Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I have no ownership over Harry Potter and its wonderful universe. I do own my OC's and story line.
Harry Potter - The Marauders Era
"The Princess Marauder"
September, 1978 - Autumn
"So, how do I look?" I asked Remus, giving a little spin in front of him.
"Beautiful, Aurora, just like you did in the last three outfits," he answered me with a twinge of exasperation.
I crossed my arms, pouting. "You're no help, Remus! Be honest!"
"I am being honest! What do you want me to say? I think you look good in everything."
"Alright, but does this blue suit go better with my skin or does the other green one?"
Rolling his eyes, he jumped off the bed and came to wrap his arms around my waist. "You know what I really think looks best on you?" I nodded eagerly. "Nothing. Naked is my favourite outfit."
I laughed, slapping his shoulder. "Oh come on, Remus, quit joking!"
"Oh, but I'm very serious," he murmured as he kissed my neck.
"I believe you whole-heartedly, but I hardly think you want me to go to the Ministry wearing nothing else than my birth suit. Or do you want all those other men to see what I look like underneath these clothes?"
His growl vibrated through his chest. "No! Your body is mine alone to admire!"
"That's what I thought." I smiled, patting his cheeks before returning to the vanity mirror to pull my hair into a French twist.
Today was my very first day at the Ministry so I needed to look perfect. If I dressed to impress, then perhaps they wouldn't notice how much of a nervous-wreck I was on the inside. The internship I'd applied for was in the Beast Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the very own Newton Scamander was going to be my adviser. My blistering nerves weren't because I was a fan of him, but quite the opposite. A well-renowned Magizoologist, Scamander had been awarded with the Second Order of Merlin and perceived as a hard-working wizard. I honestly believed that to be true. However, he was also responsible for the creation of the Werewolf Registry, which obligated all of those cursed with lycanthropy to register themselves so the Ministry could keep track of them. This registry made it very hard for werewolves not only to find a job, but also to fit into a society that discriminates them on a daily basis.
Even though, Scamander might've had the best intentions when he created the registry, his main accomplishment was setting up a very hard life for the man I loved. So I was going to suck it up at the internship, learn everything I could, and then by the end of it I was going to transfer into the Being Division and re-open the Werewolf Support Bureau.
"You have that look again, love."
I met his eyes in the mirror. "What look?"
"The one you get when you're thinking about what you want more than anything," he said with a smile.
"I have a look for that?"
"Yes, you do."
"Well, you're not far from the truth." I put on some red lipstick, and then my favourite pearl earrings. "I was just thinking about my new internship adviser and how no one's going to stand in the way of opening my bureau."
His laugh filled the room. "When you have your eyes set on something, you're quite the force to be reckoned with, love."
"And don't ever forget it!"
After one last once-over at my reflection, I smoothed down my pencil skirt, straightened my jacket, and walked up to Remus to kiss him soundly on his lips.
"Good luck on the job-hunt, don't let them knock you down," I whispered against his lovely mouth.
"Never." He brought a hand to my cheek. "Come home soon?"
"I promise."
One more kiss and I Apparated into the Atrium, on level eight at the Ministry Headquarters.
The Atrium was a wide hall with gilded fireplaces up and down on both opposite walls. The ones on the left were used to arrive at the Ministry, while the others on the right-hand side served for departures. The floor was polished dark wood and the ceiling was peacock blue with golden symbols moving across it. Halfway down the Atrium stood the Fountain of Magical Brethren, a group of golden statues, depicting a wizard, a witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.
Breathing in through the nose to calm down, I made my way towards the set of golden gates at the end of the Atrium. The security stand was right next to it, where a dark-haired man in uniform was sitting. He glanced up as I stopped in front of him, waiting for him to open the gates that lead to the lifts.
"Visitor or worker?" he asked in a business-like voice.
"Worker."
"Identification?" I showed him my new card. His beady eyes squinted a little before he nodded with a smile. "Very well. Have a nice day, Mrs. Lupin."
I returned the gesture, then proceeded forward after the gates opened. A little further down another hall, I caught the first lift that emptied and pressed the button up to the Fourth Level.
The Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was a total mess. Feathers, boxes, books, cages of animals, and more was pilling in the middle of the halls and I was forced to swivel past all the chaos to reach the main office door. I knocked a few times, loud enough for the people on the other side to hear over the ruckus coming out of the other offices.
Could they actually keep the illegal creatures caged in this place?
When someone screamed an invitation, I complied. Like the entry hall, the main office was a cornucopia of organized chaos, but I didn't dwell much on it. My attention went straight to the large desk at end of the room and to the old man sitting behind it. He had average-long grey hair tied in the back of his head and a short beard of the same colour. His eyes were sharp and blue, matching his nice periwinkle robes.
"Ah, you must be my new intern," Scamander said with a smile, gesturing for the chair in front of his desk. "Please, sit. It's Miss Lupin, correct?"
"Mrs. Lupin," I corrected automatically as I took the seat.
"My apologies." He sounded sincere. "So, I understand your main interest stands outside this division, but you still decided to take this internship. I'm curious, why?"
I gathered my hands over my lap to stop them from fidgeting. "To be honest it was mostly because there were no other internships available for the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures this year. But the Beast Division deals with solving problems related to magical creatures, and that is within my general area of interest."
"I see." He leaned back, watching me intensely. "Well, Mrs. Lupin, it seems you've caused quite the impression on your previous professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Miss Potter has sent me a very flattering recommendation letter right after you submitted your application this summer."
"S-she did?" I was genuinely surprised. I had told Ursula about my intentions at the Ministry but she never once mentioned a recommendation letter.
