46
THE two werewolves didn't speak much as Lupin led Norah as quietly into her room as possible, careful not to make any sort of noise that would wake up Sirius's mum's portrait. Norah really didn't know what to say to Remus, though the tension between the two wolves was almost undeniable.
At this point, she felt more than a strong sense of regret, for everything. Dumbledore was right. She should have come to Ollie and Albus sooner with the information that Greyback was her father, and now, because of her, everyone in the Order suffered for her lack of actions, especially Ollie.
She'd never meant to hurt Ollie in this manner. She was trying to fix things, not make things worse for the man that she now knew herself to be hopelessly and desperately in love with. And all she had gained for her efforts were hurt feelings and more bruises than she could care to count on her body.
Lupin glanced behind them briefly before gingerly shutting the door behind him, likely to be sure that Ollie hadn't followed the pair of them in one of his fits of rage.
When he was satisfied he hadn't, he gave a small nod and turned back towards Norah, who was fighting back tears.
"You'll be safe here, Norah," he offered a small smile as he clapped Norah's shoulder affectionately and gave it a light reassuring squeeze as he guided her towards the edge of the bed. "I'll help you pack your things in a moment, but first, let me get a good look at you. I hope Ollie didn't hurt you …"
Norah flinched and she said nothing, at least not at first as she awkwardly rested her trembling hands shakily in her lap, refusing to look Lupin in the eyes and see the brief flashes of gold as his inner wolf came out.
Their eyes always changed color whenever a wolf was under extreme mental or physical stress, and this was sure to be just as stressful an event for him as it was for all parties involved, not just Norah and Ollie. Her actions had put his own mate, Tonks, in danger, too, not just Ollie. Things hadn't gone at all the way that Norah had hoped.
By this point, Norah didn't know if Ollie would ever forgive her or get over the fact that his girlfriend of less than a day had betrayed the Order of the Phoenix by not telling the truth. Maybe war between the side of light and dark was inevitable. Lord Voldemort grew stronger as the days passed.
Norah shivered with gritted teeth as she recollected how the Dark Lord himself had spoken to Norah in the graveyard the evening of Jack Brennan's funeral and had demanded of her regular progress reports.
Reports that she would now never even get to falsify having been kicked out…
She would never get another chance to tell Ollie the truth, that she really did love him, that she'd not have marked and mated with him if she hadn't been so sure of her feelings.
Her feelings hurt worse than the bruises that littered her arms and the area near her collarbones from where the Legilimens had grabbed her too roughly or shoved her back against the wall. He'd been so unforgivably angry with Norah.
Norah, in times past, didn't give a shit if people liked her or agreed with her actions, save for Wes, but Ollie was one of the few people in her life alongside Lupin and Tonks now whose opinion of her really did matter. Hearing Ollie's cold words of dismissal, speaking of Norah's betrayal had hurt.
Seeing the clarity and raw determination in Jack Brennan's son's cold blue eyes had spelled the end of everything good she'd come to respect about her former partner. Norah sniffed to herself as she blinked back her tears.
Feeling every stinging and cutting remark of Ollie's as he'd spat them at Norah in his swelling temper hurt the young blonde werewolf in more ways than one, and not just her pride. Norah did feel genuine regret for her actions, of that Ollie had been wrong. She wished Father had never made her come here, though she'd tried to do the right thing and ultimately failed everyone in the end.
She felt like such a fucking failure, a useless piece of trash. She swallowed as she could feel Lupin's quizzical stare burning a hole in the side of her skull as she averted her gaze. The older werewolf sighed and busied himself by waving his wand and in one fell swoop, her meager possessions packed themselves into her little black purse. She would be giving the clothes Tonks had bought her back to Dora, as Norah did not feel right in keeping them.
As she sat on the bed and watched Lupin work his magic, Norah looked down at her black ankle boots in shame.
Remus waved his wand once more and caused a burst of light to emanate from the tip of his wand and light several small lamps and candles scattered throughout the spare room.
