HP- I Quit

                                    

                                          
Remus Lupin paced back and forth in Dumbledore's office.
                          
He was alone, awaiting the Headmaster.
                          
His mind was running a mile a minute.
                          
Sirius.
                          
Sirius had been innocent.
                          
All those years, he'd worked to convince himself otherwise.
                          
The evidence said Sirius was guilty. It always had, always condemned him plainly.
                          
But he was innocent.
                          
Remus wanted to beat himself over the head for being so monumentally stupid.
                          
The signs were there.
                          
Proving Sirius' innocence.
                          
The Animagi form.
                          
Sirius, the dog.
                          
Loyalty. Innocence.
                          
Peter, the rat.
                          
Betrayal. Decietfulness.
                          
Yet they had all believed it.
                          
Almost.
                          
Remus refused to believe at first.
                          
He knew Sirius.
                          
His actions, his personality.
                          
But then the evidence had been piled up. Laid out before him as if chiseled in stone.
                          
Sirius had been the Potters' secret-keeper.
                          
So they thought.
                          
Sirius anticipated his arrest, giving Hagrid his flying motorbike.
                          
That seemed true enough.
                          
Sirius had killed Peter, along with 12 muggles.
                          
So everyone believed.
                          
Sirius had been sent to Azkaban without trial.
                          
And he was innocent.
                          
"Ah, Remus. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
                          
Dumbledore had arrived.
                          
"I need to talk to you." Remus said stiffly.
                          
"Well do sit down, I'll make tea."
                          
Once they were sitting and had their drinks, Dumbledore looked at Remus. "What would you like to discuss?"
                          
"Why?" Remus asked simply.
                          
"Why? Why what?"
                          
"Why did you lie to me."
                          
"I'm afraid I don't-"
                          
"DON'T DENY IT!" Remus roared, slamming his hand on the desk. Their teacups rattled on their saucers. "Why did you lie?! Why did you tell me he was guilty?!"
                          
He stood, so forcefully so that his chair skidded back a few inches. "You told me not to pursue it! You told me he was guilty!"
                          
"I believed he was." Dumbledore replied calmly. "Did you not?"
                          
"No!" Remus exclaimed, furious. "I didn't think he was guilty, I know him! He would never have done that to Lily and James, never! He was their best friend!"
                          
"And yet, you did not protest his sentencing to Azkaban."
                          
"How could I?! He had been sent there already and one man who was well acquainted with him would not change that! If anything, it would have gotten me thrown in there with him!
                          
"I knew he was innocent, but no one would believe me! Having a werewolf testify on his behalf would have made it worse, they may have sentence him to the Dementor's Kiss then and there. 
                          
"But you knew him Albus. You knew him and you knew me. But what did you do? I came to you, I begged you to testify his innocence, for he was innocent, and what did you do? You turned me away, you told me not to try and help him, you insisted he was guilty! You told me he was GUILTY!" Remus roared.
                          
"I did not know." Dumbledore answered calmly. "No more than you did, Remus. No one could h-"
                          
Remus threw his hands up in the air, knocking over a bottle on Dumbledore's desk in the process. "I - DID - KNOW! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU HE WAS INNOCENT, I TOLD YOU SOMETHING WASN'T RIGHT, I TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! AND YOU TOLD ME TO LET IT GO, TO LEAVE HIM THERE!" He was visibly shaking, his face red and his eyes fiery.
                          
"Remus-" Dumbledore began.
                          
"SHUT UP! He rotted on that great filthy rock! For 12 years! Alone! 12 years in a cell with only Dementors for company! And what did you do? NOTHING! You left him there, and told me to do the same!
                          
"I tried to convince myself he was guilty, I tried to believe the lies. I reasoned that you would know the whole story and that you knew he was truly guilty, you're the mystical wizard who knows everything, or so people think. But you aren't! You're an old man who believes what he's told, and passes it on!"
                          
"Remus, please-"
                          
"I - LEFT - HIM! I abandoned one of my closest friends! He was always there in my time of need, but what happened when he needed me? I left him! AND AT YOUR INSISTENCE! You - you....." Tears streamed freely down Remus' face now. His throat was raw from screaming at the headmaster and he was breathing heavily.
                          
Dumbledore spoke softly, as if Lupin was a fragile child who had just suffered a tragedy. "Remus, allow me to explain my reasoning-" 
                          
"No! I don't want to listen to you anymore." Remus took a deep, shuddery breath, drawing himself up to his full height and standing rigidly.
                          
"I'll stay the rest of the year. I'll teach, I'll make sure the kids are okay, I'll watch over Harry and his friends. But after that, no more."
                          
"Remus, are you saying what I think you are?"
                          
Remus nodded sharply. "That I am, Dumbledore."
                          
He turned and headed for the door, tossing two words over his shoulder.
                          
"I quit."