XV • Non Necessarium

5.5K 212 330
                                    

XV • Non Necessarium • Not Needed

"Welcome back," I said with a smile as I entered Lupin's classroom. "We missed you while you were out."

Lupin looked up at me from his desk. I immediately noticed the dark bags under his eyes, and his skin that seemed paler than usual. "I missed being here," he said. "Did everything go alright?"

"It went really well," I said, dumping my things on my desk. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he said. "I fell ill."

"You were sick? I thought you were out for personal reasons."

"Well, one can hardly control when he gets sick," he said and shrugged his shoulders. "I find that I get sick at the most inconvenient times. I was supposed to visit family."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "You're feeling better now?"

"Much," he said. "I saw that everything was graded."

"I didn't want you to come back to more work," I said. "And the students seem well-prepared enough for the Hinkypunk."

"Perfect. I'd like to bring it out and see if they could handle it but I'm not sure if today's the best day for it," he admitted.

"Why's that?"

"I'm not feeling my best," he said, "and I wouldn't want anything to go wrong because I wasn't well enough. Perhaps it would be best to leave it in its box for today?"

"Whatever you think is best, Professor."

"I'd like to know how it went on Friday."

"As I've said, it went well. The kids seemed to catch on really quickly and they seemed interested enough."

"No, I meant, how did you like it? Did you enjoy teaching?"

"Oh. Yeah, I did. I really liked it," I said and smiled. "I sometimes forget how much I like it until I'm doing it."

"It's rare, you know, to enjoy speaking in front of a group. There are estimates that over half of the population has some sort of glossophobia," he said. "It's very impressive that you enjoy it so much."

"Glossophobia is the fear of public speaking, I presume?"

He nodded. "May I ask what it is exactly that you like about it?"

"I can't describe it," I said and chewed on my lip. "There's something about it that's addicting but I don't know what it is."

"I feel the same way about teaching, and I never even knew it until I came here," he said. "I woke up the morning that I was to get on the Express, and I asked myself, 'when am I going to get nervous?' And then I got here, and I asked myself again, 'when am I going to get nervous?' And then I met you and you seemed to have it all figured out and knew what you wanted to do, and I asked myself again and again and again, and then I was standing before a room full of kids, and I asked myself, 'is it too late to be nervous?' And it was, but I still wasn't nervous. I thought the nerves would kill me, but they never came. Well, not until I got to know you."

"Me?"

"Yes, you," he said, watching me closely. "I still get nervous about you."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know how long I'll be able to control myself around you," he said.

"Please don't say that."

"I'm sorry. I suppose my sickness exposed some sort of weakness in me," he said.

"You can't say things like that and just move on like it's nothing. It's not nothing to me," I said and sat down at my desk.

Ad Infinitum (Remus Lupin X Reader)Where stories live. Discover now