Disclaimer: If you know it, it's from Prisoner of Azkaban. Tragically, I did not write that book. JKR did. Thus, I do not own it.

Edited and reloaded 24 July 2013

Telling Fears

Professor Lupin wasn't in the classroom when Draco and Harry arrived. The two boys grabbed seats somewhat in the middle and joined the rest of their classmates in getting out their quills, parchments and books.

"What do you think our first lesson'll be?" Harry asked. "He seemed to know his stuff on the train. And from what Fred and George were telling me, their first lesson was really exciting."

"Really?" Draco asked as Professor Lupin entered the room.

The room fell into a hushed silence as Lupin tossed his battered briefcase on the desk and gave the class a vague smile. While this version of Lupin wasn't dressed in shabby robes thanks to the relatively well paying and constant employment he'd enjoyed this time around, he was still a werewolf and he still bore the signs of the rough transformations in premature lines and pre-maturely greying hair. But, it had been a few days since the last full moon, so the man appeared to be in better health than he'd been on the train.

"Good afternoon," a hoarse voice greeted the class. Lupin's amber eyes swept over the eager faces. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today's lesson will be practical. You'll only needs your wands."

A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their belongings.

"We've never had a practical lesson before," Neville worried from somewhere behind Draco.

Seamus Finnigan snorted to Draco's left. "Unless you count the Cornish pixies."

A few other snickers swept through the room, mostly covered by the noise made by putting books and parchment back into bags.

"Right then," Professor Lupin said, looking around at the now cleared desks. "If you'd all follow me, please."

Puzzled but clearly interested, the class got to its feet and followed the greying professor out of the room. He didn't ask them to fall into single file, but for some reason this was a natural occurrence among school children. Harry and Draco found themselves near the front of the line. Lupin was quiet as he wound his way through the empty corridors till they came across Peeves. The poltergeist was floating upside down midair and busy stuffing what appeared to be chewing gum into a keyhole of a classroom.

Draco eyed Lupin, waiting for him to stop Peeves, but Lupin acted as if he couldn't see the poltergeist. Said poltergeist didn't bother to notice the group heading for him till they were about two feet away. His eyes lit up at the sight of Lupin and he quickly righted himself and broke into song.

"Loony, loopy Lupin!" Peeve sang out. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin!"

Draco gasped along with a few others in the class. While Peeves was known for being downright rude, he usually wasn't rude to professors. He showed them a tiny bit of respect. Draco peaked at Lupin, who was wearing a pleasant, yet vague expression on his face while he slowly came to a stop, the single file line following him gathering around to see how he'd handle Peeves.

"I'd take that gum out of that keyhole if I were you, Peeves," Lupin said as if he were simply talking to a friend of his who was doing something dumb. "I believe that's a broom cupboard, is it not?"

Peeve blew a rather loud and wet raspberry at Lupin and went back to stuffing the gum into the keyhole.

Lupin heaved a small sigh and raised his wand.

"This is a useful little spell," he informed the class gathered around him. "Please watch closely."

Harry's eyes went large as Lupin lifted his wand up to shoulder height and said, "Waddisasi!"

Draco's jaw dropped (along with many others) as the wad of gum shot out of the keyhole with the force of a firecracker. It headed straight at Peeves and shot up his nose. Peeves rolled over in midair, cussing loudly before he fell through a wall and out of view.

"Cool, sir," Dean Thomas breathed.

"Thank you, Dean," Lupin pleasantly said, putting his wand into his sleeve. "Shall we proceed?"

The group set off eagerly. Draco noted the few who hadn't been aware of Lupin's actions on the train were now looking at the new professor with increased respect.

Lupin came to a halt outside the staffroom. Harry sent Draco a questioning look as Lupin opened the door and directed them all inside. The group eagerly went inside. Draco and Harry hung near the back of the room, having visited the room before. The novelty of the staffroom had long worn off.

"Looks the same," Harry whispered as Lupin entered the room and made to shut the door.

