Tired (QPR Drarry, mates, ace arospec Harry)

Chapter 11

"Fill out these papers." Mme Pomfrey dropped a pile of sheets in front of Remus as he finally finished sorting through her ingredients a student's cat had knocked over. 

"What are they?" Remus looked up at her, hair messier than usual. 

Harry had been drowsy recently, spending most of his time asleep in the private room, having asked to have the healing process sped up so he could go to lessons with Ron and Draco. It was still going to take a while, but Harry had chosen the option where they sped up the main healing and he have to come back weekly to heal further. That alone was helpful to hide the werewolf thing. 

"Adoption papers." Mme Pomfrey said like it was obvious, though Remus still looked confused. "For Harry." 

"You can do that?" Remus thought he would have to wait until Harry was healed enough and take him to the Ministry to get them to agree. 

"I'm almost as old as Hogwarts itself, of course I have the ability to speed up an adoption when it protects a student. Now sign, I will explain to Harry and get him to sign it when he wakes up. This needs to be done soon before Dumbledore gets his greedy little paws on Harry." Mme Pomfrey pointed at the pile of papers in front of Remus before leaving the room again. 

Remus looked at the papers, he desperately wanted to be Harry's guardian, and he was sure he could do better than Petunia, but he wasn't sure how well he would be able to do. He had been living alone, and below his needs, for almost as many years as Harry had been alive, would he really be up to looking after a child who needs so much help? 

But what's the other choice? Leave Harry where he is? 

"If only Sirius was here." Remus thought as he scratched out his name onto the paper. 

It was odd, almost everything in the wizarding world was written on parchment, but not adoption papers. Those were written on printer paper as though they were muggle. Whoever could tell Remus why would be a smarter man than him. 

----- 

Sirius didn't know who was in the prison cell beside him, but he owed them a lot. Dementors have a much lesser affect of animals than humans, including animagi. Sirius knew he wasn't guilty, not even having received a trial to be legally classed as such, but in the eyes of the wizarding world he was. 

He spent most of his time as a dog, waiting and biding his time until he could find Peter, but he wasn't an animagus legally, which is what allowed him to do this. He couldn't let any humans see him as a dog, or he would be placed in a cell with stricter guarding. 

Many of the people in his section had never received a trial, and they could sometimes talk to each other, though obviously not face to face. He was sure that the person in the cell beside him was innocent, though he guessed there was about an equal chance of them being guilty. They didn't know why Sirius wanted to know, but they would always tell him when people were approaching. 

Sirius tried to keep the sun kissed memories of his school years, his not-so-secret meetings with Remus, meeting the beautiful baby Harry, the dinners they had in Godric's Hollow to try to forget the war. 

It was all he could do to try to keep his mind. 

----- 

"So, I sign this and It's Mr Remus who I live with now?" Harry's voice was weak as he asked, looking up at Mme Pomfrey and Remus with big, wide eyes. 

"Yes, it means I'll be your legal guardian from now on." Remus tried to hide the wince at the same term used to describe Petunia and her husband. "You'll live with me, and I'm the one who will be responsible for you. I'm sorry I couldn't try to do this earlier." 

Harry's eyes seemed to light up as he took in a breath. It was the most excited Harry had ever looked, and while Remus was happy, it made his chest hurt. Harry deserved so much better than the hand he had been dealt. 

Harry scribbled his name down as quickly as he could. His handwriting was awful, but it was more than enough for the legal documents. 

"So..." Harry looked up at Remus nervously as Mme Pomfrey took the paperwork to file it. "What should I call you?" 

"You can call me whatever you're comfortable with. Your parents called me 'Moony', so if you want to call me something like that then that feels normal." Remus hoped deep down that some day he would be called 'dad', but it felt wrong to ask James' beloved son to call him the name that belonged to completely to James. The name James never got to hear. 

"Wh- why did they call you 'Moony'?" Harry was getting better at questions, but his hands were still shaking badly. 

"Because I'm a werewolf, just like you are now. My friends started calling me that to try to make a joke out of it and make me feel better. It is easier now, but it's never been easy to be a werewolf." Remus tried to smile, he didn't want to scare Harry too much about their shared condition, but it was something that had negatively impacted his life, and will have a negative impact on Harry's. 

"Can- can I call you 'Moony'?" Harry looked almost scared as he asked. 

"Sure." Remus smiled, ruffling Harry's hair. "And please feel free to talk to me about anything. I'm all ears." 

"Mm." Harry smiled widely. 

Harry could hardly believe what was happening, he had always wished for some other family, or family friend, to come and take him away from the Dursleys. It had been years since he had given up on that hope, and yet here he was. Moony, his parents' friend, was now going to look after him. He even seemed to care about Harry. 

Harry was glad for whatever had brought them together.