[HP]Of Werewolf and Man 1-3
A Harry Potter x Remus Lupin slash fanfiction, for dearest Athenaadante.
Of Werewolf and Man
1.
“So, it’s just you and me then.”
Harry clasped his hands around his hips and looked upon his companion, expression indecipherable. The taller, older, and somewhat shabbier man smiled back ruefully.
“I think you will find that you are, in fact, essentially better off than me -” he said, placing a gentle hand on Harry’s right shoulder, and guiding him through the door. Once the oak door creaked close behind them, he added absent-mindedly, “- in due course.”
Harry sat on the bed and smiled a same remorseful smile at the man while he did all the hard job - pulling the curtains, putting up wards, and magically whispers spells that shrunk the bed beneath Harry’s body causing the Boy-Who-Lived to crash onto the floor.
“Ouch! What was that for?!” Harry sat in the middle of the now-empty bedroom and stared at the man incredulously. “I thought it was all tea and conversation while the rest of the Order is gone.”
“I wish, Harry, I wish,” came the reply, as the other man sat next to him. “But as you no doubt would have guessed, no one else in the Order is available at this particular joyful time of the year. So while Moody feels you need a bit of extra training, I seem to be the only fitting person. Or the only person available, really.”
Harry arched a brow. “Um,” he surveyed the man in uncertainty, not because of his skills but because of his appearance - he had constant black shadows under his eyes, somewhat even-shabbier-than-usual robes, a skin colour that screamed malnutrition, and a often tired however warm smile. “Remus - are you sure - ?”
Remus Lupin stood up and patted Harry on the back. “Technically, I’ll be your teacher again, but you may still call me Remus, if you wish.” Pulling Harry to his feet, he added, “Yes, I’m sure. It seems I’m the only additional help you are going to get during the summer - to help you maximise your chances against Voldemort, that is.”
Harry grinned sadly. “No pressure there, professor.”
Lupin peered at him, a light smile upon his lips, and suddenly drew out his wand. “Incendio.”
Harry widened his eyes and jumped as flames leapt from the fireplace behind, almost burning his robes. He whirled around to catch Lupin’s smile.
“Constant vigilance,” the man said with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Harry sighed. Apparently Lupin-being-an-easier-teacher-than-Snape was just wishful thinking.
After the first few hours of the recurring chant of “Stupefy!” ”Protego!” “Expelliarmus!” “Protego!”, both Harry and Remus became weary of their own echoes in the large room. The boy slumped on the floor once the last of the mild curses had dissipated on the wall.
“You are not taking this seriously, are you?” Harry asked, rubbing his eyes.
Lupin sat cross-legged from him, tilting his head slightly. “No, because you are not taking it seriously either.”
Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m… just trying to think… for a bit,” he managed to finish the sentence with difficulty. Lupin merely looked upon him in sincerity, gentle smile always upon his lips, as if encouraging him to carry on.
Harry laid back on the floor and stared at the ceiling. Unlike the enchanted ceilings of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, it’s almost blank with scraps of ancient paint barely visible, and bloodstains. Lupin once explained mildly that it was ‘one of the disadvantages of having a werewolf in the house’, and Harry fully suspected self-harm on Lupin’s part. Not that he wasn’t aware of it before, but the idea, the bloodstains and the combined image of this shabby, worn man in front of him made Harry want to sigh.
And he did. Lupin raised an eyebrow.
“You know, Professor Lupin,” Harry licked his dry lips before carefully setting out the question, “Why - why did you - ”
“- offer my place to be the new Headquarter?” Lupin finished for him, his voice not unkind. “Because, just like Sirius’ place, this house is well-hidden and I think the last place people are going to expect the company of so many good wizards and witches.”
Harry couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lupin as he realised that it was again, something Lupin called ‘the disadvantage of being a werewolf’. The man sounded ever so mild as he said it, though, Harry couldn’t even think of a way to express his sympathy without sounding rude.
