It's Harry's birthday today!! Yes, it's July 31, and careful readers and/or devoted fans know that that's the day Harry – and JK Rowling – celebrates his/her birthday! Happy birthday to both of them!

Now, as for this chapter: I know it says "the end" at the end, but it's not really really the end. There's a chapter coming after this one, and that's the great Remus Lupin Interview chapter (sometimes known as the Pester Remus With Irritating And Inappropriate Questions chapter…). So hang on, this isn't the very last…

Friday June 7, 1994.

"Well – goodbye, Harry," Lupin said, smiling. "It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we'll meet again some time."

It wasn't exactly usual for Remus to wake up with the first rays of sunlight on his face, and blades of grass tickling his back. He slowly opened his eyes, and just caught a brown rabbit wiggling its nose, smelling Remus, and running away. Remus frowned.

Okay, three questions. Where am I? What am I doing here? And – why am I not wearing anything?

He knew the answers almost immediately. Memories of the past evening came back to him. He dug his nails into the moist ground when he thought of Peter, how he had betrayed Sirius and the Potters. But he couldn't help but smile when he remembered that Sirius' name would be cleared, after all those years. At long last, justice had been done. He frowned when he remembered changing into a werewolf – well that explains what I'm doing here in such a state – and he hoped he hadn't hurt anyone, or worse, ate anyone… a low rumble from his stomach assured him on that last part, and he had to laugh at the noise he was making. Especially in the quiet forest it seemed extra loud. He now also noticed it was quite cold outside, it being such a clear summer morning.

"Time to get up and get to my chambers, before someone sees me and is scared to death," he told himself, his voice strangely loud in the silent morning. Of course, after he'd just said that, he had all kinds of visions of people who would love to see him like this, but he quickly shrugged those thoughts off. He only had to look at his scarred body to remember why he didn't want anyone to see him after a full moon.

He made sure to stay hidden in the undergrowth at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He quickly moved towards the Whomping Willow, the place he remembered to be last, and he hoped fervently that at least some remnants of his clothes were still there – and his wand. To tell the truth, he felt more helpless without his wand than without his clothes – though of course he'd rather been seen without the former than without the latter…

The ground near the Whomping Willow looked like a small battlefield. The tree itself was thrashing about as usual, but the ground near the roots was trampled and muddy, as if two enormously large animals had been fighting there. Picking one of his new scratches – from a too close encounter with a blackberry bush probably – Remus almost absentmindedly thought of the possibility that he and dog-Sirius had been fighting. Perhaps to keep the wolf away from Harry and his friends – it had happened before, and Sirius was usually careful enough not to get bitten.

He shivered in a fresh morning breeze, but one quick glance told him that all that was left of his clothes were tiny pieces. Way to remind myself to take my clothes off before changing, he thought sourly. The situation was now getting awkward. He could hardly walk through the corridors with two branches to cover himself up…

He had just thought that, when he saw something silvery shimmering on the ground. his heart nearly literally jumped when he recognised it as James', Harry's, the Potter's Invisibility Cloak. With a few quick steps, he reached the Cloak, and he quickly picked it up and wrapped it around himself, nearly purring with delight when he felt the warmth on his skin.

He started looking around in the bushes and undergrowth near him, to find his wand, and it only took him about five minutes before he had the familiar wooden stick in his hand. He folded the hood of the Cloak over his head, to completely conceal himself, and set off for the castle.

About fifteen minutes later, Remus softly closed the door behind him and let the Cloak slide off him. Blades of grass that were sticking to the soles of his feet were scattered all over the floor as he walked around, gathering clothes. He quickly turned on the taps of his shower and barely waited until the water was warm enough before he jumped under it. He stood under the shower just long enough to warm himself and to wash away the dirt and the blood on some of the scratches, then he got out again, dried and clothed himself.

