"Professor, I was wondering if you could help me with this question?" Neville asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked down at his textbook.

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom, what is it?" Remus replied, walking over to Neville's desk and peering over his shoulder at that work he was doing. Neville threw down his quill, exasperated, and groaned.

"It's everything! I don't understand any of it!"

Remus smiled slightly and shook his head.

"Don't say that. I'm sure you're just over-looking something. Here," he said, grabbing the parchment and Neville's textbook. "Let me have a look at it."

Neville nodded and Remus scanned over the page, staring at the questions, and then the paragraphs on page 10 of Neville's book.

"Question 38." He stated to really no one but himself, clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth and he scanned through another page.

"Ah, here it is, Neville." He said after a moment. Setting the book down in front of his third year student, he pointed his finger at the general area the answer would be in.

"It's in that paragraph, and it isn't stated like the question."

Neville nodded.

"Thanks, professor."

"Mhhm.." Remus mumbled, sitting back down at his desk. He got out his quill to start grading papers, but once he got to Hermione Granger, he set it down. Drumming his fingers on his desk, he looked over every correct answer. Albus had been correct; She was uncommonly smart. Smarter than any of her peers...And Remus had only had her in his class for a week so far!

1) How do you repell a Boggart? State the spell, and the physical act - Riddikkulus and Laughter.

2) If you're in a duel, and being hit with the Cruciatus Curse, which spell would be more effective as a means of defending yourself, and why? Evanesco, or Expelliarmus - Expelliarmus. Evanesco makes the target vanish, NOT the person. If used to defend yourself against a fellow dueler, it would do nothing at all. It's rendered useless when used against another human being, or any animal.

Even though the other questions were correct too, those two were the hardest, and no one else had gotten them right. No one knew the differences between the spells for number two, and they hadn't really talked about how to repell a Boggart yet...Only some brief discussion about them, but it had to be gone over on this work sheet, and Hermione had done outstanding on all of it. Remus couldn't wait to see how she would do two years from then on her O...

Wait, had he just thought two years ahead? Did he already like this job that much? Remus smiled to himself and continued grading. He only had five minutes left for the third years to be in his class and he wanted to complete and pass out all of their papers before they had to go to Care of Magical Creatures.

When it came time to leave, he had just finished grading, and he sighed as all of the children stormed out of his class. Well, all but one.

"Professor Lupin?"

"Yes?" Remus replied, looking up at the student who had adressed him.

Ronald Weasley.

"Professor, I know that I didn't do well on that paper, and my Mum is going to be barking mad if my grades are low this year. Again. So can you-"

"-Give you extra coursework?" He asked, smiling. Remus was sure that's what he would be asking. Ron furrowed his eyebrows.

"No. No...NO. No extra work. I was hoping you could umm," he reached up his hand to scratch the back of his neck. "I was hoping you could...High my grade." He mumbled. Remus chuckled.

"Mr. Weasley, I can't do that unless you do extra coursework. I'm really sorry. On the bright side, you didn't fail your assignment. There's definitely room for inprovement, but you can bring it up in no time if you set your mind to it from now on. Can you do that, Ron?"

Ron nodded and sighed a breath of relief.

"Thank-you so much, Professor. I'll work my hardest."

Remus nodded and yelled after Ron just before he walked out: "By the way, Ron, working hard does not mean copying Hermione's answers!"

Ron laughed and nodded.

"Have a good day, Professor."

Sighing, and shuffling the papers to find Ron's, Remus stared at the "F" he had marked on his paper. He had indeed failed...If it was possible, he did worse than failed. His answers weren't only wrong, but they seemed as though, at the time, they were written while his mind was completely and utterly elsewhere. Grinning and grabbing his wand, he erased the "F", and replaced it with a "D."

Yes, he had indeed failed. But what Ron didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.