Chapter 6: The Price of True Friendship

A/N: This chapter occurs between chapters 34 and 35 of For Tomorrow We May Die.

Monday, 9 September

Remus sat in the waiting room again, drumming his fingers restlessly on the arm of his chair. This was getting old rather quickly. His appointment was scheduled for two and it was already five after, and as best he could tell, the appointments were running a good fifteen minutes behind.

And Severus wasn't there. Remus hadn't seen him since the term had started; work was apparently keeping him quite busy. It was understandable, and Remus knew that the world did not revolve around him and his needs for this damn potion. He'd been hoping, though.

"Remus?"

Lara appeared in the doorway, smiling broadly as she gestured for him to join her, and he sighed, standing and following her to her office. Once again, the office was a mess, perhaps even more so than it had been the first time he was there. As Lara settled into her chair behind her desk, she sighed softly and began rummaging.

"How have you been? It's been a while since we've spoken," she said affably, but her voice sounded strained. She looked exhausted, and as though she'd aged ten years since he'd last seen her two weeks ago. There were dark shadows under her eyes, and a crease between her eyebrows that hadn't been there the last time. She looked like a woman who had seen more than she wanted. Her smile had not changed, though, and despite a general fatigue etched across her face, the compassion had not left.

"I've been well," he replied. It was something of a lie; he'd spent most of the last two weeks either recovering from the last full moon or worrying over the next, but she didn't need to know that. "How have you been?"

"A little tired, I must confess," she replied, still smiling brightly. "It's been a long month already. I apologize that I wasn't able to meet with you as scheduled last time. I had some rather unpleasant business to attend." She finally put her hands on a folder and nodded, laying it open on the desk in front of her.

"May I ask what happened?" he asked, telling himself that it was only natural to be curious, that it wasn't because he gave a damn about her. But he had to admit that he did give a damn. She might be the easiest target for his anger and hatred, but she wasn't the one who deserved it. That was a right reserved specifically for Marius Davis.

"I probably shouldn't tell you," she said, "but I prefer it not be a matter of secrecy." He frowned slightly, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "My presence was required at the execution of a werewolf."

"What?" he asked, blinking rapidly. There had always been provisions for the execution of werewolves who turned violent, but he couldn't remember it ever actually happening. At least, not officially.

"He attacked a seventeen-year-old Muggle girl," Lara replied softly. "Killed her. The attack was witnessed by eleven Muggles who had to be Obliviated and three wizards."

Remus forked a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply, his sense of compassion for the werewolf warring with his sense of compassion for the girl and her family and the general horror that the execution had been carried out to begin with.

"Naturally, I would advise you not to spread this information about. The very last thing we desire is to cause panic, of course, but Remus, the Ministry is very serious about stopping the spread of lycanthropy. Minister Davis wants to see the instance of new werewolves drop by fifty percent in the next five years, and he is determined to see that the Ministry does everything in its power to see that end. I'm telling you this because I want you to realize that Minister Davis is far more committed to this than Minister Fudge was. You must be very cautious."

Remus nodded weakly, settling back against his chair, his head still reeling from the shock. He couldn't remember the Ministry ever executing a werewolf. Many died, of course, and many under suspicious circumstances, sometimes even while in Ministry custody, but the Ministry had maintained an outward appearance of compassion in the last thirty years. That the Ministry had executed one openly was a chillingly sobering departure. If they executed openly, what would go on behind closed doors?

"All right, let's see," Lara said, standing up. "Might as well get the unpleasant part out of the way first, right?"

He was startled out of his contemplation by her hand on his arm, urging him to his feet, and a sense of cold dread swept over him as she ushered him to the back of the room. All the dread in the world wouldn't change a thing, however, and he soon found himself standing nude in front of her while she made what must have been very detailed notes about his knuckles, which were still swollen and red from when he had punched the wall in Severus' office. Molly had said he'd cracked them, but he'd stubbornly refused to go back to Hogwarts and let Poppy look at them, just as he'd stubbornly refused to go to St. Mungo's. Besides, what would they have done? Cracked knuckles healed just fine on their own.

