Fact #6: Remus liked most of his professors.

Well, he liked them all, actually, once Professor Pensley had quit and Professor Craff had been killed. He thought they were all very good teachers, and he knew they had his best interests at heart. He liked some more than others, of course (Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were undoubtedly the best professors at Hogwarts), but he liked them all.

And it had taken a while, but he was pretty sure they all liked him, too. There had been an initial shock when he'd arrived at Hogwarts in his first year—an adjustment period, if you will—and most of the professors had been wary around him. Who wouldn't be? They'd all grown up on stories of werewolves, who were the bogeymen under the bed; the monsters in the closet; the grim shadow that nabbed children who were out after dark. They'd been conditioned to fear werewolves, by both their parents and their educational endeavors, and Remus didn't blame them for being a little careful at first. Some had been afraid of Remus, and some of them had been afraid of offending him somehow. As a result, first-year Remus had found himself enduring carefully avoided gazes, skittish movements, and lots of general ignoring.

But Remus was an earnest, hardworking, respectful, shy, and seemingly innocent person (it was a fact so true that Remus didn't even feel that he was boasting when he admitted it). He was the perfect candidate for changing opinions on werewolves, because he just seemed so innocent and nice—perfect Remus Lupin, who never swore, who always addressed professors in the proper manner, who didn't talk out of turn, who worked hard and had come out top of the form in his first year, who asked questions in class and was oh-so-likeable… and who surrounded himself with friends that made him look like an angel in comparison.

Remus was a good boy. His friends were holy terrors, but Remus, at least, made an effort to appear a good boy. He had to. Partially because it was just his nature—he'd grown up with only his parents for company; of course he acted like a tiny adult—but partially because he knew that being anything other than good could potentially be dangerous. There was no in-between: either he was a good boy with a curse, or he was a misbehaved monster. Anything he did wrong could and would be misconstrued as a side effect of his Dark and villainous nature.

Yes, Remus' good-boy demeanor had paid off in the end. It had taken months and months (years, even), but now every single professor at Hogwarts was at least mostly comfortable around him. He was just another student now, and that was all Remus had ever aspired to be. In fact, Madam Pomfrey had once confided to him that his name was coming up far less in staff meetings, which was a good thing. In Remus' first year, they'd all been itching to talk about Remus Lupin, the werewolf, the novelty and the freak of Hogwarts. Now, Remus was old news. He was boring. There were far more interesting things to talk about in staff meetings, and Remus was ever so thankful for that.

Professor Sidus, who taught Astronomy, and Professor Sprout, who taught Herbology, had been the worst and most long-lasting offenders when it came to being afraid of Remus (besides Professor Craff, who was dead). But they looked at Remus now. They didn't flinch when he accidentally touched them. Sprout was almost completely normal around Remus, and Sidus was… well, Sidus was getting there.

"They all recognize that you're a good student," Madam Pomfrey had once told Remus. "You're a kind and curious person, you have a sense of humor, you have a personality, and you're generally everything that teachers look for in students. You're doing well, Remus, and they're learning. It is their fault; not yours."

Remus appreciated that sentiment, especially since he cared so much about what they thought about him. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was because he'd grown so close to the Hogwarts staff back in first year—after all, he couldn't very well go to his friends with matters of lycanthropy. No, he'd sought out his first-year Defense professor, Dumbledore, McGonagall, or Madam Pomfrey herself. He'd been far closer to his professors than he had been to his friends back then, and something in him still wanted them to like him.

Or perhaps it was because they were going through so much to keep Remus at Hogwarts. He wanted to do well, and he wanted to be worth the extra effort—especially when it came to those he was most grateful to, most notably Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore. He felt he had to prove himself to earn his place, even though Dumbledore frequently told him that he deserved it just like any other student.

Whatever the reason, Remus was sometimes a bit of a teacher's pet, and he knew it. But there was no harm in that, was there? It wasn't like he was a total prude. He was learning to be more fun every day, thanks to his friends, although that was beginning to create stressfully contradicting values between wanting to please his teachers and wanting to please his friends. Things were getting increasingly complicated.

Anyway. Remus wasn't entirely surprised that Dumbledore had invited him to Hogwarts to eat an early feast with the staff, and he thought it was going to be fun. The only issue was that, although Remus was a respectful, well-behaved angel… his friends were not.