He was too nervous to sit down and wait until it was a reasonable time to go down for breakfast, so he fuzzed around in his room, throwing away the cold tea he had made himself only yesterday and shaking up cushions on his sofa. All the could think of was Sirius, and Peter. He imagined them somewhere in the castle, being questioned by someone from the Ministry, and telling the whole story, the true story, of how it had happened, and then Peter would be send to Azkaban, and Sirius' name would be cleared, and then… he barely dared to think about what would happen then. Harry could come and life with his Godfather, of course. Sirius would be needing his own house, or maybe he could come and life with Remus – he had more than enough room.

He woke up Monster with his anxious pacing through the room, and the little furball hopped towards him to get his first attention of the day, but Remus was too distracted to do anything than give the animal a short patting on the head. He started reorganising his books, just do give himself something to do, when he heard the clock just outside his chambers chime seven o'clock. Remus was unable to restrain himself any longer, he told himself that seven o'clock in the morning was late enough to go and see how Sirius was doing, wherever he was. He happily crossed the room to his door, his heart pounding fast, and he yanked the door open, ready to go.

But he found himself face to face with Dumbledore.

"Professor!" he said, genuinely surprised. "I was about to leave." He felt a sting of annoyance – Dumbledore really had a knack of turning up at the least appropriate times.

"Remus, could I have a word with you?" Dumbledore asked calmly, not showing any sign that he had noticed Remus' annoyance.

"Sure, of course," Remus half-sighed. "Come in. I don't have anything to drink, I'm afraid."

"Don't trouble yourself," Dumbledore waved. "Have you seen Minerva yet?"

Remus frowned. What was this all about? "No, I haven't seen anyone yet." 

"And you were about to see how Sirius was doing, I take it?"

"Yes, why?" Remus was starting to feel a bit uneasy. Dumbledore rarely showed up without a reason. "Is anything wrong?"

"Do you want me to come to the point immediately?" Dumbledore answered with a question. Remus grabbed the back of one of his chair for support. "Sir?"

"Sirius, Harry and Hermione were attacked by Dementors, Sirius was captured and the Dementors were already being called to perform the Kiss on him, but he escaped with the help of Harry and Buckbeak, Hagrid´s hippogriff, and both the hippogriff and Sirius are now on the run," Dumbledore summarised the events of last night.

It was all a bit much to grasp in only a few seconds.

"What, what, what?" Remus gaped. "Sirius, what?" Dumbledore sat down on a chair.

"Sirius told me everything last night," he began. "Beginning with how he, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew became Animagi – " his blue eyes twinkled when he saw how Remus' knees gave way and he flopped down in a chair, completely devastated that his secret had come out after all.

"O God," he moaned softly. "I'm sorry… I – I had wanted to tell you, but…"

"Conveniently forgot about it?" Dumbledore suggested. "Well, the four of your taught me a lesson, especially you. From now on, I won't ever say that nobody can lie to me in my face again." 

Remus started to laugh with nervous relief. "O God," he said. "I feel so stupid. I really had meant to tell you, but, well, there was this stupid oath I had sworn..."

"Yes, Sirius also told me about that," Dumbledore nodded. "That you had sworn to keep everything secret, everlasting loyalty, and so on. Now, Remus, please pay attention, because what I'm going to tell you know is… quite complicated…"

He told everything that had happened last night, beginning at the point where Remus had transformed. He told Remus how Peter had escaped, what happened when Snape had woken up, the Dementors attacking and trying to suck Harry's soul out, but someone had driven them away.

"It was a Patronus." Remus was sure of it. "It can't have been anything else."

"Yes, but listen," Dumbledore said. "Now comes the really confusing part." He continued about the Timeturner, and Remus found himself picking up his jaw from the floor quite a few times.

"… and that's more or less how Sirius escaped," Dumbledore concluded. Remus was staring at him, his mind still catching up with the last parts of the story.

"So…" he said slowly, "Harry saved Buckbeak, and flew with him to Flitwick´s office, and freed Sirius?" 

