Chapter Four

"You need more of that potion?" Pomfrey gave Remus a considering look. "You don't look sick. What, precisely, is wrong with you? And why are you here, in any case, asking me for a potion?"

"I've been visiting with the Headmaster," Remus said, then smiled. "You used to like my company, as far as I can recall."

She gave him another look. "I do enjoy your company, but I don't understand why I'm wasting my time making healing potions for someone who isn't sick."

"You aren't," Remus said. "They're for someone else, that's all."

"You're having me make potions for someone I haven't even seen?" she asked, sounding irritated.

Remus wondered if running away was a viable option. "Well, it's only an anti-nausea potion," he said defensively. "It's not like it's big and complicated. It's working just fine, so don't worry about it."

"What if someone else is wrong?" Pomfrey asked, her hands on her hips. "Nausea is often a sign of a greater disease, you know. It's not wise to simply mask the symptoms and hope that they'll go away!"

Remus cleared his throat. "I don't think he has a disease. He's just been having trouble keeping food down, that's all."

"For two days? That's not a simple little problem." Pomfrey folded up her medical kit. "I shall simply have to see him."

"Uhm," Remus said, "that's really not possible . . ."

"Remus J. Lupin, don't you argue with me!" she said imperiously.

"Yes'm," Remus mumbled. "Just don't yell anymore."

"We'll see," she said direly. She followed Remus back to the Room of Requirement, at which point he opened the door and glanced in.

"Oh, good, they're both still asleep," he said under his breath, then let Madame Pomfrey in, sure that her yelps were going to wake them both very effectively. She blinked around the room, trying not to stare.

"Is that Sirius Black?" she hissed.

"In a manner of speaking," Remus replied.

"Unless it's someone taking Polyjuice potion, in which case you'd better tell me right now -- "

Remus cleared his throat. "No, it's Sirius. Rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated." He hoped against hope that she would believe that, because if she didn't, he was going to get the lecture of his life.

Pomfrey strode past him and over to Sirius.

"Don't wake him!" Remus hissed. "He's very skittish!"

"And why would that be?" Pomfrey snapped under her breath.

"He just is," Remus mumbled, hoping that wasn't as lame as it sounded to him. Harry sat up in bed, looking around with sleep in his eyes.

"He looks horrible," Pomfrey said, not yet noticing Harry. "Why don't you just tell me what's going on?"

"Well," Remus said, sitting down on the side of his bed, "he suffered some ill effects after . . . er . . . nearly getting killed and all that . . ."

"What?" Harry asked sleepily.

"Go back to sleep," Remus told him quickly.

Pomfrey turned around and gave Harry a steely look. "How did Sirius Black get here?" she asked, hoping that she would get an answer, given that he was still half-asleep. Unfortunately for her, this question only served to wake Harry up entirely.

"We, er, brought him here," he said pathetically.

Pomfrey turned and poked Remus in the chest with her wand. "You, young man, are hiding things," she snapped. "I want to know what's going on right now!" Jab.

"Ow," Remus said, catching her wand and stopping it mid-jab. "All right, all right, but you have to promise not to tell!" She just gave him a look, waiting impatiently. "He was sort of dead for a month," Remus said quickly.

"One is not 'sort of dead'," Pomfrey said. "One is either dead, or alive. Now which was it?"

"Dead," Remus clarified, swallowing hard.

"But now he's alive?" Pomfrey asked.

"Yes." Remus thought that short answers might be the best idea.

"I didn't know you could do that," Pomfrey said, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not sure you should do that."

"Yes, well, it's said and done, so can you just give me the anti-nausea potion? He can't eat without it," Remus said anxiously.

"No, no, no," Pomfrey said. "Now we're back to masking symptoms."

Remus sighed. "I bow to your good sense, Madame Pomfrey."

"Good thing, too," she said tartly. "Wake him up so I can have a look at him."

Remus sighed yet again. He sat on the edge of bed and put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Sirius? Wake up for a minute, all right?"

Sirius again jolted awake. He scrambled a little. "Don't do that!" he said quickly.

"Do you have a better way for me to wake you?" Remus asked, lifting his eyebrows.

"I was -- er -- " Sirius looked over at Harry, and shut his mouth so quickly that he nearly bit his tongue off. He wasn't about to say anything about his dream-conversations with James while Harry was in the room.

"Never mind," Remus said gently. "Madame Pomfrey wants to take a look at you."

