Okay, folks, this is the end of what I have already written. Thanks for all your feedback! Be aware that the update schedule will slow down from here, but "Mates" WILL be updated in the future.

----------------------------------------------------

The next day dawned crisp and clear at Black Castle. Arcanus was awake unusually early, boyishly excited that he was going to see his school chum again. He washed up, scrambled into clean robes, and clattered down the main staircase, calling cheerful greetings to all the paintings as he went. He crashed energetically into the kitchen, seizing a startled Maggie MacKenzie about the waist and shocking her assistants by planting an exuberant kiss on the older woman's cheek.

"G'mornin', Maggie!"

Maggie laughed and tried to look stern. "Arcanus Black, you overgrown puppy, behave yourself!"

Arcanus set the woman back on her feet. "Yes, ma'am."

The young assistants goggled as their supervisor ordered the boss about, and he apparently acquiesced.

"Now then, *Mister Black,*" Maggie stressed, "I was about to send Mary up with your breakfast. Will you take it in your study instead?"

"Aw, come on, Mags, I wanted to help get things ready for Cliff."

Maggie drew herself up in righteous indignation. "You? Help in MY kitchen? Out. Out from underfoot, and OUT of my kitchen. Go to your study and eat breakfast like a good boy. Bad enough you only give me a day's notice..." she grumbled teasingly.

Arcanus backed off, laughing, and headed for the kitchen door. "Yes, Mrs. MacKenzie. To the study I shall go and get out of your hair."

"Mary, follow him with his breakfast. He's likely to be back in here if he's not sufficiently distracted."

"Yes, mum," the young woman said, and scurried out the door behind Arcanus, breakfast tray in hand.

"Rose," the housekeeper addressed her other helper, "make sure the front parlor, library, billiards room, dining room, and study are fit to receive visitors. Mr. Black is entertaining company today, and it's likely they will use more than one room."

"I will, mum," the other girl said, and scampered off to freshen the drapes, dust the furniture, air the rooms, and get the fires going.

Arcanus went to his study and plopped down in the comfortable chair behind his desk. Mary was quick to set the tray in front of him, sensing that without immediate distraction, he'd likely be back underfoot in the kitchen.

Arcanus munched thoughtfully at a delicious pumpkin pastry as Mary built up the fire and opened all the curtains in the study to admit the morning sunshine. "Mary, if Mrs. MacKenzie can spare you, would you be so good as to check to see if my broom's in flying condition? I haven't used it in awhile. Check one of the spares, too, if you would. Cliff's not been here in years, and we may take a quick trip around the grounds."

Mary nodded. "Yes, sir, I'll make sure they're ship-shape."

Arcanus smiled. "Thank you so much, Mary. Ah, you ladies spoil me, taking such good care of me." He winked outrageously at her.

The young woman flushed prettily. "Sir!" she said reprovingly, then grinned impishly. "You're easy to take care of, if I may say so, sir."

Arcanus chuckled. "Thank you, Mary, you're kind to say so. I promise to keep out of the way. Off with you now, before Maggie comes looking for you!"

"Yes, sir!" she responded cheerfully, and with a flounce of blond curls, she was gone.

Arcanus reached for his mug of tea and the copy of the Daily Prophet that Maggie thoughtfully left out for him. He was scanning the editorials absently, listening to the sounds of the paintings chatting amiably with each other outside his cozy study, when someone thwacked the big door- knocker against the heavy, iron-bound oak door of Black Castle.

Arcanus shot out of his chair and flew towards the foyer, beating Rose there before she could open the door. "Tray! Study!" was all he could choke out impatiently before seizing the door handles and giving an overenthusiastic yank.

Rose smiled and shook her head silently as she scurried off to retrieve the breakfast tray and tidy up the study.

Arcanus flung the doors open wide to reveal a blond man standing uncertainly on his formidable doorstep. "Cliff!" he shouted gladly, and swarmed forward to grab his startled schoolmate in a rough embrace. "Cliff, old boy, I'm SO glad to see you again; it has been an age! Come in, come in!" He ushered the other man into the foyer before he could get a word in edgewise. Between Rose politely taking his hat and cloak, and Mrs. MacKenzie gushing over how glad she was to see her boys together again, and Arcanus excitedly thumping him on the back, it was quite awhile before Clifford Lupin regained his equilibrium.

"Arcanus," he said quietly, "I wonder if we could speak privately?"

The dark haired man blinked. "Certainly, Cliff. We can use the study. Nothing's wrong, I hope."

Lupin set his jaw and followed his host into the study.

Arcanus shut the door behind them and gestured courteously toward the comfortable sofa against one wall. "Please, sit down, Cliff, and tell me what's on your mind. Care for a drink?" He moved toward a table in one corner that held a few decanters of various beverages for when he had company, along with the usual pitcher of iced pumpkin juice. "Juice, or something stronger, if you wish?"

Cliff shook his head curtly, jaw set in grim lines, his sharp-featured face drawn tight with tension.

"Cliff, mate, what's wrong? You've barely said two words to me, and you look like you're about to go in and face your Potions N.E.W.T. again."

