Chapter 13

The rest of the summer went by fairly quickly after that. Remus and Harry stayed at Hogwarts since Remus was the new DADA professor. Harry couldn't quite decide if this was his best or worst summer ever. On one hand, his uncle beat the crap out of him, he had the whole guardianship thing going on, and Sirius had just died, but on the other hand, he didn't have to see his 'family' ever again, he was staying at Hogwarts, AND he had a guardian that actually cares for him. And, an added bonus, Harry now had the Quidditch pitch to himself. Safe to say, that was where he spent most of his time when Remus was doing post-school stuff.

Speaking of Remus, Harry had noticed something off about him. Whenever they were alone, Remus seemed to be trying to tell him something only to change his mind and he seemed almost uncomfortable whenever Harry mention something off about his physical appearance. The last day of summer vacation for example. Remus was reading on the couch as Harry was finishing some editing on his homework when he mentioned the weird color change of his eyes.

Harry set his quill down and looked at Remus. "Remus, is it possible for your eyes to change color as you grow older? Naturally, I mean, not with a spell of some sorts."

Remus set his book down. "There have been some cases of that happening. Nothing big like bright blue turning to brown. More like light green turning into a darker green or something like that. Why do you ask?"

"What about…" Harry started to ask, ignoring Remus's question for now. "…pure green to amber?"

Remus froze. "Why are you asking?" He asked cautiously.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Professor Snape made me angry so I stormed off into the bathroom to cool down and when I looked in the mirror my eyes were amber, but then they turned back to green after I had cooled down."

Remus shifted comfortably in his seat. "Harry, there's something I need to tell you. It's important."

"What?" Harry asked, his green eyes staring at him.

Remus hesitated. He opened his mouth a few times, only to shut it again. "You need to start occlumency lessons with Professor Snape again." He said quickly, before sighing heavily with relief and disappointment.

Harry eyes widen. "What? I can't. Remus, he didn't teach me anything last year. I-I…do I have to?" He cried out. The subject of his eyes was quickly forgotten.

Remus nodded glad the subject was changed. "Yes, Harry. You need to learn to block your mind if you want to know more Order information."

Harry groaned, but nodded. "I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

The next day Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for his friends. Though he couldn't wait to see his friends, he also dreaded all the questions that would come up. He was also dreading the stares and gossip.

The doors opened and the students came in. "Harry!" Most of the students greeted him. "How are you?" But there were only two voices that he really paid attention to and their voices carried above the others. "Harry!"

"Hey Ron, Hermione." Harry greeted as Hermione gave him a tight hug.

She stepped away from him. "How are you? We heard what happened."

Harry shook his head. "I really don't want to talk about it right now. Let's just try to get through the Welcoming Feast."

Harry quickly got caught up in the school routine, going to classes, chatting with his friends, and doing homework. It seemed to Harry that this year just might be a normal year for once. No crazy DADA professor, no giant snakes, no escape convict, no tournament, and no visions, so far that is.

People were giving him odd looks because of what happened over the summer. Harry tried his best to ignore them. He was use to stares by now, but this was a different kind of stare. This stare was now full of pity and shock, like it was a huge shock that Harry Potter of all people had been abused…by a muggle no less.

It was the third week into the school year that the information on his occlumency lessons. He was eating breakfast with Ron sitting next to him and Hermione sitting across from him.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry cringed before looking up at his Potion Master. "Yes, sir?"

"The classroom, tomorrow morning at eight. Don't be late." The tall black-haired man sneered.

Harry kept back his own sneer as he nodded. "Yes, sir. I won't, sir." He watched as Snape walked away before groaning. "Great, Saturday morning with Snape. Yippy." He said sarcastically.

Hermione looked sternly at him. "It's for your own good, you know."

Harry nodded. "I know, I know. That doesn't mean I have to like it."

Ron snorted. "Who would?" He asked before shoving some more food into his mouth.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "For Merlin sake, Ron, don't shove that much food into your mouth at once."

The stone room was dark, with only a few torches lit around the room. Harry sat on a thrown like chair, watching the two Death Eaters pull a muggle girl into the center of the room, where a table with straps has been placed. Harry felt as sick rush of glee as he watched the girl scream and struggle. He laughed. "Take them off." He ordered his Death Eaters. "Then strap her to the table."

