Teddy Lupin
A/N – I think it would be impossible to have Neville as your teacher and not end up frightening him in some way.
It wasn't exactly an uncommon event for me to have been patrolling the corridors and hear a yelp of pure fear from around the corner, but it still wasn't really what I wanted to hear. I hurried, as quickly as I could with my cane getting in the way, around to where the noise was coming from, and wasn't overly surprised to see Neville lying on the floor, though, oddly, Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley were next to him, in hysterical laughter.
"What is going on?" I asked sharply, even though I was completely bemused.
When Teddy saw me, he jumped with fear, and he couldn't even have seen my face by the time he started to look a little guilty, though Victoire still had a tiny smile on her face behind her own look of guilt. What was really puzzling me, however, was that Teddy's hair was long and black, and he seemed to be wearing his dressing gown like a hooded cloak.
Neither Teddy nor Victoire seemed in any hurry to tell me what on earth had been going on, and Neville was still dusting himself off, but I continued to stare at the three of them, waiting for answers. Eventually, Teddy, giving a sideways glance at Victoire, spoke.
"Sorry, Professor," he mumbled, not meeting my eye.
I looked at him sternly. "What were you two doing, Mr Lupin?" I said, refusing to let it go.
At that moment, though, Neville finished dusting all the sand (who knew how that had got onto the floor of the corridor by History of Magic) off of him, and turned to look at me, seeming a little shellshocked.
"They were… behaving inappropriately, Professor," he said, his face turning pink even as he had said that.
It took me a second to understand exactly what they had been doing, but I quickly realised, and tried not to blush myself. "Well then," I said, continuing to gaze severely at the two of them. "I think you'd better follow me, Mr Lupin, Miss Weasley."
Looking resigned, the two of them did what they were told, and followed me, seemingly avoiding the eyes of the other.
When we reached my office, I didn't say anything as I sat down at my desk and they sat down opposite me, but left them to explain, only raising my eyebrows at them in a questioning way.
"We're supposed to be doing a presentation for History of Magic," Teddy began, talking, apparently, as fast as he possibly could. "About dementors, and that's why I'm dressed as a dementor and we were practising in the classroom, and it… er…"
Teddy trailed off at that point, glancing quickly as Victoire, who wasn't saying anything, and didn't seem able to meet my eye. I didn't mind as much about this as I might have with another student, because I knew very well how shy Victoire was.
To my surprise, though, she spoke just as I was about to quiz Teddy some more. "We didn't mean to scare Professor Longbottom," she said softly. "I think he thought Teddy was a real dementor, and that he was trying to suck out my soul."
"It was an accident," put in Teddy helpfully. "And we only laughed because it looked a bit funny."
Trying myself not to laugh at that bizarre comment, I looked at the pair of them. "That doesn't excuse your behaviour," I told them unrelentingly, gearing up to give them a full lecture. "I don't know what wouldexc-"
It was at that moment that there was a sharp knock on the door, and once invited, Neville's head appeared at the door. "Sorry, Professor," he said, looking a little awkward. "I think this might be Teddy's sword."
I got up and reached out to take it, gearing myself up for a very, very long conversation.
A/N – I don't think I want to know what they were doing with that sword, to be honest.
