"Slow voices speaking through a hurricane. Said that I wanted but I lied. You're looking good. Hey man I can't complain. Ghost on the road at night.

Seen him out walking he's just skin and bone. I don't see nothing in his eyes. Some call it hell it felt like home from home. I'm dreaming different skies."

Knowhere, David Gray

The small house was empty, his cries echoing around, bouncing off the whitewashed walls. He flung the front door open, wincing as the wood smashed against the stone with a slight breaking noise.

Harry stepped out of the house, dropping his bag behind him. Drizzle was coming down making the small mess of a garden steam. "Lupin?" he called.

There was a muffled noise behind him and he spun around. There was nothing so he stared back ahead. In the distance he could just about see the squareness of a farm building sat behind the small copse and empty field.

"Remus? Where are you?" Harry cried, flinging his arms down, not minding as the rain splattered about him.

"Here," came the hoarse reply. The wizard turned to find a pair of legs dangling from the rooftop. A second later a head appeared, Remus stared down at him with a wry grin. "Climb up if you want."

Harry scrambled onto the railings that stood on the veranda then reached upwards to fling his arms over onto the roof.

Strong hands pulled him up and he sat, panting, next to Remus. "You'll get wet," the werewolf said quietly before lying down so that he stared at the sky. His hands were folded behind his head as a pillow and his bare feet clutched at the edge of the slate tiles.

Harry didn't lie down, but he propped his head up on his hand as he scrutinized his former-Professor. "There's so much you've never told me."

"Would you prefer me to reveal all of my darkest secrets to you?" Lupin asked, a small smile tugging at his bloodied lips.

"I would like to know who the man is that wants to house me for the summer."

"If you knew more about me, then I fear you would not have me house you for all the money in Gringotts."

"Merely saying that makes me anxious," Harry answered, his fingers playing over the black slate, slippery with moisture.

"Sirius has most probably told you everything that I'd ever tell you. He told you about Lucius, didn't he?"

Harry nodded, worried by the unconcerned expression on Lupin's face.

"No doubt you think me some kind of monster for sleeping with him then?"

"Not particularly. If he was anything like Draco then I'm sure he was…" Harry swallowed deeply. "Very attractive- he gets a lot of attention from the girls."

Remus sat up quickly. "I'm not giving this as an answer for my actions. Just trust me Harry." He placed the index finger of both hands on Harry's temples and then closed his eyes.

There was a swirl of colour behind Harry's eyes and he shut them.

The laughter cut through his blurred senses like a knife to the throat. He pulled his lips away from the other boy's with a loud smack and stumbled backwards into a warm body.

"Moony," James Potter crowed. "Didn't know you had it in you! Sly ol' dog!"

He punched his friend playfully on the arm then his hazel eyes became serious. "Are you okay?" he masked his concern with another playful laugh.

Sirius was still slumped against the window, running his hands through his hair with a strange little whistle. His cheeks were flushed and his lips were red. "Merlin, Moony. That was something."

The whole of the common room laughed with the extroverted boy. "If you don't mind now, I think I need to reassess my sexuality though." He grinned with the smile that could melt a thousand teacher's hearts at Lily Evans. "Up for it, Evans?"

The redhead grinned back at him but glanced back at James. "Dream on, Black. I'm taken remember? What about that poor Ravenclaw that's meant to be your girlfriend? If you hurry you might get to her before the rumours do!"

Sirius winked at her and the girl next to her before dashing out of the common room.

James steered his slightly catatonic friend towards the dormitory, ignoring Peter who was generally getting in the way and chatting in a shrill voice to the ignorant Remus.

He placed the werewolf on his bed and then crouched in front of him. "You're drunk, mate."

Lupin stirred slightly wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his black jumper. "Give the man a fucking prize," he retorted bitterly, shaking off James' curious touches.

"Come on, Moony. I know its tough but drowning your sorrows and then nearly shagging Sirius won't help it," James' voice was verging on patronising now.

Remus bared his teeth in a half-hearted growl. "Piss off James. I'm not in the mood for one of your lectures."

"Fine," the Seeker stiffened, folding his arms across his chest, a hurt expression on his clear features. "I won't try and help you."

Remus sprang up from the bed with the intention of leaving the dormitory, before he did so he narrowed his eyes and stared at James, suddenly softly. "Prongs, you can't help me," he whispered before he was gone in a few loping steps.

He dashed out of the common room ignoring the moaning coming from behind a sofa as Sirius snogged the daylights out of the Gryffindor girl he had winked at earlier. It seemed that rumour had beat him to the Ravenclaw.

He sprinted up a staircase, following the winding circle until he burst into a near-empty room. Then he slid out of the narrow window onto a small balcony and then climbed up a ladder until he was stood on the roof of the tower.

He was not alone.

