*Title:
*Author: Jania Jitsu
*Disclaimer: Only the idea and the fic are mine. Why do I have to put this thing on FANFICTION.net anyway? The characters mostly belong to J.K. Rowling, unless you don't recognize them- like most of the first years.
*Feedback: jania_jitsu@yahoo.com
*Spoilers: It's possible. You are warned.
*Season/Sequel Info: Takes place before and during Prisoner of Azkaban.
*Warnings/Notes: Why am I doing this? Cos I woke up thinking about the Harry Potter books. Really. And I wasn't even dreaming about them! I just woke up thinking about Lupin and his name. Oh yeah- and how difficult going back to Hogwarts must have been for him. But mostly his name. Then this idea came to me.

By the way, I've done my best to describe the characters as I saw them in my mind's eye. I read all the books at least once or twice and I've been going through Prisoner of Azkaban while writing this so I can make Lupin and Sirius accurate. I'm a stickler for detail, me [; )] but I may have gotten something off a bit. Sorry if I have. You can choose to notify me and my future stories would be grateful, but I probably won't change it here.

Thank you to Kittenmommy for making me aware that I at least had something to go by for Lupin's middle name- it begins with a J. I liked Connor- aka wolf-lover, but this one works okay.




not on trial




He was medium-tall with a pretty good build, though he looked like he had been very ill lately and had lost weight as a result. He had a wide, pleasant, almost innocent face with blue eyes and a slightly crooked nose. His mouth hovered in between a smile and a frown- like he couldn't quite decide whether the situation was hilarious or depressing.

Whatever "the situation" was. Perhaps it was his complicated life, or something as simple and little as the meeting he was about to go to. Though no one actually saw the meeting as simple or little. They thought it was the serious decision they would have to make for a long time. But people are like that.

Out of habit, he ran a hand through his hair, which made it stick up a little oddly. He couldn't have been older than thirty-five, but one could already find strands of gray intermingled with the usual light brown.

He walked up the steps and into the building. It was a very nice building, he noticed as he looked around. He walked up to the desk.

"Hello," he said somewhat uncertainly to the man in the security guard's robes. "I'm here for the Hogwarts meeting . . ." His voice trailed off. Was the man even listening to him? He seemed awfully interested in his paperwork- did he know what the meeting was about? He felt his heart skip a beat.

Please, no. Everyone can't know . . .

"Down the hall and third door to the right. I'll need you to check your wand here."

He nodded calmly. "All right." He pulled his wand out of his robes and handed it to the security guard.

"Full name, please."

"R-E-M-U-S; J-O-B-E-Y; L-U-P-I-N," he spelled out slowly.

The security guard wrote the name down on a tag, which he attached to Lupin's wand. The wand went in a box full of other wands.

Lupin walked down the hall until he got to the third door on the right. There he hesitated, his hand mid-air. His presence wasn't necessarily required . . .

Coward, he thought to himself. You're afraid of them because they know. After a second he brought his hand down.

Yes. I am a coward. But I have every right to be. They'll tear me apart in there, and wouldn't that be ironic, since that's supposed to be my thing.

Lupin jumped when the door spontaneously opened. A seemingly ancient man smiled at Lupin, his clear blue eyes twinkling, and said, "Hello, Remus." He had a kind voice.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore."

"Come in. We were just about to start."

Lupin took a deep breath. Can't back out now . . . He mustered up all his courage and walked into the room.

Lupin didn't know what he had been expecting, but it wasn't that bad. They didn't shout or boo him out of the room, or throw things. There weren't even any hissed insults as he walked past. Lupin suspected this was mainly because the meeting hadn't started and because Dumbledore was there.

They had to use a courtroom because there wasn't a place outside Hogwarts's Great Hall that was large and convenient enough for everyone to meet. Every Hogwarts teacher was there, even Sybill Trelawney, the spacey Divination teacher. There were concerned parents and citizens. And- Lupin almost gasped. He hadn't known he was important- nay, controversial enough for them to call in Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself.

The room was full of people, and every one of them went quiet as they heard the door shut. Every head turned to stare at him. This, understandably, made Lupin very nervous. He had a silly urge to growl, or at least smile and wave, but either action would probably have done him more harm than good. So he just stood there awkwardly. With his incredibly sensitive hearing he picked up sounds from all over the room. Whispers about him.


