Chapter Six- Saturday

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Sunlight poured into the room from the window facing the backyard. Harry turned over in his bed and slowly opened his eyes. It took him a second to remember that he wasn't in his aunt and uncle's house. The bed was too comfortable to be the one on Privet Drive. He was at Sirius' place.

Harry reached to the night stand and put on his glasses. He glanced at the clock; it was twelve-thirty. Harry couldn't remember sleeping that late, ever. Normally his aunt would wake him up early to help make breakfast.

Harry thought about staying in the warm bed all day long, but then thought against it and pulled the covers off himself and rolled out of bed. He put on a pair of hand-me-down jeans and a baggy red tee-shirt before heading downstairs.

On his way downstairs, Harry noticed a few empty paint cans outside of Sirius' bedroom. 'He must have gotten more paint and finished his room.' Harry thought as he descended the staircase.

Harry walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. Sirius was sitting at the bench with a cup of coffee and was reading the Daily Prophet. He looked up as Harry entered and said, "Hey, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." Harry said and then asked, "Have you been up long?"

Sirius nodded, "Yeah, I normally wake up around eight. I used to be able to sleep way past noon but Azkaban has really warped my sleeping patterns. Are you hungry?"

"Why didn't you wake me up? You didn't have to let me sleep so late." Harry said

"Well, I wasn't sure if you would be mad if I woke you up. If you want I can in the future, but I just figured you could use the sleep. You looked a bit tired last night."

"I normally don't sleep that late, that's all." Harry said, "You don't have to wake me up or anything, I was just surprised."

Sirius just nodded and then asked again, "Want some breakfast? Well, lunch actually."

"Sure." Harry said

Sirius got up and walked to the fridge, "What are you in the mood for?"

Harry was a bit baffled. Normally his aunt and uncle made him do all of the cooking in the house, and they never would let him choose the meals. Harry was just happy with whatever they placed in front of him.

"You don't have to make it or anything, I can do it." Harry said, feeling a little guilty to take advantage of Sirius' hospitality.

"Its not a problem, I was going to make something to eat anyway. Are you in the mood for anything in particular? I can make whatever you want, really. Surprisingly, I'm a halfway decent cook." Sirius replied

"Um, I'll just have whatever your having." Harry responded

"I was going to have a sandwich; does that sound good to you?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Harry said as he sat down at the bench. Sirius began pulling some deli meat out of the fridge and started preparing their lunch.

As he took out a knife from one of the drawers he asked, "So, did you sleep well?"

"I slept great." Harry said

"That's good, I finished painting my room while you were sleeping, I had to run and pick up some new paint, but at least its all finally done."

"Did it come out nice?"

"Yeah, I like it."

"That's good."

As Sirius pulled out a few bread rolls he asked, "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't smoke while you're here."

"What?"

"Last night, after you thought I went to bed, you went outside for a smoke." Sirius said as he turned around and looked at Harry. Harry looked nervous, not really sure what to expect from Sirius. Normally when his uncle was mad at him, well, it wasn't normally a pretty sight.

Sirius saw the quick change in Harry and continued to speak in a calm voice, "I'm not angry, but while you're with me I'm responsible for you. When you're here I would prefer if you didn't smoke. What you do when you're not here, well, there isn't anything I can do about that. But I would just really appreciate it if you didn't smoke while you're here."

Harry just nodded, glad that Sirius wasn't too mad. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the open pack of cigarettes and put them on the table. He didn't want Sirius to be disappointed with him. This was the first time an adult was ever really nice to Harry and he didn't want to mess it up. Harry avoided Sirius' eyes and said, "Sorry."

"It's alright." Sirius said as he handed Harry a plate and took the cigarettes and placed them in his pocket, "Smoking is a nasty habit. It's hard to quit, trust me, I know, but if you ever do decide to quit I'd be glad to help you."

"You smoked?" Harry asked as Sirius sat down at the bench with his own sandwich.

Sirius nodded, "In did. I started when I was about your age actually. I quit when I was about fourteen. Not on my own, but with some help from my friends."

