Author's Note: I'm not dead, and neither is this story. Let's hope. R/R

Chapter Three: The Wolf and the Auror

A moment before we continue to observe the one called Remus Lupin. He is pale, from lack of care and a sort of enforced penitence. Thin, and shaking from chill or fear, Remus carries himself easily. He feigns comfort and affability. He pretends to be relaxed, sleepy, composed. Remus looks unassuming. A thin nose, thin lips, and heavy-lidded eyes that peel back to reveal cool blue eyes that swim. He swims in his clothing, and hides behind his robes. He's had years to prefect this cool guise. But believe when it is said, Remus Lupin is a villain.

Of the most savage kind.

And then, of course, he is also a werewolf.

Du Lac takes him in as she sits behind Severus old desk and reclines. She owns the room, a strange thing considering she is so small. Remus thinks for a moment, how easily he could over power her. It's not his thought entirely, he knows, but still it comes to his mind unbidden and Remus flinched. The thought comes from the Wolf within him. It thinks only of dominance and self-preservation. Remus is thankful for it but fears that moment when thought becomes action.

Because then, the distrust he sees or thinks he sees in Du Lac's eyes would be justified.

"Why don't we begin with something simple." Du Lac purred, opening a small file folder she had produced from the drawer.

"You're using his desk." Remus interrupted. He was staring at the desk, marveling at the orderliness of it. He had not been in this room since before the murder, and staring at it now he could only think of the rage Severus would feel at seeing his shrine so desecrated.

Du Lac smiled. "Yes, I suppose that is simple enough. I am using his rooms, I wanted to better understand him."

"Sleeping in his bed too, I wonder?" Remus tilted his head, watching Du Lac mimicking Grayback as best he could. "How strange."

"And what a strange bedfellow he did make." The Kindly One was undeterred, practically cooing as she demurred her words. She looked down, rifling through the files and folders. "I confess myself surprised, Professor Lupin," a delicate, loaded pause. "May I call you Professor? I admit I found myself surprised so see how easily he entered into the circle of Albus' intimates. Into your trust, from what I gathered you two were hardly friends in school, correct?"

"No."

"No?"

"We were not friends."

"And yet at the drop of a word from one man, you take him on as a brother."

"Not just any man's. Albus Dumbledore's."

"Forgive me. For Caesar's word, you would take a viper into the fold." Du Lac took another loaded pause as she skimmed the files. "Again and again I see it. Here is Moody's statement, 'No, as a rule I did not trust the Death Eater- but Albus trusted him.' Arthur Weasley said he was a strange, cruel man but Albus loved him. And here, former Minister of Magic Fudge says he was almost proud to display a Dark Mark to him. He said Snape never appeared to be more then a follower of the Dark Lord, chained only by the short leash of the Headmaster."

"Yes, Fudge would say that. Hindsight is prefect, is it now."

"The point," She demurred idly, and rose her head softly. "Is all rested on the shoulders of a man. A great man, make no doubt but a man no less. One as culpable and weak as you or I.'

"You're wrong."

"Concerning?"

"Albus was a better man then you or I."

She smiled again and closed the folder. "Such loyalty. Is this the wolf or the man who speaks to me now?"

Remus sat up, watching her. "I am one person."

"It must be terrible," She continued softly. "To lose yourself in the moonlight, to feel the poison that lives within you swell and rage inside until it is obeyed."

"You've never been a teenage boy. I know all about controlling swelling and raging inside of me. Its called surviving puberty."

Du Lac almost smiled. Almost. "Did you trust him?"

"With my life."

"I was talking about Severus."

"So was I."

Du Lac tilted her head once more, looking somewhere between confusion and annoyance. Remus felt his stomach tighten just slightly. He looked at her for the first time then, not as a human would have but the way Grayback had taught him too. Everyone is an animal. Everyone had a dark side, and everyone fought against a beast.

Some were just better at hiding it.

Du Lac had feral eyes. Empty eyes that belied no wisdom behind them, no sparkle of compassion and humanity. They were calm and dark. Focused. Cruel. He'd seen those eyes once before and like he did then, Remus shivered against his better judgment. She had Severus' eyes.

"What do you fear, Remus Lupin?"

