"No! Oh, fuck, Harry... Merlin, this is complicated. Look, Hermione and I...
I... I can't tell you," he stammered out the words regretfully. "Hermione should be here
for this."
"Fine." Harry stood. "I'll go get her."
Sirius's eyes widened.
Remus Apparated outside of Hogsmeade and made the long walk up to the gates
of Hogwarts, staring up at the still-broken castle. The new wards and protections had not
been put in place yet, so the gates opened for him without hesitation. He stayed relatively
quiet as he moved toward the school, knowing that the only people inside would be the
few teachers that were preparing for the approaching term, still delayed due to the
reconstruction.
He and Dora had talked about helping, but with Teddy so young, Minerva had all
but completely refused their offer. She insisted that they be with their child as much as
possible considering that the war had separated so many families. Remus had, however,
taken a few days over the summer to come up and help with a couple of things—mainly
constructing new protection spells for the areas that would be set up closer to the start of
term. Minerva had offered him his old position as a professor back, ready to fight the
Ministry and their anti-werewolf legislations on his behalf. He had politely declined,
insisting that he could not bear to be away from Teddy and that both Dora and Hermione
were practically forcing him to sit down and write a book. There was not enough
information about werewolves available. Considering Greyback had basically been let loose
at the command of Death Eaters during the past year or so, there were likely to be new
werewolves emerging in need of guidance.
Gryffindor Tower had previously been demolished but was now almost entirely
reconstructed, and Remus smiled at the sight of it. Slipping in through the front doors—
all the other secret passageways had been destroyed during the war or discovered and
blocked in the aftermath—he pulled out the Marauder's Map that he had nicked from
Harry's room earlier that day and tapped his wand on the top of it.