Chemical Reaction
lone astronomer
Disclaimer: I own nothing, J. K. Rowling owns a lot, and a bunch is unclaimed.
Summary: Right after 'A Most Peculiar Twist of Fate' in my 'A Hundred Thousand Mirrored Futures' series. Yes, I am that cruel. Poor Remus. What's the cliché phrase? 'The morning after'? This is a fluffy 'morning after' story. And after that, Sirius and Ally have an intelligent conversation (gasp!).
Author's Note: Muchas gracias to Samily for the song. Cheers!
Author's Note II: 'Legal' ::cough, cough:: in the wizard world of England (in 1984) is eighteen. Okay? Okay.
Intelligent Question of the Day: Anybody know where Thing1 went?! I'm getting worried.
* * *
I want you to remember
A love so full it could send us all ways
I want you to surrender
All my feelings rose today
And I want you to remain
The power of children can amaze
I'll try not to complain
I know that's a pisser baby
The chemicals between us
The walls that lie between us
Lying in this bed
The chemicals displaced
There is no lonelier place
Than lying in this bed
I want you to remember you said
Every driven word
Like a hammer, hell, to my head
The chemicals between us
There is no lonelier place
Then lying in this bed
The chemicals displaced
There is no lonelier place
Than lying in this bed
The chemicals between us
The chemicals between us
Lying in this bed
We're of the hollow men
We are the naked ones
We never meant you harm, meant you wrong…
The chemicals between us
The army of achievers
Lying in this bed
The chemicals displaced
There is no lonelier face
Than lying in this bed
The chemicals between us
The chemicals between us
The chemicals
The chemicals between us…
-Bush, The Chemicals Between Us
* * *
Light, glorious, warm light blocked only partially by falling snow, shone through the window of an apartment in England. Remus Lupin stirred in his sleep, reveling in the warmth of his blankets, perfectly comfortable in his state of semi-consciousness… until he noticed that he was not alone. There was a slender, pale leg slung over one of his own, a mass of blonde curls under his head, a delicate hand inside his own.
Remus was wide awake in a heartbeat, although still very quiet so as not to awaken Allya. Strange how he'd never noticed the completely serene look she took on while sleeping, he mused. Not that he'd ever seen her sleeping that close up before.
Silently, he sneaked out from under the covers and reached for his robe, which was hanging on the back of the door. Wiping the sleep from his eyes and wondering if he wasn't dreaming, Remus sat on a barstool in the kitchen, waiting for Sirius' morning comments to commence.
Sirius just regarded him with a strange grin on his face.
Then, Remus did something completely unexpected. "Coffee," he rasped out, wondering for half a second why his voice was so hoarse. He almost blushed. In front of Sirius. Things were not going well.
If at all possible, Sirius' grin widened. "Something happen to your voice, Moony old pal?" he asked, sliding Remus a mug filled with a revolting liquid.
Normally, Remus hated coffee, and wouldn't touch the stuff. If he did have to drink it, he usually diluted it beyond recognition with cream and sugar.
Remus drank the coffee (which was ice-cold, he didn't notice) in two gulps and regarded Sirius blearily.
"What day did you say Allya was coming, again?"
Remus absolutely glowered. "Yesterday."
"Oh yeah? Where's she staying?"
Lupin let loose a string of cusses that would normally never even enter his mind. "… Sirius. This is not the time." A ghost of a smile danced on his lips. "You don't want to mess with me right now. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
Sirius cackled.
Remus, however, went back to bed.
Allya was just coming to as Remus crept back into bed beside her. For a few moments she lay there, just letting consciousness seep over her mind again. Finally, cerulean eyes blinked open and her eyebrows hooded them, wincing.
Remus noted the expression of pain on her features and was immediately alert. "Did I hurt you?" he asked quietly, in an emotional whisper.
She smiled- somehow a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless. "You couldn't if you tried, you know that." But her eyes spoke volumes. "This," Allya said, turning her sad smile dry, "is something I brought upon myself."
There was a long silence, punctuated only by slightly awkward breaths and the sound of brain gears turning. Remus spoke first. "We shouldn't have, you know," he said finally. "We're still children, in a way."
Allya sighed. "I know, and if it wasn't so much damn fun I'd probably feel guilty." Remus looked at her as if she'd just turned into (the womanizer) Sirius. "Only kidding," she assured him.
"Did I look worried?" he chuckled at her expression. "Okay, I looked worried. I don't think I could do that every night…"
"Oh, you know," Allya replied, eyes sparkling, "practice makes perfect. But I, my friend, am just barely more than an innocent schoolgirl!"
Remus colored nicely and kissed her palm. "After all this, that's all I am to you? A friend?"
