Sorry, Sorry ... sorry. Meant to have this up last weekend but I thought I was coming down with the flu I felt THAT bad.
So, this is just a little bit of fun.
Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons following a Wizarding War were an interesting affair. While everyone was keen to learn the core necessities of Duelling, the current Professor never wanted to teach duelling ever again. However, the concept was still broached in Second Year, and now a Tournament was held amongst Fifth Year students in honour of Dumbledore's Army. So far, no-one had been taken to St. Mungo's, and Remus was rather keen to keep it that way. He was still incredibly thankful that the news of his re-instatement as Professor had been released only shortly before Kingsley had given him his Order or Merlin. Needless to say the angry howlers he'd received at breakfast in the Great Hall had stopped rather dramatically after that. Tonks had never looked so smug in her life.
Remus walked into his Defence class just as the last student had sat down. No-one was ever punished for being late in his classes; an unspoken rule dictated that only when a student entered the classroom after the Professor, would they be considered late. So, for Defence Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Lupin was teaching, that was practically never.
The classroom fell silent, they had been waiting for this lesson with slight trepidation. Today was when they hit the chapter on Werewolves, as all Dark creatures with a Ministry rating of five or above would now only be covered in seventh year. This could only get awkward.
When he finally reached the front and stood behind his desk, he asked everyone to open their books to today's chapter. After placing a thermos cup of tea on his desk, he also opened the textbook to the relevant page, and then stared. The class held their breath.
"Well, this is awkward," Remus said, staring at the chapter title. He read on a little more, snorted, and started flicking the pages before sighing, "yeah, we're not using the textbook today, put them back."
The class practically flung their books back in their bags and waited for his next instruction. Not using the textbooks usually meant a practical lesson, but given the subject they were apprehensive as to what the Professor would suggest.
Remus pulled his chair out, sat down heavily, and then dragged his hands down his face.
"Ugh," he grunted, a couple of the students giggled, "alright, since the book is terribly bias, lets just have a Q and A session. You ask me questions and I answer them. This will no doubt get very intrusive very quickly so I'd ask you all to please remain polite."
He looked at his students who were staring at him, jaws dropped. It was Neville who was first to timidly raise his hand.
"Yes?" Remus raised an eyebrow.
"Is it true you have extra-sensitive hearing even while not in wolf form?"
He looked rather surprised, "actually yes it is. Even from here, I can hear sounds from out in the Hogwarts grounds if I concentrate hard enough. I also have heightened sense of smell, and better movement recognition than the general population."
Zabini piped up, "so... you can totally hear anything we're talking about here at the back?"
Remus smirked, "Yes, I can."
"Shit."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," his fellow students sniggered, "I also won't tell Miss Carrow what you had planned for next Wednesday."
The classroom roared with laughter as both Hestia and Flora whipped round to stare at Zabini, who was slowly slipping down in his chair, red in the face and mortified.
"Not cool, Professor," he groaned amid the laughter, Remus just smiled and tipped his thermos at him before taking a drink.
"Can you run faster too?" asked Seamus excitedly.
"If the occasion calls for it," he answered blithely, "which if I'm honest was very convenient in my youth when my best friends would decide to spontaneously set off a box of exploding frog fireworks in the Entrance Hall."
Harry and Ron exploded with laughter, while Hermione just leaned away from the pair of them.
"For those of you who don't know, by the way, said friends were one James Potter and Sirius Black. They were also the only ones who ever got caught."
The class definitely heard the note of smugness in his voice at that and joined in with the hilarity.
"Professor?"
Remus had almost forgotten that Draco Malfoy was still in his class, and apparently so had Harry, Ron, and Hermione, because they all turned to regard him warily; daring him to say something cruel. However, Remus noticed that Draco had lost the arrogant, sneering tone, and now seemed, openly curious.
"Yes?"
"Why is it, that Werewolves play into the stereotype that Wizards hate them for? Surely, they're not doing themselves any favours, but you stayed here for Hogwarts."
Harry narrowed his eyes at Malfoy, but the blonde was not looking at him, he was giving all of his attention to his Professor. Remus considered him for a moment before formulating an answer.
"The wizarding community's own bigotry and ignorance causes werewolves to turn away and become the very beings Wizards fear and distrust. It is very difficult to continue living in such a toxic environment, believe me," he said earnestly. "Most of the werewolves living in the wild packs do not actually harbour any ill will against Wizards. It's a case of pack mentality, you hear so much hate day in, day out, from those around you, you start to lose your sense of self. Get them away from the others and ask for their own opinions, most of them will say that they just want to go home. Back to their family and friends, the life they had before they got bitten. An event they could not control."
"Some don't though, some seem to embrace it, they ... enjoy it," the class heard the revulsion in Malfoy's voice and his attempt to not shudder.
