The next morning someone burst into my bedroom without even knocking, jerking me awake suddenly. I looked out the window and saw that the sun hadn't even risen yet, then turned to see who in the world had burst so violently into my bedroom at such an hour.
"Remus, what in the hell are you doing in here at this ungodly hour?" I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
"I'm sorry, but you have to see this," he said, thrusting a folded piece of parchment into my hands and I immediately knew what it was.
"Where did you get this?" I asked him, turning it over in my hands a few times.
"Harry had it. Snape tried to take it from him, but of course I knew what it was and he didn't, so I took it instead. He told me he saw Peter Pettigrew on it last night. None of this can stay a secret for much longer," he said in a panic, pacing the length of my room.
"What? He's here?" I said, opening it up to the front of the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," I muttered quickly, watching the Marauder's Map appear so I could look for Peter myself. I stood up and spread the map out on my bed, scanning it as quickly as I could for Peter's name. "Harry was right. He's there," I said, pointing to the third year boy's dormitory in Gryffindor tower.
"What?" Remus said, hurrying over to look. There was Peter's name, right beside Ron Weasley of all people.
"I can't believe how close he's been to Harry this whole time and we never knew it," I said, sitting on my trunk at the end of the bed.
"Ron Weasley, he has a pet rat, doesn't he?" Remus asked me, not looking up from the map.
"Yes, I keep hearing him and Hermione Granger bickering because her new cat keeps going after it. That's got to be him, Remus. Now we just have to find some way to prove it," I said, standing back up.
"We might be able to help Sirius more than we thought," Remus said, looking at me as I walked up next to him.
"We need to tell Sirius that Peter is here," I said, Remus giving me a look as though I was crazy.
"How could we manage that?" he asked, folding the map back up.
"Well, my owl is familiar with Sirius, I could send him a letter about it, unaddressed. She'll know where to go," I said, taking out a quill and piece of parchment from the small desk in my room. Remus spent most of the day with me in my office, the two of us just talking, until there was a knock on my office door.
"Come in," I called and was very surprised to see Hermione Granger open the door. The sun was finally up, but it was still rather early.
"Ms. Granger. Is something wrong?" I asked her, standing up. Hermione had confided in me quite a bit during her time at Hogwarts and I was worried something had happened.
"No, um, not really. I actually had some questions for both of you," she said, wringing her hands nervously.
"Oh, well, please, have a seat," I said, gesturing to one of the armchairs in front of my desk, sitting back down in my own chair.
"Harry told me and Ron some things," she started out a bit nervously.
"And you want to know if there's any truth behind them?" Remus said, taking the words right out of my mouth.
"Yes," the girl said simply, waiting for us to continue.
"Of course we don't know what he said word for word, but yes, it's true. Remus and I got married six months after we left Hogwarts, he is Lily's father, and he had to leave us the night Harry's parents were killed for our safety," I explained rather quickly, Remus holding my hand tightly.
"But why? Aren't there protections you could have used against You Know Who's followers?" Hermione asked after a moment.
"None that would have been strong enough to keep them out indefinitely. And I told Avery to go back to her maiden name so she and our child would stay safe," Remus answered.
"Lily is really bright, you know. I've overheard her helping some other first years with homework and such. Would she and Harry have grown up together if his parents hadn't been killed?" Hermione said and I smiled at Remus.
"Yes, they would have. Harry's parents were some of our best friends. I loved going to their house and playing with Harry as a baby, I just hate we didn't get to see him grow up the way we thought we would," I said.
"He's been in this awful muggle family his whole life practically," Hermione said and I knew she was talking about Petunia, Lily's older sister.
"Yes, that would be Lily's older sister, Petunia. She was always so jealous of Lily. I met her one time just before our fourth year and she was already dating that absolute potato Dursley. I think I physically cringed when Lily told me the two of them were getting married," I said and Remus laughed at me.
"They're absolutely horrid to him. Couldn't he stay with you now that he knows all of this?" Hermione asked.
"He's much safer with the muggles. I wish we could take him in, but if anyone involved with Voldemort found him because he was with us instead, I wouldn't be able to live with myself," I said, squeezing Remus' hand slightly.
"He told me something else. He said that last night he saw something on that map you took from him, something that should be impossible," Hermione said uncertainly.
"Yes, he told me he saw Peter Pettigrew. We aren't sure what to make of it. We thought he was a friend while we were in school together. But it's just impossible for Harry to have seen that name on the map, Pettigrew is dead and has been for twelve years," Remus lied smoothly.
"But why would his name show up if he's dead?" Hermione asked
"We actually were just looking into that this morning. We still haven't quite figured it out, but I think we will soon enough," I lied, hoping Hermione didn't see straight through our lies.
