Thanks to the new favs and follows and to my regular reviewers, Irezei, notwolf, nightmareprince. Brand new thanks to the two brand new reviewers who both spent some late nights with HM, Justareview and mojemalickost00. I love hearing from all you guys, it helps keep me motivated to keep working on this thing even though it's taking me forever to get through it.

One Last Everything

Brie prowled through the castle on the lookout for either Severus or Remus. Either would be able to answer the questions she had about the rumors that had suddenly surfaced at breakfast. She just really really hoped that the parts about Severus telling most of Slytherin house that Remus was a werewolf weren't true.

She'd been unable to find either of them in their respective offices and had been jogging the hallways for the last twenty minutes, hoping to run into one or the other. She swung around a corner, heading towards Remus' office, thinking that she might check again in case he'd shown up. As she trotted up to the door, someone came out. It wasn't Remus, but it was almost as good.

"Albus," she puffed, slightly out of breath, "I just heard that..."

"It's true," he cut her off. "All of it, but a piece of it isn't true in the way you'd think. Remus just left to go down to the gates. If you hurry, you'll catch him. Come see me later before you hunt down Severus and I'll explain the rest."

"He's leaving? You kicked him out? That's horrible!" she said, indignantly.

"He's leaving, but of his own accord. I tried very hard to convince him to stay." Albus retorted, making Brie feel guilty.

"Sorry," she muttered as she dashed off, feeling like she'd just kicked a puppy.

Intensifying her jog, she headed toward the front doors. So it was true. Severus had spilled the beans about Remus. She tried not to react too much, since Albus had instantly indicated that there was more to the story than met the eye. Brie wasn't sure how that could be, but tried to reserve judgment, since there had been plenty of other times when the obvious hadn't been quite as obvious as she'd thought. Part of her couldn't help but be disappointed in Severus though, and a little angry.

She pulled the heavy front doors open, pelted across the empty courtyard, and down the sloping front lawns, finally catching sight of Remus, who was almost at the front gates already.

"Remus wait!" She cried, chasing him across the grounds. He heard her and stopped, turning to wait for her to make her way to him. "Hey." She puffed as she caught up. "You weren't going to say goodbye?"

"I'm sorry." He said simply. "I wasn't sure if you'd want to be seen with me after the word was out."

"Oh yes, because I have such a pristine reputation in this place that I can't be seen with someone who happens to be probably the nicest werewolf on the planet," she scoffed.

"Fair enough," Remus chuckled.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," she said bluntly, not caring to beat around the bush.

"It always does, eventually," he said in a resigned way that broke her heart.

She suddenly wished very much that she could help him. "I'm still sorry. And I'll miss you. I want to thank you for being around and being my friend this year. It's been a weird one for me and it was nice to have someone to talk to."

"I'd like to thank you for the same," he smiled.

She looked him up and down, from the top of his prematurely graying hair, to his patched robes and battered shoes, to the luggage in his hands, held together with twine. Suddenly, she knew how she could help him.

"Look... I know it's tough for you out there," she said, feeling very awkward about her newly hatched plan, so she rushed the rest. "I'm going to talk to Albus and have him put everything I made this year into your account at Gringotts. Stay warm, safe, and full next year. OK?"

Remus looked stunned. "I can't accept that," he finally blurted out. "It's too much. And you've given me too much already."

"I want you to have it," she said with a shake of her head. "I don't need it. At all. Ordinarily I would take that money and put it into the scholarship funds that I have set up in Rogan and Jada's names. The money would normally go to help someone, so this year I want it to help you. If it makes you feel better, you can write an essay about the most influential person in your life, the way the scholarship kids have to."

He started to protest again.

"Once I tell him what I want to do, Albus will do it. I won't take it back either, once he does," she said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "So either you use it, or it sits in your vault and does no one any good."

"Brie..." he put down his bags and the empty tank he was carrying, and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you so much."

She hugged him back. "Be OK, Remus."

"Same goes for you." He let her go and seemed to hesitate for a second. "Can I ask one more favor?"

