Chapter 4: Everything Old is New Again.
"That was amazing Ro!" Remus beamed as he and Rosemary walked along Diagon Alley. "You've only been in the wizarding world for twenty minutes and you've already bagged two Deatheaters! That's got to be some kind of record."
"I didn't do anything." Rosemary was blushing, "I only told you what they said. You did everything."
"Rosemary, if you hadn't heard them, their original target would be dead right now. I don't know if I could have taken out both of them if they had caught me by surprise. You did a good job."
Remus smiled warmly at Rosemary. "Enough about Dark Wizards. Let's have some fun. I know you're going to love this place."
For Remus, seeing Diagon Alley with Rosemary was like seeing it for the first time all over again. They browsed in the shops and compared notes about what they saw after they left. It was their own private game. Almost every shop owner had something to hide. Secret stashes of illegal items and hidden rooms were common. There was even a completely hidden store that sold charmed Muggle items. Apparently quite a few magical folk harbored a secret fascination with Muggle television. To hell with working for the Order; Remus was surprised that Arthur didn't want her working for the Ministry. She'd be a natural at sniffing out Dark Arts paraphernalia.
The whole world was wide open to her and that fascinated him.
The discovery that stunned him the most was at Flourish & Blotts bookstore. Rosemary was wandering about the store while Remus was buried in the DADA section.
He saw her looking at him from across the room like the cat that just ate the proverbial canary.
"What?" he mouthed to her. She must have found something interesting.
Rosemary sidled up to him and whispered in his ear, "How many rooms do you see in this store?"
The feeling of her hand on his shoulder and her lips so close to his ear was stirring him. "Two. Why? How many are there?" he inquired.
"Three! And you're not going to believe what's in the third one!"
"Well come on. Don't leave me hanging." Remus' curiosity was peaked.
"Not here, I need to tell you somewhere where you won't make a spectacle of yourself laughing."
Remus shelved the book he was reading and practically dragged her out of the book store. He pulled her into a space between two stores and looked at her expectantly.
"Well?!"
Rosemary cleared her throat and took a moment to select her words. "It would seem Remus, that your friendly neighborhood bookstore has a rather large adult entertainment section." she was trying to suppress a grin and was failing spectacularly.
Remus' eyes went wide with amazement. "No! You have GOT to be joking! Are you sure?"
"Hello!," Rosemary knocked on his forehead playfully, "Wizard pictures move, remember. I got quite an eyeful. It would seem that you wizards have a charm for everything." Her voice took on a suggestive tone, "It was astonishing to see what some of those wizards could do with their wands."
Remus' mouth fell open. He was utterly captivated with the woman standing before him.
"You are *scandalous*!." he said with unconcealed glee.
She answered him with a coy look and a shrug.
"I wonder how they keep something like that a secret?" he mused.
"Rem, I don't think its much of a secret. There were plenty of customers in there." Rosemary informed him.
"Really?"
"No, I'm lying to you , you big goof." Rosemary kidded Remus who was sulking like the only kid who wasn't invited to the party. "Of course really!"
"I wonder how they kept it a secret from *me*?"
"Maybe you have to be some kind of pervert to see through the charms." Rosemary offered as a possible explanation.
"What does that say about you?" Remus chuckled as he jokingly tapped her nose with his finger.
Rosemary looked him straight in the eye and teased, "I'm not a pervert, *I'm* unique. Arthur told me so."
It could have been the topic of their conversation or it could have been the close proximity of their bodies in the small space in which they were talking. No matter what the cause, Remus was a man with a rapidly growing problem. If they stayed where they were for much longer he was unquestionably going to kiss her. If he kissed her he was not sure he was ever going to be able to stop. Leaving the area presented a somewhat different problem. He wasn't wearing his wizarding robes and his thin jeans did little to disguise his attraction to his enticing companion.
Solving the Deatheater problem was a snap compared to this.
Remus closed his eyes and inhaled deeply trying to center himself. He thought about Professor Binns' lectures on the Goblin Wars. That always worked in the past.
'Ok, I think I might just get out of this with my dignity intact' he thought to himself.
He inhaled again and, like incense from an altar, he caught the scent of a woman who was equally aroused.
"I'm dead where I stand"
'Oh Gods, did I just say that out loud?'
"Remus?"
"Yes?" He managed to answer
"You're breathing funny and saying you're dead. What's going on?"
"Well.you see Rosemary..its like this."
And with that he placed one hand on her lower back and ran the other hand through her hair. He pulled her close and slowly lowered his lips to hers.