"I didn't know anyone in this poxy school had the guts to come up here," a familiar voice sneered. Lucius Malfoy got to his feet and extended a hand to pull Lupin further onto the top of the tower and away from the rickety ladder.

"It is a long way to fall," Remus replied, eyeing the hand warily but taking it all the same.

"Well that's the depressed way of looking at it," Malfoy answered with a slight smirk lighting up his pale face.

"That's handy, 'cos I'm depressed," Lupin flung his hands down and slumped onto the tiled roof.

Malfoy chuckled and sat next to him. "You're drunk."

"Yes."

"So Gryffindor braveness isn't anything but Dutch courage?"

"Possibly."

"I like you, Lupin."

The werewolf started, sitting up to meet the grey eyes. "Well customarily this is when I'm supposed to profess my love for you, Malfoy, but I don't think I will today."

Lucius raised one silvery eyebrow. "Very cutting, Lupin. You don't get many people like that around here."

Remus stared levelly at him with indifference. "I'm glad I have your approval, Malfoy," he muttered sarcastically.

"What did you do? - To make you run out here like that?"

"Kissed Black."

Malfoy threw back his head and laughed. Remus started at the sound, it was marvellously deep and throaty. "'S not funny," he mumbled. "I got drunk because my parents just died."

"That's sad," Lucius said and his tone was compassionate although the humour had not all gone from his grey eyes. "My commiserations. Truly, my mother died a couple of years ago. The bitch."

Remus nodded his head slowly, he was slightly unsure about the tone of Malfoy's voice. He wasn't sure whether to accept the boy's words at face value, or to be slightly wary of them.

Lucius wasn't exactly known at Hogwarts as a result of his honesty. He was one of the tricksy wizards at the school and as a result had a fierce reputation to uphold.

You could never tell whether the pureblood was going to embrace you, or stick a knife in your back. The only way to get along with Lucius was to gamble your dignity.

There was only a small group of the elite of Slytherin that Lucius considered 'friends', or rather associates. Together they lorded over the weak and youngest at Hogwarts, shocking the school with their outrageous antics.

Remus felt a finger trail up the inside of his arm and a thrill of excitement shot through him in a way he'd never felt before. "Oh, have you heard about Tom Wilkins?" Lucius asked, his voice low and husky.

"No, what's happened to him?" the werewolf knew of the boy, he was a vaguely attractive sixth-year Ravenclaw. He was pompous and abrasive.

"He slept with Evan Rosier last night. It's all meant to be hush-hush, but if I know Evan, he's doing it for the publicity."

Remus didn't know whether to be shocked in a disgusted way or slightly intrigued. He knew of homosexuality, but it had never been practised at Hogwarts so publicly.

"Apparently its all the vogue in the muggle world- something to do with some law being passed, or something along those lines." Lucius waved one hand dismissively before tilting his head to stare at his companion.

The werewolf felt himself reddening slightly under the intense scrutiny as grey eyes swept over the whole of his body. Lucius smirked slightly, "Getting a bit hot under the collar, Lupin?"

He shrugged, praying that the flush was going from his cheeks.

"You like it?"

And as the silken words hung in the air, Remus was suddenly confronted by Lucius' face right in front of his own. All he could see was stone irises, high cheekbones and pouting lips.

Lucius chuckled as Remus' body jolted suddenly as a hand stroked the inside of his thigh.

To his surprise, Remus found the contact pleasurable and had to stifle a groan as Lucius' fingers crept itchingly higher and higher. Maybe homosexuality wasn't such a bad idea… how could it be when this was so nice.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" the words blurted out of his mouth before he could stop them and for a moment the fingers paused their movement.

Lucius' lips curved upwards in a sinful smile that made Remus' stomach flop as though he was a teenaged girl with her first crush. "Is it working well?"

"Yes."

They continued stroking and now Remus shuddered as he felt moist lips tugging at the skin around his neck. Every so often he would feel a short puff of warm breath and he trembled.

"We can't have Evan hogging all the limelight for being daring and scandalous, can we? Image the responses! Malfoy and Lupin sleeping together… just think about it."

Remus gave a rattling breath as Lucius began to dip his hand down the inside of his trousers.

"For once in your life do something outrageous- surprise people."

"I think I did that enough today."

Maybe it was the alcohol or the way that Lucius whispered dirty comments in his ear that made him blush and ache, but Lupin was considering giving into the sinful mouth and playful fingers.

"Not on the roof," he hissed. He pulled Malfoy's hand out.

"What do you mean?" he was all innocent eyes and concerned voice.

"You can shag me if you want; but not on the bleeding roof!"

"Where then?"

Remus slid off the rooftop and stood in the Divination room, waiting for the blond-haired boy to follow him. The minute that Lucius slipped down the ladder and into the room, he was met by a kiss.

"Here." And the werewolf pulled them down onto a pile of gaudy pillows that had been left undisturbed.