"What did they do that made you stop?" Harry asked as he took a bite from his sandwich

"Well, they tried a few methods. They tried telling me how bad they were for me, but I didn't really care at the time. Like you said to me a few days back, I was young and we all die someday anyway. They tried hiding them from me, which didn't work out. I normally found them and then we'd all end up fighting about it afterwards because I would be pissed that they took my stuff. They tried tearing them up, but I would just use magic to put them back together. They tried burning them when I wasn't around but I'd smell them and come running into the room. What actually got me to quit was your dad."

"My dad?"

"Yup. After a while James couldn't take it anymore. He hated the smell of smoke. Especially when I would smoke in the dorm. It really ticked him off. He eventually told me that every time I would smoke a cigarette he would smoke one too, that way I would have to deal with the guilt of killing not only myself but my best friend from lung cancer."

"And that really worked?"

"Oh yeah. At first I thought he was kidding so I lit one up and blew the smoke right in his face. He didn't even get mad. He just took the pack and pulled one out and lit up as well. I thought it was a one time thing so I just kept going, but every one I had, James would have one too. I tried being clever about it, you know, smoking when he wasn't around. He got the rest of the guys to watch me so that they could tell him how many I had smoked. Then he'd sit right in front of me later and smoke the same amount that I had right then and there."

"How long did it last before you quit?"

Sirius took a bite of his lunch before replying, "About a month. Your dad was very stubborn about it and so was I. I thought that James wouldn't last a week since he hated it so much. Boy was I wrong. Your poor dad must have gone through so many packs. I had tons with me. I would buy boatloads of them before the school year started. Eventually the whole thing just sort of got to me. I couldn't even look at your dad without feeling a huge pain of guilt. So, I remember one day I went to grab a pack and your dad got up to grab one and I just couldn't do it. I got rid of all of them after that. I never smoked again after that day. Fighting off the nicotine addiction was a pain in the ass but it was well worth it in the end."

"My dad really did that just to get you to stop?" Harry said

"He did. Your father was a very persistent guy. When he had his heart set on something he'd go for it until he got his way." Sirius said and then went back to eating his lunch. Harry watched Sirius for a while before he spoke again.

"Do you think my dad would have been upset with me if he found out that I was smoking?"

"He wouldn't be pleased, I can safely say that."

"Would he have done the thing to me that he did to you to get me to stop?"

Sirius snorted, "He wouldn't have needed to."

"Whys that?"

"Your mother would have slaughtered you if she knew you were smoking. You dad wouldn't have needed to do anything. Your mother would have gotten to you first, trust me, she would have ripped you limb from limb. You wouldn't have ever started smoking in the first place if you had grown up with them. I'd put money on that."

"Do you think I should stop?" Harry asked

"Of course I do, but that really isn't my choice to make, is it? It's your body, not mine. I'm just glad that I stopped. Every cigarette that you smoke takes eight minutes from your life, did you know that?"

Harry nodded, "I've read the statistics."

"Then why do you smoke if you know it's so bad for you?" Sirius asked

"Well, why did you smoke?" Harry asked, counteracting the argument

Sirius thought for a moment, "Well, I don't really know. It was just something I sort of picked up. Maybe it was my way of saying screw you world, I'll do what I want. Sort of a teen rebellion maybe or maybe to look cool. Or maybe it was because I liked the idea of doing something that wasn't good for me, you know, sort of like showing everyone that it's a part of life that I had control of, something someone couldn't take away from me."

Harry sighed, "I don't know why I do it. I guess, because I can, and I can get away with it too."

Sirius nodded, "Well, like I said, it's your body so do what you want with it. I just wish you wouldn't, but I'm not going to make that decision for you. I'm sure that if I told you to stop you'd just do it more to spite me anyhow. I just don't want you smoking while you are staying with me."

"I won't." Harry said and he truly meant it too. Sirius nodded. This was good. Some progress. Harry wouldn't smoke while he was staying with Sirius. That's was one barrier to tear down and a million more to go.

