Tuesday, 28 December 1976

"Get the phone, Lena!" Lisa yelled from upstairs.

"Fine!" Lena yelled back.

Lena sighed as she got up from the couch. She really didn't want to stop watching the episode of Doctor Who that was on. Lena carried her bowl of cereal with her. She put a spoonful of cereal in her mouth as she answered the phone. "'Ello?" Lena answered, her voice slightly muffled. It was evident she was eating something.

Lena nearly choked as she heard Remus' voice float from the phone into her ear. "Hi, Lena."

Lena swallowed. "Hi, Remus. Uh, Peter's not here right now."

"I know. He's on that trip with your dad."

Every year after Boxing Day, Mark and Peter would go on a fishing trip for a day. Lena was pleased that she was never invited. Standing on a boat in the freezing winter and touching worms didn't particularly appeal to Lena.

"Oh, then why are you calling? Oh God, that sounded so rude. I didn't mean it like that," Lena rambled, her cheeks turning red.

Remus laughed. "Don't worry, Lena. It's fine. I was just wondering if you needed to go over any schoolwork over the break. If you do, you could come over and I can work on it with you."

Lena blushed. She had already finished up all her assignments the Wednesday before when she hung out with Ava and Maggie.

Lena didn't mind doing homework a second time if she got to spend it with Remus.

"That would be great. I could really help with History and DADA. When's good for you to meet?"

"Now's good for me if it works for you."

Lena looked down at what she was wearing. She was wearing a pair of pink pajama pants with hearts on them, a fraying paint-stained jumper, and a pair of unicorn slippers. She needed to change.

"I'll Floo over in about thirty minutes, yeah?"

"Perfect. See you then."

"Can't wait."

Remus and Lena had finished going over her History assignment and were currently taking a lunch break with Remus' parents.

Lena was surprised that Remus was as lean as he was. If Lisa cooked half as well as Hope did, Lena was confident she'd be two stones heavier than she was.

"This is the best toasted cheese I've ever had, Mrs. Lupin," Lena said happily before taking another bite of it.

Hope smiled. "Thank you, Lena. But I'm sure you're exaggerating."

"I don't think she is, Mum," Remus laughed as he grabbed a homemade chip and plopped it in his mouth. "The last time I went over to Lena's, her mum had caused a fire making toasted cheeses."

"Remus," Hope scolded. "That's not very nice!"

"It's okay. It's completely true. Mum can't cook to save her life," Lena said.

"So, Lena, what house are you in?" Lyall asked.

"I'm in Hufflepuff."

"Ahh, very nice. I was in Gryffindor."

"What about you, Mrs. Lupin? What house were you in?"

"Remus didn't tell you? I'm a Muggle, so I didn't go to Hogwarts."

"That explains why Remus actually knows stuff. I was talking to this one kid and he didn't even know what a football was."

Hope laughed. "It's so funny when James or Sirius come over. They're always so confused when the telephone rings."

Lena grinned. "It must have been a shock when you found out Mr. Lupin and Remus were wizards when Remus first did accidental magic then."

Lena immediately realized how dumb her question was. Hope was probably more shocked that her son was bit by a werewolf than her husband having to reveal that he was a wizard and their son would probably be too. Lena just never thought of Remus as a werewolf so she forgot that Hope would have known about Remus being a wizard since he was four, not eleven.

"Yes and no. I knew about Lyall being a wizard before we were even married."

"You did? So you broke the Statute of Secrecy?" Lena asked, turning to Lyall with a look of amazement on her face.

"Yes, I did," Lyall said rather only proudly.

"Only because you felt guilty lying," Remus pointed out.

"You see, I met Hope when she stumbled upon a Boggart. She was terrified so she screamed.

"Never had I been so happy to be so terrified. I got to meet you," Hope said looking at Lyall, who leaned in to kiss her.

Remus was so embarrassed. Sometimes his parents acted like they were still teenagers. "Please stop," he moaned.

"Don't be embarrassed, Remy. I'm sure Lena's seen adults kiss before."

Both Remus and Lena blushed and Lyall continued the story. "I found her and turned the Boggart into a field mushroom and then I walked her home."

"We started dating right after that."

"I felt so terrible though that she thought she was in danger so I told her that I was a wizard and that Boggart didn't really pose a threat. I was so worried she would break up with me after finding out that I wasn't as heroic as she thought I was and that I had been lying to her," Lyall admitted.

"How could I break up with you? I was already in love with you," Hope said and kissed Lyall on the cheek. "And for the record, I still thought you were very heroic."

