Chapter 1
Harry once again woke up in a dark place. Cold. He was so cold. And here, it was so dark.
"Mummy? Daddy? Where are you? Mummy?" The scared little boy started crying. "Harry's cold. Pa'foo? Moony?"
Why wasn't anyone answering? They had to be somewhere near.
But they weren't.
"Sevus? Aunty Tu-" He interrupted himself "Pet-tune-niya? Maisy? Maisy? Come here!"
The little boy perhaps didn't know that he had commanded the elf, but the elf didn't too. With a pop, the Potter family elf made her appearance.
"Little Master Harry! Are you cold? Maisy will bring you blankets. Just wai-"
Harry howled. "Maisy, Harry wants Padfoot"
"No, Little Master Harry. Maisy can't take you to Master Paddy- foot. He's in a very dangerous place." The elf looked stricken.
"I want Padfoot. Bring him here." He wailed "Bring him here."
"I can't bring him here right now, Little Master Harry."
"Then take me to Moony." The boy sobbed. "Aunt is bad. Take me to Uncle Moony."
Maisy looked around the cupboard they were in. She didn't approve of the was Little Master was treated. She positively hated this place. She sent her magic to roam the house. Her magic, whose main purpose was looking after her Master, gathered the memories of the muggles. Her magic told her to leave this place, it would only serve to hurt her Little Master Harry. They severely neglected the little boy. No, they were not staying here.
"Let's go home, Little Master Harry."
She picked the boy up and carried him out of the house. After a few steps, she popped away to Master Moony's cottage.
She never saw the blood wards fall as magic itself registered her words.
Remus woke with a jolt as the wards alerted him; Someone had entered the house. Holding his wand in front of him, he silently crept to the living room, only to find Maisy and very distressed Harry in her arms.
He took Harry from her and tried to calm him down. "Shh Harry, I'm here. You're safe, Harry. Calm down, little one." Softly humming to the little child, he moved about the room with him in his arms, desperately trying to calm him down. It didn't help matters that the full moon was just four days ago; he was still somewhat exhausted. After a few minutes, the child started blinking drowsily.
Remus softly tucked him in in his own bed for the time being. He returned to the shaking elf in his living room.
"Now, Maisy, why did you bring Harry here? " Even though they must have been damn poor and probably squibs, he added to himself, dressed as Harry was in clothes that were probably thrice his size. "He's not safe here, as compared to where he must have been."
Little sobs started breaking out of the h elf, and then suddenly she spoke in an angry voice, "No, Master Moony, Little Master Harry was not safe in that house with those horrid Muggles relations of his. They are not being good to Little Master Harry." She paused to swallow back the lump in her throat. "Maisy sent her magic to the house, and Magic told her that they hurt him, and abused him- who in their right mind such a lovely little boy a freak, for Magic's sake? Maisy healed the bruises on the Little Master's body as well. She doesn't like it at all, she doesn't like it that he spent six weeks there!"
Remus was getting angrier by the second. The treatment his cub- boy had went through... It was too much to handle. His exhausted brain, suddenly caught on her statement again. "Muggles relations? Harry was sent to the Dursleys?"
Just like that, with those simple words, the blocks and changes in his memories vanished. He remembered each and every single fucking thing.
He remembered him trying to convince, to beg Dumbledore to get Harry back from the Dursleys. He had begged him to not leave him there. He, and even Dumbledore knew just what kind of a woman she was. Who doesn't invite their sister to their marriage? And when said sister asks, who disowns her for being 'abnormal'? Certainly not a good sister. And to send a magical child to such a magic- loathing person? Utter bullshit, he said.
Oh, there was more. The Potter wills stated that Sirius Black was the Godfather, and he'd get first custody. If he wasn't fit (or dead) to do so, Alice as the Godmother would get custody. The next in line were Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagall, and Severus Snape.
He remembered that when he mentioned the wills, Dumbledore had looked stumped for a moment. A very brief moment, before muttering a brief remark to himself about "solving the problem". James' and Lily's wills were sealed shortly after.
He cast numerous compulsion charms on him to stay away from Harry, to not think about the wills, to not think about Sirius. He'd went so far as to use legilimency on him to make him think of himself as unsuitable to raise a kid and a danger to Harry as well.
The icing on the cake? He had then cast numerous obliviates and notice-me-nots on his memories.
Normally, just remark might not have broken compulsions. But Remus knew that his werewolf side protected him from many such charms. He suspected that only the sheer amount of power Dumbledore had had been able to make those charms last for so long.
Never in his life had he been so grateful for being a monster.
But now he had another, bigger problem in hand.
"Where do we keep Harry, Maisy? I'm not sending him back to those dreadful pieces of shit that are supposed to be Harry's relatives. And this place is not safe either. Only god knows how many people Dumbledore has manipulated to do his bidding and he won't let him stay with me. Why is he is so adamant in sending Harry there? How is he going to be protected in that dreadful place windows people don't have any means of defending themselves against wizards? Th-"
"I'm sorry for interrupting Master Moony, but that place has blood wards, however weak they are. Those blood words were supposed to keep Little Master Harry safe from Dark Magic, nevermind the condition he was in while living with those people." She added angrily.
