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Chapter 1
I Will Remember You
September 1, 1993
Early that morning, in a small cottage nestled in the hills of Yorkshire, Remus Lupin closed the lid of his trunk, using his wand to lock it. In just a few short hours, he would board train and return to the place where he had locked away so many precious memories, Hogwarts. As he sat down on the poor excuse for his bed, he pulled a small photo album towards him and opened it. Inside were many pictures of him during his years at Hogwarts. Remus slowly flipped through the pages of the book. Everywhere his friends grinned up at him and waved. His light green eyes fell upon a group of pictures, which featured him with a beautiful girl who had deep stormy blue eyes. She had a look of innocence about her. He ran his hand across her fair cheek. For an instance, he thought he could feel the softness of her skin through the pictures, smell the sweet scent of her wild, curly brown hair, and taste the apricot kisses of her lips.
"Jessica," he breathed. Two teardrops fell onto the picture. He didn't realize that he was crying until he saw them. Quickly, he brushed the tears away. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there when you needed me the most."
Remus reached inside the small, clear plastic cover and pulled out one of the pictures of Jessica. It was a picture he had taken over their Christmas break in 1977. She smiled shyly, but her eyes twinkled with such love and affection for him as tiny snowflakes fell around her, lightly coating her hair in white. He slipped the picture into the inner pocket of his large brown coat that he wore, before standing up. with one last look around the small, dismal bedroom with its torn wallpaper and poor excuse for furniture, he stepped out of the cottage and into the cool September air.
September 1, 1977
Jessica's footsteps echoed off of the dark path as she ran, constantly glancing back as her pursuer drew closer and closer. She had to keep moving, she had to make it out of there, find help. Her heart pounded frantically with fear. Suddenly, she fell, landing on the cold ground. She couldn't move, and she tasted blood in her mouth. Everything suddenly went black as her pursuer attacked.
Her deep blue eyes snapped open and she sat up abruptly in her bed, looking around. It had only been a dream. Jessica slowly waited for the pounding of her heart to return to normal. Sunlight streamed through her sheer pale blue curtains, naturally lighting up the bedroom. She rubbed her eyes and fell back again, trying to figure out the dream. Usually, they were nonsensical, and half the time she couldn't remember them completely, but this one seemed much more real. Why would she dream such a thing? Her hand touched the hard leatherbound cover of a book, causing her to look down. Maybe she should stop staying up and reading until two in the morning. That had to be the reason for the dream. Of course, she didn't believe, for one second, that reading dictated what type of dreams one had.
Jessica peered at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It read 7:05. Why was she up so early? It was still summer, wasn't it? No. She glanced at the calender on the wall, squinting her eyes. It was opened to August, but each tiny square was crossed out with a red "X", indicating days that had passed. She slid out of the bed and walked over to it and flipped to the next page. Circled in red was the date, September first.
How could it have slipped her mind? She glanced at her trunk, which she had packed the night before. Soon, she would be able to see her friends again. Even though she had last spoken to them two days ago, it felt like a millenium to her. She wondered if Remus was thinking about her, Remus, her boyfriend. Jessica let out a small squeal as she fell back onto her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest. The feeling of giddiness never diminished, even after they had been going out for a little over a month, now.
"Jessica?" Her mother, from whom she'd inherited her magical blood from, peeked into the room. "I was just making sure you were awake. I'm fixing to prepare breakfast. Is there anything special you want?"
"Just the usual, Mum," Jessica smiled. "But if you can manage some blueberry pancakes, I'd really like that."
"Of course, sweetie. Are you all packed?" Jessica nodded. "That's good. Come down after you're ready."
After her mother closed the door, Jessica grabbed some clothes from her closet and went down the hall towards the only bathroom upstairs to take a shower. Once she was finished, she spent about twenty minutes trying to do something with her hair. She knew she should have taken the opportunity to buy that potion yesterday, while she was in Diagon Alley. Unfortunately, she had failed to, and now she was paying the price, as she couldn't get her hair to do anything. Finally, she gave up and resorted to her usual style, a simple plait draped over her left shoulder.
Jessica traipsed downstairs. The sweet scent of pancake batter filled her nostrils as she walked into the kitchen. Her mother stood in front of the stove, while her father sat at the table with his newspaper opened in front of him, and a steaming mug of coffee nearby.
"Morning, Daddy." She kissed his whiskery cheek.
"Good morning, Princess. You look beautiful today."
Jessica walked to the coffee pot to pour herself a cup of coffee and began to laden it with milk and heaping spoonfuls of sugar. "You say that everyday."
