Hello again.
Interlude: A Need You Did Not Know You Had
August 11th, 1995
Dear Headmistress McGonagall:
I know that you have found no suitable candidate for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am writing to offer you my services. I have long experience in both Dark magic and the ways of protecting against it, and I intend to teach the children practical spells and countercurses that none of their previous professors have managed. It is, of course, your choice whether to employ me, but I think you would prefer my presence to that of some of the strangers who must otherwise inevitably appear. You have met me before, and I know the school inside and out, and am committed to its protection. You may not think that you can trust me, but you can.
Acies Lestrange.
August 12th, 1995
I am not interested in employing anyone with that last name, much less a Dark witch. Quite apart from the question of whether to trust you or not, no parent would let their child be taught by someone with your rather unfortunate relatives. Please be so kind as not to insult my intelligence by asking again.
Minerva McGonagall,
Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
August 12th, 1995
Dear Remus:
I hope that you will not think me unkind for appealing to you only now. I had heard nothing of you, and had hoped that you were happy, wherever you were.
Now I must ask that you come out of retirement. I have become Headmistress of Hogwarts, as you must have heard by now, and while I can juggle my duties as Transfiguration Professor with the help of some NEWT students until a suitable candidate can be found, I cannot continue to also be Head of Gryffindor House. I would like to ask you to return and take up this position.
I know that Ministry laws prevent werewolves from holding any paying employment. I have thought of a solution to get around this. I would offer you room and board at Hogwarts, as well as the Wolfsbane Potion that Severus brews, in exchange for your protection and counseling of the Gryffindor students.
Will this be acceptable? You are one of the gentlest men I know, and have a keen sense of right and wrong—sharpened, I think, by your experiences in recent years. I am sorry that I must ask you to return now, when two of your best friends and the previous Headmaster are awaiting trial, and Harry and Connor will be starting their fifth year. But I can think of no one else I would trust at this point in time.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall.
August 14th, 1995
Dear Headmistress McGonagall:
I think you mistake me. I am going to teach at Hogwarts School this year. The position of Defense Against the Dark Arts would be the easiest for me to take, and I know that you have found no candidate for it. Would you truly try to take those classes on your own overloaded shoulders, or give them to someone whom you do not know and cannot trust? Now, with the War beginning and this subject the most crucial in the school? I cannot believe that you would have so little care for your students.
You need not worry about my last name. For years, I have maintained another identity, under my mother's family name: Acies Merryweather. Very few people know of me, or the truth of me. I will not alarm any parents by taking up the post, and I assure you that my teaching skills are up to par.
Acies Lestrange.
August 14th, 1995
Dear Minerva:
I have been in the Seers' Sanctuary, and I am glad that they have lifted the shadows around their home for right now, so that owls may fly in and out swiftly. Otherwise, it is likely that your post wouldn't have reached me until after the school year had already begun, and my answer might take almost as long to return.
I am delighted to take up your offer. I want to be in the world again. I think it's time. The main concern I have is the level of general knowledge as to my lycanthropy. There might be parents who object even to a werewolf not actually teaching their students, as long as I'm in the school, and even if they cannot bring legal objections against us. Are you prepared to deal with this?
Sincerely,
Remus Lupin.
August 15th, 1995
You cannot be serious. You are still a Dark witch, and my other objections still stand. You have come cloaked to me every time I have seen you. How could you teach a class like that?
Minerva McGonagall.
August 15th, 1995
Dear Remus:
I am prepared to fight. Dumbledore's reputation is in all the papers, and the stories about him grow wilder and wilder. I must be seen to be a leader, not merely cringing in the shadow of what he has done, and that includes making my own decisions, as defiant as they might have to be. I have written a polite letter to the Minister, both to inform him of my intentions and to tell him not to interfere. The other storms, I will brave as they come. In certain ways, you return could not have been better timed. The Daily Prophet and the lesser incarnations of the gossip rags are still talking about Harry's parents, about Dumbledore, about the upcoming trial, about the return of You-Know-Who, and about the effects of all of this on the Boy-Who-Lived and the Young Hero, as they have come to call Harry.
Sincerely,
Minerva.
August 16th, 1995
Dear Headmistress McGonagall:
I can control myself for the length of time I have to teach classes. I will hold no student's gaze for more than a few minutes. That should make it all right. My eyes are the most dangerous part of me.
The Dark families who are likeliest to know me are all allies of Harry Potter. In fact, I myself am one of Mr. Potter's allies, though I must admit that I have not been in close contact with him lately. I have been speaking to the Deep Singers, whom you know as dragons. They will be there to help when the storms come. So they have promised me.
Come, Headmistress. You have still not found a candidate, for all your frantic interviews. I have seen that. I have told you one of the prophecies that Dumbledore knew and took care to keep concealed, and I am outside the wards, so that I can see the weaknesses in them. You have need of me. I am ready to fulfill that need.
Acies Lestrange.
August 16th, 1995
Dear Minerva:
That is all I needed to hear. Then I will come to Hogwarts. I ask only that you warn Harry and Connor about it in advance, so that they aren't shocked at seeing me. I should be there four days from now.
Sincerely,
Remus Lupin.
August 18th, 1995
Dear Remus:
Thank you. I will tell Harry and Connor about your return. I'll call Harry, at least, in to meet you a few days before the term starts. I think a face-to-face meeting would be more beneficial for him, and there is someone else I need him to forge a workable relationship with.
Sincerely,
Minerva.
August 20th, 1995
It seems I am not going to get rid of you, and I do need a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. None of the other candidates have been remotely suitable. I warn you, Lestrange. One foot or talon out of line, and I will destroy you, with all the power that is in both me and Hogwarts. I see no reason to hide behind pretty words or trust that I do not have.
Minerva McGonagall,
Headmistress.
August 21st, 1995
Dear Headmistress:
I assure you, that is perfectly acceptable to me. You may confirm with Harry Potter that I am in fact his ally. I will see you in two days. There is a bit of establishing to be done with the Merryweather accounts first.
Acies Merryweather.