What Remus actually did was spend a short and restless night dozing intermittently on the sofa and developing new appreciation for the worn mattress on his bed. When the morning sun had at least arguably made an appearance, he gave up and wandered into the kitchen wondering what he had available for breakfast. He usually contented himself with some cereal, but that didn't seem like much to offer a guest.

"You're up early today, lad," Uncle Bertie observed.

"Sofa," he explained wearily. "Any ideas for breakfast? Dumbledore sent me a house guest."

"He what?"

"Sent me a house guest," he repeated, surveying the pantry gloomily and noting that, as he had feared, he was out of eggs. It looked like it would have to be cereal until he could get out to the shops. "I haven't done any of the other bedrooms, so I had to put her in mine."

His uncle frowned. "You don't need to let him take advantage of you, boy, it's not like you're working for him."

"I know," he agreed, wishing he were still teaching at Hogwarts. "But Dumbledore is not the easiest person in the world to say 'no' to," he added wryly. "Miss Celarevos seems to have found it just as difficult as I did."

It took a moment for the significance of this statement to register. When it did, Uncle Bertie sat up sharply, "She had the gall to – " he broke off, outraged. "Nice manners, I must say!"

"There's nothing wrong with her manners," Remus admitted fairly. "I, well," he hesitated, "you know what they say about eavesdroppers," he confessed guiltily. "Please don't say anything to let her know I was – well – "

"Not to worry, lad," his uncle assured him gruffly. "I may not always have been a credit to the family when I was alive, but I won't let you down."

"Thanks," Remus sighed. "I think I'll be letting the family down quite enough without any help. I'm certainly not going to make Lupin hospitality famous with ancient mattresses, rotten plumbing, and only cereal for breakfast."

Even Uncle Bertie couldn't think of too much to say to this. Finally, he told his nephew rather gruffly, "No sense worrying about things you can't change. Your time's better spend changing what you can. Like that robe, for instance. Looks like you slept in it."

"Wonder why?"

His uncle grinned. "If you don't want to sneak into your room, you could try the laundry," he advised.

*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*

Remus did feel better when he had bathed and changed into clean robes, enough to set the kitchen table as festively as he could manage, retrieving the linens he never bothered with himself and using his parents' everyday china rather than his own. His mother had picked out a pretty floral pattern that was much more cheerful than his own plain stoneware.

He heard water running as he started making the coffee, which let him know that his unexpected visitor was awake. She seemed to be fairly efficient in getting ready, as it was not many minutes later that she came into the kitchen.

When she did, Remus saw instantly that she was looking very much better than she had the previous night. She was wearing fresh robes of blue-gray very close to the color of her eyes, but Remus thought that more of the improvement was due to the absence of pain and exhaustion.

"Good morning," she greeted him cheerfully.

"Good morning," he responded, smiling back at her. "Did you sleep well?" he asked. "Coffee?" he added, raising the coffee pot in inquiry.

"No coffee, and yes, thank you, I slept very well."

"I'm afraid that there's only cereal for breakfast," Remus told her apologetically.

"That sounds lovely," she answered. She caught sight of Uncle Bertie, who had smoothed his hair when he first caught sight of her and was now unconsciously straightening his robes. "Good morning."

"Miss Celarevos, this is one of my uncles, Albert Lupin."

"How do you do?" she responded politely, but with what appeared to Remus to be a genuine smile. Of course, he reminded himself, he really didn't know her very well.

"Just call me Uncle Bertie," the portrait told her gruffly. Remus could tell immediately that his uncle liked her. "Everyone does."

"I'd be pleased to, Uncle Bertie. I can't honestly say that everyone calls me Cassie, but I do hope you will," she told him disarmingly. Watching her, Remus got a queer feeling in the pit of his stomach. He told himself he was probably just hungry.

"Shall we sit down?" he interjected.

Much to his relief, Cassie ate her cereal with every appearance of satisfaction, and Remus discovered to his amazement that he was actually enjoying the meal. He found himself relaxing, and speaking more naturally with her than he normally did. Unfortunately, having let his guard down, he told her the truth when she asked him what he had planned for the day.

