Harry spent the day in the garden, cutting down some trees and enjoying the sunny weather. Later on he took out a blanket and lay down underneath one of the trees to read in his school books for his last year at Hogwarts.
He remembered his fifth year, and even though this time he wouldn't have Umbridge and his worries about occlumency, he didn't forget how much he already had studied for his OWL's. He didn't doubt that it would be much worse this year.
While he was wondering who would be teaching DADA this year he turned a page and concentrated hard on the next topic – unicorn blood and how it was used for different, quite complicated potions. He was trying so hard to understand that he didn't even realize that somebody came through the back door and joined him on his blankets.
After a while just sitting there and watching Harry, who was obviously working hard on his homework for his last school year, Remus cleared his throat.
Harry jumped, pulled his wand out of his pocket within seconds and turned around. When he recognized Remus he relaxed and smiled sheepishly.
"Um… hi Remus." He choked out and closed his book nervously. He had tried not to think about this talk all day, but now that Remus sat there in front of him the fear came back with all force.
"I didn't mean to startle you," Remus smiled genuinely. When he looked at Harry he saw the fear in the younger boy's eyes and calmly put a hand over his.
"Hey, calm down. We have all the time you need, Harry."
He nodded but his hands were still shaking. Remus wondered what Harry was hiding so deep down, that it was scary for him to talk to him about it.
"Harry, did I ever hurt you?" he asked, after they were silent for a few minutes.
Harry closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Do you trust me?" A quick nod.
Harry felt like the world was turning around him, blood rushed through his body and he needed something to hold on. He panicked.
"What are you scared of?" Remus asked carefully since he didn't know how else to get to Harry.
"I-I'm scared that you will… judge me… or to… h-hurt you." Harry stared at his own knees, while he said that.
Why in hell did he decide to talk to Remus again? But then again it was too late now anyway. He could just say it and get over with it.
"I think I'm gay." He blushed and got up to run. He didn't just tell his former professor that he thought he liked boys, did he?
Remus grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back towards his chest. After holding him for a few seconds he shook his head.
"Harry, you really don't need to be ashamed of that. Whether you like girls or boys really doesn't make any difference at all. You love who you love and we will accept that – all of us. Listen to me, Harry. We all care about you deeply, and when we are… strict about your sleeping or anything like that… we are just worried about you. Listen, all of us made mistakes, but after everything that happened over the past years, we just want you to finally be happy. And how am I supposed to judge you, knowing how you fought for all of us since you were just a boy? After you fought for me, never judging me for the beast I am? You did so much for me, and your friends, and the wizarding world. You would have died for us. No matter what you do, you will always be a part of my family."
Harry looked up at Remus and leaned against him. He felt relieved. Remus still accepted and loved him. Everything was alright. He just felt so loved and so beautiful. What friendship could do to him was just incredible. He would have never guessed.
He closed his eyes and relaxed his sore muscles. He was tired and drifted off to some place between sleep and wake, somewhere between dreams and reality and he felt safe.
They stayed there together without moving much until the sun slowly sank behind the trees and made the house shine and shimmer like fluent gold. It reminded Harry a bit of Felix Felicis, not only the color, but also the feeling he had after this silent afternoon. Remus' warmth let him forget his pain and sorrow, his anger about Ginny's death, his fear of his dreams and what people would say when he returned to Hogwarts. Even though he now was in Ginny's year, there would be many other people from his year repeating along with him, all those who had been hiding in the room of requirements during Snape's time as headmaster.
Remus, as well, felt content just sitting there and blinking in the sun. He felt that Harry trusted him and that he didn't care about the beast. The last time he had somebody that tolerant about it was at Hogwarts when he had met his first real friends…
Harry thought about making supper, but he didn't really feel like moving. Food could still wait, or somebody else would cook – he was sure that nobody would say a word, even though he slightly worried about Sirius in the kitchen. It probably wasn't the best idea for the house, but he really didn't care.
Sirius had gone looking for Remus, but when he saw him with his godson in the garden, he just smiled happily. He as well had been worried about Harry and he was glad that he had finally trusted Remus – as it seemed anyway. He knew that Remus was perfectly great about this kind of talks and decided to leave them their time. It was certainly good for Harry to talk to Moony; he knew that much about his old friend. Sirius still smiled – he was so glad that he got Remus back, even though he had never said it out loud. He had missed the calm wolf more than he would ever say out loud.
Remus and Harry finally moved inside when it got cold. Since it was already relatively late they decided to cook together and that night the kitchen was filled with giggles and laughters.
Later Remus and Harry played a round of wizard chess – they were more or less equal, since Ron and Peter were both absolutely great and had made them play with them on a regular basis during their time at Hogwarts.
It was such a calm and friendly evening that Harry went to bed relatively early without fear of seeing Ginny again, or Fred, or Dobby, or Dumbledore, or Mr. Weasley or any of the others. And really he didn't wake up from his screams the following night, and woke up, feeling stronger than he ever had.
While the days went over he got even closer to Remus. They talked and cooked together, and when Harry would drift off in some sort of depressing thought Remus would tickle him until he forgot what he was even on about. Harry would teach Remus flying, since he never had felt at home on a broom when he was younger, while Remus would tell him everything that he still remembered of his final exams at Hogwarts. Sometimes one of the others would join them, but mostly it was just the two of them, growing closer than they ever had before to anybody else, without even noticing it.
The first time they realized how close they got was when they went swimming, just the two of them, Ron and Hermione both worked so much, that they had hardly had time for each other and wanted to spent the little time together they had left. Sirius had told them that he didn't like swimming since Azkaban. It reminded him too much of the prison and his break out.
Remus remembered a bit too late that he would have to let Harry see his scarred body and was nervous how his close friend would react. He realized that he feared to lose that boy more than he had imagined.
When he had silently opened the buttons of his top, he looked at his feet. He was ashamed of the way his chest was covered with scars; so many, that you could hardly see the skin between them.
However, when Harry realized Remus problem he didn't ignore it or looked away. He looked at him, and when Remus tried to turn away from him he firmly held onto his wrists and looked Remus in the amber eyes.
"You are very beautiful, Remus, never forget that. For me perfection doesn't count, society doesn't count, they have left me down far too many times." He put his hand on Remus' chest where his heart was.
"But you count. You count, because you showed me that I am not the one who is weak. You told me that since I was 13 years old and you always helped me carry on. You never left me down, you never hurt me and you would do anything to make me happy. "
Remus had to bite down on his bottom lip to prevent himself from crying.
And from that moment on Remus knew that he would never let the boy go, because he was certain about one thing: there was nobody like him.
