Halfway through their meal, a knock sounded on the door to his quarters. Severus wasn't surprised that someone was visiting him—especially after all that had been revealed the previous night. However, the same could not be said for Harry. At the sound of the knock, the boy flinched and turned worried green eyes towards him, his mostly full breakfast plate completely forgotten.

"Stay here," Severus directed smoothly, dabbing carefully at his lips with a spare linen cloth before getting to his feet and gracefully making his way to the door.

Minerva McGonagall, the plaque beside the doorway read in stilted script.

Why she had not looked for the boy before midday was anyone's guess. He supposed that he would be learning more about it than he would have preferred, and it was with that dour thought in mind that he opened the door.

"Severus! Why did Mr. Potter not return to Gryffindor tower last night?" The fiery older woman demanded, barely waiting for him to step aside before pushing her way into his quarters.

Severus shut the door behind him with an audible thump and swiftly put himself in-between his colleague and the terrified child staring back at them so fearfully.

"He had unfinished business to attend to," Severus diverted quickly, not really lying.

"Business that could not have waited until tomorrow?" She blustered incredulously, crossing her arms and tapping her foot on the floor haughtily.

"Yes," he hissed back, moving backwards far enough to place what he hoped would be a calming hand on the child's visibly trembling shoulder. "Why don't you go and ask Albus? He could have told you all of this."

And more, if the old man had been so inclined. It was not a thought he cared to think on. Behind him, a chair scraped and he felt the shoulder disappear from under his hand, before suddenly feeling Harry's thin frame push up against his back; the lad literally hiding behind him.

In another set of circumstances, he might have been amused at the idea of a Gryffindor hiding behind a slimy Slytherin.

"I caught him as he was leaving," she sniffed, walking closer to him—or rather, them.

"Leaving?"

"'Business at the ministry' was all he said," she answered, her eyes glinting in frustration as she tried to peer around his unmoving form.

Lupin.

"Mr. Potter, come out of there at once," Minerva called out in a strict voice.

Behind his back, Severus felt the trembling increase.

"Mr. Potter will be staying where he is," he answered instead, peering down his nose at her as she gawked back.

"Might I remind you that he is my student?" She countered, the fiery glint quickly returning to her eyes as she got over her shock.

"He is my student too."

"You know perfectly well what I mean," she hissed in a low voice. "Have I ever so blatantly interfered in the dealings of your house?"

Yes, he didn't say.

"Harry," he called out over his shoulder. "Go wait in the other room, please." He turned his head and caught the boy's eye, giving a discrete nod.

"Yes sir," Harry whispered far below the hearing of Minerva.

The trembling form behind him vanished. Out of his peripheral, he saw the child slip around the far edge of his sofa and then scurry off across the expanse of his sitting room. Minerva's eyes followed him the entire way and Severus dearly wished to call her on it.

He managed to remain silent until he heard the door shut. And then he told her in no uncertain terms that if she wanted to know what was going on, she would have to wait for Albus to return. Until then, Harry was staying with him and that was final.

She argued, as he had known she would, but finally conceded the argument to him and left in a huff.

He allowed himself a moment of silence and then he went after the boy.

. . .

Albus stepped into the cell and waited for it to clang shut behind him before giving a nod to the auror on duty. Without another word, the auror waved at the guards and they left together as a group. The corridor seemed to be empty, but Albus checked it with a spell regardless.

The guards truly had left them alone.

He turned back towards the prisoner and walked over to where the man was laid out atop the prison issue cot. Albus summoned the only other chair in the room to his side and then sat down carefully, keeping his eyes on Lupin the entire time.

"I'm glad you came," Lupin's rough voice broke the silence between them.

He knew about the aurors' interrogation techniques. He knew what they had done. And though Lupin's healing skills were heightened because of his condition, it did not mean that the man had been left unaffected by their harsh treatment of him.

It was clear to him that the man was worn out; barely able to keep his eyes open as he lay there on the dirty cot, in an underground cell far beneath the Ministry.

"Are you now," Albus answered calmly, his eyes harsh and unyielding in the dim light of the cell.

Lupin coughed harshly, his breath still wheezing painfully in his lungs when it finally passed. And Albus couldn't find it within him to be sorry—to feel any kind of remorse for this man.

"Remus," Albus began in a cold clear voice. "Tell me why."

The twinkle was gone from his eyes. This was not the doddering and foolish old headmaster that so many children and parents adored. No, this was the man who had defeated Grindelwald; the man whose presence had provided one of the only real threats to Voldemort during the years of terror and darkness.

"Why?"

"Why Harry?" Albus asked again, leaning in towards the other man ever so slightly.

"Because I love him," Lupin answered simply, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. A slight smile pulled the corners of his mouth up, revealing sharp teeth.

"Only Harry?" Albus asked sharply, his heart beating unnaturally fast in his ears.

"I'll admit that James was a treat to look at, Albus," Lupin answered softly, giving that frighteningly soft smile again. "But my heart lies with Harry. Such a sweet boy—so much like his mother," Lupin's eyes had become unfocused as he stared off into the distance at something only he could see.

"So responsive, Albus! He responded to the slightest touch," Lupin's face relaxed in something near bliss, making Albus's anger broil in his veins at the memories the man was now clearly entranced with. "Lovely boy. And eager to please too, Albus. Reminded me a bit of when I was a lad."

"You have no regrets about your actions then, Remus?" Albus asked, fingering his wand delicately.

"Why would I?" Lupin's eyes came back into focus and he looked up at Albus questioningly. "He never told me 'no,' after all. I loved him, and he let me," he continued, relaxing back down once more.

Albus turned his eyes to Lupin's own, hesitating briefly before making the decision to look into the man's mind. He pushed past recent memories of torture and abuse, callously ignoring everything in his search for the truth. It took some time, but finally he found the pertinent memories. They were hidden behind a very plain door; which he would have missed it altogether if not for the aura of discomfort he felt coming from around it.

It was with a resolute heart that he chose to walk through and see exactly what kinds of horrors Harry had been subjected to in the name of "love."

Sometime later, he came out of the experience with a pained gasp and a mind full of nightmares. Tears trickled out of red rimmed eyes, falling into his beard as he stared back at the man in front of him in disbelief.

Although Albus had never been hugely skilled at healing, he did know a thing or two about anatomy; at least enough to know where the heart was located and how it worked. He didn't look up as he laid his hand over Lupin's chest and muttered the incantation, imagining the specific muscle with his mind's eye.

It only took five minutes to stop the man's heart.

Just before he finished his task, Lupin took one last breath and whispered out to him, "I will miss him."

Albus deliberately waited until it was too late, until the man's blood pumped no more in his veins and his eyes were permanently fixed and staring, before he answered.

"I daresay that Harry will not feel the same, my boy."

He got up and closed his former pupil's eyes with a gentle hand, and then he left.