Do Hurry
Chapter One

Every Sunday was his, and he accepted his responsibility with enthusiasm. He would hail a taxi at the curb of his apartment and would settle into the musty cloth seats as he told the driver where to go. The drive to her new house was always one full of anticipation. If he had brought a gift, then he would occupy his mind and hands with it so he did not have to think about the awkward moments to come.

When the car pulled up to the suburban address, he would thank the driver, pay him, and walk up to the door. Since their divorce, she had found a man. He was her, what did they call it? Oh, right, "fiancé"… and they had moved to the outer fringes of the city. It amused him to see the perfect gardens and precise paths of the houses, even if she now obeyed the rules and groomed her lawn as such. It was autumn, cold, and he barely managed to stop from shivering as he crunched along the gravel.

'Remus, do hurry.' She muttered from the door.

He raised his eyes to her form that huddled by the frame. Though her words and behaviour tried to emulate the icy housewives of her neighbourhood, she could never truly temper her passion. She loved bright clothes, and she loved her slinky dresses that still fit her after a child. He wondered why she wore the skirt she knew he loved; was it to torture him with the way it clung her thigh? It was cold, autumn this year was chilly, so she wore a pair of black stockings that lent her some modesty, but he could remember the day she would flounce about without and drive him crazy.

Things sure have changed, he thought to himself, half tongue-in-cheek, half in misery. Do hurry?

Remus smiled at her as he walked through the door, and the tight lipped one she gave him in return made all his happiness dissipate. 'Sorry I'm late.' It felt like the distance between the city and the suburbs was increasing every week.

She did not acknowledge his apology, but she accepted his coat and hung it on the coat rack. 'Audrey is waiting in her room. Would you like some tea?'

Remus nodded. 'Tea would be lovely, thank you.'

They walked through the living room to the kitchen. Muggle inventions littered the room, like the refrijerater in the corner, and she moved through it like she had never been a witch, never been a Weasley, never been a Lupin. 'Three sugars, right?'

He nodded again, wondering if he would ever stop nodding, if he would nod into infinity. 'I haven't lost my sweet tooth.'

'Obviously not.' She murmured and took a carton of milk from the refrijerater to pour into his tea. 'Here you are.'

They sipped in silence, the usual awkward silence they both hated so much.

'I take it you haven't told him yet. Julian, I mean.' Remus asked after the quiet made his ears itch.

'It's Jeff.' She placed the tea on the counter and shook her head. 'No, I haven't.'

'You'll have to soon, though.'

'I don't tell you how to live your life, Remus. Don't tell me how to live mine.'

He let out a short breath of air, a clear indication he was annoyed. 'It isn't your life I'm worried about, Ginny, it is my – our – daughter's. Does she know about magic yet?'

She shook her head again, and Remus had to take a sip of tea to stop bitter words from spilling out. Her indecision infuriated him. She had no right to withhold information from Audrey. Why had she been all too happy to let Audrey know from day one that Julian, or John or whatever his name, was not her father and that he, Remus, was? Yet, the knowledge that she was a witch was too much for a little girl. He could not stand it.

'Why are you hiding the wizarding world from her? She has a right to know.'

Ginny would not look at him. She twisted the ring on her finger, Jeff's ring. 'I don't know. I can never bring myself to tell her.'

Remus had nothing to say, and for that reason, the Fates pushed Audrey out of her room, down the stairs and into the kitchen. The child called "Dad!" and clambered into his lap, bringing with her the smell of freshly washed youth and an excited air that soon became contagious.

'What are we doing this week, Daddy?' She asked and Remus smiled at her, the smile of a father in a position of almost absolute bliss. Forget the fact Ginny was engaged to a Muggle, and that he was just the part-time Dad, and Remus could be in bliss.

He played with her pigtails, the same colour his had been Before. 'We are going into town and we're going to have ice cream at Frank's.'

Audrey's eyes widened with the promise of the Best Ice Cream in The Entire World. 'Can I stay the night again, Daddy?'

His smile lost some of its radiance. 'No, sweetheart.' Remus' eyes flicked to Ginny's, perfectly bland and unexpressive. 'That was just once because Mummy was out of town.'

