Disclaimer: See Prologue

"Ah," said Lupin slowly, watching a much younger looking version of himself, sitting in the Potters' living room, Lily at his side, his head in his hands. "Well, to understand that one, I suppose I'd have to take you back to the afternoon before."

Harry frowned. "What happened to you?"

"I'll explain in a minute," said Lupin, trying to find the appropriate words. "You remember that my father passed away?"

Harry nodded, still confused. He was sure Lupin had said that he spent the months with his mother, away from his friends. What would he be doing in his parents' house, shaking?

"Well, this was almost a month afterwards when I needed his advice and he was obviously unable to give it and-"

"And he shagged a taken woman," said Sirius, raising his eyebrows.

Lupin attempted to smile. "That's one way of putting it. I was hoping you'd keep out of this one but, alas. Very nice terminology, by the way."

1978

This past week had taken its toll on Remus Lupin. To look at him, one would assume that he had endured a succession of full moons all at once. The bags under his eyes would take weeks to fully correct naturally. He couldn't summon any amount of effort in regards to anything beyond the most basic magic.

This particular day was a Friday; Friday, August 13th. This particular Friday was spent in Diagon Alley, Flourish and Blott's to be exact, while he attempted to find literature that he could immerse himself in, forgetting who he was and why he felt as empty as he did.

Such emptiness had overtaken his usual hyper-awareness. He turned, knocking a stack of books out of the arms of a pretty, young witch, who gasped in alarm. Immediately he knelt to collect them, apologising profusely as he did so.

"It's alright," she assured him.

Lupin pricked his ears. He knew that voice. He recognised the soft, Irish accent that had lulled him through past traumas and was almost tempted to praise God there and then. And then he remembered.

"So, how are you doing?" he asked her, hoping she would not return the pleasantry.

She nodded. "Fine, thanks. You?" Biting her lip, she shook her head. "I'm sorry about your father. I read his obituary in the Prophet."

Lupin nodded his thanks. "I'm okay, I think."

What was he saying? She would pity him and he hated pity at the best of times, but from her? No, he couldn't allow it.

"Do you still see your friends?"

Hmm, tricky one. Yes and no, really. The Marauders had all owled him regularly and he had responded to most of their letters but he certainly wasn't ready to let them see him like this.

"Yeah, now and again," he replied. Willing to steer the conversation to any topic but himself, Lupin even tortured himself further. "So are you and Mulciber still together?"

Anna Lovett nodded. "I wish you'd start calling him by his name."

"Mulciber is his name," snapped Lupin. It was sick, but he was enjoying this. He couldn't think about the pain of losing his father; the pain of losing his girlfriend was far stronger at the moment. "Besides, it's not as though I'll be invited to any of your dinner parties any time soon."

He was expecting her to ignore him, move on, buy her books and perhaps in true Anna fashion, storm out. She did not. Instead, she placed her books on the nearest counter and steered him out of the shop with the words, "You need to talk about your Dad."

Strapped firmly to her arm, he was sent whirling through a myriad of colour. It was over far too soon and he was now standing in a dark but no less attractive room. The heavy curtains swallowed his bitter laughter. Anna hurriedly poured out two glasses of Firewhiskey and instructed him to take a seat on her sofa which, frankly, looked as though it could swallow him whole.

"How's your Mum?"

Lupin nodded and swallowed the whiskey. He shook his head.

"What does that mean?"

Lupin shrugged. "It doesn't matter, does it?" He accepted her offer of another drink and quickly gulped down the second glass. And the third.

"What did he do?"

"He worked for the Werewolf Capture Unit at the Ministry. Ironic, no?"

Anna smiled faintly. "I was utterly disgusted that you didn't tell me."

She was fixed with Lupin's knowing, black gaze and sat up straight.

"You didn't exactly prove yourself to be trustworthy though, did you?"

The silence engulfed them. Anna poured herself another whiskey and sat beside him, muttering, "My birthday was the full moon. I just thought you couldn't be arsed. I knew that you backed off to make girls dump you and I thought that was what you were doing to me so…"

"So you went to Mulciber." Lupin wondered how this conversation had taken such a wrong turn. He didn't want to talk about this; not now, not ever.

