Red Roses2: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

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Chapter Nine: Teenager Problems

Harry and Ron weren't talking to each other. They hadn't completely made up about the argument back at the Burrow, and now that Ron thought that Harry was lying to everyone about not putting his own name into the Goblet and was jealous, Hermione wondered whether they would ever speak to each other again. Harry told Hermione about what Remus had said, and to Hermione, with everything that was happening, it was a good thing that Harry had someone who could understand being misunderstood.

"Ron's being such a stupid prat! Does he think I want this or something? Damn it, someone's trying to kill me with this tournament and my best friend's jealous about not having his head wanted by someone!" Harry shouted to her one day.

"Why don't you go to Remus with this?" Hermione suggested. All of Harry's anger drained out of him.

"Er – I don't want to bother him with it. I mean . . . kind of stupid that a fourteen-year-old can't handle his friend-problems without going to someone decades older than him." Hermione blinked and tilted her head, a searching look in her eye.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"It's not that. I mean, it kind of is – it's complicated! Let's pretend I never said anything."

Hermione moved herself to where Ron sat after Harry left. "Ron, I need to talk to you. Without eavesdroppers," she added. Seamus and Dean shrugged and concentrated solely on their lunch.

"If this is about Harry -."

"It is about Harry, but not about your argument. Correction: arguments." Ron looked up at her. "It's about Harry and Lupin." Ron cringed. "Will you get over it?" Ron shook his head. She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, did you know that he's afraid of going to him with his problems?" Ron completely ignored his food after hearing that.

"He is?" Hermione nodded. "Why?"

"I think it's because he's scared of looking like a little kid. I mean, Lupin is a full grown adult and everything. I think part of Harry thinks that if he acts like he's clueless about how to deal with everyday problems – like an argument – that Lupin might want to, well, have someone who's his own age."

"That might not be such a bad idea," Ron muttered.

"Ron!"

"What?"

"Harry doesn't exactly have a lot of people who care about him with all their heart. With the circumstances of this relationship, the only way it can stay together is if they – well – love each other, no matter what happens to them. Kind of like your parents." Ron cringed more than he ever did, and ever will.

"Hermione! You just compared Harry and his lover to my parents! Do you realize how gross that is?" Ron exclaimed, causing many people to look over at them. At the darkest glare Hermione could muster, everyone looked away and didn't dare listen in.

"Forget about how gross it is, Ron. I'm being serious. I really think what Harry has for Remus is really . . . love." Ron shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "What?"

"Do we have to talk about this?" Hermione stood up abruptly.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO ACT LIKE A CHILD ABOUT THIS? IT'S NOT LIKE TALKING ABOUT IT IS GOING TO BRING ABOUT THE PLAUGE! IT'S AN ELEMENT OF LIFE, RON! WHY DO YOU ACT LIKE IT'S UNNATURAL?" Hermione shrieked and stormed out.

Rita Skeeter's article had made Harry extremely angry. "So, Potter!" Malfoy taunted as they passed in the hall. "You and Granger going to make out in a closet?" Everyone laughed.

"SHUT UP!" Harry exploded. "SHUT UP! SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND FOR TWO REASONS! ONE: I'M ALREADY TAKEN AND TWO: I'M GAY!" Harry didn't cover his mouth like he did in the Shrieking Shack, not even after he realized what he had said. Everyone stood in the hall, completely silent. "That's right! Famous Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, is GAY! Get used to it, Mr. I'm-An-Ass!" Harry turned around and went to the Charms classroom closely followed by Hermione.

"Harry -."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Just calm down a little before you go into class." Harry looked at Hermione. Hermione almost gasped.

"How?" Harry asked, trying to hold back the tears. "How do I do that when Remus has probably already read that article? What if he believes it that we're dating? What then?" He wiped his tears away before they fell. "I don't want to loose him, Hermione. That nearly happened at the end of last year, just because he gave me a few scratches in his werewolf form." Hermione sighed and wrapped an arm around him.

"He won't ditch you, Harry. He's smarter than that." She smiled reassuringly at him. Harry nodded instinctively. "Ready to go to class?" He nodded again. "Okay."

