Note: Thanks very much to my reviewers! You are all very kind!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
10: Skimming Stones
It was the morning of Carrie and Teddy's fifth day in 1979, and Carrie had to admit that things were beginning to get repetitive. Remus' mother would wake her each morning and Carrie would get dressed into some of the clothes that Lily had lent her by Remus' request. She, Teddy and Remus would eat breakfast at the kitchen table, and at half past eight every morning there would be a knock upon the front door.
Why exactly it was that Anya's parents felt the need to send their daughter to the nearest village store every single morning was a complete and utter mystery to both Carrie and Teddy, as was the reason why Anya felt the need to ask Remus to escort her there every time. Carrie was sure that she must know her way through the woods on her own by now, and the shopping bags could not be all that heavy if she went every day. Despite this, Remus had gone with her every morning, returning increasingly later each day, and this had not gone unnoticed by the other Marauders, who had seemingly chosen Remus' house as their primary place to meet up, since Mr. and Mrs. Potter had yet to get the vomit-stains out of their carpet, (Carrie dreaded to think exactly what Sirius had drunk to cause such an awful mess).
"Have you snogged her yet?" Sirius had inquired the evening beforehand, as they had all sat before the empty fireplace in the Lupins' sitting room, and Lily and shot him a revolted look, causing him to shrug innocently and point out: "Well it has been three whole days!"
"Shut up, Padfoot." Remus had murmured from his position sprawled upon the floor, peering down at the game of chess that he was having with Teddy. "It's...not like that."
"You liar!" Sirius had declared, grinning wickedly. "I bet you have! I bet you five galleons you have! Up against a tree in those woods out back..."
"I said it's not like that!" Remus had snapped, turning to glare so furiously that he had sent a number of his chess pieces flying from the board with a series of indignant shouts.
Sirius had held his hands up in mock-innocence.
"Alright, alright!" he'd cried, smirking for all he was worth. "If you say so! It's not like that!"
Remus had barely turned back to his game before Sirius had turned to Peter with an audible snigger and muttered all too loudly:
"I'm telling you, Wormtail, tongues and everything..."
"SHUT UP!" Remus had cried, this time sending the entire chessboard skidding across the carpet, making Teddy jump midway through reaching to move his remaining bishop. And to Carrie's shock, the young werewolf had jumped to his feet and stormed across the room to the back door, flinging it open and disappearing outside.
His friends had watched him go with a variety of exasperated and concerned expressions.
"Don't tease him about girls, Padfoot." James had muttered wearily. "You know what he's like."
"I'm right though, aren't I? About him and that girl?" Sirius had mused, and Lily had slumped against James' shoulder, sighing heavily.
"Of course not, Sirius, we don't all attempt to tongue-wrestle the first person we come across like you, especially not Remus."
"Well I know that, but...but he likes her, doesn't he?"
"What does it matter?" James had said, reaching to put an arm around Lily's shoulders. "He can think she's his One and Only True Love for all the good it'll do, he's not going to ask her out, or any girl for that matter, let alone bloody kiss her! Especially if he likes her!"
"Give it time." Lily had insisted resolutely. "One of these days somebody's going to knock those damning notions from his head entirely, and when they do, there'll be wedding bells."
"I wouldn't go that bloody far!" Sirius had muttered, causing Peter to snigger, and Teddy had smiled and murmured under his breath:
"I bloody would."
Remus and Anya's trip to the shops the next day had taken them near on an hour, and by the time Carrie and Teddy had spotted them walking back through the trees towards the cottages, James and Sirius had arrived and were sat upon the ramshackle wall with the two time travelers
"What I want to know," Sirius had said as the four of them openly stared at the approaching duo, who were strolling along side by side, she laughing at whatever it was that he had just said, "is if they've been to the shops...where's the shopping?"
"Don't say anything, Padfoot." James had warned, but almost as soon as Anya had disappeared inside her house, leaving Remus to wander up the road towards them, Sirius shouted:
"Oi! What happened to the shopping?"
"Dragon ate it." Remus called back, and when Sirius pulled a face at him, the werewolf said: "It's none of your business."
"Is it because you've been up to unspeakable things in the woods that might make Cleo here blush?" Sirius wanted to know with a grin.
When he finally came to a halt, Remus pushed Sirius backwards off the wall.
"As a matter of fact," he said as the estranged Black let out a groan and set about heaving himself back onto his feet, "we were up to unspeakable things, but only the sort that would make you blush. After all, having a simple conversation with a friend who just so happens to be a girl is completely and utterly unspeakable to you, isn't it Padfoot?"