They Flooed to Hogwarts the day before the full moon, and Professor Dumbledore was waiting for them at the grate. "Ah, good evening," he said. "The house-elfs have just finished preparing supper, so your timing is perfect. Madam Pomfrey would like you to keep your things in the Hospital Wing for tonight, and the three of you who do not have a prior commitment tomorrow will unpack in your dormitory then."

"Thank you so much, sir," said Remus, whose face felt flushed (he very much disliked getting special treatment).

"I'll take you down to the Hospital Wing, even though I am certain you know where it is by now."

Remus smiled wryly. "At this point, Professor, I'd better."

With that, James and Sirius took off down the corridor, chasing each other and laughing, cart wheels squeaking madly. Peter followed, and then Remus and Dumbledore were left alone.

"I'm sorry to say I won't be running today," Dumbledore said lightly. "Weak joints. They come with the advanced age."

"I won't be running either," said Remus with a grin. "Weak joints. They come with the years of being stretched and reformed like putty."

"You have gotten much braver, Remus."

"I know. It just… doesn't bother me as much, you know? Some of that was Professor Questus, of course, who always made me talk about it. Some of it is just…"

"Yes?"

"I have a future, and that makes a great difference. There's hope. And I never really understood the concept of hope, you know? It wasn't as if it was going to make things better in the future. But now I think I get it—it makes things better in the present, right?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Yes, very profound."

"I know I'm still going to have a hard life, of course. I know they'll never find a cure for lycanthropy. I know I might be homeless and jobless when I'm older, and I know I'll probably die young. But… right now, it's okay. And if it's okay right now, then the future doesn't seem like an impossibly deep black hole of suffering. If it's okay right now, then it can be okay again."

Dumbledore chuckled. "I understand perfectly."

"I feel… in control, and I feel hopeful, and I never get to be either of those things. So yes, I feel comfortable talking about it. It's not so scary anymore. I mean… it's still terrifying, and my stomach's already in knots thinking about doing everything all again tomorrow night, but… I'm okay."

Dumbledore stopped walking; Remus nearly bumped into him, but he didn't. "I'm proud of you, Remus," he said, and Remus beamed. "And I must say, I am also rather proud of myself. After all, it was my idea to give you a place here, and I'd say it worked out most splendidly."

"It certainly did," said Remus, and then they walked the rest of the way to the Hospital Wing in comfortable silence that was barely awkward at all.

As soon as Remus stepped into the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey grabbed both of his shoulders and forced him to sit on a bed. Being in the main ward felt strange; usually, Remus recovered after full moons in Madam Pomfrey's office to avoid curious eyes, but there were no curious eyes around today. Remus' friends were currently playing a game of catch with a potions bottles. They weren't paying attention to Remus at all.

"You need a haircut," fussed Madam Pomfrey. "And you've a nasty scar on your forearm—from last moon?"

"Yes."

"Your voice is raspy. You have dark circles under your eyes. You have a cut on your hand that doesn't seem to have healed right…"

"Oh, that's not from the full moon. That's from when Sirius threw a tree branch at me."

"I see." Madam Pomfrey waved her wand, and then the cut was healed. It wasn't cursed, so it could be healed with magic—unlike werewolf bites and scratches, which were all cursed by nature and could only be sealed with silver and Dittany.

"I'm fine, I really am," said Remus in a bored tone as Madam Pomfrey checked over his limbs. "I'm still alive, aren't I? So I'm fine."

Madam Pomfrey gave Remus a look, and then she dropped two bottlecaps in a jar. Remus groaned. She'd created the Jar in first year—whenever Remus said the word "fine", she dropped a cap into it, and each cap represented an additional five minutes in the Hospital Wing. James had once asked to call it the "Fine Fine", but neither Remus nor Madam Pomfrey had liked that very much.

"Your standard of 'fine' is very low, Mr. Lupin," said Madam Pomfrey snippily. She put her hand on Remus' chest. "Breathe."

He breathed.

"Your breathing is good."

"I could have told you that."

"Dial down the snark or I'll put another cap in the jar." She waved her wand at Remus a few times, and then patted his hand and told him to sit up. "Do you know what, Remus?" she asked, a slight smile spreading across her lips. "You actually look… very good."

"I'm only fourteen. You're not allowed to flirt with me, legally."

"Oh, be quiet or I'm taking points from Gryffindor," she said. "You know what I mean. You look healthy, there's more color in your skin, your face is rounder, your eyes are brighter, and you've gained weight. All in one summer? What have you been doing?"

"Running about with my friends."

