AN: I am writing this hundreds of miles from my bookcase and also with little data. The dialogue isn't from the book. Sorry. I had to wing this.

Also, I need feedback: Sirius lives AU, yes or no?

The air had grown thick around them from the meeting. As soon as Dumbledore has dismissed them, everything calmed back into routine. Sirius was still strangely not as talkative as he usually was.

"Albus, Severus, are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Molly asked. She was still very tense from the meeting.

"No thank you. I've got things that must get done back at the school." Snape curtly informed her.

"I would love to stay for your cooking, Molly, but unfortunately, I also have to make preparations for the beginning of the fall semester." Dumbledore was much more polite in denying her offer.

Remus hurried to his feet. He was close to the door, but he had no idea if he was the only other person standing up, but he shoved away his embarrassed thoughts. "Professor Dumbledore? I need to ask something before you leave."

"Of course, Remus. Why don't we take this out to the hallway?" He could feel Dumbledore's smile.

Dumbledore was a safer bet than Snape.

"Sir, I need to ask you for a favour." Remus brought up. The two— three?—of them ducked into the alcove beside the stairs. Remus was using the wall to stabilize himself. He was very sore now, and was stumbling around painfully. "There was recently a full moon and it... it crept up on me. I'll confess, I had no idea it was time for another moon until... until Nymphadora mentioned it to me. Thankfully, we had the cellar."

"So this must be an often occurrence for you, Lupin." Three. So there were three of them.

Remus actually forced himself to sigh as loudly as possible, directing his face (he hoped) towards Snape. "Yes, well, I came to ask if there was anyway I could request more of the Wolfbane potion?"

"I shouldn't see why not." Dumbledore replied. "But I believe this question was not directed at me."

Remus felt like a child asking for permission to let a friend stay over for the night, except the friend actually hated him and was about to beat the ever-living shit if he opened his mouth again. He nodded. "Right, well-"

"I'll... check my potions cabinet for any. I'll likely need to go and purchase the ingredients. I don't expect I will be compensated for my energy, time, and resources, naturally." Remus was now on the verge of laughter. Not because of the crippling idea that he would never have enough money to satisfy Snape or make it up to him, but because he never noticed that when he focused on only his voice, Remus could imagine Snape uncomfortably and literally shoving something in his ass. If only his hair hadn't been uncomfortably greasy and Remus hadn't been so distracted by it...

"I... can try my best to make it up to you."

"Is there something funny, Lupin?"

"Hmm, no."

"You don't seem so sure."

"Oh I'm very sure about something."

"Mm, yes, you very much appear to be. And I would very much hope you decide to keep it to yourself."

"Is that all, gentlemen?" Dumbledore asked.

"I believe so." He could hear Snape cutting his eyes.

"Remus, could I have a quick word with you?" Dumbledore asked. "Severus, feel free to walk outside and I shall meet you there."

There was a long pause. "Professor?"

"I wanted to apologize for the unfortunate circumstances you've come under, Remus." Dumbledore informed him. "Have the healers said anything about your recovery?"

"No, Sir. Besides that this... will be as good as it gets." Remus said. "Excuse my shortness, it's just that every seems to ask me about my eyes and most of them are so optimistic, that I'm going to get better, or maybe I'll get magic eyes and I'll be able to see... and I don't like telling them how... this is going."

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision." Dumbledore informed him. "I don't quite remember who said that, but I believe they had a good point. You must keep looking forward as to how you can better yourself from this."

Remus pondered this. He more worried about how he was going to care for himself and stay alive as opposed to how he was going to get motivated enough to change the world with his... disability. That was not a word he liked. That, or the "B" word Dumbledore had so kindly used. It was actually the first time anyone had said it around him since the hospital when they diagnosed him. "Thank you, but my biggest concern right now is getting that potion. Last night was..." He sighed. "...it was miserable. I had Sirius, but it wasn't enough. It was my fault for forgetting to get it, and I'm sorry. I take full responsibility for-"

"You've had a difficult month adjusting, have you not? Perhaps you should just stay put and rest. I assure you that we will get you a potion for next month." Dumbledore told him.

It was quiet. Remus was nodding. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"After everything you did for the school, we should have no problem lending you a hand in you time of need."

Snape audibly sneered.

"I'll, erm," Remus nodded. "I'll let you go back to school. I don't believe Molly would wait for me to serve dinner. Thank you... again. For everything."

"It's my pleasure, Remus." Dumbledore patted his arm. "Severus, I suppose it's time for us to go now." They were quietly exchanging words as they walked away. Remus tried to listen without being obvious, but he couldn't do either.

"So besides all the muggles, how was your summer, Harry?" Back in the kitchen, Tonks tried to strike up conversation. She was apparently still quite damp from the broom ride, and Remus knew this not only by her constant complaining of it, but was also fervently shivering. She didn't mention her bruised fingers though.