Sirius grumbled something under his breath as James commented:
"You've not told us much about this friend of yours. Looks to me like the two of you are already thick as thieves."
"Maybe." Remus mumbled evasively, but despite his reluctance, he seemed to be grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Let me get some stuff from inside, then we can get going."
As they watched him walk back to the cottage, Sirius sighed heavily.
"Oh Merlin," he complained, "Moony making friends...it's going to be bloody painful."
"I don't see why he shouldn't!" Carrie announced indignantly, and to her surprise, Sirius did not mock her.
"Of course he should make friends, I'm not saying that." he said, "it's just...well..."
Carrie watched him exchange a glance with James, and before she could stop herself she found herself telling them:
"We know about him, you know. We know he's a werewolf."
There was a long silence as James and Sirius stared at Carrie and Teddy, attempting not to look too shocked, before they exchanged another glance.
"Dumbledore told us." Teddy decided, and Carrie nodded her head in agreement. "And we don't care. We don't mind, not at all."
"Well," James said, smiling brightly, "that makes a nice change, doesn't it Padfoot?"
"Yeah, it does."
"But the thing is, Cleo, Joshua...I don't know how much you two know about werewolves, but...but one thing about them is that there aren't many people like you and me, people who don't care about what they are. And that's why watching Remus is bloody painful, as Sirius puts it. If he tries to make friends the vast majority of people want nothing to do with him, they'd probably not spit on him if he was on fire, and if he does manage to make a half decent friend he panics that it won't last, because if they turn out to be like all the rest...well, that's pretty crushing."
"In fact," Sirius said, frowning deeply, "I don't think he's ever been so sure about a friend besides one of us like this ever...did you see him grinning?"
At the sound of the front door of the Lupins' cottage opening again, James looked up to watch Remus approaching, a small rucksack slung over his shoulder.
"Yeah well," James murmured as he reached to push his glasses up his nose. "She better not screw him around like everybody else...I won't have it, I'm telling you..."
"Talking about me again, are you?" Remus said as he came to a halt before them, one eyebrow raised, and James reached to grab hold of him by the arm, pulling him forward.
"Sit down, Moony mate, we need to have a chat." he said as he yanked the young werewolf down to sit beside him. "First things first, Cleo and Joshua have something they need to tell you."
"We do...?" Teddy said with a frown, only for Sirius to announce:
"Don't freak out or anything, Moony, but they know all about your furry little problem."
The expression that materialised upon Remus' face suggested that freaking out was precisely what he was about to do.
"O...oh...oh Merlin..."
"It's alright, Remus, they don't care." James assured him calmly, but Remus didn't seem to hear him.
"I...I um...I don't...I mean...um..."
"Deep breaths, Moony..."
"Don't take the piss, Padfoot..."
"I'm not taking the piss, he's going purple..."
James got hurriedly to his feet and turned to scrutinize the werewolf, eyes widening.
"Bloody hell, you're right!" he exclaimed as Sirius too got to his feet.
"Come on, Remus!" Sirius announced loudly, stooping to grab one of the panicked boy's arms and slinging it around his shoulders, James taking hold of the other, "We're going to meet Peter and Lily by the lake!"
As they hoisted the werewolf up onto his feet and began a stumbling progression off up the road, Carrie and Teddy shuffling along behind them, Remus finally managed to mumble:
"I um...I don't think I...I mean...I want to go home..."
"Tough luck, Moony, you're coming with us. We're going to the lake, Cleo and Joshua are coming with us, and we're all going to have a good laugh...except you, you're probably going to bury your nose in a book..."
"Do you think they should move him when he's hyperventilating?" Carrie hissed in Teddy's ear, but Teddy was too busy observing the sorry looking scene to say anything.
When Remus' mumbling protests became all too much for him, Sirius ducked out from under the werewolf's arm and dropped back to walk along beside the time travelers, leaving James to mumble reassurances that seemed to be falling on deaf ears.
"Don't take it personally, he never used to get quite this freaked out." Sirius told them in an undertone as they left the path and began to walk through the woods. "I mean, people have found out before, obviously, and it used to make him panic, but...never like this. He's not been the same, not since last summer."
"Why's that?" Carrie asked, as Teddy frowned down at his shoes, and Sirius' face contorted angrily when he said:
"It's that bastard Thompson's fault. I said to James, that time, if I ever see that little shit ever again, I'll bloody kill him!"
"What happened?" Carrie asked, causing Teddy to hunch his shoulders, apparently not too keen to know.
