AN: It's noon…do you know where your muse is? I think my muse has officially moved into my house and made himself comfortable, because it seems no matter where I am…I can't stop thinking about this bloody story. This may or may not be a good thing…

Eh well, I'm going to officially start calling these Author Notes, Author Rants because these usually don't have anything to do about notes or anything useful like that matter. Currently my very tattered POA book is open in front of me (Seriously, the binding is falling off of it I've read it so much) and it's on chapter eight (flight of the fat lady). Thus is, where we begin to mesh this story into POA. I just thought I'd let you all know…because a lot of this is actually taken straight from the book (seriously if you look at the book and then at this, you'll see that some dialogue isn't changed a bit).

At this rate, I'm hoping to get one more chapter in after this today. I've also found a very interesting picture of Remus (actually it's a photo manipulation). It's located:

http:www midnightlore net/fangirl/lupin jpg

Yet again, where the spaces are put periods.

If you can't see this, and would like to, just send me your e-mail addie and I'll send it to you (seeing as it is a rather interesting picture of Remus). I've also been inspired to try and draw Remus and Kit together (It's going badly…but hey…I'm a writer not an artist)

Anyway, I'll get on with the chapter now.

Woo.

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Chapter Sixteen

(Present Day)

Halloween Day

In the few weeks that Kit had been back, Remus had barely seen her. Sure, he got to see her during meals, but she was doing something that he didn't like. What she was doing, most people didn't notice…but he did, watching her as she sat down at the very end of the Gryffindor table, staying at a meal only long enough to listen to any announcements that Dumbledore had to make, before running off. Half the time she didn't eat anything and that concerned him.

They were both so busy with their own school work (him teaching, and her going to classes) that they didn't have much time to speak with one another in the hallways either. In fact, the only time that he had gotten to see her in the few weeks she had been back, was when she had been able to wander down the passage way's to his room to stay the night.

The only bad thing about that, was when she had tried to get back into the Gryffindor Tower, Severus had been lurking about on watch and seen her…and was all to pleased to give her a weeks worth of detention (which in her words "Nearly drove her to the brink of madness"). Due to her time in detention, it was decided to risky to head down there.

But now, it was Halloween day…the good thing about this day? Most all the students had gone to Hogsmeade, leaving Kit to spend some time with Remus. Even on most weekends she hadn't been able to visit with him, simply because she had so much work she had to get caught up in. (not to mention what would people say if they seen her wandering into Remus's rooms in the daytime hours?)

With most of the school gone, it was relatively safe for Kit to be in Remus's office. Besides, she had brought her books with her, so if anyone were to ask she had just went there to get some help in her classes. Both were very happy when no one seemed to realize that Kit and Remus would have known each other while she was at school, everyone was usually to busy asking her about their parents that they didn't think to question her relation ship with Professor Lupin.

In his office now, Remus watched as Kit tapped at the glass of a tank that had a newly delivered grindylow in it. The sickly green creature with it's sharp little horns didn't seem to like her tapping at the tank, it went as far to stick it's tongue out at her, causing Kit to frown briefly before she glanced back towards Remus.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, biting at her bottom lip. Remus was indeed simply watching her, observing.

With a shrug he stood up, "No reason, can't a man just watch the girl he loves agitate a grindylow?" He asked, a grin set on his face as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"I'm not agitating it…"

"It looks ready to break out of the glass and kill you."

"Don't they always look like that?"

"Fair enough." Remus said, pressing his lips against her's for just a moment (having to bend down a considerable amount in order to do so).

"What if someone comes in?" Kit asked, pulling away from his lips and glancing back towards the door with slight concern. Remus gave a nod, before heading towards the door to his office which he was going to shut and lock in order to avoid any mishaps.

Although instead of doing as planned, he would watch as a young (and rather depressed) looking Harry passed by his office door. "Harry?"

