Albus Dumbledore loved the start of term.
No matter what had happened the year before (and there inevitably was something unpleasant with the defence against the dark arts teachers he seemed to be getting through like old socks), September always brought with it the opportunity to start afresh.
After Gilderoy Lockhart had turned out to be unfortunately not who he said he was (when would he learn to stop taking others at their word?!), Albus was yet again in need of someone new to teach the subject.
He'd asked Remus Lupin to teach at Hogwarts previously. He was very fond of the man and had first hand experience of his excellent defence knowledge from the work they did together in the Order of the Phoenix.
Remus, however, had refused every offer. "It's too dangerous." He said again and again. "What if something happened?"
"My dear man, where are these fears coming from?" Albus had asked him.
Remus had of course been frightened to attend Hogwarts as a ten-year-old. He'd been convinced others would find out what he was.
But his fears had turned out to be completely unfounded. In Remus' second year, his friends James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew had discovered his secret.
Albus recalled how Madam Pomfrey had come rushing into his office to tell him the news. They'd apparently followed him one night and made the connection for themselves.
He arrived at the hospital wing expecting to have to deliver a stern lecture on confidentiality and every student's right to an education, possibly considering moving Remus to a separate dormitory to placate them.
To his amazement, the boys were just as fierce and protective over Remus and his condition as Dumbledore himself was.
"You mustn't tell anyone else, sir." Young Sirius had said as though scolding the headmaster for the fact that the secret had got out. "You know what people are like. They'd drive him out of the castle if they knew."
Dumbledore's eyes met Remus'. He saw the look of incredulous delight there. Of acceptance. Of peace. Finally he was free to be himself. And Dumbledore watched his growing confidence throughout the rest of his school career with delight.
"It was different at Hogwarts." Remus insisted. "I didn't know any better. I was so desperate for an education. But now…" he gestured vaguely. "I need to be more responsible. I couldn't risk anything happening to any of the students."
Albus surveyed him sadly. Poor Remus had suffered so much in the past ten years. The death of his friends must have been devastating to him, and he wondered how much the man's confidence and faith in life had suffered as a result.
He hadn't tried to convince him any more. But then, in 1993, the Wolfsbane potion was invented.
"It's the answer to our problems!" Dumbledore had told him quite delightedly. "I'll ask Severus to make it for you once a month." And then he faltered. "I will tell Severus to make it for you once a month." He amended. He could quite remember the animosity his students had shared at Hogwarts.
And, with this promise, Remus had agreed.
Dumbledore had organised a meeting between Remus and Severus before the start of the term to discuss the arrangement. He wanted Remus to see that Severus could be trusted, and he wanted Severus to see how much had changed since their school days.
"You've not changed." Snape told Remus dispassionately.
"I'm sure that's not true." Remus smiled at him. "I'm finding grey hairs all the time."
Snape tossed back his own black locks. "The stresses of unemployment." He said disdainfully.
"Severus, I would like to ask a favour of you." Dumbledore said, choosing the ignore the way the man's face soured as he explained what the arrangement with the wolfsbane potion would be.
He turned his black eyes on his old classmate and then looked back at Dumbledore. "You've got a nerve asking me this, Albus." He said coldly. "This man here once used his… condition… to try and murder me."
"Severus, you know perfectly well that's not true." Dumbledore said a little impatiently. They'd been through this before. Yes, Sirius had sent Snape into the tunnel under the whomping willow where he'd met Remus fully transformed but Remus hadn't known what Sirius had been going to do. Why did Severus insist on hating all four of them so much?
"So he says…" Snape said, eyeing Remus unpleasantly.
"Will you do it or won't you?" Dumbledore said crossly.
Snape looked back at him. "As I am your employee, headmaster, unfortunately I have little choice in matters you ask me to do… Yes I'll do it." He added as Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at him.
"Thank you." Dumbledore said. "Now I hope you will both join me for drinks in the Hog's Head the night before term starts? Most of the staff attend, even the ghosts put in a good show from time to time! It's usually a bit of fun." He smiled at them both.
"I'm afraid I'll be washing my hair."
Remus' lip twitched at Snape's words.
Snape, noticing the motion, rounded on Dumbledore again. "You see?!" He snapped. "He's still making fun of me, two decades later!"
"It's got nothing to do with that!" Remus protested. "I never made fun of your appearance at school!"
"You never stopped Black or Potter doing it!" Snape retorted.
"I'm sorry." Remus said, quite genuinely. "I should have done more."
Snape glared at him. Then he turned back to Dumbledore. "Will that be all, headmaster?"
Albus sighed. He could see things with the men, or rather Severus, were still very raw, but then Rome wasn't built in a day.
"For now." He said, and Snape left the office.
As Albus had known he would be, Remus was a very good and dedicated teacher.
Most of his staff tended to put their feet up at the end of the school day, making the staff room akin to what he imagined the student common rooms were like. Professor Slughorn had even brought a bottle of mead in there when he'd been a teacher.
Like the students, the teachers tended to form little groups or bands as well.
He heard Flitwick's uproarious laugh from his place in the middle of the largest gang, where he was holding court with Professors Sinistra, Sprout and Vector.
