Disclaimer: Unfortunately, JKR owns everything and I own nothing
9th May 1998: 12 Grimmauld Place
"MOONY! ARE YOU AWAKE YET?"
"MOONY MOONY MOONY!"
The bedroom door slammed against the wall as Sirius burst through with a ridiculously wide grin on his face.
"What the FUCK Sirius, it's only 9 in the morning," Remus grumbled, pulling the covers over his head as Sirius leaped onto the bed bouncing up and down. The animagus continued chatting excitedly.
"Molly invited us over for dinner tomorrow night!" Bounce.
"Are you listening to me?" Bounce.
"Why aren't you excited?" Bounce.
"You get to see your little witch!" At this Remus audibly growled, suddenly angry that Sirius was reminding him of the one person he didn't want to see or think about.
"She's NOT my witch," Remus snapped harshly. "She'll never be my witch," he mumbled quietly, burrowing his head further under the covers.
Sirius scoffed, not in the least bit phased by Remus' angry outburst. "Like there's any way Ron can keep up with her, she'll be bored of him soon enough. I'll bet you 5 galleons that she dumps him by her birthday."
"I'm not betting you anything," grumbled Remus, but Sirius had already left the room, whistling down the hallway.
oOo
10th May 1998: The Burrow
It took a lot of convincing on Sirius' part to get Remus to the Burrow that night. They had argued back and forth for hours.
"I know you're feeling really irritable with the full moon coming up tomorrow, so seeing her will keep the wolf calmer. Honestly Remus this is for your own good," Sirius had tried to reason with Remus.
Remus had huffed irritably. "The only thing irritating me right now is you Sirius."
"You can't avoid her forever Moony."
Tired of arguing with Sirius, Remus had finally caved in. It was clear that Sirius wasn't going to let the issue go and it was times like this he wished he hadn't let him in on his secret. Though to be fair, Sirius had pretty much sussed it out for himself.
oOo
25th December 1995: Grimmauld Place
The Christmas spirit was well and truly alive in Grimmauld Place. With the house filled with people, including Harry, Hermione, all of the Weasley's and various members of the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius had been ecstatic. His joyful mood was contagious and so even Remus was feeling quite festive.
Though he had tried and failed to stop himself, he had spent the entire evening almost glued to Hermione's side, talking to her and enjoying her company. It was Christmas after all, and that was the only excuse Remus needed to indulge in his desire to be near her. With his eyes on her the entire time, drinking in the sparkle she got in her eyes when she laughed and revelling in the small brushes to his arm, he hadn't noticed Sirius staring at him with a look of scrutiny on his face.
It was well past midnight when everyone finally retired to their rooms. Remus was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of hot chocolate, his own euphoria at how well the evening had gone keeping him from falling asleep.
Sirius had come down for a drink, but upon seeing Remus he slipped into the seat beside him.
"Good night right?"
"Yeah definitely," Remus agreed, unable to stop the grin from spreading across his face at the thought of Hermione's company. Noticing this Sirius slowly raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think of my cousin Tonks?" Sirius asked suddenly.
Remus' grin faded as his eyebrows rose in surprise. Tonks was a nice enough girl, and Remus found her easy to talk to. However she had started giving him suggestive looks and kept sidling up to him during Order meetings, making Remus inclined to avoid her as much as possible lately.
"Er ... she's a nice enough girl. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her tonight. Why do you ask?"
"She had her eye on you the entire night. I think she might be keen on you Moony. Maybe you should get to know her?" Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, watching Remus for his reaction.
Remus shifted awkwardly in his seat, avoiding eye contact with Sirius, looking like he wanted to do nothing more than escape.
"Uh .. I don't know Pads, I'm not really looking for a relationship right now …. and she's not really my type," he added as an afterthought, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"Hmm … so I guess your type is an intelligent, bushy brown haired bookworm … am I right?" Sirius said casually with a smirk and a knowing look in his eye.
Remus froze and stared at him open mouthed for a moment, hurriedly trying to decide whether he should bother lying or not.
"I … I … Fuck, am I that transparent?" Remus groaned, dropping his head into his hands, knowing that if he had lied, Sirius would have gotten the truth out of him sooner or later, that persistent bastard.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Honestly Remus you had your eyes glued to her the entire night with the stupidest grin on your face. It would take an idiot not to spot it. You're lucky everyone else is an idiot then."
Remus sighed. "I know it looks bad but …"
"That's a bit of an understatement. She's bloody 16 Remus. I know you're not that old, but you're also not that young."
"I know Pads -"
"She is quite attractive though … under all that hair," Sirius said thoughtfully, completely ignoring Remus' attempts to speak.
"Sirius -"
"Harry is not going to be happy about this. Oh and you're going to have some competition too. I heard Ron's -"
"She's my mate," Remus finally blurted out, effectively interrupting Sirius' tirade and rendering him speechless. Sirius stared at him with wide eyes, his mouth silently forming an "O".