She chuckled. "Sure."

He blushed and pulled a copy of 'her' magazine from his inner robe pocket. "Would you sign this for me? I heard that the Weasley twins..." he trailed off and grinned shyly as she also blushed.

"I suppose. They weren't supposed to tell anyone," she said in an embarrassed mutter, holding out one hand while digging around in her pocket for her felt tipped pen with the other.

"Well, in their defense, I did simply overhear them talking to each other about it, but they have such carrying voices and I have such sensitive ears..." his grin widened.

She chuckled and thought for a moment before writing: To Remus, On moonless nights, reach for the stars, and never forget the good person you truly are and I know will always be. -Brie 'Wild' Waters

"That's worth something," she said as she handed it back. "I almost never sign as Brie. If you ever hear of me dying out there, you take that to a Muggle pawn shop and they'll probably give you a little bit for it."

"I'd rather keep it and hear that you're still alive and adventuring."

She patted him on the arm.

"At least I know where I can find you," he went on. "We can write each other letters by owl."

"Actually," she hesitated a bit, "I'm leaving this year too. I won't be back."

"Because of your friend?" Remus asked.

"Among other things," she said vaguely. "I'm not sure if any owl besides Icarus and the other school owls would deliver to me, but you could try to write. Just tell whatever owl you use to be discreet."

He nodded and picked up his luggage again.

Brie waved until he passed through the gates and out of her sight. Once he was gone, she turned and slowly trudged back up to the castle, pausing to look out over the lake for a few minutes. She really worried about Remus, but there wasn't much she could do. If the logistics of it weren't ridiculous, she'd happily offer him a job at her facility, but it would be all but impossible to pull off. Never mind the Muggle work visa aspect of it, the real problem would be figuring out how to deal with his werewolf days.

Wishing there was something else she could do, she turned and started toward Albus' office. It was time to hear why she shouldn't be furious at Severus for what he'd done. When she got to the stone gargoyle, she gave it yesterday's password, which was thankfully still today's password. She rode the spiral stairs to the top and pushed open the door without knocking. Albus was expecting her, after all.

The door swung open, revealing not only Albus, but also Severus and Lucius Malfoy. They were sitting in the chairs facing Albus' desk, their backs to Brie. Only Albus saw her standing, surprised, in the doorway. He inclined his head slightly, telling her to step inside. Silently, she stepped in and closed the door behind her, remaining just a few steps into the room. Lucius continued the rant he'd been having when she entered.

"A werewolf, Dumbledore?! You thought it was proper for the children to be taught by a werewolf?"

"Professor Lupin posed no threat to the children. Severus was brewing Wolfsbane for him," Albus calmly replied.

"That is exactly the kind of thing that I've been trying to warn the Board of Governors about!" Lucius raged. "It doesn't matter who is brewing what for him! Werewolves are brutish, dangerous creatures, never to be trusted, especially around children! And most especially not around MY son!"

Brie bit her tongue to make sure the dozens of things she wanted to say would stay in her mind rather than jump out her mouth. It was hard, but she managed. Lucius swung around to Severus.

"I can't believe you knew about this all year and said nothing!" he hissed.

Severus' face remained stony as he replied, "I said something today."

"At the end of the year! Granted, he won't be back next year, but he was still here this year!"

Severus' head twitched slightly as he said softly, "At the beginning of the year I'd have been fired if I had directly told anyone. If that had happened, I wouldn't have been here to watch over my students, including Draco."

"Directly telling?" Lucius drawled. "Can I at least assume that means that you were trying to indirectly tell someone?"

His expression still the same, Severus gave the tiniest of nods.

Lucius seemed skeptical, which worried Brie. He needed to think that Severus was as horrible as he himself was. Being honorable and grudgingly keeping a twenty year old promise did not fit that description.

"Oh, don't worry, Lucius," she suddenly said. "He's been doing his best. I heard he even assigned an essay about werewolves to the classes he subbed in for Lupin."

