Chapter Two

Remus sighed. Work was a drag. It was difficult for a forty-year-old manwith only a recently-acquired GED to get a job. However, he had found one. He sighed again before plastering on a fake smile and walking up to the counter. "Would you like fries with that?"

Oh, yes, he was definitely going to go to College. Damn, have to get back to the burgers before they burn, he thought. At that instant all the burgers on the stove flipped themselves. He gasped. Did that just happen?

The manager stormed up to Remus. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, sir." God it felt weird to have to address a man ten years younger than himself as 'sir.'

"Remus, I know you like to have fun, and maybe that's why you never finished school, it's not my place to judge. But, That had to've been one of your pranks. There's no other explanation."

"I didn't do it, sir. I really have no idea how that happened."

"If you can't admit to a small prank like that, that gets work done, I'm going to have to let you go."

"It honestly wasn't me, sir," Remus replied in a frightened whisper.

The Manager sighed. "Fine. Alright. I guess, if you still insist, running the risk of your job, you didn't do it. I'm sorry."

He clapped Remus on the shoulder before turning and leaving.

Remus unlocked the door of his apartment and scooped the mail off of the floor. Ah, there it was. A letter from New York University. He hesitated before tearing it open. "Dear Mr. Lupin, We are pleased to inform you, you have been accepted into the New York University School of Arts and Sciences…" He read aloud. "WOOOT!"

He flicked on his stereo and out came "Stairway to Heaven."

"Yes, there are two roads you can go by / But in the long run / There's still time to change the road you're on,"he screached at the top of his lungs.

Remus danced around the apartment singing, before sifting through the rest of his mail. The last letter in the pile was in a thick cream envelope, with no return address. The handwriting seemed like it should be familiar, but didn't register. He opened it, more carefully, and with less hurry than the other.

Lupin,

Headmistress McGonagall is here. She says there was a burst of magic from your place of employment this afternoon. (She won't tell me where, so it must be insignificant, hmmm?) Anyway, she says you are the only person employed there with any magical history. I've done some research on what happened a few years ago. When you lost your magic, it apparently wasn't lost at all. When the Potion rearranged your DNA, it blocked your magic from you to help you heal quicker, and has been gradually returning since then.

Deputy Headmaster Hogwarts School of Wizardry,
Severus Snape

Remus stared at the parchment and let out a bark of laughter before sighing. Could this day get any better?

For two students with such similar interests and such distinctive looks, it was amazing that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had gone through nearly four years of college at New York University without running into each other. Until they did. Literally.

Both boys liked to run early in the morning. It helped them to find themselves for the day, it also kept them in perfect condition for soccer (for Harry) and tennis (for Draco).

This one morning, however, Draco chose to change the path he usually ran, and went the opposite direction. He wasn't really paying attention, nor had he consciously made the decision for the change, his feet just took him that direction. He was zoned out, trying to figure out thatphysics formula the professor was trying to explain yesterday.

Harry Potter was jogging around campus, thinking on a topic for his upcoming philosophy paper, when he ran into something, or rather someone. He fell on top of the other person. "I'm sorry," he murmured, " I wasn't paying attention."

He pushed himself off the ground and offered the other young man a hand up. A soft hand gripped around his, and Harry pulled, finding himself staring into a pair of cloudy silver eyes. Both boys gasped. "I didn't know you were here," they said at the same time, then laughed.

"Wow," Draco chuckled, "you've changed."

"So have you," Harry replied.

And it was true. Both had changed dramatically. Harry had finally started to gain some weight, and now looked less like a scarecrow, and more like a well-muscled and handsome young man. His raven hair, although still unruly, had tamed enough that he could pull it into a ponytail at the base of his neck. A hairstyle, he saw the blonde had adopted as well. Draco, no longer looked like he had never seen sunlight. He had a nice gold-tinted tan, was obviously well, muscled, also, and tall. He was now the same height as Harry, who had towered over him, even when they were twenty.

"You play a sport, of course." Once more together. Again, they laughed.

"Tennis," Draco grinned.

"Soccer," Harry grinned back.

Draco suddenly took a deep breath. Puzzled, Harry asked, "What?"

"You're talking."

Harry smiled. "Yeah. It took a few years, though."

"I wasn't there for it." There was regret and sadness in this simple statement.

"No one was. I had to get over myself."

"I didn't even tell you where I was."

"Nor I you."

"I'm sorry."

"So'm I."

"You want to come back to my apartment for breakfast?"

"How about you come running with me first? Be almost like old times again."

"Sure."

They grinned at each other and started off, their pace automatically adjusting to the other's until they ran with the same rhythm, the same strides, the same breaths. Yes, just like old times. Running around Hogwarts grounds every morning before the rest of the school awoke.

Sirius Black sat in his studio appartment, reading his mail. Several were from universities begging him for an interview, but one intrigued him beyond any other. New York University was inviting him to teach a two-week seminar for the creative writing majors, along with an interview with the publisjers of the school's two papers. He had always wanted to teach at Hogwarts, but due to his past... yes, that was the one he would agree to. Besides, New York should be interesting.