Lara was bent over her notes when a brisk knock at the door prompted Remus to open his eyes, and for a moment, he just stared at Lara, praying that she told whoever it was to go away. Lara glanced up, and to Remus' horror, the door swung open and the receptionist's head appeared.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a wizard out here who is being very vocal that he be allowed to speak with you, Lara."

"I'm busy," Lara replied, and Remus remembered why he detested her so much. Could she not at least tell the other woman off for intruding like that?

"He's causing quite a scene," the receptionist said doubtfully.

Remus wasn't sure what was more degrading—the fact that he was standing there without a stitch of clothing on while two women carried on a conversation around him, or that the two women didn't even seem to notice that he as standing there naked. It was as though he didn't even exist.

"Very well," Lara sighed. "Tell him to have a seat and I'll speak with him as soon as I'm finished with Remus." The receptionist retreated again, and Lara smiled at Remus. "So sorry about that. Now how did you get those knuckles?"

His face burning, Remus muttered, "I hit them on a wall."

Lara clucked her tongue and shook her head. "Well, don't do that again," she chided softly. "All right, turn around now." She touched a place on his hip, frowning slightly. "Is that tender?"

"No." He closed his eyes again, trying to imagine himself away from this humiliation. This ritual, he was sure, was designed to shave twenty years off his mental and emotional age. As Lara bent to make a few more notes, he folded his arms across his chest and stared at the wall.

"Cold?" she asked. "I can light the fire if you like."

"I'm fine," he snapped.

A commotion rose in the hallway suddenly, and Lara paused in her writing, frowning at the door. She bent to her task again, and the receptionist's voice came clearly through the walls.

"Sir! You cannot go back there! Take a seat in the waiting room and Miss Berkeley… Sir! SIR!"

The door swung open again and Remus tightened his arms about himself as Lara dropped her quill and stalked to the door.

"This is a private office, sir, and you will leave immediately!" she said, standing firmly in the doorway. Remus reached for his robe, deciding that this examination was finished; there was simply no chance that he was facing a potentially dangerous situation clad only in his skin.

"I'm sure you are capable of preventing me from doing whatever I damn well please, Miss Berkeley," came a familiar, icy voice. "Now move out of my way." Severus stalked past Lara, looking exceptionally put out. "Remus, I apologize for…" he stopped, looking discerningly at Remus, who had managed to put his hand on his robe but nothing else. Remus took the opportunity to pull it hastily over his head, his face still burning. "Am I interrupting something?" Severus asked, a faint note of amusement in his voice as he looked at Lara.

"No," Remus said bluntly.

"You will leave this instant, or I will call the guard and…"

"Remus, do you want me to leave?"

"I, ah…" he began, pulling his robe over his head in a desperate attempt to regain some of his missing composure.

"I am telling you to leave!" Lara said, her hands on her hips.

"And I'm not listening to you. Remus?"

"You had best listen to me! I don't want to call the guards but…"

"Then don't. I'm not breaking any laws," Severus said calmly. "According to provisions outlined on page 339 of the Werewolf Code of Conduct, a werewolf is allowed an advocate or guardian during meetings with his advisor. Or did I read that incorrectly?"

"Well, yes," Lara was saying, looking incredulous. "But that provision is aimed at children! To allow parents or grandparents to accompany them to sign the forms and…"

"And it doesn't say anything about who the provision is limited to."

Remus began chuckling.

"This is ridiculous," Lara snapped.

"I tend to agree," Severus replied. "This is, what? The third time you've been here in a month, Remus?"

"Fourth," he corrected.

"Fourth! See, that is truly ridiculous."

"Remus, just give me the word and I will have the guards come and remove him," Lara said, looking at Remus.

"He isn't bothering me," Remus replied, glancing at Severus. He could have hugged him just now.

"Oh, very well," she muttered, snatching up her quill again. She pointed at one of the chairs in front of her desk. "You sit there and stay out of the way," she commanded Severus, and stalked back towards Remus. "And you get on that scale," she hissed. "And take off that damn robe. Honestly, Remus, you make this about three times more complicated than it has to be."

