Remus ran a hand down his face as he tried to think how to explain. Which was hard when your wife (his wife) was very impatiently tapping her foot right in front of you with a very scary glare on her face.

Yes, he had faced feral werewolves, Death Eaters, everything that could possibly be horrible but there was still nothing more terrifying than his furious wife. Especially when her hair looked like that because that colour did not mean she was simply angry. Oh no, that meant that she was furious. And annoyed. All of the scary emotions. No, make that terrifying ones.

"Remus?"

Oh, right. He hadn't answered her.

"Um-"

How on earth was he supposed to start? What would make most sense and what would give her the answers she wanted the quickest?

"You better have more for me than 'um', Remus Lupin!"

"I do, I do," he said quickly.

Because he did.

She gave him an impatient look.

"Well? Get on with it."

Yes, that would be a good idea. The best idea actually.

"I didn't think that it would be a good idea for us to stay with the Minister present."

He braced himself for her reply. It was the truth. And it was quick. He just didn't think it was completely acceptable. And if he thought that then Dora definitely didn't. And he was right. Dora scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I gathered that when you dragged me away from the party, Remus! And I repeat, what. The. Hell?"

He winced. That was a lot of venom in her tone. And he deserved it. He was the one who had done something stupid without explaining himself. But there had been no time to explain. He didn't know how to explain. But he was going to have to give it a go.

"The Ministry. Well, the Ministry, it's, it's starting to enact legislation against werewolves. And it's not positive."

It never was. Oh, of course they made it out as if it was for everyone's safety but at the end of the day, they were letting their fear and need for control rule them. Which never turned out well.

Dora did not look shocked by this news. Not even a little bit.

"And? The Ministry is ways doing that. It always sucks. It's always horrible. Wait. Is it even more horrible than usual?" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him.

Remus shook his head. "Just more jobs added to the list that we can't hold."

It was getting to be quite a list. A depressing list.

"Oh."

"Yeah, and some stuff about restricting voting rights," he said quickly.

He wasn't completely restricted but if voting took place on certain days around the full moon, then he couldn't vote. Technically he still had the ability to vote.

He grimaced. Yeah, it really wasn't good, was it?

"Remus, is this what you have been stewing over the last few days? I've been trying to give you space but we're a team. We're supposed to go through things like this together," she said in a frustrated tone.

"It's my cross to bear, Dora. You don't have to."

This didn't need to bother her. What was the point? She would just vet frustrated and angry and that wouldn't change anything. He knew that from experience.

"It's not a cross to bear, Remus! I knew damn well what I was getting into when I married you! I'm not stupid. I'm not naive."

"I never said you were."

"Well, you're damn well implying it."

No, that's not what he meant at all!

"Also, even if it was a cross to bear, stupid phrase, by the way, it's my choice. Not yours."

"But-"

She put a hand over his mouth.

"No, Remus. My choice. I'm an adult. I can do that."

He pulled her hand away and sighed. What was that? The third, fourth time? He suspected he was going to be doing a lot more if it today.

"I know it's your choice. I know you're an adult." Boy, did he know. "It wasn't about making a choice for you. It really wasn't."

There was no way he ever wanted to do that. Not again. He had lost a whole year because of making a choice for her.

"It's just, well, oh, I don't know," Remus trailed off helplessly.

On one hand he definitely shouldn't be keeping things from her, even if they were just worries. But on the other hand, what was the point? The legislation passed through anyway and it was always going to.

"But by not telling me you took my ability to make a choice away from me," she said gently.

At least she no longer sounded angry but this was almost worse. It was reproachful. It was scolding. Remus shifted on his feet. He hadn't thought of it like that. He just, he just hadn't wanted to worry her.

"I didn't mean to do that," he offered dup in a weak apology.

"Well, you did."

"And I'm really, really sorry about that. I just wanted it to not be a problem."

"And it's not a problem, we'll, it is obviously. For werewolves. For you. But me not knowing about it more of a problem than me knowing it."

"Okay."

Dora raised her eyebrows in shock at that. "Okay?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Okay."

"And what exactly does that mean, Remus?"

"It means, it means that I'm going to tell you when I'm worried about something. When legislation about werewolves need to be brought to your attention."

"They normally won't be," Dora said quickly. "I keep track of that too but between our wedding and Bill's and -"

"That's fine," he reassured. "I don't expect you to."

"Well, you should. Because I'm your friend. Your wife. Of course, I'd keep myself aware of things that concern you."

Remus couldn't help but smile at that. Yep, that was Dora all over. Even when they started dating, she had kept track of pieces of legislation about werewolves going through the Ministry."

"But," she continued. "If you do those things, we should be fine. We will be fine."

And that was a relief. Why did he always need someone to smack some sense into him, whether it be literally of symbolically? Thankfully, Dora was good at both.

"Oh, you need to do one more thing," Dora said.

"What's that?"

He wanted to make this right.

"You need to talk to Harry, explain why you rushed out on his seventeenth like that."

"I'll explain it to Harry later," he promised.

"And apologise."

"And apologise," he amended though, of course, he was going to do that anyway.

She gave him a long look before her face finally (finally) softened. He heaved a sigh of relief.

"Oh, come here," she said, opening her arms.

He all but fell into the generously offered hug and squeezed her tight. Okay, maybe he had been a bit of an idiot. More than a bit.

"We're a team, Remus," she said in his ear as she returned the squeeze. "Please don't forget that."

"I won't," he promised.

Because he wasn't. He was going to do better. He was no longer by himself. He had a partner. A wife. Someone to share things with. Someone he had to share things with or this simply wouldn't work out.