Remus awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to get out of bed. He found clean robes on the chair and a basin of water with which he could clean up. Warming the water was easy and made washing up a lot more enjoyable. A shaving spell added the final touches. Now he was ready to see what was so special about the Green Dragon.
The first thing Remus noticed when he entered the common room was that many people were strangely dressed. Some patrons seemed to be dressed in the fashions of centuries earlier, while others seemed totally over the top to Remus. One witch had on metallic looking robes that looked very uncomfortable, while several wizards had on robes with lots of lace and ruffles such as Remus had only seen in museums. Remus had never seen anything like them on living people.
Finding a table in a corner, Remus sat back and observed. Blenkin saw him come in, and brought a tray with eggs and sausage over to him. A steaming mug of tea sat beside the plate.
“Good to see you up and about. There seem to be more people needing our services today then there have been in a long while.” Blenkin said as he noticed Remus looking around. “Time means nothing here. People meet up with those who have the best advice or encouragement for them to move on back to the real world. I’m sure Albus warned you at least a little bit about us.” Blenkin winked and then moved on to another table.
Remus heard Blenkin respond to a young man with sandy colored hair in very antiquated English. Remus wondered at the youth’s story. The young man saw Remus watching him. After a moment, he got up and brought his breakfast tray over with him. “Would thou mind if I shouldst join thee?”
“Go right ahead. It would be nice to breakfast with someone, instead of alone. I find myself quite alone these days.” Remus smiled and moved his tray closer to him so there was more room on the table. “My name is Remus Lupin.”
“I am Arthur Gryffindor. My father and mother founded Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” Arthur looked over and watched Remus for a few minutes. “What brings thee to the Green Dragon?”
Remus thought for a moment about what to tell this youth. “I have recently had three of my closest friends murdered, and a fourth was the one who caused their deaths. I’m having a hard time dealing with that and what it means in my life.”
Arthur looked thoughtful for a moment, and then seemed to make up his mind. “A score of years ago I twas cursed by a former friend of mine fathers. My magical ability hast shown great promise, but that curse took all but mine Potions abilities. Father and Mother keep trying to “cure” me, but I have known it as permanent since I awoke after being hit.” Arthur attempted to smile, but failed miserably. “I know not what to do with my life. I hath considered leaving the school and living totally as a Muggle. Mother tis the only reason I hath not. She tries so hard, but tis no avail.”
Remus studied this boy that seemed to be Godric Gryffindor’s son. What could he offer him that such a famous and well known wizard could not? After pausing for a moment, he believed he knew. “I know what it is to be cursed, though in a different way. It might shock you to learn I am a werewolf.” Remus looked at Arthur as he said this, and was surprised to find no horror or fear in the lad’s eyes. “My dream has always been to teach, but no one would let me near their children. They all fear I will attack their children or even come after them. The laws are all against me. I can’t even find a small job to earn my livelihood.”
“That is horrible! I canst tell thee is a kind and gentle man. What haunts thou one night a month dost not reflect what is in thy true nature! If teaching is thy dream, learn so thou might teach one day. If somehow the opportunity comes, then thou canst follow thy heart.” Arthur smiled with fervor.
“If you can do Potions, I’m sure you have become great at them. I would say that most your powers were blocked, but not all of them. You were born a wizard, not a Muggle or Squib. That is why Potions still work for you.” Remus paused to think a moment and then continued. “Teaching Potions would be a great thing for you to do. Then the one that cursed you has lost. Overcoming that which others see as a curse or finding the way around it is the only way to prove you can do what they say is impossible.”
“Thou shoulds’t take thy own advice.” Arthur smiled a heartwarming and true smile. “I thank thee Remus. I feel not so lost now. Perhaps I should take myself back to the castle.”
Arthur stood and shook Remus’ hand, and then headed towards the door. Remus saw him bid Blenkin goodbye. Blenkin turned and gave Remus two thumbs up after Arthur left.
Remus pondered his conversation with Arthur for quite a while. Getting a higher education would be hard for him, but home study courses were a new offering that could help him. If he could save the money to purchase the materials, he might be able to at least find a job as a private tutor. The Dark Arts seemed like a great place to put his focus. He was considered a dark creature himself, and who would be better situated to teach the defense against a dark creature than a man who was one? Protection spells and charms had always come easy to him anyhow. He still wasn’t ready to face the world without another Marauder by his side, but a slow plan on what do to now that he was alone was beginning to form.
A few hours later, Remus was sipping some hot chocolate as he sat once again and observed the room around him. A dark haired man dressed very similar to Arthur had just entered the room. He appeared even more lost then Arthur and it seemed as if he hadn’t been in a pub before. He looked around with apprehension, and took a table by himself. Blenkin brought him a lager and then glanced meaningfully at Remus as he walked by. He seemed to be asking Remus to go over and talk to the man. After just a few minutes, he slowly got up and approached the new patron.
“May I join you?” Remus asked with a smile.
The man looked up with dark, haunted eyes. After a moment, he nodded his approval.
After waiting a moment for the man to talk, Remus decided he would have to start himself. “My name is Remus. I have lost a few friends, and I think I’m finally realizing life has to move on, whether we want it to or not.”
After studying Remus for a moment, the man finally responded in a raspy voice that seemed unused. “I am William, though none have spoken mine real name in years. Father attacked his friends and we hath been in hiding hence. Dark Arts have filled our lives, and happiness hath become a stranger.”
Remus pondered William’s problem for a few minutes. “You are grown now, and must have had some happiness in your life. You need to focus on those times and try to create more. Leave the Dark Arts behind and pursue your own life.”
“I can not leave. I have a wife and though we share no happiness, we hath two young children and another on the way. All the magic I know ist Dark. I know no other life.” William looked at Remus in sorrow.
“You can’t just abandon your family! Find a way to learn magic that isn’t dark and teach only that to your children. If there is no love between you and your wife, focus on the love you bear your children. I can tell they mean a lot to you.” Remus looked William straight in the eye as he added, “Don’t follow in your father’s footsteps. Tread your own path. You are a man now, and need to act like one.”
“I must think on what thou dost say. I think better in the woods. Thank you for your advice and time.” William drank what was left of his lager and then walked with a straighter back out of the door.
Remus hoped he would find some peace and love. It was always sad to see someone who thought both were beyond their reach.
Tilly came by with a fresh pot of tea and a clean mug. “I think you told that fellow exactly what he needed to hear. No one can know what decision he will come to, but hopefully something good will come of his time here. His eyes were not as haunted as when he walked in.” Tilly sat across from Remus as she added, “I know you probably think you got nothing from that exchange, but that man’s last name was Slytherin. Think on that for a while.”
Tilly walked on to other tables. Remus sat there shocked. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor had both met him this day. This truly was a pub of many surprises. Another surprise today would be too much for him, so Remus retired to his room. As he lay on his bed to think, sleep over took him.
Dreams of Hogwarts came once again. This time his friends didn’t join him. A portrait the Marauders had found in the dungeons flashed through his mind. It showed a thin, dark haired man with a boy standing next to him. Several people had speculated that it was a portrait of Slytherin and his son. After today, Remus was sure of it. The boy had joy in his face and couldn’t have been more then five years old, but he was definitely William.
What had caused Salazar to change that laughing boy into the haunted man Remus had met that day? That was the question that kept swirling through Remus’ head when he woke a few hours later. No answer ever came to him.
Remus also tried to remember if there was any sign that Arthur had returned to the castle. After a while, he recalled a statue of a potions master he had found in a class room that wasn’t used anymore. It had seemed like a much older Arthur, so apparently he had taken his advice after all. Remus hoped Arthur had been happy as a teacher.
