Lori Wayne hadn't seen Hogwarts school since the day she graduated. Granted she had gone to the graduation after party which was held in the Hufflepuff dorm. But to be perfectly honest there was so much fire whisky, giggle water, mugwart smokes, and other substances there that she didn't really remember that particular night at Hogwarts at all. But now as she saw it again in all its towering glory, even if it was only from the edge of the secret trail through the Forbidden Forest. That didn't stop her from feeling a sense of warmth and nostalgia spread through her, the kind she hadn't felt in a very long time.
"Hurry the fuck up" Ron Weasley whined, stamping his brown and tattered shoes in the mushy ground of the forest like a child. Lori huffed as this had broken her out of her reverie, and as she fumbled around the ground with her hands for the nearest stick and lobbed it at the young Weasley, she laughed loudly as it sailed at him and hit his back, making him squeal loudly.
"Don't fucking swear at me, Ron" Lori yelled, snickering to herself after as she fought to catch up to the teenagers on the trail, her legs shorter than theirs which made her feel very unamused indeed.
Hermione giggled at Ron's red face which nearly matched his hair, and as the girl jogged to catch up to him Lori thought Hermione's hair looked less like a tumbleweed today. Not that Lori was judging, in her own youth Lori was often teased by a pack of Ravenclaw girls who likened her large brown eyes and dark freckles to a spray of shit. Which didn't even really phase Lori, she had thought that was pretty fucking hilarious.
Lori heard the crunching of leaves and looked behind her, catching the green eyes of Harry Potter for just a moment before he looked away again and sighed. Lori's face fell, and her recent nostalgia trip fell immediately to the back of her mind. She knew exactly what he was thinking, in light of all the fuckery that had happened to the poor boy. It didn't take a psychic to know he was thinking of his parents, and of course, he was thinking of Sirius Black. This year so far could not have been easy on him. Not that any year of Harry's life so far had been easy. But this year probably more than others had made Harry think of his parents. Which in turn, only made him realise just how much he had missed out on in his short life.
She crinkled her eyes, making the few signs of age that she possessed start to deepen on her face. Lori wished against wish that she could tell Harry anything she knew that might ease his mind. Anything about his parents. About Sirius, his godfather. About what she'd learned about Peter Pettigrew from Sirius. Quite literally about anything. But sadly, these stories were not hers to tell, and while Sirius wasn't the most careful and tactful of men, she entrusted it to him to tell Harry the truth. Only time will tell if this trust she had put in Sirius would waver or not.
"Why haven't you asked?" Harry suddenly spoke, startling Lori out of her thoughts as she glanced as softly as possible at the black-haired boy by her side.
"Asked what?" Lori questioned, shuffling a hand through her lightly pinked hair as they both trudged along after the two teenagers ahead of them.
"You didn't question us when we asked you to come along" Harry continued, looking down at the forest ground as if trying to figure some great puzzle out. "You didn't even ask us where we're all going" he frowned.
Lori looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, not really understanding why Harry held a sharpness to his voice, and suddenly a melancholy little question struck her mind.
"Adults haven't given you many reasons to trust them have they?" Lori whispered, offering a sad smile to Harry. Harry never answered, but the falter in his steps, and the shiny tears in his eyes was all she needed to know.
"I don't need to know where we're going" Lori continued gently, reaching over quickly to give the boy's hand a comforting squeeze. "You came to me and told me you needed my help, I don't need to know more than that" she finished, watching as he wiped his tears away before looking up at her.
"I'm sorry I was snappy..." Harry whispered, giving her a crooked and as brave a smile as he could muster before shoving his hands in the pockets of his ill-fitting coat.
"No need to apologise you goose" she chortled, beaming widely as she patted his shoulder. "Unless you three are about to murder me, then I might be a little upset".
Harry coughed out an unexpected laugh, making Hermione and Ron glance behind them, revelling in the sound of their friend's laughter, something which they hadn't heard in a few weeks. So caught up by the surprise change in Harry's mood in fact, that they very nearly didn't realise they were at their destination. It wasn't until Lori caught up and saw the telltale hut on the edge of the school grounds that she realised where they were going.
Hermione and Ron raced rapidly up to Hagrid's hut, practically bowling each other over to get in the door. As Harry jogged to catch up to them, Lori mustered her energy, trying her best to keep up with their young energy. It wasn't until she entered the once familiar hut and gasped upon the sight before her that she finally realised why the three teenagers had asked her to come with them so urgently.
Hagrid's crowded and cozy, but usually uniform hut rather looked like a tornado of dragons had flown through it. Pots, plates, and potions were smashed and scattered anywhere they pleased. Floorboards and furniture were flattened and cracked, and anything that was once made of glass was now a pile of shards. At the centre of it all was poor, dear Hagrid, his head in his heads and the floorboards squeaking under him with every sob that boomed and leaked out from him.
