Ad Infinitum (Remus Lupin X Reader)

XXXVIII • Lectio

XXXVIII • Lectio • Lesson

"Good morning, Ron, Harry. Good morning, Hermione," I greeted as the students entered the classroom.

"No Professor Lupin?" Harry asked.

"No, he's sick," I said and smiled as he nodded. I watched as he went to take his seat, speaking quietly with Hermione and Ron. "Good morning, Draco."

Once all of the students arrived, I took attendance and chatted with them for a couple of minutes. After I was sure they were settled, I directed their attention to the chalkboard.

"Does anyone know what this word means?" I asked and gestured to the board, where the word 'etymology' was written. I waited for a couple of seconds for the students to think. Only Hermione raised her hand. "Yes, Hermione?"

"Etymology is the study of the way words are written," she said.

"Yes, thank you, Hermione," I said. "More specifically, it's the study of how words have evolved, in meaning and how they were written, both in spelling and usage, but it's also about where words originated." I paused to let the students think. "Etymology is very important to us, as witches and wizards. Does anyone have any ideas why that might be? Why could it be important that we know where words come from?"

Nobody answered.

"Remember that question. That's what we're going to discuss today," I said. "I specialize in Latin, which is a huge contributor to not only the English language, but also to the makeup of spells. Over ninety percent of traditional spells come from Latin words.

"Now, we're going to do something really crazy today," I said and smiled. "We are going to be breaking the macrocosm of our universe."

The students burst into chatter.

"Listen, listen," I said softly, holding up a hand. "I'm going to teach you something that will forever change the way the world turns; something that will shatter the fabric of the cosmos." I spoke slowly, "We are going to investigate the etymology of etymology."

The students burst into another roar of laughter and discussion, confusion written clearly on their faces.

"I know, I know," I said, hearing them calm down. "Once we do this, it can never be undone, and it can never leave this room. Professor Lupin can't know about this, okay?"

The students looked amused, happy to be in on some sort of joke.

"We are going to be finding the etymology of etymology, and this will tell us so many things, we will possess more knowledge than the universe was designed to hold. It's going to tell us exactly what the word means and how it came to be. And all we have to do is look at the word. Go ahead."

"What?" one of the students blurted, causing the rest to giggle.

"You're not looking hard enough. Look harder," I said. "Maybe try squinting... Cover your left eye... Try your right eye now."

I flicked my wand discreetly, changing the words on the board to read, 'the study of the sense of the truth'. The students began to laugh.

"You did that!" one accused.

"No, I didn't. You've been enlightened," I said. "Look, can you see it? The study of the sense of the truth... Okay, maybe I changed it. But here's the thing. We can get to this-" I gestured to the definition on the board- "just from looking at the word."

The students listened carefully, stuck somewhere between fascination and confusion. They had no idea what I was talking about, but they were eager to hear more.