Seamus Finnagin came bounding into the Gryffindor Common Room and pushed his way into a crowd of students. He did not wait for them to quiet down or even acknowledge he had came in before he started speaking loudly.
"Oi. Alright, bet is off- I've seen her. She's real." He called aloud, beaming with pride.
"You lie." the Weasley Twins, Fred and George, exclaim at the same time, and a murmur from other students around agree.
"No, really. She was in the hall going down toward the kitchens- just now!" He insisted, furrowing his brow. "Gorgeous bird. Seriously lads, just like the Ravenclaw lot was saying before charms- she's a petite little ginger... real fit."
Hermione Granger rolled her eyes and spoke up amongst the boys.
"You know, it seems a bit moronic to assume the new professor we have who, you know, wears a wedding band... wouldn't have a spouse around. I do not understand how there was ever a debate on the reality of the woman." She said with a snort.
"Whatever Granger. You'd just have to see her." Finnagin shot back.
"You all seem so genuinely surprised." An older girl, Amora, pipped up from the couch. "He's the best looking professor we've ever had, including Lockhart last year. Why wouldn't he have a wife to match?" The younger group all looked over where the seventh year girl was perched, reading over an assignment.
"I'm still so confused." Harry Potter confessed to his friends, Neville and Ron, who were close by his side near the windows.
"It started on Tuesday..." Ron started to explain. "A group of Ravenclaw boys had permission to be out a bit later with their Prefect to use the library, and they were telling everyone about this just unrealistically beautiful woman with dark ginger hair that was gathering books on different dark arts subjects. She didn't speak to any of them and left the library pretty quickly after they came in. The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, one of them noticed two of the books on Lupin's desk... and that he had a wedding band on."
"That is honestly some impressive observation." Harry shrugged. "Why were people debating if she was real or not?"
"We haven't really had any married professors, have we? Just Professor Groth in spell writing theory, but her husband owns a shop in Hogsmade so she doesn't even live on the grounds." Hermione added, taking a seat near her friends.
"You're in Spell writing theory?" Ron ask, confusion ringing in his overly loud tone. "That is during potions."
"I have my schedule set with McGonagall." Hermione defended quickly. "I would like to know how the Ravenclaws got a curfew pass for the library with Black on the loose? Seems unfair."
"Safety in numbers?" Neville guessed. "Plus aren't the grounds supposed to be on lock down?"
"I could get a study group of Gryffindors together." Hermione thought aloud.
"Sure, 'Mione." Ron laughed. "Three weeks into term, you're going to get enough people together to get a library pass."
"There are those who care about their education around here, Ronald." Hermione snapped. "Just because you don't-"
"Guys, please." Harry whined, trying to break up the squabble between his best friends. "Can we just have a nice evening shut in?"
Jasmine Lupin crept quietly through her husband's office, into the entry of the living quarters behind the landscape painting that hung behind the desk, and into the bedroom they shared on nights she stayed in the castle. She was not surprised to find her love already asleep in the early evening, as the moon was waxing full in two night's time. She smiled at his sleeping form and brushed some of the fallen, sandy-brown curls from his face.
Three weeks of constantly popping back and forth- and Jasmine hated apparition. She'd lied, of course, when Remus ask if she was alright with traveling from their home in the Welsh countryside to the castle and back multiple times a week, because it made him smile, and it made him seem a bit more at ease with taking a job she knew was a life-long dream come true. The man was her whole world, after all, and she was not about to let her mild annoyances be a burden to him.
She moved as quietly as possible, knowing his keen hearing could alert him to her presence and disturb his slumber if she weren't careful. Pulling on her pajamas, she slid into the large, king-sized bed and scooted over, curling into his side.
"You're late." Came Remus' sleepy, mumbling voice.
"How'd you know? You're asleep." She replied, nuzzling her face into the nape of his neck as he adjusted to wrap her in his arms.
"Because I just know." He replied. "You're you."
"Mmm. Go to sleep." Jasmine retorted. "You need to rest."
"Its Friday and you're not my supervisor." Remus chuckled.
"I could go get her..." Jasmine warned, knowing very well what a mother hen Minerva McGonagall could be when it came to Remus and his well being.
"Please don't." Remus whined. Jasmine adjusted herself and sat up, looking down at her husband.
"How was he this week?" She ask, her large, peridot-green eyes shining in the moonlight through the bedroom window.
"Harry?" Remus ask, as if this wasn't obvious. "He's well. Doing well in all his classes so far, I hear."
"D'you think he is still upset with you over not letting him face the boggart?" She pondered, propping on her elbow. Remus had told his wife about the first class with the third year students, and how he had stepped between Harry and the shape-shifter, for fear it would become Voldemort in his classroom. This of course lead to all if the students being rather startled when the boggart then shifted into a large, angry wolf with a small red fox hanging from it's mouth. He'd ended the lecture with a mostly-made up spewing of how boggart's were sometimes metaphorical in presentation when the idea was not something that could be made into a tangible thing.
"I don't think so." Remus sighed. "But I don't know. Thirteen year old boys are a weird lot."
"How would you know? You've been a seventy year old man your whole life." Jasmine joked. Remus smiled.
"You like it."
"True." She sighed, laying back down. "I wish so much I could see him, Rem."
"I know, darling." He replied sadly. He began to gently twist one of her long red curls on his finger. "We can go watch Quidditch. I know it isn't much, but-"
"Its something." She agreed. "Do you think the Wizgamot would re-hear my case now?"
"Well, as you're no longer a minor, yes. But- you know..." Remus trailed off, again his voice sounding saddened.
"What?" She replied, genuinely confused what he meant.
"I doubt they'll be very content handing over the savior of the wizarding world to a werewolf, darling." Remus reminded her.
"Fuck 'em." She replied angrily.
"Jazz..." Remus tried to soothe.
"Any idiot with half a brain and a DADA textbook knows that he'd be so much safer with us than anyone else." She protested.
"I don't think bigotry works that way, Jazz." Remus yawned. He sounded more exhausted now than when she'd first woken him up.
"Sleep, Rem. We can talk in the morning." Jasmine reminded him, placing a kiss on his lips, then the tip of his nose. He mumbled something in reply but had already started to give in to his exhaustion. Jasmine smiled sadly at her love, her husband. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, listening to his deep, even breaths as she tried to still her mind for sleep as well.
Tomorrow was a new day, and the Hogwarts Magical law books were hers for the taking.
Welcome to round 2: better than ever. I decided the old version was much too rushed, but I adored the general idea, so here is the rewrite. I hope you all enjoyed the brief reintroduction, and thank you all for reading!
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Much love!