"This ought to warm this place up a bit and give us a little light so I can see what I'm working with," Lupin spoke to Norah in a comforting tone as he turned back towards her spot perched on the edge of her mattress. "Now, let's take a look at you," he offered, as he cautiously knelt in front of the younger werewolf and took Norah's smaller hands in his larger ones. "Ollie had a pretty hard hold on you, didn't he?" He flinched as he realized what he'd just said. "I take it then that he didn't want to hear your explanation?" Lupin said, heaving a sigh.
The younger werewolf still stared at her boots as Norah often did whenever she was avoiding a topic of conversation she wished to avoid discussing. She felt so fucking wretched.
She should have been stronger than this. It was perhaps the first time Norah Jameson believed the Sorting Hat had made a mistake when it sorted her into Gryffindor.
Her actions towards Ollie and the rest of the Order had been not brave or noble at all. She was the very definition of a Slytherin if ever there was one. She was a coward, slinking in the shadows. Norah thought Ollie should have been a Gryffindor. Perhaps they ought to have switched their Houses.
Norah should have been stronger than this. She ought to have known Father's stupid fucking plan wasn't going to work, that she would have eventually been ousted by someone within the Order that had figured it out unless his plan including her telling the truth to further humiliate her more.
She wouldn't put it past Greyback to pull a stunt like that. But Norah was more than a little upset that she had cried in front of Lupin and Tonks, and particularly not in front of the man that she knew herself to be in love with.
Even if the Legilimens and former Slytherin were not presently disgusted by Norah's actions and her betrayal, Ollie would certainly have been by the werewolf's weakness. Ollie had never cried.
Well, granted she'd only known the man about a week and as such, hadn't seen him shed a single tear once, especially not for his dead father at his funeral, but a week for a werewolf felt like an eternity. Knowing that Brennan was her mate and not wanting to cross that line, but knowing that if she didn't, her own flesh and blood would kill her.
She'd never cried so hard in her life as she had downstairs.
Wolves did not cry, not right out in front of the open at least, and certainly not over a little punch to the side of the face. Norah had been dealt far worse blows by Greyback in times past as her punishment.
She'd been bitten, scratched, punched, kicked, burnt, choked, and Merlin only knew what else by her father, so why was it that all of those paled in comparison to what he'd done?
Remus pushed Norah's sleeves of her dress up as gently as he could while Norah remained stubbornly silent. She felt as though she had spoken enough for one night thanks to the effects of the Veritaserum that had been slipped into her tea.
She was afraid if she said anything further, it would only further taint her friends' image of her, so she stayed silent. She stirred only slightly when Lupin spoke to her then.
"Well, it doesn't appear that anything is broken, so that's good news," the older werewolf and wizard spoke as he ran his calloused fingers roughly over the younger wolf's wrists and her forearms. "Though I can already see more than a few good bruises coming up on your skin," Remus sighed.
Norah exhaled a shaking breath through her nose. "I'm alright, Remus. You're too kind. You're sweet to worry, sir," she said with a trembling sigh, though she still refused to meet the man's piercing stare, not wanting to look into Lupin's eyes.
She couldn't risk becoming even more emotional. Speaking too much about what had happened downstairs between her and Ollie would only result in more tears, she was sure of it, and she'd embarrassed herself enough by this point.
"What happened, Norah?" Remus wondered as he moved to sit down next to the petite blonde witch on the edge of the bed. The older man rested his hand lightly on Norah's knee in a gesture of peace and friendship and leaned forward to better make eye contact with his fiancée's maid of honor.
Norah drew in a sharp breath as she felt something within herself tighten.
Norah considered turning her head away, so she wouldn't have to look into the kind and gentle werewolf's eyes, this man who wasn't at all like the other wolves in Greyback's Pack that the savage brute associated with.
At this moment, Remus John Lupin's care and concern for a woman who had more or less betrayed her fellow comrades, her friends, and the man she loved, might just very well bet thing that broke the fragile hold Norah held over her emotions.
But the younger wolf felt not meeting the man's gaze would only make things even more awkward between them, and so Norah nervously lifted her gaze and forced a smile that did not feel genuine at all. She could feel the crinkling of the skin under her eyes and her cheeks' reluctance to be molded falsely into a smile that she already knew hurt.
"I'm fine, Lupin, sir, honest," Norah lied through gritted teeth. "I'm just…a little shaken up is all. I'm fine, sir."
