Lupin was nowhere to be seen that Saturday during breakfast. Although it transpired that Lara went along twice, she sensed neither head nor hide of him either time. She went for her customary orange juice at seven when she woke up, half-expecting to see him again as a couple of weeks ago, but there was only Professor Trelawney and a gaggle of younger students present. When she revisited the Hall an hour and a half later with Sam and Jo from her dorm it was much fuller, but again there was no sign of Lupin. Catching up with Bec later, she inadvertently found out that he hadn't been there between half seven and eight either. Lara was inexplicably somewhat disgruntled.

"He's probably home for the weekend," Sam suggested, as the three girls munched through bacon and sausages and toast. Lara had only casually mentioned Lupin's absence when the conversation switched to Defence Against the Dark Arts, but it seemed to rouse interest. Sam's boyfriend Fabio had appeared behind her as she spoke and kissed her on the cheek, whilst Lara shrugged indifferently.

"Or having a lie-in," Fabio contributed as he sat down opposite Sam, nodding a greeting to Lara and Jo. "They really should have breakfast later at weekends!" His friend Jack, who had sat down next to him and across from Lara, signalled his agreement with a huge yawn as he reached for a sausage.

"I'm not that bothered," Lara protested as Jo wiggled her eyebrows at her. "I just wanted to ask him something on the way out, that's all. It can wait. Eurgh Jack, couldn't you keep your gob shut while you're devouring that… muck?"

"What do you mean muck?" Jack grinned, swallowing. "You mean to say you don't have ketchup with your beans and sausage and mushroom on toast?" The pearly-white, sweet grin plastered on the dark-haired boy's face almost counter balanced the orange-red trickle down his chin but Lara just snorted at him and looked away, trying to act disgusted.

"It does help to retain our manners around the ladies," Fabio contributed, shoving a napkin in his friend's face. "Suddenly the reasoning for your being single becomes a lot clearer…" He shot Sam his best perfect man look, which was greeted by not only her eyes rolling, but Jo's, Jack's and Lara's also.

- - -

Lara chewed slowly on her toast crust as she watched the scene around her descend into minor chaos as the boys joshed about. None of the people she found herself surrounded by were exactly close friends, but they provided comic relief which Bec and Simon – who she spent most of her hours with – sometimes failed to offer. Sam and Jo were best friends, and the ultimate odd couple. Sam was the intelligent one, hosting the intellectual look with neat mousy brown hair and small spectacles, whereas Jo was less interested in schoolwork, worryingly clumsy and much wilder in her appearance with several earrings and red-streaked chocolate coloured hair. Although Sam was conventionally the prettier, she had never attracted much attention from the boys, who seemed to be drawn to the flamboyant nature of shorter, more laid-back Jo. It was hardly surprising therefore that Sam had pinned down Fabio three years ago and was now practically married to the Mediterranean sweetheart, whereas Jo had never had a relationship for longer than a couple of months.

Often Lara paired Jo and Jack together in her mind, although she couldn't imagine either of them would truly consider it – they had heard far too much of it over the past three years. As Fabio was hardly ever seen without Jack, and Jo was never too far from Sam, the pair spent a lot of time together, usually arguing or teasing each other. If she was honest, Lara thought Jack was too good-looking for Jo, however harsh it was to think such a thing. And even if he was at that moment sticking his tongue out, covered with chewed up sausage, prompting shrieks of disgust from the other two girls.

Lara crinkled her nose up as he finally swallowed the mulch and he winked cheekily at her, just as a handful of cornflakes landed in his hair.

"Fab, you arse!" he exploded, leaping to his feet and running both hands through his hair to dispose of the mess. "There's no need to reduce yourself to throwing food!"

"I, my dear friend, am simply defending the honour of my fair lady," Fabio smirked. "You were putting her off her food with your impressions of a troll! In fact-"

He was cut off when a piece of mushroom suddenly attached itself to his cheek. Guiltily, Jack ducked under the table, though his laughter was still very audible. Lara and Jo couldn't help but descend into giggles too as Sam calmly peeled Jack's breakfast off Fabio's face, and restrained him from continuing the fight.

"Come on now," Simon's inimitable prefect voice cast itself over them; the shade of maturity. "What kind of example are you setting to the first years? Hi, Lara."

"We leave the example-setting to you mate," Jo said as he straddled the bench alongside Lara. "Mr Prefect Perfecto." Simon sneered at her and poured himself some Rice Krispies, and the rest of the morning passed without incident.

- - -

The whole group, joined by Bec and the fifth girl from their dorm, Ariel, reassembled that dinnertime, and seated themselves in practically the same spot. Several of them exchanged telling looks when they noted Lara scanning the staff table, frowning and sulkily grabbing a piece of bread. Jack cheerfully started talking about their next day's trip to Hogsmeade before anybody could pass comment, and Lara joined in the conversation willingly.

It was almost convincing, spare the glances to the table at the top of the Great Hall, and over her shoulder towards the door.


It had been far from the worst Thursday night Remus Lupin had experienced in his time. The Wolfsbane potion was truly fantastic; although it meant being civil to Severus for a whole year, it would be worth it if he could experience all his transformations at Hogwarts like that. For the first full moon since he had been a student himself, Remus had regained his human form without any external damage. He felt weak and starved however, having slept through much of the past thirty-six hours and gone without food. He didn't emerge from his office until late Saturday evening, and then it was only to summon a house elf for some dinner before returning to sleep in his own bed. His wolf body would not eat the sorts of food that his human mind wanted, and vice versa, so hunger during the full moon was seemingly going to be a recurring problem. It wasn't, however, the only issue that was unearthed by retaining one's mind whilst a savage beast.

