A/N

New story! Totally not planned, it came to me one night as I was trying to sleep. My muse knocked me in the head and refused to let me sleep before I had mapped out the basics in my head. The next day I got my heart broken, and thought I wouldn't be able to write for months, but the following weekend I buried myself in this story and reading other lovely Remus fanfictions. So this story has helped me through a lot. I have fifteen chapters all ready to go, currently working on the sixteenth and nearing the end, I've never been so inspired. The chapters are a lot shorter than my regular standard, but the entire story has a bit of a different tone than my other writings.

Warning: This is a teacher/student story, so if that's not your cup of tea, move on now! But I will not have the teacher and the student going at it as soon as they realise their feelings. Nothing totally improper will happen while the teacher/student factor is there.

Note: Main character's first name is Niamh. It is pronounced NEEV. I think it has some other pronunciations too, but here, in A Wolf's Soul, it is pronounced NEEV.

...

Chapter One – What My Parents Have

Through all my years at Hogwarts I've tried hard to find love. The reason being that my parents found each other at Hogwarts. They'd known each other since their first year, fell in love in fifth year, bonded the summer after they left, and had me by the time they were both twenty. You can tell how much they love each other just by being in the same room. They don't have to look at each other, talk to each other, you don't even have to see them yourself. It's just there. Radiating and touching everyone near enough. It's like one exhale and the other inhale, one push blood through the veins of the other, one holds the other's soul.

It's amazing. And I want it.

This is why I have been searching for that someone at Hogwarts. That one person that can keep me alive just by being alive himself. That one person that can hold my heart in one hand and my soul in the other.

There is only one problem. None of the wizards my age interest me. I've tried, believe me, I've tried. But they're just too childish, too immature, too unmolded. They don't know who they are or who they want to be. Because of this I have naturally been more attracted to older wizards. Ever since my first year, before I even knew what love meant, before I even wanted a boyfriend.

And it's been a bloody curse, because I've never had a chance with any of them. The only one I ever managed to get as a boyfriend was the Head Boy while I was in my fourth year. It was a good relationship. It lasted for about 5 months and I really loved him. He was kind, funny, sensitive, independent, and he had his own life. Well, there had to be a reason why he was the Head Boy. But most importantly he was an amazing kisser. But he broke it off the last day of school before the summer. He was off to start his life and career and felt it would be difficult to maintain a relationship with someone still in school. I was a mess that summer. But I got over it, eventually.

Apart from him, there had only been crushes. In third year I think I went through the normal school girl crushes on all the handsome older boys. But of course I was too young for them. Then there was the Head Boy in my fourth year. In fifth year there was a guy down in Hogsmeade, he worked in Tomes and Scrolls. He had seemed interested enough when I popped in on the school trips, but it never got past the flirting stage. In sixth year there was nothing exciting at all. So by the time I sat on the train on my way to start my seventh and final year I had given up.

But then there was the start of term feast. And in walked a thin, tired, shabby old man.

At first I didn't quite care for him, other than I wondered how he would be as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He'd better be excellent as this was my final year. There was a rumour that the Defence Against the Dark Arts position was cursed so that no one lasted longer than a year. It was safe to say that my education in that subject was blotchy. So I hoped this man knew his subject. Though from the look of him he couldn't even save himself from a harmless Rictusempra.

First class with him was a Tuesday morning.

I had come in a bit early with my best friend, Tia Clowes, waiting outside the classroom with the rest of our classmates. We were all discussing what we'd heard in the common room Monday night, about how competent he was, how he knew everything.

At exactly 9 o'clock he opened the classroom door and let us in. He waited by the door, greeting us one by one. Upon seeing him that much closer I saw that he wasn't as old as I first thought. He had light brown hair flecked with grey, kind light amber eyes. His face was scarred and his robes were old and patched. I frowned at this, but thought it might be evidence that he was a good Defence teacher and had been in his fair share of skirmishes.

Everyone was quickly seated. We all pulled out our books and wands and waited patiently for the man standing behind the front desk to talk. He sat down, pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and began taking attendance.

"Bagley, Alexandra."

"Here."

He looked around to see who had spoken, nodded, and then, with a flourish, ticked off her name. "Clearwater, Penelope."

"Here."

"Clowes, Tia."

"Here."

"Coombs, Cosmo."

"Here."

"Farraday, Niamh."

I raised my hand. "Here." He looked at me, our eyes met. He nodded and then turned away to tick me off.

He quickly went through the rest of the list. After everyone had been accounted for, he stood up. "My name is Remus John Lupin and I am your new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," he started, pointing his wand at the blackboard, where the chalk jumped up and wrote out his name in a curly, yet simple and tidy script. He stepped out from behind his desk and began walking up and down the aisles while talking. "This is your N.E.W.T year. It will be a hard year, but I will do my best to make it as easy as an N.E.W.T year can possibly be. I was fairly good in this subject myself when I was in school, and I have learned a lot more in the years after."

I looked around as he continued to talk. The entire class of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were listening intently, following his every move. This promised to be a good year after all. I turned my attention back to the professor.

"I will give you hands on experience with magical creatures and how to defend yourselves against them. I will teach you every defensive spell I know, I will teach you how to duel to save your life, how to survive in any situation you may find yourself in and how to avoid such situations." He had now stopped at the front of the classroom, looking over the crowd. "Any questions?"

Next to me, Tia put her hand up hesitantly.

"Yes, Miss Clowes?"

"How old are you, Professor?"

I snapped my head around to look at her in shock. It didn't look like she was joking, she looked genuinely curious, though blushing furiously.

A chuckle made me turn around again, and I saw Professor Lupin with a smile on his face. It lit up his face and made him look years younger. "Ah yes, I can see how I can be confusing that way. I guess it's no harm in answering. I am 33."

"Oh," Tia said in a long breath.

"Any other questions, related to this subject?"

15 years older than me. That wasn't so much, really. Not in the magical world, where we outlived Muggles at least twice. I couldn't help but think that I was thankful I was born September 2nd, forced to wait an extra year to start Hogwarts, and so a year older than most others in my year.

Why I thought this, I didn't know at the time. But I would soon learn.

...

A/N

What do you think? Short? I know. And I wish it wasn't. But that's just the way this story is. I managed to deal with it, so you deal with it too.

How often do you think I should update? Once a week? Twice a week? Once every two weeks? Probably won't be so very often now during the holidays no matter what I go for, but I guess you'll be pretty busy yourself.

Anyway, please review! I want to know what you think!