Remus Lupin was settling in after dinner to grade papers when he heard a tap at the door, so faint that he was almost inclined to think it was a draft in the corridor.

"Yes?" he called.

No answer.

A draft, then.

Tap, tap.

He frowned. It sounded like someone knocking with his fingernails.

"Is someone there?"

He got up and went to the door, opening it and going out into the hall, which at first appeared to be empty. "Hello?"

There was a small motion in a shadow near the corner.

"Come out," he said. "Who is it?"

Very slowly, tentatively, a figure dislodged itself from the shadows--a small girl, with long hair, clutching a book protectively against her chest. As she came into the torchlight, Remus could see that her hair was bright, vibrant red.

He didn't know Ginny Weasley terribly well. Since the episode on the Hogwarts Express, she had been distant, not even speaking much in his class, although her assigned work was first rate.

He smiled. "Hello, Miss Weasley. Did you need something?"

"I--" She bit her lip, looked to either side, and gulped in a deep breath. "Could I talk to you, Professor Lupin? It's not about class."

"I can't promise I'll be very helpful about any other subjects, but you're welcome to come in and talk." He gestured into the office, and she scurried inside.

Remus closed the door and turned to find Ginny Weasley browsing his bookshelves, running her fingers over his small collection of photographs, glancing briefly at a cage full of doxies he'd brought in for the first years. She didn't turn around.

"What is it, Miss Weasley?" he prodded.

She pointed at a picture. "Is this your daughter?" she asked. "This one you're carrying around on your shoulders?"

He looked over her shoulder. "No. She's the daughter of friends of mine. That's a very old picture. She's twenty-one now. Which is a profoundly frightening thought. Would you like some tea?"

"And those? Are they your parents?"

"Yes, they are."

She nodded, then turned so suddenly that she almost ran into Remus. "I'm sorry, Professor Lupin. I shouldn't have bothered you."

"You haven't bothered me so far. Were you planning on doing so?"

"No. No, I-- Never mind." She headed for the door, but stopped before she reached it. "It's just... my brothers. The twins. They're Beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

"Yes, I know them. They're in my O.W.L. class."

She nodded. "Right. Well, they said... Well, Harry... Well the Dementors... " She was breathing rapidly, and clutching her book fiercely. Finally, she closed her eyes and said in a single breath, "The-twins-said-that-Oliver-said-that-Harry-told-him-that-you-were-helping-him-with-the-Dementors-and-I'd-like-to-learn-too-because-they-make-me-feel..." She trailed off, and finally opened her eyes. "Bad," she finished. "Really, really bad."

Remus sighed. "I see. Please sit down, Ginny."

She sat down miserably in the chair across from his desk. He chose one beside her instead of putting the desk between them.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know, you've got other things to do. I probably can't--It doesn't matter. I should just stay away."

"Staying away from Dementors is generally good advice," Remus said.

"I know. It's that... they're there, you know? I walk around the grounds, and suddenly it gets cold. I work in the greenhouses and sometimes I see them. My friend Colin and I like to fly right near the gates sometimes, just for practice, when the Quidditch pitch is booked." She smiled faintly. "Colin really needs practice. We should just go somewhere else. This is silly. I shouldn't bother you with this."

"Again, Ginny, you haven't bothered me yet."

"Really?"

"Really." Remus opened a tin of biscuits and offered her one. She shook her head slightly and curled up in the chair. "I noticed on the train that you were affected very badly," he said. "I wondered if you would come to me."

"Can you help?" she begged. "Oh, please, can you teach me whatever you're teaching Harry?"

"The spell I'm teaching Harry is very advanced, Ginny. I'm going to be honest--I don't think you're ready for it. You have power, but you haven't refined it enough." She looked away miserably, and Remus thought he heard her stifle a sob. He thought he should pat her head, or squeeze her shoulder or something along that line, but the boundaries between teacher and student were far too present to do so. Instead, he tried a comforting tone. "I'm not sure it's helpful with day to day Dementor presence, though. What I'm teaching Harry is a counter to a direct Dementor attack, not to the feelings they cause."

"Is there a cure for that?"

"Not a cure. You just have to be strong-minded. To know that the feeling is a lie. It's not real."

"But it is!" Ginny cried. "It is real. And I'm not strong-minded. I was..." She looked over her shoulder at the door, listened for a moment, then spoke again in a quieter voice. "Did Professor Dumbledore tell you what happened last year? With the Chamber of Secrets? And the basilisk and Tom Riddle?"

"He told me that a student had--" Remus stopped. "Oh, my Lord. You were the student."

She nodded. "It was me. He got inside my mind."

"And you got him out."

"Harry got him out."

"According to Professor Dumbledore, you put up a very good fight all year."

"Not good enough." She pushed her hair behind her ear and blinked against tears. "Every time I go near the Dementors I hear..."

"What?"

She looked at him, her eyes haunted. "I hear Tom Riddle laughing at me."

Remus had no idea what to say to that, but Ginny seemed determined to talk now. She got up out of the chair and started pacing.

"He laughed at me, and he told me I was a stupid girl, and I wouldn't be loved, and I was ugly and silly and... And it was real, Professor Lupin! It's not a lie. It happened."

"But what happened to you was a lie, Ginny. Riddle lied to you. He used you, and he tormented you for his own amusement. The things he said were lies, and this feeling your mind comes up with... it's not real. You're not silly, you're not stupid, you're well loved, and you're not at all ugly."

"Not very pretty though. Ha-- Boys don't think so, anyway."

Remus smiled. "Give them time."

"Then there's nothing I can do?" she asked. "I can't stand being trapped in Gryffindor Tower all the time, but I can't stand going out where they are."

Remus stood and went to his desk. In the bottom drawer were three large boxes of Honeydukes chocolates. He gave one to Ginny, who looked at him quizzically.

"Keep some chocolate on you when you go out," he said. "I do, every time I need to go to Hogsmeade to pick up a delivery. It helps."

"Really?"

"Really. But it doesn't do it alone. You have to block the Dementors out, think other thoughts. Accept that the things they make you feel... it's just what they do. It's what they feed on."

"How do I do that?"

"I want you to remember that you're not just a girl who was possessed by Tom Riddle; you're also a girl who fought him tooth and nail, who didn't end up letting him hurt anyone, and who tried her best to banish him. Who figured all of it out on her own, according to Dumbledore, and at great cost."

"What cost?"

"You lost a friend."

"Maybe. But he wasn't a real friend."

"Maybe that's what hurts most. I know something about that." He patted her shoulder tentatively. "You remember, every time you go near them, that you're stronger. That you know what's real. It's the best defense there is."