Unbalanced Equations

I found my father almost immediately. He was sitting on a tree trunk across from the party tent, which was still engulfed in flames. I fought my way though the crowd of frightened and confused people to sit down and throw my arms around him in relief. "You're all right. I'm so glad."

He patted my arm absently, as though I was silly to have been worried. "Of course I'm all right, darling. I was out here getting some air when everything went mad."

"Where are the Vablatskys? And Remus?"

He blinked in confusion. "I'm not sure. Ivan was talking to some goblins, last I saw him. I think Celinka was in the kitchen. I saw Remus leave with you."

"He did, but he came back." I felt icy fear grip my heart again. "He came back to get me something to eat. I couldn't bear it if something awful has happened to him. It's my fault if he isn't all right."

"None of this could possibly be your fault, love. Your Remus is one that can take care of himself. I'm sure he's fine." He petted my hair, as he had when I was a little girl frightened of the dark. "Why are you all covered in mud?"

"I-I fell." No need to bring up the fact that I apparently had a mad axe-man out for my blood.

"It's a wonder you don't get seriously injured more often, pet. Be more careful."

"I'll try, Dad." I rested my head on his shoulder, trying desperately not to think of Remus and the Vablatskys in the middle of the inferno that I couldn't take my eyes away from.

I fell into a sort of trance: I could hear the source of most of the screaming heading away from us. The Death Eaters were moving their "fun with Muggles" though the campgrounds, it seemed. Everything seemed very sharp and clear to me; I could hear individual, distinct voices from the crowd but only fragments of words made any sense. The horrible, thick smoke that filled the air smelled like some indescribable cookout. The flames still licking the sky illuminated everything with an eerie flickering light. The screams all around us suddenly grew louder.

"Oh my-" I heard my father gasp suddenly. I lifted my head and followed his horrified gaze. A glittering formation of green lights in the shape of a skull and serpent had risen above the trees.

The Dark Mark. The calling card of the Death Eaters. I had seen a real one only once before, when I was fifteen years old. It had been hovering over the house where I had found my mother's mangled body.

An involuntary whimper escaped my throat as I was filled with the terrible certainty that Remus was dead. I stood up abruptly, my mind fixated on finding him immediately. And then I collapsed in a heap at the feet of my startled father.

*****

The world came back to me in bits and pieces. The murmur of voices. The touch of a hand on my cheek. The smell of smoke. Smoke? Why was there smoke? Where was I?

The horror of the last hour that I could remember came rushing back to me. I sat up suddenly with a scream. The sun was up, revealing shell-shocked people wandering amongst the smoldering ruins of several tents. I finally felt the comforting arms that held me as I realized I was still screaming. I turned my head to see Remus, and immediately dissolved into hysterical sobs.

"Oh, sweetheart, stop." He stroked my hair soothingly. "It's all right. Please calm down."

I buried my face in the front of his robes and sobbed in a muffled voice, "I thought you were dead. I was sure you were dead."

"Not today, Anna. I'm fine. Your dad is fine. Mr. and Mrs. Vablatsky are fine. I think all of us are a little banged up and singed, but we'll live."

I pulled away from him enough to get a good look at him. He had soot in his hair and all over his clothes, and there was a nasty looking bruise blooming on his cheek. "Do you promise everyone is all right?"

"I swear it." He kissed me once. I pulled him back to me and kissed him hard on the mouth and several times all over his face. "You gave me a scare too, you know," he said when I finally released him. "You weren't where I left you. The tent was completely torn apart and you were gone." He hugged me again tightly. This time I winced as I felt a sharp pain centered where Macnair had trampled me. "You're hurt."

"A little bit. I-oh, Remus!" I started to shake. It hurt. "Do you remember Macnair? The Ministry executioner that was at Hogwarts last spring?"

Remus frowned. "The one Sirius said needed to be taught how to treat a lady?"

"Yes, that's the one. He-he-he-" I started hyperventilating. Remus held me gently until I got myself under control. "He's going to kill me," I whispered.

I felt Remus tense. "Did he say that to you?"

I nodded against his shoulder, unable to speak.

"Well, we'll see about that, won't we?" He spoke in a dangerous tone of voice that I had never heard from him before.

