Remus Lupin stepped calmly out of the fireplace just before noon.
"Hallo Harry, Dudley... Mr. Malfoy," he greeted the young people scattered about the room.
"Professor Lupin," Draco said in a voice gone suddenly cold.
"Remus!" Harry jumped up from his chair, almost toppling it. "I've missed you so much! Come in, come in, sit down. How have you been?"
"I believe that should be my question to you," Remus softly observed, his voice amused and pleased all at once. "You're certainly looking well."
"Well, you know Professor Snape and his potions," Harry shrugged, grinning. Then his grin faded a bit. "Er... what did he tell you when he asked you to come here?"
"You're being interviewed with an eye toward him adopting you, and wanted an adult with you as the last interview went rather askew." Remus cleared his throat. "Harry, are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"I thought you said it was good to see me getting along better with Professor Snape."
"An amicable working relationship is certainly a good thing, considering," he admitted, with a glance toward Draco. "But... adoption?"
"If you don't like the idea, maybe you shouldn't sit in on my interview," Harry ventured. He didn't want to hurt Remus' feelings, but neither did he want him giving the casewitch reasons to deny the application.
"It's not that I don't like it," Remus said. "It just strikes me as... unexpected."
"That's funny; I sort of figured the whole Or-- er, I mean, the 'old crowd,' would have been told all about it by now."
While Remus shook his head, Draco rasped, "You can call it the Order, Potter. You can even call it The Order of the Phoenix. You think I don't know all about it? The way gossip runs through the circles I used to frequent," he snarled with a glance at Dudley, "I just might know more than you!'
"My, don't you take things personally," Harry lightly mocked, refusing to let the comment upset him. "How should I know what you know? It's better to err on the side of caution, that's all."
Draco grimaced, still looking a bit put out as he went to the Floo to arrange something for lunch.
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Remus was a good conversationalist, and managed to include Dudley in their conversation during the meal, but no matter how he tried, Draco remained standoffish, if not downright rude. Harry put up with it as best he could, but finally, even the euphoria of his baby-dream wilted a bit under Draco's persistent jibes at Remus. Exasperated, Harry demanded, "What in hell's your problem? Did Remus fail you in Defense, or something?"
Draco's silver eyes glittered with malice. "Oh, he knows enough to recognize talent when he sees it, but we should never have had his type teaching us in the first place!"
"His type?" Dudley asked, his eyes wide. "What does that mean?"
Don't say it, don't you dare say it, Harry warned Draco with his own eyes. Out loud, he answered his cousin, "Remus has a wizard disease. It's not catching or anything, though."
"Not under normal circumstances," Draco darkly added.
"Remus has never hurt anybody, and never will," Harry stressed. "So the only reason you could have to be in a snit is you're not really over your obsession with pure blood. You think his... ah, condition, makes his tainted, or something!"
"Harry," Remus quietly broke in, "I don't need a defender. Mr. Malfoy's feelings are... not uncommon. I'm quite used to this."
"I don't care; it's still unreasonable!" Harry snarled, pushing back from the table to stand up. "If you want me to trust you, Draco, you can't go around antagonizing--"
"Your friends?" Draco sniped. "So you won't trust me as long as I have my own opinions, is that it? Nice! Very Gryffindor, actually, all that camaraderie and esprit de corps!"
"I wasn't going to say that!" Harry objected. "If you're against Voldemort now, you have to be able to work with the rest of us who are, you imbecile! And Remus is, so get over your... whatever, will you?"
Draco paused, his golden eyebrows drawing together in one fine line. "Oh. Well. I suppose you might have a point." He drummed his fingers on the table, and looked up at Harry who was standing, glowering down at him. "Does that mean you believe me?"
"I said if," Harry reminded him, face flushed because once upon a time he would never had said even that much. Something in him crumpled. "Oh, shite, I don't know any more. Let me think about it, all right? You still don't make very much sense to me, if you must know. In the meantime, it wouldn't kill you to show a little respect for Remus even if you don't like him."
Draco thought about that, then nodded and put on a smile Harry recognized. It was his being-polite-though-I-hate-it smile. "Professor Lupin, would you care for some dessert?" he inquired, though not sarcastically. That was worth something, at least.
Shaking his head, Remus rose to his feet. "Thank you, but no. I believe Harry and I should take this time to discuss the coming interview. Is there a place where we can speak alone, Harry?"
Harry led the way to Snape's office, while behind him, he heard Dudley pressing, "What disease?"
"Oh, um... some really rare condition I er... can't remember the name of," Draco lied.
Harry sighed with relief. He really didn't want Dudley in hysterics when the casewitch arrived. Good thing Dudley wasn't quite sharp enough to realize that Draco was a dreadful liar.
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"Do you know what she's going to ask?" Harry wondered, slouching in one of the armchairs. He'd sort of wanted to sit in Snape's chair behind the desk, just for a lark, but decided he'd better not.
"No idea," Remus admitted, crossing an ankle over one knee and leaning back as though exhausted.
"You all right?" Harry frowned. "It's a little while past the last full moon, you should be um... recovered, right?"
"Yes, but not having had the Wolfsbane for my change in November..." Remus sighed. "It will take several lunar cycles for me to completely recover, I suspect. Of course I used to never have the Wolfsbane," he mused. "And things weren't this hard. I think the potion must produce a sort of dependency. Not that I blame Severus," he was quick to add. "The Wolfsbane is marvelous and even the best Potions Master in the world can't control every incidental effect."
"You think Professor Snape is the best Potions Master in the world?"
Remus tilted his head. "That was rhetorical, but actually... yes, I do. At any rate, I shall get stronger each month now that I have the Wolfsbane again."
"I'm sorry," Harry had to say, twisting his hands together. "It's my fault you didn't have it in November. You know he made a batch and it got ruined? Snape's never said, but I think maybe that was because it was right after I'd pried into his... um, Death Eater activities, and I think that upset him more than he let on at the time. And anyway, he started making the potion again for you, but that was that day when I finally found Sals. If I hadn't gone after her and left the house, Snape wouldn't have had to drop everything to look for me--"
"No, no," Remus sternly chided. "It is I who am sorry, Harry. My suffering was nothing to yours. When I think of how I led Lucius Malfoy straight to you..." He shuddered. "You have always had a kind and gentle spirit, Harry, but even so, I don't know how you can forgive me."
"It was an accident, and anyway, it's over now. And..." He gave a strange little half-shrug. "You know, I hadn't thought of it before, but all this, the adoption, everything... I don't think it would have happened if I hadn't been hurt at Samhain. I mean, it was Snape taking care of me afterwards that sort of helped us get a lot... er, closer. Without that, he'd probably still just want to be my teacher."