I know, I know...... There you have OK?

Thanks for your generous reviews. Happy New Year.

To say that Kal was frustrated would be an understatement. The feeling felt foreign after a century of self-imposed muteness in the emotional department. But to say that he didn't enjoy himself at the moment would be a huge lie. It was about time something challenged him.

It had been two hours and the damn werewolf had yet to tire. You'd think that it would've gotten bored chasing something that it, quite simply, couldn't catch but no.

It was still there right under the tree he'd taken residence in for the moment. The moon didn't seem to be covering up any time soon and Kal wished for miracles. More like ideas, though. Miracles weren't really his thing.

But something that would keep the werewolf fed for the night wouldn't be bad. Not at all.

Somewhere he heard a twig snap and was instantly alert. The werewolf tensed as well. Kal masked his presence even more and waited. The ground tumbled slightly and the werewolf seemed to remember something. Had it faced these things, whatever they were, before?

The ground shook when the centaurs rushed towards the werewolf, efficiently surrounded it and forced it into a small clearing, under the moonlight.

Bane, acting as a temporary leader, waved his bow.

"We have agreed on your presence out of necessity but this is going too far. You are too close to our plains and you will be driven away."

Predictably the werewolf didn't answer, instead it continued twitching and staring the tree Kal was perched on. When this behaviour continued the centaurs got suspicious and a couple went to try if there was anything on the tree the damn thing was looking at.

No matter what they did, they got nothing. During this time the werewolf got anxious and violent. When it refused to calm down bows were readied. It got even more nervous and finally snapped.

It attacked and the centaurs fired. For a moment Lupin regained himself and froze. Then there was white.

The arrows cluttered to the ground uselessly and the centaurs were amazed that a human could do something like that.

"I have a feeling you are barking at the wrong tree, dear gentlemen. It is purely my fault we got so close to your plains." It was small and gentle-looking human. They could only see one eye but everything else was pretty covered up by clothes.

"And why is that?" Bane challenged the stranger. He was nailed by a powerful one eyed gaze.

"I didn't move fast enough to avoid detection by him so I'll have to take this merry chase to the end. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a werewolf to take care of."

Bane felt a lot better when this human wasn't looking at him. "Quiet you human-"

"Calm yourself Bane," the voice of Firenze stated. "Look up."

And he did. There was a star twinkling. He understood.

This one could not affect much, only in the slightest ways, to the course of history. Just a remnant of something long gone. The younger ones had taken the stage, a different setting to a different battle but the basics still remained. Two sides and one war, another hero to oppose another villain, just the way it always was. Still, the line between the two sides remained ever vague.

They allowed him to leave, carrying the werewolf on his shoulder.

It was after five hours that Lupin woke up. Usually when he woke up after a full moon, he would be somewhere in the Dark Forest, not too far away from Hogwarts.

Not much had changed this time. He was still in the Dark Forest but instead of seeing some random tree roots and leaves, he was seeing tree trunks and branches. When he completely realized that he wasn't exactly on the ground at the moment, he panicked. The movement caused him to lose balance and he started falling. He didn't get far when a hand grabbed his arm.

He looked up into the smiling face of Kal. His mind blanked out for a while and during this time, Kal hoisted him back to the surprisingly comfortable tree branch. He also realized he was really cold. Made sense, really. His changing had been in a very unfavourable situation to salvage clothes.

When he had established his own situation he turned attention outwards to the things around him. The sun was rising and the colours it made around them looked incredible. Lupin understood that this was probably the best place for watching the sunrise. His musings were interrupted.

"Good morning." Lupin blinked and said the same to his silent companion.

"Are you cold? I believe it is not a very warm morning."

"A little." Lupin found that he seemed to have lost all his conversational abilities in the face of this morning. He hadn't noticed his own shivering before he was covered with a rust-coloured cloak. It was surprisingly warm. He felt it move around him on its own accord and soon found himself a face-full of a bowtruckle. Before he even had time to react to the eyeball harming creature it was picked away by his host.

"Damn I forgot that Kanda was still hiding in the folds, sorry for that. Are you better now?"