"Exactly," Dumbledore nodded.

"And Sirius's on the run now? Again?"

"Again," the Headmaster sighed. "I know he is innocent, you know he is innocent, Harry knows it, thank Merlin – at least we know now who really is to blame – but I could not convince Cornelius Fudge. And Severus wasn't exactly a great help either…"

"Yes…" Remus muttered. A thought suddenly sprang into his mind, and not exactly a reassuring thought. "Professor? Uhm, what about me?"

"Hm?" Dumbledore had been thinking about something else, but now he turned to Remus. "What about you?"

"Well, does anybody – " Fudge, he thought, but he didn't say it " – think I helped Sirius? Am I a suspect now too?"

"Oh, no, thank heavens," Dumbledore smiled. "I managed to convince Fudge that you were actually helping Harry and his friends. Fighting off the evil convict Black, you know." He raised an eyebrow in an amused sort of way. "You even saved Severus' life, you realise that?"

"Whoopee," Remus muttered, then he laughed softly. "I'm sure that'll annoy him to no end. Speaking of Snape, how is he?"  

"Alive, safe, in any way unhurt, except for his ego – Cornelius promised him an Order of Merlin for catching Black, but Harry snatched that Order away from him. You can imagine that he isn't exactly happy about that…"

"No, I bet he isn't," Remus grinned.

"So you'd better go a bit easy on him, he won't be Mr sunshine this morning," Dumbledore advised, getting up. "I trust you are okay too?"

"Apart from being shaken, the usual transforming and the sudden news that Sirius is on the run, sought after but innocent again, I'm fine," Remus assured him. "At least now I know it wasn't him who betrayed James and Lily." He walked to the door and opened it. "Breakfast?"

Dumbledore, however, stayed were he was. "And the Wolfsbane?" he asked.

Remus closed the door again. "What about it?" 

"You didn't have it last night. Harry, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger were lucky that Sirius was there to keep you away from them."

Remus bit his lower lip. "True," he admitted. "I could have bitten them, so easily. I could bite all of the students…" He could feel the happiness he just felt disappear. He had been so concerned with Sirius that he had all but forgotten about the fact that Harry and his friends had been so dangerously close to a werewolf. He broke into a cold sweat when he saw that Dumbledore was contemplating something.

"You're – you're not going to fire me because of that, are you?" he asked nervously.

"Ah, Merlin knows I hate firing people," Dumbledore said, laughing softly, then turning serious again. "No, I won't fire you. Not now. But – " he raised one finger warningly. It gave Remus the feeling of being five again, but it was much too serious a situation to joke about.

"But this was the first and last time without Wolfsbane. I cannot have my students hurt, or even worse, killed, by a member of my staff, whoever it is. That whole ordeal with Hagrid gave a worse enough blow to my and this school's reputation. Now, you can stay, but I trust that not a word goes out to anyone but the very few people involved. If anyone else does hear about it, I have no choice but to fire you. Do you understand?"

Remus nodded.

"I will discuss this with Mr Potter and Weasley and Miss Granger after breakfast, once they're out of the hospital wing, and I will of course talk to Severus. You're too good a teacher to miss, Remus." Dumbledore smiled. "Now, about that breakfast – shall we?"

Remus had always found it a strange experience to walk into the Great Hall at breakfasts, and seeing all those students who didn't have a clue as to what kind of spectacular things had happened that night. It had been a strange feeling back when he was still a student himself, and a Marauder, but it had never felt stranger than this morning. He was sitting on his usual place at the Staff Table, looking at the students, and he had the feeling that he had just come from another universe, filled with traitorous rats and innocent convicts, a universe  all the other people in the school had no idea of.

Except for one person, of course.

Snape was staring chagrined as always at his cup of black coffee. He looked as though he had missed a night of sleep, and, Remus thought, he probably had. With Dumbledore´s advise in mind, he avoided Snape´s glances, and concentrated on his breakfast.