The two Death Eaters laughed as the tore off the muggle girl's clothes. She screamed and struggled pointlessly as then strapped her to the table. Harry walked towards the crying girl and ran a finger down her cheek. "Pity. Such a pity. If your blood wasn't filthy, you would have been a beautiful pureblood." He chuckled then turned away. "Have your fun, boys." He said to the two loyal Death Eaters. Her screams of pain filled the air and Harry felt disgusted at the pleasure he was feeling.

Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted them. Harry glared at the door. He could feel the anger inside him for the person her dared interrupted. "Enter!"

A Death Eater entered and boy. "I'm sorry, my Lord, but something…weird popped up with Potter's blood."

Harry feet the urge to tab his foot on the ground impatiently, but held it back. "Well…what is it!"

The Death Eater jumped. "Well, my Lord, it seems to have a mixture of werewolf blood in it."

"That's…unexpected." Harry's mind started to wonder. "Crucio!" The red curse hit the Death Eater and he started screaming. "That is for making me impatient. Go, find out why there would be werewolf blood in Potter's blood." He ordered.

The Death Eater stumbled out of the room. Harry spun around and faced the bleeding girl on the table. Her screams had stopped, so weak she was. His two Death Eaters just finished fulfilling their pleasure and was standing off to the side, pulling their robes back on. "Time to die, girl." He pointed his wand at the frightened, broken girl and a moment later a flash of green light hit her.

Harry sat up in bed with a scream that woke half the common room. He felt this powerful pain at his heart and it hurt a lot. His body started shaking from the cold air hitting his sweaty body.

"Harry! Harry!"

Harry shook himself out of his daze and saw Ron sitting on the edge of his bed shaking his shoulders. "Wake up!"

"I'm up." His voice sounded husky from his screaming.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up and clearly saw Hermione standing behind Ron with a concern look. "It was just a vision. Nothing to worry about." He said, expecting the 'you should go to Dumbledore' speech.

Instead he got, "Harry, your eyes are glowing amber."

"What?"

"She's right." Ron said. "Your eyes are glowing. It's almost the only thing I can see right now."

Harry looked around and noticed for the first time that there were no lights on. The only lights was coming from the stars outside, but Harry could clearly see the other boys sitting up in their beds with their eyes wide and the details on Dean's West Ham football team poster. He felt uncomfortable seeing things in the dark when he shouldn't.

Harry laid back down and closed his eyes. Life is getting to tiring for him. "Harry?" He heard Ron, questioned. "I'm fine, Ron. I don't want to talk about it tonight. Go back to bed, all of you, please." He said, sounding exhausted.

There was a moment of hesitation, but Harry could hear Hermione leaving and everyone else snuggling into their beds. It wasn't long until he can hear Ron snoring.

Harry opened his eyes again and lifted up his hand into his vision. 'Werewolf blood?' He was tired to think about it right now. He'll have to wait until the morning. He surprisingly was able to fall back to sleep.

Harry pushed his feet closer to the potions room, where Snape should be waiting for him. It was early, but he wanted time to be alone. The vision he had of Voldemort disturbed him and he wanted some time to think. Harry pushed the strap of his bag farther onto his shoulder. After the lesson, he hoped to escape outside and do some reading or homework, so he brought his school bag along.

He reached the potions room and knocked on the door. There was no response. He knocked on the door again. "Professor Snape?" When there was no response again, Harry opened the door. The potion room was empty. Harry sighed and decided to wait for him. He placed his bag on one of the desk and made his way into the room, closing the door behind him.

"…Harry Potter's father. I'm not stupid, Lupin."

Harry and Remus's name upon Snape's lips caught his attention. Looking at the door on the left wall by the desk, Harry noticed light coming from an open crack. He quietly moved closer to the door and peered into the crack. He can just make out Snape standing on one side of his desk with Remus on the other. Remus looked pale and shocked.

"How—how do you know? Nobody but Albus knows. I told no one else and I trust Albus not to tell anyone."

Snape sneered. "I've been a spy for years, Lupin. I can see the physical change in the blasted boy. His hair is now dark brown and slowly become more and more light and it is actually lying flat on his head for once. His eyes are another thing. They seem to now hold amber sparks in them. Though I do wonder when and how it happened. Last I checked, Lily and Potter were married not you and her."

Remus stood straighter. "If you remember correctly, Severus, James and Lily never had any real romantic relationship. They dated, maybe, once or twice and that was it."

