Remus Lupin was staring into the fire. Hogwarts had brought back a flood of memories for him, and more than once he had found them too much to bear. Memories that were supposed to be fond, memories he'd never imagined he'd have to repress and shelve away. He wondered whether he'd be better off back underground among his own, transforming into the vicious monster he really was which helped him forget about all that.

But running away was all Remus had been doing since that fateful week when he lost 3 of his closest friends. 4 of his closest friends. It was time to take up this opportunity afforded by Dumbledore, he had made that decision. Dumbledore, who had gone through the works of erecting a killing tree to have Lupin attend Hogwarts, who had employed the Hogwarts ghosts to give the Shrieking Shack a foreboding look, who still had the same twinkle in his eye when he looked at Lupin that he had had when Lupin was a wide-eyed hopeful first-year sitting in his office.

The office he stood in had not changed much since his days back in the 70s, though there was more daylight streaming in, perhaps the castle had been deemed too depressing. A knock shook Lupin out of his stupor.

"Come in" said Lupin.

It was Snape, carrying his iron-wrought goblet of smoking potion. Lupin had mixed feelings about Snape, he had only seemed to grow more unpleasant over the years. His death eater resume and fixation with the dark arts notwithstanding, he had agreed to concoct this complicated potion for Lupin, and he found himself almost as grateful to him as he was to Dumbledore.

"Ah, Severus," said Lupin, smiling. "Thank you very much again. I hope it isn't too much bother?"

"The initial mix I made is most of the effort, and desperately easy to get wrong," said Snape without preamble. "the remaining ingredients can then be added and boiled as when needed. The mix ages for 7 months and then needs to be remade, but until then it's just a question of adding the elementary ingredients."

"Ah, the leaves of the wolfsbane plant are the hardest ingredient to come by, isn't it?"

"Yes," said Snape, stirring the potion, "Luckily we have a decent stock of it here at the castle, and it does not expire."

"I can't thank you enough Severus, I haven't been lucky to be among potioneers like yourself who I could trust to make this for me perfectly. Most of my time has been spent avoiding black market remedies and carrying a bezoar around for my own safety."

Snape nodded without looking at Lupin.

"Not that I haven't tried, but I've only had one other person who could reliably make it for me, more than 10 years ago, Lily...uh James' wife, who no d-"

CLANG. Severus had dropped the goblet, whose contents were rapidly spilling over. Lupin waved his wand and quickly restored it.

"A little floor flavoring won't hurt, I do feel it lacks salt." laughed Lupin.

Snape seemed unnaturally still. There was a tense moment. Perhaps bringing up James hadn't been the best idea, those two had been bitter enemies. Lupin often wondered what it was between them.

"Er, thank you Severus, I will return your favorite goblet by end of week."

Snape had regained his composure but seemed shaky. He grabbed a chair.

"I missed lunch today, feeling the effects.." mumbled Snape.

Lupin rushed over with his box of sardines. "Finest from Scandinavia" smiled Lupin. He felt apprehensive, but Snape took one gratefully.

"I find it especially handy in the immediate aftermath of the events of the full moon."

Snape kept on munching, seemingly lost deep in thought.

"How come you skipped lunch? We had an excellent quiche on the menu today." wondered Lupin.

"I was immersed... in something." trailed off Snape.

"Hmmm.."

Snape was still very quiet. Lupin bit his lip, casting around for small talk.

"Lily Evans was from my hometown." Snape suddenly spurted out.

"Oh?" Lupin stared at him, frowning. He vaguely remembered Lily describing her town, dingy, unwelcoming, how she loved her family but yearned to get them away from there.

"I knew her before we came to Hogwarts, we talked about our acceptance letter and hopes for Hogwarts. She told me about her doubts, the accidents she had had growing up, her sister Petunia's jealousies. She needn't have worried I told her, she was extraordinarily talented...and she showed it here, an expert potioneer almost from the beginning and eager to learn. Professor Slughorn said he had not seen one like her."- the words were tumbling one after another as if Snape had been wanting to say them for very long. His eyes were lost in distant memory, an indecipherable expression on his face.

Lupin was stunned. He had never seen Snape reminisce like this, nor had he seen him be this open. He had seen Lily and Snape interact only once when Snape had called her a disgusting name, something the to-be death eaters had no qualms throwing around.

"I…fell out with her after I joined the Slytherin ways. We chose our paths." sighed Snape.

Lupin said nothing.

"I can imagine she made a wonderful Wolfsbane potion for you Lupin, you are indeed lucky. She had a good eye for proportions and was very meticulous, both of which are essential for this type of potion."

Lupin was still stunned.

Snape stood up, back to his haughty demeanor. "If only her son had inherited some of those brains.." he shook his head.

Lupin had found his voice, "I think Harry's just as talented. And you came back to the right side eventually, passing secrets to Dumbledore at great risk to yourself. Dumbledore speaks highly of you."

Snape's speech seemed to have left him again. He opened his mouth, then closed it, gave a stiff nod and walked off, leaving Lupin in a world of his thoughts.

"Lily Potter friends with Severus Snape" chuckled Lupin, a sentence he never thought would've imagined possible. What was next? Dumbledore friends with Grindelwald?