"Aah," Sirius said, suddenly noticing that she was there, and that she looked fairly cranky.

Pomfrey poked and prodded at him for a few minutes, asking numerous questions, before glaring at the both of them. "You should have brought him to me first thing," she said, her glare only intensifying. "Didn't it occur to you that death might have unpleasant aftereffects? I can't even imagine how you pulled this off."

"Very carefully," Remus said weakly.

"Well, I'll make up a revifying potion for him," Pomfrey said. "But you still should have asked straight off. That'll help with the tiredness and the aches. Not sure if it'll help the nausea, so we'll have to wait and see."

"Thank you," Remus told her.

She glowered and left the room. "I'll be back later," she said over her shoulder.

"She can be kinda scary, can't she," Sirius said. "She hasn't gotten a chance to yell at me like that since we were in school. You know, when I accidentally exploded part of the hospital wing."

"Get some more sleep," Remus told him, not wanting Sirius to think too much about what Pomfrey had said and think to question how exactly they had resurrected him.

"I'm awake now," Sirius said, and jolted again as he suddenly realized that the entire wall above his bed had turned into a window. "Oh! I have a big window now!"

Remus smiled slightly as Sirius pressed his face against the window. "This room really is handy, isn't it," he reflected.

"How long do you think I'll have to stay in here?" Sirius asked, still pressed against the window.

"Well, at least until you're well enough to get out of bed," Remus said dryly. "Which, if Pomfrey gets her way, may be at least a week. Then I'll talk to Dumbledore about letting you out onto the grounds. Since it's summer, no one's here except staff . . . so as long as we can avoid Snape and Filch, we should be all right if you stay as Padfoot."

"Oh," Sirius said, starting to snarl. "Snivellus."

"You can borrow the Marauder's Map for the summer," Harry said, trying to get the subject off Snape. "That way you'll always be able to avoid them. I'm sure Dumbledore will let you out and about, Sirius." Especially given that keeping him cooped up inside was part of the reason he had died in the first place.

"He'd better not try to keep me cooped up in here," Sirius said, looking decidedly feral.

Remus was trying to think fast and come up with a way to deal with this sudden shift in mood.

"I've had quite enough of that," Sirius snapped, glaring at Harry and Remus as if he was challenging them to say something against it.

"I will talk to him," Remus said, in a slightly steely tone. "Until then, don't worry about it. You can't even walk three feet right now; you might as well devote your energy to healing."

"All right," Sirius said, settling a little.

Harry cleared his throat, trying to think of something to change the subject to, but he couldn't. He had seen Sirius' mood shifts before, but nothing quite like this. He was also surprised at how well Remus could control him, and remembered what Remus had said about things being different between them.

Sirius jumped slightly, having almost forgotten that Harry was there. "Oh," he said, now sounding vague again, "Harry."

"Yeah," Harry said, trying not to sound nervous.

Sirius thought about this for a minute. "So what else has happened while I've been gone?"

Harry started to tell him about how Dumbledore had come to their rescue, what had changed in the Ministry, and the grades he had gotten on his O. W. L.s. Sirius was quite amused by the story of Mad-Eye threatening Vernon, although he dearly wished he could have been there himself. During all this, Remus sat still and silent, gazing out the window.

Sirius gave him a nudge with his elbow. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Hm?" Remus asked. "Oh, nothing."

"You had that 'the world hates me' look on your face," Sirius told him. "I know that look. Don't think that just because I can't keep track of things, I've forgotten your looks."

Remus couldn't help but smile at that. "It's nothing," he said. "I was just thinking, that's all."

"It's never good with you, Moony," Sirius said, poking him in the ribs.

"I suppose not," Remus said absently.

Sirius looked between the two of them and wondered if he could push the issue. Remus bottling things up was never good, because he always got so horrifically mopey and depressed. However, he wasn't sure if Remus would be willing to say anything in front of Harry.

"Well, I think I'm going to go for a walk," Remus said, standing up abruptly. "Let you two have some time together. I'll be back soon."

Sirius looked suspicious, but he didn't have any time to question before Remus had pushed his way out of the room and the door had shut solidly behind him. He looked at Harry. "Well, that can't be good."

"He does tend to mope, doesn't he," Harry said thoughtfully. "He was doing it this morning, too . . . but sometimes I think that he's just like that."

"Sometimes," Sirius said, "but there's usually a cause. Often irrational."