Allya laughed- chivalrous and self-conscious Remus all rolled up into one. "What do you want me to say? Lover? Partner? Confidant? Hero? You're everything, but a friend first." She thought a moment. "I didn't know you had a tattoo."
He laughed. "How do you always manage to make me feel better?"
She winked, "It's all in the expression, love."
He kissed her cheek before pulling her upright and tossing her a robe. "Love," he said, as if testing the word. He'd said it before, but somehow it had never meant so much. "I like it. Well, we may as well face the music…"
Allya wrinkled her nose. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
"Well, well, look who's finally awake!" Sirius crowed, grinning like an idiot (still).
"Coffee," Allya said, picking up the pot and drinking what was left- including the grounds. After the disgusting coffee was plastered all around the sink, "Blech, how do you and James drink this stuff?"
"You get used to it," Sirius shrugged, tapping his wand to the wall and cleaning the coffee specks off. He grabbed the barstool next to Allya and said, with an entirely too large grin on his face, "So how did you two sleep last night?"
Allya's lip twitched just noticeably. "Never slept quite like that," she said, throwing a wink in Remus' direction, who grinned. "Ever."
Sirius laughed. "Oh, really?"
"Aw, Sirius," James said from the doorway, "leave the poor lovebirds alone. They've got enough to deal with, I expect."
"Morning to you, too, James," Allya mumbled over a fresh cup of coffee, which she was somehow choking down. "Coffee?"
"Please," James answered, seating himself on the final stool. "So how you been?"
"Oh, you know," Allya said, restraining her grin. Leave it to James… "Never better." Someone knocked on the door; Sirius pointed his wand and said an incantation, and the rusty hinges admitted two visitors, by the count of the footfalls. That'd be Mioré and Lil-bug…
"Good morning," Lily called into the front hallway, kicking off her heels (which still made her only slightly taller than Allya).
"Hey, Lils," James said, running to give her a kiss. "Want to see what the werewolf dragged in?"
"I resent the use of the word, 'dragged', Prongs!" Ally drawled from the barstool. "Accurate or otherwise."
"Ally?" Lily squealed, enveloping the now-standing Allya in a tight embrace.
Ouch, can't breathe… "Settle, Lil!"
Lily seemed to notice the rather sleepy states of a few of the room's occupants even as she released her friend from her death grip and sent her along into Mioré's. The hints of a smile grew on her lips. "Have a good sleep, A. J.?"
Sirius chose this tactful moment to announce, "Mioré owes me five Galleons!"
Allya and Remus exchanged looks. "I resent being bet upon," they said in tandem.
Mioré put on her 'sad puppy dog' face. "You didn't…"
"They did," Sirius corrected in a singsong voice.
Someone needs some maturity pills… "I don't have to take this from you people," Ally announced. "I'm leaving- gotta bring my stuff back to my place anyway. I do, however, need someone to carry luggage…"
"Consider me a volunteer," Sirius piped up, and so, grabbing belongings left and right, the two of them Disapparated.
"Tiny, I'm home!" Her voice echoed through the house something awful- it didn't feel lived in.
"Yes, Mistress Jade," the house-elf appeared at Allya's side almost immediately.
"Don't call me that!"
Sirius laughed. "Still the same girl, after all these years."
"Hardly a girl anymore, Sirius," Allya replied, dropping her things on the floor for Tiny to care for and motioning for Sirius to do the same.
He smirked. "Feeling your years, are you?"
She raised an eyebrow in his direction. "I'm hardly three months older than you are, Padfoot. Are you feeling your years?"
Suddenly, her friend's grin disappeared and was replaced by a weary expression. Sirius flopped into a chair, draping a hand over his eyes. "Sometimes," he answered truthfully, gazing up at her. "When I'm around horrible people I can't stand that don't compare to those we knew at Hogwarts at all, and I realize that I'm living in a different world, I just want to go back."
Allya sighed. "And here I've been abroad for nearly six months, and I've got the same story. Is it this bad everywhere?"
Sirius shrugged. "I wouldn't know."
There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, and each pondered the other's words. "So," Ally continued a bit cynically, "How's your love life coming?"
She was relatively prepared for Sirius' derided snort of laughter. "Love life or sex life? There's a difference, you know."
"Why do I have the feeling I know what's coming?" Ally asked. "And you, just barely legal yourself… shame, Padfoot, how long has this been going on?"
"Well, you know. Have to have one to make up for the significant lacking in the other area." Suddenly Sirius looked a lot more tired. "Do you have any idea how many complete morons I've dated this year? It's depressing."
Allya laughed. "I've heard the bimbos were after Remus, too."
Sirius shivered in mock-fear and squished himself lower into the chair. "Pencil-tappers," he shuddered, looking wildly about like a paranoid animal being hunted. "Joined the DADA class to find strong, handsome members of the opposite sex to save them from the Dark Lord."