An angry Snape, however, is not so easy to avoid.

"Well, well, well, Lupin," he said, just under his breath. "You are looking particularly tired this morning. And what are you doing here? I was told that you were unable to teach this morning." With great reluctance, Remus had asked Snape to substitute for him again. 

He tried to ignore the Head of Slytherin House, but Snape wouldn't let go so easily. He had suffered a really painful blow that night, and someone was going to pay for it. That someone was Remus.

"Oh, but of course." Snape cocked his head, an innocent smile on his face. Something in his voice made Remus look up, and he could almost see the axe coming down.

"It must be pretty tiring, to be running around like a werewolf all night…" Snape said silkily, but loud enough for everybody to hear.

The Great Hall silenced in mere seconds. 

Later, Remus could only remember the eyes, staring at him, frightened and accusingly. A werewolf? some of the students mouthed.

Remus forced himself to smile, but didn't quite succeed at it. Clenching his hand into a fist, his nails digging into the palm of his hand, but resisting the urge to hit Snape, he got up slowly. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Instead, he nodded shortly to Dumbledore, who was looking at him with a concerned look on his face. Then, Remus walked, slowly and dignified, out of the Great Hall.

It seemed as though there were a few minutes cut out of his memory when he found himself in a deserted corridor, doubling over and gagging with despair. He couldn't remember climbing stairs or walking through corridors, he could only remember the accusing stares, Snape´s words, and Dumbledore, echoing in his head: I trust that not a word goes out to anyone but the very few people involved. If anyone else does hear about it, I have no choice but to fire you.

He kept gagging, tears rolling down his face, in a violent but natural reaction to his world falling apart. After a few minutes, he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to his feet, and Dumbledore´s voice: "not here, come." A strong hand on his arm, nearly cutting his circulation off, pushed him towards his own office.

"Professor Dumbledore," he said with clenched jaws, "I'm sorry, but I'm resigning from my post as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." He wanted to keep the honour to himself. He'd rather go away himself than being send away.

The Headmaster didn't say anything until they reached Remus office. He closed the door behind him, then turned towards Remus, a grave expression on his face.

"You know I´d want it otherwise," he said, "but you also know I have no choice." Remus cut him off with a harsh wave of his hand. He had regained composure over himself, and he was now feeling strangely… distant.

"I know," he said. "I'll start packing immediately. There is no reason to discuss this any further. I should've resigned this very morning – it was stupid to think that no one would find out."

Dumbledore looked as though he wasn't so sure, and he wanted to say something, but thought the better of it when he saw the look on Remus' face.

"Very well," he said. "It seems as though I have no choice but to accept your resignation. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Not at the moment," Remus replied, his back already turned towards Dumbledore as he was taking books off his shelve and piling them on the desk. He didn't see Dumbledore´s nod, but heard the door close behind him. Then he let out one, trembling sigh. Monster purred from somewhere, he couldn't see where.

"Yes," he told the invisible animal, and at the same time himself. "We're leaving. Time to go home again."

Around noon, Remus had nearly finished packing. The Grindylow was now swimming around in the Lake, and Remus had left his other creatures under the care of Hagrid. The only thing he had left to pack now where his clothes and the drawers of his desk. He had already stuffed Monster in the pocket of his cloak, and was about to leave in five minutes. The only things that were troubling him a little were the Marauders Map and the Invisibility Cloak – at least the Cloak had to go back to Harry, and maybe the Map too. On the other hand, it was also something Remus really wanted to keep himself…

Speaking of the Marauders Map; Remus bent over it, and saw that the dot labelled Harry Potter was moving towards him. Not really surprised, Remus smiled to himself. Sometimes, the solution to a problem really did present itself.

Harry knocked twice on the post of the door before entering, but he didn't need to warn Remus.

"I saw you coming," said Remus, smiling. He pointed to the Map.

