Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter, this is only a fanfiction.


"Unstoppable?" Remus repeated dazedly. "What do you mean?"

Albus looked rather disappointed. "Honestly, Remus, you graduated with the highest marks in your year-"

"-after Lily, you mean," Remus interrupted, a touch of his usual dry humor back in his voice.

"After Lily, of course," Albus said, looking highly amused rather than offended. "Such a bright girl, Professor Slughorn doted on her, I quite remember."

Remus snorted quietly, an image of the pudgy, bald old man with the huge, walrusy silver mustache quivering with excitement on his upper lip coming to mind again. Albus continued as if he hadn't heard, but his lips seemed to twitch ever-so-slightly in amusement. "But anyway, you got ten OWLs, wasn't it?"

"Nine, actually," Remus said, mouth twitching. "The examiner didn't seem to think writing 'One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin…' was an appropriate answer for 'Give five signs that identify a werewolf'."

Albus couldn't hide a smile at that before turning serious again and maintaining his usual dignified look as he persisted in his explanation. "You always were a true Marauder," he mused softly before adding, "Anyway, nine or ten, that's still quite impressive for one of the students who spent more hours serving detention than sleeping." Remus ducked his head again, flushing at the memories and guilt that overwhelmed him as he remembered his few friends taunting the Slytherins and himself sitting quietly to the side, nose buried in a book, doing nothing to hurt or help the victims of his friends' taunts. "Even if you failed your Defense Owl because of fooling around, I'd expect you, of all wizards, to realize what happens to were-whatevers, be it cat or wolves!"

"You mean," Remus said, looking vaguely horrified as he fingered an old scar, "Transformation every full moon?"

"Of course," Albus replied. "But luckily, were cats are sane during their transformations!" He said it as if that one favor in the condition made it desirable to be a werecat.

"Yes," Remus said, now speaking as sarcastically as Snape had during his school years. "How wonderful, you can think like a human while you're being chased up a tree by a dog or eating raw mouse. Yip-pee."

Albus's smile never faltered. "It is wonderful, isn't it?" he asked gleefully, seeming perfectly serious. "You can cast spells and spy for the Order as a cat, and no one would suspect a thing!"

Remus stared open-mouthed at him for a moment before regaining his pride and asking rather humbly, "I'm sorry, Albus, could you please elaborate?"

"No worries, my dear boy," Albus replied genially. "As an Animagus, as I'm sure you're well aware," Here he turned an amused stare to the flushing werewolf, "You can transform at will into an animal, at anything, while remaining sane. As a werewolf, you will, no matter what, transform into a wolf, only during the full moon, and you will not, no matter what, remain sane, retaining the mind of a wild wolf. As a werecat, you can transform at will into a cat, nothing else, and only after your thirteenth birthday, and you will, always, again, after your thirteenth birthday, transform into a cat during the full moon. You will remain sane, yet the mind of a real cat will lurk in the depths of the mind, filling the corners and cracks even when you're not transformed. You will forever be part cat."

"How do you know all that?" Remus asked in stunned awe. Albus smiled.

"Werecats may be few and rare, but during the late thirteenth century one brilliant werecat was smart enough to hide, deep in the crevices of Hogwarts own library, his own scrolls on the subject. Madam Pince was horrified at the state of them, she spent hours fixing them before bringing them to me for further examination. Very bright child, died of a curse too powerful for even all his nine lives to cure, sources inform me."

"Wait, what?" stuttered Remus. "Nine lives?"

"Why, yes." Albus said, smiling benignantly. "Nine lives. All cats have nine lives, didn't you know?"

"That's but a Muggle tale!" Remus exclaimed.

"Actually, it isn't!" Albus contradicted brightly. "Most cats just die of causes too severe for nine lives to cure!"

"Such as," prompted Remus, looking slightly interested despite his reluctance to believe the silver-bearded man's claim.

"Car accidents," replied Albus promptly, "Collapses their lungs, not even one thousand lives can heal that severe of a wound. Severe blood loss, too, probably strangulation as well."

"And ones they can survive?" Remus added.

"Avada Kedavras, heart attacks, most sicknesses, small injuries, you know, that sort of thing," Albus listed, a lemon drop finding its way back to his mouth.

"So if Voldemort were to recruit her," said Remus slowly, paling again.

"He would raise her to become the most evil, unstoppable weapon he could ever have," finished Dumbledore gravely. He suddenly turned to Remus and beamed. "And that, my dear boy, is precisely why you have been chosen to protect her and Lunaris."

"Lunaris?" questioned Remus. Dumbledore gestured Remus to come closer, which he did, and slowly, deliberately, Albus pulled off the cloth wrapping of the bundle he held close to his velveteen robes. Inside, sleeping peacefully, was the smooth, unlined face of a child, her cheeks rosy, lashes dark and long, hair soft and curling gently about her forehead. From beneath Albus's long cloak something rustled eerily, and a silvery gray creature leapt out. Remus couldn't help but stare. Slender and graceful, with silver spotted tabby fur and haunting sapphire eyes, it resembled a cat, but no cat looked ever so, so spriritual. Its paws seemed to float as it stepped closer to Remus, and its stare was as piercing as Dumbledore's.

"This is Lunaris, first spirit-guardian born to protect a were-cat for many centuries," Albus said. He offered the child to Remus, who hesitated. "Her life is in your hands," Albus said softly. "Will you accept?"

Remus stared down at the child, then at the cat, then finally at Dumbledore. His hands closed around the bundle without hesitation now. "I will," he replied determinedly, and Dumbledore smiled.

"I wish you the best of luck, my boy," Dumbledore said, and with a soft pop he Disapperated. Remus stared where his tall figure had been moments before, then finally down at his two new charges.

"Well, come on now," he said to the cat, and with a swift nod, the cat went darting up the path to the small, shabby cottage where Remus lived, himself and the child following. Inside, he set her down tenderly in his own bed, her cat following quickly. With quick, soft breaths, the cat fell asleep as well, but Remus had a feeling it was still half-awake and was still watching him. He stepped back a respectful distance before looking quietly at the tiny baby and whispering, "Stella Phoenix Black. Stella Phoenix Lupin. Yes, that sounds right. Stella Phoenix Lunaris Lupin. Perfect."

And with that, Remus walked into the living room to sleep on the sofa, for the first time in many years to come.