"Black currant Rowans," Remus said.

Mr. Filch hugged Mrs. Norris to his chest as he watched the gargoyle in front of Albus Dumbledore's office step aside to allow access to the headmaster's quarters. The cat purred loudly as Filch's long fingers dragged over her fur, his suspicious eyes glued on Remus judgmentally. 

"There," Remus announced, looking at Filch with the air of someone having made their point, "As you see, sir, I am capable of making my way to the headmaster's office without your assistance... or do you wish to follow me up to the very door?"

Filch scowled. "Can't be too careful with your kind wandering the halls of the school," he muttered, and he turned and started slouching off down the corridor, dropping Mrs. Norris to the floor gently. The cat paused by one of the suits of armor that lined the hallway, licking her foot primly and watching Remus, even after her owner had cleared the bend. 

"Honestly," Remus murmured, and he ducked through the gap in the stones the gargoyle had uncovered and stepped onto the first of the stairs, which carried him on up in a tight spiral through the tower, higher and higher, before depositing him neatly at the platform landing outside of the office. The usual pair of wellies stood by the door, accompanied this time by a rough-hewn walking stick. 

Remus could hear the headmaster talking through the door, and he hesitated slightly, hand raised to knock, not wanting to interrupt. But then came Dumbledore's voice. "Come in, come in - it does not do to dawdle on doorsteps!"

Remus pushed opened the door. The room was empty save for Dumbledore, who was putting the Sorting Hat back up on a high shelf as Remus entered.

"Ah, good morning, Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore called out, spotting his visitor. He smiled and climbed down from a short step ladder, which he vanished with a quick flick of his wrist. He smiled in a friendly manner. "I was expecting you this morning."

"Expecting me?" Remus said in surprise. "How?" He hadn't told anyone he was considering going to see the headmaster - in fact, he'd only just decided as much the evening before. How Dumbledore could be expecting him --

"I received word from my contacts at the Ministry for Magic yesterday afternoon that you had been registered yesterday morning - and expected to go and finish up your registration today?"

 Remus blinked in surprise, "Yes sir."

"But you've not yet given them the cast of your mouth or been tagged, is that correct?"

"Yes sir," Remus replied, "That's right."

Dumbledore hummed thoughtfully and settled himself into the high backed chair behind the desk, waving for Remus to have a seat. Remus lowered himself into the seat opposite the headmaster gingerly, the seat lower than was comfortable for his knees. Dumbledore smiled benignly. "So was it the promise of the stipend which won you over at last, Mr. Lupin?" his eyes twinkled with jest.

Remus scoffed in response.

Dumbledore leaned back in his seat and sighed.

"Can't you help me, sir? To avoid completing the registration? Being a member of the wizengamot, as powerful as you are, surely there must be --"

"I am afraid there is only so much power that I hold with the Ministry for Magic these days," Dumbledore murmured, "Cornelius Fudge has been getting increasingly obsessed with the sole purpose of finding Sirius Black... and you, my boy, are a key element in the hunt for Sirius in the eyes of the Ministry. Which was why I had hoped that you would have stayed on as a professor here, despite word having... leaked... about your condition."

"Furry little problem," murmured Remus. "But the owls from the parents --"

"I told you then that it was not of a concern to me, but you still gave me your resignation, did you not?"

"Well, yes, sir, but -"

"Within the confines of Hogwarts, I was able to protect you and had a far better position of power over what the Ministry could and could not do - they could not, for instance, take you from the grounds of Hogwarts and therefore you did not have to register, even if they demanded it. I would have had more time to negotiate and more leverage while doing so as your employer. But unfortunately, those same laws do not apply now that you have resigned, you see."

Remus sighed, frustrated, "Sir - if I'm tagged... I don't even care about what it means for me as far as the containment laws, I'll hand myself over if I must, but if I'm tagged, they'll be able to find me anywhere I go and how am I meant to find Sirius then?" he was practically begging, "Privacy goes completely out the window if I'm traced and Sirius --" his voice caught in his throat. "Gods, I should've just stayed in --" he stopped himself from saying Costa Rica. He didn't know why, but he felt a twinge of reserve, as though confessing where they'd been hiding would be somehow ruinous.

Dumbledore murmured, "Indeed - if the trace is active, they might come at any time to check upon your where abouts and if you happened to be with an escaped convict --"

"He isn't guilty," Remus said firmly.

"Yes, Mister Lupin, I am aware of it, of course, but the Ministry does not accept the story as readily as I have done and they are therefore still hunting for Sirius Black."

Remus's voice rang with desperation, "I need to be with my husband, Dumbledore, I need to find him... without the Ministry finding him... Please sir. Help me." His eyes met Dumbledore's.

