#mcgonnagal

And of course by currently writing I mean I haven’t opened the google doc for the past few days, but it’s still going on in the back of my mind

I love them so much

Summary: Years after the Longbottoms are tortured by Death Eaters, Lupin makes an unexpected detour in St. Mungo's.

St. Mungo's changed. When he was a boy, Remus knew it as a safe, clean space where wizards and witches helped him stave off his canine urges. Wizards and Witches who actually understood him. Wizards and Witches who didn't shrink away from him. It was paradise.

But now, years after the war, everything was darker. The healers looked more tired and forlorn. The patients were anxious and terrified. The atmosphere created by Lord Voldemort had clearly not been lifted, even five years later. He was sad to see the place in such depression.

He was lifted out of his reverie when a witch announced his name over the magical PA system. He got up and went to the reception desk.

"Remus!" the witch shouted happily. He recognised her immediately. It was Ingrid Smith, a Hufflepuff who was a year below him in school. She'd asked him out to Slughorn's Christmas party once, though as fate would have it, the party fell on a full moon. As far as he could remember, she never forgave him for ditching her on that night to sneak off to the Shrieking Shack. Sirius in particular got a kick out of teasing him for it.

Of course, it hurt to think of Sirius now. The Sirius he never really knew.

"Hello, Ingrid, are you doing well?" Remus asked timidly. She chuckled.

"Soft as always aren't we, Remmy?" she said slyly, "Though who knew you were such a spoilsport eh? "

Remus thought he knew where this was going.

"18th of December 1975, I wore my favourite lilac dress and YOU, love, never made it. I drank a whole bottle of Firewhisky with Mary before I could digest the fact that the nicest boy in Gryffindor stood me up."

Remus was blushing furiously. She couldn't know why of course, so he resigned to staying painfully silent.

"But, bygones are bygones as I always say. What are you here for?" she asked.

"I have an appointment with Healer Pincher. She said she had a slot at this time?" he said. Ingrid pawed through her papers.

"Pincher... Pincher... yes she has an appointment with one Remus Lupin in the Dai Llewellyn Ward. The first floor then, Remus."

"Yes, thank you, Ingrid," Remus says as he starts walking to the stairs, but Ingrid piped up.

"Say, Remus, why do you need to see a Healer for Serious Bites?"

Remus pretends not to hear her and climbs the stairs to the first floor. He knew the layout like the back of his hand, and quickly found the ward. He stepped inside and finally felt that familiar sense of safety walking into St. Mungo's. Agatha was talking to a young man in a darker shade of green robes. A trainee, he guessed. She finally noticed Remus and recognition dawned on her wrinkled face.

"REMUS!" she yelled happily as she scooped him into a crushing hug, "It's been years, darling, years. How are you? How's your father?"

"Hello, Agatha. Yes, I'm doing well, and so is dad. We've all weathered through," he said in a tired but happy voice. Agatha Pincher was one of the few people in the world he absolutely trusted with anything.

"I heard about James Potter and Peter Pettigrew too," she said, her eyes watering suddenly, "I'm so sorry Remus. I know they were your friends."

"Thank you, Agatha. I- I appreciate it," Remus replied. He didn't want to continue this topic any further.

"I've come for my yearly checkup. I haven't been feeling well since the last lunar cycle."

"Oh of course dear boy," she says as she sits Remus down and whips her wand out. She mutters a few incantations and sat there, scrunching her forehead and murmuring to herself until she got up to write something on a piece of parchment.

"Smethwyck!" she called to her trainee. The young wizard came up to her, fascination and curiosity burning in his eyes. Remus could clearly see his passion for Healing.

"Meet one of my favourite patients, Hypo. This is Remus Lupin, a werewolf and one of my best friends for the past twenty years."

Hypo Smethwyck was a tall, lanky man in dark green Healer robes and brown boots. He had small, watery eyes which were greatly magnified by thick glasses. His mouth twisted into a smile as he gave out a hand.

"Hippocrates Smethwyck at your service Mr Lupin," he said, a bit pompously. But anyone who shook a werewolf's hand was a good man in Remus' book, so he shook it enthusiastically.

"Hypo joined my ward when you disappeared in '81. What happened anyway? You stopped visiting. We missed you here in St. Mungo's."