"I just saw Hagrid," said Harry. "And he said you'd resigned. It's not true, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," Remus sighed. He started opening his desk drawers and taking out the contents, packing them in his suitcase.

"Why?" said Harry, almost accusingly. "The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"

Remus glanced at the door, which was ajar, and he closed it to prevent someone from listening.

"No," he said. "Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives." He sighed. "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 just because of that!" said Harry.

Remus smiled wryly. "This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents.... They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you.... That must never happen again."

"You're the best Defence Against the Dark Arts- teacher we've ever had!" pleaded Harry. "Don't go!"

Remus shook his head, but didn't say anything. He continued emptying his drawers, but had to confess to himself that Harry's pleading felt like a warm bath on a cold day. He looked at Harry: "From what the headmaster told me this morning," he said, "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... Tell me about your Patronus."

"How d'you know about that?" said Harry, amazed.

"What else could have driven the Dementors back?"

Harry smiled, and started telling what had happened, and how he had driven the Dementors away. Remus had heard the story of the Timeturner that morning from Dumbledore, but what Harry was now telling him gave it another, bizarre twist. But when Harry told Remus the shape of his Patronus, Remus couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed," he said. "You guessed right... that's why we called him Prongs."

He stuffed the last books into his briefcase, shut the drawers of his desk, and turned to Harry.

"Here – I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night," he said, giving Harry the Invisibility Cloak. "And..." He hesitated for a few moments as he held the Map in his hand. He was feeling a bit reluctant to give it away, but finally held it out to Harry. "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. "You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school..." he said. "You said they'd have thought it was funny."

"And so we would have," said Remus, smiling himself. He closed his suitcase with some difficulty. "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."

There was a knock on the door. Harry hastily stuffed the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak into his pocket.

It was, not to Remus' surprise, Dumbledore. He didn't seem surprised that Harry was there.

"Your carriage is at the gates, Remus," he said.

"Thank you, Headmaster." Remus picked up his suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank. Perhaps it could be of some use as an overlarge fishbowl…

"Well -- good-bye, Harry," he said, smiling. "It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we'll meet again sometime. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage...." He had no desire to make the always painful experience of saying goodbye longer.

"Good-bye, then, Remus," said Dumbledore soberly. Remus shifted the empty tank under one arm, so that he and Dumbledore could shake hands. Dumbledore´s hand was warm and comforting, and it seemed to give Remus just that last bit of strength he needed to nod and smile at Harry, and to walk out of his office.

It was a blazing hot Friday afternoon, and the corridors were deserted, much to Remus' relief. He didn't want to see anybody, he just wanted to leave as quick as possible.

It was strange to walk through the corridors, knowing that this was probably one of the last times he was looking at them.

He was just walking down the Marble Staircase, when he heard someone gasp "professor –!" behind him. He stopped and turned around, looking to where the voice had come from. There, on top of the stairs, were four Ravenclaw girls. For a few seconds, they were looking at Remus, who stared back. Then, one of them muttered; "c´mon, let's go," pulling the other's away, glancing fearfully at Remus. She had some trouble with getting Lara away, but she finally let go of the banister, allowing herself to be pulled away.

Remus felt a rush of anger, because he suddenly realised that Snape had destroyed more than just Remus' career as a teacher. A few hundred students now knew he was a werewolf, and chances were that by tomorrow, or at least when the summer holidays started, most of the parents knew too. But the anger ebbed away, and he slowly resigned to this as well. He turned around again, descending the last few steps, and walking out of the Entrance Hall.

A horseless carriage was waiting for him, and he got in, his suitcase and the tank on the bench opposite him. As soon as he shut the door, the carriage started moving towards the gates, towards Hogsmeade Station.

Remus looked out of the window, to the grounds and the castle, both of which he would probably not see in a long time. He looked carefully at each detail, trying to fix everything in his memory. But the carriage rattled on, and soon, Hogwarts disappeared out of sight…

The end.