"Remus, don't do anything to get yourself in trouble. He works for the Ministry." I began to wonder if perhaps I shouldn't have told him.

"Anna, if you think I'm going to let anyone threaten you-"

"Anna, sweetie, you're awake. Are you all right?" My father rushed over, followed closely by Celinka Vablatsky. Her husband Ivan followed them a bit more slowly, his arm in a sling. They were all covered in ashes and dust.

I stood up slowly with Remus' help, from where I had been lying on what appeared to be a piece of someone's tent, and embraced each of them in turn. Each time I was squeezed back, the pain in my chest increased. By the time my dad let me go for the second time, I was seeing bright spots of light across my darkening field of vision. "I think I need to see a Healer. I can't breathe." I barely felt Remus catch me as I fell.

*****

I was home in my own bed when I woke again. Remus sat in the armchair by the window, frowning at The Daily Prophet. I tried to sit up, and gasped as a sharp pain pierced my side.

Remus looked up and smiled slightly. "Hello. How do you feel?"

"Horrible. Like a million tiny needles are stabbing me from the inside."

"That would be the Skele-mend. Don't you remember taking it? You woke up at St. Mungo's when they were giving it to you." He seemed to be trying not to laugh. "You disturbed the rest of the ward terribly."

"No, I don't remember." I was annoyed at his apparent amusement; I was in quite a lot of pain. "If I'm hurt badly enough to have been taken to the hospital, why am I home already?"

"Well, you were not at all happy about having vile-tasting potions forced down your throat. I had no idea you were so proficient in that sort of language." He grinned. "They were more than happy to free up a bed for someone who needed it more than you did. That's why they let us bring you home. You just need to rest. A medi-witch will come by later to make sure your bones are knitting properly."

"My bones?" I suddenly felt ill. What was wrong with my bones?

All traces of amusement left his face as he crossed the room and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, trying not to jostle me as he took my hand. "You have several cracked ribs and some very nasty bruises. One is in the shape of a rather large boot print, from which the cracks in your ribs radiate. It's right in the center of your back and looks as though someone heavy had stomped on you." He frowned and reached his free hand to trace a line across my throat. "And you had a very fine cut straight along here." I realized that Macnair's knife must have left a mark. "Anna, what happened?"

I hesitated. I was terribly afraid of what he might do with this information, but I had been far too insistent on honesty from him to tell him a lie, and silence didn't really seem to be an option. "I told you I ran into Macnair. He had a knife. He knocked me down and stepped on me."

Remus had a very hard and dangerous look on his face, and his grip on my hand was starting to hurt. "Remus?" I said softly. He didn't look as though he heard me, or even saw me there in front of him. "Remus," I said in a louder voice. "Look at me, please."

He blinked and focused on my face again, his grasp on my hand loosening a bit. "If I get my hands on that Macnair, he is a dead man." This calm, measured tone of voice frightened me even more than the ruthless look I had seen in his eyes a moment ago.

"Remus, no. Promise me you won't do anything stupid." I leaned forward and put my hand on his face, even though it hurt my chest to move. I needed him to look me in the eye. "Please."

Remus frowned. "Anna, he really hurt you. Don't you want justice?"

"Of course I do. But be realistic, Remus. He was wearing a mask. I can't really report him to the Ministry, because the only reason I know who was under that mask is because of what I did to help Sirius escape. Do you really want to open that night up for further investigation?" I grimaced as I sank back into the pillows. Skele-mend was painful, but I reminded myself that it certainly could have been worse had Macnair not been interrupted. "Please. You said you would do anything I asked of you. Do this for me. Promise to leave it alone."

He just stared at me for a long moment as I tried to get comfortable. "I promise," he said finally. "I promise not to be stupid, but if he comes near you again, or even so much as looks at you in a threatening manner, he will pay for it. I will not stand by and let anyone hurt you. I don't care if it's the Minister of Magic himself."

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to watch while someone attacked me, Remus. Just don't go hunting for him. You'll only get yourself in trouble."

The instant that I uttered the word "hunting," I regretted my choice of terms. While it had not been my intention to bring up Remus' affliction, it had occurred to me that the fact that Remus was a werewolf was certain to cause problems if he were to act on his impulse to seek vengeance on my behalf. Remus, for once, seemed to be thinking of himself as a man first, rather than a werewolf. Ordinarily, I would have been pleased; I hated it when he thought of himself as a monster. In this case, however, I knew the outcome would be very, very bad if he were suspected of doing anything to a Ministry employee.

