Michael Brown

My first week at Hogwarts was... fine. Normal, even.

That didn't of course mean it was good, far from it. After all, I was still forced to interact with various psychos, terrorists and monsters acting as my teachers, doing whatever I could to survive despite their best efforts. Evading predatory plants in Herbology class, avoiding poisonous traps and enthrallment in Potions class, enduring the constant onslaught of weaponized boredom in History of Magic class... it was all just as dreadful and exhausting as it was during the first year.

But that was exactly the point. After spending the entire previous year dealing with all that bullshit, it had somehow become a natural part of my daily life, no different from having fun with Luna or avoiding Granger. Sure, my classes were hazardous, potentially even lethal, but they were familiar. That's why I was no longer that stressed during most of my classes, as I roughly knew what to expect from them.

Snape approaching you? Avoid eye contact and cover your neck. Sprout displays another bioweapon? Try to disarm it before it activates. Binns starts talking? Walk out of the classroom. At this point, I was fairly confident of my survival during most classes. There was however one class that I was unsure about.

Defence Against the Dark Arts.

That uncertainty probably stemmed from the very nature of the class. After all, it was impossible for me to ever be truly prepared, as thanks to Dumbledore's curse, no DADA teacher would be able to hold a position for more than a year, making the class quite unpredictable.

I also supposed that I had been pretty spoiled during the previous year, as my last teacher, Professor Lockhart (may he rest in peace), was a magnificent bastard of a teacher. Not only did he teach me a great deal about the art of subtle manipulation and careful deception, but he was also a great man and a loyal subordinate of my friend, Tom Riddle. Lockhart was truly a beacon of safety and competence in a school full of deranged murderers and cruel monsters. Unfortunately, his presence as a DADA teacher also caused me to commit the gravest sin imaginable.

I became complacent.

Too used to Lockhart's year-long kind guidance, I was completely unprepared to deal with DADA's new teacher, Professor Remus Lupin. When Friday came and I was about to take Lupin's first class, I wasn't nervous. After all, why would I be? I had dealt with vampires, eco-terrorists and malicious rooms, so there was no reason to worry about a misguided werewolf who was too nice for his own good.

Everything changed, however, when I finally saw Lupin.

As soon as I laid eyes on the man, I knew he was dangerous. While his gentle way of speaking and deceptively casual movements were probably meant to put everyone at ease, the savage glint in his eyes and goosebumps on my skin revealed his true nature to me. I couldn't sense it during the feast, as he was surrounded by other monsters, some of them seemingly more dangerous than him, but I could see it now.

Remus Lupin was a monster, plain and simple.

Frankly, it wasn't even about the fact that he was a werewolf, which I could accept as an unfortunate affliction over which he had no control. No, it was about the fact that he was Dumbledore's most brutal and terrifying enforcer, a feral beast used by the headmaster to relentlessly hunt his enemies through the night and instill fear of the full moon in the heart of anyone foolish enough to challenge the dreaded light lord.

His disguise was admittedly perfect, and had I been anyone else, I wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary. After all, looking at him, you wouldn't think he was responsible for wiping out several villages and killing numerous high-ranking wizards in a berserker rage. Even his scars, while certainly eye-catching, could easily be explained by some previous battle with a powerful magical creature. No one would believe that they were in fact most likely caused by his previous hunts, left by his desperate victims.

Taking all of this into account, I was initially quite surprised that such an infamous monster as Lupin was even allowed to teach at Hogwarts, with none of students' parents protesting such a choice, but then I realized that it was quite likely that no one actually knew about his savage nature. While his past exploits must have left some evidence of his involvement, he had the perfect scapegoat for all his heinous deeds: Fenrir Greyback, Voldemort's most loyal hound!

That bastard Dumbledore was probably sending his agents to the places destroyed by Lupin to plant false evidence of Fenrir's involvement, shielding his beast from potential repercussions and framing another of Tom's innocent followers in the process!

It also became quite clear why Dumbledore even decided to do something as risky as hiring Lupin as a teacher in the first place. As far as I knew, there were two possible reasons for such a move.

First, Lupin, as a former "friend" of Sirius, knew his scent. Lupin was Dumbledore's top hunter, so the fact that he was well acquainted with such a dangerous foe as Sirius was a huge asset. Predicting that Sirius would eventually show up, Dumbledore hired Lupin so that the werewolf could sense Sirius approaching and capture him, planning to interrogate him about Tom. It was an ingenious plan, especially given Sirius' probable hesitancy to hurt his former friend. I didn't quite know what Tom's plan was for Sirius, but I hoped he would be ready for such a trap.

The second possible reason for Lupin's presence was even more worrying: he was there because Dumbledore had finally decided to get rid of me. While he had most likely gained most of my knowledge through the sorting hat, Dumbledore had so far been quite dismissive of my continued survival, most likely not seeing me as a threat to his plans. It was quite possible, however, that he had learned of my involvement in freeing Tom from the diary and Sirius' escape and decided it was time for me to die, sending his most trusted executioner to finish me off under the guise of a teacher.

If that was the case, I was screwed. After all, I was already in Lupin's lair, ready to be devoured.

"Good afternoon, class." The man in question began softly, seemingly ignorant of my thoughts. Not that it meant anything, as it might as well have been just a ruse. His canine senses probably already detected my caution and nervousness, registering me as a prey. Realizing this, I unconsciously covered my neck with my hand, fearing that he might tear it out. "As most of you probably already know, my name is Remus Lupin and this year I will be your DADA teacher. Although I am more versed in, shall we say, the biological parts of the subject, I have been informed that your education last year was... less than satisfactory, so we will devote this lesson to repeating material from last year. But first I'd like you to introduce yourself. Let's see, we'll start with..."

Lupin then pretended to scan the classroom for a bit, as if looking for a random person to start with, but after a few seconds his eyes, his feral, wild eyes, rested on me and I knew it was over. I had a good run, I had helped a few people, but it didn't matter anymore. It was time for me to die.

"...Maybe you, the boy with brown hair in the third row, who looks like he's about to run away." Lupin said gently, pointing in my direction. He then smiled disarmingly, as if he wasn't already plotting how to lure me outside the castle to gorge on my flesh. "There's no reason to be so nervous. I don't bite, I assure you. Now, could you tell me your name and something about yourself, such as your favourite spell or the quidditch club you cheer for?"

"I...I'm..."I stammered, unable to respond properly. I felt Luna's concerned gaze on me, but I ignored it, completely focusing on the predator standing in front of me. After a moment of silence, unable to cope with the pressure any longer, I shouted the first thing that came to my mind. "I... Stay away from my jugular!"

Lupin stared at me. Marcus glared at me. The whole class looked at me with a familiar mixture of confusion and annoyance. Only Luna wasn't staring, apparently already accepting my actions and coming to her own conclusions.

In a way, I felt almost nostalgic.