Dumbledore nodded slowly, leaning back in his chair, considering. "Currently you remain untagged - formally, speaking - but are you certain there is no trace?" Remus looked confused. "It would be a simple matter of spellwork in your presence to set at least a temporary trace upon you, Mr. Lupin, similar to the trace applied for underage magic."

Remus's brows came together in concern.

"Mr. Volsung knew, after all, that you had entered the country, did he not, in order to meet you at King's Cross at the disapparation entry point?"

"I - yes," Remus stammered.

"Is that the first time that Mr. Volsung has... mysteriously appeared, seeking you out?"

Remus started to say that it was but then he remembered - he remembered the day when he and Sirius had finally, finally met up with the pineapples and the knocking they'd heard on the door that had set them to running to begin with... and his heart seized, realizing that it most likely had been Volsung at the door.

Dumbledore sighed yet again, "Then he may very well have the trace upon you already - and it may be that he will come and seek Sirius."

Tears threatened Remus's eyes. "What am I to do, Dumbledore?"

"First and foremost, we must test this trace, I should think."

"How?"

"Allowing time to pass, giving Volsung time to seek you out - a reason to."

Remus shifted. "He says if I don't arrive to his office by half noon that he would find me. Azkaban has been mentioned."

"I can keep you out of Azkaban," Dumbledore answered calmly, "And it takes him proving he's got a trace upon you in order to enforce that threat."

Remus shifted uncomfortably. Something about the statement unsettled him, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. "But if I go home - back to my parent's house, that is - of course he will find me there. Of course. It's the first place he would look for me!"

"Then you shouldn't go there," Dumbledore said. "You should go somewhere unexpected."

"I haven't money to let a room," Remus said, nervously. He could have gone back to Tonks's, he knew she would be sure to provide him with a bed, but first off Volsung knew of their friendship and if he, Remus, was not to be found in York, then certainly Tonks's place would be one of the very next places that Volsung would go poking about in his search - trace or no trace, it was an easily found location.

Dumbledore thought a moment, rubbing his chin, "Yes... yes, let's see... What to do about it..."

"Is there anyway that I could stay here, Dumbledore? I could - I could work for you in some form, help in the kitchens, I -"

"Unfortunately not! And further, being here would protect you from any trace that may be upon you and reveal nothing of what the MInistry knows of your location, I am afraid."

"I could stay at the Shrieking Shack..."

"Now that the word has gotten out about you and who you are, the Shack is no longer safe... and again, you taking up residency there would not reveal what the Ministry knows of your location."

Remus shifted in his seat, frustrated, "Then what am I to do, Dumbledore?"

"I can get you a room at the Hog's Head Inn for a night or two," Dumbledore said, "I shall personally take care of the payment myself."

A slight flutter of relief came over Remus - that was two night's answer. But two nights was hardly a long-term solution. "What then?" Remus asked, "Is there any one in the Order who might be able to - to help? To hire me so that I might work to earn my keep?"

Dumbledore hesitated. "Well --" he paused, then shook his head, murmuring under his breath, "No, it would be most unfair..."

"What? What is it?"

He looked Remus in the eyes. "I have asked you for enough, Mr. Lupin, I am afraid of overstepping my bounds."

"I owe you my life, Dumbledore, and everything in it, for giving me the chance when I was a boy," Remus said.

Dumbledore stared at Remus, nodded, then said, "I could use with your assistance once more amongst the werewolves of the Great North Woods."

Remus felt everything in him grind to a halt, his heart beat shuddered in his ears.

"I was thinking of contacting Mr. Scamander's boy to see if he might be interested in assisting us as a spy in the coming months as things seem to have begun... stirring..."

"Bradley?" Remus's face flushed, "A spy? There? Heavens, no... He couldn't possibly -- he's too young, Dumbledore."

Dumbledore shrugged, "He is of age, Mr. Lupin, attending University, of course, but some times such things must be put on hold in the name of the Greater Good, after all... and it's for such a short time that I'm needing help... And honestly, Mr. Lupin, we have such a precious few contacts amongst the werewolf population these days. Aside from the ones you made yourself, of course..."

Remus shivered.

"It would be easier, if we were to simply... resume... the work that you had been doing before, rather than trying to install a new agent amongst them."

Remus swallowed the ball of nervousness as it rose up within him.

"And it would give you the time to test the trace," Dumbledore added, "As well as a place to go in the mean time, following your stay at the Hog's Head."

"How long?"

"A couple of months, perhaps? I should think you might be done by the holidays if we act now. There has been odd whisperings, you see, Remus, amongst many of the old followers of Voldemort - "

Remus flinched at the name.

