All characters and the plot are J.K. Rowling's. 99.99% of the dialogue in this story is her's as well.

Remus arrived on platform 9 ¾ far before any students arrived. He had thought of apparating directly to Hogsmeade, but a letter from Dumbledore saying that the Dementors of Azkaban would be searching the train was enough to convince Remus that he would ride it. He'd be lying if he said he did not want to see the scarlet steam engine once again. After all, it was on one of those cars that he had met the friends who had saved his life.

Kings Cross, to Remus's surprise, had hardly changed. So many muggles were bustling about, and if one kept a careful eye out, one could occasionally see wizards and witches coming from other fractioned platforms. He smiled to himself, remembering just how excited he had been when at the age of eleven he, with his father, had walked through the enchanted brick wall for the first time. The platform was almost completely empty. There were only a few wizards, all of whom were working on the train and were hurriedly preparing for the onslaught of students that was going to arrive in just under an hour.

He walked past the steam engine and to the very last carriage of the train. Remus took a deep breath and sighed happily. He was not expecting to receive the warmest of welcomes at Hogwarts, or certainly not from Severus, but this would be his first proper job since leaving the castle all those years ago. He stepped into the carriage, levitating his trunk to follow behind him. Once inside the carriage, he opened the very last compartment on the train and stepped inside. It looked exactly the same, and while he was sure that many Hogwarts students had sat here since, Remus could not help but feel that it was still his compartment. The Marauders' compartment.

With a flick of his wand, Remus levitated the trunk above his head and onto the luggage compartment. He then sat down next to the window, content to try and sleep as much as possible before arriving at the castle. Last week's full moon had not been a pleasant one. Remus wrapped his cloak around him, fairly confident that the word 'professor' on his trunk would keep away any loud or obnoxious students.

The next thing that Remus became aware of was an absurdly high-pitched and loud noise in the compartment. He knew right away what it was - he was, after all, about to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor - but for the sake of his hearing, there was a very good reason why Remus never had them around. What was the point of knowing someone was untrustworthy if you were deaf?
"Yeah mind you it's a very cheap one." A boy said, answering a question from a girl in the compartment. "It went haywire just as I was tying it Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

Remus lost track of the conversation for a moment. Surely Harry was a rather common name. The odds that his best friend's son was in the exact same compartment that Remus had chosen must be rather laughable. No, it must be someone else. There was no possible way his luck could be that terrible.

"Stick it back in the trunk. Or it will wake him up." another boy said, and though Remus tried to ignore it, he could not deny that the owner of that voice sounded familiar. Soon the sound of the sneaker scope disappeared, and whether or not it was Harry Potter he was sitting next to, Remus was thankful to the boy for thinking of him. Remus listened to the students' conversation only a few moments more before drifting off back to sleep.

He had no idea how long he slept, until he was again woken up by the compartment door being thrown open. Remus cursed his heightened senses, but despite himself, he could not help but listen in to see what this commotion would be.

"Well, look who it is. Potty and the weasel." A new voice said and for a moment he thought perhaps it was time to publicly wake up. He decided to wait. As a student, he had never wanted a teacher to fight his battles.

"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley." The new voice continued. It sounded so similar to Severus' from when they were students, Remus wondered if he had had a son. "Did your mother die of shock?"

Ah, yes: the Weasleys. He'd read in the Prophet not long ago about their trip to Egypt. Both Arthur and Molly were a few years older than the Marauders, but Remus had found memories of Molly's older brothers from being in the Order. He stopped smiling when he remembered the horrible way in which they had died. From the commotion, he guessed that whatever Weasley child he was sharing a compartment with had stood up in defense of his family's name. Remus snorted, trying not to laugh. It was a very good thing he had decided against waking up. No Weasley he had ever met needed help in a fight. There was a reason every Weasley, as far back as the name could be traced, had been a Gryffindor.

"Who's that?" the insufferable boy said. Remus knew he should not make such assumptions about his to-be students, but he could not help it. The Weasleys had never had much, despite being one of the oldest Wizarding families. They reminded him or himself. Dirt poor, and ostracized for being simply what they were, but still good-hearted and happy people.

"New teacher." Someone else said. "What were you saying, Malfoy?" Now that what name Remus recognized. How many times had they caught Snape following that prefect Lucius Malfoy? And how many times had James and Remus fought him after Hogwarts? Malfoy was not a name easily forgotten when one of them had a nasty habit of shooting killing curses at your best friends just because they were a blood traitor.

"Come on." The Malfoy boy said, and Remus heard the compartment door close. He was no longer amused. Despite all of his trying, Sirius somehow had managed to sour this day. Remus had, over the past twelve years, done everything imaginable to wipe Sirius' existence from his life. There were no more pictures of the four of them resting on his mantlepiece. No letters from Padfoot saved. He wanted no memory of Sirius Black being his good friend. That man was dead. Whoever Sirius Black was now, Loyal Death Eater, proud member of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, the man who had recently escaped from Azkaban, was not someone Remus knew.