Harry reappeared near the door to his office after a moment, and Remus continued, "What are you doing? Where are Ron and Hermione?" It wasn't often that Harry was seen without his two best friends, and with his depressed expression, Remus had to wonder what happened.

"Hogsmeade," said Harry, in a would-be casual voice…which lead to have Remus believe that it was the exact place where Harry wished he was.

"Ah," Remus nodded, and although he would have much liked to get back into a lip-lock with Kit, he considered Harry for a moment…and a few minutes wouldn't be that bad, after all, there was the rest of the day to kiss and talk about this and that with Kit. "Why don't you come in? I've just taken delivery of a grindylow for our next lesson."

"A what?" Harry asked, trailing behind Remus who led the young boy into his office. Upon seeing Harry, Kit gave a slight frown and glanced at Remus with concern for a moment, but he just shrugged and shook his head.

"Water demon." Remus specified, watching as Harry tapped at the glass (much like Kit had been doing previously). "We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, not after the kappas. The trick is to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong, but very brittle."

Harry nodded, and glanced back towards Remus, only to notice that Kit was there as well. He had a questioning look on his face, but thankfully asked nothing of it when he noticed the books that Kit had on her lap as she now sat on one of the chairs.

"Cup of tea?" Remus asked, heading to find his kettle, "I was just thinking of making one."

Kit snorted, and Harry looked confused for a moment before the young girl spoke, "You know he never liked tea before." Remus frowned slightly, Kit had practically just told Harry that she and Remus knew each other, but then again…Harry was an intelligent boy, he would have figured it out eventually…

"Oh…so you two know each other from--er, before?" Harry asked, accepting the cup of tea from Lupin who had apologized for the fact that he only had tea bags.

"Yes," Kit started, canting her head to the side with thought, "Not very well though…but enough to know that he hated tea, and now I have no idea how he can say he likes it." Remus raised his brows, well, at least the girl had enough since not to give away how close they were. While he figured that Harry wouldn't be one to blab about it, Remus knew that Hermione and Ron would be told and that was two people, too many.

After a few moments of silence, Remus arched a brow "Anything worrying you, Harry?"

"No," Harry started, glancing over towards the grindylow for a moment and drinking a bit of his tea. Remus glanced over towards Kit who simply shrugged, "Yes." Harry finally said, causing both Remus and Kit to glance over at him as he put his cup of tea back down on Remus's desk. "You know that day we fought the boggart?"

"You had them fight a boggart?" Kit asked, with a questioning look (the last time she seen Remus with a boggart, it didn't end well.)

Remus simply nodded, and in answer to Harry's question, "Yes…?"

"Why didn't you let me fight it?"

Remus raised his eyebrows, and Kit canted her head to the side watching the both of them rather intently, "I would have thought that obvious Harry."

"Why?"

"Well," Remus stated, frowning a little, "I assumed that if the boggart faced you, it would assume the shape of Lord Voldemort."

Kit flinched slightly, taken aback that Remus had actually said you-know-who's name. It seemed, that Harry was also surprised at this.

"Clearly I was wrong," Remus continued, still frowning slightly "But I didn't think it a good idea for Lord Voldemort to materialize in the staff room. I imagined that people would panic."

"They would have probably all died of fright." Kit interrupted, setting one of her books on Remus's desk with a shrug, "Although, do they even know what he looks like?"

Although, before Remus could answer her, Harry spoke rather quickly, "I didn't think of Voldemort. I remembered those Dementors."

They carried on their conversation, and Kit stayed relatively silent, just watching. She could see the pain in Remus's eyes when he talked to Harry, it was to be expected though, wasn't it? After all, even she couldn't believe how much Harry looked like James…it was uncanny, and to have James dead and Harry sitting there as a reminder.

It was painful.

Eventually the conversation and Kit's thoughts were interrupted when Severus had knocked and came into the office, stopping at the sight of Harry and Kit with his eyes narrowing.