Both Severus and Lucius whipped around in their chairs, surprise evident in their faces. Albus gave her an exasperated look behind their backs. She shrugged it off. What did she have to lose? She'd probably never see Lucius Malfoy again and it would be good for him to think that she and Severus were at odds. "Too bad for Professor Snape no one put two and two together. YOUR son included. His sneaky little trick didn't work."

"Why, Professor Waters," Lucius drawled at her, a nasty look in his eyes. "I did so hope that I'd see you today after I spied this on the Headmaster's desk." He picked up the piece of paper containing her resignation from the school. "Finally throwing in the towel, eh? Finally realize that you don't belong here?"

"Hardly. I'm unable to return next year due to familial obligations and prior commitments that can't be put off any longer. Hogwarts takes up too much of my time, and I have businesses to run. I'm sure you can relate." Jill wasn't technically family, but Lucius didn't know that. Besides, Jill and Evan were the closest thing to family that she had left.

"Whatever sees you out of this school," he spat. "I feel very much like a victory has been won today. Two creatures that do not belong in this school will no longer be here next year."

"You won nothing, Malfoy. Both Professor Lupin and I chose to leave. No one forced us."

Before Lucius could retort, Albus broke in. "I'm sure this promises to be a very lively debate, unfortunately, Lucius, I was not expecting you and I requested that Professor Waters come here so that we could discuss the details of her course as she taught it so that we might hopefully be able to fold her methods into the current Muggle Studies class curriculum. After all, even Minister Fudge has been impressed with the improvement in Wizard/Muggle relations since Professor Waters started teaching here.

Lucius turned back to Albus with a look of disbelief on his face. Brie swallowed a laugh. He so obviously wasn't used to being brushed off. She loved Albus right at that moment.

Albus smiled pleasantly as Lucius sputtered a little bit before finally getting to his feet. "Severus," he said shortly. Poor Severus had no choice but to get up and follow him out of the office. Lucius shot his nose in the air as he passed by her. When he was out of sight down the stairs, she winked at Severus before he went by, hoping that he'd be able to endure the earful of Muggle and Headmaster bashing that he was about to be subjected to.

"Once Severus is able to shake Lucius, I'm sure he'll come back up. I didn't expect Lucius here this soon. It was truly record time," Albus chuckled as he gestured to the seats Lucius and Severus had just vacated. "I'm glad I ran into you before you ran into him. He's been having quite the hard time these past few days."

"Yeah, it really seems like it. I bet I don't even know the half of it, do I?"

"I'm afraid not. I could fill you in, if you'd like."

"Severus will tell me, if he wants me to know."

"No he won't."

"Yeah, I know, but I can't always go snooping out all his secrets."

"Fair enough. I would like to tell you about this morning though."

"That, I'll listen too. After all these years I'm starting to know better than to run off with what looks like the obvious assumption."

She listened as Albus explained that it wasn't Severus' fault that he'd let slip the information about Remus. "Severus is cursed by Voldenwhatever?" she asked, confused. "How could he curse Severus? I thought that no one even knows where he is."

Albus patiently tried to explain. "Severus wasn't cursed himself, he was a victim of the curse that Voldemort placed on the position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Should I even try to understand why Volderquart would curse a job position?"

"You could, but I don't see how the information would benefit you much."

"Then I'll just stay confused for now, but still knowing that Severus didn't do what he did on purpose."

"That seems the wisest course at this time."

Right then the office door popped open and Severus reentered the room, still looking harassed. "It wasn't my..." he started to say.

"Albus told me." she cut him off. "You've just got no luck lately."

He nodded wryly and dropped down into the other chair, covering his eyes with his hand.

"Did he give you an earful?" she asked.

"Two earfuls, on various subjects. You really shouldn't provoke him like that, you know."

"Like hell I shouldn't. I don't give a rat's patootie how upset Lucius Malfoy is over me. I'd rather he think that you and I still don't get along than just sit here, silent, so that I don't stoke his ego driven, self important, pompous fiery temper."

"Patootie?" Severus questioned with a raised eyebrow. Albus chuckled.

Brie shrugged. "My grandma used to say it."

