5 YEARS LATER

There weren't many things that I hoped for when imaging what life would be like after Hogwarts. I'd wanted a steady job surrounded by my friends and family. Life had gotten in the way, Voldemort had gotten in the way. But now, in a post Voldemort world, I was happy with what I had. I had the steady job, focusing on improving the lives of those the ministry continued to suppress and perhaps more importantly, unlike so many others I still had a home.

Home; the one place where, upon stepping into it, the comfort seeped through my entire body. Home was the small apartment I had bought after working my way through the ministry ladder, with its cramped yet comforting interior which at times seemed too small to fit two people and at other times was so incredibly perfect for us. But it didn't matter that the apartment was sometimes too cramped, that it was far from work or that the floorboards in the bathroom creaked under the slightest of pressure. None of that mattered when I came home from a busy day at work to the sight of Remus standing behind the stove. Because, after all, Remus was home and he always had been.

I apparated into the apartment, the wards letting me in easily and, at the sound of apparation, Remus walked through the low hanging doorway, crouching slightly as he walked into the hallway. He welcomed me with a smile and just the sight of him eased all the fatigue that built up over the week. Even if he was currently wearing that frilly pink apron that I'd brought for myself but seemed to suit him more.

"How was work?" he asked, opening his arms and letting me step into them.

I did without an ounce of hesitation, sighing when his arms closed around me. "Busy." Burrowing my face into the crook of his neck, I took a deep lungful of his soothing smell. I was home; he was home. Pulling back to peer into his face, I grinned and rose to my toes to press a peck to his lips, "I missed you."

"Someone's happy," he murmured, drawing reluctantly away from me to check up on the dinner that he'd left unsupervised.

I shrugged out of my coat and scarf, draping them over the back of the sofa and following after him. "I have something to tell you."

"Me too." He glanced over his shoulder, pointing to the dining table and telling me to sit. I watched as he served up two bowls of soup and magicked them to the table. "What happened?"

"I finally managed to get one up on those stuffy old men." Remus, who was making his way to the table, raised an eyebrow. "I managed to get the bill passed through the Wizengamot."

"Which one?" he asked with a sheepish smile, "You've got a lot of crusades."

"The one to allow werewolves to receive monthly dosages of the wolfsbane potions through the ministry to ease transformation," I rushed out, watching the way his eyes rose in pleasant surprise at my revelation. "It took a while but I managed to get enough votes. I know that there's a lot more left to work out. It's obvious that most of the werewolves in Britain aren't going to want to come forward but –"

Remus cut off my prattling, leaning down to press a kiss to my lips, his hands coming up to frame my face. When he pulled away, he was smiling softly at me before pressing a tender kiss to my forehead. Straightening up he went around the table and sat down in his own seat.

"Thank you."

"Don't be stupid, Remus." Leaning across the table, I took his hand in mine for a moment and gave it a squeeze. "This is what needs to be done. We need to live in a world where there's equality amongst everyone, not just the pureblood elite. There's so much stigma and prejudice in the wizarding world that needs to be abolished."

Remus chuckled, shaking his head, "Who'd have thought that the rambunctious 8-year-old girl who declared herself my friend only minutes after meeting me, would grow up to become a champion for equal rights."

"Well someone has to," I grumbled, picking up my spoon to try the soup. When I did, I frowned a little. "It's not fair that you're good at everything, Remus."

"Oh, shut up." He was grinning.

"So?" I glanced down into my bowl, "What did you want to talk about?"

Remus cleared his throat, making me look up at him. When I met his gaze, he gestured towards something and following his gesture, my eyes widened at the box lying innocently beside my glass. When had that gotten there? I looked back to Remus who had become suddenly fascinating with the contents of his soups bowl. He glanced at me from under his eyelashes as I reached out to pick the box up with shaking fingers.

Letting out a deep breath, I opened the box and stared down at the ring his mother had worn up until her passing. Salazar, it was a beautiful ring. One that I had never expected to be given.

Clearing my throat, I finally looked up and waited as he hesitantly raised his eyes to mine. I pushed my chair away from the table, watching as his eyes grew conflicted, not knowing how to interpret my silence. He got his answer when I walked around the table to throw myself into his arms.

Remus chuckled, the sound buried into my shoulder as I held him close.

"I'm going to take this as a yes," he warned.

I drew back from him a little, "Of course it's a yes, you stupid man."

And then we were grinning at each other and in that moment, nothing else mattered except the fact that we had each other. The darkness of the outside world didn't matter in this moment, it wasn't tainting this moment of peace.

Everything would be ok.