"This weekend,"
Dumbledore said, and then turned and went into the Headmaster's office.
Thinking about the name Slughorn, Sean made his way toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
The door to the office was open.
Professor Lupin had already packed away most of his things.
The empty Grindylow tank stood beside his shabby old suitcase, which was open and nearly full.
Lupin was bent over his desk, looking at something, and only raised his head after Sean knocked.
"I saw you coming, Mr. Green. Good afternoon."
Lupin said with a smile, pointing to the piece of parchment he had been looking at.
It was the Marauder's Map.
"You're leaving Hogwarts?"
Sean asked seriously.
"I'm afraid so."
Lupin said, opening a drawer and beginning to take things out.
"When you were teaching here… you looked much better."
Sean didn't quite know how to persuade him.
"That is true."
Lupin smiled brightly.
The afternoon sunlight, like honey spread across the castle walls, softened the lines of his face.
"Then you shouldn't leave."
Sean said.
"You're right,"
Lupin nodded, placing the contents of the drawer into his suitcase,
"and what about you? Learning magic is more interesting than destroying Horcruxes, isn't it?"
"I understand."
Sean sighed softly.
"There are some things that simply have to be done."
The dazzling winter sunlight stung Lupin's eyes, and he put on his hat. The warm yellow light split his face in two.
It was true—he had been living well at Hogwarts, and if he could, he would have liked that peace to continue forever.
Finding Nagini… from the moment he learned of it, it had almost become an obsession.
He was not foolish enough to fail to guess what she was. And since their seer had told them to search in secret, it meant the matter could not be allowed to spread to more people.
Which also meant that the true burden of responsibility lay only with him and Sirius.
Responsibility—what a heavy, intoxicating word.
"When it's all over, perhaps I'll come back,"
Lupin bent to shut the suitcase.
"You don't need to worry."
Sean was slightly dazed. Had he really influenced Mr. Lupin this much without noticing?
Lupin looked at the young wizard with a smile in his eyes.
The boy before him—Mr. Green—had no idea how many witches and wizards were already gathered around him.
Lupin thought that if he wished, he could become the leader of the magical world at any time, raising a tide even greater than the one the Dark Lord had once summoned.
What was comforting was that such status belonged only to someone who didn't care about it.
"This belongs back with you. I don't know how you got it from Mr. Filch, but since it ended up in your hands, then naturally it belongs to you."
Lupin handed the Marauder's Map back to Sean.
"I'm not your teacher anymore, so I don't feel guilty returning it."
Sean took the map, and for once there was a faint trace of reluctance in him.
He knew where Lupin was going—Albania.
And he knew the kind of danger Lupin was heading toward.
He sighed.
"Don't sigh, dear Mr. Green. If we're speaking of danger and sacrifice, no wizard can compare to you. That's exactly why Sirius and I have never once doubted your resolve… When all this is over, what do you want to do?"
A shaft of winter sunlight fell into the classroom, illuminating Lupin's graying hair and the fine lines on his still-young face.
"Study magic."
Sean thought for a moment, then answered.
"Oh, and after that?"
Lupin's smile deepened.
"After that what?"
Sean asked, slightly puzzled.
"Oh—"
Lupin stopped smiling and looked at the young wizard very carefully. For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then there came a knock at the door.
It was Professor Dumbledore.
He did not seem surprised to find Sean there.
"Your carriage is waiting at the gate, Remus."
he said.
"Thank you, Headmaster."
Lupin picked up his old suitcase and the empty water tank.
"Well then—goodbye, Mr. Green,"
he said with a smile.
"Teaching you has truly been a pleasure. I'm sure we'll meet again. Headmaster, no need to see me to the gate—I can manage…"
Lupin's steps were firm as he walked, his eyes roaming over the castle.
Something in his suitcase clinked softly.
It was the Wolfsbane Potion.
Come to think of it, there had been many reasons for him to leave.
For one, he could not accept Snape's Wolfsbane Potion, yet the potion was too valuable to refuse outright, so in the end he had accepted it as the "surveillance payment" Sean had arranged for him.
And then there was the fact that what he was about to do was extraordinarily dangerous. Perhaps he was one of the very few people setting out to actively seek Voldemort?
That kind of danger was best kept away from the school.
And then—oh, Snape. Who would have thought he had such taste…
With people like that all trying to remain around Mr. Green, wouldn't he be put in a terribly difficult position?
At the far end of the corridor, where light and shadow divided,
Lupin pulled down the brim of his hat and stepped into the darkness.
…
The fugitive Sirius Black had been cleared of his crimes.
And the one who had truly sided with Voldemort turned out to be the wizard everyone had thought a hero—Peter Pettigrew.
The moment that news broke, it swept through all of Hogwarts.
It even stole the excitement away from Ravenclaw's upcoming Quidditch match against Hufflepuff.
Sean had been very busy these past few days and had not paid much attention to the uproar.
But the rumors spread wildly enough that even Dumbledore had heard them.
"What a pleasant weekend, Mr. Green. Why not have a cup of tea… or pumpkin juice,"
Dumbledore said with a smile as he watched Sean feeding herbs to the phoenix.
"and then listen to what the wizards are making such a fuss about this time?"
Sean chose a pumpkin juice loaded with a fatal amount of sugar, and even he narrowed his eyes from the sweetness.
The two wizards quietly studied one another through slitted eyes.
"What are you going to teach me?"
Sean had been looking forward to Dumbledore's lessons for days.
"We'll come to that in a moment. Knowledge is in my head, dear Mr. Green, and very soon it will be in yours as well, so there is no hurry…"
Dumbledore still did not answer directly.
"What is more urgent is our dear Professor Snape. He has been doubling as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for several days now, and I think he may…"
Dumbledore trailed off, remembering Snape's look of almost malicious satisfaction and the way Sean had already taken over Potions in practice, and smiled to himself.
Perhaps their assistant was ready to rise to professor after all?
Dumbledore quickly dismissed the thought.
That would be a terrible waste of the young wizard's talent.
"Get ready, child,"
Dumbledore rose to his feet.
"Today, we are going to visit a retired old colleague, and when we return, we shall have our first lesson of the term."
"Do I need to prepare anything?"
Sean asked.
At the moment, Mr. Fawkes was rubbing against his hand for scratches.
"Not really,"
Dumbledore said vaguely.
"Once he sees you, he'll understand."