MY LOVES! MY DARLINGS!
I know I updated on Saturday, but because of how much love you've all been showing I decided to update a little early ;) You've all been delightful, and you make me so, so happy with all of your darling reviews!
I must warn you, part of this chapter hurt me to write. I'm not sure if it will hurt all of your hearts like it did mine, but I just wanted to warn you all.
ALSO. Currently freaking out, like proper, don't know what to do with myself freaking out, because Fall Through Time is SEVEN followers away from 800. It's absolutely mental and it's terribly surreal, and I can't handle it. I just can't believe it.
The number of followers on this story bewilders me constantly, and I am just so happy you're all enjoying Dalliance so much :D
Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)
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Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.
As always, for Sable and Lais xxx my loves *hearts*
It's quiet. Dead quiet, and all he has to keep him company is the almost full moon shining mockingly through his window.
Remus is sitting upright on his bed, a mound of pillows behind his back to keep him propped up, and his sheets are all tangled up at the bottom of his bed.
Less than three days now, and it will be his first full moon without Wolfsbane to ease him through it in over a year.
Something is nagging him about the whole situation, Fletcher had to have known the potion was bad, had to know they would figure it out. He never took such big risks. He would have sold it to someone he was never going to run into again. Normally if he'd done something like this he would be halfway to Ireland by now.
Things just weren't adding up.
Thinking about it isn't going to change anything, Remus sighs heavily through his nostrils, feeling his chest compress and then expand when he takes a small intake of breath a few moments later.
He's still wearing the same thing he was that morning, he hadn't had it in him to get out of bed and change or shower.
The others had left him shortly after delivering the various bits of news to him; they wanted to let him rest, and he insisted that James's offer to celebrate Remus's birthday on his birthday at the end of the month was brilliant and he was extremely grateful. (Lily and James had decided not to go on a honeymoon after their wedding, with the war they didn't think it appropriate to run away for a week.)
Hermione lingered a beat longer than the rest. Staring at him with those knowing, beautiful brown eyes and instructing him firmly to get some rest as she left.
He'd drifted off for a little while before waking up just before dusk, the last dregs of the sunlight kissing the horizon. He watched it disappear, leaving behind a inky blue sky, with bright stars and with his cold mistress of the sky taunting him as she brushed her fingers across the land.
A soft click from his door on his right makes him flinch. Remus's head snaps sharply in the direction of the noise and is greeted by a lovely vision in red.
She's wearing an oversized, long sleeved maroon shirt, it cuts off just past her mid thigh and as far as he can see she isn't wearing anything else. Wild, unruly, honey brown curls are twisted into an elaborate mess on top of her head and her wand is loosely clasped in her hand.
Remus chuckles softly when he sees what Hermione is carrying.
She closes the door with the bottom of her foot and she pads towards the bed, making her way around to him.
She places one of Dorea's nice china plates on his lap-and laying on top of it, looking decadent, is a huge hunk of velvety chocolate cake. The chocolate frosting is thick and it's in the middle of the cake as well as on top-it is laying on its side, and sticking out from the top is a single, thin, purple candle (at least it looks purple in the light).
Hermione is partially blocking the moonlight and he's grateful for that.
"It may not be the celebration you wanted or deserved, but I thought you should still get a piece of cake," Hermione smiles shyly, chewing on her bottom lip.
"Thank you, Hermione. You didn't have to do this," Remus says, voice laced with gratitude.
"I wanted to," Hermione says as she points her wand at the candle and whispers something. A second later the candle's wick is on fire and its small orange flame is swaying gently.
Remus honestly didn't know what to wish for. There were so many things he wanted. Most of which would never happen. No longer being a werewolf. For this war to be over and for no harm to befall anyone he cared about.
Remus glances at Hermione briefly and then he leans forward, pursing his lips slightly and he hesitates for a moment before blowing the candle out.
Hermione easily reaches over and plucks the candle out of the cake-the bottom covered in bits of frosting and cake crumbs. She gently places it on the edge of the plate away from the cake.
"You want some?" Remus asks as Hermione hands him a fork. Where she got it from he has no idea, but he refrains from asking.
Hermione looks at him dubiously, and then she sits on the edge of the bed beside him, her feet dangling off the side of the bed, she twists so that she can face him fully.
"You're offering me chocolate cake? Remus Lupin, will wonders never cease?"
"Do you want a bite or not?" Remus chuckles softly, holding out a small forkful in her direction.
"How generous," Hermione giggles before accepting the fork and eating the cake.
Hermione hands him back the fork by the handle and he accepts it, and neither of them says anything for a few minutes as Remus eats his cake. Hermione is staring quietly out at the moon, a sad look in her eyes.
Remus finishes his cake and puts the plate on his bedside table, and he leans towards Hermione-wincing slightly from the jolt of pain that sparks up his spine as he shifts.
"Hermione," Remus whispers her name almost reverently, and her face is mere inches away from his when she turns to look at him-eyes widening a fraction at his proximity.
Remus's right leg is outstretched behind Hermione, the other hanging off the side of the bed; Hermione's arse is almost touching his leg and the wild curls that have sprung free from her bun are brushing the small of her back.
