A fifth year Ravenclaw (Bellamy Stern) falls in love with the mysterious new DADA teacher, Remus Lupin. This story takes place in Harry Potter's third year, though he only appears once or twice.
Caution: Contains book 3 spoilers and a student/teacher relationship (sort of).
Disclaimer: I only own the plot, the Garrisey's and Bellamy. All other places and names belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 1: School Shopping
It was a pleasantly warm August day in Diagon Alley. A slight breeze cooled off the young witches and wizards out shopping for Hogwarts school supplies. Many laughing first years piled into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, buying their new school robes. Another particularly large group of kids was crowding around the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, eying the newest broomstick. A teenage witch watched them gaping and chuckled at the sight, remembering how she too used to admire the brand new racing brooms. Bellamy Stern, her name was, and she was watching them from a small table outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Bellamy was a tallish girl of 15, with big hazel eyes and black hair that came to her elbows. She was a pretty girl, though a shy and modest one as well. She sighed and turned back to her school supply list as she finished a double scoop of honey-vanilla ice cream.
"All I need now are my new books," Bellamy muttered to herself. "The Monster Book of Monsters, Advanced Transfiguration, and The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five."
She licked the remnants of her ice cream off of her fingers, lifted a sack of money and several shopping bags, and set off. On the way to Flourish and Blotts, Bellamy got a closer look at the broomstick through a sea of short, black robed students. It was called the Firebolt and it looked pretty impressive. She took in every angle, every aspect of the broom and was amazed. It was truly a piece of work. Bellamy regained her senses a moment later and kept walking towards the bookshop. She had almost forgotten; she had to finish her shopping that day, so she could catch the Hogwarts Express the next morning. And she had to walk all the way to King's Cross. Alone. Her parents were busy with their jobs as Aurors so they couldn't stay with her and take her to the station. Instead they Disapparated right after they had dropped her off at the Leaky Cauldron and paid for her room.
As she walked into the bookstore, Bellamy saw a giant cage full of scaly books that seemed to be alive (and rather violent) in the center of the room. There was a big sign attached to the cage:
The Monster Book of Monsters -- buy at own risk. Ask for assistance.
She shuddered. What kind of professor would assign homicidal textbooks? Obviously their new Care of Magical Creatures teacher was off his rocker. Bellamy avoided these and found the other two titles on her list first. When she had picked up the other books she approached the cage again and tapped a harried looking attendant on the shoulder. He seemed to jump about three feet in the air.
"Ca-can I h-h-help y-you, M-miss?" he asked, shaking and twitching.
"Uh, yeah," Bellamy answered, giving him and odd look. "I need one of those." She pointed to the brawling books behind him.
"Oh no," he whimpered to himself as he pulled on some thick gloves. He reached into the cage and quickly grabbed one of the Monster Books. It snapped and struggled as he stuffed it into a large bag and sealed the top.
"There you are," he said, thrusting the rustling bag into her hands.
"Thanks." She smiled and went up to the counter to pay.
* * * * *
Bellamy awoke the next morning to the sounds of some relatively rowdy wizards in the pub next door. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was already 9 AM. Great, I'm gonna miss the train, she thought. Angry with herself, she hastily sprung out of bed and threw on her best set of Muggle clothes, which was a pair of baggy khaki pants and a purple and pink t-shirt. Pulling her dark hair up into a quick ponytail, she stuffed her robes and new books into her trunk and placed her wand on top. With one last look in the mirror, she rolled her trunk out into the hallway and was about to set off when--
"Bellamy, is that you?" came a familiar voice from behind in the corridor. Bellamy turned around. It was her best friend Krystal Garrisey. She looked like a total polar opposite to Bellamy, with wavy blonde hair that fell to her shoulders and sparkling blue eyes. But although on the outside they were different, on the inside they were like twins.
"Krystal!" she exclaimed, hugging her best friend. "What're you doing here?"
"Same as you," Krystal replied. "Getting ready to go to King's Cross."
"This early?"
"Yeah, well we were thinking of stopping for some breakfast along the way."
"Oh that sounds great," said Bellamy with an envious groan, "but I don't have time for my breakfast. I have to walk."
"Walk?" Krystal looked genuinely shocked. "I refuse to let you walk to that train station alone. Especially in a Muggle town!"
"My parents had to leave, though, and--"
"And you're coming with us," Krystal finished. "My dad rented a car. We can all squeeze in."
Bellamy was relieved, but with some hesitation she remembered her manners.
"I really don't want to impose or anything…"
"We don't mind in the least!" exclaimed Mr. Garrisey, who'd just emerged from the door right behind Krystal. He was wearing what appeared to be a blue jumper with several holes and jeans that were a bit too long. A little boy of about eight, who was dragging along a trunk similar to Bellamy's, followed him. The boy was Krystal's little brother, Devin, who both Bellamy and Krystal knew as a real pest.
"That's awfully kind of you," said Bellamy graciously, nodding. "I would have hated to walk…er…I mean, thank you very much."
Mr. Garrisey chuckled. "Anything for a friend of Krystal." He looked at his watch. "Oh my, 9:30 already. We better get going. I was thinking of buying a big breakfast over at this lovely little Muggle diner down the road before you caught the train. Now what was it called again…"
"The Early Bird Café, Dad," said Devin, glaring.
"He hates it when I go off to Hogwarts," whispered Krystal into Bellamy's ear. "He's jealous. Such a little twat."
Bellamy giggled as they grabbed their trunks and started moving down the dim hallway. Mr. Garrisey opened a door at the very end of the corridor and the procession emerged into the Leaky Cauldron. The lamps were extinguished from the night before, so the dim sunlight that trickled in through the tiny windows illuminated the room. The normal murmur of many people talking at once was gone, but Bellamy could still hear shouts from the other side of the room. She looked quickly around for the sounds' origin and saw four tired looking wizards playing cards in the corner. They didn't look like they'd gotten any sleep the previous night, more like they hadn't moved at all. Seemingly drunk and rambling loudly, Bellamy suspected it was their noise that had woken her up, too. Apart from them, the room was mostly unoccupied (save a couple of witches drinking coffee at the bar) so they had no problem making their way through to the door.
"Hang on while we get the car, girls," said Mr. Garrisey as they exited the Leaky Cauldron.
He and his son ran quickly over to the other side of the street and got into a boxy blue car a few blocks away. It was very old and rusty and one of the doors was the wrong color, but Bellamy didn't care if they were riding in a tin can, as long as she didn't have to walk. They came to a stop in front of the Leaky Cauldron a few moments later and got out again. Mr. Garrisey and Devin lifted the two trunks into the back of the car. Krystal opened the back door and slid across the seat. Bellamy sat down next to her and carefully shut the door. Devin took the passenger seat in front of Bellamy and his father got in last, taking the driver's side.
"All strapped in?" he asked the kids, as he started the car. They each nodded in turn.
"All right then. Let's get some breakfast."
Thanks so much for reading! Review it please. If it sucks, I'm sorry, but I promise a lot more, and a lot better! The next chapter will be longer and the story will really start (Lupin first appears…YAY!). This was more of an introduction.