Chapter 82

"Harry, Remus Lupin sent me an owl and wants to meet, what do you think I should do?" Asked an uncertain Sirius.

Chad could only sigh, it was only a matter of time before the cowardly lion... er, werewolf turned up to spy for Dumbledore. Best to deal with this directly and upfront.

"Look, Sirius, he was your friend, and if you want to rekindle your friendship with him, I'm okay with that. But I want nothing to do with him. He found out that his friends were either killed or imprisoned and did nothing about it.

"Lupin didn't visit you to ask why you did it or get your side of the story. Didn't make sure his only friend's orphaned child was cared for, didn't visit, send gifts or even make himself known until now.

"If you want to be friends with a man that was fine with thinking you were capable of betraying your brother in all but blood, willing to leave you to be tortured by Dementors while he went off to live his own life without investigating anything, that's up to you.

"But I don't want that type of person in my life. Who knows what his motivations are or why he decided now is the best time to visit. He had twelve years to do so beforehand but seemed okay with leaving us to each of our fates.

"You knew him from before when you were friends, but I have never met him and don't intend to waste my time on someone so selfish. I wouldn't be surprised if he is on a mission for Dumbledore to spy on us."

The fact that Sirius didn't try to interrupt his anti-Lupin tirade spoke of how he tentatively agreed, but he was a friend from the past, and that changes things.

It was probably a bit mean to try and cut off the friendship Sirius seemed so desperate to fix, even after he made the decision to remove all ties with past relationships. To be honest, Chad thought Remus Lupin was a pathetic piece of sh*t and that he was thoroughly under Dumbledore's sway.

He had never liked the man in the books, and even less so after actually living Harry Potter's life. He had seen what happened to Dudley, and that was without constant bullying from him and other children. It must have been way worse for canon Harry with Dudley's full-time harassment.

And why did Remus Lupin decide it was best to go off and mope for thirteen years in the original timeline? Because for three days a month he turned into a werewolf. What a pathetic excuse.

Apparently, it was fine to teach in a school full of children with the same affliction, but it was not okay to visit the child of your only friends! How could the guy justify abandoning Harry Potter and then take a job teaching and living with children at a boarding school?

Dumbledore was why.

The cowardly waste of space was firmly on team Dumbledore because the old man had pulled some strings and allowed him to study at Hogwarts as a child. No other werewolf children ever got the same opportunity.

That was apparently enough of a reason to never visit your only surviving friend to find out why he betrayed the Potters.

Enough of a reason to leave Harry at the Dursleys even though he knew Lilly and her sister had a falling out over magic, to never visit Harry to see if he was alright or send him a letter on his birthday.

The sad part was that the man didn't even benefit from attending Hogwarts other than making a few friends that became family! Only to throw them away without the slightest bit of investigation as to why or how it happened.

What was worse, even when Remus came back to teach in Harry's third year, the man knew Harry was suffering at the Dursleys and still left him there! I guess living in a cave bemoaning your tragic life is better than helping out a defenceless child stuck in an abusive home...

No, Chad despised Remus Lupin and wanted nothing to do with the man. How Tonks ended up banging the self-loathing coward was a mystery that could only be explained with magical interference. That or extremely poor taste in men.

It was also another example of the man's hypocrisy. He was capable of going out with Tonks and getting her up the duff, but not able to care about Harry, the orphaned child with no remaining family. He didn't even tell the kid about his heritage or stories about his parents!

Chad had no idea why there were so many fanfictions that worshipped the man that was afraid of his own farts, hell, some even made him and Sirius lovers!

If that was the case, to believe the man you loved was capable of being a backstabbing mass murderer, and not worthy of a trial, spoke volumes about the man's character.

This was also why Chad had introduced Rita Skeeter into Sirius Black's life. With a loving relationship, he wouldn't feel the need to disregard the callous actions of Lupin and once again become friends with the pathetic excuse of a man.

Remus was simply undeserving of such an honour!

Though Chad did have Skeeter put Sirius in the 'dog-box' occasionally to keep him from becoming too unbearable. The man had been strutting around the house, thinking he was god's gift to women when the sexy reporter agreed to be his girlfriend.

The constant advice on how 'Harry' could also achieve such results if he followed the old dog's hints and tips on how to be a ladies man, had simply become too much not to punish. A week without sex had seen the once proud man on his knees, begging for Rita to come back.