"I know you're right, Anna." He seemed to understand what I meant, for which I was grateful. I didn't want to say aloud what I was thinking; it seemed almost that I would be going back on all the times I had insisted that it made no difference to me that he was a werewolf. I loved him in spite of it, or perhaps even because of it, but to say that it didn't affect me was not true. "I just hate knowing that someone hurt you so badly, and I didn't help you, and there is nothing I can do to fix it now. I don't like feeling so helpless."

I opened my mouth to reply, but ended up bursting into tears instead. I was suddenly quite overcome by emotion, as the fear I had felt at the Cup became muddled together with my great relief that everyone I cared about was relatively unscathed. Remus put his arms around me gently, trying his hardest not to hurt me. It did hurt a bit, but I ignored it as I clung to his robes and sobbed into his chest.

"All right?" he asked when the storm had passed and I was only sniffling a bit.

"Yes." I let go of his now very rumpled robes and wiped my wet face on a corner of the bed sheet. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Remus smiled as he brushed my damp hair back out of my face and kissed me on the forehead. "You should rest. There's a potion you're supposed to drink if you're in pain. It'll help you sleep."

"I don't want to go back to sleep yet." I was tired, but I felt as though I had already slept too much. "I want to see my dad and I want to know who was killed last night."

"I'll go get your father. He's just downstairs." He stood up "And I don't think anyone was killed last night."

"I saw the Dark Mark."

"Yes, but there are no details in the Prophet, and the article was written by Rita Skeeter." Remus made a face as he retrieved the newspaper from the chair where he had left it. "If she had anything more tangible than 'rumors of bodies being removed from the woods', you know she would have included embellished upon every graphic detail she could find. I'm fairly certain that there were no bodies."

I frowned. "I hope you're right."

"Well, I do have some experience in reading between the lines. You should have heard my dad go on about how the Prophet would twist things." Remus handed me the paper so I could read it for myself. I shuddered to see the twinkling photo of the Dark Mark above the article "Besides, when I was looking for you, I heard some talk about Barty Crouch's house-elf having gotten hold of a stray wand and conjuring the Mark."

I frowned. "A house-elf couldn't possibly have done such a thing."

He merely shrugged. "Well, that's what I heard."

As Remus left to go fetch my father, Mina bustled past him into the room with a tray of tea and soup. "You needs to eat, Miss Anna." The house-elf levitated the tray onto the bed in front of me and briskly snatched the newspaper away from me. "You can read this later."

"All right." I meekly took a spoonful of soup.

"I is very glad you is safe, Miss Anna," she said, patting my hand tenderly.

"Thank you, Mina." I nearly started weeping again, but managed to control myself. "Do you know Mr. Crouch's house-elf?" House-elves had their own system of sharing news, which was usually far more accurate than the Daily Prophet.

She was indignant, as though she was had been personally insulted by the other elf's actions. "Yes, Miss Anna. Not very well, but I is shocked about what Winky did last night. She always seemed like a very good elf."

I asked hesitantly, "Mina, if you had a wand, what sorts of spells could you do?"

"Miss Anna!" She was absolutely scandalized. "House-elves is not doing spells with wands. House-elves' magic is for taking care of the families we belong with."

"I'm sorry, Mina. I was just curious." I ate some more soup as Mina tidied up the room a bit. I could tell I had offended her. "This is wonderful soup."

Mina straightened the quilt around me and patted my leg before she went back downstairs. "You is a good girl, Miss Anna. Like your mother." It seemed I was forgiven; Mina had worshiped my mother.

I smiled and sipped some tea as my father came into the room. "It's nice to see you looking better, darling, but you're still so pale. Did you take your potion?"

"No, not yet. I wanted to see you before I fall asleep again. Just to make sure you're really all right."

"Of course I'm all right, dear. It's you we've all been worried about." He took the spot on the edge of the bed that Remus had recently vacated. "You scared the life out of me, Anna, fainting like that."

"I'm sorry. I can't believe I actually fainted twice. It's so embarrassing." The whole "damsel in distress" bit was just so terribly cliché.

