And here's chapter 6! It's a little later than I wanted it to be, but here it is! Enjoy!


After breakfast I made my way to the castle courtyard, many of the students that were going to Hogsmeade were already milling about talking amongst themselves. Once we all made our way to the village, I went to Honeyduke's straight away, knowing if I waited that it would be crowded with students. For a while I just browsed, grabbing things every once in a while like sugar quills and chocolate frogs. Lily collected chocolate frog cards so I always made sure to get a few for her, she probably had thousands by now. After I gathered everything I wanted (including several bars of chocolate for Remus) I made my purchase and made my staff rounds to make sure no students were getting into things they shouldn't on the trip. Luckily it was an uneventful trip and we were all back at Hogwarts in plenty of time for the Halloween feast. When I got back to my office there was a note on my desk in familiar handwriting. It said:

Come to my office before the feast.

With love,

RL

I was a little surprised by how forward Remus was being with this note, but was glad to know Madam Pomfrey deemed him well enough to leave the Hospital Wing, even if he wouldn't be at the Halloween feast. I put away everything but Remus' chocolate and made my way across the hall to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, letting myself in. I knocked on the door to his office and opened the door when I heard a faint "come in" after a moment. I let myself into Remus' office and he was in front of the fireplace, already getting tea ready for the two of us.

"I was worried you didn't get my note, but I'm glad you're here," he said as he sat on the small sofa in front of the fireplace, gesturing for me to sit next to him. I sat down on the sofa and pulled out the chocolate I had gotten for him.

"Here, I got this for you. Figured it could help you feel a little better," I said, handing him the chocolate and he smiled.

"Thank you, Avery. You have always made sure I had plenty of chocolate around the full moon," he said, setting it on a side table next to him.

"Of course. It helps more than people realize. Besides, that's part of who you are at this point. I always think about you any time I smell chocolate," I said, blushing when I realized what I'd just admitted to him.

"I've been thinking about it, and I want Lily to know who I am. I'm just not sure when might be a good time for that. I know we need to work on things between the two of us before we do anything else, and I'm ready to do that whenever you are," he said after a beat of silence, again surprising me with how forward he was being.

"Remus, that's wonderful. I've wanted to be able to tell her who her father is for her whole life. We'll find the right time to tell her. And it may take me some time, but I'm willing to work on us, too. All I ask is that you be patient with me. I do still have a daughter to raise," I said, hoping he would understand my position in all of this, though he looked a little deflated.

"Of course. I wish I could be there for Lily, too, but I won't get in your way as a parent. I know she is your top priority," he said and I was so glad he understood where I was coming from.

"Thank you, truly. She's already decided that your class is her favorite, she was telling me about some of your lessons the other day," I told him, feeling much more comfortable and open with him now than I had in the last few weeks.

"So far she's top of the class of the first years. She's just as brilliant as you are," he said and I blushed slightly.

"No, I believe she gets those smarts from you. You always did better than me in class," I said.

"Except History of Magic, of course," he said with a crooked grin.

"True," I said, smiling. "I should get going. Don't want to be late for the feast," I added with a sigh, standing up. Remus walked with me to his classroom door, though he looked as though he would pass out at any moment.

"Don't get into too many sweets," he said with a small wink, leaning on the classroom door.

"I really can't promise anything there," I said with a giggle, the sound foreign to me. "Please take care of yourself and rest. I'll see you later," I said and stretched up to kiss him on the cheek and he gave me a broad smile. I immediately could feel my face turning as red as a tomato and hurried out the door before he could say anything else. I didn't know what had gotten into me recently. Obviously I loved Remus, that was something I'd known for years, but the thought of being in an active marriage with him again was terrifying. In a way I'd been holding myself back from showing any affection towards him whatsoever, afraid that he would up and disappear if I opened myself up to him again. When I finally got to the Great Hall, students were only just beginning to sit down at the house tables and I was one of the last Professors to sit down.

"Avery, there you are. I was wanting to ask you something," Minerva said from the other side of Sybil when I sat down.

"Of course. Is something wrong?" I asked, hoping Lily hadn't gotten herself into trouble.

"I'm aware of a few rumors making their rounds through the students, and I assure this would not be a problem in the slightest if true, but is Professor Lupin pursuing a more personal relationship with you? I know you were married for several years before Lily was born, I just want to make sure the students don't take these rumors too far," she asked me and I was mildly shocked that this would come up at all.

"Well, um, I'm not exactly sure at this point to be totally honest. I suppose so, but after twelve years without him it's difficult to simply go back to where we were before," I answered uncertainly.

"I believe it may be good for you to consider building on what you already have with him. He's come to me with concerns about Lily knowing who her father is," Minerva said, putting food on her plate as it appeared. I sighed, doing the same, and wondered what concerns he had.

"Actually we've decided to tell Lily who her father is, but we want to wait until we feel like it's the right time. She's only eleven years old and finding out who her father is, that he's alive even, is going to be a lot on her. I want to be sure she's ready first," I said, my answer seeming to be a good enough one for Minerva.