Remus' smile faded as he glanced at Severus again. At least Severus had the decency to turn his back, and he seemed to have found something quite interesting on a piece of parchment that he was holding. Remus peeled off his robe and stepped onto the scale, his face burning again as Lara fiddled with the balance.

There was another knock on the door, and then the door swung open yet again. "Lara, do I need to call the guards?" the receptionist asked, poking her head around the door.

"No," Lara replied stiffly.

The door shut again, and Severus cleared his throat. "You know," he said conversationally, "if I were the one standing on the scale, I think I'd be rather offended that half the Ministry is allowed to waltz into this room when there isn't so much as a screen to shield me from probing eyes."

"No one in this Ministry is interested in ogling a werewolf who is being examined," Lara replied tightly.

If that was supposed to make Remus feel better, it didn't work. As distasteful as the entire situation was, it was just one more insult to suggest that werewolves weren't even human.

"All right. Get dressed." Lara's usually affable manner had been replaced by a more perfunctory one as she made a few more scratches on the pages in his folder. "You've lost weight, Remus. We'll need to discuss your diet. Are you not being fed properly?"

Remus didn't bother to answer as he jerked his robe over his head one more time and finished getting dressed quickly. He returned to his seat, leaving Lara to scribble across the room.

"Not being fed properly?" Severus repeated, raising an eyebrow. "With Molly in control of the kitchen?"

Remus snorted softly. "Actually, there's been a bit of a power struggle in the kitchen lately. Neither Molly nor Autumn approves of the way the other cooks, and the rest of us are only benefiting from their little competition to see who can outdo the other."

Severus snorted. "I can only imagine."

"You should come for dinner and see firsthand," Remus suggested.

"We've had this conversation, Remus, and…"

"Now," Lara said abruptly, sitting behind the desk. "I'm including a brochure about the Ministry-recommended diet for werewolves." She looked at Severus, and continued, "Remus needs to be very conscientious eating properly. The transformation is very taxing on the body, and he needs to—"

"Why are you telling me this?" Severus asked. "Remus is in that chair, and I dare say that after thirty-odd years, he knows how taxing the transformation is. What is that, anyway? Three hundred sixty full moons?"

"More like three hundred ninety," Remus replied, enjoying the chance to ignore Lara for once. "Thirteen in a year, generally speaking."

"Of course," Severus said, nodding. "So does that not make you…"

"Gentlemen," Lara interrupted, and they both looked at her. "I am ecstatic to know that Remus has a friend, but…"

"He actually has several friends," Severus interrupted. "And I'm not the only one who's tired of the way he's being treated."

Lara's eyes widened. "Treated? Has someone mistreated you, Remus?" she asked, and damn her, the concern was back in her voice. The crease between her eyes had returned, and she was looking intently at him.

"Well," Remus replied, folding his arms across his chest. "Now that you mention it, I wouldn't call it particularly outstanding treatment to be poked and prodded at, examined every other week for cuts and bruises while I stand…"

"I am very sorry that you don't like undressing, Remus. If there were something I could do about it, I would. It is not my intention to make you uncomfortable."

"I do understand that you have no control over these rules, but you could at least treat me like a man instead of a dog."

Lara sighed heavily. "Fine," she said. "I will make a note to myself that next time I should make fawning comments over the size of your penis. Will that make you feel better?"

Remus' jaw dropped, and he stared at her for a minute, not even wanting to believe that she'd just said that.

"That was uncalled for, Miss Berkeley," Severus said tightly.

Lara massaged her temples for a minute. "You're right," she said. "It was. I'm sorry, Remus. I am very frustrated because I don't know what you want from me. We do everything we can to make our processes as painless as possible, both physically and emotionally, and I don't understand where we're falling so short."

"You might start by…" Severus began, but Remus interrupted him.

"Forget about it."

"No," Lara said. "I am truly interested in what you have to say. I apologize for my outburst a moment ago, it was in extremely poor taste and…"

"I said forget about it," Remus repeated. "There are more important things for us to be discussing here."