"No reason to be embarrassed, darling. I'm just glad it wasn't worse." He squeezed my knee through the quilt. "You know, it's mostly thanks to Remus that no one was badly hurt, at least at the Quality Quidditch party. Celinka told me he was in the kitchen with her when the fire started, and he was very calm and made sure everyone got out safely. You know I was very concerned when you started seeing him, but I must say that he has proven himself to be a good man. I like him very much, Anna, not least of all because he so clearly adores you the way you deserve. It seems as though you've picked a good one this time."

I laughed, even though it made the stabbing pains in my sides worse. "It's fantastic that you like him, Dad. I think I'll keep him. Where is he, anyway?"

"I sent him to get some sleep. He sat up with you all night, you know, and he has a job interview tomorrow." He took the vial of potion from the bedside table, opened it, and handed it to me. "Drink up, love. You need to rest, too."

I obediently tossed it back and then washed away some of the disgusting taste with the last of my tea. "I love you, Dad. I don't tell you enough, but I think you're just the greatest."

"I think you're pretty great too, sweetheart." He kissed me on the top of my head as he picked up the bed tray to take down to the kitchen with him. "I've loved you ever since your mother told me to expect a baby, and I've been really crazy about you ever since the first time I held you. I know people say newborn babies don't really smile, but I swear you did. It's the same as your mother's smile, and I still love to see it."

"That's so sweet, Dad," I smiled at him, making him smile in return.

"Get some sleep, Anna. I want you to feel better soon." He paused in the doorway and winked at me. "I miss spending the day with you down in the shop. I was counting on having you to myself for another week before you went back to school."

"Right, Dad." I felt a momentary twinge of guilt; this last week before school started was always very busy in the shop. I couldn't worry about it too much as the potion took effect on me and I slipped into sleep.

*****

I woke Wednesday evening, having napped most of the day, to see an enormous bouquet of flowers on the bureau. They seemed awfully showy to have come from Remus, who was again reading the Daily Prophet in the chair by the window. "Those are...nice. Who are they from?"

Remus looked up at me and grinned. "Mr. McIntyre from the cauldron shop. There's a rather extravagant card, too." He rose, retrieved the card from the bureau, and brought it to me. He sat beside me on the bed and kissed me. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better, really. I think I'll be up and around tomorrow." I was able to hug him with only a very small twinge of discomfort. I had a newfound appreciation for magical medicine. "How did your interview go?"

He made a face. "It went well at first, but then the interviewer realized where he knew my name from. The man's son goes to Hogwarts, and once he put it together that I was the werewolf teacher, that was it." He sighed. "Apparently, there was a bit of legislation passed last year that makes it illegal to hire a werewolf who has ever left a job for any reason even remotely related to lycanthropy. Unless I create a convincing lie about why I left Hogwarts, which doesn't seem likely since all the students have probably told all their parents the truth, I'm going to have a terrible time finding someone willing to hire me."

"But that's so unfair! It's not as though you were sacked; Dumbledore said you could stay. You left voluntarily. How did we not ever hear about this new 'law' anyway?"

He shook his head. "It's not as though it created much controversy, Anna. There aren't a lot of people out there fighting for the rights of werewolves, you know."

I sniffed. "Well, there's one now. As soon as I'm back up to par, I'm heading right over to the Ministry of Magic."

"'Anna Vector, social reformer'," He smiled. "I love when you get all fired up."

"Really, Remus, I can't believe you're not more upset."

"Well, I've had a few hours to get over it. I'm still considering my options." He kissed me on the cheek. "Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out."

"Remus." I didn't understand how he could be so calm. "Don't you want-"

"Not now, please, Anna. We'll talk about it later. Right now, let's go downstairs and have some of whatever Mina made for dinner that smells so good."

"All right, but I'm not getting dressed," I grumbled. The thought of changing out of my dressing gown was just too much. It wasn't nearly as much of an effort to stand as it had been earlier in the day, but Remus' arm was still welcome support as we went downstairs to dinner.

*****

I spent the rest of the week being coddled and fussed over by everyone. It was rather nice at first, but quickly lost its charm. My father was running himself ragged in the shop, despite my attempts to help as many customers as I could get to. He kept shoving stacks of paperwork on me, insisting that it desperately needed to be done before I left. Remus was being a sweetheart, helping as much he could. He was a quick learner and a lot of help despite his enhanced sense of smell, which made it very difficult for him to spend a lot of time amongst the herbs and some of the other more aromatic products without feeling nauseated.