"I'm glad. She's very bright, just like her parents, and you'll know when it's the right time to tell her," she said with a small wink and turned to her plate of food. For the rest of the feast I thought about everything going on with Remus and what it would mean to Lily to know what he is to her. After all of the students left the Great Hall, I leisurely made my way back to my classroom, thinking about going to see Remus again before heading to bed. As I approached his classroom, the door opened before I could push it open.

"Oh good. Come with me, something's happened," Remus said before I could even open my mouth to speak. He grabbed my hand and we quickly made our way back to the Great Hall where all of the Gryffindor students were filing in. I turned to Remus with a look of concern, wondering what had happened. Minerva found us almost immediately to fill us in on what was going on.

"There you two are. Sirius Black has broken into the castle. He was trying to get into Gryffindor tower and slashed the portrait of the Fat Lady to pieces when she wouldn't let him in," she told us quickly and my eyes went wide.

"Are the students okay? Where's Lily?" I said in a panic, letting go of Remus to turn and look for her.

"I'm sure Lily is just fine. Come here," Remus said, taking my hand in his again.

"Mum!" I heard from behind me and turned to see Lily rushing towards me and she glanced at my hand holding Remus' before I let go again to hug her.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright," I said nearly crushing her.

"Of course I am," she said nonchalantly, taking a step back from me and looking at Remus. "Do you have a crush on my mom?" she suddenly asked him. I pulled her out of ear shot of Remus quicker than a snitch flying away from a Seeker.

"Lily, you can't just ask him something like that," I said to her, appalled and embarrassed that she would say something like that to a professor, even if that professor was actually my husband.

"I just want to know. I don't want you to get hurt if he does have a crush on you," she said and my expression softened immediately.

"Oh, Lily, you have nothing to worry about," I said, kneeling down and looking up at her.

"You told me dad left before I was born, but you haven't even looked at another man for my whole life. I want you to be happy, mum," she said and hugged me. She always did surprise me with how mature she was for her age and I hated not being able to tell her right then and there about Remus.

"I promise you that when I feel like we're both ready, I will tell you everything you want to know about your father. Sound good?" I said, putting my hands on her shoulders.

"Sounds good," she said with a smile.

"Now, I need to go find Professor Dumbledore and see what I need to do. I'll come find you in a little while," I said, standing up.

"Okay. I hope we'll be able to get into the common room soon, I don't want to stay here for very long," she said, watching as the house tables slid to the walls and sleeping bags rolling out in their place. I gave her another hug and went over to the group of professors at the front of the hall.

"Now that we're all here, we will take shifts patrolling throughout the night, both here and in the corridors. All prefects and the Head Boy and Head Girl have been instructed to go back to their dormitories for their safety. Severus, Minerva, you'll take first patrol with Filius. Avery, Remus, I'll send an owl when it's your time, go get some rest for now," Professor Dumbledore told those of us that were there. I nodded my understanding and we dispersed, though I stayed next to Remus for the time being.

"I'll wait for you to tell Lily good night. I know you want to be sure she'll be okay," he said and left me to go wait by the door of the Great Hall while I found Lily. Once I did, I told her good night very quickly, knowing all of the students needed to get their rest. I walked out of the Great Hall with Remus, glad to have him with me in case Sirius was still lurking somewhere in the castle. We didn't know what he was capable of after all those years in Azkaban.

"I can't believe he would try something like this, what does he even want?" I asked Remus as we turned down a corridor.

"I think he's trying to go after Harry. I'm not sure why, maybe has something to do with Voldemort from when James and Lily were killed, but I do think his ultimate goal is to get to Harry," Remus said and that made sense knowing what we did after James and Lily's death. We walked the rest of the way in silence, stopping in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"I don't know how they expect anyone to sleep after all of that," I said, trying to stall so I could spend more time with Remus.

"Yes, it all is a bit unnerving. Do you want to stay for a little while? So I know you're safe?" he said, suddenly looking nervous.

"Sure, yeah. That would be good," I said and followed him up to his office. I sat on the floor so he could stretch out on the couch, something we had done often in the Gryffindor common room when we were students, though back then he would leave one foot on the floor so I could lean on his leg if I wanted to. We talked for a bit and before I knew it I was being woken up by a pecking on the window. My eyes grew wide as I realized we had both fallen asleep, my head on his knee, and I quickly jumped up, going to the window to let the owl in. There were two small roles of parchment attached to its leg as if Dumbledore knew I wouldn't be in my own office. I took them off of the owl's leg and handed one to Remus as he sleepily sat up, the owl flying back into the night.

"What time is it?" He asked and though we hadn't gotten much sleep, he looked much better than he had all day the previous day.

"Um, about two in the morning I think. We need to start rounds through the corridors," I said after reading the note from Dumbledore.

"Oh, right. Well, I supposed let's go then," he said and we walked towards the Great Hall together. I wasn't sure what was going to happen after tonight with Remus, but I had a good feeling about it.


Thank you so much for reading! Isn't Lily just great!? I'd love to know what you thought!