“It was after I got bitten, my parents were paranoid for a short period of time.” Lupin went on, unaware of Harry’s straying thoughts. “They were afraid that Greyback was going to come back and finish me off, as it were. So they enhanced the protection wards… it’s not as fully protected as Grimmauld Place, of course, but Sirius did give us a few ideas when he came over for tea.” He paused and smiled as distant memories came back to him, “In fact he tried to apply one of those permanent-sticking charms behind my mother’s portrait, but thankfully my mother wasn’t half as nice as Mrs. Black, so she refused point-blank.”
Harry laughed as he remembered Mrs. Black’s pleasantries during their brief stay at Grimmauld’s Place, and the expression on everyone’s face when Moody announced that nothing would’ve worked to remove the old bat. Lupin sat near him, seemingly relaxed, and smiled all the while.
“That’ll be Molly, I expect,”
the man said suddenly, getting up from the floor. He barely reached the door handle when Molly Weasley came in pushing the door with her back, armful of groceries.
“Oh hello Harry dear, Remus,” the red-haired woman greeted them cheerfully, “is this the storage room?”
Harry tried to conceal a grin while Lupin said pleasantly, “It’s Harry’s bedroom, actually.”
Mrs. Weasley blinked. “Oh,” she blinked again, armful of shopping bags nearly slipping. As Harry went over to help, he noticed that the good-natured woman was a little flushed. “Well… are you two -?”
“I’m Harry’s new tutor for Voldemort,” was Lupin’s mild reply.
A mixture of enlightenment, fear and regret crossed Mrs. Weasley’s face as she thanked Harry and swiftly moved back into the corridor. “I see,” she said, “well, it’s nearly dinner time anyway, so let’s not overwork Harry now, right Remus?”
Lupin followed her and pointed a finger towards the direction of the kitchen, smiling slightly as Mrs. Weasley nodded gratefully in return. Harry watched from behind, smiling too until Lupin turned around in the doorway, catching his gaze. The half-amused half-questioning glint in the man’s eyes made Harry tense suddenly as his hands went to his wand pocket, a small voice at the back of his mind mimicking Lupin’s voice, constant vigilance.
“Very good, Harry,” Lupin smiled as Mrs. Weasley urged them to hurry up.
3.
They had now been in Lupin’s place for little over a week, surprisingly the dwelling of the werewolf was larger and more complicated than they had expected, full of protections and magical wards both external and internally - Lupin admitted during welcome dinner that there were rooms upstairs that even he didn’t know about, much to the interest of the twins. Over the course of the week they discovered that Lupin’s place - the twins named it Lair, resulting in a good-natured laugh from Lupin himself - bore some resemblance to Hogwarts, where rooms, stairs and hallways kept moving around at their own will, leaving a bunch of very confused inhabitants. This, according to a disconcerted but amused Moody after a particular hidden chamber incident, ‘could be the Order’s advantage against the enemy’, should they break into the house.
“Is it possible for them to break into the house?” Ron asked nervously.
Moody eyed him and barked, “Constant vigilance, young man!”
That was what Harry had expected, and as the rest of the Order worked to improve the wards and set out to do their mysterious jobs, he had just as much fun as the twins exploring the house, sometimes with Ron, Hermione and even Lupin himself. On a particularly memorable afternoon they found a very disgruntled Percy Weasley lost in the central bathroom, the one no one dared to use as the mirrors kept moving and revealing secret passages to other parts of the house - while you are answering to nature, as it were. Of course, since Percy wasn’t a regular house guest, no one really bothered to warn him as he only came over to stiffly deliver a message from the Minister of Magic, so when Ron, Fred and George cracked up laughing mercilessly at Percy’s sudden display of private parts when they opened the kitchen door, Harry couldn’t help but noticing how everyone tried to conceal a smirk.
