Author's note: This is going to be a SB/OC story, but there is a dash of RL/OC in the beginning. Our story starts during PoA and will follow the story pretty closely until the end of OotP. I confess to being a bit obsessed with our two favourite Marauders and in my mind, they not only lived through the war, but had much bigger roles than Ms. Rowling showed us. I have several other stories started in notebooks and bits of hotel paper ( all variations on a Marauder theme ), but I decided to start with this one because 1) I have several chapters already written, and outlines for even more, and 2) I wanted to jump in at the deep end. This is my first fanfiction, and let me warn you ahead of time, it will be long. In fact I am already in the planning stages of a sequel. Not much of the big events will be changed with the exception of Sirius dying. I actually cried when the book first came out and have been in 'sirius' denial ever since. Other than that, things stay the same. Dumbledore will leave us on schedule and the final battle will still happen. If you want details, however, your going to have to read.

Thank you, Worthfull1

P.S. I own nothing, anything recognizable is the lovely J.K. Rowling's. Also, I do not own Elton John's 'Little Jeannie', I just thought the title was fitting. I make no money here.

I Want You To Be My Acrobat

Chapter 1: Meeting Professor Lupin

Jeannie Jones felt nervous as she approached the front gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It had only been a little over two years since she last set foot on the grounds, but it might as well have been a lifetime. How things had changed! If she hadn't been there to see it for herself, she may not have believed it. The once open, welcoming gates of Hogwarts were now closed - locked against the threat of Sirius Black with Dementors of all creatures guarding the entrance. She had heard stories over the summer that the Minister of Magic wanted to deploy the Dementors to search for the Azkaban escapee, but she never thought that meant placing them in close proximity to school children.

Jeannie was just a bit horrified by this. She had never had to deal directly with Dementors before, but she certainly knew what they were. Soul-sucking monsters whose only purpose in life was misery and despair. About a million times worse than any boggart, in her opinion. The air around her began to get colder and colder the closer she got to the gates. She almost wished she still had the company of the large black mutt that had followed her from Hogsmeade until she took pity on him and gave him her leftovers from lunch. He had abandoned her shortly afterwards- she figured he didn't like the Dementors any more than she did. She couldn't blame him.

As she walked up to the gates, she was grateful for the large wolf Patronus that was keeping the Dementors at bay. Looking just past the gates she saw a tall, thin man with patched robes and greying sandy-brown hair. When she got close enough, she could see that he was fairly young - early thirties maybe - and very handsome. He was about 6'4" - much taller than her meager 5 feet - and his blue eyes were flecked with amber. This puzzled her for a moment, but as she noticed his scars she realized that the man in front of her was a werewolf. She was not put out by this - having been raised on the fringes of society, she had come into contact with many 'creatures' and had nothing but sympathy for this man.

"Are you Professor Lupin?" she asked.

He nodded. "Remus. Miss Jones?"

"Yes, Jeannie," she said, holding out her hand.

Remus shook her hand and opened the gates for her. "Dumbledore asked me to tell you that the others are already here and to escort you to the Great Hall," he said, closing the gates behind her.

"Thanks. I remember the way, but I won't say no to company right now," she replied, eyeing the Dementors.

"They are awful," Lupin agreed, directing his Patronus to circle them until they got closer to the castle. He looked at Jeannie. "Have you been here before?"

"Yes, I did 5th, 6th, and 7th year here. I transferred from the Academy in California."

"Ah," said Remus, smiling. "I thought you sounded American."

"My accent is okay, but I much prefer yours," she said, winking at him teasingly.

Remus blushed and stuttered. "Umm... thank you."

Jeannie laughed. "You're not used to being flirted with, are you?"

He smiled shyly at her. "Ah, no, I have to admit, it's been a while."

Jeannie laughed again and nudged him with her elbow. He seemed surprised by the physical contact, but didn't say anything about it as they continued their friendly banter all the way to the Great Hall .

"Well, Jeannie," said Remus, stopping just outside the doors to the Great Hall. "This is where I leave you."

"Would you like to come in for a sneak peek?" she asked him, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I'm afraid I can't, I have a class in a few minutes. Perhaps later?" he suggested, grinning.

"Sure, Remus. Hey, when is your last class of the day?"

"Today, it's 4 pm. Why?"

"Would you mind if I sat in? I won't cause any trouble, I promise," she said, winking at him again.

Remus' cheeks went slightly pink as he answered her. "Sure, if you'd like."

"Great. 4 pm," said Jeannie, flashing him one more smile before heading into the Great Hall.

At 3:50 that afternoon, Jeannie knocked on the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and, after getting no answer, let herself in. She looked around the room and wondered what sort of lesson it had been. Chairs had been thrown across the room and a few desks had been blown apart. There were books with large chunks of pages ripped out and even a few gouges in the stone walls. She thought she saw smoke coming from one of the blasted desks and there were scorch marks everywhere. Jeannie was surveying the wreckage when Remus walked in. He looked up and smiled at her.

"Hi," he said. "I just had the 7th years. We were practicing dueling."

"Ah," Jeannie nodded. "That makes sense."

Remus chuckled. "Yes, well, I've got the 6th years next. Would you mind giving me a hand?" he asked, eying the mess.

"Sure," she said.

They had just put the finishing touches on the classroom when the first students arrived. It was a group of boys whose eyes went wide when they recognized Jeannie.

"Wow, Professor," said one of them, "you know Jeannie Jones?"

Remus glanced at Jeannie before answering. "Yes, I do. Is that surprising?"

