Chapter 1- Return to Hogwarts

It was not long after ten o' clock when Remus Lupin walked into King's Cross station on the morning of September the first. Passing the pick-up area for luggage trolleys, he glanced down at his battered case and chuckled sadly. The last time he had been in King's Cross, he had needed a trolley in order to carry all of his school things. Now, almost all his belongings were in this one case, and it was too small to warrant one. How his life had changed in the fifteen years since he had left school.

Well aware that he had arrived early, Remus wandered slowly in the direction of platforms nine and ten, drawing occasional glances from Muggle passers-by. He had long ago mastered dressing like a Muggle due to periods of his life where he had been desperate enough to seek work outside the wizarding community. However, even his most Muggle-friendly clothes were patched and shabby, beyond even his considerable skill with reparatory spells to fix. His obvious poverty tended to draw attention, so he was relieved when he finally passed through the barrier that led to platform nine and three quarters and found the platform almost empty.

The sight of the great scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express brought back a flood of memories. Remus remembered his first sight of the train, his eleven-year-old self's awe only slightly mitigating his fears about what would await him at the school he had thought he'd never see. He recalled his excitement in later years as he craned his neck to catch a sight of his friends over the crowd, a task that got easier as the tiny little boy had sprouted more than a foot in height in the space of only a few years. And he remembered the emotional farewells of the last time he had stood on the platform, saying goodbyes to people he had known for the seven best years of his life, promising to stay in touch with people who had died before he had seen them again. It had been a different time, fifteen years ago. A darker time. And Remus's world had only gotten darker since then.

Catching his thoughts before they could spiral further into that dark place, Remus smiled ruefully and walked towards the far end of the train. Passing a few small knots of parents and students, he had almost reached the end carriage when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Remus? Remus Lupin?" asked a woman. Remus turned around and, after a few seconds, recognised her as Louise Richards, a Ravenclaw girl who had been in his year at Hogwarts. "Yikes, it's been years. How have you been?" Remus smiled, nodding at the man and the young boy hanging back behind Louise. So many of his former classmates had families of their own now.

"I've been alright, thanks. How's life treated you?"

"Good, yeah. Got married, had a kid, life's great. What about you? I'm guessing you've got a sprog of your own?" Louise asked, quirking her eyebrows mischievously. Remus grinned. He had been unsurprised when Louise and Sirius had started going out in their sixth year. They had had a similarly irreverent sense of humour.

"No, actually," he chuckled. Louise looked puzzled, obviously wondering what Remus was doing there if he wasn't dropping off a kid. "Dumbledore has asked me to teach this year. He's given me the Defence Against the Dark Arts job."

"Oh, that's great news, Remus. DADA was always your thing, wasn't it? Hey, Martin, it looks like Professor Lupin here is going to be one of your teachers," Louise turned to her son and grinned. "Don't give him too much trouble, okay?" Martin smiled sneakily, and Remus shook his head. He'd have to watch out for that one.

Louise glanced at her husband, and he pulled Martin away. Lowering her voice, she asked, "How are you, really? I mean, what with the whole Sirius thing?" Remus opened his mouth to reassure her that he was fine, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. He sighed.

"Really? I don't know, Louise. To be honest, I think that's why Dumbledore wants me at Hogwarts this year; to keep me out of trouble."

"Probably," Louise said. Her tendency for brutal honesty definitely hadn't diminished over the years. "Well, send me an owl if you want to talk, okay?" With this, Louise said her goodbyes and returned to her husband and son. Remus looked on wistfully for a few seconds, and then boarded the train.

He entered the last compartment, closing the door behind him and shutting the blinds. He cast a quick spell to ensure that he wouldn't be disturbed, and then set about changing into his robes. Tapping his wand against his case to undo the neatly knotted string that was the only thing keeping it intact, he then carefully extracted what could laughably be called his best robes. Rolling his eyes at the thought of how out of place he would look at the staff table, he quickly got changed and then reopened the blinds. He thought for a while about leaving the door locked, but thought better of it. It wouldn't hurt to make friends with some of the students now, before the school year started proper.

