McGonagall hated paperwork just about as much as Hermione did, Remus decided once he'd been called into the woman's office. Her Transfiguration office, that is. Despite the fact that she was, of course, the new headmistress, she was still holding her position as Transfiguration professor for another year, as it was such short notice and – really – there was no one qualified enough to take over the position after her leave.
He'd merely been walking down the hallway with Padfoot, talking and wondering about the upcoming school year, when they'd passed by her open door, making her call him in for a moment. He'd grimaced and Sirius had snickered before continuing his walk down the hallway, leaving him to go into her classroom and follow her up the stairs to her office.
Her office was much tidier than Hermione's, although then again they hadn't been bugging McGonagall as much as they had Hermione. It still looked the same, after countless numbers of times he and his friends had landed themselves in detention with her.
"So I hear," she began, a small frown on her face and a crease in between her eyebrows as she looked at a paper before glancing up at him, "You seem to have some ill feelings towards our newest professor. Is that correct?"
Remus gave a sigh and slumped in his chair. Great, he'd been called in to his former professor's office to talk about his feelings. How terribly girly. "James or Sirius?"
"Both, and Miss Lovegood," she said with a small smile as she set down her quill. "I heard something about arrogance, bossiness, and twattiness." Remus cracked a grin – McGonagall had just said twat. She rolled her eyes at him, but smiled as well. Remus had always been the more rational Marauder, and he hadn't gotten on her nerves as much as his friends had, and he made good marks and was rather quiet throughout his younger years. "Mister Lupin, while I believe it is your decision to dislike who you want to, I am just extremely surprised you two haven't hit it off right the bat."
"Why?" he asked curiously, sitting up a little.
"You have many things in common," she said rather fondly, "Rather smart, troublemakers, very protective of their friends, brave and increasingly stubborn."
"I'm nothing like her," Remus insisted moodily, looking down at his hands.
McGonagall let him think to himself for a few moments before sighing, resting her head against her hand, "I really shouldn't. But…yes – you are extremely alike. During the War, Miss Granger was captured and tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. She is scarred and keeps it hidden, even from many of her friends, Miss Lovegood and Miss Weasley being the only ones who know, I believe. And – please, keep this to yourself – but while Bellatrix tortured her, she'd carved 'Mudblood' into her arm. She can no longer escape the word and the hatred behind it."
Guilt, unbelievable guilt washed over Remus in the matter of two seconds. His mouth dropped open and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. "I – I always assumed she was – I never thought – I'm a –"
She waved his stammering away, looking at him sternly, "You are to tell no one, not even her, of this. But please, Mister Lupin – she's been through far too much, far too much scrutiny, and far too much judgment. She is a good person, so please – at the very least – respect her."
Remus dragged his hands over his face and nodded.
"Oy, watch it!" Hermione glared at James as he grinned sheepishly at her, hiding his wand behind his back.
"Hah, how'd that do that?" he asked, swatting out the smoke from her hair as she glared even harder at him. They looked up when the door opened, both smiling at Remus as he walked in before it quickly turned to looks of worry. "Hey, mate, you alright?"
"Fine," he lied, settling down into the chair and hanging his head, rubbing the back of his neck, staring down at his shoes. He blinked when big brown eyes and a worried expression looking up at him, tugging her curly hair out of her mouth. He cracked a small grin and moved as she popped up and looked at him curiously.
"Was that a smile?" she questioned.
"No," he said, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from doing it again.
"It was too!" she insisted with a grin before looking at him worriedly once more, "What's wrong?"
"I just – err – kind of realized we're stuck here, like it finally set in or something," he said rather lamely.
Hermione gave him a soft smile and patted his shoulder, "I'm sorry, I understand it's very hard on you four. At least it's not, like, fifty years or one hundred and you'd be completely lost or anything."
"Pfft, weird way of cheering someone up, but I'll take it," he said, rolling his eyes and standing. James thumped him on the back with a grin.
"Hey, maybe we can make up a new Map," James said as they began to leave.
"No," Remus insisted, Hermione chorusing with him. James sighed and flung his hands in the air, muttering about the both of them. Once the door was shut, James whirled around on his heel and arched an eyebrow at him.
"Finally set in?"
"Yup," Remus sighed.
"Feel guilty?"
"Completely," he admitted.
"Good," he said before punching his shoulder with a grin, "Glad you've started to come to your senses. Hey, she said she'd set us up with some 'moo-vies' tonight, it'll be fun, are you going to come?"
"Sure, and it's not – no, never mind," he sighed and rolled his eyes before following him down the hall.