"That's him."
"That's him?! He looks so normal. Nice, even."
"Yes, but remember what he is."
"I know, but Dumbledore trusts him . . ."
"Dumbledore trusts everyone. He'd trust You-Know-Who if he cried enough."
"The full moon was last week . . . d'you think . . .?"
"Of course, you ninny! Every full moon, without fail."
"That's terrible!"
"Don't feel sorry for that creature. He's a monster. "



Lupin winced as he heard those words. He felt Dumbledore give his arm a reassuring pat.

"Let's sit down, Remus."

Unfortunately, there were only so many places left to sit. And no one wanted to sit next to Remus Lupin. Not now that they knew.

So Lupin, knowing this, sat down in what would normally have been the defendant's chair. Dumbledore sat down next to him. It was symbolic, him sitting in the lawyer's chair instead of the one that had been saved for him. He wouldn't let them beat Lupin down. He would fight for Lupin's rights.

I'm a poet and I didn't know it . . . Lupin giggled giddily inside his head after discovering the rhyme.

The two chairs had been turned around so they faced everyone in the room. This wasn't a trial, Lupin reminded himself. It was a meeting.

The meeting started off with all the usual formalities of a meeting. Lupin paid some attention, but his stomach was doing flip-flops and his brain was racing.

People were standing up- one at a time, to keep things orderly- and giving their opinions. Fudge had to call for order a lot.

Most of the opinions were rude and all of the arguments were heated, but that, too, was to be expected. It didn't bother Lupin that much. He had heard it all before.

"Yes," a man said, raising his hand as he stood up, "I have something to say." He looked around the room as he spoke. When his eyes reached Lupin they narrowed. "Dumbledore is a good man, and I have never seen him deliberately make a bad judgment or put a child in danger. But he's gone too far this time. That man- no, that thing is an abomination. You all know what it is. You can't control something like that. Not with a potion or a spell or a locked room."

Lupin hated himself for the way his eyes teared up at those cruel words.

"I think that he should be locked up, and a full investigation should be put forward. We must find these werewolves and take them into custody."

"Oh, shut up Guidewater," an annoyed voice from the back said boredly.

Lupin's mouth opened with surprise as the whole room turned around to look at the speaker.

"Severus Snape," Roy Guidewater sneered. "I'm surprised to see you sticking up for that thing."

Snape stood up- the better to glare at everyone in the room. "'That thing'," he said in a condescending voice, "is a human named Remus Lupin. And I'm pretty sure . . . actually, hold on for a moment. Let me ask." He turned to face Lupin. "Lupin, you're a man, aren't you?"

"Last time I checked," Lupin answered with guarded amusement.

"There you go," said Snape with a gesture in Lupin's direction. "From his own mouth. Now, unless you'd like to investigate that claim, I suggest you drop the subject. Objections?"

No one said a word. They were all speechless.

"Good. Now as to the matter of Lupin becoming a professor. I have only three words that will sum up my feelings: I've. Seen. Worse.

"Are you not the same people who chose Gilderoy Lockhart? Do I need to remind you what a mess that was?"

Several people in the room looked down at their hands, very sheepish. "The Lockhart Matter" was a subject to be avoided, at best.

Snape gave a laugh that made some people shiver. "I see I don't. Good. Then I can tell you that, even though I've been wanting the Defense Against the Dark Arts position myself, if I couldn't get it then Lupin should. Don't even bother taking a bloody vote on this one. Just trust Dumbledore's judgment. Lupin went to Hogwarts for seven years without a single mishap. And only five students besides himself knew of his condition, and where he went every month.

"Perhaps some ignorant idiot could say that it was just luck." Snape shrugged, as if to say, why not? "But if it was- which I can assure you that it was not luck- we are taking extra precautions this time. I have come across a particularly effective wolfsbane potion that will allow a werewolf to keep his human mind during and after the transformation."

Lupin's head snapped up, his eyes wide. If he had been surprised before, when Snape stood up for him, he was positively flabbergasted now. In the back of his mind he was suspicious- why would Snape do this for him? But in the front of his mind he was barely capable of coherent thought.

No more Shrieking Shack. No more Whomping Willow. No more waking up not remembering whether or not I've bitten or killed anyone.

And- was it too much to hope for?

Human contact . . .




To Be Continued