"Grocery shopping, and then cleaning out one of the guest rooms," he told her unthinkingly.

Cassie looked at him sharply. "You gave me your room last night," she accused with unexpected insight.

"Well, I, uh – " He thought frantically and tried again. "Just because I mentioned cleaning a guest room is no reason to assume – " he trailed off. There was something about the way she was looking at him that made it impossible to lie to her. "Well, yes," he admitted. "I'm afraid I wasn't quite as prepared for company as I should have been."

"Where did you sleep?"

"The sofa in the family parlor. It's quite comfortable," he lied manfully, because she was looking so distressed.

"I'm so sorry, Remus, I had no idea I was putting you out like that," she said contritely. "I would have been perfectly happy on the sofa."

"You were much more tired than I was," Remus pointed out.

"One more reason you should have given me the sofa," she retorted. "I would have slept just as happily on the floor, even without the aid of a potion." Her indignation on his behalf touched him.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "I should be able to get another bedroom finished before tonight." He rose to clear the table. Cassie started to rise to assist him, but he waved her back to her seat. "No, no, I'll take care of it," he assured her, not noticing the subtle change in her expression.

"Thank you," she said. "And what do you have in mind for me to do today?"

"I thought you might find something interesting to read in the study," he offered as he quickly charmed the dishes clean, aware that this probably didn't sound very entertaining for a guest. "There's a fairly wide selection of reading material, and I've already finished that room so I won't have to disturb you there."

"I see," her voice was noticeably cooler now. "So your idea is that I should sit in state somewhere with a book while you're cleaning a room for me?"

Remus had a vague feeling that he had made a slight misstep, but he was busy sending the clean dishes back into the cupboard. "I'm sorry it won't be very entertaining," he apologized.

"Perhaps you could leave me a little bell?" Cassie suggested with deceptive sweetness. "I could ring it whenever I wanted to summon you, presumably bearing a pot of tea." Remus finally started to realize that she was definitely annoyed, although he wasn't quite sure why.

"Well, I, uh – "

"I don't drink tea," she informed him, obviously irritated. Remus stared at her helplessly, utterly at a loss.

Uncle Bertie guffawed loudly. "Gel's not useless, boy," he pointed out, still chuckling. "Doesn't need a lot of talent to manage a little housekeeping, y'know."

"I can actually manage to clean my own room," Cassie told him acerbically. Remus had the illogical thought that she looked adorably like an angry little kitten which had had its fur ruffled.

"Of course you can," he assured her blandly, sternly repressing the bubble of laughter rising within him. "I'm so sorry I didn't think to provide you with a list of chores the instant you walked in the door! I do hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me," he finished humorously.

Cassie laughed, her earlier irritation evidently forgotten. "All right, I deserved that," she admitted, still smiling at him. "Pax?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Pax," he confirmed, smiling back at her. He hesitated, her hand still clasped in his. "Are you really sure you want to spend the day doing housework?"

"Why not?" she replied cheerfully. "Other people's housework never seems like a chore," she pointed out. "And I definitely do not want to be – " she stopped suddenly, her face falling. "Unless you were afraid I would be in your way?" she asked apologetically. "I didn't mean to – "

"You won't be in my way," he assured her. "I'd invite you to come to the market with me if Dumbledore hadn't told me to keep you hidden," he added truthfully.

"Well, if you point me in the right direction, I can at least get started here."

"Just pick any empty bedroom you like," he told her. "The shopping may take a while – I haven't even put together a list yet – but I'll join you as soon as I can."

Cassie smiled at Uncle Bertie and left the kitchen, leaving Remus looking after her with a bemused smile on his face. Uncle Bertie watched his nephew, plainly diverted.

"Are you planning to start on that shopping list any time soon?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, of course." Remus turned hurriedly to gather a quill and parchment. "Any suggestions," he asked.