Another thing Harry couldn’t help but noticing was the appalling weather. The muggle news reported an average temperature of 8-10 degrees Celsius in the middle of July, with hailstorm, hurricanes and extreme fog conditions, which was abysmal even for English standards. When Harry mentioned this to Lupin, the man had looked at him significantly long enough until the truth dawned on him:
“It’s the Dementors, isn’t it, sir,” he said under his breath, shivering a little, despite the warmth in the dining room. “Voldemort’s - he’s - he’s gathering - causing all these gloom…”
“Gloom, indeed,” Lupin sipped his wine, and smiled as Hermione and Ron joined the table. “Horrible weather, isn’t it?”
Hermione shook off small hailstones off her coat as she hung them by the fireplace and nodded, sighing. “So much for global warming.”
“Global what?” Ron asked absent-mindedly while piling a mountain of food on his plate.
“Global warming,” Hermione sat down and immediately went into lecture mode, “It’s climatic change, but the Muggles are confused because this isn’t what they would expect, some think it’s anti-cyclonic gloom but that only happens in winter…”
Harry grinned at Ron’s half-blank but clearly regrettable face before turning away to face Lupin again, wanting to continue the conversation. The man was staring into the fire as if mesmerised, his grey eyes slightly unfocused, at that precise moment Lupin looked open, vulnerable, and even sad.
“Prof - professor - Lupin?”
Lupin started and a silvery mist gathered in his eyes like a storm, before focusing on Harry again.
“I’m sorry, it’s quite warm in here… I assume Alastor won’t be too happy with me if I nodded of in front of you,” he said, smiling again, as always.
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t you fall sleep in front of me?”
Lupin patted the boy on the shoulder. “Sets a bad example, doesn’t it? Constant vigilance and all.”
Harry let out a dry laugh. “So I’m supposed to sleep with an eye open now, am I?”
Lupin got up and treated himself to more wine before answering, “If Alastor could have his way, I think he’ll want you to sleep with two eyes open, and a mouth, so you can shout curses any second when a friend bursts through your bedroom door after getting lost in the loo at 3am in the morning.”
Everyone within earshot range laughed at this, accompanied by Moody’s harrumph. All eyes were now resting on Lupin, who despite his shabby and weary appearances, seemed to be in good spirits and smiled genuinely. Harry knew why, the man was in a room full of people whom he liked and liked him in return despite what, or who, he is, and he was in his old house. Harry had no doubt that Lupin faced difficulties in his childhood, but from the little clues he could gather, Lupin was slightly better off than Sirius in some ways - his house wasn’t full of black magic, his family loved him as much as possible and were not followers of Voldemort, there were no paintings on the wall that screamed insults at whoever passed and compared to that, being occasionally lost in the loo was a tiny little hic-up everyone was prepared to endure.
Upon realising that he had everyone’s attention, Lupin set down his wineglass and cleared his throat. Harry looked up, fully expecting something along the lines of ‘by the way, the second room on the first floor is out of bounds because a family of boggart lives in there’, instead the man merely announced, to his surprise,
“I’m Harry’s new tutor for Voldemort.”
Although Lupin made Voldemort’s name sound like an ordinary NEWT subject, his gaze circled meaningfully around Tonks, Kingsley, Moody and Mr. Weasley, all of whom were frowning thoughtfully, much to the children’s surprise.
“Professor Lupin’s the best Defence Against Dark Arts teacher I’ve ever had,” Harry burst out after a few minutes of silence, accompanied by furious nods from the Weasley children and Hermione.
Lupin smiled almost wearily. “There are, however,” he crossed his fingers on the table, staring at Mr. Weasley in particular, “things you must know before I can teach you everything I know.”
By the look on Ron’s face Harry knew that he wasn’t the only one who thought Lupin was speaking in riddles. He glanced at Hermione, who bit her lip nervously, a bright glint in her eyes that indicated rapid thinking and vague ideas formulating, but the room was awaiting his response.
“Knock me out,” Harry said, shrugging.
Lupin peered at him in a very Dumbledore way for a few more seconds, before saying, mild as ever:
“I am a mixture of good and Dark magic, Harry.”
