Hermione waited till she and Willow were a good ways from Draco before she burst, "Did you really?"

Willow regarded her dully before asking, "Did I really what?"

Hermione frowned, where was this girl's emotions? She'd been briefly, mind you only briefly, annoyed with Draco, but that was it, now she was back to being well gone.

"Did you really date a werewolf?"

"I," Willow started then paused considering how much to reveal to the girl beside her. She'd been warned not to tell too much of the circumstances that brought her here. She'd been told some of the children's parents supported these peoples' big bad and that they wanted to bring as little attention to her as possible. Giles had warned her that this guy might try to sway her back to darkness, that he was powerful now. Willow contemplated this a moment. She'd already been Sunnydale's big bad twice, if she counted her doppelganger, and she didn't want a repeat performance. Hermione had inquired about Oz though. Oz was a safe subject wasn't he? He'd left over two years before she'd gone evil.

"Yes," she managed, "yes, I did."

Hermione stared at her amazed a moment. It was one thing to respect a werewolf as a teacher, but to actually date one? She had to ask, "What was that like?"

"Well Oz was," Willow paused considering how to best describe Oz, "he was exactly what I needed when I dated him. He noticed me and loved me in a time when I barely noticed myself. It, he, helped to give me strength to believe in myself."

"That's, that's…and the werewolf part didn't bother you?"

"It was only three days out of the month."

Hermione frowned at that explanation. Everything she'd ever read on werewolves indicated otherwise. According to what she understood, those with lycanthropy always had the wolf inside them and even in human form often retained some of the instincts and senses of that wolf. Clearly they were only in full wolf form for three days, but in some way they were always the wolf.

Hermione was just about to give comment to this, complete with quotes from books, when they reached the classroom. She decided to keep her mouth shut, she wasn't about to take the chance that she might insult one of her favorite professors.

Inside the classroom Professor Remus Lupin smiled softly as he listened to Harry and Ron retell their last visit to Hogsmeade. He hadn't started class yet for Hermione hadn't showed up with the new student. He'd been at the meeting regarding her. He knew her name was Willow Rosenberg. He knew why she'd been sent to Hogworts. He just hadn't met her yet.

Idly he smiled as he caught Hermione's scent and another scent just outside his door. Rather suddenly he stood. Harry and Ron fell silent.

"Is everything all right Professor?" Harry asked in concern.

Lupin didn't answer, he was distracted by something he'd caught in that scent. What caught his attention wasn't anything that was a major part of her scent, it was something intermingled in it, something old. It was something only a wolf would smell. It screamed to the wolf in him to stay away, that she belonged to another wolf, that she was somebody's mate.

Barely even acknowledging that Harry had asked a question Lupin left his classroom. This was the closest he'd ever gotten to another wolf sans the experience where he'd been bit. He couldn't help that this required his full focus. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"Hermione," he greeted, "why don't you go inside. I'd like to have a word with Ms. Rosenberg before I start class."

"Professor, are you all right?" Hermione inquired.

"I'm perfectly all right, now go."

"Are you sure, you look a bit..."

"Hermione go," Lupin cut her off with a growl. Hermione frowned at him worriedly before entering the classroom and shutting the door behind her. Inwardly he chastised himself, he'd never been short with a student before and he'd certainly never growled at one. He closed his eyes a moment to try and steady himself, but he found it difficult. The wolf in this girl's scent was unnerving. Briefly he considered transferring her to Snape's class. No, he decided, he was not going to tuck tail and run from this. He was going to get some answers. Opening his eyes he smiled at the girl before him.

"Ms. Rosenberg," he greeted. This caused her to blink at him a few times as if coming out of a daze, as if she hadn't really been paying any attention to him at all, as if her mind had been elsewhere.

He made note of that and decided to check with Dumbledore about it before he continued, "I'm Professor Lupin."

"Oh!" Willow smiled at him, "Hello, nice to meet you."

