Remus visited his friends a few more times, and he visited Madam Pomfrey and Paige a couple of times (to his slight dismay. They were both wonderful, but Remus much preferred spending time with his friends to spending time with the Hogwarts matron). Besides that, Remus spent the remaining time with his family—except for the first hour before bed. That was the time when his parents thought him to be sleeping, but he was actually spending the time with the Founders.

"Where's Salazar Slytherin?" he asked one day. "Is he still hiding? I mean, I don't really want to meet him, but I know it's inevitable at some point."

"Trust me, it's not inevitable," said Rowena with a smile. "He's quite the recluse. I doubt I've seen him in years."

Remus laughed. Over the past few days, he'd been spending a lot of with Rowena. It was fun to explore the castle with Godric and learn how to cook ancient recipes with Helga, but Remus had always been the type of person to like conversations best. Remus loved talking to people—he hadn't been able to do it much before Hogwarts, and now some good old-fashioned discussion with anyone and everyone seemed almost like a favorite food that Remus couldn't get enough of. He craved it every moment that he wasn't having it.

And Rowena was a brilliant conversationalist. Professor Questus had been very clever and extremely well-read, but Rowena was infinitely more so. She wasn't as blunt, and she did care about Remus' emotions, but it was obvious—just by the speed at which she grasped new ideas and the rapid nature of the conversation—that she was a genius. Perhaps cleverer than Dumbledore himself, though Remus sort of doubted it (for how could anyone be more clever than Dumbledore? Remus was aware, however, that he was dreadfully biased in that regard).

Remus wasn't that clever himself, but he was well-read and interested in what Rowena had to say. He kept up all right. And Rowena knew all about ancient runes ("They were quite popular in my day. I used them nearly every day," she'd said). Remus got so much homework help and personal tutoring that he was very much ahead of his classmates, nearly to the point that missing class for a full moon wouldn't even matter that much. Furthermore, he knew he could visit Rowena anytime while he was at Hogwarts, which made things even better.

These days, Remus was never left alone to wallow in his fear for the future, his regret for the past, and his pain in the present. He was simply too busy to do so, and he was determined to keep it that way.

After many hours of practice, Remus finally mastered the wolf theme from Peter and the Wolf on the piano. It helped a lot when he knew the melody front to back—he could match up the notes in his head with the imagined notes on his page of Moonlight Sonata sheet music. Who needed note names? Not Remus. He just needed the tune, and then he could match the sounds in his head to the sounds he knew each piano key to make. It was a lot easier without Sirius shouting note names into his ear, at least.

He and Sirius sat down to play it for the first time—together—and Remus was irrationally excited. "I've never played the piano with anyone before," he said.

"I have," said Sirius dully. "Did all the time with Regulus. Mum and Dad made us play all these duets."

"That must have been fun."

"No, it wasn't. Regulus practiced his parts, but I never practiced mine—so he looked like he was better than me, even though I was way better than him."

"Then maybe you should have practiced," said Remus.

"Well, I would have practiced if the music hadn't been so boring. But this has a melody, at least. I like melodies. And, on that note… haha! Note. Get it?"

"Yeah, I get it," said Remus, rolling his eyes. "Go on, then. I'm ready."

Sirius played a few opening chords, and Remus hurriedly placed his fingers on the first few keys. "One, two, ready, play," said Sirius, and then they started playing.

It was a lot of fun, actually. Sirius was excellent (as always), and the two of them started laughing whenever Sirius had to reach over Remus' hands to hit some low notes on the left side of the piano. The melody sounded so much better with all of Sirius' harmonies and countermelodies, and Remus was genuinely having a good time.

James was laughing at them. "You idiots," he said. "Honestly. Only Sirius Black and Remus Lupin would decide to spontaneously rewrite a random song for a piano duet."

"I didn't do any of it," said Remus.

"You're just jealous because you can't play," said Sirius.

Then all four of them were running around the shed, wrestling on the floor, and terribly muddy once again.

It was officially 1973—time to return to Hogwarts—and Remus was more excited than he'd been in ages. "I'm going to start meeting with Professor Dumbledore about my Arithmancy project," he babbled to his parents as they drove to King's Cross. "After the full moon, he says. It'll be done in no time at all, and then I'll finally know exactly when I'll transform and exactly what it'll be like. It'll finally be predictable."