In his current state of mind it was difficult enough getting through the night as the meek new professor on the block, and this was only intensified in wolf form. Perhaps it was due to the restless nature of the creature his mind became trapped in; maybe it was the frustration of the wolf in being restrained to near domestication. Whatever was behind it, Lupin's head that night was full of anxiety, nostalgia and loneliness. Even his dreams haunted him; showing scenes from his lost youth, his friends… and rapidly deteriorating into when it all went wrong. This wasn't a new experience, but likewise not a common one anymore. It was being back at Hogwarts, he was sure, but under such different circumstances. And being a werewolf there; but without the fun, frolic and friendship.

- - -

As Sunday morning dawned, Remus considered venturing to the Great Hall for a public breakfast, but catching sight of himself in the mirror he realised he looked even rougher than he felt. As he had been hiding away since Thursday evening, missing his lessons on Friday and having to ignore the knocks at the door, he felt obliged to make an appearance sooner or later. Yet he knew his reappearance, in this state, in the middle of the weekend, would only rouse suspicion. That was, of course, if anybody had noticed his absence, bar the students whose lessons he had missed. He realised with a sigh that this was probably not very likely particularly as it was now, after all said and done, the weekend. Sitting back on the bed another realisation hit him.

It was the first Hogsmeade trip for sixth and seventh years today. He was meant to be chaperoning. Under the impression that the full moon was Tuesday he had thought he would be fit by now to journey into the village and fulfil his teacher duties.

"Shit," he said simply.

Glancing to the clock he saw too that the trip was leaving in less than an hour. He had hardly any time to find a substitute. With a reluctant acceptance of defeat, he set about trying to make himself look presentable. No time to shave, but that was perhaps a blessing considering how pale he was looking. He could at least splash some very cold water over his face to create a more awake appearance, brush his still semi-pointy teeth and run a comb through the unruly mess on his head. Looking healthy was going to be a stretch, but as he changed into his best non-dressy set of robes he determined that he would at least manage to look alive if he got a firewhiskey down his throat and smiled a little. Scraping up a handful of change from the chest of drawers by the door and shoving it into a pocket with his wand, he took a deep breath, glanced in the mirror one more time with a forced smile and opened the door.

- - -

The Great Hall was practically empty when Lupin reached it, and likewise there was very little food remaining on any of the tables, never mind the staff one.

"A Hogsmeade lunch it is then," he muttered to nobody in particular, picking up a slice of cold toast and adding a dollop of raspberry jam to it.

It was quarter past nine now, he should probably already be in the Entrance Hall helping with the organisation of things. His toast was finished with two more bites, leaning on the back of Snape's usual chair; he hadn't deemed it worthwhile sitting down for two minutes. Trudging down the middle of the Hall, Remus afforded a glance to the ceiling, fixed at present depicting a still but cloudy blue sky. He hooked a banana off the end of the Hufflepuff table on the way out and was just entering the Entrance Hall and peeling it when McGonagall called out to him cheerfully.

"Professor Lupin!" she bustled towards him with a concerned smile. "You are alright today I trust? I'm certain we could locate a stand-in teacher to accompany the students and me today if… if you're not feeling… up to it?"

"I am quite well, thank you Minerva," Remus responded – sounding almost truthful, though he wasn't sure why he hadn't leapt at the chance to return to his solitude. She gave him a stare that suggested she didn't believe a word of it, but nodded nonetheless. "I've looked far worse in the past," he added with a hint of the old Marauder sparkle. "As I'm sure you remember from times gone by!" McGonagall's lip twitched slightly.

"Thank you for the reminder of my age, Remus," she said almost in a whisper. "But do remember there are still people to help you through these erm… phases," McGonagall continued with a more sympathetic, nostalgic look. "Even your stiff-lipped ex-Head of House."

"Of course, and I do appreciate it. Especially Snape's help, which I never thought I would say! Anything to avoid the strangely-silent-for-the-past-16-years Shrieking Shack!" Remus quipped, prompting a knowing look and a wry smile from the older witch.

"Let's get on with this business shall we?" she stated suddenly, all sense of sentiment lost as they both turned to approach the assembled group of students. As Remus observed the gaggle, many coupled up and holding hands, or laughing and joking with their friends, he viewed their excitement somewhat enviously. Attempting to steer away from Memory Lane he bit into the banana and waved politely at a trio of seventh year Hufflepuffs who had greeted him. It was going to be a long day.


A/N. Well, there goes another chapter. A lot of waffle again, and random introduction of several new characters! I probably could've dealt with that one a bit better. Anyway just wanted to get in a bit of the transformation-hangover here!
If you were wondering, the random foodfight was unfortunately inspired by real life events. Luckily no mushroom was involved, but there was cornflake throwing at breakfast in my first year of uni. So mature...
I haven't really read through this chapter since I wrote it as I was rushing to get it done before I went away, so if it reads badly, that's my excuse! As usual, any comments, questions, criticism is welcomed. Thanks for reading