A/N: At LONG last I have finally updated this dam thing!!! I am apologising profusely to everyone who has been reading this and waiting for a God Dam update. I've had SERIOUS mental block concerning this fic and have only recently shook it off. Well I hope you like this chapter, it's sort of an intervening thing before all the real stuff happens. Please review, Flames are acceptable but only if they're constructive!
Bye Peeps
M.G
Sovereign of the Heart
Chapter five: The Term begins.
-No matter how I push you away
-I've known right from the start
-That you're the only one for me
-The Sovereign of my Heart
Anon
Minerva woke the next morning her head drowsy. Opening her eye she found her vision blurred and an instant wave of panic flowed through her. It took her a moment to realise her surroundings and the fact that someone had simply removed her glasses while she slept. Groping around she finally managed to locate the required article and placed them hesitantly over her eyes. As she gazed around the cosy room she swiftly came to the understanding that it wasn't hers, as if a firework had been triggered off in her brain, a whole myriad of memories from the previous day came rushing back. Minerva remembered Lucius's attack and the way Remus had yet again came to her aid. Her brain suddenly jumped into life and she groaned inwardly.
"Oh God I didn't fall asleep in his room did I!?" She muttered, rubbing her temple ferociously.
A quick assessment of the floor told her that she had indeed fell asleep in Remus's room. There curled on what could only with some imagination be described a mattress, was Remus Lupin fast asleep, and looking paler than Minerva had ever seen him.
Minerva always remembered Remus as being a quiet boy, full of mystery, and mischief that only a few people ever really saw, herself included. She also remembered the nights around the full moon. Although at the time she didn't know about his condition she had always sensed a change in the younger boy, he had always seemed much more withdrawn and looked increasingly sickly. But even compared to those times, it was nothing compared to the deathly hue he now looked. If it hadn't been for the steady rising and falling of his chest, she would have thought him dead. As though sensing her stare the man in question began to move, an anguished groan escaping his lips as his face contorted with emotional pain. 'A nightmare.' Minerva mused darkly, reaching down to shake his shoulder. As her hand made contact Remus's eyes flew open a look of such fear in them, it made Minerva's heart constrict.
"Are you okay Remus?" she asked, concern flooding her voice.
Remus gazed up at Minerva, making brief eye contact with her before looking away, nodding slightly. "It's nothing.." He said quietly "Just a nightmare… I tend to suffer from them sometimes." He blushed slightly at his confession. Minerva felt a pang in her chest and smiled sympathetically, although she didn't know the content of his nightmares, she knew how terrifying they could be, having experienced a few of her own recently.
"Me too." She whispered reassuringly to him "It's a natural thing."
Remus swallowed the huge lump in his throat, thinking his nightmares were anything but natural. He hadn't had this particular nightmare in years and now that it had resurfaced, it only frightened him the more. Raising his head he again made eye contact. Minerva gave an inward gasp as she noticed something she hadn't before, Remus's eyes. She had always thought them to be brown in colour, but she had been quite drastically wrong. Instead a pair of vibrant amber eyes gazed back at her uneasily, and she found herself mesmerised at the unusual shade.
In an attempt to break the silence of the moment, Remus cleared his throat and stumbled to his feet.
"Er… Well I think we should be getting down to breakfast." He stated, running a hand through his shaggy hair.
Minerva nodded in agreement, but was still worried about the haunted look in Remus's eyes. Mustering her courage she asked him "Remus… What was your nightmare about?"
Remus stared at Minerva in undisguised shock and discomfort. How could he answer that! He'd never even admitted his dreams to his friends, no matter how many times they'd plagued him for answers. He forced himself to remain eye contact and looked stiffly at her.
"Why?" He replied, slightly snappish and Minerva realised that her question hadn't been a wise one.
"No reason… I just… Well it looked like it was really hurting you… I was just curious" her answer was honest, if not a little nervous.
Remus gave a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck with a mixture of frustration and nervousness, as he turned to leave.
"I'd rather not talk about it Minerva." he said shortly, with a tone of voice that meant the subject was closed. However Minerva being the stubborn person she was wouldn't give up without a fight. She couldn't quite figure out WHY she wanted to know so badly, but one thing she did know was to share your problems was to lessen them. She gave a wry smile at this thought, thinking that sounded so bloody hypocritical, perhaps she should take her own advice sometimes. Thoughts aside, Remus had helped her so much over the last couple of weeks, and she somehow felt she owed this to him.
"Remus, please tell me… I know this must sound really odd but I want to know, to share you pain is to lessen your pain."
Remus wheeled around quite ferociously "I said I don't want to talk about it!! Please just let it drop!" He barked, slightly infuriated at her nosiness and slightly warmed by her concern.
Minerva looked quite shocked at the outburst, and decided to let the matter drop. "Okay" She said quietly and quickly jumped up and went to leave the room. As she reached the door, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to face an apologetic looking Remus.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled" he murmured, not able to meet her stare "It's just something I'm not really comfortable talking to people about." His vibrant eyes gleamed with hurt.
Minerva gave him a small smile "It's okay.. "She said feeling slightly guilty "I shouldn't have been prying anyway."
Remus gave returned her smile with his own and abruptly cleared his throat.
"I believe breakfast was on the agenda?" he said as a way of ending the uncomfortable moment. Minerva smirked in reply, "I believe it was" and with that she opened the door and walked out, Remus closely following.
Time began to fly by and before anyone even knew it the school term had swung around once again. It was a nice relief to Remus to finally start what he had been called back to do. And so it was with great enthusiasm he took his seat at the staff table at the start of term feast. He was quite surprised when Minerva laid her cloak on the seat next to him, reserving it for after the Sorting. She flashed him a brief smile and went out to attend to the first years. Remus scanned the crowd with amusement, there were quite a lot of familiar faces among the students, and he was just beginning to wonder when he would be noticed when a harsh voice called out through the crowd.
