This Love – Remus Lupin 1991 – 1993
Just a quick key of all the French words used.
Quoi = what
Merde= shit
Oui= yes
Chapter Four - Taking chances
A couple of weeks later
The first couple of weeks had gone by very quickly. Ally had to quit her old job, pay the last rent on her flat that she shared with her friends, tell her friends she was moving (QUOI?"), which came as a very big surprise as they had only got the note she was going on holiday a couple of weeks ago.
However, they weren't that surprised, as Ally always loved travelling, and had what she called itchy feet, because she could never bear staying in the same place for too long as the novelty soon wore off. And she had always wanted to go to England, although they never quite understood why, as it seemed to them to be cold, clammy and full of English people. Ally had promised that she would write to them frequently, so they were pretty happy.
Her step dad Pierre, her mum, and her three little half brothers were a bit less happy to let Ally leave the country, the triplets had actually jumped on her in an attempt to stop her from going and tried to bribe her with ice cream. Her stepbrother and best friend, Francoise had laughed and laughed at Ally, because he thought that she would get lost in England because she got lost in Paris and she had lived there all her life. Ally had set the triplets on Francoise in retaliation and somehow he ended up handcuffed to a tree. Ally felt that she should be beware when the triplets grew up, they would be a force to be reckoned with.
And, most important of all, she was living with Remus and getting to know him. She found out that he was a morning person, which she felt was unnatural, that he liked tea a lot, which she felt was unnatural, and he was a neat freak, which she felt was unnatural. But somehow, all these little facts which would have been annoyed her if it was someone else, made her like him more.
She loved listening to him whistling Beatles tunes in the morning as he pottered round the kitchen. She couldn't help smiling when he was pored over a book, oblivious to the whole world, occasionally sipping tea. She laughed when he tidied up her mess when she was late in the morning and managed to make a tip in the kitchen only making coffee, while promising to make it up to him later, only to steal the toast he was eating and apparating, loving the bemused look on his face.
It was a great feeling, being in love, she mused. Except that her love seemed to be unrequited. After almost a month of living in the same house and giving him subtle hints (and some not so subtle hints) that she liked him and that she was attracted to him, she was wondering if he didn't like her as much as she liked him.
The only thing that was bad about living with Remus, apart from the whole he doesn't share my feeling debacle, she thought, was when it's the full moon. The full moon had been awful. Remus had a shack in his back garden where he transformed, and had howled and screamed so painfully that Ally was sure her heart was breaking. When he transformed back, covered in bruises, cuts and cold sweat, shaking, Ally had burst into tears. It was then she realised who much she really cared for him.
But, he had yet to make any kind of move, and Ally thought it was time for drastic measures. One Tuesday, after she returned from work, after she had apparated back into the sitting room, she could hear Remus cooking in the kitchen, and see him through the doors which where open. She had been at a meeting, which had gone on quite late and it was now dark.
"Hello?" she called, taking off her coat. Remus yelled back that he was in the kitchen.
"Can you bring through the table mats, please, Ally?" he asked. Ally started searching for the table mats, looking under piles of books about Dark Creatures. "So how are you enjoying work?" he asked, conversationally.
"It's good. I've met some really nice people, actually," she said, locating one mat under several books about vampires and how to find them, unfortunately as she pulled the mat from under them, they toppled over. "Merde," she whispered, as one fell on her toe. Wincing, she picked them up, and spotted another table mat out of the corner of her eye. "Oui, there's this really cool trainee Auror, called Tonks, you would like her," continued Ally.
"Really?" asked Remus, from the kitchen.
"And..." said Ally, wondering if she had the courage to continue. What the hell, she thought. "I met this really nice man at the Ministry too," she said.
Remus swore under his breath.
"What's he like?" he asked, wondering how his voice could portray so little emotion, when he felt like kicking something really hard. Like that man she's met, he thought.
"He's really sexy," she said.
I hate him already, thought Remus.
"He's really kind and thoughtful," she continued, unaware that she was causing Remus to growl softly.
Bastard, he thought, continuing to chop up vegetables, pretending he was really chopping up the man that Ally really liked.
"But..." Ally's voice faltered. Remus's heart soared with hope.
"But what?" It really was amazing how calm his voice was, when internally he was far from calm.
"I don't think he likes me like that," she finished.
Remus was torn between jumping for joy because she wasn't getting together with the bastard, and hating the bastard because he was making Ally upset. Either way, the man was a bastard.
"But I was talking to Tonks," she continued, "And she thinks that maybe he's shy, and that I should make the first move. If he doesn't like me, then I can blame it on being French, can't I?"
Ally came through the door, having finally found all the rogue mats and she set them down on the counter, and quickly wiped them down with a cloth. Remus had his back to her, and was peeling potatoes with his wand, he hadn't realised that Ally was in the same room as him yet.
"Anyone would be lucky to have you, Ally," he said, softly. Ally smiled, plucked up her courage and tapped Remus on the shoulder, he turned around and she leaned towards him and chastely kissed him on the lips.
She leaned back, after a second, when Remus hadn't returned her kiss. "Do I have to move out because I've wrecked our friendship?" she asked softly, looking at him sorrowfully. Remus put his wand down on the table and grabbed Ally round the waist.
"You're not going anywhere," he growled, pulling her towards him, and kissing her passionately.
Who knew Remus could be this... ok no more coherent thoughts, thought Ally. Remus smiled into their kiss. Yes, life was pretty perfect.
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