This is for the 2017 House Competition held by MoonlightForgotten.

Round 8

House: Gryffindor

Category: Drabble

Prompt: During Class

Word Count: 541

I do NOT own Harry Potter!

Professor Remus Lupin was seated at his desk during his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He observed his third year Gryffindors as they were engrossed in their pop quiz. His focus lay on one messy, black haired boy in particular. Harry Potter, the son of his best friend.

Months earlier, he had woken up in the Hogwarts Express and after he got over the shock of having a dementor in the compartment, he felt a jolt in his stomach when he saw Harry. For a moment, he thought he was seeing James again, and it tugged at his heartstrings. It took him a few seconds to register that the kid was none other than James Potter's son who was an infant the last time he saw him.

Remus came out of his thoughts and continued watching Harry. Harry was bent over his paper and he scratched the back of his quill on his chin as he was deep in thought. This gave him a nostalgic feeling as he remembered how James used to have the exact same habit whenever he was deep in thought over a paper. This made his heart go out to the boy even more. He had the same nostalgic feeling when he received Harry's first homework assignment and looked at Harry's bs and ds which mirrored James'.

Harry often reminded him of James. He wasn't as wild as his father, but he had the same knack for breaking the rules, mischief and talent on the Quidditch pitch. He was deeply sympathetic when Harry was deprived from visiting Hogmeade and secretly smiled in amusement when he found out the boy did exactly what his father would have done and sneaked into Hogsmeade. James would have been thoroughly disappointed if his son never got to see Hogsmeade. He was afraid of what Harry would think of him when he found out he was a werewolf. He wondered if Harry would accept him and view his condition as nothing more than a "furry little problem" just like his father did.

Remus wished he could have taken Harry in and raised him as his own, but he was a werewolf and he was going through his own insecurities along with the pain of losing two of his best friends who were betrayed by his other best friend. He didn't want to impose his messy, uncertain life on him. Sirius' betrayal came as a great shock to Remus. He was always certain that Sirius loved James as a brother. Now, Sirius was out to get Harry. He felt a surge of guilt for not informing Dumbledore about Sirius being an animagus. He knew he should, but he was too much of a coward and had no heart to tell the old man that he had betrayed his kindness years ago by allowing three of his friends to become illegal animagi. He hated himself for this.

As much as Remus couldn't muster the courage to expose Sirius as an animagus, he was determined to protect Harry. He would not let Sirius harm Harry even if it cost him his life. James was his best friend and he would honor his memory by protecting and guiding his son as much as he could.

This was set somewhere during Harry's third year and hence, Remus still believe Sirius to be guilty.