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After lunch, Sirius took Harry into town and they walked around for a while. They went and had some ice-cream and did a little shopping. Sirius bought Harry some new shirts and a new pair of jeans. It made Sirius sick that the bloody Dursleys never bought Harry new clothes and only gave him hand-me-downs from Dudley. At first, Harry was really uncomfortable with Sirius buying him such nice things but Harry was secretly thrilled, he never got new clothes or new anything for that matter.

They got back to the house around five. Harry brought his new things up to the bedroom while Sirius went into the kitchen to get a drink. When Harry came back downstairs he went into the kitchen and sat across from Sirius with his own drink.

"I hope you don't mind, "Sirius said, "I invited a friend of mine over for dinner tonight."

"No, that's fine. So does that mean you want me to go out for a while or stay upstairs or what?"

Sirius gave Harry an extremely puzzled look, "No, I want you to eat with us. My friend, Remus, he was a friend of your parents as well. He really wants to meet you. Why would I make you go-is that what your aunt and uncle make you do when they have people over? They make you go away and pretend you aren't there?"

Harry avoided Sirius' eyes.

'Shit.' Harry thought, 'Shit, I shouldn't have said that, Uncle Vernon will…oh, shit.'

Sirius felt his temperature rise. How could the Dursleys treat Harry like that? Sirius suspected that Harry wasn't particularly favored due to his relatives hate of magic but he didn't realize how bad things might have really been. Sirius wanted to know what else was going on right then and there, but he didn't want to force Harry into telling him. Remus said that forcing Harry into doing something probably wouldn't be a good idea.

Sirius wasn't stupid, he had his own ideas about what he thought was taking place at the Dursleys; he just wanted Harry to confirm his theories, though he had a feeling that he wasn't going to get a word out of Harry.

"Harry, what is it like living with your relatives?" Sirius asked as gently as possible

"It's fine." Harry said and then quickly changed the subject, "So, what time is Remus coming over?"

Sirius sighed and suppressed the urge to apparate back to Privet Dive and kill the Dursleys, "He's coming around sixish."

"Right." Harry said, "I think I'm going to go upstairs for a bit. I'm kind of tired."

Before Sirius could protest or ask Harry anymore questions that Harry wasn't ready to answer, he left the kitchen and headed upstairs, closing his bedroom door behind him.

Harry paced around the room for a while. This wasn't good. Sirius was starting to pick up on some things. Harry needed to be more careful. If Sirius found out anything Uncle Vernon would kill him. Then he remembered all the times that Candy talked about living in foster families.

Candy had a really messed up home life, even worse than Harry's. She switched foster families more than she changed her socks. She always told storied about what crappy situations they were and about the crazy people she was placed with. Her parents were alcoholics and Candy was removed from their care when she was ten. She'd been shipped around from family to family since that time. Some of the stories Candy told Harry were pretty horrible. Harry didn't want to fall under that situation. He didn't want to go with a foster family because the Dursleys slapped him around ever so often. After all, it wasn't that bad, right? He could handle it.

Harry was determined to be as cautious as possible when talking about the Dursleys. He would spend the rest of the weekend being really calm about everything and not acting too fishy in any way. Avoiding the topic all together was his best bet. He'd talk about other things. Keep everything really light.

'Everything will be fine.' Harry reassured himself, 'I've got nothing to worry about. I can do this. I won't give anyone any reason to think something weird is going on. I can do this.'

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Like Sirius had said, Remus arrived a little after six. Remus' reaction to meeting Harry wasn't anything new. Remus started off as they all did by telling Harry how much he looked like James, except for his eyes. He had his mother's eyes.

Harry didn't mind though. Remus proved to be a nice person. Their dinner conversation was light and casual. Remus and Sirius told Harry storied about their days at Hogwarts and about the pranks of the Marauders. Harry had never realized what a joker his father was until then.

"So then McGonagall goes, "Mr. Potter, do you actually want me to believe that a dog ate your essay, on school grounds, where no dogs are permitted? Really Mr. Potter, this is the worst lie I have ever heard from a student in my entire life." Sirius grinned

He and Remus were telling a story about one time when James and Sirius had gotten extremely drunk and how Sirius, in his animagus form, had eaten James' essay because it was covered with firewhiskey.