"Remus…"

"Please," he said, shaking his head. "Drop it." Severus raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. Lara regarded him silently for a moment, then looked down at her folder.

"If you change your mind, Remus, I'll be more than happy to hear your concerns. Perhaps we should move on, though. We're a bit behind schedule, and there was something I was hoping to speak with you about before you go." She peered at the top sheet of parchment and made a tiny tick with her quill. "Last time you were here, Deborah spoke with you about the importance of leaving us a valid address. Have you found a permanent home yet?"

"No," Remus replied stiffly, taking a deep breath and mentally preparing himself to answer this question for a third time.

"Have you read over the material about the housing options? I know you object to the implication of charity, but don't think of it that way. This Ministry is making conscious efforts to better the situation of werewolves all over Great Britain. These housing units offer a great many rewards," she continued. He massaged his eyes and half listened while Severus regarded him carefully. "Perhaps you think they are atrocities with rows of cots and…"

"Does the Ministry offer that much comfort to werewolves?" Severus muttered, half under his breath. "How touching."

Remus snorted; Lara glared. "…and soup kitchens," she continued, her tone a bit stiffer. "But it is not like that at all. These are flats, Remus, furnished comfortably, with kitchenettes and private baths. You would be free to entertain guests as you please, to come and go as you please…"

"I do not need Ministry hand outs," Remus said bluntly. "I have a place to stay."

"Then you have an address?" Lara asked, though she didn't sound hopeful.

"No."

"I do not understand how you have a place to live but do not have an address where we can reach you," Lara said, her voice taking on the tint of frustration again.

"The situation is delicate," Severus broke in.

"Is it?" Lara asked.

"Yes," Severus replied. Remus gave him a sideways glance.

"Perhaps if one of you would explain it, I would be better able to understand," she suggested.

"Ah, you see," Severus began, leaning forward, "Remus is staying with… a friend you understand. It might cause some, ah, discomfort if it were widely known where he spends his nights."

Remus chewed the inside of his mouth in an attempt to keep from laughing as Lara's face underwent a series of changes that would have made a kaleidoscope envious.

"It is really for the best, for everyone involved, if his whereabouts are not made public."

Lara finally settled on an indignant expression. "This Ministry is not in the habit of publicizing information about anyone, werewolf, wizard, goblin or ghost!"

"That is quite comforting," Severus replied blandly.

Lara looked at Remus. "Where are you staying?" she demanded.

"I've been telling you since the first meeting that I'm staying with friends," he replied. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Severus looked bored with the line of discussion. Severus was an excellent liar.

Lara studied Remus for a moment, and he concentrated on keeping a straight face. She looked at Severus, and then back at Remus again, and took a deep breath. "I'm going to give you this literature on Ministry housing options," she began.

"I already have the literature, thank you," Remus replied as though he wasn't aware that she was aware it had been given to him no less than twice already.

"Will you read it, Remus? Or will you give me an address?"

"I cannot give you an address," he replied. "But I have told you how to reach me."

"Yes," she snapped. "Care of Albus Dumbledore. One would think you were living at the school and…" She frowned suddenly, her eyes shooting back to Severus and then widening slightly. Remus was hard pressed not to burst out laughing at the expression of curious horror that flittered briefly across her face.

"I'll read over the literature," Remus promised, and she glanced at him, then nodded.

"Thank you."

She scribbled a note into the folder and then gave him another considering look. "The full moon is the eighteenth," she said. "What are your plans?"

Remus looked at Severus, who produced a bottle from his pocket. "Wolfsbane Potion," he said unnecessarily. Remus could have kissed him.

"You are not one of our approved brewers," Lara began, frowning at Severus. She looked at Remus again. "I have a note from Deborah to follow up on this. She expressed concern that you had already paid for the brewing of the potion from an unqualified brewer."

"I am hardly unqualified, Miss Berkeley," Severus said sharply. "And I am well aware of the Ministry's ridiculous statutes regarding registered brewers. I procured this from an associate of mine who is a registered brewer."

"Who?" Lara asked, echoing the question on Remus' mind.

