Disclaimer: This is purely a writing exercise borrowing the background and characters from the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowlings. The only profit I hope to make is my own personal satisfaction.

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Summary: Summer after 5th year, Harry enters the adult world. He learns to trust, himself and others, as the war approaches and chaos reigns. (not slash) (hp/?)(hg/rw)

A/N Well this was a hard chapter. The Remus/Harry meeting was hard to write, and that part went through several rewrites. I am still not particularly pleased with it. Please keep the reviews coming.

Chapter 4: Walking with a Werewolf.

Arthur Weasley was a good natured man. He had a very easy going and a most curious disposition. It was the curiosity that was killing him now. The object of this curiosity was an unopened letter that had been delivered to him moments ago by none other than the Headmaster's phoenix. Unfortunately, Arthur was in the middle of interviewing Mr. Pickles, a muggle who had bought an enchanted ice-cream maker at a garage sale. Ordinarily, Arthur was the kind of person who would have been delighted to spend quality time with a true to goodness muggle, but he knew that Dumbledore only ever used his phoenix to deliver the most confidential of messages. Another ten minutes of taking notes, and a nice memory charm later, Arthur Weasley was setting up a privacy bubble to read the message.

Dear Arthur,

            Sorry to disturb you at work, but I have a rather important and unusual request to make of you. Considering, the political upheavals that are plaguing the wizarding world, and the rather central role Harry will have to play in the future, the poor boy is sadly uninformed about the topic. The rather imaginative reporting by the Daily prophet does not help either. I was hoping you could arrange a little lecture for Harry. I could always ask Professor Binns, but, I fear that his style may be a bit to dry for our young friend.

            Please think it over, and let my know via the floo by this evening. We can work out the logistics at the same time.

Sincerely,

Albus W. Dumbledore

Headmaster,

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The only part of the request that surprised Arthur was the fact that it was addressed to him. Dumbledore knew a lot of people in the Ministry and the Wizengamot, and his own knowledge about the intricacies of the wiarding political and legal system was legendary.

It was however true that the Ministry was in an uproar. The public announcement of Voldemort's return coupled with Fudge's denials the previous year had set the wizarding world ablaze. Arthur knew of several of his colleagues who were actively pursuing a no-confidence motion. The Wizengamot was finally stirring, and even the Daily Prophet was in on the act. Harry did need a little education on wizard politics. The poor boy was destined to be dragged into the mess sooner or later.

Making up his mind, Arthur crumpled up the letter and set fire to the paper ball with a quick muttered spell. He gathered up the rest of the paperwork and the ice-cream machine, and with a quick pop, he appeared at the ministry. Dodging angry protesters, he made his way to the lifts, and from thereon to his office. Finally, in his safe haven, he activated the wards, and locked himself in. Arthur Weasley had some research to do.

***

Harry was feeling rather strange. For the first time in over two years, he had two nights straight of dreamless uninterrupted sleep. The problem with feeling good and then having nothing to do but to reflect upon the feeling was that very soon, the good feeling was replaced by one of guilt. It seemed rather unfair that he could enjoy a good night of sleep, while Sirius and Cedric, would never enjoy something as simple as waking up, again.

This thought cycle was rather typical. Every time he had a moment to reflect, his mind would somehow wander into the quicksands of his consciousness. Once he was there, he tended to get stuck, and all the monsters of his past would come to feast on his helpless conscience.

A hesitant knocking on his door snapped Harry out of his ruminations. "Come in!" He was rather curious, since no one at the Dursley household had ever extended him such a courtesy.

The door opened gently, and a rather hesitant Professor Lupin stepped inside. Recovering from his surprise, Harry managed a small smile of welcome.

"Hello Harry. May I come inside?"

Harry nodded as he took in the disheveled appearance of the last of the true Marauders. Professor Lupin, due to his lycanthropy, had always had a hard time finding jobs and making ends meet. As a result Harry always remembered him wearing old patched robes. However, this time it was different. A fresh lump of guilt settled to his stomach.

"How are you doing Harry?" Professor Lupin asked as he shut the door.

It was much easier to answer while the Professor's back was turned. "I am fine Professor. And you?"

"I.. I am ok. I will be staying at Mrs. Figg's for a while."

Harry's eyes leapt all over the room. Everywhere, but at the Professor's face. He finally settled on staring at his own feet. A few minutes went by in uncomfortable silence.

"Harry, do you want to take a walk?" The Professor's voice sounded odd and strained in the silence.

A feeling of revulsion came over Harry. The last thing he wanted was pity. He had caused Sirius' death, and he did not want his best friend to forgive him. He did not want Dumbledore to force Remus to walk with him. Squaring his hunched shoulder, he replied, "No! You don't have to do that. Tell Dumbledore that I'd rather stay stuck inside all summer than force my company on anyone!"

The older man's face was a picture of shock and confusion. Slowly, the look faded away to one of anger. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" the werewolf roared. "I am here because I choose to be here! I want to walk with you this summer! I want to spend a little time with you! Harry watched in shock, as the anger slowly drained away from his Professor's face.

"This, Harry, is about me."