One of the boys was rummaging through his schoolbag and Jeannie thought she knew where this was going. Sure enough, the boy pulled out the latest issue of Sophisticated Sorcery that had her most recent interview and photoshoot. The magazine was hardly anything that anyone could consider smut - in fact, it really lived up to the claim of 'sophisticated' - but Jeannie was a bit of a sex symbol, so she wasn't surprised that the boys had it. Even though she was fully clothed in every picture.

"Miss Jones," he said shyly, "would you sign my magazine for me, please?"

"What sort of magazine is that?" Remus asked, grinning.

Jeannie rolled her eyes. "Just an interview I did not too long ago. Pretty tame stuff, but it did have some good photos." She turned to the boys. "Tell you what, guys, show me which picture is your favorite and I'll make a copy of it and sign it for you. How's that?"

Remus and Jeannie both chuckled at the chorus of "thank you's" that followed. The rest of the students made their way in as Jeannie was signing autographs.

"Wow - is that - "

"I think it is - "

"Is it really - Jeannie Jones!"

Remus leaned toward Jeannie. "If I had know you were this famous, I might have wanted an autograph, too."

Jeannie couldn't say what she was thinking in front of the students ('Play your cards right and I'll give you more than an autograph'), so she settled for winking at him again and making him blush. It was easy to make Remus blush, and Jeannie was quickly becoming an expert.

"Alright people," she said, getting the class' attention when she had finished the boys' pictures. "If anyone else wants an autograph, they can come see me after class."

At this point, Remus stood up to start the lesson. "As you can see, we have a guest in the classroom today - Miss Jeannie Jones - and I'm sure you will all be on your best behavior. Perhaps, if the lesson ends early, she may answer a few questions for you?" He looked at Jeannie and she nodded. "Alright, let's begin."

Lupin began his lesson, and Jeannie could see immediately that this man was a born teacher. She found herself wishing that he had been teaching when she was in school. He had a natural way of dealing with the students and never failed to condense a lengthy explanation into something a teenager could grasp. She also liked the way he made the lesson both academic and practical at the same time. He would introduce a new topic or spell and, after explaining the basic properties, he would request a volunteer to help him act it out.

Jeannie also found herself watching the way he moved about the class, checking notes or correcting wand movement as needed. She had noticed when they met at the front gates that Lupin was handsome, and she was perfectly happy to sit at the back of his classroom with nothing to do but watch him move. He walked like a predator - which she knew was not uncommon for his kind, especially if they had been infected young - and always seemed to sense the objects around him, not once tripping or bumping into anything.

He caught her watching him once, raising an eyebrow and colouring slightly, but Jeannie just smiled at him. She had never been shy and didn't have a problem with Lupin knowing that she was checking him out. His robes were patched and frayed in some places and had clearly seen better days, but Jeannie didn't care about that. She was watching the way his body moved underneath the layers. She was willing to bet that Lupin was quite the man under those stuffy professor's robes. In all honesty, his personality alone was enough to attract her, but Jeannie truly appreciated a well-formed body. Her background gave her a certain expertise in physicality, and she could tell just by watching Lupin move that his body would be just as pleasing as his mind.

Jeannie really enjoyed Lupin's class and told him so at dinner, earning herself another blush. She was really going to have to start keeping count of those. Dumbledore had created another place at the Head Table for her that put her in between Lupin and Hagrid. Upon seeing Hagrid enter the Great Hall, Jeannie had broken into a run and launched herself at his enormous frame knowing that, as always, he would catch her. And he did, pulling her into a hug but being careful not to crush her. Hagrid had always been very gentle with Jeannie and her friends. She had shown no fear of him when she first met him and, because of that, he had always been very fond of her.

"Did Hagrid tell you he's teaching now?" asked Remus as he poured himself some wine.

Jeannie whipped around to see a blushing Hagrid grinning at her. "Ooh, Hagrid, what subject?" she asked excitedly.

"Care of Magical Creatures," he answered proudly. "I can't believe it myself, really."

"Ooh, can I sit in on a class tomorrow?" Jeannie asked, almost bouncing in her seat.

Hagrid looked at her, puzzled, while Remus chuckled behind her. "I s'pose, if you want to."

Jeannie squealed and Lupin laughed. "What is it about sitting in that you like so much?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she said, shrugging. "Once a Ravenclaw, always a Ravenclaw I guess."

Remus nodded and they went back to their food. As the students finished supper and started to leave, Remus and Jeannie walked out of the Great Hall together and Remus escorted her back to her guest rooms, keeping up the conversation the whole way. He seemed genuinely interested in her, so she told him all about her childhood in the circus. She had been abandoned as an infant at the circus and had grown up as an acrobat, traveling all over the world. Then, not long after leaving Hogwarts, she had become interested in music and dance. She left the circus and decided to put together a revue. Jeannie knew she had something good with this new venture and was itching to unleash it onto the world. This concert at Hogwarts was to be her first and as Remus assured her that she would be brilliant, she was once again reminded of what an attractive man he was. He had a kind, reassuring way about him.

When they reached her door, Jeannie turned to him and wished him good night before slipping into her room. Remus sighed and made his way to his own rooms regretting more than ever his condition. Here was a woman he could be interested in, but if she ever found out about him, she'd run for sure. Meanwhile, Jeannie was in her room thinking about how she could convince Remus to spend tomorrow night with her. It wasn't something she normally did, but there was no denying the attraction went both ways. Jeannie had caught Lupin sneaking glances at her all through dinner, and since she was only there for the weekend, she wanted to make the most of it. She decided to corner him after the concert and simply not take no for an answer. She'd make sure he couldn't resist her.

Author's note: I'm not going to apologize for ending on a cliffhanger. The next chapter will be posted shortly, so you won't have to wait long. Also, I wanted to get you hooked. Please let me know what you think. This is my first time, after all.

Thank you, Worthfull1

P.S. Did you enjoy Sirius' cameo?