46: Remus Lupin - The Muggle Part Three

Warning! This is part three of three, meaning if you haven't read part one or part two (which is a lemon), then this probably won't make any sense!

House: none

 My life had been hectic since Remus and I got back together. He had taught me a lot about the wizarding world as well as his transformations, each bit of new information shocking me. Not only that but with a little encouragement from me he applied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, a subject which meant nothing to me but his old headmaster seemingly keen for him to have the role. Remus said he'd only take the role if I was able to go with him. To our surprise his headmaster happily accepted, so the two of us were on our way to live at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I was being thrown in the deep end, utterly shocked by everything I saw. I had to pinch myself multiple times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, as despite actually being there and seeing everything I still almost didn't believe it. When we arrived the teachers were very welcoming, all bar one who was called Severus Snape. Remus informed me that they went to school together, and Remus' friends had quite the rivalry with him which resulted in him not liking Remus and by extension, me. Thankfully both the head and the deputy head was incredibly welcoming, and understood my situation. They happily answered many questions I had, but there was almost too many despite Remus having taught me a lot about their world.

Nervously I followed Remus and the other teachers into a large hall, Professor McGonagall carrying what looked like and old hat and a stool. I was soon distracted by the stunning decor of the hall, it having four long tables running down it and at the fair end there was another table looking over the hall. I looked around eagerly, trying to soak it all in when something about me caught my attention.

My mouth dropped as instead of a ceiling there was what looked like the night sky, stars twinkling down upon us. "It's just bewitched to look like that. There is a ceiling," Remus chuckled upon seeing my reaction. It was then that I spotted something else.

"Look Remus! Floating candles!" I said excitedly, my eyes wide and Remus chuckled again.

"They come out for each feast we have," Remus said and I curled in on myself out of embarrassment.

"Don't worry dear, you'll come across a lot of things you're not used to. Don't be afraid to ask about anything," McGonagall smiled at me and I nodded. She was definitely the kindest out of the professors. We all took our seats at the table, me etching my chair closer to Remus' for comfort. I was nervous, unsure on what was about to happen.

A few moments later the doors opened and in walked an incredibly large man, leading hundreds of students. I was immediately intimidated, knowing that I was the only one out of all of them who didn't know any magic. Remus took my hand comfortingly as the students sat down at the tables, another set of students of smaller students being led by the large man down the centre of the hall. Silence fell over the hall as Dumbledore stood up, it being obvious but his that he was incredibly respected.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. And welcome to our first years! As always, we will begin with the sorting ceremony," he said and McGonagall stepped forward, holding the hat she had been carrying earlier, watching in confusion. Out the corner of my eye I spotted Remus glancing towards me with a smirk on his face so I imagined something truly unusual was about to happen, however I couldn't stop the yelp escaping my mouth the McGonagall placed the hat on a students head and it began to talk.

I quickly covered my mouth as Remus chuckled beside me. "How can a hat talk?" I hissed.

"It's the sorting ceremony. Professor McGonagall places the hat on the new students head and..."

"Slytherin!" The hat cried out.

"And the student gets sorted into one of the four houses I told you about," he said.

"Of course it does, that's completely normal," I said sarcastically, watching another student step forward to be sorted.

"I know it's a lot to process," Remus whispered, squeezing my hand.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay. Might just take me a while to get used to things," I said awkwardly.

"I know, and that's normal," he said, smiling at me and building my confidence back up. Once all of the students had been sorted and settled down, Dumbledore stood back up and stepped up to his podium.

"Welcome, welcome, to another year at Hogwarts. Now, we have a few changes in staffing this year; our Care of Magical Creatures professor has now retired, so taking over his position will be our very own groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid," Dumbledore said and there was a number of cheers throughout the hall. "Not only that but we have ourselves a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor R.J. Lupin," Dumbledore gestured over to Remus and I clapped as he stood and took a bow. "With his he brings his partner, Miss (y/n) (l/n), who I must inform you is a muggle. Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss (l/n)," Dumbledore said, smiling at me and making my cheeks heat up. Everyones eyes were upon me as they clapped, welcoming me and making me curl in on myself. He carried on his speech before announcing the beginning of the speech, and I almost jumped out of my skin when piles of food suddenly appeared in front of us.

