He is surprised when he sees her. She has grey hair, and she's just so old. To him, it's always been as though Poppy could never age, that she would stay that young, sarcastic mediwitch forever. But then again, he supposes that the war must have aged her, along with Lily and James's deaths.
Watching her finish cleaning up the chocolate, and pepper-up potion in the hospital wing before leaving for the welcome feast, the man remembers why he's not visited her. She reminds him too much of them, his best- and truest friends.
Poppy rearranges her potion cabinet for the last time, and locks it. She casts her gaze around the room, looking for anything else that she might have missed in her summer cleaning. With a slight shock, she notices a young, but distinctly haggard-looking man standing beside the double-doors that lead into the hospital wing.
"Remus?" it comes out strangled and choked. He nods. She walks over to him, and pulls the tired man in to a tight hug. She releases him slowly, dusts off his shoulders, you look far too old, and holds his hand in hers. The new defence professor allows her to lead him through the winding corridors, down to the Great Hall, where they take a seat beside each other for the Welcome Fest.
It's hard for them to speak to each other without tearing up, but they eventually get caught up on each other's lives over the duration of the entrance ceremony. Remus has had great difficulties finding work in the wizarding world, due to his condition, and had spent the past four years teaching astronomy at a muggle school in Scotland. Poppy fills him in on Harry Potter's adventures, and his eyes light up, and she knows that he's thinking of James.
"They would be proud of him," she tells Remus with a faint smile.
X
She meets up with him for tea after his first day of classes. They sit, side-by-side, on a windowsill in the Hospital Wing, grinning as he tells her about shooting Peeves with gum.
"Who taught you that one, surely it wasn't James!" she exclaims, Remus grins in return, his amber eyes crinkling at the corners.
"No, it was Sirius' idea. I take full credit for the spell, mind you." Their smiles fade at the mention of the pair's names.
"You're coping Remus. You're coping," she says, reaching over to rub his back. He gives her a weak smile in return.
X
Poppy sees the black dog out of the corner of her eye as she takes her Sunday stroll around the Black Lake with Minerva. She stops mid-sentence.
"Are you alright, Poppy?" the older witch asks, reaching out for Poppy's arm. Poppy jolts back, "Yes, I-I'm fine I just thought I saw a wolf." Minerva raises her eye-brows in amusement.
"There haven't been any wolves in England for hundreds of years, Poppy. It must have been Fang."
Poppy is nearly certain that she had seen a young Sirius Black turn into a dog once. A big, black dog with silver eyes.
X
Harry is attacked by dementors only a few months later, and falls off his broom. She spends the night healing bones and knitting sinews back together. Remus sits beside her the entire time, his knee jack-knifing and fingers tapping insistently.
X
Exactly two months later, Remus is quietly telling her that Sirius is innocent. And Poppy thinks he's gone insane. But she lets him take her to the Shrieking Shack, and when she sees a big black dog that turns into a tall, haggard man, she knows that it's the truth.
"Hey there, Poppy-flower," Sirius gives her a weak smile, that turns into a grin as she embraces him.
"No flirting with staff members."
Then all three of them are bleary-eyed, and hugging in the middle of a dirty room, in a broken house, and nothing could be better.
Before leaving, Poppy charms Sirius' clothing clean, and a quick scourgify does wonders for his hair.
X
Poppy and Remus make sure to visit him every week, and for the first time in years, Poppy knows that Remus doesn't spend the full-moon alone.
X
"Harry Potter helped him escape," Remus tells her on a sunny Tuesday afternoon. She smiles, "You know where he gone," it's not exactly a question, but it isn't not one either.
"Grimmauld Place, can't tell you the house number. Ask Dumbledore," he says, and it's then that Poppy knows that the Order has formed once more.
X
It's the last day of school and spirits are high, but Poppy feels an odd sense of loss. Call it a premonition, but she's not surprised at what Remus tells her as they sit on the bridge.
"I'm resigning, someone's started a rumour about my... condition, and it's not as though people want a werewolf on staff," he says with a tight smile. Poppy wraps an arm around him.
"The best bloody defense professor they've had, you are," she says, closing her eyes as the warm sun tickles her skin.
"What will you be doing now then?" she asks. He grins, "Well I think that there's a certain order that could use my help."
Poppy smiles, "I'll visit you, Dumbledore told me the address."
"Not going to join up again?" he asks, clasping his hands on the rail. Poppy sighs, pinching the blue fabric of her dress.
"No, no I don't think I want to fight anymore," she pauses, steeling her eyes, "But by Merlin, I'll save some lives."
X
[She does, save people that is. And she visits Sirius and Remus. And she prevents Potter from nearly getting himself killed. And she keeps him from killing Malfoy. And she shows the world that some people (Theodore Nott) don't have a say in who they fight for. And maybe that is her proudest moment.]