Something had changed since he left his house this morning. The rusting gate that had been falling apart since he'd moved here and he'd been meaning to fix forever didn't shriek and resist, but swung open smoothly without a sound. Remus did not stop moving, but he carefully put his hand on his wand as he walked slowly towards the tumbledown cottage he called home.
Out of the corners of his eyes he watched the shadows, noticing all the places a black dog could hide.. Watching, listening for any sign of movement.
He'd grown lax over the years. He should have kept his driveway free of distractions, but he'd put up some flowers in a pot years ago in an attempt to cheer up the worn down place. He'd planted bushes by the left window because that's where he's put up chains on the wall inside, and he did not want the neighbours to see. Anything could be hiding in there. They were large enough to hide a man.
" Go on, Lupin, faster!" James said as he circled around them. "Wipe that grin off his face."
Sirius wasn't grinning though, his expression was blank, his eyes were on Remus' wand.
Even if he'd lose this duel, Remus was proud that Sirius at least would need to work for his victory.
" Disarm him, Sirius!" Peter shouted from the other side.
Sirius looked over his shoulder briefly, and Remus took that moment to cast a full body-bind curse.
Sirius' eyes grew wide, he took a step back, almost stumbled… and then somehow found the speed to block.
" You almost had me there, Remus." He said. "But you're overthinking things. Petrificus totalus. Too many damned syllables. With an expelliarmus I'd have lo-"
" EXPELLIARMUS!"
Sirius' wand was ripped from his hand, and though he tried to grab it and very nearly managed, it flew to Remus' hand in a straight line.
Remus grinned.
"I may be overthinking." He said, as he handed it back. " But you're overconfident."
Sirius Black was not invincible. That was what Remus told himself as he took a deep breath and walked past the bushes. He had his weaknesses and Remus knew them well. He was not without a chance…
His key turned smoothly in the lock, not a hint of the usual jam, not a hint of a creak. There was an additional incantation to "Alohomora" that few knew, that would not only open a lock, but allow the caster to open a door without being heard. Remus did not quite remember the spell.. But he could imagine Sirius could. His work for the order had often involved a need to enter smoothly and quietly. He could be waiting in the dark, wand pointed at the door.
Remus took a deep breath, and then he swung the door open, casting an illumination spell into the room, hoping to blind the person lurking there and buy himself some time to figure out what to do.
But though there was someone waiting in the dark, it wasn't who Remus was expecting.
" Professor… I…"
"Good call, Mister Lupin." Dumbledore said. "I needed some lightning up. I trust that you've heard the news?"
" I've seen a poster. He's escaped."
" He has indeed. Quite a remarkable feat, but then, I suppose he always was a remarkable boy. Don't you think?"
Behind the half moon spectacles Dumbledore's eyes were studying him, and Remus felt the words dry up in his mouth.
" I... " He said. " He was always… He had good grades."
" He had good grades," Dumbledore said. " And he was a very dear friend of yours."
Remus stared at his former headmaster, uncertain what he should say. It had been a while since anyone had remembered that. Remus had always done his best to make everyone forget, including himself.
" Or so I believed." He said hoarsely.
Dumbledore's eyes were on him and Remus did not dare move, hating the scrutiny he was under. Too many people saw a werewolf and nothing else. Dumbledore had always been one of the exceptions. Dumbledore. James. Peter...Sirius…
"Did you ever visit him in Azkaban, mister Lupin?" Dumbledore asked.
Remus shook his head.
" Nor did I." Dumbledore said. "Terrible creatures, dementors. They drain the life and soul right out of you. To be able to fight that, to not succumb for twelve years.. A remarkable feat indeed. And you have no idea how he might have managed?"
"No."
Remus knew he should tell. He knew he should tell Dumbledore of the full moons he spent with his friends, running free in the dark forest. Of the mischief they'd made. Of the near misses there had been, and how they'd laughed them off… but he could not. He could not bear to see the disappointment in Dumbledore's eyes.
" Except…" he tried.
" Except?" Dumbledore asked.
But Remus could not.
