One Dimly Lit Corridor Remus Lupin Oneshot for Hufflepuff497

"And what is the difference between an animagus and a werewolf…"

The professor paused.

"Anyone? Ah yes, Miss Grey?"

Everyone's, except the sneering Slytherins and a select few sleeping student, eyes fell upon me as they awaited my answer.

"In simple terms, an animagus is a person who elects to turn into an animal, where as a werewolf has no choice. The werewolf has no control of their actions, I sympathize with them really…" I said, saying the last part mostly to myself.

"Perfect Miss Grey, 10 points to Hufflepuff."

I felt a pair of eyes burning into the back of my skull. My conscience was screaming at me, trying to discourage me from what I was about to do, but I ignored it as I quickly turned to steal a glance behind me. His stare didn't waver the least little bit once he noticed I had caught him in the act, if anything it seemed to grow more intense. I turned back around in my seat. I had seen this boy before, the library maybe? But what got me the most about this whole ordeal was the look on this Gryffindor's face. He seemed put off, almost angry maybe…?

Had it been something I said?

I decided to take my next period, which was free, out by the lake underneath my normal tree finishing up my essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts. "You certainly know a lot about having an animagus, don't you Grey? And sympathizing with werewolves, you Hufflepuffs are just full of surprises."

"You just don't give some of us Hufflepuffs enough credit, Potter." I said looking up from my essay to be met with none other than the infamous four, the Marauders.I noticed to the right of Potter stood the boy from earlier, no wonder I recognized him. How could you not recognize Remus Lupin with friends like his, "handsome, quidditch stars, and pranksters" to boot?

I noticed they were all still standing there so I once again set aside my essay."Is there something I can help you with Potter, Black…" I trailed off."Or maybe you…" My eyes roaming over to fix on those of Remus Lupin, the ones that have but not even an hour ago been threatening to burn a bloody hole into the back of my head; they left me feeling violated, like he had been searching for something."Can I help you with something Lupin?" He seemed shocked and a bit taken a back by the chill in my tone and quite frankly so was I.

Remus's POV

I stared in wonder at this girl of average stature, her brown curls cascading over her shoulder, some falling in the way of her piercing ice blue eyes. I wrecked my brain carefully for the right words to say, this one had a guard so thick the killing curse probably couldn't penetrate it."You confuse me Emmaline Grey." Her eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch, probably shocked I knew her first name. She stood up a little straighter."And how is it that I confuse you?""You seem rather knowledgeable on the subject and quite smart in general, so what confuses me Miss Grey is that even though you know all of this you still choose to sympathize with werewolves."

Her eyes never once moved from mine, they never once faltered, but in that moment the light icy blue that floated around the corneas of her eyes grew grim and dark, as well did her expression. Finally she removed her eyes from mine, tilting her head back, looking up into the branches of the tree above, with a look on her face like she was remembering something."And what's if to you of whom I give my sympathy to, Lupin?""Because I feel like I won't scare you off if I tell you the truth." I replied.

"My sister… She was a werewolf." She sat back down and I took a seat as well, the guys had went back to the castle to leave us to discuss this alone."I was supposed to be watching her that evening, but I let her out of my sight for just a little while and she wandered off into the forest. By the time I found her the werewolf had already bitten her, but I was just enough of a distraction for her to get away so he didn't do anymore damage to her."I looked at her closely."But you didn't get away without a scratch?"

She slowly pulled her sweater over her head and loosened her gold and black tie, She undone the top three buttons of her shirt and slid it back to reveal three long scar marks on her left side ranging all the way from just below her collar bone up to her neck. She buttoned her shirt back up."Lets just say I like my meat a little bit rarer than I used to."I sat there and stared at her in bewilderment."Now you're wondering about the animagus stuff, aye?" She asked reading my mind."Unregistered animagus; wolf." She said gesturing to herself."It helped keep my sister in line."

"Helped?" She did the exact same for her sister that Sirius, James, and Peter do for me.

"Passed, it was too much for her. She couldn't come to terms with what she was and what she could possibly "destroy." She said bringing her hands up and making air quotes with her fingers. "In the end it consumed her.""I'm sorry…"

She shook her head.

"It's not your fault, no need to apologize."

