying about the child that was no taller than her youngest child, but felt that he was one of hers. Now that she had her arms wrapped around the child, she vowed to herself that she would never let this boy out of her sight.

Harry always felt welcome when he came to his friend's house. Even though he felt that he was imposing in on the family, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley never made him feel unwanted. At one time, he wanted to stay with Ron and his family, but never really asked because he knew that, even though he knew he would be loved, he didn't want to be a burden towards them. Harry knew that money was not in abundance with the Weasley family the last thing they would need is another mouth to feed, so to speak.

Arthur and Alastor heard Molly's exclamation and rushed out to the front room to see what was going on. Both wizards were relieved that Harry was alive and standing in the door way. Arthur could see that Harry was struggling in his wife's clutches.

“Molly,” Arthur said, walking up behind his wife. “Let him go.”

Now standing by the door, Arthur saw that Harry didn't come alone. Severus and Sirius were also waiting to enter. Arthur almost did a double take on the fact that neither wizard was at each other throats.

Finally, Molly released Harry, but only arm's length. Not paying attention to anyone else in the room, she began to usher Harry into the kitchen. Harry looked back to make sure he wasn't alone. He turned and saw that Professor Snape was following him along with Sirius and Mr. Weasley. Harry couldn't explain the small sense of calm that he felt when he saw that Professor Snape was behind him. Almost like it everything was alright.

Everyone sat down at the table. Molly began pulling the leftovers from their dinner out and heating it up.

“Have you eaten, Harry?” Molly asked, but before he could answer more questions came. “When was the last time you ate? Where they even feeding you in that house? You're just skin and bones. Well I'm going to take care of that.”

Arthur knew it was just best to let Molly fuss over Harry. Now that she was busy with feeding their guests, everyone could learn what happened.

“Severus,” Arthur said, sitting down next to the Potions Professor. “What happened?”

“A very long story,” Severus drawled. “One that started about over a week ago.”

Between Severus and Sirius, they began to tell what has happened as they became involved. Severus began and Sirius added as he could. They told of the Dementor attack, Minerva missing, the attack on Poppy, the destruction at Grimmauld Place, Arabella's home, and Number 4. The last thing they spoke about was Albus. By the time they got to Albus and what he had Severus do with regards of Harry, Severus, Sirius and Harry, to an extent, ate what was placed in front of them. Arthur, Alastor, and Molly just listened as they spoke. During them telling what had happened, not once did Harry make an utterance. He really wasn't even listening to what they were saying. He was lost in his own thoughts. He remembered how bad he felt when Professor Dumbledore wanted him to go back to his relatives the first time. How hurt he was by that. He remembered how good and safe it felt staying with Professor Snape. After listening to his godfather and his Professor tell the story again, Harry realized that he felt his most safe when he was with Professor Snape. He didn't even feel that safe with his godfather. He believed his is godfather left him when it mattered most. No, his safety net was with his Potions Professor.

At first he couldn't understand how he could feel this way about the most hated Professor in the school, but now, it was almost like he didn't want to leave Professor's side.

When they finished with the tale, the others were just stunned. Questions began to fill their minds. Where was Minerva? Why would Albus attack Poppy?

“Where is Minerva now?” Moody asked.

“She's still at St. Mungo's,” Severus said. “Once they discharge her, she will be here. Lupin is with her now.”

Arthur shook his head. He just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Albus had, one, attacked Poppy, and, two, wanted Harry to stay with his relatives.

“Wait,” Arthur interrupted, “I get that you were sent because of he Dementor attack, but why, if Albus wanted him back, didn't he stay with his relatives then? Why was it a few days before Harry even went back?”

Harry put his head down. Severus didn't want to tell the Weasleys or Moody about Harry's home life. The only reason he told the wolf and the mutt was so that they could help Harry. Here, Severus figured that it would be embarrassing to Harry to have them learn what he went through. Looking across the table, Severus could see the slight pink cheeks on Harry letting him know that he was right.

“Potter,” Severus called out. “Do you want me to tell them?”

Harry's head popped up almost immediately looking at his Professor. He didn't think that he would ask him. He couldn't believe that he could feel more for his Professor than he did right now. His Professor actually cared what he thought. Which was more than any other person has done. Just looking at his Professor, Harry nodded.

“Very well,” Severus said. “When I gathered Mr. Potter after the attack, I noticed some things that had me worried. When I got to Arabella's house, I preformed a diagnostic charm on him. There I learned that Mr. Potter came from what looked like an abusive household. His injuries were not consistent to just the cause of playing Quidditch.”

Molly gasped. Sirius sat quietly. Arthur and Alastor looked between Severus and Harry. Harry had his head down.

“What did you....” before Arthur could even finish his question there was an apparation pop. Not another second went pass and there was another pop and Harry was gone, leaving all the adults sitting at the table completely stunned. None more than Severus for he saw Harry's eyes before he vanished. What Severus saw made his heart skip a beat; he saw pure fear in Harry's eyes.

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Remus rushed back into Minerva's room, where he saw that she was no longer laying down, but sitting up gathering her robes.

“Ah, Remus,” Minerva said, a small smile on her face quickly changing when she saw the disturbing look on Remus' face. “What's wrong?”

Remus walked into the room and sat down in the chair in front of Minerva.

“Do you remember anything, anything small, from when you were missing?”

“No,” Minerva shook her head.

“I think I may know who had you while you were gone,” Remus said.

“What?”

“It was very faint, but I could smell it.”

“Forgive me, Remus. What are you talking about?”

“Please trust me on this,” Remus pleaded. “When you embraced me, I could smell it, but it was very, very faint. I couldn't recognize it. But as I walked around to clear my head, the smell became more acute. I was standing outside Poppy's room. I think Death Eaters took you. As to why, I'm not sure.”

Minerva's brow creased. “How can you be so sure?”

“What I was smelling was the wolf that turned me when I was a child.”

Minerva hand went over her mouth as she gasped.

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Filius was huffing his breath, trying to keep up with Hagrid. After his exclamation, Hagrid got up and rushed out of Filius' chambers. By the time Filius caught up with the half giant, he was standing in utter shock and disbelief. Once Filius caught his breath, he looked to see what had stunned the giant. Looking, Filius could not believe what he was seeing. Minerva's chambers were in ruin. There was no door. All of her furniture was either in splinters on the floor or overturned against the wall. The only thing that was recognizable in the chambers was the fireplace. Filius looked at the ruined chambers and then up at the half giant.

“Hagrid, what did you do?”

TBC