the boy that could have been

well that was unexpected (pt2)

"No, no, please don't worry Mrs Potter!" Cress said politely, "My dad said that he could come and pick me up, Mr. Black wrote the address down for me yesterday and I already owled him."

"Well, if you're sure." Lily smiled, "And I already told you Cress, please call us by our first names!"

It was just after lunchtime on Christmas Day, and to the great disappointment of Harry, Ron and a now much more likeable Charlotte, Cress was going home. She had promised to come back after a couple of days, so she was leaving the small pile of presents she'd been given behind.

All of the kids had had a great morning. For the first time in his life, Harry had his very own pile of presents. From his parents he'd gotten some Quidditch stuff and a Gryffindor jumper, Hagrid had kindly sent them all a hand-whittled wooden flute each (even Charlotte, who apparently visited him alone quite often), the Dursleys had surprisingly sent him a fifty-pence piece, Ron's mum had given him a hand-knitted sweater and some home-made fudge, Ron himself had given him some Every-Flavoured beans, Cress a cute little plant that smelt like your favourite food (Lily's homemade cookies), the twins had given him a Harry Potter action figure (apparently wizard kids played with them, to his embarrassment) and some Exploding Lollipops, and finally Charlotte had hesitantly handed him a fascinating book about the wizarding culture (as opposed to Muggles).

He was absolutely delighted. It was still relatively small compared to Ron and the twins (each sibling got everybody else presents), but it was more than he'd ever had before. Plus, he'd woken up super early to go shopping with his mum, which was pretty much the best day he could have imagined. That is, until James made it even better by pulling him to one side and passing on his invisibility cloak, which Harry stared at in disbelief.

"Use it well." James had grinned.

Harry had taken these words to heart, so when he saw his dad and Sirius slipping off later that morning, he'd wasted no time in covering himself with the cloak and following them. Padfoot's voice reached out to him.

"...no idea what's going on, I've visited loads and Remus barely speaks to me! I invited him for Christmas but-"

Noting the emotion in Sirius' voice, Harry had hastily backed away before he could overhear anymore, and re-joined the joyous celebrations. Less than ten minutes later, the other two also reappeared as though they'd never left, and Harry soon completely forgot about it all.

Now, however, Crescent's imminent departure had put a bit of a damper on things. Even though she didn't speak much, they would all miss her presence for the next few days. The doorbell rang at about 3pm, and everybody rushed to the door to say goodbye. 

James flung open the door and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the haggard-looking man before his eyes.

"Moony?" He gasped. The man's head snapped up, fear evident in his eyes.

"Oh my- Cress, you didn't say- bollocks." 

"No way." James said, half-grinning, "You of all people? You took up the bet?"

"Why don't we move inside again?" Sighed Lily, placing a comforting arm around Cress, who had begun to tremble.

Harry felt a very strong sense of deja vu as they all filed into the kitchen once more. The new addition - Moony - looked incredibly depressed.

"To answer your earlier question, no, I didn't take up the bet. It was all an accident. One day, when I - James, I'd really rather do this without all of the kids staring at me."

James looked at Lily, who nodded, before sending all of the children away (after many protests).

"One day, when I transformed, I accidentally - well, let's just say that I spent some quality time with a female wolf. A couple of months later, that wolf gave birth to a baby girl, who obviously inherited my..."

"Furry little problem?" Interjected James, but Moony didn't raise a smile.

"Yes. I felt awful about it, and I didn't dare to tell any of you. It was incredibly irresponsible of me, someone like me should never have children. But at least I was there for her every- "

"Wait a minute." Sirius said angrily, "Are you saying that you only saw the kid when there was a full moon?"

"Well, yes but-"

"Remus, who did the child live with?" Lily said softly. When he didn't reply, her voice hardened, "Remus John Lupin, if you tell me that you left that child to be raised by wolves-"

"Well no, not exactly..." Remus said hesitantly, "I sent Hagrid to look after her, and a friend taught her to read and write and all of that..."

All three of them stared at him in disbelief.

"What the hell, Moony!" James said suddenly, banging a hand on the table, "You, of all people? I'd have thought you would be responsible, not some deadbeat abandoning his kid!"

"I didn't abandon her! I was there for her at the most difficult points!"

"Oh yeah?" Snarled Sirius, "Whilst you were also a bloody werewolf? No wonder the poor kid is so shy and withdrawn, she doesn't know how to talk to humans!"

"I should never have had a child, it was better to distance-"

"Don't you dare, Remus." Lily said angrily, "No child should have to grow up without parents -"

"None of us have done too well there." Muttered James.

"- let alone without human contact! I'm disgusted with you. As a matter of fact, I want you to get out, now."

The three men looked a bit startled.

"I know I screwed up, but I can't just leave! She needs me!"

"You know what." James said slowly, "I'm not sure if she does. It's not like me and Padfoot don't have any experience, and you - well, I can't believe you."

"Yeah, but Jamie, the kid might not like that. We should ask her what she thinks." Sirius interjected.

Lily nodded in agreement and ran upstairs, appearing a moment later with a very shell-shocked looking Cress.

"I told them." She whispered, "I just told them all what I am. I told them. Why did I tell them? They won't want to be my friend. What have I done?"

Looking at her tiny distraught face, and thinking about what he'd just learnt from Remus, James' heart broke a little bit. He rushed over and put an arm around her shoulders.