"There will be no potion brewing in today's class," said Professor Snape, his low voice carrying effortlessly across the large class.
I shivered slightly, pulling my scarf tighter around my neck. The dungeons were always cold, but especially so today, since no fires were lit under the cauldrons. I allowed Professor Snape's voice to be drowned out by the all too inviting thoughts of that mornings DADA class. Professor Lupin had complimented me on my excellent homework and when Blyth Moore had asked him whose patronus he liked best, he had said good-naturedly that he liked all patronus' but that "I've never quite seen a swan as elegant as Faylinn's." His comment, combined with the twinkle in his eye as he said it literally made me weak at the knees, though I had successfully laughed it off and pretended to be only "mildly pleased" as Audrey had described it later.
"Fay," Audrey's urgent whisper brought me quickly out of my flashback. I looked around quickly and saw that most of the class was looking at me, Percy wearing a most disapproving expression.
"Now that you've kindly stopped staring at the blackboard so, uh, shall we say, affectionately, Ms Goodwill, do you know the answer?" Snape asked maliciously. The Slytherin students laughed, as they always did when Snape embarrassed a student. I simply stared at him, horrified, as a blush crept across my face. Had my thoughts shown on my face so clearly?
"Um, I'm sorry Professor, what was the question?" I asked, knowing fully well that Professor Snape already knew that I hadn't heard a word of his question.
"Five points from Gryffindor for day dreaming in class," he said almost lazily, "Now, the question was, what is the wolfsbane potion is used for?" he added, indicating slightly with his head at a cauldron containing a shimmering golden-green potion. The potion smoked slightly, giving off a faint smell that I could only liken to raw fish crossed with scrambled egg. I shivered slightly; I hate fish.
"Wolfsbane?" I asked; hold on, I know this, "Isn't, isn't that used for helping werewolves, on a full moon? Stops them from being dangerous?"
"Correct," said Snape sourly, obviously annoyed that I answered the question correctly. I looked over at Audrey, who mouthed "Well done".
"The wolfsbane potion is extremely complex, well beyond the NEWTs level. Like the Felix Felicis and amortentia, you will need to be able to recognize it and understand it's uses," he continued in his usual drawl of a voice, "Wolfsbane is a recent discovery, it allows the werewolf to keep his or her mind during the full moon, however it does not prevent the transformation, so the person will be a human in a wolves body, and more or less, harmless…"
The end of the lesson couldn't have come sooner; as much as I loved potions, I hated Snape, and after he had his go at me, I couldn't wait to leave the dungeons.
I walked with Audrey and the rest of the Gryffindors to the great hall for dinner; Oliver was raving about the Quidditch cup as usual, about how Potter is flying better than ever, about how the Weasley twins had superbly managed to knock him off his broom in practice last night (only Oliver could ever talk so ecstatically about being knocked of his broom, I thought rolling my eyes) and about other points that I really couldn't care less about. Audrey, however, was giving him her full attention, throwing in comments like "Is that right?" and "Oh, that's brilliant!" every time Oliver paused for breath, although I knew she couldn't really care less about Quidditch.
Suppressing a grin, I reached out to open the door leading into the Great Hall, only to find another hand knock into mine as it also reached to open the it.
"Sorry," I said as I looked up, "Acciden-"
The rest of the sentence was lost in my head when I saw who owned the hand that I had just hit. It was Professor Lupin.
"My apologies," he said gracefully. I stumbled backwards, lost for words, as he leaned forward to open the door. He smiled kindly (which made my heart feel weightless), held the door open and said,
"After you,"
"Thank you, Professor," I mumbled, avoiding his gaze and dragged a highly amused Audrey away from the raving Oliver and the rest of the Gryffindors and into a seat at the Gryffindor table.
"I thought we agreed that you were going to act cool around Lupin, you know, so he doesn't get suspicious?" Audrey asked as she started loading her plate with steak, "You've been doing well so far. What happened there?"
I stared at her, my eyes open wide.
"He touched me," I whispered in reply.
"What?"
"He touched me, Audrey, he touched me!" I said, my excitement growing with each second, "When I reached to open the door, he extended his hand at the same time, and our hands touched!"
Audrey rolled her eyes, "Get a grip, so he touched your hand for like a nanosecond."
I sighed dramatically, clutching my heart with the hand he touched, "A nanosecond I shall cherish forever."