"I see. Well, I will say this, Lucius is now most definitely convinced that you and I have never gotten along."

"So, victory to me," she smiled slyly. "I win."

"I don't know how we can convince you that it's best not to test Lucius, Brie," Albus broke in.

"Aww, not you too," Brie whined. "I'm leaving after this year. What do I care about Lucius Malfoy?"

Both Severus and Albus simply shook their heads. Brie rolled her eyes at them. "Well, that's all the questions I had," she said, firmly changing the subject. "So I'm just going to mosey on out of here, unless there was something else...?

"Mosey?" Albus questioned.

Brie shrugged as she disappeared out the door. "My grandma used to say that too."

Brie drifted through the next week trying to enjoy everything she could about the castle and the grounds. Every night she strolled around a different part of the castle and each afternoon she had a walk in the gorgeous weather. She was hoping she'd see Snuffles one last time, but he never turned up. Now that she was able to pass though the gates whenever she pleased, since the Dementors were gone, she'd even asked about him around the village to the few clerks she knew. No one knew much about him besides that for the last several months he'd been spotted here and there, usually rummaging through the trash cans.

She had quite the difficult time telling her classes that she'd be leaving. She'd meant to do it on the very last day of term, but the day after she'd turned in her resignation, the Weasley twins had come into class with a parchment notice that had gone out to all the students who'd already opted to take it again next year.

"Professor," they asked in unison as soon as they tumbled into the classroom, "What's this notice mean?" Fred took over.

"Yes," George butted in, "It says we have to pick a different elective class. Are you going to be late coming back to the school next year because of your filming job, or something? Will we be able to transfer back to this class once you're back?"

"Ahhh..." Brie stalled uncomfortably while the rest of the class filed into the room, some also holding similar slips of parchment. "Why don't you guys have a seat and we'll talk about it once everyone is here," she finally managed to say.

The look on most of their faces when she informed them that she would no longer be teaching at the school broke her heart a little, especially the twins. She felt even worse when they both slunk out of the room at the end of class time without even glancing back at her. She felt like she should find them and apologize, but then felt silly for feeling that way. Sometimes kids didn't like change, she reminded herself. Hopefully they'd come around by the end of the week and she'd be able to properly say goodbye to them. The little ginger jokesters had earned themselves a special little place in her heart, and she knew she'd miss them.

She didn't have to wait long. That same night there was a small, quiet tap on her door. When she opened it, it was to find the twins glancing around furtively.

"Oh, damnit guys," she said as she stepped out into the hall and pulled the door shut behind her. She wasn't about to invite them into her rooms. Besides being inappropriate, everything was a mess from packing. "It's past midnight."

"We know, professor," Fred said.

"Well ten points from Gryffindor, then."

"We couldn't sleep. We had to come ask you something," George took over. Both twins barely flinched at the lost points.

"Why I'm leaving?" Brie guessed. They nodded and she sighed. "Guys, it's just time for me to go. There's a lot of reasons, really. All personal."

"We're just..." Fred trailed off.

"We like learning about Muggle stuff from you," George finished for him.

"I like teaching you guys, but someone needs me back home. I can't stay," she hoped this wouldn't go on like this for much longer. Surely they could see that there wasn't anything they could do to get her to stay.

"Is it someone in your family?" George asked.

"Yes," she answered. 'Essentially,' she added in her mind.

The answer seemed to satisfy them. "We'd been wondering if maybe you'd gotten some kind of better offer for the chance to do something else," Fred confessed.

Brie went soft inside. They'd been worried she was leaving for something she considered better than Hogwarts. The poor things. They must not have had to deal with much loss in their lives, to feel personally effected by something like this. She envied them a little. "Oh, gosh guys, no. It's nothing like that. I just... I just have to go back to the life I already had before I came here. I wasn't quite finished with it yet."

"We'll miss you, Professor," they said together.

