Harry Potter's sister ~~~ Fanfiction

Lupin's fear part 71

Harry and Emma were both slow in talking to each other about what they'd learnt. That night they each set up intruder charms in there dormitories and Harry had also set one up at the portrait and one at the end of the corridor leading up to Gryffindor Tower after everyone else had gone to bed. Every day they would reinforce the charms; Emma's dorm mates were all in the Defence Group, so knew not to talk about it and Harry merely reinforced the three charms he was responsible for non-verbally with a simple flick of his wand. No one outside the group of 12 knew about the charms.

In the last days before almost every student in the castle left for Christmas Harry had his friends step up the duelling practice, while he and Emma were in detention he had Ginny, his best student, lead practice sessions. But when they were gone it really wasn't for long.

At the back of their minds, Harry and Emma assumed that Professor Lupin would go easy on them. That proved to be an understatement.

During the detentions, Professor Lupin merely had them clean the classroom or one of the containers he kept for magical creatures in his classroom. He even showed them how to do it using magic. There was not a single detention that lasted more than half an hour. Of course the two of them ended up staying longer than that, because Lupin offered them cups of tea and biscuits.

"For the record I don't normally go soft on people in detentions." Said Lupin after their first session the Tuesday after they yelled at McGonagall. "I did not know you were completely unaware about Sirius Black. I am sorry, I would have told you he was after you."

"You knew our parents?" said Harry. "Did you know about him too and what he did?"

"Yes." Said Lupin. "I will not pretend I would have told you about that specifically, it is still rather difficult for me. I still have not completely come to terms with what happened."

"How well did you know our parents?" said Emma.

"We were very close." Said Lupin. "My father left when I was very young and my mother died not long after I left Hogwarts. She had a terrible problem with alcohol. I had no siblings but I had my friends at Hogwarts."

"Our Dad and Sirius Black?" said Harry, trying and failing to keep the anger out of his voice.

Lupin took a deep breath. "And Peter Pettigrew."

"Oh." Said Emma. "You lost all three of them that night. I'm sorry."

Lupin chuckled. "With all due respect Emma, I think the two of you lost a lot more."

"But we've at least had each other." Said Harry. "Was there no one else you were close to?"

Lupin sighed. "No, I really lost everything that night." Said Lupin. "Your mother did not get on well with the four of us initially when we all came to Hogwarts. I was the first of the four of our little group of friends to successfully befriend her. She was a marvellous person, she could see the beauty in someone, even when they themselves had lost sight of conceiving any such thing."

Harry and Emma tried not to look guiltily at each other.

"I owed a lot to your parents and our friends. James and Sirius were always happy together and closer to one another than Peter or I could ever be." Said Lupin. "I won't lie to you. Sometimes I still have trouble believing Sirius could do this, but Dumbledore himself performed the spell that made him Secret Keeper. Anyway, I think it's best if I stop talking."