Remus watched his charge fondly. He had grown plenty since they had found him. He barely looked anything like the skinny underfed kid they had seen. He was now happy and carefree, the kind of person Lily and James would have raised. He was enjoying his birthday, surrounded by his friends. He had gotten along wonderfully with the Weasleys, even taken a liking to the young girl, having seen him stare at her the way James used to stare at Lily. Yes, Remus was very happy for him.

"What are you doing sulking in a corner?" Tonks asked as she sat next to him.

Remus didn't answer immediately. He peered at the crowd; Harry was enjoying his cake, which Remus baked with the help of Molly, with the younger Weasleys, and Sirius was having an amiable conversation with the couple. "I'm not sulking."

He felt a small soft hand take his. It felt nice. There were many things he liked about Tonks, the way she could make him laugh, the way she would always trip, the way she can have the craziest hair and not think about it, the way she didn't care about being different, the way she didn't care about his condition, the way she would listen whenever Remus would talk about anything, but the best thing Remus really loved about her was the way her hand would fit snuggle in his. He cared for Tonks, deeply.

"Last year, I was in Godric's Hallow getting wasted on the grave of my best friends, alone. Now, I have my best mate back, I have Harry, and I have you," he told her.

She leaned in him. Her hair smelled like citrus. "Last year I too was getting wasted, but for completely different reasons," she said slyly. "The night involved muggle police, taking a dip in a public fountain, and a dancing Romanian monkey."

Remus cocked an eyebrow. "A dancing Romanian monkey?"

She turned to him, her face very close to his. "Don't ask, I don't remember most of the night. The morning after, woke up with a pounding headache next to three gay pole dancers wearing a corset –the dancers not me. I will never forget that night."

He leaned in to her, his lips barely touching her ear. "Most unforgettable morning after, I woke up butt naked with my arse stuck on a park tree, someone, and by someone I mean Sirius, decided it would be entertaining to put a sticking charm on my bum."

She bit her lips. "Well, it is a very cute bum."

For some reason, Tonk's face seemed to be getting closer to his. He could feel his body leaning towards her. She closed her eyes; his could feel his heart racing. She was beautiful, Remus knew that, he had always known that, and her face was getting closer to his. He licked his drying lips and closed his eyes. He had forgotten where they were or who was around, all he knew was that this amazing wonderful woman was in front of him.

CRASH!

They immediately broke apart.

"Bloody-"

"Ronald!"

"- hell"

"Ginny, language!"

Remus saw that Ron apparently had dropped a plate and a piece of porcelain had cut Ginny's leg. Remus stood up, avoiding making eye contact with Tonks, and went to help with the commotion. He healed Ginny's leg as Molly repaired the plate. He also brushed off an apology from Ron.

For the rest of the occasion, he made sure that he didn't have time to talk to Tonks. He spent most of his energy trying not to think about what had almost happened. Predictably, he failed. Even while conversing to Arthur about the use of a muggle telly his mind was elsewhere.

How could he let that happen? She was too young for him! And he was a werewolf! It was unacceptable. He was probably going through a mid-life crisis. Yes he would admit that she was very attractive and that he would be blind not to be attracted to her and yes he has fantasized about what it would be like to kiss her (among other things) but that wasn't the point. He barely could keep a job more than a year, he was much older than she was, she's Sirius' cousin, and he's a werewolf. There's no way they could possibly be compatible. Yes, she made him laugh, yes, he felt happier whenever she was around, yes, she manages to make his heart race and yes, she takes his breath away but she deserved someone much better than him. She deserved someone rich, someone younger, someone more handsome, someone who she could show off, someone she could be proud of, someone who wasn't him.

"You ok mate?" Sirius asked, snapping Remus out of his train of thoughts.

Remus turned to his friend, "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh, because you've been washing the same plate for more than half an hour, I think it's pretty clean."

Remus looked down and saw that it was true. He hadn't even noticed that he was doing the dishes. He had completely forgotten that the guests had already left. He faked a smile. "You know how I like keeping things clean,"

Sirius didn't look convinced but didn't push further. Instead he started fixing the mess.

"Where's Harry?" Remus asked.

"Putting away his presents. It's the first ones he's ever had, he told me," Sirius growled. Remus had a suspicion it would have been. Remus and Sirius had gotten him an album filled with pictures of his parent, Dumbledore sent them James' invisibility cloak (Harry really liked that), and the Weasleys gave him sweets and a few magical items such as a wizard-chess and exploding snaps. "And you know what else? This morning when I greeted him he was almost in tears because it's the first time anyone had ever told that to him. "

"I want to kill them Remus, I want to kill them so badly. If it weren't for the prospect of returning to Azkaban I would have already." Sirius continued.

"They're not worth it," Remus tried convincing him but Remus wasn't convinced himself. "The important thing is that Harry's with us and he's happy." Sirius didn't reply. Remus knew enough about his friend to know that he was in deep thoughts.

