Special Circumstances
A/N: I have often wondered which professor, exactly, was the Head of Ravenclaw. I have searched throughout the books, but as far as I can tell, J.K. Rowlings has never came out and said who it was. So unless someone can point out in (Merciful heavens, a REVIEW!!) who exactly has the honor of being in charge of the house, I will assume it is our lovely Professor Sinistra who is, unless I'm not much mistaken, the astronomy professor.
The ride from the Hogsmeade train station to Hogwarts was anything but routine.
Even as Ron was planning on sitting next to Lynn on the coach-ride to the wizarding school, Remus had headed toward the professors' compartment to join his colleagues in the professors' coach later on. The conductor had announced it was approximately twenty minutes before arrival and Remus had both grown weary of the incessant quidditch jabbering and the frequent feelings of deja-vou toward this Lynnette Alkaiser. He figured he'd leave Sirius both to keep order in the compartment and to spend some time with his godson before classes started.
He set his bags down onto the floor with a thud and brush a strand of hair out of his face.
He lowered his hand to open the door, but he was beat to it by Minerva McGonagall.
She stared at him and it was apparent that it took her a few moments to recognize him.
My, but he changed, the deputy headmistress thought as she scanned him over with her eyes.
Still thin, she mused, placing a hand on the doorframe. But he looked much healthier now and it was apparent that he wasn't living a life as strenuous as the one before since some of the silver in his hair had left him.
Looking him over once again, she noticed that his robes were brand-new and he carried a bit more luggage than he had four years ago.
"Remus," she smiled at him, briefly wrapping him in a hug which he warmly returned.
"It's good to have you back again," she said, releasing him from her almost motherly embrace.
Indeed, when he had come in his first year, looking pale and sickly, the woman could not help but feel something maternal toward the child who had obviously been emotionally torn by his lycanthropy at such a young age. And, as she had never had any children of her own, she had more or less become this boy's home-away-from-hom mother while he been in Gryffindor, and as such, under her care.
"Minerva!" he exclaimed with a smile.
"What are you doing here? I thought that as Deputy Headmistress, you'd already be up at the castle?" he inquired more than stated of her, raising a worried eyebrow.
Hearing a rustling behind her, the Transfiguration professor was suddenly aware of her colleagues behind her.
She lowered her voice.
"Yes, well," she cleared her throat, "Special circumstances arose, Remus."
Then, as an afterthought, she added, "I'm sure you'll find out about that later," ignoring the intrigued look on his curious face.
He didn't have time to respond as Professor Sinistra, as well as the other professors in the back, suddenly caught sight of him.
Snape, unfortunately, was included.
"Lupin," the Potion's Master snarled, narrowing his eyes immediately.
"Where's that dolt that follows you around like a puppy do--"
"Lupin!" Sinistra suddenly cried out, drowning Severus out. Though whether this was intentional or not, Remus wasn't quite sure. Judging by the broad smile upon her cheerful face, she was obviously ecstatic to see him.
Remus grinned. "Hello, Sylvia!"
He had always liked the woman. She had graduated Hogwarts and automatically returned to teach in his fourth year. She had become the Head of Ravenclaw the year after and it was a joke between her and Minerva that the Sorting Hat had made a mistake and was too intellectual to belong in Gryffindor.
What Remus had never told either of them was that the Sorting Hat had actually intended on placing him in the House of the Intelligent.
"Plenty of loyalty," the Sorting Hat had said. "Lots of courage in you, too… Ambition, yes, but heavens!," it explaimed. "You wouldn't be happy in Slytherin at all."
"Eh…what's this?" it had suddenly inquired. "You have an extraordinary amount of intelligence! This settles it! You obviously belong in –"
"NO!!" Remus had thought feverishly, jamming the hat down further on his head. "Put me with James and Sirius!!"