"Well," Sirius explained, slowing his pace a little and dropping his voice to a whisper, "We – that's James, Peter and me – decided that we should all go camping for a week, celebrate the end of the school year and all that, and we booked ourselves a plot at this campsite, it was out in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Wales...Merlin knows why...only when we showed up to drag Remus off with us, we'd made a bit of a mess of things because it turned out that it was the morning after full moon. Remus' dad told us to leave him to rest, it'd been a rough one, but we figured we'd sneak up into his room anyway, try and cheer him up a bit. We rather wished we hadn't, looking back on it, because he was in a pretty bad way...scratched and bitten himself to blazes...he's always worse in the holidays, you see...his mum patches him up well enough, but she's no Madam Pomfrey..."
Carrie glanced sideways at Teddy to gage his reaction to this gruesome tale, and the metamorphmagus mouthed:
No Wolfsbane.
Carrie felt her insides twist uncomfortably at the very thought.
"...So we figured we should probably just leave, he could tag along after a day or two, only James let it slip where we were off to and Remus insisted on coming with us...how in Merlin's name he got his parents to agree I have no idea...but we took him to Wales with us, like some sort of pet Inferius or something. He didn't do much besides sit around and watch us, but he said he liked it better than sitting around at home. Everything was going great until this bastard from the tent across from us – Lewis bloody Thompson – figured out why Remus was looking so bashed up...Merlin knows how he figured it out, maybe he overheard one of us talking...Peter can be a bit dim like that sometimes, you know, doesn't think before he opens his mouth. Anyway, Thompson, the little shit, only went running to all the other tents at the campsite, shouting the odds, and the next thing we know there's a bloody mob coming at us! They set fire to our bloody tent...that was pretty dodgy because Remus was sleeping inside it at the time...and once we'd managed to drag him out the bastards had the cheek to start chucking stuff at us! We made a run for it, of course, but Remus doesn't really do running after full moon..." Sirius trailed off, frowning deeply as he recalled: "We never did tell his parents why he'd wound up at Mungo's...James said he'd fallen out of a tree and hit his head."
By the time Sirius' recollections were finished, the group had reached the top of a hill where they at last broke free from the woods, and Carrie found herself looking down at a vast green field, at the bottom of which there was a small lake, its watery surface glimmering in the late afternoon sunshine.
"JAMES!" a familiar voice shouted, "OVER HERE!"
Squinting to spot the source of the noise, Carrie reached to shade her eyes against the sun, and there she spotted Lily down by the water, a picnic blanket draped over her arm and a familiar looking picnic hamper at her feet as she jumped up and down, waving wildly to get her boyfriend's attention.
James led an enthusiastic yet lonely charge down the hillside, skidding to a halt before the red haired witch, throwing his arms around her and sweeping her off her feet. As Lily let out a small shriek of surprise and James twirled them around, halfway up the hillside, Sirius reached to punch Remus lightly on the arm.
"If I ever resort to a greeting like that, Moony, promise me you'll obliviate me."
"I think it's nice." Carrie admitted when Remus merely continued to study the grass that he was trampling underfoot. The muggle blushed scarlet when Sirius grinned and told her:
"I'll be sure to let Wormtail know."
"You can tell Wormtail she's not interested." Teddy told Sirius, uncharacteristically stern. "He can keep his thoughts to himself...and everything else, for that matter."
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Bit protective is he, your brother?" he said, and Carrie blushed more furiously than ever. When she followed Remus' lead and took a turn at staring at her feet, the estranged Black wondered: "Where is Wormtail, anyway? He did say he was coming, didn't he, Moony?"
Remus gave a half-hearted shrug, which Sirius seemed to find utterly infuriating for he demanded:
"For Merlin's sake, Moony, pull yourself together and stop being such a pathetic tosser, will you? It's like talking to a bloody troll!"
If Remus had any intention of responding, which Carrie highly doubted that he did, he did not get the chance for Lily had wiggled free of James' arms and was hurrying to greet them.
"Guess what, Sirius?" she called cheerfully, offering the trio a wave, "I baked cake!"
"Well I hope I get at least five slices." Sirius told her, as Teddy and Carrie smiled back at her.
"Hi Joshua, hi Cleo!" the witch greeted, and once they had offered her similarly bright words she turned to Remus, flinging her arms around him as she announced:
"Hey Remus, I bought you chocolate!"
"Thank you." the werewolf mumbled, arms limp at his sides, and at his slumped posture she drew back from him with a frown.
"What's up?" she asked, and James appeared beside her to explain:
"Cleo and Joshua...know."
Lily shot a sideways glance at the pair before turning back to Remus with an arched eyebrow.
