The rest of the school year was fairly uneventful, as compared to the years before. Harry was thankful for that.

He did have a bit of a falling out with Snape—that is, a worse falling out than their usual—when Snape tried to teach Harry Occlumency to help with his bad dreams. When Snape wasn't in the room, Harry looked into his Pensieve, invading Snape's privacy as well as finding out things he didn't want to know about his father. It shattered his view of his father for a little while, but the Occlumency lessons stopped after that, which was a positive outcome in his book, even if he didn't like how it had come about. He knew it was supposed to be important for him to learn Occlumency, but it wasn't as if Snape was really teaching him anything, anyway.

The only other major event of the school year was a brief scare with one of his visions. Harry saw Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, but he remembered what Lupin had taught him about speaking up when he needed help, and he went to see Dumbledore. He ended up being thankful he did. It turned out Sirius had never been at the Ministry—it was a trap. An ambush of Death Eaters turned up at the Department of Mysteries later that day. Harry shuddered to think what could have happened if he had just run off. The one good part about the whole debacle was that it made the news. After that, no one could deny that Voldemort had returned, so no one thought Harry was crazy after that.

But overall, the end of the year was fairly quiet. Harry did his homework, took his exams, played Quidditch (and won every game), and enjoyed the time with his friends, right up until the day they packed to return home for the summer.

Summer. The worst time of the year.

But maybe it didn't have to be . . .

Remus was finishing breakfast when Harry stumbled out of the Floo.

It was the last thing Remus was expecting. If he wasn't mistaken, today was supposed to be the day the Hogwarts students headed back home. Harry was due on the Hogwarts Express any minute.

"Harry?" Remus hurried over to the fireplace. "

"Sir, you said I was supposed to speak up if anyone hurts me, right?"

Remus's heart pounded. "Yes, of course, Harry. What happened?"

"I . . ." Harry winced. "I don't know if it matters . . ."

"Did another teacher hurt you?"

Harry swallowed hard. "No. My aunt and uncle."

Remus felt his eyes widen, though he tried to keep a straight face. He was torn between feeling thankful that Harry had finally spoken up, and brokenhearted that it had taken him this long. "And you don't want to go back to them."

"Er . . . this was stupid, I shouldn't have come here. I'll be fine."

"Harry, you're not going back there."

"But Dumbledore told me why I have to stay with them. The blood wards—"

"Are meant to keep you safe. That's not happening if you're being abused."

"I—I'll be fine, I've been fine for the past fifteen years, I'll just—"

"Hey." Remus gave him a pointed look. "You did the right thing speaking up, my boy. You understand me?"

Harry stared at him for a moment, then nodded. He blinked a couple of times, then he stepped forward, and Remus pulled him into his arms.

The End