do you have the time? (REMUSSS!!) - FINISHED!

[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 763

Remus and animals.. were not a very good match. Either the animals were herbivores or small and, thus, scared of him as they instinctively recognised him as the predator he was; or the animals were large and had to be distracted by throwing dead meat at them and the scent would make Remus retch (well, not really retch, but he'd find it appealing and that would make him retch..)
"Teaching? I can really imagine you doing that." He laughed shortly and smiled a little lopsidedly. Oh, he could imagine along, but he knew that it would would remain just that: a daydream. He was glad she didn't ask him to elaborate, though he was sure he could've thought of a lie of some kind. Remus was glad he didn't have to. When she asked what he'd like to teach, he was silent for a moment. "I don't know.. Defense against the Dark Arts would be interesting and challenging, but the same goes for Transfiguration or Charms," he mused with a bit of a shrug. "I don't know. I'm sure we're going to have some sort of talk in sixth or seventh year about carreer planning," he added, thinking that would end that subject.
"I'm sure you could do it great ... well, I guess I'll be the judge of that in an hour or so!" He laughed again, quietly. "Yes, well, I'll let you be the judge of that, indeed."

He could tell she was excited and eager to get started, to be honest - so was he. The idea of putting his educational abilities to the test appealed to him and although he knew he would probably never actually teach, he could still enjoy these hours of tutoring, could he not? The fulfillment of seeing someone progress and learn was still the same.
He cocked his head a little as they walked and she talked. "Dragons?" he echoed. "I cannot deny they're very interesting.." Remus half-grinned. No, dragons were not his cup of tea. "Still, if it interests you, you should absolutely pursue it." He nodded. "My father used to work in the Beast Division at the Ministry, I could ask him for some information if you're interested?" Remus knew it was honest of him to tell this, but he saw no harm, really, in doing so and he was sure his father would be delighted to hear someone was interested in his previous job. After being sacked from his job at the Ministry, he'd taken to being a Muggle biologist, feeling a Muggle job would be safer because of Remus, but he'd still always taken great interest in Magical Creatures (and had been thoroughly disappointed when Remus couldn't work with them very well).

"I've actually never heard of the Room of Requirements, it sounds amazing though! Take me to it!" Remus chuckled softly at her enthusiasm. "If all's well, it will come to us," he assured her and focused on needing a Room for Defense practise. They'd need some dummies to practise on and perhaps a mirror so she could check her wand movements (if that was her problem, at least), but also a table and some chairs to sit if they needed to discuss the theory first. A fire would be nice, as it was only the beginning of February and the castle could be thoroughly chilly.. Remus thoroughly set his mind to these things and smiled to himself when he heard the familiar sound of dark, damp stone changing into a wooden door. "There we go."
He opened the door and led Annelise inside. It was like he'd imagined it, of course, and he knew that it would change according to his (or Annelise's) wishes should they need the room to do so.

Near the fire was a set of chairs with a table not far off and he sat down, lowering his rather heavy bag to the ground and smiling at Annelise slightly. "Anything else you need? I mean.. you need but to think about it." Remus looked around briefly, there was nothing he desperately missed, but Annelise might.
Shifting in the chair a little, he turned to Annelise again. "So, eh.. what is the exact problem you encounter in Defense against the Dark Arts?" he asked, half wondering if he should offer to 'think up' something to eat or drink - they were skipping dinner, after all.

[Annelise Westerhof]

Annelise listened to Remus talk about teaching, and she could hear about much the idea captured him. She wished she had something she felt so passionate about. It was nice to see his face light up as he talked about it, and she enjoyed it. She liked when people talked about happy things, and non-depressing things. It made life just that more fun.

"I don't know about teaching Transfiguration. Could you imagine trying to teach kids who were hopeless at it? It seems like the most complicated class to teach. I mean, most kids either get it or they don't, there's hardly an in-between," she said with a shrug. "We'll see how well you do at teaching me. The moment you can get me to produce a Patronus, you will have officially a spot in the teaching community."

Annelise dropped the subject of dragons, however, for she had felt awkward bringing it up in the first place. Most people didn't understand her interest. She was very short and small, and most people found dragons to be something to avoid, not something to study. As long as they were kept at a safe distance, most of the wizarding community tried to pretend dragons didn't exist. All Annelise said on the subject, replying to Remus' suggestion of mentioning it to his father was, "Yes, that'd be nice, thank you."

