Revised: November 23, 2021

Quick note: There was already very little Tomarry in this chapter percentage-wise, but with the extra scene I added, there's even less. I apologize, but there'll be more in the future. So hang in there!

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Severus snapped out of his stupor and summoned a potion. He turned Lupin over and carefully poured it down his throat, massaging it to ensure it went down. Gradually, the shaking ceased, though his breathing remained heavy.

"Bad Dumby hurt Master Harry's wolf," said Dobby, wringing his hands.

"Should we wake him?" Harry asked uncertainly as Severus levitated Lupin and set him on the couch. Lupin looked so small and helpless; Harry didn't know what to think.

"Not yet," Severus answered, checking Lupin over for any other injuries. "He'll be out for a while. You should leave. Fretting won't speed up the healing process."

"But —"

"Harry," Severus said sternly, "I will stay with him. Go." He looked up and met Harry's gaze until Harry started for the door.

"Send Dobby if anything happens," he said, closing the door behind him.

His mind still whirling, Harry headed straight for the Chamber, where he shakily took a seat on the couch.

Tom sat down next to him, a concerned frown crossing his features as he observed his mate. "Harry? What happened?"

"Dumbledore hurt Lupin," Harry said numbly.

Tom's eyes widened. "How badly?" he demanded, hand automatically combing through Harry's hair.

"Pretty badly," Harry replied, immediately beginning to relax under the movement. "Severus is tending to him right now."

Footsteps made him look up. It was his friends, who quietly took a seat opposite of Harry.

"We just saw Professor Snape," Draco told him. "Lupin was with him, but he wouldn't say what happened."

"The headmaster happened," Harry said shortly. He was beginning to feel drowsy from Tom's fingers as they gently moved over his scalp.

Draco swore under his breath. "Will Lupin speak up? Dumbledore can't get away with this."

"He shouldn't," Harry agreed, "but he'd probably find a way. The fact that Lupin's a werewolf would be enough reason to lessen or even avoid punishment."

And that sickened him. It was like Tracey had stated: It wasn't as if Lupin or any other werewolves asked to be bitten. The Ministry went on about needing to protect its people, yet they turned their backs on those that needed it the most.

Vaguely, he heard Tom say something to the other third years before letting his eyes drift shut.

Only minutes seemed to have passed when Harry jolted awake. For a moment, he looked around, disoriented, before remembering where he was. And why he was here.

"Anything?" he asked hopefully.

"No," Tom responded.

"Where are Draco and Pansy?" It was just him and Tom, Harry realized.

"I sent them off to the dorm. It was almost curfew."

"What?" Harry tried to get up, only for Tom to pull him back down into his arms. "You should have woken me up."

"I didn't want to disrupt you," said Tom. That was true, but he also liked the feeling of his mate snuggled against him, not that he'd admit it out loud.

Harry gave him a skeptical look, as if sensing the half-truth. "What time is it?"

"5:20."

"Breakfast will be starting soon, then." This time, Harry did manage to free himself from Tom's hold. "I better go. Don't want my friends to worry. Or for Dumbledore to get suspicious."

Tom scowled at the mention of him. "No, that wouldn't be good."

Harry waited until he was back in the diary before throwing on the Invisibility Cloak and exiting the Chamber. Once out, his mask fell back into place. He set off at a brisk pace to his dorm to shower and change and came back out, looking as if this were just a normal Friday morning.

He greeted Draco and Pansy, neither of which showed their relief on their faces as they responded. They hadn't been completely sure if Harry would join them, but they saved a seat just in case.

Harry sent a discreet look toward the High Table. Dumbledore was up there, smiling indulgently as he spoke to McGonagall. Severus, however, looked furious, his eyes flicking to Dumbledore. Harry looked at Lupin's seat, which was predictably empty. He wasn't the only one who noticed; Hermione was frowning as she gazed at the chair, then seemed to shrug off her worries as she turned to her breakfast. Looking past her, Harry caught Luna's gaze. Her pale eyes flicked toward Dumbledore and back, and she gave a discreet nod of reassurance.

