As Remus locked the door, Veronica stood in front of the boggart cabinet, her heart racing. There was no way she could face this. Even if she could, was there any way to make it funny or lighthearted? She knew the answer to that. She looked over at Remus with wide eyes and a quivering lip.

"Come on, love. You can handle this. Don't forget that I'm right here by your side." He assured her.

"Okay. Let's just get this over with." She finally conceded, steadying herself in preparation for what was about to come out of the cabinet.

Remus flicked his wand, and the cabinet opened. Out stepped a carbon copy of Vera, but once both feet were solid on the ground the boggart began flickering. It quickly cycled between several different figures, all but Vera's doppleganger lying on the ground with lifeless eyes. Harry. Lupin. Vera. Ron. Hermione. Vera. The twins. Vera. Cedric. Oliver. Vera.

As the figures cy led through the people she loved, the boggart whispered darkly "Your fault. Their blood is on your hands. You didn't do enough."

Vera stood frozen in fear, her mind not able to bring about any way for her to fix this. To make things okay. Remus was stunned, his heart beating hard in his chest. Never in a million years did he expect to see something like this come from the depths of Vera's mind. The root of all of her fears stemmed from losing tbe people she cared about. The fear of not being able to save others. He realized that there was no way for her to turn this into something they could laugh about. No, there would be no laughter right now. He did the same thing he had with Harry's Dementor boggart and sent it flying back into the cabinet.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, before he turned to look at her. She seemed almost ashamed of what he had just seen. Her eyed were cast to the ground, her hands were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white, and her jaw was clenched.

He slowly reached for her hands, unclenching them enough to take her wand and set it to the side. He placed both of her hands in one of his own, then used his free hand to caress her face. Vera finally looked up at him and gave a shaky breath.

"I told you so." She finally whispered.

"Darling, you have to be absolutely one of the strongest people I have ever known. You are capable of so much more than you realize. Your family, your real family, would be so bloody proud of you. You don't have to save everyone. You can't expect that of yourself. You have so much on your shoulders, but you can't expect yourself to do everything. You've got people who love you. Let us help." He said, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of pride, concern, and admiration.

She looked into his eyes and searched for any hint of a lie. Finding none, she raised one of her hands and placed it on his chest. "Promise me. Promise me that you'll stay by my side when things get rough. For either of us. We both have our demons, and we have to help eachother." She agreed.

He looked at her with a slight frown. His demons were different from hers. His had physical manifestations. But hers were just as strong, only inside her. That just meant that they had to learn to communicate and lean on eachother whether they wanted to admit they needed help or not.

"I promise." He agreed.

Veronica moved slowly, the adrenaline flowing through her bones being the only thing that gave her the courage to act on her instinct. Her lips pressed to his, and when he didn't pull away, she closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss.

Remus almost hesitated at first, but quickly came to the realization that this felt right. This moment was meant to happen. He closed his eyes as their lips moulded together, and his hands snaked around her wait as hers hands met behind his neck.

Calm. For the first time in a very long time, Veronica and Remus both felt calm emanating from their souls. As they embraced, they relished in the feeling that washed over then. When they finally stopped to breathe, he placed his forehead against hers.

He looked at her as though he had just discovered the secret to the universe. As she looked up at him, she knew she had.

Half an hour later, Vera and Remus sat on her bed, discussing the benefits of her becoming an animagus. He didn't even bat an eye when she asked him his opinion on the matter. If it was something she wanted to do, he would support her wholeheartedly.

"I read in one of the books in my office that it's a long and complicated process, but it never actually said what's required." Vera explained.

"Well, you start out by keeping a single leaf from aMandrakeplant in your mouth for an entire month, from full moon to full moon." Remus began.

"An entire month?" Vera said in disbelief.

"Yes, and if at any point the leaf is swallowed or removed from the mouth, the process must be started again. After th month is up and the full moom arrives, you put the leaf in a crystal vial and expose it to pure moon rays, along with one of your hairs, a silver teaspoonful of dew collected from a place untouched by sunlight and human feet for seven days, and the chrysalis of a death's-head hawk moth. You put that in a quiet, dark place and must not be disturbed, touched by sunlight or even looked at until the next lightning storm.

While you wait for that, you preform a special spell every dawn and every dusk without fail. There will come a time when the wand touches your chest, that a second heartbeat is sensed.

As soon as the lightning storm appears, the final stages happen. The concoction in the crystal vial should have turned to a blood red potion, which you'll drink after performing the spell one last time. There will be a lot of pain, and then you'll have a vision of the animal you are to transform into. Learning to transform at will takes a lot of practice, but gets easier and faster with time."

Vera listened to Remus in absolute awe. He knew so much about the process, and it was like listening to Nicholas Flammel talk about the Phosopher's stone. She grasped onto his every word, drinking in the information he told her.

"I helped them figure it out, you know? James, Sirius, and Peter. I helped them with the transformation process. I could help you as well." He offered.

"I would like that very much." She said with a soft smile, before a thought popped into her head and bubbled out of her mouth before she could stop it. "I remember him. Sirius that is."

Remus looked at her with mild shock. "You do?"

"A little. I mean, I remember some of tbe holidays we spent together. I remember he used to take me out for ice cream and walks through in the park. I remember I loved him the same way I loved uncle James. They amd Aunt Lilly were the family I wanted. The family me and Harry deserved." She said quietly. "I dont believe for a moment that he sold us out. Sirius never would have put us in any type of danger, and he certainly never would have told Voldemort where we were. Sirius loved us all, and he would have died before selling us out."

Remus looked at Veronica with tears in his eyes. No one else had ever honestly believed that Sirius was innocent other than himself, and to hear her speak so passionately of his best friend's innocence made his heart clench. "You have no idea what it means to me to hear you say that, Vera." He said, caressing her face.

"It's the truth, Remus. And I hope one day that everyone else will see things the way we do." She said, placing a hand on top of his. "Until then, we have to do what we can to live our lives in a way he would be proud of. That includes causing as much trouble as we can get away with as professors." She laughed.

Remus allowed a grin to slip onto his face as Vera laughed. "You're absolutely right. However, for now, we have a class to teach and students to inspire with our vast amounts of knowledge." He said, tapping her nose, then helped her up from her bed.

She stood, still holding his hand. "I suppose you're right. Let's go."

As they walked down to the classroom, Vera felt, for once, that everything was looking up.