SOMA
4.
Lily sat quietly twisting her engagement ring while she waited for Remus at the Leaky Cauldron. Her other hand kept sneaking to the pocket of her jeans to feel the letter that was tucked there so impatiently. She'd just received it that morning via owl from Dumbledore. In his short slanted script he asked her how she felt about taking a temporary teaching position at Hogwarts as the Defense against the Dark Arts. The last professor had a rather unfortunate broom accident and wouldn't be able to teach the coming fall.
She was flattered that he would ask her. She'd gotten an Outstanding OWL in Defense but she hadn't considered it her strongest subject. It was more James's forte, she thought. Despite it being flattering, Lily found herself irrationally annoyed at Dumbledore for offering her the position. First of all, because it reminded her off Potter and all of the 'old crowd' that she'd managed to distance herself from. It was stupid, but she felt like she was somehow being led back to them despite herself.
Well, she didn't have to take the position.
Second of all, it would mean delaying getting married for at least another six months. Oddly, this reason didn't bother her quite so much as the idea of having to be near James Potter again.
Remus came flying through the door of the pub then, looking apologetic and out of breath.
"Sorry about that" he said, as Lily stood to kiss him on the cheek. "Nymphadora Tonks fell off her broom and I had to fix her arm for her. Everyone else is bloody useless at medical magic." He gave a short laugh. "How are you, then?"
"I'm okay." She said, nodding.
There was a pause.
"Great," said Remus enthusiastically. "Do anything fun last night?"
"Er—yeah, kind of." She said, trying to mimic his enthusiasm "Thomas's brother Stephen and his wife came over for dinner."
"Oh, nice..."
She nodded again, and kept nodding. "Uh huh," She sighed "This shouldn't be so awkward."
"I know," Remus blurted "I'm just trying not to bring up--- you know"
"James." She said, making a sour face. "He's such an idiot"
Remus sighed "He's been kind of stressed out lately, which has significantly reduced his general idiocy."
Lily chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully for a moment before she asked him. "Did you tell him about Thomas?"
"Yes," Remus looked at her sideways. "Is that alright?"
She just shrugged "Why wouldn't it be okay?"
"I don't know." Headmitted softly.
"Well…" she kept chewing on her lip. "What did he say?"
"Not much," Remus said truthfully, "He's got a lot on his mind. He's been out all night every night for the last month trying to get something on Lucius Malfoy and it's all come to nothing." He sighed. "It turns out Malfoy can actually get a restraining order from the Ministry for us following him."
"Are you serious?" Lily scoffed, "That's ridiculous! Why would they do that?"
"Lucius owns everyone at the Ministry" Remus sighed, "It is bloody ridiculous. The executive branch of the Ministry is all old pureblood families and once they got Minster Potter out of the way it's like they have free reign to make things easy for you-know-who"
Lily shook her head. "It's such utter bullshit. All of it"
Remus shrugged.A young witch came over to their table to take their orders and scurried off back behind the bar.
"So," Lily said flippantly as she examined the contents of her Butterbeer. "Other than the obvious, how is Potter?"
"Oh, you know," Remus shrugged. "Not eating, not sleeping, not talking to any of us, locking himself up in his Father's library and sending me off on missions to find books about evil wizards. Not so good."
Lily took a deep breath. "You can tell him I say hello, if you like." she said with a shrug.
Remus stared at her for a moment, wondering if this was forced flippancy."I will." he said gravely.
She pulled the letter from Dumbledore out of her pocket. "So, I got this from the Headmaster this morning. He wants me to come teach Defense at Hogwarts. Isn't that weird?" she asked "Shouldn't he be asking one of you to do it?"
Remus shrugged and then grinned at her."He probably has some good reason for wanting you to do it."
"He wants me to come by on Saturday" she said, reading over the letter again. "To let him know my reply"
"I'll be up in Hogsmeade on Saturday," said Remus off handedly. "Would you like to get a drink? I mean, if today doesn't turn out to be more awkward."
"Sure," she smiled at him. "You are a good friend Remus."
He smiled at her.
Lily twisted her engagement ring anxiously. Why did she have an idea she would end up taking this job?
-
let me know what you think guys. I know it's going REALLY slowly and all the chapters are super short—but I promise I'll have Lily and James together in the next one and I promise it'll be less boring and conversation-y. And more Sirius and various other members of the Black Family.
Ta.