Harry shrugged. "So . . . you two were really close, huh?" he asked, hoping he could bring the subject around gradually. He was insanely curious about it.

Sirius looked at him. "He told you, did he?"

Harry nodded. "Only because I wanted to go in to get you and he wouldn't let me . . . I don't think he would have told me otherwise."

"You wanted to what?" Sirius paused. "Wait, he what?! Explain this to me."

Harry blinked, having thought that Sirius had already known about this. "Uhm . . . you know, going beyond the veil to get you," he said somewhat nervously.

"That kills you," Sirius said, frowning. "I mean, I think it does. I'm pretty sure. I'm still a bit shaky on whether or not I was dead, but I'm getting the definite impression . . ."

"Well, it was only temporary," Harry said hastily.

Sirius twitched. "Details."

Harry cleared his throat. "Remus died temporarily, so he could go beyond the veil and pull you out. You don't remember that?"

Sirius shook his head. "I remember . . . Grimmauld Place . . . and then you," he finally said.

Harry started. "Then me?"

"I remember seeing you," Sirius said. "And then I think I remember passing out."

"Well, ah, Remus went in to get you," Harry said.

"I'm gonna kill him," Sirius stated.

Harry looked understandably alarmed at this statement. "What for?"

"'Cause he almost got himself killed!" Sirius said. "He could have died! I'm going to kill him."

"That would be counterproductive," Harry pointed out.

"How could he?" Sirius asked.

"We just . . . we missed you, Sirius," Harry said quietly.

"Oh," Sirius managed. "I . . . I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Harry said. "Just don't be mad at Remus. I mean . . . it was my stupid idea, he only did it so I wouldn't, that's all."

"I'm not mad at him," Sirius said. "I'm just . . . infuriated!"

"Uhm, all right then," Harry said, uncertain of what the difference was, but not wanting to set Sirius off again. He didn't think he could deal with Sirius being feral without Remus there to help. "But really, he meant the best. He and I, we just . . . we loved you too much to let go of you."

Sirius stammered for a few seconds. "I'm not sorry you did it," he finally said. "I'm just not sure I'm worth it."

"Of course you are!" Harry said fiercely, glaring at his godfather. "I barely even got a chance to know you! You had a horrible life, we couldn't just let it end like that! Not . . . not when it was all my fault . . . I had to find a way to fix it, don't you see?"

"How is it your fault?" Sirius asked indignantly. "Don't be an idiot."

"You wouldn't have had to come rescue me if I hadn't been such an idiot in the first place!" Harry protested.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm your godfather. It's my job. Did you forget who the real bad guy here is?"

Harry lowered his eyes, hoping that Sirius wouldn't notice he was on the edge of tears. "No . . . but I fell for his trap, and you were the one who died because of it."

"I'm not dead now," Sirius said.

"Because I had to save you," Harry said. "Because you got killed for me."

Sirius gave up on changing Harry's mind. He just pulled Harry into a hug and held him tightly.

"I missed you so much," Harry whispered, clinging to him. "Every time I got a letter from Ron or Hermione . . . I just couldn't help but think that I would never get one from you again. I was so stupid, Sirius . . . I messed up, I really messed up this time . . ."

"Relax," Sirius said, hugging him tighter. "I'm back. I'm alive, I'm here."

Harry sniffled. "I know," he said. "I just don't want you to go away again, that's all. You're the only family I have now."

"You have Remus, too. And the Weasleys seem awfully protective of you. Especially Molly." His voice hardened for a few seconds, but his hold on Harry was still gentle.

"But it's not the same," Harry said. "You're my godfather. You're always supposed to be here."

"Well, I intend to be," Sirius said.

"You're not allowed to ever get yourself killed again," Harry said shakily.

"Okay," Sirius said.

****

Remus wandered the castle aimlessly for a while, lost in thought. He could tell that somehow, something had gone wrong. The dreams he was having about the veil couldn't be healthy, and he suspected that Sirius was having them as well. His friend was still too disjointed to ask specific questions of, but Remus would have preferred to fix the problem sooner rather than later.

With this in mind, he headed for the lower levels of the castle and the person whom he possibly least wanted to see. He did not precisely blame Snape for Sirius' death -- but that didn't make him any happier with the Potionsmaster's behavior. Still, he was the only person who would be able to answer his questions. If it was the Draught of the Living Dead itself that was causing the dreams, Snape would know.