We sat in silence for a moment."So who's who?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You and your friends were concerned about me knowing so much about an animagus, who's what? I know you call James, Prongs so a stag maybe and you call Sirius, Padfoot so a dog, he strikes me like a dog type. But Peter is the one that confuses me, Wormtail?"I grinned.

"He's a rat."

"And how the bloody hell does that help distract a werewolf?" She asked, a bit of laughter evident on her she knew…"You knew, about me, I mean." It came out as more of an accusation than a question. She looked up at me from under her eye lashes."When you've lived with it most of your life you know what to look for."

Normally I'd hate discussing these things and normally I'd find myself biting back that same melancholy that took her sister, but with Emmaline it was like I was almost with Sirius, James, and Peter. Only there was something a bit different, something I couldn't put my finger on.

Emmaline's POV 2 Weeks Later

"Hey Emma." Reums grinned, sitting beside me at the Hufflepuff table. I chuckled."Hey Rem.""What's so funny?"I opened my mouth to answer but was cut short by Sirius. "Aye, wolf girl." He said ruffling my hair. "Oi, what are you and Moony doing at the Hufflepuff table? Come on over here." I smiled sheepishly and Remus quickly understood this was what I was about to suggest before I had been interrupted.

There I was, the only Hufflepuff at the Gryffindor table, the only gold and black in the sea of burgundy, I was the perfect eye sore. Any other time this would have bothered me but I had been accepted into this odd, tight-knitted group of "Marauders" and there was no going back for me now. If I had been with anyone else I would have melted right into the floor. "S-so what do you say Emma?" I had been so entranced by my own thoughts I hadn't even heard Remus. I sat down my cup of pumpkin juice and looked up to my right."Sorry Remus, come again? I was off in my head. I didn't heard a bit of that." I notice out of the corner of my eye Sirius and James grin at each other, Remus was uncomfortable that was obvious and they were enjoying it, that was the part that was a mystery to me. Remus took a breath. "Hogsmade is this weekend, as you know." I nodded, letting him know he had my attention."I was wondering, well I wondering if you would like to go with me, just me." I sat back running my hand through my hair, glancing at Sirius and James who looked like they were either about to burst with laughter or cry. "E-emma?" He was nervous. I turned back to Remus with a grin tugging at my lips. "That sounds lovely Remus, I'd love to go to Hogsmade with you." He let out a sigh of relief, making James and Sirius finally burst out into a fit of laughter.

Hogsmade: The Date

I finished dressing, pulling on my gray boots over my pants, and pulled on my tweed coat with my Hufflepuff scarf wrapped around my neck and made my way down to the courtyard where Remus and I had agreed to meet. It wasn't long before I spotted him, sitting off by himself on a bench. "Remus!" His head shot up in my direction when he heard my voice and he smiled when I came to stop by him.

"You look very pretty Emma." He seemed less nervous today. "Here this is for you." He said handing me a red and orange tulip. I smiled at him, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "You're very sweet Remus."

A bit of colour flushed his cheeks as he cleared his throat.

"Um…well are you ready to go then?" So much for not being nervous, but it was kind of cute that he was that shy. I grabbed his hand. "Yea, come Rem lets go." I said giving him a wink.

After awhile of walking here and there, buying sweets from Honeydukes, getting a butterbeer from the Three Broom Sticks, Remus was beginning to become more used to the idea and have fun. We were talking and laughing and having a great time just bounding around in the snow when the sun began its journey, sinking down behind the mountains, making a place in the sky for the crescent moon. Remus took my hand this time and began leading me back on the path to Hogwarts.

It wasn't long before we were standing outside my common room, I said a g'night to Remus and made to walk through the portrait hole only to be pulled back into his arms. I gazed up into his searching eyes, wondering what was going on in that head of his, wondering if it was anywhere near as cloudy as mine. "Forgive me if this ruins things, but I'm tired of standing back and not acting on desires…" I gave him a look of half confusion, half understanding. He wrapped his one arm around my back, bringing me close and brought his other hand under my chin, bringing my face to his capturing my lips in a more passionate kiss than I had ever given Remus Lupin credit to be able to create.

And in that moment something set fire in the pit of my stomach, my arms moved on their on, wrapping around Remus in a tight grip, threatening to never let go, as we continued this display of lust and affection in one dimly lit corridors of Hogwarts.