Hope rose and went to the kitchen counter and grabbed the plate of bara brith that she had made earlier. She brought it back to the table and began cutting it. "At our wedding, the cake topper we used was a Boggart."

Lean sighed happily. "I think that's the most romantic story I've ever heard."

Hope smiled. "Now all of you have some bara brith."

No one protested. Lena rolled up the sleeves of her jumper and reached out to grab a slice of bara brith. Remus saw that she was wearing the bracelet that he gave and blushed. It didn't go unnoticed by his parents.

"As we're on the subject of love, do you know about Remus' dating life that you can tell us about, Lena? He hasn't told us anything about his dating life since he went out with that girl Eloise Meyers last year," Lyall asked.

Lena turned to Remus. The gears in Lena's head were turning. "You went out with Eloise Meyers last year?"

Although Lena's upset and jealous tone was obvious to Hope and Lyall, it went straight over Remus' head. His mind was occupied. He did not want to discuss his old crush with his new crush, especially in front of his parents. Remus wanted the ground to swallow him whole. He did not want to discuss his old crush with his new crush. "We only went on one date."

Lena gave a quiet humph and began to tear her slice of bara brith into smaller pieces.

"What?" Remus asked.

"Nothing. I just imagined you with a nicer person than Eloise Meyers."

Remus wished that nicer person was Lena as he and Lena both began to eat their bara brith.

Lyall looked at his plate as Hope kicked him lightly under the table. He had made things awkward. He'd fix it.

"So, Lena, do you date a lot?" Lyall asked a bit too loudly.

Remus nearly choked.

"Lena and I need to get back to studying!" Remus announced, rising from his chair, grabbing Lena's hand, and leading her upstairs to his room.

"That was an odd question you asked," Remus commented once the awkwardness of discussing Eloise Meyers had passed.

"What was?" Lena asked, although she very well knew the question to which he was referring.

"That you asked my mom if she was surprised that I was a wizard. It's a strange question considering that she would have known since I'm werewolf."

Lena's cheeks turned pink. "I realized how dumb it was after asked… I always forget you're a werewolf."

"How could you forget that?"

"Because it doesn't matter to me."

Remus reached for hand and squeezed it, silently thanking her. He looked down at her hand.

"You're wearing the bracelet."

"I love it. It was so thoughtful of you. And the sketchpad and charcoal were too. I wish I had gotten you a better present."

"Lena, I love what you got me. My mum took the drawing from me, framed it, and put it in the den. And I've already gone through your copy of The Hobbit twice."

"It's your copy now."

"Thank you so much for having me!"

"It was our pleasure, Lena. You're welcome anytime over anytime," Hope said.

"It was lovely seeing you again, Mr. Lupin. And it was nice meeting you, Mrs. Lupin. I'll see you at school, Remus."

"Until then, Lena," Remus said with a smile.

As soon as Lena Flooed back out of the Lupin home, Hope turned to her husband.

"Lyall, love, you're absolutely right. He does like her. Oh, and I think she likes him back."

"Mum!"

Sunday, 2 January 1977

Maggie threw her cards down. "Bam! I win losers!"

Lena, Ava, Raj, Alex, and Marlene groaned in the train compartment they sat in. It was time to go back to Hogwarts. "Why are you so good at Exploding Snap?" Marlene complained and Ava gave her a peck on the cheek. Marlene smiled.

"Maybe you're all just really bad," Maggie joked.

"What! I beat you once last year," Alex said.

"Yeah, because you cheated," Maggie laughed.

"That's… true," Alex admitted.

"Well, I'm sick of losing," Raj said.

"Agreed," Ava said. "Let's play another game."

"You guys start without me," Lena said getting up. "I gotta use the water closet."

"Oh, so you gotta take a shit?" Raj said.

Lena laughed. "What?"

"Oh, it's a known fact that if a person says they need to go to the water closet, they need to poop. If they had to pee, they'd just say they'd have to pee," Ava explained.

"Well, I just have to pee but I'll let you know if some poop comes out."

"Oh, please do," Alex laughed.

Lena shook her head laughing as she closed the compartment door behind her and began walking to the water closet. Lena's smile grew as she saw Zoë walking towards her down the corridor.

"Hey, Zo! How was your vacation," Lena greeted as she and Zoë came closer.

Zoë burst into tears and tried to cover her face.

Lena paled and pulled Zoë into an empty compartment. "Zoë, what's wrong? What happened?"

