Can You Love Me Most? | 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘶𝘴 𝘓𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘯

4| Nice Isn't He?

"Lupin's quite nice isn't he?" said Ollie.

I was lost in my thoughts, as the four of us just watched him in the corridors as he was teaching sixth years defensive spells in the Hogwarts grounds. He was a really talented teacher, I just looked at him with an absent-minded expression on my face.

"Hey!"

Monica waved her hand in front of my face, trying to catch my attention. I finally snapped out of my thoughts.

"Oh, er — sorry Ollie, didn't catch that." I said awkwardly.

"Lupin's quite nice isn't he?" Ollie repeated his question.

"Yeah," I finally replied, with a small smile etched upon my face. "He is nice. The best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we've probably had."

"How do you think he's going to end up by the end of the year?" Luke asked, wrapping his arm around me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowed together.

"Well, the position in DADA is jinxed, haven't you guys noticed? We haven't had a teacher in the subject who stayed for more than one year." said Luke.

Sacked... Resigned... or perhaps... even Murdered

Those were the three fates that almost every Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers had received towards the end of the year. No one has stayed longer than a year.

"Hey," said Monica sternly. "Just pray that won't happen, Luke. It's better if you keep some thoughts to yourself. What if Lupin hears you."

Luke's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

"Come on, it's Professor Mcgonagall's now. We don't wanna be late." Ollie reminded us, as the four of us packed our bags and headed to the Transfiguration Classroom, where Mcgonagall, the head of our house and our teacher waited for us along with some of the Ravenclaws.

At the end of the day, my first day actually went well. I didn't receive a single detention during my classes, perhaps because tomorrow will ge our first lesson in Potions with Snape. But the thing was, I couldn't get him out of my head.

Who?

Remus. Yes, I decided to myself that I'll call him Remus, in private of course.

Whenver I passed his classroom, he was always leaning against his desk or talking buoyantly to his class. I got this odd feeling. No, they weren't butterflies, it wasn't a skittery feeling that had something to deal with fancying someone either.

It was — something else.

Like, I just want to listen to his voice for hours and hours. His voice was soft and calming, like music. I wanted him to flash his smile at me and his eyes, I wanted his eyes to look at mine everyday.

~oOo~

"Selene, pass the chicken please." Ron said hungrily, who was seated opposite me. This gained my attention as I shook my head and passed him the platter of chicken as he took the drumstick.

It was dinner once again at the Great Hall, and it was vibrant again. Luke was sipping into a savory stew beside me, and Monica stuck her fork into a slice of steak and kidney pie, with a smile on her face.

The four of us ended up seating beside the Weasley siblings and Harry and Hermione. Beside Ron sat Harry. Fred and George were seated opposite Ollie and Monica, Percy to Luke's right and Ginny was seated with her friends. It wasn't the first time I had dinner seated beside them, I had eaten with them on countless occassions, to which I had lost count.

"You're not hungry, Selene?" Ron asked, his voice muffled from him biting into his chicken drumstick and a piece of bread.

"Not really, Ron, I said, then spoke to Harry and Hermione. "Oh and how were your first day?"

"Bloody splendid," Ron declared, before Hermione could even speak who shot a serious look at him. "Harry was predicted to receive a terrible omen in Divination and Malfoy's arm nearly became supper for a hippogriff in Care of Magical Creatures."

"Well that's freakin' tragic." Monica smirked, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. "Well, we had Defence Against the Dark Arts with Lupin this morning."

"What was he like Monica?" Hermione asked curiously, curling a strand of her bushy brown hair.

"Brilliant he is!" Luke piped up, biting into his third chicken sandwhich. "He's so cool, some of you may doubt it, but just wait."

All our eyes swiveled towards the Head table at the front. Remus was wearing a cream-colored jumper and seemed to have a delightful conversation with Professor Sprout.

"Of course we know he's brilliant. We saw how he produced a Patronus charm on the train yesterday." said Ron. Harry suddenly became quiet and a bit disturbed, seeming to recall the incident with the Dementors.

I quickly changed the subject. "Well, er just wait until you guys are in your seventh year, you'll have something to complain about — especially N.E.W.T.S." I said, thinking of the dreaded stack of homework we had each day.

Once dinner was finished, all the desserts had vanished from our plates and we were all dismissed to bed. "Just to let you know Selene, our first match is Slytherin. I have a really good feeling about this year." he said seriously and excitedly and I nodded absent-mindedly.

Just a few moments before we exited the Great Hall, I took it upon myself to look at the Head table, I couldn't really help myself.

He was still there, rising from his seat to leave as well. I saw him checking his watch on his wrist and looked to his left and right, as if he was cautious that someone was watching him. His eyes then met mine, I quickly turned back, blushing again as I was confronted by Ollie's expectations on our first game in Quidditch.

But Remus was still in my mind.