TBC
Of Werewolf and Man
1.
“So, it’s just you and me then.”
Harry clasped his hands around his hips and looked upon his companion, expression indecipherable. The taller, older, and somewhat shabbier man smiled back ruefully.
“I think you will find that you are, in fact, essentially better off than me -” he said, placing a gentle hand on Harry’s right shoulder, and guiding him through the door. Once the oak door creaked close behind them, he added absent-mindedly, “- in due course.”
Harry sat on the bed and smiled a same remorseful smile at the man while he did all the hard job - pulling the curtains, putting up wards, and magically whispers spells that shrunk the bed beneath Harry’s body causing the Boy-Who-Lived to crash onto the floor.
“Ouch! What was that for?!” Harry sat in the middle of the now-empty bedroom and stared at the man incredulously. “I thought it was all tea and conversation while the rest of the Order is gone.”
“I wish, Harry, I wish,” came the reply, as the other man sat next to him. “But as you no doubt would have guessed, no one else in the Order is available at this particular joyful time of the year. So while Moody feels you need a bit of extra training, I seem to be the only fitting person. Or the only person available, really.”
Harry arched a brow. “Um,” he surveyed the man in uncertainty, not because of his skills but because of his appearance - he had constant black shadows under his eyes, somewhat even-shabbier-than-usual robes, a skin colour that screamed malnutrition, and a often tired however warm smile. “Remus - are you sure - ?”
Remus Lupin stood up and patted Harry on the back. “Technically, I’ll be your teacher again, but you may still call me Remus, if you wish.” Pulling Harry to his feet, he added, “Yes, I’m sure. It seems I’m the only additional help you are going to get during the summer - to help you maximise your chances against Voldemort, that is.”
Harry grinned sadly. “No pressure there, professor.”
Lupin peered at him, a light smile upon his lips, and suddenly drew out his wand. “Incendio.”
Harry widened his eyes and jumped as flames leapt from the fireplace behind, almost burning his robes. He whirled around to catch Lupin’s smile.
“Constant vigilance,” the man said with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Harry sighed. Apparently Lupin-being-an-easier-teacher-than-Snape was just wishful thinking.
After the first few hours of the recurring chant of “Stupefy!” ”Protego!” “Expelliarmus!” “Protego!”, both Harry and Remus became weary of their own echoes in the large room. The boy slumped on the floor once the last of the mild curses had dissipated on the wall.
“You are not taking this seriously, are you?” Harry asked, rubbing his eyes.
Lupin sat cross-legged from him, tilting his head slightly. “No, because you are not taking it seriously either.”
Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m… just trying to think… for a bit,” he managed to finish the sentence with difficulty. Lupin merely looked upon him in sincerity, gentle smile always upon his lips, as if encouraging him to carry on.
Harry laid back on the floor and stared at the ceiling. Unlike the enchanted ceilings of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, it’s almost blank with scraps of ancient paint barely visible, and bloodstains. Lupin once explained mildly that it was ‘one of the disadvantages of having a werewolf in the house’, and Harry fully suspected self-harm on Lupin’s part. Not that he wasn’t aware of it before, but the idea, the bloodstains and the combined image of this shabby, worn man in front of him made Harry want to sigh.
And he did. Lupin raised an eyebrow.
“You know, Professor Lupin,” Harry licked his dry lips before carefully setting out the question, “Why - why did you - ”
“- offer my place to be the new Headquarter?” Lupin finished for him, his voice not unkind. “Because, just like Sirius’ place, this house is well-hidden and I think the last place people are going to expect the company of so many good wizards and witches.”
Harry couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lupin as he realised that it was again, something Lupin called ‘the disadvantage of being a werewolf’. The man sounded ever so mild as he said it, though, Harry couldn’t even think of a way to express his sympathy without sounding rude.