"And...?" she asked with a shrug of incomprehension. "They're still here, they haven't run screaming for the hills, they haven't gone searching for stones..."
"Exactly! Ignore him, Lily, he's just being a pathetic tosser."
"Don't, Padfoot. You're not helping."
"But he is, Prongs! There is absolutely NO reason whatsoever why he should be so bloody stupid about this! It's bloody irrational!"
"Come and help me unpack the hamper, will you?" Lily suggested meaningfully, and with that she reached to grab hold of Remus' hand and led him away, and James rounded on Sirius with a scowl.
"Nice one, Sirius!" he snapped, one hand balling into a tight fist. "Make him feel bloody better, why don't you?"
"It's stupid." Sirius insisted, folding his arms defensively across his chest. "It's childish of him to get so worried, he needs to grow up..."
"Grow up?" James cried, glasses askew in his anger. "Why don't you bloody grow up, Sirius? It's a big bad world out here, and Remus bloody knows it far better than you do! If I were him I'd bloody piss myself every time somebody else found out about me! D'you know what Dumbledore said to me, the other day? Do you know what he said Voldemort's been focused on these past few months? He's recruiting werewolves! No bloody wonder Remus is afraid! If word gets around enough they'll bloody show up, won't they? They'll try and bloody recruit him! And if he refuses to have them burn that bloody dark mark onto his arm they'll kill him and burn it into the bloody sky above his house instead!"
Sirius' arms dropped to his sides and he bowed his head, ashamed.
"I'm afraid for him." James hissed, teeth gritted to stop himself shouting, for both Remus and Lily had paused in their unpacking to look over at him. "I'm very afraid for him. And if you're not, Sirius, maybe you should take a good look in the mirror. Then you'll see who's childish. You better snap out of it, Padfoot, because we've an Order meeting coming up and once we're in with that crowd we'll all have even more reason to be afraid that Remus does now. And Merlin help us if we don't all grow up!"
The atmosphere that afternoon was somewhat strained, the group fragmented. James, who seemed determined to make Sirius feel as utterly wretched and ashamed as he possibly good, had disappeared off with Lily for a walk around the lake, whilst Remus lay flat upon his back by the hamper, staring at the latest time travel book that he was reading. In an attempt to lessen the atmosphere, Teddy had challenged Sirius to a contest to see who could skim stones across the water the furthest, a skill that Teddy appeared to be adept at.
"Who taught you to skim stones?" Sirius had asked, to which Teddy had replied:
"My dad did. He's really good at it, he grew up near a lake."
"You're just lucky Moony's busy reading." Sirius had announced, unaware of Carrie's sniggering. "He taught all of us during second year. He'd kick your arse at it."
Carrie, who was feeling immensely guilty at the panic her confession to James and Sirius had caused Remus, felt compelled to go and sit beside the werewolf, and after a pause she settled herself down upon the ground, staring up at the sky.
"Hi..." she began uncertainly, and after a moment he reluctantly settled the book down upon his chest and joined her in her contemplation of the sky.
"Hello."
"How's the research going?" Carrie asked, because that seemed to her to be a simple topic of conversation, rather like the weather. It was something that she and Teddy asked Remus on a daily basis, because the notes and drawings that he had scribbled all over the walls of his bedroom in thick black marker pens bought from the local muggle newsagents were much too confusing for either time traveler to understand. The first time that John had entered his son's bedroom to discover the mass of graffiti, his furious shouts had been heard by both his son and their guests from the back garden. Remus had charged back into the cottage and up the stairs just in time to rescue his work from the scourgify spell that had been on the tip of his father's tongue.
"It's a horrible mess and it's ruining the paintwork!" Carrie and Teddy had heard John complain, having raced after Remus so that they could watch the drama unfold.
"It's...revision." Remus had announced, to which John had snorted disbelievingly and asked:
"Does the Order of the Phoenix have an entrance exam these days, then?"
"In a manner of speaking..." Remus had mumbled, much to John's bemusement.
"And I suppose you used to adorn the brickwork of Gryffindor Tower with your revision too, did you? The house elves must have loved you. What are you going to do when you run out of room? Start on the ceiling?"
"Yes."
"Sweet Merlin..."
"I'll clean it up. I promise."
"You'll repaint the room whilst you're at it, mark my words!"
After that, Remus had taken to locking the bedroom door whilst he was out of the house.
Remus reached to settle his hands behind his head before telling the muggle:
"I think I'm getting somewhere...maybe. It's...horribly complex magic...I'm not really sure. Maybe I'll write to Dumbledore, ask him if he knows anything."
