"It's coming for me!" Parvati Patil shrieked, shuffling backwards away from the rougarou creeping towards her. The creature had the head of a dog—a big black snarling one that bore a little too much resemblance to Sirius's Animagus form—and a humanoid, gray-skinned body, its hardened nails black and curled like claws. It let out a deep, menacing bark as it approached Parvati, backing her up against the wall.

"I've got it!" Seamus Finnigan yelled, aiming his wand at the rougarou. "Odoratus obfuscio!"

The rougarou froze, glancing around bewilderedly and rubbing at its nose with its claws. With a frustrated growl, it spun around and loped off to the other side of the room, allowing Parvati to extricate herself from the wall.

"Brilliant, Seamus!" Remus called to him, beaming. "You remembered what I said in my lecture about rougarous navigating by scent. Five points to Gryffindor!" Seamus grinned—Hermione Granger muttered something to herself as the rougarou moved towards her and Neville, most likely upset that she hadn't been the one to think of using a Scent-Masking Charm.

"He should be tired out by now," Remus said, watching as the creature stumbled mid-snarl; "the rougarou is not known for its stamina. How about a nice Sleeping Charm to finish him off? Neville, I'd like for you to cast this one."

Neville made a soft whimpering noise, his face going white as he looked at the rougarou. "S—soporius!"

The rougarou stumbled again and let out a high-pitched whine. It collapsed onto its side, its dark eyes drawing shut and its lips sinking down to cover its bared teeth. It was fast asleep.

"Oh, well done, Neville!" Remus exclaimed, and he led the class in a brief round of applause for the Longbottom boy. Neville smiled, looking very much pleased with himself. "Let's get him safely locked up again, shall we?"

He hung back while Harry, Ron and Hermione took charge of getting the rougarou back into its cage, Hermione levitating its body a couple feet off the ground while the boys pushed it back towards its crate and locked it inside.

Remus was loving his first few months as a Hogwarts professor. He loved when his students thought up new ways out of every tricky situation he threw them into, when they used spells or facts that he'd taught them to battle all sorts of creatures and hexes. Most of all he loved the looks on his students' faces when they succeeded, when they realized exactly what they were capable of in the face of danger. Being a professor, making a difference for the next generation of witches and wizards…all of it made him feel happier and more fulfilled than he'd felt since his own days at Hogwarts. Not to mention the effects of Wolfsbane Potion he was given every month; the potion was a miracle for him, turning his full moons into nothing more sinister than energy-draining naps.

Remus liked all his classes, of course—but this class, the third-year Gryffindors, was easily his favorite. It was Harry's class, but it was also Frank and Alice's son's class, and Ron Weasley's, one of the youngest of Molly and Arthur's children. And all of them were friends...it was amazing for Remus to see Harry holding his own against every challenge he faced, to see him thriving and learning alongside Ron and Hermione and all the rest. He hadn't been nearly as big a part of Harry's life as he'd wanted to be, but at least now he knew how well he was doing. James and Lily would have been so proud of him.

"Professor Lupin?" Dean Thomas asked as the class wrapped up, the students chattering excitedly amongst themselves about their fight with the rougarou. "I was wondering…are we going to learn anything about fighting other wizards in here?"

Remus blinked. "The third-year curriculum is Dark creatures—but you'll learn plenty about defending yourself from hexes and curses in your later years."

Now Lavender Brown stepped forward, having overheard their exchange. "Professor, it's just…with Sirius Black on the loose, breaking into the castle and all…what if we have to defend ourselves against him?"

Remus fought to keep his expression neutral, as he had to do every time someone brought up the topic of Sirius. Now the rest of the third years were listening, too, anxiously looking to him for answers he did not have. Merlin, why did it have to be Sirius?

"I know you're all a bit shaken after what happened on Halloween," he said as calmly as he could. "That's perfectly natural. But I promise you that you will be safe from Black as long as you're at Hogwarts. It's not your responsibility to worry about him—that's your professors' job."

"But what if he breaks in and no one notices again?" Parvati murmured. "No one knows how he did it…and he tried to get into our common room!"

Remus bit his lip, feeling a wave of guilt surge within him. No one knows how he did it…. Secretly Remus had been wondering for months if Sirius was using his Animagus form to sneak around undetected; he'd lost count of the number of times he'd almost gone down to Dumbledore's office to divulge the Marauders' biggest secret. But if he did that, he'd have to tell Dumbledore how he'd betrayed his trust for years when he was a student, after everything he had done to ensure his transformations were safe…Dumbledore would never look at him the same way after that. Remus didn't have the heart or the strength to do it—and besides, he told himself, Sirius was working with Voldemort…he must have learned all sorts of Dark magic from him that would help him get past the Dementors. That's how he broke in…it's got to be.

So Remus hadn't told anyone that Sirius was an Animagus. He knew that he should, that Dumbledore and the Ministry needed to know, but still he had keep quiet. Why was he so weak, so cowardly?

"Please," he told his students, a note of pleading in his voice, "don't worry yourselves about Black. Focus on your classes—those are all you should be thinking about." He cleared his throat. "Now, off you get to dinner. We'll be learning about imps next class, so I suggest you read the chapter on them in your textbooks so you'll be better prepared."

Still muttering to each other about Sirius, the class began to file out—Harry and Ron had their heads pressed together in quiet conversation. Lupin slipped behind his desk at the front of the room, preparing to head down for dinner himself. But when he glanced up from his papers, he saw that Hermione was standing before him with a thick roll of parchment in her hands.

"Ah, Hermione," he said, smiling. "What can I do for you?"

Hermione glanced down, looking peculiarly uncomfortable. "Er…I know you told us last class that we didn't have to do the werewolf essay Snape assigned…but I'd finished it already, and I'm not quite sure what else to do with it, so I thought I'd give it to you anyway." She held out the parchment, pursing her lips.

Remus took it from her and set it on his desk. "Thank you, Hermione. I always enjoy reading your work—I might even give you some extra credit for this. Not that you are in need of any."

"Oh." Hermione blushed. "That would be wonderful, Professor. Um…Professor Snape told us to write about recognizing and killing werewolves, but—well, I thought it was more useful to examine the history of lycanthropy in context, and the Ministry's efforts to contain it, so…."

"Sounds wonderful," Remus told her warmly. "I look forward to reading it."

"And, Professor, I—I wanted to thank you for saying you'll help Harry learn to defend himself from Dementors next term. After what happened during the Quidditch game, he's been really shaken up about them. Don't tell him I said that, though," she added quickly.

"I'd be more concerned if Harry wasn't shaken up after that game," Remus replied. "He fell fifty feet off his broom—he's lucky he survived it." Remus shivered a little, though he hoped Hermione couldn't tell. "And there's no need to thank me; I'm always happy to give extra help to someone who needs it." Especially when that someone happened to be James and Lily's son.

Hermione turned to duck out of the room, smiling at Remus—Remus settled down behind his desk and carefully unrolled her parchment. He frowned, biting at the tip of a quill; he knew exactly why Severus had assigned his students an essay on identifying werewolves, and he very much did not like it. If one of his students figured out what he was…and Hermione, genius that she was, the only one who had actually written the essay, was the person he was most worried about. Severus would do anything to get him thrown out; he hated Remus just as much as he had when they were students, and he'd made it clear that he suspected Remus was helping Sirius break into the castle. And in a way, Remus thought darkly, maybe he was helping Sirius, keeping his secret for him….

Remus sighed and tucked away the essay, glancing at the sleeping rougarou and its big black dog head. He'd give Hermione her extra credit, but he didn't need to read her paper. Right now, all he wanted to do was forget.