Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter. End of.

A/N: This was done as a bit of fun. I wanted to see what certain parts of Order of the Phoenix would be like when written from another character's point of view(POV). In this case it is written from Lupin's POV.

Part 1: The Advance Guard

"Professor Moody?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"I don't know so much about 'Professor'," growled Moody, "never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly."

All I could see of Harry was his silhouette, as no-one had bothered to turn any lights on. I wanted to reassure Harry he was safe.

"It's all right, Harry. We've come to take you away," I said slightly hoarsely. If I'd been able to see him, I knew he'd be looking relieved that there was someone there he knew. He sounded relieved, though a little stunned when he next spoke.

"P-Professor Lupin? Is that you?"

I just wanted to go and hug him, to let him know everything was all right. But I refrained from doing so. Thankfully Tonks now had the sense to light her wand.

"Why are we all standing in the dark? Lumos."

It was then I realised I didn't want Harry to see me. It had been the full moon a couple of days ago, so I looked tired and rather ill. Unfortunately I was standing nearest to him. I smiled broadly at him, no matter how shabby I looked. I was just so happy to see him again. He tried to smile back, but I think he was still a little shocked.

The others commented on Harry's appearance. Tonks made it pretty obvious she'd been trying to guess what he looked like, and had been successful, because she said "Oooh, he looks just likeI thought he would. Wotcher, Harry!" Harry looked less stunned, more awkward now. I know I would have been fed up with the relentless staring.

There was the usual comments of "He looks exactly like James" (this came from Kingsley) and "Except the eyes. Lily's eyes." (this came from Elphias Doge).

Mad-Eye was squinting suspiciously at Harry.

"Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" he growled at me, making me jump slightly. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him.We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?"

Everyone shook their heads. I did some quick thinking.

"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" I asked him. It never occurred to me that this could be Death Eater we were talking to. Trust Mad-Eye to think of that.

"A stag," replied Harry nervously. I breathed a sigh of relief. No Death Eater could have known that.

"That's him, Mad-Eye," I said. Smiling broadly again, I waited for him to come down the stairs, within arm's reach. Mad-Eye made us all jump again, before Harry had taken two steps.

"Don't put your wand there, boy!" he roared at Harry, who looked a bit scared. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!" At this, Tonks looked interested.

"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?"

"Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!" growled Mad-Eye. "Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it any more." Tonks rolled her eyes, though that didn't go unnoticed.

"And I saw that," he added irritably, stumping off to the kitchen.

When he'd disappeared, I held out my hand to Harry. He took it uncertainly and we shook hands. I held on to his hand just a moment too long. He blushed slightly and I let go hurriedly.

"How are you?" I asked him, looking at him closely and putting my hand on his shoulder. I thought he still looked a bit stunned, to be quite honest.

"F-fine..." he replied, looking disbelieving at all the people watching him. He looked very self-conscious. Again, I resisted the urge to hug him.

"I'm- you're really lucky the Dursleys are out..." he mumbled, looking at his feet. I removed my hand from his shoulder. Tonks piped up before I could explain.

"Lucky, ha! It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent them a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now...or they think they are."

The look that came over Harry's face when Tonks said this was priceless.

"We are leaving, aren't we? Soon?" he asked.

"Almost at once," I explained. "We're just waiting for the all-clear."

"Where are we going? The Burrow?" he asked, a note of hopefulness in his voice.

"Not the Burrow, no," I replied, taking him by the upper arm and leading him to the kitchen. Everyone followed us; I let go of his arm. "Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while..." I trailed off as we entered the kitchen. Mad-Eye was sitting at the table drinking from his hip-flask, his magical eye spinning in all directions, taking in all the labour-saving appliances. Just watching his eye was making me feel more ill than I already was. I decided it was time to introduce everyone.

"This is Alastor Moody, Harry," I told him, pointing at Moody.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, a note of discomfort in his voice.

"And this is Nymphadora-" Tonks cut me off before I could finish.

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus, it's Tonks," she shuddered. I ignored her and finished my sentence.

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only." Tonks glared at me.

"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora," she muttered. I continued with the introductions.

"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt." Harry was starting to look increasingly awkward. "Elphias Doge." He nodded politely to Harry. "Dedalus Diggle-" Again I was cut off.

"We've met before," he squeaked, looking a bit overexcited.

"Emmeline Vance." She said nothing, but politely inclined her head at Harry. "Sturgis Podmore." Merlin, these introductions were tedious. But someone had to make them.

"And Hestia Jones." She too looked overexcited, waving to Harry. Poor Harry, he looked so awkward as each new person was introduced. Perhaps he wasn't used to such relentless staring. Or maybe he was, but didn't appreciate it.

"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," I said, though I didn't think it that surprising. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upward slightly, but I held back from grinning. Now was not the time to joke around.

"Yeah, well, the more the better." That's the thing about Mad-Eye. He's never happy. Always has to think on the dark side, he does. "We're your guard, Potter." Harry just looked at him slightly uncomprehendingly.

"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," I explained to Harry, looking out of the kitchen window. "We've got about fifteen minutes."

I think Tonks was starting to get a bit restless, because she was looking around the kitchen with great interest, and passing remarks.

"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles? My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"

Harry looked slightly distracted when she asked him this. "Er, yeah," he replied. His next question was directed at me.

"Look, what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol-?" But before he could finish, he was cut off by several of us hissing and Moody growling "Shut up!" I have to admit, Harry looked thoroughly confused.

"What?"

"We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky," Moody explained. Too risky, like I already said, I thought grumpily. Had Harry not been listening?

Mad-Eye's eye seemed to be stuck; the next thing we heard from him was a loud "Damn it! It keeps getting stuck- ever since that scum wore it."

We all averted our eyes when he popped it out, except Tonks, who said conversationally "Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" He ignored her.

"Get me a glass of water, would you, Harry?" While Harry fetched said glass of water, I checked my watch. A couple more minutes.

"How're we getting- wherever we're going?" Harry asked the room at large, while Moody's eye whizzed round the glass of water.

"Brooms. Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our lie's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey." I answered.

"Remus says you're a good flier," Kingsley told Harry, who looked slightly embarrassed at the praise I'd given him.

"He's excellent," I replied distractedly, checking my watch again. Merlin, it was tedious waiting around. "Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."

I was about to go with him when Tonks piped up "I'll come and help you." The two of them disappeared out of the kitchen.

The rest of us were left to wait in the kitchen. While we were waiting, Mad-Eye replaced his eye, but I didn't look at it for fear of being sick. Kingsley and Sturgis started examining the various Muggle appliances. Hestia began rummaging through one of the drawers. No-one thought to tell her to stop. While they were having fun, I retrieved parchment, ink and quill from my robes and, leaning on a worktop, began writing a long letter to Harry's aunt and uncle, explaining where Harry had gone. I had just finished when Harry and Tonks re-entered the kitchen. I tucked the quill and ink back into my robes and looked up.

"Excellent. We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry-"

"They won't," Harry interrupted.

"-that you're safe-"

"That'll just depress them."

"-and you'll see them next summer."

"Do I have to?"

I smiled at this, I wanted to be able to tell him he didn't have to, but I didn't. Then Moody beckoned him over to Disillusion him. He looked worried.

"Disillusionment Charm. Lupin say you've got an Invisibility Cloak, but it won't stay on while we're flying; this'll disguise you better. Here you go-"

And he rapped Harry hard on top of his head with his wand.