Chapter five: Missed Moons

He should have just taken the child and made a run for it, Remus decided as he sat down behind his desk with a wary sigh.

He should not have let Dumbledore persuade him that James should go to his parents. He should never have let Severus' oddly vulnerable behavior and scent convince him that the man would make a good substitute Alpha.

He should have never let James go because the boy sitting in his class, the one he had been observing for the past three weeks was pretty much a menace to society. Honestly, antagonizing a Hippogriff, James was lucky to be a cub or the beast would have torn its head off.

What bothered Remus even more, though, was James' general attitude. Severus had warned him. He had told him about Draco Malfoy as opposed to Draco, as Severus insisted on calling him. And he had told about the eyes and ears Lucius had planted around the boy. And all of it gave James a lot of leeway but enough was enough.

But James had simply gone too far with his little remark about Sirius. Not only had he insulted Remus but he had caused Moony to surge dangerously close to forefront, having had enough of his cub's blatant disrespect. And that had made Remus' blood boil, and that, in turn, disturbed him greatly.

Perhaps Severus had been right and coming to Hogwarts had been the stupid mistake. But Remus couldn't let a change to see James again, finally and to meet Harry pass, now could he?

Setting his class to work on their essay on Giants, Remus eyed both Harry and James.

Two boys he felt ultimately responsible for even though they weren't related by blood. Well, James was in a sense, he, too, had been bitten by Greyback and Remus had bitten him, so for their werewolves they most definitely were kin, and Harry was, of course, simply Harry, the sole prodigy of his school mates and thus highly cherished.

Two boys he had to protect, one from himself and his sire and one from the man who Remus had loved as a young man, and who, in true fashion to their heritage, hated each other with a vengeance. Remus couldn't say he made life easy for himself, some days he truly wished he did, though.

James was clearly rattled, although he made a nice act out of working on his essay. But then again, acting seemed to be his forte, which could be considered a blessing. Or a curse if he got too lost in his role. And Remus was very afraid of that happening. Still, the boy seemed fine, well taken care of, at least.

Finally the lesson was over and the students filed out, leaving James standing at the edge, studying the floor intently. And Remus, or rather Moony, was pleased by the obvious nervousness.

"Mr. Malfoy." Remus said as he got up from his desk, walked around it and leaned against the front of it, casting strong silencing charms as he did so.

"Professor." James replied in kind. Remus crossed his arms in front of his chest and for a moment felt as if he were channeling Severus and quickly shook that thought away.

"What did you think you were doing purposely antagonizing a Hippogrif?" Remus asked calmly, as if he were inquiring after his beta's general well-being and it served the purpose of unsettling James even further. Remus might be a Gryffindor and could admit to generally being a people pleaser, perhaps even excessively so, but this was a different situation altogether.

"Sir?" James looked up, his face still blank but his eyes full of confusion, losing their coldness.

"I would have thought Professor Snape would have made you read everything available on Lyncantrophes." Remus continued pleasantly.

James only reaction was to nibble on his lower lip and silently shake his head, his cheeks flaming red.

Remus let out a sigh and slowly made his way over to James. When he had been in Hogwarts he had raided the library for any and every book on his condition. By the end of his first year he had read all the five leading texts, including those from the restricted section.

"Well, most of them are utter rubbish, but 'Magical Mayhem' actually makes for an interesting read. Turns out werewolves are not particularly liked by many magical creatures, especially Hippogriffs. Apparently it has something to do with the whole dominance thing. Hippogriffs are rather full of themselves but not entirely stupid and a marked cub needs only to be shown its place, not die for his impertinence."

If possible James flushed even further and Remus decided that the color red did not look good on him. As James was already quite beside himself, Remus decided to go for the kill.

"Tell me, why did you think that me being a professor here made it acceptable for you to disregard my rules?"

"Your rules, sir?" James asked in a small voice and suddenly Remus got a sickening feeling in his stomach. Severus hadn't had he? He would not have been that stupid.

"James, please tell me you actually received and read my letters?" Remus asked as he stopped in front of the boy, who had decidedly paled at Remus' words.