'Oh Gods, this is really happening!' Remus thought to himself.
His enhanced senses drank in every detail. Her scent was an down-to-earth combination of plain soap and female pheromones. Remus found its simplicity intoxicating. He could make out every shade of blue in her eyes and could see each individual eyelash as they brushed against her cheeks when her eyes closed in anticipation of their first kiss.
Her lips felt full and soft beneath his. She moaned softly as he gently nibbled on her lower lip. He parted her lips with his tongue and eagerly explored her mouth.
Kissing her felt like coming home.
Aware that they were in a semi-public place, Remus pulled back from the kiss through sheer force of will. He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes.
"You are so beautiful"
"Oh.Wow" Rosemary sighed deeply. For the first time since he met her she seemed to be at a loss for words. "That was.um....wow."
Remus smiled broadly. It was a heady feeling to know that he, Remus Lupin, werewolf, had this kind of effect on her. Everything about this woman made him feel good.
"I think we had better find something else to do before we make a spectacle of ourselves." he said praying that she would agree. He was in no state of mind to offer any resistance if she didn't. "It's just about tea time. Would you like to get something to eat?"
Rosemary nodded. "Wait a moment please. It's getting warm," she said removing her jumper.
Remus was in an absolute panic. 'What on Earth is she doing?!' he thought to himself.
To his tremendous relief, under her jumper Rosemary was wearing a perfectly modest short-sleeved blouse.
"Would you mind terribly carrying this for me?" she said as she handed Remus the jumper and glanced down at his current source of stress.
"Thank you SO much" Remus said.
"My pleasure." she answered him with a knowing smile.
They found a quaint outdoor café not far from the bookstore. They sat close to each other and exchanged small touches and quiet laughs. Their eyes rarely left each other. Older couples at other tables smiled at them remembering what it was like when they were young and falling in love.
Remus took hold of Rosemary's wrist and with the lightest of touches kissed the sensitive juncture where her wrist met her hand.
Rosemary looked a Remus wide-eyed. "Oh my, there's an erogenous zone I didn't know I had."
"What did you do, put a 'do not notice' charm on the table?" Rosemary asked Remus
"No. Why? do you think I should?"
"We've been sitting here for half and hour and the waitress hasn't even come to the table." Rosemary observed.
"She probably didn't want to interrupt us." Remus speculated.
"Excuse me, Miss?" he called for the waitresses attention.
The waitress rolled her eyes and came to the table. Before Remus could say a word to her she said, "Look, I was hoping you would get the hint and just leave. I recognize you from the Daily Prophet. You're Lupin, the werewolf. We don't serve your kind here. " She said the word 'werewolf' as if it left a bad taste in her mouth."
Remus felt as if his heart had stopped beating. This was not the first time he'd been treated dreadfully because of his lycanthropy. Usually it upset him but he took it in stride. But to have it happen today, in front of this woman, made him feel embarrassed and small.
Rosemary was stunned beyond words. She looked at the waitress and opened her mouth to say something only to close her mouth again when the words would not come. She looked to Remus and her heart sank. It was obvious from his carriage that the waitresses' words had wounded him. Rosemary's eyes narrowed as she looked upon the waitress with open hostility. She looked at the young woman's name tag. 'Daisy, what a pretty name for such a loathsome woman.' Rosemary thought. She felt Remus' strong hands on her shoulders.
"Let's go.", he said quietly.
Rosemary stood up and looked Remus in the eye. He looked away, too humiliated to face her. "Yes, please. Let's go." she said quietly. She put a comforting arm around his waist and leaned against him. He put his arm around her shoulder and gently kissed the top of her head.
They walked in silence for quite some time. They both needed time to process what had just happened. Rosemary was the first to speak.
"I'm so sorry Remus. I had no idea." her voice trailed off.
"You don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong." The last thing Remus wanted was her pity.
"I'm sorry about what I said back at Molly and Arthur's today when I asked you what was so bad about being a werewolf. I guess I just never realized that wizards could be so cruel. For some reason I thought that they would be better than Muggles in that regard."
"Hardly." Remus huffed cynically.
Rosemary leaned closer into Remus' side and thought about their day and how he made her feel. As they approached her car she came to the conclusion that she was not willing to let a stranger's ignorance ruin what she hoped was the beginning of something very special.
" Remus, would you like to come back to my house?" I cook a fantastic breakfast."
"Breakfast?"
"Um, hmmm." she confirmed with a grin.
Remus suddenly understood the nature of the invitation he was receiving and smiled.
"I'd love to." he said pulling her close, never intending to let her go.