"It's true. You are the most beautiful girl in the world, next to your mother."
"Your father has always been quite the charmer," Mrs. Merton said as she magically flipped the stack of pancakes onto a large plate. "Sam, would you please bring Jessica's trunk downstairs? We'll leave after she eats."
"Sure thing." Mr. Merton folded his newspaper and stood. He affectionately tugged on Jessica's braid as he walked past her to go upstairs.
"Dad, can you also bring down the brown wicker basket, so I can put Paris inside?" Paris was her cat.
Once Jessica finished eating, she went into the living room where a white feline was snoozing on the back of one of the sofas. She meowed in protest as Jessica picked her up, but soon began to purr as her mistress scratched her beneath the chin. Her father had brought the trunk and wicker basket down. "All right, Paris, in you go." She set Jessica inside the basket, throwing in one of her toys as well. Paris yowled for a few minutes, then resigned herself to her fate, and fell quiet. Not long after, Jessica was in the backseat of her parents' car, on her way to Kings' Cross.
"Do you have everything you need, Remus?"
"Yes, Mum. Everything is present and accounted for." Remus shifted uncomfortably as his mother hugged him to her bosom and kissed the top of his thick light brown hair.
"Be sure to send an owl whenever you get the chance. We'll see you for Christmas."
"I will. It's too bad Dad couldn't be here to see me off."
"He couldn't miss work, but I know he'd much rather be here."
Remus smiled and leaned down the few necessary inches to kiss his mother on the cheek. "Don't worry about me, Mum. I'll be fine. I have my friends to watch out for me."
Making sure that no one was watching, he pushed his trolley towards the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 and passed through it towards Platform 9 3/4. The scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express loomed over him. Many students and their parents were hugging each other good-bye. (I assumed since Remus's mom is a muggle, she's unable to pass through the barrier.)
"Sirius, I told you, I'm not calling you My Sexy Man Beast." Remus recognized Sophia's voice. She was standing next to Sirius, not too far away. Sirius seemed to sense that Remus was watching him and looked up, grinning from ear to ear.
"Ah, now there is a real sexy man beast!" he boomed. "We were wondering when you were going to get here!"
Remus allowed Sirius to give him a hearty hug, before he turned and hugged Sophia. Although, he'd much rather be hugging a smaller, more fair body that smelled of peaches and apricots. "Is anyone else here, yet?"
"James and Lily had to board the train already," Sirius replied. "I still can't believe James made Head Boy."
Remus couldn't believe it either. It was strange that Dumbledore had given him such a responsibility. Especially when he had never been prefect. While Remus was happy for James, in the back of his mind, there was a small dose of jealousy. But he would never admit to it. "What about Jessica and Peter?"
As if by magic, Peter appeared. "I'm here," he said breathlessly. "It's so crowded here that I almost didn't find you guys."
"Just look for the best looking group here," Sirius teased.
Sophia rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs lightly. Remus checked his watch and saw that it was 10:50. He began to nervously bite down on lip as his eyes scanned the platform.
"Hey, mate, I'm sure she'll be here," Sirius said reassuringly. "Wait, isn't that her over there?"
Remus's eyes followed Sirius' finger. Sure enough, he saw Jessica next to the barrier, saying good-bye to her mother. His entire face lit up as she hugged her mother, then wheeled her trunk in the direction of the train. Sirius gave him a light shove. "Go get her, tiger," he winked.
He pushed his way through the sea of people, closer to Jessica, who had her back turned and seemed to be looking around. Quietly, he snuck up on her and encircled her waist, lifting her off the ground slightly as he embraced her. She squealed in delight and turned around after he set her down, and threw her arms around his neck.
"Remus, you scared me," she chastised playfully, leaning up onto the tips of her toes for a kiss.
Remus' sighed blissfully as his hands slid around her waist and her fingers dug into his hair. He could kiss her all day. Too soon, however, they both pulled away. Neither of them felt too comfortable about public displays of affection. He offered to take her trunk, and wheeled it towards the train. After some small talk with Sirius, Sophia, and Peter, it was time for the five of them to board the train. Jessica took her trunk back so that Remus could handle his. They found a compartment, and, while is was a tight fit, they managed to squeeze in with Sophia sitting on Sirius' lap and Remus and Jessica sitting next to each other on the other side, with Peter sitting in the same seat. Not long after they had made themselves comfortable, the train began to slowly make its way out of the station and started on its journey to Hogwarts.
