Disclaimer: Read my pf thingy.

Twenty-Three

"Remus," she said quietly. He was shuffling through some papers on a desk, looking through his briefcase.

"Remus, look at me," she said. He turned and looked at her, and let out a gasp.

"Are you – is your surname Peterson?" he asked.

"Yes, yes it is!" Lina cried. "You remember me!"

Remus frowned. "How can I remember you if I've never met you before?" he asked.

"What are you talking about? It's me, Remus, it's Celina!"

"No you're not! You're her kid! Lina's my age! She's your mother!" he said sharply.

"Yes I am! Don't you think I'd know who I am? I am Celina Artemis Peterson!"

"Dammit, no you're not! You're her kid! Jesus Christ, if you're Lina you will have had to have a hell of a good face lift," he said.

"Fine then! Ask me something that only Lina would know! And I promise you, I will answer correctly!"

Remus thought for a minute, his hand on his chin, then said, "Alright, then, what happened on the night of December the fifteenth, in the year of 1980?"

Lina closed her eyes. She searched her memory, but did not have to look very far. Instantaneously, she felt a stabbing pain across her chest. She half expected blood to come spurting out from the scars. She still remembered a hand stroking her face, but then jerking back . . . a voice whispering, "Look what you've done . . . You're a monster."

"On December the fifteenth in the year 1980, you changed into a werewolf, and scratched me across the chest. And I heard voices screaming, calling out for help. And a pain in my chest like my very heart was being ripped apart. And then I awoke to a voice, muttering about monsters and terrible things." Lina said descriptively. She put her hand over her heart, where the paw print lay under her shirt. The pain was still there, like knives piercing into her.

Remus sighed and replied with, "Your mother told you."

Lina was enraged. She shouted, "If my mother told me, then what are these?" She lowered the neckline on her shirt, revealing a small part of the scratch, red with the memory. She heard his sharp intake of breath, heard his footsteps as he walked over to her. He gently reached out and touched the end of the scratch. In touching it, she flinched.

He looked deeply into her eyes. They were pleading, begging for him to believe her. He saw himself reflected in her tears.

"Please, Remus, trust me. Why would I make this up?"

He put his hands to her face, wiping away the tears. He stroked her skin gently, like he had so many times before. She realized how much she had missed that.

She smiled. "Besides, I could never have a kid with anyone but you," she whispered.

"It is you," he whispered. She looked to the ground and nodded.

That was all it took. With one finger, he lifted her chin and drew her closer to him. And gently, so gently, sank his lips into hers. He put his hands on her back, pressing her body to his. It was the first kiss she had encountered in thirty years. And it was the best kiss she had ever encountered, in four-thousand, three hundred and forty-three years.

He withdrew from her, that old sparkle back in his eyes. "How can you still look so young? It's impossible."

"It's not impossible, just improbable," Lina replied slyly. Remus raised his eyebrows. Lina smiled and said, "Do you remember the first time you kissed me?"

"How could I forget?" he replied.

"Do you remember what I told you before you actually kissed me?"

He grinned and in unison, they said, "Don't touch the hair."

"I never understood that," Remus said honestly. "You have such beautiful hair – the way it captures the sunlight and looks so radiant, the unbelievable highlights, the softness, the volume, just . . . everything about it is beautiful."

"Well, do you want to know why I didn't want you to touch the hair?" Lina asked. Remus nodded. She took a deep breath and slowly pulled a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Your ear! It's . . . it's pointy!" Remus exclaimed.

"Don't you think I know that? I've been living with it for four-thousand, three hundred and thirty-eight years!"

"Four thousand . . . what?" he asked.

"Remus, do you know what an elf is?" she asked. Remus shook his head. "An elf is a creature that lives in a world far from here. In another universe, sort of. And elves are immortal."

"Immortal?" Remus asked.

"Yes, immortal. I can never die. And the thing is I am, or was, an orphan, until Professor Dumbledore adopted me, a hundred fifty or so years ago."