"Emilia Wickliffe," Severus replied, producing from his pocket a folded and sealed parchment. "I believe this is the appropriate letter certifying that I am delivering the potion on her behalf."

Lara took the parchment and gave him a dubious look, then flicked a fingernail under the edge of the seal and skimmed. She looked at the front, then the back, then at Severus again. "This says she sent fifty vials," she said. "Surely you do not have all fifty in your pocket. I do hope you didn't use a shrinking charm on them. It's a terribly unstable potion and…"

"I am well aware of the instability of the potion," Severus said quietly. "The remaining bottles are with your receptionist."

Lara blinked, and nodded. "Very well," she replied, offering the bottle to Remus. He took it and was slipping it into his pocket when she lifted an eyebrow. "That isn't going to do a bit of good in your pocket, Remus," she said.

Oh, am I included in this conversation again? he thought irritably. "I am quite familiar with how it works," he said aloud.

"Might as well go on and drink it," she suggested, folding her hands atop the desk. It sounded more like an order, however it might have been phrased.

"I'll drink it this evening," he replied evenly.

"Will we ever find the policy that you won't resist?" she asked softly. "If a Ministry official does not witness your taking the potion, we cannot affirm that you took it properly."

"Why would I not drink it?" he asked. "How would I manage to drink it incorrectly? It's a damned potion, Lara, not a complex task!"

"Just drink it," Severus murmured. "Choose your battles."

Remus looked at Severus, who was looking at Lara, his lips set in a thin line and his eyes hard. Lara's attention was focused mildly on Remus, and she was giving him the same look she gave him when he protested disrobing in front of her. He sighed.

"Fine," he grumbled, pulling the vial of potion out of his pocket and uncorking it. There was no goblet nearby, so he tipped the bottle to his lips and shuddered as the rancid liquid offended every taste bud on his tongue. Swallowing the stuff took a special effort as his every impulse was to spit it all over the desk. He'd once tried to convince himself that he could get used to the taste, but that conviction hadn't lasted long. It seemed worse every time he tasted it.

If it was difficult to drink it in general, it was made worse by the fact that he had two people watching him. After the fourth sip, he finally upended the rest of the bottle into his mouth and his eyes watering slightly. Severus pressed a handkerchief into his hand and removed the bottle from his fingers.

"Well, then, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Lara asked. Remus gave her a venomous look and she cleared her throat. "Is there anything else we need to discuss this afternoon?" she asked with a smile.

"No," he whispered.

"Then come with me," she said, standing. "There is something I'd like you to see."

Remus exchanged glances with Severus, but stood. Severus stood as well, and they followed Lara out of the room, keeping a few steps behind her.

"Are you all right?" Severus asked in a low whisper.

"I'm fine," Remus replied. They walked silently for a few steps, then Remus snorted softly. "You do realize what she thought you meant in there when you were talking about where I'm living?"

Severus snorted as well. "I can't be responsible for her misconceptions," he replied. Remus shook his head and smiled. The look on Lara's face was one he was going to hold onto for many months to come, he thought. "If you want to tell her you're staying with me, just tell me so I'll be prepared to play out the lie," Severus said softly.

Remus stared at him, but Severus was avoiding his eyes.

"It might placate her enough to give up on the Ministry housing."

Remus touched his arm slightly, and when Severus looked at him, smiled. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Severus shrugged, taking half a step away from him, then cleared his voice. "Where are we going, Miss Berkeley?" he asked.

"You'll see," she replied cryptically. Severus scowled, but Remus felt a sense of cold dread creeping over him, and he tightened his fingers around his wand. He recognized the corridor very well.

A few minutes more, and they reached their destination. Lara opened a door to a long, drafty corridor lined on either side with heavy doors with sliding windows near the bottoms.

"Is this…" Severus began quietly, and Remus swallowed hard, nodding. "Miss Berkeley," Severus called out acerbically. "If this is your idea of a cruel joke, it is not amusing."