"WEREWOLF!"
That instantly grabbed the attention of 99.9% of the room and instantly all eyes fell on him. Although he could feel a blush rising on his features, Remus smiled charmingly as if this nothing out of the ordinary.
The school broke out into murmurs and Remus found himself choking back a laugh at the chaos his presence had caused, he glanced at Dumbledore who gave him a brief bemused smile and stood to address the students.
"As you can see Professor Lupin will once again be joining us this year as our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Dumbledore flashed the students a bright smile, and the majority of the hall erupted into cheers. But the voice that had called out the first time yelled again
"But he's a WEREWOLF!" the voice was laidened with quiet hatred, and Dumbledore smile dropped a notch.
"Yes that is true, but I assure you that no one is in any danger of harm, with the recent new discoveries in this field it has allowed Professor Lupin to teach safely.." Dumbledore's smile turned mischievous "And besides children, no one else would take the job. "
A short wave of tittering broke out among the students and some of the staff, they weren't surprised at this, having gone through four Dark art teachers in as many years. But they hoped that Professor Lupin was here for keeps this time.
Within minutes the muttering had been silenced and Dumbledore had advised that they had better get the sorting done; otherwise the feast was going to be stone cold. And so the great doors swung open admitting the thoroughly chilled first years and a slightly exasperated looking Minerva McGonagall. Remus hid a grin as she stormed up the centre isle and threw him a very disgruntled look, and watched with interest as the Sorting took place. At long last the new students were sorted and seated at their respective tables, and everyone looked up at Dumbledore with hungry anticipation. He gave the students a kindly smile and stood once again.
"Before we begin our marvellous feast I have a few announcements to make, firstly due to the enormous success of the Christmas ball last year we have decided to instate it as a yearly event open to all years." This earned a round of enthusiastic applause, at his next announcement however Dumbledore's voice turned cold rather suddenly "However on a slightly more sombre note, this year due to recent disturbances in the Wizarding world we will be having a weekly visit from the school governors, headed up by Mr Lucius Malfoy. They have deemed these visits a necessary precaution for the safety of the students. Don't be alarmed by their presence it is only to check the schools defences and should just be ignored."
At this announcement, the hall broke into hushed whispers. Some immensely pleased at the news, but the majority outraged and appalled. The students felt as if this was a transgression on behalf of the Ministry, for most of the school knew of Lucius's reputation.
The most horrified of these expressions was not however seated among the students. Up at the staff table Minerva was wearing a look of such horror and anguish on her face it almost broke Remus's heart. She looked at him, turmoil brewing in her eyes. How could Dumbledore allow this! He certainly knew what the man was like and yet he was still allowing him into the school. Although most definitely not the only person with objections, Minerva was the person most able to do something about it. And so she resolved to do that before the first of these 'Weekly visits' took place. Remus gazed into Minerva's haunted eyes and felt a part of him die.
"Are you okay?" He whispered to her, his own voice shaking slightly at this surprising revelation.
Minerva nodded quickly, not trusting her voice. Remus continued to stare, he was afraid of this situation; it had bad news written all over it. He was afraid for the students because he knew that he shouldn't be allowed to work his influence around them. And he was afraid for Minerva, because if Lucius's visits this year were anything to go by then she could be in serious trouble.
"Are you sure?" he asked determination etched in his voice.
Minerva flashed a brief smile "Yes I'll be fine." The words however lacked conviction.
Remus gave a smile back and murmured blushing slightly "I won't let him hurt you again, I swear!"
Minerva stared at him eyes wide, her heart warmed by the concern she could he echoed in his voice "Thank you Remus" she replied 'You don't know how much that means to me.' She added as an afterthought.
He accepted her answer in silence with a small smile on her face and concentrated on the food that had just appeared in front of him. Picking up a chicken drumstick, he chewed on it thoughtfully, not noticing the curious stares from three fifth years Gryffindor's.
"Something's up!" Murmured Hermione Granger to her two best friends.
Ron Weasley shook his head in exasperation "There's ALWAYS something up Herm, this is Hogwarts after all."
The dark haired boy next to them nodded "True, but did you see the look on McGonagall's face when she heard that Lucius Malfoy was coming to the castle."
The other two shook their heads in confusion, "What do you mean Harry?" asked Hermione, curiosity getting the better of her.
"She looked terrified… I mean it!" He added at his friend's sceptical looks "She looked as if someone had just told her she was going to undergo the Dementors Kiss!"
Ron and Hermione winced and looked up at the person in question. Professor McGonagall looked as she usually did, calm and collected, but being the young adults they were the could notice the haunted look in her eye, as though someone had just walked over her grave.
Ron sighed, rubbing his forehead "Hmmm I can't see your point Harry, I mean she looks fine now."
Harry groaned in exasperation, didn't those two ever pay attention, he thought about this a moment and gave a wry smile. It was actually quite a change for him to be paying attention to anything, but he had only noticed it because he had been trying to attract Professor Lupin's attention.
"Well… That's the weird thing, she looked horrified until Lupin said something to her and suddenly well was as she is now."
This earned a very curious look from Ron and Hermione, and the three of them looked up at the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, who was munching on a chicken leg deep in contemplation. Harry gave a sigh; this was already turning into one of those years… The one you got ever year at Hogwarts, and he briefly wondered what was in store for them this years. Once again shooting a look at the Professors, he resolved to ask Lupin about McGonagall's strange behaviour among other things. But these thought were cut off as he noticed the food for the first time and abruptly set to. Another year at Hogwarts had begun.