Last week had been one of the best weekends he had spent with Audrey since the divorce. It was all due to the fact that Ginny had needed to visit her family. Refusing to use the Floo, or any other type of magical transportation, she had bought a train ticket and asked Remus to look after Audrey for the entire weekend. That rose questions about the trust she had in the men in her life that needed answering, and by the tingling in his left ear, the time to leave was approaching. His ear had a way of knowing these things.

'You'd best be going.' Ginny said and pointed to the clock. 'It's almost eleven and I'd hate for you to waste your day indoors.'

Remus sipped the tea a final time, not finishing it because he rarely finished his tea, and placed Audrey on the floor so he could get out of the chair. Ginny automatically cleared the cups and plates and then wiped her hands on a tea towel. 'Be good, Audrey.' Remus knew the song so well that he could mouth the words and play lead guitar. They hugged one another.

'Have a good time.' She told Remus. 'Dinner is going to be served at six.'

Remus leant forward and kissed her cheek, making her tense. 'Have a good day, Ginny.'

He took Audrey by the hand and they walked towards the door, which he let her open. It made her feel like a big girl because Ginny always made Jeff go first when they left the house, like he could protect them from every little thing outside their door.

'Remus,' Ginny called from the end of the hallway.

He turned and suppressed the urge to sigh. She looked so tame, so domestic. He could have had it all, and he let it all disappear. Instead of harsh words about the current state his life was in, he settled for a simple: "Yes?"

'If you want to join us, at dinner I mean, then you are welcome to.'

Remus smiled, he seemed to do it quite a lot when he was in the presence of his daughter, and nodded. 'Thank you. I'll think about it.' Turning back to Audrey, who was getting impatient and annoyed, he guided her out the door. 'Come on, little cub, we have ice cream to eat and Frank to terrorise.'

Frank's was an Italian restaurant that had a reputation as providers of the Best Ice Cream in the Entire World, ridiculously cheap pasta for the city and pizza with olives on every order. Frank himself had died some years ago, but, with the imagination only life-long residents of London could possess, the sons had continued with the name and the aforementioned reputation. Remus had spent a great deal of the Missing Years during the eighties eating good pasta and enjoying the company of random strangers. Later, he took Ginny there for their first, second and fourth dates. He now helped his daughter into the chair and ordered for the both of them.

'…and then Sally told me that her horse had much more power than my horse, so I kicked her. Mummy didn't like that much, and she didn't like it when I slammed the door. But Daddy, I didn't mean the pot plant to explode. Mummy yelled at me for ages and grounded me, which was not fair!'

Remus rubbed his eyes and mentally cursed Ginny for the psychological upset she was causing everyone in her vicinity. 'Sweetheart, you shouldn't be slamming doors. I guess you need to be more careful next time.'

She frowned and sipped from her lemonade. 'I can't help it. I get really angry at Mummy and sometimes Jeff, but mostly Mummy, and then I can't control what I do. It would be better if I lived with you. I never get angry at you.'

He smiled. 'You never get a chance to be angry with me. We're always eating ice cream. It's going to rot your teeth.' Remus put a sly grin on his face. 'Maybe I shouldn't let you have some after lunch.'

Audrey's mouth dropped open (revealing perfectly innocent, white teeth). 'No!'

'Yes! And I'd make you clean your room and be absolutely polite to Sally Sallinger.'

'Daddy!'

The waiter arrived with their order, which he arranged on the table. 'Thank you.' Remus murmured. 'Well, maybe I won't do any of those things. I'm not that nasty.'

They ate and talked about Audrey's life which, as a five-year-old, she had no qualms over discussing non-stop. Remus loved hearing about anything about her, and he loved the moments he could have in the well-worn seats at Frank's, a timelessness washing over him. Time had no right to intrude on meals at Frank's, and it had even less right to intrude on time spent at Frank's in the company of his daughter.

Food disappeared into hungry mouths and soon the plates were clean. Remus had an odd tugging feeling on his right ear, which meant they needed to be heading off. His right ear had a way of knowing these things. He paid the bill and let Audrey chose her ice cream flavour, which involved pressing her face against the glass to see which one looked the most delicious. It would have no effect on her inevitable choice, which would be choc mint. A perfect mix of her father and her mother's tastes.

