Disclaimer : The lovely characters, things, and places in Harry Potter do not belong to me. Neither does the song "Loosen Your Tie" It is by the fantastic band The Remus Lupins.

Loosen Your Tie

So loosen your tie,
'Cause we need to get crazy
We need to make mischief
And drink Fire Whisky,
Make a name for ourselves
Never go home

-The Remus Lupins (Loosen Your Tie)

Chapter 1 : Waiting

I neatly laid out my parchment, best quill, and brand new copy of "Dark Creatures and How to Protect Yourself Against Them," by Newt Scamander. Straightening my tie and smoothing out my skirt, I began to wait. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately – waiting, that is. Waiting for something to happen, for something important, for something meaningful to happen in my life.

Of course, I would expect you would have to wait if you arrive twenty minutes early for a class.

As I quietly laughed at this thought, a student comes in that I don't recognize. But on closer inspection, he looks far too old to be a student. His light brown hair is lightly speckled with gray and his face is tired and slightly lined, but still holds a sort of boyish charm, which I assume is the reason for my previous mistake. His robes look worn and the suitcase he is holding in his left hand is battered. Trying to figure out who this man could possibly be, I suddenly realize that I am looking at the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor R. J. Lupin

He had not registered that anyone else was in the room with him, so I took this time to study him more carefully. So this is who would be teaching the "cursed" job. I had heard rumors that Dumbledore had some trouble finding a replacement for Professor Lockhart, but Lupin must have pulled through. I begin to try to guess his age. Hmm…in his twenties…or in his forties? I finally conclude that he must be somewhere in his mid-thirties, although this age seemed both too old and too young. Despite his rather shabby and thin appearance, his wavy hair was short and neat, and although his clothes were thoroughly worn, he had taken great care in washing and leaving them wrinkle-free.

Professor Lupin walked to the center of the classroom, where he placed his briefcase on his desk. He must have been distracted, for he still had not noticed my presence, although I had the best seat in the class – front and center. Not until he opened his briefcase and looked straight ahead did he realize I was there. And it was not until he looked at me did I realize I was staring.

"Oh, excuse me, Professor," I began, "I am a student of yours."

"Ah, of course," Professor Lupin answered, "My nine o'clock class, I presume? With…Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sixth years, I believe."

"Yes, sir." I stole a glance at the clock hanging on the wall above his desk. It was only 8:45. "I'm sorry for being so early, but I was rather excited for the first day of classes and wanted to be fully prepared."

"No problem at all, Miss…er."

"Knightly. My name is Blake Knightly, Professor."

Lupin gave me a small half smile. My, he has a rather lovely smile. I saw a slight, mischievous glint in his eye, and I had a fleeting thought that he could very well be a seventh year sitting across from me in the great hall. This thought ended quickly, however, when a Hufflepuff sixth year, Cedric Diggory, walked into the classroom. My gaze broke, and I hurriedly rummaged through my book bag to hide my blushing face.

Diggory introduced himself to Professor Lupin and threw me one of his dazzling grins as he slid into the seat next to mine. I turned my head away as if suddenly interested in the window sill while secretly rolling my eyes. Thankfully, the school's "heartthrob" has never paid much attention to me, despite having many classes together. Although he has never seemed outwardly cruel and he does well in his studies, I do not appreciate the silly flock of girls and overly masculine boys constantly tailing him.

More students began filing in, for it was now five minutes until the class started. When all of the desks were occupied and the chatter died down, Professor Lupin said, "Good morning class. I am Professor Lupin, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. This year, you will be studying dark magical creatures, such as Erklings, Kelpies, and Dementors, which you all know are currently guarding the school. Now, I trust that all of you have the required text, but I will ask for you to put it away and to take out your wands.

I glanced at my best friend Samantha Callaghan. Although Lupin seemed likeable enough, I hope this lesson would be interesting rather than a disaster, remembering when Professor Lockhart set loose a cage of doxies which completely destroyed the classroom.

