"Remus, did you know about the attack by Sirius? I'm shocked Hermione didn't mention it to either of us, but we were in my office most of the day. Why didn't Lily come looking for me? I'm sure she's overly anxious about it now," I said, bursting into Remus' room early the next morning, having received an anonymous letter in the middle of the night that was definitely in Sirius' writing. It was now Monday morning and this had happened Saturday night. Yes, me and Remus had been in the come and go room that night, but I was still surprised we hadn't heard about it.
"Avery, Avery, calm down. I'm sure there's a reason Lily didn't come to find you. She's very independent, just like you were at her age. You have nothing to worry about," Remus said, embracing me tightly.
"He's getting too bold, Remus. I think he was going after Ron's rat. He was in their dormitory for Merlin's sake!" I said, pulling away from him and pacing.
"I agree, he needs to be more careful. I have a bad feeling, Avery. Something is going to happen that we won't be able to do anything about. Whatever might happen with Sirius, I want you to stay out of it, do you hear me?" Remus said and I have him a bewildered look.
"Absolutely not. If I can help you at all through whatever might happen I want to. I don't care what it might cost for myself," I said, wringing my hands together.
"What about Lily?" Remus asked and I stopped short.
"Lily will be fine. This has nothing to do with her," I said, turning to face Remus slowly.
"Come on, we should get down to the Great Hall. We can talk about this more tonight after dinner," he said, taking my hand to lead me out of his office so we could go to the Great Hall for breakfast. When it came time for my first year class right after lunch, I noticed one student in particular that was missing. I was internally panicking that Lily wasn't in class, hoping maybe she just had a cold or something, but I found it odd that I hadn't heard from her. I watched as the first years filed into Remus' classroom for the final class of the day, surprised to find that Lily was walking into the room with her friend Romilda. I knew my third year class could tell I was completely distracted while I was teaching, so I dismissed the class a bit early.
"Erm, professor?" I heard after all of the students had left my classroom, or so I had thought, and I was sitting with my face covered by my hands.
"Oh, Harry. Is everything all right?" I said, standing back up.
"Yeah. At least, I think so. I was talking to Lily yesterday, you know, after the Sirius Black attack, and we came to find you and Professor Lupin, but we couldn't. She's worried, she and Hermione have figured something out, but they won't tell me what. And with Sirius Black so close, she wonders if he even knows she exists. What if he goes after her next?" Harry said, asking a lot of questions all at once.
"Well, Sirius Black can assume she exists, I told both him and your parents that me and Remus were expecting the day before everything happened. He has no reason to go after her, though. He has no reason to go after you, either, to be totally honest. I'm not sure what she and Hermione are going on about, though," I said, hoping they hadn't figured out that Remus was a werewolf.
"Yeah. Well, thanks professor," Harry said and left my classroom, nearly running right into Remus on his way into my classroom. I vaguely heard their short conversation before Remus was up at my desk.
"You're worried about something," Remus said.
"Lily wasn't in class today. At least not mine," I said with a sigh, refusing to look at Remus.
"She was very distracted during my class today, which is very unlike her," Remus said, sitting in a chair next to my desk.
"She and Harry seem to be getting close. He was just telling me how she's worried Sirius might try to go after her, too. I assured him that there is absolutely no reason Sirius would go after Lily. He said something else too," I said and could see Remus' face drop at my tone.
"Go on," he said cautiously.
"He said that Lily and Hermione have figured something out, but they refuse to tell anyone else what it is. You and I both know how bright those girls are. I'm scared they've figured out your little, um, problem," I said slowly, trying to gauge his reaction.
"I see. Well, even if they have, neither one of them has said anything to either of us, or anyone else for that matter. We would know if they had," Remus said, standing up and walking over to me. He took my hand and pulled me to stand up in front of him, putting his arms around me.
"Remus, we can't do this. My classroom door is open," I said, trying to push him away.
"There are already rumors about the two of us and what our relationship might be and the important people all know about it, I see no reason to hide anything anymore," he said, taking one arm from around me but tightening the other around my waist.
