Harry was a bit distracted that night while he was dueling with his godfather. He kept thinking of Professor Lupin in the bar and wanted to talk to Sirius about it, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up. Sirius must have noticed something was amiss because he called for Harry to stop and asked "Alright, what's on your mind?"
Harry met his godfather's gaze momentarily before examining the floor carefully. "Was I that obvious?"
"Well… yes, you were" Sirius replied with a smirk.
"It's Moony…" Harry replied despondently.
At his friend's pet name (pun shamelessly intended), Sirius' eyebrows quirked upward. "Oh?" was all he uttered.
"I saw him at the Leaky Cauldron today," Harry explained. "He didn't look so well. Tonks was there as well, keeping him company and trying to cheer him up. She's worried about him, and they're both worried about me. He seemed almost lifeless." After a slight pause he added, "I wrote to him today asking if he'd like to meet me and talk about everything."
Sirius' expression almost matched the face that Lupin had worn in the pub hearing of the state of his friend. "That was good of you to do," he finally replied after several tense moments of silence. "Moony's strong. He lost all of us once before, but he pulled through. He has a tendency to try to handle things alone, defense mechanism he picked up living his life as a werewolf. Having someone to lean on and, more importantly, having someone who will lean on him will be good for him."
"I hope you're right," Harry replied with a sad smile. "I feel bad that I never thought of how he was dealing with everything sooner. First I was too caught up in my own grief and guilt, then you came along and I began training, and I just didn't really give it much more thought after that."
Sirius sighed "I was afraid of that. Look, I know this is hard, but you still need to come to terms with the fact that I am dead, even though I'm visiting you in your dreams every night. Eventually I will move on and won't be able to visit you any more, and I don't want you to fall apart when that happens."
Harry's eyes moistened as he surveyed his godfather. "I don't want to lose you again," he choked out.
Sirius quickly closed the gap between them and enveloped Harry in a hug. "I know Harry. I know," was all the man could say. He stood there holding Harry for a few minutes rubbing the young man's back soothingly. He pulled away to look his godson in the eye "We still have this time together, and you'll have time to accept what's to come. I just don't think you should lose sight of the fact that I am dead and one day will be gone for good."
"I know you're right," Harry said. "I'll try not to forget."
Sirius gave him another brief hug before asking "You ready to get back to work?"
"Yeah. Yeah, let's do it."
.....
When Harry returned from his morning workout, he found Hedwig waiting for him with a letter. He opened it up and read the short message.
Dear Harry,
I would like to see you very much. Meet me in the place you mentioned today at 2:00. It meant a lot that you thought to write to me.
With regard,
Remus Lupin
Harry couldn't help but smile despite the nature of the visit. He was really looking forward to seeing his old professor again. He set the note aside and pulled out the book he had begun reading the previous night. He spent the rest of the morning buried under his newly acquired library, only taking a break when his stomach reminded him to eat lunch.
As it drew nearer to 2:00, Harry felt as if he was studying the clock at least as much as he was his book. He was anxious and nervous about his meeting with his former professor. Finally, at quarter to 2:00, Harry marked his place and shut his book. He put the book back in his trunk, shrunk the trunk, then slipped it into his pocket. He didn't want to take any chances with his new possessions. He didn't want anybody to know that he had bought any of them.
He left the house unnoticed by the Dursleys. They hadn't been paying Harry much attention at all this summer. It was easier for them to ignore Harry than it was to be civil with him. The sky was overcast with dark gray clouds looming over him in all directions as he walked to the park. He hoped that it would not rain this afternoon, at least not while he was still out with Professor Lupin. He passed over Magnolia Crescent and onto Magnolia Road and continued his trek. He ignored the few residents giving him scathing looks as he passed by their homes.
Soon enough Harry was entering through the gates of the park. He looked around but did not see his old professor anywhere. With a shrug he began ambling through the park for lack of anything better to do. As he passed by an empty bench a disembodied voice startled him "Harry."
Harry jumped into action as he whipped out his wand and rolled to the side. With his wand leveled toward the empty bench, Harry looked around for the source of the noise. "It's me, Harry," his former professor said as he removed his invisibility cloak and appeared before him.
"Merlin! Don't do that to me," Harry said as the man extended his hand for Harry to shake. Harry clasped his hand and encircled his old professor with his other hand to give him a backslapping hug.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," he replied. "But I must say I'm impressed with your reaction. Moody would sure be proud."
"It's alright. Just be glad I didn't hex first and ask questions later. The last thing I need right now is another letter from the ministry about under age magic use," Harry shot back with a grin knowing that any spell he shot would not have actually come from his wand, making it untraceable by the ministry. But he had to keep up the guise that he was unable to perform magic at the moment.
"Point taken," was Lupin's only reply as he guided Harry over to the bench where the two of them sat down.
For several minutes neither one said anything as they traded off studying each other and their surroundings. Finally Lupin broke the silence. "So how have you been holding up?" he asked.
....
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