They walked over the cracked streets of London, licking ice creams and not talking much due to the licking of ice creams. Audrey broached the idea of heading to the park because the poor ducks needed company on such a cold day. It was autumn, after all, and they had no coats, as she argued.

The park was clear of people and ducks, which did not surprise him. Audrey found a bottle cap that had belonged to a bottle of a Muggle drink and pleaded that she could keep it. Having no real good reason as to why not, Remus allowed her to pick it up, polish it and put it in her pocket. He was in a good mood.

As the sky, which had never been that bright to begin with, grew darker, they grew less inclined to walk. Remus' nose began to itch, so he knew it was time to hail a taxi and head to the dreaded Suburbs. For some reason, hailing a taxi was absurdly easy when Audrey was with him and they were soon in the musty, clothed seats, rolling around as they tried to get seat belted.

The ride back to the Suburbs was uneventful, and the horrible feeling that he had wasted another weekend with Audrey began to take Remus over like a sickness. They had enjoyed pasta and The Best Ice Cream in the Entire World, but had he left a lasting impression on her? He knew he would get depressed later tonight and made a mental note to get some sort of alcohol in his system before that.

Audrey was staring at the houses lined up next to each other in perverse symmetry. Although she was only five, and only a girl (John from down the street told her that girls weren't allowed to play in his gang because they were girls), she knew there was something wrong. Mr Henderson spent an hour mowing his lawns on Saturdays; she'd watch him from her living room window as her mother cleaned the spotless house. When she went with her Father (and John also told her that having two dads was Gay and really rotten and that she couldn't play with him even if she had been a boy), everything felt right.

The taxi pulled up at her house and Remus paid the man the fare and enquired whether he could possibly please come back in, say, two hours? With a secured method of transportation, Remus picked up his coat and walked Audrey up to the door. Ginny opened it before they could knock, and they were absorbed into the house.

Smells were wafting over to where they stood and the gallivanting in the park had made them hungry again. Ginny told them both to wash up, which they did dutifully and thoroughly. When they returned downstairs, a meal was laid out for them, and they took places at the table. Jeff had returned home from visiting friends and was explaining every detail of the trip to Ginny, who had a look of positive enthrallment plastered on to her face. Remus had to stop and wonder if Jeff saw how painted Ginny was. Had he ever seen her?

Ginny's dinner managed to be the medium in which tamed domesticity found its way into a human body. A person can appreciate a clean room and a freshly made bed, but by ingesting roast chicken with fluffy potatoes and string beans, all drizzled with home made gravy, a person can feel contentment rising out of them.

Contentment tinged with jealousy, or anger, or in Remus' case, both, is rarely a safe thing for a mind. Mixed in with a chocolate cake for dessert, and Jeff's complaints of indigestion, and Remus could have jimmied open the liquor cabinet in front of them and taken a great guzzle of cooking sherry.

Remus stood up and said good by to his sweetheart, telling her they would visit the ducks again next weekend, and yes, he would bring an extra coat just in case. Ginny escorted him to the door and farewelled him quickly as if the sooner he was gone the sooner her life was back to its pristine self.

The taxi was waiting for him and when he climbed in, the rustling of newspaper greeted him.

'Where to?' Asked the driver as he folded the paper into some order.

Remus had his forehead resting on the cold glass of the window, watching the Suburban nightmare like a tourist at the zoo. 'Take me home.'

Ginny rolled over and stared at Jeff's sleeping form. It melted into the shadows of the room, and his occasional breath was the only thing keeping him from being a part of the wall. He had stolen all of the blankets (again) and her pale legs were growing colder. Instead of reaching across to take some blankets from him and possibly disturbing his sleep, she slid out of bed.

Her slippers were waiting for her feet and once shod, she padded across the room to the hallway and then down the stairs. The lounge room was eerily quiet, and her eyes struggled to see anything in the dark gloom, but having failed, she turned on the lights. Ginny sat down on the couch and picked up the receiver to the phone.

It took thirteen rings before Remus woke up and answered the phone. He had been asleep.

'Remus.' She addressed him in a voice she reserved only for him. 'It's Ginny.'

There was not a lot one can answer to that, so he replied with a "Yes?"

