Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I still don't own any of this!!! (but I do own the plot and Sarah and any other people possibly yet to come that you don't recognize!)
AN: thanks to my reviewers!!! And this chapter is for my amazing friend mistress_thunder (and you know why! You rock, girl!) Okay! On with the story.
Chapter 2. Dealing and Moving On
Remus looked up from the book he was reading as a soft 'pop' announced the arrival of Albus Dumbledore.
"Hello, Remus!" the old man said, looking supremely cheerful. 'Some things never change.' Remus thought wryly.
"How are you today, professor?" Remus politely responded, laying aside his book. The cheerful expression shortly faded, giving way to a concerned one.
"I should be asking you that, Remus." Dumbledore gently replied.
Remus was silent. Both he and Dumbledore knew that nothing Remus could say would even come remotely close to how he was feeling at that moment. Indeed, until Sarah had arrived a week previously, he had been ready to leave Grimmauld Place and never come back. To hell with 'getting over' Sirius's death. He'd done that 15 years ago for the best friends he'd ever known and he definitely didn't need to go through it all over again. All the old Black house did was remind him of what he'd lost at every corner. The massive remodeling that had been undertaken in the summer had done nothing for Remus, who still heard Sirius's voice echoing in his memories. But now, Sarah's presence was helping somewhat to drown out some of the echoes – she was a happy, vibrant person. In the silence, he could almost hear her voice. In fact…
"Uncle Al?" Sarah called from out in the hall. She came in, smiling exuberantly at her godfather. "Hey Remus." She said, and promptly launched herself at a very pleased Dumbledore. "Uncle Al!!"
"Air would be delightful, if you don't mind, my dear." Dumbledore said. Sarah released him, rather embarrassed, but clearly happy to see him. Remus pushed thoughts of Sirius out of his mind as he chuckled at the two of them.
"I was wondering when you were going to come by." Sarah said, plopping down onto one of the drawing room's armchairs.
"Sarah's been going nuts with only me here and the occasional visitor." Remus said. "I've been ever so boring." He grinned at her. Just the day before she'd been cajoling him to come out with her and Bill, whom she'd taking an instant liking to, and he to her. "Don't be a boring old man, now." Bill had teased Remus, who had nonetheless insisted on staying home with his books.
"More like the other way around." Sarah said. "You staying, grandpa?" Remus was momentarily floored.
"Grandpa??" he asked, confused. "I thought…you were her… I mean, Sarah, you said you were a muggle - didn't you?"
Dumbledore chuckled at the younger man's confusion. Just a second ago he'd seen the utter despair cross his face as he thought about Sirius. Now, he was totally consumed with trying to figure out the young woman sitting in the chair next to him. 'Ah, Sarah,' he thought fondly. 'I think you'll be good for him, you know.'
Sarah's eyes narrowed at her godfather, and he frowned. 'Did Remus notice – I wonder – did he notice that she called my name before she came in?'
"I'm her godfather, Remus." He responded, back to his cheery mood. "Sarah just takes great enjoyment in periodically reminding me that I am considerably more chronologically advanced than all you children gallivanting about nowadays." He gave Sarah a stern glare when she laughed. "And I'd just arrived, child." he directed the last comment very much at Sarah "And do you know, I think I may just stay for dinner."
Remus groaned as Sarah clapped her hands. An extremely perceptive old man who would quickly realize that he was either wallowing in misery about Sirius, or perhaps enjoying the company of said old man's goddaughter a tad too much was not what he needed right then. "Excellent!!" Sarah was saying. "Remus cooked!"
Turning to Remus she said, "You cooked, right?"
* * * * * * * * * * *
Luckily for Sarah, Remus had cooked. It wasn't that she was bad at it, as she vigorously insisted to the men – but they were wizards, and the majority of the kitchen appliances in Grimmauld Place were NOT muggle-proof. This was accepted until Remus pointed out that on the day he'd met her, she'd been cooking all by herself without prior instruction. Much to Sarah's dismay, it was then decided, courtesy of 'the meddling old man' and 'ooh-he-thinks-he's-bad-he-can-make-lasagna-Remus' that she would be preparing dinner for the next evening. She glared at them for a second before brightening considerably.