The main source of gossip was Harry's confession. It somehow didn't reach Rita Skeeter, thankfully. It followed Harry everywhere, but he didn't care. Not anymore. He was glad, actually. They finally knew something about the real him. He fancied blokes. People tried not to talk about it in front of him in case they were being rude, and most boys didn't want to be caught talking about it in case some people got the wrong idea. Malfoy still hadn't recovered from the shock, and was probably busy praying that Harry didn't find him attractive, so he wasn't taunting Harry for it yet.

On the Hogsmeade weekend, Harry and Hermione searched over Hogsmeade for Remus. "He said he got a job here," Harry said once they searched almost every place in Hogsmeade. The three places they hadn't checked yet were the Post Office, the Hog's Head, and the Shrieking Shack (the last one for obvious reasons).

"We'll find him," Hermione said reassuringly. "There's still the Post Office." Suddenly Rita Skeeter popped out of no where.

"Hello Harry! Fancy meeting you here!" Rita greeted. "Mind if I have a word?"

"Yes," Harry said. Rita grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the Three Broomsticks.

"Just a quick interview. The news about your fancy has reached my ears, and I want to do an article - ."

"Too bad! Let go of me!" Some passersby stopped walking to watch the struggle. Hermione pulled out her wand, pointed it at Rita's hand, and next moment, Rita was screaming that it burned. Harry and Hermione bolted.

"Bring him back here, little girl!" Rita called after them.

"I am NOT little!" Hermione retorted to herself as they took refuge in the post office. Harry panted and sat down on the floor.

"I hope we find Remus soon. I don't want to run into her again." Harry stood up and stared around the post office. There were hundreds of owls in all different sizes, colors, and species. There were some third years, a fifth year, and a seventh year standing around, but Harry didn't see a thirty-four-year-old man. Seeing Harry's crestfallen look, Hermione walked over to a desk and rang the little bell. A short man who looked as ancient as Dumbledore walked in behind the desk.

"How may I help you?" he asked.

"My friend and I were wondering if a man named Remus Lupin was working here," Hermione replied in a professional way. The man thought about it for a moment, then said, "He works here on weekdays. Why?"

"He was a professor up at Hogwarts last year, we knew he had a job here in Hogsmeade and we wanted to say hi." The man raised an eyebrow up at her.

"You knew he had a job here when I gave it to him on this week's Monday? I know he hasn't had much time to send a letter himself because I've had him really busy here." Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"That's weird." Hermione commented. "Thank you for the information."

"Why would he lie?" Harry asked her as they left the Post Office.

"Maybe he just doesn't want to worry you." They were quiet for a long time.

Harry didn't talk much about Remus after that, even though Remus was visiting every weekend after that. He had been hesitant to tell Remus that he'd be fighting dragons of all things – so he didn't. He just said that he had a feeling that simple spells might actually help instead of complicated ones. So Harry and Remus, and occasionally Hermione, spent a lot of their weekend time in the library for hours trying to find spells that would be helpful. Harry every once in a while had to stop Hermione from spilling the fact that he was going to fight a dragon.

"Why won't you tell him?" Hermione asked.

"I don't want him to worry more than he is," Harry muttered.

"Harry, I don't think he'd appreciate it when he finds out you've been keeping secrets."

"Well, he's been keeping secrets too!"

"But none of this magnitude."

"Does it matter?" Harry snapped at her as he dragged out his Charms homework. Hermione frowned. Sometimes she wondered whether Ron, or she, would be able to handle a relationship better than Harry. Somehow, she didn't think so.

"The task's dragons."

Cedric stopped picking up books and looked up at him suspiciously. "How do you know?"

"Accident." Harry helped Cedric pick up his books. "Krum and Fleur already know because Madam Maxime and Karkaroff know and they'd probably tell them." Cedric stared at the fourteen-year-old. He was way too young to be dating Lupin.

"Sorry."

"For what?" Harry looked up at him, confused.

"You know . . . being forced to date a werewolf." Cedric was surprised when Harry laughed.

"No, no, no. Remus isn't forcing me into anything." Harry had a small smile on his face that Cedric had only seen one place before: on Cho's face. "He's been great. Too bad Ron doesn't get that." Harry's voice changed from a loving tone to sounding bitter. Harry gave him the rest of Cedric's books. "See you later."

