She packed her bags, looking at her room once more. She wouldn't come back to this house. She knew it. She could, or would, stay with the Weasleys for a bit and then... well she wasn't sure. She had saved up enough muggle money to buy an apartment but the whole question of where was still hanging. She didn't exactly know what she wanted to do, so the future was still being written.
She walked toward her parents and said goodbye. They didn't know and she wasn't planning on letting them know. It wasn't much of a surprise she was running late, she did this every year.
The platform was almost empty, she ran inside and tried to find the twins. She passed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were, to her surprise, not alone.
She opened the cart to find a man sleeping with a jacket over himself. She threw Hermione a confused look and Hermione replied with a shrug, they had just gotten to their compartment.
"Where are the twins?"
Ron replied, "probably by the front of the train." She threw a light smile at him. She then looked at Harry and told him "I want a conversation with you later young man."
She liked scolding him, he was like her younger sibling.
They all were.
She made her way to the front of the train and finally found Fred and George along with Melissa and Andrew. They all started talking at the same time saying things like "finally" "look who's here" and "what took you so long."
She had a smile on her face, "feels nice to be missed"
George then answered them with a simple "she does this every year. Is it really a surprise?"
She proceeded to punch him on the side of his arm and he quickly said "ow... okay sorry."
The group talking about their summer activities, especially how Spencer spent her time.
"She definitely got some" Fred said.
"Yeah, and you're mad you didn't" Spencer replied and they laughed. "How did that guy react when you had to leave?"
She thought back to him and smiled. "It was okay, we both had to leave... he got me this as a goodbye."
She put her hand up and showed the ring.
Fred quickly said "so you are good in bed huh" as he held her hand, inspecting the ring,
"Wouldn't you like to know" she replied, everyone laughed.
Quickly they changed the conversation to remise over the last seven years. All the pranks George, Fred, and Spencer did and the times they escaped the castle with the map they found their first year.
"So Spence, did you take McGonagall's offer?" asked Andrew.
She turned to look at him and opened her eyes widely.
"What offer?" asked Fred.
"Oh, it's really nothi-"
"Nothing? Spencer please" Andrew quickly said interrupting Spencer.
Fred gave her a look, she knew she wouldn't get out of this one.
"Well, you know how we're getting a new Defense against the dark arts teacher..."
The twins and Melissa shook their heads in agreement.
"McGonagall asked me to you know... help out" she said while shrugging.
"Help out?" George asked
"Yeah like you know, assist sometimes" Spencer replied.
"Assist" Fred repeated. "Oh you're so getting a job here after we graduate, you already have your ass in the door."
"Foot Fred" Melissa giggled.
"Please," she laughed, "I'm just doing McGonagall a favor. Anyway, I don't think this one could be worse than Lockhart" they all laughed at her reply but it quickly came to an end when the train suddenly stopped.
"We can't be there already" Melissa said as she looked out the window.
"Dementors" Spencer spoke.
"Dementors?" asked George.
"Pause, you know this how?" Andrew asked. "Besides, what would they want on a Hogwarts train?" he added.
"Sirius Black" answered Spencer, Andrew had a confused look on his face. "Dude, where have you been? He's escaped Azkaban, the only person to do it."
"Dad says he's looking for Harry... to kill him" said George.
"You need to stop eavesdropping" Spencer took a deep breath.
They all had a worried look on their faces. Spencer felt... iffy. Her whole mood changed. The train was dark and the world looked grey.
That's when she saw it, the dementor. It was outside of their compartment and if this wasn't a worrying situation she would be laughing at the fact that Fred looked like he was about to shit himself.
"Please tell me you know a spell Spencer" Melissa whispered into Spencer's ear.
The Dementor hadn't opened their compartment yet.
"I don't know if I could do it, I've never tried-" she shook her head.
"Try" everyone said as the dementor got closer to the door.
She nodded as she stood up when the Dementor reached for the door. There was only one, if she attacked it first it would go after her.
Better me than anyone else, she thought.
It opened the door and looked at her. With her wand already in the air she said "Expecto Patronum" but only a flicker of light came out of her wand.
"Expecto. Patronum." she repeated loudly but nothing.
That's when she felt it. The happiness leaving her body, every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of her. Then another came and started doing that same thing to Melissa. Spencer couldn't move, she couldn't do anything but try.
"Expecto... Patronum" she said weakly.
What she didn't know is that the light that came out was powerful enough to make it go away.
She woke up to her friends arguing over what to do with her.
"I'm okay. Melissa how are you feeling?" she asked.
Melissa nodded her head and gave her a light smile. Spencer reacher to her pocket and opened the chocolate bar.
She gave half to Mellisa and she ate the other half.
"Hey, no fair I wanted some" said Fred.
"Yeah, well, get attacked by a Dementor and you'll get some" answered Spencer. "I'm going to go check on the little ones, okay?" everyone nodded. It was still dark, she couldn't see much but outlines of students talking and walking back to their carts.
Someone's chest lightly brushed on her shoulder. They were going to the front of the compartment. Teacher, she thought.
He apologized to her but she couldn't make out the face.
"You're fine" she replied and walked away.
"When are they going to turn these lights on" she heard a student say.
The train began moving forward as she continued walking.
She found their compartment and immediately knew Harry was attacked. He turned and threw Spencer a light smile. "How are you?" she asked.
"I could ask the same to you. Were you..." he asked and she nodded her head. Hermione and Ron looked up at her "the twins?" Ron asked. "They're fine, they're checking up on Melissa."
"So, Harry, is it true you tried to blow up your aunt?" she asked seamlessly.
Hermione threw a rather angry look at Harry. "Yeah, but I didn't mean-"
"Dope" she said but quickly took it back as Hermione gave her a death glare. "I mean... uhhh, Harry you can't do those things it's very... bad."
