Vonetta - Thanks for the review. You're just in time to welcome Remus home.

Episcopal Witch - Greetings to a fellow werewolf! Arooo! Thanks for your input and welcome to the story.







This Christmas is shaping up to be one of the most interesting ever, no doubt about it. That includes my tree. I've decorated it with a lot of favorite ornaments that I've collected over the years, but there are several new additions that have added a bit of holiday magic to my living room.

Of course, there is a small gray wolf, a small black dog and a tiny pewter cauldron. I'm sure you know who they're from, but there is also a chocolate frog from Ron that periodically hops to a new spot on the tree, a tiny copy of Hogwarts, A History, from Hermione, and a beautiful snowy owl from Harry that sits on top in place of an angel. There's a tiny cat that changes periodically to a witch's hat from Minerva, and a little blue-green dragon from Lorien.

The coolest ornament has to be the small red phoenix from the headmaster, himself. Once a day, usually in the evening, not only does the ornament burst into flames, but the entire tree does, only to be re- grown and re-decorated a bit later. Of course, it's wizard fire, so nothing else but the tree burns, thank goodness.

And let me tell you all how difficult it has been to get my holiday gift baskets of cookies put together this year with a bunch of wizards around. Harry, Ron, Sirius and Remus put a major dent in the cookies I made, and so I had to make additional batches to have enough.

Severus mostly just rolled his eyes and huffed at them all every time he walked by and saw them raiding my kitchen behind my back. That is until I made the frosted maple cookies with pecans and white chocolate. He tried to deny that he swiped any, but then I caught him red-handed when the Gryffs weren't around.

He looked fairly embarrassed at being caught, and I told him there was a way he could make it up to me and pointed to the mistletoe hanging near the entrance to the kitchen. He seemed a bit puzzled at first, and then brightened and drew his wand, transforming my little plastic plant into a large beautiful bough of fresh mistletoe before he walked off, two more cookies in hand.

It's pretty, but..... not exactly what I had in mind. :P







The Welcome Home ~*~





Marlina stood there watching Lorien's back as she walked quickly away and registered the last comment the woman had made.

"Bitch." She said, under her breath and turned to walk to her own rooms. 'How would I know about something like that bloody potion?' She asked herself. 'I'd have had no reason to know before now.'

'Of course Lorien would know about it, being a healer.' She thought as she walked along. Marlina had noted that Lorien turned to take the stairs to the dungeon instead of going toward the hospital ward. 'Plus she's sleeping with the bloody Potions master.' She rolled her eyes.

Marlina thanked Jane profusely for staying with Noah, but refused to volunteer any information about why she had suddenly been called out. The young Ravenclaw left, and Marlina checked in on the sleeping boy.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, exhausted and drained now that the search had been ended, and felt new but unpleasant feelings begin to stir in the pit of her stomach.

Doubt. Uncertainty. Guilt.

What Lorien had told her was starting to sink in, and it occurred to Marlina that none of the other staff, including Dumbledore himself, seemed as alarmed as she expected that there was a werewolf left running loose near the school.

So, it was true? The wolfsbane potion tamed the beast? The wolf that had faced Lorien in the forest wasn't a brutal killer? Lorien had said that she knew it was Remus she had been speaking to, and the witch sounded so....certain.

'He curls up and goes to sleep like a normal wolf until morning.' She'd said. Is that where he was now? Curled up somewhere asleep?

He'd almost been curled up somewhere dead.

Marlina gasped suddenly and clapped a hand over her mouth as she realized her own blind prejudice had nearly caused her to kill Remus. She'd tried. Her aim had been true....until the large black dog had flung himself on her a second before she fired the crossbow.

She sat there horrified at what she'd almost done. She'd thought she was about to kill a wolf, about to protect the blonde witch from a fate some people would consider worse than death, and instead she'd nearly executed the one person here at Hogwarts that had been more of a friend to her than many people she'd known ten times longer.

Marlina found herself crying, full of both regret and relief, and she curled up on Noah's bed next to the little boy and sobbed quietly until she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.





Lorien made her way to the dungeon, fuming as she went. This had not been a good night at all. Not only had her evening with Severus been interrupted, but Remus was loose in wolf form, the castle was in a panic, she'd been out on a wild goose chase for a good part of the evening, argued with Marlina, and if she wasn't mistaken the woman had called her a bitch as she walked away. Lovely. The icing on the cake of course, was the incident between Severus and Sirius in the forest.

When she stepped into the room after speaking the counterspell, she went straight for a bottle of wine, opened it, poured herself a glass and sank into the chair she had come to adopt near the fireplace in his rooms. She needed to unwind a little or the next conversation she had tonight was going to be even more unpleasant than she suspected it was already going to be.

When Severus finally came in she had finished half her glass, and met him at the door with one for him in her hand. "Here, this will help."