She played with the hem of her nightgown – the edge had become frayed after many years of good use – and sighed. 'I don't think I want to you to come next Sunday.'

There was a slight pause on the other end, followed by a muffled swear word. 'Ginny,' he said, 'you can't do that. I have visitation rights. I've been a model father.'

'I know you have been, Remus.'

'Then why say that I can't see my own daughter.' He sounded exasperated.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders out of habit. 'I don't know. I think I got scared.'

'You got scared by something, Ginny, or else we wouldn't have broken up. What are you scared of?'

'Did you ever have dreams, Remus? Like, dreams you had when you were a kid of what you were going to be and then you grew up and they just didn't come true?'

Another pause. Contemplation radiated out of the receiver. 'Yeah, I did. I wanted to be a writer, or a poet.' He chuckled. She smiled despite herself. 'Did you ever know that?'

'I think I had an inkling.'

'What did you want to be?'

'Successful.'

Bitterness took hold of Remus, and, instead of treating the confession delicately as he would have had she been a student and he a teacher, he let his feelings get in the way of sane judgement. 'And I suppose being with me was always going to ruin your chances of being successful.' The telephone made his voice sound harsher than it should have been. 'Maybe you should tell Jordan all this.'

'His name is Jeff.' She told him. 'I thought you'd understand.'

'I don't. I don't understand anything, Ginny.'

There was a click and Remus had hung up. Ginny placed the receiver back in the cradle and looked at the clock. It was four and she knew she could not sleep any more, otherwise it would be plagued with bad dreams, or worse, dreams about good times.

Ginny stood up and walked into the kitchen, which gleamed in anticipation. The thought of fresh bread made her mouth water, so she tied an apron around her hips and began pulling out ingredients.

It was six days before Remus heard anything from Ginny. He had worked and had eaten at Frank's. He had met a woman named Sue that had red hair and was curvy in the right ways. She had bought him a drink and he had invited her back to his place. They were an item in much the same way any two types of white sock is an item after an extensive search of one's sock drawer in a vain attempt to find a pair.

The phone rang as they were enjoying a red. It was Ginny. Remus answered and said yes, he did remember what she had and no, he was not going to listen to her. Audrey was his daughter as much as she was hers. You can't do that, Ginny. That's stupid. I'm her father. Pause. Fine. Have it your way. I'll be there next week.

'What was that about?' Sue asked innocently. She was not the brightest crayon in the box, but she had red hair and brown eyes. She wore the wrong shade of lipstick, but he would buy her the right one.

'My ex-wife. She doesn't want me to visit my daughter tomorrow. But, ah, why am I telling you this when we can get another two glasses out of this bottle?'

The big windows in the lounge room provided a view of the lawn and the driveway, and Audrey had been glued to them all day long. Jeff had helped her push the squishy recliner up to the glass so that she could be comfortable as she waited. Her sense of time was under developed but she still understood that Daddy was quite late.

'Audrey, it's dinner time.' Ginny called. 'Wash up and come to the table.'

'No, not until Daddy comes.'

'Audrey, your Father is not coming tonight. I told you already. Do hurry.'

Audrey frowned. Daddy was never later and Daddy never didn't come. He always came. She had to investigate further, so she walked over to where her Mother was laying out plates. 'But what about the ducks?'

'What ducks, darling?' Ginny asked without looking at her daughter. The plates had to be straight.

'The ones in the park. Daddy and I had to dress them in coats to stop them from getting cold.'

Ginny threw the bundle of knives and forms on to the table. 'There are no ducks in the park, Audrey!'

'But Daddy said there were!'

'Daddy is a liar and a bastard!'

Audrey's eyes widened in shock. She burst into tears and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Ginny had no chance to apologise for what she had said because the stack of plates that had been on the table had all fallen off and had left, understandably, a large and sharp mess on the floor.

The streets were wet and shiny, the light reflecting from numerous streetlights that were, surprisingly, in working order. They were walking close together, not touching each other consciously, but when they brushed against the other, they shared a quiet smile. It was early evening, and tension hung deliciously in the air.

'You'll love this place,' he said softly, holding her waist to stop her from walking into traffic. She was no where near the curb, but the contact was appreciated by both. 'The pasta is to die for, and the pizza isn't bad either.'

