Remus Lupin hauled his trunk on to the Hogwarts Express just as he had done every year when he was a boy. This time it was different. He wasn't any less nervous than he had been in his first year or any less worried about keeping his…condition a secret. The thing was, he wasn't learning. He was teaching.
Despite the fact that it had been twenty-seven years to the day since he had boarded the train for the first time and met the bright Lily Evans [at that point still being followed around by her dark, greasy-haired, mismatched shadow.] He headed straight for the compartment where he had met the pair. It was also the compartment where he had revealed his "furry little secret" as James had referred to it when he had told them in second year. After that it had become their meeting place whenever they got on the train. Even though he was a thirty three year old teacher, not a cheerful fourth year with the best friends he could ever hope for, he still wanted to sit there.
The students gave him odd glances as he strode up the train. Usually the only adults on the train were the trolley witch and the conductor. Remus heard a sixth year Ravenclaw disappearing into her compartment say something about a curse.
"Oh don't be ridiculous, Penelope!" her friend chided, once safely back inside. "I told you dating a Gryffindor would mess with your head…"
Remus chuckled to himself. Ravenclaws hadn't changed since he was in school: still clever, but awful gossips. Apparently the rumor Sirius had started back in fifth year about the Defense job being cursed was still being circulated.
He pulled open the compartment, relieved to find it empty of students. He placed the trunk on the overhead rack. The letters spelling out his name had been there from when his father had painted them when he was eleven. He hadn't repainted them for the sake of sentimentality, but the newly painted Professor looked rather good. Remus slumped on the seat. Perhaps he'd close his eyes for a moment. The last full moon had been a tough transformation…
"It'll be good to be home," Remus said, leaning against the window and watching the countryside fly by.
"Easy for you to say!" snorted Sirius. "D'you reckon I have enough red and gold on for them to leave me alone?"
Remus looked over at his friend, bedecked in every article of Gryffindor clothing he could possibly wear. From the top of the ill-fitting hat over top his curly dark hair to the laces of his trainers that were enchanted to scroll over the script: Proud Gryffindor over and over again, he was sure to give his mother a heart attack.
"Well, she won't be pleased, that's for sure," James replied, eying the scarf that lit up when you squeezed it.
"Don't you think that's going a bit overboard? I mean, you don't want to have them kick you out just yet; you don't have anywhere to—" Peter cautioned, but James interrupted him.
"Course he'll have a place to go Peter, are you daft? He can stay with me and my folks. They won't mind, I promise."
"Even if they don't disown me, can you get your mum to send some of that fudge she sent us at Halloween?" asked Sirius, licking his lips.
"I'm looking forward to a good home-cooked meal," agreed Remus.
Instantly he knew he had said the wrong thing.
"Weren't you just home last week?" James inquired.
"Well, um…yeah, course, it's just my mum she couldn't cook… I mean, she could cook…what I meant was, she can cook, but not at that particular moment…?"
"Remus, what's going on? Every time I've seen your mum she doesn't look like she's dying from a mysterious illness she contracted while on assignment for the Daily Prophet in Albania," James said.
Remus froze. Was it time to tell them?
Just then the train ground to a halt.
"D'you think we've broken down?" asked James.
Suddenly, Remus was startled awake, but the face directly across from his own was still James's. Still drowsy, he heard the reply and it could have been Sirius.
"Dunno."
All Remus could make out in the darkness was the shadow of James in front of him and another shape wiping the window and peering out of it.
"There's something moving out there. I think people are coming aboard!"
Remus felt the sudden urge to tell his friends about the ridiculous nightmare he had been having, the one where he went years and years without them, the one where James and Peter were dead and Sirius had betrayed them. That was preposterous, Sirius would never betray them…
"Sorry—d'you know what's going on?—Ouch—sorry—"
"Hullo, Neville."
Instantly the illusion was shattered. Remus was jerked rather painfully back to reality, but it was a better reality than the one he had left.
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"
There could only be one person who was named Harry and could look so impossibly like James that he made Remus think he was back in the past.
"No idea—sit down—"
It was amazing how he took charge just like his father had done.
"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came a girl's voice.
She moved past the others and opened the door, only to collide with another girl.
"Who's that?"
"Who's that?"
"Ginny?"
"Hermione?"
"What are you doing?"
"I was looking for Ron—"
"Come in and sit down—"
"Not here! I'm here!" Harry cried as the girl attempted to sit on him.
"Ouch!" the other boy yelped as the girl stumbled past him.
"Quiet!" Remus ordered.
Muttering the incantation under his breath, he conjured a handful of flames. It would have been easier to use Lumos of course, but he was their new Defense teacher, and the other two had been lacking in talent. It was about time they saw something impressive.
"Stay where you are," he said, rising to his feet, careful not to trip over anyone in the overcrowded compartment.
The door slid open.
The blast of cold air alerted Remus to what the creature outside was. A dementor on a school train? What on Earth was the Ministry thinking? Sirius Black was far less dangerous then these things…or at one point he had been. Before Remus could remember that those thoughts were not good ones to be having around a dementor, he was sucked into his memories.
"I'm sorry, Remus. I trusted Lily and James to make the right decision as to who they would entrust their lives… but I was wrong in letting them trust Black."
With difficulty, Remus extracted himself from the memory of the first of many talks he would have with Albus Dumbledore after Lily and James's deaths. He saw James—oh what was he thinking?—Harry fall off his seat. The girl fell to her knees beside him and attempted to revive him. Remus approached the dementors. The other boy [Neville, was it?] seemed to be suffering the worst next to Harry. He was shaking.
"Expecto Patronum."
The silver blast that followed was comforting, but still not corporeal. He still wasn't powerful enough for that. The dementor retreated, presumably to go hurt someone else. Foolishly, Remus was more concerned with the son of his best friend then the well-being of most of the student body.
"Harry! Harry, are you all right?"
Nothing had ever relieved Remus more than the sound of the boy's voice, strained and weak but still there.
"Wh-what?"
"Are you okay?" the red haired boy asked uncertainly.
"Yeah. What happened? Where's that—that thing? Who screamed?"
"No one screamed," the boy said.
"But I heard screaming—"
Remus dug around in his pocket and came up with a bar of Honeydukes chocolate that he had been saving to celebrate the launch of his teaching career and his return to Hogwarts.
Then he said his first words to Harry James Potter, the hero of the Wizarding World, but more importantly, James and Lily's son.
"Here. Eat it. It'll help."
Harry eyed the chocolate in his hand as if it was poison. Remus supposed he had a reason to worry about sabotage, being the Boy-Who-Lived and all, but this was getting ridiculous. He waited to tell him so.
"What was that thing?" he asked shakily.
"A dementor. A dementor of Azkaban."
Seeing that Harry still wasn't eating the chocolate, he repeated himself.
"Eat. It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me."
And with that, Remus strolled out of the compartment where he had met Lily [and Snape], told his friends his darkest secret, and met Harry. It was a place for making history.
So, what do you think? I was reading POA and this idea jumped out at me. Do you think I should continue with Lupin? Reviews are as always appreciated.
By the way, I love Ravenclaws; I'm one myself.