"Ah, Severus," Said Lupin, putting a grin on his face (even though it was easy for Kit to see that Remus really didn't enjoy having him there). "Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

Severus set down the smoking goblet, which Kit eyed in question. She already knew what it was…Remus had told her about it, Severus had brewed up wolfs bane potion for Remus, in order to let him keep his mind during his transformations. Although, Kit had made it a point to yell and pitch a fit about not trusting the greasy haired git.

Severus's eyes darted between Harry and Kit, then looked at Remus curiously.

"I was just showing Harry and Kit my grindylow."

And at that, Kit couldn't help but burst out into laughter.

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By the time that both Severus and Harry had left, there wasn't a lot of time left in the day. Kit and Remus had only an hour together before they would have to go down to the Great Hall. After Harry had left, Remus thoughtfully shut and locked his office door in order to keep from having any surprises pop up. When he came back into his office, he pulled Kit (who had been sitting on his desk), up into his arms.

"Someone's in a good mood." Kit pointed out, as Remus smothered her face in kisses before plopping both of them down in his desk chair. He would watch as Kit adjusted herself on his lap before replying with a grin on his face.

"Well, we are finally alone…and that is indeed something to put me in a good mood."

Kit grinned, and rested her chin on his shoulder, while her hands took his in her own. "Yes, well…it has been hard to have time alone now hasn't it?"

Remus nodded, looking down to their hands that were entwined with each other, taking a moment before speaking. "Which is why it's good that the holidays are coming up."

"What do you mean?" She asked, her dark blue eyes glancing up at him as he gave a small sigh.

"Well, my dear…in little over a month, the winter holiday's start. And, if we are careful in how we go about things, how would you like to come to my cottage during the holiday's? We'd have to tell Dumbledore of course, and make up some kind of story to tell those that ask…" While Remus was ranting on and on, Kit's face broke out with a rather large grin before she wrapped both of his arms around his neck.

"It sounds lovely!" She told him, and it did. A whole few weeks with Remus, without having to worry about making up excuses to go see him, or have to look around before they kissed each other, because someone might be watching.

"I'm glad you think so."

"Well of course I do, you know how much torture it is going into the Great Hall and look up at you sitting at the professors table? I have to stop myself from running up to you to ask you about your day and kissing you."

"I know how you feel…and speaking of the Great Hall…" He started, one of his hands slipping free of hers, moving under her shirt to brush against the side of her body where he could feel a few ribs sticking out. He frowned at that. "You need to eat more."

"Well, I don't have you at the table making my plate for me…I'm simply at a loss." She stated, shivering slightly at Remus's touch.

"I'm sure you are…but please…eat more for me? I don't want you to start…"

"I know…I won't, I swear…I'm happy now Remmy. Things might be bad at times, but I still have you. I promise I won't…"

Remus sighed, leaning a little to let his forehead rest against Kit's. He could see clearly into her deep blue eyes, and she could see into his own hazel colored hues that danced with concern. "I know…but, the first thing I thought of when I seen how little you've been eating is that day…it was so long ago but I can remember it clearly…"

"As long as I have you…I won't do anything."

With that, Remus Lupin's office fell into a deep silent, only the light breathing of it's two inhabitants could be heard as they gazed at each other, and slowly fell into a deep kiss. 'As long as I have you…I won't do anything.' Repeated in Remus's head, Kit's words…truly scared him. Because in this time, with all the dark wizards and everything happening…

What would happen to her if he got hurt?

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During the Halloween feast, Kit did as Remus requested and ate a decent meal. It wasn't that she was starving herself. It was simply, she didn't like spending time in the Great Hall, listening to people talk and be rather loud around their friends.

She didn't have any friends here in this time. Thus, why it was depressing to be in the Great Hall. Sure, she could probably make friends with Harry…but he looked so much like James. People didn't seem to want to be her friend either, she was honestly pretty sure they were afraid of her. Mostly due because she was from the past, and that made her weird.