Some of the Gryffindors looked thunderous.
"Ahh, yes, you would've met one Fenrir Greyback wouldn't you?" Remus asked, taking the students by surprise with how candidly he spoke.
He stood and started to walk slowly between the rows of chairs towards Malfoy, who was in the back corner.
"Greyback is ... disgusting," he shrugged as the class turned to give him incredulous expressions. The Professor Lupin they knew was polite to a fault. "Well he is. Even by the common werewolf standards, he was cruel, vulgar, controlling, completely deranged, and extremely violent. Just as humans have those who seem to be inherently malicious, you have your werewolves who are worse than the general misconceptions."
"But," Malfoy sounded incredulous, "that just makes them as diverse as ... well, Wizards, doesn't it? I mean, you're a werewolf, but you're nothing like that, you teach."
Harry and Ron looked gobsmacked, but Remus was smiling, "yes it does, but most people don't take the time to teach themselves about the finer points of a species they are adamant are dangerous." He sounded rueful, but his body language was still positive and strong.
"That's so lazy," Malfoy muttered.
"Coming from you that's saying something," Harry snarked across the room.
"Shut up, Potter,"
"Enough, you two," warned Remus gently, and they fell silent.
"Sir, was Greyback, you know, actually a Grey wolf? If so that's a bit of a coincidence," asked Daphne from the front of the class.
Remus couldn't help but start to laugh, "I'd imagine that is the name he chose for himself when he embraced the Werewolf, er, lifestyle. It's very common amongst werewolves to leave their former selves behind. Fenrir, a giant wolf born of a God, destined to kill Odin during the end of the world." Remus rolled his eyes, "Yes, I'm sure that would have greatly pleased him. I haven't the foggiest what his birth name was, and really it doesn't matter. However, before you ask, mine was a coincidence; an unfortunate combination of irony and a consulted name seer."
"Name seer?" Harry asked.
"Oh yeah," Ron breathed, "you wouldn't- some wizarding families consult naming seers to determine what to name their kid, you know, on what they're gonna be known for, or what they gonna do, or ... oh."
The class looked up at their Professor and a couple winced.
"Yes, it is unfortunate that I was thus given the name Remus. One of two brothers raised by wolves, and later killed by the other, mind you. Coupled with the fact that the family name was Lupin, which looks an awful lot like Lupine, my fate was probably sealed. The final nail in the coffin was when my father had the fantastic idea of pissing off a werewolf."
Here he halted and suddenly looked very guilty, hushed gasps following this revelation.
"You mean, you're a werewolf because-" Hermione started.
"Yes, but I've never really blamed my father," Remus said quickly. "He has always taken care of me, and tried everything to make my life more manageable. The Werewolf in question wasn't openly known as a werewolf, but my father, a ministry employee for the Regulation and Control of Dangerous Creatures, recognised the signs. He couldn't seem to help himself."
Remus shrugged.
"As for the original question, Greyback was indeed a wolf of grey colouring."
"What colour fur do you have as a wolf?" Flora asked, suddenly.
"It's also grey. A Werewolf's colouring will depend on the colouring of the werewolf that bit them."
The class started talking amongst themselves for a while, discussing what other fur colours there were, but Hermione was looking at Remus quizzically. Her eyes widened suddenly as the penny dropped. He inclined his head at her gently, but she kept the discovery to herself, taking a moment to gather herself.
"Are there not people who willing seek the bite?" Hermione decided to ask instead. Remus was surprised it had taken her so long to outright ask a question, and Ron was now looking at her like she had a death wish. Sounding apologetic she continued, "Only, I've heard of some humans willingly giving themselves over to Vampires, I just wondered if there was a similar subculture with Werewolves."
"Once again, I'm impressed with your extra curricular reading Miss. Granger, but I'm sorry to say it is actually true." He looked around at his class who were murmuring to each other once more, having fallen silent at Hermione's question. "I am just as confused as you, I wouldn't wish my condition on anyone and yet some individuals actively seek it," he shook his head and shuddered slightly, "I can only imagine it's individuals who wish to gain more physical power, though I can't say the trade off is that good."
There was a pause before another eager question burst from a Gryffindor. This time it was Dean.
"How much can you lift?"
Remus snorted as the class started taking bets as to how strong he was. Some going as far as to wager he could lift a House table in the Great Hall.
"Well, he could certainly lift me when I was 8 months pregnant easily enough," came a voice from the doorway.
Looking round, Remus smiled softly as he saw Tonks leaning against the doorway, hair brown so as not to draw attention to herself. Upon the entire class looking her way, however, it immediately became fluorescent pink. She walked in until she reached her husband to give him kiss on the cheek. Some of the students aww'd while Ron gave them a thumbs up.
"And you're disrupting my class, why?" Remus asked, now grinning.