Everything about Lucius Malfoy was entrancing; he was so different to the brash, demanding Sirius and James. He was so subtle in getting what he wanted; so smooth and sly.

And he liked the idea that the most known boy in school wanted to sleep with him. That was good for his low self-esteem, not for a moment he considered his friend's reactions.

Harry opened his eyes with a small gasp. He stared at the werewolf in silence for a while. Then he turned his head and just stared at the sun as it began to set.

They sat in absolute silence; hands folded his laps and eyes unblinking. The sky was cast a brilliant shade of pink, brighter than nature ever is. The moon was already in the sky, hiding against the still pale sky in the East.

Remus blinked for a moment and looked at Harry. His delicate features were painted with oranges and golds, his green eyes almost black. There was a strange settling sensation in his stomach as he looked upon the sharp features.

He hadn't felt anything like this in many a year. Probably since Lucius and his sweet words and hard sex.

Could it be the beginnings of something that shouldn't happen between two people of their age? He ignored it and swallowed, preparing his dry throat for speech. "Dinner?"

Harry blinked the black spots from his eyes and smiled at Remus. "Sure. What do you have?"

"Well… I'm sure I have some bread that is still relatively fresh. I might have some milk if you're lucky. Cheese, do you like cheese?"

"I do."

"That's good. I always have a lot of cheese- the cows you see…"

"Mnn…"

~

Dinner had been a relatively quiet affair. They had sat on the veranda quietly munching on the food while each quietly contemplated the other.

They both went to their beds quietly and within a couple of minutes Remus was asleep. He stirred a few hours later after some restless dreaming. He pulled his dressing gown on and padded out of the room.

The sofa bed was empty. He followed the trail of the open door to the porch and there he found Harry. The wizard was sat on the step, his legs crossed and he gazed skywards.

At the soft sounds behind him he spun around then seeing it was Lupin smiled hesitantly. "Did I wake you up?"

He shook his head in the negative and sunk next to him, clutching his robe to his chest. Although it was summer, there was a nasty bite in the air. "Nightmares?"

"Yes," Harry revealed with an almost shameful blush, although Remus couldn't see it in the near-darkness. "I always dream about Voldemort. Even though he's dead… he still haunts me."

"He's bound to," Remus replied, his mind having to work quickly to figure out what to say next. He had to give Harry comforting words but the boy was of the age that he wouldn't take patronising well. "You don't go through those sorts of ordeals without some kind of scar."

"Like Sirius," Harry murmured, his eyes bright in the moonlight. Remus' heart missed a beat and he fought against the reaction to take Harry into his arms and hug him tightly.

"Like Sirius," the werewolf found his cheeks grow hot at the memory.

"L-Remus, what is going to happen to Sirius? Will he always be like that?"

The man hung his head for a moment, letting the hair tumble back from behind his ears and cover his face. Then he felt fingers gently push against the side of his face and his hair was tucked back. "Remus?" Harry asked again, his voice was quiet but persistent.

"Sirius had a very troubled childhood, you know that as well as anyone. He suffered from a mild form of manic-depression but luckily at Hogwarts it seemed not to trouble him much. And all the stress of the war has seemed to bring it back again. It's mainly induced by alcohol. While he is under its influence he is in his manic stage, when he's hungover he's depressive."

"Oh. I didn't realise it was that bad."

"Yes. Its mainly alcoholism that's the problem. Even when he was a child Sirius drank a lot. I remember he snuck out at least once a month at Hogwarts to go down to the Hogs Head."

They sat in silence finally Harry tilted his head to the side. "Why did you let Sirius sleep with you?"

Remus opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it again. "I guess I was a bit lonely. I-It's hard to explain."

"Try me."

"I've been so long without any intimate touches – the last time probably being during Hogwarts- that I would take any that I could find, trying to fool myself that it was real passion and-and…"

He trailed off as another awkward silence formed. "If you asked someone what they most wanted in the world they would answer, money, an ocean-going yacht, a mansion, maybe a cure. If you asked me, I would say tenderness. To be held in a tender embrace."

The former-Professor stopped again, aware that he was started to ramble. Hurriedly he got to his feet and squeezed Harry's shoulder. "Try and get some rest, eh?"

He dashed back into the house and Harry remained sat on the step, lost in thought.

~

Sunshine, child's laughter, friends, parents, the noisy business of the kitchen before a Sunday roast, the cool side of the pillow, watching a glorious sunset while hanging out of a window, a good book, make-believing yourself to a fantasy land.

A pair of arms wrapping you in a tender embrace.

You fall asleep with a contended smile.

~

Thank you to my reviewers again; you guys seriously make my week. Lady of Violet, Gabriela13, Undomiel Canis Lupin, hgfr;;jjggfddshgfjghddsngdgfdhgfgfxjytdktehjtrsytrs7654tre6y68 (calm down dear… not so many letters, please) and everyone else from before.