Remus retied the string around his case and lifted it carefully into the luggage rack above his head. Sitting down in the corner of the compartment, he ran a hand across his eyes. He hadn't realised, until just now, quite how tired he felt. After all, it was only two days since the full moon, and he had been unable to procure Wolfsbane potion. He had spent the night locked in a shack in the middle of the countryside, and his transformation had been worse than usual. It was almost as if the wolf knew that, the next time Remus transformed, he would still be in control of his own mind. It was a large part of why he had agreed to take the job Dumbledore had offered him; the Headmaster had promised that Remus would be supplied with as much Wolfsbane as he needed during his time at Hogwarts. He smiled ruefully to himself. His transformations would be as painful as ever, but at least he would remain in control of his own mind. That loss of self was what he feared most about the full moon, the rush of bloodlust that drowned his humanity in a torrent of animal savagery. But he wouldn't have to experience it again, well, not for another year at any rate.

Gradually, the noise level outside on the platform increased as it got closer to eleven o' clock, but Remus hardly noticed. A combination of post- full moon exhaustion and contentment that he was finally going back to the one place where he had felt he belonged overwhelmed him, and slowly, he began to drop off to sleep.

Several hours later, he awoke in pitch darkness. From the sounds of thudding and squealing, he realised that there must be several children in his compartment now.

"Quiet!" he said, trying to listen out for noises from the rest of the train. He couldn't see a thing, so he wordlessly conjured a handful of flames and looked warily around the compartment. "Stay where you are," he warned the shadowy figures of the children, and carefully got to his feet, heading for the door.

But it opened before he could reach it. Standing in the doorway, towering from floor to ceiling, was a Dementor. It drew rattling breaths through its hood, and the whole compartment went cold. Remus could here distant voices screaming, snarling, could feel the terror that came before a transformation, but he pushed it aside. He was aware of one of the children stiffening and falling out of his seat to lie twitching on the floor. Carefully stepping over him, Remus approached the Dementor.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go," he ordered it, not expecting it to listen. The creature didn't move, so he brought to mind one of the memories from earlier, of a happier time on platform nine and three quarters. "Expecto patronum," he muttered, and a non-corporeal Patronus shot from the end of his wand, repelling the Dementor. It glided away down the train and, as it did so, the lights came back on in the compartment and the chill vanished from the air.

Now that he could see the other occupants of his compartment clearly, he saw that they were all around twelve or thirteen. One boy had collapsed to the floor, and a bushy haired girl and a red-haired boy were kneeling over him.

"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?" The girl was gently slapping the boy in the face.

"W-what?" the boy asked, bleary eyed. Remus looked at his face and then worked hard to hide a start. Staring back at him from James Potter's face were Lily Potter's bright green eyes. Harry... Harry Potter.

He was aware of the children talking, but his thoughts were far away from the Hogwarts Express. They were of an earlier time, a happier time, when he had held his best friends' child in his arms and all had seemed right with the world. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a bar of chocolate he had placed there earlier for just such an eventuality. He had suspected that he might encounter Dementors on the train, but he had his inner chocoholic to thank for the fact that he had enough for all the children. With a loud snap, he started to break the large slab into pieces and passed them out, making sure to give a particularly large piece to Harry.

"Here," he said. "Eat it. It'll help." As he passed the rest of the chocolate out to the others, he made certain to give a large piece to the red-haired girl who was still huddled in the corner and almost as white as Harry.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked.

"A Dementor," Remus replied. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban." Crumpling up the chocolate wrapper and sticking it back in his pocket, he stood up. "Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..." Remus strolled past Harry and out into the corridor, but he stopped as soon as he was out of view of the compartment. Hiding his face in his hands, he took a few deep breaths. He had known that he would encounter Harry in class eventually, but to come across him completely without warning like that... All the ghosts of his past had surfaced at once and it had threatened to overwhelm even his considerable emotional control. With no small effort, he pushed his emotions and memories aside and walked quickly down the central corridor of the train, heading for the driver's compartment.