He had stopped paying attention to the conversation the students were having. He was no longer enjoying it. Remembering his first time on the train to Hogwarts and meeting his best friends was now soiled with the memory of the one man who had taken all of that from him. Remus nuzzled himself closer to the cold window, willing himself back to sleep and knowing full well that his dreams would be of some nighttime excursion on the Hogwarts grounds. In his dreams, Padfoot was still the big, black, loving dog he had always been.

Then once again Remus was abruptly woken up. This time, however, it was not due to a loud voice, but the jolt of the train stopping. Without opening his eyes, Remus knew that something was not right. Already there was the all too familiar chill forming around him. Then quite suddenly everything was plunged into darkness. Remus opened his eyes and gave them a moment to adjust to the dark. It was in these rare moments that, while not thankful for his affliction, Remus at the very least appreciated the benefits to being a werewolf. He could not see more than the outlines of shapes and people, but it was enough to not feel disoriented.

"What's going on?" the Weasley boy asked, and Remus sat up straight, listening hard.

"Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!" A girl sitting across from him said. The cushion he was sitting on compressed slightly, and Remus became aware that a third person in the compartment was now sitting next to him.

"Do you think we've broken down?" the boy next to him asked. Remus rolled his eyes slightly. Here they were on a train to magical school and yet somehow students thought that a train would break down. Remus sighed; he missed being so young and innocent.

"Don't know" the Weasley boy said as he tried to clear the fog away from the window. Remus was mildly impressed with the children in this compartment. While they were coming to the wrong conclusions, they were at the very least not scared, and trying to find out why this odd occurrence had happened.

"There's something moving out there. I think people are coming aboard," the Weasley boy finished. This caught Remus' attention, and he too looked hard through the glass trying to see dark shapes floating on a darker backdrop. Remus was about to finally speak when the compartment door suddenly opened; Remus pulled out his wand. There was a small commotion, and Remus felt as someone fell onto his feet.

"Sorry, do you know what's going on?" This voice came from below, and despite Remus's excellent night vision he could not see the shape of a boy next to his feet, and though he stuck out his hand, he did not expect the boy to successfully find it. "Ouch! Sorry." The boy said again.

"Hello Neville." The boy next to him said kindly. It was much harder to ignore how similar that voice sounded when there were no other distractions.

"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?" Neville said as he flopped onto the same bench as Harry and Remus were on.

"No idea," Harry said. "Sit down." There was a loud hissing and then a cry of pain before something rather furry jumped onto Remus's lap. Apparently there was also a cat in this compartment.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what is going on." The girl said, but before Remus could say anything to stop her he heard a thud and two loud squeals of pain.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?" Remus could not tell the difference between these two voices. Only that one was named Ginny and the other Hermione, from their reactions to one another.

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron."

"Come in and sit down."

"Not here! I'm here!" Harry said, and Remus, despite how serious this situation should be, smiled. There was another cry of 'Ouch!' before Remus once again felt the shudder of cold. He stood and sat one of the two girls down by the window where he had been sitting moments before.

"Quiet" he said, not realizing until now how hoarse his voice had become. Wanting his wand to still be available for use, Remus decided against using Lumos and opted to light a small fire in the palm of his hand instead. He looked around the compartment. He was right; there were two girls, three boys, and a cat. All of them were looking at him.

"Stay where you are," he said flatly as he approached the door, but it began to open slowly before he could reach it. The effect was immediate. All of the small noises a room full of teenagers made vanished. A cold chilled the air in moments, and Remus could see his breath. Ice formed on all of the glass, and a cloak figure stood in his way. A single greyish, dead-looking hand of the Dementor reached around the door frame as if to push itself inside. Remus held his wand tightly, pointing it at the hidden face of the Dementor.

Then clearly heard in the unnatural silence, Remus listened to the Dementor draw a long, slow endless breath. Remus did not look away from the Dementor, but he sensed the change in demeanor of a few of the teenagers.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go!" he said to the Dementor, not really expecting it to work. The Dementor drew in another breath, and Remus could tell that one of the boys had fallen to the floor. Quietly, with even less than a whisper, Remus said "Expecto Patronum," and the non-caporal form of his Patronus came shooting out of his wand, hitting the Dementor directly under the hood. The creature shot back and flew away hurriedly back from the compartment. Remus waited until the lights came back on and the train began to move once again before turning around to face the students in the compartment. When he did turn, his heart caught. He was right, someone had fallen onto the floor. It was one of the boys, and the only name that came to his mind was James.

He could only stare, convinced that this must be his friend, somehow back from the dead, but also knowing that that dream, that hope he harbored so desperately, was impossible. One of the girls bent down next to him and said,

"Harry! Harry! Are you alright?" quickly, slapping his face. For a moment, the boy did not stir, but then he groaned, and Remus' brain finally seemed to be catching up. He should have known from the boy's voice, but he had tried to deny it. However, now it was plain as day, and there was no possible way to ignore it. His best friend's son, or his cub, as James had once called him, Harry Potter, was sharing a compartment with Remus.

