Remus Lupin sat alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express staring silently into the rain. It was almost the end of term and though it had been brilliant sunshine when he had left the station at Hogsmeade, the further south the train travelled the worse the weather became.
Remus breathed out a long sigh that no one but himself could hear, he was thinking of Harry's face when he had skidded through the classroom door and asked if it was true that he was leaving. It was nice to be missed, to be wanted. Other then his marauder Hogwarts friends and his parents, Harry was probably the only person who had ever genuinely wanted him in their presence. Though he couldn't blame them, a werewolf wasn't very good company; especially around the full moon, Remus shuddered when he thought of how much danger he had put the students and staff at Hogwarts in.
That had been his initial reason for resigning, but it wasn't the only one. He didn't think he could stand looking in Albus Dumbledore's eyes, that penetrating blue gaze and seeing the disappointment and the anger. No resigning was the honourable thing to do, the only thing to do since Snape had let the cat or more accurately the wolf out of the bag. There would be a flurry of panic among the parents. He didn't blame them, not after the last fiasco under the full moon. And among the students themselves, oh there would be those such as Harry, Ron and Hermione and to be fair most of the Gryffindors, that would not care but all in all the thought of being close to a werewolf would cause too much of a panic to teach the students anything of use.
Remus closed his eyes as the guilt for his betrayal of Dumbledore first as a boy then as a man washed over him, he had too much pride to allow himself to be sacked, he liked to bow out gracefully though even he had to admit that his quiet exit could be considered cowardly. Remus scoffed at himself bitterly. Cowardly, he thought, even a Gryffindor can be a coward, but then no Gryffindor had been spurned all their life for something that wasn't their fault, something that was just as much a disease as cancer. Living your life being hated is one thing but living it alone… Remus sighed to rid himself of a painful ache in his throat that had begun to form, if he didn't know better he would have sworn that a dementor was near with how depressed he felt.
Just when he thought he had it all worked out, Remus thought bitterly, a job, a home, steady income and not to mention being back at a place where the best memories of his life were made. And then there was Harry himself, his best friend's son. Harry Potter; the boy who lived.
The world worshipped him as a hero and yet the boy for all his courage and talents only ever seemed to see his apparent flaws and inadequacies. How Remus wished James had survived to see the young man his son was, how proud he would have been, Remus himself had gotten quite a jolt when he had first met Harry, then another one when he realised how wonderful the boy really was.
Remus yawned widely and winced as a long cut that marred the side of his face split, he touched the tip of his finger to it and pulled it back to see it stained red. Another horrible blow about leaving Hogwarts was now having no Snape to concoct the wolf bane potion, he was able to do it himself but with such little money to buy the supplies, most of the time he simply had to go through the pain of his transformation. This change was the most memorable of his life, the night he finally saw his best friend again, found him to be innocent, was sure they were going to be able to clear his name and then he changed. It was his fault Peter had escaped, had he taken his potion they might have still stood a chance of holding him or at least recapturing him.
Thanks to Harry once again Sirius escaped and was now on the run with Buckbeak the Hippogriff no less, Remus smirked, he had been able to teach him something of worth at least. And how strange that Harry, without knowing his father's animagus form was a stage, produced a patronus in that form, how very strange. Strange, Remus mused, but utterly appropriate.
Harry was identical to his father in nearly everyway, except his eyes, he had fair Lily's eyes, emerald green and brilliant. He united all the best traits that his father had held, perhaps not as skilled academically as James but he made up for it for not having that certain over-confidence (arrogance some called it) that James tended to possess in his youth. He battled on through trials and tribulations thrown at him all year and, Remus thought with a grimace, Severus Snape was without a doubt one of those pressing trials.
The hatred of the father had passed on to the son with an intensity that quite shocked him, though why he didn't know since Snape had always been a piece of work. Not that he always deserved what he got, the two most prominent marauder's, James and Sirius had gone out of their way to bully Snape at times but Snape was by no means an innocent party. Remus clucked his tongue as he thought over all the slippery, devious ways Snape and his little band of would-be death eaters had tried to get them in trouble.
Sirius, who he remembered was always prone to over doing it a bit, had most definitely done wrong, there was no excuse for his actions in the sixth year. Remus stilled thought of it a times and broke out in a cold sweat. What if Severus had got all the way through the tunnel and been bitten, another life ruin by this miserable curse.
However much Snape hated it, the fact remains that if James Potter had not risked his life by going after Severus and pulling him out the outcome would have been very bad indeed. For all parties involved.
Remus felt a small twinge in the region of his heart as he thought of his old friend and of his son who he was sure would have acted in exactly the same way for anyone, enemy or no.
He watched a bird fly lazily across the sky and thought of Sirius and Buckbeak, he wondered when or in fact if he would see his friend again. He hoped so.
"Would you like anything to eat, Professor?"
Remus looked up, it was the plump trolley lady, she didn't have a trolley with her but she smiled at him kindly. It was obvious the rumour of his condition had not spread this far just yet, Remus smiled back and shook his head though his stomach rumbled, but he was used to it. An outcast had best get used to unsheltered nights and hungry days.
Rubbing a weary hand over his prematurely lined face and through his greying hair, Remus longed for a miracle of some sort. Some good luck to befall him, for at that moment with the rain beginning to turn from a light drizzle to a lashing pelt, Remus thought of his future and he saw trouble coming.
Peter exposed and gone, Voldemort out there somewhere in need of a faithful servant …. Trouble was coming and this werewolf was pretty sure he would be wrapped firmly in its centre when it came. For now whether he knew it or not Harry Potter was going to be marked by the said trouble and as his father's friend he could do no more then face it with him.
"And hopefully defeat it," he muttered.
The train began to slow and Remus looked up, he was at Kings cross. Fleeting memories of him as a schoolboy ran through his mind, but those days were gone and shaking his head Remus made his way on to the platform, where he stood bags in hand, wondering what to do next.