"Oh … wow. Well umm … that changes things then."
"No it changes nothing Sirius," Remus sighed. "She shouldn't be burdened with the obligation to be with me. She can go on living her life, werewolf free, meet someone she deserves, someone who she can show off to the world, someone she won't be ashamed of." Remus suddenly felt very miserable with the elation from the night's festivities fading as reality set in.
Sirius was looking at him with pity in his eyes, and he hated it so much. He hated that he had been burdened with this curse. Hated that it was making him yearn for a girl he could never have. Hated that it made him a monster.
"Moony she deserves you. Maybe not now or anytime soon, but one day when she's old enough -"
"NO I won't do that to her. I can't do that to her."
"But -"
"As long as she's happy and safe, I can live with that. I can be happy with that," Remus stated firmly, but even to his own ears he could hear the lie behind his words and judging by Sirius' face, he could too.
oOo
Present:
Dinner had been delicious as always, courtesy of Molly's cooking, and afterwards everyone had moved into the living room, chatting away in small groups. Remus couldn't help but notice that it was a far cry from the old Burrow dinners they used to have before the war had taken a serious swing. Back then dinner had been a loud affair, full of laughter and joy but now while the laughter still existed, it was subdued and tamed, as though they were afraid to be happy. The final battle still lingered fresh in their minds.
Remus was sitting in the corner with Sirius and Harry, sitting silently as they talked, desperately trying not to stare at Hermione who was sleeping across the room with her head in Ron's lap, as he talked quietly with Bill. Her wild hair was tied back, emphasizing the dark circles that looked permanently etched under her eyes. Just being in the same room as her had him on edge, itching to be near her. He had been so painfully aware of her the entire evening, the wolf anxious and happy to have her so close. It didn't help that the wolf was closer to the surface, what with full moon being the next night. However he had to admit that Sirius had been right. Seeing her today had definitely made him feel a lot better, and a lot less irritated indeed.
Harry noticed Remus looking in Hermione's direction and said quietly, "She hasn't been coping well at all."
Something inside his chest twinged at hearing Harry's words and he turned to him with a frown. "What do you mean?"
"She doesn't sleep very well. Nightmares," Harry said. Remus didn't miss the way Harry said that as though it had been happening for a long time and it had him wondering what had happened while the trio had been away. "She stays down here most nights. She used to stay up with Ginny but eventually she moved down here cause her screaming and thrashing kept waking Ginny up. Actually it's been waking all of us up. Mrs. Weasley's tried everything. Calming draughts, dreamless sleep, pain potions. Nothing seems to help."
The more Harry explained, the tighter his chest felt. She was suffering and he couldn't do a thing to help her.
"What on earth happened to make her get nightmares that bad?!"
"Well she ..," Harry began but then appeared to think better of it. "Let's just say things happened while we were away and it's been .. quite traumatising for her."
"What things?"
"It's not really my place to say, but I'm sure she'll tell you when she's ready."
"What makes you think she's going to tell me of all people?" Remus said incredulously.
"You guys are friends right?" Harry said with a shrug, taking another swig of his butterbeer.
Remus didn't voice that he'd like to think he and Hermione were friends but hadn't thought that she had thought so. The three of them sat in comfortable silence, drinking from their butterbeers until Sirius suddenly turned to Harry.
"So Harry when are you moving in?" Sirius asked excitedly.
"Moving in where?"
Sirius pouted at his question. "Grimmauld Place of course. You still want to move in right?"
"Yeah of course! I ... it's ..."
"Then what's the problem?
Harry hesitated, sending a glance towards Hermione's sleeping form. "Well it's just … Hermione hasn't got a home. With her parents still in Australia I don't want her to live in that house by herself so we agreed we'd get a flat together."
"Oh is that it?" Sirius said, relief evident in his tone. "Just have her move into Grimmauld Place with us."
Remus violently choked on his drink at this, spraying butterbeer everywhere, earning himself a few curious looks from around the room.
"What! Sirius! Hermione can't … she can't … she can't live with us!" Remus spluttered incredulously.
"Ugh gross you sprayed me! And why the hell not Moony?" Sirius demanded, a challenging tone in his voice.
Harry sat there, looking between them, utterly bewildered.
"Because .. because it's hardly appropriate for her to be living in a house full of men!" Remus said indignantly, hardly believing Sirius was doing this to him. It was one thing to drag him to a dinner where the girl he was forbidden to have was around with her boyfriend but it was another thing completely to invite her to live in the same house.
"Oh c'mon she's a big girl and besides it's not like any of us are looking to be inappropriate with her right?" Sirius said, raising one eyebrow at him with a knowing look.
"Of course not!" Remus exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at Sirius' expression.
"Then there's no problem!"
"Honestly Sirius we can just find our own place -," Harry started to say, but was interrupted by Sirius.
"Nope you're moving in with us!"
"But -"
"WE ARE GOING TO HAVE THE GREATEST TIME HARRY!"
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