He knocked on the door and poked his head in, seeing Snape at his desk poring over a large textbook in which the pages were crumbling. "Severus?" he asked, bound and determined to be polite.

Snape glanced up, then went back to his book. "What do you want, Lupin?" he asked in a flat tone of voice.

Remus noted that Snape seemed even less pleased to see him than usual, and wondered if someone had lectured him on ending Harry's Occlumency lessons. He hoped so. "I had a question for you," he said.

"Really." Snape's voice dripped sarcasm. "And here I thought this was a social visit."

"Can we just drop the not-very-veiled snipes and have a civil conversation for five minutes?" Remus snapped. He wasn't in the mood to get in a contest of wills with Snape. He'd had a very long week, preceded by an impossibly long month.

"If we must," Snape said with a bitter smile.

"Besides, I need your expertise," Remus said, trying to go back to his tactic of being polite. "Consider it flattering, if you want."

The bitter smile didn't fade. "What did you need?"

Remus, knowing that there was no delicate way to phrase his question that wouldn't arouse some sort of suspicion, decided to plow right in. "What, precisely, are the aftereffects of the Draught of the Living Dead?"

Snape's eyes narrowed, and Remus knew that he was caught. He had specifically asked the courier in Knockturn Alley to have the potion made by Snape, because despite his dislike for his former classmate, he knew that Snape was the most skilled Potionsmaster in England. Remus had no doubt that Snape didn't make it often, and that he was going to put the pieces together fairly quickly. "The Draught itself has no aftereffects besides temporary exhaustion," Snape finally answered.

Remus paused. "I don't really like the way you phrased that."

"You weren't supposed to," Snape informed him sharply. "Side effects have a large tendency to depend on why one is taking the potion."

"You obviously know what I'm asking, so why don't you just tell me?" Remus asked with a sigh.

"Because I like making you squirm," Snape said, then rolled his eyes and pronounced, "Trust a Gryffindor to use something as dangerous as the Draught without checking into its side effects."

"You don't know that I used it," Remus said automatically.

Snape sneered at Remus' admittedly lame denial. "So why don't you give me a little background so I know how to answer your question."

Remus closed his eyes momentarily and looked like he was in pain, which he was. He felt a massive headache coming on. "If someone were to take the Draught of the Living Dead and go beyond the veil for the prescribed time, what would the aftereffects be?"

Snape looked slightly put out that Remus had phrased his question so specifically that he could no longer taunt him about it. "Once you've been beyond they veil, it never lets you go," he said succinctly. "You've died in a rather total sense of the word at that point, and you belong there, even if your death was supposed to be temporary."

There was a pause. Remus felt his stomach slowly sinking into his shoes, although Snape's answer did not surprise him in the slightest. That was really the only thing the dreams could have meant. "That's rather what I thought. I assume the more time beyond the veil, the more extensive the damage?"

"It's not damage per se," Snape said, still sneering. "But yes, the pull is stronger."

"I see. I don't suppose there's any way to fix that?" Remus asked. He tried to sound detached, as if he were writing a paper on the subject and wanted an expert opinion, not as if he had dragged his boyfriend back from beyond the grave.

"No," Snape said, making an effort to be civil, as Remus had requested. "It's usually impossible to fix something that isn't technically wrong."

Remus opened his mouth to reply automatically that it was wrong, that he and Sirius shouldn't be pulled slowly towards the veil like this, but he knew that Snape was right. He had seriously violated the laws that governed their universe with what he had done. He should have expected that there would be consequences, but he had been so wrapped up in the concept of having Sirius back that he had never stopped to consider.

Snape was right; he was a fool. He had acted without thinking, and now both he and Sirius were going to have to pay for it. "All right," he said softly. He thought for a few more seconds and came up with nothing else to say. "Yes, all right," he repeated, and turned to go. "Thank you for the information."

Snape's sharp voice stopped him. "What are you hiding, Lupin?"

"Me? Hiding?" Remus asked dryly, wondering if he could weasel out of this. "Whatever makes you think I'm hiding something?"

"You didn't let Potter take any of it, did you?" Snape asked, giving Remus a look clearly suggesting that he hoped not, because he might just have to kill Lupin if he was that stupid.

"No, for crying out loud," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not that much of an idiot."

"Good." Snape paused, then said mildly, "You may want to watch out for somnambulism."

Remus frowned. "How so? And why are you assuming that I took any of the damned potion anyway?"