Something bothered Remus about her. Here she was, playfully laughing and charming her face and her hair into different colors, inciting laughter particularly out of Hermione and Ginny (for one, it slightly bothered him that he couldn't join in). The last day or so had been so... strange. He wanted to ask her how she really felt about Sirius, and he wanted to understand Sirius's thoughts on her. Was he deflecting her advances? Was he hiding it from Remus? Did any of this explain Sirius's distancing?

Remus was trying to use his arm as a barrier for his face, keeping it between him and the boy. He was still certain Harry was looking at his face.

"It was alright." Harry replied. "The most exciting thing was this whole... dementor thing."

"So they're going to put you on trial." Sirius huffed disdainfully. "This is ridiculous. I mean, really, they would do this to a fifteen year old. What are you supposed to say for yourself? It was self-defense, plain and clear!"

"I'm sorry." Harry replied. He seemed startled by Sirius's raised voice and was apologizing out of habit rather than need. He was completely lost here.

"Of course, I would go in there with you, if it wasn't my life on the line." There was an odd tone in Sirius's voice. Something told Remus that he would go into the courtroom, even if it did mean that it was his life was on the line, like a punch to the gut.

"I know you would." Harry nodded.

Remus didn't mean to become philosophical in his thinking, but what was that poor boy doing here? Yes, he was almost an adult, and yes, he had enough of a brain to know right from wrong, but wasn't he still a child? Developing mentally and physically, just trying to go to school and have friends and play quidditch? There was no doubt that he was capable, and that he was intelligent and good at dueling, but wasn't he still a child that practically got dragged into this?

"We'll tell you what to say." Remus finally joined in. It was the first thing he had said all night, including while Molly continued to lecture them about their minor expedition that afternoon. "We'll be careful to make sure you don't slip up. And you won't slip up. You're a good kid with solid record. If anything, they're trying to scare you because of who you are."

"Who I am." Harry sounded sick. Was he looking at him? "Yeah."

"Poor kid." Tonks sighed. She had changed places, sliding into the seat beside Remus. "Sorry, Mundungus smells really bad, and I thought you might be a better shot. Do you want some food? I'm kind of hungry. Can I go get you a plate?"

"I'm good." Remus smiled. "I can get it myself."

"There's a bunch of people up there, are you sure you've got it?"

"Yes, thank you." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. It was a very simple gesture but it was the simple gestures that always made him feel more connected to the outside world, until the crippling anxiety about invading her personal space came in. But she shook his hand firmly with reassurance.

"Then I'm going to go get myself some food and I'll be right back." She jumped up from her seat, patting him on the back.

"Hey Tonks, I like your hair like that!" A voice across the room told her.

"Hestia, hang on just a second, I meant to ask you something during the meeting, real quick..." And with that, she disappeared.

"How are you holding up over here, Lupin?" A man's voice asked, touching his shoulder.

Remus turned his head, but the man was on his other side already. "Excuse me?" He knew he sounded more rude than he intended.

"Arthur Weasley here." The man informed. "Molly told me about you and Sirius's... adventure this afternoon with Nymphadora. She's not skinned you up too much over it, has she?"

"Not yet." Remus replied simply. He thought Molly was about to. But after the meeting, things seemed to calm down a bit. That was until Sirius got into it with her over Harry. "My apologies if I'm a bit off put, I'm actually quite tired from today."

"I'm sure!" Remus couldn't read if that was a positive or a negative response. Arthur lowered his voice. "Between the two of us, I can't imagine how long the two of you have been planning this-"

"It was rather impromptu, actually." Remus turned his head to be closer when he talked to him.

"Well, at least I can't imagine how badly you would have wanted to go outside, just to get some fresh air." Arthur told him.

"Thank you for trying, at least." Remus nodded. Arthur touched him on the back, a bit too hard. He promptly walked away. This was a bit confusing.

"I am back!" Tonks proudly announced as she slid back into her seat, setting down a plate in front of her. She was looking for his hand. She placed something soft and kind of... squishy?... in his hand. It was warm and it also sort of felt dusty. Remus concluded that it was a bread roll. "I watched Mundungus take three, so I thought I'd get you one before they were all gone."

"Thank you." Remus smiled. He didn't really want the roll, but that was a nice gesture. He didn't know why she even gave it to him. She was always so nice to him. It didn't even feel like she was trying to baby him anymore, she was just always doing nice things for him. "What did Molly make? Smells good. I swear I spent the entire meeting just trying to figure out what it was."

"Beef stew." He could feel her lean over in her seat towards him. "Just name a time, and I'll make sure to take you out again. Maybe we can go further next time, yeah?"

He found himself smiling. He was already beginning to imagine everything else that was outside. He wanted to stretch his legs out again. "You know, I'd like that."