When he reached the end of the train, he stuck his head around the door and asked how long it would be before they reached Hogwarts.

"'Bout ten minutes, mate," came the driver's reply. Remus was glad that they'd be there soon. Every student on the train had just had a close encounter with a Dementor, and there was nothing like food and company to help one recover from such an experience. Borrowing the emergency owl that roosted in a cubbyhole next to the driver's compartment, he jotted down a quick note to Professor McGonagall, advising her that Harry had been adversely affected by the Dementors and ought to see Madam Pomfrey when he arrived at the castle. Sending the owl on its way out of the window, he walked back down the train to Harry's compartment, and noticed that all the kids were still shaky. He gave a small, hopefully reassuring smile.

"I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..." To his great relief, they all started to eat, and colour instantly began to return to their faces. "We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you all right, Harry?" he asked.

"Fine," Harry muttered, clearly embarrassed by the attention. The rest of the journey passed in relative silence, which Remus was glad about. His nap had been all well and good, but being woken up by a visit from a Dementor was not exactly conducive to rest and recuperation. He suspected that he might have to trouble Madam Pomfrey for a Pepper-Up Potion if he was going to be able to teach tomorrow morning.

When the train finally came to a standstill, Remus waited until Harry and his friends had filed out of the compartment, and then retrieved his case from the luggage rack. He attempted to merge with the crowd, but the crush of bodies meant that it took him a while make it onto the platform. He smiled at the sound of Hagrid calling the first years over to the lake and the boats. Hagrid had been in charge of taking Remus's year group across the lake when they had been first years, and Remus recalled how scared he had been at first of this imposing giant of a man. However, he had gotten to know Hagrid over the years and now considered him a friend, albeit one he hadn't seen in nearly a decade. The last contact he had had with the groundskeeper was when he had received an owl from his old friend requesting photos to put in an album for Harry more than a year ago.

Eventually, he made his way to the muddy track where the thestral-pulled stagecoaches waited to carry the train's passengers up to the castle. Surprisingly, he found himself not far behind Harry and his friends. Remus fleetingly considered joining them in their coach, but instantly thought better of it. Harry had seemed uncomfortable that Remus had witnessed his fainting spell on the train, and it seemed unlikely that he would appreciate any further attention as a result of the incident. Instead, Remus got into the carriage after Harry's group. Initially, it looked as though he would have it to himself, but as the last second Martin Richards and two other first year boys clambered in after him. The other two boys looked at Remus apprehensively, but Martin waved them off.

"It's okay; he's a friend of my Mum's. He's actually kind of cool." Martin winked at Remus, causing him to almost laugh out loud. He was a sly one, was Martin. By claiming Remus was cool, he established preconceptions, and placed Remus in the interesting position of having to maintain this reputation unless he wanted to lose the boys' respect. Shaking his head and hiding a grin, Remus turned to stare out of the window as Martin chatted away to his new friends.

As the carriage passed through the wrought iron gates that marked the entrance to the Hogwarts grounds, Remus felt the wash of cold that indicated a Dementor presence. The boys noticed it too, because they stopped talking and stared apprehensively out the windows.

"It's all right, boys," Remus said, reassuringly. "The Dementors won't be allowed into the grounds. Besides, there's an excellent remedy for Dementors." The boys looked up at him curiously.

"What is it?" asked one of them, a skinny blonde boy with glasses.

"It's chocolate. In all seriousness," he added, seeing the looks of scepticism. "Try it, it works. Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I believe we've reached the castle." Sure enough, the carriage jolted to a stop, and Remus climbed out.

Immediately ahead of him, a blonde Slytherin boy was blocking Harry's path with a look of malicious glee on his pointed face.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" the boy asked loudly, clearly hoping to elicit amusement from his hulking cronies. "Did the scary old Dementor frighten you, too, Weasley?" Recognising all too well the signs of a school bully, Remus decided to interfere before the Weasley boy became violent.