He paused. He never liked talking about those years he spent in Ireland, so far away from the rest of the world, so cut off from his family and friends, knowing nothing of the current world since Harry killed Voldemort.

"I've been... busy elsewhere, Agatha," he said in a tone he knew she would understand. A tone which meant the conversation was over.

"Hypo!" Agatha suddenly said, straightening herself and scrunching her face in concentration, "You have a twenty-six-year-old male with lycanthropy from the age of six, whose symptoms outside the full moon have intensified and worsened his mental state, including barking, howling, a taste for raw meat, and scratching oneself repeatedly. How would you diagnose this patient?"

Hypo gave a thoughtful chew of his quill, before writing a few notes down.

"Would he be entering his primal stage, Healer Pincher?" he asked timidly. Agatha grinned widely.

"You will become head of this ward the minute I retire Hypo! That is absolutely correct!"

She turned to Remus, "When a werewolf bite reaches somewhere around twenty years in maturity, The werewolf enters what is known as the Primal Stage, where all of the symptoms of lycanthropy that occur outside of the full moon become stronger and more distinct. You will also find that... that as a werewolf, you will be more intelligent and aware of your surroundings than when you were a child. You will refrain from biting and scratching as much. There is a pamphlet I'll give you which explains the process perfectly. You have nothing to worry about Remus."

Remus sighed in relief. He had been worried that the bite had been altered somehow, and any change to his condition could only be worse.

"Remus... have you heard of the Wolfsbane Potion? It's a new concoction that we've seen dramatically helps werewolves control themselves," Agatha said.

"I have, but it's too complex and the ingredients are far too expensive for me Agatha," he sighed in defeat. It is true that with the Potion, he could live a semi-normal life. But, it was one of the most complex concoctions he'd ever seen, rivalling even Polyjuice Potion. And Potions was always his weak link at school. He was no Snape.

"Mm, and unfortunately the Board of Magical Medicine has not passed its use in St.Mungo's for free I'm afraid. I am truly sorry Remus, I wish I could help," Agatha replied sadly.

"You've helped me live the most normal life I could, Agatha, and for that, I can't repay you enough," Remus said kindly, his eyes glistening, "It was with your advice Dumbledore even let me come to Hogwarts. I would be a beggar were it not for you!"

And, against his better judgement, he pulled Agatha in for a large hug. It had been years since he'd felt someone touch him, care for him like a mother, and look out for him. Agatha warmly hugged him back, her lavender perfume soothing his mind. It was the first happiness he'd experienced in a long, long time.

As he extracted himself, another healer walked into the room.

"Healer Pincher? Healer Jones from the Spell Ward wants some of your Soothing Solution. The Longbottoms have been acting up again, and last time it really helped," the healer told Agatha. Remus had mostly been tuning out this conversation whilst talking to Hypo about werewolf symptoms. However, he caught one of the words.

"Longbottom?" Remus asked the healer, "Alice is here? Did she get hurt?"

The healer looked at him, surprised.

"Well, she's been here for years hasn't he, the poor thing? She and her husband, Frank. I wish we could do something for them, but..." he trailed off dejectedly. Remus was looking around wildly, trying to get an explanation. Alice and Frank have been here for years? Why?

"I'm sorry, Remus, is she a friend of yours?" Agatha asked him tenderly. He didn't speak. Yes, Alice was his friend. Alice had been one of the greatest comforts he had in Hogwarts. Without her, he may not have even made it past his first year.

sirius: remus

mcgonnagal: no no, i meant in your future

sirius, confused: ....remus

mcgonnagal:

McGonnagall: Potter! Black! Detention!

Sirius: But I actually didn’t do anything this time!

McGonnagall: But you haven’t had detention in at least 3 days, so that obviously means that you’ve done something without me knowing!

Second: hagrid apparently only appears on time, bc Sirius gave him his motorbike.

Now: apparently it's already 1. November, bc she, and the entire Wizarding world, knew that the potters are dead, and that voldemort is gone. So Harry just sat around all of Halloween night, frightened and traumatized, waiting for anyone to get him?

Also, why didn't dumbledore just get Harry himself???

No, instead he sends hagrid, who isn't allowed any magic at all, to retrieve tiny Harry. If Sirius wasn't around to give hagrid his bike, how did dumbledore expect hagrid to get Harry there on time?????