"Why else would you be asking about it?" Snape asked, giving Remus a look.

Remus hesitated. "I might know someone else who's taken it." There was a pause while he considered exactly how pathetic that response had been. "All right, forget it, never mind. I know damn well that you're the one who made the potion anyway, and you know damn well that I took it. What's that about somnabulism?"

"It is possible for you soul to try to take you back while you are asleep and it has far more direct control over your body," Snape told him, in a tone that wasn't comforting in the slightest.

Remus examined this rather chilling propsect and shivered. "Like astral projection, almost. I'm going to start trying to kill myself in my sleep?" Would he? And perhaps more importantly, would Sirius? The veil would be much more anxious to reclaim him; he belonged there far more than Remus did.

"Perhaps not," Snape said with a shrug. "You were only there for an hour."

"Actually, I was there for fifty-two minutes." Remus suddenly remembered that he was irritated about this and glared at Snape. "I think I should get refunded for those last eight. I could have used them."

"Only fifty-two? Interesting." Remus was surprised to see that Snape did indeed look quite interested. "Are you sure of that?"

"Yes. I had Harry time it, so if it was more than an hour, he would know to panic."

"I just knew he was part of this misadventure," Snape said, looking annoyed.

Remus sighed. "You can just ask if you want. I can tell that you want to know."

"Please, impart the details upon me," Snape said, somehow managing to sound interested and irritated at the same time.

Remus figured that he had a better chance of getting Snape off his back if he told him a likely story, and thus decided to tell a believable lie. Although he hated showing his vulnerability to Snape, he was out of other options. "I just . . . I needed a chance to say goodbye." His voice softened slightly. "It all happened so quickly . . . so I took the potion and went beyond the veil to speak to him. I could have used those last eight minutes, you know."

"It would have been a full hour if it had been taken by a human," Snape said, although he looked surprisingly nonjudgmental about what Remus had said.

"Really?" Remus asked, taken aback.

"Yes, really," Snape said irritably. "I wouldn't even think of selling an improperly made potion. I do have my professional pride, you know."

Remus blinked. "Interesting," he said, then let out a small sigh. "In any case, are there any anti-sleepwalking potions that you might be able to give me? Or sell me, I suppose?"

"Yes," Snape said, "but it will take me a few days to make one, because I'll have to change the appropriate one to account for your condition and faster metabolism."

Remus cleared his throat. In truth, he didn't want the potion for himself; he doubted that he was going to really need it. It was Sirius that he was worried about; the pull to the veil could explain a lot of his strange behavior. But how to tell Snape that without giving himself away? "Ah . . . a generic one would really do fine."

Snape gave him a cold look. "I'm not going to charge you any more to make it for you properly," he said, sounding quite insulted that Remus wanted him to cut corners. His eyes swept over Remus' shabby robes, and his lip curled in a slight sneer.

Remus was glad that he hadn't immediately picked up on the real reason, but was a bit affronted at the obvious reference to his poverty. He ran both his hands through his hair, trying to think up a decent excuse. Snape waited almost patiently. Although he didn't like Remus, he did understand how hard Sirius' death must have hit him. Seeing his near-sympathetic look, Remus got annoyed and spoke without thinking. "It's not only for me, so it would be easier to just whip up one batch, all right?"

"I thought you said Potter didn't take any," Snape said, frowning. "Besides, if you split the potion, you would have had a much shorter time than fifty-two minutes."

"Can you just give me a generic batch and not ask me so many questions?" Remus asked, hoping he could dig himself out of the whole he was slowly burying himself in. It wasn't precisely that he didn't trust Snape, it was just that it was far simpler to keep the secret from everyone in entirety, rather than only people he didn't trust.

"Lupin, I'm not even sure it will work on you if it isn't modified," Snape said impatiently. "If it's not for you, then who is it for?"

"Do you actually need to know that or are you just being difficult?" Remus snapped.

"A bit of both," Snape replied. "I am being difficult, but it will be far more effective if I can tailor it to the person in question."

Remus searched for a reasonable answer, thinking that Sirius would probably need it to be damned effective, if his condition was going to start getting worse the longer he was away from the veil. "But it will still work if it's generic?"

"Who is it?" Snape asked in full-blown annoyance. "If you didn't give any to Potter, then what fool did you . . ." His voice trailed off as it dawned on him that Remus couldn't have shared it out and still had fifty-two minutes. There had to be somebody else, and that only left one person. "You brought him back," he stated, sounding as close to shock as he ever did.