Lori looked to the three teenagers that had bought her here questioningly, and they looked straight back at her, staring into her brown eyes as if she held all the answers to this mess. So Lori did what she usually does when people cry. She decided to start making tea, and she thought she'd start making conversation.
"I don't suppose you kept track of where your tea leaves were thrown?" Lori asked lightly, stepping around some shattered ceramics and splintered boards to make her way to the sobbing half giant.
Hagrid removed his large hands from his face, looking up to Lori through red and bleary eyes for just a moment, before he laid his head back into his hands and resumed his blubbering cries.
Lori reached into the left pocket of her bright green pea coat, shuffling around until she found a small collection of assorted silk tea bags. She tiptoed closer to Hagrid, acting as if he was a deer in the head lights and would bolt any second. Holding a few crumbled tea bags in her hand she set her emergency thermos on the ground in front of Hagrid, crossing her legs and sitting down on the ground gracefully and casually.
"I remember it very well that you liked dandelion tea best" she beamed softly, watching the water of her thermos magically boil itself to the perfect temperature before she plopped the bags in. Lori then glided her wand out of boot, twirling it around the rim of the thermos, inhaling dramatically and sighing as the sweet smell of flowers and sugar danced about the room.
Hagrid sniffled and snuffled, wiping away the snot from his nose before he inhaled the scents floating around the room. He peered gently into the steaming thermos, before reaching down and grabbing it, which made it look very small in his large hands. The giant let out a hiccuping cry before he drank happily, chugging it as if he had cried out all the water supplies from his body.
As Hagrid set down the now empty thermos as softly as if it was a precious artwork, Lori whispered a few cleaning spells. Immediately, the hut went to work on itself. Once shattered plant pots spun themselves back together mid air, the cracked floorboards and dining table stitched themselves back together, and glass shone in the dazzling daylight as they returned back to whatever bottle they'd come from. Everyone gazed around at the slowly repairing hut, until soon it looked as good as new, perhaps even a bit neater than it had before. Finally, now that things were less trampled in the house, Lori reached over and took Hagrid's hand in hers and offered him as warm a smile as anyone could possibly muster. Then slowly but surely, he returned her smile and squeezed her hand adoringly.
"Hermione" Lori spoke, looking as best she could over the shoulders of Hagrid to the bushy-haired girl, "I don't think Hagrid wants to talk about what happened just yet, do you think you could tell me?" she asked, using her free hand to brew some more tea in the thermos.
Hermione nodded slowly, shuffling forward to stand closer to Hagrid and Lori, eventually pulling out a new repaired wooden chair from the dining table to sit next to them.
"Well...do you remember a month or so ago we came into the tea shop to tell you about what happened with Draco in class? With the Hippogriff?" Hermione asked, and when Lori nodded back she cleared her throat to continue as she fiddled with her hands nervously. "Well after that, Draco's father decided to take the matter straight to the ministry. A few weeks ago we came to visit Hagrid, to ask how the trial went...and..." Hermione trailed off sadly, ducking her head down, a few tears brimming in the girls eyes.
"I just got tha letter today..." Hagrid suddenly spoke up in his familiar brogue, taking the tea thermos gratefully from Lori's hands, pausing before he took a sip, "they didna even come in person t'tell me that my Buckbeaks execution day is in 4 days" he voiced darkly, hanging his head low as if guilt poured down heavily on him like bitter rain.
"That's why we came to get you" Harry explained as he and Ron grabbed two chairs themselves, placing themselves either side of Hermione, each patting Hagrid on the shoulder affectionately. "When we came to visit today we found him like this and—-".
"You're really good with talking, Lori. You've helped me and everyone heaps, and not just with your tea!" Ron butted in, lopsidedly smiling gratefully at the woman, reaching down for the thermos of tea before Hermione and Harry both smacked his hand away.
Lori opened her mouth to respond, her heart fluttering happily in her body like a little pixie, before the door opened creakily, and Remus Lupin peaked his head in. This made Lori's fluttering heart pixie start to thrash around even harder in her chest, sort of like a hurricane, and she also wanted to vomit.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all greeted Remus happily, and when Lori awkwardly stood up from in front of Hagrid she realised Remus hadn't even seen her over Hagrid from where he was standing from the door, and his eyes widened as he spluttered on the spot. As the two locked eyes, she realised that he clearly hadn't been expecting to see her at all, and it almost made Lori want to cry just as much as Hagrid had been.
"Uhhhh..." Remus fumbled, clearing his throat raggedly, his eyes darting away from Lori, "I just came to see if Hagrid needed help repairing anything but I see that you kids got someone" he smiled awkwardly. An unsure air then settled upon the small hut, as the thee teenagers didn't know what was going on, Hagrid was very confused, and neither Remus nor Lori knew what to do in the unexpected company of each other.