"If he knew anything, he'd have told you already, wouldn't he?" Carrie asked, and for the first time in hours, Remus smiled.
"Not necessarily. If he thinks you're safe here, if Voldemort doesn't suspect anything, he might just...wait to see if I can figure it out on my own."
"Like a test?"
"Exactly."
"Well...I think you're going to pass."
Remus let out a soft chuckle and they lapsed into silence for a long moment before Carrie decided that the ice had been broken and she said:
"You're not the first werewolf I've met, you know."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Remus said, and she shifted until she was leaning upon her side so that she could look at him properly.
"Actually," she said as he glanced sideways to meet her gaze, "I liked him a lot, right from the moment I first met him."
"I don't suppose he introduced himself as Mr. Were Wolf though, did he?"
"Well...no, he didn't. But I found out, Joshua told me about him."
"Were you frightened?"
"No." At Remus' frown of disbelief, she admitted: "Well perhaps a little, at first. But then...then I thought about it and I realised that it didn't really matter."
"Why not?"
"Because if anybody were to ask me about him, the first thing I'd tell them is that he's a good man. He's kind and decent and honest. And I'd remember that before his lycanthropy any day. So what if he's a werewolf? Nobody's threatening to lock me in a room with him at full moon, and unless James and Sirius have a seriously bad taste in practical jokes, the same goes for you, too. You're a good person first and a werewolf second. So Joshua and I, we'd not tell on you, not in a million years."
Remus smiled so warmly that Carrie felt a sense of relief wash over her, but before he could say a word, a voice from behind them made them both scramble up into sitting positions so that they could look around for the source of the call.
"Remus!"
And there came Anya, half-skipping down the hill towards them, along with a thin, scrawny looking young man who was having to stride to keep up with her. This, Carrie assumed, was her older brother Aristo.
"I wondered if you'd still be down here!" Anya announced as she came to an abrupt halt, narrowly avoiding tripping over her own feet. "Dad says Aristo needed the air, and I remembered you saying you were coming down, so I thought, you know...!" She dropped down upon the grass at Remus' side as Aristo came to a halt just behind them, his arms folded across his chest as he stood surveying their surroundings, gaze coming to rest upon a group of teenagers who were paddling in the lake to their left.
"Aristo," Anya said, and at the sound of his name her brother jumped a little and he glanced down at her. "This is Remus, he lives across the way from us, and this is his friend Cleo."
Aristo looked at Remus and Carrie in turn, eyes scrutinizing as they both greeted him cheerfully, before returning to his contemplation of the lake in silence.
"Don't mind him," Anya mumbled, cheeks reddening a little in embarrassment. "He didn't really want to come, Dad made him."
At the sound of Sirius cursing loudly as his stone disappeared under the lake's surface with a soft plop, they all turned their attention to watch the contest. As Teddy stooped to select a stone, Anya commented:
"That looks like fun. Do you skim stones, Remus?"
"All the time in the summer. I've got too much spare time on my hands, that's what Sirius says, anyway."
"What about you, Cleo?"
"I've never tried."
Anya turned to offer Remus and Carrie a broad grin as she said:
"I think we should get Remus to teach us! Will you, Remus? Then we can join in with the others."
Remus closed the book that he was holding with a snap and tossed it down upon the picnic blanket.
"I don't see why not." he said as he got to his feet. "Somebody needs to show Sirius how it's done, after all."
They spent the next half hour scouring the ground for suitable stones to throw and attempting to skim them as far as they could. It took Carrie only a short while to get the hang of it, having watched Remus closely, and with a little help from Teddy, who stood behind her and, holding her hand, showed her the best angle at which to throw, she was soon giving Sirius a run for his money. Anya, whose brother stood motionless beside her, making no attempt to join in, did not seem to grasp the technique at all, and at last she resorted to tossing pebbles into the water with a splash.
"It's official!" she announced dejectedly as she discarded another stone with a sigh. "I'm useless!"
"No you're not." Remus told her, holding out another stone for her to take. "You're just not holding it right. You need to aim a bit lower."
"Like this?"
"No, lower than that..."
"Like...that?"
"No...higher...now a bit lower..."
"So like this?"
"Just...up a tiny bit..."
Anya's arm dropped to her side with a snigger.
"Come and show me!" she suggested, and he stepped up behind her, as Teddy had done with Carrie beforehand, and reached to position her hand.
Carrie accepted another stone from Teddy, and as she turned to smile at him in thanks, she spotted the group of teenagers further along the lakeside.
"Ted..." the muggle whispered, reaching to put a hand upon her best friend's arm. "Those people over there...they're staring at us."