"Leave it open," came Snape's voice from one of the mismatched chairs facing the fire. "I'd rather not witness this."

Snape rose from the chair and snapped his book shut, glaring at the gathered class before scowling in distaste at Professor Lupin.

"Possibly no one's warned you, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult."

Neville went scarlet and stared at his shoes. Harry glared at Snape, clenching his hands into fists. Lupin, though, simply raised his eyebrows up.

"I was hoping Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation, actually," Lupin said, "and I am sure he'll perform admirably."

Something was rippling under the surface between the two men. Draco studied them both, but was unable to figure out what was going on. In the past (or future) it was Snape who spilled the beans on what Lupin happened to be and the darker man had gotten great joy out of letting that bit of information slip. It was as close to gleeful Draco had ever seen his godfather. Draco hadn't thought much on it at the time. He was simply thrilled to be able to get rid of yet another DADA teacher. He'd written home right away and complained. That summer, once again, his father had attempted to get rid of Dumbledore for knowingly hiring a werewolf.

"Oh, will he?" Snape snarled then swept out of the room, banging the door shut behind him.

Lupin looked unruffled and simply turned to the red faced Neville. "Now, then, Neville, come with me."

Lupin put a firm hand on Neville's shoulder and steered him to a wardrobe— the same one Harry and Draco had hidden in the previous year instead of going back to their dormitories as they'd been told to do. Due to the fact Draco and Harry hung out in the wardrobe, they wound up going down into the Chamber of Secrets so Harry could have a go at playing hero.

The wardrobe gave a wobble.

"Nothing to worry about," Lupin said over the gasps of shock. "There's a boggart in there."

"Oh—" Draco began to exclaim loudly but halted when the entire room stared at him. He gave a sheepish smile and took a step backwards thankful he hadn't finished his sentance.

"Do you know what a boggart is, Draco?" Lupin asked.

Harry mouthed the word boggart and looked at Draco in question.

"Er, yes. I do. They are…dark creatures who like dark, enclosed spaces. They hide out in all sorts of places— wardrobes, under beds, cupboards under sinks…we had one lodged inside this tiny chest my mother kept the jewelry she hated."

A ripple of snickers went through the group again.

"Correct, Draco. Does anyone now what a boggart really looks like?" Lupin asked, glancing around the group. No one moved to answer, so Lupin turned to Draco again. There was something in his eyes as he studied Draco before asking, "Do you happen to know, Draco?"

"Well, boggarts are shape-shifters. No one knows what they really look like because each time you see one it takes on whatever might frighten you the most. Alone in the dark, they are in their true form, but we can't see them in the dark."

"Correct," Lupin said. "I couldn't have said it better myself. Now, I've asked Professor Dumbledore to leave this one here for my third years to practice on."

Several people took a step backwards.

"Now, when I let this one out, he will immediately become whatever each of us fears the most. Can any of you see the huge advantage we have over the boggart even before we begin? Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Harry gave a start.

"Er— because there's so many of us, it won't know what shape to take?"

"Precisely," Lupin praised. Harry's cheeks tinged pink. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He'll become confused. Which should he be? A headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake— tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into headless slug. Not remotely frightening. Mostly just slimy."

Several people nodded, while a few still didn't look too sure.

"The charm to repel a boggart is simple, yet requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. So, you must force it to assume a shape you find amusing."

Draco gripped his wand. The first time around, his boggart took on the shape of some sort of monster he'd heard about as a child. This time, it wouldn't take on that because he'd seen so much more since he'd been thirteen the first time around. Draco was certain the boggart would take on the shape of Voldemort after he'd returned from the dead— the white snake face, the red eyes, impossibly tall skeletal form and cold, high pitch voice.

"Draco?"

The cackling, cold laughter with just the tinge of joy when casting the torture curse again and again. The maniacal gleam in the red eyes…those bony, white fingers gripping the wand…that insanely mad expression on the snake face. He had no lips, so it couldn't be called a smile, could it?

"DRACO!"

Harry was shaking him. The entire class was suddenly staring at the pair.

