Author's Note: Last chap, I think...I almost cried writing this. Okay, so I
DID cry...leave me alone! *blush* Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is ALL
J.K. Rowling. I have no credit for this pathetic chapter which makes me cry
so much. I am weird. Bye!
Dear Diary, YEP! Yes, I am DEFINITELY resigning. This morning Severus had the great honor of telling EVERYONE what I was at breakfast. Not just the staff---the students. I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but I suppose jealousy or something just drove him over the edge and now....everyone knows. It would be impossible, therefore, for me to stay here, Diary. After all, the parents would be outraged that a monster was teaching their students. But I accepted it gracefully, I hope. I didn't lash out at Snape, nor did I even speak with him, and I think he is still very upset with me as well, because he chose not to gloat about how close he came to putting Sirius and I in Azkaban...
Now that I think about it, I am extremely lucky. If Snape had the last word on the subject, I would be in prison right now...I would be in Azkaban, where the dementors prey upon the captives night and day....I'm sure that within a short while I would go completely mad...
Thank god for Sirius's escape. I can't believe how life would be if I kept believing in a lie, if I never saw him again. But now Peter is on the loose, and I'm sure Sirius will do anything and everything to kill him at last. But then what will we do? It would be hard to prove Padfoot's innocence without Wormtail, afterall. So...I guess we have to keep him alive, then. Harry was wise. Bloodlust didn't get to him. I'm very sorry that I shall have to leave him as well.
Today, as I was packing to leave, he came into my office for the last time. I was looking at the map when he arrived, the little black dot labelled Harry Potter.
"I saw you coming," I told him meekly, quietly, cheerfully. I pointed to the map and he understood.
"I just saw Hagrid. And he said you'd resigned..." Harry was silent for a moment as I stopped forcing my books into my briefcase. "It's not true, is it?"
"I'm afraid it is." I pulled the drawers open and began emptying them.
"Why? The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?" I immediately looked up and realized the door was open. Quickly closing it, I explained.
"No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives..." Sighing, I recalled the morning. "That was the final straw for Severus, I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he---er--accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."
"You're not leaving because of that!" Harry cried, and I could feel myself smiling.
"This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents...they will not want a werewolf teaching their childern, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you...That must never happen again," I replied simply.
"You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had! Don't go!" I was about to say something and then closed my mouth. Bowing my head, I tried to hide the sad smile on my face, and the blush arising in my cheeks. I didn't want to talk about leaving, so I changed the subject.
"From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Harry. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you've learned...." I smiled warmly at him and he returned it. "Tell me about your Patronus."
"How'd you know about that?"
"What else could have driven the dementors back?"
"...Well, Hermione and I went back in time, right? When you transformed and Sirius went with you, about a hundred dementors arrived.... I tried to produce a Patronus in the past and I thought I saw my father--and then a great silver stag came out. Later...Later I realised it was just me, that my father wasn't there, but I could still feel it. I could see the stag and I thought of him..."
"Yes, your father always was a stag when he transformed," I told him, beaming. "You guessed right...that's why we called him Prongs." I placed the last few contents into my briefcase and closed it, then turned back to Harry, holding out the Invisibility cloak. "Here--I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night." I glanced over at the map on the desk, rolled it up, and handed it to him as well. "And...I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you back this as well. It's no use to me, and I daresay you, Ron, and Hermione will find uses for it."
Harry took the map and grinned, hesitated, then said," You told me Moony, Wormtai, Padfoot, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school. You said they'd have thought it was funny."
"And so we would have. I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle." A knock came on the door and I saw Harry hastily putting away the cloak and map, but only Dumbledore entered.
"Your carrige is at the gates, Remus,'' he told me.
"Thank you, Headmaster." I would never get used to saying 'Albus', and he knew it. I just smiled and piked up my baggage."Well, good-bye, Harry. It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we'll meet again somtime. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage."
"Good-bye, then, Remus." We shook hands and I smiled at Harry, giving him a quick nod, and then I left. I felt that maybe Sirius wasn't too far away, and maybe we could start over. Have a life, for once.
