The students slowly filtered out of the classroom through engraved mahogany doors, as Remus Lupin slowly sorted his ever-growing pile of papers to mark.

He couldn't help but sigh: as rewarding as being a teacher was, it was far from the relatively-idle life he had been leading before.

As the last remnants of his fifth-year Hufflepuff class vacated the premises, he finally allowed himself to relax a small amount.

A slight smirk danced across his face.

It hadn't been easy, holding down the job, as disadvantaged as he was. It had been a titanic effort, keeping his mind and priorities straight, even as the endless cycle of the waxing of the moon above wreaked merry hell upon his scheduling. It was only due to the perhaps less-than-willing substitution of his colleague Snape, that he his secret had not yet been revealed.

But regardless of the moon above, he still had essays to mark.

It was probably for the best that he had a small lull in his classes, at least for the next few hours: more than enough to catch up.

He reached down into the pile, retrieving an essay of moderate length, penned in a hasty, shoddily done script. But even as he read through, his mind was occupied on other matters.

Harry, despite the absence of his family, had grown to become a boy which, he was certain, would be the pride and joy of both James, and Lily.

His only regret was that he could not personally work up the nerve to tell Harry directly.

Lupin blamed his long habit of isolation for that. Being as cautious as he had become did not exactly lead to remaining outgoing.

There was a brief knock on the door.

Raising one eyebrow, the werewolf slowly lowered the paper to the desk, before intoning "Come in!"

In walked Miss Cain, one of his second-year Gryffindor students. As she slowly stepped inside, Remus could begin to see the mischievous grin plastered across her face.

Remus shuddered a small amount. That face, was one he had seen on James and Ser -

His face hastily contorted into a frown.

He had seen that face on James, and on Black, before the latter had gone dark and betrayed them all.

Shaking the dark memories from his head, he turned back towards his student.

"Hello, Miss Cain, is there something I can do for you?"

He watched the girl roll her arms once slowly, as if working out a knot in her shoulders, her smirk not once leaving her face.

"Hello, Professor Lupin. How are you today?" she spoke.

"I'm fine." he replied, tone even.

To be completely frank, he was more or less in as good a shape as he'd ever be. The last full moon had been a week ago, allowing him plenty of time to recover from the worst of his... affliction.

"Are you busy right now? The Headmaster told me to speak to you." she continued, with a slight tinge in her voice.

Remus' eyebrows rose slightly. The Headmaster was asking? He couldn't fathom the reason.

"No, not at all. I'm off right now. Besides, if the Headmaster says that it is important, who am I to argue?" he replied. Despite her appearance earlier, perhaps this wasn't merely a prank? Even James, on one of his more... daring days, wouldn't drop the name of the Headmaster during a prank.

He shook his head. He had spent far too much time reminiscing about the past when dealing with Harry this week: he was beginning to see echoes of his old friends in everyone he met.

"Brilliant!" she exclaimed, slapping the desk with both hands. "Anyway, the Headmaster said I should talk to you about some things. He wasn't very specific, but I think I know what he meant."

He slowly nodded once. What exactly had the Headmaster told this girl?

"Anyway, so I think this really goes back to the first class, what with the mirror." she spoke, with an undertone of amusement.

His eyes widened slightly. The mirror! He wasn't entirely sure what exactly it was, but it had shown him as a werewolf, and her as a...

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you, are silver potions knives important for brewing, or can you use alternative tools?" she continued, cutting off his thoughts.

Alarm bells were going off in Remus' head as he mentally backpedaled.

"I'm pretty sure it's the properties of purity that silver has that makes them useful for potions, but wouldn't a decent enough crystal knife do the same thing?" the voice continued, ignoring his discomfort.

Finally, Remus found his voice.

"Uhm... shouldn't you be asking Professor Snape, for advice regarding potions?"

She tipped her head slightly, before pulling her lips back, revealing slightly pointier teeth than he had expected.

"Well, Dumbledore did say that I'd be able to relate to you, if that means anything. Honestly, he was sorta vague."

Relate. The mirror. Was she also a werewolf? Or perhaps something else?

A single probing question. "And I assume that you are also, doing your best to avoid having... certain facts come to light?" he offered.

She looked around the classroom, perhaps searching for observers. He was familiar with that motion: he himself had lived that motion.

"In more ways that one, yes." she replied, voice quieter than before.

"Go on?" he was hanging onto every word.

"Well... My family's a little bit more... Dark than the average Gryffindor." she continued.

A long breath out. He had misread the situation. She was asking, not as a Dark Creature like him, but rather as a concerned student with a little more Dark knowledge that socially acceptable.

"Oh. Well, I assume it's nothing like the Unforgivable Curses, right?" he replied, slightly deflated.

Her eyes rolled slightly. "The Unforgivables? What sort of idiot brands a certain type of spells Unforgivable? Is Necromancy really that frowned upon over here?"

Necromancy?

"I... don't quite think I understand."

He could see her flinch slightly. "Right. Uhm. Basically, I know a couple of spells that can really mess a person up. They're also rather good at dealing with Dark Creatures. My dad taught me them; he's on the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. Didn't want me entirely unprotected."

Remus could feel his pulse in his ears. This was who he had nearly revealed himself to? He could barely keep his face calm. Did she suspect anything?

"Anyway, " a slight shrug, "I managed to end up repelling a couple of Dementors earlier this year with a rather obscure curse. Am I going to get into trouble if I need to do it again?"

With a slightly higher voice than usual, Remus spoke, "I can't know for sure until I see it in action. Do you think you can demonstrate it?"

The damnable smile still remained. "I think I can do that. Do you have a target?"

A quick conjuration resulted in a small target made of stone sitting the dead center of the room.

"So... what does this spell look like?" he prodded. Perhaps it was a modified Patronus charm?

"Well, it looks a little bit like this..."

In a blink Miss Cain's wand was out, and a whip of solid flames collided with the stone, filling the air with an acrid stench of brimstone, and the sound of shattering.

Blinking, Remus looked between the smiling student before him, and the demolished stone in front of her.

Shaking his head clear once more, he spoke, "Well... that's certainly unique. And it works against Dementors?"

"You'd be amazed. They're an absolute menace to hit with any real sort of spell, but physical force is surprisingly effective." Miss Cain chirped, as she twirled her wand between her fingers.

Fingers raised to his temples, Remus ran the math through his head.

"As long as you never even attempt to cast this on students, I can imagine this particular spell being more or less fine. It doesn't really resemble anything that dark, so unless someone is able to directly identify it, you should be fine."

Sighing in relief, Miss Cain pocketed her wand once more. "Thank you, Professor. That makes things much easier, in case of another attack."

Nodding his head, he watched Miss Cain turn to leave. He lifted his last paper into the air.

"Oh, and sir?"

His eyes raised towards her, still situated in the doorway.

"What do you use to treat rashes caused by direct contact with silver?"

"Olive oil works fine." he replied dazedly.

"Thank you!" she answered, and exited the room quickly.

Remus glanced towards the empty doorway, and then back towards the paper in his hands.

Only to lower the paper again to his desk, and then his face into his cupped hands.