When a door appeared, Annelise honestly jumped. She hadn't expected it. She thought maybe the Room of Requirements would be just a door behind a tapestry, or something along those lines. Instead, she walked in with Remus to find a large room with a fireplace, chairs, table, and dummies everywhere. It wasn't bright, but it wasn't dark either. She joined Remus at the table and put her heavy rucksack next to her. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, relaxing. When she opened them and looked at the table again, a plate of assorted sandwiches and Butterbeer appeared there. She smiled, happy to be able to eat some food before they practised. The fire warmed her, for the corridors had been a little drafty. She dug in and looked up at Remus as she took a swig of Butterbeer.

"Honestly, I haven't been able to do an ounce of magic in that class since I first started," she admitted, quickly eating one of the sandwiches. "I don't even remember what I'm supposed to be able to do. I think overall, if I can ever learn to create a Patronus I might faint. They're so beautiful, but the moment I think what I have to use it against, it scares me too much and I just can't do it. I don't even know what that little wisp of silver that comes out of my wand is trying to be."

Annelise wasn't complaining, she was merely explaining. He did ask, after all. "If Defense Against the Dark Arts was the only class at Hogwarts, I would swear I was a Squib. Not that there's anything wrong with being a Squib but - "

She cut herself off, realizig that once again, she had begun to ramble. Colour rose in her cheeks for what felt like the millionth time and she looked down at the table. Her brown eyes looked back up at her companion after a few seconds, met his eyes and smiled. A couple more seconds passed in which she didn't say anything, and then she looked away and said, "Dig in, there's plenty."

Word Count: 620

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[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 770

Annelise was absolutely right about talking about happy things. There was enough drama going on these days and although Remus was not free of worry, as he was a half blood and his parents lived rather remotely, he tried not to let it eat him up.
"I don't know about teaching Transfiguration. Could you imagine trying to teach kids who were hopeless at it? It seems like the most complicated class to teach." Remus laughed softly. "Well, that's part of the challenge combined with the passion one has for one's subject, isn't it? I'm sure there are some students that drive MacGonagall mad, but she's still teaching.." He grinned a little wider at her half-challenging him to help her produce a patronus and shrugged a little. "We'll see. I'm a fan of starting with something simple, a patronus charm is rather complex, you know." It was true, he was planning on trying to get Annelise to feel at ease first before moving on to more complex spells and hexes.

Although Annelise didn't talk about dragons anymore, Remus was silently still thinking about him. Part of him thought she wouldn't be apt to do anything with dragons unless she planned to be their food, but there was another voice contradicting him rather firmly, telling him he shouldn't dismiss an option before she'd even tried anything. Besides.. she was small and perhaps quick, surely that came in handy when handling dragons, didn't it?
"I'll owl my father tonight," he told her, making a mental note of it and already half composing the letter while they walked.

Once they were inside the room and sitting down, Remus couldn't help but laugh out loud (though still rather quietly) as Annelise thought of something to eat and drink. If she latched onto the idea of 'thinking up' things in a room, he was sure she had one hell of an imagination. When Annelise explained that her lively imagination was exactly her problem, he nodded a little.
"...the moment I think what I have to use it against, it scares me too much and I just can't do it. I don't even know what that little wisp of silver that comes out of my wand is trying to be."
Remus was silent for a moment, forgetting about the food, even, as he thought. If it was just her fear being in the way, there was probably little wrong with her pronunciation and wand work, just the nerves. Pensive, he tapped his index finger on the armrest of the chair, staring into the fire so focused that her comment about Squibs was lost to him completely.

