Classes resumed on January sixth, and as she'd expected, many of Holly's students were still a bit restless from the holidays. They clearly weren't ready to be back in class. So she decided to give them a little slack by spending a couple of days reviewing what they had covered just before the holidays. The following week, she began introducing new material. She also continued tutoring some of the students she had been working with during the holidays.

February was a busy month. Her fifth and seventh year students had their OWL and NEWT exams approaching. This meant doing everything she could to ensure they had the information they needed to study. As February drew to a close, she was inspected by Professor Umbridge.

On the twentieth, she went into her first class, hoping she was ready for the inspection, and that it would not be during her first class. This particular group was one of third years, and they could be a little challenging. She could handle them, but she'd rather not need to deal with any mischief or misbehavior in front of Umbridge.

Thankfully, Umbridge did not show up until her third class of the day. This was a section of fourth years that were well behaved and attentive. Hopefully that would help make a good impression. Just after the students were seated, Professor Umbridge came in.

"Good afternoon, Professor Williams. I trust you received the notice of your inspection today?"

"Yes ma'am, I did. "

Umbridge took an empty seat near the back of the class.

"This is your first year as a teacher, correct?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You worked for the Ministry until June? Why did you leave?"

"Yes, I was an Auror until June. The reason I left is that I decided I would enjoy a job with less pressure. This has fit that description quite nicely."

"I see. Please proceed with your lesson. I will make some notes and talk to some of the students."

Holly began her lecture. Today she was introducing electronic communication, starting with the telephone. She put up a diagram and began explaining how a phone worked.

A few minutes into her lecture, she saw Umbridge talking to one of her students. This particular boy didn't seem to particularly like the class. He wasn't disruptive, just indifferent. She looked away, trying not to get nervous about what he might be saying. Umbridge questioned a few more students that thankfully, should give a good cross section of the class. Some of them were excellent students, and some were average students. When she'd finished talking to them, Umbridge turned her attention back to Holly.

"So, you're a muggleborn, correct?"

"Yes ma'am."

"That gives you a special perspective for your class, I'm sure."

"It gives me a bit better understanding of muggles, yes."

"Do you ever wonder how you came to be a witch?"

"No, I was born this way. If you mean do I wonder if there was magic elsewhere in my family, I can't say it matters to me."

"So you're not concerned about the origins of your talents?"

"No ma'am. I am a witch and that's all I need to know."

"I see. Well I think I have what I need. You will receive the results of your inspection in three to five days. Have a good day."

She then returned to her lecture, and realized she wouldn't quite be able to get as far as she'd planned. She wasn't going to make things harder for the class by rushing the explanation just to give them homework. So she got as far as she comfortably could, assigned them some reading to go with what she'd covered and told them to expect an assignment next time.

As the class filed out, she went over the inspection in her mind. She had talked to Remus about the inspections over the holidays, even though she did not know when hers would be. He had made some suggestions about how to present her material accurately without appearing too muggle friendly. She felt she had done that, but was not pleased that Umbridge had questioned her about being muggleborn. It was not something she hid, everyone who knew her knew that she was. But she didn't appreciate the insinuation that it should matter to her or that she was foolish for not being curious about her bloodline. She shrugged it off, though, and went on with her day, telling herself there was nothing she could do about it anyway.

Four days later, she received the results of the inspection. She had passed, but she could tell by the comments on it that Umbridge would likely be watching her closely.

March came in like a lion...cold, windy and with several days of heavy rain. But half way through the month, a little ray of sunshine came her way one rainy day at breakfast. She received two letters, one from Alyssa, announcing that she was pregnant with her second child; the other was from "Moony", saying he was back and okay. Fortunately, she was sitting at the opposite end of the table from Professor Umbridge. She slipped the letters into her jacket pocket, and went back to her breakfast. She then went on with her day, trying to keep her expression neutral. Just before lunch, she had a free hour, so she went to her office, and had just begun to reread both letters when she heard a knock on the door. She tucked the letters into a drawer, and called for the person to enter. Dumbledore came in, and said "I hope I'm not disturbing you, but I needed to talk to you."

"No, I was just reading my mail, to make sure I didn't miss anything when I looked at it this morning."