Remus heard someone stumbling their way to the kitchens. "Bloody Merlin's beard, what the-" said Harry unable to continue. He had a disgusted look on his face and his looked like he wanted to vomit. One look at Harry's hand and it wasn't difficult for Remus to deduce what had caused it. Remus also smirked at how easily Harry picked up wizarding expressions, the Weasley children were quite an influence.

"Vomit flavour?" Sirius asked, eying the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Harry nodded. Remus suspected that Harry heard the conversation because the boy looked cautious, as he always does when unsure how to act.

Sirius stood up and smiled at Harry, relieving the rising tension. "There's one more present I've been meaning to give you."

Harry smiled bashfully. He ran his hand through his hair and he shifted from one foot to the next. Remus figured he was overwhelmed with the amount of gifts being given to him. "You didn't have to, in fact I think I got more than I deserve. This party and all was just amazing, thank you so much."

Remus saw Sirius's jaw tighten. He knew his friend was still sour about the Dursleys was trying to keep his cool. "It was nothing," Sirius said with a forced smile, waving off Harry's thanks. "You deserved every bit of it. But that's not the pièce de résistance because I have in my hands, tickets to, drum roll please," Remus taps the table lightly with his hands imitating a drum roll for a few seconds before stopping. "Box seat ticket's to the Quidditch World Cup!"

Harry gaped. Remus smiled at the boy's reaction. A month and a half ago Harry wouldn't even know what Quidditch was let alone be excited about the World Cup, a few weeks with the Weasleys had turned the boy into an addict, that and watching the preliminary match with the Brazilian team and the Irish team. He even became an avid supporter of the Holyhead Harpies, much to the disappointment of Ron, who supported the Chudley Cannons. Remus did suspect that Harry's choice of team had more to do with it being the favourite team of a certain female rather than the performance of the team though.

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"How is young Harry progressing with his lessons?" Dumbledore asked when Remus went to meet with him.

"He's doing well. I'm afraid he's still a bit behind some of his lessons though; it's rather difficult to teach him three years worth of lessons in a couple of months. We've tackled the basics, he's very good with spells but the theory and classroom work not so much," Remus answered truthfully.

"The ministry issues an exam for students who are homeschooled so that their studies can be credited to actual school work. Do you think Harry would be able to do it before school starts?"

Remus knew about those examinations. It was common knowledge amongst the werewolf community since most bitten children don't attend Hogwarts. "Well, maybe for the first and second year exam, Harry would be able to pass. But the third year's exams are a bit more advanced than we were able to tackle."

Dumbledore looked at him thoughtfully. Remus could almost see the gears in the old man's head moving. "Perhaps we could provide him with remedial classes while he attends here. Instead of elective classes he will join the third year class for major lessons like Potions, Transfigurations, Charms and Defence."

Remus shook his head. "I don't think he'll be having any problems with Defence, he's excelling at the subject."

The headmaster's eyes twinkled, as it always did. "Then perhaps Herbology, I doubt Harry would be using History class for any other purpose than sleeping anyway."

Remus snorted. It was common knowledge that Professor Binns had the mystical power to make people feel drowsy by the mere sound of his voice. Even he himself had no power to repress the urge to take a nap in the ghost's class. The longest recorded of someone staying awake that he heard was 28.4 minutes "Any luck finding a new teacher for my old position?"

"Oh, if only you didn't mind staying." Remus smiled politely. He did want to keep his job but he didn't want the Headmaster to be bombarded by the ignorant mass. "I've been working on convincing Alastor out of his retirement. The man is half a century younger than I am and he thinks himself entitled to retirement!"

"Mad-eye Moody?" Remus asked in shock. "I would feel sorry for the students if he became their teacher, but then again that might be just what they need, a paranoid ex-auror who knows curses that would make a man shit his pants, literally, and is not afraid to use it. I can almost see Harry's letters not. 'Dear Remus, Today our Professor turned one of his students to a ferret.'"

"He won't do that, there are rules against those things."

"Yes, because we all know how he follows rules," said Remus dryly.

Dumbledore took a yellow candy and placed it in his mouth. He was as addicted to the sweets as Remus was to chocolates, one of the reasons Remus respected Dumbledore. "It would make for an interesting year. Well more interesting considering what's going to take place in school."

Remus nodded, he had heard about the rumours that the Triwizard Tournament was taking place. He remembered when a few seventh year students had gone to Bulgaria to represent their school. He had forgotten who was chosen but he did remember that Hogwarts was second place, first was Beauxbatons. It would make for an interesting year with the World Cup and the Tournament in the same year. The Ministry seemed to be trying their best to make their foreign relations work.

"Regarding Harry, I'll ask Minerva to make his schedule work," said Dumbledore as Remus stood to leave.