Teddy turned to look over at the group, which consisted of five boys that Carrie supposed were a few years her senior, and a couple of girls who were stood just behind them, whispering to one another behind their hands.
"What are you staring at?" one of the boys, a tall dark haired teen with shoulders so broad that he looked rather like an ape asked, and Teddy hurriedly turned away again.
"Charming..." the metamorphmagus muttered, only to halt abruptly when one of the other teens said:
"Do it, I dare you!"
And then, before Carrie could glance over at the group again, she felt something skim past her shoulder.
The rock, thrown by the ape-like boy, flew through the air, narrowly avoiding striking Aristo in the shoulder before it finally collided with Remus' ribs.
The werewolf stumbled in surprise, face contorted in pain at the sudden attack, and as the others rounded on the offending teenagers Sirius had barely opened his mouth to shout abuse when a shorter boy with curly brown hair shrieked:
"WEREWOLF SCUM!"
Remus froze, eyes wide in panic as yet another stone soared through the air, this time thrown by one of the girls, only to crumble to dust when it collided with a jet of light that shot out of Sirius' wand.
"Who the bloody hell do you think you are?" Sirius demanded, planting himself firmly between his friends and the teenagers. "Sod off and leave him alone!"
"Are you alright?" Carrie heard Anya whisper, and the muggle dared a glance backwards just in time to see Aristo grab Anya by the arm, pulling her away from Remus' side.
As the shouts of abuse grew in volume, Teddy reached into pocket to draw out his wand.
"Get behind me." he muttered, reaching to push Carrie back, just as a voice from behind them to call:
"What's going on?"
James and Lily had returned from their stroll around the lake, and Sirius shot them a brief glance before announcing:
"These bastards have a bit of a problem with werewolves, apparently!"
"Clear off, dog lovers!" one of the teenagers shouted, and a series of mock howls arose from the group. As Lily dashed to stand at Remus' side, reaching to grasp hold of the pale-faced, motionless boy by the hand, James strode to Sirius' side, drawing his wand from his pocket.
"You first." he offered cheerily, and both he and Sirius raised their wands.
"We don't want his type around here! This is our lake!"
"I don't see your name on it." Sirius retorted. "Now get out our sight before we make you!"
"Let's...let's just go." a timid voice suggested, and the two Marauders paused to glance round at Aristo, who had uttered his first words in over an hour.
"Yes...let's!" Anya agreed, voice high, frightened. Carrie knew how she felt, the muggle's heart was hammering in her chest and she had a firm hold of the back of Teddy's t shirt.
"ANIMAL!" one of the teenagers shrieked furiously. "You're not wanted here!"
"James!" Lily hissed, reaching to hug Remus' arm to her as he continued to stare miserably at the persecutors. "Anya's right...let's...let's just go!"
And with that, with James and Sirius still pointing their wands threateningly at the teenagers, they all began to hurry away up the hill, back towards the cottages.
"I...I'm so sorry!" Anya cried when they finally reached the cover of the trees, and when she turned around to look at Carrie and the others who were following her, they could see that tears had begun to stream down her face. "I'm so sorry, I...I had no idea..."
"You don't need to apologies!" Lily exclaimed, grip upon Remus tightening as the solemn werewolf stumbled over a tree root. "Really, it's not your fault!"
Before Anya could mumble anything else, Aristo had given her arm a firm tug and the two of them had broken out into a run, disappearing off into the trees.
The others were left to stumble along until they came to a little clearing in the woods, where they paused, supposing themselves out of harm's way.
"Are you alright, Remus?" Lily asked worriedly, peering up at him with scrutinizing eyes. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"He's fine." Sirius muttered irritably. "It was only a stone. Joshua and I had it under control, didn't we mate?"
Teddy gave a grim nod, expression pained. Carrie felt compelled to put an arm around him.
"Nice one, Joshua." James said approvingly, slapping the younger wizard lightly upon the back as he strode past. "See, told you these two were alright, didn't I, Moony?"
Remus didn't seem to hear him. He looked as white as a ghost, eyes glazed by panic and as Lily reached to throw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, Carrie was sure that he was trembling.
"You're alright." Lily soothed as James came to a halt behind her, lips pursed together in concern. "Everything's alright, you're perfectly safe."
"How...how did...how did they...?"
"I don't know. But it doesn't matter how they knew, they're gone now."
"But...how?"
"Lily's right, Moony. It doesn't matter. What matters is you're alright, there's nothing to worry about."
"But...our stuff..."
"It's just stuff, Moony, we can go back for it later. Padfoot'll go, won't you Padfoot?"
