Disclaimer: I do not own any familiar characters. They belong to the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make money off this, so please don't sue me! Trust me, it's not worth it!

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Chapter 3

Overcoming Grief

All the house tables were missing, leaving only the head table, where all the professors were currently sitting. Harry sat at the far left of the table, next to Remus. After a strained but polite greeting to all the professors, he was quite for the rest of the meal.

As he got up to leave the hall, he noticed Snape sniff the contents of his goblet suspiciously. Harry sat back down in his chair before being overcome by another fit of laughter. Beside him, Remus fought hard to keep a straight face but lost spectacularly as his own deep laugh rang through the hall.

Dumbledore chuckled softly, blue eyes twinkling merrily. "We're glad to see, Mr. Potter that recent events haven't completely robbed you of your sense of humor, and it's so wonderful to hear Remus laugh again."

"Speak for yourself Headmaster," Snape sneered, glaring at them. If looks could kill, Snape would have saved Voldermort the trouble.

Harry just ignored Snape and kept on laughing. It wasn't often that he got the opportunity to laugh at the snarky professor without getting into trouble. Remus noticed Snape's hand twitching to reach for his wand and decided to save Harry from getting hexed beyond recognition.

"Come on Harry, I'll teach you how to play chess."

"Hey! I know how to play chess!" he replied with mock indignation.

Remus chuckled. "Let me rephrase that. I'll teach you how to actually win a game of chess."

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They sat comfortably in the Gryffindor common room playing chess and enjoying each others company. After seven games, Harry finally thought he was going to win, but Remus was once again one step ahead of him.

"Ahhh…I give up! I'm never gonna beat you."

"Of course you're not Harry! The only person that ever beat me at chess was your mother, but now I'm sure you can hold your own against your friends."

"Even Ron?"

"Ah yes, Ron is quite good. I had a game with him last summer... He had a few tricks up his sleeve but I still beat him," he said wistfully. "Sirius followed me around for the rest of the day teasing me about picking on kids."

Harry smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. His eyes looked haunted.

Remus sighed sadly. "How are really doing Harry, and please don't lie to me."

"I'm fine Remus," was his automatic reply.

"Then you're a lot stronger than I am," he said tiredly.

Harry looked at him, really looked at him and saw what the rest of the world didn't. Remus always looked so composed and in control that Harry never thought that anything could really faze him. But now, he saw the man behind the mask. The mask that covered all the pain and sorrow that came from the death of his best friends; from being the last of the marauders.

It was Harry's turn to sigh as he came to a decision. "I'll talk about it if you will."

"Okay."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Harry began. "I miss him Remus... I miss him a lot. I started writing a letter to him last week to tell him how much better the Dursleys were treating me, but then I remembered that he's gone and he's never coming back. And it hurts; more than anything Voldermort or anyone else has ever thrown at me…Merlin, not even the Cruciatus Curse hurt this much... I know that I didn't know him that long and we didn't spend a lot of time together but he was the... the closest thing to a father that I've ever known, and I killed him Remus.."

"Harry, Sirius' death wasn't..."

"I may not have pushed him behind the veil but it is my fault that he was there that night. It was because I didn't practice my Occlumency that Voldermort was able to send me that false vision. It was because of my damn 'hero complex' that he's dead, so don't tell me it wasn't my fault because deep down you know it was my fault."

Harry's voice was so thick with pain and emotion that it broke the werewolf's heart. "Harry, I know it's hard but you have to let go of this guilt you're carrying around. IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT!"

"But-"

"No buts Harry. It was Voldermort's fault and it was Bellatrix's fault, but it was NOT your fault. Harry, you have to stop torturing yourself."

"But my dreams...well they're more like nightmares but-"

"Let me guess, Sirius blames you for his death in these nightmares."

Harry was fighting to keep the tears that filled his eyes and clouded his vision from falling. "Yes. How did you know?"

"I get them too, but not just of Sirius... if only I could be so lucky... no, I have nightmares about your parents too. I even used to get them about Peter when I thought he was dead. They all blamed me for their death. They still do, except for Peter and when he dies, he'll have reason to blame me for it."

"Remus, I don't want you to go to Azkaban because of that rat," he pleaded.

"Save your breath Harry," he said wearily. "I have nothing left to lose."

Remus words hurt him deeply and it was all he could do from breaking down. "Well, it's nice to know that I'm nothing to you."

"What are you talking about Harry?" he asked, concerned.

"Dammit Remus, didn't you hear a thing I said?" Harry snapped, finally losing the battle against his tears. "You might have nothing left to lose but I stand to lose everything."

"Wha-"

He broke down. "You Remus, I would lose you. You're my last connection to my parents and Sirius. You're all I've got left. I know I've still got the Weasleys and Hermione, but it's not the same. We're both alone in this world now."

It broke his heart to see the boy that he considered his own cub so lost. "Come here cub," he said gathering a sobbing Harry into his arms. He too had tears in his eyes. "I promise you Harry, I will never leave you alone in this world."

Harry continued to cry his heart out, finally letting out all the pain, anger, desperation and frustration of the last few weeks. His voice was watery and muffled against Remus' shoulder when he finally spoke. "Don't make me any promises that you can't keep Moony."

"I haven't yet."

They pulled apart a few moments later and wiped their tears, unashamed in each other's presence.

"Aren't we a pair of sob sisters," Harry joked.

Remus smiled. "Too true. Come on Bambi, let's go cheer ourselves up."

"Where are we going, and what did you just call me?"

"We're going to raid the kitchen, and to answer your other question, I called you Bambi. You see, when you were born, all the marauders gave you a nickname. Sirius called you lil' prongs, your father called you pronglet, and I called you Bambi." (A/N: I don't acknowledge Peter as a marauder)

They got up and left the common room. "Don't ever, ever call me that in public."

"Harry, you wound me!" he said clutching his heart dramatically. "Don't tell me that you're embarrassed by your marauder given name."

Harry looked at him incredulously. "Of course I am! Can you imagine if Malfoy ever found out? I'd never live it down!"

"Alright Harry, it'll be our little secret. A nickname between the two of us until we find out what your animagus form is. A code between two loners; A password to comfort each other; A-"

"Alright Moony, I get it!" Harry laughed.

"Good, now let's go bother the house elves for a late night snack."

The two newly light hearted marauders made it down to the kitchens, unaware that they were being watched by a wise old bumblebee.

"This development will make things much easier," he said to himself.

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