Eying the puzzled look on many students' faces, we got up and followed Lupin out of the room. The class walked through the corridor to the ever-changing staircases. We traveled all the way down to the ground floor, where I wondered if we were going out into the grounds, but Lupin veered to the right, and we continued down to the dungeons. He stopped when we reached a potions supply storeroom, where a cupboard was rattling ominously.

"Now this particular creature was quite difficult to track down," Lupin said to the wary class, "I decided to show them to third years and up, so I needed to find many of them. Would anybody like to take a guess of what is in that cupboard?"

Timidly, I raised my hand. "Ah, Ms. Knightly."

"Well, sir," I began, "I believe that it is a boggart."

"Quite right," he said smiling, "And I don't suppose you could tell the class what a boggart is?"

"It takes the form of whatever a person fears most," I said excitedly, "So it's shape is always changing, and nobody knows what a boggart looks like in its natural state, Professor."

"Excellent, 10 points to Ravenclaw," he said, and once again, I found myself blushing.

"So when I release the boggart," Lupin continued, "it will shift into whatever the first person it sees fears most. Although there is a charm to defeat a boggart, the thing that harms it most is laughter. First, I want you to picture the thing you fear above all else. When you have it in your mind's eye, try to turn it into something comical. The incantation is 'Riddikulus!' Say it with me."

The class chanted back, "Riddikulus!" I only murmured it, for I was lost in my thoughts. Sure, I was frightened by bugs and spiders, but that can't be thing I am afraid of most. Suddenly, I began to panic. I was going to make a fool of myself in front of Professor Lupin! No…that's not important. I just have to complete this assignment, but I begin to think that what I fear most is what the boggart is going to turn into. How am I supposed to make that funny? I turn to Sam, but she had her eyes closed, as most of the class did.

"Alright, everyone should have their plan. Form a line, and I will release the boggart." The class hurriedly shuffled into a single file line, but I lagged to the back. Lupin shot me a glance, probably wondering why I was not in the front, because of my, er, eagerness before. He walked to the shaking cupboard and tapped the handle with his wand. The door sprang open and an inferi immediately appeared. Cedric Diggory screwed up his face and shouted, "Riddikulus!" There was a pop, and the corpse appeared in a frilly pink dress. The class giggled and Lupin said, "Good! Next!"

Cedric walked back and stood right behind me. He brushed my shoulder as he passed, but I barely noticed because I was so focused on my problem. Sam was up next, and the pink-clad zombie changed into a minute mountain. I peered through the line and saw a miniature version of my best friend on the cliff. She toppled and began to fall. Sam cried, "Riddikulus!" and her tiny self landed on a trampoline and bounced up and down. She laughed and went to the back of line. I grimaced at her as she went by, but she only grinned.

Each student took their turn and countless vampires, banshees, and spiders appeared. I still had no solution for my problem when Cedric gave me a slight nudge. I blinked and saw that there was no one in front of me. Holding my breath, I raised my 8 ¾ willow and unicorn hair wand and braced myself. The figure in front of my twisted and morphed while the class and Lupin looked on. When the boggart was taking longer to shift than it did for anyone else, I began to panic again. Spotting my violently shaking arm holding my wand and my eyes widening with fear, Professor Lupin stepped in front of me, eyes flashing. The boggart stopped and came to rest as a full moon.

Lupin said, "Riddikulus," and lazily flicked his wand at the glowing sphere. The boggart burst and disappeared in wisps of smoke. "Right," Professor Lupin said distractedly, "Ten points to everyone who tackled the boggart. Class dismissed." As he walked to the doorway, he bent down to whisper in my ear, "Miss Knightly I would like for you to come to my office at eight o'clock tonight." His slightly hoarse voice sent a shiver down my spine, and I was left standing in the empty storeroom. A tall figure clad in black strode into the room.

"Miss Knightly, unless you want a detention to mark your perfect prefect statues, I suggest you leave this room immediately."

"Yes, Professor Snape."

Authors note - So, that's it for the first chapter! Please review, even if you think its crap. I'd like to know if people are actually reading it!