The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

LV: 7 May, 1994

"Professor?"

Remus Lupin looked up from the pad of paper he'd been leaning over at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He was taking in a mid afternoon meal, being halfway through the moon cycle and positively starving. A sandwich and some crisps sat by his elbow, as well as a quartered orange in a bowl. The elves had even given him a tall glass of chocolate milk. He was the only person in the Great Hall, and hadn't expected to hear anyone to come up to him. He looked up in double-surprise when he heard Harry Potter's voice.

"Harry?" he asked.

"Hullo," Harry said. He slid onto the bench opposite Remus at the table.

"Hello... What are you doing down here? I should think you'd be upstairs, celebrating with your team mates in the common room!" Remus smiled. "Congratulations, by the way, you did a brilliant job..."

Harry flushed. "The whole team did great," he agreed humbly.

Remus smiled, picturing the amount of inflation on James's ego a statement such as Remus's might have made and how much differently Harry's reaction was in comparison. "You were really very good, Harry." He paused, then added, "Your father would've been very proud of you today. Everyday, really. But he would have been particularly proud of you winning the Quidditch cup."

Harry looked up at Remus with wide eyes behind his round glasses, his face positively radiant at the thought of his father being proud.

Remus pushed the dish with the quartered oranges closer to Harry, and Harry happily took one of the sections and took a bite from it, chewing thoughtfully as Remus took a bite of his sandwich and shifted his weight with a groan and a wince as his knees unfolded. He'd been sitting so they were bent under the bench - the bench being a wee shorter than a grown adult really needed to be comfortable - and he stretched them now, the knee caps popping slightly.

"Are you alright, Professor?" Harry asked.

Remus nodded, "Just feeling a bit sore. The usual... Nothing to mind yourself with." He smiled. Then, before Harry could ask anymore questions about Remus's condition, Remus said, "So why aren't you upstairs celebrating?"

"I wanted to come and see you, actually."

Remus stared at Harry. "Me?"

"Yes. I was wondering... about the omens thing."

"Oh Harry. Is Trelawney still on about that?" Remus frowned, "I'm really sorry she keeps on about that to you. That crazy woman needs to leave you be. She's bothered you enough. If you like, I'll go and have a talk with Professor McGonagall about --"

"No, it's not Trelawney this time, really," Harry said, shaking his head. He paused, looking very uncomfortable suddenly.

"What is it, Harry?"

"I really have been seeing the Grim about, Professor. I mean it really was a Grim shape in my tea leaves that day in Divination - that part Professor Trelawney didn't make up. And I've seen the grim about the castle. I saw him at quidditch practice once and at a couple of the matches. I've seen him slinking about in bushes and around the tree line at night, by the forest, and just last night, I saw the Grim and Crookshanks together out on the lawn."

Remus stared at Harry.

Like really stared at him.

It wasn't until Harry squirmed uncomfortably that Remus realized he'd been staring an improper amount of time while he tried at wrapping his mind around what Harry was saying. "Wait. You've seen - actually seen - the Grim?"