"Sheer pigheadedness." he mumbled.
Dumbledore smiled. It was a sad smile.
'Don't smile' Remus thought. 'Please don't smile when I am being a lying coward.'
"A powerful form of magic indeed, and one, I recall, that Black drew upon often." Dumbledore said. Remus felt the guilt as a heavy blanket around his shoulders. He should have told. He should tell him now. Remus shifted from one foot to the other.
" Can I offer you something?" he asked. "I am a terrible host, I'm sorry. I don't have any coffee, but tea? I have some tea."
They sat together in silence for a while, Dumbledore on the faded armchair and Remus on the wooden stool he normally used as a place to keep his books.
" You work long hours." Dumbledore said.
" Double shifts," Remus said. "As a way to make up for my absence, you know…at other times."
"Of course." Dumbledore said and took a sip of his tea. "And are you happy in your current employment?"
" It pays the bills," Remus said.
Dumbledore looked round the room and Remus followed his eyes, ashamed of the shabbiness of the place.
" I like the flowerpots by the door." He said.
" They'll have to go." Remus said. " And the bushes. It's… been peaceful, but.. They could hide a man."
Dumbledore got up and walked to the window, staring out into the darkness, his hands folded behind his back.
"I have a favour to ask of you, mister Lupin." He said.
"A favour?"
"I have a position open for a professor of Defence against the Dark Arts. I would like you to fill it." Dumbledore spoke against the night, not looking at Remus.
Remus shook his head.
"I do not need charity." He said.
"It's not charity." Dumbledore said, turning towards Remus, an oddly intense gaze beneath the half moon spectacles.
"You'd hire a werewolf as a teacher to children? Defence against the Dark Arts? You'd hire a werewolf to teach children how to protect themselves from werewolves? I do not need charity. I will rather live my whole life working one dead-end job after the other than to be so selfish as to put a single child in danger."
"It would not be as dangerous as you seem to think." Dumbledore said, "You'll have heard of Wolfsbane potion, I imagine?"
"Dreadfully difficult to brew and the ingredients are costly."
"I have an excellent Master of Potions in my staff." Dumbledore said. "I will offer you the potion, a dose as often as you'll need it in addition to housing, boarding and a fair wage."
Remus looked at his own hands. He picked up his wand and turned it around in his fingers, slowly shaking his head.
"It's a kind offer. But I do not need protection." He said softly.
"You think he'll come for you?" Dumbledore asked.
Remus looked up and met the old professor's eyes.
"I know he will." Remus said.
Dumbledore's eyes pierced Remus'.
"I believe he'll go after Harry first." Dumbledore said. "It's not a favour I am doing you, mister Lupin. The position is cursed, and not a single professor has been able to keep it for longer than a year. It's not a job I'd lightly offer to a friend, no matter how capable I think him to be. If it were, you would have had it a long time ago. But I need to put someone in position I can trust to stand between Potter and Black. Someone who might be able to predict, better than I can, the unpredictable nature and actions of both. I can only think of you."
"I…" Remus said. He looked at his wand again. "I can't predict Sirius" he said. "Nothing I know of him turned out to be real."
"We feel that way, when we are betrayed by friends." Dumbledore said. "But even when we lie, we reveal truths about ourselves. You know Sirius Black."
Remus pressed his lips together and stared at his wand.
"You had a O, both for your OWL and NEWT, as I recall it." Dumbledore said. "You were an excellent prefect and you are a war-veteran, and you are, as I recall it, a kind, patient man. You are not unqualified, nor unsuitable to be a professor, Remus."
Remus swallowed.
"You're mental to refuse this chance." James whispered in his memory. "You've always wanted to teach.
And someone will need to tell Harry what I was really like. Someone who knew…You're the last standing Marauder, Moony. Who else knows?"
"You'll need to promise me I'll never be allowed to hurt anyone." Remus said softly. "I'll need to know that you'll put me down before anything like that will ever happen. I'll do this favor for you, but that's the favor you'll need to do in return. That's what you need to swear to me."
Dumbledore looked at Remus.
"Upon my life," he said.