"Professor McGonagall was so angry. She hated it when students lied and from her point of view, it looked like James was lying about his homework, when he was actually telling the truth. How was she supposed to know that Sirius was an animagus?" Remus said with a smirk

"Then James says with a completely straight face "Professor, I'm serious, a dog really did eat my homework." Then she say, "Okay Potter, if a dog did indeed eat your homework, where is this supposed dog?" Sirius continued

Remus picked up the story, "James then looked over his shoulder to where Sirius and I were sitting and gives him a look saying 'I am going to kill you' then he turns back to McGonagall and says 'Professor, a dog didn't eat my homework, Sirius did.'"

"Then I let out this loud bark that made the entire class start laughing and McGonagall was furious. Then I said to her 'I couldn't help it professor, I was starving and James' homework was the only thing in sight at the time, and it was a very good essay too, extremely delicious on the way down'. She gave us both detentions for the whole thing. It was worth it though. It was always fun causing chaos in Transfiguration." Sirius smiled

"It sounded really funny." Harry said with a smile, "I can't imagine what McGonagall would do if someone in our class acted like that. I don't think she'd tolerate it."

"Yeah, well, that was a long time ago. She probably had more patience for nonsense back then." Remus said

"When I got out of Azkaban and McGonagall found out that we had become animagi, she was really impressed. She knew that we were top students, but she never realized that we had accomplished something so difficult at such a young age." Sirius said

Harry thought a minute and then said, "You never told me why you had become animagi in the first place."

Sirius looked over at Remus, as though he was searching for some type of approval to tell the tale. Remus just stared back at him for a moment before nodding okay.

"Well," Sirius began, "The reason we became animagi in the first place was actually because of Remus."

"Really?" Harry asked, his attention turned to Remus. "Why?"

"I'm a werewolf." Remus said carefully, not sure how Harry would take this bit of information.

Harry didn't look angry or scared, like others before him from learning Remus' little secret. Instead, Harry just looked a little confused. "What does that have to do with becoming an animagus?"

"Everything." Sirius said

"Well, I'm sure that you know that werewolves are extremely dangerous on a full moon." Remus said to Harry, who nodded. Remus continued, "Now there is a potion that a werewolf can take before a full moon to make them safe. The potion helps a werewolf keeps its mind in human form. But when I was younger, the potion didn't exist. I would turn into a vicious werewolf every full moon. I would be dangerous to any human. It was my biggest secret. I feared anyone finding out that I was a werewolf."

"Why? I mean, I've been here the entire night and you aren't dangerous at all. Why were you afraid of people finding out? It doesn't seem that bad." Harry said

Remus and Sirius couldn't help but smile at how naive Harry was. Although he sometimes did things that were much more mature than he was, he still had the innocence of a child.

Sirius said, "Harry, not everyone is as understanding as we are. Most people think of werewolves as horrible beasts-"

"And some are, but like anyone, the way a person acts depends on the person. There are good werewolves and bad ones. It just depends on the person who gets bitten." Remus cut in

"Anyway, Remus would disappear monthly to go and transform in a safer place on school grounds. Your father and I started to get suspicious about where Remus was going. He would tell us that his mother was sick and that he was visiting her, but after a while, we figured it out. And when we did, we weren't upset, we just felt bad that there wasn't anything we could do that could help Remus when he transformed."

"My transformations in those days were terrible. I'd have to spend the next day in the hospital wing just so I could recover. I would scratch and bite myself because I wouldn't have anyone else around to harm." Remus added.

"But what does that have to do with becoming an animagus?" Harry asked

"Werewolves are only dangerous to humans, not animals. James and Sirius decided to become animagi so they could keep me company as animals during my transformations."

"Did that help you a lot?"

"Oh yes. Very much so." Remus said

"It took us the better half of three years but we eventually managed it in our fifth year. We were able to accompany Remus on his transformations after that." Sirius explained

"Since they were with me as animals it gave me something to occupy myself with so I would hurt myself so much. It made me more human; it helped keep me from the scratching and the biting."

"You guys really did that?" Harry asked, impressed.

"We did." Sirius said, "We would have done anything to help a friend in need. Besides, Remus would have done the same for us. Right, Moony?"