To Carrie's disguise, Sirius scowled.
"Yeah, sure I will!" he said as Lily drew back from Remus, leaving him to stare miserably at his shoes. "I'll go and save our stuff! Just like I saved Moony!"
James and Lily turned to stare at him in surprise as he stomped forwards, coming to a halt just in front of Remus, who peered up at him through the hair that had fallen into his eyes.
"And what would you have done if we hadn't been there?" Sirius asked accusingly, reaching to jab a finger into the werewolf's chest. "You, you Moony, you would have done NOTHING! Absolutely bloody nothing!"
"Padfoot..." James began, but the black haired boy refused to have his rant interrupted.
"You'd just let them walk all over you!" he cried, sounding utterly appalled. "You don't bloody stand up for yourself! You won't fight back! Well why not? Why don't you answer them back? Why don't you fight back?"
"Sirius, stop it!"
"No! I won't! And do you know why? Because the Moony I used to know didn't take everything bloody lying down! The Moony I knew used to stand up for himself! Sure, he didn't go looking for trouble, but he wasn't scared of it! Where's the Moony who used to...used to jam chewing gum up a Slytherin's nose if they insulted him one too many times? Or the Moony who dumped compost over that kid's head for laughing at Wormtail's haircut? Or the Moony who used to hoist me up by the ankle and dangle me from light fittings when I stole his homework to copy? Where's he gone? What's happened to him?"
"This isn't like school, Padfoot..."
"No, it bloody isn't! This is the real world! And the Moony I used to know, he would've survived out here just fine! He would've told those bastards to go and jump in the lake! And they bloody would have done if they'd known what was good for them! But that Moony's gone! He's gone and all we're left with now is a pathetic little tosser who reckons he's not worthy to eat dirt! Well I'm SICK OF IT! You're bloody better than this, Remus, so start bloody acting like it! Stand up for yourself! Go on, do it!"
Carrie watched, lips pursed together worriedly as Sirius reached to shove Remus backwards, causing him to stumble.
"Go on!" he demanded, "Be angry! Tell me to shut up! Tell me you're not pathetic! Go on! Do it!"
As they watched Sirius continuously shove Remus backwards, Carrie felt rather as though she wanted to close her eyes, put her hands over her ears and hum. She wondered why James and Lily didn't step in, why they simply stood motionless, watching, not even moving when Sirius shoved Remus straight off his feet and shouted:
"Well you wretched little coward? ARE YOU A BLOODY GRYFFINDOR OR NOT?"
Remus lay motionless in the dirt for a moment, before slowly rolling onto his stomach. As he set about stumbling to his feet, Sirius let out a despairing sigh.
"Well," he said, holding out his hands in defeat. "That's it, isn't it? Merlin help us, Prongs, I never thought we'd see the day. Our mate Moony...a pathetic little coward..."
THUMP!
Carrie let out a horrified gasp as the force of Remus' fist colliding with Sirius' jaw sent the future Azkaban escapee falling flat upon the grass with a shout of surprise and pain.
Silence descended upon the clearing like a lead balloon, and Remus looked up from his satisfied observation of the sprawled figure at his feet to find everybody staring at him.
"What?" he said, face flushed rather sheepishly. "If I'd drawn my wand on him, he'd have seen it coming a million miles off."
And with that, the werewolf turned on his heel and set off back towards home, reaching massage his throbbing knuckles as he went.
He had almost disappeared completely amongst the trees when Sirius finally complained to the sky:
"Where did he learn to hit that bloody hard?"
"Not bad for a pathetic tosser, really." James observed, making no move to help his best friend up.
"If I've lost a tooth, I swear...! And...my bloody jaw...!"
"Does it hurt to talk?"
"Yes!"
"Excellent. D'you hear that, Lily? We might get some peace and quiet..."
"Shut up, Prongs..."
"Let's be honest though, Padfoot, you've only got yourself to blame. You told Moony to stand up for himself..."
"Yeah, I told him to tell me to shut up! I didn't tell him to punch me in the bloody face!"
"Well...punching you in the face shut you up far better than simply telling you. He tells you to shut up all the time, you never listen to him, so...well it was bound to happen, wasn't it? Especially when you called him a coward...he's got a bit of a thing about that, remember?"
Sirius grumbled a long series of expletives under his breath before Lily interrupted:
"Do you think we should go after him?"
James pursed his lips together with a frown.
"Maybe we should let him have some time alone." he decided. "We'll come back later."
And so it was that Teddy and Carrie headed back towards the Lupins' cottage on their own, and for a while they walked in silence, until Carrie finally mumbled:
"Are you alright? That must've been...difficult to watch."