"Celina . . . Dumbledore . . ." he murmured.

"Yes. And so I lived with him for a hundred twenty years, and then I came to Hogwarts. Where I met you. And Sirius. And Pettigrew. And . . . James and Lily," Lina said, ending that last part in a whisper. Her lower lip quivered, and she collapsed onto Remus in a fit of tears.

"Oh, Remus, why did they have to die? What did he want in them? Why couldn't he have taken me instead?"

"Because, Celina. If he had taken you, then Harry wouldn't have stood up to Voldemort. And then there would be no boy who lived. And besides, if you had died, I would have died, as well. Because I cannot live without you, Lina."

Lina blushed. Even when they had been going out when they were younger, he had never said anything like that to her before. But then, a question arose in her head, growing louder and louder.

"If you cannot live without me, then how come you are still alive now?" she asked bluntly.

"Because I was living with the hope that you would come back to me, like you promised, Lina. Don't you remember what you said to me before you left?" Remus said in barely more than a whisper.

Lina remembered, perfectly. She closed her eyes and recited the words she had said years and years ago:

"I'm not sure of where I'm going, Remus, or what I plan to do there. In fact, there's only one thing I am sure of, and that's that I'm not sure of anything. This life is taking me on a different path than I would have chosen, but right now, I need to leave you.

"But I promise to you, Remus – I swear on my life – that one day, I will come back for you. I may not look the same, and you certainly won't look the same, but I will be the same person inside, with the same immortal flame burning within me."

She opened her eyes. Remus was smiling at her. She smiled back as he took her hand, gently and slowly intertwining their fingers.

"When you had said that to me, I hadn't known that you meant immortal flame literally," he said.

"I hadn't meant it that way, but that's alright."

And again, he kissed her. She had never felt such strong love. She had never felt so warm, despite the cold air within the castle. She had never felt so protected, despite the mountain trolls looking for her. And she had never felt so beautiful than she did with him.

They withdrew from each other. Remus touched his lips gently.

"I forgot how much I missed that," he whispered. Lina laughed softly.

Without another word, Remus took her hand and lead her up a small, stone staircase that lead to a bedroom. The windows were stained glass and were closed, but other than that, there was little color in the room. Lina was a bit disappointed – she had imagined a more glorious retreat.

However, Remus continued to lead her, over to the window. He gently touched it and murmured, "Celina," and it opened.

"You used me as a password?" Lina asked, grinning.

"This room is just for you. What better password was there than your name?" he asked. Lina frowned, puzzled. "You'll see what I mean in a moment," he continued.

Lina followed him down a small corridor lit by candles set into the walls. At the end of the corridor was a door. When they reached it, Remus beamed.

"Close your eyes," he commanded tenderly. She did as she was told, and felt herself being pulled into a different room. This one was much warmer than the chamber and the bedroom.

"Alright, open them."

Lina opened her eyes and gasped. She was in a room with a dark, wooden floor and stone walls. In the center of the room was a circular bed, with pink, red, and gold comforters. The pillows were a shade of dark purple. Tall, black, metallic candle holders stood from the floor, and fifty or so smaller candles were arranged around the circular canopy bed. A large fire crackled cheerfully in the fireplace, and there were more stained glass windows. The image on the windows was of a rose, red in color. On the floor were scattered many rose petals, in shades of pink, red, and white.

"I imagine this is a much better retreat than the previous room?" Remus asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"It's beautiful . . . and so romantic." Lina ran and threw herself on the bed. It was so comfortable – she sank easily into the mattress.

"I decorated this room magically for when you returned. No one has ever found it besides me, seeing as I set the password. This is the first time I have been in here in four years, but I put a self-cleaning charm on it, so that every day, it would automatically clean itself. Should I assume it is to your satisfaction?" Remus asked.

"It is completely, one-hundred percent to my satisfaction. In fact, I only hoped for a positive reaction from you – this is like a bonus."

