It was a day like any other that year. Students were buzzing around, talking about the escaped mass-murderer Sirius Black. When he wasn't on their minds, Dementors were, and if all else failed, topics of conversation could always revolve around Quidditch. Yes, for most, that day was extraordinarily ordinary—at least for Hogwarts. Professor Remus Lupin, however, was a bit on edge. For starters, he was nearly late to class: by the time he opened the doors to the defense classroom, most of his students were already there. Though, he supposed he was on edge before he got to class that day.
"Good morning, class," he said a bit dimly. "I hope the weekend has treated you well."
"Hasn't treated him very well, has it?" Ron asked, turning to Harry, whispering. Hermione shot Ron a look.
"Ronald!" She whisper-shouted. "That is unkind."
"It's a bit true, though, isn't?"
Ron had a bit of a point. Remus was looking a bit sickly, like he was coming down with something and hadn't slept quite well the night before.
"—Today, we will be continuing to learn about dark creatures. Please, if you would, turn your books to page 394," he said somewhat quietly, half-hoping the class wouldn't hear him. Remus loved everything about Defense Against the Dark Arts class, always had, but this was the one lesson he found somewhat unbearable. And he had to teach it twice in one day. In school, he had his friends to support him whenever the lesson came around. Now, he felt utterly alone. Pages flipped, and students found themselves staring at a large drawing of a wolf.
"Werewolves," Remus began, "Have posed conundrums in the wizarding community for decades. While during the majority of the month, they look like any wizard or witch, on the nights of the full moon they transform. Now, does anyone know how to tell a normal, everyday wolf from a transformed werewolf—yes, Miss Granger?" Remus smiled a bit painfully. He should have known she would raise her hand.
"Regular wolves aren't as dangerous, and have longer snouts and bushier tails," she explained. Remus nodded.
"Exactly correct, Miss Granger. Five points to Gryffindor. If you see a wolf than runs at you, it's best to run away as fast as you can," Remus joked. Nobody laughed.
"Right…Well, the Ministry has had quite some trouble classifying werewolves—when I was your age, we learned about them in Care of Magical Creatures and in this class, and the ministry was having quite a bit of trouble figuring out what to do with them all." Those had been a few odd years, indeed: Remus could not understand why anyone would need to learn to care for werewolves, and he certainly didn't appreciate when James claimed he was 'doing his homework' by brushing his furry-friend's hair. "As it stands, werewolves are officially dark creatures—transformed or otherwise," Remus insisted, feeling his heart beat a bit faster. "It is unwise—yes, Miss Brown?"
Lavender Brown had raised her hand a bit shakily. "Well, if they—werewolves—are only transformed once a month…are they human the other time?"
Remus smiled softly. "As far as I know, the official stance of the ministry is no—they revert to a 'human form,' but this is not considered being human. It's a bit confusing—but even in human form, werewolf bites can result in some permanent changes," Remus said, grimacing. "Harmless changes—affinity for rare meat, mild wolfish characteristics—but not changes I recommend. Best advice I can give, speaking as your professor, is to not be scratched or bitten by werewolf at any time of the month," he delivered deadpan. A few students chuckled at the matter-of-fact way he said this.
"Now, I wish I could give you advice on spotting werewolves who are in human form—Merlin knows the ministry would find this information useful—but I can assure you all that none of your fellow students are werewolves, and that you will likely never meet one," he stated as calmly as he could. "Truth of the matter is, werewolves do not live amongst humans nor often socialize with them. There is no need to go around asking anyone you may want to snog if they are a werewolf," he smiled. A few more students laughed.
"Now, if for whatever reason you are walking through the Forbidden Forest on the full moon—again, not something I could recommend—and you do believe you see a werewolf, there are in fact ways to defend yourself. If, like our dear Professor McGonagall, have the uncanny ability to turn yourself into an animal, you should do that right away—werewolves only attack humans." A few students seemed to smile. "However, I am guessing none of you have done that. Stunning spells work, though they are not as effective—like I said earlier, best to just play it safe. Now, does anyone have any questions?" Please no, please no, Remus thought to himself. A few hands shot up.
"Yes, Miss Bones?"
"Professor, have you ever seen a werewolf?"
Remus stiffened slightly. Yes, loads of times. This weekend. Last month. The month before that. Right now. "I do believe I saw one in a forest outside Surrey," Remus said honestly. He had once visited said forest—and had in fact seen himself there. "Not a very pretty sight—and that's just Surrey," Remus joked. Susan Bones laughed, as did a few other students. "Now, who's next…ah, Mr. Thomas, I believe I saw your hand up next," Remus smiled. Dean nodded.
"I was wondering…there's a lot of discrimination, isn't there? Isn't that wrong?"
Remus tilted his head, looking a bit confused as to why someone would ever ask that question. "Er…" he trailed off a bit, "Yes, there is discrimination, but werewolves can be quite frightening at times—it is natural for people to be scared. I cannot say whether or not discrimination is right or wrong in this case—there are clearly pros and cons that can be argued from both sides," Remus finished civilly. Of course, he wanted to impress upon his students that werewolves could in fact be normal, upstanding citizens if given the right tools—he was a prime example. But that wasn't exactly something he could do without making it quite obvious what he believed about werewolves. As a professor, it was not his job to change people's opinions in the guise of teaching. Dean nodded and wrote down notes.
Overall, the lesson went as well as Remus could have hoped. There were few questions after that, and Remus felt he had time to make a few more jokes here and there. When class had ended, Neville stayed behind.
"Er, professor?" He asked. "How…how do you know if you're a werewolf?"
Remus froze for a moment. Neville didn't mean…
"I mean," Neville said, sighing. "I was sick last weekend—and my gran's neighbor's dog bit me about a month ago, but it could have been a wolf—"
Remus began to laugh, more relieved than anything else. Neville stared at his professor, and Remus wiped away a small tear from his eye. "Oh, Mr. Longbottom, I do apologize—I just don't think I've ever been asked that question before."
"And…" Neville looked a bit worried. "Is it happening? Am I becoming a werewolf?" He asked, clearly scared.
"Believe me, Neville," Remus said with a wry smile. "If you were a werewolf, you wouldn't be asking."
A few months later, and Neville felt like a right git.