The Marauders Era

Resigning

   Ron's broken leg was strapped up. Snape was floating along in the hallway of the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Hermione had followed Crookshanks on his way back downstairs and Pettigrew was tied up, Ron on one side and Remus on the other.

   As Remus and Ron started to leave Sirius grabbed Remus' wrist. Ron was in the hallway, Pettigrew halfway through the door. 

   "Remus." Sirius whispered urgently, still clutching his wrist tightly. "I love you." he said. "I love you too." Remus whispered back and Sirius grinned and checked to make sure Ron was out of view before stepping right up to Remus and kissing him quickly for the first time in twelve years.

   Sirius' hold on Remus' wrist slipped down to his hand, which he squeezed slightly. "I'm sorry I left our house for thinking you were a spy." Remus whispered. "And I'm sorry for thinking that you were the traitor, I love you so much." Sirius whispered back. And then as they kissed again Ron's voice came from the hallway, "Are we going?" he asked. Sirius stepped away from Remus and with one quick squeeze he let go of Remus' hand.

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   It was early morning the day after Peter and Sirius had escaped. Remus was sitting in his office, drinking a cup of tea, watching the people of Hogwarts move on the Marauders Map. He noticed Dumbledore's name moving towards his office, it stopped outside the door and then Remus heard a gentle knock on the wood. "Come in." he said. 

   Dumbledore entered and sat down opposite Remus. "Are you alright?" he said. "It's as if I always knew that Sirius could never do something like that to James and Lily. I should have known it was Peter all along, he was always the one who looked for others to protect him, he's a fucking little rat." Remus said. "Literally." Dumbledore said. Remus looked up, nodding. "Ah, I should have known." Dumbledore said, a slight twinkle in his eye. "I always wanted to tell you, but you've done so much for me I couldn't bear the thought of telling you how much risk I put on everyone, how I'd broken every measure of protection you'd put in place." Remus said. Dumbledore nodded. Remus looked away from Dumbledore's X-raying blue eyes and turned his gaze towards the Marauders Map. "What's this?" Dumbledore asked. "It's a map of Hogwarts. We made it in sixth year. I'm Moony, Sirius is Padfoot, James was Prongs and Peter was Wormtail." Remus said, passing the Map to Dumbledore.

"This really is extraordinary magic." Dumbledore said. "Very well done. Fifty points to Gryffindor." he said with a chuckle, handing the Map back. Remus laughed, then sighed. "I'm leaving. After what Severus did I really can't stay. I'll be gone before dinner." Remus said. "Are you sure?" Dumbledore asked. Remus nodded. "You will have two more months of pay, you truly are a wonderful teacher." Dumbledore said, then he got up and left.

Remus got to his feet and approached the window. He looked down into the grounds, there was James Potter, laughing with a red-haired boy and a girl with her face hidden by her book. Remus shook himself, of course it wasn't James, it was Harry.

He watched the boy for a while more as he fell about laughing with his friends and stretching back against the trunk of a nearby tree, not even aware of how similar he was to his father. He didn't want to leave Harry.