"Well, Remus certainly qualifies there, doesn't he?" she winked at him. "And don't tell me that the attention hasn't gone to your head, either."
Sirius sniffed. "Moi? Have an inflated ego? Perish the thought!" He grinned. "Lil-bug's on a lot of hit lists, though," he said. "Monopolizing the star Chaser, and everything."
Allya laughed. It's good to be back.
"And what exactly are we going to do about this?" he asked as they circled the pond by Hogsmeade.
"Do about what?" she responded absently, eyes searching for the giant squid, hair unruly and knotted, bundled up in several sweaters and a cloak.
"Us," Remus answered, skipping a stone out onto the never-freezing water. "I mean- we can't- you're not-" He stopped, flustered with himself.
"Pregnant?" Allya supplied, watching the rock bounce eight times before it was caught in a squid tentacle. "No."
He tipped his head at her. "How do you know?"
She shrugged- truth be told, she didn't know how she knew, she just knew. "It's a woman thing," she answered instead, seating herself on a fallen log. "I just… sometimes," Allya tried futilely to explain, "we just know."
Remus nodded, knowing that he couldn't really understand anyway and that this was as close as he was going to get to a straight answer, and sat down beside her. "Christmas Eve's tomorrow," he said, changing the subject. He knew how she'd be feeling this time of year- sort of lonely; her adoptive parents had died around Christmastime in her fifth year. His own were alive- holding in there, at least. "I don't suppose you've got plans?"
Ally laughed. "I just got here. No, no plans… damned if I'm going to spend Christmas with Aylla." She shuddered.
"Come with me to my folks', then?" Remus asked, still watching the horizon and the setting sun.
She looked at him, surprised. "Won't that be a little, I don't know, awkward? After what happened last night, I mean." Allya was unaccustomed to blushing, and the look didn't really suit her well.
"They don't have to know," Remus pointed out. "What am I going to say? 'Mom, Dad, you remember Allya, you met her after our fifth year? Well, we've been sleeping together'?" He laughed dryly. "Right."
Allya smiled. "Good point. I'll be there, then. When and where should I meet you?" She shivered a bit under his arm; he conjured some hot chocolate with his wand and handed her a cup. "Thanks."
"I'll meet you here at seven o'clock tomorrow," he said, and they sat there in silence for another long while.
The next night was clear and cool; there was no moon, and the starlight reflecting off of the snow made for a dazzling effect. A meteor streaked eastward across the skyscape, blazing a trail of stardust onto the black backdrop of space. Allya stood silently, exactly where she'd stood the day before, wrapped in a long silver cloak over floor-length red robes, watching its movement until it was gone. A bag at her feet, likely containing presents, seemed rather forlorn and plain in comparison to its owner.
Remus, behind her, cleared his throat. Ally didn't even flinch- undoubtedly she'd heard his footsteps in the snow. "Ready to go?" he asked, hands in his pockets and eyes turned to the same sky.
She nodded, leaving behind a single frozen tear for not just Catalina and B. Morris Nightrunner, but for her true parents, the ones she'd never known, and never would.
The lights were on at the Lupin house; Christmas carols came from every corner of the little village near Hogsmeade and the streetlamps shone invitingly, decorated festively. Before Remus could even knock on the door, it was flung open by an overeager mother.
Isabelle Lupin, a short, seasonably chubby woman with more than her fair share of wrinkles and gray hair (which Allya attributed to having a Marauder for a son rather than to the werewolf bit), and sparkling, lively hazel eyes. "Remus!" she exclaimed, making an attempt to strangle him.
"Merry Christmas, Mum," Remus managed to choke out before Mrs. Lupin turned her attention to her son's guest.
"And who's this?" she inquired, peering at Ally through her spectacles. "She seems familiar, Remus, how much have you told me about her?"
Remus colored nicely. "Everything."
"It is Allya!" Isabelle exclaimed, attempting to strangle Allya as well. "Do come in."
Richard Lupin called from the living room, "Who is it, Isabelle?"
"Remus and his lady friend, Richard!" Isabelle called back, dragging the two werewolves with her. "You remember Allya."
"How could I forget?" Mr. Lupin asked. "Only girl Reege here's ever introduced us to as his!"
Allya raised an eyebrow at Remus. "Reeje?"
Remus looked mildly embarrassed. "Long story."
"I bet."
"Let's eat," Remus' mother decided, "and we'll tell you the story…"
THE END
Okay, okay. We all agree that casadea's fic, 'Never Been Cursed', introduced the nickname 'Reeje'. It's too funny, however, and I'm formulating a story behind it for my own fic. Deal with it.
I really am going to Florida in the morning- Cape Coral, Orlando, Ft. Myers, etc. etc… ugh, no computer for eight entire days. Sorry, everybody, but the next installment in my series is going to be rather late.