A/N: It has been a while, hasn't it? A very long while… I have no excuses except for my inability to write and I apologise if this chapter sounds a little forced. I think my writing style has gotten much, much worse. All right, I will admit the timing is a little off in this chapter, but eh. Call it AU. Lol.

No Time

Remus's bed seemed uncommonly hard as he regained consciousness. Aching cold seeped into his bones, a cold that was familiar from his early morning wake up calls after transformations. Nevertheless, it was not right. It was not the full moon, and even if it was, he should be warm in his room. His eyelids forced open, sleep dulled amber met cold grey stone. Odd. He pushed himself to his knees, forcing back a yawn, and stretched his aching limbs.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stood up, taking in his surroundings. He was in his office. The room looked perfectly normal. The fire had burned down to virtual nothingness, throwing out barely enough heat to warm the air in the grate. A plate and a half empty bottle of butterbeer sat on the desk, next to a pile of fourth year essays and on the small table next to an armchair by the fire lay a thick, old sheet of parchment. He reached over and picked it up, eyes roaming the sheet. Thin inky lines spread over the page, but the name he looked for was nowhere to be found. Although, unfortunately, another person with a name beginning with an 's' was making his way to Remus's office.

He cleared the map and tossed it on to the desk. When the knock came at the door, Remus was prepared. He flicked his wand at the door to admit the visitor.

There in the doorway, wearing an expression that suggested he had recently consumed something foul, stood Severus Snape.

"Ah, Severus," Remus greeted pleasantly. "Do come in."

The Potions Master took a singular step inside and wrinkled his nose in distaste. He levitated a steaming goblet on to the desk, allowing it to drop with a thud. "Don't forget to drink it, Lupin," he snapped irritably, before turning and leaving the room in a flurry of black robes. Before the door slammed, Remus heard a shout of "Ten points from Gryffindor for walking too slowly!"

He rolled his eyes and turned to the steaming goblet on the desk. If he did not know better, he would have sworn that the thing was glaring at him. Squeezing his eyes shut, he consumed the whole goblet in one swallow, shuddering at the foul taste.

Thus passed the term. The days blurred into one another, none more significant than the last. There were times when he swore he saw an expression on Harry's face that suggested he knew that his sighting on the Marauder's Map was not as insignificant as the professor would have him believe.

He kept the map firmly closed on his desk, refusing to open it, for revealing its secrets would mean facing up to reality and the world outside Hogwarts. Remus did not think he could do that.

It was on an evening in late June that he was taken out of his protective bubble and thrust cruelly back into the real world, where he was hated by most.

It was an evening like any other. Remus sat in his office, marking papers and taking the occasional sip from a small glass of fire whiskey. It was a sad night, for it was the last night of the Hippogriff Buckbeak's life. It was also the full moon. The goblet of Wolfsbane potion on the desk winked maliciously at him, causing a shudder to ripple through his body.

He lifted the crystal glass to his lips, and by chance caught sight of the Marauder's Map lying on the mantelpiece. His fingers itched to open it once more, to have the entirety of Hogwarts at his fingertips, again to be nothing more than a mysterious student wizard with unlikely friends.

Dubiously, he levitated the glass slowly back to the desk and purposefully retrieved his quill. He had written no more than a few words when his eyes lifted and met the map again.

Sighing, he summoned the old parchment and opened it, muttering, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," under his breath.

Eyes scanned the page before settling upon a spot in the Hogwarts grounds, beside the Whomping Willow. Two pairs of footprints seemed to be locked in battle with the tree. One labelled 'Harry Potter' and the other labelled 'Hermione Granger'. He frowned. Footprints labelled 'Ronald Weasly' were being dragged down an underground passage by another pair labelled 'Sirius Black'. And yet another seemed to be on top of Ron. Only this one was labelled 'Peter Pettigrew'.

Dropping the map, Remus lurched to his feet. Pausing only to grab his jacket, he strode out of the building and into the grounds, breaking into a run as he saw Harry and Hermione disappear.

Freezing the tree, he flung himself into the passage and ran as best he could without damaging his brain, down the corridor to the Shrieking Shack

He snapped his wand into his hand before swinging open the door. The wand pointed directly in front of him, he advanced into the room.

Hope flashed in Hermione's eyes as she watched him scope the small room. Sirius stepped out of the shadows.

"Remus!" He laughed, sounding slightly unhinged. He embraced the werewolf roughly before turning back to the trio.

"I trusted you!" Hermione all but screamed. "I trusted you! I kept your secret and all this time you've been helping him!" She turned to the boys. "He's a werewolf!"

Harry began to reach around her to extract the wand from her pocket.

"Very impressive Miss Granger. How long have you known?"

"Since Professor Snape set the essay."

"Come on Remus! Let's kill him!" Sirius cackled.

If he was disturbed by this, Remus did not show it. Neither did he flinch when he realised that Harry had the wand pointing directly at him.

"You betrayed my parents," the boy snarled. "And you killed Peter Pettigrew."

"It wasn't him, Harry." Remus stepped in front of the escapee to stop him immediately lurching for the rat. "Harry deserves to know why Sirius."

The door swung open again before anyone else could speak and a creature that much resembled a giant bat stalked in. "Well, well, if it isn't Dumbledore's pet werewolf."

Making a hard decision fast, Harry transferred the direction of the wand to Snape and putting all his force behind it, bellowed "Expelliarmus!"

There was silence save for the splintering crash as the Potions Master was thrown against a rotting cupboard. Ron watched his friend with wide eyes.

Up in the warmth of his office, Dumbledore moved his chess piece. Taking a sip of tea, he smiled. "Checkmate Minerva."

"Really, Albus. I don't know why I continue to play this game with you." Minerva huffed, petting Fawkes.

"Lemon drop?"

"Thank you."

"Rematch?"

"Why not."

Once again, the pieces took their positions and, one by one, were set in motion.

A/N: I am not proud.