He flung his cloak on the peg near the door and although he gratefully took the glass from her hand, the look he gave her carried a bit of wariness. "Doci, Lorien." He said as he joined her near the fire.

They sat together in silence for a few minutes and after she watched him wince a little as the wine stung the cut on his lip, Lorien finally spoke first. "I wish that there was some way that......"

"There ISN'T." He said abruptly, interrupting the statement that he knew she was making.

She sighed. "Severus, you don't even know what I was going to say."

He snorted. "You were about to wish that there was some way for me to be on better terms with that damn Gryffindor, that for some reason, you call friend."

Lorien conceded the point. "I do." She said quietly.

"Wish away," he said with a dismissive waive of his hand. "It will never happen."

"Why?" She asked.

"Why?" Severus repeated incredulously. "You want to know why?"

"Yes. Explain to me why two grown men continue to act so childishly over stupid pranks and rivalries from over twenty years ago." She demanded.

"Pranks? Rivalry?" He asked, and his voice said 'danger'. "I'm afraid, my dear," Severus sneered, "that in spending so much time in the company of those exalted Gryffindors that you may have only been informed of one side of the story."

She heard the bitter sarcasm, and kept her own voice neutral to avoid escalating his agitation more. "Tell me your side, Severus."

He drained a large portion of the glass he held and then answered her, telling her the story of how Black had so irresponsibly and carelessly almost sent him to his death at the jaws of the werewolf. When he finished his version of the old story, Lorien had a better understanding of why Severus hated Sirius. She struggled to reconcile the mixed feelings she was having after the tale.

"Well?" He asked, and then took another large swallow of wine.

Lorien sighed again. "What would you like me to do, Severus? Hate him now? Would that help anything, if I decided to hate Sirius?"

He merely glared at her.

"Severus, just because I don't hate him doesn't mean that I'm not upset about what he did."

"You know, it would be nice if you, of all people, were on my side." He said suddenly, sounding hurt and looking away into the fire. "I believe you need to decide where your loyalties lie." Severus said, his voice low and still dangerous.

She was shaking her head. "I know where they lie." She went to where he sat and placed a hand on either arm of the chair to lean over him a little as she spoke. "I believe in my heart that I'll never have need of proving it, but if it ever came down to you or him, Severus...I would stand with you." She said gently.

He looked back at her and nodded once. "That's really all I ever wanted to hear you say." He stood up and drew her to him, holding her close for a while.

"Now," she said, backing away, "let me look at that." She indicated the cut on his lip where Black's fist had made contact and place her fingertips against it.

"It's fine." He protested, but he didn't move away from her touch, and after a minute of her warm fingers against him, his lip no longer hurt. "Thank you." He said when she'd finished.

"Just demonstrating my loyalties." She teased as she turned away.

He caught her around the waist and pulled her so he was pressed against her back with his arms around her. "Not so fast." He said in that soft low voice, dangerous again now for different reasons. "I think I need a bit more of a demonstration."







When Sirius finally dragged himself to his rooms it was very late. He had waited outside a while longer after everyone else had gone back to the castle, on the off chance that the wolf might return. No such luck. He was reaching for the door when he heard Kaneene's voice behind him. She had evidently just come off duty and came to find him.

"Sirius?"

He turned to her in the hallway and smiled tiredly. "Off duty, Moody?"

"Yes. Can I speak with you for a minute?" She asked.

He nodded and led her inside.

"What's up?" He asked as he flung himself wearily onto the couch and patted the cushion next to him, indicating she should sit.

She sat down and spoke in a tentative manner. "Maybe it's none of my business, but what I saw happening in the woods tonight looked pretty serious."

His expression was unreadable. "It was." He said simply. "Snape's nothing but problems."

Kaneene raised an eyebrow. "You think so?"

"I know so. He can't seem to keep from stirring up trouble." Sirius said, now starting to become more animated with anger at his nemesis.

"So, he started it?" She asked quietly.

"Yes."

Kaneene looked at Sirius pointedly. "Care to tell me exactly what happened?"

"Look, the slimy git grabbed me, so I hit him. He drew his wand, I drew mine. That's when you got there." Sirius explained, obviously agitated.

"He just grabbed you for no reason?" She asked.

Sirius frowned. "How do I know why he does what he does?"

Kaneene had a feeling there was more to the story that Sirius just wasn't seeing. "What were you doing when he grabbed you?"

Sirius thought back. "I was yelling at Marlina."

"You were?" Asked Kaneene, trying to keep her tone neutral.

"Yes, and then Lorien tried to step in...and I pushed her away and kept yelling." Sirius replied, running a hand over the back of his neck. "I was pretty upset, I guess."

"So, let me get this straight," Kaneene said. "Snape was watching you chew out a fellow Slytherin, and then saw you push Lorien, and you're surprised he grabbed your arm?"