"Letters, sir?" James looked very much like the scared and lost boy he had taken from the forest that day and nothing like the overly arrogant, proud brat 'Draco Malfoy'.

Remus eyes narrowed in anger at the tought of Severus, the greasy, hook nosed git.

Apparently he had been stupid enough not to think about the consequences of waylaying an Alpha from his pack.

James, however, clearly misunderstood Remus' reaction.

"Alpha, I'm sorry, sir." He started in a rather high-pitched voice but it broke at the end, making his plea sound even more desperate than it did already. Scraping his throat James pulled a small pouch from his robe pocket and deposited the content on the tables. Spread out on the table Remus saw the shrunken versions of the gifts had he send James over the years but he was too taken a back by James' use of the formal address, trembling form, and the smell of undulated fear which almost choked him to respond adequately at the sight of his clock, or the other objects which weren't worth much but held great sentimental value.

"See, Alpha, I did get your presents and I kept them safe, even if uncle Sev...I mean Professor Snape thought he should.." Remus stopped the boy from his fearful ramblings by pulling him to his chest, stroking his back soothingly. Remus feared James had been seconds away from falling to his knees. He had meant to make boy uncomfortable for his punishment, yes, but not fearful.

If he had thought that James, or 'Draco Malfoy' had been managing himself just fine, those ideas were now dispelled completely. This boy was a complete and utter mess and Remus felt guilty for putting the thumbscrews on him.

"Hush, cub, if you say didn't get the letters, you didn't get them. No harm done. Hush now, James."

James had grown, Remus noted absentmindedly, and quite a lot at that. The boy would probably end up taller than him in a few years time, seeing as he reached the middle of his chest already.

James was saying something, again with his voice high-pitched but the words were muffled. Remus did not need to hear them to understand what James tried say. He pulled away slightly and crouched down so he was eye-level with James. Big, wet, and silver eyes looked back at him.

"James, you do understand that there is very little you can do that will make me wash my hands of you, don't you?"

Remus couldn't in good faith say there was absolutely nothing, although apparently even Sirius' betrayal was not enough to tell the authorities about his animagus status. James probably could happily follow in Lucius Malfoy's footsteps and Remus would still welcome him with open arms.

"However, mentioning Sirius, especially in such a manner is not something I like, or tolerate." Remus stated sternly and James gave him a tiny nod as he cast his eyes to the gifts on the table and started fingering them thoughtfully.

"Having said that," Remus continued in a much lighter tone. "I'm impressed that you still remember my mentioning him."

James peeked up from the table and gave Remus a tiny smile before shrugging.

For a second Remus just looked at him. The line between James and 'Draco Malfoy' actually seemed to be a fine one but he'd take care to draw him more securely to the Light side. Actually, he should have just taken the child and run. But he hadn't and now he had to deal with Severus Snape, who had been taking too many liberties by far.

"Come on, we're going to pay dear professor Snape a visit."

"Uhm, sir, I am supposed to be in Charms right now and Professor Snape still has classes too." James said as Remus was already at the door. He turned around to give the boy a sheepish look and walked right back to his desk.

"Right, of course." Remus muttered to himself as he quickly wrote a note to Flitwick to excuse James for his delay.

James, in the meantime had put his gifts back into his small pouch, holding it in his wand hand.

"Here, give this to Professor Flitwick," Remus said handing the note over. "So you liked them then?" he asked with dismissive gesture to the pouch trying to sound utterly casual about it.

This time James smiled at him and nodded feverently, sliding the pouch back into the pocket of his robe.

"Good, now I'm thinking you could do with a little help in this course, actually, but I do expect to see you here tomorrow after class, alright?" Remus said, deciding on the spot that if Severus had been ignoring the proper power in this situation, than Remus be damned to listen to the man's so-called advice for a moment longer.

Remus hoped Severus savored his last hours of believing him to be a cowardly push-over.

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Author's note:

Finally another chapter. Sadly I just can't seem to convey my ideas for this properly but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway.

kodiakmac: Thank you very kind review. I hope you'll keep reading and reviewing.

Imperfection Is A Bliss: Thank You!!!