She paused and turned, frowning slightly. "It isn't a joke," she said, her forehead creased. "I wanted to show Remus what we have been doing. Look." She pushed open one of the doors, and Remus found himself staring into a cell, almost identical to the one had inhabited a little less than a month ago. He scrubbed a hand over his face and wondered if he was shaking as hard as he felt he was.

"Remus?" Severus' voice held a note of alarm and he clutched Remus' elbow, steadying him. "Miss Berkeley," Severus said sharply. "I cannot imagine what possessed you to bring us down here, but…"

"I wanted Remus to see the progress we've made! It was his suggestions that instigated these changes and…"

Remus leaned against the wall, blinking, trying desperately to focus on the sound of Lara's voice, or the nearly painful grip Severus had on his arm.

"…not finished yet, of course, but we took two feet from each cell and formed bathrooms to be shared by adjoining occupants…"

"Remus?" Severus sounded as though he were in an underwater cavern a mile away. Remus folded his arms across his stomach, feeling ill.

"…couldn't convince him of the prudence of beds, but he did agree to straw on the floor, so at least it won't be as cold and hard…"

"Straw?" Severus hissed. "One lines a horse stall with straw, Miss Berkeley. It does not make for a comfortable bed for humans!"

"It's better than the stone floor, isn't it?" she snapped.

"Can we just leave?" Remus whispered. Severus slipped an arm around his back.

"We're going now," he announced authoritatively.

"But you haven't seen…"

"WE'VE SEEN MORE THAN ENOUGH!"

Remus found himself being pulled along and guided out of the nightmarish corridor, but his breathing was still labored as they emerged into the brighter light of the corridor where Lara's office was located.

"Remus? You look pale. Do you feel all right?" Lara asked, and he felt soft hands on his face. "Here, Severus, I think he's going to be ill. There's a bathroom in here…"

A door opened, and Remus found his head shoved unceremoniously over a toilet, and just in time as he began emptying his stomach. Someone gathered his hair away from his face, and there was a hand on his back; he didn't know which of them did either. After heaving several more times, a cool, damp cloth appeared at his face, and Severus turned him around.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked, though his voice lacked some of its usual edge.

"I think so," Remus whispered weakly. Lara took the cloth from his hand and patted his face and neck with it, her touch gentle.

"There," she whispered. "I'm sorry, Remus. I didn't realize it would affect you so. I just wanted you to see that we have been working…"

He opened his eyes, and closed them again quickly; there were tears on her cheeks and he didn't think he had the strength to watch her cry out of pity. "You're doing a fine job," he managed to croak.

He felt arms around his shoulders, and his head was cushioned against something far to soft and full to belong to Severus. She rocked him gently, and he made a half-hearted attempt to pull away from her, acutely aware that he had an audience for this little spectacle. "I'm fine," he whispered. "Really, I'm fine."

She didn't let go of him though, and after a moment he stopped struggling, resigned to suffer the indignity of unsolicited sympathy.

"I'll take care of him," Severus said suddenly. "Go on. You have others waiting on you. Some who do not have the support Remus has, I'd think." Severus' hands were firm as they grasped his shoulders and pulled him away from her.

Lara lingered a moment longer, then stood. "I am sorry," she insisted softly. "I didn't realize…"

"Go on," Severus urged her again, though not as harshly as he'd spoken to her only moments before. "Leave him a bit of dignity."

Remus exhaled sharply, though it fell short of a laugh by any stretch of the imagination. Dignity was the only thing he'd had that he could truly call his for many years; it had been slowly evaporating in the past few months.

"I'm so sorry," Lara said once more, giving his arm another squeeze.

He forced a smile. "I'm fine," he said. "Go on."

She paused at the door, and addressed the both of them. "If you want to use this office, you may. No one will disturb you." The door opened, and then closed, and there was silence.

Severus settled onto the floor beside him, shoulder to shoulder with him, and for several minutes, no words passed between them. Finally, Severus broke the silence. "She honestly cares, doesn't she?"

Remus nodded mutely. It should have made it easier to bear the indignities, knowing that there were people like Lara who were quite sympathetic. "They all care," he said after a lengthy pause.

"It would be easier if they didn't, wouldn't it?" Severus asked.

