"He looks near a hundred and twenty, to me," Severus tells him in a tone like a verbal shrug. He doesn't want to say that the ghostly headmaster had politely but firmly discouraged him from raiding the old man's office for records past his own time; he's unsettled about it still, because he reckons there's a specific reason and not just some 'preservation of the timeline' nonsense.

"It was just nineteen eighty-five." January, class back in session (grudgingly not telling anyone about his birthday but still receiving a hideously knitted sweater from someone anyway). It's a wonder Severus even recognizes Lupin, honestly, having not seen him aside from a long-distance glimpse at a funeral some years ago.