Author's note: This is for July's Monthly Challenge of the Twin Exchange Forum, my prompt being Remus Lupin-concussion. If you like the story, visit the Twin Exchange homepage and vote for moi(after the 20th of July). AND NOW A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR MY ABSOLUTELY PERFECT BETA TheWarriorQueen!*claps enthusiastically as can-can dancers materialize out of thin air and dance zealously*
Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that if I owned Harry Potter I would have given to each of my fans a real character(living, breathing character) of their choice to play with or get married to. *looks up at Jo with big hopeful eyes*
Remus was stalling. He knew he was, but of course that didn't stop him from doing it. He had just left his wife in a bout of panic and now he was wandering aimlessly in Muggle London, after he and Harry had quarrelled. James would've hated him for hurting his pride and joy. Lily would've been horrified. Sirius would probably punch him and he would've welcomed it. He'd abandoned the two people that mattered the most in his life and let down the only connection he had to his past. What kind of idiot does that to his own family?
Admittedly, he had dragged poor Nymphadora and their unborn child with him to the very Gates of Hell, but she had willingly followed. The baby didn't have much choice; it was already condemned to have a monster for a father. He just wished he could end it all. His life was at stake anyway. Undesirable Number 12; that's what they called him. Nymphadora joked that his head was worth more than hers was. She was Undesirable Number 19. The tragedy was that on the list of her crimes was 'eloping with a werewolf'. Oh, what an unfair world this was!
His feet had dragged him to the rundown Muggle inn he was living in for the time being. He greeted the receptionist politely; she didn't deserve a cold attitude, after all, she had done nothing wrong. He entered his dingy room and lay down moodily on the bed. He spent his time in morbid thought until a fitful slumber claimed him.
For the first time in many years, he dreamed. It was him, walking by the lake at Hogwarts, alone and miserable. Materializing suddenly, three figures approached him from out of the shadows, three very familiar figures: his erstwhile friends; James, Lily, and Sirius. He sat down at the bank, his eyes never straying from the trio before him. They walked solemnly towards him and sat beside him. He hardly dared breathe, for fear he'd break the moment. They stayed there, silent for what seemed like eons, until Lily jumped at him with some sort of tackle-hug, tears pouring out of her eyes.
"Oh Remus, you big idiot! We are so sorry! Please stop acting like a complete git and go back to your wife and child. We are sorry for causing you all this grief and pain and we want you to forgive us, please stop blaming yourself for everything!" She was punching his chest, sobbing hysterically, whilst the other two had looks of exasperation and misery etched on their faces.
"Lily-bud, can you please stop scaring the crap out of Moony with your fake mental breakdowns?" asked Sirius.
At once, Lily straightened, with all traces of crying gone and her face twisted into one of aggravation. "I thought it was worth a try! Why, what would you have done in my place, oh you wise Padtoe?" Sirius glared at her with all his might and Remus felt like he was finally home again. James spoke up then, having held his peace until now, which probably was a first for him since he never shut up when in conversation.
"Eh...Lily can you, ahem, stop straddling Moony?" Leave it to James to point out uncomfortable situations while being jealous. That took a special kind of talent.
Lily had adopted a very business-like look, giving the impression of attending a very important meeting that probably defined the lives of the whole populace of Great Britain. "Yeah, right… Sorry, Rem. Anyway, we are here in order to point out how much of a moron you are, maybe knock some sense into you, and deliver you back to the poor girl that still loves you after all you've put her through."
"Before we begin, can I do something I wanted to do for a long time?" Without waiting for permission, Padfoot punched him squarely on the nose. Remus chuckled.Oh Padfoot, you were always so predictable.
"Alright, now that this is over and done with, we can actually move on to the matter at hand." James was talking like a self-important ambassador and Remus felt a wave of nostalgia for the good old days. "Remus, it has come to our attention that you have acted like a complete prat to possibly the only person that accepted you unconditionally and to my pride and joy, whom you hexed, adding injury to insult."
"It's insult to injury, you moron, not the other way around! Oh, why did I even get married to you...?"
"Because of my stunningly good looks, my Quidditch talent and my enormously big..."
"JAMES WILLIAM POTTER!"
"...Heart. I was going to say heart, Lily, I swear!"
"Whatever."