Teddy frowned deeply, reaching to sweep the hair from his eyes with a heavy sigh.
"You know what I said, the other day?" he said as she reached to tuck her hand through the crook of his arm. "When we were in Diagon Alley? When I said Dad probably had horrible things happen to him, but he wouldn't tell me about them?" he paused to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat before he admitted: "Well I wasn't sure...I hoped...I hoped I was wrong, that you were right. And you know, I...I almost had myself convinced. Because I looked at those people smashing up that shop and I thought to myself...I'd know. I'd be able to tell, you know, if things like that had happened to Dad. Because if they had, he wouldn't be the way he is, how could he be? If people ever treated me like that, I don't think I'd turn out even half as...as confident and...normal as he is. I thought he'd been alright, like you said. But...but I was wrong...and...and that makes me sad. Very sad. I want to go home, Carrie. I want to go home, I don't like it here anymore."
"Remus says he thinks he's getting somewhere." Carrie recalled in an attempt to cheer him. "You never know, we could be going home within a few days! I know he'll fix the time turner, Ted. I don't care if he's younger, he's still your dad. He's dead clever and he's working so hard for us, you should see his bedroom walls, the notes he's made! And...and he says he might write to Dumbledore! And Dumbledore must have some clue how to fix things, everybody's always telling me how clever Dumbledore was."
Teddy offered her a half-hearted smile, and Carrie was about to think of something else to say when she heard a voice amongst the trees ahead exclaim:
"Oh Merlin, you must've been horrified! I'm so sorry, I had no idea!"
Carrie and Teddy exchanged only the briefest glance before they crept towards the nearest tree before peering around the corner. There they spotted Anya, one hand raking through her hair in agitation, apparently midway through a conversation with Remus, who looked somewhat stunned by whatever had been said.
"Are you...being serious?" Carrie and Teddy heard him ask, and Anya looked up at him through red, puffy eyes.
"Well yes, I wouldn't make something like this up, would I? Maybe...maybe they recognized Aristo from Diagon Alley or something...I don't know..."
"I can't believe it." Remus muttered to himself, and Anya frowned at him in confusion.
"Why not? You do know you're not the only werewolf on the planet, don't you?"
"Well yes, but...but...well..." he trailed off into silence, sighing heavily, and Anya observed:
"You're relieved."
"No! No, I'm not, I just...well...well I am, obviously, but..."
"It's okay. You don't have to feel bad for him. I'm glad they were after Aristo and not you. I mean you've lived here for years, it would be a shame if they were to drive you away. I'm so sorry they scared you, we shouldn't have come down to the lake."
"I'm glad you did." Remus told her, offering her a faint smile. "I had fun."
"Me too." Anya said with a sniff, reaching to wipe a stray tear away upon the back of her hand.
"Here," After fumbling around in the pocket of his trousers for a moment, Remus produced a scarlet cotton handkerchief and held it out for her to take.
"Oh, thank you." the girl said, accepting it with a grateful smile. "Silly me, crying...I...I don't usually cry, you know. Not that often, anyway. I just...well I didn't mean to get you caught up in things. They didn't hurt you, did they? That rock looked rather heavy!"
"It'll only be a bruise."
"Oh good. I mean, it's not good, it's bad but...well...what I mean is..." she trailed off, blushing furiously and he failed to suppress a snigger.
"I know what you mean." he assured her, and she let out a small sigh of relief to have her babbling understood.
"I'm not making a lot of sense today." she observed, and Remus agreed:
"No, you're not. You might have better luck tomorrow, though. You've had a nasty shock. It's not nice to have people treat your brother like that."
"Or my friend."
"Or your friend."
The pair lapsed into silence for a long moment before Anya decided:
"Well, I should probably get home...check on Aristo, you know..."
"Right..."
"Can I come and knock for you in the morning?"
"If you want to."
"I want to."
"Then...you don't mind?"
"About what?"
"Me...?"
"Of course not. I like my brother well enough, don't I? And his jokes aren't nearly as funny as yours are. You're a good friend. And I don't get a chance to make many of those, you know. I'll see you in the morning, then?"
"See you then."
And then, to both Teddy and Carrie's surprise, Anya rose up upon her tiptoes and, without any hesitation at all, leant to press a kiss to the werewolf's lips, before turning on her heel and running off towards her cottage.
Apparently the two time travelers were not the only ones to be surprised, for Remus froze, stock still, before slowly reaching to touch his fingers to his lips.
"Oh Merlin..." the werewolf breathed.