“It was after I got bitten, my parents were paranoid for a short period of time.” Lupin went on, unaware of Harry’s straying thoughts. “They were afraid that Greyback was going to come back and finish me off, as it were. So they enhanced the protection wards… it’s not as fully protected as Grimmauld Place, of course, but Sirius did give us a few ideas when he came over for tea.” He paused and smiled as distant memories came back to him, “In fact he tried to apply one of those permanent-sticking charms behind my mother’s portrait, but thankfully my mother wasn’t half as nice as Mrs. Black, so she refused point-blank.”
Harry laughed as he remembered Mrs. Black’s pleasantries during their brief stay at Grimmauld’s Place, and the expression on everyone’s face when Moody announced that nothing would’ve worked to remove the old bat. Lupin sat near him, seemingly relaxed, and smiled all the while.
“That’ll be Molly, I expect,”
the man said suddenly, getting up from the floor. He barely reached the door handle when Molly Weasley came in pushing the door with her back, armful of groceries.
“Oh hello Harry dear, Remus,” the red-haired woman greeted them cheerfully, “is this the storage room?”
Harry tried to conceal a grin while Lupin said pleasantly, “It’s Harry’s bedroom, actually.”
Mrs. Weasley blinked. “Oh,” she blinked again, armful of shopping bags nearly slipping. As Harry went over to help, he noticed that the good-natured woman was a little flushed. “Well… are you two -?”
“I’m Harry’s new tutor for Voldemort,” was Lupin’s mild reply.
A mixture of enlightenment, fear and regret crossed Mrs. Weasley’s face as she thanked Harry and swiftly moved back into the corridor. “I see,” she said, “well, it’s nearly dinner time anyway, so let’s not overwork Harry now, right Remus?”
Lupin followed her and pointed a finger towards the direction of the kitchen, smiling slightly as Mrs. Weasley nodded gratefully in return. Harry watched from behind, smiling too until Lupin turned around in the doorway, catching his gaze. The half-amused half-questioning glint in the man’s eyes made Harry tense suddenly as his hands went to his wand pocket, a small voice at the back of his mind mimicking Lupin’s voice, constant vigilance.
“Very good, Harry,” Lupin smiled as Mrs. Weasley urged them to hurry up.
3.
They had now been in Lupin’s place for little over a week, surprisingly the dwelling of the werewolf was larger and more complicated than they had expected, full of protections and magical wards both external and internally - Lupin admitted during welcome dinner that there were rooms upstairs that even he didn’t know about, much to the interest of the twins. Over the course of the week they discovered that Lupin’s place - the twins named it Lair, resulting in a good-natured laugh from Lupin himself - bore some resemblance to Hogwarts, where rooms, stairs and hallways kept moving around at their own will, leaving a bunch of very confused inhabitants. This, according to a disconcerted but amused Moody after a particular hidden chamber incident, ‘could be the Order’s advantage against the enemy’, should they break into the house.
“Is it possible for them to break into the house?” Ron asked nervously.
Moody eyed him and barked, “Constant vigilance, young man!”
That was what Harry had expected, and as the rest of the Order worked to improve the wards and set out to do their mysterious jobs, he had just as much fun as the twins exploring the house, sometimes with Ron, Hermione and even Lupin himself. On a particularly memorable afternoon they found a very disgruntled Percy Weasley lost in the central bathroom, the one no one dared to use as the mirrors kept moving and revealing secret passages to other parts of the house - while you are answering to nature, as it were. Of course, since Percy wasn’t a regular house guest, no one really bothered to warn him as he only came over to stiffly deliver a message from the Minister of Magic, so when Ron, Fred and George cracked up laughing mercilessly at Percy’s sudden display of private parts when they opened the kitchen door, Harry couldn’t help but noticing how everyone tried to conceal a smirk.