Remus pushed his hands through his hair again, caught. "Er . . ."

Snape shook his head. "Stupid, Lupin. Very brave, but stupid. And I will admit to a bit of wonderment."

"And here I thought you'd be ragingly angry," Remus remarked. That, or he thought that Snape would have laughed at him; he wasn't sure which he would have expected more.

"I hate him, but he didn't deserve what happened to him," Snape said, his tone harsh.

Remus sighed. "In any case -- I'm not so much worried about myself. I can survive this -- I wasn't even there an hour. But Sirius . . . his nightmares . . ." He shook his head slightly.

"I can come up with something to keep him from disposing of himself in his sleep, but I am surprised he's even sane," Snape remarked, automatically assuming that Sirius was. Remus just laughed bitterly, and didn't reply, which caused Snape to raise his eyebrow. "He is sane, isn't he? Because otherwise, you might just do him the favor and let him go."

Remus wondered at Snape's definition of sane. Sirius didn't want to die again, nor was he a babbling, drooling idiot. But sane? Remus didn't think he'd go that far. "He's . . . himself," he finally settled for saying. "He's conscious, sometimes even coherent . . . but he's not sane. Sirius was never sane."

"Imagine my shock," Snape said dryly, although he'd had slightly more sympathy for Sirius after meeting his mother's portrait. Not that he ever would have admitted this, even under pain of death.

"I'm not going to just let him go," Remus said fiercely. "But . . . I'm beginning to think that I was monumentally stupid," he added, although he had no idea why he was admitting this to Snape of all people.

Snape sighed, not really knowing why he felt the need to help Remus, thinking that it was perhaps because he himself was partly to blame. "Is he angry with you? Did you drag him back against his will?"

"No . . . he came of his own will. It's just that he's very unstable . . . having a lot of trouble keeping track of time and place. And now I find out that he's constantly going to be pulled towards the veil . . . and so am I. You're right; I was an idiot. I didn't look into this properly . . . I just went off and did it."

Snape shrugged. "You were, but only with your own life. If he came of his own free will, then I'm willing to bet he would have been fool enough to take you up on your offer regardless of the consequences."

Remus laughed softly, because that did indeed sound like Sirius. "I should have left him."

"Well, unless you're willing to send him back yourself or let him take care of the problem in his sleep, we'll just have to work with it, won't we," Snape said, not sounding altogether pleased with this theory.

Remus sighed and shook his head. "I can't let him go. That probably makes me terribly weak and selfish, but . . . you''re right. we'll have to work with what we have."

"I will have something for the two of you by the end of the week," Snape told him, choosing to avoid the topic of how close Sirius and Remus were. "Until then, keep your eye on him. You will most likely be safe, but I won't say the same for him."

"Thank you," Remus said, and he didn't even sound grudging.

"You're welcome," Snape replied, sounding only a little grudging.

"I'm surprised Dumbledore didn't say anything about the danger, though," Remus said thoughtfully, again wondering if Dumbledore had put himself and Harry together in the hopes that they would do this.

"Would it have stopped you? Or that idiot boy, Potter?"

"Probably not . . ." Remus admitted sheepishly. "But I might have tried to be better prepared."

"Then he might have been trying to leave you without guilt for as long as possible," Snape pointed out. "I hardly know how that man thinks."

"True, good point." Remus sighed. "I suppose I've left Sirius long enough . . ."

"Where do I find you? Should it become necessary."

"We're in the Room of Requirement. I suppose it's unnecessary to tell you that this is remaining the utmost secret? Not even the Order is being told."

Snape nodded. "Who knows besides Potter?"

"So far, just Dumbledore," Remus said. "And Madame Pomfrey, who's been helping me take care of him. Dumbledore gave Harry permission to tell Ron and Hermione."

Snape rolled his eyes at this comment. "Of course. I will keep your deranged little secret, Lupin."

Remus smiled wanly. "In all honesty, I never actually expected it to work, you know."

"Whyever not?" Snape asked, his tone very dry. "Black would follow you to the ends of the earth. I would have had to live my entire life in a cave, blindfolded, with cotton in my ears, to have not noticed that."

"Somehow, the ends of the earth and through that archway are two very different things," Remus said with a slight shudder. "I really do need to be getting back."

Snape gave him a long look, then nodded. "I'll let you know when the potions are ready."

"Thanks."

****