"Well I think my soothing and succulent presence is no longer needed" Lori almost choked out, anxiously laughing at her own joke as she tried her best to rush passed everyone and out of the small hut. As she ignored everyone's confused and concerned looks as she basically fell over her own legs, she brushed past Remus as she flew out the door, not daring to glance back, and she began to run off into the forest without a second thought.
She thought that she must've run very far, and she wasn't planning on stopping. Until her boot caught on a hidden tree root and she began falling down to meet the dirt. She actually would have, if Remus Lupin hadn't wrapped his arms around her and caught her, pulling her up flush against his chest as she shrieked and babbled like a banshee.
Lori flailed away from him, not even realising he had been running after her. But upon looking back she realised she hadn't even ran that far, the hut was only just out of sight. Finally, as she looked up at Remus, Remus looked down at her, a pained and confused look marbled over his scarred features, and he retracted his outstretched hand and opened his mouth to speak.
"I probably have some explaining—-"
"Did I do something wrong—"
They both flushed immediately, staring at each other with their mouths opening and closing, looking rather like really stupid fish. They both stared blankly at each other now, waiting to see which of them would break the silence and try to finish their sentence.
But neither of them did speak at first, they just kept looking at each other, as if they hadn't seen the other person in a thousand years rather than a few weeks. Remus took note of Lori's new hair colour, knowing that she liked dying it herself, he even looked down at her hands and noticed they were still lightly stained pink from the dye. He'd missed looking at her he allowed himself to admit. But he knew now from the pained look that flooded her brown eyes, that maybe staying away from her had hurt her more than he realised.
"Listen" Lori suddenly blurted, not at all realising how Remus was looking at her with such adoration and depth, instead wringing her hands anxiously. It was times like this she wished that the way she expressed her emotions was as good as the way she made stupid jokes.
"I know we've only known each other for about 8 months now, and I know for most people that's quite quick, and if you regret kissing me that's absolutely fine, I completely understand, maybe you don't even actually like me, I don't know, but if you don't want to see me that's absolutely fine, if you don't want to date me that's—"
"No— it's not—- I really like you—-" Remus cried suddenly, clapping a hand over his mouth as he abruptly cut off her rant. He watched regretfully as a smile almost crept its way onto her face before he forced himself to speak again, "but I can't be with you" he finished regretfully.
Lori's face fell, and she gasped quietly, letting go of the nervous grip she unconsciously held on her coat, and she pursed her lips in pained confusion at the man before her.
"Is there someone else?" Lori asked quietly, trying her best not to look as sad as she felt as she stared at him, biting the inside of her mouth to keep her tears in check. Remus eventually shook his head, and Lori let out a sigh.
"Are you gay?" she asked, shrugging at him as she kicked the leaves in front of her boots, begging him silently for some understanding. Remus let out something that could've been a laugh before he shook his head again, and Lori threw up her arms into the air and she began to splutter sadly.
"Remus please. Throw me a fucking bone here! Look it's fine if you don't like me okay? I know I'm not much of anything...but shit, just explain...literally anything!" she begged, muttering to herself as she angrily wiped away a tear that dared to escape her eyes.
Remus could only watch her in pain. Watching as the heat rose to her cheeks, and he sadly thought that it was better that she was angry with him now. He flexed his hand, it almost began to ache, he just wanted to reach out to her, to remind himself of what her skin felt like when they'd danced together in the shop. As if he could ever forget. But how could he tell her. How could he tell her the secret he'd keep his whole life about what happens to him every full moon. He kept his mouth shut. He looked at her, praying to any deity that would listen that he could have the power to explain to her. But he'd rather Lori look at him now with anger, than for her to look at him with fear at the monster he was.
Lori's chest rose and fell, but as the anger ebbed away it was just replaced by tears, as she finally allowed them to fall. She knew she got angry easily, she knew she hadn't had much luck in love, and she knew that she was far too obsessed with tea. But Lori thought that Remus didn't mind all that. She thought that, even though they had known each other a short while now, she hoped there was a reason that he came into her shop so often. She had hoped it was for her.
The two people stood in front of each other, hearts aching and emotions bared. They couldn't speak, they didn't dare, but they were pained by the silence altogether. Remus begged the world to change what he was so he could be with her, and Lori begged Remus to help her understand. But sadly, neither of them could read the other's minds. Or they would've looked past all this, and just seen exactly how strongly and truly they felt about each other. But love isn't a fair and easy road.
Lori walked away first, her tears hot against her face as she made her way back to the tea shop, she didn't care who heard or saw her cry. Remus stood there for god knows how long, staring at the place where she had stood before him, cursing himself so heavily that he had dared to dream it might work between them. But then he too walked away. Both of them wishing they knew what the other was thinking, and secretly hoping the other felt the same. But neither daring to be that hopeful. All they could think about, was when, if at all, that they would see each other next.