It would be a nice change.
Dear Diary, YEP! Yes, I am DEFINITELY resigning. This morning Severus had the great honor of telling EVERYONE what I was at breakfast. Not just the staff---the students. I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but I suppose jealousy or something just drove him over the edge and now....everyone knows. It would be impossible, therefore, for me to stay here, Diary. After all, the parents would be outraged that a monster was teaching their students. But I accepted it gracefully, I hope. I didn't lash out at Snape, nor did I even speak with him, and I think he is still very upset with me as well, because he chose not to gloat about how close he came to putting Sirius and I in Azkaban...
Now that I think about it, I am extremely lucky. If Snape had the last word on the subject, I would be in prison right now...I would be in Azkaban, where the dementors prey upon the captives night and day....I'm sure that within a short while I would go completely mad...
Thank god for Sirius's escape. I can't believe how life would be if I kept believing in a lie, if I never saw him again. But now Peter is on the loose, and I'm sure Sirius will do anything and everything to kill him at last. But then what will we do? It would be hard to prove Padfoot's innocence without Wormtail, afterall. So...I guess we have to keep him alive, then. Harry was wise. Bloodlust didn't get to him. I'm very sorry that I shall have to leave him as well.
Today, as I was packing to leave, he came into my office for the last time. I was looking at the map when he arrived, the little black dot labelled Harry Potter.
"I saw you coming," I told him meekly, quietly, cheerfully. I pointed to the map and he understood.
"I just saw Hagrid. And he said you'd resigned..." Harry was silent for a moment as I stopped forcing my books into my briefcase. "It's not true, is it?"
"I'm afraid it is." I pulled the drawers open and began emptying them.
"Why? The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?" I immediately looked up and realized the door was open. Quickly closing it, I explained.
"No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives..." Sighing, I recalled the morning. "That was the final straw for Severus, I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he---er--accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."
"You're not leaving because of that!" Harry cried, and I could feel myself smiling.
"This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents...they will not want a werewolf teaching their childern, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you...That must never happen again," I replied simply.
"You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had! Don't go!" I was about to say something and then closed my mouth. Bowing my head, I tried to hide the sad smile on my face, and the blush arising in my cheeks. I didn't want to talk about leaving, so I changed the subject.
"From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Harry. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you've learned...." I smiled warmly at him and he returned it. "Tell me about your Patronus."
"How'd you know about that?"
"What else could have driven the dementors back?"
"...Well, Hermione and I went back in time, right? When you transformed and Sirius went with you, about a hundred dementors arrived.... I tried to produce a Patronus in the past and I thought I saw my father--and then a great silver stag came out. Later...Later I realised it was just me, that my father wasn't there, but I could still feel it. I could see the stag and I thought of him..."
"Yes, your father always was a stag when he transformed," I told him, beaming. "You guessed right...that's why we called him Prongs." I placed the last few contents into my briefcase and closed it, then turned back to Harry, holding out the Invisibility cloak. "Here--I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night." I glanced over at the map on the desk, rolled it up, and handed it to him as well. "And...I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you back this as well. It's no use to me, and I daresay you, Ron, and Hermione will find uses for it."
Harry took the map and grinned, hesitated, then said," You told me Moony, Wormtai, Padfoot, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school. You said they'd have thought it was funny."
"And so we would have. I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle." A knock came on the door and I saw Harry hastily putting away the cloak and map, but only Dumbledore entered.
"Your carrige is at the gates, Remus,'' he told me.
"Thank you, Headmaster." I would never get used to saying 'Albus', and he knew it. I just smiled and piked up my baggage."Well, good-bye, Harry. It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we'll meet again somtime. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage."
"Good-bye, then, Remus." We shook hands and I smiled at Harry, giving him a quick nod, and then I left. I felt that maybe Sirius wasn't too far away, and maybe we could start over. Have a life, for once.
It would be a nice change.