Note: Please look to prologue for disclaimer and additional notes about the story.

A Dance With Fate

Canopus Carina

Chapter 14 of 20

It had shown him how short the amount of time they had before things really turned for the worst. He had come back from Merlin's hiding tree to find that Ron was taking a turn for the worst. No longer did his best friend respond to medication, no longer did his best friend breathe on his own. If it were not for Hermione's constant attention to his needs, they would not have caught it until it was too late. A part of him did not ever want to leave his friend's side again, a part of him wanted to pass into the void as well. But at least a partially rational part of his mind warned him not to think of such things. It did not want him to think about failure.

But as the clock slowly ticked away their precious time, that was all that he could think about.

Friday: 28 October 1977

For the next few days, Remus was never left alone unless in a class that no other Marauder was a part of, like Arithmacy. He appreciated the thought behind it, but his friends were slowly driving him crazy with their protectiveness. Their protective bubble would be easily destroyed if Harry actually told his secret to the school. But the thing was: he hadn't.

At least not yet.

It reminded him of the saying "It's not considered paranoia if they really are after you." He couldn't remember where he had first heard it, but he felt it very true in his case. Ever since he started at Hogwarts, he had to worry about the off chance that someone would be able to find out his secret. It could be simply by noticing a pattern when he left during the night, a pattern that happened every night once a month, a pattern coincidentally falling on the full moon each time. He regretted going to Harry after getting the letter from the Death Eater, not that he didn't trust Harry's decision in a time like that, but because if he didn't there could have been a chance the Harry didn't figure his secret out.

And he knew that he had.

If there was any doubt in his mind that Harry didn't know about his secret, it was shattered last Tuesday when the Gryffindor common room was filled with excitement for the next dueling club lesson. When the Marauders saw the sign, they noticed that it was for Thursday, which happened to be a full moon. He immediately told the other Marauders to go to the lesson. His mistake of letting his secret slip so much shouldn't mess with their knowledge. They would act as they usually would if Harry didn't know about the secret, he would go to the Shrieking Shack at nightfall, and they would meet up with him once the moon rose so that the wolf didn't rip his skin off his bones.

So this morning, he had woken up in the hospital wing like he usually did the morning after a full moon. The only difference was a note left to the side of his water jug saying that the lesson the night before was about useful curses they could use against an opponent again and that he didn't miss anything. He was sure that they were right, that he wouldn't have learned anything new, but he felt he shouldn't have to fear going to the lessons. Curses were his best subject and should be able to show his skill. But then that was how he got into this problem in the first place.

He had figured that someone had told their parents about his skill in the dark arts. It was with the Slytherins after all, they didn't exactly hide the fact that many of their parents were contributors in the Dark Lord's cause either directly or indirectly. They would have told their lord in hopes of somehow benefiting from the information, as that is how cunning power works, and set straight away to write the letter. That's if they hadn't already written the letter before they even told their lord. Remus wasn't exactly the expert in dark wizards, on the dark arts, so he wouldn't know how they would act.

It just infuriated him that he had to feel somehow ashamed of his skill in the dark arts. Would anyone fear him if it were Charms or Transfiguration like Sirius or James? Everyone knew Sirius was the son of a dark family, he even proclaimed it himself, yet no one figured he was anymore harmful than a prank. It wasn't as if they knew why he was good at them. He felt he had a skill at them because of the darkness in him, but didn't dwell on it. If it helped him during class, it would be considered a good thing, no matter how it happened.

Remus was grateful when he was finally released with a stern look from the healer that translated to 'don't push yourself'. But he didn't plan on getting into any trouble, any stress, any pain. He wanted only to go back to the Gryffindor tower and sleep. But as he climbed the staircases to get to his own bed, Peeves appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the traveling satchel he packed with items for a full moon, and bounded down the fifth floor hallway. Not even thinking of where he was, he followed the cursed poltergeist to retrieve his bag.

When he finally got a hold of the bag, yelling after Peeves who slammed the door shut behind him, he allowed himself to take a deep breath. But it seemed as if that day was cursed for him as well as he heard through the dusty dark:

"I didn't think Peeves wanted to get back at you Marauders so much." The lights turned on to reveal that the room Remus was now in was Harry's office. The owner of the office was sitting behind his desk, looking pleasantly as could be. "When I asked him for a quick favor in return for convincing Professor McGonagall not to lock him up for a week, he literally bounced to the occasion. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I think we have some unfinished business to attend to."

Remus decided he wasn't going to have it. After his grueling full moon, where Mooney was forced to remain inside all night only aggravating him even more, he wanted just to rest. Arguing with someone who held all the cards wasn't part of that situation. So he hurried to the door.

His heart dropped when he found out that the door was locked.

"You didn't think I wouldn't learn from my mistake from last time would you?" Harry asked, teasingly. It only stabbed at his heart more knowing that the other boy was going to play with him about it.

He would be a fool to try and figure out the countercharm to the spell Harry used to seal the door, as he knew a simple "Alohomora" would not work. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to Harry to accept his fate. But instead of yelling or cursing at him, Harry only stayed in his seat, slightly amused at his reaction. "Why haven't you told everyone?" he stuttered.

"It's something I knew for quite a while, actually," he stated. "As a matter of fact, I knew back when we were both still at the Potter house in the summer. It was a strange arrangement for you to go home for the 30th of September but come back the next day, only making it harder for you. And when you got back, you were really sensitive to the sense of touch and very tired. The other Marauders wouldn't say anything, only saying that you didn't like travel, but I thought it was more than that."

"You aren't answering me," Remus ground out, not caring that aggravating Harry could only cause him to spread the secret that very second, "Why haven't you told everyone?"

"You want me to?" Harry asked with mock confusion. "Because I would think after six years of keeping it from them, you would want that streak to continue."

"I don't want you to be holding this over my head, that's why."

Harry just nodded slowly while reclining in his seat. "I know that you won't believe me when I first say this, but I'm not going to tell anyone. It is not my place to say anything, really. Maybe you don't remember this, but I had said that I have more secrets than I could tell you over a single breakfast. Well, I have more secrets than I could tell over an entire day, if not longer. And there were a couple people at my home that knew about some of them, and I was exceedingly grateful that they didn't. I think that you have some people that you trust with your secret, and I have strong suspicions that it's the Marauders, and I'm glad for you. Even during my darkest times, I had one of my closest friends by my side. It made those dark times better."

"Like the one you are here for?"

Harry immediately turned to the tables on the other wall, the ones that were even more filled with books and parchment marked with notes. His eyes darkened in sadness considerably. "Yes," he said shortly. After a few seconds of consideration he added, "I think you have some people waiting for you in Gryffindor. I have some things I need to work on."

He recognized a dismissal when he heard one but he didn't move at first. He continued to watch Harry's face to make sure that he was telling the truth about not telling. But the other boy never took his gaze off the books on the tables, so he figured he could trust him.

As he restarted his journey back up to Gryffindor Tower he reflected that it could have been much worst. He knew it would take a longer time before he fully trusted Harry with the secret, he didn't feel dread bottle up inside of him anymore. It was easier to breathe now that he didn't have to worry about it. It was easier to see the brighter things in life. He refused to think of what would happen if Harry ever broke that trust.

The Marauders were just walking out of the porthole to collect him when he reached the portrait. Remus didn't know how he got such good friends. They were clearly more tired than he was as they joined him for the night after they went to Harry's curse lesson. He didn't know how he got them, but he wasn't going to let them go for anything.

End of Chapter 14 – 1,648 of words

Posted: 20 June 2007