Five.

A/N: Just a quick note because I forgot to mention this in the last chapter: rather than being set in the 1990s like the books, I'm setting this fic in 2011. Also, I finally got an idea for the plotline for the next few chapters while I was finishing this off last night so hopefully I'll be able to write it all out as I've planned.

Kate and I hurried down the dormitory stairs which led directly into the common room in a comfortable silence. I sneaked a look at her and I could immediately tell that she was bursting with excitement about what had happened back in the classroom with Lupin, and that she was pretty desperate to go through it in immaculate detail. I smiled to myself, knowing perfectly well just how excited she got about anything that involved me having some kind of a love life. I stifled a giggle as I remembered what she was like when I started to show an interest in Oliver Wood, the captain and Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, last year. We reached the bottom of the stairs and walked through the door, into the common room. We headed for our favourite seats beside the fireplace and collapsed into them, smiling.

'So come on then! What was it like?' Kate asked, grinning from ear to ear. 'What was what like?' I replied, pretending to be completely oblivious. 'Almost snogging Lupin, what else would I be on about?' Kate said, rolling her eyes. I felt my face turn bright red and a flashback of what had just happened ran through my head. I could see his eyes examining my face and I blushed even more, making Kate laugh. 'I can't really describe it!' I grinned. 'All I know is, it felt extremely wrong, but so right at the same time, d'you know what I mean?' Kate nodded, still smiling. 'So you're saying that you're glad I interrupted it?' 'Maybe,' I mumbled, looking down at the floor. 'I mean, yes I do like him like that, but he's my teacher, for Christ's sake! If he was normal, then I would've happily snogged him senseless!' 'But he is normal, though!' Kate laughed. 'Anyways, you two looked bloody adorable together.. I'm actually beginning to wish that I hadn't interrupted you!'

I must've looked completely gobsmacked, as Kate burst into a fit of giggles. 'Oh, lighten up a bit! I wouldn't be at all surprised, though, if you two did start seeing each other by the end of the term!' She said, grinning sneakily. 'Are you mental or something? I can't just go round snogging my teacher, even if I do fa-..' Shit. I quickly closed my mouth as I realised what I was about to say. Kate leapt up from her chair triumphantly. 'HA! So you do fancy him, then!' My face then turned the colour of a ripened tomato, much to Kate's delight. She sat back down in her chair, smirking. I gave her a look and pulled my robes up around me, letting my hair spill over my shoulders and my fringe falling into my eyes, embarrassed. 'Oh, stop it!' Kate grinned. 'It's pretty damn clear that he fancies you too, so why not go for it?' 'Why not go for it? Didn't you hear a word of what I said a few minutes ago?' I cried, my voice going up several octaves in pitch. 'One: he's my teacher, for fuck's sake! Two: If we did 'go for it', then there's an incredibly high chance of getting caug-' I got cut short by Kate placing her hand over my mouth, still grinning. 'Shut up, I reckon you and him would be perfect together!' She exclaimed, winking. 'And anyway, if you were to get together, you know I'd never tell anyone!' 'You're never gonna let go of this, are you?' I sighed.

The rest of my first day back went really well. I had double Charms, which was always my favourite subject, and I seemed to be off to a good start for NEWT level already, according to Professor Flitwick. Transfiguation wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I'd originally thought, and History of Magic wasn't as boring as usual. Despite Kate pestering me all day about the whole Lupin situation, I made a point of avoiding looking anywhere near his direction during lunch and dinner, but I could still feel him staring at me. 'Ooh, you're in for it now!' Kate teased, laughing. I gave her an annoyed glare, but she just took no notice as per usual. 'Christ, can't he take his eyes away from you for more than five seconds so that we can eat in peace? Honestly!' 'Nat, you're really not helping..' I grumbled as I pushed my food around my plate. I looked up and met Lupin's eyes for a brief moment, then looked straight back at my food again, my cheeks growing hot. Nat and Kate burst into a fresh fit of laughter at my embarrassment and I looked up at them, glaring. 'Yeah, cheers for the support guys!' I scowled. I soon regretted saying it though, as this just took Nat and Kate's teasing to a whole new level. 'Oh, we know who can support you, all right!' Kate laughed, making my cheeks turn an even deeper shade of red. 'Is he still looking?' I mumbled. 'No, luckily for you!' I heard Nat say. I breathed a sigh of relief and carried on as if things were back to normal.

Inside my head, however, I was split between pissed off and confused. I mostly felt pissed off with myself, because I'd almost let him kiss me. I mean, come on! Who just sits there and lets their brand new professor put their hand on top of yours and keep it there, intently look at your face and go in to snog you, even if you do have a small crush on him? You'd know that it'd fuck with your feelings even more if you let him do that, even if you were gonna regret it later on? Because he's the teacher and you're the pupil. Simple! But no, I couldn't even get that part right. I was always thinking over the consequences of my actions before I did things, so where on Earth did that go earlier? Instead, I'd acted like a right prat by getting 'caught in the moment', as some people would say, and didn't move myself away from him! Which then led to confusion, seeing as I felt my feelings for him intensifying immediately after all that had happened. I also felt incredibly confused over the fact that when Kate had appeared in the doorway, I noticed that he looked.. Disappointed. As if he'd be willing to jump the humongous barrier that restricted anything happening between us. In a way, this made my heart skip a beat whenever I thought about it, but the inner, normal Hufflepuff in me was scolding myself for feeling that way. What if something happened? He could easily be fired if we got caught and I could be expelled!

Once I'd finishd eating, I stood up. 'I'm off to meet Deann to see how her first day went, see you guys later!' I mumbled to Nat and Kate, perking up a bit. Deann was my little sister, who'd just started her first year at Hogwarts. She'd been sorted into Ravenclaw, as despite showing many of the same Hufflepuff qualities that I did, she was incredibly intelligent and always came top in her classes at Muggle school. Both being Muggles themselves, my parents were incredibly surprised to have not one, but two witches for daughters. They were both Irish, hence Deann and I having Flynn as our last names, but had come over to England when they were young and met a short while later. As you can tell, they were both fond of Latin names for some reason. Aurelia is the Latin for golden, which summed me up pretty well hair-colour wise, and Deann was the equivalent of Dianne, which means divine.

Anyway, I'd wandered up to the Ravenclaw table at lunchtime and arranged to meet Deann in the library after dinner, just to see how her day had been. I made my way towards the double doors of the Great Hall, but not before having another quick glance back at Lupin. He was looking downward at first, but his gaze flickered upwards and his eyes met mine. He gave me what seemed like a gentle, caring smile, which made me go weak at the knees. I shot him a nervous, yet pleasant one back and carried on walking. I internally cursed myself as I already hated what these stupid feelings that I had were doing to me.