A/N: Hi. Forgotten me yet?

Renewal

His head ached, his back ached, his shoulders ached, even his eyes seemed to ache. It hurt to move his head or even twitch his fingers. The white sheet covering his battered body was stained with blood and felt like a tonne of bricks weighing down on his body. With great effort, he forced his eyes open, squinting against the light. The feral glint in his eyes had faded. His tawny hair was matted and spread out over the pillow. Instead of resembling the fierce, powerful creature he had been the night before, he looked like nothing more than a broken man.

Memories of the previous night slowly rippled in. He patiently waited, having nothing else to do.

Walking down the passage from the Shrieking Shack. Levitating Snape. Pettigrew the betrayer. Talking. Fresh night air. Staring with horror at the people accompanying him. Moon hanging in the sky. The moment he fears above all others.

Everything else is a blur.

Biting, tearing flesh, freedom, Padfoot leaping towards him. Running, tearing, destroying.

Remus shuddered. The memories of his transformations were very rarely good ones. A realisation crept forward.

Wormtail escaped.

Another thought followed.

I have to tell Dumbledore

Groaning, he pushed himself up on to his elbows. Before he could swing himself off the bed, he heard footsteps and voices approaching.

"Did you hear? They caught Black yesterday-"

Everything else faded out of Remus's mind. Sirius had been captured. That meant he was to receive the Kiss. He could not let that happen. Not now he was finally convinced of his old friend's innocence.

The werewolf all but threw himself off the bed. He picked up his wand, which had been lying on the table by his bedside, and shuffled out of the room, using the wand to clothe himself. The halls were, thankfully, deserted. Apparently, everyone was in class. He must have missed breakfast.

His mind ordered his stomach to growl with hunger, but it would not comply. He was not hungry.

Stumbling to a halt in front of the gargoyle, Remus frowned. "Uhm… Fizzing Whizbee? Chocolate frog?"

A rough, ominous clicking and roaring indicated the password was correct. Since before he attended Hogwarts, Dumbledore had used the names of various sweets as the password to his office, claiming it helped him to appease his inner child. Why he needed an inner child completely baffled Remus, since the headmaster had plenty of outer child left. However, such thoughts were to be kept for another time. This was the present and for once, Remus did not have the time to waste pondering about the nature of Albus Dumbledore. That infernal time-demon had once again hauled him by his hair into the present when he preferred to dwell on the past and dropped him there on his rear end as a subtle sign to get a bloody clue.

The werewolf climbed the stairs as best he could, and practically fell into the office of Albus Dumbledore.

"Ah, Remus," he said with a bright, twinkling smile that seemed to Remus like obscene Christmas lights. "Poppy is turning the castle upside down in search of you. Lemon drop?"

"Enough with the lemon drops Albus!" He snapped irritably, head thudding. "Have you caught Sirius?"

Dumbledore calmly sipped his tea. "I am afraid to say that he was discovered yesterday."

Remus cursed breathily and fell into a chair. His heart plummeted to his toes, beating fast and erratically. "You can't let them perform the Kiss." A tremor was evident in his voice. "He's innocent Albus!"

"My dear boy, do contain yourself. Sirius Black was indeed captured last night but escaped before any action could be taken." He popped a lemon drop into his mouth.

Remus started breathing again. "H-How?"

"I must confess ignorance on that front Mr Lupin." The Headmaster's bright blue eyes took on a more sombre tone. "There is something else I must discuss with you."

"Oh?"

"Severus made an error in judgement this morning over breakfast."

Remus paled considerably. "He told everyone about my lycanthropy?"

Albus nodded gravely. "I need to know your response."

"My response? I can't say I wasn't expecting it. My time here has been borrowed time Albus. Of this, I am aware. I was lucky he told no one…before."

"Black! What sort of disgusting prank is this?" A lanky, greasy haired boy calls into the passage before him. There is no one else in sight.

Suddenly, a pair of sharp, amber eyes breaks through the darkness before the boy's eyes. A large, tawny wolf leaps for him.

The wolf is knocked away by huge antlers belonging to a stag. The wolf snarls and turns away, oblivious to the whines and yelps of the dog hidden behind a rock.

Remus shook his head. It had been so hard to forgive Sirius for that incident. The animagus had a cruel streak that he and James had indulged with the tormenting of Severus Snape. The Potions Master had not come from a Dark family and Remus sometimes wondered if it had been partly their heartless cruelty towards the man that had caused him to join Lord Voldemort.

It was so hard to reconcile that broken, unhinged man, standing on the cliff of sanity with his toes hanging over the edge with the carefree but fiercely loyal boy Remus had known during his education.

"I think… No… I know I will be leaving. Thank you for this opportunity Albus. It has been a real eye-opener." Something settled in his chest and things seemed brighter, sharper, and clearer. Instead of drifting along like a stick thrown into a river, he was taking control again. After twelve years of living in the past, Remus Lupin was taking his life back.

"Very well Remus. I am sorry to see you go, and so I should think are many students and most of the staff."

"Thank you Albus," Remus repeated, standing up slowly.

"Oh! Poppy insisted I give you this, should I see you."

The headmaster handed a small vial of potion to Remus, smiling, the twinkle had returned in full force. "Pain relieving potion." He explained.

The werewolf smiled thankfully and downed the potion in one swallow. "Thank goodness for small miracles."

Albus studied him warily. "It is perhaps best if you do not take the Hogwarts Express on the return journey."

Remus inclined his head agreeably. He left the Headmaster's office with a strange bounce in his step for someone whose deepest secret has just been revealed to an entire school. Musing upon the sound of the hem of his tattered robe brushing the stone floor, he made his way to the Owlery to fetch Orion.

Upon entering the owl dung and pellet soiled room, he was met with an unexpected sight. The Overgrown Bat himself was bent almost double over a medium sized tawny owl, bribing it with owl treats. It was a great effort not to laugh, but the werewolf managed it. Perhaps this was the Fates' way of saying, 'yeah he told everyone you're a werewolf, but look at this! He talks to his owl.'

"Good morning Severus." He greeted, making his way over to his own owl. Orion climbed complacently on to his arm and started searching his pockets for food.

Snape was certain that Remus had eaten or drank something illegal to make him so damnably cheerful and not cursing him into small pieces. However, he dare not voice his concern for fear that said cursing might occur.

"Stop living in the past Severus," Remus advised on the way out. "Harry is not James and never will be."

A scathing remark bubbled to the Slytherin professor's lips, but what came out was entirely different to what he had planned. He straightened, holding his owl on his left arm.

"This is Isis, my owl. Look for her on the day of the full moon every month."

Remus searched his former colleague's dark eyes. He nodded slightly. "Thank you."

If he did not know better, he would have said the expression in Snape's eyes was apologetic. But really. This was Severus Snape and he did not do apologies.

A/N: Just one more chapter and perhaps and anepilogue to go..