" - and I am most interested in finding out from the varying communities what information they may have on the movement that is beginning. I don't expect you to stay there among them, but perhaps if you were to reach out to some of your more... amicable contacts... stay with them... perhaps you might overhear something of value to the Order, and thereby eliminate our need to bring anyone else in to the operation."

Remus looked at his knees, his heart thundering and nervous. "Is there any way that - that we could locate Sirius and explain to him - if he finds out I've been in touch with -- my contacts -- then he would... most definitely be rather... upset. Especially if I didn't explain beforehand."

"Do you know where Mr. Black is located?"

Remus flushed, "No sir. Not at the moment, sir. He - he was coming back because -- something that came up."

"Something that came up?"

Remus hesitated, "A letter from Harry Potter, sir."

Dumbledore sat forward, "What was it that Harry had to say that made Sirius return?"

"That his scar was hurting him, sir," Remus answered. "He said that the last time it had hurt him as it was doing was when... when You Know Who was present."

Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Interesting."

"Sir?"

Dumbledore shook his head, then, "Just another piece to add to the grand puzzle, another whisper amongst the whispers, so to speak." He looked Remus over. "Of course if you are not up to resuming your place amongst the werewolves, I will understand. It is entirely your choice - whether you wish to assist the Order or not - but it is the best solution I can offer for your situation that allows both of us to ultimately get what it is that we want."

Remus bit his lip.

"Think upon it, boy," Dumbledore said, "And take the two days at the Hog's Head." He reached for a quill and parchment and wrote something down, then rolled the scroll up and sealed it hurriedly with a bit of wax, using a press on the desk to seal the wax. "Here. Give this to the proprietor at the Inn and he will see to it that you are given a good, private room. Take the time to reflect and consider your options. I fully understand, Remus, if you are unable to help me at this time, of course, and will continue to do everything within my power to protect you, even if you should choose not to help me."

Remus took the scroll, his heart heavy with the conflict between what he wanted and what was most likely right.

After all, Dumbledore really had saved his life, hadn't he? Dumbledore had been the one who had given him the opportunity to have one at all... If not for Dumbledore, then where would Remus be now?

Dead, Remus thought, most likely.

"Now if you will excuse me," Dumbledore said, "I've an appointment coming up the stairs with whom I must meet with."

Remus nodded, standing up. He felt hot and cold all over as he carried the little scroll to the door with him. He opened the door and stepped out onto the landing. He was about to turn 'round to tell Dumbledore that he needn't take the two days to consider - that he knew he would do whatever it was that Dumbledore asked of him (he owed him everything, of course he would do whatever it was that Dumbledore asked of him) - when a voice he recognized surprised him.

"Remus?"

He looked up.

 Stepping off the top step of the escalating staircase was Charlie Weasley, closely followed by Florean Fortescue - the Florean who had gone and opened the dragon academy, not Jasper Odair, that is - and another two young men Remus did not recognize - all of whom were dressed in flight leathers, their hair windblown. Charlie looked nearly as surprised to see Remus as Remus felt to see him.

Charlie's words about the Andipodean Opal Eye echoed about in Remus's head.

Remus flushed, thankful that Charlie's average human nose would not be able to smell the scent of Nymphadora Tonks on him the way that he, Remus, still could.

"Good to see you, Mr. Lupin!" Florean Fortescue said, extending a hand to Remus. "I do believe the last time I saw you was before --" he paused, seeing Remus's eyes flash, "-- everything happened."

Remus nodded, "I believe so, sir."

Florean smiled amicably, an awkward moment passing during which usually one who had not seen another in such a time might say that the person looked good for their wear since their last parting but there was no way to say that about the disheveled mess that was Remus's current appearance.

Remus could also see Florean's eyes sizing him up - as people had taken to doing ever since the word had spread what Remus Lupin was... as though they were assessing him, deciding if what he had heard made sense, if Remus Lupin looked like he could be a werewolf... a monster.

Luckily, Dumbledore arrived at the door then, absolving the situation of its weight.

"Ah and here they are, just the delegatin I was expecting!" Dumbledore smiled to each of the men standing before him. "Do come in!" he waved for Florean, Charlie, and the two others to enter the office, then looked at Remus. "Have a good day, Mr. Lupin."

Remus nodded and he ducked 'round Charlie quickly, taking the first step downward.

Chase Volsung sat in his office, staring at the clock, Remus Lupin's paperwork before him along with a box that contained the casting equipment to take the mold of Remus's bite. He sighed as the seconds hand moved its way around the face of the clock, watching, waiting - counting down...

The minute hand shifted - it was officially half twelve.

Volsung sighed, shaking his head.