But Remus did not look at all convinced by her words. "That isn't true, Norah. I could tell Ollie was hurting you, and he had no right to lay a hand on you," he growled, his irises briefly flitting gold before reverting back to their typical brown. "You don't need to lie to protect your former partner. There's no use. I can see that Ollie did something to you, Miss Jameson, there's no need to trouble yourself by giving the man an excuse for his inexcusable treatment towards you."
Lupin awkwardly reached to caress a purple, splotchy bruise that was already starting to develop under Norah's eye, causing the young werewolf to flinch away slightly in her pain.
Remus froze in place for a moment, the shadow of the wolf flashing across his scarred and lined features as he felt his wolfish temper swell within his chest at the thought of Dora's best friend daring to lay a hand in anger against Norah.
He quite liked the prickly little blonde witch and thought her more than a suitable mate for Brennan, wherever the man had disappeared to, but he hoped Tonks could talk some sense into Ollie and help the poor chap to calm down.
Lupin looked in Norah's wide, almond-shaped blue eyes before touching the pads of his fingers gently to Jameson's face, wiping away the remnants of her bitter tears.
"Your tears give you away, Norah. What happened?"
Norah sniffed and awkwardly looked down at her lap, fidgeting with her fingers. "I—I thought if I could just talk to him, I—if I could reason with Ollie, then maybe he'd listen. Y—yes, i—it's true that Father, I—I mean, Greyback, he did send me here at first, but I never wanted to do this to hurt him. I thought that if I told the truth right out the gate when no one would take me seriously, they'd think it was a horrible prank, or they wouldn't listen to me and would just kick me out. And then I really started to—to feel things for Ollie. The man's my mate, Remus, just as Dora is yours. You know what that's like for us." Norah quirked a thin blonde eyebrow towards Remus. "We—we imprint on our mates, we can't help who we love!"
Lupin nodded, showing that he understood her words.
"I had thought you might," Remus smiled in what he hoped was comforting to the distraught young witch. "And your efforts were brave, Miss Jameson, and not necessarily unwise, despite what you might be feeling in the current moment. It was an attempt at least when nothing else would work. You were brave to try. I think that in time, Ollie will come around. You're his mate, and he's yours," he said simply. "He just needs some time," he said, looking uncomfortable.
Norah highly doubted that. "H—he wouldn't listen to me, Remus. He was so angry, I don't think I've ever seen him so pissed," Norah frowned, furrowing her brows in a frown. "He kept shoving me, screaming horrible things at me. I—I knew he would feel betrayed, b—but I—I didn't think he'd go as far as he did. I'm not angry with him for—for shoving me, I know I deserve it. It's not his fault. It's my fault, Remus, sir…"
"It's not your fault at all," Lupin protested, a contemplative look overcoming his features as he stroked the edges of his rough, closely-cropped beard as he looked at her. "If anyone, the fault is with Ollie for overreacting as he did, and of course, with Greyback, for putting you in this position. As I said, Ollie just needs some time to sort through and process his own feelings. He will regret how he's treated you when that time comes, I can almost personally guarantee it."
Despite hearing these reassuring and comforting words from the older werewolf, and even knowing that Ollie's anger was coming from a place of immense hurt stemming from her betrayal, it was still almost impossible for the younger werewolf not to take the Legilimens' actions at least a little bit personally. The man was her mate, after all.
She'd marked him last night, had sunken her own fangs into the column of the man's throat. It had taken every last ounce of her willpower within herself not to drain him dry.
It was a permanent, irreversible decision, one that she could not take back even if Norah were of a mind to, and she didn't want to. She knew these next two weeks in the days leading up to Remus and Dora's wedding would be utmost hell. Wolves were duty-bound not only by their Pack to stick together, but their mates.
So forcefully putting that distance between herself and Ollie was going to really hurt like hell.
This wouldn't have happened to anyone else. Ollie wouldn't have hit Tonks or another Order member or threatened to drag them out into the streets of London and publicly humiliate them for witches and Muggles alike to see.
This whole mess could have only happened to her. Norah was the only one in the Order of the Phoenix who really stood out, the weak link who had never belonged, and now she really didn't.