"Is there a problem?" he asked mildly. The blonde boy turned to face him with an insolent stare, which flickered over Remus's shabby robes and dilapidated suitcase.

"Oh, no- er- Professor," the boy said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Smirking at his goons, he then disappeared up the steps into the castle. Remus rolled his eyes, exasperatedly. There was one in every year group. And, if he wasn't very much mistaken, that had been the Malfoy boy, and it was clear that he took after his father. That was going to make his third year classes a lot of fun.

However, Remus's worries melted away as he gazed up at the magnificent castle before him. He was filled with an undeniable sense of belonging, of coming home. He had spent the best seven years of his life in this castle. To be sure, that was largely because of the people he had met there, but the place itself held many happy memories. During his time at Hogwarts, his friends had been genuine, loyal. It was only the war beyond the castle walls that had turned them against each other, and he stood by that belief. Remus refused to tarnish his childhood memories with what came after. However, what with the 'whole Sirius thing' as Louise had put it, current events threatened to break down the barriers he had carefully constructed around his memories of his school days. If Sirius came to Hogwarts... But, no, he wouldn't think about that.

Purposefully striding up the stone stairs that led into the cavernous Entrance Hall, Remus looked around in wonder. The giant front doors, the marble staircase, the flaming torches; it was all just as he remembered it. As he walked through into the Great Hall, he had to make a conscious effort to walk towards the staff table rather than the Gryffindor house table. It was a surreal feeling, returning to Hogwarts as a teacher rather than a student.

Sitting in one of the empty chairs at the staff table, he shoved his case against the back wall. Glancing up and down the table, he felt even more bizarre. He was now sitting at the same table where all of his own teachers had sat, including Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick and of course Albus Dumbledore. He suddenly felt like a kid pretending to be a grown up, which was rather ridiculous considering that he was thirty three years of age. Stifling a snort at his own expense, he realised that the sorting was about to begin.

Curiously enough, it was Professor Flitwick who led the first years into the Hall, rather than Professor McGonagall. After a moment of puzzlement, Remus realised that Minerva must have gotten his owl, and was still talking to Harry. Staring along the Gryffindor table, he saw that Harry's red-headed Weasley friend was sitting at the Gryffindor table with a clear space on either side of him, supporting this assumption.

Remus's thoughts were interrupted, however, when the Sorting Hat began to sing:

"For many years have I sat here,

Before staff and students all.

Placing students at one of

The four tables in this Hall.

To Gryffindor I send the brave,

To Hufflepuff the true

The cunning and ambitious,

It's Slytherin for you.

To Ravenclaw I send the brightest,

But all of you should know

Your house does not determine

The way your life will go.

For Gryffindors can be most cunning

And Hufflepuffs so smart,

Slytherins can be so selfless,

Ravenclaws most brave at heart.

So don't judge others by their houses

They only are a guide,

Now step up here and I will show you

Merely part of what's inside."

As applause rang out through the Hall, Remus shook his head in wonder. How that old hat managed to be so topical in its songs, he had no idea. Of course, the message that one's house did not define a person's path in life was one that should always be repeated, but it held a particular weight this year. Sirius had been a proud Gryffindor born into a Slytherin family, but later in life his true colours had proved to be more green and silver than red and gold. More often than not, a person's house was no indication of what they might grow into.

As the sorting took place, Remus's mind wandered back to his own sorting, twenty-two years previously. He had never forgotten what the hat had said him, and likely never would.

"Ah," the hat had mused. "The werewolf. I've never encountered one of your kind before. Curious."

"What's curious?" Remus had asked, his curiosity momentarily overcoming his nerves.

"You're not at all like I expected. I suspected you might be a Slytherin, but you're not nearly cunning or ambitious enough. In fact, you care so much about others that Hufflepuff might be the place for you. Then again, there's Ravenclaw brains in here as well. Hmm, where to put you?" Remus had cowered slightly on the stool, really not liking the attention. "Now, what have we here? Ah, now this settles everything. There's only one place for you, with bravery like that. GRYFFINDOR!"