On the night before I was to go back to school, dinner was a gala affair. The Vablatskys, including Cassandra, who had finally returned from her trip to North America, joined us. Remus' face matched the color of the tomatoes in the salad when Cassie asked him how he was enjoying her newest work in progress and then continued to bombard him with very detailed questions about it. She winked at me in amusement as I snickered into my napkin. Poor Remus never really knew what to make of Cassie. Odd, I mused, how very different my two best friends were from each other.

Over pudding, my father put to rest something that had been gnawing at me for a while. "Well, I'm certainly glad you've agreed to stay here and help me out, Remus. My apprentice seems to have changed his mind about his chosen profession."

"Geoffrey's not coming back?" I wasn't really surprised. He hadn't seemed as though his heart was in it during the first part of the summer. Dad had told me that it had been going on for a while.

"No. I'll have to start looking for another apprentice. Will you ask Severus if he knows of anyone, Anna? I haven't heard from him in ages. I do hope he's all right." He frowned thoughtfully, as though it had only just occurred to him that he hadn't heard from his friend in months. I had noticed him doing that often lately, as though he were too distracted to be aware of things that would ordinarily have been important to him. It worried me; he'd never been so absent-minded before.

"I'll ask him tomorrow," I promised. I knew why Severus hadn't come to the store in person, placing all the supply orders for the upcoming term by owl instead. I was sure that he knew I might perhaps have been able to overlook one of his horrible deeds on its own, but the combination of the spell he had cast violating my privacy, the terrible revelation that he had been one of the Death Eaters involved in my mother's death, and the fact that it was his fault Remus was currently unemployed was just too much to be forgiven so quickly.

*****

I passed my own bedroom door to walk into the guestroom ahead of Remus. "Where are you going, Anna?"

"I should think it was fairly obvious. I'm coming to bed with you." He had been excessively cautious ever since I had been injured, barely touching me beyond a gentle kiss or squeeze of the hand. It was maddening.

He frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

I stood as close to him as possible without actually touching him. "I think it's one of the best ideas I've had in a long time." I could feel the heat from his body, hear his quickened breathing, and sense the tension coiled within him. I looked up into his eyes, close enough to kiss him without moving another millimeter if I wanted to. "You can touch me, Remus. I won't break."

"We both know that isn't true, Anna." His hand hovered over the bruised spot on my back, not quite making contact. "All the time and energy I've put into worrying about inadvertently hurting you myself, and I never gave a thought to what anyone else might do to you on purpose."

I brushed my lips lightly against his cheek, where his own bruise was fading. "It's not your fault, you know. I'm tired of being treated like a porcelain doll. You won't break me, Remus." I suddenly turned around. "Undo the buttons in the back, please."

He obediently began unfastening my dress. I had had to use magic to do it up in the first place, as I still couldn't reach around properly. He paused when he had bared most of my back. I knew he was studying the bruises that were still there.

"Is it awful?" I asked, curious. I hadn't been able to see my injuries properly myself, although my mirror had had some choice words on the subject.

"Yes. It's that terrible greenish-purplish color that bruises go right before they start to fade." He touched it very gently, his fingers barely brushing my skin. "Does it hurt?"

"Not so much. It's only a little sore still." I sighed as he trailed feather-light kisses along my spine.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, pulling away abruptly.

"Why?" I asked, a bit startled. "That was nice."

He smiled sheepishly as I turned to face him. "Well, now I'm sorry for being sorry. I'd feel terrible if I caused you any more pain."

"Are we back to this again?" I laughed. "Don't you remember the first time we were together, Remus? When I promised to stop you if you ever did anything I didn't like? That still stands, you know. You promised not to treat me like something fragile. I'm not fragile, and I am holding you to that promise. I'm leaving tomorrow, and we won't see each other for almost two weeks. I want you to make love to me before I go."

"Well, if you put it that way...." He smiled and kissed me gently on the forehead, and then on the nose. "I'm holding you to your promise, too. Tell me if I hurt you at all." He brushed my mouth with his, continuing down to my chin and my throat. "And I remember every time we've been together." He moved back up as though to return to my lips, but stopped short and only kissed the very corner of my mouth, which I turned up in a smile.