Even when there had been a few fleeting moments here and there when Norah had thought she'd been finding her place among the group, particularly at mealtimes, it was clear that she was different from the rest in Dumbledore's group. But Ollie never failed alongside Lupin and Tonks to make Norah feel excluded from the meetings.
She held her breath and tried to stay calm, but her emotions were flooding back in a stronger wave than before, threatening to bubble to the surface if she couldn't get a grip.
Ollie had scared her, hurt her in more ways than one, and threatened to kill her if she so much as came near him again. No matter why the wizard had done it, Norah felt hurt.
Norah firmly kept her gaze planted on the ground as she struggled to keep her emotions from boiling over in full flow. She staunchly refused to make eye contact with Remus yet again, as her features would surely betray her emotional anguish she was sure was plastered upon her face like a Permanent Sticking Charm.
Norah's resolve began to crumble the moment Remus opened his mouth and started to speak.
"You okay, Norah?" Lupin offered kindly, putting his hand lightly on Norah's shoulder and giving it a light squeeze.
Norah could not answer the man as she was too intently focused on keeping her tears repressed. "I…" she managed to choke out, her voice coming out as a faint whine.
Lupin sensed what she was trying to say and decided to coax the poor young witch into hopefully speaking her mind.
"Norah…are you hurt? You can tell me the truth." He cringed as he immediately realized what he had just said. They both knew bloody full well the effects of the Veritaserum that Kreacher had been ordered to slip into her tea by Sirius and Albus combined wouldn't wear off for another hour or two. He shot her an apologetic look and tried to apologize with his eyes. "I can try my best to mend any injuries you might have. I'm no Healer like Madame Pomfrey is or the Healers at St. Mungo's, but I can do what I can to try to help you, Miss Jameson. I could see Ollie was hurting you as he held you downstairs in the hallway outside the parlor, and I might venture a guess from the way you're crying right now that it wasn't all that Ollie tormented you with. What did he do to you, Norah? There's no shame in telling me. From one wolf to another, it's just the two of us in this bedroom. No one else."
Norah felt her bottom lip quiver as she contemplated whether or not to answer Lupin's questions. Her arms and wrists did hurt and sting, yes, but she knew they weren't broken.
Ollie had tugged and twisted her arms quite harshly, of that she could not deny as he'd allowed his emotions to surface and his father's inherited temper to get the better of him, but he'd not dislocated her shoulders or broken them.
Norah's jaw and cheek hurt, but the only marks she would bear from it would be bruises. Though it was the harshest another man aside from Father had ever handled her, it was nothing that Remus or anyone else could mend for her.
And the emotional pain of her broken heart at Ollie breaking up with her and Dumbledore dismissing her from the Order was far worse and more impossible to quell.
"You're shaking, Norah," Lupin said as he leaned forward to better peer into the younger werewolf's pupils.
And just like that, Norah could no longer suppress her emotions she felt inside as something within her shifted, and the dam gave way and burst. With a pained, choking sob, Norah reached out with groping arms towards Remus, who did not hesitate to gingerly envelope her in a hug, though it felt stiff and awkward.
Perhaps he wasn't used to hugging another witch that wasn't Tonks, it was hard for Norah to say. In any case, considering how awful she felt, she was grateful that Lupin did not pull away, that the older werewolf let her take comfort in him, even if it was just for a fleeting moment.
Lupin awkwardly patted Norah's shoulder and began rubbing soft, comforting circles near the center of her spine, and murmured soft, soothing words into the shell of her ear.
"Let it go. Let yourself feel it, you'll feel better," he murmured as he comforted the trembling younger werewolf who, he wasn't sure if he could admit it to anyone else other than Dora, was quickly becoming something like a younger sister to him. He was definitely going to miss feeling her presence here in Grimmauld Place. "Whatever Ollie did to you downstairs, he did not mean it. he—he's angry, but as I said before, just give him a few days. He cares deeply about you, Norah, even if it doesn't seem like that right now, and I hope you don't take his actions personally. This whole business isn't even about you, or even him, or the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, for that matter, but about Voldemort and his followers, their will and power to change people, to make them do things they wouldn't, to turn them into monsters they would certainly have never been on their own. That's all this is really about, Miss Jameson…" Lupin tried to comfort her.