"Full moons and walking under ladders."

"Truly? Shall I tell you what I believe?" She reclined against the chair and coiled one arm around the back of the back. Remus noticed for the first time just how small she was. The desk swallowed her whole. "I believe you fear Severus. Not for some pitiful reason like you don't want to die, or you fear this Half-Blood Prince guise. I believe you fear that you are the same."

Remus jerked up, but remained silent. Keep silent beast, Remus whispered to himself. Keep quiet. Albus would have wanted it that way…

"James Potter, and Lily, Sirius…they all trusted you regardless all evidence that pointed to the contrary…and they died for that belief didn't they? It was your word that removed Sirius, as the Potter's Secret Keeper wasn't it? Or was it that you were not entirely…proven to become it all? Was it your word that moved Sirius hand that day at the Ministry? Was it just that you weren't there. You never have been, have you Mr. Lupin? When your friends needed you, you've never been there…and I wonder if…no. I believe it. You want to die for this cause, don't you? Because if you do, you would have proven yourself worthy isn't it?" Du Lac looked down at her papers, and sounded sad. "Forgive me if I insult you, Mr. Lupin. I am pained to hear these terrible words, and I can only imagine the pain you must carry with you at all times…but how you must worry, sir. How you must wonder…"

She was baiting a wolf and it took every instinct and shred of humanity in Remus not to bound over the table and show her the folly of such an action. But he couldn't. He had to trust.

"How you must fear that if, given a situation like the one Severus faced, what would you do? How would Remus Lupin react if given the chance to do what was right, and what was easy… when you have run from every chance this has presented to you in the past, how will you react now, when given the choice."

Remus licked his lips dryly and remained silent for several seconds. It was not because of anger, or even indignity that silenced him. It was that Remus didn't think his voice would hold. When he spoke finally, he could not look up.

"There's something you don't understand…Albus never told Severus what he had to do. He just knew. He trusted Dumbledore enough to know that whatever he had to do, whatever came to pass…he knew Albus could be bigger then that. Somehow, Severus would be bigger then that, just by believing in Albus. You got to understand, Albus had that kind of power. He could make you believe, when all hope was gone. Especially when hope was gone. When your own strength had failed, and you were afraid and weak…somehow he made you believe. Severus believed. And you want to hear something funny?" Remus laughed. "I do too. You're right, I am afraid I won't be…strong enough in the end. But it doesn't matter. Albus believed I could and…you know what." Remus sat looked up then, he wanted Du Lac to see the tears, see the pain and know. "And I believe in Albus."

"Do you believe Albus was right about Severus?"

"I believe…Albus. Everything else, I can't say…just…" Remus closed his eyes. "I believed him."

"What if he was wrong?"

Remus laughed. "Then being strong enough in the end is the least of my worries, Miss Du Lac."

Diagon Alley bustled, quite unaffected that the Half-Blood Prince snaked through her streets and in and out of her shops, unmoved by the bustling. Life continued to move or less at the same rate at always. Here Dark Lords and their Princes were the stuff of lunchroom chats and idle gossip that was exchanged with money over counters, under tables and into the daily vibe. People clustered around each other, bickering over prices and food. In other words, they lived.

If you could call this living.

Severus Snape sidestepped an Auror, and despite his better judgment and personality he looked over, and nodded his head in apology. The Wizard didn't so much as blink at him before pushing away. Snape chewed on his lip and cursed. Security these days. No wonder the Headmaster had been killed…

"Excuse me…?"

Severus turned, more on instinct then thought, and hated himself a moment later. The young man standing there had the look of the eternally young, and naive. He was juggling several books in his arms and wore robes of various shades and wear. The boy had an intelligent look in his face, marred only by the slightest frown at the corner of his lips as if he was staring hard into a fog, trying to discern what stood in front of him. Snape glanced at his hands for a moment, to assure himself that the boy could not reach for his wand faster then Severus could pull his.

"Can I help you?" Severus prodded softly.

The boy smiled slowly, and looked back at the Auror before meeting his eyes. "Professor Snape…it is you. Didn't think I'd see you after all the fuss and rumor…" He glanced back at the Auror again. "Why don't we go, shouldn't make this more difficult…should we?"