"Wha-What?" Harry opened his eyes, and again Remus froze. He remembered those eyes perfectly as if he had seen them only yesterday. They were Lily's eyes. Remus remembered a moment from long ago where he had held Harry for the last time, and those green eyes stared up at him wide. It was the last time he had seen Harry, he had left for a mission that night, and it was the only time he would ever see Harry without a scar.

Remus watched as the Weasley boy and the girl heaved Harry back onto his seat, and while the boy asked if Harry was alright, Remus simply continued to stare, unsure of how to react in this moment.

"Yeah," Harry told his friends before looking at the now empty doorway "What happened? Where's that-that thing? Who screamed?" he asked, quickly looking around the room at all the different people. Remus noticed that his eyes lingered on him. He knew it was silly to think that Harry would remember Remus, he doubted the boy remembered any of them.

"No one screamed." the Weasley boy said and Harry again looked around his surroundings. Remus, his thoughts catching up to the situation, pulled a large bar a chocolate out of his cloak.

"But I heard screaming," Harry said, almost to himself.

The chocolate snapped loudly, and Remus paused in his actions momentarily realizing now that everyone was staring at him. He broke up enough pieces for everyone.

"Here." he said passing a rather large piece to Harry first "Eat it. It'll help." Remus then handed everyone else in the compartment some chocolate. He glanced at the red-haired girl in the corner, who did not seem quite aware of what was going on around her, and placed a large piece of chocolate in her hands.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked him, speaking for the first time directly to Remus. Only momentarily did he consider sugar coating the truth, but then he decided that would not be what James would want for his son.

"A Dementor. One of the Dementors of Azkaban," he said flatly, crumpling up the empty chocolate wrapper and pocketing it. He noticed that they were all still staring at him. None of them had touched their chocolate yet.

"Eat. It'll help. I need to speak to the driver. Excuse me," he said before leaving the compartment before any of them could say another word to him. Remus walked to the end the carriage and opened the door that separated the one carriage from another. He waited for the door to close behind him before leaning against the door and running his hands through his hair. He was not sure how he felt. The only word he could come up with was this: unexpected. He was perfectly prepared for the unpleasant memories a Dementor would bring, but wholly unprepared to see Harry.

Shaking his head and telling himself to get a hold of himself, Remus quickly moved to the front of the train. He borrowed one of the conductor's owls, scratched a quick note to McGonagall telling her what had happened, and asked the driver how long it would be until they reached Hogwarts before returning to the compartment. He opened the door and looked inside before entering, noticing with a smile that Harry still had not eaten the chocolate.

"I haven't poisoned that chocolate you know." He pointed at the piece still in Harry's hand. To his relief, the boy finally took a bite, and Remus watched as color suddenly returned to Harry's face.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you alright, Harry?" he asked. Saying his name out loud somehow made it real. It helped his mind to understand just who it was he was staring at. He had not considered when he accepted Dumbledore's offer to teach at Hogwarts, that James's son would be attending.

"Fine," Harry muttered, and Remus understood that Harry did not like the attention. Remus retook his seat and leaned forward to examine the red haired girl. While her reaction was not as bad as Harry's, it had been very close. While the others talked quietly, Remus slowly coaxed the girl to take a bite of her chocolate. By the time they reached the station at Hogsmeade, she had introduced herself as Ginny Weasley and seemed to be far more cheerful than she had moments before. Remus waited for Harry, Ginny, and the other students to leave the compartment before finally taking down his trunk and stepping off the train.

He was able to take his own Thestral-drawn coach up to the castle. He stared out of the window and watched as the castle approached. When he finally arrived and stepped out of the couch into the courtyard, he felt a bounce in his step that had not been there for many years.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" a familiar voice said loudly, and Remus turned his attention to a blond boy blocking Harry and his friends from entering the castle. So that was what Lucius Malfoy's son looked like?

"Did the scary old Dementor frighten you too, Weasley?" Malfoy continued. Remus decided that while he did not want to favor Harry, he also was not going to let James's son feel ashamed simply because no one else at this school was going to understand why the Dementors affected Harry the way they did and walked up quietly behind the students.

"Is there a problem?" he asked mildly, raising his eyebrows at Malfoy and trying to make it very clear that he was not impressed. He watched as Malfoy examined him, taking in the patched clothing and worn out bags. It took effort not to roll his eyes. There was no way to explain to this boy that he did not care whatsoever what a Malfoy thought of him.

"Oh, no, ah, Professor." Malfoy said, smirking at his friends before disappearing up the stairs. Remus wondered if the boy would act so foolishly if he knew the twisted truths about his father's role in the war. Remus watched Harry and his friends hurry up the steps, no doubt hungry for the feast, and Remus let them disappear from his sight without uttering a word. He hoped he had not stepped too far. Harry did not seem upset when Remus had come to his defense.

Remus looked around the castle, taking it all in, and smiled. Despite the events that had occurred on the train, nothing, not a Dementor, not even Sirius Black, could stop the feeling of happiness as he finally returned home.