Remus stood just 'round the bend from the DADA classroom, next to one of the suits of armor. His palms were pools of sweat and he wished he hadn't scarfed down that second helping at lunch. Famished or not, the extra ladleful of thick stew was roiling about in his nervousness.

His fingers clutched tight to the briefcase handle, and his thumb moved over the embossed letters.

Professor R. J. Lupin.

He could hear students in the corridor to his right as they arrived and went into the classroom, some of their voices echoing louder than others, and he held his breath, waiting to hear James's voice - well, Harry's voice - but it didn't come. Harry must not be as loud and boisterous as his father, then, Remus thought, for James certainly would have been heard a kilometer off on his way to DADA.

The hall became quiet.

They'd all arrived.

It was time to begin, he couldn't hide there any longer.

You've got a brilliant lesson prepared, he told himself firmly. Fun, and memorable. They'll not have seen anything like it. Professor Viegler would be proud of such as class as I've planned. James would be, too. And Lily. They'd be proud that I had such a brilliant lesson for Harry.

He took a deep breath.

"Here we go."

Remus walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with as much confidence as he could muster, his heart beating rapidly and his palms still sweaty as he made his way through the rows of desks to the front of the room. He could feel Harry Potter's eyes on him as he passed by the table where he sat. Remus felt a lump rise in his throat, but he pushed back against the emotions - now was not the time, he told himself. Now, he was a professor, now he needed to teach this brilliant lesson - he'd feel the emotions later on.

Putting his briefcase onto his desk, he cleared his throat and turned to look at the class. "Good afternoon," he said, looking around at them, their eyes all trained upon him with curiosity. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

Surprise registered on all the faces in the room, and they exchanged glances with one another. It took a moment of loud shuffling and scraping of chairs for the books to be gone from desktops. Remus allowed himself a moment to watch Harry as he bent forward and shoved his books into his bag, then turn to the ginger haired lad beside him, who Remus immediately recognized as one of the Weasley kids. He tried to remember the name of the youngest boy - the last of the Weasley brood that Bilius had been alive to see born - but for the life of him he couldn't recall it. There'd just been so many Weasley children born in the time he'd known Bilius - seemed every time he'd seen the old gent he'd been talking about Molly and Arthur's latest and another on the way...

"Alright then," Remus said, shaking himself back to the here-and-now, and seeing that everyone had completed the task of returning their texts to their bags. He slid his hands in the pockets of his suit and stepped down from the teacher's desk, headed to the door. "If you'd follow me, please." He pushed open the door and stepped out into the hallway.

The students followed, a herd of black cloaks rustling down the deserted corridor and back the direction Remus had come from. The coat of arms he'd hidden by before class raised a fist and gave him a thumbs-up as he passed and Remus smirked, nodding his appreciation silently to the knight, and leading the way along through the castle.

"LOONY LOOPY LUPIN! LOONY LOOPY LUPIN!"

Remus looked up to see Peeves, dangling upside down in his path, a bright grin upon the poltergeist's face as he sang that old familiar chant, wiggling his toes as he watched Remus approach. Smirking, Remus walked right up to him, even as students hung back a bit, and he saw the thick wad of hot pink bubblegum lodged in the keyhole of the door of the supplies closet. "Oh Peeves," Remus said, shaking his head at the ghost, "I'd take that gum out of that keyhole if I were you. Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."

Peeves's eyes were impish and only seemed to become more so at this admonishment. He blew a big fat raspberry directly in Remus's face, giggling, and spinning about, as he held his feet in his fists.

The students behind Remus laughed nervously and whispered amongst themselves at this.

Remus grinned and whispered, "You asked for it, Peeves."

The ghost blew a second, even wetter raspberry and continued to spin head over heels. "Wheeeee! Wheeeeee! Loony loopy Lupin, loony loopy Lunpin! Wheeeeeee!"

Remus sighed and turned to look at the class behind him, reaching for his wand in his jacket pocket. "This is a useful little spell," he said over his shoulder. "Please watch closely." He pointed the wand at Peeves and hissed, "Waddiwasi!"

The class broke out in laughter as the wad of Peeve's gum flew through the air and down the nostril of the poltergeist as he spun about, stopping the song mid-way as the gum lodged itself in his windpipe. "Always was the one who couldn't take a joke, wasn't you?!" Peeves sped off down the corridor, cursing as he departed. Remus smirked and shook his head - Peeves would've been much happier to see Sirius Black in these halls, he thought to himself, and had to immediately push the thought away as it flared painfully in his mind.

"COOL, sir!" one of the boys behind him shouted, and Remus turned to see who it was.

"Thank you, Dean," Remus said, and he put his wand back into his jacket's pocket. "Shall we proceed?" With a quick glance over the gathered crowd to be sure he had all of the students still in tow, Remus nodded, then turned and started off again through the school, down a flight of stairs and a second corridor and came to a stop outside the sacred grounds of the Hogwarts Staff Room. It gave him a thrill to push open the door marked with a little sign that read STAFF ROOM, NO STUDENTS ALLOWED. Breaking the rules, as always, he thought to himself.

"Inside, please," he said, standing back for the students to move inside. Remus watched them go in, filing along the paneled wall as they filled the room. Dean Thomas grinned up at him with admiration as he passed by, as did several of the others - including Harry. Remus felt his heart drop about his knees as his eyes met Harry's and for a flash, he was looking at Lily, the shock of it giving him a rather unexpected jolt. Remus's hand tightened on the door as the last of the students shuffled through.

Deep breath, Lupin.

He stepped inside.

"Leave the door open, Lupin," a low, sneering voice echoed across the room as Remus stepped inside. Remus looked up and saw Severus Snape, holding a cup of tea and folding a copy of The Daily Prophet under his elbow as he stood up. His eyes glittered darkly as he stared at Remus. "I'd rather not witness this." His mouth was curled in distaste.

Remus could feel the burning of Severus attempting to look into his mind once again, but he was able to easily throw him off - much easier than any of the other Marauders had ever been able to do. Snape was still sensitive, then, to the werewolf's mind curled up in the corner of Remus's brain.

Snape walked toward the door, stopping when he was nearly nose-to-nose with Remus, his eyes sweeping over Remus's shabby old suit with a look of disgust. His eyes flashed over the heads of the students, and his sneer only grew more pronounced on his greasy face. "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin," Snape spat, his voice low and venomous, "But this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult." Snape's eyes met the round face of Neville, whose resemblance to Alice gave Remus an ache, too. "Not unless Miss. Granger is hissing instructions in his ear, any way."

Remus looked to the bushy-haired girl beside Harry, whose face registered shock and then anger. Harry's did as well. Harry glared at Snape so hard that Remus nearly laughed - the look was all too familiar.

"Actually, I was hoping that Neville might assist me with the first stage of the operation!" Remus replied, careful to keep any sort of resentment out of his tone. Severus whirled to glare at Remus at this, his hair hanging over some of the features of his face. "And I'm sure that he will perform it admirably," Remus added, eyebrows raised in a challenge as he looked Snape in the eye. "You're welcome to stay and join us and see the accomplishment Mr. Longbottom shall perform."

Snape's eyes met Remus's and they held their stare for a long moment, tension rising between them so thick that it was near to solid. Finally, Snape simply turned and moved briskly into the corridor, making the door slam behind him with a flick of his wrist.

Remus rolled his eyes and turned, seeing the jostling of the wardrobe across the room. It wobbled and banged and he smiled, forgetting Snape and remembering what a truly brilliant lesson this surely would be. He cleared his throat and stepped forward, "Now then..." he pushed Snape and his awful personality right out of his mind and made his way toward the end of the room, where the boggart awaited.