Kit spared no time in eating, while the food was great, she didn't care much for it. She just wanted to leave…so after eating (and nearly choking several times) as fast as she could, downing a meal of chicken and steamed vegetables that were dripping in butter. She was the first one to leave the Great Hall, and that didn't bother her a bit.

Instead of going up the usual path towards the Gryffindor tower, Kit opted for the secret passageway that lead nearly all the way up to the tower. The reason for this, was the simple fact that Peeves had seemed to make it a habit of annoying her, and taking the passageway would avoid getting pelted by erasers like the last time she ran into Peeves.

It was in the passages, that a very…very…surprising and fateful thing happened.

About halfway up the passage, which was being lit up by her wand…something stood blocking her path. For a moment her heart jerked (if one of the teachers found her in the passageway it would mean a months worth of detention). Although, it wasn't a teacher like she had been afraid of. It wasn't even human at all…

Upon closer inspection, it was a dog. A big, black, shaggy dog that was looking at her in curiosity.

Kit's steps wavered a little bit upon seeing the dog, her breath caught in her throat and she felt like she was going to cry.

"Sirius?"

It had to be! It just had to be! Besides, how many other big black shaggy dogs would be wandering around the secret passages of Hogwarts?

She knew she should be scared, after all…she had been told many times, in many different ways what Sirius had done (Severus it seemed, had the most fun in telling her all about it). She should be scared…but she wasn't. In fact, to Kit it was damn near impossible to be scared of Sirius. He was like a brother to her, in fact, in a sense he was, just like James. Sirius had been the clown of the group, he had the lopsided grin that made the girls go crazy, he was James's best friend…

He couldn't be who they said he was.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, as the dog transformed into a man. This man was gaunt looking and his hair was in wild tangles, prison uniform hanging off of his body, and a wild look was in his eyes. Where was the Sirius Black she knew? The handsome young man with the proud Black features? This…man looked so desperate, and the Sirius she knew was never desperate.

"K-Kitten?" His voice was quiet, raspy as well…as if he had only been screaming for the past twelve years (Which she imagined he had been). They stood, just looking at each other for several minutes.

Kit, was the one to break the silence. "I know you didn't do what they say you did! I can't believe it! I won't!" Maybe it was stupid for her to be so trusting…for all she knew he could have really gone crazy and became a killer, "But if you are…if you did and I'm wrong, then I'd rather die at your hands then anyone else's."

The moment she said that, he rapidly approached her; which caused her to actually think that he was as insane as they said he was…

But instead of attacking her, or slashing her open with some dagger…he opened his arms and enveloped her into a hug. It wasn't the greatest hug she had ever had, in fact…it made her slightly dizzy. Did he even know how bad he smelled? Then again, he was on the run…and people on the run didn't take the time to bathe. "I didn't do it." He told her, a fierceness in his voice as he pulled away from Kit, still holding onto her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "I didn't!"

"I know…I came here…to this time, and they told me…I couldn't…you wouldn't."

"I have to go…they'll find out what I did soon, you'll know where to find me…"

And as quickly as he turned into a man, he was back into a form of a dog that was running back down the passage way.

Kit just stood there, hugging herself for a moment. Sirius had a look in his eyes…a crazed look that had indeed scared her. But the man, did spend twelve years in Azkaban…

She wanted him to stay, so she could talk to him more, find out what happened from his point of view, understand where things went wrong, and explain to him what happened to her…but he was right…he had to go. She would find him later, but now she headed towards the Gryffindor tower, wondering what exactly he meant by 'they'll find out what I did.'

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AN: Sweet Merlin, this has taken me a long time to write. I've been working on it since noon and it's almost four o'clock now. So, we have some Kit/Remus fluff and a meeting between Kit and Sirius.

I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out. And I'm going to start on the next chapter right away, so hopefully I'll get it posted sometime tonight or early morning.

Toodles.