"I'll miss you guys too." She patted them on the shoulders. "Come on, I'll take you back to your common room so that no one else finds you and takes more points." They agreed without protest and walked with her in silence to the portrait that hid the entrance to Gryffindor tower. "I'll see you guys again before the year ends," she promised them as she shooed them inside.

After they were safely back where they belonged, Brie slowly walked back to her rooms with a funny feeling in her chest. Leaving was going to be harder than she thought.

She knew she was right on the last day, as the kids all streamed out of the school and toward the train station in town. Several of her, now, former students stopped her at breakfast that morning and told her how much they'd miss her and how much they'd learned. She gave out more hugs than she usually gave in a year before they were all through and done with her.

When the last student was out the door, and several of the more eager professors had already left, Brie stood in the entrance hall with her hands on her hips. Sometime during the past week, she'd gotten it into her head that she would take one last very long stroll around the castle, to say goodbye to it, and to anyone she happened to come across.

Word had gotten out about her permanent departure this year and most of the staff had found her at one point or another over the last few days, and she'd said goodbye to pretty much everyone. She and Minerva had ended up having an hours long talk about basically nothing as each of them had been reluctant to leave the hallway where they'd chanced to meet.

Poppy had come to her at dinner the previous evening and pressed two large jars of healing paste on her, mistily saying that it would be the best she'd be able to take care of Brie if she wasn't going to be coming back. Lully had left her cookies and a flower, and Brie had gone down to the kitchens to thank her. Most of the kitchen elves had wandered over to wave her off when she'd left a little later.

Hagrid in particular had gotten a bit teary after breakfast, as he'd pulled her into a long hug. He'd remembered himself at first, stooping down to hug her gently at her own level, but after a minute or so, he'd gotten a bit more emotional and had stood up, taking her with him so that she spent a few minutes dangling from his arms like a rag doll as she patted his back and assured him that he was free to write to her anytime. She'd asked him to take care of Icarus for her, which had calmed him enough to make him put her back down.

Thinking back on the incident made her decide to go to the Owlrey to visit Icarus one last time. She had decided that it would be best for him to stay here at the school. As a Great Gray, he would be severely out of place in Arizona and she didn't think he'd enjoy any kind of display life at her facility, despite what an awesome educational tool he'd be. There were still going to be large chunks of time over the next two or so years where she would be gone on filming trips as well, so it would be up to Evan to look after him and she didn't think that was fair. Hagrid assured her that he'd take good care of him for her and she knew he'd be happier here in the long run.

On her way up to the towers, she ran into Peeves, who was busy using someone's sneakers to make muddy footprints on the walls. Brie chuckled. Filch would have a fit when he saw. She also wondered which kid had gone home without a pair of their shoes.

Unfortunately, Peeves took notice of her as she tried to sneak past him, tossing one of the muddy shoes he'd been holding in her general direction. She ducked it easily. He made a rude sound.

"I'm leaving Peeves," she said to the raspberry blowing poltergeist. "This is it for me here. I won't be back. I bet you'll miss me terribly, won't you?"

He flipped upside down and gazed at her through his legs. "Won't get to study the Muggle no more, eh? Back to your old life, I assume?" he asked as he did a few tumbles in the air, never actually facing her full on as he spoke.

"It's where I belong, so I hear," she shrugged.

"Well, I certainly will miss your muttering over books in the library. It drove Pince mad!" he cackled. "She'd practically grind her quill down to powder, she'd grip it so hard when you'd start up."

"Aww, that's downright pleasant from you, you little chaos maker." she crooned sweetly, knowing it would put him on edge that he wasn't getting to her with his little backhanded compliments.

"Well then, let's have us a cuddle," he exclaimed as he swooped at her, almost bowling her over because she was unprepared for the sudden move. He briefly hovered in front of her in a weird sort of hug type position, stopping mere inches from her front and awkwardly reached his arms around her back. Almost no part of him actually touched her, save for the few pats that he laid on her back.

It was one of the more bizarre things she'd ever experienced and she had no idea how to react. When he'd swooped at her, her arms had jumped out to the sides in surprise and now she kind of just waved them up and down a bit before Peeves swooped away again.