"That's good," said Remus' mother, though Remus could tell that she still didn't much like the idea of the project.

They arrived at the station; Remus kissed his mum on the cheek and hugged his father with all his might, and then he ran off to find his friends. "Ready for a few more months of fun?" asked James, rubbing his hands together.

"Absolutely." The four of them found their compartment, and Remus collapsed into a seat. "So what have you lot been doing on the days we weren't at my place?"

"Wormtail and Padfoot spent the rest of hols at mine," said James with a nonchalant shrug. "Had a quiet Christmas. Worked a lot on…."

"The three-person project," groaned Remus. "Yeah, yeah. I'm getting so sick of that project. Can't you give it up?"

"As soon as you give up that Arithmancy project."

"Id est… never," said Remus.

James hit him. "Only you, mate. Only you would forego the sensible i.e. for the insensible id est. No one but you knows what i.e. stands for, you idiot!"

"I do... and so do you, apparently."

"Well, I have an excellent memory! I couldn't forget anything if I tried! Merlin's beard, you're insufferable."

Remus grinned cheekily. "Id est, a great and clever friend," he said, and Peter laughed so hard he nearly spat out his Chocolate Frog.

Their banter continued until the second half of the train ride, when there was a knock at the compartment door. "Who is it?" whispered Sirius, who had learned by now that Remus was able to sniff out anyone close by. This saved the Marauders quite a bit of strife when it was, in fact, someone unfriendly at the door.

"Professor Dilley," said Remus, confused. "I wonder why he's here."

James pointed his wand towards the compartment door, and it flew open with… a very strange chirping sound.

"It's a spell I learned over hols," said James with a cackle. "It's like Alohomora, but it only works on doors that are already unlocked, and it makes bird noises."

"What, exactly, is the practicality of that spell?" asked Remus.

"Fun," said James.

Dilley looked between the four of them, a strangely determined look on his face. "Are you four free to help me out a little?" he asked. "If you're not too busy with bird charms, that is."

"Of course!" said James. "What are we doing today? Breaking another curse?"

Dilley grinned. "I hope so!" he said. "I think there's something wrong with the roof of the train. I'm going to need to check it out, and I was hoping for some backup."

"We're going on the roof of the train?" shrieked Peter.

"Sure thing, young lad."

James and Sirius looked at each other, twin sparks of light in their eyes. "Coooool," they said in perfect unison.

Ten minutes later, Remus was on the train.

Not on the train in the normal-person, perfectly-reasonable sort of way, no. Remus was not riding the train like most of his peers were peacefully doing.

No, Remus was on the train. On the roof. Remus was on top of the train, and he did not like it one bit.

Although he was bundled from head to toe, he was still freezing half to death as the stinging wind whipped past his face, and his terribly ugly Gryffindor scarf was flapping in the breeze so violently he was afraid it would blow away. No, he did not like this. He was a sedentary boy, and sedentary boys did not ride trains in such a way.

"I've put Weight Charms on your shoes," shouted Dilley (and he really did have to shout, lest his voice be drowned out by the violent wind), "and a Magnet Charm. You'll be pulled right back to the train if anything goes wrong. If you've got something that's important to you, I suggest you use a Sticking Charm and stick it to your clothes right now!"

Remus immediately placed a Sticking Charm on the ugly Gryffindor scarf that his father had made for him. "What are we looking for?" he shouted.

"What?!"

"What are we looking for? Why are we even here?"

"I dunno! Max just told me that we might find something! Maybe it's a bomb or something of the like?"

"Who would bomb a train full of students?" shouted Peter.

"Most Death Eaters," said James. His voice was already loud enough that he didn't really have to scream to be heard over the wind—a fact which Remus would have laughed at if he hadn't been so uncomfortable.

Remus took a deep breath, and then he took a step forward. It took all his strength to do so, but he managed to lift his foot up and set it in front of him. There. That was one step done. He could do a few more, couldn't he?

The wind still whipped at his face with a fervor—and then it picked up even further—and Remus could feel his cheeks growing redder with every gust. It was freezing. He wished he had a Warming Charm or the like, but he was also sort of afraid to take his wand back out now that the wind had picked up. He'd never forgive himself if he lost it.

He tried to help the search efforts, he really did, but it just wasn't possible with all the wind. Remus could hardly keep his eyes open. Finally, he managed to open them a crack and squint at James and Sirius. They seemed to be doing fine—having fun, even. Why was Remus so sensitive? He went through worse than this every month!

