oh - wonderful! your lupin characterisation, his carefulness and swiftly smothered hopes (and the way they nearly revive!) - this line:
He heard himself say that, and it sounded very reasonable. That was a skill he had — to sound calm when he wasn't.
perfection.
all the relationships in this story seem fragile and uncertain and fascinating. i love that lupin has to take harry for a walk to get him to talk, the flowers dripping dew on the stairs, and the way that he observes (but doesn't act on) snape's fear. the wolf dream - oh my heart!
there's also something very snupin-y about this fic, and (with a certain sense of beholder guilt) i bloody loved that. :)