Disclaimer: Not mine

Remus appeared in the tree house, still cradling Melancholy's small form. He sank onto the couch and held her still tighter, finally letting the warm tears fall. "Oh, God, Melly," was all that he could choke out.

It was a place that they both knew, though it'd been years since they'd been there together, and one that they could draw comfort from. Their mothers would figure it out, he knew, and they'd leave them undisturbed.

Tears slowly grew silent next to the howl of the wind and the pelt of the rain. Though the cool of winter hadn't even frozen the ground yet and the room was heated, the chill of wet clothes was starting to set in and he could feel her beginning to shiver. He shifted so that he could look down at her and brushed a bit of hair from her face.

"There should be clothes that you can wear in the closet," he offered. "Or we can shrink them. Or just dry these if you'd be most comfortable."

She considered the options and the black dress that she was wearing. Lovely, yes, but certainly far from anything that she'd wear for comfort's sake. "Perhaps I'll look in the closet," she said finally, standing to wander over. When had this place changed so much?

"Light's on the left," he called, getting to his feet as well and moving to the kitchen like setup. "Want anything to drink?" he asked, pulling a Fire Whiskey from the minifridge and taking a generous swig. He usually didn't drink, it was there for James's or Sirius's benefits, but right now he didn't really give a damn about legal age. She didn't hear him, didn't respond, or he didn't hear her.

It had to, Remus realized, have been about ten years since he'd thought of this girl – young woman now – as Melly. Since he'd remembered her as the girl that he'd played hide and seek with in the woods, and with whom he'd built a tree house. It'd change over the years, as he had. It'd gone from a child's play house to a guys' sanctuary.

It was still theirs though.

She'd changed as well, perhaps the most of all things that he was considering. She'd moved away as his best friend and started school as someone that he didn't know. That, he corrected, was the last time that he'd thought of her as Melly. He didn't know what had happened in those three or four years, but something drastic had.

When she'd sung, he'd almost seen her visibly morph back to his childhood friend. Some coldness that had formed had melted away in the passion of the song. By the time that she'd run, he was watching the girl that he'd known.

The thoughts continued to play around in his head as he dried his own clothes, shrugged the suit jacket off, following it with his tie, and undid the top buttons of his dress shirt. God, he was exhausted quite suddenly.

Melly slipped out of the surprisingly large closet as he was taking another sip. She was wearing a T-shirt that was much too big for her – Sirius's, he was pretty sure – shorts that she must have been wearing under the dress as she'd never have found them among his, James's, or Sirius's spare things, and, at the site of the alcohol, a look of disgust. She let it slide though. He knew that there were many reasons that she could have done so.

Instead, she sat on the couch. Remus could tell by looking at her that her thoughts were somewhere else. When she came back, she didn't comment on how the place had changed, though he could also tell by the looks around that she wanted to.

"Do you remember when we were up here in that horrible storm?" Melly asked softly. Her gaze was on him, but kept moving briefly to the window to stare out and then back again. "We thought that we could stay up here forever and when we finally wanted to get down because it was so bad, it'd started to flood?" Her voice was light and whimsical with the memory, but beneath it was a graveness with the story's direction. "Your father flew out to bring us back in because we couldn't get down." She offered a small, sad smile.

"I remember." Remus's tone was even quieter than hers as he grabbed her a soda and moved to sit with her.

"You insisted that I go first."

"You were so frightened of the thunder. I could hardly leave you to wait."

Laughter bubbled at his simple explanation. He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "My prince," she giggled. "I'll tell you something that I never did then," she continued, voice going a bit somber. "I was ever more afraid to leave you than I was of the storm." His smile was warm and gentle when she chanced a look up at him. They sank into silence, reminiscing of memories before times were so dark.

"What happened?" His words, more specifically his change of tone, shocked her into confusion. "What changed?"

She looked down at her hands, confirming his suspicion that something drastic had occurred. She sighed, visibly struggling with what to say. "My mother got married and… he decided to move." She wasn't saying something. He could both hear it and see it. While he was sure that it was vital to her dramatic change, he didn't want to push less she balk and freeze him out.

Again.

She gnawed at her lip, unintentionally turning it pink and plump, as she started off into space, debate visible on her face. "He…" She sighed angrily. "He didn't trust what you are." A fire blazed in her eyes at the words.

They hit him like a ton of bricks and his hands fisted. Another realization made him look up at her dully. "But-But you changed…"

Tears had welled in her eyes again, hot and livid. "I wasn't given a choice." She clenched her jaw for a moment and leaned back before speaking in an empty, detached tone. She wouldn't be able to get through an explanation otherwise, and he deserved one after all this time. "He'd barely let me out once he found out, making up lies and excuses like I've never seen. And then one day he simply said to get in the car. I cried and cried when I realized that we weren't going back, but he…" Her arms drew tightly around herself. "I can't. I'm sorry, I can't."

He could see her drawing back, pulling into herself. The suddenness of it scared him more than the action itself. He didn't actually think through what he was doing until after he'd moved closer and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't relax as he'd expected, didn't try to draw comfort from him – he told himself that she neither drew away, though it helped little – but tensed. The only thing that he could think to do was to hold her still tighter, to show her that he wouldn't leave, wouldn't turn her away. Her breath escaped in a short, sharp whimper that had his brow furrowing.

"Melly?"

"I…" Head bowed, she pulled away and tugged the loose shirt over her head. She clutched it to her chest, but such a motion did nothing to cover her thin, bruised, and scarred form.

He didn't move at first. What could he possibly say to this? Some of it was so fresh; it had to be from the last few days. He reached over and lightly ran a hand along the scarred skin. Her whole form went tense. Desperate to calm her, he moved the hand up to pet her hair. While she'd frozen at his touch before, she now moved to burry her face in his chest.

"I…I…" She shook her head, unable to find words.

"Shh. It's okay, my sweet princess. It's okay. It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let it make me stop talking to you. I-I-God, I shouldn't even be bothering you with this. Certainly not now. You've no reason in the world to listen to this."

"Hush now." His voice was firm in the statement and his grip on her tightened as he felt her try to move away. "You've done nothing wrong," he insisted, rocking her ever so slightly. "You did what you had to; you can hardly be blamed for that." He sighed and kissed her temple lightly.

It was another long moment of silence and deep thought before he said, "Never again. I'm not letting him hurt you again."

"Remus, you can't possibly make a promise like that." Her smile was grateful, but she shook her head.

"I've let him hurt you long enough-"

"You didn't know!"

"It doesn't matter! You didn't deserve this and I'm not standing by!" Both of their voices had risen with emotion.

Melly pulled from his grasp to stand, flipping the shirt back on, damn near ready to start pacing. "Remus…" How could she make him understand? In her intense state, the thunder caught her off guard, startling a shriek out of her. She didn't' remember flying back into his arms, but somehow she had. His grip was tight, secure. One arm was around her waist, holding her firmly against him, the other cradled her head.

She felt him sit back on the couch, moving so that she was lying against him, and fell asleep safe for the first time in years.