"Are you all right, Draco?" Lupin asked, looking concerned.

"Fine. Sorry," Draco said. "I know the charm. Riddikulus."

Lupin nodded. "Yes, very good."

The wardrobe shook again loudly behind the professor and made Neville, who was still standing near it, jump and squeak. This took Lupin's attention off of Draco and put it back to the matter at hand: tackling the boggart. Draco backed away as Lupin went on explaining what was going to happen and went about asking Neville what frightened him. Harry followed.

"What's wrong, really?" Harry whispered as they stood a good distance away from the group.

"I'm not sure I should tackle the boggart," Draco admitted, wondering what everyone's reaction would be if Lord Voldemort were to appear in the room. A Lord Voldemort who'd yet come to be, as Draco was sure the man didn't look like a snake the first time around. The snake aspect came from what was within the man.

Like, if he were to become an Animagi, he'd be a snake— not a cat, hamster, or bunny.

Well, there was an amusing image: Lord Voldemort as a bunny.

Draco threw his hand over his mouth the cover his laughter, though he really didn't need to as in the front of the wardrobe was Professor Snape wearing a green dress and vulture-topped hat. The crowning glory, though, was the big red handbag he was suddenly carrying.

"Good job, Neville!" Lupin shouted over the roar of laughter.

Harry whirled around as Patel hurried up to take her turn at the boggart.

"What are you afraid of?" Draco asked Harry suddenly.

"Bunnies," Harry whispered. Draco choked on his laughter again as the image of a frightened Harry running away from the bunny version of Marv entered his mind. "Though, I think I'm more frightened of dementors now that I know about them. They trump a bunny any day. Even if they lack twitchy noses." Harry shuddered, then turned to Draco. "You?"

"Marv. The version we met first year, not the one you met last year," Draco quickly added.

"He wasn't scary, the teenage one. Just…twisted," Harry admitted. "Yeah, Snake Face Marv is pretty scary."

Draco nodded his agreement. The two boys stood at the back of the group, carefully avoiding moving forward to take their own turn at the boggart.

No one seemed to notice, as they were all too busy laughing and gasping at what the boggart became each time a new student came forward. It became a bloody mummy who unraveled, a screaming banshee who lost her voice, a single bloody eyeball, a rattle snake, a severed hand, a howling ghost who suddenly began to sing show tunes terribly out of tune…then suddenly became what appeared to be a combination of a Muggle zombie and a ballerina.

"It's confused!" Lupin shouted. "We're getting there!"

"Who hasn't gone?" Dean called out. "Draco!"

Someone pushed Draco forward and he began to panic. Images of Voldemort at the height of his power during his second reign of terror filled Draco's mind. He tried to think of something else he was frightened of but nothing came to mind.

"Here!"

There was a loud crack shortly after Draco was faced with the boggart. Instead of taking on the shape of Voldemort, the boggart turned into what appeared to be a full moon. Draco looked up at Lupin who lazily cast the spell and the moon turned into a cockroach, who didn't seem to have legs.

"Neville finish him off," Lupin said, grabbing the immobile Draco and moving him out of the way.

Neville charged forward, looking determined as he shouted, "Riddikulus!"

There was another crack and Snape in a dress reappeared and Neville let out a great big laugh and the boggart exploded into a thousand tiny whips of smoke.

"Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin, still gripping Draco's shoulder. "Excellent, Neville. And well done everyone else. Let me see…five points to Gryffindor for every person who tackled the boggart— ten for Neville who did it twice. Oh, and five for Draco and Harry for answering my questions earlier."

The class looked thrilled.

"Excellent lesson, everyone. Homework, kindly read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me…to be handed in on Monday. That'll be all."

The rest of the class began to leave, but Lupin still had a solid grip on Draco's shoulder.

"Harry, you go on. I wish to speak to Draco alone for a moment. Nothing to worry about," Lupin said.

Harry looked at Draco, who nodded. He was pretty sure he had a feeling what Lupin wanted to speak to him about.

