Remus was teaching the third year Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He had them all lined up in two rows and he walked carefully behind them, his hands behind his back, appraising as they cast their spells.

"The seize and pull charm is quite effective in stopping an enemy from escaping, rescuing somebody out of peril -- perhaps even yourself, depending on the situation... I remember once during a duel one of my best mates used the spell to pull himself out of a particularly difficult situation, resulting in his enemies stunning one another in perfect harmony as he dangled from the ceiling by his wand! It was a very clever bit of wand work and I've yet to see anyone replicate it during a fight." Remus paused and watched Hermione Granger pull Neville Longbottom across the room. "Very good, Miss. Granger."

She glanced up at him, nodded, and turned back to Neville without a word.

Remus continued walking, stopping here and there to point out some little thing the student might do to make the cast more effective. "Keep your elbow up a bit higher than that Miss. Patil. Try a bit more emphasis on the re-TRACT-um portion of the spell, Master Goyle."

Suddenly the door burst open, just as Remus was getting 'round to Ron and Harry, and Nymphadora Tonks slid through the door, her usually wild colored hair reverted to it's natural tawny brown. Her eyes were grey. Remus looked up in surprise. "Dora?" he asked, seeing her.

Tonks quickly ducked 'round the kids to get to Remus's side. "I need to talk to you," she hissed under her breath.

"Well if you have a seat over at my desk there you can observe the excellent practice my students are having and once they've completed --"

"Right now, Remus," she said, her voice lowering as she half-glanced at the students, she added, "Alone."

Remus hesitated, then glanced at the clock on the wall. "Alright..." he waved for her to go sit at the desk as he'd suggested, and he turned to his students, "I want you all to study the theory of the carpe retractum - what is the meaning of the latin root here? Write me -- oh let's say a foot of parchment -- on a situation in which you might use the seize and pull in a real-life situation. Funny, serious, whatever you like, but make sure I know you understand the spell and what using it can do for you... And prepare for next class, we'll be talking about the difference between a charmed skeleton and an inferius, so PLEASE do me a favor and KNOW WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS by next class -- no Miss. Granger, don't tell me the difference now... just go ahead and read starting on page 422 about reanimation and we'll discuss next class. You're all dismissed. Enjoy your afternoons."

There was a great clamboring as the students hurried to grab their bags and things from where they'd stowed them. Remus could feel Ron's eyes darting between himself and Tonks as she stood awkwardly behind his desk, dancing one foot to the other, her eyes boring into his back. Remus wasn't sure which stare was boring deeper into his skin.

"You see that?" he heard Ron hiss to Harry on the way out, "Reckon Professor Lupin has a - a girlfriend?" he pulled a face, "Can you imagine old people dating?"

"He can't have a girlfriend, Ronald," Hermione answered, rolling her eyes.

"Why not?" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"Because he's married, obviously," Hermione said, pointing at her ring finger on her left hand as she pushed them both out the door, "You're both terribly unobservant!"

When the door had closed behind the last student, Remus turned to look at Tonks as he waved his wand, righting desks to their normal places, rather than where they'd been pushed against the wall to clear room for the practical lessons.

Tonks turned to the door, "Colloportus," she announced.

Remus glanced at the locked door, then back to her, expectation in his expression.

"Remus, I don't want to alarm you with what I'm about to say, so I'm going to just out and say it, all right, then?"

Remus paused, a chair midway across the room to its matching desk. "Alright... What is it?"

"I think Sirius Black is staying on the grounds of Hogwarts." She paused for dramatic effect. Then, "As Snuffles."

Remus stared at her. Several long beats passed. He seemed to have paled slightly at the words. Then he turned sharply, grabbing the chair from mid-air and lowered it to the floor, pushing it into the desk where it belonged carefully, adverting his eyes from hers.

"I know you're using this pause to think, Remus, I know you are. What're you thinking? You don't seem even half as shocked as I thought you might."

Remus looked up. "How do you know about Snuffles?" His voice shook.

Tonks counter-questioned, "Do you reckon that's how he's getting into the castle undetected?"

"I know it is," Remus replied, and he stood upright, walking 'round the row of desks and up to the front where she stood. He lowered his voice, "I've seen him, Dora. I've talked to him. Several times. He --" Remus paused. "He claims he didn't do it."

"Of course he didn't do it, Remus," Tonks said as though that had always been obvious. She wriggled excitedly.

"We don't know that," Remus said cautiously.

"Of course Sirius didn't do it." She paused, and then even greater surprise came upon her face. "Merlin's ghost, you didn't actually believe --? Not you. Surely not... I --" Tonks was incredulous. She searched his eyes a long moment, then gasped. "Remus, how could you?"

"I didn't want to, of course, blimey, don't look at me like that --"

"Like what?"

"Like you're disappointed in me for believing what everyone else on the planet told me happened!" he said, "You were only a child, you don't remember --"

"Excuse me, I was old enough to remember, I'm not THAT young.... I was nine!"

"Nine!" Remus shook his head, laughing and turned away.

"You were married!" she choked the words out, "Remus! Married! How could you, of all people, doubt him?"

