Listen Now: A Harry Potter & Remus Lupin Hurt/Comfort Adoption Fic

Hardworking

Harry was up before dawn the next morning.

Part of it was that he couldn't quite get himself to go to sleep and stay asleep. His mind kept going over everything he'd done wrong over the years he'd been at Hogwarts. Sure, some of the times he'd snuck out of bed at night, he'd had a really good reason, and he'd managed to save the school. But his mind wandered back to the time Snape had caught him up out of bed with the Marauder's Map during his third year, and Remus had scolded him painfully. He thought about sneaking into Hogsmeade without permission—sure, it had been unfair that he wasn't allowed to go, but he hadn't really needed to sneak out, either.

Based on everything he'd heard, it was something his father would have done, too, and something Sirius and Remus (and Peter, more than likely) would have gone along with. But none of them were actively trying to earn their keep. The rules were different.

Even if Remus agreed to let Harry stay for this summer, what about the next? Harry was only fifteen now; he wouldn't be of age until the end of July of the following year. Would Remus still play a guardian role for him during the school year? How different would it be from what he had done during Harry's fifth year, when he'd had trouble with Umbridge? Harry knew Ron didn't see his parents much if at all during the school year, but he still wrote to them, and their professors still notified his parents when he got into trouble. They were still his parents, even if they weren't around. Despite Remus having walked him through some expectations for the summer, Harry didn't know what to expect from Remus beyond that.

He was getting ahead of himself. Right now, he just needed to make sure he was going to be allowed to stay.

Aunt Petunia had always made Harry do household chores and gardening in return for his place in the household. It never seemed worth it to him there, because they were constantly criticizing his work and insulting him personally, but this place was a different story.

The biggest reason he woke up early was to prove his worth.

There was no garden to tend, and he was pretty sure the whole place had been cleaned by magic—or possibly by a House Elf, though Kreacher seemed more likely to try to find a way to sabotage the house than to clean it properly. Harry focused on his own space. He unpacked his suitcase and made sure his room looked as tidy as it had been when he had arrived, including making the bed. He showered, dressed, and even tried to get his hair to lie flatter, although years of experience should have told him that that was a waste of time. After that, he set to work in the kitchen, hoping to have breakfast and coffee prepared before everyone woke up.

Harry opened one of the cupboards to survey the cookware and dishes, and ended up knocking over a glass, which fell to the floor with a loud CRASH!

Harry jumped back, the spray of glass just missing him. He was dressed, but he was wearing slippers, and he wasn't sure how well they would hold up if he started stepping on sharp pieces of broken glass. He was pretty sure it would be easy to pick up the pieces if he had his wand, though. It would take him longer than it would have taken Remus, but the last thing he wanted was for Remus to see what he had done and decide he was too much trouble.

So Harry very, very carefully tiptoed over and around the many shards, dodging the biggest pieces and wincing as the smallest ones crunched under the thin leather soles of his slippers. He returned to his room for his wand, and went back to the kitchen to try to clean the mess he'd left.

It was easier said than done. The trouble was that he'd never learned a spell that was specifically for picking up broken glass, and though he could repair cracks in glass, this was much more than a single crack. He tried a simple cleaning spell, but it merely left the individual shards sparkling clean. He tried levitating them, but the levitation spells he knew worked much better for individual objects than for a collection of tiny ones. He was able to get the largest pieces of glass into the bin, but the sea of tiny glimmering shards remained.