Written for the QLFC Finals. It had to begin and end with innocence, and my optional prompts were draining, rain, and seasons. Hope you like it!
Innocence, Remus Lupin thought, was subjective. Sirius Black had been innocent of many things. He'd been falsely accused of many thing, such as tripping Slytherins (when it had really been James), of tainting the Slytherins' food supply (when it had really been James), and of falling for Lily Evans (when it had really been James).
Of course, when it came down to it, Sirius Black was not innocent where it mattered.
"Mr Lupin?"
Remus was jolted out of his reverie by a pleasant, thickly accented voice coming from a small, run-down car with what appeared to be only one headlight. He leaned down to window-height and waved awkwardly.
"That's me," he said, trying not to cough or sneeze or do anything stupid. "I'm Lupin."
The man laughed, a grin splitting his round face. "Aren't you getting wet, standing out there?"
"Oh," said Remus. "It's raining, isn't it?" He'd been distracted by heavy thoughts and a headache that relentlessly pounded away at him.
"It's the rainy season here in Japan," said the man as Remus clambered around to the other side of the vehicle. "What about where you come from?"
"Not sure," he said before he could think about it. The man laughed. "So, um," he added. "Who exactly are you?"
"Rai," said the man. "That's my name."
He didn't say anything after that, just hummed pleasantly to himself. Remus turned away from his driver and rested his cheek against the glass, feeling the coolness as the car rumbled along. He hadn't been in a car in ages, and the vibration of the wheels was comforting in a way, reminded him of hot summer days on the way to a campground. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the rain splatter against the window, wishing he could stay like that forever.
He ended up falling asleep against the window. When he woke they were in the countryside, passing long rice fields. As Remus watched he could see workers cultivating the fields, and was suddenly overcome with a desire to be one of them, to be away from his life and his memories and even his magic, because in the end all his magic wrought him was misery and grief and the aching feeling that he'd misplaced something important.
"You slept for a long time," said Rai. "Right through the city traffic."
"It's beautiful out here," said Remus, eyes still trained on the rolling hills of rice, green and bright with a hazy sky. "I still can't believe I'm here." He suddenly realized it was no longer raining.
"You like Japan, huh?"
"Love it," he said quietly. "It...takes me away. I'm not sure how to describe it."
"Wish I could say the same. To me, it is just home. Do you like your home?"
Remus thought of England, where the very land itself was soaked with memory, draining him of all happiness as efficiently as a Dementor. It rained in England, and everything was always cold and hard. Sometimes Remus had trouble remembering what he'd like about Hogwarts; when he looked back he could only think of stone and wind.
"I used to," replied Remus finally.
"Sounds like you needed a break. Good thing for Albus Dumbledore, huh?"
Remus smiled slightly. It felt out of place on his face."Good thing indeed."
They arrived at their destination, another rice field, this one bordered by a small forest. Rai parked the car with ease, letting it sputter to an easy halt.
"Where are they?" asked Remus. "Are you going to take me to the kappas?"
Rai chuckled. "I won't have to. They'll come to us."
Rai was right. Before long, kappa were peering around the tall reeds and staring unblinkingly at him. It was horribly unsettling, and Remus suddenly hoped he could deal with them all. He'd dealt with kappas before, but only in isolated cases and certainly not enough to bring him all the way to Japan from halfway across the world. He suddenly felt very outmatched, and not quite deserving of the beautiful landscape around him, not even worthy of the heavy humid air all around him.
He rolled the sleeves of his shabby robes up to his elbows and glanced back at Rai, who was staring at the scars on his arms.
"Why are there so many kappas here?" he asked.
Rai shrugged. "You're the expert, not me."
So helpful. Well then, Remus was just going to have to figure it out on his own. He walked towards the rice patties and watched the kappas scurry back, holding the tops of their heads as water sloshed from side to side.
"Hey," said Remus softly, drawing his wand. "Why are there so many of you? What's going on here?"
The kappas hissed at the sight of the wand, so Remus quickly put it back in his pocket and held his hands up in peace.
"Kappas are loners," he said, partially to himself. "You don't get in groups because you can't get travelers to fall in bogs when there are too many of you. Have you all been driven here, then? What is this?"
"Just get rid of them!" yelled Rai from several feet behind him. "Kill them if you have to! They bother us all and threaten our anonymity!"
A big word for a non-native English speaker. It just fueled Remus's senses and added to the feeling that something was wrong.
Remus walked several more steps, around the rice and into the forest. There was little swampland, contrary to his expectations. Kappas scurried all around him, a few of them jumping into little ponds here and there. There weren't enough ponds to sustain this population of kappas, thought Remus, ideas of what was really going on here beginning to form in his head. He got angry, so mad that, even thought five years ago he would have been able to control it, he ended up grabbing the branch of a tree and snapping it, leaving deep scrapes in his hand. He stared at the hanging branch and felt guilt, muttering a spell to fix it with flushed cheeks.
He stuffed the wand back in its hiding place as to not scare the kappas and said, so they could hear him, "Don't worry. I won't hurt you."
He left the forest, enjoying the crunching sounds the leaves under his feet made as he clenched his fists. When he returned, he smiled thinly at Rai, who smiled back hopefully.
"You drove him here," said Remus. "I bet they weren't even bothering you. You drove them here and hired me, hoping I would exterminate them, no questions asked. Sorry I couldn't do that for you."
Rai's mouth open and closed, but he finally managed to say, "If you don't take care of them, I won't drive you back."
"That's all right," said Remus. "I like walking, and it's a nice day."
Rai's jaw hardened and he turned to his car. Remus suddenly wondered if Albus Dumbledore had known what he was doing all along. It wasn't every day one got to wander the backroads of Japan, penniless or no.
Remus watched the smoke spurt out of the tailpipe with pleasure as a kappa hopped to either side of him, thinking idly that there were all kinds of innocence.
Reviews are love! :)