Rough Holidays -- December 1991 (DONE)

I was really glad to have told Remus that we were partial siblings.  It was slightly odd to talk to a Professor like this.  I did reall feel like I was burdening him... but I really did not know anyone here.  My only good friends were too far away.  I owled, but it was such a delayed conversation with the distance.  I walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom o see my brother.  I knocked on the door to see if he was even in.

I walked into the classroom with some tea and saw Desdemona standing outside of my office.  These kids sure kept me busy.  I was grateful it was not a Monday, Dean wore me out with how relentless he was in learning these extra lessons... I don't think I could handle both of them today.  Sometimes days like today made me not want to be a professor... it was close to the full moon and it was wearing on me.  I really would not trade it for the world, though.  I loved what I did.  I smiled and called up the stairs to Desi.  "I'm not in there right now," I said to her, walking towards the stairs leading up to my office.

I turned around and saw Professor Lupin standing at the bottom of the stairs.  I smiled at him.  "So you have time to talk?" I asked, coming down teh stairs to see him.  I was not about to give him a hug, though.  I felt like I was closer to him than he was to me.  But that was probably because he gave me hope and all I gave him were bad memories.

I smiled at her again and motioned she should head back up to the office.  "I can talk, but let's go to the office," I suggested.  That way pretenses could be dropped if she wanted.  It was normal for a teacher to go between first and last names... but students always said Professor when addressing a teacher.  I unlocked my office and set my tea down on my desk.  "What's going on?" I questioned.  I guessed nothing too bad since she seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

I sat down and shrugged.  "Well, I just had a few questions about how Hogwarts handles the holidays," I said.  Each school was slightly different in how they did things.  I would prefer not going home, but the last school gave no choice... we had to go home.  There had been no option.

That seemed an easy thing to handle.  "You could have asked Professor Sprout this," I told her since it was her head of house after all.  "But you get the option of staying or going home," I added, noticing her expression dropping.  Why did I have to do that?  Desi just wanted to talk to me, her brother.  I just wish it wasn't so difficult for me to give her.  Everytime I saw her, I saw my mother.  It was just really hard for me to do.

I tried not to let what Remus said bother me.  "We really get a choice here?" I asked, getting excited.  "Do I need to tell anyone... like Professor Sprout?" I figured I could at least follow some protocol.

I shook my head.  "If you want to stay, you just stay.  To go home you have to be packed and in the Great Hall by eight in the morning on the day they say the train is leaving... which I believe is a few days before Christmas, I explained.  sometimes it was easy to forget that she was new here despite being in her fifth year.  I had owled Chloe about Miss Quinn, but we were going to meet in Hogsmeade this weekend to talk about things.

I grinned.  "Excellent... then I am definitely avoiding Christmas.  No need to torture myself if I don't have to," I said, shuddering slightly at teh thought of having to deal with my family at Christmas time.

I couldn't help but laugh.  I would have to check with Chloe, but I was sure she would want me to invite Desdemona to our Christmas.  I wasn't really sure about the idea.  "Well you always have options if you would change your mind," I told her.  It was not easy to spend Christmas away from family, especially not having many friends.

I shrugged.  "I doubt that," I said shaking my head.  I stood up and smiled at him.  "Thanks, Professor."  I left his office.  It was obvious he had a hard time with me, but at least it appeared that he was trying not to think of me as Romy's daughter and more of a separate person.

I sighed and went back to work.  I hd to give it to her; she was trying a lot more than me.  It was just difficult for me.  Perhaps I would end up seeing if she would come to Christmas at the LUpin cottage.  I would see after talking to Chloe.  I sighed again and was glad that I had grabbed myself some tea, though I was sure I would need to make more.