30minutefics, October 6, 2003
The Challenge: The Dickensian Challenge!

Someone in the Potterverse is visited by the Ghosts of Halloween past, present, and future...and decides to do something to change their life by Halloween. Who, what they see, and what they do is completely up to you!

Title: Redemption Comes At Dawn
Rating: G
Pairings (if any): Hermione/Remus
Author's Notes: Whoops, 32 minutes. Bad leogryffin! It was done in 30, but had a couple of bad grammar edits that simply had to be made.


"No...noooo...God, it's not time...Noooooooo!" Remus Lupin jerked awake from the usual dream, knowing he must have been screaming again in his sleep. Every month it was the same thing; horrid visions of an accidental change coming as he walked down the halls of the castle, forcing him to maul the nearest student - usually Hermione Granger. He knew it could never happen, of course, but that didn't prevent the dreams from haunting him. Ever since the near-catastrophe of his adolescent incident with Severus Snape, he'd dreamed of harming someone unwittingly. Often, and certainly more as he grew older and wiser, he felt that the best solution was simply to let eternal slumber take him. Perhaps after this year was over...he'd put his affairs in order, and end it. Even though he'd been asked back this year to teach Defense, three full years after his hasty departure after Snape's vindictive outing of his abnormality, he'd never felt as if the staff and students accepted him. He was the last of his old Maurader friends to still be alive. It wasn't fair. He should die, too. The dreams and the fear finally would be no more. What a comforting thought...no one to miss him, and everyone's problems solved. He eyed the potion he always kept at hand on his nightstand, the one that could end it all. Such an easy way...

He rose from his bed and threw cold water on his face. There was really no use in trying to sleep for a while; he looked out at the sliver of a waxing Halloween moon rising above the Forbidden Forest, as the clock down the hall struck an ominous-sounding midnight. Just at that moment, a familiar face appeared in Remus's line of sight, startling him. "Hello, Sir Nicholas," Remus said after gaining his composure.

"I thought you might need some company, Professor Lupin," said the jovial Gryffindor House ghost.

"I suppose I could use some, at that, but how did you know?"

"You were dreaming of things past, present, and future again, weren't you? Tut, tut, Professor Lupin. Don't look so mystified. I know when someone is contemplating suicide. Remember, I am half in your world and half in the world of the dead. It is my business to know these things."

Suddenly, Remus found himself swept away, watching a young child being bitten by a werewolf. He saw parents desperately trying to shield him from the taunts and anger of a town that did not understand. Friendless and alone, he arrived at Hogwarts and finally found acceptance and love - a miracle of happiness in a circle of four that was shattered so abruptly. First the Potters' death, then the "murder" of Pettigrew at the hands of Black - in just a few days, everyone he cared about was gone. Alone again, he fled into the wilderness...never to again regain a measure of respect or dignity until he was hired by Albus Dumbledore. Then, as quickly as he had found acceptance in the half-truths of his public life, he had again been discovered and cast out - even as Miss Granger had spent a whole year protecting him, it had been no use. Certainly he'd had a part to play in the years that followed, like many other misfits in the world of Dumbledore, but he was no longer respectable. But in losing the last person he truly loved - Sirius Black - he found he'd had no reason to live. He'd accepted the teaching position again after Voldemort's defeat, but his heart was long dead. It had seemed only fitting that his body go with it. The decision, truth be told, had been made that night in the Department of Mysteries; it was only now that his spinelessness was being defeated by determination. End it. Be at peace and leave it behind. So easy...so simple...

Breaking the silence, the ghost whispered, "And yes, Professor Lupin. I'm standing in the way of your cowardice at contemplating such a fool's act. Dying is the last thing you need to do."

"What do you know about what I need?" Lupin snarled with sudden peevishness. "You don't have to live with my torment. You don't have to go around knowing that you'll never find happiness, never find love, never have a normal life."

"Oh?" Nick said. "I suppose you're right. I don't think I'll have any of those things - I'm not alive - but you don't see me moping about it. I can see it will take more convincing..." Nick disappeared, replaced abruptly by Moaning Myrtle. Lupin buried his head in his hands. "Not you..whiny brat...."

"Oh yes, me, you stupid git. You disgust me...you have everything I want, and yet you waste away feeling sorry for yourself. You have life! You have people who adore you! You can't be flushed in a fit of rage, you stinking prat!"

Lupin smiled weakly. "Show me *one* person who adores me, Myrtle. Other than you, of course."

She squealed loudly, and produced a floating and hazy picture of Harry Potter. "Well..." Lupin said dubiously. "I do care about the boy, but so do many others. I wouldn't be missed."

"Oh? Ungrateful twit. I'd do anything to have that boy love me the way he cares...well, neverbloodymind. Here's the one who can't do without you, you insane doltish idiot." Another hazy picture, this time of Hermione Granger.

Lupin rolled his eyes. "Myrtle, you're around the bend, girl. She's the brightest witch I've ever met, and entirely too young and clever to see me as anything other than 'Uncle Remus'".

"You think so, do you? I thought bats were blind, not wolves. I can see you need more convincing..." Myrtle disappeared, to be replaced by the rather severe countenance of the Bloody Baron. He said not a word, but beckoned Lupin to the balcony overlooking the forest. Sighing, Remus followed him and looked over the rails. A vision in white kneeled below, sobbing her heart out. A familiar older woman bent low, pushing her hair out of her face. Remus could just hear him whisper, "I know you loved him. We all did. I wish he had understood..."

"I never told him, Professor McGonagall. I never could explain...I knew he wouldn't understand, would push me away. But I never bloody well gave him the chance...how could he have done this to me?"

"Child, none of us ever explained it to him. The blame is equally spread..."

"No!" the girl violently started up. "I would have become hislover, his bloody wife if he'd asked, I would have given him anything. I don't know how I can live without him..."

"Don't talk like that, Hermione!" Professor McGonagall said, alarmed.

The scene faded into the dawn, as the Bloody Baron looked at Lupin once, nodding and disappearing. It was now the cusp of morning, and Lupin had much to ponder.

~*~*~
"A word, Miss Granger."

"Professor! I didn't see you..."

He put two fingers over her lips, brushing them softly, startling her into silence. "You've saved me, Hermione, and I owe you my life. I'll explain more in June, when you and I can both be free. Until then..." he walked briskly away, leaving her mouth agape. Six floors above, three ghosts watched silently, nodding to one another as they went their separate ways.