Cedric stared after him. He didn't think he approved of it – or even if he wasn't grossed out by it – but if someone could really be that happy about it, maybe it wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be.

Remus looked after Hermione as she ran off crying from the nurse's tent. Harry wasn't that badly hurt, was he? Paranoid, Remus hurried up. When he entered, he found Harry and Ron shrugging and Harry saying, "I don't think we'll ever understand girls." Remus smiled at the comment. "Hey, Remus!" Ron turned around to see his best mate's boyfriend standing in the tent door.

"Er – I guess I'll just leave you two alone for now," Ron mumbled and left. Remus couldn't help but feel a bit better that Ron was now able to be comfortable enough about it to let them be alone in a room.

"How's your arm?" Remus asked.

"It's okay. For Madam Pomfrey, a graze on the arm is nothing hard to heal."

"Why dragons of all things? All four of you could have gotten yourselves killed, especially since you had no idea!" Remus suddenly stopped his ranting. "Wait, did you know that the first task was dragons?" Harry lowered his gaze.

"Yeah," he answered honestly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't want to worry you. Why did you lie about having a job when you were going to get one?"

"Also didn't want to worry you." Remus sat next to Harry. "Are you sure your arm's all right?"

"Remus!" Smirking, Harry gave his boyfriend a kiss which Remus returned.

Rita Skeeter stood outside of Harry's medical tent and when seeing who Harry's boyfriend must be, she began to pull out her Quick-Quotes Quill.

"Don't even think about it," said someone behind her. She turned around and saw Cedric and Krum pointing their wands at her. "You're not putting that in an article," Cedric said. Rita stopped all movement and put her hands above her head.

"Potter doesn't need to be emvarrassed like vat," Krum spat at her. He inched his wand a little closer. Rita Skeeter gulped.

"If word gets out, we'll hunt you down, hear me?" Cedric threatened. Rita nodded and she scurried away. Cedric and Krum stowed their wands away. "Troublesome woman."

"Hov you find out?" Krum asked Cedric.

"When Snape was talking about the definition of 'trustworthy'. You?"

"Ven I vos valking tovards ve ship. I sav vem kissing on the lake's shore. Do you knov if Potter is being forced?" Cedric shook his head.

"I don't know for sure. I mean, I talked about it with him a little bit, and by the sound of it, he isn't, but . . . what if he's being tricked into thinking it's his choice? What if he's under a spell?" Krum frowned at Cedric's comments.

"He's too young for a relationship vith someone like him." Krum stated. Cedric nodded.

"Nothing we can do about it, though. Unless we want a werewolf after our heads." Krum and Cedric shuddered at the thought of being torn to shreds.

"So ve keep vis to ourselves?"

"Yes. Agreed."

"Agreed. Cross my heart."

"Likewise."

"What am I going to do for the Yule Ball? I can't take Remus! They'd get him thrown into Azkaban!" Harry exclaimed as he sat in the deserted Common Room with Ron and Hermione. Harry paced rapidly. It made Ron and Hermione dizzy just to look at him. Harry suddenly stopped. "Hermione, do you think you could - ?"

"Sorry, Harry, but I'm already going with someone," Hermione said, frowning. Harry turned to Ron.

"Ron - ?"

"No way. Nuh-uh. Not happening," Ron replied.

"Ron! Please!"

"I'm not having the entire school thinking I'm gay." Ron crossed his arms and tried not to look at Harry's desperate face.

"But who else can I go with? No one in their right mind is going to go with me in case everyone thinks that they're 'the Boy-Who-Lived's boyfriend'!" Ron determinedly refused to look at Harry. "Hermione, do you have any ideas of who - ?"

"Maybe Ginny, if she would like to. Why don't you ask her?" Hermione asked. "Tomorrow, though. Boys can't get into the girls' dorms."

"Hey! Ginny!" Harry called after the red-headed girl. Ginny turned around and was surprised that it was Harry.

"Hey, Harry. How is everything?"

"Not good. Look, er, I obviously can't take my boyfriend to the ball so I was wondering if you'd like to help me not make a complete idiot of myself and go with me."

"Sure."

"Really?"

"I mean, yeah, why not? But on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You have to tell me everything about your relationship. Is it true that werewolves are sexually unstable? Has sex been fun?"

