Chapter Text
**Remus**
Remus suddenly appears in the Potter’s room, having access beyond the wards on their home. He stumbles, banging his knee against a coffee table. He’s always hated apparating; it makes him queasy and disoriented, but there’s no time to be queasy. Catching himself against the same table he was cursing just a second ago, and shaking his head a bit to clear it, he calls out.
“ James!! James, where are you?”
“ Moony? ” Remus hears from the kitchen.
Harry comes skidding around the corner, James trailing behind, holding the newspaper up as if he was still reading it. James’s face is arranged in an animated expression of shock, golden brown eyes wide in a way that would be comical in any other situation. Remus meets his gaze, his heart hammering and brain buffering, but both him and James must be on the same page because at the same time they breathe out the name, his name, “ Sirius. ”
**Harry**
“What about Sirius?” Harry demands.
All he knows is that one minute he is sitting at the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal, his dad next to him with the morning newspaper in hand, and the next, his father is standing up so fast that the stool he was sitting on is clattering to the ground, startling them both.
Harry hears a soft pop from the living room, followed shortly by a much louder thunk and a stifled fuuuck before Moony’s voice is calling out frantically, “ James!! James, where are you?”
“Moony?!” His dad’s head whips toward the direction of Remus's voice.
Harry beats his dad to the living room, his socks sliding dangerously on the floor as he takes in his Uncle Remus leaning against their coffee table, holding his knee. Harry suspects that had been the thunk and the reason for the quiet cursing. Barefoot and still in his pajamas, Remus looks anything but sleepy. He looks scared. Harry glances from a distressed Remus to his father who, Harry notices, has gotten considerably paler. Harry’s heart beats faster.
“Sirius.”
“What about Sirius?!” Harry demands. Is that who this is about? His godfather who he has only met in the stories his family told? The man the public blames for his mother’s death? And not just hers, but Peter Pettigrew’s and twelve Muggles… a lot of deaths. Not that Harry believes it. If his family doesn’t then he won’t either. They don’t exactly have proof that Sirius is innocent, but James and Remus are adamant that Sirius would never harm their family, and so Harry believes them. Still, this is not what he expected to start his day with.
“He’s— Sirius, he’s—” James starts, but can’t seem to finish his sentence. Harry gently tries to take the newspaper from his father’s hands, but James won’t let go.
“No, I don’t want you to see this, you don’t… you don’t need to see it.”
“James,” Remus speaks up, “This paper is in every home in the wizarding world, he’s gonna see it no matter what… Plus, he deserves to know.”
By this time Harry's heart is hammering and he fights the urge to snatch the paper from his father’s hands, but his dad is looking unordinarily fragile at the moment, and Harry doesn’t want to make things worse. James nods and shakily puts the paper on the table for Harry to see, and immediately Harry understands.
Right there on the front page is his godfather, Sirius Black, but not as Harry knows him. From the pictures he’s seen and the stories he’s been told, Sirius’s face was always prepared to laugh or give a toothy smile, and his wild dark curls were always pushed out of his face to reveal mischievous, sparkling eyes. But the man on the front page of this paper is not the Sirius that he knows. This Sirius looks dangerous and broken. His once smiling face twists in a furious scowl, his sunken eyes now watery with unshed tears, greasy hair hanging in his face as he screams, banging his fists against the bars of whatever hellish cell he was in when the picture was taken.
When Harry decides he’s had enough, he looks up to see Remus sink onto the couch with his face in his hands. He looks like he is trying to scrub away whatever is happening, though his glasses are taking the brunt of his anxiety, getting shoved into his hair haphazardly until they fall off onto the floor. He doesn’t seem to notice. While Remus is in danger of killing his glasses, James has taken to pacing the living room, back and forth on the other side of the coffee table.
“I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it! Well, it is Sirius we’re talking about, I suppose if it was gonna be anyone it would be him, but bloody hell …” James is muttering to himself as he wears tracks into the living room carpet. It’s stressing Harry out, and apparently Remus too because he sucks in a breath and in a tired voice simply says, “James. ”
To his credit, James quits his muttering and pacing, but even as he gives his attention to his friend, Harry still thinks he resembles a live wire, buzzing with directionless energy. This is something he and his father share, and yet another reason why his Uncle Remus balances them out.
Harry curls himself up on a chair quietly so as not to disturb whatever silent communication is happening between the two men, observing as Remus lowers his hands to look James in the eye.