"While that may be so, I still don't want to take any chances," I said, ducking out from under his arm reluctantly and he sighed.
"I know there are many other, more important, things we need to worry about right now, but I still can't help but want the Easter holiday to get here quickly," Remus said as we walked to the door of my classroom.
"Honestly, I do feel the same way. Lily has already told me she wants to stay here for those two weeks because Harry is staying and she doesn't want him to get lonely," I said, closing the door to my classroom behind us before heading to the Great Hall.
"Is that so? And you're okay with that?" Remus asked me, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"If that's what she wants to do, then yes. She'll be perfectly fine here and I suspect she may just want the break from her mother, too. I try to keep my nose out of her business as much as I can, but being her mother that's not always possible, I know she probably feels like I'm breathing down her neck sometimes," I said and just then Lily ran up to the pair of us.
"You weren't in class today," I said to her before she could even open her mouth to say hello.
"I know, I'm sorry mum. I was helping Hermione with some research and we just lost track of time is all," she said and though I was still suspicious of her I did believe that was something she would do.
"Just don't let it happen again, I don't want you getting into trouble with other professors for something like that," I said.
"I won't. I was wondering if I could ask you something, though. Um, privately?" she said, seeming uncertain of herself.
"Of course, sweetheart. We'll catch back up," I said, gesturing for Remus to leave us to talk. "So what's wrong?" I asked Lily, sitting down on a bench, glad that we were lucky enough there was no one else around.
"Hermione has a theory, about dad, and I obviously don't know if it's true, but I can't help but think it is," she said vaguely.
"And what is this theory?" I asked, getting a sinking feeling.
"Well, she thinks dad is a, um, well, she thinks he's a werewolf," Lily said quietly and it took me a moment to respond. "So it is true?" Lily exclaimed a little too loud.
"Lily, listen. I know it may seem that way, I have a feeling you and Hermione have been keeping tabs on him, hm?" I said, trying to convince her otherwise but knowing I was failing miserably.
"That's why you sent me away right after Christmas. I know the full moon was on the 28th of that month. Mum, I'm not stupid and if you don't tell me then I'll just assume the worst," she said. Sometimes I hated how much like me she really was. I sighed in defeat, knowing it was better to just tell her.
"Fine. Yes, you two are correct. But under no circumstances can you utter a word about this to anyone, do you understand me? It could mean the loss of a lot of things for your dad, including but not limited to his job here at Hogwarts. I know you're fully aware of how his kind are treated," I practically whispered.
"I swear we won't tell a soul. I just wanted to know if it was true or not," she said, standing up, and I followed to walk to the Great Hall with her.
"Well, now you know. And the next time we send you away for this same reason you won't question me, okay?" I said and she nodded vigorously. "Now, do you still want to stay here at Hogwarts for the Easter holiday?" I asked her, trying to change the subject.
"Yes. March 27th is the full moon, I know you and dad want to keep me safe so I'll stay here and keep Harry company," she said, a bounce suddenly in her step.
"The two of you have gotten close since term started back," I said casually and noticed a slight flush to her face at the comment.
"He's cool, and Hermione too. Ron is okay, he just keeps going on and on about how Hermione's cat killed his rat. It's at least once a week he's complaining about the ugly thing being missing," she said and my breath hitched at the mention of Ron's rat, but luckily Lily didn't notice.
"Perhaps he needs to keep a closer eye on him, don't you think?" I said and she grinned at me.
"That's exactly what me and Harry keep telling him!" Lily said and by then we had reached the Great Hall and she went to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Harry while I made my way up to the staff table. Once I was done eating I got up to leave and told Remus to meet me in my office later. Once he got to my office I was already pacing, nervous about what Lily had told me.
"They know," was all I said to him after he closed the door and all of the color drained from his face.
"So Hermione and Lily have figured it out?" he said, sitting down and running his hand over his face.