"Interesting subject you're covering today," she answered breezily, waltzing past him as she charmed the chalk board to write 'Werewolves' in a flowery cursive font, then sat on his desk.
The students were all smirking now, eyes flicking from one Professor to the other. They loved it when Tonks came into the class while Remus was teaching; all his professionalism went out the window, and nobody could wind him up as quickly as she could. They'd tried on more than one occasion, and Ginny Weasley currently held the record of 11 minutes and 43 seconds.
"Yes, well, the textbooks offend me," he sniffed, "so I'm running a Q and A session, they ask and I answer."
"Really?" her manic grin had appeared on her face, the one that usually spelt trouble for him, "That's rather open for you, isn't it?"
"It's that or try and read the chapter while not laughing, and I don't have the energy to give it any false respect. Besides," he gestured to himself, "werewolf, right here. I'd rather I teach about my own kind thank you."
He straightened his robes in mock haughtiness before striding to the front of the class, head held high. The students were tittering softly again, and only got louder when he bodily pushed Tonks along his desk, to make space, so that he could sit on it next to her.
"Does this mean we can ask Tonks questions too?" Neville piped up.
"Yes," Tonks nodded.
"Good Merlin, no," Remus said, emphatically.
Tonks punched him half heartedly on the shoulder without turning to look, and called upon a student two rows from the front, whose hand has just shot up.
"Do werewolves get territorial much?" asked Hestia.
"Terribly so," Tonks responded in mock despair, while Remus turned to her looking reproachful.
"The grey wolf is supposed to have a bite strength capable of snapping bones, and they can run really fast too. Werewolves are practically amped up versions of regular wolves right?" Ron hypothesised.
"...yes?" Remus answered, unsure and slightly wary, "you've certainly done some extra reading too."
"I got curious. How fast can you run then?"
"You won't see me running anywhere."
"No, I mean at Full Moon."
"Oh, in that case," Remus paused to think for a moment, "no idea. I've never exactly had anyone stand to one side and time me. I'd imagine the wolf could run pretty fast if pushed though, werewolves are notoriously difficult to catch. Not that you would want to catch up with one, mind."
"I wouldn't mind," Tonks murmured, grinning into her husbands thermos as Remus nearly snapped his neck, whipping round to face her. Clearly, only he had heard her.
"How much stronger are you than a regular wolf?"
"How much more can you-"
"A lot. The answer is probably a lot. A Werewolf is a wolf on steroids, there you go," Remus snagged his thermos back and practically downed the whole thing.
"Is it true that Werewolves are immune to most magical diseases?" asked Parvati after a pause.
"Yes, it is," answered Tonks, who had beaten Remus to a response as he swallowed a mouth full of tea, "and I know Remus is immune to nearly, if not all, natural biological maladies. I don't know of any magical ones that have affected werewolves. They are also immune to a variety of jinxes and hexes."
"You make it sound like I'm impervious to damage, which isn't the case," Remus added, poking her in retribution, "and how do you know all that, I didn't even know all that."
"I thought I'd look it up. Does come in handy though," Tonks retorted, sticking her tongue out for extra effect. Remus deigned not to respond to that.
"Werewolves do have weaknesses. The closer to the full moon we get, the less..." he waved his hand around for a suitable word.
"Collected?" Tonks offered.
"Thank you - the less collected we become. You have to understand the wolf is a completely different consciousness, and in the 3 days, just before, during, and after the full moon, the persons personality often dissociates, and the wolf can bleed through. This strain and preparation for the change will also make our bodies physically weaker. From what I've read it's a bit like having the Flu, so my deepest sympathies if any of you are ever ill."
"Wolfsbane will help with that," Tonks pointed out, "but it's unfair that Werewolves can't actually handle one of the key ingredients. Aconite. It's burns on contact and causes severe allergic reactions similar to extreme cases of hay-fever. So, werewolves cannot make the potion themselves, unless they have protective gear, and you need a certain amount of dexterity to make Wolfsbane."
"I also won't take tea if you serve it with silver implements."
"That means you're only weaknesses would be a particular plant, loud noises, and silver tea sets," Hermione counted off on one hand.
There was a contemplative silence in the class.
"So, what you're saying is, Professor Lupin, is a badass," Zabini concluded.
Remus put his face in his hands as he lost complete control of his class and Tonks cackled in delight.
I know in Canon Werewolves in human form are no different from other humans, but I love the concept of werewolves having heightened senses and more strength even when they're not wolfing out.
The image of the DADA room I have is the same as the illustration from Pottermore (I'm getting all my visuals from there not the films... except Mad-Eye, film Mad-Eye was awesome.)
Also, the Slytherins generally are not assholes anymore because they disagreed with the way their parents handled things, and are determined to prove they can do better than the previous generation. Go Slytherins!