"Harry, you've been defying the headmaster?" Remus pressed, stepping forward cautiously as if worried it might startle the boy.
"No," Harry answered, confused. "I don't know what he means." Then it came to him. "Oh, we'd all just had words and Severus threatened to quit his job and I said I'd rather go with him than stay at Hogwarts..."
"You idiot child," Snape quietly broke in. He glanced Remus over again, and sighed, then looked back down at Harry, his gaze softening even as he lamented, "You have absolutely no discretion."
Remus cleared his throat. Loudly. "Will someone kindly explain to me why Harry has such an awful black eye?"
It was Snape who answered with a casual wave, "That's right, you've only seen him the once since Samhain so you wouldn't realise. The bruising comes and goes, perfectly natural. Sometimes it's both eyes at once, Lupin." The Potions Master let loose a deprecating laugh. "You didn't think restoring his sight could proceed apace, did you? Every so often the injuries attempt to throw off the magic I've woven into the tissues. Things are slowly stabilising, however."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. He didn't like lying to Remus, but neither did it seem like a good idea to admit that Draco had hit him. Look at how badly the headmaster had taken it, not to mention Ron and Hermione! "I went almost a month between black eyes this last time. If you ask me, I'm really lucky to have a Potions Master for a father. Nobody else could have done half as well to get me all healed up."
"I'm sure that's so," Remus commented, and then in much softer tones. "You do sound happy, Harry."
Harry gave a tremulous smile. He wished he could give a more enthusiastic one, but smiling up at Lucius' face was difficult to begin with, even though he knew Remus was inside. "You know, I am. I'm really happy, Remus. Severus is really good to me. Um, for me. I couldn't ask for a better father."
Remus just smiled in answer.
"All right, now that I've apparently passed your wizard parenting examination," Snape scorned, "perhaps you'd be so good as to answer my own question?"
"Question?"
"Have you lost what little brain you ever possessed?" shouted the Potions Master.
"Ah, that question." Remus walked to one of the easy chairs facing the couch and sank into it. "I suppose this is my cue to ask how you know about my activities in the Pyrenees?"
"Seer dream," Harry said, rubbing his temples. His head hurt just remembering, but somehow it hurt a little bit less when Snape urged him to sit down on the couch and then took a place right alongside. "I saw you in the recent past, though I didn't know it was the past and I didn't know it was you. I woke up and told Severus, who helped me pensieve the dream so we could really get a close look at it. We decided it wasn't a seer dream at all. I mean, we were sure Lucius Malfoy couldn't possibly be doing what he seemed to be doing!"
Harry thought Remus might be trying to look bemused, but with Lucius' features the expression came across as rather scornful instead. "Severus, you are a Potions Master. I refuse to believe you didn't consider Polyjuice."
"Oh, we considered it," Snape said, sounding like he was grinding his teeth. He probably was. Merlin only knew what it cost him to praise Remus for anything. "But the impersonation was so perfect, we discounted that explanation at once!"
Remus chuckled slightly. "It's your improved formulation. It does more than simply last longer at a stretch."
"I took it myself, you complete imbecile, so I know what it does and doesn't do, thank you!" Snape snapped. "It only improves the emulation of fine motor function, and primarily at a subconscious level at that!"
A memory suddenly washed over Harry: Frimley Park Hospital, Snape in Remus-guise at his side. Snape, signing Remus Lupin on the register, his handwriting exactly like Remus' script, which Harry had just seen on the letter Remus had sent him...
"It does not turn one into a master mimic!" Snape continued.
"It helps a great deal," Remus insisted. "And my experience in the theatre did the rest."
"Theatre?" Harry questioned.
"London, West End." The werewolf shrugged. "Small productions. Tiny, actually, and I was never more than an understudy, but I picked up a great deal of useful technique."
"Technique can only take you so far. An actor needs to study his subject," Snape snarled. "When did you ever have a chance to study Lucius bloody Malfoy at length?"
Remus stared at him as though simply waiting for the penny to drop.
Snape suddenly leaned back against the davenport, one hand raised to rub his own temples. "Oh, sweet Merlin. That year you taught, you went to all the Governors' meetings, every last one, and all the Hogwarts-Ministry joint functions..." His glance, disconcerted, sought out Albus. "Don't tell me..."
"It was why I hired him," Dumbledore revealed, finally sitting down as well. "Don't mistake me, Severus. Remus is a fine teacher and more than proficient in his area of expertise, but primarily, I invited him to Hogwarts so that he would have an opportunity to study Lucius Malfoy."
"Mmm, I wasn't about to be invited to any high-society dinners, you understand. Even before you told your students of my condition, I didn't have the sort of social standing that would grant me entry to Malfoy's circles. A professorship in the school his son attended seemed just the thing to allow me some contact with him."
Baring his teeth, Snape gritted, "Oh, and this is why you complained so incessantly to me of Draco's behaviour in class, why you none too subtly demanded I arrange a parent-teacher conference!"
"Draco Malfoy was intolerably rude; I did want a conference. I also wanted to study Lucius further. You did nothing but obstruct both goals!"
"Wait, wait!" Harry shouted to get their attention. "I'm confused. If you wanted a conference with Lucius Malfoy you could have just asked for one yourself."
"It's customary and polite to go through a student's Head of House," Remus explained.
"But you went to the Weasleys directly," Harry murmured, looking at his father. "When you were angry with Ron."
"As a courtesy to you," Snape explained. "I presumed you did not wish your friend to lose all standing with Professor McGonagall?"
He did have a point, Harry realised. "Okay, but what's this about studying Lucius? I mean, how could you have known way back then that Voldemort would even return, or that Lucius would be the one Death Eater you wanted to impersonate?"
Remus chuckled slightly. "Oh, Harry. The headmaster's plots go back much further than that. Why do you think I ever studied acting to begin with? You know me. You can't believe I'm possessed of any desire whatsoever to see my name in lights."
It took Harry a moment to process that. He glanced at the headmaster. "You knew before my... before James and Lily ever died, you knew that you would someday want Remus to... uh, infiltrate Voldemort's ranks?"
"Oh yes," the headmaster assured him. "Before you were ever born, Harry, that plan was being forged. You see, in concealing his werewolf nature so skilfully from the other students, Remus Lupin demonstrated a great untapped potential for acting. A potential I urged him to develop, so that when the time was right, the side of Light might benefit from it." Dumbledore nodded to himself. "He could have had his name in lights, Harry. If he was never more than an understudy it was because he abided by my request that he remain a relative unknown, that he linger in the theatre world purely to hone his craft." The headmaster turned his head towards Remus. "There were others I guided into more... heroic ways to help fight the war. Harry's parents. Severus, when he came to me. Tonks, whom I urged to join the ranks of the Aurors. And many others... But your years of silent labour count for no less than their efforts, I hope you realise, my dear boy."