Remus ran his hands over his face. "I -- I didn't know what to believe anymore by that point. There was so much going on and -- Dumbledore said -- everyone said..."

Tonks stared at his back. "But you knew him better than anyone else, didn't you?"

Remus stared at his feet. "Once, I did. By that point... I didn't know what I knew about anybody anymore..." he shook his head. "It was a horribly isolating time, Nym--"

"Don't call me --"

"I'm sorry! Tonks! It was a horribly isolating time, Tonks."

Tonks stared at her wand, laying across her lap. Then she looked up, "You talked to him?"

"He's come to me nearly every full moon since his escape."

Tonks's eyes softened. "Bloody hell that's beautiful."

Remus shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't dare to weigh in. He felt sick and ashamed and stupid and unsettled. He felt guilty.

"There's no evidence toward any other answer in the world," Remus murmured under his breath, "Except the one the world has given."

"Sirius being who he is is evidence, isn't it?" Tonks asked. "Isn't the fact that he's Sirius Black enough?"

"Rather that's precisely the reason a lot of people say that it shouldn't have been a shock to anyone," Remus said.

"Tossers! Pishposh the lot of them! And besides again I say aren't YOU supposed to KNOW HIM BEST?" She leaned forward so she was nearly doubled over, her eyes imploring him. "Please tell me you knew deep down, all along, that he was telling the truth?"

"I'm not even positive I believe it now!" Remus shouted.

Tonks's eyes filled with tears.

"He hasn't shown me any evidence!" Remus shouted even louder and more frustrated. He walked over to his desk and without really thinking about it, he grabbed up a large rememberall that sat on a tiny pedastal at the edge of the desk and he lobbed the thing across the room so that it shattered on the wall. That felt so good, he grabbed a couple more of the little defensive instruments he'd been using as teaching props and threw those, too, watching them crash and tinkle as they fell to pieces. "He can't just -- talk to me -- like a normal fucking human being! He has to be so -- fucking -- dramatic all the bloody time -- like the stupid gods-damned Black he is!"

"Hey now, we're not all dramatic in the family."

"YOU REALLY ARE!"

"Says the man breaking priceless defensive magical instruments!"

Remus let out a hoot of frustration. He grabbed the desk drawer and yanked it open and pulled out an old stained but of parchment. He waved it at her. "You want to go and see for yourself how dramatic he bloody is? Here - HERE. If you can find him on this -- this STUPID MAP -- then go for it. But he's found some way to keep himself off even the Map!"

"What's that?"

"Our MAP!"

"Your map?" Tonks looked confused. She took it from Remus. "It's just a parchment..."

Remus laughed and shook his head. He turned away to face the wall, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Remus," Tonks said, putting the parchment down on the desk beside her hip and looking back up at Remus with concern. "Shouldn't you give him the benefit of the doubt? Like, I know it's a really emotionally charged situation and the sort and there's a load of reasons not to believe him, but -- blimey if you've seen him almost every moon for - for going on to nearly a year now, ought you know that if he wanted to kill you -- or Harry -- by now, he would've done it?"

Remus bit his lips. "Maybe he doesn't want to kill me."

"Alright, then Harry, then. Don't you think he'd have done it by now?"

"He's tried. At least twice. Possibly three times - I'm not sure that it was coincidence that the dementors nearly attacked Harry when he was in the stands at the pitch."

"He was at the pitch?" Tonks gasped.

Remus sighed again.

Tonks shook her head, "Blimey. But Remus, shouldn't it be that he's innocent until proven guilty? At least with you?

"He said that, too."

"Well... isn't he right?" She reached out and touched his hand. Her fingers grazed the ring on his finger. She looked up at his eyes. "I mean...?"

Remus's guilt multiplied. "I just... I don't understand how... he was the secret keeper, he was the only one that it could've been... and I wrote the spells Tonks, I wrote them... there were no loop holes, there was nothing that could've possibly been done by You Know Who that would explain how --"

"There has to be something," she argued. Then, "Have you just... just asked him?"

"Several times. And he laughs and says psychotic things - he's threatened to kill Harry several times, even... See, he can't be innocent! Why would he still be talking about killing Harry if he was?"

Tonks rubbed her chin. "He actually said the words that he wanted to kill Harry?"

"I mean, in so many words..." Remus answered, "It's always this crazy babbling..." But even as he said the words, Sirius's voice echoed in his head and he realized that it had always been pronouns and never proper names. His brow stitched a bit in the center.

Tonks sighed.

"Where did you see him?" Remus asked. He reached for the Map, starting to unfold it, staring down at it.

"On the lawns. With Hagrid."

Remus turned 'round quickly and stared at her. "Hagrid doesn't --"

"No, Hagrid thought he was just a dog. But I saw his eyes, Remus. They were grey and precisely like mine. Just like his were."

"You remember his eyes?"

"I've just said they were my own, didn't I? Of course I remember his bloody eyes. You don't?"

"I do," Remus said. "I just didn't think anybody else still had that privilege."

They sat in silence for a long time, Remus holding the Map, thinking about Sirius Black's eyes. Then he looked up suddenly, "How do you bloody know about Snuffles?"