"What- how?!" I exclaimed, my stomach rumbling.

"The chefs in the kitchen and bring them up here," Remus said, digging into the food.

"The chefs?" I enquired and Remus chuckled.

"Well, they're actually elves," he said and my eyes widened.

"Like Legolas?" I asked quickly and he stifled a laugh.

"No, these are house-elves, I'll take you to meet them tomorrow if you want?" He asked and I nodded eagerly, desperate to learn more about their wonderful world. The food was incredible and the atmosphere was amazing, and I couldn't wait for the year to come. The whole castle was beautiful, and after the start-of-term we stood with the teachers for a while before heading towards our dormitory. "Classes begin on Monday and I have a few meetings tomorrow with the other teachers, but I can show you around as much of it as I can in between?" He suggested as we walked, me admiring the beautiful interior.

"Yes please! This is all so amazing Remus, I can't believe all of this actually exists!" I could barely contain my excitement as we walked hand in hand through the corridors.

"I'm so glad you're happy," he admitted, a blush on his cheeks.

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be," I said, leaning up and kissing him. Together we went into our large quarters, it having two large leather sofas, a dining table fit for four, a grand piano, a king-sized four poster bed, with a long white netted curtain cutting the room in half from living space to bedroom. All of our belongings had been brought up but we were both too tired to make the place homely, so we instead went straight to bed.

- Timeskip -

Whilst Remus was at his 09:00 meeting discussing the years curriculum, I was left in charge of unpacking all of our belongings and making the room a little homelier. We didn't have much in terms of possessions, Remus only having a singular suitcase. Still as the morning ticked by and by midday I was done, satisfied with the outcome.

The door opened and in walked Remus dressed in his smartest outfit which still somehow looked worn. "This place looks good," he praised, walking up to me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"How was the meeting?" I asked.

"Informative," he chuckled, leaning down and kissing me. "I've got another at 16:00, so how about I show you around the castle?"

"Yes!" I said, a little too eagerly. Together we walked through the corridors hand in hand, him telling me that I wouldn't be able to properly find my way around the castle until at least a few weeks into the year. He was right, it was like a labyrinth of corridors all draped with flags representing each of the houses, or of paintings that moved. When I first saw them I jumped out of my skin, the man in the portrait waving at me and greeting me. "How is that even possible... it's a painting!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, I have a name!" The painting defended.

"O-oh- sorry," I muttered.

"It's okay, it honestly baffles me as well but you get used to it," he said and I nodded. We carried on around the school and I definitely thought I was dreaming when I saw the moving staircases. I kept on telling myself that such things were impossible but here it was, standing before me. Students were running up and down them as they twisted and turned, moving form platform to platform. "C'mon, this way," Remus said, standing on one of the stairs. I was terrified to join him, scared I was going to fall off but his reassuring look persuaded me.

When they started to move I clung onto Remus tightly. We walked higher and higher, the stairs feeling less and less safe, and I was relieved when we finally got off of them. "That was terrifying... amazing, but terrifying..."

"That's another thing you'll get used to. It's the quickest way around Hogwarts," he said and my stomach churned.

"Of course it is," I muttered, looking back on them.

"Don't worry. I'll take you to my favourite bit of the castle," he said with a smile and I followed him towards large oak doors. As soon as he opened them I could see why this was his favourite part of Hogwarts. "Welcome to the library."

There were so many large bookshelves holding hundred and hundreds of books. There were desks with fancy lamps sitting on top of them, and books floated around the room returning themselves to their places on the bookshelves. After seeing the many things I had already seen I half-expected the books to fly so it wasn't too much of a shock.

Still I looked along the bookshelves, seeing so many books I already wanted to read. We walked from bookshelf to bookshelf, me flipping through many books about the history of magic and wanting to read them all; it felt as though I was a child in a toy shop. "Can I check some of these out?" I asked my boyfriend eagerly.