Harry was too stunned to speak. He had never seen his father's old friend loose his calm, and the words… the words and their meaning was just too alien to grasp. After gulping a few times, he managed to squeak out, "But why?"

Harry watched with a strange fascination as a rapid series of expressions flitted across the Professor's face. Finally, the older man straightened his back and looked squarely at Harry. "You want to know why I am here? Well then listen! I am here because you are James and Lily's son. I am here because Sirius loved you more than anything else in the world. I am here because I was too afraid to be here before. I am here to honor my best friend's last wish. But most importantly, I, Harry, am here because I want to get to know the person who walked into fire to try and rescue Sirius."

Harry stood up and reached for his trainers. He did not want to resort to words at this moment. Thankfully, Professor Lupin did not make a sound, but stood up silently and led the way outside. The two men, young and old, started walking together in the morning sunshine.

The day had started out rather pleasant, but as the morning passed, the sun got hotter. By the time the sun had reached its apex, Harry was tired and foot sore. They had wandered aimlessly for several hours, and now were on the main street of a neighboring town. Noticing a small outdoor café, Harry motioned to his companion to follow him. They found a quiet table in a corner to rest and sip their drinks.

The mutual silence was finally broken by Professor Lupin.

"Umm .. Harry, do you want to do this walk thing earlier in the day? I mean, before it gets this hot. So I guess the evening would be fine too. I have all day you know. Dumbledore has put me on leave for a while."

Harry couldn't help but smile at the Professor's obvious discomfort. "Yes, Professor, that does sound like a good idea." His smile faded away to discomfort of his own as he continued. "Er .. If you have all day, you could visit right? I mean we could chat and do other things than just walk."

It was the older man's turn to smile. "Yes, I would like that. Oh by the way, please stop calling me Professor. Remus or if you prefer, Moony, will do just fine."

As, the ice melted, the conversation became much easier. Not much easier, but the silences in the middle slowly became more comfortable. Harry told Remus some of the details of the past year's DA club and how much they had learnt. He also thanked Remus for helping him with the Patronus Charm, and told him about how he had got to use the charm in the defense OWL practical. Remus talked about his own OWLs and the enormous amount of studying he remembered having to do his fifth year. The two ended up ordering lunch at the little café and spending a leisurely afternoon alternately chatting for a while and just sitting in silence and enjoying the day.

The sun was setting in glorious pinks and oranges by the time Harry and Remus got back to Privet Drive. Harry was taken quite taken aback by the fierce hug he received as they parted ways.

It had been a good day and Harry was looking forward to meeting Remus the following morning. Ignoring, his relatives, he grabbed some food for dinner before heading up to his room. He did not want to spoil his day by getting into an argument at the dinner table. As he stepped inside his cramped little room, Harry suddenly realized that he had forgotten all about Dumbledore and his study sessions. Groaning, he put his sandwich away for later, and tried to straighten out his room. Dudley's cast-off toys were becoming a rather big problem as the pile kept growing each year and now seemed to take up more than half of the available space. Frustrated, he gave up. The noises of his cleaning effort had woken up Hedwig, so he shooed her out of the cage, and cleaned the pile of muck that had accumulated over the last few days. Finally, after running out of things to procrastinate with, he sat down with the meditation book, to read some more.

The lines on the pages blurred and his eyelids grew heavier by the minute. Giving up the fight, Harry put aside the book and took off his glasses for a short nap. The short nap somehow turned into a longer one as there appeared to be no sign of Dumbledore.

Finally about five hours later, a famished Harry was woken up by pounding on his door. His uncle had noticed that his bedroom light had been on and had decided to give him a lecture about wasting hard earned money. Trying to ignore the guttural sounds of rage on the other side of the door, he slipped out of bed to turn off the over head lamp. He waited till his uncle's elephant like footsteps had retreated back to the master bedroom before turning on his reading lamp and eating his rather stale dinner. The food woke him up properly, and he decided to sit down and write to his friends.

Writing to Ginny was particularly hard as he had never done that before. He re-read the letter she had sent him to get some inspiration, but it was the standard, "How is your summer going? / Are you doing well?" type. Sighing, he gave up trying to personalize his letters, and started writing a bunch of rather bland notes to his friends. As he was writing to Ron about his relative's reactions to the confrontation at the station, he was interrupted by a flash of light as Fawkes appeared before him. The magical bird's unorthodox method of announcing his arrival never failed to elicit a mini heart attack from Harry.

Clutching a hand over his racing heart, Harry untied the letter from the bird's talons.

Dear Harry,

I sincerely apologize for not being able to be there for our lesson today. I have been rather busy playing politics at the Mnistry and the Wizengamot. Fortunately, I have some good news. All my politicking has paid off, and I think you are probably the first underage wizard who knows that the restrictions on underage wizardry are going to be relaxed considerably. The official announcement probably will not take place for a day or two. However, you have permission to use limited amounts of magic from now on for training purposes as long as you keep the secrecy statute in mind. Please use this opportunity responsibly.

In regards to your training, I promise to be there tomorrow, in the evening. I think I might have a pleasant surprise for you as well.

Sincerely,

Albus W. Dumbledore