She wants to protest, but as a friend. As a teacher, she knows he's right, which only makes this worse. She takes a few steps into the room, and from the way she's glancing around she'd like to help him pack, at the very least, but she also doesn't want to interfere. She ends up with her hands folded in front of her, feeling more formal than she'd like to. Her memories of Remus Lupin as an uncertain sixth year asking her for career advice are still so vivid, it's difficult to believe his career as a professor can be over already.
"You will be very much missed, Remus," she says after a few moments. "You're very good with the students. They will miss you as well. And not only Harry and his friends, I think. You were a favorite this year."
Fortunately packing requires very little attention when you have magic. It's been nice, having his old head of house as a colleague and friend. He can still remember that career advice meeting all those years ago, him haltingly asking her what sort of job someone like him could even have.
To tell the truth, he hadn't expected to last past the end of the year, he knew the jinx on the position. He hadn't turned down the job because he'd wanted to protect Harry, he'd wanted to feel useful... and he hadn't imagined it would end the way it did, with his lifelong secret blasted in the Prophet.
His smile gets a little more genuine. "I'll miss it all too, Minerva. Even the troublemakers." Let's be honest, especially the troublemakers. "I hope I've made a good enough impression on most of them that they'll think twice about their preconceptions. That will be my last lesson to them." He has no doubt that some of the students that had adored him would want nothing to do with him now, but-- not all of them, hopefully. "I'll be in touch. I'd be grateful to hear how Neville Longbottom in particular progresses, he just needs more confidence in himself and he'll really come into his own, I think." When he's up for it, he might make a stop by St. Mungo's, tell Alice and Frank how their boy is doing...
The little skeptical twitch of one eyebrow suggests she knows just how much he enjoys watching the troublemakers go about their business at Hogwarts. Certainly of the professors who actively engage in foiling them, Remus Lupin has never been among their numbers. She's been watching.
"You've made more difference than you know, I think," she says gently, "not only among the students but among the staff as well." He'd settled in so quickly and so well, she knows at least a few of the professors will be surprised and disappointed to find the position vacated by him next year. But the mention of Neville makes her sigh. "That poor boy. I do what I can, but there are so many to look after." Another reason she'll regret losing Remus. She'd been able to trust him to look after them too.
He may not have actively foiled them, no, but when he'd happened across any mischief, he'd acted appropriately. If punishments were handed over with a "don't let me catch you doing this again" and a wink, well, that was another thing.
Well, he'd argue that the professors may not be surprised the position's been vacated, given it's history for the past fifty years or so, but he'd give her disappointed. Ahh, except Severus. That one would be positively gleeful, he was sure. As gleeful as the man gets, anyway. "Thank you, Minerva. That's kind of you to say." Harry will be easier to keep in touch with, if the boy wants, but for the rest of his students, it feels like a bit of an overreach. "I know you do all you can, you always have. The whole place would fall apart without you. He has the skills and the potential, he just doesn't know it yet. Too much pressure from home, I suspect."
He'd be fine continuing on this subject, deftly avoiding the more pressing issues facing him. He's been able to put some money away for the first time in over a decade, and that will certainly help, but it'll run out eventually, and probably quicker than he hopes. And his status as a werewolf being known publicly will certainly make the job search that much more difficult. In a way, though, it's almost a relief. He'll know right off if a job will be willing to accommodate, and if he finds one that will, he'll actually be able to stick with it. No more hiding. That option has been taken from him.
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"You will be very much missed, Remus," she says after a few moments. "You're very good with the students. They will miss you as well. And not only Harry and his friends, I think. You were a favorite this year."
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To tell the truth, he hadn't expected to last past the end of the year, he knew the jinx on the position. He hadn't turned down the job because he'd wanted to protect Harry, he'd wanted to feel useful... and he hadn't imagined it would end the way it did, with his lifelong secret blasted in the Prophet.
His smile gets a little more genuine. "I'll miss it all too, Minerva. Even the troublemakers." Let's be honest, especially the troublemakers. "I hope I've made a good enough impression on most of them that they'll think twice about their preconceptions. That will be my last lesson to them." He has no doubt that some of the students that had adored him would want nothing to do with him now, but-- not all of them, hopefully. "I'll be in touch. I'd be grateful to hear how Neville Longbottom in particular progresses, he just needs more confidence in himself and he'll really come into his own, I think." When he's up for it, he might make a stop by St. Mungo's, tell Alice and Frank how their boy is doing...
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"You've made more difference than you know, I think," she says gently, "not only among the students but among the staff as well." He'd settled in so quickly and so well, she knows at least a few of the professors will be surprised and disappointed to find the position vacated by him next year. But the mention of Neville makes her sigh. "That poor boy. I do what I can, but there are so many to look after." Another reason she'll regret losing Remus. She'd been able to trust him to look after them too.
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Well, he'd argue that the professors may not be surprised the position's been vacated, given it's history for the past fifty years or so, but he'd give her disappointed. Ahh, except Severus. That one would be positively gleeful, he was sure. As gleeful as the man gets, anyway. "Thank you, Minerva. That's kind of you to say." Harry will be easier to keep in touch with, if the boy wants, but for the rest of his students, it feels like a bit of an overreach. "I know you do all you can, you always have. The whole place would fall apart without you. He has the skills and the potential, he just doesn't know it yet. Too much pressure from home, I suspect."
He'd be fine continuing on this subject, deftly avoiding the more pressing issues facing him. He's been able to put some money away for the first time in over a decade, and that will certainly help, but it'll run out eventually, and probably quicker than he hopes. And his status as a werewolf being known publicly will certainly make the job search that much more difficult. In a way, though, it's almost a relief. He'll know right off if a job will be willing to accommodate, and if he finds one that will, he'll actually be able to stick with it. No more hiding. That option has been taken from him.