The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

Back to Sirius

Back to Sirius

Remus tumbled through the hearth and into Dumbledore's office mid-morning on 8 January, covered in soot from the floo. Dumbledore hardly looked up from his paperwork, as though narrow-shouldered boys frequently fell out of his fireplace. He lowered his quill after finishing the sentence he'd been scrawling onto a bit of parchment, turning to look at Remus, who was up and dusting himself off. "Welcome back to school, Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Thank you," Remus answered.

Dumbledore raised his wand, "Scourgefy," he said, waving it at Remus's tarnished robes. A warm wind seemed to brush the boy and when he looked down again it was to see his robes were perfectly clean. "So that Professor McGonagall doesn't have a fit at the state of you," the headmaster said.

"Thank you, sir," Remus answered again.

The headmaster felt bad for the boy - with his heavy eyes and the silver scars on his cheeks. His eyes had dark circles beneath them, the side effects of the full moon that would rise that night. But there was something more in them, a sadness.

"And how was your holiday?" Dumbledore asked. His eyes twinkled as though he had a secret with Remus, though Remus hadn't the foggiest what the secret might be.

"They were good," Remus said. He didn't fancy explaining to Dumbledore how rough Christmas had been, missing his mum, and how tortured he'd felt trying to figure out his feelings. Above all things in the world, he didn't fancy telling Dumbledore that. But he wasn't entirely lying, either. After seeing Lily, Frank, and Ali the day after Christmas, things had gotten better - especially since Lily kept her word and didn't mention a thing to Frank and Ali when they'd met up at Flourish and Blotts. She'd also written him three times since, reassuring him that things would be alright.

Some part of Remus actually believed her when she said it.

Maybe things would be alright. Maybe if he told Sirius... but he couldn't even finish the thought without his stomach flipping and going sour. Sirius would freak out if Remus said anything to him, he was sure of it. If their friendship outside of the Shrieking Shack was strained now, there was no telling what would happen then.

"Mine was good as well," Dumbledore said, even though Remus hadn't asked. Remus realized how rude he'd been - zoning out to think about Sirius. It was becoming all too frequent that his brain flew off to other places that involved his dark haired, wild-eyed friend.

"I'm glad," Remus said.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, "Yes... yes, your friends were quite entertaining over the holiday."

"Sirius and James?" Remus asked, "Oh no. What did they do?" He looked nervous.

Dumbledore chuckled. "What didn't they do would be far easier to answer."

"Bloody hell," he mumbled, imagining all the hijinx Sirius Black could've cooked up without Remus there to keep him in check. "I'm sorry. Usually I can stop them doing the truly crazy things."

Dumbledore's face was gentle and amused, "As I said, they were quite entertaining, but I believe that Professor McGonagall's nerves will benefit from your services." He smiled, then stood up and took the parchment he'd been writing to Fawkes. He handed the bird the scroll. "You know where you're going," he whispered, and Fawkes's keen eye blinked as though to agree, and he soared away through the window.

Remus took a deep breath, "Well... thank you for letting me come back this way... I - I'd prefer to be here for the moon. In the Shack." With Sirius, he thought. He wondered if Sirius would come. He looked up at Dumbledore.