"Not really," Bertie told him, watching Remus rather more carefully than usual. "Cassie doesn't seem to be the type to fuss about meals," he told him. "But you might want to let her help with the dishes once in a while," he suggested dryly.

"Help with the – " Remus looked startled, but then smiled. "I see your point."

*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*

Remus kept his grocery shopping simple and swift, sticking to basics as much as possible. Since he didn't have any idea what she might like, he had no other way to decide what to include anyway. When he got the pantry at home stocked to a more respectable level, he hurried upstairs to see how Cassie was doing. He found her in the room across from his, happily levitating the bed while she charmed the floor underneath clean.

"I'm back," he told her. He immediately felt that it was a silly thing to say, but she turned and smiled at him and that awkward feeling vanished.

"I stuck to straight cleaning since I didn't know how you felt about things like furniture finishes," she explained, gesturing to the rather battered bureau with her eyes while she used her wand to lower the bed neatly back into place.

"That's fine," he answered. "Shall we tackle the curtains next?"

Remus was surprised at how quickly the time passed. Cassie was deft and competent in her housecleaning, but it was her manner that made the real difference. She was perfectly matter-of-fact about the accumulated chores, treating them as a joint project of which Remus was the team leader. She did not ask questions which would have embarrassed him, nor did she offer him pity or money, either of which would have mortified his sensitive pride. Instead, she simply proceeded with the work at hand with every appearance of satisfaction, chatting lightly with him as chores permitted.

Remus quickly realized that their conversational topics were necessarily limited. They could not discuss her work or anything related to why she was there or what she was doing for the Order. Since her background might provide some insight into these areas, that topic was off-limits as well, as were politics and areas of study. Discussion of fiction seemed fairly innocuous, and fortunately their tastes were well enough aligned to give them a reasonable range of material.

When Remus called a halt for the day, they had accomplished much more than he expected. After a simple dinner, he was wondering what he could suggest in the way of a more entertaining activity for the evening when Cassie inquired about the possibility of playing a game. It was such an obvious idea that he was almost embarrassed not to have thought of it before. They spent the rest of the evening playing Exploding Snap and chatting inconsequentially until it was time to retire for the night.

This quickly set the pattern for the days that followed. After a simple breakfast, Cassie would join Remus in any chores he had planned inside the house. If he needed to go out, she would work on something inside the house or occupy herself with a book. They usually continued, with a short break for lunch, until it was time for the evening meal, and afterwards they would retire to the study. There, they would play the games Remus dug out of storage, although one evening they read instead.

In spite of the careful parameters that had to be placed around their discussions, Remus did learn some things about Cassie. She seemed to enjoy simple games, like Exploding Snap, that allowed for conversation, serving mainly as pleasant ways to pass time. Yet in an apparent contradiction, she was surprisingly adept at sophisticated strategy games, particularly those with multiple variables, such as Tournament, which was played with a variety of pieces representing assorted monsters and other magical creatures, each of which had its own complex rules of movement and play.

Oddly, wizard chess – generally considered to be in this category – seemed to be an exception. Remus had the feeling that Cassie did not take the game seriously. She directed her pieces about the board with more interest in watching them attack each other than in making a real effort to capture his king, and he mentally filed this piece of information away to be considered later.

Her taste in literature showed a similar dichotomy. She enjoyed simple, humorous writing – as long as it did not descend into vulgarity – but she also shared his taste for more intricate, multi-layered works of fiction. In their discussions, she tended to focus on the ethical behavior of the characters and the significance of their choices and actions. He derived great pleasure from their conversations about some of his favorite stories, and tried not to think about how much he missed the chance to spend time simply exploring a piece of literature with an intellectual peer.

Cassie had been there almost a week when Severus Snape arrived unexpectedly. He rang the bell while they were doing the breakfast dishes – well, sort of doing the breakfast dishes. It had started when Remus had accidentally shut one of the cupboard doors, not realizing that Cassie was sailing another cup onto a shelf behind it. She swerved the cup away at the last minute to avoid a collision and glared at him, but her eyes were smiling.

