Lone Wolf

As he boarded the Hogwarts express, Remus quickly found an empty compartment near the front, stacking his suitcase away. Sitting down, he made himself comfortable, and thought back. It had been a while since he had last been on this train, on his way towards a new job opportunity at Hogwarts. It had been... 4 years since... last time, he remembered, he had been sitting in the last compartment; it had also been how he had met Harry, Ron, and Hermione, after saving them, particularly Harry, from the dementor. He should have sat there again. He had missed the school, the teaching, the students. And he had also been particularly grateful when Dumbledore had owled him, asking him to come back and teach because he was the only one he could think of who was willing and qualified. No one wanted the cursed job. But the only way that it had been made possible, however, was by Dumbledore owling every single household, telling them of his condition, and offering an alternative for the people who found a werewolf teaching unacceptable - private lessons with Snape. So far, there had been no complaints about him being a teacher.

Getting up, he retrieved his suitcase, getting out a tattered, small, brown, leather-bound book with his initials on it in cursive, gold lettering, along with a pen. He began to write.

I am on my way to Hogwarts again. In a way it never ceased to be my home, even when I left it in 1977 or in 1994. But now it is 1997, and I am on my way there again. I hope Severus won't be too cross with me for taking away "his" job again. But I love teaching DADA so much. I love the students as well. It will be good to see my old students again, especially Hermione. She is such a good companion. In a way, she reminds me of Lily: so accepting, intelligent, and always caring. Besides, one can only take an empty house for so long. Grimmauld place was starting to get to me. Well, we are almost there.

RJL

The train stopped and Remus quickly got his things, exiting the train and getting into one of the many carriages heading to Hogwarts. No one joined him on the ride there, and he wasn't quite sure whether or not he truly appreciated it.

He arrived there shortly, the silence beginning to gnaw on him. Making his way to the staff table, he greeted Professor Dumbledore, taking his old place next to Professor Snape who near-growled at him as he set down his suitcase next to his seat.

As the students started streaming into the Great Hall in larger numbers, Remus scanned the tables. Not finding the people he had been looking for, he turned to Dumbledore, next to him.

"Have a good summer Albus?"

"Lovely, thank you Remus. Less work at the Order, with so many people contributing, including you Remus. But, all the hard work paying off, I could spend 2 weeks in the Bahamas. Wonderful there. So peaceful and sunny. You should go there sometimes. You are so excessively pale!"

Remus chuckled, turning back to his, as of yet, empty plate. The sorting ceremony began, and Remus watched as 32 students were sorted into their respective houses - 9 into Slytherin, 8 into Ravenclaw, 7 into Gryffindor, and 8 into Hufflepuff. The fact that he had actually counted them alarmed Remus just a bit.

Finally, Dumbledore rose, clearing this throat.

"Welcome students to yet another year at Hogwarts; new faces and old faces," he nodded at a few of them, "comparatively to the last two years, I can assure you that everything is back to normal, though we do have a new DADA teacher. I do believe most of you remember Professor Lupin?"

Remus turned scarlet as 3 of the house tables (all except Slytherin) rose in cheers at his return. Finally, after what might have seemed like a near-eternity, Dumbledore calmed them all down, the feast finally began.

The food was delicious. Much better than Sirius' cooking, which, though he missed Sirius badly, was one attribute of him he most certainly did not miss. He could definitely go without another one of those dreadful "food poisoning" incidents. Shuddering, he finished the last of his pumpkin juice, wondering why Severus was being so quiet, lacking the usual amount of forced conversation he always tried to engage in at dinner.

The remainder of the meal was over within ten minutes, but it may as well have been eons to Remus, with no one to talk to, and Severus doing Merlin-knew-what... In fact, he couldn't even find companionship in Albus, who appeared quite thoroughly engrossed in a conversation with Minerva. Remus sighed. Tomorrow he would ask Albus if he could be excused from dinner from now on, simply dining in his quarters by himself. It wouldn't be any less entertaining than this.

With everyone leaving, Remus grabbed his bag, which, to his great surprise, was unzipped. Closing it, he got up, headed in the direction of the DADA classroom, and thereby, to his old quarters. He did not miss Snape's death-glare on his way out.

Arriving at the classroom, Remus heaved a sigh and climbed up the stairs to his office, where he slid the stone gargoyle on the shelf to the right, causing the secret door to his quarters to slide open.