Sirius shrugged noncommittally but didn't like the implications of what the auror was saying. "Are you saying the whole thing was my fault?" He asked.

"No, but what I'm saying is that maybe you shouldn't blame the whole thing on Severus, either."

Sirius looked at her icily. "You're defending him? Since when do you defend trash like that Death Eater, Snape?" He demanded.

Kaneene didn't like his tone of voice. "First of all, Black, you seem to forget that he isn't a Death Eater anymore, so lay off of that, and second, he isn't always the slimy git you make him out to be."

Sirius was taken aback by the way she seemed to be lecturing him. "You sound like Lorien." He snipped.

Kaneene shrugged. "Maybe Lorien knows what she's talking about."

Black snorted. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation. What the hell made you decide to become a rabid Snape fan all of a sudden?"

Kaneene laughed. "I assure you that I am not a rabid fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I admit that I have begun to look at things from a different perspective now that I know about Halloween."

"Halloween?"

"Sirius, the reason Keath survived the night at the ministry is because Snape saved his life." Kaneene went on to relate the incident with the illegal potion.

Sirius did his best not to look as surprised as he felt and obviously failed, judging by the way Kaneene laughed at him. "Sirius, trust me, you don't look half as surprised as I was when I found out."

True to form, Sirius tried to make light of the situation and poked fun at himself. "You know you're screwing up the way I have everyone neatly placed in an appropriate cubby hole of good and bad." He said . "Really? And which cubby hole do you file me in, Sirius?" She asked with a sly grin.

Sirius was not going to let this slip by, and he leaned closer to the female auror on the couch next to him. He gazed at her with deep blue eyes behind long lashes and smiled. "Right now I'd say you're firmly in the good slot.....but I'm hoping you'll prove me wrong." He said suggestively. He slid one hand gently behind her head and pulled her in for a long tender kiss.

Kaneene kept her eyes closed for a minute, savoring the moment as he pulled back a little, and then looked at him and grinned. "It's about time you did that, Black."

He grinned back. "Yeah, I suppose it is." He replied and then kissed the lady auror again in a way that convinced her it was worth the wait.







Shortly after sunrise, Sirius was waiting outside the castle, searching for signs of his friend's return, when he heard someone walk up behind him and turned. It was Lorien, coming to wait with him for Remus.

"Good morning." She said quietly, scanning the grounds as he had been.

"Morning, Lorien." A pause. "No sign yet."

"He'll be back soon, don't you think?" She asked.

"Any time now." Both Sirius and Lorien looked up at the sound of footsteps again. Kaneene joined them on the lawn, and they all exchanged morning pleasantries and looked up together as yet another set of footsteps came near. Dumbledore himself joined the threesome, followed immediately by McGonagall.

"Well, this is quite the welcome party." Dumbledore observed, eyes twinkling as he gazed around the group. "I believe the only ones missing this morning are.." The headmaster was interrupted by the sounds of running footsteps, and Harry, Ron and Hermione skidded around the corner of the doorway and came to a halt when they saw the group of adults already present.

Dumbledore smiled. "As I was saying." He indicated the three young Gryffindors and addressed them. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger....won't you wait with the rest of us out here?"

The three students looked uncertainly from one to another and then came to stand near Sirius to wait with the others for Remus to come home.







Remus woke in the forest, not all that far from the castle, with the mother of all migraines, that morning. He managed to sit upright and groan, and then trying to get his eyes to focus on his surroundings, remembered some of what had happened the night before as he became aware of the burns he was feeling in a rather unpleasant location where the wolf's tail had previously been. He opted to try to stand to get off of his seared backside, and held onto a nearby tree to steady himself as he got to his feet.

Damn. He felt awful. It had been ages, probably two years, since he'd woken up and not been safely tucked away in his rooms or office, and he wasn't really sure which direction the castle lay in. He reached for his wand, hoping that it was tucked in his robes where he usually kept it and his hand found the rowan wood shaft where it ought to be. 'Thank Merlin.'

It was all he could do to manage the four points spell, and he set out in the direction of the school once he got his bearings. It was slow going. He was exhausted and weak, and the singed parts of him were definitely not helping him move any faster, but eventually he emerged from the trees and made his way toward the castle.

Part of him couldn't wait to get back to the school and the security of his private rooms, and part of him dreaded facing anyone at all now that he'd been out for the night running rampant. How did it happen, anyway? He knew Sirius had warded the door, and he remembered brief impressions of explosions, his burning tail, and leaping through the window. He really had no idea how it all started. Well, he'd deal with all that later, after he'd had some sleep, and much later, something to eat.

As Remus neared the castle, he suddenly realized he'd be dealing with all of it a lot sooner than he'd hoped, as he recognized that a small gathering of people was waiting outside the entrance to the castle. He momentarily entertained the thought of running for the woods again, but he steeled himself and walked up to the waiting group.

