Lupin could feel her anger, when Dorcas said she would never forgive him, she had meant it. The air in the room had jumped in temperature even as she said it, even as Alastor couldn't find anything to say to that, even as he thought of the words to tell her why that didn't matter to him.

Lupin felt sad for all of them and now he was sitting across from Alastor and had to explain why he couldn't go see her. Lupin had excused himself to the nook so they could have more space. Something had made him turn and he had only caught the tail end of their body language. He saw Alastor Moody, legend and hero, marshall all his strength to remove his hands from the side of Dorcas' face. He finally removed them and shook them as if they'd been burned. Lupin turned to look out of the window facing something like an alleyway it was such a mundane, almost cliche scene, he half expected a black cat to trot down the street. Lupin heard Alastor mumble something and then she said it. The next thing he knew she was in the nook with him telling Lupin it was time to leave. Lupin turned very briefly to Alastor standing in the same place in the kitchen when he saw very briefly what Alastor felt that if she hated him that was alright as long as she was alive and safe. That would be enough forever. Alastor turned and by then, Lupin had turned and was following Dorcas out of the house. That was the last time Alastor saw her alive. Standing right in front of him. He had been smart enough, or scared enough, that he had not turned to watch her leave the house. To not witness her literally turn her back against him.

"You can't go see her, Mr. Moody."

Alastor sighed deeply.

Lupin would not tell Alastor where she was. At first Lupin had to contend with who should know and thought it unnecessary to tell anyone at all. Not even Sirius knew and Sirius didn't ask. Alastor knew she could leave but wouldn't out of loyalty and respect for him. He could however go and find her if he wanted. Lupin thought he had done a fairly good job. He hadn't. It was both far away and in a discreet location. But his age gave him away again. Alastor knew and understood their relationship. Lupin knew enough about her and loved her as a friend and sister to put her where she wouldn't lose her mind. Anything Alastor knew about Dorcas, Lupin would know too. If Lupin had spoken to Philippa she would have told him how obvious it would be to hide her at that cottage but Philippa was in hiding herself and Philippa was the one who had told him about Dorcas and her swimming. Dorcas had sent her away, no one, Dorcas knew, would be able to find her. No one would know anything about her whereabouts except for the people she had entrusted to receive her. Philippa would have hidden Dorcas better, they had more secrets, Dorcas was the only one who could crack Philippa's cyphers and vice-versa. It took Alastor several tries but he knew enough to find her eventually and though he told himself that Lupin should have done a better job, he had done well. It would have been obvious to Philippa but how to anyone else? No one had found her until Alastor started looking for her and deep down, he knew that.

Alastor's stomach lurched. He should have waited for her to come back and then moved her again. It was too late.

Lupin thought it was unfair to be told he didn't understand. He was risking his life moving in these circles, sniffing out, so to speak, this information. He had ways of confirming how widely a comment was known. He knew he might not make it clear but he would try.

"You don't understand." Alastor had said.

"I understand." and with that, Lupin knew that he had made a point. All this time he had worked so hard to convince Alastor how bad an idea it was to find her and he could have just said all along 'I understand' and mean it and there it was. Alastor did know, about Lupin, about how he felt and about whom. He didn't know the details or reasons.

He laid back in his chair.

"She would be very easy to find."

"It was your idea that she go into hiding in the first place."

"It wasn't my idea alone. I couldn't force her to go."

"And yet, she's not here."

"I need to speak with her."

"I understand, Mr. Moody, but I can't tell you where she is but she's safe there."

Alastor was always so surprised when people gave away so much information about themselves and why it was always the ones that played on the same team. He knew how he felt about Dorcas. Lupin was there when they said goodbye. He was patient, kind, he could sense things. Probably a werewolf. Left at around- yep. A werewolf. Lupin also had someone in his life that he couldn't have or felt he didn't deserve to have. He had been the one to escort her to a secret place so she trusted him enough to go with him. Alastor knew slightly more. Lupin always looked tired, he wasn't trying to make his or anyone else's life more difficult than it needed to be.

Dorcas could live anywhere, if necessary, and probably told Lupin as much. She had, in fact, been surprised to find how tidy and comfortable the cottage had been. She really thought she would have had to sleep in a hole somewhere. Alastor knew this too. The place wouldn't move, that is to say Lupin had left her in one place. He was certain it was by water. All he had to do was get more information on Lupin. If he moved around as a child, as a young man, even now there were bands of time where Lupin disappeared and no one knew where he was or had been or what he'd done. This would be the most difficult part, if anything. But Alastor was sure he would find her.

And he did, the cottage at least. She wasn't there. She had gone swimming and so didn't see the gentle, little puff of smoke alerting her that someone had broken the barrier where the enchantments lay. She would not notice the gentle, second little puff emanating from the fusfium either. Two little clouds and then a pause and two more than a pause then just the one again and again and then nothing and by the time she got back there was no evidence at all that anyone had been anywhere near where she was and she slept as well as she ever did. Bored but snug in a plain little cottage by the sea and not on the run moving from hide out to hide out or in hole in a cave somewhere in the mountains shivering where she thought she might have been hidden but for Lupin's thoughtfulness.