Remus had to go. If it were up to him, he'd be at his house, reading, researching, planning. But there was no such thing as "his house" anymore. After joining the Order of the Pheonix, he lived at the headquarters.
The headquarters happened to be Hestia Jones's house. They'd put an Undetectable Extension Charm on it, to add more rooms for the people in the Order. Remus didn't mind, and he knew it must a be a relief for Sirius. Having nowhere really to go, Padfoot usually stayed at James and Lily's.
There was also no more James and Lily's. There was the Order, and the headquarters. And that meant Remus had to go. He didn't want to got to that party. It was more of a "social event for making plans," as Dumbledore had called it.
Remus had eternal respect for the man that had granted him an education, and had said nothing. Until Hestia made him go. Remus tried everything. He tried excusing himself with his "furry little problem."
James decided very unhelpfully to point out that the full moon was two weeks after the party. Remus pretended to be sick. Lily made him a potion. He even had to resort to breaking his own leg. Remus was forced to take Skele-Gro.
"Fine!" he said to himself, pacing in his room. He had a potent lock on his steel door, and an adjoining room made of indestructible walls and broken furniture was where he spent full moon nights.
Moony frowned. He was nineteen! He could do whatever he wanted! Hestia Jones would not boss him around. Part of the reason he was angry at Hestia was the she had broken up with him the last day of Hogwarts.
Quiet as he seemed, Remus never forgot and never completely forgave. He resorted to finally shrugging on some dress robes. He sat down at his carved mahogany desk he had conjured the other day, and picked up a book.
An enchantment someone had placed on his room made new books appear every other day. Remus rubbed his most recent scar on his cheek and brushed back a strand of light brown hair.
"MOONY!" a voice rang out in the hallway. Remus groaned and opened the door. Sirius was fiddling with his tie that was loosely around his neck.
"Quit being antisocial. Come on, there are drinks and girls! Hestia's ready in her nicest dress-"
Remus slammed the door on Sirius. He heaved a great sigh and waited until Padfoot had stopped scratching at the door. Sometimes Remus wondered if he had really become a dog for good.
He opened the door to an empty hallway this time. The Jones mansion was huge before the enchantment, and now even more so. It disturbed Remus to live in his ex's house, but he did what was necessary to fight the most powerful wizard of all time.
Or so they all said. Because his day-to-day experience was mostly uneventful. He'd read books, talk to James, Sirius, or Peter. Once in a while he'd go on a recon mission: meaning watching streets where notorious Death Eaters lived. Nothing much would happen, except seeing people once in a while: Rosier, Yaxley, Snape, and others.
Even then Remus could not take action. He was only to report their names at the end of the day. He had to feel the hatred swell up in him as he watched Snape enter his home in Spinner's End in a swish of dark robes.
On these days Lily would ask about Muggle acquaintances from Spinner's End. Remus was the one to tell her that her childhood home was destroyed. Her parents had already been killed in her sixth year, leaving Petunia to hate her with even more intensity, blaming the Wizarding world for orphaning her.
Lily had not talked to her since. Remus also had to tell her that her Muggle friend, Shannon Raines, had been murdered for fun by Death Eaters. But now Remus pushed Lily's tear-stricken face out of his mind.
He entered the magically expanded living room of the Jones mansion and the roar met him immediately. The clink of glasses, the laughing, and the talking filled his ears. How could those people laugh, when Muggles were dying?
James pushed through the throng, pulling Lily along with her. "MARY MCDONALD WANTS TO SAY HI TO YOU!" shouted Lily above the roar. Remus nodded, and tried to walk forward, his hands on his ears. James shot him a sympathetic smile.
He saw the certain strawberry-blond witch in question.
"HELLO, MARY!" Remus yelled.
"NICE TO SEE YOU, REMUS!" Mary answered. "I WAS JUST-"
Mary never finished her sentence. Marlene McKinnon, Sirius's girlfriend, grabbed her arm. Marlene pushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear and started shouting about Mary's haircut.