Remus nodded and bid the professor a good bye.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was cold, very cold. Not the kind of cold that's felt during winter but the kind that felt like something was going to happen, something big, something bad, very bad. There was something out there, something unusual. It made his heart speed up at an alarming rate. This wasn't good.

Where was he?

The sky was clear, the moon shinned brightly illuminating the place enough for him to see where he was – a cemetery –but not enough to give him comfort.

He could barely make out a tombstone. It was grimy and old. It didn't look well kept and it must have been years and years since someone last visited. There was something about this tombstone that looked very menacing. Thought maybe the reason for that was because it was incredibly dark and misty, not at all a good time to be in a graveyard.

On top of a tombstone was a figure of an angel, but it didn't look angelic. In fact it looked evil. The wings were broken, its face had a crack in the middle, and its eyes seemed to be in pain. But that's stupid, statues don't show emotions, do that? He felt a chill run through his back. This was really bad. Something was coming. He had to leave.

How did he get there? Where was he? How does he get out?

He couldn't move. He wanted to, more than anything else he wanted to but he couldn't. His feet were frozen, his heart pounding and his breaths ragged. What was out there?

He heard something behind him and he turned. It was just an owl flying by. It rattled him a bit too much. He had a heart time keeping his calm. He could feel cold sweat trickling down his forehead. His hands were shaking. Almost instinctively he brought out his wand. It was odd how fast he had grown accustom to having it with him all the time.

"W- who's out there?" he tried yelling but it came out as a raspy whisper. He was terrified of whatever might answer.

There was laughter. The most sinister laughter he's ever heard.

His forehead began to burn. It was the most painful experience he's ever had to endure. It felt like a white hot blade was being used to split open his forehead. There was nothing like it. He wanted to die. He wanted to just die.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was supposed to be easy. Harry was happy right? He should be happy. Why was it so difficult?

Sirius ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly. It's been difficult dealing with Harry for a while. It seemed like the happy phase was over and suddenly Sirius realized he didn't know Harry much at all. He tried getting to know the boy, Marlin knows he tried but he seemed closed off.

It started just before Harry's birthday. Simple things like going out without permission and not coming back until it was late, answering back rudely at times or disobeying some instructions. Ok, well, maybe they weren't simple. But Harry was a teenage boy, teenage boys do those things. Right?

The door banged open. Sirius glanced at the kitchen clock and saw that it was half past two. He didn't need to turn to know it was Harry, he could smell the stench of cigarettes all over the youngster. Sirius himself was a rebel as a teen. He knew what Harry was going though, maybe not exactly but he knew enough.

"You're still up?' Harry said in casual surprise.

It bothered Sirius that Harry didn't even care that he got home very late. When he was young he tried very hard not to get caught since his mother wasn't the nicest person, his father on the other hand was too busy with many of his mistresses. He knew his mother wasn't a good person, he knew some of the punishments he received were unwarranted but he also knew that others he truly deserved. But could he really punish Harry?

"Sit, we need to talk," Sirius told Harry before he would go to his room.

Harry cocked his head in annoyance but sat down on the dining table with Sirius nonetheless. "What's up?"

Sirius didn't answer immediately. "You've, uh, been going out a lot haven't you?"

Harry shrugged. "I like taking walks."

"You should start coming home earlier."

Harry glared at him. Sirius knew that this was going to be difficult he had no idea just how much.

"Why should I?" Harry asked daringly.

Sirius sighed tiredly. Harry was egging him on, he knew that. He didn't know what to do. He knew that Harry was waiting for him to get angry. Why? Sirius didn't know. "It's not right to be wandering about this late at night, especially when you don't even ask permission from us,"

"Permission? I need permission from you just so I could go out? I'm not a prisoner you know, I have the right to go out when I want."

Sirius flinched when Harry said the word prison. A year out of that blasted cell and he still flinched at any reminder of it. But he supposed that Harry was right. He didn't really have to right to tell Harry what to do. Before he could say anything else Harry smiled, it looked extremely forced. "No, you're right. I'm sorry. I should ask permission."

Sirius didn't know what caused Harry to change his mind. He was expecting an argument from the boy but it was shocking that he suddenly agreed. What was with the complete turn of attitude?

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A message from TemperedRose:

Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews. To Sorcha15, the Weasleys already know he grew up in the streets. Not the details but the gist of it. To Yu Sandra13, I'll see if I can squeeze in a little Dursley revenge. To B00kw0rm92, I didn't watch it, I didn't bother... got too lazy hehehehe. To flower123, I had to alter Hermione's and Ron's characteristics slightly in this since Harry wasn't with them during those times. And yes, I just hinted that you will be seeing Hermione in this thing. Without Harry they didn't go save the Philosopher's Stone, Dumbledore got there in time since Quirrell was never able to get the stone out of the mirror. The Chamber of Secrets never happened since Lucius didn't put the diary in Ginny's cauldron. And I've explained what happened in the events of Prisoner of Azkaban...

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