"That... was... interesting," she sputtered as he floated above her head, sporting a huge grin.

"Goodbye your Muggleship," he said grandly, blowing another raspberry while spiraling upwards toward the ceiling and out of sight.

More shocked than she had been in a long time, Brie stood and tried to analyze what had just happened. Surely Peeves hadn't just hugged her... Had he? Shaking her head, she continued on. 'I don't think I'll ever understand what just happened there, but I think it will haunt me for years,' she chuckled to herself as she went.

Her chuckles echoed off the wall and seemed to go on for much longer than they should. The echo of her footsteps weren't lasting so long. Suddenly she realized that the chuckles she was hearing were not her own and she turned, finding Peeved floating after her.

"I thought we'd parted ways," she said.

He answered with a raspberry and continued to chuckle as she turned away from him again. This was peculiar behavior, even for Peeves and she began to suspect that he was up to something.

Anticipating anything from being pelted with bits of chalk, to having something knocked down on top of her, she tensed and went on her guard, still trying to appear as if she was just walking along and ignoring him. When his chuckles built to giggles and then to gales of laughter as she wandered though the halls, she began to suspect that the joke was already happening.

As they passed a bank of windows, she glanced toward them, hoping to catch a glimpse of her reflection in the glass. She managed to make herself out as they traveled and could also see Peeves floating along behind her. The reflection from her angle wasn't very good, but she could at least see that he didn't seem to be carrying anything. With a furrowed brow, she glanced once more at her own wavy, indistinct reflection and thought that she saw something odd fluttering at her back.

She craned her neck back, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that he must have been levitating behind her, but there was nothing there. Peeves began to howl with glee. Reaching backward over her shoulder, she tried to feel around on her back, finding nothing again. With Peeves happy cackles bouncing off the walls of the hallway, she tried one last reach behind her, this time reaching behind her from underneath, angling her arm up. Her fingers brushed parchment so she gripped it and pulled.

The parchment piece came off and Brie pulled it around and studied it. "Curse me," she read dryly. "Wow, this one is old Peeves. Muggles have been doing this one for centuries."

Crumpling up the note and grinning at Peeves disappointment in her lack of a heated response, she flicked the ball of parchment at him as he swooped away, looking sour.

'Bullies just always want a reaction,' she thought smugly to herself as she continued on with the last stroll around Hogwarts that she would ever have.

"Hey, buddy," she said when she finally got to the Owlery and found Icarus up in the rafters. He fluttered down to her when she shook the owl treats she had brought with her. "It's your lucky day, pal. I've got to get rid of all these treats today. I won't be back next year to give you more."

Icarus plucked a treat from her fingers and threw his head back, sending the pellet down his throat. He looked back at her with his large yellow round eyes and blinked slowly, ignoring the next treat she held out to him. He hooted softly.

"I'm going to miss you," Brie said, reaching out to stroke his head. "I figured that it would be best if you stayed here. I don't think you'll like it if you come back home with me. There won't be anything for you to do there. And I'm not really there much anyway."

He slowly reached down and took the next treat from her. "You can come visit anytime you want though. Just be discreet like when you bring the letters to Evan," she assured him, feeling silly. She still wasn't sure exactly how much Icarus understood of what she said

He hooted again and tilted his head to the side. She held out the little burlap bag with the owl treats out to him. "Here you go, pal. You finish these whenever you want. Just shake them out of the bag." He took the bag in one of his claws and bent down to nip her fingers. "Thanks for everything, Ic," she said, feeling silly at the little lump that was building in her throat.

Icarus hooted again and stayed perched where he was, staring at Brie with unblinking eyes. Brie scratched him on the chest one more time then said, "Why don't you come with me, buddy? I'm taking one last walk around."

Icarus spread his wings and flapped upward, dropping the owl treats back into her hand as he landed on her shoulder, brushing her cheek with his wing as he folded it to his side. "We're going to have to find Severus, once I get the nerve up," she told him as she continued to wander.

She'd find him soon. She wasn't ready for that particular goodbye just yet.