Author's Note: Late as always! It's just the way I roll :p
GGE - Cookies-and-Ink - Hermione/Remus (platonic)
HA - Arithmancy - Task 4 - Write about someone pursuing a profession (teacher)
Herbology Hangout - (emotion) worried; (colour) Bronze
Auction - Day 3, Prompt 3 - (emotion) admiration
Pinata - Medium - (character group) Known OotP members
Writing Club - Assorted Appreciation - Write about the start of something
Writing Club - Showtime - (emotion) worry
Writing Club - Angel's Arcade - Crimson Viper: (character) Hermione Granger; (emotion) focused; (word) stealth
Writing Club - Bex's Basement - Steve Rogers - (genre) friendship
365 prompts - 160. (word) exhausted
1000 prompts - 53. (character) Remus Lupin
Word Count: 958
Teach Me
He looked tired. Even with the forgiving light of the fire tingeing his skin and hair bronze, Remus still looked exhausted. Hermione felt a pang go through her and a frown creased her delicate brow as she did the mental calculations. It was the middle of the month he should be at his healthiest. Maybe something other than the moon was keeping him up at night.
He shifted suddenly in his seat, letting his head fall into his hands and Hermione felt uncomfortable. This was such a private moment of despair - she shouldn't be witnessing it.
Hermione tried to move stealthily backwards but, having leant in slightly to see around the doorframe, her shoulder collided with the wood with a thud. Remus' head shot up, wary and alert like an animal. "Who's there?" he called sharply.
Sheepishly, Hermione stuck her head through the door and smiled weakly at him. Remus' body seemed to relax instantly. "Hermione," he breathed, sinking back into the armchair.
"Sorry!" she rushed to tell him. "I just wanted to ask you something but it can wait. I'll come back later."
Hermione made to leave again - hopefully more gracefully this time - but Remus held up a hand to stop her. "No, no Hermione. Please, stay. You really aren't interrupting anything." He smiled but it was thin and shakey. "If I'm honest, I could use the distraction from my own thoughts."
Still feeling a bit unsure, Hermione entered the room and sat down. She was clutching a sheaf of parchment to her chest, which she smoothed across her lap.
"Do you miss it?" Hermione blushed involuntarily at the tactless way the words fell out of her mouth. Remus looked at her quizzically. "Teaching," she clarified, "at Hogwarts."
An almost genuine smile warmed his expression. "I do," he said - it almost sounded like a confession. "Teaching gave me a sense of purpose, a reason to get up in the morning; to want to get up. There was always so much to be done - marking, planning. Slytherin and Gryffindor fights to break up." They laughed. "But, oddly enough, it was a simpler time. A happier one."
For a long moment, Remus regressed into himself - a far away look in his eyes. But then he shook himself and the distance vanished. "Why do you ask?"
Hermione gestured to the papers in front of her. "We have to pick our options for sixth year soon and I want to make an informed decision. I think I would like to be a professor. I thought you might be able to tell me what I would need to take."
Remus laughed, sitting forward - but it was more eager than depressed now. Hermione felt a flicker of pride that she had helped to draw him from the darkness. Remus was a man she greatly admired - one of her more prominent magical role models. To emulate such an organised, compassionate adult couldn't be a bad thing.
"You haven't even started fifth year and you're already picking sixth year options. You're nothing if not organised, eh? That would certainly serve you well as a teacher. You would need to pass all of the core modules, your options don't really affect you as a teacher unless you're going to teach one of the extra classes. You can't teach muggle studies if you didn't take it after all."
"But do you think I would make a good teacher? I'm not sure that I'd be able to get my ideas across coherently or that the children will behave for me? What if I can't control the class or get suddenly scared of speaking in front of them? What if they fail because of me?" Suddenly all of her insecurities about the idea started pouring out - the questions that kept her up at night and plagued her dreams.
Remus smiled at her and though the curve of his mouth was soft and small, the light reached his eyes. In that moment, Hermione knew she should be feeling embarrassed at sharing so openly but Remus had a way of making her feel so comfortable - another reason he had made such a good teacher.
"Hermione, I don't doubt for a second that you can be whatever you want to be. You are smart, compassionate and determined. You put all your time and effort into a goal and don't stop until you have achieved it, but more than that you really care about those around you - especially those less fortunate."
Hermione opened her mouth to argue point, unused as she was to accepting compliments, but Remus held up a gentle hand to stop her. "Let me finish," he told her. "I know you don't put much stock in words without facts so I shall offer some compelling evidence. Who are your best friends?"
Hermione frowned at the confusing question. "Harry and Ron, of course."
"They must pay attention in class all the time. I mean they're passing aren't they. It must mean they do some diligent note taking and write some excellent essays."
Momentarily stunned by the sharp turn in conversation, it took a moment for Hermione to comprehend the words but when the penny dropped she laughed out loud. "Harry and Ron are barely awake in class. They can barely write legibly and stringing a verbal sentence together is difficult enough without getting it down on paper. Honestly, without my constant guidances they wouldn't… oh." She blushed. "That's your point."
Remus was chuckling quietly to himself. "You'll make an excellent teacher, Hermione, but before you go off to achieve your potential I ask one favour of you."
With a curious head tilt, Hermione asked: "what?"
"Please don't abandon those boys," he smirked. "They won't get through it without you."
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