He didn't look up until she caught his eye and smiled back for a moment. "Sorry, lost myself in a train of thought there," he said, apologetic. He reached for a sandwich and then seemed to forget about it once again as he thought for a moment. "So it's purely the nerves? The fear of being in a potential real situation in which you'll have to use magic to save yourself, yes?" At long last, Remus took a bite of his sandwich and hummed lowly - he hadn't noticed how hungry he had been. While chewing, he glanced at Annelise shortly. Fear was something that wasn't always easy to overcome and maybe it came from some sort of deeper, subconscious source she didn't know about. That meant it might be a lot of work, but on the other hand fear could also be something that was fairly easy to reason someone out of. Oh well, he guessed the best way to begin was by have her trust him, and then work from there.
He was planning on having her show him on the dummies first. If there was anything wrong with her wand work or pronunciation, they could filter that out from the start. Then, maybe, Remus could be her opponent a few times and later they could move on to duel in a more relaxed environment, doing it for fun more than out of necessity. As long as the steps were small enough and he could make her feet at ease before moving onto a new situation, Remus was more than sure that he could help her feel less insecure. After all, so he thought, fear came from insecurity - Annelise wouldn't be afraid of facing Death Eaters or whatever threat if she was sure she could take them.

[Annelise Westerhof]

Annelise liked Remus' laugh. It was soft, but still heard. It was an underrated sort of laugh that was hardly heard anymore. She was sure if he laughing next to Sirius, everyone would only hear Black. That boy did have a set of vocal cords on him. But loud never really caught Annelise's attention. She was more curious of those who hardly spoke. They were mysterious. She didn't laugh out loud, but was amused by the thought in her mind. She actually found Remus mysterious. She didn't know whether anyone else in the school thought the same way. Well, most girls nowadays giggled in Remus' presence... not that she knew what that was about. She didn't feel like asking anyways. If it was some kind of rumour, Annelise wasn't interested.

She laughed at the comment about McGonagall. "Well, she's a stern woman! Sometimes I wonder if Flitwick's about to fall off his stool out of panic. Poor fellow..." she said as she somewhat trailed off. "I suppose you're right, though. I just have a hard way of explaining things in more than one way, which I guess would make me a terrible professor." She listened to him speak, and liked the way his words flowed. It was almost like he was sure of himself when he spoke, as if he thought before he said anything. "Oh, no, you're completely right. A Patronus is just my top goal is all. I wonder what it'll be!"

Annelise said the last sentence with so much excitement, one would think that a child had said it. She held an innocence in her eye that was rare in young people over the age of thirteen, and it was doubtful that it would ever leave. It was one of the great things about her - she held as little judgement of others, just like a child. Almost no one had that. Everyone judged even if they didn't mean to. She did it only finding out as much as she could about a person, although sometimes that did consist of someone just telling her off and ignoring her forever.

"It's quite alright," she said, as he told her he lost himself in thought. "It happens to me all the time, too. And yes, I think that's what it has to be, but I can't get myself to get over it. I mean, the Professor never seems to have time to help me with it, and really, I guess that's not his job either; to help me get over my fears. It's his job to teach me, whether or not it sinks in is up to me, I suppose. I just don't know what I can do to get the thoughts out of my head."

Annelise shrugged and finished off her goblet of Butterbeer. The cup automatically refilled, and she watched it do so. When she looked up, she saw a strange bowl next to Remus. She raised an eyebrow, and then stood up and walked over to it, standing closer to Remus as she circled it. "What's this?"

It wasn't like Annelise was stupid, it was just that she didn't typically go out of her way to learn things that weren't part of the ciriculum - such as the Pensieve. She looked into it's misty-like depths, and wondered what in the world it could be used for.

Word count: 600

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[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 500

"I can imagine MacGonagall teaching in fifty years, still, I don't think she'll stop until she dies," Remus mused with a bit of a grin.
Remus, sure of himself as he spoke? A joke, certainly - he'd just gotten rather good at pretending, though he had to admit it helped that Annelise wasn't a giggling, mini skirt-wearing sort of girl. That tended to distract him (he wasn't Sirius, but he wasn't made out of stone, either). He smiled a little at her exclamation concerning her patronus. "Top goal, indeed - it's not an easy thing to do. I have to admit I don't always succeed, either," Remus said, not just to make her feel better - he sometimes had trouble thinking of a happy enough memory to get it going.