Harry grabbed his school bag off the ground and followed the last student out of the room, closing the door behind him. The moment it closed, Lupin let go of Draco's shoulder. He waved his wand at the door and Draco heard the noise of the hall muffle.

"So no one interrupts," Lupin explained, moving to stand in front of Draco.

Draco took a deep breath and waited. Lupin studied him again through narrowed amber eyes.

"You're him, aren't you?" Lupin quietly asked.

"Who?" Draco asked, deciding to play dumb for the moment. He'd been waiting to be caught out by Remus Lupin. While he had managed to make an easy transition with his mother, Lupin was a whole different story.

Draco had been extremely rude to Lupin as a child. Basically, Draco had behaved how one would expect him to behave towards a servant. Lupin had never been that bothered by Draco's behavior and simply ignored him.

"You've been different these past few years," Lupin admitted, still studying Draco carefully. "The night I met Atlanta D. Black for the first time, I was told she was shouting for Malfoy. The Malfoy my friends and I knew had graduated some six years before she appeared. There was also the small problem the girl was clearly not from here."

Draco stopped breathing.

"As time wore on, it became clear to me, while she let everyone believe she was simply crazy, she was not in fact a mad hatter, but was from the future. Tom has confirmed this recently and informed I ought to be on the lookout for a Draco Malfoy," Lupin explained.

"Who? Who is Tom?"

"Tom doesn't matter at the moment," Lupin quickly said. "The fact is, you are Draco Malfoy, but you are no longer the Draco Malfoy I was acquainted with, correct?"

Draco stared at the older man, wondering what he ought to do. It'd been easy when Hermione had figured him out last year, but this was totally different. Lupin hadn't outright said, "You are from the future, Draco Malfoy! You're a time traveller."

And the book the one Atlanta D. Black had pointed him clearly stated on the first page not to tell people he was from the future.

"You're the one who sent the Atlanta I knew the last two years I was a student at Hogwarts into the past, aren't you?"

"Er…I…um…"

Lupin appeared to be frustrated as Draco uttered one syllable sounds.

"I…er….uh….I…"

"I know the book said not to tell people you are a time traveller, but I've figured it out," Lupin said shortly. "Am I right?"

"Yes," Draco whispered, steeling himself.

Lupin didn't say anything. He stared, his amber eyes burning into Draco's grey ones.

"So, er, now what, sir?" Draco asked after ten minutes in which Lupin simply stared at him.

Lupin sat down hard in one of the chairs and clenched the arms tightly enough to make the chair creak, yet did not take his eyes off Draco.

"I don't know," Lupin admitted. "I…it was…you were so….different so suddenly."

"I tried hard not to be," Draco admitted, staring at the ground. He felt very exposed suddenly. "Did she ever tell you? Atlanta? Lanta?"

"I called her Addy, but everyone else called her Lanta," Lupin said, his voice getting quieter with each word. "You really are…someone else."

"I am Draco Malfoy," Draco stated, hardening his eyes. "I had a slightly different childhood and seventeen years of life before I went back to being eleven, but I am still Draco Malfoy."

"Eleven. Right before you began at Hogwarts," Lupin breathed, looking amazed. "How did…do you know how…"

"I sent the other Atlanta to the seventies? No. I don't. She was chasing me…trying to get me to…I'm not sure, if I'm honest. Things blurred and there was a lot of…pain in the moments before I woke up eleven."

Lupin nodded, but clenched chair till his fingers sunk into the upholstery. He didn't seem to notice he was becoming one with the chair via his hands.

"Anything else?" Draco asked.

"I assure you I won't tell anyone," Lupin said. "I know the Ministry would love to get their hands on someone like you— someone who knows the future."

"I don't really," Draco admitted. "I've been changing things. While some things are fixed, I don't know what is fixed or what is going to happen. I know you might not put much stock in this, but Sherlock informed me I've erased the future I knew when I went back to being eleven."

"Sherlock?" Lupin looked at Draco as if he had three heads.

"I mean the Sorting Hat," Draco said, hiding his face in his hands. "The Hat told Harry last year he wanted to be called Sherlock."