Norah continued to sob into the crook of Lupin's shoulder, trying and feeling like she was utterly failing to keep her tears off of Lupin's thick grey sweater and not doing a very good job of it at all. When Norah still didn't move to speak, Remus continued to try to offer the younger wolf some small words of comfort, in the hopes that it would supplicate her.
"You have every right to feel upset and hurt, Norah, but know that your partner, the real Ollie, the reasonable man that you've come to know over the last few days, wouldn't do this to you, Miss Jameson. He'd never have a need or desire to. You've wronged him, yes, but you can and should be forgiven. You did not come here of your own volition, you were acting under Greyback's orders under pain and threat of death. No matter what Ollie said to you, no matter what he did to you, this is in no way any fault of your own. Tonks believes the same thing too, I know she does. I saw it in her eyes," he added, a glimmer of affection shimmering in his light brown eyes before Remus realized what he was doing to himself and shook his head to clear his mind and returned his attention back to Norah. "Everything will work itself out in time, miss."
Norah let out a choking breath and sniffed as she struggled to compose herself, but the moment she opened her mouth to try to talk, her sobbing spell became even more unmanageable as her tears came down harder, more intense.
Telling Remus what had transpired would be, in a way, reliving the whole event all over again when she just wanted to attempt to forget it and leave tonight as a murky memory in her past, though she knew she would never be truly able to.
But Norah was also able to recognize that she needed to talk this out, to reassure herself that despite her actions, even she hadn't deserved Ollie's horrible treatment of her just now, that she really did love the man, despite everything Father had roped her into, that she hoped there was still a way out of.
"H—he shoved me over and over again, Remus, each time harder than the last," Norah spoke up in between shaking sobs as she reluctantly allowed Lupin to hold her close as the older werewolf listened sympathetically to the younger werewolf's words over what had transpired between her and her partner downstairs not even five minutes ago. "A-and I kept trying to explain to Ollie," Norah sobbed again, "but he wouldn't listen and the only thing I succeeded in was making him even more pissed off at me." Norah sniffed back her tears. "H—he even punched me, Remus, b—but I think you can see that," she choked out, pointing with a shaking finger to the purple welt forming just underneath the skin of her left eye. "I was just trying to get away from him to give him some space. I didn't even try to fight back."
Tears streamed down the slope of the blonde werewolf's temple as she continued speaking.
"I didn't want to lay a hand or my wand against Ollie, even in his anger. It wasn't the Ollie I knew who was hurting me, it was the shadow of his father," Norah managed to gasp out, her sore and hoarse throat screaming for relief. "It was me he knew, what I am. I—I couldn't hurt him, no matter what Father asks me to do. I—I don't know what to do. I didn't downstairs and I still don't, Lupin. I—I can't return back to the Pack. They'll kill me if I do. The Dark Lord is sure to torture me for information about what I've learned. No."
Norah shook her head vehemently as if to convince herself that going on the run was the best course of action.
"I've no money, I can't go back there, Remus, I—I won't do it! I'd rather die than betray Ollie and you and everyone here again!" she sobbed, her tears coming harder, more intense. She choked back another sob that bubbled its way past her lips and finished with a small, hurt voice. "H—how do you fight off your attacker when the other person's your mate, Remus?"
Lupin looked at Norah sadly and shook his head. "Tonks and I should have known not better than to let you go in an enclosed room alone with that man," he sighed, sounding, and looking disgusted, but not with Norah, with himself. "Ollie's temper was, as I'm sure you've been able to figure out for yourself, inherited from the likes of his father. I'm sorry Dora and I, or anyone else for that matter from the Order, didn't step earlier when we realized what was happening. Tonks and I thought Ollie might have some harsh words for you when he requested that the two of you talk alone. Even then, I was reluctant to let that meeting happen. I was foolish and naïve to expect he would treat you with the grace and gentleness a well-meaning person like you deserves."
Lupin shot Norah a pointed and pained expression.
Norah returned the look with one of her own that suggested she understood. She swallowed down hard past a lump in her throat.