Dumbledore then said " I know you got a letter from Remus today; I did as well. Since he is back, we've called a meeting for this evening. Because Professor Umbridge is watching everyone so closely, we will need to leave separately and return at different times as well. The meeting is for 7:00 p.m., but I don't want you to leave until 7:30...I'll fill you in on anything you miss. And you should be back here by 9:30. I know you've been enjoying visiting with Remus, but, you need to be very careful not to come in late, as this will draw more attention to your activities."

"I understand, and agree with you. Is there anything else I should know?"

"If you decide to write to Remus, or anyone, at Grimmauld Place, use a code name and be very careful what you put in the letter. Professor Umbridge has already intercepted several owls, and we don't want her to find out anything she can use against us. Also, she's watching all the fires, so you can't use the floo network either. If you'd like, you can arrange to receive your mail at the Hogsmeade Post Office...as long as you still get some of it here, she's not as likely to notice anything.

"One more thing, for the meeting tonight, walk out, but take a carriage from Hogsmeade back, and don't let Remus come with you. Not only would this arouse Professor Umbridge's curiosity, but he will not likely be physically up to it, and we don't want him to get sick."

"Okay. I will probably make the arrangements for my mail from him to come to Hogsmeade tomorrow, and I will tell him what you said if he offers to escort me home."

The rest of the day passed normally, and at 7:30 p.m. she left the castle. She got to the meeting and found that the seat beside Remus had been left open, so she took it. He was in the middle of giving his account of the last eight weeks. He had realized fairly early on that the werewolves were solidly behind Voldemort, who had promised them a large supply of prey. So he had spent his time gathering information, and had found out a few things, but because they could tell he had lived among normal wizards, they were very secretive.

As Holly listened and watched, she was saddened by the look on Remus' face. Not only was he visibly very tired, but he appeared to be emotionally hurt as well. She hoped to speak to him for a little while before going back to school.

Once he was finished, Dumbledore thanked him for all the work he'd done, and told him that the report was confirmation of some things he had expected. Dumbledore had guessed, correctly, that Voldemort was willing to promise anything to get people to follow him, with no regard to the consequences of those promises. It also confirmed that this group of werewolves were so bloodthirsty that the offer of almost unlimited prey was one they couldn't refuse. This information was useful to the Order because it helped them know how Voldemort was thinking and could guide them in what to do next.

At that point, they all began to discuss what should be done next. Many ideas were put forth, but it was decided to leave things as they were for now, and come back in a few days with any new suggestions. Then the meeting was dismissed, and Holly realized she still had about half an hour before she needed to go back to school. She spoke to Remus "I'm so glad you're back. Are you okay?"

"I'm glad to see you again too. I'm okay, but very tired. I couldn't get my Wolfsbane potion while I was with them, so I was a full werewolf on all three full moons. The transformation is very painful, and I either got into some fights or scratched myself, because I have several new cuts. I can't say I remember everything that happened those nights, but that is part of the transformation, as you know. Also, even when I was in human form, I had to live off just what I could find to eat, and that was not much, so I have lost some weight and felt very weak when I first arrived back. Thanks to Molly, I'm feeling better, but it will take several days for me to feel back to myself again."

" I'm sorry to hear you had such a difficult time. Hopefully you won't have to go through it again."

"That's true, but I do feel bad that I was able to get so little information. I wish I could have gotten a lot more, but they could tell I had been living with normal wizards, and they have such hatred of normal wizard society that they won't open up to anyone who associates with them."

"You did your best, though, and at least now we know where we stand."

"Yes, it is as Dumbledore said...Voldemort will promise anything to his supporters. The sad part is that he doesn't care who gets hurt in the process...he has no regard at all for human life. The hard part for me, though, was being reminded of how vicious werewolves can be. I have not associated much with them in my life, and had tried to hope that the characterizations of them you hear were wrong. Sadly, they are not. So many of them are totally selfish and very bloodthirsty, and they see it as being 'justice' of a sort to infect and injure as many as they can. It disgusts me to know I'm one of them."

"But you are not one of them, Remus. Yes, you change form once a month, but you are not like they are. You are a very kind, caring man. Even though I've only know you a short time, I can see that much."

"I appreciate that. Most people find out I'm a werewolf and run the other way, they have no interest in even trying to get to know me. The friends I have in the Order are the only exceptions I've encountered. None of them has ever had a problem with my condition, and I consider all of them friends...several of them are very important to me."