"Aren't you ever going to kiss me properly?" I asked. "You're so very good at it."

"Am I?" He traced my lower lip lightly with his finger. "Must be because I so enjoy kissing you."

I attempted to put my arms around him, but was restrained by the sleeves of my unbuttoned dress slipping forward around my upper arms. Remus helped me free myself from my clothing, his hands lingering on each inch of skin as it was revealed. "This does suit you," he murmured, fingering the small gold quill I wore on a chain around my neck. He had given his mother's necklace to me for my birthday.

"I really do love it. And I love the stone you sent me to remind me of you. I don't remember if I've ever told you how much that means to me. I keep it in my pocket and hold it whenever I miss you. I can't believe I didn't wear it down to nothing over the holiday." I suddenly needed very badly to feel his skin against mine, so I started to undress him. He caught my hands before I got very far, shaking his head as he did it himself. I gave him a slightly dirty look.

"Don't look so put out." He chuckled a bit. "I can just do it faster myself."

"Oh, well, that's all right then." We smiled at each other before he finally kissed me the way I loved: his mouth overtaking mine completely, skin on skin, his hands wandering restlessly over my body, at first so lightly I could hardly feel more than the warmth radiating from them, then more insistently.

I ran my own fingers along his web of scars, constant reminders of the many times he had been so radically distorted, altered into the shape of the wolf. I noticed that the pattern was slightly different in a few places than it had been before the summer, and I sighed. I wondered if he had taken sufficient care of himself after his transformations, without me to remind him to eat and to comfort him back to sleep after the inevitable nightmares.

He pulled himself away from me slightly. "Do they bother you? My scars?"

I gave him a good long kiss before I answered. "Not the scars themselves, but what they represent; all the pain and suffering you've gone through, with no one who cared. I'm glad that I get to be the one who cares for you now."

He just looked at me closely for a long time, an indescribable expression on his face. He finally smiled and kissed me again. "We take care of each other, right? You said that to me once." He chuckled. "You know, Anna, I'm getting a bit tired of telling you that you were right about things."

"Well, I'm not tired of hearing it yet." I pulled him over to the bed. "Tell me another one."

"You were right about this being a good idea." He took me gently into his arms. Neither of us slept much that night, spending it mostly in quiet contemplation of each other.

*****

"I'll see you soon," Remus said brightly as he helped me finish packing.

"No, you'll see me next Friday afternoon," I corrected him. "No more of this 'soon'. Last time you said, 'I'll see you soon.', we didn't see each other for months. Only precise measurements from now on, please."

He laughed. "Yes, Professor. I'll see you next Friday then."

"At three o'clock," I specified, stopping Remus from emptying my entire bookshelf into my trunk by kissing him. "I don't need all of these, Remus. There's a library at Hogwarts."

"Oh, right." He grinned self-consciously as he sent most of the books back to the shelf with a flick of his wand. "I got a little carried away, didn't I?"

"Just a little. Oh!" I snatched a tattered volume out of the air as it passed me. "I've been looking for this. I wanted to give it to you."

"One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?" He looked at it curiously when I handed it to him. "Don't the students use this for Herbology?"

"I believe so. That was my copy from school. You'll need it. Sometimes the only way I can figure out what a customer is talking about to is to look at the pictures in here." I stepped closer to him and placed my hands over his on the book between us. "Thank you so much for agreeing to help my father. I know you don't want to work in an apothecary shop any more than I do. Less, probably, since you didn't grow up in one. And I know all those strong scents mixed together are hard for you to bear sometimes. But I just feel so much better knowing you're here in case Dad needs you, and I don't have to worry about where you might be and whether you're safe."

He pulled me close in as tight an embrace as he dared. "I couldn't really say no. I know he needs the help, and I know how much you've been worried about leaving him alone. Not to mention that my chances of being hired for a job I'm actually qualified for are practically nonexistent." He laughed ruefully. "I should just be grateful that he's willing to give me something to do, and to be a little bit sneaky in employing me. If anyone asks, I am merely his daughter's friend, staying at the house and helping out for no financial compensation whatsoever. I don't want him getting into trouble for breaking the law."