"I—I was so scared, Lupin." Norah sniffed back the onset of more tears as her sobs quickly tapered down and became to become more manageable. "He said he'd throw me outside so the whole street could see what a traitor and a backstabbing bitch that I am. I knew he was angry with me, a—and he—you all—have that right after what I've done, sir…"
Lupin's strong and surprisingly warm arms were still wrapped around the younger wolf's thin, bony shoulders.
"Tonks and I wouldn't have let him do that to you," he murmured, resting his chin on top of Norah's hair, sighing. "And neither would the rest of the Order, particularly not Molly. She's become quite fond of you, as has Kingsley, Norah. They respect you a great deal, Norah. As I keep said and I'll continue to say it until I'm blue in the face if that's what this takes for you to believe my words, Ollie will forgive you, in time. Just give him a couple of days, and hopefully, by our wedding, he'll have cooled down enough to let you try again."
Norah sniffed as she wiped at the edges of her nose with the back of her sleeve. "I—I hope so, Remus. I only wish that Ollie still cared for me, that he would just let me explain…"
"He does, Norah," Remus promised her. "I think deep down, he respects you among us most of all. Maybe even more than Tonks. You dared to do what no other witch in his life would do, and that's to take a chance on the man romantically, despite knowing his volatile and violent background, even given his erratic mood swings, you still care for the man deeply. He just can't see that at the moment, his father's temper has blinded him, and he cannot see that. But he will. Hopefully, Tonks can talk a lick of sense into him. When his mind becomes unclouded, he'll remember what you gave him, and his respect and love will return to you where it belongs. What the two of you share is similar to what Dora and I have. It's more than mated, it's…it's…." he shrugged. "Ah, well, for you and me, it's kind of a werewolf thing," he chuckled darkly.
"I hope so," Norah whispered in a choking voice as she leaned her head against Remus's chest and breathed in steadying breaths in an attempt to calm down her racing heart. "I'm about sick of all of this. I—I can't stay here anymore, it hurts too much, and I think Sirius fancies me getting out of here as soon as possible." Lupin offered a small dry laugh at her words that sounded forced, but it was more exasperated than it was amused. Remus sounded frustrated.
"Tonks and I are too. But maybe the steps that you took tonight are the first in getting Ollie to see the light. And don't worry about your father's threats against our wedding. We'll move it up, marry in secret if we have to. If I have to take Dora to the Warlock of the Peace and marry in just a courthouse ceremony with her, then that's what I'll do. I'll of course, send an owl when we decide where and what time, but you made a promise to Tonks that you would be there as a witness and her maid of honor, and we expect to see you both there, Norah."
His tone was bordering on that of finality in a way that suggested to the young blonde it was not up for arguing, even though they both knew that Ollie would be in attendance as well alongside Sirius as not just a witness, but a groomsman.
"I…" Norah visibly winced, racking her brain for something to say. How to put it to Remus that she was no longer comfortable attending their wedding if he was going to be there? She didn't know how long the two werewolves stayed silent for the few awkward, heavy moments that followed, still embracing one another as friends.
The longer she clung to fistfuls of Lupin's thick sweater like a lifeline, the more Norah realized that perhaps for the first time in a while, things might actually be alright. They certainly weren't yet, but perhaps they might be eventually.
Maybe Remus was right. Lupin made her feel safe, even when she really wasn't. Their two sides were still at the brink of war, with Voldemort growing stronger in secret as the days passed them by.
Harry's safety was always at risk, and now she was on the brink of complete madness for having agreed to Greyback's stupid plan of revenge if she wasn't already completely mad.
But Lupin, for reasons Norah could not explain, caused her to feel assured that she would be okay and that everyone would be, in due time.
"I need to get going," she whispered hoarsely after spending maybe another five minutes in silence with the older werewolf, just the two of them sitting on the bed while she took a minute to collect her thoughts. "I need to leave…"
Keeping her eyes closed as she slung the strap of her little black bag over her shoulder as she rose to her feet, Norah furrowed her brows, finally opening her eyes and turning to face Lupin, who'd placed both hands on either of her shoulders and was shooting her a sympathetic and pained smile that only made Norah feel even more guilty for her part in all of this. She felt she did not deserve this man's kindness.