Snape's eyes narrowed angrily at him. "Of course they did." He argued.

"No, they didn't. You just thought they did because you were jealous. They treated each other like brother and sister not husband and wife. I mean, yeah, James did have a little crush on her the first few years of school, but that blew over once they really got to know each other. That's when she and I…" Remus trailed off, looking uncomfortable talking about this subject with Severus Snape.

"Really? Then why were they married?"

"Think, Severus. If you think you're so smart then you should know the answer. I'm a werewolf. She was pregnant with my child. We weren't married."

"I'm guessing he doesn't know." Snape stated plainly.

"Huh?"

"Does Harry Potter know?" Snape asked, slowly, like he was talking to child and not a full-grown man.

Remus shook his head. "No, Harry does not know I'm his biological father."

Harry gasped in shock and quickly backed away from the door, but apparently he made to much noise doing so.

"What was that?" He heard Snape ask.

"Harry." He heard Remus breath out.

Harry quickly ran towards the door, forgetting to pick up his bag. He can hear Remus behind him. "Harry! Harry, wait! Let me explain! Harry!" But Harry wasn't listening to him. He ran out of the room and quickly disappeared down the corridor.

Remus could only watch as Harry ran farther and farther away from him…as his son ran away from him. He thought with a painful pang in his heart. This was not the way he wanted Harry to find out about it.

Remus made his way back inside the potion room, with heavy shoulders. Severus was now sitting at his desk, grading papers, looking like nothing had happened. "You should have told him when you had the chance." He taunted.

Remus gave him a weak glare as he picked up Harry's forgotten bag. He walked back inside Severus's office to grab the wolfsbane potion, the whole reason he came down to the dungeons. He gave Severus a brisk thank you before leaving the room.

Harry ignored his two friends as they talked or, in Ron's case, complained about their DADA homework. They hadn't noticed Harry sitting down on the couch yet. He was glad they hadn't. How was he going to explain why he was there instead of with Snape? Or why he looked so angry, confused, and shock? He couldn't and didn't want to talk about the vision he had last night either. But he also didn't want to be alone right now. What he had overheard confused him and angered him.

Harry looked back at the two doing their homework and decided he lied to himself. He needed to be alone. He needed to think about things in silence. He sighed and quickly ran out of the common room, almost bumping into Neville on his way out. He had to go somewhere where no one would be able to reach him, where no one will know where he was. That meant, he had to go somewhere that wasn't on the freakin' Marauders Map. He pace speed up as an idea came to him. He knew exactly where to go. No one would think he'd go there, ever. No one would even think to look there…not like they would be able to access it.

Remus walked to the Gryffindor common room, hoping Harry had gone straight there. He needed to explain to him. Remus needed to talk to him.

He whispered the password and stepped into the crowded common room. He spotted Hermione and Ron by the fireplace arguing about something or other. He quickly made his way over to them, ignoring the looks some of the students were giving him.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley." He said wearily.

They both looked up, surprised. "Professor!"

He grinned at them. "I was wondering if any of you seen Harry."

Hermione shook her head. "No, Professor. Harry should be with Professor Snape, though, sir."

Remus sighed and set Harry's bag on the couch next to Hermione. "He's not there." The two gave him a confused and concerned look.

"Umm...Professor Lupin?"

Remus turned and saw Neville Longbottom standing behind him nervously. "Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Harry ran out not five minutes ago, sir. He looked upset."

Remus sighed and nodded. "Thank you, Neville." He said, "You have been most helpful." He turned back to Harry's two best friends. "May I borrow the map?"

Ron nodded. "I'll go get it." He ran upstairs and came back down a few minutes later. He handed the map to Remus, looking concerned for his friend. "Do you know what happened to make him upset, Professor?"

Remus gazed at him for a moment before turning back to the map. "I do. If you excuse me." He said before leaving the common room. Once he was out of sight from the common room, he pointed his wand to the map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He looked around the map, looking for Harry's name, but couldn't find it. Remus sighed. He must be in the Room of Requirements. It wasn't on the map. "Mischief managed!" Remus started heading towards the second floor where the room is located.

'It certainly explains the werewolf blood I apparently have in my body.' Harry thought as he threw a pebble into a small puddle. He was sitting cross-legged on the stone ground, right were Ginny had almost had her life sucked out of her. The Chamber of Secrets was the only place he could think of that no one would be able to find him. Even if, by some chance, they knew he was down here they still wouldn't be able to enter…not without Voldemort or himself.

