Again, I'd just like to say the following:
I do NOT in any way claim any ownership of the Harry Potter series, except for my character that I have created. JK Rowling is the soul person responsible for the genius that is Harry Potter. Thanks.
The next day she met Oliver down at the Great Hall for breakfast. "Good morning, beautiful," Oliver said, kissing her on the cheek.
Meredith grinned, taking a piece of toast off of his plate. "Good morning," she said. McGonagall came by moments later, handing out schedules.
Oliver grabbed his, looking it over. "Ugh, NEWTs this year," he said.
"Tell me about it." Meredith looked at her schedule as well; she was taking all the classes necessary to become an Auror; Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, etc. "Hey, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions together," she said, smiling.
Oliver nodded absentmindedly, looking over the both of the schedules. "Looks like it," he said, biting into his toast.
That afternoon they found out exactly what Lupin was like. They had an amazing practical lesson regarding advanced Defense spells and non-verbal spells; Meredith hit Oliver with an excellent non-verbal petrifying spell, causing him to crash into a table.
At the end of the day Meredith was laying on the couch in the common room reading her Defense book, going over the spells they talked about in class.
"Hey my beautiful, clever girlfriend, how was your day?" Oliver said, sitting down on the couch next to her.
Meredith smiled, kissing Oliver softly. "Great, now that you're here." She said, putting her book down. "Lupin is brilliant, isn't he?"
Oliver shrugged, "I guess he's all right. He seems unconventional, though."
Meredith sat up, looking at him incredulously, "Oh, come on. Like any of our teachers are conventional."
Oliver nodded, smirking. "You have a point. But, I don't know. Something about him seems...off. I don't know how to explain it but it's just, some kind of weird feeling I get. "
"You're being crazy," Meredith said. She picked her book back up and flipped to the page she had been reading.
Oliver chuckled, getting up off of the couch. "I'll leave you to your work, then. I know better than to bother you," he said. "Oh, Quidditch practice starts next week, by the way. Monday at Seven."
Meredith nodded, but she didn't hear what he said. Once she was focused on reading there was no way someone could capture her attention until she was finished.
Later that evening an owl landed in Meredith's lap carrying a note addressed to her. After seven years of receiving these notes she recognized the hand writing; it was a note from Dumbledore. She opened it and read:
Meredith Douglas,
Welcome to your 7th Year at Hogwarts.
As soon as you get this I would like you to come up to my office,
Professor Snape and I are waiting to discuss the administering of your Wolfsbane potion.
Warmest regards,
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore
Meredith sighed, putting her book up in her room and going to Dumbledore's office. She liked talking to Dumbledore, but Professor Snape always made her feel uncomfortable; with his general distaste for Gryffindors, not to mention she felt like he was mocking her for being a werewolf.
"Come in, Meredith," Dumbledore's pleasant voice came through the door before she even had time to knock.
Meredith opened the door and smiled, seeing Dumbledore and Snape. "It's good to see you, Sir. You too, Professor," she nodded at Snape, her smile full of sincerity.
Dumbledore smiled, but Meredith enjoyed the uncomfortable nod that came from Professor Snape. She discovered that being nice and polite to him was the best way to get under his skin, because he was always unkind to other people and they were always unkind to him; it was a nice little flip that threw his world out of whack and she loved pressing his buttons. "Hello, Meredith, I trust your holiday was well?"
Meredith nodded, "It was, Sir. I went to Australia and spent it with my aunt and uncle that live there." She said, smiling. "Now, what is it that we need to discuss about the potion?"
"Since it is your final year at Hogwarts, I am concerned about what you will do after you leave this school, since you do not know how to make this particular potion yourself," Dumbledore said.
"Oh," Meredith said, staring down at her hands. "I'm going to have to become a full-grown werewolf every full moon, then?" Her eyes glistened with tears, "I mean, it's not like I can buy wolfsbane potion at Diagon Alley, right?"
Dumbledore chuckled good-naturedly, smiling. "No, I daresay that you cannot buy wolfsbane anywhere, but it is not my intention to send you into the world destined to become a full-grown werewolf once a month."
"What are we going to do, then, Sir?" Meredith asked, puzzled.