To this day, Remus had been surprised by the hat's decision. He had never thought of himself as a particularly brave man, despite what people had told him over the years. Then again, had he not been in Gryffindor he would never have become friends with James, Sirius and Peter, although he had never been sure whether that would have been a good thing or not. Certainly, they had made his time at Hogwarts the best years of his life, but they were all gone now and his life was so much poorer because of it. Better, perhaps, to not know what he was missing.

A scraping of chair legs to his left startled him out of his thoughts. Minerva had returned, and Filius was now carrying the Sorting Hat and its stool out of the Hall. He smiled at his friend and former teacher in greeting, and was about to ask after Harry when Professor Dumbledore stood up to speak. It was more than a little surreal, sitting behind Dumbledore during his welcome speech. Every other time he had been at Hogwarts for the start of term feast, he had been sitting at the Gryffindor house table, staring up at Dumbledore's friendly, aged face and twinkling eyes.

"Welcome!" the headmaster said. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..." Dumbledore trailed off, clearly gathering his thoughts, cleared his throat and then continued. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." It was clear from Dumbledore's tone of voice that he was less than pleased with this arrangement, considering it a necessary evil in order to protect his underage charges.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises- or even Invisibility Cloaks." Remus muffled a snort in his hand. Despite the bland tone of the headmaster's voice, it was clear that that remark had been aimed rather pointedly at Harry and his friends. He knew that James had left his Invisibility Cloak in Dumbledore's hands not long before he had died, and it was no surprise that Dumbledore had passed it down to Harry.

"It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs foul of the Dementors." Dumbledore paused again, looking seriously around the silent Hall.

"On a happier note," he continued, a smile breaking through the serious expression, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year." Two? Who was the second? "Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Remus raised a hand in greeting, smiling down at the intimidatingly large sea of faces before him. The applause was rather unenthusiastic, but Remus refused to be disheartened by that. He probably stuck out like a sore thumb next to all the other teachers, whose best robes were far from patched and fraying. His general poorly appearance probably did not inspire confidence in his ability to withstand dark magic. Harry and his friends clapped hard, however, which made Remus smile. He was glad he had made a good impression on some of his future students at least.

As the rather feeble applause died away, Remus became aware of a prickling sensation on the back of his neck. He looked along the staff table to see Severus Snape staring at him with pure loathing on his face. Remus was taken aback. His friends may have bullied Severus constantly during their school years, but he had always strived to be civil towards the man. They had even been on amicable terms for a few years, although that was before Severus had found out the truth about Remus's condition.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued, taking the old classmates' attention away from each other, "well I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

As a tumultuous applause filled the Great Hall, Remus beamed down the table at Hagrid, who had gone bright red and was hiding a grin in his beard. It seemed that it was a good year at Hogwarts for the not-entirely-human. As Hagrid himself was prone to saying, Albus Dumbledore was indeed a great man.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," smiled Dumbledore, when the applause for Hagrid finally died down. "Let the feast begin!" And with those words, every table in the Hall was suddenly laden with more food than Remus had seen in years. Well aware that he was in serious need of a few square meals, Remus filled his plate with everything within reach, and then tucked in.

The food was even better than Remus remembered, and he made a mental note to make his way down to the kitchens at some point and congratulate the house elves. With any luck, many of the elves he and his friends had befriended during their late night kitchen raids would still be around, and this was very much a year for meeting up with old friends.

Taking a brief break from eating in order to enquire after Harry, he was pleased to learn that the boy hadn't suffered any lasting ill-effects from the Dementor on the train.

"Poppy was pleased to hear that you gave Potter chocolate. She seems to have taken it as an indication that you know what you're doing," said Minerva, a glint of humour in her eyes. Minerva had been a staunch supporter of Remus during his time at Hogwarts, and knew full well that he had always been more than capable when it came to dealing with dark magic and creatures. As such, Remus decided to run with the joke.

"You mean I actually have to know what I'm talking about? If I'd known that, I'd never have taken the job!" Remus put on a mock-worried voice, and was rewarded with a genuine smile from Minerva.

"Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humour, Remus. Although, I'm still not sure if I've forgiven you for the catnip incident." She gave him her best stern teacher glare, but she couldn't completely keep the warmth from her face. Remus chuckled in recollection. Now that had been a funny prank.

"Catnip incident?" squeaked Filius interestedly from Minerva's other side. Remus exchanged amused glances with Minerva, and spent the rest of the feast reminiscing about various practical jokes he and his friends had pulled on his then teachers, now colleagues.

Sometime later, when the last scraps of food finally vanished from the gleaming plates, Dumbledore stood up again and bid the students good night. With a great scraping of benches and thundering of feet, the Great Hall began to empty, and Remus watched as Harry and his friends approached the table to congratulate Hagrid on his new teaching position. After Minerva shooed them away, Remus approached Hagrid himself.

"Congratulations, Hagrid," he smiled, patting the groundskeeper on his massive shoulder.

"Remus! I was meanin' ter talk to yeh at some point. It's great ter see yeh again!"

"You too, Hagrid," Remus replied warmly. "It's been far too long."

"Yeh, las' I saw yeh, yeh were still jus' a kid. Anyway, I 'spect you'll be wantin' ter get off ter bed. Lessons ter plan, an' all that!"

"Indeed. Well, I'll see you at some point tomorrow, Hagrid. We can swap stories about our first days!" Hagrid nodded, clearly still a little overwhelmed by the whole business, and wandered off in the direction of the Entrance Hall and the grounds. Remus smiled to himself and, retrieving his case, headed off himself. Treading the vaguely familiar path to the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's office, he realised that he'd never thought to ask much about his living quarters. Years of living with very little money had made him anything but picky when it came to accommodations, but still it was probably advisable to find out at least something about the place one would be staying in for an entire year. As it was, all he knew was that each teacher had a suite of rooms attached to their office, and that Dumbledore had assured him that his would be secure enough for him to transform in whilst under the humanising influence of the Wolfsbane potion.

Opening the office door- his office door, he corrected himself in amusement- Remus found a small, mostly bare room. There was a desk, some bookshelves, and several other surfaces, although the room was devoid of any personality. He was unsurprised by this; it had, after all, been stripped of all of Gilderoy Lockhart's assorted egomaniacal paraphernalia when the man had lost both his memory and his job at the end of the last school year. There was, however, a box of assorted office-type items including, Remus noted happily, a kettle. Looking at the bookshelves appreciatively, Remus knew it wouldn't be long before his own personality rubbed off on the office.

Continuing across the office and through a door in the back wall, Remus got his first glimpse of the rooms where he would be living for the next year. The first room was very much a living area, with a fireplace and armchairs, along with space for non-work related books and items. There were several boxes in the centre of the floor that Remus could see contained books, presumably the teaching materials that he would need. Leading off from this living area was a small corridor which led to a bathroom and a bedroom. Upon entering the bedroom, Remus smiled in familiarity. The four-poster bed was very similar to the one he had slept in during his years in Gryffindor Tower, something he couldn't help but think was intentional.

Dumping his case on the bed, Remus began to unpack. A few quick spells and his small pile of clothes flew over to the wardrobe and began to sort themselves onto hangars and into drawers. He then set about sorting out the books that he had brought with him, most of which were completely unrelated to his subject. During the years he had spent in the Muggle world, he had developed a taste for Muggle literature. Although he suspected that he would have little free time, Remus had brought along several volumes he had long been intending to read. Placing them on the bedside table, he smiled to himself, wondering what Dumbledore would think of Gandalf, and whether he would see the similarity.

When he had finished unpacking, Remus looked at the clock in the corner and realised that he should probably get some sleep. After all, he had a busy day of classes tomorrow. Double-checking his timetable, he cast a timed waking charm and quickly got changed into his nightclothes. Clambering into his four-poster, he settled down to sleep, suddenly feeling a lot like an eleven year old again. It was a nice feeling and, comforted by nostalgia, he drifted off to sleep.