Remus smiled and turned away. He was officially in hell. He ached for his quiet room and books, and decided to leave the living room. He met Dorcas Meadowes along the way. Dorcas showed him a piece of stitched cloth.
"IT'S A BADGE!" Dorcas screamed. "I PLAY FOR THE TUTSHILL TORNADOES NOW, REMUS!"
Remus smiled and tried to congratulate her, but she was turning back into the crowd. The was almost at the door. He pushed past Frank and Alice, who were holding hands, and wrestled the doors open.
He closed them shut and cast an enchantment on the double doors, stopping sound from penetrating them. He sighed and turned. He jumped, startled. There was a teenage girl on the steps leading back up to the rooms.
"Escaping the hellhole too, are you?" she asked. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but her blond hair was suddenly looking blue. Remus watched as it grew past her shoulders and curled, this time a definite shade of sky blue.
"You're a Metamorphmagus," said Remus in awe.
"You're a werewolf," the girl replied.
"Oh." Remus hated making that kind of first impression. If Remus had his way, he'd pretend he was normal. But of course the rumors of a werewolf in the Order spread like wildfire. Remus had to admire the girl who didn't seem unsettled by the dangerous creature next to her. Other witches would have run away in fear.
"I'm Nymphadora Tonks. But I hate that name," she told him.
"Can I call you Dora?"
Her glare seemed to sear through Remus. "You can call me Tonks."
"Remus Lupin," he said.
"I know." Of course she did, she must have heard all kinds of things about Lupin, the ferocious werewolf.
"Are you in the Order?" Remus asked.
"Nah. Apparently they don't accept fiteen-year-olds." Remus couldn't help but hear the bitter notes in her voice.
"It's not that wonderful. I have to be locked up in here all the time. All I do is watch Death Eaters enter their homes. I mostly read all day."
"Better than staying at Hogwarts and being good. Half of the Muggleborns are missing, and I'm supposed to just sit tight and write Charms essays."
Remus thought for a moment. "Did you say Tonks? Any relation to Andromeda?"
"She's my mum," said Tonks.
"She's also Sirius Black's cousin."
"Yeah. Is Sirius here?" she asked with sudden interest.
"Last I saw of him, he was getting drunk with Marlene McKinnon."
The door burst open, revealing a staggering figure. "Someone say m'name?" slurred the wizard.
"Padfoot," sighed Remus.
"'Ey! It's... Dora!" said Sirius, smiling and hiccuping. Remus buried his face in his hands.
"I don't know him... I don't know him..." muttered Moony.
"Remember last time you called me that?" said Tonks threateningly.
Sirius laughed, short and barklike. "That... was a good Bat-Bogey hex, Tonksie."
She rolled her eyes and opened the door again. The roar of the crowd filtered through Remus's enchantments. "OI! MARLENE!" she shouted at the crowd.
A young witch detached herself from the crowd and joined them in the quiet hallway. Remus cast another enchantment on the door to keep the noise out.
Marlene sighed. "Sirius..."
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he said, giggling weakly. Sirius reached over to Marlene.
"Stupefy!" she shouted. Sirius fell to the ground. "Sorry, love. Mobilicorpus." She lifted Sirius up in the air and started walking up the stairs, the wizard still floating above her.
"I don't know him, never met him," said Remus.
"I'll pretend we're not related for the night," said Tonks. She fiddled with her hair and turned it black, making it short and spiky.
The doors opened again, this time with Lily supporting an unconscious James. "Remus, you might be the one Marauder who doesn't go overboard with firewhisky," she said, tossing her long red hair.
James opened an eye. "Who's that, Moony?" he asked weakly. "Isn't she a little young for you?" He started laughing hysterically, until Lily finally gave up.
"Silencio!" she said, pointing her wand at her husband. She conjured a mattress and lifted James onto it.
"I'm off to bed," she said, and Disapparated.
"Well," said Remus uncomfortably.
"Well, this is awkward," said Tonks.