Remus Lupin and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter 18: Visitation fortification

  [AN: The dialogue that happens between Remus and Harry is straight out of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and belongs to J.K. Rowling; I'm using it to reframe the scene from Remus' point of view. No copyright infringement is intended]  

"'Scuse me," Remus said incredulously, looking up from his grading to reach out and draw his bowl of chocolate closer to him from across the desk. "1 each."

George Weasley batted his eyelashes at him innocently, putting a hand to his chest. "But I have--"

"I think, not, George. You were up here before."

"I'm not George, I'm Fred!"

Remus smiled blandly at him, not moving the bowl any closer to the other side of the desk. "Don't you have somewhere to be, George?"

"I was just getting one for Percy!" He protested, grinning.

"What a devoted brother you are. Percy can just come and get it himself and you'll have to find another way to show your sibling affection."

"Curses, foiled again!" George shook his fist in mock frustration, reshouldered his bag, and grinned. "You're ruining Halloween for all of the children, Professor."

Remus nodded indulgently. "Somehow, I will survive. Have a good day, George."

Fred, waiting by the door, shook his head in exaggerated disappointment at his twin and they followed the flow of people out of the classroom. Remus shook his head, smiling, and went back to grading the Redcap essays as the late morning light slanted in from the high windows of the classroom. Those boys reminded him of James and Sirius. The part of the Weasley clan that he had in his classroom seemed to be a delight; the twins were always trying to pull something and, one of these days, he was tempted to actually let them succeed. Ron was funnier than he let on and quicker than he seemed to think as he was often overshadowed by the absolutely brilliant Hermione. Ginny, as he learned the red headed girl from the train was called, was sharp as a tack and seemed absolutely ravenous for any information on defense. He made sure that he kept a close eye on her; he knew past trauma when he saw it. Lastly, Percy was the quietest and most studious seeming of all of them but Remus had seen him brandish his prefect badge with gleeful authority in the halls that made him hide a smile. Quite the cast of characters. It made him grateful that Harry seemed to be surrounded by such a warm, familial presence, that he wasn't moving through this world as isolated as Remus had feared.

A soft knock on the door broke through his thoughts and he looked up, half expecting to have to defend his chocolate stash from further interlopers but, to his surprise, Professor McGonagall was standing in his doorway. "Oh! Professor," he stood and gestured to the room. "Come in, what can I do for you?"

"I was hoping to catch you before you left for lunch," she came up to his desk and, strangely, looked out the window.

He watched her a moment, slowly followed her gaze, found nothing of interest, and looked back to her. Her jaw was working, clenching and unclenching and he realized that she was searching for words. Fascinated, a little daunted, he sank back down into his chair and placed his folded hands on the desk before him, waiting.

"I wanted to apologize, Lupin, for the other day."

He stared at her, blankly, wracking his memory for something that she would have to be sorry for. To his knowledge, they hadn't even had a personal conversation of any length since he had come back to Hogwarts. Plenty when he had been a student, most of which had began with, 'What on earth do you think you boys are doing?' A few from the First War and the Order of the Phoenix which, funnily enough, had often started the same way. "Er...I don't understand."