An: So I'm hoping someone's reading this, but hey, I had fun writing it. Enjoy.

1987 - Summer

Currently sporting short turquoise hair, Nymphadora had the phone cord twisted round her fingers, leaving angry red welts. "I don't understand."

"You don't understand what?" Remus asked patiently. He'd long grown used to Dora phoning him in the holidays for help with essays that her parents couldn't help with. This meant it was usually Defence A6gainst the Dark Arts or Astronomy; thankfully, both subjects he had been good at in school.

"Why only those three?" Sat on the stairs, with her essay on her knees, Nymphadora frowned in frustration. "There are so many other hexes and curses that can cause loads of damage, so why only those three?"

"Well, the killing curse is an obvious one. It's the only curse that kills you outright. Others just cause harm until you die from blood loss or pain. Any spell could technically lead to death, but that's the only one that causes it immediately."

She scribbled down what he'd said, then waved at her father as he walked through the door. He went to greet her but she pointed at the telephone then her parchment and gestured at him to be quiet. "Well, what about Imperius?" she asked, then shrieked as her Dad put a cold hand on her cheek. "Dad!" she wailed, as he smiled at her.

"Tell Remus I said hello."

"Dad says hello," she told Remus dutifully, and then shooed her dad until he disappeared into the living room.

Remus chuckled. "How's everything at St Mungo's?"

Dora shrugged even though she knew he couldn't see her. "I don't know. Probably the same as always, filled with sick people. What about the Imperius curse?"

Remus laughed at her impatience. "Fine. Imperius takes away your right to choose. It's a basic human right, and it's overpowered by someone else. It's a horrible spell."

"Was it ever used on you?" she asked curiously.

"No." The answer was short, and there was a pause afterwards. "But I think your Mom was once."

"Really? That's so cool!" Nymphadora exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that it was an unforgivable curse they were talking about.

"Not really," Remus reminded. "They could have got her to do anything. Kill you, your Dad. anything."

"Oh." Suitably sobered, Nymphadora made a mental note to ask her mother about it later. "Okay. So what about crucio? There's lots of spells that cause pain, right? Mom said that most wizards knew spells that were just as bad, but weren't illegal."

"That's true," Remus said slowly, "but most wizards don't know them. It's only a handful. And they take longer to cast. Crucio is quick and easy."

"Okay." Her scrawl now covered most of the parchment and she sighed knowing she'd have to rewrite the whole essay. At least now with Remus' help, she had enough information to fill the required number of inches. "Thanks."

"No problem." She could hear the smile in his voice. "Tell your Mom I heard that Mrs Brink is retiring."

"Okay," she promised dully.

"And tell her thanks for the reference."

"I will." Nymphadora paused. "Remus?"

"Yes?"

"When are you coming round again? I haven't seen you in aaaages." She was twisting the phone cord around her fingers again, almost anxious as she waited for his reply.

"I don't know," he told her. "Anyway, you don't need to see me. You've got all your friends from school. And your mom tells me you're enamoured of a certain Thomas Spenser. Surely you'll be too busy mooning over him to even talk to me."

Shut up! I am not," she protested, feeling the colour in her cheeks flare.

Remus laughed. "I'll see if I can come over soon. If your parents will let me."

"They will," Nymphadora promised immediately. "You know they will. They love seeing you."

Remus nodded, glancing at the clock. "I've got to go. I'll see you soon."

She grinned. "'Kay. Bye."

As her Mom walked through the hall, Nymphadora began, "Remus says Mrs Brink's retiring, thankyou for the reference and can he come over soon?"

Andromeda raised an eyebrow. "Was that last one him or you?"
"Well, me, but he wants to come," her daughter said hopefully.

"Yes, I don't see why not. We can invite Tom and Sarah at the same time," Andromeda replied, ruffling her daughter's hair. "Though you are not to tell little Micah that you coloured your hair with felt tip, do you hear me? It took Tom weeks to get the orange out last time."