Chapter 12
*Becky age 5, Remus age 6*
"Okay! I'm finished," the petite brunette asked holding up a drawing for her friend to see. Her pig-tails bobbed in anticipation of what he was going to say about her artwork.
Young Remus looked at the drawing with tired eyes. This was the seventh piece she had shown her friend and Remus was starting to think they were all blending together. Becky had used the same colour choice, the same line structure, the same indistinguishable facial features on what he thought might have been a family of goats.
"Honestly, Becky," Remus began. "I don't get it."
"What's not to get," Becky questioned, scrunching her nose up as she studied the drawing she held in her hand.
Becky pointed to each figure individually with her tiny finger. "That's me, those are our mummies, and that's you."
Remus tilted his head to look at the picture more closely. 'Nope,' he thought. 'I still see three and a half very happy goats.'
"Well, this one is better than the other seven," Remus commented with his brutal child-like honesty. "It's kind of ugly."
Becky huffed while gathering up all of her drawings and setting them face down on the table beside the couch. "Well, you're kind of ugly."
"That's not very nice," Remus pouted. His bottom lip jetted out, which was one of his best disappointed expressions.
Becky mimicked his face, but added a quiver to her own lip for dramatic effect. "You insulted my drawings first."
Both children sat on the floor of the living room with their arms folded across their chests. Their bottom lips were protruded while a pair of green eyes looked into a pair of light-brown eyes with golden yellow flecks around the irises.
Nancy and Jane walked into the living room to see their two children with sour looks on each of their faces. The two women glanced at each other before turning back to the two pouting kids.
"Now, what's going on in here," Nancy questioned trying as hard as she could to keep the smile off of her face when looking at the irritated faces only children could have.
Becky spoke first. Her scowl towards her friend deepening. "Remus said my artwork was ugly."
Not wanting to be left out of the conversation, Remus replied, "She called me ugly back!"
The two mothers quietly chortled with one another. The action resulting in two angry faces turning towards them.
"Remus, honey. You should apologize to Becky," Jane said as she sobered up. She stepped towards her son and crouched down so she was at his level.
"No," came the stubborn reply.
"Alright, then," Jane said. "I think it's time to get you home. You've had a long past few days and you need a nap."
"No!"
"Remus, I am going to give you to the count of three," Jane sternly replied.
No body in the room moved.
Jane sighed. "1...2...3!"
Remus quickly got up at the first sound of the word three. He rushed to the door and waited for his mother. The scowl never leaving his face.
Jane got up from her crouched position and followed Remus to the door.
"He's a little cranky still from his 'being sick' last week," Jane explained in a whisper as she passed her friend.
"That's understandable," Nancy nodded walking her friend to the door. "We'll see you tomorrow once the kids have forgotten their fight."
Both women smiled in agreement.
Once Jane and a grumpy Remus had left, Nancy looked over to her own child who was still stilling on the living room floor staring into the corner of the room where two walls meet the floor.
Nancy sat down on the couch and let her daughter lean against her legs, who was still staring at the one corner of the room. Becky would come out of her mood when she was ready and Nancy would try to comfort her until then.
*Current time, Becky's house*
"What'cha working on," Remus asked from the doorway. He was enjoying watching Becky hum and smile to herself while she was working on her latest project. The way his friend was smiling led him to believe something amazing happened recently. It sent a slight pang through his chest knowing he was not there to share in her initial elation, but he brushed it aside when Becky's attention was turned to him.
Becky jumped as soon as she saw someone standing in her doorway. She had not been expecting anyone to come up to her room. At the very least, she was hoping, of all people, Remus wouldn't have come up to her bedroom without being announced first. Usually she could hear him talking with her mother or hear him stomp up the stairs with his giant bear like steps.
She looked at the clock on her bed side table which read 4:55 in the afternoon. She had gotten back from the Lupin residence an hour before and didn't realize just how long she and her mother were discussing Remus' early birthday/Christmas gift plans with Jane.
They had made most of the arrangements. They would wait to present Remus with his gift until a couple of days into term. There was still work to be done, but in the end it would all work out.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you to knock before entering someone's bedroom," Becky inquired as she quickly recovered from her initial shock. Then she covered the canvas she was working on, which was at an angle so anyone at the door couldn't see the front, with a light green sheet after her heart slowed from the small fright.
"Mum may have mentioned something about being polite and knocking at some point, but I figured that no longer applies to us," Remus explained causing Becky to roll her eyes. His grin widened after seeing Becky's reaction. "So tell me what's so secret that you can't show me what you're working on. You usually show me your work. Often to the point of being tiresome."
Becky slapped Remus' hands away as he tried lifting the sheet to catch a peak at her latest painting. She glared at her friend, but chose to ignore his 'tiresome' comment. "It's nothing you should be concerned about."
"And now because you said that..."
"Remus, no!," Becky laughed. She stepped in between her companion and the covered canvas. One of her hands went to Remus' wrist in an attempt to pull it away from the sheet while her other hand landed on his chest in an effort to push him away.
In amusement, Remus hummed. But the hum was also an attempt to hide the small intake of breath he gave off when he realized the close proximity of him and Becky.
"Well, I knew you missed me, but I didn't realize you had missed me this much," Remus joked wiggling his eyebrows in a continued attempt to hide how anxious he was about their closeness.
Becky hit her friend in the chest with her hand that was shoving him backwards.
