As the class of Hufflepuff fourth years practiced their Patronus Charms, Remus Lupin sat at his desk with his head in his hands, trying hard not to nod off. Who knew that a month could go by so quickly? Time really does fly when you're having fun. Madam Pomfrey had wanted him to take the day off, but he didn't want to make it a habit to do so after every full moon. It just brought more attention to himself.
His students all eyed him with concern when they came into the classroom, but he made a point of smiling cheekily at them to restore their confidence. As lunchtime grew nearer however, he felt his energy lacking. Maybe I'll skip lunch and have a short nap before my next class he thought sleepily. He was rudely awakened from his bemused thoughts by a sharp rapping on the classroom door. Groaning and rubbing his eyes, he got up and yanked it open. Professor Snape stood on the other side. When he saw his dishevelled, sleep-deprived colleague he raised an eyebrow and sneered. It was rather a strange thing to see, Remus had never quite figured out how he did it.
"Yes Sniv - er - Severus? What can I do for you?"
Snape paused for a moment and looked the smaller man over, as if sizing him up. After a long moment he spoke. "If you were thinking of taking a nap during lunch Remus, I'm sorry to say you're out of luck." He didn't sound very sorry at all, in fact, he sounded delighted. "The afternoon classes are being canceled, and I am giving a mandatory, full-school class on dueling."
Remus smiled pleasantly. "That's very nice to know Severus. I will inform my afternoon classes about the change in schedule. Thank you for telling me."
He made to close the door, but Snape pushed it open again.
"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily." he said, smiling unpleasantly. "In order to teach, I must be able to demonstrate. And that's where you come in."
Remus choked. The smile on Snape's face grew.
"I'll see you in the Great Hall in five minutes." he said, and with that, he closed the door in Lupin's shocked face.
Four minutes later, Lupin was still in his room, fuming. What the hell was Snape playing at, using him as dueling partner? Snape knew bloody well what would happen if the two of them started fighting. There was too much old rivalry between them, and if they dredged it up again, one of them was going to get hurt. In front of the entire school. Now that would be bloody perfect.
The bell rang, and his students filed out of the room. Lupin, muttering curses under his breath, followed them to the Great Hall. When he got there, he saw that Snape had removed all the House tables. All that remained was the staff table at the far end of the Hall, on which Snape was now pacing, wand in hand. Lupin pushed his way through the crowd and approached the table, fully ready to give Snape a piece of his mind. But before he could reach him, Snape raised his hands for silence. The students slowly settled down, and Snape began to speak,.
"Some of you may not be aware of the reason for this little meeting," he began, "But the Headmaster wishes for all of you to have at least some basic training in dueling. Recent circumstances imply that nobody is completely safe from the threat of You-Know-Who…" A shiver seemed to run through the crowd. The Hall was now deathly silent. " So it is imperative that every person know how to defend themselves at least somewhat. I am aware that some people may already deem themselves to be experts in this area," He sneered and looked around at the crowd, as if searching out the culprits, "But no matter what you think, I am sure you all have something to learn here. Pay attention."
He beckoned Lupin forward, and Remus climbed onto the table reluctantly.
"Professor Lupin will be helping me with the demonstrations today, and-"
"Severus, can you come over here for a moment please?" Lupin's voice was casual, but there was anger simmering beneath the surface. Snape looked confused, but walked over anyway. The students instantly started whispering. Lupin waited until they were quite close to each other before hissing, "What are you thinking? You know just as well as I do that this will not be some innocent little demonstration! If we start fighting, we won't be able to stop ourselves!"
His mouth was set in a grim line and his eyes glinted dangerously. Snape, however, just smirked.
"Scared, are we?" he whispered. Remus resisted the urge to punch him in the nose.
"I'm not scared, I just don't want to settle our old scores in front of the entire school!"
Snape looked supremely unconcerned, and simply said, "Don't worry Remus. I won't hurt you…too much." And then he turned back to the students.
"I'll bet he did this on purpose, just to get even with Lupin." Hermione hissed at Ron and Harry. They looked at her disbelievingly.
"No duh Hermione." Harry said sarcastically. She glared at him. They both looked back at Snape, who was telling the crowd about the Disarming Spell. Lupin was still standing on the end of the table, looking murderous.
"It's really quite a simple spell." Snape said, still pacing. "As you will see…"
Quick as lightening, he whipped out his wand and pointed it at Lupin. Lupin had barely looked up before Snape bellowed, "Expelliarmus!" Remus was blasted off the table and hit the wall with a sickening thud. Several people screamed. Harry yelled in fury and pulled out his wand, pointing it at Snape. Hermione hissed, "Don't!" and pulled his arm down. Several Slytherins, including Malfoy, were laughing hysterically. Harry looked back at Professor Lupin, now sprawled on the floor next to the wall. He was stirring, and Harry rushed to his side, followed soon after by Ron and Hermione. They helped him up, and it was then that Harry noticed a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face.
"C'mon Professor, we're taking you to the Hospital Wing." he said quietly. But Lupin shook them off and stalked back to the table.
"You want to settle old scores Snape!" he shouted. "You want to show me what you're really made of?" he bellowed as he jumped back onto the table. "Then let's finish it! Let's finish what we started all those years ago, that hatred that you can't seem to get out of your mind! C'mon, Snivellus."
