Six.
The next couple of weeks went extremely quickly. Remus threw himself right into teaching his DADA classes, and he loved every second of it. Yes, of course there had been a few problems with some students, but according to Dumbledore he handed them all very well. He was always waist-deep in marking and lesson plans, but he didn't mind that at all. He felt like he had finally found the right job for him, which was brilliant. He was also found that he was teaching Aurelia's sister, Deann, who was in his class of First Years. Deann was the spitting image of Aurelia, apart from that rather than having the same chocolate brown eyes, she had bright blue ones, but both girls were incredibly intelligent. Things had been slightly awkward between Remus and Aurelia since they had almost kissed the other week, so he decided to keep his distance a bit.
However, despite trying to do this, he still found that he was beginning to feel even more attracted to her than he had before. He often caught himself staring at her for no apparent reason during mealtimes, and his eyes always seemed to flit back to her every time that he taught the Sixth Year class that she was in. Sometimes he'd catch her looking at him too, or she'd look up and meet his eyes when he looked at her. When either of these things happened, he always felt a huge spark jolt through him, which made him feel extremely annoyed with himself. What on Earth was he doing? She was eighteen years younger than he was, plus she was his student!
As that particular class of Sixth Years filed into the classroom one afternoon during the third week of September, Remus was sat down at his desk. He welcomed them all with a smile, even though he was starting to feel a bit ill. The full moon fell on the Friday night of that week, and he knew that he'd just have to persevere until Thursday. He still felt a pang of self-loathing every time he thought about what he became every time the full moon came around, but he quickly dismissed it from his mind. He needed to get on with the lesson, no matter how irritable and tired he was feeling. He watched his class come in through the door in small friendship groups and sit down in their usual seats. He wasn't particularly bothered about latecomers, as he thought it fair to start the lesson once everybody was sat down, so the class usually happily chattered away to one another, the odd one or two approaching him to explain which of the students wouldn't be able to make it to the lesson and why.
Remus's eyes flickered over to the door as he heard a familiar pair of voices coming from down the corridor. As their footsteps drew closer and closer, he couldn't help smiling. Their voices were usually so loud that he could hear everything that was being said as they approached the classroom door. After about ten seconds, Kate and Aurelia walked through the door, quite clearly deep in conversation. As they made their way inside, Remus couldn't take his eyes off Aurelia. He felt an unfamiliar heat prickling up his neck and his hairs stood on end. Both her and Kate were dressed like any Sixth Year girl would: the first two buttons on their shirts undone; their ties worn in a loose, short knot; the sleeves on their grey v-necked jumpers rolled up to their elbows and wearing extremely short skirts. It was a fairly warm day, so he'd decided to keep the curtains open and the windows slightly ajar. Kate and Aurelia sat in their usual seats right near to the front of the classroom.
A few more students walked into the classroom, but Remus couldn't tear his eyes away from Aurelia. The seat that she was sat in was right beside one of the windows and the sunlight poured in, giving her long, poker straight bright blonde hair a whole new shine to it. Her hair was tucked neatly behind her ears, revealing the pale, creamy white skin of her neck. To him, she took the word gorgeous to a whole new level. The top button of her shirt was undone and the collar was pushed aside slightly. Part of her collarbones were peeking up at him, and oh, she just looked so appealing to him. A different kind of frustration twisted at his insides, and he snapped himself out of it by averting his eyes away from her. Blocks of shame and anger at himself hit him, and he was feeling rather confused. What the fuck was wrong with him? Nobody should ever have thoughts like that about one of their students!
He sighed to himself, trying to think cheerful thoughts. He was doing a job that he loved, all of the staff had been incredibly kind to him (apart from Severus of course, but that was a whole other story) and he was living in what had been his second childhood home for seven years. He felt the smile appear back on his face and he stood up to address the class.
The lesson went extremely slowly for Remus, seeing as he was finding it increasingly more difficult to keep himself from staring at Aurelia. He still got slightly annoyed with himself for only just being able to tear his eyes away from her after shooting her a warning glance for whispering loudly to Kate. Even then, he couldn't hide a slight warmth creeping into his eyes as he did so. He'd already decided that in the weeks before each full moon, he'd set all of his class tests. This was mainly because he needed his rest and he felt he'd also be able to catch up on any essay marking or planning his lessons. He then wouldn't have to be on his feet as often as usual, yet he could still keep an eye on his classes. Of course, as soon as he'd let his Sixth Year class know that they'd be having a test, a collective groan rose from every single one of the students. Remus couldn't help laughing, and he reassured them that he wouldn't be making the questions too difficult.
Once he'd collected their essays in for him to mark, Remus made his way around the classroom to hand out the sheets of paper with the questions that he was testing them on. He felt his stomach beginning to do somersaults as he got closer and closer to where Aurelia was sat. He placed the paper down in front of Kate, then right as he reached out and placed Aurelia's on the desk, she moved her hands forwards to collect it. Her hand landed straight on top of his, sending tingles right up his arm. That same flush crept up his neck and he couldn't take his hand away. Her palm felt cool and smooth on top of his and she bit down on her bottom lip, looking up at him innocently. This really didn't help him, as he realised exactly how much he wanted her, and it scared him. At that thought, he quickly drew his hand away and instead shot her a nervous smile as he moved onto the next student.
Remus handed the rest of the question papers out as fast as he possibly could, then collapsed into his seat by his desk. After he'd instructed the class to start, he grabbed the small stack of essays and began to mark them. The room had lapsed into a comfortable silence, with the exception of the students' quills scratching at the parchment as they wrote. He tried as hard as he possibly could to nudge thoughts of Aurelia out of his mind as he marked, but the thought that she was sat there right in front of him meant that some still managed to seep through. He was really beginning to worry about how he seemed to be developing feelings for her after teaching her for three weeks. The wolfish part in him (which was obviously more dominant at the moment) was desperate to act on them but his sane, normal self was constantly warning him and reminding him exactly how much trouble he'd get in if he did it. It felt like his head and his heart were in a war, and he couldn't stand it. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, putting his head in his hands. What was happening to him?
He took several deep breaths, regaining his composure, and looked up at the class to find that they were all still scribbling away. He smiled to himself, then got back to work.