And nearly broke down.

They were waiting for him, friends, all of them, to make sure he was alright. Relieved smiles met him all around as Sirius stepped forward to put his arm around his friend's shoulders. "About time." He said, and Remus gave him a weak smile.

"Sorry. Stepped out for a bit of fresh air." He quipped, and everyone looked relieved to see he had enough strength to maintain his sense of humor.

Dumbledore stepped forward and placed his hand on Remus's arm. "I'm glad to see you back safe this morning, Remus. We were all worried." He indicated the group surrounding them.

Remus looked worried. "I'm sorry, Albus. I'm sorry to all of you for having created such a problem last night."

"Don't be ridiculous, Remus." Sirius scolded. "It's not your fault, and everyone here understands that."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "Extenuating circumstances, certainly. Thank Merlin for that potion, eh?"

Remus smiled weakly again. "Thank you all for being concerned." He said, looking around the group quickly.

"Now," Dumbledore continued, "I believe we all have classes and duties to attend to this morning, and I believe that Mistress Lorien will tend to the good Professor." He looked around meaningfully, effectively dismissing the gathering.

Lorien and Sirius each took an arm and helped Remus back to his rooms.

"Ok, sit here and we'll deal with that headache." Lorien patted a chair.

Remus frowned. "I think I'd rather stand for now."

Sirius scolded him. "Moony, it would be easier if you sat down."

Remus eyed him ruefully. "Can't." Was all he said.

"Why not?" Sirius asked.

"I, um....got my....tail burned." Remus said, turning somewhat red.

Sirius snickered and Lorien shot him a dirty look. "Here, let's deal with the headache first." She said to Remus, and placed her hands on him and summarily banished the migraine.

Remus sighed with relief. "Thank you."

Lorien smiled. "Let's deal with that burn now."

Sirius found great amusement in the look that Remus got on his face when it dawned on him that he was going to have to let Lorien examine the burns.

"Go on then, Moony." He chortled. "Drop 'em and let the witch take a good look at your.....er...injuries."

Remus knew that Sirius was enjoying this immensely.

"Well? Go on." Sirius coaxed. "It's not like she hasn't seen it before."

It was Lorien's turn to flush with color and she quickly took Sirius by the arm and led him to the door. "Out!" She snapped and shoved the still chuckling wizard out the door and shut it soundly. She returned to Remus who was still looking reluctant to expose any more of himself than was already visible.

"Are you going to be a cooperative patient," Lorien asked, with her hands on her hips, "or am I going to have to put you in a full body bind and undress you myself?"

Remus finally smiled at her. "If I weren't so tired, Lorien, that might sound like an interesting proposition." She laughed at him, please that he was able to joke with her that way, and he finally opted to cooperate.







Harry, Ron and Hermione were leaving the common room on their way to class a short while later, when Hermione realized that she had a book she wanted to return to the library that she'd left in her room. "You guys go on." She said. "I'll catch up with you later."

Harry and Ron shrugged and walked off to head to class together.

Hermione fetched the book out of her dorm room, and then rushed out of the tower to catch up with her male companions. She sighed with frustration as she had to pick her way along a different set of staircases since they'd shifted when she'd gone back.

She walked quickly with her armful of books, not wanting to be late for her first class of the day, and quickened her pace a bit more as she rounded the corner to the next hallway. She promptly collided with something solid around the other side, not far from the stairs that led to the dungeon, and as she dropped the stack of books she'd been carrying, she prayed that she hadn't just plowed into Professor Snape.

When she looked up she realized it was even worse. She'd just nearly run over Keath Moody, and she felt her face get very warm as she stammered a less than eloquent apology. "I'm so sorry...I was in a hurry....I didn't see..."

"That's quite alright." The handsome young auror said, grinning at her obvious embarrassment. He squatted down and retrieved the books from the floor as Hermione continued to babble.

"I'm really sorry." She repeated, taking back the books he now offered to her.

"No harm done." He replied with another charming smile.

Hermione blushed a deeper red as her eyes met the green ones belonging to Keath. "I....I always seem to be in your way." She said, looking away quickly.

"You say that like it's a problem." Keath said with a flirtatious smirk as he started to walk off.

Hermione realized her mouth was hanging open as she recognized the fact that the man was flirting with her and quickly shut it. "Thanks." She said quietly, indicating the books he'd picked up for her.

"Anytime." Keath said with a wink, and walked off down the hall.

Hermione was too distracted after that to even noticed when Professor Vector commented on her being late for class.







A/N: If any of you are bakers and want the recipe for one of my all time favorite cookies (the ones Severus likes) try here -http://www.verybestbaking.com/Recipes/Search/RecipeCard.asp?RecipeID=30250& BrandSiteID=2