"Sure, I've got to head to that meeting now. Do you think you can find your way back to our room?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and I nodded confidently. Together we checked out the books and said our goodbyes halfway down the stairs, and as I was walking through the corridors I realised I had ended up lost. The students who were also exploring the castle were incredibly helpful though, and pointed me in the direction of the teachers quarters. I was scared at first that they were just pulling my leg, but some seemed genuinely interested in me and my life as a muggle. I was able to stop and chat with a few of them, all of them being kind and recommending books to me. When I finally made it back to our room I immediately delved into the books, completely hypnotised by the wizarding world.

- Timeskip -

Nine months into our time at Hogwarts and I was pretty much used to everything the castle had to offer. I was particularly used to the route between the whomping willow and the hospital wing, as every full moon I'd wait for Remus in the morning after a full moon. I'd learnt everything I needed to learn about Remus' transformations, as well as learning about the wolfsbane potion and how often he needed to take it. I also learnt that the so called 'shrieking shack' was built for him when he was at school, so he could transform in private. I hated that I couldn't be there for him on the nights that it mattered but he assured me that he'd rather me be here so that I didn't have to see him in such a state.

Not only that but I was worried about his mental health what with Sirius Black having supposedly made it onto the grounds. Thankfully I could comfort him, and he told me that he didn't think he would've had the strength to live on had he of not met me. Hearing him say such words made me feel sad but I was more than happy I could be his rock, and hopefully be his rock forever.

Living at Hogwarts was perfect and I had learnt so much, but all of that changed in one night. It was the night of Remus' June transformation, and he kissed me goodbye before heading to the whomping willow. As always I laid awake at night, sleep eluding me like it did every full moon. As soon as the sun started to shine I headed down to the whomping willow, standing far enough from it so that I didn't trigger its movements.

I kept on checking my watch but there was no sign of him, so I began to worry a little. He had shown me how to prevent the willows movements if I needed to, so I found myself a long stick and reached for the knot in its roots. Once the willows movements slowed, I crept into the tunnel and along the dark passageway to the shack, however when I was there there was no sign of Remus.

I began to panic, running all the way back to the castle and hoping more than anything that he was in the hospital wing. Panting heavily I finally reached it, Poppy seeing the panic on my face and letting me in immediately. Behind several screens at the back of the room laid Remus who had deep scratches on his arm which was now in a sling. He had a large plaster on his shoulder and a solemn look upon his face. "Remus! Remus what- what happened?" I asked desperately, sitting beside him.

"A lot," he whispered, tears forming in his eyes.

"I'll discharge you now, just make sure to change the dressing this evening," Poppy said, handing us some plasters and bandages.

"We will do, thanks Poppy," I praised my friend and she bowed politely. I helped Remus put his top back on and together we walked through the castle silently, until we got back to our room where he almost collapsed due to lack of energy. I placed him carefully on the bed and got a wet flannel to press against his forehead. "Tell me everything," I whispered.

Patiently I listened as he explained about how he found out the truth to his friends deaths all those years ago. About how Sirius was innocent, about how Peter was still alive and that he was the guilty party. He told me of how Sirius managed to escape, but that Remus lost control of his werewolf self and ended up fighting his old best friend. I stroked his messy brown hair as I let him speak, not wanting to rush him by interrupting. "And that's not it... I have to resign (y/n)."

"W-what?!" I exclaimed, shocked.

"Someone's leaked the fact that I'm a werewolf. Parents won't want me teaching their children, so if I don't resign I'll be fired. I don't want to cause Dumbledore any more difficulty," he said and I gritted my teeth.

"Who?"

"Huh?"

"Who leaked that information?" I asked through gritted teeth and he hesitated. "Who?" I demanded.

"Severus," he said and I felt as though I was going to explode.

"That asshole! Just because he didn't get on with your friends in high school, just because he wants to teach defence against the dark arts doesn't mean he should spread that personal information! I'm gonna kill him!" I shouted, standing up abruptly.

"It is what it is-,"

"No! He knows how difficult it is for people like you to get jobs, and just as you get the perfect one he blabs like a pathetic child?! No, I'm not having it!" I shouted but Remus grabbed me by the waist and pulled me into a hug.

"We'll be fine... as long as I'm with you," he muttered against my stomach and my heart warmed. I sighed and hugged my boyfriend back, careful not to press on any of his wounds.

"I feel the same," I whispered, pulling him in for a kiss. "I guess we need to start planning our next adventure?"

"Yes, yes we do."