"Indeed," he said patiently. "My division, as you may already know, currently deals with the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau, the Pest Advisory Board, the Ghoul Task Force and the Werewolf Units. You will be required to meander between each of these different departments and take care of a lot of paperwork. Obviously, I will personally guide you through everything and my office door will always be open to answer any doubts and questions."
"Alright," I replied, mildly overwhelmed.
Scamander smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "Don't worry, I'm positive you will handle everything beautifully. Shall we get started?"
By the time the old grandfather clock in the archive room struck one in the afternoon, relieving me for my lunch hour, I had possibly the worst headache in the world. The records were all out of order. It took me nearly the entire morning to place them alphabetically, and I didn't even want to think about the pile of paperwork sitting on my desk to take care of. Reading reports were not a part of the job I particularly looked forward to.
After a quick freshen-up in the bathroom, I opened the first buttons of my white shirt (by now I'd discarded the jacket entirely) and tore out my hair from its twist as I took the lift back down to the Atrium. I was about to head out to search for a nice place to grab lunch when I heard someone calling my name.
"Padfoot!" I grinned at the sight of those gorgeous fathomless grey eyes, throwing my arms around him.
He twirled me around, chuckling. "I was on my way to see you!"
"Really?" He nodded vehemently as I pulled back to grasp his handsome face in my hands. His cheekbones were sharp again, I noticed with a frown. "You lost weight again..."
"These Stealth and Tracking lessons suck the life out of a chap," he joked. I didn't find it funny; he needed to eat properly, otherwise one day he'd end up in St. Mungo's. As if he could read my thoughts, his smile softened. "I'm fine, 'Ro, don't worry about me."
"Someone needs to worry about you because you obviously don't," I argued.
He rolled his eyes. "It's no big deal, alright? I just never remember to bring lunch and I'm not comfortable enough with muggle currency to go somewhere nearby to eat."
"You're incorrigible..." I grabbed his hand and Apparated us out of the Ministry. "From now on, you'll either come with me or I'll bring you lunch myself."
"What are you, my mother?"
It was my turn to do an eye roll as I lead him into a nice-looking restaurant around the corner. We took a table outside to enjoy the very rare sunny day. The waitress immediately stopped by to take our order, but she was more focused on eating Sirius with her eyes than actually taking it. I had to repeat myself twice before she walked away, and even then I wasn't sure she' gotten it right.
I run a hand through my hair with a sigh. "You're too handsome for your own good, you know that?"
Sirius lowered his chin to the palm of his hand, flashing me a dazzling grin. "Oh I know, but do you?"
"What do you mean? I pointed it out just now."
"Well, yes, but you never showed any signs of noticing my good-looks before," he explained casually.
I chuckled. "It's different to notice, than it is to swoon, Padfoot."
"So you did notice then." His grin shone even brighter.
"Of course I did, we lived in the same house for seven years. For Merlin's sake, I lost count of the times I watched you come out of the shower and walk back to your room without nothing but a towel. If I didn't think any better, I'd say you were doing it on purpose."
The waitress returned with our surprisingly correct orders. Again, her attention was all on Sirius as she slid the plates in front of each of us. God, it was so ridiculous, she was practically begging him silently to turn and ask her out. What astonished me the most was that he didn't even spare her a look. His eyes didn't leave mine. I blushed a little.
"I did do that," he resumed our conversation when the disheartened girl walked off. "But you didn't bat a single eyelash. You never did."
I bit into my egg sandwich. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not affected by your charms."
"Are you sure about that? Have you really only ever been attracted to Moony?" The question was harmless enough and he seemed perfectly indifferent while plopping chips into his mouth. Still, I couldn't shake off he feeling that he was far more interested in my answer than he was letting it on.
I pursed my lips for a second. Was I ever attracted to Sirius?
"Well," I started carefully, "what I have with Remus was never exclusively attraction so I never exactly thought about other men that way before. Why are you suddenly curious about this?"
His shoulders jerked up and down. "No reason. We never spoke about your relationship, so I was just wondering."
"You don't like to talk about me and Remus," I pointed out.
"That's true." I snorted when he made a face. "Merlin, I can't believe two of my best friends are married and the other is engaged. Who's going to go out with me now?"
"Oh come on, you still have Wormtail."
We both burst out laughing. Even I had to admit it sounded ridiculous. Peter had no profile to go out with Sirius and deal with him drunk and picking up girls.
"Alright so maybe no," I said, wiping the corners of my eyes. "Why don't you stop going out at night? Find an interesting woman at the Ministry and take her out on a proper date for once."
"I think I'm done with women, at least for a while."
"Oh so you want give men a go now, do you Padfoot?" I teased with a smirk.
He kicked my foot under the table, laughing. "Shut up, Muzzle! I've grown up too, you know? I think it's time to stop trying to fill the void in my heart that's never going to fill."
"Sirius..." I placed my hand over his, peering into his eyes. "Are you really still in love with her? That girl from school..."
"She's not a girl anymore," he said quietly as his other hand covered mine, fingers brushing against the blue stones of my bracelet. "She's a woman... and I'll always love her, even though she's not mine to love."
I smiled sadly. It was so rare to capture a glimpse of this side of Sirius... To me this was how he was most beautiful.
"Won't you tell who she is?"
"I think I'll hold on to her for a while longer. I'm not ready to let her go just yet."
"I don't understand..." My forehead creased. "Why would you have to let her go if you told me?"
His only answer was one those mysterious smiles he was always giving me before changing the subject and launching on a detailed tale of his Auror training with Alastor Moody.