"Is there anything else you need, Ms. Granger? If not, Professor Stroupe and myself should get back to cracking that map," Remus said, standing up. I was surprised he would dismiss Hermione so flippantly, but she shook her head and got up to leave, pausing at the door as though she had something else to say, but stopping herself and leaving my office, closing the door behind her.
"Dodged a bullet there, huh?" I said, also standing up and going to look at the map again, muttering the passphrase to uncover it.
"Seems we did. What are you doing?" Remus asked me, following me back into my bedroom.
"Making sure Hermione isn't lingering," I said and watched her name as she walked back towards Gryffindor tower.
"Since we've been so hard at work cracking this map as you said, how about we go up to the come and go room? So we don't have to worry about anyone else interrupting again, hm?" Remus said, coming up behind me and sliding his arms around my waist.
"Maybe later. It's been a long morning already. Did you even sleep last night?" I asked him, folding the map back up and muttering "mischief managed" to clear it.
"Not much, honestly. The new moon always makes me a bit restless and that was two nights ago," he said, stretching out on my now empty bed.
"Hey, who said you could lay down there?" I said playfully, throwing the now folded map at him. We spent the majority of the day in my office and bedroom, going up to the come and go room after dinner. This time when I opened the door I was surprised to find a swimming pool sized bathtub, similar to the one in the prefect's bathroom, in the middle of the room.
"Well this is different," Remus said from behind me and I smirked at him.
"So which one of us was the room tuning into this time I wonder?" I said, walking towards the bath, waving my wand at the tap and some of the bubble faucets to get it started. I sauntered over to a bench at the side of the room and started taking my clothes off to get into the bath, seeing Remus watching me out of the corner of my eye. I took my time, fully aware of his eyes on me the entire time, and stepped slowly into the bath. It was the perfect temperature and I could feel my muscles relax almost immediately.
"You could join me, you know," I said to Remus, who was still standing by the door.
"Oh, right," he said awkwardly, walking over to the bench to take his own clothes off.
"You don't need to be embarrassed for wanting to see your own wife naked, you know," I said teasingly, Remus' face getting red instantly.
"It's a bit different when it's been twelve years, Avery," he said, making his way over to me.
"Psh, we saw each other naked yesterday so I don't know what you're talking about," I said jokingly with a good natured smirk.
"You know what I mean," he said with a smile, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, okay, you're right," I said, snaking my arms around his neck as his went around my waist.
"But I will say, you are just as beautiful as the day I married you, every part of you," he said, sliding his hands down my sides under the water.
"Now it's my turn to be embarrassed I suppose," I said, looking down and could feel my face flush.
"I mean it. You haven't changed one bit," he said, brushing a piece of hair out of my face.
"You know, since we have this absolutely gigantic tub, we could try a little something," I said, tracing circles on his chest and from the look on his face I could tell he knew exactly what I was suggesting. Soon enough he had me backed up to the side of the tub, our bodies moving as though they were one, and I had never been so happy to have my husband back. Since it was late when we left the come and go room and knew there would be no students out and about, we walked back to the third floor hand in hand, not even needing to talk to one another. We turned a corner and nearly collided head on with Snape. He sneered at us, taking a few steps back.
"And where are you two coming from?" he said as though we were students that shouldn't be out of bed.
"Oh shove it, Severus. You don't get to act like you're any higher ranking than us. We can do as we please in this castle just as much as you can," I said, sneering back at him and Remus gave me a warning look. I knew it wasn't a great idea to challenge Severus the way I was, but he needed to be put in his place sometimes.
"Watch yourself, Stroupe. Or should I say Lupin? This little secret of yours is getting harder for the two of you to hide, is it not?" Severus said, looking between the two of us, then down to our entwined hands.
"Severus, we are keeping no secrets at this point. If we are asked we tell the truth, but if no one asks then why should we give any unwanted information?" Remus said. He'd always been able to reason with Severus better than I had, even in our younger years.
"Oh, so the nature of your relationship is common knowledge now, is it? Good, then there's no reason for the two of you to be sneaking around the castle, hm?" Severus said and I was done with this particular conversation.
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, as always, Severus. Now if you'll excuse us," I said, dragging Remus away from the altercation and back towards our classrooms. "He infuriates me sometimes," I said once Snape was out of earshot.
"You shouldn't let him get to you like that, I'm sure it doesn't make things any easier for you," Remus said as we stopped in front of his classroom.
"I suppose so, but it can still be kind of fun to just mess with his mind a little bit sometimes," I said, crossing my arms and Remus smirked at me.
"Goodnight, my beautiful wife. I'll see you in the morning," Remus said, kissing me soundly before going into his classroom.
"Goodnight," I said and turned to go into mine as well. I fell asleep easily that night, waking plenty early enough the next morning to prepare for the day's classes before breakfast.