"Yeah, I think so." Lupin took in the appearance of his host, who had a bowtruckle (that was apparently called Kanda) climbing around his head, using a cap and various bandages as a support.

"Not so much of a talker, huh?" Silence answered Kal. "Well let's start with the basics. I'm called Kal. What's your name?" He held out a hand.

Lupin's brain was quite recovered from the absurd surroundings and he was able to take the hand and introduce himself. "My name is Remus Lupin."

Kal was smiling in that infectious way and soon they were laughing at nothing particular. Lupin thought it felt good.

"Now the next step, I believe, is to get down. How would you suggest we do that?"

Lupin seemed to ponder the same, if the greenness in his face was anything to go by. "How did we get up here, anyway?" He weakly asked. Kal only smiled at him in a way that suggested he didn't want to know. Lupin decided to shut up.

One could argue that it was a very unwise thing to do when the next action that Kal took was to shove him away from the branch. Lupin opted to close his eyes in the face of imminent death.

Though it didn't happen and when he opened his eyes, he was standing on the ground. He looked up and saw that it had been quite a long way. Kal was there like nothing happened.

"Shall we head to the castle?" Lupin nodded and they were on their way.

The forest smelt wonderful to his wolf senses and he took full advantage of the things his other side could offer amidst all the pain and suffering it caused him. This didn't go unnoticed by Kal and he too enjoyed the morning.

The edge of the forest was nearing and the grass they could see between the trees had gained a golden edge. The forest awoke from its slumber and the sounds filled the air.

The silence they had shared had been comfortable but it was soon broken by the heavy steps of Hagrid.

Lupin was startled to find Kal's face so close to his own. A whisper.

"Put it into your windowsill." Then Lupin had to turn to answer Hagrid's greeting and Kal wasn't there.

Later when Lupin was packing away his things he came across the cloak. He was deep in his thoughts when Harry walked in and tried to persuade him to stay. Of course he failed and when Dumbledore came to tell him about his carriage he left the cloak, nicely folded, on the windowsill and left. He could've sworn Dumbledore's eyes twinkled more than usual, the smile a little wider. He left.

Harry noticed the cloak and was about to shout after Lupin to tell him about it when Dumbledore stopped him. Dumbledore noted how unhappy he seemed. In the middle of telling the Headmaster about the prophecy, Harry suddenly felt a cool breeze in the room. Harry clearly remembered the window to be closed but when he turned it was open and the folded piece of fabric was gone. He opened his mouth to ask but was directed back to the prophecy by Dumbledore. Harry felt vaguely cheated after Dumbledore was gone.

But he did close the window.

XxXxXxXxXxxXxXxXxxXXxXxXXXxXXxxxXXxxXXxXxXxXx Timeskip to OotP XxXxXxXx

Albus eyed the various letters cluttered on his table. There was one from the ministry, undoubtedly about Dolores Umbridge and her position, some random ones and a letter that caught his attention. Unlike the others, this one was made of industrial paper and the address wasn't handwritten. But it did have a seal on it. Intricate cross and the roman number 13. (A/N: Totally stole this from Hellsing, sorry.) He opened it.

To: Albus Dumledore

From: Vatican sec. XIII

Subject: Situation at hand

Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,

It has come to our attention, after monitoring the magical world, that there are speculations about the Dark Lord to have risen again. In the light of this threat and our mission, we suggest cooperation. We are aware that wizards have no means of fighting against the enemies we have fought against since times long gone. Even though this enemy is almost defeated, the remains are still in existence and we are afraid that the Dark Lord, if he indeed has risen again, will make usage of these enemies.

Our suggestion is the following: three of our soldiers of appropriate ages will enter the school as students. Also one of our Generals will patrol outside the school premises. He can be ignored as he works exclusively for us. The undercover soldiers will have orders to adjust their strategies around the situation inside the school.

We are requesting cooperation on the basis of the belief that You are more trustworthy than the Ministry of Magic. It should be considered as an honour.

Contact us with your decision about the matter. The necessary documents are attached to this letter.

With best wishes,

Calvin S. Windell, Supervisor.

Albus sighed and wished for the oncoming headache to be over already.

I had a headache over that letter.... See ya.