Another thing Harry couldn’t help but noticing was the appalling weather. The muggle news reported an average temperature of 8-10 degrees Celsius in the middle of July, with hailstorm, hurricanes and extreme fog conditions, which was abysmal even for English standards. When Harry mentioned this to Lupin, the man had looked at him significantly long enough until the truth dawned on him:
“It’s the Dementors, isn’t it, sir,” he said under his breath, shivering a little, despite the warmth in the dining room. “Voldemort’s - he’s - he’s gathering - causing all these gloom…”
“Gloom, indeed,” Lupin sipped his wine, and smiled as Hermione and Ron joined the table. “Horrible weather, isn’t it?”
Hermione shook off small hailstones off her coat as she hung them by the fireplace and nodded, sighing. “So much for global warming.”
“Global what?” Ron asked absent-mindedly while piling a mountain of food on his plate.
“Global warming,” Hermione sat down and immediately went into lecture mode, “It’s climatic change, but the Muggles are confused because this isn’t what they would expect, some think it’s anti-cyclonic gloom but that only happens in winter…”
Harry grinned at Ron’s half-blank but clearly regrettable face before turning away to face Lupin again, wanting to continue the conversation. The man was staring into the fire as if mesmerised, his grey eyes slightly unfocused, at that precise moment Lupin looked open, vulnerable, and even sad.
“Prof - professor - Lupin?”
Lupin started and a silvery mist gathered in his eyes like a storm, before focusing on Harry again.
“I’m sorry, it’s quite warm in here… I assume Alastor won’t be too happy with me if I nodded of in front of you,” he said, smiling again, as always.
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t you fall sleep in front of me?”
Lupin patted the boy on the shoulder. “Sets a bad example, doesn’t it? Constant vigilance and all.”
Harry let out a dry laugh. “So I’m supposed to sleep with an eye open now, am I?”
Lupin got up and treated himself to more wine before answering, “If Alastor could have his way, I think he’ll want you to sleep with two eyes open, and a mouth, so you can shout curses any second when a friend bursts through your bedroom door after getting lost in the loo at 3am in the morning.”
Everyone within earshot range laughed at this, accompanied by Moody’s harrumph. All eyes were now resting on Lupin, who despite his shabby and weary appearances, seemed to be in good spirits and smiled genuinely. Harry knew why, the man was in a room full of people whom he liked and liked him in return despite what, or who, he is, and he was in his old house. Harry had no doubt that Lupin faced difficulties in his childhood, but from the little clues he could gather, Lupin was slightly better off than Sirius in some ways - his house wasn’t full of black magic, his family loved him as much as possible and were not followers of Voldemort, there were no paintings on the wall that screamed insults at whoever passed and compared to that, being occasionally lost in the loo was a tiny little hic-up everyone was prepared to endure.
Upon realising that he had everyone’s attention, Lupin set down his wineglass and cleared his throat. Harry looked up, fully expecting something along the lines of ‘by the way, the second room on the first floor is out of bounds because a family of boggart lives in there’, instead the man merely announced, to his surprise,
“I’m Harry’s new tutor for Voldemort.”
Although Lupin made Voldemort’s name sound like an ordinary NEWT subject, his gaze circled meaningfully around Tonks, Kingsley, Moody and Mr. Weasley, all of whom were frowning thoughtfully, much to the children’s surprise.
“Professor Lupin’s the best Defence Against Dark Arts teacher I’ve ever had,” Harry burst out after a few minutes of silence, accompanied by furious nods from the Weasley children and Hermione.
Lupin smiled almost wearily. “There are, however,” he crossed his fingers on the table, staring at Mr. Weasley in particular, “things you must know before I can teach you everything I know.”
By the look on Ron’s face Harry knew that he wasn’t the only one who thought Lupin was speaking in riddles. He glanced at Hermione, who bit her lip nervously, a bright glint in her eyes that indicated rapid thinking and vague ideas formulating, but the room was awaiting his response.
“Knock me out,” Harry said, shrugging.
Lupin peered at him in a very Dumbledore way for a few more seconds, before saying, mild as ever:
“I am a mixture of good and Dark magic, Harry.”
TBC