Lessons

The meeting of the Order was not going well. Severus Snape was being even more irritating than normal, and Remus Lupin just sat in his own world, the only time his eyes showed any interest was when mention was made of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Then they glowed with a feral light, reminding everybody else just what Remus Lupin was. And what he had lost to Bellatrix Lestrange.

Kingsley Shacklebolt felt a great deal of compassion for his friend, Remus. He knew that the werewolf had lost more than just a lover, more than just a friend, and he kept a quiet eye on the other man. Remus rode the edge of the blade these days, often dipping sharply towards the side of madness.

And Kingsley knew that they could not afford to loose the brilliant wizard to madness. He was one of the few people who knew just how powerful Remus was – and always regretted the stupid laws that had forbidden the werewolf to enter Auror training.

He always felt a hitch in his stomach when he thought of Remus as an Auror – regretting that it was not so, and yet dreading just what Remus was capable of.

All that power, all that passion, so tightly contained.

He looked again at Snape, arguing a point with Moody. The spy’s face seemed more strained than usual, and he moved stiffly – very stiffly. But it was his face that shocked Kingsley. The lines seemed deeply etched, unusual in a man whose face rarely showed any markings at all, let alone any signs of age or stress.

But today, he looked his age and more.

Severus Snape was one of the bravest people the Auror had come across, and it seemed like whatever he had to do it made him suffer immensely.

As usual, Snape was not asking for comfort or sympathy. He was shouting about the idiocy of the Order and their lack of action. Even his voice sounded strained.

Remus Lupin was not, obviously, the only one at breaking point.