The Now of Wolf Thought

To Obliviate, or Not to Obliviate

As Remus sits in the chair directly in front of the Headmaster, the elder wizard eyes him carefully. "What's your information," Dumbledore asked.

"You're going to obliviate me, aren't you?"

"I might. Suffice it to say, you cannot return with the device you currently possess, at least not without extensive repairs. And yes, you were obliviated prior to your return to us. But it caused problems for you. That's why I was dismissed, not because I lost you."

"Was, it rather, the lycanthropy?"

Albus Dumbledore nodded and removed his glasses from his face and tossed them on the desk before him. Then he sighed. "Have you had supper yet?"

Remus shook his head. "No Sir."

Dumbledore nodded again and rang a bell for a house elf to bring supper to the boy and he ate his supper in the Headmaster's office.

"I'm going to put you up into the guest quarter wing. You shouldn't have contact with the student population..."

"Is it because they might recognize me?"

"No."

"Then why Sir, if I may ask?"

The aged wizard sat back in his chair. He knew if anyone could handle the truth, it was this boy. "Because James and Lily Potter's son attends this school right now."

Remus stared hard at his Headmaster. And he looked away as if chewing on the information and then he grinned and when his eyes met with the old man's, he laughed. "That's a good one, Professor! You almost had me for a moment."

Albus Dumbledore wasn't laughing. Nor was he smiling.

"Sir?"

"He's actually one of Miss Granger's very best friends."

"Ah...that's how she knows about the..."

"Sorry?"

Remus shook his head.

"Full disclosure, young man. Your future and our past may depend on it."

"Very well," Remus said. "Last year the lads and I constructed a magical artifact. She knows about it as well as how to work it."

"And did she tell you about the cloak?"

Remus' face lost all color.

"Yes. That's right Remus," he said quietly. "James is gone. So is Lily."

It blindsided him, this new information. "How..." he whispered.

"The Dark Lord."

Remus closed his eyes and felt supper coming up and Dumbledore levitated the bin toward him.

_____

Remus woke up in a seldom-used part of the castle and at first glance, he had no idea where he was. He rose from the warm bed and found a fresh change of clothes laying on a chair; his uniform had been replaced with regular clothes in the latest fashion of the day. He grabbed his wand and cast infinite to make certain that his clothing wasn't magically altered and he grimaced...nothing had been charmed, so he dressed for the day.

Opening the door, he could hear the murmuring hum of the student body milling about in the corridors beneath him. His feet hit the staircase; he took in the scent of bacon and sausages, causing his stomach to growl. Heading toward the Great Hall, he passed by a tow-headed, bi-speckled boy with wild hair talking animatedly with a ginger-headed boy. He tried to look as inconspicuous as he could possibly manage only to have a frizzy-haired brunette come up on him. "Are you lost?"