Madam Pomfrey's normally-sharp eyes grew soft. "They really are good for you," she said, and then she followed it up with, "BLACK! POTTER! PETTIGREW! STOP THROWING THAT POTIONS BOTTLE THIS INSTANT!"

Remus laughed, and Madam Pomfrey huffed. "Perhaps we shouldn't have invited them to supper," she said. "Keeping them under control will be harder than domesticating a Dementor."

Remus rather agreed with that last part, but in his opinion, his friends' uncontrollability was part of the fun.

Fact #7: Eating a feast with the staff was a wonderful way to pick up on some Hogwarts gossip.

For the most part, Remus and his friends were quiet—not because James and Sirius were usually quiet, but because the staff were having so many interesting conversations of their own upon which the Marauders did not want to intrude. It had started out rather tame, but then McGonagall had said something about Luisa Jardin's poor marks, and then Flitwick had responded with, "Better than Mary Macdonald's wand grip. I tell you, Minerva, that girl needs some extra tutoring," to which Madam Pomfrey had added, "So does Graden Gilligan. Oh, he has no common sense. Showed up in the Hospital Wing because he thought a pimple was full-blown Dragon Pox."

So Remus and his friends ate silently, relishing the fact that they were just about invisible. A quick glance at Dumbledore told them that he had not forgotten their existence; his eyes were twinkling more merrily and mischievously than ever before.

Finally, Hagrid burst into the Great Hall. "Sorry I'm late!" he huffed. "Had ter wrestle a giant blood-suckin' beetle off me pumpkins, I did. Righ' nasty, I tell yeh… oh! Remus!"

Remus waved, a little disappointed that the teachers had remembered his presence, but mostly excited to see Hagrid. Hagrid had been his very first friend at Hogwarts—an outcast accepting another outcast, two non-humans trading stories and experiences—and, though they hadn't talked much recently, Remus was always happy to see him. "Hullo, Hagrid. How are you?"

Hagrid plopped into the seat next to Remus, grinning broadly. "Great! It's good ter see yeh! How have yeh bin?"

"I've been doing well, thank you. I had a good summer."

"Yer lookin' good," said Hagrid, staring at Remus curiously. "Looks like yeh've had some sun and a good meal, at least."

"Yeah, I have."

Hagrid grunted happily and settled onto the seat; it squeaked perilously, much to Sirius' amusement. "Did I miss anythin' important, Dumbledore?" Hagrid asked, shoveling some bacon onto his plate.

"You have not. The conversation has been rather mild as of so far. You're not even the last to arrive—that happy honor belongs to Andrew Dilley, who has yet to make an appearance."

"Maybe the curse killed him," blurted Sirius. "You know, the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Dilley thought he could beat it on pure willpower, but perhaps it killed him."

Dumbledore cast Sirius a disapproving look. "I do hope that is not the case," he said. "I'm certain that he will arrive by Floo any moment now."

As if on cue, the fireplace glowed green, and Professor Andrew Dilley emerged from the flames. He coughed and shook some soot off, but he was still covered in the stuff when he sat down at the table next to Madam Pomfrey. She scooted away, apparently reluctant to get soot on her clean, white frock.

(In about thirty-six hours, it would be covered with Remus' blood. But right now it was clean, at least, and Remus shook his head a bit to rid himself of the grim thoughts.)

"That's right!" said Dilley abruptly, slamming his hand on the table. "I'm still alive!" He grabbed a piece of bread and took a vicious bite out of it. Crumbs flew into his red beard. "The curse can't get me! Willpower beats all! I will teach for another year, and nothing and no one can stop me!"

"Ignoring the fact that your speech sounds suspiciously like it is foreshadowing something awful," said Dumbledore with a smile, "I am glad that you are back. Please, help yourself. There's plenty of food."

Dilley had already been doing so, but now he paused and looked at Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter. "What are those four doing here?" he asked. "Staff now, are they? Are they my replacements if I bite it before school starts? Ha-ha!"

"Remus knows all about 'biting it'," said Sirius, and Remus hit him.

"They are not," said Dumbledore. "The full moon is tomorrow night, so I've invited Remus to enjoy the staff feast the day before instead. His friends are merely a happy addition. They have been very pleasant dinner guests as of so far."

"Where's Max?" asked James, referring to Dilley's pet dog (which had later turned out to be an Animagus and had saved Remus' life. It was a long story).

"He's working somewhere else this year," said Dilley. He tore a piece of chicken off the bone with his teeth and chewed furiously. "Can't come to Hogwarts with me. It was fun while it lasted!"

"Aw, I'll miss him."