Once inside, he closed the door again, reinforcing the wards. It looked just like it had 4 years ago. The walls were still gray, to his left stood a small seating area with 2 armchairs, a small table, and a fireplace. To his left stood an array of bookshelves, behind them a small kitchenette with a countertop, refrigerator, sink, and stove, if one knew how to use them. Ahead was a door, and to the right of it, a small table and 2 chairs. Through the door, he came upon a room painted a pale brown, a small recliner to his left, a large bed straight ahead. If one walked farther on, one could see around the corner, where there was a large dresser in the far corner, a desk, his books, and other personal things already scattered on it in disarray.

"So much for starting this term in order," he muttered to no one in particular, setting down his bag and pulling out his small brown book with the golden lettering. Lighting the candle on his desk, and taking out his favorite quill and ink, he began to write.

Have arrived at Hogwarts. Might as well consider myself all settled in again. Severus seems to regard my return with severe displeasure, though I am not sure how I can personally be at fault for all this. If anyone is at fault, it is Dumbledore, and even he should not be blamed for employing an ugly old werewolf like myself is not an indictable crime. Especially with all of the precautions he has taken. Merlin bless the man. He is truly a wonderful person.

It also seems as if dinners will go quite glumly from now on. Not that I should complain - it's not as if I ever had any company at Grimmauld place after Sirius'... death, except for Kreacher and old wailing Mrs. Black. Not the best company, I don't think.

Classes start tomorrow, and I am looking forward to them quite thoroughly. I will see all of my old students, including "the golden trio." I reckon they have changed immensely since I've been gone.

There is more on my mind, but I will have to write about it tomorrow, for I feel very much like retiring to bed with the new book I have just recently started - Lolita. It is very good indeed.

RJL

Grabbing his book, Remus discovered a small note stuck to it, which read:

Remus-

I'm sorry to have to impose this on you on your first night back, but you are on hall duty with Severus until 1am. I tried hard to get you excused from it, but failed in the process. Have a good night.

-Minerva

Sighing, Remus put the book back, extinguishing the candle on his way out.

He had been walking through the corridors for almost an hour now, when he came upon Severus. He knew it was going to be unavoidable.

"Good evening, Severus. How many students have you maimed so far?" He chuckled lightly, but Severus was instantly on the offensive.

"Take it back." It was said in a mere whisper, but Remus could hear the venom with which these words issued from his mouth.

"A little irritable, aren't we, Severus? I understand that the job--" He was cut off.

If looks could kill, Remus doubted he would be but a wee little insignificant pile of ashes by now. "You better watch your step Lupin. You never know what kind of things could go wrong in the concoction of a wolfsbane potion, now do you?"

"Severus, I now you wanted the job. But that was Dumbledore's decision. Fact is, I will teach DADA this year. I know you don't like it, but I was in dire need of a job. Besides, the Order..."

Severus snarled. "Always Dumbledore's favorite, weren't you? You little suck-up. Besides, with such strange thoughts going through your mind as well--"

Remus' hand jerked back, causing a large Chinese vase to fall on the ground and crash. Remus didn't flinch, however, he was too panicked to care. "Severus, have you been going through my things?"

"Well, you wouldn't want something like that to develop, would you? Dangerous, that is. Furthermore, illegal," came Snapes' drawled, teasing reply, the corners of his mouth curling evilly upwards in a malicious grin.

"Severus, nothing is going to develop. You are being paranoid, almost naive. Good night to you Professor." Finally he could see Severus slowly walking away. Had he really gotten a hold of his diary? But when?

Still in thought, Remus rounded the corner, promptly colliding with one Hermione Granger.

"Professor...," she stammered, as he grabbed her arms to keep her from falling onto the cold castle floor.

He remained like this for several moments, their gazes locked. Realizing what he was doing, he jerked away.

"It's good to see you again Hermione. How have you been?" he forced out, thoughts of what had just occurred between them still plaguing his mind.

"It's good to see you again as well, Professor. I've been fine, thank you. It should be a good year - especially with you teaching us again." Remus could feel it, he was visibly turning a right shade of scarlet at the moment. But before he could thank her, she continued.

"I should go Professor. It's late, and well..." He realized that she was quite thoroughly scrutinizing her fuzzy lion slippers.

"Oh. Of course. Sleep well Hermione." Turning to head back to his quarters since it was already 1am, he thought.

Slippers? He hadn't even noticed! Turning back one last time, he saw her slowly walking away in a bathrobe, slippers, yes, slippers, and sopping wet hair.

Remus had to blink two more times to be sure that his eyesight wasn't failing him, until he could finally make his way back to his quarters.