Having Remus back was a rather pleasant surprise for Harry and his friends, but on the other hand, they worried about Sirius. Remus had told them everything about their journey, and of course they had immediately started discussing it. (Ron hadn't spoken to Harry nor to Hermione for fifteen minutes after it.) Finally they had come to the conclusion that Sirius was about to face something incredibly dangerous.
Remus seemed rather relaxed, but Harry wasn't too sure about him being so calm. He knew just as much as the students concerning whom they were really dealing with! And what did the students know?
"You know", he said as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean and Seamus came to visit him, "Sirius is not all on his own. There's still Severus those Shudderstone folks have to reckon with."
Neville shuddered, and Ron said: "C'mon, you can't be expecting he'll help Sirius at all! You know how much he hates him!"
"He hates every Gryffindor!" Seamus agreed. "You should see him in our Potions classes!"
But Remus shook his head. "I fear you don't know him well enough."
"We do! We do!" Dean put in.
Remus didn't seem convinced, though. "See, if you're in a really dangerous situation, let's say cornered by Dementors or even trapped by an acromantula ready to devour you in one great gulp, guess who'd always cover your back? Guess who'd hack you out with his pocket knife if there's no other weapon near? Though I completely agree with you", he added with a slightly roguish smile, "concerning the way he treats his students. A born tyrant, just like his father." He shrugged, still smiling. "Well, his father's more than that, his father's a madman."
"You know his father, then?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Not too well. We've met several times. He gave me quite a fright when I was still a boy." Remus shifted a bit on his couch to sit more comfortably. Obviously he was enjoying the luxury of his forced holiday. Who wouldn't, Harry thought, if he'd get a soft couch with many cushions, a cool drink with big ice cubes in it, Honeyduke's best sweets, interesting books to read, a beach to laze around on on warm afternoons and many friends looking after him, instead of a dark, uncertain voyage through a gloomy, enchanted forest, seeking the stronghold of a dreaded enemy?
"I'd like to play Quidditch, actually", Remus said after he had sipped some more of his cool drink. "I feel definitely better already, and on a broomstick, you needn't use your legs."
"So why don't you play with us?" Ron offered eagerly.
Remus's expression shifted into a twisted smile. "Madam Pomfrey won't let me. Maybe tomorrow, but I fear I'll have to be off again as soon as I'm cured. Can't let my comrades run around out there all on their own, can I?" Helping himself to some Chocolate Frogs, he went on: "They'd really envy me if they could see me now. Who wants some chocolate?"
Immediately, many hands were raised.
"I never saw you as eager when you were still my students", the young Duellist commented as he handed out Chocolate Frogs to all of them.
"I certainly was", Hermione said slightly indignantly.