Well, there was the fact that tomorrow was the full moon, but Remus was fine.

And, to be fair, his eyes were typically sensitive. They were the only parts of him that didn't fully reform during a full moon, so Remus supposed he was rather protective of them. Besides, he didn't often need them all that much, what with the enhanced senses and all.

But here, he couldn't hear or smell anything. The wind was simply too strong, and Remus was afraid to open his eyes. His senses were gone, he had no idea how to navigate the world, and he was afraid.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. It was Peter. "Holding up all right?" Peter asked.

"I suppose," said Remus, but his words were lost in the wind. "I suppose," he said more loudly.

"I'm sort of scared," admitted Peter.

"Me, too. I can't really open my eyes."

"Yeah, the wind is hurting my eyes something awful," said Peter, and Remus was selfishly glad. At least he wasn't the only one having problems with that.

But then… slowly… the train slowed down.

"Here!" shouted Dilley. "This is what I was waiting for! We're going through dragon territory!"

"What?" screamed Peter (far too close to Remus' ear).

"Dragon territory! They're everywhere!"

Now that the train had slowed down, Remus could open his eyes again. The rest of Drew's Crew was here now, too (Remus' team, at least). Basil was clutching Valencia's arm, Evans was wrapping her coat around her body, and Snape was holding her wrist. What was even more surprising, though, was the swarm of bumblebees flying around the train.

It was a huge swarm; probably the largest Remus had ever seen. The swarm practically enveloped the train. As a few flew closer to Remus, he realized that they weren't bumblebees.

"What are these?" he marveled as one landed on his finger. It was black and about the size of a fly, but it had two very long antennae and legs the length of a mosquito's—they wrapped around Remus' finger like Francine's spindly legs often did.

"Those are tree-flies," said Dilley. "They're harmless; don't worry. They're only common in dragon-populated areas, and they're tree dragons' favorite food."

"Does that mean there are dragons around here?" asked Evans.

Before Dilley could respond, a massive dragon emerged from the forest, bursting from the trees in a flurry of leaves and screams from Drew's Crew. It was a mossy green all over, and when it opened its mouth, unhinging its jaw like a snake, Remus saw that its teeth were green, too.

"Nothing to worry about!" Dilley shouted. "Trust me, they only eat tree-flies! Stand your ground and search the roof! The train will only stay stopped while there's danger of hitting the tree dragons—they're an endangered species, after all—so now's your chance!"

Remus shook the tree-fly off his finger and collapsed to the ground, covering his neck, as the tree dragon swooped over him. It was huge—probably bigger than Remus' whole house. A moment later, he heard Evans shriek, and he looked over to see the dragon licking flies off her hair. It looked like it was being careful not to hurt her, but her hair was getting dreadfully wet (due to the fact that the dragon's tongue was more than twice her size).

James ran at the dragon, screaming and waving his arms. "Hey!" he shouted.

Is he trying to save Evans? thought Remus, incredulous. But no. James was not trying to shoo the dragon away; he was trying to ride it.

Remus watched in awe as James grabbed onto the tip of the dragon's wing with both arms and legs, climbing up the thing like he was merely climbing a tree. The dragon was large enough that it didn't seem to notice... and soon enough, James was sitting on the dragon's back with a triumphant look on his face.

"Potter!" shouted Dilley. "Get down from there!"

"But I can see everything from here! There's a giant… oh, no. Oh, Merlin's pants."

"Potter! Down! And watch your language!" Dilley looked absolutely furious, which was a rare look on him.

"Andrew, you don't understand! There's writing on the top of the train!"

"You mean riding?" shouted Evans.

"No, writing! Actual words! Woah."

"GET DOWN, POTTER!" shouted Dilley.

"It spells Voldemort!"

Remus' blood ran cold.

"It's painted in green ink," James continued desperately, "and it runs from one end of the train to the other. I'm not sure if it's cursed, but it is glowing a bit."

Remus looked down. He'd noticed the ink, of course, but he'd thought it was just a weird decoration. It was the kind of thing that one didn't really notice unless one was high up enough to make sense of it all. "All right," said Dilley, his voice significantly gentler. "Thank you. But you need to get off of that dragon now!"

"Fine," said James. "I'm getting down—"

But as soon as he'd said it, the dragon started flapping its wings and was flying away.