"Well, the law is stupid and unfair. I've already sent several owls to the Ministry requesting a meeting to discuss it with someone, but they seem to be ignoring me so far." I hugged him tightly. "We'll see how long they can keep that up."

"Not long, I imagine, now that you seem so set on fighting this. Just don't do anything rash. You are technically a public employee. Dumbledore's protection can only extend so far." He tilted my face up so I was looking him in the eye. "I love you for caring about this. I'm not the only werewolf in Britain, you know. Just one of the few that is lucky enough to have someone like you. And I know that I am incredibly lucky. Not only do I have you, but your father who loves you so much he is willing to hire a werewolf just to make you happy."

"I didn't ask him to give you a job. Dad likes you because he likes you, and he asked you to stay because he wants you to stay. He told me he thinks you're a good man. A man, Remus, not a werewolf. Remember that." I kissed him lightly before turning back to my bureau.

I wished that Remus was coming back to Hogwarts with me, but tried not to dwell on it as I finished packing. I would miss talking to him in front of the staff room fire and sharing meals with him in the Great Hall and hearing about the Weasley twins' ill-advised attempts to pull pranks in his class. I would miss the way he would always just seem to know when I had had a rough day and would show up at my door with cocoa and biscuits and some book he knew I would like. I would miss waking up with him in the middle of the night and slipping down to the kitchen for something to eat.

"What's the matter?" he asked, concerned by the tears I hadn't noticed sliding down my face.

I was apparently a complete failure at trying not to dwell. "I was just thinking about how different Hogwarts will seem this term. I spent all of last year with you."

He smiled as he crossed the room to kiss me again. "I just realized that today it's been exactly one year since we met and became friends. Does that make this our anniversary? Or would that be when I first kissed you? Or when you wrote that letter to tell me you were in love with me? Or New Year's when I told you that I love you, too? And then would it be New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, since it was right at midnight? Or possibly the first time we-"

"Stop." I was laughing. "I suppose those are all anniversaries of a sort. This is just the first one we've come to. It's funny, I never really thought of it that way, though. 'Our anniversary'. " I rather enjoyed saying that. It felt good to think of marking time with him by the year.

"Just try not to fall in love with my replacement. Hopefully Dumbledore didn't hire some dashing famous author like my predecessor."

I snorted. "Have you ever met Gilderoy Lockhart, Remus? He loves himself so much that no woman could possibly compete. I hear he's rather sad now, though, at St. Mungo's with no memory at all." Thinking of St. Mungo's brought my thoughts back to my concern for my father's health. "If Dad isn't feeling well, you take him to St. Mungo's straight away, all right? And then send me an owl."

"Really, Anna. I am a grown man." My father was standing in the doorway. "I don't need a nanny."

"I know," I said meekly. "I'm just asking him to watch out for you while I'm gone."

"You worry too much, darling. You never used to worry so much. Maybe you shouldn't go back to Hogwarts; it's just more stress for you to teach, don't you think?" I cringed inwardly as my father continued his litany of reasons why I should stay home, just as he had done when I had left for every new term during the four years I had been teaching at Hogwarts. "You wouldn't have to worry about what was happening here. And your young man is here; you wouldn't have to miss him like you did all summer."

I took a deep breath before I said anything. Remus, wisely, stayed silent in the corner. "I'm not getting into this again, Dad. I like teaching and I don't want to leave Hogwarts. I am not an apothecary." I paused for another deep breath and sat down on my trunk. "Fasten the latch for me, please?"

Remus quietly excused himself to go help Mina with lunch. My father fastened my trunk and sat down beside me. "You can't blame me for trying, pet. I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy, Dad," I sighed. "I really am. And I'll be back for lots of weekends. We'll hardly have time to miss each other."

"That's true." He smiled and hugged me. "Let's go have lunch before you leave."

"Yes, let's." I kissed him on the cheek as we stood up to go join Remus for our last meal together before I left for Hogwarts.

*****

I arrived at the castle in the middle of an extremely nasty thunderstorm. The short distances I had walked from the door of the Three Broomsticks, into whose fireplace I had Flooed, to the carriage, and from the carriage to the front doors of the castle had been enough to soak me to the skin. The anti-apparition wards and restricted Floo system that made Hogwarts safe and secure could be very inconvenient. I had paused just inside the Entrance Hall to shake some of the rain out of my hair when a water balloon struck me directly in the face.

