persephone_kore

"Mind if I share your table, Hagrid?" Since it had the only free seats in the Three Broomsticks.

"Not if yeh don' mind the pets."

"I've worse at home."

"Ah, right, Salazar's youngest brat and her monster vines. Keep hangin' about those and yeh'll give birth to a monster, Echidne."

She smirked. "I'm in less danger of that than your wife would be. But they can look after themselves for a while."

"Got plans?"

"Don't we all?"

"I'm apprenticin' with the Magical Creatures Preserve. You?"

"I'll be living as a Muggle for a while."

Tavish Hagrid choked on his butterbeer.

"Are you leaving," a voice asked softly, "or are they kicking you out?"

Salazar spun and glared at the boy. No flinch. He was the first child of Muggles to find them. Salazar couldn't fault the lad's determination, nor had he shirked weary hours spent teaching the child to read and all the little things about magic that seemed like telling someone how to breathe.

He had however nicknamed him "Headache," and now the other three insisted on looking for more of them!

"Yes," he snarled, "and it's your fault."

The departing journeymen-wizards were surprised when Salazar left with them.

There was a lot about Hogwarts that Remus was going to miss.

Secret passages, secrets of his own, friends who would keep secrets for him and learn magic most never did to keep him almost sane.

Well, he wouldn't lose them, not entirely. They had promised to come keep him company in his new home -- and that was where the problem lay. Most places simply weren't equipped to handle a werewolf.

So looking up that evening at the almost full moon and knowing he had to reinforce a safe place within the next two days....

He'd miss the Shrieking Shack.

And rexlapinii as Sirius, on werewolfproofing a new place: "Well, it's a lot like babyproofing, really. Try to minimize sharp edges and make sure there's nothing in reach you don't mind being gnawed on."

...This may lead to some very peculiar insights on the preparations for Harry's arrival.