"It's quite alright, it happens to me all the time, too. And yes, I think that's what it has to be, but I can't get myself to get over it. I mean, the Professor never seems to have time to help me with it, and really, I guess that's not his job either; to help me get over my fears. It's his job to teach me, whether or not it sinks in is up to me, I suppose. I just don't know what I can do to get the thoughts out of my head."
Remus nodded slowly. "Well, I'd argue that is is his job. It is his job to teach and by leaving you stumbling over the same problem time and time again, he is certainly not teaching you." He exhaled slowly. "Of course, it is a possibility that he's a busy man, but he should've at least found you a tutor sooner," he said, nodding. He hadn't expected the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher to be so careless, he seemed rather committed to his job - maybe he'd been at a loss as to what to do about Annelise's problem? Still.. Remus thought it was a little unprofessional..

Picking up a goblet of butterbeer, he sipped it in silence for a moment, then followed Annelise's gaze as she seemed to watch something that had just appeared on the table. Remus frowned briefly. A pensieve? Oh, well, if the Room thought they needed it - who was he to ignore it?
"What's this?" Remus looked up at Annelise briefly. If she didn't know what it was, one of his thoughts must have triggered the room to make it appear. "A pensieve. It's used for reviewing memories," he answered, looking at the bowl as well. "I didn't ask for it specifically, but I was wondering where your fear might've come from." He looked at Annelise briefly. "Eh- I understand this is personal, of course, but is there a particular memory that might have caused your nerves to be in the way..?"

[Annelise Westerhof]

"I don't think she'll ever stop, either," Annelise agreed. "I can't imagine her doing anything else. Retiring doesn't really seem like her... thing. I respect her so much. Can't imagine many other teachers doing what she does for the class."

She smiled when Remus told her that he had troubles doing it sometimes, too. She wasn't smiling because he said that sometimes he couldn't, she smiled because she assumed he was saying it to try to make her feel better. She liked to judge people by their intentions. For some reason, she had a hard time imagining him having troubles with hardly anything. Although, she wasn't completely irrational, she knew he mustn't be perfect, either. No one was.

"I'm sure if chance came, you'd do fine," she assured him. "Just curious, what does your Patronus become?"

Annelise hoped it wasn't too personal of a question. She just always figured that someone's Patronus showed what kind of person they were. Most people were more than happy to reveal what their's was, unless it was something they didn't like, like a mosquito. Which really, she had yet to come across. She was betting hers was probably a mosquito. She'd be happy with that too, really, as long as it was distinguishable and did it's job.

Annelise shrugged about his comment about the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. "I'm sure he's just busy, is all. There is so many students he teaches, after all, he probably just has a lot on his plate."

She looked down at the swirlingness of the Pensieve as she listened to Remus describe it. "Well, that's neat," she said, honestly. "Always wanted some place to store my dreams and good things that happened to me."

Annelise considered the question Remus asked her. Did she have anything that would cause the fear? She didn't think so. Growing up, her life had been pretty normal. Sure, her aunts were well known for being Dark in the Netherlands, but she wasn't scared of them. All in all, compared to many students in Hogwarts, she had a good, normal life. She couldn't imagine how she would have turned out if she had ever been attacked or anything of the like.

Annelise grabbed the armrest of Remus' chair and leaned forward, grabbing another sandwich that was on the table in front of him and began eating it. She always had quite the appetite, and she never gained weight from eating a lot. Although she never came off as a pig, she wasn't a boy. She glanced down at Remus, as she was standing and he was sitting. "No, I don't think so. I just think I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. Perhaps I care too much. I just couldn't imagine what I'd do if I was severely hurt or couldn't protect those that I love. I just want everyone to be in good condition, and I'd hate for it to be my fault if someone got hurt due to my incompetency."

She shrugged as if she was merely explaining how something worked, instead of being open like a book. She didn't bother going in circles with things and stretching the truth. Remus couldn't help her if she wasn't honest, and she was completely aware of that.

Word count: 600

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[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 400

He could see that Annelise didn't quite believe him, it was her smile. Her smile said 'you're just saying that to make me feel better' and although Remus was flattered by the idea she apparently thought him to be so considerate, he knew he was telling the truth. He blinked for a moment when she asked him about his patronus' form. "Oh, eh, it's a wolf." Remus smiled lopsidedly. "Maybe it refers to the quantity I eat," he added jokingly and hoping, silently, they wouldn't dwell on this for too long.
"Oh, I'm sure he's busy," Remus said, concerning the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. "But he should've realised he was busy and arranged for someone to tutor you sooner."

