Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JKR does

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Ever since Icarus had talked to Renée in the library, he started to notice her more and more. He would see her in the halls, and she would give him a little smile and he would return it with a smile of his own. She was even in some of his classes, like Potions, Astronomy, and Divination. The more he saw her around, the more he kicked himself for not talking to her sooner.

Icarus decided that he liked hanging out with Renée. She was smart, she was an absolute fanatic when it came to Muggle literature, and she actually liked his jokes. He had no whether she was laughing out of pity or joy, but he would take any laugh he could get; it made him happy when she smiled because of him.

Phillip and Alan had started to notice that Icarus was spending more and more time in the library. When they confronted him about it, Icarus told them about Renée. Since then, it seemed Phillip and Alan had made it their lives' work to never let Icarus forget about Renée. They were constantly bringing "his girlfriend" up in conversations. Icarue would just wave them off and try to ignore his friends, especially when he and Renée would talk in the halls and they would stand not too far away, giving him a thumbs up and big grins.

Icarus and Renée were sitting at a table in the library. They were both working on star charts for Astronomy.

"Hos do you remember all of the constellations?" Renée asked, setting her quill down and flexing her wrist.

Icarus looked at her and shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, my mum used to teach them to me, but I only think that was because Sirius's side of the family is obsessed with the stars. I swear, literally every Black is named after a constellation."

"Everyone except you."

"Except me." He went to work on his star chart once more, but stopped. "I'm only named Icarus because my mum's really into Greek Mythology. Guess she wanted to name me after a myth." He frowned and continued. "I dunno why she named me Icarus instead of something like Theseus or Perseus. I mean, Perseus is both a constellation and a mythological figure. Two birds with one stone, right?"

"No offense, but why Icarus?" she said. "He got too cocky and fell to his death."

Icarus shrugged. "I don't know, but what I do know is that I can make a list of Greek heroes that she could've named me after." He reached into his book bag and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. He smoothed it out, dipped his quill into the ink well, and began to write.

"Numbers one and two," he said, "Perseus and Theseus."

"Ooh, she could've named you Jason. That's a normal sounding name," Renée said. "Or maybe Achilles. Or Odysseus."

"Yeah, see that's five already!" He held up the paper. "Honestly, the doctors should have waited until my mum was actually coherent enough to make sound decisions. Or at least until Sirius got there."

He looked at Renée who was peering at the back of his paper. He turned it over to see what she was looking at. It was the essay on werewolves that Snape had the class do. When Lupin had informed them that they didn't have to do it, Icarus had crushed his essay into a ball and thrown it into the depths of his book bag, where it lay forgotten. Until now.

"It's the werewolf essay Snape made us to," he explained.

"I can see that."

"I think this is the only piece of homework I've ever finished before the due date."

"Don't worry, I did mine as well." She paused, then, with a thoughtful look crossing her face, she said, "Don't you think it's weird that Snape did a lesson on werewolves for every class?"

"I guess." Icarus hadn't really thought about that, but when he did, he supposed it did seem a little odd.

"And isn't it also weird that Lupin's been sick about three times this year?"

"Maybe he just has a poor immune system."

"Maybe, but each time he's been ill it's always around a certain time."

"You mean during schooldays? Because I don't blame him. I, too, would become ill if I had to teach a bunch of hormone filled children."

"You mean teenagers?"

"Yes. Those."

"You do realize that we're teenagers right?" Renée said, gesturing between them.

"Yes, I am aware of that."

She shook her head. "Anyways, every time he's gotten sick, it's around a full moon."

"I don't-" Icarus stopped mid-sentence and his eyes widened. Lowering his voice to a whisper and leaning in, he said, "You think Lupin's a" - he scanned the library to make sure no one was listening to their conversation - "a werewolf?"

Renée shrugged. "I mean, it's possible."

Icarus sat back, thinking it over. "And you're a hundred percent sure that he is one?"

"Well, maybe not a hundred percent, but, yeah, I'm pretty damn confident."

"Are we going to tell anyone?" Icarus didn't like thinking about reporting Lupin to someone. Lupin was one of those rare breeds of teachers; he was able to see the best in his students. He was also the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that Icarus had had. The first two were totally boring, the third one died, and the last one only talked about himself and then had his memory erased.

"I'm sure the teachers already know, or at least Dumbledore," Renée said. "And if Dumbledore trusts him, I'm sure we can." She paused, then, frowning, added, "Why? Were you thinking of doing it?"

Icarus shook his head. "Just about the opposite, really." An idea - or a thought, rather - popped into his head and he jumped up from his seat. He talked rather hurriedly as he shoved his books back into his bag. "Look, Renée, I just realized something, and I've got to go. Promise I'll make it up to you, though. See you later." He rushed noisily out of the library, which earned him an exceptional glare from Madam Pince.

He slowed to a walk when he exited the library. He made a beeline for Lupin's office. He knocked on the door, and it wasn't too long before Lupin opened it.

"Hello, Icarus," Lupin said with a smile, though he looked a little confused. He was probably wondering why Icarus was standing outside of his office on a Saturday.

"Hi, Professor, are you busy?" It had taken Icarus a second to respond because he was still dealing with the possibility that the man in front of him was a werewolf.

"No, not all. Would you like to come in?" He stepped aside to let Icarus into the office. Icarus noted that the office still looked the same from the last time he had been in it when he had been serving his detention a few weeks ago, although a grindylow now resided in a tank in against the wall.

"So," started Lupin, "what brings you to my office, Icarus?"

"I wanted to ask you some questions, Professor," Icarus said, suddenly feeling fidgety and a bit nervous. When he was silent for at least a minute, Lupin gestured for him to elaborate.

Icarus swallowed the clump of sand that had formed in his mouth. For second, he considered questioning Lupin about being a werewolf, but decided against it. "Questions about Sirius" was what he said instead.

"Oh," Lupin said softly, taking a moment to respond. He cleared his throat. "I suppose you do have the right to know what he was like because he is your father. Well, what do you want to know?"

Icarus's voice seemed to get stuck in his throat again. "How good of friends were you and Sirius?" he managed to ask.

"He was like a brother to me," Lupin answered quietly, a frown settling on his face. He looked just past Icarus and he had this far away look in his eyes, as if he were deep in thought - or a memory, perhaps. "He, James, and Peter." The sentence was barely audible, but Icarus was still able to catch how sad it sounded.

Even though Icarus could tell how sad his professor was at the moment, he dared to ask, "James and Peter?"

"James Potter and Peter Pettigrew," said Lupin. "They were also two of my closest friends."

"Oh." Icarus wasn't sure what else he should say. He knew who both those people were. James Potter, the father of Harry Potter, was killed by Voldemort; Peter Pettigrew had gone after Sirius Black, the Potters' Secret Keeper, after the Lily and James Potter had been murdered. While confronting Sirius, Pettigrew was killed by him. Then, Sirius was caught and put in Azkaban. "That sucks."

"Yes, it does suck, doesn't it?" Lupin responded, sounding even more sad and tired.

There was a pregnant pause before Icarus said, "I should probably be going." He slowly walked to the door.

"Goodbye, Icarus," he heard Lupin say.

"Bye, Professor," Icarus replied without looking back. He kept his eyes ahead as he walked out of Lupin's office and closed the door behind him.