"Eh…all right, then, if that's what you want, then it's---"
Remus felt himself pulled down from his flashbacks by many of the professors and he settled down next to Sylvia. Looking around with a boyish little grin on his face, his smile was suddenly shot down by the look that Severus had shot him. He had obviously wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts position again this year…
Mercifully, his stare was broken away by Flitwick's high-pitched voice.
"How are you holding out for yourself, dear lad?" asked the kindly professor, who was sitting on his trunk in order to be seen from behind his towering colleagues.
"Quite good in fact," Remus replied with a good-natured smile. "I held a job at a local chain of potion ingredient stores(At this, many of the professors offered a glance at Severus who merely scowled and looked out the window), but I was laid off after…" he broke off and the other professors nodded knowingly.
"These are hard times," Sylvia said softly.
To everyone's surprise, Severus spoke, though he didn't remove his gaze from the window. "Yes…you never know who you can and cannot trust these days."
"Then again," he said suddenly, turning to the werewolf.
"There are some creatures who should never be trusted, regardless the times," he glared, an icy tone to his voice.
Remus flushed at this and Severus was awarded by several rather hostile glares coming from the Astronomy and Transfiguration professors.
At that moment, the train stopped and the Potion's professor was saved from several biting remarks from Sylvia Sinistra.
Severus at once stood up from his seat and opened the door, glancing back to give Remus a glare.
Turning back, he took a step, then fell flat on his face after tripping on Remus' luggage which had been left outside the compartment.
A number of snorts were heard coming from the professors' compartment and when he hastily stood up, he found himself looking into Sirius Black's smiling face.
After Severus stalked off with as much dignity as he could muster, Sirius turned back to the professors, flashing them one of his infamous, mischievous grins.
"He didn't seem too happy about seeing me again, did he?" he remarked cheerfully.
Remus shook his head and picked up his bags, obviously amused, despite his efforts to seem neutral about the entire episode.
He was about to exit the Hogwart's Express when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Turning back idly, he saw a curious look on the Deputy Headmistress' face.
"Ah…Remus," she started, eying Sirius over Remus' shoulder.
The HoM professor raised his eyebrows, but nodded and went on his way, understanding the look as a signal to leave.
Remus looked after his friend a moment then turned back to McGonagall. His expression was one of question and the look only increased when he saw Sinistra standing next to her, her own bags in hand.
Sylvia watched his eyes trail over behind her and saw him blink in surprise when he saw the women's two newest students.
Remus was silent for most of the coach ride back to Hogwarts. Minerva was sitting in front of him on the red-velvet-lined coach, Lynn was sitting quietly in between himself and Sylvia, and Allen was sitting next to the Transfiguration professor to her right, just in front of his sister.
He heard his former teacher explain how the Alkaisers had both been home-schooled for the past six years and he nodded dumbly, waiting for the idle chat to die out before she got to the point.
He turned away from the Gryffindor Head as she spoke and looked at Allen who was gazing at the Hogwart's coat of arms on both sides of the coach. Remus felt a small crawl on his skin and he then glanced at Lynn who looked up at the same time. Their eyes met and once again, he felt that sense of familiarity, but this time, he felt a small feeling of warmth down in the pit of his stomach.
He broke their eye-contact to turn back towards McGonagall and it wasn't until then that he realized…
Amber eyes.
The girl didn't have light brown eyes as it seemed on first-glance.
She had amber eyes, a similar color to his. He supposed it was off by only a shade or two. She was a…
He was suddenly aware of Minerva's casual small-talk in the back of his head, but he wasn't looking at her.
His eyes were upon the Ravenclaw professor and he continued watching her until she turned around.
She smiled a little when she turned to face him, but her smile dropped at the mixture of alarm, shock, and horror on his face.
So he found out by himself she mused to herself, flashing him a smile as if to reassure him. She wasn't at all surprised. She had suspected that he would find out on his own. Werewolves had a knack at recognizing each other, or so she had heard somewhere. If anything, she was surprised he hadn't realized it sooner when he had been in the same train compartment with the Alkaisers earlier.