"If Sirius hadn't been coming out of the broom closet-"

"Then I would never have known!" cried Lupin, leaping to his feet.

"I would have told you!"

She followed suit and threw her chin up, in an attempt to compensate for the twelve and a half inches between them in height. She pouted slightly and the sincere look in her eyes was all it took for his lips to come crashing down on hers.

It should have felt wrong but he had never been surer of anything. He began to have his doubts as they moved together on her sofa but the obstacle was soon overcome.

The summer rain had fallen and James Potter was awoken by the persistent tapping on his window. Beside him, Lily Evans shifted in her sleep and moaned her displeasure at such an ungracious alarm.

"LILY!"

James made out the shape of Lupin's Eagle owl and leapt out of bed. He opened the window and Nancy flew in, ruffling her feathers and shooting James a disapproving look. Nevertheless, she allowed him to detach the letter from her leg and was pleased to receive a small treat as means of thanks.

The door had been opened downstairs and the voice of Lupin himself shouted up the stairs. Nancy hooted and flew out of the bedroom door, just opened by Sirius.

"It's Moony."

"I know."

"I think he wants Lily."

Lily groaned and threw on her dressing gown, glaring at Sirius. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"He sent me a letter," said James, gesturing for his friend to read it with him. "Go, Lil. He sounds a bit desperate."

Lily stood at the head of stairs, her lips pursed and nostrils flared. Angry? She was furious. They had all been alerted to his father's death and it was the last they had really heard of him. His letters had been ridiculously short and infrequent.

At the sight of him, her anger dissolved.

His face was torn and scarred as a result of July's full moon. His drenched hair clung to his face and hung in his eyes, black and full of tears. He was dripping onto her newly laid laminate flooring. He bit his lip.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, unable to form a coherent sentence. "I knew it was you I needed to see."

Lily nodded and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Remus, where have you been? You look terrible."

"I feel terrible," he croaked as he was removed of his soaked coat. "Could I trouble you for some tea?"

Lily ushered him into the living room and pushed him onto the sofa. "And you're going to stay there until I get some satisfactory answers."

Lupin nodded and a few minutes later, accepted the steaming mug of strong tea. "I was out of it. I met this girl yesterday and we ended up having sex."

"Christ, Remus!"

"I know, I know." He took a sip of the tea. "I shouldn't have done it. She's moved in with her boyfriend and he'd kill me. I…my…"

The door burst open.

"Anna fucking Lovett?" snapped Sirius, his scorn obvious.

"Remus!" cried Lily, her emerald eyes burning. "Oh, Remus." She threw her arms around him and luckily, Sirius cast a hover charm on the mug and directed it to float towards the table.

"What were you thinking?" James asked, shutting the door behind him and taking his place beside Sirius. "Mulciber is an idiot, you can take him in your sleep, but screwing his girlfriend is…well, it's actually closure isn't it; an eye for an eye and all that?"

"Thing is," murmured Lupin, wishing he could hold the mug just to have something to do with his hands. "There's another girl…from school. She came round when she read about my Dad and we talked about dating."

Wanting to know who it was but preoccupied with solving the dilemma at hand, James frowned slightly. "Let's just clear this up. Are you single?"

Lupin nodded. "Sort of."

Lily sat up. "Sort of? There's no such thing as 'sort of'. Are you single or aren't you?"

"I don't know. I told her I would speak to her later and we'd talk some more."

Sirius sighed with relief. "Okay, so you're single. The blame lies with the bitch from hell and it's her word against yours. No problem. There are only two questions left to ask."

"Go on."

"One; what the hell were you thinking?"

Lupin gave a laugh of sorts but shook his head. "She was just so…warm."

She had been. She had been pleasant, welcoming and above all, she felt like home.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "And two; who's this mystery woman then?"

Lupin blushed and hid his head in his hands. Lily wrapped a comforting arm around him.

CLICK!

"Sorry," said James, returning Lupin's camera to his charmed coat pocket. "It was sick revenge. I thought that now you were feeling a bit better, I could get one back at you for those bloody pictures from first year that you showed at my seventeenth. You realise I'll be handing this one round at your wedding?"

Lily clicked her tongue. "Remus, you don't have to tell us."

"Oh yes he bloody well does!"