"So sorry," he told her, waving the cupboard door open again. She cast him a deeply suspicious look, and started the cup flying sedately back toward the cupboard. Just before it reached the shelf, the cup put on a sudden spurt of speed and Remus, unable to resist, slammed the door shut again.

When the doorbell rang a few minutes later, they were still in the midst of the new game, both of them laughing as Cassie would try to sail the cup into the cupboard, with Remus teasingly holding the door open and then slamming it shut at the last possible moment.

"Were you expecting anyone?" Cassie asked him, halting the cup in mid-air.

"No. I'll go see who it is." Remus went to the front door, knowing Cassie was swiftly tidying the kitchen. When he opened it, Severus Snape was standing on the front porch, looking very sour.

"Good morning, Severus," Remus greeting him politely, concealing his surprise. "Would you like to come in?"

"Thank you," the greasy-haired Potions Master accepted rather unwillingly, stepping into the hall with the air of someone doing something quite distasteful. Remus again had cause to regret the way the Marauders had treated him, but there was nothing he could do about it now and nothing he could say without making it worse. Remus repressed a sigh and closed the door.

"I am here to see Miss Celarevos," Snape informed him once the door was safely closed. Remus had almost forgotten that Dumbledore had mentioned that he might inform Severus that Cassie was here.

"She's in the kitchen," he replied calmly. "Would you like to have a seat in the drawing room or come with me while I go to fetch her?"

"The kitchen will do." There was an unpleasant sneer in Snape's voice. Remus did not reply, but merely led the way through.

"Cassie," he called before pushing the door open. "It's me. Severus Snape is here to see you." When he entered the kitchen, Cassie was walking forward to greet the visitor. The kitchen was perfectly in order.

"How do you do? I'm Cassandra Celarevos," she said, offering her hand. Snape took it reluctantly.

"Severus Snape," he replied. "We need to speak privately," he informed her, not troubling himself to hide his impatience. Remus was relieved to see that Cassie accepted this with composure, apparently not offended.

"Remus?" she asked, turning to him.

"Use any room you like on the ground floor," he answered. "I'll be upstairs getting a start on the attic. Severus." Remus allowed the simple use of the Potions Master's first name to serve as whatever sort of farewell he would accept and headed up the stairs.

It was a good hour before Cassie joined him in the attic.

"Has Severus gone?" he asked.

"Yes," she said non-committally.

"It's all right," he assured her. "I'm not going to ask about it."

"Thanks," she replied, with a grateful smile. There was a pause, and she seemed to be thinking.

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"I think I can say this much," she told him slowly. "I don't know how the scheduling is going to work out. If it turns out that I have to leave here on very short notice, I may not have time to say this later. I really appreciate your kindness in putting me up, and I want you to know how much I've enjoyed my stay."

"I've enjoyed having you here, and you're very welcome," he replied simply. Then they started to work on the attic.

On the afternoon of the second day after Snape's visit, he returned from a trip to the market to find that she was gone.

*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*

Harry still winced a little mentally every time he caught sight of the Headmaster. He couldn't figure out how to make amends for what he had done, or even apologize for his behavior. There wasn't anyone he could ask either, as he would have had to explain. He couldn't bring himself to tell anyone – even Ron – that he had mentally attacked a total stranger in Dumbledore's office.

Harry wished again that Sirius was still alive. He thought that perhaps he could have confessed to his godfather and asked for his help, but Sirius was dead, and his fantasies of somehow undoing what had happened were not helping him fix his present problem.

He considered writing to Remus, but he couldn't think of anything more to say. He didn't think that his former teacher was interested in discussing the incident any further; Remus' reaction at the time had spoken volumes more than the few words he had voiced later. Besides, Harry could hardly ask Remus how to fix the damage he, Harry, had done to their relationship or Remus' opinion of him. He had a feeling it would sound like a childish plea to be excused from the consequences of his own actions.