And with that, he ripped his outer robes off and flung them to the floor. He stood there, breathing heavily and with a cold dark fury in his eyes, wearing nothing but dark trousers and an undershirt and gripping his wand so hard that Harry half expected it to snap in two.
Snape stood gaping at the slight man in front of him, having never seen him so angry. The students were just as astonished. Nobody had ever seen Lupin lose control before, it was something they had not thought was possible.
It took Snape a long time to recover. But when he did, his fury matched that of Lupin's.
"You always thought you were better than me." he hissed, ripping his robes off too. "Always going around with your stupid little gang. It was so quaint, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, stupid nicknames for stupid fools." He was rolling up the sleeves of his shirt now. "You thought you tricked me didn't you, with your monthly excuses? I'll admit, it took me a while, but I finally figured out what you were. What you were hiding." He had finished with one sleeve and had progressed to the other. "And then your friend, Mr. Sirius Black decided to play a little joke on me, didn't he? He told me how to get into the passage under the Whomping Willow, thought it would be funny if you tore me limb from limb." He had now finished rolling his sleeves and was now simply standing there, white faced, gripping his wand almost as tightly as Lupin. "And you almost did. I'll never forget that night, when I saw you for what you really are. A monster." Then he lifted his wand. Remus did the same. And the fight began.
The students watched the duel in horrid fascination. It was by far the fastest and most dangerous fight any of them had ever seen, except, of course, for Harry and the students who had been in the Hall of Prophecies the previous year. But even they were shocked at the ferocity that the two men poured into the fight. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that this duel would not end until one or both of them were knocked out. Lupin, whose nose was bleeding profusely, had managed to knock Snape to the ground, but they were not making any more progress. Suddenly, Lupin began running down the length of the table, directly at Snape. He jumped off the end, flipped high over Snape's head, and disarmed him while still in the air. It was an amazing trick, made even more amazing by the fact that it worked. Lupin landed lightly on his feet and Snape's wand landed back on the table. Snape himself lay on the ground, gasping for breath, with Lupin's wand pointed directly at him. Everyone stood frozen for several long moments. The only sound was the gasps of the two teachers. Then, finally, Lupin lowered his wand. There was a loud sigh as everyone in the Hall let out the breath they had been holding. Lupin seemed to deflate as his anger left him. He put his wand back in his pocket and went to pick up his robes. Talking broke out among the students as everyone relived what they had just seen.
"Did you see that flip!"
"Yeah, I saw it. What about that Jelly-Legs Curse eh? Too bad Snape blocked it…"
"I wish I could fight like that…"
None of them noticed when Snape, shaking with fury, stood up and seized his wand from the table. Not until it was too late.
"Professor Lupin, look out!"
For the second time that day, Lupin was caught entirely unprepared.
"Legilimors!" shouted Snape, sounding as though he were on the edge of his sanity. Lupin was knocked off his feet, and suddenly, the minds of everyone in the Hall were filled with memories not their own.
A small, brown-haired boy ran to his mother, laughing and smiling. The boy played with a little girl, maybe his sister. A tall, muscular man played with his children, laughing as he told them a story. And then the little boy was running through the woods, screaming and crying.
"Julia! Julia!" he shrieked. "Where are you!"
He was sobbing and shaking so badly he could barely stand, yet still he kept running.
"Juliaaaaa!"
And then, off to the right, there was a scream. The scream of a little girl. The boy turned toward the sound and kept running.
"Don't worry Julia! I'm coming!"
The boy stumbled and slipped and fell over, but he kept going, until at last, he came to a clearing. And it was there that he saw something that would haunt him for the rest of his life. His little sister, being torn to pieces by a monster.
"Nooooooo!"
He was seeing red. He grabbed a fallen tree branch, not caring that it was twice his size, and ran toward the monster, not caring that he was making the mistake that would define him. All he cared about was putting that creature in as much pain as it had put his sister in.
He hit the werewolf with all the strength he could muster. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he raised the branch for another blow, but he was too late. The monster had recovered, and knocked the branch out of the boy's hands as easily as it would a toothpick. Then, without hesitation or regret, it launched itself at the boy's chest. It's teeth cut through the tender flesh of the boy's right side like scissors on wrapping paper. The sound of ribs breaking and desperate screams split the night air. Even as he vomited blood, the boy struggled against the creature holding him down. He reached down to his left boot with one shaking, bloodstained hand. Finally, he found what he was looking for. Grasping the handle of the knife, he pulled it out of his boot and slashed his attackers face with it. Howling, the monster released him. But only for a second. It attacked again, this time going for the boy's throat. But it had forgotten about the knife. It's eyes went wide as it entered it's windpipe. It backed away from the boy, wheezing. Then it collapsed.
A new memory, this time the boy was in a small room, the only light coming from a barred window near the ceiling. He was huddled in a corner, trembling and naked. When the light from the window began to dim, he looked up with wide, horrified eyes. Finally, the light died completely, and the boy whimpered in the darkness. And then the moon rose, the light filled the little room, and the boy began to scream…
"STOP IT!"
The boy's features began to soften and change shape as he shrieked in agony…
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
The image became blurred and distant, and young Lupin's screams faded and melded with those of his older self.
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
And suddenly, the image disappeared completely, and they were back in the Great Hall. Snape was lying on the ground, unconscious, his wand nowhere to be seen. Lupin was standing over him, wand in one shaking hand, tears streaming down his face.
The silence seemed to stretch for an age.
