I've been painting my room the past week (and taking off the wallpaper) so I haven't had a computer...and because I'm not Jaida, I can't paint an entire house in one day. So sorry about the wait!
Cold and raw the north wind doth blow
Bleak in the morning early,
All the hills are covered with snow,
And winters now come fairly.
"Have you done it?" Jaida asked anxiously as Remus walked into his flat. He looked exhausted, to say the least. He didn't ask why she was waiting for him before he even got home.
"Yes," he sighed. Jaida frowned at his downcast expression, knowing immediately how the greatly anticipated meeting had gone.
"And?" she dared to hope; he just looked at her.
"He pretty much called me a complete fool," Remus spat out, helping himself to a drink and slumping at the kitchen table. Jaida groaned and joined him at the table.
"Scrimgeour just ignored the evidence?" Jaida asked, her tone outraged. "Why are we the only goddamn people who believe he's innocent? How is it possible that we are the only fucking ones who don't see all the evidence against Sirius?!" She was ranting now, and Remus gave a loud sigh as she proceeded to speak in rapid French.
"Jade…"
"…et le Ministère! Bande de fous, the lot of them!" (And the Ministry! Band of fools…)
"Jade…" Remus tried again.
"…ne sont même pas écouter les avocats! What's the world coming to?!" (Don't even listen to the lawyers!)
"Jade!" Remus finally yelled, causing her to look up in alarm and fall silent. He sighed again. "Jade, I don't think we're getting anywhere with this investigation. We've already talked to Dumbledore, Scrimgeour, Moody…" he growled in frustration. "I just don't think anyone is on our side with this. We can't put forth a good case if we don't have any witnesses who are willing to go against the Ministry." Jaida opened her mouth in disbelief.
"Are you telling me you think we should quit?" she asked quietly, venom dripping from every syllable. He looked up at her sadly, his scarred face looking older and wearier than ever before.
"I'm telling you I think we need to reevaluate what we're doing here. Either we're not going about this the right way or…" he trailed off looking despondent. "Nobody who could give any sort of testimony or rebut the evidence against him is alive anymore, Jaida. It just seems so hopeless…"
"You listen here, Remus Lupin," Jaida said sharply, standing up and pointing her finger at him, eyes flashing with anger. Remus was suddenly reminded of Minerva McGonagall, a very frightening mental image. "Do you think that we can just call it quits and that's that?! I thought you were a better person than that! I thought you cared more than that! What about Sirius?! What about James and Lily?! What about me?!"
"What the hell do you have to do with this?!" Remus shouted back, standing up so he was facing her. "Of course I care about Sirius! Of course I want to avenge Lily and James! But for Merlin's sake, Jaida! What the hell are we supposed to do?! Use people who weren't even around Sirius as witnesses? Make up stories about how he was innocent? The Ministry doesn't care about whether or not Sirius was a good guy! They have muggle witnesses and countless others who say that he was the Potter's secret keepers! How can we compete with that?!"
"That's what we're here to figure out, Remus! You think I wanted to do this? You think I wanted to come back and deal with all this shit you're putting on me, talking to people I happily left five years ago?" Jaida was fuming, hands on hips, glaring daggers at her ex-boyfriend. "I came back because I thought you had a plan to save Sirius! Why am I here, Remus? Why the hell am I here with you, working on a case you think is impossible to solve?!"
"Because I love you!" Remus roared, flinging his hands up in the air in fury. "Because after all these years I still fucking love you! And I can't get you out of my head, no matter what I do!" He clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut as he felt Jaida freeze before him. He quieted his voice now as he continued. "Because I thought that you would come back and remember all the things you loved about me and we could finally be happy."
"Remus, don't do this." Jaida said tightly, and he opened his eyes to stare at her.
"Because," he continued as if she hadn't spoken, his voice rising yet again. "Because everyone left me, even you! And maybe you're here because you recognize that, after all these years, you were an idiot to leave everyone that loves you behind! Why did you leave, Jaida? Why did you leave me and our future behind? You don't think I deserve to know why the woman I love left me for no apparent reason?"
"Remus, for Christ's sake, move on! This isn't about why I left—"
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE, JAIDA?! ANSWER ME!"
"BECAUSE I WAS PREGNANT!" Jaida screamed, then clapped her hand to her mouth, eyes widening in horror. Shit shit shit shit shit she thought to herself forcefully as Remus' face turned to an expression of shock. "I have to go," she muttered quickly, grabbing her purse and going to the door and this time he didn't try and stop her.
"Mum, Dad," Remus stuttered as he stood before his parents at the front door of their house. "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Jaida Durand. Jaida, these are my parents." He saw his mum's eyes widen in surprise and his dad had a look of confusion on his face as Jaida stepped forward slowly, hand extended.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both," she murmured as they took her hand in turn, eyeing her oddly. "Remus had told me so much about you; thank you for having me for the holidays."
"It was our pleasure, dear," Remus' mum replied, recovering and ushering the young girl inside. "Please, come in, both of you. I'll show you where you're sleeping; I'm afraid I haven't had time to, uh…get your room ready." Remus heard Jaida say something in response as he looked at his father, who was frowning at him slightly.
"Well this was certainly a shock, Remus," his dad said quietly. "You didn't think it necessary to tell us you were bringing a guest home for Christmas?"
"She isn't staying for the entire holiday," Remus said quickly. "Just until Christmas Eve. I thought I would surprise you two, you know?" He laughed awkwardly, shoving his hands into his pockets. His father exhaled loudly in response as the women came back down the stairs, talking animatedly. At least they were getting along. His dad stepped forward to greet the girl properly and led her into the kitchen. At least they both recovered quickly, Remus thought to himself as his mother walked towards him, eyes narrowed.
"We'll talk about this later, young man," his mum hissed through clenched teeth as she shooed him towards the kitchen. "At least you've chosen a nice girl to date, not someone scary like all those girls Sirius talks about." His mother continued to tut as she focused on making dinner and Remus absent mindedly twisted a zipper on his jacket.
Well, Remus thought as he watched his dad making bad jokes and Jaida giggled from the cutting board where she was helping his mum make dinner, I could get used to this.
A/N: It has to be short today for two reasons:
One, I really don't have time to write any more tonight—FFF, you see? (Forced Family Fun, for those who don't know.)
And two, I was really uninspired with this chapter…I'm waiting for the writing bug to come back and until it does, well…
Hope you enjoyed none-the-less!