Sirius pulled him up and started slapping him, as if trying to wake him up. "Well, what are you waiting for? Wake up, grab your things, adopt the best kicked puppy expression you can pull off and go fall at my cousin's feet to beg for her forgiveness!"
"OW, YOU IMPOSSIBLE MORON! IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!" Remus hit Sirius on the back of his neck. He smiled sadly at the others, starting to cry. "Oh Godric, how m-much I-I m-iss y-you! W-Why did y-you h-ha-ve t-to die?"
"Shh, Remus it's alright, we're here with you, and we'll forever look after you. Right?" Lily shot the other two a sharp look, but, to her surprise, they were crying too.
"I-if this g-gets back t-to my bro-ther I-I'll m-make s-sure to k-kip at y-your s-sofa f-for the n-next t-ten y-years!" said Sirius between hiccoughs.
The three men hugged each other, all pretence of masculinity and manly hugs gone. It was an important moment between friends and Lily knew it. That didn't stop her from taking a picture.
FLASH!The three men turned to glare at her but she just giggled. "Please, Remus; promise me you'll go back to her? Tell her that I approve of her and that I would've loved to meet her. Whoever makes my Remy happy is worthy of my attention." James spluttered at the endearment. Sirius just snorted.
"Oh, Regulus is going to love this!" she said as she waved the photograph around.
"DON'T YOU DARE, EVANS!" with one last hug and a murmured 'Go back or I'll make Andy kill you,' Sirius ran off.
"Well, Moony old friend, see you around. Lily is at her wits end with us, but hopefully you and that charming pixie wife of yours won't join us too soon."
"Bye, Prongs, I hope so too. Keep out of trouble and don't annoy Lily, she deserves better." Remus smiled warmly at the disappearing silhouette of his dead best friend.
Remus woke up abruptly, banging his head against the heavy wooden bedpost and then falling out of bed, whereupon he hit his head again. He blacked out.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
When Remus woke up, it was pitch dark. He tried to get up, but his head was throbbing painfully, so he judiciously lay down again.
"Great. I got a concussion by the look of things and to top it all off I feel like I'm going to puke any moment now," he slurred at the empty room. The walls didn't respond of course, but Remus didn't want them to. He didn't know how long he had been lying there, when the door opened. It was probably the receptionist, checking if everything was okay.
She reminded him of Molly Weasley, what with her warm disposition and her motherly affection. Maybe they were distantly related; one couldn't be sure. This whole train of thought was altogether too complex for his injured head, and as his headache increased he let out an animalistic groan.
"Oh my God, Mr Lupin, are you okay? How do you feel? Should I call an ambulance?"
"N-not a-ambul-ance. Co-ncuss-ion. Hurts," Remus croaked at her, using all his strength just to be audible.
"Do you want me to call someone else?" she asked, her soothing voice lulling him to sleep. She noticed his eyelids drifting closed, and let out a horrified scream. "NO, MR LUPIN, YOU SHOULD NOT FALL ASLEEP! TRY TO STAY AWAKE, PLEASE!" That effectively woke him up, for the time being.
She asked him again, more urgently this time, "Now, who should I call?"
"W-wallet. Pa-per, pho-ne n-number. A-ask f-for D-Dora. P-please." And with that, he passed out again.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of a blue-haired Nymphadora Tonks- Nymphadora Lupin he corrected himself- staring at him, highly concerned.
"YOU IMPOSSIBLE IDIOT!" she screamed at him, the moment that she noticed he was awake. He cracked what he hoped was an apologetic smile. From her glare, it hadn't had the desired effect.
"Sorry, I j-just, well..." he looked up at her pleadingly.
"Save it from when we get home. I love you, Wolf-man."
He smiled at her and kissed her tenderly. "I love you too, Queen of Clumsiness." He got up, feeling much better (Dora had probably healed him, he decided) and grabbed his things.
"You know mum wants to have a talk with you, when we return," she smiled mischievously and he groaned.
"Can we not talk about my lovely mother-in-law until the end of the day?"
"But mum was so worried about me and I know you two never got on well, but she was so worried about you and the baby and..." Tonks knew she was babbling, but she was too excited to care.
"Dora?"
"Mhm?" she asked, stopping mid-rant.
"Shut up." And with that, Remus kissed her and swore he wouldn't leave her or their child again.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
It has come to my attention that you favourite without reviewing(you know who you are). Please, I appreciate the effort, but I need reviews in order to improve my writing skills, so REVIEW!