Author's Note: This is a one-shot that just kind of popped into my head today. I'm not certain that it came out exactly the way I was planning. I guess you'll all be the judges as to whether or not this was an utter catastrophe. Sometimes you have to let the plot bunnies out to play before you can update ongoing stories.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and am making no money off of this work; the characters belong to JK Rowling and I'm just borrowing them for a moment in time.
Minerva glanced over at Remus with a curious expression on her face. She was helping him move his things into his office. She could not believe that a man she had taught what seemed not that long ago had become her colleague. He wasn't the first and certainly wouldn't be the last. She gave herself a mental shake of the head as she watched him pop a small piece of chocolate into his mouth. If it weren't for the lines on his face and the gray working its way into his hair, he looked very much like the young man he had been when he graduated.
"I can't believe the Ministry sent Dementors onto the Hogwarts Express. Looking for Sirius or not, it was out of bounds."
Minerva set about making tea while Remus was inspecting several large tanks, checking for cracks. She sighed, "I can believe that they did. They've done worse, and I'm sure will do worse. This won't be the last time they meddle in things they don't belong in." She put the extra teacups into the drawer nearest to her, aware of the chips and fading patterns. "I'm grateful you were in the car with Potter and his friends."
He set his mouth grimly, pushing the hair back from his eyes. "So am I." He started maneuvering the tanks around, trying to remember which were intended for what creatures and ought to be near or away from the windows. "I've never seen anyone have such a strong reaction to them before." Except perhaps, me…he thought to himself.
"The boy has seen terrible things in his short lifetime. All the places that should be a refuge only seem to hold more trouble for him. His relatives are appalling. Even the walls of Hogwarts haven't shielded him."
Remus's eyebrows furrowed together. "It hasn't? I know a little about his relatives, but Hogwarts?"
"It hasn't shielded him the way it should have," she said briskly, handing him a cup of tea. "Some of which was his own doing, some of which seemed unavoidable." She was silent a moment. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley took on a full-grown mountain troll in their first year and walked away without a scratch."
His lips twitched in a smile. "Mr. Potter? That's what you used to call James. Doesn't it ever get a little confusing, the generations who pass through here?"
She raised her right eyebrow. "Not that many generations have passed through. It seems not so long ago that you were scurrying around here in your own Gryffindor robes and getting into trouble."
Remus left his tea on the desk and went to go stand by the window, opening it to let the breeze in. "He does look a lot like him, doesn't he?" Almost absent-mindedly he added, "With Lil's eyes."
Minerva nodded, even though he was facing away from her and couldn't see her. "I have to say, they did surprise me. There was a time I thought that if anyone would have charmed their way into her heart it would have been you. You seemed so much more likely a match."
He opened another box, taking out compilations of his notes to check over later and tucking them into a drawer. He didn't speak for a little while. "Lily and I had a long history. I knew her before Hogwarts, before I was bitten even." He looked down at his hands, nails short, palms calloused, the hands of a man who was used to living a life that was hard on his body. "I went to a Muggle school when I was young. Lil's and I lived on the same street until we were about eight. When I got bit, my parents and I moved. I never even got to say goodbye to her."
"I wasn't aware."
Remus smiled. "We didn't recognize each other at first when we met again as first-years at Hogwarts. By that point Lily had already gotten off to a bad footing with James. James and Sirius and I bonded over the course of that first week. By the end of the second week, we'd taken Peter in after we found Severus tormenting him. Sirius had known him before Hogwarts and they'd never gotten along." He sighed. "I was pretty happy here. It wasn't perfect by any means, but life felt better in here than it had outside." The world outside sure as hell didn't make a lot of sense. Sirius had betrayed Lils and James…Harry was left with just about no one. These were a lot of old wounds that he had buried a long time ago. There was no reason to dig them up now…except of course that every time Harry looked at him, it would be like Lils and James staring at him.
Minerva finished her tea and poured another cup, needing her hands to do something while she spoke. "Potter doesn't know that Black is looking for him. The less he knows, the less likely he will be to go out and try to meet trouble. A little information can be a very dangerous thing, especially when a strong-minded boy has equally talented and strong-minded friends willing to rush headlong into situations with him."
Remus wondered idly whether she was referring to him and his friends or Harry and his. "His friends seemed good-natured when I met them."
"Miss Granger is an excellent student, very bright. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter probably get one another into as much trouble as you and your friends did. I'm sure you'll get to know all three of them rather well this term. There doesn't seem to be a great deal left for me to do here tonight, so I'll leave you to your unpacking." She smiled and gave a curt nod. "Welcome back to Hogwarts."
Remus raised his hand, wishing her a good night's rest before the next morning's classes. Just as she was going out the door, he asked, "Minerva, do you think Harry would be up to a Patronus Charm?"
She snorted softly, waiting in the doorway. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to former students calling her by her given name. She gave the matter a moment's careful thought before she answered the question. "I don't doubt that there are few things that boy could not do if he were to put his mind to them. The question is simply of what he is willing to concentrate his effort on. In this case, I fully believe that this is something within his abilities, though he may have some trouble finding a memory suitably strong for his Patronus. His has not been a happy childhood."
Remus nodded. "Thank you, Minerva. Goodnight." He closed his eyes. The Dementors nearly had as strong an effect on himself as they did on Harry. Eventually he had found memories strong enough to combat them. He'd wait. If Harry came to him and wanted to learn, he'd teach. Right now, he just wanted to find his way to his room and try and get some sleep. He rubbed his temples. He asked himself for what had to be the ten-thousandth time why Sirius would ever have betrayed Lily and James. For the ten-thousandth time, he didn't have an answer he could accept.
A wizard didn't have to turn out the way he had been raised, or with what was in his blood. Sirius was raised in a home of monsters and he'd been a good man. He himself had his lycanthropy…he couldn't overcome that. Maybe Sirius had become a monster in the end. It was a long time before Remus Lupin fell asleep that night.