Remus followed Annelise's gaze towards the Pensieve again and grinned a little at her comment. "Yes, I suppose it helps when you're particularly forgetful or something monumental happens in life." Remus didn't want a pensieve. He didn't want to see what he did on full moon nights, not did he want his memories potentially laying about, ready for the taking of any curious student. Remus liked keeping things to himself, thank you very much.
"The Room conjured it for you, you can have it," he told her. "I can imagine it makes revising for tests a whole lot easier, too," he said with a bit of a grin and a shrug.

He waited patiently as Annelise pondered his question and helped himself to another sandwich. The wolf in the back of his mind growled disappointingly as it realised Remus had picked a cucumber-one in stead of one with chicken on it. Remus ignored him and bit into the food, chewing slowly.
"No, I don't think so," she eventually said, "I just think I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. Perhaps I care too much. I just couldn't imagine what I'd do if I was severely hurt or couldn't protect those that I love. I just want everyone to be in good condition, and I'd hate for it to be my fault if someone got hurt due to my incompetency." Remus nodded slowly. "Sounds more than plausible to me, really." He nodded again, more to himself. "Tell me when you've finished eating and we'll get started."

[Annelise Westerhof]

"Oh, I love wolves," Annelise said, enthusiastically. "I know all about them, in fact." She paused as she finished her sandwich. "That's an awesome Patronus you have! You're lucky."

She honestly sort of wanted a wolf, herself, as a Patronus. Wolves were her favourite animal, along with penguins. Strange combination, yes. She loved wolves for a variety of reasons, though, and she only liked penguins because she thought they were cute. In all honesty, back at home she had a collection of the stuffed creatures. It was embarassing, but it was just her thing. They all had different stories of where they came from, and she took the time to name them all. She wished she could say it was just a thing from her childhood, but the majority of them she collected lately.

"I suppose you're right," she said, in response to his comment about the professor. "I just don't like to think people are doing the wrong thing intentionally or out of laziness." She picked up the Pensieve, and then placed it on a nearby shelf. She liked it, and she honestly couldn't wait to use it, although she didn't know what she'd fill it with. She naively believed that she would be the only person looking into it.

"Don't think I'll be using it for tests or revision... probably just my favourite parts about my day," Annelise explained, turning around again to face him. "I'm finished eating now. So what's first on your master list of tutoring, Professor Lupin?" she asked with a small laugh.

Annelise sometimes had a hard time taking things seriously, but not out of ignorance, but because she wanted things to be fun. She was sure this was going to be fun, but at the same time, was nervous that she wouldn't be able to do anything and make herself look like a fool in front of Remus. It was different making a fool of herself in front of the class, for she didn't particularly care what they thought of her, but found herself caring what he did. She glanced over her shoulder at the dummies, and felt herself getting nervous all over again. Annelise pulled out her wand, and tried to look prepared, hoping Remus knew what he was getting himself into.

Word count: 415

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[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 467

"Oh, I love wolves." Remus started her incredulously for a moment and completely forgot what he'd been saying. "..you do?" he muttered a little dumbly before trying to relocate his common sense. He coughed to clear his head. "Well, they're portrayed in literature rather negatively," he half joked, "don't know if you remember Little Red Ridinghood.." But he knew it wasn't true. He was wolfish, not just once a month. He had a pack mentality as he was fiercely loyal concerning his friends, plus he was patient, like wolves could be when following prey - something they could keep up for days if not weeks. As much as Remus wanted to deny it, he knew it would be lying to himself.

Remus decided not to comment on the Defense against the Dark Arts professor anymore, though he had to admit it was nice to know Annelise wasn't easily prejudiced. He smiled to himself, though it turned a little wry. 'It still means nothing,' he mentally told himself, admonishing himself almost. With a curd nod, Remus focused himself on tutoring - and tutoring only.
"..So what's first on your master list of tutoring, Professor Lupin?" He grinned a little, yet felt the need to clarify: "Eh, Remus is fine, haven't got an actual degree for teaching, you know," he replied and tried to sound as light and joking as she did. It was striking that the moment he announced they were going to start, Annelise's nerves would instantly come into it again, he could almost smell it on her, and he smiled slightly.

