Alright everyone! Here we go!
SO excited to finally get this started.
Please leave reviews, tell me what you think so far, and most of all, enjoy the sequel to In the Name of Being Honest!

The heavy rain pitter-pattered against the roof of the one-bedroom cottage just as it's resident settled into his corner chair, a book grasped lightly in his hand. He sighed contently, gazing out onto the wet street as cars sped past the window and pedestrians clad with rain boots and umbrellas hurried along the pavement.

It was the one place Remus Lupin could find to live. In the middle of a muggle neighborhood where there wasn't much of a chance to be recognized by his peers. It wasn't well known that he was a werewolf, but the people that did know were quick to usher their children away from him. It had been quite some time, though, since that had happened, indicating that their children were grown enough that they were no longer the age that needed to be ushered.

He was just about to take a sip of the hot tea with honey he had just made, perfect for a chilly and rainy summer evening, when there was a sharp tap on the door. Furling his brow, Remus clapped his book shut and set his mug down on the side table next to him.

He headed toward the door, stopping briefly to stare through the peek hole (an unfortunate habit he had picked up from his duration involved in the first wizarding war). His eyebrows raised in surprise as he spotted the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, standing on the stoop of his home.

"Professor Dumbledore-" he started, but he was interrupted by the old wizard, who had just put his hand gently into the air.

"I believe you have been out of school long enough for Albus to be sufficient," he chuckled, as he gestured past the doorway, "though the coattails of my robes are getting quite soggy and it would be nice to be out of the rain for a bit."

Remus jumped quickly, ushering the headmaster into his small cottage. "Please, Albus," he paused, an awkward thought passed his mind as he had never called the professor anything BUT professor, "take a seat and make yourself at home." He rushed to the couch, pushing the blankets off to the side. "Can I get you anything to-to drink?"

"Thank you, Remus, that's quite generous of you," Dumbledore replied as he sank onto the couch. Remus scratched the back of his head, suddenly embarrassed by the raggedy state of his home. "But I just had a drink with Hagrid and Madam Rosmerta not even 20 minutes ago. Please, sit."

Remus collapsed into his arm chair, his left leg shaking anxiously under the sudden scrutiny of him old headmaster. He hadn't had much contact with the man since his best friend, Haley, died nearly 13 years old. He shook his head in an attempt to rid the thought from his memory. "What's his about, Prof-erm-Albus?"

Dumbledore surveyed him over his half-moon spectacles, folding his hands delicately into his lap. "It seems we have come across a need for a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Our last one now residing in a long-term amnesiac ward." Remus furrowed his brow with concern, but the headmaster kept talking. "I know of your previous experience in the war, as well as the work you did for me with various werewolf packs around the country. My hope is that you would fill that position for us."

Remus's eyes widened, breaking contact with Dumbledore's. On one hand, he had always wanted to get into education. Being a professor was something he could only dream of. On the other hand… "Albus, I'm- I'm a werewolf. How would the families react to their children being taught by-by someone like me?"

Dumbledore merely smiled, his eyes twinkling over his spectacles. "Remus, you have paved the way for werewolf children to be integrated into school, allowing them to make friends their own age, have a family outside of their parents and siblings. Continue to pave the way for them, show them that anything is possible."

"Albus, what happens when I turn? Where would I go? Back to the shrieking shack?"

The headmaster smiled knowingly again. "There have been many, many advancements concerning the use of Wolfsbane potion. You would, of course, have unlimited access to this particular potion every month."

Remus raised his eyebrows. He had struggled to afford the wolfsbane potion over the past few months. Having unlimited access to it would mean he wouldn't be in pain, wouldn't be afraid of the transition, and wouldn't need to fear what would happen if he got loose from his home.

The offer was quite tempting.

Tempting enough that, three months later, he was gearing up to teach his first class. His fellow professors had been welcoming, especially the ones that had taught him nearly twenty years go. Severus Snape, however, seemed to be less than ecstatic that he was being forced to make the Wolfsbane Potion every month.

Remus had even wondered if Severus would poison him at some point during the school year.

