Re: After the Meeting - Marlene and Remus
"Should have been," Remus said with a laugh and a casual shrug. "Just felt like bucking generations of Lupin tradition and heading for Gryffindor."
The professor in Remus, who loved his work and his students and saw more in them than they saw in themselves, balked at her dismissal. "Maybe not. But, it does take something to admit they might have things to teach you," he replied with a smile that grew into a smirk. "And I don't know about that. I was always rather fond of McGonagall's tartans, myself."
Remus shrugged as she talked about Moody. The only Moody he knew was the man who'd trained him as a teenager fresh out of school and trying to help with a war he barely understood at the time. "It's hard to watch someone you care about in pain when there's nothing you can do to help them." He gave her a shrewd, knowing look. "Harder to be the one in pain, knowing your pain is hurting them as well."
Her face looked so long as she bemoaned the loss of her fancy-free sex life and Remus couldn't help chuckling. "I'm sure he did learn a few things. Knowing Moody, he learned what not to do by watching all that," he laughed. He wanted to explain the concept of being monogamous because you didn't want to be with other people, because that one person you were with was everything you needed. But, that would be skirting too close to talking about his own experience and he couldn't do that. "You'll figure it out, I'm sure."