"Is that the most irrational thing you've ever heard?"

"No," Severus replied. "It is easier to bear a burden if you can blame someone. It would be convenient to blame her, but it is difficult to blame her."

Remus nodded.

After another brief pause, Severus stood, rinsed the cloth he'd taken from Lara, and flushed the toilet. "Let's go," he suggested, offering his hand. Remus took it, and Severus helped him to his feet, steadying him, and then pointing needlessly at the sink. "Wonder what time it is," Severus mused while Remus washed his hands.

"There's a clock in the waiting room," Remus answered as he dried his hands.

"I need to make a detour down the hall to turn in these forms, but after that, how do you feel about trying some of that nonsense that passes for Muggle food?"

Remus snorted softly. "What forms?" he asked quietly.

"The ones that say I'm competent enough to brew the potion I made my Master's piece," Severus replied.

"Your Master's piece?" Remus repeated.

"Yes. I spent two years researching that damned potion and brewed more than three hundred cauldrons of it before my supervisor was content that I'd done it properly. I doubt there's a witch or wizard alive in Europe who knows as much about the blasted mixture as I do, despite my efforts to forget everything the ingredients interact with."

Remus frowned slightly. "Is it really that bad, knowing so much about it?"

Severus snorted. "No," he replied. "It gives me something to complain about when I can't complain about what's really upsetting me. Are you finished?"

Remus nodded.

"Let's go."

A/N: Updates updates updates! I did not intend to be absent for a month! I am SOO SORRY! I got sidetracked with a story on Sycophant Hex (caused sme waves, needed to dust off my flameproof suit again, earned a few new fans. It was a good three week 'hiatus')

Anyway, I'm back to writing on these stories again, and trying to decide if I want to move my problem-causing fic over here. I got almost 500 reviews for it on SH, which is traditionally kind of a low review site, and I irritated a lot of people, and there's a much lower instance of fangirl there than there is here. So I'm still deciding about this one.

This story... Silverthreads: thank you regarding Edward's mum. Yes, I've thought the same things about her. I'm trying to give myself a number of options here, and I'm enjoying the wanton creation of OFCs (it's the contrarian in me. I've seen one too many comment that 'all OFCs are Mary Sues' and I'm just determined to create as many non-Mary Sues as I possibly can.) As far as romance goes, my Wolfsbane readers are clamoring for Lupin to get some, so it might happen. It's a fic that's so Lupin-centric and plot heavy that if I do include a love interest, it will be a sideplot. We'll see. Depends on how things go. My original inclination (when I was writing the first chapter here) was that Lara would be a love interest, but after I got her set up, I realized that she was so rich that it would be degrading to turn her into a romantic involvement. There's too much surrounding her. Edward's mum was originally the same, a half-attempt to introduce a love interest, but again, I'm not sure that it wouldn't kill her a bit. I've introduced four OFCs who were potential love interests, but I'm not sure any of them will turn out to be.

duj- you are absolutely right. If anyone is confused, they can go read Tomorrow. I've come to the conclusion that I'm not going to worry about how 'OOC'the characters look in this fic if it's read as a stand alone.

tall oaks-I really think I responded to this review over on 'Tomorrow'. Oops. Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying. That WWII story is something I remember from High School and it made quite an impression on me then. I did enjoy pulling out a new side to Remus.In my own experience, a lot of people who are 'rocks' for everyone else have a hard time accepting the role reversal.

Nad- thanks! lol, I've had a lot of reviewers suggest that Lupin needs a woman. And if I'm in a benevolent enough mood, it might just happen.I'm feeling generous at the moment and tend to agree, even if the story is a bit more poignant if he'salone. If I hook him up with someone, it will be so tempting to have her love 'fix' everything, so it will become more of a challenge to write.

Daydream believer- thank you! I can't believe how much sympathy Edward has gotten. In every story I write, I've had some sort of surprise from my reviewers- something they've picked up on that stunned me. In this one, it's Edward. I have a feeling I'll be writing more abuot him.

Hecate- thank you! I'm glad the plots are making sense.

Arcadia- thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying!

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Jen