"I'm, well, I," he frowned. If he wanted answers he'd have to tell her what he was and he was finding that difficult.

"A werewolf?" she provided.

"How did you..."

"The kid with the Spike hair told me. At first I thought he kind looked like Spike, but now I realize it was all about the hair, which doesn't even work than because Spike dyes his hair, or bleaches it, or something. And I'm thinking somehow this kid's was natural. So actually he's not like Spike at all. Actually he was more like Cordelia, before we graduated, what with that haughty attitude of his. Actually no, that's not right either. Cordelia's insults were always better, more thought out, more biting, but then I haven't really talked to him much yet so I could be wrong and-Oh! I'm babbling again. I'm sorry, I do that sometimes and I'll stop now."

Lupin didn't know what to say when she abruptly cut herself off. Most of what she had said had gone over his head. Who were Spike and Cordelia? For that matter who was this kid who told her he was a werewolf? Oh wait, she'd mentioned a haughty attitude, had to be Malfoy. Lupin suppressed the angry growl that rose in the back of his throat as he thought of that boy. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

"You, you're someone's mate?" he managed to ask.

"Huh?"

"I smell another wolf on you."

A slight look of panic came into Willow's face as she asked, "You can smell Oz? On me? But I haven't seen him in two years."

"But you were mates?" he pressed.

"Well we did, if that's what you mean."

Okay, that was more information then he needed. Or maybe it was the information he needed. Then she summed up his exact thoughts, "This is strange."

"I agree. I've never really encountered another werewolf before and I'd be rather interesting in talking to you about it."

"Oh, um, okay. I'm suppose to meet Headmaster Dumbledore, am I suppose to call him Headmaster or can I just call him Dumbledore? Well um I'm supposed to meet with him after diner, so maybe after that?"

"You'll have to ask the Headmaster what he'd like you to call him. I'll be in my office for most of tonight, why don't you stop by when it's convenient. I'd give you directions, but everything likes to change, it'd be safer just to ask one of the students to show you."

"Okay, we'll talk later tonight then."

He gave her a soft smile, "I look forward to it."

Inside the classroom Hermione was worried. She'd never seen Professor Lupin like that, never really seen the wolf inside him affect him. That had to be what had caused his odd behavior, after all Willow had once dated a werewolf. He must have sense it somehow, she thought to herself.

Frowning she looked at the class, their eyes were all on her. Dean Thomas, a fellow Gryffindor had asked her if the Professor was all right.

"He's fine Dean. He just wanted to talk to Willow before class started," she somehow managed to lie.

"He didn't look 'fine', are you sure Hermione?" Harry asked. His face mirrored her concern. Trust Harry to know something was definitely off about Professor Lupin's behavior.

"Later," she told him. Ron looked ready to protest that.

She cut him off before he could start, "Later Ron." When all three of us are alone, she added silently.

Note:

Random Artemis - Thanks. D/G are my fav HP couple too. Thanks for pointing out my errors. I went back and reread everything and then changed a few small things. Hopefully I caught everything. I try, but I always manage to miss something.

alienbeing - Yea the point kinda scared me too, but she did do as he asked so he had to give her something. Ginny hitting Draco? Oh! You're reading my mind aren't you? I always thought Draco would like it if he got roughed up a bit. Anyway thanx for the review. Hopefully you liked this one too.

I want to apologize for the lack of BTVS in here because I did post this in the BTVS crossover section and it's more HP then anything else. I'm actually only planning on bring in three chars for this piece. Giles and Willow you already know and the other should be showing up in a while.

As to the werewolf thing, hopefully you liked that twist. Werewolves fascinate me to an extent and I wanted to include something here. I love the thought of Lupin and Oz meeting.

As for the Draco/Spike/Cordelia rant by Willow, that was based off a real time conversation with my cousin Missy. As for any likeness between Spike and Draco I leave you with her words, "It freaked me out."

Anyway I'm done ranting now. Hope you liked the update.

-Rivulet027