Zoë hiccuped as she spoke. "My-my parents… are Muggle-Muggle-borns… both of them. My-my family and I… we woke up yesterday… and our house-our house… Oh, Lena. I can't say it! It's so awful!"

Lena wrapped her arms around the shuddering Zoë. "You don't have to say anything, Zoë. I'm so sorry."

Lena kept holding Zoë until her shudders subsided. Lena's jumper was soaked from Zoë's tears but it didn't matter. Zoë lifted her head and stared at Lena. Somehow, even though Zoë's were bloodshot, they were clear, like Zoë had an epiphany and a terrifying one of that.

"They burned our yard. They wrote 'Mudblood' on our house in our dog's blood. They killed our dog."

Lena swallowed. She didn't know what to say. Zoë's epiphany was a terrible one. It was that she wasn't safe, her family wasn't safe, no one was safe. And things would get a lot worse before they got better.

"I'm sorry, Zoë. I'm so sorry, Zoë."

Zoë cried even harder and Lena did everything to keep her tears in.

Wednesday, 5 January 1977

"Where's Sirius?" Lena asked.

She and James were standing in an abandoned classroom. Sirius was supposed to be with him. Tonight was the full moon and they were preparing her for the first steps of becoming an Animagus.

"Detention with Filch."

"Already?"

"Are you surprised?"

"Not really. I just wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt."

James snorted. "Alright, here is the vial, the dew, the chrysalis, and the silver teaspoon for later. I would just put it in your trunk until it's time. And here is the Mandrake leaf for now. So just put it in your mouth now I guess."

Lena placed the leaf in her mouth and frowned. Even though she had been familiarizing herself over the past month with the taste of the Mandrake leaf, it was disgusting. Lena carefully placed the other objects and ingredients James had brought into her bag.

Lena looked at James and was about to thank him until she saw his face. His normally warm hazel eyes seemed dull. He was messing with his hair much more than he usually did. He didn't seem as mischievous or happy as he did earlier when Lena had seen him in between classes.

"What's wrong, James? You're not the one who's got to have a Mandrake leaf in their mouth for a month."

"First of all, no one's making you have a Mandrake leaf. Second of all, nothing's wrong."

"Really? Then why do you look like a kicked puppy?"

"How do you know what a kicked puppy looks like? Do you kick a lot of puppies in your spare time?"

"I kick Sirius from time to time."

James gave a light laugh. "Fair enough."

"So, what's wrong, James?"

The raven-haired boy sighed. "I asked Lily out again and she said no again. I like her more and more as time goes on so every new rejection hurts more than the one before."

Lena bit her lip. She could relate to unrequited love. The difference between her and James was that James was brave enough to put himself out there to the possibility that the love would be reciprocated.

"You really like her, huh?"

James gave her a look. "I feel like that's pretty obvious by now, Lena"

"It was rhetorical."

Lena paused. "Does she say why she keeps saying no?"

"She says that I'm immature, a bully, too persistent, and not serious enough for her to ever date."

Lena grimaced. Lily seemed to have her mind made up.

"Look, James. I know you're a fun bloke and like to pull pranks and stuff like that. And that can make you seem immature. But I know you, James. I know that you're a very caring person who can be mature and serious. Remus told me you were the one that suggested you, Peter, and Sirius should become Animagi to help him. You let Sirius move in with you when he got disowned. You took Peter under his wing and helped him come into his own."

James blushed from all the praise. "Thanks, Lena. I appreciate that."

Lena nodded. "You shouldn't get rid of your fun side, James, but you should also show her your serious side. Girls like that sort of thing. And maybe then she'll go out with you."

"Gotch ya. But what about the too persistent and bully part?"

"Just ask her out considerably less. And don't be too over-the-top when you do it. And when you ask her out, act like you don't care if she says yes or no."

"But I do care!"

"I know you do. Be you need to act more casual and nonchalant and less eager and persistent. As for the bullying part, prank Snape and the Slytherins a lot less."

"But she's not even friends with Snape anymore."

"But she still cares about him."

James groaned.

"Sometimes your pranks on him and his house are a bit mean and and too much. And Lily doesn't like that and neither do I for that matter. Your pranks have got to be in good nature, not out of malice. Understand?"

James nodded and hung his head in shame. Lena supposed this was the wake up call he needed.

James looked up at her. "Thanks, Lena. And in return for your advice about how to date Lily, I'll give you some advice about how to date Remus."

Lena frowned. "I don't like him that way and he doesn't like me that way."

James raised his hands. "Ok, keep lying to yourself."

"James!"