No, as some of you maybe thought, the chapter before this one wasn't the end. Not by a long shot, actually...

Summer of 1978.

"Unable to find paid work because of what I am…"

"Remus, dinner!" his mother called from downstairs.

"Coming!" he replied.

"Now!" she called back. "This moment!"

"Yeah, coming!" he replied. He slowly got up, his book still in his hands and his eyes still glued to the pages. He walked to the door, almost walked into it, then opened it while still reading. He was already out of his room when he looked at the number of the page, memorised it, and threw the book on his bed. Then he walked down the stairs.

His parents and his brother were already waiting for him. His mother was just dividing the meat into pieces. Remus sat down, next to his father.

"Reading again?" said Romulus.

"Yeah, Dracula, for a change," said Remus. His mother casually put the largest piece of meat on his plate. Not argues about that; everybody was used to it.

"Don't you boys ever get tired of that book?" asked Mr Lupin, starting to cut his meat in pieces.

"Uh… no," answered Remus honestly. "But it's so good, and it all seems to be real, but you know it isn't. And vampires are cool, and well, Dracula is kind of the grandfather of all vampires."

Yeah, so Dracula is the coolest vampire," added Romulus. "And the book is well written, and-"

"Romulus, vegetables," interrupted his mother.

"- most of the things that are known about vampires is in the book," rattled Romulus on, shovelling beans on his plate. "So you can learn from it too."

"Hey, dad, you like detectives, right?" said Remus. Romulus muttered something, but Remus paid no attention. "Well, it's kind of like a detective, so –" He stopped death in the middle of his sentence, and looked at Romulus.

"What did you say?"

Romulus was taken aback. "Nothing, really. Nothing of importance!"

"Really? Why don't you repeat it, so we can hear it all, since it was nothing of importance!" Remus' voice had the warmth of an iceberg.

"I said nothing," said Romulus defensive. "Really."

"Gee, and I was thinking I heard you talking about inspector Morse, the Muggle detective who did make it into Oxford. But I must've been mistaken, right, Romulus?" said Remus sarcastically. "You did not say that, did you?"

"It was a joke," muttered Romulus, "just a stupid joke…"

"One more of you 'jokes' and you'll have a plate flying to your head," warned Remus icily. "See how you can laugh about that."

"Boys, quiet," interrupted Mr Lupin. "Romulus, we told you no more Oxford-'jokes'. And Remus, we're not throwing things in this house, okay? Now eat!"

They all sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Then, when she was placing the deserts on the table, Mrs Lupin asked Remus: "Have you already thought about what you're going to do after the summer? Find a job perhaps?"

"Where?" replied Remus. Romulus lifted his head.

"I saw an advert in the Daily Prophet," he said, "for the Magical Animal Zoo in Lond-"

He never got to finish his sentence, because he had to duck for a fork that was flying his way. The next moment, Remus stood next to his chair, yelled "I am NOT an animal!" and ran upstairs, slamming the door behind him.

"They were looking for people to take care of the animals," said Romulus to his parents. "He took it too personal!"

"Then go and explain that to him," said his mother shortly.

~*~

Remus lay curled up on his bed, softly whispering as he read a book to himself. Some books were great to do that with, especially plays by Shakespeare. Remus played every part, with different voices for everyone, and with the right dramatic intonations. It was fun, and it kept his mind of things, and that was something he needed right now.

A soft knock on the door. Remus didn't move and didn't answer. When the person knocked again, he turned his head, and yelled: "Romulus, get lost! Or better: get eaten by a dragon!" On second thought, he thought, that would only be sad for the dragon; he'd probably never eaten anything as distasteful as Remus' younger brother. He shrugged and continued reading again.

He did notice, however, that the door opened. He tightened his grip on his book. If it was Romulus, then he'd have another book flying to his head.

Pity of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" though, he thought.

"Remus?" said a voice. To his relief, Remus recognised it as his mothers'. He turned to his other side.

"Hi," he said. She shook her head at the sight of him, curled up in his little den, trying to keep the world out.

"How are you?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Remus replied with a cheerfulness he did not feel. His mother raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, and brooms can fly," she said rather sarcastically. This time he really smiled.

"They can, actually."

His mother returned the smile, and sat down on his bed. "Really, how are you?"

"Well, I've been told two weeks ago that I can't take the study I want, and thus reminded that I´ll never be truly normal. Then my cute little brother painfully reminds me of that again. How do you think I feel?"

"Remus…" said his mother softly. "He didn't mean it like you thought."

"I know, of course he didn't," said Remus sharply. "But that stupid guy from the university did. He put it nicely, but what he really meant was: get away, werewolf, because you're dangerous, and we don't want you around."

"What do you want me to do about it?" said Mrs Lupin. "Use the Imperio Curse on him, and force him to accept you?"

"No, of course not," muttered Remus. "You can't do anything about it, I know."

"But maybe," said his mother, "there's a way to study Dark Arts…" Remus sat up in a flash, his eyes shining.

"How?"

"Well," she began, "about twelve years ago, when you were bitten, your father and I were aware that not everyone would accept you, and that you might have difficulties finding a job." He nodded, eager for her to go on.

"So we decided to start a bank account at Gringotts, on your name. A part of the money your father earns at his job, goes to that account. It must be…" she rolled her eyes upwards, "almost… fifty thousand Galleons. Yes, all for you," she added, seeing his disbelieving expression.

"Now, this money comes free when you're eighteen, until then you can't touch it. it was our original plan that you should use it when you're living on your own, but I thought; why shouldn't he use it to study?"

"But mom…" Remus protested. She raised a hand.

"Not going to college," she said, "but you could use the money to buy books and learn by yourself. And, since field experience seems to be so important these days, you could use it to travel around Europe, and learn from other people."

Remus stared at her. "It's a joke," he said finally.

"I can tell you pretty seriously that this is not a joke," his mother answered. "But there is, of course, a condition." Remus groaned.

"I knew it. There's always a condition."

"Listen," she said, "You need to take this really seriously. You cannot spend half of the money on your study, and then decide this is not what you want, and quit it. The money is also your living, if you can't find a paid job. So this must be what you really want. You must be absolutely sure about this."

"Are you kidding?" Remus said beaming. "Sure about this? I've never been so sure about anything in my whole life!"

"You're doing it then?" asked his mother smiling.

"You bet I am!"