"Moony?" Harry asked

Remus smirked, "Our nicknames for each other. I was Moony, Sirius was Padfoot, your father was Prongs and Peter-"

"-The filthy traitor." Sirius mumbled

"-was Wormtail." Remus said, giving Sirius a look that said 'Please do not even start on Peter Pettigrew, it would ruin the evening'

Sirius took Remus' hint and changed the subject, "So, what about your friends, Harry. What are they like?"

"Friends?" Harry was startled by the question

"Yeah." Sirius said, "The other day when I saw you, you told me that you were meeting friends later in the day. Do they go to school with you?"

"Oh," Harry said, "No, they don't go to school with me. They live near the Dursleys, most of them anyway. Yeah, I just met them at the park and we hang out some times."

"What are they like?" Sirius asked

"You know, just normal muggles, nothing special." Harry replied quickly

"How about in Hogwarts?" Remus asked

"Oh, my friends in Hogwarts, yeah, they're good. I haven't really heard from them too much this summer. I haven't been great at writing to them or anything. I will eventually, I've just been busy." Harry said. He didn't like this discussion. He didn't feel like talking about his friends right now.

Sirius, once again, saw Harry become tense from the topic. He looked up at the clock and said, "Wow, it's already eleven. Time flies, doesn't it?"

"I think I'm going to go to bed." Harry said, feeling that it was a good time to leave before anymore "fun" topics of conversation were brought up, "I'm a bit tired. It was nice to meet you, Remus."

"Nice to meet you too, Harry." Remus said as Harry got up from the couch and started to leave the room.

"Night, Harry." Sirius said

"Night." Harry replied, exiting the room. Sirius and Remus listened to Harry's footsteps going up the stairs. They waited until they heard the door to his room click shut before speaking again.

"So, what do you think?" Sirius asked

"I'm not sure what to think. He seems great though. He's Prongs' son, he has to be great."

"Something isn't right."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked

"Just the way he answered certain questions or the way he's really dismissive of things. It's not normal."

"What are you saying exactly?"

"I think that there is more going on in Harry's life then he's telling. I think his relatives are abusing him, and I don't like the sound of the kids he's hanging out with either. He's mentioned this one kid a few times, Brock. I don't know, I just don't like the sound of everything."

"Those are huge accusations, Sirius, maybe you're just reading too much into things. He's becoming a teenager. That's just how they are."

"This is different."

"How so?" Remus asked

"Do you remember when I would come back from summer holiday and home from Christmas break and you and James would ask me about the bruises and you'd start bugging me about the smoking and crap and I just act all weird on you like nothing was going on?"

"Yeah."

"He's acting like that, a toned down version at that, like he is trying to hide it, but he's acting like that. And he had a bruise on the side of his face a few days back. He said it was from him slipping in the kitchen or something like that. But if looked like someone punched him."

Remus asked, "Have you tried talking about it with him?"

"When I do he changes the subject."

"Maybe give him some more time to get comfortable with you and then he'll tell you what's going on."

"I only have one day left with him, and its not even a full day, how the hell do you expect me to get him to open up when I only have twelve hours, Remus?"

Remus shook his head, "I don't know. Have you talked to Dumbledore about it?"

"I have. He thinks I'm reading into it too much and that it's just a phase. He'd rather believe anything as long as it meant that Harry didn't have to leave the Dursleys. I just don't know what to do. If everything I expect is going on then I definitely don't want him going back there."

"Have him stay with you a little longer. Offer him to stay with you again next week, but this time make it for an entire week, not just a few nights. You need to get his trust before anything can happen, Sirius. You just need to be patient with him."

"I know, I know. That's a good idea though. I could have him stay a bit longer next time."

"It's the only option you have really."

"True. I just want to help him, you know."

"I know, Padfoot. I know."

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AN: Yeah! Finished that chapter. This was the longest one yet. See, told you that this one will be longer. Lol.

Okay, just some heads up, the next chapter will be the thing that Brock wants Harry to do. I bet it will blow your minds away because I doubt that you're expecting it. hehe, evil grin.

Please read and review. Reviews are awesome. Even just a nice job or something would be great.