"I say it with a smile because I'm also teasing. Being able to smile and laugh even about the worst of times is how we get through them," Remus pointed out. "I'll happily leave the media to you, however. Werewolves don't do well in spotlights."
Sighing, Remus reached out to put a warm hand on Harry's knee. "Ours was a different kind of war," he said kindly. "Longer, more covert. Attacks on muggles and muggleborns began when I was starting school. Yes, we were young, too young to really understand some things. But, not too young to see the images in the paper, to pick up on things our parents said. In some ways, I wonder if Dumbledore wasn't already training us all from the start, the way Gryffindor and Slytherin were pit against one another. Werewolf attacks were on the rise and I was a werewolf pretending to be normal in a school where parents sent their children to protect them from my kind. By our fourth year, we'd joined the ranks of students checking the papers every day. Attacks were increasing. No one knew much about who Voldemort was, what he wanted other than pureblood domination. It's difficult to fight an enemy you know nothing about. Over the next two years, it became more and more common for students to be pulled out of meals or class or from quidditch practices to be told a relative had been attacked or killed. Hogwarts is a small community, so there were many who were pulled out multiple times for parents, siblings, cousins... Gryffindor and Slytherin might as well have been enlisted on both sides by sixth year as the 'pranks' had become more and more damaging, the students bringing their parents' war inside the castle walls. As long as no one died, or almost died, nothing was seen to be done about it. That was part of the reason I finally forgave Sirius. It was obvious we were going to be heavily involved one way or another and I would rather go into that future as friends. Dumbledore recruited us before we even sat the NEWTs. Then we joined the war properly, joined the Order. But, life had to go on. We couldn't just stop living or else the enemy would have won. Our normal was probably closer to what you've known as an Auror. There were attacks and missions, I started working with other werewolves shortly after leaving school, going deeper a year later. Sure, there were marriages and babies and nights at the pub. But, normal life was always shadowed by the knowledge that anyone could be working for the enemy, always looking over one shoulder for danger, never knowing if that was the night you'd be called out at midnight to help rescue a family whose house was burnt to the ground because someone dared marry a muggle."
He sat back, head cocked to one side. "But, if the difference is that you know nothing else, perhaps you should take this opportunity to change that. Rather than taking charge, bring us all together to pick our leaders. Your approach the last few days has come across more as though no one is doing things to your liking, so you're taking over. And when other points of view were presented, whether you meant to or not, it did seem like you were dismissing them. If you're going to take charge, you need to lead, not just give orders." Hearing about his future self was disconcerting. He wasn't sure if he was more disquieted by the wife and child, or the child telling him what to do. "Ten years can change a lot of things. Trying to figure out where I became him is likely a futile exercise. However, I think I would like this Hermione, one voice of reason to another. Merlin knows I've been playing that role for James and Sirius since we were eleven." He was still cast in that role, if the conversation after James arrived was any indication.
"War does things to change your perception, especially when you spend..." Remus' words trailed off as he caught up to the rest of what Harry said. "I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. I thought you said Greyback was the one who turned me." Thoughts about rights and potions faded to unimportance as so many things clicked into place. "Mam Sanctaidd Dewiniaid," he exclaimed softly as the realization began to sink in. "That's why he...I should have realized."