Growing Up

Part 68.

Harry celebrated his 7th birthday quietly and with only a few friends, as he had requested. He was adopting Remus' aversion to birthdays, much to Sirius' shocked sorrow. For gifts they let Harry pick his favorite shops, and ended up with loads of things that bruised their forearms as the cardboard strings dug into their skin. Its not like budget was a hindrance with not only Sirius' inheritance, but Harry's too. It gave Remus a chill up his spine to mindlessly spend, but two walking distractions kept his mind off of the fact that it was more money they could spend in three lifetimes. That said, their arms were full of all sorts of stuff. Various clothes, books, and other average kid toys that Harry had picked out. The only birthday gift they hadn't gotten Harry was a pet. They expected the question for a while, and both considerations of grace and a full blown pissmatch between a seven year old flashed through Remus mind. He had been asking for one for a while after seeing all of the schoolchildren hold their own. They tried to tell Harry he basically already had a dog, sometimes at least, but he still wasn't satisfied. He whined that Padfoot wasn't a real pet because he knew every dog trick in the book, and didn't have to be trained. That, Remus disproved. Sirius needed undying training. He asked for a cat as well, but Sirius quickly shut that down.
***
"Cats are evil!" Sirius mocked. "They're mean, and sassy as hell."

"Sounds like you." Remus added, shoving a spoonful of his breakfast in his mouth.

"I like them. They're not sassy, i prefer charismatic."
***
Instead of pets, Harry spent his free time with his map. He started to wonder when they would notice that it was gone, but it seemed to painful for them to even ask a question. It was of no shocking value they gave all of his parents' stuff to him. He told the map about Professor Snape, which of course was met with aggressive scribbling of vile phrases against the teacher. Harry would try to avoid him when he went to the school while Sirius helped students who stayed over summer and Remus did busy work for Poppy. Summer visits became increasingly popular, and Harry didn't mind. He was entirely devoted to scoping out new spots for the map and keeping up with his new friends. He told Sirius about his "drawn" distant relative on the wall, and how Harry had taken a liking to him. Sirius just laughed and awkwardly smiled.

Remus had recently backed himself into a more reserved state, or as Sirius saw it, a vow of trivial silence. It made him nervous, he had even told Regulus of it. If Remus had known that Regulus was aware of his emotional shortcomings in the recent weeks, Sirius didn't even want to think what would happen. So, he swore his brother to secrecy. It wasn't like this frivolous secret would've shoved a spike in the road of who-pissed-off-who, this mute lull was far more dimensional than he could possibly explain. Remus thought that killing Greyback would smooth over all the negative emotions he had carried for years like some wicked backpack full of jagged rocks, but it was the opposite. That said, he hadn't planned on killing the beast anyway. He hadn't planned on it since he was sixteen and reaching for the bus ticket with a shaking and bloodied but trained hand.

In the very middle of all this, Harry had been more preoccupied with wandering around the outside of the school. During one of the summer visits, they had taken the responsibility of showing him the Shrieking Shack. It wasn't a pleasant moment for either of them.
Since then, Remus' "furry little problem" as Sirius called it, didn't cross casual conversation after that.
Harry, on the other hand, loved the the botanicals and the magic that surrounded them all. He spent a lot of his time in the rose gardens or near the walloping willow, it seemed to be calm near him. He wasn't sure why, much like everything else, but he didn't mind it. He also didn't mind the glances he got as students passed by, muttering in confusion to each other at the suspicious tranquility of the tree as Harry sat quietly under it with a book. Moony had taught him a love of reading from an early age, and finished novels in one weekend. Anywhere he could find a quiet space, and anytime he wasn't occupied with searching every corner of the castle; he was reading. He sat quietly on the small bed of grass surrounded by colored flowers. He felt drawn to the spot, it was the only patch there that the light skewed freely through the rough foliage of the trees above. He had brought the map this time since he knew he wouldn't be there for too long. It was entertaining either way. Many animals lived around the lively, country-esque landscape, especially near Hagrid's house. Harry, who had become good friends with the giant, would visit to have tea with him. He listened intently to the teacher jabber on about different species of his daily special interest.