Hello guys :D

I am so sorry for the late update, but I went camping with some friends with no internet and no power on our mobile phones after a day xD It really was relaxing to be unreachable by anyone for a few days and it was a lot of fun. We were at a small festival not that far from our homes. It's quite impressive that it's for free. They support themselves only with selling drinks and Shirts for the festival. And the guests come even from abroad. This thing rocks!

But anyway, thanks for the ongoing support from you and for waiting so long for the new chapter. This time there will be a little Clint/Harry fluff and Harry will spill the beans ... well some of it.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 7

A new day dawned bright and early for Harry. He had nightmares again that night and in the early hours of the morning resigned himself to not getting any more sleep. So he got up and wrote a letter to his godfather Sirius. Partly to let him know where he was, so he wouldn't panic should they found out, that he wasn't at the Dursleys any more and partly to ask him some questions. Sirius was James best friend, so it was likely, that he knew about the relationship between Lily and Clint. That had Harry wondering, why Sirius never said anything. In all his stories about his parents he told him about their schoolyears and how much in love James and Lily had been after Hogwarts. Come to think about it now, he never told much about Lily, other than he had her eyes and she was fierce like a lion. After getting dressed he wrote:

Hello Sirius,

I hope you are safe, wherever you are. I'm not at the Dursleys any more I am with an old dear friend of mum. He was thought to be dead. I think you know who I am talking about.

I found out about him a few days ago and he came to take me to his home in New York. Maybe you could come here too? It might be safer than in Britain for you and I have so many questions to ask you.

Hope to see you soon,

Harry

He had been purposely vague in his letter in case it was intercepted by Deatheaters.

He also wrote letters to Hermione and Ron. They were equally short, just letting them know, that he was safe and they shouldn't worry. To be honest, he was slightly miffed at his friends that they hadn't written him since school let out. Usually they wrote to check that he wasn't locked in his room with bars again but this summer, nothing had come.

Frowning Harry gave the three letters to Hedwig and instructed her to deliver the one to Sirius first, then he carried her to the window to let out into the already hot morning air.

A knock on his door startled him. He hadn't realized how much time had passed. Clint eased the door open and opened it fully after seeing Harry already awake.

"Good Morning, son. Do you have plans for today?" He greeted him.

"Morning Clint. Ah no not really. Well other than putting up furniture when it is delivered, I guess."

"Don't be silly. There will be workers who will put them up. So would you like me to show you New York? I could show you the old haunts your mother and I used to go to."

"I'd love to!" Harry exclaimed. This was his chance to learn more about his mother and he would be a fool to pass it off.

"Great come on then, we'll get breakfast at this little old diner your mum loved. She said it was because it was so small and cosy." Clint wanted his son to become comfortable with him before he brazed the obviously sore subjects, he desperately wanted to breech. But he was sure interrogating Harry wouldn't get him far and he genuinely wanted to share his memories of Lily with their son. The boy was so eager whenever he got the chance to hear more about her, that is was clear to Clint that no one had told him much about her. It made Clint angry, Lily was such a sweet person, always larger than life and even after working in their field for several years still capable of compassion. She didn't become jaded by their line of work. She deserved to be alive in memories, especially by her son. Lily might not have been perfect, but Petunia at least should have honoured her by telling Harry about her.

So Clint took Harry down on a trip on memory lane. He showed him where he and Lily had their first date and where they shared their first kiss, at which Harry crunched up his nose, causing Clint to laugh at him. He took him to the small corner bookstore Lily could spend hours in and forgetting the world around her. They ate fast food from the street vendors and he took Harry sightseeing. Telling him stories of Lily.

Although it was painful for him, it was a good kind of pain. It was liberating to openly think and talk about Lily again. Coming to terms with having lost her. He focused on the good times when he told little anecdotes about their life.

And he could see that Harry was enjoying himself, laughing carefree and even teasing Clint a little. The sight and sound of Harry's laugh was worth the pain for Clint.

In the evening they slowly walked through busy streets back to the tower.

"Thank you for telling me about mum. I wish I could remember her." Smiling down at his son, Clint said "Yeah I too wish you would have had more time with her. She truly was remarkable."

"It's the first time I can really imagine her. Before I always had to guess how she was like. I would make up her personality, because I had next to nothing to base it on. Now she isn't so abstract any more, you know?" Harry answered with a far away look. He had seen pictures of his mum and James and he always wondered what they would have been like. With Clints stories Lily became alive in his mind. She wasn't just a phantom any more, and he was glad. It was proof that she really had existed and left an imprint in the lives of others.