"How long do you think Lupin will be out?" Pansy wondered, bringing Harry back to his own table. "Surely people will become suspicious if he's not back by Monday."

"He's absent frequently enough as it is," Harry pointed out. "I doubt too many people will notice."

"I hope he'll be okay soon." Pansy shook her head. She quite liked Lupin. He was better than their previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors — combined. That was a sentiment shared by every student from all the houses for once, especially for the fifth and seventh years, who would be taking their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s respectively.

While the students were conversing, Severus was listening to McGonagall and Dumbledore.

"Is Remus not joining us this morning?" McGonagall asked, glancing at Lupin's unoccupied chair.

"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore replied. "He isn't feeling very well at the moment."

Severus resisted the urge to snarl at him. Lupin had woken up in the middle of the night, flinching when Severus had approached. It took some time of explaining before he relaxed enough to trust Severus and accept the Sleeping Draught. In the morning, before coming out for breakfast, Severus had given Dobby clear instructions to stay with Lupin and make sure no one knew he was in Severus' quarters.

To Severus' annoyance, McGonagall didn't say anything else on the matter. She truly believed Lupin was merely slightly unwell and not in any danger. Well, he couldn't blame her for that. Dumbledore had most of the wizarding world fooled; even Severus had fallen for his manipulative nature.

Excusing himself when he was finished, Severus stood and headed back to his quarters.

Lupin was eating breakfast when he arrived. Although Severus made sure to close the door quietly, he noticed Lupin withhold a flinch.

"How do you feel?" Severus asked, feeling a bit awkward. After all, it had not even been a full day since he had shown animosity toward him.

"I'm fine," Lupin said quietly. "Thank you. Where's Harry?"

"He is in the Great Hall."

Lupin nodded absently. "Severus, listen, the headmaster has done terrible things. I don't know how much you know —"

"I know of the soul bond," Severus interrupted him.

"Oh." Lupin looked pleasantly surprised. "That's the best news I've heard in a while. Anything else?"

"The Dark Lord had made Horcruxes. Immortality," he added before Lupin could ask. "They split his soul, and one of his pieces was somehow able to remember all the damage Dumbledore had done to him. Harry currently has the first Horcrux with him."

"Wow." Lupin slowly shook his head as he processed this. "That's incredible." And that was only a brief rundown of that topic; Lupin would reckon the full story was even more daunting.

"Indeed." More briskly, Severus went on. "The headmaster will most likely check on you to make sure you are well enough to get on with school."

"Yes, it would be a shame if I had been rendered useless, wouldn't it?" Lupin said bitterly. He continued to eat in silence.

While he was preoccupied, Severus observed him quietly. His shoulders were hunched with barely repressed tension, as if he were afraid Dumbledore would leap out and kill right then and there. His fingers were twitching, too, but Severus didn't think it was from the curses inflicted on him the previous day. The lines on his face were more pronounced than ever, reminding Severus once more how harsh his life was.

Dobby popped in, breaking into Severus' musings. "Bad Dumby is heading toward wolf's office," he warned.

Severus and Lupin both paled, the latter even more so.

"No," Lupin muttered, clutching the bowl so tightly his knuckles turned white. "What do I do? I can't go through that again, I can't —"

"Breathe, Lupin." Severus summoned a Calming Draught and handed it over. "Take this. If I were you, I'd tell him you came to see me for some aches."

"Won't he think I told you about —?"

"I doubt it, but he'd probably come down here to verify it just in case."

Lupin stared at the vial, then up at Severus uncertainly.

"I can tell him your previous transformation did not go as smoothly as usual and you gave up on ignoring it. Now go!"

With a last desperate glance at him, Lupin allowed Dobby to take him to his office.

