"Avery," Sirius said, tears welling up in his eyes. I wasn't sure exactly how to respond to him, still afraid of what he might be capable of. He took a few steps towards me and I was totally frozen. Before I knew what was happening he had enveloped in a bone crushing hug.
"Sirius! What the hell?!" I said, getting out of his grip the best I could.
"Please, Avery, will you just listen to me for a moment?" Sirius said, holding his hands up in front of him as though I was some wild animal that needed calming.
"Why should I listen to you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him with my arms crossed.
"Everything you think you know about the night Lily and James is wrong. You just have to trust me, please," he said.
"Fine. I'm listening," I said after a few moments of silence and listened as he went into the details of what happened, explaining how Peter was actually their secret keeper and had given James and Lily away to Voldemort, framing Sirius for both that crime and Peter's murder.
"Peter cut off his own finger and transformed into a rat just to frame you?" I asked, tears already streaming down my face.
"Yes. And I hope you believe me. Please, please believe me, Avery," he said and all I could think to do was hug him. When I did, he started crying too, clinging to me for dear life.
"Wait here," I said, rushing up the stairs to find Remus. He had actually stayed in our bedroom like I'd asked, but was pacing nervously.
"Avery?" he said, seeing the tears running down my face.
"Remus, it wasn't him. It really wasn't," I said and went into the whole story of how Sirius was innocent and by the time I was finished Remus had tears in his eyes too.
"Come on, we have some catching up to do with him," Remus said, taking my hand as we made our way downstairs. I stayed right at the stairs watching Remus and Sirius. After a while I figured we could at least offer Sirius a shower and something to eat.
"Hey, why don't you go upstairs and take a shower while I get dinner ready?" I said to Sirius, standing up to go to the kitchen.
"That sounds fantastic. Thank you, both of you," he said and Remus led him upstairs and made sure he had everything he needed. I decided on fried chicken for dinner and was finishing it up when Sirius came back downstairs, wearing some of Remus' clothes.
"Something smells amazing," he said, walking into the kitchen to join me and Remus.
"Well hopefully it will taste as good as it smells," I said, taking the last piece of chicken out of the frying oil. "Remus, will you come stir this?" I said, handing him the spoon for the mashed potatoes and he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as he walked past me.
"So how old is she? I noticed your daughter's room upstairs," Sirius said as we started eating.
"Oh, she's 11. She'll turn 12 at the end of May," I said, caught off guard by his question.
"What does she look like?" he asked, scarfing down as much food as he could as fast as he could.
"Exactly like her father. And yes, she started Hogwarts this year," I said before he could ask that question.
"How is she doing? With you two as parents I'm sure she's smart as a whip," Sirius said with a crooked smile.
"That she is. She's incredibly bright," Remus said, full of pride.
"So where is she?" Sirius asked.
"Staying with my parents. It was a full moon last night. She'll come back on New Year's Day," I said.
"I'd love to meet her," Sirius said and me and Remus gave each other a weary look.
"I don't know that that's such a good idea, Sirius. To the rest of the world you're a wanted mass murderer, can you imagine how an eleven year old would respond to seeing you?" Remus said, voicing my exact concerns.
"I can't get close to Harry yet, couldn't I at least see her?" Sirius asked, a pleasing look in his eye.
"We'll think about it," I said with a sigh. We spent the rest of the evening just catching up with everything that happened in the twelve years he was in Azkaban, staying up far later than Remus should've been so soon after the full moon.
"Come on, you can stay in the guest room, Sirius. My husband needs to go to bed," I said as Remus was dozing off sitting on the couch.
"Right, right, sorry. I remember where it is. Thank you both so much," Sirius said and went upstairs to the guest room while I got Remus off the couch to go to bed. Sirius stayed with us for the next two days, until Lily came back home from my parents house, by which time Remus was feeling much better. We'd just said goodbye to Sirius when there was a knock on the door and Lily burst in.
"Hey Lilybug, did you have fun?" I asked her as she hugged both me and Remus.
"Yeah, I did. Mum, did you see that big black dog in the yard?" she said and I mentally face palmed, not knowing Sirius had stayed out there.
"Yeah it's been hanging around the neighborhood for a couple of days. I think it might belong to one of the neighbors," I lied. I hated lying to Lily, but both me and Remus knew it was necessary for the time being. The morning of January 3rd we all apparated to King's Cross Station for Lily to ride the train back to Hogwarts.
"I think this train ride should be a little less interesting than it was in September," I joked with Lily as we walked along Platform 9 ¾.
"I hope so. Oh, there's Romilda. I'll see you there!" she said, hugging both of us quickly before catching up to her friends. Remus apparated the two of us to Hogsmeade and we walked up to Hogwarts in a comfortable silence, holding hands. I had decided to start wearing the ring Remus had given me for Christmas, knowing that rumors would spread among the students like wildfire even if I wasn't wearing the ring.
"I'll see you in a bit," I said to Remus once we reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Remus gave me a quick kiss before heading into his classroom and I knew that was something I would miss once there were students back in the castle and we couldn't do the small things like that quick kiss anymore. I got my things settled back into my office before the students got back and went over to Remus' office to go to the Great Hall.