Lupin fixed his old friend with a frosty gaze. "All right, Arcanus, name your price," he ground out.

Arcanus blinked. "My price?" he parroted, confused. "My price for what? You don't owe me anything, Cliff. Surely you don't think I'd go for all this time and then ask you over just to collect on some long-forgotten debt."

Cliff regarded him dubiously. "You said you met my son," he said, as if that should explain everything.

Arcanus smiled gently. "Aye, I did. Fine young man you've got in your boy, Remus. He and my son, Sirius, are going to be great friends, I just know it."

Cliff lurched to his feet, pacing about agitatedly. "Did he harm your son? Damn, I knew this would happen! I *knew* we should never have sent him off to Hogwarts. Too dangerous. Should've kept him in isolation..."

Arcanus rose and grabbed his friend by the shoulders, stopping his babbling. "Cliff, what in Merlin's name are you on about?" he demanded, his worry growing by the minute. "Remus certainly didn't hurt anyone! And what's this about isolation?"

Cliff whirled around. "You mean nothing...untoward happened?" His hazel eyes glittered with desperate hope.

Arcanus shook his head. "Nothing that your son did. Though you've managed to alarm me quite thoroughly. I asked you over here because I was concerned for your son's welfare. But I think you'd better explain yourself first."

The look that passed over Cliff Lupin's face was one of total defeat. Well and truly alarmed now, Arcanus pulled him back across the room and sat him back down on the sofa. "Cliff, what the hell is going on?"

Lupin sighed. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors about my family estate." It wasn't a question.

"Aye, Maggie said something about it being near werewolf hunting grounds."

"For generations, my family had an agreement with the pack leaders. We let them roam in our forests, and they left our family alone. Even on nights of the full moon, they hunted on the far borders of our lands, staying well away from the castle. My father... You must remember how anxious he was to be counted among those of the Light when Voldemort first rose."

Arcanus nodded.

"He requested that Ministry of Magic convene a special tribunal. He dragged whatever werewolves he could trick into his traps before the tribunal, denounced them publicly, handed them over to be destroyed. The packs swore enmity to us thenceforth. My father kept us all within the castle walls after that; it wasn't safe for us to be outside. We tried to exterminate all of those awful monsters, but somehow, the packs survived."

Cliff paused and took a steadying breath. "Remus was only three years old when his nanny got careless. Rowena and I were entertaining guests, so the nanny was looking after him and my older son for the evening. Remus toddled out of the castle gates after a firefly. The full moon had risen early, but it had been years since we'd heard so much as a peep out of the packs. They'd gone into hiding." His voice dropped to a shaky whisper. "When we finally found my little boy, he was on the ground, screaming and writhing in pain, his tiny shoulder torn by a werewolf's bite."

Arcanus swallowed hard. "Cliff, oh no, I had no idea," he said unevenly.

"Rowena was beside herself with grief and rage. She blamed me for bringing her to such a dangerous place to live and exposing our children to such risk. We tried everything to reverse Remus' condition, but all our efforts were for naught. We've kept him away from our other children; we will not risk their safety."

Arcanus stared at his friend with dawning horror. "So you separated that poor little boy from his family? Cliff, how could you?"

Lupin blinked. "How could I? Arcanus, he became a monster. I can't endanger my remaining children by allowing him near them."

Arcanus leapt to his feet, so outraged he could scarcely see straight. "Cliff, where has your good sense gone?! You grew up around werewolves, damn it all. You know they're completely harmless until they hit puberty. The worst you'd have had is an exuberant puppy running around the house when the moon is full. And instead, you treated a *child,* YOUR child, as a monster? When I saw how your wife treated young Remus, I was so sure you must not've known. I saw her at Kings Cross, Cliff. She left Remus at the barrier as though she couldn't wait to be shut of him. Poor lad was frightened and all alone. I could not believe that you would countenance such treatment of your child."

Cliff flushed guiltily. He squared his shoulders. "So. Now you know. I would not have my family's honor besmirched by my son's condition. What price will gain your silence?"

Arcanus' throat worked convulsively, his revulsion plain. "You want to *buy* my silence? You're concerned about your image when you have a little boy who is obviously desperately in need of simple familial love?" Arcanus took a steadying breath. "I'll tell you what my price is. You accept Remus back into your family and treat him as your *son,* as he deserves. And if you cannot, then you let Remus spend his holidays here with your blessing and encouragement. Is that clear?"

Face pale, Cliff nodded. "I'll speak to Rowena, tell her the conditions of your silence."

Blue eyes snapping, Arcanus seized Cliff by his shouders and shook him. "For God's sake, Cliff!" he cried. "This isn't about *my silence!* This is about *your son!*"

For a long moment, Lupin sat in stunned silence, still caught in Arcanus' crushing grip. Then, his face suddenly crumpled. "Oh gods, Arcanus, you don't know what it's like. You don't know what it's like to have a child whose very presence endangers the rest of the family, to have a child whose mother cannot stand to look at him anymore."

Arcanus let his sobbing schoolmate go. "No, Cliff," he said sadly. "I can't imagine it. But then, however bad it's been for you, it's surely been much worse for Remus."