"I was thinking that it would perhaps be a good idea to just go over some basics first, just to make sure the problem is not with the wand movements or your pronunciation," he said, as calmly as he could, and found he was doing pretty well so far. "Many of the spells we're taught are latinate, so they have very different stress patterns than most English words, as English is mainly Germanic, really.."
He cleared his throat and nodded at one of the dummies. "Just give disarming a try?" he asked her. Expelliarmus could manifest itself in different forms according to the way the witch or wizard cast it, as long as it was pronounced correctly (secondary stress on 'pel', primary stress on 'ar'). When Remus was calm (and he usually was, in class, at least) he just disarmed the person opposing him, their wands being jerked from their hands, but he'd seen Sirius cast a rather vicious expelliarmus once or twice (on Severus Snape, to be exact) and that had caused Snape to be actually blown backwards as well as lose his wand.

[Annelise Westerhof]

"Oh yes," Annelise said, regarding him asking if she loved wolves. "I find them so... interesting, I guess. Ever since I was a little girl, I researched them. Could be due to the fact that my best friend when I was seven to ten was a werewolf... he was such a sweetheart. Too bad they moved away..."

Annelise trailed off, in thought, thinking about him. He had been bother her and her brother's best friend. He had been a year younger than Annelise, but a year older than Jakob. His name had been Josh. His family had lived in London until Josh had been attacked by a werewolf when he was seven, and then they decided it would be best to move to the countryside, where it was less likely Josh could attack. The two families kept in touch, but the family had a hard time keeping track of Josh. He'd occasionally go and kill livestock, and after a while, they decided to move to Russia, for suspicion was arising. Annelise had been quite sad about the whole ordeal, but knew it was best. They had told too many people what Josh was, and that compromised his safety. She knew in her heart that it had been best for them to leave.

"I agree," Annelise said when Remus mentioned Little Red Riding Hood. "Considering how timid wolves are around humans, that story makes absolutely no sense. I mean, unless maybe that terrible wolf had been a lone wolf, kicked out of his pack or something..." she shook her head, realizing she was putting too much thought into a childhood story. "Well, it is just a story after all. I just wish people didn't have the misconception that wolves were these terrifying killing machines. I wish people weren't so ignorant all the time..."

Annelise smiled when he corrected her on his name. She playfully pushed his shoulder lightly. "Only kidding, you know. I'll save professor until after you can show me your skills."

She laughed lightly, and then turned to one of the dummies. She took out her wand and pointed it at a dummie, who suddenly had a pretend wand in her hand. Immediately her mind went dark, and all she could think about was if it was a Death Eater coming at her. She blinked a couple of times, trying to get the image out of her head. She moved her wand in the way she knew theoretically it should be waved, and then cried, "Expelliarmus!"

However, only an extremely weak amount of red light left her wand, and all it did was barely even wiggle the wand of the dummie. She frowned, feeling silly. Annelise glanced at Remus next to her and said, "Told you. Not even a simple disarming spell."

Annelise tried not to feel disheartened, but it was difficult. She just wanted to be able to defend herself at least half as well as the rest of her class could.

Word Count: 525

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[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 563

Remus didn't realise he had uttered that question aloud until Annelise answered it. "I find them so... interesting, I guess. Ever since I was a little girl, I researched them. Could be due to the fact that my best friend when I was seven to ten was a werewolf... he was such a sweetheart. Too bad they moved away..." Ironically, Remus' first thought was 'is this an elaborate joke?'. He swallowed and pulled his sleeves a little further over his hands, uncomfortable. To Annelise it probably seemed he was uncomfortable with the concept of werewolves, but Remus wasn't quite sure what he was uncomfortable with. One thing was certain, anyway: this was still no reason to tell her, why would he? He was just her tutor, she needn't know.
Annelise was silent for a moment, obviously in thought, and though Remus had no idea what she was thinking about, it set him ill at ease. Who knew what she was thinking about, after all - who knew what girls thought about in general?

His comment on Little Red Ridinghood wasn't really valid, he knew. For one, indeed, as she said - regular wolves tended to stay away from humans, but also because the fairy tale had more of a symbolic meaning, namely that of a young girl who's only just sexually active (that red hood didn't stand for nothing!) meeting a bad sort of man, who'd consume her whole - the wolf.
"Well, it is just a story after all. I just wish people didn't have the misconception that wolves were these terrifying killing machines. I wish people weren't so ignorant all the time..." Breathless, he just nodded a little. What was he to say to that?