Audrey pretended to vomit into her bowl, so I laughed and said, "Alright, alright, I was kidding. But yeh, you're right, I have been getting better at being around him, but it was just, you know, this time he kinda appeared out of nowhere and I wasn't ready and plus he touched me, so that was a bit of a shock…"
"Shock?" said Audrey smirking slightly, "A bit of an understatement, isn't it? You looked like you were about to swoon."
"No," I exclaimed in horror, "You're joking, right? Audrey, tell me it wasn't that obvious!"
Audrey laughed, "No, okay, it wasn't that bad, but you looked a little stunned when you first saw him… but I don't think he noticed because he turned quickly to open the door."
I let out a huge sigh of relief, "Bloody hell, you scared me, Aud, can you imagine, if he suspected anything? How embarrassing, I mean, really, a teacher…"
- - -
"Do you know what we are covering today?" I asked Audrey, as we waited for Professor Lupin to arrive to class.
"Nope," she replied without taking her eyes off her textbook. How she could find the resolve to study during the few minutes we have between classes was simply beyond me.
"Do you really need to study so much? You're making me feel bad," I asked teasingly.
Audrey finally looked up from her book, "In case you haven't realized, we are already one month into the term and are drowning in homework."
"Tell me about it," I sighed, "I haven't slept early in ages. But still, don't you think you're kinda over doing it? I mean, seriously, you don't need to study every minute of every hour…"
"Fay, I have two assignments due tomorrow, and I haven't finished either of them. McGonagall expected us to have read chapter 10 by the next class, and both her and Flitwick have set a test for us for this Friday, and that's not to mention all the reading Professor Lupin has asked us to –"
"Alright, alright, I get the point," I said, giving up, "If you ever feel like living, for a change, just let me know."
Audrey stuck out her tongue playfully, but before she could get back to reading, Professor Lupin entered the room, smiling pleasantly, but, I noticed, looking very tired. I frowned slightly, as I took in his appearance, he looked a little paler than usual (thought still handsome), and his worn-out robes seemed to hang off him more loosely than usual.
"Are you feeling alright, Professor Lupin?" asked Percy Weasley, somehow managing too look very important as he did so.
"I'm fine, thank you, Percy," he said, with a reassuring smile, "I've been a little off colour lately, but I'm much better now."
Poor guy, I thought sympathetically, he must have been really ill to look so tired.
"Okay, so, before we get on with today's lesson, I would like to just let you know that Professor McGonagall and I have decided that, given how much subject material we need to cram in to one year, it would be best I saw each of you outside of class individually –"
He paused, smiling, as a number of people groaned loudly. I, however, was struggling to suppress a grin. Extra time outside of class with Professor Lupin, alone, was definitely time well spent.
"Yes, I did tell her this is how you would react. But I'm afraid it must be done, so I can monitor your progress to make sure no one is falling too far behind. Your appointments times –" he flicked his wand, aiming it at the blackboard, " – are on the board. Each appointment is scheduled for ten minutes, though they are unlikely to go for the full time."
My eyes raced over the board, looking for my name. October 30th, 5 pm. My smile faltered slightly; my appointment was a month away. Oh well, better than nothing…
"I'm this Friday!" Audrey moaned.
"Lucky you!" I muttered.
"Lucky? I don't have time to do it this week. Do you think he will let me swap if I asked him?"
"Dunno…" I said, but then quickly realized something, "Try asking him after class, I'll come with you."
So, at the end of the class (a particularly interesting one about dealing with cursed objected), Audrey and I approached Professor Lupin, both of us knowing fully well that the only reason I suggested this was so I could get to look at Professor Lupin up close.
"How may I help you, girls?" he asked as we approached his desk, smiling at both of us. Such a gorgeous smile, I thought longingly. He has such smooth and shapely lips… I watched as he spoke to Audrey about the appointments, wondering what it would be like to kiss him, and knowing if I even mentioned Professor Lupin and the word kiss in the same sentence to Audrey she would probably knock me off one of the highest astronomy towers.
Realizing quickly that starring longingly at a teachers lips while standing less than a meter away from him was not a good idea, I shifty my gaze to his eyes. Up close, his eyes were more captivating than his smile; though I didn't have time to admire them, because they were soon focusing inquisitively on my own.
"Did you have a problem with your appointment, Faylinn?" he asked.
"No Professor," I said quickly, "It's fine."
"Thank you, Professor Lupin," Audrey said, as she turned to leave the room.
"Any time," he replied as he flicked through a pile of parchment sitting on his desk.
I followed Audrey out of the room, thinking privately that the 30th of October couldn't come soon enough.