There it was. Remus touched upon those very questions with others, but never Harry. For one, Harry never asked at home and even if he had, Remus wasn't sure how honest he could have been then. For another, no other version of him here asked either. That was cowardly, Remus knew, but he was afraid of losing Harry. He always had been. Harry was a marked child in more ways than one.
"We met," Remus said with a small smile, "You just don't remember it." It hadn't been long before the Potters needed to go into hiding, but Remus never forgot his brief time with the baby. "Honestly? I wasn't allowed." He paused. "And it sounds as pathetic of an excuse out loud as it does in my head." Hindsight was twenty twenty. "Albus was certain it was the only way. He was so certain that you needed to know nothing about any of us, any of our world, until...until you were ready." Like he'd ever be ready to face a war. "I've been caught up here," he added. "About the war and things after it...things that made me question..." Well, Dumbledore, but Remus refused to pin the blame on him. Remus was an adult. He could have said no. "Question those decisions." He glanced over. "I just wanted you to be alright and I thought the Order knew what we were doing, even if it killed me to stay away." And it had. Harry was the last tie to James and Lily. Remus felt responsible not only out of love for that boy, but also out of loyalty to them. "I've made a lot of mistakes, Harry."