DISCLAIMER: Nothing you will see in this text has been created by me except the plot. The characters, worlds, and words all belong to J. K. Rowling.

CHAPTER TWO

Message By Floo Powder

Harry allowed Lupin to lead him up the stairs and into a room Harry recognized as the one he had spent last summer in with Ron.

Lupin raised his wand. "Unpack!" Harry's clothes and belongings were strewn across the room, drawers opening and closing rapidly to hold his clothes. His sneakoscopes rested on the shelves, still spinning slightly on the flat surface.

Harry sat on the bed, watching Lupin finish up with his things. As an afterthought, he decided that it was a bit rude of him not to help, but he shrugged the thought off and waited to be told the things Lupin had promised to tell him.

Finally, Lupin turned to him, giving Harry a tired smile. "Well Harry -" he began, but was cut off by Tonks, who had just run up the stairs and poked her head into the room. In the background, Harry could hear the portrait of ..(he willed himself to ignore the lump in his throat) of Sirius's mum.

"Remus, Harry! Dumbledore has a message for you downstairs!" said Tonks.

"Thanks very much, Nymphadora," said Lupin kindly. He faced Harry again. "I guess I'll tell you what you need to know after we talk to Dumbledore."

Harry nodded and followed his old teacher downstairs, where he barely hid his disappointment. He had been expecting Dumbledore to be there in person, but he had only gone via Floo Powder, for his head was sitting in the fireplace, flames licking his long hair and beard. Harry took a moment to marvel how they did not catch fire ..but then, it was wizard fire.

Lupin had gotten down on his knees in front of the fireplace, and Harry heard him ask, "You dealt with them?" He didn't need to ask who "them" was.

"Yes," replied Dumbledore. "They are all at Hogwarts, where Ministry Aurors are guarding them and interrogating them."

"Is Fudge there?" asked Harry, lowering himself to Lupin's level and staring into the fire.

"Yes, Harry, he is," said Dumbledore.

Lupin smiled faintly. "Wonder how he's getting on with Lucius Malfoy -never crossed that mind of his, Fudge, that his most generous donator is back in with Voldemort."

"Are they going to Azkaban?" Harry asked, a dull pit in his stomach, fearing he already knew the answer.

Dumbledore sighed wearily. "I don't think so, Harry. The dementors are outside Ministry control now, anyone can escape."

"They're not staying at Hogwarts, are they?" inquired Lupin.

"That would be out of the question, Remus," replied Dumbledore. "So would keeping them at the Ministry, they could hear too many things."

Looking over, Harry realized Lupin had his face in his hands. "Nowhere is safe anymore now."

"Ah ..Fudge may not even arrest them," said Dumbledore, his words deepening the hollowness in Harry's stomach. "He could find them innocent, or pardon them."

"But -how could he find them innocent? Wouldn't he use Veritaserum and find out that they attacked .." Harry was going to say "me," but in case he was wrong, he felt it would be rather melodramatic to say it. He realized he'd forgotten all about the Dursleys. "And what happened to the Dursleys?"

Dumbledore held up one hand, halting Harry's stream of questions. "One thing at a time," he murmured. "He could possibly ask the wrong questions. I have not modified your relatives' memories, but they are sworn to secrecy. I thought it best they do not forget what happened, their information could prove valuable in the future. They are safe and well. I offered them Dreamless Potion, but, ah ..they seem to prefer as little contact with magical substances as possible."

Harry grinned in spite of himself, picturing Uncle Vernon's rage when he was asked to consume a magical potion.

" ..Well, I'd best be off, there are other matters that need my attention," Dumbledore was saying now.

"Off with you, Dumbledore," said a gruff voice behind Harry. With a start, he realized that Mad-Eye Moody and Tonks were listening as well. Now that he thought about it, Harry knew how foolish it was to expect other members of the Order not to listen to what Dumbledore had to say -especially since it concerned them all.

Dumbledore's head vanished with a slight pop, and Moody and Tonks went back to what they had been doing before he had given them the report.

"So what were you going to tell me?" Harry asked Lupin.

Lupin hesitated. Harry noticed that his hair had a bit more premature gray in it than last time. "First of all, have you thought any more about the prophecy?"