'Not a pizza man, then?' she asked, her lips curving in a gentle smile.

'I love pizza. I live for pizza. That's how good the pasta is.'

She laughed and he found himself thinking that nothing had sounded more beautiful. He was turning to mush from several minutes in the company of this Goddess, and willingly, too. They crossed the street, his arm still around her. He opened the door and allowed her to walk in front of him into the warmth of Frank's.

The waiter led him to his usual table, a half-hidden secluded booth that he had eaten in more times than not. 'You're a Frank's virgin, so I'll order for you.' He announced, taking the menu from her hands.

'Oh, I see,' she said, mock-offended. 'Is that how you treat all your lady friends, Mr Lupin?'

He grinned over the folded paper and refused to answer her question. 'Ginny, you'll have the bacon and cheese pasta bake. Actually, I think I might have the same. Do you think we should get a bottle of red?'

She half-shrugged. 'Sure, I wouldn't mind getting you drunk and taking advantage of you.'

'I love a woman who's forward,' he said in an aside, and handed the menus to the waiter. He repeated the order and then turned his attention to his date. 'Are you sure I'm not going to get tortured by you formidable brothers?'

'What they don't know can't hurt them, true?'

He sucked in a breath of air through his teeth. 'That's a dangerous idea, there. When they find out, and, I assure you, they will, I will be in some serious trouble.'

'You worry too much!' She exclaimed, but a seed of doubt had been planted. 'I never tell them about the boys I'm dating.'

'I'm hardly a boy any more, Miss Weasley.'

'That doesn't change the fact you worry too much. I'll break the news to them tomorrow.'

'Good, excellent, great, fantastic.' He took her hand so he could kiss it.

The night progressed better than either had expected. Wine and food made them both at ease and, although they had known each other for years, it seemed like they were only discovering one another tonight. Remus was amazed at the strings of poetry he found getting stuck in his head as he talked to her, like a lovesick teenager. Ginny had tremendous respect for her former teacher, but she admired the man in front of her even more.

When the meal came to a conclusion, Remus paid the bill after a slight disagreement. Although Ginny had initiated the date, he had chosen the place and he declared that he should pay. With a promise to let her pay next time (and the thrill that accompanied the idea that there would be a next time), Ginny acquiesced.

The rain had long since departed the area, but a fog was rolling in. They exited the way they came in, but without the pretence of helping her cross the street. 'Are you going to walk me home, Mr Lupin?' She asked, eyebrow arched in query.

'It would be my pleasure,' he said simply.

Ginny lived a few blocks away, so they walked slowly through the streets, enjoying every stolen moment. When they arrived at her door, she was torn between wanting him to stay the night and wanting to keep things slow, if only to make the moment all the more sweeter. She needn't have worried.

For all his talk of a fondness for forward women, Remus was the one to kiss her. It was a delightful kiss: slow, loving and patient, as if they had all the time in the world. When it broke, he kissed her forehead softly and took a step backwards.

'Good night, Miss Weasley. Thank you for a most enjoyable evening.' He smiled and she returned it.

'You're welcome. Good night, Mr Lupin.'

He glanced back at her and then walked out of the apartment block, his mind completely occupied with the lyrics and images of his newly budding romance.

Ginny woke, gasping for air. It was like waking from a terrible nightmare, except the dream had been a flashback to one of the best nights of her life. Up until I met Jeff, she corrected herself. She was drenched in sweat and was shaking terribly. It was completely unfair to be subjected to dreams like that. All she wanted was a normal life, with a normal husband and a normal daughter. No magic. Was it too much to ask?

Instead of a repeat of the other night, weariness overcame her soon after waking, and moments later she was deep in slumber once again.

A/N: Ok! So the first time I tried this I was kinda loopy on painkillers. Sorry! So, let's try this again! I haven't written anything on my other projects because: I'm in love with this fic, school's been a bitch and my grandma died so I had to suffer through a funeral with crazy, evil relatives and all the regular jazz! I want to thank everyone who read this before I uploaded it with an extra sloppy kiss to Iselin, my beloved beta who listens to me whine and who deserves a better writer than me but shhh, don't tell her that because then I'd lose her! So yes. ENJOY!