Lina instantly began making herself at home. She threw off her robes, flinging them on a nearby armchair. She was wearing a black cami with lace across the top. Her skirt was denim and reached a little bit above her knees.

"I'm surprised to say . . . I like these current styles!" he muttered. He walked over to her, her eyes following his large, graceful movements. He sat down on the bed next to her and looked her up and down. She felt herself blushing again. She was just thinking that she blushed too much when he kissed her again.

This time, the kiss was more of a sexy kiss than a romantic kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, he wrapping his around her waist. His hands found her leg, and slowly stroked it up and down. His other hand, however, found the straps of her shirt, and slid them off her shoulders.

His kisses moved to her neck. She giggled at his playfulness, his fingers tracing her outline. Her eyes closed . . .

When it was over, she had laid her head on his bare chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was fast, like a jackrabbit. She had fallen asleep there, around three o'clock, her clothes strewn on the floor. One of his arms was around her waist, the other holding her hand. One of her hands was on is chest, the other being held. It had been the best night of her life. She had imagined it so many times, the kiss, the initial movement of him going to take off her shirt, his touch on her leg.

She awoke in the bed, feeling incredibly warm. At first, she was alarmed – what would her father think? What happened last night? Why was she here? But then she remembered everything. And she remembered that no one could get into the room without the password.

At the present moment, she wished she could fall asleep just so that she could wake in his arms again. But she knew that her heart was racing so hard that she could not fall asleep if she tried.

She relaxed a bit and gently kissed Remus' head.

He stirred. He opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was her smiling face.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"More like great morning," she stated. He smiled. She rose and put on her nightgown, allowing him to stretch.

"Jesus, looking at you, then looking at me – I feel so old," Remus said forlornly.

"Well, don't – remember, I am about four thousand, three hundred or so years older than you. A little less than that," she said. "So you shut up about being old."

"Ah, sorry. It's still a fairly new concept."

Lina exited the room and went to Remus' office. She was surprised to see that her stuff was in there, in a large wardrobe, next to Remus'. Then, it hit her – the house elves must have brought it here.

But then, she began to panic. Would they tell Dumbledore? Or did he already know? Or would they let it slip that she was going out and had sex with a teacher? What would happen to her?

"Calm down, Lina," Remus whispered. "None of the house elves have anything against you. They can't do anything. It's not their place to tell, or to learn this kind of information, for that matter."

"What?" Lina asked upon hearing his comment.

"You sent your thought to me. I assume that this was by accident?"

"Your assumption would be correct. I forgot I could do that," she said in response.

So she just decided to get into some kind of pajamas more than just her nightgown, so that if she were to go wandering the school, it would look like she had been sleepwalking. She put on a fluffy white bathrobe, but left it untied to that her lingerie-like nightgown still showed.

He was in his boxers, apparently brushing his teeth. When he saw her, he gasped and almost dropped the toothbrush.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked through a mouthful of toothpaste.

"The house-elves brought my stuff up here. They must have known I was here. I have to go back to my room that Daddy gave me, so that he won't know what happened."

"D . . . Daddy?" Remus asked slowly. Then, his eyes widened in awe and fear.

"Shit. I will be in so much trouble if your Dad finds out what happened last night . . . and so will you," he said quietly, as though thinking that his spies were in the room right in that moment.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Just let me sneak back to my room, and everything will be fine," Lina said. She gave Remus a quick kiss on the cheek and then walked back to the door to Remus' office.

When she got there, she noticed that there was no fire. She pulled out her wand and muttered, "Ignitius!" Instantly, a crackling fire appeared in the fireplace. She thought it would be nice for him to enter his office and find it nice and warm, rather than cold as ice.

Smiling to herself, she walked over to the door to the office. She turned the doorknob and opened the door. However, when she looked up, she almost fainted.

"Hey, Daddy," she said uneasily, as Professor Dumbledore looked at her in her lingerie-like nightgown, standing at the door to Remus' office.