History and Truth

Confrontations & Centaurs

The next morning we woke up and made our way down to the common room individually. I was the first to go downstairs. I looked around for Lily. I finally found her sitting by herself in a corner with tears in her eyes. I sat down beside her and put my arm on her shoulders. She leaned into me and we stayed there for a while. My stomach growled a little later, which made Lily laugh.

"Hungry Remus?"

"Definitely. Lets go have breakfast."

We made our way to the Great Hall talking about our plans for the day and wondering what classes would be like. We sat at our table together and began eating. I heard a comment wondering why all the dishes were now gold. I smiled and thought 'if you only knew.'

"What are you smiling at Lupin?" I looked up to see Severus Snape glaring at me from across the table.

Teddy stopped reading and looked up at his godfather. "Didn't you tell me that he ended up not being such a bad guy really?"

"In the end he wasn't, but from everything I know he had a very long and hard road to get to that point. One thing I learned from him is that you have to be very careful about assuming you know a person or why they do what they do. As I told you earlier about 'history' and your dad, things aren't always what they seem to be and sometimes people assume too much and report it as being the truth."

Teddy thought on that for a moment before he replied, "So the guy we read about in here is probably not going to be a very nice person and say and do some horrible things but eventually he comes around."

"That would sum it up yes. There were many things about the way he was raised that led him to think the way he did and to act the way he did. It was what he had been taught. It took a long time for him to see that not everything he was taught was right."

"Sev, don't do this, please." Lily was trying to avoid a scene. I was wondering what his problem was. All I was doing was eating breakfast.

"Okay. Will I see you later Lily?"

"Sure. After lunch though okay. I still need to unpack and all."

He nodded and walked over to the Slytherin table. I turned to Lily but before I could say anything she said, "I don't know Remus. He and I are friends. I know he was hoping we would be in the same house. I guess he's just disappointed."

"I guess I can understand that. He doesn't seem to have many friends."

"He doesn't. Its hard for him."

"He's lucky to have you around."

A few minutes later Sirius sat down beside me. Before he could even pick up a piece of toast he was being confronted by an older student.

"You little blood traitor. Sitting here with filth and worse. I sent an owl last night to your parents. Be expecting it cause its coming."

"Leave him alone." I had heard enough. I did not raise my voice at ll or make any kind of move. She looked down at me with such hatred it was unreal.

"You dare to..." she began.

"Yes he does and so do I. Leave him alone." James had now arrived and was standing on the other side of Sirius.

"Narcissa, my friends have nothing in this. I don't care who you tell. I'm glad to be away from the lot of you and your 'Pureblood' mania. Now leave us alone."

She looked around as the Great Hall had become very quite. Every Gryffindor in the room was watching to see just how stupid she was going to be. The High Table was looking on as well.

"Just be warned. Others will not be as forgiving as I am." She turned and made her way to the Slytherin table without even a glance back at us.

"Thanks guys. That is my cousin. She's a third year. Her oldest sister graduated this year and between them is Andromeda, the only one of my cousin I like. The others she referred to is the oldest sister Bellatrix. Real piece of work, Bella."

 Teddy looked up at Harry. "Andromeda? As in my grandmother?"

"Yes, that's her. You just, in a way, heard from your dad what your grandmother's family was like. Even before they left Hogwarts. There was tension between your dad and your grandmother from his first day at school. Way before anyone, including my parents apparently even knew about his lycanthropy. So it wasn't just that. He obviously was a lot older than your mom."

I looked up at the High Table and saw Professor McGonagall had an unmistakable sense of pride in her students. Sitting beside her, Professor Dumbledore was smiling and his bright eyes had a twinkle. I kept those observations to myself.

We finished our breakfast without further outbursts. I asked if the others wanted to go down to  Hagrid's with me. The guys said they would eagerly.

"What about you Lily?"

"Not this time Remus. I still haven't unpacked."

 "Well, see you at lunch then."

The three of us left the table and headed out into the grounds. Seeing as I knew where I was going the other two followed me. We arrived at Hagrid's hut only to be greeted by a splendid site. Hagrid was standing at the edge of the forrest talking to a centaur. We had never seen a centaur in person before. I slowly made my way over to Hagrid. The centaur looked down at me with a look of distaste. He stared at me for a bit so I stared back. It was like he was trying to see into my soul through my eyes.

"This foal has heart, Hagrid. This is the one we were discussing?"

"Yes, but as ya can see fer yourself he ain't like what you thought."

"You are correct Hagrid. This young one is not like the others in the forrest. It is a pleasure, Remus."

"Hold on," Seth interrupted. 

"Did he just say a centaur said it was a pleasure to meet my dad?"

Harry looked at his friends and then at Teddy and his friends. "Teddy, I have told you for years that your dad was a very special person. But that surprises me as well. My dealing with centaurs was very different. We," he said indicating his friends, "even had a centaur for a professor for a while. But that amazes me."

"From the way he said that, I'm not even sure if Remus understood how amazing it was," Hermoine added.

The centaur turned and walked back into the forrest. I watched him as long as I could. Then I turned to Hagrid and asked, "Why were you talking about me with a centaur, Hagrid?"

"They usually don't come this close to the school. Found out 'bout you somhow. Decided to find out for 'imself I suppose. Nice enough fellow that one is. Oh, see you brought some friends. Well, you lot ready to go fishin?"

We spent the rest of the morning with Hagrid. The guys took to him immediately. I was glad because Hagrid was a good friend. As we sat on the edge of the lake, a very perturbed Professor McGonagall came striding toward us. As soon as I saw her I knew why she was looking for us.

"Professor, I am so sorry. After everything at breakfast I forgot. I will go right now."

"See that you do Mr. Lupin."

"Sorry Hagrid, guys. I was supposed to see Madame Pomfrey this morning. I'll catch up to you guys at lunch."

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