"Hey, you ready to go?" I asked him, knocking on the door of his office and leaning on the door frame.
"Almost, come here, and close the door," he said and I furrowed my brow but did it anyway.
"Is everything okay?" I asked him, walking over to him.
"Everything is perfect, there's just something I wanted to do first," he said, meeting me halfway. He put his arms around my waist and instinctively I put mine around his neck. "I just know this is something we won't get to do much once term starts again," he said and kissed me, but it felt different than the kisses we shared during the Christmas break. As we were kissing I pushed him back towards the couch, pushing him down to sit and straddling him, just to change things up a bit.
"Mm, Avery stop. I might not be able to help myself if this goes any further," he said between kisses and I knew he was right. I sighed as I stood back up, missing the close contact with him already.
"Oh fine. I know you're right. We should get going to the Great Hall before the students get here," I said, heading towards the door. We walked silently to the Great Hall and I knew the next term would be different for us than the last one was. The next two weeks went by quickly, and I was yearning to be close to Remus again when I had an idea. One night I got an idea and left the Great Hall before many of the other staff, going to my office to scribble, meet me in the come and go room on a scrap of parchment to leave on Remus' desk. Once I did that I made my way up to the seventh floor, passing in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet three times and a door appeared on the opposite wall. I smiled when it appeared and hurried through it before anyone could see and just waited. It wasn't long before Remus came through the door and I launched myself at him, eager to be close to him again. Immediately our lips crashed together and it seemed he was just as eager as I was to have some alone time together again.
"These last two weeks have been torture not being able to be as close to you," I said before turning around to get a good look at the room in front of us. There was a large bed with a side table on either side, a huge fireplace with a plush couch and armchair, plus an additional table in front of the couch, and a wall with bookshelves built in. It always amazed me how the room always knew exactly what you needed, even if you didn't know yourself.
"So, Mrs. Lupin, what exactly did you want to accomplish in here?" Remus asked from behind me, his hands resting on my hips.
"I just thought about having a place to spend time with you where we would be comfortable," I said, giggling when he tried to kiss my neck. "Quit, that tickles," I said, turning to face him again.
"So why here and not yours or my office?" he asked, leading me to the large couch in front of the fireplace.
"Well, no one can find us here. Other than maybe Albus or Minerva I think we're the only two people in this castle right now that even know this room exists," I said, laying down with my head in his lap while he brushed the hair out of my face with his fingers.
"Are you sure we should be doing things we wouldn't want others to see just yet?" he asked and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Remus, just about anything we might do that would make it obvious we're together is something we wouldn't want others to see," I said, closing my eyes and just enjoying his touch.
"I suppose that's true. I've heard some students talk about your ring, Harry and his friends are particularly skeptical about it," he said and I smirked.
"Oh I've heard, don't worry. Hermione is a bit of a teacher's pet in my class so she's already asked me about it. I avoided the question, of course, but I heard her talking to Ron and Harry before class started and she was telling she was sure you're the one that gave it to me," I said, playing with the ring on my finger.
"It seems Lily hasn't said anything to out us yet, I'm honestly quite proud of her for that," Remus said, resting his hand at my hip.
"I know she hangs around after class to talk to you, she asked me if I thought it would be okay for her to do and I told her I didn't see any harm in it," I said, opening my eyes again and smiling up at Remus.
"Yes, at least three days a week she stays for a bit after class," he said with a slight chuckle. "I never thought I could love someone as much as I love her. Obviously I love you more than anything too, but-" he started and I cut him off.
"But it's different when it's your child, trust me I know exactly what you mean," I said, putting my hand over his that was at my hip and lacing my fingers through his from on top of his hand.
"Any particular reason for the bed?" he asked me after a moment of silence, glancing behind him at it.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I didn't have anything specific in mind when I came up here, just a cozy place to spend time together," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Well, tomorrow is Saturday, if you wanted to just sleep here together for the night," he said and I thought I saw his face flush a bit.
"I quite like that idea, actually," I said and sat back up.
"We could use it to try something else, you know," Remus said quietly and when I looked at him he was as red as a tomato.
"Um, I'm really not sure about that yet, Remus. I am unbelievably happy to have you back and trust me when I say that is something I'm looking forward to again, but I'm really not sure when I'll be ready for something like that again," I said, turning to face him.
"I know, I'm not going to push you. Like I've said before, I don't want to get in your way as a parent to Lily, and that includes anything you aren't comfortable with between us," he said and I smiled at him.
"Come on, it's getting late and I'm tired," I said, taking his hand and pulling him up from the couch. I was glad I had on a comfortable shirt that I felt okay sleeping in, having changed clothes after the last class of the day. I started getting undressed and could see Remus shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously. "You can't possibly be embarrassed by seeing me in just a t-shirt," I said, smirking at him.
"It's just different here than at home I guess," he said and slowly began taking his clothes off too, leaving just his boxers on before sliding into the bed next to me. We talked late into the night, falling asleep in each other's arms and I could have sworn I heard him mumble an I love you before falling asleep.
Does anyone else love the relationship between Avery and Remus as much as I do? I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'd love to hear what you thought about this chapter!
