Dear Moony,

I was hoping we could talk to each other about some things. I can't write much in this letter though. Hedwig will wait for your reply. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Harry.

Satisfied with the slightly ambiguous tone of the letter, he turned to his owl. "Hedwig, take this to Professor Lupin. Be safe. Okay?" She faintly bobbed her head conveying to him that she would all right and swiftly flew out of the window with a mental picture of Lupin in her mind.

Late in the evening, Harry received a response from Lupin saying that he would be there to talk to him the following day around noon.

It was sharp at noon the next day that the front door bell rang. Dudley, thinking it was Piers and Polkiss immediately went to answer and was horrified to find a shabbily dressed man with graying hair. He immediately recognized him as one of the freaks from King's Cross Station and ran to call his mother with one hand on his backside.

"MUM, MUM," he shouted halfway through the way to her room, "ONE OF HIS KIND IS IN THE HOUSE!" Petunia immediately got up on hearing this and went to confront the visitor.

Looking up and down at Lupin with great distaste, she called out to Harry who was just waiting by the end of the stairs trying to sense the new wave of emotions that she was now wearing on her sleeve.

It turned out that the disgust that she showed on her face for Lupin was also what she was feeling in abundance. Momentarily disconcerted by the sheer intensity of the off-putting emotions that were rolling of her in waves, he quickly put his Occlumency shields up and turned to face Lupin.

Lupin's first reaction on seeing Harry was that of complete and utter astonishment. 'Here was a young man, barely sixteen years old, with the weight of the world on his weak shoulders and he was THE picture perfect definition of tranquility'.

But after a brief glance at his new frame and build he thought, 'did I just say weak shoulders, WOW, - scratch that, looks like Harry has done some serious growing up!'

"Hello Moony, how are keeping up?" Just a simple sentence. But the power hidden in his tones was apparent to anyone with a good ear. 'Merlin, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS KID IN JUST TWO MONTHS???' Lupin reflected on Harry for the third time in two minutes.

After a brief embrace in which Harry projected his love and respect for his old Professor and best friend of his parents, he asked Lupin if he would like any refreshments.

Lupin politely declined and asked Harry if he would like to continue the conversation in his room, after seeing Harry's Aunt and cousin standing close by and looking at him with a mixture of fear and hate.

"Sure, let's go upstairs", Harry replied. Once comfortably settled in Harry's room, he gave out a low whistle when his eyes landed on his Harry's tiny library. "Merlin Harry, some of those books you've got there are really rare", Lupin told him appreciatively. 

Harry shrugged but inwardly he was thinking about whether or not the owner of Flourish and Blotts edited the mail-order catalogue for him, since some of the books he had were really quite old and would have been sold out instantly had they been on display in the shop.

"Thanks" he answered after a brief pause. "Moony, I want to get straight to the point with you. You are one of the few people I trust and there are some things I need to discuss with you. But first you must swear that what I am going to tell you doesn't go out of this room. No one in the Order should know anything related to our conversation especially Dumbledore".  

To say the least, shocked was an understatement for what Lupin was feeling right now. Here he was thinking that Harry would want to talk to him about Sirius or try to get news about Voldemort and his lapdogs. 'This day is certainly turning out to be different'.

'Oh well, might as well see what the cub has to say'. "Okay Harry, I promise I will keep our conversation absolutely private except if you are planning to do something really dangerous, like going after Voldemort!" he answered back with complete honesty.

Harry sensing his sincerity went on about why he originally asked him and what he was planning to do in the coming week.

By the time Harry had finished his explanation, Moony was looking at him slack jawed and after closing and opening his mouth a few times, gave a hearty laugh and finished with a wolfish grin.

"Harry, you are definitely the son of Prongs", but immediately his expression turned serious. "I know this is a really clever idea and quite well thought out Harry, but things could get really nasty if something goes wrong".

"What if –", but Harry instantly cut him off before Lupin could start voicing his objections.  "NO MOONY, I've little left to loose now. Sirius is gone now. I have to do this for him and it's time someone took a stand. I choose to be that person. I never asked for it, but I've to do it. Either you are with me or not Moony. I HAVE TO START TAKING CONTROL OF MY OWN GODAMN LIFE".

Realizing he was loosing his control, he calmed himself before continuing and softly asked his mentor and friend, "what will it be Moony?"

With a contemplative look on his Lupin took a deep breath and replied in the same soft tone, "I am with you Harry, all the way".

Harry's serious expression immediately mirrored the same wolfish grin he had seen on Moony's face after he had just finished telling him his plans and said, "Okay. Let's go over what we've got to do".

TBC.