Harry looked at the dead basilisk and shivered. This certainly was the best of the best place to go, but it did provide privacy. He just had to ignore the giant dead snake, though it did smell horrible.

He looked back down at the ground as he thought back to the problem at hand. Remus Lupin, his father? Why didn't Harry know about this before hand? Why didn't he tell him? Why was he living with those sorry excuses of muggles if he had a father? Why didn't Remus come get him? Why did Harry have to live through the abuse? Why couldn't his father be there for him? How did it happen? As for as he knew James Potter and Lily Evans were in love. They loved each other with one of those fairy tale type of love. Their story was a rich romance novel. He never heard anything about his mother and Remus, of all people, having any type of romantic relationship.

Harry felt tears of frustration start to cloud his eyesight. He must have misheard or…or maybe they were talking about someone else…some other girl named Lily, some other boy named James, some other boy name Harry. Maybe this had been a whole big misunderstanding. It couldn't possibly be true.

He looked at himself in his reflection in the water. He could see the ember sparkles Snape was talking about and he was right about the hair. Harry, for as long as he can remember, had jet-black hair. Now…now it was a dark brown. He never noticed it before. That was how slowly the color was changing.

He looked away from his reflection. It couldn't be true. Remus wasn't the type to abandon his son at a time when his son needed him the most. Yet, he did.

And here he thought this year would be a calm easy year. Harry snorted. Of course it wouldn't have been. Why would it have? Since when has anything been normal for him?

He laid on the ground and coiled up into a ball, hugging his knees tightly to his chest. This was what he always done when he felt the tiredness and pain of life. After every beating he got, Harry would coil up into a ball in his cupboard and pretend to be somewhere else; protected, cared for, and loved.

He stayed there, thinking little of anything else but the fact that he didn't know he had a father. He didn't know when he fell asleep, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders and the betrayal. For he did felt betrayed.

"I can't find him anywhere!" Remus said, running a hand through his hair as he paced the length of Albus's office. "I've checked the map repeatedly and still no signs. I checked the Room of Requirements, but he's not there." Remus stopped his pacing and stared at Albus, who was sitting calmly at his desk sucking on a lemon drop. "Are you sure you didn't feel anyone go past the wards?"

Albus shook his head. "For the fifth time, Remus, Harry didn't sneak off the grounds. I would have felt him go past the wards if he did. He must be somewhere in the school."

"Albus, I checked the map and the Room of Requirements. What other place isn't on the map that Harry could have gone too?" Remus stressed.

It must have been something he said. Albus had stared at him for a moment, deep in thought before looking sadly at his desk. He lifted his eyes to Remus and said in a quiet voice, "There is one other place."

"Where?" Remus asked, raking his brain for another possible place.

Albus shook his head. "I have no doubt that Harry would be there if he is no place else."

Remus ran a hand through his hair again, a habit he learned from James many years ago. "Albus, where?" He asked again, getting frustrated with the Headmaster.

"I do believe he gone to a place only he can enter."

"No." Remus said as he caught on to what the Headmaster was saying. "He wouldn't have." He said shaking his head in denial.

"The Chamber of Secrets."

Remus sat down on one of the chairs. "Why, Albus? Why would he go there, of all places?" He felt uncomfortable having Harry so out of his reach. Harry needed him, but he couldn't get to him. His cub was in emotional pain because of him and he couldn't do anything to comfort him.

"Because it's the one place he is out of reach. No one can reach him there. He can think about the situation in silence." Albus looked at the younger man with understanding. "Let him be for now, Remus. Give him some space to think about what he heard this morning. He is safe where he is."

"Safe? Albus, he is in the Chamber of Secrets! We don't know what other creatures Slytherin could have kept down there!"

"What does your instinct tell you?" Albus asked with a knowing look in his eyes.

Remus sighed and closed his eyes. He focused on the wolf inside him, testing the bond between the father and son. Wolves have a stronger bond with their cubs then humans with their child. They seem to know when their cubs are safe and when they are in danger. Remus felt no such danger. He opened his eyes and shook his head. "He doesn't seem to be in any danger." He said softly.

Albus smiled and clapped his hands together. "See! He'll be perfectly fine. Let him have a moment to himself to think and reflect on the revelation he received unexpectedly." Remus reluctantly agreed.