Remus spent no more than thirty seconds on his new name. Romulus Granger. He kept it familiar, because he had already unwillingly given up so much, he wanted to keep something close to him. Granger, because the young witch wore that name with pride, and she herself was the brightest witch of her age; she reminded him so much of Cassandra at times. No one would recognise it either, so they would be none the wiser as to whether he was of pure blood or not.

Before his first class, Remus stood in front of the mirror in his chambers, wand pointed at his face. He was furiously whispering spells and casting glamours to hide his scars. He'd never been a master of charms or transfiguration, so he didn't dare try and completely change his appearance. A few glamours should keep his disfigurement from being too obvious.

The first class he taught on the Monday was a class of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. A rowdy bunch, but they all got down to it. It was funny, because Remus recognised so many of their tiny faces. He saw them as an adult, and saw that they weren't ruddy annoying third years, they were students.

After that he had the Gryffindor fifth years. They were a nuisance. Remus could only imagine that that was because they sought to be like the marauders.

It was very surreal. Only three days ago Remus had been witnessing the destruction of his home, ready to give his life for the place he had grown up. Yet here he stood, in the same classroom as he had four years ago; whole, homely, alive with magic.

He sat and ate lunch at the teachers table, making polite conversation with Professor McGonnagal and avoiding the glares coming from the Gryffindor table, when the headmaster rose from his seat. The great hall was immediately silent; something that never ceased to impress Remus.

"Good afternoon everyone," Albus said in his calm, booming voice. "As some of you may have noticed, whether you saw him around or had a class with him, we have a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Romulus Granger." The hall erupted into cheers and Remus stood, giving a small wave. When he sat down again he looked over all the tables. There were so many faces! Alice and Frank, sitting close to one another, smiling, blissfully ignorant; he saw Severus Snape sitting alone at the Slytherin table, looking as displeased and sullen as ever; then there were the marauders. None of them were applauding, and he wasn't surprised, but it hurt him more then he'd like to admit. Peter was avoiding his gaze, however; James, Sirius and himself were talking amongst themselves and Cass was glaring daggers at him. Her eyes always told him how she felt. She could never truly hide her emotions, not if you knew her eyes. In the pit of his stomach he remembered the love he'd once had for her. She was his whole world, but she'd crushed him when he was only seventeen.

I can't let her do it again, he thought. I've got to stop her from ruining hers and everyone else's lives. Peter too. He was a good kid, they both were. He had to find out where they went wrong.

His first class after lunch was the one he had been dreading. He had sixth year Gryffindor and Slytherin. He did not want to be in such close proximity to himself and his friends, but he had an objective, and he was going to fulfil it.

() () () ()

"Why did you have to say that Remus?" Cass growled at her best friend, who put his hands up quickly in defence. "Why do you always have to be right? I mean, honestly, him, of all people! Dumbledore is really loosing his mind."

"Hey, Dumbledore is one of the greatest wizards of all time-" James interjected.

"You're defending him?" Cass turned on him. "He attacked a student. What do you think he'll try and teach us in class? The dark side of the force?!"

"You said yourself that he'd be a step up from the last professor," Remus said, oblivious to her muggle movie reference.

"That is true," Peter said, waddling behind his friends.

"Yes, well-" Cass stuttered. Then she sighed. "Never mind."

"Maybe it was a one time thing." Remus said quietly.

"Who knows?" Sirius said merrily. "Maybe he'll be the greatest thing that has ever happened to this school."

"You're a prat," Cass smirked, rolling her eyes. Sirius stopped walking, took Cass' hand and held his other over his heart, looking into her eyes intently.

"Thank you," he whispered. The sincerity was too much. "I try so hard." The girl shook him off, calling him something that sounded like "clucking trick".

"We've got to go to class," she said. "With "the best thing that has ever happened to this school"."

When they walked into the classroom, they saw the man was leaning on his desk. He looked tired and thin, grey around the edges. His clothes were dodgily patched up, and his light hair was messy. He looked like he'd just woken up and vaguely attempted to comb his hair.

There were no tables or chairs out, so the students all gathered around the back of the room. When it was evident that no one else was coming in, Professor Granger flicked his wand and the door swung shut, not taking his eyes off of Cassandra.

He seemed to realise that he was staring; he blinked, straightening up, and stepped closer to his class. "Hello everyone, my name is Professor-" he cleared his throat. "Granger. I understand that you covered the unforgivable curses with your last teacher?"

There was a few mumbles from the others and some shaking heads. "You didn't?"

"No, professor." Moony said. The professor blinked once, then continued.

"Well then, I had planned on a little fun for this lesson, however, it is of the utmost importance that you know these curses and how to beat them." The professor began to pace. "Now, can anyone tell me what the three unforgivable curses are?" A few people raised their hands. "Yes, miss?"

"Evans. Lily," the girl said.

"Lily,"

"The imperius curse."

"Yes, very good. The imperius curse is a curse that allows the caster complete control over the victim under the influence. Let me show you."

With a shaky movement, professor Granger said the words and cast the curse upon a small, colourful bird that had been sitting in a cage on his desk. The bird suddenly snapped to attention and began hopping around the cage. It climbed all over the walls and got to the little latched door. With a faint click, the bird unhooked the door, opened it, and flew out. It swooped over the students heads, stretching its wings, sending trails of bright colour behind it. A few of the girls giggled with awe. Not to say it wasn't beautiful, the way the colours danced around the room, but to know the bird was under the imperius curse... Moony sighed.

Beside her, Frank Longbottom raised his hand.

"Yes?" Granger said as the bird landed lightly on his shoulder.

"Frank Longbottom sir." he said informatively. "The cruciatus curse is another one." Beside him, Cass saw Alice gently squeeze his hand. That was new. The two had rarely ever spoken before. Must have been some weekend.

"Yes." the professor said sadly. Cass furrowed her brows at him. "Though I won't demonstrate that, not on this bird."

A few people gasped. "Don't be daft," Sirius said. "He wouldn't do it to you. It's illegal." The professor shook his head and laughed. That was a nice sound.

"No, perhaps I should have worded it a little differently." A few others snickered. "Does anyone know final curse?" Everyone shuffled on their feet awkwardly. No one opened their mouths.

"No one?"

"The killing curse." Cass said. The professors eyes shot to hers and something in them... flickered. What was it? It almost looked like... fear? Worry? But as quickly as it came it had gone. He nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off hers. The bird seemed to snap out of the professors control. It fluttered down from his shoulder and landed lightly on the desk behind him, chirping happily.

Moony was was watching her, eyes as still as his body was rigid. He could sense it, smell it on her, she was going to do something stupid.

Then she stepped forward, wand pointed at the creature on the table.

"Avada Kedavra."