Harry laughed with Ron while Hermione was trying to hold hers in.
Spencer noticed the man who was here was nowhere to be found. "Where's the guy?" she asked.
"Went to talk to the driver" answered Hermione. Spencer nodded her head.
"Okay well, I'll see you guys around."
"Around? you're not going to dinner? they're going to want to talk to the students who were attacked Spence" said Harry.
"Don't feel like eating today, and attacked? I wasn't attacked. I have no idea what you're talking about."
He smiled as he said "okay Spence, okay."
When the train came to a stop, they knew they had arrived at Hogwarts. They arrived later than usual, but the sun was setting. She went into the bathroom and changed into her robes. She knew her friends wouldn't have let her skip dinner, so she quickly left and walked the grounds.
After a couple of hours, her final stop was the lake. It was beautiful, the reflection of the moon could be seen on it. She looked down at her hand and looked at the ring Remus had given her.
She smiled and looked back at the moon as she fidgeted with it. She sat down, this had been her place.
Suddenly she heard a twig snatch.
"Who's there" she asked while her body tensed and wand rose.
"Students shouldn't be out at this-" he stopped talking.
She couldn't see him yet, it was dark and the only light provided was by the moon. She was at a disadvantage; however, she lowered her wand because she knew it was a professor.
She knew she was fucked.
"I'll go back, I just needed some air professor. I'll take the detention" she said defeated.
He hadn't said anything, he couldn't. He believed his eyes were betraying him. He took a step forward and showed himself.
Her eyes widened, so did his. He saw the uniform, the wand, the hair, the ring. She saw his hair, his scars, his wand. They saw each other. Nobody said anything for a couple of seconds, they just looked at each other.
"I- how old are you?" he asked.
"Now you ask?" she said giggling, he awkwardly smiled. "I'm 17. I look... older"
"Yeah, you look older" he said. "I didn't know you were-"
"What a teenager" she replied with an almost defensive tone.
He shook his head and said "a witch."
She was surprised by his answer.
"To be quite frank, your act was very good as a muggle."
"Well, I could say the same about you. I'm a muggle-born' she awkwardly said.
"That's-" he said but what quickly cut off.
"You don't need to say anything, I know what people think of me" she said.
He was confused, "No I- I'm a half-blood. Not that blood status matters anyway. I didn't mean to offend you"
She shyly smiled at him.
"So, you're a student."
"So, you're a professor" she put her hand on her hip.
"One trumps the other, don't you think?"
"Yeah... I'm sorry I didn't tell you my age."
"I should've asked' he shook his head.
"It's not polite" she shrugged.
He nodded awkwardly before speaking after a few moments of silence."We can't continue what we had... you know?" he said. This didn't shock Spencer.
"We had something?" she said with a serious tone.
He wasn't sure whether she was joking or not.
"I'm Kidding, of course I know we can't" she said while smiling at him.
"So you're the new DADA professor."
"Yes.. how did you-?"
"You should probably know, it's me"
He perked his head up as she said this, "it's you?"
"I'm going to be your assistant. I don't know if McGonagall mentioned it but it's me" she said.
"Professor McGonagall, long time no see" he said as he walked up to her, opening his arms for a hug.
"Remus, oh how long it's been. Please, do call me Minerva. How are you doing?"
He nodded his head before answering, "good good, very happy to join the team."
"Oh, of course, I always knew you eventually would. I think you'll be way better than the last one" she laughed. "I should mention you will be having a 7th year as an assistant. Best of her year, don't tell her I said that though" she laughed again and he nodded his head.
"May I ask why?" he said.
"I believe she doesn't know where she wants to be after she graduates. So, I wanted to give her a little push."
"You want her as a DADA teacher?" he asked.
"Eventually" she answered.
He smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown. How could he just ignore what he felt for her? He would have to ignore whatever happened that week and he didn't want that.
"We can do this right?" he asked.
"We can totally do this Rem- Professor Lupin."
He liked hearing his name from her.
He shouldn't, but he did.
"It's okay, you can call me Remus, I imagine it will take a while for the adjustment to Professor."
They smiled at each other, "C'mon, you should be in your dormitory right now."
"Don't have a room" she said before walking to the castle.
"What?"
She smirked at his confusion.
"I have my own room" she answered.
"Of course you do" he said. "We should probably talk about your attack' he said.
Shit. She thought to herself.
"Who told you?' she said.
"You did, right now. And when I went out there you rose your wand you were defensive" he replied.
"Who wouldn't be? it's pretty dark out here."
"You also skipped dinner and wanted to be alone. You didn't tell your friends, as I overheard Melissa and the twins ask for you. It didn't come to mind it could be you, as there could be a million Spencers in Hogwarts. But is it a coincidence you feel unhappy and don't want to talk to anyone? It can be more traumatic for some, every good feeling and happy memory being sucked out..."
"Ok Sherlock Holmes, no need to use your powers of deduction" she joked.
"Do you want to know what really gave you away?" he said.
"What?" she asked.
"Actually, I'll hold onto that one. Maybe it'll come in handy later" he replied.
As they reached the her room she asked about her detention.
"Well, I am a new teacher and don't want to already give one before the first day of school. What will the kids think about me then?"
"I owe you" she moved forward and hugged him but quickly realized she shouldn't have. "Sorry, I just... sorry."
They were both flustered- he was going to hug her back.
She was nervous, he could tell.
He could always tell.
"It's okay, I'll see you tomorrow and we'll talk about your schedule?"
"Yeah... friends?" she extended her hand for a handshake.
Remus stared at it for a few seconds before raising his own.
"Friends" he nodded.
"Goodnight professor."
"Goodnight."
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A/N: that's chapter three for youu :)