"That's one more reason I'm glad I joined...making friends with you."

"I'm certainly enjoying getting to know you as well. You've proven to be full of surprises, but that's what makes you interesting, and a good friend."

Holly blushed brightly. " Thanks." and glanced at the clock "I've got to be back at school in about 15 minutes, I need to go. Before you offer, Dumbledore thought it best that you not escort me home tonight, we don't want to draw too much of Professor Umbridge's attention. But I'll be okay, I'm going to take a carriage up to the school."

"I understand. Be careful, and I hope to see you again soon."

After she left, Sirius came into the kitchen , and talked with Remus.

"What was Holly talking to you about after the meeting?"

"She was worried about me, she seemed to realize that something was bothering me, and asked me about my mission. She was truly concerned about how it had affected me to be around other werewolves."

"She seems to be quite a perceptive, intelligent woman. I know Dumbledore has spoken very highly of her. You think she's attractive, too, don't you?"

Remus blushed "I do, but what of it; there's no way she'd want to be with me, not if she knew what she'd be getting into."

"You've got to be kidding me 'if she knew what she'd be getting into'...the woman's an ex-Auror, she's an expert in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not to mention she had you pegged for a werewolf when she was about a third year. She knows what she'd be getting into. And I've got a feeling she wants to get into it."

"I know she's read about werewolves, and figured me out early on, but that's not the same as living with one. Nobody would do that willingly."

"I guarantee you she would. You do realize she's not coming over here to see anyone else. You're the one she spends hours talking with."

"That's true, but maybe she just looks at me as a friend. That's how I see her."

"Remus, it's me you're talking to. I know how you act when you like someone...we were teenagers together, you know. I notice the fact that you repeat to me most of what she says to you, I see how you watch her walk...you're definitely interested, even if you don't want to admit it yet."

"I repeat what you say to her too...it just proves that I enjoy her conversation. She's just a friend."

"Keep telling yourself that, and maybe you'll believe it. But you may ruin the best thing that's happened to you."

Holly arrived back at the castle doors at 9:30 p.m, exactly as planned. She goes up to her quarters and settles in for the night. She falls asleep thinking of Remus, relieved that he's okay, and hoping that her conversation with him had helped him feel at least a little better about his mission.

The next morning was uneventful, her routine and classes went as they usually did. If Professor Umbridge suspected anything, she did not say anything to Holly about it. Since that afternoon was a Friday, and she was free to leave school after her classes without any suspicion, she went to the Hogsmeade Post Office and made arrangements to receive her mail from Grimmauld Place there. She also decided that she would send some of her mail to him from there as well. She knew they wouldn't be able to write often, but they did stay in touch.

About a week after Remus got back, Dumbledore called another meeting to discuss what to do now. Since Voldemort had gotten to the werewolves, there was nothing further to be done about them. It was decided that, for now at least, to focus mainly on recruiting more wizards and witches. After the meeting, she'd had a few minutes to talk to Remus, but not long. She was able to see that he was doing better... his cuts and scratches had started to heal, and he didn't look so tired. Again she was able to return to the castle with no apparent notice from Professor Umbridge, and things continued as normal.

In early April, however, there was a drastic change at Hogwarts. Professor Umbridge had been questioning students about "illegal activities".She had found out from one source that a handful of them were involved in "Dumbledore's Army" a secret organization of which Harry Potter was supposed to be the leader. Harry admitted to having founded it, but Dumbledore claimed it was his organization, that he was responsible for their activities. She tried to have him arrested, but he resisted, and disappeared. Harry and the other students involved were given detentions, and Professor Umbridge was appointed new Headmistress by the Minister.

This new situation made the air in the castle much more tense. It made life difficult for all the teachers, everyone knew that if they offended her, they'd be fired. In fact, Umbridge did go after Hagrid very soon after assuming control. She fired him, and in the process his house was nearly burned. Professor McGonagall was badly hurt trying to defend him and was hospitalized for a while. This incident caused some of the staff to become quite angry, and they probably would have left if they had not felt obligated to the students.

The only bright spot in all this for Holly was being able to write to Remus a couple of times. She was able to let him know what was going on, and though he had no suggestions for her, it was nice to have someone to just listen. She wished she could see him, but knew that was too risky. She knew that Umbridge would not hesitate to use anything she might see as a grounds for dismissal.