As Harry has gotten older he has noticed how Remus can’t hold eye contact for long, but it means something when he does. Now he stares up into James’s eyes, muddy green meeting golden brown, and it means something. Harry isn’t sure what, exactly, but he can come up with a few options: I know, I’m worried too, or please calm down, or (and Harry likes this one the least), can we not freak out in front of Harry please? To Harry’s surprise it’s his dad who looks away first, away from Remus and turns his eyes to Harry.
“I’m sorry Harry, I didn’t mean to freak out like that,” (so it was that last option) “I’m just not quite sure what to do.”
Harry loves how honest his dad is, always showing when he’s feeling vulnerable or unsure, and they work it out together. To reassure him, he gives a quiet “It’s ok” before James continues.
“I mean, Sirius is the most wanted criminal of today, even though he’s innocent, I just know he is, but there’s going to be the full force of the Ministry trying to catch him again, and I’m… just so scared for him.”
He says this last bit to Remus, sinking down onto the couch beside him. Harry has seen his father angry, and he has seen his father break down, clinging to Remus when the weight of what he has lost is just too much. They have gotten through it together, the three of them, and so while Harry hurts for his father, for his uncle, and sometimes for himself in these times, he knows they will come out alright in the end. He has never seen his father so scared though. He looks ill when he pales, his usually warm brown skin turning ashen, and his strong hands shaking just the slightest.
And there’s Moony of course. Just as he has been their anchor, they are his as well, and so Harry knows the blank, tired look on his face is not a good sign. He watches as Remus shuts down whatever crisis he is trying not to have in front of Harry, and Harry wishes that he would just do something instead of sitting there comforting James, putting everyone else first. That way Harry would know how to feel about this, too. His dad is strong, but he is also passionate and emotional, and so sometimes Harry finds himself looking to Remus to gauge just how badly he needs to be freaking out. With his dad having a break down and with Remus having… nothing, Harry’s anxiety and uncertainty about this whole thing have gone through the roof. He tries to appear normal about this, as normal as you can be when your innocent “murderer” godfather breaks out of the most secure prison on the planet, but the little tremble in his voice gives him away.
“So, uhh, what’s gonna happen? What are we gonna do?” To his surprise, his uncle is the one who answers him.
“If we’re being honest, we aren’t sure. Sirius has always been unpredictable and I don’t know why he picked now of all times to break out, but I don’t want you to be worried, ok? I mean, I don’t expect you to not be a little worried, looking at us,” He huffs a little laugh at this before continuing, “but we’re just concerned for him is all. He’s our best friend, he… he’s family, and we are going to do everything we can to help him stay safe and clear his name. Who knows, this might just be the kickstart we needed to getting him back.”
Harry watches a little bit of color come back to his father’s face at Remus’s words, and he feels a little bit better, but he still has one thing on his mind.
“But everyone’s going to be talking about this, aren’t they?” He already gets enough attention as it is, being the one who technically killed Voldemort, though he can hardly take credit seeing as he was an infant. Either way, he isn’t looking forward to adding “famous dark wizard godfather who broke out of Azkaban” (the public’s words, not his) to his list of reasons why people point at him, why they whisper and ask, “Are you Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?” As if the massive fucking lightning bolt arcing up to his hairline, across his nose, and down the side of his face, and pale as it is against his brown skin, isn’t the clearest indicator that yes, he is the Harry Potter. But he digresses.
Remus answers his question yet again, “Unfortunately, yes, people will be talking. But, and I know this may not be what you need to hear, but this year you and I will brave the masses together, yeah?”
And Harry can’t help but laugh as Remus quirks an eyebrow at him and gives him a little smile, an action that his father told him Remus got from Sirius. Of course if Remus knew they had noticed he would be so self conscious about it. This is exactly what he needs to hear—that Remus will be there with him, that he will have someone to brave the masses with. And he tells him this. He needed to know that he won’t be alone this year. Of course he has Ron and Hermione, but he’s grateful to know that his Uncle Remus (soon to be Professor Lupin… weird) will be there at school with him. Moony is affected by the news of Sirius’s escape even more than Harry, and he understands what is going on without Harry having to explain it. Just knowing this, it gives him a sense of calm and safety that he otherwise would not have. And he will be there for Moony, too. Plus, he can’t wait to have him as a teacher.
This will be a year of firsts for both of them. Moony’s first year as a teacher at Hogwarts, and Harry’s first year… as a teenager? Yeah! That’s a big first, and of course first year having a godfather on the loose. Harry tries not to smile at that thought. It’s not funny… but it kind of is if he’s honest, if he takes the “#1 Public Enemy” bit out of it. And who knows, maybe he will get to meet him. There is a little swell in his chest at the thought, a little sliver of excitement in the midst of all this uncertainty.