A/N: It's moving time for Liz. She meets Remus in this one. Just hold on, Sirius will come along soon.
Disclaimer: I own only the plot and the characters you don't recognize.
The ones you do recognize are J.K. Rowling's.
The song is My Sacrifice by Creed.
My Sacrifice.
The bell rang. Liz wiped her dusty hands on her old jeans and took a deep breath. Death-Eaters wouldn't ring the bell, neither would the Elders. They both would just pop in, uninvited. So the person at the door was either a salesman or just Remus, punctual as usual.
Looking through the peep-hole confirmed the latter. With a wide smile she opened the door. It had been 2 weeks since she had last seen him. It had taken a lot of arguing with Dumbledore to let her tie up her lose ends at the hospital and with the apartment and other things. Now she was finally ready to move in at Grimmauld Place. "Hey Remus. You are just on time." She moved and let him in. Seeing him in the lights of her apartment, she observed his finer details that the dim lighting of Grimmauld Place had hidden from her. His face had wrinkles that hadn't been all those years ago. His amber eyes were bloodshot, alert but bloodshot. His face was pale, and a look at her calendar confirmed, the full moon had been just 2 days ago. His brownish-grey hair fell into his eyes and his clothes were shabbier than ever. But he still was the Remus she loved, and she was glad to see him. She moved in for a hug and whispered, "It has been too long."
Hello my friend we meet again
It's been a while, where should we begin
Feels like forever
"Indeed it has." He pulled away.
We've seen our share of ups and downs
Oh how quickly life can turn around, in an instant
Remus himself was observing the woman before him, the woman whom he loved like a sister, the woman who had tried to block out her sadness by running away. But Remus understood that need of hers, Merlin knows she doesn't deserve all the pain that she had been though, but life never went the way they wanted it too. She was the same, just older. The same short frame that Remus had always felt was a little too thin. But he knew that it wasn't the result of insufficient eating, it was just the way her metabolism worked. The same now long straight black hair, it reached her shoulder blades. Her vivid blue eyes, they had the light that Sirius talked about, driving the rest of them crazy, but now there was a permanent sadness etched in them. She was dressed in jeans, Levis no doubt (Liz never wore jeans that weren't Levis) and a blue and white striped sleeveless top. She was beautiful, sad, but beautiful.
It feels so good to reunite, within your self and within your mind
"Well you might be on time, but I'm not ready yet. I just got back from the hospital. My head nearly had a coronary when I asked her for another two weeks off. But Dumbledore insisted so I had too. I haven't finished packing. You will have to wait; I hope it isn't a problem." She said while disappearing inside a room. Remus smiled, she still had her American accent.
He followed her and took out his wand, "Wouldn't it be better if I packed?" He twirled his wand and asked, "If you are okay with it, I could pack with the help of magic." She nodded and stepped back. In the next ten minutes, she was all packed. All her belongings had fit into the 6 bags, thanks to magic. After shrinking them and stuffing them in her coat pocket, they were ready. "Are you ready? Let's go."
"Wait. There is one more thing." With that she led him to the end of the hallway and stopped at the end, in front of a blank wall. "What's wrong Liz?" "Nothing's wrong. Just cast the revealing spell." He shot her a questioning glance but without voicing it, Remus did as he was told. "Specialis Revilio" And a door appeared in front of them. Taking a deep breath, as if steeling herself, Liz opened the door and entered the secret room. It was dark inside, "Lumos," well not too dark anymore. Remus held up his wand and looked around and smiled. There on the pedestal sat a dust covered book and in the corner were a couple of boxes. Liz looked at him and he nodded he shrunk the boxes and the pedestal; she dusted the book and held it close to her chest. Now they were all done.
Taking her by the hand, he apparated the two of them to the footpath outside Grimmauld Place. They entered the house and he led them up the stairs. On the second floor, walked down the hall to the last door and opened it. "Molly just cleaned this one up for you. I'm across the hall and," he cleared his throat, "Sirius is next door." Ignoring that, she put the book down on a table, and asked, "Molly is here?"
"All the Weasley's are here. Harry just came in, you missed today's meeting. And so did I." He took out the shrunken pedestal and the boxes and returned them to their normal size. She took out her bags and he did the same with them, "Anyway we shall catch up later, let's go down for dinner. I'm starving."
"Hey if Molly is cooking, I'd eat even if I wasn't this hungry. Let's go. I'll unpack later."
They made their way down to the basement kitchen. Remus let her lead the way. Liz stopped right at the door and took a deep breath. She felt Remus' hand on her shoulder and nodded; taking another deep breath she entered the kitchen.
Let's find peace there.
A/N: Sirius is in the next one.