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

Conditional

For the next few days, Remus was continually impressed by Harry's initiative and work ethic. He began to question his original impressions of the boy. When Remus had had Harry as a student, his homework was always sloppy, he showed up to class at the last minute, and his notes were a disorganized mess. He was bright and had a natural inclination for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he was engaged in class, so he always did quite well on assignments and exams, but it wasn't by virtue of hard work and determination. It was talent. Remus could see so much of James in Harry, it had almost hurt.

There was none of James in Harry now. There wasn't much of Lily, either. Truth be told, though, as far as Remus could tell, there wasn't much of Harry.

Remus had expected that Harry might show some signs of lingering trauma after enduring the Dursleys' abuse once again. Based on what he'd read in the parenting books, he'd half expected that Harry would be testing him by talking back, lashing out, or breaking rules.

There was none of that. Harry was up before the sun making breakfast, he studied quietly in his room for much of the day. He called Remus sir just often enough that Remus ended up correcting him, but when he did, he regretted saying anything—Harry apologized several times. Harry was also far too obedient for any self respecting Gryffindor. When Remus mentioned that Harry should spend more time socializing with the others at Grimmauld Place, Harry immediately started spending the better part of the day in the common area making polite conversation with whoever was there at the time.

On the third day of this, Remus took Sirius aside and asked whether Harry seemed to be acting strangely.

Sirius's eyebrows furrowed. "Only around you," he said.

Remus blinked a few times. "What does that mean?"

"He jokes and laughs with me, and he seems comfortable around Tonks. He's a little wary around Moody, might still be getting used to seeing him as himself rather than as Barty Crouch Jr., and he's a big intimidated by Kingsley, but . . . nothing like when you walk into a room."

"You think he's scared of me?"

"I don't know about that. But any time you walk into the room, he freezes up. Stops smiling, loses his nerve. Becomes the image of politeness." Sirius frowned. "What happened between you two? Been meaning to ask what you said to him."

"I—I haven't the faintest idea." Remus shook his head. He might have come down a little hard on Harry when he'd caught him in the library with his hand stuck in a dark artifact, but he couldn't help that—it wouldn't have been safe to let that one go with out at least chiding the boy. He had been a bit sharp, but he highly doubted that was still bothering Harry days later. "Has he said anything about being upset with me?"

"Not a word."

"Ah . . . I suppose I should try to talk to him."

"Be careful." That was the only advice Sirius gave.

On the fourth day, Remus caught Harry before bed. "Harry, may I have a word with you?"

The blood drained from Harry's face. "Is everything alright, sir—I mean, Remus?"

"Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out, my boy. Are you . . ." He had wanted to ask whether Harry was upset with him, but he found he couldn't get such a direct question out. Instead, he asked, "Are you happy here?"

"Are you kidding me? It's so much better than the Dursleys."

"Good, good." Remus couldn't figure out where to go from there.

"Er . . . is everything alright with you?"

"Of course, I just . . ." Remus swallowed. He was usually the person who knew exactly what to say, but this had him at a loss. In the end, he took the coward's way out. "I wanted to ask if there was anything I could do to make you more comfortable."