Harry shook his head stoutly. But he had not forgotten ..either must die at the hands of the other, for neither could live while the other survived ..

"But haven't we been surviving all this time, while the other was alive?" asked Harry abruptly. Lupin seemed to be deeply pondering his answer.

"Have you really been living, Harry?" he asked quietly.

Harry was taken aback by Lupin's response. "Er ..yes?"

"How many times were you happy in the past two years?" continued Remus in that soft voice Harry found unnerving.

His insides twisted uneasily. Whenever he was with Cho, but they had had a row and weren't talking much anymore ..

"I dunno," he said flatly.

"Yes you do," said Lupin, but discontinued the subject. "Well, you realize that the veil Sirius fell through was in the Room of Death?"

Harry nodded, brow furrowing.

"But he was alive when he fell through," said Lupin.

Harry's heart leapt -

"The Ministry is currently researching what happens when someone alive falls through," finished Lupin simply.

"Oh," said Harry. He had been so sure that Lupin was going to tell him that they had found a way to get Sirius out ..

"I just thought you would like to know." Lupin swallowed.

"Can you see thestrals?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Surprisingly, no. You would think, having been in the Order now and before ..but no."

"When was the last time you within eyesight of them?"

"Three years ago," replied Lupin.

Harry swallowed his disappointment. He had been hoping for a date more recent ..but he had to stop living in the past, he scolded himself. Let it go ..Sirius is gone.

The end of summer came around more quickly than Harry imagined, but he packed his bags with a light heart, knowing that he would soon see his friends and be back at his true home, Hogwarts. With a jolt, he realized that there was one other person packing a suitcase at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"Lupin?" Harry said incredulously. "Are you coming too?"

Lupin flashed him a quick smile. "Yes I am. I'm going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again."

"But I thought people wouldn't want you to teach their kids." Harry frowned.

"Now that the public has seen that Dumbledore was telling the truth about Voldemort's return, they trust him more, and he appealed to the Ministry to allow me to return."

"That's great!" exclaimed Harry. "Ron and Hermione will be thrilled."

Sure enough, Hermione squealed when she saw Harry and Lupin board the Hogwarts Express the next day, and Ron bellowed his congratulations and thumped Lupin on the back. The three of them seated themselves next to Lupin, knowing full well that Draco Malfoy, a boy they loathed and who hated them as well wouldn't be able to hex them with a teacher nearby.

When Malfoy passed, Harry and Ron waved in a very fake attempt to look friendly, flashing him their most winning smiles. Hermione was immersed in a book and ignored them. Malfoy shot them a look of utmost dislike, stalking past as loudly as he could. As soon as he passed, Ron and Harry laughed, and Hermione smiled at them briefly before returning to her book. Lupin was dozing, head leaned against the wall for support.

As they neared Hogwarts, Ron asked Hermione, "D'you think we should wake him up?"

"Let him sleep for a few more minutes," said Hermione, motioning toward Lupin. "He looks really tired."

Ron leaned back in his seat, disgruntled. Harry didn't blame him, he was bored as well.

Three minutes later, Ron shook Lupin awake without consulting Hermione. The professor awoke with a start.

"Wha .."

"We're almost there," explained Harry.

"Oh, thanks very much," said Lupin, shaking his head to clear whatever it was he'd been dreaming about and checked to make sure he had his suitcase.

Hermione had finished her book and was slipping it inside her trunk neatly. Ron and Harry were just finishing off the Chocolate Frogs they had ordered when the snack lady rolled the cart past their compartment.

It seemed like moments later, though it was minutes, when the Hogwarts Express rumbled to a stop. They all rose, sliding their compartment door open so they could join the flood of students now trickling off the train. The thestral-pulled carriages were waiting, and Harry felt a rush of mixed feelings for the skeletal horses. The year before, they had taken him and his friends to the Department of Mysteries. All of a sudden, Lupin grabbed Harry's arm.

"Harry -I don't see them," whispered Lupin. Confused, Harry looked up at the professor's face, which was pale.

"Professor Lupin, what don't you s-"

"The thestrals, Harry. I don't see the thestrals!"