The impact of Becky's hand caused Remus to twitch. He was still in the recuperating stage of his post-transformation. His body was still a little tender from the week before. However, it was nothing new during the summer months because usually took him longer to heal during the summer because he did not have the expertly made healing potions Madam Pomfrey usually gave him.
The negative reaction to the playful hit caused Becky to look more closely at Remus than she had when he first walked through her door. He had light purple bags under his eyes and he had about a week's worth of stubble on his face. The stubble was unusual because Becky knew Remus liked to have a 'professional' look about him. Well, as 'professional' a seventeen year old wizard could look.
Becky ran her hand up Remus' arm in order to cup his face. Her eyes softened when Remus turned away from her soft touch as if it actually pained him, which it did. Even the lightest brush of her finger tips was making the scruff on his face shift which irritated his sensitive skin. It would still be a couple of days before he would be able to shave without the feeling that the skin lining his jaw feeling as if it was being slowly striped away from the bone.
"What happened," Becky questioned as she continued to look into her best friend's face. Her hand hovered a few centimetres from Remus' face, but didn't actually touch. "Did something happen while you were at James'?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary for us," Remus replied with a soft smile trying to distract Becky from her worry. "We're men, we act like animals sometimes."
The comment caused Becky to let out an undignified snort.
"Well, you got one out of two correct," Becky mentioned, moving her hand to her mouth in an attempt to hide another snorting sound.
Remus narrowed his eyes, "I know that look. Don't say it, Bec."
He knew where the rest of the statement was going, but before he had a chance to silence the teen in front of him she took a few steps backwards as if to avoid him in case he decided to retaliate.
However, Becky couldn't resist the easy set up for her joke. "You don't need to act like an animal. We both know you already are like an animal because let's face it, you acting like a man is a ridiculous notion."
"I warned you not to say that," Remus playfully growled even though he did partially agree with her statement about him already being an animal, but he wouldn't divulge that to her at this time.
Without thinking about the pain it might cause, Remus long arms darted forward and grabbed for Becky. His hands closed in around her waist and held her squirming frame in place, but not before she had moved to a more open space in her bedroom in order to protect her painting.
The impact from Remus rushing forward as Becky brushed past him, knocked the two of them down to the ground. If Becky's mum was home she surely would have heard the crash.
Becky tried to brace herself for the fall, but Remus quickly turned them sideways so neither would be crushed by the other.
"Graceful," Becky giggled. She propped herself up on one of her elbows to look at the boy lying motionless beside her. "Remus?"
"Merlin, Becky," Remus murmured, eyes closed. "I think you elbowed me in the stomach. Do you know how sharp those things are? They should be registered with the Ministry as weapons."
"Which Ministry," Becky questioned. A smile was playing on her face regardless of the slight pain in her shoulder and at her hip from where she landed on Remus' hand.
"Does it matter," Remus replied. "Maybe for the safety of both the wizarding and muggle worlds, you should register those things you call elbows in both Ministries."
"You always know what to say to a girl to get her to fall for you, don't you," Becky smirked as she looked sideways into Remus' eyes.
"I got you to fall for me just now, didn't I," Remus smirked as he opened his eyes to look at his friend's reaction.
Becky was about to make her normal sarcastic reply, but something in Remus' expression stopped her. She could see there was some pain, both physical and emotional, behind his normally sparkling eyes. The glimmer that she had seen before he left for James' was only a faint glow now. Becky silently wondered if the flecks of yellow that surrounded the iris of each of his eyes swallowed some of his usual glimmer.
Something about the change in eye colour played at the back of Becky's memory. The change wasn't normal for most people, but it was normal for Remus. It didn't happen all the time, just when he was overly tired, overly emotional, overly angry which she saw only a few times a year. Probably once or twice a month.
Becky was so caught up in her own thoughts, that she didn't notice Remus' face moving closer to hers as he too looked stared into his friend's eyes. Remus continued to slowly move forward. Becky wasn't even aware until her eyes instinctively fluttered closed at the soft touch of Remus' lips against hers.
At first neither moved their lips. It was just a soft pressing of lips against lips. A few moments passed before Remus began to deepen the kiss by tilting his head slightly to have a better angle. Becky couldn't help but smile into the kiss.
Then as suddenly as the idyllic moment began all was lost. The blissful feeling Becky had felt with Remus, her best friend, was gone.
Remus had pulled back, eyes wide. The pain from the kiss of the course hairs on his jaw line seemed to electrocute him out of his peaceful moment. He had wanted to do that for so long, to kiss her, but the lasting effects of the full moon had ruined it. The pain reminded him of what he was just a few nights prior.
"I'm sorry," Remus gasped. His lower face still throbbed as a continuous reminder. "I shouldn't have done that."
Without another word, Remus pushed himself off the ground and ran from the room.
There was a shattering of glass and then the slam of a door from downstairs. Becky sat up on the floor. She cringed at the sound of the front door slamming and what was most likely the vase on the table in the foyer.
Becky let in a shaky breath. All she could do was stare blankly at the light green sheet that was hung haphazardly over her canvas and easel. Her vision was blurred as she stared at that one spot and her mind numbed all thoughts and questions about what just happened faded from her mind.
A/N: So finally a Remus/Becky moment which was promptly ruined. Let me know your thoughts on the matter because they will really help me with the next few chapters and/or let me know if your opinion has changed in regard to Becky being a muggle or a witch (just a few more chapters before the true answer is revealed).
Thank you again to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favourited! This story would not have been as long as it currently is or as successful without all of your suggestions and support. All of you are fantastic!
Always,
orangezauber
