Hello, hello. Here comes the third chapter, finally introducing Lena. Please read and review!

All the characters you might recognize (Lupin, Tonks etc.) are property of J.K.Rowling and not mine. There are also my own characters (Lena Silverspoon, Oliver Prewett) and they naturally belong to me.

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III Answer

Lena Silverspoon stared out of the window. Diagon Alley looked shadowy and misty, like always at five o'clock in the morning. Street was empty and quiet and only move was from a black cat that was chasing a rat in the shadows. She preferred night to day because then she had the possibility to be herself and think. Her life wasn't quite like she had planned it. In fact, it was not at all like she had planned it. She wondered if Remus had already got her letter and still couldn't decide whether sending it had been good or bad idea. Was it fair for him? And for her? She sighed. The letter had already been sent, no matter what she decided now, so all she could to was to wait and see if Remus answered.

She sat there till the morning, watching the sun rise and the street to wake up. Soon there were people walking up and down the street, still drowsy and tired-looking. Suddenly she felt warm lips pressed against her neck.

"Good morning, honey. Couldn't you sleep or why are you here? Is something wrong?" said a sleepy voice behind her.

"No, I just… I woke up a little earlier and came here.  Nothing's wrong, Oliver." Lena stood up and turned to face her husband, forcing a smile to her face. Oliver Prewett was a good-looking and pompous man and he always wanted to look well-groomed. He would have even slept with his tie on if Lena had allowed him to do that.

"I'll make some breakfast" she said and walked out of the room. Automatically she opened the closets and prepared some breakfast. She couldn't face her husband at the moment, now that she had finally admitted that it had been a huge mistake to marry him at the first place. Oliver was a nice man but definitely not the one for her. No, no, no.

After half an hour they both left for their work, Oliver for Flourish and Blotts where he was working as a shop manager and Lena for Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. She was a waitress but she really wasn't proud of her job. With her education she could have got an interesting and exciting job from somewhere else, but she couldn't leave the Diagon Alley because Oliver's job was here. And to be honest, she had never even gone anywhere and tried to find a better job. Of course in Diagon Alley she had applied for every other job expect this – but finally she had had to take what she could get. And by this day, she had also been too scared to leave the Diagon Alley. It had become her shelter – but also her jail. 

Lena arrived to the Ice-Cream Parlour and changed to her working dress: baby blue, short robe and silly frilled scarf. She also had a white and laced apron that she really hated. She actually hated everything in her job - the building, her boss, customers. She shot final glance at her reflection in the mirror before starting the day's work. The star on her forehead was shining brightly in the morning light that came to room from a big window behind her. She rubbed the tattoo absent-mindedly, remembering only too well the fuss about it when she had taken it. Her parents had been horrified and angry, she could still hear her mother's screams: "What have you done, stupid girl! That will last forever, you know that, do you! On your face, what were you thinking?" and her father shouting: "What will you do next, go selling your body on the streets? Think about our family, our reputation! No one will marry you if you look like a whore!"

Her friends had all thought that it was awesome and almost too cool, but there had been one who hadn't liked it. Lily had never forgiven her the fact that she took the tattoo. They had been planning tattoos for years, sun for Lily and star for Lena, but Lily never found the guts to actually take it. So the little star on Lena's forehead had always been a reminder of something Lily hadn't dared to do and that was something that was really driving her mad. Even though they still remained best of friends to each other, Lena's tattoo left scars on their friendship that couldn't be forgotten.

Lena stared at her reflection. She had never really regretted taking the tattoo, even though she thought that doing it had been more like showing everyone that she could do something like that. Something so rebellious. Her face was even paler than normally, because she hadn't slept at all last night. She braided her hair to stop it from coming all over her face and sighed. Another day of dull work coming.

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At about quarter to two Lena felt for the first time that day that she had time to take a little break. It had been a very busy day and another rush of people always came right after the preceding had left. It was late August and start of the schools was drawing nearer. That meant that it was very crowded in Diagon Alley because of the students who came to buy their school stuff.

Lena was feeling exhausted and depressed. No answer from Remus, and no prospects for lighter tomorrow. Nothing to wait for, nothing to live for. Only happy part of the school rushes was that Oliver would probably be really satisfied after a long day of selling lots of schoolbooks and he would be so full of his own superiority that he wouldn't even notice Lena tonight. That would leave her alone with her thoughts and give her the tranquillity she needed.

She was slowly eating her peach, peanut butter and basil –flavoured sundae, day's special, but she didn't really taste it. Before started working at the Ice-Cream Parlour she had really adored ice cream, but after a couple of days' work in the middle of all sorts of ice creams she had actually started to feel disgust for it. Now she had become dulled of ice cream – when she felt hungry, it was easy to get it so why not eat it. Why to bother walking away from her job when she could as well eat there?

While she was sitting there she saw something flying nearer. It was her tiny owl, Calliope, returning. Lena's stomach gave a little jolt. Would there be an answer from Remus? And if yes, what would it be? She didn't even know what to hope, neither what to expect. There had been so much going on when they had last had the chance to talk. And so much had happened after that…

Last time they had seen each other had been really awful situation. It was James and Lily Potter's funeral, beautiful and sorrowful ceremony full of hidden emotion. Lord Voldemort had finally been defeated, or so people supposed, and little Harry Potter had amazingly survived his attack. He had become the boy who lived. A loved couple had become part of history and their death legendary. Everybody wanted to come to the funeral and respect their memory. Dumbledore had tried to arrange a quiet funeral for only a handful of people but even he couldn't have managed to do that.

For Remus the funeral must have been the worst experience ever – he had lost three of his best friends, two of them dead and the third sent in Azkaban. Instead of loosing one friend and carrying the sorrow together with the others, he had had to take also the betrayal of his trusted friend and then the murder of another. Alone in the spot, he was the one who had to answer all the questions and hide his grief. Lena had seen him there – he had looked really exhausted and still had kept going.

They hadn't talked to each other at the funeral. One time Lena had caught Remus staring at her, but when she had tried to go and talk to him he had ran away. Of course it hadn't been a good situation for a nice long chat after many years but still… It wouldn't have hurt him if he just had said "hello", would it?

Lena returned back from her memories and stroked gently Calliope's feathers. With a rush of excitement she noticed a little piece of parchment tied in her leg. She untied it quickly and opened it.

No, I could never forget you, Selene. I can never forget the thing that happened back then and I still haven't forgiven it to myself. I never will. I can't meet you without feeling all that pain and guilt and I really wouldn't like to feel it again. So much has happened after the last time we saw, so much is different now. But I can't deny the fact that I would like to see you again. I'm just not sure if I'm ready yet. I don't know what to think. I really don't.

Remus

Lena let the paper slip to the ground and gave a tiny sigh. What had she been waiting for? An invitation to live with him where ever he lived? Well, not exactly. Maybe she had forgotten that Remus had always been the quiet and sensitive one, the one with feelings and ability to show them better than his friends.

She stroked her neck and sank back to her memories. She remembered it all like yesterday, all the fear and horror of other people. The pain that had been clearly visible in Remus's eyes when he had realised what he had done. And the waiting. The horrible, killing waiting when no one knew exactly how much harm had been done.

Oh yes, she remembered it too.

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Dramatic? Oh yes. Deal with that. :)

Thank you for reading my story; please review and make me happy.