Things were going as well as they could have been. Better than they had been in years, in fact. His first lesson with Harry Potter was coming up and that was the thing he was looking forward to the most. Meeting his best friend's son. He had sighed in sadness, thinking briefly back on what could have been.

He shook the thought out of his head as the students filtered in. He had boggarts planned for the first day, one had taken up residence in the teacher's lounge. Something fun, something easy to get them engaged back into schoolwork.

Much to his surprise, it wasn't Harry Potter that caught his eye, but a petite girl with curly blonde hair. She was chatting animatedly with a set of twins and a boy with an Irish accent, her brown eyes flicking across the teacher's lounge, clearly amused that she was in a part of the castle she wasn't usually supposed to be in. She locked eyes with him and smiled, a dazzling smile that he hadn't seen in 13 years. 13 years since Sirius Black had been tossed into Azkaban.

There wasn't any way it was possible, Remus had thought to himself, Nora was stolen by the death eaters. More than likely dead merely hours after her mother. He was seeing things, he decided, he was making things up in his head again, because it was painful to be back in the castle after all of these years.

It was painful to remember Haley lazing by the lake near the end of the school year or how Sirius stood by his side in the Shrieking Shack whenever he was getting ready to turn at the full moon. It was painful to remember that they had made this perfect child, one that Remus adored more than his own life itself, and neither of them were able to share it with her for nearly long enough.

It was painful, because Remus thought that Haley was perhaps the best friend he had ever had. She deserved the world and all she was awarded was death.

…..

Albus Dumbledore had asked Remus to swing by his office a few weeks into term, just wanting to check in to see how he was handling the change of career. It was clear that Remus was one of the favorite teachers around the school already, allowing the students to be more hands on with their education.

A different perspective was something that Albus always looked forward to when it came to education.

Remus, however, had something else on his mind when he went to visit the headmaster that day. He knew he wasn't crazy, having had Lavender Brown in his classes for a few weeks now. Her mannerisms, her facial expressions, the way she cocked her eyebrow the same way Sirius did when she was challenged. They were all too familiar. He needed to know.

"Prof-Albus," Remus started that afternoon after their discussion on lesson plans and testing scors, still not quite used to calling the headmaster by his first name yet, "I actually had something- erm- quite off the topic to ask you about."

Dumbledore waited patiently for him to go on. Remus blew out his cheeks before continuing. "There is a third year in my class. Lavender Brown. I…I know it isn't possible. There's no way she could be- she could be-" he paused, shaking his head. He felt crazy, even saying the words out loud. "She looks like the spitting image of Haley Brams, sir." He rubbed his forehead as he finished the sentence, embarrassed now that he had even brought it up. Maybe Severus WAS poisoning his potion.

Dumbledore remained quiet for a moment, staring at the young professor with a thoughtful gaze. "I was wondering what I would say to you if the topic was breeched." He sighed, shifting his eyes to his desk. "Part of me was hoping you wouldn't notice. That she would get through the rest of her years at Hogwarts without recognition."

Remus's heart pattered frantically against his chest. "What exactly are you saying, Albus? That Lavender Brown is, in fact…" He trailed off, afraid to say the words out loud. He didn't want to get feel the hope burst through his heart.

Albus sighed again, nodding his head. "Yes, Lavender Brown is Nora Black. Haley had come to me with her shortly after Alice and Frank were tortured to insanity. She was afraid that the death eaters would come for her. She was right."

Remus leapt out of his seat, pacing back and forth in the circular office. "Albus, but…why wouldn't Haley tell me she was putting Nora into hiding?" He paused in front of the desk, flattening his hands so he was leaning forward over it. "She knew how much I loved that little girl, she knew that I would have done anything to protect her."

"Haley didn't want anyone to know for both their protection and her protection." Albus sighed again, the wariness of age showing for the first time since the First War ended, "with Sirius breaking out of Azkaban, we need to do everything in our power to make sure Nora stays hidden. We don't know what, or who, he is after. As far as Sirius is concerned, his daughter died the day Haley died."

Remus nodded his head, understanding where the professor was coming from. That still didn't take away the pep in his step and the smile on his face as he watched Nora Black, now Lavender Brown, stream into the classroom with her pupils the next day.

It gave him hope. Haley Brams, his best friend, lived on.