The result was, oddly enough, that he threw himself into his studies. Harry continued to train at Quidditch, but his success on the Quidditch field would hardly represent a new commitment on Harry's part, and considering how much he enjoyed it the game could hardly qualify as penance. Somehow, doing really well in his classes seemed like a way he could show Remus and the Headmaster how sorry he was for his behavior, demonstrating that he had learned from his mistake. Maybe he could make them proud of him again.

So Harry became almost as determined to master their course work as Hermione. Ron studied rather more than he would have without Harry's newfound studiousness, but his duties as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team gave him something else to do instead while Harry and Hermione were studying. Even when Ron joined them in the library, he was just as likely to pour over "Quidditch Through the Ages" or outline strategies for their next match as he was to read a textbook or finish a homework assignment.

Harry was finally starting to make some progress in Occlumency, albeit rather slowly. He hadn't had any further visions since the one he had the afternoon of the last Quidditch match, but he wasn't sure he should take any comfort in that. Voldemort could simply be some distance from him or pre-occupied with other things – such as his plan to take over the wizarding world.

The Ministry's direction to the wizarding community regarding home defense had produced a mixed reaction. Some people found great consolation in stringently following the recommendations of the Ministry, as though their obedience to the new directives would magically guarantee their safety. There were some who ignored the directives, whether because they were unwilling to accept that they could be affected by Voldemort's return or because they simply refused to believe that it had actually happened.

Then there were those who made their own defensive preparations which were not necessarily consistent with those proposed by the Ministry. As a number of wizards and witches in this category used Obtrusion Charms on their houses, this caused a great disruption in the normal system of deliveries by owl post. Finally, the Ministry was forced to implement a new licensing requirement on the use of Obtrusion Charms to manage the problem.

Subscriptions to The Daily Prophet rose dramatically. Harry was not one of the new subscribers; he was still annoyed with the paper's treatment of him in his fourth and fifth years and saw no reason to fund it. Besides, Hermione was still subscribing, and she could be counted on to advise him of anything he wanted or needed to know without his having to read the whole newspaper every day.

Hermione was keeping a careful watch in both The Daily Prophet and the Muggle news for signs of activity by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. She was the one who saw the article one morning as they were breakfasting in the Great Hall. Harry was seated between Ron and Ginny, across from Hermione and Neville.

"Harry?" she said quietly, after looking around to make sure that no one else was within earshot.

"Yeah?"

"I think you better read this," she said, her expression warning him that the news wasn't good as she handed over the paper.

MINISTRY WITCH DISAPPEARS, DEATH EATERS FOUND!

Emmeline Vance, an Obliviator at the Ministry of Magic, has disappeared from her home, where Aurors arriving on the scene found two suspected Death Eaters stunned. Georgeson Goyle and Lucius Malfoy have been taken into custody. Given the current unavailability of Azkaban, they are being held at an undisclosed location under heavy security pending determination of their respective cases.

According to a Ministry spokeswitch, Emmeline Vance was a valued, long-time employee of the Ministry, serving in a number of other functions before her most recent assignment as an Obliviator. Although the spokeswitch refused to comment on reports that the scene showed obvious signs of a violent struggle between the victim and her attackers, she did have this to say: "The fact that Miss Vance, who lived alone, was able to ensure the capture of two known supporters of You-Know-Who while presumably under attack herself is an extraordinary testament to her skill and courage. She will be sorely missed."

There seems to be little hope that Miss Vance will be found alive, despite the Ministry's insistence that a comprehensive search and a full investigation are both underway.

Harry looked up. "She was – uh, well, we traveled together once." He hoped the oblique reference to her service as one of his escorts to Grimmauld Place wasn't too oblique.

Hermione nodded her comprehension, and Harry passed the article to Ron, who scanned it quickly.

"They've got Lucius Malfoy!" he exclaimed excitedly. Harry looked over to the Slytherin table.

"I don't see Draco," he said. "Do you think he knows?"

Ron shrugged and threw the paper down on the table. "Somebody'll tell him if he doesn't. I'm just glad his father's somewhere where he can't do any more damage."

"Until they break him out again," Harry added pessimistically.