AN: I apologize for the delay. My computer was really acting up - enough that I was tempted to solve the problem the old-fashioned way: a sledgehammer.

Thanks for all the reviews. They are wonderful.

Part 4

There was a definite nip in the air as Remy sat outside. His long coat protected him from most of the wind, although a gust sometimes made its way under the bottom hem. He'd rather be out here than inside, where everyone was yelling at the football game on the television - one of the fall Sunday traditions of the school. It had been bad enough when they had been seated at dinner, when everyone's chatter had given him a headache.

"Hey, stranger."

Remy almost gave himself a case of whiplash when he turned towards the familiar voice. The tension from earlier today left his body as he spotted Harry walking in his direction, his white owl perched on his right shoulder. He was accompanied by a gray-haired man, who was walking with a severe limp and aided by a cane.

"Harry!" Remy greeted. As they grew closer, he saw that the other man wasn't as old as he had thought. He wasn't all that much older than Remy himself. What was strange about the man was that he was wearing a cloak over his clothes, the part widening ever so slightly with each step.

Then he looked at his friend, and found that his face was drawn and his cheekbones seemed much more prominent than Remy remembered. That last day before he had left, Harry had been the picture of health with a nice glow to his face. Obviously, the time spent in England hadn't been a pleasure cruise despite everything Harry had said about it.

The two men stopped a few feet away as Remy stood.

Harry turned to the man beside him. "Remus Lupin, I'd like you to meet Remy LeBeau."

All of a sudden, Harry's talk of his name flashed through his mind. Now he understood all of the references that had had Harry laughing. And it also had him wondering if there was a special significance to the name. The man's amber colored eyes brought to mind a wolf. Harry was worth protecting, so how well did the man named Remus Lupin do his job?

His friend looked at him. "Remy, this is Remus Lupin, my Godfather."

Lupin stuck his hand out after switching the cane into his left one. The back was covered in an odd pattern of faded scars. "Nice to meet you," he said in an accent much like Harry's. "I've heard much about you as I traveled with Harry."

"Likewise," Remy said, taking the man's hand in a firm grip. Like with Harry, he felt the tingle of power, although it was a bit different. There was a hint of the wild in the man's magic, he guessed.

"Remus is staying the night before he continues on to Salem, where he will be teaching."

Remy looked at the man in question. "What do you teach?"

Lupin looked at Harry, who nodded. "I teach Defense."

He almost laughed at the idea before he remembered Harry had called his favorite class 'defense.' "What do you defend against?" he asked, his curiosity growing from his memories of talking with Harry.

"The Dark."

He could hear the capital letter in the word, and it made Magneto seem as though a child against the horrors of Harry's world. Remy had the thought that the scars both of them wore were tied into it. Though he wasn't about to ask for their sources.

Instead, he walked back into the school with the two men, talking quietly with Harry about the invitation that the professor had extended to Harry to teach some basic wizarding classes at the school for those too young to be sent to the school where Lupin would be teaching.

"Charles thought it would be a good idea for Remus to meet with some of the teachers here, so that they could get an idea of what to look for. The Wizarding world does have a college here in the US for those who either chose not to go to one of the secondary schools, or those whose magic showed up late. It's more common here in the US, where people are a bit more integrated," Harry was saying as they stopped just outside of the large den where the Sunday football crew was still watching the game.

Ever since Harry had come into his life, Remy had the feeling that things were not going to be the same. This just confirmed it. He had always thought the school was a bit too isolated, and several alumni refused to have anything to do with those who weren't mutants.

His thoughts were interrupted as they walked into the den, where Remy was treated to the sight of Harry being mobbed by the children he had taught, running from the small play area in the back of the room. They jumped and ran around him like an elephant dancing around a mouse - only thirty times more excited. Several of the other children followed more slowly, with one of them shyly greeting Lupin. Remy knew her to be one of Harry's kind, having felt her power once he had become familiar with Harry's own. The reason why she was here and not with them was that she had the ability to fly without aid - a phenomenon that was apparently not possible in Harry's world.

The professor came in soon after they had, with Beast behind him. The blue-furred man stopped just inside the door, and Remy could tell that he was sniffing the air. Beast then looked at Lupin and snarled, the sound startling everyone in the room as the normally placid man sprung into action. He leapt at the man, only to be stopped in mid-air.

Harry had moved so fast to stand in front of Lupin that Remy hadn't seen him do so. Lupin himself was crouched in a defensive pose, cane still falling to the floor as he raised a stick about a foot long in front of him. Harry did not have a stick, but was holding out his hand, fingers spread open and palm pointed at the immobile Beast.

"He is not an enemy," Harry commanded. There was power in his voice. Remy saw that everyone in the room had frozen into place, and the television's sound was muted in a way that spoke of the remote having never been used.

"Then why does he smell like an animal?" Beast snarled out, although it was if he'd gotten molasses stuck in his teeth.

"I am a werewolf," Lupin calmly said as he lowered wand. "I take a potion that makes me safe on the night of the full moon, which is two weeks away."

The girl standing next to Lupin tugged on his cloak. "My brother's one, too. He goes to Salem."

Lupin eyed Beast before bending down and whispering something in her ear. By the time he was done, the blue-furred mutant was looking contrite, most likely having heard the whispers.

"I apologize if I have frightened anyone," Beast slowly said as an obviously reluctant Harry lowered him down to the floor. "And I also apologize, Mr. - "

"Lupin," Harry supplied in a cold voice.

" - Mr. Lupin, for taking you as a threat. I don't normally do such a thing for new acquaintances."

Harry was glowering at Beast as Lupin nodded his acknowledgement.

It was at that moment that Remy knew his friend could be a dangerous enemy if he was defending one of his own.

Remy was very grateful that quite a bit of the students had left for their homes for the Christmas holiday. He didn't mind the holiday, but the squealing and hyper kids impatiently waiting to open presents drove him up a wall. He was also a little jealous, having grown up without presents for Christmas for years. By the time he'd met up with his adoptive father, he had been too old mentally to be all that enthused about presents.

He looked over the courtyard, where Harry was helping the little ones who had nowhere else to go build a snow fort. They were the children that his friend felt most comfortable, and if Remy had to admit it, he was that way also. The little ones were usually the ones who had the least amount of prejudice when they came here and accepted the out-of-the-ordinary much better.

Childish laughter rang out over the snow-covered landscape as the children ganged up on Harry to dump snow on him. His friend reminded Remy of a disgruntled hedgehog as Harry pulled himself out of the snow and chased several of the older boys around the half-formed fort. From there, the small gathering dissolved into a raucous snowball fight that Remy was tempted to join in.

The feeling that they were being watched kept him from it.

"A new addition to the X-Men, then?"

Remy knew the gravelly voice almost as well as the professor's. His hands clenched at the idea of Magneto having just walked onto the school grounds without being noticed by anyone. His own paranoia had been tempered with the idea of childish fun.

"So, who's this, then?" Harry asked as he suddenly appeared slightly in front Remy, although facing the tree line in the opposite direction.

Remy slowly turned around to find Magneto dressed in his usual outfit, with a multitude of his mutant followers behind him. A part of Remy's mind found the entire situation to be a bit clichéd, although the rest of him was desperately trying to warn the professor as loudly as it could.

Magneto stepped forward, heading directly at Harry.

"I am Magneto," he said in a charming voice. Remy recognized that voice, having almost been fully swayed by it. Only his own agenda had kept him from fully joining Magneto; it had also had stopped him from doing something he would have regretted.