The students piled into the Great Hall for another year at Hogwarts, and Harry wasn't the only one overjoyed to see Remus Lupin sitting at the head table. The worn man gave him a soft smile and wave when they made eye contact, and Harry beamed the entire way to his seat.

"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, sharing an excited grin with his best friend; the Weasley twins were already working on a giant banner in Lupin's honor.

The entire Gryffindor table was sure nothing could dampen their excitement for the rest of the year. They had the best teacher ever back for another year! Even the Slytherins seemed glad to have him back, werewolf or no.

The next morning, however, reality hit them like a bucket of cold water – or the screaming of several irate parents, as the case may be. Professor Lupin just pulled out his wand and calmly cast a muting charm at his ears after the red envelopes burst into outraged screams; the students didn't have as mild a reaction and the letters exploded into scraps of red confetti from the spells levied against them. Lupin gave the hall a gentle smile and cleaned up the shreds with a simple spell; Snape looked like he'd bit into a lemon.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.

Each day would start with a wave of howlers, and while the students took great satisfaction in using them for practice, they were all upset at the way Lupin didn't seem bothered by them at all, just quietly resigned.

Until one day, one of the howlers was green.

This was so out of the ordinary that none of the students took aim at it, only shooting down the red ones and waiting curiously to see what the green envelope would do.

Reaching the head table, it unfurled in front of Lupin and yelled in a passionate voice, "YOU'RE THE BEST TEACHER WE'VE EVER HAD!" Its message delivered, it burned up in a burst of green flame.

For a second, stunned silence reigned – then an almighty roar filled the hall, all the students appreciating the unexpected turnabout. From then on, the number of red howlers at breakfast was eclipsed by the massive amount of green ones.

"WE LOVE YOUR LESSONS – AND THANK YOU FOR THE CHOCOLATE!" "YOUR CLASS IS THE BEST!" and more; howlers were banned from the hall only once a more daring student sent him a howler saying how hot he was. Through it all, Lupin remained mildly bemused, and they loved him all the more for it.