Mara's Magic

iii - answers

"Essays on my desk by next Tuesday!" Lupin called as we all began packing up our things. The bell sounded through the classroom and we all paid it little to no attention, continuing to hastily throw parchment into our bags. As she finished in a hurry, Diana gestured towards the door, but I shook my head. 

"You go on, I've got a question for him," I told her. 

"Want me to wait for you?" She asked. 

"No, you've got practice in thirty minutes. I'll see you at dinner in a few hours," I answered with a smile. She nodded and returned my smile, quickly exiting the room and heading towards the Ravenclaw locker rooms. The room cleared quickly and soon I was the only one left in the classroom.

I tossed my quill into my satchel and headed up towards Lupin's office where he'd resigned as soon as the bell had rung. I knocked on the doorframe and he looked up.

"Professor?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes?" He asked in response.

"I have a question," I told him vaguely. He nodded again, encouraging me to spit it out. "Well, less of a question, really. More of an observation." His brows furrowed. "You knew me when I was a baby. You knew my parents."

The immediate expression on his face passed through several emotions: relief, confusion, annoyance, grief, and finally understanding. He spun his quill in his fingers. 

"Clever," he said. "Very clever." The way his lips pulled up slightly in a lopsided grin when he said the word led me to believe that it was some sort of inside joke he'd had with someone a long time before telling it to me. I was relieved that I was right; I was just going off of a gut feeling based on the way we'd interacted and how he looked at me like I was his long lost baby sister every time we had class.

"Now is not the time for this conversation," he told me. I knitted my eyebrows in annoyance. "I have a staff meeting in ten minutes. Come by my office after dinner. I'll tell you anything you want to know."

I knew that I had a lesson with Snape then, but I decided to cancel it and come by Lupin's classroom instead. As much as I needed to learn wandless magic, I wanted to know more about my history and my parents.

Throughout dinner I kept catching Minnie and Lupin glancing at me. They were seated next to each other and would whisper every so often, their eyes remaining on my figure. I continued on with dinner as though I didn't notice, even though me and my friends all did. 

"Why is she still looking over at you?" Eli whispered across the table to me. 

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Maybe she needs to talk to me?"

"All the professors always need to talk to you," Benji laughed. 

"Well, at least she's my godmother so it makes more sense," I argued with a roll of my eyes. 

"Wait - McGonagall is your godmother?" He asked with wide eyes. Oliver, Eli, Percy, and I looked at him with raised eyebrows and unimpressed eyes. 

"Mate, you didn't know that?" Elijah asked. 

"How would I have known that?" He questioned in reply, his eyes narrowed at our mocking expressions. 

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that I told you about five years ago?" I said with a laugh. "Why else would I call her Minnie to her face?"

"I don't know! I just thought you had some major nerve," he excused lamely. I rolled my eyes and laughed. My eyes travelled back up to the teacher's table and I noticed that Lupin had left. Minnie nodded to the entrance of the hall, looking between me and the massive French doors. I nodded back slightly. I turned to Oliver.