"Er – no, and I haven't had any."

"Oh! Well, what about kissing?"

"Amazing."

As the Yule Ball went on, Harry began to feel more and more unnerved. He felt like he was cheating on Remus by dancing with Ginny, which was stupid since it wasn't like he was snogging Ginny or even going out with her – it was just a stupid dance. Still, the feeling wouldn't go away. His feelings must've had physical symptoms because Harry had to sit down and have some butterbeer in order not to feel like he was going to vomit. Ginny sat with him, worried.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked.

"No," Harry muttered. More quietly, he said, "I can't help but feel like I'm being a two-timer." Ginny put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's good that you care about his feelings so much, but it's a dance – with someone you're not even attracted to. There's nothing wrong about it and he probably wouldn't be upset."

"Knowing that doesn't make the feeling go away. Damn it, I knew I should've told him about coming here with you, but I didn't want to sound stupid – like I was worried over nothing." Harry put his face in his hands. "Mind if I go get some fresh air?"

"No. I can find someone else to dance with." Harry's mouth twitched upward. He left the Great Hall and wandered around the grounds. He sucked in the cold winter air, his worries not disappearing. Maybe he should sneak into Hogsmeade. Remus obviously was staying somewhere there. Before he could make up his mind, someone covered his eyes with his hands.

"Guess who," came the familiar loving voice.

"Hi, Remus," Harry greeted. Remus removed his hands and Harry turned around and smiled at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't let my lover be here all by himself during an event like this," Remus replied, winking flirtingly at him.

"Speaking of the Yule Ball, I went with Ginny."

"Hermione said something like that in the letter she sent. She was under the impression that you were having a hard time with deciding things lately."

"Heh, wonder where she got that idea," Harry lied. Yes he was having trouble with deciding things lately. He didn't want Remus to think that he was a child by coming to him with hundreds of problems, but Harry couldn't help but yearn to talk to him about them. He knew Remus could make it all better. Remus could make anything better for him, it seemed. Remus could tell that Harry was lying, but he didn't pressure him. Harry would tell him when he was ready. Remus drew Harry closer to him and gave him one of the best snogs Harry had ever had. A growling sound came from nearby. They parted, and just in time, because Sirius in his dog form took a bite in Remus's leg. Remus winced.

"Sirius, mind telling me why you did that?" Remus asked. Sirius temporarily transformed into a human.

"Would you care to watch where you put your hands?" Sirius retorted, jerking his head. Remus looked down, blushed, and removed his hands off of Harry's bum.

"Now I think I deserved that." Remus said. Sirius was taken aback by the glare his godson gave him.

"What?" Sirius questioned. Harry rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to be that protective, Sirius. I mean, it's Remus." Harry commented

"It's not that I don't approve, but I have to draw the line somewhere! When you're overage, you can decide where he touches you and where he doesn't." Sirius argued. Remus thought about that prospect for a few moments, blushed furiously, and erased the thought from his mind.

Dumbledore thought, and thought, and thought, and thought, and thought, and thought, and thought about who Harry would have to save. It was obvious (to those who knew) that Remus was Harry's 'most prized possession', but how would the rest of the school react to that? How many would get the correct idea? He didn't want to purposely embarrass any of his students like that, and he certainly didn't want to get Remus arrested. Dumbledore believed that if Harry had his heart broken, whether by Remus or someone tearing the two apart, then Harry wouldn't be the same. Ever. Until he got back with him. Dumbledore sighed and stared up at the ceiling. This was supposed to be easy.

Dumbledore had eventually decided on it being Remus.

"Why did you 'ave to save a fifty-year-old man, 'Arry?" Fleur asked.

"I'm thirty-four!" Remus corrected indignantly. Hermione and Harry burst out laughing. Krum and Cedric just stared at him.

"I vought he vos forty," Krum admitted.

"Me too," Cedric agreed. Remus barely registered that Krum actually had an idea of who he was. Harry tried to stop laughing so that he could answer Fleur.

"He's one of my parents' best friends, so yeah. Kind of like another relative." One that's extremely close and is the best kisser I've ever known. And is so hot it's almost unreal. Harry added in his thoughts. Fleur seemed to buy it because she didn't say anything about it after that.

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