"PRONGS!" yelled Sirius.

Dilley wasted no time at all. He jumped back through the trapdoor that they'd used to reach the roof of the train in the first place, and then he was gone, back inside the train, and Drew's Crew was alone.

"Did he just leave us?" yelled Peter. "Did he abandon us? Are we alone?!"

But, only a few moments later, Dilley returned. "Help is on the way," he panted.

Remus watched James, who was now a tiny green dot, fly away. He felt totally helpless. There went James—one of Remus' only friends in the world—gone to another act of Voldemort. When would it end? When would things go back to normal? And why did Dilley keep putting them in danger like this?

As he watched James, a blurry figure burst out of the trapdoor and started flying towards the dot that was James at full speed. Remus watched, mouth open. He knew that figure. That was…

"Max?!" cried Valencia. "Professor Dilley! Max is flying!"

"He's flying a broomstick," said Basil. "How is your dog flying a broomstick? Dogs don't know how to fly broomsticks!"

"Max," said Dilley, "is a very clever dog."

They watched in silence as the blurry figure that was Max disappeared from sight, and then they all waited, breaths bated.

A few moments passed.

And then….

In the distance, Remus saw a blurry figure—but this time, it was James, riding the broomstick with Max in his arms. Remus breathed a sigh of relief, and Peter started crying a little.

James landed directly in the center of the train with a THUMP, and Remus could almost hear the epic music swelling in the background. James slowly spun in a circle, looking very proud of himself. Then he ran a hand through his hair, grinned lazily, and said, "That was pretty fun. Anyone else want a go?"

Remus shook his head, exasperated. James would never change.

James Potter was the talk of the school, which was just how James Potter liked it. He strutted around the place, rubbing his hair into shapes Remus hadn't thought possible, while doting first-years and impressed seventh-years flocked around him. "What was it like to ride a dragon?" they asked. "Was the train really that dangerous? Tell us again what you found!"

And James told the story again and again in dramatic tones, rising to a shout during the exciting parts and dropping to a whisper as he spoke the word Voldemort.

"You know, you're not doing any favours for the people who are frightened to speak his name," said Remus. "Voldemort is trying to give the name more power, and you're essentially letting him. You're telling that story much more dramatically than it needs to be told."

"It's harmless," said James dismissively.

So Remus let him tell the story.

Tomorrow was the full moon, anyway. He was tired.

"You walked on the roof of the train?!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey, pushing Remus into his bed without any regard for his sore bones. "The roof of a train? You could've died, you could've been killed…."

"But I didn't."

"Oh, don't! You could have done! I spend so much time looking after you, Remus Lupin, and it seems you're willing to throw it away just like that. People care about you, you know!"

"Professor Dilley was supervising."

"I don't care! You're delicate! You can't just go walking on trains!"

"I'm not delicate! I reckon I'm the least delicate person you know. My whole body is completely torn apart and reformed every single full moon!"

Madam Pomfrey groaned. "Yes, Lupin, I know that. That's exactly why I think you're delicate. Besides, the full moon is today… and you went walking on the roof yesterday. Weren't you tired? No, don't answer that—I reckon you were exhausted! You can't do something so dangerous so soon before the full moon! You won't have the energy to protect yourself!"

"Yes, I did—proven by the fact that I'm perfectly fine."

"I'm going to have a word with Professor Dilley very shortly," said Madam Pomfrey, rubbing the bridge of her nose with the same forcefulness that she probably wanted to use to strangle Remus.

"I think there are at least two people who are already having a word with him. None of the staff were too happy."

"Oh, I'm sure, but that man needs as many words as possible, because clearly, he doesn't understand them the first time. Trust me, we all had words with him after he led you children into the place where Professor Craff was killed. Even Max had a word with him."

"Max? But he's… he's a dog!" Remus made a frustrated noise and threw his hands into the air. "Dogs can't fly broomsticks, dogs can't sniff out werewolves, and dogs most certainly can't talk!"

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "And neither can you, young man; not without hurting your throat. So lie down, stop talking, and go to sleep. You need a lot of rest today to make up for all you did yesterday. Merlin's beard, boy, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"But… stop changing the subject, dogs can't talk…." Remus spluttered, but Madam Pomfrey forced him down and pour a Sleeping Draught down his throat before he managed to make his point.

To be quite honest, he was thankful. It had been a very, very long day.