Guilty Pleasures

A.N. This takes place during Prisoner of Azkaban…

Please, if you even slightly enjoyed this piece, leave a review…I am trying to reach 200 reviews on a single piece! Rated for further chapters, language and the past of a main character…

Premise: When a 7th year student comes to Lupin for help in his difficult class, does he act cordially and professionally, or does he give in to temptation and fulfil his own desires?

Disclaimer: I don't seem to be J.K. Rowling, so clearly I didn't write the original Harry Potter books, therefore I don't own the rights to them…so don't call up your attorney, Rowling! Back off!

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Chapter One

Perhaps it was the speed with which Remus Lupin taught his 7th year Defence Against the Dark Arts class, perhaps it was the subject material, or perhaps it was the fact that she'd always had problems comprehending the class, but no matter what the reason was, Nell Everett's mind was clearly not on the task at hand. Her mind was more content to float through purple clouds and metal flowers, however unrealistic, then to focus on an irritating classroom. But her little reverie was broken when her partner hit her directly with a full-body-itching curse that she was expected to block and her entire form was thrown into convulsions from the…discomfort as it was called in the textbook.

"Enough of this…mind wandering, Nell. Focus on the situation. You got yourself into this predicament, you can get yourself out." Lupin's voice broke out of the scattered whispers and giggles. Nell quickly muttered the counter-curse and sat back down in her seat, begging silently for the class to end soon.

When at last the class ended, she gathered her textbook, quills and parchment and looked frantically for an exit, despite the fact that she had left the class many times before, her senses were muddled. Running her bony, pale hand through her cropped dark brown hair, she walked past Lupin's desk as inconspicuously as she could in an effort to simply make herself invisible. As usual in life, her attempts were fruitless. Lupin reached out and took her over to the side of his desk, saying,

"I've noticed that over the past couple months you've been getting, well Nell, to be quite honest with you, progressively worse. Are you having problems with the material?" Nell's pale, gaping, vacant blue eyes showed her disinterest in the topic of conversation.

"How about in your life?" He made a bad decision by trying to pry deeper.

"Fuck off, bastard. It's none of your business." She wrenched her arm free from his grip and stormed off. One could practically see the steam floating out of her reddened ears.

'How dare that prick try to weasel his way into my already twisted mind? What does he want me to tell him??? "Oh yeah, my life has been hell since my mum left. Yeah, dad would fuck me in my own bed until I bled…and secretly, I always enjoyed it." Is that what waspy little Lupin wants to hear?'

Nell made her way to the Great Hall where a sniffling little house elf called Wanda brought her some nirvale tea (with lemongrass) to calm her raging temper. Slowly sipping her tea, Nell surveyed the room to see that she was alone, and upon satisfactory comeback information, she pulled a large safety pin out of one of the deep black pockets of her robes and slowly dragged the tip along the inside of her arm. Blood welled up along the single raw line, and to hold the skin together, Nell cinched the flesh together with the safety pin. Her disease became her antidote. She quickly swallowed the last of her tea and walked alone back to the Ravenclaw dormitory. She felt incredibly stupid. 'How the hell did I get into Ravenclaw if I can't even pass an easy class like Defence Against the Dark Arts?'

She delivered the password (Lux et Veritas) to the armour-clad knight guarding the Ravenclaw dormitory and trudged up to her bed, carelessly discarding her school things on the trunk by the foot of her bed. She moved to sleep off the day's embarrassments, but sleep was driven out of her mind when she saw the ornately handwritten note lying disjointedly on her pillow. It was Lupin's ornate handwriting.

'Nell,

I know you think I'm just a weak bastard who will give up on you just like all the other Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, but there you have me wrong. I am not a quitter nor an abandoner. And I do not take shit from my students. You can't go through life treating people like that. Since I sincerely doubt that you actually WANT to fail my class (or go to detention for the rest of the time you continue to fail) so I am telling you that you WILL come to my office at 11:30PM every weeknight until your grades are up to standards. Since I know you value your precious pride, I won't tell any of the other teachers or even Dumbledore about our arrangement. Do not skip out on this, Nell. You deserve to prove to yourself that you can succeed. I'll expect you to be in my office at 11:30 sharp to begin your tutoring. Sharp.

-Remus Lupin'

Nell debated in her mind whether to do as he asked or not. On one hand, she could swallow her pride and go to his silly classroom, or she could skip out and avoid Lupin for the rest of her stay at Hogwarts. Though neither choice was easy, she made her decision and pulled on her black and grey argyle socks.

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A.N. Dum, dum dum! What will Nell's choice be??? How is the story going so far???? Please leave a review and tell me!