Remus laughed softly, albeit a little nervously, when Annelise nudged his shoulder and told him he could show his skills later. "Hah, rather not - I hate to show off," he said with false confidence, as a joke. "Let's just first give you a try, shall we?" At least that meant they'd be doing something he was familiar with - Defense against the Dark Arts.
He could see Annelise's brow furrow. There was nothing wrong with the execution, but he could feel how the flow of magic passing him was weak and, had the puppet been a real person, he'd only have been forced two steps back. It was something, at least, and now that Remus knew it wasn't the pronunciation or wand movement, he could work at her intention. Annelise obviously held back because she didn't want to be in a situation that required to defend herself, which Remus could fully understand, but it was still necessary that she would eventually accept that fact.
"Told you. Not even a simple disarming spell." He smiled a little. "Oh, there was nothing wrong with the spell, your execution was perfect," he assured her. "Is it the fact it's a dummy? I mean.. it's faceless, so I can imagine it looks eerie.." he mused. Faceless things were a bit creepy by nature and probably easier to identify with as a Death Eater of some sort. "Would it help if you disarmed me?" Remus didn't look a Death Eater, after all. Not at all.

[Annelise Westerhof]

Remus' face fell after she told the story about her werewolf friend. It was strange - shouldn't a boy who's Patronus was a wolf actually not be uncomfortable about werewolves? She frowned, hoping against hope that he wasn't one of those people who didn't like werewolves because of what they were. They couldn't help it... they were just people with a condition. Were Squibs to be prosecuted because they couldn't do magic, or even anyone with mental illnesses? Surely not. She didn't want to ask him, however, in fear of getting into some sort of argument. She laid the topic to rest, hoping that maybe she was just reading his facial expressions wrong. Besides, he didn't say anything about the topic anyways, and all he did was nod. She didn't need telling to see that he wasn't interested in talking about it.

"Come on, everyone likes to show off a little," Annelise said, grinning. "It's human nature. Whether you're the smartest, or the funniest, people like to be recognized for doing things properly and very well. Even if they don't do it intentionally."

She believed it, too. Why else would Sirius and James be so funny all the time, and then look around at people's reactions? Why would the smart kids in class always constantly raise their hands instead of allowing other people to try to answer? To show off. Even if it wasn't in-your-face showing off, it's still what it was. In Annelise's mind, why not? It just showed that they were proud. What was so wrong about that? It was the opposite of being withdrawn or ashamed, which were both typically negative personality traits.

Remus assured her that it wasn't her wandwork, and she smiled at him for it. But when he suggested using himself as a dummie, she felt her heartrate speed up. She didn't even know why, it just made her more nervous.

"I-I don't know," she said, stuttering for the first time that evening, casting a glace down at the floor. Annelise wasn't particularly shy, but she did occasionally get nervous. She tried collecting her thoughts before looking back up at her companion. "I think that'll make me more nervous. I mean, what if I actually pulled it off, or did something wrong and accidentally hurt you or something? I certainly don't want that."

Annelise knew she was sounding silly, and she hoped she wasn't coming off arrogant, like she thought her spell would be so effective it would knock him out. She was just voicing what she thought. She hoped this time, despite how much she liked his laugh, that he wouldn't laugh this time. She was expressing a legitimate worry. She didn't ever want to cause harm on anyone, and although the Disarming Charm was very straightforward, she had a habit of being too much of a 'what-ifer.'

Word count: 515

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[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 452

Merlin, Remus was glad she didn't ask any more about wolves or werewolves or.. such things. He caught her frown, but blushed a little and tightened his fingers over the ends of his sleeves again, covering his hands, covering the scars there.
It was better that she thought he disliked and distrusted werewolves, no matter that she didn't think so. Remus wasn't sure about anything, really, and he was sure that even if he thought this over (and he would, oh he would - Remus could not stop his thoughts), he would still decide not to tell her anything.