Lupin blinked a few times, but said nothing.

"Anyways, the longer I'm here, I think the less I know what really might happen. Plus, last time…I wasn't…"

"Friends with Harry," Lupin filled in. "When Atlanta told me that, said she'd met Harry Potter…and that you were friends with him, I felt…I wondered. Then last year…"

Lupin trailed off.

"Last year what?"

Lupin suddenly noticed he was trying to commune with the chair and quickly removed his hands, blushing a little at the destruction. He waved his wand and fixed the mess before he spoke again.

"You spoke to me politely. You weren't…the posh little git I had expected. And you…seemed a little too mature for a twelve-year-old who had been raised as a Malfoy."

Draco sighed, looking away. "That is what set Hermione off. Me not acting my age."

"She guessed?"

Draco nodded.

"Does Harry know?"

Draco shook his head. "I told him after first year— after we faced off against Voldemort and Quirrell. He asked me, flat out if I was a time traveller and I told him yes."

"He didn't believe you?"

"Nope."

Lupin hummed. "Do you think he'll guess that again?"

"I don't know. I know he knows something is…off about me. I have a feeling by the end of this year, he might figure it out."

Lupin nodded. He didn't look happy, but he had read the book so he knew Draco shouldn't flat out tell Harry.

"Draco, I have just one other question."

"Yes, Professor Lupin?"

"Do you happen to know if Sirius Black is innocent?"

Draco studied the man in front of him, who was not meeting his eye. The man before him had lost everything he had held dear in a single night. Voldemort had taken all his friends in some way that very night. Turned the rat into a traitor, Sirius into a prisoner and murder, and killed the Potters.

And even before that, he'd lost Addy Black, likely through Voldemort as she'd vanished around the same time as Regulus Black, who Draco knew was killed because he'd attempted to back out of the Death Eater movement.

Then, Voldemort stole his only child and replaced her with something of his own creation.

If anyone needed some good news, it was Professor Lupin.

"Yeah. He didn't do it," Draco admitted. "That's all I know, really…that he's innocent of the crimes he was imprisoned for. After that, I've only got theories…"

Kind of a lie, but informing Hermione of everything he knew was one thing: Draco knew pretty much what Hermione's role in the future was. Lupin's was a wild card because Draco knew next to nothing about Remus J. Lupin. The one thing, besides the whole werewolf thing, Draco knew was the night Sirius and the hippogriff both managed to escape was the night before Snape let Lupin's secret slip.

That had to be important. And not only because Lupin managed to not meet some sort of painful end while still a teacher.

"Why do you think he escaped, if you don't know?"

"I think Sirius saw…something."

Lupin leveled Draco with a look Draco was positive Lupin would never level an actual thirteen-year-old with.

"I believe he found out where Peter Pettigrew went after he faked his own death," Draco all but shouted and then bit down hard on his lower lip.

"Peter Pettigrew? Faked his own death?" Lupin asked, disbelief etched all over his face. He shook his head, looking at Draco as if he were mental.

In that moment, Draco knew he'd made the right choice. Lupin was an adult, not a twelve-year-old clever girl whose mind was still open to the impossible. While Lupin was fully able to admit Draco was in fact a time traveller, he wasn't open minded enough to accept some facts. For instance that Pettigrew was a rat— in all sense of the word. There were things Draco knew that would upend Lupin's tidy world view and Draco didn't want to do that yet. Or ever. Draco happened to actually like Lupin this time around, mostly because he looked passed the outside shell and saw inside.

If only Draco had done that the first time around…

Lupin stood up.

"Well, I think it best if we leave it at that," Lupin said, shaking his head. "I…I need…to go."

Lupin swept out of the room, leaving Draco alone. Shortly after Lupin left, Harry poked his head into the room and asked, "What was that all about?"

"Time travel."

Harry blinked. "No, seriously."

"He wanted to know what I was frightened of and why it was effecting me so much."

Harry swallowed that excuse and suggested they head to dinner.