"Oh, that won't work." She sighed dramatically, "I have to be out tomorrow night – I have to work."
"Is that where you were last night?" Remus inquired. "Did you even come back yesterday?"
Sarah shot him a look of death, and even Dumbledore looked at him disapprovingly.
"Not that it's my business, of course," Remus hastily backtracked. "I just – I meant that you must have an interesting job. You go out at really random times – but you're not an order member."
"Oh, yeah." Sarah relaxed considerably, but Remus didn't miss the quick look that she gave Dumbledore, which was returned with a miniscule shake of the head. "Yeah, it's an interesting job." She said. "And no, I wasn't out all night – I got back around 3 in the morning."
"3 in the morning," Remus mused. "So that wasn't a dream I had – that was you. What were you wearing? I haven't seen muggle clothes like that before?" he asked curiously.
Sarah grinned impishly, but Dumbledore beat her to it. "Remus Lupin!" he said, sounding indignant. "I entrust my precious goddaughter to your care-"
"I can take plenty care of myself!" Sarah sat up straight. Dumbledore continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "-and this is how you repay me? By dreaming about my little girl?!?!" he had risen to his feet, looming over a very red Remus.
" It wasn't actually a dream, sir," he stammered, lapsing into schoolboy mode. " I actually saw her – didn't you hear her say…" he didn't have the courage to finish off his sentence in the face of Dumbledore's anger.
"ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY SANITY, BOY?" Dumbledore shouted. Remus looked to Sarah for help, but she had fled the room and he could hear muffled peals of laughter coming from outside. " If you thought that seeing my goddaughter last night was a dream" he poked Remus in the chest with a finger. "That means that either you have been dreaming about her or you want to dream about her. Both of which – AND TO THINK I TRUSTED YOU!"
'Okay.' Thought Remus. 'this is it. He's finally lost his marbles. Well, with all the pressure, I don't blame him. It was bound to happen someday…' he looked at Dumbledore, who had thrown up his hands in utter frustration and was stalking out of the room, muttering something about, "Where's that girl? She needs to get herself packed so we can leave as soon as possible! The nerve of that boy!" Remus looked horrified at the door after him. Okay – Dumbledore losing his grip on sanity was terrifying enough, but taking away Sarah, whose company he was thoroughly grateful for…
He was just about to get up and go after the older man when Dumbledore himself burst through the door, tears running down his face as he shook with laughter, Sarah following close behind in a similar state. He stared open mouthed at them for a few minutes before it hit him.
"Oh no." he said staring them down. His own death glare had no effect on the two of them, who were both presently occupied with attempting to breathe normally. "That- Was- Not- Funny!" he ground out from gritted teeth. Unfortunately, this only set Sarah off all over again. Dumbledore was more successful in containing himself, and soon found it necessary to conjure Sarah a glass of water. Seeing the look on Remus's face, he quickly excused himself, and, after a quick goodbye to Sarah, who was still liable to break into giggles every now and then, apparated back to Hogwarts.
"Oh, Remus." Sarah said, once she was finally capable of normal human speech. "Oh, I'm sorry – but - oh, you walked right into that one. Don't you know what my darling godfather is like?" She smiled apologetically at him, although Remus had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't at all sorry and would have jumped on him if Dumbledore hadn't got to him first. For now, he decided to let it go. After laughing, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes still sparkling from the tears that had been pouring down her face moments before. In short, Remus couldn't find it in him to ignore her when she was looking at him like that.
"Oh well." He sighed. "I suppose I did"
"You should have seen your face when he…" Sarah trailed off, as Remus looked rather threatening at that point. "And I'll just go to bed now, what with being out late last night and all, you know." she mumbled, and ran lightly up the stairs, calling "Night, Remus!" after her as she went. Remus shook his head and climbed the stairs slowly after her. The rather large serving he'd had at dinner was definitely taking its toll, and soon the house fell silent as both of its occupants slept soundly through the night.
AN: What do you think???? Please, please review and let me know – any ideas or comments are much appreciated!!! – Laren