Before she could stop herself and before Remus could protest, Norah leaned forward on her heels and pressed her lips to both of his cheeks, letting her lips linger and feeling the warmth of the older werewolf's skin. As she pulled back to study Dora's fiancé's face, she smiled a dry little smile at the look of shock on his face as his hand came to rest on his cheek.
"You're such a good friend, Remus." Norah pulled back and glanced over her shoulder out the bedroom window, almost as if she hoped to spot any sign of Ollie or Tonks. "But I don't think that our paths will ever cross again," she explained, with a pained look on her face, much to Lupin's shock. "It's probably for the best, sir. I hope someday, that we all make it through this. I think it best if I go into hiding. Voldemort is sure to send his followers after me once they realize what's happened, and I won't put your lives in further danger. I'll do what I can to hold them off, but if I were you, I would do as you said. Marry Tonks, don't wait, and then go into hiding. Have a Secret-Keeper that you trust and hide."
Lupin was so utterly flabbergasted upon hearing Norah Jameson's words that the only thing he could do was nod numbly, though his mind was screaming at him to protest and argue with her, that this is not at all what Tonks had wanted.
Norah looked away for a moment, her fingers curling over the strap of her purse as she peered back over her shoulder, a sad wistful smile forming on her peaky features.
"When we get out of this mess someday and reach that sweet utopia, hopefully in a time where Voldemort's dead, send me a letter or a postcard, will you? And…."
Norah paused, biting down on her bottom lip, the shadow of the wolf within her flickering across her face as her irises flashed gold.
"Will you please tell Ollie that the man owes me nothing? I could read his mind earlier when we were downstairs. There's a part of him that does care for me, as you said, but he thinks that he owes me, that he still wants to help me. I don't want that." Norah shook her head as if to convince herself of her own words. "I don't want the wizard's money, I do not want Ollie's pity, I don't want him to try to contact me or send me letters. Where I plan to go, no one should be able to find me. I don't want his words, his letters, or if he comes to his senses, his apologies. I want exactly nothing from Ollie, from now on, forever. Will you tell him that?" Norah asked in a low tone.
"Y—yes, o—of course," stammered Remus, finding himself at a loss for words and in awe of the young witch standing defensively before him. No wonder Ollie was so tormented.
This young blonde prickly werewolf had the ability to tear his soul to pieces with just a single cutting remark.
She was no match for the Legilimens and son of a Death Eater if the blazing fiery passion he saw as Norah's eyes stayed golden in her current stressed state was anything for Lupin to go off.
"Good," Norah murmured bluntly, before looking across the room at Remus again, slightly confused by the older wolf's behavior. "Then I don't think you and I have anything more to say to one another. Goodbye, Remus. I wish you and Tonks truly the best and I hope that you have a happy marriage and build a wonderful life with one another, Lupin. You both deserve it."
Norah offered a curt nod in response before turning her back on Lupin, not saying another word to Remus as she turned on the heels of her black ankle boots and Disapparated with a loud, resounding crack! that in Lupin's agitated state, made the man jump and startle a bit.
He did not use to be this jumpy.
Lupin despaired to himself over the nature of how Norah was feeling about all this. Remus let out a haggard sigh, running his fingers through his hair as he turned away and walked out of Norah's now-vacated bedroom, which now bore the signs that no one had ever lived there, and closed the door behind him, smart enough not to look back.
Lupin could only hope Tonks was having better luck in reaching Ollie than he had with Norah…
I do love it when Lupin gives solid advice. Hopefully, in time Norah will see the truth. Coming up, Tonks attempts to reason with Ollie, but will the man listen in his agitated and current temperamental state? The next few chapters are more Remadora-heavy and focus on their relationship in dealing with the aftermath of all the crap that Norah/Fenrir put them through, before getting back to Nollie's, so all you Remadora fans, stay tuned!
Though this story is primarily Nollie since these two really grew on me in Worth the Risk and I kinda glossed over their story in my mind, this also is heavy Remadora too, since I feel like the two relationships are a nice balance to their friendships, but different too. Stay tuned for more!