"Well, wolfsbane is a desperately tricky potion to make, but given your skills as a potion-maker, Professor Snape and I have concluded that he will, within the year, be able to teach you to make wolfsbane on your own," Dumbledore said.
Meredith's jaw dropped; she was utterly shocked. "B-by myself, sir? But, that potion is extremely hard to make. I don't think..."
"Professor Snape and I believe that you are more than capable of mastering the art of this potion," Dumbledore said firmly, but he still held the gentle air in his voice. "Your lessons will be once a week, on a day and time that you and Professor Snape can agree on."
"Well, I'll have to talk to Oliver about Quidditch practices and see when those will be, but after that I can talk to Professor Snape directly and we can discuss our meeting times," she said, smiling graciously at Professor Snape.
Snape nodded, "That would be fine," he said curtly.
Dumbledore smiled, "Well, that is all we needed to discuss. It's getting late, Meredith, you should head back to your house now."
"Of course, Sir. It was wonderful to see you, as always," Meredith got up and walked out the door, smiling at the both of them as she left.
She strolled casually through the castle, enjoying the silence of the empty corridors. Meredith stopped when she reached Lupin's office, and decided to stop in and say hello, just to be friendly. "Hello, Professor," she said, smiling.
Lupin looked up from the papers he was looking through and smiled, although he looked slightly confused. "Miss Douglas, how can I help you?"
Meredith smiled, "I just wanted to say that today's lesson was fantastic. I really learned a lot."
Lupin smiled, "Thank you for saying that, Miss Douglas."
"Please, call me Meredith; all the other teachers do. 'Miss Douglas' makes me feel like an old spinster." She said, leaning on the doorframe.
Lupin chuckled, nodding. "Meredith it is, then." He said.
Meredith smiled, "Well, I just wanted to stop by and tell you that I enjoyed the lesson. I'll see you Wednesday," she said, turning to leave.
"Wait," he said, holding a hand out to stop her. "I was just about to have a cup of tea, would you care to join me?"
Meredith bit her lip, severly tempted. "It's getting late, it's almost curfew."
"Oh I could walk you back to your dorm, Filch wouldn't mind too much, it is the first day back, after all." Lupin said.
Meredith smiled, "all right, then, a quick cup wouldn't hurt." She sat down in the chair on the other side of his desk.
Lupin grabbed two cups and poured hot water into both of them. "I only have tea bags, I'm afraid," he said.
"That's fine. After taking Professor Trelawney's class tea leaves are kind of ruined for me," Meredith said.
Lupin chuckled, putting the tea bags in each of the cups. "Her class ruins tea leaves for a lot of people," he said. "I've always preferred tea bags anyway, though."
Meredith smiled, "So have I, actually. My...My aunt always made fun of me for it, said I wasn't a 'true Brit' if I didn't like tea leaves. But it's like I'd always tell her...I was born in Scotland, we never drank tea when I lived there."
"Scotland? Nice country," Lupin said, "But, if you don't mind me asking, why did you leave?"
"Oh, Umm..." Meredith bit her lip, taken off-guard by the fact that he had asked; teachers never usually tried to get to know her like that before. "M-my family...my family was killed when I was ten...I moved to London shortly after to live with my cousins."
"Oh, I'm...I'm sorry, that's terrible." Lupin said, suddenly feeling bad.
Meredith shook her head, "No need to be sorry. It was a long time ago, there was no way you could have known." She drank some of her tea.
"So, this is your seventh year at Hogwarts? What do you intend to do after you leave the school?" Lupin asked, drinking his tea.
"Well, I was actually thinking about becoming an Auror. I'm taking all of the required classes, and I'm planning on trying to join them after I leave," she said.
"An auror? A dangerous career choice, but fulfilling. I daresay we'll need as much as we can in the next few years," he said ominously.
"What? You think...You-Know-Who is coming back or something?" Meredith said.
"He may be, you never know," Lupin said, finishing the rest of his tea. He noticed that Meredith had finished hers as well, and stood up. "Well, I should get you back to your dorms, it is quite late."
Meredith nodded, getting up as well. "It is," she said, looking up at the clock. They walked to the Fat Lady's portrait and parted ways. "Thank you for the tea, Professor," she said, waving as she walked into the common room. Meredith stayed up well into the night working on homework.