"Harry, would you tell me about how she died? Everything you know about it, at least? Maybe over dinner, I could cook." Wincing slightly Harry agreed to tell him over Dinner. This was the least he could do after Clint shared so many of his stories with him. And if he was to be honest Clint deserved to know what happened to the woman he had loved so dearly.

So Clint made Steak with mashed potatoes and while grinning ruefully declared that this was one of the very few things he could actually cook. They settled in their living room and after dinner Harry told Clint what he knew of the time as Lily and James had gone into hiding till the night they both died.

Clint was listening without interrupting, just frowning now and again. At the end tears were streaming down his face. His love would have gladly given her life if it meant saving her son. She died like she lived, brave and loyal to a fault and always thinking about others before herself. And James ... he had given his life for a wife that loved another man and for a boy, that wasn't originally his. It was the ultimate sacrifice.

"Sorry, it's just hard to take it all in. I always held on to the hope of her still being alive." Clint apologized to Harry while wiping his tears away embarrassed.

"I understand. I learned all this piece by piece over the years so I had more time to come to terms with it." This more than ever proved to Harry that Clint did indeed love his mum and was devastated at her loss. It was comforting to know, that he wasn't the only one who missed her.

"And did you meet Sirius? He's on the run you say? He would never have betrayed James I can't even imagine why anyone would think that. Those two had been closer than brothers." Incredulous Clint focused on a part of the story that didn't bring the tears back.

"Yeah well they never gave him a trial, they just shoved him into prison for twelve years, before he broke out and came to find me" And so Harry told a heavily edited version of his third year and how he met Sirius. But even with letting out most of it Clint was not pleased at all.

"We have to talk about you lack of self preservation. And you are not a very good liar. I can tell that you left out parts of the story. And believe me young man we will talk about this, and whatever else you got into in your other schoolyears. And if you don't tell me I will find someone I can get the truth from." Clint warned. Seeing Harry stonewalling again he quickly amended "You don't have to tell me right now, but as I said, we will talk about it before the summer is over. I care for you and I don't want to see you hurt. I wasn't there before and it seems obvious to me that no one else was either. But now I am here to worry about you. You don't have to do it all alone. I will always be here to help and guide you. Even when you are in school we will find methods for you to contact me quickly if anything is wrong." He suddenly pulled Harry into a strong hug. Stroking the back of his head.

"Even without you telling me I can see that you had a difficult life and it pains me because that was never what Lily and I had imagined for you. You were supposed to be cherished by us."

Gradually relaxing into the hold of his father Harry decided that maybe it was time to trust someone to shoulder the burden with him, before it crushed him.

"He murdered Cedric a few weeks ago" he whispered, beginning with the event that was bothering him so much, that he couldn't sleep at night, just wanting to finally tell someone how it made him feel to have been witness to this gruesome event. Nobody, not even Dumbledore, had given it a second thought. He was just a teenager and a classmate had just been murdered before his eyes. He was at his wits end. Nothing was working for him. However much he tried to ignore it and shove it at the back of his mind, his memories of this night came back at night to torment him. And he was starting to realize that he needed help because it was affecting his health. So it wasn't really a question of trust, but of need and here someone was willing to listen, so he finally broke down.

Trembling in Clints arms he continued. "It was Pettigrew, he went back to his old master and helped reviving him. He killed him, just because Voldemort said so." Under tears he gave a quick overview of the Triwizard Tournament to help Clint understand and told him what happened at the graveyard and how he had to fight for his life. Clint never interrupted him, he was just holding on tight to his son, as he fell apart and his heart broke at hearing his tale. No fifteen year old should have to experience this and he shouldn't have been left alone with it, so the shadows could fester in his thoughts.

After Harry had finished Clint held him till he fell asleep all the while talking softly to him. Telling him, that it wasn't his fault, that there was nothing he could have done to save Cedric and that he was proud of him.

Clint carried Harry over to his room. He was pleased to see that the workers had set everything up and it now looked like an inviting teenage room.

When he laid him down on the bed and tucking him in after pulling off his shoes and Jeans, Clint heard how Harry mumbled "Thanks dad". He smiled sadly. It was a small step, but it would be while till Harry would call him 'Dad' while conscious.

Whispering "I love you son" he left the room.

"Jarvis, inform me, if he has nightmares." he spoke into the empty living room. After hearing confirmation, he settled himself on the couch with a beer to think through everything he had learned today.

...

And that's it for today. In the next chapter Sirius will appear :D