Don't own anything recognisable from JK Rowling's Harry Potter books
Chapter 11
Plans
It still smelt like her. She had been gone for nearly a month now, but it still smelt like her. Remus looked around the room in which Lunar had lain, and sighed. He sat on the corner of the bed, and for the hundredth time let his imagination take him back to those days, when there were only two people in the world. Remus and Lunar.
"I miss her." He admitted to the empty room. But even though he missed her being in his house, he wouldn't make her go back under the curse for the entire world.
She was now living with Sirius and Pat, and he got regular updates on Lunar's condition through Severus and Katrina, but Sirius still wasn't speaking to him, so he hadn't visited them.
None of them knew about his night prowls. How, even when not in his wolf state, he resumed the search for Avery. Starting by questioning the owner of the bar, who sweated as he told Remus, he had never seen the man before in his life. He was close now, as the scent was getting stronger.
"This weekend." He told himself furiously. "I will find him then."
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Lunar looked into the mirror at her reflection, and groaned. The bags under her eyes were still there, and she still hadn't put on the weight that she had lost during her illness. Every day for the past week a member of the Ministry of Magic had interrogated her, but they had still not caught Avery and the other attackers.
"Lunar? Are you okay?" Sirius shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
She clenched her fists and shouted back. "I'm fine!" She made a face at the mirror. "And if he asks me one more time I will scream."
"He just worries about you." Pat said smiling from the door. "We all do."
"I know." Lunar said restrainedly. "But I wish you wouldn't. It's driving me crazy. All you seem to do is smother me."
"Smother you? How?" Pat asked, and sat down on the chair in Lunar's bedroom.
"Come off it. Are you really suggesting that every time you and Sirius have to go out that it's a coincidence that someone just happens to "pop round"? It was funny in the beginning, but now it's just getting depressing that you feel you can't leave me alone!" She sighed, and calmed down. "I don't need a babysitter, Pat."
"Okay, okay. It is true that we feel safe with someone here to protect you. But we do trust you, and we do know you can take care of yourself."
"Prove it." Lunar muttered dejectedly, knowing full well it would be a while before they would.
Pat looked into her eyes searchingly. "We'll do a trial run."
"What?"
"I received a belated present from friends at the ministry the other day. It's two nights, all-inclusive, at a very exclusive hotel. With free access to the health spa, Jacuzzi and other features. They've shelled out quite a bit. Especially as it's the honeymoon suite. However we were going to leave it for a bit. Just until you got better."
"When is the earliest you could take it?"
"This weekend." She looked thoughtful. "It's Thursday now. We both have classes tomorrow. We could leave tomorrow night."
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
"This weekend? No, I'm afraid it's not possible for me to travel this weekend. The weekend after that is fine. Yes. Thank you. All right I shall see you then. Thank you again. Bye." Remus replaced the handset on the muggle telephone and avoided Severus' inquiring look. He was still on holiday from his teaching post at Hogwarts, due to reasons of stress, but only Albus knew that he was looking for a new job. One that would take him away from his best friends and possibly the only woman in the world who he ever loved.
He had had a few interviews in different corners of the globe, but none seemed far enough away, none seemed to be the punishment he was searching for.
"Would you like more tea?" Remus asked politely.
"As my charming husband is not going to ask, and as I'm a nosy cow. What was all that about Remus?" Katrina asked.
Remus considered lying, but knew better. "I have received an offer of a job in Alaska."
"They don't have enough Huskies? They need a werewolf to pull their little carts around?" Severus said smoothly.
"No. It's a
research post."
Katrina moved seats so she was sat next to Remus. "You're leaving Hogwarts?
Why?"
"I think the answer to that is obvious." Severus interrupted. "The important question is not why, but when? Have you accepted the offer and when will you be leaving?"
Ignoring the look of fury that Katrina sent Severus, Remus continued. "I have stated that I am interested in the position, however due to my… condition I must look around the facilities first. Which is why I am going down there next weekend."
"Remus! You can't leave Hogwarts. Not after the fight that Albus put on to bring you back!" Katrina sent warning looks to her husband to join in.
"None of us should decide for him. Whatever he chooses will be up to him." Severus said blandly, and took Katrina's arm. He dragged her to her feet and pulled her towards the fireplace. "We should be going. I take it you won't be in the school this weekend. Due to the lycanthropy."
"No. Tonight, tomorrow and Saturday are full moon nights, so I will be coming in on Monday to tell Albus of my plans." Remus rubbed his forehead. "In the meantime you are the only people that know of my plans, so please keep them to yourselves for now."
Katrina nodded, and waved as Severus threw the Floo powder and bundled them back off to Hogwarts.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
"What a poor man. He's so lonely isn't he?" Katrina turned to Severus.
Severus' mind was on other things however as he had just spotted Sirius in the hallway. He raised his voice so that it carried just enough. "It is a shame that we will have to find another DADA teacher so soon. We appear to go through them very quickly. Don't you think?" He was pleased with himself to see Sirius stop dead, and turn to listen to the conversation.
"And Alaska of all places. How far away can you get?" Katrina continued, oblivious to the eavesdropper.
"Quite. But then again I'm sure Remus has his reasons." Severus said smoothly.
Katrina gasped, and placed a hand over her mouth as she noticed a shadow moving away from the door. "Sirius just heard the entire conversation!"
"Did he?" Severus said blandly.
Katrina narrowed her eyes at Severus. "Sometimes you can be so slippery that I expect to see a trail of slime wherever you go." She smiled. "You really put on an appearance of not caring for them, but you do don't you?"
He frowned at her, and put on his first year Gryffindor intimidating voice. "Don't ever say that again."
