Harry Potter laid on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He had been doing that for the last ten minutes. His messy black hair lay around his head like a halo and his emerald eyes remained fixed on the same spot.

He was thinking about his dead Godfather, Sirius. Sirius had died last year trying to defend Harry. His death still haunted Harry's dreams and Harry was filled with unrelenting guilt. 'If only I hadn't been stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's trick. He would have still been alive.'

He looked down at his watch and realised he was late. He jumped off his bed, dragged on a pair of jeans and ran out of the room. He raced down the stairs, brushed past Aunt Petunia and opened the door. He ran down the street and sprinted towards the old flat that was two streets away.

Mrs Figg was at her door waiting for him. She beckoned him inside and led him to her cat-strewn living room. They settled themselves down in front of the fire and Harry started to apologise.

"I'm really sorry I'm late," he said to the old lady next to him. "I totally lost track of time. He hasn't come yet, has he?"

"No, he hasn't," she said in a comforting voice. "Ahh, here he is." They both stared at the fire and a familiar head looked back at them. It was Professor Lupin.

"Harry, how are you?" the head in the fire said.

"I'm fine, how are you?" Harry replied, "You don't look too well." Harry was right, Lupin definitely looked older than he had done before. His face looked haggard and his voice had become croakier.

Harry had been speaking to Lupin in the fire for the last 4 weeks. Mrs Figg was a Squib, but she still had her fireplace connected to the network. Harry had liked speaking to Lupin, finding out what was going on and what he was missing, but he still would have preferred to talk to him in real life.

"Harry, I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me." Lupin wasn't a very good liar and Harry knew right away that something was wrong. "Don't look so worried, the full moon is approaching, that's all."Lupin was a werewolf and every full moon he turned into a fierce wolf. However, he had taken the Wolfsbane potion for years now and he simply acted like a tame wolf until the moon waned again.

"Harry, Hermione has invited you to stay with her for the rest of the holidays. I checked with Dumbledore and he said it would be fine as long as you stayed at Privet Drive for one more week. Is that O.K?"

"Really? Did she really ask me?" Harry's spirits soared. He had never been to Hermione's house and he had never spent much time with her parents. They were both Muggles, but Hermione always said they were really nice. "When is she picking me up? When do we go?!"