"Remus," Hermione murmurs. He hears her heart beating quickly, he hears her fingers twist into the sheets on his bed, her hears her breath tremble out of her.
Remus shakes his head lightly, a smile brushing his lips, and Hermione purses her lips, brow puckering.
"What?" Hermione asks.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about how beautiful you are," Remus says softly, hazel eyes flecked with gold piercing into her warm brown ones. The moon was shining across half her face, the other half covered in shadow, but that didn't stop him from seeing the pink crawl onto her cheeks.
"Don't be daft," Hermione says, shaking her head in disbelief. She moves to stand up, but he deftly catches her wrist.
"Can you stay?"
"Stay?" Hermione raises an eyebrow, lips twisting in amusement.
"Just to sleep. I don't want to be alone tonight...I won't do anything, I promise," Remus says seriously, letting go of Hermione's wrist and scooting backwards on the bed.
Hermione deliberates for a good few minutes, and Remus holds his breath for the entire duration if it.
Then, a dam of relief burst in his chest when she utters two syllables, "okay."
Hermione shifts and then crawls on all fours to the other side of the bed, lying down on her side and facing him. He slides down in the bed, and he sits up and leans down to grab the sheets that were bunched up at the bottom of his bed; he drags them upwards, making sure to cover Hermione as well.
"Good night, Remus," Hermione whispers, her eyelids already drooping-it had been a arduously long day.
"Good night, Hermione," Remus replies, his own eyelids heavy with sleep, the image of Hermione slumbering gently beside him blurring around the edges.
Remus and Hermione fall asleep that night, their hands almost brushing, their warmth blending together under the sheets, and their ankles tangling together at some point. The cruel moonlight pouring across them.
Tuesday, 13th March, 1979
Full Moon
Potter Manor
Orchards
The pain intensifies by the second, his blood feels like it's on fire, boiling his insides.
His skull feels like it's being hacked away at by a dull axe, his eyes feel like needles are being stabbed into the back of them.
Remus is curled up in a ball on the damp ground, knees tucked to his chest, hands clutching at his head as he screams his throat raw. Agony. It hasn't been this bad in years, but this is what a bad batch of Wolfsbane does.
Remus is screaming and Moony is howling inside of him, yelping alongside him as he too feels Remus's pain.
"Fuck. It's gotten worse, I found it. I hope you're right about this Pads," Remus can barely hear his voice through the pain, the pounding in his head, through his own screams.
Caramel and vanilla. The smells instantly cut through the pain, parting it sharply. It's nowhere near gone, but at least he doesn't feel like his limbs are tearing away from his body anymore. He clutches whatever the hand is giving him. A beige jumper. He buries his face in it, and he would be downright terrified by the impact she has on him at any other time, but right now, right now he doesn't care one iota.
"Shit. That actually worked," James murmurs in disbelief, still kneeling beside Remus, rubbing his friend's back.
Remus's body is trembling still from the excruciating pain, and he finds that his throat is tender and sore from all the screaming. He still manages to rasp out, "thanks, Prongs."
"We're here for you, Moony. Always."
Remus is exhausted, and he knows the moon is almost full in the sky. He can feel it. He is dreading it, he's scared. He hates this. Not being in control. Giving in wholly and totally to Moony's whims and instincts.
It happens in the blink of an eye, a single yelp of pain escapes his throat as his spine breaks and his body curls in on itself.
James moves back a fraction, but he doesn't shift, not yet.
Remus feels the tears spring from the corner of his eyes as the rest of his bones break and being to re-shape. An electric shock is pulsing through his body and he can't stop the screams this time. Not even Hermione can stop them this time. No matter how much he wishes she could.
He rolls onto his knees as his back arches, the skin rippling as his insides changed. Find an anchor. Find something. Anything.
All Remus can see is Hermione's face, it's only been a month but he almost can't remember what their lives were like without the golden trio. The concept of life without them now is strange and foreign.
Hermione. Hermione. Hermione. Remus chants her name like a lifeline as his face elongates, and his teeth begin to grow.
His pores burn and itch as thick, sandy blonde hair sprouts from them.
His mind is fading, and it gets harder to focus as his pain grows exponentially.
Hermione, he thinks one final time before everything is fuzzy and is sucked away into darkness, a heavy, pitch black darkness.
Moony stands up on all fours, sniffing the air curiously. Carefully appraising the three creatures in front of him.
The huge black dog, its head bowed, but its teeth are bared. The doe and the stag are behind it. Kneeling on their front legs, heads also bowed.
Moony knows them, they are Moony's friends. He shakes his head furiously, his shiny coat gleaming in the moonlight.
Moony feels his human slumbering away, which is strange. His human has been awake for all of the moons in recent times that Moony cares to remember.
Moony hears a rustling in the Orchards behind him and instinctively growls. Noting that it was just the wind blowing about some fallen leaves, he relaxes.
Moony is tired. Limbs heavy, he paws the ground for a moment before laying down, closing his eyes and he hears his friends gather around him. He decides to join his human, he's exhausted.
The moon watches over as the animals fall asleep, the doe curled into the stag and the dog on the other side of the doe. Creating a bundle of warmth to cocoon the three of them. The werewolf is a foot away, head laying across its crossed paws, in a deep sleep.