"For fuck's sake." Remus muttered "Well, whatever it was, we are completely ignoring that place. So where do we go? We could go in that apartment that James owned in the south London-but of course not. Sirius must have told Voldemort about them too. Still can't believe that he betrayed-"
"NO!" The elf shouted, then started wringing her hands. She was under orders not to punish herself for interrupting them, and in anguish because of it. "I apologise once again for interrupting you, Master Moony, but Master Paddy-foot did not betray Master James and Mistress Lily."
"Even though I share your sentiments about him betraying them, he must have." He frowned. "After all wasn't he the secret keeper for the James and Lily?"
"He wasn't, Master Moony. Maisy was there when they performed the spell. Master Paddy-foot said that he'd be the obvious choice and told them to made Ma- Peter the secret keeper." Maisy was shaking. "They never saw Peter's arm. But Maisy had seen it when he had come injured in the past."
Be what it may, Remus could believe that. But that didn't mean he wasn't feeling incredulous at the elf's actions. "And, pray tell me, why did you not tell James about it?"
"Master James had said that Master Paddy-foot, Master Moony and Peter were his brothers and they were to be treated as such. That made you all Maisy's Masters as well. M-Peter ordered Maisy to not tell anyone about it. Maisy had to keep quiet."
Remus refrained from commenting that she was telling him now. He was sure she had some sort of explanation for that too. Not for the first time, hee wished house elves didn't have thie twisted sort of logic.
But, that wasn't important. The fact was, Sirius was innocent. He hadn't betrayed them. He hadn't gone dark. After everyone convincing him he was wrong, he'd been proved right. Sirius was innocent. Sirius was innocent. Sirius was innocent.
And Peter was the one who betrayed them.
He knew that before the war ended, they had thought Remus was the traitor. That he was supplying information to Voldemort. But it didn't matter. The distance that grew between them meant that he no longer knew what his place was. If he'd be as welcome there as he was before. And so he came there less and less. And because of him, they died. He'd have smelt the constant fear that the rat must have been in constantly had he been there. Hell, he might have even smelled the dark magic of the dark mark had he tried. But he chose to run away with him tail between his legs. And here they were.
Because of this, Sirius was in azkaban. In that hellhole of a place that the British called prison. He was innocent. He didn't even get a trial. And Remus had been too caught up in his head to visit him. He had failed Sirius, too. Just like he failed James and Lily and Harry.
But, not again. He wouldn't fail them again. He'd care for Harry, and he'd break Sirius out of azkaban. He hadn't got a trial, and he knew the ministry wouldn't want to look bad and admit on its mistakes, and therefore a plea for a trial was of no use. Besides, he wasn't sure if Dumbledore would let it happen. But, fuck that. He was a Marauder. He was used to doing the impossible. He'd do it again. He would break Sirius out of azkaban.
But, wait a minute. What if... He hoped what he thought wasn't true. Or he wouldn't be able to control himself. "Maisy, who else was present when they were casting the fidelus? Who cast it?" He clenched his fist.
"Master James, Mistress Lily, M-Peter, Little Master Harry, Maisy, and Professor Dumbly-doory. Professor casted it."
"THAT MOTHERFUCKING BASTARD!!! 'I'm Sorry Sirius betrayed you' my arse. He knew he didn't do it and yet... and yet..." He started sobbing. "Just what did we do wrong? What was the bloody problem in letting us care for Harry? Those blood wards? The Black property is unplottable for heavens sake! Black wards are the best that there are, everyone knows it. Harry would've been safe with us, with people who genuinely love him. Even after knowing he didn't betray them, he sent him to azkaban. For what? FOR WHAT?" Magic exploded from him and shattered everything around him. Remus saw the elf flinch. He willed himself to calm down.
He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for scaring you with my outburst, I'll try to be more level-headed from now on." He frowned. "And oh, if you believe in any way that you disobeyed a direct order from Peter, then don't. You are not to punish yourself in any way for telling me the information about Peter being a Death Eater Got it?.
"Yes, Master Moony. What shall we do now?"
"We are leaving. I'm not sending Harry back. We can go the-no! We will go to that lakehouse in Coaxley where we vacationed after Harry's birth. With those wards, that place is safe for the time being, and no one will search for Harry in Black properties for now. We'll cast the fidelus later. Let's pack up."
Maisy silently started packing while Remus repaired whatever he'd broken in his angry outburst. It didn't take long to shrink them. He'd paid his rent in advance, so he was good in that angle. He placed the notice on the coffee table. Maisy locked the house from the inside.
He asked Maisy to go ahead as he would floo there; Apparation made Harry sick and Maisy had already done it once. As he took Harry in his arms and cast a last look at the house, he vowed to take revenge from Dumbledore one day. He'd pay for what he did to Harry, directly or indirectly be damned.
He stepped into the floo, sprinkled the powder and announced "Crescent house" clearly.
The Marauder in him was already planning a big, big prank on the Ministry and Dumbledore.
