It Meant Family

31st of October 1993

"the world gives you so much pain and here you are making gold out of it" - there is nothing purer than that, Rupi Kaur

Hogwarts, Scotland

Harry snuck out of the Gryffindor Tower early on Halloween morning, his friends were still asleep as he rushed to the South Wing on the fifth floor before breakfast had been served. He ran to the Hospital Wing, putting one foot in front of the other as fast as he could. Madam Pomfrey seemed surprised at the sight of him as she raised her head from her desk with the approaching sound of his shoes clicking against the stone floor.

"I've come to see Remus." He whispered, not wanting his voice to echo in the big empty space.

"Of course, dear." She smiled, getting up from her chair. "He hasn't woken up yet, but he'll be most happy to see you when he does." She accompanied him to a private room in the back making pleasant conversation. "Sirius can keep you company until then," she smiled as she reached the door "he flued to my office at first light, Remus had just gotten in."

He smiled widely at the sight of his family, Padfoot walked over and ruffled his hair with a joyous grin. They sat together in a pair of metal framed chairs with almost white, beige cushioned seats, Harry leaned his head on his godfather's shoulder and watched Remus sleep.

"You smell like Billywig." Sirius pointed out.

"I was working on some Wideye Potion for class." He lied, the Billywig Stings from his morning concoction must've left a scent on his breath, but before he could be questioned any further, Moony woke up, redirecting all the attention in the room. "Ren!"

"H'llo cub." He smiled pleasantly surprised.

"I've come barring sweets." Harry took a bar of Honeydukes' Changing Chocolate and half a dozen Chocolate Frogs and placed them on the bedside table.

"That's a diff'cult on'." Remus sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"It's Halloween," Padfoot remembered, "it's been 12 years." The room fell into a heavy silence, Moony slowly reached for the Changing Chocolate bar and struggled to open it, with his human mind still not in full control of his body, the others watched silently, knowing his pride wouldn't allow him to accept their help.

"What about you lad?" Asked Sirius "How's everything? You haven't been writing."

"As if Ren hasn't been keeping you informed." He scoffed, but answered anyway. "I'm alright. Been learning loads."

"Merlin, we've raised a nerd." He flipped his hair dramatically, turning to Remus who had just managed to open his sweet.

"Well, Potions has been insufferable." Harry added as if it made any difference. "Snivellus keeps picking on Neville for no reason and Malfoy and his goons won't stop pestering me."

"You should hex him." Padfoot suggested mischievously, Moony handed each of them a single piece of the sweet out of politeness.

"Snivellus or Malfoy?" The boy ate his in one bite and enjoyed as the bitter taste of dark chocolate sweetened, turning into a perfect milk chocolate just before he swallowed it.

"Either." Sirius took a small bite of his sweet shrugging and his partner protested with something sounding like a growl.

"I blew up his cauldron in front of the whole class." Harry smirked proudly.

"Snivellus or Malfoy?" The man questioned.

"Malfoy, obviously." He responded.

"Must've gotten quite a lot of detention, either way." He ate the rest of the chocolate amused, the almost sickening sweetness of white chocolate becoming bitter in his mouth.

"I'm not you, Sirius." He laughed. "I wasn't caught."

"I take it back," he smiled proudly, slamming his hand on the arm of his chair "we've raised a great Marauder."

"Y'know," Remus cleared his throat "on' can be oath..." he thought about what he said for a moment, trying to understand why it sounded so odd "both." He corrected himself and Sirius nodded confidently. "Moony's missed you, cub." He changed the subject quickly, before he came to his senses and felt obligated to give his godson detention.

"I've missed him too." He frowned, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry I haven't visited after full moons since the start of term. I've been afraid of my friends figuring out the truth about our family."

"You can tell them, if you like, Harry." Sirius smiled. "If you trust them, so do we."

Harry nodded, unsure whether he would actually tell his friends anything, maybe he could talk to Hermione, she already knew about his queerness and didn't seem to have any problems with it and being raised muggle, her mind might not be imbued with all the prejudice against werewolves. In the end, he decided to give it some more thought another time and enjoy his first Halloween with his family since his start at Hogwarts.

Madam Pomfrey was kind enough to bring breakfast for all of them, though Remus mostly stuck to the chocolate and fell back asleep shortly after eating and woke up just in time for dinner. The other two talked the day away, they kept the healer company in her office during lunch and Harry made a mental note to look into some of the spells she mentioned, he thought she was great at her job, but anything that saved him a trip to the Hospital Wing seemed worth his while.

The nightfall came with a lot of feelings, Sirius began reminiscing about their last Halloween before graduation. They had spent months bewitching hundreds of boxes of fireworks, James had cast an undetectable extending charm on his trunk to take them all to school and when the clock in the Great Hall struck midnight, lily scented smoke bombs flooded the castle forcing all the students out to watch a grand show of colorful sparks that featured Albus Dumbledore in long purple robes, the Sorting Hat singing its start of the year song and even the red-eyed, grumpy miss Norris in an epic forty minute show that put the Quidditch Cup to shame. The story, of course, was carefully edited as to not once mention the name of Peter Pettigrew.

Remus followed it with tales of the Halloween of '78, their first out of school, when Lily and Mary dragged them into muggle London for the best costume party of their lives. In '79 there was no celebration, the war had started to get to them, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, James' parents, had died that summer and they spent the night sitting on the floor of Potter Manor until they lost count of how many bottles of Firewiskey and Dragonscotch they'd emptied. 1980 took a positive turn, after Harry's much celebrated arrival into the world, all the Potter family and the Potter-adjacent clan came together for a night of sugar-rush and muggle music.

By eleven, the three of them felt exhausted, having cried and laughed more than enough for the night. Harry decided it was time to return to his dorm before either of his godparents, drunk on their emotions, started to talk about the Halloween of '81. Madam Pomfrey wrote him a note to excuse him from detention in case anyone caught him out of bed on his way out, he waved his family goodbye and walked through the dark empty corridors with nothing but his own thoughts for company, hoping to find all his roommates asleep leaving any and all questions to the next day.