"Yes, but Lily swore to me that they wouldn't tell a soul, they just wanted to know if they were correct or not. And now that she knows this Lily is even more adamant that she's staying here while you and me go home for the Easter break," I said, running my hand through my hair nervously.
"Well, the full moon in March is the day after students leave for the break," Remus said.
"I know. I hate that you have to start the break off that way," I said, sitting beside him.
"I'd much rather have it at the beginning and be able to enjoy the rest of the break than anything in all honesty. Plus we'll have the house to ourselves anyway," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I just rolled my eyes at him and we fell into comfortable conversation until late in the night. The next few weeks went by very uneventfully apart from a quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and soon enough it was time for students to leave for the Easter break. It was Saturday morning before the train left Hogsmeade station and I was doing a last minute check on Lily to make sure she would be okay while me and Remus were gone. We were in the Gryffindor common room, other students around us hurrying to make the train on time.
"You're sure you'll be okay over the break?" I asked her again and she sighed.
"Yes, mum, I'll be fine. Harry will be here and a few others too. And I know you'll ask Professor McGonagall to check up on me at least once," she said and she was right, I had already asked Minerva to check on her while I wasn't there to do so.
"I just worry about you. You're getting so independent now and starting to really grow up," I said, tucking her long sandy hair behind her ear. As she got older she looked more and more like Remus.
"You don't need to worry about me, mum. I think you probably need to worry about dad a bit more than me," she said and I knew she was right, Remus had looked awful at breakfast that morning and I know it would just get worse with the full moon being the next day.
"While that may be true, you don't need to worry about him, though, okay?" I said, knowing the look on her face.
"I'll try not to. I know he'll be in a safe place and he'll have you there, but I never realized how back that kind of thing was on him until recently," she said, worry clear on her face.
"Exactly. Plus he has the potion. It'll be just like it was over the Christmas holiday," I said and we both stood up, most of the students having left the common room at that point.
"I love you, mum, I'll see you after break," she said, hugging me and I hugged her back tightly.
"I love you, too, Lilybug. Write if you need anything and try not to cause too much trouble while I'm gone," I said, kissing the top of her head quickly.
"I'll try not to. Bye, mum," she said and I ducked out of the Gryffindor common room to go find Remus, ready to be home with him for a while.
"There you are, Professor Lupin, I was just looking for you," I said with a smile when I found him just where I thought he would be, outside of his classroom with his things ready to go. He looked exhausted and in pain.
"Hello, Professor. Are you ready?" he asked me, following me over to my classroom so I could grab my things.
"I am, just let me grab my things," I said, ducking into my classroom to retrieve my trunk that I'd stashed just inside the door. We made our way up to Professor Dumbledore's office so we could floo to our house. It was easier on Remus this close to the full moon than it would have been to apparate. We walked into the headmaster's office once we heard him say come in and quickly made our way through the fireplace to our home. I took both of our trunks upstairs while Remus sat on the couch and joined him once I'd gotten everything put away for the next two weeks.
"Do you need anything?" I asked him, pushing his hair out of his face and he gave me a small smile.
"No, I'm okay for now. Let's order a pizza tonight, what do you think?" I said, laying his head on my lap as he stretched out on the couch and I instinctively started to run my fingers through his hair.
"You know the way into my heart so well," I said with a small grin. That night and into the next day I let Remus rest and sleep as much as he needed to, wishing he didn't have to go through his transformation. The night of the full moon he decided to stay in the living room during the transformation and we had already decided he could come up to the bedroom like he had during the Christmas break after I was already asleep if he wanted to.
"I'm heading to bed, I'll be sure to leave the door open for you. I love you," I said to Remus, knowing I needed to go before I fell asleep on the couch.
"I love you, too. I'll be there if you wake up, I don't want you to be startled," he said and I kissed him goodnight, heading upstairs to get ready for bed. Before I was fully asleep I heard the bedroom door creak open and could hear him walk over to the bed and lay down on the floor next to the bed and I smiled to myself, already feeling safe just with him in the room.
