Jupiter | Harry James Potter

xxiii ; the photo

"Hello." Professor Lupin said just before Harry or I could knock on his office door. He had a small machine, which was scraping a disk with a needle that played a rather pleasant song. Harry and I stared at him in confusion as he took a stack of books off of his bookshelf and dropped them on his cluttered desk. "I saw you two coming."

Lupin flicked his wand, and the machine quickly shut itself but the song continued to play. "I've looked worse, believe me." He had large, purple bags under his eyes and his skin was awfully pale. He had a new scar growing on his cheek, presumably from Buckbeak.

"Why're you packing, Professor?" I asked, looking around at the suitcases on the floor.

"Surely you haven't been sacked?" Harry asked.

"No, no. I resigned, actually." Lupin shrugged as he continued to pack.

"Resigned? Why? You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've had! You can't leave!" Harry pleased.

"As flattered as I am, somebody let slip the nature of my condition. This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving and parents will not want a... um..."

"A wolf." I answered for him casually.

"Exactly." He smiled at me with a laugh. "A wolf teaching their children."

"But Dumbledore-" Harry started to argue, but Lupin cut him off.

"Dumbledore has already risked enough on my behalf. Besides, people like me are... well let's just say that I'm used to it by now." Lupin sighed as he flicked his wand and all of his suitcases flew into his giant trunk and it clicked shut.

"You shouldn't be used to it." I muttered, sitting on his now empty desk.

"I agree with you, Jupiter, but that's how our world is. Unless someone changes it." He said, giving me a proud look. "You know, you'd make a wonderful healer." I felt my face get hot as I looked to the floor.

"Why do you look so miserable, Harry?" Lupin asked Harry, who seemed to be the complete opposite of me.

"Pettigrew escaped." Harry said, sounding awfully lot like a child about to throw a tantrum. "It didn't make any difference."

"Didn't make any difference?" Lupin scoffed surprisedly. "Harry, it made all the difference in the world. You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate. It made a great deal of difference. If I am proud of anything, it is of how much you have learned this year. Now, since I am no longer your teacher, I feel no guilt whatsoever about giving this back to you. So now, I'll say goodbye. I'm sure we'll meet again sometime. Until then... mischief managed."

The map fluttered shut, and the ink vanished slowly.

"Professor?" I said as he grabbed his suitcase. "I was wondering... well, Sirius told me you might have-"

"Ah, yes." Professor Lupin smiled and set his suitcase down. "Padfoot wrote me shortly before you arrived. Told me I had something you might like." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small photo.

It was a photo of a large group of people, many of whom I didn't recognize.

"This was taken right after the end of our seventh year. There's Lily and James there to the left." Lupin smiled, pointing to a darker-skinned man with unruly hair and glasses who heavily resembled Harry, and a beautiful woman with long red hair and a brown hat on top of her head. She seemed to be rolling her eyes, presumably at James. "Then there's me and Mary Macdonald. Mary obliviated herself after the war."

He pointed to himself, who looked a lot less beat up and tired, and a dark-skinned woman with long, black curls that bounced off of her shoulders. I could see Peter standing next to Lily and James, looking a lot more friendly and kind as he held up a peace sign, but Lupin didn't point him out to me and Harry. I found it hard to believe that a man who looked like him would betray the people standing next to him so easily.