"Lynn and Allen have been sorted already," Minerva's voice rang in his head.
"Eh…?"
He winced in self-disgust shortly after. He hadn't meant to make it obvious that he had been ignoring everything she had been saying.
His former professor looked annoyed that he had been drowning her out, and she repeated herself sternly.
"I said, Remus," she said shortly. "That Allen and Lynn Alkaiser have been sorted into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, respectively."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Allen glance at the woman next to him, his sister, then back out the window.
"Oh…" What else could he say?
The sleek black coach pulled through the gates of the school and Remus opened his door first, politely holding it open for Lynn and Sylvia to get through.
He closed the door after them and when he turned around, he saw Minerva waiting for him.
So…she waits until they're gone to get to the point.
She carefully looked around once as if to make sure no one was within earshot.
"Remus," she said, looking him in the eye, brown eyes meeting amber. "There's something you should know about them," she said slowly.
He picked his bags up and smiled good-naturedly at her. He decided to go ahead and let her explain the situation to him.
It wouldn't hurt, he thought to himself, smirking inwardly. Go on and let her feel she's done her job adequately.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The castle towered over them, the dim lights shining in the eye-like windows, making it seem alive against the black night sky.
"You think we'll ever see it again?" Harry breathed, his eyes upon the castle and the midnight sky it dwelled in. "Like this, I mean."
Hermione looked thoughtful at his words while Ron merely smirked and slapped his friend on the back.
"Cheer up, you big prat," he grinned, his trademark Weasley grin illuminating his face all the way up to his bright scalp. "We still have an entire year to wreck mischief and mayhem all over the school."
Hermione rolled her eyes and adjusted the badge that contrasted so sharply against the black school robes.
She had, of course, been made Head Girl. And as far as that went with her two best friends, (as well as with the rest of the school) there were no surprises there.
They all took one last look at Hogwarts against the night sky before they marched up the path and into the castle.
The Sorting had been even better than Sirius had remembered.
Watching the nervous-looking first years scramble up onto the stool had brought back flashes of his own Sorting.
He had been
nervous, yes, but he would never had admitted it to anyone. Behind that confident smirk and the mischievous
glint in his eye, he was scared.
What if he had been placed
into Hufflepuff? he had wondered. Or worse, he thought. Slytherin.
Before he knew it, he heard the witch with the rectangular lenses shouted, "Black, Sirius!" And instead of scampering up to the stool like his stomach was telling him to, he forced himself to walk casually across the Great Hall, waving to many of the students, many of which he already knew.
The hat hadn't taken long – almost as soon as he placed the senile hat upon his head, it had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!!!"
The sudden appearance of food on his golden plate stirred him out of his reminiscing. He picked up his fork from the mahogany table and looked around him once again.
His eyes darted over to the House banners briefly, his eyes resting on the red and golden-colored one bearing the "G" and the lion. He looked below it and his eyes skimmed over students, settling upon the trio Remus was fond of calling the, "New-Age Marauders."
Allowing himself a brief stare at his godson, he was about to turn away when he noticed the boy sitting next to Ron glance over at him.
No…he thought. Not looking at me…
He was looking at Moony.
Raising an eyebrow, he took a bite of his steak and jabbed Remus in the ribs inconspicuously under the table.
He swallowed the piece of meat ravenously and didn't look up when he felt Remus' eyes on him.
"What's with the kid?" he muttered under his breath, picking up a forkful of mashed potatoes. He gestured it toward the Gryffindor table in a very slight movement.
Remus' gaze traveled over to the table and he didn't notice anything strange until Allen glanced up at him. Remus flashed him a polite smile, which he returned for a split-second before returning to his plate.
"I'm not entirely sure," Remus confessed softly, taking a sip of his soup and trying to ignore the crawl on his skin.
Dljewel: I think that answers your question. ^_^
Angela: Me?! Make REMUS out to be homosexual? Would I make the man I adore out to be gay? Come on… You know me better than that. ~_^