Minerva could be found engaging in polite conversation with Professor Babbling, who taught ancient runes, and the other staff members dotted themselves around the room at random, enjoying the down time.
Remus, however, appeared so genuinely interested in his teaching, he took it to the staffroom with him too.
"Oh not again, Remus!" Madam Hooch moaned as he tried to engage her in another work-related conversation. "This is the only time we get any peace and quiet away from those annoying little…" she caught Dumbledore's eye. "I mean, why don't you just put your feet up for a change?"
"I can't possibly thank you enough." Remus told Albus time and time again. "I love the work. The students are wonderful. I finally feel I have a purpose again."
Dumbledore smiled sadly at him. He knew Remus had been making a poor living over the last decade, doing odd jobs here and there, since Dolores Umbridge and her department had made it virtually impossible for him to get a steady job. How had this clever, brave man coped for so long alone?
"I'm glad I could help." Albus said genuinely. "And you're helping me in turn. You're truly a wonderful teacher."
If the accursed pattern of losing his DADA teachers once a year was to cease with Remus, he would quite liked to have made him a head of house. It was customary for teachers to be head of house for the one they themselves were in at Hogwarts. He was sure Minerva wouldn't mind affording Remus some of the responsibilities of Head of Gryffindor. She had enough to be getting on with as deputy headmistress, and we would make sure her pay didn't suffer for it.
Albus prided himself in his ability to extract the potential in others and it was what he felt made him a good headmaster. He could see areas of growth in his students and made it his mission to harness them.
Ironically, it was often the area the student themselves thought they were the least promising in.
He had known Remus had never considered himself a leader. He'd been swept up in the energetic wake of James and Sirius at school, whose ideas he usually accepted without question. But there was the funny thing about leadership and power. It was always those least prone to seeking it who really ought to be given it. And it was for this reason that he made Remus a prefect in his fifth year.
He knew Remus thought it was so he could try and exercise some control over his best friends (which was yet another example of his lack of confidence in this field), but it had been more than that. Albus had seen something in Remus that he had greatly admired. Unlike with James and Sirius, Remus' courage was quieter and more gentle. More unlike James and Sirius, he was kind. Kindness held a power that Albus sadly came to realise few appreciated. But as headmaster, he valued it highly. And it was for this reason that he gave Remus Lupin every opportunity he could.
Unfortunately, Remus' teaching career, like the other DADA professors before him, only lasted a year.
Albus supposed Severus had simply been unable to help himself. He'd been so furious Sirius had escaped again and, what's more, that Dumledore had changed his mind about his guilt, he had 'accidently' let Remus' condition slip over breakfast.
"I'm very disappointed in you." He told the man after calling him into his office on hearing the news.
"I'm not fifteen anymore, headmaster." Snape said coldly.
"Well you're certainly behaving like it." Dumbledore snapped. "I need you to let this ridiculous grudge from your schooldays go."
Snape looked back at him and Albus felt, as he so often had with Severus, that he really didn't know him at all.
"It's always been about the Gryffindors for you, hasn't it?" He said before getting to his feet and leaving the office.
Albus watched him go, feeling frustrated and regretful.
It was true, Snape had suffered at the hands of the Gryffindor students during his time at Hogwarts. Unfortunately James and Sirius had been so popular that if they decided they didn't like Snape, neither had anyone else in their house, or Hufflepuff and most of Ravenclaw too for that matter.
Albus knew he was furious that he hadn't expelled Sirius for what he'd done in the boys' fifth year. If he was honest with himself, he sometimes wondered if he should have done too. If nearly getting a fellow student killed wasn't grounds for expulsion, he didn't know what was.
But he hadn't, because he'd given Sirius a second chance. Just as he'd given one to Severus. He didn't play favourites, he just took the facts that presented themselves to him and made his best judgement based on that.
He'd hoped that managing men in their early-mid thirties would be slightly easier than managing teenagers, but he was sadly mistaken in that. However he would give Severus another chance. He was sure the man would overcome his loathing of James and the others.
"I'm very sorry you're leaving." Albus told Remus yet again as he packed. He hadn't been surprised to find Harry in his office when he'd entered.
Though Remus had not told Harry about his friendship with James at first, which Dumbledore felt showed good judgement as a teacher, the pair had inevitably become close throughout the year. It was hard not to like Harry, and as Harry had never really known his father, he was surely delighted to have an opportunity to spend time with someone who had known him so well.
"It's all very professional." Remus assured Albus as he admitted to giving Harry anti-dementor lessons in the middle of the year. "We don't talk about James really." He smiled. "Maybe one day that will be different."
Albus supposed that was one positive thing that would come of Remus' leaving Hogwarts. Now he was no longer Harry's teacher, the pair of them might be able to establish a friendship. He hoped Remus would not let his insecurities and doubts interfere with this. He could see how much Harry needed it.
He watched the still young man as he finished packing his trunk and made to leave the office. "Goodbye, Albus." He said, meeting Dumbledore's eye as he shook his hand. "Thank you for everything."
Once he'd gone, Dumbledore sat down in the now empty office.
Good men were few and far between. But Remus was one of them.