I inhaled a great deal of water and couldn't do anything for several minutes but stand there and gasp for air. I envisioned the engraving on my tombstone:

Anna Vector. Drowned by water balloon. No one was terribly surprised.

I heard Peeves' insane cackle as he sped away up the stairs, and then a wry chuckle approaching from my left. "This is the second time I've come across you after you've been the victim of that mad poltergeist."

"I'm just an easy target, I suppose. At least this time I'm not likely to pass out from blood loss." I wiped my face on the one square inch of the inside of my cloak that wasn't already drenched. "Hello Severus."

"Miss Vector." He nodded, suddenly appearing uncomfortable. "If you'll excuse me, I'm sure I'm the last person you want to talk to." He turned to walk away.

"No, wait." I stopped him. "You don't have to run off. I've decided that it's not worth the energy to be angry with you all the time. Besides, Peeves won't bother me if you're around."

"Then I'll help you take your things upstairs, if you don't mind. I understand Peeves has been terrorizing the house-elves all day, and they are refusing to leave the kitchens." He picked up my trunk, which wasn't terribly heavy, magically shrunken as it was into the size of a large carpetbag, but was still slightly awkward for me to carry. It was easier for Severus, who was much taller than I, to keep from banging his knees with it as he walked. "You missed the staff meeting."

"I know. I had a terrible time finding an available carriage from Hogsmeade in this storm. I sent my owl ahead with a note."

"That was your owl?" He sounded amused. "Looked like a pile of wet rags."

"Poor thing. I had to bribe her with the promise of a new food dish to get her to go out into the storm. She's probably not very happy with me, but I didn't want Dumbledore to worry if I was late without explanation." Selene was quite a genial, friendly owl but I could imagine that flying though the violent rainstorm had ruffled her feathers a bit.

Severus paused in the middle of the corridor, looking at me with some concern. "I heard you were rather badly hurt in all the disturbance after the Quidditch World Cup. How are you?"

I frowned. "I'm fine. I didn't know the state of my health was public knowledge."

Severus hesitated before answering. "It isn't. Don't ask me to go into details, but I got the information first-hand."

"From Macnair," I stated flatly. He didn't need to tell me I was right; I could tell by his silence. "I know it was him in the mask. Did he happen to mention plans to pay me any future visits?" I had to suppress a shudder at the thought.

"Nothing specific, but Anna, he really seemed to enjoy talking about your bones cracking underneath his boot. Be careful," he cautioned unnecessarily.

"I don't need to be told to stay away from that madman, Severus. I'm not an idiot." I said sourly.

"I didn't say you were. Just don't be such a damn fool Gryffindor, always running into trouble because you don't think about the consequences before you act. Stay around the castle when you're here, and when you go back to Diagon Alley, don't go out without Lupin." He scowled. "As much as it galls me to admit it, I know he wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"Had time to think rationally over the holiday, Severus?" I snorted. "How do you know Remus is there, anyway?"

"I'm not an idiot, either. Where else would he be?" He stopped outside my door. "Besides, your father sent me an owl this morning and he mentioned that Lupin was there."

I laughed. "Of course. I'm supposed to ask you if you know of anyone who might fill a sudden opening for apprentice apothecary."

"Not off the top of my head, but I've already promised Victor I will let him know if I think of anyone." He set my trunk down just inside the door when I opened it. "I'll leave you to get dried off. See you at dinner."

"Right. Thank you for helping me with my bag."

"You're welcome." He paused for a second. "Actually, thank you. I didn't expect you to be so...civil to me. After last term-"

I cut him off. "Severus, don't press the issue. I haven't completely forgiven you for being so awful. I've just had a lot of time to think about things over the holiday and I've concluded that life is too short and uncertain to waste the effort it would take to sustain all that anger. I reserve the right to let it flare up at will, though. Don't get complacent."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, an oddly satisfied expression on his face. "I think there is at least a touch of Slytherin buried in that stout Gryffindor heart of yours, Miss Vector, to want to keep me off balance like that. Well done."

He left me standing in the corridor, feeling a bit off balance myself.