Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Two: A Father's Love

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Remus woke up, for one blissful moment thinking he was at Hogwarts before realizing he was in his bed back home. The re-remembered events of last night threatened to throw him into despair all over again. Last night he had somehow made it into Dumbledore's study, the headmaster still at the dance. Remus was very worried that he might now be expelled since he had used the headmaster's stash of floo powder without permission. Then again...maybe being expelled wasn't the worse thing. Then he'd never have to face Sirius Black again.

Remus clutched his chest and curled into a ball, crying bitterly. Realizing he had his mum's quilt draped over him, he buried his face into it, thankful his father had placed it over with him.

His dad!

Remus started bawling, not entirely sure why he hadn't been thrown out of the house yet, disowned, or worse...sent to his uncle's for 're-education'. Perhaps his dad knew that the ashamed werewolf had already learned its lesson. Of course, when he stumbled through the fire yesterday, he hadn't been sure what to expect. He shouldn't have been surprised to find his dad gone and the house in a horrible state of disarray. Remus had sobbed in front of the fireplace for a bit upon first arriving home and then had forced himself to clean, figuring if he could show his dad how useful he was the man might not disown him. But even that had seemed a pipe dream compared to what would probably happen when his dad realized what Remus had done, upon discovering how badly the moron had messed up.

He certainly was a monster.

"Remus, are you awake?" He heard his father call from the kitchen. He quickly pulled the blanket over his head, listening to his father walk over and peek inside his room. He heard a very heavy sigh as his father quietly cracked the door before the retreating footsteps signalled he had walked away once more.

All he caused was trouble...such immense trouble!

As Remus had cleaned the house last night, or tried to through his tears, he had been given the needed time to reflect on all the mistakes he had made. The werewolf had been given plenty of time to dwell on the stupidity he had displayed. How daft he had been to simply believe that he could have friends that would accept him! How foolish!

Of course last night his father had entered with his wand drawn since Remus had been a selfish horrible child and didn't even consider that the cautious man might be alarmed to find the lamps lit. As soon as his dad had realized it was him he put away his wand.

"Remus! What are you doing here? Oh...this place is a mess...I didn't...didn't know you were coming home. I mean I'm glad you did, only I..." Then it dawned on his dad how Remus was crying. "What's wrong?"

Hearing his dad actually happy to find him home, had broken the last of Remus' resolve to explain what had happened to his dad calmly.

"DAD!" he had wailed, sounding like a small child as he lost all the strength to stand and crashed to the floor along with several dishes he had been attempting to wash.

"Remus! Reparo. What is wrong with you? Be careful!" his father had scolded, coming over to where Remus was hunched on the floor sobbing, the overflowing sink spilling water, a perfect example of what a disaster, what a failure he was.

"Remus, this water is scalding. Get up, get up right now!" his father had shouted at him, yanking the werewolf to his feet and away from the water that hadn't felt all that hot to him. He had watched through tears as his father turned off the water and cast a spell to set the mop sliding across the now-wet flood.