Katrina smiled. "I'm not scared of you Professor Snape. You can't take house points away from me!"
He gave a rare smile, which Katrina was privileged to see a lot. "True. But we do live in a dungeon. I am sure I could come up with some sort of punishment."
Katrina chuckled. "Why do I get the impression that I'm going to like this an awful lot?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it's because I am your husband."
They headed off towards the dungeons. "And I suppose I should feel honoured? Professor Snape." Katrina asked.
"Indeed. Professor Snape." The bland voice of Severus Snape answered.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
"Are you sure you will be alright on your own, Lunar?" Pat asked with concern etched in her face. "I'm still not sure you have had enough time to recover."
It was Friday night, and the Black family were stood beside the front door. Heavy luggage surrounded them.
Lunar smiled widely and breezily replied. "Of course I will be okay! It's only for two nights. I can take care of myself."
Sirius looked unconvinced. "I don't know." He thought for a moment. "We could always come home early."
"Come off it!" Lunar started to push them towards the door. "I interrupted your honeymoon, one weekend away from me won't do me any harm, and besides I need some time to myself. Think about it… a nice dinner, candlelight, Jacuzzi, champagne, each other. I don't want to be a third wheel!" Sirius started to protest, but Lunar handed them their coats abruptly. "You may not get a second chance. Especially as you've started teaching again!"
"If you're sure." He said, searching in Lunar's face for any sign that he should stay.
"GO!" Lunar almost yelled at him.
Pat grinned at this. "Come on Sirius. She'll be fine. She's probably got a long luxurious night planned with a bubble bath and a good movie."
As they left the buoyant façade on Lunar's face faded, and she took a long deep breath. Grabbing her wand for security she checked all the doors and windows were locked and turned on the lights in most of the rooms. Feeling slightly better, she went into the living room and settled on the sofa that faced the door and windows and curled up into a ball.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
It was the last night of Remus' affliction, and his shackles rose in anger.
He growled at the man who was stood in front of him.
The man's eyes looked shiftily around him. "Nice dog. Good dog." He murmured unpleasantly.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
A shiver went down Lunar's spine and she shakily reached for the wand on the dresser beside her. A series of scratching noises were coming from the backdoor.
"It's just nothing." She repeated like a mantra to herself over and over again, but she couldn't stop her self from shaking as she got up from the sofa where she had spent the night. She crept through the house, towards the kitchen where the door was, and hoped that her teeth's chattering wasn't making too much noise.
"Who, who's there?" She asked nervously. "I'm armed!" She timidly warned.
Still the scratching continued.
"I'm warning you! Go away!"
She looked at the still dark sky outside through the window, and wished fervently that Sirius or Pat would come home early. It was early on the Sunday morning and they were not due back for another few hours.
"I'm not alone!" She said, but her voice broke in fear. "I'm calling the Ministry of Magic!"
A pain-filled whine came from the door, and she pulled back the kitchen curtains.
A tail wagged at her from the outside of the door.
"Just a dog." She screeched. "What's wrong boy?" She called from inside, while scanning the dog's surroundings to make sure he was alone. "Huh? What's wrong?"
Feeling adventurous, and wanting the scratching to finish, she opened the door a crack.
And saw the blood.
"Poor baby!" She crooned and opened the door fully. She stepped back in surprise. "You're a very big dog!"
It growled at her, but without a malicious or threatening tone.
Performing the "Wingardium Leviosa" spell she levitated the dog through the door and onto the kitchen table. She locked the door and turned her attention to the dog. It had salt and pepper specked hair, and in places huge gashes and stab marks in it's skin. It looked as if it had lost a lot of blood, and could barely move.
"What happened boy?" She soothed, and got several healing powders and lotions from one of the cupboards. "Did you get in a fight?"
The dog tried to move off of the table, but only succeeded in shuffling a bit.
"No." She crooned. "Don't move. This will sting a bit, but it won't hurt too much."
She started to rub a cleansing lotion into the worst of his wounds as the first light of morning hit her window. The dog whimpered in pain, and started to shudder.
Lunar took a couple of steps back from the table and dropped the bottle on the floor. It shattered, and scratched her bare feet, but she didn't realise. All she could do was to stare transfixed as the body of the dog shuddered and shook, the fur shrinking, and the dog's paws change into feet and hands.
Its face was the last thing to change, and Lunar's view was partly obscured by its arms.
Finally the shuddering stopped and the wounds opened afresh. The now man groaned and looked around him, his eyes finally coming to a rest at the shocked Lunar stood in horror.
"Help me Lunar." Remus said, and fainted.
A/N
The story is continuing!!! Hoorah!!!
Okay. I'm now in my third year at uni, so this is officially DISSERTATION year!! So I may not be posting as quickly as I would like to. I REALLY appreciate those who have stuck by me and continued to check to see if I've posted. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am persevering in my stories, as they give me a break from everything!!! (However I think I'm getting square eyes from sitting at a computer for so long!!!) Please continue to bear with me and I shall try to post again next week!
To Ingenious, sorry but as far as I'm aware there will not be any more flashbacks in this story. If you would like me to do something extra concerning the school years or something then either e-mail me or write it in a review, but it may not be done quite as fast as the others!!
To Annoriel, Thank you for always having kind words to say about my stories. Even in the deepest pit of writers block they always inspire me to do more!! (So I'm sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes!) And if you don't want to wait too long then you can always e-mail me and tell me to hurry up!!!
Btw. The next chapter's a doozy. (That's slang for really good for anyone that doesn't… well for everyone really!!!) Bear with me.
Thanks again
Krusty.
xxx.
