*Disclaimer* Harry Potter and all of it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling, it is not mine, and I am not making any money off of this story.

Driven Under

Chapter Five

"Please, sit down." Professor Lupin gestured toward a chair in front of his desk. Liz obliged, sinking into the plush material of the big red armchair. She looked around the office, which she had never even set foot in before. Despite being a pretty large room, it was cozy and warm. There was a fireplace on one wall, with a couple of chairs facing it and a tea table between them. There was a door behind the desk, leading to what she presumed to be his private quarters. Artwork adorned the walls, mostly paintings of knights in armor and other medieval scenes, which were quite common to Hogwarts. Liz noticed that there were no pictures of his family or friends. 'Odd' she thought, 'He seems the type to have his office crammed with personal things' There were no windows in the entire room, since the location of the office was almost exactly in the heart of Hogwarts. Lit candles of different shapes and size were spread about the room to make up for the lack of natural light, enchanted so that they would never go out or catch anything on fire. 'That's good,' Liz thought, 'as there are at least 15 candles alone on the piano, and he certainly wouldn't want the sheet music-Wait!' "You-you have your own piano in here?" she stuttered, her eyes wide, overwhelmed from seeing her favorite thing in the world for the first time in over two months. Lupin looked up from the papers he was putting on his desk. He smiled at the look on her face. "Yes, I put in a special request with professor Dumbledore to have a piano moved in here." "Can-can I play it? Please?" she begged, already half-standing. He laughed. "Hold on, hold on!" he protested. "After we talk, you can play to your heart's desire!" "Okayyy.." She said reluctantly, sitting back down. "But talk fast, I'm my fingers are practically trembling!" He laughed again. "I can see that, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until we're finished." "Okay, now let's get down to business. I supposed you're wondering what I wanted to speak to you about." She nodded. "Well, it's actually because I'm a bit worried about Stephanie. I've noticed that the two of you are very close, and I was curious to see if you had any insight to what's wrong. Her grades in my class have been slipping since day one, and she just seems a bit out of it all. For instance, last Thursday," he said, referring to last week's DADA class when Stephanie had broken her quill in half, causing her to burst out crying. "Yes, I remember," Liz said with a grimace. She remembered it quite well, thank you, since she had been the one that had spent five minutes trying to console her sobbing friend, with little success. "So, do you have any ideas on what it be, then?" Professor Lupin asked apprehensively. "Yes, actually I do. Though I'm afraid I can't say, as I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, I can assure you that she's all better now, at least as far as I can tell." "So you're sure she's alright, then?" he asked her. "Appearances can be deceiving, you know." With that, his eyes clouded over and his mouth set itself in a firm line. Liz noticed the sudden change in his demeanor. "Are you alright, Professor?" she asked with real concern. "Yes, yes I'm fine," he answered. "It's just that things can be going on inside of people's heads that no one else can sense. Trust me, I've seen it happen." He frowned "Well, I'm very glad to hear that she confided in you. Talking to someone about your problems can do a world of good." His face darkened even more, his mind lost in thought. "Professor, are you sure something's not bothering you?" she asked him. Usually she wouldn't pry like this into one of her teacher's business, but the man looked totally angst ridden. "Yes, it's nothing, I promise." He told her, managing a small smile. 'Nothing indeed!' she thought. "You know, a wise man once told me that talking about your problems can do a world of good,' she said softly, grinning slightly. He laughed, and his face brightened again.

"Touché! Now, how about we discontinue this serious discussion and you go sit in front of that piano and play me something." "Alright, if you insist.." She said in mock reluctance. She strode over to the piano, sat down, and glanced at the sheets of music in front of her. One of Chopin's nocturnes! She remembered the summer three years ago when she had driven her parents crazy memorizing them all. She hoped she remembered well enough to sound okay in front of Professor Lupin. She did. "Bravo!" he clapped after she finished. "Fine work!" "Well, I think that it's only fair that you play something for me now, Professor Lupin!" she said with a smile. "Not right now, I'm afraid, I have a class very shortly. Come back another time and we'll have ourselves our own little recital!" he said, smiling at her. "Now hurry to Transfiguration, and take my note with me, or else I can guarantee that you'll have detention with Professor McGonagal for the rest of the year!" he said, shooing her out the door. 'Well, even if I can't go out with him, he is a really good teacher, and a great friend, too!'

The second Liz shut the door behind her, Remus sank back into his chair and massaged his temples, trying to ease his building headache. 'It's Rachel all over again,' he thought, thinking of Stephanie. 'No it's not, Remus! Stephanie is going to be fine! It's nothing like what happened to Rachel!' Still, he couldn't help thinking of how much Stephanie's behavior reminded him of Rachel's; the sudden withdrawal from the things and people she loved, the failed tests, the heartbreakingly sad look in her eyes.all of those things that had eventually led Remus to gently force the truth out of his best friend, and then look what had happened. "Don't think about that!" Remus moaned to himself softly, laying his head down on the table. The full moon was a whole two days away, and already he was feeling the effects. Being a werewolf was a real pain in the ass sometimes. He went back to his living quarters and took some sleeping pills, and then collapsed on his bed. "Thank God I don't have a class," Remus murmured, immediately feeling guilty for lying to Liz. 'For her sake I hope history doesn't repeat itself' was his last thought as he fell into a medication induced sleep.

A/N: For those of you who are thinking "What's the big deal about divorced parents?", for the sake of my story (hehe) let's pretend that it's a HUGE deal (and very embarrassing) for two wizards to get a divorce. That said, keep reading, because more depressing stuff is definitely going to happen to Liz and crew..