"Come on, everyone likes to show off a little - it's human nature." 'And that,' thought Remus, is exactly the problem. I have no human nature. He knew his friends believed that he was human all days of the month when he wasn't a dangerous animal, but Remus knew he wasn't. He liked undercooked meat, he could hear and see better, he was stronger than most - he was never really human. Which was exactly why he had to be careful and control himself and think things through before doing something, anything!

Merlin, he could hear her heartbeat speed up as he suggested using him as a dummy. Apparently it had been a wrong suggestion.. well, Remus was still going to give convincing her a try.
"I-I don't know." It was strange to hear her stutter, it didn't fit her at all. Remus tried to catch her eyes with his, but she stubbornly looked at the stone floor. Ah, no, she looked up at him. now. "I think that'll make me more nervous. I mean, what if I actually pulled it off, or did something wrong and accidentally hurt you or something? I certainly don't want that." He laughed softly, not because he found it funny - he attempted to lighten the atmosphere. "Annelise," he softly said, "I assure you I'll be quite safe. Besides, you could never imagine me as a Death Eater, right?" The idea of Remus in such a mask was indeed rather laughable.
"Now, I can imagine it's a bit scary to try things on a live person," he said, calmed, "and if you don't want to, we'll just continue harrassing the dummies, but if you ever feel you'd feel more comfortable trying it on me, for whatever reason.." Remus smiled a little. "Just say so. I promise I'll be quite safe." He knew he would be - his reflexes would allow him to react before any human could if anything went wrong, after all.

[Annelise Westerhof]

Annelise took a deep breath, and then nodded. She was extremely nervous, but said yes anyways. She needed to put her trust in Remus, and had to assume that he knew what he was doing. She moved back and allowed Remus to get into position. She looked into his eyes, almost as if she was looking for comfort and support. She sighed, and then raised her wand at him. She was quite nervous, although the image in her mind was no longer a Death Eater. Instead, all she thought about was getting the wand out of Remus' hand.

"Expelliarmus!" she said, a bit louder than usual.

This time, however, an extremely large burst of red light came out, and hit Remus. Yes, his wand went flying, but so did he. He hit the wall behind them, and fell to the ground. She let out a shout of fright, and ran over to him, falling to her knees. His shirt rode up a bit, and she caught a glimpse of scars all over his stomach. She frowned, but didn't mention anything about the scars.

"Are you alright?" she asked, worredly, looking him up and down, just trying to find some kind of injury that she was sure must be there after hitting the wall so hard. "I'm so, so, so sorry! This is why I didn't want to use the spells against you, I'm sory..."

Annelise felt immensely terrible about what she had done. She hated hurting people, even if it was accidental.

Word Count: 270
Notes: Sorry about the short post, I didn't know what else to write! haha.

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[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 362

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He smiled as she agreed to try it on him, hoping it would have more effect. Remus wasn't very worried about what could happen and even if something did happen, it was probably nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix.
Briefly, he caught Annelise's eyes in his. "Don't hold back, give me everything you've got, okay?" He smiled a little, bracing himself, nodding when he was ready.

"Expelliarmus!"
It wasn't that Remus was ill-prepared. To be honest? He purposefully didn't block the spell, even though he was a little overwhelmed by its force that knocked him back into the wall a little harshly. Remus could hear Annelise shriek and sat up quickly, a little disoriented, but quite fine otherwise. Perhaps he'd be a little bruised in the morning, no big deal - he'd woken up with worse.
He noticed too late that his shirt had ridden up, though, and though he wasn't sure if Annelise had seen, he pulled the fabric back into place quickly, blushing and checking if his hands were still covered as well - they were. Good. Then again.. what was he worrying about? She could read all about it in that damned gossip column, couldn't she? On the other hand, Annelise didn't seem like the type to read that sort of filth.

"Are you alright?" Remus laughed softly and got up, rubbing the back of his head. "Quite fine, really. Might have a bit of a bump later, but it's no big deal-" he looked Annelise in the eye "-really, it isn't." As stated before: he went through worse things monthly, right?
"I'm so, so, so sorry! This is why I didn't want to use the spells against you, I'm sorry..." He shrugged a little and then grinned rather broadly. "Honestly, Annelise, I go through worse things. Can't we focus on the fact that that was very good spell work?" he asked, bending over to pick up his wand (holding his shirt in place with one hand, just in case).
"You did wonderfully."