The Canis Major

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The next day, I walked into Norwood's room with a grimace on my face. The sun could be seen setting on the horizon from his window. I was supposed to be in my dorm finishing potions homework, but instead I was here serving a detention.

Sirius hadn't arrived (if he even was going to show up), but Norwood sat at his desk arranging papers. His blond hair was a lot messier than it had been during the school day, and was now flopping into his face. He looked concentrated on something and was constantly marking all over a parchment. I cleared my throat to get his attention. His head shot up and his green eyes met mine. He smiled slightly before standing up. He brushed his hair out of his face and gestured for me to sit down at a desk.

"We are going to wait for Sirius to show up," Norwood informed me.

"If he does," I muttered under my breath. Norwood looked at me like he heard me, so I blushed. Norwood obviously didn't think Sirius would be long, so he paced around the classroom. The longer it took, to more awkward the silence got. I finally had to break it. "Professor, why did you decide to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" He looked caught off guard by my question. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought of an answer.

"No particular reason other than I'm good at it," he said while shrugging. "And I like Hogwarts." I nodded awkward and tried to think of something else to say to avoid the awkwardness surrounding us. "What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know. I considered an Auror." A blond eyebrow shot up on his forehead.

"But...?"

"But I might be to weak for it," I answered nonchalantly. "Not just anybody can be an auror."

"Exactly." My head snapped to look at Norwood. I wasn't expecting him to agree with me. "So you should feel pretty arrogant when you manage it." I snorted.

"You think I can be an Auror?" Norwood's green eyes stayed locked with mine while he nodded.

"Of course. After the duel between you and Black, I think you're both good enough to be Aurors." That made me laugh a bit.

"Really? Black as well? Don't you have to be good at every class to be an Auror?" Norwood made a face of contemplation.

"Well, sure, but there are many expectations." I frowned.

"Why aren't you an Auror?" He seemed surprised by my question then started to pace again.

"In some way, I am." I kept turning to look at him while he paced around his classroom.

"How so?"

"I come when they call me."

"Like, a soldier?" He looked surprised again, but nodded.

"If it helps you understand better, then sure. I'm a soldier of sorts." I studied his features and started to wonder how long ago it had been since he was at Hogwarts himself. I hadn't seen him here before, so he had to be at least 5 years older than me. However, his youthful nature threw me off guard. While he seemed authoritative, he also seemed to be inexperienced.

"How old are you?" He turned to me, but he wasn't surprised. He looked like he was waiting for me to ask this question.

"Why?"

"I don't know. You just seem too young to be a professor, so I wanted to know." He nodded understandingly.

"24." I was a bit caught off guard by the nine year difference. When I talked and looked at him, it didn't seem like he was all that much different or older than I am. "Et vous?" I was also caught off guard by his use of French.