"I noticed you only put more curse-breaking books on the list this year," said Remus. "We're not using Practical Defense, Year Four? Only curse-breaking, just like last year?"

"No. Only curses are important. They're rising in popularity with the war. Learn to deal with curses, you learn to deal with anything!"

"Ah. I see."

Dilley stood up abruptly and walked back toward the grate. "Well, nice checking in. Must be going back now. Busy evening. Best of luck to you tomorrow night, Lupin. See you in a few days!"

"See you in a few days," said Remus, bemused, and then Dilley threw Floo powder onto the flames, dove back in, and was gone.

"He's a very strange man," said Madam Pomfrey with a frown. "Talented, but strange. I expect Hogwarts will be very interesting once again this year."

"I expect it will indeed," said Flitwick. "Especially now that Amanda Fritz from Slytherin is planning on joining the Duelling Club. You might actually have competition, Lupin! She's very talented in Charms."

"I hope so," said Remus with a smile.

"Nothing compared to Ritchie Speigler, who graduated only a few years ago," said McGonagall dismissively. "He was such a talented boy, and it's a damn shame he got addicted to Snargaluff pods. Threw away his future, he did. I hear he's in Azkaban now."

The Marauders exchanged excited glances and then leaned back into their seats to listen to the gossip.

Madam Pomfrey was kind enough to make Remus and his friends cups of hot cocoa that night. "To settle your nerves before bed," she said. "I know you're very nervous about tomorrow night, Remus—you always are—and the excitement and stress of starting another school year certainly won't help. I know you're worried about missing the very first few days of school."

"At least it's all the same professors from last year," said Remus. "I already know them, and they already know me. I must admit I'm very happy that I won't have to explain my condition to another person this year. I've had to do that at least once every year, and I'm getting sick of it."

"You'll have to do it again this year, assuming Dilley doesn't make it to the first day," said Sirius. "I'm telling you. That curse is real, and he can't beat it through willpower. That's asinine."

Madam Pomfrey took a sip of her own hot cocoa and swished it around in her mouth. "He knows what he's doing," she said. "Many curses can be broken through pure willpower, actually. It's very common. Some curses are designed to make things very difficult for the victim, but it is possible to work through it and overcome it. I understand why he thinks this curse is one of those—after all, if it exists, it hasn't killed or directly incapacitated anyone."

"What has it done?" asked James.

"Well, three years before Professor Questus, there was Professor Ainsley. She was a wonderful professor, and she got an offer from Beauxbatons at the end of the year. She left to teach there, because she herself had graduated from that school and had special ties to it. After Professor Ainsley was Professor Goldfinch, who left after becoming pregnant. After that was Professor Gonzalez, who lost both legs in a boating accident and decided to stay home after that."

"Then Professor Questus, who was reinstated as an Auror at the end of the year," said Remus.

"Then Professor Pensley, who left to focus on her poetry," said Peter.

"Don't kid yourself," said Sirius scornfully. "She quit because everyone failed her exam. She was embarrassed."

"And now there's Andrew," said James. "His curse-breaking partner couldn't come back, and I bet Andrew had the opportunity to go work with him… but he didn't. I see what you're saying. The curse doesn't kill anyone, or force them not to come back… it just suggests that they shouldn't, for one reason or another. They all had the option to stay."

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Precisely. Many curses function like that, and Professor Dilley is taking a chance in assuming that this curse works the same way. Tomorrow, we'll find out if he's right."

"Hm," said James. "May I have more hot cocoa?"

"Absolutely not. I want all four of you to go to sleep. I know Remus won't be sleeping past four-thirty tomorrow morning, and I know you're going to want to wake up with him, James. No more sugar. Sleep."

Remus slipped under the sheets and pulled them up to his neck. He yawned. "Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," he said. "I'm very thankful that you're doing this for me."

"It's my job. And… erm, I would like it if all four of you kept quiet about what you heard over supper today. You must understand that sometimes gossip is the only way to keep the Hogwarts staff sane, and staff meetings and dinners are the only way to do it. Please don't spread it around."

"We won't," promised Remus.

"Good. Just be glad they didn't discuss you four. Seems at least one of you always comes up."

"I should hope so!" said James. "We're very clever!"

"Oh, believe me, it's not usually about your cleverness," said Madam Pomfrey. "Now sleep. I'll see you early tomorrow, Remus, and I'll have a cool cloth and plenty of water waiting."

"Thank you," said Remus, and it wasn't long before sleep stole over his bed and claimed him for its own.