"That was amazing Ro!" Remus beamed as he and Rosemary walked along Diagon Alley. "You've only been in the wizarding world for twenty minutes and you've already bagged two Deatheaters! That's got to be some kind of record."
"I didn't do anything." Rosemary was blushing, "I only told you what they said. You did everything."
"Rosemary, if you hadn't heard them, their original target would be dead right now. I don't know if I could have taken out both of them if they had caught me by surprise. You did a good job."
Remus smiled warmly at Rosemary. "Enough about Dark Wizards. Let's have some fun. I know you're going to love this place."
For Remus, seeing Diagon Alley with Rosemary was like seeing it for the first time all over again. They browsed in the shops and compared notes about what they saw after they left. It was their own private game. Almost every shop owner had something to hide. Secret stashes of illegal items and hidden rooms were common. There was even a completely hidden store that sold charmed Muggle items. Apparently quite a few magical folk harbored a secret fascination with Muggle television. To hell with working for the Order; Remus was surprised that Arthur didn't want her working for the Ministry. She'd be a natural at sniffing out Dark Arts paraphernalia.
The whole world was wide open to her and that fascinated him.
The discovery that stunned him the most was at Flourish & Blotts bookstore. Rosemary was wandering about the store while Remus was buried in the DADA section.
He saw her looking at him from across the room like the cat that just ate the proverbial canary.
"What?" he mouthed to her. She must have found something interesting.
Rosemary sidled up to him and whispered in his ear, "How many rooms do you see in this store?"
The feeling of her hand on his shoulder and her lips so close to his ear was stirring him. "Two. Why? How many are there?" he inquired.
"Three! And you're not going to believe what's in the third one!"
"Well come on. Don't leave me hanging." Remus' curiosity was peaked.
"Not here, I need to tell you somewhere where you won't make a spectacle of yourself laughing."
Remus shelved the book he was reading and practically dragged her out of the book store. He pulled her into a space between two stores and looked at her expectantly.
"Well?!"
Rosemary cleared her throat and took a moment to select her words. "It would seem Remus, that your friendly neighborhood bookstore has a rather large adult entertainment section." she was trying to suppress a grin and was failing spectacularly.
Remus' eyes went wide with amazement. "No! You have GOT to be joking! Are you sure?"
"Hello!," Rosemary knocked on his forehead playfully, "Wizard pictures move, remember. I got quite an eyeful. It would seem that you wizards have a charm for everything." Her voice took on a suggestive tone, "It was astonishing to see what some of those wizards could do with their wands."
Remus' mouth fell open. He was utterly captivated with the woman standing before him.
"You are *scandalous*!." he said with unconcealed glee.
She answered him with a coy look and a shrug.
"I wonder how they keep something like that a secret?" he mused.
"Rem, I don't think its much of a secret. There were plenty of customers in there." Rosemary informed him.
"Really?"
"No, I'm lying to you , you big goof." Rosemary kidded Remus who was sulking like the only kid who wasn't invited to the party. "Of course really!"
"I wonder how they kept it a secret from *me*?"
"Maybe you have to be some kind of pervert to see through the charms." Rosemary offered as a possible explanation.
"What does that say about you?" Remus chuckled as he jokingly tapped her nose with his finger.
Rosemary looked him straight in the eye and teased, "I'm not a pervert, *I'm* unique. Arthur told me so."
It could have been the topic of their conversation or it could have been the close proximity of their bodies in the small space in which they were talking. No matter what the cause, Remus was a man with a rapidly growing problem. If they stayed where they were for much longer he was unquestionably going to kiss her. If he kissed her he was not sure he was ever going to be able to stop. Leaving the area presented a somewhat different problem. He wasn't wearing his wizarding robes and his thin jeans did little to disguise his attraction to his enticing companion.
Solving the Deatheater problem was a snap compared to this.
Remus closed his eyes and inhaled deeply trying to center himself. He thought about Professor Binns' lectures on the Goblin Wars. That always worked in the past.
'Ok, I think I might just get out of this with my dignity intact' he thought to himself.
He inhaled again and, like incense from an altar, he caught the scent of a woman who was equally aroused.
"I'm dead where I stand"
'Oh Gods, did I just say that out loud?'
"Remus?"
"Yes?" He managed to answer
"You're breathing funny and saying you're dead. What's going on?"
"Well.you see Rosemary..its like this."
And with that he placed one hand on her lower back and ran the other hand through her hair. He pulled her close and slowly lowered his lips to hers.
'Oh Gods, this is really happening!' Remus thought to himself.