Almost as soon as Remus' feet hit the floor and Dobby disappeared, the door opened and Dumbledore stepped inside. His wand, Remus noticed, was not in his hand, but that hardly reassured him.

"Albus," he greeted him.

"Remus." The headmaster moved closer until he stood mere feet away. "I wanted to see how you were doing after my slip-up yesterday."

A slip-up? He had the gall to call using an Unforgivable on him four times a slip-up?

"I'm doing all right," was all Remus said.

His heart thudded painfully in his chest as Dumbledore peered at him more closely. "Almost too well." His blue eyes narrowed. "You didn't happen to tell anyone, did you? We wouldn't want anyone to come to the wrong conclusion, after all."

"No." Remus forced himself to meet his gaze. "I swear I didn't," he rasped as Dumbledore continued to gaze at him.

It was a long moment before Dumbledore spoke, and when he finally did, his words sent terror shooting through Remus' body. "Why don't I believe you?"

He moved his hand toward his robe pocket and Remus braced himself for the pain that would come.

A rapid knock on the door made them whirl around.

"Are you in there, Lupin? It would be just like you to waste even more of my time."

Remus could have cried with relief. "Yes, Severus. Come in."

Severus walked in, the familiar scowl on his face and a vial in his hand.

"Severus, it's good to see you. I was checking up on Remus." Dumbledore sent Remus a smile that didn't reach his eyes. His hand had swiftly gone back to his side at the knock, Remus had noticed.

"Were you? Well, it would been nice to know before I made you this." Severus raised the vial with a look of disgust. "Oh, and, Headmaster? I believe Peeves is in your office."

"Is he?" Dumbledore sighed. "Very well. I shall go and investigate."

He gave Remus' shoulder a pat and brushed by Severus.

Remus opened his mouth to speak, but Severus held up a finger. They stood in silence until Dobby appeared.

"Bad Dumby is gone," he reported.

"Thank you, Dobby," said Severus, his earlier sharpness gone. "You may go."

Dobby dipped his head and vanished with a pop.

"Good timing," said Remus with a breathy laugh. When Severus merely looked at him, the pieces clicked into place. "Oh. That was clever."

Severus smirked. "I am a Slytherin, Lupin. Now, I believe you're in the clear for the moment, but if you need anything, call Dobby. Got that?"

Remus nodded, and with that, Severus had left the room.

"... and then Dobby appeared with Professor Lupin, who was unconscious. Dumbledore had — had tortured him."

"How?"

There was a glint in Sirius' eyes that warned Harry that telling him wouldn't help matters, but there was no way he could back out now. "Cruciatus," he rasped. "Four times."

It was a good thing Harry had locked the door when he had arrived at the Shrieking Shack, for Sirius lunged forward and clawed at it.

"Sirius, wait!"

Sirius, whipped around, gray eyes blazing with rage. "Let me out!" he snarled. "I'll kill him! I'll rip him apart!"

"Remember what happened last time you ran after someone in revenge?" Harry snapped. "You ended up falsely imprisoned for over a decade! Not to mention," he added sharply when Sirius still didn't relent, "you're still a criminal in the public's eye. Dumbledore could and would use that to his advantage if you made an appearance. The dementors would have a feast before you could say a word."

Sirius slumped, all the fight draining out of him as fast as it came. "I know, pup," he said tiredly. "How is he doing?" he asked.

"He's recovering," Harry assured him. "Severus has been helping him."

"Thank God," murmured Sirius, closing his eyes for a moment. "Will he be able to come down here eventually?"

He spoke casually, if if he were just talking about something as minuscule as the weather, but his eyes gave away his longing.

"He should. I'd have to ask Severus." And it would be soon, Harry had no doubt. Severus wasn't a potions master for nothing. "But you have to promise not to go rushing in like a lunatic."

"I won't," said Sirius. "I solemnly swear."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll take it."

Can you hear that? That is the sound of me letting out a sigh of contentment as the revisions slowly come along.