Of course, there was no way she wouldn't. Chad had altered her mind into the perfect loyal and loving wife for Sirius, and the old dog was probably not too far away from proposing to her with how infatuated he was with her.

Which honestly made Chad more satisfied than he thought he would be. He had come to really care for his godfather and wanted him to truly be happy, the man deserved it after his tragic life so far. He was also probably the only friend Chad had in this world that was genuine.

Still, Chad could see his words had hurt Sirius, even if the man tried to hide it. Lupin was from the glory days as a Marauder, Sirius Black's golden years and the happiest he had ever been in his troubled childhood.

He was looking at Remus through rose-tinted glasses and Chad's unkind opinion of the man crushed his dreams of reliving the fond memories. With another sigh, Chad gave in to the kicked puppy look on his dog-father's face.

"Sirius, if you want to meet with him, go ahead, he was one of your best friends after all. Just be mindful of his motivations for only now seeking you out. Dumbledore is still in the wind, and I bet your absent friend is one of his bootlickers." Said Chad, once again sighing as Sirius' face regained its usual cocky grin.

The man was not short on self-esteem after getting laid, that's for sure.

"Thanks, Harry, I know you had said it before how Remus failed both of us, but I'm sure he has a good reason. You will see, Remus was always the smartest of our group and wouldn't still follow that old bastard's lead, not now after his trial." Responded Sirius with a laugh, trying to already make excuses for the coward that had left him to rot.

He knew differently but let Sirius have his moment of hope. It was best if he saw for himself how thoroughly under Dumbledore's banner the werewolf actually was.

Chad still couldn't believe how obedient and thankful Remus was to Dumbledore, even with how terrible his life was. It was, after all, no better than any other werewolf living in Magical Britain, perhaps even worse since he was thrust into dangerous circumstances and had all his friends killed off.

Then again, magical compulsions were quite common and easy to use. Dumbledore was also not afraid to get his hands dirty to achieve his 'greater good' or remove obstacles in his way.

It would also explain away all the ridiculous choices those close to Dumbledore made, like:

-Harry/Ginny.

-Hermione/Ron.

-Remus abandoning everything he loved then hooking up with Tonks.

-Tonks somehow finding Remus an attractive prospect for a husband.

-Sirius reluctantly living as a fugitive in the place he hated most other than Azkaban and letting Molly Weasley boss him around in it.

-The Potters giving away the Death Shroud when on the run from Voldemort.

-The Order of the Phoenix using non-lethal capture spells when continuously being killed off by Death Eaters.

-Letting Draco get away with terrorising the school and eventually leading a Death Eater assault through the Vanishing Cabinet.

-Everyone being okay with Dumbledore's lack of political prowess with all of his titles and positions, and actually praising him for the fundamental muggle-born rights that he passed into law.

The list went on and on. Though Chad didn't really begrudge him the use of magically compelling people to follow his lead. After all, he did the same, even more thoroughly and on a larger scale. It was why he was so paranoid in the first place.

Wizards and witches were a ticking time bomb that Chad wanted to negate before they went off. At the end of the day, morals and righteousness were all well and good until you either lost something you loved, got killed, or both!

Ned Stark from Game of Thrones was the perfect example. He died with honour intact, but so did the rest of his family and the country under his protection!

Even in modern society, might makes right, it was just mostly done more economically than through the use of violence. And with the easy access and availability to mind magic, not to mention its difficulty to detect, there was no way Chad wasn't going to use it. Especially when his enemies did.

Which was why when Sirius returned a couple of hours later frustrated and angry at his last living friend, Chad was not surprised. There was simply no way Remus Lupin was not under Dumbledore's control, whether from emotional blackmail using his gratitude for attending Hogwarts or something more sinister and magical.

Either way, Chad had always viewed him as an enemy, and the only thing that worried him was Sirius hurt feelings. But this had long ago been accounted for, and when Rita Skeeter 'turned up' to comfort his godfather, they didn't emerge from his room until the next morning, even when loud moans and furniture being destroyed echoed through the house.

Had they not heard of the Silencing Charm? Chad had quickly cast it when the noise reached his room, that was on a completely different floor. He had no desire to listen to his godfather rail Rita Skeeter, no matter how hot she now was.

And when they did finally emerge from their debauchery infused seclusion, Sirius had a massive grin on his face when he announced they were engaged to be married.