His enhanced senses drank in every detail. Her scent was an down-to-earth combination of plain soap and female pheromones. Remus found its simplicity intoxicating. He could make out every shade of blue in her eyes and could see each individual eyelash as they brushed against her cheeks when her eyes closed in anticipation of their first kiss.
Her lips felt full and soft beneath his. She moaned softly as he gently nibbled on her lower lip. He parted her lips with his tongue and eagerly explored her mouth.
Kissing her felt like coming home.
Aware that they were in a semi-public place, Remus pulled back from the kiss through sheer force of will. He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes.
"You are so beautiful"
"Oh.Wow" Rosemary sighed deeply. For the first time since he met her she seemed to be at a loss for words. "That was.um....wow."
Remus smiled broadly. It was a heady feeling to know that he, Remus Lupin, werewolf, had this kind of effect on her. Everything about this woman made him feel good.
"I think we had better find something else to do before we make a spectacle of ourselves." he said praying that she would agree. He was in no state of mind to offer any resistance if she didn't. "It's just about tea time. Would you like to get something to eat?"
Rosemary nodded. "Wait a moment please. It's getting warm," she said removing her jumper.
Remus was in an absolute panic. 'What on Earth is she doing?!' he thought to himself.
To his tremendous relief, under her jumper Rosemary was wearing a perfectly modest short-sleeved blouse.
"Would you mind terribly carrying this for me?" she said as she handed Remus the jumper and glanced down at his current source of stress.
"Thank you SO much" Remus said.
"My pleasure." she answered him with a knowing smile.
They found a quaint outdoor café not far from the bookstore. They sat close to each other and exchanged small touches and quiet laughs. Their eyes rarely left each other. Older couples at other tables smiled at them remembering what it was like when they were young and falling in love.
Remus took hold of Rosemary's wrist and with the lightest of touches kissed the sensitive juncture where her wrist met her hand.
Rosemary looked a Remus wide-eyed. "Oh my, there's an erogenous zone I didn't know I had."
"What did you do, put a 'do not notice' charm on the table?" Rosemary asked Remus
"No. Why? do you think I should?"
"We've been sitting here for half and hour and the waitress hasn't even come to the table." Rosemary observed.
"She probably didn't want to interrupt us." Remus speculated.
"Excuse me, Miss?" he called for the waitresses attention.
The waitress rolled her eyes and came to the table. Before Remus could say a word to her she said, "Look, I was hoping you would get the hint and just leave. I recognize you from the Daily Prophet. You're Lupin, the werewolf. We don't serve your kind here. " She said the word 'werewolf' as if it left a bad taste in her mouth."
Remus felt as if his heart had stopped beating. This was not the first time he'd been treated dreadfully because of his lycanthropy. Usually it upset him but he took it in stride. But to have it happen today, in front of this woman, made him feel embarrassed and small.
Rosemary was stunned beyond words. She looked at the waitress and opened her mouth to say something only to close her mouth again when the words would not come. She looked to Remus and her heart sank. It was obvious from his carriage that the waitresses' words had wounded him. Rosemary's eyes narrowed as she looked upon the waitress with open hostility. She looked at the young woman's name tag. 'Daisy, what a pretty name for such a loathsome woman.' Rosemary thought. She felt Remus' strong hands on her shoulders.
"Let's go.", he said quietly.
Rosemary stood up and looked Remus in the eye. He looked away, too humiliated to face her. "Yes, please. Let's go." she said quietly. She put a comforting arm around his waist and leaned against him. He put his arm around her shoulder and gently kissed the top of her head.
They walked in silence for quite some time. They both needed time to process what had just happened. Rosemary was the first to speak.
"I'm so sorry Remus. I had no idea." her voice trailed off.
"You don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong." The last thing Remus wanted was her pity.
"I'm sorry about what I said back at Molly and Arthur's today when I asked you what was so bad about being a werewolf. I guess I just never realized that wizards could be so cruel. For some reason I thought that they would be better than Muggles in that regard."
"Hardly." Remus huffed cynically.
Rosemary leaned closer into Remus' side and thought about their day and how he made her feel. As they approached her car she came to the conclusion that she was not willing to let a stranger's ignorance ruin what she hoped was the beginning of something very special.
" Remus, would you like to come back to my house?" I cook a fantastic breakfast."
"Breakfast?"
"Um, hmmm." she confirmed with a grin.
Remus suddenly understood the nature of the invitation he was receiving and smiled.
"I'd love to." he said pulling her close, never intending to let her go.