Disclaimer: I don't own anything….except Allison and Emma….and a dream of Sirius Black

Chapter 7 Holiday Visit

The next couple of months seemed to fly by as Allison went back to her job at the ministry. Molly graciously volunteered to keep Emma while she worked, which was fine with her. She knew that as long as Emma was with Molly she was alright. Remus wasn't around near as much anymore, he stayed at Hogwarts as much as possible to aid in the protection from Sirius. One day as she was sitting in her cubicle writing a report an owl flew in and dropped a letter from Remus.

Allie,

As I'm sure you are aware, Christmas is this weekend. I won't be able to make it there so I was thinking that you and Emma could come and spend it with me at Hogwarts. I've already spoken to Albus and he thinks it is a great idea, so owl me back and let me know if you want to come. I can meet you in Hogsmeade this Saturday, as it is Hogsmeade weekend so I will be there anyway. Perhaps if you'd like I could introduce you to Harry?

Hoping to hear from you soon,

Remus

Allie smiled at the thought of returning to Hogwarts. She hadn't been back there since she graduated and she missed it terribly. She also loved Hogsmeade and had yet to take Emma there. She decided they would go and wrote a letter back to Remus letting him know.

Remus,

We would love to come and spend Christmas with you. I will meet you in Hogsmeade this Saturday at noon in The Three Broomsticks. I'm not sure how I feel about meeting Harry just yet, I am very nervous.

Allison

She attached it to the owl's leg and sent him off, then headed to her boss' office to inform him that she would be gone for a few days.

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That Saturday Allie walked into The Three Broomsticks carrying Emma. She spotted Remus sitting at a booth in the corner and smiled, walking over and sitting down. "Well if it isn't Professor R.J. Lupin." She hugged him.

Remus hugged her back. "I'm glad you decided to come and stay with me." He held his arms out to Emma. "Come see Uncle Remus." He grabbed her and pulled her close, kissing her cheek, then looked back at Allie. "She has grown so much since I last saw her."

"Well that tends to happen when you never come around." She laughed jokingly. "How do you like being a professor? I am willing to bet that you are the best one they've had for DADA."

"I love it. These kids are so bright and eager to learn. There's one in particular that is bloody brilliant; she could have given Lily a run for her money."

"Really? That's amazing considering just how brilliant Lils was. She got top marks on everything."

Remus nodded. "She really was the brightest witch of our year. And she studied even more than I did, which says a lot since I lived in the library half the time."

"Remember when we were studying for our O.W.L.s and she started yelling at James for breathing too loud? And when he started to protest she hit him in the head with her potions book." She started laughing.

Remus was laughing too. "I remember that. Poor James spent a day in the hospital wing. After that we always took Lily's books and hid them from her."

"Oh that's right. I forgot you did that. Oh and remember the day she went up to your dorm and tore it apart looking for her DADA book. That was so funny, Sirius was furious with her for throwing his crap everywhere. As if your dorm was clean to begin with, you all were a bunch of slobs." She took a drink of her butterbeer and sat it back down, an evil glint in her eye. "I have to say my favorite memory of all of us was when Lils and I dyed all of the marauder's robes bright pink. Peter wouldn't even come out of the dorm with his on." She laughed.

Remus mock glared at her. "That was not very funny, people were making fun of us for the rest of the term for that one." He smiled down at Emma, tickling her chin. "It was all worth it though when we got our revenge for that one. Exactly how long were the two of you locked in the quidditch supply closet before someone found you?"

"Seventeen hours Mr. Smarty Pants. And what exactly was that smell in there? I thought I'd die from it." She gagged.

He laughed. "I promised the boys I'd never tell." Remus looked around and then back at her. "Would you like to walk around Hogsmeade for a while or head up to the castle?"

"Let's walk around Hogsmeade; Emma's never been here before." She took Emma, bundled her back up and they headed outside. They walked around and visited all of the shops, spending extra time in Honeydukes buying chocolate. At last they stood looking at the shrieking shack, neither one of them speaking for a bit.

Allie finally broke the silence. "Remember when I took those bottles of firewhiskey from The Hog's Head and we spent the night in the shack drinking them?"

Remus smiled. "Yes that is one of the few good memories I have of that shack."

"How is Snape's Wolfsbane potion working for you? Does it help?" She looked at Remus, concern etched in her face.

He gave her a reassuring look. "It works well enough. I hope the students don't figure out my furry little problem. That would be a nightmare."

Just then Emma started to cry. "Let's get up to the castle, I think someone is hungry." They walked towards Hogwarts.

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Once they got to Remus' quarters, Allie sat and began to feed Emma. She looked over at Remus who was busy reviewing parchments from the students. "So Remus, lets talk about that little wink Dora gave you at the hospital." She grinned at him.

Remus set the parchment he was currently looking at down and looked at Allie. "I rather hoped you had forgotten about that. I don't really know what to say."

"You could start by telling me how long it's been going on."

Remus sighed. "It's complicated Allie. We are not really together. I don't know how to explain it. She is so wonderful, she's such a good person and I enjoy spending time with her."

"So what's the problem? I can tell already that you really do like her."

Remus stood, walked to where Allie was sitting and sat in front of her. "You know what the problem is. I am not a normal person; I can't just get involved with people and certainly not people as young as she is. She is nearly half my age! That combined with my furry little problem spells disaster."

Allie looked at him and felt so sad for his situation. She placed her hand on top of one of his. "Remus Lupin look at me. You are a wonderful person and any girl would be damn lucky to have you. True love doesn't come along everyday. You love her; I can see it in your eyes. Go for it! Sweep that girl off her feet and never look back. I know first hand how miserable life is when you can't be with the one person you love more than anything and I don't want you to live like that too."

Remus looked into her eyes and saw the hurt and pain. "I'm sorry Allie, I never really thought about what you had been through losing Sirius. All I ever focused on was what he did to make him go away. It must really be hard for you."

"It has been very hard, I miss him so mu--hey wait a minute! Don't you try to change the subject!" She finished feeding the baby and started burping her.

"It almost worked…where did I go wrong? Look Allie, I don't want to talk about it anymore today. Can we please talk about anything else?" He sat back and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Fine, I'll drop it for now, but this conversation is not over. I'm going to convince you to give it a chance if it kills me." She finished burping the baby and handed her to Remus. "Why don't you play with Emma for a bit? I want to walk around the castle." Allie walked out the door.

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Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers: prettylittlething (your reviews always give me a smile and a good laugh), eleileen, muzical, AngelOfLorien, Nicoley117-LadyBlueMartini

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